Find Me (You Saved Me Series Book 3)

Switching Sides

"Decepticon Knockout is at the front gate." A soldier says over a radio to Agent Fowler. 

"Knockout?" Fowler questions, looking over at the Autobots. 

"How did he find us?" Arcee pulls her blasters out.

"Hang on." Fowler calls out. "What does he want?"

"He says he will only speak to Optimus Prime." The soldier speaks. 

"I will speak to him, but not here. Is there another building I can speak to him in?" Optimus asks, stepping forward. 

"Optimus, what if this is a trap?" Arcee steps in front of him. 

"There is only one way Knockout could have found our location." Is all the Prime says before following Agent Fowler out of the building. 

"Shelby." Dreadwing says under his breath, looking hopeful. 

Agent Fowler leads Optimus away from the Autobot's base of command. They make sure to keep Knockout from being able to see the leader moving. If Knockout does plan to go back to Megatron, they will have the wrong building number at least. Unless he decides to blow up the whole compound, which is more likely. Optimus holds hope that Knockout has come to join them or at least give them information about Shelby. 

Once inside the new building, the soldiers lead Knockout in. Knockout is still rolling in vehicle mode, but once the door shut, he transforms. Standing a few feet below Optimus, he looks up at Prime with a nervous look on his face. He plays with his fingers unsure if he should speak first. 

"How did you find us, Knockout and what are you doing here?" Optimus breaks the silence. 

"I found Shelby in the rubble of your old base. She was alive, but barely. It took me a few days, before I was able to get her to a hospital. She needs you guys, more than me. She's doing better now after surgery. I didn't want to leave her alone, but I needed to find you and tell you. So, she can leave the hospital with Dreadwing." Knockout says he speech. 

"Why didn't you go to Megatron?" Optimus asks, leering down at the con. 

"He would have killed her. I couldn't let her die. I am still shocked that you and Dreadwing left her to die. She may have her reasons on why she did it, but it is still surprising." Knockout explained, digging into Optimus. 

"I did not want her to stay behind. I had no intentions of letting it happen, but she gave me no choice." Optimus holds his ground.

"It doesn't matter. She shouldn't have been in there. If she wasn't wearing that suit, she would of been a goner. You are supposed to protect the humans, yet you didn't protect her." Knockout keeps digging, his anger growing. 

Optimus looks away for a moment, agreeing with him, but she really didn't give him any choice, "I do not need to convince you of why she stayed behind. If she didn't tell you, that is not my place. Where is she?" His voice staying calm. 

"She did tell me why. She told me it was to save you all. To make sure you could save Cybertron. There had to have been another way..." Knockout starts yelling.

"There wasn't one at the time. Now where is she?" Optimus demands to know, the mistake he made lays heavy on his spark, but at least now he knows she is alive. That is all he cares about now. 

"She is at a hospital about 6 hours north from here. She is safe. But she wants to come home. I promised her I would get her home. I promised I would get Dreadwing to her. I promised..." He stops talking and looks away. Silence looms over them for a moment before Optimus speaks.

"She wants you to join us, doesn't she?" Optimus hesitated to ask

"Yes, but I understand it if you won't except me. I am a Decepticon after all." Knockout looks defeated. 

"It will take some time, but I know Shelby trusts you and that is enough for me. Please follow me to the rest so we can discuss how to bring Shelby home. With Megatron on the look out for us, it will be more difficult." Optimus starts to leave the building, Knockout in tow. 

Agent fowler, who was waiting outside, looks the con up and down, not an ounce of him ready for what Prime will say. 

"He will be joining us." Optimus tells the Agent. 

"Just like that? We are just going to let him join the party without an invitation?" Fowler growls. 

"He risked his life for Shelby. I will explain more when we join the others." That was enough to shut him up. 

They walk through the crowd of soldiers, their fingers still on the trigger, but weapons pointed to the floor. Ready for the Decepticon to shoot first. Knockout keeps his own weapons at bay, with no intentions to pull them out. He understands people may be weary at first. It will take time for them to understand. They took in Dreadwing, so hopefully, they will take him in too. They get to the building housing the Autobots. Optimus goes in, not waiting for Knockout to follow. Knockout takes in a deep breath and releases before following. 

"Your letting him come in here!?!?" Arcee starts raging, before he is all the way in. 

All blasters are pointed at him the moment he walk through the door. All except for Optimus and Dreadwing. Dreadwing pushes through the angry Autobots, not caring about the fact that Knockout is a con. 

"Is she okay?" Dreadwing asks, concern written on his face. 

"She is doing better. She's not out of the woods yet, but is stable." Knockout answers. 

"Please tell me, Megatron doesn't know she survived." Dreadwing tries to hold back the begging in his tone. 

"No, he has no idea. I got her away before he could. I knew what would happen if he found out. I wasn't going to let that happen." Knockout can barely look him in the optics. It was an easy decision to get her away, yet a hard one for him to leave the Decepticons. 

"Thank you." Dreadwing says sincerely. 

"That doesn't forgive the fact that he is a Decepticon." Smokescreen growls, his blaster still up and ready. 

"This isn't the first time he has saved Shelby's life. He also risked his life in helping us on Cybertron. Shelby told him to come here. Shelby trusts him. That should be good enough for all of us after what she just risked her life for." Optimus's words rang over them, silencing most of the doubt. They had all thought she was dead after what she did for them and now there is hope. 

"I understand this won't fix all the wrong I have done in the past, but I can't live under Megatron's scrutiny anymore. Shelby has shown me that I have been lead down the wrong path. I am aware you all won't like my presents, but I will do anything possible to help you defeat Megatron." Knockout knows nothing he says will be enough. Until he can prove himself, they will continue to hate him. 

"Welcome to the team." Bulkhead walks forward and holds out a servo. Hesitant at first, but Knockout reaches forward and shakes. 

"Either way, we have another problem." Ratchet brings them back to the present. Everyone turns to look at the gumpy bot, "How are we going to get Shelby back here? We can't possibly go get her. We need to be on the lookout for Megatron. We know he's already started rebuilding the Omega lock."

"I may be of assistence." Fowler speaks up. Optimus gives him a nod, already knowing what he most likely has planned. 

Fowler rushes out the door. He voice calling out to get troops ready to go get her. This gives the Autobots a chance to learn more about what Megatron may or may not have planned from Knockout. Though, Knockout isn't sure he knows much. Unless he was needed for anything medical, he wasn't told any information. The Autobots may hate him for not knowing anything else. He wishes he would have learned more before peeling out of there, but there was more at risk.