Holy shiznit, finally! An Update for this bunny!
Title: A look can be deceiving. A touch can be lethal.
Chapter: 02
Previous Chapters: 01
Rating: PG-13 - Pre-Earth.
Pairings: Eventual Prowl x Jazz Implied Inferno x Red Alert, more to come later.
Characters: Ratchet, Optimus Prime, First Aid, Swoop, Sludge, Snarl, Aerialbots, Jazz & Silverstreak (You know who Silverstreak really is *winkwink*).
Summary: The Special Operations squad of Optimus Prime's elite unit have some of the most interesting jobs. The head of the squad, Jazz, is going to learn the hard way 'Looks can be deceiving' and sometimes even 'the best' could use some help.
Notes: Jazz mission is turning out to be more than he bargained for.
Thanks to nkfloofiepoof for beta reading this for me.
Things were turning out to be easier than Jazz had expected --a bit too easy for his taste. Only a couple of inexperienced guards in his way, and once they were dispatched, his way to the laboratory was clear.
This was disturbingly easy, and the saboteur knew better than to let his guard down when things were turning out so favorable. Not only was it highly suspicious that he only found a couple of guards on his way, but it was also suspicious that he hadn't seen any other mechs all over the facilities. All of sudden, this place had turned into an abandoned laboratory.
That was fine by Jazz's book, the less mechs inside at the time of the explosion, the less casualties there would be. But a sudden disappearance of the workers of the facilities and other more experienced guards and soldiers rarely occurred. Jazz couldn't shake the feeling something was going on, and he was standing on the edge of a laser knife.
When he reached the laboratory, the saboteur found a series of disks arranged neatly over one of the tables at the far end of the room. Cautiously, Jazz looked around the lab and made his way towards the stack of disks. Raising an optic ridge behind his visor, the Autobot realized the disks contained copies of all the information and data produced in the laboratory up to precisely that orn. It was almost like someone had prepared them for him to take. Jazz wasn't liking this one bit.
Regardless, the saboteur subspaced the stack of disks and scanned the lab, going through some data pads and collecting those he considered might be of any use, even if it could be just duplicated information. After a few breems, Jazz finally began to place the explosives Wheeljack gave him, deciding that, since there were few mechs left in the facility and the labs were fairly away from the location of the unconscious bodies, he could just blow the laboratory away completely. "Five charges should do the trick," he told himself.
After installing the gadgets, Jazz activated the counter on the detonator. "Five breems ta get my aft outta here. Jazz grabbed his rifle and prepared to beat a hasty retreat until he took notice of something in one of the walls of the laboratory. "What the slag is this?"
The saboteur brushed his black digits along what appeared to be a diminutive arrow burned into the steel plates of the walls with what Jazz assumed to be acid. Following the direction of the arrow, Jazz found an almost imperceptible seam along the wall in the shape of a door. "Okay, this is gettin' freaky."
After fiddling with the apparent door for a few kliks, Jazz managed to find the lock concealed against the side of one of the machines flanking the door. There was a soft click, and suddenly, the door opened, revealing a dark passage where a dim light could be seen at the far end. Jazz looked over his shoulder to the collection of explosives and considered his options for a moment before he decided to go in and investigate.
Jazz followed the path down the hallway, turning his sensors to maximum. This section of the facilities was not on the map Smokescreen and Red Alert provided him, and the feeling of intentionally being lead there by something or someone was nagging more and more in the back of his CPU. This mission was quickly escalating high onto his list of the creepiest missions he'd ever gone through.
"An' I have less than 4 breems to get my aft outta here before 'Jack's bombs detonate. Lucky me," Jazz snorted, pulling his rifle up as he looked around, finally reaching the end of the hall and what appeared to be the door of a concealed containment cell. It wasn't the same type of cell used in the brig --no energy bars to contain the prisoners. The material was rusting, and Jazz was certain, if given enough time, the whole thing would fall apart on its own. The saboteur gave a quick glance around before he shot the door open and stepped carefully into the cell. What he found there was completely beyond anything he could have expected. Five prisoners -or what Jazz assumed to be prisoners- were laying against the walls of the dilapidated containment cell, each one sporting varying levels of damage. Some still had dried energon stains over their battered frames. "Primus..."
Wasting no more time, Jazz approached the nearest mech who was primarily white, yellow and red, though much of his lower half was covered in dried up energon. Jazz's scanners indicated the subject to be functioning, albeit barely. "What in Cybertron's name happened t'these guys?"
"Ughh..." the mech groaned softly and twitched lightly when he felt Jazz's hands over his shoulders.
"Hey, glad t'see ya online." Jazz smiled a little, relieved to see at least one of the mechs online.
"W-Who are you?"
"Autobot Special Operations Agent." Jazz tilted his head, hoping the other mech would understand he couldn't give out his designation just like that.
"An Autobot!" The other mech tried to stand up but was stopped by his restraints.
"Hey, calm down. Ya're all still bound ta the walls. " Jazz nodded towards the other mechs laying on the ground. "So, tell me your designation an' why are ya here an' I'll take care of the bonds."
"I'm Silverbolt." The mech nodded and gestured towards the other mechs in the room. "Shockwave brought m-me... and these other mechs here to experiment with. Gestalt... project."
Jazz's lip components pulled back into what Silverbolt assumed to be a frown. Shockwave could be quite an unpleasant mech Silverbolt knew first hand. He still didn't know what, exactly, Shockwave had done to him and these four other mechs.
"All right, look, this place is gonna blow very soon, and we gotta get you and your cell mates out of here as soon as possible. Think you can stand and walk on your own?" Jazz pulled a small instrument out of a compartment near his wrist and reached to undo Silverbolt's restrains.
"I think I can, but I can't promise I'll be fast." The mech rubbed his wrists as soon as they were freed, beginning to regain a little strength.
"One less mech to carry is always a pro." Jazz finished removing the restrains and rushed to the next mech and scanned him, frowning as his readings indicated how close to stasis lock this mech was. "This one's really bad."
"Shockwave's grunts did a number on him. He was really aggressive. I believe his name is Air Raid." Silverbolt remembered that one mech had managed to beat at least four of the guards before Shockwave summoned the heavyweights to take care of him.
"Well, he's really bad. Here, help me get the others free - we're runnin' out o' time." The saboteur tossed the small instrument to Silverbolt, and, against his personal policies, called for help. "Autobase, do ya copy?"
"Autobase here; this is Blaster."
"Blaster, I need Ratchet an' First Aid to meet me at the coordinates I'm transmitting." Jazz undid the restrains around the mech.
"This is unusual. Are you all right, Jazz?"
"I'm all right, but I found somethin' we weren't expectin' at the facilities. We've got prisoners here, an' they need medical attention as quickly as possible." Jazz transmitted the coordinates, far enough from the facilities once the bombs exploded and close enough to Autobot territory for Ratchet and First Aid to travel safely.
The saboteur turned around to see the other three mechs were on their feet, albeit wobbly and visibly weakened. "Alright, mechs, we gotta get movin' if we wanna make it out before this place goes to the pit - follow me!" Jazz picked up Air Raid and headed out of the cell as fast as he could, checking his internal chronometer to see how much time they had left before the explosives detonated --only two and a half breems left.
"Ugh... What in Cybertron's name is going on here?" a primarily black and red mech asked, not too happy about being rushed out without much of an explanation.
"We're being freed, that's what's going on." Silverbolt helped a mech with an orange face plate and visor who was barely able to maintain himself on his feet. The remaining mechs nodded and followed after Silverbolt and the black and white mech.
Primus! I hope we can make it out in time! Jazz thought.
Despite their best efforts, the damaged mechs couldn't go very fast, and by the time they reached the lab, Jazz's chronometer indicated only two breems remained. He calculated they would need at least three to get out of the facilities before the explosion that was certain to shake the structure badly even if it wouldn't damage the first four sectors. Jazz only hoped he could make it to one of said sectors before the explosion.
So concerned with his current thought process and rallying the prisoners out of the lab, Jazz didn't see something was off with the counter of the bombs --instead of two breems, the counter indicated three and a half.
It took exactly a little under three and a half breems for Jazz and his unexpected companions to exit the facilities, and no sooner had the saboteur stepped through the doors did an explosion shake the ground, sending the six 'bots tumbling and falling on said ground.
"That was close!" the mech with the orange faceplate mumbled and rubbed his head, ignoring the trickle of energon falling from his head.
Jazz's optics narrowed behind his own visor; something wasn't adding up in this. He was certain the explosives should have detonated long before they reached one of the first four sectors. Deciding he would worry about that later, the saboteur picked up Air Raid once more, running a quick scan to ensure he wasn't in stasis lock yet, and he ordered the other mechs to follow him, heading for the meeting point where Ratchet was hopefully waiting.
When the group finally reached the appointed coordinates, Ratchet, First Aid, Swoop, Snarl, and Sludge were waiting there.
"Ratchet!" Jazz speed up his pace and almost literally thrust Air Raid into Ratchet's arms. "This one's really bad!"
"I could tell," Ratchet grumbled lightly and ordered First Aid to help him to stabilize the mech, instructing Swoop to look after the remaining mechs. Jazz, Sludge, and Snarl guarded the group while the medic team was at work.
Damaged as they were, Silverbolt and the remaining mechs had to take a ride on Sludge's back, but once Ratchet was convinced Air Raid was stable enough to be taken to Autobase, the group headed back to Iacon.
------------------
"So, what exactly happened to them?" Ratchet asked while Jazz helped to move the wounded into the medical bay.
"I dunno, Ratchet. I found a secret passage to their cell after I installed the bombs." Jazz realized then that if he hadn't seen the arrow and followed down the passage, the explosives would have blown the cell as well, effectively terminating the five prisoners. A shudder ran through his frame. "Silverbolt said Shockwave was usin' them for experiments. Gestalt project or somethin' like that."
Ratchet nodded and instructed First Aid and Swoop to take care of the mechs, who identified themselves as Skydive, Slingshot, Fireflight, and Silverbolt, while he worked on Air Raid. "These mechs are lucky to be functioning still."
"Trust me, Ratchet, that's an understatement." Jazz gave a last glance to the group of mechs and turned around to leave. "Gotta report back to Prime. See ya later, Ratchet."
Jazz's CPU was racing with conflicting thoughts. A mission that originally seemed to be just routine for him had turned into something completely different. He was certain something, or someone, had been pulling strings, moving him around like a puppet and guiding him towards these mechs who would have perished otherwise. And Shockwave himself had been in that place at one point which hopefully would provide valuable data for the Autobot cause. Still, Jazz wanted to know who was behind this unusual mission and what motivated the intervention.
The saboteur pushed his worries aside for a moment, stopping by Optimus Prime's office. "Jazz reportin', Prime." Jazz stopped cold in his tracks when he took notice of another mech talking with the Autobot Commander. "Ah, sorry. I'm not interruptin' anythin', Prime, sir?"
"No, of course not, Jazz. Please come in." Optimus Prime motioned for the saboteur to come further into the room. The other mech turned around to face Jazz, and the saboteur stopped in mid stride once more. The new arrival was identical to Smokescreen and Bluestreak though he looked a little more like Bluestreak - just a little older, with a larger chevron, and sporting a primarily black and white paint job.
"This is our new military strategist, Jazz."
Jazz could barely register Optimus' words. His optics scanned the inexpressive facial plates of the new mech. He seemed familiar, and it wasn't just because of his similarities with Smokescreen and Bluestreak. Something was off about this mech. When the saboteur reached the other black and white's optics, realization hit hard.
They were now a bright, beautiful shade of blue, not unlike Bluestreak's, but Jazz recognized those frighteningly calm and oddly soothing optics. "You!"
"No, Jazz! Wait!" Optimus Prime stared in disbelief as his third in command extracted his photon rifle and launched himself against their new strategist.
Chapter: 02
Previous Chapters: 01
Rating: PG-13 - Pre-Earth.
Pairings: Eventual Prowl x Jazz Implied Inferno x Red Alert, more to come later.
Characters: Ratchet, Optimus Prime, First Aid, Swoop, Sludge, Snarl, Aerialbots, Jazz & Silverstreak (You know who Silverstreak really is *winkwink*).
Summary: The Special Operations squad of Optimus Prime's elite unit have some of the most interesting jobs. The head of the squad, Jazz, is going to learn the hard way 'Looks can be deceiving' and sometimes even 'the best' could use some help.
Notes: Jazz mission is turning out to be more than he bargained for.
Thanks to nkfloofiepoof for beta reading this for me.
Things were turning out to be easier than Jazz had expected --a bit too easy for his taste. Only a couple of inexperienced guards in his way, and once they were dispatched, his way to the laboratory was clear.
This was disturbingly easy, and the saboteur knew better than to let his guard down when things were turning out so favorable. Not only was it highly suspicious that he only found a couple of guards on his way, but it was also suspicious that he hadn't seen any other mechs all over the facilities. All of sudden, this place had turned into an abandoned laboratory.
That was fine by Jazz's book, the less mechs inside at the time of the explosion, the less casualties there would be. But a sudden disappearance of the workers of the facilities and other more experienced guards and soldiers rarely occurred. Jazz couldn't shake the feeling something was going on, and he was standing on the edge of a laser knife.
When he reached the laboratory, the saboteur found a series of disks arranged neatly over one of the tables at the far end of the room. Cautiously, Jazz looked around the lab and made his way towards the stack of disks. Raising an optic ridge behind his visor, the Autobot realized the disks contained copies of all the information and data produced in the laboratory up to precisely that orn. It was almost like someone had prepared them for him to take. Jazz wasn't liking this one bit.
Regardless, the saboteur subspaced the stack of disks and scanned the lab, going through some data pads and collecting those he considered might be of any use, even if it could be just duplicated information. After a few breems, Jazz finally began to place the explosives Wheeljack gave him, deciding that, since there were few mechs left in the facility and the labs were fairly away from the location of the unconscious bodies, he could just blow the laboratory away completely. "Five charges should do the trick," he told himself.
After installing the gadgets, Jazz activated the counter on the detonator. "Five breems ta get my aft outta here. Jazz grabbed his rifle and prepared to beat a hasty retreat until he took notice of something in one of the walls of the laboratory. "What the slag is this?"
The saboteur brushed his black digits along what appeared to be a diminutive arrow burned into the steel plates of the walls with what Jazz assumed to be acid. Following the direction of the arrow, Jazz found an almost imperceptible seam along the wall in the shape of a door. "Okay, this is gettin' freaky."
After fiddling with the apparent door for a few kliks, Jazz managed to find the lock concealed against the side of one of the machines flanking the door. There was a soft click, and suddenly, the door opened, revealing a dark passage where a dim light could be seen at the far end. Jazz looked over his shoulder to the collection of explosives and considered his options for a moment before he decided to go in and investigate.
Jazz followed the path down the hallway, turning his sensors to maximum. This section of the facilities was not on the map Smokescreen and Red Alert provided him, and the feeling of intentionally being lead there by something or someone was nagging more and more in the back of his CPU. This mission was quickly escalating high onto his list of the creepiest missions he'd ever gone through.
"An' I have less than 4 breems to get my aft outta here before 'Jack's bombs detonate. Lucky me," Jazz snorted, pulling his rifle up as he looked around, finally reaching the end of the hall and what appeared to be the door of a concealed containment cell. It wasn't the same type of cell used in the brig --no energy bars to contain the prisoners. The material was rusting, and Jazz was certain, if given enough time, the whole thing would fall apart on its own. The saboteur gave a quick glance around before he shot the door open and stepped carefully into the cell. What he found there was completely beyond anything he could have expected. Five prisoners -or what Jazz assumed to be prisoners- were laying against the walls of the dilapidated containment cell, each one sporting varying levels of damage. Some still had dried energon stains over their battered frames. "Primus..."
Wasting no more time, Jazz approached the nearest mech who was primarily white, yellow and red, though much of his lower half was covered in dried up energon. Jazz's scanners indicated the subject to be functioning, albeit barely. "What in Cybertron's name happened t'these guys?"
"Ughh..." the mech groaned softly and twitched lightly when he felt Jazz's hands over his shoulders.
"Hey, glad t'see ya online." Jazz smiled a little, relieved to see at least one of the mechs online.
"W-Who are you?"
"Autobot Special Operations Agent." Jazz tilted his head, hoping the other mech would understand he couldn't give out his designation just like that.
"An Autobot!" The other mech tried to stand up but was stopped by his restraints.
"Hey, calm down. Ya're all still bound ta the walls. " Jazz nodded towards the other mechs laying on the ground. "So, tell me your designation an' why are ya here an' I'll take care of the bonds."
"I'm Silverbolt." The mech nodded and gestured towards the other mechs in the room. "Shockwave brought m-me... and these other mechs here to experiment with. Gestalt... project."
Jazz's lip components pulled back into what Silverbolt assumed to be a frown. Shockwave could be quite an unpleasant mech Silverbolt knew first hand. He still didn't know what, exactly, Shockwave had done to him and these four other mechs.
"All right, look, this place is gonna blow very soon, and we gotta get you and your cell mates out of here as soon as possible. Think you can stand and walk on your own?" Jazz pulled a small instrument out of a compartment near his wrist and reached to undo Silverbolt's restrains.
"I think I can, but I can't promise I'll be fast." The mech rubbed his wrists as soon as they were freed, beginning to regain a little strength.
"One less mech to carry is always a pro." Jazz finished removing the restrains and rushed to the next mech and scanned him, frowning as his readings indicated how close to stasis lock this mech was. "This one's really bad."
"Shockwave's grunts did a number on him. He was really aggressive. I believe his name is Air Raid." Silverbolt remembered that one mech had managed to beat at least four of the guards before Shockwave summoned the heavyweights to take care of him.
"Well, he's really bad. Here, help me get the others free - we're runnin' out o' time." The saboteur tossed the small instrument to Silverbolt, and, against his personal policies, called for help. "Autobase, do ya copy?"
"Autobase here; this is Blaster."
"Blaster, I need Ratchet an' First Aid to meet me at the coordinates I'm transmitting." Jazz undid the restrains around the mech.
"This is unusual. Are you all right, Jazz?"
"I'm all right, but I found somethin' we weren't expectin' at the facilities. We've got prisoners here, an' they need medical attention as quickly as possible." Jazz transmitted the coordinates, far enough from the facilities once the bombs exploded and close enough to Autobot territory for Ratchet and First Aid to travel safely.
The saboteur turned around to see the other three mechs were on their feet, albeit wobbly and visibly weakened. "Alright, mechs, we gotta get movin' if we wanna make it out before this place goes to the pit - follow me!" Jazz picked up Air Raid and headed out of the cell as fast as he could, checking his internal chronometer to see how much time they had left before the explosives detonated --only two and a half breems left.
"Ugh... What in Cybertron's name is going on here?" a primarily black and red mech asked, not too happy about being rushed out without much of an explanation.
"We're being freed, that's what's going on." Silverbolt helped a mech with an orange face plate and visor who was barely able to maintain himself on his feet. The remaining mechs nodded and followed after Silverbolt and the black and white mech.
Primus! I hope we can make it out in time! Jazz thought.
Despite their best efforts, the damaged mechs couldn't go very fast, and by the time they reached the lab, Jazz's chronometer indicated only two breems remained. He calculated they would need at least three to get out of the facilities before the explosion that was certain to shake the structure badly even if it wouldn't damage the first four sectors. Jazz only hoped he could make it to one of said sectors before the explosion.
So concerned with his current thought process and rallying the prisoners out of the lab, Jazz didn't see something was off with the counter of the bombs --instead of two breems, the counter indicated three and a half.
It took exactly a little under three and a half breems for Jazz and his unexpected companions to exit the facilities, and no sooner had the saboteur stepped through the doors did an explosion shake the ground, sending the six 'bots tumbling and falling on said ground.
"That was close!" the mech with the orange faceplate mumbled and rubbed his head, ignoring the trickle of energon falling from his head.
Jazz's optics narrowed behind his own visor; something wasn't adding up in this. He was certain the explosives should have detonated long before they reached one of the first four sectors. Deciding he would worry about that later, the saboteur picked up Air Raid once more, running a quick scan to ensure he wasn't in stasis lock yet, and he ordered the other mechs to follow him, heading for the meeting point where Ratchet was hopefully waiting.
When the group finally reached the appointed coordinates, Ratchet, First Aid, Swoop, Snarl, and Sludge were waiting there.
"Ratchet!" Jazz speed up his pace and almost literally thrust Air Raid into Ratchet's arms. "This one's really bad!"
"I could tell," Ratchet grumbled lightly and ordered First Aid to help him to stabilize the mech, instructing Swoop to look after the remaining mechs. Jazz, Sludge, and Snarl guarded the group while the medic team was at work.
Damaged as they were, Silverbolt and the remaining mechs had to take a ride on Sludge's back, but once Ratchet was convinced Air Raid was stable enough to be taken to Autobase, the group headed back to Iacon.
------------------
"So, what exactly happened to them?" Ratchet asked while Jazz helped to move the wounded into the medical bay.
"I dunno, Ratchet. I found a secret passage to their cell after I installed the bombs." Jazz realized then that if he hadn't seen the arrow and followed down the passage, the explosives would have blown the cell as well, effectively terminating the five prisoners. A shudder ran through his frame. "Silverbolt said Shockwave was usin' them for experiments. Gestalt project or somethin' like that."
Ratchet nodded and instructed First Aid and Swoop to take care of the mechs, who identified themselves as Skydive, Slingshot, Fireflight, and Silverbolt, while he worked on Air Raid. "These mechs are lucky to be functioning still."
"Trust me, Ratchet, that's an understatement." Jazz gave a last glance to the group of mechs and turned around to leave. "Gotta report back to Prime. See ya later, Ratchet."
Jazz's CPU was racing with conflicting thoughts. A mission that originally seemed to be just routine for him had turned into something completely different. He was certain something, or someone, had been pulling strings, moving him around like a puppet and guiding him towards these mechs who would have perished otherwise. And Shockwave himself had been in that place at one point which hopefully would provide valuable data for the Autobot cause. Still, Jazz wanted to know who was behind this unusual mission and what motivated the intervention.
The saboteur pushed his worries aside for a moment, stopping by Optimus Prime's office. "Jazz reportin', Prime." Jazz stopped cold in his tracks when he took notice of another mech talking with the Autobot Commander. "Ah, sorry. I'm not interruptin' anythin', Prime, sir?"
"No, of course not, Jazz. Please come in." Optimus Prime motioned for the saboteur to come further into the room. The other mech turned around to face Jazz, and the saboteur stopped in mid stride once more. The new arrival was identical to Smokescreen and Bluestreak though he looked a little more like Bluestreak - just a little older, with a larger chevron, and sporting a primarily black and white paint job.
"This is our new military strategist, Jazz."
Jazz could barely register Optimus' words. His optics scanned the inexpressive facial plates of the new mech. He seemed familiar, and it wasn't just because of his similarities with Smokescreen and Bluestreak. Something was off about this mech. When the saboteur reached the other black and white's optics, realization hit hard.
They were now a bright, beautiful shade of blue, not unlike Bluestreak's, but Jazz recognized those frighteningly calm and oddly soothing optics. "You!"
"No, Jazz! Wait!" Optimus Prime stared in disbelief as his third in command extracted his photon rifle and launched himself against their new strategist.