Underneath the burning ground, in a proportionally small chasm, a group of three Autobots were seated. A dark shadow rested upon them as they waited, on one of them patiently, for something untold by the stretching silence. Finally, one of the Autobots, the smallest of the three, spoke up.
"Optimus," he said, his voice deep and verging on demanding. Impatience was clearly detected in his tone. "It's been three days."
A larger Autobot, the one called Optimus, nodded. Yes, he knew this. It had been three days, eight hours, forty-two minutes, and…ten seconds, to be exact. He had counted every second, ever since he sent one of their comrades to earth. Optimus, though, decided speaking his thoughts would not help the situation. Instead, he stood up and walked a few steps from the circle of Autobots, looking up at a rather small trap door in the ceiling of their underground hide out. He blinked up at it, a frown upon his face. The door was small, and he would have to squeeze his large form through it. He turned to the smaller Autobot, nodding him over under the trap door.
"Jazz," Optimus said to the smallest Autobot, his own voice monotonous and surprisingly not as deep as the Autobot's voice, whom he called Jazz. "Go check on Ironhide."
Jazz smiled, nodding. "Finally," he replied with obvious relief. "I need to et out of this hole." Jazz jumped up, grabbing the handle on the trap door, and twisted it, pulling the hatch down. He them jumped up again, grabbing one of the sides of the hole in the ceiling and shoving himself out of the underground cavern, looking down to watch Optimus shut the hatch and lock it once more.
Jazz took a long and deep breath, stretching out his stiff limbs. Though the air was putrid and thick with smoke and burning gasoline, I smelled oddly better than the stuffy air underground. Sighing, Jazz immediately went in defensive mode, looking around quickly for any stray Decepticons. He crouched low, ducking behind whatever was left, and often found himself slipping into craters left behind by the destructive bombs when war had swept this area of the planet. He moved in and out of each crater, scanning the area for Ironhide, keeping an eye out for Decepticons.
Ironhide was no where in sight, but Jazz did not want to risk calling out to his fellow Autobot for fear someone else, other than Ironhide, would hear him. Instead, he kept forward, listening carefully for any noise that would give the larger Autobot's position away. Suddenly, a loud blast shook the silence. Jazz whipped his head to the left; he recognized those cannons.
Jazz got up out of one of the craters, running towards where the cannon blast had come from. It was not long before he caught sight of the medium-sized Autobot—he was hard to miss with the large, black cannons upon his back and at the end of his arms. Jazz rushed forward, quickly taking notice of the three rather large Decepticons Ironhide had picked a fight with.
~~
Ironhide ducked as a cannon blast broke just above him, then dived under another, throwing one cannon-armed arm at one of the Decepticons and blasting a hole through his chest. The Decepticon fell, and before he could force himself up, Ironhide was on him, sticking his left cannon to the Decepticon's head and blasting it off. Ironhide lifted both arms pointing them at the other two Decepticons. He fired twice, ducked out of their line, and then fired thrice more. As always, Ironhide's aiming was unmatched, and as one Decepticon fell, the other ran, fleeing for the next patrol in order to call for aid. Ironhide would not have it and, with one more blast from his cannon, the third and final Decepticon was down.
Ironhide rolled his neck, shaking his shoulders out. He glanced over to his right, finally noticing Jazz.
"You enjoy the show?" Ironhide asked, his voice gruff, but friendly.
"Actually, as a matter of fact," Jazz replied, a slight frown upon his face. "I was rather disappointed."
Ironhide crossed his arms, demanding an explanation. Jazz shrugged, his expression lighting up as a smile split his face.
"It wasn't loud enough."
Ironhide groaned, holding up one of his smoking cannons and staring intently at the hot metal. All the parts seemed to be in order. He grunted questioningly, and then shrugged.
"Optimus tells me I'm too loud," he finally replied. "So, what brought you out here?" Ironhide asked, changing the subject.
Jazz sighed, placing his hands on his hips and bowing his head slightly.
"Bumblebee," he replied, looking up at Ironhide's knowing face. "Any sign of him?" Jazz asked, though he already knew the answer. He wanted to hear it from Ironhide.
Ironhide shook his head, frowning.
"No, nothing. The sky's been drawing blank apart from the occasional Decepticon sentry. Man, is it hard letting them past."
"Easy, Ironhide," Jazz replied warningly, taking a step closer to the larger Autobot. "I know how you feel, watching those Decepticon scum get by and unable to at least give 'em a mark to remember, but we can't have anything, or anyone, jeopardizing our mission."
Ironhide sighed, nodding. He had received this lecture from Optimus more times than he could remember, and yet he still managed to forget it upon occasion.
"Besides," Jazz went on in a lighter tone. "If Optimus found you messing around with the Decepticon scouts, he would kill you—and I don't know what we would do without our weapons' specialist." Jazz smiled, and then nodded towards the trapdoor he had come out of, a bit of a ways away.
"C'mon, let's meet up with the others."
Ironhide shook his head, his cannons at the end of his arms pulling back and transforming into a pair of large hands.
"No, I better stay out here," he replied, nodding towards the sky. "The directed time of day is approaching. If sent, the signal Bumblebee's supposed to send should be visible most in this lighting."
Jazz frowned, and then sighed, nodding his head.
"Alright," he replied, coming to stand next to Ironhide. "But I ain't leaving you out here alone. That racket you made would probably wake up Megatron, and I would hate to leave you here by yourself only to have Megatron pick this day to wake up and come back to reek his havoc."
Ironhide grunted, shaking his arms as the cannons took their place where his lower arms had been.
"If I had my choice, I would wake Megatron myself, right now," Ironhide replied gruffly. "I'd take him on myself, and be done with this d—war."
Jazz laughed, shaking his head.
"Ironhide, you know as well as I do no one but a Prime can beat Megatron in a one-on-one fight. And, last time I checked, you ain't a Prime."
Ironhide merely grunted, bringing his guns in and replacing his hands. Jazz smiled. Ironhide had always been one to act in such a manner and, though he knew the suggestion to be preposterous, he did not deny his longing to defeat Megatron and his Decepticons once and for all.