Assistant's Log

-His helm finial flicked back in curiosity as he observed the mech’s reaction to him. He nearly lifted a servo up, but oddly enough, Breakdown turned and walked away. Suddenly.-

/Desperately he started looking around for a distraction, a way to escape. Just now he noticed that the drone he talked with earlier stayed behind, most likely petrified by Shockwave's appearance. Not that he could blame him./

/A small clinking noise catches his attention, forcing him to slow down look at his hands./

Ah, gorramit.

-He walked in the repetitive and slow pace that his large, bulky frame could manage. He did not pay any attention to the countless Vehicons that froze when he was merely feet away. They glanced to one another, looking to each other with silent questions. A few even took steps back away from Shockwave.-

We got 'em parts so why th' boys just can't fix it?

/He barked mildly annoyed but the vehicon didn't seem to mind. And they couldn't find neither Skyquake or Dreadwing to ask for their opinion on the matter. On top of that Knock Out didn't return from his little excursion too! Breakdown growled again passing one of the datapads to the vehicon and reading the next reports./

/The malfunction wasn't fatal, most of the readings seemed normal, same for the engines temperatures. It must've been a glitch somewhere in the mainframe causing issues with the proper power distribution on lower levels. But checking up everything would take hours.This just wasn't Breakdown's day./

Least it ain't th' pumps, without the coolin' runnin' we could be all sittin' on top of a gorram 'eater waitin' for ex-

/The Wrecker stopped mid-sentence when he felt bumping against something. Without thinking twice he snapped at the mech, irritated by instantly losing his train of thought./

WATCH WHERE YER GO-

-Knock Out shouts at his wheels, rotating them at full horsepower. For all his effort he barely moves forward a considerable distance - if anything he’s making backward progress, insttead. Noticing this, he tries going in reverse - a little better, but again - the displacement is negligible.

Oh for fu-?

-Oh? Oh! Just as he was about to give up, slowing down gives him the traction necessary to roll forward an impressive yard forward.

That’s more like it!

He doesn’t stay startled for long, though, giving his engine a bass-deep thrum of enthusiasm. “Right on, Insecticon!” 

Knock Out, by that point, has worked out how to handle this sandy, shifting terrain, and pulls well ahead of Fearstorm, who doesn’t seem to mind bringing up the rear. He soon adapts his driving when he sees how Knock Out generates traction, though he doesn’t snake back and forth quite as gracefully as the smaller, lighter vehicle. 

Huh. Wanna play, eh?

/Breakdown revs his engine as a form of amused snort./

Sorry 'Ardshell, yer on my territory!

/The strong tropical wind was slowing down the Insecticon. Flying probably took a lot more effort than driving against it and Breakdown had no intentions of making it easier for the competition. He speeds up and makes a sharp turn, drawing a full circle in the sand and throwing a large cloud of dust into the air - right onto incoming Hardshell./

-He simply stares at his suddenly responsive assistant. Then, playfully, flashes a headlight at his face.

Had to make sure.

-He smirks, scribbling one last thing on his datapad before putting it away. Normally he wouldn’t care too much about Breakdown’s dreams, but the brief look if embarrassment on the other mech piqued his interest. He drew himself near.

… dream, huh?

.... Nah, t'was nuthin'.

/He finally looks down at his partner's handiwork. The armour was mostly replaced and the lack of it was covered with a temporary tarp, of course in matching colours./

-He shifts his wheels, trying to get his tires to grip the slippery sand underneath. No such luck - his thin, hard, flat treads just weren’t designed for this particular surface. He adjusts his side mirrors, to see how the competition might fare (and in particular, admire Breakdown’s specialised tires). He straightens his alignment as soon as all the mechs that might join them have gathered.

I mean, I could use a break from the med-bay. So … deal’s on-

-With that he gives a long honk and accelerates, starting the race off with a dramatic …. shower of sand, billowing to either side. Did he just move slightly backwards?

As such, his reaction time isn’t what it could be, and he does not immediately attempt to surge forward when Knock Out tries to begin the race, flinging sand everywhere. Instead he stalls for a moment, somewhat startled, before realization sinks in. He revs his engines and sets his tires spinning, kicking up a healthy bit of sand, but not skidding quite as badly as Knock Out, before he begins to surge forward.

His tires are less specialized for racing and built more for durability, but nowhere near as suited for this sort of driving as Breakdown’s. He’s also heavier than both of them, much heavier, so his acceleration is poor. Still, this means, at the very least, he isn’t going to immediately skid out of control, and while he might be hefty, he has an engine powerful enough to move all that mass. 

He crouches forward and unfurls his wings, producing a loud buzzing sound as he flapped them faster and faster. Quickly, Hardshell lifted off of the sand, swaying back and forth in the air. The Insecticon continued to chuckle as he attempted to steady himself and slowly inched forward, as if testing out how well he could fly. 

/It wasn't hard to take the lead in this race, so on purpose he slows down a bit to not lose the others out of his sight. He could see Fearstorm slowly trudging through the sand and his partner was somewhere completely in the back./

-With Breakdown finally offline, Knock Out readjusts the mech’s arm on the berth slab and sets to work reconstructing his armor supports. It would be a few grueling cycles, but …

—-

…

…

… that should do it.

-With a final murmur he heaves himself off the side of the berth on which he had been supporting him. It was a tedious fix, and he could only stand hunched over for so long … Binding a temporary tarp and mesh over the remaining components still exposed on Breakdown’s arm, he makes sure everything is secure before deciding the job was done for the day.

Rise and shine - don’t make me flash you …

H-huh...?

/Breakdown looks around confused. Something was off, but only for a moment. He finally takes the notice of Knock Out's presence and takes a good long look at him, before venting deeply relieved./

T'was just a dream...

/He had few ideas for clever retaliation or how to annoy the medic, but honestly he didn't feel like it (at least today)./

Well too bad, ya dun' get t'choose.

…

'Ow 'bout I 'touch' ya with my 'ammer.

Adam does an interesting thing, if you watch the episodes in order, you’ll notice he has to touch something in every scene, practically. He really created this thing for Jayne where he’s got to put his hands in things and you’ll notice in this scene he had, of course, to touch the cake.

-He gives his partner a wink and preens shamelessly, cleaning a sharp-looking surgical tool in the meantime as he waits for the anesthetic to take effect. It doesn’t take too long and, somewhere in between Breakdown’s outburst and sudden collapse back onto the berth, the medic steps forward, to make sure the patient was well-adjusted on his support.

Shh … And don’t talk so dirty-

-He grins, catching the faint, irritated glow of yellow optics from beneath the other’s fingers. How naive of Breakdown - that gesture only made him all the more ‘inviting’, if anything

/The Wrecker grunts faintly trying his best to not fall asleep, however even the urge slap the medic couldn't fight off the dose of anesthesia big enough to knock Megatron out./

No - not 'completely', that is …. I’m going to replace some of it, but everything else I’m going to withhold until I can repair the holding structures that go between them and the rest of your arm. You’ll get another patch to cover what’s exposed and this time I expect you to take better care of it. Capisce, mio caro bruto?

-With a purr, Knock Out takes Breakdown’s arm and without warning, sends over a short clip of the earlier match with Skyquake - where the flier had pinned the struggling grounder beneath him. And because it was from the medic’s own perspective … it was obviously laced with some of the doctor’s own ‘personal’ response to the sight.

… oh look, you didn’t even feel that~

/The file pop-ups out of nowhere and plays immediately. He opens his mouth to say something but no sound came out. A moment later his partner's words snap him out of the confusion and he stares at him both embarrassed and irritated./

Y-ya lil-!! Ya were stalkin' us?! So that's why yer so giddy 'appy! Ya got yerself a free show!

/He shifts briskly in his seat, waving his other hand around in the undefined motion. He wasn't really sure if he wanted to punch Knock Out or not. Well instinct told him that he should and he would, if it wasn't for the injected medicine.Sudden dizziness made him slump back on his seat. With a displeased groan he runs his other hand across his face. That 'additional' response made it more embarrassing that it actually was./