Invisible String

Call It What You Want

It couldn't be true. It wasn't true. It had to be false. Baseless rumor's other bots made up to upset him. It had to be. Megatron falling in love? With a human no less. It had to be some trick of Unicron himself. But his sources were hardly ever wrong. And they knew better then to lead him astray.

She was easy enough to find. A young new park ranger just moved into town? They didn't do their best at hiding the girl. From what Soundwave could see, from the dark cover of the tree line, she wasn't much to call home to. She might have been pretty by human standards, but Soundwave didn't care much about human standards. Or humans. To him the species as a whole was a bunch of weird looking protoforms with hardly anything to stand for that wasn't helped or developed by his kind.

For example, the Autobots gave them instant communication technology and the humans used it to make social websites to share videos of cats. They gave the humans their stories and likenesses and the humans turned it into a comic series and plastic toys. So, it was hard for him to see the human before him, a mere 40 feet away, and have any sympathy.

It was then that his most loyal cassette enacted the plan they had made. Ravage would make a mess of something and while others were distracted, they could get the human. Soundwave knew how much leverage he could hold over Megatron if he were to tell the mech that he had, not only a human hostage, but the human Megatron had solidified his alliance to the Autobots for. He almost smiled beneath his mask at the thought of his ex-leader panicking and losing his mind at her disappearance. But before he could lunge toward her, he was taken aback. The garbage can that ravage had pushed over seemed to be full of flower stems and petals. He watched in silence as the girl gasped and moved immediately to pick up the mess from the snow covered ground.

And just as he thought his chance was open, the sound of a small bell rang and a side door opened. Soundwave saw an older human step out. She was shorter than his target, with a stained white apron around her waist and a short cane at her side. Not wanting to cause a bigger fuss and having the older human call the authorities, tipping them off to him and him losing his element of surprise, Soundwave motioned for his cassette to wait.

"Ah dear, clumsy today?" The older woman joked with the girl. Making a stunning smile appear on her face.

"Either that or it was the wind. I got it." She said taking big handfuls of the leaves and steams, throwing them back in the bin. She made quick of her work, obviously in a rush but kind enough to stay and help out the old shop keeper.

A jolt ran through the mech as the wind picked up, sending the girls hair away from her face and whisking a few loose petals into the air. It couldn't be, Soundwave thought. This was the beauty that Megatron had fallen for. As the sun hit her, a halo of light surrounded her where her hair whipped around in the air. It gave her an almost, ethereal look.

This was what humans had fought wars for.

But he had seen enough. He would have to plan better next time. Soundwave motioned for Ravage to return to him, already lost in his thoughts. The energetic whoosh of a loaded weapon sounded from behind him.

"Ahh Soundwave. Scouting out our little friend? You didn't think she wouldn't have anyone watching out for her hmm?" The cackling sound of a sickly familiar voice called out.

"I didn't take you for a babysitter." Soundwave quipped to Starscream. The mech scoffed and animatedly threw his hands to his sides.

"I am not a babysitter! I simply came to say hello to her and saw there was a spy in our midst." Starscream said matter of fact. But Soundwave didn't care. He wasn't here to petal his time with another traitor, he had plans to enact before anyone could stop him. But a part of his processor told him that stirring the metaphorical pot would be beneficial both for his mental health and for his cause

"Doesn't it get under your plating that a monster gets to just shut it all out and live the rest of his day's out on the "right side of history"? Why not just take what he thinks is his and show Megatron there is no safe place in this new world he forgot his own people in?" Soundwave could tell his words hit through to Starscream's processor. He watched the wheels turning as the mech calculated a response.

"Oh trust me it does. That's why I have my own plan." Starscream quipped. For a moment Soundwave felt impressed but knowing his old comrades ways, it would falter when he explained it. And falter it did.

"See I have a plan. Now that I can leave the farm, I plan to visit her any time I can. And then instead of her falling in love with that brute of a monster, she will start to lean on me for her affections." Starscream looked smug as he laid out his plan. Soundwave and Ravage shared a glance as the statement settled in.

"You plan on...stealing her away from Megatron...by making her fall in love with you?" Soundwave was hardly ever taken aback so that he stuttered but the absurdity of that plan almost gave him a processor-ache.

"Yes." Starscream said, proudly.

"That is the stupidest plan I've ever heard." Soundwave turned his head and started walking back through the trees to where he had been hiding out. He heard Starscream gawk behind him, moving to catch up.

"What do you think it's a little over the top? I can be very alluring you know. I've read the fan made fictions the humans have made involving me." Starscream argued, not knowing that Soundwave had brick walled him.

"I wouldn't know." He turned. "I'm not a xenophile freak." Starscream stayed rooted in place, a look of both fear, surprise, and confusion covered his face plating. Not wanting to stick around for Starscream to realize what Soundwave was implying, he quickly moved through the trees, trying to scrub the image of that human, looking like a painted angel, from his brain. There was no space in his spark for feelings towards his own kind, let alone a human. And it would stay that way until he was taken offline.