AN: When a character's name is written like this, that is who they are pretending to be. Some Cybertronian time units you might need: breem = 8.3 minutes, nanoklik = 1 second, joor = 6 hours, klik = 1.2 minutes, cycle = 1.25 hours (1 hour 15 minutes) (note: IDW definition of a cycle), solar cycle = 1 day.
"What do you suppose is taking those two so long?"
"You had a pretty good idea what those two would be doing yesterday, Knock Out!" Dreadwing told him; just as Airachnid walked into the room, followed by a strangely relaxed Starscream…
"Airachnid good, Starscream?" Knock Out asked with a smirk; he expected that would humiliate Starscream.
"Oh, Primus yes! The things she can do with those hands…" Knock Out and Dreadwing both looked shocked; that was way too much information.
"What are you talking about?" Knock Out sounded nervous.
"Airachnid's skills at massaging, what are you talking about?" Starscream answered flippantly.
"Err… Never mind…" Knock Out trailed off.
"Airachnid helped work the stiffness out of my back and wings; that those Vehicons caused yesterday…" Starscream laughed at Dreadwing's sigh of relief.
"I'll bet that's not all Airachnid worked the stiffness out of!" Starscream turned pale blue at that suggestive remark from Knock Out.
"Are we going to stand in here all day wondering what did or didn't happen last night?" Dreadwing asked them impatiently.
"I don't suppose any of you have an idea for a group dare." Knock Out looked around them.
"We could pretend to be each other and fool everyone!" Dreadwing suggested, not seriously thinking they'd decide to do this.
"You know, that's not a bad idea…" Starscream ended up trying not to laugh when Dreadwing's jaw dropped.
"If we are going to do this, then I'll need a CNA sample from each of you…" Knock Out fetched four small syringes.
All four of the members were now gathered around one of the berths. Four cubes of energon sat on it, each one an unusual colour.
"Right then, we all have to drink one of these…" Knock Out lifted up the cube that was a colour half way between dark energon and normal. Starscream picked up the darker blue one, Airachnid picked up the silvery blue one and Dreadwing grabbed the one that was left. All of them touched the cubes together, before downing the contents. They all got a feeling of faintness come over them. How can I be feeling faint? There must be something powerful in this… Knock Out wondered, before dropping into stasis along with the others.
A couple of breems later…
Knock Out was the first of the group to online. He pushed himself up to one knee and looked around. He saw Dreadwing and Starscream lying across from where he was. Which means Airachnid must be… Knock Out then looked to his right and saw a familiar body. His. Knock Out jumped back in shock and landed on his aft. How can I… He then groaned in realisation. We all took some of that shape-shifting fluid, which means…
He lifted one of his hands in front of his face; and saw a more feminine looking hand, with black coloured plating just visible on his wrist. I'm Airachnid. Knock Out stood up and tried to walk over to Starscream. He didn't count on one thing though, and tripped. He landed on something that was moving. Knock Out quickly scrambled off, after realising what it was. Starscream shook himself and looked at Knock Out. Before jumping backwards in shock.
"How can I be in front of me?" Starscream asked, covering his mouth after he heard his voice.
"That you, Airachnid?" Knock Out asked. He covered his mouth too; realising he sounded like her. Starscream nodded in response.
"Which one of the mechs are you?" Airachnid asked the one who looked like her.
"I'm the handsome devil over there." Airachnid pointed at the body lying on the other side of the berth.
"Knock Out, if you are in my body and I'm in Starscream's that means…"
"Provided all of us switched bodies…" A smirk appeared across both of their faces. They crawled over beside Dreadwing and started stroking his wings. Mm… Now if only I could wake up every morning with a wing rub from…
"That you Airachnid?" Dreadwing asked sleepily.
:: You'd better answer him, Knocks. :: Airachnid told him.
"Yes my darling. You like?"
:: I do not speak to him like… ::
"Can you wake me up like that every morning?" Dreadwing asked, much to the amusement of Knock Out and Airachnid.
:: I should give him a fright now, shouldn't I? ::
:: Good plan, Airachnid ::
"No she can't! She'll be busy with me!" Dreadwing jumped.
"What!? How can…?" Dreadwing covered his mouth.
"Because we have all switched bodies, and judging by your reaction; you must be Starscream." Airachnid answered.
"Do you have any idea how strange that sounded coming out of err… Which of you am I talking to?" Starscream replied, looking confused.
"Take a guess." Airachnid smugly suggested.
"Knock Out is in my body, Dreadwing is in Airachnid's and she's over there." Starscream pointed at Knock Out's body.
"Not even close, my mech who likes his wings rubbed!" Starscream told him. Starscream whined; realising Airachnid was in his body.
"You said all of us had switched bodies; so that means…"
"Oh… Why do I feel like I drank way too much high grade?" A voice came from the other side of the berth.
:: You'd better answer him Starscream. :: Knock Out commed him.
"You didn't drink any high grade, but you did drink some weird energon." Starscream told Dreadwing, who sat up straight at hearing his own voice answer him.
"How did…?" Dreadwing paused for a few nanokliks, as if trying to work out the exact question to ask.
"What was in that stuff we drank?"
"Do you remember Makeshift?" Airachnid asked.
"I can remember reading about a mech who could change his form…" Starscream trailed off, now thinking about it.
"What we drank was regular energon, mixed with a little of Makeshift's CNA… and a tiny amount of our CNA."
"We aren't stuck like this permanently are we?" Dreadwing had decided the one in his body must have been Starscream, since he sounded disgusted.
"About a joor, joor and a half at the most… You worry too much." Airachnid answered, but Dreadwing thought it must have been Knock Out in her body.
"While you are on about time, Knock Out… it is nearly time for the Insecticons' training…" Airachnid told him; Dreadwing had worked out she was in Starscream's body.
"What?! I can't train them! They frighten me!" Knock Out responded with a shudder. Just after Knock Out had spoken was when Breakdown strolled through the doors.
"Hey Knocks, there anything I can be…" Breakdown trailed off.
"What are they doing in here?" He asked.
:: You'd better answer him, Dreadwing… :: Dreadwing thought it weird hearing Knock Out's voice.
:: What do I tell him? ::
:: Make something up ::
"They had a weird feeling in their stomachs. Must have been something in the energon they drank…"
"I thought it tasted a bit funny…" Breakdown's response almost made them all laugh.
"I'm no expert in where you all should be but, shouldn't you two be at the Bridge and I do believe you should be training the Insecticons, Airachnid." Dreadwing told the others. It was at that point that the other three tried to stand up and walk out of the door. Airachnid didn't have any trouble but Knock Out and Starscream ended up wobbling about while trying to walk.
"Did the energon affect your equilibrium too Dreadwing? You apply pressure equally across all of your feet to walk properly!" Starscream realised that Dreadwing had said that to try and help him. At the same time, Airachnid had told Knock Out to place more pressure on the balls of his feet, to help him balance. Both of them followed the advice and walked out of the door.
"Could you come back here in about four breems, just while I sort out a couple of things?" Dreadwing asked Breakdown, who nodded and headed out of the door with the others. While Airachnid was walking towards the Bridge, she gave Dreadwing a com.
:: If you get any Vehicons in to fix… Ask them if they'd like the doctor to kiss it better! ::
:: I'm not in the habit of kissing mechs… ::
:: You don't need to be… who do you look like? :: Airachnid ended the com. She is evil… Dreadwing thought to himself.
Knock Out was now stood nervously in front of the door to the Insecticons' training room. Can I really just walk in there? He put one of his fingers against the scanner and the door slid open.
"You are later than usual Mistress… Are you alright?" One of the Insecticons asked.
"Yes I am, but thank you for your concern. I was with Commander Starscream." Knock Out hoped that was how Airachnid would answer them.
"Are the rumours true then?" A different Insecticon asked. Some of the other Insecticons looked a bit bored and sick of hearing about this.
"I heard some of the Vehicons saying that you pinned Commander Starscream to the wall in their wash racks!" Knock Out quickly caught himself before his jaw dropped and gave him away.
"Stop bothering our queen with your drivel! She doesn't want to hear it!" Hardshell shouted at the others. No, she doesn't… But I do! Knock Out thought while making his way to the front of the room.
"Now then, shall we do some sparing practice?" He asked them, hoping they went straight to it. Luckily for him, they paired off and started to practice their attacks. Knock Out then heard a ping and he checked his com messages. 'What do I do if a Vehicon is really injured?' He thought Dreadwing would ask that.
'You should be able to manage simple repairs; you were taught how to do simple patch jobs. If anything really complicated comes in, ask Breakdown to help you; he should be able to stabilise them until I can have a look at them!' Dreadwing had just finished reading the com message when Breakdown came through the door. Speaking of Unicron…
"Sorry I'm late, Knocks… There haven't been any soldiers come in for repairs, have there?" Breakdown looked nervously around.
"Not yet…" Not today, I hope! Dreadwing added silently. Just after that however…
"Knock Out! Can you take a look at our friend? He got too close to one of the engines and…"
"I'll see what I can do." Dreadwing interrupted them, before leading the injured one to a berth. He couldn't help but notice that the other two had some small scratches on them. Dreadwing also noticed that the injured one had similar scratches to the other two. Said Vehicon was now sat on the edge of one of the berths, waiting to be examined. Dreadwing took a look at her injuries, but couldn't find anything other than the scratches.
"These don't look too bad…" He paused, trying to gather up his courage to ask that question.
"So… would you like me to kiss you better?" Dreadwing then smirked; in what he hoped was a Knock Out like way. The Vehicon nodded her head quickly. He seems very eager… Dreadwing lightly touched his lips against her cheek for a nanoklik before leaning back. The Vehicon stayed completely still for a few nanokliks after that, before jumping off the berth and scuttling over to her friends. They looked stunned but followed her out of the door.
"You do know they are all going to want you to do that now…" Breakdown looked just as shocked as the other two Vehicons. Dreadwing looked confusedly at him.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Those three get themselves damaged every morning. They come in here to get treated because they have to hots for you, I think…" Breakdown trailed off. I'll just have to ask all the Vehicons that come in here with minor injuries if they'd like a kiss then, won't I? Dreadwing thought smugly to himself.
Starscream and Airachnid were now stood outside the door to the Bridge. I hope Megatron doesn't mind us being late… Starscream thought, before walking through the door.
"Dreadwing! Why are you just coming in here now? You are usually in here before I am!" Megatron sounded cross.
"Because…" Starscream paused for a few nanokliks while he thought of an excuse.
"Because Dreadwing, Airachnid and I were visiting the medic with a stomach complaint. There must have been something in the energon that didn't agree with us…" Airachnid chose that moment to walk through the door.
"Both of you get to your stations and get on with your assignments!" Megatron shouted; apparently satisfied with Airachnid's excuse. Both of them walked over to the two free computers and sat down. It turned out Dreadwing and Starscream had both been assigned monitor duty. Better take a look and see if I can spot anyone… Starscream looked at some of the screens and found nothing of interest, until…
"Isn't that…" He whispered to Airachnid who saw her form on the screen. I wonder what Knock Out is up to… Airachnid and Starscream thought at the same time, before looking at the screen. That training session was horrible! I'm glad it's over! Knock Out was wandering the corridors; the only other thing he thought Airachnid did. He was surprised to find someone else also wandering the corridors.
"Breakdown?" The mech in question looked over at him.
"Hello Airachnid. Didn't expect to see you around here…"
"I was just on my way to the bridge when I ran into you…" Knock Out quickly lied.
"Since we've met in the corridors; do you want some entertainment…" He sniggered at the end; confusing Breakdown a bit.
"The same type of entertainment as last time we met in the corridors?" Breakdown asked with a smirk. I'm not sure I… Oh. Knock Out realised what Breakdown was getting at. If I say 'no' here, he'll suspect something…
"You're serious about…" Breakdown had decided that Knock Out's silence meant 'yes'. When did Breakdown get so brave? Knock Out pondered. If Breakdown knew who it was he was actually kissing; his reaction would be quite funny… I don't think he is into mechs! Knock Out then felt something stroking the insides of his mouth. Err… Scrap! He's good… Breakdown then leaned back. He couldn't help but notice both his and Airachnid's cheeks had turned blue.
"Be seeing you later… Darling…" Breakdown winked and then walked off back towards the Med-bay. Knock out stood there in shock.
Meanwhile, on the Bridge, Starscream and Airachnid were trying not to burst out laughing at what just happened on the screen.
:: I'd like to see Knock Out look Breakdown in the optic after that! :: Airachnid bit down on the side of her mouth to stop her laughing.
:: Especially since that lasted more than a klik! ::
"Decepticons! Soundwave has located one of the Iacon relics! You have exactly one breem to prepare!" Megatron shouted at the Vehicons and Insecticons in there.
"We'd better get prepared too; we don't want to keep Megatron waiting!" Starscream stood up and walked towards the door, followed by Airachnid.
A breem later, Ground Bridge room…
All of the Dare Club members were stood around in the Ground Bridge room waiting for the Vehicons to go through the open portal.
"I hope this gun is easy to use…" Starscream gestured to the cannon strapped to his back.
"I hope this thing is easy to use…" Dreadwing lifted the prod out.
"Do you know how to use a lance, Dreadwing?" Knock Out asked quietly.
"Sort of…"
"You should be alright then… I on the other hand, don't have any weapons…"
"Err… Claws." Airachnid wiggled her fingers; aware Knock Out had no kibble on his back to move for the spider legs. They all looked around and saw no Vehicons, but an open space bridge.
"Scrap!" All of them shouted before running through. They shuddered upon walking through to the other side; all they could see was snow and ice!
"Decepticons attack!" Megatron shouted, before he ran towards Optimus. The Dare Club then saw the other Autobots running at them. Scrap! They all knew they'd have to fight one of them. Starscream pulled the gun off his back and fired at the Autobots, who scattered to dodge the blast. Bumblebee and Arcee transformed their arms into blasters and fired. All of the members of the Dare Club tried to quickly dodge the blasts.
Airachnid and Dreadwing managed to run out of the way before running towards their opponents. Knock Out and Starscream discovered that it was much harder to run on ice the hard way; by slipping and landing on their afts. Arcee and Bulkhead took this as an opportunity and ran at them. Dreadwing pulled out the prod and got ready to try and jab Bumblebee with it. Airachnid had apparently decided trying to annoy Cliffjumper was a good idea. Arcee meanwhile had now got herself close to her rival; leaving Bulkhead to deal with Dreadwing.
"Airachnid…" Arcee growled at her foe on the ice.
"If it isn't Arcee…" Knock Out paused for a few nanokliks; trying to think of something to say.
"I recently heard you'd turned your attentions on to an unfortunate mech…" Knock Out smirked when Arcee froze.
"W-what do you mean?" She sounded shocked; how did Airachnid find out?
"Unfortunate that he is a Decepticon, that is…" He paused before coming up with a really nasty plan. If I shout this, she might give me a chance to attack…
"Because if you touched him like you want to; you'd get done for treason…" Arcee then knew exactly what Airachnid was getting at and darted at her.
"Arcee has got the hots for…" Was all Knock Out got to shout out, before said femme punched him a few times. He decided it would be smart to pretend she'd knocked him into stasis.
Meanwhile…
I can't believe that I slipped on this stuff. I'm never going to be allowed to forget this… Starscream then saw who was coming towards him and had to try not to scream. What? I have to fight the biggest one…
"Get up Dreadwing! You're stronger than that!" Bulkhead swatted at Dreadwing's head lightly, or at least what he thought was lightly, a couple of times. Dreadwing however squeaked in pain and muttered 'Scrap that hurt!' Bulkhead thought Dreadwing was acting like… Starscream.
Starscream thought it best if he pretended he'd been knocked out by those blows and so lay down on the ice. Bulkhead saw Dreadwing falling on to the ice after two light swats and thought he'd best watch how he hits the Decepticons; he obviously didn't know his own strength…
Meanwhile…
Dreadwing jabbed the prod at Bumblebee, who quickly dodged out of the way. Dreadwing then felt a few punches hitting his body that didn't really bother him. He backed up a little; wishing he had his sword right now… Knock Out's prod is pretty useless, unless you land a direct hit…
Just then he got hit with an uppercut that wouldn't have knocked him down, but he let himself fall as it would have felled Knock Out. Bumblebee saw Knock Out collapse and chirped in confusion; Knock Out didn't complain about his finish getting dented…
Meanwhile…
Airachnid didn't particularly want to fight Cliffjumper; he was so fun to tease! Maybe I could tease him anyway… She thought before speaking to him.
"I heard you had a romantic meeting with Airachnid recently…" She trailed off, hoping he would answer her.
"How did you know that; last I checked you and Airachnid hated each other…"
"She was rather… vocal in berth last night…" Airachnid trailed off, thinking with amusement; she may have rubbed something other than Starscream's back and wings last night… Cliffjumper recoiled in disgust; he did not need that mental image. He took a couple of swings at Starscream and the Seeker collapsed. Airachnid decided to stay down.
While all of them were lying on the ground they all saw the Autobots run away towards an open Ground Bridge portal. They also saw why; Optimus was holding the capsule. The four who had fought the Dare Club stopped outside the portal in confusion.
"Did you guys think that was…"
"Easier than usual?" Cliffjumper finished what Arcee was saying. Bumblebee chirped a few times and Bulkhead nodded.
"Yeah, Bee. It was almost like they weren't themselves…" All of them then shook their heads and walked through the portal. At that point Megatron managed to dig himself out of the snow; he'd tried to shoot Optimus, missed and brought a snow drift down on himself. After a quick look around he shouted for the Decepticons to return to base. He and the couple of Vehicons who played offline then went through the Ground Bridge. The Dare Club then realised there was no one around, and got up on to their feet, before slowly walking through the Ground Bridge.
"What did all of you call that?" Megatron shouted at them.
"Err…" Three of them decided it would be bad to say anything; but Airachnid knew Starscream would, so she said.
"T-trying to fight on ice, master…"
"That was pathetic! The Vehicons and I managed to stay on our feet."
"But the Vehicons have been on mining operations in cold climates and…" Airachnid realised everyone was staring at her in shock.
"You four are to report to the Throne room immediately to explain your actions!" Megatron sounded like he was going to hit someone, so the four of them walked that way as quickly as they could. Megatron followed them at a slow pace; it would be torturing them waiting for him. The Vehicons that were stood around burst out laughing as soon as Megatron had gone.
"Did you see that?" One asked.
"You mean the Airachnid-like devil's horns sticking out of Starscream's head?" One replied.
"Or the red Starscream-like crest sticking out of Dreadwing's forehead?" Another one told the rest.
"Or the dark blue coloured crown now on the top of Knock Out's head?" A third asked.
"All of those… And the bright red starting to cover the top of Airachnid's head!" The first Vehicon to speak told them, before all four started laughing again.
Throne room, a breem later…
The Dare Club were all kneeling on the floor, with hands cuffed behind their backs, courtesy of the two Vehicons stood in there. Megatron stormed in at that point, quickly stomping over to his throne. He sat down before shouting angrily at them.
"Would one of you dolts care to explain why you are masquerading as someone else?" Airachnid decided she should ask the question they were all thinking; since she was supposed to be Starscream.
"How did you…" She trailed off; realising she was speaking in her voice.
"I thought you said these would last a joor!" Starscream shouted at Knock Out; the disguises lasted just over 3 cycles.
"I must have miscalculated…" Knock Out went silent as all of them heard the door open. They heard two sets of footfalls, but didn't dare turn around. The two mechs who came in couldn't believe what they were seeing. A Starscream with Airachnid's head. This one also had her spider legs sticking out of its back instead of wings. An Airachnid with Knock Out's head. A Dreadwing with Starscream's head and wings. And finally a Knock Out with Dreadwing's head and wings. Both of the mechs were shocked. The first one to speak addressed Dreadwing.
"Out of all the mechs you could have pretended to be; why would you choose that grounder…?" Dreadwing knew exactly who that was; his twin brother. The other mech stood in stunned silence, staring at Knock Out, for a few nanokliks. He apparently had worked up the courage to speak in this time.
"H-how long have you been pretending to be Airachnid?" Knock Out's optics widened hearing that voice; he'd hoped Breakdown wouldn't find out.
"About 3 and a half cycles…" He answered.
"So, you weren't the one who gave every Vehicon who came in with minor injuries a kiss?"
"What?!" Knock Out sounded outraged. Starscream and Airachnid burst out laughing at his reaction. Dreadwing turned rightfully pale blue.
"But if you were pretending to be Airachnid, and I kissed her about a cycle ago…" Megatron's jaw dropped when he heard that and started sniggering he realised what it meant.
"I was sharing saliva with you?!" Breakdown shuddered in disgust. He'd just realised he'd been passionately kissing his best friend. It was now Knock Out's turn to go pale blue at getting caught.
"You all still haven't explained to me why you were pretending to be someone you obviously aren't!" Megatron shouted and the room went silent.
:: We'd better tell him… ::
:: I could lie my way out of this easily Dreadwing. ::
:: Without getting a beating? ::
:: Good point… ::
:: So what are we going to tell Megatron? ::
:: The truth apparently, Airachnid. :: Starscream told her disbelievingly. Megatron then glared at them all. Dreadwing was the one to tell him; since was Megatron's favourite.
"We all dared each other to do it."
"Why on Cybertron would you do that?" Megatron asked, completely confused.
"Because…" Dreadwing paused.
"We are the Decepticon Dare Club!" The four of them told Megatron at the same time.
"Dare Club?" Megatron apparently still didn't get it.
"You tell somebody to do something humiliating…" Starscream hoped Airachnid would finish his sentence.
"And they have to carry it out!" As he hoped, she did.
"In that case… I dare all of you to clean the Nemesis from top to bottom as punishment!" Megatron smirked at them; they really didn't like the sound of that… The Vehicons moved over to release the cuffs on their hands.
"But… Master! You can't expect us to do grunt work!"
"If you are the Decepticon Dare Club; then you will do as I have told you!" Megatron smirked at the clearly audible groans from the four of them. All of them got to their feet and walked towards the door.
"And one more thing; as soon as you have finished your grunt work, the Decepticon Dare Club is disbanded, and will not be started up again under any circumstances. Do I make myself quite clear?" Megatron smugly watched all of them swallow their pride and answer with a 'Yes master.'
All of them walked out of the door; knowing full well what they'd be doing for the next few solar cycles, but also knowing just how to keep it interesting. After all, the Decepticon Dare Club wasn't disbanded yet, so they'd give each other dares to keep the grunt work interesting…
AN: I made up the thing with Makeshift's CNA (A Polyjuice potion is what it is similar to.) And said 'potion' wore off at just the wrong time! The thing with the pressure is to do with how you would walk in heels or flat soled shoes... Knock Out is going to have to deal with the consequences of what Dreadwing got up to, as well as the fact he kissed Breakdown! Speaking of Breakdown... I do believe that he may be scarred; he did just kiss a mech, and his best friend as well! The good news (ish) is that they will have plenty of time to forget about this; while humiliating each other some more while cleaning up the ship!
