Hello,
I just wanted to say thank you for reading this far, and thanks especially to Cinematronix and Edges05 for reviewing!
Chapter 12
Mission report.
Data gathering in progress.
Files included:
File A: Information of Cybertronian history.
Note: Transferred from Cybertronian data pad.
Analysis of Autobot team. Wheeljack
Wrecker- Autobot Black Ops. Twenty three feet tall. White with red and green trim. Lancia Stratos vehicle form. Combat ability: highly skilled. Known weapons: dual swords, energon cannon formed from each hand- number of shots depends on energon in system, carries one energon grenade at a time. Manipulation: highly unlikely. Part of Team Prime, teamed with Mirage. Recommendation: avoid in conflict.
Analysis of Autobot team. Mirage
Infiltrator. Nineteen feet tall. Red. Ferrari 458 Italia vehicle form. Combat ability: average. Known weapons: wrist blades- can eject on length of cable, detachable pistol- number of shots depends on energon in weapon, weapons used for defense. Special ability: cloaking device which renders him invisible. Manipulation: plausible, unsatisfied with status on earth, socially distant from teammates. Recommendation: possible alliance.
Prowl sat in his office, closely analyzing the data before him. Since Ms. Brook received her data pad, he had been closely monitoring her usage of it. A device with such communication and research capabilities would be plentiful bait for a spy. Thus far, nothing of note had been done with the pad. The femme had explored it and its settings for a couple of days, and took advantage of some of the data provided, no doubt reading up on Cybertronians. However, there had been no attempts of hacking or outside communication through the data pad. While it did not clear Ms. Brook, it also didn't prove she was the spy Prowl was in search for. He sincerely hoped his suspicions over the femme were unjustified. She was a good soldier, and her apparent ability to work with the twins was certainly helpful. She was just too skilled for her own good. A private, first class or not, should not have such talent. Then there was the block on her personal history, as well as previous military experience.
All Prowl knew was that she grew up in a group home in Oregon. When she was fifteen, she joined a JROTC unit, then an ROTC unit. She was given high marks in both. At the age of eighteen, she joined some kind of nameless combat-based program. Three years later, she was recruited by a military organization as a Private. Her service record during that time was sealed. At the age of twenty two, she was recruited by Colonel Bishop to join NEST as a Private First Class.
There was not much to go on, which only aroused his suspicions. The data pad did nothing to fix this, despite his hopes it would. Nevertheless, her activity on it at least provided some interesting relief to his daily activities. Especially the drawings she saved to the pa.
They were little comics with simple lines, without coloring. One might not even know which 'bots she was portraying, but the little speech bubbles spelled it out clearly. One image was of Jazz dancing to something and Prowl in the background looking embarrassed.
A slight quirk of his faceplates was his only sign of amusement. It seemed the autobots had made an impression on her. Usually, soldiers either feared and avoided the 'bots, or acknowledged them to be something like living weapons, dependable, but not 'people'. Only a few soldiers really recognized them in the same way the 'bots saw the humans, as sentient creatures. Private Brook never openly portrayed this, she actually acted rather cold and calculating towards them, much like how Jazz claimed Prowl acts. These images provided a hidden viewpoint into her outlooks. Also, since her first sketch a week ago, the SIC has been secretly looking forward to see whatever she came up with for that day. He needed amusement as well. Not that he would admit it to anyone.
He continued to scan through the pictures, not only enjoying them, but checking for traces of any hidden message. The second had Ironhide holding a man upside down. The soldier's speech bubble read, "Ok! I take it back! There is nothing unmechly about babysitting a little girl… even if she made you wear a tiara that one time." While Prowl did not appreciate the thought of the autobot attacking a human over such details, he sincerely wished the situation the cartoon described was real. And there was an image to prove it. It never hurt to have some kind of blackmail over the weapons specialist.
The most recent panel had Sunstreaker, one pede off the ground, seeming to shriek in horror at Private Brook as if she was an insect on the ground. The cartoon femme looked rather unamused. The front liner's speech bubble said, "It's moving! So gross! Kill it, kill it, kill it!"
The femme seemed oddly amused by Sunstreaker's distain for humans. Prowl was not sure whether that would help or hinder her. He wished it was the former.
A signal announced the presence of another mech outside his office. :Come in.: he commed the silver mech. Jazz sauntered in and went straight for the chair, leaning back in it and raising his pedes to rest on the desk with a loud "clunk!".
"How are you doing today, Jazz." He greeted politely.
The saboteur grinned back, "You know how it goes, Prowler, I'm just about good all the time."
"How goes the investigation?" he asked, cutting to the chase.
Jazz sighed, intakes sounding stressed from the day's heat. "Nothin' on the femme. She's either clean or got it tight. Perhaps ya should get Sides on some snoopin' online. 'Cause she's got her act in shape."
"You sound convinced she is the culprit." Prowl raised an optic ridge and leaned forward.
The mech raised his servos in exasperation, "She's just too clean ta have a sealed record like that! I've been following her about every day now and she has too much skill for a Private. I don't like it." Jazz was the best experts when it came to espionage, it was one of the reasons why he was still alive this far into the war, Prowl trusted his judgement second to only Optimus Prime.
"Her data pad usage has not showed any definitive results. And I hesitate to bring in Sideswipe. He may be biased." Prowl closed his optics in contemplation.
"But he's the best we've got." Jazz reasoned, "If anyone could dig something up, it's him."
Prowl thought for a moment. While the mech was a skilled hacker, he was too close to Ms. Brook. "Continue following her, for now. I will consider adding Sideswipe to the investigation."
"Your consideration is all I ask for, Prowler." He sighed.
"What about our other leads?" The SIC continued.
"Most of them are busts. As you've no doubt found in your investigations. That Sixt fellow, however, is promising." Jazz answered.
"How so?" Prowl Prompted.
"He acts too casually too publicly, like he knows he's bein' tailed." Jazz crossed his arms.
"Do you think he's made you?" Prowl asked, concerned. He hadn't found any evidence of another transmission, but there could have been one that he didn't expose. Francis Sixt was perhaps the most promising computer engineer they'd recruited in a while. The algorithms he created were the most efficient in finding data relating to the autobots and wiping it from the internet. Considering how long he had been operating at N.E.S.T, he would be a dangerous enemy.
"Naw, you know I work better than that." Jazz reassured him. "But the activity is suspicious. He seems to expect someone ta be followin' him. Also, there's the matter of Alsace."
"Right." Prowl was deeply worried about that. Team Prime 1 and Jazz had already gone and returned from France, after searching for Arcee and the humans she traveled with. They found evidence of a battle, and a small piece of armor, identified as Arcee's was discovered. The remains of six humans were also found. Seven had gone on the mission. After a fruitless search for the potential survivor, the team returned, with dim hopes of seeing their comrades again. The remains were incinerated, and not even dental records could be used to identify them. All evidence pointed towards the decepticons. Mr. Sixt had, apparently, aided in searching French and German social media for evidence of any encounter, which he would be meant to report, then scrub. According to him, he found nothing. The problem was, that was not his specified assignment. With his apparent hacking skills, he would also be able to hide any evidence that he had found or removed anything damning in his searches.
Prowl was quickly learning to recognize humanity's full potential. Something which he painfully disregarded until then.
Two weeks had passed since Erin joined up with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. An odd rhythm had formed between the human and mechs. They would start their days separately. The twins did whatever duties they were assigned, mostly patrols and monitor duty. Erin trained with the other recruits and at the end of each session, she would stick back for one on one with Ironhide. Sometimes, Annabelle would join as well, as a starstruck spectator. Erin was like a superhero to her. The girl would squeal when she saw Erin and beg her to do some kind of cool trick. Apparently her years of combat training boiled down to entertaining 'tricks'. After nearly getting squished by a grumpy black 'bot, she'd have a late lunch with Franky and Adam. Usually, Sideswipe would wait outside of the mess hall for her. At first, this concerned some of the men. As they came into the mess hall, they would track Erin down and ask what he was doing there. Sideswipe did not seem to mind their stares and he would nod kindly to anyone who greeted him. When she would finally emerge, she would immediately decline his offer to drive her to the training grounds. They would then walk together to meet up with Sunstreaker.
On the way, Sideswipe would chat about whatever popped up in that mind of his. The weather, video games, apparently he had a love of comic books. Even though he could read them online- and even hack into secured websites to get to them- he still had a few paperback editions that he kept for some reason. It was an oddly human act that Erin found to be comforting. Sometimes the way he acted made her almost forget he was an alien who'd lived many of her lifetimes already. He'd even lent her some of his comics so she could keep up with the conversation. For some reason, she decided to go ahead and read them. Sideswipe's personality was contagious to her. She eventually found herself unwittingly enjoying his endless banter.
Once they arrived at the training grounds, Sunstreaker would scoff or grunt at her. She'd then nearly get squished by a grumpy yellow 'bot until all three were satisfied with the day's training. Erin would then either get kidnapped by Sideswipe or escape to the mess hall, where she'd spend the majority of the night with her human companions. When with Sideswipe, he'd always offer her some food he somehow procured. His first couple attempts at providing nourishment were rather unsuccessful. A raw potato and a jug of cooking oil did not suffice. Eventually, he got it right, providing fresh sandwiches and salads. Of course, the sandwiches became vegan after she explained what ham and bacon were. She never knew how he got the things he did, such as comic books or other odds and ends that seemed weird in the hands of a Cybertronian or on a military base. That was especially true for his pranking stash. He'd proudly shown off his collection and even told her about some of his future plans, after making her swear she would not snitch. He kept all of it, about a pallet's worth, in a single compartment in his abdomen. She had to ask how he could fit it all.
"Sideswipe."
Said 'bot looked down to give Erin his full attention. They were heading to the training grounds, it was going to be the first time in two weeks they were to fight a new opponent, although Ironhide did not reveal who it would be.
"How do you store all that stuff you keep on you?"
He quirked his brow, or optic ridge as Erin learned it was called. "Why would you want to know that?"
"Curious." Erin shrugged.
"Well, I keep it in my subspace. It is a personal sub-dimensional storage area. Most-bots have at least one. Some-bots can store a lot." He explained
"How much is 'a lot'?"
"Well, Ratchet could probably shove an entire mech in one of his."
Well that info nearly melted her brain. So they could store things that easily? Her mind worked as she tried to comprehend the physics of such an action. Then, another thought came to her. "Can you do other things with this subspace? Like do it to parts of yourself?"
Sideswipe's grin grew. "So you noticed, huh?"
She quirked her lips. "That your bipedal mode doesn't quite match with your alt? Yes, I noticed."
He held up two of his four fingers, "There are a couple of different versions of micro subspacing. One is where you partially subspace yourself to make you seem smaller, however since it is an incomplete subspace, weight still applies, unlike a regular subspace." He dropped one finger. "The second is an external subspace where a 'bot brings part of his own subspace out to stretch his frame. Different Cybertronians have different subspacing abilities." He dropped his hand.
"So an internal subspace is how you get down to the size appropriate for a corvette?"
"Yes, Sunny and I are pretty good at internal subspacing, though, our alt-forms are about as far as we can go."
"And what does external subspacing look like?"
"Well, we do it all the time. It's how we get our frames stretched enough to form things that look like glass or for seats and seatbelts. You've noticed how comfortable I am to ride, right? Hmm?" he waggled his optic ridges.
"Uh, well…"
"That's about as far as most 'bots can go." He continued without missing a beat. "But, I've heard that a couple of 'bots throughout history were so skilled with external subspacing, they could create a black hole."
Now that was a terrifying thought.
"You ask a lot of questions about us." His tone seemed more observational that offended.
Erin believe that over the past couple of weeks, she'd gotten a pretty good read on the twins. Sideswipe was, by far, the least aloof. "I've told you before that if it's too personal, you could just say so."
"It's not, I don't mind." Sideswipe stated.
She explained "I know next to nothing about your kind. Meanwhile, you can just look up anything about humans on the internet."
"I see your point." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. Erin had learned that such a gesture was one of several that the 'bots adopted while on earth. They really were adaptive.
Erin and Sideswipe were coming up to the field where Sunstreaker was waiting. He stood near the edge of the open space, as far as possible from the other occupants, a group of several humans and Ironhide. Erin instantly recognized the line up as the other human members of Team Prime and Prowl. Sunstreaker greeted Sideswipe with a nod and gave Erin his trademark sneer.
"You sure took your time getting here." Ironhide rumbled.
"'Hide," Captain Lennox piped in, shaking his head, "they're fifteen minutes early."
Captain Lennox was one of the few who could speak frankly to Ironhide without getting a cannon shoved in his face. Erin knew that both had respect for each other and seemed like close friends. On one occasion, when Annabelle was watching Erin and Ironhide train, Lennox showed up to get his daughter back home. The girl watched in amazement as Erin dodged each of Ironhide's attacks. Although the child viewed the soldier as a superhero, Ironhide was her hero. So when Erin sliced at the 'bot's outstretched hand, making one finger go limp, Annabelle stood up and defiantly yelled, "No! Erwin no hurt 'Hide!" Caught off guard by the child's outburst, Erin was not ready for the sweeping hand that knocked her face first into the dry dirt. All the mech needed was a single finger to pin her to the ground. She smelled the chemicals from the hundreds of paintballs Ironhide had shot, permeating through the soil. Annabelle ran up to the pair and chucked a bean bag, left over from Ironhide's earliest assault, straight into Erin's cheek. She stared, annoyed at the girl.
Ironhide barked a laugh, "Looks like you win Annabelle."
The girl looked pleased with the 'bot's praise.
"Anna!" A voice called from where the girl once sat. Captain Lennox stood there, brow raised at the odd display before him. "It's time to go."'
"Ok, daddy." She scampered off to join her father.
"Ironhide." Erin struggled to breathe out. "Too much… pressure."
"Oh." Immediately, Ironhide released Erin and gave her space to stand. "Sorry Erin." At some point, Private Brook had changed into Erin, not that she minded.
She did not think she'd ever get fully comfortable around a being that could pin her with a single finger, but if she were to, it would be Ironhide. For an alien, he and Erin got along rather well. Of course, that was nothing compared to his bond with the Lennox family.
On the edge of her hearing, she caught Lennox whisper to Annabelle, "Don't forget to thank Uncle 'Hide for watching you." The child's jovial response was lost on Erin.
'Uncle 'Hide'. Ironhide was like a brother to him. They were not even the same species.
Somehow, they had formed a bond. These beings were incredibly strong, but Erin could see Ironhide's respect for Captain Lennox. He even treated Mrs. Lennox with a hint of fear. On occasion, he would mention how Annabelle needed to get back to her mother. He always seemed to shudder a bit at the thought of angering the small woman. Their chemistry was odd, to Erin at least, but somehow they made it work.
Snapping back to the present, Erin asked "Am I to assume that we'll be practicing alongside the official members of Team Prime?" 'Business as usual, don't show that you're distracted' She thought.
"Not quite." Prowl interjected. "You will be the offenders today."
"Hate to break it to you, Prowl." Sunstreaker retorted, "But the squishy would make a pretty terrible 'con." His lip plates twitched slightly in a sadistic smirk, hoping Erin would be moved to the defending side.
"Actually… you won't be playing a 'con in this scenario, Sunstreaker. You are a bit too… realistic. So you will be working with the humans." Prowl replied, unfazed by Sunstreaker's snarl.
"What." H said. It was not a question. It was a statement, 'Please repeat that so I can take those words and shove them down you vocalizer'.
Sideswipe laughed, "Sunny's working with them? That might be just as dangerous as him working against the squishies." It was no secret that Erin was, in fact, the first and only human Sunstreaker had trained with directly. Sure, they had drills in conjunction with human teams, but it required minimal contact. "Why is Rin a 'con? I thought the humans had separate training for squishy on squishy combat."
"We must be prepared for any variable, thus this exercise."
That caught Erin. "You think a decepticon would work with humans?" She did not have much personal experience with the 'cons, but from what she'd heard, they absolutely hated all things organic.
"That… is always a possibility." Prowl supplied.
"Alright you half-clocks, get a move on!" Ironhide's order snapped Erin back. Her exterior remained calm and collected, while she frantically broke down the situation in her head.
A string of masculine 'yes sir's' followed Ironhide's command. Sunstreaker merely growled. He did that a lot.
Sunstreaker was agitated. It was not his usual dark demeanor. This was an internal battle. One in which he had no fragging clue how he was supposed to think or feel. He was sitting on a couch in the rec room. Next to him was Sideswipe. Normally, he had nearly all of his twin's attention. It was a result of having only each other to depend on after losing their creators at such a young age. However, on occasion, Sideswipe would grant his attention to another 'bot or even a human for a few moments, but he would always have his optics back in Sunstreaker. This situation in particular, was not the same case.
Sideswipe was turned away from his twin, half facing the projection screen where his avatar in Super Smash Bros was beating down a ghost avatar which belonged to a certain human femme. Said fleshy was the one whom had all of Sunstreaker's twin's attention. Sideswipe barely needed to glance at the screen to be winning against the squishy. She was, in a word, terrible. Even after two weeks of intensive video game training, she still had not won a single match without Sideswipe telling her exactly how to beat him.
Even the entertainment of watching her fail had worn off for Sunstreaker. Sideswipe had offered to give him a turn, against the opponent of his choice, but he had refused. There was something wrong about the whole scene.
When Sunstreaker grumble to himself about it, Sideswipe sent his amusement over the bond.
"What was that fragger?" Sunstreaker shot a death glare at his twin, ignoring the squishy's startled expression.
:Nothin', just that your jealousy is leaking all over the bond.:
"Shut it before I stuff that controller down your vocalizer!"
The squishy continued to look surprised at Sunstreaker. It was too late when he noticed half the conversation was occurring over the bond. Great. Now she thought he was crazy.
That confrontation was what led Sunstreaker to silently stare off, contemplating what he was really feeling, which was definitely not jealousy. Sideswipe waved off the squishy's confused questions and resumed their game after having taken the distraction as an opportunity to take her avatar's final life.
Sunstreaker knew he was not jealous. There was no way he could be envious of a human. What was there to be jealous about? Sideswipe? The mech was his twin. They were split spark so Sideswipe would always be his. No squishy could change that. It's not like Sunstreaker was feeling anything unreasonable.
Even he admitted, to himself, that the squishy had some talent. She was athletic enough to dodge Cybertronian attacks and was a reasonably skilled sharp shooter.
During training earlier that day, she shot five of the twelve human soldiers without leaving her perch among some boulders, leaving the rest for Sideswipe. At one point, when Sunstreaker had his twin cornered, she was able to distract him with her carefully placed paint bullets so Sideswipe could escape. She then paired with Sideswipe to take on Sunstreaker in close combat, using a retrofitted ion cannon with a low level blast to hit his vital spots. It did not cause damage, as it was not meant to, but she could hit him without using paint. That, to her credit, showed some survival instincts.
If she was a Cybertronian, he might have even been accepting of her, but she wasn't. She was a squishy with a weak, meaty processor. She might have skill, but compared to a 'bot, she was weak. Sunstreaker was convinced that there was no point in even trying to get along with her since she would not survive long. That's just how things work. He was used to seeing 'bots fall in the line of duty, he never paid much heed to getting to know any of them. He had even less motivation for getting along with organics.
The only reason why he hung around the squishy was that Sideswipe was welded to her side, determined to do team bonding via video games or mindless chatter.
Sunstreaker snorted to himself and took a swig of his energon ration.
"Does that stuff taste good?"
Sunstreaker looked down to curious metal-gray eyes. "What did you say, squishy?"
"Do you like drinking that stuff?" She pointed at the cube gripped in his servo.
Sideswipe seemed oddly joyed by her question. "You know Rin, that's the first time you've asked anything like that. You're always asking about the way we 'bots operate, I don't think you've ever inquired about things we actually liked." He added with a smirk, "Admit it, we're growing on you." It was true that Sunstreaker had overheard the squishy's clinical questions. The only time she engaged in casual conversation was when Sideswipe initiated and led it.
Her gaze became blank and she turned back to the game. "I was just curious."
"It tastes," Sunstreaker heard something a lot like his own voice, "alright. But, it's not as good as the stuff on Cybertron." He did not realize it was him answering, until the words left his vocalizer. Catching himself, he quickly added, "You could try some of mine if you'd like."
The squishy scoffed at this. "I know energon is poisonous to humans. Nice try, though."
Sunstreaker swirled the remaining contents. "Don't say I didn't offer."
In the peripheral of his optics, Sunstreaker caught Sideswipe's snicker. Fragger.
"You know."
Sunstreaker looked back over to see the squishy had set down her game controller and was looking up at him and Sides. "You can communicate easily, whether it is through your comms or that bond of yours."
"Yeah, so?" Sunstreaker questioned.
"The radio link I use an easily get hacked. Typically, among humans, hand signals can be used for close quarters communication."
That was another problem with having a human on the team. Their technology was basic at best. The radio headset that Erin had been using during training used a frequency any scout class Cybertronian could access with ease. An enemy could use that to cause miscommunications or block the frequency all together. Even if that did not happen, the squishy had to communicate out loud and any 'bot with decent audio receptors could hear.
Sunstreaker knew she was a liability! "So we need to work with your handicap, is that it?"
"Take it easy, Sunny." Sides tried to sooth. "Erin, it's alright, we can learn a couple of hand signals."
"Don't call me that!"
"Look," Sides gave him a pointed stare, "it's not like we're making a huge sacrifice, let's just go along with it." Since when was Sideswipe so diplomatic? It was annoying.
The problem was not that Sunstreaker could not learn a few hand signals, but the fact that he had to learn them proved his point. Nevertheless, the three of them spent the rest of the night hashing out unique signals to use. Well, the squishy made most of the decisions. Sunstreaker did not contribute and Sideswipe's suggestions were mostly shot down. A 'Spiderman web shooting' hand signal would just be too demeaning. What the squishy, who turned out to be fluent in American sign language, designed were specific, one small detail change would create a whole new meaning. Rather than record the new signs and dedicated them to his data drive, Sides decided to learn each one and commit them to his natural memory. Sunstreaker idly watched, neither recording or really memorizing either way. What did it matter anyway?