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"You think they've caught Knockout yet?"
"Nah, Megatron would've announced it or something so everyone'd know to stop looking."
Two Vehicons were standing guard just at the entryway to the lower air hangar. The bottom entrance to the ship was hardly used except for energon pick ups from the mines, and it was unbearably quiet besides the hum of the ship's engines.
After languishing in that silence for a few minutes, the first Vehicon spoke up again, "Uhh… maybe… do you think we're supposed to be looking for him too?"
"I don't think so- I mean we're on guard duty right now. We should prob'ly stay put."
"Yeah, I guess." The 'Con vented heavily and rocked back on the heels of his pedes, "-but nothing ever happens down here."
The other offered a concurring hum, and it descended into that awkward quietness again… Then the blast hit them. The Vehicons doubled over screaming as the hallway reverberated with the painful sound, ravaging their systems. Finally, the pair collapsed into a pile on the floor, whining and clutching at their helms. Had their audio receptors not been pounding from the attack, they would have heard the footfalls of Knockout approaching and the whirr of his buzz saw starting up.
Jack came around the corner, limping slightly and rolling the Autobot relic in front of him. He approached just as Knockout was stowing his saw. The 'Con glanced around and then opened the doorway into the hangar, "All clear- and we shouldn't have any more trouble down here in the hangar either."
"Any chance they called for back up?" Jack asked, eyeing the two dismembered Vehicons.
"Trust me, they didn't have a chance." Knockout turned back to the human and reached down, snatching up the relic, then stepped over the Vehicons and entered the hangar. "Now let's get the slag outta here."
Jack glanced down at the Vehicons once more, then followed Knockout as quickly as he could manage. Inside the hangar was mostly empty, which made sense considering the 'Cons were typically able to fly without needing a ship. Jack figured all the space in there was probably for falling into formations before taking off as a unit or something. Either way it wasn't really important what the room's function was; what mattered was they could get out through it. The fourth wall of the room appeared to be a large doorway, an airlock presumably, with a keypad along the side to access it.
"Okay, so how do you- uh… get that thing to work?" Jack asked pointing up at the disk Knockout was holding.
"That… is a good question." Knockout mumbled, shifting it over in his servos, "It's an adapter, right? I might have to actually install the thing on my t-cog…"
"That sounds kinda complicated. Didn't Ratchet say it was used in emergencies?" Jack offered, "I doubt there'd be time for a surgery or something if it had to be used quickly."
"Good point." Knockout agreed, "Hmm… maybe it functions like the Apex Arm- AHH!"
As he spoke, he pressed the relic up against himself. Almost immediately, the white marks along the disk began to glow brighter and it suddenly turned in his grip, expanding and clamping down on the metal of his chassis. Knockout flinched and gave a short cry as the metal grips of the disk continued to expand wrapping around his torso, scraping painfully over his damaged side panels, and connecting behind him. The parts began grinding and clicking together to form a small turbine engine; then from each side of it the panels began clamping together and expanded outward to form two long wings, protruding out to the side from Knockout's back.
The 'Con stood perfectly still, his arms raised as the adapter ground to a halt. He looked to each side, seeing the wings now jutting from his back and hummed his approval. "Hmm… but how do I-?" Knockout clenched his servos, seeming to concentrate very hard on something. A moment later the engine now on his back gave a quick blast of heat as its turbines whirred to life.
"Whoa! The thing's wired itself right into my systems!" Knockout said, twisting his head around trying to catch a glimpse of the engine, then promptly looking back down tapping lightly on the metal Autobot symbol now displayed across his chassis. "Not bad for Autobot tech I suppose."
"Alright, great! So you can fly now?"
"That is what a jet mod does, isn't it?" Knockout lowered his servo for Jack to step into, "Come on, let's go already."
"Yeah. Okay… but uh… if you're not in vehicle mode- what about me?" Jack shrugged his shoulders, "I mean, not to put down my own species or anything, but the Insecticons weren't exactly wrong when they called me squishy… at least relatively speaking."
"What's your point?"
"Well I might not be able to hang on very well considering the wind and the altitude." Jack continued, "So I guess, uh- just… you'll have to keep a tight grip on me is what I'm saying."
Knockout rolled his optics, letting out a sound somewhat like steam escaping, "Pshhh. You humans are delicate, huh? Can't even accommodate a little wind turbulence?"
"No not really." Jack mumbled, stepping into Knockout's open servo, "But, I mean, as long as you don't fly as recklessly as you drive I should be okay." he paused a moment, rubbing his head where he'd struck it on Knockout's window earlier. Then another thought occurred to him, "You… you DO know how to fly, right?"
"Of course." Knockout scoffed, stepping towards the keypad near the airlock, "I wasn't always a ground-pounder."
"Oh… really?" Jack suddenly sounded intrigued, "I didn't realize you could change something like that. I mean I knew you guys could change your alt-forms and everything, but I figured you had to stick with either wings or wheels."
"Typically that's true, but being a seeker didn't really suit me. So I… Well.. this is hardly the time to go into that, I think." Knockout keyed in the last digit and the airlock doors slid open.
The two of them looked out at the expanse of Earth below them. There were clouds below them, obscuring the view slightly, but they were quite clearly flying a few thousand feet over a large expanse of empty grasslands. Knockout ventilated heavily, "Alright. Let's see how well I remember how to do this."
"Hang on." he looked back down to Jack in his servo, "Uhh m-maybe you could test to make sure that it works first? I mean, we are pretty high up and-"
As Jack spoke something else suddenly caught Knockout audio receptors, "Wait… wait shut up!" he interrupted, looking back. It was quiet again, except for the roaring of the wind from outside. Knockout was about to dismiss it, but then he heard it again: a distant, high pitched whistling emanating from the entryway. He hesitated for a moment as he tried to place the sound, but then he realized-
"Laserbeak!" he shouted, "Soundwave's found us!"
Not a moment after he'd said it, Laserbeak came zooming through the doorway to the hangar. He spotted them immediately and made a bee-line right at them with his lasers firing. Knockout rushed for the edge of the airlock, also raising his arm and firing the Resonance Blaster towards the mini-con. Laserbeak's wings fluttered as the sound hit him, and he dipped towards the ground. Knockout didn't wait to see if he went down completely; rather, he turned and, holding Jack tight and close to his chassis, he leapt out of the hangar.
As they fell to the Earth, Knockout glanced back to see if Laserbeak had followed them out. He hadn't. Not yet anyway. Turning back around, Knockout activated the adapter's engine and he suddenly jolted forward, slowly building momentum and stabilizing his altitude.
"So far so good." he mumbled. Then he looked down to Jack, whom he was still holding close to his chassis. The human was clutching at his digits and fearfully looking down towards the Earth. "We're out of the ship's shielding now. Are you going to call your Autobot friends, or what?" Knockout shouted over the wind.
"R-right!" Jack agreed. He was reluctant to release his grip along Knockout's digits, but regardless, he reached down into his pants pocket pulled out his cell phone to make the call.
Back at the base, Arcee had taken up her pacing again. Though rather than being in front of the groundbridge, she now took up the hallway entrance across the room. The couch June sat on was facing away from her and towards Ratchet and the computer, which made it the perfect spot. She pulled her optics away from the floor and dared a glance over at the human; luckily she was focused quite intently on looking forward at the computer.
Good. Being forced to wait like this was painful enough; she didn't think she would be able to bear it if June were staring at her with those worried eyes on top of everything else. Arcee looked down again, pulling her arms in tight.
Just as she was looking away, three distinct beeps came from the main computer. The attention in the room flew over to the console as Ratchet opened up communications, "Jack?!" he called, "Is that you?"
"Good to hear you again, Ratchet!" the voice was somewhat obscured by the roar of wind in the background, but it was clearly Jack. "We made it off the ship, could you send the groundbri-"
"JACK!"
June had rushed from the couch over to the edge of the platform by the computer, "Jack! Are you hurt?!" she called, "What's happening?"
"Oh… oh geez you guys called my mom? I… Wha- …Y-you couldn't wait until I actually got back to-" Jack paused for a moment, when he spoke again his voice was less accusative, "Uhh- no. No I'm not hurt, mom. I just-"
"Could we speed this up?!" Knockout's voice came over the connection, "We are still in the middle of an escape here!"
"Right! I've locked on to the signal from your phone, Jack." Ratchet continued. Across the screen was a ground map, and high above it and moving quickly was a little red dot indicating Jack and Knockout's position. "I can open the bridge for you, but it looks like you're pretty high up. It would be safer if you were closer to the ground first."
"Safer how?"
"Such a sudden, extreme change in altitude could be harmful to Jack."
"Primus, you humans can't even withstand minor changes in your own atmosphere?" Knockout sounded both exasperated and mildly amused by the idea, "You really are fragile. It's almost sad."
"Regardless of how you feel about it, that's the way it is." Ratchet snapped, "So get closer to the ground and I'll activate the bridge."
"Alright alright. Let's make this quick though, I don't know if Laserbeak was-"
Suddenly the sound of blaster fire came over the connection.
"OH SLAG! SOUNDWAVE!"
"Ratchet we need that bri- AAH! Oh scrap my phon-"
"Jack? …JACK?! Are you there?!"
There was no response.
"Ratchet, open the groundbridge!" Optimus commanded, stepping forward, "Jack needs our assistance."
Ratchet quickly reset the groundbridge coordinates to ground level and pulled the activation lever.
"Bumblebee, Arcee- with me!" Optimus transformed his servos to gun mode and rushed through the groundbridge.
Behind him Bumblebee let out an enthused whirr and ran after him. Arcee made to follow but was stopped by a voice behind her- "Arcee?"
The femme looked back to see June pressed up against the railing, her hands wrung and squeezing tight, "Please, I'm counting on you… bring him home."
Arcee gave a sharp nod, "I won't let you down, June." with that she hurried through the groundbridge.
"Oh man I can't believe I dropped my phone!" Jack clung tightly to Knockout's digits as he whirled through the air avoiding the rain of blaster fire, "I sure hope the 'Bots heard that we need some help."
"Well if they did they'd better hurry up! We're about to be blown out of the sky here." As he spoke Knockout flipped around onto his back and fired the Resonance Blaster towards Soundwave and Laserbeak. The two swerved to either side, avoiding the blast.
"Ugghh! Well this thing is practically useless against those two anyway!" Knockout whirled around again and tried reaching for his energon prod, only to find it trapped underneath the metal grip the jet mod had wrapped around his sides. "Scrap- and I can't get to my staff… We might be in trouble here, kid…"
"Wait look!" Jack shouted, pointing down at the ground. Down on the vast expanse of grassland just behind them, a glowing groundbridge portal appeared and three figures could be seen emerging from it. "It's the Autobots! Come on, that's our ticket out of here!"
"About time!" Knockout grumbled, then he veered around and took a sharp dive towards the ground, making a beeline for the Autobots and the portal. However, as he made his descent, Laserbeak suddenly dropped down right into his path and began firing on him again!
Knockout managed to roll to the right to avoid the blasts, but his maneuver was met by Soundwave slamming into him from the side, snapping off one of the wings and jarring Jack from his grasp.
Back on the ground, the three 'Bots watched in horror as Jack and Knockout went tumbling down through the air in the distance.
"JACK! NO!" Arcee leapt forwards, transforming into her vehicle mode, and raced towards where Jack was falling. It was a considerable distance, though, and she knew she wouldn't make it in time. Regardless, she sped on trying to get there before that fatal moment.
Behind her, Optimus and Bumblebee charged forward, firing to keep Soundwave at bay. Though the 'Con didn't seem too interested in interfering further: he retreated up into the clouds with Laserbeak to avoid the blaster fire, apparently content to let gravity finish Knockout for him.
As he fell, Knockout managed to stabilize himself, but the ground was approaching fast. With a missing wing landing safely wasn't an option anymore. Though, if he was lucky enough that the jet mod's engine was still working, he could angle himself so that a crash would cause the least amount of damage.
He tried activating the turbine again. For a moment there was no reaction, but after a few seconds it finally whirred back to life. After he got a quick start forward by the engine giving a few short bursts, he remembered Jack. The human was falling several yards away and flailing in a panic as he spiraled downwards. If the Autobots were worried he couldn't withstand atmospheric pressures there was no way the little fleshy thing could survive a fall like this.
Knockout spun back around and angled himself up towards Jack, activating the engine again. He jolted forward, extending his arms to grab the human.
"Gotcha!" Though just as he closed his servos around him, the turbine began sputtering out. Knockout glanced back over his shoulder at the damaged jet mod.
As the engine finally cut out and he tipped downward. "SCRAP!" Knockout shouted over the wind. At least the short burst had given him some forward momentum so they weren't dropping straight down anymore. All the same, this was hardly an ideal angle to be falling at. "Sorry, Jack." Knockout pulled the human closer, "Looks like this is going to be a bumpy landing."
Jack just stared ahead anxiously as the ground grew closer and closer. Finally he tore his eyes away and twisted around, bracing himself against Knockout's chassis. As they were about to crash, Knockout wrapped his servos protectively around Jack and spun around to land on his back.
He cried out in pain as he struck the ground, driving the remainder of the relic's engine into his spinal struts. His cry was quickly drowned out by the clashing of metal as the momentum carried him along, tumbling across the ground and kicking up dirt and grass. Finally he skid to a stop, still clutching his servos over his chassis but very clearly offline.
After a long moment of making sure he could still move, Jack slipped out from under the weight of Knockout's servos and rolled off the 'Con's side. Hitting the ground was almost too much for him, pain shot through his whole body forcing him to double over. His right arm in particular was absolutely searing in agony. However, as he stumbled forward, falling to his knees, he found himself starting to laugh.
"Ha… ha ha! HA HA HA- Oh wow! I'm… I'm alive?" he felt compelled to say it out loud just to make sure it was really, actually true, but yes. Jack was alive.
"JACK!"
He looked up to be greeted by the sight of a blue motorcycle zooming towards him across the plains. Jack couldn't recall a time when he'd been happier to see Arcee. He pushed himself off the ground with his left arm and started limping forward to meet her, but then stopped and looked back. Knockout still hadn't moved. Jack limped back over to the 'Con.
"Knockout, get up! We've gotta go!" Jack leaned forward, pushing all his weight against the medic's forearm trying to shake him, "Knockout? …KNOCKOUT!"
Just behind him he heard the whirrs and grinding of Arcee transforming to her robot mode. He turned around just in time to be snatched up. The femme then turned on her heel and sprinted back towards Optimus and Bumblebee, holding Jack tight.
"OW! Hey- hey WHOA!" Jack tried to twist around to free his arm from being painfully pinned against her servo. As he did he looked up and saw Soundwave had descended from the cloud cover again and was headed straight for them! He looked back down to Knockout and was relieved to see the mech had finally begun to stir. "Arcee wait!" he shouted, "What about-?"
"No way!" she interrupted, keeping her optics forward as she ran, "What matters is that I get you home!"
Optimus and Bumblebee had started firing at Soundwave as he flew closer, but the mech dodged all their fire easily. Just as Arcee ran past the two mechs through the groundbridge, Soundwave transformed and landed with a resounding thud on the ground about halfway between the Autobots and Knockout.
He turned and stared for a moment at the 'Bots. Optimus and Bee kept their blasters raised and prepared for his attack… but suddenly Soundwave turned his back to them and headed for Knockout instead.
"BEEEEEPboooozzzzzzwhirrrrzzz zzz." Bumblebee mused with a tilt of his helm.
Optimus pulled his gun up, keeping his optics on Soundwave, "Well then he can have him." he replied, "Let's get back to base."
As the two Autobots turned and rushed through their portal, across the field Knockout finally came fully back online.
His first instinct was to roll off his back onto his side, trying to alleviate some of the agonizing pain radiating from where the jet turbine had dug into his backstruts. Onlining his optics, he was bombarded with damage warnings flashing across his vision. But through that he was able to make out the last few glimmers of the Autobots' groundbridge closing in the distance… and much closer than that was Soundwave making his way towards him.
"Jack?! JACK!"
As Arcee placed Jack down on the ground in the base, he was immediately accosted by June. His mother wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.
"OW OW OW!" Jack pulled away grasping his right arm, "Careful, mom!"
"Oh no-" June reached forward to examine him, "Jack, your arm- is it broken?"
"I-I dunno. Maybe."
June pulled him into another hug, careful of his arm this time, "Jackson Darby, just look at what happens to you when you don't listen to me! This whole situation is exactly why I didn't want you going on any more 'missions.'"
Jack was about to argue with her, but Arcee spoke up first, "She's right. Next time, you listen to your mom! If she says no more missions, I'm taking her side."
As June pulled back from her hug to look over his arm, the rest of the team came over to greet him as well.
"DUDE! You have to tell me everything! Don't spare any of the details-"
"-was lucky I showed you all about my laptop back in the woods!"
"-great job out there, son. Of course, we'll want to debrief you after you're all fixed up in case you saw anythi-"
"-still think you guys could have taken out the main power core again. That would've been awesome."
Jack pulled away from his mom, feeling suddenly overwhelmed, and stepped back from the group a bit. As he did Optimus and Bumblebee came through the groundbridge and Ratchet powered it down behind them.
"Hey… Hey Ratchet, wait-" Jack looked quickly from Ratchet to Optimus as the green glow faded from the portal, "Where's Knockout?"
It went quiet for a second after he asked, but finally Bulkhead chimed in, "Who cares?!" he exclaimed, "He's a Decepticon."
"Yeah, but he also saved my life!" Jack snapped.
"Geez, did you hit your head or something?" Miko leaned forward and knocked her fist against Jack's head lightly.
"Ow!" Jack pushed her hand away, "Th-that's hardly the point-"
"Come now Jack, be reasonable." Ratchet continued, "Just because it was convenient for him to help you out doesn't mean he's suddenly on our side."
"But it wasn't convenient." Jack insisted, "He didn't have to come back for me but he did… And I think that earns him better than being left for Soundwave."
"Jack-"
"No, Arcee." Jack interrupted the femme, "We owe him."
"It's hardly worth risking the safety of the entire team by bringing a Decepticon into the base because you feel like you owe him, Jack." Ratchet said stepping forward.
Jack turned his gaze down for a long moment, then finally he looked to the Autobot leader, "Optimus, you always used to say that it's possible that anyone could redeem themselves- even a Decepticon. Well Knockout just showed me that he can be redeemed… but we have to give him that chance! You almost made the wrong decision about Knockout once today. Please. Don't make the same mistake now."
Optimus didn't respond, but stood there quietly and looking very intently down at Jack. After a minute, he glanced around at his fellow Autobots to see them all looking expectantly at him… Then finally, he spoke, "Ratchet-" he said as he transformed his servo into a gun, "-reopen the groundbridge."
"Wha- Are you kidding me?" Bulkhead groaned.
Ratchet hesitantly placed his servo on the groundbridge controls, "Optimus, I must express my severe reservations about this…" he mumbled.
"Your concern is noted."
With a disapproving shake of his helm, Ratchet pulled the lever to activate the bridge.
Jack smiled as the green portal began to glow again, then he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking back he saw June smiling at him, "Jack… I'm so proud of you, sweetie."
"Thanks, mom-"
"But you're still in trouble!" she was quick to add, pulling him into another careful hug.
Arcee watched quietly as Jack struggled against her hug, then turned and rushed after the Prime, "Hang on, Optimus!" she called, "I'm coming with you."