Chapter Text
He had observed the Anomaly first begin precisely four Earth rotations ago.
The footage Laserbeak had recorded about the autobot base for the past four cycles had revolved around the same, singular, unimpressive bot: Beachcomber.
The first time Laserbeak had brought exclusive footage of the pacifist autobot, Soundwave had simply but sternly reminded her that her role among the Decepticon ranks was pivotal and could not afford any form of weakness. Whatever it had been that had drawn Laserbeak to record Beachcomber, Soundwave had not been able to understand, even after reviewing the footage more than eight times. She had chittered softly, apologized, and promised to do better.
The following cycle, Laserbeak's footage had, once again, revolved around the pacifist autobot. This time, instead of him at the laboratory, reading off a datapad while sat on Perceptor's desk as the lead scientist worked at his own terminal, the footage had been taken among the planet's natural world. There had been nothing of use once again. The footage revolved around Beachcomber going about routine geological exploration of the rocky terrain surrounding the Ark. There was nothing of true substance. Hound had joined by the latter part of the recording and Soundwave had watched with an unamused optic how the hologram specialist greeted Beachcomber with a tight hug that had swept the smaller blue bot off his pedes.
Soundwave had questioned Laserbeak's insistence on following the mini-bot once again. She had, once again, apologized for her transgression. Soundwave had not missed the way in which she had not promised to not make the same mistake later.
Because Laserbeak's processor had clearly been glitching, Soundwave assigned Ravage to accompany her fellow cassette and make sure that the pertinent information was recovered from the autobot's base.
On the third cycle, when Soundwave received his two cassettes within his alt-mode, he expected all mistakes to have been corrected and for the footage Laserbeak acquired under Ravage's direction to be useful for the Cause. Even if Laserbeak had been malfunctioning, Ravage had never failed him. And with Ravage's resolute instruction, Laserbeak would, without a doubt, bring in the kind of information they needed to destroy the autobots once and for all.
He had been wrong.
On the third cycle, Laserbeak and Ravage returned with footage of Beachcomber getting carried around by the overconfident Hot Rod. The footage had been focused with extreme care; Soundwave knew the way Laserbeak would observe things she considered to be truly important in comparison to what she knew was mundane and unimpressive. And she had made sure to record Beachcomber's halfhearted struggles and Hot Rod's bright, loud laughter with the care as if she had just discovered the autobot's most recent plans to attack the Nemesis.
He had been disappointed. He had become concerned because, through their telepathic connection, he had not been able to feel even the faintest threads of confusion or apology from either of his cassettes for failing on their mission. But, most important of all, he had finally noticed the pattern Laserbeak had observed in the Ark pertaining to Beachcomber.
In the first recording, Beachcomber had accompanied Perceptor in lab work, sitting at the scientist's desk like some overgrown adornment. In the second, he had been hugged by Hound and then followed closely by him joining his geological explorations. And now Hot Rod had carried Beachcomber around the Ark, hugging him much like he'd seen human children carrying beloved stuffed animals; clutching Beachcomber tight to his chassis while keeping him far and away from any other autobot servos.
The way Hot Rod had been carrying Beachcomber had even reminded him of the way he had once seen Frenzy carry a turbo fox pup before the creature's creator had caught up to him. This had taken place on Cybertron, but the memory remained clear in Soundwave's database.
Laserbeak and Ravage had not been apologetic for their slight for it had not been a slight at all.
Even though Soundwave did not know why the autobots seemed suddenly overtly friendly with their resident pacifist, he knew that it must have meant something. If Ravage and Laserbeak had insisted upon acquiring this footage- if Ravage, his most loyal, most competent, most successful cassette had believed it necessary to document, then Soundwave had been wrong to assume Laserbeak had disappointed him.
The following cycle, Soundwave had dedicated his time to analyzing the footage from the past three cycles that pertained to Beachcomber. He had scoured through every frame, mapping out the most pertinent details about the mini-bot's character, his reactions, his behaviors, and what he must have meant for the autobots.
And by the end of that cycle, Soundwave had compiled the necessary data into one comprehensive file that he knew would be used by the leader of the decepticons to create his next major plan to take down the autobots.
Laserbeak let out a quiet chirp, inquisitive in tone even as it remained quiet, from her perch on his shoulder. At his feet, Ravage dozed, optics shuttered and processor running on a slowed speed- but not truly in recharge, as she never trusted the world to allow her to recharge safely if she was not firmly within Soundwave's docking.
In equal silence, Soundwave lifted his servo to softly pet at Laserbeak's helm, scratching with gentle digit tips at the spot above her forehelm.
Through their bond, he sent soothing pulses of his apology. He had assumed only the worst of his second oldest and he had been foolish in his blindness.
Laserbeak's own pulse was warm and content in return, letting Soundwave know that she held no grudge over how shortsighted he had been; how brash he had been.
Even though peace talks had begun to take shape, Soundwave knew Megatron would not want to fully allow an agreement between the autobots and decepticons to take place if he could avoid it. With resources dwindling for both sides, with the endless millennia of war finally catching up to him, there was a growing air of treaty taking over that Soundwave knew better than to ignore. But Decepticons had not fought and had their sparks snuffed for surrender.
He did not know what Beachcomber meant to the autobots and why it was only just now that this effect seemed to be taking place. But he knew a fracture when he saw it- and Beachcomber had clearly turned into the autobots most recent vulnerability the decepticons could exploit.
And exploit they would.