The Diego Diaries: Newbies 2 (324)
-0-Emergency Room, Autobot City Medical Center and Hospital
Ratchet walked in and paused, a smirk on his face. "You all look like the patient died."
"For some of us, it did," Shield replied with a smirk of his own.
Ratchet looked at Prime. "Well? Do we mine them now?"
Prime nodded. Shield and the two captains rose and turned walking with several security mechs into the surgery nearby. Ratchet entered, pausing by a table of devices and equipment. He glanced at Breakdown. "Nice little talk you gave, Breakdown. You become even more awesome to me everyday," Ratchet said as he gathered a couple of tools. Prime walked with Ironhide into the room and both leaned against counters to watch.
Breakdown grinned. "Thanks." He turned to assist as nearby in the duty officer's office Knockout sat fuming.
Ratchet opened their chassis and took the nondescript tracer-mines from Breakdown inserting them into the space just below their spark chambers. It took microwelds and a bit of effort to implant them, then seal the munition's detonators in a clear steel cover disallowing anyone but him to remove the intricate but totally lethal devices. Stepping back, calibrating the three bombs with a meter he subbed, Ratchet glanced at Prime. "We're good to go, Optimus," he said reaching out to close the chassis covers on the three bots. "You now have an explosive device in your body that is tamper proof. I cannot emphasize that enough. There are four failsafe steps to removing them, three of which are circulating at random in Teletraan III's algorithm database. If you input the wrong one, even if you get two right, even on a guess or dare, you go boom. You may be able to unscrew the plating, but that without the proper steps will cause the explosion to occur as well. You are stuck. Period. Don't be stupid and think I'm bluffing. I have infants of my own here. I would rather detonate you now than have you about but if you actually have the mentality to understand what a miracle this place is and pitch in, I will stay my servo. Probably."
They looked at Ratchet, then Shield laughed out loud. "He called you a 'witch doctor'," he said. "Knockout. He called you that. Bot has insights."
Ratchet smirked and reared up to his full height which was still seven feet shorter than Shield. "Knockout needs another shellacking then. I periodically kick his aft around for the practice. I am afraid of no one. I recharge with Ironhide."
The three glanced at the smoldering pile of menace leaning against the counter nearby, then Ratchet. "I imagine you're a riot in the berth," Shield said with a grin.
Ironhide rose up like Vesuvius, Prime gripping his arm quickly. "Watch your mouth, slagger, or I'll show you a riot."
Shield considered Ironhide and the reaction a simple remark had created in him. It was good intel. "You can't take a joke can you, Ironhide?"
"Frag you, Shield," Ironhide said dangerously.
"They're mined, Optimus. I would be careful around potholes if I was you," Ratchet said looking at them coldly. "I might have made the detonators hair trigger in my zeal to be a slagger. No doubt."
They looked at Ratchet, two of them with concerned expressions, then Prime stepped in. "You will go the prison for now. We will go through the databases of your ships and decide what level of security you will live under. Some of the captains and other transitional prisoners have freedom during the orn and reside in lockup during the night. I will decide tomorrow what your status at least for now will be." He glanced at the muscle and they stepped out taking the three in charge. They left without a word.
Ratchet looked at Ironhide who was still smoking hot. "Sorry, Only One."
"What for? You don't need that kind of slag. You're a slagging doctor. They're exempt."
Ratchet grinned. "Exempt? I just put mines in their chests."
"You're a slagging doctor. You don't deserve slag and they will rue the day they try," Ironhide said with barely contained fury. "Remember that."
Ratchet slipped his arms around Ironhide's waist. "I will," he said with a grin.
Ironhide hugged him tightly, then glanced at Prime. "That bunch of bums better behave themselves or I'll frag them myself."
Prime slapped Ironhide on the shoulder. "They will have tight reins. I think they can wander but stay in the prison for now. I don't want them to make trouble but I'm not adverse to seeing what they do with our resident slaggers, Barricade and Skorponok."
"They would know they were being watched," Ironhide said nodding.
"I would like to know if they would find common cause with Fenix and the Iacon group," Ratchet said as he swayed gently in Ironhide's grip. "I think they have common purposes if not common final end goals. Shield would support anything and anyone who might be ready to undermine us and Fenix would be ready to use anyone and anything to make their goals happen. Might be a possibility there."
Prime nodded. "I was thinking that too, Ratchet. I think letting them roam will be good. It might smoke out vendettas and the like before they have a chance to happen. I don't want the twins evening any scores."
"I'll talk to them. Maybe they can be a resource here," Ironhide said. "I doubt that Shield would think they would reform. Maybe they can be a window into these slagger's real intentions."
Prime nodded. "Talk to them. What happens, happens. Nothing forced."
"Agreed," Ironhide said with a nod. He looked at Ratchet. "Stay away from that slagger."
Ratchet snorted, nodding. "Aye, aye, captain."
"Make it so," Ironhide said with a pointed tone.
-0-Nearby
Knockout sat at his desk, his long fingers tapping out his angst on the desktop. Shield hadn't been far from the truth. He did have an unbridled lust for Prime. A lot of bots did. He was HUGE and ... HUGE. The idea of being dominated by a bot that big sort of torqued his lugnuts. He had a thing for big bots, Breakdown a case in point. Being dominated by one in the berth was not something that he wanted anyone to essentially know ANYTHING ABOUT. His swagger and all around oblivious confidence in the face of even outraged insecticons was the stuff of legend.
He was sure of it.
He didn't show fear. He showed style.
Until he was in the presence of HUGE sexy bots. Big ones with big servos. Huge arms and a chassis like a space shuttle. A deep voice that demanded ... things. Huge sexy big demanding bots who wanted things. That would just about sum it up.
"Knockout."
He broke his reverie to look at up at the bemused optics of Ratchet. "What?" he asked in his usual ill humor which in and of itself was hilarious. He didn't know though. Ratchet refused to divulge any of his secrets.
Ratchet walked in and sat. "I hear you find Optimus intriguing."
A smoldering optic ... not the good kind met that remark. "WHO SAYS!?"
"Don't kill the messenger. I find Optimus sexy too."
They stared at each other, two sides of the same demented coin. Then Knockout relaxed in his chair, his smirking face appraising Ratchet with something new.
Interest.
"So ... you like them big too?" he asked.
"Sure. I bonded with Ironhide. He's huge." Ratchet considered the wily fragger before him, a mech with more angles than a compass factory. "I like my bots big."
"So you wanna talk sex do you? What do I look like? Your mother?" Knockout shot back.
"No. My 'mother' is cuter. I just think its good for the constitution to talk about what you will never have. Optimus is staked out and off the list of possibilities ... not that you ever stood a chance."
Knockout looked at the window a moment as a Seeker flight took off disappearing into the darkness with dispatch. Then he turned his beady optics onto Ratchet's beady optics. "You're a slagger. Just because they're nailed down doesn't mean they're off the market. A bot can dream."
"I know. Tell me. Do you dream about Megatron?" Ratchet asked with genuine interest.
"Are you kidding? That slagger? He's got impotence stamped all over him."
Ratchet snorted, then guffawed. "He does? He fragged Shockwave on a regular basis. They have a demon spawn of their own."
"I heard about that. Galvaston or something. Never saw him but he can't be too good. Considering the CNA those two possess, I imagine that he has an optic on his helm and one on his aft," Knockout said as he settled in himself.
Ratchet guffawed again. "I have such a mental image of that." He grinned. "Breakdown is a helluva bot. Just so you know."
"Tell me something I don't know," Knockout said rather proudly. "He is after all studying to be a doctor. One class a semester. At that rate, he'll be board certified in about 80 vorns."
Ratchet smirked. "Doesn't matter. He's doing his thing. He's doing what he never thought he could do by his own choice, his own way. I'm proud of him."
Knockout looked at him a moment, then sat forward. "You ... you aren't going to adopt him or something are you?"
"Now there's an intriguing idea," Ratchet said standing up to go. "You would have to call me Mom." With that parting observation, Ratchet swished out and headed for the elevator.
Knockout watched him go, then sat back, a look of alarm on his face. "Mom ..."
-0-On the street
They had finished their orientation in the Labor Hall, first stop on the way to full citizenship for newbie 'Cons. Scar had led the meeting, other bots joining those with him as he outlined the process for them to follow to have a life that was free, interesting and served their dreams and hopes. That this served the city as well was honed to a fine point as he explained their responsibilities explicitly.
"You will spend the next two orns looking around. Then you will come here to find a job. Everyone who is able bodied or not sparked works. That is, you work unless you're going to college. Most of us who go to college also work. If you can do both then fine. If not, allowances are made for college.
"Everyone gets a good place to live. Bachelors which most of you are used to live exclusively in barracks. Now there are apartments, small ones for bachelors that give you privacy and amenities. You will have to prove to us that you deserve one. For now, you will be living with a 'Con family. We have waiting lists of 'Con families that will mentor you until you prove worthy of living on your own. Some of them have infants. You will be on your best behavior. You will use respect and treat your host with it at all times. Anyone who acts up will have to meet with your group leader which will be assigned before you go with your families on a tour. All of us," he said sweeping his servo around the group of formidable bots around him, "are the group leaders. Anyone acting up or breaking the laws or disturbing the peace or being disrespectful ... you will have to explain yourself to us."
The newbies looked at them, then each other, the weight of the menace that group possessed in abundance felt heavily upon them. They nodded attentively.
"Any questions?" Scar asked.
No one did a moment, then a youngling mech tentatively raised his servo. "Do we get to look at stuff?" he asked in a slight fearful voice. "I heard there's football here."
Scar noting the soldier's young age relaxed slightly. "You will. We're facing the playoffs for the championship of Mars."
The soldier looked at the others, then Scar. "Can I go?" he asked in a hopeful voice.
He would. He would also go home with Scar. He would be an easy transition to the good guys. The others? Time would tell.
-0-TBC June 5, 2013