Chapter Two: A Strict Evaluation
"You're in for a real treat," the fifth frame youngling, Spotweld, stated as they approached the open area set aside for the evaluations. It was currently on the loud side with a deep, carrying voice echoing over the sound of weapons fire and the simulated din of a pitched battle. "Vicegrip doesn't normally have these going on and they're always exciting to watch. He's been training the Kalis Militia and Enforcers while he's been stationed here since he watched one of their training sessions and declared it worthless in actually preparing anyone." The small blue and white youngling motioned towards the lithe, forest green mech that was frowning at a small group of mechs participating in what appeared to be a brawl. "That's Vicegrip. He's Weapons Master, Evaluator, and Trainer all in one, formerly part of Sentinel Prime's Guard. He had to fight hard to be able to join the Autobot army instead of staying with the Guard as he is not technically part of the warrior caste, but the elite warrior caste. Moronic to make that distinction, I would think, but that is how the Council works."
Prowl hummed noncommittally. He knew, from experience, that sometimes the caste system did actually work, but that not all sparks that came into being were suited to what they were tasked with either. Sparks were much more flexible than many mecha believed, as was evidenced by his Quad's creation.
"I'll introduce you to him, but you're on your own after that. I have to meet up with Smokeglass to begin my training for the orn."
They wandered over towards the mech slowly, Spotweld letting the winged mech get a good look around himself to see what was liable to happen during his evaluation. When the finally reached him, the seemingly delicately constructed mech was already sizing up the new recruit. He could see that he carried himself with almost a warrior's confidence, despite the fact that he had two large targets on his back that could easily bring him low. It was almost disconcerting to watch him because his frame appeared so vulnerable.
"Evaluator Vicegrip," Spotweld greeted with a nod. "This is Prowl. He's a new recruit, originally out of Praxus."
With that, the apprentice left them and headed to the far side of the designated area to begin his training. He was not looking forward to it as his instructor was easily frustrated and wanted him to learn faster than he was.
Vicegrip blatantly looked over the frame in front of him to see if the mech would bristle like some of his recruits did, but he was too calm and stoic for that to ruffle his feathers apparently. It was a rather pretty frame, even in the subdued storm grey and indigo the mech wore, that did not seem to be overly practical, especially for war. It would be easy to secret weapons about though, unlike a majority of war framed mecha. He moved with loose limbs, though it could be hard to tell as the frame was such an unfamiliar type. He needed to be put through his paces against a wide variety of mecha to see what he was capable of.
"What are your preferred weapons?" he asked, looking back out over the off-duty Enforcers that were currently in training.
"I can use just about anything," came the reply as the younger mech turned to look where he was. "My least proficient areas are in blasters and non-specialty guns, actually. Along with that, there are no inbuilt weapons on my frame except for defensive ones."
Filing that information away, he commented, "Inbuilt offensive weaponry can be overrated. Mecha have to understand their use and the appropriate application of them."
They watched for a few more long moments as the Enforcers sparred. The ends of Prowl's wings flicked in dismissal. It was almost futile to work with Enforcers and try to teach them new takedowns, he knew from experience. That had been part of the reason that his Quad had been created instead of more Enforcers being requested. They were still wonderful sparring partners as they soaked up any defensive moves like a sponge and enjoyed the roughhousing that came with such friendly spars. Joining them would be an enjoyable experience, but may reveal more than he truly wanted to someone other than a medic. Black Ops was not something to mention lightly to most mecha.
"I'll pair you up with an Enforcer first, since I have them here now, and see how you do. From there, I want to see how you do on the range and with blades. After that, I'll have some of the Militia in and I want to see how you do against a warrior caste." He turned and stepped off the small platform he had been overlooking the Enforcers from and headed out onto the mats. The pair he had arrowed towards straightened and turned to face him as he approached. "Spar with this mech for me. I want to see what he can do and what he has no counters to."
The Enforcers attempted to passively scan the mech for anything of interest, but had their scans rebuffed by the mech's electromagnetic field before anything could be gathered. They were pinged - on a secure, Enforcer only channel that none outside of the law enforcement caste's pre-programs were aware of - for their identity information as the mech finally became fully visible behind Vicegrip as he stepped to the side. Most systems would not have even recognized that any information was trying to be obtained, let alone rebuff that attempt. In fact, the only ones usually able to do so were other pre-programs as they were the most sensitive to such an occurrence. All other castes commonly did so in a social setting, along with allowing their fields to expand and mingle instead of keeping them contained.
"Yes, sir. When would you like for us to begin?" the one to the left asked. His was the slightly bulkier frame, an asset in bringing in large, combative mechs. Normally, he would be more than enough to take down a frame as fragile as the one before him, but with such an expert deflection of their pings, he was more worried about his chances than he had ever been.
"Whenever you are comfortable, Riskstep," Vicegrip replied, removing himself from the immediate vicinity.
The winged mech stood loose limbed, though not obviously. He had already sized up his sparring partners and felt relatively comfortable about taking them down. It would take a bit longer than he would usually consider proper, but he was not in a life and death situation or extremely familiar with the frame type. This was also supposed to be used as a way to showcase what he was capable of, which he would have to careful about as revealing everything, even to an ally, was not to be considered.
Riskstep approached cautiously, crouching low and preparing to tackle the mech bodily from his feet. He was not confident in this approach, however, as the mech had wings and, in Kalis, very few were able to fly so he had never had to apprehend a flyer before. As he started his rush, he saw him crouch and almost somersault over his frame in an avoidance maneuver that would be difficult for most frames to accomplish. Over the next few breems, he was unable to land even a glancing blow, let alone take him down. He was never there, always gone before Riskstep could reach him, though he never saw how. It was disconcerting. Mecha weren't supposed to be able to move like that.
"Offensive!" Vicegrip called, getting frustrated by the endless dodging and weaving instead of something to truly evaluate.
The next time Riskstep tried taking him down, he was on the mat before his processor even registered that he had been touched. It was jarring and, before he knew it, the mech was crouched beside him and helping him flip over onto his back.
"Are you alright?" he asked, skimming his hands knowingly over the Enforcer's frame and running a passive scan. "No warnings popping up? Nothing feels off?"
Riskstep looked up at the winged mech with a confused familiarity at the concern. It was so much like a medic that had treated him several vorn before that it was almost chilling. He knew about the medic's deactivation through the Cybertron-wide broadcasts that went out over the private, and viciously guarded, pre-program comm line. There had been something on that same broadcast about the Quad the medic had been a part of still partially existing - a rare occurrence.
"You're….. One of….. Us," he wheezed, still trying to get his systems to settle and redistribute after the hit they had taken. "Enforcer."
The winged mech nodded minutely, small enough of a movement to be taken as a loosening of tension. It was enough of an affirmative for the larger mech and he relaxed under the mech's ministrations. The Enforcer he had been sparring with earlier was scrutinizing the interaction, unsure of the mech that had just taken his partner down without any apparent effort, and was surprised to see his frame relax with someone that was not obviously of their caste. They, as a caste, were allowed to touch mecha outside of theirs, but were always wary about it, knowing that any wrong move could be grounds for a punishment up to, and including, deactivation. The only caste that did not have that restriction was that of the medics, and sometimes even they were brought up on charges.
Vicegrip did not notice, still going over what had just happened and replaying the file from his memory banks to make sure he had not missed anything. The mech just had moved too fast. Not everything had been recorded. It was an impossibility - though, apparently, it was not impossible as the mech had just done so. Such speed could be a great asset on the field, but would take some time and training to integrate properly into the tactics that were commonly used. Such a mech would not do well to be part of the heavy hitters - his frame did not appear to be strong enough for him to join one of those units anyway - and neither would he do well as a base defender - they were kept too stationary. Two areas he would definitely excel in were a frontline unit and within the shadowy depths of Special Operations, if he had the weapons skills to supplement the speed. If not, all he would be useful for would be as part of the Messenger Corps, which would be a pity and not something he was expecting. Before he made his decision, however, he would have to see how the rest of his evaluation went.
He had a good feeling about this mech, even as he beckoned him over once Riskstep had recovered. Concern for even the enemy may not be the easiest thing to deal with, but it could be managed through careful consideration and he was not the only mech or femme to join that had that same reluctance. "I know that you said that you were not that good with a blaster, but I will be testing you on short, medium, and long range weaponry. We'll start with short range and work out from there. The firing range is to the south side of the training area."
Prowl followed the dark green mech as he made his way through the training Enforcers, stopping to offer a word of advice or criticism to each of the pairs they passed. From what the winged mech could hear, they were things that could actually work with the Enforcer coding and not cause conflicts. Very few mecha understood the difference between Enforcers and other mecha at the base coding level. It was impossible for most to intentionally kill or cause more damage than necessary to subdue a subject without a direct order from a superior officer that was not a pre-program - Prowl himself was one of the few exceptions, and there had been less than one hundred mecha Forged for the Enforcers who were able to since even before the Golden Age had begun.
The gun range that they entered was pristine, weapons neatly racked along the wall that the door they came through was situated on with targets lined up on the opposite wall and a number of maneuverable targets off to the side. If someone stepped into the line of fire, then it had to be done intentionally. In fact, he was quite impressed with the sight. It was one of the best ranges he had ever had the privilege of stepping into.
"So," Vicegrip started, picking a blaster up from where it was carefully mounted on the wall and efficiently checking it over before handing it to the gray and indigo mech. "We'll start with blasters. Just use up the energy pack on the targets and we'll check your accuracy afterwards." He stepped back to watch the way the blaster was handled and how the mech took his shots.
Prowl went over his own check of the blaster and energy pack, carefully inspecting the majority of the pieces. He fired a couple of test shots down the range to get a general feel for the gun before he began really firing with intent. As he did so, his wings flared, sensors gathering further information about his surroundings. Vicegrip registered quite clearly, as did every weapon that hung behind him, though something slowly began to bother him about one of them and the way that it was registering across his field of sensory input.
As soon as he finished, Vicegrip stepped forward, sending a code to the control systems of the room to bring the targets forward for his inspection. He gave nothing away even as the thin top sheets were replaced and he handed a shotgun over next. After that came the rifle. With each successive weapon, they moved further and further from the targets, though the range was not quite long enough for a true test of his abilities with a rifle, though it was the one he seemed to be most familiar with and comfortable using.
Prowl looked at him expectantly after finishing his round with the rifle and re-racking the weapon on the wall. Vicegrip produced a set of specially balanced knives from his subspace that he had had designed for just this sort of circumstance, though there had been no need for them until now. He would not have trusted any of the other recruits that had passed through with a bladed weapon considering how they had handled the energy weapons they had been tested with at the range. Amber optics lit at the appearance of the blades, though the reaction was tempered and did not reach much further than that.
"You'll be throwing these at the same targets," he stated, handing them over, unactivated.
They were handled almost reverently, their weight and balance tested quickly and efficiently before the stormy colored mech spun quickly and launched one down the range from where they were standing. Each of the other six followed quickly after to cluster closely around the first. There would be no denying that the mech before him was quite proficient with a throwing knife, which was a skill that took a fair amount of practice.
He did not even need to bring the target back to them to know that they were clustered right around the center. As he deactivated and lowered the energy blades, he contemplated his next move. There was little need to test him on how well he would do with a longer blade and not enough room to accomplish a sufficient evaluation. With as much effort as had to have gone into learning how to throw knives, he was probably a fair blade fighter of some sort.
Later, as he watched the same mech dance around the Militia mecha, he pondered on what he had learned of the mech. If he were a commander, he would want such a mech on the front lines of the battles, but with how efficiently and silently the mech moved, he knew that the mecha of Special Operations were likely to conscript him into their ranks. All he could do was pass on his observations and wait to find out where he was placed.
He took the datapad that Prowl handed him that contained his medical report in a separate file and added his own observations and evaluation with his recommendation for placement in a separate file. Later, he would enter this into the server and have it sent to the Autobot commanders for the mech's placement to begin. There would be further tests, those written, and then he would be pushed through training for whichever department he was placed in before being sent out to a base.
"I will get this entered and sent off. Do you have lodging for the next several orns while your information is considered and your position assigned?" he asked, stowing the datapad away again before looking back at the mech.
"I do. Will I be contacted directly or will a message be sent for me to return to the recruitment center? My work permit does expire shortly and I would need some way to be allowed back into this part of Kalis if I am to return here."
"If we need to, we will send you a temporary pass to enter this area. I am unsure how long the process will take, so be prepared for a message at any moment. The Autobots will assist with any loose ends at the time that you are accepted and assigned a position. Do you need assistance returning to the entrance?"
"No, sir, but thank you."
"Then you can take your leave. You will be contacted, most likely by the Iaconian Training Coordinator, and given your assignment."
Prowl nodded, his wings dipping in acknowledgement as well, before spinning and making his way through the Militia mecha carefully, feeling all of the questioning optics on his back. It was enough to tighten his cables in discomfort and in a readiness to move and fight. His movements became even more tightly controlled, though it was hard to tell without knowing his frame very well.
The drive back to the housing unit he currently, but not for much longer, shared with his quadmate went quickly enough and he slowly settled. The mostly black and silver mech that greeted him swept his smaller frame into a close embrace, careful of his wings.
"It went well, I take it?" the larger mech rumbled, stepping back slightly to allow the door to close. Small sensor panels perked in interest, he waited for an answer.
"Yes, it went quite well. We have plans to make now, though, and I would like to have something to eat before we begin that discussion. You were able to join as well?"
The larger mech hummed lowly to comfort his slightly higher strung quadmate even as he released him and reached to place a small, freshly poured cube of mid-grade into his hand. "Affirmative. I'm to report in next orn after clearing all of my affairs up."
Prowl relaxed back into the talented fingers that began to knead at his armor plating, coaxing it to flare enough for the blunt digits to slip under and rub against wires and other vital components in a soothing manner. He slowly relaxed, his frame loosening even as he leaned back into the treatment and began purring. "That is not a very long time to construct our plans, Barricade. If you do not stop, I will not be able to begin in a timely manner."
He chuckled just beside the slighter mech's audial. "I already know that you have a fair amount of plans and back ups, Prowl, and I trust you to contact me whenever something needs to change. I just have to pack the few things I'm planning to take. The rest, I'm leaving with you. You got me?"
Prowl dropped his helm back to smile at his quadmate, their sparks pushing affection back and forth between them. "I got you."