I kid you not, this was inspired by EMINEM 'Without me". This is an intended Shockblurr fick BUT since Shockwave is not in picture yet - I did not want to add misleading tags.

...Guess who's back,

Back again…

...Guess who's back, tell a friend...

A bright blue alt whizzed down the busy road. Sleek and agile it slipped between the rows of heavy construction bots standing in the traffic jam. Much to annoyance of bigger bots who just wanted to get on with their day but were constricted by their size.

-"Heey!"

Teasingly Blurr winked his backlights at the mech who had hailed him and kept on weaving his way through the thick traffic. Some earthen song accelerated exactly 1.25 times without any quality loss was blasting on his internal speakers. A gift from Blaster who had made an entire collection of remixed songs for him to listen to during his recuperation in the medical ward. To say that they had lifted his mood was an understatement, they had practically roused him from medical stasis and the fact that Blaster had bothered making something specially for him, everyone else had also pitched in - providing the material for him to work with, all in all was incredibly considerate and sweet.

...Now this looks like a job for me,

so everybody, just follow me…

...'Cuz it feels so empty without me…

He hummed merrily along the lines, most of the content went above his processor - too many human-isms but he still enjoyed the rhythm and the expressive chanting. Also it gave him ideas.

For one, he did not wish to continue in spec ops - too many bad memories and he wished dearly to do something else with his life now that he had literally been given the second chance. The resignation letter was bumping reassuringly on the pad in his subspace.

Decepticons had sustained some heavy losses, and sooner or later, he hypothesized, his position would have become obsolete anyway. No way was he going to be stuck in an office pushing papers, they had Cliffjumper for that and Long…. He stopped himself there and switched the music a little louder.

...Well I'm back,

Na-na-na-na-na-na….

Fix your bent antenna and tune it in...

He was not there yet, still having bad fluxes every once and again, still experiencing phantom aches, but he was going to be alright, he was going to be OK. Maybe not today, but someday, he was sure. He had enough credits saved on his account in addition to the fact that the repairs and upgrades were performed in accordance to work-induced trauma act, hence, cost him nothing.

...A visionary, a vision of scary...

He finally reached his destination - the command center. The guard at the door looked at him warily when he pinged his ID.

...You don't know me you're too old,

It's over, nobody listens to techno …

The alt did not really fit the previous description and neither did the taller, sturdier frame. No wonder, together with the restoration he had also gone for a mild frame upgrade - still aerodynamic and lightweight but now with more coverage - partially to hide scars, partially for having a little bit of something new. The main elements remained however - the swept-back helm, the sensor-antenna, the foot-wheels and the trademark color scheme. He was still Blurr, maybe a little more mature, maybe a little less hasty, definitely ready for a change.

-"Just pause call pause Prime. He pause is expecting pause me."

He tapped his toe-piece checking once more that the datapad was in place. Luckily the guard understood him from first attempt, and went about his business. Ah, the blessed ping of clearance.

-"Welcome back, Blurr, Sir, please wait in the main hall, you will be picked up there."

Not for long , Blurr thought and smirked at the guard as he strolled in. Step-pause, step-pause, holding the rhythm of the music. He needed the confidence, he needed to look convinced, he needed out and was quite certain not everybody would be OK with that.

The command looked like it always had, he almost felt like he had traveled back in time. Same halls, maybe a couple new faces.

-"Hey mech, lookin' good! Nice seeing you on your own two feet!"

Blurr smiled at the approaching black and white mech. -"Hey yourself, not much for redecorating are you?"

Jazz shrugged, -"Not all changes gotta be external."

Did Blurr know that, he fell in step behind Jazz. -"I guess you are my escort for now."

-"Mmm, heard you were planning to quit."

-"Not going to try to talk me out of it?"

Jazz gave him a long look. -"After what ya've been through… I think ya've gone above and beyond duty."

Blurr shrugged -"Just extremely lucky." He did not want to be treated like some kind of hero, he did not consider himself one. They stopped, having reached the conference room. Before entering Blurr turned to Jazz.

-"Anything I should know about?"

-"Too late for that now, mech." Jazz smirked as the doors opened before them.

The conference room was in an uproar. Temporarily stunned Blurr took a step back and bumped into Jazz.

-"This was not the 'welcome back' party I anticipated."

-"'Cuz it ain't. Or if it is, the 'cons have done extra effort to join in."

Blurr felt his spark chamber fill with ice. His face pulled into a sour grimace, he knew he would be expected to join as part of spec-ops and since he had not yet filed his resignation officially…

-"Welcome back soldier! Ready for your mission?"

Sentinel...Blurr was about to say where he could stick his mission but Jazz intervened.

-"I believe Blurr has an announcement."

-"No time for announcements! The decepticon high command has been broken out of Trypticon of all places, we have serious security leaks and we need every able-bodied agent on field!"

Blurr sighed, it Should have mattered more to him but he felt strangely removed from the entire clamor. He took it as a sign that he had taken the right decision. He was tired of fighting, of deception, lies, constantly putting his spark on line. With an apologetic glance at Jazz out of all mecha he took his datapad out of subspace and handed it to Sentinel. -"Sure, sir, I just need you to sign my clearance for me."

Without looking, his superior did just that. The speedster could see a smile tugging at corner of Jazz's mouth. With a small vent, Blurr placed the pad on the commanding officer's desk and turned to leave.

-"Just where do you think you are going agent?! The mission briefing is in 3 clicks."

-"I believe I am no longer authorized to attend that meeting, Sir." Blurr replied with a deadpan expression.

-"Nonsense, Now get your aft there before I drag you by the skidplate."

-"Sir, I believe Blurr might have a point there." Jazz piped, still remaining diplomatic as ever.

-"I have no time for this, I just signed his clearance papers!" Sentinel looked justifiably frustrated.

-"If I may, you might want to take a second look at them, Sir." Blurr stepped up, retaining his calm exterior, no more ranting, nobody took ranting mecha seriously.

Time seemed to still for Blurr, his focus aimed at Sentinel's prominent facial expressions - frown at actually reading the text, confusion, realization, outrage. The datapad sailed past the blue speedster and shattered against the wall.

-"You are NOT allowed to leave when we need every able-bodied agent!"

-"I believe I am allowed to resign whenever I choose to according to the labor act amendment 39A..."

It took Sentinel a moment to pull up the law Blurr had referred to but when he did, he actually smiled -"Well, it Has to be approved by me first!"

-"And it was."

-"Without me knowing! Furthermore since the agreement had unfortunately perished in an accident it will have to be approved again and it will not."

Without missing a beat Blurr unsubspaced another pad. -"I copied it to the data cloud and it is now available on every datapad I possess. I promise to let you read it again if you will refrain from damaging my property and I also believe you will have to compensate me for the one you just broke."

Sentinel contorted his face into a pleased smile. -"No wonder you were one of the best agents we had, quick and bright. You sure you want to squander your skills doing who knows what?"

Oh, now he was flattering him? If anything, that cemented Blurr's resolve -"Completely, Sir."

-"You know that once you go civilian you will lose all the protection you used to have. All 'cons in the city will go after you."

-"I believe my previous job was quite similar to what you describe."

-"Fine, but do not expect me to take you back in when slag hits fan."

-"Certainly."

Blurr left, or rather, was kicked out of the conference room. Out of all occasions of being kicked out of somewhere this was probably the most joyful one. Jazz trailed after him into the lobby.

-"Hate to agree with Sentinel here but he is right about going civilian, have you considered it?"

Blurr shrugged. -"I was not a civilian when I got all close and personal with a trash compactor, I think I will manage."

-"Stay in touch, will you?" Jazz did not sound convinced but neither did he insist,

-"Sure!"

I wanted to see more of competent Blurr. So here we go.