Spoiler And! Bumblebee has already worked directly with Ravage to undermine the overarching decepticon establishment! Before, Ravage was breaking and entering because of decepticon infighting, but if Bumblebee was down for helping with clandestine sketchy activities before, he's absolutely going to be down with it now. Also, did the triplechangers abscond? I think they did, but I'm too lazy to check. Bumblebee was pretty much running the enforcer office before, and that isn't work that stops just because of city unrest, and he'd have a LOT of power in his hands if his nominal masters have buggered off. Plus Ravage probably got a better idea of how ugly things are turning than any of the other symbiotes, and given his thing with Bumblebee, he'd have the best background to nudge Soundwave towards that weak point.
Spoiler Triplechangers did pull a runner, but I'm pretty sure that they left him behind like the Seekers left theirs. It just wasn't discovered until after the fact because no one bothered to check. Hell, I wonder if part of the reason why city is running even as nominally as it is is because of Bumblebee.
hey. hey. teeny tiny update. Spoiler IT BEGINS!!!!!!! IT!! BEGINS!!!!!!! important new jazz soundtrack below Spoiler edit: Spoiler: petty complaints about a commenter ohh my god 12_drakon shut uuuup theyre always talking like jazz is going to get ~revenge~ on soundwave, like there's gonna be some awful poetic justice at the end for him, like?? jazz is not you, friendo, jazz isn't out to fuck soundwave over?? friend. friend he cares about him. like yes there are going to be some massive changes once jazz is For Real Free, yes soundwave is gonna have to get with the new program quick and it's gonna be a steep learning curve, no jazz is not going to intentionally fuck soundwave over for ~~justice~~, and he's especially not going to do anything that fucks over the cassettes like have you been reading the same story as me?? shush (their comments make me twitchy. okay im done i just really needed to complain for a second)
Spoiler HGGH THIS Spoiler Like, it always grates on me when people do comments like 'haha then character does THIS' when it just... completely disregards the obvious characterization and things that are right there on the page. But then I get so uncomfortable when it's an ongoing story and it feels like they're trying to lean on the author to turn the story in this direction. Especially for this story, when it's all about the growing compassion and understanding between the two leads. Like, the slavery thing is a Big Deal. But Jazz still learned to care about Soundwave around that, and even if he's still trying to assert his boundaries and hold onto his personhood, that caring isn't going to poof away when he finally gets free. There will be shakeups, but if he's like 'okay jazz is a free elf btw let me screw over you and your family for REVENGE', that's going to be the most unsatisfying ending since... the Starscream/OP where OP recovered from his amnesia and told Starscream to fuck off and Starscream went back to his abuser :T The whole turning point for Jazz in this was when he started seeing the person behind Soundwave's... Soundwave. And a big part of that was seeing how affected Soundwave was by what happened to Blaster's cassettes. And he sees how much Soundwave loves his family, and what Soundwave does to protect the people he cares about, and this all affects Jazz. Maybe at the start he would have been happy to dick over all the Decepticons, Soundwave included, but I think that by this point a lot of Jazz's internal conflict is how he can dick over the Decepticons without Soundwave and his family taking the fall. He's defending them when he's talking to the other Autobots, he's throwing himself at Megatron to protect Soundwave, he wistfully talks about how he wishes the Autobots could have gotten to Soundwave first. Jazz and Soundwave versus the world is an outright thing. Blah, sorry. Just. Yeah, frustrating comments. Especially since Soundwave finally reached the tipping point with Megatron, and he's finally putting Jazz and his family above his loyalty to Megatron. And if even Megatron can see that Jazz loves Soundwave, it's pretty clear that Jazz is going to side with him as much as he's able. I'm sure the slavery thing will still be an issue, plus what's going on with all the other enslaved Autobots, but that's just conflict to work through while there's a solid emotional core to motivate them to work through it instead of going off into conflict/revenge/etc. I live for this kind of plot. I'm so stoked to see Jazz assert himself as an independent, free mech while still caring so deeply for Soundwave, and Soundwave trying to adjust to this new kind of relationship where there isn't a carrier/cassette or a commander/subordinate hierarchy to give him structure.
thank god i am not the only one grinding my teeth at this commenter...... every single time!!! every single update, there they are!!! (relevant: i have seen them around on ao3, and their jazz/soundwave stories tend to end with soundwave Getting What's Coming To Him, And Then Some) (they really don't seem to like soundwave very much???)
In other news, you can get this on society6 as a giant shower curtain or a duvet cover, and I am. Unreasonably tempted.
Yeah, I think I will probably be avoiding their soundwave/jazz stories :T Revenge-flavored shippy stories leave a bad taste in my mouth unless I'm looking for something upsetting, and with Soundwave, that's not what I'm after. I need the good son to be happy. I need people to appreciate him past his cold exterior. I need people to see the amount of depth he has behind that flat affect. This is very important to me. on the other hand maybe now i am sufficiently spite-motivated to start poking at this ship myself Iiiiiii definitely own that on a tank top, and it's all thanks to this fic. And as a pillow, though I bought that in a sleep-deprived haze and don't even remember doing the thing and also it doesn't match my established sofa pillows, so I'm Conflicted about it (full disclosure: in a fit of sleep-deprived passion, I bought... three soundwave pillows. i shouldn't have bought any of them. i don't know what happened). But now I have had this picture as part of my decor, so I feel bad about eliminating it as being part of my decor, and brain, why. I'm full up on showers curtains and duvets, but that laptop sleeve is seriously tempting me.
I've read a series with a similar premise, actually, but it was Soundwave/brainwashed!Prowl/Jazz. Jazz flips the two of them and the cassette family off and walks out at the end once he gets what he wanted, and for that fic it was an okay ending! The author made it pretty clear throughout from Jazz's perspective that he had little of the connection with Soundwave that we see in TGWP and wanted to stick it to Soundwave right where it hurts as revenge for the Decepticons brainwashing Prowl. It was vicious and harsh, and it worked. But then the second fic in the series...is about Jazz reconciling with them, years later. Like, this author could not make up their mind, and while I liked the brainwashed!Prowl premise+subsequent plot developments, Jazz's flip flop in the second fic soured me on the whole thing :T
yes yes yes THIS, exactly this, i need everyone to PLEASE get to know soundwave and grow to Love him, he is a Good Boy. my Soundwave Thing is much like my Whirl Thing, like i dont necessarily need to see him getting shipped with anyone in particular, i just need to see people.... Seeing him. not taking him at face value. seeing his layers and appreciating him for them!!!! ATTN FIC WRITERS: APPRECIATE MY SONS
