"Smokescreen must have been taken aboard the Decepticon warship," Ratchet told the others grimly as he turned. "Tracing his signal through its shielding will be impossible!"

I sat next to his helm and fiddled with my hands nervously. We both had figured that that was the case yesterday, but when he had begun searching for him, we had hoped that it wouldn't be true. All night Ratchet had been looking for him without rest, although he did finally force me to get some sleep. This morning I had insisted on staying home from school; there was no way I was going to be kept out of the loop about Smokescreen. Sure, he could be annoying and loud, but he was a good guy, and a great friend.

"Continue monitoring all frequencies, Ratchet," Optimus ordered after a pause. "Far more than Smokescreen's fate may be at stake."

Bulkhead turned to look at the doctor in confusion. "I still don't get it. How can Smoke be an Omega key?"

"Perhaps he isn't the key," Ratchet started.

"But it's container!" I finished for him. Last night we had already guessed that Smokescreen somehow held the key somewhere.

"The other Iacon relics were sent in pods," Arcee agreed. "Why not this one?"

"When the Decepticons stormed Iacon, it may have been too late for Alpha Trion to launch the final Omega key into space," Optimus explained. "At least by standard means."

Arcee caught on quickly, looking up at her leader as she spoke. "So Smokescreen assumed that everything went black because he was hit by Decepticons."

"But Alpha Trion's actually the one who turned out the kid's lights," Bulkhead surmised, finally understanding.

"It stands to reason that my mentor did not want Smokescreen to know what he was carrying," Optimus said, looking at the floor, "in the event of capture."

"And with a mobile relic, Alpha Trion could give specific coordinates," I joined in.

Bulkhead nodded. "So the big A slipped us a clue instead. Smoke's mugshot!"

"The Decepticons got to Smokescreen first," my guardian growled, glancing to the side. "I fear they have decoded the same clue."

"But... how would they get it out of Smokescreen?" I asked worriedly. "And do the Cons even know what they are taking?"

Each of their optics went downcast, save for Optimus, who only looked at me grimly. "We cannot rule out the possibility that they now know the origin of the keys."

After a pause, I turned my head to face my guardian. "And... my other question?"

He was silent for a moment, avoiding my gaze. "The Decepticons, especially Knockout, have never been known to be gentle."

My hand flew to my mouth to cover a small choke. Smokescreen was in deep trouble, and if the Decepticons got all four keys, then so were we.

"Ratchet, remain at the console and continue tracing Smokescreen's signal," Optimus said again. "The rest of us will devise a plan of rescue if we do uncover his whereabouts." With that he turned and began to make his way out of the main room. His latter words ushered for the other three Autobots to follow, leaving Ratchet and I alone to look for the captured one's signal.

Ratchet sighed and did as he was told, quickly turning to the monitor, and nearly sending me into the air in the process. He worked as quickly and efficiently as he could, even though we both knew it was near impossible to find him now. I saw several frequencies and wavelengths as they stumbled by, but none of them held what we were looking for. I could tell the medic was getting frustrated and panicked, but doing his best to keep that to himself.

"Ratchet," I said slowly. "I'm sure Smokescreen will be fine." It sounded like I was saying that to myself more than him, considering my previous question. "He's a tough kid."

"It's not just Smokescreen I'm worried about," the doctor told me without looking away. "If the Decepticons have learned of the use of the Omega keys, than not only will they have three, they will stop at nothing to gain the other one that we currently possess."

"You're worried about your home world, too," I said sadly, leaning on his shoulder plate. "And you have every right to be." I lifted my hand and patted the same shoulder plate. "I know I've said this before, but," I said, pausing to chuckle slightly, "you can do this. You're smart, and you have your whole team to back you up. And you have me," I added quickly, my voice getting the smallest bit quieter.

He chuckled lightly as well as he continued searching. "Yes, you have said that from time to time. I do appreciate it."

I smiled warmly, happy I had cheered him up at least a little. "Great! It would be a waste of words otherwise." I was glad to see him smile slightly, finally glancing at me and giving me a slight nod of the helm.

-------------------------------(Hey, look, lazy time skip.)--------------------------------------------

The search went on for a near two hours, which by then the others had returned from forming a plan. Their grim faces said that either they didn't have one, or there were too many options to figure out which one to choose. I was about ready to sigh and give up, when I heard a slight beeping and felt Ratchet perk up.

"Smokescreen's signal is back online!" he reported, a bit of relief and excitement in his voice.

"The kid escaped the warship!" Bulkhead replied happily.

":Smokescreen to base,:" came his voice over the commlink. ":I could really use a GroundBridge!:" I would have been overjoyed to hear him, and I still was happy, but it sounded like something was wrong. What was that strange background noise.

"Setting coordinates," Ratchet said, returning to serious mode. He raised an optic ridge, confused slightly. "Strange.."

"What's the problem?" Arcee asked quickly, placing a servo on her hip. 

"Smokescreen's telemetry data doesn't make sense," he pondered. "I can't lock onto his position!" He looked back up to the screen, trying to figure out what was going on.

The excitement in the room was replaced with the rush of panic and hurry. We all knew something was up now. Tension flew into all of us, and I wrung my hands out of habit. Ratchet quickly typed away, scanning and searching for whatever was wrong. Finally, he hurriedly brought himself back to the GroundBridge controls. I held onto his shoulder plate for dear life as he moved so quickly.

"I've isolated the problem!" he stated loudly. "Smokescreen is in freefall."

I jumped from my seat. "You mean he jumped off the warship??"

The medic nodded before opening the commlink again. "Smokescreen!" he shouted. "I'm opening the GroundBridge directly below you!"

":Brace yourselves,:" Smokes said. ":I'm gonna make an entrance.:"

We watched the screen worriedly as his signal plummeted down, aiming straight for the GroundBridge. Panic flew into our chest's as his signal suddenly veered off to the side.

"He's...! Off course!" Ratchet growled. I clung to his shoulder plate again as he turned to face the others quickly. Him being in panic mode seemed to make his movements a lot sharper, nearly jarring me off my seat. 

"You missed?!" Arcee shouted.

"Open another one! Fast!!" Bulkhead roared. Ratchet did his best to comply without a complaint, which he would have shot at them under normal circumstances.

The screen flared red and started beeping like crazy, his signal showing hard impact with the ground. "No..," Ratchet vented. I covered my mouth and stared at it in shock. Was he really.. gone?

There was a moment of shocked silence, and then, ":Hey, Ratchet?:" A whisper of Smokescreen's voice came through the commlink. ":I could still reeaally use that GroundBrdige." All of us looked up, relief flying over the room. I let out a heavy breath as Ratchet opened another Bridge for him without a word.

The confident mech paraded in, holding two keys in his servo. "Look what I got!" he shouted in a bragging manner. I held back a laugh. He was just fine.

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Hey, sorry that this chapter is based again mostly on an episode. The next couple one's will probably be the same. This book might actually be a little shorter than I previously thought.

I hope you guys still liked it, though! It's my bro's B-Day today, so I'm allowed to be on more than I thought.

See ya!

*waves*