Author's Notes: I would just like to thank AskDrKnockout for helping me come up with the idea for the action sequence in this chapter, and for helping me not take months and months to update again. I have a lot of ideas, and sometimes good ones are accidentally ignored when I'm working on other projects. This fic is back on track and soon it'll get into some multi-chapter plots, but for now have some more Stunticon craziness :)
Chapter 5
Drag Race
Knockout had been stuck in the medbay all day and all night for double shifts. The Autobots had really torn into their Vehicon forces, and for whatever reason Megatron still wouldn't let the Stunticons go out there and fight. Knockout didn't know why their leader was being so cagey about unleashing a group of vicious warriors like the Stunticons, but it wasn't Knockout's place to question Megatron (to his face). Rather he had to be content to listen to the Vehicons gossip while he put them back together as Dead End watched him like a vulture waiting for an animal to drop dead.
It took many hours, but finally the last Vehicon left and Knockout could rest. He still couldn't relax though, because Dead End was still standing there watching him. It was something Knockout wasn't scared of anymore, but that still didn't mean he was used to it either. He was mostly just annoyed.
"Shouldn't you go to recharge now, Dead End?" Knockout finally asked.
"Shouldn't you?" Dead End replied pointedly.
Knockout simply huffed and tried to ignore the maroon Stunticon while he cleaned the medbay. Like his own frame, Knockout took pride in a medbay that lustered.
"Hey Knockout, can I ask you something?" Dead End piped up after a few minutes of Knockout scrubbing down an energon-soaked berth.
"What do you want, Dead End?" Knockout asked rudely.
"I want to crawl around inside your processor and absorb your knowledge," Dead End replied, causing Knockout to involuntarily shiver, "But barring that, I would like you to teach me how to be a medic like you."
"Excuse me?" Knockout muttered uncomprehendingly.
"I've been watching you for weeks now, and I want to be like you," Dead End requested, "I want to be a medic as well."
"No. No way! Absolutely not!" Knockout objected profusely, "You steal my pain pills, you freak out the patients, and you once asked Dreadwing if he could ram a crow bar into your servo just so you could 'understand what it feels like'. You are way too irresponsible to be trusted with patients' lives. For. Get. It."
"But you are the only medical professional on board the Nemesis," Dead End pointed out, "I could be of use to the Decepticon cause."
"Decepticon cause?" Knockout scoffed, "You don't care about the Decepticons. I don't think you actually care about anything!"
"I care about my physical appearance," Dead End reminded him, "And I care about my brothers. You should watch out for them, by the way. It's been a long time since they were allowed out of the ship, not counting when Drag Strip snuck out the other day. Eventually they will get restless, and when they get restless mechs offline. Just saying."
"I'm not afraid of them anymore," Knockout lied, "Besides, Megatron keeps them in line."
"I notice you sneak out too," Dead End mused; ignoring his last statement entirely, "Where do you go? Is it someplace quiet? Maybe you prefer loud places instead. I prefer quiet places, but that's just me. Wildrider and Drag Strip like loud places. Motormaster likes breakable places. Breakdown used to-"
"If I tell you where I go will you stop talking to me?" Knockout asked irritably.
"Maybe," Dead End replied noncommittally.
Knockout let out a long deep breath and wiped his face plate with his servo. Dead End really knew how to push his buttons. Then again, Dead End seemed to know how to push everyone's buttons.
"Well, when I sneak off, I go drag racing," Knockout explained, "I just drive around small towns at night looking for illegal street races. I always win of course. I'm the fastest thing on wheels on the entire planet after all. It just helps me let off steam, that's all."
"Hm. I see," Dead End nodded, and then without another word he left the medbay.
Knockout sighed in relief when he saw that Dead End was actually leaving. Maybe that stupid Stunticon would get the message and not ask him about being a medic again. The last thing Knockout needed was for Dead End to have a valid excuse to hang around and bother him.
That night Knockout recharged peacefully and dreamt about crowds cheering his name as he crossed the finish line in a race on Cybertron. He never raced on Cybertron, so his mind made up crazy details like rainbow colored bleachers for the fans and a road made out of pure platinum. He soaked up the adoration as the crowds cheered.
Knockout! Knockout! Knockout!
Hey, slag pile! Wake up!
"Huh?" Knockout blearily awoke when he realized that it was someone actually calling him and not part of his beautiful fantasy.
"I said wake up you good for nothin' soft-sparked piece of scrap!" Drag Strip barked at him as he gave the medic a violent push off his berth, "There! Now that Rechargin' Beauty has bothered to grace us with his presence, we got some unfinished business to get to!"
"Wuh, what are you talking about?" Knockout asked groggily, sore from the push and confused as to why the motorcycle-former was so angry with him.
"Dead End said you said you were the fastest thing on wheels!" Drag Strip shouted accusingly, "Everyone knows I'm the fastest racer alive, and I'm here to call you out! We're racin' down on the planet, right now! Unless you're too scared to face a real racer in a fair competition."
"Fair? Even Wildrider knows you cheat, and he's an idiot," Knockout retorted, "I'm not going to race you, Drag Strip. Not after you woke me up from such a good dream."
"Fine. Then I guess you want me to leave you alone then?" Drag Strip asked in a voice that promised bad things to follow.
"Yes, I want you out of my room now!" Knockout screamed, too angry to notice Drag Strip's sinister tone.
"Fine then," Drag Strip replied with a sadistic smirk, "Oh, Wildrider!" He called out in a sing-song voice.
Wildrider then entered the room; barely able to fit with Drag Strip and Knockout already taking up so much room.
"You know what to do, big guy," Drag Strip ordered vaguely as he flashed a malicious sneer at Knockout.
"Tear him apart?" Wildrider asked eagerly.
"Yep," Drag Strip replied chipperly, "I'll just leave you two alone then."
"No, wait!" Knockout quickly called out, and Drag Strip stopped right at the exit, "I'll do it! I'll race you!"
"Good mech," Drag Strip purred; satisfied that he got his way.
"Yer gonna race?" Wildrider asked Drag Strip, "Ooh, ooh! I wanna race too!"
"You can't beat me," Drag Strip scoffed at Wildrider condescendingly.
"I know, but I'm bored," Wildrider complained, "Besides, I wanna see how you'll beat the medic. Maybe you could slash his tires halfway through like ya did to that one guy. What was his name? Oh yeah, Blurr! You really kicked his tailpipe! Oh, and the time you rammed into that one guy with the bad struts. Oh, mech! That was priceless!"
"Hey now, I don't want to brawl. I just want to race," Knockout held up his hands placatingly.
"You didn't wanna race. I made you race, and I could make you fight if I wanted to," Drag Strip bragged immaturely.
Knockout sighed (it was getting to be a habit) and followed the two Stunticons out of his room. Waiting for them at the ground bridge room was Dead End, who gave Knockout an evil smirk that looked more alive than Knockout was used to seeing the listless mech look.
"Hey medic, bet you wish you had some help now," Dead End taunted before setting the coordinates and activating the bridge, "Hope you don't get injured. No one here knows how to treat your wounds."
The other two laughed sinisterly, and Knockout finally figured out what was going on. Dead End was getting revenge on Knockout for turning him down for a position as a medic's apprentice. Knockout, unlike the Stunticons, was completely unaware of Dead End's vengeful streak. If it could've Knockout's body would've paled, because now he knew he had become enemies with most of the Stunticons.
Dead End had transported them to a beach on some small island with no people. There was no road, so the group would have to race in the sand. Knockout and Drag Strip didn't have good tread on their tires, so oddly enough the one with the advantage was Wildrider. For whatever reason, Dead End had obviously wanted Wildrider to win.
The three competitors transformed into their alt modes and revved their engines to start the race. Drag Strip counted down to when they should start driving, but of course he drove off before finishing the count, leaving Knockout and Wildrider to spin out before trying to catch up to him.
Drag Strip took an early lead as he raced through the sand and the sea water, but soon Knockout and Wildrider were both catching up to the yellow motorcycle. They all left trails of sand and surf in their wake as they jockeyed for the lead position. Knockout didn't want to participate in this race, but he wasn't about to let Drag Strip wake him up and humiliate him all in one day.
Knockout hugged the dry side of the beach to avoid getting wet sand on his glossy finish, but it was making it more difficult to catch up to the others since he was driving on the wider part of their makeshift track. It was a close race, and Knockout didn't even know where their finish line was supposed to be, so he didn't know how long he would have to keep up with this fevered pace. His guess was that the race would continue until the losers got too tired to continue. Wait, was this an endurance race? Knockout didn't even know if he should speed up or slow down to conserve his energy. This was a nightmare!
Wildrider inched closer to Drag Strip, who was in the lead. Wildrider was about to ram into Drag Strip's aft and make him fall over, but then he was distracted by a sea turtle crawling along the edge of the beach. Wildrider screeched to a halt and transformed into his robot mode so he could poke the turtle with his finger and pet its large shiny wet shell. Needless to say Wildrider didn't care about the race anymore.
Now it was just Knockout and Drag Strip, and Drag Strip had a slight lead on the red medic. Knockout gave it everything he got even though he didn't know the rules of the game. He wasn't about to let that no good delinquent have bragging rights on him when it came to racing, even if Knockout was worried about the possibility of revenge or a beating.
Drag Strip started swerving in a zigzag pattern in the sand to show off as he kept his lead. Knockout, not one to be outdone, revved back on his rear tires before smashing back down into the soft sand and speeding ahead of Drag Strip. Drag Strip quickly caught up to Knockout, but surprisingly he seemed to be attempting to keep pace rather than get ahead.
"Hey medic, you some kind of lowrider?" Drag Strip asked approvingly, "Breakdown and Wildrider used to do stunts like that back in Tarn."
"Where do you think I learned how to do that in the first place?" Knockout asked, never slowing down but not speeding up either.
"Mech, you're alright," Drag Strip commented, "Listen medic, I already know I could whoop your aft any orn of the cycle, but I like you, so let's just call it a draw. What do you say?"
"I say...eat my dust, slagger!" Knockout taunted before speeding ahead; kicking up sand all over Drag Strip.
"Oh, it's on!" Drag Strip roared; angry that Knockout had just embarrassed him like that.
Drag Strip maxed out his speed limit and came upon a palm tree. He used his momentum to drive on the palm tree's bark and use it like a ramp to gain lift. He made a 30 ft. jump and landed right in front of Knockout, which angered the medic. He sped up to catch up to Drag Strip, who was now taking their race into the jungle that was just beyond the beach.
Drag Strip realized too late the mistake he made in driving into the forest. Wet leaves were causing Drag Strip to slip and weave, and being a motorcycle meant he didn't have near the control over himself that a well armored car like Knockout had.
Knockout attempted to pass Drag Strip, and the two racers were so close it was impossible to tell who was in the lead. Both Decepticons revved their engines to the limit, but soon the grudge match was cut short when they both saw a ground bridge pop up in front of them. Neither one could stop themselves before they crashed into the large Cybertronian that had exited from said ground bridge; Motormaster.
"Well, well, well, so there you are, lemon aft," Motormaster growled as he looked down at Drag Strip; still in his alt mode.
Drag Strip and Knockout quickly transformed into robot mode knowing that they might have to either fight or run for their lives. Their vehicle modes were simply too battered for that.
"You ruined my beautiful frame!" Knockout wailed despite himself, "Do you know how difficult it is to find protoform metal on earth?"
"Where's Wildrider?" Motormaster asked Drag Strip; ignoring Knockout's rant altogether.
"He's playin' with some sea lizard or somethin' back at the tide," Drag Strip informed him, "Bolt brain couldn't even focus on a race for a full breem."
Motormaster then proceeded to punch Drag Strip square in the chassis, causing the yellow mech to fall over and the medic to yelp in surprise.
"Why do I keep gettin' hit?" Drag Strip groused as he wiped away some leaking energon from his chassis.
"Next time it'll be your face plate if you run off without permission again," Motormaster warned him, "Megatron's been lookin' for us, and you weren't there. Do you know how that makes me look? Huh? Do ya?"
"Sorry, boss," Drag Strip replied contritely as he looked away from Motormaster, "I'll go get Wildrider."
Drag Strip then skulked off to retrieve his brother, and Knockout to his horror was left alone in the remotest part of the planet with Motormaster, and Motormaster was in a bad mood.
"So medic," Motormaster grunted, and Knockout tensed, "I hear you denied Dead End's request for medical trainin'. Is that right?"
"Um, no, not at all!" Knockout quickly lied, "He misunderstood me. I would be honored to have another Stunticon as my apprentice. After all, Breakdown did such a good job, so surely Dead End will also learn quickly."
"Uh huh," Motormaster crossed his arms, not entirely convinced, "I know you don't want him, but you should take him. Dead End might be a pain in the aft and kinda creepy, but he's smart. Real smart. I don't know why, but for whatever reason he respects you. Respect don't come easy with Dead End, yet somehow you cracked the code. You better not be the one that causes him to finally kill himself, or I'll make you wish you were never sparked. Got it?"
"Um, yes sir, got it," Knockout stammered nervously, "He can start tomorrow."
"He can start today," Motormaster corrected him with a hard glare.
"Of course, that's what I meant to say," Knockout simpered.
Drag Strip came back with Wildrider, who for some reason was covered in seaweed. Motormaster slapped his forehead when he saw the mess his younger brother had gotten into. The four Decepticons went through the ground bridge, Drag Strip with no racing glory and Knockout with an unwanted apprentice.