The Diego Diaries: Visitin' (dd8 155)
=0=There
They huddled in the middle of the shooting getting hit and grazed from bullets bouncing off the walls, floor and ceiling. Then it stopped. It hurt the audials, the absence of chaos.
"Prime. Move away and let us in," the deep voice said.
:Do not answer: Prime said as he checked two new shots on his legs. :He subbed a gun, then glanced at Ratchet who was staunching new wounds in Drift and Springer. Magnus was filled with shrapnel but other than being aggravated, nothing worse for the wear.
"PRIME! WE'RE COMING IN!"
Prime turned slightly, put the gun through the doors near the floor, then began to fire blindly. Yelling commenced both inside the elevator but also in the apartments down the corridor.
=0=Stairs
They reached the fourteenth floor when Prowl caught up, then passed them, bolting through the middle of the posse being led by Hercy. They followed, then huddled behind the doors to the fifteenth floor. The window was shot out and there were plenty of holes to look through. Prowl was currently doing so.
=0=Family Tower
He was informed of the shoot out by the N.E.S.T. HQ night staff. Several of the soldiers, spouses, parents and grandparents were currently sitting with Will Lennox in the lounge watching the spectacle on the huge monitor there. It was a scene of the scene, itself filled with emergency vehicles, soldiers and Watchmen both familiar and unknown as well as horses, rubbernecking civilians, a few in various stages of inebriation and reporters. It could be a cordoned off scene anywhere on Earth but with nicer vehicles some of which were walking around.
"This can't be good if the police radio says that a team is pinned down there, right, William?" Jonathan Lennox asked his son. He was wearing pajamas, a robe and slippers, the nice gentleman, while his son sat in a robe, boxers and bare feet.
"Dollars to donuts that the team has Prime and Ratchet on it at the very least," Will replied.
"And Prowl," Thelma Lennox said as the clip with Prowl's arrival, airborne transformation and race inside was shown. "I love how they do that."
Everyone there agreed.
=0=There
The shooting stopped as the mad dance inside the elevator continued. Apparently, Prime had scored. It became intensely quiet.
"This is Optimus Prime. Give up and put down your weapons. Come out of there to talk," he said.
"Talk? Jail, you mean," a voice said from an apartment nearby.
"This is Ratchet, the Prime's chief negotiator. We want to end this madness and talk. Come out of there without arms and we can do that. As long as you shoot, we're obliged to shoot back and we seldom if ever miss," Ratchet said. "I can talk to you as long as it takes. If you notice, you aren't going anywhere. At least send out the innocents so they can be out of the line of fire. Who among you wants to be the reason a child dies tonight?"
It was silent.
Kneeling behind the ravaged door, Prowl and Prime were eyeball-to-eyeball through a big jagged hole, having a conversation offline. Behind him was the rest of the posse being very quiet. The expression on Prowl's face was immensely displeased.
"You know, there's few things that can't be settled but for death. You can shoot all night long but all we have to do is cut our losses and jump you all. We'd prefer that you walk out to reason this over. We understand the traumatic feelings you have. Things changed for all of you really fast and that can be disorienting. It happens all the time here to newcomers and we make space for that. We know you've had to take care of yourself, defending yourself on occasion. But this is not the way to vent or have that conversation. There's others living here as well who are caught up in this, all of them innocent," Ratchet continued.
Silence.
"Send out the children, the elderly and anyone who wants to leave. We guarantee their safety," Ratchet said.
"You guarantee that," a bitter sounding voice replied.
"We do. We're the slagging Autobots," Springer said bitterly as well. "Who was the group that protected you and yours on Cybertron since the beginning of time? Who the slag took the hits so you could escape during the Great Exodus? Send out the innocents so they don't have to pay the price you're setting here."
"You would shoot us now," a voice said further down the hallway. "You brought us here against our will. You took away our way of life. We don't trust you. You came here hostile to vent your rules against us. Your rules aren't ours."
"Then you aren't Cybertronian?" Ratchet asked genuinely curiously. "If the laws that your caste wrote aren't your rules, then you're what? Telling us you're not Cybertronian?"
"We're more Cybertronian than you," a youngish sounding hot helmed voice called out. "You're lucky we allowed you to be Cybertronian, drone."
:Well, the effect from Meadow Lands hasn't lessened nor has their dimness regarding their former life: Ratchet said off line.
:Allow me to adjust their lighting: Springer said with malice equal to any of the others.
Ratchet grinned. "Okay." he said. It was silent. "I said okay."
"OKAY TO WHAT!?" a voice called out.
"Okay to what that mech just said. If that helps you, then fine. I'm not a Cybertronian. I'm a drone. How about you putting down your guns and coming out to talk. Prime has the Matrix whether you like it or not. He got it through the bonding ceremony at the High Imperium, chosen by the Matrix Itself. No matter what you think of me, that stands. Unless, of course, you're finding fault with Primus and The One," Ratchet replied.
It was silent.
"Prime never got it that way," a voice said darkly. "Primus would be mistaken if Prime was legitimately Prime and Primus is without fault."
:Ah, at last. A religious slagger: Ratchet said. "But he did. The event was witnessed by the Council of Ancients and half the upper caste. They saw it. I saw it. It was done the legitimate way, something that no one but Guardian and Prime can claim."
"Liar," a voice said from the elevator.
"Gravitas, Mraz, Neo and Templar live here. So does Alpha Trion, Chevron, Lauren and Sela. What if you heard it from them? Would it change anything?" Ratchet asked.
It was silent, then a voice called out. "Nothing is going to make me believe it and if you don't frag off and leave us alone we're going to shoot some more."
"Then we shoot back. Maybe we cut our loses and charge you. How long will your innocents last? The elderly, sick and young? Who among you wants that energon on your servos?" Ratchet said. "No matter what happens to us, that will be the outcome. In fact, its a given if you harm Prime. No one is going to walk out of here in one piece if that happens."
"You'd shoot our kids," someone said down the corridor.
"No. You will by your stupidity. Give it up. Talk to us and we can end this. If you don't. If someone dies here there will be no stopping Prowl," Ratchet said. "Prowl of Praxus. Know him?" Ratchet asked. It was silent a moment. "He's Prime's bond. I've never met a more cold blooded slagger in my life. He'll track you down, all of you and get his revenge. You don't know Prowl like I do. He has no ethics about some things. Ask anyone. They'll tell you stories." He glanced at the door where Prowl's slightly frowning face could be seen through a big hole. He smiled at Prowl.
Prowl frowned at him.
It was silent.
"Prowl will hunt you like a dog. He won't allow any of you to get away. Prime and Prowl are a bond. I personally made sure that would happen given the …" Ratchet glanced at the door again to see the much more deeply frowning face of Prowl staring back at him. He dazzled Prowl with a smile, then continued. "The tenacious and deeply duty bound nature of his personality, given he's got a personality disorder. But that keeps him on the trail of anyone who frags with his world. Prowl will bend all of you like pretzels and use you like tongs in the smelters. He forgot more martial arts than most of us know."
It was silent.
"Maybe Prowl would like to have a word or two here, at this moment … right now," Ratchet asked with a smirk at the figure crouching behind a ragged door.
Prowl smirked back. "Listen up, you slaggers. This is Prowl of Praxus, the second-in-command of the Empire and the bond of Optimus Prime. Either you lay down your guns and walk out in one piece or I'm going to walk through the fragging walls, all of them and tear you apart."
It was silent, then Prowl subbed his big old gun. Rising to walk to the wall next to the door of the stairwell, he made a fist and punched through the steel and soundproofing that lined it. Gripping the tear, he drew up force in Metallicato, then ripped the wall off. Putting it aside, he stepped into the apartment where a couple of femmes lived with their three small children.
Slipping along in the now total darkness until he located where they were hiding, he reassured them, then walked back to the door. "Just so you know, I just ripped a hole in the wall and I'm in an apartment. You guess which one, fraggers. I intend to continue doing so until you fraggers lay down the guns. If anything happens to those Autobots in the corridor, this will be the way we invade you, me and the platoon of Wreckers that are with me. Drop your weapons now."
The corridor was silent, deeply silent. The location of the voice of Prowl was a bit closer than it was a moment ago. In the darkness of the floor, in the shattered apartments and corridor, it would be impossible to understate just how scary it was to realize that.
=0=The Hourly News: LATEST BREAKING NEWS!
"We have new information about the armed standoff at the Esco Tower in City 4, Crater District 7. Commander Prowl of Praxus, sub-commander of the Autobot Armed Forces and second-in-command of the Empire itself has arrived at the tower and entered to join the forces already inside. There has been no more gunfire for the past few moments and its believed that intensive negotiations to end the standoff are underway. We have a short report from the scene with the Colonial Emergency Operational Director, Commander Inferno of Slaughter City who is Chief of Emergency Operations for Mars and the Empire."
The scene cut to the operation. Standing to one side in the cordoned off area, Jacx and Inferno could be seen.
"Commander, what can you tell us about the operation in the tower?" Jacx asked.
"We have a number of individuals who are involved in a shoot out with a team that was attending to a disturbance caused between new refugees and locals who've been here for some time. It was defused, then the team went up to talk to others of the same new group. That's when the shooting commenced. Its contained to one floor and is in the process of being resolved through negotiation by Prime's chief negotiator, Commander Ratchet," Inferno said.
=0=Family Tower
"I have to say that of all the fantastic finials that there are among The People, I like Wheeljack and Inferno's the best," Lonnie Epps said as she sat in the same chair with Bobby. He was on the phone to a number of mechs in the Watch that he saw on screen but none of them knew the 'good stuff' just yet.
"I think so, too," Lois Morshower-Howell said. "They look like antlers."
"Those finials are really, really rare," Sarah Lennox said as she sat in a chair with Will. "Apparently, they're just about the rarest ones around and they're considered by mechs and femmes to be especially handsome."
"How do you know?" Will asked.
"It pays to be in mixed clubs," Sarah said as others around the room nodded in agreement.
"I really like those finials," Lonnie said with a sigh. "So cute."
=0=Interview
"Can you tell us if there's any casualties?" Jacx asked as behind him horses from the Watch Patrol from this district's area waited patiently for their riders.
"We don't have any confirmation but given the amount of fire that's been reported we've called for medical to come on standby. Our Watch medics and the Emergency Response Medical Team are here and we placed a Medical Center roundabout at the intersection to do flights in case its called for. Our planning for things like this is meticulous and updated with each event to ensure the swiftest and most effective response," Inferno replied.
"Are there children involved? Other residents? Is this a hostage situation?" Jacx asked.
"The families living on the floor, almost all of them have children. This is a building that's catering to extended families and those with children so there's that and elders that are part of these social groups. We try to keep families and traveling groups together when they ask. This group did," Inferno replied.
"Were they the group rescued from Meadow Lands or are they from somewhere else?" Jacx asked.
"Its not confirmed yet but according to the Bureau of Refugees, this group likely came from Meadow Lands," Inferno said.
=0=In a tower in another place
They watched with worried expressions. Then Proteus glanced at the couples who were there for dinner and chat. "I think we need to do something," Proteus said.
"What?" Burris asked.
"I think we have to go and offer to help talk these individuals down. Someone at the Bureau of Refugees said to me at the Halls that they were a very entitled high caste group that had been isolated on their planet since The Great Exodus. This shouldn't surprise anyone. Maybe we know some of them and can help. Maybe they know us," Proteus said.
After a moment's discussion, Proteus, Burris, Vinn and Fenix rose to go to City 4 to offer their services as negotiators. Who would know that attitude better than them? At the same time after listening to Jacx and Inferno on the news, Mraz, Templar, Neo and Gravitas along with Chevron were on their way as well.
=0=TBC 05-05-2021 edited 5-6-2021