The Diego Diaries: Cloudy (dd7 363)
=0=On a metro to another place
They sat side-by-side in a nearly empty train car heading for Terra. The morning rush was nearly over and given that most kids either took dedicated trains or buses, there was lots of room. They were chatting off line as Ironhide asked about their next stop in this weird rodeo.
:The school we're going to is called Sparkling Day School where a bunch of our kids go. We're going to see them in their classroom, then head out for Iacon where the others are: Ratchet said.
:Who again?: Ironhide asked as he opened another set of files for the newest kids.
:I'll point them out: Ratchet grinned. :So …:
:So what?: Ironhide asked.
:My point exactly: Ratchet glanced at him. :Tell me what you think so far?:
Ironhide stared at him, then the window across the train car. :I don't recognize this:
:Well, it's new after all. I'd say that you're the reason we have so many. The seven adult femmes are your idea. So are Drift and Springer. I could go on forever. The last five infants are your idea, too:
Ironhide glanced at Ratchet. :You're lying:
:Nope. You like taking care of them from babyhood and when they get old enough to go to school you want another. I expect another whiny plea when Halo is ready to go to school. I know you, Ironhide: Ratchet said smugly.
:You know me, is that it?: Ironhide asked. He considered the big mech beside him. It was easy to do. The mech was stunningly good looking. He also was tough, wily and smart. He was going to have to be fast on his peds to keep ahead of whatever and whoever this was.
:I do. Don't worry. I'll try to go easy on you: Ratchet said as he stood. The train was sliding into their station so he walked to the door and when it opened, stepped off and headed out to the escalator.
Ironhide watched him, then hurried after. Up the escalator he went, then out of the station to the street. They were in Terra or so Ratchet had said. He looked around, noted the same amazing quality of everything in the busy city center, then began to beat the band after Ratchet.
The city was busy with pedestrians, traffic on the road and nearby when he looked down a wide boulevard he could see vehicles halted to allow a train to pass through the city. The sound of the train and its signal horn was amazingly homesick inducing. Ahead of them was a tower that said 'Sparkling Day School, Public School #1, Autobot City Unified School District'. Crossing a number of streets as they walked toward the tower, he could see businesses, delivery vans and a couple of mail trucks here and there leaving things off.
The gates were open, the pathway clear and the doors welcoming. Walking inside, the two took an elevator to the eleventh floor where their classroom was now that they were adding more and more academic classes for the babies. The hallway was clear of kids and their genitors but there were individuals going here and there, some of whom waved or nodded to both.
Reaching the right door, Ratchet turned to him. "Get your dad hat on, slagger. This is going to be wild." He opened the door, then walked in.
Ironhide stared at the door, then opened it to go inside as well. It closed behind them silently.
=0=The Residence
Orion Pax stood in front of a mirror staring at the new paint scheme that would help protect him while things were being sorted out. The mech before him had a flashy scheme, one that was so high end and expensive that he felt uncomfortable. He looked this way and that, examining his servos and arms as he worked out the new look that was him.
He wasn't completely the mech in the private family images all around. His finials were slightly different and he was just this much less broad and 'muscular'. His frame was big and sturdy but he was still young. When the Matrix reformatted him, It didn't have much to do. This mech had been youthful and lanky, still approaching his more mature final protoform and part of that was due to his aura. His serious nature was belied by a frame that signaled to anyone who knew Cybertronians that he wasn't fully adult.
He turned to his parents who looked at him with genuine love and hopefulness. "Is this close?"
Tagg grinned. "It will do, Orion. You look handsome no matter the coloration."
Prowl nodded. "I agree." He turned to the twins. "Thank you for this."
Sideswipe who had closed his case rose with it in hand. "No problem. He's good to go."
"He's not going anywhere," Prowl said. "If he has to then he can do so more safely."
Orion glanced at his genitors. :I suppose there is no way to leave here then:
:Prowl is concerned. We will be here with you. If its possible to go out and see something of what you have wrought, then we will help facilitate it: Tagg said. He turned to the twins. "Thank you."
"Our pleasure, Tagg," Sunstreaker said as he picked up his two cases. "Call us if you need us. What's the deal with the kids?"
"Ratchet said he's going to get his kids and Ironhide's going to help, like it or not. Our kids are still a work in progress. We will let you know before school is out," Prowl said.
The twins nodded, then walked to the door and left.
They watched the two go, then the three left turned to Prowl.
Prowl stared at them, an unknowable unit, then felt slightly flustered, like an interloper who intruded on a private scene. "I have to go to The Fortress, Tagg, for a moment. Would you and Kes be able to keep Orion company while I'm gone?"
"We have made arrangements, Prowl, for the duration of this mishap," Kestrel said. "We will be at your beck and call, you and Orion."
Prowl felt gratitude form on his face as he stared at the two. "That makes me terribly happy, Kes," he said. He glanced at Orion. "I'll be back. This is your home. You're welcome everywhere in it. Please feel at home," he said, then with a nod to the others, Prowl walked to the door to leave.
They watched him go, then Tagg turned to his son. "How are you feeling, Orion?"
"Odd. Out of place. Disjointed," Orion replied. "I do not know enough to feel very good about this yet."
"Then we can help you, son," Kes said. "Come. Let's sit and talk together."
They walked to the living room and sat down in a chair and love seat facing each other as Orion glanced around the space. "This is more than I ever imagined living in."
"This was made for you, Prowl said, by the guilds and unions. Everyone wanted you to have a fitting residence and this place was made by them. You are loved here, son," Tagg said.
Orion stared at both of them. "Yesterday, I left the apartment to go to work. I walked to the stop to wait for Deion and Jetta to come. Then I was here. I do not understand what has happened but this … this is hard to put into a context for me. I do not know how I became a Prime or created such a place."
"It was a bit longer than that, Orion, when things began to happen that led to this moment. There was so much unrest. The dock strike was the first thing that happened. You stood up for a worker and when the word went out the entire planetary commercial shipping industry went out on a wild cat strike. You were almost immediately the leader of what would become the Peace Movement overnight," Tagg said as Kestrel nodded.
"We were both very worried about you. The government had mechs follow you and you were never off their radar," Kestrel said.
"Did they harm you?" Orion asked with concern.
"They would show themselves and come around. Some of them made a habit of hanging around on the street corners near our home," Tagg said. "We drove them off and the neighborhood always warned us. When someone would come, the local mechs would gather on the street and usually it was enough to make them leave. Sometimes we would have to add incentive." He grinned. "They never came back twice."
Orion considered that. "What happened? They said that Megatronus is my enemy."
"He is an enemy to us all," Kestrel said. "He might have started out the right way but the need to have power corrupted him swiftly. He would have killed you on the spot when the Matrix chose you if there had not been others around. You were opponents from that moment onward."
"You wanted what all of us wanted, son," Tagg said. "We wanted freedom, to live in a fair society and share the wealth all of us created with our labor. They did not. It made someone like Megatron possible, the frustrated rage of the masses. It was only a matter of time before war became inevitable. It nearly drove us to extinction."
It was silent a moment, then Orion asked the biggest question on his processor from the moment this all started. "How was it possible, Atar … Ada, that anyone would follow me?"
His genitors stared at him, at his earnest youthful face, the face of their only child and deeply beloved son. Tagg leaned forward to rest a huge servo on his son's knee. "You have no idea do you what a talented and good mech you are. You always stepped up, Orion. You never weighed the right or wrong of it. When something was wrong, someone needed help or there was a thing to do, you always helped. You never complained. You never looked the other way nor did you need or ask for recognition. You did what you felt in your spark was necessary and needed. Its in your aura. Its in your example. That is why you led our people back to the light."
"The Matrix was waiting for you," Kestrel said. "It waited a long time for you."
Orion considered them both. "I am glad that you are here. I am glad that you were not on Cybertron for the worst part of it. You were safely away were you not? I would have managed that for you, right?"
Both of his genitors stared at his face, then each other.
Tagg placed his servo back on Orion's knee. "We were alright. You did us proud."
Orion stared at them for a moment, then the anxiety fled deflating him a bit. "Thank Primus, then."
Tagg would talk to Prowl later on and tell him about their conversation. Prowl would be meticulous in disallowing anyone from telling about the torturous eons of suffering and loneliness that Tagg and Kestrel had spent on occupied Cybertron hiding from the Decepticons for the sake of their son.
He would succeed.
=0=Inside a classroom at the same time.
"ADA! ATAR!"
A tiny version of Ironhide ran to them, then halted in front of both. He struck his superman pose as he smiled a face splitting smile. His tiny peds were adorable and so was the rest of him.
"Orion," Ratchet said with a chuckle.
"ADA!" Orion laughed loudly. "YOU COMEDED TO ME, ORION!? I COMED WIF LOU!?"
Ironhide who stared with amazement at his miniature doppelganger and all around poltergeist glanced at Ratchet. "What the frag."
"Stunning isn't it?" Ratchet replied. "Pick him up. He's the first one of our own."
A tiny version of Ratchet was running from across the room toward both of them.
Ironhide watched him come with amazement once again. "I saw their pictures but its different."
Ratchet nodded. "It is." Ratchet scooped up Praxus, then turned to Ironhide. "What do you think? I had to prank your aft to get both of them."
"I thought you said that I wanted to have more of them?" Ironhide asked.
"After these two. You were a hard helmed slagger before Hero. These two took prank wars to resolve."
"Prank wars?" Ironhide asked.
"Yep and guess what? You lost," Ratchet said smugly.
Orion patted Ironhide's face. "Atar. Lou comed to I, Orion? Lou good me? I good you? You my she?"
Ironhide stared at Orion, then grinned in spite of himself. "I lost huh?"
"Maybe," Ratchet said with a chuckle.
They would stay a while sitting on a bench watching the kids learn to count, listen to books and string beads. It would be normal for Ratchet and mind blowing for Ironhide.
=0=TBC 8-25-2020 9-10-2020 upload