As Lennox and Sam made their way to the podium, Lennox felt a familiar flip of uncertainty in his stomach. They were actually going through with this. They were about to step up to the podium and try to change the world. A month ago, Lennox couldn't have even imagined running for office with the Witwicky kid.


One month prior…

It was a hot afternoon in the middle of July. Will was out in his backyard building his daughter a treehouse. Then he heard the footsteps.

If Will hadn't been a soldier, he probably wouldn't have heard the sound of the approaching footsteps. No, not many would still have heard them over the pounding of nails into firm pinewood. Not many would have also had the presence of mind to reach for the gun in their toolbox as they waited for whoever was there to identify themselves.

"Hey, Lennox, need a hand up there?"

Will smiled, recognizing the voice of Sam Witwicky anywhere. "Only if you feel like getting pine sap all over you, kid." Lennox put down both his gun and his hammer, clambering down the makeshift ladder.

Sam stood a yard or so from the tree with a halfhearted grin on his face, his suit not overly expensive, but neat enough to remind even Lennox that the once bumbling high school kid was now a United States Senator.

Lennox pulled off his work gloves and shook Sam's hand. "Nice suit. Never took you for a political man…"

"Never thought I'd meet aliens and save the world either," said Sam, "After Chicago, it just seemed…right."

Lennox nodded. "You heard what happened with Cemetery Wind and the CIA?"

"Heard about it and was glad Optimus was the one to kill this Attinger guy. You know he tried to kill me once, right?" Sam grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck. "If I hadn't been running for senator at the time, I'd be a dead man. At least that's what the DOD's files are saying. He got the news of my political run just before his agents were going to pull the trigger."

Lennox frowned. "Why are you telling me this, Sam? I'm not in the game anymore."
"No. But I need someone I can trust with me and I trust you, Lennox. I'm going to try to get the Autobots sanctioned again and I need your help."

Will paused, trying to process this. "Why would you need an old soldier like me? And how would you even try to get the Autobots sanctioned again?"

Sam looked Will fearlessly in the eyes. "Lennox, I'm going to run for president. And I want you to run with me."


Will had laughed for about a minute straight after Sam had said this before he looked back at the kid and realized how serious he was about this. Any humor in the situation was lost and Lennox found himself taking the rest of what Sam had had to say to him without a question of his sincerity.

Sam wasn't a kid anymore. He was a grown adult who had lost the chance for a normal life but was making the best of his experiences. Sam was using his experiences and his skills to try to give their friends a home again on Earth and to curb the insanity that had resulted from Cemetery Wind's public debacle. His experience with the Autobots and the Decepticons along with his interactions with the government left him the perfect candidate for the presidency.

As the former NEST colonel and friend of the Autobots followed Sam up to the podium, he didn't even feel a hit of fear at what he was about to do. He was only worried about what would come after.


The clamor of crowd seemed to rise to new volumes as the governor of Nevada finished his introduction of Senator Witwicky and his running mate, William Lennox, the two taking the podium and waving to the crowd. Sam seemed more accustom to the chaos than Lennox who looked slightly uncomfortable with all of the attention. Sam just placed a reassuring hand on the former colonel's shoulder and Lennox glanced at Sam and nodded, loosening up.

Optimus watched all of this from the back of the crowd, his new alternate mode blending in with the other security trucks around him. He smiled solemnly to himself. Sam had become a fine young man and an even better politician; his ratings had soared since he'd taken office according to the political polls Optimus had seen. The revelations about Cemetery Wind and Sam's outspokenness about needing to right the wrongs of the current administration had only succeeded in boosting his ratings further. If only to solidify his position, Sam had gone to Lennox for a running mate, a family man who had not only worked with the Autobots, but who had also served his country both on and off American soil. The American public would favor them both.

Optimus watched Sam approach the podium and motion for the crowd to calm down. The Prime settled down on his axles and waited for silence to fall over the crowd. This would be interesting.


Sam gripped the podium as he waited for the crowd to simmer down. The first time he'd made a political speech, he'd been scared to death that he'd mess up. To make matters worse, he'd forgotten his speech entirely, and he'd had to pinch himself when his adlibbed speech had roused tremendous applause. It had gotten easier with time. Today, however, was different. Today, he wasn't just running for any political office. He was going to run for the office of the President.

Sam smiled as the crowd finally fell into complete silence. Now or never.

"A little over a decade ago, I bought a car. It turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?" Sam paused momentarily. "Who knew that he'd end up becoming my best friend? I didn't. Like most people, I had no idea that life existed anywhere but on Earth. Then I met the Autobots. They came to this planet to recover an artifact of their culture that had been lost during their civil war. They also came to defend us. While the Decepticons came to Earth to take back the artifact and take over the planet, the Autobots came to help us. Admittedly, they were intimidating when I first met them. I felt so small and insignificant compared to them. But they were just as human as you or I. Just older and a little wiser. And more tired of war than any pacifist or soldier."

Sam paused again, sensing Lennox shifting behind him. "Will Lennox and I are some of the few people that I feel were privileged to know the Autobots. To actually know the Autobots. To know them as people and not machines. To know them as friends and allies, not as enemies and fugitives.

"After the Battle of Chicago, the world demonized the Autobots. But let me say this. When the Earth cast them out in compliance with Sentinel Prime's demands, they could have very well left us to our fate. A fate far darker than anything I ever want to imagine. But they stayed. They stayed to fight for our freedom. Without the Autobots, Chicago would have only been the beginning. The Decepticons intended to enslave the entire human race to help them rebuild their home planet, Cybertron. The Autobots willingly sacrificed both their lives and any chance they would ever have of rebuilding their home in order to save our world."

Sam took in a deep breath. "I admit that at the time, breaking off human and Autobot relations was an intelligent political move on the President's behalf. It was a good attempt to pacify all of us humans who blamed all Cybertronians, Decepticon and Autobot, for the loss of life in Chicago. But we should never have abandoned them. Because they never abandoned us. The CIA program Cemetery Wind was our government's solution to hunting down the remaining Decepticons after NEST ceased military operations with the Autobots. But they were only supposed to hunt down Decepticons. Harold Attinger and the rest of his team of psychopaths decided to go against their presidential orders and instead hunted down all Cybertronians. In order to do this, Attinger made a deal with a Cybertronian bounty hunter who lent them is skills in exchange for capturing the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, for his own nefarious purposes. As a result of Cemetery Wind's many mistakes and deals, Megatron, the deceased leader of the Decepticons, was able to be resurrected in the form of Galvatron who now hides somewhere on this planet, plotting to destroy us all still and rebuild his army. And we're going to need help stopping him. We need the Autobots as our allies once more.

"I know that a lot of people still resent the Autobots even though they aren't the problem and I understand. At one point, I blamed them for never having the chance to have a normal life after meeting them. I abandoned them when they only asked for a small gesture of friendship from me. It almost cost us our world." Sam paused once more. It was time. "And it was because of that that I learned to become a responsible adult. I learned to become a better person. I realized that I had a chance to make a difference with everything I had learned and experienced. After everything that had happened to me, the Autobots are what led me here. It led me to politics. It led me to becoming a representative for my home state. Now, in lieu of all that has occurred, I want to represent my country to the world. I'm running for the office of the President of the United States and with your help, I plan to make sure that the freedom we have fought to keep stays ours!"

Sam stepped back slightly from the podium and the crowd was instantly filled with the roaring clamor of voices. But none of it was in anger or disagreement with what he had said. They were cheering for him. Sam spared a glance back at Lennox. The former colonel was clapping, a reassuring grin on his face. They had sent things into motion. Now to see how far they would go.


Galvatron watched the news feed with unhindered rage. There was the boy. The boy who had killed him not so long ago. The boy who now dared openly to combat him and support the Autobots. He would find him, yes. He would find Samuel Witwicky. And he would exact his revenge upon him and then his precious Earth.