Transformers Fan Fiction ❯ It’s Now or Never ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: All Transformers characters belong to Hasbro. Any made up characters were created by me. This has TF Slash.

 

Summery: (2007 Movie verse) After thousands or more Earth years, Jazz's bond mate had been missing, and many thought dead. It wasn't until after the battle of the All Spark, when Jazz's bond mate was found.

 

Parings: Prowl/BarricadeXJazz

 

“blah” - Normal human speak
“blah” - Cybertronian speak
blah - thinking

 

It's Now or Never
By Ya Pharaoh-Yami

 

Chapter 8

 

The next day, Prowl woke first again. He smiled at Jazz's still sleeping form. “…Jazz… Jazz, it's time to wake up…”

“…F-five more earth minutes…”

“We slept all day yesterday…come on…” he coaxed as his fingers traced Jazz's arm.

“…C'mon baby…a little longer…?”

“Please Jazz? I want you with me…”

“…Alright…” His visor glowed to its full brightness as he slowly sat up and stretched, helping his body fully awaken. Prowl smiled as he sat up as well.

“Thank you for getting up for me this time.”

“No problem, Prowler,” Jazz smiled as he got up and waited for Prowl to. Both left the room, hand in hand and walked to Med Bay.

 

- - -

 

Once there, the same three bots greeted the two. “How are you feeling today Prowl?” Ratchet asked.

“Better. I'll feel back to my old self, one hundred percent once we get these sessions over with.”

“We know you're anxious to get out of that crud Decepti-creep body. But we put your life and your safety first.”

“We can't just rush into it. Even I wouldn't,” said Wheeljack. Jazz just smiled as he helped Prowl over to the berth, trying to keep him calm.

“…Could…Could we…erase those memories today?” Prowl asked shakily. “I don't like being irrationally nervous.” Ratchet smiled a bit.

"Alright. I can do that. Gadget, you're in charge of that department. Get things ready. Wheeljack, you're in charge of keeping a watch on his vitals signs while he's out, same as before." Wheeljack nodded. Jazz held onto Prowl's hand. Prowl smiled at him before lying down on the berth like last time. He took a shaky breath, desperately trying to calm himself. Gadget's smiling face suddenly looming over him helped him calm immediately. The smile of his good friend helped reassure his doubts.

"Don't you worry," she smiled "Once I hook up some cords, those nasty memories will be gone for good. And don't worry. I know to keep some of the Barricade strategies in tact, okay?" Prowl nods slowly. She smiled and readied an anesthetic before carefully inserting it. Prowl slowly drifted off, Jazz squeezing his hand for security to keep him relaxed. He slowly sat down next to the berth and went into recharge as well, joining Prowl in their dream world yet again. While both were in a pleasant place deep in their spark bond, Ratchet was hard at work with Prowl's arms and torso. Gadget was in charge of his head after she finished with his memory. She was currently hooked up to his central processor, head completely open and cords hooked to a computer. She sorted through all the stored data to sift out useful Barricade memories and strategies, while deleting not so pleasant ones.

"How is he doing 'Jack?" Ratchet asked, not looking up from his current task of removing one of the larger pieces of armor and repairing circuits.

"Just fine. All his stats are normal and he's still offline." Gadget almost gagged as memories of Prowl's "change" replayed while she sorted through them. She tried to delete it and move on to the next one but she couldn't.

"Uh oh..."

"What do you mean, 'uh oh'?" Wheeljack said as he came over.

"I..." she swallowed hard and tried to look away at the horrible scenes before her. "I...can't delete it... I can't stop it from replaying..."

"It must have some sort of lock on it so he won't remember... Here, let me try to help..."

"Everything alright over there?" Ratchet called.

"It should be. We're working on it."

"...Oh...! H-how could...could they..." she had to stop herself from losing her breakfast ration.

"Well, get it figured out!" Ratchet almost yelled, trying to focus on what he was doing.

In Prowl's sanctuary, things weren't going so well. Jazz was with him but something was wrong. They were sitting in the Rec Room enjoying a chess game, but he couldn't shake the feeling something bad was about to happen. "Baby, what's wrong? Go ahead and make your move."

"...I don't like this Jazz." Prowl spoke softly.

"Like what? We're just playing chess.Something wrong baby? What's bothering you?"

"...It...Is itjust me or did it get really dark in here?"

"It's okay Baby..." Jazz tried to soothe as he reached out his hand.As his hand touched Prowl's it started to fade away. "It's...It's...okay... I'm-..."Jazz's image slowly flickered before going away completely.The room started to become empty and turn into a dark, sterile place.

"...Jazz?JAZZ!" Prowl started to look franticallyaround for his mate.

"...P-Prowl..." whispered through the room before any trace of his bond mate was completely gone.The room turnedinto an awful, familiar place. A familiar cackle was heard before Prowl blacked out.He awoke strapped to a table.No!Not here! Prowl didn't like this at all. He started to panic, especially when he found himself reliving his "conversion".

"Gadget!"

"I'm trying Grampa, I'm trying! I can't stop it!"

"What in the slag is going on?!" Ratchet demanded, still not fully looking up from removing and replacing the armor.

"I've got it! Delete it! Get it now!"

"I'm trying! Okay! I've got it locked again! I'll try deleting it!"

"Slag! His vitals are going crazy! He's panicking!" Wheeljack shouted as he went back to checking Prowl's vitals.

"He must be remembering in his sleep! Slag!" Gadget cried as she finally managed to delete the offending nightmare memory "C'mon! We gotta get him stable before-..." But she spoke to soon. Optics slowly opened as Prowl became groggily aware of being in Med Bay. But this didn't help much, as he started to thrash about.

Fuzzy, partially focused optics shown with fear as he caught sight of the CMO. He looked very threatening to him with his tools paused in mid motion as he stared worriedly and surprised at the now awake mech.

"Gadget! Get another sedative ready now!" he yelled at her. Wheeljack tried desperately to get Prowl stable and stop his thrashing. It didn't help. Jazz was too far gone at the moment to be of any help. Prowl started to call for Jazz, scared out of his processors. Wheeljack and a now, empty handed Ratchet came towards him.

"G-get away...! ...F-from...me!!!" he cried trying to force himself off the table.

"Calm down Prowl," Wheeljack said slowly "It's okay."

"...N-no...k-keep away...you...y-you...crazy...slagger...of a...bot..." He slowly managed to get off the berth, painfully disconnecting the cords hooked up to him. He brushed it aside. He HAD to get out of Hook's lab and get to Jazz.

"Prowl...you're open and-..." Wheeljack was hit weakly as Prowl crawled across the floor.

"He's delirious... Gadget?"

"I'm on it. Prowl...calm down...it's us... You'll be okay..." she said as she went over to him.

"...S-Stay away...f-from me..."

"Prowl...it's me...it's Gadget..."

"N-no... S-stay..." he weakly rasped. He was leaking energon badly and circuitry and wiring flayed out from his still open body. Jazz awoke with a start, sensing the imminent distress from his spark mate. Gadget tried to help Prowl back over to the berth, but she was shoved by his foot. Jazz saw what was going on and ran over to try and help.

"Prowler!"

"...M-must... G-get...out..." Gadget and Wheeljack watched worriedly as the half worked on mech tried to get to the door. Ratchet was following slowly behind Jazz with a sedative to give to him once he was calm enough.

"Prowler, come on baby calm down. Everything's okay." Jazz spoke gently, using their bond to try and calm his mate down as well as his words.

"...J-azz...?" he rasped weakly, stopping his weak crawl towards the door.

"Yeah baby, it's me. Everything is going to be okay."

Prowl was too weak right now to turn his head. He waited until he felt the familiar steps stop in front of him and sit down on the ground. Jazz carefully pulled him into his lap, not caring about the leaking energon and loose cables. Jazz gently caressed Prowl's faceplates. "Everything is fine now Prowler."

Weak optics closed as Prowl weakly nuzzled against his bond mate's chest, comfortably resting in his lap. "...J-azz...you...you came for me..." Jazz looked a bit confused at this at first as he looked back towards Ratchet.

"He...He thinks he's back at the Decepticon base on Cybertron. He thinks he's in his memory."

"...I'm sorry..." Gadget almost cried. "I...I was trying to delete it and..." she had to swallow a sob. She felt like such a failure right now. Prowl's freak out and present delirium was HER fault. Wheeljack put a hand on her shoulder for comfort.

"It's not yer fault Gadget." said Jazz.

She didn't reply. She was too embarrassed, especially in front of Ratchet. "...J-J-azz...g-get me...out...of here... L-let's...go home..."

"Yeah...sure Prowler."

He looked up at Ratchet for instructions on what he should do. He couldn't take Prowl completely away from Med Bay. He was a mess and he needed to get fixed before he lost too much energon. "Do whatever you have to, just get him calmed down," the medic said worriedly. Jazz nodded.

"...Pl-ease... I...want...to go home..." Prowl rasped weakly, fear finally showing itself in his optics as tears fell.

Gadget looked away and forced herself away from Wheeljack. She promptly left Med Bay without one single word, only muttering an "I'm sorry" to Prowl. Jazz looked sadly at her before the doors closed again. He looked at Prowl, almost crying himself at the unusual frightened state of his bonded. Jazz then gently lifted Prowl up into his arms as he stood up.

"C'mon Baby... Let's 'go home'..." he soothed as he led Prowl away from the commotion towards the end of the Medical Bay. He helped him lay down on the farthest berth in the room, lying down with him. Ratchet followed, keeping a safe distance away to ensure Prowl would stay calm. He cuddled close to Prowl, which was a bit difficult considering the leaking energon, hanging circuitry and open panels, some half removed. He spoke softly and calmly to him, rubbing his head and faceplates to ease him into a secure state. Prowl slowly fell asleep there, his bond mate's soothing words calming him down. Ratchet waited until Prowl was fast asleep before he came closer.

Jazz nodded at him and he administered the sedative to put him back offline again. Wheeljack had already started to move everything down to the last berth. "I had a feeling his memories might cause something like this. I should have done the memory reformatting by myself first before starting the reconstruction. I never should have let Gadget or 'Jack do things on their own."

"...I'm sorry, Ratch..." Wheeljack said solemnly as he carefully hooked the computer back up to Prowl's processor.

"It's no one's fault by mine. I should have had better judgment than I did. Get things set up again and try to stabilize him and put him on an energon drip to replace what he lost. I better go talk to Gadget. Poor femme is probably blaming herself..." Wheeljack nodded as he started to work. Jazz watched, making sure Prowl would be alright. Wheeljack shared a smile with Ratchet as he left.

 

- - -

 

In Gadget's lab, the femme was packing up her things in a fit of sobs. Percie was on his way there, having felt the sadness of his bonded in his spark. He got there at about the same time as Ratchet. “Perceptor…”

“I…I felt her in my spark. Is she alright? Did something go wrong with Prowl this morning?”

“…You could say that…” Ratchet sighed. “Prowl woke up unexpectedly and had a panic attack. He's calmed down now and Wheeljack is working on getting him stable.”

“Oh dear…”

“Gadget's blaming herself for some things. I'd like to try and straighten things out.”

“Oh…Alright… So I see… Should I leave you two alone?”

“I think that would be best, Perceptor. This is a teacher to apprentice moment. You can stay close by. She might need her spark mate afterwards.” Perceptor nodded and went down the hall a little bit to give the CMO his privacy with Gadget. She didn't even notice the knock on the door or the sound of it opening. Ratchet was one of the few others that had her code to her lab. She furiously wiped at her optics as she started to pack the last of her storage cabinets away. “Gadget…where are you going?” Ratchet asked as he looked around the room. Almost all of her things were packed away in cases and subspace.

“…G-go away… Y-you of all mechs…should be glad that I-…I'm leaving…”

“I'LL decide how I should feel. I'll ask again, where are you leaving to?”

“…B-back to Cybertron…” she choked. “I…I'm a…a failure…I… I should just…go back…h-ome… St-study some more…”

“I had a feeling you'd blame yourself like this…” he sighed as he came closer.

“…See…?” she sobbed. “You admit it!” she yelled, shoving the last few things into another case.

“I-…”

“I'm a huge, astronomical failure! I screwed up! I obviously have a lot more studying and work to do. I'm leaving…gone…! You'll be rid of an inexperienced INVENTOR that does nothing but get in the way!” she sobbed outright, gathering everything up and tried to push past him. “L-let me past and I'll be out of your way…” she choked. He stopped her, grabbing her tightly and staring at her with much anger in his eyes.

“STOP THIS FOOLISH NONSENSE RIGHT NOW! OR SO HELP ME I'LL REWIRE YOUR FAUTLY LOGIC MYSELF!” She shut up immediately with a gulp, fearful of what he might do to her for trying to leave from his lecture and from the fiasco of a few cycles ago. She was surprised when all he did was pull her into a hug. “Just…shut up and listen…” he said before she could voice another, full of angst, word. She slowly looked at him, tears still streaming from her optics. “…We… We all make mistakes…even medics. Accidents happen, but the difference between a good medic and a bad medic is that a good medic never quits. A good medic admits his or her mistake and corrects it before moving on.”

“Th-then…I-…”

“Let me finish,” he said seriously and matter of factly. “I made one of those mistakes today. It was a big mistake and I haven't made one in a long while, but I still make them.” He pulled away a little, forcing her to look optic to optic with him. “It was my error in judgment to trust you to do something so complicated by yourself. Let alone a task you don't have as much field experience with. I should have done the procedure by myself first before starting on anything else or at least have coached you through the whole thing. Nothing was your fault. You and Wheeljack did the best you could to fix the problem. It was all MY fault and MY error in judgment. Don't think for one nanosecond that you had ANYTHING to do with it.”

“But I…”

“No Gadget. I won't have you discrediting yourself or throwing away your skills. You're a GREAT assistant and you've learned well. Don't be so hard on yourself from one mistake. You'll make plenty more small ones, believe me, but that doesn't make you any less skilled or knowledgeable.” He pulled her into a hug again. “You're not a failure and don't you dare believe it for a second. I won't hear of it.” She just blinked for a moment as she let his words sink in. He sighed heavily. “Slag it Youngling… You can be so much trouble sometimes…” He was about to pull away and let her be but she broke into hysteric sobs, dropping all her things in the process.

“…I was so scared! I panicked! I thought he was gonna die! I…I was just…so scared for him!”

“I know…Everything's going to be alright now. He'll be okay.”

“…Oh slag…what they did to him…it was…awful! N-No one should…have to…go through that… L-let alone be fully online! I…I'm just so scared…”

“Calm down, Gadget. It's okay. Everything's alright now.” She nodded weakly, comforted by the bigger, older mech and content in staying there in his arms for the time being. He helped her over to the empty, never really used yet, examining berth so she could relax for a bit. He sat down on it with her, letting her calm down and get all her feelings out. Perceptor knocked on the door and came in.

“Oh dear… Gadget? …Everything alright?” She weakly shook her head before reburying it against the CMO's shoulder. Her spark pulsed thankfully at her bonded's presence.

“Go ahead and get some warm energon. It will help.” Perceptor nodded and did so.

He returned and gave the cup of warm liquid to Ratchet to give to her. He watched worriedly, concerned for his beloved. He smiled a bit, glad to see the sometimes rare softer side of the old medic. He offered the cup to Gadget and she thankfully took it, soothed by the warm liquid as it ran through her systems. Perceptor came over and sat next to her so she was between the two mechs. He took her hand, caressing it as he sent loving, calming pulses to her spark. “It's okay, Gadget. We all make mistakes. Even I make them sometimes. Wheeljack has made plenty of them too, but he keeps on tinkering and inventing despite them.”

“…Yeah…I guess so… I'm sorry…”

“It's okay. You feel up to getting back to work?”

“…Yeah… Thank you, both of you.”

“Hey, everything alright? Gadget, you okay?” Bumblebee said as he rushed into the room, very worried. He had heard the commotion about what happened as was concerned for everyone involved, especially his best friend Gadget.

“She'll be fine, Bumblebee. Thank you for your concern but it's over now.”

Perceptor smiled. “Come on Bee, let's leave them alone now. They were just about to go back and finish things.”

“Oh, okay.” Gadget flashed him a smile and a wave, proving to him she was alright.

 

- - -

 

Once the two were back in Medical Bay, Gadget was back to herself again. They headed down to the far end of the room and got back to work. "I hope it's alright, but I started what you were trying to do," said Wheeljack. "I had to finish replacing some parts or the energon line would have just leaked out."

"I understand, Wheeljack. Stop working and let's finish reformatting his processor first.” Wheeljack nodded. Gadget sat back down in front of the computer and started where she left off, deleting any and all traces of Prowl's reformatting from his memory banks. Ratchet watched her to be sure she didn't run into any problems.

"Now am I done?"

"Not yet. You can't just get rid of the unwanted memories. You have to put different ones in their place. Besides, you have to change all the Barricade memories you kept into strategy files. If you leave him as is, he will be very confused and wonder why he has memories of being someone else."

"Okay. So I have to create a new map and new memories based off the old ones?"

"Right. Ask me how if you get stuck." Gadget nodded and went to work again. Ratchet smiled a bit as she worked. See?I told you were a great assistant. Soon enough I won't have anymore to teach you.

"Sir? Does this look alright?"

"Good job. It's almost like he was never captured in the first place." Gadget smiled as she looked down at Prowl.

"Now we just need to finish his legs," both femme and CMO said together. They laughed at each other.

Wheeljack just smiled. "One more visit and he can finally scan some armor and be himself."

"Speaking of which," Ratchet said as Gadget and Wheeljack worked on turning off the computer and closing Prowl's head back up. He walked back over to Prowl's comatose form and started working again.

 

- - -

 

Soon, Prowl was coming out of stasis with Jazz smiling next to him. "Hey Prowler, baby."

"...J-Jazz..." he smiled a bit. He looked towards the two inventors and the CMO. "Everything...go...alright...R-Ratchet?"

"You're looking more like yourself," Gadget smiled. Wheeljack gave him an Autobot sized mirror to look over his almost completed new form. Prowl smiled at the image he saw before him. Jazz and the others did too.

"You're almost you," Gadget smiled.

"It's a shame what the virus did to you..." Wheeljack said. Jazz looked at the Chief Engineer confused.

"Let me explain, Jazz..." Ratchet started. Jazz came over close to him while Prowl examined his new, more normal features. "The official new story created by me and Gadget is that the virus did physical damage to his body," the CMO whispered so only Jazz could hear.

"But Ratch..."

The medic shook his head. "You can't. He'll blow a logic processor or worse from confusion. He only remembers being sick." Jazz nodded, accepting the consequences. He didn't want to remember all those years in the war or his run in with Barricade either. He looks over and smiled to see Prowl happy.

"Whatcha think, Prowler?" he asked with a smile as Prowl was still staring at everything. Prowl looked over at him with a smile on his face. Jazz smiled back. "Let's go. You've been in here all morning. We could both use some energon and some rest." Jazz helped Prowler off the berth.

"Make sure he takes it easy. He'll need more rest than the other two times."

"Yeah, he-...he'll need a lot," said Gadget.

"Yeah sure." said Jazz.

The three smiled as Jazz helped Prowl out of Med Bay and to their now shared quarters. Gotta remember to thank Optimus and Ironhide for helping me make a quick move into Prowler's room when I see 'em.