The Diego Diaries: Cloudy (dd7 365)
=0=The next morning
"You ready?"
Ironhide glanced at him as he held the reins of his children's harnesses. "You tell me."
Ratchet dazzled him with a smile. "I will." He glanced at the kids standing all around. "Head 'em up, little doggies."
The kids laughed loudly and began to waddle to the doorway. The big kids picked them up, then headed out with Sunspot in arms and Spot jumping around behind them.
A cow and cat watched them all go, then walked to the window to sun themselves. All was right in their world.
The walk to the street was chatty, noisy and slow as they reached the group of mechs and a femme or two who had kids going to school on buses. Hero hugged Fireball, then was placed on the ground. She smiled up at everyone, then self consciously walked to the cab stand to place her call. Ammas and Appas, an ada, siblings and a slightly overwhelmed atar watched her as she did. She skippity-hopped back to them. "I CALLED MY RIDE!"
"You did, Missy," Blackjack said with a chuckle.
A cab slid up, she climbed in, then waved until out of sight.
"Does she do that herself?" Ironhide asked. "Ride to school alone? Its in the Metro Districts."
Blackjack nodded. "She does. Little femme is amazing."
A bus slid up and the big kids boarded along with Sunspot and Spot. A lot of waving and hugs were had before they pulled off in time for two other buses to stop at the sign. All of the tiny kids but Prowler were fed aboard. Halo watched them go, then leaned back into Ratchet's arms. Buses came and buses went leaving only Halo behind.
Ratchet glanced at Ironhide, then held out Halo. "Your dollie, slagger."
Ironhide took her, then frowned. "What do I do here?"
"You carry her around, talk to her, have cookies, smuggle her to Cybertron-" Alor said before he interrupted her.
"Take her to the war zone?" Ironhide asked with surprise.
"Yes, you menace to society," Blackjack said. "Come on. We have a meeting at The Fortress." Blackjack and Alor stepped off and the others followed.
Ratchet smiled at Ironhide, then began to follow as well.
Ironhide watched them go, then glanced at the baby sitting on his servo. She smiled brilliantly at him. He grinned back, then hustled after everyone.
=0=At The Fortress
They stepped out of a cab, Orion and his genitors along with Prowl. It was a rushed walk into the building with a nod and wave to the oldsters and those in the Rec Room. Entering the Operational Center of The Fortress, Orion slowed as he glanced around to take in all of the sights before him. He didn't know how 99% of them worked nor what to do if he had to make decisions. His ada held his servo as they lingered their way to the command table in the far end of the vastness that was their command center.
When they reached it, Orion glanced around taking in the room. Then he turned to Prowl.
"Why don't we sit down and talk?" Prowl said gently as he pulled out a chair.
All of them did, then it was silent a moment.
:This is your domain, Orion. Here's where you command and serve your empire. This is the home ground of our reclamation and the command central of all the various places and instruments that are part and parcel of your power: Prowl said.
Orion stared at him with a rising sense of dread. :I do not know what they all entail. I have no memory of this place. I do remember entering the command center of Kaon once to halt a … an action against the poor in the Wilderness. It did not go well:
Prowl nodded. :I remember:
At that moment Ironhide and Ratchet walked in heading for the table where they took chairs. Sitting down, Ironhide reticently, they stared at each other.
:I … this place: Ironhide managed.
Ratchet nodded. :Ground Zero for the empire:
:Orion has no memory of this place but its before his time: Kes said as he squeezed Orion's servo.
Orion squeezed back.
:Temporary: Ratchet replied. :Its all temporary: He stared at Orion. "You're amazingly similar to yourself now: He glanced at Prowl. :I was thinking … to make the impression perfect, what about Pretender gear for Orion?:
Prowl stared at Ratchet, then sagged slightly. :I forgot about that: He glanced at Orion. :We have supplementary gear, a small box with an enhanced power supply accessory that we all bear now, all of the special ops, our soldiers, Seekers and the senior Autobots that allows us to be able to transform to specifications we could never do before including organic beings. It involves a lot of safe tech and displacement of mass into subspace if we go smaller than our own size and density. Its incredibly safe and useful. If you wore it you could transform your appearance to that of Optimus without anyone ever seeing any difference:
Kes glanced at Tagg who glanced at Ratchet.
Ratchet nodded to both. :Orion doesn't have it because he hasn't become Optimus Prime yet. We can install it and it'll be an exceptionally safe and useful asset to him:
Kes and Tagg turned to Orion and they had a conversation off line. Tagg asked Ratchet to clarify a few things, then Orion looked at Prowl. :I wish to serve our people however I can. If you say its safe and will be useful, then I will accept:
Prowl sat back with visible relief on his face. He glanced at Ratchet, then rose. :Let's adjourn to your office then: When the others were all standing, he led the way to the door to the hallway nearby where they disappeared from view.
=0=A half hour later
Wheeljack and Perceptor walked out heading back for Sciences. They were just back from the surveillance point where they were monitoring a very slowly drifting, apparently sentient cloud with a half dozen science vessels and several ships of war including The Salton Sea. They'd fitted Orion, helped him assimilate both the tech and extremely detailed images of himself as Prime. When they were activated, standing before them was a picture perfect facsimile of Optimus Prime himself.
Everyone watched the two leave, then turned to Orion who was staring at his own servos. He glanced at his genitors who nodded warmly to him.
"You look like your handsome self, son," Kestrel said. "You grew into such a handsome and fine mech. You remind me of your Appa Sirius."
Orion glanced at him. "Where is Appa? And the others?"
Kestrel glanced at Tagg.
Tagg gutted up. "They're still being searched for," though he knew they were long at the Matrix. "We find our people everyday because you prioritized it. We expect all of them to walk though a bridge any orn now, we have so many found."
"You do not know?" Orion asked.
"We don't have everyone's names, Orion," Prowl said. "We go to the discovered areas and bring our people back, sometimes millions. It takes time to sort through names and identities even when they come back. That's how I got my family back. You can never give up hope because its a surprise every orn."
It was silent a moment, then Orion nodded. "Very well."
"I think you need to see yourself in a full length mirror. Its not often that the Messiah of our people is so handsome," Ratchet said brightly. "Follow me."
They walked out of the hallway down to a small med station at the end of the corridor. Entering, Ratchet opened a closet door to reveal a full length mirror.
Orion who was walking toward it slowed, then stopped as he stared at himself in the reflection. It was silent for some time as he looked himself over, then turned slightly to see his back. He glanced at his genitors, then Prowl and Ratchet. "This is how I look?"
Everyone nodded.
"Handsome slagger, you are," Ratchet said.
Orion grinned slightly, then looked at Ratchet. "If you say so."
"Everyone does," Prowl said proudly.
He stared at Prowl, then grinned faintly again. "What do we do now? I am here to help."
It was silent a moment as they took his words in, then Prowl glanced around. "I'll show you what you do and how you do it. Just in case something comes up, you can know more what you did and how you would do it usually."
Orion glanced around, then nodded to Prowl. "I would like to know all of this."
Prowl looked visibly relieved. "Let's go then, shall we?"
Orion followed Prowl along with Kestrel and Tagg.
Ratchet glanced at Ironhide, then the door. "Well … what do you want to do, slagger? We have the orn off."
Ironhide stared at Ratchet, then glanced around. "So … what do you do for fun around here?"
Ratchet smirked. "You up to it?"
Ironhide smirked back. "Born to it."
At that moment, Sun and Jack followed by Hard Drive, Raptor, Steiner and Flint walked into the room.
"THERE YOU ARE!" Sun said with a giant smile. He slapped Ironhide on the back nearly capsizing him. "COME ON!"
Ratchet smirked. "Need company?"
"Always," Jack said with a chuckle. "Let's go see if infant here has it."
"HAS WHAT!?" Ironhide asked with a frown as he rubbed his shoulder.
"What it takes, infant," Hardie said with a chuckle. "We have a pilot waiting and an entourage. Get the lead out, Ironhide," he said as he turned to go.
The others followed as Ratchet and Ironhide watched them go.
Then Ratchet grinned at Ironhide. "Get the lead out, Ironhide," he said as he followed the others.
Ironhide watched him go, then grinned. "If you say so, slagger," he said as he walked out with them.
=0=Out in the Ops Center
The four of them sat at the command table as Prowl explained all of the instruments there that were tools for all of them to use. He explained the stations around the room where the day crew worked obliviously to the drama playing nearby. The place was a revelation for Orion as he learned what was what in the command center of what was his empire.
News flowed in and Orion saw it arrive, filling lines of text on datapads and screens everywhere around them. He absorbed it faster than he thought he would, so detailed and daunting it seemed. It would take half the afternoon for him to see how it all worked.
=0=The Airfield
They walked out, a raucous group of good natured individuals on their way to wherever they were going. Ironhide didn't know. It was going to be fun because of the mechs he was with. Experience told him that. They were the center of his universe and always were. Sun and Jack were cherries on the top of the Celebration cake.
They walked to the shuttle, then boarded. Walking to the back to sit, Ironhide slowed to a halt. "Hercy."
"Ironhide. 'Bout time you got here." Hercy grinned. "You know everyone?"
Ironhide looked around. Most of them were family but there was a familiar face with Hercy. "Kup. How are ya."
"Fine as frog's hair," Kup said.
"What?" Ironhide asked as he sat down next to Kup.
"Human wisdom," Kup said as the shuttle began to lift off.
"Who are humans?" Ironhide asked before he was buried in ridicule and laughter.
A joor later …
They were walking along the track heading toward a pile of rubble nearby. Ironhide was following Ratchet with a grim expression on his face. The sights around him were astonishing as he walked through the destruction of the world. The camps were a revelation and the grit of the people uplifting.
His family was showing him something, the ruination of their world and the incredible resilience of their resurrection. The rain had fallen and the path was slippery. He trudged along with the joking group of his most intimate and revered associations. The only stumbling point in the picture was the ravishing stranger who was playing him like a fiddle.
=0=TBC 8-29-2020 edited
ESL
reticent: (reh-tih-cent) slowly, hesitantly, not boldly
gutting up: to gut up is to do something difficult as in this case lying to his son about his appas and ammas. It was done to protect him by his genitors.