Well, I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays, I'm about to go run around like a chicken with my head cut off, again. Yay! Right, update!
Chapter 123 – Hard Lessons
(SPOV)
Sideswipe still didn't know what to do, his brother was parked in the bay where Prowl was keeping an eye on him, making sure he didn't just transform and roll out. Sides dejectedly followed Kae and Optimus to the central, the both of them still standing with anger in their stances.
"Please..." Sides whispered. Standing in the middle of the central, Kae turned to look at him. "Please don't stay angry at him, he-"
Sideswipe immediately broke himself off as Kae wrapped him in an enveloping hug.
There was no resonation of anger directed at him, scrap, there was no resonation of anger in her spark at all!
"I'm not angry at you, or at him," Kae murmured gently, cradling him as he shivered, the after-effects of trying to deal with opposing siblings.
"But-"
"Sides, I forgave Sunny the moment he turned to comfort you," Kae murmured gently.
"Then-"
"Sunstreaker has a hard lesson in front of him," Optimus rumbled gently, laying a kind hand on Sideswipe's back. "But it is best that he learns it now, rather than when he or other's lives are at stake."
"And man is he going to learn it," Ironhide chuckled darkly. "Point, by the way, Kae."
"Thank you, Ironhide," Kae nodded gravely. But there was a twinkle of amusement in her optics now.
Sideswipe was now completely, wholly confused.
"Have you ever really watched the soldiers train?" Ironhide rumbled with a smirk, looking at him.
"We train together..." Sideswipe mumbled, still confused.
"No, I mean have you ever tried to keep up with 'em with your holoform?" Ironhide snorted.
"No... no I haven't..." Sideswipe murmured, admittedly, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Lemme put it this way, the fact that Kae was keepin' up with them as a human femme is fraggin' impressive!" Ironhide snorted gleefully. "When Lennox is in drill-Sargent mode he makes Sentinel look like a fraggin' cyberkitten! If I hadn't already respected the man, I sure as pit do now! Say what you want about the humans, they have perfected the art of training warriors!"
"Has he already gathered the group together?" Mikaela asked with real humour in her optics now.
"Yup," Ironhide chortled. "The core."
"The core?" Sideswipe asked blankly.
"The humans refer to the veteran NEST soldiers, the ones whom have been training the longest as the core," Optimus rumbled in amusement.
"The vast majority of whom joined us as fully trained Marines, Rangers, and SEALS." Mikaela added.
"He ain't gonna last a day," Ironhide snorted.
"Do I sense another pool?" Mikaela asked benignly.
"Five days," Sideswipe stated with a grin. "My brother is far too stubborn to quit."
"That's generous," Ratchet snorted. "I give him three, what about you, Optimus?"
"Two."
(SsPOV)
He was squishy. It was disgusting. Ratchet had rather gleefully altered his holoform to Archangel's specifications. So now, he knew precisely what it felt like to be a human.
The first troublesome thing had been the breathing. His holoform had passed out, his chest burning painfully before Ratchet had explained to him that the human's breathing was split between autonomic and controlled reflex.
It was annoying.
The necessity that he continue doing it to stay online annoyed him enough that it took several of the human's hours for him to realize that it actually kinda felt... good to breathe.
The second irritating thing, was the soldiers' insistence on calling him maggot. He had a name! A damned good one at that! Even if his brother still insisted on shortening it to the highly distasteful 'Sunny.' Sideswipe stated that it was ironic, an irony that he did not see.
At the moment, his spinal struts and his pedes were killing him, the sensation passed directly from his holoform. Major Lennox was pacing back and forth, practically a taunt, Sunstreaker had been standing, ramrod straight between two of the frankly massive soldiers. They hadn't moved from the moment that the Major had barked 'attention'. Three hours ago.
His legs were stiff, aching from the lack of movement.
But he refused to give in, if the squishies could do it. He could do it better!
"Right face!" the Major barked. As one, the soldiers around him snapped to the right, spinning on their heels, ramrod straight. Sunstreaker was a bit slow in following, but the Major had caught him by surprise, that was acceptable... right?
"Left face!" the Major barked. The soldiers turned and Sunstreaker followed them. "This is your lucky day ladies," the Major began with what could only be called a sadistic smile. "Our latest maggot has made sure we get to stand for another hour!"
SLAGGER!
Sunstreaker shot a venomous glare at the Major and discovered another thing about the humans.
For what little he could remember of Sentinel Prime, it was entirely likely that this puny human would give the Prime a run for his rells in a glaring contest.
"You got a problem with that Maggot?" the Major snarled at him.
Two options, tell the truth, have a yelling contest and get treated worse. Or just suck it up and say no.
As if that's a choice.
"No." Sunstreaker growled.
"I'm sorry, did I forget to tell you how to address me?" the Major growled. Scrap. He was supposed to say 'sir no sir,' so much for eidetic memory, didn't help much when you didn't feel like remembering.
"Lieutenant Jacobs!" the Major barked.
"Sir!" the behemoth beside him barked back.
"Did I forget to educate our maggot?"
"Sir no Sir!" the man beside him shouted.
Traitor.
"So I ask again, you got a problem with it Maggot?" the Major bellowed.
"Sir no Sir!" Sunstreaker barked back. Good, now he'll go away, let them go, let Sunstreaker go nurse his aching body.
The Major glared at him for another moment and began pacing again.
He didn't let them go.
Slagger.
True to his word, the Major made them stand for another hour. Sunstreaker was positive he wasn't going to be able to move, the second the human dismissed them he was going to wink his holoform off, transform and collapse onto his berth.
"Left face!" the Major barked. Sunstreaker was ready for it this time, he turned and faced the next soldier's back.
"Forward march!" the Major barked.
What now?
But now the soldiers were moving, moving at the same time!
"Left foot first," the man behind him muttered. "Before you even think of glaring at me, think about it this way, you wanna stand to attention for another hour?"
"No..."
"Then for Primus sake march!" the man growled.
It took him a couple of undignified, hopping steps but Sunstreaker finally caught hold of it, matching his steps to the man in front of him.
It took him about thirty steps more to realize that the man had used a Cybertronian phrase. He stumbled when he made that realization, but the man behind him had his shoulders, keeping him upright.
"Left, right, left, right," the man was muttering. Sunstreaker did that, and the second he had his footing the man released him.
"It's your lucky day ladies! You've got a two hour date with the green tick!" the Major barked then.
Green tick?
Twenty minutes later, Sunstreaker wished he'd never heard that phrase.
Apparently, the green tick was an enormous backpack. An enormous, very, very heavy backpack.
His feet already hurt, now he had to stand still with this... this... tick!?
No. Worse.
Now, now they were running!
Sunstreaker stumbled his way through the first half mile, until his legs kinda loosened up from standing so long. The next mile wasn't so bad.
Of course, in his proper form he could have covered this distance in a minute! Less!
Stupid fragging tiny squishies.
The next mile. The next mile was torture.
The pack was heavy, and they'd only been running for fifteen minutes! How the scrap was he supposed to keep going, keep up with these squishies with all the extra weight!
It was only when several more of the soldiers went past him that he realized they were carrying the same weight on their backs.
He was panting by the time the fourth mile rolled around, panting wasn't adequate, gasping for air was more appropriate.
But they just kept going!
It was then that something happened, something that he was certain would stick with him for the rest of his life. The Jacobs behemoth of a human was running beside him, tugging at his backpack, making it really hard to keep his pace.
But then, then the weight lessened, the man pulled what felt like a ton of weight from his back and shoved it into his own while the Major wasn't looking.
"Try'n keep up," the man rumbled flatly, flipping his pack closed again and picking his pace up somewhat.
Running faster than him and carrying more weight.
Sunstreaker snarled and pushed his aching body to match the arrogant human, they would not break him!
They'd run another five miles, back to the base. Then, to Sunstreaker's dismay, he couldn't offline his holoform, distracted by the running, Ratchet had evidently locked his controls. Instead, he stayed parked in the entrance bay, his holoform bunked down in one of the human sized quarters. He could barely move, and it was there, and only there, that he realized that the human had done it on purpose. Because in truth, the only thing that had got him through that final five miles?
His desperate need to keep up with the scrapping squishy.
A hand banged on his door.
"Rise and Shine ladies!" the Major's voice bellowed up and down the corridors.
Ratchet hadn't switched off his chronometer.
The humans had been allowed to recharge for less than six hours. Less than six hours of rest and Sunstreaker crawled painfully from his berth.
But he managed it.
Somehow, the mess hall, where the humans ate was loud. Loud and cheerful. The Major had tortured them all day yesterday, and they were cheerful!?
Sunstreaker sipped at his cup of energon, thankful that Archangel had made that concession for him. But. Out of sight of the humans, he did try a couple of bites of their fuel, Ratchet said it was okay...
Actually, it tasted kinda neat. Bumblebee's attestations that there were millions of flavours to their fuel, suddenly made a bit more sense...
"Alright Ladies!" the Major barked. Sunstreaker was certain that he jumped about a foot in the air, an impressive feat for a human currently sitting.
"Quick, chug it," one of the soldiers... Jackson... muttered to him. "Sipping time is over, if you want your energon fuelling you, get it in you, fast." in counterpart, the human picked up his own cup of fuel and emptied his glass in a couple of actually impressive swallows.
Sunstreaker followed suit, rising on aching legs and following the humans out.
"Alright! Today we'll be practicing head head kill shots!" the Major barked out.
Jacobs was with him again, quickly harnessing him into a series of straps and things.
Another lesson.
The human's armour? Not comfortable.
Then, for the first time in his life, he saw Ironhide from the human's perspective.
The mech, was scrapping huge!
But as tiny as they were, the humans were interacting with him.
Sunstreaker felt a grudging respect for the humans growing in his spark. He hadn't given them the credit that they actually did interact with the bots. Ironhide in particular, it was difficult to interact with that mech on an optic to optic level!
In pairs, the humans climbed up to one of the human's catwalks, hooked themselves to lines and dropped, dragging a line between themselves to catch Ironhide's neck struts, their combined weight dragging the mech down.
They landed on their backs, unloaded guns aiming for Ironhide's face.
The mech nodded to them and rose, waiting for the next set.
Sunstreaker watched them and nodded to himself. He could do that.
Jackson went with him, when it was his turn, helping him into the lines and handing him the other end of the garotte line. Sunstreaker looked down, the height approximately what he saw in his own form. But as a human? That. Was a long way down.
Jackson walked to the edge and looked at him firmly.
Sunstreaker inched to the edge and held the line, jumping as he'd seen the other soldiers do, catching Ironhide's neck struts with the line.
But then, then the ground was coming toward him. Fast.
He landed on his back, and an explosion of pain went straight through his chest. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. The humans needed to breathe to continue functioning. But he couldn't breathe.
Ironhide's cannon was over him the next second. His own gun laying uselessly beside him.
"What the fuck is that Maggot!?" Major Lennox bellowed at him. "You're dead Squishy! And because you failed Jackson is dead too! Is that what you want to take to the Well with you? That your failure killed not only you but your brother in arms!?"
That. That hurt more than the iron bands crushing his chest.
Sunstreaker stayed right where he was, sobbing with what little air his body could get. The Major kept yelling, berating him.
"Lay off Will," Lieutenant Jacobs called out the next moment. Then, then the behemoth of a man was there beside him. "He's done."
The same man that not two days ago he'd insulted, unhooked him from the lines and hauled him upright, slinging Sunstreaker's arm across his shoulders and half-carrying him to the benches lining the walls.
"Relax," the man stated gently, "Your lungs will fill when your body stops panicking."
"Jacobs!" Major Lennox called out.
"Sir!"
"Clean him up," the Major stated in the gentlest tone Sunstreaker had heard from the man. Jacobs nodded and rose, walking away and coming back moments later with a cup of energon.
Sunstreaker accepted it gratefully. Sitting and struggling to relax enough that his body could breathe. Jacobs was unhooking him from the harness.
"How..." Sunstreaker gasped, feeling his lungs beginning to fill.
"We all get the wind knocked out of us, it happens," Jacobs shrugged gently, helping him stand and step out of the harness.
"Why..."
"Would I help you? We're soldiers, we fight together, we leave no man behind."
The human was evidently a psychic. Try another one.
"Why would you do this?" Sunstreaker asked hoarsely. The humans tortured themselves, forced themselves to do things that hurt!
"If I didn't, who else would?" Jacobs asked gently. "We build our strength, become strong to protect the ones who can't do it themselves. C'mon, let's get you to med-bay, we'll get Ratchet to unfreeze you and I'll wax your armour."
That sounded like the best thing in the universe right now. But it didn't make sense.
"Why are you doing this?" Sunstreaker asked softly, admittedly humbled by the man's care.
"Will said clean you up," Jacobs shrugged. "This holoform isn't you Sunstreaker, you're an auto-bot. What good is cleaning up an illusion?"
Sunstreaker promptly hurled the holoform onto the human, astonished at how... solid he was, even as he sobbed his optics out like a broken-sparked youngling.
"It's a start," Ratchet's voice stated cryptically, even as Sunstreaker felt his body returned to his control.
"Our human friends are small," Optimus' voice rumbled gently. "But they are strong."