Jazz was frozen to the spot with what he was looking at. He saw Sideswipe lying on the floor, on his side. There were signs of frost that showed as blotches of white on his body. He was barely moving or even venting. His optics were flickering which meant he was still alive. Jazz quickly went to his side, examining with his optics. Sideswipe was almost completely frozen, his internal temperature must've malfunctioned, making him very cold, and nearly freezing over. His spark was pulsing so fast with worry; he had to get Sideswipe out of here.
Jazz carefully turned Sideswipe on his back and gently put one arm under his knees, the other on the back of shoulders and picked him up in bridal style from the cold ground. Sideswipe stiffly curled up closer to Jazz's body which surprised him but smiled softly at him. He turned to leave but was stopped when he saw a very familiar bot standing in the doorway from where he entered. His smile immediately dropped and was replaced with a frown.
No one spoke. It was silence, with just the freezing unit humming gently in the background.
"Consider this a taste of what to expect in the future for you, and the other Autobots on this planet." Dromus said in a low tone that Jazz knew, was a threat. He kept his face neutral not showing any movement. The decepticon smirked, turned to his right, then phased through the wall.
After one minute, Jazz snarled in frustration and tipped his head to keep his tears from flowing down from his optics. He looked back down at the limp Sideswipe in his arms and started to make his way out of the warehouse. When he was a long distance away he commed the scrapyard for a groundbridge. Jazz walked through and was met with wide optics and a few gasps.
"Fixit, Sideswipe needs help!" Bumblebee yelled to the orange minibot who quickly rolled on his two wheels toward Jazz. He did a scan on Sideswipe, and told Jazz to put him on the medical berth in the small yellow tent. Jazz was ushered out so Fixit could work. He sat on a box near the tent with a face that didn't show any emotion in others' optics, but it held such so much worry and pain. Jazz was confused why he was feeling like this toward the kid. It was true that he was worried… no, he was very worried. Then Jazz faintly smirked and huffed, ' Primus, this kid is doing something to me and I don't know how.'
A few hours later, as the sun was going down, Sideswipe was still in the medical tent and Jazz was still waiting while everyone resumed doing what they needed to do except Bumblebee and Grimlock. Luckily, Fixit exited the tent and all optics were on him. Jazz stood up as Fixit started to inform everyone of Sideswipe's condition.
"Sideswipe will be alright, but his systems nearly froze up completely. I had to put in a few heaters in the tent, so he should be awake by morning." Fixit explained calmly, Bee and Grim breathed a sigh of relief as their shoulders relaxed.
"Thank you, Fixit." Bumblebee said.
But while Fixit was explaining Jazz managed to slip into the tent without anyone noticing, courtesy of being Head of special operations. When he walked in he saw a couple of heaters facing Sideswipe so he could warm up. He made his way over to Sideswipe's side and made sure everything was in place and nothing was missing. He stopped, and looked at Sideswipe's peaceful form.
He looked so calm and… beautiful.
Jazz couldn't stop himself as he let the back of his left hand lightly caress Sideswipe's cheek as his right hand held Sideswipe's right hand. A wave of guilt washed over him. How could I have been so stupid? Jazz scolded himself. He should have known someone was following him. But Dromus is really clever, he could've used a strong cloaking device to mask his signal. That means he must've seen him with Sideswipe at some point and decided to kidnap him, just for that threat, ' Consider this a taste of what to expect in the future for you, and the other Autobots on this planet .'
Jazz wasn't able to stop that maniac before when he killed some of his closest friends, but now Jazz has to stop him before anyone else gets hurt.
"Wow," Sideswipe's raspy voice retracted him out of his thoughts and looked at him, "didn't peg you to be a crier."
Jazz was confused at first, but when he lifted his left hand up to his face he realised that he was indeed crying. Jazz opened his mouth to say something but he was cut off by Sideswipe.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Jazz gave him a skeptic look with a tilt of his head, "Promise." Sideswipe said as he looked at Jazz's visor trying to find his optics.
Jazz grinned, "Thanks." He was relieved that Sideswipe was back to normal. Well as normal as he could be.
"Just out of curiosity, why were you crying?" Sideswipe asked.
Jazz didn't know what to say. He searched Sideswipe's face for a moment before finally speaking. "The decepticon that captured ya was Dromus, he somehow followed me to Earth without me knowin'." Jazz explained.
"What does he want?" Sideswipe asked in a curious voice.
"I don't know, he's a tricky decepticon, with many goals. But I know for sure that he wants nothing more but to hurt me in any way possible. That's why he captured ya." Jazz revealed, looking at Sideswipe's optics which he could get lost in.
Sideswipe optics widened in surprise and confusion, "Wait, how would capturing me hurt you?"
Jazz sighed, "Cause I care about ya." He said in a soft voice with sincerity.
Sideswipe optics got wide and his face held a tint of blue, he cleared his throat to clear the awkwardness out of the air and quietly, above a whisper said, "Thanks, I guess," Sideswipe glanced at Jazz's visor and quickly looked away when he saw that Jazz was looking at him too, "So what are we gonna do about this 'Dromus' guy?" Fully looking at Jazz now.
"I'll talk to Bee and his team about this tomorrow, maybe we'll have a chance to stop him," Jazz planned out, "You should rest or Fixit will be upset."
Sideswipe rolled his optics and laid down on his side, before he closed his optics he mumbled, "Thanks, for saving me." Then he fell asleep.
Jazz chuckled, "Your welcome, kid." And exited the tent to let Sideswipe rest.