#dehuminization

Rex was messaging him again about hanging out at 79’s. Fox’s never been. He sadly turns him down by sending a snapshot of his work schedule.

“You must be cursed vod, if every time one of us visit your schedule looks like that!” he messages.

Fox frowns and replies, “It always looks like that.”

It takes Rex a while to reply. “Fox, we need to talk. You can’t live like that. I have more downtime in the middle of a campaign.”

Fox’s frown increases. Did they seriously not know what life was like in the guard?

“I’ll come to you,” Rex promises.

Two weeks later and Rex does not come to Fox. Fox comes to him.

-----------------------------------

In the warehouse, Fives doesn’t go for the blaster. He runs.

Fox heaves a sigh of relief. If he’d gone for the blaster, he’d have had to shoot. An armed deranged madman is not a risk he can’t take with his brothers’ lives on the line no matter how much he loves Rex. But a running unarmed clone is different.

“Set to stun!” he reminds his men and takes off running. He has Fives in his sights after a few minutes, noting how poorly the ARC trooper must be doing to be running like a drunken lame duck. He watches as the blue rings connect and the clone drops like a rock.

Except Fox can’t seem to stop himself in time. He trips over Fives’ legs and falls flat on his helmeted face. His body decides to promptly give up.

His limbs will not respond. His lips seem to be on a delay, though he’s lucky they still work. He thinks he might be slurring as he assures the shiny who finds him that he is in fact not dead and neither is the fugitive. From the corner of his HUD he can see Rex trying to decide which brother to fuss over first.

Anakin, who isn’t an idiot for once, suggests “Why not take them both to the Temple?”

The car hummed as it travelled on the road. Danny tried to yawn as best he could but it was impossible with the tape. A million thoughts raced through his head. Where were they going? Was he being sent off? Surely not. Mathew would’ve been sadder….. right?

After a lot of turns and a lot of lamp posts passed, the car turned into what Pheonix presumed was a carpark. Aiden got out, opened the back door and dragged Danny out of the car by his legs. He collapsed on the concrete ground with a grunt and glared at Aiden. He was roughly lifted up and was once again slammed against the door. His ropes were cut and the duct tape was ripped off.

Danny stopped at the door once it was opened. There, four people dressed in dressy clothes sat at a conference table. The room was brightly illuminated by the windows which ran all along the walls. Aiden once again shoved him inside. Danny fell to the rough carpet with a whimper. “Sanjay, Peter, Alex, Rosie, thank you for coming in such short notice!” Aiden beamed.

Everyone smiled apart from Rosie who scowled, furrowing her eyebrows, “This better be good, I have -ten minutes,” She scowled, looking at her silver watch. Aiden chuckled, “Of course, of course. Trust me, you won’t want to miss this!” He kicked Danny hard in his side, “Hey, up!”

Danny let out a whimper, clutching his side tightly. But he didn't hesitate on scrambling to his feet and looking over to Aiden in confusion. Where the hell was this place and why were they here? He was roughly yanked by his plain black collar. He let out a gasp as his hands flew up to the collar in an attempt to loosen it.

“This is Danny, some of you might know him as 34703.” Danny noticed as one of the men’s heads cocked to the side, why did he look so familiar? - “He will be my show dog today. So, we’ve had a few complaints with owners saying their pets are starting to disobey-” Danny’s heart dropped, no, he- he was good! He didn't disobey!!!! “-So I have come up with a simple solution! Mathew, bring in ‘898 please.” Danny’s head snapped over to Mathew, giving him pleading eyes, but Mathew ignored him, gulping and slowly made his way to the door. He disappeared for a moment but later returned with a growling beast. To Danny’s eyes he looked about mid thirties? He didn't know- definitely older than him anyway. And much taller.

Mathew was holding him by the collar, eyes still not daring to meet with Danny’s. The man he was holding had… were they fangs?! Oh Hell no, Danny’s breathing started picking up, “Ai-Aiden, n-no, I don't wanna do this! I-”

“-Everyone, this is ‘898, he is our new breed. Breaking dog. If your pet simply obeys, and you're getting sick and tired of their crap, all you have to do is say the ‘magic words’ and ‘898 here will handle the disobedient mutt for you.”

Sanjay looked at Aiden from over his glasses which had slid down his nose as he took down notes. Alex sat back in their chair, clasping their hands together, “Well, will you show us what it does?” Aiden chuckled, “Why of course, ‘898, break.”

Before Danny could even flinch, ‘898 was on top of him, knocking him to the ground. Danny let out a horrified cry and almost broke down there and then. He used all his strength to try and shove or kick the man off of him but it was hopeless, nothing worked.

He let out a shrill shriek as ‘898’s teeth sunk into his arm which had used, trying to push him away. “P-please Aiden! Please!!!! Make him s-s-stop!!!! I pro-promise that I’ll be good!! Ple-ase.” His voice broke at the last sentence.

Aiden let out a chuckle and let it carry on for a few more moments, looking to his colleagues for approval. His smile brightened as he saw all four of them staring straight at the scene, all looking impressed. Even Rosie!!!

“Alright, ‘898, release.” In an instant, ‘898 was off of Danny who was now a crying mess. He curled in on himself, clutching his bleeding arm as tight to his chest as possible. He muttered “Sorry sir.” over and over again.

The four colleagues slowly brought their eyes back up to Aiden once Mathew had retrieved ‘898, who wiped the excess blood away from his mouth with his forearm, spitting the remaining blood in his mouth onto the carpet. He looked down at Danny, expression blank.

Danny’s lungs were on fire. Mathew tried to blink back the tears but he looked down as they slowly trickled down his cheeks.

Aiden fiddled with his fingers behind his back. “Well,” Alex said, letting out a sigh, “Can you step outside while we have a discussion?” Aiden forced a smile, “Of course.” He cocked his head to the door and Mathew brought ‘898 out of the room. Aiden then turned to Danny, “C’mon, up.” When Danny didn't oblige straight away, he kicked him in the ribs and dragged him up by under the shoulders.

He tried to weakly fight against his grip but he was so embarrassed, tired, and the pain was too much for him. He whimpered as he was thrown onto a chair outside. He knelt beside him and stroked his hand through his hair, “Hey, hey, listen to me, you did so good for me, okay?”

Danny whimpered but his heart lifted as he heard Aiden’s words. He jumped as he heard ‘898 growl. Aiden chuckled in the crease of Danny’s neck and turned to face him, “Oh, don't worry, you were amazing too, such a good dog!” ‘898 made some sort of happy noise. Danny whined, he wasn’t human. He was anything but human.

He pressed himself closer to Aiden and rubbed his head against his shirt, feeling the warmth against his chest. Aiden ran a hand fondly through Danny’s hair. The door opened moments later and Sanjay came through, “Aiden, can we talk to you?” Aiden stood up from his honkers and walked into the other room.

Danny kept his arm close to him, it was still bleeding, a lot. He started to speak, his voice hoarse, “I- I thought you were on my side.” Mathew felt his heart shatter, “Danny, please, you don't understand! And the-the threats he gave me, Danny.” Danny gulped, he believed him but he was in too much pain and was too embarrassed.

‘898 was kneeling right by Mathew’s legs. Danny looked away, he didn't like the look of them two. “Danny, please say you believe me.”

“Y-yeah, I do, I’m sorry, I just -just a warning would've been good.”

Mathew looked over at the boy’s arm and sighed, he took off his t-shirt and ripped at part of the seam which kept the two sides together. He tore the fabric in a semicircle and the fabric came off. “Here give me your arm for a second.” When he did, Mathew carefully wound the fabric tight around Danny’s wound, making him wince slightly.

Danny looked up at him as he did so. He studied how there was a slight furrow in Mathew’s brows and his tongue slightly sticking out from concentration. He couldn't help but smile as he saw him. Mathew gave the fabric a tight pull and neatly tucked it in between each fold, “There, that should do you until we get home, I think,” Mathew’s tough voice was back on and Danny let out a sigh, “Thanks.” Danny wiped the remaining tears from his cheeks and sniffed.

“We like this, Aiden, we really do,” Alex smiled. “But,” Rosie added with a stern tone, “How are we sure that these breaking dogs will follow clear instructions?” Aiden thought about this for a while, “Special training, when we think the dog is ready, we bring them to the special training facility to ensure they are broken fully.” Rosie scribbled down more notes into her notepad. She closed it and looked to her employees and nodded, “Well, I for one would say that this would work. I’d be delighted to see how this goes, I really think that this has potential!” Aiden felt a grin paint his face. Sanjay cleared his throat, I also agree with Rosie.”

“Same here.” “Me too.”

Rosie closed her notebook and smiled… smiled, “Well, thank you very much Mr Smith, we will be sure to look further into this idea and hope to hold a meeting next week.” Aiden smiled and bowed, “Thank you so much for your time, I’ll be sure to bring my boy along with me.”

Danny jumped as the door opened, “Danny, Mathew, go to the car, I'll bring ‘898 back to his cell,” Aiden smiled, throwing the car keys to Mathew, who quickly caught them. Aiden took ‘898 by the collar and guided him away. Once they disappeared down the corridor, Mathew stood up and Danny copied him.

Danny went to walk but stopped when Mathew held out his arms, Danny looked at him weird until Mathew closed the gap in between them, slowly wrapping his arms around him, “I’m sorry.” Danny didn't say anything, he just closed his eyes tight and wrapped his arms tighter around Mathew.

They weren't usually allowed to hug -no, they weren’t allowed to hug, but Mathew made sure they did. Physical touch was important, especially for Danny. Mathew broke the hug in fear that Aiden would return without them noticing.

They both walked to the car park and sat in the vehicle, waiting patiently for Aiden to return. Danny noticed the blood on Aiden’s collar when he returned, it made his stomach knot up. Aiden sighed as he got into the car and revved the engine, “How does fast food sound?” Mathew and Danny both looked at each other with excited looks.

The car started up again and Danny rested his head against the window, slowly closing his eyes. He was tired. He didn't know if it was from the blood loss or the immense pain he was in, but he could feel everything around him spinning. The thought of food made his stomach rumble.

“We’ll get your wound sorted in no time Darling, alright?” Danny nodded, soon remembering Aiden couldn't see him. “Y-yes sir, thank you.” He ended up drifting off on the way, he was exhausted, but he didn't have any good dreams, oh no no no. He hadn't had a good dream since- he didn't know…

But that didn't matter. What mattered was that he wasn't in the facility anymore, he was safe, and he had Mathew, what could go wrong?

---

Taglist:

Ravage wasn’t allowed in and so had to find a way to occupy himself outside, but that was fine. Soundwave had barely made it in, his visor being the only reason they didn’t immediately throw him out for being a minor. They couldn’t tell. Either way, Ravage could take care of himself. Soundwave was only planning to stay long enough to not draw suspicion anyways.

He ducked his helm slightly snaking up a cable to sip at the fuel. He supposed he would be an unusual sight either way, but one never could be too careful….and there was no way he was expanding his range in a place like this. The stench of high-grade was bad enough; if he had to deal with the overcharged thoughts that came with it…

He shuddered at the thought, pitiful as it was.

The regular energon was enough to keep those negative thoughts at bay. It was heavenly compared to some other types he’d refueled with; a bit sweeter than he remembered, but he drank it slowly, ensuring he left some for Ravage. The cybercat deserved it for sticking it through this rough time.

Leaving about half of the cube full, Soundwave deemed it a good time to make a hasty exit. He subspaced the rest of the energon and made to stand.

He was not ready for the dizziness that assaulted him, forcing him to plant his servos against the table or else crash heavily to the floor.

He hissed out a slow vent. Normally he’d write this off as him standing up too fast or…possibly an insufficient amount of fuel making him nauseous, but the more he thought about it, the more something seemed…off.

Soundwave quickly decided he didn’t want to be here any longer. He was ready to leave and find Ravage and he wasn’t dealing with this right now.

Turning slowly, to keep his pedes under him he started walking towards the exit. A heavy feeling was starting to overtake his limbs and his sparkrate spiked as he staggered to the door. Nope. This wasn’t happening. This was NOT happening. Not right now, not when he wasn’t anywhere near Ravage, not when he was so close to-

Soundwave lurched out the door, desperate to put as much distance between himself and the bar as he could manage - he must’ve been drugged; how stupid was he not to check his fraggin’ drink?! - and to top it all off his legs just weren’t working right, his processor was getting foggier by the cycle, and he needed to get to Ravage! Where was Ravage-

His digits gripped uselessly at the wall and when he stumbled this time, there was no resistance as he collapsed.

Black pixels swarmed the edge of his vision as he struggled to push himself back up. He let out a weak gasp at the utter numbness tingling throughout his limbs; the churning in his tanks as his systems rejected whatever drug had been forced into him. Soundwave was suddenly grateful that he hadn’t drunken the whole thing.

Oh Primus, if Ravage were here he would’ve drunk some too. Or…maybe he wouldn’t have. Maybe he would’ve been smart enough to check it…and warn Soundwave while he was at it. He groaned into the ground. Stupid.

His tanks felt utterly ravaged - ha - and he couldn’t do a thing about it. After a moment of trying to focus, he was finally able to lift his helm and his intakes nearly stopped as pedes started into his line of vision. His helm was pounding and he almost didn’t hear them coming, which was terrifying enough in itself, but no matter how hard he tried his frame wouldn’t obey his commands to move.

The vague blurs of black shifted repeatedly in and out of his vision and he thought he heard them speaking but his processor was too addled to grasp any meanings. His digits dug mercilessly into the ground and he almost flinched back as one of them crouched down, exposing a silver faceplate.

The strange mech smirked and his mouth was moving but Soundwave couldn’t make any of it out past the energon rushing through his audials. They reached forward, servo roughly grasping the side of his helm and tilting it up, optics peering curiously at his visor. Soundwave forced out a snarl, making his displeasure known even though his spark was beating erratically in its casing.

The hold on his helm released abruptly and he saw the figure frown in confusion and look at someone he couldn’t see. He said something unintelligible and Soundwave barely had time to drag in another intake before there was a sickening crunch and pain exploded in the back of his helm.

The darkness closed in and his consciousness fled soon after.

~~~

Soundwave groaned as his systems booted sluggishly back online and he was rapidly beginning to wish he were still unconscious. His helm felt like it was going to split open. A hot, sticky liquid trickled down the back of his neck and fell to the floor in a steady drip drip drip that he was sure he wouldn’t forget anytime soon…

…Scrap. He wasn’t on the ground anymore. Awareness promptly crammed it’s way back into his aching processor and he realized he could feel his limbs and move them again.

Well…move was a bit of an exaggeration. He flexed his servos experimentally and failed to hide the hitch in his intakes at the fact that his arms were tied with chains to the chair he’d been forced into. There were no stasis-cuffs so police obviously weren’t involved, but he didn’t know if that was better or worse. Either way, someone had still taken him and he had no clue as to who or why.

His legs were tied to the chair as well, leaving him in a slightly hunched over position that was beginning to make his spinal struts ache. Looking around slowly through the dimness of the room he stuffed his panic down and forced himself to intake normally. Whoever his captors were, they didn’t seem to be showing themselves just yet. They were sneaky enough to slip something in his energon, implying that they’ve probably done this before…

He definitely didn’t want to be here when they came back. Soundwave strained against the bindings as hard as he could, twisting about and trying to loosen them in any way but by the time he was panting and slumping back into the chair he hadn’t done more than make his arms sore. Perfect.

Soundwave was keying himself up to try again when a door behind him creaked open. His frame went rigid as the even clicks of a mech’s heels began to approach from behind. Light, clawed servos found themselves upon Soundwave’s shoulders and he jerked forward, a snarl ripping away on instinct. It was cut off almost immediately with a sharp intake as one of the servos grabbed at the back of his helm, undeterred by the stickiness, and pressed hard enough to make his thoughts cloud with pain. This effectively silenced him as the matching voice spoke up.

“Nice to see you awake,” he started, voice light as if Soundwave hadn’t just snarled at him and as if this weren’t a hostage situation, “we were beginning to think we’d overdone it…that was a pretty nasty hit you took.” He curled his digits into said wounded area drawing another pained hiss for emphasis.

The offending servos moved away and Soundwave slumped back as the throbbing abated but he twisted his helm around, struggling to get a glimpse of the new mech. This wasn’t good.

The clicking echoed throughout the room and Soundwave strained to see the mech, jolting in surprise as he popped up a mere inches away from his visor from the darkness. Neither moved for a long cycle and Soundwave hardly vented as he took in this…unusual mech.

He had wide blue optics - one of which had an old looking scar tearing through it to Soundwave’s horror - that hardly blinked and a lithe black and yellow frame that seemed to be more suited for speed rather than strength. What he lacked in physical power he certainly seemed to make up for in height as he would be towering over Soundwave even if he weren’t stuck sitting down. The mech’s servos were pressed against the arms of the chair and his digits were sharpened to points that looked like they could disembowel a mech. He gave a little shudder and tried not to think too hard about that. He was the most shocked to find movement behind the mech’s back and he tilted his helm in the slightest to find a pair of wings.

What was a seeker doing all the way down here?

Soundwave leaned back slightly, not liking this close proximity, and flinched in surprise as a servo grabbed his visor and pulled him forward again. The servo encompassed almost his entire screen and the claws dug eagerly into the sides of his helm as he tried to jerk backwards, intakes stalling as he wasn’t allowed to. The servo must’ve been the one used to grab him earlier because he felt the energon slick against his screen and his tanks turned over violently.

“Now now, there’s no need for that,” he chided, baring a mouth full of sharp denta and seeming to enjoy watching Soundwave make himself sick. “I noticed you admiring my wings…” he flared them out behind his back, never once taking his optics away from Soundwave’s visor, “and I do suppose you’re wondering what a seeker like myself is doing so far away from home?” He paused as if actually considering answering the spot on question before he shook his helm and dismissed it. “Never mind that, it isn’t important…What I will tell you is that I am Quickshot. You would do well to remember that.”

Quickshot’s other servo tapped methodically against the chair and Soundwave couldn’t help but tremble slightly in fear because, frag this mech was insane. He radiated a wrongness that Soundwave had never felt before and it was just hitting him now how badly this could end. He desperately didn’t want this to be happening to him. He would not let himself be killed by the whim of some psychopathic mech…

“Wha-at d-do-o y-you wa-ant fro-om me..?” Frag it all. Soundwave had meant for the question to come out serious and stoic but his vocalizer apparently had other plans, shaking throughout the whole thing. He sounded pathetic.

Quickshot appeared utterly delighted for a moment and Soundwave recoiled as soon as his visor was released, chassis expanding faster now because he didn’t know why he was being looked at like that so intently.

“So you can talk!” Quickshot purred, bringing his servos together before his own chassis in his excitement. He bared his pointed denta in a mockery of a smile that couldn’t hide the predatory look in his optics.

Soundwave stiffened at the derogatory remark, offense and shame burning within him.

“O-of c-course I-I c-can ta-alk!” Soundwave snapped before he could think too hard about it, “wha-at do y-you thi-ink I-I-!” He cut off with a noise of pain as Quickshot promptly backhanded him. He shut up immediately, vision blurred by the energon smeared across his screen and helm throbbing again as he glared in disbelief, shrinking away from the mech as best as he could.

Quickshot continued to peer at him with a fascination that made Soundwave feel like he was under a microscope, even as he rubbed at the servo he used to strike him, idly flexing his claws. “So you can talk and you’re mouthy. Duly noted,” he hummed uninterested in the bound mech’s feelings whatsoever and then smirked at his first question, “Do I need to want something from you? I’d say you’re giving me what I want just fine.” Quickshot started pacing a circle around him and Soundwave’s sparkrate skyrocketed as he tried in vain to keep him in sight. He kept talking all the while, entirely aware of Soundwave’s internal panic.

“I was just looking for some poor hapless grounder to take my frustrations out on, what with all grounders being much the same. Brutish and utterly incompetent.” This was the first unsatisfied tone he’d heard from Quickshot yet and it was making his plating crawl. The mech continued heedlessly, “Of course you seem much too scrappy to be a grounder. Your arms are better suited to flying but you seemed to be the easiest to grab.” He chuckled under his breath, “I mean seriously, it was almost too easy….only half of the cube had you on the ground in cycles. I’ll admit I didn’t expect you to be conscious when we’d finally caught up with you, however, I can’t say I am disappointed. That just means you have a higher constitution and trust me you’re going to need that here.”

Soundwave was shaking visibly now and it took quite a bit of willpower to stutter out his terrified question.

“Whe-ere a-are th-the o-othe-ers…?”

“They decided to leave you to me,” the drawl came from right beside Soundwave’s helm making him flinch away violently at the volume and earning a laugh from Quickshot as he struggled to catch his breath. “I find you quite fascinating…I thought you a drone at first but you’re obviously shaking and that means you’re scared and, in fact, capable of emotions.” He chirped, ticking off the notes on his digits. He took a moment to stroll around Soundwave again, flicking his wings higher. He stopped in front of the bound mech and hardly blinked before curling his servo and ramming the fist into his unprotected abdomen, seeming pleased when he earned a staticky cry. “And entirely capable of pain,” he finished his demeaning description with a honeyed tone.

Soundwave tried and failed to curl around his stomach, groaning quietly at the pain blossoming there and mentally revising his previous assessment of the mech. He threw a mean punch…

Soundwave shivered violently, leaning away from the deranged mech and gasping out once he’d caught his breath, “y-y-you’re i-insa-ane..!” There was no reason for him to be here! He was here because some twisted mech seemed to enjoy making other bots suffer. Soundwave really would’ve loved any kind of help right about now but a sinking feeling in his spark helpfully let him know that he was alone in this.

“Now, that is a horrible accusation and I can assure you that I am entirely sane.” He punctuated his questionable statement by grabbing the side of Soundwave’s helm and digging his claws in, eliciting a pained intake followed by rapid venting. There was energon trickling down the side of his helm now too and he suppressed a whine as his helm was forcefully tilted back, putting more pressure on his neck.

Quickshot hummed lowly, bringing up his other servo and just letting it hover near his screen for a moment. Soundwave was trying in vain to pull away as the other servo crept closer and he thought he should say something but his processor went terrifyingly blank.

“Insulting me won’t do you any good…Trust me,” he grinned, “my feelings are far from hurt.” Quickshot pressed the tip of his clawed digit into Soundwave’s visor, pleased when the action made him freeze. He probably could press hard enough to crack the screen if he really wanted to…He settled for dragging the tip across the visor instead, light enough not to leave a mark, but hard enough to make the threat clear.

That does it. Soundwave’s intakes shook and he stared nervously as Quickshot continued to look him over critically, wings twitching in thought. He didn’t wait any longer, lashing out violently with both of his cables now that he was close enough. One slammed into Quickshot’s faceplate, knocking him back and the other latched onto his chassis. Soundwave sent as much energy as he could spare into the electrical charge and was able to send the mech dropping to the floor with a shriek.

He immediately got to work reeling his cables in and tearing at the chains around his arms. He probably didn’t have much time before….

He glanced up. Quickshot was gone.

How the frag-

He twisted and managed to wrench an arm free. He barely threw it up in time to catch the claws that were arching down towards his chassis. He stared in mute horror at this mech that was moving impossibly fast. There was no way he’d recovered that quickly and- Soundwave lost track of him again. He panicked as he tore at the remaining restraints with his free servo, energon dribbling from the new scratches in his forearm.

“Going somewhere?” Quickshot’s voice droned from somewhere behind him and then claws were digging into his back, tearing down before he could react and Soundwave screeched. Rivulets of energon were rolling down the back of his chassis and he slashed his arms in Quickshot’s general direction but he was already gone again.

He fumbled with the other set of restraints pinning his legs and with another tug, was finally able to undo them. Soundwave lurched to his feet, ready to make an escape but Quickshot was suddenly there, expression surprisingly devoid of anger while energon dripped from his servos, bright and luminous as it coated the floor.

He cocked his helm to one side, optics gleaming with a new curiosity, “Well you are an unusual one aren’t you?” Soundwave shuffled back a step shaking his helm, almost tripping over the chair again in his haste to get away. Primus he was getting tired already…his entire frame burned with a vengeance from the various cuts and he was having trouble keeping his legs from buckling under his weight.

He focused again and, as expected at this point, Quickshot was no longer in front of him. Soundwave decided to take his chances, staggering into a run towards the nearest door he could see. He made it about halfway there, spark pounding in his chassis, before something was jammed into his neck.

“Tsk. I thought you were smarter than this.”

Soundwave couldn’t even compose a response before white-hot fire was tearing through every circuit and wire, sending him to his knees and cutting out any attempts to speak or intake and it hurt but his throat wouldn’t let him force out anything more than a low keen and his frame arched against his will before everything just stopped. He crumpled to the floor, gulping in intakes desperately and shaking harder than before.

“Really, I never said you could leave. Unfortunately you’re not quite as smart as I would’ve hoped but no matter…” Quickshot’s airy voice addressed him from somewhere to his left through the painful haze that was slowly beginning to fade. “I’m more interested in what you are because you are unlike any cybertronian I’ve ever seen.” He was acting as though this were a casual conversation and as though Soundwave wasn’t twitching and struggling just to vent regularly a few feet away.

Soundwave’s vocalizer spit out static before he could choke out a spiteful curse as he tried to get his servos under himself. Quickshot just grabbed the back of his helm again, forcing his visor back into the ground relentlessly, and continued without acknowledging the pointed curse or struggles, “Some might call you unique. Rare. One-of-a-kind.”

He paused and Soundwave couldn’t see what he was doing, so he took the time to shift his arms slowly under himself, leaving some room between his chestplate and the floor. Intakes rattled painfully out of his chassis and the floor was becoming a rather nauseating blue with his own energon but he wasn’t out yet…

Quickshot, seemingly uninterested in his shifting, kept going, “I, on the other hand would be blunt, and call you what you are. An anomaly. Freakish.”

Something twisted painfully in Soundwave’s tanks at the lack of malice in the mech’s voice. Quickshot wasn’t insulting him; he was just stating what he thought to be facts. And he said it in such a way that made him shudder at what seemed to be undertones of admiration in his voice.

He had one more shot. He was going to get out of here if it offlined him - and hopefully it wouldn’t. One of his cables crept out into the space he’d left and the tips clamped together, spinning with a low whir. Soundwave didn’t give the mech time to say anything else before the tendril shot out, drill-tip hitting where he assumed one of the mech’s wings to be. From the shrill wail and the servo jerking away from his helm, he assumed he’d hit the mark.

There was a crackling sound and another howl of pain from Quickshot as Soundwave rolled onto his back, wincing when the newly identified energon prod dug into the ground where he used to be. His cable was still in the seeker’s wing and Soundwave took a klik to jerk it out, drawing out another cry, and forcing himself up and to his knees. He lunged at the other mech, knocking the prod out of his hold and him roughly to the floor.

Quickshot stared at him with wide optics as energon gushed from his wing, looking almost genuinely surprised before he let out a high, crazed laugh tinged with pain that made Soundwave cringe.

“Y-You think this is it?! You won’t get away for l-long! My friends will be coming back shortly a-and when they do w-we’ll find you! You’ll pay for trying to leave!“ He cackled towards the end. His wings twitched erratically, pinned under his frame as he devolved into a quieter fit of wounded giggles and Soundwave found he couldn’t feel anything but contempt for the mech.

The only response he gave was a grim, “No-o y-you w-wo-on’t!” before he pulled his servo back, knocking Quickshot out cold with one hit.

He scrambled away from him a klik later, panting as the adrenaline started to wear off. He didn’t think he’d be able to offline a mech no matter how insane and so he didn’t try. He didn’t need to give the police another reason to come after him and he would be long gone before Quickshot came to. It was high time he and Ravage left this area anyways.

Ravage.

Soundwave forced himself to his pedes, steps unsteady as he staggered to the nearest wall. He was starting to feel light-helmed but he didn’t think he’d go unconscious just yet. Energon still leaked sluggishly from his back and the multiple scratches that cut deeper than his armor. His frame felt battered to the Pits and back and his helm felt like it might still explode but…he was online. He could be thankful for that.

He shakily made his way to the door, pleased to find it unlockable, and he was stepping outside when he paused. He rooted around in his subspace for a moment, pulling out the half-filled energon cube. He tossed it over his shoulder without hesitation. He certainly wouldn’t be needing that later.

Now ready to go, Soundwave stumbled forward at a faster pace, frantic to find his cybercat and leave with him. His gaze darted to every corner and he flinched at each shadow that seemed to move. It took several cycles of him walking pressed against walls before he heard a familiar voice from behind, calling out to him in a mixture of pure ecstasy and worry that finally loosened the knot in his chassis and let him vent in relief.

“Soundwave! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

Soundwave slowly turned to face Ravage as the cybercat ran forward to meet him. He took a step towards him before his legs buckled, sending him to his knees. He took in a sharp intake but immediately pulled Ravage into his arms when he was close enough, cutting off any concerned questions or comments and just clutching onto him with a renewed desperation. He did not want to get separated again.

Soundwave would explain everything in a moment, but for now, he was content to let Ravage nuzzle worriedly into his chassis and just hold him close.