Yeah, so I thank you all for reading this. When I come home from working on the farm, or after a stressful day of summer school, and I see my inbox filled with reviews and favourites, my spirits rise :)
Okay, so I forgot to do last chapters thank yous so I'll do it here. Thank you Autobot Echo, Camigirl215, Guest (#1), XxLosAngelesGirlxX, Guest (#2), Guest (#3), and my feathered scales for reviewing chapter 9! I was rushed last chapter, so I forgot to write it down. And as for the three Guests I got, I wrote them in the order they came in.
And for chapter 10, thank you Guest, XxLosAngelesGirlxX, Kaitlyn Thorn, AliceSylvia, and mineturtle for reviewing!
Chapter Eleven: The Jazzman is Back
The trip down to NEST's base was long and debilitating. After the first five hours of driving, I became bored out of my mind and I sat there staring out into space listlessly. Mirage and I talked a bit, but we quickly ran out of things to talk about. I tried starting a game of I-Spy, but that quickly grew annoying when I realized that Mirage wasn't interested. He tried curing my boredom after I had an emotional breakdown by teaching me Italian words. My bored brain ended up soaking it up, and I ended up learning phrases like: "Sì, capisco," ('Yes, I understand.'); "Un cavallo," ('A horse'); and many other words that, if I could remember, I would be able to string some kind of sentence together.
Bumblebee drove behind us the entire time, and we didn't run into a single Decepticon. I was glad.
I ended up falling asleep three or four times during the trip. Thankfully, I never had a single one of those strange dreams. That allowed me to be awake and aware when we drove up to the base.
Bumblebee transformed into his bipedal mode as I stepped out of Mirage. Once I was out, he transformed as well. But then I remembered Jazz. I had worried about him the whole time we had been travelling to get here. I took him from my pocket, and looked down at him sadly before I dashed forward. I surprised Lennox, who had come out to talk to us, as I ran by him and disappeared inside the base.
I ran down a few hallways, and nearly got run over by Sideswipe as he ran from his brother, Sunstreaker. I looked back at the goldenrod Autobot and saw that he was spattered with pink paint. Sideswipe must have pranked him, I thought as I went back to running. I had to find the med-bay. The charge cord and the electricity had done nothing to change Jazz's state.
I had to slow myself down. Panic was rising up as I thought more and more about Jazz and why he wasn't waking up. Stay calm, stay calm, think about Sunstreaker and the colour pink, stay calm, I told myself slowly as my feet started moving once again and unconsciously, they started leading me towards Ratchet's domain. I was in some sort of haze, I could feel people grabbing at me, but they never succeeded in taking a hold of me. I just kept walking and walking, and when I finally broke out of the haze, I found myself in front of the human-sized door that lead into the med-bay. I blinked a few times before I gripped the door-handle and opened the door.
I stepped into the med-bay and looked over at a giant-sized desk, and spotted Ratchet sitting behind it. I slowly crept over to one of the berths, and began to climb the ladder propped up against it. I was halfway up when I heard the large metal chair Ratchet was sitting on move. I froze and held my breath.
After a few seconds of silence, I continued climbing and climbed onto the berth…
…and found Ratchet staring down at me.
I stopped and looked up at him before I held out Jazz. Ratchet surprised me by suddenly transforming down into his hummer/ambulance form, before a man appeared on the berth in front of me. I blinked and looked at the man. He was at least six foot five—the same height as Mirage's holoform—and he had greying brown hair, glowing blue eyes, and was dressed in black dress pants, black loafers, a mint green polo shirt, and a white lab coat that he wore open. Over his eyes, he wore a pair of sharp looking glasses. I blinked again from behind my pair of reading glasses. "Uh…Ratchet…?" I asked slowly.
He nodded. "You are correct," he said. "You are very sharp. Some of the soldiers shouted at me when I activated this form in front of them for the first time. Now, let me look at Jazz."
I complied and handed him the iPhone-transformer. I watched him examine my friend by turning him around, upside down, and by looking along the edges. I looked up at his face when he froze, and saw the look of dread that now rested on it. I froze, before I asked shakily, "What's wrong…Ratchet…?" I shuttered. "Please tell me he's going to be alright…" I whispered.
He looked over at me, his eyes taking on a distant look. Quickly, he shoved Jazz back into my hands and disappeared. His hummer form quickly transformed up into his bipedal form, and he looked down at me. "Twister, I've repaired Jazz's original frame enough that if he's revived, he'd be able to walk around but would need healing time. The reason he isn't coming out of stasis lock is…" he closed his optics for a second "…because the energy fried his circuits… He's dying." He turned and quickly began to walk from the med-bay. But then he turned back to me. "I'll get Ironhide to bring Jazz's frame in. Pray that his spark will transfer to his original body." And with that, he left.
My heart seemed like it had turned to ice. I looked down at Jazz as I sank to my knees. He was dying…? "Jazz…don't die on me…please, don't die on me." I slowly maneuvered myself that I was sitting cross-legged with Jazz resting up against my heart. I had read in FanFictions that carriers often comforted their sparklings by holding them against their chest-plates while allowing them to listen to their sparks. I had a heart, not a spark, but I was going to allow him to listen to it. I wanted him to listen to it. Or at least feel it.
Ironhide came in holding Jazz's original form and I moved in order to allow him to set it down on the berth I was on. I suddenly found myself standing beside the still form of a metal giant. I slowly climbed up onto Jazz's chest and stood up on it. I looked up at Ironhide and Ratchet, and said, "What now?"
"Twister…I need you to open up his chest plates after I open up his original form's chest plates, alright?" Ratchet ordered. I nodded, but there was still one question I had to ask. But Ratchet beat me to it. "Twister, it's simple," and he showed me.
Ratchet opened Jazz's original chest plates and with a nod towards me, I clumsily opened iPhone-Jazz's chest plates. Then, Ratchet gestured for me to lay Jazz spark-chamber down in Original-Jazz's spark-chamber. I did and withdrew my hand quickly. Sparks were known to be made of pure energy. Who knew what it would do to me if I touched one.
And I sat there waiting to see what would happen. One minute went by…then two… my heart seemed to cease beating. "No…no…Jazz! No…wake up, Jazz!" I cried. I reached back into the spark-chamber and touched him with my pinkie while stroking the inside of the spark-chamber.
Suddenly, I was shocked, and I pulled my hand back sharply in response. I looked down as the iPhone began to glow a bright blue. The iPhone then cracked sharply and shattered, allowing me to see as a large ball of mesmerizing blue light. I got to my feet and took a few steps back as Jazz's chest plates closed by themselves with a sharp hiss. I held my breath, my heart now pounding loudly. My eyes were glued to the silver bot as his form suddenly shifted and I scrambled and backpedaled in order to keep my balance.
Jazz's optics onlined, and he arched his back quite suddenly. The sudden movement caused me to go flying from him, and I screamed. But thankfully, Ratchet managed to catch me before I crashed into anything and got hurt.
As I steadied myself in Ratchet's servo, Jazz's helm turned towards me and the Autobot medic. I stared at the once-dead Autobot on the table, and was surprised when a small smile appeared on his lips and his visor slid down over his optics.
Jazz then tried to sit up, but Ratchet quickly walked over and gently pushed him back down into a laying position. "You'll have to rest for a few more days until I see you are ready to move," Ratchet said before he turned and carried me out of the med-bay.
I was placed on my feet outside the med-bay in front of an annoyed looking Lennox and a severely ticked off Mirage. Bumblebee was standing off to the side, and I shot him a look that clearly said "help me". He only provided me with a shrug and an apologetic shake of his head.
I mentally groaned as Ratchet disappeared back into the med-bay and I was left—literally—to the sharks.
Lennox walked up to me and frowned down at me, making my five foot seven feel shorter than in did when the bots were in their holoforms near me. "Young lady, why did you run off like that? You haven't been debriefed or allowed access onto the base yet," he said, his voice taking on a tone of authority.
I looked down, ashamed, the way I had been raised scolding me for not listening to my superiors like another voice in the back of my mind.
Thankfully, his question was answered when Jazz's voice boomed from within the med-bay. "Where's Twister?" Jazz asked.
"Calm down, you delinquent sparkling! You're not going anywhere until you have rested!" came Ratchet's reply.
I slowly looked up into Lennox's eyes without fully raising my head, and saw that he realized what I had done.
"Jazz was hurt?" he asked.
I nodded.
"How badly?"
"To the point of almost dying."
"So he's fixed?" he asked.
"Yeah, but much better than he was originally."
This seemed to confuse him. "What the heck does that mean?"
I gestured to the med-bay doors by jerking my head towards them. "Why don't you see so yourself?"
Lennox looked at me before he turned to the soldier that appeared behind him. "Epps, take her to her civilian quarters. We'll debrief her later," he said before he turned again and disappeared into the med-bay.
I lifted my head completely and smiled at Epps as he came over and shook my hand. We introduced ourselves before Epps began to lead me away. But before we were out of earshot, I heard Lennox yell, "GREAT PRIMUS! JAZZ IS A GIANT ROBOT AGAIN!"
