You should never be alone!

Chapter 5

Bella kept to herself at the other end of the room where she presumed that other humans stayed when they were with the autobots. She decided to let the bots talk amongst themselves seeing as she had just arrived after nearly falling to her death and didn't want to intrude on their business. However she had technically done that by listening to Smokescreen tell her everything. Of course there was that and the fact that she was a bit tired and overwhelmed, her heart was beating like crazy which made her even more nervous. She had warned them of this and now she needed her medication which would help her calm a bit more.

The red head perched herself on the couch as she tried to compose herself. There was something in her that wanted to call out to Smokescreen knowing that his voice would make her relax a bit more but she didn't want to seem weak in front of all of them. She had managed to get used to Smokescreen in a matter of minutes so a couple more cybertronians couldn't be that hard.

Her gaze then shifted to the sound of a high pitched beep from what looked like a large computer. The screen displaying another bot and a load of writing that she didn't understand. Everyone else seemed to gather around the monitor more to see what was going on. "A high frequency signal with an embedded message"

The one she had been introduced to as Bulkhead narrowed his optics as he moved forward "Starscream" it didn't take a genius to work out that he was referring to the image of the mech on the screen.

"I have obtained something of use to you that seems to have no practical use to me" Ratchet read out the message for everyone to hear.

The others didn't let him finish the message though "It's got to be the Omega key"

"He's the one who blind sighted me" Bella placed herself against the railing, leaning on it beside Smokescreen as she took everything in. Starscream must have been the one to responsible for the rookie not having a successful mission. Although she was new to it all, she still didn't quite understand.

She had seen Smokescreen in action which meant that she knew he was skilled as were them all. "Are you sure Smoke?" the rookie gave a blank look; unsure of what she was questioning "Surely if It were just him then you would have heard him – even with your back turned"

"So you think it was someone else?"

"I'm saying that with this" she gestured to the message that they had received "It has to be him but that doesn't mean he's working alone"

The others hadn't considered that perhaps the seeker was working with someone, if there were two of them then it would be easier for sneak up on him.

Ratchet raised his hand to silence everyone "There's more" he turned back around to read it out "I only ask for the surgical replacement of my T-Cog in return"

"Ha like we're gunna give Scream back his wings" Bulkhead was so sure that there would be no deal

"What's a T-Cog?"

Ratchet being the medical expert answered her "It is our organ that allows us to scan vehicles and transform. But without the missing key Cybertron will remain devoid of life" the red head understood the relevance of the keys and at a cost of a precious organ knew that it would be unwise to not go alone with it.

"Broken record I know, but it could still be a trick" Arcee didn't trust the seeker one bit and now that he had something of value to them it just meant that there was more reason to doubt everything he says. Isabella didn't want to voice her own thoughts seeing as she had only just met them all and was new to the whole autobot/decepticon war.

Gazes then turned to Optimus as he was coming to a decision about the situation "it is possible that Starscream does not yet realise the significance of what he holds"

"And we do know that he's been incapable of flight for some time"

"The stakes are too great for us not to consider Starscreams proposal…however we will take precautions"

Now Bella wished she was back home, asleep in her warm bed where she knew she would be safe. Considering that she had just been 'in the lion's den' of the warship it couldn't really get any worse than that but even though she was surrounded by six autobots she still didn't feel very safe.

Optimus then began commanding his team so that they could proceed "Bulkhead, Ratchet we will meet with Starscream. Arcee, Bumblebee, Smokescreen remain here and remain cautious" they nodded in reply showing they understood the orders.

Arcee then opened a ground bridge for them to which the three mech moved through, Optimus and Bulkhead with their weapons out ready for a fight should there be one, as was Bumblebee's that he kept pointed at the open bridge should anyone come through that wasn't supposed to. All eyes in the base were now on where the three bots had disappeared. Bella remained on the catwalk watching from behind them. Her body shivered at the unknown.

Just as she was about to say something the red head felt a breeze against her skin, her hair blowing into her face. But it was odd; the base was secure and hidden and the ground bridge didn't transport air. So where did the breeze come from? The lights above them that lit the room up for all of them see then flickered on and off constantly like they did in horror movies before something terrible happened. The whole atmosphere really wasn't helping her and she didn't have her medication with her seeing as it fell from her person when she was kidnapped. Her phone had vibrated in her pocket long ago to remind her to take her medication but now she couldn't which made her even more scared as an attack was imminent. Her chest heaved as her breathing increased and became harder. "Smokescreen" her voice was quiet and shuddered.

The rookie turned to her, his arms folded across his chest. His optics softened as he saw just how afraid she was. "It's okay, Bells. I'm not going to let anything happen to ya" the sound of his voice helped but it wasn't exactly a cure.

"I don't have my medication" for a moment he didn't know what to say, it was very clear to him how much she needed and relied upon it.

"You won't need it" before she could reply to that she was pushed back onto her ass by something strong that she couldn't see and the base then rumbled and shook as if there had been an explosion. "What was that?" Arcee kept stable on her feet and looked around for the cause. The sprinklers for the fire system them activated and water came raining down on them all. Instantly Bella was soaked, her clothes clinging to her body. Smokescreen reacted quickly scooping the red head in his servo and placing his other one above her sitting form so that she was protected although she was already wet. He felt her cling to his fingers as they noticed Arcee shutting off the ground bridge.

As it closed they were all left staring at one another. Something had happened very quickly that had left them all a bit confused. Someone had got the better of them without them seeing anything. Bumblebee then moved over to the monitor and pressed a buttons resulting in the sprinklers turning off. Bella's teeth chattered as the feeling of cold overwhelmed her, she could feel the warmth of Smokescreen as he wrapped his digits around her to help keep her warm. He then placed her on his shoulder as he moved over to the ground bridge controls and activated it allowing Optimus, Ratchet and Bulkhead to return to the base.

As they did eyes widened that they didn't have the last Omega key. "Optimus, what happened?"

"Starscream now possesses all four Omega keys and the fate of Cybertron now rests in his hands" Arcee couldn't believe what they were hearing. None of them could. They had all worked so hard only for them fail and hit rock bottom. Starscream had played them and they hadn't seen anything.

"How? If he stole the keys from here then…"

"He used red energon, it gives the user the ability to move so fast that he would be virtually invisible to the naked optic" Ratchet explained. Bella already knew what energon was thanks to Smokescreen pretty much telling her a lot of things but didn't know that there was different types of their lifeblood that could give them different abilities. She did vaguely remember something about Megatron using dark energon but she never questioned the matter.

Her mouth stretched open in a yawn, she couldn't believe how tired she now felt after everything, it was a bit too much to take in and she almost had a panic attack which she manage to avoid. Her heart skipped a beat thinking of how Smokescreen could easily calm her and make her feel better. There was something about his voice that was soothing and everything he has done has been for her and for her protection. He was even willing to give up the only opportunity they had to get the Omega keys to make sure that she was safe.

Her cheeks flushed red at the thought of him which made her even more embarrassed seeing as she was sat right next to his head and he could probably see her acting a little strangely. Her phone then began vibrating in her pocket which caught her attention, bringing it out she sighed seeing that her parents were calling her again. "Maybe you should answer them"

"To have them yell at me, no thanks" she declined the call and then noticed the time. She had not had a wink of sleep all night, it was no wonder that she felt tired. Time had flown by that it was well into the afternoon now. "Time flies when you're having fun"

Smokescreen chuckled a little knowing that she was more scared than having fun throughout the time they were together although they did have some fun. Fun that he wished he could go back to but knew he couldn't know that things just got worse for them and there was no time for messing around now. The moved to the side of the base and leant on the wall as they both continued to talk with each other. They had failed to notice the others leaving to collect Jack, Miko and Raf from school mostly because they were laughing at one another.

Optimus then approached them which made the two silent. "Smokescreen, I am proud at the responsibility you have taken with ensuring Isabella's safety. I am confident that you will be a great guardian for her"

"You're assigning me to Bella?" the rookie was actually surprised that Optimus was allowing this considering that he ignored protocol though it was for the right reasons.

"She is in danger now that she has become a part of our team and so must be protected. You have formed a bond together like the others have"

Smokescreen saluted to his leader in respect "Thank you, sir"

Bella smiled, she didn't think smokescreen could be like this seeing as she had viewed him so far as playful but now she saw every part of him. He really wanted to watch over her and now he was given that opportunity to which he was going to make she he would not fail. The large mech then left their company to help Ratchet clean the base up from the large puddles everywhere.

Bella then planted a kiss on his cheek which caught him off guard completely, surprise written all over his face. "Thank you Smokescreen" if he were using his holoform then he would be blushing at that moment. Looking at her soaked and shivering form he felt his spark pulse.

"I believe that there may be some spare clothes down the corridor from when this was once used" his voice cracked slightly as he tried to regain his posture.

Carefully he scooped her off his shoulder and placed her on the ground so that she could sort herself out with some dry clothes. He watched her leave and kept staring to where she disappeared into a small room. At her smile his knees buckled, if it wasn't for him holding onto the wall then he was sure that he would have fallen over which would have made his situation rather awkward.

"Woah, what happened here?" the rookie recognised the voice as Rafs. He had not heard them come back with their charges.

"You guys should have told me you were going to get an indoor swimming pool" Mikos voice was so loud that it echoed throughout the base so everyone no matter where they were could hear her.

"That's not what happened, Miko" Bulkhead told her as he transformed to join the others.

Smokescreen smiled now that he was going to one of them that had duties to watch over a human. "I guess I'm joining you guys for guardian duty" he said looking very proud of himself. He folded his arms across his chest again to look smug.

Arcee rolled her optics, she saw that it might be another opportunity for him to boast about and perhaps fail on "Watch yourself there Smokescreen. Unexpected things can happen and you have to ready for them. You need to put their needs before your own"

She was lecturing him on things he already knew and had done. He had already put Bella's safety first and protected her against the decepticons more than once already. He was about to respond to her but stopped when a confused Miko shouted out "Wait" she began counting with her fingers and looking to both Jack and Raf as they looked to one another and shrugged "3 humans, 3 guardians. Why do we need a fourth?"

"Possibly for a fourth human" the voice came from behind Smokescreen. The kid's eyes widened when the red head moved around Smokescreen's foot her hand resting on him. She looked at each of them, knowing their names already but she settled on Jack as he rubbed the back of his head "Nice science-fiction club you got here Jack. And both your car and motorcycle are very unique"

He tried to laugh his way out but it wasn't working as she raised an eyebrow at him. "Sorry about that" she shook her head and smiled at the same time showing that she was messing around with him. "Why are you wet?"

"A long story for another time" she yawned out and looked up to her new guardian "Can you take me home, I literally ache and feel as though I could fall asleep right here, right now" Smokescreen transformed into his alt mode and opened the door for her allowing her to climb in before he made his way out of the base and towards Jasper, Nevada. With everything that had happened he wasn't surprised that she was exhausted and wouldn't be surprised if she slept for a couple of days. If things weren't the way they were then he would rest outside her house as well making sure that she was protected but things had changed and the future of Cybertron was at stake so there was no taking things easy and he would have to leave her on her own for some time until things blew over for them. Perhaps then they would have a fully restored home.

A/N: Short yes but I didn't want to do too much for this one and I can lead into the next. Thank you for reading, please review.