The much-requested and anticipated continuation of my story Working for the Enemy!
This is a continuation of my story "Working for the Enemy". I felt so bad for Knock Out, he grew on me, that I just had to write him a romance! ;) (cuz that's whut ai do!)
So this is very Knock Out-centric, does not follow ANY proper Prime storyline at this point now and may be kind of confusing if you haven't read Working for the Enemy, so I've tried to explain a lot of things so that if you didn't read it...you may not have to. (hopeful)
First chapter may be a bit boring since it's introducing this new scenario, so, apologies:)
Oh yeah, I decided to bring Starscream back from his assumed death in this story too, so for Screamer fans, this one's for you ;D
xoxo ~K ;)
Ch 1
Knock Out, medic for the warship of the Decepticons, the Nemesis, placed his tools side-by-side on his wall, hanging them carefully on the hooks that hung out from the panels. He organized them from large to small, and made sure each one of the was perfectly straight up and down.
He nudged the last one in place. Perfect. He raised his head valiantly at his work. Placing his hands on his hips, he nodded to the wall and then turned to organize his desk. Normally, he didn't have time to work on tidying up his room, but only for this moment, there was a lull in each of his experiments, and no one on the operating table. Something that he hadn't experienced in a long time, and never recently. Between his own work, and work he was doing for Megatron, he had kept himself more than busy for a few months, almost too busy.
Previously, there hadn't been a lot to do since Megatron and Optimus Prime had come to an agreement on earth to work together. Since the humans had made it clear that they didn't want any Cybertronian on earth by betraying the Autobots, Optimus disassociated himself from the humans entirely, and sought peaceful refuge on the hills of Mongolia, while the Decepticons rolled forward with their plans to conquer the earth and make it their new Cybertron. But lately, the Decepticons had an entirely new agenda, and Knock Out was among the top contributors to the cause.
Without the Autobots in the way, Megatron was free to do what he wished to any continent, and all Optimus had to do was stay out of the way, which he was glad to help him with. The Cybertronians had no business being on Earth, but they also had no choice but to be there with nowhere to go, and no means of going anywhere.
Knock Out was antsy to try out more experimental bodies. Since his last experiment was a success, Kirsten, he now had the blueprints to make more of the 'living metal' bodies that would soon come to inhabit the Nemesis, and soon, the entire world, in their likeness. Kirsten was a special one, and the first success out of the first four. She had been trained and educated in Cybertronian ways since her very first visit on the Nemesis, when she was first a human, and now she lived it as a hybrid. Not purebred, but a human's brain and soul, inhabiting a faux-Cybertronian body created to copy each facet of her likeness.
The living metal that Knock Out had been experimenting with was from the very mountain that the Star Sabre had been embedded in, creating a chemical and ionic reaction with the minerals in the rock, and embellishing the ore drawn from the metals in the minerals. The ore, when combined with proper crystalization properties and circuitry information, would take on a characteristic similar to the human's skin. It was able to fix itself and reshape itself to a certain form without losing the important characteristics of a Cybertron's body. He had three in creation so far.
The pain sensors weren't close to the surface of the metal 'skin', the armor adhered normally, and the copy of the larger body usually took shape to the human prototype almost flawlessly, less the ability to grow a nose and toes, which Knock Out only recently perfected. There were always more things to correct and manipulate, it was like art, tweaking until the very perfect item was achieved.
When Kirsten was created, the copy was so much like the original that almost too many manipulations had to be done. She was far from perfect, but with time, he was able to correct the things that the Cybertronian body didn't need that the human body utilized. He removed the metal toes, fingernails, and ears that had grown, though he could honestly use the ear canal transfer, just the exterior portion was useless. Also, the point was to get them looking like Cybertronians as much as possible.
Who knew when the next Cybertronian being would land on earth, who knew when they were able to return, or to fly without worrying about resources...so the Decepticons had taken the steps necessary to ensure their survival on their new home, and increase their numbers in the meantime.
A knock was heard at the door to his office. Knock Out turned around and found Kirsten peeking in.
"Can I come in?" She asked.
"What if I say no?" Knock Out scoffed, mocking one of their first encounters when she was a human. She had responded in much the same manner when he would invite himself in to her 'office' on the Decepticon ship, in Soundwave's room, but they eventually warmed up to each other.
"Tense?" she responded, as she didn't believe him serious about his demeanor at the moment.
"Actually, yes." he said and rubbed his rough hands against his smooth face, "The properties of the ore we harvested for the next body are taking on different characteristics from yours," he responded in a gruff voice, "I, yet again, have to change up the layout of the transformation crystallization."
Knock Out usually wasn't this whiny, but tensions on the ship over deadlines that were fast approaching were stressing him out. "So, what do you want?" Knock Out asked with a more peaceful voice, he didn't mean to be so callous at first, she would understand.
"Megatron wanted me to go over the list of candidates with you." Kirsten said and invited herself into the room to sit down. She tried to speak to him in a calming manner, as she knew Knock Out's personality very well, and if she wanted him to cooperate, easing him into the task was the best way. "So I've already made a list, complete with gender, height, weight, bmi, percentage of potential loyalty, and career."
"Why does career make any difference? Shouldn't Megatron handle that part?"
"You can probably focus just on the body type now, and we'll narrow it down." Kirsten pushed the datapad his way with a small, secret, smirk.
It had been almost a year since the ordeal in Costa Rica had happened, when the humans had betrayed the Autobots, and all Cybertronians alike. They had found a way to send multiple electrical currents through the humid air, and then charge it, causing the Cybertronian's energon to boil inside of their body, thus, trying to kill them all. Luckily, Kirsten's energon DNA was different, and she rallied with Optimus to make it to the hut where they were sending the electrical charge from, and blow it up.
The situation had ignited an urge to track all electrical surges on Earth, since changing their energon DNA was impossible, though Knock Out still tried to find a solution whenever he would think about it, or have the time to research it with Soundwave's help. Soundwave had been injured badly from the charge that made his energon boil, and he had hemorrhaged. With Kirsten's and Knock Out's help, though, he pulled through, but only from the brink of death. So Soundwave was intent to help Knock Out with his research, as he had a personal and vested interest in the matter.
Knock Out paced with the datapad, but eventually sat down the more he got his mind off of his duties. He scrolled through the list, there were about 20 humans on that list, the ones that Kirsten had noted being worthy of becoming a Decepticon and inhabiting the new bodies. Since she was the first successful human transfer, she had rights, and she had demands too. And it didn't hurt that she was also romantically involved with Soundwave, which gave her another big tier of power. She was the Ambassador to Earth, a fancy title for, 'finding the best way to not piss off the humans'.
Among that job, she also found ways to work together with the humans, since she knew the most about them, having been one in the past. But now, after a year of being a Decepticon hybrid, she was given the duty of finding loyal followers that would be a good addition to their army. It was hard, she couldn't trust anyone because either the humans loathed the aliens, or they wanted to be among them. But she couldn't trust any of them that wanted to actually be a Decepticon...they had no interest in the community, or the lifestyle. They just wanted power, like everyone did.
Knock Out checked off the humans that were of an appropriate size to get the most favorable results out of the mold. He frowned when his optics read one certain name on the list, and his fingers twitched.
"Luci Silverhorse?" Knock Out said, trying not to make a big deal out of the name.
Kirsten shot a grin at him."Does that name sound familiar?"
Knock Out stumbled over his words, "Well, yes, but..." He 'tched' and sneered, "She's...she...the...Starscream...and...knew about the mountain!" What came out of his mouth made no sense. He raised his voice with excitement, and embarrassment. Had it really been over a year ago that he last saw her? He remembered the small human female. She had taken a remarkable interest in his research of Starscream's appendage that she had found, and he had enjoyed her short company while he looked it over. She had helped them, yes, expecting nothing in return.
But tensions were too high then to think about her.
Kirsten was still a new addition to the team, and Knock Out had been interested, and then sparkbroken. Kirsten obviously only had one mech in her optics, Soundwave. That's the way it was, and that's the way it always would be. The thought haunted him still. The thought that Soundwave, the silent, ominous mech that he was, could attract a female like that. He must have underestimated him from the very beginning, or, these human species of female were smarter than he had originally thought. Maybe both.
"Psh," Knock Out threw the datapad on the ground, stressed from his lack of recharge and cranky from his stress, "I'll look at it later."
"Fine, but let me know your choices soon, that way I can start talking to them and Soundwave can send out Laserbeak to watch them closer." Kirsten knew not to push Knock Out when he was grumpy, she knew the wrath he could cause if provoked, so she got to her feet and left the room, leaving Knock Out reclined in his chair, staring at the ceiling of his room.
Knock Out heaved a hot vent. He needed help. Ever since Breakdown had died, the stress was sometimes too much to handle. Why could Soundwave have help and then he couldn't! He began to think about the things that he would think about too often. He did too much work on the ship, he needed an accomplice to aid him with his duties. They all pulled too much weight was the problem, and the Autobots wouldn't join their side. They resided peacefully in Mongolia, without interruption, and without a care, neutral. How he would love to have Ratchet's expertise in the field, he had been a medic much longer than Knock Out and could teach him a thing or two.
Knock Out slumped over to the sound of a beeping coming from the room opposite his, he needed to tend to something on one of the bodies. He felt his joints knot up inside of his abdomen as he was getting to his feet, and he almost felt sick. Stress did take a toll on the Cybertronian processor and he felt nearly at the end of his line. But for now, work had to be done.
