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There was a difference between creating a cassette and emerging a sparkling.
Apparently the latter was far more painful, if one were to believe the strained noises coming from Soundwave.
Shockwave had already been with the cassette carrier, if their strange coexistence could be described as such, when he had formed the nuisance that were Rumble and Frenzy. It had been a far less noisy ordeal than this, that he was sure off.
“One more push, sir. The sparkling is almost out.” The constructicon medic said, breaking Shockwave from his thoughts. Finally, this ordeal would be over.
It wasn't that he didn't care for Soundwave, who was bravely enduring this torture, but what words could he possibly offer now? None would be worthy of the situation, so he chose to forgo them entirely.
He supposed that under other circumstances it might have been appropriate to stand beside Soundwave for this final stretch, but Shockwave, unlike his Paramoure, wasn't a telepath and couldn't tell if he was welcome. After all, he was partially at fault for Soundwave even being in the state he was in now.
So again, he chose to do nothing. Remaining firmly out of Soundwave's sight, but still close enough to see the sparkling as it slipped from him.
The green medic held it up, turning to Shockwave as the newspark let out a shriek.
It was grey and slimy, ugly like a bug.
Somehow, that made it perfect.
“A healthy femme, sir.” Indeed she was. The little bot wriggled around in Shockwaves servo, small enough to not fall from it even as she tried to master her appendages.
Soundwave let out a groan and Shockwave took that as his sign to hand him the sparkling.
It was strange to see the stoic spymaster so weak and docile, but, according to all kinds of medical documents, this was to be expected from a carrier that had managed to survive creation. Still, it made Shockwaves tank twist in a way it hadn't since long before the war.
It wasn't worry.
Shockwave couldn't worry.
His creation, his sparkling, twisted again, revealing her little back to him. As the femme attempted to take a bite out of his digits he observed her carefully. She had wings.
Soundwave had chosen an earth based altmode, a stealth bomber, and it appeared as if that coding had been strong enough to pass down to this new bot. Shockwave could admit that he had been disappointed that Soundwave had discarded his perfect cybertronian altmode, but it was logical to choose a new disguise fitting their awful prison.
Perfectly logical.
He placed the sparkling on Soundwave's chassis and watched as he cradled her close, nuzzling the grey creature with his covered face.
“Wavelength.” Soundwave groaned out.
What a fitting designation.
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“I don't know if we'll get anywhere like this. Our esteemed Prime has been quite resistant to any of our suggestions this past orn.” He dragged his servos over his face, sighing desperately.
Proteus, who was sitting next to him, only gave him a small smile. No understanding of his plight anywhere in his processor. “Sentinel is wise, you know this. The Decepticons will soon be recognized as a legitimate political party and then we can once more try to negotiate with him.”
He shuddered at the tone his colleague used. The false politeness everyone seemed to keep using never sat right with him. “I appreciate him taking the officer seriously, I only hope that this will truly end the way he has foreseen. A peaceful resolution would be in the best interest of everyone.”
“Careful now, Senator. You are starting to sound like a Decepticon yourself.”
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The sparkling was with him in his lab, which was something he had protested against vehemently, but he had never been able to win a verbal debate against Soundwave.
Her colors had come in now. At first her servos had turned a bright white, “like a polished pearl” Starscream had said, and then the green had come in. Dark jade on her shoulders and parts of her helm.
Neither of her creators looked like that.
Both were dark in their plating, blue and purple, but it could be argued that the white came from Soundwave as he wore the same color on his legs. Still, it was aggravating to hear some of the others whispering to each other about it, how little his sparkling actually resembled Shockwave.
It aggravated him even more that their pathetic gossip had any affect on him at all.
If the sparkling wasn't his, why were her optics the same shade of yellow as his? That was it, that was their resemblance. Nothing more and nothing less.
Said sparkling was currently trying to climb out of her cradle and onto Shockwaves workbench. Her round yellow optics followed his clawed servo as if it were the only thing in the world.
A small hissing chirp came from her as she realized that he was no longer focused on his work, but rather on her.
Perhaps, only for a moment, he could pretend that she had been trying to call him “sire”.
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“Look who's come to visit!” The young femme before him called out, a horde of sparklings coming up around her to greet him.
This was always one of his favourite things he got to do for his work; visiting the nursery. A few bots had taken in these poor lost sparklings and now raised them in their creators' place.
They would have been adopted by now, if it weren't for their outlier abilities, which made them undesirable for most of the high caste, who sadly were the only ones who could afford adoption.
“How are you, my little troublemakers? Wanna see what I brought you this time?” A chorus of excited chirps and squeaks erupted all around him as he sank to the floor, resting on his knees as some of the younger newsparks started to crawl onto him.
“Now I heard that one of your windows is letting all the cold air in, and we can't have you all freeze in here, so I got a lot of blankets for everyone!” Behind him their caretaker lifted one of his gifts up.
It was a thick blanket with turbofoxes embroidered on it.
Immediately the little ones cooed and scrambled to get a closer look at their new blankets. Only one of the sparklings, a golden minibot that couldn't have been online for very long, remained on him, curling into his embrace.
This is who he had become a senator for.
The future generations, so that they could grow up without fear and oppression.
So that their world could be better than his.
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“Soundwave: Did not expect to see Shockwave here.” Soundwave said, his voice light as if he were happy to see him, which was strange to Shockwave. No one was ever happy to see him, not even Soundwave.
Only Wavelength ever seemed delighted by his presence, but that was because her processor hadn't finished its development yet. Soundwave usually was above such things like emotions. That is what made them work in the first place.
“I've read that having both creators present, even in such simple situations, can improve the development of a sparkling.” He ground out the words.
It was nothing more than that. It couldn't be.
It was nothing more than a play date, but it was with Starscream's creation of all things, so he had wanted to make sure nothing happened.
Starscream and Megatron had somehow managed to produce another sparkling, a mech this time, who had emerged shortly after Wavelength had. Now that both of the younglings were old enough to walk on their own it had been decided that they could probably use an age mate to spend time with.
Farsight was a seeker, just like his older sister Crestfall was, and Shockwave wouldn't be surprised if Starscream would soon be carrying again. Megatron surely wanted at least one of his creations to be a tank like him.
“Wavelength: happy that you are here too, just like Soundwave.” Soundwave placed his servo on Shockwaves pauldron. “Shockwave: doesn't need to pretend to not care.”
The sparklings clung to each other, chittering in their unintelligible language. They were so small, so innocent.
He didn't care.
He couldn't.
At least, he thought he couldn't.
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He knew his time was running out.
He wouldn't have lasted all this time in the senate if he had been stupid enough to believe himself inviolable.
Only a prime was truly sacrosanct.
So what could one do if they knew that their last cycles had arrived? Soon he would be selfless, give his life for his cause, for the betterment of all. But now? Now, for once, he would be selfish.
He had painted his white and teal plating a deep purple and had put on one of his inventions to make him look broader than he actually was. A good disguise for what he was up to.
He would go dancing.
When he danced he felt young, like he was still the same mech that had stepped before the old senators with so much hope and so many new ideas. The one that still had the time to work on small inventions and could flirt with pretty bots at the bar without having to worry that they would poison his energon for a few shanix.
The music made the energon in his lines vibrate, there in the small club he had chosen to go to, but it wasn't the only thing making his helm spin.
The DJ that was playing must have been the prettiest mech he had ever seen. Indigo and white plating that glowed underneath the blue lights looked like the living cosmos had come down to cybertron.
He promised himself that he would come back soon, if he were still alive to do so, and would ask the pretty mech to dance with him.
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Wavelength had discovered the act of speaking rather quickly, much to Soundwaves pleasure and Shockwaves chagrin.
With the revelation of how “fun” it was to make noises came other revelations about the younglings abilities.
She had an inbuilt radio that could access many different frequencies, but Wavelength chose to not utilize her gift in any way that could be classified as useful. No, she chose to listen to human music and sing along to it.
Loudly.
“And we're spinning with the stars above-” her small voice repeated again. Despite her being created in the 21st century of the human calendar she preferred to belt out the music that had been released when the Decepticons had first come online on this primitive planet.
It made no sense to Shockwave, but perhaps it came from Soundwave, this need for noise. Everything about Wavelength came from her carrier. Her frametype, her interests, her temper.
Nothing from Shockwave.
Never Shockwave.
He couldn't recall ever being so naive, nor could he honestly say that he'd ever been so loud. By the pits, she didn't even look like him.
It ate away at him, for some reason, that she had turned out to look nothing like he did. Hadn't that old part of him been purged completely, so why did she turn out like this?
“In this world, we're just beginnin'.” She hopped by, jumping from tile to tile without touching the dark lines between each different piece of the floor, careful not to bump into Shockwave where he worked.
“To understand the miracle of livin'!” And wasn't that the truth?
Even if it was distracting, Shockwave could admit that it was a blessing, a “miracle” to have survived long enough to witness the rebirth of their race.
If only he could truly appreciate it.
A small yelp was all that alerted him to the fact that his creation had tripped over her own pede.
He whirled around just in time to catch her before she hit the floor.
For a klik Wavelength was frozen in his grasp, probably frightened beyond belief. When had he last held her? It had been so long ago.
If he could, he would hate himself for it.
He did…
He hated himself for his lack of care for his own sparkling.
The music still played through her small speakers: “Baby, I was afraid before, But I'm not afraid anymore.”
Gently he let her go, sure in her ability to stand on her own. “Are you alright?” Shockwave asked, barely keeping himself from cringing at how foreign those words sounded coming from him.
Wavelength didn't respond, but he supposed the following hug she gave him was answer enough.
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Not even Primus could hear him now.
There was no way he would survive whatever they had planned for him.
But even if this was his end he hoped that some of his work would not be forgotten. That some of it would have been worth it.
He hoped that Orion Pax would take his last words to spark.
“Remember me as I was…”
○●○●○●
But how could he ask that of Optimus Prime if he himself had failed to remember.
If it had been Senator Shockwave in the delivery room, would he have held Soundwave's servo as their daughter emerged?
Would he have taken her to his office and have her sit on his chassis while he worked?
Would he have accompanied their family to go to the park or a playground? Would he have soothed her after every fall?
He would have danced with her. He would have danced with Soundwave and his cassettes too.
But he was Scientist Shockwave now.
The cold and dreadful, emotionless Shockwave.
On the eve of this realization he actually returned to his shared quarters at a time deemed acceptable by his conjunx. Soundwave had not yet gone to recharge, but the cassettes had been docked in their relatively new docking station in Wavelength's room.
Soundwave seemed pleased at his appearance, coming up to greet him with a low purr and a nudge of his helm against Shockwaves. With his lack of a faceplate and servo, physical intimacy had never been easy between them, but over the cycles they had found a routine they were comfortable with.
But Shockwave wanted more.
He had always wanted more.
“Soundwave: has wanted to see Shockwave tonight. Everything: alright?” Soundwave extended his servo to rest over Shockwaves audio fin, gently caressing it with his digits.
This simple act made his processor stall as if he were a mechling after his first kiss.
Naturally Soundwave noticed this.
How could he not?
The silence between them threatened to become uncomfortable as Shockwave tried to regain his composure.
“Do you think the Autobots CMO might be able to at least partially reverse the Empurata?” He finally whispered, barely registering that he had spoken at all. Not that that really mattered, Soundwave would have heard him anyways.
His conjunx leaned in even closer, taking his functioning servo into his own. “Shockwave: is sure about this? Shockwave: knows about the risks? This: is logical?” Soundwave had retracted both his mask and visor as he spoke and Shockwave could see him biting down on the protoform that lined his intake.
“It is illogical to risk deactivation, but it is just as illogical to continue on like this. I- Soundwave I want to be there for our daughter. I want her to know that I love her and know that I mean it too.” He tried to ignore how his plating shook as he spoke, how he trembled like a newspark.
This was the only logical way forward.
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There was music playing, he could hear it, even if it was only faintly.
“... they say… in heaven love … comes first…” he mumbled, not quite processing how he had done that.
The last thing he had seen had been Ratchet's grimace face as he was put into stasis. There had been a large chance that he would never have come out of it, but it would seem as if he had survived. For now.
Slowly he felt the familiar weight of a blanket that had been draped over his frame as he regained control over it. His protoform ached and his helm itched all over, but all that was overshadowed by the ability to twitch the digits after a second servo he hadn't possessed in centuries.
Shockwave opened his optics, both of them, he had both of them, and slowly raised his helm.
The music was louder now, playing in the same rhythm as his spark monitors beeps. It's source was to his left, where he found his sparkling recharging in a chair. Wavelength was gripping a plush version of Ravage as if her life depended on it and was leaning her helm against the frame of the medical berth.
Shockwave almost cooed at her, but suppressed the noise so as to not wake her up.
Soundwave's scent still lingered, so he must have briefly stepped out to either take a call or get some Energon. Would he be happy to see Shockwave like this? Would he still love him like this? Well, he had agreed to the operation, so their relationship probably hadn't been built solely on Shockwaves rather lacking looks.
Before his thoughts could wander further he saw Wavelength begin to slip down from the chair and quickly grabbed her by her small shoulders to keep her from falling. This, predictably, woke her.
The small sparkling stared up at him with wide optics and he could see his own expression reflected in them.
“Sire, you look like me!” Wavelength squealed in delight and scrambled onto the berth.
For the first time in millennia he felt tears rising in his optics and a smile form on his face.
“I do, my spark, I do!”