TF: Rhythm and Blues
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers (but due to a few too many accidents on the Ark while I was visiting, The Transformers own my butt for the next decade or so. XD) I do own Ashley Taylor and Alfred Carson.
This is an AU G1 story. TF: TM never happened and it is set in 2007. I liked the movie, but almost all of my favorite characters died and that just ruined it for me.
Note:
I've gone through this and realized that there were a lot of discrepancies in the story that I'd forgotten to fix, but I think that I've gotten most of them.
Thank you for reading and commenting and favoriting and adding my story to your alert.
Chapter 1: Fate, destiny, and other such nonsense
In Moulton, Alabama, there are two things of which someone visiting can be assured of. One is that most of those who live there are rednecks, friendly rednecks, but still rednecks. And two, they are not afraid to stick their necks out for a good cause. And one such visitor is about to get a taste of down South hospitality that he will never forget.
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At Al's Automotive Repair business, as usual, was slow. The sweltering July afternoon kept most people inside. Few wanted to bear the brunt of the sun's wrath.
The small garage was emptier than a church on Monday that particular afternoon. Even the mechanics had retreated to the air-conditioned offices. However, one person had braved the heat. A lone mechanic braved the heat to spend some quality time with her new car and its Sirius(R) radio.
Despite it being ninety degrees outside, the young woman lounged half in and half out of her '76 Camaro. Her slim legs waved up and down in tune with the blaring radio. Each downward stroke threatened to shake her black sneakers off.
" Each mornin' I get up I die a little. Can barely stand on my feet . Take a look in the mirror and cry 'Lord, whatcha doin' to me?" She sang with the radio enjoying the feel of a familiar song on her lips. Her legs swooped a little too close to the car nearly scuffing its pristine blue paint. "I spent all my years in believe in you. I just can't get no relief. Can anybody find me somebody to love?"
A bang echoed loudly in the garage and interrupted the song. Sighing, the young mechanic killed the radio and looked toward the entrance to the office part of the shop. Her Uncle Alfred, a graying man in his mid-fifties, had slammed open the door and was now striding toward her.
"Ashley!" He said urgently. Something in his voice and face frightened her. "Them darn alien robots have had one o' their fights right here in Moulton!"
Ashley started in surprise, a transformer here in redneckville Moulton, Alabama? The thought almost seemed ludicrous. What could they possibly gain from this place?
Alfred continued on. "They messed up a gas station and about a dozen cars. People hurt and a whole business ruined. What're them robots thinkin' trashin' hard workin' men and women's property!?" He ranted.
"Calm down or you'll have a stroke." Ashley chided him. "There isn't anythin' we can do about it besides helpin' out those who got their stuff trashed."
Alfred calmed down a little, but the telltale red on his face revealed his remaining anger. "Well, that wasn't what I came t' tell you." He said once he had calmed somewhat. "Y' need to move your car. We'll be getting' some of those wrecks soon."
He turned and headed back for the offices muttering to himself all the way back inside.
Ashley watched him go a fond smile stretching across her face, and then with a turn of the keys, the Camaro started up with a resounding roar and Ashley maneuvered it out of the garage.
It took an hour for the wreckage to begin showing up at their modest repair shop. A quick glance at the cars told Ashley all that she needed to know. To put it simply, the cars were scrap. Most of them looked like they had been stepped on or shot to pieces.
What might have once been a green sedan now looked like a crushed soda can and the black pick-up had holes all in its hood and bed. Only one car that came in looked salvageable- a little white Porsche 935.
The Porsche's hood had been ripped off and there were giant finger shaped dents on its chassis. Smoke poured out of its engine filling the air with a sinister looking black cloud and oil pooled like a black sea on the ground from its undercarriage.
I've got a lot of work to do.
Just as she thought her job could not get any worse, the Porsche's fender fell to the ground with a thunderous clang.
I better get started.
By working late into the night, Ashley managed to stop the smoke and leaking oil while fixing most of the damage to the engine. Exhausted from her efforts, Ashley sank down next to the Porsche with a groan.
"I hope you appreciate this." She said to the Porsche then burst out, "What were those transformers thinking trashin' up my town! If I could I'd give 'em a piece a my mind!" Her sudden righteous fury burned out as quickly as it had come.
As if she could even find a transformer to chew out.
She tiredly murmured a little ditty she had once heard. "Transformers robots in disguise. Transformers more than meets the eyes. Damn, robots."
Now Ashley disliked the destruction that followed the transformers, but had nothing against the Autobots. She knew that while the Decepticons deliberately destroyed everything, the Autobots at least tried to minimize the damage caused by the two faction's fights, often staying around to help in repairs.
"Ugh. Too much thinkin'. I'm gonna go grab a shower." Ashley stood and stretched the kinks out of her shoulders. She patted the Porsche fondly before heading to the garages shower room.
As Ashley turned away, the Porsche's headlights flickered weakly then went out again.
After a long and extremely hot shower, Ashley began locking the repair shop down. As the lights went off she noticed an unusual glow coming from the Porsche. It was not very bright. Just a soft glow barely bright enough to illuminate her way back to the car. Carefully, Ashley picked her way back to the Porsche.
It became obvious once she reached the car that the glow's origin happened to be an odd spherical object attached to the engine. She had noticed it earlier, but had not thought on its purpose. It had not looked damaged, so she had left it alone thinking it to be some kind of modification.
Now it seemed there was more to it than Ashley had originally thought.
The thing seemed the same as before - round and metallic except now, it was glowing weakly.
Curious, Ashley ran her fingers across its smooth surface. A shock ran through her where her hand touched the sphere and warm a feeling spread through her body. Shocked and a little disturbed, Ashley jerked her hand back and backed away from the Porsche.
With one last wary glance at the seemingly harmless car, she hurried out of the building and to her car.
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The next day turned out to be far busier than the day before. Two of the mechanics took the day off leaving them down to just Alfred, Ashley, and Ricky. putting pressure on the remaining three. More crushed and busted cars came in and Alfred spent the day calling the car's owners while Ricky and Ashley took care of the unusual amount of customers that seemed to flood in.
Between changing oil and changing brakes Ashley found no chance to work on the strange Porsche. Part of her felt relieved that she would not have to get near the car, but another part off her wanted to know more about it.
However, with no time to spare, Ashley could not satisfy her reluctant, yet unquenchable curiosity.
Her distraction did not go unnoticed. On their lunch break Ricky called her on her behavior.
"You all right there, Ashe?" Ricky asked her when they sat down to eat. "Y've been up in th' clouds all day."
Ricky had worked with Alfred and his Niece for five years now and had become a second uncle to Ashley. His honest blue eyes and open personality put others at ease when they spoke with him. Even as she sat there and brooded, Ashley thought about telling him why she had been distracted all day, but found that she did not want to share just yet.
"I've...just had a lot on my mind." There, simple and completely true. Ashley smiled at the blond man silently reassuring him that she would be all right.
Ricky returned her smile silently agreeing not to pry.
That afternoon, once her uncle and Ricky had left for the day, Ashley prepared herself for working on the Porsche.
"All right, you. I'm goin' t' wash y' up, then patch you up." She said. "No funny business what so ever, got that ?"
Satisfied that the Porsche had been sufficiently warned, Ashley began to scrub away the grim caked on the Porsche's chassis, humming along to her radio all the while.
The Autobot known as Jazz slowly came out of stasis lock. The sound of music and the feel of hands on him assured him that he was alive. His processors were slow coming online, but he did not worry. The hands gliding over his chassis were gentle and the music played pleasantly on his audios. Neither alarmed him. At that moment Jazz felt content. Suddenly, the song changed and another voice joined the radio.
"Four wheels churnin' up a fresh green pasture throwin' up mud-pies everywhere. I'm beside you yellin' "faster, faster". Wind whippin' through my tangled hair." It sounded feminine and it lacked the metallic quality of a Transformers vocalizer.
A human? Jazz came fully out of his post-stasis lock hazy and examined his surroundings.
Sitting next to him was a young human femme. Her face twisted in concentration as she scrubbed the black grim off of his chassis, her green eyes narrowing when it refused to come off. Jazz, eager for the chance to observe a human who was unaware that he was an Autobot, remained silent as she washed his framework.
When it came to learning about human culture and humans in general, Jazz rivaled Perceptor in his curiosity and drive to discover something new. So he watched the girl closely noting every expression or muttered word.
He found the smatter of strange dots on her face curious and the braid of reddish-brown hair trailing down her back fascinating. He had studied the human's culture and watched many human movies, but he had never really had the chance to study a human in their natural state. (He would have observed Carly and Spike, but had felt that it would have been rude scrutinize his friends.)
They were not all that different from Transformers, shape wise at least. If they were to add armor, a human could pass for a tiny Transformer.
His musings were cut short by a sharp pain in his side. "Slag!"
The hands on his armor froze in place.
Jazz had blown his cover.
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Ashley froze mid-swipe when the Porsche she had been scrubbing yelled out in pain.
"Wh-what? Who?" Ashley stuttered out as she scuttled away from the car. "Is this some kinda joke?"
A husky chuckle came from the Porsche. "This ain't no joke, little lady. Sorry that I scared y'."
As shocked as she was Ashley's less rational and more humorous side noted that the voice emitting from the Porsche certainly did not match its appearance. The deep voice and Cajun accent sounded like they belonged to a less sporty car. The more rational side stayed silent.
Realizing that she had not responded, Ashley tried to find something to say.
"No problem..." She said. Thank God for manners. They cover all bases even when faced with a talking...car? Oh damn. "You're one of them Transformers!"
"Guilty as charged. The name's Jazz. I'm the hippest Autobot there is." Jazz said. "And who are you, lil lady? Where am I?"
"Ashley Taylor. I'm pleased to meet you." She answered. "You're in my uncle's repair shop. The authorities must have thought that you were just a normal car, so they brought you here."
This felt suspicious to her. How did she know if he really was an Autobot and was not lying to her?
Cautiously, Ashley returned to her spot by Jazz undeterred by her own suspicions.
"If you're really an Autobot, how come your friends haven't come for ya?" She asked.
"I got caught by Drag Strip." Jazz said with a rueful laugh. "Feels like I got slagged."
Ashley smiled at the bizarre word. "I suppose that about sums up the condition you were in when you were brought in." Ashley said.
Jazz laughed again, a husky, yet pleasant sound that was so out of place with his form. Suddenly, pain flared again in his side and the Porsche let out a pained hiss.
"Don't over-exert your-self. I've only repaired the more severely damaged areas that I could." Ashley cautioned. "I can't fix something if I don't know how it works, so that's about as much as I can repair without help."
Jazz ran a scan and found far too many red lights. His transforming mechanisms were busted and it could take a week for his internal repair systems to fix them. Drag Strip had to be in much the same condition that he was currently in, but that did not mean that the Decepticon would just sit around while there was an injured Autobot in the area.
"It was lucky fer me that I was brought here or else I'da been permanently deactivated by now." Jazz said. Another scan showed him that his secondary weapons were functional and everything except his transformation mechanisms were in the green.
Feeling mischievous, Jazz revved his engine and marveled at how smooth it ran.
"You've got quite the gift there. Ol' Ratch would love you." Jazz said with a chuckle. But as fast as his good mood had come, it went just as quickly.
The situation was not good. His comm was useless. If he so much turned it on, a Decepticon could pick up its signal and track him down. He could not transform and worst of all he was putting an innocent human's life at risk.
Prime was not going to be happy with him, but Jazz needed help and the only help he could get now came from a human femme. Well, he had never been one to take the easy road. As he always said: Do it with style or don't bother doin' it.
"I'm goin' t' be honest with ya, little lady." Jazz said in a serious voice. "I'm inna bad way an' if ol' Drag Strip finds me, there'll be nothin' I can do unless you can repair my transformation mechanisms."
Jazz disliked being pessimistic, but his being there put this little femme's life in danger and she needed to know the truth for her own safety.
"I'm puttin' ya in a lotta danger, but I need your help." Jazz finished earnestly.
Ashley bowed her head and thought over what Jazz had told her. Truth be told she was scared, really, really scared, but she had always tried to do right and turning her back on someone who needed help just did not sit right with her.
"I'll do it." She said softly.
"Eh?"
Lifting her head, Ashley smiled broadly at Jazz. "Just tell me what to do and I'll have y' up an' runnin' before tomorrow." She said, conviction lacing every word. She might be putting her-self in a world of danger, but, by God, this might be her only chance to experience something beyond her small town life.
"Ya have my thanks, Miss Taylor" Jazz said.
"Just call me Ashley. After this I'm gonna to know more about you than you may want me to, so let's just drop the formalities." Ashley said with a laugh.
"All right then, Ashley. First things first- yer gonna need t' know a few things about Transformers."
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Constructive Criticism is appreciated.