Lesson in Living

Chapter 1

By Starath

Author's Note: This story started out as a simple opening scene that kept running around in my mind, then exploded into a full-blown series that just HAD to be written down. I didn't always know how things were going to happen, and I still don't, lol. Legally stuff: Transformers doesn't belong to me, nor do the characters, but I bought a new CD player today so THERE. I own that. Extra special thanks to The Crab for helping me out on this story!

It started out like any other Friday afternoon stuck at school, but Casey made the most of it. She had planted herself in front of a computer two hours ago and happily passed time playing on the Internet with music blasting through her ears. She whizzed through favorite websites, laughed at a few comics, and settled in to watch several episodes of the original Transformers on YouTube. After an hour of this she was giddy with Transformers swimming around in her head. This would certainly make it interesting to think straight during class at one o'clock. Luckily it was screenwriting class, so maybe having her imagination fired up by the old cartoon wasn't such a bad thing.

Since she was so buried in Transformers nostalgia, she didn't hear the commotion at the front of the computer lab by the help desk. It went on for quite awhile until a voice carried all the way back of the big room, demanding and aggressive.

"I demand to know where I am and what nonsense brought me here!"

Casey heard him clear through her headphones. At first she dismissed the outcry. People were always grouchy near lunchtime.

"Do not tell ME to calm down! I want to know how I got here in this slag heap!"

She choked, suddenly frozen. She stared at the cartoon on her computer screen and paused it, listening hard. No other shouts followed and she let out a pent-up breath. Too many episodes in a row. That made a girl hear things that couldn't be real. She had just started to settle down when another yell disturbed the air. Startled into action, she ripped the headphones from her ears and stood up to see over the rows of computers. She could see him standing up front arguing with the security guard, wearing a gunmetal grey jacket….

No way.

Packing everything up at the speed of light she took off to the front of the room.

Casey approached the scene warily, staying far enough away to not be immediately noticed but close enough to study him. The irate man at the front desk wasn't young but not extremely old either. A balding security guard tried to reason with him.

"Sir, we'll help you if you if you would just tell us—"

"I already have, fool!" Short silver-spiked hair glittered under the lights as he tore at it in frustration. Red-brown eyes widened in disbelief. "Primus! I have HAIR too! If this is some joke of Prime's or Starscream's I'll—" he jumped smoothly back as the security guard approached him. "Don't you touch me, human!"

Heavy black boots thudded on the floor when he landed. The camouflage-patterned shirt under his jacket ruffled itself, catching his attention. He just about started into another tirade, but seemed too horrified for a moment to say anything.

Casey took a breath to calm herself. So was it him? If it was, boy, he'd been human for, what, ten minutes and already had the entire school thinking he was nuts. What a great start. But if it WAS him, he'd want to know what was going on, immediately if not sooner.

Well, one would expect that from the great Decepticon leader Megatron.

But if she didn't intervene soon he might do something to get arrested or worse. Several annoyed students hurried by, staring at the silver-haired weirdo who was apparently having some sort of identity crisis. Casey adjusted her coat over her arm and noticed her hands were shaking. What she knew she had to do— just to make sure— had her shaking all the way to her shoes, actually. Besides, she might be the only Transfan around anyway, and then who would help him if she didn't?

The security guard spoke soothing words again, but he recovered from shock and began a fit of flailing when something interrupted him.

"Look out! The Autobots are here!!"

He passed her test with flying colors. Megatron spun around in a fluid move with his right arm automatically raised.

"WHERE??" He bellowed.

Casey wasn't sure if she should be happy or not. No one else stood nearby, so she waited for Megatron's eyes to rest on her.

"Did you say that?" He demanded, brushing off the security guard when he stormed up to her.

"Sir—" said the guard, trying to do his job, but Casey cut him off.

"It's okay, he's with me." Her voice trembled and she could barely move without falling over. She smiled nervously. "He's forgotten his medicine today."

She looked Megatron in the eyes, pleading silently that he would follow along. The security guard remained tense.

"Ma'am, I don't know if you should—"

She had already boldly touched Megatron's shoulder. He snapped it back, eyes sparkling dangerously.

"Hand OFF, human. I asked you a question, now answer me!"

Somewhere she found some courage in her left pocket and replied with just as much hostility, bluffing him with her best glare. "Alright tough guy, do you want help from a fellow Decepticon or not?"

Megatron went quiet again, subdued by surprise. Before he could say another word she grabbed his coat sleeve and pulled him away from the front desk.

"He believes he's a conqueror in his own little world, sorry to bother you!"

Casey managed to get him up one flight of stairs and onto the second floor before he blinked as if coming awake and yanked his arm from her hand.

"Who are you?" He demanded harshly, "and how dare you say something like that to ME! Are you responsible for this? Who is your commander? State your name and rank, femme!"

Luckily Casey practiced this sort of thing as a child just in case this would happen. Who knew it would come in handy? She rattled everything off, adjusting for context.

"Name's Starflight, rank: Six. Function: Undercover special operations. I have no commander. I've been here on my own for years." She held up her hand when he opened his mouth. "Don't start now, you've already made a fool of yourself in public and just about blew the secret presence of Transformers on this planet. Shame on you. We'll have to go somewhere safe to talk now. Come on."

She turned and pushed through a pair of double doors, praying he would follow her. She kept her head up and posture straight like she imagined a Decepticon might march. Eventually she heard heavy footfall stomping along behind her and sighed with relief.

They traveled in silence for a few minutes, across the skyway and down two flights of stairs. After awhile she heard a growl, and his footsteps stopped.

"Just where are you taking me?"

"The funny farm," she muttered, grinning.

"What was that?"

Casey turned to him, putting on the most annoyed face she could manage. "The lunchroom, if you MUST know. I need to eat."

Megatron pulled a disgusted expression, hands buried in his pockets. "You actually EAT like a human?"

She huffed. "I can't have any energon here because there isn't any."

His brow creased in a frown. "… Oh."

The lunchroom was somewhat like a small dark hole, but at least it was comfy. The murmur of conversation buzzed in the small space, occupying the air along with the TV showing "Law & Order" in the corner. By habit Megatron ducked his head coming through the door. Casey scanned the room and spotted an empty table on the far side. That was good… she didn't want to sit in the middle of the room in case the Decepticon-in-human's-clothing got loud or unruly. She figured he wouldn't like being in the middle anyway.

"Over here," she called, weaving between the other tables to approach the empty one. She dropped her backpack into the chair beside her and indicated the one opposite. He slid into it with shoulders hunched, studying every part of the room with narrowed eyes. Casey dug out her lunch bag, watching him.

"You needn't worry, there's nothing out to get you here."

"I'm not worried," he snapped. "I'm examining our position. How long will this take?"

"As long as it has to," she replied, ignoring the rattle of the paper bag in her shaky hands. "Are you hungry?"

Megatron said he didn't need anything. He stared at the doors leading out of this place, planning an escape route in case he needed it.

"You might eventually. You might as well feed that human body."

"I don't intend on staying in it long."

"You'll get hungry."

"I don't care. I'll live with it."

Casey thought about explaining to him that it didn't work that way with a flesh-and-blood body, but decided against it. She sighed. "Fine. I saw some free cookies though, and I'm not about to pass those up." When it was obvious he had ignored her, she went and got them.

After selecting the best cookies she glanced back to the table where Megatron sat. He had loosened up a bit, but still looked terribly alert, scowling at everyone or anything within an eight-foot radius. Those around him avoided his eyes. Even as a human, even without the scowl, he had a presence about him that warned absolute caution. Thinking for a moment, she selected three more cookies in another napkin. She wandered back to the table and placed them beside him. He gave her a hateful glare.

"I said I didn't WANT anything!"

The ferocity almost frightened her but she caught herself before it could show. Hopefully. "Then leave them and I'll eat them. Sheesh Megs, do you take all good gestures so well?"

Growling, he set aside the cookie-laden napkin, then looked at her. Carefully. She evaded his gaze, obviously nervous. A slow smile crept over his face.

"You're scared of me."

She busied herself with rummaging in her lunch bag. He reached over and held the bag, stilling her hand inside.

"Aren't you…?"

A flash of panic hit her and seeped into her bones. She swallowed. "Scared, no. Healthy amount of respect, yes."

He released her hand, still smiling. With teeth. "I see." He studied her with eyes so brown they were nearly red. "Tell me, Starflight, how long did you say you've been here?"

Uh oh. Questioning could lead to big problems. Casey chose her words carefully.

"Twenty-three years. On my own, like I said. And I have no commander either. I'm here to gather information about human life by living it. I know nothing else."

"And yet you know me."

"Every Transformer would know you, even in the ultimate disguise."

He considered that. "This is true. My reputation precedes me as always. Are there any others with you?"

"Not that I know of. Contact with other Transformers is not permitted; otherwise it might damage my experience as a "human" by ruining the day-to-day normalness of it all."

"Then what is your information being gathered for?"

"I don't know." Casey caught his sideways glance and nearly sweated bullets. "I don't know, honest. Field operatives aren't always told what their research is for. I imagine some sort of infiltration project or something. But it's always been a secret to me."

"That is also true…" Megatron sat back, releasing her from a riveting gaze. He picked up a cookie and absentmindedly started tearing it apart. She watched each smashed piece hit the napkin and winced. If he pursued things any further he would figure out she was lying through her teeth.

"If you're here on your own, how do you intend to help me?"

"I'm not sure, aside from teaching you how to adapt to your human body." She bit into her apple, munching while pretending to look thoughtful. "What's the last thing you remember before finding yourself human here?"

Megatron frowned. "Prime had gotten me the other day— not too hard, mind you."

"Of course," she soothed.

"It'd been a long day and I needed repairs. I took a recharge session for the first time in an astrocycle. Next thing I know I'm a slagging fleshling in the middle of this city and I wanted to know what was going on."

"I see."

"And, of course, you know the rest." He noticed the ruined cookie had made a mess on his fingers and scowled, wiping them clean on the napkin. "I swear, once I find out who did this to me—" his red-brown eyes speared her green ones. "Surely you have a contact? Someone you give status reports to and updates on your progress?"

Casey almost choked. Well, she did, actually, when her surprise threw a piece of apple where it wasn't supposed to go. She coughed and hacked, exaggerating to buy herself some time. Think of something!

"Human food too strong for you?" he sneered.

She recovered with a swing of water, trying to breathe normally. "No. It's just a hazardous business eating sometimes."

"So I see," he smiled without any hint of good will. Casey briefly thought of a hungry dragon eyeing sheep. She went back to her lunch, hoping the interruption had distracted him from his previous question. Silence drifted between them. Occasionally Mr. McCoy's accusing voice shouted out of the TV, demanding to know why the defendant had lied to the authorities at the scene of a crime.

"Well?"

She froze. "Well what?"

"My question." Megatron eyed her expectantly.

"The question…? Oh, that." She grinned sheepishly but sobered when his look turned hungry. "Sorry. Uh, I don't know who my contact is. Part of the "thou shall not disturb the human experience" thing. It's all secret, like I said. I send my data off to random places that are e-mailed to me."

"E-mail?"

"Yeah. It's a medium of communication here through the Internet. Where you're from I don't think it's been invented yet."

"No, it doesn't sound familiar. Tell me, Starflight, and forgive me if I've asked already… What is your identification number?"

"Excuse me?" As soon as she heard herself say that, she covered genuine confusion with indignation. "What business of that is yours? Or do you ask that to every femme you come across so you can call on them later?"

Her tact must have worked because he raised his hands in surrender. "I was simply curious, no offense intended."

"Offense taken. If you MUST know, it starts with a four." She said huffily and buried herself into a ham sandwich.

"That's funny though…"

Casey stopped. "What?"

Megatron sat forward, any amusement nonexistent. "Most covert agents have ID numbers beginning with eight, or don't have one at all. The number four is reserved for garbage drones."

Her appetite vanished. You are SO CAUGHT!

"Er, uh, of course, it's been such a long time since I last tried to remember it—"

"Silence imposter." He ordered sternly, not loudly but with power behind it. "Don't think you could fool me for long. I may not be in my rightful body but my mind is just fine. So who are you really? An Autobot? Somebody hoping to keep me occupied while Starscream takes over my leadership?"

"…No," she squeaked and scooted her chair back a little, his presence suddenly much more dangerous.

"Who, then?" his eyes widened. "No… just a simple human?"

"Uh… had you fooled!" She tried to smile, but found that impossible with Megatron glaring death at her. "Yes," she tucked her hands on her lap, subdued, feeling like a child about to be scolded. If she was lucky that would be all she'd get. Her gaze edged towards the backpack beside her. Maybe if she moved quickly enough…

"I did some testing earlier," he said in a low warning tone, "and I'm sure my abilities are faster and surer than any mere human has."

It was a threat she did not want to see any proof of. "Noted."

Silence fell between them again, heavy with doom. Megatron studied her, lengthening the silence to watch her squirm.

"I'm sure you have some arbitrary, normal human name, but I like Starflight so we'll stay with that. So, Starflight, how did you know it was me?"

"It's as I said, the truth: Anyone familiar with Transformers would know you, even in the ultimate disguise. It helps that you sound the same."

"And how would a human know of Transformers? Are they here fighting the war?"

"Er, not quite." Casey did her best to explain the real situation as she saw it, which must have involved a pass through realities as well as the form change. He took it in quietly, tapping his fingers together under his chin.

"Interesting…" Megatron leaned backwards and eyed her. "Under normal circumstances I would kill those who lie to me." He paused for effect, allowing the weight of his words to hang there above the girl's head. "But, since you so graciously offered your help to me earlier I won't. For now."

"How sweet of you," she managed dryly, giving him a small chuckle before continuing.

"Seeing as I don't have the necessary knowledge and tools to care for myself, I'll be staying with you until I can return to my rightful body and reality."

He glanced at the chocolate chip cookie sitting by his elbow on its green napkin. He took it and gave it a bite, finding it pleasantly sweet. He grinned at the taste sensation, unlike anything he'd had before.

"Now aren't you glad you decided to help me?"

Casey slumped into her chair. "Thrilled."

To be continued…

So what do you guys think? Please let me know!