Yup still stuck at the hospital... Thank god for tea. Though... I've been sitting here seeing weird flickers and stuff... which I don't know if it's due to the sleep depravation or it's the stir craziness, or if I'm having a Cassie moment and am seeing ghosts...

Let's put it off as sleep depravation... yeah... that's a comforting thought...

Many thanks to Reader103, Meep15, emc2fantasyfan, frozen-rain-sg, Jimmy 144 for fav/following. And thank you to sarielgrace (guest), and Jimmy 144 for reviewing!

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers.

Word Count: 2381


Chapter 6

~x~

~Eight~

~x~

"Got da vest?"

"Yep. Hand guide too."

"And your lines?"

"Memorized."

Jazz vented as he nodded. "Ah guess it's da bag for meh."

Eight smiled sadly. "I'm sorry Jazz... I wish there was another way I could carry you without being too obvious... If I could I would ride my mom's bike since it has a basket attached... but it's just too tall for me."

"It's alrigh' llil man. I think I can endure it if ya don't take that water bottle again..."

"You should have told me you were getting beat up by the stupid thing." Eight frowned at the little bot who rubbed his helm sheepishly.

"Ah didn' wanna worry ya. Afta all it wouldn' do ya any good if ya overheat..."

"Jazz I'm more worried about you right now. Getting you back to your friends is higher on my list than me getting a drink of water." The boy said as he stuffed the vest into the bag.

"And Ah worn' let ya wear yourself out or harm yourself trying ta help meh!" Jazz stressed his point.

Eight looked up at the bot from his position on the floor with a slight smirk. "Yes Jazz." he said in a condescending tone before holding open the bag. "Your carriage awaits."

"Very funneh younglin'." Jazz muttered as he shimmied into the bag.

"I thought so." Eight said as he zipped the bag up and made his way out of his room. "Alright I'm going out. I'll be back later Aunt Bay!" The boy called as he tromped down the stairs.

He made it halfway through the kitchen before his aunt zipped by him and stood between him and the door. "What are you up to?" she asked with a smile.

"I was going to go ride my bike around town... Maybe go to the park... Or the pool..."

Bay eyed him. "Got your keys?"

"Um yeah why?"

"I've got to go out today... Cell phone?"

"... Remember Aunt Bay? I told you that I don't have one last night at dinner." This was technically the truth... he lost it in Mission City.

"You do now." she held up the device. "I need to know that you can get a hold of me if something happens. It also assures me that I can find you... This way I'm not panicking about where you could be."

"... you lo-jacked my phone?" Eight blinked up at his aunt.

"I downloaded the 'Find My Phone' app. kid." Bay sighed. "Did your dad ever tell you what I do for a living?"

"...no. Not really. He said something about you occasionally helping out the police... but that was it... Um.. Are you going to take very long or can I get going?" Eight glanced at the door behind him.

"... Fine get going but if you do anything illegal and I'll do to you what your Grandfather did to Isa when he got caught street racing."

"Uh... I don't want to know what happened do I?"

"No. No you do not. Now be a good kid and have fun." she sighed as she moved. "Be back before six for dinner." She called as he darted through the door.

~x~

~Bay~

~x~

Bay watched with a slight frown as she watched her nephew pedal away on his bike. Something was off with the boy... It screamed at her sleuthing skills like nails on a chalkboard... Something had come up with the boy... something that dragged him from his depression... Something that fore the most part had broken him from lying to her... She had noticed that the boy had the same tell that his father had... His nose twitched when the boy outright lied to her... She was positive after the pizza lie...

But what had her suspicion had risen when she had caught the boy talking to someone named Jazz... more than once. The first time she had brushed it off as him having created an imaginary friend to cope with his grief... A little unorthodox for a boy his age, yes, but not completely unheard of...

The second time she could have sworn she had heard a man's voice... She had looked in on the boy only to find him working on that toy car. She shrugged it off once more against her better judgment. But the third time... The third time she clearly heard the whole conversation that Octavius had had with 'Jazz.' She had tried to catch the boy on a walkie-talkie or at least his cellphone... But she had found neither when she hugged him...

So she asked him about his cell phone and found out about his losing his phone during the attack... She had decided to take the kid out under the guise of letting him chose out some ice cream and a dvd at Walmart, changing the order for the pizza into a pickup, and made a mad dash to get a prepaid phone while the boy was preoccupied with looking over the movies...

I guess I'll just have to do a little spying... Bay thought as she grabbed the keys for her brother's car.

~x~

~Jazz~

~x~

When Eight dismounted from the bike, Jazz overjoyed to be relieved of the overly bumpy ride. A few bouncy steps and a sharp knocking sound, and the door to the Witwicky residence opened up.

"Hello there. My name's Gus. I'm a scout in troop 387, and I am currently working on my Landscaping Architecture merit badge and I noticed that you kind of needed help with your yard... Is there anyway I could be of assistance?" Eight chirped merrily.

"... Why aren't you just adorable..." Ah it was Judy that had answered the door. "You said this is for your badge eh?"

"Yes Ma'am. Would you like to see my hand guide?" the sound of pages turning. "See this is the one I'm missing right here."

"Hm... I'm really picky about my flowers... and the whole backyard is a mess..."

"Please? Let me help for a little while and I'm not working out I'll try to find a different place."

A moment of silence passed before something jarred the boy and the bag was compressed tightly. "You are just too cute you know that?" Judy declared before letting the boy go. "Alright then, follow me and I'll show you the backyard... You can help me with my rosebushes. Now jut to warn you, my husbands a little crazy about the grass so whatever you do don't rip it up anymore than what it already is."

"Yes ma'am. Is he here today?"

"He went out to search for some supplies to treat his lawn with. Ooh! I will get so much done faster with your help... I might even get my seedlings planted in before he puts down the fertilizer..." the woman gushed. "Just set your bag down there by the steps. It'll be much safer there for the time being."

"Yes ma'am." Eight said as he gently set the bag down. He opened it and handed Jazz the hand book and the vest before leaving the bag partially open right next to the door.

"Alright then follow me and we are going to do some gardening." Judy's voice retreated along with the boy's own monotonous replies.

Jazz finished unzipping the back and slid in through the small 'doggy' door.

~x~

~Barricade~

~x~

There it is again... the enforcers holoform frowned at the residence. The spark signature had shown back up again, triggering a secondary processor to rouse him from his recharge cycle. The signal was weak, very weak, but it was still there and clearly moving... inside the building. That slagger Starscream better not have sent in another bot in on MY stake out... he thought angrily as his engine growled a little at the thought. It better not be Rumble... his mind instantly drifted to the Communications officer who was currently stationed on the moon. He wouldn't put it past Starscream to force the host mecha to have deployed his other cassettes.

:Barricade to Soundwave.:

:Soundwave: Acknowledges.:

:Has there been any other Cons assigned to infiltrate the Witwicky residence?:

:Negative.:

:I am currently picking up a spark signature of a microbot in the residence.:

:Suspect: Autobot?:

:None of the Autotwits have been back to this residence since I've been staked out here.:

:Objective: Retrieve the source of the signature at earliest opportunity.:

:Acknowledged.: Barricade cut the commlink.

~x~

~Jazz~

~x~

He had been searching for well over and hour with little luck... He had first searched the kitchen, followed by the living room before making his way up to Sam's room which was still in a state of disarray... No wonder the human youngling couldn't find anything in that mess...

It was in here he ran into the dreaded Mojo...

The bot was sorting through stuff on the boys desk with little success when his audio's picked up the sounds of growling from behind him. The bot turned to find the creature, ears laid flat, eyes narrowed and a nice set of sparkling white teeth bared at him angrily.

"Nice doggy..." Jazz held his servos up. Jazz didn't think it was possible for the dog's toothy grin to get any worse...

He was wrong.

With a cross between a snarl and a yippy bark the tiny dog lunged at him. Jazz dodged with a sharp curse, the dog chasing him across the desk. Yowling, growling and barking the little beast chased the tiny bot around the room. At some point Jazz had managed to flip a wire trash can over the dog, who still continued to give chase despite it's encaged predicament. It was just what Jazz needed to get out of the room and close the door behind him.

Ah don' see how Sam can like tha' creature... Jazz thought with a shudder as he made his way into the next bedroom which proved to be the boy's creators room. It was in here he got lucky and found the cell phone...

Jazz could have grinned... but with no commlink, the bot was left with old fashioned hacking... Ah well... it wasn't like he hated to do it. In fact it was one of his favorite things to do...

The most reassuring thing out of this was that he knew that this hack was one thing that both the government and his comrades would be watching for... and being Sam's carrier's phone... it would definitely be bound set off alarms somewhere.

~x~

~Eight~

~x~

"I bet your yard was beautiful..." Eight said to keep up with his sweet and charming appearance... He was currently shoveling manure to cover the freshly planted roots... And of course Mrs. Witwicky was using thee purest organic crap she could find... yuck.

"Oh it was... You see the path there? It took my husband three weeks to get that perfect with the birdbath and everything. It really devastated my Ronnie..."

~x~

~At a remote Military base in the Nevadan dessert~

~x~

Maggie was sitting at her console staring at the nonsensical data while Glen was sitting next to her playing Galaga.

"You realize we're supposed to be working right Glen?"

"Mags I've got it all under control, I've got a secondary program that will- Argh!" Glen groaned as said program kicked in. "Hey looks like we've got live one..."

"Wait that's a cybertronian signal..." Maggie noted as she recognized the code. "Damn it it's getting to the firewalls..." She growled as she started unleashing counter measures. "Glen start tracing the-" Maggie stopped as the hack just stopped dead.

"... That was... odd..." Glen frowned... "Don't most hackers want in?"

"... I'm calling Lennox. Find out where the hack came from."

Glen grinned as he turned to face Maggie. "What do you take me for? An amateur? The hack came from a cell phone." Glen pointed to the screen.

"Lennox we just had a breech.. and you won't like where the hack came from."

~x~

~Bay~

~x~

Bay parked the car not top far down the street from the location that Eight's cellphone was pinging to. She eyed the well manicured and cookie cutter tailored houses of the little subdivision. It seemed like a little quaint neighborhood... and she would have thought it to be so... if it wasn't for the police cruiser that was staked out not too far from where she had parked... The officer was intently staring at one house in particular, one that the signal for her nephew's phone was claiming to be...

And that home was a wreck...

I am going to kill the kid if this is anything illegal... She thought darkly as she restarted her car, determined to get the boy out.

~x~

~Eight~

~x~

The landline phone to the house began to sound off just as Jazz darted out the doggie door. Judy looked up at the house before darting in for it. Eight made no moves to head towards his bag to check on the small bot but continued on until Judy came out of the house with a slightly distressed look on her face.

"Gus, I'm sorry, I hate to say it but I'm afraid that we're going to have to cut this short. My husband just called and said that he's gonna take me out for lunch and well I've gotta clean up... Maybe we can start again tomorrow or the next day?" Judy said with a fake smile.

"Uh sure. Here's my cell phone number." he said giving her the number. "Um... Thanks for me letting help out Mrs. Witwicky." he picked up the bag and shouldered it.

"Thank you." she smiled a nervous smile as she waved to boy off. "Be careful going home!"

"Yes Ma'am!" he said waved as he retrieved his bike. As soon as they were away from the house the boy took the bag off his shoulder and whispered, "Well any luck?"

"Are ya seriously doubtin' mah skills?"

"So then-"

"Octavius Augustus Baxter."

Eight froze as he looked up to see his Aunt Bay sitting there looking none too pleased.