Warnings: None in this one.
Disclaimer: Still own squat but the plot.
Back at Autobot headquarters, Ironhide's helm shot up. He'd been on comm monitoring duty since he'd almost punched a hole in the wall. "Jazz? Jazz! This is Ironhide, please respond!"
"Ironhide! Good to hear from you. The planet's weather got the best of me and I need a rescue." Jazz didn't sound the least bit regretful. He was just happy to be in contact with his friends again.
"The weather? Last we heard from you, you were headed out on that mission at the Decepticon base! You know what, whatever! Where are you?"
"And that would be the million dollar question my mech. I have no idea. I was trying to escape their base when an ocean storm got ahold of me. My systems were drowned and I was forced into recharge. I have no idea where I washed up. You'll have to track my comm signal."
"You got it, champ! Tracking you now..." Ironhide typed a few commands into the computer and soon had the coordinates. "I'll grab Prime and Ratchet and we'll head after you. Just...gonna take us a few days. You're kinda far out there."
Jazz frowned when he heard the time line, but kept his tone happy, "Love to see you guys as soon as possible, so don't dawdle." He didn't want to worry them.
Ironhide laughed. "See you soon, bud!" With that, he terminated the connection and went to find Prime.
Jazz finally relaxed one the comm was over, letting his exhaustion show through. "A couple days and they should be here."
Soundwave gave the Autobot a measured look. "Jazz: Not going to last that long without energon."
"No probably not, but I can try. I have to try for them." Jazz just couldn't give up.
Soundwave continued to eye the mech warily. Outside of it being a bad idea for him to be found by the Autobots with the corpse of one of their own, he'd spent too much time caring for Jazz already. He would not allow him to parish. Silently, he opened his abdominal plating and reached inside.
Jazz eyed the other mech warily, unsure what he was up to.
Rooting around in his processing system, Soundwave managed to come up with a bit of energon that hadn't been fed through circulation yet. It was far from ideal, but it would have to do. He held it out to Jazz, still refusing to say anything.
"Are you sure?" Jazz wasn't sure why Soundwave was being so caring, but refusing any extra energon at this point was a bad idea.
Soundwave just leveled a look at Jazz that clearly questioned his intelligence. Soundwave never did anything he wasn't sure of.
Jazz took the small amount of energon and downed it. "Thank you." It wasn't much but if he conserved his energy he might be able to last. He settled back against the cave wall and forced himself into recharge that would hopefully last until they were rescued and save his energy.
Soundwave knew that his systems, too, would soon be running low. But he also knew that one of then needed to stand guard and Jazz wasn't exactly going to be up for it. The mech stood silently and moved to the mouth of the cave. Jazz would make it until the Autobots came and they would go their separate ways. Things would go right back to normal and he could stop feeling the urge to protect the other bot.
By the time a few days had passed, Jazz was almost in stasis, barely able to run his most essential functions.
"Ironhide, are you sure he was here?" Ratchet's voice was fully of worry for their friend.
Ironhide growled in frustration. "The coordinates were right here! I'd bet my fender on it!"
From inside the cave, Soundwave's optics came back online. He'd closed them for just a second...he could hear voices outside, just past where he'd disguised the entrance with foliage. He struggled to his feet and headed that way. If they were Cybertronians, he needed to get in contact.
"Well start looking. He can't be in good shape." Ratchet took his own advice and started searching the area.
"Don't worry, my friends. I'm sure we'll find him." Optimus's steady voice spoke as he moved towards the hidden cave to search for Jazz.
Soundwave was weak, systems running on the barest minimum. So close to the entrance, he recognizes the closest voice as that of Optimus Prime. That was fortunate. At least he would ask questions first instead of shooting. Unfortunately, the Decepticon no longer possessed the strength to push aside his barrier. He cast one last glance back at the still and silent Jazz, he threw his body at the barrier, hoping the momentum would be enough to take it down.
Optimus turned to the scuffle he heard, really looking at the cave entrance he could see through the disguise and started to take it down. He froze for a moment, shocked to see Soundwave on the other side.
Soundwave raised his helm a bit to stare into Prime's optics. One shaking servo reached out ti grasp the other's shoulder. He could feel his systems forcing him into recharge, but he had to make sure they knew. "Jazz..." As his servo fell and he slipped into recharge, Soundwave was almost sure he could dimly feel his cassettes in the distance.
"Ratchet, Ironhide!" Optimus called out to the others before moving into the cave to see Jazz.
Ratchet came running over right away. Once he saw the state of the two mechs he grew serious. "I need as much energon as we can spare for them." He said pulling out his own supply.
Ironhide sped over as fast as his peds could carry him at Prime's yell. He was brought up short by the sight of the collapsed Soundwave though. "What in the name of Primus is this fragger doing here?!"
"I don't know, but Jazz is in the back of the cave, almost offline. Ratchet is giving him some energon to help stabilize him. Soundwave is just as weak. He collapse soon after I got into the cave. Ratchet needs all the spare energon we can give him."
Ratchet was too absorbed in caring for Jazz to care about the other conversation.
"For Jazz? Of course." Ironhide quickly handed over his own energon before nudging Soundwave's helm with a pede. "I am going to enjoy interrogating this one..."
Optimus sighed and started giving his own extra energon to Soundwave. Sometimes Ironhide could be a little harsh, but he was a good mech. Ratchet finally stood up, having gotten Jazz stable. "He'll be okay. But he's in really bad shape. We need to get them back now."
"It's gonna be another two day's travel to get back to base. They gonna make it?" Ironhide didn't really care if Soundwave came out of things alive, but he certainly cared about Jazz.
"They should. But the more we stand here the longer it will take us to get back." Ratchet scolded him.
Ironhide nodded swiftly and heaved Soundwave's bulk none too gently onto his shoulders. Let's get going, then. Shall we?"
Ratchet nodded and picked up Jazz. Optimus led the way back. By the time night fell, they were just over halfway back. "How are they doing Ratchet?"
"They're holding up." Ratchet said with a sigh. He didn't want to think about what would happen if they didn't make it back in time.
Ironhide scanned the area. As the warrior of the group, he was constantly on watch. He frowned as darkness descended. It made things all the easier for possible enemies.
A/N: Please read and review. Thanks for reading.
