Chapter 9: Training

"In today's top story, the ongoing assessment of damages inflicted by last night's blackout in Tennessee have turned up startling results," a Hispanic man with a prominent mustache on the television said."As of press time, up to thirty percent of Nashville is still without power, while a number of smaller towns scattered throughout the region are expected to remain so for the foreseeable future. In other news, a detachment of the Tennessee National Guard has been deployed in the same general area…"

The video of the man paused as the window grew smaller, followed shortly thereafter by the image of a blank avatar materializing on the monitor.

"Congratulations, Director," the voice at the other end bitterly proclaimed. "Not only do we have the Autobots and the military to worry about, but now we're looking at Hector Ramirez sticking his nose into our business too."

The Director scoffed as he looked around his new office. "You want me to worry about that sensationalist hack? Trust me– give him a week and he'll be off chasing a juicier, far more lucrative lead."

"That isn't the point," another member of the Board said. "If you hadn't been nearly so cavalier with your experiments at Sadie Brooks, then we wouldn't be in this…predicament. And no, you managing to get the equipment and research data out of there doesn't make up for you potentially irreparably compromising our security– and especially not the loss of the test subjects."

"With all due respect…"

"Spare us the dog and pony show, Director," yet another member butted in, the tone in her voice brooking no dissent. "Thanks to your surprising ineptitude, our enemies now have four new members that they're undoubtedly training, we've lost a highly valuable installation, and now we have media attention to worry about."

"But…"

"Consider yourself lucky that I spend most of my time actually running my company," a fourth voice added, "Otherwise, I'd come by to personally supervise your little Frankenstein reenactments. Understood?"

"Yes, Mister Hargrove," he replied, emphasizing the Board member's name like he would the word "rattlesnakes". "Though I must emphasize, these setbacks are merely… temporary inconveniences."

"They had better be, Director."

And with that, the call ended, the avatars vanishing to reveal the MECH desktop wallpaper.

Let's see if things are better on the home front, he thought as he opened two new windows, each one containing a blank avatar and a name beneath it. A moment later, the avatars vanished, revealing Rourke in the left and Sumdac in the right.

"Yes, Director?" the latter asked.

"Professor, what's the latest on Metamorphosis?"

"Everything is in the green so far, sir. We've processed twenty volunteers thus far, and assuming our projections line up…"

"How many can I expect by the end of the month?"

"Two, maybe three hundred," came the reply.

"Good," he said. "Rourke, mind telling me how everything's going on your end?"

"We're still setting up the training grounds at that old mining town," the commander replied. "Thank God for prefab buildings, I suppose."

"Yes, I see. Now, how long until it's operational?"

"End of the week. Meantime, I've got to ask you something else."

"Proceed."

"Am I the only one who thinks it's just a little strange that the Autobots managed to find their friends so quickly? Or for that matter, how they managed to break into the recovery room without half the facility hearing it?"

The Director rubbed his chin. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting, Commander?"

"Too early to tell on the second one– for all we know, they could've hacked the system and forged the necessary credentials."

"And the first?"

"Dumb luck, if you ask me. Maybe your pet lab rat has a different explanation."

A moment later, Rourke's screen went dark, and the Director's attention fully shifted over to Sumdac. "Well, Professor?"

"Well," the latter began, "judging from what I managed to gather from Silas's notes, energon– in addition to all its other applications and functions– serves as some sort of combination of a tracking mechanism and a fingerprint."

"Go on."

"Perhaps after they arrived, the other Autobots managed to detect the new signatures and followed them right to the recovery room."

"An excellent theory, Professor," he replied. "Perhaps we can further discuss it at some other time. Meanwhile, you'd best get back to work."

And with that, he ended the call, only to start a third one a few moments later.

"What is it this time, sir?" Rourke asked.

"Commander, how much security data did we manage to salvage from Sadie Brooks?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I just had a chat with my, as you say eloquently put it, 'pet lab rat', and let's just say I find his explanation for the Autobots' surprisingly rapid discovery to be wanting."

"So you want me to perform an investigation on him, is that it?"

"Yes."

Rourke pondered. "I'll see what I can do, but don't expect any quick results."

Autobot Base

"June, tell me something– is this what it's like trying to teach humans how to walk?" Ratchet said, inwardly cringing at the sight of the former human sprawled across the floor.

"More or less," came the reply. "Actually, I take that back– probably the closest equivalent would be a therapist teaching someone how to walk again after they got prosthetic legs."

The older medic sighed. "Come on, I'll get you back on your feet. Meantime, looks like your son's almost got the hang of things."

As she grabbed onto Ratchet's extended servo, she turned her head and saw Jack hobbling around the room, his servo intertwined with a blushing Arcee's in such a way that she caught him every time he stumbled.

"Odd question, but do you think I–"

"Yes, you can. Just don't think it means anything beyond therapy."

She blushed. "Relax– I'm married anyways."

Before Ratchet could make a response, a distinct thud filled the air, followed shortly thereafter by a pained groan from Miko. "Speaking as one medical professional to another," he said, "am I the only one who thinks this'll be a long solar cycle?"

"Not by a long shot," June replied as she watched a nearby Bulkhead help the younger girl up.

A few days later

"Well, now that we've got 'bipedal locomotion' down," Ratchet began as he inspected the four newest additions to the Autobots' ranks, "I say that it's just about time that we start running you through basic combat training."

"Finally!" Miko exclaimed.

"Now, this should probably go without saying, but your primary offensive weapons at any range are your blasters. Of course, what should also go without saying is that you need to know where to aim them in order to drop your opponent as quickly and efficiently as possible."

"And where would that be?" Raf piped up.

"Much like with humans, your main target should be center-of-mass– that is to say, the spark chamber. Should that not be a viable option, you are to go for the head. Either way, a well-placed hit should put your opponent out of commission before they can do the same to you!" He gestured to a makeshift firing range behind him. "Smokescreen, a little demonstration."

The Autobot in question promptly activated his blaster and aimed at a nearby stack of oil barrels that had had the Decepticon emblem painted on their sides. A moment later, he fired, the blast sending them flying across the range. "Your turn," he said to Jack as he reverted his arm back into its original form.

The latter nodded before stepping forward. Staring at the barrels as he walked, he stretched out his arm, clenched his servo into a fist, and…nothing.

"Awkward…" a nearby Miko piped up.

Arcee shook her head, desperately trying hold back a chuckle. "You can't just activate your weapons systems at the flick of a wrist first time around," she said as she walked up to him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She took a deep breath. "First, you've got to think of your weapon. Once you do that, you've got two options to activate it– either use a specific emotion, or link it to a certain part of your memory. You concentrate on that, you arm your weapon."

"That…almost makes sense."

"Give it a try, soldier."

Jack nodded and closed his eyes, picturing the blaster on his servo as he rooted through his memories. A few moments later, he heard the sound of metal shifting and gears turning and then opened his eyes. There, where his servo had previously been, was a box-shaped blaster glowing light blue.

"What'd you use?"

"Time you told me to take the wheel," came the reply.

"Good choice," she said. "Now, let's see what sort of firepower you're packing."

As Jack leveled his blaster at the barrels, he noticed a visor and mouth guard form around his face, giving the impression that he was wearing his old bike helmet. On the lower left corner of the visor, he could see what looked like some sort of radar display, while the lower right housed what looked like some kind of vital signs monitor. Across the top, he could make out a horizontal digital compass, while the middle of the screen was dominated by a targeting system.

Whoa.

He pulled a mental trigger, and an energy bolt hit the topmost barrel.

"Nice shot, but let's see if it's more than just beginner's luck."

He locked onto the barrel on the left and fired again, then the right, and then finally the top of the target in another lane.

"Impressive," Arcee said as she looked over Jack's handiwork. "Tell me– you do much shooting back when you were human?"

"Do tin cans and clay pigeons count as valid targets?"

She rolled her optics. "Anyways," she began, "let's see how you do against moving targets. Bulkhead?"

"Yeah?"

"Pull."

Right on cue, another barrel came shooting out of the distance. Failing to miss a beat, Jack opened fire just slightly ahead of it, and down it went.

(How'd you…)

"Technical term is 'shooting skeet'," he replied. "And thanks for the help."

Arcee cracked a slight smile. "Anytime," she said. "June, you're up next."

The former human in question nodded as she walked up to the range just as Bumblebee and Bulkhead had finished resetting it. Snapping into position and focusing on her blasters, she began to root around in the recesses of her mind for the link…

"Do you, June Post, take John Darby to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward?"

The clicking noises soon brought her back to reality, and she looked down at her new blaster– a single-barreled affair that resembled a more rounded version of Arcee's. Turning to face the targets, she opened fire, with the blast resembling a conical pattern more than a single bolt of energy. A few seconds later, there was a clattering noise as the top and center of the middlemost stack fell to the ground, while the outermost ones of the other two were merely slightly singed by the blast.

"Bit sloppy, but nice work," Smokescreen said. "Especially for a first go with a scatter blaster."

"Shotgun," came the reply.

"What?"

"We usually call them shotguns on this planet."

"I see." He turned to the next one up. "Raf, let's see what you've got."

The youngest of the bunch nodded and closed his eyes, his blasters popping up about a minute or so later. In place of the expected barrel, he instead had compartments that opened up on each side of either arm that terminated in some sort of pointy nodes.

"Madre de Dios…" he whispered.

"Well, that's certainly…different," Arcee said. "Now, let's see how they work."

Raf promptly aimed at the barrels and fired. Almost immediately, four blasts of electricity erupted from the nodes and hit the newly reset barrels, the impact promptly accompanied by a shower of sparks erupting outwards.

"Now, let's see what happens when you charge them first."

As soon as Bulkhead and Bumblebee had finished their job, a growing electrical whine began to fill the room as Raf did just that. Shortly thereafter, there was a sound like thunder as his weapons discharged and sent out lightning bolts across his arc of fire, striking down all the stacks in one fell swoop.

"So," June began as the last few arcs bouncing between the toppled barrels began to fizzle out, "does anyone have any idea why MECH would give us more conventional weapons while he gets to channel the wrath of God?"

(Maybe they expect him to be in situations where he's surrounded on all sides?)

"Anti-infrastructure weapon," Bulkhead casually replied. "Hit the right target with that thing, and he'd probably fry half a power grid in a nanoclick!"

"Knowing MECH, it could be both," Arcee said. "Anyways, last one is Miko."

The girl in question flashed a broad grin as she got into position, her giddiness further betrayed by her bouncing on the balls of her feet. "So, focus on the gun then a memory, right?" she asked a nearby Smokescreen.

"Yeah, more or less," came the reply. "First though, you're going to need to cool your jets so you can actually focus in the first place."

"Fine…" she grumbled, slowly beginning to focus on her weapons while searching for a potential key memory. "Let's see here…Okinawa vacation…getting into the exchange student program…meeting the Autobots…saving Bulkhead…" She smiled as she latched onto it. "Who'd think that just me strumming an electric guitar was enough to bring him back from the brink?"

Just then, she heard the clicking noises and proceeded to look down her arms at her blasters. While superficially resembling longer versions of Arcee's, a closer examination of the barrel revealed not the typical aperture for an energy bolt, but rather a hole with a speaker deep inside.

"And here I thought Raf's were weird," a befuddled Smokescreen said. "Well, let's see what they can do, shall we?"

An uncanny stillness settled over the room as Miko leveled her weapons at the barrels and fired. Instead of the expected blast, however, what emerged was some sort of tube, followed shortly by a blast of sound and then by the barrels scattering around all over the floor.

(Well, that was…something.)

"Just 'something'?" Miko replied. "I'll tell you what it was– it was SO METAL! Those Decepticreeps better watch their back, because as of now, I can drop the bass any time I want!"

A nearby Ratchet cradled his head in his hands. "That settles it," he wearily said to nobody in particular. "I have officially gone offline and gone to the Pit." He sighed. "And to think they still have close-quarters training to go through…"

Later that day

"Now, I know what you're all thinking," Bulkhead began as he and the four former humans entered a room containing a number of old pickup trucks dangling from the ceiling. "So what if a 'Con tries to take me in hand-to-hand– I've got a blaster! Thing is, you're not always going to have time to activate it, which is where your secondary weapons come in. Observe."

And with that, he formed his servos into wrecking balls and gave the nearest truck a few solid punches before turning back to his cohorts.

"Simple, right? Anyways, just like your blasters, you need to focus on your secondaries along with a certain memory. Could be the same one as before, could be another one– just as long as you can activate them." He turned his attention to Jack. "You're up first."

"One step ahead of you," the latter replied as he walked up towards the nearest truck, his right servo replaced by a broadsword while an energy buckler rested on his left arm. A moment later, he heard a low whistle from Arcee.

"Yes?" he asked, a slight edge to his voice.

"Easy there, hotshot," the other Autobot replied. "Just appreciating the warrior's classics is all."

(Keep telling yourself that…) Bumblebee piped up.

"Anyway," she said as she shot the scout a dirty look, "let's see what…what…"

"What I can do?"

"Sure, let's go with that," she replied. "Now, go for it."

Jack gave a quick nod and turned his attention back to the truck, positioning his sword like a baseball bat as he looked for any weak points in the metal. A few moments later, he swung out his blade, promptly slicing the roof off like it was made of paper. Looking back, he saw Bulkhead examining his results.

"Pretty good work for a beginner there!" the Wrecker said. "Technique's a bit sloppy, but that's what practice's for. June, your turn!"

She looked at her target and concentrated on her secondaries. Within seconds, she heard swishing noises, and she looked at her servos to see scalpel-like knives similar to Ratchet's, albeit scaled more to her proportions. Eyeing the truck, she slashed at it, slicing off the doors and roof and leaving deep gashes in the metal.

"Well," a nearby Ratchet said as he walked up and examined her handiwork, "color me impressed. Way you handled your tools, maybe I ought to give a bit more combat training than I'd planned."

She smirked. "In that case, I should warn you that I'm a fast learner." And with that, she retracted her blades. Instead of her servos turning back to normal, however, they changed into a set of huge rectangular pads with curved corners. Looking them over, she could swear she saw arcs of electricity sparking off them.

(What're those?)

"Looks some kind of defibrillators," she said. "Wonder if they work the same as the ones back in the hospital…"

She placed the two pads together and began to rub, sending forth more sparks of electricity. As soon as they were fully charged, she placed them on the truck. Almost as soon as the pads made contact with the metal, some sort of electric pulse went out and pushed the truck back.

"Weaponizable medical tools," she said as she watched dangling vehicle continue to swing back and forth. "Somehow, I am strangely okay with this."

Ratchet nodded. "Give MECH this much– if this is anything to go by, then they don't skimp out." He pondered. "Well, guess we'll see if they gave you anything else once we get started on your medical training."

"Just try to keep with me, okay?" she replied as she reverted the pads back into her servos, a friendly grin plastered across her face.

Meanwhile, Raf made his way up and began focusing on his own secondaries. A fraction of a second later, he heard a compartment open up, with a quick downward glance revealing a slanted opening with a hole in the center mounted at the top of his arm.

"That's…odd," he said to nobody in particular. "I wonder it does."

No sooner had he finished his sentence, a metal cable shot out and wrapped around the truck, tightening around it until it eventually crumpled like an empty soda can.

"Aren't those the same things Soundwave uses?" a nearby Jack asked.

"Probably," Wheeljack replied. "But to be fair, does it really matter if he's on our side?"

A few moments later, Miko walked up, grinning from audio receptor to audio receptor as she got into position. "Now," she said, "let's how I'm going to be able to kick 'Con tailpipe up close and personal!"

"Like Smoke said, cool your jets," Bulkhead said. "Remember– gotta focus on your weapons before you can use 'em."

Miko gave a reluctant nod and did so. A moment later, she examined her changed servo, the usual metallic hand now replaced by a familiar-looking hammer.

"Isn't that one of Breakdown's?" Smokescreen asked.

"It is," Bulkhead replied as a look of dawning realization formed across his face. "Now," he continued, turning to his formerly human friend, "let's see how well you hit with them."

"Aye aye, big guy," she said, a broad smirk on her face as she converted her other servo into an identical hammer and assumed a combat stance, unaware that both bludgeons had opened up slightly and the circuits on the inside had begun glowing. She soon flung herself forward, quickly spinning before landing a solid one-two punch on the old hulk…only for it to go flying off the chain the second her blow connected. Time seemed to stand still as it soared across the space before eventually slamming into the wall and then landing on top of (and crushing!) one of Ratchet's tools.

"I NEEDED THAT!" the old medic bellowed before the noise of the impact had even faded.

Had she still been capable of it, she'd have blushed as she turned to face him. "Guess I don't know my own strength," she sheepishly said.

First sonic blasters, and now this, Arcee thought. What did I ever do to deserve something like this?

Later still

"Okay," Arcee began as she looked over Jack, Raf, and Miko, "once again, I'm sure you're all thinking you're invincible just because you've managed to get a grip on using your close-combat secondaries. Much like your blasters, however, you're not always going to have time to activate them in the field– hence why our next round of training is focused around unarmed techniques." She paused. "Now, our first step will be to run through some basic drills–"

"Are you serious?" Miko groaned. "We're going to fight Decepticreeps, and you want us to do drills?! Maybe we should tell the 'Cons to run us through that particular course when they're busy tearing us apart!"

One of the two-wheeler's optics twitched as she turned to face the trainee in question. "Trust me when I say that these exercises are vital for survival on the battlefield," she curtly said.

"Yeah, but I've got hammers that can smash through anything," the former human smugly replied. "In fact, I bet I can beat you with my optics closed."

Arcee sighed. "The only thing you'll be able to do if you try that stunt is to make a fool of yourself," she bluntly said.

"Oh, yeah? Well, think fast!"

And with that, Miko charged forward, hammers at the ready and positioned to strike her cohort's head. Just before she could close the gap, however, Arcee countered with a sweep kick, knocking her flat on her back.

"Told you," the older Autobot matter-of-factly said as her counterpart let out a pained groan. "Now, are you going to take this seriously?"

"Yes, ma'am," Miko grunted, trying to block out the sound of Jack and Raf snickering.

Medical ward– same time

"So, in summation," Ratchet said to a nearby June, "apart from all the significant inherent differences between organic and medical systems, Cybertronian and human biology are similar enough to where you're probably not going to need all that much additional training. Questions?"

"As a matter of fact," the former nurse began as she got up from the crate she'd recently been using as a chair, "I've got a particularly…sensitive one."

"Go ahead," came the blunt reply.

"Is there any sort of difference between lifespans?"

Ratchet sharply exhaled. "To put it simply, yes," he said. "Assuming that MECH didn't slip any further unwanted surprises in or some condition caused by the energon conversion, you and the kids should be around for at least a few more hundred thousand years, if not longer."

She blinked. "You mean that…"

"Hate to break it to you, but yes, you're going to outlive everyone you know."

"What about…"

"Your husband? We'll cross that bridge when we get there." He took another breath. "In the meantime, let's get back to your training," he said, gesturing at a waiting practice dummy.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Sorry for the long gap between updates, but between a mix of real life obligations, other projects, and a nasty case of writer's block for a good chunk of the summer, let's just say I had a difficult time making any significant progress. Thank you for your patience, and hopefully I'll be able to get back to updating more regularly.