The next few hours had been a near blur for Diana and had, at least for a moment, made her miss the calm of the last few days. Somehow, Smokescreen had escaped the Nemesis, along with the Omega Keys. It had been a short lived victory though, as Starscream had come out of hiding long enough to steal the keys back and had used them to earn Megatron's favour.

She couldn't get over the solemn mood of the base, each and every Autobot standing in silence with slumped shoulders. Even Knock Out was upset, the red mech leaning against a wall with his arms folded over his midsection.

Diana was seated upstairs on the sofa, her legs crossed and hands sitting limply in her lap. She found herself grateful once again that the children were out of the loop, she couldn't imagine how they would behave knowing their greatest friends were so shattered.

The only hope came in the form of a small message, a ping from Dreadwing.

"I don't buy it." Arcee glowered, having gathered with the others to observe the message from the Seeker.

"It could be a trap, but I don't see why Megatron would waste the time to do so now that he is in possession of the Omega Keys." Ratchet murmured, looking to Optimus, who in turn looked to Knock Out.

Knock Out was quiet, his gaze focused on the screen before them. "I don't think it's a trap." he let his gaze drift to the others. "Dreadwing is, honorable, a rare trait among Decepticons. I think we should go."

That was all it took to urge the Autobots to meet Dreadwing, a move that proved wise as the mech had gifted them the Forge of Solus. And thus, Diana was watching the Autobots prepare for battle.

"To Cybertron." she murmured quietly, standing before Knock Out, who had stooped to talk to her before Ratchet activated their ground bridge now turned space bridge.

"It's a milk run, pop back home, get the keys, no biggie." the Medic smirked, the calm to his voice nearly enough to soothe Diana.

"Except Megatron won't be taking this lightly, he'll bring everyone he's got."

"Bah." Knock Out waved a hand about. "That's why we've got the toys, remember."

Diana glanced to the other Autobots, each hefting a tool that would hopefully give them an edge over the Decepticons. "Knocks, I just don't know -"

She was interrupted by the mech scooping her up in one hand and holding her near his face, his optics focused on her. "Trust us, trust me."

"I do, just, be careful."

"Always am." he purred to her, setting her down and moving to assemble with the other Autobots as Ratchet opened the space bridge. "Back in a flash love."

Diana found herself pacing, torn between looking at her feet and the console Ratchet was glued to. She nearly jumped when the console pinged, a call that the Medic swiftly answered.

"Jack? No, the others aren't here, I need to keep this line clear." that was all there was to the conversation, Ratchet hanging up on the teenager with a huff.

"What was that about?" Diana queried, stepping up behind the Medic.

"Something about a ride after school." Ratchet replied, not turning from his screen.

"Ah." she gave a small nod, realizing that the children didn't know the Autobots were away. "I can get them, I'm going to go crazy staying here."

Ratchet didn't reply, but she assumed he'd heard her. She gave a small sigh and wandered to the area that had been dubbed her garage, decorated with her tools, both scavenged and new as well as various parts and half built vehicles.

She headed for one of the cars she'd been able to salvage from her home, a pale blue muscle car. It wasn't shiny or fancy, and Knock Out hated when she chose to drive it instead of asking him for a lift, but she took pride in being able to drive in something she'd rebuilt from the ground up.

Diana slipped behind the wheel of the car, heading out of the Base and towards town to get the children. She wasn't quite sure if she would bring them back to the base, or take them home, perhaps out for supper, something to keep them occupied. Initially, she had been grateful they were left out of the loop, but looking at how she was stressing over Knock Out, she was beginning to think the kids had a right to know. She made up her mind as she entered Jasper.

The kids were seated on the steps to the school when Diana pulled up, each of them brightening when she arrived.

"Hey guys, guess I'm your ride this afternoon." she smiled, calling out the rolled down passenger side window.

"Sounds good to me." Miko nodded, darting in front of the boys to take shotgun, leaving the trailing pair to the backseat. "But, where is everyone?"

"Yeah, it's been a few days since we've seen them, even texts." Jack spoke, buckling himself in as the other two children did.

"It's, complicated." Diana sighed, pulling away from the school and heading out of town, opting to just head to the Autobot base.

"Complicated how?" Raf asked, having to lean forwards in the deep back seat to peer over the front seat.

Diana was about to begin telling them all she knew, but an ominous shadow in the sky above her car caused her voice to catch. "You guys are buckled, right?" she tightened her grip on the steering wheel, keeping her gaze on the shadow in her rear view mirror.

"Yeah, why..?" Jack replied, though it was punctuated by an explosion, a missile streaking alongside the car to impact the ground on their right.

All three children screamed together, whipping around in their seats to try to see what was assaulting them.

"What was that?!" Miko cried, pressing her face to the window.

"Starscream." Diana grumbled, ignoring the posted speed limit and shifting her car into it's highest gear. "Call Ratchet! We need a bridge, something, now!"

Another explosion halted their plans, Diana cursing as the left side of her car was blasted, the wheels on that side all but disintegrating. She barely kept control of the vehicle, managing to bring it to a skidding halt on the side of the road. There was a dull thud outside the car, Starscream landing.

"Stay in the car." Diana ordered as she herself climbed out, turning to face the Seeker. "You know, you can just call when you want to talk, we have these things called phones."

The mech just sneered at her. "Mind your tongue girl, or I'll tear it out."

"Bring it. If you wanted us hurt, or dead, you'd have just done that. You may be an idiot, but your aim's not THAT bad." she squared her shoulders, glaring at the Seeker.

"Unfortunately true, I'd love to destroy you but, you and those tiny cretin are needed for my Master's plan." he grinned, taking a step forwards.

There were two more thuds, a pair of Seekers landing and advancing on the car and moving to pull the children out.

"Leave them alone, they're just kids." Diana whirled on them, her hands clenching into fists. "Whatever you want to do, use me."

Starscream snickered. "You're coming too of course, we intend to make Knock Out squirm." he reached for her, but the little blonde leapt out of reach.

She turned to try to run towards Jack, Miko and Raf, not sure what she would do upon reaching them, but damned if she wouldn't try to help. Starscream reached for her again, and missed again, instead he snarled and swiped a hand at her. This time he made contact.

"Diana!" Miko screamed, watching as Diana was sent flying into the side of her car, impacting with a wet sounding crunch and falling to the ground, motionless.

Even Starscream seemed a little surprised, having seemingly forgotten the size difference between himself and humans. The two Seekers looked between the unconscious woman and their leader. He just snarled, bending to collect Diana. "We have work to do."

Knock Out was sure his spark had imploded in on itself when Starscream and his friends arrived, the three children and Diana encapsulated in containers meant to keep them alive on Cybertron. He had stiffened as soon as he saw Diana's limp form, taking a step forwards with anger rising in his chest, only Arcee's outstretched hand and a warning from Megatron kept him from advancing.

The children were glaring and shouting, mostly crude things, directed to the Decepticons that held them hostage. The three of them were beating on the glass walls of their small prisons, occasionally looking to Diana and the red that oozed from her mouth and nostrils.

"Megatron... release the humans."

Knock Out barely heard Optimus speak, his attention on Diana as the two factions argued, it was when Optimus and the others lowered their weapons that he tore his gaze from her, watching as the Autobots moved to exchange their Omega Keys for the humans. One key, one human.

Diana was traded last, Knock Out clutching her capsule near his chest as soon as he laid hands on it. "Just so you know, I'm going to have your sparks for this." he hissed at his former comrades, his gaze lingering on Megatron longest.

The Decepticon leader grinned at him. "Oh, I'll be expecting it Doctor. But, first, I need to follow through with a few plans of my own."

Knock Out snarled, ignoring whatever Megatron said next as he glanced down at the canister in his grip, his spark sinking as Diana was still unconscious, her right arm twisted at an unnatural angle. Only when chaos erupted did he jerk his head up, his optics widening as Optimus destroyed the Omega Lock and called for a retreat.

Once they were safe inside the Autobot base, the task of freeing the humans was quickly carried out, though all eyes and optics were on Diana and Knock Out as he carefully extracted her from the capsule.

"Is she okay?" Miko was the first to speak, her hands clutched at her chest as she watched with the others.

Knock Out shook his head gently, Diana nestled in his palm. "I don't know, she needs a doctor." he did a poor job of hiding his worry, his optics flitting about as he assessed the battered human. "What happened?"

Jack shook his head gently. "Starscream, he hit her. They came for us when we were driving and Diana stood up to him."

The red mech shook his head again, an ache building in his chest. "Stupid, stupid... why would you..." he trailed off, watching as Optimus and the others moved to head for the roof of their base.

"I have a very bad feeling about this, all of this..." Raf murmured, looking between Jack and Miko. His words proved to be valid as the base shook, a fine rain of dust falling from the roof.

"That can't be good." Knock Out murmured, standing so Diana was tucked against his chest, protected from the light debris. "I need to get Diana help, and you can't stay here." he looked to the three children.

"Agreed, we're evacuating." Optimus spoke as the group appeared once again, the Prime relaying what they had seen and moving to dispatch the Autobots.

Knock Out tensed at the Prime's tone, knowing that it meant they were in deep trouble, but keeping quiet for the sake of the humans. Instead he slowly transformed, making sure Diana was nestled in his back seat and, for once, uncaring that she was getting her bodily fluids on his interior.

Bright, everything was so bright... this definitely wasn't the base nor the inside of Knock Out. Diana squinted her eyes, closing them as white light assaulted her. She frowned, carefully opening one eye, trying to adjust to the light and scowling a bit as she realized she was in a white room, the colour adding to the assault on her eyes. The blonde made a soft sound of dismay, trying to get her bearings, where was she?

"Di?" she recognized Knock Out's voice instantly, rolling her head to the left in search of him.

He was seated next to the bed she was laid out on, at least his holoform was, wearing a simple pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt. "Knocks...?" she was surprised at how gravelly her own voice was.

"Hey, I'm here." Diana had only been watching him a few seconds, but as she woke, a weight seemed to lift from the Medic's frame, his shoulders falling out of relief and his posture relaxing.

"What happened?" she closed her eyes again, lifting her right hand to rub at her face.

"Starscream." he said no more, and he didn't have to, the pure hatred in his voice enough to bring Diana to look at him again.

She gave a small nod, recalling him and his Seekers in the desert. Her brows lifted as she gathered what memories she could. "The kids?"

"Fine, well, alive but..." he trailed off, looking to his hands, resting in his lap.

Diana frowned again, studying him. He seemed so tired, his holoform relaying the exhaust he felt, sunken eyes and a washed complexion, even his hair was scuffled and looking like it needed a wash. "Knocks, what happened?"

Knock Out took her hand as he told her everything that had happened, his voice falling as he reached the end of his story. "Everyone's scattered..."

She wasn't sure what to say, instead she found herself staring at their clasped hands.

A knock at the door startled them both, a nurse entering and beaming as she noticed Diana was awake. "Oh, Miss Kerrin, welcome back."

Diana offered the plump woman a smile, but paused when she noticed Knock Out was scowling at the nurse, his grip on Diana's hand tightening.

"How are we feeling?" the nurse, Ellen as her name tag indicated, moved to Diana's bedside. She was either oblivious or ignoring of Knock Out's venomous gaze.

"Uh, sore, sleepy too." Diana said, taking a moment to stretch her body and wincing as she moved, she looked down at her right side, blinking out of surprise as she finally noted that her arm was in a cast.

"Mmm, car accidents will do that." Ellen smiled, reaching for a clipboard and jotting a few things down. "Broke your ribs on your right side, right arm too. Nothing we can't fix up, you just get your rest." she gave a small nod, replacing the clipboard and moving for the door. "You just let us know if you need anything, your IV should keep you alright for pain meds, but just call if you need something more."

"Yeah, okay, thank you." Diana smiled, watching with Knock Out as the nurse left. "Knocks, you're squeezing my hand a little hard there."

"Oh..." he immediately loosened his grip, rubbing the back of her hand with one of his. "Sorry."

"What's that all about?"

"What's all what about?"

Diana lifted a brow, tipping her head towards him. "You know what, the grumpy glare."

Knock Out snorted, saying nothing.

"Knock Out!"

"She keeps trying to get me to go home, all the nurses do. They tell me to get some rest." he mumbled, glancing away, the holoform's features crunching into a pout.

"Oh, well... humans need to sleep and eat and stuff." she laughed a bit.

"I don't." he said, looking back to her. "But I've been feigning those things, here in the hospital, enough to get them to leave me alone. I still won't leave you though."

Diana smiled, giving his hand a small squeeze. "Is that all then?"

He looked away again.

"Knocks?"

He gave her a sidelong glance, his jaw working as he settled into another pout. "I'm just... it bothers me that they could fix you... and I couldn't..."

"Oh Knocks..." she smiled, unable to keep her features from softening. "We can't be good at everything, and you did good, you got me here."

He gave a small nod, sighing. "One day, I'll learn how to fix you, to keep you safe." he lifted her hand, pressing a kiss to her palm. "I promise."

Hmm,yes, harumph. *adjusts monocle* Found some free time and ground this out! I feel like, it's rushed though, just a bunch of chaos spat out in one breath... so I'm sorry if it comes across as that! I wanted to cover some canon plot, but skip to my own insertions... I think it came out messy heh.

I'd like to thank you all, as always, for reading and leaving a review. I don't expect it, but it makes me awful happy to see! I promise I still read each one, and I do my best to answer any questions! Heck, I even take suggestions for one shots n stuff, maybe it'll poke me into posting more often! (Though I'll likely be doing that as harvest is now done back home so I have free time! Yay, no more combining! *dances all over*)