Transformers Short Story

Body Guards

Rose aka Golden Prima trudged through the undergrowth. She'd been cast on a training relay mission to assist Ultra Magnus's elite guard selections by testing their "metal", so to speak. Her adjective was to hunt down and capture all Guard trainees and choose the top two cadets to become members of her private bodyguard team. Although this wasn't her idea, more so pushed by the council, Rose had watched the cadets train over the past deca-cycles and she was pleased with their progress and willing to take them by her side. If any of the cadets weren't chosen they would make fine additions to Ultra Magnus's Branch Protection Division, overseen by Bumblebee. Rose came to a full stop as a scent drifted past her olfactory system, two cadets up ahead perched somewhere above her, their EM fields threaded protectively around them. Rose stiffened as more scents flowed to her, she was surrounded by the guard cadets, whether they sensed her presence or not, this would be extremely messy. Rose crouched into the nearby bushes before assessing her surroundings. She only had a mile of foliage coverage on each side, perfect for blending in well with the environment if you used it to your advantage. Unfortunately for Rose, her white and orange paint job clashed horribly with the green hues of the undergrowth. Rose crouched even lower at the thought and weighed her options. Taking out each individual member was growing taxing and each one she eliminated only brought more attention to her strategies and actions. Rose shut her optics tightly and used her remaining senses to lead her around the bush she had camped out in. Up ahead, the two cadets still waited, though they seemed more relaxed than the first time she'd sensed them, she could still imagine them giving their environment the same treatment as she was. All individual cadets had been eliminated, leaving two teams of two; four cadets in total. Rose directed her attention to the farther right, where she'd scented the next team. Although her straining senses told her they were a good distance away she wasn't particularly put at ease. Rose shuttered her optics quietly before slowly creeping forward toward group one's perch. She threaded through the foliage with light pedes, not daring to startle the group up ahead since it would most likely alert the rest of the cadets. She came to a halt just within visual of the first group. They were a most particular team, built to even out their strengths and weakness; a Seeker and a Predacon. The Predacon, heavily built with a dark black/gray paint job and piercing ice blue optics, was scanning his surroundings with sharp optics, watching thicker foliage with narrowed slits and heightened auditory fins. The Seeker, light blue frame with purple racing strips and orange optics, was watching the tree line from her position on a thick branch just slightly above the Predacon. The Seeker shifted her door wings which triggered the Predacon to snap to full alertness, they'd seen something. The Seeker shifted to lean into the Predacon's fin, leaving Rose straining to hear, "There's another team up ahead....two....they've got to....moving through the tree line....follow their position with your receptors, Nightspot." Nightspot huffed in agreement before training his senses toward the Seeker's directions, notably following the team with his auditory fins. Rose closed her optics once more and followed the group as they moved farther into the trees and most likely into the neighboring grass plains. Nightspot clicked his denta, which the Seeker responded to. She scanned her surroundings before dropping nimbly from her tree branch and to the ground. She stretched the cabling on her door wings before motioning to Nightspot. Nightspot hesitated before looking over the brush again, "I don't like this Quickshield...Golden Prima hasn't captured another team member in almost a groon (one hour)...she's watching, Sheild." Quickshield looked at the surrounding brush with wariness, soon brushing it off with a shrug, "We can't sit here for hours Nightspot. If we follow that other Predacon and his teammate we might be able to track Golden Prima." Nightspot stared at her skeptically, lowering his voice, "Do you think that wise? Golden Prima hasn't made any mistakes so far and I'm not going to chance it trying to retrace their steps for that." Quickshield sighed before giving him a brief nod, "This is where I leave you then...good luck Nightspot." Nightspot returned her nod solemnly, "Good luck, Quickshield." Rose mulled over their conversation in her helm. Nightspot had a very good head on his shoulders, paired with his Predacon instincts and prowess he was a formidable opponent and tracker. Rose could hear the heavy pedes of Quickshield as she trudged through the undergrowth. She wasn't built for ground communication and her talent wasn't used much during these training exercises but she seemed quick-witted and dangerously smart even when she lacked the skills to match Rose's needs. Nightspot settled briefly back into the tree before scenting the air. He kept a weary eye on the sounds still coming from Quickshield's direction before sighing. He glanced around the tree before jumping down as Quickshield had done. Although there were no coherent rules, besides no one getting hurt type of code, cadets could do what they wanted during this time. Though when "captured", where Rose simply tagged the cadet out, they would return to base and wait until the rest of the cadets returned. Even then, getting tagged wasn't game over for the recruits either, it all came down to Rose's approval and the Council's directive. Rose watched as Nightspot crept carefully into the foliage to her right, heading opposite Quickshield. Rose watched him with a curious expression, he was navigating the growth fairly well even with his size proportion and there was no hesitancy in his step. Rose huffed before following Quickshield. She caught up to her fairly quickly as she seemed to have no regard for the noise she was making. Rose followed into her blind spot, creeping closer until she could see the intricate cabling on her door jambs. She promptly tapped the Seeker's shoulder, shushing her as she turned to shriek in surprise. The Seeker snapped her mouth plate shut and breathed a sigh, hanging her head in defeat. Rose gave her a meaningful nod before stepping back into the undergrowth. She retraced her steps to follow Nightspot once more. His path was cut and jagged, most likely trying to send her off his scent, though his work was done hastily as if he knew she was following him. Rose paused before scenting the air, he was still a good couple of feet away from her and she could tell he hadn't paused yet which made tracking him from a distance easier. The Predacon was headed further into the woods, veering in the direction of the last team and Rose considered tapping him out before he was able to join the other team. She shuttered her optics before regaining his trail again, she could wait till she assessed the last group before taking them off. She continued to follow Nightspot through the undergrowth for a couple of groons, waiting for any signs of the last team but so far she'd only caught snips of fading scent/EM field output. Nightspot stopped up ahead, causing Rose to copy him with a slight grumble. The Predacon turned fully to view his surroundings before trudging forward to the last bit of tree coverage before the grass took over. Nightspot puffed a hot steam of air out of his jets before continuing briskly out onto the prairie. Rose rewound the conversation the two cadets had earlier and scrunched her nasal ridge; Nightspot was using Quickshield's idea in the basic sense. Nightspot continued to edge around the grass. Rose let a greater distance float between them while she assessed her location. The grass of the plain was high and brittle, perfect for coverage but the reeds snapped harshly whenever stepped on so any cadet with heightened audial receptors could easily pick up her footing. As she was studying her course, Nightspot had paused at the edge of an outcrop in the middle of the grass sea and was watching the rock intently. Rose tilted her head and reached her sensors out, feeling for any movement from the outcrop. Sure enough, another Predacon and a wrecker build greeted the single cadet. The other Predacon was a cool blue with spots of black on his arms/pedes and with matching black optics and his partner, the wrecker was sporting a more excentric paint job of neon green and white with blue optics. The cadets talked briskly among themselves before moving back into the cliff side where a low-hanging cleft brought great cover. Rose slowly crawled to the other side of the cleft and pinned her frame low to the ground, watching as the cadets busied themselves with checking the surrounding area. Nightspot flicked his audial fins, "She's watching us, Blackswitch, Comet." Blackswitch leaned toward Nightspot with an easy grin, though Rose could sense his EM field reaching out to search, "Stay calm. You said you saw her follow Quickshield, right? So Quickshield is out and that should have delayed her by a couple of kilks. She followed you here to us and now she posted outside in the grass somewhere. Do you know if she was following you directly on your path or veered off?" Rose grinned, pleased, Blackswitch was known for his easy-going manner but his pride for strategies and tracker abilities majorly outweighed his fellow classmates. Nightspot shifted, "I believe she was following roughly the same path, there are no footprints in the tree area unless you pin your optics to it so I'd say she'd have to follow it directly. Out in the grass, she could have loosened off a bit. She'd been able to see, sense, and hear me for a good while." Blackswitch nodded briefly, "Then she's taking shelter just like us. She's chosen a spot near ours with good coverage and with surroundings with the least resistance to make a path straight to us if she wanted." Comet peered out the cleft, "There's no other rock face than this one..." All three cadets paused as Rose swiftly interrupted them by crawling into the space to greet them. They were all too shocked to move and soon, Rose had successfully tagged all of them, "Nice thinking on your pedes, but you have to think a bit quicker than your enemy next time." Blackswitch accepted her praise and notes with a respectful nod before climbing out of the cleft with his teammates. Rose escorted the last cadets back to Ultra Magnus's base, where the other recruits were talking/rehashing the day's events in excited tones. Ultra Magnus greeted Rose as she broke off from the three cadets, "Did you see anyone promising?" Rose nodded thoughtfully, "A few, I'll bring my recommendations to the council and we'll know first thing tomorrow who will be my new bodyguards." Rose rolled her eyes at the statement, much to Magnus's amusement, "This will be good for you and them...now, go see your spark-mate before he blows a gasket." Rose chuckled before swiftly making her way towards Drift's hab-suit here on one of the training bases, on earth. She knocked politely and was almost knocked back by the two mini-cons who meet her at the door, "Rose! Do you find any bodyguards yet? How were the recruits? Did Ultra Magnus give you a hard time?" Rose chuckled with a smile, "Hopefully the council will take my recommendations into consideration. And no Magnus was just fine." Jetstorm tugged at her hand and pulled her successfully into the hab-suit, which was decorated with Drift's tastes in mind, "Master Drift has been waiting for you all day!" Rose rolled her eyes fondly, before shooing the two min-cons back into their separate rooms and looking around the suit for her spark-mate. She turned a corner and stopped abruptly, Drift was meditating in the living room area, his face set with a relaxed frown. Rose tiptoed carefully up to him and kissed his cheek, getting a startled reaction from Drift himself, "My blossom, I did not hear you come in!" Rose smiled softly and cupped his jaw, "Someone said you missed me." Drift huffed before releasing his frame from the meditative position, "I said no such thing." Rose trailed her fingers along his mouth plate, "Is that so?" Drift hummed before kissing her softly, "It is."