You should never be alone!
Chapter 14
Smokescreen hadn't wasted anytime in racing through the busy streets of Jasper, completely ignoring the rules he had been taught by Jack about going at a certain speed and stopped at these traffic lights when they were red. He didn't care for human traffic laws at the moment. He just wanted to get to Bella's house as soon as possible. He didn't care for all the angry people that he sped past; none of that mattered. His processor was solely focused on the red head that he needed to find. His spark pulsating hard under his chest plates.
When he arrived everything seemed normal. He took his usual spot on her small drive and quickly activated his holoform. It pixelated in right on her front door and he didn't care if someone saw. He did look around and it didn't look like anyone had seen him but even then that wasn't first the thing that was on his processor right now. Smokescreens fist then firmly banged on the door. His worry was consuming him so much that he hadn't bothered to pay attention to how hard he hit the door. All he wanted was for his special red head to open the door to him with a smile and his arms to wrap around her and his lips to be pushed against hers. The rookie's desires weren't to be though. There was nothing. Silence came from the house even as he knocked again a little lighter with his fist.
He was sure now as there was still no answer that something was wrong. If he was human then he was certain that he'd be hyperventilating by now; much like he'd seen Bella do. That was when it hit him – he hadn't even considered her panic attacks. His frustration was growing even more now. He had to find her. He should have known having heard that Bella wasn't at the base and that Jack's mother and agent Fowler had been kidnapped by Knock Out and that there was decepticons activity in the area. It should have come to him immediately that there would have been more cons around somewhere and he wasn't there to protect her.
He wouldn't let himself mope though. He immediately dissolved his holoform out and then back in again inside the house. His spark telling him that it was worth checking inside for any clues but everything seemed like it should be to him. Nothing was out of place though he wasn't the one living there so it's not like he could be specifically sure. One thing he did notice was the portrait that Bella was painting of him; it had colour on it now though it was not complete the background had been fully painted. He smiled seeing how talented the red head was. But he couldn't wait around, he needed to find her.
Disabling the holoform his consciousness transferred back to his real form and he didn't waste time in taking off. He didn't know exactly where he was going but he just knew that he couldn't sit around. He promised to protect her when he became her guardian so he couldn't not look for her; his spark hurt to know that he hadn't been there for her. As he now drove through the city he made sure to constantly try to contact her but the only thing he got was an empty line. She wouldn't answer which only made him more concerned. He hadn't seen it at her home so she must have her phone on her but it still didn't make sense why she didn't answer him. He needed to hear her voice in her audio receptors just so he could reassure himself just a tiny bit that she was alive and okay but there wasn't even that. His wheels just took him wherever as he kept an optic out for decepticons. He did notice a few humans give him glances but he put that down to his speed and perhaps his vehicle form that turned their heads.
His audio receptors had been enhanced hoping to pick up on decepticons around him but so far his efforts had been fruitless and a waste of his time. It crossed his processor that he should report her missing; if anything he would be able to find her quicker with some extra pairs of optics helping him and if didn't report it then he could already hear Optimus and Ultra Magnus giving him a lecture about his actions – not to mention the other autobots. Before he could call in on his com link though he picked up a conversation between two humans that he noticed giving him a not so friendly look. "Another speeder, just like the ones that went towards the desert"
In an instant Smokescreen braked and quickly did a U turn before shooting off in the other direction towards the desert. There was no doubt now. He had a lead and was following it no matter what. Pedal to the metal he didn't hold anything back. It wasn't his processor that was driving anymore it was his spark. The idea of contacting the team and following protocol gone from his thoughts altogether. He'd done it before and it was for the better for the team so there was nothing stopping him now.
Everything was a blur to her. One moment she was walking to the offices to hand in her sketches, that she had been hired to do for one of their products, the next something grabbed her from the street and tied her arms together in the back seat of a vehicle. Her first instinct at that moment was to call out for Smokescreen and she did. She was able to reach her phone and call her guardian while distracting the decepticon that had taken her with her thrashing. To her luck she had managed to free herself and try to call Smokescreen a second time but he hadn't answered and she had been caught again.
Having been caught again her nerves were shaky and she couldn't fight the panic attack that overwhelmed her. Now she was sat in the back seat of one of the two vehicons that had kidnapped her. Her breathing shallow and her eyes focussed forward as she was thrust into her inner mind. Her arms were pinned to her sides with seatbelts. She had managed to hide her phone under her cast on her broken arm which was uncomfortable but it wasn't so bothersome with the red head zoned out and she hardly felt the device vibrating on her skin.
She was consumed by her own thoughts. Smokescreen hadn't answered her distress calls and wasn't coming. He didn't even know she was missing so he couldn't be coming for her. She was doomed. She should have known that the car that never moved was a decepticon watching her. She's felt like she was being watched so many times but simply ignored it and then again she did have Smokescreen watching over her that she put her feelings down to. The red head felt herself shiver and the seatbelts around her tighten. Her heart rate increased and she could feel her breathing quicken to the point of where she was struggling to keep up. Her skin colour flushed pale and she grew to feel dizzy even though she was sat down; she wasn't concentrating on her surroundings but her world was spinning. "Bella! Decepticons hand her over!" she heard familiar shouting. The voice registering in her brain but she couldn't help the fear that was still building inside of her. The emotion that was preventing her from acting and keeping her trapped in her own mind.
"Bella! Talk to me Bells!" she could him but couldn't speak. It was Smokescreen; he had come for her. He had found her somehow and now he was going to save her. The thought that she would be safe again soon made her feel a little better but she wasn't safe yet. She was still in the vehicon travelling at high speeds and going who knows where. "Bella, where are you!"
The problem the rookie had was that he knew Bella was with the decepticons but there were two of them so the question was which one was Bella with. He couldn't attack until he knew where she was otherwise he was risking hurting her and he couldn't do that. He wouldn't forgive himself if he did that. The decepticons were going fast but he was able to keep up. What worried him the most was that they could go through a groundbridge back to the Nemesis at any point and she would be gone. "Bella please!"
She could hear him but she could do anything. She couldn't move and she couldn't think clearly. This by far had been the worst attack that she had experienced and yet it wasn't over. Something told her that she wouldn't be able to get out of this because no matter how hard she tried to fight it, she was still trapped. As she stared straight ahead of her she was still unaware of where she was. She heard Smokescreens words and as much as she tried to speak out. To shout out to him for help and tell him where she was she couldn't. Her voice wouldn't form the right words. Her mouth only hung open with no sound.
Her eyes glazed over as they filled with tears. Her thoughts suddenly filled with him; her rookie. How happy he made her when they were together. Flashes of things they had done went by her. She saw when they were freefalling from the decepticon warship and remembered the adrenaline rush that that gave her. All the time she had spent with the young autobot made her feel safe and secure like she couldn't be touched. She trusted him and he trusted her. She thought back to how Smokescreen had confided in her when he was finding it hard adjusting to being on the planet and working with the other autobots. Her full concentration now on how much she loved Smokescreen.
She could understand why so many people would think it was weird and wouldn't work but it did. Her heart beat faster whenever she was with him and when he was near she didn't feel like her disorder was holding her back. She felt like she could accomplish her dreams; like she was worth more. Smokescreen had mentioned that he was drawn to her because of her voice – that was the reason they met. Trying to fight her attack more the red head had an idea and didn't hesitate to go along with it. If it was her voice, her singing that drew the rookie to her then she would sing for him. A few of her tears fell down her cheeks as she used her memories to help her get the right words out at the right pitch.
"The morning cold and raining,
Dark before the dawn could come
How long in twilight waiting
Longing for the rising sun
Ohoh ohoh
You came like crashing thunder
Breaking through these walls of stone
You came with wide eyed wonder
Into all this great unknown
ohoh ohoh
Hush now don't you be afraid
I promise you I'll always stay
I'll never be that far away
I'm right here with you" Isabella kept her voice soft and calm though she did struggle with some of the words and her mind wanted to go blank but she couldn't let it. She had to focus on the words, she needed to focus on Smokescreen.
"You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing you are...
You are"
Smokescreen couldn't help the lightness and light that filled him. His audio receptors keying in on her voice. She had heard him and now he could clearly hear her. He didn't know why she was singing but it did make him feel stronger and he was able to work out that she was being held in the vehicon on the right. With that he sped into action. Slowing himself down to drive behind them and then speed up to ram into the other vehicon. The decepticon swerving a little but was able to catch himself.
"You came from heaven shining
Breath of God still flows from fresh on you
The beating heart inside me
Crumbled at this one so new
Ohoh ohoh
No matter where or how far you wander
For a thousand years or longer
I will always be there for you
Right here with you" the rookie groaned as this was taking longer than he wanted. He went to ram into the vehicon again and try and get him off the road but was caught off guard when Bella's voice stopped singing and he saw as she was thrust from the vehicon on the right into the one on the left. They were tag teaming and trying to confuse him. Using his red head to stop him from attacking them. If they were going to keep this up then this was going to take forever and he was certainly going to lose her.
Thinking quickly Smokescreen used his processor. There didn't seem to be an easy way that he was going to get Bella back without not attacking the drones so he would have to trick them. He switched positions and went to ram into the left vehicon but he wasn't going to. Just as he was about to however the vehicons did as he expected. They manoeuvred to switch Bella over again but when they did Smokescreen acted. He sped up from them into the middle of them. Pushing himself up and opening his driver's side door.
As Bella was thrust out of the right vehicon again she was quickly caught by Smokescreen. He secured her with his seatbelt and quickly did a U turn driving off hoping the decepticons wouldn't follow but he was wrong as they quickly followed. "It's okay, Bells. I got you"
He didn't get a reply and he could clearly see why. She was having one of her attacks and was deep inside herself. It was no wonder that she hadn't been calling out to him or screaming when she was thrust from one vehicle to another. He kept an optics on her while he kept the other on the tailing decepticons. Thinking quickly he needed to lose them. He couldn't call for a groundbridge because the decepticons would follow; there was only one thing he could do and that was to face them.
In a second he pushed on his brakes, smoke rising from the ground from the friction. He turned to the side and carefully pushed Bella out. She still didn't react as she was now sitting on the ground. Her eyes were so distant and she hardly blinked as much as she should but Smokescreen couldn't focus on that now. He transformed quickly along with the decepticons that came up behind him quickly. The rookie didn't waste time in engaging them. He made sure to keep them away from Bella as he stood in front of her.
The two vehicons lifted one of their servos to fire their blasters at him but Smokescreen was fast. He jumped up and kicked one of the decepticons in the helm making the drone stagger back. As he landed back down he punched the other drones weapon away and activated his own aiming and firing it at his helm offlining him immediately. As the scrap heap fell lifelessly to the ground he fired at the other vehicon a couple of the times in the chest plates until the vehicons spark was extinguished and it was just him and Bella left in the desert. Deactivating his weapon Smokescreen turned to Bella; his facial expression softened as he crouched down beside her. He kept his voice low and soft "Bella, are you okay?" he didn't get answer not even a glance from her.
It seemed that she had managed to sing for him in the middle of the crisis but now she was fully engulfed. He reached his left servo out to her and gently stroked one of his digits down her fiery hair and onto her pale face. The only reaction he got from her from his actions though was a stammering exhale and he noticed that she leant into his touch a little. "It's okay Bella. Your safe and I'm not letting you out of my sight" venting he could see that what she really needed was to be somewhere safe and familiar. He also knew that she needed her medication and he guaranteed that it would be at her home. He debated that he should take her back. The decepticons knew where she lived now and they had kidnapped her so she was no longer safe there but it was familiar to her and it would be quiet for her. With his presence he was sure that she would feel safe.
If he had reported the incident in then he knew that the others would tell him to bring her to the base but he knew better. He had seen this before though he would admit that it wasn't this bad. He had heard about her previous experiences though. That's when it came to him. She had mentioned that she had gone into a depressive state after one of her attacks where she didn't eat or drink or sleep for that matter and it clicked in his processor that this might what was happening.
She had told him that no one wanted to be with her because of her disorder and that even her parents were ignorant of her. She dreamed to travel around and see lots of the planets beautiful places but couldn't because of her attacks. It hit his spark hard but here he was and he wasn't going to walk away. She needed support, his love and he was giving it to her. Smokescreen transformed down into his vehicle form and activated his holoform next to her sitting form. He gave her a weak smile and pushed her hair out of her face for her. His passenger door opened on its own and his holoform wrapped his arms around her lifting her up against him bridal style. He carried her slowly over to his true for and sat inside with her on his lap. The door shut automatically behind them and began driving towards Jasper again. As they travelled Smokescreen kept his holoform focussed on her pretty face. He had noticed that her breathing had calmed and a little more colour returned to her skin but she still seemed distant. He pressed his lips to her forehead and let her head rest on his shoulder. "I love you, Bella. You never have to worry about being alone when this happens because I will always be here" he whispered to her calmly and watched as she began to blink a bit more often now. He felt her soft breathing against him and he wanted to hug her tighter against him but he didn't want to frighten her; she was vulnerable at the moment and he didn't want to risk her going into another panic attack because she wasn't fully aware of her surroundings. He had been scared to lose her but was glad he hadn't but the rookie also couldn't help the guilt that filled him for not answering her calls. She had called him in distress because she was being abducted and he had ignored her. He really had no excuse – he wished he could make it up to her and that she would forgive him.