Human Interactions
Too Good to be True
By Paperkat
08/24/07
Disclaimer: The Transformers movie and all related material belong to Hasbro, Dreamworks and Paramount, concept originally created and licensed through Takara Co. LTD.
The Disclaimer's Disclaimer: I stole the above disclaimer from Straya. Please for give me
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Hey guys! Just wanted to thank everyone for his or her review. Man, you guys have some wild (great) ideas about where this story is going, but hopefully I will still be able to surprise you.
For everyone that wants to know about Mikaela, you get a hint of news in this chapter. It's not a lot, but at least it's something, right? I'm not trying to be ultra suspenseful, I'm just trying to give a believable chain of events and timeline.
A quick word on femmes. Just remember that the previous chapter was from Starscream's point of view, which isn't necessarily accurate or sane. A more complete view should be coming soon.
Enjoy!
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PS This one's for you KaindeAmedha419!
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PSS This chapter is earning it's K+ rating due to the language so be forewarned.
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After three days of complete and total aggravation, there simply was only one way to describe this situation.
"Bullshit," Jazz muttered, his control finally snapping. He gave Ironhide a glare straight in the optics. The seated weapons officer didn't react, and it only fueled Jazz's mounting frustration.
"This is BULLSHIT!" Jazz roared into Ironhide's face, but just like everything else Jazz had tried to do, nothing happened. Jazz spun himself sideways and kicked in the air, his foot going completely through Glen's head.
"Man, did somebody leave the door open?" the dark skinned male asked as he shivered.
"Glen, just concentrate on getting Teletran to boot up," Maggie told him with a huff.
"Man, I can't believe you guys are letting that hood mess with Teletran," Jazz complained to Ironhide even though he knew he couldn't be heard. "You know he's gonna turn the whole fraggin' thing into a gaming station once your back is turned."
In truth, Jazz was rather impressed with Glen and Maggie's progress with Teletran One. For all intents and purposes, Teletran had become his computer. Technically it belonged to no one, but he was the closest Optimus' group had to a communications officer and it had fallen on him to maintain Teletran. The data loop that had ultimately stopped the intruder dubbed 'Tin Man' was Jazz's invention to stop unauthorized access. Between the two humans they had broken through the data loop but were then stopped by the mandatory lockout. Currently they were attempting to get Teletran back to at least manual operations.
Jazz wasn't sure what had happened over the last few months, as he was completely dead at the time, but from what he had been able to see over the last three days they were optics deep in a cluster glitch.
Ratchet was soaking in the energon bath apparently recovering from an attack from Soundwave, and making slow, steady progress. Ironhide was attempting to help the humans both inside and outside the complex, switching between the groups when the commotion was too much to handle. Optimus was tending to Ratchet, keeping himself updated on all of the human's activities, keeping Ironhide from poppin' a cap in the humans, and if that wasn't enough he was also trying to calm Bumblebee's manic behavior. But the boss man wasn't having much luck with that last one.
Jazz had only seen Bee twice in the last three days. The youngest Autobot would come in only for a flash recharge for himself, Sam ever present by his side. Bumblebee was in full-on battle mode status function. Both times Jazz had seen him, Bee's battle shields were down and his tactical scanners were up and he didn't deactivate them even when speaking to Optimus.
The only other time he had seen Bee this upset was when they lost Cliffjumper. Bumblebee never forgave himself for not being able to save the near suicidal bot when he attacked a whole Decepticon battle squad solo. But Cliffjumper hadn't been under Bumblebee direct protection as Sam and Mikaela were.
The human boy had looked like hell. In those three days he had not changed his clothing, his hair was most liking permanently plastered to his head with sweat and Jazz was sure that the dark marks under Sam's eyes were not a good sign.
"I've got it!" Glen hollered jumping up, Fruity Pebbles falling from his lap onto the floor. Jazz wasn't sure, but it seemed that the hacker was fueled exclusively by the breakfast cereal.
"Are you serious?" Maggie asked excitedly rushing over to look at Glen's screen. Jazz moved to a position behind them to try and angle in a look-see.
"No, I just like yelling and standing for my health," Glen told her sarcastically. He then looked over to Ironhide. "Alright Metal Man, fire her up."
"I do have a proper designation," Ironhide grumbled his head on his hand where he was leaning against Teletran's manual control panel waiting to be useful.
Jazz felt sorry for 'Hide. The massive mech had never dealt well with prolonged crisis situations. Ironhide had been configured for combat and he thrived on action, he just didn't have it in him to sit and wait. But with no immediate threat to eliminate, Ironhide's restlessness was mounting by the second. The situation was being further aggravated by him seeing others working to a solution while he sat around waiting for a threat that may never materialize.
Ironhide stood to reach the required keys and roughly pounded in the start up sequence. Jazz winced in sympathy glad that Blaster wasn't around to see his baby treated so roughly. A moment later Teletran's screen flared to life, and then promptly went to a monochromic display.
"Tele's never done that before," Jazz commented tilting his head as if it would change the view.
"Great Glen, you've just given an alien computer the Blue Screen of Death," Maggie drawled, her accent heavier than normal. "You didn't upload Windows on Teletran did you?"
"Do I look like an idiot?" Glen retorted, his head rocking on his shoulders. "Just give me a minute, girl. I'm just getting started."
Glen laced his fingers together and cracked them loudly before hitting a few keystrokes on his computer. Suddenly a booming rhythmic beat flooded the room. Maggie threw up her hands to cover her ears. Ironhide threw up his cannons to obliterate the enemy. Glen's massive human frame started to pounce and weave to the music, his arms pulled up close to his chest as his shoulders rocked back and forth.
Maggie was attempting to yell over the sound, but even standing directly behind her Jazz couldn't hear her. Ironhide retracted his cannons, but not the fierce scowl on his face. Glen ignored them both, his body continuing to ungulate to the beat even as his fingers started flying over his keyboard. To Jazz, it seemed that the young man was in heaven.
A movement at the doorway, caught Jazz's attention. Optimus Prime stood there, a solemn look pulling at the features of his face. Ironically, it was Glen that was the next to notice the Autobot leader. Looking up, the young man grinned sheepishly, and a few keystrokes later the volume dropped to a more reasonable level. Optimus acknowledged that the change was acceptable by nodding his head once and returning from whence he came.
At that point, Jazz decided to follow. His leader had a medical scanner in his hand, which meant that it was time for Ratchet's check up. Jazz by design was a researcher; by nature and need he had become a special operations saboteur. The intricate, fun-loving pranks that had once amused and frustrated his co-workers before the war had became high stakes missions that were anything but games. The need was still there to observe, or spy depending on how you looked at it, even if all of his mechanoid functions required for surveillance were currently absent.
Of course you probably couldn't getting any stealthier than being a ghost. At least, Jazz thought he was a ghost. It was the closest human definition to his situation he remembered, but he was unable to double check on that because of his lack of access to the World Wide Web.
Cybertronians didn't have any belief in an afterlife like humans did. It was generally believed that when a spark could no longer be held within a body that it simply dissipated, but an old memory kept persisting at the back of Jazz's consciousness. He remembered holding his femme's hand his small systems revving in stress over something the twins, which were also in her care, had said to him in cruel jest.
"Am I going to die?" he had asked, quite sure he already knew the answer, after all the twins were older than him and they were so much smarter than he was.
Man, how time changes everything. Jazz thought to himself remembering the twins fondly, hoping that somewhere out in space they were still kicking up chaos.
His femme had stopped outside of the clinic were he had received his experimental spark strengthening treatments and knelt to look into his face. When he was a much older mech Jazz had learned that it wasn't a forgone conclusion that a Spark would take to the body built for it. Sometimes it was an incorrectly constructed housing or an inattentive femme, but mostly it was a mystery why some Sparks just seemed to refuse to stay where they were put. But typically it was soon after activation that the sparkling would stop functioning, not at the age he had reached when he had started having problems.
"The twins?" she had asked him, and all he had been able to do was nod in stunned amazement that his femme seemed to know everything, an opinion that had never changed over time. "You are not going to die, Jazz."
"But SunnySwipe said that my spark was gonna go out like an old telray tube, cause I'm still too little," he had pouted and at the time he had believed it. All of the other sparklings that had been brought online at the same time as himself had already gone on to their first upgrade, while he had been too weak to go through the procedure.
"What have I said about listening to those two?" She had asked.
"To not to. But they said.."
"I know what they said, but they're wrong," she had told him earnestly. "You're just pacing yourself this time around."
"This time around?" he had asked confused as she stood and continued inside the clinic.
"You are an old Spark Jazz and you know better than to rush through your youth." Before Jazz had had a chance to figure out what she had been talking about, Jazz's favorite mech cut in.
"Telling my little buddy old femme tales again, eh Ariel?"
"Orion!"
Jazz remembered throwing himself at the Apprentice Creator and Orion had reacted as he always had by picking him up and tossing him in the air. Orion had been the only bot that hadn't treated him like he would break if he touched him. Even Ariel had treated him like glass.
It was a strange thing to have memories of how Optimus had been and how he was now. He was the same and yet he was completely different. Gone was the mech that secretly let a disabled sparkling run around unchecked while shamelessly flirting with that sparkling's femme. But Optimus was the same bot that knew exactly what to say, when you needed to hear it. Ariel used to call Orion an old Spark too, which he always denied laughingly as nonsense.
But what if the old femme's tale was true and not just a story they told themselves as comfort when a sparkling failed to thrive? What if Sparks could carry on whole and intact? Could that be what he was now? Had Ariel been correct and this life he remembered was not his first? Well whatever the truth was Jazz was currently stuck in a non-caporal form and it sucked, big time.
Jazz made his way to the medical bay, and as expected, Optimus was running diagnostics on their injured medic. Stim cables in the vertical standing energon bath were suspending Ratchet in a very Skywalker-esque way, sans the tighty whiteys of course.
"Well, good morning old friend," Optimus said, and for the first time Jazz noticed that Ratchet's optics were dimly lit and seemingly looking towards the floor. Of course there was no way of telling for sure if Ratchet was completely conscious, but whatever readings Optimus had on the scanner must have led him to think that their medic was at least semi-aware.
"But I suppose it would be impossible to remain in stasis through that racket in the main room," Optimus continued conversationally as he adjusted the mix of the energon bath and the simulation from the suspending cables. Apparently Optimus had not lost any of his excellent bedside manner when he had been reconfigured, hopefully Ratchet was conscious and taking notes.
Jazz came to stand right next to the tank enjoying the only sensation other than frustration he had felt since waking to this ghost existence three days earlier. The only thing so far that had felt solid to him was the glow from the tank. When he was alive, Jazz had never noticed the bath emitting anything other than light, but now that he was dead, it felt warm, heavy and a sensation Jazz imagined to be described as fuzzy. The only thing so far that had felt solid to him was the light from the energon bath, and it was probably the only thing keeping him at least marginally sane right now. Jazz would have never imagined that being ignored would be so emotionally draining.
"No wonder dissin' the twins worked so well," Jazz said to the room that didn't answer back.
There was a cheer from the main room, but this time it was both humans and Ironhide instead of just Glen.
"Looks like we might finally have some good news," Optimus said with a grin not looking up from his scanner to see Ratchet give a twitch.
Jazz stared hard at Ratchet, looking for any more signs of conscious movement. When Optimus moved around the bath to where he was standing, Jazz quickly sidestepped out of the way. He wasn't sure what would happen if he touched another Autobot but Jazz didn't think he could stand to have one of his friends walk through him as the humans did, it was bad enough that they couldn't hear him.
"Well, Ratchet, that is all that I can do for now," Optimus commented as he placed the medical scanner in its slot in the housing of the bath. The Autobot leader placed his hand on the clear Carilian crystal and told the medic in their native language to return to them soon. Optimus left but Jazz remained behind for the moment.
"Man, oh man, Ratchet, what the Pit is goin' on with me," Jazz asked the medic for the first time that day. The Autobot ghost rapped his head against the bath, the light of the energon never actually letting him touch the crystal. Jazz looked up, and for the first time since his awakening found someone watching him.
The startled Autobot jumped back. Ratchet's optics were almost at full illumination and they had been looking right at him, but now the injured medic seemed to be looking around for something. Jazz was only one step back from the bath, but he reclaimed the distance and assumed his previous position almost flush with the top to bottom viewing panel.
Ratchet's optics tracked back to where Jazz was standing and stayed there. Just to make certain that he wasn't seeing what he wanted to see, Jazz slid from one side to the other, the whole time his attention locked with Ratchet's very slight optic movements.
"You can see me?" Jazz whispered barely daring to hope.
He took a quick look at the scanner's display, showing Ratchet's processor actively rocketing upward. Just to see it happen one more time, Jazz jigged and then jagged, and once again Ratchet followed. Jazz would even swear that the medic glared at him.
"You can see me! Hell ya!" Jazz cried, waving crazily at Ratchet who was just able to lift his hand at the wrist in return.
"Optimus!" Jazz yelled excitedly towards the main room. "Optimus! Ratchet can see me!"
Not getting a response, Jazz took off running for the main room. He busted into the room and then straight through the mech he was trying to find. It wasn't until he had to turn around to see Optimus staring past him to Teletran's screen that Jazz remembered he predicament.
"Well, I'm glad no one saw that bonehead move," Jazz grumbled to himself.
"Not only do you have all of the commercial cable channels," Glen was informing his audience. "You also get the local shiznit too."
Glen keyed in a few strokes and Teletran's screen went from some Spanish soap opera to Local Nine Tranquility New.
"…with no chance of rain. So it looks good for the golf tournament this weekend, back to you Melissa."
"That is impressive Glen Whitmann, but what we need is..." Optimus cut himself off short and focused on the mammoth screen.
"As you may remember Mikaela was reported missing over a week ago..." the newscaster said filling the silence Optimus left behind.
"Glen..." Optimus began to say, the urgency in his voice clear.
"Already on it Big Guy," Glen responded his hands flying over his keyboard. "Teletran's got built in Tivo."
The image on the screen rolled backwards to a point in time just before Optimus had started talking. Everyone, including Jazz moved closer, their attention riveted to the screen.
"Thank you Ken. In other local late breaking news, authorities in Nevada have released that a Lake Mead fisherman recovered what appears to be the bloodied clothes and personal affects of local Tranquility teen, Mikaela Banes."
"Oh, no," Maggie gasped as she slid into a near by chair.
Jazz had not heard much about Mikaela's disappearance. The hunt for the human girl had started before he had awakened and the majority of the search effort had been taken over by the military, Bumblebee and Sam. But Jazz did know that she had been severely injured, and if Captain Lennox was to be believed there was little chance that she had survived after eleven days. At this point, just about everyone was searching for a body, only Bee and Sam held out hope that Mikaela was still alive.
"As you may remember Mikaela was reported missing over a week ago by her boyfriend's parents when she failed to show for a planned dinner engagement. Social services and local authorities did not initially consider foul play as Mikaela's foster parents believed that Mikaela and her boyfriend had planned on running away together when Mikaela turned eighteen next week. For more on this we're going to our reporter in the field."
"They think she ran away?" Ironhide scoffed his hands flexing in aggravation. Optimus shook his head, his expression pained and thoughtful.
"Thank you, Melissa. Right now I'm standing outside the home of Mikaela's boyfriend where authorities are questioning both the boy and his parents about the latest information regarding Mikaela's disappearance."
"Ironhide, find Captain Lennox and inform him of this situation if he is not already aware," Optimus commanded as the reporter outside of Sam's house continued to report on the nothingness that was happening outside the home.
"We need to know everything the human authorities have found out and what their next move will be." Optimus gave a sigh, "We cannot let other innocent humans be harmed by this 'Tin Man'."
"Lake Mead is created by the Hoover Dam," Maggie commented. "It can't just be a coincidence."
"I agree," Optimus said gravely. "This needs to be investigated closely, but right now Ratchet is incapacitated and Bumblebee is not responding to my communications."
"I think I know why," Glen broke in, turning up the Teletran's volume in the process. Everyone returned their attention to the screen and the drama that was playing out.
"You have to let me go!" Sam yelled at the two police officers, one on each arm. The boy's hands were cuffed behind him but it did little to curb his struggles. Jazz wasn't sure if anyone else noticed, but Bumblebee in the background of the camera shot was slowly darkening the Carilian crystal that made up his windshield and windows to an opaque black.
"Mikaela's still out there and she needs help!" Sam continued to rant, his thrashing increased when they approached the police cruiser. Suddenly, Bumblebee's radio kicked on, blaring at a level that caused sound distortions over the news crew's sound equipment.
"You got a fast car. And I got a plan to get us out of here…"
The rest of the song, if it even continued to play, was drowned out by the roar of Bumblebee's engine. The camaro's tires squealed in place on the Witwicky's driveway, just long enough for the humans in front of it to beat a hasty retreat. Unnaturally black exhaust spewed from Bee's tailpipe as he sped down the driveway and out into the street where he executed a tight 360. At that point, all of the humans were screaming but nothing could be seen past the thick layer of smoke. Jazz hadn't been aware that Bee's could even generate a smokescreen let alone use it so effectively. By the time the black haze cleared the last image the camera collected was Bumblebee several blocks down the street, with Sam's legs still kicking to get in through the open passenger side window.
"This we didn't need," Ironhide said flatly, his internal systems grinding and his optics flaring brighter. If they were ever able to catch and calm Bumblebee down, Jazz was sure that Ironhide was going to be giving the young bot a lesson in proper strategic withdrawals, probably with his sub-zero canon.
"Ironhide, find Bumblebee and Bring. Him. In. I have tolerated his irrational behavior for too long, and it is now jeopardizing our efforts," Optimus commanded, his dark blue optics fierce. "Maggie Madsen, inform the necessary parties of this situation and see what can be done to minimize the damage, I will help Glen finish his work on Teletran One."
Jazz noticed that none of the mentioned parties argued or hesitated. Ironhide transformed right there in the main room and peeled out. Maggie had her computer to her chest, her cell phone to her ear as she headed off in the same direction.
For the rest of the afternoon the complex was quite. Glen and Optimus worked amazingly well and efficiently together. Jazz suspected that the Autobot leader's mere commanding presence was enough to curb Glen's tendency to veer off tangent. Hoping for some small acknowledgment of his existence, Jazz had returned to the medical bay but had found Ratchet frustratingly in deep stasis. With absolutely nothing else to do, Jazz paced in the main room waiting for something, anything to happen to alleviate the intense boredom and anxiety. Soon Jazz would regret wishing for some action.
Before night fell Teletran had full manual capacities. While Glen had his dinner of Fruit Pebbles, Optimus ran the computer through full diagnostics and poured through the files available concerning the Tin Man's invasion. The Autobot leader still couldn't bring up a visual file to identify the Cybertronian, but Optimus was able to determine what the Tin Man had been up to.
"It would seem that our intruder was attempting to upload something," Optimus murmured as he scrolled through the data logs.
"Is it a virus?" Glen asked, wiping his large hands on his chest, covering his black shirt with brightly colored flakes.
"It does not appear so."
"Could be a Trojan," Glen offered, but seeing Optimus' blank look the hacker explained. "Something that looks like nothing until you try to use it, then your whole system freaks out."
"If that was the Tin Man's intention I do not believe he was successful," the large mech replied, his voice softening as he turned to Glen. "Your timely interference may have saved what little resources we currently have, and I thank you for that."
Glen beamed. Jazz sat back and waited, he knew Optimus too well to think that his leader was just going to overlook the human's blatant disregard for proper protocol.
"However, in the future if you find yourself becoming bored, please inform us so that we can come up with a mutually acceptable way for you to rid yourself of idleness."
"Where's the fun in that?" Glen asked. Optimus just shook his head.
"Incoming injured Autobot detected," Teletran informed the room, gaining the undivided attention of everyone.
"Ironhide? Bumblebee?" Glen asked even as turned to his console that was still connected to Teletran's systems.
"Ironhide reports being uninjured, Bumblebee is still not answering communications," Optimus supplied. "However, both are out of Teletran's range. We have only been able to activate internal sensors."
"Well, no duh," a familiar voice rasped tiredly from just outside the hallway door.
Jazz's universe tilted on its axis as a figured stumbled through the doorway. Optimus ran forward and caught the dirt-incrusted mech before he had a chance to hit the floor. Inside Jazz was screaming his denial, not even being able to voice the stark rage and terror he felt.
"I thought…" Glen started to say but cut himself off.
Optimus cradled the mech to him, his optics softening to match his voice.
"Take it easy Jazz. I have you."
No one but the ghost in the room saw the silver mech's optics slide from blue to purple, or the self-satisfied smirk that distorted its once friendly features.