Knockout was driving down the open road at 11:30pm, while having Madalyn strapped into the passenger seat as his prisoner. 

"Breakdown, you'll never guess what I'm packing," Knockout chuckled over the com-link "Agent Madalyn Romanoff, Optimus Prime's human companion! And when the Autobot's attempt to stage a rescue..." 

"They have a... breakdown! Ha, ha, ha, ha!" Breakdown laughed. 

As Knockout ended the transmission, the young girl began to stir from her unwelcomed slumber. "Uh.... what the?" 

"Well, well, look who decided to wake up," Knockout commented. "No suit this time? You should dress up like this more often." 

"Flattery will get you know where, Knockout!" Madalyn sneered with a grumble as she struggled to get lose of the seat belts. 

"Don't even bother," The Decepticon growled. "You're not going anywhere."  

"Don't bet on it," She replied "When Bumblebee finds me, your in big trouble!" Madalyn glared as she kicked Knockout's radio. 

"Ow! Watch it little lady!" Knockout snapped. 

Then at the corner of Madalyn's eye, she looked through Knockout's rear-view mirror to see a ground bridge portal open up behind him. A small part of her hoped it was the Autobots, but her hope quickly sank to her stomach when Breakdown popped up, driving in his vehicle mode, a blue army van. 

"Friend of yours?" Madalyn questioned. 

"If your Autobot friends do try to rescue you, my friend Breakdown here will take care of them," Knockout answered "But for now, time for another nap." He opened up the front compartment, summoning the mini taser again, and aimed it at Madalyn's forehead. 

"Oh, come on!" Madalyn whined. 

She got shocked with it, and slowly, everything faded to black.

*******

Back at the Autobot Base, Raf and Miko were waiting for Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee to report in on their progress of searching for their friends, but so far nothing has come in yet.  

"They should have called by now! Do you think they're okay?" Raf asked, sounding worried. 

"Don't worry, Raf, Bulkhead won't let anything happen to Madalyn, Jack, or Bee." Miko assured the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

Heavy footsteps alerted the two childern's attention as they looked over to the hallway. Optimus Prime entered the command centre, walking towards them. 

"We should just tell him the truth!" Raf whispered harshly. 

"Absolutely not! We made a deal with Jack," Miko reminded, pointing a finger at him. "Just act completly normal." 

"Raf, Miko," The two children looked up at the Prime as he neared him, taking a quick look around the room. "Do any of you know where the other's have gone? I haven't seen them since Madalyn and Bumblebee left." 

"Why no sir, we do not know!" Miko answered, her voice a nervous, heightened pitch. 

"Miko is correct," Raf reluctantly agreed. "We do not know!" 

"Why would we know?" Miko asked with a shrug. 

"Hmmm," Optimus hummed, raising an optic ridge at the pair. 

*******

Jack, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead were searching the city streets, looking for any sign of the Decepticon that kidnapped Madalyn. The four of them came to a stop at a traffic light, and just as they were about to proceed forward, Knockout took off down the road across from them.

"There he is!" Jack shouted. 

The Autobots kicked in their engines, powering on after him. 

"Hmm, looks like we have company." Knockout commented. 

He turned to the side, and headed into an abandon factory parking lot. He turned off his engine, and killed the lights, hiding himself in the shadows.

"Raf, we found Madalyn, and were in pursuit." Bulkhead spoke through the com-link. 

"Copy that, Bulkhead." Raf replied. 

"On your guard boys, could be a trap." warned Arcee. 

"Be careful you guys." Jack cautioned. 

"Speaking of safety, here's where you get off." said Arcee as she pulled over to the sidewalk. 

Jack got off Arcee, taking his helmet off as she raced to meet up with the others Autobots. 

Bulkhead and Bumblebee went into the direction they spotted Knockout and found a fence with a huge melted hole in it. 

"Beep bop 'This is the place'." said Bumblebee as he and Bulkhead transformed into their robot modes and changed their hands into blasters.

As they entered the parking lot, Arcee climbed up a miniture steel water tower to get a birds eye view of the lot. It so quiet there. Almost, too quiet. 

All of a sudden, a set of street car lights turned on, momentarily blinding the two mechs as an explosion erupted from behind them. They both turned around, hearing loud footsteps as Breakdown came crashing out of the factory, running straight for the green Autobot. Bulkhead punched him in the face a couple of times, but Breakdown punched back, a lot harder. Bumblebee wasn't having it. He started shooting him from behind, catching Breakdown's attention as he turned around and chased Bumblebee down. 

Meanwhile, Knockout was looking around for Arcee. "Hmm, where's the two wheeler?" 

Then, said "Two-Wheeler" landed on top of him, nearly punching a dent into his roof. "Hey! Watch the paint!" He yelled. 

Knockout started his engine and raced out of the parking lot while trying to get Arcee off of him, swerving left and right. As for Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Breakdown, Bumblebee shot Breakdown in the face, then front flip kicked him. Breakdown became increasingly dizzy after that, leaning towards the Autobots favour as he turned around, allowing Bulkhead to punch him square in the face.

Back with Arcee, Knockout finally got Arcee off of him, swerving a hard left turn as they were passing Jack who was waiting at the sidewalk for the Autobots, his hands on his hips. 

But Arcee quickly transformed back into vehicle mode, regaining her momentum and chased after the Decepticon. 

"That's my girl!" Jack cheered. 

"Uh, Breakdown, in case your looking for me, things got messy so I hit the road. One scrap is enough for today." said Knockout through the communicator. 

Arcee was racing after Knockout back on the open road in the desert. Madalyn opened her eye's slightly, but she was still a little zoned out from the taser shock. She tilted her head to her right to look through knockout's rear-view mirror to see the blue Autobot. 

"Ar...cee..." Madalyn muttered before falling back into her slumber.

Knockout noticed her slight awakening, venting with a growl as he put metal to the petal to get away from Arcee. 

He proved to be too quick for her, as the blue Autobot was forced to ease up on her speed "Ugh!"  

"Ha, ha! Eat my dust!" taunted Knockout. 

As he was driving, on the other side of these small pillars, Optimus appeared and rammed into the side of Knockout, causing him to spin out of control, and he stopped at the edge of a cliff. Knockout tried using his back wheel's to get out of the situation, but it was quickly failing as he didn't move one inch. Optimus stopped to the side of the road, transforming into his robot mode and walked over to the Decepticon. 

"Optimus, Knockout has a hostage." said Arcee through the com-link. 

"Understood." Optimus nodded in reply. 

The Prime picked up Knockout in his vehicle mode from behind and ripped off the driver side door. Knockout screamed from the pain as Optimus put his hand in, and pulled out Madalyn from the passenger seat. 

"Uh... Optimus?" Madalyn spoke slowly. 

Knockout struggled out of Optimus' grip, flailing to the side as he transformed back into robot mode. "What?!" He scanned his arm, seeing the door decoration completely gone.  "Do you know how hard that is to replace?!" 

Knockout and Optimus looked over to the side, seeing the other Autobots coming towards them. Knockout gaped at the sight, making a break for it. "This isn't over! One day you won't be there to protect your little friend, then she would be all ours." Knocout threatened as a Decepticon ground bridge opened up behind him and he took off through the portal, just as he was beginning to close.

Bumblebee pulled up to Optimus' side, pulling down the driver seat window, revealing Jack inside. "Optimus, this was my fault." Jack spoke with guilt. 

Optimus took off his battle mask, glancing over at his human partner. "We must get Madalyn to safety immediately. Explanations can come later," He spoke, before looking down at his team. "--From all of you." 

Bulkhead had a worried look on his face, while Arcee turned to Jack and Bumblebee. "Beep beep beep bop 'We're in serious trouble.'" said Bumblebee. 

"Raf, prepare a ground bridge." commanded Optimus.

 A ground bridge opened and everyone went through.

********

Madalyn woke up the next morning on the couch in the Autobot base. She had a bandage wrapped around her forehead. "Oh man... what happened last night?" Madalyn spoke, talking quietly to herself. "What the?" 

Madalyn noticed the bandage around her forehead, so when she placed her hand on it, she could feel her head pumping and pounding, and to Madalyn, it certainly did hurt pretty bad. "Ow!" She winced.

"Hey, hey, don't touch," Ratchet cautioned "The shock that you received from the taser is still slightly active in your cerebral cortex." 

"Good to know." replied Madalyn as she pulled her hand away. 

"Hey Maddie, how you feeling?" asked Jack as he walked into the room with Optimus, coming from the hallway. 

"I'm fine Jack. A little light headed, but fine." She assured. 

"Listen, I just want to apologize for what happened last night," Jack explained, sticking his hands into his pockets. "It was totally my fault. So I worked things out with Optimus and I took the full blame."  

"Really? You actually did that?" Madalyn asked with surprise, making her way down the stairs. 

"Jack knew it was unwise for him to put you in that situation. That's why I've asked him to seek my or Agent Fowler's permission to accompany you in your future missions." Optimus added. 

"Thanks Jack," Madalyn smiled at the boy before looking up at the Prime. "And thank you Optimus, for saving me. I may have been zoned out there, but I stayed awake long enough to see you rip off Knockout's door! That was hilarious!"  

Just then Jack's phone started ringing. It was Vince. 

"Hello? Oh hey Vince... Oh last night.... uh.. well.." before Jack could explain Madalyn gave out her hand.

"Give me the phone. I got this." said Madalyn. 

Jack handed her his cell phone and talked to Vince. 

"Hey Vince, sorry about what happened at the race." said Madalyn. 

"Yeah whatever, where the heck did you guys go?" asked Vince. 

"Oh, well you know that car that was following me and Jack? Well the two guys that were in the car, stuffed me inside their trunk. Must have been some kind of initiation." explained Madalyn. 

Jack had shocked look on his face while listening to the conversation. 

"Really?" asked Vince. 

"Yeah, in fact, Jack told me, he found me, 'knock'd out out' by the side of the road. I gotta admit, after what I saw last night. I'm thinking racing just isn't my thing." explained Madalyn. 

"I hear ya, hard to win a race driving a pedal car!" said Vince as he hang up the phone. 

"Oh he did not, just call Bumblebee a pedal car!" yelled Madalyn as she handed Jack back his phone. 

"Relax, I'll deal with him later." said Jack. 

"Just get some rest now." said Optimus.