The Diego Diaries: Moving On (dd6 238)
-0-MORNING!
"Hi."
Ratchet looked up from the spill he was cleaning on the floor by Praxus and grinned. "Just in time."
"Just in time to get Hero. Girls day out." Elita grinned as the rest of the femmes walked in with a big grinning Maelstrom behind them.
Hero jolted like she'd been shocked, then stood on her chair. She turned to her adult sisters with a smile. "THIS WILL BE FUN!"
Ratchet snickered. "Are you finished eating?"
Hero turned to him, then nodded. "I am, Ada. Can I go?"
"Yes," Ratchet said. "Get your gear and be good."
She smiled brilliantly. "I WILL." She turned to the femmes who were grinning at her as they waited. "I"LL BE RIGHT BACK!" She hopped down, ran for her berth room, then reappeared swiftly half in and half out of a onesie. Elita knelt down, fastened her in, then snapped her little hat on her helm. Hefting her up, she grinned. "See ya, wouldn't want to be ya."
"WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO BE ME?" Ratchet asked as he bent down to continue scrubbing up spilled breakfast.
Huge laughter greeted that as they walked out.
"You done fooling around down there," Ironhide asked as he peered downward.
Ratchet snapped him with a towel. "Yep." He sat again. Then the door opened once more. Ironhide's family walked in, grabbed the leftover food from the serving dish, then sat down around the room. On a leash following along behind Raptor, a little white and black cow stood placidly.
"That's a slagging fine cow there, Raptor," Ratchet said with a grin.
"That's a genius cow. He slept on the berth last night and didn't make a fuss," Raptor said as he patted the little animal.
"That was your job, Amma, right?" Ironhide asked with a grin.
Turbine smirked. "He was always bringing home stray or lost animals. There was always something in the berth besides the two of us. Feels like old home week."
"If you get a few more, you can have a herd. You can have the biggest herd on Mars. What did the trail head cowboys call cows?" Ironhide said as he thought a moment. "Oh yeah. Beeves."
"Beeves. Don't worry, Pudding. We won't eat ya," Turbine said.
"What are you up to today?" Ratchet asked.
"We're taking the infants," Hard Drive said. "Date weekend."
"Frag," Ratchet said with a grin. "Feel free, then."
"We will," Raptor said.
"I go you, Appa? You and dog?" Orion asked.
"Yep," Raptor said.
"ADA! I GO HIM!"
"Eat your food, infant, or you don't go," Ratchet said.
The kids dug in stuffing their faces.
"Where are the big kids?" Delphi asked.
"They went to their appa and amma's house after the party and stayed over," Ironhide said. "They're going to run around with friends today."
"Ah, that's nice," Delphi said as he picked up Prowler. "How's my baby? Are you finished?"
Prowler smiled at his great great grand amma. "I done, Amma."
"Good. We divided everyone up. We get Prowler and Halo. Raptor and Turbine get Orion and Praxus."
"Halo?" Ironhide asked.
"Oh yeah," Delphi said with a grin. "We're going to do the colony with Blackjack and Scout, too. Blackjack can come, the big baby and Alor has a bit of work to do in Vegas so we're going to hang out until he gets back. If you want to, you can join us."
"Poor baby," Ratchet said. "Go with them, Ironhide. You know ya wanna."
"I could. Might be the only way I get to see my kids," Ironhide said with a grin. "You have dance lessons today, right?" he asked Sunspot who nodded.
"I do, Atar. BUT IF YOU COME GET ME I CAN HANG OUT WITH ALL OF YOU!" Sunspot said with a big smile.
"Done deal," Ironhide replied. "Finish your food, infants. Apparently, we're due to wander around today." He looked at Ratchet. "What are you going to do?"
"I have a couple of things at the office. Then I can find ya," Ratchet said with a grin.
They gathered their dishes and tossed them into the sink as kids ran around getting ready to go. By the time they wandered out, everyone had The Plan.
There was no plan.
-0-CMO's Office
Ratchet sat at his desk going through reports that he had been stacking up for some time, reports on peripheral things that were important but not demanding. Picking up the report for Denita and Stormy, he read it through again. Rising, he walked to the door, took the elevator down, then walked to the security unit. Entering, he pulled open Stormy's tray after tapping in the code. She was in stasis and there were still indications there that Wheeljack and Perceptor had gone over her analyzing her physique. He plugged in and began to listen. There had to be something inside that they overlooked, perhaps something alien that they had never seen. Perhaps, it might be something that was designed to look normal but was alien tech modified to fit in without attracting attention.
He slid her off onto a gurney and rolled her to a suite nearby used for autopsies. He would be hard at it for the next three joors.
-0-Elsewhere
Ebio Imperialis stood on the street of the main stronghold of their rising base of operations. They had the run of the three worlds but everything had been destroyed by Prime when he collected the colonists. It had taken a lot of effort to rebuild and to make a presentable habitation for him, his brother and their armada. The sun was high overhead, hot and oppressive. Everywhere around him, the business of digging in was still hard underway. His brother, Cassio was in the headquarters nearby working the contacts list that he had been putting together to make allies out of loose ends.
He personally was looking forward to taking Prime apart in his colony somewhere far from here. The word was that it was highly developed and advanced. Word also was that he had taken Cybertron without a shot. He would have to see about that. Turning back, he walked into their HQ and the door closed behind him.
-0-Magistrate's Court
He stood on the line without emotion or comment. His parole officer and public defender sat together talking quietly as the prosecutor for the court chatted with the clerk of court. When he sat, they began.
Alchemy, a magistrate from Iacon looked at Traachon. "Traachon, you are accused of breaking your probation and not reporting to your place of employment. What do you plead?"
"I plead boredom with my job, magistrate. I plead not guilty by reason of boredom," Traachon said.
Alchemy glanced at his lawyer. "Does your client understand the magnitude of his charges? You can go back to prison, Traachon."
"Your honor," his attorney said. "My client is having a rough patch and would like forbearance for his situation. Perhaps we can settle this with a mere adjustment of his situation."
"That would be well and good. The purpose of magistrate's court is to solve problems but having your client decide to walk away from his probation is not acceptable." He looked at Traachon. "You work in an office doing needed and necessary work. If that is not acceptable to you, what is?"
Traachon considered that. "I am used to working in the governing body of our people. I am a general and I have skills for leadership that are not being utilized. I would like a leading role in the governing of the empire now."
"Just like that?" Alchemy asked.
"I would hate to waste my considerable talents on menial tasks. Few have my skills and leadership qualities," Traachon said. "I am tired of menial labor. I could not more enter that building again than I can fly."
"Many of us can fly, Traachon," Alchemy said dryly. "Pray, tell me … why shouldn't I put you in jail?"
"Because it would be a terrible waste for The People if my abilities aren't utilized to the maximum," Traachon said.
It was silent a moment, then Alchemy looked at the haggard figure of Traachon's attorney. "I don't feel as if Traachon understands his situation. I am sure you tried to explain it."
"I have, your honor."
"Well, do you wish a trial? You can have one but unless you have more compelling reasons to break your parole you will likely not succeed," Alchemy said.
"Then give me work commensurate with my skills and we will be even," Traachon said.
Alchemy stared at him. "Do you wish a trial or not?"
"I do," Traachon said. "Either a trial or a job that justifies my talents."
"Very well," Alchemy said. "I am binding you over for trial. You will be scheduled shortly and until then you will stay in the jail." He nodded to the bailiff who gripped Traachon's arm and led him away. When he was gone, Alchemy glanced at his lawyer. "Lucky you."
The youngster shook his helm. "Yeah. Lucky me."
-0-In the morgue and high security unit
Ratchet had both of the femmes lying on gurneys. They were both undergoing side-by-side examinations against the voluminous database he carried as a doctor. Something was nagging him from the report from Sciences so he went through every structure and system in both femmes looking for something that was not supposed to be there or designed to look like it was. As he examined them, he could see that their frames were indeed the work of Jhiaxus.
-0-In a department store
Hero stood in front of a mirror looking this way and that. A cute hat was on her helm, one with side flaps for audials. She was trying on hats with her sisters, all of them sitting or standing around her. Elita had several in her servos and Hero was deciding which one was the best. It was hilarious watching her serious expression as she turned this way and that to look.
"I like the panda hat," Chromia said as Maelstrom nodded.
"I like the one with the little kitten faces all over it," Moonracer said.
"What do you think, Hero?" Arcee asked.
She turned to them, then felt the old self consciousness rising upward with sheer delight that she was hanging with her heroes. "I like this one and that one and that one," she said pointing to the three she had tried on.
"Then try these," Elita said as she handed her another.
Hero took it and tried it on, turning this way and that to the delight of everyone watching. She would take two when it was all over.
-0-CMO
Ratchet noted two slender coils that were behind the optical region of the femmes that didn't seem to be standard issue. As he worked through their craniums, he found them. Given that few Cybertronians went from birth to death with only what they had been born with, it didn't surprise him to find additions even among those who would seem unlikely to do such things. Finding the coils didn't surprise him. That they were attached to their optics and threaded into their processors did. That required a high level of skill.
He considered that, then put in a call to Gullwing and Goldwing. He would have them help him figure this and then, perhaps, they would find out how the two did what they did. Until they could do that and remove that ability, both of them would never be brought out of stasis again.
-0-Here and there
They stood on a train going around the colony. Coming back from dropping Sunspot off at The Seeker Academy in Aerie Hill, they were going to meander through the 'boy's toys' sections of a lot of places. As they rolled along, cow in tow, they made plans for the next war games which were coming up soon enough.
"I heard that Magnus is a gorilla," Raptor said as he sat on a seat holding his cow in his lap. "I heard he was going to be Godzilla this time."
"Then he'll fit into the family," Ironhide said.
"Are you still overloaded?" Turbine asked him. "I do recall an inability to fly your helicopter very long."
Ironhide frowned slightly. "I'm not overloaded."
"You're overloaded." -every family member there.
"Slaggers," Ironhide said with a slight pout.
"YOU'RE SO CUTE WHEN YOU POUT!" Turbine said with a smile.
"I AM IRONHIDE! I DON'T POUT! I MERELY SHOW MY DISDAIN WITH MY FACE!"
"You pout," Hard Drive said with a smile.
"ATAR POUT!" Orion said as he pointed at his father.
"Traitor," Ironhide said. He paused a moment. "Ratchet just called. He figured out how the two femmes did what they did going between dimensions and all that slag."
"Just a few things at the office," Delphi said with a grin as he smiled at Halo. "Your ada is a smart smart aft, infant."
"He is. I told him to meet up for lunch," Ironhide said as they hurtled onward to the Mall of the Tri-Cities.
"Good," Delphi said.
The train flashed through the underground and disappeared.
-0-TBC 1-4-18 edited 1-7-18