As this chapter marks the halfway point, 11 chapters to go, I just want to say thanks to my readers! I hope you're liking it so far and that you'll continue to do so!
Enjoy!

Chapter 11

Returning to the base, Violetwind and Smokescreen brought back the energon cubes that the rouge Starscream had left behind. Despite being few in number, the energon cubes gained were still helpful with their energon supply at an almost constant low. Not only that but neither of them gotten seriously hurt making their gain more worthwhile.

However, not long after they got back, Arcee and Bumblebee stumbled through the ground bridge, both heavily injured. Ratchet quickly rushed them off to the medical bay so he could tend to them, while everyone else gathered around to hear what had happened.

The blue femme sat on the berth, her hand clutching her waist. "I'm sorry, Optimus. Knock Out was there... waiting for us. Seems the 'Cons are improving their decoding skills."

Ratchet glanced their way while he worked on the yellow scout. "And it seems that with two keys already separated no one currently possesses the means to revive Cybertron."

"While our quest to restore our planet may have reached a stalemate, securing the remaining keys is still the most prudent course of action," replied Optimus in his usual deep authoritative voice. His plan did seem to be the wisest way to advance.

So having had his say, the Prime left them to go back to decoding the next set of Iacon coordinates, hoping to reach them before the Decepticons.

The purple femme stared at the ground, things were not looking good for Cybertron's revival but at least they could keep it out of the hands of the Decepticons by getting to the last two keys before they did. They would find a way to get the one their enemies currently possessed.

"Man, it must have been crazy with Knock Out going all sonic," Smokescreen tossed his head in annoyance at having missed it. "Humph, I wish I'd been there, I would've..." The rookie trailed off, punching at the air a few times.

Arcee frowned, glaring daggers at the younger mech. Bitterly she snapped at him, "You would've what? Recovered the key like you did the first one?"

He was caught off guard by her anger, arms dropping limply to his sides, "Maybe... Who knows? I just want us to be firing on all cylinders, you know, now that the Star Saber is gone." The mech shrugged, "And I have a pretty good track record so far."

The anger coming from Arcee could practically be felt across the other side of the room. Violetwind grimaced as the two wheeler grunted and stood up. Holding her left elbow with her other hand, the blue femme slowly walked off, looking about ready to scrap Smokescreen but controlling herself just enough to get away from his presence.

Bulkhead started down at the white mech. "Look, kid. Arcee and Bumblebee are no slouches and Optimus managed just fine for eons without the big sword. Course you wouldn't know about that. You've been in stasis the whole time we've been fighting this war."

Smokescreen's hands gestured in agreement in front of him, "Exactly! And I'm ready to make up for lost time! I mean, even Violetwind has seen more action than I have, she just doesn't remember it."

The femme looked over at him with displeasure, a flicker of hurt in her optics. "No, I don't. But I'm not getting up in everyone's faces about needing to get in it."

Sending a comforting glance over at her, the large green mech looked back at Smokescreen firmly speaking to him, "When Optimus says you're ready, you'll get your chance." He gave the rookie a hard look. "You've gotta be in this for the long haul. Slow and steady wins the race."

The younger mech looked between them before giving a small sigh and leaving.

Looking over at Bulkhead, the purple femme tried to smile. "We've all got things we still need to learn..."

"Yeah, but he's not doing anyone any favours in the mean time," he replied glancing after the rookie.

Some time later the bots were loitering around the main hub when the monitors started to beep where Optimus was working.

"The next coordinates are ready," he informed them.

Ratchet walked over to the ground bridge controls to input the destination. "There remains only one set left to decode," he muttered, realising how close they were to locating the last keys and restoring Cybertron.

Bulkhead thumped his fists together, nodding at their leader, "On it boss."

"I'm gonna bring back that key!" the rookie enthusiastically punched at the air before catching Arcee looking at him. He promptly stopped and walked towards the ground bridge with slumped shoulders, his mood crushed a little.

Glancing at Optimus, Violetwind silently questioned whether she was to accompany them. Seeing her look, the mech nodded allowing her to go. She was not sure whether to be pleased about this or not but she acknowledged him and headed after the pair, who were already leaving.

"Uh, Bulk," Arcee called after them, "Forgetting something?" She held up the scanner he had neglected to retrieve.

"Herrr..." The mech smacked his face at the realisation of his mistake, walking over to collect it from her.

Handing the device over, the blue femme quickly grabbed his wrist, drawing him closer to mutter quietly, "Make sure you keep and optic on 'destiny's child' ok? And make sure to keep that femme safe. "

He grinned, "Heh, compared to watching Miko, piece of cake. Nothing to worry about." With that he quickly ran off into the ground bridge as they set off for the third Omega key.

The trio exited the vortex with their blasters at the ready as they checked their surroundings. The forest they had stepped into was devoid of anything as far as they could see. The only thing moving was the orange and yellow autumn leaves falling around them.

"Stay close. Stay focused," Bulkhead commanded his two companions.

"Gotcha," Smokescreen waved an arm in acknowledgement.

The larger mech gave him a hard look, "I mean it!"

"Me too," he responded innocently.

"Guys, shhh," Violetwind tried to quieten them. Something was making noises not normal to a forest.

Staying quiet, the three of them listened, the sound of beeping filling their audio receptors.

The younger mech asked the question in all their minds, "What is that?"

A gravelly voice came from a hill above them, answering him, "One of the last sounds that you will ever hear."

Their heads whipped around, gazes locking onto the speaker.

"Dreadwing," the green Autobot muttered bitterly, narrowing his optics at the mech.

The Decepticon second in command transformed into a jet, flying low over the trio. All of them were forced to dive out of his way or risk being hit.

Getting up, Violetwind made sure she was alright before glancing over at the two mechs. Smokescreen was still getting up but looked unharmed while Bulkhead had an alarmed look on his face, which was a little amusing as a leaf floated down in front of it. She had to hold in giggles, trying to remind herself that this was a serious situation with a dangerous Decepticon nearby.

"We gotta get outta here. Now!" Quickly Bulkhead grabbed both their arms and started to run.

Tripping over her own feet as she tried to keep up, the femme asked, "What's going on?"

"Bombs," he replied, summing their danger up into one word.

Only then she realised the sound of beeping had intensified, coming from all around them. Adding to the sense of doom, the frequency of the beeps was increasing. Then the explosions started. Picking up the pace, the Autobots raced through the trees, the bombs that Dreadwing planted, going off around them.

The purple femme found herself letting out a few short shrieks as some went off a little too close to comfort, feeling the intense heat against her armour. One even knocked down a tree into their path. So using her hands, she quickly flung herself over.

Escaping the explosions they leapt down a cliff, tumbling down the slope of the blackened landscape. Landing at the bottom Violetwind groaned, not sure if she wanted to move but knowing she had to get up anyway. She heard the heavy thump of something large landing, which she believed must have been the Decepticon. A quick glance in that direction confirmed it to be him.

"Violet, Smoke, I'll handle Dreadwing. Go get the relic," Bulkhead tossed the scanner at Smokescreen.

Catching it, he nodded, "You got it. Come on."

With final glance at the green mech, the femme ran after Smokescreen, the two of them getting out of there before Dreadwing could involve them in a fight.

Once the pair were far enough away they came to a stop, the white mech consulting the scanner.

The femme peaked over his shoulder, "So where are we going?"

"This way," he replied, heading off in the direction he indicated.

Smokescreen led the way and they walked along in silence. Trailing after him, she kept her optics sharp for any sign of more trouble. With blasters at the ready, her door wings twitched in anticipation. They could do without further surprises hampering their retrieval of the key.

Catching sight of a fireball plume from the direction they had left Bulkhead, Violetwind muttered with concern, "I hope he's ok."

"Over here!" the rookie broke into her worry, calling her over excitedly and handing her the scanner so he could dig.

Becoming lookout, she sighed with relief as Bulkhead's voice came over the comm. ::Guys, I'm on my way.::

"That's good. We'll be able to get out of here in a sec then," the femme mumbled, optics on the surrounding forest for movement.

Digging out the relic container, Smokescreen grinned whispering, "Destiny..." But before he could open it he was struck hard on the back, falling to the ground unconscious.

Hearing the unusual sound behind her, the femme turned back to her companion. She gasped seeing him on the ground, "Smoke!" Bending over, she tried to rouse him when something struck her, knocking her out as well.

...

"Smokescreen... Violetwind... Come on guys, wake up!" A voice broke through the blackness of the femme's mind.

She wanted to break free, to head toward the voice but something was keeping her there, chaining her to the dark pit. Her whole body was in pain, feeling like she was on fire. Her limbs felt heavy and she could not move them. All she wanted to do was scream out in pain but she could not even do that, no sound would escape her mouth. More than that was a feeling of hopelessness, no one was around to come to her rescue.

Struggling through the dark fog she finally did wake, opening her optics to see the forest around her. A flood of panic washed over her and she let out a scream, "Ahhhhhhhh!" scrambling backwards as she did so, only to hit something metal.

"Hey, you alright?" asked the green mech looking down at her, his face filled with concern.

Realising that she was not alone and no longer in any pain, the femme vented heavily for a few seconds before calming down enough to reply, "I- I think so... I just got a little panicked there. I had- I had a horrible nightmare..."

"It's ok now," Bulkhead assured her with a smile.

The femme grinned, glad she was not alone. After a deep calming intake of air, she got to her pedes, looking around slowly and recalling why she was on the ground. It came to her remembrance of behind hit on the back of the helm, though by what she did not know.

"What happened?" the two of them turned to the awakening Smokescreen as he too started to rise.

The green mech reached over to help him up. "That's I wanna to know," he glanced at both of them looking for answers.

Smokescreen roughly yanked his arm from the mech's grasp. "The Omega Key!" He looked around frantically, hoping it was still there but it was not. "I had it, until- something hit me from behind."

"Yeah I got hit too," Violetwind added. "I didn't see whatever it was though."

"Dreadwing must have had backup. That relic's long gone." Lifting his hand to his helm he called back to base. "Ratchet, we need a bridge."

"I... I'd told Optimus I'd return with that key..." the younger mech was still lamenting over the loss of the relic.

Violetwind smiled sadly at him, knowing that he felt like he had failed. He wanted so badly to become something great, to impress Optimus, that he did not take well seeing himself as a failure.

The ground bridge opened up beside them, all glancing toward it briefly.

"Listen kid, Alpha Trion said we need all four keys to restore Cybertron, remember?" Bulkhead did his best to make him feel better, "We just need to hang onto the one we have and find a way to get the others back from Megatron."

"And I'm sure we'll find a way," the femme tried to be positive, as they headed back through the ground bridge.

Above the three Autobots and out of their sight, a lone ex-Decepticon had been eavesdropping. He grinned maliciously to himself, looking at the relic he was holding. "It seems I have the promise of a new Cybertron in the palm of my hand, when I obtain all four..." Starscream already began formulating a devious plan to go about obtaining them. He briefly considered finding out more about Violetwind's condition but dismissed it; though he might be curious, it was of no use to him. Perhaps he could find out more about once he had completed his plans.

...

Back at base they were telling Arcee about what happened.

"They were sucker punched. Coulda happened to any of us," the green mech rested a hand on the rookie's shoulder.

Smokescreen shook off the gesture, continuing with his guilt trip. "But it didn't. Cause I was the one who dropped his guard. I was the one who blew it. Some great warrior I'm turning out to be..."

"You weren't the only one out there you know. We were both taken off guard. Even I didn't see them coming," the purple femme interrupted, folding her arms.

"You don't get it do you," Arcee glared at him, speaking harshly, "A couple of victories aren't going to make you a legend and not every mission results in success. Not for me, not for Bee, not even for Optimus."

The leader himself turned from his decoding work to look over at his team. He had been listening to them talk but had shown no signs of it until then. The direction of the conversation was leading down a path he did not believe would prove helpful.

The blue femme continued her rant seeming to not have noticed that their leader was paying attention. "We've gained relics and we've lost some. We've also lost friends. We've even lost a world. But this is one time we get a do over. We have a chance to bring back Cybertron and everyone in this room needs to be in sync. This isn't about you or your destiny."

Despite all that Smokescreen had said and the way he seemed to think he was so important in his own mind, Violetwind began to feel that Arcee was being too harsh with him. Kicking him when he was down was not going to help anyone, least of all him. She somewhat knew how he felt, the key had been stolen from under her watch too.

Prime stepped in to stop Arcee, believing that she had gone far enough, "Arcee, you have made your point." He had been Prime for a long time and knew when to push and when to relax with something such as this.

"Optimus, he needs to hear this," she protested, determined to finish what she had started and quickly turned back to the rookie. "You might actually become a great warrior one day – and I sincerely hope that you do – but greatness begins and ends with putting the team first, not your personal score card."

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for you guys!" he raised his voice defensively.

"Then stop trying to be a hero and start trying to be an Autobot!"

Smokescreen snapped back at her, "You know what? Maybe I'm just not good enough!" He had been pushed too far and wanted no more of it. Spinning around he transformed down into his alt-mode and sped out of the base.

"Wait, Smokescreen!" Violetwind called after him but he had already gone.

The medic grunted, stepping forward he gave a firm glance at Arcee. "Next time Optimus advises you to stop, perhaps you should listen."

"I'll bring him back," Bulkhead started to move towards the exit.

Optimus reached out a hand to stop him. "Smokescreen is young, Bulkhead, and has much to learn. But right now he needs to clear his thoughts. And I need to finish decoding the final Iacon entry."

"You're just gonna let him leave like that?" the purple femme looked up at Prime, anger and worry in her optics.

"Smokescreen will in all likelihood return once he has taken the time to calm down," he replied evenly.

"You're not at all concerned?"

Arcee vented, "I'm sure 'destiny's child' can take care of himself."

Shooting the femme a glare, Violetwind kept from raising her voice, "Well I'm not leaving him alone. He didn't leave me when I needed help so I'm gonna do the same." Quickly she transformed and drove out before anyone had the chance to stop her.

Driving out into the Nevada desert night, she tried to comm Smokescreen, "Smoke?Smokescreen you there? Scrap," she muttered getting no answer. He must have turned off his comm link.

Speeding up she followed the road searching for his headlights. He had not been gone long and she should be able to catch up with him, or so she hoped. But for right now she could see nothing.

After a few minutes she caught sight of another vehicle's rear lights in the road ahead. Her engine thrummed as she hurried to catch it. Within moments she was behind it's rear bumper only to realise that it was not an Autobot. It was just a regular car, with a human occupant. She sighed with disappointment, overtaking it to continue her search.

He's got to be around here somewhere.

You didn't have to do this you know. He would be fine by himself, her voice commented.

I know that but he's a friend and you're supposed to be there for friends, she responded.

When it replied she could practically hear the smile in its voice, You're loyal, I like that.

Haha, well that's good cause you're stuck with me. Suddenly something struck her as puzzling. Why'd you say that? Weren't we loyal before?

I- we- yes, of course...

What's going on? What do you mean? She questioned, suddenly not feeling so confident about the entity in her head. Something was definitely not right. Something about it was just odd...

Well, ah, it faltered before suddenly changing the subject, Hey over there!

"No, you've got some explaining to do, your not-" she stopped upon seeing the headlights of a car drive off the road in the distance. "Smokescreen..."

Quickly she raced after it, getting close enough to recognise the white vehicle with unique red and blue sports car detailing. No one else but the young Autobot looked like that.

Driving up after him she called out, relieved that she had found him, "Smokescreen!"

The mech did not respond except to drive off a little way and turned off his lights. Not being deterred she followed, pulling up beside him. "Smokescreen," she spoke softly, "Come back to base. We can work this out. You are an important part of the team..."

Transforming back to his robot mode he glared down at Violetwind and snapped, "I don't want to hear it!" Turning his back to her, he stared out into the desert.

The purple femme returned to robot mode as well, door wings lowered and optics saddened, "Smoke, please... Don't be like this..."

He whirled around to face her, anger and disappointment on his features. "Don't be like what? Don't try to do my best? Don't want to win this war? Don't believe that everything to do with our future rests with those keys? What?!"

Put off by his response it took her a moment before she could reply. When she did she snapped back at him, hurt by his outburst. "Don't act like a child! Not everything revolves around you! Nobody wins wars single-handedly! You know what? I had thought Arcee had been too hash on you but now I think she might not have been harsh enough! You can't seem to get in through that thick helm of yours!"

"Well if that's how ya feel why did you come?! You certainly don't have to stay!"

"Cause I thought I was being a good friend! Guess I know now you don't have any of those!"

"Yeah, well, I don't need them if all they're gonna do is put me down!" he yelled back.

"Fine. I'll leave you to yourself then!" She gave him a final glare before transforming into her alt-mode once again. Revving her engine, she burst off leaving him in a cloud of dust.

"Fine!" he returned, settling down against one of the rock formations.

However, Smokescreen was not left in peace long before something from the air started to shooting at him. It was Soundwave's 'pet'; Laserbeak. Ducking out of the way of the shots, he got to his pedes, raising his arms with blasters at the ready. "You picked the wrong day to mess with me 'Con!"

...

The femme huffed as she drove off. Right now she felt a rather mixed bag of emotions from upset to furious to disappointed. Like what was Smokescreen thinking? Had some sort of superiority bug bitten him on the rear?

Breaking into her thoughts was Optimus on the Comm link. ::Violetwind, is Smokescreen with you? You both need to ground bridge back to base. Now.::

"Is everything ok, Optimus?" she asked, not sure why he sounded so serious.

::He may be in grave danger.::

"I'm not currently with him but I will be in two shakes of a lamb's tail!"

Putting on the brakes she span around and raced back to where she had left Smokescreen. But trouble had already found the rookie.

He was firing up at a flying metal bird, said bird also firing back. For the most part he was doing well and dodging the shots, unfortunately though it was the same for the bird. The metallic flyer whirling around, each of his shots missing it completely.

Close to him a ground bridge opened, which at first caused Violetwind to believe that the Autobots had arrived. It was not to be. Instead Soundwave walked through, dashing her hopes.

"Smokescreen! Look out!" she cried in warning. Transforming she started to run towards him, drawing out her blasters. Fearful, yet trying not to show it, she fired at the Decepticon, her shots flying wide.

The white mech glanced in her direction briefly before turning to see what she was firing at. Smokescreen did not get the chance to attack the newcomer himself as Soundwave fired a round from his resonance blaster, the weapon scrambling his circuits and knocking him unconscious.

"Smokescreen!" she yelled. Alarm flooded her as she was now alone in the desert with the silent but dangerous Decepticon third in command. Her spark beat rapidly as his faceless head turned in her direction.

Lifting the weapons she unintentionally lowered when Smokescreen had been hit, she took aim at Soundwave. Unfortunately, before she could get off a shot, the mech raised his own. A pulse hit her and she lost all sense of her surroundings. Collapsing, she hit the ground, closing her optics with a small groan before she too fell unconscious.

Collective his prizes, Soundwave knew his master would be pleased. Not only had he captured the mech from the final Iacon entry but he had also recaptured, the ex-Decepticon weapon scientist.

Dragging them both towards his ground bridge he merely looked over his shoulder briefly as the another ground bridge opened up, the Autobots leaping from it. Instantly they spotted him, charging in his direction. They were too far away though and as such, were of no concern to him. So Soundwave kept on his way and quickly disappeared into the glowing vortex.

"Noo!" Optimus yelled after the mech, coming to stand where he had vanished with Smokescreen and Violetwind. Guilt and grief tore at his spark. He should not have let them go off alone. They were his responsibility and he had failed to protect them.

Megatron once again held them captive and had them at his mercy.

And captured. Again. Like seriously, you guys must be jinxed or something XD