The Diego Diaries: Regrouping 2 (362) edited
-0-On the beach, Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean, Earth
Everyone yelled their planetary version of 'HELL THE FRAG YES!' at the top of their lungs in unison.
As they said that, Optimus, John Fulton, Andrew Sewell, Ironhide, Prowl and the rest of the N.E.S.T. soldiers joined them. Everyone paused, then stared at Prime. He sat down on a sand bank, then glanced at everyone. "What?" he asked.
"Prime … do you remember that head on collision with Motormaster?" Kup asked with a grin.
Optimus glanced at Prowl, then nodded. "I think I can still feel it in my processor."
"Sideswipe has the film. We want to see it," Jessie asked with a smile. "You don't mind do you?"
Optimus glanced at Sideswipe who sat grinning, a smiling Bluestreak in his usual place, his lap. "You were there. I vaguely remember it. You have the film?"
"I do and I also have the epic slagging you got from Ratchet afterward on the ship." Sideswipe smirked. "I was about to play it."
"Oh," Prowl said, his voice dripping with irritation and smugness, "do."
Sideswipe glanced from a sheepish Prime to a smirking Prowl and Ironhide. "I will," he said. "Oh … and just in case you missed it, I have Prowl's epic rant too."
Prime blinked but girded his massive loins as everyone turned toward the ocean and the image that pipped into life before them. It was clear, intensely vibrant and epic.
Two massive vehicles of Cybertronian design were at either end of a long dried riverbed. The planet was desert and arid, the space where they faced off massive. Sunlight filled the slightly orange sky giving the impression of some atmosphere. They were trading shots, both of them armed and firing even in vehicle mode. Then one of them stomped on the gas driving as fast as they could in the space they had toward the other.
Motormaster was flying, probably well over 250 miles per hour when Prime slammed forward meeting and exceeding Motormaster's speed in less time than the other. The image focused into a narrower closer spectrum as Sideswipe fully turned to watch. The sound was intense as they closed the gap, neither of them intending to swerve first. When they came together, the impact was colossal, the two bots slamming into each other like freight trains. They bounced back, then lay still, Motormaster steaming, his format lying on its side. Prime was still on his wheels, silent and shuddering.
The image bounced as Sideswipe ran down the hillside transforming to skate, pausing beside the behemoth figure of Prime. The conversation started in Cybertronian but shifted to English for the viewers. "Prime. What the frag? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR PROCESSOR!? CAN YOU MOVE!?"
Optimus didn't move for a moment, then he did. He transformed and sat on his haunches. Glancing at the smoldering wreckage that was Motormaster, he shook his helm. "Remind me never to do that again," he said as Sideswipe laughed. Then bots came out of the woodwork. The scene cut to a ship where Prime was sitting quietly on a med berth with his officers around including a smirking Ironhide and Sideswipe. Ratchet was ballistic.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FRAGGING MIND?! THAT KNUCKLEHEAD COULD HAVE KILLED YOU! WHAT THE FRAG! MAYBE WITH MEGATRON, I CAN SEE THAT BONEHELMED STUNT BUT A SLAGGER LIKE MOTORMASTER!? HE'S A STUNTICON! A FRAGGING STUNTICON! YOU WOULD WASTE YOURSELF ON A STUNTICON!? I AM NOT GOING TO SAY THIS TWICE, OPTIMUS PRIME! IF YOU EVER DO THIS AGAIN, I WILL DEACTIVATE YOU MYSELF! YOU ARE THE SLAGGING PRIME OF CYBERTRON! IF YOU EVER DECIDE THAT THIS IS NECESSARY AGAIN, GET SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT! DO YOU HEAR ME!?"
"I think they can hear you in the Benzuli Expansion, old mech," Ironhide ventured before regretting it.
"YOU! YOU THERE, BODY GUARD! PERSONALLY SELECTED BODY GUARD OF THE MATRIX BEARER! WHERE THE FRAG WERE YOU? HOW DID IT COME THAT THE LEADER OF OUR FACTION NEARLY OFF LINED HIMSELF GOING HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH A FRAGGING *STUNTICON*! WHERE THE FRAG WERE YOU, *IRONHIDE*! TELL ME WHY I DON'T SLAG YOU TO THE PIT! WHERE THE *FRAG* IS MY BIG WRENCH!?"
Ironhide could be seen easing toward the doorway.
Everyone in the crowd chuckled. Then the scene shifted to Prowl who was standing nearby in a fit of fuming. Even for him, buttoned down fragger that he was in those orns, it was almost completely obvious. He walked toward Prime and stared at him fixedly. "That was a dumb move. You risked your spark over a derelict. That cannot happen again."
Prime looked at him meekly as Sideswipe could be heard snickering. Prime nodded. Then Prowl walked back to where he stood and crossed his arms again.
Jessie looked up at Sunstreaker. "That was Prowl's epic rant?"
"It was. Look at Prime," he said as everyone did. Prime sat on the med berth without a word as Ratchet continued to put him back together. "The only thing missing is 'yes, dear'."
Laughter was raucous around the circle as they sat watching Ratchet bitch and repair, Prowl stare daggers at Prime and Ironhide look nervous. Then the images ended. Everyone chuckled, then looked at Prime and Prowl. "You weren't together then?" Jessie asked.
Prowl smirked slightly, then shook his helm. "Nope."
"But they were hot for each other," Sunstreaker said to be perverse.
Scorn and hoots met that as the group let Sunny know what they thought. It was like hearing that your parents were still having sex. He grinned and sat smugly. "That was epic, Sides. What else you got?"
They all looked at Sideswipe. He looked back with a grin.
-0-At the prison 'stockade' at Autobot City, Mars
"You done being dumb?" Dead End asked. "Prime is going to take us down for this. The few privileges we got, he's going to take. Thanks for nothing."
"Well, boo-hoo," Motormaster sneered. "So sorry. What fragging privileges?"
"We're never going to be let out to walk around like those fraggers," Dead End nodding in the general direction of Barricade's enclosure. "This is fragged."
"Call Breakdown. Maybe he can put a bandage on it, slagger," Motormaster said with a loud laugh.
"Maybe I will, fragger," Dead End replied.
Then it began again.
Pat-23A stood at the command pill box and listened to the insults, swearing and general bitching going on inside. It was incredibly entertaining. He had been in charge of huge prisons on Cybertron in the run up to The Fall. He had been getting masses of mechs and the odd femme caught up in the Clampdown. Lots of Decepticons were being added as well when the sham of enrollment requested by the Senate was discovered to be a ploy rather than a boon for their cause. The officials had asked ten thousand members of the Decepticon Cause to sign up to show that they were a genuine movement, thus deserving of official status by the Cybertronian government. What Sentinel and the Senate actually did was take that list as a guide to arrest them along with their associates and families to put them through the reprogramming process that had led to Shockwave's disfigurement and personality re-assignment for hiding dissident scientists among others.
When it was clear to Pat that the bulk of his prisoners were ordinary fed up citizens, he resigned and joined the Autobots.
The sounds continued as they would for some time. When it was clear they had settled down, he got an energon prod and half a dozen Day Watch mechs for the entertaining returning of the prisoners to their enclosure once again. The three youngling Home Guard mechs would watch with admiration and not a small bit of fear.
-0-On his way
Wild Rider walked out of the Fortress after a disappointing chat with Paragon and Arrow. They had not been keen on him leaving even if it was to be the 'optics and audials' of their group in the city. He was aware that Breakdown was there having seen him in the scouting of migrations working as a medic of all things and had offered his services to be their spy. That this were turned down fragged his aft.
Wild Rider, who Ratchet after careful study and observation would likely classify as 'psychotic with impaired insight, delusions, and violence, shared psychosis with his half witted brothers and defiant non compliance with heaping helpings of anti-social disorder, narcissistic and borderline personality disorders' was ready to move. If it was stupid, wrong, illogical or nuts, he didn't care. He was certifiable
What he needed was a complete derez of his processor and all new spare parts.
He walked to the airfield and without even a glance back entered a small ship, sat down, powered it up and flew away. When Paragon was told he shook his helm.
"Do we go get him or what, Pari?" Arrow asked with a slight smile.
"No. Let the Autobots part him out. I'm sure there's a very good swivel chair in there somewhere," Paragon had said.
Arrow laughed a long time.
Paragon didn't.
-0-Somewhere out there
He had gotten the message and did the same thing with Cyclonus. Being chased a bit of the way, the Seekers sent to bring him back peeled off and joining others coming out of nowhere who had left at the same time began the journey to Prime and freedom. Drag Strip was immediately pissed. The Seekers were flying to the Prime. He hated the Autobots. It made his day to best them. He had bragging rights and made sure that the entire slagging universe knew that he, Drag Strip was KING OF THE SLAGGING WORLD! He poured on the juice and slowed finally at a place he had predetermined with his brother. Another shuttle appeared, a small one and in the window he saw Wild Rider. Waving, he turned and put metal to the pedal zipping off into the darkness after the Seekers. Wild Rider was hot on it behind him.
-0-At a fortress Ops Center nearby
"All of our Seekers are veering off, sir. They seem to be followed by others."
Cyclonus looked at his telemetry mech and glanced at another nearby. "Go. See if all of them have gone."
He would go.
They would be gone.
Cyclonus would be pissed.
-0-On the beach, Earth
"The only thing more epic than that last clip, Optimus, is if you and the bots surfed on a tsunami to prevent Megatron from blowing up a dam or something," Andrew Sewell said with a chuckle as they watched Prime slug it out with Megatron on a beach on a world long forgotten. Nearby was an earthen dam built by the rather simple natives and Prime was protecting it.
"I don't think they make surf boards that big," Ironhide said with a chuckle. "Those are some fine punches you are throwing at bucket head, Optimus."
"He never knows when to quit," Optimus said.
"We can do that with the proper placement of a grenade," Sunstreaker said grimly.
Prowl paused to take an internal message, then glanced at Optimus. "You might want to know that the miscreants are back in the slammer. They have been warned that its deactivation if they continue. I won't repeat what the two of them said to that but it had the expected effect of turning them from warring enemies to united partners. There is also evidence that a large number of Seekers defected from Cyclonus and are heading this way. Two shuttles are as well and they are manned by one mech each. Apparently the mechs are Wild Rider and Drag Strip."
It was silent a moment, then Jessie asked the question. "Who are they?"
"They make up the rest of the Stunticons, the drag racing psychos that Megatron had created to have a wrecking team on the ground," Kup replied. "Drag Strip is a psycho braggart and Wild Rider is just a psycho. They combine. They were among the first to do that and that's probably why they were made. They weren't made very well and frankly, you don't want them around each other to do that. They become a raging monster with no other thought than to kill. Motormaster makes the head and runs the show but the other four hate him so much that it glitches them. They become a homicidal raging maniac. They don't need directions or plans. He's used for murder."
It was silent a moment. Then Jessie looked up at him. "There's Motormaster, the big one who is leader, Wild Rider the nutcase, Drag Race the big nutty ego and Dead End, the psycho whiner. Who is the other one if there's five?"
It was quiet a moment, then Ironhide looked at her. "Breakdown is the other one."
No one spoke a moment, then John Fulton looked at Prime. "He's been to this base. He's a medic, I think. What's his story?"
Prime looked at him a moment. "He defected with his partner, a medic named Knockout. Both of them weren't on my list as possible candidates for rehabilitation. Ratchet thought otherwise."
"Old Mech has a screw loose," Ironhide said. "What I worry about is Ratchet adopting his aft. I don't mind Breakdown so much. He's actually changed and he gave his word to the Matrix. He knows the penalty if he breaks it and he's normal if he isn't around them. Some kind of weird glitch happens when they're close to each other I guess. Ratchet thought he would be fine, took him under his wing. Has that bot going to medical school."
Everyone nodded, looks of amazement on their faces. Jessie noted that, then grinned. "Ratchet would bean him good if he goofs up. What will it mean with these two coming when you already have three of them now?"
Prowl nodded. "Nothing good I'm sure," he said quietly.
-0-Ops Center, Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean, Earth (Omega Supreme)
Smokescreen paused in his conversation with Devcon and looked at the sensors. "We have two fraggers and a bunch of Seekers coming into the system." He checked a number of things, then relaxed. "They're on Autobot City's telemetry. What were you saying?" he asked his bond with a grin.
"I was saying … I think it would be a good thing for Smokey to go to college. I need you to help me press that point home," the handsome mech said leaning in closer to his bond.
His bond didn't mind at all.
-0-TBC July 11, 2013
NOTES: Motormaster and Prime had the header in the G1 series. The lists of Decepticons and the ploy by the Senate and Sentinel is canon in the graphic novels. No one can do any TF product, movie or novel without clearing it with Hasbro. That makes Bey's indifference to their ferociously guarded universes all the more galling.
Also, Prime did surf a tsunami to prevent Megatron from blowing up a dam. :D :D :D
An interesting factoid about Menasor: "An alternate animation character sheet from the original cartoon exists for Menasor. It features all of the limbs in different orientations (the arms upside-down, the legs reversed) from the final model and the chest sports an Autobot symbol (!), suggesting perhaps that the Stunticon and Aerialbot toy factions may have originally been the other way around. This model was used for the toy commercial which appeared to introduce the Stunticons and Aerialbots, though with the faction symbol corrected. (TFWIKI)