Disclaimer: Nothing has changed since last chapter. Breakdown is still dead and Knock Out was still run over by a train... twice. So I obviously do not own Transformers.
Fowler entered the Autobot base with a more pronounced scowl than usual. His footsteps caused Ratchet to turn in his direction. "How did it go?" he asked.
"Terrible," Fowler answered shortly. "She's not exactly the most understanding person I've met."
"I take it she didn't buy your explanation." Ratchet glanced in Bumblebee's direction; the scout hadn't left base since the accident, and he was starting to grow restless.
Fowler, too, cast a look at Bumblebee. His was between anger and pity. However unintentional, Bumblebee was causing problems for both him and the government in general. "Her uncle did; she told me it didn't change anything." He sighed. Now what? The Autobot's cover wasn't in jeopardy, but he was forced to involve himself in matters the local law enforcement should have taken care of years ago.
Ratchet scoffed. Humans were the strangest creatures he had ever met - their lifespans were ridiculously short, yet some of them refused to let go. He made a note in his personal database.
Another point where humans were similar to Cybertronians. The list was beginning to grow to a point where it became alarming.
Shiloh wasn't paying attention when Marc reentered the room. She had stopped crying just a few minutes before and now was murmuring quietly to Seth in Hawaiian.
"He's lucky to have a cousin like you," Marc remarked, laying a hand on her shoulder. "It's been hard enough for him since his mom left, but having you around made him who he is now."
Shiloh looked up at him, her eyes still red from crying. "I wish he'd wake up," she said. "I just want to- I wanna hear him tell me to stop moping or something. Anything, really." She was painfully aware of the coldness of Seth's skin, even when it had been under her hand for so long. I can't make it without you, she thought. So wake up already, lauoho polû.
"I know the feeling." Marc gave her shoulder a squeeze and let go. He sat in the other chair. "Agent Fowler was right to shut down the Circuit. Too many people have died and gotten hurt. I used to race it too, Shiloh, so don't tell me I don't know how you feel. But only now does it hit home."
Shiloh let go of Seth's hand and pulled her knees up to her chest. "I'm not racing again," she whispered. "I can't even look at him without thinking maybe it's my fault for dragging him to the Circuit in the first place."
Marc was surprised. "But you love to race."
"Like you said, Uncle Marc, only now does it hit home." Her voice broke as she uttered the words. She pressed her lips together, fighting back tears. Marc grabbed her in a tight embrace.
"You can't change the past, Shiloh, no matter how much you want to. But you can choose how you'll let it affect your future."
"You're right," Shiloh said. The problem was, she had already chosen. Now, she could never go back on that choice.
Knock Out delicately welded the Vehicon's leaking fuel line closed, wondering when he would be finished so he could go out and race. He absently glanced across at Breakdown, who was attending to Vehicons with less pressing injuries. Suddenly, his patient gave an exclamation of pain. Knock Out looked back down. In his slip of focus, he had let the welder come into contact with the sensitive circuitry surrounding the fuel line. He quickly remedied the error and returned to patching up the wound.
"There," he said eventually. "All fixed up." The Vehicon nodded his thanks and left the medical bay.
Knock Out glanced at Breakdown again. His partner noticed the silent query. "I've got it handled here," he confirmed gruffly.
The crimson mech smiled and ran his digits across Breakdown's shoulder as he passed him on his way out. His commlink signaled a message. He opened the connection. "Took you long enough to call."
::Smug as ever. I thought about what you said, and... yeah, I guess I do need help.::
Knock Out felt a small thrill in his circuits. His plan was actually working. "Smart girl," he purred.
::Don't get ahead of yourself, Knock Out. I'm only agreeing to talk for now. Think you can meet me in the park sometime?::
Considering he was already heading out... "How's an hour from now?" Knock Out accessed an ariel map of Jasper and focused on the park. "The fountain."
::Uh... k'den. The f-fountain.::
Why would the human sound nervous all of a sudden? "Great. I have to go."
::See ya there.::
The connection ended.
Before he headed to the GroundBridge Control Room, Knock Out went to his personal quarters, which he shared with Breakdown. Once there, he picked up a datapad - one of many he kept in his quarters - and scrolled through the notes. Upon reaching the end, he picked up a stylus and scrawled a few more notes on the datapad.
A malicious gleam lit Knock Out's optics.
This was going to be fun.
Seated upside-down on the park bench, her feet dangling over the top and her head hanging over the edge, Shiloh glared at the nearby fountain. The stupid thing was practically mocking her. It was an elegant fountain, though, she had to admit, with arches made of quartz that caught the light just so and mirrored parts that reflected the water's surface. In fact, had it not been on at the moment, Shiloh might have dared to go closer to it.
But it was the water that fell in sparkling droplets through the air and splashed into the pool at the fountain's base that kept her away. Shiloh hated water. It terrified her to no end. Only once had she ever set foot willingly in water, and that had ended up terribly; a kaiko had pulled her under.
"What an interesting position," quipped a familiar voice. The bench creaked as someone sat down next to her.
"Hm?" Shiloh corrected her orientation and looked at the man. "Oh. A-aloha, Knock Out," she said, startled.
Knock Out laid one arm across the back of the bench, leaning against the cold metal. He examined his nails. "I said I'd be here in an hour. It's an hour. Don't look so surprised, sweetspark."
Shiloh frowned. Did he know the meaning of the word humility? "I'm not your sweetspark, whatever that means. We here for a reason or not?"
"You really shouldn't scowl so much. It ruins your pretty face." Knock Out didn't bother looking at her.
This guy was just begging to be smacked. Or punched. Or maybe both. Fortunately for him, Shiloh knew to control herself, especially since he was her only shot at getting back at the driver of the Camaro. Shiloh threw her head back, exasperated. "And you're not even listening to me, are you?"
Knock Out stopped examining his nails and turned to face her. "I am listening," he argued. "I was just giving a piece of advice."
Shiloh met his gaze. "Then what did I say before?"
"You were saying you weren't my sweetspark, which doesn't particularly bother me because I can just go back to calling you femmeling."
Miffed that her complaint had been shot down, Shiloh returned to glaring at the fountain the way she had been before Knock Out arrived. Although she was a good distance from the fountain, she flinched every time at the small splash the water droplets made as they hit the pool below.
Noticing the odd action and the direction of the girl's glare, Knock Out pieced together a rough idea of what was going on. "You have something against that fountain?" he asked innocently.
"No, I like the fountain," Shiloh stammered, gripping the arm of the bench as yet another droplet fell.
"Why don't we go sit by it, then?" Knock Out grabbed her free hand, with a much softer grip than when he had grabbed her wrist two days ago, and pulled her towards the fountain. Reluctantly, she let him lead her right next to it. Knock Out sat on the edge of the pool's rim, patting the stone to his left. His smirk seemed to ask if she was scared.
There was no way she would let him think she was afraid - even if she really was. Trembling, Shiloh sat on the stone, laying her hand in the water that had splashed on it. Her hands clenched involuntarily and her heart hammered away at her rib cage. The tremors grew worse when some of the water hit her back.
"Scared of a little water, are we?" Knock Out teased. He hadn't let go of her hand.
"I left my jacket in the hospital, Pretty Boy, so you can-"
"Shiloh?" Vince emerged from the path leading up to the fountain, which was mostly obscured by trees. "You- you're actually sitting on the fountain! And you're getting wet!" His gaze fell on Knock Out - or more specifically, on Knock Out's hand. "Who the hell is that?" he demanded, his earlier smile darkening.
"Not scared of water, femmeling?" Knock Out leaned close, letting go of Shiloh's hand and cupping her chin. "Your friend seems to say otherwise."
Shiloh stood angrily and pulled away from him. "You," - she pointed to Knock Out - "shut up!" Now Knock Out rose, his teasing expression replaced with one of fury. "And Vince, you shouldn't have said something."
Vince looked taken aback. "Shy, I'm sorry," he said.
Shiloh crossed her arms, turning away from her friend. "Just go, Vince," she said in a quiet voice, her head bowed. "Please."
Vince left the way he came.
Knock Out moved so he was in front of the girl. "Enough with the pleasantries, already. I have one question for you, since neither of us obviously have time for more than that." He cupped her chin again, forcing her to look at him. "What are you willing to do to get revenge?"
Shiloh thought back to Seth, lying unconscious in a hospital bed hooked up to a multitude of machines and wires. Her face hardened, and she forgot all about the water soaking into her shirt and the encounter with Vince. "Anything."
"Would you leave Jasper?"
Translations:
Lauoho polû - Blue hair. (Here used as a nickname for Seth)
K'den - "Okay then." - or - "Agreed."
Kaiko - Strong current.
Aloha - Hello.
