The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box 12 (dd3 176)
-0-The next morning
"ATAR!"
"GET IN HERE!"
Ratchet grinned as he cleared away the morning's dishes and turned to watch as Orion hippity-hopped around the table 'avoiding' bath time with all the panache of a runaway pony.
"ATAR! COME GET ME!"
Ratchet blinked with surprise then added more words to his internal list as well as the observation that his tendency now was to try full sentences. "GO, SPARKLING! BE FREE!" he said with a grin.
"ADA! I GO ME! ATAR NOT GO ME! I FLY!" With that, he ran under the table and wound himself around the legs going in and out in a tizzy.
Ironhide walked out and stood with a determined expression and servos on hip assemblies as he watched the sparkling be free. Grinning, he walked closer and pounced, 'missing' Orion as he screeched an audial splitting burst of overwhelming joy and excitement. He hippity-hopped back under the table then peered out.
Praxus was standing next to Ratchet ready to duck behind him. He pointed at Orion. "O! RUN! O! GO, ATAR. ATAR COME! FLY!"
Ironhide and Ratchet in shock glanced down at their second oldest youngest son, then each other as they blinked in surprise. "Good thing their conferences are coming up in a couple of orns. This could be exciting for a change, Ironhide."
"That's what I think," he said bending down to catch a sparkling in each servo. Turning to walk into the berth room and the wash racks beyond, an upside down sparkling laughing maniacally in each servo, Ironhide, Master of the Autobot, Cybertronian and Martian Armed Forces and slave to the lovin' headed back in to squirt the little ones up the ying-yang.
"I love mornings," Sunspot said as he sat on the couch all spic and span himself. He was holding his backpack as he waited to go. He would go with them to the new school then ride back with Ironhide to go to his own.
It was a win-win.
Ratchet chuckled. "You and me both, Sunny Bunny."
The hoo-hah in the wash racks was finally over and two shiny little mechs came dancing out. They sang their own songs as they bounced around the room grinning at everyone as they entertained each other.
Ironhide scooped them up putting harnesses on their little butts and hooked them up with leashes. Ratchet grabbed their bags and with Sunspot in tow followed Ironhide and the sparklings out the door to the corridor and elevator beyond.
The ride down was noisy and filled with "ATAR! WHY ME!?" and "ADA! WHY YOU?!", neither of which made any sense to Ironhide and Ratchet. They, however, had perfected the only reply any genitor in any dimension, in any format ever needed to answer fully, completely and without a shadow of a doubt such questions: 'Because'.
Exiting, they walked through the lobby pausing to chat with this and that neighbor before hitting the street. The stroll to the subway entrance and the stairs that led down to the platform was reached by merely crossing the street. When they arrived on the platform, it was filled with genitors waiting to take their infants to Terra and the first orn of their new school.
Prime and Prowl stood on the platform holding Miracle as the little mechs were already delivered to the Youngling schools. The platform was crowded so when the first train bearing the orange designation came they opted to wait for more.
"This is much better than driving or above ground transportation," Prowl said as they watched an orange train from Aerie Hill go past, its cars filled with Seekers and their infants.
"I think so. I think I may just spend a while this morning riding around the system," Ratchet said with a grin. "It's a bucket of fun."
Prowl nodded, the ghost of a grin on his face. "I know. I already have. Makes me feel like I'm back in Praxus or Iacon." He glanced at Ratchet with a grin. "You know Iacon. That place filled with losers."
"Prime's from Iacon," Ratchet replied smoothly, his enjoyment LUX as he watched Prowl's grin fade slightly.
"Loser," Prowl said smugly as the next train rolled to a stop before them.
"Whiner," Ratchet said nudging him aside with a smirk.
Sunspot followed Ratchet who held Praxus and climbed aboard.
Ironhide glanced at Prime and shook his helm as they watched Prowl enter. They followed and the doors slid shut.
The ride to school was very swift and traveling through the tunnels bright from overhead lighting entertaining. They waited for the doors to open and stepped out.
The lines to the elevators were moving well and when they entered the huge device it was a short ride up. Stepping off, the teachers, aides and others were out in force to help genitors and infants into the school's first orn.
"Optimus," Neo said as she paused before the big bot. She smiled. "Isn't this lovely? Only two orns of disruption in the move and we still held school."
"It was a monumental task, Neo, and everyone did such a good job," Optimus said as he watched Prowl put Miracle down. He ran to Orion and hugged him, turning then to hug Praxus. They began to babble together happily. "You have one of the best jobs on Mars."
"I think so," she said taking the two leashes. "You couldn't make me give this up."
They chatted a moment as Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Bluestreak arrived with the girls and Kaon.
"When are you going to fork over Hero?" Sideswipe asked Ironhide as they stood together watching the entire platoon-let meander off with Neo.
"When the Pit freezes over," Ironhide said patting his hold. "This little femme is getting all the advantages. She needs to know the lay of the land before going to school. Little femme can learn a lot from me about important things like tactics and stealth. These are crucial things every femme should know."
"They already do," Ratchet said with a smirk. "I think femmes are born with it hard wired in."
"No doubt," Sideswipe said. "You had breakfast?"
"We did but I can hang with you a moment or two. What about you, Bluestreak? Do you have duty today?" Ratchet asked.
The winger nodded. "I get to work at the Trigger on comm detail," Blue said. He looked at the twins. "Are you two going to recharge today or what? Night duty at the prison is going to be tough if you don't recharge."
"We will," Sunstreaker said. "Right after we eat," he said glancing at Ratchet.
They chatted a while, then the groups split up, Optimus and Prowl heading for Ops Center, Ironhide and Hero on an inspection of a new deep ammo storage facility under the proposed extension of Terra after dropping off Sunspot. The plans were still in flux and they needed his expertise.
He left and then it was Ratchet, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. "Where to, boys?" Ratchet asked.
They turned him and walked on either side to the elevator. "Club Cybertron," they said in unison.
-0-At the Club
They entered it pausing to sass with Hot Rod, Drift and Springer who were having one at the bar now that night shift was over. Heading to a table, they ordered then relaxed, staring at each other with amusement and some tension.
Ratchet felt the subtext and considered his moves. "How was the prison last night?" he asked in his opening gambit.
"Same old, same old," Sunstreaker said noncommittally, parrying Ratchet's opening move.
"Really," Ratchet replied as drinks arrived. He sipped his 'beer' and looked at both of them levelly. "You're terrible liars."
Both of them looked at Ratchet, at one of the very few individuals they'd ever come to trust in the entirety of their lives and came to the same conclusion. "We talked to Sentinel," they answered in unison.
Ratchet nodded. "I see. How did that go?"
"As well as you can expect from a total douche bag," Sideswipe said.
Ratchet grinned. "I like some human insults. Especially that one."
They grinned slightly themselves.
"I know," Sunstreaker said. His grin faded. "It fits him."
They paused the conversation again as their food arrived then Ratchet waited a moment as they began to eat. "His remarks bothered you, his remarks or his presence."
Sideswipe considered that. "He did. It's strange to see someone that was never anyone you ever wanted to see again pop up like this. I celebrated when I heard he was dead."
Sunstreaker nodded.
"You want to tell me specific things or do you just want to be general in your angst? I'm a one-way street when it comes to confidences like this. What goes down the road never comes back out," Ratchet said quietly, his expression solemn and concerned.
"We know," Sunstreaker said taking a bite of food. "We knew him from way back. We saw all of you from time to time. We saw Ironhide once in the streets when he was helping to pacify an outbreak of violence in Kaon. He came with troops. I don't know if he remembers seeing us but we saw him."
"He told me about that," Ratchet said. "He wanted to pen you both and make you see the error of your ways. He was concerned about all the homeless younglings without anyone to care for them."
They looked at him a moment, then nodded. "After the Clampdown, the streets were a hard place to be. The authorities were really kicking our afts. We were still freelancing in the Games, betting on ourselves and winning all the time."
"I suppose Megatron wanted to 'manage' you," Ratchet interjected as he sat back to sip his drink.
"He did. We never allowed it. Sometimes he'd send goons to persuade us and he got back scrap heaps in return. You can fight really well when you got nothing to lose," Sunstreaker said with a humorless grin. "Splice was with us then. He hadn't gone off on his own with the Neutrals and the Circle yet."
"I like that mech," Ratchet said. "He's got class."
"He always did. We grew up together in the Youth Center in Kaon. We were tossed out with the trash like he was."
"You don't know anything about your genitors?" Ratchet asked gently.
"Nope," Sunstreaker said as he stared at his plate. "We did have dreams, the same ones."
Sideswipe nodded. "They were always young faces, young mechs with nice faces, really good looking. They were smiling at us, then they fade away. It's always the same."
"Could it be them or something else?" Ratchet asked softly.
"We don't know," Sunstreaker said. "I thought it was us making slag up to fill the hole but it feels more real."
Sideswipe nodded. "We grew up together and stayed together until the Army beckoned for us. Splice had begun to hang out with Neutrals who were connected with the Knights. The Circle mechs around Slaughter City were also part of that. We were still pissed off, still needing to slag things. So we decided to go with the army to do it legally," he said with a grin. "It was either that or go to prison."
Sunstreaker smirked slightly. "We did that, too. Our road rage gang was putting dents into Barricade's own so he framed us by leaving stolen property at our club house in The Loop."
"That was one seriously dangerous place to be in Kaon," Ratchet said remembering a series of streets near the industrial park that made freightliner ships, which was the home of clubs and bars that were worth your spark to enter. "Which one was your club?"
"The Pit," Sideswipe said with a chuckle. "It was, too, but we liked it and only the toughest of the toughest youngling hard afts ever had the nerve to come inside. Even Barricade didn't try it."
"He had his own club three streets away, The Null Zone. We used to 'dance'," Sunstreaker said with a savage grin. "Slagger fought but never won. He was always betting against us in the games and finally got us banned by Megatron and all the other promoters."
Ratchet nodded. "I know Sentinel used to slum. He even dragged Prowl along a few times. How did you run into him?"
Sideswipe glanced at Sunstreaker who stared at his plate for a moment lost in thought. Glancing at Ratchet, Sideswipe grinned slightly. "Sentinel was stalking Sunny," he said.
Ratchet grinned slightly. "Frag," he said quietly.
Sunstreaker looked up at Ratchet and nodded.
"Too bad I wasn't there," Ratchet said. "I would have slagged him to Pit for fragging with one of my younglings."
Sunstreaker looked at Ratchet with emotions that would stay with Ratchet forever playing across his handsome face. "I wish you were, too, Ada," he said quietly.
-0-TBC 2013 (1) 5-4-19