Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There used to be a variety of different ways Cybertron could be described. For some, it was a planet of prosperity and innovation. The world with technology so advanced its own inhabitants were a part of it - the sentient robots who could do things nobody else in the galaxy was able to. 

For some, it was a planet reeking of hypocrisy and corruption. Cybertronians were so full of themselves that they allowed their society to fall into oppression of their own people. Their destiny was dictated by one’s predetermined purpose which served only those who were making these laws a reality.

Then, there was only one way to describe Cybertron - a dead world, ruined by centuries of war that destroyed it in its entirety. From its once vibrant surface to its very core that could no longer produce life, there were only ashes and shadows of its former self. 

The Autobot-Decepticon conflict escalated on a terrifying scale. What was once a call for freedom and liberation twisted into a loud cry of destruction and carnage. Each day, life was fleeting from the surface of this once great planet and it didn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. 

Polyhex was one of the biggest casualties of the war. The city was almost completely totaled due to finding itself in the centre of many, many battles. First, it was run by the Autobots. They turned it into a fortified enclosure that served its purpose conscientiously for thousands of years.

Then, the safe haven was weakened and their enemies used the opportunity to take over. The Decepticons used the newly acquired borders to increase the number of their bases. They built, for example, laboratories or weapon magazines in place of the old institutes and homes. Polyhex had been in their control ever since. 

However, even with the new management, the city did keep a couple of its buildings. Albeit, in questionable condition at best and utterly desecrated at worst. There was only one of them that stood out from the rest. Unlike the others, it was in perfectly good shape. There were no surviving records of what purpose it served before the war, but it was obvious that it had to have some kind of importance to the Decepticons.

One day, the truth finally came to light…

The sound of engines could be heard throughout the entirety of Polyhex. The war was raging on, but the city was so damaged it could no longer be considered a battleground. Despite that, the commotion swept through its ruins like a thunderstorm. 

Even the state of the roads or the unstable constructions all around didn’t stop a couple of vehicles from entering the Polyhexian borders. The ones responsible for the ruckus were a blue and red truck with white accents, a hot pink jeep, and the tiniest among them - a red sports car. 

They were speeding through the rubbled pathways like their lives depended on it. Seemingly, they were. A fleet of colourful jets were tailing them, firing with everything they got at the escaping vehicles - missiles, lasers, and some less conventional explosives.

The small sports car was maneuvering through the ruins with ease. No matter what was on its way, a rock, a chunk of a building, an occasional grey husk, it managed to avoid it with grace. 

The jeep and the truck were not having the same experience. It was a bumpy ride for the both of them, no matter how careful they were trying to be. The jeep was driving in the front, blasting every obstacle on their way with a roof cannon. In return, the truck made sure the former wouldn’t be shot at from the back via a small forceshield. 

After a few minutes, the group noticed that they were heading for a torn out road and therefore a big cliff ahead of them. Instead of slowing down, the smallest car just sped up, going straight for the gap. The two other vehicles followed its lead soon after. 

One by one, they leapt off the edge. As they were falling, their gears began shifting, plates unfolding and then there were no more vehicles to speak of.

The sports car transformed into a red Minicon named Cliffjumper. He wore a confident grin, ready to face anything coming at him. The next was the jeep which turned into a tall pink Cybertronian named Elita-1. She immediately pulled out her trusty Energon pistols, loading them and preparing for battle. The last one transformed into the red, blue and white metal giant. The mighty Autobot leader, Optimus Prime himself.

The three Autobots landed on the ground with a roll. They managed to reach their destination, but unfortunately, so did their pursuers. A couple of shadows unexpectedly flew over them. They began circling the group like vultures and forcing them to stand back to back. Optimus and Cliffjumper also pulled out their weapons - an aeon blaster and a big cannon. 

At last, the shadows lowered to their position. The four jets that had been chasing them transformed into colourful Decepticon Seekers and surrounded the Autobots. They loaded and pointed their null rays at the three. 

Cliffjumper, Elita-1 and Optimus Prime didn’t let themselves be intimidated. They were holding their ground, weapons raised and ready to defend themselves by all means necessary…

"Lower your weapons!” Suddenly, someone broke the uncomfortable silence. Someone with a smooth, pleasant voice that somewhat decreased the intensity of the situation. 

Surprisingly, the Seekers listened to whoever gave them the order. They lowered their arms and silenced their weaponry. 

The Autobots didn’t return their gesture. They kept their guard up, trying to figure out what was happening. Optimus Prime had only a second to scan his surroundings. Then, he spotted something by one of the destroyed buildings. 

There was a small silhouette standing in the shadows of the ruins around them. It kept a close watch on Optimus, Elita-1 and Cliffjumper, measuring all of them with their menacing red visor. When they noticed the attention had shifted on them, they began slowly approaching the light. In seconds, the group could see who they were dealing with… 

It was Jazz. 

His black and white colour scheme was no longer present. Instead, his whole body was purple. There was a silver Decepticon insignia on his chest instead of his usual Autobot one. Even though his visor was crimson red, his face was calm and showing no hints of malice as it had always been. 

“We can settle this diplomatically.” ‘Jazz’ offered, shortly and sweetly.

“Wait, that’s supposed to be me?” A disembodied presence suddenly interrupted the narration. The time seemed to have completely stopped, freezing both Decepticons and Autobots in place.

"Coach, come on! I was having a good flow!" Blurr shot from the ground, complaining to the Autobot sitting in the captain chair. 

Jazz, Blurr and Clobber were occupying the Autobot ship’s bridge. The vehicle was standing motionless in the middle of space, drifting ever so slowly between the meteors. 

The three were completely surrounded by darkness. The only sources of light to speak of were the red emergency biolights and the stars, or rather, the star-shaped dots dancing on the walls. They were coming from Clobber’s lamp which she was wearing on top of her head like a wizard hat. 

“I thought you said it was my turn for story time.” Jazz replied to the youngling’s dissatisfaction. 

“That was the plan, but then you started going on and on about the destruction and carnage and it just lost its magic!” Blurr said, leaning against Clobber. “Out of all the things you could’ve shared! We get it, the war was awful! Water is wet on most planets!” 

“I have so many problems with everything you’ve just said.” Jazz frowned under his visor at him.

“I fought in that war, too, you know.” Clobber said, pushing him away from herself, albeit gently.

“And I’m sorry, do you really think I used to be a Decepticon?” The Autobot asked.

"I didn't say that!... Why, you've got a confession?" Blurr asked, leaning on one of the armrests of the captain chair and eyeing Jazz upside-down in suspicion. 

"Nope. Autobot since day one.” The captain said, looking down at him. “I’m really curious what gave you that impression though.”

"I'm just making the story more relatable to the current audiences. Namely me and Clobber." The youngling momentarily scooted away, pointing his thumb between himself and his friend. 

"You're not an official Decepticon." Clobber reminded.

“We’ve been hanging out for so long, I might as well be.” He claimed. 

“Can I please return to telling my story now?” Jazz requested after a second.

“Fine.”

“Sure.” They agreed. However, he barely managed to open his mouth, when suddenly:

“Oh! Oh! I have an idea!” Clobber said. “Why don’t we all take turns on telling that story!” 

“... What?” Jazz had no idea what that meant.

“Yes! Thank you!” Blurr cheered. The Autobot couldn’t stop staring at them. 

“Sometimes, we like telling each other made-up stories.” She explained to him. “It’s really fun, especially when we create our own adventures!”

“Kid…” Jazz said, joining his palms together. “That ain’t a made-up adventure. It actually happened.”

“Yeah, but would you rather tell a gritty war story, or a fun adventure?” Blurr asked with a grin. 

“I’ve got plenty of those, too!” The Autobot promised.

“The Autobots like the freedom of all sentient beings so much. Why don’t we have a vote?” Clobber asked, raising her claw. “All in favour of telling Jazz’s war story together, raise your hands!” 

The blue Cybertronian’s grin only widened and he raised his own. Jazz was left with only himself, crushed by the unfair democratic vote. The younglings stared at him, smugly and expectantly. Like so many times before, ever since he met Blurr and Clobber, the captain felt himself letting out a heavy sigh.

“Whatever…” He eventually said, crossing his arms and leaning his back against the chair.

“Great!” Blurr beamed. “So-”

“But you’re changing me back to an Autobot.” The Autobot conditioned. The youngling groaned. 

"Fiiiine!” He agreed, flopping his front back on the ground between his friend and his captain. “I had this great character development planned out for you, but if you really want to be boring!..." 

"It's okay, Prime. Those are my buddies: The Friendly Decepticons!" Jazz in the story claimed. Magically, he changed his colour scheme back to normal. Nobody batted an eye. "We go way back and I've convinced them that our friendship means a lot more than our factions."

"Cool." Optimus said as he, Cliffjumper and Elita-1 hid their weapons. The Seekers just kind of awkwardly stood in the back, not engaging in the interaction. 

After a second, the red Minibot stepped away from the other Autobots and walked over to Jazz. The two of them clasped their hands in a friendly handshake. 

“Good to see the Cons didn’t smoke your aft on the way here.” He said with a smile.

“Please. Like they could ever see me coming.” Jazz grinned, adjusting his visor. It was different from his usual one. Instead of the one he had at the moment, through which almost nobody could look through, that one allowed others to see both of his brilliant blue optics. 

“Mission report, soldier.” Elita-1 requested after a second, folding her arms behind her back. 

“Ma’am.” Jazz turned to her and quickly saluted. “I’m getting the word that the building’s filled with Decepticons, especially on the lower level. We have strong suspicion that there’s an Energon mine underneath. Not used in a long time. The Decepticons are looking for something pretty important.” 

The Autobot unexpectedly faced Optimus Prime. 

“I bet my lucky mike we know what that is.” He finished. 

“Unfortunately…” Optimus softened his gaze, looking down at his chest. 

“Is Mirage still inside?” Elita-1 asked. 

“Nah, he did his thing and disengaged. He’s halfway to Iacon by now.” The Autobot stated.

“Oh course that coward would leave you here…” Cliffjumper murmured under his breath. 

“Be nice…” Jazz heard him and couldn’t help but give him a nudge. Cliffjumper nudged him back, a bit harder. 

“Oh, and the force fields are down! We’re free to join the party!” The black and white Autobot added, giving his superiors thumbs up. 

“Good.” Elita-1 nodded, then turned to Optimus. 

“We stick to our plan.” The Prime said, facing everyone present. “Cliffjumper and Jazz, you two will find the target and make sure it is secured. Elita-1 and myself will join you as soon as we can. The fate of our planet depends on the success of this mission. We have to work together and make sure the relic won’t fall into the wrong hands. Are you with me, my Autobots?” 

“Sir, yes, sir!” Elita-1, Cliffjumper and Jazz said in unison. 

“What about us?” One of the Seekers suddenly asked. Optimus glanced at them briefly before facing Jazz. 

“Your friends will get in the way of our mission. Send them to the nearest Autobot working camp, they’ll wait there.” He said.

“That ain’t a thing.” Jazz interrupted again.

“Really?” Clobber asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

“Yeah, no. Having those would go against literally everything we Autobots stand for.” He said. 

“What about the one in Crystal City?” She asked. 

“It belonged to the Decepticons.”

“That’s not what they told us.”

“Who’s ‘they’?” 

“The Decepti…” She bit her tongue before she finished the sentence. Jazz gave her a look. “Oh…” 

“We’ll go and scout a different sector!” The Seeker number 1 said, and then transformed. One by one, the jetformers all took to the sky, flying into the distance, never to be seen again. 

As soon as they were out of sight, the Autobots turned towards the building again. According to a handful of witnesses, including the Autobot Second-in-Command herself, it was an old observatory repurposed by the Decepticons into something else. 

Optimus and Elita-1 were to leave into the building first. As they were about to disappear into the shadows, they stopped suddenly. 

“After you.” Elita-1 smiled, gesturing at Optimus to go on first. 

“Oh no, after you.” Optimus replied, mimicking her gesture.

“Primes first.”

“You were the one who used to work here.”

“I hated that job and you know it.”

“Akhem!” Jazz pretended to cough in the near distance. They stopped immediately. 

“Right!”

“Of course!”

The two said and decided that Elita-1 should go in first. 

“Loved them to bits, but their shenanigans were making me sick sometimes.” Jazz out of the story said. “You won’t find more polite goofs in the whole universe.”

“Do you think they ended up as grumpy as you did?” Blurr asked.

“Primus, I hope not.”

The two other Autobots were left to themselves. After a second, Jazz and Clifjumper started climbing on the faded walls of the building. With time, they got all the way to the roof. The first thing they found was a shattered dome on top of it. They decided to look inside and spotted a group of Decepticons guards. They were standing in front of what they assumed to be the vault. 

“One for good luck?” Jazz asked, offering Cliffjumper and fist bump. The red Minibot grinned, pounding it.

After their Mandatory Bump Fisting Moment™, the taller Autobot transformed his arm and released his grappling hook inside. Then, he grabbed onto Cliffjumper and lowered the two of them into the maw of the beast. 

Chapter Text

Jazz and Cliffjumper entered the building. Their metal boots gave the floor the gentlest of taps as they landed. After Jazz made the electric rope of his grappling hook disappear into thin air, he began scanning the place. 

They appeared to be in a small restricted area, most likely a storage. The doors were either broken or long gone because they had a clear view of a hallway outside. 

The Autobots were about to keep looking, when suddenly, they heard a couple of distant clanking - footsteps. As quickly as they could, the two of them hid behind big metal cases laying around. 

Through the said hallway, two Decepticons were walking by. They were fliers, but they were wearing helmets in a strange cone shape. They also appeared taller and bulkier than the standard Seekers.

From their position, Cliffjumper and Jazz caught a snippet of their conversation. 

“- get me wrong, I’m proud to serve the cause any way I can, but why a guard?” The dark blue and golden one asked. “Like what are we even looking for?”

“I guess only the higher-ups and the miners know.” The white one replied. 

“That’s the thing! What makes those dirt-kissers qualified to know so much? We’re out there fighting all day, serving the cause, and they just have to spread a rumour about some weapon and suddenly Megatron himself is giving them medals!”

“Guess he has that soft spot for them after all…”

With each second, the Autobots heard their voices getting further. At some point, finally, there was silence once again. Jazz and Cliffjumper stood back up, going to the centre of the room. 

“There’s probably a welcoming party waiting for us outside.” The taller Autobot mused, checking the screen on his arm. He had a map of the place downloaded there. “I know you hate it, but it looks like we’re gonna have to stealth our way in.”

“Way ahead of ya!” Cliffjumper suddenly chirped out of character, throwing Jazz slightly off his rhythm. He faced his friend again and saw him picking up one of the empty metal boxes from the ground. After a second, the red Autobot looked back with a mischievous smirk that befitted more a certain blue youngling Jazz hadn’t met at the time yet than his best friend.

“I… don’t know if that’ll work, Cliff.” He stumbled with his words a bit, trying to ground himself back into the beat of the story.

“We won’t know until we try!” Cliffjumper argued, sliding one of the metal boxes towards Jazz. The taller Autobot stopped it with his boot. It seemed just big enough for him to fit inside. The Cybertronian glanced down, thinking what he should do. After some time, he let out a defeated huff. 

Somewhere in the further corridors, two Decepticon Seekers were patrolling the area. They were just about to turn left on the crossroads when two metal boxes started crawling by. 

The Decepticons suddenly stopped and looked back. Before they did, the boxes stopped. They scanned the area, seemingly completely ignoring the boxes. Finally, they shrugged to each other before disappearing behind the corner. As soon as they left, the boxes began moving again. The bigger first one was leading the other throughout the building. 

In what felt like an excruciatingly long time of crawling around, Jazz and Cliffjumper managed to get to their target. The taller Autobot knew where the backstage door was and guided his friend through them. As soon as they were inside, they found some discreet place where they shedded their disguises and hid behind a big pillar. They found themselves near two big guards that stood directly in front of the entrance to the vault. 

Jazz peeked out of his hiding spot and scanned the area. Outside of the two big guards, grounders of some kind, there were Seekers and Coneheads just about everywhere. He counted at least ten. 

“Soo…” Cliffjumper suddenly murmured. “Mission accomplished, then?” 

“You know I’d hate to do this to you, but-!” Before the taller Cybertronian finished, they heard incoming footsteps from a far distance. They weren’t the only ones. Whatever was happening, the guards visibly tensed up. The Autobots instinctively pulled back. Then, they heard one of the guards saying:

“Lord Megatron! We didn’t expect you to arrive so soon!” Jazz and Cliffjumper froze. 

All of the Decepticons were now facing the fancy staircase that led to a higher level. A big shadow was looming over them.

Two figures stood in front of an entrance - Another Seeker, white red and blue, and one very tall dark grey Cybertronian. The coldness of his crimson optics and a huge fusion cannon on his arm were unmistakable. They all saluted. 

The Autobots couldn’t help but stare from their hiding spot, dread filling their sparks. 

“My dear, loyal Decepticons! At long last, the tides of this war are turning!” Megatron spoke, loudly and proudly, with arms folded behind his back. As he was moving towards the stairs, the colourful Seeker behind him suddenly smirked. “We are witnessing history being made! With the help of this weapon, we shall- Agh!”

Without any warning, the Seeker pushed him off the stairs. Cursing, the Decepticon leader fell all the way down and flopped right on his face.

“Blurr, that’s my ex-boss! That’s not funny!” Clobber shouted without a warning. Blurr just started laughing like a maniac.

“Megatron has fallen!” The Seeker suddenly shrieked in triumph. 

“I, Starscream, am the new leader of the Decepticons!” Jazz said with all his chest. He put the best Starscream impression he could muster, even climbed up his captain chair and mimicked the exact pose the Decepticon Second-in-Command would make. 

Blurr and Clobber immediately broke the fuse growing between them and gaped at him like he grew a second head. Their glances and the long silence made their captain feel very awkward.

The Autobot cleared his throat, then lowered himself and sat back down. “Sorry. You kinda put me on the spot there.”

“What was that supposed to be?” Clobber asked. 

“It’s a running joke among the Autobots. Starscream would say it every time he’d…” Jazz paused when he saw that they still weren’t getting it. He clicked his tongue. “Nevermind, let’s just continue.”

“With the help of this weapon, we shall take over not just Cybertron, but the universe as well!” Megatron finished without any interruptions. Him and Starscream magically found themselves on the bottom of the stairs. The embarrassing moment from just a second ago seemed completely wiped out of their minds. 

“Come ooooon!” Blurr whined sadly. He was ignored. 

The Decepticons made way for their leader and his Second-in-Command. They walked all the way to the doors of the vault, stopping expectantly. One of the bigger guards pulled out a cyber key and was about to put it in. 

While Jazz was looking at the vault, Cliffjumper studied the Decepticons. After a second, he nudged his taller friend and tilted his head to the side to show him something. The Seekers were bringing in some kind of levitating cart with various mining tools inside. They stopped some distance away from the pillar and waited as well. 

Cliffjumper and Jazz exchanged glances.

The Decepticon eventually put the key in the port and began unlocking the system. The vault’s doors started spiraling open, slowly and impressively. It was a design of the ancient ages, after all. Finally, they revealed a darkened tunnel behind them.

Megatron and his right hand momentarily stepped inside. Along with them, a group of fliers decided to tag along. Two Seekers in the group were pushing the big cart as they walked while the guards stayed behind to monitor the area for any signs of intruders. 

Little did they know, there were two stowaway Autobots holding onto the cart’s bottom getting transported alongside the mining tools. 

The Decepticons went deeper into the vault… and deeper… and deeper… 

It turned out that the tunnel was much bigger than both Autobots previously believed. They finally reached the stairs and began going down. For a long time, there were just walls, but the more they descended, the more underground pathways they saw. It was followed by the sounds of metal being hit over and over, drilling, and some very urgent shouting. 

The taller Autobot’s earlier reports were confirmed. It was a mine. What he didn’t anticipate was just how enormous it was. 

The stairs ended and the group entered the mine. From under the cart, Jazz and Cliffjumper saw the legs of a lot of Decepticon miners. The sound of their pickaxes were ringing in their ears more than ever. 

After a few minutes, the cart stopped at last. They reached their destination. There was a welcoming committee already waiting in front of a tunnel that was still being dug out. 

“Lord Megatron. It is an honour.” The head miner stepped out of the crowd and bowed before their leader. Starscream couldn’t stop himself from wrinkling his nose that he wasn’t mentioned, too. 

“Have you found it already?” Megatron didn’t seem to care for anything else at the moment. 

“We are still working on it.” The head miner straightened back up, rubbing their hands together. “There was a big cave-in recently… We’ve lost one fifth of the entire crew…”

“Clean-up can wait. If the weapon finds itself in the hands of our enemies, we’ll all be doomed.” The Decepticon leader said coolly. Then, he decided to turn around at the remaining miners. They all stiffened as his gaze rested on them. 

“Tell your crew that there is a reward waiting for the one who will personally deliver the weapon to me! The same will go to the ones caught not contributing, although I doubt anyone would like that!”

His words seemed to resonate with the Decepticon miners because the Autobots heard footsteps running around, and after a second, the sounds of metal hitting against metal increased.

“Pit... OP never offered us a reward for our hard work.” Cliffjumper whispered to Jazz with a snort. “Think we should bring that up to him?”

“You can do whatever you want after we deal with the situation, mech.” The other grinned, then looked at what was happening outside of the cart. “They’re probably gonna see us if we decide to ditch this thing now. We’ll have to consider our options here.” 

“Or you can just grow a spine and get things done right away.” Blurr’s interruption was so sudden, Jazz in the story visibly flinched. 

“Kid, wha-?!” Before the Autobot could stop him, the cart they were hiding under blinked out of existence. Jazz and Cliffjumper fell on the ground, grunting, and unfortunately gaining attention. The Decepticons stopped what they were doing and stared at them in shock. 

“Autobots?!” Megatron shouted after a second. Cliffjumper had to quickly collect himself. He grabbed Jazz, and then swiftly rolled them out of the way. It was just in time to avoid being hit with a powerful energy blast that made a big crater in the ground instead. They could still feel the heat on their sides. 

The two of them transformed and sped past the miners, deep into the drilled tunnels. 

“Don’t let them get away!” Megatron shouted, the smoke still coming out of his fusion cannon. 

Jazz and Cliffjumper heard multiple transformations behind them, followed by a choir of various engines. 

“One mission!” The red Autobot shouted. “Why can’t we finish one mission without something going wrong?!” 

The tunnels were a never ending maze. The Decepticons must have been there for months, if not years. The deeper they went, the more paths appeared before them. 

Suddenly, as they were about to turn around a corner, a miner tank blocked their way. Jazz bumped into his friend, making him yelp in sudden sensation, and then quickly forced both of them to go into the nearest left exit.  

Everything was dark. The corridors were void of any flares or crystals. The escaping Autobots had to turn on their front lights. A hint of worry appeared in Jazz’s mind, thinking that they were heading for a dead end. Unluckily for him, fate had something else in store for them. 

The tunnel ended after a few minutes and they drove into a cave. 

“Brakes! Brakes, now!” Jazz shouted desperately after a second. He and Cliff’s tires gave a loud, painful shriek as they began slowing down. They were nearing a gigantic gap. 

The Autobots transformed, grabbing onto the metal ground and trying to stop sliding. Jazz’s foot knocked over a few rocks off the edge. However, he managed to avoid their fate. 

They didn’t have time to take a breather because they were reminded of their situation. They saw multiple lights getting closer and closer through the dark.

“Okay…” Cliffjumper said, deploying his cannon. “Guess we have to fight.”

Despite his bravado, Jazz could see him gripping the handle tighter than necessary. Suddenly, his audials registered the faintest of sounds behind him. Or rather, under him. The taller Autobot looked into the gap. All he saw was darkness, but the echo was still there. The echo of a rock hitting the surface of water. 

Their pursuers were so close. Cliffjumper swore he could see them. 

“I’m really sorry about that, Cliffy.” His focus was broken by Jazz’s voice after a second. Without any warning, he felt an electric rope wrapping around his waist. 

“Wh- Aah?!” Before the red Autobot could properly react, the other leapt over the edge. Cliffjumper was attached to his grappling hook, so soon he lost his footing, too. They began falling and Cliffjumper screamed for his dear life. 

“Oh, so you can make stuff up but we don’t?”  Blurr suddenly blew a raspberry.

“Okay, I admit there was no water. Just a big Energon lake. I wasn’t sure you knew those were a thing.” Jazz said. 

“No, not that! That whole pursuit! There’s no way you did something that cool!” The youngling specified, making the Autobot squint.

“What I think Blurr means is that you’re usually against doing reckless stuff.” Clobber said. “Or at least us doing reckless stuff…”

“It was either taking a leap of faith or facing an angry Decepticon mob. The choice seemed pretty obvious at the time.” The Autobot said, resting his elbows on his thighs. “Anyway, I wasn’t sure how long we would be falling. The rock took its sweet time to go all the way down. Thankfully, it didn't take that long for us. For better, or for worse...” 

Chapter Text

Under the mine, there was indeed an Energon lake.

The cave around it was vast, but far from empty. The raw turquoise crystals were growing from every corner. From time to time, a rock or two would fall from the ceiling and make a soft splash that’d fade into nothingness in mere seconds.

That strange serenity was soon broken by the incoming scream.

Without any warning, two heavy objects hit the surface of the Energon lake. First, the bigger one. Then, the smaller, much louder one. When they disappeared out of picture, it was quiet once again. This, however, didn’t last long either because the objects resurfaced.

Jazz coughed, trying to get a better grip on his friend who was holding onto him as if his life depended on it. It might’ve as well been. The taller Autobot had Energon on his visor, but he figured if he headed forward, he would eventually hit something. Dragging Cliffjumper with him, he did just that.

Soon enough, Jazz indeed felt the cold surface of the metal ground against his body. He tried pulling the Minibot up. It was a sloppy effort at first, but Cliffjumper eventually grabbed onto the land and pushed himself from the Energon. With a couple of painful wheezes, his terrified expression slowly turned into an angry scowl.

“Do that again and I’m gonna murder you with my own fragging hands!” He shouted, ripping the grappling hook’s line from his torso. “Fragging nutcase!” He attempted to throw it at Jazz, but it backfired as the taller Autobot simply made it disintegrate. After a second, he got out of the Energon without any trouble as well.

“It’s okay, Cliff. You’re okay.” The taller Autobot assured, standing back up. He started stepping closer to his friend, spreading arms. “If you need a hug, I’m here.”

“You wanna be thrown back into that Energon?” Cliffjumper gave him a death glare. Jazz immediately raised his hands in defence and turned on his heel.

When emotions eventually fell, the duo started to focus on the new environment better. Their front lights were practically unnecessary anymore due to the amount of Energon crystals around them. They looked back up and were met with nothing but darkness they had emerged from.

“I don’t hear anyone anymore. Do you?” Cliffjumper asked.

“Nada.” Jazz replied. “Guess we lost them.”

“They were almost kissing our tailpipes. I don’t like this.” The red Autobot mused, pulling out his cannon again. Jazz took the hint, grabbed his blaster, and the two of them started moving.

It only took them a couple of steps and a left turn to leave the Energon lake behind. From then on, it was only them and the crystals. Rich blue, but now also pink and purple ones. Jazz was focusing on these ones the most.

“This is practically pay dirt.” He commented after a second. “The Decepticons just missed all that?”

“Playing dumb isn’t as cute as you think it is.” Cliffjumper retorted. “You know the implications.”

“Yeah…” Jazz sighed, looking around. “Just trying to keep the mood light for a little longer, I guess.”

“Well, your yapping might get us in trouble. Just focus and be on a lookout for any- Ah, frag!” Without any warning, Cliffjumper pointed his weapon behind Jazz. The Autobot spun around and did the same. They were aiming at the wall where something - someone was laying in the crystals.

The duo carefully moved towards the grey body of a Cybertronian larger than the two of them. Cliffjumper was watching his back while Jazz kneeled and inspected them. The first thing he noticed was the Decepticon badge on their helm and a broken pickaxe stuck in their shoulder.

“One of the miners.” The taller Autobot deducted after a second. He grabbed onto the back of their hand. The holographic screen on his arm went online. “Cause of death: spark failure. Can’t be older than a couple of days.”

Jazz was about to stand back up, when he suddenly noticed one crucial detail. The hand he was holding was clenched into a fist. There was something sticking out of it. With hesitation, the Autobot clenched his own hand a couple of times before gently unfurling the lifeless fingers of the deceased miner. He grabbed whatever they were holding and then placed the hand on top of their sparkchamber.

One last look of sympathy and Jazz returned to his friend.

“What’s that?” Cliffjumper asked as his partner showed him the object. It was a disk of some sort. Gently wiping its surface, Jazz noticed barely visible symbols engraved on its surface.

“Whoah…” He whistled, showing his friend the finding. “Do you know what that is?”

“No, but I assume you really wanna change that.” The red Autobot replied.

“That’s Ancient Cybertronian!” Jazz said, then tapped on its side. “Look, look, it even has Solus’ symbol on it!”

“Okay, great! Does that mean anything for us?”

“Dunno…” The Autobot analysed the disk, scratching his chin. “I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure those had a specific purpose in the ancient times. Just a few centuries ago, they found a very similar piece on a Kaonian archeological site.”

“What… kind of site?”

“The crypt of Solus Prime.”

“Ah…”

The two of them focused all of their attention on the found object. So much so that they didn’t see a pair of shining eyes in a tunnel just above them.

“Maybe it’s a puzzle?” Cliffjumper suggested. “Ancients sure loved that slag.”

“I don’t see any extra bumps or hidden doors.” Jazz said, flipping the disk on the other side and seeing more ancient symbols. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a really old dis-”

Plap.

Something suddenly fell on the disk.

Both Autobots froze. Their previous discussion lost all meaning now that they were staring at the black stain on the rusty plate. It was hard to tell what kind of substance it was, but it sure wasn’t Energon.

Plap. Plap.

Two black puddles formed right next to them. They didn’t have to be geniuses to guess where they came from. Then again, neither was brave enough to look up and face the monster in the dark.

At least not until they saw two large tendrils falling from the ceiling. Jazz had to step back to avoid one wriggling its way towards him. Then, they heard a low, metallic rumble.

There were no more options. The Autobots looked up, absolutely horrified, and saw just what they were dealing with.

A pair of wild purple eyes were staring at them, a look only seen in predators staring at their prey. Just underneath those two terrifying orbs, there was a row of sharp triangular objects.

Slowly, the shape began emerging from the darkness. More black droplets fell on the ground as it pushed its massive head through the entrance. Some of it fell on Cliffjumper and Jazz, but they didn’t care.

“This is exactly why I wanted to keep the mood light…” The taller Autobot muttered, unable to stop his own voicebox from attempting to cut through the uncomfortable silence.

Finally, a strange wallow came from the tunnel as the reason why the Decepticons hadn’t claimed the cave yet revealed itself…

It was worse than either of them had anticipated.

They were on the territory of the dweller.

The younglings suddenly erupted with laughter. Ironically, Jazz got so startled that he almost fell from his chair. He really missed the lights right about now.

“The dweller?!” Blurr wheezed.

“Oh, what now?” This time, the captain actually looked peeved.

“Do you know what a dweller is?” Clobber tried (and failed) to suppress her giggles.

“Considering that you’d rather make fun of the name, I’m guessing we have wildly differentiating definitions.” Jazz tried to be understanding. They were young and they’ve never been to Cybertron before. He really tried not to take their outburst personally.

“Okay. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:” Blurr put his hands out in front of himself. “You’re at a marketplace. You go around, look at stuff and st- Buyy!... Groceries with the money you totally have!...” All the older Autobot could do at that was blink tiredly.

“And then a guy in a fancy suit comes at you! He really wants you to buy something from him. He goes on and on how bad your life is without his products and he’d probably talk your ear off for the rest of the day if it weren’t for your partner threatening to shove his stenching perfumes up his-”

“Y-yes! These guys!” Clobber cut him off all of the sudden, laughing very nervously.

“You call salesmen dwellers?” The captain decided to focus on that part.

“Yeah! Because, you know. They ‘dwell on’ things.” The bigger Cybertronian air quoted with her claws. “It’s what we also call librarians, pessimists and conspiracy theorists.”

“What does a dweller look like to you?” Blurr suddenly asked. Jazz didn’t reply. He kept staring at them absently, hands gripping his knees.

Jazz and Cliffjumper looked in horror at the face of the monster called dweller. However, due to the Autobot’s lack of elaboration on what his dweller looked like, a whole new beast was created.

“HELLO, NEW POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS!” A big face suddenly pushed out of the darkness. It was a grey head of a Cybertronian with purple optics and a very nasty case of a salesman smirk.

Without any warning, the creature dropped from the ceiling right on them. The Autobots jumped out of the way and miraculously avoided being squashed. Then, not wasting any time, they ran in the opposite directions.

“SWINDLE’S THE NAME AND SALES ARE MY GAME! JUST TAKE A LOOK AT MY WIDE ARSENAL OF FUN ITEMS AND I’LL GUARANTEE YOU’LL FIND SOMETHING PERFECTLY NAUGHTY FOR YA!” The rest of the monster remained unchanged. Its body was wide and boxy, with four tentacle arms. Two of them had spinning saws on their tips. The head of someone named Swindle was sticking out like a sore thumb from the rest of the construction.

Jazz managed to squeeze into a crack in the wall. He had to bend his body left and right in an uncomfortable position in order to push as far inside as possible.

“MY, YOUR BACK IS LOOKING AWFULLY STIFF! CAN I INTEREST YOU IN SOME TOPNOTCH CHIROPRACTOR SERVICES?” The Swindweller peeked inside with his large crazed optic. “I KNOW A GUY WHO’S BEEN HANDLING EXPLOSIVES FOR SEVEN MILLION YEARS! THE GENTLEST TOUCH YOU’LL EVER EXPERIENCE!”

A green metal tentacle sneaked its way inside. It was trying to reach him. Jazz pushed himself deeper, trying to escape from it. Unfortunately, that’s how he quickly ran out of place to retreat into.

The tendril’s tip split open, revealing a drill that was already active. Biting his lip, Jazz looked away when the spinning top was nearly impaling his face.

Suddenly, he heard a distant but piercing low-frequency rumble. It was followed by a very close boom which shook the whole area. The Autobot braced himself when Swindweller’s ugly face fell on the entrance.

It was Cliffjumper who had launched the missile from a distance. He quickly hid back behind a big crystal and pulled his cannon as close to his chest as he could.

“HEY, PAL! I’M TRYING TO DO BUSINESS HERE! DON’T WORRY, THERE’S PLENTY DEALS TO GO AROUND!” The Swindweller shouted, collecting itself from the ground. Jazz used his opportunity and began squeezing out of the crack in the wall. “SO MANY DEALS YOUR HEAD’LL EXPLODE!”

After getting out, the Autobot made a few hurried steps before transforming and booking it. This, unfortunately, alerted the monster.

“HEY! HEY! HEY! YOU CAN’T LEAVE WITHOUT HEARING ABOUT MY BRAND NEW LASER SET! BUY NOW AND YOU’LL GET 50% OFF ON THE SHIPPING!”

It tried to strike him with its tentacle, but Jazz managed to get away. It immediately threw itself into pursuit.

Jazz maneuvered between the Energon crystals. The beast chasing him just kept smashing everything on its path as it squirmed forward. The Autobot took sharp turn after sharp turn to lose it. He lost his sense of directions somewhere between the fifth and sixth left turn. Then again, anywhere was good as long as the monstrosity kept eating his dust.

At least that’s what he thought until he took the next turn and ended up where he started. He could already hear the monster’s rumble. It was closing in.

“Hey, knucklehead! Over here!” Cliffjumper suddenly shouted. Jazz looked around and saw him waving to him. The Autobot drove fast as he could and transformed when he found himself in front of him. The Minibot led him towards one of the tunnels. It was a passage he had not seen previously. Its entrance was covered in broken pink crystals so he assumed it revealed itself after the monster’s rampage.

They ran as fast as they could into the unknown, hiding behind the nearest stalagmite. Then, they finally stopped and began wheezing like they were about to die.

“Think it’s still looking for us?” Jazz murmured after a second. Cliffjumper carefully peeked from the stalagmite at the entrance.

“TWO FOR ONE DEAL! GET A BRAND NEW MACHINE-GUN AND I’LL THROW IN LASER BULLETS, 20%OFF!”

The Minibot immediately retracted and hid back. “Yep!”

The Swindweller’s enormous body was blocking the light of the entrance. It was completely dark for a few seconds before the monster passed. They could finally loosen up a little.

“Cons, Megatron and now a dweller.” The first thing Cliffjumper used with his temporary freedom was complaining. He threw his hands. “And no way of reaching Optimus, just fan-fragging-tastic! Who do they think we are, some kind of miracle workers?! Actually, why didn’t the Prime get that special trinket himself?!-”

Jazz listened to him complaining for some time, but as his systems cleared from the adrenaline rush, his mind began to wander. So did his eyes which started scanning the room carefully. There was something about that cave they had found themselves in that seemed off somehow.

The smaller Autobot’s angered remarks became a mere background noise in just a few seconds. Jazz decided to go deeper and turned on his front lights.

“-I mean if he can’t be bothered to be a part of this mission himself, why the slag is he sending a Minibot and a guy who-!...” Cliffjumper paused when he heard footsteps getting further from him. He glanced back at Jazz.

“Hey…” He called, but got no response. “Hey, Coolsville! Walking out on someone who’s pouring his spark to ya is rude! I thought you’d know that!”

Unable to get a reaction out of him, he decided to follow his lead. The taller Autobot wasn’t that hard to catch up to and they were soon walking side by side.

They walked for a few minutes in complete silence. The tunnel was old. Very old. It was becoming more apparent the deeper they went. They encountered very little Energon crystals on their way and the ones they did were small. They were merely nubs rooted deep in the metal. Their colours were mostly purple, at least that’s what it seemed. The lights emitting from them were so dim there was no saying what they looked like originally.

Then, there was the passage itself. Through the glow of their biolights, they could see lines on the walls. They were most likely engraved. Unfortunately, they couldn’t tell if they meant anything. They didn’t look like they were making any shapes. Most of them were covered in black patches that had appeared some time ago on the ground and the ceiling.

And then there was…

Cliffjumper suddenly gagged. “By the Allspark, did something die down here?” He asked, pinching his nose with a grimace.

“We must be getting close.” Was all Jazz said. He was right.

It didn’t take long for them to finally reach a dead end. They stopped just in time to see that the ground before them was nothing but rust. Cliffjumper flinched, immediately stepping back.

Before them was standing a wall. Its surface was almost entirely covered in brown-red rust which spread beyond it and onto the tunnel.

“The rust plague?!” The Minibot panicked. Jazz looked closer at some of the rust next to him, readjusting his visor.

“... Looks pretty regular to me.” He said after a second. He brought his front lights to the rust-infested wall. He searched for some time before he focused on one particular part. It was barely visible, but he saw the symbol of Solus again.

An idea came to his mind. The Autobot reached for his back and pulled out something. It was the rusted disk they had found before.

Jazz made one step forward, but Cliffjumper quickly got a hold of his arm.

“Easy!” The taller Autobot cried. “I just wanna try something.”

His friend was still glancing at him in concern. However, after a second, he saw that he was sure about this. Reluctantly, Cliffjumper let go of him and Jazz was free to move forward.

The second he stepped on a rust patch, a shiver ran down his spine. Sucking in a deep breath, he kept going forward until he found himself under the wall. He was looking directly at the symbol. The area around it looked uneven, almost as if it was inside of a crater.

Jazz tip-toed and, trying to avoid the nasty areas, placed the disk inside of the inner bump. He covered the symbol of Solus Prime in the process…

A puff of smoke suddenly shot from it, making him immediately withdraw. Jazz stepped back, and as soon as he did, he heard an ear-piercing sound. He recognised it as a crunch of old cogs coming to life.

Looking at the side, the Autobot noticed that a chunk of the wall on his left began pulling back. Jazz kept his hands to himself as he went over to see what he’d done. He shed some light on the inside and took a peek.

“What’s that?” Cliffjumper called out.

“It’s a… Oh boy.” Jazz murmured. He was staring at a long stick at the end of a deep dent. Every part of the tiny hole was covered in rust, the stick included. The Autobot already had an idea what it was for and what he had to do.

The red Minibot saw him stepping back and prepping himself. Cracking fingers, rolling shoulders, readjusting his visor in a way he knew wouldn’t fall off.

“Dude…” Cliffjumper cringed as Jazz stepped back to the dent, looking ready like never before. “Please tell me you’re not gonna-”

With one swift motion, Jazz dived into the tunnel. His partner cursed and looked away. The whole thing lasted a few seconds. The Autobot avoided all responses of his body to the situation he had pushed himself into and reached out for the stick. He made sure to very carefully grasp it and then even more gently pull it to himself. The stick, the lever, gave in almost immediately.

Without any warning, the lights that weren’t previously visible lit up.

Jazz got out of there faster than he dived in. His body was covered in brown and red flakes all over which he started quickly swiping off.

The cave suddenly shook again. This time, for a different reason. Both Autobots stepped back as the wall began splitting itself open. In seconds, they were greeted by a new hall behind the rusty dead end. The first thing that came through was the dampness. The lights on the walls were leading deeper inside.

“I’d be so mad if that didn’t work out!” Jazz commented, trying hard to rub the rust off himself.

“If you want a pat on the back for that, I’m not giving it to you.” Cliffjumper said, walking past him.

“Aww. Cliffy. You don’t love me anymore?” The Autobot smirked. To the Minibot’s horror, he once again spread his arms.

“Don’t fragging touch me!”

“You still owe me that hug from earlier! Get back here and let me give it to ya!” Jazz threatened and scared his friend off completely. The two rushed inside, with Jazz chasing the Minibot who kept shouting promises to kill him in various colourful ways.

“Hey, coach?” Blurr suddenly interrupted. “Anyone ever told you that you’re really freakin’ weird sometimes?”

“Man, there’s no winning with you, is there?” Jazz outside of the story said lightheartedly. “It’s bad when I don’t talk about myself and it’s bad when I do.”

“It’s just… gross. Touching rust is gross no matter how lethal it is.” The youngling argued.

“This reminds me of my time with the Decepticons.” Clobber joined. “Someone dared me once to eat the rusted rations we got in the refueling station. Let’s just say I walked out of there with 100 shanix in my subspace.”

“Ew, what?!” Blurr shouted in distress.

“What did it taste like?” Jazz just asked, voice filled with mirth. He caused Blurr to let out a frustrated groan.

The two Autobots resumed their mission shortly after. Jazz had shaken off most of the rust from his body and returned to his normal colours.

They found much more than they bargained for behind that door. It was like they had been teleported to an entirely different location. Instead of the cave filled with raw materials, Cliffjumper and Jazz had found themselves inside of what they could only assume was an enormous underground city.

“Just what we needed. More mazes.” The Minibot grumbled.

“This is better than any archeological site.” Jazz said with barely contained excitement.

“Happy at least you’re happy, pal.” Cliffjumper didn’t sound happy at all.

The two Autobots kept walking, inspecting every detail on their way. They found some interesting things such as old weapons laying around or abandoned buildings left to rust, but even with that, their goal was still far. It took them a while until they found the right path.

“I can feel we’re getting closer.” Jazz said to his friend after a few minutes.

“How so?” He asked.

“Your air-conditioning just kicked in.” The other replied.

“Excuse me???” Cliffjumper couldn’t help but give him a confused glare.

“No, I swear it’s normal!” Jazz assured. “Solus’ temples were usually built around volcanic areas. Y’know, the whole blacksmith thing. If we’re looking for her relic, it must be inside some forge.”

“By the Allspark, Meister. How can you be both the smoothest talker I know but also whatever this is supposed to be?” Surprisingly, Cliffjumper let out a barely contained amused huff.

“I can multitask.” Jazz said. “You should try it. I’m sure Ratchet would appreciate not having to pluck out bullet shells every time you go berserk on the Decepticons.”

“Oh, frag you!” The red Autobot shouted, grinning widely. It made his friend chuckle.

They continued to go down the straight path, feeling the heat linger more ever so slightly. They were going for a very long time and-

Little did the two Autobots know, they suddenly heard something! It was loud and clear and it was coming from all around them!

Jazz and Cliffjumper came to an abrupt halt, alarmed by the sudden sound. They swore that it reminded them of… bells?

The Autobots stood back to back, listening in. The ringing was unbearable and incredibly loud, coming from nowhere and everywhere at once.

“The frag’s going on?!” Cliffjumper shouted. The chimes, the rings, it was proving themselves too much. The taller Autobot tried to pinpoint the exact location, but it was ultimately futile.

The distraction made them not realise that someone, or rather something, was watching them from above. It was a shadowy figure with burning red eyes.

Cliffjumper saw it first in the corner of his eye.

“Hit the deck!” He shouted at Jazz before pulling out his gun and trying to shoot it. The shape flew past it and the explosion blew a hole in the wall instead. Then, it pounced on them.

The Minibot yelled as it sinked into him, disappearing out of sight. He started thrashing around violently.

“Cliffy?!” Jazz shouted in panic, seeing him grip his head tightly and scream. He grabbed his friend by his arms, but he just dropped to his knees.

Eventually, finally, he went limp. The tall Autobot had to hold him so he wouldn’t fall over. He could still hear him panting, so he wasn’t unconscious.

“Talk to me, mech. Are you alright?” The taller Autobot asked worriedly. Cliffjumper gave him an unclear answer. In fact, he couldn’t even call it that. To his shock and growing worry… the Minobot started laughing.

It started small, barely a chuckle. Then it grew in volume and he already knew something was wrong.

It was far too late when Jazz felt a death grip on his arm which pulled him closer.

“Boo!” Cliffjumper’s head spun back with a sickening cracking sound and finally revealed the unnaturally wide smirk on his face. Jazz screamed and stumbled back, the haunting laughter ringing in his audials along with the bells.

The Minibot began standing back up. Every part of his body looked like it was going through a mid-transformation, but unnatural and painful. He was now standing before him, the pitch black eyes along with the smirk.

“Thieves… It’s been a while since any have visited my tomb.” Cliffjumper spoke, but his voice sounded off. Like someone else was speaking through him. “Do you feel them yet? The impact of your mistakes weighing on your back?....”

Jazz stood in place as if paralysed. It allowed the possessed Cliffjumper to limp towards him.

“You will never see the surface again!… You are now bound to this place, just like myself! You shall stay down here until your body turns red... Until all your sanity discards you… Until you forget every sense of time and what made you a person! “That! Is the curse of Solus-!”

Thunk!

Without any warning, Jazz slapped Cliffjumper in the face with a deadpan expression. The possessed Autobot let out a surprised yelp because of it. The impact was so strong he blinked his eyes back to normal.

“You okay?” The taller Autobot asked after a second.

“What just happened?” His friend asked, utterly confused.

“You were looking a bit pale there. I had to use my special Jazz technique to liven you up some.” Jazz claimed.

“Ah… Hm…” Cliffjumper hummed, massaging his cheek. After a second, he added: “Thanks… I guess…”

“We can take a break if you want.” The other offered.

“Noooo slagging way! I’m not staying down here for longer than I have to!” Even though he seemed fine, Cliffjumper was still on the edge. He continued walking forward, taking his hand off. “Let’s get that relic and get the frag outta here!”

“Booo!” Before Jazz had a chance to join Cliffjumper, he heard a disappointed voice of Blurr. Unexpectedly, he turned towards the wall which had been blown up before. It was fine now. “Why’d you undo that? Clobber was killing it here!”

“It’s okay if you don’t like it!... I’m not that good at improv anyway!” Clobber’s voice joined the conversation shyly.

“Yeah, do you hate Clobber’s ideas or something? Explain yourself!” Jazz could tell the blue Cybertronian was reaching at this point.

“I don’t hate your ideas. If you wrote a book some day, I’d read it.” The Autobot said to the empty wall. “We were just getting to the good part. No need to add any paranormal stuff.”

“Isn’t Solus like a ghost?” Clobber asked.

“That’s not at all how that works.” The Autobot sighed and finally began following his friend. “The sooner we finish, the better…”

Chapter Text

The two Autobots kept on walking. This time, their pace seemed more urgent which was definitely a result of the gravity of their situation and not an attempt to keep the two younglings in place and listen to the story.

“It’s getting pretty hot.” Cliffjumper eventually commented with a laboured huff.

“That’s a good sign.” Jazz said. The heat was starting to get to him as well, but he didn’t want to show it.

Finally, they reached the end of the labirynth-like tunnel. The light was nearly blinding and the heat was intense. They took a corner, seeing what was on the other side.

Before their eyes appeared a big underground temple. Everything about it screamed Prime-like. From the symbols on the walls, to the impressive metal statues which decorated the entrance, to-

The Autobots suddenly gasped and hid back into the tunnel. They peeked out after a second, just to confirm they weren’t hallucinating from the heat. Tragically, their suspicions were proven true.

Megatron and his Decepticons were there, too. There were standing in front of the temple, discussing something with the miners.

“What in Primus’ blue Cybertron is this?!” Cliffjumper whispered. “We left them up there!”

“They must’ve been somewhat aware of the danger. You don’t think that we… showed them the other way down here?...” Jazz whispered back, just as horrified.

“... Slag. Slag, what do we do now?!” The Minibot was starting to panic. “If they get that relic-!”

“I know! I know. I need a moment to think...” Jazz paused and considered his options. The Decepticons seemed to be in the middle of some kind of disagreement with each other, which gave him a bit more time to process the situation. Cliffjumper started playing with the sights of his cannon.

“Optimus said he and Lita would be here. Where are they when you need them?!” He said, frustration accompanying the rising panic.

“True. What I wouldn’t give to see our power couple right about now…” Jazz nodded. It didn’t take long until he seemed to have an idea. The taller Autobot opened his arm and pulled something out of it. It was a tiny triangular object with an Autobot insignia on its top. He stepped back and attached it to the wall. It glued itself instantly like a magnet.

“What are you…?”

“This should help Optimus have an easier time finding us.” Jazz claimed.

“Is this one of Perceptor’s?” Cliffjumper asked, watching his friend give the object a few firm pats so it wouldn’t fall off.

“Pff! ‘course not. He’s still throwing a fit after our little misunderstanding. ” Jazz said. His friend grimaced, picking up on what was left unsaid.

“Take that scrap off! I’m not having my life at the mercy of Wheeljack and his little horror inventions!” He told him.

“Have more faith. Jackie’s gadgets work most of the time.” The taller Autobot said so confidently. Finally, he stepped back.

“From what I understood, this cute little fella will produce a field of seismic waves with a specific signature. Elita-1 has another one. It will pick up ours via that signature and lead them straight to our position. Sounds easy, right?”

“Yeah… a couple more questions.” Cliffjumper joined his palms, squinting in suspicion. “What if they’ll go the same way we did and meet the dweller?”

“We’re pretty far from that place in our current position.” Jazz said, looking back at where they had come from. “We cross our fingers and hope that the Decepticons’ shortcut is nearby. Anything else?”

“Yes. What if it backfires?”

“Then I’ll guess we’ll cause an earthquake and bury us all.”

“Real comforting.”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. Otherwise, I don’t know what else we could do.”

Cliffjumper sucked in a breath.

“Fine. Fine, whatever! Let’s hope this works.” He finally gave in.

“That’s the spirit!” Jazz smiled at him and then pressed the device’s insignia. It came to life.

Jazz had to pause the story because he got distracted. Blurr and Clobber were looking at him. Both of them had these smug expressions on their faces that completely made him lose his flow.

“What?” Jazz rose an eyebrow at them, crossing his arms.

“Hey, partner.” After a second, Blurr nudged his friend. “Can you help me out? I’m looking for a word that starts with ‘j’ and ends with ‘z’.”

“Okay…” Jazz murmured. He already expected what was coming.

“Not that popular, but could be used to describe someone who doesn’t follow their own rules.” Blurr continued, making Clobber touch her upper lip with fake consideration.

“Mhm...” The Autobot nodded in passive encouragement.

“Someone who loves double standards and expects others to blindly follow everything they say. Sounds tyrannical in a way, but…” The youngling continued.

“Very funny.” His captain rolled his eyes, looking away.

“I dunno. I might have it on the tip of my metal tongue.” Clobber said, grinning back at the other youngling. “Do you mean j-biased-z?”

“Oh, I like the sound of that one! But no. Something more like… J-pretence-z.” Blurr said, putting emphasis on the ‘z’.

“I believe this one is from a dialect.” She claimed. Suddenly, she spread her arms for dramatic effect. “J-insincerity-z!”

“J-fraud-z!” The other mimicked her gesture, adding an exaggerated fanfare to his tone.

“J-lip service-z!”

“J-hypocrisy-z!”

Jazz tried very hard to be annoyed. By all means, he should be, yet he couldn’t. In fact, Clobber and Blurr coming up with various words and adding those nonsensical affixes to them really did something to him.

With each new contribution, his shoulders were shaking more ever so slightly. He battled his own lips as they began tilting upwards. He tried to hide it from them, but kept failing.

“J-phoney-z!” Clobber said, trying to outperform her friend.

“J-two-faced-z!” Blurr wouldn’t let her win that easily. Their little competition was suddenly broken as Jazz lost the battle with his own self. He faltered in his chair, hand going to his face as he barely contained the laughter that bubbled inside of him.

“You guys are going to be the death of me someday!...” He said between his desperate attempts not to crack up. The two younglings looked even more proud of themselves than before.

Jazz and Cliffjumper saw the Decepticons parting ways with the miners. They turned around and began walking into distance while Megatron and his army entered the temple.

With the last Seeker gone, the Autobots left their hiding spot and began inspecting the entrance. It was surprisingly well-preserved for a thing from ancient times. The metal, the engravings, everything seemed perfect to the last detail. On the top of the opening, they saw Solus’ symbol.

It didn’t take long for Jazz to get lost in the wonders of that architecture. He entered some kind of trance-like state and he stopped responding. It was a good thing that Cliffjumper was with him.

“Pss!” The red Minibot brought his attention after a second, saving him from drifting off entirley. His companion was standing some distance away, pointing at the side.

The illusion of a perfectly preserved temple was shattered, to their benefit. There was a pretty big crack in the wall.

“There might be traps inside.” Jazz said, walking up to him. Raising his arms, his hidden blades swooshed to the surface.

“Wasn’t expecting anything else.” Cliffjumper said, pulling out his own laser knife from his subspace.

The two of them, unfortunately, underestimated the ancients and overestimated their own luck. The second they squeezed through the crack, they landed on a trapdoor. The metal tablet slipped into the floor, making them both fall with startled shouts.

Jazz tried to stretch his limbs as if it was a vent, but the walls were too far from each other to do so, not to mention too slippery to grab onto. Thankfully, he wasn’t alone.

Cliffjumper quickly tangled his legs with Jazz’s and then dug his knife into the nearest wall. The taller Autobot got the hint and did that himself, stabbing the smooth metal with his blades.

The two worked together and stopped themselves just in time. On the bottom, a lava pit was awaiting them. Jazz and Cliffjumper’s vents began working over time. They gave each other brief, horrified glances.

After a second, the red Minibot carefully let go of his knife’s handle with one arm, showing Jazz how he counted to three on his fingers. His friend nodded.

Cliffjumper mouthed: ‘One. Two. Three!” before he undug his knife and swiftly stabbed it back, this time, slightly higher than before. Jazz followed his example. He silently counted to three before he used his blades to lift them up.

They kept going, until finally, they were back up. They rolled back onto the floor and began panting.

“My life just flashed before my optics!” Cliffjumper commented.

“Mine too… What an amazing experience!” Unlike him, Jazz was smiling. That earned him a glare. They returned to their feet momentarily and began dusting themselves off.

“Which way should we go next?” Jazz asked.

“Someone where we won’t meet the Cons for sure.” Cliffjumper replied.

“That’s a dream plan. How can we tell where they are, though?” The taller Autobot said. Suddenly, they heard distant screaming. They glanced at the left corridor in alarm. The haunting noises were coming from somewhere far, but not far enough.

“... The opposite side of the screaming-?”

“Yeah, definitely the opposite side of the screaming.” Cliffjumper asked and Jazz confirmed. They headed for the right path instead.

Click!

No sooner than the Minibot made a step, the floor under his feet was pushed inside. It was another trap trigger.

“Cliff!” Jazz turned to his friend.

“Every plate looks the fragging same!” He retorted.

Without any warning, Cliffjumper was launched to the ceiling with a scream. Jazz quickly shot his grappling hook at him.

Cliffjumper was pulled down, avoiding the ceiling that had split open and revealed razor sharp spikes. The Minibot ran down the wall back onto the ground where Jazz was already on the move.

“Pedal to the metal, Coolsville!” Cliffjumper shouted and they both sped up.

The walls were transforming away and revealing metal armored guardians inside. They swung their various weapons at them - swords, maces, flails, even sickles. The Autobots jumped, dodged, slid and everything in between to evade them. They pulled out their blaster and cannon and began counterattacking and blasting every obstacle on their way.

They finally reached the corner and pressed their bodies against its wall. They took a shot at the last guardian who dropped its axe right in front of them, making it slice into the floor with a big thud.

They took a second to rest. The moment ended when Cliffjumper glanced ahead and his jaw dropped. Jazz noticed it and followed his gaze.

The corridor ahead of them was nothing short of one gigantic trap. The guardians were waiting, the weapons were swinging, the trapdoors were everywhere.

“We’ll be here all day, won’t we?” Cliffjumper wailed.

“I’m pretty sure it took us way longer than that… Hey, Cliff. You wanna see a magic trick?” Jazz suddenly grinned at his friend.

“What?” Cliffjumper squinted at him.

“Abra cadabra!” Jazz said, raising his hand.

Snap!

Jazz and Cliffjumper were standing on the opposite side of the tunnel. Both of them were covered in burns, scratches and other unmentionable things. Cliffjumper was panting heavily while Jazz seemed completely fine.

“Ta dah!” The taller Autobot cheered. “A nice little shortcut!”

“What are you on about?!” The Minibot cried, still trying to recover. “We just went through that entire horror obstacle course! You almost lost an arm!”

“I sure almost did!” Jazz said, unbothered.

The two of them turned around and faced the gigantic doors they had stopped in front of.

“Are we really going to risk checking if this is the right door?” The Minibot asked.

“Stay back.” The taller Autobot stepped closer.

“Why am I even bothering?” Cliffjumper sighed.

Surprisingly, all it took was one strong push. The metal doors opened with a horrifying creaking sound, sending echo all over the massive chamber waiting inside.

The two Autobot stepped in, looking around. The place was filled with similar armored guardians, but those looked better taken-care of. Not to mention more royal.

Finally, after their long journey, they were standing face to face with their goal. The thing of the legends not seen in millenia.

Unlike the rest of the temple, the room was very well lit by fire and magma surrounding the place. In the middle of the room, they were met with a podium on which was resting a weapon. It was a large hammer.

The tool’s surface was decorated with golden and silver engravings. Even after all those years, not a scar crept on its exceptional construction. It was shining like the brightest star in the solar system. There was a string-like golden piece of material wrapped around its handle.

“I can’t believe this…” Jazz said out of breath. “We did it.”

“Yeah…” Cliffjumper said with a hushed tone. “Yeah, I’ll admit. This is pretty impressive…”

“Pause!” Blurr’s voice suddenly ruined the moment.

“That’s it?!” The youngling was so baffled that he sat up again.

“That’s it what?” Jazz had trouble understanding what he was trying to complain about.

“That was your big thing you were all fighting for?! No planet-destroying laser or an undead army, or even some cursed bazooka? An old hammer?!” Blurr said. The captain blinked.

“... You can’t be serious right now.” Was all the Autobot could say at the moment as his mind started working overtime.

“I’m usually not, but this time, I mean it!” The blue Cybertronian claimed with hands on his chest. “What? Could it make you fly or something?”

“No…” The Autobot denied.

“Cause thunderstorms?" Blurr wasn’t giving up.

“No-”

“Read minds?”

“Blurr-”

“Turn your enemies into ugly organic toads?”

“You’re really trying to tell me you don’t know what the Forge of Solus Prime is?” The captain finally asked.

“Uuuuuhhh…” Blurr rolled his optics around the dark bridge.

“No way! Really?!” Clobber gasped in exasperation. “You found the real Forge of Solus Prime?! That’s crazy!”

“You don’t know what that is either, stop pretending.” The blue Cybertronian called her out.

“Zip it, blue boy. I’m not failing the pop quiz today!...” She murmured to him, threatening to cover his mouth with her claw. Seeing their reaction was astounding to Jazz, to say the least.

“Nobody ever told you about the Thirteen Primes?” He asked.

“Wait, there’s more than three?!” This time, Clobber didn’t hide it. She turned back to Jazz and stared at him in horror. Blurr looked completely lost as well.

“... Okay.” The Autobot raised his hands and pushed an invisible obstacle in front of him. “We’re pausing the story and I need to explain this to you. That’s probably the most basic part of our culture.” He had no idea what to make of this newly acquired information, but for a moment, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for the two.

“Hold on. Hold on!” The blue youngling instantly reacted. “Story time is like a sacred thing to us! Nobody’s gonna taint it with some long boring lecture!”

Jazz was just about to retort, when he suddenly stopped himself. His gaze rested on the starry lamp on top of Clobber’s head. His expression softened when an unexpected idea came to his mind.

“Alright…” The captain nodded, then stood up. “Then how about we try something else?”

Now the two had trouble understanding what he meant. After a second, Jazz’s hand reached out towards the bigger youngling and rested right on top of her head.

“Can I borrow this for a sec?” He requested.

“Okay.” She agreed without giving it much thought. He took the object and along with it their only light source. His passengers watched the older Autobot step back from the controlling panel and kneel. Gently removing its triangular top and revealing a stick with a lightbulb on it, he bent it to one of the ship’s walls.

Jazz took a deep invent, then suddenly said in an extremely deep voice:

“Before time itself!-”

“Whoah! What was that?!” Blurr jumped when he heard him, making the captain cringe. “Are you actually possessed right now?!”

Jazz bowed his head and sighed deeply.

“Before time itself!...” The Autobot tried again, this time with his normal voice. He turned his head around and glared at Blurr, who gave no further criticism. Jazz was free to go on.

“-there was once a celestial titan…” He started. Bringing his hands in front of the lightbulb, he unexpectedly made a shadow puppet of a Cybertronian with a big hole in his chest.

“Primus, was his name. He came to life without a planet, without a family, and for all he knew, without a purpose. To fill that deep hole in his spark, he became a space traveller. He would fly by countless worlds, observing their native life forms developing into entire civilizations.”

The Autobot made the puppet fly around with a soft ‘whooosh!’ sound effect. While doing so, he decided to take a discreet peek at his audience. The two young Cybertronians' eyes were glued to the wall, observing the shadows dancing with curiosity. A relief washed over him that this seemed to be working and he continued.

“One day, Primus made an incredible discovery… He learned that he could create life of his own! But before he had a chance to test out this new power of his, there was one thing that his journeys have taught him: Every being needed a planet. Since he himself was born without one, he decided to do something even more incredible…”

Jazz began shifting his fingers. The hole inside of the shadow puppet began filling with its own body parts. First, the arms. Then, the legs. It didn’t take long at all for the silhouette to turn into a ball in front of the younglings' eyes. “He became the missing world himself.”

Clobber and Blurr gaped in awe.

“The people he created were made of metal, just like himself. The first ones inherited a big chunk of his might. He could afford to give it away until his thirteenth creation.”

Jazz’s fingers shifted again and created a crowd standing next to the shadow of his fist - the planet.

“Primus realised a little too late that he became weak and unable to transform back. He was stuck like that permanently, but even then, he didn’t regret a thing. Seeing that their creator sacrificed everything for them, those first Cybertronians swore to protect him from all danger. They called themselves the Thirteen Primes.”

“Using the powers bestowed upon them, they went out of their way to make special tools to guide the following generations of Primus’ children. The weapons of great power, each serving a different purpose…

Destruction…” He said, making a long cannon of sorts.

“Wisdom…” He continued, making a book and what appeared to be a quill. “And many more. All of them were forged by the first relic which one of the Primes made with nothing but pure fire and her own hands.” He said, making a hammer.

“Only they were able to wield these relics and use their talents fully. This is why after they rejoined Primus in the Allspark, no other Cybertronian was able to bring life back to these relics. That is… until the next generation of Primes came around.” He finished by making one last shadow puppet. It was another Cybertronian with a battle axe in his hand. A familiar presence to everyone involved.

When the show was over, the Autobot was taken aback when he heard clapping behind him. Clobber and Blurr burst into applause.

“See, coach?” The blue Cybertronian said. “You can have fun if you try!”

“I know I can.” Jaz said, standing back up and reassembling the lamp. “Maybe if you asked me the right questions more often, I’d share some of my party tricks with you.”

“Oh yeah, ‘cause you make it so easy to know which are the ‘right’ ones…” The youngling murmured, aligning his fingers together.

The Autobot walked back to the controlling panel and sat down on his chair. He passed Blurr the fixed lamp and the blue Rogue turned to Clobber. She bowed her head to him and he put the lamp back where it belonged. They exchanged smiles as the tiny stars began dancing around once more.

“Now, we can continue.” Jazz stated. Something about him seemed more confident than before.

The two Autobots began approaching their target. One careful step after another, they remained in eye-contact with the army around them. Their weapons were reloaded and ready to be used in case there was as much as a twitch among them. With that carefulness, they stepped onto the podium and surrounded the relic from both sides.

Nothing. Not a reaction.

“Probably the only time I don’t mind a tough crowd.” Jazz muttered as they both began lowering their weapons at last. “Okay, how are we doing it? Do you want to pull it out, or-?”

“Not it!” Cliffjumper said, quickly stepping away with raised hands. Jazz stared at him for some time. Despite that, he quickly came to terms with his fate.

The taller Autobot faced the relic after a second. It might have been older than their entire civilization, but it looked brand new. As if someone came in just a few minutes ago and polished the absolute scrap out of it.

Jazz’s eyes went up and down, staring at his own reflection as he was unsure what to do. He figured that he should begin with retracting his blaster back in its storage. His fists clenched and unclenched a couple of times, clearly wanting to do something. The Autobot even tried to circle it, find something that would help him out in this situation. He found nothing.

Finally, he quit stalling and took a deep breath. He returned before the Forge of Solus Prime.

“Well… For Cybertron.” He came up with some basic last words just in case and then his hands gripped the relic’s handle. The second he did that, the torches, including the magma, went out.

“Son of a Scraplet!” Cliffjumper shouted into the darkness.

“Cliff, be quiet! The Cons could be around!” Jazz warned fruitlessly. After a few seconds, their light came back on.

The second they could see again, they sensed that something was off. The magma was glowing blue instead of scortching red. At first, they thought the torches were lit again, but upon closer unvestigation, they were still very much put out.

The light was coming from the inside of the stone soldier’s helms…

Jazz and Cliffjumper glanced around, feeling themselves surrounded by the enemy that was or wasn’t at all there. The statues still hadn’t moved, but at this point, they wouldn’t stick around and try to prove otherwise.

“Great, we have the thing! Let’s leave this blasted place already!” The Minibot said.

“Won’t have to tell me twice!” Jazz replied. He tried to make a step, but the Forge of Solus Prime almost fell out of his hands as he tried to lift it. “Whoah!”

Cliffjumper came to his rescue and grabbed its head when it began tilting towards the ground.

“Hold on as tight as you can! I’m leading now!” He told his friend and turned around, placing the hammer’s handle on his shoulder. Wasting no time, the two rushed towards the exit, both holding onto the hammer as tightly as they could. They swore the statues’ eyes were stalking them as they were leaving the chamber.

Entering the corridor again, they decided to leave in the opposite direction than they came from. However, they were forced to halt as they were going around the corner.

Megatron, Starscream and their Decepticons were on the scene. Thankfully, they seemed too busy to notice them. They had fallen into one of the traps and were fighting what seemed to be big rolling balls covered in fire. Some of them were being chased by them, but some actually took on the task to try and destroy them. Their ranks seemed smaller than they had entered with.

Megatron had his gladiatorian weapons at full display. His sword slashed through the balls coming his way and his fusion cannon blew up the rest. One of the fire orbs got too close, but he saw it. With a roar, he cut right through it. It stopped, beginning to split. When it fell to the ground in two perfect halves, they revealed Cliffjumper and Jazz behind them.

The Decepticon leader gave them a surprised expression, which they could only reciprocate with horrified stares. It didn’t take long for Megatron to notice the Forge of Solus Prime they were carrying.

To the Autobot’s further horror, they saw Megatron’s face beginning to twist into an angry scowl.

“Go! Go! Go!” Jazz shouted and they both ran into another hallway.

“Starscream! Take your squad and after them!” Megatron growled at his Second-in-Command. Starscream and a few Coneheads dropped what they were doing, activated their jetpacks and flew after the Autobots.

Jazz and Cliffjumper entered some kind of narrow passage full of engravings. They bumped from wall to wall, unable to run in a straight line with the Forge of Solus Prime on their shoulders.

Thankfully, Starscream and his soldiers had the same trouble. They ended up crushing on the walls, but then picking themselves up and continuing their chase. The Decepticon commander shot his null rays at the two, but their trajectory was so chaotic he missed each one.

One of his rockets aimed a bit too high and it missed. However, they were nearing another corner, so he ended up blasting the wall into pieces. Jazz and Cliffjumper decided to risk it all and jumped through the newly created wall. They ended up on another level and another path, choosing to go left. The Seekers followed them, now free to open as much fire as they wanted. The Autobots escaped into another chamber, just in time to avoid being exploded along its entrance.

Once they were some distance away, Jazz suddenly made both of them stop. He picked up a rock from the ground and chucked it behind himself. It bounced from wall to wall and eventually hit the movement scanner he had spotted on the way.

The Decepticons were about to enter, when without any warning, blue flames burst from the ground. They gasped and stopped themselves, just as they were about to run into them. Jazz and Cliffjumper used the opportunity and resumed running.

Unfortunately, they didn’t get far. As they were about to pass, another wall abruptly exploded and sent them flying. They both hit the ground hard. The Forge of Solus Prime landed before them, its head smashing the ground right next to Cliffjumper’s. He yelped, recognising what would’ve happened had the weapon fallen at any closer angle.

Megatron and the rest of his troops were standing behind the now destroyed wall. They stepped inside and pointed their weapons at the two.

“The choice is simple, Autobots. You give us the Forge of Solus Prime and we will make sure your limbs will be removed long after your sparks are extinguished.” Megatron offered.

“Why can’t you just say hello like a normal person for once?” Cliffjumper jabbed, giving Jazz a glance. “I swear, there always has to be something about mutilation with you. It’s getting concerning.” Starscream and his group eventually caught up.

“Yes! Just as I planned! I have cornered them for you, Lord Megatron! Now, you can-!” As Starscream was bragging, his jets cooled off and the fliers landed. The Decepticon Second-in-Command heard a concerning click underneath them.

One of his heels stepped onto another trap.

Everything around them began to shake.

“Starscream, you clumsy fool! You fail me yet again!” Megatron barked angrily.

“Are we really doing this right now?!!” Starscream unexpectedly retorted as the quake quickly intensified. “You know, ‘Mighty Megatron’, maybe if you actually appreciated your troops more often, I wouldn’t feel so useless all the time! Besides, just admit you keep putting me down because you’re jealous of my graceful flying and gorgeous exterior!”

The whole bridge overcame grave silence. Jazz, and even Blurr, were giving Clobber a thousand-yard stare. The former Decepticon sat there, optic wide and expression filled with regret for ever opening her mouth.

“... What? I felt bad for the guy.” She said defensively. “I never met him in person, didn’t even hear what he was like, but… Come on, I wasn’t even the only one who thought he was kind of good-looking!… In a way.”

“Kid…” Jazz cringed.

“It was normal! If you have a problem with that, just say it to my face, cowards!" She shouted, bringing her fist down and making the whole bridge jump.

The room kept shaking. Starscream and his group joined up with Megatron, looking around and trying to pinpoint the cause of the commotion.

Without any warning, metal vines came from the darkness of the ceiling and shot at them. Starscream screamed, covering himself with his arms. Megatron used his fusion cannon and blasted the incoming obstacle to bits.

The situation repeated. The cables started shooting from all directions, restraining the Decepticons one by one. They got the Seekers, the Coneheads, and eventually, Starscream as well. Megatron fought them off the longest, but soon his fusion cannon was wrapped in the metal cables like a present. His arms, legs and torso were next before he was enveloped almost entirely.

To make things worse, the walls began sliding out of their places, shuffling their escape routes. The process was slow, but disorienting nonetheless.

“What kind of ancient tomfoolery is this?!” Cliffjumper shouted as he and Jazz kept their heads low.

“Whatever it is, follow me!” The taller Autobot said and began crawling. His friend followed his lead.

“Don’t you dare leave us here!” Starscream shouted, seeing them starting to drag the Forge of Solus Prime along with them. The Decepticons were hanging from the ceiling or walls. “Do you hear me?! I will destroy you!”

But the duo weren’t listening. They crawled a safe distance, before standing back up. They could see the Decepticons thrashing, clawing and biting the cords bounding them and knew it wouldn’t take long for them to free themselves.

Looking back at the corridor, the Autobots saw that the tunnels were moving.

“How’s that signal for Optimus?” Cliffjumper asked.

“Should’ve been activated by now.” Jazz claimed. “Not sure if it’ll be any good now…”

“Screw this! If they won’t come to us, we’ll come to them!” The Minibot shouted and forced Jazz to pick up the pace. The two Autobots charged right into the hallway of madness, hoping for the best.

Chapter Text

The two Autobots had lost count of how many times the tunnels have changed since they began running away. At their third attempt at trying to remember where they had entered first failed miserably, they finally began hearing distant shouting and heavy footsteps. The Decepticons had freed themselves. 

Every straight path became a crossroads. Every corner became a straight path. Optimus and Elita-1 still hadn’t shown up, so Jazz and Cliffjumper could rely only on themselves until further notice. 

The Cybertronians kept going ahead until they reached another crossroads. Something seemed different about them somehow. While the faint echoes of shifting walls were coming from each one of them, the tunnels themselves remained motionless. They had six possible paths before them, three on both opposing sides. 

Jazz and Cliffjumper had no time to be picky. They tightened the Forge of Solus Prime in their hands before entering the first tunnel on the left…

Seconds later, they unexpectedly came out of the middle tunnel on the right. They stopped and glanced behind them. 

“I’ve decided that I really hate ancient temples!” Cliffjumper stated. Then, they saw Megatron and Starscream finally catching up.

“There they are!” The colourful Seeker alarmed and pointed at them. 

“Just keep running and hope we’ll go somewhere!” Jazz said and guided his friend to the third tunnel on the right. The Decepticons finally reached them and ran in after the two.

The next few minutes could only be described as pure chaos. The tunnels spat the Cybertronians at random, shuffling their positions ever so often.

Starscream came out of the third tunnel on the left and ran into the first one on the opposite side. 

Jazz and Cliffjumper entered the first one on the right, spun around, and left through the second on the same side.

Megatron chased them all the way to the first tunnel on the left, then the two were chasing him to the third one on the right side.

At some point, the randomness of the already jumbled order reached its complete absurdity. 

Jazz and Cliffjumper had no idea they had been separated until they almost hit each other when they left the opposing tunnels and exchanged their places. 

Megatron came out of the second right tunnel, dragging one of his legs which was partly transformed into his tank’s front. He entered the first one on the left. 

Starscream came out from the third tunnel on the left, holding triumphantly the Forge of Solus Prime above his head while laughing. He passed Jazz whose top was transformed into the car except for his arms and legs. They both disappeared into the entrances that were the closest. 

Megatron ran out of the middle tunnel on the left, being ridden by Cliffjumper, who seemed to be having the time of his life. They ran into the third tunnel on the right. 

Eventually (finally), Megatron and Starscream came out of the tunnels. They were alone and neither of them had the Forge of Solus Prime.

“The Autobots can’t leave with the relic!” Megatron roared. He and his Second-in-Command decided to leave the cursed crossroads and charged down the pathway. 

On their way, they passed two urns conveniently shaped like Jazz and Cliffjumper and ran further down the corridor. After a few seconds, they disappeared behind the corner and the sounds of their footsteps kept getting further.

There was silence for the next few minutes…

Without any warning, the floor right next to the urns split open and revealed a secret trapdoor. Jazz and Cliffjumper emerged from it, coughing violently. A huge cloud of black smoke was coming out of their ventilation systems. 

After a second, they recovered, pulled themselves up and returned back on the ground. Reaching back inside, they slowly pulled out the Forge of Solus Prime by its head. 

When they tried to take a hold of the handle, it burned their palms with an uncomfortable hiss. The Autobots cried out, almost dropping the relic, but thankfully catching it before it fell on the ground. Jazz and Cliffjumper found the least hot areas on the hammer’s surface and began carrying it again. After a second, they moved in the opposite direction the Decepticon leaders had gone. 

“So we kept running.” Jazz narrated as in-story Jazz in and Cliffjumper kept running through the maze, sometimes bumping into random Decepticons. “And running. And running. At some point, we started doubting we would ever see the surface again. When all hope seemed to be lost, we finally found a familiar path that led us straight out of our death trap.” 

“And everyone lived happily ever after?” Blurr asked.

“Nah, I didn’t say that.” The Autobot said ominously.

“We’re almost there, Cliff!” Jazz called.

“Good! I can’t feel my tires!” Cliffjumper panted. They both rushed out of the maze. However, before they booked for the cave, a big shadow stood in their way. 

“WELCOME BACK, DEAR CUSTOMERS!” The Swindweller’s voice was mixed with a terrifying metallic screech. 

“Frag!” Jazz and Cliffjumper shouted in unison. The Swindweller found its way through the tunnels to them. It was blocking their way out, swinging its massive tendrils everywhere. 

“OP! If you’re here somewhere, now would be a great time for a big dramatic entrance!” Cliffjumper called. 

“This is dumb.” Clobber suddenly interrupted. Jazz in the story broke the character and acknowledged her speaking to him. “Why couldn’t you just use the Forge to defend yourselves?”

“Because only a Prime can use its full power.” The Autobot stated. 

“It’s a big hammer. Getting clocked in the face will hurt all the same, no matter who’s using it!” She said, as-a-matter-of-factly. 

“Yeah, coach, why don’t you try your luck? Who knows? Maybe you’re the next Prime in the making!” Blurr joined. Without any warning, the Forge of Solus Prime poofed out of existence. In seconds, it reappeared and fell right into the story Jazz’s hands. Surprisingly, all of its weight was gone and he could carry it with ease. 

“I’m flattered that you think of me that way…” Jazz smiled. Suddenly, the hammer blinked out of existence again and he placed his now free hands on his waist. “But I’m good. You know who’d absolutely live for that power rush though?”

The Forge reappeared seconds after, falling right into Cliffjumper’s hands. The Minibot began to stare at it with stars in his eyes. Suddenly, he raised it above his head and let out a feral roar. 

“YOUR TOOLS LOOK OUTDATED! WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SHOW YOU OUR LATEST ASSERTMENT???” The Swindweller roared back with much raw ferocity. 

Cliffjumper didn’t wait for it to attack first. Swinging the relic around, he charged with full force at the monster. 

“Look at you adding things to your own story.” Blurr said, not hiding the self-satisfaction in his voice. 

“We already drifted so far from the actual events, we might as well have some fun with it.” In-story Jazz replied, winking at the air. 

The Swindweller attempted to swipe at Cliffjumper, but the Autobot jumped over its tentacle. When another one whipped at him, he swung around, grabbed the handle tightly, and then knocked it away with a powerful strike.

“OUR VALUED CUSTOMER! IT APPEARS YOU ARE TRYING TO TERMINATE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF OUR PARTNERSHIP!” The Swindweller shouted, bringing down the roaring chainsaw at him. 

Cliffjumper bounced around, circling the monster and occasionally pounding it with the weapon. He waited for the right moment, and when the monster tried to get him again, he brought the hammer down and smashed its tentacle, making the monster shriek from pain. 

Jazz didn’t want to leave his friend hanging. He began circling the Swindweller from the opposite direction, blasting at it with his gun. It did little for distraction and certainly less for damage, but in his defence, his friend was the one wielding the ancient magical hammer. 

The Swindweller was destroying everything around itself. It was spinning wildly, arms and weapons for arms smashing the walls and causing a powerful earthquake. 

Jazz kept shooting, but that still didn’t do him any good. Instead, he decided to change his target. He began aiming at the ceiling, making the bigger chunks of rock fall on top of the monster. They made it flinch a couple of times, which was still not a desired outcome. 

To make matters worse, Jazz tried to get away on the other side, when suddenly, he bumped into something big. He yelped as he and the figure both fell down on the ground. After a second, the Autobot froze, realising he was laying on an angered Starscream. 

Looking up wasn’t any better. When he raised his head, the tip of his nose was met with the tip of a cannon pointed at him. It belonged to Megatron and his furious grimace.

“The relic.” He growled. Jazz, who never broke an eye-contact with the Decepticon leader, pointed to the side. Cliffjumper was still up against the monster, enthusiastically slamming it over and over with the Forge of Solus Prime. 

“Sorry, but it’s occupied right now.” The Autobot told him with cautious confidence. “Unless you wanna help us with pest control, I suggest you get in line.” 

Megatron shot him with a dangerous glower. However, he soon turned to his troops. 

“Decepticons! Follow my lead!” He shouted, raising his arm cannon to the air. With a battle cry, he began charging at the Swindweller. The rest followed his example. Starscream finally pushed Jazz off of himself and held him up by his collar. 

“I will tear you limb from limb for that later. But for now…” The Seeker snarled, grabbing a blade from his belt. Without any warning, he pinned the wide-eyed Jazz to the wall. He rose his knife hand with a sadistic smirk and then aimed it for his left shoul-

“Whoah-hoh! I got carried away there for a klick!” The out of story Jazz suddenly paused the narration, letting out a nervous laugh.

“Wait, did he actually stab you?” Clobber asked, now concerned. 

“No!... Maybe a little… Y’know, I might be misremembering something. Here’s how it probably happened.” The captain claimed. 

Starscream abruptly changed his stabbing direction and his knife drove into the stone above Jazz’s head. The Autobot was caught off guard when the Seeker took a better hold of him and then hung his back on the handle of the knife like a coat on a rack. He found himself stuck above the ground. 

Starscream cackled devilishly before transforming and flying into battle after the rest. 

“Aw, bolts…” Jazz murmured, wriggling around, but being unable to free himself. 

Cliffjumper struck the Swindweller. Then again. Then again. He was about to go for the fourth time, when the monster was attacked from other sides with bullets, lasers, missiles and everything else. 

“COMPETITION ON THE MARKET?! NO, SIRIE! THAT WON’T DO!” The Swindweller shouted and focused its tentacles on the Decepticons. The soldiers scattered, into the tunnels, behind the crystals, just about anywhere to remove themselves out of sight. Then, they continued their onslaught. 

Cliffjumper looked around anxiously, but slightly relaxed when he saw that he was not the target of that brutal attack. He was snapped back to his current situation when Megatron walked behind him. The Decepticon leader gave him a petrifying stare for a moment. 

It was a brief thing, and then he was off to battle with the monster. Screaming, he jumped on its back and dug his bare clawed hand into its metal skin. The Swindweller roared, beginning to thrash around and trying to make him fall. 

Jazz kept struggling, attempting to pull the knife from the wall. It was completely stuck and every yank was met with tremendous resistance. Using a moment of rest, he saw that the Decepticons had managed to surround the beast. The only problem was, Cliffjumper was still among them. Once it fell, the Minibot would be obliterated immediately. 

The taller Autobot knew he had to do something ASAP. The knife was stuck, so he decided to change his strategy. Pulling out his blaster with his free hand, he aimed at the rock behind him. 

Megatron was making a real show of himself while fighting the Swindweller. Every step was calculated, every move of his body carefully measured. He was everything Cliffjumper wasn’t. 

While the Decepticons were giving him back-up, Cliffjumper was the only fighter that helped the former gladiator take the beast head on. The Minibot had no proficiency with the Forge of Solus Prime, so most of his attacks were blind hitting of any surface of  the Swindweller’s massive body. It left him open to attack like the one that was about to hit him. 

The tentacle almost got the Minibot, when  suddenly, Megatron ran in front of him. With one blow of his fusion cannon, he managed to turn the tendril’s tip into a smoking explosion.

“YE-OWIE!” The Swindweller roared with wide eyes.

Cliffjumper had no time to contemplate being saved by Megatron. The Decepticon leader shot him a glance, this one was way calmer than the previous one. The Minibot understood. 

With a fusion cannon and ancient hammer, the two rushed at the monster as one. They split, avoiding being cut by the chainsaw, bounced off the walls, and then, at the same time, dealt one final blow together. It was a direct hit at its core in the chest. 

“THE WORLD IS AGAINST THE HONEST, HARD-WORKING INVESTORS!...” Were its last words. 

The Swindweller withered away, letting out a miserable whirr that shook their surroundings. It collapsed onto one of the walls, sliding onto the cold ground. It lolled its big snaky tongue out as life left its purple optics.

“Something’s missing here.” Blurr stated. 

“I think I know what you mean.” Clobber’s grin could be heard through her tone. There was a pause between them for a moment.

“Yeah, why not? I’m all for being extra.” Jazz said. “‘And then the dweller exploded.’”

Without any warning, the Swindweller blew up! Its body was devoured by a cloud of smoke and fire that quite literally came out of nowhere. Blurr and Clobber cheered loudly. 

“Thank you! Thank you! We’re making history here!” Jazz reacted to them like an actor would react to the applause. 

The explosion was gone as soon as it appeared, and when the dust settled, the dweller was nowhere to be found. Its whole body completely vanished, leaving only a destroyed cave behind. 

“Pit yeah!” Cliffjumper cheered, raising the Forge of Solus Prime triumphantly. “I finally feel like I live!”

That statement seemed to bother Megatron who rose from the ground right behind him. The fusion cannon that previously saved the Autobot’s life was now aimed at his back, much to his lack of knowledge. 

Suddenly, Jazz jumped into the weapon’s trajectory reach and pushed Cliffjumper away. He managed to save his friend at the last second, before the shot from the cannon made a hole in his spark chamber. Tragically, the Minibot was so startled he instinctively dropped the Forge of Solus Prime. The shot that was meant for Cliffjumper blasted the wall instead, making a huge crater. 

The Minibot groaned from the ground as Jazz flipped both of them on their stomachs, still holding a hand on his back. 

“At last…” The Forge of Solus Prime was picked up by a dark grey hand. “The Forge of Solus Prime belongs to me.”

“Oh no…” Jazz murmured. 

Megatron was admiring the hammer in his hands, staring at his own reflection in it. His lips curled into a nasty smirk as he did so. 

“Decepticons… A new dawn begins on Cybertron!” He claimed, raising the weapon up. “The beginning of the Decepticon empire!” 

The Decepticons cheered with him. Cliffjumper and Jazz were paralysed with terror…

Abruptly, there was an explosion. Everyone turned to one of the walls of the cave and saw what made the noise.

Optimus Prime and Elita-1 were standing in the newly created entrance, weapons in hand. 

“We apologise for the delay!” The Prime began.

“We lost direction because of some strange quakes in the area!” Elita-1 finished. 

Jazz couldn’t help but laugh upon seeing them. 

“You two owe us big time for this!” Cliff shouted, but looked mostly relieved. 

Megatron grimaced and turned towards the two, spinning the Forge of Solus Prime in his hands. 

“Prime!” He called, giving the ground a powerful pound with the newly acquired weapon. “You have come to your own funeral!”

“No, Megatron.” The Prime said. “I have come for my Autobots! And my lineage’s legacy!”

Megatron had only a snarl to give in return. 

It was like Cybertron itself rumbled in participation. One final challenge and fate would decide who’d get the relic. And with it, the upper hand in that long, exhausting conflict…

Chapter Text

And so, the battle began.

The remaining Decepticons swarmed the four Autobots. Metal clashed against metal, laser against laser, every trick in the book was allowed.

Optimus and Elita-1 aided Jazz and Cliffjumper in their struggle against the Seekers who threw a hit and then flew away multiple times. However, their focus quickly shifted to Megatron who distracted them with the hammer in his possession.

Starscream and the other Decepticons didn’t bother to step in. They knew better than to go between them and their leader. Instead, they focused all of their attention on Jazz and Cliffjumper. Their attacks grew more frequent and focused. Finally, Starscream shot his missile at them.

Jazz pushed Cliffjumper out of the way and tried to get away himself. He could feel the heat of the explosion on his back, which made him hiss.

“Fools!” Starscream laughed, aiming again. “You are not as tough without your little ancient trinket, are yo-!”

His taunting was interrupted when a missile hit the ceiling above him. Instantly, a number of large boulders fell on the Decepticon Second-in-Command, making him squeak in surprise. He tumbled down and crashed to the ground, bringing some of the nearby Seekers down with him.

Cliffjumper reloaded his cannon with another missile and fired it in some other direction at more fliers.

Jazz was driving around, attracting some of the gunshots to himself. Despite the small area to work with, he managed to find the perfect solution. As he was heading for the tunnel, about five fliers were tailing him. He was getting closer, closer…

Without any warning, he caught his pursuers off guard and drove on the wall right next to the tunnel. The Seekers didn’t stop in time and they all crash landed inside.

Jazz made a donut all the way back to the ground and quickly transformed. He got inspired by his friend and shot at the ceiling a couple of times, making three big stalactites fall down. The sharp rocks blocked the way, trapping the group of Decepticons inside. When the Autobot was about to return to the rest, he did not notice a Decepticon Conehead sneaking behind him.

The Autobot sensed his presence, even began turning around to confront him, but all that did was open himself to the inevitable attack. The Conehead slapped Jazz with full force, catching his upper body with his massive arm.

Jazz cried as he was flung onto the wall. The impact was so devastating, the wall cracked behind him as his back crashed into it. The Autobot’s air was forced out of his vents and he let out a loud whine, falling back onto the ground and immediately dropping to his knees.

His vision began glitching from that. Despite his condition, the Autobot tried to collect himself and stand back up to return to the fight. If only his head wasn’t spinning and the body struggling to keep itself up.

Out of the blue, Jazz felt someone grabbing his shoulders. He jolted so hard his eyesight immediately got better. He used it to see who was holding him and lifting him off the ground.

It was Clobber.

“Sorry that my friend hit you too hard. Are you okay?” She asked softly. There was a medical kit in her free hand.

“Stop! Stop! Stop!” Blurr shouted, shoving his finger into Clobber’s cheek. “What is this self-inserting yourself into the story?!”

“You could push Megatron off the stairs, I can make sure Jazz in the story is okay.” She stated simply, giving him an innocent smile.

“That’s different! You weren’t even born yet!” The blue Cybertronian shouted. “Jazz, tell her she can’t do that!”

Two two turned towards Jazz who grew strangely quiet. The Autobot in question was sitting hunch-backed on his chair, hand clasped over his mouth.

“Jazz?” Blurr asked, getting a little concerned.

“Still present!” The captain cleared his throat. As soon as he took his hand off, he revealed a big smile he was trying to hide the entire time. Thank Primus he at least had his visor on.

Clobber in the story ceased existing, but Jazz felt significantly better than a few moments ago. And just in time, too, because the Conehead came at him with a battle cry, trying to throw another punch. The Autobot ducked and his fist made a deep hole in the wall instead. Jazz used the fact that the Decepticon got stuck by an accident and escaped him.

Megatron was entirely focused on Optimus Prime and Elita-1. With eon blaster, axe and two Energon guns, the Autobot high command fired everything they had at their opponent.

Megatron spun the Forge of Solus Prime like it weighed nothing, deflecting their every projectile. When he got close, he tried to pound them with it. Optimus and Elita-1 split, then began attacking him from both sides. Punch. Slash. Kick. High kick. Every time, the Decepticon leader would dodge or block.

Finally, Elita-1 surprised him with her speed. She lowered herself as the Forge of Solus Prime was about to hit her upper body and then threw herself at Megatron. She pushed him and he went off balance, allowing Optimus to use the flat of his battle axe and swing it at him. It was a direct hit in his gut.

Megatron scared them away by wildly trying to smash them both. He stepped back and tried to recover. While he was distracted, Optimus and Elita-1 lowered their weapons for a second.

“After you.” He said to her with a gesture of his hand.

“No, no. After you.” She mimicked with a smile.

“If you two don’t get your scrap together right this moment, I’m gonna go over there!” Jazz ran up to them, shooting behind himself at the Decepticons.

“Don’t test me!” He added as he had to retreat because of the number of Seekers chasing after him. Optimus and Elita-1 glanced at each other.

“Together?” He asked.

“Works fine with me.” She nodded, readying her weapons.

When Megatron’s focus returned to them, both Elita-1 and Optimus were charging at him. They cried, jumping to the air and preparing to shoot him.

The Decepticon leader grit his teeth. He snarled and suddenly his eyes flickered purple.

“Enough!” He shouted, releasing a power wave from his body. It hit Optimus and Elita-1 first. Then, it hit his Decepticons, Cliffjumper, and finally Jazz. Everyone stopped moving. Then, suddenly, they were all yanked forward by some unforeseen force.

“I’ve had it!” Megatron growled as his optics continued glowing. After a second, the Autobots noticed a smooth purple stone in his hand with a bunch of runes on its surface.

“Megatron, you stupid nerd! The Rock of Levitation is our most priced artifact!” Optimus said angrily.

“I know! That’s why I took it!” Megatron replied, smirking evilly.

“Come on, Blurr. Really?” Clobber raised her singular optic ridge at her friend. “A magical rock?”

“Why not?” Blurr said with arms pillowed behind his back. “It’s already a big strange world we’re living in.”

“It seems far too convenient. Do you really think Megatron would just have a rock that powerful?” She asked.

“No, he wouldn’t. Because something like that doesn’t exist.” Jazz joined.

“Exactly.” Clobber nodded, satisfied. She was about to add something when her captain cut her off.

“A gauntlet, on the other hand…” He murmured. The two younglings stared at him wide-eyed. Blurr was forced to sit up again to do so.

“What? Did you really think old Megs would go all this way for a relic he couldn’t use? He and his Decepticon scientists spent eons trying to find a way to control the Prime artifacts. Some were more successful than others... This was the only successful one.”

“... Hoooow?” Blurr cringed, raising his arms pleadingly.

“I don’t know, I’m not a Decepticon scientist.” The Autobot shrugged. “Optimus should know the answer. You can ask him once we’re on Cybertron. Personally, I have two theories. One: They used whatever they found inside of Solus Prime’s crypt which was at the time in their possession. Two: Magic.”

“One of those doesn’t seem plausible.” Clobber squinted skeptically.

“Yeah, you’re right… The crypt was probably more booby-trapped than the temple.” The Autobot said with a grin.

Megatron opened his palm and slid the golden and red gauntlet onto his wrist. It went all the way up his arm and didn’t stop until his elbow. Once it fit right into place, the Decepticon leader clenched his fist.

Instead of hanging in the air, the Autobots laid on the ground, defeated. The Decepticons were standing all around them.

Optimus rose his head from the ground and saw his eon blaster before him. The Forge of Solus Prime was laying right next to it.

After a second, heavy footsteps approached him. Megatron stopped before his fallen opponent and picked up the hammer. As he turned around and began walking back, he ‘accidentally’ kicked Optimus’ blaster away.

The Decepticon then reached for his back and pulled out his sword. He took one agonisingly long moment to look it over. Strolling around the place, he seemed to ponder about something.

“Here’s a small history fact for ya. Something you won’t learn at any school.” Jazz outside of the story began. “You may remember that the Forge was the first artifact. Every other Primely weapon came from it.”

Finally, Megatron’s expression soured. He dropped the sword to the ground.

“Those needed time and skill to be crafted…” Jazz paused.

The Decepticon leader grabbed the hammer with two hands. He swung it behind himself…

“The same skill is not needed for non-magical weapons.”

Clang!

A loud sound echoed through the cave when Megatron brought the Forge down. It didn’t take long for something to begin happening. The relic shone into life.

Clang! Clang!

Two, no- Three more times. It was all it took. Even from their position, the Autobots could feel the heat radiating from it. Every time Megatron striked, its head was getting redder.

After a few minutes, it was cold once more.

Megatron took the hammer away and looked down. Almost immediately, his eyes widened.

The simple gladiatorian sword had transformed. Its rugged edges, made from thousands of years worth of battles, were smoothed out and shiny as new. In addition to that makeover, its surface changed. It looked sharper in a way, silver was replaced with something harder. It looked royal in a way.

“It works…” Megatron said, as if in disbelief himself. However, that disbelief didn’t last for long. The Decepticon’s lips suddenly twitched and slowly began forming into something crooked. The chuckle built inside of his throat before growing in volume and then he was laughing in no time.

By the time Megatron picked up that sword again and raised it up, the laughter turned maniac.

“Yes!” He exclaimed. “At last, the power of the Primes is mine!”

He paused and glanced at Optimus concerningly.

“All of it…” He purred. Unexpectedly, he started stepping towards Optimus. With his boot, he flipped the Autobot leader on to his back.

Elita-1, Jazz and Cliffjumper wanted to jump into action, but they were quickly restrained by the other Decepticons.

Megatron stomped on Optimus’ stomach, making him wheeze out a pained shout. Without any warning, the Decepticon leader dug his claws into the Autobot’s chest. His screams could be heard through the entire cave.

With one strong yank, Megatron pulled out what was inside of Optimus’ chest. The Matrix of Leadership. That relic didn’t seem to need much introduction as even Scraplets knew of its existence.

“Today, the Autobots fall! Tomorrow, the Decepticons win the war and cease control of Cybertron! And soon, the rest of the Universe will kneel before us!” Megatron announced, holding the Matrix of Leadership up.

His soldiers began chanting.

“Megatron! Megatron! Megatron!-”

The Autobots watched in horror as the situation began to escalate. Jazz, from his position on the ground, knew he had to do something. He knew his chances were slim, but he still had some fight left in him. It seemed that it was all up to him now…

His thought process didn’t last long, because suddenly, everyone felt a quake. It was seemingly coming from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

Out of nowhere, the nearest cave wall was smashed to tiny bits. They all had to shield themselves from the flying rocks.

The person who had interrupted them was standing right in front of the hole she’d made. It was a tall figure with armor fit only the true royalty.

It was Solus Prime herself and she looked mad.

“Who dares to lay a hand on my hammer?!” She asked and her voice boomed with the power of a thousand choirs.

“What?!” Clobber interrupted. “You brought Solus back to life?!”

“Yeah!” Blurr said, sounding proud of himself. “She’s gonna beat Megatron up and make him cry!”

“No, no, no-! That wouldn’t work in practice at all! It’s a terrible resolution!” Clobber argued.

“Like you could come up with a better ending?” The blue Cybertronian challenged.

“Watch me.” She took it.

Everything went back to normal, no wall-holes and angry demigods standing behind them.

Instead, Megatron returned to holding the Matrix up while his Decepticons were chanting. Without any warning, the Decepticon leader was shot in the back. He screamed in pain, and suddenly, a colourful blur swooped in and stole the relic from his hand.

“Victory belongs to Starscream!” Starscream flew some distance and laughed as he held the Matrix.

“How’s that a better resolution?” Blurr asked.

“Well, Starscream will join forces with the Autobots and take down Megatron with them-”

“Now that’s just some hot steaming slagheap! Why would he want to join forces with his enemies?”

“Because he’s a free thinker and does everything in his best interest! Right now, joining the Autobots, who will eventually win the war, is in his best interest!”

“He has literally no way of knowing about it! I’m changing it!” Blurr warned.

The scene changed again.

As Megatron was about to claim victory, he suddenly heard beeping. He looked back at the Forge of Solus Prime in his hand. He noticed a bar on its handle that showed a low-battery.

“What…” The Decepticon leader couldn’t help but scrunch his nose in confusion.

“Low on what?! Solar battery?!” Clobber was fully shouting now.

“It doesn’t matter as long as it works!” Blurr retorted.

“Of course it matters!” The bigger Rogue argued. “Your ideas are half-baked at best!”

“Kids…” Jazz tried to intervene, seeing that their argument was getting progressively more heated.

“Oh, and yours are better?!” Blurr stood up and pointed judgmentally. “What’s next? Optimus’ gonna suddenly get the strength to fight because of the power of friendship?!”

“I’ll let you know it’s a good source of motivation!” She stood up as well. The lamp on her head fell off. Jazz managed to catch it before it shattered on the floor. “It helped me save your spoiler more times than I have fingers to count!”

“Guys!” The Autobot tried again, just as unsuccessfully.

“At least I have the guts to try something creative every once in a while!” The blue Cybertronian snapped.

“Random! The word you’re looking for is random! You just yell the first thing that comes to your mind and call it a day!” She retorted.

“Oh, I’ll give you random! ‘Starscream turns into a giant space octopus and eats everyone in the room’!” Blurr declared.

“Fine!” She growled. “‘Starscream doesn’t have the chance to eat them because they all dodge!’”

“‘They can’t dodge because he spat on them and he has saliva made of tar!’”

“‘And then it turned out it was all a shared hallucination!’”

Without any warning, they were interrupted by a loud ear-piercing shriek that caused them to flinch. Jazz had stood up as well. His shoulder speakers popped out and the sound was coming from them. The younglings went silent after that and the Autobot withdrew his arsenal.

“I’m glad you’re so invested in the story, but I think it’s time I took over now.” The captain said, sitting back down, joining his hands and crossing one leg over the other. “We’re almost done anyway.”

“No, coach, don’t be like that!” Blurr started begging.

“We promise we’ll calm down!” She joined him.

“I believe you, really do, but here’s the thing.” Jazz said. “I chose this specific story for a reason. Y’see, I used to tell it a lot when I was still with the Autobots. Like an unhealthy amount. Every time I did, I would spruce up the ending a little more every time to boost our morale. Don’t mean to brag, but my audience loved it every time.”

“So…” Blurr tilted his head. “All this time you were getting mad at us for not sticking to the story, but you were lying about it yourself for years? Is that what I’m getting from this?”

“Some of it is true. I just sprinkled in a few things here and there. Now, I could tell you the newest version, but if you wanna keep arguing about the ending yourselves…” Jazz looked away, but behind his visor, his left eye was peeking at them. The moment he saw them glancing at each other, he knew he had them in his clutches.

“I guess it is your story…” Clobber said.

Jazz patted his legs with a shadow of excitement on his face.

“Tighten your seatbelts and listen up.” He said.

Once again, they were back at Megatron’s mercy. Jazz looked up from his position, glancing around his companions. Optimus was in a poor state to say the least. The broken pieces of his windshield and metal exterior were laying everywhere around him.

Elita-1 was scowling at the Decepticons in anger, but Jazz knew too well she was hiding her own worry.

The only one who was looking back at him was Cliffjumper. He was laying some distance across him. Even in this situation, the red Minibot didn’t lose his determined expression. Jazz decided not to be worse. In those very brief couple of seconds, a silent agreement formed between them.

Discreetly, the taller Autobot reached for a nearby Energon crystal and began carefully pulling it out of the ground.

“I’ve been waiting far too long for this day…” Megatron mused, holding his upgraded sword to the weakened Optimus’ throat. “I will cherish the fact that I finally got rid of the last Prime. Abandoned and rotting inside of a ditch, no less!”

When the Decepticon leader swung the sword to deal the final blow, it was their signal.

Both Cliffjumper and Jazz suddenly flopped on their backs, kicking the closest Decepticons in their proximity and making them shout.

“Why, you little-!” One of the Coneheads was about to shoot. Jazz spectacularly spun back to his feet, and wasting no time, shoved the crystal into the Decepticon’s gun barrel. He almost didn’t manage to escape the explosion that came after his opponent instinctively pulled the trigger. The same thing happened on Cliffjumper’s end.

A thick blue smoke surrounded them, giving Jazz and Cliffjumper an opportunity to attack the disoriented enemy.

A shootout began, but while the Decepticons were aiming blindly everywhere, the two Autobots knew exactly where to strike. They used the cloud as a distraction as they made their goal to strike every one of them down with their own fists.

The other Seekers tried to join, but unfortunately, they ran within Elita-1’s reach and she grabbed the two of them effortlessly. She returned to her feet and threw them at other Decepticons, quickly finding her weapon again. Cliffjumper joined her side soon enough.

Megatron snarled, seeing what was happening. He turned his head just for a second, when suddenly, a strong grip took a hold of his arm. Optimus pulled the Decepticon closer, lifting himself off the ground, before punching his opponent with all his might. The Autobot was beaten up, exhausted, but the fire in his eyes never dimmed.

Megatron roared and tried to slash him, but he kept dodging.

“Heads-up!” Jazz suddenly appeared from the cloud and kicked Optimus’ axe back at its owner. His leader grabbed it with both hands, spun, and then slashed Megatron’s chest as he was about to strike him. All it did was anger the Decepticon even more.

The axe clashed against the sword, and then the axe clashed against the legendary hammer. Megatron had all the odds in his favour, but Optimus kept swinging and dodging and slashing. He tried very hard not to accidentally hit the Matrix of Leadership that was wrapped around the other’s arm.

Jazz attempted to help and jumped on Megatron, who screamed as he tried to shake him off. That earned the Prime a few extra hits. The Autobot soldier did everything he could - blinded him, hit him, covered his eyes, everything to distract him from his leader.

Finally, he yelped as Megatron made one strong jerk and the Autobot’s upper body began hanging off of the warlord upside down. Before Jazz regained his balance, his body slipped onto the Decepticon leader's arm. Megatron threw him, making him finally let go. The Autobot flew across the cave and rolled on the ground.

“Jazz!” Optimus shouted in horror.

“You shall join him in the dirt very soon!” Megatron smirked. He raised his sword at Optimus again, but little did he know, the Matrix that was wrapped around his arm was gone.

Jazz returned to his feet momentarily. His back was turned from the two leaders and the Autobot seemed to be looking down. He was staring at the Matrix in his hands. He felt some strange buzzing coming from it. It was so intense that he could feel it all the way in his spark chamber…

The battle between Elita-1, Cliffjumper and the Decepticon shifted. The Seekers surrounded the two Autobots, but they weren’t willing to back down. Suddenly, one of the Coneheads was hit by a powerful blue beam of energy. The rest immediately stiffened.

“Who dares to-?!” Starscream cried when he was hit next.

Jazz was standing in the middle of the cave, illuminating the darkness around them. The Matrix wasn’t accepting him as a host, but it didn’t completely reject him either. It created a strange phenomenon where he was completely coated in the sheer power of the Primes.

That finally got Megatron and Optimus’ attention as well.

“Huh…” Jazz acknowledged, seeing the energy dancing on his hand.

“Decepticons!” Megatron didn’t have to shout the order for others to know what to do. Jazz was jumped by all the remaining Decepticon forces. However, this time, he was more than ready.

The Autobot’s fast movements became even faster, the energy following him behind like a brilliant cape. He blocked, then punched, and his attacks blew his opponents away.

“Y’know, Megs?” He said, kicking another Seeker in the head. “This gives me an idea for a new song!”

“No.” Megatron gripped the Forge of Solus Prime’s handle.

“Not my usual style, but hey! Lots of new experiences all around today!”

Megatron knocked over Optimus and began running at Jazz.

The Autobot’s speakers came to life. They swifted away from his legs, shoulders and arms. The Matrix, however, affected them. They were somewhat bigger than usual.

“You may have the power, but let’s see…” Jazz continued. The speakers came to life. They were buzzing with so much power, their frequencies had different colours.

Megatron readied the Forge of Solus Prime.

“If you…” The melodic sound of the keyboard began playing through the speakers. The Autobots took cover. Megatron rose the hammer, about to squash Jazz.

“Have the Touch!” The Autobot shouted with all his might.

Jazz’s speakers exploded with pure unfiltered sound. Megatron was pushed away, so were the rest of the Decepticons.

The very core of Cybertron shook when Jazz played the hardest guitar riff they had ever experienced in their entire lives. Waves upon waves of weaponised music were assaulting the Decepticons from every direction. The presence that was Jazz stopped existing for a moment, being replaced with a personification of the concept of volume.

Optimus, Elita-1 and Cliffjumper were hiding in one of the tunnels. They had to turn off their audio receptors to avoid being affected and even then their sparks were flickering in their chambers from all the vibrations.

The whole thing ended as quickly as it started. By the time he was done, the cave felt way more roomy than initially.

Jazz was in the eye of the former cyclone, panting. The Decepticons were laying all around, knocked out cold. The Matrix in the Autobot’s hand was no longer active.

Suddenly, the arm holding it went limp and it clattered to the ground. Jazz swayed where he was standing. He was about to fall, when without any warning, Cliffjumper ran up to him and caught him just in time. The taller Autobot groaned dizzily.

Optimus and Elita-1 joined them soon after. Both of them were staring at Jazz in shock and disbelief.

“So… We’re ready to Roll Out now?” The taller Autobot put on a smile and tilted his head towards the Forge of Solus Prime. The relic was lying right next to him, in the unconscious Megatron’s open hand.

“Y-yes, of course!...” Optimus woke up from whatever daydream he was in and walked over to collect the relics. The Matrix, first, and then, the Forge of Solus Prime. He reached out, hesitated while looking in Megatron’s face, before finally taking a hold of it.

“Autobots…” He said, standing back up after a second. In one hand, he was holding the hammer and the gauntlet in the other. “Let us return home.”

Jazz stood up, peeling himself off Cliffjumper.

“Music to my ears.” He commented as the four of them transformed. The Forge of Solus Prime landed on Optimus’ roof.

“Speaking of music.” Cliffjumper said. “We are gonna talk about what just happened, right?”

“Maybe… I bet it’s gonna make a banger campfire story some day.” Jazz said as they all drove into one of the darkest tunnels, leaving the Decepticons in their dust. The glow of the relic was lighting their way the entire time.

“So we Rolled Out all the way back to Iacon with the Forge or Solus Prime, a cool looking glove and a brand new understanding of our ancient history. And that, my young passengers, is the end.” Jazz said. He had stood up and took a bow in front of his audience.

Without any warning, there was a commotion nearby that startled them. The electricity spasmed, the lamps flickered, and suddenly, the bridge was lit up once more.

The rest of the ship’s systems also kicked in. Everything was returning back to its full power. The three of them looked around and saw that everything was going back to normal, including the controlling panel which began rebooting itself.

“The power’s back!” Blurr cheered, throwing his hands up.

“Finally!” Jazz let out a heavy sigh, throwing himself back in his chair. “We can keep moving!”

Clobber leaned closer and turned off her lamp, scooping it into her arms.

“See? You can have fun when you want to!” The blue youngling said to Jazz. “We should get caught in the middle of magnetic storms more often just to see this side of you!”

“Thankfully, I don’t think that’s gonna happen again anytime soon.” Jazz said, rotating towards the controlling panel and beginning to activate the engine. Even though he took his eyes off the two, he could still feel the impact of theirs on him. He looked up and saw Clobber peeking at him from above.

“Soooo… How much of the last part was true?” She asked curiously. “Did you really blast them all with just your music?”

“Clob, come on. You can’t believe everything he’s saying!” Blurr commented from the back, whipping his hand at the older Cybertronian. “Of course he made it all up! Look at him, what kind of ancient artifact wants that?”

“You’re free to believe whatever you want, kid.” Jazz snorted. “I think I gave you enough classified info about myself to last till the next time.”

“The only thing you gave me is more questions!” The blue Rogue claimed. “Just come clean and admit there was no Matrix holding!”

“I think some of it could be true!” Clobber stated, looking back at her captain. “Which way is it?”

“See, I could tell you…” Jazz said, taking a hold of the wheel. He did not elaborate further.

“Oh, come on!” The two younglings wailed in agony.

“You were doing so well!” Clobber lamented.

“Just tell us it’s not true!” Blurr insisted.

“Or true!” She countered.

“Nah, you two are really good at coming up with things yourselves. Just use your imagination!” Jazz was grinning now. It didn’t take long for him to feel the pressure of two younglings getting perhaps too close for his liking.

“Jazz, this isn’t funny!” Clobber said.

“Better for you if you spill the bolts!” Blurr threatened.

“Pretty please! The prettiest of pleases!”

“I’ve got ways of making people talk! Don’t make me do it, old man!”

Jazz pretended to scratch his audial, but in reality, he turned on his music. The electric instruments and melodic beats drowned out all noises from the outside. The captain continued ignoring the two, no matter how ridiculous they looked while pleading and shouting nothings at him. It was only a matter of time until they’d get bored and go cause trouble somewhere else.

All things considered, this wasn’t the worst experience. Maybe someday, he’d repeat this bizarre storytime with the two.

In some very, very distant future.