The Diego Diaries: Trials and Tribulations (dd6 437)

-0-Courtroom

"I first saw Sentinel when he was slumming. He and some of the others, Ratbat especially, liked to come to the ghettos and hang in the bars. It was a big time high caste pastime. I think they liked the rough trade," Sideswipe said as he smirked at Sentinel. Sentinel for his part didn't show any acknowledgment toward Sideswipe. Sideswipe glanced at Coln. "He came to play cards, drink and leave with someone, the bigger, the better. It was fragged all around. He liked to hang out in the gang clubs in Kaon. The rage gangs all had their home bases in the Wilderness and he'd go there to hang out. He liked to come to ours, too. He'd drink and stare at Sunstreaker. My brother knew it and had a laugh. He wanted what he would never get. It must have been a new experience for a high caste fragger like him."

"Please tell us, Autobot Sideswipe, what your story was and how you ended up in the Wilderness?" -C2

"My brother and I were separated in Kaon and ended up in the Youth Center. We don't know what happened to our genitors. We were never adopted," he said.

Prime remembered visions of two handsome and agonized young mechs with babies who left them in Kaon at the Center and ordered that they never be adopted, that they were going to come back for them once they recovered from an illness that was clear to see upon them. But they never did. Prime held the information gathered in the Matrix until he could offer more. It weighed upon him now.

"We got out when we were old enough to climb over the wall and lived by our wits and fists. We were fragging dangerous then," Sideswipe said with a cold grin. "No one fragged with us. Then Sentinel saw Sunny ... my brother, Sunstreaker. That was all she wrote as the humans say."

"He became infatuated with Sunstreaker?" Coln asked.

"Objection. We aren't here to listen to someone's love life. I don't see the point of all of this except to create embarrassment," Highrode said. Sentinel sat next to him like a sphinx.

"I'm creating the background for Sentinel's participation with criminal gangs and their deployment by his orders to commit a criminal conspiracy, one of the charges. I want the information to be complete and well ordered, Lord Optimus. There is a point to this line of questioning," Coln said.

"It's prurient and salacious," Highrode said, though he wouldn't know completely. Sentinel had not spoken of this sort of thing when they discussed the witness list. He had left all of this out.

"Overruled. Please make this relevant, Coln-2," Prime said.

Coln nodded. "I will. Continue, Autobot Sideswipe."

"He did," Sideswipe said as he stared at Sentinel. "He's one of those high tone fraggers who believes if he wants it, he can have it. He wanted Sunstreaker so he came around. A lot. Sunny couldn't stomach him though it was amusing for him to see Sentinel beg." Sideswipe grinned. "It was for me, too."

"Did you see him with other gangs and what did he do that you can attest to directly?" Coln asked.

"We had a gang. I won't sugar coat it. We were on our own and no one cared. There wasn't one fragging thing to help kids like us, for someone without an education and no job. We were cut loose and there was only one person who would care if I lived or died and it was my brother. So we did what a lot of homeless kids did. We ganged up. We had a bad aft gang and had a club in the Wilderness, down in Burnside. There were others including Barricade's. He went to the 'Cons when the war broke out. We had fights and controlled our own territory. We were feared and only the most foolhardy took us on. We had nothing to lose. We were never defeated. Ever," Sideswipe said proudly.

"Sentinel called a meeting of gang leaders and we went, Sunny, our buddy, Splice, and me around the time the Praxus branch of the Revolution hooked up with the CPU and the Missionaries. Everyone was there and it was really volatile. One false move and it would have been a blood bath. Sentinel outlined his plans to take over industries, knock off opponents and have us work as his private army against companies and the anti government opposition that was rising against them. He wanted us to steal, murder, disappear individuals, strong arm, extort, bomb things, and frag up the works. We would work for him for a cut of the action and he would get even stronger."

"Were there any witnesses here who might corroborate your testimony?" Coln asked.

"Splice can. He's Circle and a Knight who's regular army now. Barricade can," Sideswipe said with a grin. "He might be an easy get if you ask him nicely. He was there. I'll have to think about more. Sunstreaker was there. Splice lives here."

"Who agreed to do this with Sentinel?" Coln asked.

"Everyone there but us. Splice, Sunny and me didn't agree," Sideswipe said.

"Why?" Coln asked.

"Because we fragging hate Sentinel's guts. Everywhere we looked there was poverty. Kids were looking in garbage for food, homeless kids like we were. Misery was everywhere and he still wanted more. Fragging coward. We hated him. We didn't trust him. He was part of the plan to have the 10,000 Decepticons register as a party, then he killed them. He had 10,000 poor dumb fraggers murdered because he can't keep his word. It's not in him to do it. Besides, he was harassing my brother and that's never going to go by unnoticed." Sideswipe stared daggers at Sentinel who gazed back passively.

"What did he do?" Coln asked.

"He wanted Sunny. Most mechs who see him do, too. Sunny's beautiful and he's dangerous. He's unpredictable, temperamental, artistic … really dangerous, especially then, and that appeals to a lot of dumb fraggers. They want to be with the fragmentation grenade. Who knows when it'll go off?" Sideswipe grinned. "Sentinel chased him. He was everywhere Sunstreaker was. Sunny thought it was hilarious to see a high caste fragger want something that bad and never get it. Maybe you learned what the most of us felt all our lives, slagger," he said as he glared at Sentinel. "It was amazing. He even paid guys to attack Sunny, to beat him into submission. The trouble with that is Sunny can fight and every time it happened Sentinel's muscle got fragged hard."

"Sentinel never succeeded?" Coln said.

"No, but he changed his tactics," Sideswipe said grimly.

Nearby, sitting silently as they listened, Ironhide, his family and Ratchet learned hard truths about their boys that they had always suspected. It was instructive that Bluestreak wasn't sitting in here listening but Prowl was and he was grim. Ratchet knew he was on the witness list and he hoped that Prowl's relationship with Sentinel wouldn't come up, but he knew it probably would. Highrode had very little to work with and it didn't look to improve anytime soon. Impeaching a witness was better than nothing.

"Sentinel figured out he couldn't get to Sunny directly so he decided to go through me. It was hard staying ahead of his goons. They were everywhere. One night I had to go some place and when I came back a mob jumped me. I put a lot of them down but there were too many and they fragged me up but good. I was really bashed. I ended up in jail facing charges Sentinel probably concocted on a dart board. My brother got a lawyer, the only one who would take the job, paid him a mountain of shanix and got me out, though I ended up in prison before that awaiting trial. I think Sentinel wanted to let Sunstreaker know that he could have me murdered there if he just said so."

"What did your brother do?" Coln asked.

"He got the lawyer who finally got me out and he had to fight to get me medical attention. After a decaorn laying in my own energon, I finally got repaired but it laid me low. It took a long time to recover. In the end, I was freed." He grinned. "Sunstreaker was ballistic and I wasn't there to moderate it, I was so sick. He went to the Residence in Iacon and slipped inside. He went to Sentinel's suite, his berth room and slashed everything in it with a knife. He left nothing untouched, then slipped out. I don't know how he did it but he did. It was epic," Sideswipe said as he smirked at Sentinel.

"So, Sentinel harassed both of you, sent goons after you to beat you nearly to death and put you in prison to pressure your brother into a relationship," Coln said.

"Yes. He did," Sideswipe said.

"What about the group who agreed to help him? What do you know about them?" Coln asked.

"They liked to discuss what they did and rub it in that we weren't there getting our share. Barricade killed a lot of people for Sentinel and his group and so did Turmoil. They were his strong arm mechs and his hired killers. They both like to kill and both of them saw Sentinel as a step up to a bigger racket where they were the boss of all the gangs everywhere. Who knows what would have happened if the war hadn't blown up in our faces? They were murdering opposition people, killing others who wouldn't sell or let their businesses be controlled by him and stealing everything that wasn't nailed down. It destabilized the gangs and it was then that the gang violence that made the news happened. Barricade and Turmoil made a race to see who would be the over boss first. That was Sentinel's, too. He destabilized the whole thing, the whole balance with his slag."

"How were things once you were out of prison?" Coln asked.

"They were bad. The Peace Movement was getting slammed hard. Ordinarily, that at the time wouldn't have bothered us. We were hard and filled with vengeance against Sentinel. But now, it rankles. Hard. Some of them were priests and acolytes, holy people and civilians who were religious and trying to do a good thing without guns. They were putting themselves into the line of fire without fear and they were getting beaten up, killed, put in jail … it wasn't right no matter how you look at it. Things were also out of hand in the gangs and there were few who could walk around and not get assassinated. I was really beat up and the recovery took longer than I thought it would. Sunny had to manage everything. It was then that we heard that Sentinel was shot and had died.

"We asked around, including those on the pad in the government and no one had much of a clue. They all said that he was dumped into a sarcophagus at the Basilica without the usual slag. That sounded like the government, that kind of a half afted gesture, but it didn't sound like it was on the level overall. They did an autopsy on Nominus but not Sentinel. That should have alerted everyone that there was something going on," Sideswipe said.

"Can you link any of the murders at the time to Sentinel, his government or any of his agents in the gangs?" Coln asked.

"Not specifically. They liked to brag about it, though Barricade used to talk about how he shot the Missionaries over in the Heights. That big massacre," Sideswipe said. "I asked him about it, calling him out and he said that they were sniper shots, special bullets that exploded on contact. He said they would obliterate your helm if they landed. They were outlawed ammo if you need to know. Fat lot of good that did. Sentinel never enforced a law unless it benefited him."

"Was anyone else there when he said it?" Coln asked.

"Sunny was there. They were arguing and he said he'd take Sunny out some orn like he did the Missionaries at the Heights. Splice was there. Turmoil and his broth- …" Sideswipe glanced at Ratchet. "Uh ..."

"Please continue," Coln said.

"Sideswipe, continue," Prime prompted.

Sideswipe frowned. "Turmoil's brother, Maelstrom was there and heard it. I think. It's been a while." He frowned. "I'm no snitch."

"No one said you were," Coln said.

"I'm telling the truth under oath here because Sentinel destroyed so much he deserves to burn but I'm no snitch," Sideswipe said stubbornly.

"I see the distinction," Coln said.

"Good," Sideswipe said with a bitter edge to his tone. "You snitched in the Wilderness and you were dead before the words left your mouth. None of you high castes have any idea what that was like, living like that, learning to survive young on your own. I'm no snitch."

It was silent a moment, leaden, then Coln continued. "Sideswipe, did you ever see money exchange hands in return for actions or jobs related to Sentinel's aims for the gangs?" Coln asked.

He nodded. "All the time." He grinned. "We'd liquor them up and rob them. They didn't really care. There was always more, right, Sentinel?" he asked bitterly. "Money flowed. All of it came from Sentinel's agents. They were always some nervous bureaucratic punk with a hefty bag and a couple of police officers as escort coming around in an armored car. He'd deliver it, then flee. It was almost hilarious if it wasn't so terrible."

"Is there anything that you can add to this to help us understand what happened and how this unfolded?" Coln asked.

Sideswipe stared at Sentinel. "You ran. You fled and left us alone. You were a terrible Prime but you were the Prime. You left the body of Primus unguarded. You can't pay enough times for that alone."

"I have no more questions." Coln sat, then Highrode stood. "Autobot Sideswipe, did you ever kill someone in your criminal career?"

Sideswipe smirked slightly. "Really?" he asked with incredulity.

Sentinel allowed himself a tiny smirk of his own.

-0-TBC 8-10-18 edited 8-13-18

ESL

'on the pad' – taking bribes (slang)

'on the level' – true

(I'm throwing in phrases for the bots that are typical tough guy New York since so many of the G1 voices were New York and eastern USA urban. Especially Wheeljack. :D