"This is going to be fun," Soundwave 
boasts.  "I haven't had this
much dirt on anyone in a long time."  The communicator lets out a sinister
cackle of devious glee, which seems strangely uncharacteristic of his
melodic voice.

	"What have you heard?" a distraught Thundercracker demands.  At
that, the entire treasonous conversation he had just had with Dead End is
replayed from Soundwave's chest, and Thundercracker sinks back and leans
against the wall in defeat.  He glances towards his Stunticon confidant,
who has slumped down into a heap in the corner of the room, mumbling
semi-audibly.

	"I knew it, I knew it, this was inevitable," Dead End murmurs, once
again being enveloped in all-too-familiar depression.  "I knew it was
pointless..."

	Thundercracker looks at the monkeywrench in his plans and struggles
to voice his thoughts.

	"How did you... how could you... how did you find us?"

	Soundwave crosses his arms in triumph and leans back smugly against
the wall.

	"You are indeed a fool, Thundercracker.  We've been on this planet
together for quite some time now, and I would think that you would know me
better than you seem to.  It takes the grandest of imbeciles to try to
radio a secret message when I am only a few short steps away.  I hear
EVERYTHING, traitor, and soon Megatron will hear it all as well."
Soundwave pauses, and seems to smirk at Thundercracker, who looks as if he
knows exactly what's coming.

	"That is, unless....." Soundwave trails off, knowingly.

	The fuel pump of a blackmailer.  The rumors come back into
Thundercracker's mind.


	--*I AM a fool.  I know all about this guy, but I'm stupid enough
to walk into my doom anyway.  Why did I have to get so eager?  Why didn't I
think this through completely before telling anyone?  And if I had, would
it have mattered?  Rumor has it he can read your mind, too.  Now, I'm
trapped.  I'm gonna have to kowtow to this bastard for eons just to keep
this out of Megatron's hands.  If I rub him the wrong way at all, he'll run
off and spill his diodes, and another one of the Aerial Elite gets smote.
Cripes, what's the point.....?*--


	"What's the point of all of this?" mutters Dead End, echoing
Thundercracker's thoughts.  "Walked right into this.  There is no escape,
there is no way out, there is no hope for anything.  Now my inevitable
demise is bumped up a year or two on the schedule, most likely at the hands
of my illustrious commander.  Everything is horrible..."

	"Calm down, Dead," Thundercracker says, noticing that Dead End's
usual existential ramblings have taken on a jittery, nervous undertone.
"Remember, you're a Stunticon.  You're too valuable to be destroyed."

	"Well then... I guess I'll just be reprogrammed and wiped of my
current personality.  That would make more strategic sense, now wouldn't
it?  It doesn't matter, I was doomed anyway."  Thundercracker listened to
Dead End and began to think that, despite his forlorn and omnipresent
depression, he likes the way he looks at things.  Perhaps he finds some
comfort in his belief that nothing matters; maybe it frees him from all
responsibility.  And when reprogramming occurred to him, the resulting
uncertainty about life that would undoubtedly resurface, especially after
years of being secure in his beliefs, was probably the worst thing he could
imagine.

	"Silence, Dead End," Soundwave spits, cutting off Thundercracker's
analysis.  "You will be dealt with separately.  Laserbeak, eject."

	Soundwave's chest plate opens up, and a cassette pops out and
transforms into the Decepticon interrogator.  He flies up and perches on
Soundwave's shoulder, who turns his head to face him.

	"Escort Dead End back to his fellow Stunticons; they should be
meeting to discuss their assignments soon.  Do not let him out of your
sight, and do not inform anyone of what has happened yet.  I have some...
negotiating to do first."  At that, the condor floats over and glares Dead
End in the optics, and the Stunticon bows his head in defeat and moves
towards the door.  Taking one last glance at Thundercracker, he speaks.

	"It doesn't matter what you do, Thundercracker.  Purpose is not to
be found here."

	"Enough jabber, traitor, let's go!"  Laserbeak caws, and Dead End
trudges dejectedly out the door, leaving Thundercracker alone with
Soundwave, who strolls casually over to where his victim stands.

	Thundercracker looks up at his personal chaos-bringer, and asks,
"What do you want from me?  Do I clean your gun?  Do I polish your feet?
Do I--"

	He is cut off by the sudden impact of Soundwave's fist into his
face.  Thundercracker jerks back and slams against the wall, caught
completely offguard.   The communicator then grabs his prey by the
shoulders and pounds him against the wall again, this time holding him
against it with crushing strength.  He leans his face forward until his
glowing red optic slit is inches from Thundercracker's startled face.
After an unnervingly drawn-out staredown, he speaks.

	"I'm going to do you a favor.  I'm going to beat some sense into you."

	"Wh-what?"

	"Let me explain," Soundwave says with another quick slam against
the wall.  "You see, fool, my position in the army, although quite eminent,
does not really allow me the opportunity to engage in any form of conflict
often enough to suit my tastes.  And you know, I do so enjoy inflicting
pain."  He punctuates this by flinging Thundercracker across the room and
embedding him into some outdated machinery that the room has been used to
store.

	"So," he continues, "rather than mention my dissatisfaction to
Megatron, which even a dolt like you should realize is suicide, I've
concluded that what I require is some form of ventilation for my
aggressions; a 'punching bag,' if you will."  Soundwave strolls, casually
and mockingly, over to where Thundercracker stirs and attempts to shake off
this beating, and kicks him in the face, drawing a cry of pain that
delights the torturer.

	"And you, my comrade," he says, lifting his victim up by the sides
of his head, "with your foolishly audible snide remarks, and your newly
discovered Autobot sympathies, have just volunteered to be that punching
bag.  And perhaps some continuous exposure to... my particular brand of
justice may just help you to realize the error of your thoughts."  He then
yanks Thundercracker's head down and brings his knee up at the same time,
and with a chip-rattling crash the two collide, causing the battered
Decepticon to collapse to the ground, groaning in agony.

	"You see, I couldn't do this with Dead End," he drones on, "because
he is a part of a tightly-knit group that would notice repeated beatings
and damage to him, thus eliciting a host of niggling inquiries that would
serve to ruin everything in the long run.  But with you, and your relative
independence, it should prove much less complicated to keep this between
the two of us."  He lifts Thundercracker's` face up to meet his glare.

	"And besides, I hate you a lot more."

	Soundwave then jerks Thundercracker's head back against the wall
and watches him fall again.

	"And if you do happen to mention this to anyone else, just remember
two things.  Number one: you are not likely to find much compassion for an
Autobot sympathizer such as yourself, seeing as how you'll have to explain
that part of this situation to your chosen confidant.  Number two: when
word gets back to me that you've let this secret out, and believe me, it
will, Laserbeak talks to Megatron.  And although it may deprive me of my
punching bag, it will give me the most exquisite pleasure of listening to
the two of you, Dead End and yourself, whimper and scream in protest as you
are both strapped down to be completely reprogrammed, if you happen to be
spared Megatron's murderous wrath.  It will be the grandest of joys to hear
that pathetic pleading and grovelling die out into the silent, mournful
acceptance of the impending destruction of your free will."

	Soundwave pauses for a moment, delighting in the power he now
wields over the quivering metallic being that lies before him.

	"Ponder that, slave."


	--*Ugh.  This pain is... horrible.  And that's not even the worst
part of all of this.  This BASTARD... He's supposed to be emotionless and
calculating... I had no idea he was this bloodthirsty.  Imagine the number
of beings that have died at his hands, having their doom spelled out in
that annoyingly pleasant musical hum of his.  Sing me my plight,
Soundwave...  and he's right.  There's no way out of this, and if I try,
it'll cost Dead End's mind as well as my own.  How did I let this happen?
Why did I bring Dead End into this... this misguided treason?  Is this how
I'm going to live out the rest of my life-- killing things and then
reporting to my regularly scheduled beating?  I can't handle this.  I can't
LIVE like this...*--


	Thundercracker struggles to get up on his feet, to regain some
shred of the dignity that has been bludgeoned from him by his new master.
He stands on shaky legs as he tries to straighten himself up and recuperate
from the first installment of what is to be his living hell.  As he looks
up at Soundwave, the communicator's optics glow demon red once again, and
Thundercracker begins to notice a dissonant buzz in his head.  Apart from
the disquiet generated in his cerebral circuitry by the beating he's
endured, this new buzz slowly begins to increase in intensity.  Detecting a
vibration from Soundwave's shoulder armament, Thundercracker realizes what
is happening.

	Soundwave steps closer as the noise grows louder, disrupting
Thundercracker's thought processes.  He begins to laugh wickedly, watching
his new minion buckle and clutch his head in pain.  Just audible over the
buzz comes the voice of the master.

	"Let me hear you scream!"

	Thundercracker involuntarily obliges as the buzz escalates into an
insufferable screech, forcing him to his knees.  Under this extreme
torture, logical thought can find no place within his mind.  Writhing in
agony under this horrid onslaught, his higher brain functions cannot
operate, forcing him to reach down to the core of his being, and bringing
out the most instinctive, primal reaction-- the need to survive.  The pain
threshold has been found, and he can no longer suppress his natural
response to defend himself.

	With a scream that Soundwave doesn't realize is a battle cry rather
than a helpless plea until much too late, Thundercracker brings his weapons
online, shuts off his optics, and unleashes his firepower on his tormentor.

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