Chapter Text
Prowl booted, groggy and with damage notices that included a medical block on his tac-net booting. He was bound to the surface he was on. The feel of the space around him was wrong for medbay as well. It was too large, too crowded, too many sounds of pain and fear, the temperature too low. Even before he booted his optics he reached out to Jazz across their spark bond.
The responding pulse was more than a bit frantic. ~Where are ya, sparklet? Hoist and Hound can't find ya.~
~Don't know,~ Prowl responded first and directed a bit more on his sensory systems. ~Lab by guess. Decepticon I expect. Tac-net blocked, not repaired. Not Soundwave. Too much pain here.~
~Frag, that likely means Darkmount,~ Jazz sent a wave affection through as he briefly diverted attention. ~I'm nowhere near there. Whiplash is trying to scramble a team together. Tell me anything you can sense.~
Prowl began to push as much data as he could gather through the bond until a mobile object entered his awareness and he focused on it. ~Shockwave confirmed.~
~Slag, sparklet,~ Jazz kept his press of his love up even as he passed the data along to Whiplash. There was a bit of panic and despair trickling through his processor even as he tried to keep that professionalism they were known for among the Autobots.
Multiple objects intruded into Prowl's perception as an impassive field entered his awareness. The cold presence spoke, "Subject P is aware and responsive ten breems earlier than anticipated. Proceeding with reformatting process."
Prowl passed that along before he processed what it meant and promptly began to fight against his bonds with everything he had. It wasn't fear of the fate that drove him. It was the absolute understanding that there was only one reason to do it: to turn his tac-net to the Decepticon cause. It was worth breaking his frame, even extinguishing his spark to avoid that.
~I'll help if you really want me too,~ Jazz offered grimly even as his own spark railed against helping in this deactivation they'd known might happen as they advanced in the ranks yet they both expected it would be Jazz deactivating first. If it was what Prowl wanted...no needed to do at this point with no rescue in sight ... they'd see each other in the Well. But there was rescue in sight even if it wasn't in time to prevent the reformat. ~We've got other options still, sparklet. We've got your memory backups back in Iacon if your processor gets wiped. Whiplash and I can get your frame out of 'Con hands, and you know Ratchet can fix almost anything thrown at him.~
Prowl sent back understanding, relief, acceptance then growing anger at the disruption to his function. They both knew from Jazz's experiences with it that even when a memory wipe and upload went perfectly it caused orns to decaorns of random disorientation and memory purges in recharge.
There was a moment of blankness caused by searing pain that wasn't physical pain but rather the processor's desperate attempt to translate the destruction of itself on a data level into something it could process. Jazz had been absorbing everything for analysis even as he also privately raged against the attack against his mate. Searing pain flashed through his spark from his mate's anguish. For a brief instance he thought that Prowl was gone; that their bond had broken and he would also be sent into the Well. Then Prowl was back with a half thought that submitting wasn't a bad thing; he liked himself when first created. It was corrupted coding of later life that was so painful and hard to function with.
~I can work with Ratchet to keep your coding as clear as we can when we get you back and work on memory recovery,~ Jazz seized the opening to get a little bit of something good out of this mess. ~If you want to be that version of you again. You won't have to be this conflicted again.~
There was a burst of joy-hope before pain whited Prowl out again. A moment later the pain was gone and Jazz felt what was the familiar sensation of Prowl with his processors off.
~Sparklet, I love you,~ Jazz pressed affection through the bond hiding all his rage and fear behind a wall. His mate wouldn't understand and didn't deserve those thoughts and feelings right now. Prowl needed to focus on not doing more physical damage to himself now that he'd chosen to accept the reformat. No matter how much it hurt Jazz that on some level he wasn't worth fighting for he also knew that reaction was at odds with his willingness to help Prowl deactivate by committing suicide himself. He'd need to work that out before Prowl was back on his pedes with his memory restored or their welcome back merge would subject Prowl to all the conflicting emotions.
"What's going on?" Whiplash hissed in his audial and Jazz realized he was moving, his frame following Whiplash's guidance without question or thought.
"He's lost his processors," Jazz muttered as he still clung with his spark to his mate. "He's chosen to accept the reformat. We'll likely lose him as a tactician but still have him."
"I'm not going to complain," Whiplash murmured despite how hard it was going to hurt some aspects of the war to lose the mech everyone knew had already made huge impact. Getting those processors and another Praxian hunter firmly under his command was a huge bonus for his aspects of it.
"Others will. Slaggers working him too hard by doing the bare minimum and letting him fill in the rest," Jazz grumbled even as he knew that had decreased as Prowl had risen through the ranks. Not that the hunter was going to put up with what the tactician had. Prowl had already been beaten down by the time he'd reached the Autobots by Praxus' decision to take him from hunting into administration.
Jazz finally noted who else was with them as they came into a hanger where Flamespire, an ISO fast shuttle, was parked with engines warm. Mirage boarded first. Then Medice, the black half of ISO Iacon's chief medics. Her white twin sister wasn't visible and likely staying to hold down the fort and prep anything needed post-mission.
"Prowl still down?" Whiplash asked while he nudged Jazz to board with him.
"Yes," Jazz growled as he rushed aboard their transport itching to get to his mate. "I'll let you know as soon as he's online."
"We will do everything necessary to get him back," Mirage promised as he looked at his superiors noting the stress and tension particularly in Jazz. "Hound and I have been working on a few surprises I can bring out."
"Good. We don't try rescues from Darkmount often for good reason," Whiplash said grimly and made sure everyone was strapped in while Flamespire rolled out of the hanger before strapping himself in. "Anyone got a starter plan?"
"I can slip in, locate the security hub, and set up for our extraction," Mirage offered immediately knowing his strengths for this sort of mission. "This will be loud so the fewer security and lasers the better."
"Agreed," Whiplash nodded. "Jazz can get Medice to Prowl and get the three of them out," he looked at his prize agent for any modifications or a request for Whiplash to join that part rather than wander around making destructive mischief and seeing how many prisoners he could get out or Decepticon officers he could gray. Maybe even get ridiculously lucky and cross paths with Shockwave.
"Make him pay for this; make all of 'em pay for it," Jazz growled looking steadily at his commander. "Keep 'im from doing this to anyone else."
Whiplash grinned viciously. "Will do. Have you ever dealt with a Praxian hunter?"
"Once, an old friend of Prowl's was passing through our area," Jazz replied fighting down his impatience knowing this information could be highly useful when he found his mate. "I haven't had the opportunity to meet a new one."
"At least you have something and I assume you've gotten a sense of Prowl when he was Pantera from Prowl," Whiplash began the quick and dirty version of how to survive around a young hunter. "Things to keep in mind. He is going to be aggressive; they were called explicitly to hunt and deactivate highly dangerous mecha and do so with minimal training to us and be on a mission for decades with only sporadic pings of continued functioning as contact. Not unlike myself young. The concept that there is anyone they can't deactivate one on one will be a hard sell and they don't generally view anyone else as valuable. Collateral damage and laws weren't a concern once one of them was assigned. You've got an advantage there. With your bond he should be highly protective of you. Use that to get him to abandon the site if something else doesn't work. It'll hurt your standing with him if you do but it'll get him to go where you want. He should assume you are his equal on the hunt given you're bonded."
"What would you start with?" Jazz asked just to get the ancient mech's experience.
"Our mission is...." Whiplash answered. "In this case the truth will do with any luck. It depends on how much of his law-abiding nature is natural and how much was coded to keep him civilized once he was assigned a desk. I'd guess a lot is added code but it's hard to tell."
"Maybe I'll throw in that he'll need a medical exam before getting his next assignment? Since this isn't an authorized location that might help. Hopefully he won't believe Shockwave is his handler."
"Skip the 'next' part. He shouldn't have a mission yet other than to stay safe until you arrive. We'll know more once he's awake and you can talk to him again," Whiplash said.
"Okay, keep the focus on how he is currently in pre-mission status and won't have any assignment other than to get back to main base," Jazz muttered even as he refocused on his mate's spark searching for any sign of his processor coming online. He wanted race towards Darkmount. He kept reminding himself that Flamespire was faster than any attempt to drive by a huge margin.
Prowl's spark pulsed warmly at the contact with a sense that the medical first boot was really slow but going well. It felt warm, content in its frame and the prospect of being sane and itself again.
"He's still in boot up," Jazz reported as the conversation settled into a quiet wait for something to do. "I guess that means the reformat was successful."
"He's still the spark you love and are bonded to," Medice said more gently than she often was. "We'll get him back to himself once he's in Umbra."
"I want to wrap him up in blankets and keep him there but I don't think a hunter will tolerate that kind of care for long," Jazz grumbled even as he settled waiting for his mate to come back online and talk to him.
They were coming in to land when Prowl was finally coherent enough for more than emotions.
~Primus?~ Prowl's spark-voice asked with the innocent curiosity of the very young and none of the intense violence that Whiplash warned of.
~Not Primus, but it is someone who loves you,~ Jazz replied keeping his amusement at his mate being so open to the possibility of the god that abuse and war seemed to have beaten out of him. ~I've been waiting to hear you again.~
~Waiting, why? How? This is my first boot,~ he asked as he finally booted enough to know his own designation; Pantera.
~This is your first boot, but your spark and I first met long ago,~ Jazz replied vowing privately to be as honest as possible with his mate. He wanted Prowl....Pantera to know he could rely on him. It would help them build a new foundation.
Pantera accepted it in the way of most sparklings with nothing else to go on. ~Where are you? The mech here is not you.~ There was a fractional pause. ~He teeks of prey.~
~I'm on my way with my team to come get you. That one who's with you now is my team's target,~ Jazz replied firmly trying to get Pantera off the idea of hunting Shockwave. As nice as the thought was the inexperienced hunter would likely get deactivated before he succeeded. ~He stole you to try to use you against us. Don't let him know you can communicate with me. He doesn't know about our sparkbond; that's a secret only our special friends know about.~
Pantera agreed on reflexive trust of the voice in his spark and Jazz got his first real taste of the tac-net unbuffered by Prowl's impressive will. It was savage. It understood subterfuge. It was as pissed as an AI could be as it came on line fully and realized it was no longer with the mech it had come to find balance with but a new being. A sparkbeat later Jazz felt it comprehend that the Enforcer AI was nowhere to be found and its pleasure at not having to contend with that problem anymore. The tac-net's pleasure echoed into Pantera.
~I should do as it wishes until you arrive?~ Pantera asked.
~Remind it Jazz is on his way along with my commander Whiplash. It should still know what we're capable of. We will be there soon,~ Jazz was not looking forward to the coming balancing act, but this had confirmed their guess on Shockwave's plans for Prowl's frame. He diverted his attention briefly to pass along the necessary information. "Pantera is online and willing to trust me. Enforcer AI is gone. Tac-net AI is there, pissed at current sit-rep and effectively loose."
"That sounds mildly concerning," Mirage said diplomatically.
"Understatement of the ages," Jazz agreed. "At least it's on our side."
"Fortunately it should recognize me as part of its chain of command and allowed to give orders and it'll almost certainly listen to Jazz," Whiplash said more calmly than he felt. How well Praxians obeyed imperial orders had always been marginal.
~Shockwave wishes me to go somewhere. He says my quarters,~ Pantera nudged Jazz. The bond sense was that he was inclined to comply. ~I can slip out and meet you.~
~Go to the quarters and rest so your physical systems can finish stabilizing. I'll let you know when we get there because we want to do some retaliatory damage for this abduction. We also don't want Shockwave develop any suspicions about a bond,~ Jazz promised.
~I will,~ Pantera agreed readily.