Swift had expected a trickle of interest in the factionless movement - mostly Cybertronians her own age, maybe a handful of older mechs. She hadn't expected a response that more resembled a tsunami than a trickle.
She woke up the next morning to a message from Hornet - I started a pro-factionless group message channel. You might wanna check it out.
Well, that piqued her interest. She opened the link Hornet provided… and felt her jaw drop. The channel was flooded with messages, and while the vast majority of participants had hidden their identities behind creative handles, it was still clearly obvious that her cause had attracted a wide variety of mechs from all walks of life.
BlackHawk12: I just about exploded with joy when I saw this exists! I've never wanted to put on a faction symbol but always thought I was the weird one. Knowing that I'm not alone is a huge relief.
XalirionDeus: OMP this had better not be a joke! Because some of us are serious about getting rid of the stigma against neutrals and factionless mechs.
CannonFodder287: Ever since the war ended and my division was broken up I've thought about taking off my Con symbol for good. But there's a lot of prejudice against Decepticons who go neutral for any reason, and I don't want to be disowned by my former comrades. Are there any other Cons who feel this way? Especially those who saw action in the war?
TheySeeMeRollinTheyH8N: My parents just automatically assume I'm an Autobot because they are. Why are we still calling each other Bots and Cons when the war's been over for ages anyhow? No factions, no sigils!
FlyawayDZ: This is stupid. You're all idiots just asking to be shot during the next war, and you'll deserve it.
[USERNAME FlyawayDZ HAS BEEN BANNED FROM THIS CHANNEL]
CityspeakersNerd8888: CannonFodder287 OMP me too! If I told the others in my trine I wanted to go factionless they'd probably deck me! I'm so glad I'm not the only one!
CannonFodder287: CityspeakersNerd888 whoo, here I thought it'd just be neutrals an' Bots here! Which division did you serve with?
[MOD] StingLikeAHornet: Keep one-on-one chatter to PMs, please. Leave this channel clear for group discussions. Thanks.
CityspeakersNerd8888: StingLikeAHornet sorry about that. PM incoming, CannonFodder.
Tanks4theMemories: Holy slag, 400 mechs on this channel? I'm not the only one who thinks factions are outdated?
WiresCrossed94: Tanks4theMemories don't get your hopes up, half of them are probably bots.
WiresCrossed94: And by that I mean automated programs, not Autobots. Whoops.
Swift scrolled through page after page of messages, astounded at the response. She had assumed they would find a few dozen mechs who shared their opinions… but over four hundred had been bold enough to join the channel and speak up, and that probably meant there were many more who felt the same way and were just keeping their mouths shut. And it wasn't just young mechs and femmes, but soldiers from both sides of the war and neutrals who were feeling pressure to declare themselves Autobots or Decepticons. A few of them even claimed to have served on the Nemesis or the Ark at some point, though given that they went by usernames rather than their actual designations there was no way to prove their claims.
All this thrilled Swift to no end… but it also left a pit of apprehension in her tanks. For as wonderful as this enthusiastic response was, she also couldn't help but wonder what came next. She hadn't thought past just spreading the word and opening up a discussion about faction symbols. And while this was a fantastic start, she didn't want her cause to fizzle and die here.
She would figure that out soon enough. For now, she had a life of her own to live. Which reminded her that she hadn't come up with an idea for her new entrance essay. She'd have to look at the possible topics later and see if she could narrow her choices down a little.
Hornet must have been thinking along the same lines, because he sent another message at that moment. This is great and all, but where do we go from here? Pro-factionless-ism or whatever we're calling it isn't going to gain any traction if we just limit it to a bunch of chatter on a message channel.
I'm not sure. I admit I didn't think this far ahead. Think we can get the others together soon to discuss it?
How's after school today sound? I'll ping the others and we can meet at the library. What about that one Autobot? Think you can get her to come too? It'd help to have at least one Autobot's opinion on this.
Swift felt her faceplates heat up a bit at the thought of seeing Harmony again. I'll contact her and see if she can make it. She lives in Unitrex, which is a ways from the border. If worse comes to worse we can patch her in through video call.
Awesome. See you then.
Swift rolled out of her berth and set about her routine - shower, a bit of polish, a brief reread of what she'd written last night and making a few edits before sending it to her beta-reader. Then she headed out for her morning refuel, pausing to give Wildfire a quick scritch before the horse-former pushed his way into her room and curled up on her berth.
Her parents were already at the table, looking over datapads over their morning energon. Sparkling chassis plans, she realized, and with a lump in her throat tubing she fetched her own cube and sat at the other end of the table. She wasn't resentful, she wasn't jealous, she was just giving her parents space, she wasn't going to be petty or mopey about it…
"What's the matter, don't like your dad anymore?" Blitzwing asked with a chuckle. He put down his datapad, his smile shifting to a look of concern. "You okay? Someone I need to beat up?"
"Blitzwing, you can't solve everyone's problems by punching them," Glory told him, and she stacked the datapads and set them aside. "You okay, sweetspark? You can sit closer if you want. Tell us what's going on."
Relief mingled with embarrassment swept through her, and she scooted closer to Blitzwing and let him give her arm an affectionate pat. She had nearly made an uncomfortable situation even worse through her passive-aggressiveness. And while she still didn't want to talk about it, she could at least try to act mature about it.
"I'm okay," she assured them. "Just didn't sleep well. I think I was up too late last night."
"You didn't come say hi when you came home," Glory noted, cocking her head to one side. "You know you can always wake us up or interrupt us to say goodnight, no matter how late it is."
"Almost always," Blitzwing added with a bit of a smirk, earning a kick under the table from Glory.
"I'll remember that," Swift assured them. "Um… how are the plans coming along?"
"Pretty well," Glory replied. "There's no real rush to finalize the design - we won't have Vector Sigma access for awhile. But there's no harm in being prepared."
Swift nodded, doing her best to appear interested rather than worried. "Are you going to build it? Or hire someone?"
"Knock Out actually volunteered his services," Glory replied. "He's good at building sparkling shells."
"Tell him the kid just needs a basic coat of paint," Blitzwing grumbled. "Nothing that needs a constant polish or a lot of upkeep. Just because he's fraggin' obsessed with his appearance doesn't mean he has to foist it on others."
"Honestly, Blitzwing, you could stand to take a little better care of your appearance too," Glory informed him. "A little touch-up or polish wouldn't kill you."
"Who polishes a fraggin' tank?" Blitwing retorted. "Or a sparkling for that matter? Sparklings shouldn't have to worry about their fraggin' paint jobs."
"Knock Out let me polish myself when I visited him as a sparkling," Swift pointed out. "He said you're never too young to think about looking good."
"He has a point," Glory noted with a smile, making Blitzwing grumble something about a stuck-up peacock. "Want me to walk you home today after school? Or do you have somewhere else to be?"
Swift almost took her up on the offer, but remembered Hornet's message. "Um, I need to stay after a bit. Hornet and I are going to work on our essays together, see if we can't give each other some feedback."
Glory nodded. "Just give us a call if you think you're going to be late, okay?"
"Will do."
Blitzwing and Glory returned their attention to the datapads as Swift bid them goodbye and left the apartment. She knew she should be happy for her parents, and excited that a new sibling was joining the family. But she couldn't suppress the churning in her spark as she made her way to the train station… or the guilt she felt at her own feelings of resentment.
At least, she thought, this new cause she had invested herself in would be a good distraction. And hopefully a valuable one.
Despite technically being part of the Polyhex academy, the library was open to the public as well as to students. So it wasn't uncommon for students browsing the shelves for research materials or studying at tables to find themselves alongside mechs looking for the latest bestseller or bringing a sparkling to a storytime activity. For the most part both groups got along, and much of Polyhex was satisfied enough with this state of affairs that no effort had been made so far to build a separate library for the community itself.
So when both Swift and Firebolt ended up dragging a few extra mechs to the after-school meeting - extra mechs that couldn't be mistaken for students of the Academy in any way, shape, or form - no one paid too much attention. Though the presence of an Autobot at a Decepticon facility did raise a few optic ridges… which, in Swift's opinion, was just proof that this meeting was sorely needed.
"Hey Harmony, welcome back!" Ricochet greeted. "Glad we didn't scare you off!"
"Nah, you guys aren't THAT scary," Harmony assured them. "Find a name that suits you yet?"
"Not yet, but I'm trying a new one today," he replied. "How does Jagger sound?"
"Um…" Swift decided if she couldn't say something nice about his choice of a name, it was best to say nothing at all.
"Isn't that a human band name or something?" asked Stardust.
"Who cares what it means in human-talk?" Ricochet/Jagger demanded. "But my name isn't what we're here to discuss, is it?"
"Not from what I've heard," Swindle replied, pulling out a chair and taking a seat. "Hey Swift!"
"Hi Uncle Swindle," Swift greeted, beaming behind her mask. "Thank you for coming."
"Not a problem! Honestly, the moment Firebolt told me about this meeting, I knew I had to come. I can't exactly talk to my teammates about taking off my 'Con badge - Onslaught would probably strip my paint or at least blow a gasket. Just nice to have a place to discuss it, huh?"
"That's for sure," Firebolt noted. "I love Uncle Onslaught and everything, but he doesn't take kindly to anyone disagreeing with him."
"Tell me about it," Hornet grumbled.
"It's not easy for any of us," Harmony replied. "Maybe the Decepticons are a bit more hard-nosed about it, but Autobots don't look too kindly on anyone who wants to remove their faction symbol either. Mention that you want to go neutral or just take your sigil off and they act like you've thrown your lot in with the Decepticons or some Neo-Unicronian cult."
"We get it, we've all established that factions suck and none of us want to put on or keep a symbol," Ricochet/Jagger grumped. "What are we actually going to DO about it, though?"
"Well, it's not like anyone's going to arrest us for refusing to join a faction, are they?" asked Firebolt. "I mean, there's no law against it, is there?"
Swift turned to Harmony. "Is there?"
Harmony snorted. "I'm not the law expert. I just live with one. I'd have to ask my mom to be sure, but as far as I know there's no law against being a neutral."
"Doesn't stop neutrals from being harassed on a regular basis," Stardust pointed out. "I've heard stories about neutrals being accosted in public, even, and being called cowards for refusing to pick a side."
"It's a rock-and-a-hard-place situation," Harmony replied. "You're a coward if you refuse to pick a side, and a traitor if you pick what someone decides is the 'wrong' side."
"Why are we even still picking sides, though?" asked Firebolt. "There's no war anymore! There were treaties signed and everything! Why can't we just be Cybertronians again?"
Swindle sighed deeply. "That's the million-shanix question, sweetspark. And I don't think you're gonna like the answer."
"Why, is it that bad?" asked Ricochet/Jagger.
Swindle looked around as if to ensure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation, then leaned forward to address the younger mechs. "You kids were sparked at the tail end of the Great War, and it all ended way before you were even upgraded. So even though you've seen the fighting, even had it affect your lives, you don't quite get just how much it defined Cybertron."
"What do you mean, Dad?" asked Firebolt.
"The war lasted for vorns," Swindle went on. "Entire civilizations rose and fell over the course of it. Slag, we were firing superweapons at each other before humans had even learned to hit two rocks together and get fire! There are plenty of mechs today who remember nothing else BUT the war, so adjusting to peace has been a huge undertaking for them. And some of them still cling to certain things that the war made normal for them."
"Like factions," said Swift.
"Like factions," Swindle repeated with a nod. "The Autobot and Decepticon symbols started out as a badge to determine what side of the war you were on - whether you supported keeping things as they were during the Golden Age, or supported Megatron's revolution to bust the government and caste systems up and rebuild them fresh. But you keep a rivalry going long enough and it stops being about a cause and just about 'the other guys look different, or have different beliefs, or want different things, therefore they're evil and have to be stopped at all costs.' And sooner or later that becomes your entire identity."
"That's just stupid," Hornet grumbled. "Who builds their entire identity around hating someone else?"
"More mechs than you'd think, kid," Swindle told him. "Autobots and Decepticons no longer thought of themselves as Cybertronians who happened to have different beliefs, but as two entirely separate races. And in their minds, switching or renouncing factions isn't just deciding you don't want to support a certain set of beliefs - it's turning your back on your own people. It's unthinkable, as unthinkable as ditching Cybertron entirely and deciding you'd rather live as a human or a Quintesson instead."
"There ARE differences between our factions, though," Harmony pointed out. "Autobots tend to be smaller, and lean towards civilian and ground-based alt modes. There's also optic color and differences in programming-"
"That's the case now, but it wasn't always like that," Swindle pointed out. "The differences are just more apparent now. More military-type mechs joined Megatron's cause, and more civilian-type mechs decided they'd rather support the Council and the Prime. And as time went on Autobots tended to build more Autobot-type mechs, and vice versa. In theory there's nothing stopping an Autobot from being a Seeker, or a Decepticon a carbot." He nodded at Hornet. "But at our sparks, we're all still basic Cybertronians. We just tend to forget that."
Swift looked down at her hands. "I've never really thought about it that way before." Small wonder her parents rarely interacted much with Autobots - it was probably hard to do so after spending all your life seeing anyone with the red insignia or blue optics as an enemy.
"Honestly, that's probably why you kids find it so easy to talk about being factionless," Swindle told her. "Because you grew up on a Cybertron at peace except for some flare-ups now and again-"
"The Knights of Cybertron," Stardust noted with a bit of a sneer.
"-you KNOW it can be different," Swindle went on, ignoring their outburst. "You'll find supporters among older mechs, I'm sure - it'll just be a bit harder to get them to speak up is all."
"This is all fascinating," Ricochet/Jagger noted with a poorly disguised yawn, "but it doesn't answer the question. What are we gonna do about this? It seems kinda pointless to keep it confined to a chat channel. If we're gonna break past ten million years of prejudice, we're gonna need to do more than just talk about it."
"You know we're not supposed to measure time in human years," Stardust told him.
"Tell my dads that," Ricochet/Jagger retorted. "My point still stands."
"Any ideas, Uncle Swindle?" Swift asked. "You're a salesmech. Maybe you can think of some kind of strategy to 'market' our message."
Swindle gave her a warm smile. "Nice to know someone has faith in my abilities. Though the trick is to make what you have to offer desirable - desirable enough that people will pay for it."
"Pay?" repeated Stardust with a frown. "We're not asking anyone to pay dues to take off their symbol."
"Maybe not in currency, but there's still going to be a cost," Swindle reminded them. "It's not as simple as just taking off an old symbol or refusing to put one on in the first place. People are going to lose things over this - friends, reputations, jobs, maybe even family members."
Swift cringed, thinking of how her parents were going to react when they found out about the cause she'd accidentally helped found. But Swindle seemed not to notice her discomfort and pressed on.
"So the trick to marketing anything is to assure people that whatever they get is worth the cost. If you're going to convince people that factionless-ism - frag, that needs a better name - is worth all the trouble it's bound to cause, you need to figure out what the benefits of it'll be in the long run, and be prepared to offer that as your argument if someone decides to call you out on it."
"That makes sense," Harmony noted. "So treat it as a school assignment, essentially - figure out the pros and cons, and write a convincing argument that the pros outweigh the cons."
"Didn't think of it that way," Swindle mused, "though it's been a LONG time since I went to school, so you'd know better than me in that respect."
"So we're leaving this meeting with homework?" asked Hornet. "Frag… as if my classload and rewriting my acceptance essay weren't enough."
"Hey, don't let your grades suffer because of this," Swindle told him. "It's not as if you guys are on a time crunch. But yeah, it'd still be a good idea for you guys to hammer some of this out before you go too far. It'll make it look more like you have a solid plan and less like you're just a bunch of kids spouting off edgy stuff to be rebellious."
Swift nodded. "That's a good point. Thanks, Uncle Swindle."
"Not a problem, sweetie." He smiled and winked. "Keep me updated, all right? Can't publicly show my support of all this - Onslaught'll have my head as a hood ornament if he finds out - but I'll do what I can to help out."
"Thanks, Dad," Firebolt told him. "Everyone keep an optic on the message channel, all right? Maybe someone there'll have some ideas."
"Good plan," Harmony replied, then pushed herself to her feet. "I'd better scoot - I don't want to miss the shuttle back to Unitrex - but let me know if we plan on meeting up again soon."
"We will," Swift assured her.
Harmony nodded and turned to walk out. Swift watched her go, then turned her attention back to the rest of the table… only for an elbow joint to ram into her side.
"Ow." The poke hadn't hurt, but the shock of it still made her react. "What was that for?"
Firebolt just stared at her, not looking sorry in the least for the elbow-jab. Then she aimed a significant nod towards the retreating carbot. "Go walk her to the shuttle station."
"Um… why?"
"Because she's an obvious Autobot walking through Polyhex and could use some big strong company," Firebolt went on. "Just make sure she gets home safe, okay? Otherwise I KNOW you'll worry about her." And she darkened one optic in a wink.
"Um…" Swift snapped her mask into place to hide her blush, then realized that the gesture just made her blush even more obvious. "What about the rest of the meeting-"
"Eh, we're wrapping up anyhow, you can go," Stardust assured her with a wave of their hand.
"Go on, sweetspark," said Swindle, grinning widely enough to threaten to crack his faceplates. "And good luck."
Is it THAT obvious that I like her? Swift thought, her faceplates blazing warmly under her mask. But she only mumbled a quick thanks to her friends before scooting her chair back and hurrying out of the library, their grins and winks dogging her steps the entire way.
Harmony was still outside the library, head cocked to one side as she checked her internal GPS for the best route to the shuttle station. A few passing mechs paused to give her strange looks, but if she noticed them she gave no sign. Evidently she knew full well how odd a femme of obvious Autobot make looked in the heart of Polyhex, and was doing her best not to be ruffled by it.
"Harmony!" Swift hurried to her side. "Um… want to walk? Um… go for a walk? With me, not alone…"
Her optics flickered in bemusement… then to Swift's relief she gave a soft laugh. "Yes, you can walk me to the station. Though I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"I know, but… I want to."
Harmony nodded. "You know… I'd like that." She rested her hand on Swift's arm, and the two femmes strolled side by side down the sidewalk.
"Thanks for your support back there," Swift told her. "I think having Autobots supporting the cause will be great. Show that it's not just something Decepticons want, but all Cybertronians."
"I'm rather shocked that the Autobots haven't done something like this sooner," Harmony noted. "I guess it goes to show how stuck on our ways we tend to get. Though I hope to do more good for you guys than just being the token Autobot."
"You're not just the token Autobot. Everyone there likes you. Well… I can't vouch for Lancer or Valiant, but the others do."
"I didn't see Lancer or Valiant there, though. I get the feeling neither of them really support the anti-faction movement."
Swift sighed deeply. "Valiant doesn't want to jeopardize his place in the Decepticon Air Corps. Which I understand, but I just wish he wouldn't trash-talk what we're trying to do. Lancer… I don't know WHAT he wants. I think he's just afraid of disappointing his father."
Harmony nodded. "I have a feeling this is going to cause a lot of tensions among family units once the word spreads. But it's still a necessary conversation. Because we can't keep living as a divided Cybertron. That would just make it all too easy for the war to flare back up."
"I know… but I still dread having the conversation with my own parents. Especially after all they did for the Decepticons during the war."
"We don't have to discount what they did," Harmony assured her. "They did what was best for Cybertron and for those they loved at the time. Just as we have to do what's best for Cybertron and Cybertronians now."
"I guess you're right…" Swift began, but her voice trailed off as movement from the corner of her optic caught her attention. She turned her head slightly to see a silver mech walking after them - not quite her height but still massive, bulky with extra armor and an obvious gun turret and treads marking his alt mode. His pace was steady but purposeful, and his jaw was set in a determined expression as he kept his gaze fixed on the two femmes.
"We're being followed," she whispered.
Harmony's doorwings twitched, but she didn't turn to look. "I thought someone came out of the library after you, but I just assumed they left the same time you did. Do they look familiar?"
Swift chanced another look. "I saw him at the museum in Iacon. I thought he was looking at me funny, but I didn't think much of it at the time."
Harmony frowned, and she squeezed Swift's arm and guided her down a side street. "Maybe he's just heading for the station and we're just being paranoid. But better safe than sorry."
They couldn't be so lucky - the silver mech didn't keep going to the station but took the same side street. Without thinking Swift picked up her pace, and Harmony was forced to jog to keep up with her.
"Wait!" The mech's voice was harsh and deep, like thick chains being dragged over gravel. "I just want to talk!"
"Sure you do," Harmony muttered. "Let's find the busiest store we can and duck in. Hopefully he's not dumb enough to try anything in public."
"I've got a better idea," Swift replied, and she urged the carbot down another side street. Their stalker continued after them, following every twist and turn, optics blazing with frustration.
"I'm not going to hurt you!" he called after them.
Swift wasn't going to take that chance. She was almost running by the time they got to their destination, and Harmony was venting heavily as Swift pulled her through the doors of the Rustbucket and practically dragged her to the bar where Tankard was pouring a drink.
"Hey Swift, long time no-" the proprietor of the tavern greeted, but Swift cut in.
"Someonesfollowinguscanyoukeephimout?"
The words came out in a garbled rush, but Tankard was used to mechs in trouble, unable to speak intelligibly, or some mix of both. "The big silver guy at the doors?"
Swift nodded.
Tankard gestured towards a bouncer, who promptly stormed toward the tankformer and herded him out. The mech argued, optics flashing angrily as he gestured, but he finally acquiesced and stalked away.
"Angry ex?" asked Tankard, then frowned as Swift and Harmony shook their heads. "Probably just a random creeper then. You two stay as long as you like, okay? First round's on the house."
"Thank you," Swift replied. "Sorry to impose on you like this."
"Not a problem at all." She nodded at a nearby table. "Astrotrain usually stops by about this time of day. Have a seat and I'll see if I can't convince him to walk you two home when he gets here."
"We appreciate this so much," Harmony told her.
"Ah, just lookin' out for the kid of one of my regulars," Tankard replied with a chuckle. "And her friend. Take care, you two."
Swift led Harmony to Astrotrain's table, pulling out a chair for the carbot. "Who WAS that guy?"
"I dunno," Harmony replied. "Still… if this is the second time you've seen him, it can't be a random creeper. I'd be careful from here on out, okay?"
"I will." She accepted a cube from a nearby serving drone. "I'm just sorry I dragged you into whatever mess this is."
"Don't be… it's not your fault. Besides, I don't mind the excuse to hang out with you a bit more."
Swift was saved from having to come up with a reply by a familiar triple-changer striding into the bar. Astrotrain's usual sullen expression brightened when he caught sight of Swift, and he made a beeline for their table. Well, she wasn't expecting to introduce her new Autobot friend to a family member so soon, but she just hoped Astrotrain took it well. If not… well, at least she knew how to brace herself for the inevitable confrontation with her parents.