The Diego Diaries: Mark (dd7 45)
=0=At a small diner on the corner in Iacon, near the old neighborhood
They sat together like they used to, sometimes joined by their own genitors, the ammas and appas of Prime's most golden memories. Outside on the street were the locals, some walking to work, others to hang around in the high unemployment, low income ghetto where the worker bees lived.
The diner was filled with mechs and the odd femme, some of which Optimus remembered. He listened to his genitors talk, marveling and absorbing their youth and the vitality that they still possessed then. As he did he noted a small patrol of security pass by. He sat back into the shadows a bit out of habit, something that his genitors noticed.
They didn't say a word, not daring to add to their son's heavy burdens as the emerging leader of the peace movement which was heavily invested in turning the tide through non-violent confrontation and persuasion. Their son was swiftly becoming a major player on their world. They tried not to think of the dangers that presented. It was too frightening.
Then as soon as he looked back at his genitors, that was how fast they faded. As they faded so did the others and all that was left was a derelict diner with broken windows and no one there. It looked like it hadn't been used in eons.
He stared with a sense of loss that nearly paralyzed him, then he slid out of the booth and walked to the door to stare out warily. No one was on the street. No one was anywhere in range of his powerful sensors. It was empty, dejected, faded and dusty.
Stepping out, Optimus stared up and down the street. There was no movement nor sign of life so he walked up the sidewalk heading toward the gates of The Jumble. His peds echoed on the sidewalk adding a mournful funereal aspect to the blight around him. He continued down the street, reached the corner, then saw two directions before him.
One direction was filled with light and everything he had just encountered was the same as before. Glancing the other way, he saw that it was as broken as it was where he stood. He considered the conundrum, then turned toward the light. As he did, both of the other possibilities, the one he was leaving and the other choice disappeared.
He then began to walk into the light and found himself on his home street where all of his friends were waiting for him.
Deion waved to him. "COME ON, ORION! THE GAME IS GOING TO START!"
He remembered this orn. He and the rest of them played a hard fought game of ball, settling whether or not the opposing group was welcome here on their turf. This was their neighborhood and the kids here kept others out. This area would remain protected against gangs for a bit longer.
He joined the group and they hurried together for the burned out yard where the others were waiting. The game would be hard but they would win. The others, at the end, walked off surly as frag but more than adequately warned.
Everyone watched with satisfaction as they did, then they turned to stare at Prime. Deion who was tossing the battered ball in his servos, one they made themselves considered Prime with a quizzical expression. "You look pensive, Orion. What's on your processor?"
Ariel and Arcee stared at him with slight smirks on their faces. It was quiet as he stared back at them.
"You are not real," Optimus said.
The three glanced at each other, then laughed.
Arcee slapped his arm. "You mean our play is unreal. Everything else is."
Optimus glanced around, then stepped closer to the three. "This is the Matrix. Nothing here is real."
Deion considered that, then grinned. "The game was real. We won it."
"We did before when it really happened. We took out that gang for the neighborhood," Prime said. "This is not real."
"Okay," Ariel said. "What if it isn't? What then?"
Prime considered that. "I would like to know what you are supposed to be teaching me right now."
"I should think that was simple," Deion said as the other two nodded. "Friendship," he said before he and the site disappeared.
Prime glanced around, then saw Maccadam's once more down the street. He walked forward, hurrying until he reached it. Walking into the door, he halted as he saw the Pantheon sitting around a table along a far wall.
They grinned at him, then waved him over.
Prime walked toward them, then bowed.
Prima grinned. "Sit, brother. Tell us stories. We are here to celebrate."
Prime hesitated, then sat. "What sort of stories, Lord Prima? What are you celebrating besides the Festival?"
"Life stories, Optimus, or shall I call you Orion?" Prima replied. "We are celebrating you."
Prime stared at him, then the others. He sat back. "I am ..."
"Too modest but then that is your natural state. You always were the quiet one, the one who never asked for anything but gave everything. That makes you unique, that and the fact that your spark and that of Primus are identical. How that happened is beyond me," Vector Prime said absently. He began to consult some sort of watch-like mechanism in his servo.
Solus grinned at him, then Optimus. "You appear to be on a journey into your past, Optimus. Some of your stories are intriguing. Tell me about Omelia?"
Prime stared at her, then the others who nodded. "She was tasked with recruiting me into the government, to dull or stop my efforts to find a way to prevent war during the run up to revolution. She was ..."
"Not your type?" Solus asked with a grin.
"I am not drawn to femmes," Optimus said with a slight discomfort. "Do not mistake my respect for them, Lady. I am just not attracted to them romantically."
"I never expected you to bond with Prowl. We witnessed that rather dread dance of doom. You are well served by your friends, brother," Micronus said with a chuckle.
They all chuckled. Apparently, they had seen it as well.
Prime sat back slightly discomforted. "I am unclear what I am to receive this time. I have questions."
"Then ask them," Amalgamous said.
Prime considered the questions, more than aware that answers were already given and would reveal themselves in his processor when they were ready to be received. "I am desirous to move Cybertron, her moons and the local group closer to Mars. I asked Lord Primus before and I wish to have confirmation that if He can, He will agree and even help us to make that transition smooth and safe."
"You feel a bit concerned about that?" Onyx asked as if it were a trivial thing.
"I am," Optimus said. "There are billions living on all of them and I have no desire to be the one who finally destroys our species by doing something that is flawed or too dangerous."
"We have moved planets before, Optimus," Solomus said. "This will be done. It is untenable that Our Father should be so exposed to the vagaries of chance and the universe. If He said He would help, He will. Have faith."
Prime relaxed slightly. "Thank you."
It was silent, then Micronus smirked. "What is this about basketball? It was your idea, the league, the teams … you are making your way to a championship title, brother. How athletic of you."
Everyone chuckled as They watched Optimus.
He grinned slightly. "It is a hard sport and one filled with strategy. I liked playing it and hoped that it would some orn be our own to utilize for fun. I also like to play. It was an easy fit."
"Rather like the one Prowl threw when he confronted you about it?" Solus asked with a smile …
^,,^
The Hourly News, Sports and Weather:
"However, the big take away from this announcement is the addition of Optimus Prime to the roster of Iacon's Invaders."
That's when Prowl of Praxus listening nearby with half an audial blew his mind ...
^,,^
"The best part of that for me was when he confronted you in your office," Micronus said with a chuckle …
^,,^
"You must be out of your processor. YOU'RE A PRIME!"
"Now, Prowl ..."
"YOU ARE THE DIGNITY OF THE NATION PERSONIFIED!"
"Prowl ..."
"YOU ARE THE EMBODIMENT OF PRIMUS AND YOU BEAR THE MATRIX!"
"Pro-"
"YOU … YOU ARE THE … THE PRIME!"
"P-"
"SINCERELY! YOU ARE THE *PRIME*!" …
^,,^
"That was quite amusing if I say so myself," Vector said as he looked up from his device. "I find it also amusing to watch him scheme madly to assist your chances to win. That mech is very amusing, Optimus."
Prime grinned. "I believe so."
"Almost as amusing as Ratchet and his team 'cheer gear'," Solus said with a laugh. "You do have very amusing individuals around you. They love you, you know. They would do anything for you."
"I return the sentiment," Optimus said. "I never expected the life I have now. I never expected to live this long. There were so many times when I did not live."
"But you always insisted upon coming back," Nexus Prime said. "You always incarnated back as yourself. Given what has passed by for The People, I am glad for it. I would dread to think about what Cybertron and all of them would be like if you tired and stayed."
"That's the crux of it, right? How things might be without you there, always giving yourself until nothing is left … with things now being the exception. Its remarkable how good I feel about your family, Optimus," Solus said as the others nodded.
"They are a miracle to me. The return of my genitors was one of the greatest moments of my life," Optimus said.
"They are blessed and unique. They were the biggest and first influences upon you and that required someone of the utmost integrity to ensure that you got to where you insisted you were going," Prima said. "I find your genitors to be remarkable as well and your grand genitors."
It filled Prime with warmth to see that from this group, those who were the foundation of their very self identity.
"Perhaps you can continue," Prima said with a wave of his servo.
Maccadam's disappeared.
=0=Outside
The crowds, vast and patient waited together. Priests were going through the crowds checking everyone, helping them and giving them information about this and that. It was cold and sunny, a good orn for an event like this as they waited, millions and millions here and in every city center in the colony.
Across Cybertron and the inner planetary empire, monitors and screens with projections carried the event. Untold billions of humans and Cybertronians watched the same thing as they waited for Prime to come out again. Dark and cool, lights beat back the darkness as the crowds there waited, too.
=0=Somewhere
He couldn't remember the sector but he remembered the event. They were chasing the AllSpark and he was at a low ebb. He was in a two man ship with Springer, both of them meeting up before a rendezvous with others elsewhere. Prime brooded and Springer flew.
Finally, Springer glanced at him. "You wanna talk? It always helps, Optimus."
Prime vented a sigh. "I am fine, Springer. When we meet up we can pool information. Maybe this time we will have a clue."
Springer glanced at him again knowing he was berating himself for the decision to launch the relic, the only one available, then set the ship on automatic pilot as it sped through empty space for a planetoid meet up with a lot of his closest mechs and femmes. Springer sat back. "It's good to be here with you. It's been a long time. How long have you been alone?"
Prime considered that. "Too long."
Springer nodded. "I am here for you," he said. It was his invitation, one that Prime in his despair, rage or loneliness took up time and again.
Prime glanced at him, then nodded faintly. He would take it up again.
Prime watched the scene remembering a long trail of moments when Springer stepped up and the two of them found comfort together. He loved Springer in a lot of ways and in his spark there would be that feeling for him always. He knew that Springer returned the same feeling but both of them knew this was army stuff, not the real feelings one might have for a real lover. Not the ones they held for Drift and Prowl.
It would take Prowl to make that feeling rise in his soul even as he knew it was so for Springer.
The scene faded and he wondered what it meant in the context of the Pantheon's intentions. Springer and he had a relationship, a 'battlefield' relationship and that was one of the most closely held secrets of his life. As he watched the two, remembering that very moment, the scene was gone and another came forward.
He was in a bar on a world with a roomful of mechs and his own behind him. Lockdown was there and it was a standoff. The tension was great as the two groups pointed weapons at each other. Prime was lit. "I will give you one breem to get off this world and not come back. This group falls within the Protectorate of Marshon and if you start trouble all of us will face their fury. That includes the refugees around here."
Prime remembered that they had pulled refugees from this and that place into the Protectorate with agreement from their leadership. It would save literally tens of thousands of Cybertronians from pirates like this. In turn, the Autobots would hunt the local group and clear out the riffraff.
Prime remembered this and he remembered the Protectorate. They turned out to be more than capable of doing it themselves …
=0=TBC 7-24-19
NOTES TOMORROW! :D