Knockout was starting to lose his patience as he waited for Kelsey to finish taking her bath. Just how long exactly did it take for humans to cleanse themselves? He tapped his foot against the metal floor loudly, his patience ever thinning by the second. It was strange, considering the fact that Kelsey was supposed to be his pet after all, that he was taking orders from the human girl. Didn't she realize that he could easily end her life right now if he pleased? He would have to remind her of where her place was after she was finished.

"Crap!" Kelsey hissed.

Knockout nearly turned around at hearing her voice, but he stopped himself. No matter the fact that Kelsey was human, he did respect other people's privacy even if they happened to be organic.

"What's wrong?" asked Knockout.

"Uh…I've got a slight problem. Well, it's a bit of a big problem actually."

"Spit it out."

"I forgot my towel."

"Towel?"

"Yeah, my towel! A cloth of fabric designed to dry yourself once you've finished having a bath or shower. It's really, really important."

"Ugh, great. What do you want me to do about it then, human?"

"Well…I'm pretty sure my towel isn't in here. I must've left it back in your berth room. Do you think you could quickly run back and get it?"

"And why should I take orders from a human? You are my pet, remember that!"

"I know, I know, but if I don't have a towel I won't have anything to dry myself with…I could be stuck like this."

"What do you mean?"

"I could be…y'know…stuck naked."

"Alright, alright, I'll go get your towel. Let's pray to Primus that nobody decides to take an oil bath while I'm gone." Knockout began to move away from the wall, and Kelsey let out a screech at his movement.

"What is it now, human!?" Knockout growled.

"Don't move! I'm not covered!" she cried.

"Then find something to cover yourself with!" Knockout snapped.

After a few seconds, Knockout heard a small 'splash' coming from the bath.

"Alright, you can look now."

Knockout slowly turned around and saw that Kelsey had returned to the bath and had submerged herself under the water, except for her head and broken arm, which was bobbing up and down as she treaded the water. She had also collected as many soap bubbles as she could to surround herself in which helped to cover up her body.

"W-what if somebody comes in while I'm in here?" she croaked.

"Then you're going to have to hide and pray that nobody finds you," said Knockout. "I'll be as quick as I can."

"B-But what if somebody finds me? What should I do?" she said, panic flaring in her chest.

"I'm sure you'll be quick witted enough to wriggle yourself out of it," said Knockout, and, without another word, he vanished through the metal doors. As soon as the doors closed a shiver passed down Kelsey's spine. She was alone, unprotected, vulnerable, and she was completely naked. What little remained of her dignity was soon slipping away. She wanted to punch herself for forgetting her towel and getting herself into this whole situation.

How could I possibly forget my towel? She thought, grinding her teeth in frustration. Wait, does Knockout even know what a towel looks like? What if he grabs the wrong thing?

She facepalmed herself with her good hand. Why hadn't she thought of that before he had left? Now if Knockout returned with something completely different, he would have to leave again, once again leaving her vulnerable and alone.

I guess there isn't a lot I can do about it now…except wait and hope for the best.

She swallowed hard and tried to relax herself. Everything would be fine. Knockout would find her towel, give it to her, and it would all be okay. Steadying her breathing, she swam to the shallowest end on the pool and found a small ledge for her to sit on that was only partially submerged in soapy water. Finding relaxation in a place where there were giant, human killing robots that could walk in at any time was almost near impossible for Kelsey. A few moments of silence passed, the only thing keeping her company was her own thoughts as she gazed around the giant room.

Okay, maybe I will be fine…nobody has come inside so far…I hope it stays like this.

Just as Kelsey was beginning to relax a little, the doors to room suddenly swished open sending a cold draft of air through the room. Kelsey's heart nearly caught in her throat as she felt large, rattling tremors shake the metal floor. Sucking in some air, she immediately ducked down into the water and tried to surround herself with as many bubbles as she possibly could. She had no idea who this new robot was, however, something was telling her it wasn't Knockout. The robot hadn't breathed a word since they had entered the room which only set Kelsey on edge. She had a strong feeling that whoever this bot was, it wasn't Starscream either. Through the soapy water and bubbles, she could just make out a large, dark, purple humanoid form staring right at her – or at least if it had eyes it would be staring. Kelsey screamed underwater, letting out a stream of bubbles through her lips. Could this new Decepticon even see her through the soap suds? She literally had no idea if she had really been spotted or not. Her lungs began to ache for oxygen, screaming at her to return to the surface, but she knew if she did there was no doubt that the giant robot would see her and most likely kill her right on the spot. Her face began to turn the same shade of purple as the silent Decepticon and she suddenly stiffened when she saw a long, snake-like, robotic tendril ease its way towards where she was underneath the water. She quickly dove even deeper into the water, not caring if her cast got wet or not, and frantically kicked her legs to get as far away from the tentacle as possible. She kept on swimming despite her strength waning as her lungs begged for the taste of oxygen. The tentacle was moving faster than Kelsey could swim and she let out another scream of bubbles as she felt the horrid thing grasp onto her foot. She thrashed about, trying to pull it off, but it was no use. The tentacle's grasp on her foot was far too strong. She felt it begin to drag her back towards the surface and she began to pound the tentacle with her fist in a desperate attempt to release its iron grip from her foot, but it was no use. She was doomed.

Knockout frantically ran back to his berth-room, growling under his breath, not caring if he bumped into a few Vehicon drones along the way. If someone walked in while Kelsey was bathing, there was no doubt that Megatron would put him through a great deal of pain and humiliation for bringing a human on board the Nemesis. Once he had reached his berth-room he instantly rushed to Kelsey's backpack and started to pull everything out, not caring if he made a mess of Kelsey's belongings. Finally, he found what appeared to be a human sized cloth which fit the description that Kelsey had given him. If this wasn't a towel, then it would just have to make do. There was no way he could afford to go back for a second trip. With that in mind, Knockout sprinted back to the oil bath room just in time to see Soundwave standing ominously beside the oil bath.

"S-Soundwave!" Knockout spluttered, quickly hiding the towel behind his back.

The silent Decepticon slowly turned his head to face the medic, not uttering a single word.

"Oh, Soundwave, I'm actually using the oil bath right now," he babbled. "I just popped out to grab some wax for my finish."

Soundwave simply pointed at the bath with his strange, long fingers.

Oh scrap!

Knockout's Energon ran cold as he stared at Soundwave then back at the bubbly bath. He saw that one of Soundwave's tentacles was submerged in the bath. He swallowed hard. There was no doubt in his mind that Soundwave had discovered Kelsey.

"Please, Soundwave, this isn't what it looks like," said Knockout, slowly moving closer towards him. "Just let me explain."

All of a sudden Soundwave's tentacle retracted further back and Kelsey broke through the surface of the soapy water. She sucked in fresh air into her lungs, panting heavily, and she let out a scream as her eyes fell on Soundwave's frame.

"Scrap," Knockout hissed.

Soundwave turned to Knockout and pointed at Kelsey, her body still submerged under the water, only her head bobbing above the surface.

"O-Oh, you're wondering about the human," mumbled Knockout, rubbing the back of his neck rather awkwardly. "She's, uh, my pet human. The Autobots have pets, so, why can't we?"

Soundwave only stared silently at the red medic. The silence itself was almost deafening to Knockout.

"No, I haven't told Lord Megatron about her yet," answered Knockout. "But I promise she won't cause any trouble. Soundwave, I beg of you, please tell no one about her. Especially Starscream and our master. I'll do anything but just, please, don't tell anyone. I beg of you."

Soundwave, of course, didn't say anything. After what felt like several long hours of loud silence, the purple con released his grip on Kelsey's foot and retracted his tentacle back to his frame. Kelsey nearly passed out from relief.

"Thank you so much Soundwave," said Knockout, letting out a sigh of relief. "I owe you a great debt. If there's anything you want me to do, I'll do it."

Once again Soundwave said nothing, but the silent con gave one last look at Kelsey and Knockout before exiting through the large metal doors. Once the doors were closed Knockout had to sit down on the floor to recover from the whole ordeal.

"HOLY FLYING FRICK!" Kelsey exclaimed from the bath. "I saw my whole life flashing through my eyes! And it was boring!"

"Oh Primus, let's hope that Soundwave doesn't tell anyone about this," breathed Knockout, holding his helm in a clawed servo. "He knows about you now. There's no going back. Oh scrap, what if he does tell Lord Megatron anyway? My finish is going to be ruined, not to mention my job!"

"So that creepy con's name was Soundwave?" asked Kelsey, swimming closer to the ledge of the bath. "I honestly thought he was going to kill me."

"I thought he was going to as well," replied Knockout, shaking his helm. "I don't know what came over him, but he decided to spare you for whatever reason. It seems too good to be true."

"Can I have my towel please?" Kelsey piped up, her good hand making a grabby motion.

Knockout tossed her towel over towards the edge of the bath.

"Is that what you wanted, human?"

"Yes, now, if you don't mind, I need to get changed so if you could turn around again that'd be great."

Knockout turned his back towards Kelsey and once again stared at the wall. His claws tapped against the metallic floor as hundreds of thoughts burned inside his mind. What was he supposed to do now? He had no idea if Soundwave was going to keep silent or not, or, perhaps he might keep silent about the whole matter. Soundwave was good at keeping quiet about things. But then again, his undying loyalty to Megatron was immensely strong and easily outweighed whatever Soundwave felt towards Knockout. If he even felt anything at all. More than anything, Knockout wanted to speak to his former partner, Breakdown, about the whole matter. Breakdown would know what to do. He could talk to Breakdown about almost anything. They shared everything with each other to the point where they were even comfortable to share berth rooms which is something that Knockout would not even consider with any other Cybertronian. But Breakdown was different. Breakdown had been his medical partner for quite some time and they had grown quite close together. Now his partner was gone for good. Nothing could bring him back now.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Kelsey's voice interrupted his thoughts and he nearly jumped at seeing the organic so close to his frame. She was fully dressed in a hoodie and some jeans with some sneakers.

"You want fuel, right?" said Knockout, gesturing to her stomach.

"Uh, yeah, I could really go for some breakfast right now." She folded her arms over her chest.

"Let's go for a drive then." Knockout transformed into his alt mode and opened his passenger door for Kelsey to climb in. Kelsey didn't hesitate hopping into his passenger seat and buckled herself in as a ground bridge portal opened up before them. Tires screeching against metal, Knockout sped off through the glowing green portal. If Soundwave was opening a ground bridge for him, perhaps he was going to keep Knockout's secret after all.