The Diego Diaries: Stuff (dd6 392)
-0-Vroom
He jumped back as they came at him.
Prime rose. "Ahem."
The three glanced at Prime, then slowly sat down. Ratchet walked to his seat, sat, then stared at them with wary optics. "I'm going home with you, Optimus."
"Please. Do," Prowl said with heat. "You. You … cad."
"This is the first I heard of this, too," Ratchet said. He grinned at Prime. "You have a masochistic streak prodding Granny like this."
Prime grinned. "We have to make gestures that pay dividends. This does." He looked at the three. "We have drawn the names of seven children who are Cybertronian and will add five resident humans to the group. I have commitments from them to participate. It will not take place until next week."
The three glared at Prime, then Ratchet. "YOU'RE COMING, TOO!" -all three
Ratchet smiled brilliantly. "Okay."
"Where is this atrocity supposed to be?" Springer asked with some heat.
"Alaska," Prime said.
"Frag." -all three of them (especially Drift and Springer)
-0-Shortly later
Prowl walked down the corridor toward the office where Optimus was working. Pausing in the doorway, he smirked. "I think I want to punch your face."
Prime glanced up. "I can imagine. Just know its for the Autobot Cause."
"Camping in the wilderness of Alaska with a bunch of kids?" Prowl asked with a bit of heat.
"You are after all the exalted and supreme sub commander of the Autobot Scouts," Prime said with a grin.
"You will pay. Just know that," Prowl said as he walked back to the Ops Center.
Prime watched him go, then grinned. "I count on it, Prowler."
-0-Walking to the job
"I could punt your sorry aft."
"Now, Ironhide … think about it. The humans are going to be fascinated with your figure. They're going to be there to film things and so is Leonora. You'll be a star."
"Frag that, Ratchet. I am Ironhide. I am NOT a scout leader."
"There, there."
They split up going their separate ways. Reaching the ward where his family were staying in the hospital, Ratchet quizzed Min-D as she left their room. "How are they today, Min-D" he asked.
"They're much better. This was a real blow to them but they recognize it for what it is. They're going to go to counseling when they're discharged, all of them. I'm setting up a private group for them with me and Sissle. Every other orn, the full group, every orn for a while with Chan and Corr."
Ratchet felt relief flooding him. "Thank you, Min-D. They love you and Sissle has the same warmth. You're my hero."
They chatted a moment, then Min-D hurried onward to do the good of the whole. Ratchet walked into the room, pausing to watch them as they sat together in the lounge talking about a book they were reading together. It must have been for a class or something. They were intensely discussing a point about it so they didn't notice him right away. He watched them, the bravest and best little mechs and femme he ever met, then rapped on the door. They started, then looked his way. Then they burst into smiles. Ratchet felt his spark melt.
-0-Armory
Ironhide grumped into his office ignoring Holi as he did. He sat down, glared at the stuff on his desk, then glanced up when she entered.
"Hello, sourpuss."
"Humph," he grunted as he looked at a datapad.
"What's up? You're usually a sweetheart," she said.
Ironhide glanced up, then grinned in spite of himself. "I am aren't I."
"Won't get an argument out of me," she said as she sat in the chair in front of his desk. "Give."
He sat back. "I have to go to Earth in a few orns with a scout troop to jamboree with one there in the boonies. We're going to Alaska."
She sat forward in surprise. "Wow. That sounds amazing. Do you need help? I'll go with you if you want me to."
Ironhide stared at her, his 'work wife', then did what all men do when their ass is in the fire. He smiled. "DONE DEAL!"
-0-At an office in Metrotitan
"What's with the long faces?" Maxi asked as she shuffled the work load on Springer's desk.
"My face isn't long," Springer said grumpily.
"Even if it was, I'd still look at it," Drift said with a grin as he sat down in front of the desk in the usual place, the one with most of the work piled in front of it on the coffee table.
Even Springer laughed at that.
"Give," Maxi said as she crossed her arms in front of her chassis. She was doing 'that thing', the one that said 'I'm standing here until you tell me'.
They did.
"WOW! That sounds like fun. Can I come?"
"OH FRAG, YES!" -two wankers getting a den mother
-0-Up there
He bounded into his office to prepare the discharge papers for his family. As he did, Lee-Lee walked in with the morning 'sign this' stuff. She grinned. "You look happy."
"The fam is going home. How are you, Lee-Lee?" Ratchet asked.
"Good. Maxi just called me and so did Holi. They're going to Earth with Springer, Drift and Ironhide with the scout troop. How do they get the good details?" she asked with a bright smile.
"Because they work for idiots. Want to come to Earth?" Ratchet asked.
Lee-Lee's squee could be heard down the hallway.
-0-Ops Center
Ceelie-B2 – Cee-Cee - walked into Prowl's office with the newest intel. She grinned at his intensity which indicated he got thwarted at something and was doing a low level burn. "What happened?" she asked as she put the stack of datapads on the 'in' corner of his big desk.
"What do you mean, Cee?" he asked as he glanced up from a datapad with a layout of the small remote campground they would be using outside Denali Park.
"You look like you lost an argument," the little femme said as she grinned at him. She was his senior personal assistant, his 'work wife' and one of three intense, young and dedicated individuals assigned to him. All of the senior Autobots had defaulted to assistants after a personal intercession from Prime who had five of his own. He had resisted, then after three individuals were appointed to assist in the major areas found himself in love. He could now actually sneak out to do his joors in the schools without the place falling down.
"Perhaps," he said to the little femme who wasn't intimidated by him in the slightest. She was smart, charming, sweet, and bore a rod of titanium up her central strut that made even him dance when she needed it. He genuinely liked and admired her like a proud father with a bright daughter.
"It isn't about the scout thing is it?" she asked.
He sat back. "You know about that? SINCE how long?" he said with a slight frown.
"Hold your fire," she replied with a chuckle. "Lee-Lee, Holi and Maxi just called me. They're going."
"What?" Prowl asked with surprise, then he frowned. "Those … those tools." He glanced up. "Their bosses are the tools."
She laughed and nodded. "Well?" she asked. She grinned. "I'm coming, too. Right?"
He looked at her a moment, then grinned back. "Never a truer word spoken."
She actually squeed.
-0-Check out
They gathered at the desk where the check out would be managed and all outpatient treatments sorted into a schedule for the little group. Ratchet leaned on the counter listening with a grin as the little stars of his personal galaxy went through the process.
"And you have your list of medications, Corr?"
"I do. My Chan and the others will help me. Did you know that Ratchet here is my grandson?"
(grin) "I think I heard that. Lucky you to have such a good doctor in your family to help you."
"He always does. MY SONNY IS A GOOD BOY! HE'S MY SHINING STAR! HE SAVED US AND CORR!" Ratchet hugged his Appa Ratchet who hugged him back emotionally.
"I'm so glad, Abba. Do you have your counseling schedule worked out?"
"We do, infant. We go to a group every other orn with Sissle, then Corr meets with Min-D every orn for a while. We hope we can get better enough to be a group and have that enough. Our school is important, too. Fortunately, it's between terms right now. Poor Corr could get behind and we can't have that, can we, Tie?" Ravel asked with a slight anxiety. "Our genitors are doing so well and they love it so. They waited all their lives to do this."
Ratchet felt almost faint as he stroked his ada's shoulder. "They're champions, Ada. They're going to be back at it in no time."
"I think so, Sonny," Corr said as he squeezed Ravel's servo. "Don't worry, Ravie. We're going to be back in school when it opens again."
It continued, then Ratchet walked them home. RTR Tools would open tomorrow but for now they would remain at home resting up while Ratchet held them on his internal sensors. All six of them wore a medical tracker device in their neck ports where he would be able to maintain his vigilance. It was the only way he was going to let them go home. Even on Earth or Cybertron, the system would alert him. They walked out with a steadier step as they headed for home next door. It would be a cheery group that headed for the barn with him.
-0-In a classroom in Centurion during sharing time
"Last night, my atar got a message that a scout troop leader on Earth was going to be camping in the Alaskan wilderness for four orns and they invited the Prime to send a group from here," Annie Lennox said in flawless NeoCybex.
Everyone gasped, then leaned forward including Terradive and Roto who was here to grab Sandy Howell for her speech check. The human kids were given short passages to read periodically as Roto studied their transition into multilingual fluency with NeoCybex. They were even making HUGE inroads into speaking the major Seeker language, Sim-Keen. When he had told Starscream during a meeting over his children the big Seeker nearly fell out of his chair in surprise.
"They want a small group so a name draw will be made among the Cybertronian scouts. That seemed the fairest way. If someone doesn't want to go, then maybe you can volunteer. I don't know. My atar didn't say. But he wants all five of us to be the human Cybertronian side that goes with the other Cybertronians. All five of us are going to Earth to do this." She looked at Terradive. "Will you let us take our school work with us? I don't want to get behind."
Terradive stared at her, then nodded. "Alright. When will they tell us?"
"They're still figuring it out. Daddy said he'd tell you when he finds out. I suppose Uncle Ironhide will, too, and Uncle Prowl. They're the leaders," Annie said with a smile.
Terradive smiled. "Are they going, too?"
She nodded. "ISN'T THAT GREAT?"
Terradive laughed loudly. "I think it is. I don't know about them."
Moments later when the kids are working on their journals, Roto turned toward Terradive who was leaning against his desk with a grin as he watched his kids work their sparks out. :Too bad the whole class can't come along:
:I know. I never liked Earth when I was stuck there but I'd love to see it again to see if it would be different now: Terradive replied.
Roto grinned at him, then resolved an idea. He was going to see if it were possible to take day trips to Earth with classes, touching down in the more secluded areas to see the world third from the sun. The School Board would love it. Ironhide would be flummoxed. Prowl would be amused until he found out that he would be the 'official of the Prime' that would have to go and then all frag would break out.
He would be overruled, of course. In the end, he would be glad he was. Their first visit would be Diego Garcia and the beautiful Indian Ocean.
Such was the Tao of the Prowler
-0-TBC 6-23-18 edited 7-17-18