Phoenix's POV

Phoenix awoke in a place full of noise and dust, with a hard surface beneath her that was nothing like that she had fallen asleep on. Jumping up, she looked around to see a giant metal city and ran to the edge of the roof only to pull away in shock.

"Holy frag!" She cried as she screeched to a halt and looked out from the top of what seemed to be the tallest building in the entire city. It appeared she was back on Cybertron and really high up at that. Phoenix didn't particularly mind heights but if she fell off here…. that would hurt like hell to say the least.

A footstep from behind attracted her attention.

"Elita?" Phoenix asked as she looked behind her to see the pink femme watching her.

"Hello again Phoenix." Elita said. "I am afraid I must be brief." She added as her faceplates took on a worried look. She came over to Phoenix and crouched down so Phoenix had a clear view of her optics. "I bring a grave warning from Primus." Elita said in a tone that sent shivers down Phoenix's back.

"What of?"

"Events that will soon be upon us sooner than we could have anticipated." Elita said worriedly before her optics dimmed and she seemed to lose focus on reality. "Children of Primus, beware the fallen watcher who stands for his own desires instead of the freedom of others." Elita told her solemnly in a voice that was not quite her own.

"You're really fond of those riddles aren't you?" Phoenix muttered although she wasn't really expecting an answer. "Ones that make no sense at that." She sighed, knowing she was going to have to dedicate some brain power to this particular riddle. How she wished she was actually good at brain teasers then this whole thing might have been easier.

"If I was any clearer it would mess up the event timeline, although that too is rapidly changing…" Elita trailed off before shaking the distant look from her optics to look back at Phoenix. "The answer will reveal itself when the time is due, and I will be with you always." Elita said with a kind smile.

"Will you talk to me like you did in the med-bay?"

"Sometimes, but not always." Elita promised. "Again, it is time for us to part ways once more. I will see you again."

The city disappeared from view and Phoenix felt the distinct sensation of falling once more.

Jazz's POV

Jazz onlined to the feeling of an odd yet comforting weight on his chassis, and brightened his visor to see Phoenix still curled there which his servos still resting over her. He grinned at the sight, before checking his chronometer and deciding his human charge should probably wake up. Jazz gave her a light poke and she stirred whilst making murmuring noises. He gave her another one when she failed to wake up.

"Phoenix? Time tah wake up." Jazz told her and she made another noise before sitting straight up and looking around in confusion. The feelings coming over the bond were quite chaotic, and Jazz frowned in worry as Phoenix looked around rapidly.

"Where am I?" She asked.

"Lennox's house." Jazz answered and she looked around once more before leaning back on his chassis in relief. "Alrigh'?"

"Yeah. Just…. I don't know." Phoenix said, sighing and drawing her knees up to her chest. Jazz gave her another light poke and scooped her up so she was looking directly into his visor and through it, his optics.

"Did yah 'ave ah nightmare?" He asked and she shook her head.

"I had another visit from Elita but this one wasn't as great." She sighed before Jazz felt a tentative mental prod at the back of his mind.

"It'll be easier if I show you." Phoenix offered and Jazz hummed, sending confirmation across the bond.

The images came slowly at first like water droplets, and then a stream, and then a flood of emotions, thoughts and feelings. Jazz saw Elita, standing on top of what looked like the main tower in Iacon and heard the conversation as though it she was saying it to him.

"Children of Primus, beware the fallen watcher who stands for his own desires instead of the freedom of others."

"What does it mean?" Phoenix asked him and Jazz vented heavily.

"Ah don' know either. Guess weh just 'ave tah trust 'er an' wait fer it tah be revealed tah us like she said it woul' be. Ah trust Elita, she was ah good commander." Jazz said softly, remembering the quiet, gentle natured femme who had loved and been kind to everyone and everything, even Sunstreaker of all 'bots. If you could like Sunstreaker, you could like anyone.

"Can you show me a picture of her?" Phoenix asked shyly and Jazz sent her one of his particular favourites. It showed Elita and Sunstreaker painting one of the walls of the rec. room on the Ark together, Elita guiding Sunstreaker with a firm but kind voice as they did so.

"She was 'is mentor. They were artists – fraggin' good ones at tha'." Jazz said, remembering the days when Sunstreaker had painted. As far as he knew, the golden twin had not done so for years.

He detected a hint of concealed worry from Phoenix.

"Wha's tah matter?"

"This mission next week, what if the warning is about it and one or all of you gets hurt?" Phoenix asked.

"We'll be good. Ain't nothin' gonna get past tah Jazzman yeah? Now, let's get yah some breakfast." Jazz replied as he raised her up to the window and she climbed through. He activated his holoform and knocked on the door. It was opened by Ironhide's holoform with Annie perched on his shoulders.

Jazz tried not to laugh at the sight but he did take an image capture.

"Now tha's cute." He said, showing it to both Prowl and Phoenix.

"It'll also get you offlinined if you aren't careful." Prowl said drily, and Jazz sensed he had distracted his brother from a meeting judging by the slightly frustrated tone.

"Wha's tah matter Prowler?"

"I have had the pleasure of meeting our Liaison and Director Mearing for the first time to discuss the mission next week as well as medical supplies among other things. Are all humans this bad?" Prowl groaned.

"Nah, just them two." Jazz sighed as he wondered why Primus had cursed the Autobots with those two humans for their liaison and Director.

The sound of footsteps running down the stairs distracted Jazz from his musings on the subject and he turned to see Phoenix enter the room with a wide grin on her face. Annie clamoured to be let down, and toddled over to her immediately.

"Phoenix!" Annie said, begging to be picked up by Phoenix who did just that, although the toddler was a little bit heavy for her and she couldn't put Annie on her shoulders like Ironhide could.

Ironhide looked a little bit put out so Jazz gave him a good-natured nudge.

"Aww 'hide, yah are still 'er favourite." Jazz chuckled to him. Ironhide sighed before elbowing Jazz away.

"I know that, annoying cretin." Ironhide returned grumpily and Jazz rolled his eyes teasingly before going over to where Annie and Phoenix were. A thought crossed his mind as he realised the holoform was perfectly capable of holding both of them at the same time, and he plucked Annie off of Phoenix and hung her over one shoulder. Phoenix laughed at him and he sent her a devilish grin before swooping her up over the other shoulder faster than she could react.

"JAZZ! Put me down!" Phoenix cried as she hung upside down over his shoulder and he carried them through to the kitchen where breakfast was waiting. Will and Sarah promptly burst into laughter upon seeing them and Jazz handed Will to Sarah before saluting in mock-seriousness.

"Autobot Jazz reportin' fer duty Sir." He said as Phoenix's limbs swayed with the gesture and she reached up to thump his holoform's back.

"Put me down!"

"As mah lady commands." Jazz said before depositing her on the floor in a heap to her annoyance. Phoenix jumped up and dusted herself off before taking her place at the breakfast table along with the others. "Ratch' not comin' in?"

"He's in recharge. Thought I'd leave him to it since he hasn't recharged this long for ages." Ironhide replied and Jazz nodded – it was true. Ratchet rarely ever recharged due to fixing up 'bots, mainly the terror twins.

"Ah, we'll leave 'im tah it then." Jazz said with a grin as Will served up pink strips of meat that smelled a lot better than what the soldiers usually got on base which was mushy cereal and cheap coffee or juice that was so watered-down it wasn't recognisable as even being juice.

Breakfast was just as happy an affair as dinner had been, with jokes and stories being told and general bonding taking place between the Autobots and the humans. After that, Ratchet arrived on the doorstep and nabbed Phoenix to run a dozen more scans over her, much to Phoenix's annoyance as she insisted he had run most of those scans already. (Which Jazz agreed with but didn't dare say due to not wanting to get bashed with a wrench.)

Then, Jazz decided he was getting a little too cooped up in here and turned to Will and Ironhide.

"Got any racing tacks roun' 'ere?" He asked, although he knew Will probably didn't. To his surprise, Will grinned and nodded.

"There's an old dirt track that goes round the perimeter of the entire farm – it's pretty big and supposed to be for tractors and that, but my mates and I used to race on it." Will replied and Phoenix looked over with a curious expression.

"Are we going racing?" She asked and Jazz grinned at her.

"If yah like, though ah will need someone tah race." He said meaningfully, looking in Ironhide's direction. "Bet ah can kick yer…. Can back tah Cybertron ol' timer." Jazz said, making sure not to swear in front of Annie.

"Bring it on youngling, I will crush you like a bug." Ironhide rumbled and Annie paused her drawing to frown at him.

"Don' run him over Uncle 'hide, that's mean." Annie said seriously, folding her arms in a perfect imitation of Will when he was annoyed.

"I will do no such thing little one, I was merely saying that I am going to beat Jazz in our race."

"'kay then." Annie said and, sastisfied that Jazz was not going to get crushed, she returned to her drawing.

"Can I tag along?" Phoenix asked, eyes lighting up with excitement. Jazz nodded at her.

"Sure yah can. We'll kick 'is tailpipe."

"Care to come along as well Will and prove the younger generation wrong?" Ironhide asked Will who nodded eagerly.

"Definitely! I'll be back later Sarah." Will said, leaning over to give his wife a peck on the cheek as she smiled gently.

"Alright. Have fun all of you and watch out for the mud!" She called out as they left, Phoenix climbing eagerly into Jazz's alt mode. He buckled the seat belt for her and followed Ironhide to the beginning of the dirt track which was an unofficial starting line as the whole thing was a circuit and one could have started anywhere presumably.

"Shall weh star' then?" Jazz asked both out loud and over commlink.

"I'll kick your aft." Ironhide replied before doing the countdown. "Ready? 3, 2, 1, GO!" Ironhide yelled and Jazz sped off, wheels kicking up massive amounts of dirt as he did so. He purposefully didn't go at top speed because it was a dirt track and he didn't want to lose control like an inexperienced racer out for their first drive.

As he sped up a little down a long dirt stretch, Phoenix gave a loud cheer of delight.

"Woohoo! Faster!"

"Yah wan' speed?" Jazz asked with a grin, deciding it wouldn't hurt to speed up a bit more down this stretch of road as it was completely straight. "Ah'll give yah speed!" He yelled, speeding it up so much that they left Ironhide and Will in the dust.

He slowed down a little as they rounded the bend and all was going great until….

"JAZZ! WATCH OUT FOR THE….."

"PRIMUS FRAG!"

The bend took a sharp turn right into the biggest muddy puddle that Jazz had ever seen even as he hit the breaks. Unfortunately, the sudden spin of his wheels just made the effect even worse as it kicked up the ground.

"Mud….." Phoenix trailed off as the mud went flying in every direction. Jazz resisted the urge to squeal like Sunstreaker as the mud went everywhere, including up into his engine and plating. Over the radio came the sound of Will and Ironhide roaring with laughter, despite the fact that Jazz was still in the lead.

"Awh, Primus!" Jazz groaned. It was slimy and sticky.

"Hey Jazz, you know there are probably cow-pats mixed in with that mud right? Horse manure too." Will said gleefully over the radio and Jazz's tanks churned. They didn't have wash-racks up here either!

He managed to keep his control for the rest of the race, and he won but his pride took a severe beating as he let Phoenix out and transformed which only made the whole effect worst as now he resembled a mud monster. Annie and Sarah came running out, and Ratchet raised an optic ridge from where he was sitting on the ground. Ironhide also transformed and took one look at Jazz before falling about laughing with Will.

"It ain't funneh!" Jazz said disdainfully as he looked down at Phoenix who was currently the only one not laughing, although he could see her lips trembling as she had the good graces to bite back her laughter.

"No, it's hilarious." Will got out as he doubled over laughing. Jazz looked down at himself and realised that the stuff also smelled awful as well, which only added insult to injury. It was bad enough that he was covered from helm to ped in the stuff, and now he smelt like... unspeakable organic horrors. Primus really hated him today it seemed.

"He looks like a cow-pat Mommy." Annie said wisely.

"Smells like one too." Phoenix said, and then she too finally collapsed from laughter. Jazz glared at her and flicked a servo at her dismissively. Unfortunately, as he did so, some of the mud went flying from his servo onto Phoenix and she too was instantly covered in the stuff.

Phoenix froze.

So did everyone else.

There was a long pause as Phoenix looked herself over.

"JAZZ!" She shrieked, trying to get it off but in vain. "It's slimy!"

"An' stickeh." Jazz said dismally, although he was now laughing from the sight of Phoenix also covered in mud.

"And funny." Will said and Phoenix glared at him as well before grabbing a handful and throwing it at him. It hit him right in the face and he wiped it off before grinning massively.

"Mud fight!" Will yelled and each and every 'bot and human instantly began grabbing huge handfuls of mud and throwing it at their nearest opponent. Phoenix ducked behind him for cover, and Jazz launched a massive servoful at Ratchet and hit him in the optic; causing the medic to turn and roar at them with anger.

"You probably shouldn't have done that." Phoenix said nervously as the medic gave another roar as he unsubspaced a wrench.

"Probably not." Jazz agreed before taking another look at the medic and deciding it was best to make himself scarce. "Run!" He yelled, scooping Phoenix up and bolting for it although he didn't get very far as Ratchet caught up to him, lifted him up by the audio receptor and gave him a few good bashes with his trusty wrench.

"Ow man!" Jazz yelled as Ratchet dropped him on the ground. He cupped Phoenix close so she wouldn't get hurt.

"Teach you to mess with me, disrespectful slaghead!" Ratchet shouted before turning and storming off.

Jazz looked at Phoenix and Phoenix looked at Jazz.

"You need a bath." She said, wrinkling her nose. Jazz grinned back at her.

"Speak fer yahself." Jazz chuckled as he looked over his mud-covered human partner.

"I think getting the hose and having a community car wash is in order." Will said from where he stood with Sarah and Annie, now also covered in the stuff. Phoenix nodded before running off to get the hose and Jazz transformed as he waited for his turn to be washed. However, as soon as the spray hit him, he shrieked.

"IT'S COLD!"

"Oh shut up and deal with it!" Phoenix teased and Jazz snorted before having an idea. Activating his holoform, he went over to where a second hose lay beside the house and turned that on. Then he took it over to Phoenix and turned her sharply to spray it in her face, causing her to squeal and smack his holoform.

"Ouch…. Yah got a good righ' hook there lil' lady." Jazz said sheepishly as he rubbed his holoform's jaw.

"You afthead!" Phoenix replied before turning her hose on him. Together, they chased each other with hoses as the others watched on.

"Think they'll come in eventually?" Will asked Ironhide who snorted.

"You never know with younglings nowadays. I suggest we just leave them too it." The black mech replied as Jazz attempted to wrestle Phoenix to the ground only to get a faceful of mud.

"Sounds like a plan." Will chuckled as they went back inside the house.