Mind Games

[Deleted]

     Jazz reacted to the punch that was being thrown his way, turning his helm to the side so that it didn't land directly square center of his faceplate. Instead it connected with the side, a loud CRACK heard as an impact fracture appeared at the corner of his visor right where the contact had been made. His audial popped some which threw him completely off kilter and the force of the tyrant's strike sent Jazz stumbling, failing to catch his footing in the process of, and knocked him right back down on his aft. He sat there for for a while, listening to Megatron's speech as well as he could considering that only a portion of the closest audial was actually working while the other was rebooting. His visor flashed a few times, re-calibrating as it registered the damage that had been done and started to flash the error codes at him. Seemed he was going to be a little hard of hearing for a bit.

     "Ya still like hearin' yourself talk, even after so long. Can't help but admit that ya did spew such lovely lil' dramatic words to get the world around ya turnin'. Now it's... kinda old."

     Even though still a bit off balance, Jazz managed to get himself to his pedes again. If nothing else, the little black and white mech was certainly resilient. He straightened up then watched Megatron again and as usual kept him within his line of sight in the case that he would try to move about again.

     "I'm supposed ta be at your mercy and yet I still get ya cords knotted up the more I chat at'cha. Now the way I see it? Guess ya like your prey to be nice an' still. Is your age catchin' up to ya, Megs? Rustin' out here an' there? That's about the only reason I see that would make ya keep your slaves helpless. Scared you'd get overpowered if ya gave one a chance to push ya back? " Jazz still smirked out of defiant, knowing that it for one REALLY riled the nerves of the tyrant before him just by how he reacted to him and for to? It was just pure spite. In spite of knowing he could be offlined with the right strike from the larger mech before him he pushed at his buttons, trying to see just far he could go... and then would go beyond. It was clear that even in the shadow of the much larger mech that Jazz had lost none of his panache.

     "Or does havin' them fearful of your tyrant wrath turn ya on? Seein' them cower before ya, beggin' to be spared and bein' willin' to do whatever ya tell'em." There was a scoff from him. "I mean... if ya want me to call ya Lord and Master in the berth, that's fine. I'll submit and bend over and pretend ta fear ya while your stamina holds up... for the entire half-breem. Maybe I'll be nice and try ta make it last for a whole one if I like it enough. Now, I got a pretty wild imagination so if ya wanna touch all the bases I guess ya better get ta work."

Megatron

[Megatron]

The only thing that had been growing old in Megatron's opinion had been Jazz's motormouth.  Some were better at holding their glossas than others, and the Autobot saboteur only proved his point.  One could perhaps find it admirable that the mech was holding up given his situation, the circumstances that he had been put under.. but it only grew tiresome as quickly as his well-timed retorts.

Though he did have to admit that the injured mech was right about one thing, and that it was seeing others so powerless to fight back against him.  Sure, he loved his fights with Optimus as much as anyone, but by no means was he 'too old and tired' to keep them down.  "Oh, have you forgotten who it is you speak to, Jazz?  I was once a gladiator in the pits of Kaon, and you should know that all too well.  Even now, I have the prowess and might I had in those days.  You would do well not to challenge my wrath."

The tyrant glared down at Jazz as he continued, speaking of questionable motives, a sneer growing ever so quickly.  His patience was running thin, and there was only so much more he could listen to before he decided to end this mech.  And here he had wanted to keep him alive for a little while longer.. to make an example of.

It seemed that he would have to take a different approach.

"I have warned you already, and clearly this is not punishment enough.  I will make a further example out of you, and perhaps that will quiet that voice of yours.. and any other Autobot we are holding prisoner as well!"

Megatron grabbed Jazz by the leg, dragging him out of his holding cell and down the long, dark hallways of the Nemesis.  The Autobot would soon see the error of his ways.

@jazz

[Deleted]

     Jazz had clawed at the floor as Megatron had dragged him by his leg, hardly finding this to be comfortable. His frame was scratching along the metal of the floor, creating sparks damage to his paint job as well as his thin frame that would surely make him look less than appealing to anyone. "Hey hey! Watch the paint!" he protested. He would have furthered his protests, but as he shifted around to grap for any piece of the all he could? He stopped, recognizing a flash of gray and red. He was sitting off against the wall of his cell, staring off, his helm down. Then they rounded the corner and Jazz lost sight of him.

     Prowl's charge. Bluestreak.

     Jazz looked up at Megatron and braced himself, then thrusted his other pede right in the servo that was grasped to him. Perhaps it was just him paying attention elsewhere or not thinking Jazz had any fight left in him by now, but either way? The kick had disrupted Megatron just long enough for the grip to be loosened up to where he could yank himself free. Quickly he rolled to his front and climbed to his pedes, taking off back towards the cell that held the younger Autobot. Once he got to it he pounced on the wall beside the bars to get his attention.

     The way he looked at him? Oh... oh no, Jazz couldn't take that look. Not from him.

     "Blue... blue! Hey..." Jazz smiled, not even paying mind to what was going on behind him. "Till all... are one..."

     With that everything went dark. The last thing he remembered was a heavy slam to the back of his helm that put him out, shaking his circuits and causing various systems to reboot. The second hit? Took him down and sent him into a full shut down.

-----

     Everything hurt. Jazz felt like a mangled hunk of metal, unable to get any part of his frame to cooperate with him in even the slightest way. Megatron had removed the cuffs a couple of times, merely as ways to further restrain him as the torture had progressed. Now that he was left alone on the berth, tossed there while Megatron went off somewhere in the dark to tend to whatever, Jazz found that the cuffs now had his servos out of the way behind his back. The saboteur braced himself and pushed his weight against a shoulder, rolling over so that he could be somewhat angled on his back.

     "HSST! OW!" Oh, that had hurt. Okay, so moving of any kind wasn't going to happen. Jazz stared at the ceiling, trying to catch his breath and let his burning pain receptors come down a few notices. Jazz had hoped and prayed to Primus that he wouldn't have lived this long, that Megatron would have just dragged him out of the cells and tossed him out of the airlock. The tyrant had done the complete opposite. The only thing that didn't ache was Jazz's pride. The dents and scratches in his frame, the missing paint, the broken corner of his visor and his busted knee? They could be repaired. Eventually.

     Though only part of Jazz's vision was operational thanks to half of it being static from the hit that had cracked it earlier, he was able to still see in the dark. Megatron was no where to be seen, so that was enough of a blessing. It was something else that caught his attention, however. There was something just above the berth, mounted to a mantel on the wall. A helm? Seemed like... it was someone's. Hanging there on the wall like a token. A prize.

     Something about it was familiar. Jazz's visor was starting to static out...

     Rather, Ratchet's machine was as the memory core started to reject his access.

     The sound of heavy strides. Megatron was returning.

     More static. Then focus... static, focus.

     The door opened. Megatron was here!
     That helm. It was...!

     Complete static as the memory core erased the last portion of what Jazz had seen.

-----

     Jazz sat up on the berth suddenly. He looked around, trying to figure out where he was. He looked over to where Ratchet had stood and...

     It wasn't Ratchet. Megatron!

     He spotted a tray of tools and reached over to grab one up. A saw of sorts, maybe a scalpel. Who knew, really- it wasn't Jazz's expertise. Slowly the saboteur made his way off the berth and started over to where Megatron stood at the console, his back to Jazz. He must have been unaware of his approach which was good for the much smaller mech. His pedesteps were silent as he moved, stalking his victim. Soon enough he was in range and drew the weapon back...

     Then thrust it forward towards Megatron's ( Ratchet's ) back.

Ratchet     

[Ratchet]

What in the...

What even was that!?

Ratchet simply stared at the recharging form of Jazz, trying to piece together what he had just seen.  It had played back to him almost like a video, witnessing many events that Jazz had supposedly taken place in, being captured, then tormented by Megatron himself before things started to fade in and out.  None of it made the slightest sense to him, nor did he know how any of it was possible.  They were all alive, so why would this vision have claimed them all to be offline?

Unless.. it was just some sort of dream that Jazz had had?

He shook his helm, turning around to view the monitoring equipment.  Everything was still flickering, but it distracted him enough to not notice Jazz had already gotten up.  The medic was so baffled by it all that he couldn't even find words to describe it.

He never realized anything was wrong until Jazz was already behind him.

Ratchet turned, his optics widening as he jumped back and away from Jazz's swing.  What in the name of Primus was going on!?  "JAZZ!!  What is the matter with you?!"

@jazz

[Deleted]

It was a good thing that Jazz's movements weren't as quick as they usually were, or else Ratchet would have had legitimate complaints of a poor day. The medic's reaction to getting out of the way saved him from having the weapon in Jazz's grasp embedded in his back. This left Jazz to stumble forward right into the equipment and there he stood for a brief moment, as though collecting himself. It had been right after Ratchet was yelling for him, so perhaps he was registering what was going on and was coming out of it?

Jazz turned around to face Ratchet again, his servos still on the panel. He didn't have an ounce of emotion cross his faceplate- which could have been good or bad considering the situation the two found themselves in. Though the lack of remorse of what he had done, like before when he had almost dislocated Ratchet's arm? That would have been a sign enough that this wasn't over. Even before Jazz launched another strike for Ratchet.

This time he was much quicker, using the push against the equipment to propel himself towards his friend. He drew the weapon back and took another swing. This time it maybe have been a little more difficult for the medic to avoid considering how close he was...

But his pede stalled. His knee had gave out, sending out small sparks from the joint that locked it up and rendered it useless. Instead of completing a swing and damaging Ratchet, Jazz would fall right into him, his frame striking into the medic's own heavily due to the momentum the saboteur had in his favor. The small instrument would fall from his hold at the time of impact and clatter to the floor beside them, making Jazz otherwise physically disarmed for the time being.

His visor's light would flash from dark to light several times while he rested there against Ratchet. He wouldn't speak or make any sound, however. Instead, once his visor had gone solid again he would move to the side slowly, reaching down in an attempt to grab up the weapon. It wasn't in immediate reach, however, and this opened Ratchet for an opportunity to put a physical stop to this should he move quick enough to retain his upper hand in this situation.

Ratchet

[Ratchet]

His yells hadn't reached Jazz..

Ratchet continued to back away as Jazz kept coming at him, brandishing one of his tools as a weapon.  Did this have something to do with those strange and absurd memories or dreams or.. whatever those had been?  Either way, Jazz wasn't coming out of it, and he was still trying to harm the CMO.  His optics widened once more as attempted to attack again..

..Only to fall into the medic instead, knocking them both down.

For once, Ratchet had been glad for it.

He pushed the saboteur off of him, reaching for his tool and tossing it across the room.  That way Jazz couldn't attack him with it anymore.  He had to find some way of reaching him, and it wasn't going to be so easy as yelling at him.  Ratchet reached for both of his hands, gripping him by the wrists in an attempt to stall him.

"Jazz, wake up!  I'm your friend!!"

@jazz