"I take it the mission was failure," a voice rumbled off somewhere near the shadows in the entrance to the medical bay.

"Affirmative," a shiny red mech stepped away from a console, what were presumingly life signs blinked steadily upon the display. "It's a miracle he's still functioning."

"He assured us that he would be perfectly able to handle the Autobot." The disdain in the hidden figures voice was unmistakable, and their glowing red eyes narrowed.

A sigh, "yes, well, apparently not." He tinkered with a cable that was attached to the unconscious mech laying on the berth.

"What was his condition upon arrival?" The voice finally stepped out into the lighting of the medical bay, revealing a sleek, white and red jet.

"Not good," seeming satisfied that the cable was secure, the mech turned to regard the jet. "Patrol found him missing his right arm, and the shot just barely missed his spark chamber."

The jet arched an optic ridge, "lucky."

"Extremely."

"And what of the Autobot? Do we have a positive identification of their identity?"

"None yet, but I can check his drives to see if the data was corrupted or not...With this kind of damage-"

"Then get to it, doctor. Lord Megatron will not be pleased with further delays." The jet leered towards him, an unspoken promise that he would pay in some form or another if he failed to complete his task in a timely manner. The red mech suppressed a shudder at the thought of what Lord Megatron would do to his newly rebuffed finish.

"Of course, Commander Starscream." A hint of sarcasm laced his words as he gave the jet a two fingered salute, turning back to his patient, waiting for the telltale whoosh of air to indicate the door had closed again.

"Alright, Grandswitch, let's see what you've got for us." The mech muttered, setting to work.


When Grandswitch onlined, he hesitated to activate his optics, instead choosing to reboot his audio receptors.

No point in letting the Autobot, if he was even still there, know he was back online so soon and ruin any sort of element of surprise.

There were footfalls just to his right, and he heard them get closer and closer until they stopped.

He heard the figure lean over him, and that's when he struck.

"What the - Grandswitch! It's me!"

His optics focused just in time to stop himself from spearing a red mech through the neck with his sword. He let go of the doctor abruptly. "How did I get here?"

"What? No 'Thanks for repairing me, Knockout, and keeping me from dying since I specifically promised Lord Megatron that I would be able to handle the Autobot easily'?" The other mech's voice rose with every word as he glared, crossing his arms. "What were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking that since the Autobot is unaccustomed to this planet that he would be more vulnerable." Grandswitch defended, shoving the medic backwards as he twisted to get off the berth, disconnecting the cable from his chest plating. He rolled his shoulders, door wings fluttering slightly to relieve the ache of being trapped in one position for so long.

"Not so fast. As soon as you walk out that door, there is nothing to stop Lord Megatron from scrapping you!" Knockout clenched his fists in emphasis. "And I don't want to waste any more resources on something that could easily be avoided!"

Grandswitch regarded him coolly, "and I suppose you want me to delay giving Lord Megatron my report on the mission?"

"Do you even have anything to report?" Countered Knockout, optics narrowing dangerously. "That Autobot's shot may have missed your spark chamber but it fried your drives. I couldn't get anything comprehensible out of there!"

"Did you check the backups?" He asked quietly.

Knockout looked startled, "when did you-"

"You didn't seriously think that I hadn't had backup drives implanted during the beginning of the war for exactly this reason, did you?"

"Well, no! Of course not!" Sputtered Knockout, fumbling for an excuse, but Grandswitch silenced him with a look.

"Now if you're quite finished, I am heading to the bridge to give Lord Megatron my report." Grandswitch rose from the berth, striding towards the door, frowning when he heard footfalls behind him.

"I'm coming with you," muttered Knockout, walking in front of him. "Maybe I can convince Lord Megatron that if he insists on scrapping you that he ensures that you no longer function afterwards. Hopefully, there'll be enough of you left for spare parts."


"You said there was a human with this Autobot? This….Sideswipe?"

"Yes, Lord Megatron," he responded, door wings hiked up high on his back in anxiety.

"Well?" Megatron turned around impatiently to regard Grandswitch with narrowed optics. "Did you terminate the Autobot's pet?"

"I…did my best to, Lord Megatron. I was thwarted by the Autobot before I could carry out its execution." Grandswitch took a step backwards, as a precaution, as he eyed the fusion cannon on Megatron's arm wearily.

The warlord looked like he was struggling not to murder Grandswitch where he stood. "WHAT?!" He took a step towards Grandswitch, who hastily moved backwards a few more paces. "You said that you would be able to eradicate both without an issue!"

"So I believed, my Lord." Grandswitch hurriedly bowed, "I had not taken the fact that the Autobot may be more accustomed to this world than previously assumed into consideration."

Megatron raised his fusion cannon, feeling a slight rush of satisfaction at the sight of Grandswitch noticeably flinching away, door wings lowered, looking like a cornered animal.

"Lord Megatron," Knockout stepped forward, but not in between Megatron and Grandswitch. "If I may -" his optics flickered nervously to the cannon. "The mission failure was not entirely Grandswitch's fault. It may also have been due to lack of accurate intelligence." He pointedly glanced at a nearby vehicon.

Megatron followed his gaze, mulling over the reason given to him by his chief medical officer. "Very well," he rumbled finally, lowering his arm, much to the relief of both soldiers. "But I will not tolerate further failure, Grandswitch. This is your first and final warning."

"Of course, Lord Megatron, it won't happen again." His door wings relaxed a bit, returning to their normal position. It seemed as if Megatron was feeling more merciful than normal this solar cycle.

"See to it that it doesn't," Megatron turned away, clasping his servos behind his back as he gazed out the view screen of the Nemesis.

Grandswitch shot Knockout a brief grateful look before both bid a hasty retreat from the bridge.

That was close.

Too close.


"No - no, get off! Leave me alone!"

My eyes shot open as I jerked awake, freezing in place as I was realize I was in a chair that was reclined.

Where am I?

I lay there in a stunned terror until the memories of what had happened over the last day or so came flooding back.

A giant robot.

I'm inside of a giant robot.

Great.

I slowly sat up, struggling to get my breathing back under control.

It was just a nightmare, you're fine. You're okay.

His crystal blue eyes looked over at me in concern.

"I'm fine," I blurted out before he could say anything.

God, I was so fucking tired.

"What time is it?"

"9:30 P.M." He responded, purposely avoiding my eyes now.

I nodded, regarding him with a curious expression.

I had questions, but it didn't seem the right time to ask.

So I went with one that would require less explaining.

"What's your actual name? It's not Samson is it? Do giant robots have human names?"

He chuckled softly, "no, my name's not 'Samson'." He spared a glance at me, "it's Sideswipe."

"Sideswipe," the name seemed to roll off my tongue. "Don't hear that one every day."

"No," he murmured, "no, you don't."

If alien robots could be tired, he most certainly looked like it.

He noticed my stare, "get some recharge."

Recharge?

Oh, sleep..Right.

I didn't protest, I still felt exhausted.

As I lay back into the reclined passenger seat, I heard him mutter lowly. "You've been through a lot."

Maybe.

But he doesn't know the half of it.

I slowly slipped back into a restless slumber, one phrase echoing over and over in my mind.

"You have outlived your usefulness."


So uh, yeah, that took longer to update than I would've liked.

Sorry about that. (Blame school, it kills my motivation x.x)

A bit shorter this time - my brain went one way for the chapter idea. I let it sit for a while, and then came back to it with a different idea.

I hope you all enjoyed the change of pace.

Important Note: I'm going to be using Starscream's G1/IDW design; Knockout and Megatron will have their Transformers Prime design. All of their personalities will probably be TFP as well, seeing as that's the one I'm most familiar with.

Anyways, I'm also thinkin' that Grandswitch is gonna be a Praxian.

Sooo, how'd you all like this chapter?