The Diego Diaries: Whoa. Please. (dd6 564)
=0=There
"THEY HAVE THE HORSES!" someone yelled as everyone who wasn't being pummeled into dust turned to look.
At that moment, the other van tipped over from the mech inside beating his way out and the door fell open. The biggest mech most of them had ever seen Godzilla-ed his way out and roared the roar of the damned.
"Oh frag," Springer said as he stood up and watched the maddened mech roaring in front of an overturned van spot him. "This is going to hurt."
"I know," Drift said as he took a stance. "Shall I stab him?"
"No," Springer said as the mech charged both. "STAB ME!"
They were gripped by the mech who plowed through them and headed straight for Jack and Sun who turned in time to get slammed hard. It was the clang heard around the world. The groan that came from Drift and Springer as the monster mech pressed all three of them into Jack and Sun who pressed back was pretty nicely toned as well.
Meanwhile, the purloined horses began to buck as the two mechs kicking their sides tried to head toward town. The biggest mech sat Rondo who was Drift's big mount. He humped up and left the ground with all the force a maddened seven ton mechanism could muster.
Which was considerable, the muster.
Yancy who was sun fishing in a tight circle began to drift toward the remuda who were watching with gimlet optics. They were shying as the mechs who weren't grabbed, stabbed and ready for a slab tried to decide what to do in the rapidly exploding chaos. In the distance unnoticed, a red and white search and rescue vehicle drove madly toward the jailhouse entrance, turned into the driveway and leaped into the air to transform and land on his peds with an astonished expression on his face.
It was then that the horses stampeded and ran for the wide open spaces which could only be reached apparently right up Ratchet's carcass. He disappeared in and under a herd of about a dozen stampeding wildly screaming mechanical horses. Given that everyone had chosen a target and was bee-lining toward it, no one saw Ratchet disappear. Given that everyone was screaming, no one heard his. The horses trampled him, then disappeared down the roadway toward town.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The big mech holding Drift and Springer around the waist using them for battering rams charged again and again at Jack and Sun as Hardie, Steiner, Lissie and the others ran for the horses bucking two big mechanisms within an inch of their lives.
It was madness.
=0=At the party
Prowl was feeling no pain as he sat beside Kestrel looking at a private collection of images of Optimus as a baby and youngster. They were beautiful and the love the three had for each other in each one was spark warming. So when the call came to him it was rather a juxtaposition of slag as unwelcome and unwanted at the moment to the greatest degree possible. Listening to the report, he quietly rose and asked Kes to hold his spot, he had a small thing he had to do. Walking through the crowd who were eating desserts, drinking drinks and having a splendid time, he made his way out and when the door closed behind him he nearly unscrewed himself running for the elevator. He entered, then it closed behind him.
One almost expected a few washers and a hex bolt to roll around on the floor.
=0=There
"What's going on outside, Abba?" Pulley asked from the cell. They were all standing against the back wall. "It sounds awful out there."
Jolo grinned. "I'll go check. You wait here, boys, unless I call you."
The 'boys' nodded as they held their taser poles and the fort, watching their chief walk to the door to look out.
He stared at the brouhaha for a moment, then looked at 'the boys'. "I think you need to come out now." He pulled a taser pole free from a rack of them by the door that were coded to the cops, then walked out with a determined set to his expression.
The boys glanced at each other, then the kids. "Stay there, infants," one said as they hurried outside.
The kids watched them go, then glanced at each other. "We don't have anywhere to go," OD said as the others grinned. "This is sorta cool."
They nodded as they listened to the slag going on outside.
It sorta was.
=0=The Anti Cool
The bigger drunken maniacal mech on Rondo was being chased around by Hercy and Lissie who only needed to grab a piece of him to jerk him off but before they could do that Rondo lifted up and doing so got airborne. He hung in the air a moment then fell over backward. He landed on the big mech who bellowed loudly, then rolled a moment. Staggering back up, he lunged away dragging the mech whose ped was caught in a stirrup. He bucked and when he did a hoof caught Lissie in the chin lifting her up and way the frag to hell and gone over the decorative wall that bordered the driveway.
Hercy turned to watch her fly away, then caught a hoof in the aft. He flew after her.
Steiner who caught a glimpse of his sister taking one on the chin ran maddened with outrage forward and gripped the drunk mech by his neck. Yanking as hard as he could, the slagger was jerked around by Rondo until the mech's ped fell loose. Pulling him back to the side, he punched the big mech in the face, then ran across the battlefield to find his sister and Hercy.
He made it.
Jack and Sun leaned into it meeting each bone crushing slam of their opponent with equal force. Drift and Springer who were part of the maddened maniac's arsenal yelled and begged Jack and Sun to step back and let them die in peace.
Hardie who was hanging onto Yancy's bridle found himself flying every which direction as the enraged horse flung himself about. He knew if he let go he would regret it so he hung on. That was when Yancy sat down and rolled over.
It did.
Hurt, that is.
Meanwhile, calls were reached by the Emergency Command Center that a herd of riderless horses were stampeding down Cultural Center Road heading for the city center. Needless to say, every mounted rider and beat cop within two planetary diameters from downtown in The City were converging there like alien predators toward a fresh victim.
Ratchet was spread eagle on the ground watching the birdies sing.
Prowl was hoofing it past Club Cybertron.
The horses were gaining on the main drag of the city and the line of Christmas Surprise trees that made it such a memorable drive.
Springer and Drift were about ready to go to sleepy town as Jack and Sun began to get the upper hand.
Hardie was half buried by Yancy who was ready to kill everyone, everything and everywhere that was in his path. Rising up, he shook himself, lost everyone, then ran forward toward town. He saw Ratchet's corpus in time to leap over it, given that horses HATE to place their feet on anything lying on the ground and was gone from sight nearly immediately.
Rondo was already heading for town.
Lissie was seeing stars as her brother picked her up with terror on his face. "Lissie? You alright?"
She rubbed her jaw. "I am. Where's Hercy? I thought I saw him fly by overhead."
"I'm here," Hercy said as he lay on his back staring at the sky. "The moons look beautiful tonight," he said rather raggedly.
Lon and Bezel who came to consciousness from their trip over the top of the now overturned paddy wagon staggered forward with determination and crossed optics. They looked at the battlefield and took stock.
Two big mechs were planted, cuffed and dazed from getting trampled. Another lay on the ground defeated in the opening sequence of Hell, Part Two: The Jailhouse. Drift, Sun, Jack and Springer were battling a huge maddened mech and getting the worst of it. Hercy and Lissie were hurt. There was something down the road that looked flattened like a can of Coke that would turn out to be Ratchet of all mechs. There were no horses in sight. The jailhouse cops were stunned in place looking the mess over. Everyone was dazed and disabled.
It infuriated Bez and Lon deeply. Pulling their tasers, they glanced at each other, then ran for the big mech to stick the devices one each in his audials. The bellows were stupefying, both from the drunk and the four mechs touching him when the double charge of electricity shot through them as a solid object. It arced and sent Lon and Bezel flying. Everyone fell on the ground and sparkled but for Lon and Bezel. They were too busy reverberating the blow back of the charge.
The mechs from the jail ran forward with their long charging sticks, then froze. It looked like a wasteland in all directions. Walking to the big mech, their chief, his bond and two new guys, the mechs grounded everyone, cuffed the slagger, then dragged him off with the other two who were already slagged from the rodeo. Jack who stood up and walked to the last one who was laying in a heap nearby sat down on him and looked around. "Frag, this looks like Pantella V, Sun."
Sun who stood up slowly and ran a systems check briefly turned to his brother and laughed. "It does." He looked at Hardie, then grinned. "I see you can still hold your electricity." A lot of groaning attempts at laughter greeted that. Then they turned to Hercy and Lissie. "Liss, are you alright?"
She was sitting in Steiner's arms. "I caught a hoof in the face."
Everyone walked to her, checked her out, commiserated with her, then glanced at Hercy who was walking to them as he rubbed his backside. "Guess where I caught one?" he asked as they groaned-laughed together.
"Are they in the jail?" Drift asked groggily, then looked around. "Where are the horses?"
Everyone froze, then looked around. "Oh frag," Hardie said. "They must have run off. We better get them."
They then ran as one so fast and focused that they didn't notice that Ratchet was laying spread eagle nearby. It was a blazing limp fest toward town.
=0=Town
Prowl heard the horses coming so he ran faster and when he rounded the corner at the Club, it was too late to get out of the way. A herd of horses ran over him and kept going. They would continue running until they reached the Industrial Park Cities. That they didn't get killed, lost or injured in any way would be a miracle.
=0=At the party
Prime felt a sharp pain, then the bond link was dulled. He rose as calmly as he could, then reached the door. Running for the elevator, he blitzed downward and followed his usual GPS markers to where Prowl's signal originated. As he did a herd of riderless Watch horses ran past him heading toward the boondocks or places unknown. He slowed long enough to watch, then hustled onward. When he reached the corner, he saw Prowl sprawled on the ground groaning softly. "PROWL!" he said as he knelt.
=0=On the way to Mandalay
They hoofed it picking up speed as they closed the gap to The City. It was clear that the herd followed the highway and much was the speculation about how they hoped that no one would hit one. By the time they reached the corner to follow the highway, they reached Prowl and Prime. Prowl was sitting up leaning on the building while Prime held his servo. In the distance, they could hear an ambulance coming.
"Prowl," Hardie said as he knelt. "How is he?"
Prime glanced at Hardie. "Banged up but nothing broken. I want him transported and scanned."
"Nothing is dented but my pride," Prowl said as he glanced at the others. "What the frag is going on? We have a report of a stampede and I can attest to it myself."
"It's a long sad story. We had four of the biggest baddest drunks go mad at the jail," Springer said as he sagged against Drift. He paused a moment to listen, then looked relieved. "They corralled the horses at the Park City. They're holding them in a makeshift corral."
Everyone looked relieved, then the sound of someone staggering up behind them drew everyone's attention. Ratchet stepped into the light and looked like he'd been run over by a herd of horses. He looked at the mechs with fury, then turned on Springer. "What the frag is going on? I got ten zillion emails about kids in jail, I come here to find out what's going on and get run over by a herd of horse-" He paused his rampage to look at Prowl. "What happened to you?"
Prowl smirked slightly. "Funny story," he began.
=0=TBC 1-7-19 edited 1-17-19
A bucking horse or any for that matter that sun fishes is spinning in a circle to drop the rider off. Sometimes they do it bucking as well or humping up their backs to make it hard to stay on. My uncles and girl cousins were great at this sort of thing in the 1920's and up when both men and women had to do all the same things to be considered champions. My girl cousins were champions. :D
Someone is translating my Lord of the Rings stories into French for readers on this site. I have no problem with that. Bless their hearts. Hugs tonight, darlings, from -14 degrees Fahrenheit in Alaska. :D