Author's Note:
I meant to upload over the weekend, but obviously that didn't happen. For those of you who've been waiting for some more action/excitement to the story, here's the chapter for you!
Chapter 4
Two years after being hired by Powell, Harry Evans passed all his exams and was now a licensed auto mechanic. On Powell's suggestion, he decided to take a month off to go on a road-trip across USA, having never really travelled for fun in his life. After attempting to make a detailed plan of when and where he would go, he gave up and decided to just spontaneously go wherever he found interesting. Plans had always been Hermione's virtue whereas he worked best in a more spontaneous manner.
A week into the road-trip, Harry was thoroughly enjoying himself. He finally understood the joys of travelling, seeing new sights and tasting local cuisines. The drive in his car was incredibly smooth, and USA was big enough to have many different surroundings. Having driven through the desert, he was now looking forward to some time in a more humid environment as he headed roughly northeast towards New York.
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Jazz was very excited about the trip. It had been incredibly boring being stuck in his alt. form with no way of communicating with the other Autobots. As he drove across the country, he was constantly on the lookout for Cybertronian signals.
While driving 'in the middle of nowhere' by human settlement terms, Jazz suddenly picked up faint Autobot chatter. As he drove along the highway, the chatter turned into actual words and he also began sensing Autobot as well as Decepticon Sparks.
=Bumblebee, get the other humans to safety! I'll get Sam.= Optimus Prime ordered over the Autobots comm. channel.
=I've ran Starscream off for now, Optimus,= Bumblebee reported. =As soon as the humans get inside my cab, I'll come pick up Sam from you.=
Jazz despaired, wishing he knew where Optimus and Bumblebee were. As it was, the only thing he knew was that the other two Autobots were somewhere within a 50-mile radius from his location.
=Autobots, arm up! Megatron is after Sam!= Optimus sent out his co-ordinates. =I'll try to lead the Decepticons away from populated areas and buy us some time while you catch up to us.=
There was a brief silence in which Optimus was busy driving away from the city and Bumblebee left Jazz's signal pickup range. Suddenly, Jazz noted three Decepticon Sparks gaining on the bright Spark of Optimus Prime. The four Sparks clashed together.
Optimus is fighting three Decepticons! Jazz realized with a shock.
Without a warning, Jazz took back control of himself and accelerated hard without a regard for the human sitting in his cab.
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The scenery along the long, unending highway was beginning to get rather repetitive. Harry was contemplating on finding an exit to any upcoming town for a break when his car suddenly accelerated. Slamming back in his seat, the young wizard stared at the dashboard for several seconds in shock, watching his speedometer climb up and up until it went past the last mark, hit the upper limit of the dial and quivered in place.
"Merlin!" he unconsciously blurted out loud.
Pulling his foot off the gas pedal, he stomped hard on the brakes but the pedal refused to go down. The Pontiac continued to hurtle down the highway at an insane speed. Harry stomped several more times on the pedal but still could not get the brakes to engage.
Looking up, he gaped at the speed in which the trees passed by outside his windshield. While Harry was sure he could stop the car using magic, he wasn't sure he could do so without sending the car careening out of control and overturning. The only thing he could do was sit tight with his wand ready to cast protective charms in case the car did flip or hit something.
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Jazz drove as fast as he could, cursing himself for not being a race car like Bumblebee. Optimus Prime needed help and he was too far away. Of course, in his rush to finally meet up with the other Autobots, he conveniently forgot that he was currently incapable of transforming. As he drove, a fraction of his processors were focused on those four Sparks he could sense.
Even though Jazz could not see the fight, he could imagine the intensity of it. When one of the Decepticon Sparks disappeared, he mentally cheered. Soon, a second Decepticon Spark left the fight – Optimus must've damaged it enough that the Decepticon retreated. That left two equally bright Sparks fighting each other.
It's Megatron! Jazz realized. Optimus and Megatron!
=Optimus, we're almost there, ETA 3 Earth minutes,= Ironhide's comm. had never been more welcome in Jazz's opinion.
Because Jazz was only reliant on his limited sensors, he was the only Autobot to notice the Decepticon Spark which had retreated earlier returning to the fight.
Optimus! Be careful! Jazz shouted mutely, cursing at his lack of broadcasting processors.
The three Sparks clashed, and then the sole Autobot Spark flickered once, twice, before disappearing altogether.
No! It couldn't be! Jazz thought, shocked. Optimus…!
But Cybertronians were cursed with the inability to deny facts. Optimus' Spark could no longer be sensed. In fact, one of the Decepticons' Spark, the one he was sure was Megatron, seemed to glow even brighter in elation. Optimus Prime, the last of the Primes, had fallen.
In a state similar to being in auto-pilot, Jazz slowly decelerated and drifted to a stop on the side of the highway, engine powering down. Optimus Prime, whom he had been serving for the past millennia, was gone. Dimly, he noted the Autobots splitting up after they reached the spot where Optimus had fallen; Bumblebee and a pair of Autobots quickly drove away while Ironhide, Ratchet and four other Autobot drove Megatron away from Optimus' body. His processors went offline one by one as they went into stasis lock due to shock.
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Harry had never been as relieved as he was when his car finally began to decelerate and, after a lengthy period of time, finally drifted to a stop. The engine also turned off on its own. He quickly leapt out of the car and stood on the highway, pointing his wand at the silver vehicle defensively, waiting for more inexplicable actions from the machine.
But nothing happened. In fact, it seemed like the car drooped, sinking lower on its wheels. Blinking rapidly, Harry looked again. The car seemed normal, a bit too normal, considered the events that happened in the last 20 minutes.
Harry nudged the open driver's door with his foot. The door swung back and forth for a few seconds but nothing eventful occurred. Slowly, he leaned into the car, reaching for the button to pop the hood. Yanking quickly, he jumped away from the car again. Apart from the thump when the latch released, nothing. He edged sideways to the front, keeping his wand steadily aimed at the silver vehicle. Once he got to the hood, he hauled it up.
The engine gleamed in the late afternoon sun. A quick scan showed nothing out of the ordinary. Wearily, Harry did a more detailed check of the engine and other parts but everything was normal, no loose parts, no burnt wires, all fluids at the proper levels. Walking back to the cab, he leaned in and turned on the ignition. The Solstice started normally, its engine purring healthily.
Closing the hood, Harry looked up at the sky. The sun would be setting soon and the idea of spending the night out in the middle of nowhere with only his possibly possessed car for company was a scary one. Resigned, he hopped back into the driver's seat and drove onwards, hoping to come to a town soon. He had no idea what had just happened with his car, and once at a hotel or motel, he was going to call up Powell and ask the older mechanic.
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After a long hot bath, Harry laid on the lumpy mattress in his motel room, flipping through channels on the TV. He had called Powell immediately after checking in, but the shop owner was clueless as to what had happened earlier in the highway. Since Powell knew Harry to be a competent mechanic in his own right despite his recent licence, Powell knew Harry wouldn't have missed anything faulty with the car. Powell himself had checked the car over before Harry left a week ago and everything was in perfect running condition.
With the unsolved mystery of the Pontiac Solstice driving on its own (Powell was shocked when Harry told him that the car navigated adeptly on curves at that high speed on its own, Harry had long since taken his hands off the steering wheel), the vacationer just wanted to relax and get a good night's sleep before heading off again. He was contemplating renting another car when the TV flickered, an intimidating mechanical/robotic face filling the screen.
The face began speaking, threatening to destroy the human race unless they turn over a boy. Here, pictures of the boy began flashing on the screen, showing a driver's licence, a school ID, traffic camera capture, and lastly, a photograph resembling something FBI would have on file. The government took over the broadcast at this time, stating that the country was now at the highest security level and that the FBI was now locating Samuel James Witwicky, the boy in the pictures.
Harry was annoyed. He had finished a war in the magical world not too long ago and he didn't want to deal with another. The robot, with glowing red optics, eerily reminded him of Voldemort. He didn't believe for a single second that it would leave the human race in peace even if they did give up the boy. He also found himself pitying the boy, Sam Witwicky, as he had been in the same position not too long ago himself.
Shaking his head, Harry abruptly cut off this train of thought. One war was one too many. He was not going to get himself involved with another. Little did he know that he was already involved the instant he decided to take the battered form of his car home just over a year ago…
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Jazz, having just came back online after his forced emergency recharge after the shock of losing Prime, heard every single word of the Fallen's announcement as well as the government's response.
Sam! The Autobot despaired.
Sam had helped them two years ago by keeping the All Spark out of Megatron's hands. And now, he needed help from them, the Autobots. But Jazz was only partially functional and had no way of contacting the other Autobots. And yet, he had to help Sam. However, he could only stick with his current 'owner', one Harry Evans, as there was no sense wasting time and fuel chasing without clues. The Autobots with Sam were most likely in stealth mode, making it even harder to track them down. But Jazz had to try. He must. He vowed to keep an even closer eye on his sensors and to take off immediately on the slightest hint of Autobot signals.
He would find Sam Witwicky and help the boy as best as he could.
Author's Note:
I had a bit of a hard time writing the Transformers fighting scenes, especially since Jazz wasn't actually there to witness it with his own sensors, but I hope I still managed to get the atmosphere across. [Guess that's what I need to work on some more, writing action scenes.]
Harry, at this point in time in the story, hadn't made the connection between his car and the robot he saw on TV just yet. He won't for a bit more (not until Jazz finally did catch up with other Autobots), so please be patient!
Next Chapter:
Harry goes to Brooklyn and finds his car driving on its own once more.
Please Read and Review! For those who do, thanks for all your support! :)