Whee! Thanks for all the comments, favs, follows *blush* :D

I hope I don't bore you again with this chapter, I promise it'll get more interesting but you NEEED to know how Knock Out feels! He deserves that from you ;) haha.

xoxo ~K

Ch 2

Kirsten was walking down the halls having come from Knock Out's room. She had noticed that he hadn't touched up his paint in a while. Usually his vanity came first before anything. He had been crankier than normal lately too, she hoped that it was temporary.

Soundwave greeted her in the gateway room, Soundwave's makeshift office where he could escape sometimes and get some work done without interruption. Unless, of course, it was a pleasing interruption from Kirsten. He nodded to her when she walked in and brought up the list of candidates on his screen, the same list that she had handed to Knock Out.

"He didn't want to look at them right now..." she said, "He's...distraught."

Soundwave tilted his head forward at her, indicating that Knock Out was fine, he had been doing what he was doing for centuries and that there was no need for concern. He pointed at the screen then, asking her which one of these were her picks.

"David Hunter is a good candidate, but he's really tall, I don't know if Knock Out would choose him just because of his body type." Soundwave responded to her references by erasing his name. If she was in doubt, then he wasn't a good candidate. "True," she responded. She'd gotten used to Soundwave's non-hesitant actions and practicality. They went through the list one more time, weeding out those who she had doubts in, or those who had an unstable history of careers. They were left with ten. Soundwave was very efficient at what he did. He sent the revised list to Knock Out's room, and then they waited.

A few days had passed and Knock Out hadn't still hadn't sent back his list to Soundwave or Megatron. Something more exciting had happened.

There was a chance that Starscream might be alive, which was different than they previously thought. They had found his arm over a year ago next to the mountain that they were mining from, and assumed him dead because of the levels of charge and radioactivity being emitted from the mountain after tests came back on his appendage, until that theory was disproved that radioactivity didn't affect them because of their metal armor and 'skin'. But recently they had struck a cavernous hole which descended miles into the earth and a trace of very old leaked energon lined the hole.

Next to the mountain, Megatron waited, and the drones worked feverishly to find any trace of Starscream. Perhaps if he was alive, being buried in the hole for a less than optimal period of time would be punishment enough for abandoning the Decepticons. Knock Out was standing by, seeing if Soundwave's tracking could pick up any signal. Having enough of a rock barrier removed, he did, and the object of retrieval was now at hand.

Knock Out waited, impatiently, looking at his surroundings, remembering the last time he was actually here, on earth, at this very site. He remembered the small female human, the one with the perfect golden skin and polished dark hair and plump lips. The one who claimed that this mountain was sacred, and also the one who led him to Starscream's found arm. He thought about the datapad that he had kicked underneath his desk, and he thought about her willingness to watch him, to look over his work in wonder as he did his tests in this very spot, a year ago.

Knock Out scanned the horizon of the Arizona desert with his dim optics, but there was no sign of that white Jeep skirting around the dirt. He was almost hopeful, but no, that was stupid to be hopeful. He almost didn't care. He almost wanted to throw down his tools and run away into that horrid sunrise in the east, and he almost couldn't have cared less when Starscream's limp body was hoisted into the air and dropped in front of him, less one arm.

Knock Out was staring west, toward where he knew a small town was just past a few more ridges. He was ready with his medical kit by his side but his hands were loose on the tools.

"Something interesting over there, Knock Out?!" Megatron drew him back from his trance and Knock Out jerked his head towards Starscream's body, and he began his work.

"My apologies, Lord Megatron." Knock Out replied and he jerked his head back to his task, then he grumbled, "If he could survive all this time, then he can survive two more seconds..."

Another job to do. Damn Starscream. Knock Out grimaced in his face as he worked to re-connect his motor cables and joints. The cavern had been big enough for him to turn off his systems and survive on just his reserves for a finite time period, but he was stiff, and he was low on reserves. They had got to him just in time. Damn Starscream! Knock Out sparked a cable and burnt the end of it. He clenched his fists in frustration and tried to still his trembling, fatigued hands.

He tightened the compression chambers in his face and concentrated, though it was hard. Starscream wasn't offline, but he was in a state of neuro-stasis from body fatigue. Similar to Soundwave's condition when he was injured, but in a less severe state. A mechanism beeped from behind him. Knock Out turned his audio receptors away and ignored it. It seemed to beep louder, demanding attention. No, Starscream was on his table, not now! The beeping became faster.

A container of fluid vibrated from on the countertop by his screen. It was bubbling over. Knock Out cursed and reluctantly left Starscream's side to turn off whatever was overcharging, he didn't even want to think about which experiment that was. Starscream began to leak fluid and it began to pool on the floor as it dripped. Knock Out growled and plopped back down on the stool, lifting his tools to Starscream. The beeping continued.

"Damn, can someone puh-lease get that?!" Knock Out yelled to the room, but the beeping didn't stop. Starscream's optics opened and emitted a hazy red light. Among the beeps and the vibrations, and something from the opposing room called to him with a crash, Knock Out tried to dim his senses. He deduced the source of the crash was from something growing on one of the hybrid bodies that he needed to cut off. Knock Out couldn't take it anymore, he dropped his utensils on the hard ground and grabbed his helm with frustration. He slumped over on his working bench and clenched his optics shut.

"Fuck!" He roared, "Am I the only one here?!" He said as if he expected some kind of answer. But the more he tried to ignore everything, the more it seemed to call to him. Knock Out tried to zone out, but it was impossible. The directions he was pulled were too many, didn't anyone see that? And he had to tend to all of them. He needed to get away, he needed to get out, he needed something, but he didn't know what. He needed release, a break, some peace!

"Knock Out!" Megatron's face appeared on his computer screen, "Please sharpen some of our miners digging tools, they have become dull, I am sending them your way." And he disappeared as fast as he appeared before Knock Out could protest for time. Knock Out lifted his face drearily and stared into nothing in particular. Ah yes, Megatron was always the icing on the cake, damn bastard.

Knock Out couldn't tell Megatron to ease up, he couldn't make himself seem worse off than he was. He remembered only a year ago where he was only waiting for things to happen, wishing things would keep him busy. He may have wished too hard because his thoughts came true, and ten folds stronger.

Knock Out would have to tend to Starscream later, he was at the very least, stable. He pressed a button to stop whatever was beeping from beeping, and he extended his buzzsaw to go cut off whatever had overgrown on the metal body he was creating as drone miners appeared at his door and waited in line for him to sharpen their tools. They would just have to wait for now while his priority was stuck somewhere else. The knots in his chest seemed to become tighter.

Later...

"Knock Out... you look relatively... appalling."

Knock Out frowned at the grey and red mech laying in front of him. Though, it was so like the seeker. Callous, blunt, forward, and cheap. Knock Out said nothing back, knowing that if he gave into his fighting instincts against the mech who triggered them the most, there would be hell to pay, and, too much to clean up afterward.

"Starscream." He faked his sweet-sounding voice and shot him a meaningful smile, "Always good to hear your criticism." Then he grunted and went back to work on Starscream's thermodynamic stabilizer.

Knock Out couldn't deny the dark circles under his optics and the chipped and unretouched paint on his arms and shoulders. So if Starscream wanted to talk, might as well give him something to talk about.

"You've been missing for almost two years, you're lucky you went into reservation mode and survived. I could barely pull you out of stasis." Knock Out said to him, coaxing Starscream to talk about himself instead of him.

"Oh please, I had two more years worth of reserves in my liquid-vapor compression cavity." He said with a toss of his long hand. "But... I assume Megatron will want me to return to the Decepticon ship even after..."

Knock Out listened to Starscream ramble on about himself, and how he turned himself off and how Megatron would probably reprimand him but with him being such a good addition he would return to being by his side, second-in-command. Knock Out nodded sometimes, just to keep him talking, the less he had to respond, the better, and he could focus on his work. But soon, Starscream ran out of things to say for himself and peered around Knock Out's room.

"Your area, looks different. Why did you re-organize?" he prodded, knowing that Knock Out was a meticulous organizer, straining always to keep his work area tidy and straight and putting things back into place. Soundwave would argue though, that he wasn't as careful with other mech's possessions as much as his own.

"Different reasons." Knock Out said blankly back at him. The truth was because of the new bodies he was creating, they required a few different tools. Starscream knew about his experimental prototype before he left, and he saw two of the failed experiments. He wasn't keen on the idea, only for the reason that Megatron wasn't. Knock Out didn't want to tell him any further about the progress of the hybrids and that there was a success walking among them right now. He would find out eventually, but right now wasn't the time.

As Knock Out turned to his wall to reach for another tool, his leg kicked the datapad that he had kicked numerous times around the room, ignoring it each time that he did. Knock Out reached for it and set it up on a table, it was becoming scratched, and well, Soundwave never liked it when he would return things scratched. He hesitated his hand on it before turning back to Starscream's wounds.

Eventually, Starscream was well enough for release a few days later, and he had an immediate meeting with Megatron, he knew what would happen. Knock Out had given Kirsten strict a strict warning to stay out of Starscream's way for now, until he was more accepting to the hybrid notion.

Knock Out felt fatigued after finishing up Starscream's wounds, had he not recharged for a few days? He couldn't remember taking his energon rations either. He didn't have much of an appetite lately. There was a knock on the frame of his doorway.

"Are you okay, Knock Out?" it was Kirsten, "I was walking past and you..."

"I'm fine!" Knock Out replied. He replied too quickly to imply that he was actually fine. Kirsten knew something was wrong.

Kirsten could notice the dark circles under his dim optics, and he still hadn't re-touched his paint in a long while. She walked in anyways and sat down beside him on another work stool.

"I mean..." Knock Out tried to sit up straight and darted his optics around the room with uncertainty, "I'm fine." He said, forcing himself to sound more relaxed than he actually was.

"You look like you could use a rest." Kirsten said with caution, not wanting to upset him further.

Knock Out slammed his fists on his legs with fury, "I can't rest! I have to take care of the experiments! I have to fix Starscream! I have to grind the tools! I have to update all the compression cables! I have to weld the miner's cables! I have to research the continuum mechanics of this atmosphere! I have to check on the hydrodynamic turbulent flow of DNA in gravity! I have to polish Megatron's stupid cannon! Do this, Knock Out, do that...oh you don't have enough things to do already so let's just unload everything else that needs to be done, oh, and get it done yesterday!" his voice roared and he lowered his head heavily into the palm of his hands, covering his whole face with a thud.

Kirsten rolled back in her stool a little bit, surprised at his sudden outburst. Knock Out was usually so calm, cool, and collected and if he didn't like something he was doing, he wouldn't do it, and he wouldn't think twice about putting things off. Something about him was more diligent than before, and he was actually doing the work he was supposed to be doing. Maybe that was the problem. That he was so wrapped up in his work that he was losing a little bit of himself in the process.

Kirsten placed her small hand on his shoulder. She knew that he was stressed, but she didn't know he was THAT stressed. "Do you want me to bring you anything?" she peeked down, trying to look at his face between his fingers. He shook his head, barely noticeably.

Kirsten was probably the only person that Knock Out would let touch him at a time like this. She seemed to sense his frustration, but didn't try wildly to help him, or fix the problems, because she knew that there was nothing she could do. That's what he needed. Company, someone to care about him, something he lacked that he desperately needed. And not just frivolous companionship, not just a physically induced attraction. The way that he had begun to care about Kirsten made him realize that he was missing something more special. The feeling of needing to be needed. Knock Out uncovered his face and braided his fingers together, resting his chin thoughtfully on his hands.

"Where can I find someone like you, Kirsten?" he softly asked her, his seriousness hidden in the deep channels of his processor.

Kirsten smiled a little and pat his shoulder, "They're out there somewhere." She stood up and stretched her back, "Is Starscream still meeting with Megatron?" she asked, basically wanting to know if she could walk to the bridge to work a little.

Knock Out nodded his head. When he had finally backed off of his attempts to woo her after Soundwave's injury, the feeling of emptiness grew larger in his chest and he hurt, sparkbroken from beginning to care about her and then slammed down hard on his feelings, pulverizing them into small specks of dust. The thought still sat heavy in his spark. Since then, he had been a loyal and uncharacteristically punctual Decepticon. He had kept his mind busy with work and his experiments to cope with the hole in his chest that seemed to grow bigger every day.

Kirsten stopped before leaving and turned to address Knock Out, "I hope you have time to meet with at least one of the humans at some point. I think we all should, to make sure that their personalities are agreeable with ours. The more votes, the better. But... take your time, eh, to an extent." Kirsten left the room, leaving Knock Out to think about her words.

The datapad glimmered in his dim light and his optics focused on the small square, so he picked it up and scrolled through the ten names. Based on their bmi, height, and activity levels, there was really only two of them that he would deem as physically ideal candidates. That didn't leave too many choices. And that didn't mean that the others wouldn't work, it just meant that he wouldn't have to make so many modifications to the hybrid bodies. His name grazed over Luci's several times. She didn't make the height cut. He tapped a finger on the datapad rhythmically and read her name over and over again. She was too tall for her proportions to fit ideally into one of the bodies. Her leg to torso ratio would have to be modified to get optimal results, and the arms would have to be extended. He calculated how long that would take him to do and crunched his face in thought.

He continued down the list, one other name catching his optic, Blair Jones. Only for the reason that his career was a surgeon. 'Hmmm.' Knock Out thought. 'I could use that.' Having his own interests in mind. He'd want to watch Blair work, and it looks like he had ties with the Autobots previously. Well, Kirsten HAD urged them all to try and meet with at least one or two of the humans, seeing if the choices were agreeable with everyone. He shortly hummed as he checked off the names.

He sighed and sent his picks back to Soundwave. He made an exception for the first time, he didn't know why, but Luci's name stayed on the list much against his better judgment. He 'hmph'ed out loud, trying to silence the nagging part of his processor that was telling him that it was a stupid decision, as she had no clear career path.

He would have to make a decision to go to earth to meet this Blair... well, and maybe see if Luci had found more missing Cybertronian body parts. The latter seemed a whole lot more interesting, so he got to his feet and made his way to Soundwave's station, forcing himself to leave his experiments at bay, and to take a vacation.