I am tired of passing out. So, so tired of it.

When I wake again, I'm restrained. Memories come back in flashes, like photos being taken, shown to me sporadically as I sit up.

My hands are chained to a bed, a long metal slab that is freezing underneath my burning body. The walls around me are clear, a box that surrounds me in the worst way possible. I glance around, but there is no one around. I can hear air coming in through the vents, gears turning and electricity humming with life, but I can't figure out where I'm at.

The panic settles in when Starscream's face pops up in my memory. I flinch away from it, curling up in the corner of the bed, the corner of the box that they've stuck me in. I search my brain for any signs of him, but he is gone. I don't know if he was there in the first place, but my mind is quiet, undisturbed.

The only sign that it might have been real is the slight pinching in my head. I chalk it up to Galloway's men being rough with me because the alternative makes me sick.

A hiss sounds, and I glance forward. The gray wall is outlined by a door, one that slides open. Galloway walks in, followed by the man from a couple days ago, the one who might be Dad's boss. Dad is behind them, and there is a bruise on his face, blooming like an ugly, red flower that is getting darker by the second.

My stomach drops. So, it's true. Starscream was in my head. Dad tried to help me, to help get him out, and I showed my gratitude by shoving him halfway across the hangar. By hurting him.

Shame claws at me. I can't look at him. Starscream ruined yet another thing--tainted me once again.

When they reach my little box, Galloway's expression is smug, victorious. He got what he wanted, showed them that I was a threat. Dangerous. I was not to be trusted. He likes seeing me in this box, likes knowing that he was right.

"Miss Cambridge," he says with delight. "How are you feeling?"

Even though my voice is my own again, I do not respond. There is no point. I know what he wants, but he's not getting it. He can lock me away for as long as he wants to. I don't care anymore.

"Miss Cambridge." The man walks forward with his watery eyes and earnest demeanor. "I'm General Rollins. I am your father's boss. We just wanted to talk to you, get some perspective on what we witnessed."

There's no point in that. I don't know anything. Starscream is closer than ever, invading my mind and my life. He's made me hurt the ones closest to me, has completely ruined the only person who I thought was invincible.  

Cliffjumper is gone, my mind still empty. I don't trust myself because of it. Was Cliffjumper really here, or was it Starscream posing as him? Was the name used so he could get closer to me? So I wouldn't be frightened by the blue eyes like I am by the red? Is Cliffjumper actually dead?

The thought saddens me. I don't want him to be really dead, I realize. We have known each other for a short while, and even if he's fake, I have gotten used to his presence--to his arrogance and his malice and his despair. I want it back. I want the answers and he's the only one who can give them to me.

General Rollins continues, "Earlier, you went. . ."

"Ellie, you went crazy, okay?!" Dad says, throwing his arms up. "I've never seen anything like it. Your eye was glowing the brightest it ever has, and I think there was a flicker of-- well, nevermind that. Not important. What's important is that you were attacked somehow and you defended yourself. And it's not your fault, okay? Never has been, never will be, but we need to know what made you do it. We want to help."

Help. Sure. That's what they're saying now. It'll be different when I tell them that Starscream was in my head. That he was looking through my eyes. That he said something about my weak, human emotions. I wonder if he tried to take them away, if he tried to siphon them out of my body.

I still feel panicked, like there's something crawling on my skin. I feel guilty for hurting Dad, angry because of Ironhide and the secrets. Inconsolable and pointless jealousy that shoots through me at the thought of there being someone before even though I know it's not my business.

That means he failed.

Even if part of me wishes he wouldn't have. Wishes he would have cut out the ugliest thoughts so I could have the serenity of blankness.

I wonder where Ironhide is now. I'm relieved that he's not here. The anger resides deep in me, bubbling like a pot on the stove, boiling until it overflows and burns everything. I am afraid of what I would do if he were here.

"Your silence is getting you nowhere," Galloway warns.

I stare at him, then glance around at the box that they've kept me in. Pull on the chains that are digging into my wrists. My throat still hurts, but I know I could talk, if I wanted to.

"Speak, now, child, or I will be forced to make you," Galloway snaps, face growing warm. Red. I can feel it, I can see the crimson tint rush up his face. He's frustrated.

I hide a grin, pushing my lips together. How sad for him.

"Don't talk to her like that," Dad shoots back, eyes dark and dangerous.

"I don't know if you should be so consoling, Colonel. After all, she hurt you. Threw you aside like you were nothing."

"She was defending herself."

My grin disappears, a weight settling on my chest. Guilt is crushing, and it feels like the world might end if I don't push it away. But I can't. I hurt Dad, and I will feel that for the rest of my life.

"Ellie, it's okay, really," Dad tells me, smiling like he knows what's going on in my thoughts.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, frowning, fingers twitching. "I didn't know-- I wanted, uh. . . I just--"

"Just what?" Galloway slams a hand on the window pane, the gesturing echoing off the walls. "You are in no position to be keeping information from us. We should have you shipped off and dissected for all the trouble that you have caused!"

"Okay," I say, looking him dead in the eyes. "Do it."

"You don't understand what you're threatening," Galloway warns, but I know exactly what I'm asking.

"Oh, but I do," I reply. "It's not like your Cybertronian friends have had any luck picking my brain. What makes you think your scientists will? But it's worth a try, isn't it? National security and all that."

"Eleanor!" Dad's eyes are angry, but mine are hopeless, dead. He flinches away from the lack of expression, solemn, and perhaps that is also what Starscream wanted. For me to not care about my life.

General Rollins holds up a wrinkling hand. "Hold on, now. No one is getting shipped off. This base is under my command, and therefore, my protection, and I have not given you clearance to take the subject off the property."

"Actually, General, that is my job," another voice booms, commanding the room.

None of us noticed the door hissing open, but a black woman walked through, tall and stern and about eight months pregnant. Every man stands at attention while I sit, motionless and a little confused. I search my brain for some knowledge, but it seems like Starscream didn't cover this when he was filling my mind with useless facts.

The woman walks up to the glass box, frowning. I would think she was upset, but it seems like a pretty default expression. There are lines under her eyes, her dark skin wrinkling with stress. General Rollins stammers over his words, surprise evident in his face.

"Secretary Carter," he murmurs. "You are supposed to be on leave!"

"Yes, I suppose I am," she says, shaking her head. "But it seems that I cannot leave you men to your own devices for more than a few weeks before you are threatening everything we worked so hard to keep hidden."

"It wasn't-- we didn't," Dad starts, but she holds up a hand.

"I need no excuses, Colonel." Her eyes regard me with mild curiosity, hardened and a little suspicious. I stare back blankly. "It is nice to see the spectacle that has the base in disarray. Eleanor Cambridge. What a disruption you have caused."

I don't respond. What is there to say? Obviously, she has a lot of power, a lot of leeway in this place. She probably is the one above General Rollins, the one that controls the base. She is who they call when something goes terribly, terribly wrong.

I swallow.

She says, "You don't feel like talking? That is fine. Prime has filled me in on what you kept from me, Director Galloway."

"The security of the United States is not in your jurisdiction," Galloway says easily. "I was sent straight from the White House to see to these matters."

"Yes, and you were so incompetent that he called me, eight months pregnant as I am. What does that say about you?"

Galloway looks away in shame, having been bested. I almost laughed. That's going to be an awkward conversation. The president's lap dog didn't do his job correctly.

"Anyway," Secretary Carter glances back at me, appraising, "it seems that she is a threat to national security, no matter how much we try to deny it."

"What?!" Dad asks, eyes widening before he winces, injury straining. "No, she's not!"

Secretary Carter levels a look at him. "Colonel, I know that she is your daughter, but let us think about this objectively. She was taken by the Decepticons and comes back, claiming to see the one you call Cliffjumper--"

It cuts off after that. Ice water fills me up until I choke on the sensation, on the bile that's creeping up into my throat. Ironhide told them. He told them.

I promised that I was going to tell Ratchet. I told Ironhide that I was going to tell him. We were going to tell him together, sit down, and try to get to the bottom of what was happening to me. Together.

But he's gone off without me, doing it on his own. I wonder, does he think I'm a threat as well? Does he think that Cliffjumper is truly dead? Did he entertain my idea about him being alive just so he could tell Ratchet and Prime behind my back? So they could plot together and figure out what to do with the girl that's seeing dead robots?

My hands shake, my head piercing with a pain I didn't think could be possible. Starscream shot something into me when he was in my head, but it didn't hurt as bad as the sharpness in me right now. I hiss, shaking and trembling all over, tears pricking my eyes.

Pathetic, Starscream called me over and over again.

I believe it. I feel pathetic and used, and so foreign that I'm not sure if I was even human to begin with.

"Eleanor," Secretary Carter says like she's losing patience. I glance up. Her face is irritated; she must have been calling for a while. I hum to acknowledge her, tears filling my eyes but not falling. "I was just asking if you think this Cliffjumper Cybertronian is alive. If you really believe that he is the one in your head. Or do you think that the one they call Starscream could have done something to you?"

My answer matters. If I say yes, it could be a misunderstanding. They could think that I'm delusional. If I say that I think Cliffjumper is in my head, then they will let me go even if they are suspicious. I won't be a threat anymore. My actions from earlier will simply be a reaction to stress and post-traumatic stress.

If I say no--if I say that Starscream was posing as Cliffjumper--then I will be taken away. I know this deep in my bones. Dad will not be able to get me out of it. I will be escorted somewhere with maximum security and they will cut into me and try to get Starscream out of my brain. Try to figure out what the hell he did in the first place.

I want to say yes, but when I respond, I say, "No. Cliffjumper is dead. It was always Starscream. He's got access to my mind. He sees what I see. And he is coming."

Secretary Carter's eyes harden, and something in me flutters.

A second later, Cliffjumper says, Nice job, human. Way to sell it.

I lean back against the wall. Secretary Carter says something into her bluetooth. Dad's face is crestfallen, but I can't focus on it. Cliffjumper wants something, and I have to get it for him or Starscream really will be here, will find me, and then the entire thing will be over.