The Unity Of Two

24: Pampered pet

After some poking and prodding at my beasty mode, Knockout let me off and handed me to Breakdown.

I hate being mech-handled. I tried to squirm out of his hug-like grip but gave up with a squawk. He started petting me. I transformed, "No." I told him and slapped his servo off.

"Make a spear." Knockout instructed and walked over.

"Ah..."

"Say no." Unicron instructed.

"No."

"Well, I didn't create a leader, that's for sure." Primus muttered.

"Okay." Knockout shrugged and hopped over to a rod thing. He turned it on a sparks flared, he waved it threateningly.

"Fine." I was not in the mood to be tortured, so I swiftly formed a spear. They both blinked in surprise.

"Such a wuss." Unicron muttered.

Knockout reached for it but I absorbed it. "Huh?" He blinked, "Your servos just swallowed it!"

"Yea." I nodded, "I kind of need to have energon in my systems you know." I shrugged.

"Oh!" Breakdown started, "He needs energon."

"What kind?" Knockout asked.

"Dark." Unicron demanded.

"Both." Primus suggested.

"Both." I repeated.

"Ha!" Primus mocked as Unicron let out a cough which sounded a lot like "Aft".

"Eh." Knockout shrugged and brought a servo to his helm. "The youngling needs some dark energon." He asked into a com. "Just a bit, I won't take too much from your stores." He added.

Oh, he had to ask Meg for permission.

"Yup." Knockout said and turned to Breakdown, "Get two cubes, one normal and one dark." He instructed and Breakdown left.

"You're going to have to check it for poison." Unicron advised, Primus merely hummed.

Knockout started to lift me arm. "Hmmm..."

"Um?"

"Your plating is damn dull." He said and continued. "And your paint is scratched." He took a step back, "Tsk." He turned and rummaged through a cabinet.

"What's he doing?" Primus asked.

"No clue."

"Ah ha!" He exclaimed as he lifted up to canisters.

"What's that?" I asked nervously, ready to make a dash for the door.

"Paint!" He grinned and skipped over, "And you are in dire need of care." He said and looked at my dusty plating.

Wait. What? When my processor caught up with reality, Knockout had already polished me and started applying paint.

Then Breakdown came in, "Good idea." He nodded and handed me the cubes.

"Ah, thanks?" I blinked.

What the frag was going on?!?

"I thought you were supposed to experiment on me?" I asked.

"Don't remind them dammit!" Unicron cursed.

"Nah just write a report, done that." Knockout said as he turned me around.

"You have?"

"The faster I get it done, the more free time I have!" He exclaimed, "But... How do you do it?"

I shrugged.

"DON'T MOVE!" He yelped.

"Sorry!" Breakdown started grinning in amusement.

"Besides, experimenting on a youngling-"

"Mechling."

"-Absolutely absurd! We're not barbarians!" Knockout went on, "I don't see how Lord Megatron could have brought himself to hurt you." He blabbered, "Just too cute!"

Breakdown nodded in agreement as Unicron cracked up laughing.

"Done, you just need to wait for it to dry." Knockout said and packed up the stuff.

"Already?"

"He's had practice." Breakdown shrugged and helped.

"So he just painted you?" Primus asked.

"Yup."

"Same color?"

"Yup." I repeated and the two mechs exchanged glances.

"I approve."

"Carrier approves." I told them.

"Then your Carrier has good taste." Knockout said, "Now drink." He instructed and pointed at the cubes.

I took the dark energon and started drinking.

"Did you check it for poison?" Unicron asked.

I swallowed and looked up, "Is this poisoned?" I asked.

"Should have asked that before you drank, but no." Breakdown said.

So I drank, and while I drank Knockout stuck a needle in me, "Ek!"

"Relax, just taking an energon sample." He muttered and left me to my solitude, "Hold on." He came back, "Can I have a little sample..."

I formed an orb and handed it to him. And then spent the rest of the day, bored, merely sitting on the berth.

"So, have you thought about escape?" Unicron asked.

"Nope." I said as the others ignored me.

"Murder?"

"Nope."

"Have you thought about anything?" Unicron asked.

"Yup."

"Such as?" Primus asked skittishly.

"Can I have a look around?" I asked Knockout.

"Sure sure, just be back in ten." He shrugged.

"Does he mean ten minutes or ten hours?" Unicron asked.

"No idea." I told him as I left the medbay, "And keep quiet, just in case.". The gloomy, bland hallways greeted me. And then Starscream walked into me.

"Eh?" He looked down, "You! What are you doing?" He sneered as he leaned forward threateningly.

"Looking around, Knockout let me." I told him.

"Looks like he's been treating you well..." Starscream started, bringing a sharp claw forward.

I made the biggest blade I ever made and stabbed him in the gut, before retracting it and fleeing.

"What did you do?" Primus asked as Unicron let out a giggle.

"Stabbed him." Then I crashed right into someone else. "Urk-"

The warlord grabbed me by the collar. "Escaping?"

"No." I started.

"Then what?"

"Escaping Starscream."

"That's escaping."

"Yea, I just released-"

"And why?" He asked, raising a ridge at my newly painted plating.

"He was threatening me." I explained, scared and amused at the same time. The warlord snorted as he dragged me along. "They allowed me to explore!" I complained.

"Mmm hmm." He clearly wasn't fond of younger mechs.

"Just behave." Primus begged as the doors to the medbay opened.

"My lord." Knockout greeted as we spotted Starscream on the medical berth. "Oh, he's been stabbed." He added.

"Little cretin." Starscream groaned without looking up.

Then I was thrown at a wall.