The Diego Diaries: Over-Nighting (dd6 206)
-0-In the jailhouse. Now.
He stood by the window watching the show outside his cage. The jail was busy as bots, almost all of them male, were brought in, booked, then taken to cells nearby or to lockups in other parts of the vast building. Some of them, most of them, came in sullen, angry, silent, and or upset, but not violent. Most of them were drunk, involved in fighting or some other petty thing that also happened most everywhere on Earth on a Friday or Saturday night. Then there were the few violent mechs who were dragged in, fought with the desk Sargent, then were sent packing to their cell. As Johnson stared through the window, he could hear another violent offender outside being hauled toward the door. Moving along the clear front window, he reached the end, then craned his neck to watch.
Outside, he could just barely see the walkway, covered and lighted, that led to the huge paved asphalt-like parking lot outside. There were signs and painted symbols on the ground like they would on Earth, though some were in their own weird language. Some of them were lines for parking outside, a sign for a cab stand with one parked there, a non-sentient driver-less car that was waiting for customers. He had seen them everywhere and ached to try one out. He could go anywhere for free. It was a huge 'thing' at Earth2. They could call for a cab and not have to wait for someone to drive them around, nor wait for someone to finish their errand before going elsewhere.
Light streamed in, light from the tall poles outside and the lights on the building and awning. A vehicle door slammed as someone who was yelling began to come closer. There was the sound of struggling, of cursing, then a body could be seen. Three Watchmen were dragging him struggling forward and his wrists and elbows were manacled in bright blue energon cuffs. He was a huge mech, the one fighting, and the three who were no slouches themselves struggled to hold him.
Mechs who were security workers on site came from the lounge nearby, then ran out to help the other three. Yelling commenced as the big mech dug in. Then someone came back in, walked to the lounge, then returned carrying a long silver spear. Walking out, he bellowed something in his language. The mechs all let go and the one with the spear touched the big behemoth with it. He yelled at the top of his voice, vibrated as electrical energy sparkled all over him, then dropped to his knees.
No one touched him at first as he was incandescent with electrical discharge. Then the one with the spear touched him again with the opposite end of the device. The electricity disappeared, obviously grounded and the mech sagged. They grabbed him again, then dragged him inside, dropping him in a pile in front of the booking desk. Pycee who was still on shift stared over the edge at the miscreant who was gathering his wits on the floor. "I know him," Pycee said pulling up a screen. "He's Tuffalo. He can't handle his high grade."
"No doubt," the mech with the cattle prod said as he stood poised to lay the big slagger out again.
"I have all his details. Put him into a cell. Alone," Pycee said. He watched as they dragged the big mech through the big double security doors nearby which closed behind them. It was relatively silent, though there were drunks sitting in the holding cells, three of them who would sleep it off there and several others who were awaiting transfer to other places such as mental health for a hold or the hospital for a rebuild of this and that dented thing. They were hooting and chatting loudly, but nothing that seemed violent. Apparently, they had burned out that part of their candle doing whatever they were arrested for.
Pycee sat back relaxing in his chair. He glanced at Johnson who was staring at him from his glass house. He didn't say anything, his experience with humans being nearly nil, but he took a call that came in. "Pycee, Central Booking." He listened a moment, nodding a couple of times, then signed off. "We'll be ready." He looked at the set up, then called up his night crew. They came including those who had dragged off Tuffalo. "We have a violent slagger coming in. He's on some substance. The field medic at Substation #76 in Gambian said he was howling at the moon but the stuff he was on would wear off soon enough. He sent an energon sample to the lab in Metro Femme and they said its some kind of solvent. Apparently, its new and leaches into the users who don't wear protective gear at his plant. They called his supervisor and they were unhappy to get the call. He's been told to wear the gear and he refuses. This happened once to three others before they figured it out and made the requirement. He knows but refuses."
"Is it addictive or is he a dumb slagger?" someone huge and malevolent looking asked.
"It's not addictive. It's just highly disruptive of reality or something," Pycee said. "We might want to remove the breakables."
They looked around, moved some slag, then turned to the human. "What about him, Sarge?" the big mech asked.
"He's the only non-breakable thing in here. I want my computer station to be held at all costs," Pycee said with a grin. He looked at the human. "Hey, Johnson … get down behind that wall in there and stay put. This is going to get ugly."
Johnson stared at them with a frown, then reluctantly walked to the wall. He stepped behind it and then stared at them defiantly.
"Nasty little slagger," another mech said as the sound of a van and several vehicles, some horses and voices could be heard arriving outside. One of them sounded like Springer. "Here they are. You got your cattle prod?" the mech asked his teammate who held the long silver device.
"It doesn't work on them," Pycee said. "They don't feel it and it fries systems. We're not allowed to use it. Fists aren't effective so you can't pistol whip him," he said with a grin as the others frowned and bitched at that news. "You have to muscle him. He's not criminal ... he's just impaired. Straight shot to the monkey cage. Try and get there in one piece. He may lose some parts on the way but right now, he won't feel it and it won't slow him down."
The team nodded, handed him a number of guns and other devices along with the spear, then walked out together to help move the incoming tidal wave of drug addled fury. Pycee sighed. "Thank Primus that drug gang is still silent. The fraggers," he said to no one in particular.
"What's going on?" Johnson called out. "You got drug gangs here?"
"That's the rumor," Pycee said. "You better learn to duck. You won't be injured but the speed and fury will be out of your league," he said as he gathered breakables on his desk and put them into drawers. He stared at his computer, then frowned. "Design flaw. No way to move you."
Just then, the fury outside escalated and appeared to be coming their way. Johnson glanced at Pycee who stood calmly next to his computer as he watched the door. He didn't look the least bit bothered. Johnson, on the other hand, was reacting normally. He was stomach sick thinking about the herd of elephants stampeding his way.
-0-Outside
They tied up their horses, then hurried to the van. It was stopped but the thing was rocking from side-to-side. The mech inside, singing at the top of his lungs was standing up, leaning on the wall as he rocked the vehicle. There was no one riding in the back, it was too unsafe, but they were gathered at the door in the rear to enter and pull him out. The arresting officer turned to Springer and Drift who were peering into the van through the door window. A monster truck was having a hullabaloo inside.
"Frag," Springer said as he turned to the group. "What's the story?"
"He was singing in the kiddie park, completely off his nut. Apparently, a solvent at work causes this if you're dumb enough not to wear protection. He's going to sleep it off but we have to get him there," Watchman Corrico said. He was a big former 'Con with a jones for order and the muscle to back it up. He was invaluable for these kinds of arrests. The others with him were a mixed bag of soldiers doing part time policing and soldiering as well as civilian cops. "It was the Pit to get him in there and I didn't let anyone ride with him. It's too dangerous."
"Well, that's sort of outside protocols," Springer said as he looked in again. "But completely understandable."
The mechs grinned and snickered, then waited for leadership from above aka Springer to give the go ahead. Springer turned back to them, then grinned slightly. "Fraggers. We're going to have to drag him in there. He's not in his right processor so let's not hurt him too much. Whatever happens, he's going in there. Is the path cleared?"
Mokoe who was shift commander for the jail's night crew nodded. "We're good to go. We have the cell waiting. It's just getting him there."
"Can you remote stasis him?" Drift asked.
"Not in his condition," Corrico said with a shrug. "The medic checked with the emergency department at Metro Femme. They've had a couple or three of these and you can't sedate them. It has to wear off. It's some kind of weird molecule or something. They worked out the treatment with Sciences and the only way they come off swiftly without after affects rather than dragging this out is to let them howl it to a conclusion."
"It's going to be noisy in the lock up tonight," Lon said with a grin. "What do you want to do, Springer?"
"Go home to bed?" Springer suggested as he looked in again.
Huge laughter greeted that, then Springer jumped back. The big mech inside who was named Park had lunged at the door. The van had bounced on its tires as Springer jumped back. "Slagger. We have to take him so I think we open the door and let him stampede out. Then we grab him."
"That's a good plan," Drift said with a grin. "You infants, stand back. This is going to hurt."
Bezel, Lon, Partition, and Lancer who were still with them along with Morius and Inweld glanced at each other, then stepped back.
Lancer grinned. "I think he means back to there," Lancer said pointing to a long lane divider on the road leading out.
"You coming, too?" Partition asked.
Lancer glanced at Springer. "I can help."
"I know, Lancer, but you might want to be the last line of defense," Springer said with a grin as the mechs moved to encircle the van and its back door. "Explain to the noobs what's happening. Make it a teachable moment."
Lancer laughed, then nodded. "I'll visit you in the hospital," she said as she turned to walk to the divider nearby. The others went with her, some reluctantly, and when all were clear, Springer glanced around the team. They nodded and braced themselves.
"Alright," Springer said. "I'll flip the latch and swing the doors open. You get ready to catch," he said as he gripped the door latches. "On three. One … two … thre-" The doors opened and the mech who had gone to the front of the van to gain speed for a run was racing at the door to lunge at it. He hit Springer like a freight train hits an unsuspecting mech shaped water balloon. They collided and kept going. Racing forward with a howling laugh, the big mech bulled onward. Crashing into Springer had released his cuffs so he grabbed Springer around the waist and kept going.
Spinning off like tops, the others crashed to the ground. Drift, before he ate pavement, noted that Springer was hanging on like a spider monkey holds onto his mother. As the big mech crashed to the ground, Park and Springer were rushing away toward town. Rising swiftly, more swiftly than the others, Drift raced after them. He nearly reached Park when he cast Springer off. That big mech went flying backward to crash into Drift, They rolled like a ball, then landed on their feet. They turned in time to see Park hoof it off down the street heading for town, laughing and singing at the top of his vocal processor.
"FRAG! GET HIM!" Springer shouted as the rest of the mechs began to give chase. They would all have to follow Lancer, Partition, Inweld, Morius, Lon, and Bezel as they gave hot pursuit.
-0-In an elegant hideaway in the clouds (sometimes)
They were in the clinch making up for old times when the monitor buzzed inside Prowl's helm. Sorting that buzz out from the one he was already listening to, he took a call almost rotely. Then he startled sharply.
"WHAT!?" Prime said as he was jolted out of amour and then some.
"THERE'S A MANIAC FROM THE JAIL RUNNING DOWN THE STREET HEADING FOR TOWN!" Prowl said.
They stared at each other, then both bolted up, heading for the door as fast as they could. Thundering through their darkened apartment, guided by practice and the light from outside, they ran for the elevator. Getting off just as they got on, Ravel and Tie nearly spun in a circle. The door closed and the two were gone. Ravel and Tie stared at it, then each other. "What by the name of all thats holy was that about?"
"I don't know, Ravie, but something tells me that The Hourly News will tell us. Come on," Tie said as he took Ravel's servo. They walked to the Primal Residence and closed the doors behind them.
-0-Down below
It would amaze aching humanity how fast a monster truck could run when it saw the need. Fleet of foot, oddly silent in motion, Optimus Prime ran past Club Cybertron like a massive gazelle. Behind him, his lights and siren running, Prowl cleared the path ahead. It would have been intensely hilarious for humans to watch them go by but it wasn't to the average Cybertronian. Whether in root mode or vehicle, a security officer had access to his lights and siren. It wasn't something that would elicit anything more in a Cybertronian than a desire to go and rubber neck at the scene or cause some to hide whatever it was that they had just boosted from someone's house.
They rounded the corner in time to see The Pit Stop's night time clientele, which was usually a lot, bail out of the building. Running toward the door was Lancer followed by Partition, Morius, Inweld, Lon, and Bezel. Springer, Drift and the night crew at the jail were in hot pursuit. They reached the door of the restaurant, then entered in a blob of pushing and shoving. It was then that Partition came flying out of the building through the big front window.
Prime and Prowl ran faster.
-0-The Hourly News
"There is an altercation happening in the Courthouse District, the Emergency Command Center just advised us," Mac-2 said. He was the night news reader and he had just been given the heads up to read the bulletin for everyone. "There's an impaired individual making a disturbance which is being attended to by the Watch. Everyone is advised to stay away from the Courthouse and Hangar Districts unless you have legitimate business there. Cultural Center Road is being cordoned off until the individual can be apprehended. At the moment, he's been cornered in The Pit Stop Restaurant on Cultural Center Road. I repeat, no one is to go to the Courthouse and Hangar Districts unless you have permission or a legitimate reason for being there. If you are there, please go inside and lock the doors. The area is in lock down..."
"Wow," Lola said as she stood at the fridge with her sister. They were in their pajamas but ice cream was calling. So was the last part of the latest report they were sending back to NASA on the 'effects of life on humans on a planet with no discernible atmosphere and marginal gravity'. They were permanent residents here in the Sciences Habitat. "This is going to be a great story. We're going to have to go to the Dojo tomorrow and get the truth."
"Done deal," Cindy said as they walked to the table nearby to tinker with the report, eat ice cream and watch THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS! together. It would be an interesting evening's viewing.
-0-The scene of the crime
Prime and Prowl reached the door of The Pit Stop, then jumped back. Mechs were flying out, tossed by the enormous strength of the Mad Mountain Dean inside. They came crashing out, mechs from the shock team at the courthouse, mechs chosen and trained to prevent such happenings. Prime stepped over one, then ducked inside. It was only then that Prowl remembered, then shut off his alarm and lights. Picking up a mech, he steadied the big bot. "Why don't you taze him?"
"We can't. No tazers, no stasis, nothing. He feels no pain and he's mental. It only stops when it wears off. He was in cuffs," the big mech said. "He isn't now."
"Oh, frag," Prowl said as he peered inside. With that, he slipped in just as Morius and Inweld joined their brother through the front window into the street.
-0-Elsewhere
"Thanks, Amma. We'll come back shortly," Ratchet said as Amma Corr slipped in with Amma Docker.
"Ravel and Tie are upstairs," Corr said.
Ratchet looked back as he hurried to the elevator with Ironhide. "Thanks for that news. Halo should be fine."
"Don't worry, infants. We know how to do this," Docker said with a grin. The two disappeared, then both elders walked inside, closing the door behind them. "It must be a doozy with Prime and Prowl going."
"Let's put the news on here. I want to see if they have more information," Corr said as he turned on the monitor low.
"... and there is no new information other than they've blocked off the area," Mac-2 was saying at the two sat in Ratchet and Ironhide's chair to watch.
-0-TBC 12-01-17 edited 12-02-17
NOTES;
ESL
boosting something is criminal speak for stealing
rubberneck: to go to a scene and watch, such as an accident or a fire