The Obstacle Course
…
It was weird to see Sentinel act so normal around Ironhide after how he treated her the night before.
Yet, as she took another bite of her sandwich and watched from afar, they seemed no different than two veterans talking about old times. The other Autobots were gathered around them like an audience listening to a campfire story. Sideswipe even intervened from time to time, making shooting gestures with invisible guns.
"I don't know why you don't eat in the lunchroom like everyone else," Amber said as she sat down beside her.
"I usually hang out with them." Aria gestured to the group.
"So he's a jerk to you too?" Amber looked vehemently at Sentinel. "He really needs to get that Cybertronian-sized stick out of his ass."
Aria choked, recovered, and swatted at Amber. "Why, what'd he say to you?"
"Absolutely nothing! When I did his introductory presentation, he just stared at me as if I had the audacity to be speaking to him! Then he just left when I asked if he had any questions."
"Yeah, that's pretty much what he did to me."
"I don't care even if he's some kind of god to them, he has no right to be a sexist asshole. He barely gives the director the time of day."
They talked—or rather complained for a few more minutes before Aria had to head back to work.
She'd never looked at more code in her life. Trying to read it was a nightmare. Luckily, that's all she had to do. Dr. Kamati was the one doing the interpreting.
"It is like the pillars can create a wormhole by disrupting gravitational forces."
Aria glanced back at Dr. Kamati who was reading the notes she'd handed her. She then wrote something on her clipboard and handed it to Aria.
"Take this to the Autobot who can answer my questions."
Aria nodded, taking it and going back to the elevator. She'd go look for Wheeljack again since Sentinel ignored her existence.
She exited the elevator and went around the bend in the hallway to find the hangar once again in chaos. What was it this time?
The Autobots were in their alt modes, Will was in front of them giving instructions. Just as she got close enough to hear, he jumped into Ironhide's alt mode, and the convoy left the base.
It wasn't another Decepticon attack, was it?
Two men walked past. "Did anyone even see him leave?" the one said to the other.
"Adam, do you know what happened?" she asked, recognizing him as one of Bumblebee's training buddies.
"Oh, yeah, Sentinel left without telling anyone. He doesn't have a tracker, so now we have to go out and find him before he gets into a police chase or something."
"What's his alt mode?"
"Brought in a firetruck. He wasn't happy about it. Wanted to keep his original alt mode."
"Come on, truck is here." Said the other man who Aria didn't know the name of.
"Talk to you later," Adam said and continued for the doors.
It was a shame Ironhide had to go after Sentinel. It felt like forever since she last had the chance to talk to him.
She turned to go back to the office when Wheeljack caught her eye. He was leaving one of the adjacent hangars.
"Hey Wheeljack," Aria called up to him, jogging over.
"Oh Aira, good to see you!"
"I have some more questions if you wouldn't mind answering them. From my new boss about the pillars."
"And I have something to give you, come." Wheeljack led her back into the room he'd just left. He pressed the button to close the large overhead door.
The room was full of clutter. Wheeljack used it for making and upgrading weapons. A huge gun rested on the Autobot-sized table in the middle of the room. It was the same shade of red as Sentinel.
"Oh that." Wheeljack followed her line of sight. "Fine weapon there, an old favorite of Sentinel's. We call it the Cosmic Rust Cannon. One hit from this and the Decepticon's body will oxidize and rust away into nothing. I'm cleanin' it for him. But for you," he stumbled over a pile of metal on the floor as he reached for something. "I have these."
In his hand were more arrows for her bow.
"Thank you." She went to take them, but he curled his fingers.
"These arrows are different. 'Hide told me about your increasing Energon levels and asked if I could make something more—how should I put it—substantial. Unlike the other arrows, you can charge these ones with Energon. Then, when you fire, they explode."
"Ironhide wants to give me exploding arrows? Are you sure?"
"Well he said he wanted you to have arrows that would work even if you didn't have time to aim. Explosions are the natural solution."
"And you're positive they won't accidentally blow up in my face?"
"They don't call me Que for nothing."
"Uh huh," Aria nodded slowly, finally taking the arrows from him. Namesake or not, according to the Autobots, Wheeljack did make good weapons.
After carefully putting the arrows in her back pocket, she pulled out her clipboard and started asking Wheeljack Dr. Kamati's list of questions.
…
After another few hours of work, Aria had to once again leave the office. She told Dr. Kamati she had weekly appointments with the resident doctor. Thankfully, she didn't ask any questions though it looked like she wanted to.
Dr. Harlow was looking at the blood sample she'd just taken from Aria's forearm. It was getting quite painful, having a syringe jammed in her arm week after week. At least Dr. Harlow alternated arms to give her veins at least a couple of weeks to heal.
"Still looks normal," she said aloud so Dr. Martinez could write down the observation. She then took the syringe from Dr. Harlow and took it over to her microscope.
Just as Dr. Harlow was pressing on Aria's lymph nodes near her collarbone, the door opened.
"Sorry I'm late," said Mearing, closing the door behind her.
"No problem, Director," Dr. Harlow replied and continued her physical examination.
What was Mearing doing here? Was she allowed to?
Of course she was, this was all her doing. Aria was Mearing's experiment, after all.
Mearing took a seat in the corner of the room. She didn't say anything, just observed, which wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't for Aria wearing nothing but pants and a bra for the physical.
Meanwhile, Dr. Martinez put the remaining blood sample in the centrifuge.
Aria put her shirt back on after the exam was finished. Like clockwork, the centrifuge came to a stop at the same time.
Now Mearing looked intrigued. She stood up and walked over to the two women. Dr. Martinez took the tube out of the machine and held it up to the light for everyone to see.
Dr. Harlow was the first to speak. "Looks like Energon levels are still increasing."
While the doctors took down notes, Mearing was still staring at the sample.
It probably was pretty jarring to someone who'd never seen it before.
Harlow had told her that after a blood sample was spun, there should be three layers: red blood cells, platelets, and blood plasma on top. The plasma in a normal sample was a clear yellow liquid, as hers had been.
Now it was pale blue. And when Dr. Martinez shut off the lights, it glowed faintly.
They all waited a while longer for the final part of Dr. Martinez's analysis. She separated the plasma from the rest of the sample and spun it again for another ten minutes.
They all sat in silence. It wasn't normally the case, but Mearing's presence seemed to affect the two doctors as much as it affected Aria.
Mearing, however, was typing rapidly on her phone for almost the entire duration of the cycle.
The whirring sound of the centrifuge stopped. Dr. Martinez got up and started to measure the now two distinct layers in the liquid. One faint blue, and one clear yellow.
"Energon to plasma ratio is nearly one to one. Up three percent from last week. It looks like levels are finally stabilizing."
"Good," Mearing said and stood. "Now what have you done for physical testing?"
The two doctors glanced at each other. Dr. Harlow answered, "We are letting Ms. Normandy exercise at her own discretion. We haven't been keeping any records of her progress."
Mearing looked down her nose at Aria. "Have you?"
Aria shook her head. "No, Director."
Mearing hmphed. "Since these two," she looked at the doctors. "Can't seem to follow instructions. I've arranged for you to do an endurance test at an external facility tomorrow morning. You'll be meeting Colonel Lennox here at seven am sharp. He'll be your overseer for the day and report back to me. Am I clear?'
"Yes, Director," Aria replied tersely.
"Good."
…
Aria yawned. After yet another night without seeing Ironhide, she was back at the base. It wasn't even seven yet, and she'd probably eaten too much breakfast and drank too much water. A part of her wanted to go to the bathroom now instead of throwing up at the sight of whatever endurance course she would be subjected to.
Mearing just had to make everything her business and turn an act of love into a military experiment.
It didn't matter if Ironhide's spark made her stronger or faster or did nothing at all. What mattered was that he gave it to her and that if need be, it would allow her to protect herself.
She sighed and leaned against the wall.
At least Sentinel was back. They must have found him in the evening or during the night. The Autobots were all in their alt modes, still resting. Couldn't she just go curl up with Ironhide? A nap in his backseat sounded nice right about now.
But alas, Will showed up a few minutes later and took her to the training grounds in a vehicle that wasn't an Autobot.
When they rounded the corner to the outdoor facilities, Aria's jaw dropped.
"I thought you said this was a basic training course?"
"Yeah, for NEST special forces." Will scratched the back of his head. "It's more like a Navy SEAL obstacle course. Don't worry, we don't expect you to finish it. It's just a test to see what level you're at. You've been going to the gym, right? No big deal."
"No big deal? That rope is two stories tall! I run on a treadmill and do bicep curls!"
It wasn't an exaggeration either. There were ropes, log obstacles, walls of netting, trenches, tires, sandbags!
"I know you do more than that. Come on, there's no pressure. No one else is even here." Will gestured around the course. "I'll show you how to do each obstacle, then you try it, then at the end, we'll do a run through of the whole thing.
When all she did was look at him with an expression that surely didn't hide her inner panic, he continued. "So first is the vault."
The vault was a series of logs elevated off the ground. Will demonstrated, using only his hands to hurdle over them. He came back and went over the technique step by step.
Once she got it down, it wasn't so bad. It was mostly confidence and momentum. Easy.
Will praised her and moved on to the next obstacle: tires. He put his hands behind his head and stepped through them. Aria followed right behind while mimicking him.
Then came a towering wall made of loose netting. She followed Will's lead and climbed slowly. By now her forearms burned, but she made it to the top and began descending. The key was not looking down. Never look down.
"Wow, Aria, I can't believe you did that first try!"
She nodded, hands on her knees, catching her breath. After a couple of seconds, she straightened.
"Okay," she said. "What's next?"
"Have you ever climbed a rope before?"
"Yeah, in school."
"Perfect."
The rope wasn't that bad either. Despite the blisters forming on her hands and burning muscles that made her eyes water, all she needed was a minute to catch her breath between obstacles.
There was a tightrope walk, a wall with narrow ledges to grip, platforms she had to jump and hoist herself up onto, more logs, more tires, until finally she was done.
"You really have been working out," Will said while checking off the list in his hand. "Your upper body strength is well above average for a girl your size."
They walked back to the start.
"Now time to do the endurance part of the endurance test. I'm going to time you this time. You have three attempts per obstacle. Your goal is to finish the course."
"Is there a time limit?"
"Not for you…but for our guys, it's ten minutes."
"You can do all of that in ten minutes?"
"My record is nine minutes twenty two seconds. Course record is eight minutes fifteen."
Aria shook her head in disbelief and then went to the starting position. Ten minutes, yeah right. Just finishing would be a miracle.
Will blew the whistle and Aria went into a dead sprint towards the vaults. She sprung up and threw herself over each consecutive log before landing on the other side. She threaded her fingers behind her head and stepped through the staggered tires.
She just had to remember to breathe.
She practically threw herself onto the net wall, climbing clumsily to the top and back down again.
Somewhere, in the back if her mind she knew her hands were raw and her muscles ached, but this was nothing. Not compared to running for her life in Egypt or getting attacked by Starscream. This was just some obstacle course.
Up the rope, down the rope. Up the platforms, across the tightrope, more tires. Her muscles would just last long enough to finish each obstacle and then recover just in time for the next. Her arms were numb, she tripped over the sand.
Across the ledge wall, up the log pile, down again and through the steep trench.
Forcing her body up and over one last elevated log, she fell to the ground and half crawled to the finish.
The beep of the timer being stopped was drowned out by the sound of her throwing up on the ground.
Will was saying something about being amazed, but she focused on the water bottle in his hand. It was difficult to drink and attempt to catch her breath at the same time.
Then the bottle fell from her hand, and she lay on the ground. The clouds seemed to spin.
"You still alive?" Will asked after giving her a minute.
"Uh huh," she breathed out. "Time?"
"Fifteen minutes fifty two seconds."
"That's not…terrible."
Will squatted down next to her. "Aria, I've seen men train for years and barely finish the course. I think there might be something to this Energon thing."
"I think it helped me recover between obstacles faster."
Will hummed. "Do you think you could do another one now?"
Aria sat up. Her breathing was back to normal, but the dull ache of her muscles remained. "Maybe in a life or death situation."
"Fair enough," Will said with a laugh. "You're done with the course, but…"
"But what?"
"There's a teensy bit more testing I want you to do."
The teensy bit more Will referred to was a strength test. They went back to the base and used the gym there. On the way, he gave her bandages for her hands which were torn to shreds.
There she deadlifted two-hundred pounds, squatted one-fifty, managed five pull-ups and forty push-ups.
Before the test, she hardly ever dabbled in weight even half that.
Finally, at three she finished a five-mile jog on the treadmill. Will had pages of notes with one definitive answer.
She was way more fit than she should have been.
…
It was a rainy Friday afternoon when Aria came down from Dr. Kamati's cramped office. They still hadn't had any significant findings with the pillars that made the sensible to what Sentinel called 'their laws of physics'. Dr. Kamati reassured Aria that this kind of thing would likely take years to even begin to understand.
"I forgot how awful statistical analysis was. I think it might be worse than reading code all day. It's like I blanked it out of my mind when I finished school."
"Why study it if you don't enjoy it?" Ironhide asked.
She adjusted her spot on his shoulder, still a little sore from the previous day. "I do enjoy it, but I like the theory more. Plus, I was sure a science degree would land me the tour guide job I'd always dreamed of. But no, Mark said I was overqualified. What a jerk."
"Do you want me to threaten him?"
"You? No. I should go do it." Aria flexed a bicep.
"I heard William mention your physical test. He said you did well."
She had wanted to tell Ironhide about it as soon as she'd finished, but he was out on patrol. He said he visited her later that night, but she was already passed out.
"I barely made it through the course, then he made me come back and do a bunch of strength tests, and then made me do cardio!"
"You did do well then. Do you know why they decided to test you?"
"Mearing requested it. She came to one of my exams and saw my blood sample. She wanted to know if the Energon affected me physically."
She kept it vague. They were getting dangerously close to the topic she'd been avoiding.
Ironhide's eyes narrowed. "That is not the Director's business."
"Everything between me and you is her business. She told me as much." Upon seeing Ironhide's questioning expression, she elaborated. "She has separate files on humans and Autobots that are close. One for Sam and Bee, one for Amber and Sideswipe, and one for me and you. She showed me a bunch of camera stills of us talking or looking at each other. She's probably got people keeping tabs on us right now." She glanced up at the camera in the corner of the room.
Ironhide examined the camera closely, his optics dilating and constricting. "I don't see any audio input system. They can't hear us."
Aria blinked. "You can see if it has audio?"
"It's not very difficult when you know what to look for. Human tech is still very rudimentary."
"Did you just call my people primitive again?" Aria tapped a finger on Ironhide's face.
"Your technology is basic. Your bow was primitive, even to human standards."
She nuzzled her cheek to his. "Good thing I have such a noble Autobot to make me a new, superior Cybertronian one."
"You can't deny it's better in every way," he said, leaning into her.
Just then the overhead door opened to reveal Sentinel. For a split second, it looked like he was going to say something, but his eyes lingered on Ironhide and then to Aria on his shoulder.
She and Ironhide straightened. And before Ironhide could get a word in, Sentinel's expression darkened.
"I did not realize how low you've fallen, Ironhide. Fraternizing with a lowly human. Pathetic."
As Sentinel turned to leave, Ironhide abruptly stood, almost causing Aria to lose her balance and fall. "How dare you say such a thing!"
Sentinel faced him. "You abandoned Chromia on our doomed planet. And now you disgrace her with this inferior being."
"Inferior?" Ironhide seemed to stop himself from attacking and collected himself. "I already made it clear to you. She refused to leave."
"Then you should have stayed with her," Sentinel bellowed before dropping his voice. "Or are you still struggling with loyalty?"
"Do not question my loyalty, Prime."
"Then perhaps I should question your sanity."
Ironhide went to say something back, but Aria put a hand on his face. When he looked sideways at her, she shook her head.
"Disgusting," was all Sentinel said before walking away.
Ironhide turned away, wordlessly holding his hand up for Aira to climb onto. He let her down onto the stage.
If the pacing wasn't an indication of his rage, the burning in her chest was.
"How dare he speak of you like that. Comparing you to her. Questioning my loyalty."
"Hide," Aria raised her voice over his heavy footfalls. "Don't take it personally."
Ironhide stopped at her words and looked down at her.
"He doesn't like humans." She gestured to herself. "He's made that pretty clear the last few days."
"What did he say to you?" Ironhide kneeled in front of her.
"Actually, he hasn't said a word to me. I tried introducing myself and he kind of just looked at me as if I had the audacity to speak to him. Amber said she had a similar experience. Clearly, he thinks we are beneath him."
Ironhide looked away, snarling something in Cybertronian. The lights of his eyes softened when they met hers again. "I'm sorry I didn't realize. I've hardly spoken to you since we brought him to Earth."
"It's not your fault." She reached out and touched the side of his face. "It'll probably take a while for him to adjust and realize we're not so different. Just like you did."
"I never thought you were beneath me, Aria. You were too good to be true, and I didn't trust it. Now I do, and you've shown me everything this world has to offer." He stood. "I will ask Optimus to speak to Sentinel about this. What Sentinel thinks about humans is irrelevant, he cannot speak to you or anyone like that."
With resolve in his step, he went to exit the room.
But she wasn't done yet. There was still one more question that clawed away at her insides until she couldn't hold it in any longer.
"Do you think I'm inferior to Chromia?"
Her words stopped Ironhide in his tracks. He stood there, completely still, as if her words froze him.
"Who told you about her?"
"I've…heard the story. I'm not upset or anything. Just…" She looked down at her hands. "Curious."
He looked back over his shoulder. "If you believe you are inferior in any way, you are wrong. You are opposites, and I hope by the feeling of the shard in your chest, you know my spark shines for you only."
Ironhide turned away and exited the room leaving Aria there with a hand on her chest.
The feeling that flooded her was that of pure sincerity, stronger than any words could describe. It brought tears to her eyes.
How could she ever doubt his love for her?
…