A.N: I have to say it's great to be back, I've missed the buzz of posting, and the thrill of reviews. Thank you for understanding that sometimes real life takes priority, but I promise you that I will finish this story, although it may take some time as we still have a long way to go. Enjoy, FB.
Part 28
With a terrible snarl the guards tossed Jazz back into the cell for the third time in as many cycles. Wheeljack was the first to his side, and he was amazed to find that his friend was still online. He knew in an instant that their leader was in a bad way, there were so many injuries that he couldn't count them, and the black and white's energon levels were dangerously low.
"Best if you go into stasis," he advised. "It'd give us more time to be rescued, and take away the pain."
Jazz shook his head and sat up. "Patch up what you can, it doesn't have to hold for long. We're getting out of here soon."
"What?" Trailbreaker exclaimed. "How?"
"Shockwave made a mistake," the saboteur said with a ruthless smile. "He accessed his hub while he was with me, I followed him in, and now I have everything we need. Patrol routes, access codes, the lot."
"Jazz you're not strong enough for this," Wheeljack ventured cautiously.
"That doesn't even come into it," Jazz snapped. "It's now or never."
"If the price of my freedom is your life then I won't pay it," Hound stated firmly.
"Tough," the commander barked despite his obvious frailty. "It is my decision and it's been made. If we stay we're done. Hope will not sustain us for long, prayers will not save us, but we have a chance, all of us. I will not die here, or allow my unit to suffer any further, got it?"
"Yes sir," Hound said humbly. "What are our orders?"
"When I give the signal you will distract the guards, the twins will do what they do best, then you and Trailbreaker will take point. I'll guide us, but the hub will take up most of my attention so I'll have to rely on the rest of you to do most of the work. Get some recharge while you can, 'Jack get started. We don't have long."
As the others settled down Wheeljack began his grizzly task. He was appalled by the state his friend was in, but he was not so preoccupied by his work that he didn't notice that Jazz seemed to have something else on his processor. "What's going on Jazz?" he asked when he was sure everyone else was offline.
"Shockwave's hub has plans on it," Jazz whispered. "Plans I cannot allow to succeed, we've always known that he was ruthless, but not to what extent, now I do and I mean to see him dead before I join the Matrix."
"Hating him will only get you so far."
"It'll be far enough," Jazz retorted flatly. "Just believe me when I say that what he did in Uraya is nothing compared to what he intends to do to Iacon."
Wheeljack shuddered involuntarily at the name of the decimated city. He had never seen its ruins, but he knew how deeply it's destruction had effected Jazz, and that was more than enough to scare him. "Very well," he muttered, "I'll help you all I can."
"You always have," Jazz smiled fondly, "I wouldn't have gotten this far without you, but I ask you to do me one last favour, if the worst should happen to me get the others to safety. They deserve a future."
"So do you," his friend reminded him.
"Primus will be the judge of that," Jazz mumbled, "Though I doubt his decision will be favourable if he takes into account everything that I've done."
"You're not a monster Jazz."
Maybe not, Jazz thought although he said nothing out loud. But I intend to destroy one before my time is up, and I'm not sure what that'll make me.
Wheeljack hoped that Jazz had listened to him, but he had offered similar words before and they had been ignored. The younger mech often refused to acknowledge his own merits. He could find goodness in others, but somewhere along the line he had lost the ability to see it within himself.
Once the repairs were done the pair of mechs settled down to wait, Wheeljack tried to recharge as his commander ordered but found himself unable to, but he powered down all the systems that he could as a comprise and Jazz accepted that.
As the cycle came to an end Jazz roused his unit and put his plan into action. Though the hub he deactivated the bars while the guards were paying more attention to one of Hound's holograms than their charges, and before they had time to react the twins pounced.
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe moved fast and neither of them gave any quarter. "Now what?" Sideswipe asked while his twin took care of the last Decepticon.
"'Breaker, Hound," Jazz hissed as Wheeljack helped him to his feet. He directed them through the maze of corridors that led to freedom. The strain of his actions were clear on his face before they had gotten far, but he pushed on regardless, and thanks to his connection to the hub they soon found themselves at the shuttle bay, where the two Decepticons on guard met with sudden ends at the hands of the twins.
"Get aboard quickly," Wheeljack instructed. "There's not much time."
"Less than you realise," a cold voice said from behind him. "Did you really think that you could escape? No one escapes me."
Everything seemed to happen at once; Sunstreaker opened fire with a gun he had looted, Shockwave did the same with his own weapon, Jazz let out a wordless cry of pain, and before Wheeljack knew what was happening he had the black and white in his arms, as Trailbreaker sheltered them with a force-field.
With Hound and the twins close behind him he made a dash for the nearest shuttle. Shockwave's parting shot had torn a gaping hole in Jazz's side, and half-processed energon already coated Wheeljack's hands.
"This is important," Jazz whispered, as he produced a small info-chip from his subspace. It slipped through his fingers as his systems surrendered to stasis. Sideswipe picked it up, and placed it safely on a shelf.
"Where to?" Trailbreaker demanded to know as he stormed aboard.
Wheeljack glanced at Jazz, took in the other mechs injuries and knew that there wasn't much he could do.
"He needs the best of medics," Sideswipe said suddenly, "and I know just where to find him. Take us to Iacon."
Finally the shuttle touched down, and three mechs marched aboard. The first two carried weapons and looked around the small group of strangers warily, the third kept behind them, but Wheeljack was relieved to see that he wore the markings of a medic.
"Designations!" the smaller of the armed mechs barked, making it clear that they had yet to prove worthy of his trust.
"Temporary commander Wheeljack, usually I'm the technical support," Wheeljack answered in a businesslike tone, "Trailbreaker is our pilot, and our warriors are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe."
"Two warriors?" the larger, predominantly red mech drawled. "I thought you reported that you were a covert unit."
"They're twins," Wheeljack retorted harshly. "You try separating them."
"You also stated that there were six of you, and that one required medical attention," the medic said calmly.
"For our unit commander," Wheeljack explained. "He's in the rear cabin."
"Ironhide, stay here. Ratchet, with me," the white and black mech ordered. "Wheeljack, you too."
With a quick nod the scientist led them through the connecting door, "This is Hound, our scout," he said with a quick gesture to the green mech. "And Jazz, I've done all I can but we didn't have much of anything, and Shockwave made a real mess of him."
"That fiend makes a mess of everything he touches," the white and black mech muttered, "Everything checks out. Ratchet, do everything you can."
The medic nodded once and began work without hesitation before the other Autobot spoke again, "I hope you will forgive our caution Wheeljack, but you are in a Decepticon shuttle, we had to be sure."
"Understandable," Wheeljack accepted, "But knowing your name would make me feel better."
"Prowl," the mech answered curtly, "Second in command to Optimus Prime, tactician and chief regulator of Iacon."
"I've heard of you," Wheeljack confirmed, "I have a friend who's based here, we came here because apparently Ratchet is the best medic on the planet, and I wanted to give Jazz the best chance I could."
"Does this friend have a name?" Ratchet asked although he didn't look up from his work.
"Mirage."
Ratchet seemed to smile to himself but Wheeljack couldn't see his face well enough to be sure. "I wasn't aware that Mirage had any friends," the medic muttered.
"He isn't the easiest of mechs to get along with," Wheeljack agreed. "But we saved him when Crystal City was destroyed, he worked with us for a while before he was transferred here, Jazz built this unit on trust and Mirage accepted that after a while."
"That's all the talk we have time for," Prowl put in. "Prime has ordered you to his office, he wants a full report."
Wheeljack nodded. "I need one thing before we leave, it may interest you Prowl."
"Oh?" Prowl asked curiously, as Wheeljack led him back out.
"How's Jazz?" Trailbreaker asked as soon as they reappeared.
"Holding on," Wheeljack replied, as he pressed the info-clip into Prowl's hand. "We'll soon find out if this medic lives up to his reputation."
"Ratchet will do his best. Always has, always will," Ironhide assured them gruffly.
"He'd better," Sunstreaker growled.
"Sunny," Sideswipe hissed at his twin in a warning tone.
"What?" the golden warrior demanded.
"We have enough to worry about with Jazz, we don't need you making things worse."
"You'll have to excuse the twins," Wheeljack said apologetically. "Jazz is one of very few mechs they actually give a frag about."
Prowl left the shuttle with Wheeljack while Ironhide took charge of the others, although the tactician did take the liberty of comming a few other mechs to keep an optic on the new arrivals. He couldn't help but feel wary of the twins. Not many mechs back-chatted Ironhide, but then the brothers didn't really know the seasoned warrior.
As he led the way to the Prime's office Prowl's thoughts moved on from the twins to their commander. The battered mech in the rear cabin hadn't looked like much, but it was clear to Prowl that he commanded the unwavering loyalty of his unit, and while comradeship was common among the Autobots few mechs managed to acquire both friendship and respect from their subordinates. Either one was easy, but they rarely came together.
The door slid open as they reached their destination and it occurred to Prowl that Wheeljack had not said a word. Most mechs would have at least asked what kind of mech the Prime was, or maybe commented on something that caught their optics; few came to Iacon for the first time and said nothing.
Optimus Prime's imposing figure stood close to the view-screen, easily head and shoulders taller than most mechs on the base their leader rarely failed to impress newcomers. Wheeljack did not seem concerned. He bowed, but gave no indication that he was in awe of the much larger mech.
"Be welcome Wheeljack," The Prime greeted the scientist politely. "I've had energon brought up for you, no doubt that you are in need of it after what you and your unit has endured."
"We are Jazz's unit sir," Wheeljack corrected his superior.
Surprise flickered in the Prime's optics, but he wasn't about to argue with a mech who was clearly very loyal to his commander, and absolutely exhausted. "I won't keep you long Wheeljack. I just wanted to assure you that you are very welcome in Iacon, and see if there's anything you need. It's the least I can do for a unit that has worked so hard for the Autobot cause, but has never been here before."
"Thank you," Wheeljack said with genuine gratitude. He sipped his energon, it took real restraint for him to not just gulp it down, but he didn't want to appear any ruder than he already had. "We don't need much, just somewhere to rest for a while."
"I'll see that you're assigned quarters. Would a suite suit your needs?"
"Yes sir. Thank you... again."
"You're welcome Wheeljack," Optimus told him. "I look forward to seeing you again once you're rested."
Knowing that he was being dismissed Wheeljack almost ran for the door.
After his introduction to the Prime, Wheeljack headed for the med-bay, and found the twins standing guard.
"Ratchet won't let anyone in," Sideswipe informed him petulantly. "Some of the other mechs tried to drag us up to their rec room, but Sunny isn't feeling very social. Hound and 'Breaker are keeping up appearances for us."
Wheeljack nodded at all the information, "I'm going in for a look," he announced. "Get yourselves some energon and rest, you earned it, but stay out of trouble. If either of you ends up in the brig before Jazz comes back online I'll scrap you myself," it was an empty threat and they all knew it, but he hoped that it would be enough to keep them in line. Jazz had always been able to pull them out of the brig in record time, but Wheeljack wasn't sure if he could resist the temptation to leave them there.
As the twins reluctantly left their post Wheeljack let himself into the med-bay and barely ducked a flying laser-scalpel.
"Pick that up and get out!" the medic roared. "I'm busy."
"And I'm here to help," Wheeljack said firmly. "I've patched Jazz up more times than I care to count, there isn't much about him I don't know, and one of the most important things you need to know is that if you don't bring him back online in the right way he's likely to rip out your fuel-lines."
"I've repaired thousands of mechs that were in battle-mode..."
"Not like Jazz," Wheeljack interrupted before the medic could really get started. "He may not look like much, but he's lethal, and I've yet to meet a mech that can match his reaction times."
"You walk into my med-bay, tell me that I can't deal with my patient, insult my intelligence and expect me to let you help?" Ratchet hissed.
"Pretty much," Wheeljack confirmed, but it was a conscious effort not to flinch away from the red-hot glare that was aimed in his direction. "Jazz is my friend, I will not allow any harm to come to him, or let him hurt anyone he shouldn't."
To his surprise Ratchet smiled. "You'll do," he said with genuine amusement. "How long have you been together?"
"On and off for vorns," Wheeljack informed him, "but he's not mine, and I'm not his."
Ratchet nodded, but said nothing more on the subject, and they spent the rest of the cycle working companionably.
After a full recharge cycle they reconvened to finish the job and with that done Wheeljack gently pinned both of the black and white's hands with one of his own and connected the last circuit.
"It's alright Jazz," he said softly. "We got away. We're safe, thanks to you."
"Are you sure you got the right wire?" Ratchet asked when nothing appeared to happen.
"'Course he did," Jazz answered smoothly. "But it's for the best if I take a moment to find out whether or not I'm safe. What's the score 'Jack?"
"We won the last round. We're in Iacon."
"Iacon," Jazz repeated with a smile. "Finally. That would make you... Ratchet," he guessed. "Thank you for your help."
"I'm not done yet," Ratchet informed him. "all the major repairs are complete, but there is still some work that needs doing."
Jazz looked crestfallen, he'd never liked the med-bay, and having to adjust to a new medic wasn't something he looked forward to, but he settled back onto his berth grudgingly.
Wheeljack picked up a tool. "Is this what you've been doing since we got here?" Jazz asked instantly. "You are in Iacon 'Jack."
"I know where I am Jazz, but I have had more important things to worry about."
"Your C.O is right Wheeljack," Ratchet put in. "I'm grateful for your help, but Jazz will be fine now, and you should be making the most of your leave."
"I can make it an order," Jazz added with an impish smile, and Wheeljack knew he was beaten.
"Iacon awaits me then," he said quietly. He was trying not to appear sulky, but he was a little apprehensive about going out into the great city alone, and really he just wanted to look after Jazz. "I'll see you when Ratchet deems you fit to leave his care."
"Have fun 'Jack," Jazz grinned, and with a final nod Wheeljack left the med-bay.
Jazz laid back on his berth as Ratchet continued the rather tedious list of repairs, he tried to appear relaxed, but his dislike of medical treatment, and his natural restlessness made it difficult. He tried to stop fidgeting when Ratchet started growling though.
