"Alright, so what do you want to do?" Mirage asked Hoist as they walked down the #rd floor of the mall.

"Well… I'm not sure. I don't really like doing anything else except repairing things," Hoist said off-handily. "I'm kind of boring like that."

"Are you sure? You don't do anything besides repairing?" the aristocrat asked, surprised. "You don't gamble, you don't drink, you don't read, you don't do anything?" Mirage asked him.

"Uh… correct."

…Wow, and I thought the rumors I heard about being boring were an exaggeration," Mirage muttered in disbelief, looking around the area. "Almost immediately, he saw Blast Off emerging from the cleaning store, cleaning himself. "Hey, Blast Off!" The shuttle turned to look at him before walking over to him.

"What do you want, Mirage? And what exactly are you doing with such a banal commoner," he asked him.

"I was wondering if you can help me find a hobby for Hoist, and I have my reasons for hanging out with him," Mirage told him.

"Is it because you envy his repair-skills?" Blast Off asked catching Mirage off-guard. "You'd always hated it whenever someone can beat you at something you're good at and would always work with them until you can defeat them and then make sure they can't beat him again."

"Hey, that's not it," Mirage muttered, glaring at his fellow ex-senator. "While he does make me better at repairing, I do want a friend."

"Huh, you said that before," Blast Off murmured before looking over Hoist. "Look, one time, this mech was good at porting, you ever (What are you doing?) heard of it?" Hoist shook his head no. "Doesn't matter, it's completely worthless to someone as lowly as you. Anyway, he took some training (Seriously, stop!) from the mech. After he was better than him, he played a match with him that ended with Mirage completely obliterating him. Once he won, he (Stop!) arranged for an accident to him that left him with completely destroyed hands that left him unable to ever be good at porting again," Blast Off finished, rubbing his nails. Mirage was incensed, looking as if he wanted to rip Blast Off apart.

"Where did you learn about that?" he asked him he an evil tone.

"I had your secret. It was quite fun looking through the archive and getting the full story behind that. You did a pretty good job covering it up," Blast Off complemented him, turning over to Hoist. "Now tell me, do you think that Mirage is still here to make friends?"

Hoist remained quiet, looking between the two in confusion. "I'm… not sure."

"Hey, listen to me," Mirage said, gaining his attention. "I've done some… questionable things in my life, but I assure you, I'm being honest here. Don't let my past actions from several million years ago affect your opinion of me now. I've changed," Mirage said in a desperate tone. Hoist was unsure if it was because he didn't want to lose a friend or if it was because he still wanted to take advantage of him.

"I… think I need to think about this new information," Hoist said, walking away from the two in a haste. As he left, Mirage turned around to the shuttle and glared daggers at him.

"What was that for?!" he growled at him, getting ready to beat him senseless.

"Why are you hanging around with him? I can't think of any reason besides that," Blast Off told him, looking down on him. "I remember when you sneered at the thought of even seeing one."

"Well then, what happen to me? Could it be that I considered my previous thoughts of those below me to be wrong and I change my fragging worldview because of that?!" Mirage ranted at Blast Off.

"Humph. So you say," Blast Off muttered, looking away and glancing down below. "Maybe I'm just a bit hung up on the past."

"Or maybe you just like screwing with other people," Mirage accused.

"Well, look at it this way," Blast Off said, "if Hoist does continued to want to be your friend, then you can at least trust him."

"Huh?" Mirage asked.

"I just aired a dirty secret of yours that you didn't want anybody to know," Blast Off reminded him. "If he comes back after hearing that, then he has no problems with you and I'm sure he can still be you friend."

"That doesn't mean you have to jeopardize it!" he yelled at Blast Off.

"Maybe, but I've already done it so there's no use complaining about it," Blast Off shrugged him off, walking away. Mirage glared at his fellow aristocrat with a look that could kill before heading off by himself.

"Alright, how are you two doing?" Jazz asked Smokescreen and Bumblebee in the general store.

"Well, how to put it…?" Bumblebee muttered.

"We don't have a fraggin' clue what to do," Smokescreen told him.

"…What?" Jazz asked in disbelief. "But you said you had something planned!"

"We did?" Smokescreen asked in a mocking tone. At that point, Jazz realized that they were tricking him.

"You motherboarders," Jazz grumbled, glaring at the two of them. "Why did you play me?"

"Look, the main reason we did this was so you could calm down," Bumblebee told him. "Seriously, yesterday was fine, but you still have a bit of a stick up you aft that we would like to take out and beat you over the head with."

"You have been so invested in trying to figure out the background behind the school that you're forgetting how to relax and have some fun, as well as painting a large target on your back," Smokescreen chimed in. Jazz glanced between the two of them before taking a seat in a nearby chair, looking very tire.

"A fifth of us are dead," he began, causing the other two to flinch at that. "Do you know how I have to explain to Optimus that I failed to prevent their deaths? That I could only watched helplessly as people are systemically murdered and executed? I'm the highest ranking one here which means that it's my fault that they died. You'll probably try to convince me that it isn't, but it's how I feel. It's taking a strain on me and several of the others here. You guys too, although you're better at hiding it. The worst part? More is going to happen and there's nothing we can do about it." He went quiet as he finished his melancholic monologue. Bumblebee and Smokescreen glanced at each other awkwardly as he was done talking.

"Uh, hey. You can't say that for sure," Bumblebee tried to comfort the morose spy. "Look, I know that it's hard to keep everybody from killing each other, but if we keep trying I'm sure no more will die! We just have to be… stricter when the next motive comes," Bumblebee said.

"What do you mean be that?" Jazz asked, turning to him.

"I think he's recommending that we limit people's movements," Smokescreen said, causing Jazz to raise an eyebrow at that. "I mean, the past three motives, we've let people have full reign around the available area. What if we limits people's movements as a whole?"

"That's… oppressive, but it might work. It would certainly lessens the amount of chances a killer could have," Jazz muttered, thinking it through.

"I don't want to do it, but if it keeps us alive until Optimus rescues us, then we'll do it for everyone's safety," Bumblebee said, sounding a bit sad.

"You seriously still think Optimus's is going to rescue you?!" Monobear asked as he came out of nowhere.

"AH! What the frag?! We're having a personal moment here!" Jazz shouted at the bear.

"You really have some bad timing," Smokescreen glowered at the monochromatic bear.

"Well, I only do so when people say stupid things, such as this walking yielding signal saying that Optimus will still rescue him. To you, dear yellow light, I must declare that you are wrong!" Monobear shouted at Bumblebee, who looked incensed.

"I know he's a bit slow at reaching us, but I know that if we can just hold out, he'll bust us out," Bumblebee shouted at the bear with a clenched fist. Monobear continued to smile with half his teeth has he started mockingly singing off-key.

"You are wroooooong

Optimus is uselessssss.

Just give upppppppppp

Because he will never help youuuuuu!"

"Will you shut up?" Bumblebee yelled at the annoyance. "You have no proof that he won't."

"Uh, actually I do, but you see, that would be a spoiler and I know from reading on the extranet that people don't like spoilers, so HAH!" Monobear smugly told the scout.

"Proof? What the fragging proof do you have?" Bumblebee asked him.

"I left hints all around the fragging place! Figure it out so that everyone else watching can mock you for not knowing the truth," he told him even more smugly.

"'Everyone else watching?' Who the frag is that?" Bumblebee asked him.

"Fourth wall. Look it up," the bear bluntly told him.

"That's not an answer!" he shouted at him. "Now quit lying. Optimus will get us out."

"Ah, so optimistic. So stupid," Monobear continued his onslaught of mocking.

"Oh, when I find out who you are, I'm so kicking your aft when we find you," Bumblebee told him with an intense glare.

"Hey, 'Bee, calm down," Jazz said, getting in-between the two of them. "He wants you to get mad so you can mess up."

"And you! I would think you would do my job for me and explain why Optimus Prime and the Autobots saving him is such a minute possibility," Monobear chastised the spy.

"Huh? What's he talking about," Smokescreen asked, suspicious of the implications.

"I'm talking about his video, of course! You remember the first incentive, riiiiiiight?" he asked them.

"Of course we do, but what does that have to do with anything?" Bumblebee asked the bear.

"Oh, Jazz, could you explain to him what was on your video?" Monobear asked him sweetly.

"Huh, but, that isn't necessary," Jazz tried to get out of it.

"What's on the video that doesn't make you want to tell us?" Smokescreen asked him.

"Uh, it's just that, uh, it's nothing," Jazz tried to get out of it.

"Hey, you're clearly acting suspicious!" Bumblebee accused him, turning to glare at him.

"Look, i-i-it's nothing," Jazz told them, trying to dig himself out of the topic at hand.

"Okay, fine, then I'll tell them," the bear said before announcing, against Jazz complaints, "It was footage of Autobot Headquarters in ruins!"

"What!?" Bumblebee asked in shock.

"Are you serious?" Smokescreen wondered.

"Yep! Upupupupupup. Doesn't that just feel terrible!" he asked.

"No. That footage… it has to be a lie!" Jazz tried to comfort the other two. "I know what I saw on the footage, but it has to be a lie. No way could it be wrecked like that."

"My, someone's in denial," Monobear muttered from the side.

"No, I'm not!" Jazz shouted down at him.

"But, weren't Soundwave final words that all of the footage was true?" Smokescreen remembered. "Isn't that the main reason why we think something's wrong outside and on Earth?"

"Yeah, but… it's a lie!" Jazz continued to deny. "Just wait, we'll get out of here, and I'll head on up to HQ to tell him all the people we lost because one sick slagger wanted to play a game! You know why? Because you never tell the truth!"

"You're still assuming that there's a chance more than one person will get out? Ha! That's hilarious," Monobear mocked, before walking off. "I'll let you two handle this moron," he said as he went out the store.

"Huh, he actually walked out," Smokescreen noted.

"Jazz, why didn't you tell us about this earlier?" Bumblebee ignored Smokescreen's remarked and continued getting information from Jazz.

"Look, Soundwave has to be lying in some way, alright," Jazz comforted him, although it sounded more like he was comforting himself

"But, he was about to die! Why would he lie as he was being executed?" Bumblebee badgered him.

"I… don't know," Jazz confessed. "Maybe… Monobear tricked him into thinking the footage was all real?" he tried to argue.

"Jazz, do you really think that someone as good as Soundwave would mistake a fake video for a real one?" Smokescreen asked, giving him a cold look.

"I-I… something has to be tampered with!" Jazz kept arguing.

"Hey, calm down! Autobot HQ has been trashed before. What makes this one any different?" Bumblebee asked him.

"Because… because…," Jazz left off.

"You're hiding something, aren't you?" Smokescreen pointed out. "There was something amongst the ruins, wasn't there?"

"…Yeah," Jazz answered.

"Well then, what was it?" he asked.

"…"

"Jazz?"

"…"

"Are you, okay?" Bumblebee asked him.

"…I'll explain later… at lunch… to everyone," Jazz blankly said, heading out of the room. The two glanced at each other as he left.

"What was in that video that's got him silent?" Smokescreen asked.

"Something terrible," Bumblebee muttered. "Jeez, we were supposes to make Jazz relax today and now he's even worse than before."

"Yeah… I I'm feeling unsure as well," Smokescreen muttered. "That video of his… must be something truly terrifying."

Dead End glared at the obnoxious distraction across from him over his datapad. Skywarp was talking to Laserbeak in a loud voice as he told him about the adventure of some 'ninja academy,' which made him want to head to the nearest wall and bash his head in. In the background noise, he could hear Wildrider doing something, but that was a far lesser annoyance compared to Skywarp's continued nasally voice talking to the shrill beeping of Laserbeak.

"Can't you read quietly?" Dead End asked him softly as he glared at him. Skywarp either ignore him or didn't hear him as he continued to read to Laserbeak without pause. Dead End gritted his denta together in annoyance and asked again in a slightly louder tone. "Will you please read quietly?" This got an answer as Skywarp continued to read while sending Dead End a rather rude gesture with his finger. Dead End scowled at the obscene gestured and grabbed one of his other datapad on poetry and tossed it.

"Ow!" Skywarp shouted, rubbing his head and glaring at him.

"Will you be quiet?" Dead End requested, glaring at him.

Ugh, fine," Skywarp agreed and began muttering very lowly to Laserbeak, which was much more tolerable than before. Dead End gave a satisfy grunt and went back to relaxing in his chair as he continued to read his datapad in peace.

At twelve came around, Jazz told everyone come to the bar for lunch today. Everyone arrived and took a seat at some tables. Ratchet and Bludgeon stayed where they were with Drift and Nautilator taking a seat next to the one on their side. The Combaticons took a seat with the Constructicons and Beachcomber, with Onslaught continually pressing Swindle about the snuff films and Blast Off admonishing Beachcomber and Scavenger for being 'disgusting vermin' with Mixmaster watching everyone in amusement. Smokescreen and Bumblebee took a seat with Blurr, Nightbeat, and Mirage joining them, the latter having been shoo off by Hoist, who was taking a seat with Perceptor, Knock Out, Rewind and Hound. Wildrider and Dead End took a seat together, the latter ignoring the other's inane babbling. Skywarp took a seat by himself, with Laserbeak relaxing on the back of an empty seat and Jazz sticking by himself, mumbling softly.

Near the end of the meeting, Jazz got up and announced loudly: "May I have you attention?" Everyone went quiet at that, turning over to look at him. Jazz suddenly felt nervous at the grim news he had to deliver, but he had too.

"What do you want?" Skywarp asked, glancing over to Laserbeak with suspicion.

"I have some information to tell you," Jazz muttered nervously.

"Is it about that video?" Bumblebee asked, leaning in with anticipation.

"Yes, it is," Jazz admitted.

"Video? You mean the first incentive Monobear gave us?" Ratchet asked him.

"Yeah…," Jazz muttered.

"Well then, what is it that makes it such an important matter?" Dead End asked with suspicion.

"Monobear mentioned that it showed the Autobot based in ruins," Smokescreen mentioned.

"What?!" Ratchet asked, standing up at that. "How come you didn't tell us about that?"With that, there was generally mumbling of agreement.

"Well, I think it's best to show you it myself," Jazz told them. "I know we were supposed to stay at the mall all day, but I need to head to the A/V room to show it."

"Hmm, hey? The Autobot HQ is trashed. That's it right?" Blurr asked, nervously.

"I wished that was it, but there was something else among the rubble…," Jazz left off. Everybody glanced at each other before paying their full attention to him.

"What?" Mirage was the first to speak up.

"Like I said, I'll have to show you," he told them.

"Is it really that bad?" Nautilator asked.

"You'll see," Jazz muttered. "When I first saw it, I thought it couldn't be true, but… Soundwave's words have been getting to me and what happen in the last trial showed that I need to be more truthful about the secrets I'm hiding, so I think I need to show you it."

"Well then, let's go," Ratchet said, standing up. "I'm interested in what you have to show."

"You won't like it… no one will."

Jazz put his disc in the main screen and it came on, showing off a scene between him and Optimus Prime at Autobot HQ. "Here we have Jazz, hanging out with his leader, Optimus Prime. They're kind of best buds," Monobear voiced narrated the scene in front of them. Then, just like the other disc, the static came in and they were shown the Autobots HQ in shambles, walls decayed and crumbling down and the ceiling caving in. There, trapped under the rubble… "Oh my, what happen here? Who could've done such a thing? If Jazz wants to find out, he knows what he has to do." Jazz paused it and enlarged it to the rubble. There, they could see a figure who looks to have his legs crushed, half of his head missing, and his arms sliced off and discard to the side. His chest cavity was cut wide open, exposing the insides of the corpse.

There laid Optimus Prime, dead.