Time Tables:

Nanoklick: a second

Klick: a minute

Joor: an hour

Decacycle: a month

Vorn: a year

Ch 3: Danger in Iacon

"Wow, that was harsh." Immediately on alert I spin around to find myself faced with a ground mech. He was an Earth veteran of course, due to what he had painted on his armor. His optics catch mine from behind his blue visor and he gave me a wide smile. "I thought trines were supposed to show a unified front."

"I-I'm new to being part of a trine. But what they said was right." He peers closely at me and I feel my wings hike up in alarm.

"You don't look part tape deck and I didn't know they could inhabit a seeker's frame." He offered me a servo and I cautiously shake it. "My name's Jazz. If I'm correct you're one of the younger seekers allowed to stay in the city, right?"

In spite of myself I smile. "Yeah, my name is Skyseam, Seam for short." He let's go of my servo and pushes me ahead of him.

"Well Seam, I think I should give you the tour. I think your partners are well lost by now. How old are ya?"

"198 vorns." I reply and he drags me into a neon lit building.

"Old enough!" As I glance around the building I realize it was a bar slash dance club. As the music booms in my audio I smile and shut off my optics. Right at home. "Stay with me Seam. I'll introduce you to my comrades." Jazz says as he tugs me through the mass of moving mechs.

He shoves me into a booth where other mechs were sitting and slides in next to me. "Hey Jazz, a bit late aren't you?" One of the three mechs calls from his part of the table. The other two were watching me closely and I felt the table draw my optics.

"Yeah, just thought I'd bring this one along." Jazz elbows me and I smile slightly. "Come one Seam, don't be so shy, they won't bite." I lift my head and catch all three looking. An orange and light blue one, nearest the end of the table leans over.

"So, you new in Iacon? I'm Seaspray by the way." Before I can answer another mech shows up and sits down next to Jazz.

"Sorry I'm late guys. Traffic is horrible tonight." It was the mech from earlier at the office. Hotshot if I remembered correctly. He looks over at me and breaks into a wide grin.

"Hey, the seeker from before. Skyseam right?" I nod and the smile gets a bit wider. The mech in the middle begins to laugh.

"Come on Hotshot, a seeker wouldn't look twice at ground mechs like us." He supplies and I roll my optics.

"That's not true Tracks." Hotshot replies and blows me a kiss. Despite myself I felt the tips of my wings flutter and heat rise to my face. "We flirted earlier in Optimus' office." Tracks let's out a snort and before long I find myself ogling the dance floor.

"How light on your peds are you Seam?" Jazz asks as he kicks Hotshot out of the booth, oblivious to his objections. He offers me a servo up and leads me to an empty part of the floor and calls over his shoulder. "You can share Hotshot."

As a new song starts I pick a stance. Thankfully it was a song I knew. As the music booms I launch myself over the floor, whipping in and out and swaying at the appropriate moments. High stepping around the floor I find that Jazz was keeping perfect time.

We matched each other step for step and as the music came to a stop we stopped in the same pose. Then we danced the next song. By the end I was thoroughly worn out and I made my way back to the table as someone else joined Jazz. By now only one mech was still at the table, Seaspray.

He slid a cube of energon over to me and I took a gulp then immediately felt like spewing it out as it burned the pit out of my throat. Spluttering after I sent it through my pipes I peer at the energon and slide it back.

"What is that?" Is the only thing I can rasp out as my optics become slightly staticy.

"High grade. Guess you seekers can't handle your energon." Seaspray chuckles as he downs the cube. Looking over I noticed he'd already downed three others. "So, I assume you were a neutral during the war?" He asks.

"Ah, no. I'm a Decepticon." The entire area around us goes dead silent, no bot moving. Eventually the entire bar became quiet and still, not even the music played anymore. As I glanced around I found everyone staring at me like I didn't belong. Just like back in Vos. As my optics return to the table I feel someone lift me up. I prepared to launch a ped where it didn't belong but found myself looking up at Jazz and I felt my fight programming shut off and flight programming start to kick in.

"We need to get you out of here." He mutters as he lifts me over his head and makes a bee line for the door. Just as it slides open someone grabs my wings and yanks backwards, throwing me on the floor.

"So, you think you still own Iacon don't you Decepticon glitch? How about I give you a taste of what your people did to mine." My processor registered horror as a servo slammed right into my helm. As I try to fight back I feel multiple servos and peds landing blows on my frame. A searing pain on my back made me screech, scream after scream escaping my vocals as they ripped my wings from my back.

I felt the delicate glass cockpit shatter after a few blows. The blows stopped as shots were fired into the crowd and I was lifted gingerly off the ground. My optics flickered and I couldn't hear anything but static after the shots. Eventually my optics cleared and I found myself staring at a crowd upside down. Straining my neck cables I bring my helm up to see that Jazz was carrying me. Hotshot ran alongside carrying something that rose up past his helm. Clawing pain on my back plates helped me realize they were my wings.

My air filtration system was struggling to stay online and I realize my chassis was bent inward. The only thing going through my processor as my body shut off the areas in pain was how disappointed Starscream would be.

Just as I'm about to offline my audio starts to clear and I can hear Jazz repeating over and over. "Don't offline, don't offline." These mechs must have been fast considering when I dropped my helm back we were somewhere by palace district and I was being rushed inside a well lit building. A quick glance told me it was a med bay and my vocals groan. I hated med bays. Just as Jazz calls for someone named Ratchet I finally offline.

-Optimus' POV-

Walking into the med bay I find Hotshot and Jazz sitting in the lobby chairs, covered in dried energon. Neither seemed to be damaged but that wasn't what I was concerned about. If Skyseam died the war would start up again seeing as it was Autobots attacking a Decepticon who hadn't provoked a fight. Not to mention it was the Decepticon leader's creation. And right now the Autobots could easily be torn apart.

"Tell me, you didn't tell Starscream yet did you?" I ask as Jazz looks up.

"No."

"Redalert might have. But since he isn't exploding through the doors I expect he hasn't."

It was both good and bad. It meant I could avoid a blow up from the newly appointed Vos ambassador but it also meant I would have to tell him at some point.