"What's this?" Prowl questioned as a datapad was unceremoniously dropped atop his current pile of paperwork, the praxian giving Jazz a disapproving look as the saboteur sat himself down on the desk, maneuvering himself so his pedes hung over the edge as he faced the tactician.

"Somethin' tha needs your approval," the silver mech answered with a grin, leaning back a bit with a seductive look.

Rolling his optics, Prowl reached out to pick up the datapad and switch it on, frowning once he read the contents. "I thought we made it clear that we weren't going to conduct a mission, Jazz." The black and white mech stated in slight annoyance.

"Ya said no deep cover missions. This is strictly recon." Jazz answered.

Prowl vented loudly as he dropped the datapad back down on the desk, regarding Jazz in silence for several moments before speaking again. "You wish to infiltrate the Nemesis, but that's all you've said. There's nothing in here about what you're looking for, or planning on doing."

Shrugging a little, charming smile still in place, Jazz tilted his helm ever so slightly. "Tha's cause there's no way for ma ta know for sure wha' to look for. All I know is tha somethin's up an' it involves Soundwave." The polyhexian answered, leaning forwards so his faceplates nearly brushed against Prowl's. "We both know it's you I gotta convince." He purred.

Scowling, Prowl shoved Jazz's faceplates away, doorwings a flurry of activity as he regained his composure after a brief moment. "Fine. I'll approve it so long as you don't take any loopholes. It's recon, that's it, that's all. No going off and doing your own thing like you usually do."

Jazz gave the other mech an offended look. "Who, me? Nothin' of ta sort!" He responded in an innocent tone, Prowl eyeing him for a moment before picking up the datapad with a vent.

Watching the praxian read through the file again, Jazz leaned closer again, a playful grin on his faceplates. "So watcha doin' right now? Can ya take a break from all tis slag for ma?" He questioned teasingly.

"Jazz?" Prowl questioned without even looking up from the datapad, "yes?" the polyhexian answered with a grin.

"Get off my desk."

"Aw, your no fun Prowler." Jazz answered as he hopped down, purposefully into the reading mech's lap, causing Prowl to jerk and make a soft noise of surprise. "C'mon, I know ya wanna."

"Jazz you agreed that you wouldn't bother me when I worked." The praxian chastised, though it didn't stop him from reaching up to play with an audial horn.

Humming softly in interest, Jazz dimmed his visor with a playful smirk. "What're ya gonna do about it?" He questioned, relishing the glare his words received.

"I order you to leave."

"Ya, but ya won't."

Prowl huffed loudly in irritation, though it didn't last long when talented digits found his doorwings, effectively locating the best spots to coax his frame into warming. "No, I won't."

Frequency had no idea how his brother had done this: located and blocked up potential infiltration areas, regulated communications and security, or any of the other tasks he'd been assigned alone. It was so much work that the young mech found himself going without recharge for long periods of time. It wasn't good for his systems, but making a mistake in his impersonation would no doubt bring unwanted consequences down upon him, so he made a choice… Now he wasn't sure it was the right one.

"I can't say I understand why you of all mechs would want this."

Standing stock still and silent, Frequency regarded the much shorter mech for several moments before just holding out a servo. He knew that Soundwave's reputation would make it clear what he wanted, as well as ensuring he wouldn't be cheated the way he'd heard this mech was capable of.

"Impatient, are we? Very well," the smaller mech shrugged, reaching into subspace to produce the cube full of tiny cylinders. "One a cycle should suffice for a mech your size, but do know there are," the mech hummed thoughtfully, "side effects."

Frequency straightened up to his full height in frustration, surprising the large-opticked mech. "Swindle, assured product was safe?" The TIC demanded through a series of recordings, the salesmech laughing. "Safe unless you overuse it. Like it or not, Soundwave, even you have to recharge."

"Optimal efficiency, only goal."

"And you won't achieve that if you fry your circuit boards from lack of adequate defrag cycles."

Now Frequency was getting annoyed. "Swindle, certified medic?" He demanded.

Swindle blinked up at him in surprise, briefly speechless. Never had he even heard gossip about Soundwave making some sort of comeback like that! Forget that, he'd never heard of Soundwave asking for system boosters.

Realizing that this was getting way off track, Frequency snatched the cube of cylinders from the jeep's servo. "Swindle, promised to keep silent." The tall, dark mech stated, though it sounded more like a question.

"Uh, guaranteed." Swindle answered, bewildered look still in place as Frequency turned away to stalk back down the hall. Buzzsaw gave a quiet chirr to calm his master and remind him to be careful, causing the annoyed mech to slow his walk back to the usual purposeful one always used by Soundwave.

Frequency reached up to stroke the young cyberbird comfortingly, but it was also to help ground himself again. Acting like another mech was beginning to take it's toll. He'd always been a very social mech, and now being forbidding to properly interact with others of the crew or even speak with his own voice was becoming harder with each passing day. Lack of recharge, free time, flying, everything seemed to be against him.

Approaching footsteps reached Frequency's upgraded systems long before they'd actually arrive, giving the young mech time to shove the cube of system boosters into his subspace.

"Ah, Soundwave, I was wondering where I'd find you."

Frequency inclined his helm ever so slightly to the seeker that appeared in front of him. The first time he'd ever met Starscream the devious mech had been marked down as an enemy, with tags such as 'incompetent' and 'devious' describing him. He'd learned that his brother's personal thoughts on the gray mech were true. Starscream was constantly scheming to try and overthrow Megatron in order to take control of the decepticons, the young mech realizing that that would be disastrous for the cause.

"Starscream, reason for searching for Soundwave?" Frequency questioned, the designation sending a bitterness through him as he pieced the correct recordings together. He was getting rather adept at it.

Starscream gave Frequency the most condescending look the young mech had ever seen. "Why aren't you at your post?" The seeker questioned suddenly, causing the TIC to make a face behind his visor. "Soundwave, seeing to repairs of possible infiltration points." The slim mech responded.

"Why don't you get your little cretins to do it? That's always the way it was before, wasn't it?"

The SIC's words struck Frequency speechless, the mech frowning behind his visor in confusion. What? Buzzsaw – or more Laserbeak to everyone else – was sitting just fine on his chassis, right in view of Starscream. And how could a cyberbird do the extensive repairs he'd been conducting all this time?

"Starscream, should take care of own tasks. Soundwave, needs to give no explanation." With those words Frequency decided now would be a good time to bail out of the conversation, quietly walking forwards and taking satisfaction in the way the annoying seeker got out of his way to let him past.

The satisfaction was short-lived. The loneliness returned before he even reached the end of the hall.

::What do you make of that?:: Mirage's voice came over the crouching mech's comm.

Jazz hummed softly to himself as he trailed Soundwave from the vents. "It's not enough." He responded after a moment of contemplation. "Prowl'll jus' say tha' Sounders might need ta boosts for his recovery. Migh' need ta extra boost for his repair nanites. Jus' cause he looks all pretty on ta outside doesn' mean he looks good on ta inside." The silver mech explained as he watched the mysterious mech turn down a side hall.

::Why would he subspace them when Starscream showed up then? And why get it from Swindle?:: Mirage's voice was skeptical now, irritated. He wanted out of the Nemesis as soon as possible, and Jazz had an idea as to why. Something to do with that green scout no doubt.

"If ya were Sounders, would ya wan' Screamer knowin' ya aren't as healthy as ya let on?" The TIC prodded as he watched Soundwave disappear from sight now. "No doubt Soundwave wants it secret, so he went to Swindle instead o' ta medics." Jazz added as he turned to the right when he came to a branch in the vents. "We need somethin' solid. Not tha' we can' use this. Imma check ta medbay records. If we never saw 'im in there, maybe he never was. Or his symbiotes for tha' matter."

Mirage scoffed in response, the spy currently taking up the task of tailing Soundwave. "Medical records won't be enough to convince Prowl of all mechs to approve you going undercover." The blue and white mech answered disdainfully, drawing a grin on Jazz's faceplates. "Maybe not, but lack of records could be enough."

That had Mirage pausing, comm clicking in an aborted attempt to activate before he was able to respond. "What would lack of medical records mean?" He finally asked, silently admitting defeat as Jazz gave a soft laugh. "It would mean ta cons are definitely hidin' somethin'."

Jazz peered through the grate at the end of the vent, noting who was in the room: Hook, Scrapper, and Knockout. Breakdown was just leaving, which would hopefully mean that the red medic wouldn't be too far behind.

"Got mos' o' ta medical crew in medbay. Think ya could draw 'em out?" Jazz questioned, a sigh followed by a soft affirmative coming over the comm link. A comm link that should've been discovered by Soundwave more than half a joor ago. "You're ta best 'raj."

"Just remember it when I find myself needing something." Mirage answered in a clipped tone.

It wasn't much later when an alarm went off, overhead lights dimming as orange lights began to flash, the mechs inhabiting the medbay looking around in confusion for a minute before Scrapper decided to leave the room. The other two followed quickly behind him, though they still looked extremely bewildered, Jazz briefly wondering exactly what sort of alarm Mirage had set off, but such aimless thoughts were pushed out of his helm as he carefully removed the grate from the vent.

Lowering the grate to the ground, Jazz easily extricated himself from the now unblocked vent, dropping down to the ground without a sound.

Jazz took only a moment to look around before he hopped into the seat directly in front of one of the consoles in the room, just vacated moments ago by Knockout. Tapping on the keys, the screen lit up with a message blinking on it, requesting a passcode. "Raj?"

"Got it." The blue and white mech materialized beside him, reaching around the other mech so he could reach the keys, digits flying as he worked through the systems within a matter of moments, half a dozen screens popping up on different decepticons. "That's why you're the best," Jazz hummed, clearing the console of the present records to begin his own search for Soundwave's.

"Anything?" Mirage asked impatiently as Jazz frowned at the screen, hidden optics darting back and forth as if to make sure what he was seeing was real. "Raj?"

"What?"

"Soundwave's got no medical records. They're gone."

Mirage was at his side again in a matter of moments, the blue and white mech shoving his superior's servos away to begin typing again, puzzled frown on his usually handsome faceplates. "They were deleted." The noble-born mech finally announced even as he continued combing the systems. "It says here all of Soundwave's medical records were handed over to Shockwave."

Optical ridges furrowed as Jazz leaned back to look up at Mirage, the two sharing a knowing look. "Can ya retrieve any o' his files?" The silver mech asked suddenly, the other mech opening his wrist port to unspool his cable, placing it between his denta as he started typing again. "Possible, but it'll be partial files. Whoever deleted these weren't done by Shockwave or Soundwave. I'll need time." He answered, plugging into the medical systems.

"Sure Soundwave won' know you're here wit' ya pluggin' into ta systems?" Jazz questioned, the younger mech giving a snort. "He hasn't picked up our comm signatures yet, has he?"

Jazz nodded as he vacated the chair so Mirage could sit.

"I'll need you to be lookout," the blue and white noble announced even as he began to work.

Jazz moved over to the door, listening for any unwanted approach as his comrade worked away at downloading the files they needed. In his mind he wasn't sure that it was enough to fully convince Prowl, but it would definitely help in getting other officers on board with his desire to go undercover. Regardless of what the 'evidence' was, nobody could dismiss the fact that Soundwave's medical records had been deleted and the matter of his medical care transferred to Shockwave.

"Raj?" Jazz spoke up in a quiet tone, the spy making a grunt but not looking up or turning around to face him. "Think they're comin' back." The silver mech stated, moving in a quick crouch back towards the vent. "We gotta go. Jus' take wha' ya were able to get."

Mirage just gave a quick nod of assent and unplugged, standing as he shut everything back down and put up the files that had been opened previously. Activating his electrodisrupter he followed Jazz back over to the vent, the spec ops mech easily swinging back up onto the vent without the slightest sound, Mirage replacing the vent directly before the doors slid open to admit the previous medical crew.

The three were complaining amongst themselves about the 'false alarm' and why mechs 'weren't doing their jobs', their distraction with their irritation making it easy for the noble to escape the room.

"Wha' did ya get?" Jazz questioned as he travelled through the maze that made up the venting system of the Nemesis.

::Not much. I was only able to partially recover most of it.:: Mirage responded. ::Need help getting out?::

Jazz paused before answering, crouching stalk still as he listened to sound of angry voices nearby. "Scratch tha'. Ya get out an' get whatever ya got down on a datapad for me when I get back. There's somethin' else I needa check out."

::Don't do anything stupid.::

Smiling faintly at the noble's statement, Jazz just sent a simple ping of acknowledgement, the silver mech carefully following the sound of angry voices that echoed through the vents somewhere to his left.

"What's the point of having these systems when they're always malfunctioning?" Starscream screeched loudly. "Either that or it's the autobots, traipsing through our base because they've been able to the past orn!"

Frequency remained silent as he watched the seeker pace back and forth, ranting over the most current false alarm.

"Soundwave," Megatron turned his attention onto the slim mech, who stiffened.

Understanding that the warlord wanted an explanation, Frequency mentally scrambled to find one that would be logical. "Nemesis, secure. Autobot activity, not currently a threat." The tall, slim mech answered, thinking quickly to add as much detail as he could. "False alarms, due to lack of maintenance. Soundwave, working to update all systems." The tall mech turned his helm in Starscream's direction. "Systems, given little attention while Soundwave was incarcerated."

Good, turn the blame onto the little bastard.

Starscream's wings straightened up as gave his archenemy a leer, carefully watching Megatron out of the corner of his optic. "Your incarceration caused several issues, specifically with keeping Autobots out of the Nemesis! Systems were the least of our worries!" The seeker snapped, though he seemed to be on edge.

"Care of systems, invaluable to keeping autobots out. Soundwave, capable of completing all tasks. Starscream, claims to be inadequate?"

Frequency loved the way Starscream was looking at him in shock, bewildered and quite obviously nervous. It was all he could do to keep from laughing, the only thing keeping him from doing so being the way Megatron was looking at him. It was a clear warning for him to remain silent.

"It seems we need to put more mechs on the security detail." Megatron announced as he regarded his two top officers, one a devious snake and the other a questionably good replacement for one. "Soundwave, when will the systems be up to their previous state?"

Frequency shifted, searching his HUD for an answer. "Completion, within the orn." He finally answered, Megatron giving a soft rumble, the sound drawing a confused look onto Starscream's faceplates as he glanced back and forth between his lord and enemy.

"Adequate." Megatron finally announced, pushing past the two smaller mechs to leave the room.

From the vents, Jazz watched with obvious curiosity. Reaching up to activate his comm, Jazz watched the two remaining mechs closely. "Raj?" He questioned, turning to make his way towards the exit, "I think I jus' found somethin' that'll have Prowl givin' us the go ahead."