When he sat up, Miko exploded into a victory cheer! "BOOYAH! ROCK ON, OPTIMUS!"
This caught the Prime off guard. Confused, he looked himself over and even put a servo on his helm, as if he was looking for something... "Where?" He asked.
The girl's little party was instantly deflated, as she facepalmed herself. The other humans sniggered, but before Miko could get started on them, they heard how Zucky was finally starting to stir awake. {"Hey, she's waking up."} Raf whispered as he tried to get everyone's attention, so not to startle her.
The dragon yawned long and stretched a bit before she even opened her eyes. She carefully opened them, because it's been a while since she's done that, in the real world at least. As she fluttered her eyes open to help them focus better, Jack had noticed something odd in her eyes though.
{"Did you guys...see that?"} He whispered. He could have sworn her eyes were in an unusual combination of shades of green.
"See what, Jack?" Nurse Darby asked.
"Look." The young man pointed at Zucky's eyes. She blinked a couple times before she fully opened them. This time the nurse did see them. Once the dragon stopped blinking and had them open normally, they were the usual normal colors that they always known her for having.
Zucky tried sitting up after her vision was back to 100% and she finally realized she wasn't alone in the room. "Oh, Hi every- OOF!" The dragon got tackled by Miko who grabbed hold of her and didn't want to let go.
The girl was trembling a little bit and Zucky hugged her back. Miko was crying but played it off as much as she could, but her body betrayed her in that department. She didn't have to say anything, but somehow Zucky knew she had blamed herself for what happened.
"Heh, yeah...I missed you guys too, by the way." The dragon chuckled and waved at them as she was still being held captive. She was trying to cover for Miko until she pulled herself together.
"What? Didn't bring us any souvenirs?" Arcee jokes.
"Nah, the place wasn't too great either, to begin with; Service was atrocious! 0/5 Stars. Would not recommend it as a vacation destination." Zucky ran with the joke.
The others laughed, glad to hear Zucky was not traumatized, as far as they could tell. Optimus cocked an optical ridge, since he didn't get the joke at all, and Zucky made a mental note to explain it to him later, then Miko finally let go.
"Hey, I can finally have my body back! Oh, Never mind!" It was Raf's turn. "Guy's I'm not going anywhere!" Zucky chuckled.
"But you were gone way too way too long." Jack answered.
"You had us all very worried." June chimed in.
"I noticed..." The dragon answered sheepishly. "Sorry about that..." Her ears drooped. She just noticed that was a crazy stupid stunt she did back there. ["But if I didn't do it...would Raf have gone through the same thing I did just now?"]
["That was a pretty messed up experience! And besides living with mental scars for the rest of your life, all that energon discharge; I don't think he would have survived that..."] Zucky looked at the boy.
"Thank you for saving my life Zucky." He croaked. "I don't think I can ever pay you back for that one..."
["I've saved more than just one life, dude... If I didn't do what I just did, not only would the Autobot secret be out; but who knows what humanity would have done to the bots after that, cause I doubt even Agent Fowler would be able to cover that one up."] She picked up the yellow toy car.
"No problem, Raf..." Zucky ruffled his hair a bit. "And you kidding me, man? You promised me to show me that new track you guys been working on, didn't you? You didn't think I was about to let you slip away with that, did ya?" She raised the car for emphasis.
Ratchet cleared his intake.
"Just as soon as I get the all clear from the doctor of course." The dragon quickly added.
"You did listen!" Raf said excitedly.
"And, I remembered." Zucky added. "I may have been down and out, but I wasn't gone yet...not by a long shot."
"Thanks for believing in me. It was getting pretty depressing there, once I realized I couldn't talk to anyone. Then this little guy shows up." Zucky explains as she looks at the tiny vehicle. "There was this sudden bravery that overtook me out of nowhere. I was outmatched in all the possible ways, Knockout almost won that battle."
"Yet, he did not." Optimus added.
"Right. I knew that so long as I have friends, I could count on, I'm never alone in this. No matter what he throws at me, he's never gonna win this." The dragon finished.
"Indeed. I've made sure of it." The Prime said.
"Wait...you mean...You were in my head as well?" Zucky asked.
Optimus nodded.
"H-how do you bots even do that?!" The dragon was finding it all hard to believe. "I thought you were a figment of my imagination, to be honest. Although..."
"He had a lockdown on my imagination." Zucky finally said after a short thoughtful silence. "So it couldn't have been my mind either..."
Seeing how their friend was having trouble piecing it all together, they started explaining to her what happened after she lost consciousness. How the Cube was faulty, and that's why it went haywire. The moment they realized she wasn't alone in her head, and finally how they were able to patch Optimus in via the CPP.
"But...I still don't get how that's even supposed to have worked." Zucky finally said after she heard their side of the story. "Knockout was able to somehow do this because of my exposure to the energon from his fuel lines. Even with the patch, how was Optimus able to get in? You said it yourself, it's used to connect two bots together."
Everyone in the room was worried and unsure of whether or not it was a good idea to tell her. She basically just woke up from a coma, she's probably traumatized by the whole experience, even though she doesn't show it; "You aren't telling me I'm a...robot now...are you?!" She stood up and demanded to know, but the words coming out of her mouth were scaring her as well.
Ratchet's quick processor was able to come up with a suitable excuse that had its roots in truth anyway: "Look, we all had a long day, and it's going to take some time for you to understand what's just happened Zucky, but we're all tired and you need to give your mind a rest for now, alright? Besides, I have a job to do and sitting here talking about past events is not part of it."
"But...?" The dragon was about to ask, but got interrupted.
"Ep, ep-ep! Sit down, relax and and as soon as me and the good nurse are done here, you can go play and NO more talking about this; until I say so, Doctor's Orders. Comprende?" The medic didn't want to keep this from her, but he felt it was too early for such a huge info-dump, so he had to be firm.
"*sigh*... Si, Señor doctor..." Zucky pouted as she slumped back down in a cross-legged sitting position.
"Good, that also counts for the rest of you. Do not bring this up." He showed them the wrench he was still holding. "I mean it."
They all nodded vigorously.
"Excellent, now shoo! This is a Medical bay, not a chicken-coop!" Ratchet made sure to herd the rest of them out, save for June.
The nurse pulled out a small light and shined it in Zucky's eyes. She was checking on the dragon's pupillary reflex, but she still couldn't shake off what she and Jack saw earlier. June asked Zucky to blink several times, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. She took a little too long on one eye and switched eyes when she noticed the dragon was looking at her weirdly, as if she wanted to ask what's wrong, but of course she couldn't, as per Doctor's orders.
Several other exams were performed in deep silence, not that Ratchet minded. Everything checked out, physically at least. Obviously Zucky had a lot to process and there were quite some things that bothered her, but they refrained from asking her, otherwise he would be contradicting his own orders. He was mentally kicking himself for saying what he did, but from what he heard, and the notes he took thereof, suffice to say he had some quite some homework to do.
So...what about Knockout?
Getting into Zucky's mind, compared to all previous times was a whole lot easier this time. This was due to the accident she had during the Cube game. It apparently had knocked her into stasis mode, thus rendering her mentally vulnerable.
This was perfect, having performed Mnemo Surgery several times before; he has mastered the art of rewriting memories. This was going to be fun. Knockout always did find torturing his "patients" rather amusing. Psychological torture, even more so.
All throughout the ordeal he made Zucky go through, the red bot was having the time of his life! 'Revenge is a dish best served cold' after all. And that's exactly what he wanted her to feel, the cold dark embrace of the loneliness. Having poked around in her memories, the con knew this was what life's been like for her this whole time.
Never truly fitting in, no matter what shape she took. But there was a phase two to the plan that Knockout had for her, but he just couldn't resist taking out his anger on the little monster for what she's done to him in a very short span of time.
He was going to make her pay for each and every one of her transgressions. But most of all he wanted her to know who was the one in control from now on. The con then noticed how she just goes unconscious. Did she really think she could get away from him that easy?!
He started kicking at her until finally she was awake again. After all, the fun was only just starting. The red bot grew bored of these creature's limited primal sounds, and granted her back her ability to speak. Remarkably after all that she still has a little fight in her left, not much brains though.
What's possibly making her think that a puny flesh creature like herself, has any chance going up against a Cybertronian? Knockout may never know, but he still commends her for trying. It's what's kept all of this interesting this whole time, after all.
That and he's had his fill of his although handsome, (for a fleshy) exterior and finally sheds it for something more durable and honestly more comfortable, in his opinion. Next it was her futile attempts at transformation. The red bot knew what she wanted to do; a repeat of how she overpowered him last time and chased him out of her dreams!
Like the pits of Kaon, he was going to let her do that again! It was almost cute though; how she struggled futilely to make it happen anyway; like that of a youngling, trying out transforming for the very first time, but just not managing it yet.
This almost made him feel bad for her...keyword is almost. Not by a long shot was Knockout going to pity her! The 'surgery' continued until she got the bright idea that she could easily outrace him?! Please! He still obliged and after giving her a head start, charged after her full throttle!
She tripped and fell, but instead of getting back up and trying again, she decided to curl up and await her demise. Pitiful. Best put it out of its misery then; not because the con wanted to end her suffering, but because he knew all these injuries were all just figments of her imagination.
He was the one who was making them look and feel real to her. But she didn't need to know that. All she needed to be aware of, was that this was her personal endless nightmare, from which there was no escape.
But what Knockout didn't count on was an invisible wall appearing out of nowhere right in front of his victim! He crashed into it with all the speed and force the con could muster, and it had knocked him clean out of his vehicular mode!
["What the?"]
She did apparently hear him hit the wall, but she couldn't see him? No, she couldn't be recovering! Not yet! He's NOT done with her! Knockout started hitting the wall with all his strength. Punching and kicking mercilessly at it. She noticed this and picked up a small yellow vehicle and ran off with it.
That thing seems to know this place well, it leads her to a possible hiding spot. But how? The red bot was in control of this world now. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide! Knockout pounded away as she seemed to have disappeared into the darkness, until finally the wall lost the fight, leaving the Con free to stomp about in search of his prey.
Hide and go seek, eh? Sure, why not? It wasn't very long until the con found them though. After all, humans do give off distinct odors in accordance to their emotions, and it didn't help her much as she was sweating with fear now.
He grabbed her, but for some reason that small vehicle lashed out at him! Knockout dropped her and she started to escape, but he caught up with the duo in no time and made short work of the diminutive nuisance. Apparently she named it after the Autobot scout's little pet.
Clearly it was time for negotiation. Phase two of his little plan. The con very smoothly segued into the topic of what qualities she had that made her a perfect candidate for a decepticon. Unsurprisingly, she refused. Shaking his helm, he placed her back down and made his point all the more clearer in reminding her how much power he really was in possession of.
With barely a gesture and a thought, the red bot could puppeteer her for a bit, whilst emphasizing his words, after all; intimidation is what rules the roost when it comes to any group of cons. But he's not a completely horrible Con either; coos and pet names are always welcome. After all, he's practically her sire.
She didn't want to accept that reality however. The Autobot medic has poisoned her thoughts with lies. How low are these Autobots willing to stoop to keep the truth away from her, anyway? Knockout broke out into a hearty laughter.
The creature wasn't as amused however, and dared to insult his faceplate after it was defiled by the little yellow pest. She's a real piece of work, isn't she? And what's worse; she knows exactly how to push all of his buttons. The con snatches her up and resumes the torture.
Negotiation was boring anyway. He could do this all day, all night and never grow tired of it! This time he took his time with her, puppeteering her whilst he went over his whole side of the adventure.
Knockout shared how the entire ordeal that she made him go through, ruined his day and spared no detail as he used the girl to provide illustration for his story. The red bot was really getting into his story and taking it very seriously, but somehow, Primus only knows why; The human managed to chuckle at his words?!
Obviously she wasn't as terrified anymore for some reason. Either that or she's finally lost her mind, but either way; he was NOT gonna be made a mockery of! NOT AGAIN! Using his newfound abilities, he turned the background into that of the storm stricken skies with them standing on the deck of the Nemesis!
A little excessive? Perhaps, but at least it reawakened her fears, and that's exactly what he wanted. The con's mission was made clear to him by lord Megatron himself: To hunt her down and bring her back to him! And if it took this much effort to do so, then .It!
The reality seemed to have finally dawned upon her, as she started thrashing about in his grip, screaming and begging for him to stop. Knockout only had a single word for her: "No..." The con whispered into her ear with an ice cold layer of cruelty, and with one swift and powerful kick, she was sent flying off deck into the precarious depths below.
"KNOCKOUT!" There was a thunderous roar that caught the con by surprise. It echoed loudly as it came from behind the red bot; he knew what it sounded like, but he wished it wasn't what he thought it was.
He didn't want to turn around, but the red bot was not given any more time to decide, it all happened so fast! When he finally turned around, Knockout was sent flying off the deck of the Nemesis! He caught a fleeting glimpse of the Prime, who in turn transformed back to his bot mode, and fired a charged shot at him for good measure!
How did he not see this coming?! Was this what the girl was laughing at? She knew, didn't she?! SCRAP!
Knockout's body reacted so violently, he was as if he was tossed with an immense strength from an invisible force, off his Berth, across the room and into the opposing wall!
After being booted off the deck of the Nemesis, the con found himself flying uncontrollably before he finally started falling down into another part of the ocean, which wasn't exactly what he wanted, considering the flashbacks of his close encounters with Megatron's ire, that started flashing through his processor.
But to his surprise what looked like a groundbridge opened up where he was about to land. To his delight, at least he wouldn't have to deal with barnacles, but...To his dismay, however; it looked like he was now going to land in what looked like one of earth's Cactus fields...
Hello, scratched up finish! When he finally got up with an aching chassis, to look around to see where he was going to find the way out of the field; he realised that there wasn't any. He belted out an aggravating cry of defeat that carried on for miles on end!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back on the Nemesis, half the ship's crewmates as well as Megatron were rudely awoken from recharge from Knockout's sudden outcry.
Starscream had been startled awake as well, but shrugged once he was reminded of his own predicament. ["Eh, no skid plate off my entril..."] And proceeded with his recharge.