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saltysaltdog · 2 years ago

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This wasn't made for Megasound week, but in honor of it, here's a fic:

The fear comes baked in.

1700+ words.

Megatron laughed.

"Still spying on him, Soundwave?" He sauntered up behind him. "Oh, what's he doing now? Oh I see, yes I see your point," he mocked with feigned sincerity, "eating a bagel is highly suspicious behaviour. Keep your eyes on him. This one's tricky."

Soundwave shrugged him off and Megatron cackled again.

"Megatron: suddenly unaware of the risks he poses."

"Not unaware, no. Anyone can pose a risk at any given moment, you and I know that best. But I find it ridiculous that you're spending your efforts on this and not something more beneficial."

"My efforts are not wasted."

"If you say so, Soundwave. If you find the idea of risking your minicons to spy on an archivist stuffing his face worthwhile I will have to believe you." Megatron swung himself into the little alcove on top of the shelves and made himself comfortable on the bunk.

"Megatron's lack of caution will prove deadly. A better solution is to doubt everyone. Even those you think you can trust."

Megatron's breath caught for a second and thinking he'd been sufficiently warned, Soundwave turned back to watch Orion Pax in what the bot thought was a completely private corner, stuffing his face with a chalky bagel. Quite literally, as the food item was bigger than his entire helm and it made his cheeks puff out to accommodate chewing it. The scene was rather undignified for someone of his status.

"Have you ever considered that fear isn't just a consequence of functionalism, but a feature?"

This time it was Soundwave's turn to pause. He turned to look at Megatron, who gazed at him with no judgement, no spite for having challenged him; but with a stare that met him as his equal and wanted his opinion.

"Clarification needed."

Megatron hummed in that way he did when he was trying to compose a thought he'd never needed to put into words before. Soundwave hadn't heard it in a while.

"Say I am a low caste labourer," Megatron propounded, without irony. "I have an issue with my boss, my job, or any higher status cohort. Let's say I take this issue to them directly and they lash me to near death for it. Naturally I would hesitate to bring a similar issue forward ever again."

"Affirmative."

Megatron was quiet for a long moment.

"I need to reframe my argument," Megatron declared. "I made my hypothetical situation too assertive. Let's say my issue was them asking me to do something for them, like I was their servant. The outcome remains the same upon my refusal." Megatron waved his hand idly, a gesture he only did when he felt embarrassed by a mistake.

Soundwave dutifully nodded and said nothing.

"Now, with that in place: let's say that story and others like it constantly circulate the datanet. What would you expect an average worker to do when presented with a similar scenario."

"Acquiesce."

"Right? It's the safest thing to do. Now let's give the chance of this happening in reality an extremely low probability, as in, only one out of ten thousand people would ever commit violence. Even if the rest of society abhorred the behaviour and the perpetrators went to prison, the fear would remain."

Soundwave nodded.

"And without ever intending on lifting a finger, the higher castes have access to free labour from anyone of lower caste."

"Fear: a powerful tool," Soundwave agreed.

"It goes further than that," Megatron smirked grimly. "Perhaps they, the higher castes, are ignorant of the choice being made altogether. They are just asking for an innocent favour. After all, who would risk informing them? Even if all the low caste mechs stopped risking whatever scenario was most prevalent it would only be a matter of time before a new one arose; then the next."

Megatron had his hands behind his head now, bouncing his leg as he stared at the ceiling.

"Eventually there would just be a wall of fear between the two groups, with the lower caste bearing all the burden from it. And if that's the case, naturally you'd assume everyone was functionalist, and if you were targeted by that one out of a thousand, how could you imagine asking any high-caste bot for help: How could you imagine your case to be the one taken seriously when this was probably happening to everyone?"

"Soundwave: wouldn't trust anyone." He wasn't admonishing himself for it, it was just a fact.

"Yes, and that's just how insidious it is. It's logical, reasonable even. Especially if in our fear we keep our oppressor ignorant, they probably wouldn't see the issue at first and give the mistaken impression that they are just the same, even if they would never act the same way.

"If they cannot be warned, they don't know and cannot learn, they cannot recognise or act. And if they do not act, then the offences continue unhindered and functionalism goes unimpeded."

"And Megatron is certain that the probability is low." Soundwave asserted eye-contact, meeting Megatron's firm gaze again.

"They're too cowardly to even attempt it," Megatron said darkly. "Oh I have no doubts the majority fantasise about obedience or inflicting violence, but acting it out is beyond them."

Megatron held up a hand, stalling Soundwave's argument. "They don't have the reinforcement required. I'm sure if a room full of people was demanding it or if they knew nobody would ever find out, they might, but by themselves, they wouldn't know how to crack a whip and the potential reward isn't worth the attempt to learn. It's a fantasy, nothing more."

Soundwave stared at him while he tapped his finger and popped up a blank data-net search page.

"If everyone who spat slag on the net went out and did something we'd be seeing far more Iaconian labourer frames getting smelted."

He had a point.

"Megatron: will not make Soundwave like Orion Pax. He's a liability."

"So is everyone else who roams the gladiatorial pits." Megatron slid off the bunk finally and leaned on Soundwave again. "If you believe it's worth watching him on his lunch break I'll believe you," Megatron intoned his voice with something Soundwave didn't dare name. "But…" his claws played with his plating, "at least let me make fun of you for it."

Soundwave jerked his elbow back and Megatron laughed as he dodged it.

"Megatron wants to prove his theory with Pax: foolhardy. Orion Pax: ignorant, indoctrinated, indecisive."

"I don't need him to prove that the higher castes can be more than just functionalists." He stepped around to stand in front of him and put his hand on his plating: Sincere.

"I have you."

Soundwave froze, his spark spinning wildly.

"We both know what you look like under all your minicon attachments, Soundwave. If I never gave you a chance I wouldn't be able to put these kinds of things into words. I wouldn't have gotten this far without you."

"Incorrect: Megatron would have."

He chuckled, a new type of laugh, one that perhaps even expressed a certain fondness.

"You have more faith in me than I do myself, Soundwave. As always."

And there it was, what he didn't dare name Megatron did with ease.

He took advantage of Soundwave's silence and stepped even closer, leaning forwards to rest his helm on his shoulder. It was an action that left him vulnerable not only at the neck joint, but his very spark.

Megatron didn't presume to put his arms around him and Soundwave had to do it for him, suffering his warmth in the sweltering heat of Kaon.

"You don't have to believe the same things I do, Soundwave. I've always granted you that," Megatron said as he pulled back. "But get back to me on your thoughts on this, won't you?"

Soundwave nodded and Megatron returned to the bunk to rest.

Soundwave fixed his attention to Orion Pax again and tried, for a moment, to view him as Megatron must. A rather naive but particularly privileged bot who'd gone out of his way to find the largest bagel he could. Who had the sense to leave the workforce area to eat it, but not enough to rip it into smaller bite sized chunks.

Truly, a great use of resources, he thought snidely.

"Cease surveillance mode," he conceded.

Lazerbeak's wings fluttered before the minicon swooped down, squawking and startling Orion Pax into dropping his chalky bagel. Said bagel was then snatched up and Lazerbeak fled the scene.

Megatron laughed so hard he nearly fell off the bunk and quickly had to fix himself.

He ended up falling anyway with a mighty crash.

"Uhgh, stop laughing, Soundwave. It's not funny." He said, displaying the uncanny ability to tell exactly what Soundwave felt without any visual or audio cues.

"I believe it was," he teased back.

Perhaps on a smaller, more flexible faceplate the twitch Megatron displayed would have been a pout. Soundwave enjoyed the reaction anyway.

He didn't trust Orion Pax but Megatron was right: Fear was driving him to behave unreasonably. There were better targets in Iacon and more important tasks for him to directly supervise. He didn't need to follow Orion Pax on every lunch break: this wasn't going to bring any certainty to the issue.

He allowed Lazerbeak to flee with the ill-gotten snack and terminate the livestream.

"Ah, Soundwave. Orion just messaged me. Apparently-" Megatron cackled and Soundwave could guess what it said.

—

Years later, Soundwave observed Breakdown's new eyepatch with something approaching guilt. Statistically: the chance of Breakdown trying to desert had been higher than him being captured. Those stats had since been recalibrated.

It was at times like this, when mistrust led to the wrong conclusion, that Soundwave thought back on that conversation.

If he'd continued on his path, if he had obtained evidence and proved to Megatron that Orion Pax couldn't be trusted, what would have become of them?

But then, if he hadn't believed in Megatron words that day he knew he wouldn't have followed him after. That was a fact.

The thought sequence had no business existing since it always came to the same conclusion. But even so he missed the idealism their cause, Megatron, held back then.

It was something Soundwave was incapable of replicating for him.

#transformers #megatron #soundwave #megasound #megasoundweek #maccadam #aligned continuity #tfp #this was going to be attached to another fic thats not done #maybe one day ill remember ao3 exists and suffer through formatting #not today though!

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