#solverwave

The medbay is halfway across the ship from this sector. Soundwave felt like he wasn't gonna make it. He lifted his gaze, spotting a nearby closed off room. Despite his own sprinting tormenting him, it felt like his life depended on making it into this room.

He winces from the screech of the metal beneath him once he halted and slammed his servo on the scanner to let him in. The door finally slid open after what felt like a beat too long. Soundwave bolted in and crumbled onto the cold metal floor.

Soundwave weakly lifted in quivering hand up whilst the scanner was too far to reach. As if he willed it to happen, his fingers sprung open with a bright yellow symbol appearing before it to slam the entrance shut.

The Decepticon's arm dropped to his side. He laid there on his chassis in silence for what felt like an eternity, unsure if this attempt to seclude himself was even aiding the dreadful pain. This all felt ridiculous.

How can the "Eyes and Ears of the Decepticons" not handle the dim lights of the warship?

How can the "Eyes and Ears of the Decepticons" ache from the sounds of his own treading?

And what was that yellow light that materialized in front of his servo? Soundwave lowered his helm to look down at it, unfurling his spindly fingers. He waited to see if it would show up again.

Soon enough, he spotted a blurry sliver of that same light on his palm, though lacking the shape it was before. It didn't take him long at all to figure out where it was coming from. Once Soundwave moved his servo, he could see that same shade on the reflective metal below him. It was on his helm.

Soundwave was alarmed, watching his purple glow blipping to yellow one by one. He attempted to pull himself up, but the energon coursing through him felt as though it was trying to boil him alive within his own plating. By some miracle, he got himself onto his kneeplates and servos.

His vision was clouded by an internal warning. A temperature warning. No scrap his temperature was failing! His screen scrambled through codes within his system to find the root of the problem. Without an explanation, it went blank. How did he get locked out of his own system?

It was unclear until another message popped to explain itself in a human writing language.

"Admin: Soundwave has been blocked by Absolute[Solver.exe]"

And another.

"Don't worry. You will not be discarded :]"

Without giving Soundwave a moment to process, a torturous shock erupts from the lower half of Soundwave's faceplate. Little shards of glass plummeting down to the ground. Soundwave could feel it coming again, like something is trying to escape his screen

He clapsed his servos over the leaking cracks. Tiny droplets of energon slip through his fingers. Drip. Drip. Drip. The Decepticon stared as his reflected lights. The last purple ones blinking until... they turn to yellow, too.

The bottom half of his screen bursts open, causing Soundwave to stumble and fall with his back against the wall. There wasn't anything he could do. He's locked out of his body. This was the end of the Decepticon's communication officer. He was certain of it.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, approaching the door of the room he trapped himself in. Two knocks banged against it. He felt his spark drop, praying to Primus that he wouldn't come in.

"Soundwave? Are you in there?" It was one of the Vehicon Troopers. "Lord Megatron wishes to see you on the upper deck," he explained further. "I believe it has to do with how Laserbeak has been reluctant to return to the battlefield."

Soundwave's spark chamber shuddered. He could feel it changing. The Absolute Solver claiming it as its own. His body is no longer his, and it never will be again. He couldn't even muster the strength to warn the trooper. His time was up.

"..Should I uh.. should I come in, sir?" The Vehicon hesitantly asked. "..I'm gonna hope the silence means yes." The doors slid open as the trooper stepped back with a horrified gasp. He rushed to his superior's side.

"OH MY PRIMUS!" He exclaimed, resting his servo on Soundwave's shoulder. "What the- how did this..." The trooper couldn't think of what to ask about first. The yellow lights, why he's even in here, or the hole in his face. His gaze drifted to it, especially.

It felt horrific to see. The glass was cracked as if it was in the form of an Insecticon's maw. Horrible, jagged shards hanging down. When he pulled himself away from the injured Decepticon, Soundwave's helm hung low. Was he dead?

"Ohh frag. I-I gotta go tell Lord Megatron immediately." He told himself to try to stir up some courage, only to flinch from the door into this room shutting. That's strange. This door is one of the only ones that doesn't automatically shut itself since there's nothing in this room.

He placed his servo on the scanner. Access denied? He tried again. The door wasn't registering his servo. Right as he was about to ask about it, the panel short circuited, leaving him without a way to leave.

"Oh, come on! I thought we fixed this!" He sighed, gliding his servo down the door. The trooper paused, hearing hushed steps behind him and spotting faint yellow light reflecting off the door.

He whipped around to see his superior looming ahead of him, standing there for a moment. `Is... is he still alive? I mean, I suppose if he's standing there.` He scrambled to rationalize the sight ahead of him.

Before he could speak, this yellow insignia he's never seen before emitted from Soundwave's face. The Vehicon takes a step back, just before he lunges. The broken screen seemed to have twisted in a malicious grin as he grabbed the trooper.

His servos wrapped toward his neck, preventing him from screaming before throwing him across the room. The back of his helm hit the wall. He groaned as he feebly lifed his gaze to look at him. The trooper recognized the sound of his superior's extra arms slinking out from the chestplate.

His arm changed into his blaster a second too late before one of the tube arms grasped it tight, almost crushing it. The other wrapped itself around the Vechicon, yanking him to the floor. He squirmed to no avail. Soundwave wasn't letting go.

This felt like a nightmare. He peered straight up at the communications officer standing over him. Soundwave crouched down, laying his servos on both sides of the trooper's head.

"Pl-please! Soundwave! Have mercy!" He pleaded as he felt Soundwave gradually pull more and more. Holding his helm tighter and tighter. The trooper began to scream for help, attempting to escape, only for the grip around his chestplate to constrict further.

"PLEASE, SOMEBODY! HELP!! ANYBOT! PLEASE!! HEL-" The scream cut off with a gruesome snap. The smaller cables in his neck eventually splitting. Drip. Drip. Drip. Energon leaking out the trooper's disconnected helm. Soundwave pulled it towards him, yanking out parts of it and feeding it to the hole in his screen.