Acrophobia Chap 2
Title: Holding Grudges (2/4)
Rating: T
Universe: Pre Movie 07
Warnings: profanities and angst
Summary: After the altercation with Jazz regarding the saboteur's phobia of heights, Prowl makes it his goal in order to seek forgiveness for his actions no matter how long it takes.
A/N: Okay I only intended this to be a two shot would you believe it but no the plot bunnies decided differently and therefore there will be two more chapters after this one and then maybe I can concentrate on Renascentia (probably more so when i have my own friggin laptop and it bloody works).
Orn - day
Joor - hour
vorn - year
:/Blah\: - bond communication
"Blah" - Comm. link
* * * * * * * * * *
It had been one of those orns, Prowl came to realise, that he wished that he could take back and start over all over again. The battle with the Decepticons had been inevitable and unavoidable but his behaviour towards Jazz that orn had been inexcusable and shameful, and now not only did it make their working relationship awkward but their physical one as well. The tactician knew without a doubt that what had been between them was now finished unless he managed to come up with some way to apologise to the saboteur. He knew he should have paid close attention to Jazz and maybe he would have noticed the silver mech's dislike for heights, he mentally kicked himself when he suddenly realised why Jazz never ventured out onto the observation deck at Autobot headquarters in Iacon or always had the transport shuttles set down rather than grapple out of their holds to the ground.
In a fit of anger, Prowl threw the data-pad he had been holding at the wall opposite him, the screen shorted out before splintering into tiny slithers of broken glass. All the signs regarding Jazz's phobia of heights were clearly there in front of him all this time yet he had choosen to ignore them. And the bet with the twins? He should never had made it in the first place even if it meant that he would have to forfeit a cycle of peace and quiet so he could catch up with the rest of his work load and spend a little extra time quality time with the saboteur. The tactician contemplated, as he knelt down to pick up the pieces of the pad he had broken, that maybe Jazz had just blown it all out of proportion but quickly thought differently when he realised that if he had been in the silver mech's position, he would have probably done the same. Just not as spectacularly. Prowl knew from the way that Jazz had been behaving since they got to the outpost the other Autobots had holed up in, that his initial observation about the saboteur forgiving him in a cycle was going to be proved otherwise.
The military strategist sighed out of his intakes and scrubbed a hand over tired facial plates, he knew he wouldn't get any work done tonight with the path his thought processes were taking and decided that it would be best to go and get some recharge. He cringed at that thought as in order to conserve what energy they had until they could make the trip back to Iacon, every officer and soldier had been squeezed into a single room that had originally been a cargo bay. That meant Prowl would spend half the night listening to restless movements and heavy intakes of air. Also going down to the cargo bay meant facing Jazz and the rather overprotective members of his squad, the tactician was glad that Ricohet was on the other side of the planet with Ultra Magnus or he would have the front-line warrior to contend with. The front-line warrior never approved of Prowl courting his younger sibling in the first place. He remembered when Jazz had quite eloquently told Ricochet to go 'shove it up his exhaust port and swivel on it' before sauntering out of communications where the mostly black coloured mech had cornered the tactician.
The black and white mech frowned as he glanced out of the viewport to the weather raging outside, everything that he had experienced and felt with the saboteur would just be painful memories to him now like Barricade's defection to the Decepticons was. Prowl groaned inwardly as he pinched the bridge of his olfactory senses when he felt the familiar pain of processor ache and decided it would be best to go and get some recharge lest he want to bring Ratchet's wrath down upon himself. Prowl sub-spaced the broken remains of the data-pad and stepped out of the room he had retreated too before turning in the direction of the cargo bay. The tactician's sensory panels twitched when a particularly cold wind swept through the corridor and he quickened his pace, he genuinely felt sorry for those who had been relegated to patrol as he palmed the pad on the side of the doors.
The thick blast doors hissed open and a rush of warm air hit him and his frame relaxed, he stepped into the dimly lit room and closed the doors before someone yelled at him for allowing the warm air to escape. His optics scanned the sea of different coloured frames that were either in recharge or near about before his gaze fell upon the special ops squad huddled near one of the many small heat generators. Both Hound and Mirage were laying next to one another forgoing any privacy regarding their relationship, Bumblebee who was barely out of younglinghood was nestled against the silver chassis of the saboteur and using his left hip as a pillow instead of recharging with his guardian Ironhide. Prowl allowed his troubled gaze to travel up Jazz's body taking in every scuff and dent to his silver armour before his optics fell upon the silver mech's lax facial plates, Jazz truly looked at peace in recharge in comparison to the cold 'blooded' assassin he could become, and the tactician knew this would be his last chance to see that expression before they shipped out tomorrow and back to Iacon.
"Prowl?" A quiet voice to his left inquired, the black and white mech turned in that direction to see his oldest sibling Smokescreen approach him "are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Prowl replied although he knew all the red and blue painted mech had to do was look at his drooping sensory panels and know he was lying, the diversionary tactician followed his youngest brother's gaze to where the special ops team was huddled together on the floor. The twins had informed the majority of them that there had been an altercation between Prowl and Jazz but refused to elaborate on what happened. However Smokescreen had the sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with the bet his youngest sibling had made with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker the other orn.
"Come on." The diversionary strategist said taking the black and white mech by the elbow and leading him to the recharge mats he had been lying on previously. He mentally cajolled his little brother into lying down on his side and getting some much needed recharge through the bond they shared as sibling's, before taking his own advice and dropping off to sleep. However Prowl despite being physically tired could not fall into recharge, his mind was a swirl with emotions that were normally so alien to him and probabilities and solutions to his current predicament with Jazz. He was suddenly drawn out of his thought processes when he felt a presence latch onto his consciousness.
:/ You should be in recharge.\: Prowl told his older sibling.
:/ And so should you.\: Smokescreen replied :/am I gonna have to online and go and get Ratchet to give you something to help you recharge?\:
The military strategist shifted on his side to make himself more comfortable if that were possible on the ultra thin recharge mats :/ No I'll be fine.\:
:/ Hang in there Prowl.\: The diversionary tactician told him before retreating from his consciousness. The black and white mech sighed tiredly and let himself finally drop off into recharge, he would deal with Jazz tomorrow when he knew he would be thinking more clearly.
* * * * * * * * * *
Prowl knew that once they got back to Iacon that Jazz would disappear under the radar making it extremely difficult for the tactician to track him down and apologise to him. The saboteur's special ops mechs weren't being particularly helpful either whether they were feeding him false information in regards to the silver mech's whereabouts. That or they were locking him in his office giving Jazz the chance to escape from his duties and disappear into the bowels of the base. Red Alert had, had a fit of epic proportions when he found out that Jazz's unit were compromising the security of the base, he had ranted at Optimus demanding that they be given brig time and have some of their privileges revoked. Prime had agreed to it and had a long talk with his 3IC about keeping his mechs under control. But it didn't stop the determined little glitches and in the end Prowl was forced to change his duty schedule which only made it harder for him to catch Jazz.
However the tactician knew that he wasn't the only one receiving a cold shoulder from the saboteur, the twins who had been the main instigators for all this mess were also having a hard time tracking the silver mech down and apologising to him. However their chase ended pretty much after 2 cycles when Jazz made it quite clear that he wasn't talking to them right before he ended up in a fist fight with Sunstreaker. The pair of them had been sentenced to maintenance duty which only served to anger both mechs further especially when they were ordered to clear the sludge out of the energon storage tanks, of course the gold twin bitched about how the punishment was being unfair to his paint job only to be silenced by a faceful of sludge and a threat that if he didn't shut up, more than his paint would be ruined.
That had been a few orns ago and the twins and saboteur were still not on talking terms and Prowl still couldn't keep Jazz in one place long enough to apologise or explain his actions. Smokescreen had advised that maybe it would be best if he gave the silver mech room to 'breathe' and do some thinking of his own without being suffocated by the military strategist. Prowl had reluctantly agreed and had fallen back into his original routine which finally allowed Red Alert to relax and stop whinging in Optimus' audios about the special ops team being a liability.
But all in all, it didn't stop Prowl 'mourning' for what he had lost and unless he managed to get lucky enough to catch and trap the saboteur or Jazz came to him to tell him he was forgiven (although that seemed unlikely to happen), the relationship they had would be beyond salvagable. The tactician knew that their leader had picked up on the signs that all was not well with his second and third in commands from the moment they had made it to the outpost after being MIA. But he had refused to get involved in their disagreement. The only time he would step in was when the saboteur's stubborness hindered the base's operations and forced him to work alongside Prowl until the task was done, Prime had attempted to broach the subject with the pair of them only for the special ops officer to clam up and tell him they would sort it out between themselves. And it had been a few cycles since then and they still didn't have it sorted, in fact Prowl was nearing the point of simply giving up altogether.
The tactician rolled off his berth and staggered upright, he allowed the world to stop spinning before attempting the first few steps toward the doors of his sleeping quarters. The doors whooshed open allowing unfiltered sunlight to blind him, he gritted his denta when an all too familair pain of processor ache began to settle in-between his optics. He allowed his optics the chance to adjust to the light before they settled upon the back of a familiar helm belonging to someone currently occupying the small couch in his living space.
"We thought we might have to send out a search party when you didn't show up for your shift this morning." Smokescreen said as he hooked an arm over the back of the couch and glanced over in the direction his little brother was stood in, he cringed inwardly when he saw Prowl's appearance as the strategist's paint was dull, scuffed and dare he say it; dirty. The red and blue mech was more angry at Jazz for his brother's state then he was at the black and white, he decided that maybe it was time to have a few words with the saboteur without being disrespectful to a superior officer. That and bringing Ricochet's wrath down upon him once the front-liner returned to Iacon. He could tell by just looking at Prowl's posture that his little brother was simply exhausted and low on energy.
"Who covered?" Prowl inquired although deep down he was berating himself for staying up til the early joors of the morning to finish all of his reports.
"Jazz did." The diversionary tactician told him, he watched as Prowl's optic ridges rose upwards in surprise "oh not on his own volition, he opened his mouth when he shouldn't have done and now Optimus has him pulling a double." The black and white's sensory panels drooped so much they fell flat against his back; another thing for the saboteur to use as a grudge against him "Prime's about to chew him out with the way he keeps behaving."
"There will be a logical explanation for his behaviour." Prowl said as he stepped over to the view port and glanced out, his logic centre was already beginning to present theories to him until he recalled much of Jazz's behaviour; the silver mech despite holding a grudge against him, appeared to be silently grieving and the black and white wandered for a moment if something had happened to the saboteur's brother. The military strategist turned to face his older sibling "has there been any recent communication from Ultra Magnus' unit at all?"
“None, we're not sure whether they've entered a communications blackout or is Soundwave is near their last know co-ordinates and jamming their comm.'s. So Optimus has called a meeting which starts in the next 20 breems.” Smokescreen replied which immediately had Prowl moving towards the doors “whoa hold up Prowl, wash rack, refuel then you can go to the briefing room, and don't give me that 'I'm your superior officer and therefore can't tell me what to do' scrap, I'm here on Optimus' orders.”
The military strategist grumbled something under his breath before stepping in the direction of his wash rack whilst Smokescreen left to fetch him a ration of energon, Prowl didn't spend a great deal of time of scrubbing his plating clean as long as he looked refreshed and presentable he'd worry about sorting out the dings and scrapes to his armour at a later date. The military strategist stepped out of his wash rack and over to the computer terminal in the corner of the room and gathered the Intel. he needed to take to the meeting, his battle computer was already formulating plans should it turn out to be more than a simple search and rescue mission. Prowl heard someone input the code to his quarters but he didn't bother turning to face the intruder as he knew exactly who it was especially once a steaming mug of energon was shoved under his face plate. The black and white met his brother's gaze and took the ration handed to him.
“Right down that so we can get moving.” Smokescreen told his younger brother, Prowl quickly downed the ration before being escorted out of his quarters and to the briefing room, he knew his sibling was shooting him barely concealed worried looks as this would be the first time in several cycles that he had seen the saboteur but Prowl refused to allow it to concern him after all he had a job to do in this meeting. The pair of them entered the briefing room where many of the other officers required for this meeting had gathered, Prowl found his gaze settling upon the silver mech sat on the opposite side of the large black polished table. He noticed that the other's armour was just as unkempt as his own which surprised him greatly as Jazz could just be as picky as Sunstreaker on some occassions. But it seemed that their separation was possibly affecting him mentally as well as physically, also the usual bright glowing blue optics were dim showing fatigue.
Prowl's gaze caught the look the spy gave him which seemed to be pleading with him to stop his leader from taking the plunge into madness. Not that Jazz would go insane but he did tend to forget where his limits were and if he continued upon the same path of self destruction, the same one Prowl had also unknowingly stepped onto. Then Ratchet would without a doubt force his hand and have the pair of them declared unfit for duty and confine them to either quarters or the med-bay. The black and white mech took his usual seat toward the head of the table and slouched back slightly, he knew this was partly his fault but it was the saboteur's stubbornness that was causing the rift to get wider between them not too mention the morale had seemed to plummet producing less than favourable outcomes. However there was nothing he could do until the silver mech changed his attitude toward him but he had a feeling that something big would have to happen for that to occur.
He glanced up when he heard the doors whoosh open to see Optimus step into the room, he noticed how Prime glanced toward where Jazz was sitting before meeting his gaze. The tiniest hint of a frown appeared upon his leader's face as he knew the situation had still not been resolved between them considering the saboteur gave him his word they would have things sorted by now. Prowl vented a soft sigh from his intakes as he glanced down at the couple of data-pads in front of him, he had a feeling that this was going to be a long meeting.
* * * * * * * * * *
Prowl mused, as he stuck his head out from behind the remnant of a building, that Primus was also holding a grudge against him these past few orns. The meeting had decided that the military tactician was to take a unit consisting of the special ops team minus Bumblebee, the twins, the Aerialbots and the protectobots. The trip had been somewhat awkward as the usually lively members of the Autobots were unnaturally quiet even the well know troublemakers had co-operated with one another instead of trading snide remarks with one another. Then the shuttle ride had turned eventful when Starscream and his seekers appeared, the Aerialbots and Blades were dispatched to distract them whilst the rest of them concentrated upon setting down the transport in one piece. Of course they were forced to abandon it when their sensors detected a group of Decepticons heading in their direction, luckily enough they had managed to draw them away from the transport and toward the dense region of the long destroyed city.
The black and white had more than once gritted his denta in frustration and anger when certain Autobots refused to follow his orders, the twins had blatantly ignored him so they could go torment Thrust and the other coneheads with their jet judo, which without a doubt would land them in the repair bay with some sort of injury. He didn't really expect anything less from the twins and as usual would have them for insubordination and give them brig time. But to have Jazz openly defy him simply because he saw a tactical advantage Prowl had obviously missed, nearly had the tactician abandon all logic and reasoning to finally chew the saboteur out for his behaviour whether it was the appropriate time to do it or not.
However he never got around to it as Ultra Magnus pinged his comm. link and gave him a set of co-ordinates to meet, he quickly analysed the situation before calling a retreat and silently thanked Primus that Jazz decided to obey. They swiftly made their way through the rubble strewn streets without having to worry about Megatron's elite since they they were currently being distracted by their own fliers and a pair of obnoxious twins. They met Ultra Magnus' team at the co-ordinates they had been given and joined them inside a battered building they had decided to hole up in for the time being. Prowl greeted Magnus but quickly followed his gaze to a certain saboteur who was currently making his way toward the wounded and sub-sequently the one off-lined frame positioned by the back wall.
"I was hoping Optimus wouldn't send Jazz out here." The large blue and white mech said as the pair of them watched as the silver mech dropped to his knees and peeled back the cloth that covered the deactivated frame of his brother.
"What happened?" The tactician inquired as he looked away from the rather emotional scene taking place. So he had been right, Jazz's behaviour had been influenced by an external source and he knew from experience what it was like to receive the conflicted messages that assaulted ones spark when someone very close to you died. Although Barricade was not dead he had put up an inpenetrable block that registered on the very same wavelength as if he had died.
"Bonecrusher happened." Springer replied as he stepped away from his team of Wreckers who left to help defend the perimeter "sneaky glitch took Ricochet by surprise and nailed him through the chest before we could reach him." It was a small comfort however morbid it seemed that the front-line warrior's death had been quick and not drawn out like some Decepticons preferred it to be, they all knew the satisfaction the 'cons revelled in when they allowed their prisoners to die a slow and agonizing death which thankfully Ricohet had been spared from. Prowl glanced back toward where Jazz was still knelt and could tell from the mech's posture that he was not taking his brother's death well, after all the large black mech was all he had left in the world after losing his creators when he was just barely into younglinghood. He was truly concerned for the mech he still loved with all his spark despite everything that had happened, he wished that he could go over and offer some sort of comfort. But knew that sort of thing wasn't going to happen not while there was still animosity between them.
"How many are wounded?" Prowl asked as he tore his gaze away from the silver mech and spotted Blurr trying to push away a medic so he could return to his sniping position.
"There are a few minor injuries but the Intel. we have regarding Megatron needs to be ferried back to Iacon ASAP." Ultra Magnus replied as he glanced over to where Arcee's prone form was being attended to by a medic.
"Understood." Prowl replied. As usual the military tactician's battle computer was already formulating a plan which he quickly relayed to the others on a tight communications bandwidth. It took next to no time to organise the units and have them move out in different directions with one goal in mind; reaching the transport vessel.
The tactician's unit moved as quickly as they could through the debris littered streets whilst keeping keen audios listening out for anything irregular whilst sharp optics watched the skies above them and scanned their surroundings closely. There were many directions in which the Decepticons could ambush them from and Prowl's battle computer pinpointed them all to him as his group continued forward, the black and white dropped back to the rear and just in the nick of time as the ground where he had just been was peppered with laser fire from above. His unit was already taking cover before he even had the chance to bark out his first order, Prowl scanned the skies critically before his sensory panels detected a slight vibration to his left which appeared to be coming from underground. He increased their sensitivity just as the rumbling started to escalate and rolled out of the way just as the ground he had been crouched upon, exploded. He caught the glint of silver as he rolled back onto his feet, in the air for a few astro-seconds before Scorponok burrowed his way into the ground making it even more treacherous for them. Immediately he was on the everyone's comm. alerting them to the new ground threat and ordering which actions to take as his battle computer processed each strategic move and outcome. He opened fire upon Skywarp as he teleported in, the shot clipped the seeker's wing and the black and purple flier swung fully about to take a shot at the tactician.
However this proved to be Skywarp's downfall as a shot nailed him in the underbelly, Prowl peered out from behind the building he had taken cover behind to see Jazz leap down from a crumpled wall albeit somewhat clumsily before making his way over to the tactician. The military strategist met his gaze for a moment before concentrating weapons fire upon Thundercracker who had swung in to provide cover fire for his retreating comrade.
"We need to retreat." The saboteur sent to him over a private comm. link "we're outnumbered an' outgunned."
Prowl said nothing in reply as he glanced round the battle field and knew in that instant that they were severely outnumbered and could not afford to be either captured or killed. He ordered those capable in getting the wounded to safety whilst he and the saboteur brought up the rear despite a few grumbles from the silver mech that Prowl was going to chide him for before he saw the laser burn upon Jazz's right thigh which was oozing energon. The black and white mentally kicked himself for putting the saboteur in further danger but pushed it to the back of his processor as he scrambled over debris and ducked in behind crumpled buildings with the silver mech not far behind him all the time.
"Blackout they're escaping!" Came the annoyingly high pitched voice of Starscream as he evaded one of the Aerialbots, Prowl snapped his gaze in the direction he suspected Blackout to be in when he saw the large behemoth drop from the sky and landed with an earth shattering sound. The tactician could hear Jazz curse vehemently at the large Decepticon's appearance as he clambered back onto his feet and all but turned to make a run for it, Prowl squeezed off a few shots hoping to slow Blackout down but to no avail as the large Con activated his own weapons system releasing a large concussive wave that sent the black and white and the saboteur sprawling to the ground.
The last thing Prowl felt and saw as consciousness was robbed from him was the ground trembling beneath him before splitting open and collapsing in on itself, and the Decepticns retreating from the scene, no doubt with the intention to return once the dust had settled to glean any information from his and Jazz's offline forms, before he went offline.
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A/N - I'll try and update as much as I can but having no laptop besides my sister's is a real pain in the aft. Also Jazz's behaviour in this chapter is from personal experience of people holding grudges against me or taking out their angst on me.
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