Lennox grunted grumbled and snarled to himself as he walked down one of the many hallways that made up the interior of NEST's base of operations on Diego Garcia. The base was made up of several large buildings that could put most aircraft hangers to shame and at that particular moment in time Lennox felt that nowhere was far enough to escape. Escape what one might ask? Lennox was a soldier after all and had faced all sorts of Hell throughout his Military career so far.
The thing that he was trying his best to escape from however wasn't a what but a who. And the who is question was one Theodore Galloway. The slightly balding blonde haired and blue eyed man was the Presidents choice of lesion. If Lennox had been able to have his way he would have gladly dumped the annoying and pushy man into the ocean and left him their to drown or be eaten by sharks. Sadly as the man was a government official it meant that they had to put with him for as long as possible. It didn't mean that he had to like it however.
The fact that the Autobots didn't think that much of the man only made the temptation to toss him in the ocean worse. Because when you got on Optimus Prime's nerves, or the robotic equivalent of, there had to be something meagerly wrong with you. Galloway was stubborn, arrogant, nasty , and an all around bastard no matter the situation and his way of doing things was almost always the wrong way of doing things. It didn't help that he'd jumped on the "we want alien weaponry" bandwagon and had taken over driving. The man didn't seem to realize that the Autobots weren't going to give a five year old a hand grenade and let them play with it.
And that's what humans were when compared to the Autobots. They were five year olds that wanted toys for kids age ten and up. Still growling under his breath Lennox stepped in front of a retinal scanner set into the wall in front of him and waited for the little green light to verify his identity so that he could get into the Autobots hanger.
Lennox knew that they'd be willing to let him rant and rave about Galloway and if he was lucky he and Ironhide could plot the mans downfall together. It didn't even matter to either one that they couldn't actually hurt the man. The plotting would help release stress and put him in a much better mood. It didn't hurt that all the bots tended to get a laugh out of some of the hair brained plans that he and a few of the other soldiers came up with. The door before him slid open with a soft 'whoosh' of air and closed a moment after he had stepped through.
There was only the sound of the florescent lights above his head and his boots hitting the floor after that. Or at least that's what Lennox thought at first. It didn't take very long however for him to notice that his footsteps seemed to be echoing louder than they should have been and there was the faintest of clicking sounds that couldn't have been caused by anything other than metal hitting metal as someone walked.
It was almost like the clinking of car keys or of chains jingling as they moved. It was the type of noise that he never would have noticed had he not learned to listen for it. And he wouldn't have learned to listen for it had it not been crucial to his and his family's survival. There was no pause in movement as Lennox spun around arm lashing out to hit at something that was no longer there. Shaking his head Lennox huffed a laugh as he turned back around.
"You going to play assassin with me all the way to the Autobot's hanger Sam?" Lennox asked the air around him. There was silence for a moment before a soft laugh answered his question.
"No, just thought I'd be sure you were still in practice." Lennox grinned as he turned to face the young man that was standing behind him.
Sam hadn't changed much in the two years that they had known each other. The biggest change was the scars that had been added to the younger man's ever growing collection.
Sam offered Lennox a smile before he sniffed and ran his left hand under his nose. "So, how'd you get here this time?" Lennox asked as the two started walking, this time they were side by side.
"I snuck onto the helicopter that Galloway came here on. It was almost too easy really." Sam sniffed as if the ease in which he played stow away disgusted him.
"I've had more of a challenge taking care of Annabelle while you and Sarah were on a date." Lennox raised an eyebrow.
"One of the normal ones or that time you ended up having to fight of those Templar guys who thought you'd be an easy target?"
"A normal one. The Templars was a one time thing."
"Don't I wish that were true." Lennox mumbled under his breath. The soldier hadn't known what to think two years before when he'd learned that the scrawny teenager that had killed Megatron in Mission City was actually being trained by an ancient brotherhood of assassins in the ways of the assassin. He'd lost sleep over that revelation but eventually he'd come to accept it.
And while the thought of kind and gentle Sam, the same awkward teen who played games with his daughter and Epps' kids, was actually a trained killer left an odd taste in his mouth he knew that he couldn't change it. And some part of him knew that he wouldn't change it even if he could. Sam had undergone the training of his own free will and while things had ended up going bad for awhile things were slowly getting better. Though that may have had more to do with Lennox insisting that Sam not share his stories while he was in the room to hear them.
Seeing the scars that Sam earned while working was enough for him. The one above the younger man's right eye and one his left side was reminder enough of how badly wrong things could and would go. "Is there anything that I could do that would get you to assassinate Galloway for us? It'd save us a lot of trouble if you could." Sam tilted back his head and laughed at the older man's request.
"Sorry, Lennox. He's an asshole of the highest degree but he isn't out to rule the world or take away free will. At least so far as we know. You're just gonna have to deal with him." Lennox groaned and hung his head in mock despair. "Are you sure you can't do something? You don't have to kill him we just need him out of our hair for awhile." Sam shook his head in the negative and gave his friend a sad smile.
"Sorry man, nothing I can do. Tenet number one and all that." Lennox nodded his head in understanding. The Tenets were a set of three rules that every member of Sam's brotherhood had to follow.
"Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent," was tenet number one. To break any of the tenets resulted in a punishment so bad that none would speak of it and to break all three meant death to the poor soul that had broken them.
"Who knows maybe God will have mercy upon you and your soldiers and Galloway's ride back to civilization will crash or something." Lennox snorted.
"What about the other poor souls stuck with him, Sam? " Sam shrugged. "Hey, I never said the idea was perfect. You're the one that wants me to break a tenet and assassinate the guy."
"Who are you assassinating?" Epps asked as the pair walked into the large hanger where the Autobots spent their time.
"Galloway." Sam answered before Lennox could stop him.
"Can you really get rid of him for us Sam?" Sam gave Epps a smile.
"Nope, he's your problem. I can't help you."
"Damn." Epps cursed and snapped his fingers. Epps' actions were so convincing that for a moment Lennox actually thought that Epps had been hoping that Sam could kill the government agent for them. The smile that crossed the black man's face a moment later however told him other wise.
Epps was only joking. Just as Lennox had been when he'd asked not five minutes earlier. While Galloway was annoying and an asshole they didn't want him dead. No, they simply wanted the man as far away from them as humanly possible and then some.
Neither man was actually willing to put their friendship with Sam at risk just to get rid of Galloway. No matter how tempting it was. The unknown consequences that Sam would face weren't worth it.
"Samuel what grave injury have you acquired this time?" Ratchet snapped the question as he walked over to where Sam was standing.
"None." Sam answered. "Nothing worse than a few bad bruises and a layer of missing skin. No new scars to speak of for once." Ratchet raised an optic ridge at the younger man before running a scan over his form. What he said was true. There was no grave injury that would have Sam laying around and under Ratchet's tender care for the foreseeable future, at least not this time.
"Do I want to know how you lost a layer of skin Sam?" Sam grinned up at the chartreuse mech.
"It's not anything bad. I slid down a roof and my shirt rode up while I was sliding. The shingles weren't very nice to my back." Ratchet snorted and shook his head before he began moving away.
"So why are you here then?" It was Ironhide who asked the question this time.
"Bumblebee's gonna worry when you don't show up back at home on time." Sam shrugged.
There wasn't anything that he could do about Bumblebee worrying about him. Bumblebee worried if he sat in the sun for too long or if he was out in the rain for fifteen seconds. His guardian was a little too overprotective but given Sam's job he could understand why. It wasn't easy sitting still and waiting while someone you cared about went off to play with criminals.
"I have cone to deliver word to Optimus about something or other." Sam shrugged and stepped forward. If Optimus was anywhere then chances were he was towards the back of the hanger.
"What is it?" "I haven't the foggiest idea, Lennox. All I know is that the big birds on the top perch wanted me to deliver a message on a drive to Optimus. I was told nothing." Sam scratched the back of his neck before he began digging through the pockets of his cargo pants.
A minute later he had a small red flash drive in his hand. Sam hadn't been lying when he said he had no idea what was on the drive. The elder assassin's had down right refused to tell him anything about it and had gotten snippy when he'd tried to get an answer out of them. So Sam had been smart and not questioned them any further. He knew better than to annoy the people that chose what missions you'd be going on for the foreseeable future.
If he pissed them off then they'd put him in charge of teaching the new recruits and Sam didn't really want to deal with a bunch of rowdy teens who thought that they were hot stuff just because they'd been accepted for apprenticeship under one of the masters. The mere thought of that task was enough to make Sam cringe.
"So how long are you going to be here?" Epps asked as he followed behind both Sam and Lennox.
"Not sure. No more than a day or so I think. I'm starting school soon remember." Lennox blinked in surprise. He'd tended to forget about schools when he was on the island. It was understandable seeing how there weren't any actual schools on the base and that Annabelle had yet to start kindergarten.
"So, where exactly are they shipping you off to?" Epps asked.
"Princeton. Apparently I'm good enough for an Ivy League Collage."
"Really?" Sam nodded. "I guess. I mean I'm good with numbers and stuff so I guess they thought I was worth it. I don't have any idea what I'm going to major in though."
"I'm quite certain that you'll find something Sam." Sam smiled as he tilted his head back to that he could look at Optimus Prime's face. The mech was just the same as he had been the last time that they'd seen each other. Kind as a saint and twice as large as life. "Eh, I'm not to worried about it yet." Sam said.
"I have something for you." Sam held out the hand that held the red flash drive. In return Optimus bent down and offered his own hand so that Sam could place the red item in his open palm.
Sam almost laughed at the sight of such a small item sitting in a hand that was about a million times its size. It was almost like watching Bumblebee pick up screws when their box had been knocked off of its shelf and they'd spilt all over the garage floor. It was completely totally and utterly asinine.
"You're not going to ask me to assassinate Galloway too are you?" Sam asked the giant his voice teasing. Optimus chuckled at Sam grim humor and shook his head. "No. That would go against our rules as much as it would go against your's." Sam smiled and nodded in understanding. That single rule was what had allowed Optimus to gain the trust of the Brotherhood in the first place.
They were so alike that it was hard for the Autobots and the Brotherhood to not get along at least a little bit. They held many of the same values and many of the same desires. The current leader of the Brotherhood was quite fond of Optimus, not that he'd say he was if asked, and took the chance to meat with the Autobot Leader whenever he had the chance to do so. They were a pair of kindred spirits, or sparks if you preferred, the likes of which that Sam had never seen before.
Not that he had seen many. Though his master had told him that he and Bumblebee seemed to share such a bond with each other. It had taken Sam almost a year to realize that his master had been right about him and Bumblebee. The same could be said for Ironhide and Lennox if Sam really cared to think about them in such a way. Not that he really did. "How will you be getting back?" Ironhide asked as he walked up behind the small group. Sam opened him mouth to answer only for it to hang open for a moment before he closed it and shrugged his shoulders.
"No, idea. I hadn't actually given my ride home much thought." And he hadn't. The space around him was filled with laughter. Sam merely shrugged. "There's a plane heading back to the states that you can hop on." Epps offered with a smile. Sam gave the man a smile back.
"Guess I'll be catching a plane then. Shouldn't be too hard." "Considering what you had to sneak past to get here I highly doubt that getting on board a cargo plane will be hard at all. You'll have some company at least." Lennox said. Sam raised an questioning eyebrow.
"Men going home." Epps added for his benefit. Sam gave a quiet "oh" of understanding. He'd be going home with whatever men had been lost in the last fight against the Decepticons. He'd traveled with worse and there was nothing wrong with escorting the dead back to their homes.
"So when does the plane leave?" Sam asked seeking to change the topic before a shroud of gloom took over the hanger. "Tomorrow morning." Epps answered. Sam nodded and was about to speak only for his stomach to rumble. Sam blushed his face going a nice shade of red.
"Hungry Sam?" Lennox teased. Sam nodded.
"I haven't actually been able to sneak into the Mess Hall and eat yet and they didn't feed me on the flight here." Sam admitted.
"Well lets get you feed then. Can't have your brothers pissed at us for letting you go hungry now can we?" Sam shook his head and snorted. Part of training had been dealing without food for long periods of time and Sam knew that he could probably go another couple of hours without eating if he had to. And even if he had been tempted to hang around in the Autobot's hanger for awhile longer Lennox's next words killed that desire dead in a heartbeat.
"We have chocolate chip waffles."
Pausing only to wave at the alien robots in the hanger Sam beat a hasty retreat after Lennox. If the man was willing to feed him some sort of sugar then Sam wasn't going to turn down the offer. No one in the room seemed to notice that he made almost no noise at all as he chased over the other man. No one cared that Sam's movements were that of a trained assassin. They were all far to used to it by then.
Ooooooo
Hey look at this I uploaded something! Sadly this is probably the nly thing you guys are going to see from m unless we can et the home computer up and running. I had been hoping to get a new laptop for the holidays but I got a Kindle instead and I can't type chapters on my Kindle. I won't do it on the computer that I'm using at the moment either because it belongs to my little brother and it's a piece of crap. That and he doesn't need all of my fanfic words added to the spell-check. No that fate is for my home computer if we an get the screen up and working again.
Now I actually typed this during November when I was fighting a case of writers bock and I just hadn't uploaded it. This is a it of a test mainly because while I have an Idea for an Assassin's Creed and Transformers crossover this isn't really part of it. This was just something I typed up because I had an amusing thought that just wouldn't leave me alone.
Let me know what you think. And seriously for those of you who read my other fic's please be patient I'll update when I have a more secure computer to type on. One where I don't have to turn it off because of fits and where the keys work all of the time instead of half the time.
Oh and chances are that this will be moved into the crossover section in a week or two.