Resourceful

[niyazi-a.livejournal.com]

PG
IDW: Megatron Origin
Soundwave/Ratbat
possibly spoilers for Megatron Origin?

Written for tf_rare_pairing  prompt "Soundwave/Ratbat: resources denied"

 

Ratbat raged.  He knew it was useless, but even so. He’d never been one to tolerate having his will crossed. The slightest speedbump in his plans had driven him into screaming rages in the past…when he could scream. When mechs trembled to hear his fury, shook before his gaze.

 And this was more than a simple difficulty in implementing one of his many, many plans.  This was…the death knell of all of his ambitions.

His plans.  His future. His BODY, for frag’s sake! Gone.  Gone and betrayed and taken from him. From the one mech he’d trusted.

That showed what brutal folly trust was.

Soundwave, whose logic he had mistaken for transparency, had deceived him.  A book so open he hadn’t bothered to read it.  Soundwave had never questioned, never second-guessed, never hesitated, no matter how heartless the task.

He should have known, Ratbat realized, in that sudden flash of insight that comes when it’s too late. He should have known Soundwave was unprincipled: the bland way the mech had carried out all of his instructions should have told the tale. Not with glee or pleasure, but with an unflappable competence entirely separate from morals.

A mech without morals could not be trusted.  By anyone.

And Ratbat, above all, should have known this.  The architect of instability should have known better than to lean on anyone.

A moment of blindness; an impulse to trust. One slip in a lifetime of single-minded ambition. He’d been thinking that he was so powerful, so commanding, that somehow he was immune to betrayal, deluded by his own groomed omnipotence, his own propaganda.  He’d bought into his self-fashioning. 

And this was the price: reduced, diminished, to a tiny, helpless body.  One currently crammed into a pathetic alt mode, unable to retransform in the cramped space, unable to move. Unable to do anything but rage helplessly at Soundwave, at fate.

Finally, his silent shrieking must have penetrated Soundwave’s frame. Or, Soundwave had simply un-forgot his presence.

“Ratbat,” the voice rumbled, deeper and larger than Ratbat’s entire, puny new form, echoing through the darkness, without form or center.

“Senator Ratbat,” Ratbat howled.  He threw himself back and forth with all the force in his body.  It felt as if…nothing moved. Impotent even to move. 

“You are no longer senator.” The same impassive voice that chilled Ratbat to his core. 

“Look. What do you want? I have money.  Scads of it. Stored away. Places no one would ever find.” He felt his panic and anger’s heat blazing against Soundwave’s chill calm.

“Money has no value to me.”

“Power, then. Everyone wants power!”  Ratbat scanned the darkness, trying to find some focus, something to pin down, get a read on, negotiate against.  If he could find a face, he could find something to react with.   “Even your Megatron wants power. I can—I can help him get it.”

“You will help him get it,” Soundwave corrected.

“…for a price,” Ratbat said. Negotiate. Manipulate. Never lose an edge. Control the chaos, Ratbat. You’ve been doing this for…ages.  You’ve managed, twisted, held the reins.  You have something, SOMETHING he needs, or he wouldn’t have done this, wouldn’t have kept you alive at all. Use that. Use it against him. Leverage. Even from the smallest chink. 

“The price,” Soundwave said, coolly, “is your continued existence.”

No.  Ratbat forced himself calm.  Recognizing the power of Soundwave’s bland calm, against which his white hot rage could make no mark.  Fight fire with fire. And ice…with ice. 

“I can be…very useful.  And then,” he said, forcing his voice neutral, dead, “we can renegotiate.” You have a resource. You ARE a resource. Your knowledge. Your connections. Your hard-won ability to spin intrigue. Deny them this resource, parcel it out.  Take control.

Ratbat held himself tightly in his cassette form, hugging the ember of his new strategy to him.  Cybertron was changing, and if he stopped and thought, he was its ultimate cause.  He, not Megatron. His decision to automate the mines. His decision to arm the gladiators. His. 

His frame’s size was insignificant. Too small to hold all his power, all its reach.  But there was a power that transcended frame.  And he would wield it again, let the big useful idiots, the miners, the thugs, worry about size and safety. He would rule this world. 

His first step was to master Soundwave.

“We shall see,” Soundwave said, impassively.

Indeed we shall.

 

Comments

[oni-gil.livejournal.com]

Hnnnng. He deserves it. >D

[niyazi-a.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Ratbat was a bastard and a half. I can't imagine he settled in well to his new condition.

Glad you liked!

[oni-gil.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you've gotten Megatron Origin under your belt. I harbor a special hatred towards Ratbat (that's what happens, I suppose, when you use a character as a major antagonist in a fic) but at the same time I love to see him in fics coming from the comicverse. (Especially when he's suffering. Muaha.)

...now that I think about it, I don't think that I've actually commented on one of your fics before, but I've been lurking around here enjoying them for quite some time. I'll have to fix that!

[niyazi-a.livejournal.com]

No, I think this is the first time you've commented. Fair enough though: I think I've barreled through most of your stuff and never commented once. ;_; My apologies. Normally I'm just incoherent with flail and can't say anything intelligent and don't want to sound like a total derp.

[oni-gil.livejournal.com]

AFKLAHFGA really?! W-woooow... *starry-eyed*

[ultharkitty.livejournal.com]

That was exactly what I needed to read first thing this morning :D I loved the interactions between Soundwave and Ratbat in MO, and it's so great to read such a well-written and thoughtful fic exploring the next stage between the two of them.

Icon says it all.

[niyazi-a.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked! I do like Soundwave a lot in MO. And Ratbat is deliciously greasy. I can't really feel that bad for him.

[okkkkay.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm I love this.