Unlikely friends (Knockout X Reader)

Chapter One: The circus

Knockout's POV:

Breakdown and I had been called by Commander Starscream to come and tend to Lord Megatron. He had gotten into some kind of accident and needed me to tend to him. We were given coordinates to meet at but, us both being automobiles, we had to drive there. Not that I care. We both look great and Humans do make fine automobiles. We were driving along the road when we heard some music nearby.

Breakdown asked what it was so we went to investigate. I assumed it would be one of those drive-in theaters but we pulled up to see a large tent. There were humans everywhere and the music was coming from inside. Interesting. What is this? I told Breakdown to activate his holoform so we could go in. I did the same and stepped out of my alt mode.

We've used our holoforms a few times for things like this so we knew what we looked like. We walked in to see the humans just sitting and staring at the center. This must be what humans call 'the circus'. We sat down somewhere and waited for the show to begin. It was rather bland when the show started. But then they prepared a hoop on a rope and the ringleader walked in the middle. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, please welcome to the ring, the amazing Vixen," he said before walking off.

A young woman in a cloak walked out to the hoop. She had a hood up hiding her face. When she got to the hoop, she took her hood down to reveal a pair of animal ears! Those can't be real. Humans don't have that. She took the rest of the cloak off to reveal a tail to go with the ears! This cannot get any more bizarre. She threw the cloak to the side and her tail moved almost naturally. It is real!

Although, the obvious signs of bruising and marks that I could see on her didn't go unnoticed by me. I've seen enough human movies to know what an injury on a human looks like. She grabbed the rope connected to the hoop and started spinning it around her before being lifted in the air. From there, she was practically dancing on the hoop while being lifted and spun in the air.

It was like she was flying and the amount of upper and lower body strength she had for the whole performance was shocking. She hung upsidedown at one point with one foot keeping her from falling. When her performance ended, everyone gave her a standing ovation. Breakdown and I joined them. Though the noise seemed to bother her a bit as she was quick to scurry off. The show continued but Breakdown and I had left by then.

"Impressive human," Breakdown commented about the girl. 

"Yes. Though something feels off about her and the fact she didn't stick around long," I said

"So? Humans are weird."

"I don't think she is human. Her ears and tail moved almost naturally and she ran off when everyone clapped and cheered."

Breakdown shrugged, "None of our business."

"But there's something else I saw on her."

"What's that?"

"Bruises and marks on any visible skin. I think she's being abused because that can't have been caused by practicing her act. She's too good at it to get injuries like that."

"You've been watching too many movies on that weird detective."

"Breakdown, this is from a medical point of view."

"Okay, okay. If you're so concerned about her, let's ask for a visit."

That might make me feel better. When the show officially ended, we went in and asked someone who worked there to see the girl. But they were quick to say no and told us to leave. That only made me more concerned. We left but just waited for the opportunity to sneak in. When we did, we looked backstage for any sign of the girl. That's when I heard a noise that worried me. The sound of whimpers.

We followed the noise to see the girl backed into a corner and the ringleader standing over her, yelling at her for, according to him, changing a part of her dance. And she had a hand mark on her cheek so I'm assuming he hit her. Breakdown stormed in and took the ringleader away from the poor girl. I went over to her and looked at her injuries out of habit. I asked her if she was okay but she just looked at me. Before kicking me in the stomach, grabbing something, and running off!

You're welcome, you ungrateful human! The ringleader started yelling at us for letting, and I quote, that disobedient creature escape. Creature? I thought all humans called each other by their pronouns unless they don't have any. I argued that he shouldn't have been abusing her. I'm now just ignoring the fact she kicked me because she was probably just doing what she thought was best to escape the situation. We were then kicked out. 

"That was eventful," Breakdown said.

"Come on. We're going to find her," I said walking away.

"Knockout, she's probably long gone by now. Why do you want to find her anyway?"

"She's interesting and I want to talk to her. Now let's go."

"Commander Starscream wants us back on the Warship."

"He can wait!"

Breakdown looked shocked that I snapped at him. But he agreed to help me look for the girl. We left the circus and started looking everywhere in the area. She couldn't have gone that far. She's just a human. But there was somehow no sign of her. We came across a forest and guessed she would be there. It'll take forever to find her if she's in there. I just want to make sure she's alright and then we can be on our way. I activated my holoform again and started walking around for any sign of her. The search lasted until morning.