Chapter Text
It's cold. It's wet. It's dark. Slimy and sticky air floods his lungs as he pushes the cigarette smoke back out, the lit ember in his hand fans in the breeze.
God, he's missed this feeling. The damp ground, the smell of the earth.
Raf clicks away on his laptop, fingers moving much faster than anyone else that he knew. He only pauses to push his glasses back up on his nose bridge, the glass long cracked.
They really should fix those.
A car pulls up, red and glossy in the close to dark sky. Smooth and slow, the engine humming.
A shuttering sound bounces off the thick forest floor. Red doors becoming limbs, optics glowing yellow in the inky air. Thick sheets growing legs.
"Jack!"
Knockout grins, sharp and metal.
"Knock" he quips in response, returning to his near finished cigarette. Eyeing the con with a mild amount of suspicion, even though he considered him mostly non threatening, he still scoffed at the idea of them being, ugh, friends. Ally's maybe. Friends? He's not so sure.
Raf and Miko of course we're much more trusting, even though it was barely more than his.
Raf grins up at the overbearing bot.
"Knockout" he smiles, setting his laptop aside and getting up to wave.
Knockout bends down, seemingly already aware of Raphs intentions, scooping him up with sharp claws, setting him on his bulky shoulder. Swinging his feet idly, quipping and chattering about recent events. Knockout nodding in response, a slight smile forming on his lips as his optics lit up in mild amusement.
A shuffle.
Jack can smell her before he sees her. The sour scent of acid and misery, stinging his tongue and flitting the air with poison.
Spider limbs dig into the ground as she approaches, causing them all to whip up, Knockout bringing up a hand to shield Raf. Under different circumstances, Jack would have found that somewhat sweet.
She's standing there, all scratched metal and a threatening smile.
Arachnid
He barked ivory teeth, because of course she's here, always slinking in to ruin whatever they seemed to be doing.
"Jack!" She grins, shiny teeth and purple lips.
It's horrifying, really.
Knockout relaxes slightly, she wasn't there to hurt anyone, this time at least.
Raf gives a small wave of his fingers, still perched on Knockout's shoulder, his feet had stopped swinging.
"Arachnid" he mutters glancing up and tossing his now spent cigarette to the muddy ground.
She walks over, her skinny spikes diving softly into the wet floor.
He rolls his eyes, waves a dismissive hand to Knockout, who went back to Raf, eyeing her all the way.
"Where's Miko? '' Jack bites, searching for a tuft of pink-black hair and loud voice.
"Calm yourself Jack, she's here" she replies, one of her panels deferring, moving to the side as another person pops out.
Miko grins.
"JACK" she practically shouts in excitement, climbing up and out of Arachnids panel, jittering and buzzing with something strange.
Arachnid lifts her palm, Miko climbing on as she sets her hand down, hovering over the dirt.
"Miko" Jack says, genuinely happy to see her this time, walking closer to wrap a slightly protective arm around her shoulder.
Miko looks back, shooting a smile at the spider.
"Thanks for the ride Rachi"
Arachnid smiles back, small and less edgy than before.
"For you Miko, always"
Jack cringes. Face scrunching up at the con, even though they weren't actively trying to murder each other, he still had good reason to be cautious, after all, it was barely any time that they hadn't been actively at war with each other.
They glare at each other, before Jack finally breaks away, turning his attention to the girl jumping in place under his arm. Talking his ear away and smiling like she always does.
So they sit. Miko and Raf talking as she joins him atop Knockout's shoulder plate. Jack sinks back into the corner of a tree, lighting another cigarette with slightly more aggression than usual.
"What's wrong Jack? " Arachnid asks, leering. The way she says his name makes him shudder, rolling off her tongue in a sweet-sick way that feels plain wrong.
He scoffs, clearly not going to play whatever game she had in mind. Remaining silent, even when he feels her metallic stare harden.
He stays quiet.
Finally, after many, many moments, she turns, stalking towards the rest of the woods, muttering an " I'll be back," before stabbing the wood with her spidery legs, disappearing from view.
Jack breathes, not realizing he was holding his breath.
Miko hops down beside him, grabbing the trees and wiggling down.
"You know she's not a threat anymore, right?"
She grumbles, pouting, rolling her words to sound whiny.
Jack crosses his arms, breathing out more smoke and ash.
"Just because you like her doesn't mean I have to"
"If I remember correctly, she saved my life, more than once"
" Your life, not mine, and I'm sure she only did it to save herself first"
Miko scoffs, swinging around, planting her nails on her hips and stomping off, the polish is chipping off, he noticed.
It was times like this he missed Arcee, as much as he hated to admit that. Even after the so called "Autobots, defenders of humanity" had left him for dead, left them for dead. He could understand him, but Miko? Raf? They mattered so much more than him.
He can still hear Miko's sobbing, Rafs denial, when they realized no one was coming. Leaving them to be tortured, interrogated, in fact, it was Knockout, of all cons, bots, people, that had found them, clinging to life in an abandoned cell where they had been left.
They had been captured by MECH, or, some strange combination of humans and a few stray cons. Though the cons were killed in an explosion, one that they should have died in too, and he wish he had.
Raf sat in the back, rocking himself, humming with his palms clawing his ears, as they listened to the sounds of Miko being sliced open, scars and bloody knuckles left to show. He had to scream, he was pulling his hair and fighting the urge to vomit. He was yelling at the hall, screaming that they should take him, kill him. He was not going to let Miko suffer like this, if they killed her he would shoot his brains out with a blaster the first chance he got.
Finally, they returned her, bloody and sobbing with a snot filled nose, except for some scratches, she seemed physically okay, which he was confused for, because it took a lot to scare her.
It was only when he saw the blood seeping from her thighs, and her breaths coming in sick, raspy gasps, the necklace of purpling skin on her neck that he realized, horrifyingly, they had hurt her in more ways that he realized. A feeling he's well aware of.
Oh god
Miko is sobbing, panting, clutching her hair with her nails and dry heaving, and he can hear the splatter on the ground when she finally vomits. Raf is desperately trying to calm her down, running circles into her back while she goes in and out of reality. He bangs against the bars, yelling, cursing, until they shoot a tazing chord at him, he can feel his hair start to singe before he hits the floor, cold hard metal meeting his face as he falls.
He snaps back into the current moment, shaking out of the memories, well, more nightmare than memory, only these weren't dreams.
Sometimes he finds her on the bathroom floor, scratching her skin raw and red, little droplets of crimson slipping down her arms.
The water has long gone cold, the pitter-patter of the drops against the porcelain wall clinging. She's crying, wrapped in a towel as her nails dig into her arms.
Jack walks over, careful to not make anything startling, the water pooling at his feet, swishing as he steps over.
He slides down against the off white cracks in the material, glancing over at Miko, who acknowledges his presence with a blink and shudder.
A few ticks pass.
He opens his lips.
"At least your clean"
She lets out a sobbing laugh, turning her head to glare.
"You such an asshole"
He smiles, wrapping an arm around her wet shoulders.
"Yeah."
"I know"
It's dark, the moon hanging in waited suspension, the sound outside all too quiet, not a bird or bug in earshot.
"We should head back soon," Jack mutters, gathering his very few items. Raf, still sitting on Knockout's shoulder, nods, closing his laptop with a soft click.
"Hey knocky" he chirps, pulling his well worn leather bag out to slide his belongings back into. They had ditched the backpack forever ago,.and only because it was hanging on by a few threads, much to Raf's upset.
"Do you think we can get a ride back to the motel"
Knockout raises his optics.
"Since when do you guys stay at motels?"
To call it a motel is pretty giving actually, the sheets are long rotted and stained, and it only cost 10 bucks a night, the shady shop owner a little too eager to have teenagers there. So of course he stays up, guarding the door with an old revolver in hand, only sleeping when one of the others woke and convinced him to sleep, which he did, reststesly.
"We, don't, really" Jack replies, rubbing a hand along his neck, and before he can get a word in, Raf starts chattering about their current living situation.
Knockout hums.
"Nope"
Jack blinks.
"What?"
"Your not staying at some sleazefrag motel that probably isn't safe for you guys."
Jack scoffs, rolling his eyes.
"I'm sorry, how does this even affect you, it's not like you even like us"
Knockout scowls, raising a hand up to Raf, and patting his head. Raf shook his hair in response.
"You are our link to the human mingling, I'm not gonna risk that"
Sure, whatever you say, as you're currently petting Raf .
He bites his tongue, as much as he disliked being near cons in general, Knockout was pretty tolerable, and he did seem oddly fond of Raf, which he couldn't necessarily say was a bad thing.
"Fine"
Miko giggles and Jack starts because he forgot she was there. Raf grins.
Jack's palms feel cold.
"So uh, where we staying?"
Knockout, who already jumped back to 'car mode' as Raf calls it, lights up his brights.
"Hop in"
It's a fast, but also somehow incredibly long, drive, to wherever Knockout was taking them, which in retrospect, they should have asked exactly where the con was taking them, or at least Jack should have.
They pull up to an old looking ship, and Jack bites down a laugh.
"Okay how is this better?"
Knockout mumbles a shut up Jack and pulls in.
The slam of his doors and the sound of Knockout shifting back is the only sound that reverberates around the area. It's damp and muddy, trees lurking over them with a wet dirt smell.
It is a little nice.
Knockout grins, letting them in with a dramatic bow.
"Make yourself at home fleshbags"
Jack rolls his eyes at the quip, and they enter the ship.
Okay, so, it looks way better on the inside. The air is warm, less wet than outside, blue and red lights are beeping in the background, shiny steel wrapping around every bend and corner of the room.
Raf jumps excitedly up onto the blinking dashes and keyboard, the click click click of the center screen running various diagnostics and updates.
Jack sighs.
Maybe this could work for now.