The Diego Diaries: The Fam (dd6 294)
-0-Club Cybertron, mid morning
"So, its inconclusive."
Hardie shrugged. "I'm afraid so. Sometimes I used to think they dialed down their emotions to get the sort of calm that they exhibit."
"I've never seen them raise their voices. All it took was a look," Prowl said as he sipped his second beer.
"Its a tactic," Delphi offered.
"It worked on my genitors, especially my ada. I don't want to see him like this," Prowl said. "He wounds so easily."
"None of us do and he won't," Ratchet said. He grinned. "Tough slaggers, both of them."
"Very tough," Hardie said with a nod. "Now we wait."
They sat commiserating, eating lunch together, then they walked out to their lives and work. Micro would tour Cybertron with Hardie, then be given management of re-educating the former Decepticon troops into the Autobot Way. He would enjoy it immensely. It's not known how the 'Cons thought.
-0-Later that early afternoon in the foyer of Ops Center
"Thank you, Wheeljack. We need that extra bit of computer power to run this portion of our simulations. We want to test our basic assumptions," Zenith said as Shadow stood beside him. They had chased Wheeljack down to seek more computational power for four orns to test part of their project.
"No problem," Wheeljack said as he paused on his way to see Prime with an update toward moving Cyllus II, an inner system planet that was part of four that served the local cluster. It was a warehouse and storage place for materials bound in a million different directions as well as a former prison camp site during the misrule of Megatron. It would be less keenly felt if it was lost, so it was the first one to be tested with a transfer to another system. It was also slightly bigger than Earth, though four times smaller than Cybertron and one and a half times smaller than Gliese 581 g.
Nearby with his sensors and audials listening in, Prowl was bent over the big datapad 'working'. Their appearance had made him feel the itchy and unwanted sensation of nerves. Wheeljack nodded to them, then headed toward the door that led to the offices of the senior Autobots including Prime. He disappeared right away. Zenith and Shadow chatted a moment, then noticed Prowl. Glancing at each other, they walked into the room toward him.
Smokescreen who was working tactical and was sub commander of the orn due to Paragon attending a school function with Arrow noted their approach. Given he was Praxian, too, and had invoked on Smokey over Hot Rod which still held, he recognized the signs of Praxian familial disapproval.
/ … oh oh …/
He dialed in discreetly with secret software that he had stolen, modified and integrated that gave him nearly every advantage a professional gambler could want.
The two paused beside the desk as Prowl noted their appearance and turned toward them. The conversation they had was off line but Smokescreen could see the tells in Prowl that showed it might not be going well. Prowl was stiff, ultra formal which he only was when he couldn't break things and so prim it hurt his optics to watch. They were less so, more calm and contained. It was obvious that they were his appa and amma from their looks and manner, the two who he had heard through the grapevine aka Sunstreaker's Big Mouth were in town now, rescued and ready to rumble it would seem.
:Prowl … we had a delegation visit by Elites. Do you know about this?: Zenith asked.
:I do, Appa. I asked for it: Prowl said as formally as he could which was enough most times to stop a charging rhino. It wouldn't work on his amma and appa, both of whom had rigid facades themselves.
:I see. Why would you do that? I think we need your rationale, grandson: Zenith said as the two stared at him, their affect calm and relaxed even if what they allowed out of their aura, something that was unusually close to their frame, indicated anger.
:I'm concerned about your expressed lack of pleasure about the make up of our clan. We have a large extended family of individuals not all of whom are former high castes. Given that we have children and grandchildren, I'm concerned what this might reach them and cause offense. I don't want turmoil in the family nor a sense of worthlessness that The System made some feel. I want them to be welcome and feel comfortable around you even as I want you to love all of us if you can. I don't want it to be all one direction:
:I see: Shadow said. :You believe that we will invoke, then:
Prowl glanced at him. :Yes, Amma, I do. Your words about the family worry me. I worry about it causing offense for everyone and agonized decisions for my ada and atar. I want you to understand … we have a tightly knit loving family with children and grand children. If you invoke, you will test loyalties both to you and to our culture. I don't know if you understand how likely it is that you will be pushed back:
Shadow stared at him, then looked around. :This is your domain? You rule this space and do your job to the greatest possible level of achievement?:
:That's my goal every waking moment. I assist the Prime and protect everyone in this colony, the empire and Cybertron. My family lives here and their lives are precious to me. That includes you two: Prowl felt it at that moment, the suffocating lives they had led, the ruinous beliefs that they didn't seem about to shed. He felt a blinding sense of sorrow and loneliness for them.
:We told them that we didn't have to have The System back to live as we please. No one can force any associations upon us that we don't wish to enjoy. I'm as free as anyone else, Prowl: Zenith said.
:You are, Appa. I just … I find you so lonely and alone. I was all my life. I know Ada was. He was nervous to do what he was expected to do. When he came here, he bloomed. Prima is perfect. He's wonderful and both of them are trying to make up to him what they didn't feel they gave to me. I told them they're in error but they feel it. Why do they feel that they failed me, Appa? What suffocating sense of failure do they bear that made them believe this of themselves?: Prowl asked.
They stared at him. :We cannot speak for Miler. You know that we don't. It's part of our culture which we revere. It made you a miracle of a mech … brilliant, handsome, powerful in your confidence and skill at what you do. That came from who you are and how you were raised, Prowl: Shadow said.
:I was also lonely, defiant of the chains of my caste and unwilling to be the next cog in the family machine. I got away and I serve everyone no matter who they might have been once. I'm an ada, something I hadn't even in my most reckless flights of fancy ever contemplated. My grandson, my little Kaon opened my spark and my horizons more than any other thing in my life. I have children, beautiful children. Some of them came from my spark and some we found along the way. But make no mistake. Those three little mechs are gifts from The One as clearly as the other three. I would never tolerate them even having the slightest notion that they weren't as precious, loved and important as any other:
They stared at each other, neither side meeting at the midpoint, then Zenith glanced around again. :Very well. We know where we stand. As for invoking … we will keep our council. Give my regards to your family: Then he walked toward the door with his servo through Shadow's arm. They disappeared into the rec room and were gone.
Prowl watched them leave, unaware of how long he stood there, then he turned around and flipped the command table over. Things flew everywhere as everyone but Smokescreen jumped, startled by the sound. Prowl stared at the mess, seething with anger, then turned to Smokescreen who was lounging with a calm no one else had. "You have the conn, Smokescreen." With that, he stormed out of the room and disappeared.
Smokescreen stood up, then righted the table. Putting everything back on top, marveling at how well made all of it was, he turned to the surprised mechs and femmes around the room, most of them Home Guardsmen on their duty tours. If they were veteran Autobot soldiers, no one would have been surprised. This wasn't the first and would probably not be the last time Prowl flipped a table in outrage. Usually, that was directed at Prime or Springer, but not this time. No one had an idea what had happened and some of them showed fear on their faces. "Family squabble. Don't let it frighten or throw you off. Remember, you're sworn to keep ALL activity in the Ops Center as secret above secret. Your oath holds for this as well. If you only knew how many times Prowl's flipped a table because of some dumb aft thing, you wouldn't even raise an optical ridge over this. Let's all attend again, right?"
Everyone nodded, murmuring agreement, then got back to work. Smokescreen grinned. This wasn't the first family snit he'd seen and/or faced today. There must be something in the water, he thought …
… at the Dojo before shift, off to one side …
"WHAT THE FRAG!? *REALLY*!?"
Smokescreen grinned at his grandson whose range of emotional expressions and attitudes never failed to delight him or Devcon. What Moda and Tress felt about some of his flightier flights of emotion, he didn't know. He just knew that many more would be the pictures and short videos he would file away for himself and Dev before this conversation was over. "Lower your voice, Smokescreen, unless you want everyone to know your business."
Smokey came to a screeching halt. His genitors always called him Smokescreen. They HATED Smokey for their wayward and dazzling young and only sonny boy. It was too much like a gambler name for them … cough ... and even though they were a tightly knit family with few outstanding arguments between them, getting back together with Smokescreen's shenanigans over the orns was a process. His beloved Amma and Appa always called him Smokey UNLESS they were SERIOUSLY fragged off at him or his behavior.
Devcon was the hub to the wheel of this family and in his own quiet manner ruled the roost.
Inscrutable are the ways of the Praxian Amma and Appa ...
"Sorry, Appa."
"Look at it from our position, grandson. You've blown off school again. We needed to get you a tutor to prevent Moda from going off the deep end and filing another invocation. You do know that he told me if you ever fragged school up again this badly, he was going to have a chat with Prime about releasing you from the army, then go see Springer about the Watch."
Smokey stared at his appa with a shocked, then desperate expression. "He wouldn't."
Two internally generated snaps and a short video later, Smokescreen nodded. "Yes. He said so. Given that we agree with the need for you to be well rounded, we're backing him to the wall. Both Amma and me."
Smokey looked at his appa with the deepest sense of betrayal a moment. "You wouldn't do that, Appa … would you?"
Then Smokescreen played his trump card. "You're our treasure, you and Moda. Tress is such a good ada. But Tress is mid caste. He had options we never did. I can still remember staring through windows at things I could never own that had little signs telling about them that I couldn't read. I remember seeing books and looking at them, grandson, knowing full well I couldn't read them. Do you know what that felt like?"
Smokey looked solemn, then shook his helm. "No, Appa."
"Your amma and I made a pact. If we ever had the chance to have a little mech of our own, we would do for him what we did for Moda. We'd get the slagging dirt on anyone standing in our way and get you an education. If we had to beat the slag out of mechs, and we did, Smokey … we actually did a couple of times … we'd do it. We taught ourselves how to read and we read a lot. Do you know that?"
"I do. You have books stacked up to the ceiling in your office room. Some of them look good, by the way. Do you care if I borrow some?" he asked in that mercurial youthful way that brought both he and Dev to their knees in love and amusement.
"You can," Smokescreen said with a grin. "We lost a whole world, Smokey, because we never were allowed to access it. There was this whole world in books that we never got to see until we bucked The System and learned how to read. We could read charts and do the math of navigation but reading? Real reading? Nope. We couldn't fill out library cards because we couldn't read them so the few libraries that allowed low casts to go there were closed to us, too. It was too embarrassing to let anyone know until we decided we wanted to learn. We learned the fragging hard way, Smokey. You won't. You can't blow it off or take it for granted. I won't have an ignorant son or grandson. You have a chance here to get what we were denied. An ignorant person lives in chains. THERE WILL BE NO CHAINS ON MY LITTLE MECH! Do you understand?"
"I do, Appa. I wish … I'm sorry things were so bad. You got me into good schools in Praxus and no one ever treated me badly. Never. I didn't know you bashed them," he said with a grin. "THAT MUST HAVE BEEN EPIC! What about Mister Beedle? Was he one of them?"
Smokescreen laughed. "No. Your chemistry teacher in Intermediate School wasn't one of them."
"Frag," Smokey said with disappointment. He grinned. "I'll do this."
"Slag right you will," Smokescreen said. "Tell you what … I'll work it out with Amma and your genitors to take the next term off if you pull your grades back up to where they should be BECAUSE YOU CAN DO IT! If not, then all bets are off."
Smokey stared at him, then flung his arms around his appa. "THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! YOU'RE THE BEST, YOU AND AMMA!" He stepped back. "I'll do it but its still fragged."
Smokescreen laughed. "Go take it out on the mats, infant. By the way ..."
"What?" Smokey asked as they began to walk back to the lounge where everyone had sat looking innocent as they all listened in to the conversation.
Just like Smokescreen knew they would.
They of the Same Shuttered Lifestyle And Bad Daily Experience had the same opinion about younger bots getting an education. Smokey would find no mercy here.
"How's it going with you and Hot Rod?" Smokescreen asked with a smirk.
"SPEAKING OF FRAGGED!" Smokey began …
… Ops Center …
"Leesie, you have the conn for a moment," Smokescreen said as he walked to the door that led to the Senior Autobot offices where he would pass Wheeljack on the way out.
"Got it, Commander," the little Seeker femme said.
Smokescreen disappeared down the corridor.
-0-Moments later
"And that's what happened, Optimus. You might want to see what's going on," Smokescreen said.
"Thank you, Smokescreen. I will," he said. "Do you have the conn?"
"Yes. Go. Do," Smokescreen said as he followed Optimus out.
He would.
-0-In a park near Sparkling Day School
Optimus saw him sitting on a picnic table having tracked him with his bond link. Walking to Prowl, he sat down beside him. Glancing around, he grinned slightly. "I see you have sought out expert advice for your solace."
Prowl nodded as he sat with a sour expression. "I did."
Playing in a sandbox nearby, T-Bar, Rambler, Sunspot, Spirit, Praxus, and Orion were building forts. Orion was the straw boss and the others were the amused minions. Nearby, running in a chase game, Iacon, Uraya, Solus, Sojourner, Prowler, and Miracle were being chased by Hero. They were shrieking with their joy and she was laughing as she 'chased' them. Prime grinned. "They are so beautiful."
"They are. I would have gotten Prima and Scout but they were in physical therapy. Bos, Reflector and Co-D are on Trypticon doing assignments. The nine big kids are in class so I didn't get them. I love them, though. I love them all. How can you look at this and not be on your knees in gratitude to the Pantheon and the Mercy of The One? If someone had told me back in my dark reign as the Sourpuss of the Autobots that this would be my life at some point, I would have punched their face."
Prime grinned. "I can match you word for word but for the punch. I never figured to have a private life. It is amusing to me that the human films portray me as a solemn brooding mech who does not party and has no humor." He looked down at Prowl. "I do have a sense of humor, right?"
"If they only knew how much. Your auric wisdom and personal gravitas overawes them obviously," Prowl said as he leaned against Prime's big arm. He vented a sigh. "I was so angry all my life. I had a veneer of calm and collected but it was thin and easily dented. How much did I break in Ops Center?"
"Nothing," Prime said, then he chuckled. "I am not sure whether to tell you this or not but when an order for equipment goes to Fabrication, they reinforce anything that can be hand held in the Ops Center."
Prowl sat up, staring upward at Prime. "Seriously?"
Prime looked down with a smile. "Yes. Even Scar has heard about how you like to abuse furniture."
Prowl smirked slightly. "I do. It's an old habit." It was silent a moment as the children ran past waving at both of them. They waved back. "I've lived with repressed emotions so long, my own and my family's, that it sometimes exploded out. Even now I marvel that dark mech could change. The turn of things still surprises me. I can never go back. Kaon saved me, you know. I always admired babies and children, though I had no interest in having my own nor in taking care of one. Bluestreak was a high end sub adult, not a little child. He resolved my parenting issues and being older was also helpful in his own care. Then Kaon came."
It was silent as the two watched Orion's fort cave in. They both smiled as he stared at it with amazement. Then the little mechs and Sunspot began to rescue him. He would go on and on about what happened and how it wasn't his fault. Both of them laughed. Then Prowl leaned against Prime again. "Kaon saved me from complete idiocy. He made things matter that I hadn't even thought about or even knew I possessed. I was determined to be the best bond I could. That part was almost easy. You're so easy to care for and love. But I didn't think about children until Kaon, though I will say … I admired all the children I saw, especially Orion. I love that little pirate."
They stared at the kids, then it was silent again.
"I'm aware of how I was viewed. I was such a hard aft, such a cold mech … its almost … ALMOST comical now to think of it. I wasn't even prepared to rescue Kup." It was silent a moment. "I will tell you … I never told anyone else before … I was jealous of Kup. Me, old Slide Rule Prowl didn't see the profit in it." He frowned, then continued. "He was loved and admired. Mechs risked their lives to rescue him. I can't imagine the same happening for me at the time. Springer hit me in the face for it, then he disobeyed orders to get him. It took a long time to understand why and it bothers me to this orn that it did. But that was the life then, Optimus. Normal emotions and reactions weren't part of my early bringing up."
"Well, I do not recognize that individual," Prime said.
Prowl glanced up to him. "Surely, you jest. You were there for every excruciating moment as I recall."
"I was. But I was in love. You were … the most intriguing individual I ever met. All of your … quirks were interesting to me. I found you impenetrable at times but never unkind. You had a wall around you and now I know why. But the thing is, Prowl … you are free of that prison. You do understand about how time works, right?"
"Now that's impenetrable, the physics of time. All time and all history of all things exists at the same time and always will, past, present and future. Everything that happens or happened or will happen exists at the same time forever," Prowl said as he entwined his digits with Prime's.
The big mech squeezed them gently. "From the tiny fraction of physics that I retain from my bold venture into university, the idea of time was the most interesting. Humans believe in the false construct of linear time. One moment follows the other and the past disappears even as the future never arrives. They cannot understand how nothing vanishes because everything that exists no matter how trivial or great is energy, even thoughts, and that is immortal. Their awareness of the reality of it is so limited. Your past still exists, every second of it with all its actions, words and deeds. However, you do not have to lumber around with it. You can dismiss the past, forgive, acknowledge and learn from it. It does not have to be your lifelong companion. Consider your genitors. You have memories of them that are less than happy and it colored your life during much of it, even now to some extent. Correct?"
Prowl nodded. "Unfortunately, yes."
"Well, consider them now. They are wonderful, kind, loving, decent, supportive, remarkable grand genitors, and they love and accept you without reservation. Correct?"
Prowl nodded. "As usual, you are."
"They even provided a brother to you, regretting that you grew up alone. Which memories matter more to you, the first or the second?" Prime asked gently.
"The second. I never expected them. That's why this is so hard. I don't want this to change the good we all share," Prowl said.
"Then cut them loose, the memories and events that do not serve your greatest good. You can choose what you believe, what matters and what follows you. If you want to feel sorrow forever, keep these memories," Optimus said.
It was silent a moment. "How do you get rid of them?" Prowl asked as he considered the novel idea of choosing how he wanted to live his life.
"Its very simple," Prime said. "First, you acknowledge them, then you forgive them, then you say 'I do not need you anymore. Good bye and thank you for whatever wisdom that you gave to me'. All of our experiences are learning and teaching moments. If you were hurt, you learned what that felt like and maybe you never made anyone else feel that way because of it. If you were lonely, you knew the difference between that and having this family. You learned love from the absence of it and why because it was missing how its the most powerful force in the universe. You learned the value of life through the war. You are learning about redemption from your genitor's own and from Cybertron. How can you appreciate the light if you never see the dark?"
The children played as they sat together on the table. A few bots walked here and there and the traffic on the streets was between rush hours. Then Prowl rubbed his face against Prime's arm. "Even if you didn't have a matrix, you would be the smartest person I know. I hate that you were living in a slum and that you had to sneak around to learn. You deserved everything."
"When you first saw me, did you know I was low caste?" Prime asked.
The usual flare up crossed Prowl's face. "NOTHING about you is low." Prowl vented a sigh. "I knew you were and I'll fess up only once and deny it forever after … it did color my thinking for a moment until you spoke to me and I fell in love."
Prime chuckled. "It did, though. You can have that memory forever or you can let it go. Why would you carry that around, Prowl, when its only purpose is to make you feel badly?"
Prowl considered that. "I don't know. I think I have a bit of masochism in my make up." He frowned a bitter frown. "Of course its there. I'm Prowl."
"There you go," Prime said. "You are applying your past and how it made you feel directly to the present, limiting yourself to self doubt and scorn. When you do that, eventually it goes from being an emotional comment or response about something and turns into a self belief. You cannot feel badly or let others hurt you without your consent. Consider this … given that those were learning experiences, all of them for the good or ill, what about letting them go now? You learned all the wisdom. You gathered the benefit. Now, let them go because they no longer help you. You have all they can grant and its interfering with the love and life you have now. If you do that, what happens after has no power over you."
"How?" Prowl asked with emotion.
"You have been wounded and hurt before. Right?" Prime asked.
"Sure. Who hasn't?" he asked.
"You healed then."
"Yes," Prowl said as he waited. Optimus always had a point and what the human's called the Socratic Method, the illumination of a point through questions was something he often used.
"Do you remember them anymore? Are they there waiting to emerge into your mind and vex you?"
Prowl considered that. "No, they aren't. Thank Primus."
"Then you have to jettison any memory, grudge, foul intention, angry moment, all harm that ever befell you including words and disappointment, too. You have to heal yourself from their effects, then forget about them. Those wounds can be healed, too. You do that through the most difficult, yet easy process ever," Prime said as he watched his daughters hug Hero. It warmed his spark. "You have to figure out how to forgive, then mean it. You may have to repeat your forgiveness over and over and over again until the burden lifts. Say it in your processor twenty times an orn and mean it. Know that because you come from The One, you are already wonderful and perfect. Do not let circumstances you learned from adversity decide you are less. You are a glorious spark who came here to live and learn. You certainly are for me and our family, for the endless friends we have together. You will feel the lightness of being when you do. They will not lurk in your processor egged on by your ego to ambush you. You do not need a matrix, though I will say it helps." Prime grinned, then waved at the little mechs and the others who were waving at both of them in the sandbox nearby.
Prowl considered Prime's remarks. "You know … I struggled to love them, my amma and appa. All of them, though Atar's genitors were nicer and more fun. I tried to do that. I even felt my love for ada and atar slipping away. I will tell you something, Optimus and I hope you don't hold it against me." He looked up at Prime with a slightly worried expression.
Prime looked at Prowl's face memorizing its beauty and nuances. "You should know better."
"Maybe," Prowl said as he gathered his thoughts. "When I was small, when it was … difficult … I was passed upward in school and things were stressed … I actually … um, I actually thought that Primus, the Pantheon and The One were cruel jokes on all of us. The thought that They existed didn't make sense. I … I didn't believe in Them."
It was silent a moment, then Prime nodded. "I understand."
"HOW!?" Prowl asked. "How could you understand my whining given the life you lived. I … I went to see the place you lived, Optimus, because Raptor put that entire district in for historical preservation. I went up to your tiny house and when I closed the door and looked around I actually cried. I wept. I had a hard time with the guilt and shame that you would have to live like that and I had houses and penthouses and country and lakeside houses. It made me sick."
Prime squeezed his servo. "You missed a lot of things then. You missed the love that was there. You missed the gatherings of family, the moments of celebration. There was a lot of love there, Prowl. I learned a great deal from that deprivation. I learned the strength and importance of family, of unity and love. I grew enough courage from that life to step forward when the time presented itself to make change happen. I learned resilience, hope and charity. I learned that everyone matters and that our people are great. I learned that all sentient beings deserve freedom and respect. I do not blame the high castes for what has happened. The failure of our society to love, value and assist everyone was set in stone when the Quintessons landed. What matters to me, Prowl, is not all of that. I got a lot of wisdom from it. What matters now is just that … now." He grinned. "As for your lapse … its totally understandable. You were growing and learning. Just remember, even if you did not believe in Them, they believed in you."
It was silent a moment, then Prowl looked upward at Prime. "I wonder … if I can ask … have you ever seen The One?"
Prime grinned. "Yes," he said. He looked at Prowl. "Do you remember the Blessing during the Festival?" Prowl nodded. "That white light that comes out to touch us … that is The One."
Prowl stared at him for a moment, then leaned closer. "He actually comes?"
Prime nodded. "Yes. He actually does. Do you think if He didn't want us to let go of hurts and things that do not help us so that we could advance that He would not come to love us? He does so out of unconditional love, knowing that we need His love and His touch. If you give yourself the same thing, you will not need a matrix to become blessed."
Prowl stared at Optimus, then leaned into him again. The children ran around in the park enjoying the freedom of it during the school orn. While they did, Prowl took tentative steps forward.
-0-Medical Center
:Ironhide:
:WHAT!?:
:You sound like a lover, IRONHIDE!:
:I do, don't I: -tiny over-the-wifi preen
:Did you get the message from Neo and Barri at Sparkling and Youngling Day about Prowl and the kids?: Ratchet asked as he sat in his office desk chair spinning slowly.
:Yes. Did you get the message from Optimus that they'd bring them home when it was time?: Ironhide who was straining as Halo lay in a box nearby sleeping up a storm.
Ratchet grinned. :Yep: Bigger grin. :Ironhide?:
:What?:
"You wanna frag? No kids. Insert waggly optical ridges here and stunning leer: Ratchet said with waggly ridges and a stunning leer.
Ironhide laughed as he held up the heavy end of a crate in the armory at the weigh station on the TransWorld Highway two thousand miles as the crow flies away. :No can do, Old Mech, though I can see why you'd wanna. I am Ironhide, after all:
:That's true. Uh, Ironhide?:
:What, old mech?:
:Turn up your internal audials?:
Pause, Feverish think through. :Why?: (Insert HUGE suspicion in the processor of a big chaos dude, but in the end, not enough)
:Because I have a sweet, sweet present for you, ba-bee: Ratchet grinned.
:Done: Ironhide said as his internal sappiness over ruled eons of knowing better.
:OW-OOOOOOOOOOGAH! See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya. Ratchet, over and out: He sat back with a grin. "That'll teach ya." He grinned as he turned off his googily horn sounds file. "Nah. It won't."
Momentary pause, HUGE swearing somewhere in the boonies.
:RATCHET! PICK UP! I NEARLY DROPPED FOURTEEN TONS OF MUNITIONS ON MY PEDS! RATCHET!? PICK UP, YOU SLAGGER! I! AM! IRONHIDE!:
-0-TBC 3-9-18 edited 3-12-18
Have a great Friday. I'm sure Ratchet and Ironhide will, too. :D
Boonies: way the heck in the middle of nowhere.