The Saboteur and His Puzzle

Chapter Ten

"I must admit, Optimus. This is my fault." Prowl muttered during his decoding. Optimus took his servo off the back of Prowls chair, straightening as he was watching Prowl look for the three signatures.

"What is your fault?" He asked gently.

"Jazz took off with the twins to find Barricade. I gave him files to study to see if he could find Barricade. I had hoped he wouldn't have took the investigation into his own servos but he had." Prowl sighed.

"This is surprising to hear from you Prowl. You would nev-."

"But I did." Prowl shook his helm. "What a foolish thing."

"Prowl, there must be a reason you gave the file to Jazz. Some sole purpose." Optimus crossed his arms. Prowl paused.

"Jazz was right."

"About?" Optimus pressed gently as he raised an optic ridge.

"Barricade is planning something." Prowl told him seriously as he turned in his chair to face the Prime. Optimus frowned and looked to the side as he thought.

"Do you have any idea what he may be planning?" Optimus inquired with furrowing optic ridges, disturbed by the news. Prowl leaned back in his chair slightly.

"Not...yet." He said slowly. Optimus began to smile.

...

Clinton gasped as he woke up, his eyes looking at an unfamiliar sideways leather seat. He blinked and sat up, looking at the new car he sat in the backseat in. Clinton felt the fear return and he gripped his pants tightly.

There was no driver.

"A-are you going to hurt me?" Clinton swallowed fearfully, his heart rhythmically thumping out of his chest. The radio playing decreased in volume.

"Nah, short stuff. Ain't no bot gonna hurt ya 'ere." A sooething almost gangster voice blasted out of the radio. Clinton slumped against the seat, sweat still dripping down his forehead.

"Who are you?" He asked, confusion written on his features as he looked around then outside.

"I'm an Autobot. Name's Jazz," he introduced himself.

"Your name is Jazz? Like the music?" Clinton asked, his shoulders relaxing and his fists unclenching from their grip on his pants.

"Yeah, heard it before. Got ah real groove to it, ya feel meh?" Jazz asked as he picked up speed. Clinton was about to answer before two Lambroginis on either of the car sped up into view, almost in sync. Clinton gasped and looked back and forth between them then settled his gaze on the golden Lambrogini.

"Are they Autoboys too?" Clinton asked as he crawled over the seats to get a better view of the speeding car.

"Ya mean Autobots?" Jazz laughed in amusement. "Yeah, they twins. Ya lookin' at ole' Sunshine righ' dere." Jazz told him. "The red devil on ya left is Sideswipe."

"Whoa..." Clinton spoke simply in awe. His eyes were wide as he looked at Sunstreaker. "How come he's got dents and scrapes?" Clinton asked and looked to the radio, trusting the new bot to answer without a snap.

"Oh don't worry about him, he'll buff that out the second we get back to base." Jazz snorted, his tone unusually more quiet, as if thrown at the boys question. Clinton slumped back into the seat.

"Base?" He asked with a frown, his body stiffening. "Like that Bear...Berry...Barry..." Clinton struggled to form the name, his eyes distant.

"Barricade?" Jazz offered.

"Yeah, him." Clinton nodded, looking back to the radio. "You're not kidnapping me like he did, right?" He clenched and unclenched his fists nervously.

"Nah. We takin' ya home." Jazz informed the boy. Clinton relaxed at that. Silence filled the air and Clinton leaned against the door and pressed his cheek against the window, feeling safer than before. His eyes stared at the golden Lambrogini next to them and he smiled before his eyes grew heavy and he fell into a peaceful slumber.

...

"Jazz to Optimus." Jazz spoke quietly into his commlink. The three Autobots had pulled over at a gas station while Clinton went inside the building. Not wanting to go alone, Clinton asked if someone could go with and wait outside the door. Sunstreaker immediately refused and Sideswipe just laughed and said they could keep watch. So Jazz offered to Clinton who was very pleased. Sunstreaker was even disgusted Jazz would volunteer but Jazz gave him a look and went inside the building after Clinton.

His holoform was leaning against the wall next to the bathroom door as he waited calmly.

::Explain yourself.:: Optimus spoke firmly without a formal greeting. Jazz winced and looked to his holoforms shoes.

"ETA back ta base is 15 eart' minutes. We have tha boy." Jazz informed.

::This is good news. And Barricade?::

"Ran off before we could stop him."

::There are three of you! How in the pits did none of you manage to stop him!?:: Ratchet snapped over the comm. Jazz sighed.

"Trust me, Ratch. We tried but he held him at gunpoint. We did an exchange and five seconds after we got the boy, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe chased him down. Barricade somehow got away, ah don't know how." Jazz mumbled ingot he microphone of his earbuds clinging to his ears. He earned a displeased rumble.

::Return the boy to his home. We will meet you there and discuss this on the journey back to base. Understood?:: Optimus questioned sternly.

"Yes sir." He sighed and closed the link. The door to the bathroom opened and Clinton had a sick pale look to his face.

"Jazz?"

"Yeah, bud?" The holoform placed a smile upon his lips as he looked down to the boy.

"Can I get something to eat? I'm really hungry," he whined. Jazz pushed himself off the wall.

"Sure, get whateva ya want." Jazz chuckled. Clinton's expression brightened.