The Diego Diaries: "Dear Diary" (dd1 38)

-0-Ironhide

He sat on the metal bench out in front of the Autobot HQ watching as Silverbolt left to fly over Australia. His brothers sunning themselves on the tarmac nearby were going to fly over the tip of South America with him when he got back. Flurries of intel needed substantiating. He sat with a blank page open, the file marked "Ironhide's Diary" beckoning. The idea that Ratchet had a diary was interesting. He himself was a mech of few words and the idea of leaving them to posterity was a novel concept. He also figured that whatever Ratchet could do, so could he.

Thus the blank page.

He had scanned the internet and got the gist. His thoughts and feelings. He snorted. Right. He began: "It's hotter than the Pit today which makes it fine with me. Unlike some yellow aft slaggers, I can take a lot. Today, the soldiers are running around like idiots. Even the birds are sitting on trees. The humidity is about a very high number. The weather forecast calls for thunderstorms and cooler weather. That should help the joggers. I don't suppose I will be sitting here tomorrow if it comes."

He reread his entry and closed the page. "There," he said to himself. "One down. Two can play at this game."

He sat satisfied and considered his moves for the evening. He was going to try and seduce Ratchet. He had seen a number of magazines in the N.E.S.T. Striker offices when he had gone there with Prowl over a matter pertaining to training. He had seen them through the window, joked about it with Prowl and forgotten about it. That is until Ratchet had doubled down. That he didn't know that Prowl had beaten him to the Cosmopolitan website didn't matter to Ironhide. He just needed to shake up his game.

An SUV drove past, a number of the new humans inside, honking loudly, hooting out the windows. Ironhide watched them, his dark expression shadowing his light moment. He pinged Springer.

:Springer:

:Slaggers are driving past the building and it doesn't look like they have a point:

:Thanks, Ironhide. I'm on it:

The big mech rose and walked toward the N.E.S.T. Striker HQ to shoot the slag with Lennox and Epps. Graham was on board Silverbolt and would be going out with the rest of the Aerialbots when the big jet came back. As he did, the SUV came roaring back from around a corner near the Aerialbot's designated hangars. He glanced their way, turning to face them. They slowed only slightly, then poured on the gas, driving as fast as they could straight at Ironhide.

His sensors were already scanning them, calculations were already made as the SUV sped forward. Ironhide bracing himself for an collision, leaned forward mentally preparing for impact. There were humans everywhere, on both sides and behind him, all of them frozen in place as the sight unfolding before them. No matter which way he jumped, a human would die. The vehicle was a blur now, flashing forward at such a speed that it was going to be a bad collision if they turned either direction from straight at him. If they did, humans would die. Ironhide prepared to leap in front of them no matter what happened because he was a soldier and because people would die if he didn't. Out of the corner of his optics he could see the green and yellow figure of Springer as he moved forward, leaping over a row of electrical transformers as he came around the corner of the Autobot HQ.

The sound of the roaring engine, the sound of mechs in the rec hall rising up with shouts as they caught the sight transpiring before the open hangar doors were of no consequence to Ironhide. He was bracing for impact because he had already calculated that he couldn't get out of the way and they had no room in the space provided to stop safely. He didn't even have time to leap over them and if he did, humans everywhere around him would die. This is going to hurt, he thought, as they hit him. A huge boom reverberated in the space between buildings as Ironhide began to topple. He reached out and braced himself, instinctively falling away from the vehicle and people on his sensor grid and as he did he felt Springer grab him. It broke the impact of his fall as the concrete came up faster than he had anticipated.

The screech of brakes, the spin of tires and the unsheathing of weapons all around filled the air along with shouts from the N.E.S.T. Command Center and the soldiers, sailors, civilians, airmen and women who were outside. Everyone froze as the impact slammed into Ironhide's shins and they watched in horror as he began to fall, some of them finally running away as he toppled. The blur of yellow and green, the almost impossible materialization of Springer at the back of Ironhide seemed to prevent a greater catastrophe than it appeared they might have already.

Ironhide bellowed, flinging his arms out to the side as pain washed through him. He pushed up again instinctively seeking his attacker as he had in thousands of battles over the eons of his service. Energon covered the SUV, its shattered chassis flying off to one side, spinning nearly fully as it landed and bounced, the doors flung open as glass flew everywhere.

He lay back again, staring at the blue sky, and as he did he saw Springer's face looking down at him as he reached to protect Ironhide from the broken shattered concrete below him. He could hear the emergency vehicles and their loud horns. He could feel them through the pavement, hear them as they came running but he didn't care. He just wanted to rise up to smite his attackers with his fists until they were dust.

Ironhide lay on the ground marginally aware of the circle of Autobots that had formed around him, their weapons drawn as rage blazed from their optics. He only concentrated on what he could see when he saw Ratchet's face. Ratchet was there like he always was, his servos working as fast as they could taking care of his hurts. Ratchet was there with his love, his all encompassing love naked on his face. He off lined his optics giving in to the pain and the nearness of Ratchet. He would be all right. Ratchet was there. He blinked open for a moment, puzzling that he could see Optimus, then he closed them again.

Optimus Prime was in the Ops Center when he heard the boom. Everyone froze as Prowl turned from the security monitor showing the outside area in front of the complex with a look of astonishment on his face. He dropped a datapad he had held in his servo as he looked at Prime. "The SUV ... it just ran into Ironhide at high speed."

As one, they hurried out of Ops Center joining the flow of mechs toward the doors as outside the spectacle was continuing. Moving at high speed, his optics filled with disbelief, Optimus saw Ironhide falling, Springer leaping to reach him to break a small portion of his fall. The SUV was airborne, spinning wildly, then landing with a jarring impact. The doors and hood cover flapped in the impact as did a human. It looked like a rag doll as it hung half out of the door.

There were people on the other side of the open area frozen in horror. Autobots had already formed a defensive circle with arms drawn, ready to fire around Ironhide and Springer. Part of Optimus' processor was aware that Lennox and Epps were running as fast as they could and that their military vehicles were coming with horns and lights blazing.

He reached Ironhide, kneeling down beside Springer and as he did he thought to comm Ratchet. As Prime started to do that he saw a yellow blur pass him and run around to the other side, kneeling to begin to block the bleeding and other critical needs of Ironhide's damaged legs.

Prime sat on his heels stunned into immobility at the insanity happening before him. Springer, rising to move, began to bring down the level of anger and to allow the military to come inside the circle to get the humans. Prime looked at the vehicle, remembering a SUV slamming into him as well. That vehicle was going at highway speeds so the damage was more decorative than deadly. This vehicle had to have been going at its top speed and had to bear heavy modifications to do this much even in such a short space of travel. He watched Ratchet, feeling at this moment the most intense anger he had felt in vorns.

Rising, he looked at the scene, the fact that there were no skid marks on the pavement from the SUV and that another black SUV was bearing down on them. It came to a screeching halt as Daniels leaped out moving toward the hulking form of Ironhide and the damaged SUV. Hound moved sideways to block him, throwing down his weapon on the bureaucrat to halt him before he could come too far. The super heated muzzle of the barrel of his gun was nearly on top of the human's head.

Prime stepping over Ironhide's out flung arm crossing the space in no time ti stand over Daniels like an avenging god. He leaned down as rage poured off him in waves and as he did he felt a servo on his shoulder. Glancing up, he saw Prowl's worried optics and rose slowly to step back reluctantly, his optics never leaving Daniels' face.

Daniels, shaken somewhat, was not challenged. He knew Prime could kill him but he wasn't moved. "I want to see to my men," he said calling up to Prime who was quaking silently with rage as Prowl's servo gripped his arm.

"At the hospital or the morgue," Prime said. "This is our area. You do not have permission to set one foot closer."

Daniels considered him, then jogged over to where the ambulances were parked and medics were coming and going, accessing the SUV because Springer had made it so. The green and yellow mech stood at the edge of the wreck, his servo resting on the shoulder of Bumblebee, himself distraught. "Don't worry, youngling," he said quietly. "Hide is tough as they come."

Bee nodded. "This is going to be a bad one isn't it?"

"Probably," Springer said, watching as Prime showed the most anger he had seen in the stoic good natured mech in the entirety that he had known him. "Prime will take care of it. We just have to keep the peace. Go and talk to the twins. I'll go the other way. Be calm and we'll be fine, Bumblebee."

Bee looked up at Springer, the confidence on his face infectious, then walked to where Sunny and Sideswipe stood together seething with impotent rage, their weapons drawn as they rolled in tight circles. Springer walked to Prim.e pausing beside Prowl. "Prime, we need to move everyone back before shooting starts."

Prime, his anger unabated, nodded. "Make it so," he said turning to move back to Ironhide. "Ratchet, we'll move him when you're ready."

Ratchet glancing up, his servos covered in energon, nodded. "I need a stretcher and volunteers."

Prime rose and began to give orders, the mere movement of constructive action bringing the heat down in his processor. Mechs jumped, subspacing weapons to run quickly for Med bay. Just as quickly, they came back bearing a stretcher. Waiting silently, they watched as Ratchet applied temporary pressure bandages to the broken energy lines of Ironhide's legs. Looking up, meeting Prime's anguished gaze, he nodded.

Moving closer to help lift the big mech, Prime directed those moving Ironhide. He helped lift the big mech onto the stretcher as well. Then they walked toward the hangar and Med bay beyond as Ratchet ran ahead to be ready. Prime stood by the door seething a moment, a sense of disturbance in his spark that would take a lot of thought to quiet simmering like bubbling lava. He felt Prowl's servo in his and squeezed it, then glanced down at him. "It will be all right. I want everyone inside. No one is to be out here. I want Wheeljack to process this scene. I want facts at hand. I'm going to see about the humans. I think we have a fatality or two, Prowl. I do not know how they could live through that."

Prowl nodded, squeezing Prime's servo hard as he walked toward the congregated Autobots. He gave orders, the mechs moved toward the hangar, some of them walking backwards, firearms still pointed outward while others moved together in groups. In seconds ,they were inside. Prime relaxed slightly as he considered the events that had just transpired, events that hadn't happened before the newcomers.

He stared at the swarm of people working on the SUV, one occupant already pulled out and covered with a sheet as two others were being lifted out to be put on stretchers. He felt a senselessness inside, that such a stupid stunt should cost so much in lives and suffering. Then he felt the rap on his ped. He looked down and saw Lennox and Epps, both men standing by him, both men with expressions of wretchedness on their faces.

"Optimus, I don't know what to say," Lennox said shaking his head. "I don't know what to say."

Optimus at that moment felt the totality of his days, the burdens of his responsibility to his people, his culture, his way of life and his mechs. He felt the emotional impact of Prowl, of his love for him. He felt the pain of Ratchet once again putting Ironhide back together, hardly having a moment of distance between the horror of Denver and this equally senseless moment. He felt the huge regard he had for the two men and their companion, Niall Graham and knew that in a short time he would be refocused and up to the challenges this posed.

But not now.

He turned to look down at the two of them. "I don't know either, William." Then he walked toward the hangar, disappearing inside. Standing in the doorway watching every movement and every individual was Springer and Kup, the twins standing beside them glaring defiance at the entire world.

Lennox nearly in tears turned toward Epps. "We're family. I'm going to see about Ironhide."

Epps nodded as the two of them, their hearts pounding with unease, the first unease they had ever felt around the Autobots walked toward the door of the complex.

-0-TBC 2010 (11) edited 12-12-14 edited 10-22-17