The Saboteur and His Puzzle

Chapter Three

Jazz was stuck. He hated being stuck. Once he returned to base he was praised by Optimus for his late night work although Jazz hardly felt he deserved it. There was something off about Barricade. He was fiercely loyal to Megatron and now he was gone. Wouldn't a loyal bot heed to the next commander in line? Of course no one would ever want to serve Starscream willingly but he just left. Barricade was gone without a trace. It took a good couple of hours for Jazz to track Barricade down and only to leave him in the nieghborhood. Barricade was a flithly, cunning mech but he never really used humans as a first resort. Idoit Cons did. Barricade...no. He was clever. He knew what he was doing. He was a great tracker and excelled at covering his tracks. The dragged almost slipped by his hacking skills. It was obvious Bumblebee and Barricade had this demise against one another (mostly because of the similar ages) but Jazz and Barricade really had it. Barricade was a tracker and had Frenzy as his little hacker. Jazz had to compete with that. Alone. Prowl did not understand how long and tiring it was for him to finally pick up a signal. Then he left him. Because he used that blasted nieghborhood.

Jazz rubbed his chin thoughtfully. It was so unlike him. Barricade must be up to something on his own. Or perhaps Megatron gave him orders once he did ever deactivate? Jazz shook his helm. He didn't understand. A knock on his office doors pulled him from his thoughts. Jazz cursed. He quickly lay his helm on his servos that lay on the desk. He closed his optics and slumped his shoulder. Finally, he ground out in a muffled voice, "Come in." Prowl appeared from the doors swishing open. He held a datapad in one arm and the other by his side. Jazz looked up and saw he wore a disapproving gaze. To a normal bot it would be very nuetral but Jazz could distinctively tell you what his emotion was and how he got it. Jazz could tell he wouldn't like this upcoming conversation to his displeased glimmer.

"You weren't recharging." Prowl stated matter-of-factly. Jazz shifted in his chair and rose his upper body just to lean back in his chair.

"Oh, yeah? How ya know dat?" Jazz challenged, raising an optic ridge. His optics attempted to look tired. "'Cause ah was havin' ah real nice nap too. Then ya just knocked and ya-."

"Are you done?" Prowl spoke with a sigh. Jazz paused before crossing his arms.

"Ah suppose ah am," he huffed. "Guess ya ain't in any playin' mood." Jazz grumbled as he looked away childishly. Prowl closed his office doors and then sat the datapad on his desk.

"No, and you know that." Prowl said and crossed his arms as well. "Your sulking is hardly going to help." Jazz snapped his gaze back to Prowl. Prowl remained still, finally getting a good reaction out of him.

"Ah ain't sulking!" There it is, Prowl mused. "Ahm thinkin'!"

"Hm, I hardly believe so." Prowl said as he looked over the desk to the holographic picture that was in front of Jazz. "Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I told you to stop investigating Barricades whereabouts." Prowl said then straightened his posture. Jazz mocked him quietly as he pulled away the picture of Barricades alt spotted in the nieghborhood. Prowl sighed at his behavior. "Jazz, it makes perfect sense why he would go into hiding. He was loyal to Megatron. Megatron. In case you have forgotten, the warlord is deceased." Prowl tried to reason. Jazz hummed in acknowledgment.

"Ah know, Prowler but just think about it. Think about 'Cade." Jazz said as he looked up at him. "He woun't go into anyah human neighborhood if he was tryin' ta hide. He would fight. Why din't he resist? He just used human casualties as ah excuse so he would get us off his tail." Jazz pointed out. Prowl sighed.

"Your overthinking this,"

"Ya underthinkin' it." Jazz replied stubbornly. Prowl stared at the silver mech. He had never seen Jazz so disturbed by a case before.

"Barricade is a scout. What could a scout do that could cause so much damage? He has no orders and he has no leader he would want to serve. Barricade is lost and he is desperate." Prowl explained. "He's running out of resources and now he's just on the run." Jazz leaned forward and stroked his chin again.

"Ah dunno, Prowler." Prowl turned on his pede and opened the door.

"If it makes you feel better I'll talk to Optimus about it. Goodnight, Jazz. Please do get some recharge tonight." Jazz looked up and nodded.

"Trust meh, ah ain't wrong."

"I'll take it into consideration. Just don't stress yourself too much." Prowl told him. Jazz snorted. How ironic. Prowl telling him to relax about work. Maybe Prowl was truly listening to what Jazz told him and relaxed.

"Ya been finally listenin' ta meh advice?"

"Of course not." Prowl huffed and shut the door. Jazz barked a laugh and shook his helm. Bet tha' mech is gone ta work right now. He reached forward and grabbed the datapad Prowl had left. He turned it on with a silver claw and blinked in surprise at the Cybertronian language that jumped out at him. He expected a report that had been past around by human officials which, by requirement, was written in English. What was on this datapad was not.

HOW TO GUIDE: DECODING. VOLUME EIGHT OF THE ENFORCERS OF PRAXUS DIVISONS HANDBOOK.

CHAPTER ONE: SIGNATURES AND THEIR COORDINATES.
CHAPTER TWO: BLOCKS AND HACKS.
CHAPTER THREE: DISTURBANCE IN FEED.
CHAPTER FOUR: DECODING IN DIFFERENT TERRAINS.
SCROLL FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.

Jazz smirked. Prowl knew him too well. He clicked Chapter One and began refreshing his already professional mind. Jazz was a saboteur. Known for being quite the 'sneaky one' but yet he couldn't get past Prowl...did he do it on purpose or not? Jazz was the only mech who knew. Either way, Prowl didn't mind helping him out. Prowl did know the struggles of staying awake at night because he was stuck, after all.