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.
“Of 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.
