Author's Notes: Just so you all know, the beginning to this fic is dark. It's sad, it's not pretty… don't like robotic gore, don't read. Granted, it's only the first page, but I wanted to make that clear. After that though, it's much more light hearted. A little comedy to offset the horror on the "raid scene." That said, I also wanna say this isn't a romance fic for once. I know, shocking aint it? ;) Des can write something with out a love scene? Lol Hope ya all like it! Please R&R : D

Jigsaw

Chapter 1

The city was burning.

All around him, buildings were crumbling under the onslaught of war. People everywhere were running for their lives despite the fact that most wouldn't live through the next cycle. Amidst the chaos, that one fledgling was drowning in the crowd around him, as if he physically couldn't breath. He struggled to get a breath, to keep his head water, but didn't seem to be working He tried to make a run for it again and again but the more he tried to disentangle himself from the crowd, the more he was pushed down, hitting the ground hard as the others made their way out of the city. Luckily he was pushed into an alleyway at last, free from the river of screaming, panicked mechs and femmes as they continued to rush past.

Panicked, he took a look at his surrounding but to his despair, his creator was still no where to be found. The fledgling had lost his creator somewhere along the line, where he wasn't sure but he did know he was alone. His creator had not found him, like he had promised.

More shots were going off over his head, too close for comfort. More screaming… more death. Across the streets he could see the merchants- all were lying on the floor, their goods taken by smiling, evil faces. Heavy load, Haze, Brimstone…all the merchants he had grown up around were now lying in smoking ruins. Other mechs near by were crying out in agony, crawling at the ground and making prayers to Primus while some just quietly flickered out of existence.

Horrified, the fledgling crawled into an open panel in the side of a building with nothing else to do but wait for it to end.

An end to his life, or an end to the chaos, either was welcome.

OOooOOooOO

"Hey Jiver, lookie what I found! Good as new fender. Few dents, but it should work. Whatcha think?" The red mech held up the metal fender to the blue mech next to him, running his hands along the surface. "I know it aint the best condition, but I bet Duel could knock it back int' shape."

"You could give it a try, if he's in a good mood and you got some creds to spare." Jive tossed back with a good natured snort, accidentally tripping on some wreckage behind him and falling on his aft.

"I love how you guys talk about me like I'm not even here."

Jive fell back all the way, lying on his back to see a tall green bulky mech behind him. "Awh com'on Duel, have a sense of humor! If we didn't make fun of ya, who would?"

"I'd hire someone." Duel huffed, "Now we got work to do. We gotta grab what's left of the place before the other scavengers get here and take all the good stuff."

The green mech kicked Jive once and stumbled off to find more scraps among the dead. Duel, unlike his two counterparts, didn't care too much that the ground he was standing on and taking advantage of, was still littered with dead and still dying mechs. He needed parts for money, and now was the time to find them good and cheap- free in fact. No better deal than free.

"You need to lighten up, Big D. Aint like we're running on a clock!" Jive shouted back, but Duel just waved dismissively.

Ruse gave Jive a pat on the back and moved away to join in the hunt for parts. "Give it up Jiver, he aint gunna listen, ya know. Just get back t' lookin' around."

"Yeah, yeah." The blue mech rolled over and got to his feet again, wiping off the oil and grease that had gotten on his paintjob. Duel told him to look for anything that wasn't destroyed that he could sell off to Spades, so he might as well get it done. It was better than having to listen to the gruff older mech's complaints. With a sigh, Jive reluctantly went back to kicking around the wreckage and scraps, being mindful of the bodies. No need to upset the dead. Thankfully for his fuel tank, most of the mechs and femmes at his feet were no one he had known personally but it was depressing either way he looked at it. So much death, so much distruction. For what? To take over a Neutral city? There was nothing in Demircon to begin with, no energy stock piles, no reserves, no army- nothing. The place was a waste land long before Megatron's troops tore it open. Now, it was a mass graveyard.

Urugh…

"Holy Primus!" The blue mech flew backwards, tripping over the scraps again. "Somethin' alive in there!"

Ruse glanced over his shoulder at his brother's cry completely unsurprised. "You hit your head again, didn'tcha Jiver?"

"No! That was yesterday." Jive gave him a hurt look, "And I'm tellin' ya, somethin's alive in there, Ruse. It made a sound, like a groan or something. Take a look, will ya?" He kept his optics glued on the groaning scrap pile, waiting for the moment he knew was going to happen- some undead creature was going to jump out of there and attack him.

"Slagging sparkling, Jive. What are ya, a cycle old?" Ruse half grumbled as bent over and moved the scraps back to see whatever it was that had Jive backpedaling from the spot. Jive always seemed to get spooked by his own shadow. "You're being ridiculous. There's no way anyone survived this," he muttered again, lifting off a larger piece of metal plating. "The whole slagging city is dead, yet you are convinced something is under here. Now I know I aint the smartest bolt in the toolbo- Holy Slag!" Ruse cursed, triping over Jive and back onto his own aft. "There is something under there!"

Jive shoved Ruse off with a quiet mumble of, "Told you so."

The fledgling on the other hand, shifted in his hole and peered up at the other two, struggling with the remaining scrap pieces covering his little shelter. The first one to curse at him was blue and orange colored, with a smaller frame but bigger feet. The second was red and black with a seeker like design. They didn't look dangerous though, despite the curses and shouts of surprise. Perhaps that meant the coast was clear. Besides, he knew they weren't Decepticons and that was the only thing that mattered to him at the moment.

"I… um… is it over? Is it safe to come back out?" he asked, and poked his head out. Both mechs just continued to stare at him like he was some alien experiment or a sideshow freak. It was amazing that anyone had survived the raid. The only reason they did was because they were under the city in the catacombs. Ruse had to poke the black and white mech just to make sure he was real. Several times.

The fledgling squirmed, "Cut that out, will ya? No more pokin' at me." He dusted off his armor with a scowl on his face as he pulled himself out of the hole. Apparently these two weren't going to help much at all.

Red nudged Blue with an elbow, his gaze still focused wryly on the fledgling.

"I, uh, think it's alive, Jive."

"I think you're right, Ruse.

"So what do we do with it?"

"Duel?"

"Duel."

"Duel!" Blue and red mech turned around simultaneously, and shouted the same thing. The poor confused fledgling covered his audio and winced. These two were loud! On command another mech came over but this one was much bigger than the two he had already met.

"Is this something Spades will want, ya think?" The red one cackled to the big green mech. Big green shoved him and came up closer to him, eyeing him in the same fashion Red and Blue did. He suddenly felt like he was an animal on display, like they were sizing him up.

Circling a few times, Green stopped in front of him. "No, but I bet we could use him. He's young, good strong frame- I bet he'd be good t' have round. What's your name, kid?"

"M-my name? Who are y'? I aint tellin' ya anything, till you tell me who you guys are an' what happened." The young one took a few steps back from the trio. He wasn't sure who they were, or what they wanted but they were a little too close to him at the moment. Not to mention they were such fast talkers. It was like they were trying to plan his life in all of the matter of a few minutes.

"Kinda obvious what happened, don'tcha think?" Jive spoke up, standing back up again. "City's gone, kid. You're lucky t' be alive. First one we found still kickin' too. Lots of people fled after th' raid."

The fledgling's head, slunk down to his chest plate with a depressing clunk. Hopefully his creator was one of the ones who made it out of the city but for some reason, he doubted it. If he made it out, he would have taken him out too. No way would he have left him all alone like this- he loved his creation, didn't he? He wouldn't have fled without taking care of him first…

Ruse nudged Jive to shut him up, seeing the fledgling's face droop. Jive didn't usually pick up on sensitive issues. In fact, he always shot his mouth off before thinking too much about it. Not to say he wasn't sensitive… he just wasn't empathic. "Er… look, kid. My name's Ruse, this sorry mistake over here's my brother Jive," he indicated the blue mech and then to the big green one. "And that's Duel, he aint too friendly t' anybody, so don't take it personally."

Duel nodded, lowering his gaze to the short black and white mech, "And you're just what we been lookin' for. See, we need a few able body mech's round and you fit the tab."

"What he means t' say," Jive interrupted, "is we could use a little help see. We were all kinda down on our luck so we kinda banded together. Y' got a creator er something'?"

The fledgling shook his head sadly, "I don't know what happened to him- got separated from 'im during all the runnin' and screamin'."

"Great!" Jive came up behind him and through an arm over his shoulder. "Not in the sense that it's great y' lost yer creator or anything, but-"

"Yeah shut up, Jive. You aint helping." Ruse came up to the other side of the black and white, tossing his arm over his other shoulder. "What he means to say, is it's gunna be great adding you to the team. What's your name again?"

"Jazz. M'name's-"

"Got it, you're Jazz." Jive interrupted again. "So welcome to the group- comes with a free gift too! Sorry we're outta wind chimes at the moment, but new shipment's coming in next week-"

"Jive?"

"Yeah Ruse?"

"Shut the slag up."

"Yes, Ruse."

OOooOOooOO