Ruby - Origins - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Testing*

Finally, finally, Ruby got to have a shower and put on clean clothes. She tossed her blood-stained sequin top in the trash, glad to be rid of it.

She pulled a brush through her long, blonde locks and wiped the last traces of glitter from her eye lids, replacing it with a natural brown eye shadow. After applying a little lip gloss, she pulled on her boots and went to meet Tyrese at the edge of the air field.

Tyrese eyed her shadily as she approached him. He stood with his hands behind his back and wore a black bullet proof vest over his shirt. Planes constantly roared overhead, but the groups of soldiers jogging kept their distance. Despite the fresh ocean breeze, the sun beat down hotter than ever.

"I hear you've been jumping from dangerous heights," Tyrese said to Ruby,

"Yep," Ruby said cheerfully.

Tyrese's tone was guarded, "Odd," he said quietly.

"Yep," Ruby smiled. She was trying to contain her excitement; she couldn't wait to find out what else she could do, "So, what are we going to do today?"

"Well, we were going to pin you to the testing table in the lab and dissect you, see what's going on with all that metal inside you," he said.

The blood drained from Ruby's cheeks.

"Got cha!" said Tyrese, and he fell about laughing, his white teeth blinding in the morning sun.

Ruby grimaced, but felt enlightened that she wouldn't be dissected in the near future. On the other hand, she had no idea what would become of her in the near future.

"So what are we actually going to do today?" she asked again.

"Going to test your strength, agility and endurance, just like we do every new soldier," replied Tyrese with a wicked grin; he winked, clearly looking forward to what ever discomfort Ruby was about to endure.

Ruby stood at the start of a vicious-looking obstacle course in the fields behind the hangers. There were all manner of things. Tires, monkey bars and rope climbing wall things, but then there was barbed wire to crawl under and half of the course took place twenty feet in the air on mutant climbing frames.

Ruby flapped her vest at the waistline to generate a breeze, she hadn't even started and already she was sweating.

"Now," shouted Major Lennox from the side of the course, "When I say go, you're going to complete the course as fast as possible, but whenever you do an obstacle wrong, Tyrese will yell at you to do it again."

Next to Lennox, Tyrese smirked.

 "GO!"

Ruby sprang into action, darting down the first stretch of tires, finding them a breeze. She was light on her feet as she ran up, then down, the jumbo see-saw. 

Ruby completed it without fault. The end of the course left Ruby sitting on the top metal bar (twenty feet off the ground) of the huge frame structure. There was a ladder to climb down, but she was feeling so elevated by now that she just simply jumped. She flew through the air and landed like a cat. The movement was so natural to her, why should she bother with the ladder? Jumping down was much faster.

Major Lennox clutched his forgotten clipboard with white knuckles and an open mouth. Tyrese looked as if his birthday and Christmas had come early and on the same day.

"Whoa! That was friggin' awesome!" he cried.

Ruby jogged over to them, "Yeah? It was, wasn't it?"