The Diego Diaries: Copycat and All That (dd8 546)
=0=Over Iacon a bit later in the evening after the hoo-haw
It was calm and quiet on the bridge as mechs went about their business. The odd femme walked here and there holding data pads or changing places with mechs to work at the stations along the long curved console of the flight deck. Outside the huge windows everywhere were ships of such size as to beggar imagination floating close by or at points farther out that monitored huge swathes of space that encompassed Cybertron itself.
The humans watched the show outside of their safety case, the show outside the windows and the big mechs who were huddled here in the forward lounge at the view ports to talk about the problems before them. Massive mechs who were the beating hearts of the ships around them and the one they were on talked together verbally or off line, their faces solemn with concentration and the serious problem before them.
They were handsome, all of them. They had more human-like faces without the odd embellishments that some bots had. Some had square faces with more rudimentary features. Some had very android facials designs while others looked amazingly human-like. Devcon was a shining example. Their features weren't stiff like metallic bots made by humans but lively and expressive like anyone else. Humans couldn't make metal bend and mold like skin. These mechs had very mobile expressions and features. It was perplexing to touch one of them and feel the hard metal beneath your hand, yet see them move and grasp things with the flexibility that the humans bore. It took a lot of strength to feel the give in their metallic skins but it was there. All of their exoskeleton was flexible everywhere.
"What do you suppose is going to happen?" a UN soldier asked Epps who was standing by the window watching the big frames talking together.
"I don't know how they'll do it but they'll get this fucker. He's super crazy like his dad and it would appear that some kind of transmutation process is what changes them into maniacs. They have about 25 of them in the lock up. When they came they were taken down and it was problematic if they could manage it with intervention teams, Magnus, the bots and Prime jumping them together," Epps said.
"Whoa. That must have been something to see," another said.
Lennox nodded. "I've seen Prime fight mechs that scared the shit out of me just thinking about stopping them without someone like him helping. This Crader took him and everyone else down. They don't seem to fear or feel pain somehow. I don't know how this is going to play out but these fuckers are going down."
"As long as they don't land on me," Niall Graham said with a smirk. "Count your blessings that they forgot about taking us back. This might be an all-nighter."
"I hope so," another soldier said as she watched the ships outside and the odd Seeker flying here and there. Below that just in their line of sight the variously lit surface spaces of Cybertron could be seen. It wouldn't be known to them that the formerly brightly lit planet prior to the war had been dark for eons of oceans of time. They would learn.
=0=Home
They walked into the apartment with a passel of kids. The small ones were with others, distributed around the family to stay with their nephews and nieces while the big kids were looked after by Tie and Ravel with the other elders. Veritas held the door for Ravel and Tie who were carrying dinner for the family. The nine big kids were staying here 'to help you, Ammas. We don't want you and Appas to have to do too much while Atar and Ada are gone on the mission'.
"Thank you, my darling," Ravel said as he entered.
Fireball took the box from Ravel's arms and walked to the counter to set it there. "What do you want us to do, Amma? We can help you."
Ravel and Tie stared at the giant youngling kids standing around them staring downward at them.
You nine boys are so handsome. Aren't they handsome, Tie?"
Tie nodded. "The finest kind of handsome boys. Good boys, smart and kind. What more can a grand genitor ask from a grandchild, Ravel."
The kids stared at them with someone akin to adoration, these two gentle souls. Their auras were very bright with tinges of gold along the edges, a signal of their communion with the Powers while making their tools. It was debatable to them if they knew it but it was there, the constant stream of power from The Great Ones into their tools and weapons filtering through them first.
"We love you, Amma and Appa," Fireball said as he gently hugged Ravel.
The others nodded.
"What do you want to do now, Amma? Do you want to eat dinner together?" Quasar asked.
"That would be wonderful. Why don't you get the table ready and Appa and I will fix the food," Ravel said with a smile.
They would and it would indeed be lovely.
=0=At another apartment
"BOO! WHAT ME LOU!?"
Bluestreak stared down at Orion with a big grin. "I want you to get ready to eat. Wash your little servos and help the others," he said as he smirked at the little yellow banded bandit staring up at him. Around him like a posse, Uraya and Iacon with Halo and Hero, Prowler, Kaon, Praxus and Bob the Insecticon gathered. Dawg sat next to his dog dish waiting for dinner, half ready to fall over from dozing.
Orion smiled brilliantly. "Okey-dokey," he said, then turned to the others. "Lou comeded wif me, Orion. I goed to the doin'."
Everyone glanced toward where he pointed, then back at him. They smiled almost as one, then began to wander to the wash rack at the other end of the apartment. They sauntered off holding hands, chatting together under the watchful optics, several, of Bob.
Blue grinned, then followed them to supervise the washing up of that many little bits. They would walk back in, eat dinner, then watch Dragon Ball Z to discuss Super Saiyan power levels and the hotness that was Trunks and Vegeta.
It would be fun.
=0=There
They ran like the wind, sparklings and small children having a gallop around the big apartment of their uncles and other extended elders. Cousins by the dozens laughed loudly running out of one apartment into another across the hallway or next door. Their family was making dinner for the group including the newest member, Resolve of Mars, of Crystal City and Polyhex of Cybertron. He galloped along laughing as loudly, playing 'boo' with the cousins that he didn't know he had until now.
His amma watched him, then grinned at his bond. "What a cute little mech. I think I like equipment mechs something awful."
"I agree," his bond said. "So good to have him with us along with 'Jack and Percy. I hope that Perceptor gets his family back as well. I never knew Resolve but I heard that he was an honorable mech. Perceptor never held caste against anyone. He's that stand up."
Wheeljack's ada nodded. "All is good. I believe that they will come. After all, Primus did."
"Yes, indeed," Wheeljack's atar said as he stood. "Infants."
A good dozen kids slammed on the breaks, then turned toward their appa.
"Time to eat."
HUGE hoo-haw was undertaken including that contributed by a tiny microscope with adorable finials.
=0=Earlier that evening in the skies over Iacon on Cybertron
He was strapped to a restraining board for ultra violent prisoners. A small dull white mech, he was raging as loudly as a combiner.
"I am here." Prime said as he braced himself for anything. How Crader knew that his son was here was disconcerting. Some of the scientists involved walked out silently to watch the exchange given this new strange development. Among them was Stealth.
"Is that so, Prime," he said with a malicious smile on his tiny face.
"Want me to check his opticals? Or do you suppose he's just that dim, Optimus?" Ratchet asked as he leaned back in his chair.
Crader glared at him. "You won't be laughing when my son gets through with you," the mech hissed.
It was silent a moment even in the human's boxes as Prime considered Crader. "You wished to talk to me, Crader. I am here."
Crader stared at Prime with a measuring expression. "My son has come and he's not going to be happy with any of this. It would do you a lot of good to send all of us to him and let us go. You don't want the trouble that we can bring."
"Is that so?" Ratchet asked. "We opened you like a can of tuna and did the same to the others. We're aware of your mutation and we're not going to be unprepared for this. Tell us how we should be afraid again?" Ratchet asked as he began to goad the little slagger. Given his mental instability it might be possible to get information out of him by pushing all his buttons.
Crader who didn't appear to care about playing any cards he might have close to his vest glared at Ratchet. "You really think you can defeat all of our ships?"
"Well, we have a few big ones ourselves, so ..." Ratchet replied.
"Your ships are crap," Crader said hotly. "They couldn't do half the slag ours can."
Heavy footfalls began to be heard from around the room as big frames began to rise and walk toward Crader. They were huge, handsome as frag and fragged off. It was interesting to the humans that even when they were angry, they were handsome. They gathered around the mech, staring down at him with evident anger which seemed worse behind their flaring visors.
"Do you really believe that your vessels can stand against us, Crader? We are legion," Metroplex said. He leaned down and knelt on one knee. He stared at Crader, then leaned in with real anger. "You have blasphemed our frame and we don't like it. As for your remarks ..." He leaned into Crader's face. "I! AM! METROPLEX!"
It was silent as a tomb in the room for a moment, then Metroplex stood staring down at Crader with balled fists. "You would do very well to remember that."
=0=In a box nearby
They stared at the big frames and the furious face of Metroplex.
"I don't think I'm ever going to forget it," a soldier from Argentina whispered softly.
Every human in the box nodded in agreement.
=0=TBC 10-16-2022
NOTES: :D:D:D
12356gh chapter 545 . 17h ago
Seeing the part about the 12th Dimension makes me hope for a musical Chapter Lol Keep up the good work:)
ME: That would be hilarious. Too bad I can't add a soundtrack as well. LOL! I get near death videos on my youtube. I had one way back and I think they're fascinating. A woman who had one said she went to the 12th dimension and she said all that was there was incredibly beautiful music. :D:D:D HUGS!
Misty Legionnaire chapter 535 . Oct 5
I doubt they'll be able to practice in private unless they choose one of their own to be the lowest of them and I doubt any High Caste who remains in the old ways is going to willingly become the low caste among them. Looking forward to how this shakes out.
ME: I think they'll have a hard time as well but some of them are so wedded to this I don't doubt they're going to try.
Oddball question: Would the Praxian elite and Immortals leave their marks, but they are now marks of their past? I imagine some of the people would leave the marks as sign they are trying to overcome their mistakes and/or past selves.
ME: That's a great question. I think maybe they can have a chat about it. There may be some utility in it. I also think some of them might feel that having it will be a good reminder of the mistakes of the past. Good question.
I hope you have a good day.
ME: You, too, my dear Misty. :D HUGS!
