After the long, stressful day Knockout had, he didn't want to do anything except go home and sleep. He told Bumblebee earlier 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.

The red mech wandered into the kitchenette, 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 communications console.

"Alright, Bee, time to talk."

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

{This is the Autobot Base in Iacon. With whom are we speaking?}

Knockout stiffened.

That's not Bumblebee.

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

Knockout panicked, afraid the other mech would disconnect the call.

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?}

{Oh. Well, 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, then. Have a good day.}

KO: {You, too.}

Click.

"Well, that was awkward."

.

. .

. . .

Knockout exited the portal and planted his pedes on Earth, taking 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 crashed into him and sent him skidding 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.

"That hurt," Knockout muttered, realigning himself into a more comfortable position. He rubbed his aching helm while looking for 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, and – much to Knockout's shock – leaking a luminescent blue substance that could only be one thing.

Energon? But, that means it's someone like me! I mean, at least I don't have to worry about hiding, unless it's a bad guy, then that's something to be concerned about.

Knockout shook his helm. He knew where his thoughts were going, and setting personal feelings aside, there was one thing he couldn't ignore.

Regardless of who they are, I have to help. Some bot is injured, 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…"

"Alive?"

Startled, Knockout tripped over his pedes and landed on his aft. The bot's frame began to rumble and shift, parts moving to different places.

"Oh, thank Primus for that!" Knockout said, relief flooding over him as the bot completed their transformation.

It is a Lupicon – a beast-like mechanoid resembling an Earth wolf – that is twice, maybe even three times his size, with yellow optics and blue/gray plating. He has long, pointed ears, as well as long, razor sharp claws, and a tail with a red stripe near the tip.

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

"You wouldn't have, since I just arrived on Earth not that long ago. 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 – however minimal – 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 scoffed.

"Seriously? You?"

Knockout wanted to snap, but knew this was not the time to lose his temper.

"Yes, I am."

He scanned the frame before him, taking note of all the mech's injuries. While some of the damage was caused by the crash, they aren't what originally caught Knockout's optic. He saw the damage from a distance, but up close and personal, it's clear the more serious wounds are from a fight, and a very recent one at that if the still leaking cuts have anything to say about it.

"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! All I have to do is call him…"

"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, servos held above his helm in a vice-like grip.

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

"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 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 to bot mode and grabbed Steeljaw, slinging his unconscious, battered frame over his shoulder plate.

"Hey, careful, he's hurt!" Knockout fretted, 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 repair 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 this situation if it wasn't for me. As both a medic and an instigator, I am responsible for his well-being. Your opinions are irrelevant. Understand?"

The other bots stood in silence, unsure of how to respond. Then they saw Bumblebee signing them from behind Knockout, 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 his team-mate'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, conversing with him as he worked. They discussed what happened 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 alone in the med-bay to rest and joined the others. Aside from Fixit – now attending to Knockout – and the Clays, nobody aside from Bumblebee 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 deep recharge.

.

. .

. . .

"GET OUT OF MY WAY, AUTOBOTS!"

"NOT HAPPENING, STEELJAW! YOU'RE GOING IN THAT STASIS POD AND BACK TO CYBERTRON!"

"I AM NOT GOING BACK THERE!"

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, then he wouldn't be trapped with the entire B-Team surrounding him. Steeljaw may be healed, but he's still tired; he couldn't put up much of a fight at the moment, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to talk or trick his way out of Bumblebee's grasp this time, either.

"What is going on here?"

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

"We're trying to get him in a stasis pod back to Cybertron, where he can face justice for his crimes," Strongarm said, irritated that she even had to explain this in the first place.

After a minute of silence, Knockout shrugged, smiling.

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

The others 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 past the Autobots and over to Steeljaw. He looked the Ex-Con over before patting one of his shoulder plates.

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