As far as Jazz knew, the twins didn't tell anyone about his offer. Jazz kept doing his job, always watching for a good opportunity. He'd want them to escape while he was off-base on some sort of mission, and that didn't happen too often.
He got injured several decaorns after making his tracker removable, but did his best to repair himself because if Lilac happened to scan his helm at all, she'd know what he'd done.
Eventually, an opportunity to help the twins came. Jazz was assigned to wait in a warehouse at the edge of the sector and keep watch on some of the buildings across the street, looking for known agents from a rival gang. He wasn't expected to be back for joors. He left his tracker in his hiding spot and went to find the twins.
They were waiting for him in their apartment.
"Hey, mechs," he said once he was inside. "Ready?"
Sideswipe nodded.
"Ok," Jazz said. "I've got untraceable groundbridge tickets to Blaster City. It should be pretty easy ta go anywhere ya want from there. They'll probably be looking for ya for a while, so keep your helms down for a quartex or so, ok?"
"Got it," Sideswipe said.
"I told ya they've got trackers on ya," Jazz said. "We're gonna need ta cut them off, and because of the way they're attached, well…" he retracted his visor to show them the hole in his faceplate. "Ya can get it repaired after, of course, but it'll be attached ta your mesh and we have ta take the tracker without damaging it, or it'll let them know ya're tampering with it."
"Ok," Sideswipe said. "It's in the brand, huh?"
Jazz nodded.
Sideswipe looked at his arm where his brand was. "Well, I never liked this thing anyway. Go for it."
Jazz walked over to him and pulled out a little scanning device he'd stolen from Lilac. He turned it on and waved it over the brand until he found the tracker. Then he pulled out a knife. "Turn your pain receptors down."
"Done," Sideswipe said.
"Ok. Hold still."
Cutting out Sideswipe's tracker was significantly easier than his own, because he didn't have to do it in a mirror. Also, since it was just his arm, it probably hurt a lot less. He needed to cut a bigger chunk out, though, so he could make a shape that was possible to pry out.
Sideswipe flinched a couple of times, but it was over quickly.
When Jazz was done, he set the tracker on the table and looked at Sunstreaker.
The yellow mech stared back for an astrosecond, and then reached out and set his hand on the table in front of Jazz, palm down. The brand was on the back.
"Hmm…" Jazz said.. "I don't know if… this might be kinda tricky. Let me think for a moment."
"Just cut all the way through," Sunstreaker said.
"Ya sure?"
"Wouldn't that be easiest?"
"It's gonna be hard ta cut at all—hands are normally made of stronger material, so I'm not even sure if my knife will go through it real well."
Sunstreaker frowned and glanced at Sideswipe.
"Sorry," Jazz said. "I mean… if ya want we could leave your entire hand here. I don't know if that would be any easier, though…"
"Just fragging cut it out," Sunstreaker said. "I'm not a youngling, I can handle it."
Jazz nodded and put a hand on Sunstreaker's fingers, holding his hand down on the table. He scanned for the tracker, which—as he had suspected—was right in the middle. Then he got out a less delicate, sturdier knife, took a deep vent, and brought it down on Sunstreaker's hand. Sideswipe flinched, but the yellow twin just looked off to the side as Jazz pulled the knife out and got ready to make the second cut..
They were all shaking a little by the time Jazz was done.
"Ok," he said. "No turning back now, mechs."
"You know," Sideswipe said as Sunstreaker cradled his leaking hand, grimacing. "You could come with."
"Ya know, I could," Jazz said. "I've been wanting ta escape this place since I first got here."
"So… you coming?"
"Eh," Jazz said. "Nah. Not like this. This is too easy. Besides, somemech's gotta cover your tracks. Here." He pulled out a data chip. "Here's the groundbridge tickets. And there's a way ta contact me if ya absolutely have ta, but don't expect a quick answer, cuz I gotta keep cover."
"Thanks." Sideswipe accepted the chip.
"And stay out of trouble."
"Do we ever?" Sideswipe asked.
That was a good point. Jazz just shook his helm, then left. Maybe he should go with them. He didn't really have any close friends here who he knew wanted to leave, so he really didn't have anything to stay for.
But he was sure there were mecha he could help. And he'd try to help as many as he could, before he needed to bail.
He went back to his post.
Jazz sat in the lounge, chatting with some of the mechs from Blackangle's team. He'd originally just intended to ask if anyone knew where Blackie was, but he'd gotten sucked into the conversation.
There hadn't been too much of a stir over the twins disappearing. Jazz, of course, had been tasked with finding out where they'd gone and how they'd known about the trackers. He'd put quite a bit of effort into hunting them down—he'd even accidentally found them once or twice. But he was able to keep that information from his superiors. Sometimes things like this just happened—mecha slipped through the cracks in the system.
It had been six decaorns since they'd disappeared, and already he'd gotten a second mech out—he'd caught a new recruit trying to desert, and talked him into waiting until Jazz could give him a better opportunity. Then, a couple of decaorns after that, Jazz had helped him fake his death, and relocated him to a safe sector of Kalis.
"—mech. You listeing?"
"Hmm?" Jazz said. "Sorry, no. what did ya say?"
"You were friends with Blackangle in secondary school, right?"
"Um… yeah," Jazz said. "That ain't why I was looking for him, though. We ain't really friends anymore."
Spotlight came over and playfully nudged Jazz over a little so she could sit too. "Who's not friends with who?"
"It's just we don't keep up," Jazz said. "He went one way I went another."
"Well, he did better than you," One of the other mechs at the table said. "I think he's on his way up to the top. I saw him talking to Feedback the other orn."
"Blackangle?" Spotlight said. "Yeah. Mech's definitely the ambitious type."
Spotlight slipped something small and rectangular into Jazz's hand. He took it, frowning, and covertly subspaced it. It felt like a data chip.
"Well," he said. "If you mechs don't know where he is, I gotta go keep looking for him."
"See you, Jazz," one of them said.
Jazz smiled and left. He wanted to look at whatever Spotlight had given him, but he needed to find a safe place.
He pulled out his own datapad and looked on the cameras until he'd found Blackangle, then started walking in that direction.
Jazz wouldn't be surprised if his old friend did get promoted soon. He'd done very well with his own team. He was clever and charismatic and willing to do whatever it took to accomplish his goals.
It had caught Hegemony's attention for certain.
Jazz stopped just outside the hold, where Blackangle and another team leader were talking about a shipment that their teams had worked together on intercepting.
Before he went in, he pulled out the chip Spotlight had given him and inserted it into a port in his datapad, careful to hide it from view of the camera that hung from the ceiling nearby.
Fortunately, the message on it was short.
[I've changed my mind, little turbo-pup. Come talk to me when it's safe.]
Jazz tried not to smile as he turned the datapad off and stuck it back into his subspace. Lithium had called him that the first time they'd talked.
Headquarters was never really quiet. There was no joor of the off-cycle that Jazz could traverse the building without the risk of running into someone. But he was very good at moving without being seen.
He made it to Lithium's room without any problems. Once again, he hacked the camera and microphone and fed them false data so he could sneak in.
This time, the lights came on as soon as Jazz closed the door.
"Hey," he said. "I got your—"
"Yes," Lithium cut him off. He gestured to his desk chair. "I notice you got your friends out."
"Yep," Jazz said, sitting. "Obviously I can't keep doin' it that way but it worked for them. Ya got someone ya want me ta help?"
"I've got a long list," Lithium said. "Of course, you're only getting it one designation at a time…"
Jazz waited for him to continue.
"Not right now, though. I wanted to talk to you again first. What you did with your friends was sloppy. If other mecha disappear like that, they'll start to see a pattern."
"Right," Jazz said. "Well, they ain't the only ones I got out. The second time I tried something different, and I guess ya didn't notice, even though ya knew ta watch for it. I get that we gotta be careful about this. And I like the idea of just giving me one designation at a time. That way if I get caught somehow, I can only tell them about the mecha who are already gone."
Lithium stared intensely at him for almost a breem, and then nodded. "All right," he said.
"All right?"
"I'm still not sure about you," Lithium said. "You don't seem to be taking this very seriously. You're overconfident, and you don't seem concerned about being caught."
"Ya think I don't know what I'm doing, cuz I act all casual about everything?" Jazz said.
Lithium frowned at him. He didn't need to say anything.
Jazz took in a deep vent and raised his visor so he could meet the other mech's gaze. "I am dead serious about this," he said quietly, trying to figure out exactly what this mech needed to hear. "I know I'm gonna be putting mecha's lives in danger. I know I'm probably gonna get caught one orn and offlined. I've been here long enough ta learn some of Quantum's secrets, and I know exactly how careful we gotta be if we want this ta work. I joke about it 'cuz I'm terrified, and it helps me pretend I'm not."
Jazz could tell Lithium was buying it. Of course, there was a lot of truth to what he was saying. Jazz didn't like to take things seriously, and he did understand the danger. The part about being scared was a lie, though. There weren't a lot of things that scared him. He wasn't even that scared of Branchbinder anymore.
"Very well," Lithium said, expression darkening. "One more thing, though."
"Yeah?"
"If you double-cross me, I will see you dead. I am not a fool, and I have more power than I think you realize. You might be clever, but you're new at this game, mechling."
"That's why I need your help," Jazz said. "Whenever ya're ready, just let me know who and I'll get them out."
"I'll do that," Lithium said.
Silence filled the room.
"Thank you," Lithium said. "Thank you for doing this."
"Nah," Jazz said. "It's something I need ta do. Thank you though. It's gonna be easier with your help."
Lithium nodded and it felt like the conversation was over, so Jazz left and went back to his room. He stuck his tracker back in his faceplate, and lay down on his berth to try and get some recharge.
Lithium had been in Quantum for a very long time. He'd seen mecha come and go, watched regimes rise and fall. In the beginning, he had enjoyed it. Back then it had just been a small band of friends. They'd taken care of each other, fought for territory and credit, and kept to themselves.
Then Hegemony's predecessor's predecessor had changed things. He'd started making deals with the Council, started expanding to other cities. There'd been consequences. Other gangs had teamed up to try and stop them and the energon of Lithium's brothers had stained the streets of Polyhex in the ensuing war. It had hardened the survivors, and changed the culture of the gang. He and Hegemony had become allies, and they'd ruthlessly clawed their way to the top, lying and cheating and killing until Hegemony was in position to take command.
Somewhere along the way he'd lost his taste for it, even as his friend had grown more comfortable with it.
Hegemony was planning to retire soon, now that a suitable successor had turned up. Lithium had intended to go with him at that point. It would be an easy way out—an end to the violence. He could live off of his share of Quantum's riches for a hundred vorns or so, and then either find something else to do or just fade.
But here was a different way to leave—a new opportunity. He wasn't sure if that mechling could really pull it off, but he hadn't been able to get their first conversation out of his helm. If there was a chance—if there was even the slightest chance…
He left headquarters at about the middle of the on-cycle. He was older than the trackers, and fortunately Hegemony trusted him enough that they hadn't given him one.
He needed to know if he could trust Jazz, but he couldn't be sure of that without some sort of risk. He hated asking this of anyone, but he couldn't see another option.
He stopped at a small apartment and pressed the entry request. After a few astroseconds, a mech opened the door.
"Lithium…" he said. "What's… everything all right, sir?"
"Yes," Lithium said. "Can I come in? We need to talk."
"But you don't trust him?"
"No. I want to, but I can't be sure."
Jazz leaned back and put his pedes up on the table in front of him, optics shuttered. The feeling was mutual. In fact, it was so mutual that Jazz had bugged Lithium, and was now listening in on his private conversation with a mech who—Jazz assumed—he was going to be asked to help.
"You got my hopes up for an astrosecond, sir," the other voice said. "When you asked if I still wanted out."
Jazz heard Lithium sigh. "My thoughts are… if I ask him to help someone desert, then he'll be able to prove himself. I just need a way to know for sure that he doesn't have you captured again once you're gone."
"Right…"
"But that's not something I can force you to risk. If you're not willing, then—"
"Then you'll ask someone else?"
Silence fell.
"I get it, Lithium. I wouldn't just be doing this for me, would I? You need someone to test the integrity of the bridge. Are you going to follow me?"
"No," Lithium said. "My role may eventually end with me leaving Quantum, but hopefully not for a while. You aren't the only one who wants out, and I'm not crossing that bridge, so to speak, until I've made sure everyone else gets safely across."
Fortunately, it seemed like Lithium wasn't going to betray him—at least he seemed to honestly want to get these mecha to safety. Jazz kept listening, though, as they wrapped their conversation up.
He'd keep listening. Lithium was lucky Jazz wasn't planning to betray him. It would be such an easy way to catch traitors. But it would be wrong.
Jazz was done with making the wrong decision. As tempting as it was to trick Lithium, to prove he could outsmart this mech who'd been playing these games for hundreds of vorns, it wasn't worth it. Jazz could help mecha instead. He could free them.
Jazz came online when Hegemony commed him.
If it had been anyone else, he would have ignored it and gone back to recharging—the orn before had been a long one. He'd gone on a mission with Midnight's team, and helped a mech fake his death and leave Quantum.
"Hey, mech," Jazz said.
"I need you to come meet me in my chamber," he said.
"Ok. Right now?"
"Yes."
"I'll be there in half a breem," Jazz said, getting up off his berth and stumbling to the door.
He was pretty sure Lithium trusted him at this point. They'd started slowly, but they were picking up the pace a little, and over the course of the last fifteen decaorns, they'd made it almost a third of the way through Lithium's list.
Jazz made sure his tracker was in place before leaving the room. He'd taken it out and put it back enough that his self-repairs hadn't tried to fix the hole. He'd probably have that forever now. He crossed the base, headed directly for the big dark room Hegemony and his mecha liked to lurk in. The last time something like this had happened, Hegemony had wanted him to go on an emergency mission with Branchbinder. That hadn't been fun. Despite the fact it had been the plan all along, Branchbinder seemed to resent Jazz for taking his position.
Not that Branch had been demoted. He was still a recruiter, and one of Hegemony's best assassins.
Branchbinder was here this time too, to Jazz's dismay. The older mech glared at him, but Jazz ignored him and addressed Hegemony.
"Ya wanted me?"
"Yes," Hegemony did not sound happy. "You aren't doing your job."
Jazz's optics widened. "What?"
"Branchbinder?" Hegemony said.
The other mech stepped forward and Jazz glanced at Lithium, who was looking off to the side, frowning.
"Did you know the death rate's gone up a little," Branchbinder said.
"Uh… really?" Jazz said.
"Barely enough to be noticeable," Branchbinder crossed his arms. "Unless you're paying attention. Do you remember that watch list I gave you… back near the beginning?"
"Um… yeah," Jazz said. "It had like half of Quantum on it. Anyone who you thought even might betray us. I don't look at it real often. Why?"
"Because there have been a good handful of mysterious deaths recently, and all of them have been mecha who were on that list."
Pit.
Jazz tried to look puzzled. "That's weird."
"Yeah," Branchbinder said. "It's weird. And you know what else is weird? I noticed this a while back and I was watching just in case someone else disappeared off the list, and someone did, last orn. Designation: Shellshock. He was on the list because he talked back to his team leader on multiple occasions, trying to convince the mech to show mercy. He died last orn in an explosion."
"I… I knew him, but I hadn't heard that." Jazz said. "But…"
"But I went to the site of the explosion," Branchbinder reached into subspace and pulled out a little chunk of metal. "And guess what I found?"
The tracker. Jazz was grateful, as usual, for the visor that hid his expression. "A… pebble?" he said, trying to sound confused.
Branchbinder beckoned him over, and then dropped it into his hand. Jazz lifted up the small piece of metal and squinted at it. It was hard to see in the room's dim light, but he wasn't going to raise his visor.
"I guess this doesn't look like a random pebble… it's all burned… is it mesh? But why is that significant? Ya'd find little bits of burned mesh anywhere someone had offlined in an explosion, wouldn't you?"
"Normally," Branchbinder said. "But this is the only one."
"Huh," Jazz said, then looked up sharply. "Pit… it's a tracker ain't it?"
"So you do know about those?" Branchbinder said.
"Well, yeah. I kinda guessed, and then after Sideswipe and Sunstreaker—those twins, remember?—they took their trackers out when they deserted. Pit, this means he ain't dead—he got away."
"Just like your friends," Branchbinder said. "Who you couldn't seem to find afterward."
Frag. Jazz needed to turn the attention away from himself. This couldn't be happening yet. They still had a lot of mecha to save.
"Maybe they told some other mecha before they ran," Jazz said, pretending to ignore Branchbinder's subtle accusation.
"Let's get to the point, shall we?" Hegemony said. "Mecha are somehow figuring out where their trackers are, cutting them out, and escaping. This isn't one isolated event anymore. And if word gets out about the trackers, then even more mecha will try running."
Jazz nodded.
"So I want you to figure out what's going on and put a stop to it."
"I want to know how you managed to miss this," Branchbinder said. "Aren't you supposed to be some sort of genius?"
"Ya got a copy of that list?" Jazz said.
"Not here," Hegemony said. "You can work on solving the problem later. Branchbinder, since it's obvious Jazz wasn't as ready as we thought, I want you to work with him on this one."
Pit.
"Yes, Sir." Branchbinder said.
"Jazz?"
"Yes, Sir," Jazz echoed.
"Good. Now get out."
Branchbinder beckoned Jazz and he followed the other mech reluctantly out of the room and down the hall to his office.
Jazz feigned nonchalance as Branchbinder locked the door behind them, and then nimbly skipped out of the way as the other mech tried to grab his arm.
"Hey," he said. "Branch, what the frag?"
"I don't know what you think you're doing?"
"Yeah? Well I know what you think I'm doing," Jazz said. "And ya're wrong. I ain't breaking mecha out of Quantum. How stupid do ya think I am? I'm shocked I didn't notice these mecha leaving though. Ya got a copy of that list I can see? I need ta figure out how they're related."
Branchbinder narrowed his optics. Then he relaxed a little, and pulled out a datapad.
Jazz stared. Had he just successfully bluffed Branchbinder?
Or was Branchbinder just trying to put him at ease?
Jazz waited while Branchbinder navigated to the right file, and then took the datapad from him and studied it thoughtfully for a breem.
"Mechling?" Branchbinder said.
"Yeah?" Jazz didn't look up.
Branchbinder reached for his arm again, and Jazz danced out of the way, then dropped the datapad as the other mech leaped at him.
He fought for half a breem, then gave up and let Branchbinder shove him face-first into the wall.
The mech held him there, twisting his arms behind his back painfully, and leaning so close Jazz could hear his engine. "I want you to remember something."
Jazz didn't speak.
"Maybe you don't work directly under me anymore, but I still outrank you, and I can still beat you in a fight."
He twisted Jazz's arm harder and Jazz gasped as he felt something in his elbow give a little.
"I can kill you if I want to, whether or not you're a traitor. So don't you ignore me when I'm trying to talk to you. Tell me why you didn't notice that those mecha were deserting. Convince me you didn't help them."
Jazz gritted his denta.
"Tell me."
"I don't know," Jazz said. "I didn't have any of them on my watch list… well, one or two of them, but most of them—aaahhh!"
Jazz's elbow snapped.
"Why?" Branchbinder demanded again.
"I don't think I was looking for them," Jazz gasped, trying to think past the pain. "I wasn't looking for them, most of them had never done anything against Quantum, they were just discontent."
Branchbinder let him go and Jazz leaned forward against the wall, optics shuttered. He didn't like leaving his back toward Branchbinder, but needed a moment to compose himself.
"And you didn't think that mecha who were discontent counted as suspects?"
"Well, I… I guess I figured most of them didn't care enough ta actually do anything. Frag it, Branch, I was discontent. If I'd thought there was a way ta get out of this pit, I would have."
"But you didn't," Branchbinder said. "You couldn't do it. So how are these mecha doing it?"
"That's a good question," Jazz said. He pushed away from the wall and glanced at the closed door. His arm hurt like pit, and he wanted to get out of here, but he doubted Branchbinder would let him. He'd just have to work on this problem with a broken elbow. At least that might give him an excuse for not thinking very clearly. "Someone…" he said. "Someone's gotta be helping them. Someone smart, someone high-up. Someone who knows about the trackers."
Branchbinder nodded.
"For all I know, it could be you."
The mech scoffed. "Then you don't know me very well."
"Maybe I don't," Jazz said, thinking. Maybe they could frame Branchbinder instead of Lithium and get rid of him.
But then again, Jazz didn't think Branchbinder would ever put himself in danger—or even mildly inconvenience himself—to help someone else. He liked outsmarting mecha, and killing, and causing pain. Hegemony knew that. It would be hard to convince him that Branch had gone soft.
"Well, that gives us something to work with," Branchbinder said. "Why don't you come up with a list of mecha who might have done this, and I'll come up with a list too, and we'll see what designations overlap.
"We'll want ta keep an optic on anyone who's discontent too," Jazz said. "See if more of them disappear. If they keep disappearing at the same rate, we can assume the mech who's doing this probably doesn't know that we're onto him."
"If they speed up or slow down, we can narrow our suspect list. I like how you think. I taught you well."
"Yeah," Jazz said, walking back over to the desk, trying to hold his arm still. "Thanks."
Who else could Jazz add to the suspect list? Obviously, Lithium would have to be on there. "I don't know who knows about the trackers," Jazz said. "It ain't the sort of thing ya usually talk about."
"Well, I know," Branchbinder said. "We'll find out how good you are at guessing."
"Ok," Jazz took in a deep vent and let it out slowly. "Can I go back ta my own room now? I think I need ta re-attach my elbow."
Branchbinder smirked. "No, you're not getting away that easy. Sit down and help me figure this out. You're not leaving until we've got a solid list of suspects and a plan to find out which one of them is the traitor.
"Are we out of time?"
Jazz leaned casually against the shelf, checking around the corner again. "Pretty much."
His tracker was currently in his room. Taking it out during the middle of the on-cycle was dangerous, but it was the only time that Lithium had been able to get away.
"Great." The mech sighed. "What if we stopped, then tried again in a quarter of a vorn?"
"No good," Jazz said.
Silence fell. The small supply shop they were in was empty at the moment, except for them. It was a good place to meet, though. Lithium knew and trusted the owner
"Why not?"
"Because Branchbinder's working on it too. He'll find something eventually. And if I get in his way, he'll know I'm involved. He already doesn't trust me."
Jazz's arm still ached. He and Branchbinder had stayed up late into the off-cycle trying to figure out who they should be watching. There were several mecha on that list who Jazz didn't want to get in trouble, such as Lilac.
"So what do we do?" Lithium said. "We—"
"I think we should get Resin's team out," Jazz said. "And maybe a couple other mecha too—anyone who's ready."
Lithium stared at him. "Are you… insane?"
"Yeah," Jazz said. "I'm fragging crazy. But if we want ta do that all at once like we've been planning, we're gonna need ta do it before they put new security measures inta place."
"But they're watching," Lithium said. "Even if we—by some miracle—get Resin's team out safely, they'll know for certain that someone's doing this. They'll double their efforts."
"Yeah," Jazz said. "They will. Ready ta disappear, mech?"
Lithium froze for a moment, then looked down. "Oh."
"Yeah," Jazz said. "They look long enough for patterns and they'll find out it's gotta be either me or you. Ya do want ta get out of here, right? I know ya hate it here."
"I've been here so long… I knew this was part of the plan, but… I'm not sure what I'd do with myself."
Jazz smiled slightly. He could understand that. It must be worse for this mech, though, who'd been in Quantum many times longer than Jazz had been alive. "Ya'll figure something out."
Lithium looked troubled.
"Ya're a good mech."
"No. But thank you. And we should go."
"Resin's team," Jazz said. "Next orn. Twenty-two joors. I'll be out on a mission, so I'll have an alibi. It's not a perfect off-cycle for it, but it should work well enough. Can ya drop by the hold and pass her the instructions?"
"What instructions?"
Jazz pulled a datapad out of subspace and held it out.
"You've been planning this."
"Yep," Jazz said. "For a while. It's a good plan. Simple and straightforward. There ain't no need ta make it sneaky anymore. Resin and her team meet all together in the storage space under the hold, cut their trackers out, and cut their way through the floor into the tunnels beneath headquarters. Ya're gonna have ta disable the sensors and cameras in those tunnels, but I've put instructions for that in there too. Now, I stole some credit from your account for the groundbridge tickets. So long as they can get there before anyone notices they're gone, they'll be fine."
"And Branchbinder? You don't think he'll notice?"
"He'll be off-base too," Jazz said. "Because ya're gonna send him on a mission. Ya can do that, right?"
"I can," Lithium said. "But I don't, not very often. I don't like this."
"It's pure desperation," Jazz said.
"But it's not like me," Lithium said. "It's not the sort of thing I would do."
"Even if ya knew ya were running out of time?"
Lithium looked at him.
"Ok, ya're right," Jazz said. "Hmm… I wonder if there's another way ta get Branchbinder off of base."
"I don't like any of this. I don't like trying to get Resin out right now while they're watching us."
"Ok," Jazz said. "I'll let ya think about it, then. But the thing is we don't got much time anyway. So we can either get these mecha out now, or we can wait and maybe get one or two more out before we get caught."
Lithium took in a deep vent and let it out slowly. "All right. I'll think about it. I'll let you know by this off-cycle."
Jazz nodded.
"And you should get back before anyone notices you're gone."
"Will do," Jazz said. "See ya, mech. And thanks again, for helping me with this."
"You probably could have done it without me,"
"Yeah, but then I'd have needed ta frame someone," Jazz said, pushing away from the shelf and backing toward the store's entrance.
Lithium huffed. "I don't know why you can't take anything seriously."
"I don't know why you mechs gotta take everything seriously. Ya'll get old and fade twice as fast that way." Jazz turned and walked out of the store, then transformed and drove back toward Quantum headquarters. He had to be especially careful sneaking in because if someone saw him, they could prove he'd messed with his tracker.
Of course, all they'd need to do to prove that was make him take his visor off.
He made it to his room and slipped the tracker in. It didn't hurt anymore, except once in a while when he was talking or laughing and the now rigid piece of faceplate bit into the more flexible metal around it.
He smirked at his reflection in the desk, lowered his visor, and climbed onto his berth. He had been pretending to recharge. Fortunately, it was easy to loop a camera of someone recharging, because they weren't moving. He'd set it so that the loop would stop after a certain amount of time. He still had about half a joor.
He might as well actually get some recharge, in that case.
He let himself shut down. It was the middle of the on-cycle, but his recharge schedule was all over the place. He caught a few joors here and there whenever he could.
He got a little more than usual, this time, but was woken just before the beginning of the off-cycle by a comm.
Jazz rolled over, waiting for his systems to come online before answering it.
"You win," Lithium said before Jazz could speak. "I still don't like it, but I'll pass along your instructions."
Jazz smirked up at the ceiling.
Next orn was going to be fun.
