robothell | [open] Hᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴇᴀsɪʟʏ ᴡᴏʀᴋ ᴀ ᴍɪʀᴀᴄʟᴇ ᴏʀ ᴛᴡᴏ

[open] Hᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴇᴀsɪʟʏ ᴡᴏʀᴋ ᴀ ᴍɪʀᴀᴄʟᴇ ᴏʀ ᴛᴡᴏ

Who: Knock Out and you!
Where: The crater, then wandering through the city
When: Now I guess?
What: introooo pooooost
Warnings: this post contains a robot at least 25% prettier than your robot

A.

Knock Out feels like he has awoken from a long, long period of stasis when his eyes come on, staring up into a sky filled with stars.

This... was not where he had last been.

Slowly sitting up, he looks around, at a part of Cybertron unfamiliar to his eye; no surprise there, when he spent so very many hours acting as medic to the still-suspicious Autobots, but he has to wonder who decided it was a good idea to prank the only Medic on Cybertron.

"It had to be Smokescreen," he mumbles to himself, and opens up his communications. "This is Knock Out, requesting a groundbridge back to base," he relays, climbing to his feet and dusting away the bits of rust and metal clinging to his finish. Ugh, had something on his back gotten scratched? He'd need to find someone to buff that out when he returned. "Now would be good."

No reply, and no bridge.

"Hello? Are you people ignoring me? Smokescreen, I swear the next time you come in, I'm going to key your doors for this."

Nothing.

"Primus damn them all," Knock Out grumbles beneath his breath, and glances around, looking more closely for some kind of landmark, or perhaps something on the horizon, or-- a crater filled with raw energon? Well, there's a bounty, and while he should probably make his way back to the Autobots... he instead begins picking his way down to it, still unaware that this world isn't his world, and that there's every chance in the world that someone might spot him and begin to hassle him.

B.

Having been informed of his dimensional displacement, Knock Out is not terribly pleased. He's alone on a Cybertron from another dimension, filled with robots he doesn't know, has no authority over, and might well get shot at by, and his favorite toy had last been in Smokescreen's reckless hands, leaving him with no defense but his buzzsaws and drill and speed; not the most robust arsenal, to be sure.

Still, at least he's not being chased down by a hoard of energon-sucking zombies or reanimated Predacons or Literally Unicron, making this not the worst situation he's ever been in. Number four or five, really.

Grumbling to himself, he keeps an eye on the sky and the other on the half-broken city around him, not realizing that he's being drawn to the center of the city as he walks.

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Oh this should be rich.

Starscream's just killing time flying around, as is his habit lately with things terribly dull as they are, when from he spots a familiar, obnoxiously bright-red finish that he hasn't seen in quite some time.

In fact the last time he did see that finish, its owner was stabbing him in the back by knocking him out cold with a metal stick.

The seeker isn't really sure what he's going to do, as he goes in for a landing. Honestly, maiming him a bit would be a welcome, cathartic spot of action, and he's pretty confident that he can take Knock Out in a fight with ease (now that he's not being caught off guard, anyway). But even after he dives in and lands with a thud across from his former comrade, Starscream still can't really settle on how he wants this interaction to go.

"Well here's a face I haven't seen in quite some time," he growls finally, prowling threateningly in a half circle as he eyes Knock Out up.

Right, then, this just went straight to the top of the list of Worst Situations.

Knock Out spends a second not sure how to respond, either; he could treat Starscream like the enemy he theoretically is, since the medic changed sides to join the Autobots and Starscream took off to do... whatever it was he wanted to do after Megatron had renounced his goals of domination. This is a bad choice, because Starscream clearly still has his ranged weapons and flight, and Knock Out has nothing to touch up his paintjob if it gets scratched in a scuffle. The other choice is distasteful, but...

"Starscream!" he greets, with a welcoming smile, arms spread and hands open in friendly greeting. "I have to tell you, it's good to see a friend! I was worried there wouldn't be anything familiar here, and I'd be at the mercy of whatever 'bot happened across me-- but here you are! Ah, what a relief it is, to have someone so, hmm, dependable and skilled here." Was that laying it on too thick? That might have been laying it on too thick. Hmm. "Wherever here is. I've been told we're no longer on the Cybertron we knew?" he prompts, and hopes really hard that Starscream isn't about to shoot him.

That throws him for a loop for a second, if only because with the time shenanigans going on with this planet, this could be a Knock Out from further back... and it would be a shame to waste him, in that case.

Either way he doesn't seem to be too impressed by KO's suck-up act, and pauses in his creeping about to cock his head and stand with one hand on his hip. "Indeed. An alternate Cybertron, and one long dead from what we can gather. It's ironic, isn't it...? That we would both come from a world that finally saw our Cybertron restored, only to be torn from it and thrown here."

He's sure he'll slip sooner or later-- probably sooner, curse his own loose tongue-- but Starscream seems to be buying Knock Out's friendly act.

Knock Out had better keep selling while the selling's good.

"Cybertron? Restored? I had no idea," he lies, with only a moment's hesitation (easily taken for confusion.) "By Primus, how long was I in stasis? Last I knew, the new Omega Lock wasn't even close to being completed..." And Starscream was in good graces, Dreadwing dead, and they were on the same side. Yes, that would be a good place in time to claim as his own until he has someone at his back, or until Starscream trusts him and isn't of a mind to shoot him. "Did we finally win? I know Lord Megatron was looking forward to claiming Cybertron once more."

(Oh, he hopes Starscream buys this.)

The seeker listens to Knock Out's little sales pitch warily, his expression nonplussed. It's hard to say if the medic is telling the truth or not; Starscream had never pegged him as a particularly good liar, but he is (Or, possibly, was) a Decepticon, so it's not as if an elaborate lie is out of the question.

On the other hand, Knock Out has yet to give him any reason to doubt his claim, either. Which is a pity, Starscream thinks, because he is not the merciful type, and he has taken the medic's defection very, very personally.

He relaxes, for now. If Knock Out is telling the truth it would be a shame to waste a potential ally so soon, and if he isn't, well... it'll be far easier to catch him stasis napping if he is under the impression that Starscream trusts him.

"Hmm. Well the answer to that is a complicated and... rather tragic story. Perhaps it would be better told after Megatron has been made aware of your presence here. He will be thrilled to have a medic around, I'm certain."

Ah, yes, perfect! Everyone pretending to trust each other when they don't! Why, it's like he never switched sides at all.

"Ah, he's here? Excellent! Well, maybe excellent." He frowns a little bit, and leans closer to Starscream, whispering behind his hand, "Has he gotten one of those insane projects in his head? Anything to do with Dark Energon, or Airachnid, or cloning Predacons? Because that might be somewhat less than excellent, though I trust you won't tell him that. It's really irritating when he ignores my medical advice in favor of rolling around in the blood of Unicron like it's an oil bath..."

Starscream is definitely going to tell Megatron that, Knock Out assumes, because he has met Starscream.

Straightening up, he gets back to smiling. "But if he's here and not in the midst of one of his worse ideas, then I'm glad to hear he's around!"

Hey now, he won't tell Megatron unless he finds a personally beneficial reason to. He's not a monster after all.

Starscream's lip curls a little bit, just slightly, as he's apparently unamused by Knock Out's cavalier, less than respectful talk about their leader. He has a reputation he's trying to keep up here buddy, he can't just go around laughing at various slander about the guy he's trying to stay in good graces with!

"I'm happy to say he isn't," he says with forced cheeriness. Then he frowns, lifts a talon to scratch at one of the vents on the side of his face. "At least... as far as I know, he isn't." What a troubling thought. "I don't think you have any room to talk though, Knock Out. You've come up with far worse ideas yourself," he says with a knowing smirk.

"I have not," he declares, very firmly and finally. "And unless Shockwave or Soundwave is here to be Megatron's confidante-- ah, they aren't, are they?-- I suspect you're next in line for inner circle privileges. Unless you've fragged that up again..."

Knock Out offers a smile with the little jab at Starscream's off-and-on position at Megatron's side, but it doesn't make it any less of a jab.

"In any case, I'm very eager to hear the tale of Cybertron's resurrection! If you'll lead the way to our new base..."

Heading toward the crater to collect resources, it was nearly impossible to miss the medic. In fact, Dreadwing wouldn't be surprised if Knock Out found it personally offensive had he been overlooked. While Dreadwing may not have an opinion one way or the other regarding this particular colleague, having a medic on their side was a significant improvement to their situation here.

After all, last he had seen the medic had been aboard the Nemesis; he had no reason to suspect Knock Out to have changed sides.

Dreadwing landed on the edge of the crater above where Knock Out was heading, looking down with a cursory gaze.
"Knock Out. Did you just arrive here?" Straight to business, as it were.

Knock Out yelps in surprise at the sound of that voice, spinning on his heel and staring up at the edge of the crater. No, not another resurrected corpse, he has had enough of those, from Dark Energon to Silus to Unicron himself popping up on Cybertron--

Dreadwing doesn't look dead, though, and after a second Knock Out turns off his buzzsaws (when had those come out?) and straightens up.

"... Dreadwing?" he asks, still clearly surprised. "I, ah... never thought I'd see you again." His kind-of-semi-friend-maybe had asked a question, too, right? "And I've... been on Cybertron for several weeks now, actually. Never been here before, but it's good to see some signs of life, even..."

But Dreadwing had died before the resurrection of Cybertron, and Knock Out's gesture towards the Energon is aborted halfway through, confusion clear on his face.

Dreadwing leapt down into the crater so the two were on the same level. Knock Out sounded very certain and very final about their likelihood to meet, which was unfortunate if it meant Knock Out was also from the future. This was starting to become rather irritating.

"It seems you have been teleported here, along with the rest of us. An alternate universe with its own Cybertron which seems to be gathering a population from across time and space."

It was possible Knock Out could have been on the planet for weeks, though in Dreadwing's experience the crater site was one of the first locations new arrivals visited. If Knock Out wasn't familiar with it, it was far more likely he had just been teleported.

"Why where you on Cybertron before that?"

Not sure what to think of that, he's silent for a moment, considering Dreadwing. It sounds... fairly absurd, but...

"Well... I don't suppose I've ever heard you lie before," he says, which is about as close as he's going to get to accepting that right off the bat. "It is a little far-fetched, but who am I to doubt you?" (He will doubt it a little anyhow, until he gets some kind of more deeply convincing information, but not out loud. If it's true, at least the 'across time' bit would explain Dreadwing's living presence.)

"As for Cybertron... why, I was doing my usual job, of course! Surveillance, doctoring, buffing my finish, all those sorts of things. They just happened to be on our old world, after it was finally revived by a newly-built Omega Lock..." He waves his hand, elegantly, completely skimming over all the joining-the-Autobots thing and Megatron's death, resurrection, and defection from his own cause, and all those other unimportant things. Surely Dreadwing wouldn't be the least bit interested in those!

As the person who showed up from the earliest time point with everyone trying to convince him of things that hadn't happened, Dreadwing more than understands the feeling that this is definitely absurd.

He did look a little unimpressed with Knock Out's explanation, which was probably the best reaction Knock Out could hope for since the other Decepticons had been more than happy to keep Dreadwing in the dark about future events.

"I assure you I found the idea as ridiculous as you do, but speak to anyone here and they will confirm it is the truth. Our forces here are scattered, but I would recommend you seek out Lord Megatron."

A crater might be a bad idea at the moment. One certain Dinobot has made the crater his scrounging grounds. While he wasn't a territorial bot, the mech looked for any excuse to throw a good punchdown. Fighting was in his energon, one could say.

But while he looks for anything vaguely useful or any remains of his missing friends, Grimlock does spy a mech not only in the crater, but doing something in it. He trudges over, getting a better view of this stranger.

“That's the shiniest bot I ever--”

And it smacks him what the bot's doing and Grimlock scowls at the obvious injustice. “Hey! You planning on sharing that, yeah?”

Knock Out looks up, thankfully at someone whose voice is not one he recognizes; no zombie or known enemy here. Of course, this could be an unknown enemy, but the bot doesn't look particularly bright (or particularly fast, or armed with ranged weapons), so he's fairly confident he can make a clean getaway if he must.

He turns his buzzsaws off and puts them away, and answers, "I didn't know there was anyone around to share it with. Is this your deposit?"

Even if it is, Knock Out wastes no time in tucking the crystals he's already harvested away in his trunk; his tone is artfully bored, like it doesn't really matter to him whose deposit this is. (Besides, he can hardly take the whole vein with him; sport cars don't have much storage space.)

Grimlock pauses for a moment. Now would Bee approve of him lying about something like this? ...probably not, but he's gonna do it anyway. “...yep! That's mine!”

He reaches over to gather up as much energon as he can. Looks like he and Sideswipe will be eating tonight. “Weird, didn't think there were any other bots 'round here that ain't totally crazy.”

Ugh, this one is definitely not too smart; Knock Out sighs, sets his hands on his hips, and does his best not to roll his eyes too rudely. "You shouldn't make assumptions about bots you don't know," he tells the other, a bit scoldingly, "and if this is your energon deposit, you ought to defend it better. Have perimeter security, or some minions watching over it, or build an energy signature detecter to alert you when someone draws too close. Any well-organized group ought to know that." He turns away a little, surveying the otherwise lifeless crater, and a sly little smile crosses his face.

"Unless you're all alone out here...?"

He's a whole different kind of smart, that is if fists count as brains. "Hey, figuring out who to punch has helped me out so far, " except said punching landed him on the Alchemor in the first place. "Like I said, didn't expect a lot of people here..." Though he does like the idea of Sideswipe as his 'minion'.

With energon in hand, he shakes his head, "Nah, Sideswipe's 'round here somewhere. Why?"

"Ohhhh, just giving my professional advice, you know!" So there's only two of them, hmm. A very small alliance. That's a good thing to know, if he's going to be stuck in this place... "Two is awfully few to secure an energon deposit, though. I hope you're up for the challenge!"

His smile is utterly unoffensive.

"So is the population here very thinly spread?" he asks, because nothing's better for information than someone who's too dumb to figure out he's being pumped for information.

You're talking to the master of completely underestimating the odds. Grimlock's grin has that cocky attitude, “You bet I am! I'm ready to punch anything and everything! Just the other day I nearly beat the scrap out of this crazy helicopter!”

“I unno,” he shrugs, “There's like a few folks around here. For the most part it looks pretty empty.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[open] Hᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴇᴀsɪʟʏ ᴡᴏʀᴋ ᴀ ᴍɪʀᴀᴄʟᴇ ᴏʀ ᴛᴡᴏ

B, BABY

8)

I'm assuming KO doesn't have any kind of brand on him since he never wore a dcon one...?

u assume correctly (all the easier to switch sides with, y'know)

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