Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the canon Transformers, I own the others. Songs are property of Jamie Brown and myself.
Instruments
Progress was slow. None of them had the strength to move far because for the most part they lay sleeping in an alley to conserve energy, when they were not moving or singing. In fact, they were barely 10 meters from where Jazz first found Slowmotion, and despite the young bot's inclusion, their daily supply of energon was still hard to come by. Try as they might, they could never get more than 3 energon cubes per day.
"This is ridiculous," Lightshow said as he dragged himself up to a sitting position. "There's got to be something we can do to improve our situation."
"Do you have any ideas?" Electro asked.
"Not at the moment."
"Then shut up till you do."
"Stop it, both of you," said Strings. "The last thing we need now is the two of you trying to kill each other. Honestly, cant you two just get along?"
Both guilty bots looked properly chastised and said nothing.
"So what are we going to do?" Slowmotion asked.
"The money," said Jazz, looking up. "We'll use the credits Maestro gave me and buy some energon."
"No!" the other four bots said in unison.
"We're saving it for its original purpose – an emergency," said Lightshow.
"And this is not?" asked Jazz. "Look at us, look at you. I'm not going to sit here and wait around for each of us to slowly go into deactivation."
"Then don't," Electro said. "Leave."
"What?!" the other four said again in unison.
"You're the one with the purpose and the promise. The rest of us were not solely created for what you were created for. You're the one who has to succeed, you're the one who has to make it to Iacon and live through this war that you say is coming, and you'll need those credits to make it."
"For once I agree with him," Lightshow said.
"We're not important Jazz, you are," Slowmotion added.
Jazz stood up. "I'm sorry you guys."
"Just go," said Strings.
Lightshow watched Jazz go and laid back down on the ground again. Around him the other three also fidgeted uncomfortably. With Jazz gone, none of them had any idea of what to do next. They didn't want to just lay down and die, but in their current low-energy state it didn't look like they would make it past the week either. Lightshow shut his optics, unwilling to make contact with any of the others, and eventually fell asleep.
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Lightshow felt himself being shaken and dragged some of his systems back online.
"Leave me alone to die," he mumbled.
"Wake up you rusting bag of bolts."
"J-Jazz? Is that you?"
"Nah, it's the garbage mech. Yes its me! Now sit up and drink this for Primus' sake!"
Lightshow struggled up. "You cant be real. I'm dreaming."
Jazz smacked him upside the head. "That real enough?"
"Ow! Yeah, but what are you doing here? I thought you'd left?"
"I did. Now quit your jabbering and drink!" Jazz thrust a canister of energon to his mouth. "And when you're done, help me revive the others. I'm going to help Strings."
Lightshow quickly gulped down the can of surprisingly rich energon, then went over to Electro and Slowmotion. Each of them had a canister next to them. Nearby he could here Jazz quietly coaxing Strings up. He knelt by Electro.
"C'mon big guy, wake up." He shook Electro's shoulder.
"For the love of Primus, Lightshow if you don't leave me alone, I will rip your head off," Electro growled.
"Jazz came back. He's brought energon," Lightshow said.
Slowmotion propped himself up on his elbows. "Jazz is back?"
"Yeah, I'm here," Jazz said.
"Why did you come back?" Electro asked.
All of them turned to look at him, expecting him to answer the question.
"I was alone once when Maestro died. I couldn't do anything to save him, I understand that. But I don't want to be alone again, not when there's something I can do now to help you. I said I was sorry, but not for the reasons you thought."
"This energon, you bought it for us," said Lightshow. "Even when we told you not to."
"I'm not going to Iacon alone. I didn't spend much on the energon, if that's what you're worried about, but I spent enough to get something of good quality that should keep us on our feet for at least two days, and if you don't drink it now, it'll all be wasted and I'd have spent Maestro's credits in vain."
The others, except Lightshow who had already finished, drank their energon in silence. They never found out exactly how much Jazz had spent, and he wasn't about to tell them, but they were very grateful nonetheless.
"Thanks Jazz," Electro said later.
"Don't mention it," Jazz replied.
"So now what?" Slowmotion asked. "We go back to how we were?"
"No we don't," said Jazz. "I've given this whole band thing some thought and I've come to the conclusion that if this is what's going to keep us alive and see us through to Iacon and wherever we go after that, we have got to get a little more serious about it."
"I agree," said Electro.
"But we are serious," said Slowmotion. "We've already got two songs don't we?"
"We're not serious ENOUGH," Jazz continued. "Two songs barely scratches the surface. And playing on the streets is just not going to cut it."
"Then where do we play?" Strings asked.
"Establishments," said Electro, "Like bars and cafes and places like that. Music may be dying out, but there are a few bots who still come to listen."
"How do we get into places like those?"
"Maybe we can talk to the owners or play on the streets outside. Either way, we need to get some quality songs done first, and I say we start now," said Jazz.
"In that case, I'll see you guys later," said Lightshow.
"What? You're quitting on us?" asked Electro.
"Of course not rust-head! I'm not through making your life miserable yet. Jazz is right. So if we're gonna be a serious band, I'm gonna go to the junk yard and find myself a bass guitar if I can. And if I were you SlowMo, I'd start looking for a drumset too."
"He has a point," said Strings.
"Just try not to get lost," said Jazz. "Slowmotion. Go with him, see if you can find anything."
"Gotcha," the young mech said and jumped to his feet, glad to be full of energy again.
"Catch ya in a while," Lightshow said.
"Good luck," said Strings.
"You too."
Once the two were gone, Electro looked at Jazz and Strings worriedly.
"Was it wise to let the two of them go off together. Slowmotion is easily influenced you know," he said.
"And you think Lightshow will be bad influence?" asked Strings. "Electro, Lightshow is a good mech. He may be a bit raucous at times, but he IS a good mech. Just relax, they'll be fine."
"I'd trust Lightshow with my life Electro," said Jazz.
Electro said no more on the subject.
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Slowmotion and Lightshow cruised down the street at a fairly easy pace, enjoying the sights and sounds of the neighborhood as they headed down to the scrap yard, which wasn't really all that far away.
"You think this is the same scrap yard Electro said he worked at?" Slowmotion asked as he followed Lightshow.
"I don't know," the other mech replied. "I should ask him, make him take a little walk down memory lane with me."
"No offense Lightshow, but I think he'd sooner tell you to get slagged. He doesn't seem to like you much."
"Are you kidding? He loves me! Whatever gave you that idea young one?"
"Hey, I'm not THAT young ok?"
"Whatever you say young one," Lightshow snickered and suddenly braked to a halt, forcing Slowmotion to screech to a stop and transform.
"Now that was just plain mean."
Lightshow transformed, grinned and announced, "We're here!"
And they were. The scrap yard was just that. A big patch of bare land, now filled to the iron-mesh fences with all sorts of junk. Slowmotion stared at it.
"How are we ever going to find anything in there?" he asked.
"Pray we get lucky," Lightshow said and walked up to the main gate. He banged on it. "Anybody home?!"
A tall, mech came to the gate and pulled it open, yanking it out of Lightshow's hand. Lightshow looked the mech up and down. The mech's armour was blackened – and not by paint . Parts of the surface metal seemed to have melted off while the rest of it appeared to have fused to his framework. Lightshow wondered if someone had dipped him in an acid pit and drawn him back out again for him to look like this. He thought he could make out a shade of blue underneath the charring. His optic's finally came to rest on the mech's red face and he saw that the other looked rather painfully self-conscious.
"Well? Are you coming in or not?" the mech asked in a rather annoyed, accented voice.
Slowmotion shoved Lightshow inside, smiled at the other mech, and followed him. "Has anyone ever told you its rude to stare?" he asked Lightshow when they were out of audio-range.
"Not really," Lightshow replied. "It is?"
Slowmotion tossed him a look. "It is. Why were you staring anyway?"
"I've never seen a mech look like that before. I wonder what happened to him and why he doesn't get himself fixed."
"Maybe he cant afford the cost," Slowmotion replied.
Lightshow looked back over his shoulder just in time to see the tall mech get splattered with globs of thick, black oil, flung at him by a smaller red mech on the other side of the fence. He started to walk back, intending to do something, when Slowmotion caught his elbow and stopped him. They were close enough though to hear the exchange of words.
"I told you I'd get you!" the little red mech was yelling. "Face it Tracks, you'll never be good-looking. You'll always be something the smelter spat up."
"I'll make you eat your words Cliffjumper!" the taller mech yelled back. "Someday I will be admired, while you will be seen as nothing more than a braggart little runt."
Slowmotion tugged on Lightshow's arm. "C'mon, we haven't got much time and the others will be getting worried. Lets just go and do what we came to do."
Lightshow cast one more look back at the feuding pair, then followed Slowmotion further into the scrapyard. He went over to a pile of junk and started tossing pieces around. After a while, he moved to another pile. Slowmotion walked around picking up random pieces of metal and drumming on them to see what kind of sound he could get. They soon drifted apart. A couple of hours passed and Lightshow finally gave up. He straightened, looked around and saw no sign of Slowmotion.
"Slaggit, if I lose that kid, Electro and Jazz'll kill me," he muttered, then called aloud. "SlowMo! Where are you?!"
"Lightshow! Over here!" Slowmotion called from behind a particularly large mountain of junk.
Lightshow walked around and stopped short. The green mech was kneeling in front of what looked like four round, incredibly shallow metal objects strung together in two rows, with a third object like a garbage can lid attached to the upper row.
"Check it out!" he said. "A portable drumset, complete with cymbal. Someone must have just thrown it out 'cause it hasn't been buried by other junk. Cant find the drumsticks, but these will do." He held up two steel rods, about the length from his elbow to his wrist. "Guess I got lucky."
"Yay for you," Lightshow said. "I couldn't find a thing. Forget it, maybe I wasn't destined to play an instrument."
Slowmotion subspaced the drumset and placed the sticks in a small compartment in his right thigh. Then he stood up. "Oh you never know," he said.
They let themselves out through the gate since the other mech was too busy still trying to scrape the globs of oil off his body. As they drove back, Lightshow couldn't help feeling a touch disheartened, but tried not to show it.
They got back to the alley and walked inside. The others looked at them expectantly. Slowmotion was the first to speak and Lightshow let him.
"I found a drumset! Its almost brand new, I think it was just thrown out when I found it, and it plays like a dream," he gushed.
"That's great Slowmotion," said Electro.
"What about you Lightshow?" Strings asked. "You find anything?"
"Nah. Guess I'm all outta luck today," Lightshow replied. "Or I'm not supposed to ever contribute to the band."
Strings looked at Jazz. This was the first time Lightshow had responded without a smart remark somewhere in between. Jazz nodded. Strings nudged Electro.
"Well I suppose it's a good thing you didn't find anything," Electro said. "Otherwise we wouldn't be able to give you this, now would we?"
He unsubspaced a 4-string guitar, a little damaged and dented, but still playable. Lightshow just gaped, unable to think of anything witty to say. His mouth moved, but no audible sound came out. He looked at Electro, then at Strings, then at Jazz.
"Look Jazz, I think he just mouthed a thank you," Strings said with a laugh.
"You're welcome Lightshow," said Jazz. "Though you really should be thanking Electro. He's the one who found it."
"How?" Lightshow finally managed.
"A garbage truck came by while you were gone," Electro said. "And I just happened to be standing at the corner trying to think of some music when I saw one of the garbage-drones throw something in that looked a lot like a guitar. So I ran out on the street, stopped them, and had a look. Turned out I was right, and it was a bass, so I took it incase you weren't able to find anything."
Lightshow went over and took the guitar, sat down and ran his thumb across the strings. "I don't know what to say. Well, besides thank you, but I think you already got that one. This is… wow… this is so great. I can finally belong."
"You never didn't belong Lightshow," said Jazz.
"Oh hey, lets not get all sentimental and stuff. I mean, we've got songs to write and music to play, so lets get crackin' now. Time's a-wasting."
The others just grinned and pulled out their instruments, all except for Jazz, who took out a datapad that contained the lyrics for about two more songs they had managed to write.
Later that night, Lightshow went over and sat down next to Electro. The dark blue mech tossed him a curious look. Nearby, Jazz and Strings were re-writing some lyrics, while Slowmotion was busy cleaning up his drumkit. Electro himself was trying to compose some new music and didn't really want to get into another verbal sparring match.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Actually, yeah. I got a question for ya," Lightshow said.
Electro waited for the punch line. When nothing was forth-coming he asked, "What is it?"
"When you worked in the scrapyard, did you know a mech named Tracks?"
"Tracks," Electro repeated the name. "No, I didn't know him; though I knew of him – mostly gossip and here-say from other bots. Why? Run into him?"
"Sort of. Did those bots ever say what happened to him?"
"Well, the more consistent stories I heard was that he showed up on the warehouse doorstep one day looking like so much molten slag. Apparently there was a fire at one of the factories out of town – you know how those places are, slagging hazards the lot of them. Anyway, he was working in there when it happened and was trapped inside with a few other bots. He was one of the four who eventually managed to escape, but not before he'd sustained serious structural damage. The medics were able to fix his systems injuries, which were thankfully non-vital, but they lacked the technology and equipment to get his physical structure back to the way it was. So he's had to live like that ever since."
"Woah, sucks to be him," Lightshow said. "What about this other guy, Cliffjumper, I heard his name was."
"Again, I only heard stories from other bots. Remember when the first reports came out of Levatron that some bots had been killed by that leader of the whole revolt? Rumor has it that those bots had been Cliffjumper's family. They were the first bots to offer some resistance to the whole take-over, so the commander-mech ordered them to be destroyed. Cliffjumper escaped because he was a lot smaller and managed to slip past the larger robots. Ever since then, he's sworn eternal vengeance against the Decepticons."
"Yes, but he seems to be taking out some of it on other Autobots as well. Why is that?" Slowmotion asked.
"When you're the survivor of a Decepticon mass-slaughter, it means they didn't quite get the job done and thus, its like painting a big target on your back. That's what happened to Cliffjumper. Bots down in Levatron were afraid to help him because they feared being caught and killed. So they did everything possible to keep him away from them. His own friends started to treat him like he was the scum of the planet."
"That wasn't a very nice thing to do to a mech," said Slowmotion.
"You would have too, if you didn't want your name to go on the 'Con hit list. So Cliffjumper, because of all the rejection, built up this attitude that he could be tough all on his own, he didn't need help from anyone, and he wouldn't take scrap from anyone. Since no one gave a slag about him, in return, he would cease to give a slag about others."
"I think its all an act on his part," said Jazz. "All the bravado, its like a mask he wears to stop folks from getting too close. I mean, he couldn't even trust his own friends to be there for him. The closer you get to someone, the more you trust them, and the easier it is to be hurt by them. And sometimes, its better to be hurt by those you hate, rather than by those you love."
"Its interesting how bots like us are capable of deep and meaningful conversation," said Strings, as he plucked on his guitar. "Especially at this hour."
"Its gotta be the moons," said Lightshow. "They gotta be aligned or something, that's why they're making us act weird. I mean, Electro and I actually had a decent conversation, without trying to verbally deface each other."
"Imagine that," Electro deadpanned.
"Goes to show you that anything's possible," Slowmotion said as he idly tapped on the cymbal with one of his drumsticks."
"Slowmotion, stop that," Electro said.
"Stop what? Oh? Sorry." He put the stick down. "I tend to do that without thinking."
"Then I think its time we all got some rest," said Jazz. "We got work to do tomorrow."
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A/N: Yes, there you have it, two more cameos from a couple of canon faces. You can actually find the full version of Tracks' back story right here, if you go to my profile and look for a fic titled "Only Skin Deep". Hope you enjoyed it!