Updated - 17~03~2020
7
"What do you mean with 'it's my fault', Knockout?" Rafael looked at the steering wheel seriously, like never before.
The cybertronian didn't answered immediately. "I designed it." He silenced. "Long ago. I was in charge of designing the best weaponry for the Decepticon army back on Cybertron. I didn't liked it, but I had to. Our weapons weren't as efficient as we wanted them to be, so they asked me to come up with something it would be the ultimate Autobot destroyer. I eventually came up with some ideas. The most deadly ones I kept them for myself, making sure they never saw the daylight. But I had to present something, and this idea was what came out. I realised almost every Autobot was a grounder, just like me, and that was something I could use. I didn't know I was literally designing the artefact of my own destruction."
He silenced, and Raf dared to ask a question. "Why did you design it if it could be used against you?"
"Because I hoped it would require enough strategy and resources to be dismissed." He answered. "The idea was the same like with your guardian, keep them driving until they hit speed limit. Fortunately, at that time, the high ranked mechs weren't interested in such a complicated plan, for my relief it soon got forgotten. Unfortunately, Starscream must had had a copy of the blueprints, and I'm sure that he had build this prototype." The Decepticon added. "If we manage to make it fail, he will leave it aside. If not, every Autobot and human will be in danger."
"But they'll discover you helped us." Raf said thinking about the slendermech. "Soundwave could be watching this."
"Could be, but his not." The kid could imagine the mech smirking. "Starscream has acted on his own for sure. He doesn't trust anyone up there, and Soundwave has more important things to do."
"Knockout, how are we gonna help Bumblebee?" The kid asked worried.
"I should leave you around here, where the Autobot can pick you up..." The 'Con was cut.
"No!" Raf shouted. "My guardian and best friend is facing this situation on his own. I'm not gonna go anywhere." The kid grabbed the door handle and the seatbelt, in confirmation he wasn't leaving.
"Rafael, you know I can make you leave, right?" He didn't answer him. "Ok, let's do this. I'll tell you what's my plan. You may not understand what you're gonna see now, but I can explain it to you." The cybertronian made appear the blueprints of the speed bomb on the windshield. "This is the artefact your friend has. This piece is what makes the energon blow." He explained, making said piece stand out over the other ones. "And this is the piece that registers the changes, the sensor."
"And how are we gonna deactivate it?" Raf asked, trying to figure out something. Thanks to the Team Prime, specially to Bumblebee and Ratchet, he had learned quite a good amount of cybertronian, mostly Iaconian. He wouldn't mind learning other languages. He tried to understood what was written on the blueprints. "I don't think you have this in blueprints in any human language, do you?"
"Nope." Knockout admitted. "It would take me jours to translate it to something with sense and we don't have that time. You humans are so simple, yet so complicated..."
Rafael tried something different. "Can you translate this into Iaconian?"
"Uh, yeah, sure." The letters changed immediately. "Do you really understand what is written? Can you even understand what I say if I talk you in Iaconian?" He was impressed. The kid nodded. "K, this is strange, but awesome."
"Bumblebee and Ratchet taught me." Raf grinned. "We cannot access the bomb right now, but if we find out a way of taking it out from Bumblebee and manage to con the sensor, maybe we could disassembled the piece that makes the energon explode."
"Yeah, lovely plan, but it won't work." The 'Con replied. "Even if we managed to take that thing out, as soon as we touched it it would explode. That's why I hate myself. When I work, I do my best, and even if I hate to say this, this was a masterpiece. There's no way we can follow that plan."
"And if I get in?" The kid proposed. "I could access to that piece, right?"
"No way. I just got you out from there, I'm not gonna return you back. Bumblebee would kill me if I do that!" Knockout explained. "It would be good if I could get the artefact into me, not because I want it. But if I could put my servos on it..." He silenced.
"Can you deactivate it?" The kid asked.
"I do have a pair of ideas, but no, we're not gonna deactivate it." His voice sounded a bit dark. A shiver went down Rafael's spine. "Hey, kid. Can you get me something from your friends the Autobots?"
Rafael looked at the radio screen. "What for?" He asked confused.
"You'll see." The 'Con chuckled. "Just trust me."