Ch. 184

Knockout pouted and picked a small bit of foliage from his grill, "I'm bored!" he crowed, gripping onto his shock prod with both servos as he desperately looked around at the amassment of green trees and green things and no road for miles and miles around; he began to hyperventilate, "Quick," he panted, "somebody do something! I can't handle this anymore! You!"

He pointed his prod down at Jack, who was walking only slightly ahead, and frowned, "Don't humans do amusing things all the time? Dance! Amuse me!"

The boy smirked and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I'm not dancing for you. Or doing anything 'amusing'. We're here for a reason, Knockout, just keep remembering that."

The red mech whined, "I can't! Why'd I agree to be separated from Breakdown?! At least then this would be fun! But now it's not and I'm so BORED!"

Bumblebee's heavy peds came walking up behind them and he bubbled gently, telling Knockout that they would be back at the Harbinger before he knew it. The red mech pouted harder.

"Well that's not now, is it?"

"Careful," Raf's little voice warned as he climbed over a fallen tree trunk to follow his friend, "my mom says that if you keep making faces like that, one day it'll stick."

Bumblebee whirled a laugh as Knockout gasped in horror, "That is NOT funny! That could actually happen to a good looking bot like me! Don't you dare jinx me and my sexy faceplate, I'm still using it, you know!"

The four were in the middle of a large forest just beyond an array of mountains. Soundwave had given them a list of coordinates that needed to be excavated and when Miko had begged to join one of the many search parties, Raf and Jack had found themselves eagerly volunteering too. The girl was currently running alongside Breakdown, Bulkhead and Wheeljack at a separate location.

Knockout kicked at a small boulder, which didn't roll as far as he would've liked, "How much farther anyway? Why couldn't we have been given terrain with any freeways?"

"You can't always get what you want," Raf shrugged, "And it's not too far away. Maybe another couple miles."

"Miles?!"

The red mech groaned and sat on a rock, shaking his helm, "No, we stop. Somebody call the Harbinger and tell them to bridge us closer."

Bumblebee chirped that they didn't need to bridge in closer and asked Knockout to pull himself together.

Knockout frowned, "I have to travel miles without an open road to drive on. I'm mortified."

Jack smirked a little, "So, you're saying you're not as fast as Bumblebee in bot mode?"

The red mech leered, standing slowly, "Do you dare present me with a challenge, Jack? Do you?"

The boy crossed his arms, "Maybe. Do you dare to accept it?"

Bumblebee whirled and buzzed, scolding the pair vehemently; this was no time to plan a race.

Raf held in a giggle as he translated, "Guys, really? We have a mission to complete. But maybe we can race later?"

Bumblebee whirled and shook his helm; he thanked the boys for trying to engage Knockout, even if Jack did look confused as he spoke, and told them that they couldn't waste anymore time.

Knockout huffed, "Yeah, yeah, fine. Geez, you're almost as preachy as Prime."

The yellow bot glared at his companion and bubbled quietly, pointing in the direction they needed to go in.

The red mech groaned loudly, stomping forward, "Fffffine! I'm going, your royal yellow-ness! I swear, you're worse than Starscream was when he was working us at the Har-"

Knockout stumbled over his peds as he turned and yelped when he began to fall towards Jack. The boy cried out as he dove, Bumblebee squealing as he reached out to grab the medic before his chassis could squish the small human. The scout was thankful that he managed to feel the metal of Knockout's arm clasped in his digits. What he didn't appreciate was the loud, ungrateful noise of defeat when the red mech's servo lost its grip on the shock prod, the device barreling just passed Jack and down the hill they were trying to carefully maneuver towards.

"NO! My weapon! It's my second favorite prod!"

Bumblebee stabilized Knockout and buzzed in frustration, beginning to scold loudly when a telltale and metallic 'clunk' resonated from the bottom of the hill. Everyone froze.

"What... was that?" Raf murmured, looking at a tablet he had brought with him, "We're in the middle of nowhere. That couldn't have been a car or... or something else, right?"

Jack frowned, "You mean something man-made. Raf, are we close to the coordinates Soundwave gave?"

The smaller boy shook his head, "Not yet. We're still a few miles out."

Knockout glared warily, "Then what did my second precious prod hit?"

Bumblebee hummed lowly and knelt down to offer his servo to the children, picking them up and setting them on his shoulders as he directed the group: they were to carefully investigate the sound; caution was key.

But Knockout was already traversing the somewhat steep hillside, his servos latching onto trees that could hopefully support him as he scaled down as quick as he dared. Bumblebee followed carefully and mindfully for the two beings upon his shoulder plating. He kept his optics focused on his next steps, on Knockout's next steps, on every noise or movement that could be deemed a danger incoming. The scout was concerned about the location of the prod, but for different reasons. He hoped the weapon had simply hit an abandoned structure, a piece of metal, something lost to the forest that had been left to rust in peace... but he knew he couldn't hope for that much.

Dread filled the yellow mech as the group made their way closer to the ground, closer to the crop of trees that blocked the shock prod just out of sight. He knew he couldn't simply hope for an abandoned, human-made object. This far out? This far away from organic civilization? It was Decepticon related. It had to be. With the coordinates they were given, there was hardly anything else it could be.

Knockout carefully slid through the line of trees, scowling at the bits of pine and bark that dared to litter his frame. The anger quickly subsided, however, when his optics gazed down upon his weapon, the silver device laying beside a large mound of dirt that traveled out over another hill and into an open but small valley.

The red mech eagerly snatched it up, "My prod! Naughty thing for getting down here this far, aren't you?"

Bumblebee hissed softly and set Jack and Raf down as he approached, telling the mech to be quiet.

Knockout frowned, "I know, I know," he murmured; he began looking around, "And let's find what made that noise. Cause you, and I guess me, being an Autobot, we investigate things that need investigating. All we need now is a talking canine."

Raf smiled sheepishly, "Or a talking shark?"

The red mech smiled widely, lifting his prod excitedly, "Yes-" he winced when his prod tapped against the side of the dirt mound, an unnatural, metallic noise resonating from it.

Bumblebee flinched back and almost booed deeply, frowning at the mound as he questioned quietly what it was.

Raf held up his tablet, "I'm sending Soundwave a scan now... give him a couple seconds."

Knockout hummed and put his prod away as he carefully dug his claws into the mound, quickly exposing metal under the small layer of dirt, "Thermal shielding, possibly shock resistant... and factoring in the area, it would have to be water and vibration proof to keep it stable..."

Jack stepped forward to see what the mech was seeing, "Stable? Do you know what this is?"

The medic smirked, "Ah, a chance to show up Soundwave. How delicious. Yes, Jack, it appears to be a very basic, yet operational-"

"Soundwave says it's a generator," Raf interrupted, holding up his tablet for Bumblebee to see.

Knockout scowled, "Wh- b... I was going to say that!"

Raf pulled back his tablet as Jack chuckled, "Ya gotta say it faster there, doc. Can you tell us anything else before Soundwave does?"

The red mech perked up, "Well, uh, sure. Its output at this size is standard, but its placement is... odd. There's nothing to power out here..."

Bumblebee left Raf's side to look out into the valley with a leering gaze, cooing gently when his bright blue optics spotted something out of place. He pointed as he bubbled, asking if the generator might be enough to power a structure inside a cave.

Knockout looked with him and smirked when he spotted a cave mouth, "Oh yes, perhaps... And guess what? This just got a bit interesting..."