Accidents do happen – don't they?

"Perhaps that's not a wise decision," Optimus commented to her. But his optics were still locked on the action down on the training grounds. His digits clenched and unclenched a bit, everytime the blue femme and Sideswipe made it past an obstacle unscathed.

Elita saw the slight movement, and knowing her mate as well as she did, she knew it was how he reacted when he was actually getting into watching something exciting. Only this time, it was that damned whore – not some cyber-football! Her optics narrowed as she followed his gaze down to the training pairs down below them. Chromia and Sideswipe were currently on top of the scoreboard, having not only laser tagged each of the other teams at least once – but also making it through each and every obstacle. Their style and seamless teamwork should have impressed her as their commanding officer. And the fact that the mech involved was Sideswipe, who always trained with his gladiator twin, should've made it a reasonable expectation to have of the pair. But she just couldn't get past the fact that it was Chromia who was involved…. Chromia who was showing off… Chromia who was impressing her mate..

With a snort, she grabbed Ultra Magnus's arm and began to drag him towards the door. She fully intended to show the trainee's – and Chromia – that they were inferior to trained troops! "You keep score then. I think they need a little surprise." She glanced back at Optimus. "After all, there's a good chance they will face superior forces – not equal forces – in a REAL battle!"

Her brother shot Optimus a helpless look as she dragged him along. Prime just shrugged his shoulders and nodded. Both of them knew that particular tone of voice, and there would be no changing the femme's meta on this one.

"Elita One, I don't think this is really necessary," Ultra Magnus said.

Roughly grabbing one of the practice laser guns, Elita jerked it off the wall and thrust it into his hands. "They might meet Megatron. We can never let them think they're doing fine when the situation might change unexpectedly – now can we? My sweet older brother…"

She'd busted him with the very words he'd used when training her so long ago. He knew it – she knew it. But THAT was not the reason she wanted to do this. Magnus was sure of it. He could see the jealousy all over her face plate. "What do you have against them? Well, besides the fact that they're a bit rough around the edges."

Turning her back to him, she reached up and pulled another training weapon off the wall of the locker room. "Nothing," she purred.

Ok, Elita never 'purred' unless she was up to something that she didn't want to admit. Ultra Magnus grabbed her by an arm and forced her to look at him. "You can't lie very well, fess up!"

Jerking her arm away from him, a brief flash of anger blinked in her blue optics before being replaced by her 'poker face plate'. "Like you said – they're rough around the edges." With that, she turned and stomped out.

Ultra Magnus rolled his optics as he followed her. He KNEW that wasn't all she was ticked about – and he was getting a very bad feeling about all this. But what else could he do? Elita had made her meta up. And when that happened – only a stupid mech continued to argue with her. Well, unless you were mated to her that is. Fortunately, that was Optimus's problem – not his.

They entered the darkened training course. Both of them automatically going into stealth mode as they did so… They'd done this many times before… Their moves reflected in the other..

Elita's optics locked with Magnus's, he had now silently made his way across the mock battlefield – without being seen by most of the other teams. Grinning, she threw herself to the ground and rolled behind a low wall. Barely avoiding Ironhide's well-aimed shot; she'd expected that one. Her optics had caught the red flash of his armor as he and his young partner had darted by. Suddenly her gun went black as one of the sensors stuck to her, was pegged by laser fire. Darting around a corner, she glanced up, just in time to see Sideswipe snickering as he ducked back behind the wall he'd been using for cover.

She swore that she had heard the sounds of him and Chromia engaging in a high-five while they ducked back behind a wall. Anger filled her then. Anger that the damned Chromia team had made the first hit! Grinding her jaws together she swore to herself that it would be the only hit they'd get on her!

Nodding to Magnus that she was headed up, Elita knew she had 5 seconds to reposition herself, before the sensors reset and she was back in the game. And WAS she going to be back! Crouching, she used the full force of her hydraulics to propel herself upward, her velocity carried her up to the third level where she quickly grabbed the arm rail and swung herself over. Her gun came back online as her thrusters touched the metal grating, rolling in a blur, she kept from getting pegged again as she sought cover.

She sensed, more than heard, her brother as he slid up the ramp towards her chosen quarry. If she hadn't been so mad at that point, perhaps she'd have once again found herself amazed at just how silently the big mech could move when he wanted to. But she was too focused on Chromia for such flippant thoughts. Too angry at all the perceived insults and insinuated threats that she felt the light blue femme had shot her way.

Rolling in order to avoid a well-aimed shot by Arcee, she turned and returned fire just as she flipped over. A smirk crossed her face plate as Bluestreak's sensor went dark. "Well, got one of your freagin' partners!" she muttered. In a rapid fire sequence – she managed to peg Arcee with one as well.

With them out of her way, she nonchalantly jumped over them as she made her way towards her true quarry. She and Magnus would trap them between them. Knock them both out for a few seconds for sure. Racing around the sharp turns, she ducked and darted, easily avoiding shots from those above her. Returning a few when she found the opportunity.

Leaping across the central opening, she darted under cover as the swinging pendulum just barely missed her. These dangerous obstacles were nothing to an experienced soldier like herself! Nothing to even blink an optic at! She'd been through far worse on the real battlefield… Far worse…

Keeping her steps quiet and crouching under the cover of the wall, Elita swiftly made it to a new position. Huddling against the wall, she peeked out, trying to spot one of the others. A flash of gold caught her optic as Sunstreaker darted under her, too fast for her to draw a bead on him. Chuckling, she caught site of his partner – and pegged Flare-up before he could even warn her to watch out.

Satisfaction flowed through her as she heard the arrogant mech berate the young femme for her carelessness. Sunstreaker was a sore loser at best. And now with not only his twin beating him – but Magnus and Elita as well – the ex-gladiator was getting a tad miffed. Well, that and the damage he'd incurred to his paint job in the locker room…. Needless to say, it made Elita's day cycle to hear him getting mad with one of the whores! About time!

As the femme's gun deactivated, Sunstreaker looked up to see who'd tagged her. This caused his shoulder sensor to be exposed for a brief second. Giving Elita enough of an opening to pay him back for just being who he was. Shooting through the grating, she snickered as Sunstreaker looked around him when his gun deactivated. His cursing increased as he realized that he'd just been sucker-shot. Elita's smirk grew as she continued along her path towards her true quarry – Chromia.

Out of the corner of her optics, a flash of red on the fourth level caught her attention. Throwing herself to the side, she barely avoided a hit from Ironhide. Then she was leaping through the air again, crossing the open space and making a grab for the rail on the fourth level. Ironhide managed to peg her as she flipped up over the rail – right about the time that the swinging pendulum clipped her. Throwing herself out of its way, she gripped her stinging shoulder with her other hand for a brief moment. That had been a very close call indeed! She felt a little warm wetness, but not much. So damage had been minor at best… Nothing for her to worry about..

Then her optics caught a flash of light blue…

The chase was on! Elita took her 5 seconds of deactivation, to run around the walk way, trying to get to the blue femme's position. Grinning as she got a bead on her, she finally managed to peg her right as her gun reactivated. Unable to slow down, she ended up tumbling over Chromia, crashing into Sideswipe just as Magnus rounded the corner and pegged him. With a muttered curse, the red mech staggered backwards, going right over the rail and back down to the first level, along with Elita.

Twisting like a cat, Sideswipe grabbed the pendulum and used its momentum to swing him over to the other side. He landed lightly on his peds, his gun suddenly deactivated as he got pegged. Rolling to cover, he caught sight of the big blue mech ducking back under cover on the second level. Snickering at his sneaky commander, he darted quietly under his position. As he stalked Ultra Magnus, he pegged him through the grating from below. Sideswipe then took his five second break to leap down and tackle the big mech, using him as cover when Sunsteaker came around the corner aiming at him.

"Sneaky bastard!" Ultra Magnus yelled, as Sideswipe tripped him up and pegged his twin. Spinning, Magnus caught his legs with his own, bringing the smaller red mech down. Stepping on his gun, he pegged him right in the chest.

"Calling me sneaky?" he joked. Grabbing his leg with his other hand, he tripped the bigger mech and sent him stumbling across the level. "Of course I am," he snickered. Rolling, the red mech found cover in another section of the maze.

Suddenly, a red mech tumbled from the top level. Bluestreak looking over the rail with a mischievous grin on his face plate. Unlike Sideswipe, Ironhide wasn't quick enough to land on his peds – he ended up landing on his head. Then his gun deactivated, as the femme he had a crush on - took the opportunity to peg him.

Snickering at his partner's tactics, Sideswipe ran up the ramp back to the first level with her at his side. Weaving to try to keep the pursuing Elita from pegging them both again; suddenly, they were both deactivated, as Bluestreak and Firestar got them both. Grinning, Sideswipe nodded to Chromia and put his hands together next to the rail. Taking his offer, she ran towards him, put a ped in his hands – then the ground mech hefted her into the air.

Grabbing the top of the rail on the fifth level, Chromia kept herself from hitting the ceiling. Shaking her head in amazement at the sheer power of her partner's racing hydraulics, she quickly dropped and rolled, avoiding Elita's shot. Darting around the level, she got a bead on the femme – but before she could fire, the femme leapt into the air and crashed into her full force.

Both femmes went tumbling over the rail. Chromia was quick enough to grab a rail and pull herself out of harm's way. But Elita was not so lucky. She crashed into the swinging pendulum. The sickening sound of shredding metal filled the training arena. A spark wrenching scream filled the air, as the torn femme was thrown off the pendulum at its zenith. Energon sprayed the rails as she tumbled helplessly by them and crashed in a silent heap on the floor below.

"Elita no!" Ultra Magnus screamed. Throwing his gun to the ground, he transformed and barreled down to the bottom level, crashing right through several of the other training pairs. Leaving tire tracks right across Sunstreaker's hood as well.. All he could think of was his sister at that point.. Damaged severely and laying there in a heap.

Optimus, Cliffjumper, Bumblebee and First Aid were already flying down the stairs from the observation deck. They reached Elita just as the others did.

Prime fell to his knee armor, his digits running over her chassis.. She had almost been torn in half! Her spark chamber was not only exposed – but cracked as well. He then felt hands pulling him away from her. He began to fight against them. But Ultra Magnus was his equal in strength.

"Let the medic help her Prime. Let First Aid do what he's trained to do!" the big blue mech yelled at him.

First Aid was down next to her, Bumblebee at his side. Already his hands were within her, desperately tying off torn energon lines. Desperately trying to stabilize her! "Please, someone get Ratchet!" he ordered as he worked. He had dealt with worse when he was Droct the garbage mech. But she was still very, very critical. And she was Optimus's mate… He didn't want her life resting in his hands… He wasn't ready for that kind of responsibility! He'd do what he could to stabilize her…. Do what he could…

Magnus reached out and grabbed Chromia's shoulder. "Go fetch Ratchet!" he ordered as he gave her a rough push. His attention turned from her as he circled his brother-in-law with his arms. Both of them comforting the other as they watched the young medic working frantically to save her….

-----

A few astrohours later.....

"How is she?" Optimus asked Ratchet. He hovered next to Elita, her limp hand in his.

Ratchet wiped the energon off of his hands, his voice steady. "She'll recover." His optics shifted to his tired apprentice medic. "Thanks to First Aid's quick action to stabilize her," he said. With that, the stalwart medic walked off.

But the compliment was obvious. First Aid's cheeks went a shade darker and his internal temperature heated up as the two Autobot leaders turned their optics to him. The timid mech wanted to crawl under the exam table he was leaning on. "Um, it was nothing, really. I, um, owe you mechs a lot more," he stammered. He didn't like being the center of attention. He never had.

Magnus walked up to him and pulled him into a huge mech hug. "No First Aid – we owe YOU!" he exclaimed.

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Little did anyone realize…. But that hard hit had flipped a certain switch within the femme commander…. A switch that she'd never in her life – wanted to be flipped…..

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Note: Sorry it's been a while. But my muse has been locked on the Market Comodity series I've been publishing on AdultFanFiction. I'm still kind've stuck on it.