Cause there's something between us anyway

Starscream's musings were a curious one. Soundwave had indeed been well renowned for his mysterious nature. Most knew of him as nothing more than Megatron's most faithful follower along with the likes of Shockwave. The mech behind the synthesizer was a complete unknown, but Starscream now knew at the very least that he had history with Cybertron's High Council; was a part of it in fact. While the High Council did exist during the Golden Age of Cybertron, their beginnings had actually taken place long before the Golden Age began. Soundwave prided himself on his secrecy, but given the situation and his newfound closeness with Starscream perhaps now was a good time to feed a little more of his history into the mix. Of course, any Decepticon listening in audial range would overhear, but it was something to pass the time if anything else.

Times were changing as it was. Perhaps now was the Spymaster's time to join the club.

"I date myself with a single piece of historical knowledge. To answer bluntly.. I recall a time when Cybertronians did not know how to transform." That would be the immediate realization for Starscream of just how old Soundwave was. The Age of Wrath was a time back when Cybertronians finally learned about their T-Cogs and their ability to transform with thanks to an alien species slowly attempting to take over Cybertron. They attempted to enslave Cybertronians and ship them offworld for profit, something Soundwave himself discovered after stealing notes from Shockwave. It was then that the ideals of functionism began, and had seen the birth of the High Council led by Zeta Prime himself. "Many historical moments and biological discoveries transpired, though much lost to time. However, as those who invaded Cybertron slowly began to take root they founded what would become Cybertron's core principles. They came to us proclaiming to be emissaries to uplift Cybertron and teach us of how to better ourselves. They instilled the principles of functionism as well as the unfortunate incident of bots coming from the Well of Allsparks with no name or personality. As you already know, Megatron himself was once one of those very bots."

There was so much more Soundwave could tell, but this was not the time for such tragic tales. Soundwave sighed, recalling some of the audio recordings that he had kept from that time. None of which he wanted to play for an already stressed seeker sitting in the next cell over.

"Yes, I am older than Megatron. I came about in the early days of the Age of Wrath, tasked by Zeta himself once he was elected to find out more about the alien overlords. It was I myself who discovered their plans to use Cybertronians as a whole as free slave labor, and not just the lower castes. All of us. For now.. that is all you need know."

It wouldn't have surprised Soundwave in the least if Starscream begged for more details. That was the kind of mech he was; to bribe and badger until he'd gotten what it was that he wanted. He'd exhibited some of that behavior when the Spymaster had been captured, but to a much lesser degree than the seeker normally would. Maybe it was just exhaustion from how long he'd been stuck in this cell, or maybe it was from how much that vengeful femme had changed him.. Truthfully it was hard to say. Only Starscream knew the answer, though it was possibly that he didn't.

Though as expected the questioning did continue, but it did not take the turn that Soundwave had expected as Ravage continued to make himself comfortable. The former air commander seemed to be interested in the music of Soundwave's time of all things. The blue mech tilted his helm at first, curious about the request but wasn't prepared to dismiss it in any way. When was the last time that he'd listened to music of the old days of Cybertron? It'd been so long that he sat there in silence while rifling through his collections of music and vocal recordings over the countless stellar cycles that had passed. The list was too long honestly, but Soundwave kept all of his recordings nice and organized.

It took some time, but he eventually came across something. Audio once more filled the room as old music picked up. To Earthlings it would be the rough equivalent of classical style music mixed with electronic elements and hints of early dubstep. He stayed quiet as he let the music play, watching Starscream closely as the music played. 

Soundwave let the music play as he himself remained silent, studying Starscream's reactions carefully. He did not know how familiar the seeker would be with this music, but it wouldn't have surprised the Spymaster if he had known it. Music lasted far longer for Cybertronians than it did in human societies where things were deemed old within a matter of years. It lasted for millennia, never truly being outdone by advances for ages at a time, and even then it remained as joyful as ever.

Tears and panic was not the reaction he had expected.

Without question, Soundwave shut down the music the moment Starscream pleaded for him to do so. While he could easily attempt to peer into the other's processor to try and get into the root cause, but he opted not to. It wasn't an enjoyable thing for him to do when tensions were high all around them along with strong, negative emotions everywhere. It would give him a processor ache if he tried, and the last thing Soundwave needed right now was for the former air commander to flip out because Soundwave had tried to read his mind. With this sort of reaction, it had to have triggered something powerful. A memory possibly whether good or bad. It was hard to say.

"I shall not play that music again. I apologize. I did not anticipate such a reaction, though I believe you may not have expected it either."

So that's what it was.

It surprised Soundwave that Starscream hadn't caught on quite yet as to what was going on. The sudden sadness when listening to the music; the tears and that yearning to fly back to Cybertron.. all crystal clear signs of homesickness. Soundwave understood that fairly well. None of them felt like Earth was their home and the planet and inhabitants alike had not been so kind to them. The war was forcibly over, at least for now, and their only means of getting back home was destroyed.. along with any hope of restoring Cybertron. Just where had the AllSpark gone? Had it made it through the space bridge or had it fallen victim and was destroyed with it? The chances of ever knowing were slim to none, and with the space bridge destroyed that meant that any coordinates to Cybertron were lost as well.

There was literally no going home. It was essentially lost to them now.

But that didn't mean they had to give up hope. There was still a chance that one day they could return home, and there was also a chance (even if small) that the AllSpark could be found intact.

"You yearn for Cybertron. For Vos. That is the only explanation." It made perfect sense to the Spymaster. "Your spark aches for that which is out of reach not only to you, but to us all. That which was robbed from us by the Prime and.. him. I know not if we shall ever be able to return one day, but if that day comes where we have the chance I would very much like to return. With you."

Soundwave knew homesickness all too well. He missed Cybertron greatly, but there was no way they were going to get back home any time soon. Even if they managed to get a working space bridge and find the coordinates to get back to Cybertron, the lack of AllSpark was going to be the ultimate deciding factor on whether they could live there or not. If they could find it that would be ideal, but regardless they were only in this situation because of Megatron.

Fragging.. Megatron.

The Spymaster growled as he thought of him.

But this wasn't about their former leader's betrayal right now. Right now it was just Soundwave, Starscream and Ravage.. and everyone else who could listen in with the cages so close to one another. Poor Skullcruncher on the other side of their cages was probably ready to bash his own helm in at this point. They only had each other until the perfect opportunity could present itself for them all to break out, and having Soundwave in here was probably the greatest asset they had. He could let Ravage loose and she could scope out the place. Still, that didn't do anything for the present moment and certainly didn't do anything to help Starscream's current mood.

"I vow this. We will not know what awaits us until the moment of our return to Cybertron.. but should it probe to not be habitable, we shall find another place to call home. While not the same, we will make due with what we can to make it what we need it to be. Cybertron is not a place. It is a people." As if he hadn't stolen a line from a film Frenzy had forced him to watch, but it was still fitting anyway. Any place could become a home if one forced it to be.

Besides.. Earth wasn't so bad. It had elephants.