OoO An update on a story, and a NEW one at that, within less than a week? You all must be thinking, WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER?!
But the more appropriate question would be... CAN YOU SMELL-A WHAT CLIFFJUMPER IS COOKING?!
Because if you can, you're too close and should probably be running. You mess with Cliff, you get the horns. And those things are SHARP, man.
*ahem* The fact that I am updating this is my friend's fault, again. XD I blame him for everything, don't I? He got me in a Knock Out mood.
Also, is it bad that I now have a girl crush on TFP Arcee? I had to make a video about her this morning. I usually don't make videos about the girl characters I like, but Arcee... she's jsut beautiful and badass. Like Airachnid, only, you know... likeable. |D
By the way, two words: ARCEE'S HIPS~ Ladies, when Arcee walks, I dare you to look at those hips and not either be insanely jealous or fall in love. (I feel like such a pervert because I keep looking at her chestplates... *shame shame shame*)
Anyway. This story is not about Arcee! Get that through your thick head, authoress, jeez... stop going on about your becoming gayer than Knock Out's purse!
... I just said that, didn't I? *nervous grin* Well, uh... BYE!
At least I mentioned Knock Out. There's a little bit of humor in this chapter, but toward the end, SHIT STARTS GETTING REAL.
Also, I don't know all that much about cars, but I did attempt to do my research on the Aston Martin DBS V12, for the sake of this story. I'm not all that into cars, so shows you how far I'm willing to go for Knock Out! Because whoo, is he one sexy little auto! If I got something wrong, please do forgive me, this is my first time really getting into car/engine specifics.
Hope you guys likee!
It wasn't a terribly long ride back, but it did take some time. They had to keep themselves out of the way, after all - a mechanic shop further out than the normal ones. Vanessa had to laugh when she thought about it, because she and her team had everybody fooled. Did all these idiots here in, as she called it, "the village," really believe she and the guys were just running a low-maintenance, rinky-dink little auto repair game?
She chuckled just a little, slowing down as she neared her destination. "Jasper's such a backwater town," she commented to herself as she made the turn and began driving into the garage.
She tried to roll down the window, but it seemed to be stuck. "Great," she muttered, undoing her seatbelt. "Another part of this car that doesn't work." The radio was apparently faulty, as she'd tried playing it a couple times on the way and got nothing, and now so was the window. She couldn't sell parts that didn't work. Maybe the car was just a giant piece of crap after all.
Well, no way to know until she got a look at that engine block.
She practically had to kick the door to get out, because the lock didn't seem to feel like budging. She climbed out and, after grabbing the keys, slammed the door. "Yo, Tony!" she shouted, walking around to the Aston Martin's hood. Hadn't she told that dumbass to have her stuff ready? Where the hell was he?
There was a clang from somewhere in the back of the shop, at which she rolled her eyes. Then came Tony's voice, loud and obnoxious and carrying on the wind as usual. "Sí, jefa?"
"Where the hell are my tools?" She opened the car door back up and bent down to look for the hood release lever. "I told you I wanted to get inside this thing the minute I got back!" She found it, and yanked on it, waiting to hear the click of the hood popping up. "Get me a fucking prop rod too!"
As she was straightening herself up, she heard Tony yell at her again. "Tengo la cosa abierta!" He sounded annoyed with her too, but oh well. He'd get it over it, he always did. "I'm coming! Kenny, estás usando la llave puto mal! Estúpido! Do I have to do everything around here?!"
"Si no me grites, que tal vez podría concentrarse!" came Kenny's answer. Wow, she'd forgotten that the kid was way more obnoxious than Tony ever was. "You're not the only one who can speak Spanish, you dickhead! I may not have the accent, but I can talk circles around you all day, ese!"
Vanessa growled as she lifted the hood up farther, tossing her head backward to see if those morons were coming or still arguing. "Chicos, ya basta!" If they wanted her to yell at them in a different language, if that would get them to put a cork in it, she could do that. "Just shut up, and one of you dumbasses bring me my toolbox!" She turned back to the car's engine block with a huff. She wasn't leaving this car just so she could deal with those two. Not this time. This car demanded all of her attention.
She quickly looked down, drumming her fingers against the side of the hood as she continued to wait for her workers. She peered into the car's inner workings, feeling like a little kid on Christmas morning, and immediately raised an eyebrow at what she saw. It was the standard, fancy setup for the engine block of this Aston Martin model. V12 engine, twelve cylinders with four valves per cylinder, and the added accessory of an active bypass valve. And yet, there were all these extra parts. Besides sparkplugs, torques, all the valves, there were a bunch of things she couldn't identify.
"What is all this stuff? Pssh, doesn't matter... you're nice anyway," she mumbled, leaning down and searching for the safety catch lever under the hood. "So much power, I bet your engine is worth at least-"
Before she could even finish her sentence, the hood just about fell down on top of her head. She screamed and pushed off the car, pulling herself out from under the hood. "Shit!" She grabbed the hood and yanked it back up, thought it seemed to be putting up a fight. "You mother-!" She reached down and smacked her hand on the catch lever, finally securing the hood in place. "God! Don't even want me to touch you, do ya?! Tony!"
"Here, jefa!" Her toolbox was swiftly deposited by her feet, accompanied by the dark-haired Latino who was currently having a finger-slap fight with the loud Jasper native. "Sorry, the niño tonto over here doesn't even know what wrench you use to take apart a V-twin engine's nuts and bolts!"
Kenny hissed, waving his hands at Tony's face. "I'll use a wrench to take apart your nuts and bolts, you know-it-all!"
"Hey!" Vanessa delivered rapid justice onto both of them, a backhanded smack on their faces. "I don't wanna hear you two freaks for the next hour!" She peeked down into the engine, then grabbed a wrench from her mess of tools. "Bring me a couple of catch pans. I need to drain the oil and antifreeze before I start working on this thing."
"On it, boss!" Kenny stuck his tongue out at Tony and started toward the shelf on the other side of the room. "You need separate ones?"
"Probably not." She squatted down briefly to sneak a peek at the car's undercarriage and see where the fluids came out. "Just hurry up, I wanna tear into this thing already. Can't wait to get that radiator off and polish it up."
As Kenny walked back over with the catch pan, the Aston Martin's engine revved, and Vanessa blinked several times as she stood back up. "Damn. This car has been glitching the whole way back!" she complained, crossing her arms and looking over at Tony. "The radio, the window - now there's something wrong with the engine!"
Tony chuckled. "Maybe you left the key in?"
"No, I took it out." She patted the side of her jeans pocket. "I got it right here."
"Well..." Tony scoffed and scratched the back of his head. "Maybe la coche, she takes offense to your thinking her engine's dirty."
Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Well, it looks like it hasn't been cleaned in a long time. Don't blame me, blame this... this Knock Out guy."
"Oh?" Tony crossed his arms over his chest. "Her racer?"
"He left after it got in a wreck." She sat down and snatched the pan from Kenny, then laid down on her back and scooted herself under the car. "I mean, this thing isn't in the best shape right now, but I think we got lucky that most of the damage is to the paint job. Once this thing is just scrap metal, the paint won't matter. I guess the wreck actually did us a favor, huh?"
He reached down and handed her the wrench she'd put down. "Here you go, jefa."
"Right." She analyzed the undercarriage before moving toward the oil valve. "Alright, let's get to work."
Knock Out had been willing to cooperate with her up until they entered the shop. After all, maybe her comment about getting under his hood just meant she was being extra cautious and checking for internal damage. And if there was some, well then, she'd done a very good job, hadn't she? Of course, if that was the case, she could pat herself on the back, because he would have been out of there as soon as all attention was off him.
Unfortunately, although the faded, blinking neon sign above the garage read Little Ness Auto Repair, the place didn't look to be anything of the sort once she pulled him into it. He saw parts from other automobiles strewn about, tools lying on tables. Oil stained the floors, and the place just looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a while. A few lightbulbs were flickering above, which made the setting seem straight from the screen of some human horror movie. It was enough to even make him, a mech who regularly dismantled other bots, nervous.
He tried to put up with all the remarks this human made about him. It was difficult enough with what she said about his radio and his window, but he managed because those were his own doing, trying his best not to make this easy for her. It got worse when he realized she really was going under his hood, and had barked at her apparent servants to bring her tools and a prop rod. He was always uneasy about anyone working on him, mainly because as a medic it wasn't very reassuring to be put into someone else's hands. He was the doctor. He should be able to fix himself.
He shouldn't need this... this skinjob to be opening him up and fragging with his anatomy!
It wasn't the most comfortable feeling he'd ever experienced to have that woman's hands inside his hood, looking at his engine and sizing it up - and from that one comment, wondering what his engine was worth in human currency. He rarely did things with glee, but it was actually in that manner that he overrode the manual release lever and slammed his hood down onto her squishy little organic head. He would have laughed at her reaction, had he not been trying to keep a low profile at the moment. Knock Out: 1, Skinjob: 0. I wonder if that damaged her internally.
Then she began talking to that other man, the one she called Tony. It was bad enough that she called the other boy to fetch her a pan that she was going to drain his fluids into, but it just got more insulting when Tony referred to Knock Out as "she." Why did humans assume all cars were female? It didn't make sense. Not to mention the fact that there were far more mechs than femmes.
Talk about adding insult to injury...
He was a little flattered that the skinjob had bothered to remember his name. The humans tended to forget about things if it wasn't anything that directly concerned them. However, that wrench in her hand was about to be going somewhere he really didn't want it going. If she got the oil valve undone and started emptying his internal fluids, that was the beginning of the end. She was going to take him apart! She was going to tear him apart and sell him for scrap!
He wouldn't stand for that. He couldn't. He barely tolerated other mechs touching his finish, let alone this skinjob taking a wrench to his internal parts and ripping everything away. The very thought scared him. It was degrading, and not to mention he'd be able to feel every second of it. What had already happened to his finish was bad, but what she was going to do was a hundred times worse - utterly, unthinkably worse!
It was almost like a reflex. The minute her wrench touched the valve to unscrew it, he transformed.
After a moment of twisting gears and rotating limbs, he found himself thankfully under a high ceiling, though at the moment he was pushing its limits. He looked down at the humans, seeing that the men had dropped what they were holding and were staring wide-eyed at him. The smaller one was trying to stammer something out, but mostly all he managed was, "B... B-Buh... what... huh... ffffff...!" Such articulation.
The taller one, Tony, shifted his gaze from Knock Out to the female skinjob several times. It didn't look like he could do much else, but at least he wasn't trying to force out words when he had none.
Knock Out himself looked down to see the woman lying between his pedes, and though her eyes weren't quite as wide as the others', it was clear that what he'd done had surprised her. She was still holding her wrench in the same position it had been in, preparing to unscrew a valve cap that wasn't there anymore. Her mouth formed a little o shape, and she was blinking constantly, almost as if she didn't know exactly how to respond to this new development. "What the hell..." Ah, so she could verbally express herself even now. Good, maybe he hadn't frightened her too badly and she wouldn't go running off and he wouldn't have to chase after her to slag her.
He put his hands on his hips and glared down at her. He wasn't quite sure himself how to handle this situation, since he'd basically just revealed himself in front of three humans. But he'd be slagged before he left this get the better of his intimidating nature. He was a Decepticon first and foremost, an inquisitive mind second. "What was that about working on me, little skinjob?"
*GASP* Oh teh noes! Knock Out just transformed in front of some humans. In his defense, they were getting ready to disassemble him! He couldn't just sit there and let that happen, now could he? And I, as the authoress, have a sworn duty to protect Knock Out's finish. *holds out card* I even took a hypothetical oath. :)
KO: *groan* Unfortunately, it's perfectly legit. I gave her a degree and everything. *grumble grumble*
Anyway, I should probably be getting back to writing since this left y'all with a cliffie. But first, few things to clear up.
Just want to clarify, Tony is Spanish, but Vanessa and Kenny aren't. They speak Spanish because, well, working with a Latino, you're bound to pick up some of the language, even if it's just because you want to yell at them to get their ass moving. XD
Which leads into my final order of business, Spanish translations! I got these from Google Translate since I don't speak Spanish, but I tried my best to make sure they were right. If they're not, please tell me and I'll correct it immediately! That said, here's what I have:
Sí = Yes (I'm sure everyone knows this one!)
jefa = boss (feminine as opposed to masculine "jefe")
Tengo la cosa abierta! = I've got the thing open! (he's referring to Vanessa's toolbox)
Kenny, estás usando la llave puto mal! = Kenny, you're using the wrong fucking wrench!
Estúpido! = Stupid!
Si no me grites, que tal vez podría concentrarse! = Maybe if you don't yell at me, I can concentrate!
Ese = man/dude/homeboy (this is the slang meaning though; the formal word "ese" just means "that" or the letter S - in this story, it'll pretty much always be the slang meaning)
Chicos, ya basta! = Boys, knock it off!
niño tonto = dumb kid
la coche = the car (this is the feminine version, because *snicker* cars are traditionally addressed as female... so basically, this is some humor with Tony accidentally calling Knock Out a girl)
Hope you enjoyed, and reviews are not only welcomed but loved and given a good home!
Thanks for reading! ^^