Predatory

Definitely Certain Death

There he was. Leaning casually against a wall, the towering purple mech stared at me menacingly. He was holding a datapad in one servo, and a steaming mug of hot energon in the other. Because of the mask, his expression was a mystery to me. However, chills still ran up my spinal struts from his mere presence. I wondered if he could hear the thundering of my spark beat as loud as I could? He stared at me strangely for a few moments. I wondered what he was thinking.
"What exactly are you doing here so early?" He asked concerned. I blinked. I hadn't expected his voice to sound so....amazing. Also, what did he mean early? He apparently had wanted to start training before breakfast, hadn't he? I really wanted to ask, but I was too terrified to open my mouth. What was I supposed to address him as? Sir? Major? Corporal? General? What? Not to mention I didn't know what early even meant! My social anxiety started kicking in as well to the point all my thoughts immediately didn't make sense anymore. I tried to think of an appropriate answer and barely was able to string together the words,
"E-early, Sir?"
"First of all, you can call me by my name. I have one for a reason. Secondly, yes, you are early. You are supposed to be at breakfast right now. Are you not?" He tilted his head to the side. I blinked again. What did the captain mean then by, 'Meet him before breakfast'? Today couldn't possibly get any more convoluted. To calm myself down I went over the facts.
1. Tarn was my mentor.
2. My captain had given me false information.
3. I needed to answer Tarn's question before it seemed like I was ignoring him.
I managed a, "Yes, Si-uh sorry."
He continued staring at me for a moment, then sighed again.
"Well, no point in making you walk back up 4 flights of stairs I suppose." He took another sip from his mug, then placed the datapad on the training room floor.
He gestured with his hand for me to follow him. I shouldered my bag, and did as I was told. Half jogging slightly to keep up with the tall mech. He lead me out to the training room and down the hall slightly to a locked door. This he promptly opened after swiping a key card on the lock. He gestured for me to go in first, and I did. The first thing I saw in the room, was a fighting ring. It was square, with a padded mat, and surrounded by see through walls that came up to about my chasis. The ring was pretty large, probably about as long as two Tarn's stacked on top of each other were tall. I was immediately worried.  He wasn't planning on assessing my fighting skills....himself, was he? I bit my bottom lip plate. Intake, Dreadflight. I told myself. Hyperventilating will not help your cause in the least! I took a few deep intakes to hopefully calm down my panicked mind. There's no way he would do that. Besides, it's not like he would purposely kill a trainee for basic sparring practice, right? My social anxiety however, was definitely in full swing. It was kind of sad that I was more terrified at the idea of basic conversation with another intelligent being than fighting the most feared Decepticon in history... I seriously need to get my priorities in order.
"Seeing as this seems to be your specialty, at least so says the paperwork, I thought we might start with hand to hand combat first. It's the easiest thing to learn that we are going to cover." He interrupted my internal meltdown. Scrap. He is going to fight me! I slid my bag off my shoulder and set it on the ground. I made my way to the ring, and began to accept my fate. Without really knowing how I got there, I realized my peddes had led me into the ring. Tarn was already in the opposite corner, he was reading something on a new datapad I hadn't seen him pick up. Then muttering to himself, he half-hazardly tossed it onto a small mat beside the ring.
"You've been through boot camp and basic training already, so I take it I don't need to show you how to punch someone?" He said. It took me a moment to realize he was joking. Then I replied.
"No, no you don't."
He chuckled slightly before taking a combat stance. His right leg and forearm forward. So Tarn's right-servoed eh? Alright. I also noticed that he kept his arms around his chasis and helm. There's no way I can get a hit there. I thought to myself. Slowly, a battle plan was starting to form. I assumed a different battle stance to my usual one. I copied Tarn's, right-servoed method. I also made my faceplate as impassive and unreadable as possible. I preferred my opponent to be unable to see my emotions play out. It threw them off of their game. Especially when they're cocky. Though I doubt Tarn would be an easy opponent to take down. So I would need every advantage I could get.
However, I needed to find his weak spot. And luckily, my training from The Madam had prepared me for this scenario perfectly.
I started to go through my mental checklist of Tarn's obvious advantages 
1. Experience
2. Ruthlessness
3. Strength
4. Height
5. Obvious skill and technique
6. Heavy armor

I noted all of these and tweaked my battle plan accordingly. Now what can his weaknesses be? This I would have to find out through testing. I gritted my denta. I might have a shot of living through this one...maybe.
Tarn and I stared each other down for a few moments.
He had taken off his fusion cannons for the time being, as well as some of the other heavy weaponry he usually carried on his back. This was good news for several reasons. But mainly, it would give him a weaker blind spot. Despite what traitors might think, he does not, in fact, have optics in the back of his helm. Which meant that if I could get behind him before he reacted, I would have the upper hand, if only for a few ticks.
Both of us took a few steps toward each other. He was watching my optics, trying to see my plan. I glared back, knowing this tactic well. Often it was enough to win by simply staring your opponent down. But that wouldn't work for either of us today. So instead, I decided, against my better judgement, to make the first move.