A/N: This has one of my favorite bits of writing in it EVER. You will like it, I promise.
CaptainShort19: Lol thank you so much- I think Prowl and SS are oddly similar both being kind of different and treated almost like outsiders by their factions. It's cute, they are so freaking cute 3
pikachukite: Dude, everyone gets a shout-out lol Thank you so much for commenting. Read this chapter and tell me who you think the sparkbreak is about ;) :P
They were picked up early the next morning and would be brought into the communication room one by one. Both Jazz and Soundwave tried to seem disinterested on the way there while secretly taking in every possible detail. Sadly, all the hallways still looked the same.
They reached a small alcove with some seating outside of a door to a room. The mechs took seats, and Prowl was escorted in first, the door closing behind him with two androids flanking the door. The room was nondescript; white, metal and polycarbonate. Up at the far end of the room was a desk with a chair and a microphone affixed on top of it. Artuz asked him with whom he would like to be connected. Prowl told him, sat down and waited. Artuz held up a little counter with the time ticking down.
Prowl took a deep breath.
"…Hello? How did you get this frequency?"
"Optimus!"
"Prowl?! Where are you? Is Jazz with you?"
"Optimus, I'm sorry, I only have five minutes to explain. Jazz and I are alive, but we have been captured and are being held by Quintessons and we are being forced to compete in games for their entertainment." He heard Optimus suck air into his intakes at the mention of the planet. "They are telling us that if we compete and win, we can go home," Prowl said, feeling his vocalizer crack a little on the last word.
"Oh and Starscream and Soundwave are here too," he added lamely.
Optimus sighed. "Well at least I can tell Megatron to stop calling me and demanding to know where they are," Optimus said irritably.
Prowl felt his resolve slipping to make this official and competent and strong. He was always like that. Loyal, quiet, and does what needs to be done. Now at hearing his leader make an almost joke, he felt himself chuckle and it scared him a little.
"Soundwave I might understand, but you'd think he wouldn't want to find Starscream," Prowl said. What was he doing? He should be giving intel to Optimus, telling him where all his files were, strategies that he had come up with to defeat the Decepticons-
"Yes, I'm sure when you return Megatron will thank you for keeping Starscream away for some time. I'm sure he's getting some peace and quiet." It was if Prime knew exactly what was going on in Prowl's mind. That he just needed to hear his voice. The words "when you return," not "if you return" were resounding in his audios.
Prowl laughed and ended in a sigh. "I had planned this differently," he said. "Jazz will call you shortly after me and hopefully do a better job."
"We do the best we can Prowl. I need you to stay alive and keep the others safe."
"All of them?" Prowl said, laughing a little.
"Yes, all of them. I would not have a single Cybertronian back in the hands of the Quintessons, even if it were Megatron himself." Prowl's optics widened a little at that. He also noticed the almost imperceptible shift of Artuz, almost as if his expression had changed under his mask.
"How have things been back home?" Prowl said, changing the subject.
"Things have been quiet without the four of you. We were mostly bewildered when you disappeared on the battlefield, and Megatron retreated after Ravage and Laserbeak started behaving strangely."
"They cut their sparkbonds to Soundwave," he replied bitterly. "They said to make things fair. He's still alive though and… maybe congenial isn't the right word, but not completely terrible."
"And you Prowl? How are you?"
Prowl was taken aback by the question. "I… I've been better Optimus. I have Jazz with me though. I'll be okay."
Artuz inclined his masked head forward. "30 seconds left, P-09."
"Give my best wishes to everyone, Prime. Especially Bluestreak and the twins. They will need it."
"Prowl, listen to me. You will make it though this. Survive, and we will rescue you-"
"Optimus, you can't-"
"-so don't worry."
The line went dead.
"J-06, who would you like to talk to for 5 minutes?"
Jazz paused. "Anyone in the whole universe? How did you manage that?"
Artuz seemed to examine the end of his tentacle in boredom. "A name J-06, and you would do best if you stopped trying to be clever," he said with an edge to his voice.
Jazz smiled. "Optimus Prime, please."
"How original. Very well."
A momentary pause, a crackle, then the sound of a connection.
"…hello?"
"Optimus," Jazz said into the microphone with great relief. "It's good to hear your voice."
"Jazz! Prowl said you would be calling. How are you?"
"For now, we are safe. They want us to participate in their… entertainment. We managed to win the last mission, hence why we can talk to you."
"We will launch immediately-"
"Yeah so Optimus, I think I need to tell you not to come after us as there would be no point, though I know you would try. You can't. The only chance we'll get is if we win this thing and even then, promises are dicey as it is. So, I believe in order to make sure we win, I can't be an Autobot anymore," he said his vocalizer cracking.
"Wait, Jazz, wait-"
"Yeah, mech, I think that resigning is the best I can do for you now because our chances are slim, Optimus. I'm going to try and bring Prowl home, but escape will be almost impossible and winning will be really tough. I don't want to let you down if I have to do things that you wouldn't be proud of," he said, his vocalizer thick.
"Jazz, I need you here. We will find you, and we will rescue you- all of you-"
"Optimus, you absolutely cannot do that. It's the Quintessons. They are even more advanced than they were before."
"30 Seconds, J-06," Artuz warned.
Jazz started venting quickly. "Optimus, you were the best Prime a mech could ever ask for and I just hope that we all stay alive long enough to get back to throw back some high-grade or something. I'm buying," he said laughing a little. "Say hi to the rest of the gang for me, and give 'em Pit, okay?"
"Jazz! Jazz wait-"
The line went dead. Jazz sat there for a few moments, letting his spark pulse painfully in his chest and just exhaled slowly. He wasn't sure if Optimus was convinced or not, but resigning would at least give the other Autobots pause and likely throw some red tape in the way. They couldn't mount a huge force to rescue a Neutral in deep enemy territory, especially with a war going on.
Jazz thought they might try anyway, but it was an attempt to slow them down. Prowl was going to be a problem though as he would likely never abandon the Autobots no matter the situation. He sighed as he stood away from the terminal.
"And who would you like to connect to?"
"Megatron," came the monotonous reply.
"… how DARE you contact me without an introduction."
"Megatron, apologies. We have five minutes to discuss."
"…Soundwave? You're alive? Where the frag are you?"
"Starscream and I have been captured and placed in Quintesson games along with Autobot Jazz and Autobot Prowl. Escape: Unlikely."
"…Are either of you injured?" Soundwave understood what he was really asking and attempted to not get irked.
"Negative. However. Cassettes…"
"Yes, they've been quite troublesome the past few days. Claiming you are dead."
"Negative. I still function. But they severed the bonds."
"…fragging turbosquids." Artuz visibly stiffened and clenched his tentacles around the timer in poorly-disguised fury.
"Request: Tell my cassettes I think of them. Please."
There was a slight pause on the other end of the line. "Of course, Soundwave. I will do this for you. Make sure Starscream doesn't get slagged before I get a chance to do it myself."
Soundwave sighed. Always back to the seeker. He might never get an answer to this question, so he thought he'd be impertinent. Just once. "Query: Why did Megatron promote Starscream and not Soundwave to second-in-command?"
Megatron stifled a laugh. "Has it really bothered you this whole time? I didn't take you to be a jealous sort." Soundwave remained silent. "Still. I will answer this for you, old friend. The only things he has that you lack are imagination and the desire to challenge me. I like a challenge, old friend. You are my most loyal soldier, and I do not wish you to change. You both fulfill your roles admirably."
Soundwave felt his spark swell. His pain eased a little at knowing he had not failed his leader, just that he had a different role to fill. That was sufficient. "Thank you, Lord Megatron."
"30 seconds, SW-17."
"Acknowledged. Megatron: dim audio feed."
"Acknowledged."
Artuz looked confused when suddenly a strange, loud cacophony of noise poured out of Soundwave's vocalizer. "What the frag-"
Then the line went dead. Soundwave stood and bowed. Artuz looked horrified. "Accursed creature," he said with disgust.
"Alright SS-22, who would you like to speak with? I'm assuming Megatron?"
Starscream was glaring at the microphone like it was going to bite him.
"…SS-22? Shall I connect you to Mega-"
"No, thank you mmm-master. Connect me to the Autobot Skyfire. Please."
Artuz did a doubletake as Starscream sat down. He noticed a small tremble in the servo of the seeker as the line connected.
"…uhm, yes?" the voice said.
Starscream wilted slightly. Then he took a deep vent. "I fragging hate you," he said with vitriol.
"…Starscream? What in the world-"
"I can't stand to see you; you are stupid, meek, bot-fraggin son of a Cessna," he spat into the microphone. "You are traitorous slag not fit to lick the organic filth off my pedes, do you understand?!"
"Not this again-"
"And your scientific conclusions were all wrong! I never told you, but you had such terrible ideas, Skyfire, really! Everything from advanced warp coil dynamics to energon refinement to-"
"Okay now you are just being an aft-"
"-binary rotation of twin suns with oort clouds, I swear a sparkling could have come up with something better for a thesis than that!"
"Oh and yours was so much better about wing dynamics and air currents of seekers in flight? You self-obsessed, narcissistic, arrogant PRICK, of course you chose a thesis that could only benefit yourself!"
Artuz was practically slack jawed at this point.
Starscream was nodding, with an angry grin. "Oh that's right, insult me, just the mech who tried to save your life and you repay with siding with fleshlings and Autobots; you are just so fragging moral aren't you-"
"Wait."
"You never bothered to find out what happened to me after you disappeared, did you? That I mourned for you, that they accused me of your murder! They thought I had killed you, Skyfire, and they took away everything I had. Then you dared to judge me and then-"
"I never judged you, I just couldn't fathom how you had changed-"
Starscream's vocalizer started to strain. "-you just couldn't wait to stab me in the back-"
"You shot me in the back and the front more than once you know-"
"-in front of Megatron and-"
"STARSCREAM," Skyfire shouted, his vocalizer cracking. "Why- why do I feel like you are trying to say… goodbye?"
Starscream froze and just looked at the microphone mournfully. Curse that damned shuttle. "I…"
"30 seconds, SS-22."
"I will likely never have a chance to say it in person," Starscream said, lamely letting his helm dip down.
"Whatever it is, Optimus can help! Whatever Megatron has done to you, whatever trouble you are in-"
"I… am sorry I didn't wait longer to find you back then. I missed you."
"Star-"
"Goodbye Sky." The line went cold.
Starscream sat there for a little bit longer, his servos folded neatly in his lap. He felt a small bit of sad warmth wrap around his spark, because this time he actually had gotten to say goodbye to the fragging shuttle.
He stood, his optics down on the ground. "Thank you, kind masters and sponsors, for this wonderful gift," he said, his vocalizer raspy. "I cannot hope that we would ever be so blessed to have this gift again," he said closing his optics as the words tumbled out of his mouth, "but is that even a possibility?"
Artuz seemed smitten as he just tilted his head slightly in almost… affection. "I have so missed having a seeker around," he said. "Anything is possible my dove, but I will pass on your effusive thanks, and maybe they will give you the gift again."
Starscream nodded and looked extremely tired.
"Let's return you to your quarters."