You'll never be alone again

Chapter 5: Skydives

Megatron looked over the mysterious relic within his medics grasp carefully. He observed the form of the relic as being the same as the others he had seen. He didn't see much difference at all. One thing he did note though was that the autobots fought hard and well to get their hands on these artefacts so that had to have value. "Tell me the function of these relics".

It seemed quite obvious that Megatron would try to bargain their lives for the information he seeked but Smokescreen knew that no matter the cost he couldn't tell. The knowledge was far more valuable than their lives "doorstops, shaver, bling. Beats me" a giggle from the red head only made the gladiator even more frustrated.

The warlord grumbled, his interrogation wasn't going the way he wanted it to go. Trying to withhold his fury he unsheathed his blade and pointed it at Bella while he aimed his cannon mounted on his other arm at Smokescreen. "The relics function right now or your pet meets an excruciating end". Smokescreen didn't need to consider those options he looked to Bella apologetically but could see how understanding she was. She never expected him to give up the means of saving his planet for her life. Staying quiet the rookie only added to Megatrons frustration. The evil decepticon didn't like not getting an answer so he turned to the human who fidgeted in his warrior's servo, the blade obviously making her uncomfortable "I will allow you to leave unharmed, human. But only if I get what I am after" now he was trying to bargain with Bella.

Of course she knew. Smokescreen had entrusted her with that knowledge which mean that it wasn't her place to tell even if it did save her life. She might not have known about cybertronians long but just by looking at Megatron she could tell he would likely go back on his word. Honour meant nothing to him. His desire seemed to rule all on this warship. Her emerald gaze looked to Smokescreen; he was clearly concerned. She raised the corners of her mouth a little in a small smirk as she built up her courage. "Ok" she hung her head down low as she tried to hold her nerve. Bella's body feeling very weak from her intensified panic attack "you loop a nice chain through the handle, then hang it around your neck and you've got yourself a very flattering necklace" she locked eyes with the warlord.

He had listened closely thinking he had finally broken her but his body shook with fury. He was being played for a fool and he hated that. He grumbled as his body shook with anger. "I have no use for a human on my ship! Get rid of it immediately!" the vehicon nodded to his master before turning around to leave.

Isabella began to panic again instantly. They wanted her dead now and she could do anything about it. She tried to squirm free but the decepticons grip was too strong for her "Smokescreen!" she couldn't see him anymore and felt her heart rate go through the roof again.

"Bella! Leave her alone…Let her go!" Smokescreen struggled to try and save her but it was futile.

Only then did Knock Out look over the prisoner before them while he also inspected the phase shifter on his person "pity this little gadget won't allow me to reach into his brain plan and pluck out the info"

"Pity this little gadget won't allow me to reach into his brain plan and pluck out the info" Knock Out's idea quickly got the attention of his master.

"Fortunately, we possess a device that can" both decepticons looked down on their prisoner. It was the last thing Bella heard before she was forced out of the med bay and into the gloomy corridor with the vehicon. Tears streamed down her cheeks at the thought of her untimely death. This was all way of her head and she couldn't do anything about it.

From the sound of it Smokescreen wasn't in the best of situations either. She didn't know what the warlord had instructed his medic to do but it gave her the impression that they were going to infiltrate the rookie mind. That terrified her even more than she already was; she had grown to care for the young autobot. "Smokescreen!" she screamed down the hallway hoping that he could hear her still. It didn't take long for the vehicon trooper to quickly get irritated with her fussing so he began to throw her in the air a little and then catch her like a small ball. The red head yelped from being treated like a game. Her body was tossed and turned in the air which made her disorientated. She couldn't make out where she was now being taken or even where they had come from. "Fuck. Help"

"Silence, human!" the trooper caught her one last time by her leg and let her dangle there. The young woman gasped out as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.

Abruptly they came to stop and the decepticon holding her began having a conversation with another. His grip on her leg loosening slightly. She had no interest in what was being said, only escaping and finding Smokescreen. Bella gave her foot a jiggle as she tried pulling. It wasn't long before she freed herself and fell to the ground with a loud thud. Her heart pumped hard and she could feel herself wanting to slip away into a panicked state again but she wouldn't let that happen. Not now.

She could feel her bruises setting in to her skin; her limbs aching from being tossed around in the air. Picking herself up she let her feet take her away from the place. Now that she was on the ground she couldn't help but notice the size of the warship around her. She could hear the large steps of the vehicon behind her which made her skin shiver. She was beginning to struggle for breath as she turned a corner and quickly hugged the wall. The darkness hide her form from view as she tried to hold her breath in an attempt to stay silent. Bella vigilantly watched as the vehicon after her ran by. She waited until he was completely out of her sight before releasing her breath and beginning to breathe heavily. She clutched at her chest for a moment before moving in the opposite direction that the vehicon had gone.

The redhead took each of her steps carefully so she wouldn't draw any attention. This unknown territory had her jumpy – the hairs on the back of her neck standing on edge. There was no noise other than the general hum she could detect from the engines of the ship. She really had no way of knowing where she was going or where Smokescreen was. For now she was trusting her instincts to lead her to wherever it was. Bella kept one hand on the metal wall to help her stay orientated. The need to shout for the rookie was filling her but she had to repress it.

Bella could feel her heartbeat against her rib cage. It was almost as if it was threatening to burst out of her body. Eventually she came to a small junction where the ship seemed to separate into four directions. She was hesitant, trying to build up her courage to carry on. Quickly closing her eyes and taking in a strong breath she placed one foot in front of the other and began to sneak around the corner. Bella wasn't looking where she was going however, her gaze surveyed the other hallways that she chose not to venture down. They seemed empty so she turned her attention to what was in front of her. The instant that she did so her emerald eyes widened and she froze on the spot. Her skin shivering as a gasp left her mouth. "Shit!" Bella didn't stand around long. Her body turned tail and began running in the other direction only for her to get snatched off the ground. Her hands grasped on to the appendage that was wrapped around her waist and hoisted her up. She kicked her legs to no avail.

Only when she was hanging in front of the deadly mech did she stop, her body becoming deadly still. She was forced to stare into his faceless visor as his tendril held her up so he could clearly see her. She was able to fully see him now and observed his sleek form. It was no wonder that the silent third in command was found to be quite intimidating. His limbs weren't very thick but there was no mistaking the strength within them, which meant he was quite agile and swift as well. So it was no surprise that she didn't hear his footsteps coming down the corridor. Bella dared not to blink as she tried to find a pair of eyes looking into her soul behind that sheet of glass. But she didn't find any.

She forced herself to blink when she registered the arrival of someone else behind her. The sound of the voice she recognised as the vehicon in charge of disposing of her. "My apologies, Sir. She managed to escape my hold as I was proceeding with Lord Megatrons orders" the trooper looked down as a sign of respect to the third in command and in shame. He had failed once because of her escape; the one thing he didn't want was Soundwave informing their master of this failure. He knew of the gladiators punishments and did not desire one.

Soundwave looked to the human in his hold and then to the vehicon. As per usual he said nothing and didn't even make any other noise, not even a grunt, which was what Bella expected him to do in the least. The lingering silence made Isabella incredibly uncomfortable, her gaze zipping from the vehicon trooper then to the silent communications officer and then back again. She couldn't do anything more when Soundwave tossed her towards the vehicon who caught her swiftly. He kept her tightly grasped within his servo as he began to move off again to carry out his orders.

Bella once again began to struggle in the hope of being able to get away again but it was futile. The last thing the redhead wanted to do was give up but there was no way she could see out of this. She was sure her heart missed a beat at the thought of this being her last moments. It made her look back on her life and realise something…she had always felt that her disorder held her back but it was truly her that held herself back. All she wanted to do was travel the world and see all the amazing places that she imagine there was. All the places she painted in her art pieces.

Then there was this flash in her mind and all she saw was Smokescreen. His shiny white paintjob with the blue accents. She could see his glowing blue optics just peering into her soul but it didn't creep her out like you'd think it would. Those eyes gave her great comfort even when she knew she would never actually get to see them with her own emerald ones again. Bella couldn't believe how angry she had been with him not that long ago and within the short time she had known him she had grown close to him. Her eyes began to water as she forgot to blink. She had been so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even realise where they now were. The sting of cold air lingered on her cheeks, the cold air making her skin start to turn blue and shiver uncontrollably. Then there was her light headedness – the warship must have been at quite a high altitude because she was finding it hard to breathe properly. Her lungs not getting the right amount of oxygen that she required. It was only then that she saw they were on the flight deck of the ship. Was the vehicon trooper planning on throwing her off the ship and letting her fall to her death?

She began to struggle again in the troopers servo as he slowly approached the edge "oh god. No" she tried pushing his digits away to loosen his grip but it was no use. "Oh shit" her eyes grew wider and wider the more she got closer to her demise.

A moment flew by when Bella recognised a very welcomed and protective voice "get your own human!" the decepticon turned around to face the voice but was punched right in his head. Bella screamed as she was thrown into the air and felt herself begin to fall. Panic hit her but was suddenly vanquished when she felt warmth wrap around her. Her sudden drop was stopped and before she knew it she was gazing into the caring gaze of her rookie. "And don't hurt mine" Smokescreen frowned at the decepticon in front of him.

Isabella kept her concentration on her friend as he appeared to be very angry. The rookie held the red head close to his chest plates as he landed another punch to the vehicons helm with his other servo and then kicked him off of the side of the warship. The last the two of them could hear was the vehicons screams as he fell "hmm not a flyer, who knew?" Smokescreen joked. Bella quickly felt her fear dissipate from her body from the comfort that Smokescreen now gave her.

It didn't take her long to notice the he was holding two Omega Keys in his other hand as he seemed to scanning over her form to look for injuries. "I'm fine Smokescreen" she laughed as she felt him touch one of her ticklish spots "how did you get the Omega Keys?" she asked.

"Funny story; I left Knock Out stuck in a wall and snatched the Omega keys from Megatron and his vault before he could do anything" the rookie seemed pretty happy with himself until a new presence joined them on the flight deck and they were no longer alone.

They observed the menacing warlord stroll onto the flight deck with a less than happy expression. He was followed by two troopers by his side "the keys" Megatron lifted his arm to hold his hand out. That was probably the nicest way he was going to ask for the relics. The others beside their master charged their weapons and aimed them at Smokescreen and Bella.

The rookie held the young woman close to him for protection as he took a step back closer to the edge. He peered over his shoulder plates at the drop. His processor going over a completely insane idea particularly with Bella with him but he didn't see another option at this point. "A pity you are incapable of flight" the gladiator smirked.

"Yeah, like I'm going to let that stop me" again Smokescreen glanced behind him before looking down to see the petrified look on Bella's face. "Trust me?" it was a clear question that only Bella could hear. She made eye contact with him and from that he could see all the trust that he needed. She nodded to him, not letting precious seconds slip by that they needed.

Smokescreen didn't need anything more as he jumped off the side of the warship. Somehow Smokescreen was calm; his main objective at this point was to keep Bella alive. Though he wasn't really sure how at this point. "Smokescreen!" Bella screamed out his name in fear and he tightened his hold on her a little to make sure she was safe with him.

The red heads hair whipped at her face as she fell through the air with the rookie. She had a claw like grip on what she grab on to of his digit. Adrenaline rushed through her veins that made her almost pass out or perhaps that was her fear of going splat on the ground.

"Smokescreen to base, I could really use a ground bridge" Bella heard Smokescreen talk to someone over his comm link. This made Isabella feel a little better that he had some sort of plan to keep them both alive. She couldn't help but let out a scream however when she saw blasts flying past them. Some coming ever so close to hitting the two of them. Smokescreen noticed this and did his best to dodge them but was struggling the other things that were also on his mind. He peered over his shoulder to see a couple of vehicons above them trying to shoot them. "Vehicons have lousy timing" the rookie complained as he began working on ways around it. He placed the two Omega Keys on his back plating and held Bella as close to his spark chamber as he could while he leaned his body forward as much as possible. With the forces of gravity and the pressure of falling high from the sky it made it quite difficult. But it was slowly working. His body began to fall faster so that he was putting a little bit of a distance between them and the vehicons. It made it much harder for the decepticons to try and hit them the faster they both fell.

Activating the phase shifter on his arm Smokescreen slowed their descent. The troopers had sped up to try and keep up with the two escaping from the warship but before they could slow down as well they phased straight through Smokescreen and Bella, which freaked her out a little. Smokescreen instantly transformed his free hand into his own weapon and shot the vehicon beneath them into a fiery ball that they pass right through unharmed. The young autobot made sure to shield Bella from everything that presented a danger to her. A voice then came over Smokescreens comm channel that the both of them could hear clearly "Smokescreen, I'm opening a ground bridge directly below you."

The young woman observed as some mystical greenish-blue portal opened beneath them "the hell is that thing?" her voice was completely laced with confusion and terror.

"It's a ground bridge, it'll take us right in to base" Smokescreen had to raise his voice a little. His audio receptors picked up a slight ringing as did Bella in her ears. There wasn't time to explain the complexities of the ground bridge but he made a quick note in his processor to go over it with Bella later on. "Brace yourselves, we're going to make quite an entrance" the rookie announced to the other autobots.

It only came to Bella then that they were going to fall through that thing. Inside herself she was screaming but the actual sounds just didn't come out. "Oh god! Please let this end well" Smokescreen could feel her shaking with fear. But she tried to shake that away when the thrumming of a jet caught her ear – her head snapped to the side to see said jet looking very intimidating and approaching at very high speeds "Smokescreen, look out!" she pointed but it was already too late.

Megatron in his alternate form slammed right into them. The impact send shocks through both of them and sent them off course from where they were going to go through the ground bridge. Smokescreen lost grip on Bella which made her spiral out of control as she began to fall faster than Smokescreen. "Bells" Smokescreen began to panic. The ground bridge really wasn't going to work now. He needed to work fast to get to Bella before they smacked into the floor. The ground of which was growing closer and closer with every heartbeat. He looked to the relic on his arm and then to where he heard the screams coming from Bella below his form. "I hope proper grounding on this thing doesn't apply to actual ground" seeing their death rapidly approaching Smokescreen decided to finally act.

Leaning forward to fall faster Smokescreen reach his hand out to the screaming red head. He tried huddling his body in on itself to get a bit more momentum and that when he was finally able to wrap his digits around her waist and pull her words his chest plates. "I've got you, Bella" he quickly turned the phase shifter back on and shifted himself so that his back was now facing the ground. He huddled himself around her body and immediately noticed that she had stopped screaming. Hoping that if his plan didn't work that he would take the full impact and Bella would survive, he brought his over hand over her to help shield her while he offlined his optics and accepted what was going to happen.

Seconds past…minutes and neither Smokescreen nor Bella felt anything other than a slight tingling. Bella couldn't quite make out where she was, all she saw was black. "Smokescreen?" she had to call out to him just to make sure that he wasn't dead and the same went for her.

"Yeah?" she heard his sceptical answer and still felt his warmth around her.

Bella let out a sigh of relief particularly where she could make out his form now. "So we're both alive? Good. Where are we?"

Smokescreen began to chuckle as he figured it out "well if we're both alive then…in a rock."

The young woman found this a little humorous too but didn't dwell too much on it as she felt Smokescreen moving. Exhaustion soon took her over from the rush of not just adrenaline but everything else that was possible.

Smokescreen wasn't completely sure where he was going but he carried on taking careful steps in the hope of finding the open surface so that they wouldn't be stuck in a literal hard place. It wasn't long before both of them were in the bright light of day. Bella had to squint her eyes from the brightness "hey Ratchet, I could still really use that ground bridge" Smokescreen kept his voice to a whisper in the case that Megatron was around somewhere close by. The warship was still high above them so the rookie didn't want to take any chances by hanging before the two of them were spotted again.

The rookie didn't get a reply but the requested ground bridge opening in front of them. There was some relief from the two of the now knowing that they would be safe. The young autobot looked down to his human companion "how do you feel about meeting the others now?"

Bella wanted to laugh a little but her tiredness just wouldn't let her "I think, after what I have just been through, I'll be fine with it all"

He nodded before taking confident steps in the ground bridge to return to the autobot base.