Knockout's optics loomed down at his feet as the pair stood at the base of the building, helm drooping as the door to the lift hissed open.
Guards stood on either side of them, Wildbreak boxed in and cowering under their glaring gazes.

The drive was without conversation, driving straight with little room to maneuver between the soldiers. Bots swerved out to the edges of the roads to make room for the convoy, some even transforming into bot mode to get a better look at them.

The moment the door opened, Knockout reached back and took his son's hand tightly, tugging him forward and into the lift. They crowded into the tiny space, the door closing just inches from Wildbreak's foot. The lift rattled up the shaft, knocking them about before screeching to a sudden halt.

"That lift could use some maintenance...!" Wildbreak chuckled nervously as the door clattered open, revealing the small, empty flat.

Knockout said nothing, trudging over to the berth and plopping down on it with a clang. He laid facedown for several moments, not moving aside from a hard sigh that cleared the dust from his vents.

"...I'm sorry I put you through so much scrap lately..."

Knockout rolled over onto his back, "You have... But right now, I'm just tired."
He folded his hands over his torso, optics closed. "The energon cubes are in that box over there, the high grade's locked up."

"I don't even like High-Grade."

Knockout chuckled, and then the flat was mostly quiet for several minutes aside from Wildbreak taking out a cube of energon and quietly sipping on it. Knockout finally got up from the berth again, walking over to the table where Wildbreak was looking out over the city.

"It's smaller than I remembered..."

"Hmph. You were smaller then." Knockout muttered, giving a sigh as he looked out the window as well. "...But it's brighter than the last time I came back to it."

Wildbreak leaned across the table, "...Tell me the story."

Knockout was quiet for several moments, "...Which one?"

"The one you were always telling me I was too young to hear. Tell it to me now."

Knockout frowned, "I...I don't know if I-"

"Please?... I can handle it now! I... I wanna know what happened..."

Knockout looked down at his hands, trying to ignore how shaky they suddenly felt. "...Okay."

He looked back out the window, "...It was only a short time ago, compared to how long the two of us were working together... The truth is I don't really know how he went offline, 'Breaker... But I do know that that Arachnid was responsible. Not long after, his signal came back up, but it was... Wrong."

"...A terrorcon?"

Knockout's gaze darkened as he looked back from the window and to his son, "...Worse."

Wildbreak shuddered, what could be worse than becoming an undead monster?

Knockout continued, his hands folding together and blocking his lips from view. "...A human by the name of Silas had wired himself up into his dead body, a horrid amalgamation of flesh and cybermatter that should never exist."

"But aren't beings that are both cybertronian and organic a somewhat common thing?"

"Yes, a cybertronian that scans an organic form... But COILs, they're a properly merged being forged by a natural occurrence in cybertronian biology. This Cylas, he... The humans themselves refer to them as 'Frankenstein's Monsters', creatures created by mad science and that have no real life or soul to return to the Well of Sparks."
Knockout leaned back in his seat, "...Cylas came to the Nemesis and I will tell you that I was horrified and spark-broken. My assistant... my friend... He didn't deserve that kind of fate. I wanted him off of that ship immediately, but Megatron wanted to see what this abomination might think he could provide us."

"And...?"

"Naturally, he failed to impress Megatron, and he was given to me to do whatever I wanted to do with... I'm afraid I was more sadistic in those days." Knockout sighed, "...In the process of torturing him to ease the pain of loss, I made him even more of a monster than he already was. He went from being a zombie to a vampire, sucking drones dry of their energon."

"Like those space monsters that you used to tell me stories about?"

"Yes... Someone managed to finally kill him, and we disposed of the body completely. Good riddance."

"I...I see."

"I never told you because one, I didn't want you to have nightmares, but two, I... I don't like thinking about what I used to be... Who I let the war turn me into." The medic gave a hard sigh, "...But he's still with us, in a way... and if the twins are any indication, I may see him driving these streets again one of these days."

"The femmes back at the medical station?"

Knockout chuckled, "No, no... Different twins. Warriors of the past are being reborn, Wildbreak... The past is not staying in the past, it seems."

"What do you think that means for us?"

"For now, nothing." Knockout got up from the table, "Go ahead to get some rest yourself, we have a lot of work to do tomorrow."

Wildbreak hesitated only a moment before getting up himself with a nod, "A-Alright... Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Knockout watched his son pass and disappear into the back room, and then resumed his staring out the window. Over the light of the city around, he could make out the glow of the Well of Allsparks, ever pulsing, always bringing new lives up from its depths.

Who would be the next to emerge? What old spark would be given a new body and chance at life, even if they don't know it?

Knockout knew his second chance, or perhaps this was his third chance, it was something he tried not to think too much about, but as he looked out into the starry night sky, he couldn't help but remember that day when his second chance had seemed to already be over...

____________________________________________________________________

Right now, Knockout would give anything to go back to those days, those little moments of just him and his son bonding.

Now he stood by the wall, his son standing in the center of the room, stiff as a hard drive.

"Is it true...!?" His son whimpered, amber optics looking up at his crimson optics.

Knockout's mouth was open, but no sound was coming from it. Primus, he looked so much like Breakdown. His coloring, his face, even the way his lower lip quivered when he was distressed. "...Wildbreak..." He managed to whisper.

Wildbreak's optics finally released the stream of fluid down his cheeks. "It's true, isn't it...!?" He shook his head. "IT'S NOT FAIR!!!"

Knockout snatched his son into his arms as the young bot began to sob, screaming and pounding on the medic's chestplate in anger and sorrow. "I know...I know...!" Tears were threatening to fall down his own faceplate, but he fought them back. He had to be strong.

"You didn't do anything! It's not fair!"

"But I did...I did horrible things once, Wildbreak. Horrible, horrible things...!"

"But that was a long time ago! You're good now, and you help people!"

"But that doesn't change my past..." The medic moved down until his optics were level with Wildbreak's. "...Listen to me, are you listening...?"

Wildbreak looked up at him, his hand gripping Knockout's wrists tightly as he gave a nod. "I need you to be good for me, okay...?"

"Dad...!"

"Okay? I need you to be good and stay out of trouble until I get back."

Wildbreak's optics widened a little, "B-Back...?"

"Of course!"
Knockout pulled Wildbreak tightly into his arms, letting his son feel his spark beat against his chestplate. "I don't know when, or how, but I swear...I swear I will come back for you... You're my little mech, you know."

"W-What if you can't come back...!?"

"If Megatron can come back from the grave, then I can come back from a silly banishment... I love you, and I will come back one day... Be good..."

Wildbreak clung even tighter to his father, his chassis shaking as Knockout held him. He'd hold him until he had no more time left, until they had to finally be apart, if only for a little while.

"Be good..."