The Diego Diaries: Skills (470) edited
-0-Science Habitat
"Whoa."
Sheila Conroy nodded. "I agree. This is serious. I have never lived in a place where you could get bombed."
Alejandro nodded. "I have. It wasn't fun but these bombers seem to be wanting to avoid casualties."
The scientists had gathered around the big screen to watch the Prime broadcast. It had been a solemn moment and even though they weren't Cybertronian they felt the same offense for their city as anyone else. This was their place too.
"We better be on our toes. If we get caught in an explosion we are dead," Michio said. Everyone nodded.
The big screen came back on with an incoming message and Will Lennox could be seen. "Hey, listen up," he said as the senior human in authority on Mars.
Everyone paused and turned to the big screen.
"You are not to take the underground system anymore until further notice. If you want to go anywhere either they drive you or you go by segway. No one and I repeat no one is to ride the underground system until we catch the bombers. If you do, you will be killed in an explosion. I saw Ratchet this morning and a young mech was in a car that caught the tail end of the explosion. He was hurt pretty good. If he was hurt that bad that far away we would be a smear on the wall. Any questions?"
"Will, what about the mission?" Sheila asked. She had gotten permission from Ratchet and Prime to go along on the Darkness or as it was known now, Moonbase after one of the three lunar satellites that circled Cybertron.
"Its on hold," Will said grimly. He and the others were going along too on the Terror now known as Phobos. "Until this is cleared up the mission is full stop."
They nodded, then Lennox signed off. It was quiet a moment, then Sheila sighed. "Bastards," she said quietly. No one argued with her.
-0-On the street
A small crowd stood on the sidewalk staring at the work going on at Metro Station #2. In a few joors the schools would let out and after that shifts would change. The instructions for getting home with alternative routes had been sent out. It was going to slow things down as the streets and other stations bore the brunt of this, the most heavily used station in the City.
The atmosphere around all the colony was less ebullient and more somber. The situation was bringing back to them bad memories from other times when a simple ride to work was the last thing too many did. The old habits of looking over your shoulder and being aware of your surroundings as well as any odd thing that seemed out of place were back with a vengeance.
Barricade and Scorponok sat in Club Cybertron nursing a drink. They were going to go take a look at the new cities whose names were going to be released shortly after the polls on the Community Bulletin Board were tabulated. The usually raucous tones of the players and drinkers were low and subdued. "This is fragged," Barricade said as he sat looking around. "Its like a funeral."
Scorponok nodded. "I hear ya. The fraggers who did this are going to be torn apart by a mob if they get caught. I wonder if its 'Cons."
"This has high caste stink all over it," Barricade said. "I want to be there when they do. Fraggers have fragged up the whole place."
Scorponok nodded.
-0-On the beat
The cities were swarming with Night and Day Watch pulling double duty. Also on the beat matched with them were temporarily deputized Home Guard mechs who were doing their once every three month four orn duty with active members of the army and police force. They were showing the flag, their presence comforting to those who now lived in fear once again. Even though it reminded some of the Clampdown, to most it was a comforting sight.
Lon walked along with a youngling mech who ordinarily would be working in an electronics shop. He was a civilian who had joined the Home Guard to do his duty to his new awesome home. "I don't know what will happen if we don't get them, Lon. This is already stirring up high caste resentment again."
Lon nodded. "I know, Art-E. We'll get them."
"The Iacon Order is stirring up trouble. I can understand the need to have associations for fun and all that," the youngling mid caste said as he glanced in an alleyway, then moved onward, "but the high castes need to lay low. There has been too much between all of us for them to assert themselves. It brings back bad memories." He glanced at Lon. "You were a high caste but you are Cybertronian first. That is not in doubt. If you can make the leap, I don't know why they can't."
"I made the leap the hard way. My group came in with the same attitudes but they picked a fight with Prowl. That ended as badly as it sounds. I tried to get them to stop but they wouldn't listen. Every one of them are upstanding now but then? Not so much."
Art-E smirked. "Prowl? That bot has skills."
"You should have been there. It was back when we lived underground and nearly everyone used the rec room in the Fortress. A bunch of my friends began to insult Prowl's sparkling. It went over as well as it looked. Ratchet came through the door and joined him. It was the most amazing display of rage and martial arts I ever saw."
"What did you do?" Art-E asked with a grin.
"I tried to get them to stop and when they were hauled off I felt so ashamed. I sought out Springer and asked to join the Watch. He let me and I have never been so happy or felt so useful in my life since then. My genitors thought I had lost my processor until they saw my tattoos and a few of my shifts with the other bots. My ada said I looked so grown up." He grinned at the memory. "Now they're as proud as can be. I could never work in the family business. I'm not into electronics. I'm into service."
"You're a Knight and with the Circle?"
Lon nodded. "I am. My whole life is going to be dedicated to the service of our people. I will fight and die for everyone," he said glancing at the youngling walking beside him. "Until all are one."
Art-E nodded. "Until all are one, Lon."
They continued onward on their rounds.
-0-On the airfield
The cameras rolled as the gigantic gray ships began to move away from their present positions on the airfield. They went one after another back to the main staging area for ships that was northwest of the flight line, the place where ships sat waiting their turn to come forward. Side by side, they stood at last powering down until the time came to lift off for the mission to find their lost brethren. It would take a while to maneuver the monsters in the open space of the airfield.
-0-At an apartment in Crystal City
Argosy stood at the window looking at the city beyond. His son, Combo was sitting on the couch as his ada, Amot fussed over him. He had come out of most of his trauma just fine and with the therapy he took every morning at the Femme, Elder, Youngling and Sparkling Hospital Therapy Center in the Metroplex District he was going to be up and at them in no time. Long talks with his adored older brother, Nitro had convinced him that a training program would be his next venture.
His genitors who were still recovering from their ordeal had no firm plans of their own. It was enough to live in their incredibly beautiful, incredibly comfortable home and help their son recover. All of their meals were taken with Nitro and his family. They had no idea they were grandgenitors until the shy little wisp of a femme that was their granddaughter, Ope had walked in with the two and stood looking at them curiously.
It was love at first sight for all of them.
They were going to be taking her to school every morning in the Mare Tranquilitatis Tower 1 to allow her genitors to go to work without the diversion. Although they adored to take her themselves, they were ecstatic that their daughter had more grandgenitors to help her get on with her own little life.
A rap on the door and a large figure peering in with a grin broke Argosy's reverie. He grinned. "Good morning. I thought you were at work."
Nitro stepped inside. "I am Master of Munitions for the armories, Atar. I have latitude. How is everyone today?"
Combo stood up and walked toward him, then turned and walked back. He grinned. "Not bad."
Nitro chuckled and nodded. "Pretty good I would say."
The big mech walked to the window and looked out. His family were Seekers but they were smaller than most, an adaption that had been made at a time when smaller formats were necessary for some jobs. They were very few, the mini-con Seekers but distinctive. Even though they were mini-con, he wasn't. They had sought and received the 'advantages' for their son in a standard format in the hopes that his life as a bigger mechanism would be better than their own. The fact of that distinction had made him very protective of his family and their comfort was paramount to him now.
Their size didn't preclude them from living near Nitro where he could take care of them. He himself was bonded with a grounder, one of the few Seekers who were. Thus he lived outside the Aerie Hill Seeker enclave. His genitors and brother though Seekers had a good apartment that met their needs here due to their size and were close enough to him that he could recharge without fear of them needing his assistance on short notice.
Sometimes injuries didn't show up on the outside.
He looked down at his father. "Its a beautiful view isn't it."
Argosy nodded. "It is. Thank you, son for our home. I don't know that I could manage to get the family such a nice place without you helping us."
Nitro looked at his father with pained optics. Taking his servo, they walked to the couch to sit. All three of them looked at Nitro as he struggled with his emotions and thoughts. "I know that this is hard but I want you to try and understand something here. When I came, Ope was dying." The shock on their faces gave him pause but he continued. "We surrendered our ships and came here with her wrapped in blankets. I thought they would be her shroud. They had one doctor, Ratchet. He took her and did everything he could to save her. He did. He worked himself to death to save my little girl. You know our faction. They would have killed her and us for our family and they would not have helped her. The Autobots did.
"They gave us a house, work that was our choice and everything that we could need. Ope gets to go to school. My daughter is going to school and someday college." They all nodded firmly. "I got a job that I love making the munitions that will be used against the Decepticons and anyone else that challenges us. I work with Ironhide. I can't count the times that I fought him. Now we are comrades-in-arms.
"Prime keeps his word. I am proud to be here, to serve the Prime, to take care of my family including you three. I am given all the chances to work and learn that I want. I am in college."
They looked at him, then blinked. "You?" Amot said with a growing sense of wonder. "You go? You can go?"
He nodded. "I am learning to be a writer. I am a writer, Ada. I have a book being published. It will be released in the bookstore tomorrow."
They looked at him, then smiled. "That is wonderful, son. I always knew you were a smart mech," Argosy said as the others nodded.
He grinned, warmed by their approval. It was still sinking in himself. He sat back. "You don't need to work ever again, you and Ada," he said looking at his atar. "If you want to, fine. Do something you always wanted to do. You don't have to ask. You don't have to feel obligated for anything. You are wanted and needed just as you are. There are so few elders that all of them are cherished. Go to school. They teach you until you have enough skill to go to college. They have adult education here. You can be whatever you want." He looked at his brother. "You are going to college."
It was silent a moment, then Combo grinned. "Okay," he said.
It was a cosmic moment for all of them.
-0-At the new construction
Burnoff stood in the office of his suite. Down a corridor that was faced with windows several rooms beckoned. They were perfect for what he planned for his business. One was a huge workshop and it was at the end of the space allotted to him as designed by the Housing Authority. He told them his needs, then they sent a crew to build the space according to specs.
The workspace would be where he would take his designs and build the resulting awesome things he was making in the design room just off the office. It had huge windows too and the sunlight that pervaded his space matched the buoyancy of his spark. He was delighted and happy, ecstatic and fulfilled. He had never felt this in his life.
A rap on the door caught his attention so he turned to open it. In the atrium space outside mechs from the Foundry Exchange with masses of stuff were waiting. His office furniture had arrived. His work benches, machinery and supplies had as well. He would spend a glorious morning having pallets of things brought in and stacked in the middle of the proper room which he would unpack into the cupboards and shelves that would groan under their weight. The rooms would be furnished with machines and tables, chairs and couches. The office would have a desk for a future receptionist-secretary slash assistant. Until now, he was the mech.
He was the mech of The Idea Place, his business where he would make good things happen for everyone.
His genitors would bring lunch by and marvel at the wondrous thing that their son was doing. By the time Copperton was due back at the work site nearby, his bond would be the receptionist-secretary slash assistant for his son. Not only would Turquoise, the son of the last Chief Justice of the High Court of Cybertron be closing in on the glitch in the systems of the carrier-warriors on the state of the art computer and monitor system already installed, he would be fielding the soon to be growing demand for the useful, smart, streamlined and utterly innovative things his son was making.
It would be the happiest most fulfilling moment ever in the lives of Copperton and Turquoise of Iacon.
-0-TBC October 12, 2013
NOTE: I am having trouble with the cut and paste feature here too. I am thinking it is either a strange glitch or an attempt to keep plagiarists at bay. I don't know. I just hug all of you who struggle to get copies of this. If you do, let me know. I can always send them to an email addie directly. I also have a free fanfiction dot net app for my phone. :D Hugs, everyone!
PS: I am having Nitro be a spark from the Well to show diversity for the Seekers. In this story, they tend to have them the way Starscream and Sky Warp do, with separation of hatchlings into incubators. Since Amot and Argosy wanted their son to have more options, they sought a spark from the Well using a standard Seeker protoform. I want to add more diversity and back story to this to make upcoming threads possible without a lot of 'chat' in the middle of the action. :D:D:D