Author Note: This one-shot is set after the episode Tunnel Vision/Triage. At the end of Triage, you see Knockout returning to Megatron, ranting about what the Autobots did to his paint-job. This has nothing to do with my other story Alliance.
A metal door slid open to reveal an ill-tempered Knockout. He looked down at his scratched paint-job, softly grumbling Cybertronian curses to himself.
At any solar-cycle the Autobots could've picked to ruin my finish they picked the day I planned to gain Megatron's trust, Knockout thought. He couldn't bear to even see himself in a mirror. He also has to fix Soundwave's visor because of Megatron's orders. And to top it all off, a grenade blown up in his face!
Could this solar-cycle get any worse? Knockout thought in annoyance. He walked over to his tools, determined to clean up his face before he did anything else. He stood in front of a mirror, baring his teeth in frustration as he stared at his scratched-up paint. Never in his life would he ever get used to seeing himself like this. As he began to turn away from the mirror, two pairs of dim crimson optics stared at him. Knockout looked back to the mirror, staring back at the optics. He turned around, wondering what was giving off the ominous light. He then began to walk towards the dim optics, curiosity fueling his processors.
As Knockout walked up to the optics, he began hearing soft heavy breathing in front of him. He took out a flashlight and turned it on. He then pointed the light towards the dim optics. What he saw was two small bodies covered in energon. Their metal alloy was severely damaged; damaged enough that one could see their circuitry. Knockout's optics widened in astonishment. He stared at the two small mechs, wondering what had happened to them. "What the frag…?" He murmured in surprise.
"Soundwave…Where's Soundwave?" The purple mech asked weakly.
"He's waiting for me to fix his visor." Knockout explained, not knowing what to say.
"Please…We must see him…It was Starscream…" The black and red mech insisted before he began to cough up his own energon.
"Uh…Who are you guys, exactly?" Knockout asked in confusion.
"Rumble…Frenzy…" The black and red mech answered, slowly wiping the energon off his face.
Knockout then began to remember the two mini-cons, even though he never fought beside them in battle. He remembered Megatron talk about the duo one time. No one really figured out what happened to Rumble and Frenzy; not even Soundwave. Did Soundwave actually miss them? And what did Starscream want with them? Knockout thought in curiosity. He looked at the gashes in their metal alloy, observing how the cuts looked like. "With wounds like that anyone would immediately say Starscream was the assailant." Knockout explained, staring at the long, thin cuts on Rumble's servo. He dipped a few fingers into a pool of energon on the ground. "Maybe I can patch you up before you lose too much energon." He explained to the two mini-cons.
"Don't you…See us? We're probably going to die any altrosecond!" Frenzy hissed softly, slightly baring his teeth at the red Decepticon in front of him.
"Well…We don't want poor Soundwave to lose hope this quickly, right?" Knockout insisted with a fake smile on his face.
The metal door across the room slid open and Soundwave stepped into the room, searching for Knockout. He immediately turned to red Decepticon, quickly noticing the mech's hand was covered in energon. He then looked at the tattered bodies of his precious mini-cons. He gave Knockout a freezing cold stare as he quickly walked towards Rumble and Frenzy, silently demanding an answer. He felt heartbroken to see Rumble and Frenzy at death's door, but he didn't dare to show what he was thinking in front of Knockout. He stared at the mini-cons, watching their spilled energon drip to the floor beside his feet.
Knockout's optics widened in astonishment. He looked around frantically, struggling to say words that didn't want to come out of his mouth. "Soundwave!" He started to worry, glancing down at his energon-covered hand, "It's not what it looks like!"
The red Decepticon could easily read what Soundwave was thinking. Then what happened to Rumble and Frenzy?! Soundwave thought, the energon within him boiling. Soundwave closed his optics in frustration and sadness.
As he reopened his optics, he noticed that he was lying on his own berth in his quarters. He sat up, frantically looking around for his precious mini-cons and praying it wasn't a dream; at least he could see them again, even if they were close to death. He then looked down in sadness, Rumble...Frenzy...Please return...