Jazz's POV
Jazz decided he would seek out Ironhide as soon as possible, so after recharging he went to the training room where he knew the old mech would be. Sideswipe had actually knocked Ratchet out and then glued all the medic's tools to the ceiling of the medbay. As a result, Ratchet had been too busy trying to retrieve his tools when he onlined to remember that he wanted to check up on Jazz. Jazz chuckled to himself as he imagine the poor medic trying to retrieve the tools. He would have to thank Sideswipe somehow.
Jazz could here Ironhide's cannon fire outside of the training room and he knocked before entering just to make sure he wouldn't get accidentally shot. The last time that had happened had been rather painful.
"Come in!" A gruff voice called out. Jazz opened the door and went in. "What do you want Jazz? If you are wasting my time then this beauty here will be aimed at your aft plating."
"Ah have ah serious question 'hide. Can ya tell meh 'bout Guardian bonds?" Ironhide looked at him suspisciously.
"What do you want to know about them for?"
"Just curious." Ironhide snorted. Jazz was rarely only 'just curious' about things. But he decided to indulge the small mech anyway.
"Well what do you want to know? There's quite a lot."
"How it forms, what it feels like an' that."
"Walk with me to the rec. room and I'll tell you whilst I refuel." Jazz followed him there. "First of all, you have to be compatible with your charge. With Arcee and Bee I felt a very powerful over-protective feeling much like one would feel over their sparkling. Mine is more a parental guardian bond. However, the feelings differ from bond to bond. To be a Guardian is a very serious business Jazz. It means you will protect their life with your own and be whatever they need you to be. Arcee and Bee needed a creator so Chromia and I took the place of their creators."
"Ah think ah get it. So it varies from bot to bot but is a feeling of protectiveness. So much so that ya would sacrifice ya life for them?"
"Yes. There is also a ceremony before bonding. It is a very serious, old and well respected ritual." Jazz nodded, understanding more what Ironhide had said. He sighed inwardly though, as it was obvious that he would never be able to make a bond with Phoenix, who was only a human. The more he thought about it though, the more his spark seemed to be reaching out to her.
"Thank ya 'hide. Ah think ah get it now."
"You're welcome and if you acted as intelligent as this more often, I might consider not shooting you in the aft next time you prank me."
"Aw, it's nice to know somebot loves meh."
"Then again, intelligence is not your speciality. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some training to do." Jazz watched the mech go back to the training room, before deciding to go and see Phoenix about his. Even if he couldn't officially bond with her, he could still make the vows if she agreed to it. His spark seemed to warm at the idea of it.
Phoenix's POV
Phoenix was in an English lesson. Currently, she was daydreaming about a thousand and one different ways to kill Mr Miller, who was the creepiest and most boring teacher that had probably ever existed. She missed Jazz. She sighed and stared out of the window. Usually she would have rested her head on her arm, but it was broken and she had to write with the other one. Her ribs still hurt so she missed P.E. That was the only highlight of having a couple of cracked ribs. She wished they would hurry up and heal so she could go climb a tree already.
The bell went, disturbing her from her thoughts. She packed her things as fast as she could with one hand and went outside for a lunch break. Her back pocket vibrated and she smiled and pulled it out.
Message from Jazz: I'm in the forest, can you miss school for today? I need to talk to you about something.
Sure. It's not like I'll be missing anything important anyway.
Message from Jazz: I'll meet you at the car park in the woods :)
Phoenix rarely bunked off school actually. Although nobody cared if she bunked, if she failed school she would be stuck at the kid's home for longer. So she tried to pass her classes. She was good at Maths, Geography and Chemistry, average at Physics, but History and English and German were just horrible. She hated those subjects with a passion.
She smiled, headed for the back gate and left. The back gate was in a small wooded area meaning that no one spotted her and even if they had, all the teachers would do was tell the home. Who would do nothing anyway.
At the forest, Jazz was waiting for her in his holoform, smiling happily.
"What put you in such a good mood?" she asked him.
"Oh, ya know. Stuff an' things." She elbowed him playfully and he elbowed her back. "Ah know ah haven't known ya long, but ah wanted to ask somethin'"
"Shoot." She said.
"Well, on cybertron, we have this thing called ah guardian bond and we make in when we feel the need to protect a bot with our lives. Ah can't make ah bond wit' ya 'cause ya are not a bot, but if ya would be willing, ah would like to perform the vows." Phoenix looked at him wide-eyed.
"What do the vows mean?"
"That ah'll will protect ya wit' ma spark an' be whatever ya need me to be. So like ah parent or brother or friend." The full implications of what he was saying hit her in the chest. This meant that Jazz would be bound to protect with his life, no matter the consequences for him.
"Are you sure about this Jazz? I've only known you a week."
"Ah know, but mah spark is askin' me to."
"What vows would I have to make?"
"Um, the belonging one."
"The what?"
"Ah, so basically, ya are still ya own person an' that but ya kinda belong to meh in ah way. That and ya have to accept mah guardianship." That didn't sound like such a bad thing. It was an odd idea that you could almost own someone, but she was not Cybertronian.
"This is a big thing for you isn't it?"
"Yeah. It's ah lifelong commitment and if ah do this, then that means that none of mah friends can harm ya because that would be a direct challenge to meh."
"Oh okay. If you are sure you want to do this, then I would be honoured." He grinned at her and she felt a warm glow in her heart.
"Ah'm sure. Can we do it now?"
"Okay, but you'll have to teach me what to say." He nodded and Jazz led her to a small clearing in the forest.
"Ah guess ah'll say mine first."
"Ah Jazz, take Phoenix as my charge. In doin' this, ah vow to protect mah charge with ma spark an' be whatever mah charge requires of meh. Ah accept that this is ah lifelong commitment an' that any attack on mah charge is ah personal challenge to meh an' shall be treated as such. Ah ask that this bond would have the blessin' of Primus, until all are one." He looked at her and removed the sunglasses, revealing almost white eyes and Phoenix wondered if he could see without the glasses, much like she wondered if he could see without his visor. "Repeat after me."
"Ah, Phoenix."
"I Phoenix,"
"Take Jazz as mah guardian."
"Take Jazz as my guardian."
"In doin' this, ah vow to respect our bond with all mah spark. Ah understand that this is ah lifelong commitment an' that ah now belong to Jazz. Ah also understand that any attack on meh shall be ah challenge to mah guardian an' that my guardian will do whatever ah require of them. Ah ask that this bond shall have the blessin' of Primus, until all are one." She repeated his words carefully, then when she was done looked at him expectantly. Jazz smiled at her. "All done." She smiled back at him, understanding that what she had just done was an old and sacred ritual for Cybertronian and she vowed to respect it as such. What she did not know was the effect that it would have on the rest of her life.
Jazz stepped forward and wrapped her in a hug. She heard his alt mode approaching and turned as his holoform vanished again. He transformed out of his alt mode into bipedal mode and she tilted her head to look up at him. He offered her his hand and she climbed onto it. Jazz pulled her against his chest, or Chassis he had told her and a deep sounding rumble came from it.
"Mine." Was the only word that Jazz said.
"Yours." She agreed and placed a hand against his chassis roughly where his spark would be. Another rumble, and this one sounded approving, if it was even possible for a rumble to sound like that. She laughed suddenly. "Well this has been way better than school." Jazz chuckled with her.
"Ya wanna go anywhere?"
"Surprise me." She told him and he placed her down gently, transforming without hesitation. The door opened itself for her and Jazz fastened her seatbelt after she had climbed in.
"Ah'll take ya to ah cinema!"
"Really?!" She'd never been to a cinema or watched much TV so she was pretty excited at the thought of a giant moving screen. This was going to be awesome!
Blackout's POV
Blackout grinned to himself as the human and Jazz showed up on his sensors. The seeker had been ordered to fetch the human femme which wouldn't prove too difficult as she was injured and humans were weak, fragile and pathetic anyway. He dove down, preparing to engage in battle with Jazz as a distraction. He knew that Nightbomb would be able to them get the human without any difficulty.
Jazz's POV
Jazz cursed as his sensors warned him of an approaching seeker. Luckily, they were out in the countryside, near another forest and away from any humans. Phoenix could hide in the forest and she would be safe whilst he fought off blackout.
"Phoenix, there's ah decepticon. Ah need ya to get out an' run for the forest an' hide 'til ah come an get ya. An' this time, ah mean stay hidden an' don' break ya cover even if ah am injured." Her fear levels spiked rapidly but she gripped the seat and nodded. He pulled over and opened the door. She got out and he transformed. He gently stroked her face with a metal digit.
"Run, an' don' stop." She hugged his finger.
"Stay safe, please." Then she ran for the woods as fast as she could with her injuries. Jazz commed the others and was informed that they were en-route, but they would be another half hour. Jazz gritted his teeth as blackout landed and transformed. Hopefully he could either offline Blackout himself or hold him off for that long.
He activated his blades and threw himself at Blackout who had a pair of chainsaws much like Ratchets. Jazz knew that Blackout would be aiming to severe his main energon lines with those saws, and if that happened then he was as good as slagged. He dodged to the left, and then to the right, backstepped, feinted left and then twirled and gave Blackout a nasty cut to his right side. Blackout got him in the back with the saws but it only left a scratch mark and missed the cracks in his armour.
He backflipped backwards twice, activated his cannons and fired at Blackout, who dogded and return fire with his own cannons. Jazz dogded them and activated the blades once more, but Blackout knocked him over with a swift blow to the chassis. By Primus, that mech was strong! Cursing he fired at Blackout, who stepped backwards. It had caught him in his right side and Jazz smiled savagely. Then his scanners alerted him of an incoming decepticon, however it flew over him and for the forest. Phoenix. He thought blindly and turned to run for the forest but was pinned down by a snarling Blackout.
"No you don't. Don't you want to finish out little game autoscum?" Jazz snarled and tried to scratch him with the blades. He commed the others desperately but they were still 15 minutes away. He could only hope that his charge was well hidden.