Author's Note: Thanks to Riptide2 and I am Blueberry for reviewing the last chapter! I know this story is getting darker but I need all this to pull it together. To warn you this chapter isn't going to be any happier than the last. I own nothing but Nexia
Unusual Orphans
Chapter III, Part III
It was wrong and Jazz knew it. The world was falling into a thousand pieces and there was nothing he could do to stop it anymore. He had been sparring with Hound in the main hanger just for something to do until Smokescreen returned. Smokescreen had returned all right but not the way Jazz had expected. His mentor had returned dead and the knife buried in his chest was unmistakable. Nexia had killed his mentor. He had to face the cold, hard fact; his sister was a killer.
Mirage was in shock. There was nothing Jazz could do to get a reaction out of his brother which left him to find help. Ratchet wasn't in the med bay but First Aid came with his friend to retrieve Mirage. They somehow got Jazz's younger brother to the med bay and sitting down but Mirage stared blankly at the far wall, not responding to anything. "What happened?" First Aid asked, waving a hand tentatively in front of Mirage's silver-blue eyes.
"Nexia happened," Jazz growled and saw Mirage flinch slightly.
"What do you mean?" First Aid asked but Jazz refused to answer, simply sitting down next to his younger brother and trying to bring Mirage out of the stunned stupor his younger brother had sunk into.
Hound too was in a state of shock. He had never thought he would be sitting here with Optimus, Ratchet, and Ironhide but without Smokescreen. The saboteur had been the best and Hound had been sure he would be gone long before Smokescreen died. The fact that they had no idea who had killed Smokescreen only made the feeling of uncertainty worse. "Hound?" Optimus asked gently and the scout focused on his leader. "I know this is hard but we need someone to take Smokescreen's place. We cannot afford to have it left blank in this war."
"Jazz," Hound replied without hesitation, knowing that the young saboteur was the right choice.
"We meant seriously," Ironhide said gruffly.
"I am serious," Hound replied coolly, forcing himself to push his grief aside. He could grieve later. "Jazz is the best, perhaps better than Smokescreen ever was. Besides that he's a natural leader. Jazz is my choice."
"I will back that," Ratchet said calmly, sending Hound an approving nod.
"As will I," Optimus said. "Ironhide old friend?"
"If Hound says Jazz can do it I have no choice but to believe him," Ironhide said gruffly. Hound fully understood Ironhide's reluctance to trust someone so young with a job this big. War had destroyed older and more experienced men than Jazz but Hound knew something that Ironhide didn't. War had made Jazz who he was. Each day the teen fought his own private battle and pulled through. Jazz was the best choice for the job. Or was he?
Right now the new leader of Special Ops was falling apart in his own private way sitting next to a mute and numb Mirage. Jazz could feel the shaking wanting to escape from him but he held it in. He would push through this and when he was able he would confront Nexia about this. He knew nothing good would come of such confrontation but he needed to do this and, if necessary, destroy the monster his sister had become.