A promise is a promise, enjoy this early chapter.
I do not own transformers... for now...
Chapter 7
Mission report.
Data gathering in progress.
Files included:
File A: Detailed map of Diego Garcia Base. Includes list of scheduled patrol rotations.
File B: Information on the basics of manufacturing of energon as described in the Autobot Human Data Compliance Form.
Needed: Data on device used to create energon from fossil fuels.
File C: Information on Samuel Witwicky: association with autobots, guarded by autobot- Bumblebee, personal address, school address, work address, family associations, cell phone number, social security number.
File D: Basic information regarding energon-based weapons as designed by humans.
Needed: Autobot data on energon-based weapons.
Analysis of Autobot team. Optimus Prime.
Leader of Autobots. Twenty five feet tall. Red and blue coloring. Peterbilt vehicle form. Combat ability: extremely skilled in hand to hand and weapons. Known weapons: two seven foot curved energon blades, double mounted energon cannon on right arm- number of shots based on energon in system, high caliber pistol-like weapon- left hand- uses bullets- limited number of shots, ion blaster in left arm- detachable from body, uses prestored energon - limited number of shots. Diplomatic in nature. Will harm humans only as last resort. Manipulation: highly unlikely. Recommendation: avoid.
Analysis of Autobot team. Prowl
Second in Command of Autobots. Seventeen feet tall. Black and white. Mustang police car vehicle form. Combat ability: moderate. Known weapons: Two pistols on each arm- detachable- use bullets- limited number of shots, arm mounted energon cannon- left arm. Manipulation: highly unlikely. In charge of base security. Recommendation: possible engagement.
-Scene Change-
If Erin was being completely honest with herself, Diego Garcia wasn't so bad. She'd been there two weeks already and had found an appreciation for the opportunity to let loose her combat abilities. Ironhide was her favorite sparring partner. He liked to push her to her limits. Every morning, training would go normally for her and the other recruits; belittling comments, running until most of the soldiers were ready to pass out, watching terrified men run away from an unamused weapons specialist… However, after basic training, Ironhide would keep Erin for a couple more hours.
At first, they would discuss theoretical situations in which she is pitted against a decepticon. He taught her about all the N.E.S.T issued weapons and how each was designed for certain weaknesses on a cybertronian, not to say that there were many. Eventually they'd spar. At the moment, it was tied 5-5. Ironhide made Erin promise that she would not tell anyone that he was tied with a human, no offense intended, of course. Erin did not mind. During their first three bouts, Ironhide won hands down. She had the bruises to prove it. She had no weapons, aside from a paintball gun, and she'd spend most of the time dodging his bean bag bullets or carefully controlled physical attacks. She knew that if he used a single one of his weapons for real, she'd be long dead. Thank God he was only half serious.
When they sparred for the forth time, however, Erin finally turned the tables. She had been watching how he moved and what his patterns were and saved all the information. Ironhide had given her a modified energon blade- although the autobots did not share their technology with humans, they could not stop them from developing their own inspired weapons. This E-blade was one of such weapons. It was two feet long, making it rather clunky. This was a reasonable length, however, because anything shorter would do little to no damage on a cybertronian. Once she finally had a weapon, she formulated a plan, taking advantage of her size and attacking Ironhide's legs. Initially, she would try to run beside or between his legs, slashing as she went. This, however, did not create enough damage to incapacitate him. She opted to do a more direct attack, quickly latching onto his ankle strut and stabbing sensitive areas in his inner circuitry. The mech had few weaknesses, but eventually Erin found some of them.
The last time Erin and Ironhide fought, the mech had to call Ratchet to stop a severe energon leak above his hip. At first, Erin wanted to help stop the bleeding immediately. Ironhide, though, forbade her, reasoning that she could be severely burned by the blue liquid. She obediently stood to the side while the weapons specialist orally reviewed her last set of maneuvers. When Ratchet arrived, Ironhide proudly reported on her progress. He then had to talk the medic down while the florescent yellow mech threateningly held a giant wrentch over the young woman's head.
Overall, she was content. She was training hard and getting stronger. Erin had to remind herself not to get distracted, though. There was a lot of work to be done and she needed a clear head.
At the moment, she was up against a human. Poor Sergeant Epps was stuck in a head lock between Erin's knees. One arm was pulled behind his pack and painfully twisted. His free arm had just given up on his struggle for freedom and was franticly tapping the ground in a plea for mercy. Erin held on for another second before releasing the man. She was, admittingly, tired. After finishing a training session with Ironhide, Epps had called her over, challenging her to a sparring match. Naturally, the entire base heard about how she had beaten Sideswipe so every single man on Diego Garcia seemed to want to test her metal, so to speak. She initially refused their challenges, however, Epps and several others were doing official training on a sparring platform. This way she could get multiple birds with one stone. Before fighting Epps, she sparred with three other men, trying to take them down with quick maneuvers to save her energy.
Erin helped Epps stand while the group around them cheered her on and tried to nominate the next challenger. She would not be able to keep up much longer, it was evident from her heavy panting and dehydrated appearance. With a silent motion, she asked one of the soldiers for water. He complied with a victorious grin, apparently he wanted to take her on next. After a quick swig, she threw the bottle aside and beckoned the man to jump onto the platform.
Erin saw a familiar silver glint to her 9 o'clock. She couldn't help but let out an exasperated sign as the 'silver menace' drove up. Said mech had been popping up everyday to ask her whether she'd had enough time to consider his proposal. While she did want to be on team prime and it was evident that Ironhide was training her up for just that purpose, the black mech had also told her to avoid the silver trouble maker and she headed his advice.
Once the corvette was within earshot, she put a hand up before he could even transform. Still tired, she measured her breaths. "Before you ask, no. I haven't had time to consider." Why she didn't flat out say no, she wasn't sure. He'd annoyed her enough as of late.
Dismissing the car, she made eye contact with her new opponent whom had gotten on the platform. She got into a ready stance. Epps, having recovered, stepped up to referee. Before the match could get started, the hissing of hydraulics and clamping of metal amour caught the groups attention. Towering over them was a rather disappointed looking Sideswipe. If Erin didn't know better, she would think he was giving her a puppy-dog stare.
"Oh, come on, Rin! I'm not here to pester you. I just wanted to say hi." He gave a light grin. His featured once again displayed something that she saw but couldn't identify, it was unsettling.
She tried to ignore him, turning away to her opponent. Nodding to Epps, Erin signaled her readiness. After a second, the sergeant called the start of the match. Erin allowed her opponent to make the first move. He shot a fist straight out towards her, with it came speed and evident power. She dodged slightly down an to the left so that his fist barely grazed just over her right shoulder. Erin quickly snaked her arms around to his back, one under his outstretched arm, and the other even with his neck. Her hands met firmly at the same moment when her right foot stepped forward. She hooked it back around the man's ankle. With very little force, she was able t fling him onto his back. Quickly, she twisted her position so that the man's neck was squeezed between the crook of her arm and her chest. The man had no way out and only a minute of air left. Epps called it less than ten seconds after the fight had started. Erin offered the other man a hand, which he wearily took.
"Not bad femme," Sideswipe said, apparently incapable of staying silent for any period of time, "but how about fighting a real mech?"
Erin saw that he had made himself comfortable, sitting Indian-style on the ground. The men around him seemed to have scooted away. Sideswipe's reputation was that of a mech that was rather indifferent towards humans. That, combined with giant wheeled feet, and a reputation as a prankster led many of the soldiers to avoid the mech. However, this indifference did not seem to apply to Erin. He basically stalked her, showing up everywhere she went. Whether it was outside of the chow hall or even tapping on her bedroom window, he was always there to harass her.
She also had a sneaking suspicious that he was the one who filled her room to the brim with white balloons. The other night, she had come home to open her door and find a flood of the static menaces. All at once, after her hair was charged and floating with electricity, they popped, sending every soldier nearby on the ground with hand over their heads, looking for the source of the 'attack'.
Epps seemed to notice Erin's mood towards Sideswipe and responded for her, "From what I heard, she's already kicked your aft once, let everyone else have a shot!" A chorus of laughter followed his comment.
Men were clueless, so very clueless… Erin jumped off the sparring platform and waved the group of males off, "As much as I love kicking your asses, I'm beat. See ya!" With that, she stalked off with the vain hope that no one would persue her. Silly Erin.
A large shadow loomed over the woman, extending across her path in the setting sun. She walked silently, the only sounds were crickets and the shifting earth under two massive tires.
"You aren't mad about the balloon thing are you?" He cautiously asked.
Well, it wasn't like she could outrun him. "Is there something you want, Sideswipe?"
"I want to know why you are so adamant about refusing my offer. I know that Ironhide is training you for Team prime Why won't you at least try a team up, it'll get you there even faster!"
Erin turned on her heels to face the front liner- as much as she could, considering their size differences- her gaze was scrutinizing. "Tell me why. Why do you want me on your team? I've heard that you and Sunstreaker are already a force to be reckoned with. And by reputation, you aren't big fans of humans, so why me? If you wanted a strong teammate, you could ask any autobot."
He glanced away, trying to come up with a response. "Well… Sunny is the one with the thing against humans, not me…"
"That doesn't answer my question." Erin stated firmly.
Sideswipe's eyes wondered around, not meeting her own. "The other bots wouldn't want to team up with us so…"
"Why me?" she said through gritted teeth, losing patience for his games.
Finally, his azure optics trained on her grey eyes. He paused for a long moment. Erin could see some internal conflict, he was deciding what to tell her. A sigh informed her that he had made a decision. The mech kneeled to be closer to her eye level. "Look, the truth is that the boss 'bot wants to see us get along with you humans. I thought that if Sunny and I did that, well… He might be more lenient with us."
"So, you want to team up with me so that you can get away with whatever trouble you wreak on the base?" She deadpanned.
"Pretty much."
"That is a pretty ridiculous plan."
The mech's optics seemed to brighten a bit. A lopsided grin graced his faceplates. "I know."
At that moment, Erin could finally identify a piece of the sense she was getting from Sideswipe. It was oddly familiar; pure, unadulterated, mischief. "Ok."
Sideswipe flinched with surprise. "THAT is the reason why you are agreeing to do a team up?"
"I will try a team up. And I'm only agreeing because you were honest with me." With that said, Erin left the star-struck mech under the fading light. She was tired, and ready for some rest.
-Scene Change-
Sideswipe raced into the main hanger, spotting Ironhide and Captain Lennox chatting as usual. Probably saying something about Annabelle, new words learned or whatever trouble an underdeveloped fleshy gets into. He skipped them and went straight for Optimus.
"Prime!"
The regal leader turned to the front liner, holding a straight face. "Hello Sideswipe, is there something you need?" Only those close to the Prime would be able to tell how he barely managed to repress a sigh when the silver mech called him out.
"Yes sir, I was hoping to discuss a Team Prime candidate with you."
The blue and red mech was visibly taken aback. The front liner was notably not on Team Prime, his inability to work with humans was one of the many reasons.
Before the Prime could respond, the gruff voice of a certain black mech rang through the hanger, "Oh no!" He marched to the pair. "I will not release you and your pit-spawned twin on that femme."
Catching on, Optimus faced Ironhide. "I suppose you are referring to Ms. Brook?"
Excitedly, Sideswipe nodded. "I think she would do well on Team Prime with me and Sunny."
A stern voice came from behind Sideswipe, "While the femme certainly is a Team Prime candidate, you two are not." The autobot SIC said as he stalked into the hanger, Jazz close on his heels, "Optimus takes responsibility for the members of Team Prime, he should not have to shoulder your misbehavior."
Ironhide nodded in agreement. "I was considering having her team up with unit two. Or even Mirage and Wheeljack."
Optimus seemed worried at the idea, "We do not have any teams that include both autobots and humans. Do you think she could handle the burden of teaming up with a wrecker? Especially when she is so young."
While it was true that Team Prime had both humans and 'bots, it was really made up of individual units that always stuck together. These units would work with other units as needed. At the time, there were three human and two autobot units. Unit One consisted of Captain Lennox, Sergeant Epps, Robert Thayer, and Steve Haines. Unit two had Chip Horton, Mitchel Faireborn, and Shawn Gilbert. Unit three had Justin Marshall, Dann Robbins, Martin Coleman, Mike Jeff, and Ali Gilbert. The autobot units included Jazz and Prowl as Unit A and Unit B was Wheeljack and Mirage.
"I know we can do better." Sideswipe tried to reason with the SIC. Over the comm link he sent, :I've been slaving away over that decepticon code you sent me! You trust me with that and not some simple teamwork?: "I never said or did anything when you separated Sunny and I with apposite patrols, did I?"
He strategically chose not to mention the fact that he had been using that as an opportunity to observe Erin. The femme had become increasingly more interesting to him. She didn't shrink away from him like the other humans naturally seemed to do. In fact, she stood her ground with some kind of respectful defiance. While he did visit her often, he also spent a lot of time hanging back and observing. It wasn't exactly stalking, he just wanted to get to know his future teammate without her shooing him away. After a couple of weeks, Sideswipe had decided that he liked the femme. She was tough and kick-aft, a requirement to work with him and Sunny. She also seemed social enough. Sideswipe would see her talking with two humans in particular. Rather, she would listen to one of them and nod along with the other. The second male, Sideswipe suspected, might have been defective. He never opened his mouth, let alone spoke. Erin seemed to understand him anyway. She would look at him and seem to interpret something from his expressions or whatever. He didn't care much about her male companions, as long as she was easy going enough to deal with whatever he and Sunny threw at her. Overall, she seemed like a really good fit. In fact, he found that he really wanted to work with her, So much so that… "I promise I'll be on my best behavior! I… I… I'll even stop pranking for two whole months!"
Prowl visibly perked at this.
"And I'll fix all the changes I made to Lennox's Facebook profile."
Said human also perked, but with a much darker look. "When the hell did you do that?"
"About twenty breems ago." He admitted with a bit of pride.
"Sideswipe…" he gave off a warning glare. While the human himself could do little damage to the front liner, he was not only respected by all 'bots, but stood next to a weapons specialist that had several Captain- sized weapons tucked away in his subspace.
Jazz, struggling to contain his smirk, turned towards Optimus. "'E seems dedicated, I don't see how a trial run would hurt."
The Prime nodded. "Sideswipe, have you discussed this with Sunstreaker? This doesn't seem like the kind of arrangement he would sign on to."
"We discussed it." Sideswipe answered truthfully. They did talk about it, he just never actually agreed.
"I would be willing to approve a trial of sorts, if Captain Lennox agrees."
All mechs turned to the human. Sideswipe shot him a pleading look which would do nothing the budge the man. He considered it for a moment. "If Ms. Brook is as good as Ironhide claims, then I would be willing to allow it, if she consents as well."
"Is she even aware of how destructive these two can be?" Ironhide questioned.
"Sideswipe," Optimus spoke, "I would like you and Sunstreaker to report to training ground 3 at 0600 tomorrow. Ironhide will test you three to see if you have compatibility as a team. I trust his judgement." He turned to the black mech, "I will trust you to inform Ms. Brook of this development."
Although Sideswipe did not like having a biased judge like Ironhide decide his team's fate, at least they had a shot. "Thanks, Prime." Sideswipe wheeled out to go in search of his twin. He wasn't sure to tell him the news mech to mech, or over the bond…
As soon as Sideswipe left the hanger, Lennox flipped out his phone and opened the Facebook app. Ironhide was already on the internet checking out all the 'improvements' Sideswipe made to his profile. He couldn't help but let out a thunderous chuckle at the mech's creativity while his human friend angrily grumbled to himself. Ironhide did have to do internet searches on a few of the changes, such as 'fetish society'.
-Scene Change-
Erin sat in her usual place in the chow hall, between Franky and Adam. The three had gotten along quite well. Franky, whom Erin learned was a surprising 28 years old (he looked eighteen), would chat about anything and everything. Usually, he would start by quizzing her about training with Ironhide before the conversation would devolve to one sided debates about food or sports teams. Erin found his chatter oddly comforting. Adam would silently sit there, only saying a bout of words at most. His main contribution to the conversation would be to stoically nod his head.
"You're fucking kidding me?" Franky burst out. "You actually hurt him that bad?"
Franky and Adam both stared at Erin with rapt attention.
"Yeah, but it's not like he wasn't going easy on me." She tried to shrug it off. The truth was, in their last session, Ironhide was probably fighting at a seven. "Trust me, Ironhide is intimidating, but not as much as 'The King of the Wrenches'."
The table shook silently with Franky's laughter, Adam moved his hand over his mouth to suppress a smile.
"You're pretty fuckin' tough dealin' with the 'bots like that. I have to be honest, those guys scare the piss out of me."
Adam nodded in agreement.
Erin couldn't deny his statement. "They are intimidating, but I think I'm just getting used to it."
"Even that silver stalker of yours?" Franky gave a knowing grin that made Erin sigh in defeat. Even though the mech tried to be covert, Erin had no trouble noticing him following her. That was, whenever he wasn't outright trying to pester her. It seems that Franky had taken notice too, not that it was particularly difficult to spot a metal giant sneaking about. "What's his deal anyway? Is he still pissed about you beating him a couple of weeks ago? Honestly, I'm shocked he' after you and not that psycho twin of his."
"No, that's not it. He wants me to team up with him and his brother."
"You're fuck'n kidding me? Team Prime? Wait, I thought the terror twins didn't like humans' or at least Sunstreaker. I swear, if someone didn't warn us about him, one of us newbies would have ended up squished." Squished seemed to be the choice phrase for a human being harmed by an autobot, considering they were considered 'squishies', not a very flattering nickname.
"They don't." Erin answered flatly. "Just forget about it. I agreed to do a trial run but I doubt anything will come of it. And that's all I really want to say on the matter." Erin was unsure of what the trial would look like, or whether it was even allowed. Ironhide seemed mistrusting of Sideswipe. Whenever he came to spy on Erin sparring with him, she always felt a protective aura coming from the weapons specialist. She did want to be on team prime, but she felt that joining with the twins would be like ritual suicide. They just seemed too unstable.
Franky looked like he wanted to argue but let the subject drop.
-Scene Change-
Sunstreaker groggily pulled out of recharge. Since Prowl changed his schedule, he'd been doing evening patrols. Much to his annoyance, it had been hard to get a good recharge when his other half was awake and active. If was irritating enough going from a normal cybertronian sleep cycle to a much shorter, human one. Sunstreaker tended to require less rest than Sideswipe, but when said sleep was in short supply, he was the most affected. While Sunstreaker, admittingly, had a more turbulent temperament than most mechs, recently he'd been feeling more fragged off than usual.
He hadn't spent quality time with Sides in a while. Even when they were in the same room, he felt there was some kind of barrier between them. Usually, after an argument, each mech would go off on his own and blow some steam. Later that day they would always come back, though. After the fight about the squishy, however, things seemed a bit different. Sunstreaker knew that Sideswipe was hiding something from him, not even allowing the bond to fully open. It must have something to do with that fragging squishy! Sideswipe dropped the subject far to quickly for Sunstreaker's comfort. Not to mention, he felt a dull frustration that only his twin could satisfy. But, none of that would be happening until Sideswipe opened up to him, which could be a while. While Sideswipe was always more vocal about his 'needs', he could always hold out longer than Sunstreaker. Fragging idiot.
Speaking of which…
Said idiot sauntered into their berth-room with cautious optimism seeping through the bond. Sunstreaker raised an optic ridge, sending a curious sensation to his twin.
"Hey Sunny."
"Don't call me that." the yellow mech mumbled, still tired. Side's chipper mood was not helping.
"Gong on patrol soon?" he asked casually while he loudly plopped down on his berth.
"Yeah." Sunstreaker gave his twin a sideways glance while the silver mech started thumbing through a data pad. Thumbing being if one of his four fingers could be called a thumb.
"Well then… I'll just go." Sunstreaker got up to leave, still suspicious of his twin.
"Without polishing, that's not like you Sunny." Sideswipe didn't even look up from his data pad but grinned nonetheless as Sunstreaker hissed out a curse once taking notice of his slightly, if even noticeably dull appearance. "By the way, you'll be glad to hear that Prowl is putting us back on our old schedule."
Sunstreaker pulled some of his cleaning supplies off the shelf over his berth and began the process of applying wax. After all, he always got up extra early so he could enjoy the cathartic practice. "So the fragger decided that enough was enough. Or did Prime think two weeks was stretching it?"
Sideswipe paused. "I don't know about that, but it would be difficult to train if all three of us were on different schedules." He stated casually.
After that, Sunstreaker saw white.