If you made it this far, then you should be aware of the warnings.

Ch. 20

The storm had finally ended, and Jazz was answering call after call, email after email on the damages done by the rain. Optimus was dealing with his own workload, neither had gone to take a lunch and both were secretly try to hide their tanks rumbling behind shifting in their chairs. A knock on the door caught both of their attention before revealing Vera with a single cube and then stepped further in the room with a smile on her face.

"Optimus this is for you, Jazz your guest is here."

Jazz looked at her in confusion, "my guest?" Prowl stepped into the room and he stood up a little too quickly, hitting his knee on the bottom of the desk. "P-Prowl!? Wha- ahem… What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Praxus?"

"I have finished my workload for the time being. I figured you would like to go out and have some energon with me?" Prowl offered before smiling subtly. Jazz looked at the large pile of work he still had to do. He was about to deny the offer, but Optimus intervened.

"Go ahead Jazz, it'll still be here when you get back. We both know you'll just go stir crazy. Have fun." He accepted the cube from Vera and started drinking it.

Jazz stood up and went over to Prowl with uncertainty. Prowl said public, he isn't going to hurt me. The Polyhexian licked his lips before taking the white servo quickly. Prowl was pleasantly surprised by the action but escorted him outside. "Where are we going?"

"There's this café that is close by that I've been told was good at flavoring energon. You look like you have been working a lot and your tanks have been making sounds since we left." Prowl pointed out as they continued walking down the sidewalk to their destination. "Have you been?"

"I don't… really go out without Hide or Blaster with me. If you haven't notice I'm not exactly well liked in society." He didn't look Prowl in the optics once as he spoke.

"Speaking of Ironhide, he told me you were going through with a spark transfer?" Prowl chose his words wisely, wanting Jazz to get the hint that he could answer his way.

The Polyhexian nodded and hugged his waist as they arrived at a small building that had a patio with a small sitting area as well as more on the inside. It was mainly a bright yellow paired with whites and light pinks. Prowl a chair out for Jazz to sit, and the visored mech stiffly sat down. Right, never been on an actual date. "I am, I want all of the brands and physical scars gone. Smokescreen helped me sketch out the design of my new frame, Tracks just finished making the pieces, and Sunny confirmed the colors and everything with me yesterday. He should be getting the parts soon."

"Can I ask to see it?" Prowl asked before a waiter came over and dropped off the menus. He sat small glasses of normal grade on the table before leaving them to decide.

Jazz took a few sips of the energon to get his tanks to shut up, and then answered. "Not until it's done. It's got some… quirks that I think you'll like. I know the procedure is risky and there's a chance of me forgetting a lot, if not all of it, but it's something I want."

"You bribed Smokescreen to keep silent, haven't you? He always likes showing off his sketches when he gets a chance." Prowl inquired and the visored mech smirked.

"I promised him I'd play a ballad for him if kept his trap shut." Jazz laughed and Prowl smiled softly at hearing his small laugh. "Well I think I know what I want. I'll have to come up with something better to repay you."

"You don't have to Jazz, spoiling you is something I still enjoy." Prowl said before their waiter returned and took their orders.

The rest of their mid-cycle date was full of playful bantering and catching up since Jazz's release. There were some tears from Jazz, but it was always replaced with a laugh when Prowl spoke of some of the funnier non-emergencies he got called to deal with. When Prowl dropped Jazz back at the Council tower, Jazz's field was bouncy and happy, and a genuine smile was on his face.

"Thank you for today Prowl, it was nice. Felt very…-"

"Normal?" Prowl finished for the shorter mech, getting a chuckle from him.

"Yes, normal. Maybe we could do this again sometime?" Jazz hinted with his field changing into a subtle curiosity. Prowl nodded with his wings moving forward and back a couple times. "I should head back inside; I have a lot of desk work to do."

Prowl chuckled at the dread behind the words. "I believe you will survive. Have a good rest of your day Jazz."

"You too." Jazz said before heading inside with a smile still on his face. When he walked back into the office, the mech sat down with a soft sigh and was pushing his stylus around with the side of his helm rest in his servo. He still so amazing.

"Must have been a good lunch then?" Optimus teased the mech that was still swooning at his desk. Jazz shook his helm to clear the happy haze from his processor. His face heated up slightly in embarrassment.

"Something like that. He just-" Jazz sighed happily with his arms stretched out on the surface in front of him. "So amazing."

The Prime continued snickering and laughing at his friend while focusing on his work. "Well can you swoon and work? We have a lot to do."

Jazz sat up quickly and logged into his terminal with a smile. "Right, serious Jazz mode." Cycles passed and Jazz sat the last datapad in the finished pile as he clicked the send button on an email. He collapsed in his chair with a heavy groan. "I think I've done enough work to last me a lifetime."

"I agree with you, and don't worry the next bad wave won't be until the next storm." Optimus stood up from his desk and sat on the corner of it with his arms crossed in a nonthreatening manner. "Jazz, can I ask you something?"

"Hm?" Jazz stretched with his back arched. "Shoot."

"What was going on through your processor when you commed me into my office on the ARK?" The Prime wondered that for a long time and felt the mech in question was in an okay of a mindset to ask.

The Polyhexian sat up straight, turning to face the larger mech, and sighed softly. "I was terrified, afraid that my plan wouldn't work, and Soundwave would find out and kill everyone to put me in my place. I knew I was going to be in trouble, that I wasn't afraid of, but it was the reaction I got. When I killed Megatron, I knew that it was a big enough blow to cause the Cons to stir and revolt just long enough for me to confess everything. There… There's more, but I don't know exactly what it is. All I know was that I was afraid of you, which is a silly fear I know, but whatever I locked away in my memory banks it was serious. I was afraid of your response and feared Soundwave would use it against me."

"Jazz, you know I would never physically hurt you or anything Soundwave had done." Optimus kept calm and Jazz nodded in agreement. He leaned forward and he looked up quickly. "I want to show you something. I'll hardline to my terminal and you can see it."

The Polyhexian hooked up to his terminal and fell into stasis with Optimus standing behind him. Jazz was standing in an abandoned hospital, the lights occasionally flickered and water dripped from the ceiling, and he was tense about something.

Shockwave stepped out of the shadows and was genuinely surprised to see the Polyhexian in the building with a pipe in his servo. "Jazz, Soundwave did not order you to Cybertron. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here because I want to Shockwave. Leave or I'll rip your optic out of your ugly mug!" Jazz's engines roared, all he was doing was defending his territory, wanting to protect what was behind him.

"It would seem being with those Autobots have scrambled your compliance chip. We'll just have to correct that, now won't we?" Shockwave stalked closer and Jazz took a wide swing at the mech, but he caught it and violently jerked the Polyhexian closer.

"I am a free mech Shockwave. I will never go back to being a slave!" He brought his legs up and kicked the purple mech away. The Polyhexian back flipped away from the mech's reach. "I will see to it that my new mission is carried out until I deactivate!"

The cyclops mockingly laughed, "and what is this new mission little pet?"

"Ending this war alongside my new family." Jazz pulled his blaster from his side and shot at the mech, striking him in several areas.

Shockwave went to say something, but something over Jazz's shoulders caught his optic. "Well hello, this would certainly explain your attitude. Defending your home, I see, just wait until Soundwave finds out."

Something in Jazz clicked and he shouted in anger before tackling Shockwave to the ground. He started ripping his voice box out, ripping major fuel lines, and then ended with punching his graying form repeatedly in the face. Jazz started pulling out of his berserk haze and slowly stood up with heavy vents.

"I'm okay, we're okay. We're safe. Data take Shockwave to his space bridge." Jazz ordered before turning and looked at his energon stained arms.

Jazz pulled out just before he looked up. He was shaking from the emotions, and he looked at his servos as if they were still stained. Optimus looked down at Jazz in astonishment, unable to form words. "I was being honest when I said that I was helping the Autobots when Blacklight deactivated. The Autobots were the only actual family I had, around you all I felt normal, and finally had an answer to my Sire's question. I finally had something to fight for and it's locked away in here." He pointed to the center of his helm.

He stood up and looked up at Optimus with a servo going to his waist. Optimus rested his larger servo on Jazz's shoulder with gratitude in his field. "There's the Jazz I know. Thank you for entrusting me with this."

Jazz heated up and then waved him off with an embarrassed chuckle. "Well I guess actually talking about things made me realize that trust goes both ways. And thank you for being patient with me."

Jazz walked into the house just one klik before curfew and he noticed that it was oddly quiet, which was weird. He flipped the lights on in the living room before shouting and backed away with his servo covering his optics. Ironhide shouted and flipped onto his peds while Chromia sat up with her servos going over her chest plate. "Primus Ironhide! You have a room for a reason!"

"I thought you were still working, Primus Jazz!" He turned his body and forced his spike back into his housing.

"If you haven't checked your chronometer, it's almost nine. Hi Chromia." Jazz quickly went to his room with his plating shivering with disgust. Ew I am never going to get that out of my memory banks. The Polyhexian took a quick shower before sitting in his usual spot at the windowsill. He started humming softly as he pretend to be playing piano keys on his knee. He started humming softly as his optics closed.

Ironhide and Chromia were cleaning up their evidence in the living when they saw Jazz walk into the kitchen. They went to apologize for what happened a cycle ago, but they saw Jazz sitting on the ground and was pouring energon on the floor before covering his arms with it.

"Jazz, what are you doing!?" Ironhide took the cube away from the mech, seeing how limp he was. "What are you doing?"

"Fear of betrayal. Protect my family. Gonna make dah bastard pay with his life. Hope yer security has gotten better since dah twins." Jazz growled with a dangerous grin before he collapsed into the puddle of energon. Jazz onlined to a bright light shining in his visors and he groaned as he smacked at it.

"What was the last thing you remember Jazz?" The still onlining mech recognized First Aid's voice. When did I get to the hospital?

He looked around in confusion before answering. "Was at home humming to myself, I felt tired and went into stasis. Why am I at the hospital?"

"You collapsed in the kitchen." Ratchet walked over with a data pad in his servos. He started scrolling through the notes before looking over at the confused Polyhexian. "Ironhide said you went into the kitchen, poured energon all over the floor, and then threatened to kill someone before collapsing. Ring any bells?"

Jazz sat up and scratched the top of his helm, "nope. I mean only mech I want dead is gonna rust in Newgate."

"Hmm, okay. Any errors popping up?" The medic asked as he scanned him. The mech shook his helm with a groan and grabbed his leg, which immediately caught Ratchet and First Aid's attention. "What's wrong?"

The mech shook his helm with an anxious chuckle. "Nothing Hatch' I just recharged funny." He tried to hide the pain before Ratchet gave an agitated sigh and pulled the blanket off of his lower half to get a good look. Ratchet turned away and grabbed tweezers, turning back over and pulled a piece of broken glass. "Guess there was something wrong, huh."

"When did you become so witty? Sunny give you some of his charms?" Jazz teased while First Aid repaired the tear. "So, from the way I'm bein coddled I'm not going back?"

The two medics looked at each other and then at the Polyhexian. "No Jazz, you aren't. Optimus wishes for you to stay for observation for the lunar cycle. I know it's not something you would enjoy in the slightest, but we need to figure out what is causing these black outs."

Jazz frowned with a small whine, "it's nothing really my mechs! I don't wanna be takin' up your time." He started waving his servos in front of him with his field pulsing how he felt about this plan.

"I know Jazz, but this has to be done. Just for the night and then you can go back, promise." Ratchet reassured and Jazz gave a shaky ex-vent with a nod. "Even took the liberty of sound proofing your room because I know you'll start some sort of party."

The Polyhexian smiled slightly at the joke before sitting back on the medical berth. "Okay, I'll try not attract a wrench to the helm. Just remember that I may cause some mischief if I get too bored." He got a stern digit pointed at him before being told that energon was going to be dropped off in a couple groons. Are they going to have you scan my processor?

Naw, Prime has dah minis and Ah stationed in Tyger Pax for a few solar cycles. Blaster told the mech through the bond. Jazz nodded and sat up, looking around the room until he saw small lights occasionally light up in all four corners. Jazz tried to take it personal. He knew that it was precaution and for everyone's safety. The mech stood up and started walking around the room in boredom, he looked out the window and he felt something spark up inside him. He looked to the sides of the room before going to the medical berth, placing a servo on top of it with his digits curling slightly.

"Master Jazz, we will need to acquire more powerful boosters for the twins. Because of the lack of spark energy, it has resulted in their anti-virus systems to-" The drone from Jazz's previous memories, Data, looked up from the medical berth with two weak looking shadows laying on the large berth.

"I know Data, I know frag. Okay, I'll try to get something from Ratchet. He's gotta have something for the Cassetticons. Get me a list and I'll get what I can. Are the boosters you have now good enough until then?" Jazz held onto one of the small servos of the blue optic sparkling. The two shadows started coughing and huddled closer to each other with the thermal blankets covering them. "And stop calling me Master."

Data bowed his helm politely, "I apologize Jazz it is a part of the glitch I retained. The boosters I was programmed with can keep them functioning at seventy percent, but they are designed for soldiers and per my previous function. There is also an old youth section in the opposite wing of this hospital, but-"

Jazz nodded in understanding the problem with that. "But it's been blown up during the war. Right."

So, what do you think will happen next? Let me know in the comments. :)

We're getting closer to finding out what Jazz's connection is to Ricochet and Skids. (If you haven't already)