Title: Everything You Never Wanted

Author: AotA
Rating: K
Warnings: None
Characters: Jazz, Soundwave, Prowl
Setting: Bayverse
Summary: Jazz is on vacation, and takes to opportunity to go to a parade when he spots Soundwave and decides to tag along with the large mech. What happens after… he wishes didn't.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.
Notes: Probably a one-shot. Maybe two.

Jazz perched on the edge of a wall from his higher vantage point so that he could watch the parade, occasionally making faces as the columns of preprogrammed mechs marched passed by in lockstep, every single one of their movements perfectly in match to the mech to all sides of them. He had always thought of preprogrammed mechs as positively eerie. Like this they were positively creepy. Everything about them was the same. Uniform.

When the columns of preprogrammed mechs finally ended, the military mechs picked up. They were less in step than the preprogrammed mechs, but frankly, trying to make real mechs act like preprogrammed ones was idiotic in Jazz's opinion, not to mention self-defeating. They were strong because of their differences. Jazz smiled, but then his optics caught sight of a large mech moving along the edge of the crowd.

~Hey! Soundwave!~ Jazz tossed him his coordinates over a comm and waved when the comms mech looked his way.

~Jazz,~ Soundwave acknowledged in his perfunctory manner.

~Can you wait there for a click?~ Jazz asked, already sighting his path through the looming mechs so that he could get to Soundwave.

~Yes.~

~Awesome,~ Jazz said as he dropped to the ground and began wending his way through larger and smaller mechs. He didn't stop moving until he was practically pressed up against Soundwave's side because of the crush of the crowd, "Mind if I ask for a lift?"

Soundwave just offered his arm silently and Jazz wasted no time clambering up to latch onto the mech's back. "Thanks, mech. Got anywhere to be right now? 'Cause I think I've had just about enough of the parade." They were already moving, so it was a reasonable question.

"Destination: staging area."

"Huh? Why?" Jazz asked.

"Cassette Ravage: curious."

Jazz laughed, "He wander off again? I swear, half the times I see you, you're trying to find him after he's vanished."

Soundwave appeared forlorn for a moment, but only because Jazz knew him as well as he did, "Statement: true."

Jazz patted him on the shoulder that he could reach consolingly, "Hey, he's young. Like you said, he's curious. He'll learn."

Soundwave's head turned slightly towards Jazz instead of the direction they were heading in and said dryly, "Probability of occurrence: very low."

Jazz snickered, "Hey, just trying to help, mech."

Soundwave broke his usual speech patterns and enunciated even more clearly than normal, "Do not."

"Fine," Jazz mock pouted, but they had already arrived at the gate to the staging area and were stopped by one of the security mechs that were keeping a general perimeter around it.

"Where is your pass?" the bulky mech demanded.

"Lost cassette: within staging area," Soundwave told him.

"Uh huh," he said skeptically, "And what does your 'lost cassette' look like?" It looked like one too many mechs had tried to get in already.

Jazz piped up before the mech could get riled up, "Small, lots of black, quadruped design. He looks kinda like a cyber-wolf, just not as nasty in temperament and a worse dose of curiosity than a turbo-fox."

"And who are you supposed to be?" he asked, giving the silver mech a jaundiced optic.

"I'm this mech's better half of course!" Jazz offered a grin and patted Soundwave's stiff shoulder, then whispered conspiratorially, "The half that actually talks."

"Fine," The unnamed mech gave a snort, "Whatever. Just get in and get out. I've had enough dealing with your ilk all orn." He stumped off, grumbling.

Jazz and Soundwave watched him go. "What just happened?" Jazz asked quizzically.

"Unknown," Soundwave replied.

"Alright then," Jazz just decided to go with it, "One obstacle down, however many more to go. Got a bead on Ravage?"

"Location: center of area."

"Joy," Jazz said, "Off we go. Faithful steed."

"…Jazz…"

The silver mech grinned at provoking what was as close to annoyance as he ever heard from Soundwave.

And they went.

When they did finally spot the feline cassette, he was in the midst of a milling crowd of Enforcer models. Jazz tried to hold back his engrained shudder, preprogrammed mechs. Ugh. He lowered his visor.

Oddly, when they got a clearer view, it looked like some of the Enforcers were… playing a game with Ravage?

Huh?

That made no sense to Jazz.

Soundwave didn't even break step though and called through the crowd, "Cassette Ravage: come."

Jazz saw a shockwave ripple through the crowd of the preprogrammed mechs and there was a subtle shift. It was less subtle in the mechs that had been playing with the cassette though. Fledgling emotions, open and pure, were wiped from their faces and they practically snapped to attention compared to the relatively relaxed postures that they had held before.

Now they looked like the bunch of drones that creeped him out so much.

Ravage, looking for all Cybertron like a reprimanded sparkling, slowly crept toward Soundwave, tail and head hanging penitently.

"Ravage: return. Punishment: discuss later."

Ravage mutely bobbed his head and jumped into Soundwave's hand, shifting into his smaller, pod-like form. Soundwave deposited the cassette into his chest cavity, one made specifically to carry cassettes, and straightened up. There was a bit of shifting among the Enforcer contingent before one mech, completely indistinguishable from another, popped out, holding the… thing, they had been using to play with Ravage. The mech offered it up, "Here, sir. Ravage's ball."

Soundwave looked at the ball for a moment before accepting the tiny thing, gripping it between his large fingers and subspacing it.

There was another shifting in the crowd, but this time, Jazz felt a faint echo in his spark. His frame seized up. No…

Jazz's claws dug into Soundwave's armor. The echo faded, then returned. No. Fragging. Way.

After a moment, the echo strengthened and with growing horror, Jazz found his optics scanning the crowd of identical mechs, following the lure on his spark. Please, Primus no. Not this.

His optics fell on one Enforcer, no more remarkable than the next. Just as stiff. Just as expressionless. Just the same as all the others. His sparkmate… was an Enforcer. A preprogrammed mech.

Jazz wanted to scream and rage against Primus. He wanted to cry his betrayal to the heavens. Instead he did nothing but gouge his claws deeper into Soundwave's armor as they left. His spark burned with pain as the echo lapped against it.

He didn't know what to do.