It was a routine, rather boring patrol. Jazz wasn't really a patrol mech. Sneaking up on the enemy, undercover missions, sabotage, crazy stunts – that's what he craved. But patrols? What a drag! And he didn't even have a partner to annoy! Okay, it was a part of his punishment – Imposter knew very well how Jazz hated lone patrols. It was unlikely that he would encounter anything even remotely interesting. Despite the increasingly difficult times and energon deficiency, crime rate in Iacon was still fairly minimal during daytime. At least he had his radio to listen to, which made things a little more bearable. Swaying his hips to the beat he tried to stay positive as his optics, hidden behind a visor, scanned the surroundings. Only three more joors to go and he would be free!

Out of habit he slowed down when passing an abandoned alleyway and decreased the volume of his internal radio. He performed a little dance to mask the fact that he was scrutinizing the place. Unsurprisingly, he found nothing unusual. Oh well, it had been worth a try... Wait, what was that? Without dropping the act he danced into the alleyway; his radio offline now and his audios on maximum sensitivity. There! It sounded like a whimper. He switched his visor to thermovision. There was only one heat signature on the deserted street. He looked around; nobot was watching him. Carefully he approached the source of the heat. It was hidden from the view by several large containers. A sob reached his audios. It sounded so young... Jazz's visor reset in surprise as he finally saw the sparkling. It was a small grey mechlet with red chevron and probably blue optics – hard to tell, they were white with static right now. His doorwings – doorwings! – drooped sadly as he hugged his knees and sobbed. A Praxian sparkling! Rusted pit, Praxus fell but five vorns ago and there were only three Praxians left – those who weren't there at the time! The little one appeared to be around six, maybe seven – could it be that he was a survivor? No, that was unlikely, the firing squad was nothing if not thorough. The poor thing had probably been visiting his friends or something at the time... It took him a while to notice Jazz but when he did he curled up to a tight ball and tried to make himself look smaller. He was trembling as he mentally tried to blend with the wall behind him. Jazz quickly stepped back and crouched to appear non-threatening.

"Hey," he said softly with a smile. "Hello there, little mech, m' name's Jazz. I'm not gonna hurt ya," he cooed. The sparkling looked at him suspiciously, evidently not used to kindness from strangers. "Are ya lost?" A shake of the tiny helm. "Oh, Ah know! Would ya like an energon goodie?" Reaching to his subspace he took out a sweet rusty tungsten bar. Not quite healthy but very yummy. Another mistrustful, slightly scared look. Jazz stilled, offering the goodie on his open palm for the little one to take. The Praxian mechlet looked like he wanted to refuse but his empty tank rumbled in hunger. Evidently that decided it. Optics locked on Jazz, he carefully uncurled from his position. Collecting his courage, he snatched the goodie and promptly curled back. He seemed surprised that no punishment followed. Taking a bite of the bar his optics brightened in shock. It was good!

Jazz smiled as he watched the tiny Praxian devour the tungsten bar. It was a smile filled with sadness; his spark was bleeding for the hungry mechlet. The poor thing was probably abandoned – hungry, dirty, scratched, with dull paintjob. The energon goodie disappeared in a record time and the little one's tank rumbled again.

"How 'bout we get ya a fresh cube of energon, hmm?" The mini-Prowl looked at him with tentative hope. "There's a park nearby, they're sellin' energon. Come with meh?"

Little doorwings fluttered pensively. The sparkling didn't trust adults. Adults were mean. But this stranger, Jazz, had been kind to him so far – didn't hit him, didn't even yell at him and gave him yummy food! What was the worst that could happen? Oh yes, he could get beaten. It wouldn't be the first time. But if he ran quickly enough and hid at his secret place... Determined, he stood up, waited for the world to stop spinning and accepted Jazz's servo.

It was a short walk to the park. There were many sparklings running around, playing and generally making ruckus, like they were bound to do. The little one holding his servo should be there among them, not hiding hungry in deserted alleyways, Jazz thought. The tiny doorwings fluttered and rose but despite having a Praxian lover Jazz couldn't quite decipher the meaning of the gesture. Oh, he couldn't wait to see Prowl's face when he saw the sparkling!

They stopped by an energon stand he bought a cube of low grade.

"Drink slowly or your fuel tank might hurt," Jazz warned the mechlet but the little Praxian didn't really heed him, gulping down the fresh fuel. Primus, how long it had been since he last refuelled? He barely finished the thought before the half full cube dropped from the sparkling's servos. The mechlet clutched his stomach and doubled over, purging the ingested energon from his system.

With lightning fast reflexes Jazz caught his offline frame before it could slump forward onto the purge-stained ground. Out of yet another reflex he grabbed the fallen cube with a free servo and sniffed it carefully. It didn't smell strange, the colour was right too... He took a small sip. It was just a regular low grade. That only left one possibility – the sparkling's system had to be damaged.

"What are you staring at? Help me load him in!" he shouted at the stunned bystanders.

Somebody took the sparkling from his servos to let him transform and loaded the mechlet inside him.

Barely remembering to send a subsonic warning for other vehicles to get out of his way, he broke his own speed records to get to the hospital. As an enforcer he would get away with it and as a not-quite-legal racer he could pull it off but he still thanked Primus the roads were relatively empty.

Jazz pulled off at the entrance to the hospital and opened his doors. A nearby medical assistant immediately rushed to see if he needed help and carefully lifted the tiny Praxian. Jazz briefly thanked him as he transformed, took the sparkling and ran inside the building.

–.–.–.–.–