Resin's team was non-combatant, for the most part. Resin ran the hold. She kept the mail running through, made deals, organized deliveries.

She didn't have to kill anyone—not directly, but that didn't mean her job was less guilt-inducing. Quantum did a lot of trading with unsavory sources. Stolen goods, drugs, slaves, and various other unpleasant things passed through her hands. She and a solid half of her team wanted out. Jazz had always wanted to get them out all at the same time. It would be too obvious if they disappeared one at a time, and faking their deaths was difficult because they didn't normally do anything dangerous.

He kept an optic on Branchbinder all orn. If anyone was going to ruin his plans, it would be Branchbinder. It wasn't particularly unusual for members of Resin's team to spend time together on the lowest level of headquarters. But too many of the mecha on Branchbinder's watch list were in the group who needed to escape, and if Branch saw them congregating it was all over.

But he hadn't needed to worry. Less than a joor before Jazz needed to leave with Midnight's team, Branchbinder went to his room and powered down for the off-cycle.

Everything was going so perfectly that it was almost suspicious. But Jazz figured he'd take what luck he could get, and then just keep his optics open.

He left with his team. His processor wasn't in the game, but he forced himself to try and pay attention to what he was supposed to be doing. If he got himself and his team caught by the guards in the factory they were currently stealing from and they commed the enforcers and everyone got arrested, Jazz wouldn't be able to help Lithium leave.

They were almost finished when Midnight commed Jazz on a private frequency.

"Mechling, Hegemony wants you back on base for some reason."

Jazz hesitated. "Why?"

"He didn't say, and I didn't ask. He wants you right now, though, so you'd better go. Can you get out of here without help?"

"No problem," Jazz said. He couldn't help worrying that something had gone wrong. But Lithium hadn't commed him to warn him of anything. He hadn't heard anything from anyone.

He sneaked out of the building, and then transformed and drove across the city as quickly as he could, trying to work off the anxiety of not knowing whether Resin's team had gotten out. It was probably all right. If something had gone wrong, Jazz would most likely have been contacted earlier. They'd been planning to leave about a joor before, so if everything was on schedule, then they were probably fine.

He reached headquarters and crossed it to get to Hegemony's throne room of an office.

They were waiting for him there—Hegemony, Branchbinder, Lithium. Jazz tried to read Lithium's expression as he approached them, but couldn't.

"Ya wanted me?"

"Yes," Hegemony said. "Found that traitor yet?"

"Mech, it's been two orns. We've got a couple of suspects, as Branchbinder could tell ya…"

"A little more than a joor ago, an entire team disappeared," Hegemony said.

"W-what?" Jazz said.

"We found their trackers in a neat little circle in the basement."

"Who?" Jazz asked.

"Does it matter?"

"A little."

Hegemony glared at him, and Jazz figured he'd better shut up now.

"Someone has been helping my mecha desert," the leader of Quantum said. "We have a traitor, somewhere higher up. Preventing this sort of thing is your job, Jazz."

"I know. I told ya I'll figure out who it is…"

"You should have figured it out decaorns ago. You should have already stopped them. We can't cover this up. I have to send out teams to hunt them down."

Jazz took a deep vent, trying to force himself to look afraid. On the inside he was triumphant, though. It had worked. Resin and her team had gotten away.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'll catch them before anything like this happens again."

"You had better. Mechs."

Two guards came up on either side of Jazz.

"Hang on," Jazz said. "I can figure this out."

"I believe you," Hegemony said. "You have five orns, starting now."

Jazz looked down, wincing as the guards grabbed his arms. Well, they weren't going to get anyone else out in that time. Just Lithium, and then Jazz would have to wait a long time before he tried this again.

"Jazz?"

"Yes, sir."

"Or there will be consequences."

Jazz nodded.

"Put some dents in him," Hegemony said.

Jazz shuttered his optics as they threw him to the ground. Something collided with his side, then his helm. He curled up on the floor as they kicked him back and forth, but even as the pain built up from hit to hit, spreading across his entire frame, he couldn't help feeling triumphant.


He woke up in Lilac's office, feeling worn out, and aching all over. He stared up at the ceiling for a few breems. Then he realized…

"Oh, hey, mech, you online?"

Jazz sat up and gasped as his frame protested the movement.

"Whoa. Lie down," Lilac said. "You need some rest sweetspark." She turned and walked toward him with a thoughtful expression on her faceplate. Then she slammed him down onto the berth and leaned over him as he moaned.

"I heard about what happened with Resin and her team. They're going to be looking for a traitor," she said. "Aren't they? Someone who knows about the trackers?"

Jazz didn't move.

"Guess who's on the list of mecha who know about the trackers?"

"Uh… you?"

"Got that right," Lilac said. "And I'm a likely suspect, don't you think? Because medics are soft, aren't they?"

"Not…" Jazz gasped. "Not… really."

She released him and he lay back on the berth, coughing.

"Not really?"

"Ya ain't a likely suspect. The way the trackers were removed was too sloppy ta be a medic. Ya'd have probably wanted ta take the trackers out yourself, because it's kinda tricky, and ya'd have better tools."

She studied him for an astrosecond, then nodded. "Glad you feel that way," she walked away, across the room. "I scanned you. No internal injuries. You're all good."

She'd scanned him. She must know he'd cut his tracker out.

And he was willing to bet she wouldn't say anything,

Relieved, he sat up again, slowly enough this time that it didn't make him dizzy.

"You owe me a lot," Lilac said.

"I'll pay it off," Jazz said. "Am I good ta go?"

She nodded. "You've still got some dents, but nothing that won't heal on its own. You know, normally, I don't give a frag, but you, mechling, need to take better care of yourself. I thought you'd stop getting yourself injured once you weren't Branchbinder's lackey anymore."

"Hey, I'm making you rich, femme," Jazz said.

Lilac snorted. "Get out."

Jazz grinned at her and left her office.


Lithium was sitting at his desk, so Jazz sat on the edge of the berth instead. "Ya wanted ta talk ta me in person?"

"Yes," Lithium said, scrolling down on the datapad he was reading.

"According ta Hegemony, I've got four more orns, so we need ta move quick. It might be better if ya don't know exactly when I'm gonna—"

"It won't work," Lithium shut off the datapad and turned to look at Jazz coldly.

"What?"

"Your plan," Lithium said. "Even if you have evidence, I can wiggle out of it. If I slip up and make a stupid mistake, Hegemony will be suspicious. And I still can't believe I let you talk me into getting Resin's entire team out at once, while everyone was on alert. That should never have worked."

Jazz wasn't sure what to say. "Mech…"

"No," Lithium said. "This isn't like me. Hegemony's known me for hundreds of vorns, and I wouldn't be doing these things. Mecha change, surely, and maybe he won't notice, but… I don't think the plan you currently have for me will work."

"When have my plans not worked?" Jazz asked. "Name one time."

"That's not the point,"

"Look, ya can't get cold pedes about this. Hegemony won't be happy with me if I can't find someone in time, but I doubt he'll offline me, so we can push it back a little, but…"

"We need to do something different," Lithium said. "All of this—breaking mecha out, moving quickly, taking risks—if I was of a disposition to do these things, why haven't I done any of it in the past? Why wait until now? No… no, Jazz, framing me won't work."

"Then what are we gonna do?"

"I can't leave Quantum," Lithium said again. "Maybe… maybe I want to, but there's nowhere for me to go, nothing for me to do. I've been here too long. You should leave instead."

Jazz stared at him.

"You've never really been loyal. Branchbinder knows it, Hegemony knows it. It would be easy for them to believe that you were working on your own. And it will be easier for you to escape."

Jazz looked down. "But… there are more mecha…"

"You'd get caught eventually," Lithium said. "And you'd help Quantum more than you'd harm it. You don't see all the consequences of the things Hegemony asks you to do. You're just giving him more power."

"The point isn't ta take down Quantum," Jazz said. "That job's too big for just one mech. I'm just trying ta help my friends."

"Well, good mecha are getting hurt because of it. We steal, lie, extort, kill… and you're making it possible for us to get away with even more than we used to. You need to leave."

"But I…" Jazz couldn't leave.

"But you what?" Lithium said.

Jazz didn't know what he would do. He didn't have anywhere to go. No prospect of a job, no friends who he could stay with.

"Do you like it here?" Lithium said.

Jazz didn't answer, grateful for the visor that would hide the confession on his faceplate.

Apparently his silence was enough. "You do, don't you?" Lithium said. "Primus, mechling… this is just a game to you, isn't it? And you don't want to stop playing it. Not when you're winning."

"It ain't just a game…"

"But what you don't understand," Lithium said. "Is that you're not winning. You can't win. In this game everyone who plays loses something. The only way to avoid that is to leave before it's too late."

"If ya don't want ta leave," Jazz said quietly, "I'll go instead… but there are still mecha on your list. And there are mecha who haven't joined Quantum yet who will need a way out. I can't give them that chance if I leave. Ya think this is about me, but it ain't. If it was just me, I'd have left that off-cycle after I broke those mecha from Midnight's team out of jail."

Lithium shook his helm.

"Look, I can't help ya go without your cooperation. So the decision's yours. But if ya force me ta leave instead, then those mecha won't have a way out." Jazz stood. "Let me know when ya've made up your processor."

He slipped out of the room, and went back to his own room to put his tracker in. Maybe he was just here for the game. It was a thrilling one—sneaking mecha out from under Hegemony's olfactory sensor.

Did helping these mecha—these mecha who had chosen this life at some point after all—really justify all of the other things Jazz did? All the hacking and stealing and killing.

Probably not.

Jazz couldn't claim the moral high ground on this issue. But he had friends here, and plenty to do, and he was afraid to give that up. He took in a deep vent and let it out slowly.

He couldn't think about this. He needed to go to the lounge and get some high grade or something.

Branchbinder sent him an external comm.

Jazz hesitated, then answered. "What's up, mech?" he said.

"I've got some good news," Branchbinder said.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah," Branchbinder said. "They caught Resin and some of her team. Hegemony's having them brought back here for questioning. He'll probably invite you to that party too, if you want to come."

Pit…

"Jazz?" Branchbinder said, and Jazz could hear his smirk. "You ok?"

"Yeah," Jazz said. "It's just… I was so close ta finding the traitor. I even had a guess. We'll have ta see if I was right or not. How long until they get here?"

"Give it fifteen breems or so."

"Ok. See ya then." Jazz cut the comm.

They'd been caught.

He stared at the wall, trying to process it.

He should comm. Lithium…

Well, Lithium would probably know soon whether or not Jazz told him. He couldn't believe this. He'd been careful—he'd given them instructions that should have kept them safe. Where had he gone wrong?

Pit, they'd been caught. They were going to die.

Hegemony would find out that Jazz and Lithium had been working together. They would both have to leave.

And Resin…

No. Jazz had to find a way to get her out. He could do it. So long as they held out long enough that Hegemony got bored and threw them in the dungeon, Jazz could break them out. It would mean leaving Quantum.

But maybe Lithium was right.

In fifteen breems, Jazz got up and headed for Hegemony's big, dark throne room. The guards let him past and he went to stand by the wall with Branchbinder.

"Jazz," Hegemony said. "I don't remember asking for you."

"Branch let me know," Jazz said. "Sorry if I'm intruding. I'll go if ya want."

"No, you can stay here," Hegemony said. "You have good timing. They're about to reach headquarters."

Lithium commed him. "Don't do anything rash."

"If we have a chance, we should try ta get them free again. Hegemony'll stick them in the dungeon and I can break them out."

"No."

"I can do it, mech."

The doors opened and a group of guards came in, flanking several mecha from Resin's team. Jazz counted seven of them. He wondered if the others had gotten away, or if they'd died. It definitely looked like the ones who'd been captured had been in a fight. One of the mechs was missing an arm and they were all scuffed and scratched. Most of them—except for the one-armed mech—were wearing stasis cuffs. Jazz might be able to comm. him and discuss a plan.

And he didn't even have to convince Lithium, not if Jazz was going to leave anyway.

"This is my fault. It was my idea. I'm gonna get them out."

"No," Lithium said again.

"Welcome back," Hegemony said with a quiet coldness that sent shivers up Jazz's spinal struts. "Did you have a nice vacation, Resin?"

One of the guards shoved her forward.

She stumbled but kept her pedes, and looked up at Hegemony with a sort of terrified defiance.

She said nothing.

"Who helped you escape?" Hegemony asked.

"No one."

Hegemony leaned forward. "Don't lie to me."

A couple of Hegemony's guards stepped forward and grabbed the one-armed mech. They shoved him to the ground and one of them pulled out an energon prod.

"You have one more chance to answer my question and earn yourself and your friends a merciful death. Who helped you leave Quantum? Who told you about the trackers?"

"Who told us the trackers were in the logos?" Resin asked. "It really wasn't that hard to figure out. No one helped us. We got ourselves out."

The energon prod crackled to life, and the guard rammed it right into the mech's empty arm socket. He screamed as lightning danced across his frame.

Resin flinched, and Jazz had to try hard not do the same.

The guard pulled the energon prod away, and the mech stopped screaming. He lay sprawled on the ground, shaking so hard you could hear the pieces of his armor knocking together.

Jazz shuttered his optics.

"You aren't going to convince me," Hegemony said. "If it was an isolated event, maybe. But mecha have been disappearing for quite some time."

"Well, if someone's been helping other mecha escape, I don't know about it," Resin said, voice trembling.

The mech screamed again.

"Not you," Lithium said over the comm. "I apologize for my accusations earlier. I will help Resin and the others escape."

Jazz's optics flew open. "What?"

"I said I'll help Resin and the others escape," Lithium said. "And you should stay here. I don't need your help to convince them I'm the traitor."

"What are ya gonna do?"

"Well, first I've got to talk him out of killing them right now, so I'll need you to be quiet for a few breems."

Jazz shuttered his optics again. Hegemony demanded to know who'd helped them get out, and Resin insisted more and more desperately that no one had, while they tortured her mecha behind her.

But it only went on for ten breems before Hegemony sighed and sat back in his chair. "Well, this is disappointing. I was hoping you could help me catch a traitor, but I'm not in the mood for your pathetic whining. Put them in the dungeon."

Jazz vented a silent sigh of relief as they were dragged away. He commed Lithium, but the other mech didn't answer.

"Everyone out," Hegemony said. "I need to think."

Jazz followed Branchbinder out the door. The assassin hurried to catch up with the guards who were taking Resin's team to the dungeon. Jazz went the other way, to the lounge. He sat in his usual spot, with his pedes up on a table, listening to the music and the crowd as he worked on his datapad. He commed Lithium a couple more times before the mech answered.

"I swear, if you comm. me one more time…"

"Sorry," Jazz said. "But I needed ta know what ya're gonna do."

"No, I don't think I'll tell you." Lithium said. "I'm going to get them out, I promise. And I want you to promise me something in return."

"What?"

"I want you to bring Quantum down. Destroy it. You said it wasn't a one mech job, and you're right. You'll probably get yourself offlined, but if anyone can do it, you can."

Jazz looked up from his datapad.

"Jazz?"

"I…"

"I want you to promise me."

"Ok," Jazz said. "I promise. I'll try… but Lith, what about all that ya said about Hegemony knowing ya wouldn't do anything reckless?"

"Trying to frame me for doing something stupid is different than if they actually see me do something stupid. Hegemony might still be a little suspicious for a while. Which means you won't be able to get anyone else out. But if you're careful, you can start up again in a vorn or so."

Someone sat down across from him. Jazz looked back down at his datapad.

"Ya planning on getting caught?"

"No," Lithium said lightly.

"Hey," the mech sitting across from Jazz said.

Jazz looked up again. Blackangle.

"Oh, hey mech," he said. "I'm in the middle of a comm. right now, can ya give me a breem?"

Blackangle nodded.

"Are ya sure about this?" Jazz asked. "Look… what I said before, it was a lie. I really do think of this as a great big game."

"What about the other part? The part about helping mecha leave. Was that true?"

Jazz hesitated.

"Jazz?"

"It was true," Jazz said. "But it's… it ain't enough."

"If you destroy Quantum, then you'll save all of them. All of the mecha who might have joined, who might have wanted a way out in the future. They won't need a way out because there won't be a Quantum in the first place."

Jazz shuttered his optics.

"Yes," Lithium said. "I'm sure about this. Good luck, little turbo-pup."

He cut the comm.

Jazz put his datapad away and swung his pedes down from the table.

Blackangle was still sitting across from him, waiting expectantly. He had that quiet half-smile on his faceplate that meant he was about to do something he wasn't supposed to.

Jazz really didn't feel like dealing with him at the moment.

But Blackangle spoke before Jazz could think up an excuse to leave.

"I don't know if you've heard the rumors."

Jazz opened his lip plates to say he had to report to Midnight's office for something, but stopped. "Rumors?"

"Yeah," Blackangle's smile deepened a little and he leaned closer. "Rumors that there's going to be a big change soon."

Jazz tilted his helm to the side. "Mech, ya know Hegemony's aware of what ya're doing. Gathering a following, joining forces with other team leaders. Frag it, Blackie, we've only been here a vorn, ya ought ta take it a little slower."

Blackangle sighed. "Why take it slower if I don't have to? I know Hegemony's on to me. But he can't do anything to stop me."

Jazz really didn't want to deal with this at the moment. "Ok," he said. "So what do ya want from me?"

"Slag, you're real friendly this orn."

"Sorry," Jazz said, forcing himself to relax a little. "Just stressed."

"I know you, Jazz," Blackangle said. "We've been friends for vorns—or close enough to friends. I know I want you on my team. I've always needed you on my side. You got us out of so much scrap back in secondary school. Remember that?"

"Yeah," Jazz smiled a little. "That was fun."

"I don't trust Feedback or Lithium," Blackangle said. "Not really. They're too used to the way things are done—the way Hegemony does everything. I don't think they'll like this big change that's coming."

Jazz frowned.

"I'm going to need someone I can trust—someone I can count on—watching my back."

"Ah." Jazz leaned back in his chair. "Right. I get it."

"Well?" Blackangle said.

He wanted Jazz to be his second in command when he took over. He probably wanted Jazz to help him take over. Jazz looked into his old friend's optics. "I'll… need ta think about that."

"Well, give me an answer soon, ok, mech?" Blackangle stood and walked away, leaving Jazz alone at the table again, with far too much to think about.


He couldn't recharge, so he sat awake in his room, watching the cameras, waiting for something to happen. Lithium had said he'd get Resin and her team out. Jazz wanted to watch. He'd pieced together what the mech's plan was over the course of the orn. It had taken some tricky hacking, and asking the right mecha the right questions, but in the end, he'd figured it out. Lithium had advised Hegemony to set a trap for the traitor. The plan was to put them in the dungeon and tempt the traitor to try and rescue them. Of course, Lithium had been in charge of setting up the trap.

Joors ticked by, until the very middle of the off-cycle. Then the cameras in the dungeon flickered and Jazz studied them, looking for signs that the feed had been looped.

It was hard to tell, but after about a breem, he saw a group of shadowy figures walking down one of the basement's dark hallways, headed for the nearest exit. One of them was definitely missing an arm, and Jazz thought he recognized Lithium's shape leading them, followed closely by Resin's.

He followed them on the cameras, all the way to the doors and out of headquarters.

They made it.

Jazz sat up on his berth, thinking.

Lithium had made him promise to take Quantum down. That prospect terrified him, thrilled, him, and saddened him all at the same time. He felt like he belonged here. He didn't really fit in—he had never really fit in anywhere—but Quantum was his home. He didn't want to destroy it. But he should destroy it, and at this point he was starting to think that he could. He could take Blackangle up on his offer and help him overthrow Hegemony. He would have access to everything. No one hovering over him, no one telling him what to do. He would outrank everyone who'd been holding him back so far.

He could find a way to bring the entire society crashing down.

It would be spectacular. He saw it all in his helm as he sat on his berth, staring at the camera feeds on his datapad.

And then he saw something else.

Another shadowy figure leaving Quantum headquarters, slipping out the same door that Lithium and the others had gone through.

Pit.

Jazz commed Lithium.

And waited.

"Come on," he muttered. "Don't do this, mech. Come on…"

Lithium answered. "What is it?"

"Mech, I just saw Branchbinder leaving base. He might be following you."

Silence.

"Lithium."

"I told you to stay out of it," Lithium said. "Please don't tell me you've left headquarters."

"I haven't," Jazz said.

"Good. Stay where you are."

"Ya don't even sound surprised."

"Look," Lithium said. "I figured they'd probably put another tracker on Resin. She and her team were unconscious for a while before they brought them back to Polyhex, so it was always likely. We didn't have time to try and find it, but I know someone who can. Resin just needs a little time to get to him."

"But Branch is coming for ya now."

"Yes," Lithium said. "I have a plan, Jazz. I did prepare for this."

Jazz felt cold. "Ya're gonna let him catch ya. Ya're gonna distract him so the others can get away. If he sees ya then they'll know for sure ya were the traitor."

Lithium hesitated a little too long. "That's ridiculous. I'm not you, Jazz."

Jazz shuttered his optics. "Ok… be careful mech."

"I will," Lithium said. "Get some recharge. You've got a lot of work ahead of you."

Lithium cut the comm.

Jazz sat up.

It was a lie. They were all going to offline. Lithium was clearing Jazz's name, so Jazz could stay behind and destroy Quantum. They were making the sacrifice for him, and for what he could do.

Branchbinder was going to catch up to them and kill them. He might drag one or two of them back, but once they knew who the traitor was, there was no reason to keep the others alive.

Jazz retracted his visor and pulled his tracker out. He got up and set it on his desk, then left headquarters.