The next few days crept by with agonizing slowness for Jazz.
He couldn't stop himself from trying to talk to Prowl, and was rewarded with the tactician ignoring him as though he wasn't there.
Optimus Prime didn't back down, and let Prowl leave his quarters only when necessary.
Jazz noticed Prime had spent more time than normal alone in his own quarters, when he wasn't on duty.
That was hardly surprising.
Prowl, his second-in-command, loyal and trustworthy, with the unshakeable conviction that peace and justice were paramount, and must be restored to their world.
And he was a dear friend.
Had been.
The Porsche just couldn't believe what Prowl had said to Ironhide.
"And without even the decency to say it to my face," Jazz recalled Ironhide's bristling, hurt comment.
Jazz was more than relieved when it seemed there was some action on the horizon.
Recent surveillance had confirmed the Decepticons were currently stationed in one of their abandoned desert posses, and that the Constructicons were hanging around the spacebridge with suspicious regularity.
Optimus Prime wanted to know why, but realized that by approaching their compound, the Autobots would be the ones picking the fight.
"Well we're up for a box-in, right fellas?" Ironhide grinned.
"If we don't rough up some Decepticons soon-" Sideswipe started, "We might end up aiming closer to home," Sunstreaker finished, and they both glared at Prowl.
The tactician had meandered into the control room, during one of the five-minute constitutionals Optimus Prime had granted him through his lock-down.
"Stow it," Jazz snapped.
Optimus Prime ignored it.
"All right. Jazz, Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Cliffjumper, Tracks, Sideswipe, Trailbreaker: transform,"
He watched his troops line up and turned on Prowl.
"You too Prowl," Prime sharply ordered the sullen Datsun, "Get your aft into gear."
"Hey-" Cliffjumper started to protest, then changed his mind as Jazz offered to forcefully shepherd his fellow Porsche into a wall.
Prime pulled Prowl's confiscated rifle from a subspace pocket and tossed it to the tactician.
Optimus spoke to him in a low voice, but they all heard what was said.
"Aim it at any living thing besides a Decepticon, and I'll have you dismantled,"
Optimus Prime waited until the black and white mech had lazily transformed.
"All right, roll out!"
They fell into a swallow-tail behind their commander, and followed him into the desert.
X
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Jazz and Ironhide had positioned themselves either side of the silent Datsun, at the rear of the convoy, and tried to make civil conversation with him.
The saboteur couldn't have stood being isolated in his quarters the way Prowl had been.
Ironhide just plain missed him, missed the old Prowl and his quiet but solid presence around the Ark.
What the tactician had said to him struck a tender nerve with the elder Autobot, especially as he'd always considered Prowl a loyal friend.
But Ironhide was still willing to do anything he could to help the black and white Datsun...if he'd just speak.
"Whaddaya think Megatron's got cookin' this time?" Ironhide asked, hoping to get some sort of response from Prowl.
"Don't know man," Jazz answered after a lengthy pause, "But whatever it is will be hazardous to our health, no question."
They finally approached the Decepticon compound, set far into the Oregon desert.
Optimus Prime signalled for them to transform, and they scattered, concealing themselves among the rocky debris.
"Autobots, surveillance mode," Prime ordered in an undertone as several heavy vehicles approached.
"Constructicons," Ironhide growled to no one in particular, "And I bet they just got a special delivery from Cybertron,"
He gestured to the suspicious-looking components in Long Haul's tipper as they paused a few yards from the entrance.
The spacebridge was not far from this particular Decepticon bunker.
Hook transformed and began conscientiously unloading the items, handling them very gently.
Jazz inched forward on his front for a better look, taking care not to draw any Constructicon attention.
That was all they needed, a set-to with Devastator.
The Porsche was just slowly rising to his knees behind a granite slab, when a shadow fell in front of him, and two rapid lots of fire burst in the middle of the Decepticons.
"Prowl!"
Jazz half-yelped, half-gasped without even turning around, instantly recognizing the distinct silhouette.
Bonecrusher, Mixmaster and Scavenger immediately returned fire as the rest of the Autobots leapt to their feet.
Hook snatched up the unloaded components and dashed into the base with Long Haul, to protect whatever it was they had, and undoubtedly alert the rest of the Decepticons.
"What the slag is your problem!" Trailbreaker roared as the Datsun leapt off his perch, the top of the outcrop.
Prowl ignored him as a rather unsettling number of Decepticons spilled out of the base and began attacking.
Jazz yanked out his rifle as Skywarp and Dirge made a strafing run, pinning the Autobots among the rocks.
"Autobots, concentrate firepower to the air!" Optimus Prime ordered.
The Earth-bound Decepticon weapons fire had no effect on the concealed Autobots, but it was a different story coming from above.
Thrust and Thundercracker joined the other Seekers in attack formation, and the Autobots fired as one.
Dirge and Thundercracker were forced to pull out, streaming plumes of black smoke as Megatron bellowed orders, and futilely fired his fusion cannon at the rocks.
Jazz glanced around.
The familiar zing-zing of the tactician's acid-pellet rifle was conspicuous in its absence.
The Porsche saw that Prowl was more or less skulking at the back of the group...was he trying to back away?
The Datsun had even pocketed his weapon.
Jazz lowered his own rifle, without realizing, in disbelief.
"Jazz!"
A small red streak dive-tackled the saboteur out of the path of another strafing run by Thrust.
"Slagging coward," Cliffjumper swore with vengeance -he'd followed Jazz's gaze to the slinking tactician- and directed a blast of glass gas at the cone-head Seeker.
It shattered Thrust's weapon banks on contact, and sent him wildly off-balance as a bonus.
Ironhide threw himself down near the saboteur, firing off a few well-placed shots that grounded the maroon jet.
"Well I'll be scrapped," Ironhide muttered in complete disbelief, also catching sight of the tactician.
Jazz saw the look of utter disgust and intense disappointment in the older mech's optics.
He realized with a sinking certainty that Prowl had just lost Ironhide's support, and probably his entire friendship.
"Primus, what's wrong with him!" Jazz exclaimed, leaping to his feet.
Ironhide grabbed his bumper bar and pulled him down.
"Stay down," he ordered sharply.
Sunstreaker was cursing up a storm, and Jazz honestly couldn't blame him.
He heard Tracks fire off his shoulder weapons.
That, combined with a few shots from Sideswipe, finally turned Skywarp back to the ground.
Prime held up a hand, and the Autobots paused as the Decepticons dragged themselves back to their commander.
"Optimus Prime!" Megatron thundered, "You have no business here! Leave before I decide to scatter your sorry chassis across the landscape!"
Prime got to his feet and gestured for his troops to do the same.
They all did so, weapons at the ready.
"What are you up to now Megatron," the imposing Autobot rumbled, "Whatever it is, you will be stopped,"
"Go right ahead Optimus," the Decepticon commander sneered in a tone every Autobot present hated.
"We'll be back Megatron," Prime warned. "Autobots, transform and withdraw,"
They complied, trying to keep tempers in check at the taunting laughter from the despised Decepticon.
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe simmered on the way back to the Ark, speculating over what was going on with the enemy, and Jazz was somewhat relieved to see they'd forgotten Prowl's little stunt...at least for the time being.
The saboteur suddenly realized the other black and white mech wasn't among them.
And nobody, including Optimus Prime, seemed to have noticed.
The Porsche very gradually dropped back and then stopped altogether.
He transformed, hoping none of the others would notice his absence either.
Once the team was out of sight, Jazz quickly scaled an outcrop and set visual sensors to scan in every spectrum.
The Decepticons obviously hadn't captured Prowl.
The only thing Jazz could come up with was that maybe the Datsun had somehow been injured and was now incapacitated.
Dusk was settling fast, blurring distances and making the rocky outcrops fade, but Jazz picked out the familiar 280zx back end.
Slipping away quietly into the desert, without lights.
"What the-" Jazz yelped.
In the few astroseconds it took for the saboteur to make himself believe and grasp what was happening, Prowl, now a vague spot on the horizon, figuratively put his foot down.
"Slag you Prowl!"
Jazz yelped to the sky, and flung himself to the ground, transforming on his way. Once his tyres hit sand, peeled after the Datsun.
Prowl had a head start, and was among the group of fastest Autobots, but wasn't quite in Jazz's category.
Jazz gradually gained on him, and try as he might, the Porsche was determined that the Datsun wasn't going to shake him.
"Prowl man, what are you doing?" Jazz yelled desperately, "Prime'll have your aft!"
"I don't care. Leave me alone,"
Jazz activated his magnet beam, full power, caught Prowl squarely on the rear bumper, and hit the brakes.
The Porsche was heavier than the Datsun, but he was travelling at such a speed that he dragged the saboteur a good two hundred metres before Jazz brought him to a standstill.
"Prowl! I have no idea what you're playing at man, but you're not going anywhere til we get to the bottom of this," Jazz said determinedly as the dust began settling.
"Let me go," Prowl hissed, drawing left and right, like a team of huskies trying to crack an iced-in sled.
Jazz put up maximum effort to keep him stationary.
"No. You're coming back to the Ark, with me."
The tactician suddenly transformed and jerked his feet back, breaking the magnetic hold.
"Leave, or you'll be sorry," Prowl hissed, clenching his fists as Jazz transformed.
Jazz held his hands up in a passive pose.
"Prowl. You're going to have to let someone help you sooner or later man. I don't know what I've done to lose your trust, but I'm sorry," the saboteur said softly as the Datsun turned his back on him.
Jazz looked at him for a few astroticks, wondering what he could say, then caught the subtlest change in posture.
Jazz made a wild dive and tackled the Datsun around the knee-joints before he could transform, slapping both of them face-first into the desert sand with a grunt.
Prowl immediately began kicking and struggling, trying unsuccessfully to shake himself loose of the stranglehold.
Jazz managed to gather his knees under him while still hanging on to the tactician.
Then, in one swift move, almost leap-frogging, he pinned Prowl by the forearms, the Datsun's knees between his own.
And had a very hard time holding Prowl down as he continued struggling to free himself.
Saboteur and tactician were fairly evenly matched in strength, and Jazz wasn't sure he could keep him down for long.
Jazz snapped up, letting go of the black arms, and brought his palms down near the tactician's door-panel junctions, hoping that would be more effective.
Prowl scrabbled about, attempting to get his hands underneath and force himself up, still kicking and trying to shake the saboteur off.
Jazz moved his hands further outward and deliberately leaned down, his weight pressing Prowl's door-panels forward into the sand.
He knew it would hurt the sensitive appendages, and hated having to do it.
But he had no choice.
"Primus Prowl, I don't want to hurt you man!" Jazz panted, "Please just be still,"
The Datsun still refused to speak, but his throes minimized.
Jazz started slightly as his commlink chirped.
"Optimus Prime to Jazz: what is your location? Please acknowledge,"
"Still in the desert Prime...and I've got Prowl," the saboteur managed to answer grimly.
The commander paused.
"Bring him back, right now."
Prowl stopped struggling altogether at Optimus Prime's communiqué, and Jazz cautiously reached into a subspace pocket to disarm the tactician.
Prowl let him take the acid-pellet rifle without a murmur.
Jazz climbed off him, and reached down to pull the tactician to his feet.
Prowl ignored the helping hand and got to his knees, left door-panel at an awkward angle and obviously hurting him.
Jazz gave himself a mental kick in the aft for injuring the tactician.
"Man, are you going to come with me without hassles, or am I going to have to tow you?"
The Datsun stood, transformed without a word, and waited.
Jazz transformed, and they headed back to the Ark silently.