The Diego Diaries: Clan (dd6 454)

-0-Around: In a hub under Bern

"Did you hear about Smokey and Hot Rod?"

"No. What about them?"

"They're in jail. Apparently, they broke an invocation made by Smokescreen."

"That's Praxian, right?"

"Yeah. Smokescreen put it on them and they broke it. They got arrested and Hard Drive has to hear the case, Hardie and Delphi. Apparently, they judge their rule book."

"The Code. It's called the Code. I remember my uncle was Praxian and he told me a bit about it when I fragged up once. He told me I should be glad that he didn't have power over me. My genitors were from Helex. He said they could do all kinds of things to you if you fragged up including after you were adult and you had to obey."

"That's fragged. I thought Stanix or the mini-cons were like that. Praxians, too?"

"Yeah. It's weird but then not as weird as the Huddles."

"Who are they?"

"They're a group that travels around stealing things and if you tell in the group, you get the ax."

"They kill you?"

"They can. Or they can kick you out forever which they say is worse."

"Why are they called the Huddles?"

"Because they huddle around watching things and when they see something they like they come at you in a group. Either they rob you where you stand or they con you over a long period of time."

"Where are they from?"

"No one knows but they say Junk."

"Remind me to lock my door tonight."

"I hear ya. Pass that whet stone."

-0-Around: City Hall

"Did you hear about Smokey and Hot Rod? I heard they got jailed for breaking Smokescreen's invocation."

"I heard that, too, Blondi. I asked Venture about it and he said that no matter how old Smokey was his elders could invoke and he had to obey. It keeps them out of trouble."

"What if they want to fight it or oppose it?"

Blondi grinned. "No one ever has. At least not in the courts. This provision is in the legal code and is viable law. Venture said he never heard of anyone doing this in his experience so he has no idea what a mech or femme could do and what would happen if they opposed it. It would make problems in a family."

Faun shook her helm. "Holi is from Stanix. I thought they were clannish but this is strange even to me."

"I came from Nova Cronum. We were a transient community with the airbases and the mechs and femmes who retired there were from all over. We never had more than a few Praxians there. Most of the military Praxians retired to Praxus. Strange," Blondi said with a grin. "My mech is from Kaon. He and his brothers didn't have enough supervision and Smokey has too much. Somewhere in the middle is a good medium, though from what I've heard about Hot Rod I can see their worry."

"He's a player?" Faun asked with a grin.

"And then some," Blondi said. "He's handsome and fun."

"He is," Faun said. "My boyfriend is a good looker, too."

"When do we meet him, if I may say," Blondi asked as they both walked to their offices.

"Soon," Faun said with a grin. "Soon."

-0-49th Floor, Autobot City Medical Center, Big Kahuna Central

He sat with his big old peds on the desk top eating candy as across from his big desk sprawled on the couch with his peds on the coffee table Ironhide sat. He was popping fudge. "Tell me, Ironhide, what happens to these slaggers? What kind of power does Hardie and Delphi have?"

"Total," Ironhide said. "I remember only one of their courts when I was a pup. It was over something easy … a dispute over grand genitors sharing their grandkids over the school holidays. It took only a short chat in a conference room to settle. This is sort of the same thing. However, they can both go to jail for a sentence of any length that they choose if they two play this stupidly."

"I'm still trying to assimilate that genitors have control over their grown kids," Ratchet said. "The humans would have a fit if they knew about this."

"We ain't humans," Ironhide said. "There be aliens here."

Ratchet grinned. "I like the idea that we can keep infants from going off the deep end. I do remember how Prime had a leash on Orion when he decided to belly flop into the Sea of Mercury that time you took him to Cybertron."

Ironhide laughed. "Mech was a caution. Its sort of the same thing. Its a leash to keep them from going off into the pit. Its so rare, I don't feel badly about it. It's not abused. No one likes this kind of conflict. I will say that I can't wait to hear this. Smokey is a funny kid and I like Roddy. I like them both."

"Me, too. Do you see a project here?" Ratchet asked as he pressed another button on the data compiling on his computer screen.

"I don't know. It's a possibility. Frankly, they both would benefit but they still have Cargo, Keystock and a few new ones. Apparently, some of the newbies that were asked to assist with freight to Cybertron have been slacking. Amma Turbine has two of them. Their families are religious and high caste but reformed. The kids haven't so they asked him to help."

"Turbine is a very fine person, Ironhide. How come he didn't go into the Temple?" Ratchet asked.

"He liked Appa's aft."

"You can be bonded and serve in the Temple and Monastery."

"True, that, but he also likes to fight. Amma is a contradiction," Ironhide said proudly. "That's why he's that end of the awesome scale."

"Rather like you?" Ratchet asked with a smile.

"Do you have to ask?" Ironhide said with a wink.

They would spend some time, then Ratchet would head off the Unidad. Ironhide would walk around the armories and hubs taking compliments about Halo like they were holy writ. To him, they were.

-0-At home having pie and a drink

"What do you think?"

Smokescreen shrugged. "Little mech needs a reality check. He can't blow off his family and what we value. What we value got him the life he has. We pushed the edge, Dev. We could have ended up in jail or worse."

"They were outclassed, all of them," Dev said with a grin. "They never saw us coming."

Smokescreen grinned. "They never did. Neither did infant. I want him to make up his mind about several things. I want him to decide what this relationship is, what he wants out of it or even if he wants out of it. I also want him to understand who he is, what he is and what that refers to us. I won't have him treat our family and our identity like slag. Our identity got us here."

Dev nodded. "You're playing to the choir, Smoke. That infant and Moda are my world. Tress is a great ada and friend. I would do anything for them and you. I just won't have someone barging in and not taking respect and care over my jewel. I don't want Smokey to think he can disrespect us or what we are either. That infant is my world."

"Mine, too," Smokescreen said. He grinned. "He's one truly great young mech."

"You won't get an argument out of me," Dev said as he put more pie on both their plates.

-0-At the prison

Gee-Gee walked out of the alternate universe portion of extra high security heading for the sector with the mental patients and psychologically challenged prisoners. There were new ones brought in from Cybertron and she was going to see how they were doing. The preliminary information suggested it wasn't good.

Walking along, she wondered what Sentinel Prime had recorded for Optimus. It felt weirdly empty without him here. Sentinel had been around for so long it was hard to remember when he wasn't there, standing behind a Prime on the news net or being a Prime himself. It felt like a weird uncle being declared missing or something. It was unsettling, though she knew he was in the best place possible for someone with his ethical deficiencies.

Walking to the gates, she went through the series before entering the compound. She ignored the usual suspects before reaching the new prisoners who occupied different cells, they were so dangerous. Her team was with her and they didn't bother to hide their arms. Pausing before a cell, she stared into the abyss. The prisoner was a mech named Scythe. He was a deranged individual who killed at whim. He was so psychotic that legal steps were nearly finished to put him into a condition called 'secured-stasis, medical' in which he would be held in a security ward under deep stasis. He would be intravenously maintained and monitored until his condition could be studied and a remedy, if any, could be found.

"Hello, Scythe. How are you today?"

He stared at Gee-Gee with molten rage. "Let me out."

"I can't do that. I want to know what you need," she said patiently.

"I need to kill you. I need to chop you up. Then them," he said glancing at the silent mechs with her. "I would need them, too."

"No can do but I'll tell Prime," Gee-Gee said.

"Prime won't help you. I killed him. I killed Sentinel and Nominus, too. Then I killed them again. They wouldn't stay dead. Did you know I killed them last night? They're in the barracks. Come inside and I'll show you," he said as he stared at her with clenched fists and unnaturally shiny optics.

"I'll take your word for it, Scythe," she said. "Think about it and I'll be back." She moved on and he watched her. He would until she left. He had not only the normal high security but was on monitors for suicide. He was so nihilistic that it was debatable if he even knew who or what he was. The only way he seemed to feel anything was in the act of murder.

Pausing by the other cell, Gee-Gee watched as a femme stared at her. She stood and walked to the bars. "Hello. Did you come to visit? Or is this more slag from Sentinel? I heard he was here. Send him over. I have a present for him."

Gee-Gee stared at her and considered what could create a creature like her. What had happened to her to make her what she was, a deliberate sadist and stone cold killer. She liked to plant explosive devices on her lovers and detonate them at her leisure. They didn't know they were mined. She was very good with manipulating energy and when they were sitting dazed on her couch, she would put the devices in their bodies below their spark chamber. She was unrepentant, without emotion when discussing these events and hopelessly dangerous. "Sentinel was recalled by the Pantheon. He's in the Matrix."

She stared at Gee-Gee, then frowned. "He never said goodbye," she said, then grinned. No humor reached her optics. "Well, anyone of the mechs with you will do." She stared at them with an appraising expression.

Gee-Gee turned to her team. "Step back. I want to talk to her."

They hesitated, then moved away, pausing within line of shot to the murderer behind the fence. Gee-Gee turned back to her. "Amania, what happened to you?"

Amania stared at Gee-Gee. "You want to analyze me?"

"No, I want to help you," Gee-Gee replied.

Amania shrugged. "I like to kill."

"Only mechs?" Gee-Gee asked.

Amania stared at her. "Why not? They aren't too smart. They always fall for the same trick. It makes me happy to press the button." She leaned in closer, then grinned. "Boom," she said, then laughed.

Gee-Gee stared at her with pity, then turned to go. "Let me know if you need something."

"I need out of here, Warden. I'm not done," Amania said.

"You are, Amania," Gee-Gee said as she walked to the gates. They were out in minutes, then walked toward the Center together.

"What the frag is her story, Warden?" Roadbuster asked as he glanced back toward her area of incarceration.

"She's mad. Cybertron broke her. We have to fix her as best we can," Gee-Gee said. "Stay away from her, boys. She likes to kill mechs. I'm going to have her on automation, the full program so you don't have to go too near. I don't know what else she knows about killing but I do know it makes her feel better. Those two are going into stasis as soon as the courts and their advocates agree."

They continued onward to the Center and shift change.

-0-In the jail house now

It was dinner and food was brought to the inmates. It was large, delicious and devoured. Mini-cons in for fighting, a mech in for drunkenness and the two of them occupied their cell block. They hadn't said a word to each other, contenting themselves with watching the floor show around them. Side-by-side, they were housed.

Smokey was livid a long time, then the flame fizzled out. Hot Rod was the same way but he hid it better. He wanted to tell Roddy a few things but disclosing important slag to the older mech wasn't well received, it would seem. They were in here because of it and he wasn't about to speak first. He sat thinking about his challenge and he regretted it. He was outgoing enough but looking for a boyfriend wasn't his strongest suit. There were guys who wanted him but he was young, frivolous and slightly clueless about his appeal. Being the grandson of a looker like Devcon had been a jackpot in the gene pool. It also made him a babe.

This was going to be hard. Maybe if he didn't say anything Hot Rod would forget what he said.

Maybe.

It was going to be a long hard night in the clink for two kids with attitude.

-0-TBC 8-267-18

ESL:

nihilism: the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless.

A belief that nothing in life has meaning, developed and popularized by Friedrich Neitzsche who died mad in prison.