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Ever since he was brought online, it had been Jazz’s dream to join the Cybertron Elite Guard. Having been built during the war, he’d only ever heard stoeies of peace, but he’d wanted so badly to experience it for himself. If he could join the Elite Guard, he could help bring the war to an end faster. And imagine, getting to work with Ultra Magnus, getting to walk anywhere and hold his head high knowing that you are among the best of the best. On the front lines, battle after battle, Jazz showed that he was one of th emost skilled Cyber-Ninjas there was, taking down Decepticon after Deceopticon. But still, he was not promoted to the Elite Guard.
The war continued to drag on. Battle after battle, loss adter loss, stellar cycle after stellar cycle. More Autobots were drafted to fight, more civilians made to manufacture weapons and munitions, more freedoms sacrificed to maintain security. Jazz tried to remain hopeful and optimistic. Despair was almost as dangerous an enemy as the Decepticons. But watching your friends and comrads be shot down in droves had a way of dampening even the brightest of spirits. Still, Jazz held on to his dreams of peace and the Elite Guard.
When the end of the war finally came, Jazz celebrated alongside everyone, dancing, singing, partying, and watching the victory parades march through the streets of Iacon. As long as he was with others, he could smile and laugh. But in the quiet moments, when he was by himself, he couldn’t ward off the grief, the horrible memories. If this was what peace was, it wasn’t everything he had dreamed it would be.
With time, the grief subsides, though it never truly went away. Stellar cycles after the end of the war, Jazz finally got the promotion into the Elite Guard that he had wanted. He had thoroughly proven himself worthy of it during the war. And with several members retiring now that they could be certain the Decepticons were gone, they needed new bots to take their places. It would be an honor to work with Ultra Magnus and to get to call himself a member of the Elite Guard. And he would likely be doing very little fighting now that the war was over, so he wasn’t sacrificing his personal peace to join. Besides, joining the Elite Guard had always been his dream. So, he joined the Elite Guard. And he tried to ignore the strange numbness he felt.
Ultra Magnus had been polite when welcoming Jazz to the Elite Guard, but ‘polite’ was about as close as he ever got to ‘friendly’. Ultra Magnus, as a rule, was stern and cold. Jazz knew better than to expect to be best friends with the Magnus, but he couldn’t help but feel as though Ultra Magnus’s gaze held constant scrutiny. Still, Jazz couldn’t help but empathize. He knew Ultra Magnus, like him, had seen so many bots go offline in battle. He had also been the one to send all those Autobots to their deaths, something Jazz could tell weight heavily on him. He had been the one to choose to restrict everyone’s freedoms during the war; had to be the one to compromise on morals in return for safety. Jazz had the sense that Ultra Magnus was a broken bot. Just like him.
Jazz had been excited to meet Sentinel Prime when he had been brought into the Elite Guard. He’d read up on Sentinel’s record, he knew that he had the training to have earned his position. Whe Jazz met Sentinel, the new Prime had seemded almost nervous to be around the other Elite Guard members, like he was unsure of his place there. So, Jazz tried to be friendly and show him that he was welcome. That seemed to bring Sentinel out of his shell and help him feel more confident. Sentinel was certainly more open than Ultra Magnus was, which was something Jazz could appreciate.
On paper, the three of them - Ultra Magnus, Jazz, and Sentinel Prime - should have made the perfect team. Ultra Magnus was a strong, wise, and effective leader; Jazz was an accomplished soulder and Cyber-Ninja; and Sentinel Prime was a skilled and always-vigilant Prime. They were the Elite Guard. This was what Jazz had dreamed of.
And yet, as time passed, Sentinel Prime seemed to become more arrogant and more combattive with those he viewed as beneath him. Even though Ultra Magnus clearly disapproved, he said nothing. It seemed easier to just be permissive. Jazz, however, didn’t like to stand by and do nothing as his fellow Elite Guard was so unpleasant to everyone. So he tried to gently tell Sentinel to cool it. Sentinel never seemed to listen.
Jazz doesn’t know when he began to turn out everything Sentinel said that wasn’t an order. He doesn’t know when working with Sentinel became a daily chore, when ‘working with Sentinel’ became ‘dealing with Sentinel’. He doesn’t know when he gave up on Sentinel ever becoming a better person. (He doesn’t know when being in the Elite Guard stopped being worth it.)
All he can say, in hindsight, is that it all started to add up and wear him down. Sentinel’s constant disrespect towards everyone, his arrogance, the fact that he could never listen to anyone else, not even for a single astrosecond. Jazz’s buried frustrations at Ultra Magnus for not doing anything about it. It all seemed to add up faster after their first visit to Earth. Sentinel was intensely rude and aggressive towards Optimus Prime and his crew: good bots who had done nothing to warrant such treatment. He was also incredibly prejudiced against humand and their customs, repeatedly making a fool of himself. Neither Sentinel nor Ultra Magnus entertained the idea that Optimus may be right, that there might still be Decepticons on Earth. They’d nearly given Megatron free reign of the planet. Jazz watched in dismay as Sentinel’s paranoia worsened, even going so far as to try to arrest Optimus and his crew under suspicion of working with Wasp and betraying the Autobots. (As ridiculous a notion as that is.) Sentinel even ended up working with a bounty hunter, one who’d previously worked for the Decepticons, to capture Decepticons on Earth and then lied and tried to take sole credit for the captures. Jazz hadn’t believed Sentinel was greasy enough to do that, and yet he didn’t find himself surprised to be wrong about that.
And then they’d received news that Ultra Magnus had been attacked by Shockwave, who had been disguised as an Autobot, Longarm Prime. Something Optimus and his crew had tried to warn them about. Cliffjumper had claimed that Ultra Magnus was in recovery, but Jazz knew the Elite Guard and Ultra Magnus well enough to know that might be a lie intended to keep them from panicking. Jazz watched as Sentinel Prime spiralled further into paranoia and aggression after receiving this news. And into ambition and an obsession with power and control. And now, Ultra Magnus wasn’t there to outrank him and temper this obsession.
Jazz can’t say when being in the Elite Guard stopped being worth it, but he can say when he realized it. Sentinel had given him the order to fly their ship at full speed which would burn through all their fuel. Jazz had pushed back as he had so many times before. Well, Sentinel had found that unacceptable. His words still rang in Jazz’s head. Just do what you’re told, Autobot! And the next time you fail to address me as ‘sir’ or ‘commander’, you will find yourself in the brig with the Decepticons! Is that clear?
Maybe that was why Jazz couldn’t bring himself to be surprised by Sentinel firing on Omega Supreme or calling for the arrest of Ratchet. Maybe that was why Jazz had trailed Ratchet and the human instead of reporting their whereabouts to Sentinel Prime. Maybe that was why he was now about to go through the spacebridge to Earth and leave behind the Elite Guard entirely. Now two-decacycle notice, no formal resignation, no word about quitting. Just silently leaving. Sentinel wanted him to stay quiet instead of disagreeing with him. Well, he would remain quiet, alrught, and not say a word to Sentinel. Sorry, S.P., but it’s just not worth it anymore.