The Diego Diaries: Onward (dd5 52)

-0-At the Diner On the Corner, Autobot City, Primal Colony of Mars

Ratchet walked to the table and sat, moving closer to Ironhide as he scooted over. "Hi."

"Hi. What happened? Your energy is slag." Ironhide stared at Ratchet as he gave his order, then sat back.

"Sunee was going through his review at the Processor Hospital with Edict present and it all fell apart. Edict is this close to being in there himself, he's so distraught. I had to give him a sedative routine. It was very intense but maybe some good will come. I hope so."

Ironhide nodded. "You do your best then the rest is theirs."

"I know," Ratchet said leaning into Ironhide. "What have you been doing today?"

"Hanging with Prime," Ironhide said as his food came. The waiter put it on the table, refilled Ironhide's 'tea', then left. "We're trying to figure out where the Omega slag is. He went on a vision quest last night and told me that Alpha knows things but its hidden from him until Prime does some things himself. One is on Cybertron and the rest are other places."

"Well, that doesn't help much," Ratchet said as his food was placed before him. "That could mean anywhere."

"According to Cyclonus, find one and it'll lead you to the others. I toured the shrines with Prime. They're all slag."

"Frag," Ratchet said. "Don't say that around my genitors or Prowl's. They might cry. *I* could cry."

"I hear ya," Ironhide said. "I'm going to do a tour of the dreadnought's armaments and tweak the delivery system for their armories. Come with me and we'll make it a party."

Ratchet grinned. "A party?"

"Yep," Ironhide said glancing at Ratchet. "Wherever you are is a party."

Ratchet grinned, then squeezed Ironhide's arm. "I won't tell anyone."

"Slag right," Ironhide said with a grin. They sat together congenially for the meal, then left together to go to Fireball and their daughter's command, Elita-1. It would indeed be a party.

-0-Ops Center, Fireball, the 'Maginot Line' of the Prime of Cybertron

"And then we did this," Fireball said excitedly as he showed a short video of himself and Chromia wrestling. "I love to wrestle. I never knew you could before. I love Chromia. She's an amazing femme."

Chromia who sat nearby with a grin nodded at the happy excited youngster. "You're a good student, Fireball."

"I hope so. I'm going to practice so I can fight in this format," he said like the eager kid that he was. He was standing behind Ratchet with his arms around him. When Ratchet entered with Ironhide he was delighted, hugging the big medic tightly. "There's so much to learn, Ada," he said with a smile.

"Ada?" Ironhide asked with a smile.

"We asked if Ratchet would mind. He didn't," Fireball said with a smile.

"Then its a good thing," Ironhide said.

"You're his bond, right?" Fireball asked.

"That's right," Ironhide said as Ratchet swayed slightly, the youngling swaying with him.

"Then would you mind if we call you Atar? We call Typhoon and his bonds Appas or Abbas. We don't have an Atar yet," Fireball said as sweetly as any happy youngster looking for a family.

"That would be great," Ironhide said with a grin. "Did you know that Elita and the femmes here are our daughters?"

Fireball froze, then looked over Ratchet's shoulder. That bot smiled and nodded. Fireball turned to Chromia, then Elita. "THAT'S GREAT! THAT MAKES YOU LIKE OUR SISTERS! I NEVER HAD A SISTER BEFORE! Genesis and Quasar are like my brothers. We call each other brother but I never had a family like this. THIS IS SO NICE!"

The adults around Fireball grinned at him, then each other. "Now you do, sparkling," Ratchet said.

Fireball hugged Ratchet as tightly as he could. It was pretty tight.

-0-In the prison

Jarro sat in the conference room waiting for Hobbes to come hear the verdict both on his son and his bond. He was going to tell what he could about all of them, his three children and his exhausted bond, thereby perhaps forcing some reality into the situation. He didn't expect this to go well.

The door opened as Hobbes walked in stopping to stare at Jarro a moment. He walked to the table and sat, drawing himself up to do battle with another of the strangers who had so willfully detonated his life. "What do you want, Jarro?" he asked.

"I came here to update you on Sunee and give you a brief overview of the situation among your family so you can be filled in on all of their doings and well being," Jarro said. Hobbes didn't reply so Jarro looked at his datapad. "We have just had a conference on Sunee and determined that he will not be getting out of the hospital for a while and that until he took stock of his situation and how his behavior and attitudes were the cause, he was going to stay in confinement.

"Sunee," Hobbes said with difficulty. "He shouldn't be there at all. *I* shouldn't be here!"

"Stop," Jarro said curtly. "Stop and listen to what I tell you. What you want or think doesn't matter here. We are all subject to the same rules and laws so just listen for once."

Hobbes stared at Jarro, then sat back with the same sort of expression Sunee often gave when he wasn't happy. Jarro stared at him. "You do understand that Edict is stuck holding the bag for you and its been incredibly difficult for him. You're in jail for a few years and Sunee is in the mental hospital. Riff and Rad-R along with Bron-E have gone their own way, making their own lives as best they can and Edict is desperately lonely and confused."

Hobbes stared at him, then sat forward. "Edict?"

"Edict is left holding everything together because you decided that you wanted to be better than everyone else," Jarro said with uncharacteristic heat. "Your bigotry and selfishness has worn Edict out. Right now, he's spending the night in the hospital so he can get some rest."

"EDICT!?"

"Yes," Jarro said. "In the middle of the conference he came apart and wept. He wept and wept, Hobbes. Your son did too. He may or not have had a breakthrough but its hard to say he's so programmed to hate."

"Where is Edict! I have to see him! Take me to him. I command it!" Hobbes said as he stood up, looming over Jarro who over the years of working with the mentally ill was very proficient at self defense, especially no or low impact restraining techniques.

"Sit down, Hobbes," Jarro said.

Hobbes stared at him, then walked to the door pounding on it with his fist. "TAKE ME TO THE HOSPITAL! I HAVE TO SEE MY BOND!"

The door opened and two security guards stepped in. "Back up, bud. Move back to the table and sit or we'll restrain you."

Hobbes stared at them, then turned to Jarro. "Take me to Edict now."

"Sit." Jarro watched him do the math, then he sat down slowly, tensely, his optics never leaving Jarro's face. "Thank you, gentlemen. I'm good now."

They looked at Jarro, then Hobbes. "We're staying right outside."

"Thanks," Jarro said as the two walked out to activate the one way mirror effect of the wall panel that fronted the room onto the corridor. The sound was down but they could see if things got out of hand.

Hobbes stared at Jarro. "Alright. You won this round. Take me to Edict. *Please*."

"I wouldn't if I could," Jarro said. "Edict is under a doctor's care for exhaustion, nervous and otherwise. He's been left to cope with your crap and Sunee's and it wore him down. He will be evaluated tomorrow morning and released if he has recovered sufficiently. In the meantime, your son is still in confinement, your other three children are in disarray and all is not well in your domicile."

"You're enjoying this, Jarro. I remember you. You were one of them, one of those who opposed the right order," Hobbes said with frustration. "Now you get to twist the knife and you're enjoying this."

"No, I am not," Jarro said. "I'm dedicated to helping and healing. You're the one who breaks things. You broke your son with your poison, you broke your bond with your selfishness in wanting to do what was banned by Primal Decree and sent your children off to fend for themselves leaving Edict alone. You're so selfish that you can't get past the hurt you've caused. Its on you, Hobbes."

Hobbes stared at him for a moment, his gaze unwavering. "Where are my children?"

"As I understand it, Bron-E is living in a bachelor tower in her own apartment. The boys live at home but are seldom there. They work or go to school and enjoy things the way they are. Edict is left alone a lot. He's anguished over you and Sunee to the point it has impacted his health and well being. Yet all you can do is spout orders and blame others. You're the architect of this, Hobbes, you and Edict. Now we have to fix this and you're going to help."

Hobbes didn't move or speak so Jarro leaned closer. "Your family is now under my care. I'm going to leave Sunee in the treatment program that he has with Rung. No one can get to the root of things like Rung. Your bond and your other three children will be with me. I will be counseling them to help Edict find his footing. As for you … you need to find your conscience. You need to take responsibility and root out your hatreds before its too late. I will be coming here every other orn to speak to you about this and get to the root of your stupidity. But understand this … the System of Exception is over and dead. Nowhere that a Cybertronian exists will it ever be tolerated again. If you ever want to get out of prison, you better try and figure out how you will live with that fact and live decently. It think its the least you can do for your family."

Jarro rose, then walked to the door. He left and the door closed. Hobbes would stare at it until the guards came, then leave without a word for his prison barracks.

-0-At the N.E.S.T. HQ, Cultural Center Road, Autobot City, Primal Colony of Mars

They hurried in through the airlock, dropped their bags and ran for the mess where food was left out for anyone who was hungry. After an nine hour day at school, all of the human kids were hungry. They grabbed snacks, drinks and ran back to the table where they worked on homework. Adults who sat nearby playing cards smiled. "How was school?" Clarice asked.

They grinned at this, one of the original Air Force femmes. "GREAT! We can sing in Cybertronian. Want to hear?" Annabelle asked.

"Sure," Clarice and the three other soldiers sitting with her said.

They did. It was an eerie lilt of high pitched sounds that undulated, rising and falling in a very pleasing blend. When it was over the two sides grinned at each other. "What does it mean?" Clarice asked.

"It's a sad song. Its about leaving home behind and running for your life," James Hoyt said sitting down with his book bag. "They have a lot of songs about missing home. All of them are sad and beautiful. We're learning a bunch of different kinds in language class. They said we tend to learn things better and faster no matter how hard if we sing it. Humans learn that way better than trying to say or pronounce different languages."

They turned to their bags, pulling out books, datapads and their steel sheet notepads with engraving-style writing implements. They dove into their mathematics, spelling work for language class and their writing assignments. Then they sat and read their geography books together, discussing the text and what it meant as a group.

They would do it in NeoCybex.

-0-TBC 2-19-16 edited 2-29-16

NOTES:

That little snippet of story mentioned in the notes about the family caught up by Razorclaw has been on my mind for about two days. I will be adding them, going back to them and the young mech, Time Out whose family got separated. If there are individuals that you want to hear more about leave it in the comments. I will try and fit them in because I like to keep characters going.

As for Sunee, I think its fun to take a totally disliked character and see if they can turn around. Its hard because they have to be real. Gravitas wasn't going to turn until he did. Sunee, the jury is still out on him but he feels better to me than before.

Leoness: It is amazing to me what kids learn from their parents who they love and want to make proud of them. Edict is finding out things aren't so cut and dried.

Guest and Fguest: It will be coming shortly. :D:D:D

New What Makes No Difference Is No Difference tomorrow. :D