After the long, stressful day Knockout had, he didn't want to do anything except go home and sleep. He told Bumblebee that he would call him and tell him how the rest of the day went and what happened, but he couldn't bring himself to bother setting up the call.

I'll tell him in the morning, Knockout thought as he collapsed in his apartment and immediately fell into a deep recharge.

"Ah! Feels good to get some proper recharge!" Knockout said as he stood up and stretched his joints.

The red mech wandered into the dining area, grabbed a cube of Energon, and sat down next to the window. He took out a news pad and skimmed over the information as he drank. After scrolling for about 10 minutes, Knockout put the news pad and empty cube away before entering his at-home office. On the left, a table full of medical equipment, data pads, and other science-related instruments. On the right, a communication console.

"Alright, Bee, time to talk."

Knockout pressed a few buttons, then waited for Bumblebee to answer.

{This is the Autobot Base in Iacon. May I ask who this is and what you need?}

Knockout stiffened.

That's not Bumblebee.

{Hello? Anyone there? This better not be a prank!}

Knockout panicked, afraid the other mech would disconnect the communications link.

KO: {Ah, wait, no! No no no… I can assure you, this isn't a prank! My name's Knockout, and I was trying to call Bumblebee. Is he there?}

{The Lieutenant? Why do you want to talk to him?}

KO: {It's… confidential.}

{Confidential? Really?}

The operator didn't sound convinced by Knockout's answer.

Alright, then. Time to bring out the big guns.

KO: {Yes. Council business, in fact. And may I point out, personally overseen by Optimus Prime himself?}

silence

{Lieutenant Bumblebee didn't give specifics, but said that if anyone was looking for him, to tell them that he had to go back to Earth.}

KO: {What? Why?}

{I just told you, I don't know! He didn't really give anyone much to go on.}

KO: {Sorry, sorry… and thank you.}

{Alright, sir. Have a good day.}

KO: {You, too.}

commlink ended

"Well, that was awkward," Knockout vented.

Knockout exited a space bridge portal he took from the newly built Universal Transport Center at Iacon Station and planted his pedes on Earth. He didn't even notice the portal closing behind him as he took in the sights, sounds, and smells of the backwater mud ball that he has actually grown quite attached to.

"Ah, good to be back on the old war grounds," Knockout said to himself, gazing at the bright blue sky and endless wilderness. "Now, to find Bee."

Being careful as to where he steps, Knockout makes his way down the hillside into the forest below. He seamlessly navigates the maze of trees and bushes, not realizing that he has no idea where he's going and instead is completely distracted by Mother Nature. So distracted that he is, Knockout didn't notice himself exiting the forest and walking out into the middle of the road.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Knockout didn't have time to react before something slammed into him and sent him crashing into a tree on the opposite side of the road. He was still conscious, but he gritted his jaw and squinted his optics in pain.

"Ow… that hurt," Knockout muttered, slowly lifting himself into a hunched, sitting position. The red mech rubbed his aching helm with one servo while the other rested in his lap. He then looked over at whoever hit him.

A little further down the road, upside down against a broken tree, was a blue/gray, jeep-like car, its frame covered in cracks and dents. Knockout didn't notice a driver, and was unsure of whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

I highly doubt there was a human, which is good, because if there was one, it would either be dead, or somehow survived and would tell others about me, which would be bad. Then there's the other option: it's someone like me. I don't have to worry about hiding, unless it's a bad guy, then that's something to be concerned about.

In both cases, it was 50/50, but no matter what way he looked at it, Knockout knew there was at least one thing he couldn't ignore.

Regardless of who or what it is, I have to help. They're damaged, and I'm a medic. No time for me to be too picky.

"Uh, hello? If you're still… conscious… answer me."

Knockout was already nervous, and the feeling only continued to grow as he waited for a response. He vented and moved closer, being careful not to injure himself further, or worse, startle the other injured party.

"Hey, are you still..?" Knockout asked, reaching his servo out to touch the damaged vehicle.

"Alive?" Someone responded, scaring Knockout and causing him to retreat to his own crash spot. The vehicle began to rumble and shift, parts moving to different places. It was in the process of transforming.

"Oh… thank Primus for that!" Knockout said, relief flooding over him as his fear of it being a human subsided.

It took longer than normal to transform, – for obvious reasons – but the robot managed to complete the process, and now Knockout could see who he was dealing with. It was a beast-like mech, resembling an Earth wolf, with yellow optics and spiky, blue/gray armor. He had long, pointed ears, as well as long, razor sharp claws, and a tail with a red stripe near the tip. He appeared to be around the same size as Knockout, if not a little bigger due to him having a somewhat bulkier build.

"Never seen you around here before," the Lupicon said.

"You wouldn't have, since I just arrived on Earth not that long ago," Knockout replied. "By the way, sorry about that. I more or less did the exact same thing the other day to a friend of mine. They told me to watch where I was going..."

"Something you clearly forgot to do."

Knockout didn't get mad at the interruption. He just laughed nervously and continued to rub his helm, embarrassed by his actions.

"Yeah. I guess I can get a little distracted by… oh, scrap! My paintjob!"

The red mech just noticed all the damage to his frame and started complaining. Not wanting to stick around, anxious that the vain bot might attract unwanted attention, the injured mech decided to leave. However, as he got to his pedes and started walking away...

Knockout stopped fussing over himself when he heard a thud and looked over to see the other mech lying on the ground.

"Scrap!" Knockout cursed. He stumbled to his pedes and rushed over to the downed mech. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Does it look like I'm alright to you?" The Lupicon snarled. "Just leave me alone."

"Sorry, sorry, but just hear me out! My name is Knockout, and I'm a medic."

The Lupicon snickered.

"Seriously? You?"

Knockout wanted to snap, but knew this was not the time to lose his temper. He vented, and calmed himself down.

"Yes, I am. I can do some minor fixes here and now, but the rest will have to be taken care of in a med bay with the proper equipment."

"Yeah? And how do you plan on doing that? Unless you have one set up here on Earth, which I highly doubt, you are not getting me back to Cybertron."

The Lupicon paused.

"You don't have access to a space bridge, do you?"

The injured mech sounded tense when he spoke, but Knockout paid it no mind.

"Unfortunately, no," Knockout answered. "However, I bet a stack of Energon cubes that my friend Bumblebee and his team have one. I mean, it'd be pretty stupid of them not to have one. All I have to do is comm. him and..."

"NO!"

With a sudden burst of strength, the Lupicon shot forward and tackled Knockout. The medic was startled by the outburst and had no time to defend himself. He was forced back and pinned to the ground, his servos being held in a vice-like grip.

"What is wrong with you? I'm trying to help!" Knockout snapped, struggling to get free.

"I have no qualms about you treating me, doctor, but for the love of Cybertron, I am not going to sit and heal in the Lieutenants base!" The Lupicon snapped back.

Wait, he knows Bumblebee? Knockout thought, ceasing his evidently useless escape attempt. He was just about to ask the injured mech how he knew Bumblebee...

"STEELJAW! LET KNOCKOUT GO!"

Knockout and Steeljaw - as he now knew the name of - looked over and saw Bumblebee and his team surrounding them, weapons out.

"Back away from the captive, 'Con!" Strongarm demanded, pointing her Decepticon hunter at Steeljaw.

Knockout could feel how tense Steeljaw was right now. He was injured and trapped. A very dangerous combination. He scanned his surroundings, taking in his situation, trying to figure out a way to escape.

Suddenly, he collapsed on top of Knockout.

"Woah!" The medic exclaimed as he felt the added weight press against his smaller frame. He looked over at Bumblebee's team, at least the ones he could see from his current position. "Hey, are you going to just stand there or are you going to come over here and help me?"

Bumblebee and his team stifled their laughter and walked over to where Knockout and Steeljaw were. Grimlock transformed from dinosaur mode to bot mode and grabbed Steeljaw, swinging his unconscious, battered body over his shoulder.

"Hey, careful, he's hurt!" Knockout snapped, much to everyone's surprise.

"But, he just attacked you!" Sideswipe stated.

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure I struck a nerve when I told him that I was going to call Bumblebee and ask if I could use his med bay in order to properly fix him. Based on his reaction, not to mention your own, I can only assume that you all have a bad history with each other."

"Bad doesn't come close to describing it," Drift said.

Knockout vented.

"Listen, I don't care what your feelings are regarding Steeljaw. He is injured, and I am a medic. He wouldn't even be in his current condition if it wasn't for me. As both a medic and an instigator, I am responsible for his well-being. Everything else is irrelevant to me. Understand?"

The other bots stood in silence, unsure of how to respond. Then they saw Bumblebee signing them behind Knockout's back, telling them to just go along with it.

As soon as they arrived at the scrapyard and updated Fixit and the Clays on what was going on, Bumblebee and Grimlock assisted Knockout and the still unconscious Steeljaw to the med bay. This time, Grimlock gently placed Steeljaw on a berth and let Knockout get to work. The others voiced their concerns to Bumblebee, who, while sharing some of his teammate's sentiments, brushed them off. This time, it was Knockout's call, and while the others have no idea what it's like to be on the red medic's bad side, Bumblebee does, and wishes to not go there.

Bumblebee spent the rest of his day in the med bay with Knockout, talking to him as he worked on repairing Steeljaw. They talked about how the rest of the day went after the meeting, then about the mission. By the end of the procedure, Bumblebee was just finishing telling Knockout all he knew about Steeljaw.

They left Steeljaw to rest and recharge alone in the med bay and joined the others. Aside from Bumblebee, Fixit, - who was now working on repairing Knockout - and the Clays, nobody wanted to get close to the red medic.

Knockout sat in silence most of the time, only speaking when asked a question; he let Fixit do all the talking. Denny and Russel offered to help buff and paint Knockout, which the red medic gladly accepted. He looked up and saw Bumblebee staring at him. The yellow and black mech smiled and winked before walking off to look for the others.

The entire time, his processor kept wandering back to Steeljaw, and what Bumblebee told him about the ex-con. A part of Bee's info dump stuck, even after he drifted off into recharge for the night.

"HEY! GET OFF ME!"

"STOP STRUGGLING, STEELJAW! YOU'RE GOING IN THAT STASIS POD AND BACK TO CYBERTRON!"

"I AM NOT GOING BACK THERE! LET GO!"

Now that he was feeling better, Steeljaw wanted out, but of course Bee's team had other plans, and that's why he didn't want to come here in the first place. If only the red medic would have listened to him. Now, Strongarm and Sideswipe had him pinned, with one holding his servos behind his back, and the other pressing his head into the ground. In front of them stood Bumblebee, with Grimlock on one side, and Drift and his mini-cons on the other.

"Sorry, Steeljaw, but you have to," Bumblebee said, sounding almost as if he regretted having to send him away.

Steeljaw growled, but then let his body go slack. He may be healed, but he was still tired, and even he knew when he was outmatched. He also knew he wouldn't be able to talk or trick his way out of Bumblebee's grasp. He felt the weight on his head disappear, but the grip on his servos tightened as he was yanked to his pedes and forced to walk.

"What is going on here?"

Everyone stopped and turned to see Knockout standing nearby, his expression unreadable.

"Where are you taking him?"

"Cybertron, where he can face justice for his crimes," Strongarm said, readjusting her grip on Steeljaw's servos. Knockout looked between everyone.

"Alright, then," the red medic shrugged, smiling. "Saves me a trip. I can just hitch a ride back home with Bee and Steeljaw."

Everyone looked at each other, confused.

"Uh, Knockout, what are you talking about?" Bumblebee asked.

"Don't worry, Bee, I'll tell you later."

Knockout walked over to where Strongarm was still holding Steeljaw. He looked both the cadet and the ex-con in the optics before patting the latter on his shoulder plate.

"All you need to know right now is that I have something else in mind for him."