They all gasp in shock as Smokescreens signal vanishes. They knew it was going to happen, but they weren't ready for the reality to hit. Shelby is the only one without emotion. She stands on the platform, watching the screen. Optimus and the others come back through the ground bridge. Ratchet begins to struggle against the computer, trying to get Smokescreens' signal back. He groans in frustration, not being able to get through to the Nemisis. 

"Ratchet, he will get through to us. We just need to wait." Shelby says, her voice monotone. 

"Who knows what the Decepticons will do to him. I need to at least have his signal." Ratchet yells, pressing more keys. 

"This is the plan. We knew this was going to happen. Do you know how long he was on the warship before we were able to get his signal back?" Optimus asks, looking at Shelby. 

"An hour, maybe two." She says, not mentioning things that happened in between. 

"So, what do we do? Just stand here?" Arcee's hands go to her hips, cocking them to the side. 

"Yes, essentially. We wait until Smokescreen contacts us." Shelby looks over, speaking to Arcee. 

Shelby then goes to the couch and sits down. No use standing up the whole time. The others start talking amongst themselves. Hot Rod steps over to the platform, the gears turning in his head. Shelby feels the optics on her and turns to look at him. 

"Can I help you?" She whispers to him. 

"I don't get it." He spits out. 

"Get what?" She asks, drapping her arms over the back of the couch. 

"How you know all this? I know you explained it, but it still doesn't compute with me. How did you experiance this all in your head?" He looks around as he talks, then his optics stop back on her. 

"I wish I had an answer for that question, but I have no idea. In my head, I went into a few comas. But I made it off the Nemisis with Dreadwing before the first one. I woke up a few days later in the hospital and I was still fighting with the Autobots. Then I went into a second one after I was rescued off of Darkmount, then it wasn't until everyone left that I woke up again. But it was all one big coma from the first one. I have many questions as well, but no answers." She explains. 

"How do you deal with it?" He asks. 

"Deal with what?" There are many things she is dealing with. 

"The whole knowing the future thing?" He waves his hands around as he specifies. 

"I'm looking at this in a different light. I'm basically reliving it but changing things as I go along. I want the same ending, but yet different. So I'm trying to think positively." She leans up on her forarms as she answers his question. 

"Was I in your coma?" He asks in a whisper. 

"No, you weren't. I was never captured by Silas before either. There is a lot that has happened that was not in my coma. So I'm assuming there is a base timeline, but things are happening differently this time." She bites her bottom lip in nervousness. 

"Well maybe I'm just the edge the Autobots need to win this war." He says with a smile. 

Shelby laughs, "Yes, maybe you are." 

He gives her a wink and walks off to join the group. Dreadwing then comes over after watching the whole situation. 

"Have a nice chat with Hot Rod?" He asks, leaning against the platform. 

"He was just curious about how I came to know what I know. Nothing to worry about." She says sensing his jealousy. 

"I'm not worried." He scoffs, crossing his arms. 

She gets up and walks around the couch, then leans down and kisses Dreadwing on the cheek. "Your the only bot for me." She whispers into his audio reseptor. 

"Your the only human for me." He looks up at her and smiles. 

The room goes silent besides the talking amongst the Autobots. All giving theories on how the situation will turn out. That is until the monitor started beeping and Smokescreens signal came back on the screen. 

"Smokescreen's signal is back online." Ratchet states, a smile growing on his face. 

"The kid escaped the warship!" Said Bulkhead. All eyes staring at the screen.

"Smokescreen to base. I could really use a ground bridge." His voice comes through the speakers. 

"Setting coordinates...strange." Ratchet says with a look of confusion on his face. 

"Whats the problem?" Arcee asks. 

"Smokescreens telemitry data doesn't make sense. I can't lock onto his position." He states, pushing buttons in the computer. 

"What does that mean?" Shelby asks, but it falls on deaf ears. 

After doing more work on the computer, Ratchet speaks, "I've isolated the problem. Smokescreen is in freefall." 

Ratchet is working hard to gain postion of Smokescreen. Ignoring everything around him as he types away. 

"Smokescreen, I'm opening the ground bridge portal directly beneath you." He says as the ground bridge whirls to life. 

"Brace yourselves, I'm gonna make an entrance." Smokescreen says over the comm. 

"He's off course." Ratchet says after a second, watching Smokescreens signal move away from the portal. 

"You missed." Arcee extenuates. 

"Open another one. Fast!" Bulkhead exclaims. 

Everyone stares at the screen, waiting for Ratchet to open another bridge. His digits type frustratingly across the keys, trying to be quick enough. Then before their eyes, Smokescreens signal disappears. Everything from Shelby's coma is coming true. Her eyes close, as she can't watch, even though she knows the ending. She knows Smokescreen is going to make it, but it's a lot harder than she thought. 

"Hey, Ratchet. I could still really use that ground bridge." Smokescreens voice comes through as a whisper after a moment of silence. 

Everyone started cheering for joy as they watched Smokescreen come through the ground bridge. The bots, besides Optimus and Dreadwing, surround Smokescreen. 

"Did I tell you? Destiny! Alpha Trion knew I'd keep it safe." Smokescreen boosted as he showed off two keys instead of one. 

Shelby started laughing from the podium. Everyone is congratulating Smokescreen. He is taking in the moment. Dreadwing claps his servos, but his eyes are on the women up on the platform. This is a huge moment for the Autobots. That is until Bumblee starts counting his digits, looking at the keys. 

"Shouldn't there be four keys?" Shelby asks, concern washing over her. 

"That's the only key I saw on the ship." Smokescreen says, setting the keys down on a pile of boxes. 

"Shelby, did you forsee this in your coma?" Optimus asks, looking over to her. Everyone else joining in. 

"No, I wasn't around after Smokescreen came back with the keys." She says looking down. 

"What do you mean? Where did you go?" Arcee starts drilling her with questions. 

"I ended up on the Nemisis. I told you that." Shelby's voice raises. 

"How did you get from here to there in a matter of minutes? You had to have been here. Where did you go that you got caught by Decepitcons?" Arcee continues, wanting to know the information. 

"I wasn't here. That's all you need to know." Shelby tries not to shout, but Arcee is making it difficult. 

"Your hiding something. You not telling us. Did you do this? Did the key go missing because of you? How do we know you didn't join the Cons?" Arcee has her hands on her hips, her face getting close and close to Shelby. 

"I would never join the Cons! What happened between the time Smokescreen came back and how I ended up on the Cons ship, is none of your business. Either way I am not going back there." Shelby gets just as close to Arcee. 

"It is our business. Your the one who knows the future. What are you hiding?" This time Arcee pulls out her blaster, pointing it at Shelby.

"Whoa! Arcee, calm down." Bulkhead says. 

"Back away from her!" Dreadwing shouts, getting in between Arcee and Shelby. Hot Rod getting next to him, his blaster out.

"You would protect her." Arcee sneers. 

"What is that supposed to mean?" Dreadwing growls. 

"That is enough!" Optimus roars over everyone. 

Arcee and Hot Rod both put their blasters away. All turned and looked at Prime. Dreadwing still watching Arcee's movements. Not trusting her after her stunt. 

"She was one of us before she left, she is still one of us now. Right now that is all that matters. What we need to worry about now is where the forth key is. If Megatron doesn't have it and we don't have it, then who has it? That is what we need to figure out." Optimus bellows. Not letting anyone inturrupt him. 

Just as he finishes, the computer dings. Ratchet heads over and takes a look. 

"It's an encrypted message...From Starscream." He sighs.