When Jazz onlined the next day, he noticed that Eclipse wasn't in the room. He felt for her through their bond and she replied back, telling him she was in the command center. He left the room and entered the command center to see her sitting in a commutation chair, on duty. He walked up behind her and looked down. She craned her head up to see him and smiled.
"Hey love. Recharge good?" she asked. He gave her a funny look.
"Ya not tired?" She raised an optic ridge.
"I'm fine. You're worrying about nothing Jazz."
"If ya say so," he said, leaning down and kissing her forehead. Eclipse seemed to watch him in the monitor's reflection.
"I'm sorry Jazz," she thought to herself. She kept her bond calm, not letting him sense her true feelings. After he walked out, her thoughts turned to what she had to do. She hated it, but it had to be done, for their safety.
Days turned into weeks and time pasted as usual at the Ark. From battle to recovery to rest then to another battle. The only thing that changed was something that worried Jazz. Eclipse had not only taken to flying far above the battles, unwilling to participate, but she had also developed a nasty temper. More and more things would set her off. Only Firefly seemed unworried by her strange behavior and she had cleared her physical health but suggested she not fight, leaving Eclipse grounded at the Ark. Jazz was often the brunt of her temper when she didn't release it. He took it as a serious job and worked to keep her from ending up in the brig, though not having much success. She would get in small skirmishes with the other Autobots and would be sent there. After a failed prank by the Twins, she had gone on a rampage, sending the two into stasis. Though she had not seriously injured the Twins, she was sentenced to 72 hours in solitude.
"Three days," he thought to himself. Primus, he was hurt. He couldn't understand what had gotten into her. As he watched Prowl and Ironhide flanking her as they led her away, he saw Firefly rush up and click at her. She gave quiet clicks back and Firefly nodded before standing aside and watching her being led away.
"What's goin' on with 'er?" he asked the femme medic. She looked at him.
"I don't really know Jazz. I wish I did." With that she turned and walked away. Jazz had a strange suspicion that something was going on. But he wasn't going to push her. He spent those three nights in an uneasy recharge. Eclipse had been steadily smothering the bond so that he couldn't sense her. He became unusually concerned, especially without her familiar presence. His smiles and jokes were forced and keeping his upbeat appearance was getting hard. He knew he was going to have Ratchet after him soon. Finally the time came and Eclipse was free. Prowl walked into the command center with a frown on his face.
"Jazz, something is going on with Eclipse. She was heading for your quarters last we saw," he told him. The saboteur immediately got up and headed to their shared quarters. But when he arrived, she wasn't there and he couldn't sense her.
::Eclipse? Eclipse, come on now, answer me:: he asked her. There was no response. He saw Ratchet hurrying towards him.
"Jazz, have you seen Firefly?" he asked with worry. He shook his head and Ratchet seem to wither.
"I have no idea where she is."
"Eclipse isn't around. I can't sense her at all." Ratchet looked at him, alarm in their optics.
"Primus no, they couldn't have left, could they?" he asked to the air. Jazz had the sinking feeling they had. Returning to the command center, they told everyone what they thought and Red Alert brought up a camera screen showing the two walking out of the Ark, transforming and taking off.
"Oh Eclipse. Where have you gone?"
Over the several days that pasted, they heard nothing from the femmes. Jazz was often seen standing outside the Ark, watching the skies. Ratchet stayed in the medbay and was constantly moving and replacing his tools. The CMO refused to stay still for long and was getting little recharge. One night several days after they disappeared, Ratchet appeared along side Jazz, watching the skies with him. The air was still and no sounds were heard.
"I don't understand," Ratchet said softly. Jazz didn't need to say anything, he felt the same. They stood there, floating through their own thoughts when a presence pulled at them.
::Jazz::
::Ratchet::
The two glanced at each other, making sure it wasn't their CPUs imagining the voices. But it wasn't. Feeling the urging of their bond-mates, they transformed and drove off into the night. They drove for hours, keeping just below the speed limits on the highways though they wanted to fly. They came to a large mountain that was in a secluded area. When they transformed, a strange looking transformer met them. Looking like a bizarre, deformed rhino on short, stocky legs, it snorted at them to get their attention. It wore the Guardian symbol on its forehead. It turned and motioned them to follow it and they did so, right into the mountainside. It led them down several corridors, going deeper into the mountain. The Guardian would pause to make sure they were still following then continue on. The two mechs looked at the walls, which were smooth and had pictures on them. They recognized the Guardian symbol and concluded that these were stories of the former ones. Further they went, reading the history that was on the wall. They came to a large cavern and discovered that it was in fact a large space shuttle, buried in the mountain and that they were currently standing in the command center.
"So you are some of the Autobots that helped defeat Centercord," a voice rumbled. From a bridge above, a tall, lanky Guardian stood there. His blue optics watched them, showing no signs of hostility.
"Who are you?" Ratchet asked.
"My name is Flash Trick, the new head of this leg of Guardians. It is an honor to meet you." The Guardian walked from his place down to ground level.
"I would suspect that you are looking for your bond-mates, right?" he asked softly. He chuckled quietly at their expressions.
"Follow me," he said and led them away, "You wouldn't believe how much they talk about you. They are very close to you two. I don't think that they have stopped worrying about you since they came."
"What are dey here for?" Jazz asked. The mech gave them a sympathetic look.
"I'm afraid that is something I can't speak of. But they have been taken well care of, rest assure." They continued to walk further until they came to a set of double doors. The mech stopped and he motioned them inside as the doors opened.
EH: All right, here's this chapter. I have a little challenge for those who want to join in. I am introducing six new Autobots throughout the story. Realize I do have names, but I wanted to see if someone has some better names (which they probably do). I'm putting off the story of a short while so people can tell me what they think in a review or PM. There are 4 femmes and 3 mechs. I'll give you colors. You can also suggest alt mode- vehicle or animal.
Femme 1 Pink and white with blue optics
Femme 2- Red and brown with blue optics
Femme 3- Gold and white with blue optics
Femme 4- Silver and l. blue with gold optics.- Twin to mech 3.
Mech 1- Black and red w/ silver optics
Mech 2- Green and blue w/ green op.
Mech 3- silver and d. blue w/ gold op- Twin to Femme 4.
