Shockwave burst out the door of the examination room, the cool air of the auditorium he had patiently waited in minutes before blasting his eye. He halted, waiting for the testing proctor to rush out, yelling at him for giving up and causing a disturbance. When no one pursued him, Shockwave scuttled out the main lobby doors, desperate to return home. He adored solving equations, but tests were just so...stressful.
The bustling city of Iacon surrounded Shockwave as he entered the outside, and a diverse multitude of Cybertronians dashed around, talking in pairs and groups as they trekked to their distant destinations. Shockwave placidly meandered about, seeking his mother.
"How was the exam?"
Shockwave whipped around. The mother he had constructed himself wheeled up to his side, her internal and primitive infrastructure shaking as her engine spun. She robotically stroked his head, trying to follow the programing that was tucked away inside of her.
"It was good."
"Was it easy?"
Shockwave gently took her spindly hand in his own, starting to walk the journey back to their home. "A little. It was harder than the other tests I have taken."
"Smart boy." The nanny droid rolled beside him on her singular wheel. It was starting to grow flat from lack of pressure, and Shockwave made a mental note to visit the Underground again to fetch her a better tire.
Most sparklings, when they were birthed from Primus, were granted a familial unit to care for them and deliver them safely to adulthood, but when Shockwave first awoke, no one had been there to greet him. He didn't find it unbearably upsetting; he had the wonderful chance to make his own parent. Of course, in his infancy, his knowledge of engineering practices was horribly limited, but after spying in on institution classes, he was able to figure it out. His miniature size made it easy to slip through vents, giving him a birds eye view of the classes taking place below him. His fascination with creation was so innate, and he knew exactly what he desired to learn.
The governess he crafted also had the ability to work and bring in income, and Shockwave offered her service to a drug shop near his current dwelling. The medic employed there was horribly confused.
"You want me to let your robot work here?" she had asked, her gaze raking over the shivering mother.
"I'm too young to work; I need to go to school. I don't have a mom, so I made her. She needs to work to afford our apartment."
The medic's face had become devoid of color as she listened to him, and she had reached behind her to a com link.
"Please, don't call someone to pick me up. I don't want to go to the orphanage. I am fine with her." Shockwave gazed approvingly up at his stagnant caretaker. "I've altered her coding. She can help stock with 99.7% efficiency. I am working on increasing her efficiency all the way to one-hundred percent."
The medic's hand had dropped, and she had returned to the counter, looking down at the small boy and his slender creation. She had sighed, unsure of what to do. "Bring it around here. Let me see what it can do."
"She."
"Okay, she."
The nanny droid had wheeled herself around the counter, and the medic had shown her where all the bottles needed to be placed on the shelves. She had clicked and whirred as the information was stored away inside her makeshift brain, and with broken movements, she had begun to stock the store with its products.
"How much can you pay her?" Shockwave had inquired.
"Just wait. I want to know she can do what you really say she can do."
After about one breem, the store's shelves had been stuffed back to full capacity, and the nanny droid turned around, seeking affirmation from her tiny creator.
"You made her?" the medic asked.
"Yes."
"You...you really are brilliant. How old are you?"
"I don't know. I didn't keep track."
"Well, you seem pretty young to be doing something like this."
"She can also clean. She has artificial intelligence, so she will learn whatever you tell her."
The droid was granted minimum wage, but the small hourly rate was more than enough to afford their home and energon reserves. The following solar-cycle, the quiet governess said her goodbyes as Shockwave had dashed off to the entrance academy, excited to take his placement test. He had slipped into the loud main hall, other children, who were significantly older than him, awaited to enter the examination chamber.
Oh Primus, had that exam been boring. It was hundreds of simplistic questions regarding reading comprehension and basic mathematics. Shockwave had scribbled all over the exam, solving one problem after another. After five minutes of testing, he had trotted to the head of the room, turning in his exam. This was the first instance someone had chased after him, asking where he thought he was going.
"Home," Shockwave had replied. "I finished the test."
The proctor's optics had become swamped with bewilderment, and he retreated back into the gigantic room. On a hunch, Shockwave had decided to remain where he was, waiting for the adults to come greet him again.
The entrance academy's headmaster had come out, her bulky body creaking as she approached the small Cybertronian. "Do you know what you got?"
Shockwave had shrugged his shoulders. How would he know? He didn't have the answer key.
"You got over one hundred percent. You also got the bonus questions correct."
"Can I take another?"
"Another?"
"Another test. I want something harder."
The headmaster had peacefully smiled; she had never met a student like this before. "Of course."
And Shockwave had flown through all the other placement exams, leaving the headmaster no choice but to send him off to higher education at the Iacon Institute.
. . .
Mother placed a small glass of chilled energon in front of Shockwave, and he gazed over a large book he had found in the Underground.
"Did you go back there again?" Mother gestured to the thick textbook.
"Yeah."
"I told you that place is dangerous."
"The Underground is just a trash pit."
"Trash pits are dangerous. You could fall through the ground or get cut."
Mother swept out of the room as someone knocked on the apartment's door. As the door creaked open, Shockwave shut his dictionary and got to consuming the energon in front of him. A small orifice slipped open next to his neck, and he carefully poured the glowing, thick liquid into it.
"Is Shockwave here?" the Cybertronian at the door requested to know.
"Yes," Mother responded.
"May we speak to him?"
"Yes, but we are in the middle of a conversation. Come in."
Mother ripped back into the room Shockwave was settled in, and her sharp hand cuffed him over the head.
"Hey!" Shockwave raised his arm, trying to shield himself from the barrage of slaps Mother was throwing down upon him.
"I told you not to go back to the Underground! And did you listen? No!"
Headmaster and two others crept into the doorway of the Cybertronian kitchen, curiously watching the quarrel between Mother and her child. Mother noticed their presence, and she knit her fingers together, her hands politely at her chest.
"My apologies. Shockwave may speak with you now."
Shockwave glared at her, perturbed that Mother was starting to act like an actual mother. This was what he had desired from her, discipline and all, but he never expected her wrath to be displayed while guests were in the apartment.
"Sorry about giving you no notice," Headmaster began, and he slipped into the kitchen, pulling out a discus chair from under the table. "but your results were most impressive."
"He is very smart." Mother gave Shockwave one of her signature robotic pats, praising him from his exceptional work. Shockwave gently nudged her hand away, still distraught by the pain those fingers could inflict.
"He scored a ninety-seven percent on the entrance exam to the Iacon Institute. Most students average around seventy-eight percent after many cycles of testing."
Shockwave remained quiet, unsure of how to process the information. "So I'm getting in?" he finally asked.
"Why, of course." Headmaster smiled, amused by how unsure the child was. "I am offering to enter you into a special program for gifted younglings."
"I want to be with the adults."
Shockwave found that adults demonstrated significantly more intelligence, and children his age were still in development. Adults were, for the most part, tolerable.
"I understand, but I want you to be around other children. You are very, very smart, but you still need to live your childhood. You already," Headmaster glanced up at Mother. "live in an interesting situation."
"What are the others like?"
"Well, they aren't like you. They are students from the higher rankings of the entrance academy, but they have shown great aptitude for the sciences and mathematics. You will attend regular classes with adults, but enrolling in this program is mandatory. You will spend about half your educational solar-cycles with the other gifted younglings."
"So they aren't in the Institute yet?"
"No. It is just an introductory program to," The Headmaster wavered his fingers in the air, trying to mimic sparkles. "open their minds."
Shockwave looked up at Mother, trying to gather her opinion. She only looked down at him and cocked her head, pushing him to speak on his own behalf.
"When is the first solar-cycle?"
"Tomorrow."
. . .
Headmaster placed his hand on Shockwave's small back as he guided him down the abandoned hallway, other classes in session. Shockwave got a peek through one window, and a pink tutor was demonstrating some sort of chemical reaction to the students eagerly watching.
Headmaster's wings clanked softly as he ambled along, as if his joints were not completely tightened. The chopper blades that made up his wings swung this way and that, like the golden pendulum of a worn grandfather clock.
"How many others are there?" Shockwave spied the door that his new classmates were awaiting behind. He corrected the load in his arms; Mother made a fuss about sending him in with his favorite books and his music machine. She knew he became perturbed when he was bored with nothing to do.
"Four."
Headmaster quietly pushed the door open, and indeed, four other children were settled in the room, socializing with each other. They were resting in a circle, sitting atop the discus chairs common to this sector of Iacon. Their intricate conversation became hushed as Shockwave and Headmaster entered the classroom, and they paused to stare at the newcomer.
"Hello, everyone. This is the final student for the year. His name is Shockwave."
Shockwave timidly entered the room, clutching his effects to his bulky chest. One of the children bounced off his seat, rushing towards Shockwave, his silver hands extended. He snatched Shockwave's music player off the stack of books, throwing the separate headphones over his audio receptors.
"You have one of these? Vintage, so cool! Where did you find it?"
"Uh, someone threw it away."
"What an idiot! I've heard that these sound even better than the new stuff in the stores! Can you play me a song?"
"Well, glad to see Brainstorm is excited. I will be back in a minute."
Headmaster left the group alone, and Shockwave shoved the supposedly magical music player into Brainstorm's hands, trying to force the boisterous child away from him. Shockwave placed his hefty load on the ground before grabbing a discus chair off of a rack on the wall. It fired up, and he guided it over to the other students.
Brainstorm danced around gleefully as he listened to the music pouring out of the machine. "This is amazing! And you have good taste in music!"
Shockwave was puzzled by the little sky blue Cybertronian's enjoyment, but he kept his bewilderment hidden away, not wanting to offend. He crawled onto the seat, and the others stared at him, curious about the newcomer. One of the students, who was adorned with a dull grayscale color scheme with scarlet and green accents, whispered something to his comrade next to him. Small panels on either side of his head lit up as he spoke.
The gossiper's compatriot nodded eagerly, agreeing with whatever had been uttered. His red, pointed eyebrows raised as he turned to Shockwave.
"Are you him?"
"'Him'?"
Brainstorm rejoined the cohorts, clambering onto his chair, the vintage music player clasped between his fingers. "Oh yeah, the kid genius!"
Shockwave was positive there wasn't another prodigy amongst the masses, but he wanted to hold on to his humility. "I don't know."
"Yeah, you do!" Greyscale's panels erupted in a frenzy of light. "We've heard about you. Everyone won't stop blabbering about the 'one optic purple prodigy'."
"But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the adult classes?" Red Eyebrows leaned forward, baffled by Shockwave's presence.
"Headmaster said I will go to adult classes, but I need to spend time with...people my age, too."
"Just speaking about that, will we still get Free Time?" Brainstorm was turning a cracked dial on the music machine, rifling through the audio tracks.
"What are you, a sparkling?" Red Eyebrows retorted.
"I guess I am. I like to go out and play. Besides, you don't like to play, so it's not like you see any value in Free Time."
"I am going to miss everyone back at academy, so I hope we get Free Time." Greyscale added. "I'm gonna miss Crosshairs."
"Crosshairs is an idiot." Red Eyebrows shifted in his seat as he recalled this mystery friend Shockwave had never encountered. This made him realize something. Shockwave had no friends besides Mother, and she, even though she practically raised him, did not count.
"I like him," Brainstorm said. "He does start issues, though. Poor Rung has to sort everything out."
"Did you hear Rung wants to be a therapist?" Red Eyebrows asked.
"Makes sense." Greyscale stood up on his discus, shifting his weight between his feet, riding the seat as it bobbed up and down. "He's really good at reading people."
"What do you guys want to be?" Shockwave attempted to insert himself in the conversation, pulling the subject matter away from children he had never met.
"I want to be a medic!" Red Eyebrow's lovely optic's burst with light as he considered his future career. "I, Ratchet, will be the best doctor this planet has ever seen!"
"Dream on," Brainstorm grumbled. This was obviously something this Ratchet fellow boasted about routinely.
"Oh, I want to be a medic, too!" Greyscale placed his fists on his wide waist.
"Ugh, Wheeljack, stop copying me!" Ratchet whined, his voice filled with fury.
"'Ugh, Wheeljack, stop c-copying m-m-me!'"
Shockwave jumped, disturbed by the broken echo that sounded in the room. The fourth student had remained so quiet up until this point, so much so that Shockwave, a very attentive Cybertronian, didn't even detect his presence.
"Soundwave, shut it!" Ratchet snapped, jerking his head towards the boxy little blue boy that was balancing cross legged on his discus.
"'Sh-shut it!'"
Headmaster burst into the room, hugging a bundle of documents to his svelte chest. His wing blades clattered as they bashed into the doorframe, producing a chaotic twister of sound. "You all getting along?"
"Soundwave's copying us again!" Ratchet griped, his tenor voice climbing up an octave as his frustration took over.
"Soundwave," Headmaster slipped a discus off the rack and brought it over, the metal circle tucked neatly under his willowy arm. "you know it is unruly to use your ability to mock others."
"Sorry," Soundwave replied, his own fantastic voice sing-songy and perfectly tuned.
"Now," Headmaster activated the discus he claimed and perched atop it, his slender legs crossed elegantly. "I have a gift for you all." He slipped a small datapad into each of the youthful students' hands, the screens waking up. "These tablets will give you access to the Institute's libraries, research facilities, and lecture halls."
"How big is the library?" Shockwave's mind twirled. No more traveling to the Underground!
"We have a few million books across campus."
Shockwave's spark started to convulse in joyous celebration, preparing his body to dash immediately to the collection of knowledge within the Institute's walls.
"Can I go now? Please?"
Headmaster smiled gracefully to Shockwave, understanding his desperation. "Soon, but there is more. These datapads also grant you access to off-site archival data. Are you all aware of where the Iacon Database is?"
Shockwave furiously nodded amongst the timid head shakes of the others.
"It is an archivist base run by Alpha Trion and his student, Orion Pax. You have access to level one classification data. So, pretty much just historical information. Nothing top secret."
Shockwave bounced off his discus, his feet clunking as he made contact with the ground. "Please, please, please, can we go to the library?"
"Shockwave, just a little bit more. Does anyone have questions?"
"Are we still getting Free Time?" Brainstorm slipped off his discus, gently patting Shockwave, trying to calm his new comrade.
"Yes. You all will spend a couple of cycles at the Institute each day learning before being sent back to the Academy to enjoy the rest of your solar-cycle and Free Time. Shockwave, you will be participating in their Free Time before you come back here to participate in your other classes. Now," Headmaster abandoned his seat and shakily kneeled beside Shockwave. "Free Time starts soon, so you will be heading back to the Academy with your new friends. In the meantime, you may go to the library, but be back here in three breems."
Shockwave rocketed past Headmaster, barreling towards the door.
"Your tablet!"
Shockwave quickly retreated back into the heart of the room, snatching his blue datapad, before darting into the hallway. Knowledge awaited!
