Soundwave had been captured by G.H.O.S.T. and locked in a tiny cell. The former TiC sighed heavily and sat in one of the corners of his transparent cell, staring at the roof, since there was nothing to do.

He hated it. He hated having nothing to do. Having nothing to do meant his processor would start wandering and remembering the past, and he hated that; he hated remembering the past, when the Decepticons were a large and powerful faction, how they were feared, and... when Megatron was still the Decepticon leader.

Soundwave admired Megatron, he truly admired him. He had never before seen a low-caste bot actually stand up and speak about how wrong the treatment everyone there received was, how everyone, regardless of their altmode, regardless of what they were—beastformer, minicon, insecticon, seeker, or manual—should be treated as equals, and that no one should have to follow the funcionalism sistem's scrap.

Megatron was the first bot who made Soundwave feel—no, made thousands of Cybertronians feel something they had wanted to feel for millennia; hevalidated the anger they felt. Not only did he validate it, but said they were right to be angry. Soundwave thought he had finally found a bot who understood him completely. Found a leader!

When the Decepticons were formed, Soundwave swore he would follow Megatron to the ends of the universe.

And he did; he followed Megatron, served Megatron, fought alongside Megatron, fought and killed for Megatron, sacrificed himself for Megatron, fought Megatron's war against the Autobots. He honored the Decepticon symbol on his frame with all his might, he was willing to die for that symbol!

But Megatron didn't. Megatron abandoned them.

Megatron simply turned his back on the Decepticons, turned his back on Soundwave, his most loyal soldier...! He abandoned him and the Decepticons, let the once great and powerful army fall apart, and now the once feared Decepticons are scattered across the earth and have to live fleeing and hiding from humans! And now Soundwave, formerly the third in command, communications officer, had to live fleeing and hiding with his cassettes while being hunted by G.H.O.S.T., Autobots AND by Megatron(Traitor!), And now he's here, trapped in a cramped, empty cell, with nothing to do but brood over the past, remember how it all began, how it was, and how it ended, wondering if Megatron even really cared about him in the first place—

He stopped these thoughts when felt something dripping on his thigh. When looked down, he realized it was energon dripping onto his thigh. He felt a slight burning sensation on his arm and noticed small holes in his metal plate. He sighed heavily; he must have pierced his metal with his digits from squeezing his servo around his arm so tightly.

Great... simply great. It's best to stop this somehow before it rusts or loses more energon. Primus knows he can't afford that luxury right now.

He lightly taps his helm against the wall of his cell. He thinks of his minicons; Frenzy, Laserbeak, and Ravage.

'Hope; they're alright. Desire; they haven't been captured.' he thinks, even though he misses them. If they were here, at least he'd have a distraction to push away the thoughts he hate. But also... it's better that only he suffers in the G.H.O.S.T. prison. Yes... he hopes they won't be captured.

Two weeks later, a new security guard appears, an Autobot. Soundwave vaguely hears the newcomer's designation; {{user}}.

Great... a new guard to make his life a living pit. What's next? Is he going to be taken to a room where he'll be vivisected for study? He shudders, remembering the screams he heard coming from a distant room where a fellow Decepticon had been taken.

But... he'd never seen any Autobots—any Cybertronians serving as security here, and Agent Croft don't seem happy. Maybe they... don't know what goes on here? Soundwave knows it's not good to get hopes up, but... if there's even the slightest chance, maybe he can use it to escape!

He just needs to play carefully. Gain the new guard's trust...either way.

(—>)