The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box 4 (dd3 168)
-0-On the Air Field
The last ships landed including the Wrecker heavy fighters and Silverbolt. The space bridge which had become more and more visible as the evening gathered finally flickered out. The lines were still long but the need was lowered as these were the healthiest and calmest refugees in the migration.
The twins rolled down the ramp of their heavy fighter and sped toward City of Solitude, pausing beside Silverbolt who had just lowered his ramp.
Starscream appeared and walked downward stopping at the bottom. "You two. I see you survived."
Sideswipe grinned. "We do in tribute to you, Starscream," he said.
Starscream rolled his optics and marched on as Bluestreak and another soldier appeared in the doorway of City of Solitude nearby. He grinned and walked down to be surrounded in the arms of the two worst bad asses in the army. "Hi," he said happily as Sideswipe grabbed his duffel. They began to head toward the city.
Nearby standing on the top step of his ship, Mack and his committee of leadership for the migration stared out. They were stunned by the scene before them, of the organization and the greatness of the city. It was a genuinely Cybertronian metropolis and he was overwhelmed for a moment as were the others. Then he walked down the steps to the ground below.
Tarmac.
There was real tarmac beneath his peds. Not dirt.
All around them ships were parked, being moved, unloading and some were even being carried by Guardians, plural, in their servos. There were crowds near an information station that read 'Port of Entry-Intake for Refugees'.
As he stood gazing around, staring at the complexity before him, he felt a servo touch his arm. Glancing back, he froze. He stared a moment, then stepped forward enveloping Elita into his arms. "Elita," he said with a shocked voice. "You made it."
She grinned and hugged him. Then she looked at him with a smile. "Come with me. I'll take you to the VIP you need to see now."
-0-Ironhide
He looked at Ravel who had come with Tie and Sunspot to the Port of Entry. Sunspot hurled himself at Ironhide who picked him up for a giant hug. "Hey, Sunspot. Were you a good little mech?"
"He was. Very very good, Ironhide," Ravel said with a smile. "He's learning how to make tools, too."
Ironhide grinned and kissed his son who clung to him. "You are a right smart little mech, Sunny."
"I had a good time with Amma and Appa," he said, his voice emanating somewhere from the crook of Ironhide's neck. "They're so nice."
"They are," Ironhide replied. "They took care of all three of you."
"They did," Sunspot said with a grin. "Right now, they're in the army day care."
"We'll get them in a while," Ironhide said hugging Sunspot again. "How did it go? They didn't wear you out too much did they? Little mechs like their routines."
"They do," Tie said with a grin. "I'm afraid we had to have Orion recharge with us. He kept going to the door and pointing at it."
Ironhide grinned ruefully. "Sorry about that. Mech likes to do what he does. He doesn't get it that things can be different."
Ravel nodded. "They were so sweet. Praxus is so sweet," Ravel said as he stood petting Sunspot's little yellow ped. "Has Ratchet come in yet?"
"He's out there somewhere. He's not going to the hospital," Ironhide said. "The crews have it in servo. We're just sort of waiting for him to come through the crowd."
Ravel nodded then turned to watch the crowds. "This is so nice. All of our people being found. The city just doubled, Ironhide. Isn't that wonderful?"
Ironhide grinned and nodded. "It is, Ravie."
At that moment, a shout was heard as they searched to see a white arm waving in the crowd. Sunspot wiggled down and ran disappearing into the masses. By the time Ratchet finally got to them he was carrying Sunspot who was holding him tightly. "I made it."
Prime grinned. "About time."
Ratchet snorted. "You're sure frisky for someone on their peds for three orns."
"The Matrix," Optimus said as the crowd parted and a heavily laden Prowl stepped through. He had a bag of data pad over his shoulder and three rolled maps in arms. "You're late."
Prowl grinned slightly. "You're lucky I made it. I thought the last ship would never leave."
"Debrief or is that for tomorrow?" Ratchet asked.
"Tomorrow," Prime said turning to greet new refugees as Prowl set things down to join him.
"How long will you be here, Ironhide? Maybe I should round up the felons," Ratchet asked.
"Do. I have Hero," he said patting his hold. "Why don't you take your genitors and Sunspot to go get the babies? I'll catch up with you."
"I'll keep some dinner for you," Ratchet said. They made their way through the throngs until they came to the relatively lightly populated highway that led to Mare Tranquilitatis. "How was things? Did they run you over?" Ratchet asked as they walked along.
"Not much," Tie said with a grin.
"That bad, huh," Ratchet said with a knowing look.
"Just about," Ravel said with a chuckle.
They disappeared into the crowds.
-0-At the Fortress
He walked with Elita, his servo in hers as they headed for Ops Center. Entering the command center, Mack paused to look around at the state-of-the-art massive display of Autobot power. The Autobrand on the floor looked at him enigmatically as they stood together. "Where are we going?"
"To a conference room," Elita said tugging him along. They walked through the facility and paused beside a conference room with tinted walls. "Go inside, Mack. I'll be there in a second."
He nodded and walked around her, opening the door to enter. She dialed the tint down and revved her audials up. Mack stood rooted to the floor as an oblivious Jetta sat at the table working on a data pad with something important on it. He didn't see his brother nor did he sense his energy so engrossed in his task was he.
Mack turned slightly toward the table, the expression on his face one of a terrible happiness, a deeply painful joy. "Jetta," he managed to say.
The big winger looked up and froze, his optics widening with surprise. He dropped the data pad on the table and sat back as he frantically took in the stranger at the door. He couldn't speak. He could barely move but he lurched to his peds. Leaning against the table, he looked at the apparition before him. He reached out a servo as if to grasp his brother but they were too far apart.
"Jetta," Mack whispered again. He moved and grabbed the older mech, holding him tightly. "JETTA!"
Jetta gripped him holding him tightly. His brother, his little brother who he took care of while his genitors slaved in the mines was before him. He held him in his arms. He couldn't believe it. He gripped Mack's shoulders holding them tightly. He scrutinized the younger mech. "Mack ..."
"Jetta, you made it," he whispered. "You got out of jail."
Jetta nodded, a haze of red flashing through his processor. "Mack, you came. You came to me."
"I thought you died in prison. I didn't know that you got out," Mack said.
"Optimus freed me. I joined the Autobots and worked undercover. Mack, are you alright? Are there others in the family here. too? Do you know where they are?" Jetta asked.
"I don't know," Mack said. "We had to flee from the plant. I didn't get a chance to go home and see about the others. The city was on fire."
Jetta nodded then pulled his brother into his arms. He held him in a death's grip and wailed. Elita who was standing outside watching tinted the windows once more.
-0-At the Youngling Day School in the room of the Army Emergency Day Care Center
Ratchet stood at the door with his genitors for a moment before stepping inside. Sunspot stood with his grandgenitors waiting and watching as the much wished for ada of his life walked in to save the school from his brothers. It had been a hard few orns. When night rolled around the routine didn't become what they were used to and fussiness invariably set in.
"Hi, Rolo. I'm here to liberate you from the hoodlums," Ratchet said grinning down at the mech who was helping a little femme try to stand.
He grinned. "You know where they are, Ratchet. Help yourself," he said.
"Will do," Ratchet said as he walked to the main room of the facility which was separate from the rest of the school. It was here that many of the sparklings whose genitors were deployed came to be cared for after school. If they had no family to take them at night because of shift work or deployment they bunked here. If they did, they stayed until they were picked up. It worked out well for everyone.
The main room was filled with familiar little sparklings some of whom reached up for the familiar crazy uncle that they knew so well. Ratchet kissed and hugged his way to the sand box where Praxus was pouring buckets of sand over Orion's helm. They were cackling and enjoying themselves immensely.
That is until they saw Ratchet.
"ADA! WHERE YOU!? I WANT YOU COME ME! WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" -Orion
"ADA! ME! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" - Praxus
He picked them both up feeling the tingling of sand grains falling off them both sliding down his body. Holding one crying infant in each arm, he turned with a grin and walked to the door. Rolo looked up at him with a smile. "Thanks, Ratchet."
Ratchet snorted. "You're welcome." With that, he walked out of the building, his parents and a plucky little yellow and white Seeker-let in tow.
-0-Moments later
He sat on the couch in the embrace of his grandfather while Ratchet washed Praxus in the sink. Getting the sand out of their infant armor took a lot of patience and resolve. When Praxus was finished, he wrapped the baby in a tower and handed him off to Ravel. Taking Orion to the sink, he plopped him in drenching him with water.
Orion sputtered then looked up at Ratchet with a frown. "Ada!"
"What, shortie?" Ratchet asked drenching him again.
"ADA! WET ME!" Orion said looking at Ratchet with deep unhappiness.
"So what," Ratchet said putting his nose structure close to Orion's.
That little bot leaned back with a slight uneasy smile on his face. Feeling flummoxed a moment, he gripped Ratchet's face and kissed his nose structure. Sitting back to look up at Ratchet with a slightly uneasy fake smile, he waited.
Ratchet snorted, then grinned.
Orion looked relieved.
"You're a piece of work. You're sleeping in your own bed tonight, Orion. You already know that Ada is not as nice as Grandada and Grandatar."
He looked at Ratchet, then his genitors who were grinning with amusement nearby. "ADA! ORION LOVE ADA! LOVE OTHER ADA AND OTHER ATAR!"
They all blinked a moment. "Other Ada? Other Atar?" He looked at his genitors. "I think he's figured out that you are both but more. Mech is figuring out hard things."
"I can see that," Ravel said with a smile. "He's a very smart little mech."
"Smartypantslittle mech," Ratchet said with a grin. He then began to scrub the sand out of Orion's aft.
Orion for his part gave a running commentary about how much he wasn't happy. It was all very entertaining.
As Ratchet stood hunched over the pail holding Orion by one ankle and a bottle brush in the other servo ready to be inserted into unusually hard to reach places, the door opened.
Ironhide stepped inside with a grin on his face and Hero in his arms. "Honey, I'm home."
Even Orion had to grin at that.
From upside down in his Ada's servo.
-0-Later that night
"I hear that Jetta has his brother back."
"He does. Its all good."
"I'm glad when things happen that are good, Ironhide. There's been too much of the other."
[Pause]
"I wonder who will get arrested tonight? Terra is just about full and they're all newbies."
"I don't know, Ironhide. I imagine that Springer has it in servo."
[Pause]
"Ironhide?"
"What?"
"I was thinking about Paragon."
"Yeah?"
"What would Prime do if we let them know that Prime had a family?"
"I don't know. He does. What would that do?"
"I was thinking about Springer, Bumblebee, Arcee and us."
[Pause] Huge grin. "That would be hilarious."
"It would."
"You are out of your processor, old mech."
"That's true."
[Pause]
"I'm bringing it up at the next staff meeting."
"I'm right behind you, Ratchet."
(grin) "Good night, Only One."
"Good night, Ratchet." (grin)
-0-TBC 2013 (1)
Tip of the hat to Megatron Owes Me Money. ;) edited 8-20-15
edited 5-3-19