Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. Just the plot and OCs.

Edit: This one has officially been beta read by my wonder beta BlushLouise. ^-^


Chapter 3

Job Offers

For a moment after the words left his mouth, there was silence.

Absolute silence.

The Prime was actually pretty sure he could hear the beating of every spark around him for a good few nanos. And then Prowl busted out laughing.

Prowl.

Prowl.

Laughed. As in… he laughed.

And that wasn't really the reaction Optimus was going for.

Not that he didn't think some reaction would follow him uttering such an insane thing. He knew it would. This just wasn't the one he had been expecting. Because Prowl really didn't laugh often.

And the big red and blue mech really couldn't recall him laughing in a meeting.

Ever.

But hey, on the bright side, he hadn't glitched yet.

And that was kind of what Optimus had figured was going to happen. That, or Ironhide would shoot him.

Judging by the way the massive ebony mech had his cannons whirling lightly, that was still a likely possibility though.

When the two-tone mech's laughter finally died down enough for him to speak again, he stared at his Prime. Prime, in return, just stared back and waited for it to click in the serious mech's processor.

That he wasn't joking.

It was quite clear when that happened, too. The amused smile fell right off Prowl's faceplate and he kind of just gaped at the massive mech at the end of the table. "You're being serious."

"Yes," Optimus nodded. "I am."

"And you all thought I was screwed up in the processor." Megatron leaned back in his chair, tilting his helm at his brother, who turned slightly to face him as well.

"You were," Optimus retorted.

Megatron's optics slid away. There was nothing he could say to that.

It was true.

He had been. Still was, he guessed, in a lot of ways. Not even Optimus' Matrix could erase the past. No matter how much both brothers wanted it to.

It hadn't been an easy road that got all of them to where they were now. The warlord and the war hero that had destroyed their own home and much of the universe in a never-ending battle to wring each other's necks. The pair that turned into the martyrs who ended up dying to save that very universe on the other side of the galaxy, far, far from home.

Funny how things like that worked out.

Of course, the Nebula and all that went down inside of it happened a good two hundred vorns ago, and now that it was all said and done it was not something any around this table really liked to revisit.

It hadn't been a pretty place.

Well, that was a lie.

It had been a breathtakingly beautiful place, but it had also been a soul-sucking abyss of utter nothingness. So they - as a whole - chose not to dwell on it too much. Best to leave it where it was, had been the popular vote. Let it stay cosmic dust, floating out into the universe after Optimus and Megatron blew it up.

After Megatron died for them.

After Optimus saved him and in doing so died as well…

It had been no small matter that brought these two sides of civil war together again. It had also not been a walk in the park, but it was getting better as the vorns rolled by.

Better.

But it was far from over.

Because there was still a lot of energon on all their hands, not just Megatron's, and it was going to take a long time to change that. Going back to war with the ones that got left behind - more energon shed, more death, more hatred - that wasn't helping.

"You have to be fragging with our processors… right?" Sideswipe's voice, rising up from the end of the table, drew both Optimus' and Megatron's attention back from the places they had wandered to.

Optimus shook his helm. "No, Sideswipe. I'm not joking."

"Then you've lost your damn mind." The Prime had seen the growl in Ironhide's voice coming, he knew his old friend that well. So when he looked at the dark mech, he was not surprised at what he found burning in those dark blue optics. Confusion, anger, hatred, and pain. It was not unexpected, and he didn't take the words to spark.

"No, Hide. I have not."

"You want to hire the little glitch that has been taking our troops apart for fun! And you don't think that's a bit messed up!?" Shoving himself to his peds, the huge mech snarled down the table at Optimus. His glare was hot enough to blister paint from plating.

"No, Hide, I'm very aware of how messed up it is."

"Then what the frag are you saying it for!?"

"Ironhide, calm down," Elita said softly.

"Calm down!? Calm down! He wants to hire the whack-job glitchy femme that would murder us all in our recharge if we gave her half the chance and you want me to calm down!?"

"Yes." The bright femme nodded.

A simple word and action to which the big mech's jaw just dropped open. He had no way other than blasting them both to respond to that, and since he wasn't going to blast them no matter how much he really wanted to - Mia would dismantle him if he killed her sister, and Optimus, well, they went way back - right now all he could do was let his weight slam back down into his seat and glare at the mated pair.

What else was he supposed to do?

"What's in your helm, Optimus?" Ratchet spoke up, drawing all optics to him. He was resting his elbows on the table, holding his chin in his palm, while he gazed down at the red- and blue-flamed mech.

"What Elita said," the Prime shrugged. "We need an insider, and there is currently one strapped down in our brig."

"So you want to use her?" Prowl's left optic was twitching, and if it hadn't been for the clawed hand of his mate on his knee under the table he probably would have glitched already. But Jazz was there and oddly quiet as he sat staring down the table at Optimus. There was no real way of telling what was going on behind that darkened visor of his, though both Prowl and Optimus knew that sooner or later he'd speak up. After he found out what he wanted to know.

"In a manner of speaking." Optimus nodded.

"What's this manner of speaking?" Megatron rumbled. "Because whatever it is, I doubt she's going to be all that keen on going along with it."

"Oh, I doubt she will be." Optimus tilted his helm. "It's going to be interesting, to say the least."

"If you doubt she will be, why are we even discussing this?" Prowl snapped. "This is a horrible idea. She's fraggin' nuts and you know it."

"I also know that she knew Fallback," Optimus replied.

Jazz tilted his helm this time. "That's what this is about."

Optimus met the brightening blue visor with another nod. "She knew the mech we can't for the life of us figure out. She killed him when we couldn't figure out how. She wanted him dead and was willing to nearly kill herself to pull it off. She saved you two," his optics darted between Jazz and Sideswipe, "when she could have just stood back and let him kill you, and then fought him after maybe one of you injured him and gave her an advantage, but she didn't. She killed him before he killed you, Sides. I want to know why, to all of the above."

"Maybe there is no why," Ratchet said. "Insanity doesn't need a why, and that femme… Optimus, she's well since over the edge."

"I am aware she is unstable-"

"She's not just unstable," the medic pressed, cutting him off. "She's a danger to herself and everybot around her. That is not a joke, Optimus. I'm all for calling in the big hounds and dealing with this slag before anymore decent bots die. But… this… What is it that you really want to do here? Because hiring a psychopath is like-"

"Trusting me?" Megatron grunted and sat up straight in his chair, his dark red optics cutting around the table.

Ratchet turned toward him. "In the beginning, yes. Things have changed since then."

"All that's changed is our list of friends and enemies," Jazz spoke up, his visor flashing with the quick thoughts that were swimming through his processor. "I think Optimus might have quite an idea here."

"You do?" Prowl blinked.

"Yeah, I mean think about it. We're already grasping at straws here. We have no leads, no clues, nothing. Absolutely nothing. All we know is the Underground serves a Master - who we have no idea who is - and that they all hate our guts. We know that this big mech downstairs wants us all to burn in pit because we came skipping back home. That, and we also know that he and his little band of murderers are outsmarting us at every turn. Killing us, and just really kinda making us all look like turbo-foxes chasing their tails. I, for one, am insulted. What we're doing ain't workin', that's for damn sure. So we're kinda in need of a plan B, don't ya'll think?"

"We aren't making any headway this way, that's true," Ironhide had to admit. "Just getting innocent bots killed right now."

"So maybe we should hear Big Bot out, huh?" Jazz tilted his helm toward the Prime. "What is it ya got in mind, mech? How is hiring the little femme supposed to work out for us?"

"She obviously knows something we don't," Optimus began. "And there isn't one of us in here that hasn't heard of Jynx. She's something of a known name around the desert."

"And my murdered employees file," Prowl bit. "Remember that, Optimus? How many of our bots she's killed?"

"Yes, Prowl." Optimus sighed. "I'm the one that has to sign the condolence letters. I know what she is and I won't pretend to know what she is capable of. As Ratchet said, she's long since jumped ship, but bots, this isn't really our first go-around with cases most thought were lost causes."

The twins' optics found the table, Jazz shifted a little in his seat, and Megatron stared blankly at the far wall.

"We've made what most would call 'stupid' choices before, and they worked out for the better," Optimus went on. "And I'm not saying this one will be the same. I'll admit it, that little femme makes my armor crawl. She's messed up. She needs help. She might not want any, but I know you can see it as well as I can, Ratchet. Just how terrified she was in there."

"You mean after she tore into Sunny?" Sideswipe growled from the end of the table.

"Don't call me that," Sunstreaker grumbled.

"Yes, Sideswipe." Optimus nodded. "That is just what I mean."

"Sunstreaker was trying to help her and she ripped him down to protoform." The red twin sat up in his chair, glaring down the table.

"I'll kill her for it next time I see her. Don't think I won't," the golden mech promised.

"No, you won't." Optimus' wise blue optics pinned the pair where they were, and the intensity behind that gaze made them both lower their optics once again. Optimus could and would hand them their afts if they so much as dared step out of line. That, they were very much aware of.

It was why they trusted him and the others around this table.

Because when they crossed the line, they got smacked back for it. It was something they'd never had until they ended up in Ratchet's medical bay a very long time ago.

"The next time you see her you will be in charge of her," Optimus stated, and the twins snapped back to attention, along with every other bot around the table besides Elita.

"Whack-job Prime say what?" Sides stared.

"You two will be responsible for her." Optimus explained. "I'm placing her under your protection and care. I'm talking every breem of orn and night for the rest of the foreseeable future, if my plan works. You two will be with her, watching her, learning about her, and whatever else I'll need you to do."

The pair of brothers blinked simultaneously, completely lost at the other end of the table.

They weren't the only ones, though.

"What?" Ratchet leaned forward. "Why in the name of our fragged-up creator do you want the twins to have anything to do with her!?"

"You lost me there too, Optimus," Jazz nodded.

"If this is a joke, Optimus, you know I don't really have much of a sense of humor," Prowl said.

"I'm lost," Ironhide agreed.

"Did you get your processor blown out and then get it swapped with a glitched one when nobot was looking?" Megatron questioned.

Optimus chuckled. "That would have been a rather complicated task, don't you think, Megs?"

"I think you're talking nonsense, Opt," the other shot back. "Even for you."

"Means a lot coming from you, brother."

"You know I'll tell you straight."

They smirked at each other.

"Uh," Sides waved his hand over his helm, making both mechs look his way again. "The brotherly love is refreshing and all, mechs, but I'm still a little confused down here."

"Yes." Optimus went back to explaining, or at least trying to. "This is my little idea in a nutshell, basically. As Jazz said, we're grasping at straws, correct?"

"Yes," Prowl admitted.

"Well, consider this my last-ditch, very desperate straw. We don't even have any idea of who we are truly fighting. All we are really accomplishing is killing ourselves, innocent rogue bystanders, and a few of the Ground - if we're lucky - in the deserts and in the streets. We are gaining nothing, and losing more than I can allow. I did not stop the end of the universe and finally bring about an end to the Great War just to come limping back home and go to war with my own kind again. I do not want to fight the neutrals. I can't stand the idea of all of us being seen as invaders. But above all that, we have to find a way to start gaining ground against the Underground before we're all dead. I believe - I'm hoping - that with Jynx we might be able to do both."

"And why is that?" Megatron questioned.

"Because she is a part of it. All of it. She has to be. I just know it."

"True as that may be," Ironhide grumbled. "You think just because you ask her nicely she's going to roll over and play tame robo-cat for you? Come on now, Optimus. This robo-cat would tear out your spark the first chance she got."

"Of that I am aware," Optimus replied.

"Then why the frag do you think this is a good idea!?"

"Because of what she knows."

"Because she knew Fallback's designation?" Prowl snapped. "Optimus, that hardly proves anything! All those damn rogues know each other!"

"But you are the one who first came to me and said that Fallback was not just some rogue, Prowl," Optimus snapped right back. "You are the one who first figured out the connection. The crazy bots, the tunnels, the Master, the Ground. You are the one who connected all the red tape. You are the one who said they were all a part of something. Something we haven't figured out yet. That this wasn't just random psychos in the uncivilized lands picking old scabs with us. That they had a leader and a purpose, and that purpose was to gut us. You are the one who figured out that there was more than just crazy wrong with Fallback."

Prowl dipped his chevron-topped helm slightly. Because the Prime had him there.

"And this isn't just because she knew his designation," Optimus went on, a bit calmer now. "This is because of the way Jazz and Sideswipe told me she went after him with nothing other than the sole intent of taking him apart, and that she didn't stop until she had, no matter how much he tore her apart in turn. This is because of the things you two told me she said. They knew each other. He taunted her. She claimed she had already killed him once. Doesn't that make any of you the slightest bit curious? We find some crazy mech who wants to kill us all wandering our borders, killing everything he comes across, with no spark and no way to be killed that we can figure out, and then along comes this femme that knows him and he knows her and she claims to have already killed him once. That doesn't make any of you wonder?"

"Well of course it makes us wonder," Ratchet retorted. "But she… she can't be trusted, Optimus."

"I didn't say I would trust her." The Prime sighed. "I said I wanted to use her."

Megatron let out a low chuckle. "I like the way you think, little brother."

Optimus shot him a glare. "And if in the end we can save one lost spark out of the deal, that makes it all the better."

"And then you go and get all soft on me again." With a roll of red optics, the massive grey mech slumped down in his seat.

"Sorry to disappoint you." Optimus smirked.

"No, you're not."

"No, you're right, I'm really not."

"I still don't get the point of all this," Ironhide barked out, slamming a hand down on the table. "They knew each other. Big deal! They're both fraggin' crazy! I'm not all that much surprised."

"Yes, they are both crazy, Ironhide," Elita spoke up. "But the difference is that the femme has a spark. And then there is the fact that the very bot who, as you said, has been killing our bots for fun, hated this mech so much that she was willing to - whether unintentionally or not - save our mechs just so she could kill him. That doesn't strike you as something we could use?"

"You think this is a good idea, Lita!?" Ironhide bit.

"Yes," the Lady Prime nodded her bright helm, glittering sky-blue optics a blaze of emotions. "I do. The femme could prove to be valuable to us."

"So," Prowl's left optic was twitching again. "You both want to hire slash use the crazy glitch that is currently locked up in the basement as a way to… what exactly?"

"Easy, Prowler," Jazz said softly, a clawed hand reaching out to rest on his shoulder.

"Primus help me if you glitch again," Ratchet warned, turning to look the adviser's way. "I will lock you up in your damn office for the rest of your function, I swear it."

"I will not glitch." Prowl didn't really sound all that sure even to himself, but he continued his question nonetheless. "I'm just trying to understand if the crazy has spread to our ruling pair."

Elita smiled softly at the black and white mech. "We're still very much sane, Prowl. No worries. Besides, this isn't exactly the first time you've questioned our sanity. In fact, if I recall, all three of those times that you did worked out very well in the end. In fact, they're sitting around this table right now."

She had a point.

Damn.

Why did she always have a point?

"To answer your question." Optimus took pity on his logic-suffering friend. "I want to know what she knows. About the neutrals, about the Underground, about their Master - because I'm willing to bet she knows something about them all. I want to know why she thinks she killed that crazy glitch only to find him walking around the desert. I want to know what use she could be to us. I want to know what makes her tick. I want to know if she could help us end this before any more needless energon is spilled. I want to know how a femme who is smaller than Cliffjumper ends up with a reputation so stained that her designation sends bots running in the streets. Everybot knows of Jynx and yet nobot knows anything about her. Well, I want to know. And I'm willing to bet that if I offer up the right incentive, I might just get everything that I want."

"As great as all that sounds," Sunstreaker growled. "How does all this come back to me and Sideswipe having to play glitch-sitters!?"

"Because you two are the only bots I have that I have no doubt can handle her and come out of it still breathing," Optimus explained. "Don't get me wrong. There are many bots we have that could stand toe to toe with her… though there are not many I am one hundred percent sure would win. That is not something I'm willing to risk testing either. The things that make you two my choice are these. One, you're you; you are two sets of optics, two sets of audios, two sets of skills that can stand against me and even Megatron for a good amount of time."

"You'd still lose in the end, though, mechs," Megatron rumbled.

The twins grinned in return.

"You can handle her, and if need be you can and will put her down," the Prime went on.

"Count on it," Sunstreaker promised darkly.

"She'll do well to understand that," Sides chimed in.

"Yes," Optimus agreed. "She will. The second thing is you have each other. You can watch each other's backs in a way no other bot in this whole city can. She is twice as unlikely to be able to get the drop on you two. The third thing - and I hope you do not think ill of me for it as well - is this. There was a time, quite a long while ago, that I saw what flashed through her visor this morning flash through your optics as well."

Both sets of vivid blue optics lowered to the table again, because they knew that was oh so very true.

"When you two got hauled into our lives, you weren't all that different from that femme down there. So if there are any in this city that might be able to get through to her, might be able to help her so we don't have to put her down and we don't have to use her, it is you two. I meant what I said. If we can come out of this whole thing and save her from herself while we do it… Nothing would make me happier. I do not believe there is such a thing as a spark that cannot be saved. But this won't be easy. She might not even go along with what I will offer her, in which case this whole conversation may have been for naught. But she might. And if she does, we must all be ready for what will come next. I'm talking about letting a certifiable murderess 'loose' inside this compound, with nothing other than our skills and the twins' optics keeping her from offlining most of the population of New Iacon. If this works, it's going to be the second craziest thing I've ever done, and I'm going to need all of you behind me to make it work." He finished by sweeping his optics around the table of his most dear friends and family, before he let the silence fall to give them a klick to think it over.

After a few moments…

"You know I'm always behind you, Optimus." Ironhide let out a breath. "I'm not sure this is going to work, but you're right. Something has to change. We have to do something."

"Count me in." Ratchet nodded. "Won't be the first time I signed on to reprogram crazy."

"She may prove a useful resource," Prowl said. "The negative outcomes still outweigh the positive in the odds I've figured, but I trust you, Optimus. You've yet to lead us wrong."

"I'll admit," Jazz smiled, "I really wanna know what makes that femme tick. I'm in."

"Who am I to judge the offering of a second chance?" Megatron nodded slowly. "Besides, she tries anything she'll be dead before she scratches paint. I'll make sure of it."

"She steps wrong, I'll skin her." Sunstreaker glared darkly at the Prime.

"I know," Optimus inclined his helm.

"She so much as blemishes my brother's or my paint, and I'll tear her spark out," he went on in a growl.

"That is your right, Sunstreaker."

And with that, Sunstreaker huffed and looked away. He was agreeing. He wasn't happy. But he was agreeing. If for no other reason than that he'd be the one close enough to kill her if she tried anything, and quite frankly, he really wanted to kill her.

Sideswipe, however, wasn't sure how to feel about it.

What the Prime said was true. There had been a time that they had been that femme, and Ratchet, Prowl, Jazz, Ironhide, Elita, Chromia, Arcee, and Optimus gave them a chance to change.

Well, a whole lot of chances actually. They hadn't really been that quick of learners.

Who was he to say that the femme didn't deserve the chance to try? It wasn't like she was any worse than they, or Jazz, and certainly not Megatron had been, and they all changed.

Maybe she just needed the chance.

"Sideswipe?" the Prime inquired.

Glancing up at the sound, the crimson mech nodded curtly. "Consider us the crazy-sitters."


To put it in the simplest terms, Jynx's helm felt like it was splitting in two when she woke up again. Sitting up slowly she ran a thin silver hand down her faceplate, rebooting her visor a couple of times before she actually accepted what it was she was seeing.

She was in a cell.

But at least this time she wasn't strapped and magnetized down.

Pushing herself up fully on the squishy berth in the back of the cell, the little white femme stared around the eight-by-eight energon-barred square. It wasn't the worst cell she'd ever woken up in, that much was for sure, and it was a whole pit of a lot better than that damned medical bay.

She'd take a bare cell over a medical bay any orn of the decacycle.

Taking a deep breath, she let the stale air cycle a few times through her vents, trying to get the scent of something other than musty iron and burning plasma.

"Helpful," she sighed in the most sarcastic voice known to Cybertronians.

With that, she pushed herself off the plain grey, slightly squishy berth and dropped down to the stone floor with a soft clank. Taking in her surroundings, she noted not a damn thing that she could use as any type of weapon. There weren't even sheets on the berth. Just a stone cell - by the smell, deep underground - with an empty berth, and burning plasma bars that were keeping her in this prison.

She stepped the few pedsteps that separated the berth from the nine glowing bars and tilted her helm at them, letting her sensors flick up just a bit from where they were pinned down beneath the blue appendages atop her helm. Letting them stand half-upright, she could feel the webbed wires unfurl just before the increased strength they brought her senses spliced in with her sensor-net, tripling every input she had. She could hear steps through what sounded like three layers of solid stone above her helm. Well, steps and about a billion different things, actually. Distorted voices, laughter, random bangs and clangs, machines working, and things she couldn't make out no matter how hiked her sensors were.

She was underneath the spark of New Iacon.

Not someplace she ever really figured she'd end up, at least this way. Yet here she was.

Letting her gaze rest on the glowing blue bars, she slowly lifted a claw, letting it draw closer to the heat until she almost touched one and a sting ran up her arm. Jerking back with a hiss, she shook her helm.

She wasn't getting out that way, that was for sure.

At least not as of yet.

She wasn't yet too desperate. She could keep herself busy for a while before she went stir-crazy.

Cages were not her favorite things in the universe by any means, but this really wasn't her first go-around with high tech prisons. She'd find the loophole. She would just need to observe, and listen.

And so that was just what she did.

Turning slowly, she walked back to the berth, hopped up, hunkered down, and listened. To the whirlwind that assaulted her sensors and receptors. The walls around were too thick for her to make out much other than mumbles, though. No coherent words came through.

No clues to tell her if there were guards, where it was she was really at in this glittering glitch-fest of a city, or why she was even still breathing.

Glancing down, Jynx took in the healing welds that her self-repair systems were finishing patching up. That medic had put her back together again for reasons she couldn't possibly fathom. Why in the pit would the Prime and his pet medic even bother with her?

They should have thrown her in front of a firing squad or hung her from the town square. After all of the Enforcers and Guard she had killed, they patch her up and stick her in a box?

Now she was far from the sanest creature in the known universe, but even she wasn't glitched enough to think any of this made a bit of sense. Because it didn't.

Which left her with two possibilities to work from.

First, they were even more glitched than she thought they were.

Or second, they wanted her alive for something.

Torture?

Maybe.

Unlikely, though. That really wasn't up the Prime's alley - some of his followers, maybe, but he was too Primus-blessed with righteousness to get his hands dirty like that.

An idiotic scheme to make her tell them that secretly she wanted to be a goody two-shoes like them and suddenly go skipping down the straight and narrow?

Yeah… like that was going to happen.

They let her out of this cell, she'd feed them all their sparks. They would do well to remember that little fact.

Leaning back on her palms, the bright white femme let her visor darken to completely black as she brooded towards the wall. She was not a patient bot.

Quite the opposite, really, and sitting still was not her thing.

Sitting still offered nothing but a chance for the processor to wander, and that never ended well for Jynx.

Her claws twitched while she forced herself to lay back on the berth, curl to face the empty grey wall, and start counting the seams in the metal while her sensors flared, trying to pick up something, anything, to keep her processor from going places that would do nothing other than hurt.

It had been quite some time since she'd been locked in a cage.

At least a cage that had the capacity to keep her in.

That was an impressive feat.

No security cameras, no windows, no doors that she could see other than the barred one to her back.

This really was a caged box at the bottom of a hole that most of the world had probably moved on and forgotten about.

She could smell how ancient the stone and metal were. Yet this wasn't a part of the tunnels. That much she was sure of.

The Prime hadn't found those little secret passageways under his pretty city just yet.

How very unfortunate for him.

That was gonna come back to bite him one orn.

His lack of mistrust.

He was so sure that the Labyrinth and everything that that deep dark deadly place held could not reach inside his sparkly golden gates. He was so sure that he could keep his kind safe from the murderers and thieves he was killing and stealing from while these returned 'heroes' drank up a life built of lies.

He didn't know that it was already inside. Had been since the walls went up and long before that.

Jynx grinned wickedly to herself, rolling onto her back to count the cracks in the stone that made the ceiling. She enjoyed thinking about how the perfect little lives of all those that thought themselves better than her were not so perfect after all. She enjoyed the prospect of their hopes and dreams crashing down around them.

Teach them to have such foolish things in the first place.

They should know better.

Her left sensor twitched, the light blue piece that kept it housed flicking ever so slightly to make the webbed network behind it flare with a bit of static and then focus in on the sound that had drawn her attention in the first place.

"What's this?" she asked out loud, rolling to face the glowing bars as she focused in on three sets of pedsteps descending a stairwell over her helm and coming her way. "Company?"

How very, very interesting.

The pedsteps were too light to be the Prime. She knew from her short meeting with him in the medical bay what he sounded like when he walked. The sound his peds made when they touched the ground, the whirl of his hydraulics, the grinding of gears and mechanisms, the faulty piston in his right hip that ground too hard against the soft protoform beside it. She had memorized the way it achingly rubbed without consciously being noticed. Because it was a weakness in the mighty mech, and she had long ago been trained to exploit weaknesses.

That piston meant that even without knowing he was hurting, the massive mech would favor his right side. It meant that if she hit that hip, aimed for that piston and the bruised protoform beside it, she'd do twice the damage in half the time. It was a life-altering bit of information and all of it was gained simply by listening to the way that the big bot walked. All of that gained without her consciously realizing she had done it.

She just did.

Gathered and filed away the information in her processor without truly doing it herself, only to have it spring back up on her later when it was needed.

Old habits died hard.

Especially the useful ones.

Tilting her helm so that the sensors could flare to their full height, she listened closely.

Two sets of peds carrying equal weight and one that was much lighter. They rang familiar to her processor, but she couldn't quite place them. It was foggy, like she had been distracted when the information was taken in so it was taking longer for her to sort it out now that she had it.

Knowing it was going to take her longer to figure out where she'd heard it before than it would take the bots to walk another flight of stairs and reach the level of underground hole she was currently abiding in, she just waited for her answer to reveal itself.

They were almost to her.

So she sat up, scooted backward, and leaned against the cold grey wall. Visor darkened to where no light from her optics would shine through, faceplate impassive other than the tiny smirk playing at the edge of the right side of her lips, and her audio sensors quickly tucked back away. There was a flash of static that ran through her sensor-net, as the heightened senses faded back into her normal audio receptors' abilities along with her sense of smell and sight.

And she didn't have to wait long before a door she hadn't spotted swung open, and in walked the fun.

Now she knew where she knew whose pedsteps from.

If it wasn't that silver-armored, visor-wearing mech from the desert and the pair of similar mechs from the medical bay. She had to fight down the bark of cold laughter that wanted out as the silver mech came to a stop before the glowing bars and the other two hung back slightly, but it wasn't the silver one she wanted to cackle at.

No.

It was the golden one.

The mech whose optics where narrowed into slits at her, his fist clenched at his side, a healing weld on his hip making him stand just the slightest bit awkwardly.

Sunstreaker, she did recall he was called.

And the shorter silver one, the one that was helm level with the other two's bulky shoulders, with the bright blue curved glass that resembled her own, only it was clearer and cleaner and less harshly angled, he was Jazz.

The Prime's little shadow stalker.

His spy, who outclassed everything and everybot around him in his talent for what he did.

His friend.

His saboteur.

His ex-Decepticon.

The very first one.

Even she knew that.

Everybot did. Neutral, Con, Bot, or, in her case, psycho with no side whatsoever who did whatever she wanted when she wanted.

Because Jazz jumped sides not long after he'd made a name for himself on the dark side.

There was some part of Jynx that maybe - just a tiny bit - might have respected the mech for what he was capable of. All the wonderfully horrible things he had done in the warlord's torture chambers. They were downright inspiring.

And yet here he stood. All righteous and practically oozing 'morality'.

What the pit happened there?

The red one was interesting, and her gaze cut to him for a moment as she sat there on the berth. He was tense and guarded, though not angry really. She was pretty sure his designation was Sideswipe. She filed that away just as she did the way he was standing slightly in front of the golden mech she thought was his brother. He had placed himself just a half a step - hardly even noticeable if one didn't know to look for it - in front of the other. Like he was protecting him and at the same time holding him back. It was odd.

However, Jynx didn't really observe him for too long.

Her attention drifted back to Jazz as he stood on the other side of her cage, his whole frame loose and fluid. He was neither tense nor upset. He was just kind of lazily standing there, one ped propped up against his other ankle while he crossed his arms, tilted his helm, and observed her for a few long klicks, and then…

"Morning, Jynx." He smirked.

She just stared at him.

His smile didn't waver, though. "What? Nothing to say?"

Tilting her helm, she smiled that smile of hers that showed that sanity was well beyond her grasp. "Well, I'm currently plotting the particulars of your death. So if you want to know how I plan to dismantle you and string your remains throughout your lovely little home here I'd be giddy to share."

He laughed, surprising her actually, as he shook his helm slightly. "We can talk the down and dirty later. For now, sweetspark, we have a little chat to get underway. So I'm gonna ask ya. Will ya behave for the Jazz-mech, or will we have to do this the hard way?"

"Only way I know is the hard way, mech," she replied.

"Hard way it is then." And he pulled a pair of stasis cuffs from subspace.

Yep, it was looking like it was going to be a great orn.


After a bit of struggle - she scratched the golden glitch's paint just because she could, and it amused her the way he snarled and leapt only to be yanked back - Jynx found herself in stasis cuffs with her arms clasped behind her back. She was marched up cold grey stone stairs between a mass of red and snarling gold, as she let herself be dragged behind the silver mech twirling keys around his claws.

She really felt like shoving those keys up his exhaust pipe, but for now she went along with this little venture.

Getting out of the cuffs wouldn't be hard. Pit, she could kill them all with her hands tied behind her back. It wouldn't be the first time she'd done it.

The only reason she hadn't done it now was because she was curious as to why they hadn't killed her yet.

The golden one sure wanted to. So why weren't they? What did they want from her?

"Where are you taking me?" she hissed out as the silver mech pushed open a door, holding it back so that dumb and dumber could haul her through into the dim lights of a hall painted too bright of a blue. She wanted to stain it with something, anything, just to make the perfectness of it go away.

"To Prime," the red mech said lowly as they held her by the elbows, letting Jazz walk before them again before they took up their march after him, dragging Jynx along.

"Pick up your fraggin' peds, femme!" the golden one snarled at her, yanking her by the arm he held in his grasp and trying to get her to actually use her peds, but Jynx was having none of it. She snarled right back at him, throwing her weight sideways to slam into his precious shiny paint. The resulting bang of crashing plating and armor gained her a snarl and a swift kick in the back of the knees that would have sent her crashing to the ground, had the red one not quickly snatched up her weight to keep her upright while he growled over to the other.

"Sunny!"

"She fragging-"

"Enough, Sunstreaker," Jazz spoke up from in front of them. "Sideswipe, get her back on her peds."

Pulling her up - not really all that gently - Sideswipe brought her around to where he could keep a tight grip on her, not allowing the little white femme that hardly came up to the bottom of his chest to get any type of leverage against his hold.

"And you." The silver mech's warning tone drew Jynx's optics back to him instead of the red and gold glitches she was currently glaring at. "Behave. Or I'll have to make you."

"Is that supposed to scare me, mech?" She threw back her helm with a dark laugh before locking him in her black-visored gaze. "You think I'm afraid of you lot? Please. I could gut you all before you even knew what happened. I'm still going to. You have my promise of that. I'll do it, you be sure. Slowly and painfully. I can't wait to hear every little glitch in this place scream."

"That's enough," he snarled right back at her, closing the distance between them until he was standing hardly a breath away from her. He leaned down so that he was visor to visor with her, his blue optics dark behind his tinted visor as he reached out a silver-clawed hand and wrapped those claws around her jaw. She snarled through bared teeth at him, trying to twist her helm out of his grip, but he yanked her back with another rumbling snarl as Sideswipe tightened his hold on her arms to keep her from struggling.

So she spit at him.

With an even louder growl Jazz reeled back, shaking his helm, but keeping her in a firm grip so that she could feel how his digits tightened in anger. He lifted his free hand and whipped at the liquid splattering his visor, then turned back to her with a furious snarl.

Leaning close, the look in his optics dared her to do it again, as did the tightening grip on her arms from the red glitch called Sideswipe and the rumbling growls that rose up in all directions from her three-mech pin. She just smirked, letting her optics flash so brightly that they showed through her visor - shown defiantly - as she let the silver mech twist her helm by her jaw until she was halfway tilted down as he glared into the glass that covered her optics.

"Cute." Jazz offered her a sarcastic smile that made his handsome silver faceplate turn a bit cruel. "But get this now, sweetspark. You can threaten me all you like. Come up with the most horrible death imaginable and we'll see if ya can take me on, but if you dare threaten my family again I promise you that ya won't like what I do in return."

"Au contraire," she hissed back at him, with an almost sweet smile that somehow made his armor crawl. "I think I just might."

To that he snorted, letting go of her chin. He shoved her to the side and stepped back to let Sunstreaker get a good grip on her again - a grip that was denting her arm plating - as Jazz turned back to the hall before them.

"What?" she giggled, as the pair forced her to march on with them again through twisting halls that were surprisingly empty. They climbed a few more sets of stairs and she started to hear sounds of life again. She had been further down than she thought. She tried not to let that notion make her spark speed up. She might be held between them, but she could get out anytime she wanted. Of that she was sure.

Absolutely sure.

"No witty comeback?" she finished with a tilt of her helm.

"Nope," Jazz answered as they strolled along through the pale blue halls. This place really needed a color update. She was okay with blue, but this way way too much blue.

"Aw damn," she sighed. "Guess I'll just have to entertain myself then."

And with that she twisted her helm to regard the brooding mass of pretty mech to her left.

"So, what's the issues with the paint, mech? Don't ya know it's only nanite deep?"

He growled through his scowl but didn't bother cutting his optics to her.

"Aw? Too good to talk to the rogue?" Shaking her helm, she turned to the red one. "What's wrong with your friend here, Red? Doesn't he know it's impolite to ignore bots?"

Sideswipe's vivid blue optics met her visor. "He's my twin."

And with those words Jynx's whole world came to a screeching halt.

Like, screeching halt so literal that her whole frame - processor and all - locked up on the very word. Her peds fell out from under her, her visor went almost clear in panic, and her spark skidded to a stop.

All she could think was that word screaming on repeat in her helm.

Twin!?

She glitched.

And everything went black.


A smile flashed before her optics. That half-smirk she knew so well.

Dark red optics that glittered behind a visor as black as her own.

Jagged grey armor over a bulky frame that had always towered over her own and yet she had never found threatening. Not like the others.

A gruff laugh that filled her spark with bubbles, making her light and making this pit seem less dark. Because how could this living pit be so bad when he was laughing in it?

It wasn't really.

It couldn't be.

Because he was here.

After all this time he was still here.

Hunkered down beside her, holding her shivering form close to his own. His energon leaking down from his battered protoform, running down his massive frame until it mixed with her own in hot trails of their life-force seeping out of them. Though it would never be enough. They wouldn't die.

He wouldn't let them.

No matter how badly they both wanted to die.

When the sun rose again she would be back on that table. Screaming and thrashing and wishing for it all just to be over, but he would be there too.

She had to remind herself of that as she shivered against him, refusing to let the tears run down.

On the next table over. Almost within reaching distance. He would be there. If she struggled hard enough against the magnetized medical berth she might be able to grasp his clawed hand and hold on. To feel him there beside her.

To remind herself that she wasn't alone.

That he was there.

He promised he would always be there, and she trusted him. She trusted him with everything that she was. Because her spark could feel that his was pit-bent to never leave her. He would be there. Always and forever. That was their promise of long ago.

They would protect each other.

And the monster could never truly take that from them. No matter how much he twisted, broke, and played with their frames and their sparks he would never be able to break the bond that lived between them.

He could taint it all he wanted. Try to bend it and shape it the way he wanted, but in the end she knew that as long as they had each other they would never truly be broken.

They picked each other up when they fell down. Always had, always will.

And with that in the back of her processor, his tired half-smile shining down at her and the red glow through that black glass ever present in her spark, she slipped into unconsciousness.


With a gasp she sprang awake, a cold sweat gathered on her white plating, her spark running a billion miles a breem, her processor spinning in a memory she hadn't allowed to surface in over forty vorns, and the burn of tears prickling at the corner of her optics.

NO!

Shaking her whole frame as if to shake away the memories, she bit down hard on her bottom lip until she tasted energon. Just to keep the tears away and chase the thoughts from her processor.

The pain of now was far easier to focus on.

Taking a shaky breath, she shook her helm again.

She was not going back there! She had not gone there in forty vorns!

No!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

Primus damn it! She was too fraggin' sober for this slag!

Thinking too clearly.

Remembering too much.

"Easy, femme." And then her sense of 'now' kicked back in and she flailed backwards, only to end up going nowhere. She was strapped down in a magnetized chair this time, with that damn yellow and red medic crouched before her. "You're alright."

"Get the frag away from me!" She spat the words out through bared teeth, her fangs flashing dangerously, and her visor darkened to pitch black as she shoved herself backward as far as she could go into the chair she was chained to, rapidly cycling air to try and calm her frame.

Ratchet lifted an optic ridge at her for the outburst before he nodded his helm slightly. She was awake again, and her spark wasn't acting as weird as it had been before. So he gave her what she wanted, backing off a few feet to leave her chained there in that chair with nowhere to go, letting her see for herself the form of Optimus sitting on the edge of the table just behind Ratchet with Jazz and Prowl at his side. Everybot else had been left out of this little meeting. The Prime's doing, after Jazz came in carrying a glitched femme.

She glitched.

She actually glitched.

The mechs in the room still couldn't really believe that that had happened. Mainly because they didn't know why she did.

Jazz had just said she'd been smarting off and running her mouth spewing treats, and then Sideswipe had said Sunstreaker was his twin and she would have met stone tiles with her faceplate had the twins not caught her when she fell.

What had happened that made the infamous Jynx fall out and leave herself that level of vulnerable? They could only imagine what she'd do if she found out she had been carried here. They would be lucky if she only started decapitating. From what they had gathered, she did not like to be touched. She'd do everything in her power to avoid it.

Jazz was actually really surprised he and the twins had been able to haul her as far as they did and her not do worse than talk slag.

It wasn't that the saboteur was scared of her, far from it, he was just very much aware of what something like her was capable of. Because he'd been her once. He knew what kind of thoughts ran through a processor that fragged up. He knew that every threat that left her mouth was far from empty. She'd do everything she said she would and more if she was given the chance, and all that was going to be there to stop her were the ranked mechs in and around this room and the pair of warriors that had once been as far gone as Jazz had been, as much as she was now.

He was curious of her just as Optimus was, and what she might know, but he was wary of her as well.

She would kill without second thought - she'd enjoy it - and she was most definitely going to keep them on their toes.

"Welcome back to the land of the processing." Optimus' regal voice caused Jynx's optics to dart to his towering frame, her own going tense and strung tight again as her glare blistered into his paint even through the tint of her visor. He could not see the light of the optics that glowed on the other side, but once again he was very aware of the heated look that was being drilled into him. He refused to let his armor shiver at it. It was a confirmation he didn't want to give her.

Jynx was going to slice all their throats.

She would.

As soon as she got out of this chair.

For now, though, she just hissed at his words, her claws working and flexing against the cold grey metal chair arms that held her. She pictured the Prime's armor beneath her claws and not this damn chair.

It calmed her cycling vents just a tad. Picturing his energon rolling out over her claws.

"Ya gave us quite a scare in the hall, sweetspark," Jazz spoke up.

She let out a low hiss his direction. She was not about to justify her glitch. No way no how.

She was way too damn sober for this slag, and if she didn't get out of here and get those memories out of her processor soon she was going to go even crazier than she already was. Did these mechs not understand they were playing with fire?

"Mind telling us what's up?"

"Go frag yourself."

Jazz offered a sigh. "That wasn't helpful. What if I ask ya nicely? Please?"

"If that's your new version of torture, mech," she snorted. "Ya doin' it wrong."

"You ain't seen torture yet, sweetspark." Jazz's visor took on a warning gleam. He did not take kindly to being insulted. Even if that was his darker half that was taking the hit.

Jynx let out a huff. "You don't know what I've seen."

But it certainly wasn't like she was about to tell them.

Though that didn't stop her from enjoying the curious gleam that flashed through his optics.

"I'm not scared of you, wannabe. I'm not scared of any of you." She titled her chin up to let her defiantly black visor rest on the Prime.

"Somehow, I'm quite sure you're not." He nodded almost sadly at her as he crossed his arms and situated himself on the table's edge.

"So then, what do you want with me?" She growled out the question.

"You've murdered scores of our bots." Prowl finally spoke up from where he stood stiffly to Optimus' right, his arms crossed, his wings flared, and his left ped tapping lightly against the grey floor. "You're certifiably insane, you constantly threaten the wellbeing of everybot around you, you're just downright rude, you have absolutely no respect, you kill just because you seem to enjoy it, there is no telling the countless horrific things you have done that are not in my files, and honestly you just kind of irritate me."

Well, no bot could ever say Prowl wasn't honest. Or blunt.

Nope.

He never lacked bluntness.

For a moment, all Jynx could do was blink in response to that, her visor lightening with surprise - something the mechs around her didn't miss, nor did they miss the strange color that seemed to glow behind that black glass - before she regained control of herself again, a pit-spawned smirk lighting up her faceplate as she turned back to the Prime.

"Aw, I think he likes me."

Prowl grunted.

Jazz hid his smirk.

Ratchet lifted an optic ridge.

Optimus just regarded her quietly until he snorted. "In a manner of speaking, I suppose."

She just smiled even brighter. "I thank ya for the compliments, mech, but that still don't tell me what it is you mechs want. If you're so overly fond of me, why not just throw me to your hounds? I'm sure there are enough trigger-happy bots among you that would love to chain me up and let me greet the dawn at the end of a blaster barrel. Your problems would be solved."

"Not all of them." Optimus shook his helm, and to that Jynx's interest was hiked.

"Oh?"

"Most of them would still be there, actually. And for all of them, my bots are dying on an ornly basis. Far more than you've ever killed."

She laughed. "I doubt it."

The Prime's optics narrowed slightly, but he went on. "You see, Jynx, I'm battling an enemy I do not know. It's hard to beat something you don't understand."

"You beat your brother, didn't ya?" she mocked.

He smirked slightly, a cold fake smirk. "No… actually I didn't."

And to that, the little white femme leaned forward as far as the magnetic hold of the chair would let her, her black visor shining up with interest at the massive mech. "You know, I've wondered… how all that went down?"

Optimus stared.

"Because you two hated each other," she went on, a note of vindictive teasing taking hold of her light voice, drawing it out into something that made wires stand on end. "Destroyed everything trying to kill each other. Now, don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed all the energon-shed you two caused. Made what I call fun a lot easier to have without goody Enforcers barreling in, waving blasters they don't know how to use. It was a good time. Bots did whatever they pleased, because Primus forbid you two look up and realize that something other than your little sibling squabble was going on around here. And then, when there was nothing left here but a broken dying world with no hope, both of you took your spiteful armies and left us all die. Left us to a mercy that didn't exist." She spit the last part. "And it looked like the laws and the war, they were never coming back. So we moved on, you see. We survived. And then, Primus behold, the Prime and Tyrant come skipping back to Cybertron hand in hand like giddy little turbo-pups. All is right and wonderful in the universe again. Only it isn't. And it never will be. You all think I'm the insane one – and that's good, because I am, and that takes a lot to rationalize, believe me - but the truth is, you bots are the glitched ones. You're the ones that think this little rebuilding and making right thing is going to work. You still think Cybertron belongs to you."

Throwing her helm back, she let it smack against the hard metal behind her as she let loose a dark, empty, vengeful laugh and allowed her helm to lull back against the chair's crest, tilting it over to the side as she smiled lazily up at the massive mech still perched on the table in front of her.

"You're the crazy one, Prime. You still think you're fighting this battle. Mech, you've already lost. You might as well just lay down your arms and accept it. You lost it the klick you rocketed off."

And once she was done, the little white femme slumped down against the magnetic hold, content to just watch her words sink into the mechs before her.

And sink in they did, for a long handful of klicks, while the gaze of each mech in the room drifted down slightly at the harsh and very true words.

She was right, after all.

All of that was true, and it showed that this crazy little glitch knew just as much as Optimus thought she did. He was now one hundred percent sure of what he wanted, he just had to figure out how to get this little mini-frame of what might be thirteen feet to agree to his scheme and not murder half his city in their recharge.

"Things changed," Optimus finally let out with a sigh as he let his gaze return to that black visor-band. "That is what happened, Jynx. Things changed. For the better."

"What, you think because things changed everything is magically supposed to work out for you?" She snorted. "We're all supposed to get along? Well, that's really sweet of ya, Prime, but the fact is that you might have the Tyrant and a good portion of his followers in your subspace pocket now, but it won't do you any good. Like I said. You've already lost this battle."

"We don't believe in no-win situations," Ratchet's gruff voice rumbled.

"Then you're stupid."

"And you're insane," Prowl snapped back at her.

"Well, now that we're done stating the obvious," she retorted.

The doorwinged mech scowled at her, his tense frame working itself even tighter, and she didn't miss the glance that Jazz slipped his way, nor the meaning behind it. She could also see the care in the glances that the medic and the Prime shot him.

And once again she was way too surrounded by touchy feely.

She had to get her aft out of here!

"What is it you want, Prime?" She snapped her optics back to him, sitting upright and growing tense again. "If you're going to kill me, get on with it. If you're going to torture me, please do go ahead, but make sure the mech knows what he's doing. And if - however unlikely - you're gonna be your normal righteous self and do the 'noble' thing and let me go, get on with it. I've had all the hugs and fun times I can handle. Much more and I might purge. I doubt ya want to clean that up."

Taking his gaze from his advisor slash friend, the powerful two-tone mech looked back at the little femme and regarded her once more before he finally decided it would make this all easier in the long run if he just slaggin' came out with it.

"Jynx," he began, pushing himself from where he was sitting and moving to stand to his full regal height before the little femme before going on. "I want to hire you."

And to that… she blinked.

Her teasing smirk fell away and she just blinked kind of stupidly at him, though he couldn't see it through her visor. All he could tell was that her faceplate went slack, and she was just sitting there staring at him until she huffed out a sort of surprised cough, shaking her helm back and forth slowly at him.

"You want to what?"

"Offer you a job," he reworded it. "You know, business transaction."

"I know what hiring means, you aft," she hissed, a scowl taking hold of her slack faceplate. "And you know, I really did think you lot were crazy, but if you actually think that hiring me is a good idea you're even more glitched up in the helm than I am."

The red- and blue-flamed mech shrugged. "I've been called worse, but I'm being serious here, Jynx."

"Hire me? Hire me. Hire me!? And you're serious? What?!"

"I think that perhaps together we might-"

"Why in the name of all that is powerful in this universe would I ever work for you?!" she screeched.

Jazz let his helm fall down. "Well, this is going about like I expected."

"Agreed." Prowl sighed.

Ratchet was still just quietly watching.

Optimus was looking rather disheartened. "Jynx-"

She bucked once or twice against the magnetic hold on her, wanting to bury her claws in his fraggin' neck just so that she could rip out his vocal processor for uttering such nonsense.

"Why would I do anything for you!? I mean, you have to be fraggin' nuts! Least have some screws loose upstairs! Do you seriously think I will take orders from anybot, let alone you!?"

"Just hear me out-"

"I obey no mech! I make my own choices! You slaggin' glitch! I work for nobot! I'll never fraggin' do it again!"

The words snapped Prowl's, Jazz's, and Ratchet's attention. Optimus caught them too, but he was too caught up in trying to get a word in edgewise - if for no other reason than to calm her down. She was working herself into a state, he could already see the way Ratchet had edged a bit closer to her as his fingers twitched. If she got much more worked up she was going to start ripping plating, and the look on the medic's faceplate told of how much he did not want to have to sedate her again. As they had found out, it took a good amount of drugs to keep her out of it. More than was healthy. More than Ratchet wanted to pump into her again so soon.

"You are so fragging screwed up if you think for one klick that I will do anything for the likes of you, it's so messed up I can't even…" And then she trailed off.

The tirade just stopped and she relaxed into her chair of a prison, the angry snarl on her faceplate falling away and leaving a slightly curious pucker.

The mechs were thrown for a loop.

Jynx, on the other hand, was considering.

Quite heavily at the moment, to tell the truth. Because something just occurred to her. Something that the shock at first hadn't let her consider.

Now.

Now, she was considering.

And she was curious.

Tilting her helm to the side, she let her optics drift back to Optimus.

"Just out of curiosity," she mumbled. "Why do you want to hire me exactly?"

And that right there was Optimus' window. It was leap now or forever lose his chance.

"Because I firmly believe you might be my last and only shot at winning this," he admitted, trying to convey the honesty behind those words. He knew Prowl wasn't going to like them, he knew Megatron and Ironhide would take it as an insult to their abilities of kicking aft, he knew Elita would beat him over the helm later for stealing her line, he knew how much of an chance he was taking in doing all this, and above all he knew how much he might utterly hate himself later for taking this chance.

But there was the knowledge and will of a god living in a two-sided dagger resting next to his spark, and at the moment it was telling him to get this femme on his side for reasons he couldn't explain. Then again, there was a lot about the Matrix that he couldn't explain.

Jynx's right optic ridge shot up so high that it slid out from behind the safety of her visor, letting the mechs see it for the first time.

"How so? And… why?" she pressed.

This was confusing her. She'd always known that the Prime was a glitch - noble and stupid on top of that - but not even she though he was this glitched.

This about rivaled her glitched.

In fact, it might surpass it.

She didn't know if she should be impressed or insulted.

"Well, for one, because of everything you said just now," Optimus said. "But mostly because you know about things that we don't and can't seem to find out. Things I desperately need to know."

That was vague at best.

Hmm…

Alright, she'd bite. "Like what?"

"Like Fallback," Optimus replied, watching her, not the least bit surprised when the curious pucker turned into a small scowl.

"He's dead. This time for sure. What more is there to talk about?"

"Everything." Jazz spoke up.

She glanced his way.

"You knew him." Optimus stated, gaining her attention again.

She let out a quiet hiss. "I hated him."

"Hate requires knowledge," Prowl put in.

"Nah," she shook her helm. "Not really. I hate you lot. I don't know you."

Well… she had a point there.

"Touché." The black and white inclined his helm.

She smirked.

"But there is so much more to it than that, femme," Prowl went on.

"And why do you say that?" she tested. She wanted to know just what these mechs knew. Because they had obviously known about Fallback for a while, whereas she had long since thought he was gone. They knew some things that apparently she didn't, just as she knew lots of things they didn't.

And this little prospect was starting to interest her.

"You tell me," he baited the hook once again.

She liked this game.

"He was a living, breathing, fragged up lab-rat killing machine." That much she knew from way back when, and since he had no spark when she shoved her claws into his chest it was obvious that he had become one again, or maybe never stopped. Which lead to an interesting question that made her suppress a shiver.

If he was alive… who else hadn't died in that explosion?

More of them being alive was certainly going to complicate her life.

"Lab rat, huh?" Ratchet wondered.

"Yep." She nodded.

"Interesting." He shot a look Optimus' way, but the Prime was watching the femme.

"You see," Optimus inclined his helm. "I told you, you know things I need to know."

"Well of course," Jynx smirked. "You're a stupid self-righteous glitch with brother issues. The only real question on the board here, Prime, is what do you know that I need to know?"

"What time of orn you won't die at the end of old Hide's cannons?" Jazz offered.

"Jazz," Optimus warned. "No threats while we're all getting along, please."

"Just saying." The silver mech shrugged with a smirk of his own. "That's a good bit of information to know."

Jynx just sat there staring at the Prime, waiting for him to say something that might interest her.

"I know where we found the mech you thought was dead," Optimus offered, and he didn't miss the slight twitch at the corner of her lips. That was something she was most definitely interested in.

"How very interesting," she conceded, much in the same tone the medic had used.

Now it was Optimus' turn to smirk.

"So perhaps, just maybe, we could be of use to each other," he said.

"Perhaps," she agreed. "But what is it really you're offering here, Prime? I'm a psychotic glitch that hates you and everything you stand for. Why should I waste my time working with you when I could just kill you, hack into your processor, steal what it is you know that I don't, and be done with the whole situation altogether?"

"For the same reason that I won't allow Jazz to do the same," he retorted, in a voice so suddenly serious and cold that it shocked the daring smile right off of Jynx's faceplate. "Make no mistake, Jynx. I'm just as capable as you are of taking what I want when the lives of my bots are at stake. And the vorns on my side of the fence have not hindered Jazz's ability to take what he wants as well."

The silver mech's visor gleamed with another warning that the little femme felt down to her very core. Neither of them were bluffing now.

"The difference is," Optimus continued, "that that is my last resort. It always has been. I don't agree with digging around in sparks and processors when you are not invited, but I am not above it. If it gets me what I need to protect innocent lives from slaughter, then that is what I will do. But you of all bots should know, Jynx, that when you go in looking to take you'll never be able to take it all. There are some things that will get overlooked and go unnoticed. Little details that might be the difference between life and death in this case. So I was hoping for a way around that option. You see, if you agreed to abide by my set of rules, do as I say when it comes to the wellbeing of those around you, and not… well, murder us all in our recharge, we might be able to help each other far more than we ever could by hurting each other."

Damn it.

He was right.

And he had a point.

Slag!

Why was this so fraggin' tempting?

This was a horrible idea! She should know that. This was… almost like trusting!

This wasn't going to work. She should refuse. Tell him to go frag himself and take her chances with just how well Jazz understood torture.

But underneath all her thrown-up barriers about the principles this agreement would be based on, there was the underlying notion that she knew very well was what was tempting her.

This was a way to make sure they were all dead, but above it all… this could be her ticket out.

This could be the path to true freedom.

She could get out from beneath the Underground's thumb. She could pay her debt. She could bury it all and never have to think his designation again. No longer have to know that every few decacycles he was going to come looking for her - and he'd find her no matter where she hid - and she'd have to pay what she owed either in credits or protoform.

Or else she'd end up just like…

No.

Just or else.

Period.

This might serve her quite well. The Prime was too honorable to go back on his word, and she could kill two digi-birds with one blastershot.

So she laid it out.

"You'll want to know what I know about the Underground," she started.

Optimus nodded.

"The tunnels, the soldiers, the things that are kicking your afts from here to the next lifetime?"

Another nod.

"Names, cities, reasons?"

"Everything that you know, Jynx." The Prime nodded. "In exchange for what we know."

"You'll understand me when I say I'll want a bit more than that," she pressed.

"All your needs will be taken care of. You won't have to pay for anything."

She just tilted her helm.

Optimus sighed. "Alright, how much are we talking?"

She lifted one of her still chained hands and held up all five of her fingers.

"Five? Five what?"

"Five hundred for every time I turn the odds in your favor," she answered.

His optics narrowed. "That's a bit steep, don't you think? Two hundred."

"Five."

"Two and a half?"

"Five."

"Four."

"Five."

"Come on now, Jynx."

"My price is not negotiable. You want me to tell you a damn thing, these are the terms. This in no way will be a fast process, Prime," she retorted. "This will take time, effort. I'll not be revealing all my secrets at once. They would be meaningless all at once. If you launched a large attack the Ground would just fall back, shut down those portions of tunnels and cities and go into hiding to regroup, and then come back and burn your pretty New Iacon to the ground. Don't think they won't."

"I stopped doubting their abilities soon after we came home," he admitted.

"Smart mech," she replied.

"Some of the time," he said lightly before he took her in seriously again. "I think that sounds about fair."

"I thought it was decent." And it would keep the hounds off her back if she worked it well enough. "What are your terms?"

"Well," he started. "There will be the obviousness of no killing anybot."

"Even the ones you want dead?"

"We have bots that are paid to do that." Prowl spoke up this time.

She cut him a look. "I help you flush them out; I get to help kill the bastards."

"I'm getting the feeling, Jynx, that you're not overly fond of the Underground," Ratchet said. "Strange for a bot that works for them."

"I hate them," she let out a low growl. "I hate every single Primus-damned, pit-spawned, glitched one of them. Helping you kill them? That's not at all hard."

The words were surprising, to say the least.

Honestly, none of them had expected that. They thought Jynx was part of the Underground, but if she wasn't… how did she know such much about them, why did she stay in their cities if she hated them, why did she live like she did?

"Alright then," Optimus relented. "But only after I am sure you will not harm those on our side around you."

She could work that kink out later. For now, she guessed that would work. And if she had to let stupid Enforcers keep their helms and sparks so she could make the Master's mechs leak… Well, she was pretty sure she could suffer through the loss.

"Okay."

"Secondly," he went on. "You will obey every rule I lay out for you. Every one. If I order you to the brig you will go, if I order you to not kill somebot you will not do it, if I want answers you will give them. As long as you stay in my city and work in my house you will do as I say when I say it."

"Not the least bit power-hungry, are we, mech?" She snorted.

He smiled. "When I am dealing with forces I cannot control I have a tendency to do whatever it takes to get a grip on them."

"I already told you," she narrowed her gaze behind her visor, not that he could tell. "I don't take orders."

"You agree to this deal," Optimus retorted, "you will be taking ours, but you'll be getting what you want, Jynx. Is that not a fair trade?"

She was quiet for a good long while after that.

Weighing it over in her processor.

If it ever came to be that she didn't like where his orders were putting her, she could just tear into whoever it was that was stupid enough to try and make her do something she didn't want to do and then skip off. Getting away once she was released, doing whatever she wanted once she was cut loose, that was not going to be hard.

She could agree to that term for now.

Time would tell if she obeyed it.

"And you expect the crazy murderess to keep her word once she gives it to you?" she wondered. "What's going to stop me from doing whatever I want once you let me out of this chair?"

"Who says I'm letting you out of this chair?"

"You'll let me out, Prime." She snorted. "If you want me to tell you a damn thing. I will not live in your brig. I will not be any mech's prisoner."

"You will not be in the brig as long as you abide by the deal, but I also can't simply trust you enough to let you run free," he said. "There is the little issue of widespread panic once word gets out that I've fired a convicted murderess."

"Oh," she giggled. "So you won't trust the psycho?"

She really did like this game.

No trust.

No issues.

Strictly business. Business of don't shoot me I won't shoot you, but shoot her and they'd die slowly and painfully as the little femme took them apart piece by energon-soaked piece.

"No, Jynx." He chuckled. "I'm desperate, not stupid."

"I can live with that," she nodded. "But I'm curious, if you don't keep me locked in the brig, how are you planning on keeping me bound to this little agreement of ours?"

His light blue optics flashed in a way she wasn't sure she liked. "You will agree to an escort. All breems of orn and night for as long as you are under my command."

"An escort?" She lifted an optic ridge, though this time it didn't go high enough for them to see it.

"Yes."

"So a fancy sparkling-sitter?"

"Well, they worded it as 'crazy-sitter', but yes, I guess you could call it that." Ratchet chuckled.

"They?" she asked.

"I'm not foolish enough to put you in the hands of just one mech," the Prime said. "Two sets of optics, two sets of sensors, and they will be mechs fully capable of holding their own against you, Jynx. So testing them might not be in your best interest. You give them a reason, and they will not hesitate to offline you."

Well, these mechs sounded downright fun.

She liked this deal more and more all the time.

"They will not share quarters with you per se - you deserve some type of privacy for agreeing to all this - but the only way in or out of your room will be through theirs, so sneaking out probably won't work out that well for you."

"I like challenges," she answered.

"I figured," he shrugged. "Test their patience as you will, you will be stuck with them for as long as I think it wise to keep you on a short leash. For the safety of everybot here."

"Of course." She grinned.

"So," Optimus took a step closer to her, watching as her helm tilted up to keep her visor locked on his optics. "We have an agreement?"

"To not kill each other for the mutual benefit of sending those bastards in the Underground to pit?" she questioned.

"Yes," Optimus nodded.

"Yeah, I'll play nice until we gut them all, but make no mistake, Prime. I still hate you."

"And I still don't trust you, and most of the bots here hate you as well if that makes you feel any better."

"It does. Should be fun working with ya."

"I look forward to it."


And so it begins.

I'd like to thank all of you who reviewed. You are amazing and I love you! You helped get this chapter out.

I noticed that most of you had some type of question about Megatron being with the Autobots. And you guys are right. Nothing magically got better between them. Remember we're starting up a good time after the war ended, a lot has happened, and it will all be told. As the story unfolds. I can't be giving everything away just yet now can I? Hope some of your questions might have been answered in this chapter. The next one, hopefully, will be up by next Friday. But guys I'm trying to keep two stories updated at the same time here while also juggling the real world. So it might be that updates come every other weekend. But no worries, they will come. I won't just leave you guys out to dry. I've started this, I'll do everything in my power to finish it.

So I hope you guys stick around. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought. I truly value your opinions.

See ya next update.

-Jaycee