The Diego Diaries: Storm (dd7 286)
Got sick-ish. Too much pizza and not enough sense. :D:D:D HERE WE GO!
=0=Elsewhere at the same time
They walked in together led by their teacher and followed by their aides and three adult genitors who were there to see them excel. Wandering in, they glanced all around in wonder as all infants did as they clutched the rope holds that kept them together in a line. Trailing at the end, Prowler with his panda teddy in his servo glanced all around, smiling at all the adults he passed, waving his teddy at them as he walked with his little group and two others for 'Story Time With Lady Sela', a function of the Circle of Light Cultural Program at their school, The Circle of Light Preparatory Academy of Autobot City.
They wandered to the elevator nearby, took it down, then wandered out to the classroom nearby even though they slowed to gape at the Well and Allspark. That iconic relic slowed to a stop, then sparkled a lot of energy across Its inscrutable surface almost as if saluting the 25 babies who were coming to hear about things in the sacred space of their lives.
They gawked at the display as did the adults. Lady Sela and several of the priests who were from Cybertron to see the programs here grinned at them. It was a display that the Allspark did every time a child came near It and even though it was always wonderful to see, the initial surprise was gone from them.
"Nana?"
A teacher, Chaos glanced down at a tiny Seeker femme. "What, Ulu?" he asked with a grin. He loved coming here, too.
"Why that does that?" Ulu asked as she pointed her tiny digit at the big relic which was twinkling energy like tiny lights across the surface of Itself.
"Because It loves you," Chaos said with a grin.
She stared at him a moment, then smiled brilliantly. "I LOVE IT!"
Children in line listening, watching and waiting broke into agreement. Tiny voices said the same as they watched the lights.
The lights blinked, then disappeared. It began to turn slowly once more, Its majesty once more inscrutable.
"Come, infants. Lady Sela is waiting and she brought friends with her," Chaos said as he gently got them going again.
They smiled, laughed and waved to Sela who stood in the doorway of the classroom. She waved back. Into the room they went, following their teachers and genitors. They dropped the rope, then sat on the wide steps settling down to listen.
Sela and two priests, Anchor and Light stood in the front of the room, smiling at the sight of the infants who were glorious as all infants everywhere in every galaxy and universe were. Sela then sat down crossing her legs. The other two did as well. "Well, look at you," she said happily. "Who is a good little mech and femme?" she asked, knowing it would go off the rails right away.
They rose their arms but for one. He glanced at someone behind him, then leaned in to Sela to 'whisper'. "I am, Amma. But Tis isn't. He was bad."
Sela schooled her face to prevent the laughter inside from showing up outside. "Beyo, what a thing to say. How could any of you ever be bad?"
Tis was frowning at Beyo. "I'm good, Amma. I do good." He stared at Sela with a hopeful and slightly miffed expression.
"Why would Tis be bad?" Sela asked Beyo.
Beyo glanced at Tis, then looked at Sela earnestly. "He spilled paint on his chair."
It was silent a moment but for a slight shifting of a priest who wanted to guffaw out loud. They would take a moment to discuss accidents, work over the 'crime', then everyone would agree that Tis was great and Beyo was mistaken. Beyo would get up and go to Tis to clumsily hug him. The ax would be buried and everyone would be ready for stories.
Sela who'd having a rip roaring conversation off line with the two priests, two of the adults and three other priests who were standing in the doorway to watch the show which having sparklings in the classroom always presented finally got their attention. "Well, here we go. Who remembers who Prima Prime is?"
Servos went up.
"Ulu?" Sela asked.
Ulu stood up, staring around at everyone for a moment, then turned back to Sela. She thought a moment with her teeny tiny attention span, then answered. "I have a dog."
It would go like that for a moment.
=0=At a very important meeting at the same time
They discussed the problems before them, both the Empress and Optimus Prime when Prowl took a call off line. He stiffened, something everyone noticed.
The conversation stopped flat.
"What is it?" Optimus asked.
He glanced at Prime, then Lido. "A group of individuals unknown commandeered a bridge and had themselves sent to Iacon on Cybertron. They told the operator that one was staying behind to insure his cooperation. They went through without tags and according to the site at Iacon, the big center near Camp 14, they disappeared right away. The cameras show individuals with covers over themselves to prevent identification. They ran out to disappear during a shift change."
Lido sat back with a grim expression. "Niso is terribly smart and clever. This is her and her associates escaping." She glanced at her son. "They must have noticed our trackers."
The Deacon stood, then moved to one side. He was silent a moment, then he turned to them. "They went to the apartment. Its empty, as if no one ever lived there."
"Then we have to track them on Cybertron. I would assume that they will go deep to let things die down," Lido said.
Prowl nodded. "I'll get a tracking team together and alert the Watch on world," Prowl said as he stood to walk to a computer.
"Lord Optimus, allow me to append to whatever group searches our own trackers. They are extremely skilled at tracking individuals from our culture. They will be subordinate to your leadership with the hope that they will be allowed to bring them in from wherever they are hiding. I am very concerned for the baby," Lido said.
"I agree, Lady," Optimus said as he glanced at Prowl. "Make it so, Prowl."
=0=Moments later
They walked toward the cell, number three where the gangster apprehended for drunken disorderly was sitting on his bench watching them come.
He saw her as well, the Empress of Stanix and stood almost automatically, such was the esteem Lido was held by all who were raised in the culture. He stared at her, a figure he'd only seen in passing, one who had helped his family in the past, one who had helped everyone escape during The Fall, an Immortal of great prestige and power. He gathered himself to be silent, abiding by the code that his gang operated under. They weren't just a gang, his fellows and him, they were a family.
She paused before the cell with the others silently behind her. "I am Lido, the Empress of Stanix. I can assume you know that, my son?"
He stared at her, then bowed his helm in respect. "Yes, Abba."
"May I come in and keep you company?" she asked as she looked around at the empty block. "You look very lonely and disturbed. I will comfort you."
"You don't have to, Abba," he said as the bars fell.
She stepped inside, then they went back up. Walking to the bench, she sat and patted the space next to her. "Please, my son, come and sit with me. I believe I knew your amma and appa."
The kid stared at her, feeling the fear that disappointing her generally engendered in those of his culture. She was the apex of all that was good, strong, fearless and gentle. She cared about and looked after all the children of her city, seeking information on their well being or not. She helped their genitors so that hunger so common everywhere else didn't exist to that degree in her confines. She got education for those who sought it, intervened in the incarceration of those arrested, ensured that medical care was had by all who needed it, exulting in her own great, great, great grandson, Buzzsaw when he became a hedge doctor and nurse. She was a goddess among The People and here she was with him.
He was terrified.
He slowly walked over and sat down at the end of the bench, as far from her as he could.
She looked at the others, then grinned. "We will be fine."
Optimus Prime stared at both, then bowed to her. "If you need assistance, Lady, you just call and we will come." He looked at the uneasy kid with her, someone who's record was pretty harsh. He looked utterly ill at ease with her there. "You will do well to listen to the wisdom of this great lady. She only has your best interests in her thoughts." With that, Optimus walked toward the door with everyone else behind him including the Deacon, the two queens and the mech elders, one of whom was her bond, Radium. They left and it was quiet inside the space again.
=0=At the Temple
"And that is how the Primes went away so that They could watch over all of us so much better," Sela said as she closed the book with beautiful pictures that she just read. Two more waited behind this one.
"Amma? Why they not here?" Ulu asked.
Resolve who was looking at her leaned over to take her servo. "They went there."
"Why?" Ulu asked.
"Because they went there. They watch there," Resolve said as his tiny finials flashed white with delight.
"Why?" Ulu asked.
"Because They like us. So they went there to do this," Resolve said.
"Why?" Ulu asked.
Every adult in the room was metaphorically rolling on the floor.
=0=On Cybertron
They were long gone from Iacon after landing, heading for the Stanix area that was most clearly known to them. They would find a camp near there and disappear. Their lives would be wound together, all of them looking out for the other as before. Hopefully, there wouldn't be anyone they knew around the area where they would dig in to wait it out.
Driving along the highway leading to the southwest toward the Hydrax Plateau, they were going to the greater Stanix area on the Sea of Rust. It would take a lot of check points and some serious lying but they would get there, disappear into the vast camps where they would change their paint schemes, some of their features and wait to see if the Empress would find them. It would be intensely unnerving for all of them.
=0=Temple
They finished their books, then Sela began her favorite part of the lesson, question time. "So now that we've learned how much we're loved, so much love for us from Them, what do you need to ask and tell me, infants?"
They stared at her, then each other. Then Prowler stood up. He held his little dollie in front of him as his red chevron glowed with his happiness. "Amma?" he asked.
"What, Prowler?" Sela asked of this, one of the most dreamy infants present and among the shortest of attention spans as well.
The kids smiled at him and he smiled back. He immediately forgot what he was going to ask. He looked at Sela, then smiled. "Amma?"
"What, Prowler?" Sela asked as she stretched out on the floor with amusement.
"Amma … I, uh ..." he began, then smiled at Ulu and Resolve. They smiled back. He looked at Sela. "Amma?"
Sela smiled. "What, baby?" she asked with much amusement.
=0=Cell Three
It was silent as Lido sat on the bench. She had pulled her legs up to sit comfortably. She would wait for him to speak. It wasn't in the way of good manners in such things given that he was subordinate to her in status but she wanted him to feel the burn. It would take a while as he sat at the end of the bench turned away from her as he stared at the floor in growing misery.
=0=Outside at the guard station
They sat together watching the scene inside, Prowl, Ratchet, Optimus, Radium and the Deacon. The others had gone ahead to do things that were required. The five watched with Red Alert who looked upset. "I don't like her in there, Prime. That's the Empress. My amma was from Stanix. We know what she means. If he hurts her I'll pummel him myself."
"She's a force of nature, Red. Don't worry about her. Worry about him," Ratchet said as the times he'd worked with her came back to him. She wasn't in any danger as far as Ratchet was concerned. The one in peril was the kid. She would stay and do what she needed until he cracked. Of that, Ratchet was convinced.
=0=Gathering into a line to go back to school
It was chaos for a moment as they found their places on the rope line. Two got into a snit because both were sure that the loop in question was their own handhold. When they were sorted out, Sela grinned at them. "Go and play, learn a lot. Remember, no matter where you are, no matter what happens, you are loved by the Pantheon and The One. Okay?"
"OKAY, AMMA!" -all the imps
"Okay," their teacher said. "Time to go to the bus." He tugged gently on the line. "This is the way we walk to the bus, walk to the bus, walk to the bus. This is the way we walk to the bus, all in the early morning," he sang until they all began to move in unison. Soon they were out the door and on their way.
Sela and the two priests stared after them, then turned to each other. "How do I get this job, Lady?" one of them asked.
"I'll help you start this on Cybertron," she said with a chuckle. "This makes my orn." With that, they walked back inside to get ready for two different groups of Intermediate kids. Question time wouldn't be as funny but it would be thought provoking.
=0=TBC 5-23-2020
I had a cousin named Tis. :D:D:D