Black and White

Prowl grins. "Get in here and close the door - preferably before Ratchet throws another wrench at Deadshot." The group laughs and crowds inside, allowing the door to slide shut behind them.

"Oh, Blaster wanted to let you know that he took the base off of lockdown." Mirage says. "Said he figured once he saw the Twins heading to the brig, everything was under control."

Prowl nods. "Good. I completely forgot about that in the commotion."

Deadshot snorts. "No one is surprised."

They're avoiding saying Sentinel's name, and it amuses Jazz even as he appreciates it.

Ratchet sticks his hand in the room and hands a cube of energon to Deadshot. "Make Prowl drink that."

Deadshot blinks. "Oh-kay?"

Mirage snorts as he takes the cube from the confused mech. "Our team has a bit of a reputation for being able to get Prowl to actually energize." he passes the cube to Prowl. "You know the drill."

Prowl snorts. "I know, I know. Finish the entire thing, and you'll be watching the whole time to make sure I do." He lowers the cube. "You do realize I am capable of energizing on my own?"

"Maybe we'd believe ya if ya did it more often." Jazz says with a grin. "So far, yer track record's been terrible."

"Fair point. But someone's got to keep you crazy mechs alive. It's a full-time job." Prowl says with a sniff before draining the cube. He pauses as he stares at the empty one. "Can someone get me more?" Everyone bursts out laughing.

"On it." Bee slides out of the room, still chuckling. Jazz laughs and leans against the wall.

"Still hungry, there, Prowler?"

"Yes."

Bee re-enters the room a moment later. "Here - Ratchet said there's more should you want it, but don't over-do it." He passes Prowl another cube.

"Can we have some of that?" Deadshot asks.

"No - this is medical grade. It's specifically for bringing energy levels back up. Ratchet would straight murder you." Mirage says with a grin. "He's very protective of the energon in here."

"'Specially since Prowl usually is th' one who needs it most." Jazz says, earning a sharp elbow in the side for his trouble.

"Stop giving away all my secrets!" Prowl teases. "He doesn't need to know that."

Deadshot's gaze snaps to Prowl. "How often do you get hurt?" he demands.

"Barely." Prowl replies dryly.

"He just keeps forgetting to refuel." Mirage says dryly. "A lot. He'll pass out if you don't keep an eye on him. Scared the slag out of Bee first time it happened around him."

Prowl winces. "I apologized for that!"

Bee snorts. "We'd all been so busy with the mission from hell that none of us realized he hadn't refueled or recharged in about four days. I think his levels dropped so low he actually seized, then."

Prowl throws up both hands in mock-exasperation. "Can we please not act like I am incapable of taking care of myself? I'm sure this instills such confidence in our new recruit."

"We don' think yer incapable of takin' care of yerself. Ya've proved ya can. 'S just ya get so busy takin' care 'o us, ya forget ta take care of yerself." Jazz says with a grin.

Prowl scoffs. "I don't always forget."

"Jus' most of th' time." Jazz laughs as Prowl swings at his head. "What're ya hittin' meh for?"

"Mostly to shut you up." Mirage chimes in helpfully. "That's why I hit you."

"Nah, ya hit meh 'cause yer a closet sadist."

"That too."

Bee shakes his head. "The both of you are shameless, you know that?"

Ratchet pokes his head into the room. "At some point, I'm going to make you all leave so Prowl and Jazz can rest. Mostly Prowl."

"Oh, come on!" Prowl protests. Jazz laughs.

"Ah'll git some rest too, Ah promise." he says with a cheeky grin.

Ratchet scowls. "I do not believe you."

"Tha' hurts, Ratch. Right here, in mah spark."

Jazz slides off the berth, and gives Prowl a hug. "Ah gotta go get some energon and then attempt ta recharge. Ratch has th' right idea."

"Jazz - if you need to, come back here." Prowl's tone grows serious. "I mean it."

"Ah will." Jazz gives him a crooked grin. "Cross mah spark."

Deadshot grins. "Let me guess, we're going with you?"

"Got it in one, unless ya like bein' abused by Ratchet." Jazz says with a grin. "If so, Ah'm not judgin'."

That makes Prowl and Mirage burst out laughing as Bee only shakes his head. "Why are we discussing whether Deadshot actually likes being beat up?"

"'Cause it's funny, mostly. We did it ta ya when ya first joined. Why should he get away with it?" Jazz says cheerfully. He turns and gives Prowl a hug. "Ah'll see ya in a bit, 'kay?"

"Of course."

The next morning, Optimus pokes his head into the medbay to see Ratchet already awake. "Is Prowl alright?" he asks quietly. Ratchet jerks his head to the private room, a smile on his face.

"Go look for yourself." he says. Optimus peers through the window, and has to bite back a laugh. Prowl is still sleeping, and so is Jazz - and they're curled up around each other, Jazz's helm resting on Prowl's chassis. Prowl actually has his wings wrapped around Jazz as well as his arms. He grins.

"How long have they been like that?"

"For a while. Not how they wen to sleep, but that's how I found them."

"It's cute."

"At least they finally stopped denying it and just went for it."

Prime laughs. "Ratchet - they went for it before we found out Cyclonus had a spy in the base. They've just had to be careful."

Ratchet grins. "I understand that." the grin goes away. "You're here to get them up, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Ratchet turns and looks in the window with Prime. "Jazz went to pieces on Prowl last night. I could hear him yelling from my office."

"He was surprisingly quiet with me." Prime notes softly. "Though I think that was from shock more than anything else."

"Isn't there another way to tell Magnus?"

"I've tried to talk him out of it - let me do it. He won't. He's been adamant."

Ratchet snorts. "Well, he is Magnus's son through and through. Duty and responsibility first, himself second."

"The same could be said of you." Prime points out with a grin.

"Yeah, me, you, Prowl, the whole damn base, really."

"It does make trying to keep everyone safe a lot harder, doesn't it?" Optimus muses. "I'm highly considering just letting them sleep and telling Magnus myself."

"And Jazz would hate you for the rest of your life." Ratchet points out. "I wouldn't do it."

Optimus sighs. "At least he agreed to have Prowl with him."

"And you as well. I heard that part of the blow-out last night." Ratchet sighs and leans back against the wall. "Kind of nice to know our family makes him feel safe."

A nod. "Well, I suppose I should wake them." He takes a step into the private room and clears his throat. "Jazz, Prowl. Time to get up." He won't go any closer. He made the mistake of scaring Jazz once after he came back from a bad mission. He still has the scars.

Jazz shifts, burrowing his head further into Prowl's shoulder. "Mmf. Five more minutes. 'M comfy." he goes boneless again.

Prowl lifts his head to blink in Prime's direction. "Good morning. Is everything all right?"

"As all right as can be expected considering the call we have to make today." Prime says, grinning as a loud groan comes from the heap of limbs attached to Prowl's side.

"Ah don' wanna - 's too early. Go back to bed, Prime." That makes Prowl and Prime snort. "'S not funny, either. Less laughin', more sleepin', kay? 'M tired."

Prime tilts his head. "What time did you go to sleep last night?"

"What time is it now?" Jazz doesn't even online his visor.

"Around nine."

"Four hours ago - we went ta bed around five, five-thirty."

"Once we get this out of the way, I'll let you go to sleep again." Prime says with a small grin.

"Ah'm goin' back ta sleep now." And Jazz proceeds to cuddle into Prowl again, tightening his grip on the other mech. Prowl just gives Prime a helpless look.

"He's like an octopus. He latches on and won't let - HEY!"

Jazz grins. "Watch what ya say. Ah'm not that asleep yet."

Optimus can't help but laugh. "Come on, guys. We need to let Magnus know before he finds out on his own."

"Well, slag it. Can't argue with that." And Jazz reluctantly gets up.

Jazz heaves himself off the berth, stretching once his feet are on the ground. "Magnus should be up by now, so Ah wanna get this done before Ah refuel."

"Why before?" Prime asks. "I'd think it'd be better to refuel first."

"Not wit th' way mah tanks are churnin'." Jazz says dryly. "Ah'll get mah energon later. Let's get this over with."

Prowl squeezes Jazz's shoulder. "Let me get some energon from Ratchet, and I'll be right there."

Ratchet grins. "Way ahead of you." he passes a cube over. "Go and get this out of the way."

Prime leads them out of the medbay and towards his office. "Do you know what you're going to say?"

"Not really. Ah figure Ah'll wing it an' hope for th' best." Jazz gives a shrug. "It'll end one of two ways, an' Ah don' know which Ah'm hopin' for." The door to Prime's office opens, letting them in. Jazz walks over to the terminal and activates it, punching in Magnus's office.

Magnus comes on. "Jazz! Good morning."

"Mornin'. Ah hate ta say this ain't a social call." Jazz's posture straightens. "We found th' mole."

"Excellent. Anyone I know?"

Offscreen, both Prime and Prowl wince. Jazz nods. "Uh, yeah. There's no good way ta put this, so Ah'm jus' gonna rip the bandaid off. It was Sentinel."

There's a good ten seconds of silence on the other end. "What?"

"Yeah, that was mah reaction." Jazz's voice is rueful. "But we've got a confession outta him - he's proud of it."

"Did he say why?" Magnus's expression is neutral. "I assume he had one."

This is the part Jazz wasn't looking forward to. "He blames meh. Says it's mah fault he turned traitor."

"Come again?" Magnus blinks. "How on earth is this your fault?"

"He says it started when we were sparklings, an' escalated from there."

"That's absurd." Magnus narrows his eyes at Jazz. "You don't actually believe that nonsense, do you?"

Prowl's voice comes from behind Jazz. "We're working on that."

"Thanks, Prowler." Jazz's voice is dry.

Magnus shakes his head. "I doubt you had anything to do with it, so I'm not inclined to believe him. My question now is, what are you going to do with him?"

"Ordinarily, we'd extradite him ta Cybertron for sentencin', but in this case, we were thinkin' of sendin' 'im over ta Megatron. Let him decide what ta do."

"Any particular reason why you'd give his spy back?"

Jazz shoots Magnus a grin. "Well, Megs gave meh back ta Prime a handful of times, it only seems fair ta return th' favor."

Optimus looks up at the ceiling. "Megatron gives you back because it's safer to just admit defeat and hand you over." he says.

"Oh come on!" Prowl exclaims. "I did that once!"

"And apparently that was enough." Prime retorts. "You put the fear of the ops team in him."

"An' what am Ah, chopped liver?!" Jazz protests. "Ah like ta think Ah did that mahself!"

Magnus shakes his helm, but at least he's somewhat smiling. Which is what Optimus had been aiming for. "So, what do you anticipate happening when you so graciously give Megatron his spy back?"

"Well, technically speaking, he's Cyclonus's spy." Prowl muses. "Megatron doesn't know his identity. Which makes me wonder how he'll react, knowing a Prime turned traitor."

"He might give the fragger back." Jazz mutters darkly. "Ah know Ah would."

"Over Sentinel's dead body." Prowl murmurs back.

"That might be a thing."

Magnus ignores this exchange. "Cyclonus is on Earth? How did our intelligence not catch that?"

That gets Prime's attention. "Ours did. The report never made it back to you?"

"No."

" . . . Well, frag." Prime almost sounds calm. "Jazz wrote that report. Which means either Sentinel intercepted it, or we have a bigger problem than we realized."

"Let's take care of one FUBAR at a time." Magnus says darkly. "For now, we'll assume Sentinel intercepted it until proven otherwise. But I would keep your ear to the ground, just in case. And I'll do the same on my end."

"Assuming the coming inquisition doesn't do it for you." Prime says dryly.

"Frag, you're right. Damn council."

"Ah'd start gettin' ready for that, Magnus." Jazz says. "Ah'm already compilin' everythin' Ah found into one report ta be handed in."

Prowl nods. "That reminds me, I need those reports on my desk ASAP so I can sign off on them and send them in."

"Ah'm gettin' there. It's been a busy coupla days!" Jazz says with a grin. "Ah'll get yer paperwork ta ya, don' worry about that."

Prime laughs. "I want you two to go and get fueled up. I need to talk to Magnus privately." Jazz eyes Prime for a moment then nods.

"Ya got it. Magnus, drop meh a line if ya need ta."

"You do the same, Jazz." Magnus waits until Prowl and Jazz have left the room. "Sentinel was the traitor? You're absolutely certain?"

Prime nods. "I am. I'm the one who interrogated him. I'm sorry, Magnus."

"So am I. I'm assuming Jazz didn't take the news well?"

"No. He took it somewhat harder than Ratchet or I expected - he apparently blew up last night. He was surprisingly calm with me." Prime murmurs. "And I have the feeling that once the council begins their investigation, they're going to take a hard look at Jazz and Sentinel's background. Magnus, it's not going to look good for either of you. You know that, right?"

"I know."

Prowl follows Jazz down to the rec room for energon. They're both unusually silent. Jazz is lost in his own thoughts, and Prowl has no idea how to pull him out of his funk. This is not Jazz's usual bad mood.

He catches sight of Red Alert, and a thought occurs to him. "Grab us a seat." he says. "I'll be there in a second." Jazz gives him a look.

"Anythin' Ah should know about?"

Prowl smiles faintly. "Let's just say that I like dealing with multiple FUBARs all at once, and so does Red Alert." He reaches out and squeezes Jazz's arm. "Trust me." Jazz nods, and Prowl heads over to Red Alert.

"I need a favor."

Red tilts his helm. "What kind of favor?"

"The illegal kind."

Red Alert considers. "It's an ops thing, isn't it?" Prowl nods. "So what do you need?"

"Everything you can dig up on Magnus's communications division."

"You gonna lend a hand?"

"Of course. I'm not going to let you have all the fun."

Red Alert nods. "Okay then. Meet me in my office tonight, and we'll go digging."

Jazz grabs a cube of energon and plops down at an empty table. He stares into the cube, and sighs. He senses more than sees Prowl come up to the table and join him.

"Ah wanna go talk ta Sentinel."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Prowl asks quietly.

"Ah don' care if it's wise, Ah gotta do it." Jazz lifts his head to look around. "Ah know that Prime interrogated 'im already, tha's not what Ah'm goin' down there for."

"What are you going there for, then?"

"Jus' ta ask why."

"We already know why." Prowl points out.

"Naw, see, Ah don' think we do. Ah think we've got part of th' story - not th' whole one. Ah want ta know th' truth, not th' half-truth he gave Prime." Jazz's voice hardens a little.

"Do you want me to go with you?"

Jazz snickers at this. "Naw, mech. Ya an' Red got yer work cut out for ya - Ah've met Magnus's communications division. None of 'em set mah alarms off, but hey, neither did Sentinel. They're good mechs, an' good at what they do."

"Yes, well, I would rather us find out otherwise than the Council." Prowl says dryly. He shakes his helm. "I won't lie, I think you're making a mistake. I think the answer you're looking for doesn't exist, and you'll drive yourself crazy trying to find it. That being said, if you need me, call me. I mean it, Jazz."

"Ya really think Sentinel c'n get meh from the brig?"

"Emotionally, yes. This is Sentinel. However, it really wouldn't surprise me for some other surprise to be waiting for you down there."

Jazz considers. "Ah still need ta know."

"I know. Which is why I'm not making you stay away." Prowl leans forward and kisses him on the cheek. "Be careful, please."

"Ah will. Ya and Red Alert find somethin' ya let meh know."

"Of course."

Jazz demolishes his cube and stands, kissing the top of Prowl's helm. "Ah'll be back in a bit. Let meh know if ya need anythin'."

"I will."

Jazz nods to a few mechs on his way out of the rec room and heads down to the isolation chamber. Sentinel's head lifts as he realizes he's got company.

"Jazz."

"Sentinel."

"Are you here to interrogate me too? You know, I never realized just how brutal your mechs could be. Mirage did some damage."

"Not nearly enough by our standards actually." Jazz's tone is dry.

"Well, no. But I suspect that's because Prime was the one pulling on his leash, so to speak. What do you want?"

"Did ya know Ah spoke ta Magnus today?"

"And?"

"Ah had ta tell him that his oldest son turned traitor. 'S not a fun conversation ta have." Sentinel moves closer to the door and grins.

"Did you tell him why?"

Jazz meets his gaze unflinchingly. "Yep. An' he told me it's nothin' but nonsense. So did most everyone else, but Ah'm still workin' on it."

Prowl grabs a cube to go and heads out of the rec room for Red Alert's office. Red is already there waiting for him. "So what are you expecting to find?" he asks. Prowl takes a seat at the console beside him

"This entire mess was focused on ops." he says quietly. "I don't like the idea of someone messing with my team."

"You don't think Sentinel was acting alone."

"No. I just need the proof. Cross reference the communication team with records of Magnus's spec ops units. There might be some correlation there.'

Red Alert nods, and the two of them set to work in silence.

It takes a few hours, but Prowl finally finds what he's looking for. "Hello. That's interesting."

Red Alert blinks. "What is it?"

"Halogen. Low-level comms mech who's brother was ops. One of the first ones Jazz worked with. I remember him. Nit was a good mech." Prowl examines the record with a small frown. Red Alert reads it over his shoulder.

"Nit didn't last long."

"No. Frag grenades do that to a mech. He was the only casualty in that mission."

"You think Halogen might blame Jazz for that?"

"If he's going to blame Jazz, he'll have to blame me as well. I was the one they called in to lead the rescue mission. Nit died on the way out. There were some pretty serious injuries, but we had to leave Nit behind. He was already dead."

Red Alert moves back to his own console. "Let's see what I can find on Halogen here. If he's got ties with the Cons, I'll find them."

Jazz wanders in about twenty minutes later. He knows Prowl knows he's there, but he wants to see Red Alert jump. He leans over Red's shoulder.

"Halogen? Ya'll don' seriously think he's a 'con, d'ya?"

Red does jump, Jazz grinning as he does. "Can you maybe not sneak up on me?!" Red demands, a hand over his spark chamber.

"Ah'd apologize if Ah was sorry. It's funny." Jazz grins. "Look at it likee this - at least I ain't out ta glitch ya out."

Prowl grins and leans back. "So far Halogen is our first connection."

"Ah looked 'im up not too long ago. He was killed in combat about two years ago - Magnus's base was stormed an' the comms were hit first. Ya'll ain't gonna get anywhere wit him."

"Well, frag it." Prowl comments. He leans back in his seat with a sigh. "So maybe we're going at this the wrong way. Besides Sentinel, who could intercept comms between us and Magnus like that without being obvious?"

The other two consider. Red Alert groans. "Don't tell me we have another traitor on base. That's just gonna suck."

"Ya tellin' meh." Jazz mutters.

"It won't look good for Magnus if there's another mole in his team, considering what we just took Sentinel down for." Prowl points out. "At best, he would lose command of his team. At worst, he could be stripped of his title."

"Ah don' think the council's gonna strip 'im of his title - he's too important." Jazz muses. "He'll most likely lose th' team, an' relocate 'im ta another one."

Red leans back in his seat. "What if he came here?"

"The council is gonna fight it - Ah'm 'is son, 's considered a conflict of interest." Jazz says with a grin. "Not that Ah care, but tha's how they see it."

Prowl leans back, considering. "Actually, you know what? I think whoever is doing this isn't aware of it."

"What do you mean?" Red Alert asks.

"I don't think we're looking for another mole. I think we're looking for someone who did Sentinel a favor, not realizing that he was actually assisting a traitor." Prowl sighs. "Think about it. The only mech who stands to gain anything from an investigation is Sentinel. He discredits Jazz and Magnus all in one go."

"And because Jazz is our TIC, he automatically shines suspicion on you and Prime." Red Alert says quietly. "He's trying to take out the entirety of the command structure of the Autobots."

"But why?" Jazz demands. He jumps to his feet, pacing back and forth. "What does he have ta gain from this?"

"Proof that he's superior to us?" Red wonders.

Prowl offers a small smirk. "Proof to his new boss that he's not completely incompetent?"

That earns him a snort from Jazz. "Yeah, righ'. Megs ain' that stupid."

"Just saying. It's a thought. I mean, that's essentially what started this, right? He feels inferrior to the little brother, despite the fact that he's a Prime. He has no respect among the Autobots, so maybe he thinks that this way he'll have more credibility with the Decepticons."

"Which is ridiculous, given that the 'Cons have less respect for him than we do, and that is very seriously saying something." Red muses. "I don't think he'll like that when we drop him off at Megatron's door." he pauses, looking over at Jazz. Sentinel's still kind of a touchy subject. "When is he being dropped off?"

"As soon as Ironhide an' Sunny are sure they've got everythin' outta 'im." A wry grin crosses Jazz's face. "They're mostly usin' it as an excuse ta beat 'im up. But I think within th' next few days, he'll be taken ta Megs."

"Are you going with?"

"Yup. Between Prime, meh, Ironhide, an' Sunny, he ain't gettin' away, an' if he tries anythin', he'll be put into th' ground before he can do any damage." Jazz gives him a faint grin. "Can we talk about somethin' else now?"

Prowl smiles. "You still need to train Deadshot. Things kind of got in the way." It's an obvious attempt to move the topic elsewhere, and it sort of works.

"Tha's true. Think Deadshot'll try harder if we have Bee sit in an' watch? Y'know, given his crush?"

"Hard to say."

Red holds a hand up. "Wait, wait, wait. Deadshot has a crush on Bumblebee?"

Jazz looks over. "Why d'ya sound so shocked? Bee's a good lookin' mech."

"It's not that he isn't, it's just - does he have a death wish? Sides'll rip him to shreds!"