BWAHAHAHA. I HAVE SO MANY UNFINISHED STORIES THAT I SHOULDN'T EVEN BE STARTING THIS.
But, just so you know, it's totally my friend's fault. We were talking about it today, and he got my ass motivated. I came up with this random idea last night while drifting off to an episode of Psych. They mentioned something about a... well, I'll let you guys see for yourself. I wouldn't want to spoil anything, now would I?
Well, I don't own Knock Out. Or Transformers. Or anything Transformers-related except this little toy of Bayverse Barricade I have sitting next to me. (And I don't even own that. THAT'S my brother's.)
I feel like this is more realistic as far as TFP is concerned, so I hope you all enjoy it! I tried just a bit of a different writing style than I usually do.
Many reviews ahoy!
As far as Vanessa was concerned, this was the hottest day ever in Jasper's entire history.
She just considered herself lucky that the boys were back at the shop, and she could be outside today. Inside that shop, the temperature probably averaged at least ten degrees above what it was outdoors; whereas out here, there was always the chance of an errant breeze. Especially now that she was out at the street track, standing around waiting for the next race to begin.
The last race had only lasted five minutes and was hardly anything special. A cookie cutter race for possession of the competitor's car. It was only two - junkers, she called them. One a barely-running green Toyota Camry with what sounded like a dying battery, the other a Chevy Corvette that had so many scratches she couldn't tell what color its original paint job had been. The Camry's driver, "Speed Bump," had trouble getting the engine started, and by the time he finished, the Corvette's driver, "Captain Kirk," was busy flirting with a couple of cheerleaders. What a bragger, she thought, when his ride didn't look much better than the car he'd won. But of course, to each his own.
This next race was going to start in a few minutes, and there were three cars. This time it was for glory, not trophies. The cars didn't look too bad this time around. A black Mazda MX-5 with a fair share of dents... a silver Porsche Carrera with a shoddily looked after paint job... and, interestingly enough, a show-worthy Aston Martin DBS V12 on the end. That last one was the only one that Vanessa thought the owner ought to be bragging about; it had a beautiful, cherry-red finish that any girl would think herself lucky to be washing. Clearly, the driver prided himself on the appearance of his ride. (Or, maybe he was just arrogant.)
She had to grin, because if she were even in that game anymore, she would have loved to get that racer's number. Based on his car, he had to be gorgeous himself.
"Hey, baby, you wanna drive circles around my racetrack?"
She ignored the loser on her left, who wasn't even making any sense with that dumbass pick-up line, and took a few steps to the side to get a better look at the Aston Martin. She could hear its engine rumbling in anticipation of the referee's starting gun, and it certainly sounded powerful. The windows were tinted almost black, so she couldn't see in to get a peek at the driver. She didn't even really care about that though. Maybe if this guy lost, she could talk to him about taking that pretty ride off his hands. After all, that was why she came to these things, to get business. And something like this, well... altogether it could probably get her $3000, easy.
The other rides here didn't even measure up to this lovely, valuable little muscle car.
The ref's girlfriend shouted through her electronic megaphone to grab everyone's attention. "Who is ready to have some fun today?!" she yelled.
Vanessa just crossed her arms as the crowd around her offered a moderate cheer. There were a couple of idiots on the other side of that loser who'd been flirting with her, and they were doing a version of "the wave" that made it all too obvious that they were drunk. She rolled her eyes and gave a small smile as the Aston Martin's driver cockily revved his engines to show off. She had to admit, for all his apparent haughtiness, he had some spunk. A cool car with stylish rims and a kicking paint job was great and all, but it was nice to know that its owner, unlike innumerable other racers, didn't think his ride took the place of good old-fashioned guts.
"Ref GF" emitted another screech through her megaphone. "Alright, it is on!" she called, throwing one hip to the side and gesturing to the cars. First up, the MX-5. "On this end we have the calm, the collected - Back in Black!"
A brief flash of applause, and she switched her hand to point at the Carrera. "And in the middle, introducing... the debut of a new racer, the Silver Fairy!" There wasn't much excitement for that racer, save for the freaks on the end hooting drunkenly and the loser wolf-whistling.
Ref GF sighed at their behavior, but perked up as she swept her hand over toward the Aston Martin. "And up here on the end rounding it out, we have the experienced and unmistakable Knock Out!" That caused a bit of a roar, as obviously this guy had raced here before and, by the sound of the cheers, he was good.
Vanessa tossed her ponytail and stepped back a little, still eyeing the Aston Martin. Knock Out, huh? she thought with a smirk. Well, from the look of your ride... yeah, I'd say that's about right.
"Get your asses in gear, racers!" The ref stepped up, snaked his arm around his girlfriend's waist, and raised his gun. "Ready..."
The other cars' engines roared to life, though they still weren't comparable to the noise coming from the Aston Martin. It even made her shiver a little.
"Set..."
Vanessa bit her lip and kicked up some dust toward the Aston Martin. "Good luck, kid," she muttered, rubbing her arm. She had a feeling that since this guy was apparently good, he wasn't gonna be losing and she wasn't going to be getting any business. But still, she wanted to see how he did. She hadn't lost her enthusiasm for the sport, and this guy had caught her interest.
"Go!" The ref fired a single, cracking shot into the air.
Predictably, "Knock Out" peeled out first, and he must have been doing at least 70, maybe more. Back in Black followed not long after, and the Silver Fairy was dead last. With a name like that, she thought, snickering. Fucking rookie.
The tension rose as she watched Knock Out take the first turn with extreme ease, never once veering off the course his mind had obviously set. She had to let her mouth fall in appreciation for the way this guy raced. He made it look so effortless, and... the car's rims actually flashed as he sped past. She whistled lowly, shaking her head. "I hate to admit it, but your car is smokin', Knock Out," she chuckled, digging her fingernails into her arm as her eyes struggled to keep up with him. "I would love to see what kind of upholstery you got in there."
Knock Out took the next turn just as well as the first, but Vanessa noticed Back in Black catching up to him - while Silver Fairy was still struggling to stop eating their dust. She raised an eyebrow as she saw Back in Black edging up beside Knock Out, getting progressively closer to the red car, as if they were going to... Shit! Her eyes widened, but she berated herself because she really shouldn't have been surprised. Back in Black was cheating, which would never fly in a real race, except this wasn't a real race. Out here on the streets, it was a common occurrence, and something to resort to if you saw that you were losing.
She hated to see a pretty car like that get in a wreck, but she was getting excited now because if it got totaled, maybe then she could talk the guy into letting her have it for cheap.
She was squeezing her arm with one hand now, and gritted her teeth as she saw Back in Black move in for the kill. He bumped Knock Out's car on the side once, and Knock Out tried to speed up, but Back in Black moved away, then rammed the side of the Aston Martin. The action sent it flying off the track, and it even rolled. Vanessa had to wince just a little - that kind of force really hadn't been necessary. Was the guy even okay? That kind of wreck could've killed him.
Half a minute later, Back in Black raced out over the finish line, and Vanessa casually slipped behind the loser and the drunk guys, then made a sprint over for the Aston Martin. If Knock Out hadn't been hurt, maybe she could play the nice girl route and offer to help him out of this hard spot.
And if not, well... her kind of business had never exactly run on morals.
Scrap! Fragging skinjob! Knock Out's small shriek came over his radio as that other car plowed into him and sent his alt mode rolling off the side of the track.
He honestly would have fought back and given that idiotic skinjob what was coming to him, if he could have gotten out of that mess without transforming. As it was, the hit had caused damage to more than just his paint job. It had hurt, and in his disorientation trying to recover from the pain, he couldn't steer himself back onto the road. The fall into the small ditch had hurt even worse, and by the time he could even think about getting back up, most of his frame was in pain. He tried spinning his tires, but even though he'd landed the right way, it didn't look like he was going anywhere.
"Slagging humans," he growled through the radio, revving his engine and trying to make his tires work. "Every one of them, I swear to Primus I'm going to..."
He quickly shut up when he saw a young human woman running toward him. What was she doing? Helping him? Ha! He didn't need some human's help. Then again, he thought bitterly, spinning his tires again, I AM in a bit of a... predicament... here.
As she got closer, he could see her better and remembered that she'd been watching the race from the sidelines. Blonde hair, wearing a tank top and jeans - nope, there was no mistaking that she'd been the one who wished him good luck. While aiming some dust at my finish! he added with a scoff.
She slid down the side of the track, down into the little ditch, and landed on her feet with a hand on the ground for balance. "Well well," he heard her call as she started walking toward him. "What a sexy ride you've got there, Knock Out."
If he could have rolled his optics, he would have. His holoform wasn't functional, so if she was expecting to find someone inside, she was about to be disappointed. Humans with their foolish assumptions!
She put her hand on his door handle, and he shuddered slightly; her touch was freezing! How could she be that cold when his sensors were telling him it was almost 100 degrees out here? Did she have some sort of imbalance? She pulled his door open, and blinked a few times. "Knock Out? Huh," she mumbled, sticking her head inside. "He must've ran off after the crash."
She slid inside, on top of his driver's side seat, and if he wasn't worried he would have given a purr of appreciation. While her weight wasn't disproportionate to her height, she wasn't stick-thin either. Her curves felt rather like they just fit against him. She caressed his steering wheel with both hands, nodding. She stretched up to look at her face in his rearview mirror, and grinned when she saw herself. "Bitchin'!"
Was that a good thing? He thought it was by the way she said it and her facial expression, but he couldn't be sure. He was surprised a little when she took one hand off the wheel and rested it on his gearshift. Her grip was firm and confident, and it wasn't exactly the worst feeling in the world when she moved the shift back and forth. He knew to her it was a simple matter of that she was searching for the right driving mode, but to him it felt very nice indeed. He'd almost forgotten how something like this felt, probably because it wasn't often that he had a human in his interior to manually work his controls.
She must have found the mode she was looking for, because she took her hand off his gearshift and closed his door. She grasped his steering wheel tightly and pressed her foot down on his gas pedal. She did it just a little too hard, and it shocked him when he began going backwards. The girl squealed happily as she slammed down on the brake. Ow ow ow! He winced. For Primus's sake, if you're going to dig me out, do it gently, you glitch!
"Aw yeah!" She pressed down on the gas pedal again, much lighter this time. She eased him out of the hole, then put her hand back on the gearshift and roughly pushed it into park - which, again, was painful. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, then hit a button and held it up to her ear.
After a minute of her fondling his steering wheel, she spoke. "Yo, Tony. How're things going over there? Ugh, him again? Yeah, no, just tell him that's all I can give him. And if he doesn't want to accept my generous offer, you tell him his ass can take it up with my foot when I get back. Yeah, that's what I thought. Anyway, I just found a great car. Aston Martin DBS V12, red paint job, amazing condition if you don't account for the fact that it just got in a wreck. I'm bringing it back to the shop, okay? Get my tools out, this thing's a beauty and I'm just itching to get my hands on it. Okay, thanks. See ya."
Wonderful, Knock Out thought, though even he wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not. She'll take me to her mechanic shop, fix me up. Then when she leaves, I can get out of there without anyone noticing. I just hope she'll be careful with my finish...
She began to drive him, and soon the race track was out of sight. She'd gone a fair way down the road before she sped up and patted the dash. "Boy, I lucked out." She glanced in the rearview again and smiled, but it looked to be a more sinister smile than the grin she'd given in the mirror just moments ago. "I can't wait to see what you've got under your hood. I bet you have some good parts."
Why, thank you, he thought, mentally smirking. This girl knew her cars, apparently. All my parts are of the highest, most current quality and I'm sure... wait. I don't have any internal damage. A sense of dread filled him as he realized just what she'd said. He couldn't place this feeling of unease, but he got the feeling that her words were not a good thing for him. Why would you need to get under my hood?!
Uh oh Spaghetti-Os! It seems that Vanessa is not what she appears to be. What reason could she possibly have for getting under Knock Out's hood?
Well, I know. But you guys won't know until next chapter! I have dropped a few hints though.
I would love it if you bribed me with a review, and thank you all for reading! ^^
