Updated - 01~11~2022
I hoped to write this chapter earlier, but somewhere along the way I came up with several new ideas for other stories that got me busy. I've almost completed three of them, The Bracelet, Evident and Inked In Metal. I would like to post them once The Moment Before Disaster… is finished, but for now, I'll take it easy and concentrate on writing the sixth chapter.
Don't know when will I update.
Enjoy!
5
The azure femme shifted her weight onto her right leg while she brought her servos to her waist, rendering the mech a tricky look. She knew well what the mech was trying. He was playing hard to get, but in truth, all he wanted was for her to keep insisting. What wouldn't this mech do for some attention!
"Knockout… Where." She pressed further, closing the distance to him. His smirk widened.
The former Decepticon remained wordless as he stared into her, pretending to be pensive. He stretched the suspense all he could until the look in her optics told him he had waited long enough. Pleased, he finally set to revel the mystery.
He gave a quick peek over his shoulder guard prior to bringing his lips up to her audio receptor, nearly grazing it.
"Local drive-in theater." He had whispered, as if the location was something forbidden or per se illegal.
Her amazed cerulean gaze once again met his confident crimson one, in which he could clearly advert the surprise deep within. He delighted at her unexpected reaction and could't help a cheeky chuckle escaping him, his smug smirk back in place.
"I never had you for a mech who was into human culture." The azure femme tilted her helm, skeptically studying him.
Knockout gave her an playful look.
"I'll deny I ever said this but, humans do actually have some interesting stuff." He admitted, lowering his voice and cocking his helm. "I just happened to find drive-ins by chance and got me intrigued, so I kept visiting them. I guess it was inevitable…"
The former 'Con's expression recovered his previous mischievous aura, a proposition forming in his mind. He gracefully pushed himself off the structure and haughtily straightened up, a single servo holding the unsteady ladder now. The azure femme's frame stiffened at his move, her subtle smile fading away as all her attention was set onto the struggling figure at the top.
The white and orange mech gasped when his right pede lost its step. The precision welder had jittered between his digits to end up falling down from his servos. The only thing that had avoided him following that same way too had been his desperation to remain clinging onto the wobbling ladder.
Ratchet's trembling servos strongly attached to the rails, refusing to let them go. The situation was now making him extremely wary, yet, he was no longer sure how to identify what he was feeling, as if fear or anger. All he knew was his energon was boiling.
The old medic, with colder helm now, extracted his precious wrench from his subspace and examined it for an instant. If that conceited mech dared to move one more digit from that ladder, he would let the wrench fall on him full weight. He left it on the edge of the corbel and focused on finishing his task once and for all.
"Tonight they're screening a live action movie. Critics do speak well of it. We could go give it a shot and see for ourselves if it's as good as they say."
The crimson mech had beguilingly proposed to her, but his words where no other than an echo at the back of her mind.
Arcee's instincts kicked in, pushing her gears to figure how to prevent the imminent disaster. The most obvious solution was to grab a firm hold on the ladder, steadying it, but the egotistic mech in her way, who was completely oblivious to the current situation, did not make thing any easier.
Despite his great effort to keep her focused on him, Knockout adverted the commander was no longer paying him any attention. He had suddenly became some sort of ghost for her and that annoyed him.
"Arcee… Arcee!" He called her, tilting his upper frame to get in her sight. His action had the desired effect as her confused gaze locked with his. "What you say, you in?" He insisted, raising an inquiring opticbrow and smirking again. He was hoping she would accept his invitation, instead, she frowned further.
"Knockout, aren't you forgetting someone?" Her urged question, accompanied by her tense frame language, unsettled him. He had no clue of what he might be missing, but if she considered it important, then, under no circumstances should he forget it. Yet, who had he neglected to remember?
"Hmm… I don't think I'm forgett…"
"Ratchet!" The azure warrior exclaimed, briskly raising her arms to point at the old medic. She hoped he would get it clear this time, instead, his reaction was right the opposite to what she had expected. He mockingly snorted, never looking up.
"Seriously?" The former 'Con awkwardly laughed. He could not believe his audio receptors. What was it with the femme's sudden interest in the old cranky model? He let go of the servo holding the teetering ladder to cross his arms over his chest, shifting his weight onto his left. "If you ask me, our chief medical officer doesn't look much of a theater mech… You really wanna bring him to our night excursion?"
The old medic revised the repairs he had just carried out in the fusebox and checked the integrity of the system. Satisfied, he connected the circuitry back and finally closed the lid. The fans began stirring fast and the air they expelled came out cooler.
Ratchet had carefully collected his precision work tools and was now preparing his descend when the ladder began crumbling down, inevitably dragging him along. He only had time to grace his wrench's handle with the tip of his digits as he precipitated into the void.
Arcee's sudden flabbergast got Knockout puzzled. Only when he heard the loud cry over his helm did pieces lock for him, realization hitting him hard. He raised his unsure gaze just in time to watch the rusty ladder fall sidewards with the old medic on top.
The azure warrior cringed when the senior Autobot forcefully crashed against the ground, whereas the crimson medic's plates momentarily bristled to then inwardly fold to make himself as small as he possibly could. Knockout slowly turned his shaken being towards the femme and stared into her with widened optics and an anxious expression written on his face. He was well aware he had just screwed it up… Really screwed it up.
Arcee was the first one actually recovering from the shock. She directed the crimson mech a stern look and a helm shake before rushing past him, hurrying her way to the fallen doctor. The younger mech could only follow her with his gaze as he stood petrified in place.
"Oh, scrap…" He managed to hush. Adrenergon ran through his veins while his mind desperately tried to search for a way of getting out of that jammed situation. "I really wish I could use a good excuse to get away with it this time…"
Knockout had been told many times he should be careful with what he wished for. It was in that moment when his desire was fulfilled in the form of a wrench.
The lethargic kids' attention was dragged towards the origin of the sudden loud noise, waking them up. They three descried the older medic laying unconscious on the ground with the ladder on him, and worries only arose within them.
Jack, in no time, threw his paper fan away and sprinted down the yellow stairs, jumping them by three. He ran as fast as his legs allowed him to until he reached his guardian's side, who was now working to aid the fallen doctor. Rafael, as well as Miko, reached him few seconds later, uneasiness visible in their eyes.
Arcee lifted the heavy ladder on her own and forcefully pushed it aside, taking the weight off the old medic. She then knelt by his side and proceeded to carry some basic checks on him, until an expert could determine Ratchet's medical condition. Speaking of which… Where was Knockout?
"Knockout, hurry up!" The commander shouted over her shoulder not looking at him. "Ratchet needs attention, asap!" The much awaited assistance never came. All her audio receptors registered was a loud metallic clang and, shortly after, a dead weight collapsing against the floor. She huffed, getting infuriated. What was this mech doing now? "Knockout!"
"Uhh… Arcee? I think Knockout won't be helping us any time soon." Jack informed her, singling in the crimson's mech direction.
At his words, the femme turned her frame in a lightning movement, following her protégé's pointing finger just to discover what had happened. The former 'Con's frame laid prone against the concrete, a suspicious wrench barely few feet away from him.
"Doc Knock has been knocked out… Again." Miko pointed the irony out. Her expression showed a mixture of astonishment and admiration. "I always knew Ratchet was a ninja."
"So… Who's gonna repair the medics if both medics are down?" Rafael was the one who gave voice to their current paradox, darting his nervous gaze between both physicians.
Arcee's winglets were lowered as she let go a long sigh, unimpressed.
"Scrap…"
