Work Text:
"What are you doing over there?"
Knockout paused in rooting through Ratchet's medical supplies to look up at the Autobot. He met optics with him only for a moment to gauge his expression. Seeing the medic looked only vaguely annoyed, Knockout turned right back to the toolbox in his servos.
"No offense, Doctor, but certain aspects of your repair job were not quite up to my high standards." He didn't even look up to acknowledge Ratchet's huff of indignation. "Don't feel too bad. It's not something you usually have to worry about... Ah!" Knockout smirked as he found what he was looking for.
Placing the box down again, he held up a long metal file. "But if you were a Decepticon medic, you'd know not to let a patient's claws stay worn down and chipped."
"What do I look like, a salon?" Ratchet grumbled. He quickly looked back to the tools in his servos and went right back to ignoring the other medic.
Raf was sitting on the platform next to Ratchet and reading on his laptop, and he seemed equally unconcerned. He did watch the Decepticon for another moment, expecting him to offer some witty retort. However, Knockout quietly stood up and took the few steps back over to his perch in the medical area. In the short time the 'Con had been with them, Raf had noticed there were a lot more arguments happening at the base, and although he was usually the subject of them, it appeared that Knockout was doing his best to not start them. If it were up to Raf there would be no arguing at all, but he definitely appreciated Knockout's quiet effort to stay out of the way.
Sitting down again, the mech did just that by staying silent and going to work filing his digits to a crisp point. Raf watched Knockout sit down and then went back to intently reading the page on his screen, glancing to his side to one of the many open books every once in awhile.
The only one who appeared to have a problem was, unsurprisingly, the little girl who was sitting with Bulkhead on they opposite end of the room. Miko stood up from where she'd been sitting on her amp, guitar still in hand, and stepped over to the platform railing.
"Uh... Is everyone really just okay with this happening?" She said, directing her voice towards Ratchet.
The medic glanced back at her with a raised optical ridge, but said nothing in response.
Miko raised her arm and pointed accusingly over at Knockout. "The Decepticon is literally sharpening his claws." she shouted, "Does no one else find this a little unnerving?"
Ratchet just let out a quiet vent and went back to work, not offering any agreement but not disagreeing either. When he didn't reply, Raf glanced over at Knockout. The 'Con had his optics trained on his servos and was refusing to look up at the girl. His annoyance was clear on his face, though.
Raf didn't really like it when Miko pushed the Decepticon. It made him feel a bit nervous and, in another more confusing way, it made him feel kind of bad for him. He didn't really like seeing anyone get picked on, even if they had been a sworn enemy up until a few days ago. Despite his discomfort, he didn't say anything, and just went back to his laptop, hoping the girl would drop the subject.
Of course, rather than let it go like Raf hoped, Miko took Ratchet's silence as permission to continue. "I mean, claws are weapons, y'know? Would you let him keep going if he were priming a blaster too?"
Behind her, Bulkhead only offered a shrug to silently agree with the human. And seeing that Ratchet wasn't going to offer any objections either, Raf decided to speak up. "Uh, that's a little different, Miko." He began, keeping his voice quiet. "I mean, his claws aren't just a weapon, they're a part of his body."
"Still a weapon, though!" Miko turned away and began strumming a low chord on her guitar. "And you shouldn't let him make 'em more dangerous, Ratchet."
Having been addressed directly, Ratchet finally responded, but without looking up again. "He can keep the file, Miko." He said flatly.
"Oh yeah?" Miko started strumming faster, "Well what's next? You gonna give him free reign of your whole med bay or something? I wonder how much damage a Decepticon could do to the base with a Cybertronian sized blow torch."
"Knockout is a medic, I'm sure he has a blowtorch already."
"I see, so he doesn't need a weapon, because he is a weapon!" Miko hit one last, loud chord and then put her hand on the guitar strings, silencing it. "Well in that case, if he's gonna be staying here, maybe we should pull all that dangerous stuff outta him!"
Ratchet let out an annoyed grumble and finally pulled his optics off his tools. "Alright, that's enough, Miko."
"I'm serious! He shouldn't be allowed to have weapons!!"
"We already took away his energon staff, anything more would be excessive."
"Come on Ratch, you really wanna take the chance that this 'Con creep is gonna stab you in the back with his saw blade?"
"Miko! Autobots do not disassemble their prisoners!"
Though the Decepticon had remained silent, Raf kept an eye on Knockout during this exchange to gage his reaction. Despite his expression looking slightly annoyed, he had seemed completely unfazed for the entire conversation, including when Miko had brought up tearing out his medical tools. However, as Ratchet said this last word, his whole frame went suddenly tense. The file in his servo scraped loudly against the digit he had been working on, probably grinding a bit too hard on the metal.
His optics shot up to glare at the other medic. "I am not your prisoner." He kept his vocalizer low but it was tinged with barely concealed anger. Ratchet didn't seem to pick up on it, and only glanced over at Knockout before returning to work.
"Huh... Well, you're in an enemy base and you can't exactly leave, so what would you call it?" He didn't sound like he was being serious, but Knockout either didn't notice or didn't care, because Ratchet's comment visibly enraged him further.
"Uh... Ratchet, maybe y-" before Raf could finish his warning, the boy was interrupted as Knockout slammed the file in his servo down on the metal of the platform he was sitting on with a loud clang. The medic was standing now and glaring at Ratchet with furious, blazing red optics. Upon hearing the sudden noise, Ratchet had turned around finally and met the Decepticon's gaze, clearly startled by how angry he appeared.
Before Ratchet could say anything, a smirk appeared on Knockout's face and he spoke, "If I were really a prisoner," the mech raised his servos, keeping his palms up but clearly showing off his claws. "would I be able to do this?"
Not an instant later, Knockout had leapt forward, transformed, and sped straight out the main entrance and out of sight.
"HEY! Get back here!!" Ratchet rushed towards the entrance but stopped just short when it was clear Knockout was already gone. "Oh for the love of-!" He didn't finish the exclamation and turned to run back.
"Oooh! See, I told ya!" Miko was gloating in the background as she started to strum on her guitar again. "We shoulda disarmed that creep when we had the chance! Used Ratchet's scalpels to slice his arms right off, y'know?" Ratchet ignored her and went straight up to the computer.
"Ratchet..." Raf stood up as he approached, "Where's he going? He can't go outside the base like that!"
"Apparently, he can!" Ratchet glared at the screen as he pulled up the security cameras outside the base. The sun had already set, so it was difficult to see, but they were still able to watch as Knockout went speeding down the road and into the distance. "I knew we should have disabled the door from opening automatically... Now what are we going to do? There's a Decepticon on the loose who knows where our base is!"
"No, Ratchet! I meant that the 'Cons are still looking for him." Raf said, "It's dangerous for him to be outside our base where it's not shielded."
Ratchet grumbled a half-hearted agreement as he started typing on the console again. "Either way, I'd better call back one of the others from their patrol." He said, "Someone will have to go after him and... do something."
"Send Bulkhead!" Miko shouted, raising her hand to point at the Wrecker. "He'll bring that no good 'Con back in pieces!"
"Bulkhead is still recovering, Miko." Ratchet replied, "And no offense, Bulkhead, but you're not exactly equipped to catch a sports car like Knockout."
Bulkhead shrugged, "Don't need to be the fastest- I'm the toughest." He emphasized his point by pounding his fist against his chest with a loud clang. "But, uh... Either way, you should probably send Bee, Doc. He's the only one who'd have a chance."
Raf watched as Ratchet nodded and proceeded to ping the scout to get his coordinates. Within a minute, Bumblebee was coming back through the groundbridge, looking a bit confused as to why his shift was cut short.
"There's not a lot of time to explain, unfortunately." Ratchet said, stepping over to the scout. "We need you to chase down Knockout."
"Bzzzrrrrt??" Bumblebee's door wings gave a quick flinch as he looked around, presumably for the missing medic.
"He drove off." Ratchet explained, "All I saw was that he was headed northeast and he was going fast. Do you think you could catch him?"
Bee responded with a thumbs up and a quick affirmative whirr. Then he transformed to head for the exit. As this happened, Raf ran over to the platform's ladder and quickly slid down to the floor.
"Hey Bee, wait!" Before he could zoom off, Raf ran up to the car and grabbed ahold of his passenger side door handle. "I'm coming with you!"
"Rafael, we don't know what Knockout's response will be when he's caught." Ratchet stepped over to try and move the human away. "It might get violent. Let Bumblebee handle this!"
"I'll be okay, Ratchet." Raf pulled open the door and plopped down on Bumblebee's seat. "And I can explain to Bee what happened on the way, then maybe there won't even have to be any fighting."
Bumblebee gave a few quick beeps to reassure the medic, and he finally stepped away. Not without a quiet humm of disapproval, of course. With that, Bumblebee and Raf sped off through the exit and out into the dark desert.
It wasn't until the base had gone from his rearview mirror and they were alone on the dusty road that Bumblebee spoke up. With his beeps and whirrs, he asked Raf what exactly had happened to make Knockout run off.
Raf sighed and leaned back into Bumblebee's seat. "Well, I'm not totally sure, but..." he glanced out the window into the darkness, "Ratchet and Miko were arguing about him like they always do, and he didn't mind that so much, but then Ratchet said something that set him off."
"Whrrr??"
"He kind of inferred that Knockout was a prisoner." Raf glanced down at Bee's dashboard as he spoke. He thought for a moment that Bee might have something to say in response, but he just let out a quiet hum as he continued to speed along, not offering any more. Raf just shrugged and sank down in the seat a little more. He was pretty sure that Ratchet had been kidding when he said it, but he wondered whether or not Bee thought of Knockout as a prisoner. Or all the other Autobots, for that matter.
He didn't voice this question, though. Instead he let it remain quiet for a while so Bee could focus on driving along the dark desert road.
"What should we do when we find him?" Raf finally asked.
"Brzzeeep!! Beepboop whrrrrzzrrrttt." came the response.
"I dunno, Bee." Raf said, "I know he's a 'Con and all, but I mean... Miko was saying way worse stuff than that, and it was only when Ratchet used that word that he got upset... Maybe we should try to talk him down first."
Just as Bumblebee made the first few beeps of his response, he was interrupted.
"Looking for someone, Autobot?"
Bee slammed on his brakes and swerved around, shining his lights to the side of the road where the voice had come from. All that was illuminated was a grouping of steep rock ridges and the dark, vast desert beyond. After a quiet whirr of confusion, the voice spoke up again.
"Up here, numb nodes!"
Shining his lights up the side of the rock ledge, Bee and Raf finally spotted Knockout, sitting on the top and glaring down at them.
"I see the warden has sent out his guard dog to track me down." The Decepticon sneered, not moving from his perch. "Have you come to take me in, bug?"
Bumblebee whirred in annoyance, but before he could properly respond, Raf quickly rolled down his window and stuck his head out to look up at Knockout.
"Knockout, you have to come back to the base. You shouldn't be out here alone!"
"Oh and you brought your pet with you." Knockout leaned forward, his optics narrowing slightly. "You must be either very confident or very stupid."
Bumblebee started forward threateningly, "Bzeeepp boopbeEEPoooohhwhhrrrRRR!!!"
Raf winced slightly as he listened, "Bee, you don't have to-"
"Oh, is that so?!" Knockout stood up as he interrupted the human, "Pretty strong words for a bug. Of course, you'll have to catch me, first!" As he spoke, Knockout leapt off the edge of the rock ledge, jumping out towards the road. Just as he was about to strike the pavement, he transformed and started to speed away from Bumblebee in vehicle mode. Bee let out one last annoyed beep and slammed on his accelerator to give chase.
“Bee, can’t we just talk to him?” Raf asked, leaning back into his seat.
All he got in response was an annoyed hum from the transformer. He didn’t seem to be in the mood to argue, so Raf didn’t say anything further, and just held on tighter to the seatbelt.
The road they were on was a dark and dusty desert road. There were no street lamps or any other sign of life around; it was just a straight shot out into the desert. The lack of turns made it a bit easier for Bumblebee to catch up, and after chasing for a few miles, he had managed to pull up just behind the red sports car.
Raf sat quietly the whole drive, but was silently wondering what exactly Bee was planning to do when he finally caught up. He didn’t get a chance to find out, because suddenly, Knockout swerved slightly as if dodging something and a moment later, Bumblebee’s tires hit a massive pot hole that he hadn’t seen coming. Raf was glad he was wearing his seatbelt, because the sudden jolt might have thrown him from his seat.
Bumblebee let out a pained string of beeps as he hit his brakes, rolling to a barely controlled stop off the side of the road.
Once it was safe, Raf opened the door and jumped out, “Are you okay, Bee?” He stepped over to the front tire noticing that it looked slightly misshapen.
Bumblebee responded with just a quiet buzz, and then slowly shifted back into bot mode. He fell back into a sitting position, grasping at his left foot where his front tire was housed.
“Are you serious, bug?”
Raf looked up towards the road and saw that Knockout, still in vehicle form, had shifted into reverse and come back for them. He stopped for a moment after he reached them, but then shifted into his bot mode as well. Placing a servo on his hip and sneering down at Bumblebee, he continued.
“Can’t even take a little rough road, hmm? This is what you get for tailing me too closely in the dark.”
Bumblebee let out an annoyed whirr and stood up, noticeably keeping his weight off his injured leg. Before he had the chance to do anything else, Raf ran forward and stood just in front of his partner, facing the ex-Decepticon. He couldn’t let Bumblebee get into a fight right now; being injured would put him at too much of a disadvantage. Besides that though, he didn’t want them to be fighting at all. And Knockout hadn’t just left them behind, he had come back when he saw Bee wasn’t following anymore. He clearly wasn’t trying to escape.
“Knockout,” Raf started, but then paused. He wasn’t quite sure what he could say to prevent a fight. Then, after glancing back at Bumblebee, he got an idea. “Can you help Bumblebee? I think he has a flat tire.”
For a brief moment, Knockout just stared down at the human. Probably a bit startled that he was getting this request, considering their current situation. He didn’t respond to Raf, and instead looked back up at Bumblebee for confirmation. The Autobot seemed just as surprised as him, though.
“I don’t think he wants help,” Knockout finally said, his gaze shifting away from the Autobot, “especially not from some Decepticon prisoner.”
Raf shifted his weight uncomfortably. That word again.. he’d been bullied enough times that he knew the power some words could have on you. This must have been really bothering him since he kept bringing it up. He needed to say something.
“Hey, uh...” he mumbled, trying to find the right words, “... you know Ratchet was joking, don’t you? Everybody knows you’re not really a prisoner.”
There was a moment of silence while Knockout looked back down at Raf and regarded him, his expression completely unreadable. Then he looked away again. “Yeah, I know,” he replied, “...Shouldn’t joke about that kind of thing though.” This second part he said in more of a mumble.
So this was personal. Raf had figured. This was definitely something way deeper than the kind of bullying and neglect he was used to, so it might seem patronizing to try to relate to him on that level. He just needed a way to get Knockout to open up about it. Looking back towards Bumblebee, he got an idea.
“You’re right. It wasn’t funny,” he said with a nod, “I mean, Bee has told me about when he was actually a prisoner, and how he lost his voice box... So I didn’t like it when Ratchet called you that.”
Knockout glanced up at Bumblebee again, who gave a quiet affirming buzz, but then turned his optics back towards the road. “Hmm. I didn’t know that... can’t say I’m surprised, though,” he folded his arms across his chassis, still looking away, “Decepticons do love to strip parts out of their prisoners...”
Bumblebee made an uneasy whirr and held his digits up to his throat when Knockout said that, but Raf persisted, hoping Bee would forgive him later for bringing up so much personal stuff.
“Yeah, it was a pretty bad story,” he continued, “but no matter what Miko says, nothing like that’s gonna happen to you. Not while you’re with us.”
This affirmation didn’t seem to help much, though. Knockout drew his arms in closer and his expression hardened. “Right. Because Autobots don’t disassemble their prisoners...” his claws noticeably tightened on his arms, “they just lock them away by themselves for ages and let them rust until their paint flakes off and-“
He stopped suddenly and looked over at the two, his optics widened slightly. “I.. uh...” he mumbled, then quickly turned around and began walking away along the road. “This is getting a bit too familiar... forget I said anything.”
Now Raf was certain; this was definitely personal for Knockout. He couldn’t just let him go off angry like this. He hurried forward to go after him, but stopped as Bee let out a quiet beep of warning to him. Looking back at his partner, he saw Bee didn’t appear to be angry or worried. His expression actually looked a little sad.
Bumblebee probably knew more about what might have happened than Raf, so he took the hint and didn’t follow after the ex-‘Con. He probably didn’t want to answer any more questions, anyway. Though there was one last question he hoped Knockout was willing to clarify.
“Will you come back to the base?” Raf called out.
Knockout stopped and glanced back at the human, pausing for a moment as if thinking about it, but then shrugged his shoulders a bit. “Yes, but not right away,” he said, turning to the road again, “I’ll be back later. So tell Ratchet not to blow a fuse.”
With that, he transformed and drove off into the darkness.
After watching him go in silence, Raf finally looked back to Bumblebee. The scout relaxed a bit now that Knockout was out of sight, and gently fell back into a sitting position to have a look at his leg.
Raf stepped up beside him, “Hey Bee, sorry about interfering... I just didn’t want you guys to have to fight.” He said, kicking at the dirt below him, “Sorry if I overstepped there, bringing up your voice...”
Bee let out a quiet whirr, but then replied “Brrrrzzeeep.” with a thumbs up.
“Ha ha, thanks Bee!” Raf said, “I just could tell there was something wrong with how he was acting... I didn’t know it was so serious, though.”
“Vrrooop...”
“Yeah.” Raf replied, “Good idea. If we told the others, he might get mad. And who knows what kind of insensitive thing Miko would say...” Then he looked down at the still slightly wonky tire in Bee’s leg, “What are we going to do about you, though? Should we call Ratchet for a bridge?”
After giving an agreeing beep, Bumblebee held a digit to his helm to use his comm. Raf could just barely hear Ratchet’s voice as he spoke up.
“Bumblebee, are you alright? Have you caught up to Knockout yet?”
“Whrrrrzzz... Boopwhzzrrrbeep-“
“Injured?! How did-? Agh, never mind, I’ll be right there!”
Not a moment later, a groundbridge sparked to life just a few meters from where they were. Before Bumblebee could even move to stand up to go through, Ratchet came barreling through, his scalpels drawn and looking around fervently.
“Bumblebee! Are you alright? Where did Knockout go?” He demanded, his optics still scanning the darkness.
“Relax, Ratchet!” Raf spoke up, “Knockout didn’t hurt Bee. He hit a pot hole.”
After a moment of silence, Ratchet mumbled a quiet oh and transformed his scalpels away. “So you haven’t been able to find him, then?” He asked. As he did so, he stepped closer and knelt next to Bee to get a look at his leg.
“No, we found him,” Raf replied, glancing up at Bumblebee. “It’s just...”
Bumblebee shared a quiet look with him, which Ratchet seemed to notice.
“What?” He asked, “Did something happen?”
“No, it’s just...” Raf finally met Ratchet’s gaze, “I think you should apologize to Knockout.”
This seemed to shock Ratchet, he even stopped fussing over Bumblebee’s leg to stare at Raf. “What?!” He demanded, “Apologize to that- ...you’ve got it completely backwards, Rafael! He’s the one who-“
“BzzzWhrrzooop!”
“You too, Bumblebee?!” Ratchet seemed absolutely floored at what the two of them were saying. He started to sputter an excuse, but Raf cut him off again.
“I know you didn’t mean it seriously, but you shouldn’t have called him a prisoner. I really think you should say sorry.”
Ratchet let out an annoyed huff and then made himself busy looking at Bumblebee’s leg again. “Well I’d have to see him again to apologize anyway, and it doesn’t seem like we’re able to catch him...” he mumbled as he went about readjusting the tire.
Raf simply replied, “He’ll come back.” and with that, he sat down to wait.
After twenty or so minutes, Ratchet had managed to pull out the damaged tire, readjust whatever mechanism had come loose, and refit the tire back into Bumblebee’s leg. The tire still needed replacing, so he wouldn’t be able to drive until then, but at least Bumblebee wasn’t limping anymore. With Bee back on his feet, Ratchet called to have Bulkhead reopen the groundbridge again and all three of them headed back into the base. As they came through the portal, Miko came rushing up to the railing and smacked her hands down on it excitedly.
“So? What happened?” She demanded, “Did you whip that no-good ‘Con into shape or what, Bee?”
“No, Miko.” Ratchet said, the exasperation apparent in his voice.
“Nobody fought.” Raf added, “We just talked.”
Miko leaned back, crossing her arms, “Pfft. That’s dumb. You didn’t even hit him once, like, just for good measure or something?”
“Yeah, what’d you even talk about?” Bulkhead chimed in as he was closing the groundbridge.
Bumblebee just rubbed the side of his helm, looking a little sheepish. “Bzzrrppp...”
“Ok, but what kind of ‘stuff’?” Bulkhead asked.
Before either Raf or Bumblebee could respond, a loud engine humming became audible from the entryway. A moment later, Knockout came zooming into the room, transforming back into his bot mode as he crossed the threshold.
“I’m back, alright? Nobody panic!” He said, the sass absolutely dripping from his words. He didn’t even look at any of the Autobots, he just strode right past them up to the place he’d been sitting earlier.
“Ah, he’s back!” Miko shouted, “How are you gonna punish him, Ratch? You guys got a dungeon or something we could-?”
“No, Miko.” Ratchet interrupted her.
Knockout didn’t even look at him or the human girl, he just snatched up the file he’d dropped and started towards the inner hallway, probably to go find somewhere quieter. As he was leaving, Raf hurried over to Ratchet. He tapped the mech on his leg and gave a quick nod over towards Knockout expectantly.
The medic visibly hesitated, but when he saw Bumblebee nod to him also, he let out a quiet sigh and spoke up.
“Knockout.” He paused as the ex-‘Con turned around to glare at him. “I’m... Well, about what I said before. I mean, obviously I wasn’t serious, but um... even so, I, uh, apologize.”
For a moment, Knockout just looked on at the other medic blankly. His optics glanced down at Raf, and then he turned away again. “...Noted.”
And with that he strode calmly out into the hall and out of sight.
“Ughh what was that?”
Ratchet looked over to Miko as she leaned over the railing again, glaring at him.
“You’re apologizing to that guy? Are you serious, Ratch?”
“Uhh yeah, what was that all about?” Bulkhead added.
With a long exasperated sigh, Ratchet turned away from the two and shuffled Bumblebee over to his medical area. “Never mind. Come on Bee, let me replace that tire for you.”
Raf smiled and hurried over to the ladder to join Miko on the platform. She was waiting for him at the top, her hands planted defiantly on her hips and she glared down at him.
“Hey, you gonna tell me what just happened?” She said.
“Uh.. it’s not really important.” Raf mumbled. Slipping past her, he picked up his laptop again to resume the reading he had been working on before this all started. He sat down and ducked his head behind the screen, but Miko did not seem to be ready to let it go. With Bulkhead looming behind her also looking down at the boy, he figured he’d have to give them something to get them to back off.
Lowering the screen a bit he mumbled, “It’s just... he’s gonna be here awhile, you know. I didn’t want him to be too mad at Ratchet.” He turned his eyes down slightly as he continued, “and I dunno... he’s gonna be here awhile, it might be good to try and get everyone to be friendly.”
Miko’s face scrunched in disgust at his words. “That’s stupid.” She said, stepping back from looming over the boy. “What, you think Knockout’s gonna suddenly start bein’ nice just because Ratchet is?” Spinning back around, she strode over to where her guitar and amp had been left, “Doesn’t matter anyway, he’ll definitely be gone soon enough.”
Raf could have objected, letting her know she was almost certainly wrong, but he didn’t want to start a fight. He lifted his laptop screen again and went right back to reading. He wasn’t nearly as short sighted as Miko, he could tell Knockout wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. With any luck, maybe he would open up a bit more to some of the other Autobots and everyone would actually get along. Who knows? Maybe with enough time, even Miko would end up becoming friends with the ex-‘Con! ...Although, he wasn’t especially optimistic on that one. She’d put up some pretty big walls around herself where Knockout was concerned. It’d take quite a lot to break those barriers.