I barely even spellchecked this let alone editing and stuff, because it's been so long I had to get something out there :U
Anyway. Please enjoy the epic conclusion that you've all waited so patiently for! Love you guys~

Miko was busy wiping her eyes, so she didn't notice the incredulous look Shauna had briefly given her as they drove along.

"Aliens." Shauna repeated. It was more of a statement than a question. "So uh... the reason both your cars are so fast is because-"

"Look, I don't expect you to believe me," Miko interrupted her. She knew full well how it sounded, but telling Shauna the truth was the only thing she could think to do. She had to make it clear that this is more important than just losing a fancy car. Once she'd cleaned the tears off her cheeks, she continued, "but I have to go after Master Disaster. I don't know what he's up to, but it can't be anything good."

Shauna nodded slightly and hummed a quiet agreement. "That guy never gets up to anything good." After a quick lane adjustment, she suddenly swerved down a new street and sped up. "Alright, Moonracer, I'll help you out. You're lucky I know where he lurks about after his races."

"So you do believe me?" Miko smiled over at Shauna.

"No, not in the slightest."

Miko's smile fell and she looked back out towards the road again. "Yeah... I guess I don't blame you. It does sound a little bit crazy."

"Completely crazy," Shauna corrected her, "but, you obviously care about getting this car back and you seem like a nice enough kid, so I'll help however I can... Also, Master Disaster is a jerk. The last thing all the racing circuits around here need is for him to have TWO super fast cars."

"Don't worry, once me and Knockout are done with him that guy's not gonna have enough brain function to compete in a race!"

"Knockout, huh? That your alien car? Cool name." Shauna was obviously sarcastic and she could tell, but Miko still ignored that and answered earnestly.

"Yeah." She nodded, glancing down at her hands folded in her lap, "That fancy blue car has a name too, I just don't know what it is... Master Disaster might not know either. He didn't seem to care about them besides how fast they could go."

Shauna didn't say anything and just hummed quiet affirmation, as she focused on the road, so Miko continued.

"I bet they'll be grateful if we can free them too." She smiled over at Shauna, "Hey, maybe they'll let you race with them once we get rid of Master Disaster!"

"Wait, no I'm not doing that!" Shauna raised one eyebrow and glanced over at Miko before looking back to the road. "Master Disaster is a slimeball, but I can't just take his car."

"Sure you can. You'd be doing them a favor!"

"Stealing isn't a favor, it's a crime."

"It's not stealing if the car is a sentient alien robot being imprisoned by some creep in a stupid jumpsuit." Miko insisted.

"Ah right, the aliens thing..." Shauna mumbled, then continued in a louder voice. "Yeah okay, if this sentient car were to want to race with me after I 'free' it from Master Disaster, then yes I theoretically would be alright with that."

Miko didn't respond after that. It was fun to think about, but she didn't actually know who that blue cybertronian was, so she wasn't going to get her hopes up about making a new friend, whether for her or Shauna. Instead she thought about her next move. Knockout's text said Master Disaster put something on his grill, that had to be the thing that was keeping him from moving. If she could just wait until he left or just turned his back for long enough, she could sneak up to Knockout and pull of whatever was paralyzing him. Then it would just be up to Knockout how many times he wanted to step on that creep!

Oh, that thought surprised her... Knockout may have rubbed off on her a little too much. It would be wrong to actually let him step on the guy. She had broken a lot of laws tonight but she wasn't quite ready to break one that big.

Also, the question still remained as to what Master Disaster knew about the Autobots and Decepticons, or what exactly he wanted to do with Knockout. He already had that super fast blue car, so if he just wanted to use cybertronians to win races and make money, he already had that covered. There had to be something more here that she was missing, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Before she could come up with a plausible explanation, the car slowed to a stop just at the intersection of a street overlooking what appeared to be a warehouse or a storage facility. Numerous garage doors lined a long, dingy-looking building in a lot that stretched all the way down the street.

"Here we are." Shauna flicked off the car's ignition and looked towards Miko. "Master Disaster comes to this lot after races and stores his car in the garages here. He'll probably put yours in there too."

"Great!" Miko popped open the door and jumped out, intending to get a closer look.

Shauna quickly followed suit but looked a lot less enthused about it, "Whoa whoa, hold on girl!" she said, trying to keep her voice low now that they were out in the open. "You don't wanna just go charging in there or he'll see you. Your best bet is to wait it out until he's finished, then go in once he's left for the night."

Miko hesitated, glancing from Shauna back across the street to the high fence surrounding the warehouse. That would be the smart thing to do, but she still didn't know what Master Disaster was planning on doing with Knockout, so time might have been a factor.

"Nah, I'm going in now." Miko said, starting towards the fence. "I've gotta get in there and make sure he doesn't do anything bad to Knockout."

Shauna let out a quiet sigh. "Alright... well, at least be careful he doesn't see you." She pulled open her car door again. "I'll wait here so you can come back out if you need me. Good luck, Moonracer."

Pulling in a deep breath, Miko looked back to nod at her and then turned back towards the fence. Once she'd reached it she immediately dug her fingers into the gaps in the chain link and hoisted herself up to start climbing over it. She tried to go quietly, but there was a bit of rattling that she couldn't help. At the top, she swung her legs over and jumped to the ground, landing heavily. After a quick glance around to make sure she hadn't been spotted, she hurried towards the warehouse to begin her search.

She made her way around one the first corner as quietly as she could. However, it was so late at night that the street was dead quiet, so it made the sound of her footsteps seem alarmingly loud. Miko was probably just thinking too much about it. If someone were inside they wouldn't be able to hear her just walking as long as she kept it down. Though it was probably good that she was concerned. She needed to take this seriously, because there was no way to call backup and she if she failed she might lose Knockout for good. She had only just become friends with the guy and he was an ex-Con' and everything, but even so she didn't want it to be her fault that he was kidnapped and maybe enslaved!

So far none of the storage garages she had passed by looked like they were unlocked, so it was unlikely anyone was going to be in them. It crossed her mind that if she did see one that was open, she wasn't sure what she would do. Master Disaster would certainly see her busting in, so she would have to find some way to be sneaky about freeing Knockout... of course, first she had to find them. She'd concern herself with details once she did.

As she was approaching the nearest corner of the building, she thought she started to hear something. It may have been a voice. Slowing to a stop just before the corner, she carefully took a peek around the edge.

There he was: Master Disaster was sitting on the hood of the blue car not twenty yards away, and just between them was Knockout. Miko felt a wave of relief wash over her when she spotted the red sports car. She wasn't too late; they were all still here!

Master Disaster's back was to Miko, but she could see he was holding a phone up to his ear and now she was able to make out his words.

"...definitely is! He's the red one... Yeah... No, no, I'll bring him to you. Meet at the regular place in twenty, yeah?"

The person he was speaking to must have hung up, because he lowered his phone and grumbled something that sounded like "Rude!" Before stowing the device in his pocket. Hopping off the hood, he gave the side of the car a little pat.

"Good race tonight, mate. Let's put you away til tomorrow." With that, he popped open the door and fell into the driver's seat. The car's engine roared to life and Master Disaster started backing the car up and into an open storage garage behind him.

This was her chance! Miko ducked low and ran as fast and as quietly as she could straight for Knockout. Once she reached his side she practically dove behind him, taking cover by one of his rear wheels where her feet would be out of view of the blue car and Master Disaster. She hoped she'd been fast enough that he didn't see her, but she hadn't been looking so she couldn't know. The blue car's engine was still running though, so that was a good sign.

Pulling herself together, she crept quickly forwards aiming to get that device off Knockout's grill before he even finished backing up that car. Unfortunately, she didn't even make it past his front doors before a voice interrupted her,

"Going somewhere, darling?"

Scrap, he'd seen her after all! Miko only froze for about half a second after she heard Master Disaster behind her. Then it occurred to her to just make a break for it,so without even glancing back at him, she leapt forward, trying to dash around Knockout before he could react.

Unfortunately she wasn't fast enough. Before she could reach Knockout's front grill to free him, Master Disaster seized her by the collar of her jacket, and with surprising strength, managed to drag her backwards and throw her away from the car. Her surprised shriek echoed a bit in the empty lot, but after she'd landed and skidded painfully along the asphalt a bit it was quiet again. Master Disaster didn't say anything further, just glared down at the girl looking quite smug.

Miko only glanced down at the scrapes on her hands and legs before returning his glare. She didn't speak either, just letting Master Disaster regard her while she tried to think of a way to get around him. This guy was stronger than he looked, so forcing her way past him wasn't going to cut it. She would have to distract him somehow. She couldn't think of a way to do that, though. So maybe the best thing to do at that moment was just to keep him talking until she did. Sitting up straight and, still glaring at him, Miko finally spoke up.

"Fine. You got me," She said, "I guess you're faster than me even without our cars. But what do you think you're going to do with him, huh? Your car already wins all your races, so what do you even need him for?"

A sneer spread across Master Disaster's face as she finished her question. Taking a step closer to the girl, he said, "Yes you're right. My blue friend is very useful for winning all those racers' money, so we won't need to use him for that No, we have other plans for him. Luckily, we can just pick up where we left off last time."

"Last time? What are you talking about?"

"Don't worry, I didn't really expect either of you to remember me," Master Disaster's sneer grew slightly wider, "most people don't without all the military gear and goggles... that's kind of the point, after all."

"G-goggles...?" Miko felt a sudden tightness in her throat as the realization dawned on her. "You're with MECH." It was a statement more than a question, but Master Disaster gave a short nod in response.

"Congrats, sweetheart, you figured it out! Took you long enough." He continued, reaching into an inner pocket of his jacket. "You know, I was going to just take off with the red one here, but since you've managed to follow me, I'll have to take you along so you don't manage it again. So do us a favor and come along quietly," He finally pulled his hand out of his jacket, now grasping a black handgun which he leveled at Miko. "or we can always just do this the hard way."

Miko's heart was pounding in her chest now. This was even more serious than she'd thought. She couldn't go along with this guy, he was going to hand both her and Knockout over to Silas for their experiments! But she also realized, as she stared down the barrel of his gun, that she didn't have much of a choice at the moment.

Slowly, she pulled herself up to her knees, keeping her hands up so he wouldn't get tempted to just shoot her right there. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could even think of any words to say, a sudden screech of tires cut her off. Master Disaster finally looked away just as Shauna Story's car fishtailed around the corner out on the street, then turned sharply and came busting through the gate in the fence nearby, headed straight for them.

As she steered towards them, Master Disaster swore under his breath and turned his weapon towards the approaching car. Miko finally saw her chance! She launched herself at him, tackling his legs and sending Master Disaster to the ground before he could even get off a shot. His head hit the pavement hard, and the gun went flying out of his hand.

Miko didn't waste any time scrambling back to her feet and sprinting towards Knockout. She heard Master Disaster shout something from behind her, but she didn't pay attention. Reaching out, she grabbed ahold of Knockout's grill where she had seen Master Disaster touch him before and immediately felt a small rectangular device attached to the underside of one plate.

The second she pulled it off, she could hear his transformation sequence starting up, and she backed away quickly to make room as the sports car transformed back into Knockout. He wasn't looking down at her, though. His optics were blazing with fury and turned immediately on a very scared looking Master Disaster. When he saw that look, he started fumbling for the gun he had dropped. However, he had to stop and quickly pull his arm away because before he could get his hand around it, Knockout's pede came crashing down right next to him and onto the gun, crushing it.

"Whoa..."

Miko turned around and spotted Shauna had stepped out of her own vehicle and was staring at the robot towering over all of them.

"So uh... y-you weren't kidding about the aliens thing, huh?" She managed to mumble, not bothering to stop staring to look at Miko.

Now that Knockout was finally freed and Master Disaster disarmed, the situation seemed under control, so Miko leaned back, putting her hands victoriously on her hips as she smiled over at Shauna. "Sure wasn't." She said, "Hey, thanks for coming to help. You totally saved me, there!"

"Sure, I just... I heard you scream, so I figured I should..." Shauna trailed off a bit, still staring at Knockout in disbelief.

Miko was about to thank the woman, but she heard Master Disaster cry out so she looked back around and saw Knockout had snatched up the human and was holding him in a tight fist. Maybe now was not the time to relax after all!

"Knockout, no! Put him down!" Miko hurried over and thumped the plating on his leg with her fist.

He only glanced down at her before focusing back on the human in his servo. "This disgusting organic humiliated me, turned me into an inanimate object, and then he was going to hand me over to MECH?!" Master Disaster whimpered slightly as Knockout tightened his grip. "Why shouldn't I just crush him right now? It's better than he deserves."

"Hey look, I know we broke a lot of rules tonight, both of us," Miko put her hand on his plating again, this time as a calming gesture. "But there are still some lines you just don't cross. You're an Autobot now, and an Autobot wouldn't do this. It's just not right."

Knockout turned and looked down at Miko, his optics were still bright and piercing from his anger. He didn't look as furious as he had before, but he still didn't seem convinced. Luckily, she wasn't done there.

"Also," Miko added, "he said he was going to meet guys from MECH. Aren't you interested in finding out where we can find Silas?"

Knockout's scowl quickly shifted into a sneer at those words. The angry glow hadn't gone from his optics, but even so, he held Master Disaster out away from his body, then finally released him. The man fell the fifteen feet to the hard asphalt and landed a bit awkwardly, getting a bit scraped up in the process, but he was otherwise unharmed.

While all this was happening, Shauna had finally pulled her gaze away from Knockout and was now eyeing the other blue car, still idling and with one door left open as it was pulled halfway into the storage unit. She glanced up at Knockout, then back again. Seeming to decide on something, she closed her car door quietly and hurried over to the blue car, kneeling down in front of it.

Now that Master Disaster was back on the ground, Miko stepped over to him, being careful not to get too close so Knockout could intervene if he tried anything.

"Alright, you creep!" She shouted, pointing down at him, "Here's what's gonna happen- you're gonna take me and Knockout over to where you were planning to meet with those other MECH nerds, and you're gonna help us."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I'm gonna let Knockout break your legs."

"I should do that regardless." Knockout added, "It's not like that would kill him." He still had that twinge of anger in his voice, and Master Disaster visibly flinched at his words.

Seeing this, Miko turned, hands on her hips, and glared up at Knockout, "Don't say that in front of him, we want him to help!"

As she looked back, she noticed Shauna poking around the other car curiously. Master Disaster followed her gaze, and when he saw what she was about to do, he leapt to his feet.

"No! No no, Story don't-"

He wasn't able to finish his objection before Shauna removed her hand from between the plates of the blue car holding an identical device to the one Miko had pulled off of Knockout.

Immediately the car's engine revved powerfully and the opened drivers door slammed itself shut. A sudden lurch forward alerted Shauna that she needed to get out of the way, and fast. She dove out of the way as the vehicle took off and headed straight for Master Disaster.

He tried to run, taking a sharp angle away from the car and heading towards the gate, but they turned just as sharply, though they did fishtail slightly, and then circled around him. Their door popped open just as they did and Master Disaster was scooped up into their passenger seat.

It happened so quickly that neither Miko or Knockout were able to properly react, but once Master Disaster was caught, Miko snapped out of it and hurried forward holding her arms up gesturing for the car to stop. She wasn't sure who this cybertronian was, but they obviously didn't mean well, considering Master Disaster's reaction.

"Hey wait! Look, don't hurt him just yet." she shouted, "Don't you want to get the other guys who were imprisoning you too? Let us help, we can work together!"

There was a brief silence where they seemed to consider the idea. However, it wasn't long until the car's engine revved angrily one more time, followed by two words from an unknown voice:

"He's mine."

With that, the blue car swerved around and took off through the busted gate and down the road. Master Disaster could be heard screaming and pounding on the glass from inside, but the sound quickly faded as they both disappeared around a corner.

Miko spun around, rushing up to Knockout, "Come on, we gotta go after them!" She shouted, "That blue guy sounded like he was gonna kill him!"

Knockout didn't transform but rather just shrugged his shoulder plating. "Look kid, I'm not one to admit this easily... but there's no way I'm gonna be able to catch that guy. He's... faster than me." He mumbled this last part, as if it pained him. "Anyway, Master Disaster is a goner."

"...scrap." Miko turned to look after where they had disappeared. Then she groaned, "I guess you're right... Well, then I'm sorry. He ended up getting scrapped anyway. Maybe I shoulda just let you have the satisfaction 'stead of that blue guy."

"No, you were right to stop me." Knockout let out a quiet vent, "It wouldn't have done any good just squishing that one little MECH pawn... I mean, it would have felt nice in the moment but ultimately it'd be unsatisfying, knowing I could have gotten more out of him..."

"Hmm... Well... maybe we can still find MECH!" Miko looked unsure, but her voice still carried the excited tone she always spoke in, "They were going to meet somewhere, right? If we could just-"

"Let's not get carried away." Knockout interrupted her, "This city is massive. And to be perfectly blunt, if we had Master Disaster's intel we might have been able to pull something off, but as it stands, with them having that sort of technology..." he gestured down to the little rectangular device that Miko still had clutched in her hand. "I'm not liking our odds tonight."

Miko kicked at the asphalt in a pout, stuffing the device into her jacket pocket. "Yeah I guess you're right... I just got excited about actually going through with our revenge pact."

"Oh that's still on. Trust me," Knockout's voice grew dark again, "they're going to pay even more dearly for the way they humiliated me tonight."

"Uh, hey you two..."

Both Knockout and Miko looked around as Shauna Story approached them from behind. She had her hands folded tightly across her chest and was looking rather sheepish.

"Sorry about that..." she grumbled, "I got ahead of myself letting that other robot go, I guess... It was just an impulse. A bad one."

"Well, you did save me just now. And I wouldn't have gotten here at all without you, so I'd say we're even." Miko said with a slight smile. "Though maybe do me a favor and uh... don't tell anyone about us. It's kind of a secret that these guys even exist."

Shauna glanced up at Knockout again, "Tell you what, I'll do you this favor if you do me a favor and don't race in my circuit again." She said, "I don't think we need another alien robot showing up us regular drivers anymore."

Miko looked up at Knockout as well, "That's fine by me... I'm kind of over racing anyway."

Knockout looked away, " I suppose I can try to avoid any of your races just as a courtesy."

Shauna nodded in response, "Then I guess we're done here." she said, starting towards her own car. "I need to go home and try not to have nightmares about giant robots in disguise... Nice to meet you both, I guess."

Miko waved after her briefly, but then turned back to Knockout. "Home sounds pretty good about now, I think."

To signal his agreement, Knockout transformed back into his vehicle mode. Once he was a car again, he popped open the drivers door for her. Miko climbed inside and rested back on the seat, letting him close the door behind her. She was suddenly aware of how tired she was.

Stretching her arms out a bit, "Hey, what time is it?" she asked, her mouth still wide from yawning.

"Almost four in the morning." Knockout hadn't moved yet, they just sat parked in the lot for a moment. "Don't you have a clock on your phone?"

"Oh, yeah..." Miko frowned and forward slouched a bit as she spoke. "I dropped it when you got towed off and it was crushed..."

Knockout hummed in understanding and finally started driving towards the gate. "I was wondering why you tried to rescue me yourself instead of just calling Ratchet for help. I thought maybe you were just worried about getting in trouble with the Autobots."

"Pffft, yeah right! I never get in trouble with those guys."

"Yes, I remember..." Knockout grumbled this first sentence, but then continued in a louder tone, "Anyway, I suppose that means we'll have to drive all the way back... it's lucky we stayed on this continent."

Miko sighed and leaned back again, "That sucks.. I have school at eight o'clock. How far away is Jasper?"

"Normally, that trip would take about five hours." Knockout had sped up and was quickly approaching what looked to be an on ramp. He zipped up the ramp, picking up even more speed, and blasted out onto the empty highway. "...I can make it in three."

With a quiet chuckle, Miko rested her head against the base of his door window. "Thanks, KO. You're awesome."

"Yes I know."

Miko let her eyes droop almost shut as she stared out the window. The lines on the street were blurred into a single fuzzy image, and it was a bit hypnotic. Before she let her eyes close fully, she silently pulled off the jacket she'd been wearing and bunched it up under her head as a pillow. She could already tell she was going to fall asleep, and Knockout would murder her if she drooled on him.. probably not literally, but why risk it?

She'd almost forgotten that she snatched this jacket off a chair. The night had taken such an unexpected turn that she had forgotten she wanted to return this... not that such a small thing mattered much to her anymore. She had more pressing matters on her mind.

Speaking of which, as she tried to rest her head on the jacket, she felt something hard poke her ear. Sitting up again, she reached into the pocket and pulled out Master Disaster's paralyzing device.

"Oh, hey..." she said, waving it in front of Knockout's dashboard, "What should I do with this?"

"Put it in my glove box," Knockout said, "I'll want to have a look at that later."

Miko nodded and did as he asked. As she was about to close the little drawer again, she paused.

"Who do you think that other cybertronian was?" she asked, still staring at the device.

"It's hard to tell just from a vehicle mode." Knockout replied, "But if we're going by stereotypes, the bright blue is more of an Autobot motif."

"You're bright red, though." Miko said, poking at the Decepticon insignia on his dashboard.

"Yes and just look at me! Palling around with humans and not killing people? Ugh. It's disgustingly Autobot..."

"Well..." Miko finally shut the glove box and leaned back, her tone growing serious, "He looked like he was going to kill Master Disaster, though."

"True," Knockout seemed to hesitate, but he continued, "but they might still... that is to say, they're not all like the ones you know. I'm still leaning towards Autobot."

With a quiet, agreeable hum, Miko leaned against her makeshift jacket pillow again. "If you say so..." she said, "You think we should tell the team about 'em?"

"They might not have revealed themself for a reason. Let's wait. If it becomes an issue we can bring it up later."

"Ok. I don't like keeping secrets from Bulkhead, though..."

"He'll get over it. Keeping secrets is just a small discretion compared to... well, compared to plenty of things."

Miko yawned silently and shut her eyes again. "Yeah, you're right... Bulkhead's a good partner." she mumbled, "He knows I got reasons for doing the things I do... I'm sure he'd understand."

Knockout didn't reply.

It stayed quiet for a bit longer, with only the sound of the road zooming by beneath them. Miko spoke one last time, "By the way, don't feel like it's disgusting that you're an Autobot... 'cause nobody else does... or would."

"Just go to sleep already."

Back in the city, having zoomed through numerous intersections and around just as many corners, the blue vehicle seemed at last satisfied with the distance put between them and the other cybertronian. They finally came to a screeching halt right in the middle of the empty four lane road. Still in their passenger seat, Master Disaster was now curled up and pressing himself back into the seat, shaking fearfully.

Once the car had come to a stop, he clung to his knees even tighter. "L-look, zippy or whatever your name was- I'm sorry about all this really I am, but you don't need to kill me! Please, I-"

"That's quite enough!" a voice interrupted him suddenly, and then continued at an increasingly fast pace, "Listen up because I'm only going to say this once I know you work for that terrible organization and I very seriously disapprove but I'm going to make a one-time-exception-because-you-were-the-one-who-stopped-the-other-organics-in-your-group-from-pulling-me-apart-with-your-idea-to-use-me-to-win-races-for-profitandI'mbegrudginglygratefulandsoI'vedecidedtorescueyoufromthatothercybertronianandalsospareyourlifeinordertopayyoubackforsavingmine."

After a long moment where Master Disaster just kind of stared forward at the car's dashboard looking utterly bewildered, he cocked his head to the side and asked, "Huh?"

Then he couldn't help the startled shriek that escaped him when a second later, the passenger door next to him flung itself open.

"GET. OUT."

He didn't need time to process their words this time, and Master Disaster scrambled out of the car and bolted down the road. As he was running, he heard the car's engine roar behind him and the door slam shut again. Just before they drove off in the opposite direction, he heard them speak one last time:

"And the name's not zippy!"