Yes! Second chapter, after the nastiest bit of 'block I've had for a long time... anyway. Here it is, and thanks muchly to the hordes of...well, those few, those happy few who reviewed the first chapter. Guys and girls, I salute you. here's the next bitty. (Don't worry Skids, no major seeker-bashing here, but be warned for later...)
Complications
Skyfire and his students soon found out that, once he'd worked his way around a problem to his satisfaction, the 'flyboy' could work like a combiner. In less than a fortnight he had reams of schematics, diagrams and intricate parts laid out on his once-barren worktop, and on the day Starscream was ready to start assembling his final design, Skyfire found an excuse to come into Ripplewing's session and watch.
Standing at the back of the class, trying to be unobtrusive despite his size and the glares Ripplewing sent his way, the scientist tried to work out what the mech was putting together. The exploded diagram had too many delicate arrangements and circuit board relays for him to make a guess at its final purpose, but the outer shell segments Starscream had cast looked rather like an oversized laser scalpel. He couldn't guess any closer without asking the flier himself, but Skyfire was getting an obscure sense of satisfaction from not being able to immediately grasp his pupil's thinking - and the fact that Ripplewing was getting steadily more worked up about the mysterious project made him all the more determined not to ask.
To the scientist's disappointment however, Starscream got no further than assembling what looked like a specialised converter to the base of one of the outer sections - he had deliberated over every connection, taking meticulous care with each join and wire...meaning Skyfire had to contain himself until the next lab session to watch more of the process.
As the scientist waited for the students to leave the classroom, he was surprised to see the two 'brother' mechs turn and give the young flier identical chilling, disdainful glares. Skyfire was even more startled at Starscream's reaction - his faceplate twisted into an ugly snarl as he stared defiantly back, almost unrecognisable as the familiar student Skyfire was rapidly coming to like. His sensors tingled; the scientist shivered slightly and the spell broke, the two mechs sticking their noses in the air and marching off in step as Starscream looked indignantly after. The flier's contented mood from working on his pet project had been smashed into pieces, and the resentful way he crashed the datapads into the holder made it obvious that something was going badly wrong in the Academy.
As the class filed out, Skyfire made his way over to the riled flier. Starscream was making a tremendous din as he shoved his tools into a pile - his angry attitude and quivering wings making it clear the young mech was in no mood for casual conversation. The scientist came up next to him and was moving to rest a hand on the tabletop when Starscream whipped round.
"Get away from me!" he snapped, optics flaring in fury and face contorted. Skyfire stared at him in horror - the flier looked almost feral. For a split second Starscream glared, then his blazing optics widened and dimmed in shock. "Professor?! ... I - I'm sorry, I thought...I thought you were someone else..."
"I see." Skyfire rapidly tried to think of a diplomatic way to get to the bottom of things. Starscream may be meticulous with his work - mostly - but he was too impulsive and dramatic for many people to handle.
Still, the young mech was a scientist, in his lifefuel and frame...but just as important, he was a flier. And Skyfire knew exactly how to calm an emotional flier...
Cybertron had been built upon itself for millennia. The ground levels of buildings commonly used in the present stood upon a base of older structures that, in turn, had been built over other assemblies themselves. All the intertwining ages of building work had lead to structures on Cybertron being, on some levels at least, intricately intertwined - with the occasional exception of soaring multi-level towers gracing the glittering lights that illuminated the pristine walls and arching avenues.
The Science Academy was no exception - at its base it was a single, colossal structure, an enveloping wall wrapped gracefully around itself like a cloak; as it rose from the depths, the column arched into three lofty towers that gazed over its nearest, shorter neighbors like the absent-minded professors they housed.
It was these three towers that housed the more sophisticated laboratories and workrooms, those open only to the professors and their colleagues from all over Cybertron. The greatest scientific minds worked here, and it was the dream of all the students in the Academy to one day, after millennia of studies and work, be accepted into the Ivory Towers.
Skyfire led a wide-opticed Starscream into a lab on the highest level of the tallest tower, a large round room with sweeping windows so wide you could see the entire city-state. The young mech was riveted - torn between gazing out of the Tower's portals or wondering at the myriad experiments draped across the interlinked tabletops, he settled for jetting up near the high ceiling dome and darting thither and yon like a hummingbird, exclamations of wonder and eager, intent questions pouring from him like energon, bright and glittering in the sunlight. Skyfire watched him with a smile of his own - Starscream's obvious excitement reminded him of his first sight of the labs, years ago. He'd only been able to stand and stare, enthralled and marvelling at the new sights, the sounds, the energy...although the lab was empty now, the scientists off on their own business and the professors busy. Precisely why he'd brought Starscream now rather than later, since the intrigue of the place would cheer him, as well as giving them both the familiar background of a lab to try and work out what was wrong with the flier.
You didn't need to be a scientist to guess it was something fairly serious, at least from Starscream's perspective, Skyfire mused as he watched the dazzling figure dart and dip between tables, occasionally holding still long enough to examine something in minute, grave detail, now zipping over something else with only a glance. The flier tended to blow things out of proportion now and again, and Ripplewing sneered about how he seemed to take himself too seriously to see when he was being foolish. Skyfire saw it differently - after his offer of help in the lab session weeks ago, he had begun to notice how Starscream seemed determined to find his own course. He appeared to need to prove himself- whether to anyone in particular or just to himself was unclear - and that impression had stuck and become stronger as time passed and Skyfire watched the young mech more, his interest and curiosity growing.
The flier in question had settled near one of the great windows, fiddling with what looked like a discarded model of an alien DNA helix. His sky-blue fingers flickered over the thin energy streams, rerouting and refracting the tiny receptors, to form an intricate model of a miniature Decepticon seeker. Not noticing Skyfire's concerned gaze, he looked at it miserably, his earlier euphoria abruptly turning sour as he glared at the sparkling model.
Skyfire frowned. This could be more serious than he'd thought. Moving over to where the flier had settled, he knelt next to his pupil and asked gently "Starscream, is something wrong?"
The mech didn't look up or answer. Skyfire stayed, patient and quiet, until Starscream seemed to reach a decision and looked up at him.
"Professor...do you... Were you involved in the Great War?"
The hesitant tone was unusual for the animated flier, so Skyfire considered his reply more than normal.
"No; I wasn't called up, as a neutral" he indicated his unadorned canopy "and as a scientist. I'm not built to be a warrior, but I did teach my pupils to stay true to their beliefs and respect life, that of their own people as well as other races, whatever their chosen...side...was."
Starscream seemed to consider that, frowning slightly as he absently weighed the tiny figurine in one hand. Skyfire looked at him consideringly and decided to make a leap of logic.
"Starscream, is this anything to do with those two mechs...?" He trailed off as the flier started and looked at him wide-opticed.
"How...? I mean...I..." he pulled himself together somewhat as Skyfire nodded encouragingly. "It's nothing important."
"If it's bothering you then it's important." He looked the wavering flier in the optics, trying to prove to the mech at least one teacher was there to look out for his student. "Starscream, tutors are there to help their students, encourage them, look out for them. You can trust me."
"But...can you trust me?" The flier peered up at the larger jet almost sadly, yet a lingering anger simmered in the glowing red depths. Skyfire looked at him, totally nonplussed.
"After all," Starscream continued, the bitterness rising in his voice "who'd trust a Seeker? I'm probably planning to murder you all in recharge since I'm obviously so devious and untrustworthy..."
"Who told you that?" Skyfire gasped, stunned at the venom in Starscream's tone, the resentment felt and resentment channelled, bitterness rising like a fog to stifle the young life in prejudices formed before he was sparked. "Who said that to you?"
"Those two" the flier replied, a jerk of the head indicating invisible demons clinging to his wings as if to tear away his offending shell. "They'd been ignoring me from the start - and I wasn't too concerned about it, frankly, but now...they seem to've decided I'm a threat to the others, or something ridiculous like that." He smiled weakly at Skyfire while his optics cried pain. "Now they're calling me a... a seeker, like being a flier's something to be ashamed of.
"I can't help how I was made!" he howled, clenching his fists and shattering the model into smithereens. "I have as much right to be here as they do, more than they do! I've proved it, I can do it... I..."
His anger gone as quickly as it surfaced, the flier buried his face in his hands. Skyfire rested a comforting hand on his wing and felt the tremors shuddering through the young mech's frame. "Starscream..."
"I'm not a seeker" he muttered haltingly. "I'm not..."
Skyfire was appalled. He'd never imagined any students of the Academy to be so blindly prejudiced, so close-minded to unjustly condemn one of their own - Starscream wasn't old enough to remember the last war, let alone be a member of the vicious aerial elite...
"Starscream. Starscream, listen to me." He put his hands on the young mech's shoulders and bent to look him in the optics. The young jet looked away, unwilling to meet Skyfire's gaze - as if he was ashamed. "Starscream, if anything, you should be proud of being built seeker-style."
The flier looked up, disbelieving, doubt in his optics.
"You heard me. You have the chance to break the mould, shatter the prejudices against seekers - if you're strong enough. If you work your hardest and do all you can to prove them wrong, whether they accept it or not you will have earned your place here, a hundred times over."
Skyfire stared into red optics, willing the flier to believe him and understand.
"You are the best student I've had for years - you've got such potential it would be criminal to waste it. But you choose." The scientist let Starscream go and stood. "If you can weather this, prove everyone wrong, you will earn the respect of everyone in this Academy, seeker or not. If you choose not to...it's up to you. Are you strong enough to do this?"
Starscream looked up at him, new defiance in his blazing optics.
"I can!"
Skyfire grinned and clapped his shoulder. "Excellent."
Starscream and Skyfire are © Hasbro. The Academy might be too, but I'm not sure. Ripplewing and the two rotten little...beggars...harassing my seeker are, sadly, © me. The story itself's still © me too.
