The Diego Diaries: BASKETBALL! (dd7 122)
Sorry about last night. Yesterday was so awful I was awestruck, then it pivoted 180 degrees the other way. I think I have whiplash. :D:D:D ONWARD!
=0=On the way
"How's the nose?"
"It hurts," Springer said as they headed to a detailer. Crooked things needed to be made straight. "Ada is a maniac."
"He is but he's a damned fine welder," Drift said as they walked into The Paint Box.
"Ha, ha, slagger," Springer said as he led the way in.
Drift followed with a grin.
=-=Med Center
"How was the visit at the jail?" Lee-Lee asked as she brought in a snack, cuppa and the orn's reports.
"Well," Ratchet said …
^,,^
The jailhouse was full necessitating the transfer of any further prisoners after the brawl to the other Courthouse some few cities away from here. The cells were holding several of the little mechs each. Given it was a huge brawl between a huge extended family, the group had to be divided as well including separating the really young, really old and those who were femmes from the mechs.
Ratchet walked into the section called 'Block A: Low Security-General Lock Up', then scanned the entire group. They stared at him silently from their perches on the bunks and/or floor. He studied the findings, then walked to a cell. "Open the door, Roadie. I need to look at two of these desperadoes."
They frowned at him but allowed him to treat them.
Ratchet walked around this group, then headed out to the other lock ups to check over the others. He found himself staring at a passel of femmes, young kids and elders. They stared back silently. Then an old mech stood and walked toward the bars. "Hi, Ratchet," he said.
"Hi, Dover. Fancy meeting you here," Ratchet said with a grin. "How are you feeling? How are the rest of you?"
"Poorly," Dover said. "Someone fired a gun. Someone in our family fired a gun at someone else."
Ratchet pulled over a stool, then sat. "Tell me about it. Tell me what you know. Whoever did it needs to be helped. You will all be in the joint if someone doesn't get this right."
"We don't rat each other out, Ratchet," Dover said as the others nodded.
Then another elder stood. "We take care of our own."
"Some of you will end up in jail for doing nothing wrong. The one responsible will learn nothing from this. What about the next time? It's my experience that if you don't learn the first time, the next time and all that follow tend to get worse." Ratchet stared at the two, then a tiny femme who was staring at him with a strained expression. "You didn't deserve to be here, Mina."
Mina stared at him, then Dover. "Tell them about Fan. He's been a terror lately. Do it, Dover, or I will."
Dover glanced at her, then Ratchet. He sighed deeply. "Fan broke up with someone who mattered. He's been a … in a depression for a while and when he's really low he drinks too much. He was the one with the gun. It's a miracle that no one got hurt."
"What about him turning it on himself, Dover? Did you consider that?" Mina asked.
He glanced at Mina, then Ratchet. "Yes. I have."
"I don't know Fan. I think I'm going to refer him for a medical and mental health assessment. If he's not himself then he needs help, not punishment. What was the fight about?" Ratchet asked.
"Drinking. His and two others, his cousins. We were there for a celebration of my ada," Dover said. "You know her… Kinsee?"
"Tiny femme, red scheme, big optics and a sweet smile?" Ratchet asked.
Dover nodded with a faint grin. "My ada and atar were celebrating their bonding and her earning a certification in weaving from the Circle. It's a big deal. Ada's family were famous for it but it got lost when we were used to clean the inside of shells and things. Fraggers."
Ratchet nodded. "I remember that. They moved your villages to the city."
Dover nodded. "Ada nearly forgot all we know. We know a lot. It was a big deal, then Fan and two of the kids got drunk, a fight started, then shots. I worry about him. He's my nephew but my brother doesn't know how to handle him. We were too poor to give in. You know?"
Ratchet remembered that, sucking it up and limping along because medical treatment cost too much. "I remember." He glanced at the others. "I want you to have good representation. Most of you will just get a warning and walk. You got scooped up, right?"
All of them nodded.
"Ask for Blackstone if you need a good attorney or that mini-con firm. They're the greatest. I'm going to get a bench warrant and release for Fan. Who are the other two? Do they have problems or are they just afts?" Ratchet asked.
"Afts," Mina said. "If you can get Kinsee and Rupalo out of here that would ease my processor. Also, Bangle, Simmer, Copel and Demaris. All of them are just genitors and elders that got roped in. None of us did more than hide or run when the fighting got going."
"I'll try. Don't worry. If you want me to come to the arraignment I will," Ratchet said.
"I would feel better if you did, Ratchet," Mina said.
Ratchet rose, chatted a moment, then walked out to the last big holding area. When he entered it was tense and quiet. He came with Merlow who was the medic and mental health tech in the facility during this shift. They had one for every shift present. He would have authority to release if Ratchet was unable to get an order from the courts in time.
He walked down the rows scanning and eyeballing each of them to see if there were injuries. There were a few so he had the bars dropped to work on a mech or two here and there. He rose, then glanced around. "Who is Fan, Nori and Duney?"
Three mechs in two pens shifted. One of them looked at him. "Why?"
"I'm going to do you a solid. Come with me and we can go to the Med Center for a check up. You can come along peacefully or not. Either way I win," Ratchet said. "Your adas and atars asked me to do this for you."
"Where are they?" Duney asked with concern.
"You ask now?" Ratchet replied. "They're in cells where your antics put them. They have worries and I'm going to help them feel better by giving you the once over myself. I know some of them and I like them. Get up and let's go," Ratchet said as an order from the courts downloaded into his files. "I just received a court order for you to come. Let's go."
They stared at him, then rose warily. Walking to the bars, they stepped out when Roadie dropped, then raised them again. They walked together to the door and out into the hallway.
Ratchet turned to Merlow. "I'll take them with Roadie to the Med Center. When we get done I'll bring them back. Eliminating or finding slag is a good defense."
"Alright," Merlow said. "We'll be here. The court is starting a bit late for the overnight group. They're having a couple of private hearings first."
"Good," Ratchet said. "We have time." He looked at the three silent mechs. "Come on." With that, Ratchet walked toward the door that led out followed by the three little mechs and Roadie bringing up the rear.
=-=Med Center
They sat on a med berth plugged in to the machinery. Jarro's assistant and a mini-con expert was coming to oversee the mental scans. He was a mini-con himself and a great sport.
His name was Sport.
Ratchet eyeballed the three, small mechs with good features and schemes. Their tattoos proclaimed their clan and a lot of other information in the Cybertronian manner. Cybertronians were proud of their families, their declarations toward bonds and other items, all of them personally chosen at some point when they were old enough to do that. There was a marred name etched on Fan's shoulder. It was clear to Ratchet what it was. He pulled plugs, then told Duney and Nori to wait outside.
They slid down, then walked outside.
Ratchet looked at Fan. "You were the one with the gun. You fired it. You could have killed someone … your cousins, your appas and ammas."
"Nice guess but wrong," Fan said.
"I doubt it. When Sport gets here he's going to check your mental health. It would do you good to cooperate. When the gun is matched to you that makes this federal and you have to have a Primal hearing. That could mean a lot of prison," Ratchet said.
Fan stared at him, then glanced away. He didn't say anything more.
The door opened and Sport peered in with a grin. "You rang?"
Ratchet grinned. "I have a live one for ya. This is Fan and he's got a bunch of troubles. But I also think he has a lot of things contributing to it. Help him out, Sport. Did you get my message?"
Sport nodded. He had the message of details know that Ratchet had given him. "Come on, Fan. Let's get a bite. The cafe here is good. I haven't eaten since lunchtime."
Fan stared at him, then slid to the ground. He walked out with Sport.
Ratchet looked back as they went. "Why not take Nori and Duney back, Roadie. I got what I need. Tell Merlow that Sport is having some food with Fan and he's coming back later."
Roadie nodded, then looked at the two mini-cons. "Let's go," he said as the three began to walk off.
Ratchet watched them go, then watched as Sport and Fan reached the elevators. "Go eat. Do miracles."
Sport laughed. "Let's go."
The two walked to it, entered, then left.
^,,^
"Sounds sad," Lee-Lee said.
"It is. But that's what we're here for," Ratchet said as he sat at his desk.
She grinned at him. "What's the cheer gear for tonight? Too bad Prowl came from Praxus. Being Iaconian is more fun."
"It is," Ratchet said with a giant smile. "Just know that it was well thought out and keeping with the general decorum of the game."
"Oh, frag," Lee-Lee said with a chuckle. "Prowl will be over the moon and not in a good way."
"Bingo," Ratchet said.
They would clear the decks, Ratchet would leave and get a nosh at the tailgate in the plaza in front of the Sports Center where the games were held, then walk in. He would take a pit stop to don his cheer gear, then wait until everyone was in the Primal box before going there himself.
It would be epic.
=-=In the box
The boys had retired to the locker rooms, both Kaon and Iacon. Prowl was standing in the box having parceled the kids out to everyone there including the extended family of Bos and Company. If he was going to slag Ratchet, he didn't want collateral damage. Then Ratchet slipped into place beside him. He resisted the urge to look, then did. It was … unusual.
Ratchet was standing beside him in some sort of unitard that was yellow and had small black dots here and there on it. He wore a cap that was yellow, too. He smiled at Prowl.
"What the frag do you have on?" Prowl asked warily.
"My last cheer gear of the season and my most spectacular effort I might add."
Prowl stared at him, then the crowd. They were noisy and happy. The cameras were pointed on both of them and Prowl felt the pressure. Ratchet was going to do something awful and he couldn't figure it out yet.
Then he didn't have to.
Ratchet pulled a pair of cymbals out of his subspace and began to bang them. Everyone around him turned to watch with a grin knowing anything could happen and probably would. The cameras put him on the jumbotron in the middle as Prowl grabbed his cymbals and subbed them himself.
The arena erupted in cheers and turned their attention to the pair.
Just as Ratchet knew they would.
Poor Prowl. He would never learn.
Ratchet stared at Prowl then smiled brilliantly. He unsubbed a control device and looked at it. Then he pressed a button.
=-=In a locker room
"Oh, oh," Ironhide said. "Old mech has buttons on that thing."
Everyone watched the screen as the buttons made something happen.
Something epic as frag.
=0=TBC 10-31-19 HAPPY HALLOWEEN OUT THERE! :D 11-7-19