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JAZZ LOVERS OF THE WORLD... do YOU want to read an epic pre-canon deep dive into Jazz's character which explores how, exactly, the master saboteur became a spy??? Do you like hijinks, complicated spy plotlines, found family trope, and SPACE OPERA??? Do you appreciate a banging fic playlist??? If so... Transposition is for you.

Fic Summary:

“How can you laugh, in times like these? When you can see just how fragged up the world is?” Jazz frowned, and finished up the hack-job he was doing welding the other mech’s mesh together. It would hold, and keep him alive, but he’d need to see someone else to get the damage checked out… particularly if he was a dockworker, as the Enforcers had implied. “You want to change the world ‘cause you’re tired of seeing the people around you suffer. You want peace. That’s what everyone wants— and yet, when push comes to shove, we keep humming the same miserable tune we were given when we were forged. Whether you’re ‘transgressive’ or a toneless follower, most choose to add to that bitter status quo. Even those of us who claim to fight to ‘end’ suffering.” Jazz saw that Orion was not following, and sighed. “What are you fighting for, Orion?" … After Jazz suffers an injury in-field, he's forced to learn to navigate an entirely new kind of battle as a new, somewhat untrained saboteur, struggling with his ability to adjust to the reduced functionality in his leg & a crew consisting mostly of shut-in scientists and new recruits. Beginning of the war, pre-canon."

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"

  “You only say this because you’re too much of a coward to ever give up on your pride and apologize. You dismiss my sacrifices as beneath you, like always. In my position, you would crumble, better leader or no.” 

      Starscream laughs. 

      “ Princes don’t beg— nor do any deserving leaders. They simply rule. I do not ‘fear’ apologizing so much as I consider it an ineffective means to an end. However, for your benefit, allow me to prove you wrong.” Starscream points an accusatory digit in Megatron’s direction. “I am sorry that I ever allowed you to make me feel like I was nothing! I am sorry that I followed you to the Pits and back, wasted MY life on your scrapheap nonsense, ESPECIALLY when I consider that it was not only my time that you wasted… but that of my sisters. Most of all, I am truly sorry every time I catch myself acting as conceited, paranoid, and needlessly violent as you… because it’s humiliating.” 

      Starscream turns and walks away without another word. He wasn’t wasting a single moment longer on Megatron; it was pointless. His vision was going blurry and dark, again, but he knew his grounds well enough to make his way through them blind. 

     “Starscream—” 

      “I’m serious about shutting up and letting your actions speak louder than your words , you rusted bucket of bolts!” Starscream shouts back, not turning to look at him. “Don’t take this as an invitation to show up tramping dirt all over my new life, either! ‘Apologize’ by FRAGGING OFF and leaving me alone!” 

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/60945409/chapters/159314033

Chapter 18 Sneak-Peek:

"

  That night, inevitably, Hashtag insists that they catch up on the Cats in Space: Civil War franchise, as it “saved their lives” and is an “absolute classic deserving of its acclaim .” Normally, Starscream would protest— but there was something in the quiet resignation in Hashtag’s tone when she mentioned that she’d not had the chance before … that really got to him . The choice had been taken from her, unfairly, and it was such a small thing that he couldn’t help but want to fix it. 

        Wheeljack helped them rig up the technology to manage such a herculean task, but (wisely) made his excuses to retreat into the cabin’s workshop in lieu of watching nearly six full megacycles of Earthen television. Starscream sucks it up, valiantly, and doesn’t even make fun of the wretched, brightly colored furballs… regardless of his natural inclinations. 

        By the time they load up the (equally wretched, and illegally pirated) sequel, Hashtag’s muted fascination intensifies considerably. She has no less than 4 separate datapads out at once, to most effectively take notes on every element and detail of the show, and mutters under her breath at every odd aspect of the developing plot. 

        Starscream decides that his mistake was in not paying enough attention to his literature courses back at the Institute, because he can’t fathom what symbolism this movie must possess which would warrant this level of notation. He glares at the kittens with all the spite in his spark, as if attempting to mug them on the street for their literary significance.  

        His datapad pings, softly, and he diverts his attention to it for a moment. When he recognizes the format, he lets out a soft ventilation of surprise. That had been quick. Starscream begins to skim over the content, frowning slightly."

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What ES Optimus Prime does instead of defending justice and peace (he's the PR guy now and G.H.O.S.T is doing rlly bad numbers on the Autobots.... he's gotta post a tiktok about it hold awn)

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whenever I lose my faith in humanity there will be some tender comment on ao3 and I feel like there’s still light in the fallen world

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    “So, if you could choose an Earthen biome to live in, which one would you pick and what ecological factors would influence that decision?” Skywarp asks Elita, seeming to have decided that the statute of limitations was up on her last order to shut up. 

        For a moment, Starscream thinks the Autobot isn’t going to dignify the question with a response. 

        “I’d choose the Arctic, because there aren’t any irritating people there.” Elita forces out, eventually. 

        Skywarp tsks. 

        “Then, I’d just choose ‘the Arctic’ too, to make your lazy-aft choice and reasoning completely invalid. You can think of a better answer than that!” Skywarp complains. 

        “ Fine .” Elita snaps. “I’d choose the bottom of the Mariana Trench, as it’s also devoid of life, and because you wouldn’t want to go there.” 

        “Why not? Sounds awfully dark, but that’d be alright. I’m radiant enough.” Skywarp pauses. “ Also , the Mariana Trench has above-average levels of microbial life, as well as amoeboid protists and crustaceans.” 

        “You wouldn’t like it because Seekers don’t like getting their wings wet, and it’s a horrible place to live.” 

        “Where’d you hear that from? That’s… oddly specific information to have.” 

        “I’m a professional!” Elita responds, tersely. “Sorry, do you not research your enemies’ weaknesses before engaging with them?” 

        “I am my enemies’ weaknesses… because I rock.” Skywarp turns to glare at Starscream, when he scoffs at that. “Anything more would just be overkill. Anyways… me and my wings would be just fine in the Mariana trench because I would be inside a submarine like a normal person.” 

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just started using twitter to post about tf and my fics at @sparkysheep414

... nervous bc I've never really used it before, but my twitter loving beta reader put me up to it.

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bring back tumblr ask culture let me. bother you with questions and statements

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“Well… I’ll still be visiting the Maltos semi-regularly to do routine checks on Aftermath, but that was already a fairly frequent occurrence either way. Now that my house is— a little less full, we can really get into working on PT. Uh… not enough to disrupt your work on the cure, of course. If that’s the reason you look nervous, there’s no reason to be!” Wheeljack announces, cheerfully.

       “How lovely.” Starscream mutters, sarcastically. 

       Wheeljack snorts. 

       “Yeah, yeah . I know that you hate it, but physical therapy is important if you want a chance at getting back in the air again.” He checks one of his clocks, and then lets out a low curse. “… alrighty, well, I’ve lost track of time. If you don’t mind, the house is going to explode if I don't get back into the lab to defuse one of my inventions. Rest up, because we’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow, alright?” 

       Starscream nods, mutely, and stares out the window until night falls in earnest. He misses the sky, fervently, but after what happened last time— perhaps it was better not to test his luck. The house doesn’t explode, so it’s safe to assume that the invention’s battery was either faulty … or that Wheeljack was successful in his endeavor."

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I heard y'all like low effort memes ... you'll neveeeer guess who ditches his new best buddy in chapter 16 of radius of action (chapter pending)

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/60945409/chapters/158707498

Chapter 15 Sneak-Peak:

Dorothy gives them a wary glance on her way to work— the meaning of her look is clear. ‘Frag up, and I’ll pin your wings to the community outreach bulletin in the Wildlife Center.’ Skywarp salutes, in response, dentae bared in a friendly grin. If ‘Dot’ wanted to scare her, that wasn’t going to work… the three of them had been laughing off threats of annihilation for millions of stellar cycles. 

Bumblebee’s parting messages are much more verbose, and friendly, though his concern is also clear in his tone and the way his doorwings keep jerking up and down as he speaks, like a particularly excitable fledgling. 

Nova Storm is immensely amused by this, by the way her optics keep darting up and down, tracking the motion. Skywarp sighs, and straightens her posture out intentionally— nudging Nova Storm through the bond, to remind her that they were working professionals, frag it, and they were not here to laugh at how goofy the Autobots could look at times. 

“… um, sorry for rambling, that was probably unnecessary. Just… thank you, so much, for this! You’ll comm HQ if there’s any complications, right?” Bumblebee sighs. “I am… really not used to giving up my students, I must admit, and that’s my bad. I imagine my messages from earlier may have come off a little… stern. Starscream likely explained the situation on his own, I’m sure.” 

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/60945409/chapters/158407774

Chapter Sneak-Peek:

The door clatters open, behind the two of them. 

“I forgot my stupid tiny human wallet, again, and I only remembered halfway to the—” Breakdown stops speaking, in the middle of his sentence, and his vocalizer lets out a mild squeak of terror. “—yeah, no, that’s fine, I’ll just steal.” 

He then attempts to exit just as quickly as he had entered the building. 

“No, you will NOT! Go retrieve your wallet and get out of here, you coward!” Starscream picks up a chunk of scrapped wires conveniently near his hospital berth and chucks it at the front door. The wires ‘thunk’ to the ground with a satisfying amount of theatrics. “You are a DECEPTICON, now ACT like it!” 

Bumblebee snaps out of whatever trance he had been in before, and peels the front door open with considerable force. Breakdown stumbles into the living room, and has the grace to appear abashed. 

“... yeah, I’ll go do that. Thanks, boss.” He lowers his helm, and shuffles towards the stairs down to Wheeljack’s workshop. 

“Hey! Wait— where have you been? We’ve not seen you out scouting with the ‘Cons for ages— even I assumed you’d already run off to Primus-knows-where!” Bumblebee calls after him, walking in the same direction. “What’s up with that?” 

Breakdown’s response is too distant for Starscream to decipher. He scoffs anyway, knowing instinctively that it’s stupid slag, and returns to his work on the cortical psychic patch. 

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This is Starscream of Vos (Transformers) No, I have no other notes.

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“Yeah.” Hashtag shrugs. “Your sisters came to the house to try to thank our Mom for helping you. They gave us a bunch of cases of juvenile frogs? Which was kind of odd. Um… and some kind of military turret for our house which we did not keep. Sorry about that, but it was weird.” 

Starscream snorts.

“They were trying to settle my life-debt by offering up their most prized possessions. I apologize that their idea of ‘treasure’ is so eclectic. Skywarp’s been raising those frogs since we established base… and I imagine Nova Storm simply located the flashiest thing we have in the armory for your mother’s benefit. I can find something more appropriate at a later date.” 

“Oh, no! You didn’t have to do that. In our household, we just… help other people when they need it, and know that we can rely on them to do the same later. You guys have saved our lives a couple of times, anyway… so wouldn’t we owe you?” Hashtag seems somewhat distressed, at the thought. 

“It’s different.” Starscream reassures Hashtag. “Life debts are really a Vosian thing— we express our gratitude in a very regimented, formalized manner. Since exchanges like that weren’t even common in other areas of Cybertron, and Vos doesn’t exist any longer… we don’t expect others to return the gesture. It would be unreasonable, and our continued adherence to etiquette is merely a matter of habit.” 

Hashtag’s optics glint, and she takes out a datapad.“I’m not listening to you. I’m going to win this life debt thing, for sure.”

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/60945409/chapters/157866412

 Nova Storm hated when her patients ran off. She had enough problems with Starscream, during the war— half the time, he’d get himself injured worse than before, trying to get ‘revenge’ the second he came back online. She especially hated it, in this scenario— Drag Strip had never been responsible for saving one of his brother’s lives before… at least, not in the medical sense. 

He nearly snapped under the pressure while they were in surgery. Nova Storm had to knock the sense back into him, because there wasn’t time to be emotional, when it came to family. You had to do your Primus-forsaken job, and shut up about it. 

If she had to halt another surgery to coax her nurse out of a downward spiral a second time, she was going to find Soundwave in whatever hole he’d crawled into and make him eat the slagging pavement. There was no lost love between the two of them, in the first place, and the Stunticons were like family. Nova Storm couldn’t walk ten paces without running into one of them— and they were decent people. They didn’t leave people lying in pools of their own energon to die, or turn their backs on allies on the battlefield precisely when told to by upper management. Like dogs. 

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Starscream fumbles so hard in the next chapter that I am genuinely getting stressed about it like *I* messed up. Get out ur ukelele and start writing a hit song, king, ur gonna need it