The Diego Diaries: (dd6 445)
-0-Courtroom
It was deathly silent as everyone stared at the figure floating in air. It was His usual representation, the green god figure sitting cross legged like a Buddha with the air of joy about him. He wasn't especially joyful at the moment, however. He stared at Ratbat with a frown then He moved to the front of the room where Optimus stood. "Optimus Prime … you have problems to solve. It would appear that you are here to pronounce sentence. Please … do continue."
Prime stared at Micronus a moment, then the three defendants who were staring at the god figure with terror. It was sickening to him to see their fear. "I was going to sentence them to punitive stasis for the duration of three million years Earth-time, Lord Micronus, but something tells me that You and the Others have Your own plans for them."
Micronus grinned. "You would be so right, brother," he said as the room faded away completely.
-0-Elsewhere
They were all there, all of the group including the guards and workers from the court who hadn't been part of things but were on standby. They were gathered in a group on the desert plain. A soft breeze was blowing, shifting sand here and there as the sun beat down hard. It was intense but there was little heat from it. The sky was almost agonizingly blue and there were no clouds. Far in the distance, the faint outline of hills or mountains could be seen. They glanced around, then turned almost as one toward Optimus. He was standing silently staring at the sky which appeared to have something for him to see. They glanced up but didn't see it.
Someone stepped toward Prime but Prowl caught his arm as he held a wondering Sunspot. "Don't. Wait."
Micronus wasn't there but the three defendants were. Ratbat looked frantic, then began to run. He disappeared almost immediately. Decimus and Contrail turned toward Prime. "WHERE DID HE GO!?" Decimus asked with shrill emotion.
Almost the moment he asked Ratbat was back, running forward to slide to a stop right where he started. He glanced around in rising hysteria, then ran away again. He vanished, then he was back, halting in the same starting place once more. A soft laugh greeted that, then Micronus appeared. He floated in the air as He grinned at everyone including the defendants. "That was amusing and its also one of the most elemental life lessons one can have. Moral … you can't run from your problems."
"YOU FRAGGER! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH US!?" Ratbat shouted. He was defiant to the end.
"Tsk, tsk, Ratbat … do you kiss your ada with that mouth?" Micronus asked with a grin. He glanced at Optimus. "The humans have many pithy sayings." Optimus was transfixed by a sight only he could see so Micronus set down and walked to the defendants, pausing before them. "Well, We have a problem. You are the problem. I do not believe in three million Terran years you will be any better than you are now. I have called for a hearing among MY peers. They are arriving now."
There was a flash of light and from it stepped Onyx Prime, huge and unhappy as He stared at the three. Around Him were more flashes and more Primes stepped forward to tower over the group that turned in all directions to watch with an almost mute astonishment. One by one, They came … Prima, Solus who stepped out with Vector, Solomus and Epistemus, Nexus, Quintus, Adaptus with his strong persona, the god of the transformational cog itself, Alchemist, Amalgamous the Trickster, and the enigmatic figure of Logos. They stepped from the flashing blasts of light, then gathered to stand around the group, towering over them in height. They were beautiful, Their auras almost painful in Their purity and intensity while Their gazes were direct. They seemed to stare into the deepest part of all of them.
It was at that moment that Sunspot slid down out of Prowl's grasp, then walked toward Prima Himself.
"Oh, frag," Ratchet said as he shifted in place.
Ironhide grabbed his arm. "Wait."
Sunspot walked to Prima, then looked way up. Prima grinned, then knelt, bringing His handsome shining face close to the infant. "Are you Prima?" he asked. "I learn about You in the Temple."
"You do. That I am. I am Prima, Lord of the Pantheon and I know you, Sunspot of Vos," He said gently. "I know all of you, my wondrous infants."
"Am I in the Matrix?" Sunny asked.
"You are. You are safe. You will always be safe. We have to take care of those who would make it otherwise," Prima said. "What do you suggest we do, Sunspot of Vos?"
Sunspot glanced around himself, then stared at the three defendants who looked pulverized with fear. "I don't like them but they're afraid. I hate that. I was, too."
Prima nodded. "I don't like fear either, not for Me and especially not for others. You are my prize jewels. You and the other children here. I wish to see them if you don't mind," He said glancing at the gathered group.
Everyone glanced at each other, then children were pulled out and carried to the front of the group. They stared at the familiar faces in the crowd, then looked around. It took a moment for them to look up at the smiling faces of the Pantheon who were looking at them with enormous happiness. Orion stared at them, then smiled brilliantly. "SHE! SHE HERE! MY SHE! SHE AND SHE AND HIM DO BEES!" He looked at the others, then after a momentary conundrum linked his servo with Scout and Praxus. "Come you wif me, Orion. I comed you to the shes." With that, he strode out with his two babies while the others watched.
Hero took Halo's servo, then Uraya's. Glancing at Iacon who stared at her, then upward to the tall mechs and one femme watching them with delight, Hero said, "Come with me, Iacon. This is the Pantheon," she said like it was an everyday thing. "They love us." With that, she followed Orion.
Prowler who was looking at everyone but Them watched three little kids walk toward the big mechs. He grinned, then followed as Prima and Resolve joined him. More came, some of them from the jury and others of the court and witnesses as Proteus stepped forward with his son, Rugur. Bulkhead put his son, Rekker down who glanced upward, then began to walk and beside him followed a pensive Diesel, Fifi and Flinn along with Mars and Io. Scar who had also brought Caro with him watched as their babies walked toward the Pantheon, something that made him deeply emotional. Then he followed them. As the babies gathered before Prima with Orion and Sunspot, Scar sank to his knees.
Prima who was admiring the babies looked at him. "Scar of Slaughter City."
"I don't know much about words but I want you to know … how sorry I am for everything," he said simply. He stared at the mechs and femme who were the first of their kind, the best of them and stretched out to lay face down on the ground.
Prima stared at him a moment, then touched him gently with a digit. "Rise, Scar. You do not owe Me this."
He sat upward onto his knees. "I did a lot to answer for. I want to tell you so. These two," he said nodding to his children, "are my best thing, that and my bond. I work for everyone and I am sorry."
"We know," Solus said with a nod of sympathy. "What grieves us, dear Scar, are those who aren't."
Solomus nodded. "That is the truth. You do know that you work to better yourself and you have redeemed yourself. Once that is done, you must forgive yourself. What is redemption without forgiveness? If you carry regret, you are not redeemed."
Scar stared at him, then bowed deeply. He looked at all of them with deep gratitude, then stared at Solus, lingering on her beautiful face. "I have always wondered where you were. I've been alone all my life until now."
It was silent on the plain as everyone waited, listening to the silvery voice of The Maker. She knelt. "You have never been alone. No one ever is. You made yourself alone because you chose it but it was never fully so." She touched him gently with a digit, then almost as one, The gods blinked a moment, then reappeared more closely the size of everyone who were watching them entranced. A murmur went through the crowd as some of them knelt. Solus grinned. "Please stand. We love you. All of you," She said as She turned Her gaze upon the children. "How can this not be the focus of all effort? Of all hope? These are Our treasure, the flowers in Our garden. I never understand what process of thinking one has to undergo to not hold ALL of them in reverence. Or anyone else for that matter. All are the creations of The One and He loves them all EQUALLY."
Onyx nodded, then knelt before the mob of infants who were staring at them and around themselves in the comical manner of those with 2 second attention spans. "Hello, Orion of Mars. It has been a while since We spoke," He said.
Orion smiled brilliantly, then patted the big black clawed ped of Onyx. He turned to the others. "THIS MY SHE! I, ORION DID COMEDED TO HIM! HE BEST SHE! SEE HIM? YOU GO DOING DIS," Orion said with big happiness. He patted Onyx on the ped, then smiled at the others. All of them smiled as they walked closer to pat Onyx on the ped.
Onyx grinned, then chuckled. "All of you are my shes as well," He said, then turned his gaze on the defendants who stood rooted to the ground like statues. "You on the other hand decided that some of these marvels weren't as worthwhile as others. Many were the tiny sparks that we collected at the Matrix gate who were obliterated in war and starvation. You didn't care. I will never understand how you can chose to do so."
The three stared at Him, then Prime. Ratbat stepped toward Optimus. "What are you going to do, Prime?"
"You speak to the wrong one," Prima said with offense. "I AM PRIMA! I LEAD THE PANTHEON! You will confine your questions to Me regarding your fate, Ratbat of Tarn. I hold your spark in My servo."
Ratbat stared at him, then the others. "Is that it? Is that how this is? We have to bend our knee to You and be afraid? I've never been afraid in my life. No one makes me afraid, not even You."
Onyx laughed and so did Adaptus as the others grinned. "You have no sense, Ratbat. You do know who We are, do you not? I have never heard you speak or call to Us but I am assuming you have heard of Us."
Ratbat sneered at Onyx. "Everyone heard of You but You were never there. I had to claw my way upward to get my due. No one gave me a hand. I did it myself. Everything I got I did so myself. Where were you when I was hungry? NO WHERE! I decided I would never be hungry again."
"And then all the rest came easily," Proteus said.
Everyone looked at him as he held his son in his arms. Madura had his arms around Proteus' waist and fear tinged his defiant expression. Ratbat sneered at him. "You got yourself out of this. Just the right amount of tears and sadness. You were as bad as we were. Yet, you get a pass."
Proteus turned to Madura and handed him the baby. Walking through the crowd, he paused in front of Ratbat. "You will never understand anything. You will never get anything right. You will go through your life backwards and when the time comes, end it the same way."
Ratbat turned to Solomus. "He was as bad as anyone. He wanted the Clampdown. He took bribes and hurt as many people as we did, maybe even more. He conspired with Kudon to manipulate the Matrix and he's as guilty about Tarn and Vos as anyone because he was a part of the government that did it. How is it that he walks into a comfortable life and future and we're here facing this slag?"
Solomus stared at him, then leaned closer, gathering Io into his arms. "Because he understands his guilt and wants to change."
Ratbat stared at him. "You're kidding, right? He just says he does and that's enough?"
"No, Ratbat," Micronus said with irritation. "He, unlike you actually understands his guilt. Would that you could. You are a selfish psychopath and you have not only harmed Cybertron, you have let down every mini and micro mini-con from the moment you walked into power. Many was the time I wanted to whip your aft Myself."
"You did," Onyx said with amusement as he sat down on the ground. Infants began to climb onto him led by Orion. He grinned as he patted some and helped others up until they were all there sitting down comfortably on Him. "You do not have the capacity, Ratbat, to understand how it all works."
"HE'S LYING! HE'S LYING TO ALL OF YOU!" Ratbat said with gathering rage. He spun on Proteus, then lashed out. He caught Proteus on the chin knocking him off his peds. A shout could be heard from the crowd as Madura cried out and ran forward. Pausing long enough to hand Rugur to Scar, Madura launched himself on Ratbat. Taken off guard, they fell to the ground.
"My, this is getting interesting, brother," Onyx said to Micronus who grinned back at him. "I put my shanix on Madura."
They rolled on the ground, then Madura ended up on top. Pushing Ratbat down, who was no slouch himself, Madura began to punch him in the face. The crowd watched with astonishment, glancing from the Pantheon to Prime. He was watching as well, almost as if in communion with the others. He might have been. Madura kept punching Ratbat until Proteus clambered up and pulled him off.
Swearing and swinging, attempting to kick the mini-con, Madura was pulled away. He stood beside Proteus glaring at Ratbat as the mini-con stood up.
He laughed. "Well, we know who's the boss in your bond, Proteus. What a pair you two are."
Proteus ran forward and jumped on Ratbat, both slamming into the ground. They rolled and rolled before they broke free and turned on each other. The sound of laughing gave them pause as everyone turned toward Amalgamous. "Keep going. I am highly amused," He said as all over His body parts of Himself were in transformation. It was never stilled.
Sunspot walked toward Amalgamous. "What do we do?" he asked.
Amalgamous stared down at him, then grinned. "We wait."
"Who are we waiting for?" Sunspot asked as kids slid down and began to gather around him. He took Scout and Prowler's servos.
"Why, for Primus Himself," Amalgamous said with a grin.
-0-TBC 8-17-18 edited 8-18-19
ESL
Someone who is entranced by something is overcome with it and can't look away.
NOTES! :D:D:D
-0-fancyspinner chapter 444 . 13h ago
Wonderful of course. I hope more people have an opportunity to see the pantheon.
ME: They will. ;)
-0-optimus prime101 chapter 444 . 21h ago
Oh wow can you please put up another chapter I soo want to read what happens next, please?
ME: Done deal. :D
-0-Ragemoose chapter 444 . 21h ago
Ooooh, I love the drama. I really can't wait for Micronus to put Ratbat in his place! Micronus is my favorite of the pantheon, i love to see him involved in things. I can't wait to see how everyone reacts to him showing up :D thank you for sharing!
ME: I love Micronus because he's cute and he's fun. He's a good guy in the Pantheon and smart as they come. Go to t.f. wiki and get the lowdown by putting the thirteen into the search engine. You can also google his name there as well. He and Onyx as so much fun to write. :D
-0-Ragemoose chapter 438 . Aug 16
Ooh... Maelstrom seems to have struck a nerve with that last bit but maybe if sentinel didn't want all his dirty laundry strung about then he shouldn't have collected it in the first place. I didn't think I'd ever find court procedure exciting but you've proven me wrong, it seems :P Also, I cant wait to see if the babies get to see the Pantheon. I wonder if Orion remembers Onyx? Or if exposure to Them would fix his glitch. I suppose it's all just a matter of waiting :9 Thank you for updating so frequently, it's the highlight of my day. I hope you have a good weekend!
ME: Sentinel has the lazy mind of the powerful, that they don't have to be discreet. Orion remembers everything. :D HUGS and have a great weekend too, honey