The Diego Diaries: Cat and Mouse (dd6 640)
=0=Ops Center
"We interviewed all of them. They weren't happy but we haven't charged them with anything so they had no fall back but to say nothing. None of them said much that helped but they all squealed on each other. Johnson can swear almost as much as Kup. That was one of the findings by the way," Springer said as he sat with Prowl, Ratchet, Drift, Hauser and Prime at the command table. They were sipping and noshing as they listened. Night time was coming and all would be heading out to various locations in jig time.
"What else? Anything?" Prowl asked.
"All of them pointed the finger at everyone else. All of them seem to believe, that is, those that care enough to wager an opinion that Mueller and Anderson did it. They prefer to state that they came here for money and adventure, nothing more," Drift said.
"Do you believe them?" Ratchet asked.
Drift shrugged, then glanced at Hauser. "You're the detective."
"I'm The Detective," Hauser said with a grin. He glanced at Ratchet. "I do. They're so freaked out as humans say that I think they're telling the truth. Most of them are easy to check out anyway. They said they never went out without an escorting group so I'll have that checked out on the grid. None of them have tech so they can't be the ones otherwise. How would they do it? All we want is motive and it could be that Lombardi and Dobbs got too curious."
Prime nodded. "Do we have enough to bring a case against them and if we do then the cover is blown and we lose the straight line to the Resistance."
"We may have to let this slide a bit. It might mean that Earth gets angry and we take a dent in the polls but it could be our best access to the Resistance yet," Prowl said.
Prime nodded. "I agree." He looked at Springer. "Transfer the mercenaries to Earth2 tomorrow and tell them that they are quarantined to the facility. We are not going to allow them to go out and run around. Tell them nothing about the case or its progress. Let them be insecure for a while."
Springer nodded. "Alright. Mueller and Anderson?"
"They stay locked up. You might move them into the human sector of the Prison Control Center so they can have more privacy and quiet but do not put them together."
"What if we do? Tap in and see if they speak together. See if they have a code. We can decrypt anything they come up with. Maybe." Ratchet glanced at Drift and Springer. "How is your math?"
Huge laughter greeted that, then Drift smirked at Springer. "Give it to him. I never got to go to school and he did."
Springer smirked back at Drift. "I don't see it slowing you down any, slagger." He glanced at Prime. "That might be interesting. They're both smart enough to know about us bugging them but maybe they can talk in another way. We can fix cameras on them and see. If worse comes to worse they'll just not say or do anything."
Prime considered that, then nodded. "Very well. I concur."
They chatted about this and that until everyone rose to leave, Prime included. Heading out, they discussed a few things, then Springer and Drift transformed to drive to the stables nearby. The others walked together through town toward home.
=0=Going on night time in the jail house
They came in, a steady stream of individuals who were drunk, pissed off, demented or otherwise not themselves. They walked in cuffed, some were helped in and others fought. Some were silent, others sang loudly, some argued and cursed while a few chatted like it was just a street corner encounter between friends.
They were hauled before the desk sargent to give their details before being put in cells both out in this part of the jail or through a double door to somewhere else. Noise alternated with silence as the parade continued. Outside, the sky had darkened and it was night again.
Horst Mueller sat on his couch with a drink and snack provided by the jail and fixed for him at The Resort. When there was a human in jail, they were contracted to supply food and clean clothes. He was glad. The food was good, snacks were plentiful and other than a fabulous floor show that a number of the scientists in the Sciences Habitat would kill to watch, he had nothing else to do.
Some spaces over, Colin Anderson was doing the same thing. They had good entertainment on the monitor nearby but it wasn't as fascinating as the floor show before them. The shock had worn off and they were now incarcerated for who knew how long. No one probably knew in the human community or Earth so they resigned themselves to be patient. Eventually something would have to happen.
The doors opened as a pair of Watchmen walked in with a big bruiser and two smaller ones. They paused before the desk sargent and did the usual. Then they were placed in holding cells next to the place where the humans perched in their boxes. Looking down to the right, they could see the three clearly.
The floor show was outstanding and though it slowed it never stopped. Day and night, there was always someone coming in. When they wanted to sleep they shut off the outside comm channel and did. Everything they had as housing was transparent including the blankets and pillow of their beds. It was odd how the bots did it but it was so. Transparent covers that felt like cloth but were completely see through was a mind blowing concept and reality.
Three times a day, someone walked to their cases and slid a tiny cartridge-like box into a slot on the wall of their containment. Inside them were trays of food, drinks and snacks. Included were toiletries and other niceties of life for the prisoners.
It was efficient.
When the bots came the next morning to take them away from the jail to the Prison Control Center, the two called to them but no one answered their questions. Their transfer cages were pulled from the wall, put into carry holds and suspended in darkness. The time that passed was hard to assess given the sensory deprivation of the experience but at last light pierced the darkness and they were out of the carry holds again.
The room they were in was huge, had a lounge area nearby and big windows looking out at a bland landscape of sand and broken rocks. Springer and Drift were there. They held the containers, then slotted them again into the wall. Both men stepped into new apartments of the same type as before, then turned to stare at their tormentors. With them was a small femme.
"They're all yours, Gee-Gee. Lucky you," Springer said.
Gee-Gee grinned. "Thanks. I owe you one."
All of them laughed, then Springer began to walk to the door to go followed by Drift. "See you on the flight line."
"I'll be there," she said as she watched them leave. Then she turned back to the two humans. "I'm Warden Gee-Gee and you're my prisoners. This is the Control Center, Special Containment Lock up at the Autobot City Military and Civilian Prison. This is a dead end so don't try anything too stupid. You'll be treated well and cared for until you are removed or sent somewhere else. Until then, relax and don't give me trouble. This is the shift break room."
Gee-Gee turned from them and left the room. Both stared after her, then glanced to the side. They could see each other through the clear walls of their cell given that they were slotted into the wall side-by-side. Walking closer, staring at each other, they then returned to their couches to sit. The floor show wouldn't be as good as the jail.
=0=The next morning
"ADA! LOU GO DOING? I, ORION GO DOING?"
Ratchet stared at the little mech on the floor and noted that no one was nearby to hear even his fog horn voice. He grabbed Orion and stuffed him into his carry hold. Glancing around, he smiled his biggest most insincerely sincere smile. It was for naught. No one noticed his petty larceny.
By the time the elders ebbed in, then ebbed out with children, it was time to book it to the prison to greet newcomers to their airbnb program, Hell House. Ironhide walked from the berth room with a data pad that he subbed, one that was his work pad.
"You didn't get the quarterly in yet?" Ratchet asked as they walked to the door.
"Did you?" Ironhide asked as he followed Ratchet through the door.
"Nope," Ratchet said as the door closed behind them.
At the station at the Prison Control Center …
They were gathering, the usual suspects. Springer, Drift, Hercy, Kup, Lon and Bezel were there waiting as Prowl, Prime, Ironhide and Ratchet drove up, transformed and joined them.
"We have a handful coming, Prime. I was talking to a guard who got the word on them. Hound is a stealth assassin. Inferno is a demolitions tech and fire maker … a pyromaniac, he said. Cliff is just Cliff only on steroids, a mech who likes to use knives and keeps them everywhere. Impactor is … he's just bad all around," Hercy said. "Alpha on the other hand mystifies me. I don't know how he came to be bad but apparently he is. I asked if the other pantheon members were bad but apparently its mixed up. Liege Maximo is a good guy and Alpha isn't."
Everyone took a moment to cogitate on that, then Prime turned to the airfield where a ship was landing. "Let us go then," he said as he walked that way.
Everyone followed.
Nearby, a big ship with the blended brand of Autobot and Decepticon on its sleek sides had touched down and mechs were stepping off. Sixshot was back and so was Black Shadow, two figures they would never truly feel calm at seeing around.
Prime stopped before them, then shook hands. "We will take the prisoners."
"Thank you, Prime," Black Shadow said as a mech came down the ramp under heavy guard. He was Hound and he wasn't. This mech was cold, dangerous and calculating.
He stared at Prime, then the others. "I heard about you. Slagger. We would have won without you."
"You will never know, Hound. You are never going to see a free orn again." Prime said as he glanced at Gee-Gee and a heavily armed group reach them. "Warden."
"Lord Optimus," Gee-Gee said. She looked at Hound. "You're going into cells that held your predecessors for a while. We had to deactivate them and we haven't reactivated them yet. Its easier to have them in stasis remand than having them out."
:Frag. I forgot about that. The inter dimensional jumping around feels like two life times ago: Ratchet said.
Prowl nodded slightly. :I hear you. They're staying there, too:
:No argument, Prowler: Ratchet said with a grin.
"Go stand on the yellow line," Gee-Gee said.
Hound slouched as he stared at her. "I don't take orders from femmes."
Then he was flat on his back, his legs throbbing from where she had spun, swept him away and stood in time to see him fall flat. Pausing on the walkway, the others watched, then continued under heavy guard.
Inferno was next. He walked sullenly to the line along with
a snarling Cliff. Behind them, his optics taking it all in, his unique head crest like the shape of a Mohawk from Earth, Impactor walked with a surreal sense of ease and grace. He was the apocalypse made real. He was fierce, unafraid and homicidal. He took the worst cases and never brought back a prisoner.
Ever.
He stared at Prime as he stood beside Inferno but Prime was waiting for someone. Finally, a figure stepped out, one that was the living image of Alpha Trion. But this one felt and seemed different. He walked down the ramp, then came across the tarmac to halt before Optimus.
The warmth of Alpha, unknown brother and mentor figure for Optimus was missing. This one was cold, calculating and menacing. He grinned at Prime but there was no warmth. He nodded slightly. "Hello, Optimus Prime," he said in a deep low voice.
=0=TBC 4-17-19 edited 4-19-19