Erie silence, his usual background music. So many failed to see how loud silence could be, and only realized it when the Decepticon TIC stepped into the room. Sometimes he was noticed, sometimes he was not. It was amusing when he wasn't, though the only one who always seemed to notice his presence was Megatron. The leader had always been aware of the other gladiator's presence, but it was to be expected, as in the Pits, one had to be constantly aware.

     The tapping of his digits on the flat, glowing keys made what Vehicons who entered the room of computers tense. Some may have had something to say, but they never drummed up the courage. He usually received short messages instead. Of this he was also amused. Soundwave had never lashed out at these clones, rarely had anything to do with them really. They simply were petrified by him and his legacy, his reputation. Silence was deadly, and it followed him.

     The tapping halted, causing a Vehicon who had come in for a file to freeze. Soundwave ignored him and stepped out of the room. He did not give many his attention, or a glance. There was always a more pressing matter at hand than socializing, something he really didn't know much about anyway. If he tried, or wanted to, he could probably hold a conversation, but speaking means not listening, not listening means missing something (possibly something important). Soundwave would rather listen and hear what others have to say. Besides, actions spoke louder than words.

     The lithe Decepticon entered another room, the Communications Room. As the Communications Office, Soundwave should spend most of his time here, but he had many tasks. He could take his work with him anyway, but the USB in his keeping was not compatible for his systems. 

         It was too old. 

Knockout shouldn't even have it, but the Medical Officer always seemed to have something everyone else doesn't. Unlike his ego. That was shared by Starscream. Megatron at times would show such a fault, but Soundwave knew better than to compare him to those two mildly idiotic mechs. Their unfortunate decisions sometimes seemed to go hand-in-hand, and it did nothing to help the Third in Command. Fixing Starscream's mistakes practically became a past time, like what humans call Football or the Olympics.

     Speaking of such beings, Soundwave watched the pictures of the three human children brighten his screen. Such odd creatures, yet not to different. Driven by hurt, love, desire, hatred. The similarities had startled the TIC at first, from governments to individual households and wars, but as he looked over their history, he realized it did not matter. Unlike Cybertronians, humans were bound to death. This was not the only thing that separated their species, of course. But it was the most intriguing to Soundwave. To him, death was merely a consequence of failure, not something utterly inevitable. Cybertronians became old, yes, but becoming one with the Allspark was a choice, for the most part.

     The three photos disappeared from the screen, only to reappear on his visor. They were at an education building. Why it was called 'school', Soundwave didn't bother to find out. He only wanted to know where this was exactly. The photos were blurry, taken by a now offlined Vehicon. He could find out where the Vehicon had been prior to taking the picture, but Knockout had failed to enter where they had been and claimed he could not remember. Meaning he had taken the Vehicon street racing as protection against getting his paint scratched. Or he didn't care to take note of where he was exactly and erased the coordinates from the Nemesis before Soundwave could search it. He was good at his work, but sometimes things passed him by. Insignificant things overall, but he did not like it.

         "Commander Soundwave, sir?"

     The mech gave no indication he was listening, only taking the USB out from the console and handing it to the Vehicon.

         -/For/Knockout/- He ordered, the Decepticon nodding and escaping as fast as respect and propriety would allow.

     Soundwave then received the message the Vehicon was going to give him. He was to watch over another mining operation due to Starscream's current injuries. The Communications Officer searched the medical files and found that the Seeker had recently been involved in a cave-in. Not surprising as he was overly incautious when ordering others around and let it get to his helm far too quickly.

     Laserbeak could do this task well enough.

     A simple, invisible command made the bird-like being transform and flip from his chassis, flying off and away through a groundbridge as the Communications Officer turned back toward the computer. Live feed of the site played at the edge of Soundwave's visor. The Miners knew what to do well enough to not need orders at all times. They did not appreciate the lack of yelling when Soundwave was there, or Laserbeak. They found it far more disconcerting when the silent optic of Soundwave was near, even through his deadly drone friend. 

     He found it amusing.

         "I see you have deemed the mine in less need of your presence." Megatron came up from behind, and Soundwave gave a nod after turning around to face his leader. "Good. You are needed elsewhere. An energon signal was detected, this holds what information you need." The grey titan gave another USB, compatible with Soundwave's systems. "I would simply send a Vehicon scout, but this is peculiar."

     Soundwave already knew what it was, having watched this signal for several Earth days now. Unlike their usual, buried mines, this one flickered to life and faded, always in the same spot. He had already known his leader was watching it as well, and merely awaited orders.

         "I will need you back before sundown." The titan announced, and slipped away elsewhere, leaving his TIC to download the information incased in the USB drive. It was nothing he already knew.

     Leaving the halls of the Nemesis into the open air of Earth's atmosphere was always an odd happening. How was it odd? Consider stepping out of a hospital room, where everything is carefully monitored and maintained for your benefit, into an area where every possible minor malady hits you at once. For a Cybertronian, that would be the possibility of rust, dirt between the gears hindering transformation, condensation within sensitive wiring and so on. Though Soundwave always admitted to himself he enjoyed the moonless, purple nights with sparse stars.

     The purple mech transformed, watched by all as they relaxed at his departure. His amusement touched Laserbeak through their bond as master and servant, making the bird-like Minicon poke fun at the mech, though it did not receive a response. Laserbeak knew his master was not one to joke often, so he took no offence. Though the smaller being did keep note of where his master was going, his suspicions confirmed as Soundwave began his decent between the pointed peaks of mountains after activating a groundbridge.

     Not often was he able to enjoy the views of Earth, but in this instance, Soundwave took a picture of the quickly setting sun (being in a different time zone) once he had transformed, sending it to Laserbeak, who cooed through their bond, always proud when Soundwave found something he liked. These moments are few, and don't last long, but Soundwave isn't one to linger on much. He wasn't going to let a view easily photographed and saved distract him from the task of finding this energon signal.

     The video feed from Laserbeak still at the corner of his visor, Soundwave brought the map of the mountains to the center and magnified his position opposed to the signal's. It had cropped up again, but it was already fading as the winds blew and the rock formations whistled. He crept closer to the signal, which pulsed back to its bright red dot on the map, and he looked around. It didn't often pulse back to its original strength while fading.

     The purple mech stared at his surroundings now pitch black, searching and waiting for this signal to show itself. The creaking of hinges caught his attention, then a tense silence before a human woman appeared in his peripheral. He dared not move after hunching near a cliff's edge, watching this rather unexpected being. Soundwave believed himself to be well hidden in the dark, but the wide-eyed look from this human female said otherwise as she stared at his now blank visor.