Part 11

Chaos swarmed the Ark's entrance. So many mechs lined the open doorway, weapons drawn, that Jazz wondered if someone had a tip of an ambush lying in wait. He spotted Bumblebee towards the front of the group, the only one who wasn't standing still, fidgeting from one pede to the other and looking around as if he expected a firefight to break out any second.

Which was entirely possible. Jazz spotted the troublemakers several dozen meters away, a little line of Soundwave's cassetticons facing the Ark and snapping at each other as if a dozen rifles weren't pointing towards them.

The tiny mechs were each a fraction of the size of a standard mech, but no one would make the mistake of underestimating them. Soundwave was so dangerous partly because he carried this little army with him, and it was strange to see them giving themselves up.

Or trying to give themselves up. Frenzy and Rumble at least could assume the 'kneeling with hands behind the head' pose of a textbook surrender, but Laserbeak could only stand there with her wings raised awkwardly and Ravage sat on his haunches, licking sand from his paw. It would have been comical if Ratchet's razor claws weren't obvious.

"So what's the down low?" Jazz asked, coming up beside Bumblebee.

"They showed up a couple breems ago," Bumblebee said. "Mirage's out there looking around, but he hasn't seen any other 'Cons so far."

"So Soundwave's little monsters just stopped by for brunch?" Jazz asked. "Have they said anything?"

"I...hm," Bumblebee said slowly. "Not really? It's more like they're yelling at each other. I'd ask Blaster, but apparently he's stuck in a meeting with Prime."

"Huh, go fig," Jazz said without any sympathy. "Guess I'll mosey on over and say hi to the neighbors."

"You want some back up on that?" Bumblebee said. "Or you just gonna present them with an easy, high ranking target?"

"Hey," Jazz said, grinning over his shoulder. "Who you calling easy?"

Besides, he figured, nudging aside a mech with a rifle barrel as he walked out. I should have this kind of backup on a mission.

His fans whirled a little faster the moment he stepped into the sunlight. Even with the sun setting, the desert was murder on exposed steel, pulling a mech's temperature up so quickly that coolant could evaporate within a couple hours and rubber could melt to the asphalt. If Jazz felt the heat, then Soundwave's brats must have been broiling.

And yet they stayed there, kneeling in the sand. Ravage licked several burrs and sandbriars out of his wrist cabling, giving the rest of them a disdainful sniff, but he made no move to attack. And as he came closer, Jazz heard them snapping at each other.

"Ravage," Frenzy sighed, venting heavily in the sun, "seriously man, you're gonna get us fragged if you don't do something to look surrendery."

Rumble glanced sideways at the feline mech, shoulders bowing further as he used his upraised arms to shade himself.

"Please," he groaned. "I don't wanna risk melting just to end up getting shot."

"Ravage, lay down and look helpless already!" Frenzy snapped.

"'Look' helpless?" Jazz asked, coming close enough to throw a long shadow over the four of them. "You got the entire Ark's attention. Now ain't the time to find out how twitchy those bots get."

"Oh slag," Rumble whimpered. "Oh slag oh slag-Frenzy, why'd you talk us into this? I don't wanna get slagged!"

"None of us wanna get slagged," Frenzy growled at him, then looked up, craning his neck to meet Jazz's visor. "You got the boss in here, right? Last known coordinates were coming this way, so he's here, yeah?"

"And how..." Jazz asked, kneeling down, "would you know where he was headed?"

"Well duh," Rumble said under his vent cycling. "Carrier model. We know."

"He said he was taking you back to outpost nine," Frenzy said, coughing out excess heat condensation. "But when he stopped pinging us, we knew something was wrong and we got back in time to see one last Autubot clearing things out and taking off."

Making a mental note to scold Smokescreen, Jazz nodded once at the small Decepticon. In the distance, heat waves curled up from the dust and made the desert shimmer. A tiny drop of coolant leaked from Laserbeak's eye and hissed along her beak, gone before it could drip.

"If we do have him," Jazz started, "and I'm not saying we do-"

"You have him?!" Rumble gasped, sitting up as if he'd taken a jolt of energon and scooting forward on his knees. "Please oh please take us to him, please-"

"Shut up," Frenzy snapped, and cuffed Rumble on the head. "If you freak out, you're gonna get us shot, and then we won't see him!"

"You came all this way just to see Soundwave?" Jazz said, leaning closer to see optic to visor with him. Normally he never would have come this close, but the multiple red dots of laser scopes on all their heads reassured him that he was safe.

"You don't understand," Rumble said, ignoring how Frenzy cuffed him again. "You ain't a cassette. Soundwave's our carrier."

Laserbeak squawked in agreement.

"Okay then..." Jazz tilted his head. "Educate me. Why're all you little 'cons over here giving my mechs a great chance for target practice over one carrier?"

"You wanna recharge in some weird mech?" Rumble demanded. "'Cause I ain't going in some other carrier model."

"Yeah," said Frenzy. "It's the boss or nothing."

"He needs us," Rumble said. "He goes to pieces without us."

"Uh-huh." Jazz stood up, brushing sand off his knees. "And it wouldn't be 'cause four little cassettes ain't long for this world in the Decepticon army?"

Rumble and Frenzy shared a look with Ravage and Laserbeak. None of them argued, and even Ravage pawed at the dust, patting an imaginary glitchmouse.

"Not just us," Rumble said.

"The boss has been messed up for awhile," Frenzy said, staring at a rock by Jazz's pedes. "Wouldn't say why. We knew it was getting bad, but..."

"He wouldn't just leave us," Rumble said. "I don't know why he came here without us, but he must of forgot us..."

"So we're surrendering," Frenzy said, and there were nods and murmurs from the other cassettes. "'Cause you got him here, right? We wanna surrender."

Jazz watched them for another moment. Laserbeak gave a dry cough, and Ravage bathed another paw, which only made the rest of his frame look even dustier. If they left them here, the four of them might just collapse and save them the trouble. How far had they traveled on their own just to get here?

"'Bee," Jazz said over his communication array, loud enough for the cassettes to hear. "We're gonna need the tiniest stasis cuffs we got. Bringing in four prisoners."

"Really?" Frenzy and Rumble both stared with dropped jaws and impossibly wide optics.

"Already there," Bumblebee said, "at your position."

Jazz chuckled. "Got'cha. Okay, my main 'bot, toss 'em to me."

On cue, Mirage dropped his invisibility screen, appearing next to Ravage and startling the cassette into Frenzy. Stasis cuffs went around Rumble and Frenzy's wrists, and with a little effort Ravage's as well, and the cuffs had to make a collar around Laserbeak. She squawked and rubbed her beak along the ground as if she could wipe off the sudden static clouding her receptors.

Feeling like the head of the most ridiculous parade, Jazz led them back to the Ark, holding Ravage's cuffs in one hand so the smaller mech could walk on his hind legs. That the cassette allowed it surprised him. From what little they knew about Soundwave's symbiotes, Ravage was the oldest of the four, dedicated to the Decepticons and an absolute whirlwind of claws and laserfire in battle. And now he allowed himself to be manhandled at Frenzy's behest. All for the sake of their carrier.

Jazz decided he needed to have a chat with Blaster, as soon as Prime was done with him.

"Brig?" Bumblebee asked when they came closer.

"Secondary brig," Jazz said, reverting to their internal comm before Bumblebee could voice his confusion.

I know, I know-it's a glorified supply closet. Get it cleared out. There's no way I'm putting these mechs in the same room as Soundwave, not yet.

Got it, boss, Bumblebee nodded, turning to go when they both heard a loud clang at their pedes.

Jazz looked down in shock. Frenzy had fallen facefirst onto the floor and lay still. His first thought was that an Autobot had shot him, but everyone else looked down in surprise and the other cassettes didn't.

"Oh...slag..." Rumble vented, leaning over his fallen comrade before going to one knee. "Aft'head, tol'ja we couldn't take the heat."

Okay, Jazz said to Bumblebee, already scooping up Rumble in his free hand. New plan. Grab Frenzy and let's head to the brig's medbay.

That ain't too close to Soundwave? Bumblebee asked, picking up Frenzy and holding him up for inspection.

Yeah, but I'd rather have four live aces to hold over him than just giving him a card and saying 'sorry for your loss'.

TBC...