Two Wheeled Warrior

SORRY. DID NOT WANT TO RAM INTO TINY BOT.

[Just as much she was astonished by his size, Grimlock was intrigued by hers. Arcee was so small. Most of mechs were smaller than him, even Prime, but she was especially tiny. For a moment he wondered where on the squishy scale her place would be.]

GRIMLOCK NOT USED TO SMALL PLACES.

[He adds after a long pause dropping down on one of his knees with a loud thump. Prime did mention to try and being more… civilized, or something amongst these lines, towards the rest of his team, so he hoped that gesture would make him look a bit less threatening.]

"Arcee" she huffed, going back to a normal posture 

" you must be.. Grimlock right?" she looked around in search for anything useful to her tiny size, but she just sighed and stretched her arm as high as she could, opening her palm

[The Autobot base was quiet. Way too quiet for Grimlock’s taste. Not only in the terms of noise, but also action. Ever since he got on this piece of space rock, all he did was sit in place until Prime decides about their next move. Their “leader” insisted that Grimlock and his team should keep the low profile. As much vehicle serve as a good disguise it’s pretty hard to miss gigantic metal dinosaurs walking around. Unfortunately Snarl also thought it’s a good idea, leaving the dinobot leader in the minority.]

[Grimlock snarls to himself disgruntled. He was bored out of his malfunctioning mind. Storming through the a bit too little for him corridor he thought about his choices. What to do… He had enough of sunbathing Snarl was so fond of. How long can you sleep? And he charges his batteries that way! He lets out another short growl.]

[Maybe he will check on the base security? Or maybe they have an arsenal here… wouldn’t hurt to check their equipment or…]

She murmured something under her nose about not being so sure about going head first to meet that big creep, but... she was a big girl after all.

-He scoffed, inching his face (as well as the rest of his plating) as far away from her approaching form as was possible. Not that it would help-

Don’t … n-NO-

-He yelped out, turning his face away; he couldn’t bare to wa-

-Prime!

-He never thought he’d feel so relieved to see the Autobot leader face to face … well, hips, to be exact. He tipped his face up to meet the tall mech’s direct gaze, suddenly feeling sheepish.

Arcee, I take it everything is in order with our guest?

"A… You’re awake" he muttered trying to make himself sound disgusted, but it was far more neutral than he hoped. He sighed heavily, rubbing his neck as he walked inside the tiny prison cell.. which was a storage room few days before. He blinked when he saw a disappearing marker in Arcee’s subspace and he waited for KO’s gaze to go up, so he could give her a very discrete smirk and thumbs up.

… you wouldn’t.

-He snarled; now he was panicking … not that he’d let her know. He bared his teeth in a threatening manner. He could still bite.

"Do you think you want a big autobot logo on your chest, or rather on your cheeks? Or maybe something more drastic?" she smiled again, taking a step forward and leaning over KO to touch the tip of the marker on his frame. 

Before she could do any serious damage, she heard the door opening and she closed the marker and tossed it into her subspace, standing straight.

-He retorted, shrugging in his cuffs once more. Not that the action would do much; it was for show, mostly, to illustrate his point.

… besides. I doubt you’re allowed to do anything extreme to me. Not with that soft-sparked leader of yours. This really is the worst you’ve got, isn’t it?

"I can't probably start digging in your frame with something sharp, but I can do something else if you really want to" she reached to her subspace and for a second was looking for something. Finally, with a triumph painted on her faceplate, she took out a permanent marker. 

" I hope you like having your faceplate and paintjob ruined?" she popped the marker open and grinned. Some set of mustache maybe, or an evil beard? The possibilities were endless, and knowing how narcissistic KO was.. there was a high possibility of scaring him with just a simple permanent marker. 

-He replied, grimly; unlike most Decepticons, he really didn’t have much of an ulterior motive aside from getting as far as he could from the enemy. Not that anyone here would understand; slagging politics.

… pff. Bulkhead, what a joke.

-He snickered under his breath; perhaps one of the Autobots he was most familiar with, courtesy of Breakdown. Former Wrecker or not it was hard to take the green mech seriously after all the stories he’d heard about him.

-He muttered, after gulping down what little he had been offered. Still better than nothing. He kept a close eye on his internal readings, which responded immediately to the energon influx and began partitioning reserves accordingly. He didn’t hear the Autobot’s commentary, nor did he feel as she further restrained him until he got curious about her relative silence and the small ‘click’ that interrupted his busy thoughts.

… are you kidding me?

-He groaned, jerking his leg. No use. This would only further narrow down his actions.

I demand to speak to a higher officer … if you even have one of those lying about-!

" I'm not.. it's for your own safety... and ours of course. We had enough trouble with your creepy Soundwave once, so..." she shrugged , getting back up on her feet and dusting her hands off 

-Oh Primus, he had forgotten about his faceplate. For a second he panicked, wondering about his appearance - ugh! He leered as the femme finally moved around, watching her closely for any sudden moves. When she approached him with what seemed to be nourishment he calmed; he could lash out quite easily with his legs. Take her down, maybe cause her to squirm … but nothing else beyond that, given his restraints. He sighed; he’d have to wait for another, more foolproof opportunity to walk by. He pursed his lips, expectant.

… I can’t drink without my hands.

" Good little decepticon" she chuckled " Your faceplate is fine, it is not missing anything... there are your optics, and stuff.. so everything in order" she shook her head 

-He interjected; it was true enough that Megatron cared little beyond the objective with the drones (and anyone below a certain level on the chain of command) … however. Not even Megatron was foolish enough to toss aside a doctor. The femme’s ruse would not work on him this time; Knock Out knew his self-worth. Flexing his wrists, he vented:

She walked to the side and picked up from the table some regular energon and she walked to the enemy's medic. High-grade would risk some... power up if she wasn't careful enough. She swirled the liquid and looked down at him 

Trust me, darling, I’m a professional speaking.

-If it weren’t for those Pit-forsaken stasis cuffs he would have demonstrated, too - given his current set of priorities, however, he would have probably omitted the task. He rolled his optics, glaring at his surroundings … of course he hadn’t expected anything remarkable from the Autobots, but it was just too boring, to say the least. Her last bit of commentary earned a small yawn from him; he stretched his legs, making himself comfortable.

Someone has to keep the troops on task - not that I’d expect an Autobot to understand the practical structures of command and conduct. I bet Prime just lets you go willy-nilly as you please, why - it’s no wonder you’re dwelling in a primitive human settlement as opposed to surrounding yourself with a respectable Cybertronian setting! Or am I wrong, hmm? Please, feel free to correct me~

" I don't really feel like correcting you. You believe your pretty little lies all you want. At least Prime treats us all as valuable members of group.... Ohhh... I forgot. You're all disposable right?" her smile widened slightly " Just like your drones, Megatron doesn't care for a single one of you. " she shrugged at KO and just shook her head 

" And here you are, in a "pit" of Autobots.. and I even took care of choosing a room with nice colours for our delicate princess", where of course the whole room was.. gray...and concrete. Sometimes .. just sometimes some of the sayings of the humans in their base rubbed on her. Especially Jack's. 

-… moving stung. With some difficulty, Knock Out slowly re-booted, making tentative attempts at trying to piece together his whereabouts. Werever it was, all outgoing signals were being jammed, and anything that did come in seemed to be garbage.

Frag …

-He groaned aloud, hissing slightly as he on-lined his optics. Everything was far too bright … Why did he get the feeling that-

… oh; it’s you.

-He scoffed, making an exaggerated face. He tried to stand, but found himself pulled back, sliding back into his restrained seated position. Stasis cuffs? He shot a glare at the Autobot femme, tugging at his wrists uselessly before resigning to his fate a second later. Whatever.

"Well well... do you really? Because I don't think you really do" she chuckled quietly " I hope you're comfortable in your new room? I made sure to pick you up the most luxurious room. Concrete floor, concrete and steel walls... no windows..  I think it is to your liking, right?" she flipped the panel on the wall, hiding the little screen on which moments ago she set the security level in this room to the maximum. 

"Say, Knock Out... why where you even down there in the first place? You're not a drone, nor you are interested in mining, or did you suddenly started liking dirt?" she narrowed her optics, examining KO's behaviour for a bit, to establish if he was going to try and break free. He seemed to abandon this idea, which was perfectly fine. His energon prod was locked away in a safe place anyway, far away from his grabby hands or his curious scanners. 

-Even by ordinary human standards, with their critically diminished lifespans, a mere cycle was considered a relatively short period of time. For Optimus, however, it was just a tad too long for his liking, and in his current state of mind,  just a bit too late. He frowned at the sight that greeted him, as he skidded to a halt and transformed to his full stature. Arcee stepping through the groundbridge, with energon cubes in tow, the knocked-out Decepticon medic draped across from them, and a very disoriented looking Ratchet bringing up the rear.

I would normally be more concerned with the details that led up to this, but right now it appears we have more pressing matters to tend to.

" Prime sir… We… were just taking away the energon which would fall into the hands of decepticons… we didn’t know.. that Knock Out would be there… and now.. we… kinda captured him?" she finished the whole speech with a scared question, as her shoulders rose up in defense. 

" UGh…" he just managed to respond in regard to Arcee’s words and he tried to stand up again straight. That damned prod had to hit something really vital, considering that he discovered really intense burn marks on his frame and he could feel that tiny shocks were still jumping around his wires.

Careful, your struts are shivering.

-He didn’t even have to guess why - anyone who had been on the receiving end of an energon prod didn’t forget the unsettling storm that surged through one’s sensornet. Had they been alone, Optimus would have carried Ratchet straight over to a medberth like some overgrown sparkling, but not wanting to cause further injury to the medic’s pride, he merely stood by him and gently urged him to stand, offering his forearms so the older mech could stabilise himself.

Try guiding yourself over to the med-bay area.

-He offered, patiently. As for their prisoner …

We should have a proper pair of stasis cuffs in storage, Arcee. I would advise fetching them before he came to his senses.

-Even by ordinary human standards, with their critically diminished lifespans, a mere cycle was considered a relatively short period of time. For Optimus, however, it was just a tad too long for his liking, and in his current state of mind,  just a bit too late. He frowned at the sight that greeted him, as he skidded to a halt and transformed to his full stature. Arcee stepping through the groundbridge, with energon cubes in tow, the knocked-out Decepticon medic draped across from them, and a very disoriented looking Ratchet bringing up the rear.

I would normally be more concerned with the details that led up to this, but right now it appears we have more pressing matters to tend to.

" Prime sir... We... were just taking away the energon which would fall into the hands of decepticons... we didn't know.. that Knock Out would be there... and now.. we... kinda captured him?" she finished the whole speech with a scared question, as her shoulders rose up in defense. 

"Go..get the energon… and.. tie him down.. we’re not leaving any possible evidence. We need to get rid of those vehicons too…" he slowly managed to sit down, opening the panel on his arm to check his readings. They were waay off… and his side hurt really badly. KO struck him very close to some vital parts for transformation, so there was no way he could do that now. He also wished to keep all the energon inside himself for now.

Then she quickly scattered to the mine and came back putting the little amount of energon she found into her subspace. Then .. taking care of the fallen vehicons. It wasn't easy, but somehow she managed to trow them all into some kind of pit, which probably appeared after the digging side collapsed. 

Finally, she was able to come back to Ratchet, who still was sitting at the same place, a little bit confused and shocked. He kept a good eye on their new.. prisoner? Well... KO was not the best material for a prisoner, but sure he was better than that creep Soundwave. 

-Huffing in distaste, Knock Out attempted to wrench himself away from the older mech’s grasp, but found that the other still had more strength to spare than he had accounted for.

Should’ve used more shock.

-Not that he had long to dwell on it. The two-wheeler reappeared just then, attempting to disarm him.

Do you really think I’m just going to hand over my-augh!

He slowly changed his blades back into hands and reached out, hoping he would be able to easily pull the prod from the surprised con…

-He scowled as she shot at his legs - how dare she! He raised his prod, intending to finish her off, but in his short stumble backward his tires brushed against-

You-!

-So the two-wheeler had brought back-up - suddenly he considered doing the same. Glaring at his rival he suddenly turned his attentions on the larger mech, swiping exaggeratedly at him.

What do you think you’re doing-!?

-He made a false swipe at her, mostly to threaten her into recklessness. He was aware of how intimidating the prod’s trailing energy fields could be, with the way they lingered, crackling in the surrounding air. 

Now, are we going to go quietly, or am I going to have to resort to force?