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With the Nemesis's hallways abandoned in the wake of some sort of rally on the lower deck, Jazz and Mirage nearly had the run of the place. Only security cameras and an easily distracted Conehead laid between them and their destination.
::This's Starscream's new hab?::
Mirage took a moment to respond, probably glancing away from Decepticon watch to see the door Jazz indicated. ::Correct.::
Starscream's door had a stupid amount of security. Manually hacking the locks would require a deep dive into the code - and while Starscream certainly wrote more janky code than Soundwave, the sheer quantity of it was enough to make entry dangerously tedious. Or, it would, if Jazz hadn't managed to swipe some of the Nemesis's master passwords last visit. No getting caught in the hall today, no sir. The first two passwords made the lock beep rejection at him and threaten to contact Starscream. Jazz wracked his processor, made a quick judgment call, and poked in a third password at random. The panel flashed acceptance and Jazz finally released the air from his vents in a sigh.
The door slid open, revealing a fragging disaster zone of a lab instead of a habsuite. ::Watch your step. Starscream's already managed to trash the place,:: Jazz said.
::Acknowledged.::
They stepped around piles of scrap sheet metal and over the unorganized power cords trailing across the floor. Doodads and datapads littered the mismatched tables. It looked like Screamer had just shoved all the stuff from his old place in here without a second thought.
::There.:: Mirage pointed out the target: a blocky, gunlike prototype, more complete than any of the other projects scattered around. That must have been the new doomsday weapon the Cons had lorded over their helms. Mirage took image captures of the blueprints with those fancy optics of his as Jazz swiped them. Some sort of ray gun? The ridiculous power draw on this thing apparently required a whole separate power supply.
Their free rein ended all too soon. Someone outside the room abandoned all stealth and stomped up outside the door. Jazz glanced around for an exit and, failing that, busied himself with looking like he wasn't foiling anyone's plans. Mirage fizzled into invisibility.
The door slid open behind them. For a moment, Jazz wondered if maybe slamming open a pivoting door would be more appropriately dramatic.
"You!" Starscream shouted, pointing at Jazz. "What do you think you're doing here?" His null ray whined with latent charge.
"Just taking a look-see. Don't worry about it." Jazz leaned casually against the table.
Starscream hissed. "Really. Did you think I wouldn't notice a trespasser in my lab? And what are you actually doing?"
Jazz restrained himself from answering either question without having a snappy comeback ready. And what a shame it was, but Mirage took that moment to spectacularly trip over something. He flickered in and then back out of vision. Screamer's optics visibly snapped over to the disruption. "You too?!"
Jazz took it as his cue to subspace the ray gun.
"You fraggers!" Caught between two targets, Starscream shot at the visible one. Jazz ducked behind a table. "Give that back, you infernal Autobot!"
"No can do!" Jazz popped up to shoot back. Starscream jerked out of the doorway; Mirage slipped out after the blaster bolt. Jazz and Starscream circled rapidly, trading ineffective shots until Jazz too neared the door and ducked outside.
Mirage threw an electric smoke canister into the workshop. The smoke crackled; as he took off, Jazz heard the pop of something shorting out and the crashing of a mech falling over.
Starscream screeched after them. "Shoot the Autobots!"
Jazz turned the corner and a wide-eyed Seeker froze in his path. He ducked underneath a wing and raced on, the Seeker stumbling to turn around. They sprinted to one of the airlocks without any other company. Tapping into the door only took a moment. Jazz dove through the forcefield and into the ocean with a whoop.
The water-muffled pop of teleportation signaled Skywarp's arrival behind them. Jazz got a good view of him reaching into the airlock just as Mirage flipped the manual lever and jumped out, visible once again. Skywarp's "Hey-!" cut off with a yelp and the crunch of metal as the door snapped shut on him. Mirage turned a glare on Jazz.
::Keep it down, would you,:: Mirage griped.
::Aww, but you wouldn't have got to shut a 'Con in a door.::
::Believe it or not, sometimes I prefer an uneventful exit.::