Heart to Mouth ((TFP SMOKESCREEN X OC))

2

Penelope's fingers tangled and detangled from her hair absently, gaze set on the never ending pasture of orange sand lining the highway Smokescreen drove across. The sun had long since set, and the human had begun to wonder when they would arrive at Smokescreen's base.

The thirty minutes that had ticked by were coated in silence, however, Penelope could feel the mech's holographic eyes flicking in her direction every so often. She was unsure of whether or not he wanted to say something to her, or if he was starting to feel the pressure of having to face his commanding officer with what he's done. She wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be both, and slowly shifted in her seat to look at him.

"So..." she began, eliciting his form to jump at the sound of her voice. "How many others are there?"

"Well," he cleared his throat. "Counting the Autobots, there're only six of us in total, plus you and the three other humans. The Decepticons, on the other hand, well... that's hard to say."

"Decepticons?" Penelope tilted her head.

"That mech I was fighting before was a Con," he explained. "They're the bad guys that want to destroy Earth, and the entire reason why we — the Autobots — are here."

"So I'm assuming you're outnumbered pretty badly," she guessed. Smokescreen puffed out a sigh. "That's usually how it goes."

"You got that right," he had the spirit to chuckle. "It's been... well, rough, but we have to keep a positive outlook on things."

Penelope hummed in acknowledgement with her fingers tugging on a loose curl. From her place beside him, he looked tired; a worn down solider. It surprised her that someone as young as him was even caught up in an intergalactic war in the first place. She suddenly felt incredibly small sitting beside — or, inside — him, and slumped in her seat.

"Heads up," Smokescreen suddenly said, catching her gaze once more. "We're here."

Penelope turned forward, and immediately her eyes widened at the sight of them driving full tilt toward the face of a cliff. She pushed her back up against the backrest of the passenger seat, and sealed her eyes closed tightly as she prepared herself for the collision.

However, the impact she was expecting never came, and slowly she opened her eyes again to see a dimmed — all metal — driveway lit by fluorescent blue lights. She leaned forward almost instantaneously upon entering a giant hangar, of which held a recreational platform and several different monitors strewn about the spacious hidden base. Her green eyes widened even further at the sight of another, older looking mech standing in front of one of the screens, and tensed when his electric blue eyes met hers.

Before she was able to say anything further to Smokescreen, his passenger side door popped open. Her head turned at the gesture, and she felt the seat move from under her; motioning that she get out.

She did as instructed without a word, and took a few steps back as Smokescreen transformed into his bipedal mode.

"Smokescreen," the other Bot's voice shot through the silence like a lazer beam, prompting Penelope to jump right out of her skin. "What in the world have you done now? Another human? How could you be —"

"I know, I know," Smokescreen rolled his optics with his servos moving in a downward gesture. "How could I be so irresponsible, right? The Con led the fight straight up to her! There wasn't anything I could do."

"How about taking a little bit more precaution when out on the field!" The older mech threw his arms up as if it was obvious. "Honestly, Smokescreen, we can't have all of Jasper discovering our existence on this planet!"