Ch. 78

Knockout's red optics glared harder. That's what those silly little green lasers were. A concentrated and low power electrical current that had one goal: very forcefully turning off their COMMs. It had worked pretty well on Bumblebee. The yellow mech was still balled up on the ground, wheezing his intakes as he held his helm with a noticeable tremble in his frame.

The red mech slowly knelt to Bumblebee, muttering carefully, "Listen, Bee. Don't think about turning off your COMM. If this device did what I think it did, you'll have the same reaction if you try to switch it back off and we need you in some state of focus as this starts to ebb. This isn't something that will go away; we're going to need to reverse the effect with a negatively charged beam."

Arcee growled quietly as she backed up closer to Knockout and Bumblebee, "Let me guess: we need one of their guns."

The red mech scanned through all the troops, quickly identifying seven of the Vehicons as mechs equipped with the blaster they needed, "Yep."

The troop leading Vehicon motioned with his blaster, "Decepticon Medic Knockout, relinquish your weapon and return with the rest of my squadron."

Arcee glanced at the medic, who returned her gaze for only a moment. Knockout didn't need Starscream to give him a prediction into what was going to happen. Megatron wouldn't care to harm him cosmetically. He knew he would do far worse. And if he were caught, he could only imagine it would begin with a cortical psychic patch and slowly spiral downwards from there. So Knockout didn't move.

The Vehicon stepped forward, jabbing into the red mech's chestplate with the tip of his blaster, "I ordered you to move out."

"Really? I don't think I quite understood you the first time," Knockout snarled, "especially since YOU clearly don't understand the protocol involved here now."

Jack and Miko watched quietly from inside the train car, Miko taking out her phone to snap a couple photos while she could, "What is he doing?" she whispered.

Jack listened a moment more, then smirked, "He's buying time by confusing them."

"How dare you point your blaster at a higher ranking officer," the red mech growled, shoving the blaster away, "You can bet I'll have you smelted for that!"

The Vehicon stood stock still, then moved to raise his blaster again, "Our orders-"

"Your orders were for recovery and you have already failed!" Knockout gestured up and down his chassis, "Do you see the dust? I have a dent! I swear, if I find a single scratch-"

"You will not be warned again. Relinquish your weapon-"

"You just interrupted ME?! I out rank you!"

Jack watched carefully as Knockout continued to rant. He knew this wasn't going to work for long and with Bumblebee down for the count, the two bots wouldn't be able to handle this on their own. He looked around and noted quickly that most of the Vehicons were stepping on the train tracks. Knockout still hadn't let go of his prod, which still had its electrical charge.

Jack took a small breath and waved a hand at the bots, hoping to catch Arcee's attention. He saw he had it when the femme's blue optics glanced his way. He made a motion he prayed she would understand by pointing at the train tracks, then looking as though he were throwing something. Arcee looked away quickly, thinking about what Jack was trying to tell her, then smirked when she thought she understood.

"And if you EVER get harmed in the line of duty, you better pray that Megatron has replaced me with a new medic, because I'll destroy you from the inside out!"

The Vehicon was becoming impatient; he shoved his blaster into the red mech's chassis hard, "My orders were clear. Now relinquish your weapon now, or you will be detained accordingly."

Arcee growled, "Knockout, just give him your staff!"

Knockout stared at her in surprise, then followed her optics as she stared down at the train tracks.

The medic smiled for only a fraction of a second before scowling, "You scratched my finish..." he gripped his prod tightly, the end sparking violently, "I WARNED you about my finish! You want this so bad?! Fine! Take it!"

Knockout threw the prod hard, aiming the end right on top of a train track. The electrical current rushed through the metal and sparked up into the chassis' of most of the Vehicons, the bots spasming and dropping as smoke escaped from vents at the top of their helms. Arcee quickly grabbed the Vehicon troop leader and forced his blaster to aim at the remaining Vehicons as he fired, leaving a single Vehicon left before she twisted his arm off and kicked him down.

The Insecticons moved in to attack and were quickly met with blaster fire from Arcee and Bumblebee, the yellow mech doing his best to aim from the ground as he fired at both the bugs and the final Vehicon. Knockout took the opportunity to transform out his saw blade and drill, jumping at the closest Insecticon he could and dicing into it with surgical precision. The last remaining bug, battered only lightly, shrieked at the three bots before retreating down a tunnel, the vibration of its wings echoing in the darkness.

Jack finally let out a heavy breath he had been holding and stepped out of the train car carefully, hanging onto the side to steady himself, "I was worried you wouldn't get it."

"Oh, we got it, Jack," Arcee smiled gently, "Thanks for keeping an eye on us."

"Someone has to!" Miko giggled, still taking pictures with her phone, "You guys were awesome, battling it out! Those Insecticons were crazy!"

Bumblebee beeped and whirred weakly and a Knockout stooped down, looking him over, "Just don't move, give me a second."

The medic rushed over to a Vehicon and tugged their blaster off their arm, inspecting it, "Quick and easy fix, green means go, then red means..." he flipped a switch on the blaster and the beam fired, a red laser emitting form the gun, "ah, stop."

Knockout aimed the laser beam at Bumblebee first, then Arcee and himself, "Don't think about using your COMMs yet, give it a few clicks before we start calling everyone."

"Well if you can't, we're going to have to," Jack stated, quickly taking out his phone.

Bumblebee let out a heavy intake as he sat up, the pain finally gone, and beeped at Jack, asking why they needed to rush.

Arcee frowned, "It's what the Vehicon said: he wasn't after Knockout in the first place."

Knockout blinked then growled, "I suppose we can all take a guess at why Megatron did this then..."