"—so I believe that by rerouting his subprocessors through the human's own brain, a portion of Breakdown's own consciousness was able to remain online. It may even be how he ended up here!" With one hand Knock Out gestured to the surveillance footage playing on a screen. "With Breakdown influencing his mind the human could have-"
"I've heard enough."
Knock Out fell silent.
Megatron took a step forward.
"Do you mean to tell me you believe Breakdown is alive?" One claw gestured to a different screen showing the sickbay from one of the recently installed security cameras. "That that monstrosity still has the right to call itself a Decepticon?"
Knock Out visibly shrank back.
"Well, Lord Megatron, it would be more accurate to say that-"
"And after all the trouble he has just caused this faction, why should I allow you to bring him back?"
"Technically that wasn't Breakdown, that was the human." Megatron raised an optic ridge, but Knock Out continued. "And after the bug's death we could use another hard hitter, couldn't we?"
A low growl was his only reply for a long moment.
Knock Out waited. Finally Megatron spoke.
"I expect regular reports on your progress. I do notwant this…project to get in the way of your duties as my medic. And I want to know how the humans learned how to achieve this level of engineering."
Knock Out nodded quickly, not bothering to hide the smile on his face. "Of course my Lord. I would do nothing less."
He bowed quickly and practically skipped out of the room.
Megatron sighed and looked back at the footage of the destroyed human compound.
Knock Out entered the sickbay, barely sparing a glance at the glaring human before turning his full attention to the readings generated by the device that was attached to the base of Breakdown's neck cabling. The greatest amount of activity was coming from the frontal processor core, though if it was sorely Breakdown's mind or the human's Knock Out didn't know. He wasn't sure how he was going to find out.
He began pacing, pausing to rearrange the tools in their respective places as he walked in circles around the room.
"Perhaps electrocution triggered the original reaction," he muttered to a vial of experimental green liquid. "Should I try that again?"
"What you should try," the human said loudly. "Is letting me go."
Knock Out smiled.
"When I learn how to separate you from Breakdown I will do just that. Then we will see the effect the thermosphere has on the human body. How does that sound?" Knock Out picked up his prod from its place in the corner and nonchalantly walked over to the operating table, activating it just to hear its reassuring humming.
He had managed to forget about the Energon he had spilled on the ground while disabling the voice box. Knock Out tripped and slid, coming to a stop only when he crashed face first into the operating table. The prod followed, hitting him in the head and rolling onto the patient's body and delivering a sudden, powerful shock.
Knock Out managed to pull himself up with the help of the tool tray and a few choice swear words. Rubbing his face with one hand he grimaced as he felt a thin scratch marring his faceplate.
The human didn't comment on his blunder. Checking his vital signs, Knock Out determined the exposure to the prod had managed to knock him out. His optics went to Breakdown's, curious to see if they would shut off when their commander was inactive.
They were still online, and still staring at him, though they didn't appear to be moving. Knock Out reached out to touch the damaged one, a gesture that felt like it was becoming customary. No reaction.
Then he looked to the monitor. The activity in Breakdown's frontal processor was still going strong.
So did that mean that that was Breakdown? Or was the human simply dreaming?
Knock Out wiped up the spilled Energon with an old rag as his processer struggled to analyze the data it had been given. How much processing power was required to keep a Cybertronian Breakdown's size functional, with just unconscious functions and routines alone taking up so much space? Never mind the power it would take to make him think coherently, never mind walk and talk again.
His gaze drifted to the cordical psychic patch. There was that. That would be the one sure way to see if Breakdown really was alive. He shuddered at the possibility of spending even a minute in the mind of that human and left it as his last resort.
He began pacing again, never taking his optics from the monitor. This continued for several cycles until his hand touched his faceplate and he realized that he had forgotten to fix the scratch.
Looking longingly at Breakdown's hands and sighing, he grabbed a buffer and his can of paint.
Ten cycles later, he was in the middle of wiping off the last of the dust from his armor when his audio receptors picked up the sounds of the human coming out of stasis.
"I'd say it's good to have you back, but I'm not known around here for my sincerity," Knock Out said when he was sure the human was coherent enough to understand him.
The human chuckled. Breakdown's fingers twitched.
"Why are you even trying? Your 'friend' is dead, and he was dead before I repurposed his body as my own."
"You're rather...arrogant for someone who was practically begging for mercy at Megatron's pedes just yesterday, aren't you?" at random, Knock Out selected a sharp implement used for scraping debris out of deep battle wounds from a cabinet. He stepped forward, making sure to let Breakdown's bad optic see him.
As he suspected, the human simply glared; after all, Knock Out hadn't actually done anything to directly harm him yet, but Breakdown's body was a different story. It began twisting and jerking, trying to get out of his restraints. The readings on the monitor went haywire.
"I am a licensed medical professional," Knock Out said smoothly. "In a manner of speaking."
"These attempts to wear me down will not work, machine."
Knock Out moved out of the human's normal range of vision while staying well within Breakdown's. He permitted himself a small chuckle.
"Really now? Is that the best you can come up with?" he put the pick down and activated his drill. "How do you know I'm not simply drilling a hole into your processor as we speak, if only to find a way to shut you up?" taking a gamble, Knock Out winked at Breakdown.
The human fell silent for a peaceful moment. Gently, Knock Out pressed the drill to the side of the operating table, allowing metal shavings to fall to the floor-and the sound to echo all around the sickbay.
"How do you know that, human? How do you know that?"
