Title: Repair job
Fandom: Transformers Prime
Rating: pg-13
Summery: My version of what happened after Operation: Breakdown.
If he could Knock Out would have attacked the over exalted mess of a con that stood on the command deck of the ship he would have, but that would be outright suicide, and he needed to be around or else soon another would be dead. It wasn’t someone like Starscream who somehow defied all laws of nature and continued to survive, no this was Breakdown who was in such a devastating condition. Despite the large con’s injuries their illustrious lord Megatron continued to berate him, going on and on about his failings in being caught by the humans, in how he had allowed himself to be damaged so, it went on long enough that Knock Out began to wonder just how Breakdown was till on his feet. Finally the medic heard what he had been waiting for, Megatron’s dismissal, and once his back was turned, making the dismissal complete, he was at his partner’s side.
Not saying a word he guided his companion from the deck proper and down into the deeper levels of the ship, toward the medic bay. Breakdown was moving slowly, but not like he was in pain, which was a marvel to Knock Out, even knowing Breakdown for so long it surprised him that the other wasn’t suffering more, not that he waned him to of course.
“You can go get things ready.” Breakdown said, startling Knock Out from his thoughts and he looked up at the other.
“Are you sure, not playing tough guy on me are you?”
“They disabled my pain receptors, I’ll get there fine, it will be quicker if everything’s ready for the work.”
“I was wondering how you were putting up with all this. Alright, but if you take too long I’m coming to get you.”
“Alright.”
Knock Out went on ahead, rushing a bit, and upon reaching the med bay he quickly began setting up the tools and materials he would need to repair his partner. Sometimes it sucked to be the medic, he couldn’t take the time to worry about his partner, the only person that he truly sided with in all of this insane war, he had to figure out fixing him before the worry took it’s toll. He had everything set up and had even run a double check to make sure he wouldn’t have to go grab things in the middle of the repairs and was just about to go get Breakdown when the big con ambled in through the doorway. He knew just what was needed and went strait for the table, getting himself up on it, though the action looked even more tired then his walking had, and laying himself down.
“I’m going to power you down for this, alright.”
“Yeah.” There was a silent moment where Knock Out knew his partner was thinking that he trusted the medic, and all Knock Out could do was hope that Breakdown’s trust was well placed.
There was no further conversation before Knock Out began setting up all the plugs, each one synchronizing with the patient, and with that done he manually put Breakdown into power down mode. He next went about hooking up an Energon infusion, linking it up to Breakdown’s inputs, hoping that it would help that slow, tired effect the guy seemed to be having.
“Now, lets see how much of a mess they made under here.” Knock Out said, easily disengaging the locks that kept the cover in place over Breakdown’s chest and spark chamber. Upon seeing the work that had been done on him Knock Out hissed in sympathy, his fingers going to trace the gouge marks from the human’s messy attempt at a deconstruction. “They got pretty close didn’t they.”
One of the gouges was close, very close, to rupturing into Breakdown’s spark chamber and even as it was it had nicked the lining enough to cause a lot of worry. That was probably the reason Breakdown had seemed so lethargic, something like this would take a serious toll on the body quickly. Knock Out wasted no time getting to work on what was most likely to be the most serious damage. It took time, and a delicate hand to weld up the spot work that was constantly interrupted by Breakdown’s spark faltering.
Each time his spark faltered Knock Out paused his work to alternate looking at the screens reading out his vitals, and down at his partner, encouragement barely whispered. It did so again just as he finished his work on the spark chamber, and he waited for it to even out like it always had except that it wasn’t it was falling and spiking erratically sending jolts through Breakdown’s whole body.
“No, no, don’t do this. Come one, we’ve made it though a lot to get here, don’t you leave me now.” Knock Out said, not caring if he was overheard this time unlike the last times. “Come one, you are not leaving me here alone!” While he said those last words he placed his hand over top of Breakdown’s spark chamber, wishing he had some way to will the spark back into it’s regular timing. As if hearing his wish the alarms softened as the pace returned to normal, finally every last warning was off and Breakdown returned to normal.
He continued working on the damage in Breakdown’s chest, stopping to rest his hand over the spark chamber every time it started to act up, which slowly declined as he worked. It was almost as if Breakdown’s spark was reacting to him, soothing out and becoming calm again, just like Breakdown himself, trusting Knock Out with it’s existence.
Soon enough he was ready to seal up Breakdown’s cover again so that it was whole, he was covered in lubricant and Energon but the hardest part was over. Deciding to take a moment to check Breakdown’s optic socket to see how bad the damage was. Superficially it was pretty bad, but the exterior could be mended easily enough, the lens cover would be tricky but doable, and fortunately the cords had been clean cut, Knock Out could fix it, his partner may not see perfectly through that optic again but he would be fixed up.
Just as Knock Out was headed to where he kept some spare optics the doors to the med bay opened and in walked the last con he wanted to see right then, Megatron.
“How are the repairs coming, Knock Out.” He asked, his voice almost smug as he looked over the normally neat and clean Decepticon covered in another’s fluids.
“All of the life threatening damage has been repaired, now is just fixing up the remaining damage to get him back to full capacity.” The medic answered, careful to control the sound of his voice. He watched the leader closely as he walked over to medical bed, and looked over the still messed up Breakdown.
“A pity about that optic of his.”
“Sir?”
“Quite beyond repair, isn’t it, Knock Out.”
Knock Out knew better then to let his fear show, even in a slight shiver, in front of Megatron, but he also could admit the fierce leader scared him. Even now he realized what he was being told, that Breakdown would not get his eye fixed, not because it was unfixable but because Megatron said so. A kind of punishment and reminder of his failure for Breakdown, of course, if he could somehow do something to get himself back in Megatron’s favor the leader would allow the attempt to repair the optic but by then it very well could be impossible. Knock Out felt his hate for the leader rise again, he knew that Megatron had been the one to deny any rescue mission for one of the better cons on his team and even now punished him.
“Oh, of course, too much damage to the central cording.” The words were said with all the conviction Knock Out could muster, even dipping his head to the leader in show of his understanding. At that the massive Decepticon turned and left the room, no further need to be in there, with the damaged con.
Knock out stood there for a bit, just staring at his partner, wanting to throw a fit, destroy things, do something to lash out, even if it wasn’t at Megatron himself, but he knew it would do no good. He moved over to Breakdown’s side again, setting up his tools to stem off any leaks and cords in the socket when the realization came to him he could fix the optic, just so long as Megatron thought he hadn’t. Quickly he pulled out a rather particular optic and set it down on his tray of tools and supplies, and just in time as Soundwave came in.
“Ah, Soundwave, here to see about our comrade’s condition?”
“-here to see-” was the only response Knock Out got, which to a less intelligent con might have been taken as an agreement but Knock Out caught that he had only agreed to the seeing part, not the part about Breakdown. He surmised that Megatron had sent him down to make sure that Knock Out followed his instructions, little did Megatron or Soundwave know that Knock Out had some very special equipment to use for Breakdown.
He started with checking for any further damage and tears to the socket then the exterior and the cording, finding a few small spots he repaired those, keeping the socket smooth and round. Next he brought the cording up and secured it in a workable position and reached for the special optic to find his reach stopped by Soundwave, as he expected.
“What seems to be the matter Soundwave?”
The silent Decepticon pointed from the intended optic to Breakdown’s socket before repeating Knock Out’s voice back to him. “-the matter-”
“Oh, that thing? It’s just a dud, something to fill the space so that nothing leaks into there and causes more problems.”
Soundwave picked up the optic and examined it, even going so far as to connect one of his cords to it, but when the optic didn’t respond at all he handed it over to Knock Out.
Knock Out didn’t say anything but turned back to his work. What Soundwave didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him; this optic was extra special in that it held no backlight, and didn’t function at all, until you put the right cover over it. He took some time, connecting it to Breakdown’s cords and making sure everything was set well before removing the last fragments of the lens.
“Looks like I’ll need to cover the whole thing once I’m done patching up around it.” He mused aloud for Soundwave’s benefit, starting to work on realigning the portions of pliable metal around Breakdown’s eye socket. As he was welding everything together Soundwave must have decided that he would follow orders and left. Once the informer was gone Knock Out quickly finished the welding and pulled out the specific material for that optic.
A bit of work later and Knock Out was putting the finishing touches on the welding of Breakdown’s chest plate. A nice shiny patch of black covering where Breakdown’s optic was, and as far as anyone knew was only filled with a dud optic behind the patch. With the last of the work done he plugged Breakdown’s receptors back into place had started his power up. Everything ran trough like a charm, Breakdown’s remaining optic lighting up before the normal focus retook the stoic con’s face.
“How do you feel partner?” Knock Out asked causally, expecting his partner to have already noticed what had been done to his optic and figured out a little bit of why, he would inform him of the rest later, when they were unlikely to be watched.
“Much better.” Two simple words but more words were spoken in between them, like how Breakdown’s trust in Knock Out had held true.