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Chapter 2: Weakened
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"Down here again? I see that you have a berth here." Breakdown had been sleeping on it when Jazz had found him. Though it wasn't much more than a thick pad and a pillow slipped down behind an angle in a few of the pipes.
Breakdown's optics flickered on, and recognizing the saboteur leaning over him, he sat up and flailed for his pistol, only to find it in Jazz's hands.
"Looking for this?"
To Breakdown's unbelievable surprise Jazz handed it back to him.
"What are you doing?" asked Breakdown, aiming the business end to point right at Jazz's head.
"Eh... just breaking in again to cause a little mayhem and mischief. Optimus wants me to go spy on Starscream this time."
"Why did you wake me?" Breakdown spat. "You could have just killed me and no one would have been the wiser,"
"Eh, didn't feel like it so early in the mission. Besides. I brought some more high-grade. Hippiebot made me an oxygen infusion and I thought you might like to try it." Jazz removed a bright pink cube of high-grade from a pocket, broke the seal, and then took a long sip. "Oh that's so good!" he grinned before handing it to Breakdown.
Jazz stepped away while the Stunticon drank greedily from the cube. "Have they fixed the elevator yet?"
"What? The elevator? No."
"Better for me that way. Keeps this place a little more private." He looked over at the other car-former and then patted the mattress. "That why you're down here? Little privacy with a lover?"
"None of your business, Autobot!" Breakdown hissed.
Jazz chuckled. "You're a good-looking mech. Got a gorgeous frame. I can see why you'd want to hide a little love-nest somewhere."
Breakdown choked on the mouthful of energon he was attempting to swallow, some of it missing his stomach and hitting his vocal resonance chamber. "Stop teasing me!" he gasped when he'd managed to clear some of the liquid.
Jazz cocked his head. "Teasing? I was just complimenting. So who is it? Or should I just plant a spy cam for my own personal use. Completely off the record. Just me watching you frag some lucky mech into the floor."
Breakdown's optics opened wide. "Go away," he growled.
"Fine, fine... Mind if I go peep in on Starscream first?"
"Whatever you want. Just leave me alone."
Jazz's smirk straightened, and his voice took on a soft yet serious tone. "Still fighting with your brothers? Oh... was one of them was your sweet thing?"
Breakdown threw the empty cube at Jazz. "Just get out of here before I change my mind about reporting you!"
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Three days later Breakdown found the gift box resting on his mattress behind the pipes, a note left with it. 'I brought you a cheer-up gift and a little something for your nest.' It was signed 'From one bad boy to another.' Inside the box was some nicely scented car soap, two kinds of polish, and a strange yellow piece of organic skin that felt absolutely wonderful to the touch. Underneath the box was folded a huge soft blanket with a fuzzy texture. The goods were all of human origin.
Damn that spy.
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"Why are you so nice to me?" Breakdown huffed. "Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?" Jazz had caught him sleeping again. He'd woken to find the Autobot lying beside him on the mattress.
"I dunno. I guess I'm a sucker for a pretty set of wheels."
"I'm not pretty," Breakdown growled. "Thrust tells me almost every time he sees us how ugly we Stunticons are. And he's not the only one."
"C'mon. What are you talking about?"
"Megatron built us to fight. Not to show off. We're warriors. Not pleasurebots."
"Seriously?" Jazz waved his hand dismissively. "Those stupid flyboys don't know what they're talking about." He produced the expected cube of high-grade, this serving a gleaming white that looked like sunshine on fresh snow. "I brought this for you. But I'd better have a drink first so you know it's not poisoned," he laughed.
As Breakdown drank, Jazz stole the one pillow and rested his head onto it. "It's gotta be tough being a car-former here. I know the flight-frames have come to dominate the warrior contingent. And I'm guessing you're not doing too well with your gestalt. Menasor was a mess in that last fight."
Breakdown glared at the intruder, but then sighed. The Autobot was completely right. "Megatron made us a team, but Vector Sigma didn't seem to think we needed to get along. We're always fighting among ourselves. It's bad enough having to deal with the teasing from the others, but when we get along like a bunch of angry turbofoxes stuffed into a tiny cage... And then Motormaster... He... he..." Breakdown was unable to continue.
Jazz heard the patter of tears hitting plating. "I'm sorry." Jazz took back the cube and took another sip. "Can I let you in on a little secret?"
A painful laugh rang in Breakdown's vocalizer. "I thought you were supposed to learn secrets, not give them away."
Jazz laughed too, but with honesty. "Well, this isn't much of a secret, but the Aerialbots, who were given life by Vector Sigma not long after your team was, they're a mess too. Optimus would shoot me for saying this, but I suspect there's something wrong with Vector Sigma. I guess the trauma our planet's been through has affected it as well."
"What do you mean 'a mess'?"
"They're always fighting. Disobeying orders. They don't much get along with each other. And don't much get along with the rest of the Autobots. Most of the time their team leader has to beg or threaten to get them to do anything. They talk a little too much about how impressive those seekers are."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
Breakdown laughed in disbelief, and with some relief to the fact that it wasn't just his team.
"Anyway, I'm supposed to be here to find our what the Constructicons are working on. We've seen them gathering building materials." He handed the cube back to Breakdown and rose off the berth. "Still have my comm' frequency?"
"Um... yeah."
"The offer's still open if you ever want to talk."
Breakdown just watched the black and white walk away into the shadows.
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"Blackmail" continues in Chapter 3: "Needed"
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Transformers and all related concepts, characters, worlds, and events are property of Hasbro and Takara Tomy. Original characters and story elements are property of E. Potter, writing under the pen name of Miratete.
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