The Diego Diaries: Cat and Mouse (dd6 624) HERE WE GO!
=0=Earth2
She walked through the hatch doors into the massive facility, then paused with the big mech standing by the door. Down the concourse she would see another who was walking around with his weapons on display. So was this one, Twin Twist who was festooned with guns and someone Judy Witwicky liked a lot because he was bad ass, too. "HEY! TWIN! I didn't know you were posted here."
"Hi, Judy," he said as he knelt down on a knee assembly. "I am. Dull duty. What brings you here?"
"I thought I'd give Harris and the Boys a piece of my mind for the bad publicity. I don't want anyone coming here to think they're in jeopardy. This place is easy," she said as she grinned up at the big lethal mechanism.
He chuckled. "That's us. Easy."
They chatted, then she walked to the motor pool nearby getting onto a small segway. With a whoop and a wave, she buzzed off heading for the administrative area of the facility.
Twin watched her go with a grin. She was admired among the mechs for many things. She was the AllSpark's ada, a friend of their people in a major way and someone who had slapped Rampage in the face with her purse. Even if it was only a movie, it really did sum up the bad assed-ness of Judy Witwicky to a tee. She could wreck with the best of them.
She buzzed through the little town and down the street to the 'city hall'. Entering, she parked the vehicle, then walked past the secretary who grinned at her.
"They're expecting you, Judy," she said.
"We're expecting you at the next blow out, remember" Judy said to a fellow Autobot City Professional Assistant etcetera group member. "Is the ball and chain in?"
She laughed. "All of them are."
Judy grinned, then walked to the door and opened it. She leaned in, then entered as it closed behind her.
The young lady at the desk grinned at the thought that the titans of industry and lords of the manor were going to get an earful from the "Boss of Autobot City". She pressed the intercom button and dialed down low to listen in.
It would be good.
=0=Inside
"Well, everyone is here," Judy Witwicky said as she stopped in the middle of the room, Owen's huge office, and folded her arms over her chest. "Well?"
Harris who had learned to respect, if not like her sat back. "We're as amazed as you, Judy."
She slowly turned, staring at all of them as unafraid as ever, then paused before Andre Baudin, futurist, head of the science program for this facility and the overall presentation of it to the world(s) beyond. "What do you know. You're the head of science here."
"We are as baffled as you, Mrs. Witwicky," he said with a helpless shrug. "We're sitting at ground zero. If we could find the answers we would."
"Those bastards you brought here, the ones everyone so fondly calls 'targets' … have you done due diligence in digging into their background to find their secrets? Everyone has them," she said pointedly to Harris.
"We are, Judy," Harris said in a softer tone. "They were and are professional soldiers. They have a lot of baggage."
"No," Judy said. "Twin out there … he's a professional soldier. So is Jetso down the concourse. Prime and the army, N.E.S.T. … those are professional soldiers. These guys? They hire their guns for private murder. Someone is getting paybacks. Someone is evening a score. You brought chaos to this oasis.
"We worked our BUTTS off to make the reputation that we have for humans over a course of YEARS and you guys have detonated that in a matter of weeks. What about it, Harris? Do you need to shake up the leadership here? Does the human community petition the Prime to take over the facility as per the rules of the Charter and allied documents and get someone new? What will it take to end this?" she asked. "We're expecting an answer soon," she said as she walked to the door. "Don't take too long." With that, she walked out of the room.
Cynthia Tomas rose and followed her out as the roomful of men sat silently.
Kyle Davis sighed. "She's a bitch."
"She's one of the most powerful people who live here. She's ground zero, her and her family for first contact. You'd be terribly shortsighted and stupid, Kyle, to think along those lines. Judy Witwicky has the ear and confidence of the Prime and the bots here," Owen Harris said as he glanced at Davis. "No one on our team must underestimate the solidarity of the human community toward the overall mission of union of the humans here with the Cybertronians nor underestimate the power and resolve of any of the locals to preserve it. All of us are expendable in light of those simple facts."
"Owen is right," Baudin said. "I think Cynthia should manage that part of our problem. She's in the same groups with the women and she's their friend."
"I agree," Owen said as he waited for her to return. It would be a silent tense wait.
=0=Outside
"I'm sorry, Judy," Cynthia said. "No one wants this."
"You should've expected it, Cindy. Those mercs are trouble and they always were. They hate the bots and worked against them since Diego. I was there for a lot of it myself when we had to go there for security. I don't know what's going on here but its going to fail and blow back on all of us." She squeezed Cynthia's shoulder. "I don't know how you stand it working for them but any time you want to quit, come to us. We have a job for you day and night."
Cynthia hugged Judy. "You make it tempting. I'm trying to soft land the bullshit here but I'll remember that." She looked at Judy with a grin. "I mean that. I will remember it."
"Good because its there for you," Judy said. They chatted a moment, then she drove onward heading for the door and the convoluted trip on the metro which was open under the facility to those with clearance such as herself but not the locals for the time being. It would be a fun ride back to the Resort in The City.
=0=Earth 1
Brandon Clark hung up the phone after talking to a consortium of reporters from Earth. They were calling to take the temperature of the community, inquiring about another murder of another former mercenary. He sat back considering the situation and found that it probably wouldn't end well. Nothing like this ever did. There was going to be a meeting of the leadership of all the communities in Ops Center in The City shortly and he was preparing to go.
The door opened and his secretary leaned in. "The pass for the metro came through, Brandon. You're cleared to use it at will. When it becomes open for all of us is going to be a topic at the meeting."
"Thank you Alex," he said as he rose to go. Walking out, chatting with Alex, his secretary and professional assistant a moment about this and that, Brandon Clark walked to the hatch doors, took the elevator down which was operational with his clearance and waited on the platform for the next Circle train to The City to come through.
It did and he stepped on board as the doors automatically opened. Walking to the seats set aside for humans in the usual protected area, ones occupied by Owen Harris and Andre Baudin of Earth2, Carly Brooks-Spencer of Unidad who had come the long way around to join up with them and Bat Erdene of Mongolia who was Carly's replacement at the Consulate, they would chat until they reached Metro #2 at the Temple District. There they would be met on the street by Will, Niall and Bobby Epps who would drive them all into the Center where they would join Judy Witwicky, Gavin Pritchard, Sarah Lennox and Lonnie Epps for the meeting.
N.E.S.T would be represented by General Morshower whose wife was on Earth helping their son prepare to move here with his family and take a job at the Resort in management since his retirement from the Army. He would be a N.E.S.T. liaison for the Resort.
Nepotism be damned. This was their sonny boy.
(And grandchildren.)
They entered, then gathered on the table as Ratchet, Ironhide, Raptor, Prowl and Jazz waited for Prime who was taking a call from world leaders. When he entered the banter halted and everyone turned toward him.
"Thank you for coming. We have a situation here that is dire for those in the path of someone's considered wrath and deleterious for the well being of our communities. We have another dead human, a murdered man who is a former mercenary. Both of the murder victims have been mercenaries which makes understanding the motives of these actions both difficult and easy. One might say this is a grudge match between those for whom war and battle are monetary transactions. You are aware of the disgust that professional soldiers and armies hold for mercenaries?" Prime asked.
Everyone, mostly everyone nodded.
"That holds true here. Mercenaries in our experience are the lowest of the low. But that being said, we are convinced that this killer is human. We have been gathering evidence and it points to someone inside, not out. We are not going to be releasing most of it to preserve the investigation but we are going to tell you what we can. It would appear that you have a killer in your midst and we would like to know what you can tell us most particularly about the mercenaries that you have in your employ, Mr. Harris."
Everyone glanced at Owen who was staring at Prime without expression. :I hired them because they had some small experience with you and your people. I am very aware that it mostly wasn't happy but they had insights that given the right amount of sifted thought still yielded information that has been helpful to me in my efforts with Earth2: he said.
"What insights?" Ratchet asked.
:You're loyal to each other and those that you consider friend. You're measured in your response to enemies or those you perceive as such. You value honor and truth, work hard for solidarity even with those that you don't fully trust or appreciate and you're very professional soldiers. Your families are your greatest feature and your children are as precious to you as our own are to us. There is value even in sifting through negativity. Somewhere in that will be the truth: Harris said.
Prime considered that answer. It was interesting and intel into the thought processes of Harris.
:He's not lying: Ratchet said as he consulted his tech.
:I see that: Prime said. "I am interested in whether or not you will keep them here given the situation. Even if we capture the killer, and we will, will you keep them here?"
Harris considered that, then nodded. :I will. I am very satisfied with their performance at Earth2 and find nothing in that which could constitute dismissal. I'm as sorry about this as anyone else but I don't see scapegoating them for someone elses actions to be a good thing:
:He's sincere: Ratchet said to Prime.
"I am keeping them in protective custody. I do not intend to allow them to have visitors until we figure out who this is. Someone is stalking them and we are digging into their backgrounds diligently. I want to know everything that any of you can tell us about them. I would be deeply displeased if you knew something and did not tell us.
"We are dealing with over 250 known serial killers on Cybertron. Experience tells us that they do not stop killing until they are caught or killed. While he might be satisfied killing mercenaries now, what will prevent him from branching out to kill you or even worse, your children?" Prime asked as he leaned slightly forward into their space.
It was deeply quiet in the room.
=0=TBC 3-30-19 4-6-19
ESL
deleterious: (del-ih-tair-eee-us) bad, not good, doesn't help, isn't helpful, counter productive.