Part 2 of the previous chapter!
Disclaimer: Hasbro owns Transformers and all its characters. I only own Paige, Swiftblade, and Hailguard.
Another form came through the ground bridge and Swiftblade stumbled through, holding a hand over his chest plate. The portal closed behind him and he sighed, dropping down to his knees in exhaustion with a grunt.
"Blade!" Worried, Paige hopped on the stairs railing and slid down to ground level. She ran over to her guardian and placed her hands on his knee as she stared up at him with a concerned frown. She glanced between the two bots as Ratchet hurried over to help Bulkhead. "What happened?"
"Tox-En… and Insecticons," he groaned.
"Tox-En?" Paige asked, confused. Only to pause as the information just clicked in her mind.
"A nasty kind of Energon that can cause nausea, paralysis, and eventually snuffs out your spark," he explained to her with a frown, not noticing her odd pause. "Megatron used it to wipe out battalions back on Cybertron."
Paige shuddered, scowling at the knowledge. "What about the Insecticons? Did they get their claws on it?"
Before he could answer, all kinds of noise erupted around them. She turned to see Ratchet attempting to jumpstart Bulkhead with electric shocks, making her frown in worry. And then she squeaked in surprise when she was suddenly scooped into protective hands as Bumblebee and Arcee came swerving around her guardian after coming through the ground bridge. She peered around Swiftblade's fingers and watched as things unfolded around her. Miko and Jack exited their bot companions and allowed them to transform, while everyone stood around to watch in growing worry and fear for the former Wrecker.
"Bulkhead? What happened?!" Miko called, attempting to run to her guardian's side. But Agent Fowler held her back.
"Tox-En exposure. Among other things," Ratchet explained as he paused to scan his patient. "Bulkhead has suffered a complete system's failure!"
Paige gripped her guardian's fingers tightly at the medic's words. She shoved unpleasant flashbacks to the back of her mind, trying to focus on the present situation.
"Hold on. Tox-En?" Arcee asked.
"Help me get him to the medical bay. Now!" Ratchet ordered. "Swiftblade, you too."
Without a word, the bots did as they were told. Arcee and Bumblebee half-carried and half-dragged the larger bot towards medbay, following Ratchet. Swiftblade set Paige down now that there was no danger of being run over and pushed himself to his feet, limping after his teammates. She watched with a worried frown and heard Miko shout behind her.
She turned, only to have arms thrown around her. "If I hadn't gone to New York…" Miko sniffled, holding onto her friend tightly.
"There's nothing you could've done," Agent Fowler insisted, stepping forward. "Hardshell sucker punched the big lug while he was down."
Both girls turned to stare at the agent in confusion. "Who?"
"Some Insecticon. It doesn't matter. Point is, it's not your fault," he told her. "You got that?"
"Got it." Miko turned back to watch the bots work in medbay, clutching Paige's hand like a lifeline.
Paige watched on, gripping her friend's hand back. Both their guardians were injured and there was nothing they could do about it. She felt small arms wrap around her middle and she wrapped her free arm around the boy's shoulders. She gave him a comforting squeeze and felt another arm wrap around her own shoulders. Sighing quietly, she leaned back into the embrace and closed her eyes.
Today is not going well for anyone…
Paige didn't sleep well that night. She probably only got an hour of sleep, if even that much. She had been too worried about Swiftblade, Bulkhead, and Miko. The bots were self-explanatory. Both were way too injured to leave base, so Paige had to ride home with Jack and Arcee. She had offered to have Miko sleepover with her, but the girl had refused and she knew there was nothing she could do to stop her. So she left her alone and decided to be there when Miko needed her.
Now it was early morning and Paige was not in a great mood. She had given up on trying to sleep two hours ago and had thus had breakfast and was currently nursing a cup of straight black coffee. She didn't often drink it, only when she pulled all-nighters and knew she'd have a tough time functioning through the day without it. She sat scrolling through news posts on her phone at the table to pass the time, when the doorbell made her freeze.
Frowning in confusion, she left her cup on the table and got up. She immediately went to her room to retrieve her regular pistol and held it ready as she slowly made her way downstairs. No one used the doorbell. It was a rundown old mechanic garage no longer in use, until she took up living there. The only visitors she ever got always messaged or called her ahead of time. So for someone to ring the doorbell was quite suspicious. She made her way to the front of the shop towards the door and narrowed her eyes, seeing a human-shaped shadow lingering through the blinds. She held her pistol behind her, finger resting over the safety in preparation to defend herself, and slowly unlocked the door. She pulled it open and immediately froze, momentarily blinded by the early morning sun.
"K-Knockout?" She asked, shocked and confused as her eyes roamed over the holoform standing in front of her.
He was absolutely disheveled and looked like he went through both a tornado and a volcano at the same time. His clothes were rumpled and a little scorched. His jacket was nearly falling off one shoulder and his hair was a mess. Her gaze went past him and found his altmode sitting at the curb. And oh, did she feel so bad for him. Miko hadn't been exaggerating about the poor medic's condition. Scratches littered his finish everywhere you looked. No surface was left untouched, and even the scratches had scratches, and more.
"Oh my God," she breathed, appalled by what she was seeing.
"I apologize for my unannounced visit," he spoke sheepishly, looking away.
"Get inside." She ordered, interrupting anything else he might have tried to say. She turned without another word and jogged towards the garage, slapping the button to open the door for his altmode. As it was opening, she set her pistol on the workbench and jogged back to the front door. Not seeing the holoform, she closed and locked the door before heading back to the garage.
The banged up Aston Martin had just pulled into the garage and stopped, shutting off his engine. She pressed the button again and they both waited for the door to fully close before speaking. What she wasn't expecting was for Knockout to transform, having to kneel in order to not hit his head on the ceiling.
Paige walked over to him and placed a hand on her hip, raising an eyebrow at him. "Care to explain your 'unannounced visit'? Which, by the way, I should warn you for next time that ringing the doorbell almost had your holoform's head blown off." She pointed her thumb over her shoulder towards her pistol sitting on the workbench against the wall. "Nobody uses it."
He rubbed the back of his helm and looked away. "Duly noted. As for 'why', well…" He glanced down at himself and sighed. "I normally would have Breakdown help me with this sort of thing, but…"
Paige frowned and walked over to him, placing her hand on his knee as she looked up at him. "I know… You don't have to say it."
He met her gaze and was silent for a moment before sighing. "So… I thought I'd ask for your help."
Paige's heart warmed and fluttered at his words. Her eyes glanced over his badly scratched armor and hummed quietly. "I'm honored you're giving me such a privilege, but… this may take hours to do."
"You have any plans for the day?"
She met his gaze and couldn't help the light blush that warmed her face at his undivided attention on her. She cleared her throat and stepped back, beginning to turn and head for the workbench to retrieve her buffing tool. "N-No, not really… I needed a distraction anyway."
"Oh?"
"Mhm." Paige hummed in response and grabbed the tool she needed. She then walked back over to him and waited for him to get comfortable, since he'd most likely be sitting in the same position for a while.
"Care to talk?" Knockout pulled out his own buffing tool and turned it on, beginning to work on the places that he could easily reach.
Paige frowned a bit and turned on her own tool. "I don't know…" She walked over to his foot and began working on the metal surfaces she could reach. This was going to be a long process.
"My dear, we may be on different sides but I am here if you ever need somebody to vent to," he told her gently.
When she glanced at him, his gaze was focused on the piece of armor he was working on. She then focused her attention on a piece near his ankle. She chewed on her lip, debating on what to say. She eventually sighed in defeat. "My, uh… emotions have been all over the place lately," she admitted, eyes narrowing as her emotions began to bubble to the surface. And just like that, the flood gates opened and she couldn't stop herself from unloading all her troubles.
"You remember my dad, right? Well, he goes by the name Silas and he had been a pain in the ass up until recently. Somehow, with Starscream's help, he managed to create his own remote controlled copy of Optimus Prime and went around doing… not Optimus things. Framing him, essentially." She paused in her buffing to climb on top of the bot's leg, continuing her work as she scowled at the memories that surfaced with the topic. And Knockout just listened, sometimes humming to acknowledge her words and show that he was indeed listening. "And, get this… The same day that was happening, he decided to disown me. And then he got crushed by his own creation."
Knockout paused what he was doing to stare at her in shock. "Paige…"
A bitter smile made its way onto her face, keeping her attention on the piece of armor she was buffing. "And now I don't even know if he's dead or alive because MECH cleaned the place before Agent Fowler and the military could get there. And I have a feeling that's not going to be the last time we hear of them… whether it's MECH as a whole, or Silas." She paused and held a hand to her face, taking a moment to breathe so her emotions didn't suddenly explode on her companion. It was still a tough subject for her and made her blood boil to no end. In all honesty, she had mixed feelings about the subject. It made her both angry and sad. She still loved her father but damn did he make many poor decisions in the past five years.
"Paige…" Knockout moved his free hand to cup around her, carefully rubbing his thumb along her back in a soothing motion. He did that for a few moments before gently using his thumb to move her hand away from her face, and instead lightly rubbed her cheek. A light purr vibrated down into his hand.
The action caused a small, soft smile to pull at her lips and she grabbed his thumb. When it stilled, she closed her eyes and leaned against the larger appendage, humming quietly in content as she felt his purr. "Thanks, Knockout…"
"Of course, sweetspark." He found himself smiling fondly at the nickname that slipped from his mouth. And his spark hummed in content at the blush that bloomed on her cheeks when she heard it and realized what it meant.
She moved away from his fingers and purposefully went back to buffing his armor, if only to hide her embarrassment at the nickname he had just used. This bot is going to be the end of me, I swear, she inwardly groaned. Clearing her throat, she began speaking again as Knockout chuckled and went back to their shared task. "A-Anyway… This, uh… relic-hunting business is already a pain in the ass."
He groaned and rolled his optics at her words. "I think you and I can both agree on that. Soundwave was the only one to successfully bring back a relic while the rest of us got Megatron's wrath. Though, I suppose it makes me feel a little better knowing even the Insecticons failed on their mission." He heard Paige's tool pause and he glanced over, seeing her frown and grip the handle so tight her knuckles turned white. "What? What's wrong?"
"The Insecticons… They hurt Bulkhead and Swiftblade pretty bad…" Paige swallowed a lump in her throat and her gaze drifted over to the covered Corvette in the far corner. "Bulkhead is in critical condition and Swiftblade might take a few days to recover too…"
"I'm… sorry," he spoke quietly, knowing she felt fondly of the Autobots just as much as she seemed to of him. When she shook her head to let him know it wasn't his fault, he couldn't help but ask. "So, it's true that Bulkhead lives?"
"Yeah," she breathed out, eyes growing distant as she remembered the scene back at base. "Ratchet managed to stabilize his systems but it seems like he'll be down for the count for a while… Both the Tox-En and Insecticons really did a number on him."
Knockout grunted in a displeased fashion, looking away as Paige glanced up at him finally. "I knew that Insecticon hadn't truly snuffed his spark like it claimed…"
Paige frowned at his words. "Hardshell said that?"
The bot was momentarily surprised his companion knew the name of the vermin before recovering and nodding. "Swore upon it even. But it's been a while since an Autobot spark had been snuffed, not since Starscream claimed he had done so."
Paige scoffed and went back to buffing. "I heard about that. Idiot mentioned it in front of Arcee and got his ass handed to him for it. You do not want to get on Arcee's bad side. Her bite stings just as much as her bark."
"I don't doubt that." Knockout hummed and went back to buffing as well. "So, is that all that's been on your mind lately?"
"Besides you, yes." Paige flushed at her own words and quickly changed the subject before he could comment on it. "But, uh… What about you? I heard you had quite the adventure searching for a relic yourself."
Knockout scoffed, stopping his buffing to gesture with his hands as he began to vent his own emotions. "Adventure? I'd call it a disaster! Those Insecticons are no help and your Autobot and human friends ruined my finish and took the relic I was searching for!" He huffed and growled low, going back to buffing as he continued to grumble. "Megatron didn't even care, and he had me dispose of a grenade the Autobots stuck inside of Soundwave's minicon."
Paige had to bite her tongue to refrain from responding to that last part. She was partially responsible for the grenade part but she didn't want to get on Knockout's bad side when he had come to her for assistance. She wasn't sure if he'd get mad at her but she didn't want to find out. Not when she knew how he could get when he was mad. "It sounds like Megatron cares more for his own success than the well-being of his army," she mused offhandedly as she moved up his leg, beginning to buff his hip plates.
"Hmph." Knockout scoffed irritably, though he had simmered down from shouting as he had been doing moments before. "Soundwave gets all the credit around the ship while everyone else flounders to stay on a single shred of Megatron's 'good' side… Even that suckup, Hailguard, is having a rough time."
Paige frowned as she stopped to look up at him, noting the scowl on his face as he seemed to glare holes in his own armor plating while he buffed it. She placed a comforting hand on his leg, drawing his attention. His expression softened but didn't fully disappear as he met her gaze. "It sounds like Megatron does more using than anything else. Why do you continue to follow him?"
Though her question had been spoken with a gentle curiosity, it still took the bot off guard as he stared at her in surprise. Any frustration he held before vanished as he let her words sink in. His silence allowed her to continue speaking.
"Is it for safety? Freedom?" She tilted her head a bit. "I'm sure even these small visits are being monitored. Soundwave being the 'eyes and ears' for Megatron isn't just for show, I'm sure. So I highly doubt any trips you've taken off the ship that weren't given to you as a mission were being monitored." She paused briefly as he looked away, contemplating her words. "As for safety… I don't think even Megatron would care enough to rescue any of you if you were in danger. Bulkhead had to go rescue Breakdown from MECH when he was captured, and that's saying something considering their rivalry."
Knockout sighed and closed his optics. "You don't understand…"
"Maybe not," she agreed calmly, rubbing her hand along his clean armor plating and eliciting a small shudder from her touch. "But I do know that he's a tyrant, and he will stop at nothing to get his way. He puts fear in others so they will follow him without question - just so they can avoid a beating, or even being snuffed by him. He and Optimus used to be friends before the war on Cybertron, but look where his ambitions got everyone." She stopped when she saw the bot clench his jaw, figuring she was taking it too far. She sighed a little.
"I just want you to know… The Autobots care for each other. They're a family - we're a family. We encourage each other and help one another. When someone is in danger, we do all we can to get them back to us. No one gets left behind. And… I want you to know that you can have that too." His red optics shot open in surprise and he met her gaze. She smiled softly at him, showing him how sincere she was. "You don't have to give your answer right now. You can take as long as you need to think about it. You can even reject the offer if you want. But just know that even Optimus said he would accept you onto the team, because he trusts my judgment."
"Your… judgment?"
His confusion made her smile more and she looked away as she went back to buffing. "Yeah. I told Optimus about us being friends, and he seems to trust my judgment of character." She shrugged a little. "I mean… I don't know many other Cybertronians so I can't say that I'm really a good judge of character, but… You were nice to me, and you didn't even have to be." She stopped what she was doing and met his gaze again with curious green eyes. "Why is that?"
Knockout blinked in surprise, not expecting her question. "Why was I nice to you?" When she simply nodded, he took a moment to seriously think it over.
Why had he been nice to her from the start? He could have easily just ignored her when she asked him to roll down his window and left her to eat his dust like the rest of those racers. He could have just as easily made her a true hostage when he had captured both her and Vince - the day the Prime had ripped his door clean off. He could have even tried to take her back to Megatron the last few times they had hung out alone together, or even killed her. But just that thought had his spark rattling in its casing in protest. The thought of her getting hurt on accident or on purpose was the reason he even made the bracelet she continued to wear, and his spark hummed in content as he spotted it still sitting upon her wrist.
"If I had to be honest," he spoke quietly, meeting her curious but patient gaze. "It was because you said 'please'."
Paige blinked once, twice. Her expression morphed into one of confusion as she stared up at him. "Huh?"
"You were the one who showed me kindness first," he told her, a soft smile on his face. "Although you didn't know it at the time that I was the vehicle, you complimented my finish. You showed me respect even when others did not, and I've met my fair share of human racers who were not kind to each other." She made a little noise as if she agreed with his words, knowing full well that most of the street racers were pretty much assholes. "You offered to buff my finish when another human scratched it, and your views of me did not change even when you discovered I was a Decepticon."
"That's because…" She pulled a face and sighed, leaning up against his leg with her arms crossed over his armor. "Your alliance doesn't define you. Your actions and personality do. I give respect where its due and if you're an asshole, I'll treat you like an asshole." She met his gaze and felt her face heat up with a small blush. "But you're not an asshole… You like racing and cool cars, and you appreciate someone's hard work. You never once gave me a reason to hate you or be mad at you for a long period of time-"
"So you have been mad at me before?" He asked with a curious raise of an optic ridge.
She rolled her eyes half-heartedly, though she was smiling in amusement. "Maybe just that one time you tried to saw Bulk's head off, but I know you had a mission to complete so that's different. I understood why you did it."
"So you were mad."
"Ugh." She scoffed at his teasing tone and pushed away from him, grabbing her tool and walking around to his backside. "Just sit still. I've got your entire backside to do still."
Knockout chuckled but complied, turning on his own tool. "Of course, sweetspark." His words had the intended effect of her groaning in obvious embarrassment, causing him to snicker before getting to work. He felt a thump on his back plating - most likely due to her hitting him for the tease - but he ignored it in favor of not upsetting her. He'd leave her alone for now, letting them fall into a comfortable silence as they continued to buff his armor.
Neither of them paid attention to the time. They simply enjoyed one another's company as they worked. They had worked in silence for a good while before chatting idly about anything that came to mind. Paige had gotten most of his lower back plating done before having to go grab a ladder to reach his upper back and shoulders. She fell into a routine, finding the task oddly therapeutic as she watched the scratches and singe marks disappear beneath her buffing tool. It had her smiling at the work she had accomplished so far, seeing his clean armor shine in the light of her garage. His finish was beginning to return to its original state of beauty that she admired. She could even see her reflection in some areas.
The sound of her phone ringing had both of them pausing. Paige fished her phone out of her pocket and frowned in concern at the name. She answered the call and put it on speaker, setting it on the step of the ladder she was sitting on as she got back to work. "Hey, Miko," she answered the call, making her companion also return to his task. "How are you doing?"
"Mm… Same as before, I guess," Miko answered. She still sounded down and it made Paige's frown deepen. "I, uh… might have done something pretty stupid today…"
That immediately had the brunette pausing to glare at the phone. "What did you do?" She asked slowly, a stern tone in her voice. Even Knockout froze and glanced over his shoulder at her nervously.
"I may have went on a revenge trip with Wheeljack…"
Paige took a deep breath and rubbed her face tiredly, refraining from automatically telling her friend why that had been a bad idea. Instead, she turned her attention back to her previous task and started buffing again, making the bot do the same. "What happened?" She asked patiently, wanting to know just what the two had gotten into.
"I scouted an Energon mine run by the Cons and Wheeljack blew it up to get Megatron's attention. Then we met up at another mine where Wheeljack and Hardshell duked it out, but he wasn't doing so well… He programmed the Jackhammer's autopilot to take me back to base and told me to use it if things got bad, but…"
Paige already knew what was coming next. "You didn't listen, did you?" A small, knowing smile crept onto her face as she worked.
"Nope. Instead, I pressed the button to fire some missiles at him and - boom! Hardshell went kablooey!"
Paige's eyebrows shot up and she exchanged a shocked look with Knockout. "You killed the Insecticon that hurt our bots?"
"Yep."
Paige frowned, hearing the flat tone in her friend's voice. Normally the girl would be proud enough to boast about her achievement, finding any way to exaggerate the details with wild gestures and added noises. More than usual. "And how do you feel about it?"
"...Not any different. But I think the bots are mad at Jackie now."
Paige hummed quietly. "Did you tell anyone where you were going beforehand?"
"No…"
"Well, there ya go." Paige went back to buffing the backside of Knockout's helm, and he stayed still as she did so. "They were worried about you. And, let me guess, Wheeljack went about things recklessly?"
"How'd you know?"
"I went with him and Ratchet on their relic-hunting mission. He tried to take on Soundwave and learned what the Resonance Blaster does firsthand, in the form of a headache. The way Wheeljack fights… If he's angry, he'll fight recklessly. And I'm sure he got quite the beating from Hardshell, didn't he?"
"Yeah, he did… He was limping. And he didn't even stay to let Ratchet look at him."
She sighed and shook her head. "He didn't the first time either… Claims his ship needed more repair than him. I hope he's okay…" She trailed off with a worried frown, finishing up what she could reach.
"...What are you doing?"
"Buffing K.O." She climbed down from the ladder and walked around to stand in front of the bot. All that needed to be done now was his face and the rest of his helm. "You were not exaggerating the damage."
Knockout scoffed quietly but said nothing in response, causing her to smile at him.
"You're with him right now?" Miko's voice had dropped down to a whisper.
"Yep. It was a surprise visit. And he rang the doorbell."
"Dude. Never ring the doorbell."
Knockout sighed and rolled his optics. "Alright, I get it. I'll make sure I call next time."
Paige smiled as Miko snickered quietly on the other end. "Please do." She then took the phone off speaker and held it to her ear. "Hey. Please let me know if you need me. I'll have Ratchet bridge me there in a flash."
"Thank you, Paige… I can always count on you."
"Of course." The call ended and Paige stuck her phone back in her pocket. She looked up at the bot and held up her tool. "Ready for me to do your face?" He grunted in response and lowered his hand to the ground, palm up. She climbed onto his hand and held onto his thumb with her free hand as he slowly lifted her up to his face. She smiled at him and turned on her tool. "Close your optics."
When he did as he was told, she began to buff out the scratches and scorch marks from his face. The worst of the damage was on the right side of his face, and that's where she focused most of her attention. She left no surface untouched, making sure to get all the little corners until his face was clean. She planted a kiss on his cheek once she was finished and smiled softly as he blinked his optics open in surprise. "Now all that's left is the top of your helm and you're all good to go." He hummed in content at her words and raised her up so that she could reach the damage on the front of his helm. She buffed out those surfaces within minutes and she turned off her tool with a satisfied hum. "All done."
"Thank you, sweetspark. You saved my finish." Knockout lowered her back to his face and he planted a gentle kiss on her head, causing her to blush and giggle.
"You're welcome. I'm happy to help." She smiled bashfully and waited for him to set her down on the floor. She stepped off his palm once he had and she went to put her tool back on the workbench while Knockout put his away. She turned and walked back over to him. "Well… Does this mean you have to leave again?"
Knockout frowned and glanced away. "Perhaps I should. Like you mentioned, my visits are probably being monitored so I shouldn't stay any longer than I have in case Megatron comes looking for me personally."
Paige frowned at the thought. "Yeah, let's not let that happen."
Knockout transformed into his altmode and his holoform materialized in front of her, surprising her. She blushed as he grabbed both her hands and lifted one to his lips, kissing her knuckles. He smiled and moved her hand away so that he could plant a brief, proper kiss on her lips, making her face flush more. He then pulled away reluctantly. "Until next time, Paige."
She nodded, backing away slowly to hit the button to her garage door. "Be careful out there, Knockout."
With a final nod, his holoform fizzled out of existence and he slowly drove out of the garage. Once he hit the street, he peeled off and sped out of town to find a vacant location to call for a ground bridge.
Once the shiny Aston Martin had disappeared from sight, she closed the garage door with a sigh. I hope he thinks about my offer. She yawned and heard her stomach growl, making her trudge up the stairs to prepare a small meal. I totally forgot about my coffee. Oops.
Come on... Another buffing session was bound to happen! And I felt so bad during that episode lol.
And the offer was dropped! Will he pick it up though? :0