Disclaimer:I do not own anything pertaining to Transformers, or anything else related to this material of which I written about. All rights are reserved by the original owners.
Author's Note: This particular fic was requested by figureskater1589, and is my third Mikaela & Lennox story. As for this story, it starts during the Egypt battle of ROTF, then continues on from there. Sam and Mikaela are not together is this, nor is Lennox a married man. So, I hope you like it and don't be afraid to leave a review – I love reading your questions and comments!
NOTE: In this story, Lennox is not married and does not have any children.
Chapter 1
Sitting in the back of a car as it sped across dusty Egyptian roads was not where she had planned to be today. Despite the bizarre set of circumstances that had gotten her half-way around the world, this was turning out to be one of the quieter moments of the day. This provided Mikaela Banes an opportunity to mentally process everything that had happened, or at least attempt to do so.
Yesterday morning she had gotten a call from her ex-boyfriend, Sam Witwicky. He had only been at college two days and he was already freaking out; however, it wasn't a three thousand-word essay that he was raving about. She and Sam had been through a lot together and she recognized the obvious call for help, so she took the next plane out to his college. Mikaela subsequently saved him from a predatory Decepticon with a human appearance, and they had been on the run ever since that encounter.
"We've got cops!" someone hollered, and the car swerved to avoid the oncoming vehicles. She collided with the other person in the backseat – Leo Spitz, Sam's hysterical roommate that had gotten dragged along in their quest.
Bumblebee was an excellent driver though, and they were soon able to evade the local authorities. The next part of their plan was to find a telephone. There was only one person that they could trust to help them resurrect Optimus Prime; that was Major Lennox.
Preparing to take the deceased form of the Autobot leader back to the NEST base – that was something Major William Lennox never thought that he would be doing today or any day. He had been devastated to receive the news of the Prime's death. By the time he and his team landed in New Jersey the confrontation between the Cybertronian natives was long over. A military helicopter soon dropped the body of Optimus at the base, only to be followed by an altercation with Director Galloway and his crew.
Just when he had been trying to wrap his head around the first catastrophe, the National Security Advisor announced that NEST had been terminated by order of the President. Everyone on his team was more than aggravated, even the mild-mannered Ratchet. With this drastic turn of events, there was little that they could do at the present.
Lennox was in the midst of packing up the NEST team to return to Diego Garcia when the call came through; it was former Sector Seven Agent Seymore Simmons. He was speaking in an urgent, cryptic manner, and gave him some geographical coordinates before ending the call. Will looked at the information that he'd copied down. If this meant what he thought it did, Sam might have a way to bring Optimus Prime back to life.
The coordinates 29.5N, 34.88E would put Sam at the Gulf of Aqaba. Since Diego Garcia was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, an unscheduled stop in Egypt would be right on the way. The only problem was that Galloway had insisted on personally escorting the team back to base. Everything was on the line, but if there was a sliver of a chance in bringing the Prime back to life they would have to try. Lennox summoned his two top officers, Master Sergeant Robert Epps and a British agent, Captain Graham. They would need to devise a daring plan to be successful.
The small crew of four humans, three Autobots, and one ex-Decepticon were thankful to find a quiet place to rest for the night. The reconstruction project on the pyramids and other ruins seemed to be closed down for a few days, and the ancient tombs would provide excellent cover for the large alien life forms. After getting a little bit of food for the evening, everyone dispersed to catch a few hours' sleep.
Mikaela wasn't about to sleep near the former secret government agent – although he'd been a lifesaver in their present situation, he was still rather eccentric – and there was no way she wanted to be anywhere near Leo. Not only did he creep her out, she had a feeling he would stare at her while she slept. That left only one person.
"Hey, aren't you tired?" Sam asked as she approached.
"I'm exhausted. Could I sleep next to you?"
"Really? I mean, yeah, of course."
She noticed the hopeful ring in his voice. "It's just that I don't want to sleep near Simmons or Leo, and I don't want to ask Bumblebee to stay in alt-mode all night just so I can sleep in the backseat."
"Yeah, I don't blame you. I only met Leo yesterday, but I don't know him that well yet."
Mikaela sat down next to Sam and nestled into his warm body. In turn, he put his arm around her and pulled her close.
"Just like old times, huh?"
"Almost," she agreed.
The pain of their breakup still stung a little. This would've been the perfect moment for him to tell her that he loved her, but she knew those words wouldn't come out of his mouth. They had had plenty of romantic moments like this during their relationship, but even then he had never spoken those meaningful words.
They were both able to fall asleep for a while, but nightmares made Sam wake with a start. The sudden twitch of his body woke her as well.
"Hey, hey it's alright," she said soothingly.
"Sorry… I just have a lot on my mind I guess."
"Just relax. Think, we're in Egypt, sleeping under the stars alongside the three most beautiful pyramids in the world; it's like the ultimate camping trip."
"Stars… Pyramids…" he murmured.
A moment later Sam was hollering about star alignments with the ancient tombs, and how they pointed in the direction of some far off mountains. Everyone else was also awake by this point. Simmons announced that they would have to travel towards the Mountains of Petra to find the Matrix.
It was the middle of the night, and it would likely take them until morning to reach their destination. Mikaela sighed; it seemed like she was going to end up sleeping in the back seat after all, beside Leo. She folded her arms and tried to get comfortable on her side of the car. A couple minutes later she felt a weight against her left shoulder and an arm wrapping around her waist. She opened up her eyes to find Leo snuggling up next to her.
"Leo – seriously!" she exclaimed, pushing him off.
"What? I was just sleeping, I was barely even touching you!"
"I really need to have some personal space, alright?"
"Well, you can sleep on my shoulder, right here, like a pillow-"
"Leo…" she said, her tone suggesting that it was more of a final warning.
He continued talking at his mile-a-minute pace, "I mean if you're not comfortable with getting all touchy-feely while your ex is in the driver's seat, I totally understand, but we'll be so quiet he'll never know!"
"LEO!" Mikaela and Sam shouted in unison.
"I'm still awake, and I can obviously hear you," Sam told him. "Just leave Mikaela alone and get some rest."
The commotion woke Simmons, who was in the passenger seat. "Listen Spitz, don't make me come back there, or I will taze you."
That threat finally silenced Sam's irritating roommate and Mikaela eventually drifted off to sleep. Knowing that Bumblebee and the Twins would get them where they needed to go was a relief. That was the one reliable aspect of the whole ordeal.
The route that the NEST team would be taking back to Diego Garcia would send them right over Egypt. Lennox spoke with the pilots of his plane just to make sure. He and his top officers had already established a plan – a daring airdrop to the given coordinates. That way the pilots could land at a better location, and his team could get ready for whatever was going to happen. There would no doubt be Decepticons somewhere in the mix, and another battle was inevitable. They would have to take all the equipment they possibly could.
The only issue he had encountered so far was in the form of a whiny government agent. It was going to be difficult to lose him during the fueling stop, and there was no way that he would miss a full-scale airdrop. An announcement echoed through the airplane that they would be landing soon.
The first leg of the trip had taken the NEST detachment from New Jersey to Madrid, Spain. After the massive C-17's were re-fueled, they were scheduled to fly straight to Mascat, the capital city of Oman for another stop. Will took the opportunity to get out of the airplane and walk around on the tarmac. Graham soon joined him, walking casually.
"Galloway is watching everyone like a hawk," the captain said quietly. "Epps was going to come over and discuss the plan, but I suggested that he stay back. If the Director sees you two talking, he'll know we're plotting something."
"Good thinking. That guy was already giving us weird looks before we got on the plane. Fortunately stealth isn't one of his skills; Epps and I saw him coming before he could hear what we were saying."
"Speaking of which, how are we going to get Galloway out of the way?"
Will sighed. "I don't know, I've been racking my mind for hours. Epps suggested that we lock him in a compartment."
"A move like that may be too risky – he'll point the finger right at you."
"Yeah I know, but I'm willing to put my career on the line for this."
"If I may suggest, instead of securing him in the plane, why don't we get him out of it?"
"Throw him out of the plane?" Will stopped, his mind moving rapidly with an idea. "Of course! We could strap a parachute on him and throw him out before we make the drop!"
"He might know that we're up to something if he goes out first."
"Yes… but what if he thought it was an emergency? That would explain why everyone would be gearing up."
An alarm sounded, signaling everyone to board the aircraft for takeoff.
"Let's get the team on the same page; this plan is a good one. We've only got a few more hours till Aqaba." Lennox noticed Galloway standing on the loading ramp watching him intently. "He has no idea what's coming."
It was dawn when they approached the Mountains of Petra – the sun rising over the sandy horizon cast a brilliant orangey-yellow light over everything. Soon the group drove up to a giant structure carved into the mountain; this had to be the doorway Jetfire mentioned. Mikaela recognized it as The Treasury of Petra but never imagined that it would be so large and magnificent. With Leo and Simmons trailing behind, she and Sam rushed inside. They stopped short – despite the ornate exterior of the Treasury, the interior was unexpectedly sparse. Even worse, it was empty.
The guys argued about it and Mikaela fought the urge to break down into tears. She, like the rest of them had been fully expecting to find something, anything, even Cyberglyphs. Skids and Mudflap started brawling right in the middle of the antechamber and she had to duck into a corner to avoid being crushed. Thankfully Bumblebee took matters into his own hands.
The twins' rough-housing had put a dent in the wall, and Sam rushed over to inspect. "Symbols…" he breathed. "Bee – shoot it!"
His friend complied, and after the smoke cleared a dark tunnel became visible. Sam crawled inside, followed by the other three people. Mikaela stepped carefully over the ancient leaders; this was undoubtedly the Tomb of the Primes that Jetfire had described. In the center of everything lay the Matrix.
Sam took the precious key in his hands, holding it gingerly, only to have in dissolve into dust right before their eyes. "No… this is not supposed to happen!" he said in dismay.
There was a faint roar of engines outside the catacombs prompting Simmons and Leo to investigate. The young man still sat there, staring at the silver dust. Mikaela wanted to reach out and run her fingers through Sam's hair as she used to, but instead put a hand on his shoulder to show her sympathy. "You can't bring it back Sam, there's nothing left."
Nevertheless, he began feverishly scooping it all into a sock. "There is a reason we are here. We've got to try."
"How do you know this is going to work?"
"Because I believe it," he replied, gazing at her intensely.
When they got back outside they were just in time to see the military planes circling past the area that they specified. The problem was that they were still quite a distance away.
"Alright, everybody into the Camaro!" Simmons ordered. "We've got a date to keep."
For the first time in days Lennox felt relaxed, or at least as relaxed as a person could get after airdropping into a foreign country. It was smiles all around the moment Galloway prematurely deployed his parachute, which effectively sucked him from the plane. With NEST soldiers and Autobots ready for action, he started giving orders.
Soon enough, Agent Graham spotted Bumblebee and the Twins approaching on the horizon. "Got a visual – Yellow Team, four clicks."
"Pop flares," Will replied.
Almost instantly, Starscream – who had been patrolling Aqaba – zeroed in on Bumblebee's team. The attack sent them fleeing out of their sight range, but the major and his own team were too far away to be of any help.
The NEST dispatch continued getting battle-ready, only to be set back by an EMP burst, something that Lennox had feared would happen. "Burn an SOS – let the eye in the sky know we need some help. Pop some more flares so that they can find us." He had no idea where the civilians had gotten themselves to, but he had to find them soon.
A large figure soon planted itself atop one of the majestic pyramids; the Decepticon leader's roars could be heard despite the distance. Immediately after, objects like meteorites rained down into the ruins nearby – Decepticon reinforcements.
"We got a whole lot of fight coming our way!" Lennox called out.
Epps checked his rifle and muttered to himself; "That's not good. That's not good!"
"Those Decepticons are searching for Sam," Will told his team. His mind rapidly went through their possible tactical options; they would need to set up an ambush, and collect Sam as quickly as possible. All of this had to be done without fully engaging thirteen hostile Cybertronians. He could only hope that all of this would work out, otherwise this would certainly be the last place he would ever see.
It felt like they had already been running for a long time, but the soldiers and Optimus' body were still on the other side of a village and ruins. Leaving Simmons, Leo, and the twins to act as decoys, Sam and Mikaela decided to sneak in on foot. A couple more red flares marked the location.
"We're still about a mile out," Sam estimated.
The air was dry and the sun beat down upon them, making their dash all the more strenuous. Mikaela's legs were already burning from the effort of charging through all of the sand. She really wanted to stop and rest, but the importance of their mission could not be delayed even a minute.
Starscream was still out there searching for them; they could hear the whine of his jet engines as he circled around the village. They would simply have to wait until he went past. Mikaela found an open door to a building and ushered Sam inside. Everything was strewn about like the occupants had left in a hurry, which was probably had.
"Listen, once it's clear we'll run for Optimus, ok?" Sam told her.
"What if it doesn't work?"
"It's going to work."
"What if it doesn't?"
"It will."
Mikaela was terrified, simple as that. The soldiers did not know where they were, and they were still a long way from the Prime's body. Her mind kept going through all of the things that could happen to them, and none of those thoughts were good.
Suddenly there was a deafening boom that seemed to be right above the building. They could hear the alien noises of the Decepticon as it trudged past. Mikaela had to clamp her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming. It was like those nature programs on television, when animals went into the bush to flush out their prey – only this time, she and Sam were the prey.
Without any warning, the roof of the structure was torn off and Starscream gazed down at them. An adjacent wall collapsed from the impact and the pair fell through to the outside. Decepticons surrounded the area and were quick to block their escape routes, forcing them to ascend a narrow flight of stairs to the roof of another building. There was no where else to run to – Sam and Mikaela jumped across to the next rooftop just before the previous one was demolished in a cloud of dust and stone.
They landed hard, the momentum rolling Sam over the edge; however, Mikaela hit a weak spot on the roof. She could feel the materials beneath her give way, and she was sent her plummeting downwards.