The Diego Diaries: On-World (dd6 136)
-0-On the street
There was no way to enter the habitat that didn't allow trouble. It had been designed like the others to prevent easy access by ground troops and air attack. It was designed to hold against direct assault until it could be defended by their forces. All of the residents would drop down to the shelter as the city above fought off any invaders or attackers. Right now, the security of the building was preventing easy recovery of the hostages. Prime was frustrated.
So was everyone else.
-0-Down below
They managed to pry off the panel that held the controls that ran the elevator. Looking inside, Cindy Teasdale looked around for something to help destroy the panel. Then she looked at the long handled grill fork that lay on the couch nearby. She grabbed it, then looked at the others. "Stand back," she said as she turned, then jammed it into the open exposed control panel. A huge zap occurred as the group backed away. Smoke and sparks sputtered, then the scorched fork fell to the ground. Turning back to look at the smoldering panel, Lola grinned with grim satisfaction. "Try to come down here now, fuckers," she muttered.
-0-At the airport
They sat in the small lounge area as the newest human visitors headed out, their bus following the road markers that led to the highway nearby. The hangar district where the airport sat was busy and filled with fascinating sights as huge ships rumbled along to their parking zones or headed toward the runways. Others were here and there being unloaded, loaded up or serviced to go again. They were all manner, mostly cargo and shipping vessels, though there were battle ships nearby lining the flight line that led to the main runways. They were the first response ships that were always there, always ready to fight. As they looked, a Seeker patrol flew in, transformed in air, then landed with their usual flare before walking away together. Another nearby transformed in air, then jetted off to take their place in the security net of the empire.
"This is some big operation," Sam Hedges said. "Prime and his people really put their shoulder to the wheel. I knew it was big and complex but you have to see it."
Silvio nodded. "Look at how big the buildings are," he said as they looked the other way toward the hangars where the Supremes lived. "That must be where Omega and the others call home."
"Big fuckers, all of them. I've never seen them in person. Silverbolt is the biggest ship I ever saw, that and Cosmos." Jim Johnson stood, then stretched. "I'd love to see what's in there."
"If we keep it real we will," Sam said as he sat back.
At that moment, a side door opened on the giant hanger and a mech stomped out, clearly angry, clearly leaving the building for whatever reason. He was huge, massive, and unlike anything they had seen before. He was probably the scariest thing any of them had ever seen in real life, a nightmare in metallic menace who was fuming with rage. This one had red eyes, spikes on his shoulders and a bad attitude that fogged out around him and his relatively featureless face like a thundercloud. The door opened again and another bot exited, walking to the first to grip his shoulder. He spun that bot, then the two began to have a heated argument.
The six watching them from the lounge stood up, then walked to the window, drawn by the unworldly weirdness and raw insane power outside. The two behemoths were really getting into it, then one of them threw a punch. Behind them, a mech from the airport hurried to the window, then called internally for security. The humans didn't hear him do so but they heard him when he turned to them. "You need to step back. This window will hold out against anything but its a good idea to fall back," he said.
The humans looked at him, then most obliged. Todd and Jim turned to the big mech. "Who are they and what's happening?"
"Those are Dinobots, our most ruthless and fearless special operations soldiers. That's Snarl and Slag. They're brothers but they have differences of opinion. You better step back with the others. Now," the mech said as he towered over the two.
The two walked back to the lounge to stand with the others. As they did, the bot named Snarl swung back at the mech called Slag and the brawl was on. No one in the terminal seemed especially disturbed and Sam Hedges got the impression that if the six of them weren't here, they wouldn't pay much attention to the fight outside. The humans would make up for that, themselves. All six of them were transfixed by the raw power, sheer ferocity and alien strangeness of the encounter and its lack of a significant reaction to everyone in the terminal.
It was a huge brawl between evenly matched mechs with fiery breath they didn't spare in the slag fest that raged ever closer to the window. Other mechs outside, some of them halting their vehicles because the two were blocking them watched with amusement and interest, but not fear. Apparently, this was something that happened often or the Cybertronians had nerves of steel.
A siren in the distance was heard, then a huge shadow fell over the area from the open door of the big hangar nearby. A huge mech looked out, frowned, then walked forward. When he did, the two stopped fighting each other and ran forward toward the mammoth figure of Beta Supreme. As they ran, they transformed, creating Stegosaurus-like and Triceratops-like bots. They bellowed fire as they charged the big figure the humans knew was a Supreme mechanism.
Beta frowned, then leaned forward to swoop his gigantic servo at the two charging bots. He clipped the Stegosaurus who rolled like a ball just missing taking out the other. The Triceratops ran to Beta's ped, then let him have it. Bellowing with pain, Beta raised his ped, then leaned forward to grab Slag. Slag who anticipated that move ran away, heading toward the terminal windows at top speed. Following in fury, Beta grasped again and again, missing Slag each time.
The sirens arrived, a number of big mechs led by Inferno. They transformed, then ran forward with big long sticks. Two of them reached Snarl before he could regroup and tazed his sorry aft halfway off his body. He bellowed, blew enough fire to engulf everyone of them, then fell over. Standing over him, tazers in servo and a sizzling pall of smoky angst rising off their armor, Inferno watched as Slag fled Beta. "LET'S GET HIM, BOYS!"
They all ran forward with their tazers extended and big grins on their faces.
The little mini-con femme and two of her co-workers walked to the window to watch as they waited for more traffic through the terminal. This giant section of the facility was specially designed to handle all traffic by humans on-world due to its special jet ways, atmosphere and other security. It also handled anyone traveling anywhere in the system that wasn't going by bridge through the others that were outside the heavy duty glass-like partition dividing safe from unsafe space for humans. She watched and chatted with the other two as the humans watched her and the scene outside. It was surreal. They weren't disturbed, but rather, intrigued and entertained. Apparently, this had happened before.
-0-Prime
They gathered around Prime to discuss their options. There weren't many that were good. It would do everyone well to drag this out and hopefully, convince the two to give themselves up. "Prime to Blaster."
:Blaster, Prime:
"Open a channel to the Habitat."
"You're open:
Prime cut everyone in. "Prime to Sherma and Momus."
:What do you want, Prime? As if I have to ask: A cultured voice spoke, one that was becoming more and more familiar as Prime heard it.
:I want to know your terms to leave the Habitat and the humans safely behind:
It was silent, then the voice was back. :We haven't gotten that far. I would think you wouldn't let us go. You wouldn't want to let us out of here without retribution:
:I am prepared to let you go if you walk away from this moment: Prime said. :I do not have a problem if something happens that harms the humans. I have had nothing but trouble from the humans since the beginning. However, it would complicate relations if they were harmed. It would not end them, understand that. The humans value fortunes and things which we can supply in great quantities too much to sever ties. They would not end the relationship but it would make it difficult until they were adequately compensated. Either way, I have no problem with the outcome. If you leave, then fine. If you kill the humans, I am also fine. You should remember that if you do not remember anything else:
:That doesn't sound like you, Prime: another voice said. :You're not the type who gives up like that. You're the noble type who loses the war to save one individual. Besides, you wouldn't let us go anyway. Assume that you're as hardcore as you want us to believe … you wouldn't want anyone around who challenged your authority to leave and tell anyone else:
:I would prefer to have you leave than create complications for me because you are small fry and insignificant a challenge to my power, but you are right about one thing. I am good with either outcome. I have a lot of things to do, Sherma and Momus. You are not even on the list:
:Let us think about it, Prime. Sherma out:
The connection went dead. Prime frowned with frustration, then Prowl turned to him. "A technical alert has signaled that the elevator controls of the Habitat shelter just shorted out. The elevator won't be working again without repair."
"The humans did that," Raptor said. "Good for them. We can put that aside for a while."
Prime nodded. "That is a relief," he said as he thought about Angus being trapped in the building with two desperate mech criminals of this caliber. "I want a complete analysis of the building and a fast shuttle fueled up that is small enough to land on the highway if the only way to resolve this is to let them go. Under no circumstances will they go with the humans."
:Then you're going to negotiate them leaving, Optimus?: Magnus asked.
:It might be the only way to get this out of The City: Optimus said. :We can deal with it in space:
:What about bridging them somewhere?: Arcee asked.
:I am open to all good options: Optimus said grimly.
-0-Earth2
He sat in his office reading the text message from the Airport telling him that his personnel was here but would be held up due to the situation. He thought about the six hires, men who were now part of his new security company, the former Intel-Martin now named Harris Security Systems, LTD. He had bought the company through intermediary firms to make it harder for others to figure out who the new owners were and what their purpose was. Nast had gone to jail and his stuff was confiscated in the fines and penalties that followed. It had been liquidated, all but the personal stuff and a bunch of his fortune. His children, all of them adults now, had inherited their fair share but the bulk was sold off. Owen Harris bought it from the ground up, renamed it, then settled in with a 'house army'. These six guys were going to be part of the in-house security force here.
These six men were part of the early debacle that Nast had found himself in. Two of them, James Johnson and Sam Hedges were infamous and well known to the bots. He didn't expect them to be allowed to come here, certainly not to live as employees when he sent the new hire list to Prime's office for a security overview. …
A month earlier ...
Jazz rapped on the door of Prime's office where Prowl and Prime were going over details of something or other. He walked in, then laid the datapad on Prime's desk. "Check it out."
Prime picked it up, looked it over, then handed it to Prowl. "Very interesting. Do they believe they can make it through or is this a test of our resolve?"
"Maybe they're checking our systems," Jazz said. "I want them cleared. They're part of the Resistance on Earth and frankly, Optimus, I want to see them frag up. It might be fun and it might allow us to find out new things, even accidentally."
Prowl grinned slightly. "That would be fun. We'd have to tie a can to them the whole time they're on world. If anyone is going to break a rule or start trouble, its them. None of the mechs from Diego when they were there will be happy. The potential is high for us to make it clear that we're not fooling around here."
"I concur," Optimus said with a nod. "Clear them. Put a detail on them full time. I want to know if we can use them as a starting point to find out more about the opposition."
"Got ya," Jazz said with a grin. "It's not like Mirage has a lot to do anyway."
"I heard that!" a voice down the hallway called out as Jazz turned to the door. He grinned at Prowl and Prime, then exited.
Prowl glanced at Prime. "It'll be good to have a second shot at them."
Prime nodded. "I agree."
-0-In Earth2 watching the stand off on the monitor nearby
Owen Harris glanced out the window at the massive security forces surrounding the facility. A tech at the broadcast station had put three different cameras on them to stream the video through their station but they were finding as everyone else that their contact with Earth and even each other was down for the duration. They would have great video anyway. They just wouldn't be able to show it live.
The door opened as Kyle Davis and Perry Beliveau walked in, pulled up chairs, then sat. "What do you think is happening?" Kyle asked.
"I've triangulated from the call directory that the problem lies at the Sciences Habitat. Something is going on there. Maybe someone decided they hated humans enough to make trouble," Owen said as they glanced at the monitor which had a view of the street showing Prime and soldiers at one end and Magnus with a number of tall femmes at the other. "I wonder what he's going to do?"
"I wouldn't worry too much. He's done this for millions of years," Kyle said. "He'll solve it one way or the other."
"I have six new security men coming in. They're held up at the airport because of this. They're the ones I told you about," Owen said with a grin.
"You really want to make trouble, don't you," Perry said with a grin of his own.
"No," Owen said. "But I want men around me who'll do what I tell them without a lot of fear."
"I hope you know what you're doing, Owen. Remember … Prime can deport all of us and make it stick," Perry said.
Owen nodded, then looked at the screen. Nothing had changed at the moment but it would soon enough. Something had to be resolved about the problem. It would be interesting to study how Prime did it. Anything he could learn about the big mech was good.
-0-Schools
The human kids and those who lived in Autobot City gathered in the lunchroom as the schools carefully let the children who lived elsewhere go home. They had contacted every genitor and confirmed where all their children were supposed to go before sending them out in buses or grouped on trains led by teachers and staff to ensure that they got home safely. All of the children who lived in The City would be staying here as long as necessary. That included the human children of Earth 1, Earth2, the Family Tower, and even The Resort. Some of them spent the night there from time to time when their family members had to work special events. It was considered a good idea to keep the human children who weren't already in safe places in care until the intentions of the perpetrators were clearly understood toward their community.
The humans from Earth 1 and 2 sat with the kids from Autobot City waiting for the word about what they would be doing for the next few joors or even overnight. Parents and genitors were contacted and everyone understood. Now, they just had to wait.
-0-Sparkling Day School #1, Terra
A cart filled with tiny human babies floated behind Neo as she pulled it toward a runabout from the hospital. Laret was carrying a tiny little boy who was laughing at her through his helmet. None of the kids were bothered by their gear given the amount of time they wore it and how young they were but it was always remarked on Earth how weird it must be that they would have to live like that.
"We're going the roundabout way, Neo," Rem said as he helped Laret steer the anti-gravity cart into the ship. He grinned at the kids and they grinned at him. Neo entered behind them, then sat down with the baby.
"Thank you, Rem," Neo said. "I'm glad we can take the babies to their genitors. I don't mind helping them but it's a delicate thing."
Two human women, both of them wives of N.E.S.T. strikers ran up the ramp into the shuttle with their baby bags and a box filled with their toys. :WE'RE HERE! Sorry we're late. They have so many important toys: Lisle McFarlane said as she put things down next to a small row of seats all runabouts contained for humans. Her husband, Toby, was an alpha striker and she was an aide with the schools for the human babies. All was well in her world.
Cecelia Combs hurried up as well, then dropped her gear. She was the wife of a chef in The Resort who wanted to help with the human babies in the school. :THAT'S ONE LONG RUN!:
"I'm sorry, Cee-Cee," Laret said. "Next time, climb into the cart."
The sound of laughter could be heard as the ramp went up. The ship lifted off lightly, then flew the long way around to the Family Tower and a roof landing. It would take no time for the humans waiting to collect the babies, swap news, then go inside. No one would really know anything more that wasn't on the TV.
-0-Airport
Running from Beta Supreme, looking over his shoulder as he did, Slag slammed into the window causing everyone inside to jump back from the impact. It was then that Inferno and his mechs reached the big mech who sat up and blew a bale of fire straight at them. It may have felt good to do that in his revenge-minded processor but it would be the only thing that felt good for a while as all three mechs slammed their tazers into his body. Fire exploded outward as he bellowed before falling into a state of twitching unconsciousness.
It cleared, then three mechs with long electrically snapping silver staff tazers stood over Slag with looks of grim satisfaction. It would take a while for their armor to cool off but it would be worth the bother to bring down the most muley, dangerous, mean, contrary, and hated Dinobot of them all.
The six men in a group nearby walked closer to the window as they watched the sights together. "Fuck," Jim Johnson said quietly. The others nodded in agreement.
-0-TBC 9-22-17 edited 9-23-17