(A/N: Here is another update! :3 thank you guys so much for all of your support on this story! I really enjoyed writing it and hope you all enjoy this next addition to the story! :D)
Chapter 26: Training
Miko was silent as she looked up at the Autobots. She had just finished informing them of Tegan's strange conversation in the school hallways and then how he had just left the school... Vanishing to not even return the end of the day to collect his books and backpack.
"It kind of sounds like an action movie!" Miko cried, looking up at the others who had each been silently pondering what was going on. "Who knows? Maybe our guy Teeg is a convict! A drug addict that got off on the wrong foot with the wrong people!"
"Miko!" Jack cried, glaring at her. "Drugs is not something funny to be joking about!"
The younger Japanese girl rolled her eyes at him, crossing her arms with a huff. "I know that, Jack!" She responded loudly. "What I mean is that it sure sounded like he's in on some kind of deal!" She answered.
"Unless that's what Tegan wanted us to believe." Rafael stated as all of the others in the room turned to look at him. "Tegan could've realized that Miko was watching or listening, and then was covering with a false conversation." He explained, several of the Autobots nodding that this speculation.
"That is completely possible." Ratchet grunted as he looked up at his leader with his cyan optics. "But there is no way to know for sure." He added.
Silence fell as Optimus Prime turned and looked down at the medic. "Have you been able to contact Fowler?" He demanded, the medic grunting and shaking his helm. "He won't be back in contact for another few days." He responded, the Prime nodding before turning back to the others. "We can only just keep watch over Tegan until we can have Agent Fowler look into it further." He stated.
"But how will he be able to find something out?" Jack asked the Prime, Rafael nodding in agreement. "And we still don't know why Tegan has a Cybertronian name, which just so happens to be your old one." He added.
There was quiet as everyone thought over that shocking occurance... With the way Tegan had been acting and his name, it could no longer all be deemed a coincidence. "That remains to be known." Optimus finally answered softly. "Something that only Tegan can explain." He added.
"So... What do we do now?" Arcee asked, cocking her helm slightly as she looked up at her leader. "I mean, we just can't let it all go and hope for the best until Fowler shows up."
Optimus nodded. "Bulkhead and Miko will keep a watch over Tegan for now." He answered. "The rest of us will keep our distance." He added.
Bulkhead nodded his helm slowly. "Too bad we don't have Jackie around... Then the kid most likely wouldn't recognise his alt-mode and we'd have him here in a moment!" He said light sparkedly, making everyone pause and look at him.
"That is actually a good idea!" Miko exclaimed in the silence that followed. "We could totally fool Teeg into thinking that it was a normal vehicle!"
"Hmmmm." Optimus thought silently before nodding and looking at Ratchet. "Keep trying with Fowler, but see if you can make contact with Wheeljack sooner." He added, the medic and Rafael nodding together and immediately beginning to work on that.
"Ha! Who knew you'd have such a great idea, Bulk!" Miko grinned up at her guardian. "If Wheeljack could come by we'd have Tegan here in no time!"
Tegan was breathing hard, eyes wide as he tried to dodge the opponents that were trying to take him down. They were holoforms, but he was outfitted with sensors to still feel pain if he was struck by them in any way, and there were multiple forms.
The black-haired youth swore and activated his arm blades to try to block a high strike from the foremost holoform, only to receive a kick in his side from another, sending him stumbling into a wall.
Stumbling to his feet, Tegan activated his blades on his feet, skating around his opponents easily to the other side of the room, cutting down a few with his blades as he passed, the ones that he hit good enough dissipating into nothingness.
Reaching the other side of the room, Tegan slid to a stop, spraying a shower of sparks from the blades cutting into the steel floor, rounding to face his pursuers, breathing slightly hard.
Soundwave monitored the young boy's actions from nearby, trying to guage his reaction time and what his strong and weak points were... He was beginning to see that Tegan was best at defense, speed and acrobatics... Kind of like the autobot two-wheeler Arcee. He wasn't large and strong like others, and tended to use his speed to escape from a fight...
The tall Decepticon decided that he would train Tegan more in defense and acrobatic offense than anything else, honing his stronger skills to make him more dangerous, while also making him well aware of his weaknesses... Because once you were aware and acknowledged your weaknesses, you could become invinsible, and if you learned how to hide your weak points, people would begin to assume that there were no weaknesses in you.
Deciding on this, Soundwave deactivated the holographs and walked over to Tegan, picking him up as the youth transformed back into his natural human form, breathing slightly laboured as he was carried down the hall.
"Where are we going now, Soundwave?" Tegan asked as he looked up at the visored Decepticon.
"Orion will have to have new combat moves downloaded into his processor... Soundwave realizes that Orion is better at defense and speed than offense and strength." Soundwave responded as he explained to the youth his plans. He would wipe his mind of the offensive tactics already downloaded and replace them with tactics that required endurance, speed and agility instead of strength and bulk. He would download a fighting style more like Arcee's.
Tegan nodded a little as he learned this, looking up at the Decepticon. "Are you gonna tell Shockwave that?" He asked curiously.
"Affirmative." Soundwave answered as he continued to walk down the hall. He was in charge of Tegan's training, and, therefore, was the one to pass on Tegan's strengths and weaknesses to the scientist creating his Cybertronian body... Right now, it would need to be smaller, more agile and light, made to be faster than stronger.
Silence fell now as Tegan was carried down the hallway and into Soundwave's room where he was laid down on the massive berth as the Decepticon made his way over to the consoles, connecting Tegan to it and forcing stasis on him.
