JMJ

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Arena

Flare Up hurried down the corridor. Her spark was hot and her mind was racing. Now that she was out of Arcee's presence and out of the company of everyone in the Nursery, she could not help her fear from building, but she just had to make it to Knock Out. That was all. She felt more like a hatchling now than when she had when she was one in the physical sense.

So helpless.

She paused suddenly at the hatchery door.

"Hmm?"

Movement inside.

She was sure she heard Knock Out's slow and light steady pace on the other side of the door. As she stood upright and stepped to the doorway's sensors they opened. She opened her oral vent to greet him. She was ready to burst with all the information complete or incomplete that she saw and heard in the nursery, but no sound came out after a few steps past the first shelf. Her oral vent stayed open.

It was not Knock Out she saw.

As she stood in near mid-step and gaping she beheld a Cybertronian unlike anything she had seen before. Starscream had looked harried and grisly, yes, but he still otherwise had looked about as normal as the others, but this…

This person, if indeed a person at all, did not appear to have a face. No optics, no oral vent. Strange designs almost like tattoos glowed eerily dark but intensely bluish all over his otherwise black and gray blade-sharp body. Snaking out from him were smooth graceful tentacles, one of which stretched out further than the others and was hooked into the scanning slot of one of the energon sacks and the pre-hatched Cybertronian inside.

The whole scene did not seem real; though it suddenly occurred to her that the place of scanning was originally for inserting "Common Knowledge" into a growing Cybertronian neural net.

She did not have long to think about it; though. Although the monster did not have a face like normal people that she could see, he was looking suddenly straight at her.

The only reason she was able to bolt back for the door in time was how far away she had been from him. He was on the other side of the aisle where the hatchlings were that would grow the largest. She leapt through the door and out into the corridor. With the image still burned over her optics, she ran quite literally right into Knock Out coming carelessly out of the medical center.

#

Skywarp was surprised to find that everything was going as they had planned so far.

The sound machine stopped Skylynx and Darksteel before they could attack. The Predaking was located. He was still somewhat injured and the sound machine worked well enough on him to allow Shockwave to get close enough to use his other device to knock him unconscious. Now it was just a matter of getting the mind altering device into the Predaking's head. Shockwave prepared for the operation as Skywarp stood watch.

He crossed his arms.

Like a bird of prey from his eerie, he glared out over the cliffs and crevices on this rather barren landscape from his perch just outside the Predaking's lair. He could still hear Skylynx and Darksteal from time to time wailing in their savage way, but it was only a distant echo. Otherwise all was quite quiet save the wind whipping around the sharp corners of his casing. It was wild and strong and seemed to want to rip it off, as in vane as the pursuit was. All that it accomplished in the end was a pale whistling.

Skywarp huffed gently to himself, and blinked otherwise unmoved.

A third sound rose behind the wind and further back than the Predacons.

There were only three Predacons, right?

Wait.

He knew that sound, and only too well. It was the revving engine of a ground vehicle.

Stiffening only minimally, he caught the glint of gleaming casing easily enough through following with Cybertronian innate skill the source of the sound. Aerial precision narrowed his optics closer-in than most sentient beings of non-Cybertronian stock could lock. He watched the all-terrain vehicle coming closer. Despite the winding path he had to take, he was obviously coming towards this location.

Skywarp's optics widened then.

The all-terrain vehicle was not alone either.

After a pause, Skywarp spun towards the entrance of the lair.

"Shockwave!"

Shockwave started. It was not every day that Skywarp's voice rose above a low speaking level, and it had been so sudden and he had been concentrating so hard that it broke his thoughts as coming suddenly through a barrier into another world. He turned sharply to Skywarp.

"They know we're here," Skywarp hissed.

"The Autobots? But that is not possible," said Shockwave coming to the opening of the cavern. "We should be shielded from their sensors."

He looked outside behind Skywarp, and Skywarp made room for his hefty bulk.

There was no mistaking it. There were Autobots coming.

"Soundwave," Skywarp called. "Send us a—"

"Wait," commanded Shockwave putting his hand onto Skywarp's arm firmly.

Skywarp threw him a glare as he pulled aloofly away.

"It will still be some minutes before they arrive," said Shockwave. "We will not get another chance to perform our mission. You go out and distract them. I will finish what we came to do."

Skywarp stared at Shockwave in disbelief with mouth slightly ajar. He did not move.

"There is no sign of Jetfire," Shockwave continued. "You will outrun them in flight-mode. Feign coming from another direction and lead them away from here."

When Skywarp still did not respond, Shockwave added impatiently, "Unless you're going to prove to me that you are more of a coward than Starscream…"

The leer on Skywarp's face returned, and it grew rather ugly in an unhurried conversion of his facial features. For a moment more it seemed that Skywarp meant not to budge, but just as Shockwave might have pressed Skywarp further, Skywarp leapt from the cavern and transformed low along the ground and glided along the back of the cavernous cliff to obey Shockwave's word.

He did not realize, however that the two or three Autobots coming their way were not the first, and he had not gone far before someone leapt from one of the jutting ledges. The weight landed right on top of him.

"Ack!" cried Skywarp.

He swerved and steadied himself right before crashing into a jutting stone.

For a split second he thought it was one of the Predacons, but that assumption was put to rights directly afterward.

"Skywarp," said a careless, somewhat amused tone. "Long time no see!"

The others had been meant only to draw him out?

Despite almost being crashed out of submission and still compensating for the unexpected weight, Skywarp snorted almost as carelessly as he recognized that voice, that tone, that maneuver he was pulling.

"Wheeljack."

At least Sea Spray had not jumped on him, but there was no body of liquid from which he might tear through the surface as he had to Thundercracker like some prehistoric benthic beast attacking a bird too focused on what was above him. The mighty Thundercracker had cracked open like an old-fashioned can of energon.

Skywarp hated Wreckers.

Wheeljack pounded the jet engines in the back. He was wasting no time.

Skywarp transformed. It was the only way to get him off, he knew, and that left them tumbling onto the ground, but Wheeljack had formed his landing into a neat roll.

The Wrecker was up before Skywarp had finished tumbling, but not soon enough to strike Skywarp without his knowing. He shoved himself to one side just in time to miss the blade that would have severed his neck from his head.

He could hear the sounds of blast fires in the distance where Shockwave was being attacked before being forced to fight this battle ahead of him. With a savage growl he fired his missiles back at Wheeljack before making a full physical leap towards him.

The missiles fired harmlessly against a jagged metallic cliff-face from the skilled movement of Wheeljack.

Starscream might have been able to use that small distraction to transform with full speed and bolt upwards in jet-form. He might have swerved round before the dust cleared and Wheeljack could grab him. But that was one thing Starscream had over most anyone Skywarp knew.

Just as he began activating his T-cog, Skywarp felt the blow to it. It was not enough to damage it, but it was certainly enough to feel the pain and stop his transformation. Despite the gagging cry he lifted his sharp feet for a kick, but Wheeljack was already shoving him with full force into a cliff wall.

#

"Ouff!"

Knock Out's optics flew open, and he looked down at Fare Up in surprise. Hardly had he stepped into the corridor before the collision. He did little more than stagger as she was so small, but as a full grown adult, she still had the strength to make him step back a pace or two after coming at him with full speed.

"Flare Up, where's the fire?" he demanded and through force of habit he had to glance down at his paint job, which had been scratched a little.

He frowned.

Flare Up pulled back, but she did not get out of his way as she cowered low before him and thrust a finger towards the hatchery.

"Someone's in there," she hissed barely above a whisper.

Knock Out lifted his head and made a face as he registered her words and alarm. Although fear instantly stung his mind, he was not about to run from the hatchery. He could not have guessed that it was Soundwave that was in there. He thought it far more likely that one of those "recruits" Arcee had mentioned had found its way in there.

With care, he reached out his electro staff.

Promptly but gently, he moved Flare Up aside and made his way to the hatchery door. He glanced back at her only briefly enough to catch her cringe, but just as the door opened for him, he was faced suddenly with a strong, thrusting force against his chest. Before he knew what hit him he was flung against the wall opposite the door. It was enough to rattle his insides and shake up his neural net.

He fell to the floor with a moan, and opened his optics on the doorway to see the tentacle retracting back to Soundwave— Soundwave looking as bold and proud as ever.

His jaw dropped.

Soundwave stepped towards him, and Knock Out quickly scrambled to his feet. Fear screamed at him to run or even play dead. He stood no chance against Soundwave. Airachnid had not even been a match for him. Knock Out's neural net flashed the memory to the forefront of how Soundwave had flung her into the floor with hardly any effort at all.

Knock Out did not even have a projectile weapon. He still had his electro staff, but close range fighting would only be surrendering to Soundwave.

At least Flare Up had made herself scarce. Flare Up was hidden in the medical center's corridor, and Soundwave's attention was on Knock Out, after all.

Without thought of what he would do afterward, he bolted into the entrance hall, where at least he would have more space to think even if he may not have time. Though, he had enough time to think it strange that he was not dead already. Was he really so a little a threat to Soundwave that he would not even bother to kill him?

Then Knock Out, with electro staff at the ready, spun around as he passed the circular crystal garden in the middle of the great hall.

Soundwave was there, though not in any big hurry, coming from the hatchery corridor. Here they stood as though in some sort of battle arena, and Knock Out knew that he would lose. A pessimist was not normally what he considered himself, but he was also a realist, and he could not think of any way he could survive this unless someone came to his aide, and even that would depend on who.

The stillness and silence, though short, was unbearable as Soundwave stopped at the edge of the arena and glared at Knock Out—at least Knock Out assumed he was glowering with some defiant stare, but, again, blankness was only a façade of the visor. It was possible he was downright smirking.

He could feel him taunting him without having to say a word, but the sentiment was more than clear. Soundwave would make Knock Out sorry that he changed sides as every plate and bolt and every line and every hinge would be ripped from each other before his living spark went dead.

Knock Out winced and clutched his electro staff hard as he tried to calm himself enough to at least make the unavoidable effort.

If he tried to leap over the garden, he would be struck down by a tentacle before he landed. If he tried to attack from either side of it, it would be just as devastating if less dramatic. He could not decide. And he did not have time to call for backup without Soundwave interfering. The seconds ticked by for eternity, it seemed, and Soundwave remained staring at him as though his very gaze would in time defeat Knock Out.

Maybe it was working; for the longer he stood there, the more anxious he felt, and the more his nerve faltered, until at last he could stand it no more, and moved forward.

Just as he thought, the tentacle made its move, but Knock Out did not even get a chance to leap as the tentacle itself crashed through the crystal shards shattering like crisp rainbow rain as they spattered about singing their piercing breakup song. Knock Out electrocuted the tentacle, but it still tripped Knock Out over onto his face again.

Soundwave was affected somewhat by the electrocution, and he visibly lurched, but he was hardly down as he moved another tentacle to shove Knock Out very hard into the floor just as he was trying to get up.

It yanked him through the broken shards of crystal. A lightshow of color blazed before his optics in seconds before he was thrown again down at Soundwave's feet.

"Oh…" Knock Out groaned.

A strange squeak escaped him next as the tentacle returned to grab his helm. It held his face into the floor.

I'm joining the winning team Knock Out's old voice suddenly echoed from Soundwave's recordings.

Knock Out blinked into the floor.

He would have rolled his optics at the pettiness of this had he been in a little better condition to do so.

"Oh, come on," Knock Out could not help but mutter despite himself. "That's the best you can do?"

The tentacle lifted his head suddenly and slammed it into the floor again so hard Knock Out's vision briefly blipped. Then Soundwave flipped him over. To prove that there would be no more games and possibly no more torture either, he aimed his free tentacle at his chest, while the one on his head remained.

Knock Out's electro staff was lost in the ruins of the crystal garden. He could feel Soundwave's gaze, whatever the expression, right through his visor aiming right for his spark.

Knock Out could feel his spark blazing inside him, and he knew it could at that very second blaze its last and that that intense heat could instantly turn cold. Not even when lying in a pool of his own energon on that Earthen byway after being attacked by Swindle and Deadend had he felt so in tune with its subtle hum always inside him keeping him warm and alive as he stared in horror up at his own reflection off of Soundwave's visor. He could not withhold his useless panting now as he squeezed his optics shut.

"No!" shrieked a high-pitched voice.

#

Of course, it was Flare Up.

As she shrieked she fired. Most Cybertronians were born with a small laser— the kind that Knock Out had never reequipped himself with after he had changed his laser for more scientific tools.

It barely skimmed Soundwave along the side of his back. Though, it took some doing for a hatchling to hit a skilled warrior like Soundwave despite its ineffectiveness. It did give Knock Out time to get his hands in gear as a buzz saw and a drill.

As Flare Up tried to keep firing at Soundwave, a tentacle lunged for her.

Terror worse than the terror for himself struck Knock Out. That thought of Flare Up's death before his optics caused a fear he had never felt before. He sliced faster than he thought possible right into that tentacle aiming for her before he or Soundwave or Flare Up knew it had happened.

Flare Up fell backwards for the most part unhurt; though she let out a cry. Soundwave actually was staggered enough from the sudden pain and shock for Knock Out to escape his grasp, and this all happened quite fast as one fluid motion as some bizarre, human modern ballet. And it was not over yet. As Knock Out leapt to his feet and spun around he felt a sudden painful jolt on his chest as a tentacle yet again shoved him backward into the floor.

He slid until his back wheels rammed into the wall. He had to flatten their axels quickly or they would have been completely broken off. One cracked suddenly anyway, and he felt sick at that crunching sound. His thick back and collar plating did their job in protecting his already woozy head as he slid to the floor.

Soundwave was up to him now. He put a foot just below Knock Out's chest. Before his optics Soundwave's clawed tentacle began to spin saw-like and dove into his chest like one of Jetfire's burrowing wyrms.

It lasted mere seconds.

Knock Out tried to fight back uselessly with his own saws but the other tentacle, though damaged it may have been, worked well enough to get in his way from damaging the digging tentacle. It broke one way off.

He could see even with optics wide open, his "life flashing before his eyes" as human's said.

It was a funny kind of life, Knock Out had to admit, but at least he ended it well in trying to protect Flare Up. He could almost see Optimus Prime giving him courage to face the seconds after when his destroyed spark chamber would be in Soundwave's claws.

Or maybe he was giving him courage to live… He could almost see him as clearly a moon poking through on an otherwise dark starless night. His face, his optics, his motion…

But mostly he knew it was courage to continue living rather than dying, because instead of a buzzing blade going through his chest any further, Knock Out found himself taking the hand offered him. He was thrust upright by Optimus as through the surface of the sea—

No.

No, that was not right.

He was being pulled from behind— right through the wall and then into the floor!

He landed bodily and noisily, but he was not anymore hurt than when he first went through the wall.

Gasping and tensing and staring with optics wide, Knock Out sprawled on his back. Even the pain in his chest was not enough to break him out of his utter shock and disbelief for a few seconds as he stared into the blackness surrounding wires, lines, and pipes below the floor. He could barely pant in his stupor.

"Knock Out!" hissed Smokescreen.

His face suddenly spawned right in Knock Out's as he tried to get his attention, and he shook his shoulders.

"Hey, Knock Out, you okay!?"

Smokescreen winced and cringed visibly as he stepped back again at the sight of the hole in Knock Out's chest. Only by a hair, it had not reached the actual spark chamber. The glow of his spark pierced out from it and shone against Smokescreen's wide optics.

At last Knock Out's optics rose to Smokescreen, after taking note in his phase shifter. He smiled, though very weakly.

"Cutting it close there, aren't you, Smokescreen?" he wheezed.