This thing has about one more chapter in it, I think.. And then maybe a short epilogue if I don't feel like just including that in the next chapter.
Anyway, we are nearing the exciting conclusion! I think even those of you who know who the car is by now will still be surprised when you see what happens in the next chapter~
Miko felt like she was frozen in place. Master Disaster was staring straight at her and Knockout, still with that smug grin plastered across his face. He looked about to step towards them when another man who looked strikingly similar to Solon, probably Jean, hurried up to him and pulled his attention away.
Now that Master Disaster's eyes weren't boring into her, Miko felt she could move again. She didn't think, she just flung open Knockout's door and jumped out.
"Miko no!" She heard Knockout say in hushed tones. "Come back! We have to get out of here before-"
She slammed Knockouts door shut, silencing him before he could finish. The noise also caught the attention of the two men who looked over.
"Not yet," she said down to the sports car. "I'm gonna get to the bottom of this." With that, she stormed over to Master Disaster.
Knockout had mentioned his car was not from Earth, and if this Master Disaster guy really was palling around with an unknown Cybertronian, the Autobots needed to know about it. They might even turn out to be another Autobot. She figured that was the more likely scenario, considering this bot was hanging around with a human. And the Autobots could always use more allies.
As she walked towards the others, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She took it out and glanced down at the message.
"Miko get back here! We have to go!"
It was Knockout sending messages to her phone again. She ignored him, putting the phone back in her pocket just as she stepped up to Master Disaster. She looked up at him to see the racer's smirk had returned.
"I must say, that race was much closer than usual." He said, glancing over at Knockout, "That's one fast car."
"Not as fast as yours, apparently." Miko folded her arms tightly across her chest, hoping her annoyance was apparent, "How did you meet-" she paused, glancing over at the other guy standing not too far off from them. "I mean… How did you find that car?"
Master Disaster didn't look fazed at all by her question. "Don't know what you mean by that." He said with a short shrug.
"Don't play dumb with me!" Miko pointed a finger right in his face. It wasn't especially intimidating, considering their size difference. "I know exactly what kind of car that is, and I wanna know where it came from and-" she cut herself off. Her eyes glanced quickly over to the blue vehicle, and she continued in almost a whisper, "and… and whose side you're on."
This got a reaction out of him at last; Master Disaster threw his head back and let out a loud bark of a laugh. It took him another moment to compose himself, and as he did, the other racers started to arrive. Jean stepped away at last to greet them. Once he'd gone, Master Disaster spoke again.
"I'll let you in on a little secret, darling," he leaned in closer to loom over the girl, "I'm definitely not on your side."
Miko's heart started pounding in her chest. They were Decepticons! How was that possible? Decepticons didn't team up with humans, especially for something stupid like to go street racing… Except for Knockout of course, but he wasn't a Decepticon anymore. She was about to hurry back to Knockout so they could make their escape, but that thought made her pause. How exactly did this guy know they weren't on the same side? Did he recognize Knockout somehow? If that was true, he probably thought he was still a Decepticon. Oh, and what if he had seen the Decepticon insignia that was still on the mech's dashboard? Maybe they were actually on the same side and he was just confused.
She was just about to voice this to him when he pushed past her and started towards Knockout. Her phone started buzzing in her pocket again, but she ignored it. She still wanted to find out more about this guy.
"So," he spoke calmly as though nothing about what he had just said were alarming or threatening, "as per our agreement, I'll be taking possession of this lovely car, then."
He was standing just in front of Knockout with one hand reaching towards the sports car's hood, but Miko quickly darted between them and held up her arms. "Hold on just a second, pal!" She said, "You haven't even answered my question. How did you find that car?"
Master Disaster glared down at her before placing a hand firmly on her shoulder, "Well, sweetheart, you two lost. So I don't believe I owe you any explanations." with that he gave her shoulder a hard shove, sending the girl to the ground.
Miko hit the pavement hard, but luckily, the helmet she was wearing stopped her from smashing her head on the ground. She wasn't hurt, but even so, Knockout suddenly shifted his wheels so they were pointed directly at the man standing in front of him and his engine gave a low, threatening rumble.
"Ooh, I see you've got some attitude." Master Disaster didn't appear frightened at all, and his reasoning became clear pretty quickly. He glanced over his shoulder at the other street racers. They had all exited their cars and were staring over at the exchange. "But you're not dumb enough to try anything with all these eyes watching. Isn't that right, Transformer?" Reaching forward, he gave a light pat on Knockout's grill. It seemed to have the desired effect as Knockout's engine quieted immediately.
This only made Master Disaster's smirk grow wider. He quickly turned to head back towards the other racers. Once he had stepped away, Miko felt her phone buzz in her pocket again. She glanced over at Knockout, wondering if that was him texting her again. She ignored him and pulled herself to her feet, following after Master Disaster.
When he had finally reached the group of other racers, he finally spoke up. "Well, as you all can see and as Jean and Miss Moonracer here can testify, this race was mine." He stopped just in front of Solon, and held out an open hand. "So I'll be collecting my winnings, now." Just as Solon was reaching into his jacket, Master Disaster glanced back over at Miko. "All of my winnings."
"Congrats, M.D. Jean confirmed: you win... Again." Solon didn't sound too pleased about it as he placed the envelope into Master Disaster's waiting palm. There was a simultaneous groan from all the other racers and most of them started slowly milling back to their own vehicles.
Only Shauna, Solon, and Jean remained behind. Shauna was looking piteously over at Miko and shaking her head slightly. "I did try to warn ya, kid." She mumbled, "Now look where you've gotten yourself."
Miko was about to respond, but just then Master Disaster finally stepped away, headed towards his own car. "Don't be so hard on her, Story." He said as he tucked the envelope into his jacket. "She certainly kicked the pants off the lot of you! Why, with a car like that, she ought to have won easily." He paused as he opened the side door of his own vehicle. Reaching in, he pulled out a tow line. "Too bad she wasn't expecting me."
Pulling open the driver's side door, he hopped into the seat and then slammed it shut again. It looked for a moment like he was just going to drive away, but a moment later, he was backing the car up so it was right in front of Knockout. Then he got up and out of the car again.
Miko glanced over at the remaining racers, then hurried after Master Disaster. "Look, you can stop showing off now." She said this quietly so only he could hear. "You beat us, okay? Stop acting like you're gonna take him. You know as well as I do he's not going to let you."
Master Disaster didn't pause in his work and continued attaching one end of the line to the back of his car. He only glanced down at Miko as he started over towards Knockout with the other end in hand. "I think you might be surprised at what he'll let me do, darling."
The phone in Miko's pocket was buzzing again. She ignored it yet again.
"Look, I know you probably saw the 'Con badge on his dash, but he's not a 'Con." She was whispering now, glancing over at the others quickly to make sure they still couldn't hear. "He's an Autobot. Probably like the one you've got there. Can we just talk about this, please? This could work out for all of us. I bet your friend wants to meet our team too."
"Oh I'm sure he'd want that." Master Disaster leaned down, attaching the hook line Knockout's front. Miko couldn't help but wince as she heard the metal scrape underneath his front bumper. "Here's the thing, though," Master Disaster stood up straight and leaned over to his own car, giving the back of it a quick pat, "I don't give a rat's ass what hewants."
Miko just stared up at him for a moment, shocked into silence. What did he mean by that? They weren't partners? Then why was the 'Bot letting this human drive him around? That didn't make any sense. Before she could ask any of these questions, Master Disaster gave her a quick, sarcastic salute and turned to head get back into his vehicle again.
As he opened the car door to get in, Miko finally tore her eyes away from him and looked down at Knockout. She was shocked he hadn't reacted to being hooked up to this other car. Though there were other humans around, she had thought for sure he would do something, even if it was just to move his bumper a bit to dislodge the hook. Even as she glared down at him, he didn't do anything. Suddenly she felt her phone buzz again.
Right! Knockout was doing something. He was trying to talk to her. Pulling out her phone, she flipped it open to see what he had been trying to say to her this whole time.
'Don't ignore me! This guy could be dangerous, we have to go while we can.'
'This weirdo just put something on my grill. Get it off me! Also I don't know what you're trying to accomplish but for the love of Primus can we please just go? This is getting ridiculous!'
'Something's wrong, I can't move- Do something!'
'DON'T YOU DARE LET HIM TAKE ME! DO SOMETHING MIKO!'
A chill ran through her whole body as she read the messages. Knockout couldn't move? What had Master Disaster done to him?! In a panic, Miko dropped her phone and lunged forward, grabbing ahold of the tow line.
"No!" She shouted, "You're not taking him!"
Before she could undo the hook, she felt a pair of hands descend on her and yank her away. She struggled, but another set grabbed her from the other side and held her still.
"Easy, kid." It was the voice of Solon. "You bet the car, and he won the car fair and square. Them's the rules."
"No, you don't understand-!" Miko kicked out at Solon and Jean, but the much larger men held her firmly. She didn't have anything else to say, though. What could she possibly say to make them understand?
Master Disaster rolled down the window of his car. "It was fun competing with you, Moonracer." He called back, "And don't worry, we're going to take very good care of your friend."
As Master Disaster started to pull away with Knockout in tow, the hands holding her back finally let her go. Miko stumbled forward for a moment, but then broke out into a full sprint after the two cars. She made it about thirty yards before she stopped, realizing it was useless trying to give chase.
"KNOCKOUT!" She screamed after them, "Don't worry, I'll get you back!"
There was no response.
After she watched them disappear around a corner, Miko pivoted around and ran back to the road where they had been parked not a moment ago. She didn't know who that Master Disaster freak was or what he was up to, but she did know she couldn't handle this alone. She needed to call for backup. She needed to get her phone!
As she hurried back over, she started mentally preparing herself for the scolding she would get from Ratchet when she called him up. She also started thinking of a way to cut it short so she could explain the severity of the situation and make Ratch get his rear in gear to save Knockout.
After reaching the spot where she thought she dropped her phone, she started frantically scanning the dark road for the little pink flip phone. It only took her about two seconds to finally spot it, but as she did, she felt her heart sink.
It must have been caught under Knockout's tire as he was towed away, because the plastic phone was lying crushed against the asphalt, completely useless.
Miko sank to her knees, staring down at the destroyed case of her phone. This was supposed to have just been a quick, fun outing so she could get the hang of street racing. How did this happen? How did she wind up stranded and alone in the middle of Los Angeles? How could things have gone so wrong? What was she going to do now? She felt tears welling up in her eyes and made to quickly wipe them away, forgetting she was still wearing Jack's helmet. In a fit of rage, she tore the helmet off and threw it, letting it bounces away across the street.
She sat there for another moment, wiping away tears and desperately holding back the sobs trying to escape from her. It wasn't working.
"Uh, hey..."
Miko's eyes shot up and, through her tears, she saw Shauna Story. The others, it appeared, had all left, but Shauna was standing next to her car looking down sadly at Miko.
"Look I'm not sorry or anything... I did warn you, but..." She mumbled looking away, "Well, Master Disaster is a jerk. So do you like... want me to bring you somewhere?"
It took another moment for Miko to realize what Shauna was offering. Pulling in a deep breath to calm herself, Miko pulled herself to her feet.
"Yes." She said, wiping her eyes one last time. "I want you to bring me to wherever that Master Disaster creep is taking my friend."