The Diego Diaries: Cat and Mouse (dd6 634)
=0=Down the street
They stood together out of view of the garrison habitat down the street. Prime had discussed what he wanted with Perceptor and Wheeljack as they crossed the airfield halting beside a cargo ship to outline the process. The others listened, added a comment or two, then Perceptor stepped aside to wait for back up.
The sun was shining overhead as they reached the Courthouse to pause in the ornate courtyard of the huge seven story building, its facade rebuilt since the calamitous crash landing of Omega what seemed like decades before. A truck came back and parked nearby, a science truck with the requisite equipment. Perceptor and Wheeljack chatted a moment, then turned to Prime and the others.
"Optimus, we've designed a way to get communications knocked out but we won't have more than an educated guess that it'll work on the tech they have that hides them," Percy began. "We can hit them with an EMP blast, a small targeted one and blame it on a faulty reactor or feedback loop in the Hangar District, you know … like its still part of the situation correction from before.
"That will take out communications and we can even extend it to IntraCom and the Courthouse for a short moment which will allow any cover story to be more plausible. At that point, their ability to send and receive is down. We can then apprehend them inside."
"What about them just going blank and hiding?" Ratchet asked. "Do you think this might take down their tech?"
"I'm unclear, Ratchet. The tech is something different and possibly employing alien features if not down right alien in derivation. We're making educated guesses here. Even if they aren't affected, where will they go? Who will they call?" Percy asked.
"Ghostbusters?" Raptor said with a grin.
"Good one," Ratchet said with a chuckle. "We can then go in and kick aft."
"Did you call Lennox?" Prime asked as he stared at the building down the way.
"He is on his way," Blaster said as a truck could be seen coming from around the back of the building heading their way.
It sped to them, then halted as Epps, Lennox and Graham climbed out. They walked to Optimus and the grim group, halting before them. :What's up? You look like a firing squad:
"We are," Prowl said. "We're aware that Mueller and Anderson are in the garrison. Correct?"
Lennox nodded. :They are. What are you going to do?:
"We are going to hit the habitat with an EMP to knock out communications. Then I would like your permission to go inside and take Mueller and Anderson into custody. I do not really have to ask but I do, William. This is a matter of your territorial integrity. I can come inside and invoke the charter emergency clauses but I would rather have your permission."
Lennox nodded. :Can you give me a second to get advice?:
Prime nodded.
Lennox pulled out his phone, the one with the addresses and numbers, codes and other data that people would kill for on Earth, then tuned his helmet comm line to it.
:Morshower here:
:General, we have a situation: Lennox said.
Ten minutes later …
General Glenn Morshower accompanied by two legal aides and the newly promoted Brigadier General John Fulton followed by a pensive Andrew Settles stepped out of a small bridge nearby, then crossed the street to the group waiting.
:I'm here. Optimus, what is this about and what do you want to do about it?: Morshower said.
"We are going to take Horst Mueller and Colin Anderson into custody for the murders. We believe they are guilty and we know they are funneling intelligence to their group on Earth. We are concerned that more deaths will happen if we do not do this now. We are also concerned about what they have delivered to their masters. We are prepared to undertake the messages they send ourselves. I am delegating that to Jazz and Elita who have great experience in these types of operations. We cannot allow the threat to continue further."
:Alright. There is a clause that you can enter N.E.S.T under extreme provocation or circumstances. I am assuming that this qualifies. The case for their arrest for these crimes … is it good and solid?: Morshower asked. His legal aides looked grim and intense.
"We believe it is and will be enhanced by the capture of their technology. That they possess our technology and are using it is enough provocation for us to act. The Tyrest Treaties are acknowledged by all the charters of human habitation here including N.E.S.T. and allow us latitude to give the enforcing officer the discretion to act. We are invoking that clause now," Prime said as Ultra Magnus nodded in agreement. He glanced at Magnus. "The arrest of these two will be predicated on that issue for now, a violation of the Tyrest Treaties by these two."
Magnus nodded, then glanced at the humans. "It is an over arching legal point pf unyielding contention that our technology not get into the hands of those who do not have authorization to use it. Though most of our tech requires things you don't have, I still have the solemn duty to get it back and take into custody those who would possess it unlawfully."
Morshower nodded. :Then tell me the plan:
They did, then Wheeljack and Perceptor pulled a bazooka-type device out of a case in the truck. Wheeljack held it as Percy programmed it, then both turned to Prime who nodded. They walked into the street, sighted it, then fired.
A pulsing sound rang out, a sensory depleting, soul sucking sound that seemed to blast, then roll away taking sound and color with it. Then it was past and everyone turned to the two scientists. "You can go, Optimus. Nothing is coming in and out of that building."
Prime nodded, then looked at Springer, Drift and Hercy. "I would like you to accompany me to make the arrests." He looked at the humans. "You will follow but behind us." With that, he stepped off and walked toward the facility with the three Watchmen as the others followed carrying the humans.
They walked to the habitat door, then released the emergency lock now that nothing there worked. Stepping in, they waited until the atmosphere equalized. Putting the humans down onto the floor, everyone stepped back to watch.
Prime turned to Lennox. "Please bring your people to this part of the building. Have them accounted for and stay here."
Lennox walked to a wall phone and keyed in the facility. "This is Lennox. Everyone come to Ops Center and wait in the airlock. We have a problem with the electrical again. Come to the airlock as fast as you can. Lennox out."
It was stonily silent as soldiers and a few of the civilians including Lennox's mom walked into the airlock. They filed in and when they were accounted for, Lennox looked at the crowd. "Where's Mueller and Anderson?"
Everyone glanced at each other, then shrugged.
Prime stared into the center, then looked at Lennox. "Call them to come here as well."
He keyed in the phone. "Mueller and Anderson, report. We need everyone in the airlock."
Everyone waited silently a moment, then two men hurried into the rec room slowing when they saw the crowd beyond. Anderson glanced at Lennox. "What's going on, Colonel?" he asked.
"We have a problem, another EMP burst. We're trying to get everyone to safety. What took you so long?" Lennox asked.
The two men stared at the bots, then Lennox. "What's really going on?" Mueller asked as he looked hesitantly from one to the other grim face staring at the two of them.
"Horst Mueller and Colin Anderson, we would like you to come with us," Magnus said as he stepped closer. "We need to ask you some questions about the two murders."
Ratchet stared at Magnus with a sense of amusement. Magnus didn't mess around or sugarcoat what he was going to do or why. It was likely that the shit would hit the fan any second now.
The two men stared at him. "Why interview us? We barely knew them. We played cards and had a few beers," Anderson said.
"We need to talk. You can come along or we can take you along. Either way is fine with me," Magnus said as he stared coldly at the pair. "It's either my way … or the hard way."
Magnus would never know that every mech in the room minus Prowl and Prime was finishing Magnus's signature remark in their own processors as he said it.
That was when the pair disappeared right before their eyes.
Prime glanced at Lennox. "We have sealed the exit hatches, William. They have no escape," he said as he subbed a long silver baton, the kind used in combat and carefully stepped past the humans into the Ops Center. "Mueller. Anderson. I want you to surrender to me immediately or I am going to start swinging this baton. It is only a matter of time before I hit you, hidden from view or not. Give up now and live. Fight me on this and I will take you out. You may be harder to see now but you can still be struck down and I am in the mood to do so now."
Optimus twirled the baton expertly, then began to swing it through the space all around him. The sound of feet running away could be heard so he followed it.
The humans watching stared at him with anxiety and surprise. Morshower moved closer to the Ops Center door. "Hand me that microphone."
Lennox gave it to him, then turned to watch as Optimus disappeared from view.
"Mueller and Anderson … I am ordering you to surrender before Prime gets lucky and hits you so hard there's nothing left to scrape up. You have no place to go, there is no assistance here among the garrison for you and if you continue you will die. Badly. Give it up now," Glenn said.
It was silent, then a voice called out. "STOP HIM! GET HIM TO STOP AND WE CAN TALK!"
It was silent a moment, then Prime could be heard as the soldiers, Ironhide, Raptor and Hercy ran across the rec room toward the wide corridor that led to the rest of the ground floor. Optimus was standing in the corridor with the baton in hand ready to strike out again and the voice which was calling to Morshower was close by.
Glenn halted beside Prime. "COME OUT AND GIVE UP! TURN OFF THE TECH AND LET US SEE YOU!"
"TELL HIM TO STOP FIRST!"
Glenn glanced at a seething Prime who nodded, then subbed the baton.
That was when Mueller and Anderson appeared out of the middle of nowhere. They were crouching by a wall trapped from going forward without their footfalls giving them away. Prime had swung his baton around and there was a big dent in one steel wall where his device had landed. It was instructive how he managed to put a dent into a wall of double plated cybertanium.
Lennox walked to the men, then shoved them forward toward Morshower and Prime. "Get some cuffs, Niall," he said with the sound of fury in his tone.
Niall jogged off as the two men were scanned by Ratchet. "I don't register anything out of the ordinary. They're going to have to show us what they got and give it up."
"They will," Prime said in a low and furious tone.
Niall jogged back, cuffed the two, then everyone pulled back to the rec room. Sitting them in chairs, the bots gathered with the humans.
Glenn stepped closer. "Give up the tech or I'm going to use my RTR Tools knife to cut off wherever it is on your body."
The two stared at him, then one of them gripped the skin on his wrist. As everyone watched with shock and appalled fascination, Horst Mueller stripped the skin off until it came free from his arm. That was when every human gathered around watching lost their shit.
=0=TBC 4-9-19
:D
Oh, before I forget. I never recommend tv or movies to anyone. But I want to tell you about a Netflix show that I'm bingeing that is about as good as anything I've seen in a long time. Its called The Umbrella Academy. I think you're going to like it. Or not. :D:D:D
ESL
derivation (dare-ih-vay-shun) being derived or coming from. Frenchmen derive from France.
EXAMPLES: "The new hat was a derivation of some that were already like it but not the same."
"Country music is a derivation of traditional folk music from Europe."