Cycles and cycles passed as the two mechs trudged through the hot, humid rainforest. The day was droning on as the sun slowly slid across the sky, making the circuits in Knockout's armor feel like they were on fire.

The sun was blazing in his optics but he could still make out Starscream's slouched form trudging beside him out of the corner of his eye. Knockout knew he had to keep sight on his commander or the seeker would most likely collapse from heat exhaustion. Starscream's delicate frame wasn't exactly designed for intense sun.

They had been trekking through the heat for almost four Earth hours and there was still no sign of Soundwave.

​Knockout was beginning to have doubts and think that they would never find Soundwave in this maze of a forest. Still not a single trace of the silent mech and they had been searching for how long?

Knockout could feel his systems weakening by the second and it was growing harder for him to keep his optics open for long.

Knockout could feel giving up hope. His will was so strong in the beginning. Why was it so flimsy now? It was just so easy to give in to the thought that perhaps they wouldn't make it out of this accursed jungle, and that they should rest right now instead. Yes, rest. Rest. Wait for help to find them. He was just so tired.

He started trying to think up scenarios where Soundwave wasn't lost and they could return to the ship. Maybe Soundwave had bridged himself back already and was forgetting about them. He would remember sooner or later, right? Maybe Soundwave had not been injured and he had found his way to a city where he could contact the headquarters. Knockout even thought of a scenario where Soundwave was found by the Autobots and they had restored him back to mint condition and gave him back to Megatron with no fights. He would bridge them back from there. He had to.

The heat. It was so dizzying. It wanted to eat him alive. Was this punishment for the atrocities done to Earth by his species? It surely felt like a punishment. Was this jungle and it's heatwave and humidity Earth's way of exacting it's revenge from these invaders? Cybertron. He wanted Cybertron. This place wasn't home. It would never be home. Cybertron was gone. Home was gone. Forever.

​Knockout was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of metal clang onto the ground behind him.

The red mech turned to see that Starscream had collapsed onto the ground and was lying a few feet behind him in the sun. The light bounced off the seeker's shiny armour, the silver bathed in the sun's sizzling touch.

Knockout trudged over to his fallen comrade and knelt down beside him, placing a servo to his arm. The metal was hot to the touch.

The seeker's delicate systems were clearly overheating in the intense humidity. Starscream squirmed under the medic's touch and groaned. His optics were closed and his intakes were heaving.

​"Scream, are you alright?" Knockout asked groggily. Clearly his commander wasn't alright but the medic could hardly find the energy within him to begin his examination.

​Starscream slowly blinked his optics open and turned his head slightly in Knockout's direction. Those crimson optics met his own. Worn-out expression on his face plates.

"My heel is killing me." He complained, his voice hoarse.

​Knockout rolled his optics and smirked, "I'm surprised they didn't start killing you the first time you started walking in them. Those things are instruments of torture you know." He grinned.

To Knockout's delight, the seeker smiled. It was a tired, half-way there smile, but a smile nonetheless. Anything to get Starscream riled. They needed to keep moving.

​Starscream slowly got to his peds with Knockout's help. "Yes, yes, but you learn to get used to them." The jet flared out his wings and made an elegant stance, "Besides, I think they make me look fashionable."

​Knockout laughed, "Right, it's not at all because you're a midget compared to all the other seekers."

​Starscream shot a venomous glare at Knockout, only making the red mech laugh harder.

These little arguments were what Knockout found most amusing about the Second in Command. His commander always got so defensive over the littlest things, while other times he could care less about whatever jabs Knockout felt like spitting at him. The seeker's fickle personality made him the perfect victim of Knockout's teases.

Starscream lifted his sharp chin and gazed down at Knockout, his crimson optics blazing, "That's hardly an insult coming from a bot that only comes up to my shoulder, shorty."

​Starscream fluttered his wings to get some air flowing through the vents in his systems. He had been grounded for much too long and all this walking was starting to bother his processor.

Knockout watched Starscream's delicate wing twitches and found that they helped convey most of the seeker's emotion. Most seekers generally used them subtly to avoid other bots guessing their moods. Starscream was not most seekers. He used his wings in almost every part of his speech without even thinking about it. Starscream was angry? The wings flared. Starscream was sad? The wings drooped. Starscream was excited? The wings fluttered. Starscream was scared? The wings shook. Starscream was happy? Well....Knockout wasn't too sure. Whatever the case, Starscream clearly had no sense of his fitful wings.

Knockout always liked that Starscream was strange compared to other seekers, not because it made him an outcast, but because it made him unique. Special even. Knockout never fit in well with the decepticons himself. Knowing that there was another bot out there struggling with being a bit odd, well, it felt less lonely.

​Knockout's thoughts were interrupted when a low growl sounded from a few feet above their heads.

He glanced up and gasped.

A large, spotted leopard was stalking slowly up on a high branch of a tree right above Starscream. The big cat growled again and poised itself, ready to spring.

Purple.

Purple eyes.

Unnatural size. Unnatural savageness. Unnatural everything.

​"Starscream, look out!" Knockout cried, leaping forward.

The silver seeker turned just in time to see Knockout sprinting towards him and shoving them hard into a tree.

​Starscream cried out in pain, with his back against the tree and Knockout practically lying on top of him, "What do you think you're- oh my!" his optics widened when he saw the huge leopard land hard on the ground where they were standing moments before, dust kicked up under its weight. The creature snarled viciously at its new targets.

​Knockout regained his composure and took action. He sprang up and pulled Starscream with him.

The large jungle cat launched itself in their direction as Knockout rounded the tree and ran as fast as he could out of its reach and into the forest. He could hear the leopard's paw steps crunching the fallen leaves behind them as the two mechs whipped past the trees.

These creatures. All these creatures that kept attacking them. There was something off. That purple glow. It looked just like Megatron's optics. Megatron's optics infused with Unicron's poison. He could see it clearly. Lord Megatron glaring down at him from the command center, that eerie purple glow the last thing Knockout saw before the fear set in. He had been seeing it over and over and over in these creatures.

Knockout could feel Starscream lagging behind as the weight on his servo began to tug. He pulled the seeker forward and saw his expression wince.

Knockout looked down and saw Starscream's heel was leaking again and stepping on it was obviously painful. Knockout felt guilty since he, being the medic, knew it was better if Starscream didn't push pressure on his wound, but the red mech escaped four leopards just two days before, and he was not going to almost he torn to pieces a second time! He quickened the pace.

​"Just a little farther, Scream. Until we lose it!" Knockout whispered to the seeker as they rushed past the dense underbrush.

Starscream gritted his denta, his grip on Knockout tightening. His steps were uneven, but he grunted in response.

Knockout heard a loud roar sound behind him and twigs snap in the trees higher above them. Was the leopard in the trees? Was it going to jump on them from above? Knockout tried to glance up but Starscream pulled him forward with his helm down and optics trained on the path ahead.

Knockout knew turning would only slow them down so he followed suit and their ped-falls soon matched rhythms, carrying the two mechs away from the danger as fast as their systems would allow them.

That purple glow. Unicron's poison. It had rained from that volcano and plenty of other places all over the globe on that fateful day. It seemed that though Unicron's slumber had been resumed, his sinister claws still snagged a piece of the Earth in his clutches.

This jungle was paying for it.

These creatures unlucky enough to be exposed to that energy source, they had mutated. Became savage. Became deadlier. Became hungry for Cybertronian blood.

​They had gained some distance when a tree came in between the two, forcing them to separate. Knockout felt his spark clench the moment Starscream's servos left his own. The thought of leaving Starscream alone, while danger was present... Knockout didn't know why it scared him as badly as it did. This was Starscream. Starscream.

It was Starscream, and yet, he found himself worrying.

Knockout continued his run through the rainforest, keeping an optic out for any sign of the silver seeker.

Starscream. Starscream. Starscream. Why did he care? He kept asking himself that. He shouldn't. It was probably safer for him if he didn't anyway. But he did care. Why? Why? Why?

Eventually, he caught a glimpse of Starscream nimbly making his way through the forest a few feet to his right.

He's safe.

Knockout slowly shifted his run to intercept Starscream's path when he heard a squeak of fright come from the seeker and he lost sight of his commander. The dense foliage obstructing the medic's view as he ran.

Knockout screeched to a halt. No. No. No. No. Did that leopard nab him? Where did he go? Where did he go?

His optics caught sight of Starscream struggling and squirming in a huge spiderweb between two trees. The seeker was desperately trying to cut himself free, but the ghostly white webbing was much too strong and it bounced with his movements, suspended in mid-air. The threads tangled in his wires, and latched onto his armour like the chilled coils of death.

Knockout felt his spark drop when the branches a few feet behind Starscream started breaking, and the furious, purple eyed, leopard landed a distance away from the trapped mech. Starscream yelped in fright and struggled even harder knowing just how badly those claws would hurt.

Knockout was standing, frozen in fear. There is no way I'll be able to free Starscream before that thing tears both of us to shreds.

The red mech then felt his spark jump again when he heard Starscream's terrified cry.

Primus, that sound had come to be so normal to him. The Nemesis. The crimes that went down within those dark corridors. The punishments. Undeserving or not. Those fists. The energon splattered all over the floors. Over the walls. The sound of steel on steel as claws connected with face, wings, limbs. But the screaming. The screaming was the worst part. Hoarse, and high pitched. It was something out of a nightmare.

Nobody understood the haunting feeling that crept into Knockout whenever Starscream's cries rang out for the world to hear. How could they? For he alone was the bot that always had to sit there and watch. Always. Watch and wait. Wait for the punishment to be over...just so he could clean up the mess.

That haunting dread was sinking its fangs into Knockout yet again. His servos were shaking, but this time he had something he never had in the past. In all those years of watching Starscream suffer.

He didn't have to wait. He didn't have to watch. He could act.

Knockout turned and couldn't believe what he was doing.

He started running towards the web as the leopard began to run too, both intending to reach their targets first.

Knockout reached the web and started slicing the ties thread by thread as fast as the strings would let him. Starscream stopped squirming and looked at Knockout as if he had lost his mind.

"Are you crazy?" the seeker screeched, his voice like fingernails on a chalkboard, "It'll kill us both."

"I don't care!" Knockout yelled back. He didn't cease his claws swiping. Stubborn bits of webbing clung to his frame.

"Get out of here you fool! You still have a chance to leave!" Starscream insisted, his body going limp and his expression turning to anger.

"No." Knockout said firmly. No he wasn't going to watch and wait this time.

"Just go, doctor!" Starscream was fuming, "This is not the time for selfless sympathy nonsense!"

"Unfortunately, I'm a sucker for sympathy. I'm a medic, remember?"

"You need to go now! Just leave me behind! I can handle this. Quickly!"

"I just can't do that!"

"Don't waste your life for a me, you idiot!" Starscream's voice cracked, his optics growing desperate, "It's not worth it!"

"I can't lose you!" Knockout cried out.

Starscream's optics widened.

"But you'll die!" The seeker yelled.

"I know." Knockout answered, pausing in his work to see the leopard practically on top of them. "But I just can't seem to let you go, Commander."

The red mech dropped and swiftly slid under the spiderweb, putting himself between Starscream and the leopard.

The creature roared and leaped at Knockout, claws unsheathed. Knockout threw up his servos and grabbed the leopard's fore-legs, throwing it to the ground in a cloud of dust. He snapped a branch of one of the trees and hit the cat square in the snout, making it screech in fury.

The leopard slashed at Knockout's chest, leaving three dripping claw marks while Knockout cried out in pain. The leopard sprang up and tackled the red mech to the ground, biting down hard on his arm.

Knockout wrestled with the larger creature, trying to throw it off as the pressure on his arm increased. He knew he couldn't hold it off for long but he had to give Starscream a chance to free himself. He could see through the corner of his optics that the seeker was wrenching one servo free when the leopard smashed Knockout's head to the ground, causing his vision to blur.

Knockout threw his other arm out and felt it connect with the creature's side making it let go of his leaking arm. Knockout rolled over and threw the leopard off him, crawling to clutch his throbbing helm.

He opened his optics wider and saw the creature slowly getting to its feet, ready to attack again.

Knockout prepared himself for another round when he heard a small buzzing sound in his audios. He got distracted for a split second and the leopard took the chance to spring and crunch the small mech beneath it earning a yell of pain. Unicron's poison made its strength incredible.

Knockout looked up, dazed by the blow, and saw the leopard raised a clawed paw to tear the medic's head to pieces.

Knockout scrunched his optics shut and braced for the hit when he heard a loud BANG and the weight was lifted off his chest.

He opened his optics and sat up to see the cat was hit and smashed into a tree, now on the ground growling. Knockout glanced up and gasped.

Starscream was standing in front of him, free of his webs and in his battle stance. His chest was heaving with effort, his ankle shook under his weight but held firm, claws flexed. The seeker was blocking the creature from reaching Knockout again and was prepared to fight it off if it got too close.

Knockout was filled with relief. "Starscream, thank Primus. It took you long enough!" He panted.

How had he escaped?

The red mech turned and saw something making that same buzzing noise from before. It was small and purple, flying around the cut web, though it was flying at an odd angle as if it had been damaged. It almost looked like...?

Knockout gasped in surprise at the small drone flying toward him and all but flinging itself into his servos.

Lazerbeak!

The small drone shuttered in Knockout's grasp, small sparks flew from its body. The medic was going to check its systems when a sharp screech of metal rang in his audios.

"Run, Knockout!" Starscream shouted as the leopard grated its claws on the seeker's chassis.

Knockout refused and gently placed Lazerbeak down to join up beside Starscream, fists raised. The seeker growled in annoyance and sent a sharp kick to the creature's head, sending it flying backwards. The seeker glared daggers at Knockout, the blood and dirt splattered over his thin frame made Starscream look quite fearsome.

"I said run! I can give you a head start!" Starscream yelled.

Knockout shook his head, "No! I'm not splitting up, it's too risky."

The leopard got to its feet once again and stared down the two mechs. Knockout started feeling the phantom pain in his arm again.

"I'm not going to abandon you, Starscream."

Starscream stiffened and turned to look at Knockout with wide optics. He looked as if he had never heard such a thing in his life. As if he expected Knockout to nod his helm and leave Starscream to get ripped to shreds to save his own hide. But Knockout wasn't going to let that happen.

The large leopard crouched down and snarled when a small laser shot down in front of the large feline making it spring back in surprise.

The two mechs turned around to see Lazerbeak charging up a second shot and aiming at the large leopard. The second shot hit the leopard's paw, earning a screech pain.

The leopard snarled furiously at the three robots before turning and swiftly running back into the forest. The streak of purple that flowed from its eyes flashing in Knockout's vision as it vanished into the jungle.

Knockout and Starscream waited until they could no longer hear its paw steps before letting out an intake of relief.

"Thanks, little guy. You really saved our plating there." Knockout crouched down to pat the small drone who, once again, settled down out of exhaustion.

"Indeed." Starscream said limping over to kneel down too. Knockout sent him a smile and, for once, the seeker smiled back. Knockout's spark lifted.

"Told ya I wouldn't leave you."

Knockout smirked. Starscream rolled his optics.

"Yes, yes." He waved a servo to dismiss the thought. Knockout could tell the commander still didn't really believe Knockout's sentiments. "Well I'm telling you, I could have handled the situation on my own-eek!" the seeker yelped as Knockout shoved him over playfully.

The red mech laughed, "You're impossible."

Starscream scrambled back up and scowled at Knockout with a comical twitch of his wing. The seeker then glanced down and noticed the large, leaking bite mark on Knockout's arm and gasped.

"Oh my, doesn't that hurt?" the silver mech slowly reached out a servo and tenderly brushed over the wound, making Knockout wince.