When Russell saw the car on the security feed, the first word that came to mind was "vintage." Not his dad's definition of the term—which seemed to include any piece of junk older than himself—but the more exclusive meaning that normal people used. Old, but classy. This car was definitely classy: the gleaming crimson paint didn't show a single scratch, and the sleek lines of the frame spoke of speed and elegance. It was, all in all, not the kind of car Russell expected to see driving into a junkyard.
"Dad! There's a customer outside!" Russell bounded down from his place in front of the security monitors. Most of the team was deeper in the junk yard doing something with the stasis pods; only Bumblebee was in the inner clearing where customers usually pulled in.
"Bumblebee," Russell called as he ran to get his dad. "Somebody's coming in! Disguise time!"
"Got it." The black-and-yellow bot closed the file he'd been looking at and quickly transformed into his vehicle mode. He radioed the other bots as Denny buzzed the waiting car in. "Autobots, there are humans in the scrapyard. Stay out of sight."
"Aww, man," Sideswipe grumbled, but Bee cut the comm off before the youngling could complain. The roar of a powerful engine grew louder as the red car drove into the inner yard. Russell followed his father out to meet it. The car screeched to a halt in front of the humans, throwing up a dust cloud. Seeing it up close, Russell realized the car wasn't just plain red—silver detailing decorated the sides, accenting its gold hubcaps. The windows were tinted so he couldn't see inside.
"Morning, sir!" Denny greeted, squinting to try and make out the driver through the dark windows. "Can I help you?"
No response came; the driver didn't get out of the car. Russell fidgeted as a moment passed in silence. This was weird—and for some reason it was giving him a sense of déjà vu. Then—
"No, human, I don't think you can help me—" A voice drawled. Russell jumped—the voice had come from the car!
"—but that Camaro might be able to," the car continued, its side mirrors twitching. "If it's who I think it is."
Russell heard an engine revving behind him. Denny pushed him back as Bumblebee slowly pulled forward to face the car. Tension filled the air as the two vehicles sized each other up.
"Knockout?" Bumblebee finally whispered, shocked. "Is that you?"
"In person." There was a flurry of shifting parts and suddenly in place of a vintage sports car stood a scarlet mech about as tall as Bumblebee. A silver Autobot symbol gleamed on his chassis, but Russell noticed as that his eyes were red—not the blue that most of the other Autobots sported.
Bumblebee transformed hastily into his robot form. His face was an expression of pure disbelief as he struggled for words.
"Knockout! How did you get here?! And when? Why are you here in the first place?!"
"I bought a ship; just now; and I would think that would be obvious, Mr. Correctional Officer. I'm not completely irresponsible." The red mech folded his arms, his expression becoming uncharacteristically serious. "Is the youngling you dragged here still functional?"
Bumblebee thought the remark odd, but his response was pre-empted by a loud crash from the back of the junkyard. All heads turned toward the noise.
"Do I want to know what that was?" Denny asked.
"Probably not," Bumblebee sighed. He hurried in the direction of the crash—Knockout could wait until he'd straightened out whatever mess his team had created.
Knockout… he hadn't seen the ex-Decepticon in vorns. After Optimus had restored the Allspark to Cybertron, Knockout had become a full contributor to the Autobot team—but his relationship with them had always been tenuous at best. The scars from the war were still fresh, and it was hard to develop a truly trusting connection with the medic they'd always known as an enemy. As more refugees returned to Cybertron and the planet's rebuilding began in earnest, the team had been drawn apart by their responsibilities. Bumblebee hadn't seen his old friends in stellar cycles. As for Knockout…well, he'd lost track of the medic long before that. It was strange that they'd meet again here, on Earth of all places. What was he doing here, anyway?
Bumblebee shook himself from his musings as he saw the other Autobots in the yard just ahead, next to the stasis pods. One of the pods was lying on the ground, half-buried in junk that had spilled from the shelf it'd crashed into. Sideswipe and Strongarm were yelling in each other's faces while Fix-it and Grimlock stood on the sidelines trying unsuccessfully to break up the argument.
Everything normal, then, Bumblebee thought bitterly. Fix-it noticed him approaching first and rushed forward.
"E-everything's under control! Just a small accident with an unbalanced stasis pod, no harm done—"
"Yeah, no thanks to Butterfingers here!" Sideswipe cut in, pointing at Strongarm.
"Butterfingers?! It was your fault, you little—"
"If you call me a punk one more time!—"
"ENOUGH!" Bumblebee bellowed, shutting both younglings up. He pushed them apart, scowling at the whole assembly of bots.
"Accidents happen; pointing fingers and throwing blame isn't going to solve anything. This—" he indicated the upended shelf "Could have been cleaned up in no time if you hadn't wasted time squabbling. Which, by the way, I could hear from across the junkyard—we're just lucky there weren't any visitors in the junkyard or our cover would've been blown over a petty mistake."
"Wait, there weren't visitors in the yard?" Fix-it asked, metal brow furrowing in confusion. "I thought you said there were humans coming."
Bumblebee sighed again. "Turned out it wasn't humans—it's another Autobot."
"Here?" Strongarm raised her eyebrows. "Who is it? Did the council send reinforcements?"
In answer, a clanking sound erupted from behind Bumblebee. He turned to see Knockout stumbling out of from among the shelves, cursing as he tripped over the spilled junk.
"WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!" The outburst startled everyone. Bee glanced questioningly at Sideswipe, surprised by the venom in his voice. Sideswipe wasn't the most mature mech, but it wasn't like him to be hostile. Yet he was glaring at Knockout like the medic had just kicked his pet turbopuppy. Knockout seemed unfazed.
"Lovely team you have, Bumblebee," the medic quipped. "So polite. Wherever did you find them?"
Bumblebee resisted the urge to sigh yet again. Better get the introductions over with. "Everyone, this is Knockout. He's an… old friend."
"You know him?" Sideswipe demanded, incredulous.
"Oh sure, Bumblebee and I go way back," Knockout responded with a smirk. "Back before the war ended, right, Bee?"
"Knockout worked with Optimus' team after Cybertron was restored," Bumblebee explained shortly. "And he was on Earth before that. What he's doing here now, though, I have no idea." Bee gave the medic a meaningful look. "Would you care to explain?"
The other Autobots turned their attention to Knockout. His expression remained impassive as he sized up the group before him. His gaze swept from Grimlock to Fix-it to Sideswipe and Strongarm. For a second Bumblebee saw something pass across Knockout's face—Sadness? Hurt? The flicker of emotion was gone in a second, leaving Bumblebee to wonder if he'd only imagined it. Expression once again unreadable, Knockout turned to Bumblebee.
"You said it yourself; we're old friends. And when a friend gets himself stranded on a backwater mudball of a planet with a shipload of escaped convicts for company—" Knockout shrugged. "It's the least I can do for the Autobots."
Bumblebee blinked. Was the medic implying— "You're here to help us?"
"Duh." Knockout turned his attention to the scrapyard as he spoke. "With a hundred Decepticons running loose, I'm sure you could use a qualified medic. I parked my ship in the woods a couple kliks north; I'll need help bringing in my equipment. And you'll need to clear a space somewhere for it," He grimaced as he nudged a rust-splotched washing machine with his foot. "If you can find somewhere that's moderately sanitary."
Bumblebee listened silently. Skepticism was replacing his surprise. Knockout had been a tolerable teammate but he was also—and Bumblebee meant this in the best way possible—the most selfish mech Bee knew. Altruism and team loyalty had never been present in his personality before now.
"What's the catch?" Bumblebee couldn't help asking, cocking an eyebrow.
"Catch? I just want to be a good Autobot." Knockout turned back to meet his optics. "Protect humans, bring Decepticon criminals to justice, all that jazz. What other motivation could I possibly have?"
A/N: As promised, a new story up within a week! I'm so proud of myself. The title may sound familiar to some of you-this story ties in to my other fanfic "Softened Sparks," which could be considered a prequel. However, I intend them both to be stand-alones, so you shouldn't need to read on to understand the other. Hope you enjoy! (And please review; I love constructive criticism).