The Diego Diaries Part Seven

by arctapus

This is a continuation of the universe started in Diego Diaries and continued through parts two to six. The premise is a joke that led to world building. This is about family, friendship, overcoming adversity and finding the best parts of yourself. This is an adventure, a trek through the world of Transformers and its a comedy/drama. Everyone is here and if you are, too, then YAY!

160. Chapter 160

The Diego Diaries: Sun Dance (dd7 160)

=0=Conference Room out there

He squeezed the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Ratchet stared at him as he lounged in his chair, his arms crossed over his chassis and his peds on another chair. The two techs taking the record looked grim and intimidated. They were 'good kids' in the Home Guard on their first extended duty on a real mission.

Dual rose, pointed the gun again, then squeezed a couple of times. He tossed it on the table. Staring at Ratchet with rage, he sat slowly back down. "You knew that would happen."

"Why didn't you, O' Glorious All Knowing Wise Aft?" Ratchet said. He picked up his gun. "This gun needs my touch to release the safety. Its a measure with kids and Decepticons using them against us. An innovation from Prime. You know … the paltry guy."

They stared at Ratchet with deep rage and even hatred. It was amazing to see.

"I suppose when you only every fought for the best table in the restaurant and nothing better, you might be forgiven for not knowing how to handle arms. You never used them, Arm Chair Generalissimos. You never got your little servos dirty. But don't fret. Now its my turn," Ratchet said as he pressed his digit against the barrel of the gun's plasma chamber which unlocked it to fire. It was a multi-functional gun with several formats besides plasma but they didn't know that. "I get to shoot you, Dual." Ratchet then pointed the gun at Dual.

He gasped as the others leaned back stunned at the turn of events. "You wouldn't. I command you not to."

Ratchet heard the soldiers snicker. He glanced at the two wan kids watching and sent all of them energy. He looked at Dual, then smiled. "You're not the boss of me."

It was instructive how they sat and stared at him, their servos gripping the tabletop.

Ratchet sat forward then pointed the gun at Dual. "My turn," he said with a grin.

"You won't do it. You're an Autobot. You're trained not to do such things," Future said.

"How do you know? The war was slagging long and things happen to someone who finds themselves in one. But you wouldn't know what," Ratchet said as he made a play of pointing the gun at Dual's face.

"You won't. You're bluffing," Lateral said as he sat back to relax in his chair.

As he did Ratchet fired between Lateral and Future hitting the wall behind them just next to one of the soldiers with a plasma bullet. The soldier didn't flinch but merely continued to lean on the wall watching the show with a smirk on his face.

The three mechs jumped then glanced back to see a blackened hole in the wall. They turned back to face Ratchet. It was silent then Ratchet pointed his gun at Dual changing the setting on it subtly with his thumb digit.

"You won't shot me. You're trained not to. You know your place and you will fulfill it," Dual said tensely. He was staring at Ratchet with intensity but still wasn't as afraid as he should have been had it been anyone but Ratchet. They were clearly deeply into their illusions.

"Wrong again," Ratchet said as he shot Dual. That mech lurched up sparkling with electrical energy,then dropped to the floor in a heap. The sparks disappeared with contact with the floor then Ratchet turned his gun onto the other two.

They flinched then sat back staring at him with something more normal on their faces … real fear. Lateral glanced at Future, then Ratchet. "Are you going to shoot us, too?"

"No," Ratchet said placing the gun on the table. He shoved it toward Future. "It's your turn to shoot me."

Future stared at the gun then Ratchet. "You just said that it won't shoot for anyone but you. I can't shoot you with that."

"But you want to. So did Dual. He had his chance. Now I'm going to let you two have yours. Its called living the dream. Didn't you just say you wanted all of us either enslaved properly or dead? We're slime people, right?" Ratchet asked.

=0=Elsewhere

"Ha! That mech is mad but mad like a fox," Micronus said.

The others nodded.

"I would just slap them into the outback of the beyond Myself," Solomus replied.

Onyx grinned. "That's rather not like You, brother."

"Well, I can do two things at once, Onyx, My friend," Solomus said as the rest of Them stifled chuckles.

=0=There, down there

"I'm not going to pick up that gun," Lateral said. "You can't make me."

"Then you forfeit your turn?" Ratchet asked.

"OF COURSE! WHAT IS THERE ABOUT 'NO' THAT YOUR PROCESSOR DOESN'T UNDERSTAND!?" he commanded. He glanced at his friend. "Don't pick it up, Future."

Future looked on the edge of real uncertainty when Ratchet picked up the gun, then shot Lateral. He sparked, bellowed, then slid off his chair to land under the table.

Future jumped up in a panic. He watched as Ratchet put the gun on the table and shoved it toward him. It stopped at the edge. He stared at it, then Ratchet, then looked around wildly. There was no place to run and no allies in sight. He grabbed the gun, stared at it in a panic, squeezed the trigger to no avail, then threw it at Ratchet.

Ratchet caught it easily, then slowly and deliberately pointed it at Future.

He stumbled back holding up his servos. "No. You can't shoot me."

"Why?" Ratchet asked calmly.

"Because … because it would be wrong," Future stuttered. His processor felt like mush.

"You hurt a lot of people in your time, a lot of mechs and femmes, shaming genitors in front of their children and elders … you never cared about them did you," Ratchet asked.

Future stared at him, clenching and releasing his fists in his desperation. "That was … it wasn't personal. We were upholding the rules, the laws. YOU KNOW IT! YOU WERE THERE ON CYBERTRON! IT WAS ALWAYS THAT WAY!"

"Why?" Ratchet asked. "Who says?"

"The Pantheon. They said." Future sat slowly, staring at Ratchet with real fear. He gripped the table. "You know how it was."

"I know how you wanted it to be. I never did figure out why it was so. Maybe you can enlighten me from your superior processor before I shoot you, too. Make me understand. The other two weren't forthcoming. What about you?" Ratchet asked. "We're going to find out what you did and then the trials will start. This is a special circumstances situation and we've already had two of those. The Pantheon wasn't happy with either group if I remember correctly."

"I don't believe you," Future said with fury. "You're lying. The Pantheon wants us to live the way we always have. They want us to uphold the traditions of the past."

"Which always benefited the few at the expense of the many. You never had a bad orn in your life. You didn't learn the Lessons of The Fall and you repeated them here. You blaspheme the Pantheon every time you open your mouth. What the frag is wrong with you and your caste? You're the reason the world fell and everyone is suffering and instead of learning you're doing it all over again. You're one dumb fragger, Future."

"And what are you? A nobody. A low born low caste who we had to feed and care for. We took funds out of important things to keep you alive because we were benevolent. We could have let you all starve but we didn't. We gave money to projects to keep you all alive and well," Future hissed.

"Frag you, slagger. Everyone I know worked and those that didn't because the system was stacked against the majority of us starved. Where was this money? Where were you doing anything that mattered? Who made you rich? Who did all the work that created the wealth that benefited only you and your parasite class?

"I don't think you could fix your own food if you had to. I bet you can't even make your own berth. If all of us weren't doing the work you'd sit in a pile and starve to death. You're worthless to anyone." Ratchet felt his long suppressed rage rising as he stared at the furious mech across from him. There was no way this would change anything but somehow this argument felt good to him anyway. Future wasn't the only one carrying baggage.

"You make me laugh. What could any of you do that could possibly matter? We made the decisions, we created everything and had it made. You were just machines that did the details."

Ratchet shoved his gun to Future. "If that's true then you can figure out the end around for the gun lock, open it and shoot me. Go ahead, smart guy. Show me all this know how that you seem to think you have. If you're so smart this gun lock will be easy."

Future stared at him then the gun. "I would shoot you if I could."

"WHAT? YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO UNLOCK THE GUN'S SAFETY FEATURE? What kind of superman are you? You can't figure out the locking mechanism of a little old gun? Oh, right. You were a coward who never served but parted that out, too. It would seem that you don't know much, can't do much and have no point beyond leaching the benefit of everything everyone else does because you're a delusional parasite. Thanks for the insight."

"Frag you, scum," Future growled.

Ratchet picked up his gun and shot Future. He jerked, then fell to the floor.

It was silent, then a kid leaned toward Ratchet. "Are they dead, Commander?"

"No," Ratchet said with a grin. "They might think it but they aren't." He scanned them then stood. "Well, that was fun. Let's get them into shape, then send them to the special prison for big aft slaggers at Mars. These three need more conversations before I'm done with them."

They gathered together to make it so.

=0=On Mars

Prime and Prowl who had a down link from Ratchet had watched the entire thing. The three mechs had been so deep in their delusion that it made both worry about what had befallen the people living under such a mind set.

Prowl was home worked from his office after helping prepare lunch for his family. Venture and Miler were off duty pending the disposition of their living conditions. They were in the living room playing with Prima and chatting happily.

Venture was waiting for an apartment in his building to come open. A younger couple would be leaving for larger and more swinging quarters soon so Styre and Stealth were staying with Prowl until then.

"What do you think?" Prowl asked as he leaned back in his chair. Prime was on the screen and both had a call in to Ratchet for the sit-rep.

"I think this may be worse than we think it is given what we just saw," Prime said. "I want as clear and complete a record from the techs doing data and anyone handling the refugees as possible, Prowl. If there are real problems here … he did try to shoot Ratchet even if goaded a bit, then I need to know so we can help the people."

Prowl nodded then the screen cut three ways. Ratchet was online. "Well, what do you think and do you plan to do that often?" he asked.

Ratchet grinned. "I think that we have a group that's been so long out of the loop that they actually condensed their feelings and attitudes into something even more deeply held and fragged than if they were like other groups with more contact with others. A closed circuit is what this is. And no."

Prime grinned. "That was rather unorthodox."

"I know," Ratchet said with a dazzling smile. "But it did open up the idea that this may be worse than we first believe."

"That is my nightmare," Prime said. "Tell us what you need and it will be yours. By the way … the football season will begin in three orns."

"Frag," Ratchet said with a frown. "I SUPPOSE I CAN'T COME!"

Prowl grinned. "Loon."

"I will ask Gee-Gee for a day pass just for you," Prime said with a grin.

"Have you and the lugs been practicing or is this going to be a wipe out? Discerning processors are awaiting word from the Most High."

Prime grinned. "Secret."

"Slagger," Ratchet said with a grin. "My money is on Iacon. I'm a homeboy to the bitter end."

"And bitter it will be," Prowl said with a smirk.

"Who are you rooting for, Whiner? Praxus the Losers or The Most High?" Ratchet asked.

Prowl stared at him a moment, then shifted uneasily in his chair. "Crater Terrans, of course."

"Liar."

"No, I'm not lying."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not." [Furrowed brow bends into Loon]

"No, you are."

"Yes … No … frag you, Loon."

=0=Somewhere else

"Prowl makes me laugh." -Prima

"I know. He is a perfect foil for Optimus." -Primus

"This is like television … soap operas." -Micronus

"I like this channel." -Prima

"I do, too." -Primus

"We will have a part in this eventually. These slaggers are hardcore and need help." -Prima

"Oh, joy." Micronus with a big grin

All of Them faded away.

=0=TBC 12-17-19

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