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  If they lived through this, Starscream was going to make sure that Knock Out never lived down the fact that he got them into this mess. The disloyal rebel had gone running to the Autobots the first chance he got with his metaphorical tail between his legs. Who begged for salvation from the enemy; from the very individuals who they had fought for eons and who had, ultimately, destroyed their true leader Lord Megatron?

  The slim silver Seeker shuddered at the very thought of kissing up to Optimus Prime’s pedes, or any of those atrocious Autobot survivors who now were claiming to own and were repairing Cybertron. All that remained was the wench prune Arcee, the soft Sparked fool Bulkhead, the fight-crazy Wrecker Wheeljack, an old war Vet named Ultra Magnus whom was set in his ways, the rookie Smokescreen and that most vile newly named warrior Bumblebee. All of them were repellant beasts, but that former scout had to be the worst of all, having finally gotten his revenge for his voice box being personally ripped out by Lord Megatron all those millennia ago.

  Fortunately their numbers were still small and few, and with experimentation, a great amount of luck and sending out beacons to the remaining Decepticons in the universe. If there were any, Starscream thought sourly. All that he had on his side now was the one-optic Cyclops Shockwave as an official Decepticon now that the former stylish scarlet medic was running with the ‘good guys’.

  Little to the malignant Seekers knowledge, the red medic was in no better mood to be stuck with him, either. Tension was always the worst thing for the poor Grounder to experience; it meant he was stiff and that was just uncomfortable for all of his gorgeous angles and curves. Plus, being cramped up in a stuffy hole wasn’t much cozier with the bad attitude mech venting and shifting up against his frame.

  Regardless how Starscream felt; something that Knock Out cared little about, he was no longer a part of this war, per say. All he wanted was to have Cybertron; their homeland, whole and in one piece again. If giving up his former faction meant that the planet would be restored to its former lustrous beauty, than he could cope with that. Earth was far too filthy and beyond his liking, being as vain as he was. He desired pampering; a warm oil bath here and there between glorious frame buffs and lazy easy-going days without someone breathing expectedly over his hide.

  “Would you mind getting your fragging wing tips off of my finish?” Seethed the Grounder. “I just had it waxed a few days ago.”

  “Oh I’m sorry; I didn’t realize my appendage was giving you such distress. Here, allow me to fix that for you,” snapped the Seeker as he roughly slammed his side against the bulkier but smaller medic’s side.

  A sharp yelp escalated from Knock Out as he was rammed with a metallic thud against the wall. Scrambling, he kicks out at Starscream to try forcing more room into the tight space. “You’re the stupid slagger who thought it would be a good idea to hide in this sector from the Dark Energon Predacon’s, Starscream, not me!”

  “Gah- if you feel that way then you might as well get out of my hiding place and go find a new one! I don’t have time for your worthless squabbling you Autobot pet!” Shouted the former Decepticon Second-in-Command in reply as he bashes his heel like pede against the medic’s leg.

  Whimpering over his perfect red paint job, Knock out shoves at Starscream to try putting as much space as he could in the limited capacity box they were huddled in between the both of them. He was mortified at the scratches already upon his frame from the stupid Seeker and his bad attitude. Life was going swell until the blasted Seeker showed back up in his life and whisked him away in a most abhorrent fashion.

  “I am no Autobot pet, Starscream! You expect me to try fighting against the winning side as the only Decepticon on board the Nemesis at the time? That would have been a death wish!”

  “At least you would have died with honor and dignity, Knock Out,” spat the furious Seeker.

  Snarling like she-demon femmes, the two bickered and lashed out flailing limbs weakly at one another in the tight space. Scratches raking up one’s arm and dents banging into another’s side. To anyone that would have come across the two on the still mostly deserted Cybertron, they would have looked much like a passionate angry couple who couldn’t decide if they wanted to fight or perhaps find the nearest berth to finish off the tension.

  The pair paused, mid-grunts and almost sensual moans of agony as hits struck sensitive wings and less-armored joint regions, as a soft hissing sound reached their audios. Intertwined like lovers, the two with sudden embarrassment parted their appendages enough to hunch together instead in total silence. The eerie hissing sounds scratching their audios while their servos twitching and clasped against one another.

  Regardless of the anger, self-preservation took toll over any previous arguing. In reality, Starscream figured he could toss Knock Out out to the Dark Energon infested relics of old brought back to life but the Grounder could be of use at some time or another. Even if that use required another future sacrifice, blackmail or simply dangling him in front of the Autobots in request for something more juicy and important. Perhaps they would fall for it, perhaps not, but at the moment he didn’t dare try out-flying the winged monstrosities that were dwelling upon Cybertron’s surface to feast.

  Swallowing the bile that was collecting in his throat, the medic glanced sideways at Starscream. The scrapping of claws approaching their position had his Spark racing faster and harder than he ever did on even a flat stretch of road. He hadn’t expected the Seeker to wander back up into his life after his random departure, and now here they were trying to hide from a beast of vile destruction.

  Surely Starscream was back now to claim his rightful spot as Megatron’s heir; to fight to the death for Cybertron in the name of the Decepticon’s previous leader. Having seen the Seeker, fleeing from the creatures that had resembled zombies with far more intelligence, they hadn’t the time to engage in combat. They simply fled, the scarlet Ground appreciating the strut of the Seekers frame and the slender but agile way that he moved.

  There was something to be admired by that, he scolded himself, purely from a soldier’s point of view. Stealthy, nimble, lean and quick got you where you needed to go and was a Seeker’s primary defense and offensive use. There was no shame in appreciating another soldier’s advantages- right?

  “Listen,” Starscream whispered in a scratching hush. “The creature is faltering; moving due east now. If we make a move to head south now, we may outsmart the dumb animal yet.”

  Knock Out rolled his optics. “And if it or one of its fellow creepy crawlies catches our scent?”

  The silver mech could smack that pretty mouth for his insolence. Rake his claws into that armor and force the Grounder down as he should be; begging for his freedom. The sadistic idea calmed Starscream enough not to do just that; to make the mech howl and… A shudder raced up the Seeker’s backstrut unexpectedly at the images of that pompous red medic kneeling before him. Such a sight to be witnessed filled him with power but there was an unexpected and glorifying yearning to see the proud, inflated ego Knock Out lapping at his pedes and-

  “Well I have the long range weapons,” Starscream muttered furiously through his arousement. “Clearly I will need to be the one keeping them distant from us should we attract attention. I will not wait here for one of those Predacon’s to find me in some hole.”

  A weak chuckle emitted from the Grounder. “That sounds very unlike you, Starscream; to put yourself in harm’s way and fight an opponent you know would overcome you. I’ll buy that we can’t stay here; the Predacon have reasonably high senses and they’d find us in a small space without a way to hide, run or fight back. We’d be Predacon chow.”

  “Thank you for the obvious statement,” the former Decepticon Second-in-Command mocked, using his talons to scrap and scramble out of one of Cybertron’s deserted crevices to squint his optics up at the brimming lights in the sky for a sense of proper direction.

  Not to be deterred by Starscream’s usual fits, Knock Out shrugs his shiny, curving shoulders in a smooth and effortless manner before standing up and out of the ditch to join the Seeker. Unlike Starscream, however, who had his optics to the stars to evaluate their position; the medic had his optics on another sight.

  The Seeker shifted, obstructing the view of his small aft and quickly making the medic reevaluate his optics to another area of Cybertron’s broken up surface. He didn’t wish to be caught ogling his former superior and his fine, slender legs. In war, there had been no time to fancy oneself with ideas and thoughts on either their appearance or another’s. Even now it was more wrong now that they were, in Starscream’s view, on different factions.

  “Quit standing around like a lifeless scraplet,” Starscream seethed, spinning around to confront the otherwise silent medic. “South is in this direction; there’s the Kol star system over there. Hurry up, or I’m leaving you here for the Predacon beast to find.”

  Knock Out shivered in reply. “No thanks, I had enough of Predacon’s when it was just big, dark and ugly.”

  Giving a rather smug grin of reply, the Seeker trotted forward with the medic hard on his heels. The soft sound of his metal heel like pedes tapping faintly with the somewhat heavier footfalls of the medic just behind him; their armor brushing lightly as they paused to huddle close. It felt like electricity coursed through his protoform wherever they touched and the two would quickly look to any place than each other as the attraction grew almost pliable before them.

  “Do you think we lost it?” Knock Out finally grumbled, his back pressed to a groaning large building adored with statues and broken, warped metal paneling.

  Grunting, Starscream waved his servo as he peeked around the edges of the building. Rust steadily spilled out of the hollow form and onto his shoulders as his red optics looking piercingly along the walls and the other crushed and breaking buildings along them. If they continued south as they were, they may find themselves lucky enough to reach the smelting pits in Kaon to roam and use to their advantage.

  “I see nothing chasing us,” the gray mech griped.

  The medic nodded, satisfied with at least that answer. But there was a question nipping at his processor and begging to be asked… “What were you doing that attracted that Predacon, anyway? And when did you board the planet once more, Starscream? No one could find you on the Nemesis when we took refuge on our home once again.

  That conversation. Starscream was waiting for the questions to be asked. He figured he should shun Knock Out away from the truth, but perhaps there was still enough fight in him to bring him back to the Decepticon side if he told him just enough of the truth. Or, he could always offline him after this little escapade was over.

  “Shockwave and I took an escape pod off of the Nemesis after the Autobots had assured themselves victory,” he stated in a clipped tone. “We have otherwise been solitude. We made planet fall a few deca-cycles back. As for the Dark Energon Predacon, I know not how it came to be or where it came from. Shockwave works in silence and is constantly shooing me away from projects; I was out gathering material when I came across the beast. I would have easily dismissed the creature and taken off but as you saw, it is a winged monstrosity and had two other companions with it.”

  With a flat tone deficient of sympathy and filled to the brim with sarcasm, Knock Out responded, “So you were prancing around and happened to find yourself in a mess of trouble as you always do, Starscream? Lord Megatron wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised.”

  “Don’t you dare use my Master’s name you filthy Autobot scum! You will tinge it with your fecal glossia,” snarled the Seeker, whirling around with a shrieking voice to mouth off his former comrade.

  Taking a single step back for fear of further damage to his precious paint job, the medic raised his pale servos in submission. “I would never speak ill of Lord Megatron,” he says with a shaky voice. “He was, after all, even my leader, Starscream. I regret too what became of him, but we really had no choice in the matter. What is done is done-“

  Before he knew what had happened; his CPU too slow to comprehend, the Seeker had lashed out; his talons grabbing and digging into his shoulder. Sparks flew out of the small, penetrated holes as he was grabbed and then thrust aside like cheap trash; an unexpected amount of strength from the otherwise thin and more frail mech.

  Crying out, Knock Out struck the ground hard with surprise. His intakes puffing out of his vents with shock as he looked up with glowing optics of shock. He blinked, shuttering his optics offline and offline as the furious, hateful expression from the Seeker bore down upon him like Unicron upon Primus. It reminded him very much of Megatron, and that did bring a small formal ghost pain to his Spark that ached with sorrow.

  The reddish orbs in Starscream’s helm popped out as he gritted his derma in a feral snarl. “I said that I never again wanted to hear you utter my Master’s name. Comprehend that, or I will gladly leave and make sure that those Dark Energon monsters find you and devour you for everything you are, you putrid mech.”

  Annoyed but grudgingly accepting of the Seeker’s rage, the former Aston Martin gave a silent nod of reply. Chaffing his frame against the rusty, collapsing ground of Cybertron’s crust, he began to rise to his pedes.

  The Grounder didn’t make it all the way to his feet before an audio ringing wail blared across the land and caused cracks to web out on glass surfaces. Clutching their helms, Starscream and Knock Out looked to the sky in alarm as one of the purple liquid dripping Predacon’s came spiraling out of the sky, downward.

  Slamming Knock Out back to the ground, the beast let out a tremendous roar of fury and victory. It’s maw dripping, oozing the violet pulsating Dark Energon. It lunged down towards the hollering medic that lashed out with his buzz saw already transforming free of his servo. Dark Energon gushed forth from the wound that the medic’s weapon created upon its chassis but it still moved to strike; unfeeling to the pain.

  The ground rumbled and shook and the Seeker turned with apprehension and dread as two other ground-versions Predacon’s were suddenly bowling over the terrain in their direction. The flight capable one’s call must have attracted their attention. Cursing wildly in Cybertronian, Starscream snaps up his arm and unleashes one of his two precious missiles upon the monsters hide that was drooling and snapping at the flailing medic.

  Dark Energon exploded from the dragons hide and it roared, stumbling forward. There was just enough room for Knock Out to slip out from beneath the heavy monster; his optics flickering dully and a portion of armor missing from his shoulder. Fortunately, it didn’t appear to have otherwise managed to get a wound upon his protoform or within his veins; so the silver mech hoped, as the pair took off with panting, heaving breaths down the nearest slope towards Kaon.

  “What do you purpose we do next?” Knock Out shouted through his venting pants as their pedes pounded across the ground; sounding much weaker in retrospect to the thunder of the much larger Predacon’s behind them.

  “Keep running you fool! I’ll- think of something,” Starscream whined in reply, his helm whipping back around to see the dragon taking to the skies once again with Energon dripping steadily from its damaged chassis and bleeding backside. It seemed completely unphased by its injuries, and that was simply unnerving.

  “Holy scrap we are so offlined,” the medic moaned, his helm also set back a few degrees to see the two bulkier Predacon’s on the ground ramming through obstacles like a heavy duty tank going breaking through a wood door.

  A snarl escalated from the gray Seeker. “Shut up and run, you imbecile!”

  Not one to argue with a simple but very tactile statement, the medic charged forward and took off down the slope; easily dancing around any broken up deceased Cybertronian’s still laid out from the war and hopping over fallen buildings in leaps and bounds for his life.

  Streaking down upon the pair, Starscream and Knock Out split up as the dragon collided with the ground with enough force to make the ground shake, sending both mechs falling down the slope and at the end with dazed expressions. They were up on their pedes in seconds, hearing the mighty roar of the monster as it salivated; calling for blood Energon with its gnashing, broken teeth glinting and sharp optics following the two hungrily.

  “I see Kaon!” Starscream stated in short gasps. “The main gladiator pit that Lord Megatron often fought in is just ahead. We need to veer left around the building; there’s an underground tunnel that leads to a place that Shockwave used to meet with Megatron.”

  “Or,” Knock Out huffed, “We could head right to where the smelting pits are and try to see if any of them are active so that we can push one of those things inside!”

  “Do you want to get up close and personal with one of those things?” the Seeker wheezed. “Because if so, be my guest; lure them away while I escape. I only have one missile now, and all three of them are upon us. That’s hardly enough firepower to dent one of those things!”

  There was no arguing with the determined mech, and so the medic simply took off after Starscream, hoping his assumptions were correct and the tunnel wasn’t collapsed. It would give them at least an advantage from the flying menace in this desolated landscape where it could simply strike from above. Their energy, with their luck, would be depleted long before those creatures and they needed all the advantages they could get if they were to outrun, outsmart and survive against those monsters.

  Spinning around at the curvature bend of the gladiator pit building, Starscream waited until the blasted dragon had turned to strike like an eagle out of the sky for them. He fired his last missile as the medic charged ahead without him; the blast puncturing almost through the creature as it screamed and gurgled up Dark Energon. The Seeker turned to run once more as the Predacon slammed into the building and through it; disappearing into the walls of the gladiator pit as rumble descended upon its reanimated corpse.

  Hoping that they were rid of at least one problem, Starscream hurryingly moved to take lead over Knock Out and direct the crimson medic to follow him to a building that was partially caved in. Moving around to the back, Starscream found broke a panel with his heel with a few good strikes and yanked a single hook until the ground caved in before them to reveal the underground tunnels of Kaon.

  Thanking whatever unknown force prevented the tunnel from being collapsed and seeing no sign yet of the ground Predacon’s, the gray Seeker gladly leapt within to take refuge in the tunnel. Darkness swept and swam around him as he descended; crashing into fallen debris from what parts of the tunnels had rusted out from lack of maintenance and fallen in.

  “H-… How stable... Would you say this tunnel is…? Starscream?” Knock Out gasped, tumbling down into the blackness and further ruining his well buffed and waxed scarlet armor.

  “There’s no telling, all we can do is move forward and hope not to come to a dead end,” the former Second-in-Command explained as he sauntered forward into the abyss.

  Staring with a stony expression of disbelief, the former Aston Martin shook his helm and dragged his pedes after the lone companion into the pooling glum ahead. His vision adjusted to night-vision to better cope with the inability to otherwise properly differentiate his location as he trudged unhappily after Starscream.

  “Do you have at least an idea where this leads out to?”

  Starscream nodded. “Multiple locations. We’ll settle for any exit, although I’m hoping to come across the ones that lead out of Kaon and further to the Sea of Rust. If we pass that that point, we may be able to lead away from those abominations.

  “Yes,” the medic drawled in a slow, annoyed tone. “But you do know what direction to take, right?”

  Passing a somewhat sadistic grin back to Knock Out, Starscream shrugged almost innocently. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

  Releasing a groan of despair at having to be trapped and traveling with the damned Sky Lord, the crimson mech places a servo upon his faceplate and counts to ten, slowly. Breathing slowly and easily while the ground slips and changes beneath his feet with ominous moans of the metal around himself. From above, he could hear what sounded like distant, heavy pedes slamming against the ground; likely the confused Predacon’s trying to figure out which way their scents were leading.

  Really wishing that the creatures were not wise enough to figure out how to get down here but doubting them small enough to fit, Knock Out moved to follow closer towards Starscream. He was surprised when he ran straight into the Seeker’s backstrut and slammed into his wings, nearly knocking the both of them over with squawks of surprise.

  “What the frag Starscream,” Knock Out snarled, “Why did you stop?”

  “I was trying to remember which break in the tunnel to take, you ingrate!” Hissed the dull gray mech, whipping around to look optic-to-optic with the smaller mech.

  Rubbing the back of his helm, Knock Out’s optics ventured to glance behind Starscream at the branching tunnels. He frowned slightly, both confused and intrigued by Kaon’s underground setup. He was fortunate to have not lived or known of this place; he had a horrible feeling it had a reputation for dealing and for some to finish debts down here that ended in much Energon spilling.

  The soft puffs of Starscream’s warm vents caressed over the medic’s frame as he looked down at the medic. The Seeker both was being peeved and intrigued as he watched the Grounder’s expression change in the fuzzy darkness of his night vision. He disliked the tight enclosures; feeling somewhat trapped and claustrophobic when his wing span couldn’t stretch out as he liked, but the darkness was sinking into his helm; making him lax and sedated almost.

  Realizing he was being examined, the flashy suave scarlet mech slowly turns his optics back to Starscream. Their chassis were close to making contact and the heat spewing off of their frames was mingling and causing a stuffy but not unlikable atmosphere.

  A quiet purr issued from Knock Out’s chassis and he started with surprise. Trying to pass it off as something to fill the silence, he shimmied his backside and moved to press around Starscream’s form. A faint touch skimming along his side and down his thigh that felt a little more forceful at the end; like there was a purpose behind it.

  “I say we head right,” the medic stated with a surprisingly husky tone.

  “Whatever you say, Doctor,” Starscream taunted in a teasing voice. The medic didn’t even realize how much he missed the Second-in-Command’s mocking up until that point, and found himself smirking slightly.

  Moving to the far right side’s tunnel, the two quietly followed side-by-side through the black. It brought back a lot of strange memories for them both; recalling bickering together in agreement over how they were the superior two on board the Nemesis. How the medic was always bothered for his acute awareness and show offy attitude to his charm and good looks. Remembering, vividly, how Starscream would spit and hiss like an organic cat; complaining this way and that how he was the proper leader for the Decepticon’s and how he had the wit and cleverness to rule over the otherwise mindless warriors in their root.

  It even brought back memories of the two in the med room with Knock Out often patching and fixing the poor Seeker up after a beating. Broken, savagely beaten and bruised. Always though coming back with a punch; with spirit and valor to be determined and move on for both himself and the good of the Decepticon kind.

  “You know, Starscream, without Megatron you are… the leader of the Decepticons now,” the medic hedged uncomfortably.

  Dryly and without humor, the silver Seeker slowly stated, “And you expect that Second-in-Command position still, don’t you?”

  The former Aston Martin shook his helm. “No. I thought to remind you. With your position, you really shouldn’t let Shockwave throw you around. Lord Megatron was allowed to watch and examine his experiments as he worked when he so desired to see progress or intimidate progress out of others.”

  A lengthy pause followed, and the Seeker softly replied after a while, “I see.”

  Feeling mildly uncomfortable, the scarlet mech grew silent and simply moved forward. Out of the corner of his optics, he could see the Seeker’s winglets drooping sadly. It was surprising to see Starscream so hurt over the loss of Lord Megatron considering how often he had tried and nearly succeeded on occasion to scrap their former leader. Now without him around, he was like a lost puppy who didn’t know which way to turn. It was a peculiar and unexpected turn of events.

  “A dead end,” Starscream muttered, causing Knock out to stop staring upon the Seeker and snap his gaze ahead. Sure enough, this tunnel had been sectioned off and partially collapsed inward just a few kliks of their position.

  Knock Out cursed; vividly and fluidly.

  “An honest mistake,” the Seeker ventured softly in reply.

  “We should turn around and try the other branch, I suppose,” grumbled the medic with his gaze glaring upon the fallen in, warped metal with disdain.

  Turning, the former Aston Martin moved as if to head back down the hall as Starscream’s servo descended upon his shoulder. Forcing him to pause and look up at the Seeker with a quizzical gaze as their optics met; four red orbs boring a strong, healthy glimmer meeting.

  “Perhaps,” Starscream hesitantly began with confidence slowly edging into his voice, “We can try the other branch in a minute.”

  “And what do you mean by that?” drawled Knock Out in a snappish, irritated voice.

  The Seeker’s servo snaked alongside the medic’s wrist, pinching and picking at the sensitive circuits as he moved upward and yanked the Grounder closer.

  Yelping like a captured Autobot prey to his Decepticon predator enemy, the medic stumbles and nearly collides with the Seeker as he’s pulled closer. Flustered and incredibly turned on now, his engines rev and purr hopefully while he tries to yank free his good shoulder from under the silver Seeker’s servo.

  “Starscream now is neither the time nor place!” The medic shouted with apprehension.

  “And when, my dear Doctor, would the proper time and place be?” requested the former Second-in-Command with a false humored smile on his lip components.

  “Look Starscream,” heaved Knock Out in a heavy sight. “I admire your finish and you’re not half bad leading an army or commanding others around, but I’ve seen way too many human horror fics to know that fragging or so much as kissing while in a bad situation is going to get you killed.”

  “You are exceptionally prude, aren’t you?” growled the irritated silver mech as his lean body stiffened.

  Shrugging effortlessly even with his missing curving shoulder plating, Knock Out pulls out from Starscream’s hold. “Or I have a more logical circuit lay out in my processor than you do, Herr Kommandant,” replied the medic as he sauntered with an erotic sway of his hips, unintentionally down the tunnel once more in the opposite direction of the blockade.

  Feeling frustrated over being rejected, the Seeker begrudgingly moves to follow in after the Grounder. He didn’t even need to frag the stupid sportscar; he simply had the need to touch. That glorious bowed backstrut, the sinuous structure of his aft. Even their colliding personalities made him all the more attracted to the medic. Their arrogance, together, did amazing things as far as he was concerned.

  If it wasn’t for the situation, Starscream had no idea how easily that the scarlet medic would give in to him. Even with his back turned to the Seeker, Knock Out felt aware of him. He knew the silver mech’s body more than he should with his occupation and having to constantly fix it. He knew very well what parts of Starscream were sensitive; how he moaned if you stroked his wings just right. He knew that, despite being beaten plenty, he still liked a rough touch and a rough massage along his backstrut. He wasn’t as shiny as he could be; something that the medic was greatly upset about though didn’t say so, but indeed their vain attitudes and general whiny bitch feast was much like femmes; and they could be just as experimental as femmes given the chance.

  Denying the Seeker was a strike against the Seeker’s pride. He wounded him, but Knock Out hoped not too terribly. The tension in the air was still raw and powerful, and he clutched to the hopeful feeling that he might be able to sneak a graze of his servos eventually once more across the Seeker’s delicious wingspan and down his legs around his calves and draw him closer to-

  “Turn left,” grumbled Starscream, bringing Knock Out out of his blissful desires.

  “Yeah yeah,” the medic snapped, feeling the air crackling and sparkling almost physically between them with yearning. “I know where I’m going.”

  “Oh I’m quite sure,” scoffed the former Second-in-Command.

  “Don’t push it, Starscream,” blandly muttered the medic as his sexy strolling steps moved to follow the path of the tunnel down the left side corridor. He couldn’t hear the sounds of the Predacon’s above them anymore, and that was concerning him more than he would outwardly admit. With hope, they had already moved on without any further signs of their targets.

  Narrowing his optics, the gray Seeker grew quiet as he followed the Aston Martin. His heeled pedes tripping over material and even more offlined mechs that had been left to rot away upon Cybertron. At one point in the war, there had been enough honor to collect casualties. At the end of the war on Cybertron, those casualties were simply collected to be given to Shockwave for experimentation and to create more brutal, devilish warfare and monsters to throw on the battle field recklessly. It disgusted the Second-in-Command to recall such, as his servos reached out to lightly press against Knock Out’s backstrut in reassurance.

  The medic quivered lightly beneath his digits and glanced over his shoulder questioningly. Their gazes heated for a moment before the red mech slowly tuned his gaze away to choose avoiding the allure brewing between the both of them. This caused the Seeker to pout slightly, unknowingly, while the Grounder squirmed inwardly at the tightness of wanting winding him up steadily more and more.

  “I think I see a light up ahead,” the Seeker finally stated in the awkward silence that followed.”

  “So do I,” Knock Out quietly agreed. “Let’s hope it’s our salvation and not our doom.”

  “Shall we?” Starscream inquired in a sickly sweet voice; his grin malicious although the former Aston Martin didn’t see it.”

  Shrugging, the medic stated simply. “Let’s.”

  The duo stepped forward towards the faint light ahead, making their way around the curving twists and turns of rubble in the way before they finally managed to make it over surface once more. Their optics dilating; readjusting to the changes in light as their night visions went offline and they scanned the landscape for signs of the Predacon’s.

  Seeing none in direct sight, the team gave a collective sigh of relief and grinned to themselves comically. Seizing the moment, Knock Out’s servos grabbed Starscream’s faceplate, startling the mech as he was yanked down, and placed a quick but provocative kiss on his lip components.

  Sharply pulling away as the medic nipped his lip components, the Seeker looked baffled and irritated by the suddenness as he clasped a servo across his faceplate. The look he gave the medic one of pure displeasure rather than enjoyment.

  “Point the way, Starscream. If we make it out of here, there may be more where that came from,” the medic chuckled as he stepped ahead, his servo waving in a ‘come alone message’.

  Acid bitterness appeared to contort the Seeker’s faceplate as he huffed and moved to stomp after the Grounder furiously. He wasn’t quite sure he should fancy the sound of that as much as he did, but couldn’t find the words to either agree or complain as he moved to follow after the grumbling medic through the Sea of Rust and beyond.

Description

  If they lived through this, Starscream was going to make sure that Knock Out never lived down the fact that he got them into this mess. The disloyal rebel had gone running to the Autobots the first chance he got with his metaphorical tail between his legs. Who begged for salvation from the enemy; from the very individuals who they had fought for eons and who had, ultimately, destroyed their true leader Lord Megatron?

  The slim silver Seeker shuddered at the very thought of kissing up to Optimus Prime’s pedes, or any of those atrocious Autobot survivors who now were claiming to own and were repairing Cybertron. All that remained was the wench prune Arcee, the soft Sparked fool Bulkhead, the fight-crazy Wrecker Wheeljack, an old war Vet named Ultra Magnus whom was set in his ways, the rookie Smokescreen and that most vile newly named warrior Bumblebee. All of them were repellant beasts, but that former scout had to be the worst of all, having finally gotten his revenge for his voice box being personally ripped out by Lord Megatron all those millennia ago.

  Fortunately their numbers were still small and few, and with experimentation, a great amount of luck and sending out beacons to the remaining Decepticons in the universe. If there were any, Starscream thought sourly. All that he had on his side now was the one-optic Cyclops Shockwave as an official Decepticon now that the former stylish scarlet medic was running with the ‘good guys’.

  Little to the malignant Seekers knowledge, the red medic was in no better mood to be stuck with him, either. Tension was always the worst thing for the poor Grounder to experience; it meant he was stiff and that was just uncomfortable for all of his gorgeous angles and curves. Plus, being cramped up in a stuffy hole wasn’t much cozier with the bad attitude mech venting and shifting up against his frame.

  Regardless how Starscream felt; something that Knock Out cared little about, he was no longer a part of this war, per say. All he wanted was to have Cybertron; their homeland, whole and in one piece again. If giving up his former faction meant that the planet would be restored to its former lustrous beauty, than he could cope with that. Earth was far too filthy and beyond his liking, being as vain as he was. He desired pampering; a warm oil bath here and there between glorious frame buffs and lazy easy-going days without someone breathing expectedly over his hide.

  “Would you mind getting your fragging wing tips off of my finish?” Seethed the Grounder. “I just had it waxed a few days ago.”

  “Oh I’m sorry; I didn’t realize my appendage was giving you such distress. Here, allow me to fix that for you,” snapped the Seeker as he roughly slammed his side against the bulkier but smaller medic’s side.

  A sharp yelp escalated from Knock Out as he was rammed with a metallic thud against the wall. Scrambling, he kicks out at Starscream to try forcing more room into the tight space. “You’re the stupid slagger who thought it would be a good idea to hide in this sector from the Dark Energon Predacon’s, Starscream, not me!”

  “Gah- if you feel that way then you might as well get out of my hiding place and go find a new one! I don’t have time for your worthless squabbling you Autobot pet!” Shouted the former Decepticon Second-in-Command in reply as he bashes his heel like pede against the medic’s leg.

  Whimpering over his perfect red paint job, Knock out shoves at Starscream to try putting as much space as he could in the limited capacity box they were huddled in between the both of them. He was mortified at the scratches already upon his frame from the stupid Seeker and his bad attitude. Life was going swell until the blasted Seeker showed back up in his life and whisked him away in a most abhorrent fashion.

  “I am no Autobot pet, Starscream! You expect me to try fighting against the winning side as the only Decepticon on board the Nemesis at the time? That would have been a death wish!”

  “At least you would have died with honor and dignity, Knock Out,” spat the furious Seeker.

  Snarling like she-demon femmes, the two bickered and lashed out flailing limbs weakly at one another in the tight space. Scratches raking up one’s arm and dents banging into another’s side. To anyone that would have come across the two on the still mostly deserted Cybertron, they would have looked much like a passionate angry couple who couldn’t decide if they wanted to fight or perhaps find the nearest berth to finish off the tension.

  The pair paused, mid-grunts and almost sensual moans of agony as hits struck sensitive wings and less-armored joint regions, as a soft hissing sound reached their audios. Intertwined like lovers, the two with sudden embarrassment parted their appendages enough to hunch together instead in total silence. The eerie hissing sounds scratching their audios while their servos twitching and clasped against one another.

  Regardless of the anger, self-preservation took toll over any previous arguing. In reality, Starscream figured he could toss Knock Out out to the Dark Energon infested relics of old brought back to life but the Grounder could be of use at some time or another. Even if that use required another future sacrifice, blackmail or simply dangling him in front of the Autobots in request for something more juicy and important. Perhaps they would fall for it, perhaps not, but at the moment he didn’t dare try out-flying the winged monstrosities that were dwelling upon Cybertron’s surface to feast.

  Swallowing the bile that was collecting in his throat, the medic glanced sideways at Starscream. The scrapping of claws approaching their position had his Spark racing faster and harder than he ever did on even a flat stretch of road. He hadn’t expected the Seeker to wander back up into his life after his random departure, and now here they were trying to hide from a beast of vile destruction.

  Surely Starscream was back now to claim his rightful spot as Megatron’s heir; to fight to the death for Cybertron in the name of the Decepticon’s previous leader. Having seen the Seeker, fleeing from the creatures that had resembled zombies with far more intelligence, they hadn’t the time to engage in combat. They simply fled, the scarlet Ground appreciating the strut of the Seekers frame and the slender but agile way that he moved.

  There was something to be admired by that, he scolded himself, purely from a soldier’s point of view. Stealthy, nimble, lean and quick got you where you needed to go and was a Seeker’s primary defense and offensive use. There was no shame in appreciating another soldier’s advantages- right?

  “Listen,” Starscream whispered in a scratching hush. “The creature is faltering; moving due east now. If we make a move to head south now, we may outsmart the dumb animal yet.”

  Knock Out rolled his optics. “And if it or one of its fellow creepy crawlies catches our scent?”

  The silver mech could smack that pretty mouth for his insolence. Rake his claws into that armor and force the Grounder down as he should be; begging for his freedom. The sadistic idea calmed Starscream enough not to do just that; to make the mech howl and… A shudder raced up the Seeker’s backstrut unexpectedly at the images of that pompous red medic kneeling before him. Such a sight to be witnessed filled him with power but there was an unexpected and glorifying yearning to see the proud, inflated ego Knock Out lapping at his pedes and-

  “Well I have the long range weapons,” Starscream muttered furiously through his arousement. “Clearly I will need to be the one keeping them distant from us should we attract attention. I will not wait here for one of those Predacon’s to find me in some hole.”

  A weak chuckle emitted from the Grounder. “That sounds very unlike you, Starscream; to put yourself in harm’s way and fight an opponent you know would overcome you. I’ll buy that we can’t stay here; the Predacon have reasonably high senses and they’d find us in a small space without a way to hide, run or fight back. We’d be Predacon chow.”

  “Thank you for the obvious statement,” the former Decepticon Second-in-Command mocked, using his talons to scrap and scramble out of one of Cybertron’s deserted crevices to squint his optics up at the brimming lights in the sky for a sense of proper direction.

  Not to be deterred by Starscream’s usual fits, Knock Out shrugs his shiny, curving shoulders in a smooth and effortless manner before standing up and out of the ditch to join the Seeker. Unlike Starscream, however, who had his optics to the stars to evaluate their position; the medic had his optics on another sight.

  The Seeker shifted, obstructing the view of his small aft and quickly making the medic reevaluate his optics to another area of Cybertron’s broken up surface. He didn’t wish to be caught ogling his former superior and his fine, slender legs. In war, there had been no time to fancy oneself with ideas and thoughts on either their appearance or another’s. Even now it was more wrong now that they were, in Starscream’s view, on different factions.

  “Quit standing around like a lifeless scraplet,” Starscream seethed, spinning around to confront the otherwise silent medic. “South is in this direction; there’s the Kol star system over there. Hurry up, or I’m leaving you here for the Predacon beast to find.”

  Knock Out shivered in reply. “No thanks, I had enough of Predacon’s when it was just big, dark and ugly.”

  Giving a rather smug grin of reply, the Seeker trotted forward with the medic hard on his heels. The soft sound of his metal heel like pedes tapping faintly with the somewhat heavier footfalls of the medic just behind him; their armor brushing lightly as they paused to huddle close. It felt like electricity coursed through his protoform wherever they touched and the two would quickly look to any place than each other as the attraction grew almost pliable before them.

  “Do you think we lost it?” Knock Out finally grumbled, his back pressed to a groaning large building adored with statues and broken, warped metal paneling.

  Grunting, Starscream waved his servo as he peeked around the edges of the building. Rust steadily spilled out of the hollow form and onto his shoulders as his red optics looking piercingly along the walls and the other crushed and breaking buildings along them. If they continued south as they were, they may find themselves lucky enough to reach the smelting pits in Kaon to roam and use to their advantage.

  “I see nothing chasing us,” the gray mech griped.

  The medic nodded, satisfied with at least that answer. But there was a question nipping at his processor and begging to be asked… “What were you doing that attracted that Predacon, anyway? And when did you board the planet once more, Starscream? No one could find you on the Nemesis when we took refuge on our home once again.

  That conversation. Starscream was waiting for the questions to be asked. He figured he should shun Knock Out away from the truth, but perhaps there was still enough fight in him to bring him back to the Decepticon side if he told him just enough of the truth. Or, he could always offline him after this little escapade was over.

  “Shockwave and I took an escape pod off of the Nemesis after the Autobots had assured themselves victory,” he stated in a clipped tone. “We have otherwise been solitude. We made planet fall a few deca-cycles back. As for the Dark Energon Predacon, I know not how it came to be or where it came from. Shockwave works in silence and is constantly shooing me away from projects; I was out gathering material when I came across the beast. I would have easily dismissed the creature and taken off but as you saw, it is a winged monstrosity and had two other companions with it.”

  With a flat tone deficient of sympathy and filled to the brim with sarcasm, Knock Out responded, “So you were prancing around and happened to find yourself in a mess of trouble as you always do, Starscream? Lord Megatron wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised.”

  “Don’t you dare use my Master’s name you filthy Autobot scum! You will tinge it with your fecal glossia,” snarled the Seeker, whirling around with a shrieking voice to mouth off his former comrade.

  Taking a single step back for fear of further damage to his precious paint job, the medic raised his pale servos in submission. “I would never speak ill of Lord Megatron,” he says with a shaky voice. “He was, after all, even my leader, Starscream. I regret too what became of him, but we really had no choice in the matter. What is done is done-“

  Before he knew what had happened; his CPU too slow to comprehend, the Seeker had lashed out; his talons grabbing and digging into his shoulder. Sparks flew out of the small, penetrated holes as he was grabbed and then thrust aside like cheap trash; an unexpected amount of strength from the otherwise thin and more frail mech.

  Crying out, Knock Out struck the ground hard with surprise. His intakes puffing out of his vents with shock as he looked up with glowing optics of shock. He blinked, shuttering his optics offline and offline as the furious, hateful expression from the Seeker bore down upon him like Unicron upon Primus. It reminded him very much of Megatron, and that did bring a small formal ghost pain to his Spark that ached with sorrow.

  The reddish orbs in Starscream’s helm popped out as he gritted his derma in a feral snarl. “I said that I never again wanted to hear you utter my Master’s name. Comprehend that, or I will gladly leave and make sure that those Dark Energon monsters find you and devour you for everything you are, you putrid mech.”

  Annoyed but grudgingly accepting of the Seeker’s rage, the former Aston Martin gave a silent nod of reply. Chaffing his frame against the rusty, collapsing ground of Cybertron’s crust, he began to rise to his pedes.

  The Grounder didn’t make it all the way to his feet before an audio ringing wail blared across the land and caused cracks to web out on glass surfaces. Clutching their helms, Starscream and Knock Out looked to the sky in alarm as one of the purple liquid dripping Predacon’s came spiraling out of the sky, downward.

  Slamming Knock Out back to the ground, the beast let out a tremendous roar of fury and victory. It’s maw dripping, oozing the violet pulsating Dark Energon. It lunged down towards the hollering medic that lashed out with his buzz saw already transforming free of his servo. Dark Energon gushed forth from the wound that the medic’s weapon created upon its chassis but it still moved to strike; unfeeling to the pain.

  The ground rumbled and shook and the Seeker turned with apprehension and dread as two other ground-versions Predacon’s were suddenly bowling over the terrain in their direction. The flight capable one’s call must have attracted their attention. Cursing wildly in Cybertronian, Starscream snaps up his arm and unleashes one of his two precious missiles upon the monsters hide that was drooling and snapping at the flailing medic.

  Dark Energon exploded from the dragons hide and it roared, stumbling forward. There was just enough room for Knock Out to slip out from beneath the heavy monster; his optics flickering dully and a portion of armor missing from his shoulder. Fortunately, it didn’t appear to have otherwise managed to get a wound upon his protoform or within his veins; so the silver mech hoped, as the pair took off with panting, heaving breaths down the nearest slope towards Kaon.

  “What do you purpose we do next?” Knock Out shouted through his venting pants as their pedes pounded across the ground; sounding much weaker in retrospect to the thunder of the much larger Predacon’s behind them.

  “Keep running you fool! I’ll- think of something,” Starscream whined in reply, his helm whipping back around to see the dragon taking to the skies once again with Energon dripping steadily from its damaged chassis and bleeding backside. It seemed completely unphased by its injuries, and that was simply unnerving.

  “Holy scrap we are so offlined,” the medic moaned, his helm also set back a few degrees to see the two bulkier Predacon’s on the ground ramming through obstacles like a heavy duty tank going breaking through a wood door.

  A snarl escalated from the gray Seeker. “Shut up and run, you imbecile!”

  Not one to argue with a simple but very tactile statement, the medic charged forward and took off down the slope; easily dancing around any broken up deceased Cybertronian’s still laid out from the war and hopping over fallen buildings in leaps and bounds for his life.

  Streaking down upon the pair, Starscream and Knock Out split up as the dragon collided with the ground with enough force to make the ground shake, sending both mechs falling down the slope and at the end with dazed expressions. They were up on their pedes in seconds, hearing the mighty roar of the monster as it salivated; calling for blood Energon with its gnashing, broken teeth glinting and sharp optics following the two hungrily.

  “I see Kaon!” Starscream stated in short gasps. “The main gladiator pit that Lord Megatron often fought in is just ahead. We need to veer left around the building; there’s an underground tunnel that leads to a place that Shockwave used to meet with Megatron.”

  “Or,” Knock Out huffed, “We could head right to where the smelting pits are and try to see if any of them are active so that we can push one of those things inside!”

  “Do you want to get up close and personal with one of those things?” the Seeker wheezed. “Because if so, be my guest; lure them away while I escape. I only have one missile now, and all three of them are upon us. That’s hardly enough firepower to dent one of those things!”

  There was no arguing with the determined mech, and so the medic simply took off after Starscream, hoping his assumptions were correct and the tunnel wasn’t collapsed. It would give them at least an advantage from the flying menace in this desolated landscape where it could simply strike from above. Their energy, with their luck, would be depleted long before those creatures and they needed all the advantages they could get if they were to outrun, outsmart and survive against those monsters.

  Spinning around at the curvature bend of the gladiator pit building, Starscream waited until the blasted dragon had turned to strike like an eagle out of the sky for them. He fired his last missile as the medic charged ahead without him; the blast puncturing almost through the creature as it screamed and gurgled up Dark Energon. The Seeker turned to run once more as the Predacon slammed into the building and through it; disappearing into the walls of the gladiator pit as rumble descended upon its reanimated corpse.

  Hoping that they were rid of at least one problem, Starscream hurryingly moved to take lead over Knock Out and direct the crimson medic to follow him to a building that was partially caved in. Moving around to the back, Starscream found broke a panel with his heel with a few good strikes and yanked a single hook until the ground caved in before them to reveal the underground tunnels of Kaon.

  Thanking whatever unknown force prevented the tunnel from being collapsed and seeing no sign yet of the ground Predacon’s, the gray Seeker gladly leapt within to take refuge in the tunnel. Darkness swept and swam around him as he descended; crashing into fallen debris from what parts of the tunnels had rusted out from lack of maintenance and fallen in.

  “H-… How stable... Would you say this tunnel is…? Starscream?” Knock Out gasped, tumbling down into the blackness and further ruining his well buffed and waxed scarlet armor.

  “There’s no telling, all we can do is move forward and hope not to come to a dead end,” the former Second-in-Command explained as he sauntered forward into the abyss.

  Staring with a stony expression of disbelief, the former Aston Martin shook his helm and dragged his pedes after the lone companion into the pooling glum ahead. His vision adjusted to night-vision to better cope with the inability to otherwise properly differentiate his location as he trudged unhappily after Starscream.

  “Do you have at least an idea where this leads out to?”

  Starscream nodded. “Multiple locations. We’ll settle for any exit, although I’m hoping to come across the ones that lead out of Kaon and further to the Sea of Rust. If we pass that that point, we may be able to lead away from those abominations.

  “Yes,” the medic drawled in a slow, annoyed tone. “But you do know what direction to take, right?”

  Passing a somewhat sadistic grin back to Knock Out, Starscream shrugged almost innocently. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

  Releasing a groan of despair at having to be trapped and traveling with the damned Sky Lord, the crimson mech places a servo upon his faceplate and counts to ten, slowly. Breathing slowly and easily while the ground slips and changes beneath his feet with ominous moans of the metal around himself. From above, he could hear what sounded like distant, heavy pedes slamming against the ground; likely the confused Predacon’s trying to figure out which way their scents were leading.

  Really wishing that the creatures were not wise enough to figure out how to get down here but doubting them small enough to fit, Knock Out moved to follow closer towards Starscream. He was surprised when he ran straight into the Seeker’s backstrut and slammed into his wings, nearly knocking the both of them over with squawks of surprise.

  “What the frag Starscream,” Knock Out snarled, “Why did you stop?”

  “I was trying to remember which break in the tunnel to take, you ingrate!” Hissed the dull gray mech, whipping around to look optic-to-optic with the smaller mech.

  Rubbing the back of his helm, Knock Out’s optics ventured to glance behind Starscream at the branching tunnels. He frowned slightly, both confused and intrigued by Kaon’s underground setup. He was fortunate to have not lived or known of this place; he had a horrible feeling it had a reputation for dealing and for some to finish debts down here that ended in much Energon spilling.

  The soft puffs of Starscream’s warm vents caressed over the medic’s frame as he looked down at the medic. The Seeker both was being peeved and intrigued as he watched the Grounder’s expression change in the fuzzy darkness of his night vision. He disliked the tight enclosures; feeling somewhat trapped and claustrophobic when his wing span couldn’t stretch out as he liked, but the darkness was sinking into his helm; making him lax and sedated almost.

  Realizing he was being examined, the flashy suave scarlet mech slowly turns his optics back to Starscream. Their chassis were close to making contact and the heat spewing off of their frames was mingling and causing a stuffy but not unlikable atmosphere.

  A quiet purr issued from Knock Out’s chassis and he started with surprise. Trying to pass it off as something to fill the silence, he shimmied his backside and moved to press around Starscream’s form. A faint touch skimming along his side and down his thigh that felt a little more forceful at the end; like there was a purpose behind it.

  “I say we head right,” the medic stated with a surprisingly husky tone.

  “Whatever you say, Doctor,” Starscream taunted in a teasing voice. The medic didn’t even realize how much he missed the Second-in-Command’s mocking up until that point, and found himself smirking slightly.

  Moving to the far right side’s tunnel, the two quietly followed side-by-side through the black. It brought back a lot of strange memories for them both; recalling bickering together in agreement over how they were the superior two on board the Nemesis. How the medic was always bothered for his acute awareness and show offy attitude to his charm and good looks. Remembering, vividly, how Starscream would spit and hiss like an organic cat; complaining this way and that how he was the proper leader for the Decepticon’s and how he had the wit and cleverness to rule over the otherwise mindless warriors in their root.

  It even brought back memories of the two in the med room with Knock Out often patching and fixing the poor Seeker up after a beating. Broken, savagely beaten and bruised. Always though coming back with a punch; with spirit and valor to be determined and move on for both himself and the good of the Decepticon kind.

  “You know, Starscream, without Megatron you are… the leader of the Decepticons now,” the medic hedged uncomfortably.

  Dryly and without humor, the silver Seeker slowly stated, “And you expect that Second-in-Command position still, don’t you?”

  The former Aston Martin shook his helm. “No. I thought to remind you. With your position, you really shouldn’t let Shockwave throw you around. Lord Megatron was allowed to watch and examine his experiments as he worked when he so desired to see progress or intimidate progress out of others.”

  A lengthy pause followed, and the Seeker softly replied after a while, “I see.”

  Feeling mildly uncomfortable, the scarlet mech grew silent and simply moved forward. Out of the corner of his optics, he could see the Seeker’s winglets drooping sadly. It was surprising to see Starscream so hurt over the loss of Lord Megatron considering how often he had tried and nearly succeeded on occasion to scrap their former leader. Now without him around, he was like a lost puppy who didn’t know which way to turn. It was a peculiar and unexpected turn of events.

  “A dead end,” Starscream muttered, causing Knock out to stop staring upon the Seeker and snap his gaze ahead. Sure enough, this tunnel had been sectioned off and partially collapsed inward just a few kliks of their position.

  Knock Out cursed; vividly and fluidly.

  “An honest mistake,” the Seeker ventured softly in reply.

  “We should turn around and try the other branch, I suppose,” grumbled the medic with his gaze glaring upon the fallen in, warped metal with disdain.

  Turning, the former Aston Martin moved as if to head back down the hall as Starscream’s servo descended upon his shoulder. Forcing him to pause and look up at the Seeker with a quizzical gaze as their optics met; four red orbs boring a strong, healthy glimmer meeting.

  “Perhaps,” Starscream hesitantly began with confidence slowly edging into his voice, “We can try the other branch in a minute.”

  “And what do you mean by that?” drawled Knock Out in a snappish, irritated voice.

  The Seeker’s servo snaked alongside the medic’s wrist, pinching and picking at the sensitive circuits as he moved upward and yanked the Grounder closer.

  Yelping like a captured Autobot prey to his Decepticon predator enemy, the medic stumbles and nearly collides with the Seeker as he’s pulled closer. Flustered and incredibly turned on now, his engines rev and purr hopefully while he tries to yank free his good shoulder from under the silver Seeker’s servo.

  “Starscream now is neither the time nor place!” The medic shouted with apprehension.

  “And when, my dear Doctor, would the proper time and place be?” requested the former Second-in-Command with a false humored smile on his lip components.

  “Look Starscream,” heaved Knock Out in a heavy sight. “I admire your finish and you’re not half bad leading an army or commanding others around, but I’ve seen way too many human horror fics to know that fragging or so much as kissing while in a bad situation is going to get you killed.”

  “You are exceptionally prude, aren’t you?” growled the irritated silver mech as his lean body stiffened.

  Shrugging effortlessly even with his missing curving shoulder plating, Knock Out pulls out from Starscream’s hold. “Or I have a more logical circuit lay out in my processor than you do, Herr Kommandant,” replied the medic as he sauntered with an erotic sway of his hips, unintentionally down the tunnel once more in the opposite direction of the blockade.

  Feeling frustrated over being rejected, the Seeker begrudgingly moves to follow in after the Grounder. He didn’t even need to frag the stupid sportscar; he simply had the need to touch. That glorious bowed backstrut, the sinuous structure of his aft. Even their colliding personalities made him all the more attracted to the medic. Their arrogance, together, did amazing things as far as he was concerned.

  If it wasn’t for the situation, Starscream had no idea how easily that the scarlet medic would give in to him. Even with his back turned to the Seeker, Knock Out felt aware of him. He knew the silver mech’s body more than he should with his occupation and having to constantly fix it. He knew very well what parts of Starscream were sensitive; how he moaned if you stroked his wings just right. He knew that, despite being beaten plenty, he still liked a rough touch and a rough massage along his backstrut. He wasn’t as shiny as he could be; something that the medic was greatly upset about though didn’t say so, but indeed their vain attitudes and general whiny bitch feast was much like femmes; and they could be just as experimental as femmes given the chance.

  Denying the Seeker was a strike against the Seeker’s pride. He wounded him, but Knock Out hoped not too terribly. The tension in the air was still raw and powerful, and he clutched to the hopeful feeling that he might be able to sneak a graze of his servos eventually once more across the Seeker’s delicious wingspan and down his legs around his calves and draw him closer to-

  “Turn left,” grumbled Starscream, bringing Knock Out out of his blissful desires.

  “Yeah yeah,” the medic snapped, feeling the air crackling and sparkling almost physically between them with yearning. “I know where I’m going.”

  “Oh I’m quite sure,” scoffed the former Second-in-Command.

  “Don’t push it, Starscream,” blandly muttered the medic as his sexy strolling steps moved to follow the path of the tunnel down the left side corridor. He couldn’t hear the sounds of the Predacon’s above them anymore, and that was concerning him more than he would outwardly admit. With hope, they had already moved on without any further signs of their targets.

  Narrowing his optics, the gray Seeker grew quiet as he followed the Aston Martin. His heeled pedes tripping over material and even more offlined mechs that had been left to rot away upon Cybertron. At one point in the war, there had been enough honor to collect casualties. At the end of the war on Cybertron, those casualties were simply collected to be given to Shockwave for experimentation and to create more brutal, devilish warfare and monsters to throw on the battle field recklessly. It disgusted the Second-in-Command to recall such, as his servos reached out to lightly press against Knock Out’s backstrut in reassurance.

  The medic quivered lightly beneath his digits and glanced over his shoulder questioningly. Their gazes heated for a moment before the red mech slowly tuned his gaze away to choose avoiding the allure brewing between the both of them. This caused the Seeker to pout slightly, unknowingly, while the Grounder squirmed inwardly at the tightness of wanting winding him up steadily more and more.

  “I think I see a light up ahead,” the Seeker finally stated in the awkward silence that followed.”

  “So do I,” Knock Out quietly agreed. “Let’s hope it’s our salvation and not our doom.”

  “Shall we?” Starscream inquired in a sickly sweet voice; his grin malicious although the former Aston Martin didn’t see it.”

  Shrugging, the medic stated simply. “Let’s.”

  The duo stepped forward towards the faint light ahead, making their way around the curving twists and turns of rubble in the way before they finally managed to make it over surface once more. Their optics dilating; readjusting to the changes in light as their night visions went offline and they scanned the landscape for signs of the Predacon’s.

  Seeing none in direct sight, the team gave a collective sigh of relief and grinned to themselves comically. Seizing the moment, Knock Out’s servos grabbed Starscream’s faceplate, startling the mech as he was yanked down, and placed a quick but provocative kiss on his lip components.

  Sharply pulling away as the medic nipped his lip components, the Seeker looked baffled and irritated by the suddenness as he clasped a servo across his faceplate. The look he gave the medic one of pure displeasure rather than enjoyment.

  “Point the way, Starscream. If we make it out of here, there may be more where that came from,” the medic chuckled as he stepped ahead, his servo waving in a ‘come alone message’.

  Acid bitterness appeared to contort the Seeker’s faceplate as he huffed and moved to stomp after the Grounder furiously. He wasn’t quite sure he should fancy the sound of that as much as he did, but couldn’t find the words to either agree or complain as he moved to follow after the grumbling medic through the Sea of Rust and beyond.