The Diego Diaries: Latest Breaking News! (dd6 134)
-0-On the street
"This is a security alert from the Office of Emergency Management," Lim-Lee said as she broadcast on The Hourly News-Breaking News. "Everyone in the vicinity of the Metroplex Plaza between the Mall and the Temple District, please leave or go into a room or building and lock the door. Do not open the door until someone from the Watch comes to give the all clear. There's shooting downtown in Autobot City.
"We repeat, there's shooting in downtown Autobot City and the police are on the job. Please evacuate the area immediately or lock yourself into a room until you are collected by the police. Stay away from downtown Autobot City. There is a shooting underway in the Temple and Metroplex Districts of Autobot City..."
A siren split the air as it sounded in the thin atmosphere. Civilians who were taken by surprise began to run, some down side streets, some into storefront businesses that lined the towers downtown, all of them heading for shelters. Shop owners pulled civilians inside as they closed their doors, locking them against entry by anyone other than the police or a civilian fleeing. The streets cleared swiftly as Momus and Sherma ran down the sidewalk heading for Temple. Banging on the bulletproof glass doors and windows of storefronts, the civilians and owners inside staring at them with fright and concern as they huddled together. Swearing in futility, the two pulled guns then pointed them at the soldiers fogging out of The Diner On The Corner.
Firing a few rounds, they fled down a side street then slid to a halt beside the Sciences Habitat. Lennox and Epps who were sitting at a table eating lunch with some of the locals glanced up with surprise. The siren was sounding and someone had just turned up the volume on a monitor nearby. The Hourly News was telling the story. Momus and Sherma stared at the humans staring back at them, then ran for the entry.
"Oh, fuck! Get into the shelter! NOW!" Lennox said as he watched the big mechs beating on the hatch doors. The humans who were frozen in place around the room turned from the tables, cabinets and sink nearby and booked it to the shelters. Hildie Wilkerson with Angus in her arms ran with them as Epps and Lennox scouted out the rest of the ground floor. That was when the outside hatch broke and the mechs stepped inside the interim atmospheric room. They then began to press on the seal control to let themselves inside.
Lennox and Epps paused to watch, then ran for a side room where they closed the door. Near vacuum and poisonous atmosphere was going to come inside with the big bots and it was time to test a feature of the habitat that no one had used until now. A series of specialized rooms on a far wall of the big one, four tiny rooms that were designed to be short term emergency shelters for anyone who could get to them if there was a catastrophic breach of the habitat had never been used until now.
As they ran to one and shut themselves in, they both prayed that they would survive what was coming in. As the doors closed, the hatch opened. Momus and Sherma entered, then closed the hatch door behind them. The system automatically rebooted the atmosphere inside as it did.
-0-Prowl and Paragon
The siren sounded as the message from Central Dispatch shot to Ops Center. "There is a shooting underway in downtown Autobot City on the streets between The Diner On the Corner and The Movie Place. A group of police are in pursuit and it appears that two unidentified miscreants are attempting to breach the Sciences Habitat."
Prowl and Paragon were already out the door.
-0-Around the colony
Carly got off the phone to Sam who was trapped in the Metroplex Administrative Plaza after a visit with Venture in the City Hall over something that had come up and pulled both from their down time. The downtown area was in lock down and it appeared that two armed mechs were holed up in the Sciences Habitat. No one knew what the situation was inside. They knew that there was shooting that occurred and that Prowl was there taking over the situation.
Carly felt her heart skip a beat at the idea that there could be dead humans at the moment. She was told that N.E.S.T. was embargoing the news until there was more to tell and perhaps a solution to the problem. He told her because her job was to know but she was forbidden by N.E.S.T. to tell anyone else. She was also confined to the habitat and their lunch at the Family Tower was off.
-0-Brandon Clark
He watched the news after getting off the phone with Glenn Morshower who was coming to Mars from Virginia and the Pentagon. The human community had a news embargo and were forbidden to discuss anything until the word was known about casualties and other disasters. Right now, he was in contact with Prowl through Jazz and Paragon but nothing was settled or definitively known.
Around him watching The Hourly News-Breaking News Alert, the rest of the colony at Earth 1 gathered together with dread and loathing. Hildie and Angus were supposed to be there working on her project and Jarrod was on Pluto working out a unit he was teaching his older children about the planet and the Autobot Forward Base that was there. He wouldn't be told until they knew something but he was sent for on another pretext anyway.
They would also find when they tried to contact anyone anywhere including here on Mars that they would get a recording telling them that they would be offline for non-emergency communications with everyone but Emergency Response Services Center at Fort Max. If they had an emergency of their own the bots would come. They were also going to position a guard around all the human habitats and locations against the idea that someone had a grudge against humans.
As he watched something coming outside nearby, he noticed that a long line of vehicles were rolling down the drive to position themselves around the facility. There were non-sentient heavily armed vehicles and about fifty heavily armed mechs who were walking around the perimeter of the facility or standing in groups to watch. It was comforting and agonizing at the same time. Earth2, The Resort and the Consulate would have the same protection. Apparently, Sciences or the Tower was ground zero.
-0-Earth2
Owen Harris stood at the great panoramic windows of the first floor deck along with nearly half the population who had come to watch as armed vehicles and mechs formed a perimeter line around the vast facility. He had been contacted by the Emergency Services Center at Fort Max that a shooting was underway downtown and that they were going to build a defense around the facility just as a precaution. He had no idea what that meant but it was clear that his daughter would be staying at the school along with every other human child rather than risk them coming home through a still unfolding situation.
He watched the situation outside, studying them with admiration as they worked out the pattern they would use to defend the building and everyone inside. It was amazing and instructive but it did little to change his mind from his ultimate goals.
Perry turned to him. "This is a mess. I wonder why they're defending us? Did someone shoot up a habitat downtown? Sciences or the Family Tower?"
Owen shrugged. "I don't know. I hope not. This is fucked but in the end it might have an impact on the Earth's regard for these aliens. I don't know how this will turn out but its weird and interesting."
Perry nodded then turned to the view outside. They would watch the news and the soldiers outside as the story took its own sweet time unfolding.
-0-Springer and Drift
They stood on the corner near the street with Prowl and Paragon. The area was locked down. No one could exit. What was unknown was the condition of everyone inside the habitat and its shelter. Emergency Services was scanning the facility to read the information that every human carried in their gear no matter how informal their attire was.
No one living here wore anything that wasn't made of the materials all their gear was constructed from, though some of them were creating more stylish garments. There was locator and descriptor information encoded in the material to get help to them as fast as possible. The news came in as Prowl and others gathered to discuss strategy.
"Most of the humans are out but there are ten inside. Lennox, Epps, Sheila Conroy, Michio Yamaha, Sharry Simpson, someone new from Earth, Lola and Cindy Teasdale, Alejandro Lopez along with Hildie and Angus Wilkerson," Paragon said as he turned a grim expression toward Prowl. "The baby is in there."
"What are their life signs and where are they located?" Prowl said with a cold expression forming on his handsome face.
"Everyone is in the shelter but Epps and Lennox. They're hidden in the emergency pods on the main floor," Paragon said.
"What about going to the shelter from below and getting that bunch out?" Drift asked. "The pathway should be clear."
"It was until Public Works decided they had to dig out the local area and extend the electrical terminus for the upgrades to the underground train system," Paragon said. "There's several miles of back fill stacked in there waiting to be taken out. Things have been busy and they have it on their secondary needs list at Public Works. If we go there we have to tunnel for two or three miles and it'll be heard."
"Frag," Springer said.
The sound of transformation could be heard as Optimus, Ironhide, Raptor and Hard Drive drove up. They walked to the group with concern. "What is the situation, Prowl?" Optimus asked.
Prowl told what was known then they turned to look down the street. They could see a tall mech standing in plain sight with his gun pointed straight upward. In his other servo, he held a tight grip on Bobby Epps.
-0-Inside
They punched the button for emergencies as they crouched in the emergency pod. Inferno came over the intercom. "What can you tell us?" he asked tensely.
"Inferno, everyone is in the shelter. Epps and I are stuck in the emergency pods on the first floor," Lennox said in a soft voice. "Two big mechs are breaking in. I don't know them but they're armed and ready to kick the shit out of everyone and everything. What the hell is going on?"
"Standby, Lennox. I have to brief Prowl. If they come through the doors we're going in. Remember, hold your breath," Inferno said.
"What about bridges?" Epps said.
"We'll try it but your habitat is designed to prevent invasion even by bridge. We can get you anywhere else but the habitats and tower … we made them invasion proof," Inferno said. "Stand by."
"OH, FINE! INVASION PROOF! THANKS, INFERNO!" Epps said as Lennox nodded in frustration.
"I don't have a gun," Will said as he patted his suit down.
"They do. Does that help?" Epps asked just before the mechs outside ripped their door off its hinges.
-0-Down below
Cindy led the group down the long corridor to the reinforced elevator with Lola shooing them along from behind. Waiting until everyone was inside, Cindy pushed the buttons and they were speed dropped to the shelter below. The door opened and they stepped out. Lights came on and a comfortable place with provisions, light and water came into view. Everyone looked around, then turned to the twins.
"Don't worry. Lola and I will protect you. Besides, they can bridge us out. Or they can come down the emergency tunnels that connect us to get us out. All we have to do is remain calm and wait," Cindy said as she took Angus into her arms. "Know this," she said with conviction, "they have to come through me to get to you and him."
Lola nodded, then looked around. Picking up a heavy cooking pan, she turned to the others. "Semper fi," she said.
-0-Ratchet
He drove madly to the corner where the team was trying to work out a solution. He had commed the Tower to let them know that the A Team was on it. The Resort was on lock down with guards all around and advanced weapons. The visitors prevented from their roaming around were more than entertained by the weird excitement and the aliens outside guarding them. They were okay though they wondered where some of their people were. Ratchet promised them he would find out.
He would.
TBC 9-20-17 edited 9-21-17 edited 12-28-18
To embargo something is to prevent it from becoming known and general knowledge to anyone outside the list of those allowed. Embargoed information is a news blackout.