Prologue
Jazz looked grimly at the datapad in front of him, a feeling of unease in his spark. This would bring peace to Cybertron with little more energon shed. Still the idea of what he was about to agreed too, what he and Prowl were about to do, it was treason.
"Having second thoughts Autobot?" Starscream asked, his screechy voice for once deadly serious and not taunting.
Prowl and Soundwave watching him silently from their postions in the dark cave, Prowls wings low showing his unhappiness at the situation but something had to be down. All four of them knew it. There weren't enough mechs left to retrieve Cybertron, they were a race fast becoming extinct. Which was why the four of them were now hidden in a dark cave far from the Arc and Nemesis making the final plans to ensure their planets survival.
"More like reviewing them Screamer," Jazz drawled back, Starscream glaring fiercely at him for using the nickname but not saying anything outright. "Sorry if it takes me a moment before backstabbing my friend."
Something had to be done and if they were to do this, all four of them would be needed to suceed. They were all out of character today. The loyal Autobot second and third, planning the downfall of their beloved Optimus Prime. The loyal third Soundwave doing the same for his Lord Megatron. Starscream making peace with Prowl for the good of Cybertron. It come to no surprise to anyone that Starscream was part of a plot to dethrone his Lord.
"Jazz," Prowl murmured, "It's the only way, the matrix cannot be allowed to continue controlling out destinies like this. Prime must fall and Megatron must not be allowed to gain it." Prowl's voice was firm but Jazz could feel the unease in Prowl's field. He wasn't happy about this either.
"Optimus: Is a good Mech. But the line of Primes must end." Soundwave stated, even his monotone voice a few octaves longer than normal with the gravity of the situation. "Optimus will live." He offered. Jazz almost laughed but stopped himself. Soundwave was trying to reassure him, as strange as it was.
"Just reformatted so he can't remember," Jazz stated.
It was in the peace agreement. Optimus was not to be harmed, but reformatted. Megatron was to be put into stasis until they could decide what to do with him. Megatron wasn't the one with an ancient relic in his chest though, they needed to keep Optimus awake to make sure there was no damage done when they removed the relic. Jazz didn't like it. To reformat someone was to remove their memories. It didn't necessarily change who they were personality wise unless they had some serious trauma, but it did remove what made a person themselves. It was meant for criminals of the lowest kind. Not a soft sparked leader who refused to see he was slowly committing genocide. But Optimus would still live, just in a different form.
It was a small comfort to Prowl and Jazz, a way to relieve their guilt over what had to be done. Optimus had actually given them time to have RnR because he had been worried about how stressed they had seemed. It had taken surprising little effort to thank the concerned bot, which in many ways only made Jazz's spark twist worse. Optimus cared about them all so much, but that was also partly why this had to happen.
He was far too soft sparked to allow Prowl's plans to play out and win the war. Plan which often forecasted the death of many mechs.
"Jazz if you can't do this…" Prowl started, his doorwings tensing up.
"I can," Jazz said firmly, finally signing his name on the datapad and sealing the fate of Cybertron. Sending a pray to Primus that Optimus would understand. He had done far worse in the war to save lives.