I was not going to let a year pass by without updating this thing! I will try to be better with this story.. especially now it's finally getting to the good part :U

Miko started to fidget uncomfortably as she stared at her reflection. The jacket itself wasn't what made her uncomfortable, in fact it fit her well enough, but the idea of where it came from still bothered her.

Turning away from the darkened shop window, she shrugged her shoulders at Knockout on the street behind her. "I don't know about this..." she said, grabbing ahold of the jacket's zipper to take it off. "I think we should bring it back."

"Having second thoughts about breaking the law?" Knockout's tone was obviously mocking her, "That's alright. Street racing really isn't for babies, anyway."

Miko's cheeks flushed angrily, but she didn't look up. "I'm not a baby!" She growled.

"Really? Because you sure whine like one." When Miko didn't respond, Knockout let out a quiet vent and continued, "Primus, you humans are so fickle... Look, if it bothers you that much then we'll put it back where we found it when we're done, alright?" his wheels gave an irritated twitch. "Does that satisfy your precious morals?"

"...Not really." Miko mumbled, fiddling with the zipper again. "But I mean... I guess that's a little better."

"Good enough. Now get in, we have to get going." As Knockout spoke, his door opened for her.

Glancing down at the jacket one last time, Miko let out a frustrated sigh, zipped herself up again, and hopped into Knockout's driver seat. His door shut behind her and he took off down the empty street.

"Alright, listen up kiddo, here's what's going to happen," he paused to turn back onto the expressway then spoke again, "these people at the race are going to patronize you a bit. That's just how these types of humans are; they're not especially nice. If you want to get in on this race, you'll have to make them respect you."

"Right!" Miko finished fastening the seatbelt as she nodded in understanding, but then quietly added, "And erm... how am I going to do that?"

"You brag, of course! Let them know how badly they're going to get crushed, and stand up to any of the ones who think otherwise." Knockout's voice was sounding more and more excited as he continued, "You won't even be lying either, so you don't have to compromise your annoying human morals."

Suddenly, Miko shoved her foot forward and made contact with Knockout's brakes, but only for a brief second. It wasn't long enough to make them come to a full stop, but it slowed them down and made his tires screech uncomfortably.

"AH! What the frag-?!"

"You're the one who's patronizing me!" Miko interrupted him, "Not wanting to hurt other people isn't a bad thing, you jerk! Stop making it out to be fun or something."

"That's not what- uughh!" Knockout sped up, zooming past what few cars there were on the road in front of him. "You wouldn't even be here right now if I hadn't let you come along. So just sit still and do what I say!"

Miko said nothing but folded her arms in front of her tightly, glaring out at the city as they zoomed down the expressway. Her displeasure at having to steal the jacket had subsided a bit, but she still wasn't feeling very good about herself. Knockout certainly wasn't helping in that regard either. It wasn't as though she didn't expect him to be a jerk; they weren't exactly friends. She still didn't like it, though. After letting her pout for a few minutes, Knockout finally spoke up again.

"Look, if you're going to throw a tantrum like a sparkling, then expect to be treated like one." he grumbled, "Anyway, this whining isn't going to get you far with our waiting racer friends. What happened to that attitude of yours back at the base, hmm? You were much more impressive then. If you're half as cocky with them as you were with Jack, then here's a chance they won't think you're ten years old."

"I'm fifteen!" Miko corrected immediately, but then a half-smile made it onto her face. "but... you really think it was impressive?"

"Confidence is everything, sweetspark. Don't forget it."

Miko sighed and nodded. "Confidence. Right." she hesitated, squirming in the seat a bit. "Uh... Sorry about the brakes, by the way."

"Your apology is noted. Although if you do it again I'll be forced to retaliate, for the sake of my tires."

"I'd like to see you try!" Miko laughed. She was starting to feel a better again as she thought about the race. She had wanted to come, after all. And since she was there, she may as well do the best she could to enjoy herself. "Hey! You have a radio, right? Could we-?"

"No."

"Come on! What good's a race if you don't have a good soundtrack going in the background?" She started to reach for the console, "Just lemme-"

"NO." Knockout interrupted her for a second time, "I've heard the scrap you and your partner call music. There is no chance I'm letting that awful noise come out of my speakers."

"You just can't handle how hard Bulk and I rock!" Miko threw up a pair of hand horns as she spoke.

"And I have no intention of trying. Hands away from the dash."

Miko sighed and tucked her hands into the pockets of her jacket. Too bad Bulkhead couldn't have taken her racing; he would have let her play music. Of course, he wasn't as fast as Knockout so it was better that he was the one who took her... Not that Bulkhead would have taken her in the first place...

She was quiet for a minute as she fidgeted with the soft fabric inside the pockets. Finally she spoke up again, but very quietly and almost to herself, "Bulkhead wouldn't approve of this."

"So what?"

"So I... I don't want to disappoint him."

"You want to quit? Now?"

Miko looked up quickly, "No! I just... I don't know. I feel kinda bad."

"Look kiddo, if you keep worrying what your partner would think of every little thing you do, then you'll drive yourself nuts." Knockout's voice was a bit harsher than a moment ago. "He's not here. So quit worrying about him and focus on yourself, alright?! That's what I'd do."

Miko noticed his shift in tone and decided it was best to change the subject. She may not have been Knockout's friend, but she knew enough to tell when something was upsetting him.

"Alright, just… forget I said anything, okay?" Miko said quickly, looking out the window. "So hey, the races you've been in before, did you win all of them?"

"Of course!" Knockout sounded almost offended by the question, "No Earth vehicle is faster than me."

"Heh, yeah I imagine they have a hard time keeping up with you." Miko smiled, "But if you're so much faster, then why bother racing humans? Where's the fun if you already know you're gonna win?"

"It's not ideal, to be sure, but when it's assumed you're going to win anyway, it becomes about the race itself rather than just the finish line… there aren't even many Cybertronian opponents out there who could challenge me anyway, so I'm used to it."

"You're awfully confident, Knockout."

"Pay attention, sweetspark. You might just learn something."

As they were having this conversation, Knockout pulled off the highway and they found themselves in a city neighborhood. After driving down a few side streets, they finally came into view of a small park. A number of very vibrantly colored muscle cars were parked along the street. The owners of the vehicles seemed to be gathered in the small park, deep in discussion. Knockout dimmed his headlights slightly so as not to attract their attention.

"Alright kid, you ready for this?"

Miko took a deep breath in and nodded. "Yeah!" She reached over, picking up Jack's helmet off the floor of the passenger's side. "Let's wreck those guys!"

Without any further ado, Knockout flared his headlights and started towards the park. As he did, Miko noticed his engine seemed to be humming a bit louder than usual. His excitement was rather infectious too, because she was starting to feel somewhat giddy.

As he rolled to a stop on the outskirts of the park, he spoke up one last time, "Now, I can't exactly help you out there, so just remember: confidence is everything."

Miko shoved the helmet over her pigtails as she replied, "Confidence! I totally got this!"

Now looking through the darkened visor of the helmet, Miko opened Knockout's door and stepped out onto the street. By then, all the other racers had noticed her and had stopped their discussion to stare at the new girl and her car. After adjusting her jacket slightly, Miko strode up to the group, careful to give herself what she thought was a very confident stride.

"Hey there, guys!" She said as she stopped in front of the group. "A little birdie told me you've got a race here tonight." She paused to jab her thumb into her chest. "And I want in!"

It was quiet for a minute as the other racers, six in total, looked her over, some of them looking a bit shocked or otherwise surprised by her assertion.

Finally one of them spoke up, a tall man with long blonde hair covering most of his eyes. "Girl, what're you talking about?" He crossed his arms across his chest as he sneered at Miko. "What makes you think you can race with us? You're like, ten years old!"

Miko felt her temper flare, "I'm not ten! I'm fi- errr, twenty!" She straightened her posture to try and look taller. "And so what? Just 'cause I look young you won't let me race? You scared of getting beat by a little girl?"

The other racers seemed amused by that, and one girl with her mouth covered by a scarf even elbowed the blonde one to tease him. He didn't seem as amused as the others, though.

"Don't be stupid!" He elbowed right back then turned to Miko. "No way this skinny broad can handle a car like I can!"

Miko made a show of puffing out her chest and putting her hands on her hips before she replied. "Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe sometime you can give me a lesson on eating dust!"

This earned a laugh from the others. Good! She was making an impression.

"Seriously though, I'm a great racer!" Miko continued, "and I could wipe the floor with you guys. Just give me the chance!"

Another of the racers stepped forward at this. "You sure talk a big game..." she said, tilting her purple tinted shades down to better look over Miko. "I like that. I'm Shauna... Shauna Story. We could use some fresh blood in our circuit, anyway. So, if you don't screw this first race up, you're in!"

Miko smiled behind her helmet visor. That was easier than she'd thought it would be! "Sounds good to me." she said, "Where are we racing to?"

"We're lining up at the park corner and racing to the end of Hoover street. It's 7.8 miles."

"Great!" Miko punched her fist into her palm excitedly. "When do we start?"

"In a few minutes. Solon over there is collecting the entry fees," Shauna indicated a burly man wearing a green vest the group behind her, "so once he gives the go ahead, we line up."

"Ah. Right.. Entry fee..." Miko mumbled this, sort of to herself. She hadn't actually considered the possibility that there would be some sort of collection to race. It made sense, though. Unless you were Knockout and just did it for fun, why wouldn't like you want to race for money?

"How much is it to enter?" She asked uncertainly.

"It's just a short race tonight, so we're only putting up three thousand each."

Miko almost doubled over from the shock of this revelation. Three thousand dollars?! No way she had that kind of money! And unless Knockout had robbed a bank earlier, which she very seriously hoped he hadn't, it meant they weren't going to be apart of this race. All that trouble she went through was for nothing! Knockout would be disappointed too... Hopefully not disappointed enough to want to actually rob a bank or something. There was definitely a line to be drawn there.

Just as Miko was about to let the racers know she didn't have the funds, a pair of bright headlights came into view around a corner. Almost as quickly as the car came into view, it was parking with a screech of its tires at the edge of the grass over by Knockout. At the sight if this bright blue car, all the other racers let out a simultaneous groan.

"Aww man..." The girl in the scarf pushed the blonde guy. "Roxy I thought you said he wasn't coming tonight!"

"I thought he wasn't!" Roxy replied, then he looked to Solon. "Hey man, any chance we could-?"

"Nuh-uh!" Solon crossed his arms, "No withdrawals. Once I got your fee, you either you race or you forfeit. Thems the rules, Rox. You know that."

Roxy, along with most of the others, started grumbling irritably and headed towards their respective cars. Miko turned her head back around to watch as a tall, skinny man stepped out of the blue car. He had on a helmet like her, so she couldn't see his face, but he was looking over at Knockout.

"Well well, who do we have here?" He spoke in a heavy Australian accent.

"New challenger." Shauna explained. She didn't sound too happy to see this guy either, whoever he was. "C'mon, MD. Why not give her a chance to actually get in a good race before you compete in our circuit again?"

Miko eyed the car he was sporting. It wasn't like any vehicle she'd ever seen before. It seemed more like those fancy prototypes you saw at car shows with its smooth curves and hollow wheels. Not only was the frame beautiful, but the pale blue paint was metallic and shiny, obviously well taken care of. This guy probably didn't have any trouble coughing up three thousand dollars for one race.

Miko shifted her weight between her feet a bit nervously. "What makes you think I can't beat him?" She asked Shauna. "Who even is this guy?"

Finally pulling his attention away from Knockout, the new guy stepped away from his car and approached the two girls.

"Ah, so you must own that nice looking ride there, eh?" He gestured over his shoulder back at Knockout. " Well you should know, I'm the top racer around these parts. People call me Master Disaster. Nice to meetcha!"