ATTENTION: SupplementTo everyone who reads this, I know I have not updated for some time and I unfortunately have to tell you that the chapter which was planned to be uploaded this week is not completely ready. I am not going to be able to upload until the beginning of the next year. I will continue writing though, so that you will (if everything goes as planned) a new chapter every week until this story is finished. If you have any questions go to my profile for further information or PM me.

You're not planning on killing me, right? I know it's been millenia since I updated. But at least here's a longer chappie :D

Thanks to FireRose Prime for betaing this chappie

And : Transformers and everything else belongs to hasbro (unfortunately)

Patch

Nightbird's POV

"So, I'm never going back again? Like in never ever seeing any of them again if Lord Megatron decides I'm worthy?"

He nodded as if that was no big deal.

"I couldn't even say goodbye..." Even though Hannah and Ron had never really been like parents for me or I had pretended that they hadn't, even though I hated them, they somehow still belonged to me. Would I miss them? Not as much as I would miss Knock Out, but would it hurt to know I'd never see them again? Never before had I lost someone close to me. You couldn't count my biological parents; they did not play any role in my life. But I couldn't even think of what the 'Cons would be doing with Hannah and Ron if I stayed. They had to destroy any proof I had ever existed after all...

"Does it matter? I thought you didn't care for them. They're only humans, remember?" He smirked at me as we packed the suitcase. More like as he packed the suitcase. I just sat there on my bed, staring into space.

"Yeah, only humans..."

Knock Out's POV

I quickly packed everything she needed. Not many clothes, we'd buy her something more resistant once she was accepted, which she certainly would be. Megatron was interested in her, thought she could provide us some advantage. That did not matter to me, as long as she stayed alive and well and I could keep an optic on her.

Most of the stuff was personal; mainly things I had given her as a present after a long mission or something like that. I could still recall all the days and how she had jumped with joy when I had once again bought her something new from another part of the planet. Like this one. She'd loved it, would wear it anytime she could. It was a red dress with white flowers all over it from a no-name designer in Italy. Something no grown up femme would wear but it looked unbelievably pretty on little girls.

Flashback

"Don't you go too close to the street. I don't want to have to search you all day again!"

My little red head jumped around and danced through the crowd, every once in a while catching a soft gaze from some young mother or wanna-be father. The vanilla ice-cream in her left hand was already starting to melt, but she didn't mind as the first cold drops flowed down her hand. I snickered at that. Once she was finished with eating it, she'd come to me crying, telling me to get that sticky stuff from her skin. But I had to confess, I wouldn't like to have that stuff on my paint job either.

Hannah thought we were out in the city. Of course I couldn't tell her that we had bridged for a short trip to Europe, but that had just been so easy that I couldn't resist. Nightbird loved seeing new places, the more different the better and Lord Starscream was on a mission with half of the Decepticon crew. The only thing I had to do was hire a Drone to bridge me wherever I wanted and finish it off after the day was over. No problem.

My hologram's fingers scuttled over the wood of the bench I sat on. It was a good place. Behind it was the part of the city which Nightbird wouldn't find thatinteresting, though I had to say that there was nothing she didn't find interesting. Absolutely nothing.

In front of the bench was a railing and a single stairway leading down to the streets with the shops selling all the twaddle Nightbird loved so much and behind started the beach. It could be considered nearly empty, regarding that half of the people here were in a hurry and the other half working. Only very few were tourists. It wasn't the right season for that. The better it was for us.

Nightbird danced around the bench, hopped down the few stairs and hopped them up again. Now she was able to drink the ice cream and didn't even hesitate a second to do so when I told her. The vanilla tripled down her chin, falling onto the ground in small, white drops.

"Come here, sweetspark." I formed the words with my mouth and mentioned to my holograms right side. With joy, she danced over and sat down on my right leg, tossing the rest of her ice cream in the bin on her way. Nightbird didn't like the shell, only the melting cream inside it.

"Make it gone!" she then commanded and pushed her chin forward. Just like her hands, it was covered with the sticky cream. With skilled fingers, I brushed her red curls behind her ears and put her colorful hairgrips back on their places. Then I sighed, stood up and threw her over my holograms shoulder as if she weight more than the Nemesis itself. Accompanied by a loud squeal of her, I hushed down the stairs and headed towards the beach. My alternate-form followed so that I could easily reach the waves without having any problems with keeping up the holograms physical form.

When she finally noticed what I was up to, she started kicking and boxing my holoform. Hmm... I'd have to teach her how to beat up someone. She wasn't going to get anywhere like this.

"You want me to get it off? Sure! Will do!"

It didn't do my hologram any bad as I stepped into the water with my clothes still on and walked deeper in until my hips were covered. Then I took her and held her with a big grin over the waves. Her eyes grew big and the screaming and kicking stopped as she looked up to me and hissed in her high voice I never could take serious.

"You wouldn't dare!"

She was only long enough over the water to see me raise an eyebrow as if to say 'wouldn't I?' and then I let her fall into the water. Either this or that way, she had to learn that making herself dirty would only end up in cleaning herself up again on her own. I simply gave some support for that lesson.

But I did not fail to lift her up again once she came with many coughs to the surface and glared at me. The red curls hung soaked down to the sides of her face and her dress clung tightly to her frame.

"I love you." I whispered as I gave her a kiss on her pouting mouth and had to grin even more as she fought against the smile which slowly replaced the pout.

Flashback ends

"Dad?"

I folded the dress up and after a few seconds of thinking about it, laid it back into the closet. Then I turned around to look at her, seeing how she stroked Mr. Cuddles' fur.

"Yes, sweetspark?" I was her creator. I wasn't as stupid as she might think I was, but I felt stupid when I realized that I had absolutely no clue why she was sad. It was easy to see that she was. Her frame was motionless like a statue and her hair fell into her face, making up a curtain between her eyes and me. She always did that when she wanted to hide her emotions. Cutting herself off from the world.

"What will they do? To them I mean. They won't... you know what, will they?"

If I had known...

"You care about them, don't you? Although they treated you like..."

"They're still somehow my foster parents, you know. They were the only one's there if you had to go on one of your missions... And somehow I guess I got used to their constant chatter about nothing important. I don't say I want to stay with them, I'm just saying that... it would be... I don't want them to die, okay? Especially not because of me!"

I nodded. And I nodded again. I couldn't think of anything else to do than nodding.

"You wanna take him with you?" I then asked, mentioning to the teddy bear. She looked at him for a few more seconds before shaking her head slowly.

"No. No, I guess he'd be better here. You got everything?"

I shut the suitcase and stood up, giving her a comforting smile. Without looking me in the eyes, she gently placed Mr. Cuddles on the pillows of her bed, gave him a kiss on the forehead like she had always done it when she'd been little, and left the room.

Nightbird's POV

I did not want to look him in the eyes. He was my medic, my mentor, my friend, but at first he was supposed to be my dad! And as such, he should be leading me through hard times, right? Protecting me from the cruelty of the world. I knew he really tried hard to be a good creator, but sometimes he forgot that I was not of his species, or at least he wished that.

"Come sweetspark."

And yet I was glad when he offered me his hand. It helped a bit.

"Breakdown is opening a bridge. Lord Megatron is awaiting you."

With a slight smile on my face, I entered his vehicle form and cuddled into the passenger seat while the seat belt strapped around me. Just like in old times, when no Lord wanted anything from me and I hadn't even been aware of his existence.

For a second, it felt like everything was back to normal again, but then the realization hit me. Knock Out hadn't answered my question. He always answered my question. Except for the times he didn't think it was wise for me to hear the answer.

"Do you know what this is, Nightbird?"

Lord Megatron stood tall like a building next to the berth in the med-bay. He mentioned towards an item lying upon it; two connector-like endings united by a long cable. I knew it all too well. It was an often used torture method invented by the ingenious scientist Shockwave. Although Knock Out had said that he was rather insane than ingenious.

"A cortical psychic patch, my liege."

He nodded, took one of the endings and turned it around in his hands.

"Do you know what it does?"

Red optics flashed at me and I was once again surprised when my heartbeat stayed steady. I did not sweat either, nor did I feel exhausted. I was simply so damn frightened!

"It allows someone to look into the head of someone else, preferably Autobots, see the victim's memories and darkest secrets, or to find out the truth and only the truth because memories cannot be changed by the one carrying them."

I chose my words carefully. Certainly, he was testing me on something. And I was right. He laid the cortical psychic patch back on its place and crossed his arms behind his back, looking down at me with a cruel grin.

"I see you are familiar with Knock Out's instruments and tools. Certainly, you do understand that if I accept you as a part of the Decepticon cause, I must make sure that you are trustworthy."

He looked down at me and his grin widened to an unbelievable size. Cheshire cat, I thought with an oddly big amount of hate paired with disgust. There was no way around this. He would be using the cortical psychic patch on me. How, I had no clue. Why I was so strangely against this? Probably because it would certainly cause me a giant amount of pain and he would know everything of my privacy and my memories with my daddy. But at least he would be able to trust me then.

I nodded. Yes I knew he had no choice, although I was pretty sure he would have done it anyway.

"Knock Out!" Lord Megatron barked while he walked over to the other berth, next to my daddy. He still looked like the cheshire cat from Alice in wonderland. Well, hopefully he wouldn't find that thought...

"My liege, is this really necessary? I assure you, Nightbird is completely trustworthy!"

"It's alright, Knock Out." I smiled up at him. Poor daddy. He was trying really hard to protect me. One day even he would see that I was growing up. One day, even he would see that I did not need protection anymore. "I do not have anything to hide from my master."

Knock Out sighed and I suppressed a loud swallow as he laid me on the berth. I forced my head back, watching Lord Megatron as he placed himself on the berth in front of me, observing Knock Out while he did so. And as if that wasn't enough, Soundwave stepped in too, stopping right in front of my berth, but not bothering to waste any of his attention on me. Knock Out took one of the patch's endings and locked it on at the back of the communications chief's head. It did not seem to make a difference for Soundwave.

I wondered why they patched him in and not me or Lord Megatron. We were the ones lying on the berths after all. But then I realized it. A human couldn't just be plugged in. Humans hadn't got any sockets or whatsoever.

His gaze most likely held me on place – at least I thought it was - while one of his tentacles made its way up the berth, stopping right behind my head. My eyes widened in shock as I finally got a notion of what was about to happen. Unfortunately, I could not do anything against that, thus I took one deep breath and turned my head to the side, closing me eyes.

I already knew that in Soundwave's big tentacles, there were other ones. Many more small ones, looking rather organic than Cybertronian. I never touched them before and I had actually hoped I never would, but now they glided down my spine. Once again, I had to suppress the urge to swallow and instead shivered in disgust. Like worms it felt as they made their way over my skin, left me feel dirty and filthy, evoking a sick feeling in my stomach. I could feel how they placed themselves slightly offset on my spine, a slight flow of static coming through them. It wasn't painful or unpleasant; it just felt a bit odd. I opened my eyes, to look at Knock Out, who was kneeling beside the berth of Lord Megatron, the other end of the cortical psychic patch in hand. He gave me an encouraging smile – which also appeared a bit concerned - and then nodded up at Soundwave.

Suddenly, the slight tingle went into a real shock, running down my spine into my arms and legs, torturing my brain and making my whole body cramp. I bit on my tongue - forcing myself to stay mute - and tasted blood, though the whole thing did not last longer than one or two seconds. Thereafter everything went black.

"Daaadddy!"

My feet barely managed to carry me through the woods while I ran past all these trees, searching for him. He'd told me to count to three and then search. How mean. I always had to give him so much time and he was long gone! That was why I always turned around after one second. The chance of finding him was bigger like that.

"Daaaaaaddy!"

I tripped over a branch and fell onto the ground. Fortunately, the ground was dry and my dress didn't get too dirty. As I lifted myself up, I spotted red optics between the trees, although I thought they were much higher than they should be...

I didn't mind. Only daddy had red optics and daddy was nice. So I jumped up and toddled towards the red optics, spreading my arms.

"Daddy!"

But the closer I came, the less the carrier of those red optics looked like my Knock. His metal armor wasn't from this warm, beautiful and perfectly buffed red paint job. It was a silver, metallic and scratched armor, with sharp endings. This wasn't daddy...

"Birdie. I'm pretty sure you didn't count to three..."

I turned around, not minding the red-opticed man who looked down at me with a slightly tilted head, and ran towards my daddy. But I could still feel his presence, even when I couldn't make out his silhouette between the trees anymore.

Knock Out took the pretty picture I had painted for him and pinned it on the empty fridge. I had to smile at that. It was two times the size of the one we've had before, but the other one left no more space for my paintings, so daddy had brought a new one. Hannah thought it was a present for her, because today was her birthday, so I had decided to paint this picture for her and I had promised her to paint even more so that this fridge would be covered soon, too.

Knock sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and winked me over. I toddled towards him and he lifted me up, placing me on his lap.

I looked at my paintings. A big red Knock Out, saving Cybertron. The sign he wore all over his alternate-form - 'Decepticon insignia', how he had taught me it was called – in different colors and shapes.

A red-opticed Decepticon beating down a blue optic. I always forgot how they were called so I simply called them blue optics. They looked strange. Knock Out had once shown me a hologram of one...

Suddenly, I noticed a change in the windows. Daddy didn't seem to notice the red-opticed Transformer who knelt beside our house and looked inside through the window, tilting his head at me, then looking at the paintings and frowning.

"And that's Cybertron?"

I shoved a red curl out of my sight and leaned more forward, to investigate the hologram once more. Knock Out had finally shown it to me. He'd asked me what I wished for to my twelfth birthday and I had replied that I wanted to know more about Cybertron and the golden age.

"Of course. Though not in the golden age..."

"Neither in the wartime."

I knew how Cybertron had looked like in the wartime. Well, at least I knew it vague. From his war stories and his descriptions I had made myself a picture of it. Now I could improve it.

"Which one is it?" I asked, looking up at the sky in awe. I believed there was nothing more I wished of than to one day step a foot on its ground. How it must feel like?

"Hmmm... It should be about there. You see the really bright one there? Next to it, there is a less bright one. A few light years further away, there's Cybertron."

"So, I can't even see it?"

He shakes his head.

"And even if, only barely. But in the golden age one should have been able to see it from here."

"Fascinating..."

I flinched at the unknown voice that sent shivers down my spine. It had been really faint, but I was certain that it was somewhere behind me...

"Knock Out...?"

He groaned. My creator knew all too well what I wanted from him.

"Yesterday, I said no. The week before, I said no. What in the pits of Kaon makes you think I would agree today?"

I made a pout and looked up at him with the best puppy look I could manage.

"Of course I won't! What happens if you cause an accident? Then you're dead and my seat cushions are all soiled!"

I snorted. He was lying I knew that. If I really was about to make an accident, he would be taking over. He was way too worried about his finish to take the risk.

"But I've gone to the Autobot base, have had my audience with Lord Megatron and am a respected spy!"

Now he snorted.

"A respected spy? Birdie, you're everything but that. You're a child and I'm your creator!"

"It's not like you can play the 'I-got-through-a-lot-of-pain-with-your-birth-and-n ow-you-owe-me-big-time'- card. You're not my mother."

As soon as the words left my mouth I already regretted them. Even before the expression of shock and hurt flashed across Knock Out's face and although it only stayed for a few seconds, it was obvious that this had really been below the belt.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't mean that!"

I had always known that he wasn't my real father. He had never kept that a secret from me, neither the fact that my parents were dead. But he had never told me why. And the fact that he wasn't my real father made him sick. I knew he was trying to hide that, but I knew it ever since I figured out he was trying to be the best foster father ever existed and one day I even figured out that it wasn't important to me who had been my real parents. Certainly, one day that would come up and bother me, but Knock Out was all I needed. I didn't need a mother and a father when I had the best creator!

"I know, Birdie."

There I stood. In front of Optimus Prime. The cruel murderer of so many Decepticon comrades. The one who took the life out of my home planet, Cybertron, and who brought us the war.

"You lied to us!"

No battle mask, no weapons and yet I still managed to get goose bumps on my arms. It was his voice. His simple voice. Unfortunately, I had to confess, that his voice was the most impressive one I had ever heard. Ingenious, epic, rough, dark and yet so soothing. For a second, I understood why so many transformers were Autobots. If he held a speech, the whole universe must go silent.

"Everything humans know of our planet, we were told, it'd all been shared. So why was this found in human possession?" He pointed to the desk. Now, I got aware that there was something lying on the desk. It was round, like a ball and had broken wires on some sides. I've never seen anything like this before.

"We've been in the dark on this, also. It was director only clearance in sector 7, also now." Then, Charlotte Mearing suddenly turned to me. "The bag."

Oh shit! I searched around hectically, not knowing which one she meant. "Which bag?" I whispered slightly panicked. Her eyes narrowed and she hissed at me like a snake. "Hermes berkin, green ostrich!"

Then she turned to Optimus and whispered "Oh my god."

I quickly grabbed the bag and rushed over to her, freezing when Optimus Prime's gaze caught mine and I staggered backwards when he finally let go of it, after what felt like eons. Then I met Bumblebee's gaze. He looked sad. Because of me?

With time, the Autobot leader's face became friendlier. Damn, he could act. Lord Megatron would've torn the dragon's head off if she'd ever talk to him like that.

For about thirty minutes, I tried to listen to them and was surprised to see this side of the Prime. It was already a miracle that Lord Megatron permitted me inside the Decepticon ranks, though I was probably one of the lowest there. How could the Prime, who had been treated as a deity back in the golden age, see all these vermin crawling around him? Was all this really worth getting a small advantage against the Decepticons?

"Knock Out, I've seen enough!"

I let out a scream at the sudden voice of my master. What was he doing here?

I turned around to stare up at him. He stood directly in front of me and Optimus Prime, yet he did not try to terminate the Prime...

I couldn't decide what to do. Either I would bow as I was told to do whenever I saw him or I stayed in my role as I was told to do before the mission.

I decided for the latter.

With a silent scream I woke up, looking around the room frantically. Just a second later, I recognized my surroundings as the med-bay of the Decepticon warship and relaxed a bit. Soundwave had pulled his tentacles back and looked down at me, showing me my reflection.

My heart was pounding and my forehead was wet, like when you wake up after a bad nightmare, although my hair was still as good as before. My eyes were widened in shock and my shoulders lifted and lowered, as if to underline my heavy panting.

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and gazed over at Lord Megatron who stood up and left the room without another word. Knock Out rolled the patch up and laid it into a shelf under one of the screens. He looked exhausted and concerned, yet he smiled at me. Finally a true smile.

"Soundwave, you saw it too, didn't you?" I asked weakly, not daring to lift myself up. I felt dizzy and had to hold onto the berth, feeling as if I was falling down all the way to rock bottom. The communications chief gave one slow nod.

"Good or bad?" Knock Out asked, fiddling around with something. Soundwave only nodded once more, now looking at Knock Out, observing his movements as he appeared to come closer to me, from behind.

"Ouch!" I suddenly called out, getting a rough laugh as a response. A needle buried itself in my arm once more and blue liquid disappeared in my blood circulatory system.

"You would have forgotten to do that daily, wouldn't you?"

"Imighthave... doneit... ifyouhadgivenmesomemoretime..." I mumbled with injured pride.

"Last time has been yesterday five breems ago. Sweetspark you actually have to do that at the exact same time." he said and pulled the needle out again, smiling down at me.

I could feel something. On the contrary to yesterday, I could feel how it helped my body, how my heart slowed down and the dizziness went away. How my whole body got stronger, not hulk like strong, but as if I did a lot more sports.

"How am I supposed to do that? I won't be able to remember that every day!" I exclaimed.

"I know. I'm already working on something, but until then you should at least try it." With one finger he helped me up and then gave Soundwave a look. "Lord Megatron wishes to talk to me, Nightbird. It won't take long. Just stay here and don't do anything stupid."

"Seriously? When did I ever do anything stupid?"

"Trick question? Otherwise I wouldn't have to inject energon into your circulatory system, eh?"

Then he disappeared and the door hissed shut behind him. I stood up looking at Soundwave whose gaze appeared to be locked onto the door as if he expected Knock Out to come back any second.

"Soundwave?"

His faceplate turned around, acknowledging my request for his attention.

"What happened with Knock Out?"

For a second, I thought he wouldn't answer, but then the screen on his faceplate flickered to life and I could see a completely messed up and scratched certain medic, entering the Decepticon base in fury.

"Can you believe what the Autobots did to me?"

Lord Megatron stepped closer, looking down at him with a dangerous expression of anger.

"Did you retrieve the relic?!" he barked.

"No, master."

"Then I suggest you convince me of your continued usefulness, starting with examining Laserbeak, doctor. Otherwise this may as well be the end of experiments of yours I used to tolerate."

Experiments of his? By the pits of Kaon! Lord Megatron threatened Knock Out with killing me! I meant everything to him! Even more than his paint job!

"By the pits of Kaon..." I spoke out loud, my gaze falling to the ground. So he did have more to worry about. And I just had to be so stupid and cause him more problems!

"Do you think Lord Megatron will... accept me?"

I just couldn't believe I had been so stupid! And I didn't even notice in how bad shape he was! Soundwave nodded. At least that was good news. Who knows what would have happened to Knock Out if Lord Megatron killed me? Okay, I'm no hero here, I'd be freaking afraid if I knew he was about to kill me. I've seen how he slaughtered Autobots and I certainly did not want to end the same way they did...

"Thank you, Soundwave."

The communications chief nodded and offered me a hand. I shook my head, but thanked him for the offer. First: I would have to learn coming down from these berths myself one day and second; I'd rather stay here and wait for Knock Out.

Gracefully, he turned around and left the room, leaving me alone in the dim lit med-bay. I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face in between. Before even realizing what I did, my body started shivering with sobs escaping my throat. Everything, all the feelings I had held back within the past few month since the Decepticons found out about my existence, all the fear and guilt and anger and hate came out at once. I wanted to scream, to shout, to run and run and never stop. I wanted to fly, jump of the warship and fly away. Fly to Cybertron and see what the Autobots had done to our home!

As always, I did not hear him as he entered the room. I only heard the door hiss open and then I felt his tail wrapping around my body, his head nuzzling my back as he tried to comfort me in his own way.

"I'm ridiculous, right? No Decepticon cries."

I knew what he thought when he started purring. To him and probably many others of the warship, I was still a youngling, probably even a sparkling. I was allowed to cry and complain. Knock Out knew that I was actually older if one would only convert my earthian age into the one of a Cybertronian, but of course no one did that and I guessed that was good for me.

I cuddled closer into Ravages chest armor, listening to his steady spark beat. I could feel mine going slower, steadier, starting to adjust to his...

"What the... What are you two doing?!"

Ravage jumped up and hissed at Knock Out, then jumped off the berth and disappeared. I could see Knock Out's optics twitch; his hands were clenched to fists. I tried to give him a smile.

"He was just trying to give me some comfort, Knock..." He kneeled down and brushed a scan over my body, shaking his head while doing so.

"Do you not ever do that again, did you understand me?" he roared and caused me to flinch. I didn't even dare to ask why.

"You two could have bonded!" he shouted and his red optics burned with fury.

"No! It's not like we love each other or anything like that!"

"And it's not like only sparkmates can get a bond! There are different types of bonds and if you had read the data pad I had given to you, you would know that!"

"I have and I know! Now stop screaming at me! Nothing happened, okay?" He rose and took a step back, massaging the space between his optics. After what felt like millennia he looked back at me and sighed.

"Do you know what Lord Megatron would have done to you if he knew you shared a bond – of any kind! - with one of his soldiers? Decepticons are not allowed to share bonds unless Lord Megatron makes an exception. Soundwave is allowed to share a bond with his drones because he has had one ever since their creation. The seekers are allowed to share bonds because a trine hasto share them. But that's it! There are no other kinds of bonds allowed unless permitted."

I looked to the ground in shame and nodded. I wasn't used to him scolding me. He never really did that.

Something told me that I had to help him, somehow. I had to convince Lord Megatron from Knock Out's usefulness and trustworthiness. I owed him that.

Thanks for reading and please Review ;)

Your reviews are my bread, I'm starving without them...

BTW check out a little ficlet my good friend Girl Supersonicboy (Luuuuuvv you!) wrote down while we had a... chit chat xD it's called : The Twisted Adventures of Two Knock Out Fangirls