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Location: Autobot Outpost Omega One + The Nemesis Content Warnings: Hostage taking Plot Summary: Whilst the Autobots are distracted, Jazz, caught in a Catch-22, commits a shocking betrayal.
Below is the posting order for this thread. Please note that this thread will begin in Autobot Outpost Omega One and will end on the Nemesis, and that only Autobots may participate in the first half of the thread and only Decepticons may participate in the second half. Members may opt to skip their post if they feel their character does not have anything meaningful to contribute for their turn. If you feel that your character would best fit in in an order that goes against the group posting order specified below, don’t be afraid to talk it over with the rest of those involved in Episode 3.3!
Optimus and some of the others had gone out to deal with a hostage crisis over in Crown City. Ratchet had been worried that Strongarm had been a part of this hostage situation, but he couldn't let himself worry. That had been the precise reason why he had stayed back at the base. Besides, if anyone was injured, they were going to need medics.
Thankfully, there were three right at hand at the moment.
Ratchet had begun to make his way towards the medical bay. He intended to meet up with Blizzard and Pharma there, discussing the situation with the two of them.. preparing them for what the worst could be. Right now he was just glad that he wouldn't have to repair everyone on his own. He was going to need the extra help when a certain new life came around, one Ratchet was all too happy to have in his life. While he didn't intend for a sparkling to enter his life at this time, he was already preparing himself to take care of this little one.
Once the CMO reached the medical bay, he spotted a face he hadn't quite expected to see.
Jazz.
Just.. what was it he was doing? It had looked like he was going through his personal console. He didn't allow anyone else to use it aside from other medics unless he gave permission for the sake of research. "Jazz..? What are you doing?"
Jazz had managed to hack through the different safety protocols that Ratchet has set up to keep those he wanted out... well... out. The other medics hadn't done any better with it and soon enough any and all medical files were open up and being fed to him like an open book. He knew how to find what he needed and it was just a matter of getting there. So after a little bit of rummaging around he located what he needed and started to skim through.
For Jazz, his visor acted like it's own built-in download server. He could scan over anything and keep a photographic memory of it and pull it up with ease as everything sorted into different areas of his databanks. What he was scanning through at the moment? The files he needed for Ratchet's Synth-En.
When he heard the pedesteps coming too close for comfort, Jazz didn't even bother to hide that he was on the console. He just finished up what he was doing and closed out of the file, then pulled up someone else's- namely his own- and started scanning through it. So by the time Ratchet spoke up, Jazz was already halfway through his file.
"Nothin'. Just wonderin' why ya ain't got it writtin' in here just how awesome I am! Really, Ratch! With as long as ya known me I'm surprised ya wouldn't have some warnin' about me bein' a flight risk and to handle with caution. Your other medics ain't as well-oiled as ya are." He shrugged some then stepped away from the console. "I was actually tryin' to check up how Prowl was... ya know... with the sparklin' and stuff but I couldn't find where his medical file was. So I just checked out my own while I was waitin'."
Pharma had been heading from his quarters to the med-bay himself, meaning to speak about the hostage situation himself. A pain over it stabbed through his spark and he'd needed to privately sort out his own emotions so he would be able to, if even for a moment, actually be professional. He didn't need to have his own traumatic memories of the situation at Delphi hanging over his processor like a dark cloud.
When he spotted Jazz and Ratchet already, something seemed amiss--Jazz at the console, Ratchet's private console. Ratchet had called him out but Pharma wasn't going to let it rest at Jazz's little "explanation".
"You do realize that patient files are confidential--even to the patient themselves, and that you've caused a major breach of doctor-patient confidentiality." His voice was terse, sharp, his optics sharper than his voice, his arms crossed tightly. Normally he would be a gentle mech but this angered him.
This angered him more than he could let go. His wings were held at a tense position, his jaw set tensely, his denta gnashing together. A fist clenched and unclenched, and it took him everything to not try to grab the no-doubt stronger mech and tug him.
Atomizer was just on time for his medical check-up with Ratchet. He trekked down the halls, musing on if the doctor would be waiting for him or not. If not, Atomizer was just fine waiting a few minutes polish gin up his crossbow. Nothing was more satisfying than lugging his large weapon around without the Magnus sticking his nose in to stop the racer.
As the scarlet red mech approached the room, he slowed his pace upon hearing all the voices coming from within the room ahead. After a second's check-up on his HUD, it was confirmed his appointment was in that room exactly. Atomizer couldn't help but listen in on the few seconds of conversation before resuming his pace, stepping into the room himself.
Atomizer took another step backwards, his casual stroll directed at the little commotion. Atomizer himself reviewed everything he reviewed for few seconds, before adding his own two cents worth; "Give the guy a break." Atomizer's yellow visor came into view as distinctly as his hot-rod red paint job. Flame decals decorated him like a christmas tree. The speedster's optics darted around the room after his pause, noting how lacking the room was in fancy paint jobs. Of course medics wouldn't decorate this place, but it still seemed pretty dull without any sort of flashy color scheme. Atomizer turned back to Pharma,
"He just said he was checking up to see how his friend and sparkler' were. We're all Autobots for crying out loud, so really, what're the chances he's up to no good?" Atomizer gestured to the mech who like Atomizer, wasn't minding his own business. Atomizer felt he'd weight the whole thing on a scale in his helm, and everything seemed to measure out. This wasn't the first time he'd seen the authority act ridiculous about whatever they were doing, and shove people around with rules. Oh, those boring, annoying protocols. A mental image of Ultra Magnus demanding his crossbow flashed through Atomizer's helm. These medics seemed to be acting just like that. Atomizer guessed he'd probably lose somehow in this scenario, because the mechs in authority often neglected to spouting out more rules. Atomizer really had nothing better to do.
The fact that Jazz was on his console to begin with was enough to irk the medic, but to find out exactly what Jazz was supposedly looking up angered Ratchet all the more. Pharma, who had arrived not too long after the fact, had agreed with him and for good reason.
"Pharma is exactly right. You can ask me if there's something you want to know, but I cannot give you Prowl's personal information. That's a breach of the doctor/patient confidentiality, and it's a disrespect of trust period. You can't be looking up the information that I have on you."
Ratchet scowled as he crossed his arms, looking as Atomizer he began to take Jazz's side. He didn't know what the deal was when it came to looking at information, but it was a sensitive medic thing. "Atomizer.. am I correct? Whether his intentions are good or not, it doesn't matter. Medical documentation is heavily sensitive, and no one except for the physician should have access to those files. You wouldn't like it if someone waltzed in and looked up your information, now would you?"
Grumbling, he shifted an arm and squeezed his chevron with two digits. "Look.. Jazz. I don't know what possessed you to be looking at my console, or why you thought it was a good idea for that matter, but get away from it. I know you're my friend and all, but I wouldn't even let Optimus go looking through the medical histories of any Autobot here. And besides.. if you wanted to know more about Prowl, you would have asked him, would you not..?"
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were treatin' me more like I was a Decepticon instead of an Autobot." Jazz's visor dimmed in a glare towards the others, clearly offended by the way they were drilling him. He looked over to Pharma and huffed some. "As if you would have any room to talk about any breachin' of security and confidentiality, doctor. I like to at least pretend we're all on the same side, but you're remindin' me that there's always those exceptions to the rule..."
Jazz didn't specify, but it was clear where he was going with that statement. He had heard stories, gotten information, gathered intelligence like the good spy he was. Jazz liked to know who he was working with and who had his back when it came down to it. He was already suspicious of medics, and what he'd found out didn't ease any of his concerns. Now if Pharma wanted to start something, he'd roll with it, but in typical Jazz fashion? One way or another, he had the last word.
"I was just checkin' on the status of the sparklin' while I was waitin' on ya, Ratch. Ya know he doesn't tell me anythin'. Closed-up Enforcer an' all that. He says he's fine when he's missin' both arms and both legs. Kinda reminds ya of me, right?" He beamed a grin, completely paying no mind to Pharma, but he had nodded a thanks to Atomizer briefly. "Plus, I'm here for my check-up. The creak in my knee is still actin' up and it's gotten to where I can't spook right anymore. Mind takin' a peak at it and see what you can do?"
Sure enough, when he moved? Creak, creak, and in the most awfully annoying manner as well. He took a seat on a medical berth and hung his leg over the side, swinging his pedes back and forth in his typical anxious way.
"And I'd appreciate if it was just you lookin' me over. The other guy makes me uneasy. I like bein' able to transform properly."
One optic slowly canted toward Atomizer. Pharma held his wings stiff, trying to keep a stern expression on his face the whole time. This was the hard part, trying to tell someone who didn't quite understand the situation as intimately as a medic would important medical information. "The same chances that you would do something stupid without all the information to the situation, to be honest. Don't think I don't know what a hotheaded mech jumping into a situation would do. I've seen miners on Messatine do stupider." Actually, he'd seen a lot of the stupidest injuries and actions from nucleon miners. They always did send the stupidest miners to Messatine. Frankly he was glad to have gotten away from that. "But my point still stands. He's not supposed to be in patient files."
He then gritted to denta sharply. He then clenched his fists tightly, resisting the urge to deploy a medical tool in a violent fashion, still remembering what had happened last time. "I could say the same of you. No, I'm not a saint. No, I haven't always done things I'm proud of. But you know what? At least I admit that I'm not perfect. In fact, I admit that I'm so far from perfect that the light from perfect doesn't even touch me. But don't you get all high and mighty thinking you're better than me for one second!" His voice was tinged with an edge of rage. Somehow he had managed to keep his rage in check, however. He wouldn't let himself go over the edge. He wouldn't. Not like he had during the hunt for the Apex Armor.
Honestly, he didn't believe for a second that Jazz had a creak in his knee. He wouldn't voice it, taking a step back, his heel scraping against the ground. However, when Jazz's knee creaked, his vents huffed, and he looked away. Okay, maybe he was telling the truth about the creak.
"Believe me, if I were working on you, I'd probably shove your transformation cog down your throat just to shut you up." His look was candid, and he steepled his servos in a frank and honest matter. "Though honestly you probably need to be reformatted into--what do the humans call that thing they stick their bread in to make it crunchy?"
Atomizer nodded at Ratchet, "Yeah, that's me. I came here for a check-up, my trigger fingers have been acting up." Atomizer repeated the words he'd sent in the message for medical attention. He wriggled his fingers stiffly as he did so. Being an archer and all meant that his fingers were rather essential. Especially an archer who made customized weapons. He needed his servos 24/7.
Atomizer's reasoning began to drop to critical levels upon hearing the other medics reaction to his words. Atomizer suddenly noticed that the medic was a seeker, talking down to two racers about rules and regulations. All the while trying to pull off some ridiculous act about him not being a great person. Yeah, he'd seen that sort of trash before. A seeker lording rules over two ground-pounders. Oh, Atomizer'd had plenty of that garbage on Cybertron and throughout the war. Atomizer's audios were already turning to stone, as the seeker medic triggered Atomizer's more negative side. You looked for trouble pal, and by Primus you found it.
"I'm glad to see a mech willing to point out his wrongs after going out of the way to degrade some soldiers." Atomizer nodded sarcastically, "It's a grand shame we don't have bots like that all over the ranks of high command." "And that thing you're talking about? It's called a toaster doc. It does a stellar job of bringing pleasure to those who utilize it." Atomizer tilted his helm to the side, his yellow visor glinting a challenge, "Maybe you ought to take some notes? There's a data pad right over there." Atomizer gestured to a desk in the far corner of the room. Atomizer's attention was hardly on Jazz now, or Ratchet for that matter, rather he was focused on slamming this medic who had it in him to speak down to his own potential patients. For some strange reason Atomizer didn't like this medic very much in the first place. He felt like he'd heard of him somewhere before, maybe from Ratchet or Drift. Atomizer shrugged the thought away. Whatever the matter, this guy was getting on Atomizer's nerve.
"Then you ask me. You don't assume that it's perfectly alright to be looking through confidential records. What does this look like? A library? I think not!"
Right.. Atomizer had had an appointment around this time, hadn't he? It made all the more sense why he had been here, though it could have simply been coincidental timing. Ratchet didn't know for certain, but there was one thing that grated on his nerves.
And that was all of the arguing going on.
Both Jazz and Atomizer were antagonizing poor Pharma, and Pharma was retaliating in quite an angry manner. The medic didn't know what these 'exceptions' were that the saboteur was talking about, but he didn't like the way they were talking to his adopted sire. His mentor. There was so much he wanted to say, but knew it was better to hold his glossa. There was no point in adding more fuel to the fire that was already running rampant in the medical bay between the three mechs.
It was only when it didn't stop that he'd had enough.
"You," Ratchet began, pointing to Atomizer. "On that berth to left! And as for you, Jazz.. on your right! Both of you will get on your respective berths right now unless you want to leave this medical bay with wrench shaped dents in your heads! And don't think I'll be repairing the damages until you knock it off. Is that clear?!" Honestly, he couldn't even remember Jazz having an appointment, but it could have been with Blizzard or Pharma or even First Aid. Right now he wasn't in the mood to argue, and he knew that Pharma wasn't going to be in the mood to do so either.
"Since you were first on the appointment list.. I'll start with you, Atomizer. Jazz, you stay here and behave." He had his back turned to the saboteur, preparing to head towards Atomizer.. fully unaware of the danger he was putting himself in.
"Toaster? Really? Medic, your poor excuse for a joke falls flat when ya don't know what you're insultin' with." Jazz smirked some, still out with the sass. Oh, call him a toaster? Was that the best that the old medic had?
"Oh trust me, I know I ain't no Saint. I'd be lucky if I'd be allowed in the Well of Allsparks when my time comes. But you? Pharma, ain't it? Pretty high and mighty for one such as you to dare insult anyone for bein' stupid, considerin' the stupid I've read up on ya. Does Optimus know 'em all? How 'bout your family? Or maybe you're just hidin' behind the hopes it never comes out?" Jazz huffed some as he was ordered to a berth. He started away, but paused for just long enough to look over his shoulder at the medic again. "The beauty about bein' able to gather intelligence as well as I do? I get all the juicy secrets. Includin' the ones that tell about how bad ya messed up on Delphi. Not so sure I'd trust to be a patient here while you're in charge of overseein' their care. I'd hate to see ya screw up here the way ya did there. Though is it really a screw up to kill your patients on purpose?"
Ratchet turned his back. This was the opportunity he needed. While he had hoped that it would have just been he and Ratchet, he was great at improvising and... well... he had been prepared. So as Ratchet turned away from him, Jazz turned and rushed to him- the creaking in his knee mysteriously gone- and went to slam the side of his servo right into one of the main lines of Ratchet's neck. It may or may not knock him out, but it would at least be enough force to knock him silly.
Though as Ratchet would be struck, Jazz wouldn't be able to skip a beat. Half using Ratchet for cover and half using him to assist in the surprise attack, Jazz pulled a rather familiar weapon from his subspace and lifted it to go over top the helm of Ratchet. He took aim with the Resonance Blaster he had snagged out of Ratchet's cabinet before he had to duck for the console when everyone arrived straight at the distracted pair of Atomizer and Pharma and fired several consecutive rounds to try and land at least one good hit to stun the two. After all, he wouldn't be able to get Ratchet out of here if those two were in his way.
That did it. Optics blazed and servos suddenly slammed down on the table in front of him with such force that there were cracks in both his palm-plating and the table in front of him. "YOU WOULDN'T LAST A DAY AT DELPHI, AND IT SURE AS HELL WOULDN'T BE BECAUSE OF ME!" Suddenly, as though he had taken a page out of the book of a certain tactician, the table would be upended, datapads strewn, dripping energon still on it. "Tell them. I don't care anymore. Paint me to be the same kind of monster you know you are deep down. But don't come crying to me if one day, I'm the only medic able to respond and you're in desperate need of care." As quickly as the rage and all the rush of energy that had come with it had welled up, the strong emotions had caused a major crash in his energy levels.
Before he could do anything else, Jazz had suddenly launched in attack. Heh, he had been faking it after all. Of course! Of course someone like him would fake it. This was why Pharma was reluctant to trust. This was why he despised mechs like those two. But he couldn't get consumed in those thoughts, not like he had been consumed in a rage that had miraculously not ended in broken oaths.
However, before he could get close enough, one of the shots struck and he was struck down, slamming hard against his back. No, no, there had definitely been a snap as well. The left wing. There were a few wires hanging between, snapped and sparking.
"No! Stop!" A hand reached out, but soon fell and his optics snapped shut. Denta gritted tightly and his vents heaved hard.
Powerless.
Weak.
Just like when the Decepticon Justice Division had first shown up at Delphi, so now he was powerless once again.
Atomizer smiled after he was done with his own slam to Pharma, the damage had been done, topping it off was Jazz's own come-back. Serves you right. Atomizer thought, considering releasing a few more scathing comments. Ratchet was the one who went ahead to break everything up, as Atomizer knew someone would: there was always a do-good personality in every room of the Autobots, enough that he could get away with a few nasty words such as the ones he'd just said. He'd give into such an Autobots offers, because it was the right thing to do and Atomizer knew it, but sometimes giving mechs a piece of his mind sure felt rewarding.
"Alright, alright." Atomizer nodded to the grounder-medics chiding voice. Atomizer began walking his way over to the designated berth, almost muttering to himself, turning his back to the others. Taking a minute to offload his cross-bow and bow to the desk beside the berth. The speedster paused beside the berth, examining his servos. They looked fine, but he knew how stiff they were. The small check-up would likely result in whatever measures needed to be taken fixing his hands. Just as Atomizer was about to muse on how quiet the place had grown, the scuffle behind him made him jerk out of his thoughts. Spinning around, Atomizer found an armed Jazz staging what looked suspiciously like a kidnapping on Ratchet.
"What the-" Atomizer could only say before Jazz's shot hit him right in the chest. Atomizer slammed to his knees, clambering onto the ground. Atomizer instantly regretted putting his weapons on the desk. They were well out of reach now. Jazz had stunned Pharma as well. Whatever Jazz was planning, he had the means to do it. Atomizer's words earlier about how the chances of Jazz doing something bad were low suddenly echoed in Atomizer's audio. What're the frickin' odds.
"I don't know what the heck you think you're doin'." Atomizer spat from where he was, though he knew the answer. "Because you're in the heart of the friggin' base." Atomizer knew he hadn't recently installed any defenses, but the guy couldn't sneak his way through the base. That wasn't going to work. Whatever he's doing, it's not going to work either way. There amy not be too many people home, but someone's gonna notice. Heck, the only way he's gonna get outta here is if he groundbridges- Atomizer paused in his thought. Oh Primus, he'd better not have planned this whole thing out--
There was not a single sign that would have clued Ratchet in on what was about to unfold.
As he was about to step forward, take care of Atomizer and his stiffened hands, he had no time at all to react as he was struck from behind. Ratchet's optics widened for a brief moment, grunting in pain before his entire vision blurred. It was as if he were in a thick fog as his audio rang loudly in his helm. At the very same time, he completely lost his footing, falling back as he landed against something. Someone. He didn't know.
He barely even heard Pharma, let alone Atomizer, as the ringing slowly began to come to a stop. It took a lot of effort just to get his optics to refocus, only for the sudden realization that he couldn't move to sink in. Something or someone had a firm grip on him. His vision was still hazy, and the ringing was nearly gone, but there was one thing he knew.
And that was that he needed to get whatever was holding him off.
The CMO jerked in Jazz's grip, trying to break free as his optics continued to refocus. "Get.. off of me.."
Jazz hadn't been swayed by the words of the other two. Sure, he felt bad for what was happening, but it was out of necessity that it was. He kept a firm grip on Ratchet as he jerked around, trying to free himself from his grasp and, for a moment? He hesitated. Was this the right thing to do? Was he making the right choice?
... of course he was. Sometimes the most difficult choice had to be made. THe sacrifice of the few to save the many. Jazz was just the only one who could make a decision like it and be able to live with the consequences. Heck, he already had gotten over that guilt thing a long time ago. He wasn't made of glass.
"Lights out, Ratchet. When ya wake up, try not to hate me too much?" Jazz felt around, searching for that particular spot on the back of his neck. Jazz had learned a lot of small useless bits of information in his years, but this particular one was of great use. A 'kill switch' of sorts on the back of the neck, just past the cables where the helm came down and covered. He had to reach up to locate that area but once he had? It would be lights out with a well placed...
A strike came to that spot with the side of Jazz's servo. When Ratchet was out, he would reposition him with an arm of the medic across the back of his shoulders holding the wrist and the the other arm around his waist. Then he would begin to walk with him, only pausing with enough time to look at Atomizer.
"Sorry, man. Send my apologizes to Pharma when he gets off his rage cycle, yeah?"
He would continue on his way, moving just outside of the medical bay and through a ground bridge that sat in wait that would take him several miles away from Autobot base at the rendezvous point with Megatron and his lackeys.