The Diego Diaries: Skills (466) MARION: check the bottom for a note about your friend's problem. :D
-0-Moments later edited
"Prime."
"Fenix."
Fenix looked at the three mechs in the room, then shifted slightly. "What do you need from me, Optimus?" he asked almost in spite of himself. He personally had only fragments of an idea.
"Have a seat, Fenix," Ratchet said pushing on a chair with his ped. "There's much to speak about."
Fenix stood a moment, then took the chair to sit. He looked at them and waited.
"Fenix, I am going to ask you a question and I do not want you to answer for a moment," Optimus said coldly. "I want to know who put the bomb outside Ratchet's door in Tower 2? I want to know who has the skills to do that. I don't care about why. I want to know who."
Fenix considered the question, then all of its many dangers. If he said that he truthfully didn't know would Prime believe him? If he didn't answer at all it would throw him into difficulty as well. He had positioned himself as the voice of the high caste population. He was the one who was steering their agenda. He would be held accountable. There were no safe ports here. "I have no idea. We are a peaceful association. We intend to pursue our goals without violence, Prime. We have."
"There is a problem descending upon us, Fenix that will take us all down. We have made it very clear that there will be no return of the System to Cybertronian life," Optimus said. "We have told everyone from the start that it was over. Yet here we are. We have someone or someones doing this and soon someone will be harmed. I will not allow it. If you take nothing away from this meeting that should be it."
"What are you asking me?" Fenix asked. "You seem to think that I know something about this. How do you know it isn't someone else? Perhaps someone with a grudge against Ratchet?"
"To know me is to love me, Fenix. Don't you know that?" Ratchet asked with a tight grin.
"There are as many possibilities as there are mechs here. It could be someone with processor issues. Why does it have to be a high caste? What evidence do you have?"
"The question is before you, Fenix. I will find who has done this … all of them and there will be consequences," Optimus said.
"There is always a Convocation of the Will," Prowl said quietly. He had gathered himself, his offense for Optimus and the Matrix overcoming him for a moment. He hated when that happened but he had been raised to reverence the beliefs and philosophies of his people and culture including the emphatic understanding that Optimus embodied more than just himself. He was the living personification of Primus among them, the First Disciple of their creator god who carried the Matrix personally. For him and his fellow Cybertronians, nothing in their belief system had to be taken on faith. Everything that he knew and believed actually existed. It mattered to Prowl of Praxus.
Fenix considered that, the seriousness of it. He had no way to turn the tide should it come to that. He knew it and so did they. "That is a serious step."
"That is a bad move for you. You will find out that the colony will never adopt what you want. You will find out their implacable resolve," Ratchet said.
"Are you accusing me of something?" Fenix asked.
"I am asking you to help defend your city." Prime considered the self contained mech for a moment. "There are a lot of mechs and femmes here who have suffered under the dominion of the System. We have made a peace here between all sides. Some of them will be remembering a lot of things and perhaps acting on them. You are not going to find life very easy if we don't work together to end this by finding out who is responsible."
Fenix considered that. "If I knew, I would tell you, Prime. I have no idea who this person or persons are."
"Burris believes that he can terminate his counsel. All three of them. He has," Prowl said.
Fenix looked at him sharply. "Why?"
"Because he was, still is and always be a slagging fool," Ratchet said with a slight grin. "It's part of his charm."
"He requests that you represent him in his case," Prowl said.
"That is not my area of expertise," Fenix said.
"We told him," Ratchet replied. "I am sure that Semi will be less than amenable to the changes. You might tell Burris to suck it up. This isn't Cybertron and he should grab a clue."
Fenix nodded. "I would like to talk to him if I may."
Prime nodded, then stood up. "It would be in his best interests to treat his counsel well. His remarks to Brennan were inexcusable." He turned and led the way out of the room, Prowl and Ratchet following. They continued onward ignoring Burris who was brought out of a holding cell to go speak with Fenix. When they were outside, they paused.
"What an orn so far," Ratchet said.
"What do you think about Fenix?" Prime asked.
"I don't know. I think he doesn't know anything. His affect appeared to me no more clear than us," Ratchet said.
Prowl nodded. "I concur."
Prime glanced at the control center for a moment. "I agree. There is a renegade group of bombers wandering around. We have to beef up security. I am concerned that we may have to postpone the mission if this goes over the top."
The others nodded, then they turned and walked back talking over the few options they had given the dearth of information.
-0-Commotion
He put the device into a bag and slid it into the closet of his room. No one was home so he turned. Default was out with his family doing this or that together. He himself had time to kill so he decided to go to Club Hoyle where the possibility of a high caste card game was good. He would come back later to do what he had to do but for now, he would enjoy himself in good company. He closed the door behind him as he stepped out to go to the club.
-0-Gravity
He lay on his bunk watching a movie. Commotion had gone to the club and called him to meet. He would when the film ended. They would have a chance to go over the new action. Default and Kale would meet them there. Sio should be there but he was in a psych hold. That was a great source of amusement to the four, though they would be loathe to tell him.
They were a very close group. Sio was a strong personality and liked to drive their collective engine. He liked violence, was ready to fight anyone who moved and felt intensely the concept of caste and his own personal entitlement. That he was in the loony bin didn't surprise any of them. It was always a struggle to get him to tone down what he wanted to do when they went on their sprees.
The movie continued and he relaxed. Soon he would be at the club and their evening would begin.
-0-Prime
He sat at the center table talking to his senior officers. They had a lot of irons in the fire and little time. The afternoon would continue as the launch date for the mission crept ever closer.
-0-At the Main Operations-Mechanical hangar at the Military Air Field
They stood in a line waiting their turn. Fifteen gigantic Seekers were going to be painted gray. They were none too happy about it but the mission required it. One was getting layered in paint raising this and that arm, turning this and that direction. When they were complete the purple Deceptibrands that had been a badge of honor once would be applied magnetically. It would not be a happy moment.
-0-Bluestreak
He walked to the studio and peered inside. Neither twin was there so he turned and walked back down the corridor. He reached the dojo and walked inside. The twins were lounging with the usual group, all of them slated for the mission. Sitting next to Kup he grinned. "This is where you are. You're wanted," he said to the twins and a couple of the others.
"What for and by whom?" Sideswipe asked.
"By the Master of the Muster for the repaint. The mission? Remember?" Blue asked.
"Frag that. Why do we have to wear that fragging gray?" Sunstreaker asked.
"Camo," Blue said with a grin. "Surely you would know."
"Frag that," Sunstreaker said with a frown. "Where's Ada?"
"He's with Optimus," Blue answered.
"What is up with the slagging bombing? Why Ada?" Sideswipe said with an intense frown.
"I don't know," Sunstreaker said coldly. "But I will take care of it."
"Optimus said not to," Blue countered with a frown. "Obey him."
Sunstreaker smirked. "You're cute when you're delusional."
Blue looked at Kup. "Kick his aft."
Kup glanced at Sunstreaker. "Don't make me get up."
"He can't," Sideswipe said. "Old age is getting you down, old mech."
"You will be sorry if I get up," Kup replied. "I will bet you that high castes did it. Why, I don't know. But we all know that's true."
No one disagreed. Not even Lon.
-0-Burnoff walking to Metroplex Station #2
He walked from meeting with his counselor as well as a check in with the Probation office. He was set for another week so he walked to the subway to take a short ride to the new cities being raised southwest of Autobot City. It was a highrise affair, gigantic and utterly Cybertronian in design. It was one of three new ones and it was swarming with workers. Hundreds of thousands of individuals would live and work there. A number of businesses were already slated to operate in the cities and bring commerce to the inhabitants when they were settled there.
He walked down the steps to the platform waiting for the train that would take him to two other stations. He would climb out of the station after two train changes to drive the rest of the way on the new highway that continued onward from Crystal City. It would take him past the Mausoleum, a cemetery for their deceased. A basilica would be built nearby and would be the last part of the Temple Complex that would serve the needs of all their people.
When the train came he entered and it left promptly. At no time when he was waiting did he notice the young mech who was cleaning out the waste bin nearby. The cameras wouldn't either.
-0-Burnoff
He arrived at the city outskirts and checked in with the site manager. Since he was going to have a suite of offices slash workrooms in a tall business tower in the center of town he was waved through. All of the tenants whose buildings were finished were allowed to come in and work setting things in motion. The cities were not yet named. The entire colony was going to suggest names, then vote for them. Until then, he was working toward his goals at site 2. Moving forward, he entered a city that was laid out with wide streets, wide sidewalks and elevated streets going throughout the vast structure. He would walk ten blocks, then enter his building going upward to the tenth floor. It was there that he would work on his designs for improving the lot of everyone.
He was a completely new mech. Unfortunately, not everyone could say the same.
-0-Metroplex Station #2
A-cee walked down the steps heading for the subway to take him home. He had come to the pharmacy to get the supplements and one prescription that his bond, D-cee would need in his recovery. He had chatted a while with Breezy, himself a member of the Circle of Light. The movement along with the Peace Mission of Primus and the Knights had begun to regroup and flourish in the colony. A traumatized mech from the last refugee group of battered and debilitated former Decepticons, he was ready to embrace peace. This would be the first place he ever lived where that was possible. When D-cee was well, he would get work and they would build their life including their dreams of a family.
When he left, he paused at the grocery to pick up some treats, a luxury that still gave him pause after a life time of misery and hunger. The progress of his bond had helped him too. He was in intense fear that his bond, his life long friend had been so ill. It had been lonely waiting for D-Cee to get out of the hospital. When he could come to their apartment it had been incredible to see his bond's incredulity that they could live in such a nice circumstance and eat as much and as well as they did.
He stood by the window of the train waiting to get home. That is when he saw a fireball form when an explosion went off down tracks, a fireball that was flying down the tunnel straight at him. He backed away from it in intense surprise as it engulfed his train with a roar.
-0-TBC October 9, 2013
NOTE: MARION: I am really sorry that the website does that. Your addie to contact you for your friend didn't come through to me. Go to the pm message part of this and send it to me leaving spaces between the addie parts. I will close them and get back to you. I want to help you and your friend get this story. If I have to send it to her directly, I will. I hope you contact me. I really love my readers and don't have a problem doing extras to help those read this that have issues. HUGS!