Along the roads, Team Bee pursued Vertebreak, who managed to escape its stasis pod.

"Honestly, Fixit, when will you fix this lock problem in the pods?" Sideswipe pointed out. "Isn't enough problem trying to find all the troublemakers Starscream brought to Earth?"

"I told you already, I didn't knew there WAS a problem. Especially since we checked every pod twice." Fixit complained through audio.

"It's not your fault, Fixit. But maybe some new programming on it could solve." Bee suggested. "Maybe Steel can help you with that."

"Speaking of him, I thought he was going to help us." The red Autobot pointed out.

"He's not… much into snakes."

"Well, at least they didn't try taking his body." Sideswipe pointed out.

"Um, sorry to interrupt the fascinating conversation, but I picked up a new signal near you. A groundbridge signal. I believe you have company."

The team stopped nearby the signal, and Fixit was right: It WAs a groundbridge and someone was coming from it. Everyone was ready with their weapons; in Grim's case, his fists.

From the groundbridge, they could notice the red armor on the bot who was coming over. Soon he stood in front of them while the groundbridge closed behind him. Everyone looked confused, when Bumblebee spoke.

"Knockout?"


The team looked confused, when Bumblebee walk forward to the former-Con medic. His usual red shades were more clean and clear than before.

"And here I thought you said red was overused…"

"Well, unlike you yellow doesn't work for everyone."

The two of them exchanged serious stares, but ended up snorting and laughing, leaving it clear they were joking.

"Oh, Bumblebee, you didn't changed a bit." KO wiped his optics.

"I wouldn't say the same to you, doctor. You just don't give up on red, right?" Bee said.

"You know me, Bee: I adore making a good impression."

"You're really Knockout?" Strongarm stepped forward. "As in THE Doctor Knockout? The Con that rebelled and joined the Autobots?"

"And you must be Cadet Strongarm." KO stepped forward. "Hm… good posture, confident stare, perfectly clean equipment… you must be a pretty dedicated girl. Just like Optimus told me."

"Coming from you… it means a lot." The cadet couldn't hide a giggle.

"So, Optimus sent you?" Bee asked. Then, the doctor looked over to see Sideswipe. He just turned around.

"So my brother really IS here. I hope he didn't caused you much trouble."

"Sideswipe's your brother?!" Strongarm couldn't believe that.

"That actually explains a lot about him." Bumblebee reflected.

"No, it doesn't! We're not even related!" Sideswipe replied, angrily, surprising the team. "Ugh, I'll see you in the base." He transformed and drove back to the scrapyard, while KO sighed.

"Still the same attitude… anyway, Bee, no jokes though, this new design is more YOU than the past one."

"Uh, not meaning to insult you, but you haven't answered the lieutenant's question." Strongarm pointed out.

"Lieutenant, I have found new signals." Fixit called over, interrupting the chat. "But they point to different directions. I'm so confused…"

"Fixit's having problems with finding Vertebreak."

"I'm sorry, you said Vertebreak?"

"Uh, yes…" Bee answered.


Back to the scrapyard, the team arrived as KO and Bee catch up with each other's activities.

"When he went berserk and started causing mischief, I'm the one who report him to the authorities. My surgeries in Con times are nothing compared to the atrocities he committed. Such disrespect against the fallen comrades… he didn't let their pieces rust in peace."

"Since we didn't had a clue about which coordinates were correct, we decided to investigate one by one. The rest of the team must be around, verifying the most distant."

"You got to let me help you find him. I cannot allow him to continue these foul actions against living or deceased Bots. Experimenting during the war is one thing, but playing around with patients is unforgivable for any doctorated Cybertronian."

"Oh, it's a pleasure to receive you in our base, doctor Knockout." Fixt greeted. "We apologize if it is not exactly a perfect one, but we're still setting things on our official Earth Base."

"Oh, trust me, young mini-con, I have seen worse. You should see what the Autobots called base back in the days." Knockout chuckled. "By the way, it were precisely Optimus and the others who sent me to check on everything. I tell ya, the things back on Cybertron are not okay. Whoever gives the orders now, thinks it's the supreme ruler of the universe or something like that."

"But are they-"

"They are all okay, despite being so far from home. In fact, your "father" misses you." KO's statement left Bee with a small smile.

"Aw, I miss him too. Speaking of family, about you and Sideswipe…"

"Phew… I thought I would never finish…" Steeljaw wiped his forehead as he walked over. "I don't know how Denny manages to get so much stuff at the same time, but at last I got me a safe spot to not crush them." KO moved Bee away as his optics locked at the Wolficon, widened. The lieutenant chuckled once he found out what was going on.

"Forgive my manners, but… does this magnificent combination of pieces have a name?"

The wolficon looked around, was he talking to…

"Me?" Knockout nodded. Steeljaw couldn't help but to chuckle nervously, before recovering his composure. "I'm… I'm Steeljaw." He bowed respectfully.

"Steeljaw… a name that shows fury, bravery, confidence… something that really goes well with this perfect tone of blue you have."

"My, you're a poet?" The wolficon chuckled.

"A doctor, actually. Now, a Wolficon… a very rare kind of animal-shaped Cybertronian, but undeniably fascinating…"

"I knew this was going to happen. He can't see a good-looking car that he starts drooling." Bee chuckled, seeing them hanging out so well. Russell and Strongarm nodded in understanding.

"I can say nice things about you too… like this lustrous shade of red…" Steeljaw complimented. "It really suits you well, and it match your optics."

"Oh, but look at these claw marks in your symbol!" KO pointed out, surprised. "We have to get this fixed!"

"Please, leave them. Personal reason." Then, Bee cleared his throat, calling both formers Cons' attention.

"Oh, yes, Sideswipe." Knockout remembered. "What he said back in the road is technically true. We are not related… but he is my brother."

"Say what?" Steel, who hadn't been there for the previous revelation, asked.

"After Cybertron's exiled Bots started to come back, life slowly began returning to normal, remember?

Well, when the last ship arrived, I was there to receive them all. Then, I saw Sideswipe… all lost in the crowd. He was a little younger, and seemingly fragilized. It looked in fact like he hasn't been safe for eons.

I felt something was missing in my life… so I took him in with me.

On Earth it's called adoption, correct?"

"You did a very good thing, KO. But I wonder why Sideswipe never told us about you."

"Well, after cycles living together, he eventually ran away. Never called me back, never messaged me… It's like he wanted to forget I existed." KO sighed.

"I was in one of the last ships with exiled cybertronians. Many came back without any relatives back then. *sigh* I know I did." Steel pointed out.

"… my condolences." Knockout tapped the Wolficon's shoulder. Drift and Grimlock arrived shortly after that.

"We have not located Vertebreak yet." Drift said. "None of the trails we followed leaded to his location."

"And we haven't found him."

"That is what I said."

"Okay, Fixit. You can risk the signals we followed. None of those leaded to Vertebreak's location." Strongarm told the mini-con.

"If we keep going on like this, we'll need a week to find him. And knowing him, we don't have this much time." Bee sighed. "Steeljaw, now your help would be really appreciated."

"*sigh* You know how I feel about this Con."

"I know. You're not much into snakes in general." Bee pointed out again.

"They just fell and look weird." Steeljaw replied, shivering as he thought.

"Why? Snakes are cool!" Grimlock said.

"Cats are cute." Steel backfired.

"Touché."

"You have reasons to worry," Knockout agreed. "But if you want help in tracking, I'm more than willing to help investigate the trails."

"That would… not be a bad idea." Steel accepted KO's help. Sideswipe looked over to the team, as Bee chuckled.

"Okay, you two can go search. Maybe take this time to know each other better." Bee suggested. As they agreed, Sideswipe took a decision.


As they investigated the remaining trail, with Steeljaw sniffing the trails, the two formers cons saw they had a lot in common. KO haven't felt so comfortable beside someone since ever.

"I swear, if I wasn't there, poor Clampdown would have been scraped by Thunderhoof." Steel remembered.

"Well, it sounds like that even as a Con, you are very loyal." KO chuckled.

"Well, wolves ARE loyalty symbols in any universe. At least that's what Bumblebee told me."

"He evolved a lot since the last time we've seen each other. I mean, he clearly grew taller than I would've imagine." KO joked, chuckling. Steeljaw laughed, then looked at the horizon.

"Bee and Earth… have an affinity I can only dream about. That's probably one reason why Prime choose him over anyone of his comrades to come here. He… taught me a lot, and showed me it's better to protect this place than have it all for yourself."

Steel then noticed KO looked lost in his thoughts.

"Thinking of him again? You know… your old partner?"

"Yes…" KO nodded. "WE had an affinity Cons can only think about." He sighed. Steeljaw touched his shoulder, receiving a small smile from him.

Sideswipe just stared at a safe distance, having trailed their search since they left the scrapyard. He groaned, not noticing Strongarm had arrived until she touched his shoulder, startling him.

"Don't do that."

"Well, now you know how I feel." Strongarm said. Sideswipe just rolls his optics "Now, seriously, how come you never told anything about him? If I knew you were related to Knockout-"

"I told you, we are not related."

"I know, you were adopted, but you didn't told us he raised you. Why?"

"He didn't raised me. He TORTURED me! always pointing out about how unprepared I was for anything, and how Breakdown would have done better!"

"He always expected more, better, perfect! And just couldn't shut his mouth about how things were with Breakdown… I couldn't handle much more of that, I wasn't his old partner and he knew it!"

"All I ever did, everything I tried… was all for him. And still he looks at me as if I didn't mattered." Sideswipe rarely showed such sincerity in his words, and neither such sadness.

"… no wonder you hated me when we met…" Strongarm reflected. "You lived with someone which life was all based on strict rules. I should have guessed that-"

Then, they saw Steeljaw moving his ears as if he heard something nearby. Then, he made a signal for KO to move quietly. The two teenager Bots followed them through the trail.

"This is a recent trail. It's fresh." Steel pointed out, as they arrived at the lake. The two former cons hide themselves just in case. before they called the base.

"Bee, you won't believe to what the trail we followed leaded." KO pointed out. There, in front of them, the lake's water carried the remains of Starscream's ship. Just the sight of it made Steeljaw's spark hurt a bit.


"By the Primes…" Strongarm observed the floating pieces from where she and Sideswipe were. "Can't believe this is still around." Then, she quieted down, seeing Vertebreak coming out of the water, and shaking off the water on his body. Steel shivered at the sight of it.

"It is surprising how even after a ship is destroyed, not everything is fully useless. I have found some very good raw material that will serve me well, and also a very gratifying power source for it." The snake doctor smiled evily. "Whoever left this here, thank you."

"What should we do now?" Steeljaw asked. "I don't feel like facing that snake now."

"I say we get discreet then. We must follow him to find out wh-" KO's idea was interrupt when Sideswipe jumped forward to attack.

"Hold it right there, Dr. Freakshow!" He said, confidently. Strongarm sighed loudly.

"Oh, what do we have here? Sneaky Autobots!"

"What are they doing here?!" KO growled.

"I'm still pretty mad with you for what you did to me, Vertebreak! I'm going to put you back into that pod personally!"

"You say it like it's a bad thing. I think splitting you from your body might have given you a chance of using the part which you use less of your structure."

"HE DID WHAT?!" Knockout growled, and Steeljaw gasped.

"Enough chit-chat. You are under arrest and have the right of-" Strongarm said, until she was cut.

"No!" Sideswipe stopped Strongarm. "I wanna do this alone! This snake's gonna fall!"

"But, sideswipe-" Vertebreak took advantage and took down the two of them with one swift attack.

"Step away from them, Vertebreak!" Knockout came out with his staff ready to fight.

"You! You are the reason I lost my position in the ministry!"

"You didn't deserve it after what you had done. Step away from my brother and Bumblebee's cadet."

"Oh, I'm not done yet. For I have a bigger project now and I'm so close to finish it."

"No, you are not. Prepare for surgery!" Knockout said and charged on Vertebreak, but right then Sideswipe tried that too. Taking the chance, he slipped away, letting them both hit their heads hard.

Strongarm tried apprehending him with her weapon, but none of her shots hit him. About Steeljaw… well, just a hiss from the snake doctor left him unable to react, and easily knocked down.

"Well, it was a fun reunion, old friend… however I have to go back to my power source and my project. Oh, but fear not, you will be seeing it soon, and will surely lose your heads when seeing it!" Vertebreak laughed maniacally as he departed.

"Everyone alright?" Strongarm asked and went help.

"I would be fine… if he didn't stand in my way!" Knockout complained. "I had him right at my optics, and you had to stay in the path!"

"Me?! I wanted to get that snake myself! You don't know what he had done to me!"

"Oh, but I can guess it happened because you have been showing off as always. All this time and you haven't learned anything, little brother."

"I'm not your BROTHER!" Sideswipe growled.

"Want it or not, you are!"

"Why don't you leave me alone?!" Sideswipe pulled out his sword and charged against Knockout. They soon started fighting each other for the horrified surprise of Steel and Strongarm.

"Please, stop! Don't fight!" The wolficon tried to call their attention, seeing the furious bad boy teenager bot trying to seemingly rip his adoptive big brother to pieces.

"you can't beat me, Sideswipe! You know I'm older and more experienced than you!" Knockout pointed out. "I was raised among the most feared, and had the best partner in all existence!"

"I don't CARE! I won't stand here hearing every word about how despicable and much of a nuisance I am to you!" Sideswipe kept screaming in rage. "Admit it, I'm nothing but a let down! I'm not your partner and I never will be!"

"Sideswipe, stop!" Strongarm ordered, standing in front of him. It was terrible seeing brothers fighting.

Knockout wanted to try speaking, but instead got an uppercut by his little brother, that made him fall hard on the ground, right where the team was standing. Steeljaw rushed to help him while Sideswipe whimpered.

"Is this good enough for you now?!" Sideswipe started breaking down in lubricant tears. "Was I EVER good enough for you?!"

"Sideswipe…" KO observed his little brother transform and drive away to the same direction to where Vertebreak had departed. Steeljaw and Strongarm just stared, too shocked to say anything.


The two members told the team about the incident, and Bee was even more shocked to hear it all.

"He did what?!"

"I know, it's terrible. I'm worried Sideswipe might put himself in danger. He said it himself he wanted to personally arrest Vertebreak." the cadet feared. KO just stared at his own weapon, really upset.

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened. I-I guess it was my fault… I took you from him too much, but I was just excited to have another former Con by my side." Steeljaw feared.

"No, no… i-it's wasn't your fault, Steeljaw… I'm not mad at you, really…" KO pointed out, patting him. "I'm just horrified. I can't believe I did this! I-I could have killed him!"

"the way he reacted… I never saw him so upset." Strongarm admitted. "Although it's understandable at a certain point."

"What do you mean?"

"Sideswipe told me you were very… stern with him. That you always expected him to be like your past partner Breakdown."

"I…" Knockout looked down. "I did… oh, Primus…" Everyone looked at him.

"You didn't noticed you hurt him, right?" Bumblebee sighed.

"I… I was just… Ugh…" KO's spark hurt of guilt. "I did some horrible things as a con… I only wanted him to not make the same mistakes I did, and then, I… I just pictured the best mech I've met in my life, and made up my mind to make him get like that…"

"I… understand this." Steeljaw thought.

"As father, I know how it is. You wanna make sure they're ready to face any danger, but sometimes you don't see the effects of the way you teach them." Denny said. "As big brother and responsible for him, you had to also know how does he feel."

"Yes… I had to…" KO sighed. He was not a brother to Sideswipe after all.

"It's not too late, Knockout. We'll find him and you can say you're sorry and try make it up with him. I promise." Steeljaw promise, holding Knockout's hand.

"Lieutenant! I just fo-fo-fo-found Sideswipe's signal. It's somewhere in the undergrounds.

"Again? What's with Vertebreak and train wrecks?!" Strongarm wondered.

"Vertebreak has a thing for dark and spooky places." KO shivered. "His hideout in nearby where once the Predacon cemetery was located."

"Uh, this time it's not on the trail rails. I'm not sure actually where this signal wil lead. It's not in any near of the city."

"Where exactly does it lead?" Bumblebee wondered.


Soon they arrived to the coordinates, thanks to a groundbridge. Their surprise was them all being led to a mine none of them knew it even existed.

"I didn't knew there was a mine around here." Bumblebee thought, as they entered the dark mine. "And we've been around these whole area many times."

"It might have been recently activated." KO wondered. "Now, Fixit, can you send again the coordinates? My tracker is a bit messed up."

"Allow me." Steeljaw cleared his throat. Then, as he called for his screen, he pointed the right direction.

"Good boy," KO rubbed Steeljaw's ears, and he patted his feet on the floor, his tail wagging in excitement, the team chuckling.


Vertebreak threw his pursuer into the wall of his secret lab. Sideswipe bearely resisted to his wounded body.

"You have been really fun for a while, young bot, I must say."

"Vertebreak!" KO's voice rang loudly. The Autobots stepped forward. "Stay away from him!"

"Oh, my Autobots friends. I'm so glad you arrived. You are about to witness my newest creation." Vertebreak started to walk backwards. Then, he climbed aboard a control cabin, on top of a humongous structure. At the press of a button, the sight of a snake-like structure, made of metal pieces and cybertronian members came to the team. The team stared in horrified surprise.

"Uh… have I said how this guy freaks me out?" Steeljaw said.

"Now you won't be able to trap me on that stasis pod ever again!" Vertebreak cackled evily, piloting his structure, with his own body controlling the movements.

"You won't cause more trouble to any, bot or human, Vertebreak!" KO growled.

"Autobots, no pity!" Bumblebee ordered. All the members charged against the huge snake structure. Ko however rushed to help his little brother. Vertebreak charged against him with his tail, but Steeljaw stood in front.

"No one will put a scratch on your perfect painting, I promise." The wolficon friendly smiled to him. Drift's mini-cons were soon grabbed and thrown away by the arms they fought against. The bounty hunter then sliced the arms of the structure, but… they kept moving?!

Strongarm and Grimlock defended with all they got, but the disassembled arms disarmed the cadet, and the ones in the structure grabbed the Dinobot.

"Okay, slicing the arms don't work. But something has to stop this thing." Bumblebee wondered. Steeljaw then checked on something glowing into the structure's center.

"There!" Steeljaw noticed. "If we take the energy source in the center,this thing will crumble into pieces."

"Good idea!" Bee agreed. "Autobots, forget all the arms! Go for the center!"

Each team member tried reaching for the structure's center, but all the time, the structure's arms kept grabbing and moving them away. Vertebreak laughed maniacally.

"You are so foolish! This new energy I acquired has made this test drive a success! But before I start making my way into your groundbridge…" He stared at the Autobots,as they struggled to stand up. "I will make sure none of you stand in my way ever again!

Sideswipe by that time recovered his balance. As his optics adjusted, he saw all the team trapped by the structure's tail. Everyone tried to get loose, but couldn't. Sideswipe looked where they tried to aim.

KO and Bee gasped, fearing for the worse as they turned their helms. Vertebreak them cackled evily and charged.

SLASH!

As the team opened their optics and turned, they all saw Sideswipe in front of them with his sword on hands, as if he just…

Their suspects were confirmed, once the whole structure crumbled: the bad boy bot has sliced the energy source, breaking the arms' connection with the structure and making it all fall apart.

As Vertebreak groaned before fainting, Sideswipe called back his sword, and after a serious stern at the team, who stared at shock, he started to leave. KO then felt Steel touch his shoulder and nod at him. It was time for them to talk.


As the team followed Sideswipe out of there, KO walked forward.

"Sideswipe?" KO called for him.

"We don't have anything to talk about." The bad boy bot refused to stare at him. "You want to pretend nothing ever happened, but it did! why don't you just admit it? I'll never be Breakdown… I'll never be perfect." He clenched his fists, and struggled to not leak.

"…you're right… you're not Breakdown. And I shouldn't have expected you to be like him, when you could be better… when you could be yourself." Knockout sighed. Sideswipe's optics widened in surprise. "You have all the reasons in the universe to dislike my presence, as much as I have reasons to hate myself for what I did then and now. But I don't want to feel like this anymore, and I'm sure you don't want to keep this hatred too, right?"

"…no." Sideswipe turned around.

"You're right… I did took you in, but I was never your brother." Knockout lamented. "But I do want to try again. I want your trust back, and to be the big brother you truly deserves. Someone that instead of just scolding all you do wrong, shows you he loves you anyway."

"…and this will be good enough for you?"

"…will it be okay for you?"

Sideswipe with that could no longer contain his emotion and embraced Knockout, sobbing silently.

"I'm sorry, Sideswipe., I've been so busy trying to redeem myself for what I did wrong as a Con… that I forgot about the one good thing I did as an Bot." The medic muttered, not containing his own tears. As the brothers had their moment, Steeljaw smiled and Bee tapped his shoulder.


Back to the scrapyard, KO was ready to leave.

"Too bad you have to leave now… It was great working with you." Steeljaw said.

"Well, I was searching for a new partner on Cybertron." KO pointed out. "Maybe when we do return…"

"I have some things to do here. But I hope we get to see each other again." Steeljaw formally bowed, making KO chuckle.

"You are just unique, Steeljaw." He scratched his ears again.

"Hey," Sideswipe called. "I'll… I'll miss you, big brother." KO smiled by hearing this.

"Safe travels, KO." Bee greeted. As the groundbridge opened, he waved to the team and left.

"Sideswipe, I kinda messed up by taking him away from you like that… you could have solve this thing between you earlier if I didn't-" Steeljaw nervously said.

"What? He missed the best friend he ever had. You're EXACTLY what we BOTH needed." Sideswipe guaranteed, making Steeljaw rub the back of his helm. "Really, Steel… thank you very much for helping us both."

Bee smiled as he saw them fistbumping each other.