Chapter Three: Partners
Echo and Bumblebee were stuck in the back of the giant mess hall, standing up on the tips of their peddes to see. In front of the crowd, Buzzer stood with a few high-ranking officers and a tall, older light blue mech. "Why is Ultra Magnus here?" Echo whispered to the yellow scout. His optics widened and he turned to her. "That's Ultra Magnus?"
"Mhmm," the femme answered casually, "I thought he was in charge of the Elite Guard." Bumblebee's helm snapped back to look at the legendary war hero. "Makes sense," the bot said, "You have to be pretty badass to get into that branch." Echo smirked at this, "Why, thank you."
Bumblebee looked at her with a confused expression, "Huh?" The silver femme smiled whilst using his shoulder to boost herself up, still trying to get a good look.
"I graduated from the Elite Guard Sniper Academy eight solar cycles ago," she responded as though it was a casual thing to say. Bumblebee pulled her down and she glanced at him. "Why are you here if you're an Elite Guardsman? We're a bunch of scouts and infantry bots."
"I'm going to need someone to watch my back," Echo teased, "Besides, I didn't want to become a leader; not in my coding. His sniper team is here to pick partners." The yellow and black mech chuckled at that and allowed her to use his shoulder again, letting go of her. "Partner, huh?"
Echo rolled her optics and her ears flicked so that she might be able to pick up what Magnus was saying with all the chatter in the room. "Don't get your hopes up, mech." With that, Bumblebee smirked and tried to listen as well.
"As some of you know," Buzzer spoke, "Optimus Prime has ordered us to expand the army as the Cons continue to build their new drones." Murmurs and whisperings of contempt for the morally imbalanced use of life on the Decepticons behalf rippled through the crowd.
"Luckily, instead of having to conscript a draft, we have enough volunteer recruits to meet the Autobot's needs."
Echo turned to Bumblebee, "They were going to pull a draft?" The yellow minibot nodded regretfully, "The Cons are either putting citizens into forced labor, fire pits, or conscripting sparklings into their military.
A look of pure shock and terror came over the femme's once stoic face. "Barbarians," she cried out in a whisper. Bumblebee nodded in agreement and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"Ultra Magnus has been kind enough to offer training to these new recruits," Buzzer continued, "His sniper team will be assisting him and the best cadets will join their ranks as scouts." Bumblebee nudged Echo, "Sounds fancy."
The femme chuckled, "Remember, work hard and I might choose you as my partner." 'Bee smiled genuinely at that before looking back at the crowd.
The blue-armored Captain of the Guard stepped forward. "Alright, cadets, you'll become accustomed to how the Elite Guard lives, works, and breathes from now on. Tomorrow morning, my snipers and I expect you up bright and early at sunrise on the training fields for day one. Timing is the first step to becoming a sniper, so be there on point." He glanced around the room, "Dismissed."
Bumblebee and Echo grunted as they were pushed around by bigger bots. The yellow mech only saw flashes of the femme, but tried to get closer to her by shoving others out of the way.
Once he was within the right proximity, he grabbed her digits and pulled her towards him, earning a small yelp in surprise. "It's a stampede in here," Echo claimed, trying to ignore the fact that she was practically pulled up against the young Autobot's chest.
'Bee chuckled and gripped the femme by her waist, "You'll get used to it."
Once the crowd had thinned out significantly, Echo gently pulled away from Bumblebee, her eyes scanning for Ultra Magnus. "I have to speak with Magnus before I leave," she said, pointing to a group of bots a little older than her standing in conversation with the captain. Bumblebee nodded, "Okay, well, I'll see you at training tomorrow, then?"
Echo shook her head, "Uh, no, you still owe me a tour, cadet. Go talk with your brother until I'm done." A smirk creeped onto the mech's faceplates, "Is that an order?" The femme flicked her tail as she walked away, "I'll make it one, mech."
Stepping up to the group, Echo waited for her commanding officer to acknowledge her. His optics detected her and he gave a welcoming smile. The femme saluted crisply and smiled back. "How are the recruits?" Magnus inquired.
Lowering her servo, Echo stood up straight and lifted her helm. "Anxious for a good fight, sir. This batch will fit Optimus' standards and then some," she reported. The captain nodded, "And their resilience?"
A dark gray femme with glistening white armor stepped forward. "Though Echo's report reigns true, these cadets are far from ready," a glance from Echo pressed her to continue, "But, I believe their eagerness for battle will drive them to success."
Magus exchanged a look with both fembots before sighing. "Well, we start our work tomorrow. Make sure to be on the lookout for your future scouts: it's never too early to see leadership skills."
A mech with blue and gold armor tilted his helm. "Why are we picking our scouts from a bunch of civilians that volunteered barely ten solar cycles ago? Shouldn't we choose from the higher ranks of the Autobot Academy?"
Fellow snipers mumbled in agreement, including Echo. It really didn't make much sense to put inexperienced mech and femmes in black ops. Ultra Magnus vented rather annoyed and crossed his servos. "I have no knowledge of Optimus' current plans for the army, but we have our orders. Like I said, pick the best and brightest. Unless anyone else has concerns, you're dismissed."
The group began to splinter and go in separate directions. Echo turned to the white-armored femme and gave a smirk. "Such little hope for our fellow soldiers?" A chuckle came from the other bot, who rolled her optics playfully. "Oh, like you've been one to cheer on recruits."
"Athena, I take care of my team," Echo placed a servo over chest and pretended to look innocent. The other femme scoffed and looked at her friend with a grin, "Who's the mech?"
Black ears pricked up as Echo gave a puzzled face.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not stupid, E," Athena said, examining her digits nonchalantly, "You usually only act like this if you've seen a hot mech, so who is he?" The Praxian's ears flattened down and her tail drooped. Turning to her friend, the fembot spoke firmly in a low whisper. "Athena, you know why I don't pursue relationships."
Her face becoming serious once more, Athena nodded. "I know."
"Echo!"
Both bots glanced over their shoulders as the bronze-plated sergeant approached them. Echo's ears perked up and she gave the mech a genuine smile. Buzzer was known for his ability to rally courage amongst his soldiers, but infamous for the activities he partook in his off-duty hours. The lustful smirk he offered the femmes was the elephant in the room.
Echo and Athena glanced at each other knowingly, years of training side by side syncing their processors. They were young, good looking femmes who have seen this same look from mechs before, but from a superior, it was inappropriate and unwarranted.
Bumblebee paced at his brother's side, looking rather unhappy at what he was walking into.
"I'm shocked Magnus sent his rising star to train the canon fodder," Buzzer spoke smoothly, crossing his servos over his broad chest. He barely gave Athena a second glance, which allowed her a small glare his way without notice. Echo managed a fake laugh and shrugged, "I must have pissed someone off in Intelligence to get janitor duty."
Whether or not she intended to instigate a round of flirtatious jabs, it worked. Buzzer chuckled darkly and looked the femme up and down, appreciating her frame. "Ouch," he gave no pretend emotion of hurt, only intensified the glaze over his optics.
"Now, how would you two fembots like to join me at the bar for some high-grade?"
Athena was about to step forward and give a harsh rejection, but Echo saw the perfect opportunity to get rid of him without retort. Putting a servo out to stop her friend, the black-armored femme looked up at Buzzer with a smile.
"Sorry, sergeant, but I promised your brother I would let him show me around camp." With that, Echo turned to Bumblebee and gave a more warm smile, striding over to stand at his side.
Buzzer looked absolutely shocked that a femme had rejected him of all mechs. Unfolding his servos and staring wide-optic, he watched as the two left the mess hall, obviously laughing at what had just happened.
Athena chuckled and walked back to speak with her fellow snipers, her optics rolling as Buzzer continued to stand there.
"You put him in his place," baby-blue optics smirked with triumph. For a moment, the cadet had actually believed Echo would accept his offer, and that had made his tanks cringe.
With a small giggle, Echo looked at Bumblebee. "No offense, but your brother isn't as attractive as all the gossip claims he is," she said, trying to hold back a fit of laughter. Her tail swayed about and flickered as she continued to walk alongside the cadet.
Bumblebee's spark fluttered somewhat at her words. Perhaps he had a chance now? This femme doesn't seem to be interested in the tall, thick-built mechs with dominant traits.
"You know he won't stop after a first encounter," Bumblebee dared to say, trying to seem playful. Echo raised an optic ridge and looked rather...disgusted. "How do other femmes get rid of him then?" she asked.
'Bee chuckled, "I wouldn't know, I've never heard of a femme telling him off."
Echo's optics widened, "Really? That's surprising."
"Ouch," Bumblebee said, smiling nonetheless, "I don't think orders from Prime himself would stop Buzzer from getting what he wants. Once he sets his mind to something, nothing can stop him."
Echo shrugged, "Dedicated, I'll give him that." For some reason, the minibot's fists clenched at the statement.
"Alright, let's get this tour on the road," Echo said, "We both have a big day tomorrow." Bumblebee glanced at her, unsure. "We do?"
The femme chuckled, "Yes. I'm looking for my partner and you are fighting to get a promotion." Her words made the mech nod in understanding, "Big day." He gestured for her to follow him as they rounded a corner and made down another hallway.
Rather than feel nervous for tomorrow, Bumblebee was excited to wake up in the morning, for once.
The next morning was foggy and cold, a perfect environment for training spec ops cadets. The forests surrounding the Autobot base were quiet, barely a howl or creek. This early in the day, the sun was just barely peeking out from the horizon, though at a very slow pace.
On the training fields, a large area of open space in the forest, Ultra Magnus and his sniper team stood facing a crowd of cadets. Fortunately, no one had showed up late and most were ready for training. A few recruits, however, were not used to being up so early in the morning and their optic shutters consistently fluttered. The only thing keeping them up was the cold that crept into one's circuits and made their joints freeze.
Behind the group was a makeshift obstacle course.
Last night, the Elite Guardsmen had created the maze using what construction materials were around base, as this compound used to be a mining and tree harvesting depot before the war. Large crates, planks, and tires were scattered throughout the field in an organized fashion. There were ramps, walls to climb, mud pits to swim through, and objects to hop over. It resembled the physical training stage of the Autobot boot camp in Iacon, but a more advanced and lengthy version.
"Form up!" called out a silver mech with white, dark gray-trimmed armor, "Ten by five!" Shortly after he gave the order, the inexperienced bots began to figure out a routine of lining up.
But of course, it was not quick enough for the mech. "Faster, recruits!"
Echo, who was standing near a rack full of the team's guns, lifted her battlemask and strode over towards her teammate in white, nudging him. "What do you think corporal?" she asked, gesturing her helm towards the still fidgeting about group. The mech sighed and smiled down at Echo. "I hope to Primus they turn up a good bunch. Not a good first impression by my standards," the officer whispered.
With a small chuckle, the femme stepped back in agreement, folding her servos over her chestplate. Inspecting the swarm, she was already analyzing those who would fit the description as scouts.
The neon green mech towards the front wouldn't likely get the role unless he got a paint job. Others that didn't have the body-type for gaining muscle and endurance wouldn't make it to the higher ranks either. Yet, this job wasn't just about being a tank.
"There will be three stages to your advanced training," Magus started, stepping forth to face his future soldiers. "The first is physicality and endurance. As a scout, you need to be in top condition for the highly dangerous missions you will be sent on. If you cannot keep up, you don't belong here. The second is mental and emotional conditioning. You will be seeing things out there that might compromise any other bot, but you need to be able to put aside your feelings for the mission."
A few cadets looked rather uncomfortable at that statement, their eyes wandering elsewhere in thought.
"The third section of your training will be cohesiveness. My snipers will pick teams of five to train as a squad. At the end of the section, there will be an event that will show how well you work in a group. Lastly, you will be training for your final test. We will be relocating to an area to test you all individually on an assigned task. Those with the higher scores will be considered for the rank of scout." Magnus turned to the silver mech who has spoken before and nodded to him.
"Your entire training will last approximately a quartex, each section being seven solar cycles long," said the corporal. "During this time, you will also report to the armory for a period of time every day to learn about the weapons you'll be handling on the field. We have already sent the daily schedule to your personal datapads that I suggest you take a look at."
At this point, at least half of the recruits looked scared scrapless. They tried to hide their wide-optic looks and stay standing at attention, but the experienced Guardsmen could easily see past it.
"One more thing, recruits," Magnus addressed, earning the gaze of fifty bots, "My snipers and I will be keeping a close optic on you all every day. Every day you will be scored on your performance to your assigned tasks, endurance, attention to detail, and behavior. So stay sharp. Your scores from the previous day will be put up in the mess hall during breakfast every morning."
Echo finally spotted the yellow and black mech.
She was impressed to see a calm and attentive look on his faceplates, while his neighboring cadets wore scared and shocked ones. The femme took note of this and moved on with her inspections. Her battlemask lowered once again so that her highly advanced AI could send her information on the cadet's according to their enlistment applications and background checks.
Lightning flashed across the cloudy gray sky and thunder began to rumble. Echo couldn't help but chuckle slightly as she saw a mech flinch and look up to the sky as if it were a bad omen.
The corporal tapped Echo on her shoulder and she looked up at him. His aqua blue optics smirked for him. "They haven't even finished day one and they're already purging their tanks," he said. Echo smiled and nodded in agreement.
"I'm willing to bet half of these guys worked in the mining ops before coming here," she retorted back, getting a chuckle out of the corporal.
Magnus then had the bots shift their block so that the five bots to the side were now facing the obstacle course. The maze was big enough to fit more, but the Guardsmen wanted to be able to have five snipers focus on a single bot each time. Echo, Magnus, Athena, the corporal, and two other mechs stayed behind to watch the group from afar.
"Anything of note amongst these mechs and femmes?" the captain inquired of Echo. The femme shrugged, "Not much to say, sir. Most of them come from the labor class and have at least one or more family members enlisted. Though, there are a couple of oddballs in there." Magnus raised an optic ridge, "Such as?"
"Jetwing, sir," Echo reported, pointing towards a black femme with orange and white armor. "What about her?" the corporal asked, his optics narrowing at the femme towards the back of the line.
The blue and gold mech from the other day told the first five cadets, all mechs, to get ready to run the course. They were a few steps ahead of the group and were crouched down, either looking at each other or at the course ahead.
Goldgear, as they called him, waited a few moments before shouting "go!". The five cadets took off, going up the first obstacle, which was a ramp.
Echo turned from watching the start and glanced at Ultra Magnus. "Jetwing is a high class from Vos, and as her name hints towards, she's a flyer. The only flyer in this batch."
The corporal smirked, "Not sure that 'wing' always hints towards being a flyer." Echo laughed, "You are half and half, 'Silver." The mech grinned back and let her continue with her report.
"There's no clear record on her creators. On her application, she left the space for sire and carrier blank."
"Mechs and femmes leave it blank all the time," Athena spoke up, watching the recruits figure out the course. "Her parents could be aligned with the Decepticons and she defected from her family." Magnus dipped his helm, "We'll have to keep two optics on her then. Anything else?"
Echo shook her helm, "No, sir. Besides that and a couple older mechs and femmes with sparklings at home, just the standard bunch. Nothing special." The femme sighed, knowing there actually was somebody special in that group occupying her mind. She scanned over the block, seeing that Bumblebee was two rows from being next.
The first five cadets had already finished the course, though, at different times, and were heaving on the far side of the field. They were covered in mud and grit, and a couple of them might have purged their tanks.
"Ugh," exclaimed one of the other mechs near Echo, "Endurance isn't a strong trait amongst them."
Up next were three mechs and two femmes, the former giving the latter discouraging looks. Echo frowned at that, believing that even though femmes were normally physically inferior to mechs, they more than made up for it in spirit and dedication. In fact, when Goldgear told them to begin, the femmes used their agility and speed to their advantage, beating at least two of the mechs in their times.
"Bet those mechs are having second thoughts," Athena said to her friend. Both fembots laughed, having faced males like them many times in their own training within the Guard.
"Gender doesn't matter," Magnus said in agreement, "Whether or not you can get the job done matters. Those mechs will only damage their cohesive scores by acting like that."
Bumblebee was overall calm as he waited patiently for his chance to run the obstacle course. His fellow Autobots didn't exactly feel the same, but he had the mindset that he would do his best no matter what. Since meeting the sniper femme, he felt more motivated to put on a good show.
And that is exactly what he did.
Being a minibot, 'Bee had an advantage over the others. His smaller build gave him speed and acrobatic skill. Paired against a single femme and three larger mechs, the cadet crouched down and waited for the Guardsmen to give the call. As soon as the mech heard the word, he took off.
Sprinting up the ramp, Bumblebee did what no other bot had done yet. He slid down the other side and used the speed boost to propel himself towards the next obstacle. Metal planks normally used for construction had been nailed together and tied down to create a wall that was easily three times 'Bee's height. He easily scaled the barrier and threw his peddes over to the other side. Instead of climbing back down, the bot jumped and landed, bending his knees and rolling forwards to cushion the impact.
Echo's optics widened at the display and she looked towards her fellow Guardsmen, who wore the same look. "Impressive," Magnus said, though his faceplates remained stoic and scrutinizing.
The others in Bumblebee's group were significantly slower than he was, and were still at the wall by the time he reached the second ramp. As he slid down, he made impact with the mud pit, though maintained his balance. This was easily the obstacle the recruits would hate the most, as it got grit and sludge into their circuits that would have to be cleaned out later.
'Bee crawled through the mud, as there were pipes arranged that prevented one from standing on their peddes. However, he used the pipes to get through the pit faster and help him stand up at the end.
The femme he ran the course with, who was a tad bit faster than the three mechs who were older and had less drive, saw how he ran the course and copied his movements, leading her to quicken her pace as well.
"Leadership skills right there," Athena said, nudging Echo teasingly. Her friend's tail whacked her in annoyance, causing the sniper to yelp in surprise.
After another ramp and wall, there was a long dash to the end of the training field. Bumblebee and the femme sprinted across it, with the mech finishing a good thirty nanokliks before the femme. Their times were scored and then walked over to where the other bots were sitting down and resting.
"You're staring," Athena whispered to Echo, then walking away before she could be hit by that tail again. The other femme growled and waved her off.
Silverwing turned to her and scoffed, "Didn't think we'd find anyone like that in this bunch. Think he'll make it?"
Echo glanced back over at the yellow and black cadet, a smile playing on her face. "Oh I'm betting on it."
a/n: Sorry for the long wait guys! I've been busy with other projects, but I was able to finish editing this one today :) Please don't forget to let me know what you think and make sure to stop by soon for Chapter 4. I'm really excited to get back to this story and stick with it this time, lol. I want to thank 3luv4eva3 and JJ for their reviews, you guys are awesome!
Thanks again,
~Echo
