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Knockout pushed himself up, trying to scramble back and away from the approaching mech. However, Soundwave seemed to be taking his time getting over to him, tilting his helm up triumphantly, unwinding his tentacles slowly.
Of course the Autobots had just left him there! They probably just grabbed their human friend and took off… that is if the thing had even survived the fall… Either way, it was always going to be easier for them to just let him get scrapped by Soundwave than to actually have to deal with him, wasn't it? It had been stupid to trust them. He'd already been betrayed by the Decepticons. Why had he expected the Autobots to be any different?
So now he was injured and weak and on his own, being faced down by Soundwave yet again. His prospects for survival were not looking good… but that was no reason not to try.
Knockout raised his arm with the Resonance Blaster and fired, but it didn't power on. The device had sustained too much damage from the impact. He tried reaching for his staff, but it was still trapped beneath the jet mod's extensions. He tried to transform his servo into his buzz saw, but somehow he wasn't able to. Then he remembered what the 'Bots medic had said about the adapter interfering with transformation. So that applied to weapons too? No wonder they'd scrapped the technology.
He could try to get up and run, but the pain still shooting from his damaged spinal column made him think that even if he could manage to pull himself upright, he wouldn't make it very far.
Soundwave was almost upon him now. Knockout continued trying to slide away, glaring down at his chassis as he desperately clawed at the adapter looking for some way to deactivate the thing. As he fiddled with it, twisting it around and trying to pull it off, the remaining wing gave a slight twinge as though attempting to retract, but that was all. The relic had been too badly mangled to contract properly. He was stuck with it.
Knockout stopped struggling and turned his optics up. Soundwave was now standing directly over him, staring down with his blank visor.
"Soundwave…" he gasped, leaning away and raising one arm between them as a meager defense, "You… I-I mean- okay m-maybe we can talk about this-"
Soundwave lowered his helm, brandishing his injured tentacle, still leaking some energon, in front of him.
"Y-yes… I did do that- But to be fair, you were trying to kill me at the time…"
Soundwave suddenly pitched himself forward, planting a pede hard on Knockout's chassis, forcing him down. His injured back pushed against the jet turbine making the medic cry out in pain. Soundwave then reached forward with his leaking tentacle and clamped it across Knockout's face, turning his helm and forcing the mech to look up at him.
Knockout grasped his servos around Soundwave's pede, trying and failing to lift him off and alleviate some of the weight pressing down on him. "No! Soundwave please!" Knockout was begging now, "You've won already! J-just let me go- I won't tell Megatron about you and Laserbeak… H-he wouldn't believe me now anyways, right? You don't have to kill me!"
Soundwave tilted his helm slightly, as if actually considering his words. He then glanced at his other tentacle as the claws on the tip began to spin. While it was true at this point Megatron probably wouldn't believe any accusation Knockout had to raise, his relationship with his master was too important to even risk that small chance.
He moved his tentacle towards Knockout's chassis, centering it straight over his spark chamber, and began lowering it slowly, savoring the look of terror on the medic's face as he forced him to watch. Knockout shut his optics tight just as the tips of the claws were about to make contact. A quiet whimper escaped his vocalizer as the claw began just barely cutting into his exterior plating…
Then the sound of a groundbridge portal met his receptors, and a second later, blaster fire! Suddenly the weight on his chassis was relieved and the grip on his helm released. Knockout opened his optics and saw Soundwave had been thrown backwards off of him. He watched in shock as Soundwave was sent stumbling across the grass and toppled over rather ungracefully onto his back.
Catching some movement in the corner of his optic, he turned back around to see Optimus Prime standing over him where Soundwave had been moments ago. Without saying a word Optimus leaned forward, transformed his gun back into his servo, and extended it to Knockout.
For a moment Knockout just stared up at him, looking rather dumbfounded by this new turn of events. Finally, he lifted one servo, prepared to grasp Prime's… but he hesitated. His optics darted from the Prime's face to the open servo and back, expecting some kind of trick, but Optimus remained steadfast as Knockout reached for him. He was still uneasy though… Then he glanced over and noticed Soundwave starting to get up. That was enough to convince him- he reached forward, grasping Optimus' servo.
Optimus quickly yanked him up onto his pedes. The force pitched him forward and he nearly fell again, but Arcee darted in to catch him.
Behind them Soundwave was up again and staring at the three of them, as though he couldn't quite comprehend it himself. Optimus glanced back at Arcee, transforming his servo into his sword, "Arcee, get Knockout through the bridge-" he commanded, "I will hold off Soundwave."
Those words seemed to unfreeze Soundwave, and he lunged forward to attack. Optimus rushed forward to keep him at bay. As the two clashed, Arcee pulled Knockout back towards the groundbridge portal. However, Knockout found it hard to look away from the fight, still not entirely convinced it was actually happening. Honestly? Optimus Prime was fighting off Soundwave to protect him? How ridiculous did that sound?
"Knockout, come on!"
He finally tore his optics away from Prime and Soundwave and looked down at the femme helping him stand. "Oh… r-right…" he mumbled as he started forward.
Soundwave hesitated in his fight for a moment and looked towards Knockout. The groundbridge had opened at its coordinates from last time so it was still a ways off from them, but Arcee and the injured 'Con were steadily making their way towards it. And he didn't like that at all. It was about time this was finished.
He suddenly broke away from his fight with Optimus, catching the Prime off guard, then he lunged forward again swinging his arm out and sending him to the ground. Soundwave didn't waste time trying to finish him off, and instead spun around and bolted after Knockout.
"Arcee! Behind you!" Optimus shouted a warning.
Just as they began turning to face him, Soundwave thrust his tentacle forward and latched onto the jet mod's wing. Arcee barely managed to grab ahold of Knockout's arm to keep Soundwave from reeling him in, but the mech was still approaching fast.
As he got closer, Soundwave drew back his other tentacle to strike. Though just as he was about to make the fatal blow, the wing his other tentacle was grasping was snapped, breaking apart the rest of the device as well.
The sudden loss of his counter-balance threw Soundwave off and his attack missed Knockout completely as he stumbled to recover himself.
Knockout and Arcee were also thrown off by the sudden release, but Knockout realized this was probably his only opportunity to finish off Soundwave. And it turns out he had done him a favor by breaking the relic, because that meant he could actually fight back.
Planting a pede firmly on the ground, Knockout transformed one servo into his drill and pushed off of Arcee with the other. Soundwave was still reeling and didn't see the attack coming, so it was quite a surprise to him when suddenly he found Knockout right in front of him with his drill pulled back to strike. He caught himself just in time to pull away slightly, but it wasn't enough, and Knockout drove his drill straight through Laserbeak and into Soundwave's chassis.
They both remained quite still for a moment. Each not quite believing what had just happened. They weren't the only ones; Arcee and Optimus had both frozen in place as they watched on either side of the spectacle.
As energon began dripping down his drill, Knockout finally yanked it from Soundwave's chassis, pulling and snapping a few wires along with it. He stumbled back as Soundwave grasped at the hole in his frame, still shocked that this had happened…
Soundwave had held his own against Megatron himself; he had single-handedly destroyed entire squadrons of Autobots during the Great War; he was a legend- Feared by Autobots and Decepticons alike… and he had been defeated by this weak and injured medic?! No! That was impossible! He couldn't allow it to end this way!
Soundwave staggered forward, energon spouting from his wound, and drew his arm back to strike… but his legs wavered and he fell forward to his knees. Knockout backed away, glaring down at the mech as he bled out. Soundwave turned his helm up, meeting his gaze.
Arcee grabbed Knockout's arm to catch him as he continued stumbling backwards as Optimus circled around Soundwave and approached them, keeping one optic on Soundwave just in case. Knockout vented heavily, and glanced between the two Autobots for a second, then turned and allowed Arcee to lead him towards the groundbridge again.
"This…"
Knockout stopped and turned his helm back.
"…This… isn't over…"
Knockout stared back at the mech for a minute. He had never heard Soundwave speak without using a recording… and he probably never would again. He said nothing in response, but turned back and continued with Arcee and Optimus Prime through the glowing green portal.
The groundbridge quickly powered down after the three stepped out into the base. Knockout took a moment and looked down at the large Autobot symbol under his feet before he turned his helm up to find the gaze of everyone in the room upon him. His first instinct at being surrounded by that many Autobots was to panic, but he forced that impulse back down.
"Hey, Knockout!" the 'Con looked down again and spotted the human was sitting on some equipment just across the room with a wide smile across his face, "Welcome to Outpost Omega One."
"Oh, Jack." Knockout said, "I wasn't sure you were still in one piece for awhile there. Nice to see I was wrong."
"Speaking of which, I think it's about time we got you to a hospital." Agent Fowler said, helping Jack to stand, "You made sure your new buddy was safe, now it's time to go."
"Ahh, yeah. That's not a bad idea." Jack mumbled as Fowler and June began shuffling him towards her car.
"Hmm, I… should probably leave too." Knockout said, glancing around the room again. Now that the initial panic had worn off he was starting to just feel awkward being around the Autobots. He clearly didn't belong there. He turned his helm towards Ratchet, "So if you could just… I don't know, send me somewhere with your groundbridge. Preferably far away from that last set of coordinates-"
"Hang on-" Arcee cut in, "You want to wander off on your own while you're in that shape?"
Knockout pushed himself off her to stand on his own, "I'll be fine."
"You can barely stand." Arcee gestured down to his trembling legs. While it was true he was having a hard time keeping himself upright, he wasn't about to admit that. "We didn't go through the trouble of saving your aft to let you wander off and get yourself killed. At least stay long enough to let Ratchet fix you up. We owe you that much for saving Jack."
"Don't involve me in this." Ratchet mumbled.
"I can take care of myself, thank you." Knockout said tossing a glare towards the other medic, "I can't imagine it could be beneficial to my health to be in your company for any prolonged period of time…"
While this argument was going on, Fowler and June helped Jack into the back of her car. Once he was safely in his seat, Fowler climbed into the passenger side and June circled around to get in as well. She paused as she opened her door though, "Just a moment, boys."
She closed her door again and approached the arguing bots calling out, "Hello, um, Knockout was it?"
Knockout turned to face her as she continued, "Hi. I'm June… Jack's mom." she said, placing a hand on her chest, "And well, I don't know exactly what happened out there, but I do know you played a big part in getting my son back home safely, so… Thank you. Jack is my whole world. I just… I can't imagine what I would do if one day he just didn't come back."
As she spoke Knockout's expression became much softer. After a quiet moment passed, he bent down on one knee and offered a pointed digit out to her, "Well, I'm glad that you didn't have to find out, June."
June smiled, taking ahold of the digit and shaking it. "Better get going." With that, she turned and trotted back towards her car.
Knockout watched as she got in and the car pulled off down the corridor. He turned his helm back down, giving a short, heavy ventilation, "I… suppose it wouldn't be the worst thing if I were to stay…" he mumbled, "But only until I've been repaired." he added quickly.
"Of course." Arcee said, taking his arm and helping him up. "Come on, Ratchet-" she called to the medic as she helped Knockout over to the medical table, "You've got your work cut out for you over here."
Ratchet gave an uneasy glance over at Optimus who gave him a short nod. The medic gave a quiet, displeased grumble but didn't argue, and stepped over to help.
Bulkhead, who had been silently glaring at the 'Con since he came through the bridge, shuffled his way over to Prime, "Optimus-" he mumbled, "Are you really gonna just let this happen? He's a Decepticon. He shouldn't be in our base!"
Optimus nodded, "I understand your concern, Bulkhead." he said, watching as Ratchet ran a scanner over Knockout. "However, I believe that Knockout has shown he is capable of change."
Bulkhead followed Optimus' gaze, glaring as Knockout laid down across the table so Ratchet could repair his spinal column. "Sooo- what then? You expect him to get soft all of a sudden and become an Autobot?! What's to stop him from bolting once he's fixed and becoming another thorn in our side like Starscream"
"Perhaps it is unlikely that Knockout will become our ally… but Jack was right. We must at least give him the opportunity."