Hey guys! So, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Reviewers include: MoonWallker, lake-erie, Angel Heart (Guest), Golden Eagle 603, Autobot Chromia, Bluebird Soaring, Icesong180, Crazygrrl XD, Gemava, Chistarpax, Lair of The Twisted Muses, Chibi Oro, Bliss123, Lexma, BLuebALL268, DreamMaster08x, SunnySidesofBlue and zrexheartz!
I'm sorry I didn't get around to answering all the reviews, but they were all appreciated nonetheless. I was so happy with all of your responses! I sincerely hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.
[This is set the day after the last chapter, by the way]
"What was it you wanted?" The question was cool and disinterested; Prowl barely even glanced up from his datapads.
The twins shared a look, and Sideswipe cleared his vocaliser, clearly about to take the lead. "We wanted to talk about the 'Con in the brig."
Every strut in the tactician's body tensed. He had been waiting for this. The looks the twins had sent him as they had made their way out of the brig were curious and confused, and Prowl had calculated a 76% chance that they would attempt to ask him about his exchange with Jazz. "I see. What exactly is it you wish to ask about?"
"How do you know him?" It was Sunstreaker who spoke this time, surprising both Prowl and his twin. Usually, the golden twin spoke as little as possible in Prowl's office. He had seemingly come to the conclusion that if he didn't speak as much as Sideswipe, the punishment Prowl decided to press upon them wouldn't be quite so severe.
"That is..." Trailing off with a sigh, the SIC observed his two subordinates closely. "Why?"
Another look was shared between the twins. "You called him Jazz." Sideswipe said uncertainly.
"Yes. That is his name."
"Well, we knew a Jazz back when we were in Kaon. And we were thinking when we were in the brig yesterday... we think it's the same Jazz."
Interest piqued, Prowl set down his datapad and gave his visitors his full attention. "Is that so?"
"Yeah. Well.. He used to be-" Sideswipe broke off, glancing swiftly at Sunstreaker.
"I am perfectly aware of your previous connections to the Kaonian underworld." Prowl interrupted, making his own attempt to soothe their misgivings. "You have a rather large file in the Enforcers databanks. I will ignore any mentions of past crimes; I have no doubt you have reasons for your lawbreaking."
A small grin crossed Sideswipe's face, though it wasn't as cheerful as normal for the frontliner. "Right. Well, I used to be a merchant on the black market. Selling Sunny's paintings, we barely made enough credits just to get by.
"One day, this mech was bothering me. Kept throwing my stuff everywhere and yelling at me. It was the street in Kaon, so no one passed any remarks. It was nothing unusual. The mech started tearing the paintings, and he was huge, y'know? It wasn't like I could just knock him unconscious. I mean I could NOW, but back then... I was kinda small, right?" He nudged his twin, who grunted in affirmation laced with amusement. "Finally this mech came over. He told the big mech to stop picking on me. He called me 'little guy'. I remember feeling kinda offended by that."
Absorbed in the story, Prowl simply nodded to show he was following what the frontliner was saying and motioned for him to continue.
"I also remember thinking I was doomed. I mean, this mech was HUGE. Think Astrotrain huge, yeah? And the guy who had decided to help me out was tiny. Not minibot tiny, but pretty small. Smaller than me. The big mech obviously thought the same. He tried to hit the little mech, and-" A large smile crossed Sideswipe's face at the memory. "Well, he got more than he bargained for. I've never seen a mech fight like him. He was like a ninja or something. After he had beaten the mech to slag, he introduced himself as Jazz."
Prowl took a moment of silence to absorb this. "I see. And did you keep up contact with him?"
"Yeah. He came every few days and bought some of Sunny's paintings. He even brought me painting supplies to give to Sunny sometimes. He was nice, y'know? I mean, scary too. Real scary. We were really glad he decided to help us out and not just kill us."
"When was the last time you saw him?"
"Um..." Frowning, Sideswipe glanced to his twin for memory aid.
"He visited me in the gladiatorial ring." Sunstreaker spoke up reluctantly, glaring at Prowl's desk. "He found me after a match, and offered to fix up some of my scratches."
"Pretty sure they weren't just 'scratches'." Sideswipe piped up, scowling slightly. "Weren't you in the medbay 'cause of energon loss?"
Sunstreaker continued talking as if nothing had been said. "I thought it was weird, because he used to be really iffy about people touching him."
"That's true. Remember he pulled out that mech's throat cabling because he brushed off his arm?"
"Yes." The golden frontliner murmured, nodding. "He didn't like contact very much. Don't blame him."
"You don't like contact because your paint might get scratched." Sideswipe snorted. "I think you both had different reasons."
"Could you please return to your story?" Prowl pressed tiredly.
"Oh, right." Sitting up straighter, Sunstreaker crossed his legs. He tapped his fingers on his knee thoughtfully as his optics misted over. "He welded some of my injuries, and punched a medic who tried to take the welder off of him."
Despite his best attempts, Prowl couldn't keep a tiny smile from stealing over his lips at the mental image. The action was just so purely Jazz.
"He told me that he was leaving for a while, and wouldn't be able to buy any paintings until he was back. Guess that's when he joined the 'Cons."
"He was always sorta insane." Sideswipe shrugged as the story came to an end. "We didn't really know how insane, but... That's him in the brig, isn't it? And he's the same mech who was living with you for the past couple of months. Rumble, right?"
"Perhaps you should ask him. Although I would prefer if you did not mention his identity of Rumble to anyone." Prowl said coolly, filing all his newly learned information into his 'Stuff about Jazz' folder. "Are you accompanying me to the brig again today?"
"Yeah.. Nothin' better to do. Plus, Prime still isn't too big on leaving you alone with a deranged 'Con in a confined space."
"Very well. I wish to go down there now."
...
The first sounds that greeted them as they first stepped foot into the brig were whimpers. Worried, Prowl hurried over to Jazz's cell.
The Decepticon was curled up in the corner, clutching his head and making desperate noises. Energon dripped steadily down his face from deep gouges in his face, making his entire appearance look insane. "P-p-p-p-p-"
"Deactivate the energon bars." The order was sharp, and the twins jumped to obey. The astrosecond the bars had fizzled out of existence, Prowl strode sharply into the cell and knelt down. "Jazz?"
"P-p-p-p-p-p-" The saboteur's hands clenched around his face, and sharp claws dug deep scratches in his own faceplates.
"Stop it. Stop it now." Grabbing the offending hands, Prowl held them tight. "Tell me what is wrong."
A short sob tore loose of him, before Jazz launched himself towards the sound of the voice and buried his face in Prowl's chassis. Energon-streaked hands trembled as they blindly made their way up the tactician's chassis. They fumbled as he tried to open and untangle Prowl's hardline interface cable.
"Hold on." The SIC said disapprovingly, grabbing the shaking hands. "What are you-"
"P-please.." The interruption was whispered, and weak. "Ah wanna show ya."
"Show me what?" Prowl couldn't help staring into the sightless optics of his friend, even though he knew they couldn't see him.
"Never got t' finish mah story." A tiny, weak smile crossed Jazz's face. It simply made him look pitiful. "And Ah promised ya Ah'd finish it."
"I don't believe you need the additional emotional strain of-."
"P-please!"
"Okay! Very well." Prowl relented, mostly to appease the unstable saboteur. Unspooling his cable, he handed it over to Jazz, who plugged it into his own port with as much delicacy as his trembling hands could manage.
Clearing his vocaliser, Jazz began to speak. "So Ah think the last time we did this, Ah showed ya me and the femme bein' trained by Theorem, yeah?"
"Yes, I believe so."
"Okay. Here we go."
They each braced themselves for the mental pull as both their consciousnesses were pulled into each other, with Jazz's whirlwind mind pulling up the memory files he intended to show.
"What're ya doin'?" The youngling frowned curiously as he caught sight of the soft pink femling entering the room. He hadn't expected anyone else to be in the Youngling Quarters at this time in the day; usually, everyone was training at this time. Thankfully, Theorem had deemed it appropriate to give the silver youngling a break from training that particular day, allowing him to relax and have some much needed space.
She jumped and whirled round to face him. "Primus! I- I didn't see you there, I-"
"What's in yo' hands?" The youngling's suspicions were only heightened when his friend tried hiding whatever it was behind her back. "Hey! What is it?"
"Nothing!" The insistence melted almost instantly as she was subjected to the harshest glare ever to grace her friend's face. Reluctantly, she lifted her hands to give the other youngling a good look at what was in her grasp.
It took a moment for him to identify what it was, so long it had been since he had laid optics on something of the like. But then his jaw dropped. "Where the frag did ya get energon goodies?!"
An impish smile crossed the tiny femme's face. "Don't tell anyone, but I took them from Blackdawn's quarters."
"You-" nothing but a choke came from his vocaliser. "You broke into a High Priest's quarters and stole his energon goodies?! Are ya totally fraggin' insane? Ya could be executed, ya stupid-"
"Shhh! I'm starving! They don't feed us anything down here! I'm going insane, and the Priest's are luxuriating in oil baths and energon goodies! We deserve these!"
"Ya don't understand!" Leaping from his berth, the youngling crossed the room swiftly and loomed over the femme, despite the fact he was slightly shorter. "One time, a younglin' stole a cube o' Brother Axiom's energon straight from his private quarters, and ya know wha' happened ta him? He was fraggin' stabbed thirty-four times in the helm 'till he offlined!"
That gained a wince from the femme, and she glanced down at the treats in her hands. "But-"
"Ya need ta give them back b'fore Blackdawn notices!"
"Okay. I will." Sounding decidedly sulky, the femme backed out of the room.
...
He hadn't seen his friend at all that day, which was enough to set the youngling on edge. Normally, the younger femling clung to him as a source of protection throughout the day from bullies or even perverse Priests.
Deciding to take matters into his own hands, the youngling marched his way to Theorem's own private quarters, knocking to at least pretend he had some sense of respect. The moment the door chimed to signal he had permission to enter, the youngling burst into his mentors chambers. "Hey, have you-" his sentence was cut short as he stared at the sight in front of him.
The femling was hunched over in a chair at the front of the desk, being closely observed by the black and green form of Theorem. Another figure, deep blue with amber optics, stood to the side of Theorem, snarling slightly. The youngling recognised him as High Priest Blackdawn.
"Highborn." Theorem sighed, gesturing his student to come forward into the room. "You were in the youngling quarters yesterday during training period, weren't you?"
"Um... What's goin' on?"
"You will answer the question asked." This voice was new, and the youngling jumped slightly at the sight of the mech who had been standing stiffly by the wall. The pure white paint and silver decal on his chassis marked him as one of the Masters of the Temple, and the mere sight of him caused the youngling's energon lines to run cold. The cold beauty in his face drew attention to him easily, the type of attention no mech who had devoted their life to Primus should be searching for. The same went for his frame type - his smooth curves and contours hinted more at a high-class pleasurebot than a holy mech.
"Yeah." He spoke, intimidated by the sheer power and reputation of the other mech.
"Master Clockwise is very concerned with the disciplinary actions we must take. Stealing from a Priest of Primus is a severe offence, and punishment will be dealt. Now. Did you witness this femme with any contraband objects in her possession?"
The youngling's mind seemed to freeze as he stared at his friend. They would kill her, he knew it. "I- no, I didn't sir."
"No matter. It was her. I know it." Blackdawn snapped, raising his voice and pointing accusingly at the femme.
"You're sure you saw nothing?" Ignoring the Priest, Theorem set his optics firmly on the mechling.
"I- yeah. I didn't see anything."
"Execute her." The order was flippant and cool, as if talking about the weather, and it seemed completely out of place coming from the beautiful white Master.
"Wait!" The words burst from the youngling before he could stop them. He winced as the every sharp optic in the room fell upon him. "I- I did it. I took the energon goodies."
The soft gasp from the femling went unheard as High Priest Blackhawk shrieked his indignation. "This one?! Your prized student! What is this, Theorem?!"
The black and green mech said nothing, staring indecipherably at his student. "Are you sure you wish to go down this road, Highborn?"
"It was meh."
Master Clockwise pursed his lips, regarding the silver youngling closely. After another moment of allowing Blackdawn to rant, he spoke up, effectively cutting off his subordinate's tirade. "It would certainly be a shame to deactivate such a naturally talented young assassin." Thankfully, he didn't notice the recoil the word 'assassin' caused. "Perhaps we should simply deliver a physical punishment rather than execution."
"Yes." Theorem's relief was ill-disguised as he nodded emphatically. "I believe that is the best course of action."
"Get out." Clockwise flicked a hand at the faded pink femling. She didn't need to be told twice; she darted out the door so quickly she blurred. "Now. A suitable punishment..."
...
Agony. Blinding agony.
His vision whited out as he screeched and screamed, his body writhed and quaked as waves of intense pain crashed over him. He could feel the warm energon splashing over his chassis, dripping down his face. He cried, but his tears mixed with the energon spilling from his optics until it was a glowing blue mess on his face. "STOP! PLEASE!" He screamed desperately at his torturer.
He could no longer see him, but he knew it was Clockwise standing over him, beautiful face twisted in an expression of savage amusement. He knew Theorem was in the corner of the room, refusing to watch.
He knew his optics were gone.
He screeched as more acid was poured onto the already warped sight sensors; the feeling of Clockwise scratching them with his claws magnified the agony tenfold.
His wrists and ankles were bleeding from where he pulled so hard on the restraints holding him down, but that pain was a mere blip on his sensors compared to the searing torment of his optics.
Then, a cool voice washed through the dark and pain-filled haze like water to a fire. "Stop. He has suffered enough."
The youngling had never been so happy to hear the voice of his mentor in his short life.
Prowl lurched back, gasping as phantom pains struck his optics like daggers. The sensory feedback from that memory file had been too much; Jazz was yowling and clutching his dull grey, blinded optics as he rocked back and forth.
Placing a hand slowly on the saboteur's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, Prowl began regulating his intakes. "Jazz.. Calm down. You are here, with me. No one is hurting you."
The choking sobs quietened as the Decepticon clutched at Prowl's hand. The tactician remained still as Jazz launched himself into his arms, shaking like a leaf. "S-sorry. Give meh a m-minute and Ah'll keep g-goin'..."
"No." Prowl said firmly, holding the smaller black and white mech closely in his arms. "I think that was torture enough for one day."
"A-Ah want to-"
"Tomorrow." There was no room for argument in the SIC's tone.
"Okay." Jazz let his whole body go limp in his fixation's arms. His entire frame felt weak, and he was mentally exhausted. But despite all that, he was also the most relaxed and safe he had felt in months.
"You know, there are two other 'bots here who wish to say hello."
"Hm?" The saboteur was tired and blind, and couldn't bring himself to care about any other Autobot other than his cupcake.
The sound of uncertain pedes edging their way into the cell caught Jazz's attention, however, and he turned his face in the direction of the noise. The footsteps were heavy enough to be two large enough mechs, obviously warriors from the sound of their gait. There was silence as Jazz awaited someone to speak. Finally, one of them spoke up. "Um... Hey. I knew you looked familiar."
More silence followed this statement. The saboteur could feel Prowl caressing his backstruts soothingly as he tried to come up with something to say. Finally, he said "Skinny kid?"
A laugh echoed around the cell, followed by a sharp 'clang' of an elbow to the abdominal plates. "Shut up!"
Jazz frowned, bothered by the fact that he couldn't remember the names of the two young mechs he had taken a shine to from Kaon. Thankfully, his Prowler seemed to know exactly what was on his mind. "This is Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. They came to me this morning and told me about how they used to know you. You saw them several times in Bluestreak's quarters""
"Yeah. Ah remember. Kinda."
Prowl and the twins shared a glance. "He remembers some things better than others."
"Ah'm gettin' better."
"You were getting better." Prowl corrected, still stroking the smaller mech's back as he usually did to Bumblebee when the youngling was upset. "Hopefully, you will continue your progress."
The sound of the twins approaching further had the Decepticon turning his sightless optics towards them again. Sideswipe crouched down, allowing the two black-and-whites some space, but still close enough to look at his old acquaintance. "So... It's been a long time. Since Kaon, I mean."
"Yeah... It has." The murmur was quiet, with a layer of underlying guilt. "Lot's changed."
"Not really." Sunstreaker shrugged, standing behind his twin. He would have crouched too, but his paint was at risk in the dingy cell. "You're still the same stubborn aft-hole you were in Kaon."
A tired smile crossed the saboteur's face. "And ya still the same vain fragger?"
"Of course."
A giggle escaped him, and he leaned further into Prowl's embrace. There was silence for a long moment, before Jazz spoke again. "Ah don't wanna sleep here t'night."
The twins shot Prowl questioning looks as the SIC gazed down at the 'Con in his arms. "Optimus was wondering if you would be willing to defect."
"Mmmm... Ya said yesterday."
"Would you?"
"Would Ah what?"
"Defect."
"Ah thought Ah already had defected."
A frown crossed the tactician's face. "Pardon?"
"Ah'm an Autobot now, right?"
"You-?"
"Tha's why Ah'm in the cell, right? 'Cause otherwise ya would'a killed meh already."
"No! We would not have killed you!" Horror clearly showed up on Prowl's face as he gazed at the smaller mech.
"Ya would'a sent meh back t' Megatron. It's the same thing. So Ah'm an Autobot."
"Is it that easy?" Sideswipe whispered to his twin uncertainly.
"Ah don't wanna sleep down here again." The newly self-proclaimed Autobot's voice dropped to a whimper, and he burrowed deeper into Prowl's side. "Ah don't like it when Ah can't see. Ah hate it. Hate it a lot."
"Wheeljack will make you a new visor." The tactician said as reassuringly as he could. In truth, he wasn't too sure he could. The visor Jazz wore was clearly made to integrate with his ruined optical sensors to act as a primary source of sight; it acted as his optics should have. But in the memory, it seemed that the very circuits in Jazz's optics were melted. That would mean that the visor had to synch with the saboteur's CPU in order to work, and that was extremely tricky to pull off. "Perhaps Perceptor will help."
"M'kay."
"You may sleep in my quarters tonight." He pointedly ignored the scandalised gasps of 'Prowl! Are you insane?!' from the twins, pulling the smaller black and white mech to his feet. He was barely upright for two seconds before he latched onto Prowl, claws digging in slightly to the tactician's arms. "We will see Ratchet tomorrow."
"Isn't there a protocol against this?" Sideswipe hissed uncertainly.
For the first time ever, Prowl ignored protocol.
...
"Missed it here." The mumble was almost reverent as the saboteur felt his way around the quarters. A small frown crossed his faceplates. "Where's Bee?"
"He is staying with someone else tonight." Prowl's arm encircled the blind mech's waist and he led him over to the berth. Gently, he encouraged Jazz to sit down. Not-so-gently, Jazz tugged him down to lie next to him.
"Can Ah see him t'morrow?"
"Perhaps."
A sigh escaped the smaller mech's chassis as he relaxed against Prowl's body. "Missed ya so much, Prowler. 'M sorry Ah left."
"I know. You should recharge."
"Ah just wanna lie here wit' ya." Jazz said stubbornly, entwining his fingers with Prowl's. Silence fell over both of them, until the only sound was of air being gently expelled from their systems. "What's gonna happen t' meh?"
"I do not know." The reply was reluctant, and it was accompanied by more back stroking. "But you are an Autobot now (apparently) and Autobots take care of each other."
"Yeah. 'S weird."
"It is not weird."
"It's a li'l weird."
"I have no doubt that you will get used to it." Prowl gently rubbed the lower half of Jazz's back.
A series of purrs erupted from the saboteur, and he melted into Prowl's touch. "Ah did bad things, ya know."
"I know."
"Why did ya welcome meh back like ya did?"
That was when the tactician realised that his logic computer couldn't come up with a valid, logical reason. "I.. I don't know."
"Oh." There was silence for a long moment. The sounds of their internal workings were the loudest noises in the room, and Jazz listened intently. "Yo' insides sound pretty."
A half-amused huff escaped the tactician and he shook his head. "Go to recharge, Jazz."
"Ah missed ya."
"I know."
It was only when the saboteur's recharge protocols had pulled him into unconsciousness that Prowl allowed himself to whisper 'I missed you too' into the darkness of the room. They had a lot of issues to work out, but for now they would rest.