The Diego Diaries: Crader (dd6 485)
-0-On the floor
They lay on the floor as Prowl knelt in the elevator. Shooting continued, then stopped. It was deafening, the silence. Prime glanced around. :Fall back:
Everyone began to scoot and crawl away as firing began again, halting their progress once more. Laying near the wall, Drift listened as scanners hit everyone there, field medical type sensors. Then the sound of Ratchet crawling forward was heard. He reached out to grip Drift's ped, then drag him back. When he did, the shooting began again, this time aimed closer to the floor. Feeling rage burst through him, Ratchet rolled over and returned fire as he unsubbed his gun. Holes peppered the wall, then the shooting stopped.
It was silent again. Gripping Drift, he sat up on his knees and yanked hard. Staggering to his peds, he dragged him swiftly into the elevator with Prowl's help. On the other side of the corridor, Springer watched with laser optics. :Ratchet:
:He's alright. Just a through and through. I can fix it here and do more there at Metro Femme: Ratchet said.
Fury of the worst kind surged through Springer as he glanced toward Prime. The big mech was conferring with someone off line, then glanced at Ironhide who was leaning against the wall of the apartment next to the two in question. His cannons ached to fire.
-0-IntraComm, normal early afternoon programming
A banner appeared: "LATEST BREAKING NEWS" cutting into the movie that was playing on channel 123. It would appear on all media and channels throughout the colony.
A grim faced Lim-Lee reading from a datapad spoke. "We have just received word from the Office of Emergency Management and the Watch that an incident is underway in the Cambo Tower in Crater District 1, City 5. Reports of shooting have been received and everyone is asked to stay away from the area. The tower is being locked down and the occupants asked to lock themselves into their homes. No one there is to open their door unless asked via transponder through the Emergency Center in Fortress Maximus. No one who asks you to do so without messaging you in that manner is not authorized and therefore, do not … repeat, do not open to them. Please stay inside and lock your doors. Those on the 44th through 46th floors will be evacuated personally by emergency personnel and the police. Those on any other floor are asked to lock your doors and stay inside until the all clear. All elevators and the stairways are under lock down by the authorities and will stay so until the altercation is safely ended.
"Emergency Manager for Mars, Cybertron and the Empire, Autobot Commander Inferno stated that the situation is contained at the moment and entails firearms of large caliber. There is very little other information available other than that Prime and the authorities came to speak to individuals who were occupying apartments side-by-side when gunfire broke out. There is no information regarding injuries nor is there any newer information released right now. The street is blocked off and there are police maintaining the scene. Anyone who trespasses on the situation will be arrested. The situation is still fluid and everyone is being asked to stay away. This message and the Prime's orders about staying away will be sent immediately through the emergency transponder relay to all mechs and femmes in the colony and you are ordered to heed them. I repeat ..."
-0-Elevator
Drift lay on his back staring at the roof of the elevator. Springer was echoing all over the inside his helm, questioning and encouraging him which was sorta terribly sweet and sorta hilarious. He felt his pain fade when Ratchet gave him a sedative. Subbing this and that out of the stores and manufactures of his own body, the big medic was working to plug a shot that hit him on the left side of his chest, drilled straight through and came out the other side. A hole in the wall where he had stood showed how lethal and dangerous some of the weapons wielded by the bots could be.
"You alright, son?" Ratchet asked as he cut a piece of medicinal metal to patch the holes on both sides. He had clipped and suctioned, jelled and worked the wound until it was well enough to patch and sealed enough not to bleed. It would take better and more time and effort at the hospital.
"I'm fine, Ada. Nice drugs, by the way," Drift said with a grin.
"You infants are beginning to worry me. Sideswipe can't cheat worth slag and you and Springer aren't ducking fast enough. I'm going to have to paddle your afts. I have a reputation in this mech's army and you aren't helping," Ratchet said with a chuckle.
Prowl who was standing at the door with his weapon in servo glanced at the two. "You're lucky to be alive. That was a punk move on their part."
In the hallway, they'd pulled themselves back and were standing on each side of the two apartments. Prime was lit but controlled. He rapped on the wall with his big, big gun. "You inside. Drop your weapons and step out with your servos where we can see them."
"Frag you. What do you want? You came here with guns, slagger. What do you expect us to do?" a deep voice said from inside.
"Come out now. If we have to come in there, we will come in shooting from every possible angle," Prime said.
"Go ahead. Our armor can take it," the voice said.
Prime glanced at Ratchet. :Do we have any information on their body composition yet?:
Ratchet buzzed Spectography at Metro Femme, then glanced at Prime. :I don't think we have hand weapons that can breach their armor. I think its an alloy with ununtrium. Phase six and maybe better:
Prime considered that. "Frag," he whispered. :Ratchet … do we have any gas we can vent into their apartments?:
Ratchet considered that, ran through his internal inventory, then nodded. :I can manufacture something that works on the neural net. It brings them down but doesn't put them to sleep. I would have to do a guess here, Prime. Too much and they die. Too little and they come out swinging:
Prime considered that, then saw a door open a pinch down the hallway with a youngling mech staring out in fear. :Springer … check the hallway. There's a kid down the hall looking out:
Springer nodded and with three mechs hurried down the hallway to check doors. Prime watched, then looked at Ratchet. :We have little choice, Ratchet. Do it. Can you deliver it to just those two apartments?:
:Get Jetta here. I'm going to need to know where the ducts are to tap into just them: Ratchet said as he worked out the chemical formula chain that would turn into a nerve gas, very powerful but almost never lethal given the right size of the formulation. He used it in war and he would use it here now. He guessed at the levels but created it swiftly.
Moments later, the other elevator opened and Jetta stepped out gun in servo. Ratchet stared at him, his son-in-law and again noted how amazingly handsome the big black mech was. His red highlights here and there and the silver on his finials made him someone even humans considered immensely handsome. He grinned to himself. He had a lot of good looking kids.
Jetta listened off line to Prime, then slipped over to Ratchet. :What do you need, Ada?" he asked.
:I need to funnel a nerve gas into their duct systems without poisoning everyone on the floor: Ratchet said as he unsubbed a big canister. It was created along with the gas inside the highly specialized and modified body of the big medic.
Jetta nodded. :We have to go down there where the big picture is. The panel you need is behind it. How silently and swiftly can you run?: He grinned at Ratchet as the big mech did the calculations.
:If you don't stand in front of me, slagging fast: Ratchet replied with a dazzling smile.
:Alright: Jetta said as he checked in with Prime.
Prime motioned everyone to move to the sides and free up the middle. Then he pointed his gun at the door and nodded.
Jetta stared at Ratchet a moment. Ratchet stared at him. Then they both ran like the wind down the corridor. As they did, the shooting commenced again. The walls were perforated and so were Jetta and Ratchet. Staggering to safety, they leaned on the wall. Ratchet turned to Jetta. :Let's keep going, then we can pass out. Okay?: he said as he read the scans he made of both of them. They were hit but not critically.
Jetta chuckled in spite of himself, then led the way, limping to the panel hidden by a gorgeous portrait of nightfall on Moonbase 1 with Cybertron filling the sky. He reached up painfully, removed the portrait, then keyed open the panel. Inside, a number of tubes, ducts and pipes were gathered to run this way and that for the corridor's apartments. Taking the bottle from Ratchet who leaned against the wall, he opened a tap that hissed. Putting the tube under it, he pushed it up and it hissed with a seal into the duct. Glancing at Ratchet, he looked at Prime who nodded. :What now, Ada?:
Ratchet grimaced, then stood. :Turn it to open, then close it when I tell you to do so. Do it swiftly. I'm only guessing here:
Jetta nodded, then turned the tap. They stared at the bottle as Ratchet watched the dial. :Shut it off now: Jetta did. They both looked at Prime.
:Done. Now wait until they fall. When you wait a full four minutes after that, that will allow the remaining gas to go inert and therefore be rendered harmless: Ratchet relayed.
Everyone nodded then waited. After a moment, a heavy thud was heard, then another, then three more. In the other apartment, two thuds happened at the same time. Prime glanced at Springer. :How many?:
:Immigration says there's nine. That was seven: Springer said.
:Ratchet, how long does the gas last?: Prime asked as he moved closer to the apartment wall on his side of the corridor.
:Four breems: Ratchet said as he slid down the wall to sit.
Ironhide who was watching thought Ratchet was lowering his profile so he didn't react. He would've torn down the walls if he knew. Most of them there would. Jetta and Ratchet were family. The clock ticked onward, then another thud was heard. Everyone felt their tension ratcheting up until at last, one more fell to the ground.
Moving swiftly, Prime kicked down the door, then pulled back. There was one minute to go. Everyone stood in the corridor as Ironhide kicked down the other door. Then they all moved back called to do so by Ratchet. Ratchet formulated a precaution, then WIFI-ed it to everyone who turned to him with surprise. "You can go in safely now. It's my own formula. You're welcome," he said as he sat on the floor with Jetta.
Jetta weakly waved his servo as he watched them charge into the apartments. Drift who was laying on the floor of the elevator glanced down the hallway. "Prowl, I think they're both shot."
Prowl startled, then rushed down the hallway, passing apartments where big mechs were cuffing big mechs with everything they carried. Pausing in front of Ratchet and Jetta, he knelt. "Frag," he said, then he called for the cavalry.
-0-Moments later
The patches would hold as Jetta, Drift and Ratchet were loaded onto stretchers. Springer and Ironhide who were lit followed them as they were carried to an elevator. "You go, Atar. I'll stay and see this out, then go there. DRIFT! I'm coming shortly," Springer called out.
"I'll be there," Drift said as elevator doors closed on him and his stretcher bearers.
Another opened as Elita and Chromia followed by a fragged off Maelstrom stepped into the corridor. "Well, you didn't duck fast enough," Elita said as she took Jetta's servo into her own. "I'm going to have to have that talk with you, cowboy."
Jetta grinned. "I look forward to it," he said as he was carried into the elevator.
"Ada," Elita said as she glanced at Ratchet. "You and Drift, too?"
"The family that gets shot together as they say … whatever it is they say," Ratchet said as he was carried to the first elevator. Ironhide went with him and the doors closed.
"Go with Jetta, Elita. We'll help Prime," Chromia said with barely contained blood lust.
Elita stepped into the elevator with Jetta and was gone. Prowl watched them go, then turned to Prime. "We have prison intervention teams and the intervention team from Processor Health coming to take them to Metro Femme. I'm assuming you want them there or do you have another place in mind?"
"There will do. I want them deactivated," Prime said. "I do not want them awake until we figure this out. If Ratchet is right, if they have some sort of modified phase six armor, this could be very bad."
Prowl nodded, then turned toward the elevator as big, big, huge, burly, very big mechs stepped off carrying body stretchers like they were surf boards. "They're in there. They're very bad news. Their armor can't be breached and they don't feel pain. Deactivate them and be careful."
They nodded and walked down the hallway through the broken metal and fraying wiring of a pockmarked corridor. It took a moment for them to gather up the slaggers but they carried them out after deactivating the reviving maniacs themselves. They were highly trained, intensely strong, fast and fearless. They were also extremely well versed in the various types and kinds of kill switches that were part of the Cybertronian physique. Prime watched them go, glanced around at his mechs, then the group walked to the elevators to leave. A team of Forensics experts led by Sky were going to go over the apartments and seal them. Everyone else would be visited by the police and a medic to ensure that they were alright and functional in their homes.
-0-Outside
The street was blocked off allowing only relevant vehicles and personnel to come and go. Ambulances lined up in a row along with a pair of large medical transports from Processor Health specially designed to carry multiple mechs strapped onto the heavy duty stretcher boards upon which the nine mechs were affixed. Cameras were everywhere including the news outlets on world and two crews from Galaxy Productions at both ends of the blockaded street. Stretchers were brought out and loaded as cops gathered to talk about the incident and the scene. Springer outlined what he needed, then hopped into the vehicle bearing Drift to go to Metro Femme. Everyone would go there so Ratchet could be consulted from whatever bed or lab he would be able to proceed toward after the doctors finished with him.
One by one, the vehicles with sirens and lights flashing pulled out to go. They drove slowly down the street, through the police presence and onward toward the highway that would take them back to a junction that led everyone including The City. They would take that turn off and book it for Metro Femme and the waiting teams of doctors there with their lights and sirens flashing.
TBC 10-2-18 edited 11-1-18
Leoness: Get well soon, my dear Leoness. I hear you and am very, very happy that this story has resonance for you. I personally think people are fluid on the continuum of human sexuality and more are reasoning out what fits their souls and hearts. For me, whatever suits your soul I am good with. If this helped you, I am DELIGHTED! This story takes on timely and weighted issues. I never write a story that doesn't do that. It's rather a way for me to talk about things that aren't just important to me, but everyone else. You are my hero. Get better fast. :D