Non Solum Fugere

Fireflight Loves the Library

"I can't believe that Optimus Prime gave us such a stupid mission," Slingshot whined. This was the fifth time he had made this complaint in as many minutes, and Fireflight really wasn't sure why his older brother was so upset. He'd never been to a library before! It sounded fascinating!

"Slingshot, maintaining good public relations with our human allies is important. They need to know that they can trust us," Silverbolt replied. He was as quiet as usual-Silverbolt never yelled-but he definitely sounded frustrated.

"Yeah, yeah, I know we're supposed to be nice to those humans. But why us? Why not send Bumblebee or Hound or somebody who actually likes them?" Slingshot asked.

"Optimus said that the humans asked for us specifically, and since we didn't have anything on our schedules, he said that it would be a good idea for us to go. And I agree with him. After that fight you and Air Raid had with Sunstreaker, we need to earn back some goodwill from our teammates," Silverbolt replied.

"But I don't like dealing with humans. They're so loud and annoying, and their television is weird," Slingshot protested. Fireflight didn't know why Slingshot didn't like humans. Sure, they hadn't made the best first impression on any of them, but they were so interesting, and Spike and Carly and Chip were really neat! In fact, if he didn't know any better, he would have said that Slingshot was angry about something else. But that was just ridiculous.

"What about Prince Jamal? He's human," Silverbolt asked.

"Aww, that ain't the same! Prince Jamal's different. For one thing, he isn't near as whiny," Slingshot replied.

"That's ironic, coming from a guy who's done nothing but whine since he found out that we're going to attend a Q and A meeting at a human library," Silverbolt said. Air Raid laughed loudly.

"Boy, he got you good, Slingshot!" he exclaimed.

"Aww, shut up," Slingshot muttered, clearly embarrassed. After this, he fell silent.

"Well, I, for one, am excited. An entire building full of books? That's a dream come true! I can only imagine how much information this library might contain about the aerial aces of the humans' wars...." Skydive said as Fireflight started to study the clouds. One looked like that fuzzy animal Spike called a sheep, and one looked like one of Ratchet's wrenches, and one looked like Silverbolt. Fireflight would have smiled had he been in robot mode. It was so nice that there was a cloud that looked like his oldest brother. Was there a cloud that looked like him? Funny, that cloud sure was moving fast....

"Fireflight, watch out! You're about to collide with that passenger jet!" Silverbolt suddenly yelled. Fireflight pulled up sharply, narrowly missing the Silverbolt-cloud that wasn't a cloud at all.

"Sorry," he said, although he knew the humans inside couldn't actually hear him. Then he flew back up to rejoin his brothers.

"And I suppose that'll do wonders for our public relations with the humans," Slingshot remarked sarcastically.

"I...I didn't mean to, guys. I'm really sorry," Fireflight said. He hated it when his brothers got mad at him.

"It's all right. I radioed the pilot and explained what happened, and he's not angry. He said that he was just glad no one got hurt," Silverbolt replied.

"You still need to pay more attention to where you're going, though. If 'Bolt hadn't noticed that jet when he did, you would've knocked yourself and that jet out of the sky," Skydive added.

"I will," Fireflight replied, thoroughly chastened. Two minutes later, they landed in the field behind Masonville's Public Library and transformed. Before Fireflight could start looking around at the field, Skydive grabbed his hand and led him towards the back of the library, where a makeshift stage had been set up. A human female was standing on the stage.