Author: T'Reilani
Rating: T for some violence and Cybertronian swearing
Warnings for this chapter: Changes to the Transformers: Prime storyline to include an OC as a major character. A couple of Cybertronian swear words.
Summary: An introduction to my OC Echo. Takes place before "Darkness Rising".
Pairing(s): Very, very slight Arcee/Cliffjumper
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Echo.
"normal"
thoughts
radio
::comm::
A/N: Essentially, this story does the same thing as Transformers: Technorganic; it adds an OC to the canon continuity.
Chapter 1: Echo
The small green motorcycle sped down the tunnel, heading deeper underground. Even though the turns were tight, they were taken rapidly and easily, the black-clothed rider leaning at the perfect times. She'd driven through here so many times she could have done it in pitch darkness.
She skidded out of the tunnel into the large main room of the secret base. The holographic rider disappeared, and the motorcycle clicked and shifted, transforming into a small, bright green fembot. She looked around, but didn't see any of the others.
"Dad?" she called, walking further in. "Dad, I'm home!"
A large red and white 'bot crawled partway out from under the computer console, where he'd apparently been fiddling with some wiring. "Hi, Echo. Pass me a wrench, would you?"
Echo grabbed the nearest wrench off the console and handed it to him. "Computer having problems again?"
"Yeah." Ratchet's voice was muffled as he disappeared back underneath the console. Several loud grunts came from his location, followed by the crash of metal on metal and a string of colorful Cybertronian expletives.
Echo tried not to giggle. Her father could be very eloquent when it came to expressing his disapproval of human technology. "Here, Dad, let me try. I'm smaller, I might be able to reach whatever's causing issues. What's the problem?"
Ratchet slid out from under the computer and sat up. There was a streak of grease across the left side of his face, but he didn't notice. "Slaggin' thing's fritzing again. Won't pick up signals. There's a broken wire, but I can't get to it."
Echo took the offered wrench, dropped onto her back, and crawled underneath the computer. The maintenance panel was open, exposing clusters of wiring and a data chip. The femme activated her optic scanner, looking for anything out of place. Initially, she didn't find anything, so she carefully used the wrench to push a few wires away before scanning again. There, that's the problem. One wire was detached, and another was torn.
She poked her head out. "Can I have the welder?"
Ratchet handed her the instrument. "You can reach the broken wire?"
"I think so." She pushed her hand up into the computer, ignoring the way the edges of the panel scraped her plating. She could just get close enough to weld the torn wire back together, and used the tip of the welder to push the detached wire back into place. "There, got it!"
She crawled back out and handed the older medic the welder. Ratchet gave her a rare grin and clapped her lightly on the shoulder. "Nice job. Knew you'd come in handy someday."
Echo was used to her father's gruff manner, and knew it was just a front. "Thanks, Dad. Here, you've got grease on your cheek." She wiped it off.
"How was patrol?" Ratchet pulled his daughter a bit closer.
"Oh, the usual. Nothing but wildlife and humans." Echo looked around. "Where is everybody?"
Ratchet thought about it for a moment. "Prime and Bulkhead are still on patrol, Bumblebee went for a drive, and Arcee and 'Jumper are around here somewhere."
"What exactly is going on with Arcee and Cliffjumper?" Echo asked the question that had been on her processor for a while. "At first they avoided each other, now they spend all their free time together. It's weird."
Ratchet chuckled. "Oh, it's a little thing called 'mutual attraction'."
"You mean, they're courting?" Echo's optics widened.
Ratchet rested one hand on hers fondly. His daughter was so innocent sometimes, and he wanted to keep it that way. "Not yet, but if the attraction holds, they probably will someday."
"That'd be nice for them." Echo looked over at the tunnel. "I think Bumblebee's back."
"Yep." Ratchet stood up and held out a hand to her. "Get ready; knowing Bumblebee, he's managed to get a flat tire, have a fender bender, or something similar. Some days he could give Bulkhead a run for the title of 'Most stupidly incurred injury'."
Echo giggled. In the solar cycles since she'd become her father's apprentice, she'd learned that while he was an incredible medic, he was also incredibly annoyed by stupidity. To be honest, she was, too; it was a pain in the gearshaft to have to fix problems that could easily have been averted by a little common sense. "It's really amazing what Team Prime can think of but not through."
"You're telling me." Ratchet snorted and went to the computer. "There, it's picking up signals again. Hope there weren't any emergencies while it was down."
A bright yellow and black Camaro sped into the room, skidding to a halt and transforming in one smooth motion. Bumblebee beeped and clicked a greeting to the two medics.
"Hi, Bumblebee, what'd you do this time?" Echo greeted rather gruffly.
The bigger mech beeped sharply in protest.
"Yes, you do. All the time. What happened?"
Bumblebee gestured to his left pede, clicking and humming.
"Broken hubcap? Primus." Echo motioned for him to start toward the medbay. "I don't even want to know. Dad, you can watch the monitor; I'll take care of the walking accident."
Bumblebee beeped sharply again as Ratchet barked in feigned indignation, "Hey, who's the higher-ranking one here, young lady?"
Echo rolled her optics. "Fine. Dad, should I deal with it?"
"Yes, of course. I'm not in the mood to fix idiots."
Echo grinned reluctantly and followed Bumblebee toward the medbay.
