Partnering with someone has different meanings. For most (and normal people), it's working with one another until the job at hand is complete. Separate ways are made afterward.

For some, partners are people in a team or group; they work together to come out on top, win an award.

But expectations of both her trainer and her father are different. For them, it's you work with your partner until you die in combat, they die in combat, or your faction comes out on top.

And there was no glimmer of hope in any of those options for Ryanna. She had no plans of dying of a combat-related cause, she certainly wasn't going to intentionally or even accidentally let him die, and the Decepticons are all more powerful than ever. So she told herself to just suck it up and be glad that he was only a couple inches taller that her.

Sure, he was a Mini-Con, she didn't have anything against Mini-Cons. She actually was good friends with a few.

It was just that he was new. There was no, 'Oh, by the way, we have a visitor coming over today and he's bringing his Mini-Con,' like it was when she met Jetstorm and Slipstream.

It was more of a direct order. Optimus had taken in a large group of refugee Mini-Cons and was assigning partners. Something crossed his processor that Ryanna, who was 5'4" and nowhere near a Deployer, needed one to be paired with her.

So she was assigned to Buzzstrike as a combat partner. Optimus would act as his deployer, even though he was an Ax Weaponizer. 

Ryanna never questioned it.

Training is long and extensively for those two, however.

It was a matter of Ryanna getting awkward about a move or having some trust issues, or Buzzstrike getting nervous and feeling like he'll fail the trial movement before even getting halfway through instructional periods with their trainer, Cliffjumper.

They weren't training today. Cliffjumper cleared them for partial time in the field. 

And they got separated from Optimus in the middle of a mission to steal Energon from a Decepticon base.

So that partial time just turned into full-time.

"Watch our flank." She whispered.

Buzzstrike nodded, gripping onto her hand with his servo as he carefully placed his footing and watched their behind with Ryanna watching the front. They both agreed that she could better navigate than he could.

Of course, her listening wasn't that good. She so used to giant footsteps that it sounds quiet to her. Her lack of attention to sound almost got them caught at least twice. 

She was praying to Primus that she would magically get better at hearing. 

She stopped them at a corner and did her best to look. At that moment she saw one of her worst nightmares in battle: Shockwave. And the glint in his one red eye said that he was ready to kill something, and he would be more than glad to make it a recruit Mini-Con and the daughter of a Prime.

She wasn't going to let that happen.

She sucked in air when she whipped back around to the other side.

"Who?" Buzzstrike asked as quietly as possible.

"Shockwave." She replied, blinking hard a couple of times. Ryanna was about ready to just go to sleep for millennia. She hasn't slept in 3 days.

She looked around the wall again. Shockwave was too busy working to notice the curly blonde haired 12 billion-year-old with random faded blue streaks in her hair that she was dying to get rid of.

"He's distracted." She stated, whipping back around. "On the count of three, we cross over to the hall on the left. That leads towards the entrance-slash-exit we made. Ready?"

Buzzstrike nodded, gripping her hand a little tighter as she watched Shockwave closely on the other side. Then he realized that two Vehicons were walking their way. "Rya, if we're moving, we better do it now."

"Relax, I need him to look at his computer." Just as she spoke, Shockwave turned to type something onto the control panel. "Now!"

She pulled him along behind her gently and quickly as to get across before Shockwave turned around; they barely made it around the corner before he did. 

Ryanna sighed and kept them moving, down three corridors and a hallway dead-end before coming up to where they came in; a reinforced, abandoned tunnel covered up by a weak sheet of metal.

They both pushed it out of the way, careful of the two guards a couple yards away. 

Ryanna just had a wave of relief wash over before the loud sound of the sheet metal hitting the ground below made her jump. Both Vehicon guards whipped around to look. "Hey! You two! Autobots! Stop!" One shouted, running their way. The other blinked and followed.

"Gotta go!" Buzzstrike jumped down to the ground below, and Ryanna jumped after him, getting caught in his arms and them both making a break for it.

It was only a matter of time before the same guards were down in the tunnel with them, firing their weapons at them a couple of times before pursuing. Ryanna was leading again.

She grabbed his servo and steered him left. She turned around and fired twice, one missing and the other knocking one of the guards down cold.

She was out of ammo at that point.

She shoved the gun in its holster as she ran and they finally came upon the entrance their team took. They climbed up the side of the dirt hill, slipping a couple of time. 

The guard stopped at the bottom and fired three times.

The first two missed, the last hitting Buzzstrike hard in the back, destroying the neon blue wings he had and sending him tumbling down to the guards pede.

"Buzzstrike!" Ryanna's attempt to grab his servo failed. She watched him fall with a face of pure terror.

When Buzzstrike hit the bottom, he landed on his back, making the pain even worse. He fought to keep his optics open as the guard fought to get his weapon to fire. He saw the expression on Ryanna's face and he knew she was trying to think of a way to get down there and get him out before the guard got the weapon to work. He couldn't let her. He knew the odds of her succeeding: None.

He shakily raised his arm and spoke. "Go..."

Tears stung her eyes. "I can't. They'll kill you."

He smiled weakly at her for her concern. "Go."

She was about to protest again when the guard's weapon powered up and fired. She jumped up and out of the tunnel. And she ran.

Ryanna ran as far as she could carry herself.

All the way back to the entrance of the current base her father had her in, where she was immediately met by Prowl and Smokescreen.

"Hey, hey! That's Rya! Get the boss out here!" Smokescreen shouted, running into the base to find Optimus.

Prowl jumped down from his post and went up to Ryanna, who was shaking worse than a Scraplet. "Rya, what happened? You're pale and shaking."

"I-I-I-I-I... And h-he... A-a-and..." She couldn't speak. Everything was a blur.

Optimus came running out and took Prowl's place. "What happened, baby girl?" He asked softly, taking her hand in his servo. "Tell Daddy what happened." He looked around. "Where's Buzzstrike?"

Tears formed in her eyes again. "I lost my partner..." She broke down into a sob and Optimus immediately picked her up and carried her back into the base, covering her back with a servo. He kept saying it would be okay over and over again to get her to calm down.

He took her back to their quarters and used a free servo to grab the stuffed bunny she had and wind it up, making it play a soothing melody for her.

Ryanna took it and held onto it for dear life, trying to cease her tears. The feeling of failing and betraying Buzzstrike's trust was overwhelming. 

Optimus sat with her in his servo for at least 45 minutes before she fell asleep, going completely silent. He smiled at her slightly and laid her down on her bed, covering her with a blanket before turning off the light and closing the door before leaving.

He sighed. All active Autobots turned their attention to him.

Optimus sucked in a breath. "Autobots, today we lost an honorable comrade, and friend..."

....................