The Diego Diaries: Interlude 6
-0-In the first interrogation room
He towered over the smirking mech, then the door opened. All three paused, then they turned to look. Standing there in all his glory, Optimus Prime filled the space and then some. He seemed bigger than usual somehow to Ironhide, his personal charisma never more on display than when the moment called for greatness. Ironhide nodded. "I was about to show this slagger the error of his ways."
"I noticed," Prime said quietly. He didn't move, he didn't try to enter. He just stood and stared calmly at the Stunticon.
Motormaster considered that, then smirked. "You look good. How about a wrestling match, Prime? You and me. Best two out of three?"
Ironhide snorted. "Prime's already had three out of three, you fragger. Must have fragged your memory the last time when you lost that head on collision you pulled."
Motormaster lunged for Ironhide, a futile thing given his current position on the chair. "Frag you, Ironhide. How about it, Prime? You and me?"
Prime looked at him for a moment with a pitying expression. Then he turned to Ironhide. "Has he said anything about the camps?"
"No," Ironhide said. "He wants something in exchange if he tells what he says he knows. I don't believe him myself."
"You aren't the one in charge, Ironbutt," Motormaster said as Ironhide stomped his ped once more. Motormaster grunted, looking at Ironhide with a grim sense of satisfaction. "Oh right. It's Mr. Ironbutt."
Springer rubbed his chin covering the enormous grin that threatened to undermine the moment. He looked at the floor instead. Ironhide on the other hand shook his helm. "Want me to make a bike rack out of this slagger, Prime? I don't think he has a word to say."
"It's on my list, Ironhide," Prime said quietly. "Motormaster, understand this. If you have information and you don't tell, you will be treated as a war criminal. You already are a spy, you and your brother. Any one of these offenses warrants either termination or punitive stasis."
"He can join Shockwave in the basement," Ironhide said.
Motormaster glanced sharply at Ironhide. "Shockwave. Really?" he asked with irritation.
"Really," Prime said. "We have room for you. Make yourself valuable or we'll free up prison space by putting you in storage."
Motormaster looked at him. "Soundwave know about this? He was looking for Shockwave. But then, he was also looking for Starscream."
"Both of them are here. One of them is an asset, the other is an aft," Ironhide said with great satisfaction.
"Is that so," Motormaster said regarding first Ironhide, then Prime. "What's in it for me if I tell you things?"
"You get to live," Prime said with great finality.
Motormaster looked at Prime, gauging him. "You've changed, Prime. You don't have that soft edge that you used to have. I think I liked that one better. This one reminds me of Megatron."
Ironhide stomped on Motormaster's ped once more and this time the big mech bellowed. He tried to stand but Springer shoved him down, moving back to stand behind the big 'Con this time. He looked at Ironhide with murder, then glanced at Prime. "Give me something for incentive or you can ram this up your tailpipe, Prime. I have nothing to lose by not telling you. My life? It isn't worth a shanix spent in prison forever."
Prime considered his request, then walked to the table to sit. He regarded Motormaster a moment. "You will never agree to live here within the scope of Cybertronian law. What do you expect me to do?"
"Barricade gets to walk around during the orn. Let me have the same privileges."
:What do you think?: Prime asked Ironhide and Prowl.
:Shoot him: -Ironhide.
:Wire him with explosives. Give his guards the right to shoot to kill if he blinks sideways. Nothing less than that, Optimus. Sir: -Prowl
Prime quashed his smirk, sending instead oceans of warmth and love to Prowl who reciprocated. "Tell me something worthy of that sort of opportunity and I will consider it."
He looked at Prime searching for the angles that Motormaster had come to believe existed in everyone, everywhere, all the time. He couldn't detect such though he was convinced they were there. "I suppose I have your word or some such slag."
"You do," Prime said nodding slightly, his affect unyielding in its firm resolve.
Motormaster stared at him, then nodded warily. "I heard about them. They were started by Jhiaxus long ago. He always was experimenting on something and someone. Slagger thought that he could improve our species. Ha!" Motormaster relaxed enjoying himself. "I hear he even had a hand in femmes coming around. There were no femmes according to Megatron before Jhiaxus became a confidante of the Prime.
"He had a few installations where he did his slag, none of them too big. Then he got control of two of the moons," Motormaster said. "He did a lot of weird stuff, none of it I know about directly but troublemakers began to disappear during the Clampdown. I remember that Megatron was slated as were you and a few of the troublemakers. That slagger … Jetta … he was taken during the labor clashes after the mine collapse. I saw him here. He made it out I see."
No one spoke, everyone listened appalled. Motormaster shrugged and continued.
"There was talk after The Fall that the a large chunk of the remaining population were taken to different worlds in the local systems and made to work to rebuild Cybertron. There was a lot of searching for energon to make it happen and all of that was Soundwave's job. Then Shockwave took over cutting him out, moving in on his rackets. Those two hate each other, almost as much as I hate you, Ironhide."
Ironhide snorted. "I'm hurt."
Motormaster snorted and grinned, an almost genuine emotional expression. "They sparred, Megatron playing them against each other and they were forced to play one-up games to keep his favor. Shockwave is a crazy slagger. He worked on all kinds of projects to try and win Megatron's favor. I know he wanted to best Megatron, then rule Cybertron on his own but he's such a weird slagger, no one would be willing to tolerate that. He has no support in the army."
"How did he manage to get as far as he did?" Springer asked.
"He was fragging Megatron. He actually figured out what Megatron liked and gave it to him. He also filled his audials with slag and his enemies began to disappear. Starscream disappeared. I heard that Megatron beat him half to death, then he disappeared. I thought he was dead." He looked at Prime with a grim smile. "Imagine my surprise to find him here."
Prime nodded. "Continue."
Motormaster thought a moment, then continued. "There were rumors that Shockwave got strange things for Megatron. That he worked on that slagger's ego and supplied him with dangerous stuff. I don't know for sure but the experiments were going on around the system. I heard about camps and work places. I heard about mechs going missing. That is what I heard." He grinned. "If that fragger is in the deep freeze here I am as happy as a targ on ice."
"What planets?" Ironhide asked.
"Give me a map and I'll tell you where I heard things were. I can't vouch for it better than that. Megatron and Shockwave didn't exactly confide in me," he said with a bitter tone.
"Why did you agree to come here to spy for Soundwave?" Ironhide asked as the door opened and Prowl entered with a rolled up map.
Motormaster looked at Prowl and smirked. "I should send you a present I'm told. Or maybe a card of condolence to Barricade."
The room was glacial as Prowl laid the map out unrolling it. He turned and walked outside, the door closing behind him. Motormaster looked at Prime and smirked. "Hit a nerve, did I?" he asked.
No one spoke. Everyone looked at him with murder in their optics. He sighed and leaned forward looking at a map with the sectors around Cybertron out to where Prowl and Sciences had projected Cybertron to be now. He studied it a moment. "There. The moons, two of them. Not Moonbase but the other two. Then here," he said nodding as best he could to Falax II and Corvan. Both of them were settlement stations in the old orns for ships passing through. They were near enough to Cybertron to reach in a reasonable time and not close enough to attract attention from the home offices.
"That's all?" Ironhide asked. "You do know that leaving out anything else proves you can't be trusted. Better tell all of it."
Motormaster looked at Ironhide. "You want the gossip too?" No one answered that so he leaned back. "Those are the only two places I ever heard named, that and the moons. Megatron didn't care what Shockwave did. He sort of let him go because he kept coming up with weird weapons, some of them even working. Then the rumor mill said they bonded. I think Megatron neutralized him as a threat. Megatron dies, Shockwave would follow. Soundwave is sort of inbetween. He is trying to play both ends against the middle. He sent us here to spy and I wanted to see if the rumors I heard about this place were true."
"Rumors?" Prime asked.
"There's a lot of gossip out there, rumors," Motormaster replied. "The Seekers are networked and things leak out about a real Cybertronian city, about a place where both sides are welcomed and all that slag. It was interesting to see how much truth there was so I agreed. I came to see for myself." It was quiet a moment. "So, do I get the same deal as Barricade?"
Prime rose and turned walking out, Ironhide following him. The door closed behind them. Springer chuckled softly. "Who knows, Motorbreath?" he said with a smirk.
Motormaster rose up to get him. He would fail.
-0-Outside
"What do you think?" Ironhide asked his commander and friend.
"I think he confirms what intell we have. It would appear that the Decepticon High Command is a pit of intrigue and plotting," Prime said.
"He wants the same deal as Barricade," Prowl said with slight obstinacy, his arms folded over his chassis. The only thing missing was a ped tapping.
Prime smirked slightly, taking private delight in the open display of irritation from his partner. "We will consider that."
"He won't last long out of prison," Ironhide said.
Ratchet nodded. "He'll break the rules and end up in the clink once again."
"He called you a name, Ratchet," Lon said with great indignation.
They all looked at the affronted youngling. "He did?" Ratchet asked with a slight grin.
"He did," Lon said with incredulous affront. "He said you were a loon."
They all accessed that definition and Ratchet snorted. "That slagger is going to get the once over when I wire him." He grinned and looked at the angry young mech. "You are a good mech to tell me, youngling. I have rust sticks hidden from Ironhide. Come by and get some on me."
Lon grinned and nodded. "Alright," he said.
Everyone took an internal 'awww' moment, then got back to the matter at servo. "We need to talk to Dead End," Ironhide said to Prime.
"I don't expect much from him," Prime said nodding. "He is a psychotic lunatic."
"Do you want me to go in and give him the once over? Maybe its processor damage. I can work my magic servos on him like I did for Starscream and Rampage," Ratchet said with a grin.
"Slag no," Ironhide said. "Mech, you worry me."
Prime snorted and smirked. "Prowl, go and find out what you can."
That stately mech nodded and turned walking to the other door. He opened it and entered nodding to Sandstorm who was sitting on a chair across from the morose mech. Sitting himself, Prowl leaned in slightly. "We want to know about the camps and the work places where our people are being harmed and experimented upon. If you ever expect to see the light of freedom again, you better tell me every little iota of information you possess."
The red bot looked at Prowl a moment, then shrugged. "What makes you think I believe I will ever see freedom again? What makes you think that any of us will ever see it? Do you really think any of us will get out of this alive? There is nothing but misery and death everywhere. I was saying earlier ..."
Prowl's wings drooped slightly and he vented a sigh. /... slag … /
-0-In a waiting room in the Sparkling, Youngling and Femme Hospital
They sat together, two small femmes with dubious stature as applied to emancipated individuals. They had finished the last tests and were waiting for Summit to get the word on leaving. They were going to go to the malls and walk around town, learning the city before dinner and curfew. They would pick up the three little mechs at the school when it was let out, then it would be inside duty for the rest of the orn. Until then, Autobot City was theirs to explore.
Chaperoned of course.
Summit walked out with a grin. "We're good to go. They will let us know tomorrow in a meeting whether you are sub adult and ready for emancipation or whether you aren't. Until then, let's go roam."
Inspire and Aurora rose from their seats and walked to the door, Summit following. They would visit the malls, business centers, ride the train system all over the city, go to the arenas, the Museum and see the Ops Center from the doorway.
It would be awesome.
=0=TBC
2012 (12)