The Diego Diaries: Cloudy (dd7 359)
i'm so tired I'll edit this in the morning. God night world. :D:D:D
=0=At The Residence of the Primes of Cybertron, Mars
They entered and were intercepted by Ratchet and a strangely pensive Ironhide. With them was Turbine, Delphi and a few of the mechs from the mission including the twins. Springer and Drift looked very uncomfortable.
"Ratchet, what is happening?" Kestrel asked as he glanced around. He spotted his son and Prowl outside on the balcony across the vast room. He stared at Orion, then Ratchet. "What happened? My son's energy feels off."
"We were there looking at a strange energy anomaly, Kestrel, Tagg. Why don't we sit so I can tell you about it?" Ratchet said.
Kestrel stared at Ratchet a moment. "What happened to my son?"
"We scanned the cloud, then it scanned us. It didn't hurt anyone but it changed a couple of the crew. Ironhide was standing next to Optimus with his servo resting on his shoulder when the beam hit us. When it ended both of them were slightly changed. That is … uh, both of them have been changed to much younger versions of themselves. Optimus is your son when he was working on the docks and Ironhide here is a single mech."
Kestrel stared at him, then the figure outside standing on the balcony. He moved past everyone heading for the door and Orion staring out at the city nearby it. As he did Tagg turned to Ratchet. "What does this mean?"
"It means that the cloud changed things. We don't believe it had ill intent. Its just floating energy of an ancient type but it did this and we're working on it now. We will change this around, Tagg. You have my word," Ratchet said.
Tagg stared at Ratchet and Ratchet stared back. Tagg was a good seven or eight feet taller than Ratchet. He had a frame that could be Primal in size and design. It was the frame of a huge and immensely strong mech. Tagg had worked in the steel mills becoming a foreman and doing the heavy intense labor alongside his subordinate workers. It ran in the family, that all of them were that honorable. "I have to speak to my son." With that, he stepped around the group and walked toward the door, his heavy treads familiar to everyone there.
Ratchet watched them go, then glanced at the others. He threw up his servos. "Well, that went well."
Springer grinned. "Score one for mom."
Tagg reached the door, then stepped out. Prowl had moved away when Kestrel came up to the two of them. He gripped the balcony. "Orion … are you alright?" he asked anxiously.
"I do not know," Optimus/Orion said. "I was going to work and then I was here. They said its not time travel, its some kind of memory reversal."
Prowl nodded. "We believe that's the probable situation for this."
Kestrel stared at Prowl, then Orion. Tagg joined him. "Tagg, we have a terrible problem here."
Tagg put his arm around Kestrel. "We will work it out, Kes. I do not want anyone panicking here and that includes you, Prowl. This is a … a ..." Tagg thought a moment. "I find it strange to look at you, Orion, and see my son as a post sub adult mech. It has been so long and the images that we had have been lost."
"I do not understand this. They want me to get a paint scheme that matches the mech they say I am. I … need your counsel," Orion said.
Prowl watched them, a trio that had been joined at the hip. They were merely the tip of the familial iceberg, Tagg and Kestrel. The ammas and appas, uncles and other family were part of the world that Prowl would never know. They were the net that held the son who grew up to greatness. "I'll step inside then," Prowl said as he began to turn to go.
Tagg caught his arm. "Stay, Prowl. Everyone of us has a stake in Orion's well being including you."
Prowl felt his spark swell with love for Tagg and Kestrel as he turned back to Prime. His Optimus, now Orion Pax. "Thank you. I … I think its a good idea in case someone sees him and notices a difference."
"Do you have objections, Orion?" Tagg asked as he turned to his son.
Orion who was holding Kes's servo glanced from his ada to his atar. "I am aware that it might be a useful tactic but … I just ..."
"Its confusing," Kestrel suggested as Orion nodded. "Then allow your atar to decide for you and me to concur. Whatever helps keep you safe is a good thing for us."
Tagg nodded in agreement.
Orion stared at them, the same parents he had always loved and knew in his spark that they were real, not replicas or some other strange anomaly of his already turbo charged strangeness. "Alright."
Tagg and Kes both looked relieved as did Prowl but he hid it from all three. Tagg looked at Prowl. "Perhaps the twins, Prowl."
Prowl nodded. "They're going to do it. They don't have to do it now. We're all tired but in the morning it will be done." Prowl glanced around their space, then turned to the three. "Its night and getting cold. Let's go inside where its warmer."
Tagg walked to the door and the others followed, entering the living room to halt before Ratchet and those already there.
Turbine glanced at Orion, then his genitors. "Why don't we all sit down and talk about this? Its always a good thing to talk."
Everyone sat down, Prowl in a chair next to Kestrel and it was awkwardly silent right away. Ratchet sat back and felt tired. "This isn't a funeral. This is just a temporary glitch in the system here. How many times did weird slag happen to us that turned out just fine in the long run? Our scientists are geniuses. They'll fix this and until then we just have to relax and relearn who everyone is." He grinned slightly. "Think of it as your younger self finding out about your older one and the wild slag you did along the way."
"I do not have any memories beyond the docks and home." He glanced at his genitors who had the same auras and energy as he remembered. "None. What has happened?"
Tagg discussed it off line a moment with Kestrel, then sat forward with a serious expression on his handsome face. "You were a strong voice for justice, Orion. A movement coalesced around you that demanded justice and an ending to the System. It grew and you met many individuals such as Megatronus from Tarn."
Orion nodded. "He is my friend. We do not always agree but we have the same hopes and desires for freedom for everyone."
Tagg nodded. "That was true in the beginning but he changed over time. He became more interested in getting and retaining power and less about the well being of Cybertron and our people. You grew estranged as the peace movement took over the world. You, Deion, Jetta, Ariel and RC were among the leadership of the movement world wide. We were very worried about you but we knew you were gifted and perhaps with your leadership something good would come of it. We had no idea that it would be the way it was."
"What happened then?" Orion asked almost grimly. That Megatronus had turned into something that was an enemy was astonishing to him.
"Then civil war broke out because someone had killed Sentinel Prime. The army and air force mostly went with the Decepticons, the group Megatron formed and led. The spark to all of it was when the Matrix chose you rather than him. It rather broke his tiny little spark," Ratchet said. "You had to defend the planet, organize an army out of civilians and take what help you could from the professionals like Prowl, me and you, Ironhide."
Ironhide who was listening with disquiet glanced at Ratchet. "War. We had war?"
"It was a war of annihilation," Turbine said with a nod. "We fought over the planet trying to end it and when it was clear that we would lose, Optimus launched the Allspark so Megatron wouldn't get it, then left to find it again while we evacuated the world. We never found it until it landed in this system and we could regroup here.
"We built and rebuilt stone upon stone, return of soldier and civilian piecemeal. We retook Cybertron because the starvation and privation there was more than the caretaker, Soundwave could manage. Megatron is somewhere looking for allies and the intel is that he's not stable," Turbine said. "All of us are refugees here and all of us have worked our digits to dust creating this place and working on Cybertron."
It was silent a moment, then Ironhide turned to his amma. "What about this and the families and kids ... the whole thing?"
"Life goes on, Ironhide. You bonded with Ratchet a long time ago and Prowl and Prime have been a bond for about 14 years," Turbine said. "You had and have kids. A lot of them. A lot of adults were added to the list because you and Ratchet are good hearted. Springer and Drift, the twins, about seven or eight femmes … a lot of them consider you their father." He glanced at Prime. "You have children and grandchildren. You share them with us because of the family ties between Bluestreak and the twins. We have others to think about besides ourselves. We can argue this ten ways to Second Sunday but children only know that their genitors are all they need to be happy and feel secure.
"That's what we have to emphasize right now. Whether you remember or not, you both are fathers to children, some of them very tiny," Turbine concluded.
"Okay, what now?" Ironhide asked.
"Right now, you stay inside. Both of you. Your family will help you through this but you can't be running around out there. Until you learn enough to fit in and hopefully, that won't be a long time, then you have to stay out of sight," Turbine said.
"You have to do this. The war devastated us and drove us nearly to the brink. No one can handle the insecurity of your situation especially now that everyone knew Sentinel faked his death to get away from Cybertron. We have to put the greater good over our own comforts," Prowl said. "I firmly believe that this is a short term trial for us but a real possible catastrophe for everyone else."
It was silent, then Delphi stood. "I think it would do us all a good deed to eat something if you're hungry, then turn in. Tomorrow will come fast enough."
Ironhide stood. "Where are we going?"
"To your house, Ironhide," Delphi said.
=0=TBC 8-21-2020 This would be longer but I'm drooping awaty here. :D:D:D