The floor's metal creaked after every heavy footfall inside the small tight-fitting cargo hold. CeCe sat down a heavy cargo crate he carried. It barely made a sound despite its weight. CeCe gave it one final shove to get it in place which produced a loud metal-on-metal squeal and revealed the real weight of the massive material crate. He rolled the shoulders of his exo-suit which was an unnecessary motion, but one of the many human habits he'd picked up over his many decades in Izeyu.
With the crate secured CeCe turned around to find the short 13-year-old adolescent frame of his hunter drone posing happily behind him. He hadn't noticed her ascending the ramp into Soundwave’s hold but was unfazed by Valentine's sudden appearance.
He pretended not to notice her recent wardrobe change. “Hmm. Has something about you changed? I think your hair might be longer?”
Her smile turns into a small frown. Anyone else might have found her disappointment unsettling, even more than her usual smile. but the things that unsettled other people seemed completely lost on CeCe.
He laughs. “Alright. Alright,” he said placatingly. “I see you found some new clothes, Lil One. You look very nice.”
Her smile returned. She skipped towards him and jumped into his waiting arms for a hug and was deposited on one of his large, armored shoulders.
“It ain't hurting nothing so I ain’t going to tell you to stop, but this whole playing dress-up is new. Valentine, I want you to run a diagnostic next time you dock for recharge.”
She tapped an affirmation on his shoulder as her dangling legs swung in her child-like way as he walked to the gear lockers.
“Good. Gear check in time.”
Valentine dropped from his shoulder to the floor with a precise flip and skipped over to a nearby table. She took off her rangefinder binoculars and inspected them before putting them back in their case, leaving them on the table. Next, she took her pistol out of her holster and rapidly disassembled, cleaned, reassembled, and placed it back into the holster before she sat the holstered gun next to the binoculars. The drone spun on one foot to face Cece and clapped her hands to announce having completed the task.
CeCe nods. “Thank you, Lil One.” He collected the equipment and started to put it away. “I need you to run radio-silent for a bit. That means no AR comms too.” He paused when he got a curious look instead of the expected acknowledgment. “I need you to shadow Meryll. Did I hear she nearly fried her nerve system trying to bring back that ERI app? AI? Hell, whatever it is, intact. We can't have folks treat themselves or Vanguard like we're expendable. Especially, not to take foolish risks over nonsense.”
Valentine nodded slowly with a blank expression.
CeCe grumbled as he noted the response. He didn't need Valentine to drag her feet; he tried a different angle. “I called in a few favors, and I need to go meet some folks before our next mission. Hopefully, I can get us some assistance after getting our backup pulled last minute. How about this,
“Lil One, you give sidling up with Meryll a try. If you get shooed off though, I’m gonna need you to shadow her,” he adds with masked frustration, “How's that work for yah?”
The drone smiled and nodded, returning to her usual level of enthusiasm.
He scoffed. “Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to program you to be so damn difficult.”
Valentine walked up to CeCe, posed with her hands behind her back, and proceeded to make a show of reaching out with one to give a quick but damning, double pat on the leg, to answer his query.
“Well, you don't have to be so smug about it, Valentine.”
By her expression, she seemed to have a different opinion on the matter.