Swift had anticipated a leisurely walk to the transport station with Harmony, chatting and perhaps scheduling another date down the road. She hadn't imagined that walk would lead to the two of them holing up in Astrotrain's apartment, waiting for a hovertaxi to take Harmony home. It could have been worse, she supposed… but it was still slightly embarrassing.

"'Scuse the mess," Astrotrain told them, shoving a pile of energon containers off a chair to let Swift sit down. "Wasn't expecting company."

"It's okay," Swift assured him as she settled down, though inwardly she couldn't help but cringe at the clutter. Cubes and unwashed cups littered every horizontal surface, and it was obvious the place hadn't been dusted or swept in some time - perhaps not since he'd first moved in. The only decorations were the gaming posters he'd hung on every wall, in some places crowded so closely together that they were forced to overlap to make room.

She turned to apologize to Harmony, but the carformer was engrossed in a comm call, fingers pressed to her temple. Most mechs chose to subvocalize comm conversations, but either Harmony wasn't the type or she was just too annoyed to care. Judging by the tone of her voice, probably the latter.

"No, Mom, I'm fine, I swear," she insisted. "I just got held up on my way to the- not THAT kind of held up! I wasn't mugged, I'm not bleeding out in an alley, I'm just going to be late… I don't know, maybe 1900? No, you don't need to send a shuttle, I called a cab… Mom, Polyhex is NOT full of criminals, I'm perfectly fine…"

"Someone's creator's overprotective," Astrotrain grumped, flopping down on the couch and picking up his game controller. "Swift, wanna play a little co-op before you go home?"

"No thanks," Swift replied. "Mind if I watch you though?"

"Nope. Been a long time since you watched me game." He scooted over to make room for her. "Your girlfriend gonna be okay with it?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Your whatever-friend, then." He unpaused his game - some kind of military shooter - and resumed firing on an anti-aircraft gun turret. "She gonna be okay with you ignoring her to hang out with your uncle? Or is she the jealous type?"

"Uncle Astro, honestly," Swift groaned. "I can spend time with you. She's heading home soon anyhow."

Astrotrain smirked as a digital explosion blanketed the screen. "I'm starting to think that you made up this story about a creepy stalker just to have some Uncle Astro time."

"Astro," Swift groaned.

"I'm kidding! Tankard told me about him, and he's banned from the Rustbucket for life. But if he ever gives you any trouble outside the bar, comm me and I'll come beat him to scrap."

"Astro!"

"Okay, I'll stop." He swore softly as his character got blown to bits. "But still, if you ever see him again, lemmie know. I'm not lettin' some creep mess with my niece."

Swift smiled. "Thanks, Uncle Astro."

She was fully aware that most of Cybertron saw her uncle as a monster - as one of Megatron's triple changers he had been a deadly warrior, and even now he had a reputation for being violent and a little dim. But she had always adored him, and he had been nothing but kind and doting towards her. He had always enjoyed taking her for flights, or inviting her over to show her a new game (even if some of his choices had given her nightmares). And if anyone laughed at him for his devotion to a sparkling, they were careful to do it behind his back.

She was too big to ride on his back as he flew now… but they still went on occasional flights together, and they still gamed together. And they shared a love of the Cityspeakers game franchise, though they expressed their love in very different ways - he poured hours into every game, uncovering every secret and Easter egg he could, while Swift had her own way of expressing her fandom.

"I read your latest chapter," Astrotrain piped up.

"Oh? What did you think? What needs tweaking?"

"Needs more fight scenes."

"You say that every time you beta a chapter. It's not that kind of fic."

"The game has cityspeakers hunting for legendary weapons to fight off an alien invasion AND a faction of Unicron cultists!" Astrotrain retorted. "How can there NOT be fighting?"

"My fic is set before the third game, so no Unicron cultists," Swift corrected. "And nobody fights all day every day. They have time to do other things, and since the games focus on the fighting, I wanted to focus on something else."

"Plenty of mechs fought all day every day during the war," Astrotrain grumbled. "And the fighting's the interesting part of the games! All the story bits and cut scenes are just extra bits."

"I LIKE the extra bits," she informed him. "You only stopped skipping the cutscenes because I gave you turbo-puppy optics. And then you actually started liking the characters as characters instead of just weapons to swing around."

Astotrain rolled his optics. "I still think you need more action, less kissing. Calypso wasn't given the Amethyst Sword just so she could hang out with her girlfriend."

Swift let out a half-sigh, half-laugh. "I know you're not the romantic type, Uncle Astro. If you want, I can have someone else beta-read-"

"No!" he barked. "I mean… nah, don't go to all that trouble. I'll read 'em." He turned his attention to the game for a moment, launching a missile at a cluster of vehicles. "Still think you need more fight scenes."

"Maybe I'll add an action scene next chapter," Swift conceded. "Maybe they need to go mop up an Alternian incursion in one of the colonies, and Calypso gets hurt and Gaia unleashes her wrath on the Alternian general before carrying Calypso off the battlefield-"

"Aw, c'mon, you gotta spoil a good fight scene with lovey-dovey stuff?" Astrotrain grumbled.

Swift laughed as Harmony walked into the living room. "Okay, there's a taxi shuttle on the way. Sorry to be a bother, sir."

"Eh, not a bother," he replied, giving her a lazy wave of his hand without looking away from the game "Any friend of Swift's a friend of mine. Just keep her out of trouble, all right?"

"I think she can look after herself," Harmony noted, leaning on the back of the couch. "What game is this?"

"New Shadow Team game," Astrotrain replied. "The Dead Zone expansion pack."

"Isn't this the one that some groups wanted banned for promoting violence against the Prime?" Harmony asked.

Astrotrain snorted. "It ain't any more violent than Cityspeakers. And it's not like your goal is to shoot Optimus Prime - there's a mission where you gotta assassinate a corrupt Prime who's using the Matrix to raise the dead. Some purists just got their wiring in a knot over that bit."

"Can the Matrix even raise the dead?" asked Swift with a frown, looking at Harmony.

"Don't ask me," Harmony insisted, raising her hands. "Just because I'm an Autobot doesn't mean I have an intimate knowledge of the Matrix of Leadership. And in my opinion it's obvious this is supposed to be fictional. It might be in poor taste to some, but it's not hate speech or promoting anti-Prime feelings."

"Least you've got a good head on your shoulders." Astrotrain growled as his character messily died again. "Keep her around, Swift. You're gonna need someone to watch your back if that creep comes calling again or someone gets on your case about the no-faction business."

Swift jerked in shock. "How did you know about that?"

"Swindle told me. He usually charges a premium for juicy intel, but guess he decided that, since we both consider you our niece, we should share info."

Her tanks curdled, and she reached out and gripped his arm. "Astro, please don't tell my parents! If they find out, they'll flip!"

"All right, fine, I won't," Astrotrain assured her. "Though don't worry, Blitzwing's got his CPU stuck in the clouds these days. Tried telling him about my last mission on the Kalliope colony and I swear it went right over his head. He's got sparklings on the processor."

Of course he does, Swift thought, annoyance replacing her fear. Aloud she just said "Thank you, Uncle Astro."

"Not a problem." He gazed down at his game controller, then set it aside. "I'm a Decepticon and proud of it… but if you kids want to support this no-faction cause, then I say go for it. Just be careful - you're gonna frag off a lot of mechs on the way."

"We may already have," Swift replied, recalling Valiant's disdain and the angry messages on the group channel. "But thank you. And thanks for understanding."

"My ride's here," Harmony told her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Catch you later?"

"Oh… sure. Um… want me to message you when we decide on a date for our next meeting?"

Harmony chuckled. "I'd appreciate that. Though we don't need a meeting to hang out together, you know. Take care of yourself." And she patted her shoulder and walked out.

Astrotrain snorted. "Not your girlfriend, my aft. She likes you. And you like her back."

Swift snapped her mask up in a vain attempt to hide her blush. "We've only met a few times."

"You still like her," Astrotrain pointed out. "She seems like a good kid. Gonna take her to meet your parents anytime soon?"

She looked down at her hands. "Maybe later… once I've decided what kind of relationship we have. It's not like you can decide someone's conjux material after three not-even-really-dates."

"You'd be surprised," Astrotrain retorted. "Need me to walk you home?"

She raised an optic ridge. "I live five floors up from you."

"I can still walk you home. Just in case that stalker comes back."

Swift shuddered. "In that case, yes, I'd like that."

As the two shuttle-formers headed for the lift, Swift couldn't help but marvel at just how crazy her life had become in a matter of weeks. The stress and complicated emotions over her parents planning for a new child, helping to organize the no-faction movement, the strange mech that seemed to be targeting her, her budding maybe-friendship-maybe-more with Harmony… it was a lot to take in. And she desperately wanted to discuss at least some of it with her parents, but at the same time she felt guilty burdening them with her problems when she was a fully upgraded adult and they were busy with their own issues.

And for all the chaos surrounding her life right now, she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that she was forgetting something… oh, slag.

Datastream narrowed her optics, peering at the datapad over her corrective lenses. "Well, Swift, you certainly took my advice to tackle a different topic. That's one positive I can give you."

Swift squirmed in her seat. "Did I pick the wrong topic?"

"My dear, if you took my criticism as an implication that you picked the wrong topic, then I'm afraid you misunderstood me," she replied, setting the datapad down. "There isn't a wrong topic per se… I just felt you would shine better if you selected a more challenging topic. This essay's problems don't stem from the topic choice… more from lack of preparation."

That didn't allay the churning in Swift's tanks at all. She knew it was her own fault - she'd gotten so wrapped up in the no-faction cause and her own personal drama that she'd completely forgotten about her meeting with her advisor over her admissions essay. She'd stayed up most of the night to bang out what she hoped was an acceptable rough draft - rough drafts were never supposed to be perfect, after all, since the entire point was to get your thoughts down in text and go back to polish them later. Surely Datastream wouldn't catch on to that…

"In all honesty, this essay feels rushed," Datastream told her, shooting her hopes out of the water. "I've read enough essays to be able to tell when one was completed at the last minute, you know."

Swift blushed hard behind her mask and fixed her gaze on her feet. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

"You have nothing to apologize for," she replied, steepling her hands before her. "Swift… is everything all right at home? You're normally not the type who procrastinates their projects until the last astrosecond."

"Everything's fine," she blurted.

Datastream raised an optic ridge. "Swift… I'm not a fool. I've been teaching long enough to know when a student is lying to me."

Swift ducked her head further, faceplates flaming with embarrassment. "There's… a lot going on. But I don't want to dump it all on you. I'm sure you have other things to worry about."

Her advisor raised an optic ridge. "You don't have to tell me if you don't wish to. But if you don't think I care about what's going on in your life, you're quite wrong." She sighed and slid the datapad back at her. "Take your time on your second draft, dear… and make an appointment to see me when it's completed. No deadline is worth your mental health."

Swift took the datapad, feeling fluid building up in her optic cleanser ducts. "Th-thank you, Professor."

"You're welcome." She nodded and returned her attention to her computer, indicating she was dismissed.

Swift let out a sigh of her own as she passed through the lounge and out into the hall. She should have known that just staying up all night to throw together a quick essay wouldn't get past her advisor. But she'd been so caught up in everything else lately that she'd seen no choice. At least Datastream had been understanding about it…

Valiant stood outside the door of her advisor's office, and she halted in her tracks. He spotted her and folded his arms across his cockpit, glowering at her. She just stared back, scrambling to come up with a halfway-witty retort to whatever insult he would throw her way regarding their cause. She didn't want to deal with this right now, but it looked like she wasn't going to have a choice…

But Valiant just snorted and turned away, walking off. Swift felt her wings droop as the tension flowed out of her. Not only was she spared having to put up with whatever cutting remarks Valiant might have delivered, but he'd inadvertently dropped a crumb of hope. Perhaps things weren't so bad off between them - perhaps they could still salvage their friendship despite their differences in opinion.

"That's her."

She whirled to find a cluster of mechs making their way down the hall towards her. She recognized them instantly from the popular clique, students with flashy alt modes or wealthy parents who thought they ruled the academy and never let anyone forget their status. Swift and her friends always thought them more hilarious than threatening or cool, but all the same they kept their distance from them. No amount of amusement was worth getting caught up in their drama.

Now, apparently, their drama was about to find her. For the leader of the pack, a flashy jetformer with metallic gold plating trimmed in platinum, gestured to her followers, and they promptly fanned out to surround Swift.

"Hi, Sunburst," she greeted, doing her best to force a cheerful tone. Thank goodness she had her mask up already and didn't have to force a smile on top of it.

"Hello, Swift," Sunburst replied with an oily smile. "So I hear you've decided to go and make a name for yourself. Here I thought you preferred to be invisible, despite your… stature."

A few mechs snickered at that, but went silent at a glare from their ringleader.

"I… don't know what you mean," Swift protested, hugging her datapad to her chest. "I need to go. I have somewhere I need to be."

"Oh? Where could our dear school wallflower want to go?" Sunburst tapped her chin with a long, elegant finger as she pondered that. "You don't have much of a social life, you aren't a member of any clubs or sports… do you need to run home to your parents so they don't shorten your leash?"

She blushed, tightening her grip on her datapad. "Let me pass."

"Or is it something else?" Sunburst went on, ignoring her request. "Could it be that you're involved in something else? Something… big? Like the no-faction cause?"

Swift's wings jerked higher in shock. How had the school's "alpha glitch," as her father had often called her out of Glory's audial-shot, managed to figure it out? She'd done nothing to advertise her affiliation with the movement in public. Had Uncle Astro or Uncle Swindle talked? She wanted to think her uncles wouldn't do that, but Astrotrain tended to have a loose vocalizer when he was overcharged, and she'd heard rumors about how Swindle's information could be bought at any price...

"Don't act so shocked," a carformer mech in orange-and-neon-green armor chuckled. "You and your friends were yakking about it in the library. That's not exactly a private place."

"You've been in the library, Pitstop?" another jetformer, this one bright red with blue highlights, sniggered. "I didn't even know you knew how to read."

"Shut up, Squaller," Pitstop growled.

"Honestly, Swift, I think it's cute that you've finally found something to be invested in," Sunburst went on, her smile taking on a mocking tilt. "You're just so good at fading into the background that it's nice seeing you find a way to stand out. And it's just adorable that you think you're making a difference. That you think your little message channel and some after-school meetings will convince mechs that this…" She tapped the Decepticon symbol on her wing. "Doesn't matter."

Swift's wings trembled, partly out of nervous shame and partly out of rising anger. There were so many things she wanted to blurt out at the moment - that making it acceptable for mechs to shed their faction symbols wasn't a worthless cause, that she didn't have to put up with their mockery just because she was actually trying to do something worthwhile, that Sunburst could have been Starscream's daughter but she'd actually met Starscream's daughter and she was much nicer than her. But she knew that voicing any of them would just get her into worse trouble.

"I need to go," she insisted. "Let me pass."

None of the mechs so much as budged, just grinned with malicious pleasure as Sunburst continued to toy with their latest prey. Swift looked back down the corridor, hoping that Valiant had seen what was going on and could go for help, but he had long vanished. And while one could hope that Datastream would hear the commotion outside her office and investigate, she knew it would be difficult for the professor to hear them through the lobby unless someone started shouting or an actual fistfight broke out.

"You know, Swift, it's kind of a shame seeing you throw your time away on this trash," Sunburst noted, her voice silky-smooth but her smile cutting. "Especially since your mom used to be Air Commander. I'm sure she'd be THRILLED to hear her daughter's advocating that mechs renounce the Decepticon shield she fought so hard to protect. Wouldn't that just break her spark?"

Swift opened her mouth to say something she would probably regret… but another voice cut in first.

"Hey, THAT was a low blow! And what's your problem anyhow, Sunburst?"

The gold jetformer's optics blazed, and she let out a disbelieving laugh as a violet construction-vehicle former pushed his way to Swift's side. "Oh? Coming to the defense of your girlfriend, Lancer? I didn't know you liked them big."

Lancer grabbed Swift's hand and gave it a squeeze. She stared at him, but he didn't meet her gaze. Instead his optics were leveled on her tormentor in a steely glare that would have made Hook beam with pride.

"You're really so proud of being a Decepticon?" he demanded. "Fine. Wave a flag, join the Air Corps, recite Towards Peace from the rooftops. But don't you dare make fun of someone who'd rather go factionless."

"Why not?" demanded Pitstop. "Only a coward or an idiot would just drop their faction!"

"I'd respect a mech more for going Autobot than for choosing no faction entirely," added an emerald-green motorcycle-former.

"Then you're the idiot," Lancer snapped. "And you've lost sight of the entire reason the Decepticons fought a war in the first place!"

Swift continued to gape at him, grateful for the mask once again to hide her flabbergasted expression. He'd been so hesitant to join their cause before, terrified of his father's disapproval. What had changed to turn the reluctant Lancer into an impassioned firebrand? Well, maybe not a firebrand, but far more firm in his stance than before.

Sunburst let out a single mocking laugh. "Really? You're going to go that route? Megatron would be rolling over in his tomb to see the children of Decepticons spitting on his cause like this."

"Then you don't know the cause very well," Lancer shot back. "Megatron fought for a lot of things… and one of those was for mechs to be able to choose what they wanted to be. And yeah, a lot of mechs assume he just meant alt modes or your function in life. But honestly, I think he'd want them to be able to choose their faction - or if they even wanted to be part of a faction - as well."

A few of Sunburst's hangers-on began muttering amongst themselves. Sunburst gave Lancer a glower that could have melted a citybot's plating.

"You talk a big game," she said at last, "for a mech who still wears a faction symbol himself."

Lancer's fingertips rested on the Decepticon symbol on his shoulder. Then, clenching his jaw, he tore the symbol off and flung it at Sunstorm's feet. Gasps rose from the gathered mechs, and a few even shrieked aloud, as if Lancer had ripped out his transformation cog with his bare hands instead of just peeling off a decal.

"Not anymore," he replied coolly. "C'mon, Swift, let's go home. And if Sunspot here won't move out of the way… well, I'm sure Professor Datastream would love to know just what's going on outside her office. Isn't she your advisor too, Sunburn? She could leave some lovely marks on your record, you know."

Sunburst rolled her optics and stepped aside. "This isn't over, Prancer. And watch your back, Swift. Not everybody's happy with your antics… and some of those who don't approve of what you're doing are teachers."

"We'll keep that in mind," Lancer replied, and led Swift away.

Swift waited until they were out of audial-shot before finally addressing him. "Lancer… did you really mean all of that? Or were you just saying it to get them off my back?"

He released her hand but kept pace with her as they walked. "Well… to be honest, when I first saw them ganging up on you, I just wanted to draw the attention off you and shut them up. But the more I spoke… the more I realized I really felt strongly about what I was saying. That maybe the no-faction cause really is worth supporting."

"Oh good… I don't want you to feel like you HAVE to go along with the rest of us, or claim you're with us just to save me from a bully. Um… what about Hook? Isn't he going to be upset about this?"

Lancer shrugged. "I've thought about it… and I guess I've finally decided that I can either live my life in a way that'll never make my father mad, or live my life in the way that'll make me happy. I've done enough of the former… so it's time I did the latter."

"Well… good for you." She chuckled. "That ripping off your sigil at the end was a nice touch."

"Thanks. I figured it'd be a nice dramatic touch." He rubbed at the bare spot on his shoulder. "Dad's going to flip out when he sees it."

"I guess you can remind him that he used to be an Autobot?"

Lancer laughed. "Hey… I'm not THAT eager to frag him off. Um… so are you guys having another meeting about the factionless movement at all? Anything I missed?"

"Let me send you an invite to the group chat. Then I'll fill you in, okay?"

Lancer nodded, and the two of them headed for the doors of the school. Perhaps not everyone was on their side, just as Sunburst had warned her… but at least she most of her friends watching her back. That was the important thing.