Prompt 1: "Unbelievable. You work up the courage to say her name three times in the mirror, with the candles and everything, but she doesn't have the nerve to show up. Typical urban legends."

Characters/Pairings: Breakdown/Knock Out friendship, Starscream.

A/N: The only times I tend to write are for class assignments and essays. Consequently, I fear that I don't have much literary creativity or good story-building skills. So I figured, what better way to improve at writing fan-fiction than practicing with prompts?

Enjoy.

Title: Bloody Mary

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Knock Out momentarily ceased his attempts at lighting the wax candle. Shifting his helm slightly so that his faceplate was visible, he cast his big blue friend a mock hurt expression. "Why, Breakdown, I didn't know you had so little faith in me." Turning back to the candle, Knock Out futilely flicked his match in an unsuccessful attempt to spark a small flame. He let out an upset hiss as the wick failed to kindle before the flame on the matchstick extinguished. Again.

Breakdown shot an unamused look to the Decepticon doctor. "I don't know about you, Doc, but summoning a murderous fleshy isn't really what I consider a fun past-time." Grumbling, the truck offhandedly poked at his optic patch. "I've had enough of those," he added.

Knock Out laughed good-naturedly. "Please, Breakdown, when are my ideas ever bad?" Patting a reassuring servo on the blue mech's arm plating, the Aston Martin gave the truck a confident grin. Breakdown figured the confidence went on a one-way street though, as he didn't feel very reassured at all.

Breakdown was seriously beginning to regret his suggestion at stopping at a drive-in theater during one of their energon scouting missions. At the time he only wanted to take a break from mindlessly tracking unreliable energon signals and share in a favorite past-time with his best friend; but of course things never went as planned for the large Cybertronian. The movie itself had been enjoyable, a classic horror that went by the title Candyman. The plot had been chilling, the scenes suspenseful, and the ending had left Breakdown with a shiver in his back strut. But of course, Knock Out enjoyed researching any newly watched horror movies in an attempt to avoid missing any human-only contexts in the movie. In which the red mech discovered the movie's origins in a human urban legend on an informational website. Soon, one thing led to another.

Which ended up with the two Decepticons to be in their current situation; holed up in the dark private wash racks of the Med-bay, standing in front of a large mirror, with one cursing out a matchbox and candle.

"Fragging candle! Burn, you piece of human scrap-"

Reaching into a subspace, Breakdown procured a small welder and offered the tool to the increasingly frustrated medic.

Knock Out blinked at the welder set in front of his faceplate. Flicking his optics to Breakdown, then back to the tool, the Aston Martin plucked the item from his assistant's hands and imparted a pleased grin to the blue truck. "And this is exactly why I keep you around," he purred, happily turning on the welder, moving the small blue flame over to the small candle wick. Breakdown rolled his optic.

"Aha!" Knock Out triumphantly exclaimed, servos set on his hips as he presented the tiny flickering flame in a manner that was entirely too self-congratulating for such a trivial feat. Flicking a sharp digit in a 'come-hither' motion, the medic bid Breakdown to join him in front of the large mirror. Reluctantly, Breakdown shut the automatic door behind him, plunging the wash rack into near-complete darkness, with only the dim ember of the candle providing a weak glow for visibility.

Breakdown moved in position behind Knock Out, his anxious expression reflected off the large mirror in front of the two Decepticons, plating illuminated an eerie orange from the candle wick. Knock Out glanced back at his partner with an expectant look.

"Alright Breaky, you know what to do right? Three times, exactly as and when I say it, okay?" Hesitantly a blue and silver helm nodded. Satisfied, Knock Out rubbed his servos together in anticipation and faced directly with his image in the reflective surface.

Pausing, the sports car spent a second to admire his glossy visage—Carnauba wax really did wonders for his finish—regrettably, however, he really needed to get started on summoning this fleshy horror before his own apprehension beat down his curiosity.

Raising a servo to his mouth and coughing out a small 'ahem,' Knock Out's mouth-plates slightly separated to form the first syllable of the ritual. Breakdown's own facial movements following closely in cue.

"Bloody Mary."

Breakdown's digits twitched in a nervous tick, paranoia and apprehension filling his frame as the dark seemed to close around him. Uneasy thoughts swirled in the ex-Stunticon's processor. 'What if it actually shows up? What if my hammer doesn't work against it?'

"Bloody Mary."

Knock Out's vents hitched, and he felt as if bolt bats were fluttering around in his tanks. Belatedly, the cherry red mech was beginning to wonder if this little horror experiment hadn't been such a good idea after all. Steadying his venting, the doctor inhaled deeply.

"Bloody Mary."

The two Cybertronians went still, frames unmoving and stiff, optics darting into the dark spaces of the mirror reflection. Whirring fans an ambient noise that added to the chilling atmosphere of the encompassing blackness around them. Breakdown edged closer to his lithe red partner, hammer out in preparation to bash any blood-curdling apparitions that might pop out, screaming bloody murder into his faceplate.

A full klik passed by their internal clocks before Knock Out broke the tense environment with an annoyed, yet slightly relieved, loud sigh.

"Unbelievable," the CMO huffed. "You work up the courage to say her name three times in the mirror, with the candle and everything, but she doesn't have the nerve to show up! Typical human urban legends." Throwing his arms up dramatically in disappointment, Knock Out strode over to the input panel of the locked door. Breakdown chuckled lowly at his friend's antics, sub-spacing back his hammer, simply glad to have the whole thing done with and thankfully untraumatized.

Knock Out continued to nag as he tapped a clawed servo against the flat panel in a series of beeps. "Honestly, does this 'Mary' have any idea how hard it was to get enough wax to-" The Decepticon medic began to lift a pede to step out into the bright Medical Bay as the metal doors slid into the walls. Turning his helm in front of him, he was met with the bloody silhouette of a tall, frighteningly thin form. It had wrathful, glowing red slits for eyes, and an expression that held nothing but loathful rage, promising nothing but pain for those who crossed it. Liquid dripped like a waterfall from the nightmarish creature, and with open-mouthed horror did Knock Out realize it's right arm was detached from the joint and—Primus, the missing limb was reaching right for his face-

"Knock Out! I have been in need of urgent repair and here I find you dilly-dallying on your duties agai-"

Shrieking in alarm, Knock Out leapt off his pedes onto the large, and safer, chassis of his much bigger company, scrambling in blind panic. Breakdown had re-transformed out his hammer in his own shock, one hand supporting the terror-stricken medic, lethal weapon raised inches from smashing Starscream's helm in.

Recovering from nearly having his faceplate pummeled by a massive hammer, and certain that it wouldn't be, Starscream chose to calm his own spooked spark by taunting at Knock Out's strange reaction to the Second-in-Command's sudden appearance. Clutching at his abdomen, the silver Seeker brought back his servo that he had been waving his severed arm in front of the medic's face with . The skinny frame hunched over, wings trembling as he laughed mockingly at Knock Out's startled expression.

"Hah-! Why, Knock Out—Haha—I hadn't realized—Hah!—you were so frightened by amputated limbs-! Ha ha ha!" Nearly choking from his mirth, Starscream stuttered his words in between laughs, covering his faceplate as he cackled.

As soon as his terrorized spark stopped threatening to burst from his chest plate, Knock Out narrowed his eyes dangerously at Starscream. Feeling his fluid boiling from the sheer embarrassment of having been caught off guard—by Starscream of all mechs—Knock Out, nursing his wounded pride, calmly set himself back on his pedes from Breakdown's chassis. His servo twitched in irritation at the Seeker's continual ridicule, mouth-plates pressed hard into a deceptively calm line.

Breakdown looked down sympathetically at his superior.

Lubricant filling his optics, the silver Decepticon wiped them away feebly as he eyed the room behind the two speechless mechs. "What were you two even doing in there? Primus, is that one of those human candles-"

Starscream suddenly flailed as a deco-ed red arm jabbed him to the side sharply. Knock Out tilted his chin up haughtily as he strut pass the surprised Seeker, Breakdown following closly behind as usual. Stepping in front of the entrance of the Medical Bay, the seething medic craned his neck back to eye the still snickering SIC.

"I must apologize, Starscream. Since I am oh so frightened by amputated limbs, you'll have to find a way to reattach yours back yourself." Sneering, Knock Out turned back to his loyal assistant and gave a purposeful tilt of his helm. "Come, Breakdown, I think I'm in need of a good buffing session."

Starscream gaped in disbelief as the metal doors slid close behind the two retreating forms of the CMO and his partner. Snapping out of his stupor, the Vosnian Seeker quickly scrambled to chase after Knock Out and Breakdown, severed arm flopping uselessly in his servo.

"Knock Out, stop! Wait! As Second-in-Command, I order you to—oh come now doctor, be reasonable-"