The next week went by slowly since Silas return, Nova was messing around with her powers. When she had been recuperating, she figured out how to combine her different abilities, much to Ratchet's chagrin, and found out how to make rough sort of hologram by bending the light and altering its frequencies. She didn't do anything much at this point, just annoy Ratchet really when she had been recuperating. Not only that, she was able to test her flight if she can still fly like before which she did. She still able to fly even without her vehicle mode but she had to stay low profile if the humans didn't want to spot her. She become much better with transforming in general. 

Currently she laid on her berth as usual, she had yet to open her eyes though due to dream she had. She kept on seeing the same dream where she saw the Omega lock and the voice kept telling her to utilize it, much to her confusion and frustration. Grumbling to herself she sat up she swung her legs over the edge but was surprised to find that they didn't meet the floor. Opening her eyes she saw the ground far below. Quickly she stood up on the berth and looked at her arms. They were human. She laughed, then focused and became Cybertronian again, she switched between the two a few more times before she stopped in her human form. 

She walked out to the hallway as Nova went to her room and was relieved that she can take shower since she had no idea how long she had been in her Titan mode. She stepped out and put her clothes on when she looked in the mirror, there was something on her just below her collar bone that looked off. Pulling the shirt down a bit farther revealed it to be a tattoo of some kind. It was on top of the burnmark where her heart reside. She traced it confused as to what it was before it struck her, it was the A-3 key. 

She realized she hadn't taken it off any time and began wondering where it went before she realized that what was showing wasn't an imprint from the key, it was, or what was left of the key that showed. She drew in a shaky breath and rubbed her face somewhat frustrated, at least she didn't have to worry about misplacing it anymore...if she lost track of herself she would have a serious problem. 

As she finished, She heads back to the main room, only to see that everyone were doing their thing, except Bee and Smokescreen are not present. Campy was the first to saw her master and was happy to see that she was in her human form as he jumped into her arms lovingly. Nobody noticed her climbing to the platform until Jack was the only one there who suddenly noticed something was off, it was then he saw Nova, in her human form, "Nova?! You're human again!"

  All heads whirled around to her and Nova said, "Um yeah....I am."  

"When did this happen?" Ratchet asked, "I saw you not an hour ago and you were still..."

She shrugged, "I woke up this morning like this and finally found out I can switch between the two."

Jack said impressed, "That's amazing."

"Thx.....So is this just a day of energon searching?" Nova said them who were present.

"Well bulkhead and i haven't managed to find any, bumblebee and smokescreen are still out and ratchet is looking out for any iacon beacons." Arcee shrugged.

"In short you're on standby." 

"Exactly." She sighed

"I see.....Looks like it's just you and me today, Jack." Nova said to him.

"Looks that way." He said.

Nova was leaning on the rail, petting Campy on the helm. Bee and Smokescreen came into the base and Bee began venting angrily about Smokescreen blowing their cover. Jack opened a laptop and began searching for the image Bee was venting about, "Found it! Old road rage didn't waste any time posting your mug shots." He said.

Nova used her technopathy to hack into the computer as she was able to replaced the image with one of a the Nevada Desert. Nova turned to them, "You're lucky I'm here. It's good thing I was able to hack into any technology." She turned to Smokescreen as she scolded him, "Also, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!"

"Is this what you learned while serving Alpha Trion?!" Ratchet questioned Smokescreen angrily, "I highly doubt that he would have condoned such irresponsible behavior."

Arcee also joined, "Blowing your cover is not ok."

"Sorry guys, I know I really messed up." Smokescreen apologized.

Optimus walked up behind Smokescreen, addressing everyone. "While Ratchet and Arcee are correct, I believe that we are all equally responsible for this incident."

Arcee gaped up at him, "Us?"

Ratchet rolled his shoulders up and motioned up at him. "How?"

Bulkhead protested. "We weren't even there!"

"I tried to stop him."

Bulkhead amended, "Well, he was."

"Hey! You try holding him back next time!"

"Our recent efforts have been so intensely focused on averting crises that we have overlooked simple matters, such as teaching Smokescreen how to best function on this planet. It is an oversight that must be corrected." Optimus finished.

Smokescreen placed his servo over his spark, looking up at the Prime. "Optimus, I'm honored to train under you and will do whatever it takes to make things right, to make you proud."

"Perhaps the best way for you to learn about the human world is from a human."

Arcee raised an eyebrow ridge at them. "Smokescreen gets his own partner?"

Ratchet scoffed. "Please. Isn't having four humans here enough?" He saw the look everyone was giving him. Nova said thoughtful, "Ratchet, You do realize what you just said." The hangar was awfully silent as Ratchet looked at the lot of us. He scoffed, before rolling his eyes and turning back to the computer.   

"I was referring to one already among us...." Optimus trailed off, looking past Nova and to Jack.

"Uh...." he took a visible step back. "Sure, Optimus. Uh..."

"Robots in disguise, traffic laws, and no beating down humans," Nova filled Jack in on the lesson plans as he fidgeted nervously.

"I think I can bring Smokescreen up to speed."

  Smokescreen just stared at Jack before Bulkhead patted him on the shoulder, "We've all put in curbside duty. Part of the gig."  

"Then let's go for a drive," Smokescreen smiled at Jack as he jumped the last few steps on the ladder and to the ground. "Teach,"

He transformed, Arcee glaring at him as he did so. As soon as Jack got in, his tires squealed as he accelerated out of the hangar. 'I hope those two don't do anything stupid.' Nova thought.

Arcee watched them go before turning around, "Optimus, with all due respect, agent Fowler is out relocating Raf's family because the 'cons discovered where he lives. Meanwhile, Smokescreen, in all his wisdom, chooses a vehicle mode with screaming double thirty-eights on the doors, making him an easy target. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more than concerned about Jack's safety."

"Wow....Overprotective much." Nova mumbled.

"Nonetheless," he stated in his very leader voice. "The fact remains that our new recruit is in need of instruction."

"Then why not send Nova?"

 "Uh in case you haven't realize, I don't exist remember. " Nova reminded Arcee. "Beside, Jack went through the class. I'm sure he's technically more qualified than I'll ever be."

"But..." she protested, all optics on Nova. "How do you drive so well if..."

"You learn a few skills on the streets when it comes to survival."

"I believe that Smokescreen's spark is in the right place, Arcee," Optimus assured her. "And that he now understands the necessity of protecting humanity,"

  Optimus returned to the computers to work on the data base while the others went back to whatever they had been previously doing.  That's when Bee began to realized as he turned to her, "Hey, Nova since when did you turn back?"

After an hour, Nova was fixing her bike while Campy was watching her on the floor. The sound of engines entered base as smokescreen came swerving into base, roars of laughter came from smokescreen and jack."I am so posting this tonight." Jack laughed. 

Nova stood up from her spot as she head to them. "What's so funny?" Jack turned to her, "Oh Nova you gotta see this." 

Nova stared at the photo, only to show a picture of Vince's messy car. "Wait Isn't that....?" Nova trailed off.

"Arcee, Arcee," Jack called. "Check out Vince's car!" he turned his cellphone to her.

"The bully?" she asked, kneeling down to see. She narrowed her eyes at it as she shared the same reaction NOva had. Jack chuckled, looking at the screen again. "Hey, Vince, did you want fries with that?" Smokescreen joined him in another bout of laughter.

"Let me get this straight," Arcee rose to her full height. "So you taught Smokescreen everything he never needed to know about fast food,"

"He passed driver's ed," Jack shrugged. "Work hard, play hard,"

"Uh, yeah," Smokescreen agreed, following Jack past the bots. "No humans were harmed in the making of these photos - honest!"

"I have a feeling some bad stuff is about to go down." NOva expressed, standing beside her.

"I share that feeling." Arcee added. 

The next morning, Nova was at the computer screen watching Optimus type, her mood was better becoz she was able to master her Titan form, however she thinks she's only human at base today, unless she missed that memo. "That's some work......How do you decode this stuff anyway?" Nova asked.

"Different languages and scripts, digit, or symbol is assigned a unique numeric value that applies across different platforms." He then glanced her way for a single second, "are you confused?" he lightly jested.

"Pfft, o-of course that's how you do it, by whatever you just explained. I'm can read Cybertronian words but that decoding seems so complicated." Nova said as she continued to watch his hands. 

"Alpha Trion is more refined in such a task; my optics could not keep up with his digits." He said lightly.

"Can I ask you? What can you tell me about him." Nova asked. She did met him in the past but she was curious when she recalled the time how she first gained her armor and where she met the Primes which Alpha Trion was one of them.

"He existed during the first days of cybertron's birth, a first generation child of primus." He said still decoding.

" Woah......So, if i told him to act his age, would he die?" 

"I think he'd tell you to respect your elders." 

"I do! ...eventually. He was a member of the thirteen, wasn't he?"

"Yes......and the guardian of the covenant of primus as well as the reality being quill." He said.

"When I  think quill I think a giant feather." Nova said scratching her head.

"Naturally that is how they are portrayed on earth." 

"He sound like George takei from the TV show." Nova muttered

"Sorry?" he said.

"Nothing, anyway tell me more about this decoding stuff." Nova said, slapping the keyboard, as a lucky hit a slight high pitched beeping sound was made as a small section of the co-ordinates appeared and was then added to the working set.

He looked at her unsure, "Uh I guess...that was the right one?" Nova  said as he got back to decoding. "You're welcome" She sighed.

20 minutes later

Optimus was typing away at his console before looking up. "I am nearly finished decoding the next Iacon coordinates."

They both looked over when the screen began beeping furiously. Ratchet nodded, "You may not need to complete your task, Optimus."

"An Iacon-locator beacon."

Ratchet nodded, "It seems the Decepticons have already excavated the next relic."

Optimus turned to them,"Ratchet, triangulate coordinates and activate the ground bridge. Nova, remain here." 

She nodded to him. "Where is Smokescreen?"

"Out training again with Jack." Arcee answered dryly.

"We cannot wait. Autobots, transform and roll out." Optimus ordered as they head to the groundbridge before it closes behind.

Nova walked towards to Ratchet, sighing softly. "I hope they can get the relic still.."

Ratchet turned to her, frowning. "Smokescreen should have been here to help."

She shrugged, sighing softly. "He would have been helpful..."

Ratchet looked up when his screen got another alert. "Optimus, I just picked up a second Iacon-locator beacon." He only received a short burst of static. "Optimus, do you read?"

Nova frowned, standing up straight. "Odd.....It could be there's atmospheric interference?"

Ratchet mumbled to himself, messing with his computer. "Maybe.."

They both turned when Smokescreen slid into base. Jack got out, Smokescreen transforming next to him. They were both laughing like crazy. Jack grinned up at him. "Oh dude, my boss is gonna freak!"

"That thing we stuffed in his tailpipe, what's it called again?"

"Pizza!"

Ratchet snapped at them, not looking away from his screen. "Will you two keep it down!?" He tried again to contact the others. "Arcee? Bulkhead? Can anyone hear me?"

Nova looked up as the other two approached her. "The sensors detected a second Iacon-locator beacon, but we can't reach the others."

Smokescreen stood up straight. "I'll go."

Ratchet frowned at him, "Alone?"

"You have a better option?"

Ratchet sighed. "Fine." He walked over and opened the ground bridge before going back to his computer, his back to the other three.

Smokescreen kneel down. "He says 'fine' but I don't think he really wants me to go alone."

Nova saw the grin on Jack's face and groaned. "Oh no...." She followed the other two through the ground bridge, looking around.

Jack rubbed his head. "We just pulled a Miko."

"YEah we just did." Nova said, as she transformed into her robot mode.

 Jack turned to her, "Um, Why aren't you in your Titan mode?"

"Somebody has to watch over you, in case." Nova glared at Jack which made him shudder.

"Let's go grab a relic." Smokescreen said excitedly.

He ran ahead of them before crouching behind some giant rocks. Nova and Jack ran after him, hiding as well. They looked over the edge of the small canyon below. A bunch of Decepticons were scattered around a sword stuck in the wall.

Nova spoke, "Is that a sword?"

Smokescreen said, "It's not just any sword. That looks like the Star Saber, a legendary weapon forged by Solus Prime as lore would have it. It's rumored to wield the power of the Matrix. I'm gonna make Optimus proud."

Jack shook his head quickly. "Not a good idea."

Smokescreen looked over at them. "Why?"

Nova frowned as she stared at the Decepticon leader, feeling the phantom shocks of dark energon running through her veins. "Megatron's down there."

Smokescreen looked closely. "The Dark Lord himself. He won't know what hit him." He then punched his palm, smirking. He stood up, ready to charge in. 

Jack motioned to him quickly. "Smokescreen, wait. Something isn't right."

Nova realized what he was talking about. "Megatron isn't taking the sword and running.."

Smokescreen shrugged at them. "Germaphobe?" 

Nova facepalmed while Jack frowned up at him. "No, seriously, we need to wait for backup."

She nodded, peering around the rock she was behind. "You can't take on those drones and Megatron alone."

Smokescreen looked down at them. "You heard Ratchet. Backup's not available right now." He then jumped off the rock, rushing into the canyon.

She looked at Jack, sighing. "This always happens. Always."

Jack shook his head, shrugging. "What can you do?" He kneel down with Nova, watching below them.

At Megatron's loud shout of an order a claw came down from the warship, hooking onto the rock. That's when Smokescreen ran into the fray, attacking the Decepticon drones. He ran right at the sword, grabbing a hold of it. He couldn't get it free, getting shot in the back by a drone. He was then surrounded by more drones.

NOva frowned at Jack, "This doesn't end well."

Jack quickly got out his phone calling the base. "Ratchet, you gotta get Optimus here now. Smokescreen went for the relic. I-it's called the Star Sab-"

Nova pulled Jack out of the way as a Insecticon went to grab him. "Scrap! Run!"

 Jack ran away, tripping and losing his phone. Nova managed to picked it up and handed it too him, running beside him. "It's an Insecticon, Ratchet!"

  The two teenagers dodged the giants foot before continuing to run away. The Insecticon screeched at them as he ran after them. Nova cursed as she almost fell, using her momentum to keep her from falling.  Jack panted as he ran with her. "In here!" Nova grabbed Jack's hand and dragged her into a small crevice in the rocks. They ran into the back, crouching down at the Insecticon's giant claws tried to cut them in half. They dodged around the claws, trying to scoot back farther into the crevice. "This is so not good!"

 Nova took a stepped back as two Insecticons lifted the rock protecting them from the top. "STAY BACK." She growled, with her hand sparking with energy. She expecting to be hurt when she saw the Insecticon fall. Someone was shooting at them. Bumblebee was there, punching the last one away from them as the others shot at them. 

   Arcee kneel down, looking them over.  "What could you possible have been thinking?!"

Nova winced, hearing how angry she was. Jack said to her, "It's my fault, Arcee. I wanted to go."

Arcee picked them up, running back to the team. "We'll discuss this later!" She stood with the rest of the team, watching as Optimus tried to reach the relic, Arcee placed both kids on the ground.

Optimus just managed to reach out, clinging to the sword. The sword then began to glow a bright blue, energy tendrils reaching out. Then the sword slipped free, Optimus falling back down to the ground, hard. He stood up and looked at the sword, seemingly fine.

Smokescreen looked at him before looking back at the others. "I loosened it for him."

Everyone watched in horror as Megatron dropped the mountain, it rolling right towards Optimus. Arcee stepped forward, yelling to him. "Optimus, retreat!"  

"Now!" Bulkhead demanded.

Nova's breathing stopped,  her spark stopping and her heart freezing. She couldn't look away from what she was sure was to be the end of guardian. He just stood there.... Inspecting the relic closely. He slowly turned, before forcefully striking up with his sword. The mountain split in two, a straight line dividing as it rolled past Optimus' standing form. It slowed to a stop, the two ends falling onto their ends.

"Did he just....?" Bulkhead rumbled.

"Split a mountain in half?" Bee buzzed.

"No way...." Jack stunned. 

Nova slowly took a step forward. "Optimus?..." She called to him softly, reaching a hand out to him.

His helm turned towards Nova, her optics zooming in on him enough to see his optics turning, indicating he doing the same. She retracted her helmet, revealing her human face and her hair blowing in the air. His optics narrowed, before he turned back to the warship, taking a dangerous stance.

Optimus charged forward, his sword glowing a blue. He spun in a circle, both of his servos clenching it as he let out a ferocious growl. An arch of the neon blue traveled across the night sky, directly towards the retreating form of the decepticon warship. Nova watched in wonder as it connected with it's rear thrusters, sending the massive ship falling for the ground.

"It can do that?" Smokescreen wondered aloud. The ship struggled to regain its height in the air, however sped up quickly retreating away from Optimus' glaring form. 

Back in the Base

  Smokescreen walked through the ground bridge, "How epic was that!? I-I saw it with my own optics." He mimicked Optimus' sword swing as he ran into the room. "But I still don't believe it!"  

"You know what I don't believe?" Arcee angrily stopped him as Optimus walked past. "After everything you've been told, you still put a human in danger.

"A-Arcee," Jack called. "It wasn't his fault. I shouldn't have-"

"Don't even start with me," Arcee interrupted him, her voice cracking slightly. "We'll talk tomorrow! Send Jack home," she looked to Ratchet, who activated the ground bridge.

Ratchet silently opened the ground bridge. Jack went to protest before sighing, walking to the ground bridge. He looked back one more time before going through.

Smokescreen sighed. "Green for go.." 

Nova was sitting on his shoulder as she said apologetically, gently rubbing his armor, "Sorry about running into danger. I just didn't want Jack to be alone in case something happened."

Optimus turned to her and assured, "It is alright, Nova."

Arcee pointed up at Smokescreen. "We've been in need of another Autobot in our ranks, not another child."

"Look, Arcee," Smokescreen stated in a calm voice. "I was wrong. And I'm sorry - again. It was just, Optimus allowed Nova to join you guys before so I assumed ---"

"That's different," Nova called over, from Optimus' shoulder. "You don't know even half the battles, I had to fight in order to let the big rig to even consider me to follow."

"I know that now, after watching you." Smokescreen bowed his head. "And if you need to kick me off of team Prime -"

"Disregard for human safety - or anyone's safety - will not be tolerated," Optimus rumbled in his leader tone, narrowing his optics at the bots and slamming his new sword into the ground. "Do you understand?"

"Fully, sir,"

The bots were silent as Optimus straightened, his voice softening. "We must never lose sight of the fact that upon this earth, we are titans, and such power must be used wisely." The sword glowed a blue again, Optimus turning it over in his servos. Nova turned her attention to Optimus, who was studying the sword intensely.

"Optimus, speak to me," Ratchet demanded, stepping directly in his line of sight behind the sword. When he received nothing, he called again. "Optimus!"

"I am receiving a message," he stated in a monotone, his optics not leaving the swords. 

"From who?" Ratchet asked.

It was quiet for a few moments. "Alpha Trion."