The Diego Diaries: Surprise 1 (559) edited
-0-On the sidewalk together
Optimus Prime walked along the sidewalk that framed Fortress Road on two sides. Beyond it, the turnoff to the prison was the last real turnoff on the four lane that went to the east and southeast. Soundwave walked with him, neither mech speaking to the other. Soundwave was an observer and watcher by nature and inclination. Prime was well versed with his mannerisms and behavior. He would only tell and allow to be seen that which he wanted. Behind them walking silently, seven members of the Day Watch followed.
They walked past the municipal airport which was disgorging humans from the big Lunar to Mars space bridge. All of them were family members of soldiers or soldiers themselves who had come for FOOTBALL WEEKEND! Included were several journalists, two of them famous sportscasters and sports journalists. They could be seen buzzing away toward the city.
Soundwave watched them go, the improbable winner of battles in which he himself had partaken. They were a conundrum, a fluke. They should be dead, these squishy squirmy fraggers but they weren't. It perplexed. He glanced at Prime, the taller mech walking silently beside him. "Where are we going?" he asked at last.
Pleased that Soundwave had spoken first, Prime glanced at him. "Down the road." They continued silently, then Prime turned up Prison Road toward the Guard House and the main prison facility. Soundwave saw it ahead, then a faint grin formed on his face. "Am I going to jail or is this just a sightseeing tour?"
"Are you worried that I will put you in prison?" Prime asked.
"You are harder to read than before. You have done things I would not have considered of you. You tell me." Soundwave said as a high security arrangement appeared before them.
"I thought a tour of the facility might be enlightening," Prime said as they approached the great fence that surrounded the entire facility, an improvement considering the type and number of prisoner they now dealt with. The Officer of the Orn appeared, then nodded. "Sir," he said.
"Clevis, I would like inside the fence. We won't be entering the lock ups. It will merely be a sightseeing tour," Prime said.
Clevis nodded, then glanced at Soundwave. "Pity," he said, then turned and dropped the gate.
Prime continued forward, Soundwave following. The guards who had followed them paused with Clevis. They had been asked to remain behind and they did so reluctantly.
The two mechs walked forward toward a big prison block that was surrounded by live hot bars. Inside it as well as the other three were huge barracks with chairs and a table outside for the prisoners. They walked to a block, then paused.
Ratbat who was sitting on a chair glanced their way, then blinked. :Come outside. You won't believe who is here: he said internally to the others who were inside.
The door opened as mechs stepped out onto the porch. They looked at Ratbat, then turned in the direction he pointed. Staring at the improbable sight of Optimus Prime and Soundwave standing together outside their enclosure they glanced at each other in surprise. Sentinel stared at the pair, both of them more inscrutable than usual, then stepped off the porch. He walked to the bars, then paused. The others stood on the porch, their audials dialed up. "Optimus. Are you bringing visitors or do we have a new roommate?"
Prime glanced at Soundwave who expressed intense surprise which he quickly covered. "Soundwave, you remember Sentinel don't you?"
"He was killed on Cybertron. I saw his crypt. He was put in it after a shooting," Soundwave said, his optics never leaving Sentinel. He glanced at the others, each of them familiar to him. He had his own share of exchanges with all of them himself. "What is this, Prime?" He looked at Optimus.
"You don't know?" Optimus asked.
It was silent, then Soundwave shook his helm. "No. I don't."
"Then you aren't as good a friend of Megatron as you think you are," Optimus said with no small sense of satisfaction. "Sentinel was going to bring Cybertron here, repair her, then kill all of you. He had a plan with Megatron. Find the AllSpark, bring Cybertron here, rebuild her, then rule. Right, Sentinel?"
"You sound bitter, Optimus," Sentinel said as Proteus, Decimus and Ratbat came to stand behind him.
"What madness made you think you could do that, Sentinel? What did you promise Megatron to let you live?" Soundwave asked in spite of himself.
Sentinel looked at the normally silent, normally inscrutable mechanism for a moment. "I promise to let him live."
Soundwave looked at him a moment, then uttered a humorless laugh. "You did, did you? What a complete fool you are. No one 'lets' Megatron do anything. If there was a plan in your helm about what you were going to do, understand that Megatron had a copy of it in his own. That is why he is Megatron."
"He is a barbarian. A fool. He knows nothing of our culture, our greatness. He breaks things. He is a worthless waste of space," Sentinel said with feeling.
"Well, we don't seem to be far apart on that score. However, the graveyards of many worlds including our own are filled with mechanisms who underestimated that bot. You appear to have fallen short of your own perceived greatness here it seems. You are on the inside looking out. But then you underestimated Prime too. You were merely a caretaker. This mech was always meant to be the real prime." Soundwave looked at the others. "How good you look behind bars, Ratbat."
"Frag you, Soundwave. Why don't you join us?" the mini-con marauder replied.
"I have to put Cybertron back together after you lot broke it. No thanks," he said coldly.
Prime watched them without a word. He analyzed the bots before him, gathering data from their exchange. Soundwave was not part of Sentinel's plot.
"I can imagine," Sentinel said. "How? You have no energon."
"Thank Decimus for that. Decimus and the high castes. Don't worry about Cybertron. That is my priority, fraggers," Soundwave said with surprisingly uncharacteristic bitterness.
"So what brings you here, Optimus? Do you want to tease the animals in the cage with your new dog?" Sentinel asked.
"You're lucky you are behind bars, Sentinel," Soundwave said ominously.
"I would tear you apart, Soundwave. You aren't built for me. You would die in seconds," Sentinel said with a slight sneer.
"What is their fate? To be caged up like animals or are you saving them for Megatron when he comes back?" Soundwave asked glancing at Prime.
Prime stared at Sentinel, then Soundwave. "Let's continue." Optimus turned, then began to walk onward to another barracks. Soundwave looked at the bots inside the fence, then turned to follow. The others watched until they were nearly at Cell Block 1, then they walked to chairs to sit. They would stay there until Prime and his party left.
They walked silently together to the cell block that held the Stunticons. They weren't out but as the two approached the barracks door opened. Motormaster stepped out followed by Dead End and Wildrider. They paused to stare, then walked to the fence to stand. "Well, well, well. Look who the targs dragged in. Are you here to take us home, 'Atar', or are you here to join us? I would prefer the former but the latter will do in a pinch," Motormaster said with a humorless smile and a slow burn.
Soundwave considered that the last time he had seen them they were providing security for his three forward bases. It seemed a lifetime ago he considered. "Why would I want you back? You let them take my bases and even got caught. I don't need more frag ups."
"Is that so?" Motormaster said as his rage began to accumulate in his processor. "Then why are you here, fragger?"
"I'm here for the football game," Soundwave said with some small satisfaction. "I am a guest of the Prime."
Motormaster stared at him a moment, then looked at Prime. "What about us? How about letting us see the game?"
"You are not trustworthy," Optimus said as he turned to walk onward.
They watched him, then Soundwave turned to follow. Motormaster glanced sharply at him. "Soundwave. Come here. You have to get us out of here."
Soundwave kept walking. Motormaster nearly touched the bars as he followed down the line of his block. "SOUNDWAVE! YOU FRAGGER! GET US OUT OF HERE! NOW!"
The shouting followed them as they continued over a rise and down the slope to a flattened pad where a guard tower was stationed. The guard nodded as he looked down from the tower, his gun in plain view. Before them in a huge fenced-in area with tents for barracks and a great number of mechs sitting or standing around, Soundwave got a good hard look at mechs that were once his to command.
"They defected. They tried to bother us and the migrations. We didn't allow it," Prime said with deliberate economy of speech.
Soundwave scanned the group and did the math. "So it would seem. I am assuming you won't be giving them back ..."
"Your assumptions are correct. I would have you meet their officers but we have a game to attend," Prime said.
"You brought me here for this. I see that the wheels that have been turning are strange and unpredictable. Who would have known that Sentinel was alive and the others?" Soundwave asked.
"You should have. You are on Megatron's general staff and if memory serves me, your mindless devotion should have warranted that he confide in you about it. That doesn't seem too much for me to expect that Megatron would have confided in you. Since he didn't, I wouldn't turn my back to him. Apparently, he doesn't trust you as much as you might think he does."
Soundwave stared at the masses of mechs behind bars in the yards before him. He was aware that Prime was undermining his confidence, perhaps in a vain attempt to turn him to his own advantage. He also knew that Megatron had not included him in any of this. It rankled. It burned. He kept it to himself, glancing calmly at Prime. "So you say."
"I don't say. I merely point out that you obviously aren't on Megatron's confidence list. You are strictly 'need to know' it would seem. I would think that would make you more vulnerable than say, Shockwave. I am aware that he knew about Sentinel. I haven't asked Starscream. I imagine he knew however. He was after all Megatron's second. He would have been told, perhaps even facilitating things to make it happen." Optimus spoke in a calm reasonable voice, his optics lingering on the cell blocks before him. It was silent a moment, then Prime turned. "Let's go. The game will begin shortly. We have a luncheon planned with our other guests in Tyger Pax. You are invited."
Soundwave watched him go, then followed. They walked side-by-side in silence to the gate, then left. Turning toward the city, they walked on the sidewalk back to the junction in front of the Fortress. Joining Prowl and two dour looking Soundwave staffers, they all turned under guard to walk to the subway station, Fortress 1. They went down the steps and disappeared.
-0-At The Rookery, Tyger Pax, Primal Colony of Mars
Ratchet, Ironhide, Magnus, Jazz, Neo, Alpha Trion, Lauren of the Temple along with Armour and Chevron stood at the bar in the restaurant which had a huge dining room that circled the slowly rotating facility. The views were spectacular and the conversation small among the group that waited with Prowl, Wheeljack, Perceptor, Jetta, Elita and Arcee for the party with Starscream to return.
The dining area was set up, a beautiful arrangement to compliment the nature of the meet up. A noise at the door drew their attention. They turned to see Slacker, Paragon and Cyclonus enter the restaurant with Nitro, Starscream, Rainmaker and Silverclaw. They paused to look around.
The bar along with the kitchen occupied the center of the establishment as the remaining space in the 360 degree great room was filled with tables, a huge stone fireplace on one wall and a small stage for music. Art hung here and there, the ambiance reminiscent of a restaurant that was famous in Crystal City on Cybertron.
"This is beautiful," Paragon said turning to Prowl. "My compliments to the city planner."
"Your welcome," Jetta said with a slight grin. As he spoke another party entered. Starscream with Thundercracker who had come along too and the clan elders turned with everyone else.
Optimus Prime entered the room followed by someone that drew everyone's silent intent attention. Prime paused, then nodded to all present. "Thank you for coming. I have invited another guest to join us." He turned. "Soundwave, I am sure you know Paragon and Cyclonus," he said.
Soundwave stared at them with a fleeting look of surprise. Then it disappeared.
-0-TBC December 20, 2013