Disclaimer: Don't own the Transformers. Nor do I make money off of this story.
Verse: G1
Rating: PG (I think)
Pairings: Prowl x Jazz
Word Count: 2.6k
Summary: Prowl intentional downloads a virus in order to find a traitor. And to keep a bot that hates him from being offlined.
Notes: This was written as a birthday gift for Thalanee. I would like to thank Wicked3659 for her help in finding a proper name for the mission mandate.
Title/Prompt: Veritas
The truth is you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.
-Eminem
"Hang on just a click while I access the data banks"
Prowl whirled to face the saboteur, his spark dropping as he watched the mech extending a cable towards an interface port. "Jazz!"
Startled Jazz looked up, his hand freezing barely an inch away from the port. Prowl was at his side not even a second later, reaching out to grasp his hand and withdraw it from the console. Jazz jerked his hand away from the tactician.
"We need the information held in those banks, Prowl! I will not let this mission be wasted. I will not allow those two mechs lives to have been lost in vain!" Jazz snarled and shoved Prowl away, once again moving towards the console.
Prowl launched himself forward once again, this time grabbing the saboteur's arms and twisting them behind his back. He could feel the fury radiating from the frame pressed against his own. And he was quite aware of the fact that under normal circumstances, he would never have been able to hold the bots frame immobile. But desperation and the sharp tug deep in his spark lent him the energy to bring the mech under control.
"You will not access that console. That is a direct order." Prowl struggled to keep his voice cold, unemotional. But he was confused by several things. First and foremost, Jazz should have known, should have read the mandate on their mission. He should have been aware of the real reason they were here. And then there was his frames response to the bot being held tightly against him. He hadn't expected it to affect him to the point of having to forcefully slow his engine.
Jazz stopped struggling, and when Prowl was certain he would pay attention to the order, he let the mech go. Jazz turned to glare at the doorwinged bot. He had never liked the bot and it was something he had never hidden. But now, his visor glittered with absolute hatred.
"You're going to be the one to explain to the Prime why this mission was a failure. Why I lost two of my Ops. agents for nothing." Jazz stated coldly.
"Jazz..." Prowl sighed and moved towards the console, inserting his own cable into the port. "Didn't you even read the mission details?" His optics flickered as he delved into the enemies databanks. Hurriedly bypassing the inconsequential stuff, filing away the important stuff, all the while searching for the main reason he was here. He found it in a matter of seconds, or rather it found him. The download had barely finished when Jazz was yanking him away and shoving him to floor behind the console.
"The cons have found us again. And of course I read the mission details! Do you really think I'm that fragging incompetent?"
Confusion again swamped Prowl, but it was shoved aside as the virus he had just intentionally downloaded into his processor made itself known. Pain blossomed through out all of his systems. He collapsed on the floor, unaware of Jazz's cursing. It cleared briefly, long enough for him to feel Jazz's hand on his arm lifting him bodily from the floor. Then it came flooding back as a laser blast raked across one of his doorwings. His shriek was cut off as the pain shot through his processor, knocking him offline. He fell against Jazz, and the bot barely managed to keep the both of them from toppling over.
Jazz let out another string of curses that would have made Ratchet proud. Quickly getting rid of the two decepticons that had found them, Jazz began to retreat, carrying a heavy and unconscious Prowl with him. He was glad to put the base behind him and once he was a suitable distance away, he lowered Prowl to the ground behind some rocks. He sent out a coded request for a pick-up and then went to work on welding a patch to the gouge in Prowls left doorwing. He might not like the mech, but that didn't mean he wanted to see him die from losing too much energon.
After the patch job, he ran a scan over all of Prowls systems. Frowning as he realized that more and more of the mechs internal systems were beginning to shut down. And while damage to a Praxians doorwings could be serious, it should not have that much influence on the rest of his systems. He sat and watched the offline mech closely. Jazz could do some minor field repairs, mostly surface stuff. He had experience dealing with viruses and he could easily see that one was raging free in the bot in front of him. But while he could deal with one in his own systems, he had no idea how to help the bot laying on the ground. He was not a medic.
It was only a couple of breems later when Prowls systems stuttered and the mech began to thrash on the ground. Uncertain of what to do, Jazz moved so he was sitting beside the distraught mech. Careful so as not to jar his doorwings, Jazz slowly pulled the bot into his lap and wrapped his arms around him in an attempt to keep him from thrashing around too much. It could draw attention to their hiding spot and do more damage to Prowls already damaged wings.
Prowl stopped struggling almost instantly, curling into the warmth of the chassis against him. With a groan, his optics snapped online and raised to stare at Jazz almost disbelievingly. The mech refused to meet his gaze, and with a sigh, Prowl offlined them again. He had work to do after all. He activated his battle computer and set it to analyzing the virus, searching for the one line of code that would make this whole mission worthwhile. Silence reigned for a long time before Jazz spoke up so softly that Prowl almost didn't hear him.
"Prowl, why did you pull rank to access that console? My special ops training and firewalls could have handled that virus you picked up a lot easier." Jazz was careful to keep any emotion other then curiosity from his voice.
Prowl gave a snort which dissolved into several coughs. "I thought you said you read the Mission Mandate?"
Jazz frowned, unconsciously rubbing the mechs back to help sooth the coughing. "I did." He hesitated a moment as his processor rethought that. "Wait, the Mandate? I didn't receive one for this mission. Just the regular mission datapad."
"Ironhide was supposed to have delivered it to you. I would transmit you a copy, but that would risk you getting the virus." Prowl heaved a sigh.
Jazz frowned, not at all happy about the fact that important mission details had been kept from him. And Ironhide not delivering a mission mandate was unheard of. His thoughts were derailed though when Prowls frame seized and began to shake hard. He tightened his grip on the frame and waited helplessly for the shaking to diminish. As it did, Jazz found himself gently rubbing the edge of the uninjured doorwing. Jerking his hand away, he shifted uncomfortably.
"We obviously have time on our hands, why don't you just tell me what the mandate stated?"
"It stated that under no circumstances were you to access any system on the base. That my own firewalls had been updated in order to accomplish our mission." Prowl paused as his battle computer finished its computations. It provided a length of code, which usually he would have been able to decode, but as it were, he pushed the code into a protected area of his processor for Ratchet to find.
"Why in the pit would Prime or Ratchet agree to send you in?" It came out sounding a little more spiteful then Jazz had intended.
Prowl laughed which turned into a short coughing fit. "There was more to it, then that. Have you heard of the Pi-2x6 virus?"
"Is it a new virus?" Jazz frowned, noticing how closely he was holding the injured bot and slid out from under him. Gently leaning Prowl against one of the rocks, he moved to face him.
"Relatively new. There are two versions of it. It simply depends on who the virus is intended for and who receives it. The version I have is content with attacking and destroying all the systems it comes into contact with. The other version requires the processor codes of the intended target. Once downloaded into the recipients databanks, it activates the codes and enters the processor directly. It will then shut the processor down and destroy it. Effectively killing the bot."
"That would require a medic of high standing." Jazz stilled, the idea of a traitor in the medical division sending chills down his struts.
"Yes." Prowls voice softened, getting weaker. "That was part of my mission. Contract the virus and have my battle computer analyze it to find out who the traitor was."
"Have you discovered who it is?" Jazz watched the weakening bot with concerned optics. Talking seemed to be wearing down the tacticians defenses even faster. But he needed to know who the traitor was.
"Yes, well to a degree. I've isolated a segment of code that is the originators code. At the moment I can't decode it, but Ratchet should be able to." His frame vibrated slightly, not yet escalating to the full out shaking it had been experiencing.
Jazz moved back over to sit beside him, attempting to offer a comforting presence even though he knew he was the last one Prowl would want that from. " I still don't understand why it had to be you. You are important to the cause. And my systems are designed from the ground up to handle stuff like this."
Prowl reached over and grasped Jazz's hand with a surprising strength. "You are important as well. We had received several messages that you were the virus's next intended victim. I couldn't allow you to be offlined. I would have preferred you hadn't even been on the mission. But you were the only one that could get us in that easily."
Jazz sat in stunned silence, unable to think of a response. The intonation in Prowls voice hinted that there was more to his words then work or even the autobot cause. He was saved from trying to find a suitable answer by the sound of engines racing across the land. Standing, he ran a scan to identify the newcomers. After a couple seconds his frame relaxed as his scans indicated several autobot signals. He turned to tell the tactician that help had arrived only to find him offline. He stared at the bot for a few minutes and realized he could no longer bring forth the hate that usually surged to the surface when near him. A moment later he was shoved aside as Ratchet rushed by. Quickly moving to provide room for the medic to work, he turned to give Prime the mission details.
It was much, much later that Jazz silently let himself into the medbay. A report from Ratchet had stated that the virus had been purged, and that the damage had been repaired. Prowl was resting overnight in the medbay. The traitor had been identified and taken care off. Something Jazz had wanted to do himself, but had been sent off to recharge by both the Prime and Ratchets orders. Red Alert had managed to verify that it had been the traitor that had intercepted the datapad carrying the mission mandate on it as well.
But he shoved all that aside as he moved towards the berth that held the tactician. He was uncertain as to why he was here. They weren't friends. And it wasn't that far of a stretch to say that it hadn't been that long ago that he had actually carried a rather strong dislike for the uptight commander. But the mission had allowed him to see another side of Prowl. One that intrigued him. And then there were those final words. Words that seemed to strike at something unknown in his spark.
Nearing the berth, he sank into the chair next to it, watching quietly as the mech recharged. His systems purring almost silently. He had almost forgotten how quiet the mech could be. The noise his systems had made while under the influence of the virus had been quite loud. He studied Prowl, allowing his optics to take in things he had never taken time to do so before. The strong frame, the black and white coloring that complimented his own, the ever expressive doorwings, which had begun to twitch. He jerked his gaze up to meet an amused pair of optics.
And as he stared into the optics, he found his own spark was beating harder. He reached out a tentative hand to touch the side of Prowls face, stroking softly along its strong edges, before he quickly jerked it back. He shifted uncomfortably, slightly torn between wanting to touch and knowing he didn't have the right. He turned to gaze at the wall, the ceiling, anywhere but at Prowl.
"Jazz, are you alright?"
Jazz gave a snort. "I should be asking you that."
"But its not what you really want to ask."
"Why, Prowl? I mean I know why, but why?" Jazz finally brought his visor covered optics back to gaze at the tactician in confusion.
"Because I care about you. I know we never see optic to optic about things, but somewhere along the line I found myself caring what happened to you. I couldn't allow you to access that console." Prowls voice dropped to a whisper. "If you had received the virus instead of me... I don't think I could have handled it."
Jazz stared in shocked disbelief at the mech. Once again stunned into silence. It was becoming a common occurrence around the tactician. The emotion in Prowls voice touched something in his spark. He opened his mouth then closed it again as Prowl began speaking softly again.
"I know you don't like me. And I know we aren't friends. But you asked, and that is why."
Still silent, Jazz was uncertain how to respond. So he decided to follow his spark instead. Reaching out, he took on of Prowls hands in his, smiling slightly when it was gripped tightly.
"I'd like to think we are friends now, Prowl." He paused, watching the blue optics widen slightly. "And something in my spark tells me we could be more. I would like the chance to find out."
"I would like that." A full smile swept across Prowls faceplates, and Jazz's spark skipped a beat.
Prowl gave a tug on Jazz's hands pulling him closer. He obliged, leaning in until he could lean his helm against Prowls. Jazz nuzzled in against the side of Prowls face, smiling softly when the bot turned to brush his lips across his own. The mechs jumped back from each other in the next moment as a furious Ratchet entered the medbay.
"Jazz! What the frag are you doing here? Your supposed to be recharging!" Ratchet glared until Jazz had stood up and moved away from the berth.
"Just visiting a friend, Ratchet." The saboteur shot him a cheeky grin before walking to the doors, turning back as they slid open. "I'll see you when Ratchet turns you loose." And with that he swung back around gracefully and exited.
Ratchet stared after the mech for a moment before turning to Prowl. "Was he bothering you again? I can have him banned from the medbay for the duration of your stay. Slagging bot can't even let a mech rest in peace. I still don't understand why he dislikes you so much."
Prowl grinned happily. "That is unnecessary, Ratchet. As he said, he was only visiting a friend."
