Knight to E3
The minutes crawled by. The last plumes of smoke from the grenades blew away on the night breezes. Another coyote barked, this time faint and far away. Moving ever so slowly to avoid detection, Jazz brought his rifle across and centred the crosshairs on Deck's face.
No.
This was Hardline's way of doing things, and Jazz had vowed to never walk that path again. Deck had been a brother in arms once, and he still had a chance to recover. This war wasn't going to claim any more of Jazz's soul than it already had.
With an effort, Jazz mentally reached back into his mind and shoved Hardline aside. He was Jazz, an Autobot officer, not some hardened killer from the backstreets. Shooting from concealment was not how Jazz did things. He did 'em with style.
Jazz let a foxlike grin flicker across his face. If there was one thing that he knew about Deck, it was that he almost always lost it when he got angry. That was how he'd beaten the mech last time. A bit of judicious taunting should rile him up enough to drop his guard, and that was when Jazz could move in for the checkmate.
A sudden thought occurred to the formerly black and white, causing him to pause.
"Hang on a nano, something's not right here." Jazz frowned. "Deck's good, but not even Caps could set up that many 'nades and wires in th' few minutes that he lost me. The last dude who got CFS wasn't nearly this coherent…oh no."
He activated his radio and remote-linked to Teletran over a secure frequency, requesting a passive medical scan to be taken of Deck. The results came back moments later, unfortunately confirming Jazz's theory.
"Slaggit! I've been so focussed on stoppin' him that I f'got t' look at what was right in front of m' face!" Whatever compassion Jazz had had for Deck evaporated, replaced by an ever increasing rage. He wasn't going to pull his punches any longer.
"Y' can cut the CFS act Deck." Jazz called out. "I know you're as sane as I am."
Deck smiled, a cold and mirthless expression. "I was wondering when you'd figure it out." He replied nonchalantly.
"Why'd ya do it?"
"Simple. I want to be on the winning side. And quite frankly, the Autobots are not that side." Deck said. He stood up, smile still in place as he looked around. "I struck a deal with Megatron. I kill you, and I get into the Decepticons. He arranged for a little 'technical assistance' here and back home, but the rest was all my plan."
"You know the Code, Deck. Betrayal ain't something that's taken too lightly."
Deck's smile widened, just as Jazz realised his mistake. "I know. Goodbye Jazz."
Jazz rolled to his feet and fled as Deck opened fire on the overhang. He'd let himself talk too long, and Deck had homed in on the sound of his voice. Jazz ducked into the wide mouth of a lava tube, Deck a few minutes behind. "C'mon, follow me." Jazz mentally coaxed. This particular lava tube branched off into a web of caves and galleries that he often used for training. There wasn't a rock or crack that he didn't know the location of by heart. "That's it, I'm in here. Now, let's see how you like playing the game on my terms."