The hunter had become the hunted. Soundwave had watched his prey in perfect camouflage, once laser beak had informed him he was being followed. She had hardly noticed he had doubled back to follow her, deciding to wait for her to find the relic first so he could take it from the her. There was little point making yourself do the work when another could do it for you. He had watched silently, as the rock slide fell upon her, spontaneous, but at the right moment and by pure coincidence. The relic was revealed amongst the rocks, and Soundwave would have took it. Yet he refrained. The femme had caught his optic, trapped by the rocks. She was frustrated, and seemed to contemplate calling for help. Pride prevented such action. But he remembered another, trapped just the same...and he had had fired the shot. He had held back in confusion for a moment, as she had struggled to her feet, and talked to Ratchet, a conversation he managed to listen into. He heard her lying, ignoring her wound. Like him, the mission came first. They would both fight to the last for their beliefs. When she had pulled the weapon out of the rubble, he was done hiding. It was time to take what rightfully belonged to lord Megatron.
Arcee quickly entered a fighting stance, albeit timidly on an injured leg, the weapon she held in her left servo she held back slightly, while aiming her blaster at him. Her optics shined with determination not to loose the relic. Soundwave tilted his head slightly. Her determination reminded him of something...But he snapped back to reality. Everyone's determined when they are threatened with a fight. He concluded.
"If you want this, your have to pry it from my dead servos." She warned.
Soundwave already knew such a scenario was about to unfold. His tentacles suddenly shot forward, one grabbing her left wrist, before she could react, but she held tight to the relic. She brought her blade to slice the tentacle off, and it retracted, Soundwave pausing in pain. He quickly recovered, and she had already taken the offensive, charging at him for an attack, fighting bravely against the pain on her leg. He dodged as she fell past, falling to the floor, dropping the relic. He stepped over her and picked up the relic with his uninjured tentacle. Arcee watched, slightly embarrassed by her foolishness, as he examined the relic. So, the 'con could appreciate such finery. That was rare. He suddenly turned his gaze to her, and she tensed. She hurriedly pushed herself up, but a wrong footing on her leg brought her down again. She gasped in pain, and watched as Soundwave approached, and reached his long fingers out to her. She suddenly grabbed his own hand and used it to haul herself up, spun around into him, almost as though he had embraced her, and then suddenly brought an elbow to his visor, where it cracked viciously. He stumbled backward, and she grabbed the relic, but as she turned to flee, his tentacle wrapped around her injured leg, it's smaller components dug deeper into the wound, causing her to cry out as she fell to the ground. She brought the relic close to her frame protectively as she breathed heavily, feeling the tentacle dig deeper. Soundwave came to stand over her again. As Arcee looked up, his cracked visor suddenly shattered. Small pieces of glass littered her face, and she closed her optics momentarily. Assured that the last of the glass shards had fallen, she looked up... into red optics...sad, red optics.
Arcee stifled a gasp. She had never even imagined the mech had a face beneath, or even considered the possibility, or even the emotion...almost like he felt wounded himself...It confused her further. . The emotion strained his faceplates. They then suddenly turned to determination, as he struck her, rendering her unconscious.
Soundwave stood silently. His faceplates read a mixture of sadness and confusion, staring upon the unconscious femme. He turned to walk away, but found himself looking back. Just before he had struck her, before his visor had shattered, he thought he saw Solarlight...No. He imagined it was Solarlight. It was just Arcee....He looked around uncertainly, and then snapped himself out of it. He had the relic. Best to return to the Nemesis. But what about the femme? He looked back over his shoulder. Megatron would be pleased to see another Autobot spark extinguished. He turned to approach the femme, when she suddenly changed. White and red armour glistened, the wound on the leg gone, the familiar blue and pink armour of the Autobot femme had disappeared before him. Lying there, was Solarlight. Soundwave blinked and as his optics refocused, and the blue femme returned. I have to go back. He thought shakily as he transformed, sending a message to the insecticons to return to the ship, and leaving the injured femme behind.
