The Diego Diaries: Pay Backs (dd8 207)
(This is slightly shorter than I planned due to friends dropping in. Will do a longer one tomorrow.)
=0=A short time later
:Ratchet. It's Alie:
(A memorable pause ensues)
"Ratchet here."
:Hey. We made it to the Diner. What about you and Ironhide joining us for breakfast?:
(Another memorable pause)
=0=In the Diner
Everyone sat in the usual places waiting for the word, hooked in by Alor who was doing the asking. It was strange, the pauses.
:We can't make it: came the reply.
Everyone sat back glancing at each other, taken aback by the remark from Ratchet. It was incredibly out of character especially with all the children standing around the table or sitting on laps.
"What's up? We can come to you after breakfast then. We'll bring the kids home," Alor said.
:That's alright. Keep them: Ratchet replied.
It was silent as a tomb in the room as everyone took in the remarks.
Hercy grinned slightly knowing a gaslight for revenge when he saw one but everyone else was startled.
"What do you mean? Do you want us to bring them home later?" Alor asked.
:No. Keep them: Ratchet replied.
=0=In the Bosom of Love™ ready to do battle for the ages
Ironhide who was hooked in listened with some small amusement and a lot of expectation. It'd be interesting to see what the others did. This was more than he wanted, his kids were sacred space for him, but a good prank was a good prank.
Army.
Ratchet sipped his drink as he waited for the next volley. They'd decided to extract vengeance in a safe and fully protected manner against the slaggers and this would probably take the cake.
What there was left of it, of course.
:I don't know what you mean, Ratchet? Are you okay? Where's Ironhide? Is he there?: Alor asked.
"He's here. He's washing his aft," Ratchet replied. "Nothing's wrong. Why?"
(Start of a memorable pause)
Sun, Jack and Hardie were watching and listening to the conversation with deep amusement. In fact, all of the Immortals there were. A good prank was a good prank and everyone had offended the Prankster King. Now was time for revenge.
"What now, oh sage one?" Alor asked as he sat back to consider their dilemma. As he did Sunspot, Bos and the dread kids came in after being escorted to the Diner by Typhoon who waved, then joined them. "What's up?" he said as he sat in his booth, the one that was His.
"Ratchet's going for revenge," Blackjack said. Blackjack filled him in, then grinned. "Expect mass casualties."
"Why would Ada do that?" Fireball asked. "The storm was really bad."
"But some of us live in the same building so it didn't matter," Raptor said. "We've provoked a Master and when he's done with us we're all doomed."
"Then maybe you should undoom yourself. Listen to what he has in mind and then me. I think I know where this is going," Typhoon said.
"So do I," Hercy said as the Immortals nodded.
"Ratch," Alor replied. "What do you mean keep the kids?"
:I think Ironhide and I need our alone time. Last night was great and frankly, I agree that its good for a bond: Ratchet replied. :I'll have Speedy Delivery drop off their stuff. I'll also text you their schedules. Right now, Ironhide and I are going to frag so I'll talk to you later. Ta: With that, the line went dead.
"Ironhide's a lucky mech," Hercy said as almost everyone of the mechs in the room nodded including the younger ones with a few exceptions.
"Ratchet scares me," Smokey said.
Hot Rod nodded in agreement.
Everyone else laughed loudly.
=0=Prowl and Prime
Prowl walked into the Train Room where they kept the model of their growing set that was quite a town and countryside now. The kids were organizing a train as Prime delicately glued down trees and bushes where everyone together decided they'd be placed. Prowl paused beside him to watch. :Ratchet's declared war on his family:
Prime glanced up sharply. :What is the potential for collateral damage?:
:Colossal: Prowl said with a snicker. He filled Prime in, then handed him a tiny fruit tree. :Talley ho:
Prime grinned at Prowl. :Indeed. Thank you for being normal:
Prowl snickered. :I'm not sure that's true but thanks for the vote of confidence:
They played with the children while nearby three monitors gave the report of things going on and all of the items that were being followed by Prowl for Prime. It would be peaceful and fun for everyone.
=0=Upstairs
"Well, what now?" Ironhide said as he helped himself to more leftovers from the night before. He heated them for a second, literally, then carried his plate back to his chair to sit.
"I imagine they're going to counter attack," Ratchet said as he ate his own pile of food.
"Well, they have few options," Ironhide mused. "My guess is that they're going to say they're happy to keep the kids and try to make it a good thing."
"Its about all they got short of getting full custody for child abandonment," Ratchet said.
"When is the moment we pause the War?" Ironhide asked.
"When any one of them gets upset. The kids come first. Camping with Ammas and Appas a few orns is always a good thing. I remember that with my own happily," Ratchet said.
"Me, too," Ironhide said. "What do you want to do today?"
Ratchet considered that, then glanced at him. "Actually … I don't know."
=0=Later that morning as everyone decamped to Hardie's house
The knock on the door was loud and stilled everyone in the room. Delphi opened it and three cheerful youngsters walked in with giant boxes.
"Where do you want these?" one of them asked.
Delphi pointed to the table where the kids placed them, then walked out to trudge through the blizzard once more. Apparently, it was starting to slow down, a prelude to stopping. Given the amount of sand that filtered off the boxes, it was still a cloudy nightmare out there anyway.
Alor rose, walked to the boxes and opened one. He stared at the stuff inside, then glanced at everyone there. "Kid stuff. A lot of kid stuff."
Delphi and Turbine rose to walk to the boxes and noted that school things and clothing, sleeping bed toys and other playthings were in the boxes. They glanced at each other, then everyone else.
"Ratchet has declared war," Turbine said.
Everyone in the room felt their sphincters tighten immediately.
But for them:
"What's that?" Hot Rod asked.
"Yeah? How can he declare war and get this reaction? You're battle hardened warriors, all of you," Smokey said.
A half a joor later …
The two kids as enlightened as the rest of them there stared at the elders with disquiet.
"What are you going to do?" Smokey asked at last as he still digested the array of battlefronts that Ratchet had waged across oceans of time against all comers. He not only was a legend in the army, he was The Legend.
"Well, we keep the kids. We can do a lot of our work remotely and given the size of our offices we can have the little ones there on Foofer when they get out of school. That is, when they open again," Delphi said with a grin as he pulled out a little teddy bear. "Ah, Prowler … here's Mr. Bear."
Prowler who was sitting on Sun's lap smiled. "My bear!"
Delphi handed it to him.
Prowler held it up before him, then kissed it before hugging it tightly. Everyone took an aw moment for him.
"You could apologize," Hot Rod offered. None too wisely.
Everyone glanced at him, each other, then they laughed loudly. That took care of his suggestion. Smokey laughed with them much to Roddy's disgust.
"You sound like a baboon when you bray like that, jackass," Roddy said with no small amount of heat.
"You're calling ME a jackass," Smokey said with equal heat.
"I think you both are quite the mech."
Everyone glanced at Hercy who had been jawboning offline with Raptor.
Roddy and Smokey stared at him, glared at each other, then Smokey sat back. "Well, some of us have it and some of us named Not Rod don't."
Snickers rounded the room while Hercy sipped his drink.
"That's true," Hercy said as Hot Rod frowned at him. "But it doesn't matter. You made that great of an impression on them."
It was silent a moment, then Smokey bit. "Who, Abba?" he asked.
"You wanna tell them, Raptor? They're your little padawans," Hercy said with a grin.
"I'll defer to your greater everything, Hercy," Raptor said with a look of exultant amusement on his face.
Hercy glanced at the two who were following the conversation like a tennis match. "The Temple so loved what you did last time we had a sand storm that they personally requested you come again. Hercy and Kup were included in that deal."
They stared at Hercy, both of them in silence, then Roddy stood. "WHAT THE FRAG!?"
It was fortunate that Tell had a hearing problem because he was the only baby there that wasn't startled half out of his skeleton.
Moments of comforting and cookies later …
"Smooth move, Sunshine," Blackjack said with a chuckle. "When do they want them to come with their little shovels and buckets?"
"When the wind dies down but we're going to assess the situation and make a plan. A regular plan of attack," Hercy said as Kup nodded. "We want this to go as well as the last time."
A fuming pair of youngsters sat in their seats listening to the rest of their lives spreading out like the plague.
"So it looks like you infants are camping with us for a while," Turbine said to the kids.
"Is our genitors working?" Bos asked.
"They are," Raptor said. "On my last nerve."
Huge laughter greeted that, then they got out a data pad and began to break down the MISSION and part out the ASSETS and their GEAR as if this were a Wrecker mission to take out the Decepticon high command. Two could play at this game.
And what a game it was for the ammas and appas in the room, the complete care and feeding of their most beloved little flowers.
To be wildly continued shortly …
=0=TBC 07-06-2021