He was only limping slightly the next orn when he entered the lounge. Nothing bad enough to bother Lilac about.
"Hey," Friction said when Jazz sat down at the his table. "You all right?"
Jazz nodded. "Fine, mech."
"Someone got it in for you or something?" Friction shoved Jazz's shoulder gently and Jazz winced. "You tell me who it is and Talon and I will pummel him for you."
Jazz smiled. He highly doubted that. "Thanks for the sentiment, but it's fine."
If only he did have someone who could scare Branchbinder off. But that mech was scarier than Midnight, and that was saying something
"Can't just lie down and take it," Friction said. "Besides, I think Spotlight's already spreading rumors that someone's beating you up all the time and there are a thousand guesses who."
"Maybe I got an evil twin."
Friction shook his helm. "It doesn't really make sense. You're friendly and likeable enough."
"Maybe my evil twin's jealous of my ability ta make friends."
"Shut the frag up, you don't have an evil twin."
"How would ya know if I did? He might look just like me."
Friction snorted and shook his helm.
Spotlight came over. "Hi mechs! Late off-cycle, Jazz? You look half-dead."
"Yeah," Jazz said. "And I've been up since five joors too. It rusts."
"Poor sparkling," Spotlight said. "Go get some rest or something."
Spotlight, he realized, was in an excellent position to do his job. She had an excuse to be here all the time, and mecha talked more freely when they were over-energized.
He wondered why she wasn't the one making sure everyone was loyal. Maybe they didn't trust her.
Jazz sat in the lounge for several joors. Through the lens of trying to find traitors, everyone seemed suspicious. It didn't change that much. He already didn't trust any of them, but it was kind of frustrating all the same. He supposed anyone who was a traitor who hadn't been caught yet was probably good at blending in.
When he was tired of the lounge, he wandered the halls, looking for cameras, and ended up at his room where he used his datapad to hack deeper into the central computer system. Branchbinder had checked the datapad once or twice, probably to make sure he wasn't doing anything extracurricular on it, but Jazz was better at covering his tracks than Branchbinder was at checking the device's access history. He pretty much had everything now—not that he knew what to do with it. Enforcement had deals with Quantum, and so did the Council. In fact, the government was their biggest supplier and their biggest client. Quantum and the Polyhex Council were like two parasites feeding off of each other.
If he went public with all this info, it would just make an enormous, enormous mess, which he didn't want. Besides, if he told anyone about it, Branchbinder might actually literally kill him. So, for now, he'd just gather the information. He wasn't going to put his life at risk, even to expose Quantum's secrets.
But he could use it to start looking for a traitor, and hope Branchbinder wouldn't be too mad that he'd made use of resources he wasn't supposed to have.
He started looking for Quantum's accounting records. The whole thing with the durusium had given him the idea. They were definitely selling it to someone, and they had been careful to count it and make sure no one took it for themselves to sell individually.
But with so many mecha here who didn't care about rules and were only trying to help themselves, surely someone would have managed to steal from Quantum somehow. And if he could find where they kept track of all their credit, he could code a program to look for discrepancies and trace them back to whoever had caused them. It might be kind of hard to get exact results, and Quantum's records probably weren't perfect, but it was a start.
He'd find something within a decaorn, for certain.
He also ought to look up some sort of basic medical manual, because he wanted to learn how to do simple repairs on himself, just in case.
He could do this. In fact, in some ways, he was looking forward to staying with Quantum for a while. He'd learn everything he could, and then when he was done he'd just disappear into thin atmosphere.
That would show them.
"Hey, Jazz."
He looked up from his conversation to see Talon heading toward him.
"Hey, mech," he said.
"Come here."
Slightly nervous, but careful not to show it, Jazz got up and followed him out into the hallway.
"How ya doing?" he asked. "I heard ya got hurt." It had been three orns since the supply run.
"I'm fine now, thanks," Talon said. "One of the guards got in a lucky hit. Good thing Murk was there, cuz Midnight…" he glanced up at the corner of the hall as if looking for a camera.
"Might have left ya there?"
He shrugged. "Hey, it's how she was raised. She's a good femme, though, just practical. In any case, she wants me to give you a few pointers on fighting. Come on, I know a good place where nomech will bother us."
Jazz didn't realize they were leaving the building until they were at the door. He commed Branchbinder and didn't wait for the other mech to reply before sending his message. "Hey, mech, Midnight wants me ta train with someone and he wants me to leave headquarters, is that ok?"
He waited. If they got to the door, he'd have to go out without permission and face the consequences.
But Branchbinder answered. "Right now?"
"Yeah."
"Fine."
He didn't sound happy about it, but at least he hadn't said no.
And Jazz really wasn't looking forward to another sparring session. He was still aching from the morning's lesson with Branchbinder. He followed Talon out into the city and to a big empty cave one level down.
"Ok, so do you have any experience fighting yet?"
Jazz nodded. "I got some training."
"Good, cuz I'm not a great teacher. Let's see… why don't you try to attack me? You got a weapon?"
"A knife," Jazz said.
Talon snorted and pulled a gun from subspace. One of his hands shifted into a big blade. "You need to get yourself some weapons," he said. "I can show you where to buy them. They'll even install integrated ones right there."
"Ok," Jazz said, pulling out his knife.
"But for now, let's not do weapons," Talon put his away. "Just… attack me."
Ok then.
Jazz quickly closed the distance between them, dodged, then tripped the other mech and shoved him to the ground.
Talon grinned and grabbed at Jazz's pedes, trying to pull him down too, but Jazz skipped out of reach. Then Talon got up and attacked, but Jazz evaded him easily and then sent him crashing to the ground again.
"You're fast," Talon said. "Ok, we can graduate to weapons then."
That went about the same. They had a brief rematch that ended with Talon on the ground with Jazz's knife pressing into the back of his neck.
"Ok, get off," Talon said, and Jazz backed away and let him stand.
"You don't need me to train you do you?"
That was a relief. "Guess not."
"Well, let's go talk to Midnight about it. You're Alpha team material if anyone ever was."
They went back to base. Jazz wasn't sure if he should comm. Branchbinder or not. There was a delicate balance between reporting regularly and annoying him.
Talon took him to Midnight's office, and knocked on the door.
Jazz raised an optic ridge.
"She doesn't like the sound of the entry request," Talon said. "She sometimes gets grumpy if you push the button. Word to the wise."
Jazz nodded. He'd remember that.
Midnight opened the door. "Come in."
Jazz followed Talon in, still trying to act like he wasn't nervous. The last time he'd been in here, Midnight had given him a dent in his helm that still hadn't popped out all the way.
"So," Talon said. "I took him out to teach him how to fight and there isn't anything to teach him. He knows it all."
Midnight frowned at him. Yeah, she was definitely suspicious. If he hadn't been training with Branchbinder, he probably wouldn't be so good at fighting. Even over just a few decaorns, he'd gone from knowing a few circuit-su moves to knowing how to fend off an assassin.
An assassin. Branchbinder was an assassin.
"So, you can fight," Midnight said. "Like you told me. Where did you learn?"
"I was trained in Circuit-Su."
She narrowed her optics. "That's fake fighting…" she sighed. "I suppose that makes sense though."
Talon glanced between Jazz and Midnight, looking a little curious. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means he's probably going to be useless in an actual fight, but with some practice he should be fine."
"Hey, we sparred and I had my aft handed to me," Talon said. "I don't think we have to worry about him in a fight."
"Like I said, I'm sure he can learn."
"And I think he's definitely Alpha team material."
Midnight nodded. "Yes. You can take him next off-cycle to prove himself… or even this off-cycle, if you want."
"Awesome," Talon said. "We'll do that."
Midnight nodded. "And you'd better not fail, mechling."
Jazz nodded, though he had no idea what he'd be going to do. He could tell from her expression that she didn't have much faith in him.
He and Talon left Midnight's office.
"So…" Jazz said. "What's am I supposed ta do ta prove myself?"
"Don't worry about it," Talon said. "You'd be able to do it even if you didn't have fighting skills. Meet me out in the city this off-cycle. I'll send you some coordinates. Ok?"
Jazz nodded, but he was a little worried about this.
He went back to the lounge to talk to more mecha. He had a short list of those who could be traitors and he might be able to catch one of them before the end of the orn.
Branchbinder turned around to see Midnight standing behind him. He almost jumped—not too many mecha could sneak up on him. He tried to hide that he'd been startled, but a very slight quirk of her lip plates told him she'd noticed anyway.
"Can I help you?" he said.
"I'm worried about one of the new mechs on my team. Were you the one who found him?"
"What's his designation?"
"Jazz," Midnight said.
Branchbinder nodded. "Yes, him. A valuable asset. I did find him first."
"He's keeping secrets, I can smell them. And he can hack and fight and he's a fast learner, but he doesn't want to be here. I don't think he's trustworthy."
"If he doesn't want to be here, then why hasn't he run for it?" Branchbinder said.
"Maybe he's working for someone outside of Quantum."
Mightnight was smart. She might think that, or she might have guessed the truth, especially if she noticed how much time Jazz spent on base.
But she wasn't subtle enough that he was going to take the bait and give her more information than she needed.
"Eh," Branchbinder said. "You worry too much."
"I'm wary of putting him on my Alpha team," Midnight said. "But we'll see. If he fails, can I kill him?"
They couldn't have anyone killing Jazz. "I would like you ensure that he doesn't fail," Branchbinder said. "and maybe you should keep an optic on him just in case you're right and he's not trustworthy."
"Where did you recruit him from?"
"He's just a civilian. I caught him and his friends doing some shoplifting once, and it was pretty impressive, so I asked them to contact me if they needed jobs. I know he's got talent, but I don't know much else about him. If you really don't want him on your team, I can transfer him. I'm sure someone else will be willing to take him, considering his skills."
Midnight frowned, as if considering. "All right," she said. "If he succeeds this off-cycle, I'll keep him."
Branchbinder nodded. Good call.
Midnight retreated after that.
It would be good to have another pair of optics on that mechling. He was definitely not loyal to Quantum yet. He was probably only still here because he knew enough to be scared of running.
Hopefully, the trial would settle things. Almost every mech passed it under enough pressure and Jazz didn't seem to have any trouble crossing that kind of line. It wouldn't help with the loyalty issues, but it would give him more incentive to stick around. After that, there was really nowhere else to go.
Jazz had time to catch a little recharge before he was supposed to meet Talon but he couldn't power down. He was kept up by thoughts about finding a traitor in time—the deadline was coming up and he had nothing yet to show for it—and worries about this thing Midnight and Talon wanted him to do. They'd been pretty cryptic about it, and that bothered him. But whatever it was, he'd do it—or at the very least fake his way through it.
He worked on finding a traitor for a while, but with no luck. Jazz remembered back in secondary school when he'd been looking for proof Soundwave could read minds. He hadn't gone about that very well, and he was pretty sure that if he'd really wanted to, he could have found something. He didn't really want to find a traitor either, but a lot more depended on it. Branchbinder's wrath was a lot scarier than Verdict's.
Then he checked his chronometer and realized he was late. He let Branchbinder know where he was going and left headquarters.
Though he had to admit it was nice to be out in the city, getting some good fast driving in, he was sort of nervous. He told himself he shouldn't be because Talon had told him not to worry.
He reached the coordinates he'd been given. Talon was leaning against the wall, looking bored.
"Hey," he said. "Decided to show up. I was starting to worry."
"Yeah, sorry," Jazz said, but didn't feel like offering any more of an explanation.
"I don't care. It just means we've got to be quick before we meet up with everyone else."
"Everyone else?"
"Yeah, by the end of the off-cycle, you're going to be in Alpha team. There's not a whole lot of us, and we like to be there to welcome the fresh energon in, you know? Come on." He started walking down the alley.
Jazz followed for a while, then stopped. "Hey, Talon?"
"Yeah?" Talon turned around.
"What exactly are we gonna be doing? I'm supposed ta prove myself right? What do I have ta do?"
"You nervous?"
"Frag, yeah," Jazz said.
"It's not that hard."
"Then why don't ya tell me what it is?"
"I'll tell you," Talon said. "Just not yet. Come on, Jazz, you worry too much. You're not going to fail."
Jazz sighed and followed Talon. "I'm not worried about that so much as I'm worried about how secretive ya're being."
"If you don't like secrets, you joined the wrong gang, mech," Talon said. "Come on."
They took a set of stairs down to a lower level of the city, and then Talon led the way into a derelict building. He powered up a holo-screen that lit up the entire wall with a map of the city.
"Oh," Talon said. "Question. You got any enemies?"
"Uh…"
"I mean from before. You're fresh out of secondary, right? You have an arch-nemesis in school? Anyone who was a glitch to you?"
"Nah, not really," Jazz said. "I mean, I had sort of a rival club thing going on at a school I went to in Kalis, but…"
"Nah, never mind," Talon said. "I just thought I'd ask. Ok, here's a map of the sector. Shutter your optics and point somewhere."
Jazz hesitated. "This feels kinda juvenile."
"It's a sacred rite. Shutter your optics and point."
Jazz sighed and did as directed, touching the wall just above helm level.
"Nice," Talon said and Jazz looked at where he'd pointed. It was a residential area.
"I know where that is," Talon said. "Do you?"
"I don't think I've been there, but I could probably find it, yeah. So are we going there?"
"Yep."
If Jazz asked what they were going to do there, he probably wouldn't get an answer. So he just followed. They transformed and Talon led them through the city toward the place Jazz had pointed at. He tried to vent deeply and banish his worry. But he had a bad feeling about this and his instincts were almost never wrong.
Talon skidded to a halt just outside the neighborhood they were aiming for, and transformed. Jazz followed his lead, shifting back to root mode. He was about to ask what they were doing here when Talon commed him. He answered.
"Ok, mech," Talon said. "From now on let's talk like this, ok?"
"You got it," Jazz said over the internal comm. "So what next?"
"Well, there's a hideout nearby where everyone else is gonna be. They might be there already. The first part of this is a skill thing. You've got to find someone and bring them to the hideout. We can do that however you like. Some mecha talk them into it, others just knock 'em out and drag 'em. Both of those are kind of difficult, depending."
"Just some random civilian?"
"Yeah," Talon said. "We used ta have a rival gang we'd go kidnap mecha from, and that was more excting, but they're gone now, so…"
Jazz didn't want to ask the next question.
"Look, Jazz, everymech does this. Even if you weren't Alpha team, even if you weren't in Midnight's team at all. It's a rite of passage yes, but it's also because we don't want you to freeze up in a situation or fail to follow through while you're on an actual mission."
"I am not—" Jazz said.
"Hey, it's now or never. You can do it."
"What happens to the random civilian?"
"Mecha offline all the time. It's a lot easier if you don't think about it too hard. Besides…"
Jazz jumped as Talon put a hand on his shoulder, gripping almost hard enough to dent.
"…if you fail, you're dead. Quantum has no place for mecha who can't kill."
Pit. Maybe this orn would have been a good time to run… of course, they were probably prepared for that now. He glanced at Talon and then looked away again.
"And if you're thinking of trying to run for it, don't, mech. You won't get that far. You might be able to beat me in a fight, but I'm betting Midnight could take you. She's not far away, and she's pretty slagging fast."
"I just don't know if I can…"
"Well, of course you don't," Talon said. "But I promise you it's easier than you think. And I'll help you out. Look, mech, I like you. And you're worth something. It'd be a shame to lose you so early on."
He didn't really care, did he? None of them would care if Jazz wasn't so 'valuable.' He could try to run but this was a really bad time for that. He still hadn't even figured out where they'd planted a tracker on him.
"So, where would you go to find someone?"
"Where's the hideout we've gotta head for?"
Talon sent him coordinates, and he checked a few maps on the public databases.
"Well," Jazz mused, "If we knock someone out, we'd want a way ta get them to the hideout. Neither of us has an alt mode big enough ta put another mech in."
"I can comm. a friend," Talon said. "Octane's alt mode is big enough."
"Ok," Jazz said. "But I don't have any stun weapons or anything…"
"No problem." Talon unsubspaced a gun and handed it covertly to Jazz, who took it and spent an astrosecond looking at it before subspacing it, glancing around. It was late enough in the off-cycle that no one else was on the street. "Just make sure to set it to stun. It'll knock 'em out for about five breems, which should be about long enough. So, how would you find someone?"
Jazz couldn't do this. He'd have better opportunities to leave later, but he wasn't about to kidnap some random mech so they could kill him. He still didn't like to think about when Midnight had killed the guards who'd caught Stonethrow. He could never do that. Steal, yes. Steal, lie, break into places. He was a bully and a thief, but he wasn't a killer.
If he refused, though—if he tried to run—they might kill him. Maybe if he was more prepared he could get away, but as it was, he didn't have a chance. They had a tracker on him, and he couldn't fight Midnight or Branchbinder.
"Hey, you listening to me?"
"I'm thinking," Jazz said. They walked around another corner. He had to play along while he figured out a way to avoid this. "Ya'd want ta find someone alone, somewhere no one else would see. Somewhere down on a lower level, or close to a ramp that would take us down there."
"Good thinking. How about that mech." He tipped his helm forward and Jazz looked up ahead. A mech was walking the other direction, looking somewhat distracted.
"I don't know…" Jazz said, feeling sick. More time—he needed more time.
"He's by himself. Mech, and there's no one else around. It's a good opportunity."
"Ok," Jazz said. "Let's watch where he goes."
"Got it. I'll follow your lead."
Jazz led the way down the street and around the corner, then stopped and leaned back out again to look at the mech. He'd turned and walked up to one of the residential buildings—the third in a long row of identical houses. He went up to the door and hit the entry request. It might have just been Jazz's imagination, but he thought he heard the distant chime.
Jazz watched, not daring to vent, hoping the door would open and the mech would go in. But the astroseconds dragged on and the door stayed closed. The mech just kept standing there. He seemed to try the entry request again, and then he took something out of subspace and set it down on the doorstep.
Jazz looked up and down the road, but there was no one else here. The mech was still all the way across the road from them, but he'd started walking back the way he'd come, in their direction.
"Gotta cross the street. Come on. Walk casually and don't look at him," Talon said, then led the way across the street. Jazz followed, only glancing once at the mech they were after. There was a low wall at the corner, that they could crouch behind.
"So, what's the plan?" Talon asked.
"Um… We could ambush him when he gets to the corner. Can you get your transport friend here that fast?"
"Close to," Talon said.
"Maybe we should wait until we have a better opportunity then."
"Nope," Talon said. "You're just trying to put it off. Come on, you can do this. Just stun him."
They made it across the street and Jazz walked out of sight of the mech coming their way, before crouching and creeping back over to the corner. They'd be exposed. Mecha could see them. But most of the windows were either dark or closed, and Jazz didn't feel like they were being watched.
"Mech, I can't do this."
"It's easier than you think. We're close enough that if you don't freak out, you don't need to have great aim. Try to hit him in the helm, though."
Jazz vented in quietly, shuttering his optics.
"If you miss, drive like pit. He screams and the game's up, got it?"
"Ok." Jazz would just have to make sure that happened.
He got out the gun Talon had given him and made sure it was on stun, then waited, still and silent. It took seemingly forever for the mech to walk into view. Jazz hoped for a few astroseconds that he'd turned another way or gone back. But then the mech came into his line of sight. Jazz raised the gun in one shaky hand, but didn't fire.
The mech almost walked past, but then he stopped and turned to look at them, expression changing from disappointment to surprise and fear in a couple of instants. Jazz willed him to cry out, to run.
But he didn't, he just stared. And then something flashed and flew over Jazz's shoulder from behind to hit the mech in the helm.
He collapsed and hit the ground with a clatter. Silence fell again. Jazz glanced back at Talon, who moved up closer, sticking his own gun back in subspace.
"Sorry, you were taking too long," He said. "Next time don't think about it, just shoot. Here, you drag him over to the shadows of this wall. I'm a tiny bit curious about what he left on that doorstep."
Jazz nodded as Talon walked past him, and then dragged the unconscious mech to lie in the corner where the wall met the ground. The temptation to run increased. But he didn't just want to leave this mech here, and they were tracking him somehow. Until he found the tracker, there was no way he could disappear.
He should have expected something like this, when he'd joined Quantum. He had done this to himself and he was just going to have to put up with it until he could find a way out.
But while Talon wasn't looking, at least he might get a head start…
Talon came back around the corner and sat down next to him. "Pickup's coming in half a breem. Just have to hope nomech walks by here in that time."
Jazz nodded, cursing himself for his indecision. He could have run. Maybe they'd have tracked him down, but…
"You ok?"
"Fine… what was that he left on the doorstep?"
"Ah, nothing significant. Energon treats and a note." He pulled the box out of subspace. "You want one?"
Jazz looked away.
"You sure? Come on, mech, don't be so nervous." He could hear the amusement in Talon's voice, and it didn't help him feel better about this situation. Talon pulled out a pair of stasis cuffs and put them on the unconscious mech. "These'll stop him from comming anyone when he wakes up," he said by way of explanation.
A big vehicle drove up. "Hey, you mechs need a ride?" he said, opening his door.
"Thanks, mech," Talon stood. "Jazz, help me get this in there."
Jazz helped Talon lift the limp frame into the other mech.
"We'll drive," Talon said.
"Ok." The mech's doors closed and he drove away. Jazz and Talon transformed and followed.
Why was he doing this? Why was he just going along with it? If he kept following these mecha, he'd eventually get to a point at which he couldn't back out.
They went down to a lower level, and to an empty warehouse. Midnight and her Alpha team were all there. She frowned at Jazz, crossing her arms. Octane drove into the middle of the room and transformed, dumping his cargo onto the floor. Everyone else cheered. Jazz transformed and stood, meeting Midnight's gaze.
Silence and stillness fell.
"Come here," Midnight said.
Jazz approached her, stepping around the unconscious mech on the floor.
"He did great," Talon said. "I mean, he froze up and I had to knock this mech out for him, but…"
Midnight nodded, then put a hand on Jazz's shoulder. "Look, mechling, I'm going to tell you straight up that I don't trust you."
Jazz met her gaze, glad for the visor that hid his optics.
"But no one in this organization is perfect. And if you're willing to work and fight and die alongside us, then you'll have a place here. You'll be one of us. It's an honor to join this section of my team. I hope you appreciate that."
He was supposed to thank her, wasn't he? He was supposed to be grateful for this opportunity to join her elite club. "I… thanks, I guess. I just…"
"What?" she snapped.
"Don't really know if I wanna pay the entrance fee."
The other members of Alpha team thought that was pretty funny. He glanced at Talon, who was grinning, and Murk, who nodded in his direction.
"Look, you mecha are my friends," Jazz said. "But…"
"I'll stop you right there," Midnight said. "We don't have all off-cycle." She walked past Jazz, close enough that he felt the wind of her passing, and nudged the mech he'd brought with her pede. "Not a particularly impressive catch," she said as he stirred. "Come on, wake up." She kicked him and Jazz winced as the mech gasped and scrambled to a sitting position.
He stared around the room, looking shocked "What… what's happening?" he said, trying to get up. "Who are you? What do you want? I swear I don't know…"
"Shut up," Midnight said, and the mech shut his lip plates, still staring around the room, looking horrified.
"Jazz, you're just out of secondary," Midnight said. "But that's no excuse. In fact, it's a good time to let go of your past and start something new. The rules here are different from the ones in the world you came from. Out there they've got all those superficial barriers to protect the weak. But that's not the way Quantum works. Quantum protects the strong. The more we're each willing to do for the team, the stronger we'll be collectively."
Jazz pretended to look at her.
"Please," the mech said. "Don't hurt me. Please, I haven't done anything."
"Stop playing by those rules, and join us in our world," Midnight said calmly. "Kill him."
"What!" the mech said. "Primus… please, I'll do anything. Don't kill me, please!" He finally struggled to his pedes despite the stasis cuffs on his hands and backed away from Jazz, but the others closed in, making a circle around them.
"If you can't do it, then you're not one of us," Midnight said. "Mercy is a sign of weakness, and like I just explained, we don't believe in protecting the weak. If you can't do it, we'll kill both of you."
"Primus no…" the mech sobbed, trembling. Jazz didn't want to look at him.
He looked around the circle instead, hoping to see a way out. He was trapped. He could try to fight his way out, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't succeed, not with Midnight there. They would kill him. This was the point at which he couldn't turn back.
A sort of tense silence filled the atmosphere.
"I can't do it," he said.
"Some new recruits get cold pedes," Midnight said. "But most of them just need a little help."
"Come on," Swallow said. "I did it, you can do it, mechling."
"Do it!" Talon said.
"Kill him!"
Jazz met Midnight's gaze. She nodded slightly.
The mecha around the circle closed in on them. Mecha grabbed at Jazz, pushing him toward the mech he'd helped capture. Someone shoved a long, wicked-looking knife into his hand. Several mecha grabbed the sobbing civilian and forced him to the ground. They shouted at Jazz gleefully to get it over with, pushing him, dragging him.
Despite the noise, and the mecha shoving him, Jazz's helm was suddenly clear. There was no way out. If he couldn't do this, then he'd end up dead himself, and this mech would die too. They probably wouldn't kill him quickly either.
He looked down at the knife in his hand. He could try to fight his way out of the circle again, but that probably wouldn't work. It was too late for that.
The others backed off a little as Jazz stepped forward on his own. The mech looked up as Jazz approached. He screamed and struggled, but couldn't pull free.
"Let him up for an astrosecond," Jazz said.
They hesitated, but he looked at Midnight and she nodded.
They let the panicked mech go, and he struggled to get to his pedes as the others backed up to make a ring again.
Jazz didn't let him get all the way up before tripping him and pinning him to the ground, facedown. His audience cheered.
"No," the mech sobbed. "Please, please don't kill me. Primus please…" He struggled again, but Jazz held him down, glad he couldn't see the civilian's optics. Alpha team shouted out encouragement. Again, he hesitated, but he told himself very firmly that he was out of options. This mech didn't understand—nothing Jazz did could save him. He took a deep, shaky vent and raised the knife.
