Chapter 28 - POV Rylee
Rain poured down from the sky, lapping the windows of the cab that Rylee laid her head upon. It was overcast, and fog heavily obscured her view. It was a shame, it would likely be this dark and gloomy until night, which was only a few hours from then. The window glass she laid her cheek on was freezing, but she ignored the sensation. The cab driver kept looking back at her in the front mirror concernedly, but said nothing. She turned her attention back to the weather outside. She had too much to think about. And to keep herself from thinking, she'd focus on the most mundane thing possible - the weather. The rain. The fog. Sunset would be soon - not that it mattered, since it felt like dusk already.
"Hey," the cab driver called, and Rylee broke out of her trance and looked up at him. "Are… are you okay? Something happen? You seem kind of down." Rylee hesitated, and he continued. "And are you the famous racer? Rylee Amari? I don't know if you get out much, but the people of this town love you."
Rylee couldn't muster a chuckle, but did the closest she could, and smiled. "Me? Why?"
"You're the underdog! A girl, coming out of nowhere, beating all the trained professionals that have been doing it for years? You really showed 'em all up, especially the arrogant ones." Rylee smiled, but in a way it was also pained. Thanks. But it was all practically Knockout. What use am I, really?
"So…" the man continued after her silence. "We're heading to the airport. One of your championship games is tomorrow. You uh… pickin' someone up?"
"No," Rylee said, continuing to look out the window.
"I see," the man said and was silent for a while. Rylee looked out the window. She could barely make out the environment, but it looked like they were passing by Phoenix Ark. He took the right road, then. "You ah… have a fight with your crewmates? Your sponsor?"
Rylee chuckled lightly. "You could say that."
"Hmm," he said, and they kept driving in the downpour for a while, before he finally continued. "I hope you change your mind. You're an inspiration to us all."
"You don't understand!" Rylee had a brief flash of anger, but it quickly subsided. She unclenched her fists and laid her cheek against the glass again. "I'm sorry. I don't want to leave. But I don't have much choice." He grunted in recognition, but she had the feeling she disappointed him. Not the first person I've disappointed. What else could she do, though? If she stayed, nothing would've changed. She would have remained compliant to someone she completely trusted… that was lying right to her face. She just couldn't do it. Something had to give.
A car came racing out of nowhere, obnoxious honking emanating from it. Rylee looked back - it was Knockout. She didn't know whether to feel surprised or not. Similarly, she didn't know whether to feel relief or to feel dread. In fact, it was a bit of all of them.
"Ey! Who's that jerk?" the cab driver looked back at Knockout, who was tailgating them, with a scowl. His eyes then widened. "Is that… a race car? Is that your race car?" Knockout quickly passed them up and decelerated in front of them, forcing them to slow their speed exponentially, and kept honking.
"What's that guy's problem?" he scowled again. "Alright, I'm gonna pass him."
"No. Stop the car."
The cab driver slowed the car and looked back at her in surprise. "What?"
"Stop the car. I'll pay you full wage, just leave me here."
He looked conflicted. "Are you sure? It's… miles to civilization. There's practically no cell phone reception. This doesn't feel the safest place to drop you off." He then looked forward at Knockout. "Or the safest place to commune with people you were just fighting with."
Rylee sighed. "Thank you. But I'm okay. Despite everything, I trust him."
"Hmm." He continued, but finally he lowered his head and stopped the car. "Fine. Fine. I just really… don't want to find you dead on the news a week from now. I don't want that on my conscience… knowing I left you here and did nothing about it."
Rylee smiled and touched his shoulder, and he looked back at her. "Thank you. I'll be fine. If he really wanted me dead, I'd already be." She passed him the fare, and promptly stepped out of the car. The cab driver looked at the dollar bills with the expression of slight dread, like he just accepted blood money. But he lowered his hat in salute to her, and took off. Rylee waved goodbye and he smiled in response: until he caught sight of Knockout - particularly, how he had no driver. Despite his expression of consternation, he didn't turn around. He kept going, until it was just Rylee and Knockout.
Rylee sternly crossed her arms and slowly walked up to him, the rain thoroughly soaking her. "What are you doing here, Knockout?"
"I… I came to say…" she could hear a certain pain in his voice, despite not being able to see his face. "Um… You look miserable. Why don't you get inside?"
"No thanks."
"The rain can't be good for you, though. And in the cold? You'll catch, er… Thundercracker told me about it. New-loan-ya."
"Pneumonia. And I'm good." The rain soaked her socks now. Yeah, she didn't know how long she'd truly be 'good' for. Walking miles in this weather could be nothing but bad for her health.
Knockout transformed to robot mode, a look of desperation in his face, and Rylee's eyes went wide. "Knockout!" she hissed. "We're on a public road!"
"You may not trust me enough to… ah… get in, but at least come with me to the forest to find cover. I know you're angry at me but putting your health in jeopardy isn't the answer." He walked past her into the forest. Rylee sighed. He was right. But he wouldn't be putting her life in jeopardy in the first place if he hadn't stopped her car… and to a greater extent, even dragged her to NASCAR in the first place. She begrudgingly followed him. Their trek up the mountain was a bit of a long one, and silent for the most part. At one point Knockout asked if he could carry her, or at least shield her from the rain. She refused. She made sure to maintain a distance between them. Finally as they got to their destination, Rylee realized she recognized where they were. The last time they were at Phoenix Ark together, they sat at that one boulder by the cliff and had their talk. Knockout moved past the boulder however, and to an outcropping beside it. There, the cliff above shielded from the rain. Knockout excitedly gestured to a boulder beside him, and he sat down. Rylee resentfully sat beside him, hugging her knees on the boulder. They were practically at eye level now - one of the few times they'd ever been.
"So… what is it? What is it you tracked me down to say that you couldn't say at base?" Rylee finally broke the silence.
"I… well… I…" Knockout gaped. "Were you actually heading to the airport?"
"Maybe." Rylee looked off in the distance. "How did you know I was here? Passing by Phoenix Ark, I mean."
"I didn't," Knockout said wistfully. "I just… I hoped."
The edge of Rylee's mouth curled into a smile, but she quickly hid it. "Well. You found me. What next? Because as of now, after this conversation I'm still planning on walking right to the airport, rain be damned."
Knockout looked a bit lost. "Rye… I'm sorry. I should've told you a long time ago, and I should've told you back at the hangar, it was just that I… I…" He looked away. He seemed like he couldn't find the words.
Rylee lightly touched his shoulder, and finally allowed a smile. "It's okay. I know. Miko had me on speaker after I left."
Knockout looked back at her with alarm. "What?"
"Immediately after I left, she called me. When she finally gave up on begging me to come back, she told me to just listen. I didn't know what I was listening for… until I heard you."
Knockout squirmed. "That's… that's not right. What if I had said something embarrassing?" His optics went wide. "I did say something embarrassing," he said quietly, in horror, now covering his face with his hands.
Rylee barely contained a giggle. "Knockout, I think that's the point. I know you probably couldn't bring yourself to personally tell me that stuff, for some reason. But just hearing you say it at all…" She looked out into the distance, to the city… to the lights of the airport, where she was supposed to be right now. "It gave me hope." She then gravely looked back at Knockout, who had an ambivalent expression. "I can understand your past hesitation now. But that doesn't change the fact that you still haven't told me anything. Or given proof that I can trust you to be truthful with me in the future."
Knockout perked up. "Okay. Alright! Ask me anything! I'm an open book."
"Really?"
"Yes. Explaining the whole war's obviously a tough one… but now that you know the whole story… well…" Knockout tilted his head. "Ask anything, from morbid to scandalous to insipid. I'll answer all. Want to know my formula for Synth-En? Sure. How much energon is consumed per second powering the nemesis? Got that. How many Iacon relics I've stolen from the Autobots? I always keep that number at the top of my head. Why I joined the Decepticons? Long story, but we'll have time. And how…" he hesitated, and looked down. "How many people have I killed?" He tapped his finger on his knee, looking regretful. "That's a harder one, but I'll find an answer."
"Anything?" she leaned closer. "Is this just a one-time thing?"
"No," Knockout finally shook his head, still avoiding eye contact. "Ask any time. Whatever it takes to earn back your trust."
"In that case, most questions of mine can wait!" Rylee smiled.
"Most?" Knockout asked inquisitively, but relieved.
"Yes," Rylee smirked mischievously. "I have one. Did you really get stuck in a wall?"
"Agh!" Knockout grabbed his head. "That dimwit Smokescreen trapped me in there! It wasn't my fault!"
"Yeah, you've said that before, but you made it sound like he had the advantage. He was literally locked up and somehow he got free and trapped you with your own device?" Rylee laughed.
"Jeez, how in depth did they make your little history run-down?" Knockout said painedly, but then laughed.
"It was enough. They tried to focus on you, but… well, Autobots honestly don't know much about you." They both sat there in silence, Rylee casually swinging her legs off the boulder.
"Are you sure that was your only question?" Knockout asked softly. "That was… well that was more of a joke. Think of the things you've asked me and I've avoided. I'll answer them all right now, I'll come clean. And after that, if you still want to go to the airport, I'll drive you there myself."
"The questions can be answered another day. All I needed to know is that they'll be answered one day." Rylee sighed, but smiled. "I'm not going to the airport. The second I saw you in the rear view mirror, I knew there was no way I could leave." She looked up at him. "I've never… had someone care about me enough to come after me. I'm always so used to being left behind." Rylee soon realized that the drop that fell upon her hand was not rain, but a tear. She felt her face, and quickly wiped it all away. "Ah. Jeez. I'm getting overly sentimental." Knockout said nothing for a while, and when she finally glanced back at him, he had the strangest expression on his face. It was anguish and euphoria, guilt and pride. He had a small smile, but his eyes contained an emotion unfamiliar to her.
"I already promised I wouldn't leave you, Rylee," Knockout finally said, smiling. "You think I'm a liar?"
Rylee snorted, and then immediately covered her lower face, hiding her grin. "Hah! You know what, I think I might just believe you now."
They both sat there in a somber bliss, watching as the heavens poured down on the Earth and the sky grew darker. The song of the forest emanated around them, the repetitive thum of rain hitting soil putting Rylee's mind at ease. Cooped up in the hangar for weeks at a time… unreasonably stressing about Thundercracker for a whole week… out here, in the rain with Knockout, all her problems seemed to melt away. Despite everything that transpired that day, this was the most calm she'd been in a long, long time.
"Well. You ready to go back?" Rylee moved to get up from the boulder, but Knockout stopped her.
"Wait."
"What is it?" She glanced at him - his expression was filled with both guilt and determination.
"I know I… and Thundercracker… and Smokescreen… all of us have kind of been freaking you out. And I never really thought too much about it, shrugged it off and waited for you to get over it. And well, you have, mostly, but I was kind of unfairly expecting a lot from you. A lot of trust, courage, etcetera. I only realized how freaky it must be when I imagined being at the mercy of the likes of Menasor or Trypticon. Now that's pretty scary!"
Rylee smiled reassuringly. "Knockout, it's okay. I can be fazed… very fazed every now and then, but I'm used to it by now. I -"
"No, Rylee, wait," Knockout interrupted. "It's not okay. I know it's not, and that's okay. And it's alright to be scared. Primus knows I'm the biggest coward on Cybertron." He took a strange device out of a compartment. "Fear can get the better of you when you feel you have no control." He held out a small circle to Rylee, about the size of a tablet. Rylee gingerly took it, and weighed it in her hands. It was obviously Cybertronian tech, and surprisingly lightweight.
"What is it?" she looked up at him, confused.
"It's Smokescreen's Elite Guard beacon. One tap of an emergency call and you can have all of Cybertron's Elite Guard on your location in an instant."
"What?" Rylee quickly tried to hand it back to Knockout. "I don't want to call the Elite Guard? Won't they arrest you?"
"Yes," Knockout pushed it back towards Rylee. "But the important thing is you'll be safe. If you ever feel endangered for any reason… by anyone… even me... don't hesitate to call. I've seen what it's like being stuck in a situation you can't get yourself out of. There's your way out."
Rylee looked at Knockout painedly, and he met her eyes with confidence. She finally took the device, and her hand hovered over the button. "And what if I called them right now? What then?" She tried to say confidently, but she knew he could see right through her bluster of an act.
Knockout shrugged and somberly smiled. "If you called them, they'd come. There's nothing I'm going to do about it. And I'd stay here with you until they arrived." They kept eye contact for a long time, before Rylee finally dropped her hand and her head, hair obscuring her face.
"You know I can't call them," Rylee placed the device on the boulder, attempting to put distance between her and it. "Even if I wanted to… I just couldn't bring myself to do it."
"You might think it's cowardly to save yourself or to ask for help. But sometimes, it's the bravest thing you can do." Knockout picked up the device and Rylee looked up at him. "Hold out your arm." Rylee held out her arm, and Knockout placed the device above it. With the click of a button, the device molded to fit her wrist.
"You're getting unusually philosophical" she smirked. "Are you still Knockout?"
"Hey, I've been around millions of years. You pick up some things," Knockout winked.
Rylee shook the wristband, but it stayed cemented in place. "Interesting. I hardly even notice it's there," Rylee remarked. "How, ah, do I remove it?"
"I'll tell you in a few days after you've promised not to take it off and 'accidentally' drop it into the nearest pond," Knockout smiles. "Not that that would do anything. Cybertronian tech is waterproof. You'd need something more along the lines of heavy artillery to destroy that thing."
She turned to him. "Wait, does Smokescreen even know I have this? Wasn't he supposed to get this back a while ago?"
"Nah, it's fine," Knockout waved her off. "I'm not gonna make it easier for him to betray us. Besides, I think the Autobots would all agree this is a far better use for it."
Rylee nodded and looked down at her device. It was all in Cybertronian, unreadable to her. But there were a few different circles she could press on the touchpad. "I'm assuming the big red button is the 'Elite Guard emergency call'?"
Knockout nodded. "The rest are things like data logs and communications, and I tried to get into that… but unfortunately it's password locked. Boo."
Rylee absentmindedly traced the outline of the device as the sun set lower on the horizon. There was now only a light sprinkle, and the gloom of the rain had lifted. However the Earth was just as dark - for the world was trading the darkness of a temporary rainfall for the darkness of a long, cold night.
"Want to head back now? We've been out here for a while."
Rylee clenched and unclenched her fist, trying to shake off her butterflies. "In a second. One last question. The question I was actually going to ask earlier. The same one you never answered for Jack."
Knockout leaned closer, thoroughly curious. "What? What is it?"
"Do you actually? Care about me, I mean?" She couldn't meet his eyes at first, but eventually she could meet his gaze. He looked touched, but he also looked at her as if she asked the most obvious question in the world.
He smiled.
"I always have."
Author's Note
Hey all, thanks for reading! I honestly never imagined myself writing this far into my story, but I'm glad I stuck with it, because we're reaching the end now! Don't get me wrong, there's still about at least 10 chapters left, but things start moving fast. And the chapters will start to become longer as well, so unfortunately it may take a while if I'm feeling unmotivated. But I promise I WILL finish it, whatever it takes. Thanks again for reading!