~ Nia's POV ~

It's only been a few days since I found the unconscious mech, and there are already search parties of one or two Autobots looking for him.

Now, I know what you're thinking, 'Why don't you just let them take the mech?', and I've considered it, but there are many reasons that I can't just give him to the 'Bots.

First; He is severely injured and is STILL unconscious.

Second; It would be risky for me, since I'm trying not to draw attention to myself.

And Third; I would prefer it if he could walk on his own when he reunites with his comrades. Levitating someone of THAT size is very tiring.

And that brings me to my current situation, hiding behind some bushes trying not to draw the attention of the 'bots.

A blue and pink femme and a black and yellow mech were scouting the area, they seemed worried, despite their serious looks, and I could tell they were good friends with the mech. I decided that it may be a good idea to eavesdrop on the 'Bots, since the information may be useful.

"He must be around here somewhere! I mean where else could he be?!"

"Hey, don't worry, Arcee. I'm sure he's alright, Smokescreen is a tough mech, and I'm sure he got out in time."

The blue and pink femme looked in my direction, but I was in my wolf form and I ducked out of sight almost instantly. Although, apparently, it wasn't quick enough.

"Arcee? Did you see something?"

"I think so, be quiet... Uh, Bumblebee? What type of animals live here again?"

The femme- Arcee- was getting closer to my hiding spot, and it did not look like she was going to back down, so I did what any ordinary wolf would do; press my ears against my head, while a deep threatening growl rose from my throat. Then look them straight in the optic, and try to intimidate them. Of course it didn't work, 'cause Arcee only looked confused, but it helped me blend in, and I could NOT waste an opportunity to blend in.

"False alarm 'Bee, it's only a wolf... Wait, aren't wolves supposed to come in packs?"

"Must be a loner. Let's go, we still have to scout the east part of the forest."

And just like that, they left me alone. Gotta love my acting skills!

As soon as their scent was far enough, I changed back to my human self and went scouting west toward a small cave that I found with tons of energon.

~Time Skip~

I waltzed in happily through a portal I made, towards my cave. I had just scored a bunch of energon, and I probably wouldn't need to go scouting for more in a good while. I quickly dumped the energon on the supply chamber, and went to the communication room to call my brother and check up on him.

The communication room was pretty small compared to the larger rooms, but it was still huge compared to my human form. It was composed of three huge moniters, a huge keyboard, and a huge chair to go with it. But that was my brother's setup. My setup was MUCH smaller. It's composed of mahogany wood cabinets, a very nice mahogany wood desk, a powerful laptop with a holographic keyboard and my very own rolling office chair! Which, by the way, was very comfy! Oh! And did I mention it was up in the catwalk? No? Ok, moving on!

I sat down on my ROC ( Rolling office chair ) and went through my cabinet. When I finished searching through my stuff, I pulled out a purple crystal-looking communication device, and powered it up. Almost instantly, the image of a giant, grey coated mech with a red visor, stared at me with a wide grin spreading across his faceplate.

"Hey Grim! How's my favorite big bro?" I said with a grin running across my face.

"I'm fine. How are things over there?"

"It's been, uh, eventful, to say the least..."

As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I regretted saying them entirely. Why? Because, Grimlock can be very... How should I put this? Oh yeah! Protective.

"What happened?! Are you ok?! You aren't hurt, are you?!"

Yep, there it is, the overly protective side of Grimlock... This is gonna be difficult...

"Whoa whoa whoa! Slow down there, big guy! Look, I'm perfectly fine, no need to worry. I wouldn't say the same for the other mech though..."

"Wait, what other mech?!"

As soon as he said that, a thought came through our bond. What bond, you may ask? Our artificial sibling bond! Boo yah!! ....Yeah.... I'm not gonna talk like that again... Anyways! We are so close, that we formed an artificial sibling bond(ASB for short :3) and now, we can share thoughts, speak to each other mentally, comfort each other, blah blah blah, etc. You get the drift. Moving on!

"Whoa! First, why the Pit would you think that?!?! Second, the mech I rescued from a collapsed cave that was near me. There was an energon explosion, and it kinda blew the cave to a million pieces.... Oh! And the mech is called Smokescreen, from what I heard from other Autobots that were looking for him, and when I found him, he was unconscious, so he dosen't know I exist!"

I was rambling at that point, and I, myself, wasn't quite sure of what I said. But I think I got the message through to him.

We kept talking for about an hour, before I decided to get started on dinner. I said my good bye to my brother and deactivated the Com Device. Then, I went straight to my kitchen and prepared some fried fish and got some energon for the mech. I don't know about you, but fried fish is one if my favorite foods! I made my way toward my dining table and sat down to eat, placing the energon cube right in front of me.

As soon as I finished my dinner, I grabbed the energon cube and went towards the med-bay, where the mech was being kept. I walked toward him and refilled the bag that was supplying him with energon. He was severely injured when I found him, but right now, he seems much better than before. All I need to do, is wait until he wakes up, give him a few more hours of rest after, and send him on his way. 'Now, how am I supposed to do that, without him noticing I exist?'

My thoughts were interrupted, when I heard a groan coming from the mech. I knew he was waking up, so I panicked and opened a portal to the cave he was in when I had found him, and levitated him over to the spot. As soon as I had placed him there I turned and started walking/running away of the mech. But I guess luck is not in my side today, because as I was getting away, one word made me stop in my tracks.

"Scrap!"

I slowly turned around, and acted like I knew nothing about them, as I saw the mech stand up and look at me.

"W-what are you?!"

"Listen, kid, I'm gonna have to take you with me for now, ok? I'm one of the good guys, so don't worry."

He opened his servo, and laid it flat on the ground, so that I could hop on. I hesitated a bit before looking in his optics and jumping on his big servo. I'm not gonna lie, I was really nervous during the entire act. I didn't want him finding out about me! Heck, I didn't even plan on getting grabbed by the mech! Oh, I'm so scrapped...

"So... What is your name, human?"

Oh, if he knew how wrong he was...

"I'm Nia... What are you anyways? A robot?"

As I expected, he scoffed, and muttered something about why humans always say that, then turned to answer me.

"I am not a robot, I'm a Cybertronian."

"An alien then?"

I could tell I was getting on his nerves, and knowing that right now I'm way smaller than him, I decided to back down a little.

"Sorry, I must seem very annoying right now... Hey, umm, what's your name anyway?"

He seemed to brighten up a little at my apology. I guess he thought I was gonna be a stuck up, snotty kid or something like that.... Can't say I blame him, though.

"My name is Smokescreen."

I looked around, only to find that we were still in the deep part of the cave. Man, why do they have to be so slow!? I quickly found myself bored, and as a solution for this, I tried starting a conversation.

"So, uhh, where are we going?" What? If a giant mech takes you somewhere, you would want to know where, right?

After I asked him that, he stopped in his tracks, and used his free hand to facepalm.

"Ugh, well I'm a scrap-brain..."

He then used his comm link to contact someone.

'Did he just figure out that he could use that now?' The thought made me want to facepalm myself...

:: Smokescreen to base; anyone there? ::

:: Smokescreen!? Where were you?! We've been looking for you for days! ::

:: That long? Well I'll tell you at base, right now, I need a bridge. ::

He turned off his comm, and after a few seconds, the swirling blue/green light of the ground bridge opened up. I knew I had to keep up my act, so I let my jaw drop like I have never seen a ground bridge in my life. Smokescreen simply chuckled and went through the bridge.

As soon as we stepped out of the ground bridge, we were greeted by the metal walls of a hangar. Meh, figured the government would know about them, honestly. Then, there was the Grouch.

"Smokescreen, where were you?! Oh, forget it! Sit down on the medical berth and let me scan you."

He then took notice of little ol' me.

"And, why is there a human with you?! I thought three were enough!"

That last comment caught my attention, though.

"There are other humans here?"

Mr. Grouchy over there looked pretty annoyed by now, so Smokescreen was the one who answered me.

"Yep, Jack, Miko and Raf."

I was pretty curious about how they came to know about the Autobots, but those thoughts were interrupted, when a giant red, blue and silver Cybertronian walked into the room followed by a smaller blue and red one. Wow, there is a lot if blue here, right now!

I stared straight into the larger one's opticts. His stature didn't intimidate me, at all. Grim was way bigger than him. He didn't seem to notice, thank Primus for that! Instead he started talking.

"Smokescreen, I am glad you are alright. Might I ask who this is?"

The mech had a baritone voice, something that immediately made me think he was the leader. He seemed alright, although, he kinda seems reserved, like me.

"Optimus, this is Nia. Nia, this is Optimus Prime."

That name rang a bell, but I couldn't quite pinpoint why. Optimus, though, started explaining everything I already knew about the war and how it destroyed Cybertron. I honestly didn't pay much attention to what he said, that is, until he mentioned that Cybertron had been revived. I started listening with attention, and practically memorized everything he said. Grim would love to hear about this!

After he finished, he turned his full attention toward me. He was about to say something when two cars and one motorcycle entered the hangar. From a bulky green car, came out an Asian looking girl with pink streaks in her otherwise black hair. Behind her, from the, Camaro I think it was?, Came out a boy who looked like he was only about twelve. Then there was the Motorcycle, from it came a teenage boy, possibly seventeen, with raven black messy hair. Behind them, their vehicles transformed into Cybertronians, two of which I had encountered today. The third one transformed into a bulky, green mech.

The humans were all chatting, until they noticed Smokescreen and me. They immediately ran up to us, and started asking Smokescreen if he was ok. The girl, though, was the first to notice me.

"Hey,whoareyou?Howdidyoufindoutabouttheautobots?Doyouplayaninstrument?Doyoulikedunebashing?whatkindofmusicdoyoulisten-"
She bombarded me with a million questions, but I was too overwhelmed to answer any of them. Luckily, Smokescreen cut her off, before she could fully traumatize me.

"Miko, this is Nia. Nia, this is Miko, that's Jack, and that's Raf."

He pointed towards the two boys who were right behind Miko, and I gave a slight smile towards everyone. Then, all of the 'Bots introduced themselves to me. Although I did not expected that Mr. Grumpy's name was Ratchet instead of Grumpy or Grinch or something like that... Huh... Oh well!

After all of the introductions were in place, Optimus continued with what he was saying.

"Nia, could you tell us how you found our friend?"

It was a reasonable question, but I couldn't tell the whole truth. So what do I do? I cut out the parts they don't need to know and add a few extras so they will believe me.

"I was wondering around the area, when a strong earthquake hit the forest. When it was finished, I wandered to the source of the quake. As I was getting closer, I saw these huge robot things passing some kind of portal or something. I don't think that they noticed me, though. When they were nowhere to be seen, I wandered through the cave until I found Smokescreen lying on the floor. I did not want to get caught by some giant robots, so I tried walking away from him, but he woke up first. And now, here I am!"

He seemed to be in thought for a moment, but he immediately snapped out of it.

"Very well. But may I ask, do your parental units know of your whereabouts before this incident?"

~OP's POV~

Her face darkened when I mentioned her parental units. She did not sadden or get angry, she just... darkened. I knew something was wrong, but her facial expression changed quickly.

"Don't worry, I've got until sundown. Speaking of which, I should get going."

Something about her explanation didn't seem alright, but I passed it off and focused on thinking about what I would do with her. She was at risk, yet, she did not seem threatened. I decided to send her with an escort, just in case.

"Very well, Smokescreen will escort you toward your home. Ratchet, open the ground bridge."

For a split second, her eyes showed panic, but she quickly removed any traces of it.

~Nia's POV~

An escort?! SERIOUSLY?! Oh scrap, scrap, scrap, scrap, scrap, scrap, SCRAP! What am I supposed to do now?! I can't just waltz into my cave and say "Hey! This is my place! What do ya think!"! This is bad...... I know! Grim should know what to do!

I quickly went through our bond and contacted him.

"What's up, Sis?"

"Got a situation, Autobots found my human self and now they're sending somebot to escort me to my home! What do I do?!?!"

"Calm down, Nia..... Let's see... Maybe you should head towards the fake house instead. That way, nobody will know about the cave."

I pretty much mentally face-palmed myself.

"How did I NOT think of that?!"

"You were panicking. Probably forgot how to use your brain."

"Oh, shut up!"

I quickly snapped back to reality. Since I was panicking, my conversation only lasted for half a second, which was awesome, since it would be pretty stupid just standing there for who knows how long....

I looked toward Optimus, then Ratchet and finally, Smokescreen. I wanted to get this over with, so I started saying my goodbye's and went through the bridge with Smokescreen.

We crossed the bridge, and it turns out that Ratchet sent us above ground, near the collapsed cave's entrance. I silently thanked Primus, and went over to Smokescreen to guide him to the fake house.

~~~time skip~~~

We talked a little during the trek to the house, and got to know each other a bit better.

About half an hour later, we finally reached our destination. A wood logged cabin with some windows and a red shingle roof. Pretty classic, don't ya think? Anyways, I went to go inside, when Smokescreen asked me something I would rather avoid.

"So, where are your parents?"

"I-I don't actually know....."

"What do you mean? Didn't they tell you where they were gonna go?"

"No, they didn't. Anyways, we're here. Are you going to stick around or are you going back now?"

"Nah, I'll stick around for a while. Do you wanna talk?"

He was a very nice mech, and good for conversation, too. So I thought 'Eh, why not?'.

"Sure! What do you wanna talk about?"

"I don't know, how about you?"

I tensed up a little, but I relaxed when he didn't ask anything personal.

We kept chatting until it was midnight. By that time, we were cracking up about a joke. When we stopped laughing, Smokescreen seemed to notice the time.

"Hey, shouldn't your parents be home by now?"

I really started panicking then, but before I could answer him with a lie, a couple of vehicons came into view, led by who I recognized as Shockwave. Grim had told me about him, and by his description alone I hated his guts. I tried hiding behind the house, but before I could even move, the vehicons surrounded us!

Smokescreen, had stood up and was standing by my side protectively.

"Shockwave. What do you want here?!"

Smokescreen was snarling towards Shockwave, while I stood there trying to control my anger. 'That's the guy who caused Grim's problems! I should offline him right now!' My anger must have been pretty bad, because my hand was starting to glow a little. Suddenly waves of calmness washed over me, and I calmed down. Enough, at least, to not lose control of my rage. I realized that Grim probably felt my rage, so through the bond I apologized and turned my full attention to what was happening in front of me.

Smokescreen was calling for backup while fighting off the drones. And Shockwave was analyzing the area. Suddenly, his one optic turned towards me, and with forced speed he tried to catch me. My reflexes kicked in, and I dodged his attempt to capture me. I was THIS close to kick his tailpipe of the planet, THIS close! But I restrained myself as the rest of the Autobots ran into action.

"Decepticons, fall back! Fall back!"

Shockwave motioned for the drones to come through the ground bridge that had just appeared, and in less time than a fleeing coward, they were gone.

I looked around, and noticed that they destroyed half of the fake house. Thank goodness that my room was intact. What? I may or may not have a collection of rocks there..... Anyways, seeing that the Decepticons saw me with Smokescreen, I'm guessing that they now think that I'm involved with them.

'Great.... Just great....'

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~ OP's POV ~

The Decepticons fled as soon as we came through, wich was quite unexpected. But now, Nia's home is destroyed.

I saw a flash of relief cross her face, but then it was replaced by an annoyed expression, while she muttered something under her breath.

I realized that this incident has put her at risk, so I had to put her and her family under Autobot protection.

"Nia, I'm afraid that you will have to relocate somewhere near us, so that we will be able to protect you and your family from the Decepticons."

She moved her glare from the destroyed house to my optics. Most humans showed a little intimidation towards my stature, but she did not. It was almost as if she'd seen bigger. Her answer, though, did not come quickly nor hesitantly. She was thinking it over carefully. But why should she think over a decision as simple as this? She is a strange human indeed.

-----------------------------------
~ Nia's POV ~

As the question sunk in, I started to think over the pro's and con's of everything.

'If I accept to go with the Autobots, I will have another place to lay low and I will probably never need to battle it out on my own with the Decepticons and risk losing control, but, I will have to hide my true nature, I'll have to be sneaky when searching and if I become friends with anyone there and the Decepticons hurt or offline them, I will probably lose control...' Yep. Not likely.

'On the other hand, If I disagree, I will have the freedom to search, I can use my true nature as I please, and I won't have to worry about a friend getting offlined. But, I won't have any backup to help me battle it out with the 'Cons, if I see shockwave I'll probably rip him to shreds, I'll probably lose control, plus, they know the general area of where I live so I'll have to be extra careful when looking for energon. And the Autobots will probably get suspicious. Scrap...'

This is bad. Very, Very bad...

I figured that the best choice was what Grim said, so I asked him through our bond.

"This is not good.... Shockwave didn't analyze you, right?"

"No, he didn't. But now they will start coming after me because of the Autobots.... What do you think? Should I go with them?"

"Go with them, you'll be protected and concealed. But remember, I'm only a bond away... And if a 'Con even scratches you, I am going down there to beat the scrap out of him, got it?"

I chuckled mentally. Grim has always been an overprotective brother, but I loved him anyways.

"Got it. Talk to ya later!"

I returned my attention to the 'Bots, who were awaiting my answer.

"Ok, let me go pack my stuff."

Before I could go to my room, Optimus stopped me with the question I've been trying to avoid all day (and failing miserably).

"What about your family?"

That stopped me dead in my tracks.

"I... don't have one."

"So you lived alone?"

"Yes..."

With that I turned around, leaving the 'Bots with stunned expressions. It hurt to say I didn't have family, but I know that he was referring to my organic family, not my real one.

I headed towards my bedroom and started packing the belongings I had there. Once I finished, I opened a small portal through one of my walls. Luckily for me, my room did not have windows, so the faint glow of my portal could not be seen. I quickly passed through and started packing my clothes and other trinkets. I made sure to pack my electronics and my comm. crystal. I finished packing, and un a separate bag, I put a few cubes of energon. I probably took around ten minutes to pack, which was pretty long, considering I don't have that much to pack. After I double checked that my energon cubes were not visible, I went through my portal and headed outside.

Once there, the Autobots took me through the ground bridge. In the base, we had a moment of silence before Optimus spoke up.

"Nia, since you will be staying here, I will assign Smokescreen as your guardian. And while your room is getting ready, you may have fun with the games the other children bring."

I let a small smile spread through my face.

"Ok! Hey Smokescreen, is it okay if I call ya Smoke?"

"Um, yeah, sure!"

The other humans were not there at the moment, so I think they went home. But let me tell you, when the Autobots get a room ready, they do it fast! By the hour, I had already started to unpack my stuff. I had made a secret hatch that doesn't let out energon signals, to start making my own little hangout, and put my energon in.

After I finished unpacking, I changed into a loose tank top and some shorts, and went to sleep.

This is certainly going to be an interesting adventure.

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A/N

🎉FINALLY! I UPDATE!!!!!🎉

I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry! It's just that I had a little case of writers block, and this was a pretty long chapter! (I was actually going to make it longer, but I decided to leave that for the next chapter) Please forgive me! 👏😖

Anyways, just wanted to say that if an update comes late in the next week or so forth, you can blame it on the school. I already have exams announced, and it's only been three days since we started!

Anyways.... Hope ya like the chapter!

Also, I want to dedicate this chapter to my big brother, since it's his birthday! HA! He's already 25, he's getting oooold! Heh, sorry. Still gonna say it though! 😈

Oh! I almost forgot, the drawing in this chapter is Nia's usual clothing when she goes into the Autobot's base! Hope you like it!

Anyways, Like, comment and share if you like this!

Adiós Amigos!
(Goodbye Friends!)
-S.W.1211