[Fic] Chaos came with a bang, prologue
Rating: T
Universe: G1-AU
Warnings: slash pairings, mechanical gore (in later parts)
Pairings: Jazz/Prowl (secret), Ratchet/Wheeljack
Summary: Life in the Ark was often complicated, but things get out of control when Wheeljack and Ratchet are both seriously injured in an accident. Can First Aid save them? Will Sideswipe take on a new career? And in all the chaos will Bumblebee figure out Jazz's biggest secret?
A/N: This was originally posted here in a somewhat draft form, with a vague promise that I would get around to cleaning it up and posting it properly sometime in the future. Well thanks to 1readervb's interest, that time has come. The old version has been hidden away (so no point looking for it now, though I might make it visible again after this is done) and this is being posted ahead of at least one other related story.
~blah~ is comm-speak ; blah is Cybertronian
Large as it was, at first no-one thought much of the explosion.
It had come from Wheeljack's lab, after all, and it was not like that was unusual. In fact, the occurrances were so commonplace that no-one at all went to investigate because they all knew Ratchet would take care of it. No-one was even concerned about it until three breems after the change of shift when Cliffjumper realised his replacement on monitor duty was not going to turn up. Nor was he responding to comm calls. Fully aware of how easily the inventor could be distracted and keen to get off-duty himself, Cliffjumper popped his head into Prowl's office to demand someone else be assigned to the job. But the SIC wasn't there. Nor did he respond to a comm ping. Frustrated by all the delays keeping him from what he wanted to be doing - specifically, watching his favourite soap opera on the television in the rec room - he transferred the duty over to Teletran's automated system and sent Prowl a text message then took off before he missed too much of his show.
Prowl, for his part, had started the day quite normally just after midnight, but the calm had been disrupted just after the shift change by the arrival of an irate Ratchet. The medic railed at him over the hours he was working since arriving on Earth and the lack of charge time that resulted in, and ordered him to his quarters to rest before Ratchet took official action and put him on medical stand-down. He felt it was an overreaction on the medic's part but he had elected to do as requested rather than try Ratchet's patience. He had known the longer shifts would come to the CMO's attention at some point, he just wished it had taken another few days so he could have finished clearing the backlog from the last battle first.
In any case, he had dutifully returned to his quarters and charged, rousing at the impact of the explosion and waiting to be summoned to deal with the fallout as he inevitably was.
After twenty minutes with no such summons, he resigned himself to the fact that Ratchet was even more annoyed with him than with Wheeljack right now, and then had returned to charge until the end of the morning shift when he had been woken by the unexpected and very welcome company of his bondmate. Jazz was equally delighted that they actually had a good portion of off-duty time that coincided for the first time in a very long time. Usually they conscientiously ensured that their recreational time did not overlap to keep anyone from guessing about their relationship, the result being that there simply was no relationship to speak of. This, however, was pure serendipity and so was perfectly legitimate. And since Jazz was scheduled for recharge time now, no-one would come looking for him, which meant that they had several hours of uninterrupted private time.
Which was why, when Cliffjumper's text message arrived just as Jazz was stroking his door panels in that particular way he had, Prowl decided to simply forward the problem on to Optimus with a memo that he was off duty on Ratchet's request then deliberately turned off all but the emergency comm.
Optimus Prime was driving through a shallow valley enjoying the warmth of the sunshine on his panels when the text came through. Technically, he was on duty. At least, he was not officially off-duty. It had been a very long while since he had last seen his own name on the duty rosters, since about the time he had promoted Prowl, actually. His second was a saint of organisation, usually preparing for contingencies Optimus had not even considered, to the point where everyone had simply come to rely on that in spite of the fact that it was not supposed to be his role as battle tactician. Which was why when he received the text message he was so startled by its contents that he slammed on his brakes.
"Primus! Mind givin' us some warning before you do that, Prime?" Ironhide demanded as he swerved to avoid crashing into him.
"Sorry, Ironhide. I just got a strange message from Prowl."
"From Prowl? Strange? Strange how?"
Optimus ignored the question for a moment, trying to connect an audio comm link to Prowl. No response. Next he tried Ratchet. No luck there either, but then it may well be the CMO's recharge cycle anyway. Turning slowly, he began heading back to the Ark.
"Doesn't make sense." he muttered to himself. "Maybe it's some kind of code?"
"What is?"
He forwarded the message on to Ironhide in its entirety and was mildly amused to see his friend nearly stall in surprise.
"He's calling you because Wheeljack's late for monitor duty? And he's on medical leave? Since when?"
Trying to connect to at least one of his other officers, Optimus tried Jazz next. He thought for a moment it had not gone through, then received a text reply.
Problem, boss?
Why is your comm switched off?
There was a pause, then Jazz's comm switched on.
~Havin' a bit o' private time, if y'know what I mean. You need me for somethin'? I can disengage if you'll gimme a few clicks.~
~No that's not necessary.~ Optimus said quickly. ~I won't keep you. You haven't seen Prowl or Ratchet in the past joor have you?~
Another pause, but this time he was less concerned by the gap and more upset that he was disturbing a sparksharing. He only hoped that Jazz's partner for the activity was tolerant of the saboteur's distraction.
~Saw Prowl on his recharge berth not too long ago.~ Jazz came back finally. ~Seems Hatchet threatened to lock'im outta his office if he doesn't take some time out. Haven't seen the Hatchet myself, though. I think he's on recharge this shift. You want me to get Prowl to call you?~
~No, that's fine. I'll get Perceptor to handle this.~
~Sure thing. Shout out if ya need anythin' else.~
Jazz signed off and Optimus stopped again, this time staring blankly out at the horizon, wondering if he dared order Prowl to find someone to sparkshare with. That would reduce his tension levels much quicker than just basic recharge. The problem was Prowl would not fraternise with the soldiers - he said it was unprofessional and would complicate the decisions he had to make as part of his job - and that cut his options down severely. Ratchet was pretty much dedicated to Wheeljack; Perceptor and Red Alert each had... whatever they had... with Gears and Inferno respectively and didn't share outside of that; and he and Ironhide were both devoted to their femmes. Which still left Jazz, but the mech's casual nature was unlikely to appeal to the rule-bound Praxian. Besides he often got the feeling those two tolerated each other best by ensuring they never spent too much time in each other's company. They certainly took great care in ensuring they had practically no shared off-duty time in the rosters they created.
"Well?" Ironhide asked.
"He may just be exhausted." Optimus responded, pulling his thoughts back to the original issue. "Jazz says he was in recharge a short while ago. I don't think anything particularly serious is going on. I'll get Perceptor to find someone to cover Wheeljack's shift and deal with him when we get back, but for now lets go have a proper look at this new dam site. Grapple will be getting impatient."
Back at the Ark, meanwhile, Prowl caught Jazz's hands and frowned at him.
"Who are you talking to?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes. It's distracting."
"Well it's your own fault. Prime was trying to call you and since he couldn't get you he tried me."
Prowl stared at him in dismay.
"Tell me you didn't tell him what you were doing."
"Course I did. You want me to lie to our illustrious leader? On the other hand, I didn't tell'im who I was doin' it with..."
Prowl slumped back against the berth.
"Primus, Jazz..."
Jazz grinned wickedly.
"I don't think he'll be callin' back for awhile." Then Jazz's smile faded. "Course, now I'll have t'go find an excuse so we've got a cover."
They were both still for a moment, considering that. It was a long-standing agreement that Jazz would divert attention from them by dallying with others, and thus far it had always worked. He would cultivate short-term relationships, frequently culminating in intimacies that others assumed proved his solo status, before moving on to another target. His other lovers were rarely confused about the temporary nature of their relationships, and when they were Jazz quickly set them right, but thus far no-one had ever guessed that the cheerful, hedonistic mech was simply acting a part in these liaisons. For his part, Prowl knew he had no competition for Jazz's true affections regardless of what others believed.
"Go." Prowl agreed. "Best that it be close to the time Prime called. But then come back to me and let me wipe his touch off you."
Jazz had started to rise at the first part, but now paused and looked back down at him in surprise.
"You're just gonna lay here waitin' for me? What about your work?"
Prowl smiled, stretching lazily.
"You forget: I'm on orders to stay in my berth."
The sober determination in Jazz's expression melted away into an impish grin.
"Riiiight. Remind me to send Ratchet a big vat of high grade for this later."
"Just hurry back."
"Will do!"