The Nemesis:
The Vehicons were surprised. For a medic, Ratchet actually put up a good fight. Too good of a fight. Nearly half the uninjured drones left after Breakdown's furious rampage were offline.
"Don't. Make. Me. Ask. Again," the red and white mech was busy tormenting the GroundBridge operator into opening a bridge for him. Sadly, the drone refused, and promptly got some more 'convincing' from Ratchet.
Megatron, however was amused by this. After dueling with Ratchet for an hour, he decided to let the medic go – that is, if he could find his way off the warship. So far, no luck.
A sharp crack, followed by a crash came from the adjacent room. Another dead Vehicon. That brought the count up to eighty-three. And another. Eighty-four.
"I don't know how to operate it!" a drone was undergoing forceful interrogation via Ratchet and his wrench of doom. As of late, the 'bot was becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of intelligent drones on the Nemesis.
"Well, figure it out!"
There was some scraping of metal on metal as the Vehicon scrambled to get up. "I-I can turn it on, but I can't program it."
"Oh, move it you useless pile of scrapmetal." Ratchet's furious voice was followed by a sharp blast from a cannon – Megatron's cannon, no doubt – and another crash, heavier than the others. The energon bolt must've hit its mark.
Autobot Base:
Knock Out was getting used to being around other Autobots. Except for yesterday, when he'd met with Ratchet, it had been almost a century since he'd actually been in the same room with another Autobot.
Surprisingly, he didn't find himself bothered by their human friends either. He'd seen Miko before, the night Bulkhead ruined his paint job, and heard Megatron ranting about the time Jack passed up a chance to kill him. But the other two were total mysteries to him. June and Rafael, the youngest and oldest of the four currently known to him, were rather calm and collected compared to Miko's overeager demeanor and Jack's brooding tendencies.
"So, you like Rock and Roll?" Miko asked, leaning over the railing above him.
"Yeah, what kind?" Knock Out was amused at her attempt to strike a conversation with him.
"Heavy Metal. You?"
"Same. Sometimes I like the slower ones too."
"So…" Oh, Primus, did she ever shut up? "Ever heard Slash Monkey?"
"Uh-huh."
"Great! I have some CDs somewhere around here." She rummaged through a pile of discs, pouting when she found none. "Hey, where'd they go?"
Leaving her to find the discs, he turned his attention to where Bumblebee and Arcee were trying to repair a power cell Bulkhead had accidentally stepped on.
"I think this piece goes there…"
Sarcastic beeping answered her.
"Here, then?"
This time, the beeping reply was more confused than anything.
"Oh, come on, you're doing it all wrong!" Had Ratchet shown them nothing? "Like this…" Knock Out went on to explain what exactly was wrong with the power cell and how it could be repaired. He refused to do it for them because he felt they needed to learn to fix things themselves if Ratchet wasn't around.
"That was easier than I thought it would be." Arcee seemed far less hostile around him now. "Thanks, I guess."
"You're welcome." Knock Out replied curtly.
Somewhere in the Desert:
Knock Out was close, Breakdown could sense it. After the second set of coordinates turned out to be a total bust, he'd moved on to the third.
He looked around, his optic not registering anything but a tall sandstone plateau. But something wasn't quite right about it. It didn't seem weathered by the harsh desert wind at all, and the surface was too smooth to be carved by wind and water.
Breakdown drove his fist into the side of the plateau. It should have crumbled underneath the force from the blow, but it only buckled with a resounding thud, like metal on metal. Definitely not natural.
He scanned for energy signatures, but nothing showed up on his sensors. There seemed to be an absence of the bio-signatures that should have been coming from the desert around him. He focused his remaining optic on a crevice in the side of the stone – metal – and searched there for bio-signatures. Yet again, there was a disturbing absence of them.
But then his sensors picked up something else. An energon spike. Too strong to be a pure deposit, but just enough to be coming from any transformer inside the plateau. Several transformers, actually.
He knew the name and location of every Decepticon outpost this side of Andromeda, but this wasn't anywhere in his records. The Autobot Base, he realized. This must be where they hide.
Breakdown's hand morphed into his hammer without him thinking about it. If the outer walls were only made of a weak human metal, then they should only hold out against a few blows from his signature weapon. He started driving the heavy hammer into the crevice, bending it further with each strike.
Within minutes, the crack in the outer wall was large enough for him to get through, just barely.
He made his way through the corridors that made up the Autobot's Base, pausing every time he heard a sound.
Once he'd located the source of the energon spike, he found the Autobots. Arcee and Bulkhead were engaged in some kind of exercise involving tossing about a large ball made of scrapmetal. Bumblebee was operating the GroundBridge, while Optimus Prime looked on. Knock Out was chatting with the humans, clearly amused at something.
"I'm coming for you, Knock Out. And you better be ready."
Autobot Base:
Raf was explaining to Knock Out the concept of a human laptop.
"So, you're saying that your species hasn't developed that sophisticated of technology yet?"
"Compared to Cybertronians, no." Raf replied.
"And yet, your weapons have had an effect on many a Decepticon. Interesting," Knock Out leaned back against the wall.
"But you're not seeing the point." Raf held up his laptop for the red medic to see. "This stores information that we can't always remember, and keeps it safe on a microchip."
"Like a hard-drive."
"Exactly."
Knock Out was about to make a sarcastic comment about the capacity of such a device, but was interrupted by a loud crash from behind him.
At once, all the Autobots turned to see Breakdown standing in the doorway, glaring hatred and fury at Knock Out.
"Looks like I won, Knock Out," the blue and orange 'con snarled.
"What is he talking about?" Bulkhead asked.
"How did you get here?" Knock Out practically yelped. "T-the coordinates were three miles away!"
He realized what he said just as the Autobots turned to glare at him.
"I had to give him some kind of chance," the medic explained softly. "Or else it would be no fun. But I didn't expect him to actually find me!"
Arcee shook her head. "We'll discuss it later. Now we need to get rid of Breakdown."
"'We'?" Scoffed Breakdown. "No. This is between me and him. You will not interfere."
"Stop this foolishness," Optimus stepped forward. "Knock Out is an Autobot. He will not agree."
Knock Out flinched. "I accept." He pushed between the Autobot leader and Breakdown. "One-on-one."
Before anyone could stop him, Knock Out and Breakdown started fighting.
Breakdown narrowly missed hitting his former comrade in the head, while Knock Out drew his energon prod, holding it in a defensive position.
"Come on, Knock Out, did you lose your touch?"
"Never."
They went on like that, and no one dared interrupt. It was obvious that the newest addition to their team wouldn't welcome the help. He needed to do this on his own.
Suddenly, Knock Out smiled. He dodged another blow from Breakdown's hammer, backing up slowly. The 'con followed him. Ever so carefully, Knock Out edged away, keeping well within range of the hammer. He allowed himself to be hit, but brought Breakdown down with him.
They wrestled for the upper hand, neither winning for a moment. Then Knock Out had his former assistant pinned.
Breakdown stared up at him. "Finish it," he growled. "You've earned the right."
Knock Out drew his hand back to deliver a killing blow, but stopped. "I-I can't do it," he choked out. "I can't."
"But I can," Breakdown's hammer slammed into the side of Knock Out's head, sending him flying across the room. "You gave me a chance, and now I'm taking it."
Knock Out struggled feebly to get up, disoriented by the blow.
Then Breakdown was above him, holding his hammer above his head. "It's over."
And he brought the hammer down on his former friend with all of his might.
Knock Out crashed to the floor, his bright crimson optics dimming as Breakdown struck again.