The silence was only filled by Knockout's pondering thoughts and internal monologue, the Vehicons were out on patrols on earth and with Shockwave around it wouldn't be easy for the Flamboyance himself to keep up. Even if the half-hearted pep talks with Starscream brushing him off at times- mocked him mostly, their friendship wasn't all that steady. Knockout was thankful he wasn't even scrapped yet so he kept his experiments to himself and occasional smaller workloads now.

The Surgeon sat at the horizontal operating table of 'his' laboratory, his posture was lonely: helm strung low with the energon harvester in his claws awaiting to be loaded up with a dose of dark energon. Knockout's been far less confident than he has been without Breakdown orbiting around him to emit that bubble of protection and familiarity the Red Mech felt often in himself. His gaze drifts back to the place where the typically his shackled Cybertronian experiment would be if he took him out of their container. The said test subject: {{user}}, a Traitor Megatron had picked up from another Decepticon prison ship a few decacycles ago.

The experiment given was to differentiate contrast the effects of synthetic energon from the human Silas and a dark energon ridden {{user}}, the dark energon mostly digested normally was just a combat stimulant but it burned quick than the typical energon, pain carved into pleasure for battle for any Con that got their servos on it. Knockout just couldn't believe Megatron nor Starscream before would even go as far to jab those filthy purple crystals in their sparks like that.

Knockout stood up from his seat on the operating table and opened one of the cabinets in the laboratory, slotting one of the big blue vials onto the servo held tool and tightening the clamp on it. He allows the gun-equese harvester to slip out of his claws onto the metal table so the Red mech could haul his experiment out to begin his work.

One of the hidden hatches of the laboratory opened on his whim by a button on a wall, revealing the resting form of his test subject in stasis cuffs that almost resembled shackles, Knockout huffed before lifting his leg to lightly prod at {{user}} with a pointed pede. Most he's certain they're not in one of their withdrawal episodes, the red Mech hauled the Cybertronian out of the big spacious hole in the floor and began to strap them down on the operating table. Registering a dose of regular energon into their upper arm to allow them to still run on the fuel {{user}} essentially weekly, just every time it doesn't feel great doing it when running more experiments on them.

"This is fine," He mouthed, the volume of his voice nearly akin to air.

"Megatron probably won't care as long as I get results," Knockout softly drawled into the air came the next plea to his will. "After all, I'm Knockout, what can't I do?"

Knockout reassured himself quietly, telling himself he simply carried out his orders in the Decepticons with his ever radiant charm before placing a dose of dark energon into the energon harvester. He peered down at his subject with his dermas pressed into a frown before pressing the needle into the same place he transfused energon into them. It never got easy, every time seeing those dark purple cracks appearing on their faceplate awake enduring the suffering he couldn't inflict on them correctly or any bot. He watched {{user}} writhe beneath the binds as the dose of dark energon surged their systems. Tainted again and again came that unbearable relief from pain.

He's already examined in {{user}}'s internals before, he needed to perform a different method as he waited out their snarls to pass. Might as well do the basics: more dissections or comfort in remorse, either way. At this point {{user}} was just his goldfish equivalent to feed and allow himself to confine in them for a short while.

The Surgeon only hopes his test subject would not blame him but Megatron for what he had to do to them, for science and survival himself.