2. Test

Starscream raced down the halls, holding his arms out straight on either side of him, palms flat towards the walls. He had no idea what the point of running like this was, but he had seen another kid do it the other day, and it seemed like fun, sprinting while suspending yourself like a light pole, feeling the air whooshing over your arms like a pair of wings. Like this, he could pretend to be a jet, racing through the sky, untouched by everything but the invisible. It was fun to pretend like this, except for when he accidentally smacked someone on the back of the head, who was also heading outside.

Inspection days were always exciting and always looked forward to by the many protoforms here in Section 14. Not because the inspections themselves were any fun, indeed some children, whom Starscream often snickered at, seemed to be afraid of the Nurse-Bots and their instruments. No, inspection days were exciting because, with the small amount of nurses and the number of children being so high, the children were given the whole entire day off. No lessons, no practice drills, no spark-tingling nervousness with the Guardians breathing down your neck. No, the whole day to do whatever you wanted. And there was only one place alluring enough to make the children want to go.

Starscream put his arms down and stepped into the sunlight.

Above their heads, flowing over the jagged, utilitarian roofs of the Nursery like the sky itself, was the dome, the dome that every Decepticon protoform lived under. Each nursery had its own, once clear and sharp like crystal, but after years of use and exposure to the Cybertronian winds, the surface had become clouded and milky, dying all the light that shone through into a bleached white. Still, if you looked up and really focused, you could see the blue haze of the sky outside, and even, if you searched for a moment, the bright point of Alpha Centauri, the star that Cybertron orbited.

Starscream dimmed his optics slightly in the white Cybertronian sun before racing out into the pavilion. Other children had already pooled out into the square, blinking in the sunlight or playing tentative games of tag. But everyone knew what the real attraction was, and were anxious to get started.

Starscream ran over to the usual place. Already, a large group has congregated there, talking amongst themselves and looking up at the roof, which towered black over them against the white surface of the dome. This was the shadow of the storage facility, the tallest building in the Section. Every Nursery Section had one apparently, but none of the children knew exactly what was in it. Some said there were some kinds of killer weapons, lasers that could melt your face place off, lightning rays that would make you blind forever, in case the nursery was ever attacked. Others said that's where they locked up the kids who didn't pass, the kids who went away. All kinds of rumors, each creepier and scarier than the last, were whispering among the children when the Guardians weren't looking. But Hightower had rather smugly said that there probably wasn't anything in there but Energon or extra chairs or something mundane and boring like that. Starscream was irritated with him for saying that, but he also feared that it was true.

Starscream walked into the group of protoforms, looking around for someone to talk to. He could see Hightower over near the foot of the building, standing behind a group of other kids. They appeared to be arguing about something.

Before Starscream could get a closer look, he heard a voice call out to him. "Hi, Starscream," it said. Starscream turned to face the green female Seeker who was waving at him. She smiled at him. "Are you all done?"

"Yeah," said Starscream, going up to her.

"So, how did it go?"

"Good," said Starscream, simply. Then he beamed. "The Nurse told me I was the healthiest in the whole Section," he said. Which wasn't exactly true, but Starscream couldn't help but exaggerate.

Wingdive giggled, suspecting that her friend was lying. "Okay, Starscream," was all she said.

The two stood a moment and looked up at the dome above their heads.

"Say," said Wingdive, "How high do you think that goes?"

"Um…" Starscream turned his head to the side, squinting up at the sunlight, calculating. "A million feet," he answered solemnly. "At least."

"Wow," said Wingdive, her eyes wide.

"Uh huh," Starscream went on, "It's so high that the Autobot planes bump into it when they fly over it. They have to fly around it, or they'll crash."

"Oh," said Wingdive, tapping her chin. "Is that where that crack came from?"

"What?" exclaimed Starscream, alarmed. He rapidly scanned the glass surface above them. "Where?" he said.

"Right there!" said Wingdive, pointing. "See it?"

"I don't see anything!" Starscream complained. "Are you sure?"

"Right there!"

"What's going on?" Other kids were starting to move over. "What are you guys doing?"

"Wingdive said she saw a crack in the dome!"

"What?"

"A crack?"

"No way!"

"Where?"

"I don't see it!"

A feeling of real panic was beginning to spread through the group. It even infected Wingdive, who was beginning to hop up and down on the spot as she pointed.

"It's right there! See it?"

"I still don't see anything!"

"There isn't any crack! You made that up!"

"I see it!" said Roundhouse, pointing. "It's right there!"

"That's a reflection from the roof, Roundhouse," said Starscream shortly. "And Wingdive's pointing a different way."

"Oh," said Roundhouse, lowering his arm, abashed.

By this point, Hightower had come over. Starscream's optics narrowed as he approached.

"What are you guys yelling about?" he said, hands on his hips, his facial features molded into a shape of contempt. Starscream rolled his optics with a grown and looked away. He'd always hated how Hightower always acted like he was in charge all the time when he was just another kid like them.

Unfortunately, no one else seemed to share Starscream's dislike. "We're looking for the crack in the dome!" chirped Ramjet, a small white protoform who was standing near Hightower.

"What?" said Hightower raising an optic ridge. He didn't even look up. "Who said there was a crack?"

Ramjet immediately pointed at Wingdive, and so did several others. Wingdive turned her eyes away from the white screen above her and looked Hightower in the eye, waiting.

Hightower sneered. "Boy, are you guys gullible," he said. "There's no crack in the dome. That's impossible."

Wingdive continued to look steadfastly at Hightower. "You don't know that," she said. "It could break, eventually."

But Hightower shook his head, still smirking. "No way," he said. "How would it get cracked anyway?"

"The Autobots," answered Wingdive, without hesitating, "They could've tried to get in.

A hushed chorus of frantic whispers rose up among the group. They had all thought it, maybe a little, but Wingdive was the only one to say it out loud. The Autobots broke the dome. The very idea was enough to make them all shiver with excited fear.

But Hightower just sighed, as though about to explain something obvious to a child. "The Autobots can't get through the dome, stupid," he said, "Because the dome was made so that they can't get through it. How are the Autobots supposed to break something that was made to keep out the Autobots?"

"You don't know that they can't do it," said Wingdive. "No one ever said they can't do it. And besides, the Autobots could be making new weapons, like we are. Maybe they have something that can break the dome."

For some reason, Hightower was starting to get angry. "They don't have anything like that!" he shouted.

"Are you calling her a liar?"

The entire group fell into a hush. Everyone was staring at Starscream. A few children were grinning.

Hightower fixed Starscream with a look like he was rust stain on the hallway floor. He didn't seem at all surprised to hear Starscream's voice. Nobody was, really. "I'm just saying that she let her imagination get the best of her, is all," said Hightower smoothly.

"At least she thinks at all. Unlike you!" snapped Starscream, starting forward. But Wingdive held out a hand against his shoulder.

"Starscream," she said wearily, "Just don't."

"Yeah, Starscream," said Hightower, throwing his head to the side. "Why don't you just listen to your stupid girlfriend?"

"Why you-!" Starscream exclaimed through his teeth and lunged at Hightower.

At this point, Wingdive ran between them both and held out her arms. "Okay, guys, that's enough. Just forget it." Both boys seemed to slacken slightly but neither lowered their eyes, each still glaring hatefully at each other. "Look," said Wingdive, "Why don't we just start the game, okay? That'll get our minds off of this. Look, I'll even go first. Is that okay?"

Hightower glared a second more before leaning back and shrugging. "Fine," he said, simply. "Good idea."

But Starscream didn't say anything.

Hightower turned around to face the group, a number of which seemed a little disappointed that a fight hadn't broken out, and clapped. "Okay, guys," he announced, "We're starting!" He pointed. "And Wingdive said that she'll go first!"

The group fanned out, looking excited again, and formed a circle of space around the storage facility. Slowly, Wingdive walked into the space outlined by the feet of her Nursery mates, and looked up at the imposing building. Kids began to call out to her, some words of encouragement, some impatient goadings, and some mocking jeers. Starscream didn't say anything now, but in truth his spark was pounding as hard as the rest. In fact, perhaps harder than the rest. Something about the game filled his spark with anxiety… and breathless excitement.

Wngdive took a deep shuddering breath, and as her engines roared into a sharp whine, the she lifted off.

The group cheered wildly. Wingdive's take offs were the most impressive to watch, because she always started as such a high speed. It was like she was a rocket, fired from a cannon. But the high speed also led to the second reason the group enjoyed watching Wingdive.

Before she could do anything about it, Wingdive spun in the air and slammed into the side of the building, bending her wing underneath her shoulder. The entire group winced dramatically, and a few ripples of laughter broke up. Below, Starscream was biting his lip and pumping his fists up and down, his eyes riveted, filled with the utmost concentration.

Wingdive slid against the wall for a short while before lifting away from the wall again, shaking her head. Her engines whined again and she shot up another few feet before knocking back into the wall, several feet higher than last time. Breathlessly, she reached up and slapped her hand against the warm, dark metal as high as she could reach, before cutting her engines and landing on the ground in a crumpled heap. Her joints were a little loose, and she ached all over. But she had made it almost a fourth of the way up, which was impressive.

"Okay," called Hightower, "Wingdive's done. Who's next?"

Starscream was hopping up and down on the spot, but it was Ramjet who stepped forward next, gazing up at the imposing structure as though intimidated by it. Apparently trying to learn from Wingdive's example, he turned his engine down way low before lifting off. But this had its consequence too, and in the end Ramjet could only get half as high as Wingdive before falling back down. Starscream groaned and shook his head once Ramjet shakily got to his feet.

Spinister was next, and he was different from the other two, with whirling propeller blades on his back instead of the wings and turbines of the others. Rapidly he spun his blades and lifted up off the ground, the wind from his blades twirling over the spectators below, who shrieked with laughter and covered their optics. Spinister was actually doing pretty well. He had already made it past the point where Ramjet had reached, and was rapidly approaching where Wingdive had touched. "Come on!" the group below him called, and Starscream joined them. "Come on, keep going! You got it! You can do it!"

But, apparently on a whim, Spinister gazed down to look at the cheering group below them, and upon seeing how far his feet were from the top of their heads, he sucked in a breath of air and his blades froze up, and he plummeted back to the ground. The entire group winced and groaned but nobody louder or harder than Starscream, who spun around on the spot and buried his face in his hands.

And so, it went on, each protoform capable of flight trying their luck, with various degrees of success. Wingdive remained the point leader for a while, but soon she was surpassed by a young flier named Rumble, who got some extra air thanks to the booster pads on the bottom of his feet. And the highest place where a young hand had touched continued to move up.

There was no look out. It was commonly understood that this was part of the game. If a Guardian catches you while you're flying up or grabbing the building, you lose. No matter how high you flew.

Today, on a free day, however, the Guardians were too busy with the inspections and keeping the lines under control. So, that meant that the chances of getting caught were unlikely. Unlikely. But possible.

The game continued, some having better luck, getting quite a distance away from the ground, even managing to land without hurting themselves. Some having worse. One poor kid couldn't even get off the ground. His engines roared to life, sending a swirling ring of smoke and hot air around him, but he didn't move even one inch of the ground. This went on for a while, causing the 'Cons around him to cough and cover their mouths, before Hightower shook his head and said that his turn was over, and he slunk back into the crowd, ashamed.

Throughout the game, Starscream remained the most enthralled. He was psyched up more earnestly than anyone when the contestants were successful and reeled harder with every defeat than anyone else. In the core of his little spark, though, Starscream was suffering a bit of a crisis. The game was so exciting, and he felt glad for each person who made it higher than the last, but the truth was, he could tell that most of the successes were just luck. None of the kids seemed to have a clear idea of what they were doing. Even the kids who flew the highest had a bewildered look as they were congratulated by their peers. How did I do that? The look seemed to say. Starscream felt confident he could do better and was so very eager to try.

But still, all those people! Suppose he messed up! Suppose he humiliated himself in front of them! No, no, the fear was too much to bear.

And so here he was, hovering between desperately wanting to play and terrified that he would have to, and as a result, he bursted with energy and whooped and cringed harder than anyone.

But this couldn't go on. A young land-based Deceptiocn standing near Starscream had become increasingly annoyed throughout the game at his enthusiastic outbursts and finally turned and said, "Look, Starscream, if you're so excited, why don't you go up and try?"

Starscream froze in place, landing in a stunned crouch after jumping in the air, and stared with his eyes wide. "What, me?" he said, stupidly. "Oh, no, I…"

"Hey, yeah!" said somebody else, "Starscream, you go!"

The group, which had been in an electrified state for a while, suddenly all turned on Starscream. "Yeah, Starscream, go for it! You have to!"

Starscream wished he could shrink through the floor. Even Wingdive was smiling ad shaking his arm. "C'mon, Starscream," she said, "Give it a try!"

One part of Starscream was bursting with elation. The other went cold with dread. He shook his head. "No, no, I don't want to…" he protested weakly.

At this point, Hightower spoke up. "Tch, don't be such a 'Bot," he said, "It's a sorry kind of Seeker that can't even fly."

Starscream wanted to throw something at Hightower. Was he really so stupid that he thought Starscream didn't want to fly because he was unable to? "Like you're one to talk!" he shouted back, "I could jump and get higher than you!"

The entire group sang out a collective "Ooooh." Hightower's face went scarlet. He did not like to be reminded that he couldn't fly. It had nothing to do with his lack of wings or propellers or turbines. His body type simply wasn't right for it.

"Well, if you're such a big talker, then fly up there and show me!" said Hightower, pointing.

"Fine!" snapped Starscream. "I will!" He shoved some of the other children out of the way and marched up to the foot of the storage facility. The children created a path for him as he walked, many of them twittering excitedly. Starscream knew at this point that he didn't have a choice. After challenging Hightower like that, walking away wasn't an option. But he no longer cared. If he could show him… If he could show him… That alone would've kept him from turning back.

He stood at the base of the storage building and looked up, squinting at its silhouette against the white glass sky. The facility suddenly seemed dark and imposing and impossibly high, like a monster from a fairytale. Starscream felt a twinge of apprehension returning.

"Hurry up!" shouted Hightower.

"Shhh," said someone else.

Starscream took a deep breath. He was thinking. If he started his engines too low, he wouldn't get off the ground. Too high, and he would crash. The key was to find a level in the middle. But how much power was that? Musingly, he tried to feel his own engine, visualizing it as a mass within him, testing the different levels of his power. There! That should be right. Starscream almost nodded to himself, acknowledging his decision. That level, for whatever reason, felt right.

This done, he moved the joints on his wings to such an angle that they would not resist the air as he moved up. Ignoring the shouts and jeers of the crowd around him, he instead focused his mind entirely on his own body, on his own wings, steadying himself. Then, he didn't look at anyone in the crowd, but instead looked up towards the curved ceiling of the dome, where the roof of the storage facility carved a single dark barrier against the sunlight.

"Here I go," he said.

And his engines roared.

The children below him stared in awe. Starscream was rising. Not as quickly as Wingdive, but faster than many of them, and he wasn't wobbling or tossing in the air as many of them had. He was straight, steadfast, like an arrow. When he came to close to the wall, he simply raised his arms and pushed lightly away from it and kept going. He was a fifth of the way up. Now a fourth. Now a third. And he was still going.

"Go Starscream!" shouted Wingdive. The rest of the group quickly followed suit. "Keep going Starscream!" "You got it, Starscream!" "You can do it!"

Starscream heard them and felt his spark rise with elation, but he had learned from Ramjet's example and dared not look down. This wasn't the first time he had flown, but the feeling always brought him joy that nothing else could. The wind in his face was like a caress, the roar of it like the whispers of an old friend. To be touched by nothing but the air. This was heaven.

Starscream had flown higher than any of them now. He had flown over a half of the building's surface. And he was still going. The children were wild with excitement. Even Hightower could find no words. He simply stared with his mouth open, dismayed and frustrated beyond belief, but also impressed, in spite of himself.

Finally, Starscream realized that the roof, rather than being a distant goal or finish line, was now rapidly approaching him. And soon, to his amazement and delight, he found the edge drop away from the view in front of him and move down below his chin. He turned his head back and forth over the edge, staring with his mouth wide open. He was looking at the roof. And he heard the crowd below him explode into a fever pitch, and his emotion was such that he found himself tumbling sideways, and the roof began to fall up, away from him again. It was a terrifying moment, like a floor had dropped from under his feet, and he was about to lose control and tumble into the abyss, and the crowd below him screamed. But with one final burst of power, Starscream propelled himself high enough to catch the edge of the roof with one outstretched hand. Quickly, he grabbed the edge with his other hand and scrambled up over the side. He knelt there, on his hands and knees, gasping hard. He was on the roof.

The crowd below exploded, their whooping and hollering echoing throughout the confines of the glass dome. Wingdive was so elated that she grabbed Ramjet and pulled him into an embrace, unable to find any other outlet for her excitement. It was a miracle, what they had just witnessed, and they couldn't wait to brag to the other poor suckers still in line or foolishly playing elsewhere that had missed this great event. The only one not celebrating was Hightower, who simply looked down at the ground, his hands limp at his sides.

Starscream listened to the roar below, of his peers cheering and calling his name, and he felt a pride rise in him like he had never felt before. He scrambled over, still on his hands and knees, and pulled himself up to the edge to see his adoring peers.

He had forgotten that he wasn't supposed to look down.

His eyes went wide, and he felt the bottom of his spark turn cold. To his young eyes, the group of children scattered below him seemed like dots flaked against the floor of a bottomless pit. He hadn't realized before just how incredibly high up he was. Here he was, teetering up at the edge of the world, with miles of nothing at all below him. Overwhelmed and queasy, he fell back from the edge and scooted away on the palms of his hands. His earlier apprehension had been replaced by absolute terror.

The others were beginning to realize the problem, too. "Hey, Starscream!" Roundhouse called. "How are you supposed to get down?"

The rest of the group shouted their agreement. "How are you gonna get down Starscream?" Out of everyone, Wingdive looked the most distressed. Hightower, on the other hand, raised his head and looked up toward the roof, his façade of disinterest dropping.

Starscream was lying flat on his back, his fingers curved over the smooth, warm metal as though they would claw into it. "I-I don't know!" he cried. "I don't know!"

Wingdive was thinking hard. So was everyone else. There were no stairs to take, no one else was capable of flying up after him, and nobody knew how you were supposed to fly down. They had never had to do it before.

"Starscream!" called Wingdive, "You're just going to have to jump!"

The others took up the chorus. "Jump! Jump, Starscream! You have to! Just jump!" Hightower, meanwhile, was leaning against the building silently, smirking to himself.

Starscream felt as though his head were spinning. He stared straight up into the white vault above him. Jump? Were they mad? It had to be at least a hundred million feet! He rapidly shook his head, though of course they couldn't see it.

Meanwhile, the others kept their eyes glued onto the roof.

"I don't think he's going to do it," said Wingdive, user her hand to guard against the sunlight. She turned to Roundhouse, beside her. "What do we do?" she asked.

Roundhouse widened his eyes for a moment, surprised that somebody was actually asking him. "Um…" he faltered, "I don't know."

Wingdive sucked in a breath and shook her head. "I guess we have no choice," she said, "We have to tell the Guardians. Maybe they can get him down."

"We can't!" Spinister injected from her other side. "We'll get in trouble!"

"But he's got to come down!" Wingdive countered, holding her hand up towards the roof.

At this precise moment, they heard a deep voice from the entranceway. "What's going on out here?"

The entire group whirled around. A Guardian was standing in the doorway, looking with some amusement at the commotion going on at his feet. His armor was colored mostly white, and above the purple Decepticon insignia on his chest was the smaller symbol of the guardians, a minimalist hand cupping a shield.

"Nothing, sir!" the entire group chimed at once. From the roof, Starscream heard the unmistakable voice of an authority figure, and he made a point to be as still as possible.

"Are you sure?" the Guardian asked, grinning. "Because I see a few of you looking kind of upset."

The children nodded. "Yes, sir!" they answered. Starscream was holding his breath.

"Well, alright," he conceded, "I came out here to announce that it's time for the midday refueling."

"What?" Starscream couldn't stop himself from exclaiming.

"So, everyone come with me, and we'll go to the cafeteria," the Guardian continued. "Let's go!" And the group answered with the ever ubiquitous "Yes, sir!" and followed after.

Starscream scrambled back to the edge of the roof, looking with distress down at the group filing through the door, miles down below him. The view still made his head spin, but he still leaned towards the edge, wishing desperately that the Guardian would turn his head and see him, rescue him. But he had already gone inside. None of the other kids were looking at Starscream, and many of them had begun chatting amongst themselves. Starscream stared out at the lot of them, silently pleading for them to turn around, but none dared look back at the child they were abandoning.

Wingdive was the last one out the door, and before she stepped in, she turned and looked back up at Starscream, who was staring at her with a look of utter disbelief. Wingdive looked toward the doorway, where the smell of the fresh Energon was already wafting then back up at Starscream. Sorry, she mouthed to him, and she ran inside.

Leaving Starscream utterly alone.

Alarmed, Starscream looked around, searching for anyone who might have lingered behind. He could see nobody. The pavilion was completely empty. Slowly, Starscream shuffled back from the edge of the roof and curled up into a ball, sitting completely still amongst the weird tubes and vents and black ugly humming things that jetted up around him. He had no idea what to do.

"Hello?" he called, desolately. "Hello? Is… Is anybody there? Hello!" The sounds echoed around the empty chamber, loud and resonant, his own voice echoing back to him.

He suddenly felt drained, and that's when it really sank in. He was missing the refueling. His tank suddenly felt unbearably empty. He felt hollow, like he would rattle if someone shook him. He had no idea what to do.

He sat there, in that spot, not moving, for quite a while. Eventually, though, the initial terror died down, and he was able to relax and take in his surroundings a little. The landscape of the rooftop was more interesting than he'd ever considered. Near him was some sort of cylindrical thing, with a metal bulb on top, and a blade inside that spun. And over a little ways was a large, square vent of some kind. He could hear it rumble, almost feel the dry air that was being pushed out of it. Whatever was in this storage place, apparently they needed to keep it cool. Maybe Hightower was right, and it really was Energon in there. No, that was impossible. If lunch was being served now, they would have to come out here to get it. And they definitely would have noticed someone doing that.

Perhaps some part of him knew that he wasn't thinking straight. He was panicking, still, and everything he was doing, his very location in fact, was so strange and taboo; his mind was simply latching onto whatever it could. But he allowed this. It was better than dwelling on his predicament and the meal that he was missing.

After a while, Starscream became a little more curious about his surroundings and decided to investigate. He looked around himself and decided that he would have no choice but to stand up, so he could walk around. Before, the idea of standing up had not occurred to him. It was like some sort of invisible increase in gravity was pulling him down to his knees, forcing him to crawl and shuffle. But now, he realized there was no real reason that he couldn't stand, and so he tried it, pushing himself to his feet on shaky legs. Ridiculously, he actually began to sway, as though he were teetering on the edge of a pin, not trying to stand on a large, perfectly flat surface. But eventually, he managed to balance himself and began his investigation of the rooftop.

He explored the place for a while, his sense of panic continuing to ebb away. In fact, he was actually starting to enjoy himself a little. What a treat, to see things that no one else had seen! That none of them could see. He was breaking the rules, being up here, and that enough convinced him that he was lucky. The others would be jealous, he was certain, if they could see him up there. He kept himself satisfied with thoughts like that.

But still. Time grew on, and he eventually found himself becoming bored of the rooftop. On top of that, in this closed space with the dark metal and the sun beating down through the dome, it was beginning to get a little hot up there. Starscream lay down on the roof's surface, yawning with his arms folded behind his head. He figured that if he lay still and didn't move, perhaps he wouldn't heat up as fast. Above him, he could see that the curve of the dome wasn't that far from where he was. He could see its cloudy surface clearly, make out the individual scratches and smudges against its thick surface. But, from up here, he could see that there was no crack. It was completely smooth, unblemished, and the scratches were light and harmless. Starscream yawned, feeling a little annoyed. After all that, he would have liked for there to be a crack, just to stick it to Hightower.

It continued to grow hotter, and Starscream felt his cooling systems working harder than they usually did, hearing the whirring of his internal fan. He squinted up through the dome. He remembered in lessons once they had talked about clouds, and how they sometimes sabotaged unskilled fliers and tampered with machinery. He had seen the pictures they had of them, white and fluffy, almost looking soft to the touch, taking on a variety of shapes. He was looking for them now, now that he was so near the sky, and he felt that he could almost pick them out.

Suddenly, the thought struck him like a bolt of lightning. I'm out in the open. If he could see through the dome well enough to pick out clouds, then surely someone outside could see in? What if an Autobot ship flew by and Starscream was out here? He remembered what Wingdive had said, about the Autobots making better weapons, and suddenly he was afraid. He felt naked up on the roof, exposed. An easy target. The heat became unbearable. Starscream became convinced that they could see the glint of his red armor against the blacktop. There was just no choice about it. He would have to get down, now.

Slowly, carefully, so as not to provoke the invisible enemy, Starscream crawled army-style over to the edge and peered down. It still seemed so far, an eternity in which to fall, but Starscream steeled himself. At this point, his very life was at stake. Shakily, trembling either from lack of fuel or from nerves, he pushed himself to his feet. He remembered the other calling out to him. "Just Jump! Jump Starscream!" Starscream looked over his shoulder, fully expecting to see the Autobot flagship hovering just above him, before staring back down. The clock was ticking. It was now or never. Starscream sucked in a breath, shuttered his optics shut and jumped.

And as soon as his feet left the air, he blasted his engines, full power, as much as he could muster. He knew that this was a drain on his low energy reserves, but he shoved this thought aside. He had no other choice. And he would rather run out of fuel than crack open on the metal ground below.

After a few moments with no crash, Starscream opened an optic. He was actually descending, slowly, like he'd hoped. He opened the other optic, turning his engine down slightly. The engine blasting combined with the gravity of the fall had made him fall more slowly. Starscream almost laughed with relief, but he caught himself and remained focused. Just one second spent with an absent mind is all it takes, he reminded himself. But still, he was afraid to open his eyes, terrified that the sight of the world rising around him would be enough to throw him out of control.

Then, before he was expecting it, he felt the side of his foot collide with something hard. Starscream gasped and fell into a crumpled heap, but it was only a few feet, and the metal here was much cooler than before. Starscream slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He was on the ground! He'd done it!

Starscream bolted upright, thrilled. His fear at getting into trouble was forgotten. His irritation with Hightower, that was forgotten. Even his terror of the Autobots was only in the back of his mind. He'd gotten down! All by himself! He'd done it!

Starscream laughed, pushed himself to his feet, and raced inside, whooping and hollering. What did it matter that his tank was empty? What did it matter that he had missed his refueling? He'd flown to the top of the storage facility and back down! He was unstoppable!

He raced back inside, eager to show off to everyone what he had done and convince them all that he wasn't dead.

The others meanwhile, hadn't stopped thinking about Starscream for an instant, though they were always careful to keep their voices to a whisper whenever a Guardian walked by. Was he still up there? Of course, he can't get down. Do you think he'll get in trouble? Probably. I just hope he doesn't squeal on us. How long's he gonna stay up there? Who knows. Maybe the rest of his life. Maybe he won't get an alt-mode 'cause he's still stuck up there. And on and on like this.

After the refueling was over, the protoforms were called back into their sleeping quarters, where there bunks lay stacked up in columns, the one thing in the entire Section that was indisputably theirs. The children each gathered on their own bunk, marked with their name, and waited for the Guardians to speak.

"Alright, everyone," said the Guardian in Starscream's room, whose name was Red Tide. "We're all done with everyone's health inspection for today, so I'm going to call roll-call and make sure everyone's here, understand?"

"Yes, sir!" the group answered.

"Okay, here we go," she said, looking down the list. She walked by each row of bunks as she called out the children's names.

"Astrotrain?"

"Here!"

"Bandwidth?"

"Here!"

"Hightower?"

"Here!" called Hightower promptly.

She continued to move down the list. There weren't many names.

"Rumble?"

"Here!"

"Spinister?"

"Here!"

"Starscream?"

Silence.

Red Tide looked up from her handheld. "Starscream?" she called again. She looked down at the bunk at her feet, the one that bore Starscream's name. It was empty. She looked around the room. The children gazed back up at her.

"Has anyone seen Starscream?" she asked, frowning.

"No, sir!" everyone answered. Wingdive said nothing, but she was in the same column of bunks as Starscream, and Red Tide didn't notice.

Red Tide was skeptical. "Really," she said, "None of you have any idea where he is?"

A sea of heads shook back and forth. "No, sir," everyone answered.

Her expression went flat. She turned to point at Roundhouse, seated on her other side. "You," she said, "When was the last time you saw Starscream?"

"Um!" exclaimed Roundhouse, put on the spot. His optics darted for a fraction of a second toward his bunkmates before snapping back up to Red Tide. "I… I think I saw him in line for the inspections," he said a little too fast.

Red Tide seemed unimpressed. "Really?" she said.

Roundhouse nodded rapidly, too intimidated to remember to say, "Yes, sir."

From just above him, Rumble snickered.

Red Tide snapped her gaze up to Rumble. "Is something amusing, Rumble?" she asked.

Rumble froze and folded his hands into his lap. "No, sir," he said.

Red Tide exhaled, grimacing. "Alright," she said, "I suppose we'll have to go and look for him." She started briskly out the door, murmuring something into her comm. "Nobody leave this room!" she ordered over her shoulder. Then she was gone.

As soon as she was out the door, the room erupted.

"He's gonna get it now!" snickered Ramjet, falling over on his bunk.

"You guys, what if they can't find him?" said Roundhouse. "What if it gets dark and he's still up there?"

"Then," said Wingdive steadily, "We'll just have to tell them where he is."

The protestations were immediate. "Are you crazy?" shouted Spinister. "They'll kill us!"

"We'll all get in so much trouble!" agreed Bandwidth.

"It's his fault he's stuck up there!" said Ramjet indignantly. "Why should we get in trouble because he was stupid enough to go to the roof?"

The others shouted their agreement. Wingdive kept her eyes down.

"I don't care," she said, "If they haven't found him by the time it gets dark, I'm telling them."

"You can't!" shouted Rumble.

"You can't stop me," Wingdive murmured, still not looking up.

"Why don't we decide with a vote?" said Hightower. Wingdive looked up. Hightower had climbed down from his own bunk and was walking to the foot of Starscream's empty bunk, one level below Wingdive. He turned up his green optics to Wingdive, smirking. "Let's vote right now. Who wants us to tell the Guardians where Starscream is?"

Nobody raised their hand. Wingdive kept looking down into her lap, knowing that there wasn't any point. "No votes?" asked Hightower, looking around the room, "Really? Too bad.

"Now, who votes for not telling them about Starscream?"

Immediately, every arm in the room shot up. Some people were even enthusiastically waving two. Wingdive continued to look down, disgusted. Hightower turned back to her, smiling. "Majority rules," he said, shrugging.

"You can vote all you want," Wingdive said quietly. "I'm still telling them."

"What makes you think we'll let you?" said Rumble darkly, leaning forward to look Wingdive in the eye. The others murmured their agreement, some casting threatening looks at Wingdive.

Wingdive didn't spare a glance from Rumble, but fixed her gaze steadily on Hightower. "You're seriously gonna have him fight me?" she said.

"Me?" said Hightower, incredulously. "What do I have to do with this?" He smirked. "Rumble's the one who wants to fight you, or are you scared of him?"

"Well, I just wanted to make sure he had your permission to fight me," said Wingdive coolly, "Since you are in charge of him and all."

Rumble immediately flared up. "Hey, who says that he's in charge of me?"

"He did," she said simply, "When he decided by himself what we're all gonna do."

Rumble slammed his hands down on the railing of his bunk and glared threateningly at Hightower. "Nobody's in charge of me, you hear me? Nobody!" Other angry confirmations were starting to come in.

"You moron!" Hightower snarled, seeing everyone suddenly glaring at him. "Don't you see that she's just trying to make you mad at me?"

"And now you're calling me a moron!" Rumble shouted, leaning so far over the railing he was practically falling over.

"Get out of my face, or I'll punch your clock in!" Hightower shouted back.

"Hey!" another voice called from the doorway.

Everyone stopped their shouting and arguing and turned to look, Hightower with astonishment, Wingdive with a slow, amazed smile. It was Starscream, leaning against the doorway with a smirk on his face. "I can't leave you people alone for ten minutes, can I?" he said.

"Starscream!" called Wingdive joyously. She dropped down from her bunk and ran past Hightower, who was still standing aghast, and up to her friend, jumping up and down on the spot. "You're okay!" she exclaimed. Starscream sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. He simply couldn't stay mad at Wingdive. Not when she was like this.

"How did you get down?" she asked, looking him up and down. "Did they find you?"

"Nope, they didn't find me," said Starscream. "I snuck past them to get in here." He giggled a little at the thought, and Wingdive joined him, co-conspirators of a crime.

"Well, then," Wingdive went on, "How did you get down?"

"I flew down!" Starscream announced, practically inflating with pride. "All by myself!"

"What?" exclaimed Wingdive, her eyes wide. "No way!"

"He did what?" asked Hightower, as he walked over.

"You heard me!" Starscream said, beaming. "I flew all the way down from the roof to the ground. By myself."

The entire room's volume bubbled up in wonder. "You liar!" shouted Hightower. "You didn't fly down, that's impossible!"

"Apparently, it's not," said Starscream quietly, pouting and rocking back and forth on his heels. Wingdive rolled her eyes.

"You can't prove it!" Hightower insisted. "You can't prove you were up there!"

"Sure I can!" said Starscream smugly. "I was up on the roof. You saw me. Now I'm here. I had to have gotten down somehow. And I'm not dead, so I didn't jump. Logically, I had to have flown. The only reason you don't believe me is because you're jealous!"

Hightower growled in frustration, too overcome to utter any words.

At that precise moment, Red Tide walked back in, lured by all the noise, and almost tripped over the three protoforms standing in the doorway. "Wha- Starscream!" she spluttered, stepping back hastily. "So you're safe. Where were you?"

The entire room was prepared to remain silent on this matter and let Starscream answer, but Hightower immediately pointed at Starscream. "Sir, Starscream was on the roof of the storage building!" he blurted.

The entire room fell into a hush. Hightower had sung. He had sold Starscream out. He might have sold all of them out. Now, a storm was going to brew.

"What?" asked Red Tide, cocking an optic ridge. She didn't appear to have understood. "He was where, now?"

Starscream looked over at Hightower, who was smirking triumphantly, then over to Wingdive, who was looking on with gentle concern, then he finally climbed up on top of his bunk and stood upon it, with his fists planted on his hips. "That's right!" he announced. "I flew all the way to the roof of the storage facility! Then I flew back down! And I didn't get caught, and I didn't get any help! So there!" And here he finished, the mother of all stupid grins on his face.

The children were all holding their breath. This was beyond reckless. This was downright idiotic. Starscream was really in for it now! They all shrunk down in their bunks, bracing themselves for the storm.

But the storm never came. Red Tide remained staring at Starscream, her eyebrows still raised. "You really did all that?" was all she said.

"I sure did!" exclaimed Starscream proudly. The children all cringed. You were supposed to say, "Yes, sir." Did Starscream want to die?

Incredibly, though, the Guardian standing before them still didn't look angry. "Wow," she said. Then her expression became serious. "Show me," she said.

The children looked at each other. They weren't sure they had heard that right. But Starscream didn't need to be told twice. "Okay!" he shouted, saluting, and he sprinted out the door.

"Starscream, slow down! Wait up!" Red Tide called. She exited the room after him. Though nobody had been given permission, everyone scrambled down their bunks and followed after anyway.

Starscream raced all the way back into the pavilion, with all of his bunkmates and the Guardian trailing behind him. Proudly, with his head held high, he marched over to the storage facility, stopping to stand in its shadow, which was growing longer and longer as the sun sank over the horizon.

"Okay," said Red Tide, "Now show me what you did before."

"Yes, sir!" said Starscream, triumphantly. He started his engine, at the level he had felt before, and flew all the way to the roof again, quicker and smoother than he had the first time. As soon as he vanished over the edge, he poked his head over again, grinning. "See?" he said.

Red Tide paused a minute, then nodded. "Alright," she said, "Now come back down."

Starscream looked down. The distance seemed laughably small now. He took a deep breath, like he had before, and leaped, firing his engine as soon as he was in the air. In this way, he slowly sank through the air all the way back down, landing with only a slight wobbling and bending of the knees at the Guardian's feet.

Hightower was indignant. "That's not flying!" he protested, holding out a hand. He looked up at the Guardian, forgetting etiquette, waiting for her to agree.

But Red Tide looked impressed. "Huh," was all she said, with the tone of someone witnessing something mildly surprising. "Good job, Starscream. That was impressive." She turned to go, still looking more awake than she had before. "Keep up the good work. Everyone report back to your sleeping quarters now."

"Yes, sir!" everyone said, but none louder than Starscream, who was positively melting with happiness. He had been praised by a Guardian. They weren't going to kill him. Maybe it was the lack of fuel making him lightheaded, but he felt as though he were floating on those fluffy clouds they'd seen in class.

As they walked back inside, other kids kept coming up to congratulate Starscream, patting him on the arm and saying how cool, how cool it was that he could do that. Wingdive looked especially proud. Starscream beamed and said, "Thank you," so many times his mouth almost went dry, but he would be glad to say it a million times more.

A little distance ahead, Hightower walked, keeping his head down. Starscream was suddenly struck by an idea and ran up to him. "Hey, Hightower," he said, "While I was up there, I saw that crack in the ceiling. Maybe it's my imagination, but it seemed a little bigger this time than earlier. Well, see you later!" And he raced off, snickering to himself as he imagined Hightower's reaction.

AN:

Hi, everyone!

Okay, so remember how last week you got a teensy short baby chapter? Well, now you get a colossal, mondo chapter. Yay!

God, I'm so tired. It's almost six in the morning. What am I doing with my life.

Actually, writing this chapter reminded me why I hated grade school, in general. Everyone is just such a selfish asshole! And there's always that one kid who isn't a selfish asshole and actually tries to do the right thing, and she's (it's almost always a she) shunned by the rest of the class. Stupid grade school.

I picked some names off of TfWiki, but others I came up with myself. I'm particularly proud of "Bandwidth" and "Red Tide." Tee hee.

Lord, I'm tired.

I had more to say, but I'm don't remember it now. Please enjoy!