Author's Note: Yes, this story has Jazz coming back from the dead. Those of you who are fed up with so many fanfics resurrecting Jazz may say"Get over it, he was killed off. Why are you bringing him back?" To that I say, because I felt like it. The idea of someone having to deal with the emotions of being brought back to life was just too hard to resist writing about. So if anyone is tired of Jazz being brought back and can't get over that enough to read this, please don't read this story. Also, going along with a pretty bizarre theme that I have with my stories, there will be horses and there will be a Doberman. (My aunt's Doberman, who I based Kobe off of in 'Keeping Faith', is now a proud dad and I saw the puppies when they were only four weeks old. So of course the adorable little monsters weaseled into my imagination and my writing).
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of Gloria Gaynor's catchy music..
Prologue
It was a slight tugging at first. Like a notification at the back of his processor begging to be recognized but which he adamantly ignored. Then that annoying little notification became more adamant than he and soon it consumed him. Slowly the tugging sensation shifted and it began developing somewhere in the very core of his spark until it spread outward. The sensation was causing every molecule of his body to become disoriented. He lost all concepts of reasoning and logic and all his memories became hazy until they just slipped away from his grasp.
The only thing he had were words flitting through his audios; different voices begging him to come back in different ways. An exhausted voice that held an extreme sadness that somehow did not overwhelm the determination, a quiet voice that sounded too young to be so seasoned, a gruff voice that was failing in trying to hide the pleading emotions, and finally the weary yet still strong voice which he held in the highest regard. Then there was nothing.
The first thing he realized was that everything seemed granulated and then he noticed the blaring lights that were soon partially blocked by a silhouette. Two blue optics stared down at him, studying him critically. Then the silhouette slid out of view to allow the lights to glare down at him with all of their strength. Words were flitting into his activating audios and even though he recognized the speaker, the words were still too faint for him to register their meaning.
Suddenly his body seized as memories crashed into him. He could hear his structure snapping and being torn apart and the immense pain that went along with it. The sinister voice sneering and mocking at his pain. He activated his battle mask and his arm swiftly formed into his weapon.
"Easy there, Jazz. You're okay now." The voice was reassuring and stern even though it was coming from the other end of his gun. A hand gently pushed the shielded machine gun to the side as if it was nothing but a hand. The reassuring voice continued speaking as Jazz reassembled his clawed hand. Ratchet's form became less granulated and the stern face peered down at Jazz.
"You're back with us now." There was a great amount of pride in Ratchet's voice despite the obvious exhaustion.
"H-ho-how?" Jazz stammered. After a long period of being unused, his vocal processor was not quite producing his voice as it normally would.
"After your sacrifice Sam was able to merge the Allspark into Megatron's chest, overloading Megatron's energy levels. The Allspark was ultimately destroyed save for a shard. The shard re-energized your Spark as soon as I finished repairing your shell."
Too tired to respond, Jazz merely gave an affirmative warble before allowing himself to lay back down on the berth. Ratchet explained that he would be putting Jazz into stasis to allow his systems to become fully acclimated to being on-line again. With just a few minor fixes, it was just a matter of Jazz and his body becoming used to being alive again.
When Jazz was brought out of stasis, Ratchet wasn't alone in his medbay. The CMO was puttering around seemingly for the sake of trying to keep himself busy. After spending so much time obsessing with the resurrection of the lieutenant it was something of a shock to suddenly have nothing at all to do. Watching Ratchet's almost compulsive obsession with the order of things in his makeshift medical bay, Optimus stood to the side with his optics trained on Jazz. When Optimus saw that Jazz recognized being watched the great commander came forward.
"There is no way to express my happiness that one of my greatest soldiers and officers is back with us," Optimus said. Jazz propped himself up on his elbows before sitting fully upright. The movement was slow and tedious but thankfully Ratchet had done his job well; there was virtually no pain.
"I'm glad to be back with you, Optimus," Jazz replied, successfully hiding the hesitancy in saying that. Optimus nodded his head, his facial plates not showing the depth of the concern he felt for his first lieutenant.
"How are you doing?"
"Fair enough considering the last thing I remember is being torn in half." The response was strangely lacking any emotion. It was hard to tell if the mech was being sardonic or humorous. Optimus watched Jazz before briefly glancing at the still puttering Ratchet. When he looked back at the silver mech he had a small smile, a form of expression he had picked up since arriving to Earth.
There are those who are most eager to see you, Optimus sent over a private communication link. Jazz cocked his head slightly and glanced over at Ratchet's back.
I'm for it but I think Ol' Hatchet would fritz out. You of all mechs know how he is with his victims. Optimus couldn't help but let his smile grow at Jazz's last choice of words. The resurrected mech was starting to act like his old self.
You seem to be forgetting who the commanding officer is here.
I wouldn't tell Ratchet that, with the way I've seen him order you around.
At this point the CMO recognized the suspicious silence and faced his patient and commander. He knew that something was being said between them and he had known them for far too long to not have a hint as to what it was.
"For the time being Jazz is restricted to my medbay with soft music and no visitors," Ratchet growled. Optimus looked from Jazz to Ratchet.
"Now I know I'm not the medical officer here, but I would think it would be best for a short visit with those who want to see him." Ratchet full on glowered up at Optimus, aggravated beyond all belief that he was being ordered around in his medbay, even if it was a temporary one.
"Well, considering that Jazz is my patient and not yours I am positive that it would be best for his state of being to reside here without any visitors which does include you, Optimus."
"What of your other charges Ratchet? What of their mental and psychological state of beings? You know very well that they are overwhelmed with concern for Jazz. It wouldn't be very good for them to allow such a large amount of concern to damage them. Especially the humans. It is in fact true that they can worry themselves to ill health." Optimus looked rather smug as Ratchet was a degree from overheating. He glared at his superior but, try as he might, he was unable to come up with a comeback save one.
"Fine. If he overloads then you're the one who gets to repair him."
Jazz watched all of this with a bemused expression, leaning back on the berth on his splayed out claws. It never grew old watching Optimus, and especially Ironhide, butt heads with Ratchet. Of course it was more fun when it was Ironhide because Ratchet knew just what to say to get at the cantankerous weapon's specialist and vice versa. Some things just never changed after being dead for who knows how long. Speaking of which…
"How long was I out for?"
"Exactly one mega-cycle. As always your timing is perfect," Ratchet stated bitterly, more from the fact of being outwitted by Optimus than anything else. Part of Jazz wanted to ask more questions like if they were going to be staying on Earth (assuming that his navigation wasn't malfunctioning and they were still on Earth) and more importantly if they had received words from any fellow Autobots. However the tired, careless part of him just wanted to shoo everyone away so he could back to stasis and realize he hadn't been resurrected.
Slightly surprised by the latter notion, Jazz compromised with himself and decided that he would ask questions after his comrades had come and gone and he had himself a long recharge.
The first out of the visitors in the room was unsurprisingly Bumblebee. The mech poked his grey and yellow head around the medbay's door threshold, his bright blue optics eager. He didn't bother using his by then healed vocal processor because, frankly, he was too excited to see Jazz functioning. The scout took a bounding step into the room before checking himself, looking over at Ratchet with a clearly frightened expression. Ratchet scowled and busied himself without answering Bumblebee's unspoken question. So the young Autobot focused his attention on Optimus, his door wings upright and rigid.
"Permission to enter, sir?"
"Permission granted." With the formalities out of the way Bumblebee practically bounded over to Jazz, chattering away. The lieutenant was amazed that against all odds Bee's vocals were functioning again. But then again miracles do happen. He himself was living proof of that.
While Bee went on to explain all of the happenings that had gone on while Jazz was "gone", as Bee put it, two much smaller figures snuck into the room. They took their places well out of the way while watching the mechs with rapt attention. The pair remained ignored even as Ironhide unceremoniously came into the room, not bothering to get permission from the irked CMO.
The seasoned warrior gently shoved past Bee so that he stood directly in front of Jazz who was still sitting like a good little patient on the berth. Ironhide placed a great hand on what served as Jazz's shoulder, leveling his head so that he looked at him square in the optic.
"If you ever do something as stupid as face Megatron again on your own without me, your aft is mine. Got it?"
"What, mad you missed out on all the fun?" Jazz responded sweetly despite the death grip Ironhide had on his armor. A low growl came from deep inside the bulky black mech before he pulled huffily away.
"Isn't fair that you got some shots in on that glitch and not me, is all." Jazz just let out a rumbling laugh as Ironhide stepped aside, his threat/concern successfully delivered.
It was then that the silent visitors were noticed by Ratchet when they happened to be in the way of his puttering. He used his foot to gently slide them out of his way and toward Jazz.
"Better say something now before I lock all of you out for the next vorn." Taking this as his cue, Bumblebee went over and scooped his two close friends up despite their embarrassed protests.
Sam and Mikaela practically fell over themselves even though Bee deposited them gently on the berth beside Jazz. The two teenagers had had months to get to know and befriend the surviving Autobots, something that they didn't have with Jazz. It was like two little kids at a family reunion, being introduced to their legendary older cousin who they somewhat knew yet were too awed to overcome their shyness. Jazz immediately caught on to their nerves.
"Hey little bitches!" he practically crowed. He eased off of the berth and bent slightly over so he was better able to be on level with the teenagers. "What's crackin'?" This seemed to ease the tension and it showed by the nervous smiles on Sam and Mikaela's faces.
"Nothin' much homie 'cept with you goin' Tupac on us and then gettin' brought back." Mikaela looked over at Sam, who had a very self pleased expression, with incredulously narrowed eyes.
"You watch way too much MTV," she stated. Sam just shrugged his shoulders and hitched a thumb in Bee's direction.
"He's the one who messed with my cable." Bumblebee in turn lifted his grey hands and shrugged his shoulders, baby blue eyes feigning innocence. Rolling her eyes Mikaela turned back to Jazz.
"We're really glad you're back," she said sincerely. Jazz gave an honest smile.
"Glad to be back," he said. Then he turned to Sam who was having a silent argument that involved a lot of pointing, hand movement, and mouthed accusations with Bee about who was to blame about the cable mix up. Sam did a double-take with widened brown eyes and took a hesitant step back from the sudden close proximity of Jazz's face.
"And you, Sam Witwicky. I don't think I can ever show my thanks for having killed Megatron. If it wasn't for you my sacrifice would have been in vain." Sam nodded his head, unable to think of something adequate to respond with. He had never heard Jazz speak in such a serious tone before. Not that he had heard him say anything besides their first meeting in the alley.
Ratchet had finally had enough of the reunion in his medbay. He forcibly shoved his comrades out and gently, yet still managing to be adamant, lifted the humans from the berth before shooing them out the door. After the doors were closed and Ratchet visibly relaxed, Jazz swung back up onto the berth. Jazz couldn't help but to laugh at Ratchet's reaction as Gloria Gaynor's voice echoed along the metal hallway outside, singing over and over choice lyrics from her famous song.
So you're back, from outer space
I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face
Sure, the lyrics weren't exactly what Bee wanted to portray but they got the point across.
Jazz leaned against the hanger door, staring out over the desert landscape made bleak by the angry clouds brewing overhead. There weren't any signs of life for miles around except for the wildlife and handful of military guards that were patrolling the base's perimeter a mile off. The American government had found a place for the Autobots to inhabit and it would remain suitable until more of the Cybertronians arrived. Until then, however, the government was figuring out a more permanent place for them to reside. For the time being, the Autobots were content with their residence and had gone about making it more to their liking.
Sam and Mikaela's families moved into the town closest to the base when they were forced to reveal why the Witwicky family was abducted by the government and then why the two teenagers had gone AWOL for three days. It took Judy Witwicky a good faint before realizing that the Autobots wouldn't harm them and forced her husband to be understanding. Soon after he discovered that the Autobots could transform into high performance vehicles and on top of that make things explode, he gradually got along with them. No matter how long a man had grown from being a boy, they could never resist fast cars and explosions; their inner-child just simply wouldn't allow it. With Mrs. Witwicky it was just the matter that she knew that she had four soldiers looking after her son, hopefully limiting the amount of trouble he got himself into. Mikaela's grandmother, however, was still understandably nervous. She avoided the Autobots altogether except for the courteous wave whenever they came to pick up her granddaughter. The only other member of the Banes family who would know about the Autobots was her father and he wouldn't be introduced until he was out of jail and settled back home.
Jazz was happy that his comrades were getting along in their new home. It showed that perhaps there was hope for his kind. What worried him though was whether there was still hope for him. It was unheard of to bring a spark back from the dead and he still felt like he should be in the Matrix. But then that would mean abandoning his brothers-in-arms and that was something Jazz's loyal nature was extremely unsettled with. He would have given anything to abandon the war, but not his brothers.
Unbeknownst to Jazz, Optimus had seen the indecisiveness in his first lieutenant. As Jazz stared out over the bleak desert landscape, the commander decided to speak to him. He came up quietly from behind and stood beside his old and dear friend. Jazz knew Optimus was there but didn't acknowledge his presence for there was no need.
"What's bothering you?" Jazz thought long and hard but wasn't able to come up with an answer that Optimus deserved.
"I don't know. Something just doesn't feel right."
"Could it be Earth?"
"Naw. This is a pretty chill place and the humans are…well, unique I guess would be the best way to put it. 'specially Sam and Mikaela."
"It's easy to see why Bumblebee is so fond of them."
"You're all fond of them. Even me considering I barely know them."
"Are you sure you don't know what's bothering you?" Optimus asked, making sure they didn't get off topic.
"Trust me Optimus, if I knew you'd be the first to know." Optimus looked out into the desert, trying to see what Jazz was seeing or looking for. It was that which gave him an idea.
"Perhaps it would be best for you explore this planet a bit. Catch up on what the others and I have experienced." Jazz barely tilted his head upward to be able to see Optimus in his peripheral. "There are some cities in this country that I know would interest you. Maybe you'll find some solace there. Or at least occupy yourself until you sort things out."
Jazz nodded his head once, considering what Optimus had to say. The idea of hitting the paved roads and exploring the country, and more interestingly its culture, was extremely enticing. Jazz immediately knew that it was the right move to make. If it had been best for him to stay then the idea of traveling around alone wouldn't sound so appealing.
At once Optimus knew Jazz's answer and gave a curt nod before turning away.
"Just keep in touch every once in a while. Come back when you're ready."
"If the Decepticons show up, contact me," Jazz said as he turned around to see Optimus retreating down a hallway in the base.
"Will do."
The other three Autobots were confused about why Jazz was leaving almost right after he was brought back. It seemed though that Optimus explained it to them or that they were able to empathize with Jazz and didn't need any explanations. Bumblebee by far was the most put out but Jazz reminded him that Sam and Mikaela were there. With that, Jazz had knelt down and asked the humans to keep an eye on the young scout. Both humans readily agreed, albeit somewhat somberly, and wished him luck.
As Jazz drove away from the base he felt a mixture of emotions. There was resentment with himself for leaving them when there were so few of their kind on Earth as it was, eagerness to get away, apprehension about leaving them when the Decepticon threat was not entirely eradicated with Barricade and Scorponok roaming about, and then finally an emotion that he couldn't exactly identify.
I'll figure it out, Jazz thought as he drove down the barren road at speeds faster than any sports car engineers could ever dream of, I just need some time.
