Grad school's been kicking my butt lately and stealing almost every bit of free time I have. Luckily I have some of the best readers around. Your feedback helps convince me to find the time in between reading assignments, papers and homework to write.

Chapter Eleven: Misunderstanding

Ironhide's optics were a blaze of silent fury. His face was so tightly set it looked like his facial plates were about to collapse under the strain. Starfall cringed down into his seat, his wings folding down against his back. He knew Ironhide didn't like him but this was the first time he'd ever seen the weapons specialist so openly angry with him. It was the first time Starfall had ever truly been afraid of another bot.

For an unbearable length of eternity Ironhide continued to stare at Starfall as though too angry to move or say anything. Starfall's panic began to mount. Why did it have to be Ironhide to pick him up? Why couldn't Catalyst have called his father? Surely Optimus would have excused himself from his meeting if Catalyst had called.

Starfall timidly looked up to meet Ironhide's fiery gaze. "I-"

"Not a word," Ironhide hissed. "Not a single word outta yeh right now."

Starfall instantly fell silent. The sick feeling in his fuel tank worsened. What was Ironhide going to do to him? He hadn't meant to hit Aftershock. Aftershock had started it and had actually been trying to hit him! Why was everyone blaming him for defending himself?

"Ah, Consort Ironhide," Catalyst's voice sounded. Ironhide broke off his death glare to address the school's administrator. Catalyst came around the side of the reception counter and offered his hand to Ironhide. Ironhide stiffly took it and shook. "I am so sorry to be meeting you under these circumstances."

"Same here," Ironhide growled. He sent Starfall a small but pointed glare. Starfall sunk lower in his chair.

"As I told you over the vid-com, fighting is a serious offense to our academy's rules and Starfall will have to be suspended for the rest of today and tomorrow. I hope that when he returns there won't be anymore incidents like today's."

"Oh, believe me, there won't." The promise was so full of wrath Starfall stiffened in his seat, his gears locking tight with fear. Ironhide turned back to Starfall. "Come on. We're going home."

Starfall hesitated. He didn't want to leave with Ironhide. He didn't want to go home where he had to be alone with the frightening mech. Starfall glanced at Catalyst. For a split nano-klick he considered begging the administrator for a second chance, to apologize and plead that he not be suspended and allowed to stay. But looking into the administrator's optics, Starfall realized that would ultimately do him no good. The wheels of academy justice had already been set in motion.

"Goodbye, Starfall. I hope when you return you will have learned your lesson about proper school behavior."

Starfall dispassionately nodded. "Yes, sir," he murmured barely above a whisper.

Ironhide was already heading for the door, his footsteps stiff and forceful. "Come on," he barked over his shoulder plate.

Starfall reluctantly followed after him, making sure to stay several paces behind him. He had to hurry to keep up with Ironhide's angry stride. Starfall was too frightened to speak as Ironhide led him through the halls back towards the front entrance of the academy. He didn't trust Ironhide's tenuous hold on his temper not to break and come down on him right there in the middle of the school. If Ironhide was going to yell at him he wanted to at least have it happen when there was no one else around to see it.

Ironhide stormed through the front door and into the transformation lot. The lot was depressingly empty. Starfall didn't see any other bots around. Without a word Ironhide transformed into vehicle mode. The front passenger-side door swung open with an angry snap. "Get in," Ironhide's disembodied voice rumbled.

Starfall didn't dare disobey or hesitate. That would only make things worse in the long run. He climbed into Ironhide's cab unit. The door slammed shut beside him. Starfall hunched down against himself, trying to make himself as small as possible. His wings lay flat against his back, trembling with tension. He didn't want to make Ironhide any angrier than he already was by touching his cab unit any more than was absolutely necessary.

The ride back to the apartment tower was tense. Not a word was spoken but Starfall could physically feel the air around him vibrating with Ironhide's displeasure. Once, while he'd still been living in the hatchling facility, he'd heard a phrase about the tension being so thick one could cut it with a laser-scalpel. At the time he hadn't understood what that meant. Now he did. It was like Ironhide's displeasure had taken on physical form. It was so strong Starfall felt like he could actually feel it closing in around him, like the fingers of an angry ghost wrapping its fingers around his throat cables. Ironhide's cab unit suddenly felt extremely small. The sick feeling in Starfall's fuel tank intensified. As Ironhide took the exit ramp of the bypass into their residential district the feeling got so bad Starfall thought he was about to purge. He fought to keep the press of half-processed energon in the back of his intake line down. He didn't dare purge in Ironhide's cab unit. There would be no surviving that if he did. He briefly considered asking Ironhide to roll down the window on his side of the cab unit but almost immediately scrapped the idea. He didn't dare break the suffocating silence. To do so would be like unleashing the dam.

Ironhide turned into the transformation lot of their apartment tower. He rolled to a stop near the front entrance. The door next to Starfall swung open. Ironhide didn't have to say anything. Starfall timidly climbed down Ironhide's cab unit. Once Starfall stepped back enough Ironhide transformed into his bi-pedal mode. His larger frame towered over Starfall, dwarfing him in its shadow. Starfall's wings flattened against his back. Ironhide refused to look at Starfall as he stormed past him towards the front door. Starfall hesitantly followed. Ironhide's stony silence persisted all the way through the lobby, into the lift and all the way up to the top floor. It was only when Ironhide unlocked the door and motioned Starfall inside ahead of him that Starfall finally dared to speak up.

As Ironhide locked the door behind them, Starfall mustered the courage to find his voice. Starfall imagined it was as hard as trying to jump off the side of a cliff when he knew his flight gears weren't working. The words spilled out of him in a panicked rush. "I didn't mean to hit Aftershock. He started it. He was picking on one of the other sparklings in my class and-"

"Ah don't wanna hear it!" Ironhide snapped.

Starfall instantly fell silent. Ironhide glared down at Starfall, his entire demeanor threatening and dark. The older mech seemed to be struggling to control his temper. Starfall thought he actually saw him shaking with the effort. The plating on Ironhide's forearms were softly rattling together his hands were so tightly clenched together. His optics literally blazed blue fury.

"Ah don't wanna hear why yeh hit someone. The only thing that matters is that yeh did! Ah should'a known this was gonna happen someday. A seeker's first instinct is ta always fight."

"But-"

"Ah'm not gonna tell yeh again: keep quiet! Ah don't wanna hear any more of yer excuses or lies."

Starfall shrank back from Ironhide, his plating flattening against his protoform. Hurt the likes of which he'd never known before swelled inside his spark. It had hurt when Catalyst refused to hear his version of the story and suspended him. It had hurt when he'd realized he was going to get in trouble for something he knew he had to do. But all that paled in comparison to the hurt he felt at Ironhide saying he'd lied. He hadn't lied. Not even when he'd wanted to to Catalyst! He'd promised Optimus he'd never lie again and here was Ironhide saying that he had. That hurt. The accusation stung Starfall to his very core. He and Ironhide might not have spent much time together or talked that much, but surely he'd lived with Ironhide long enough by now that Ironhide knew he wasn't a bad sparkling. The unfairness of it all was almost too much for Starfall to bear. What did he have to do to make Ironhide like him, or at least listen to him without judging? The injustice of it all came crashing down on Starfall all at once. An unbidden ring of static appeared around the edges of his visual display. It took every bit of self control Starfall had not to let it overwhelm him and make him break down into angry sobs.

Ironhide was oblivious to Starfall's weakening self-composure. He was too busy chewing him out. "Ah knew this was a bad idea. Ah told Optimus havin' a seeker around was nothin' but bad news. But would he listen ta me? 'Course not. All he cared 'bout was getting his precious lil' sparkling. Ah should just pack yeh up an' take yeh back ta the hatchling facility right now 'cause ah ain't livin' anymore with a sparkling that can't even go ta school without havin' ta start fights with other kids."

The mech fluid in Starfall's line froze. "You're gonna send me back?" His tenuous hold on his emotions began to fray even more. Panic surged through him. "No! Please don't! I'll be better, I promise!"

Ironhide made an angry shooing gesture with his hand. His dentas were so tightly clenched together Starfall thought they were about to break under the strain. "Just go ta yer room. Optimus can deal with yeh when he gets home. Ah never agreed ta deal with any of this when he decided ta adopt. This is his mess now."

"Please don't-"

"Go!" Ironhide pointed down the hallway to Starfall's room. His voice left no room for argument.

The static ringing Starfall's vision thickened. His throat line tightened. For a moment he couldn't find the strength to move. He felt riveted in place as though someone had welded his thrusters to floor. All he could do was stare at Ironhide, stunned by the unfairness of what was happening to him.

"Go," Ironhide angrily snapped.

Starfall turned and ran. He didn't stop until he was inside his room and had safely closed the door behind him. He stood in the middle of his room, his entire body trembling. His throat line was so tight he couldn't properly ventilate air anymore. All he could manage were short, labored gasps. Cybertronians were not designed to cry or physically expel distraught emotions from their bodies like most intelligent organic life forms were able to. Cybertronians did not have tear ducts or possess the means to produce fluid from their optics. When extremely sad, upset or in pain the most a Cybertronian could do was produce a series of tight little clicks that were the result of the internal gears and valve lines in their throat constricting. To a human it would have sounded eerily like sobbing. And it was this sound that Starfall began to make as he struggled to comprehend everything that had just happened.

Moving as if in a daze, Starfall stumbled to his berth and collapsed on it. He turned onto his side and drew his knee joints up to his cockpit. He let his wings sag flat onto the berthmat behind him. The electronic clicks in his throat intensified as he curled in around himself and buried the side of his face plates into the mat.

It wasn't fair! He'd only been trying to help Convoy. Why couldn't he ever do anything right? His father had told him to never lie - that if he told the truth he wouldn't get in trouble. And what had happened? He'd done just as Optimus told him and he'd gotten suspended for it. Ironhide was going to return him to the hatchling facility now. He'd just gone and ruined his only chance of ever having a family.

Starfall's distressed clicks intensified. The static tunneling his visual display was so thick he could barely see. He offlined his optics and buried his face deeper into the berthmat. This was it. It was all over. He was going to be sent back to the hatchling facility. He was never going to see Optimus again. No one was ever going to read to him before recharge again. No one was going to be there to wake him up in the mornings or be there for him to run to whenever he was sad or lonely. Ironhide was going to send him back and everything was going to go back to the way it was before he was adopted. No one at the hatchling facility had cared about him or how he felt before Optimus found him. They definitely weren't going to start caring now. It was over. All over! He might have been lucky to be adopted once, but his chances of finding another couple that wanted him were slim to none. It had taken Optimus so long to find him. How long would it be for someone else to take pity on him? More than likely, probably never.

Starfall didn't know how long he lay on the berth, sobbing into the berthmat, but he was exhausted both mentally and physically by the time his clicks finally began to taper off and he felt some semblance of control return. A hollow ache pulled at the bottom of his fuel tank but he didn't know if it was from hunger or despair. If it was truly from hunger that would mean it was nearing the end of the solar cycle. If his timing was correct then school would have let out some time ago. If he hadn't been suspended and hadn't had to come home early he would have been getting home right around now. The ache in Starfall's fuel tank turned sour as though some contaminant was curdling the lining of his fuel tank. The cloyingly thick urge to purge once again pressed at the back of Starfall's throat.

Weakly forcing himself up, Starfall sat on the edge of his berth. He let his thrusters limply hang over the side and forced himself to vent several intakes of air. His wings hung straight down his back struts. He felt shaky and weak and devoid of any hope. Letting his optics dim to half capacity, Starfall let his helm down the front of his chest. He was so tired. All he wanted to do was lay down and let himself drift into recharge. But he was afraid to do so. Recharging would only hasten the inevitability of Optimus's return and his return to the hatchling facility. Instead, Starfall just sat there and let his mind go blank. He was too exhausted to do anything else.

Time once more became a muddled concept Starfall had no way of measuring.

It was only when Starfall heard a muffled ring sound from the main part of the apartment that he was able to rouse himself out of his depressed stupor. He recognized the ring. It was the tele-video communicator. Their domicile's was located in his father's private office. Starfall had never actually seen it but he had heard the ring and seen Optimus get up to answer it more than enough times to know where it was.

A sick sort of curiosity stole over Starfall. Who was calling? Unable to corral his curiosity Starfall slid down off the berth and stole to the door. He keyed the door open and craned his head around the corner. He didn't see Ironhide anywhere. He must have gone to answer the video-com because it had stopped ringing. Carefully, Starfall edged out of his room and snuck to the end of the hallway. The main living area of the apartment was empty. Starfall strained his audios. On the far side of the domicile Starfall could hear the murmur of voices. They were coming from Optimus's private office as he'd suspected. He couldn't make out any words but he had no problem distinguishing the deep rumble of Ironhide's voice talking with someone on the line.

Who was Ironhide talking to? Whoever it was, Ironhide didn't sound pleased. A sudden thought chilled Starfall all the way down to his spark. What if he was talking to someone from the hatchling facility? Was he already making arrangements to send Starfall back?

Starfall began to panic. All his earlier thoughts and fears came flooding back to him with a vengeance. What if the hatchling facility didn't even accept returned sparkling? He'd never actually heard of such a thing happening before. All the sparklings he'd seen get adopted had left with their new families never to be seen again. What did sector 12's facility do with returned sparklings? Would he be sent back to the recreation rooms or was he too much trouble to even keep around anymore? He'd hit Aftershock. Did that mean he couldn't be trusted around other sparklings anymore? What if the facility didn't accept returned sparklings? What if he was classified as defective and sent to be melted down for scrap metal?

Starfall knew he was letting his imagination run away from him but the panic he felt was real enough.

He couldn't stay here. The realization was instantaneous and without question. Optimus and Ironhide didn't want him anymore and Starfall couldn't bear the thought of going back to the life he'd known inside the facility. It was too lonely there. Too depressing. Even if it had only been for a short while, he now knew what it was like to be loved and cared for by another bot. Even if Optimus didn't want him anymore that memory would always remain with him. The thought of going back to the lonely isolation of the hatchling facility was too much for Starfall to handle now. It made him feel claustrophobic and panicky. He had to get out of there. He had to go somewhere where no one would find him and send him back to the hatchling facility. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could find someone else who'd want him as their son. Someone who'd like him and not try to send him away.

But where could he go? Who did he know? Besides Optimus and Ironhide he knew of no one who'd-

Starfall froze. The answer was so obvious Starfall wanted to sob with relief. There was still a chance of not having to go back to the hatchling facility.

Regaining some measure of composure over himself as a plan began to form in his head, Starfall looked around the living area. Ironhide was inside his father's office. He couldn't see the living area from there. There was still time. If he was quiet and he hurried he might be able to get away before Ironhide noticed anything. If he was really going to do this he had to do it now. There was no saying when Ironhide was going to finish his call and come to take him back to the facility.

Mustering his courage, Starfall sped across the living area as fast as he could to the bank of floor-to-ceiling windows that lined the other side of the room. He pushed the glass door open and stepped out onto the balcony beyond. He didn't bother to shut the door behind him. Once he was gone it wouldn't matter if someone saw it. He'd be long gone by then.

A brisk wind was blowing outside. Nightfall was still several joors away, but the far corner of the sky was already turning a golden red as the sun began to sink to the horizon. Starfall hurried to the railing of the balcony. He had to activate his thrusters to give him enough altitude to be able to reach the top of the railing and pull himself up. Since Skyfire's flying lesson he'd been practicing and it no longer took any effort to lift off or land. Crouching there on the railing, teetering on the edge of oblivion, Starfall looked out over the cityscape spread below him. A four hundred meter drop yawned beneath him. To any grounder such a drop would have been terrifying. But to Starfall the empty chasm seemed to call to him invitingly.

Starfall spared one last glance over his shoulder back towards the apartment. He was going to miss living there. He'd liked living where there were windows he's been able to see the sky through everyday and having a room of his own with his own personal collection of data pads. But most of all he'd enjoyed being Optimus's son. It had been nice to have someone who cared about him while it had lasted.

With that sad thought Starfall turned back to the edge. He tipped himself forward. His thrusters left the railing and he was freefalling. Wind whipped past his face as the stories sped past him in a blur. He let himself fall several dozen meters before he finally activated his thrusters and spread his wings. And then he was flying. The apartment tower shrank behind him into the distance until it was lost in the maze of other skyscrapers. It took every bit of willpower he had not to look back again.

Ironhide was left shaking as the sound of Starfall's footsteps disappeared down the hallway and he heard the door slide close behind the seeker. Ironhide forced himself to vent a deep intake of air and collect his thoughts. He clenched and unclenched his fists several times until he felt the worst of his anger begin to subside. As emotions ebbed and more cognitive thought returned, Ironhide released a frustrated groan.

He should have handled that better. Optimus had always said he had a bad habit of letting his temper get away from him. He supposed this was exactly the type of situation Optimus had been talking about. He shouldn't have yelled at the kid like that. He should have tried better to keep his cool. It was just that ever since he'd gotten the call from the academy's administrator telling him Starfall had been caught fighting and was going to have to be picked up early and suspended, the only thought going through Ironhide's mind had been that he was right. Just as he'd always suspected they would, Starscream's old personality traits were finally beginning to reemerge. All he'd been able to think about on the way to pick up Starfall was that Optimus should have listened to him. What some might have dismissed as a harmless playground fight to Ironhide was the first sign of aggressive personality traits. Had he really been that out of line to try and nip that propensity for violence in the bud now before Starfall got older and less controllable? His temper had only been the unfortunate byproduct of an attempt to preserve the greater good. If Starfall didn't learn that such things weren't going to be tolerated now, then when? Ironhide had been serious when he'd said he wasn't going to live with a sparkling who couldn't control himself. He wasn't going to be the foster-creator of a future violent criminal. He wasn't going to let his and Optimus's reputations be tarnished by raising a new incarnation of Starscream.

Venting heavily, Ironhide stalked to the living area's lounge and dropped onto its padded surface. Optimus could deal with Starfall whenever he got home. Ironhide felt he'd done his duty picking Starfall up and transporting him home. He'd spelled out the laws of the household very clearly he thought. If Optimus wanted to give Starfall one of his patented I'm-disappointed-in-you-but-I-believe-you-can-do-better-next-time speeches then so be it. But Ironhide was done. He didn't want to even think about Starfall for the rest of the day.

He examined the slew of data pads, half-finished reports and styluses coving the living area table. He'd been in the middle of writing his reports for General Airlock when Catalyst had called. Ironhide picked up the last report he'd been working on. It was an incident report from two deca-cycles ago. An unidentified spacecraft had entered Cybertronian orbit and refused to answer any communication hails. It had turned out to be nothing more than a ship of Quintessan traders whose onboard communications systems had been damaged by a solar flare and only wanted to land on Cybertron for repairs. It was run of the mill administration stuff, but the Planetary Defense Force was nothing if not thorough in documenting all possible alien threats against the planet.

Ironhide vented heavily. When the war had ended he'd returned to civilian life glad to finally be able to have a normal life again. Working as a consultant for the Planetary Defense Force gave him an outlet to keep a finger on the pulse of security issues and defense - his primary occupation before civil war convinced him to join the Autobots - but freed him from having to deal with all the restraints and obligations of full military life. He just hadn't been expecting civilian life to be so humdrum and boring. Writing incident reports and investigating broken communication arrays of merchant vessels wasn't what he'd been expecting when General Airlock first came to him asking if he would be interested in offering his skills and experience to the protection of their home world with the added bonus of substantial monetary compensation. It was almost enough to make Ironhide yearn for the days of excitement and adventure again. Almost. At least during the war he'd never had to fill out quite so many reports. That had always been Prowl's job.

Ironhide picked up a stylus and bent over his half-finished report. If he could just finish this one he'd consider the day well-spent and would reward himself with a nice cube of high grade. After having to deal with Starfall Ironhide felt it was the least he deserved. Joors passed but try as Ironhide might he couldn't seem to make himself concentrate. The incident with Starfall still weighed heavily on his processor. Every time he tried to write something his mind would wander back to the seeker sparkling and his valiant attempts to deny responsibility.

Ironhide snorted. It was just like Starscream to try and deny any guilt in starting a fight. It seemed Vector Sigma hadn't done anything to change that. No doubt Starfall had spouted his mouth off to some other kid and when confronted had replied with fists just like Starscream would have done.

Fed up with staring at the half-finished report, Ironhide tossed it aside. He'd finish it later. It wasn't like Airlock needed that report anytime soon. All that was going to happen to it when it was finally done was that it would be filed away in some data hub and never read again. Such was the life of minor incident reports in the PDF; once filed no one cared anymore.

Ironhide leaned back on the lounge and rubbed at the space of protomatter between his optics. Maybe he'd have that cube of high grade now. He'd done all he could given the state of mind he was in.

He was just about to get up and do so when the ring of the tele-video communicator made him pause. Ironhide sighed. Now what? Whenever the video-comm of a Prime rang it was always something important.

Heaving himself to his pedes he went into Optimus's office. He sat in the chair and flicked on the monitor. The face of an unfamiliar mech with dark red armor and light gray facial plates filled the screen. Ironhide frowned. It was probably some senator or high council member he'd never met wanting to talk to Optimus.

"Yea?"

"Consort Ironhide?"

Ironhide blinked in surprise. The mech's accent was foreign, not Iaconian by any measure. It was so heavy it took a bit of effort to understand what he was saying. "Yea, that's me. Wha' can ah do yeh fer?"

"You do not know me, sir. My name is Burnout. I am the father of Convoy, one of your son's classmates at District 11's academy."

Ironhide inwardly growled. Great. Just what he needed. An irate creator calling him about Starfall. "Let me guess. Yer kid was the one Starfall was fightin' with ta-day?"

"Quite the contrary, sir," Burnout said. "My son was the one your son was defending. I felt it my obligation to call and thank him for what he did after Convoy came home and told me what happened. Starfall is the first to ever extend any sort of friendship towards my son since we moved to the main planet. I admit I was uncomfortable with the idea of a seeker being in the same class as my son, but after today I am beginning to think he is the only good sparkling in that entire academy. We are colonists and not native Cybertronians so Convoy has found it extremely difficult to bond with any other sparklings his age. Most of the other sparklings at the academy are children of senators and powerful business mechs, not new-money merchants such as myself. As a result my son has had a difficult time making friends." Burnout delicately cleared his throat line. "If… if Starfall ever wished to spend time with Convoy outside of school I would be honored to host him at my domicile. I would not presume that the son of a merchant would be welcome in the home of a Prime-Consort, but if you and the Prime were agreeable to such a friendship being fostered I would gladly open my home to Starfall."

Ironhide stared at the screen, taken aback and confused.

Burnout seemed to take Ironhide's silence as a negative and quickly backtracked. "Please forgive my boldness. I did not mean to insult the Consort of a Prime. It was foolish of me to suggest that the son of a Prime would wish to spend time with one from the laboring class. Please do not-"

"Wha'd yeh mean Starfall was defendin' someone? Ah thought he was caught fightin'."

Burnout's optic ridges furrowed together underneath his helm. "You mean Starfall did not tell you about what happened?"

Ironhide shook his head. "No. All ah was told was that he'd started some kind of fight an' had ta be suspended."

Burnout's lips turned down in a frown. "That is not the story my son told me."

"What's his story?"

"Basically that, as usual, he was accosted by an older sparkling - the son of an important senator I am led to believe - in the hallway and was being made fun of for the general mass's amusement. Convoy is extremely conscious of his accent which makes him an easy target for other sparklings to tease. I have spoken to Administrator Catalyst numerous times about this. He keeps assuring me he will address the matter but never does. Everyday my son is forced to go to school where he is the object of everyone else's laughter. If District 11 was not so highly rated for its academics I would take him out and enroll him in a different academy."

"But what 'bout what happened ta-day?" Ironhide urged.

"This other sparkling - Aftershock, I believe Convoy said - stopped him in the halls and was making fun of him. Your son tried to intervene to make the other leave my son alone. In doing so, however, he was drawn into a physical confrontation and blamed for it."

An uneasy feeling began to pull at the bottom of Ironhide's fuel tank. "Yer tellin' me Starfall didn't start that fight?"

"Yes, sir. Convoy tells me the other sparkling tried to hit him and Starfall tried to defend himself. If it is not too bold of me, sir, I think it's a travesty that your son was blamed and suspended while nothing was done to the other who started it. When my son and I relocated to the main planet I had hoped that such blatant favoritism would not be an issue. Apparently I was wrong to hope."

Ironhide sat for a moment of quiet contemplation. "Thanks fer callin' me 'bout this. Ah'm sorry ta hear about what yer son's been goin' through. That's not right."

"Thank you for saying so, sir," Burnout said. The merchant hesitantly met Ironhide's optics through the monitor. "As I said, if Starfall ever wished to spend time with Convoy outside of school… I know that my family is not of any notable lineage and does not have any kind of influence in the government, but-"

Ironhide held a hand up to the monitor for Burnout to stop. "Ah hafta call the administrator of the academy an' get some more details about wha' happened ta-day. But once ah get this all squared away ah'll be sure ta contact yeh 'bout setting up some time fer Starfall an' Convoy ta get ta-gether."

A surprised but grateful smile appeared on Burnout's face. "Thank you, sir. I know my son will be looking forward to it."

"Ah'm sure my kid will be too."

With that, the two mechs both cut transmission.

Ironhide sat for a long moment of silence staring at the blank screen, digesting everything he'd just learned. The uneasy feeling in Ironhide's fuel tank began to morph into quiet irritation. He was starting to get the impression that he'd been lied to by Administrator Catalyst, or at least hadn't been given the full version of events. And if there was one thing Ironhide hated above all else it was having someone try to pull the proverbial wool down over his eyes.

Ironhide leaned forward and began punching in the search parameters for District 11's contact information into the tele-video computer. A contact number appeared. Ironhide selected it. There was a moment's pause for the other side to pick up before a nondescript mech appeared onscreen.

"Iacon District 11 Academy of Advanced Primary Education."

"Administrator Catalyst, please," Ironhide tightly said.

"May I ask who's calling?"

"The Prime's Consort."

The mech only then seemed to properly look at the screen to see who he was talking to. He visibly startled. "One moment, please, while I connect you."

The screen went black again as he was put on hold. Ironhide's fingers drummed a heavy rhythm against the table. With each passing klick his ire grew a little more.

Finally, there was a click from the tele-video and the screen flashed with Catalyst's face. "Consort Ironhide. How may I help you?" he smoothly answered.

"Got some questions 'bout that fight my kid was supposedly in earlier ta-day."

"I thought I explained the situation well enough when I first contacted you."

"Ah just got off the line with the creator of another of yer students," Ironhide growled. "Told me some interesting things 'bout wha' happened ta-day. They differed a bit from the information yeh gave me, though."

"How so?"

"This other creator told me his kid said he was gettin' picked on an' Starfall stepped in to help. The kid who was doing the bullying apparently didn't like Starfall gettin' involved an' tried ta hit him. He said Starfall was only defending himself when he got caught fer fighting."

"I assure you that-"

"Ah'm done with 'bein assured,'" Ironhide sharply cut him off. "Ah wanna see the video feed of the fight myself."

"I'm sorry?"

"Yer school's up ta code, isn't it? It's mandated by law that all schools have a security surveillance network set up."

"Of course my school is up to code," Catalyst hotly declared as though taking personal offense to the suggestion it wasn't. "We have security cameras installed in every hallway between classrooms, above all entrances and exists and around all outdoor public areas still on school grounds."

"Then pull up footage from the fight. Ah wanna see wha' really happened."

Catalyst stared at Ironhide through the screen for a long moment of tense silence. "Give me one moment," he finally said. The screen once more went to black. Ironhide glared at it while he waited.

Several klicks later Catalyst reappeared. "I have it, sir. The time stamp and camera number should be correct for the footage we're looking for."

"Good. Play it," Ironhide growled.

A separate window appeared in the lower right-hand corner of Ironhide's screen. Video began to run. It was an overhead view of a crowded hallway. Ironhide leaned closer. As he watched a line of younger sparklings appeared. He recognized Starfall walking towards the back of the line. A group of older younglings standing to the side of the hallway stepped into the line and surrounded one of the sparklings in Starfall's class. Ironhide recognized the sparkling's dark red armor and figured he must be Burnout's son, Convoy. He was a tiny thing, barely even half the size of the younglings surrounding him. It was impossible to tell what they were saying because there was no audio feed on the tape, but it wasn't difficult to guess what was going on by the way Convoy seemed to huddle down against himself and the way other students began to cluster around, laughing. Ironhide's anger spiked when he saw the biggest of the three younglings step forward and roughly poke the little red sparkling in the shoulder. There was a pause and then the crowd of onlookers all collectively turned as a group towards something near the end of the line. It was Starfall. He'd stepped out of line and was walking towards the older younglings. The big blue and gold trimmed youngling stepped forward to meet him. There was several klicks of intense debate between the two. Although Ironhide couldn't hear what was being said the look of embarrassed fury on the youngling pretty much said it all. It was probably the first time anyone had ever stood up to him. As Ironhide watched the youngling's posture became increasingly more threatening. He was physically trying to glare the miniature seeker into submission but it was clear Starfall wasn't going to back down. The older sparkling suddenly moved, lunging at Starfall with one arm pulled back in a fist. Starfall ducked. There was a flurry of movement Ironhide couldn't make out between the shifting crowd of bodies, but when the crowd parted enough to see again it was only Starfall still standing straight. The other was doubled over holding his chest.

Ironhide silently turned his glare back to Catalyst.

"Mind tellin' me wha' I just saw there? 'Cause it looks ta me like Starfall wasn't the instigator in that."

Catalyst uncomfortably cleared his intake line. "It would appear not."

"Yeh mean yeh didn't even look at yer own security feeds before yeh suspended him? Why do yeh even have cameras if yer not gonna use 'em?"

"I admit I may have been a bit hasty in placing all the blame on one student's head. But Starfall admitted to striking the other student and I figured that was proof enough. Even though he didn't start it, however, it still doesn't change the fact that Starfall was caught fighting. His suspension must stand. I cannot condone fighting amongst the students no matter what the circumstances. Just because he is the son a Prime doesn't make him exempt from the rules."

Ironhide darkly glared at the administrator through the screen. "Fine," he conceded with a growl. "Starfall's still on suspension 'til the orn after ta-morrow."

"I'm so glad you agree with me on-"

"Wha' about the other kid."

"Excuse me?"

"The other kid. Wha' about him? He was the one that actually started the fight an' tried ta hit Starfall first. He should be gettin' suspended too. Just 'cause he wasn't caught then doesn't mean he should get away with it now. Not even if he is the son of a senator."

Catalyst tightly cleared his throat line. His expression was quietly poisonous. "Yes, of course, sir. You're quite right. I will contact Aftershock's father and inform him of the situation immediately. We must be fair in situations like this."

"Yea. Fair," Ironhide mocked. He returned the administrator's ice-cold glare. "Ah'll be talkin' ta the creator of that little sparkling again ta-morrow ta make sure that bully wasn't back pickin' on him while Starfall wasn't around ta make sure he stays in line."

Catalyst's expression tightened even more. "If that's what you feel you must do, sir, that is, of course, your right."

Ironhide didn't bother to properly end the conversation. He was too peeved to play around with niceties. He cut the transmission. He got a certain amount of satisfaction from being able to wipe Catalyst's face from the video screen with the flick of a switch. If only he could get away with doing something like that in real life.

Growling a sigh, Ironhide slouched down in his seat. Primus, what was he going to do? He'd been a complete aft. He deserved ta be slapped upside the helm for today. Starfall had just been defending one of his classmates and what had he gone and done but blamed the kid for starting a fight when all he'd been doing was trying to defend himself and another little kid. He was no better than that idiot Catalyst.

Venting heavily, Ironhide surged to his pedes. He knew what he had to do even if he didn't like it. "Starfall!" he called. He went out of the office, through the living area and down the hallway towards the seeker's room. "Starfall? I gotta talk ta yeh." He motioned the door to Starfall's room open. "I just got a call from yer friend Convoy's dad an'-"

The room was empty. Ironhide stood in the doorway for a moment of stunned silence. There was no sign of the miniature seeker anywhere. "Starfall?" He went back out into the hallway. He glanced into both his and Optimus's room and the wash rack. No sign of Starfall in either of them. He went into the living area. "Starfall? Come here. Yer not in trouble, ah swear. Ah just wanna talk ta yeh."

Still the seeker did not appear.

A pinprick of anger began to form in the back of Ironhide's processor. Here he was trying to apologize and the kid refused to come when he was called. "Starfall! Ah ain't playin'! Come on out!"

It was only then that Ironhide noticed the open door to the balcony on the other side of the room. Every trace of anger, irritation or impatience vanished. He hurried across the living area and stepped out onto the balcony. Night was swiftly settling over the city. The sky was already deepening to a bruised-color shade of purple overhead. "Star? Star!" he called into the wind that whistled across the balcony. The sound was swiftly carried away and swallowed by the growing dusk. Nothing but silence answered him.

Ironhide whipped around and sped back into the apartment, panic clawing at his spark.

The kid was gone.

to be continued