Hi there!
I would like to take this moment to thank you for checking out this story!
Believe it or not there was a time Knock Out wasn't so sneaky. GASP! Sure he was always intelligent and sassy but how did he get to where he is now? I wanted to fill in those gaps and search for the history behind his motives.
From the moment he climbed out from the well KnockOut was assigned to the lowly servant caste. This tale begins just after he has struck out on his own, no longer willing to live under the foot of a terrible master he runs from his Caste determined at the chances for a new life of his choosing. But does he really know what that is?
Through this origin story we will discover his evolution into the smooth sassy doctor we have come to know and love, as well as meet a few new characters along the way.
Be prepared, this is going to be a long one.
For more questions or content regarding this story please feel free to visit me at Ask-Dr-Knockout on Tumblr
A special thanks to Tyrantofthefirmament on Tumblr for Beta Reading! :)
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"You said this would be a proper paying job! You Lying-!" There came a startled shout from within the broken down confines of a rust encrusted delivery station.
"YOU BRUTE let me go!" A cacophony of loud bangs and muffled grunting soon followed before a red paneled mech was unceremoniously thrown out the door to the old establishment's front office.
Hitting the ground with a yelp the mech scrambled back to his footing. Emboldened by indignant rage welling up within he brushed himself off to regain some threads of lost dignity before dashing for the front door. That was until the initial intent of the slighted mech gave way to mindful caution once he found himself blocked by the massive black form of his previous assailant.
Thinking better of it the smaller mech eyed the bulky build warily but this did nothing to diminish the look of determined rage burning bright in his sharp red optics. He paused in the entryway a few steps out of reach of the hulking form in front of him. Instead he chose to shout out his offense around the obstruction, calling to his true target and refusing to be intimidated by the rough handling just moments ago.
"Go ahead Fire me! But you owe me Shanix for the job, CutBack! I am not leaving until I am paid proper wage for my work!" He crossed his arms refusing to budge while waiting.
The larger mech stood stoic, the rotors on his back held rigid while continuing to block entrance silently as if he had done this many a time before. For a moment there was a standoff between the immovable wall of a mech and the burning stubbornness of the red grounder.
"I did offer to pay you but you refused me…" shortly later there came a reply just beyond the doors blocked passage way.
The massive mech took a step aside allowing a green minibot to step forward past it's threshold. Despite the calm demeanor of this small mech in light of the others apparent anger, the larger mech's optics never strayed once from his crimson adversary. "You heard him, now make like a hammer and Beat it!" The gruff mech growled.
"Now alm down Notar. There is no need to get your rotors bunched up, he's just a Newbuild to these parts remember, he still doesn't understand how things work around here."
"I know enough to tell when I'm being cheated!" The crimson mech retorted glaring harshly.
"Now kid, I told you I would pay you! And I have every intent to do that for you! Heck you are probably my fastest delivery bot yet! I'd love to keep you on board, really! But you see this is a case of misunderstanding. I told you I would pay you, I never said with what, that was your own assumption." The mech pointed out waving the other off.
"Circuit speeders hardly seem like a legal form of payment! I seen what those do to mechs! They turn them into desperate Siphoners! You owe me Shanix! I could go to the enforcers and report you!" The mech backed up warily as the guard took a step forward at that.
"No you wont…" CutBack sighed unimpressed but raised a hand to stop the burly bodyguard from advancing.
"Besides you are smart enough to know by now they would just hold you by association too. You think you're the first mech to say that to me… Your so naive." He shook his head.
"And might I mention I would be long gone before they even found me so quite honestly… you would be shooting only yourself in the foot."
"It would still ruin everything you built here… Just pay me what I earned so I can leave!" The mech was insistent.
"Maybe your not that smart after all…You need to wake up Knock Out! You're spoiled, no one has luxuries around here! We all do what we can to get by!"
"I hardly call being paid a fair living wage a luxury! I risk my plating every time I go on delivery with the way everything is around here! And now your telling me it was for nothing? Maybe I get enough energon in my tanks but its only ever been so I can run more errands for you!" Knockout pointed his digit down at the other accusingly.
"There isn't enough to go around and as good as you might be at deliveries I can't be showing favoritism. And It's called Creativity K.O. you-"
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Knock Out interrupted irritated at the nick name but the other continued his train of thought uninhibited.
"-You either learn to think on your feet or you won't make it here, I thought you were learning but sorry to say I think I may have coddled you just a bit too much initially. Besides, Did you ever stop to think you could just sell those Speeders for Shanix? It's called Exchange rate get it? I don't care what you do with them!" The mech rubbed the bridge of his helm nursing his growing helm ache.
"Oh so I can further your little franchise with a steady supply of more desperate workers, is that it? Gotta have more of those street addicts ready for employment after all~" Knock Out snorted derisively.
"Primus I can tell you're from Stanix. You're just as snooty as them AND entitled!" CutBack quipped.
"You think you know me so well…" Knock Outs optics narrowed with barely restrained hate.
"Oh YEA YEA I GET IT ALREADY! You come here looking for work with a sob story of how you ran from a cruel master and what do I do? I took pity on you! REALY I DID! But see, I take pity on a lot of mechs like you! But now you question me? My methods keep you and others from becoming some siphoner's next target out on the street! I make it possible to run any semblance of a upstanding business in this festering pit of Unicron spawn and you know it!"
"HAH! You don't take pity you use us, obviously! Your just not as up front about it as Siphoners are. You draw mechs in from the street, fill them up with a few energon cubes with a promise of a decent living, then passing off actual payment in the form of your back alley drugs! You want mechs desperate or addicted so it's all they can do but work for your "Upstanding" delivery business, or is that just a front too for what your actually delivering?"
"DON'T ACT SO HIGH AND MIGHTY! THERES A REASON YOU ARE HERE TOO OR DID YOU FORGET! YOU WONT GET MUCH BETTER THEN ME! YOU UNGREATFUL TWERP!" The green minbot shouted startling even his bodyguard before eventually forcing himself to calm back down. Knock Out took a cautious step back at the sudden outburst from the diminutive mech. A moment more passed before the mech sighed back in control.
"I like you Knock Out… you have got spark, even if you are a stubborn glitch with an ignorant sense of morality. Which is why I am not letting Notar here crush your face in for threating to report me." The larger mech rumbled in response albeit a bit disappointedly. Knock Out took a step back optics widening to look at the lager mech before they fell back to his former employer.
"So… If you want to be stubborn then fine be stubborn, I really don't care anymore. But you best get it through your helm! You're nothing special and you're not above the rest of us… You just haven't been around here long enough to learn as much. You either take what I give or you find work somewhere else on the street but that's your options." The mech glanced back behind him, noticing a client at his front door. CutBack turned slightly to wave and motion to his soon to be customer to inform him he would invite him in shortly, before turning his attention back to the scowling Knock Out.
"Maybe out there you will learn a thing or two on how survive in this off colored city. And for what it's worth I hope you do… Now get out of here… I have orders to ship off." The mech turned his back on the young grounder. "Hello there how can I help you-"
Knock Out grit his teeth glaring into the back helm of the lying slagheap as he walked back into his office to greet his new customer with no hint Knock Out had ever existed. Knock Out contemplated storming in one more time just to make a scene and to get in the last word…That is until Notar grunted his own warning. "Get out before I Knock you Out despite what he said." The bodyguard forcefully shoved Knock Out backwards with his own brand of "gentle encouragement."
"Oh gee I haven't heard that one before… Bit Brain…" Knock Out stumbled before muttering the last part under his breath. Stepping out of the exit he was shoved outside once more before the door quickly slammed shut behind him.
"Rude!" He huffed.
"Hey Knock Out what happened? I heard CutBack and you yelling?" A slight built two wheeler who appeared to be a cobbled together mech of mismatching parts approached.
"It doesn't matter anymore TrackPath…" Knock Out replied transforming revving his engine in irritation.
"Wait your leaving? Are you Tripping or someth'n? CutBack just took you in! This is the best work in town for miles!" Came the startled reply as Knock Out began to roll for the streetways.
"That's your department TrackPath… and It isn't actually work if it doesn't actually pay. Just because He thinks he's the best in this city, doesn't mean he is!" Knock Out chided. He had never particularly found the mech to make intelligent company… considering his recreational vices not to mention his bad hygiene.
"Well… Erh…I guess… Best Luck to you then!" TrackPath ran next to Knock Out for a moment longer waving his goodbye.
"HAH! I came this far from Stanix to Blaster City by my own effort and I got enough saved up still to get by until I find a REAL occupation! I won't need luck!" Knock Out laughed as he took off, engine revving confidently down the streets towards an uncertain destination.