Author's Note: Sorry that it's been a long time since the last post :( This chapter finally features some of the tense relationship that Mikaela and Lennox have at present. I've hinted a bit at this, but I hope it's a little clearer after reading it. I love reading your questions and comments, so don't hesitate to ask if you'd like to have something explained :)


Chapter 4 – Hot Under the Collar

The N.E.S.T. team arrived in Alliance, Nebraska a little over two hours later. They had flown straight to Alliance Municipal Airport, but still had to drive to the crash site. The first part of the Cybertronian spaceship had come down while they were still in flight, so Lennox and Optimus felt confident that they would be the first ones to reach it. Nevertheless, Optimus had decided that Ironhide, Knock Out, and Dune Runner should come for back-up; no one wanted to see Decepticons at six in the morning.

Mikaela woke up yet again – she had been trying to catch some sleep on and off for the past several hours – and followed the soldiers as they exited the plane onto the tarmac. The frigid air hit her all at once and her entire body shuddered at the sensation. Her skinny jeans and loose sweater were no match for the subzero temperatures.

"Ms. Banes, over here," a voice called to her.

She glanced in the direction it came from and saw Darin Conley motioning her over. Whatever possessed that man into believing that she was a security threat? Mikaela rolled her eyes and slowly walked over. "Did you think I was going to make a break for it?" she asked him sarcastically.

"I've done some research on you, Ms. Banes; turns out that this isn't your first brush with the Cybertronians. Those battles that you were involved in are classified and you know things the general public isn't aware of – that's alright since you've signed a confidentiality document. However, the fact remains that you seem to be a magnet for trouble."

"If you really did check your facts, you'd see that my boyfriend at the time was the 'magnet for trouble', as you put it. I was just involved because of association," Mikaela retorted.

A sly look crossed the face of the government councilor. "All the more reason for me to keep an eye on you. We don't need any more civilian deaths now, do we?"

Conley strode off to go pester someone else, leaving Mikaela struggling with her emotions. She crossed her arms tightly, trying to keep warm, while discreetly wiping a stray tear from her cheeks. It wasn't just anger she was feeling, but also grief. What he said was true – the last time she had been caught up in the ongoing Autobot-Decepticon war it cost Sam his life. And now she was once again stuck in the middle of it all.

Across the tarmac, Lennox had gotten everyone organized and on task; they would be rolling out in a matter of minutes. His eyes caught sight of Mikaela standing alone. She looked like she was freezing. After giving one more order to his next in command, he quickly went over to her.

"Hey, how are you holding up?" he asked.

"Oh, hi, I'm alright. Just cold," she replied, faking a better mood.

Lennox noticed that she looked upset, but didn't say anything as she seemed to be trying to hide it. "I wanted to give you this…" He took off his military-issued winter coat and held it out. "I've got so much gear on that I don't really need it."

"That's really nice, Will. Thanks."

He helped her slip it on; the coat looked huge on her, covering even her hands.

Will passed a hand through his hair. "I guess it's a little big for you."

Mikaela snuggled inside; it smelled like him and was still warm from his body heat. "It's exactly what I needed."

He grinned, then his face changed to a serious expression. "Hey, I feel like I owe you an apology. When you showed up at the base, I should've at least asked you for your opinion instead of just ordering you around."

"It's okay. I understand that you've got protocol to follow."

"I do, but that doesn't excuse ignoring how you feel about things. I'm so used to commanding a team that I forget how to deal with civilians sometimes."

"I appreciate your saying that. To be honest, I'm not sure where I should be. My only thought was that I should stay with Bumblebee. As my guardian he's almost over-protective of me, but I guess that's not too surprising given what happened. Bee really beats himself up about it. But we've also gotten really close – I feel safe when I'm with Bee, I trust him."

Her eyes suddenly locked with Will's when she said that. She realized too late that her words might convey a double meaning – that she lacked trust in Will. He looked slightly pained, and his voice conveyed the hurt he felt.

"Well, since Conley's put you into some sort of protective custody, you'll be near Bumblebee as long as we're on this mission."

Will's body language indicated that he was about to walk away, and she motioned for him to wait. "I don't have to stay here. If I could have another Autobot watch me until Bee is finished, then I'm sure I'll be fine. The Decepticons are probably more concerned about this spaceship now anyways."

"Conley would have to agree to letting you return home, and he doesn't seem to be thinking logically about that."

"Why should it be up to some government aide? Does he even have the right to order that I stay here? Isn't having me here more dangerous? I didn't ask to come along on this mission."

"I know – I was trying to send you home!"

"Why did you let him bring me, then?"

Will sighed. "Because it's out of my jurisdiction."

"Since when do rules and regulations mean so much to you? I always believed that you would do whatever was necessary to make things right, not let anything stand in your way."

"And the last time I did that, look what happened!" he shouted.

At this point their heated conversation drew several curious stares. Will and Mikaela glanced around, both feeling self-conscious.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

A couple tears slipped from her eyes. "Just forget about it. Your team is waiting for you."

He couldn't think of anything else to say, so he returned to his men. "Let's roll out, guys."

From the other side of the tarmac where the Autobots had been preparing, Bumblebee's audio sensors had picked up the raised voices of Colonel Lennox and Mikaela. A quick examination of her body language indicated that she was distressed. He shifted into his Camaro alt-mode and drove over, popping a door open for her.

"Hey hot stuff, want to ride with me?" Bee joked.

Mikaela had to chuckle; her Autobot companion always found a way to lighten the mood. "I would love to, big Bee."


Dawn was breaking over the flat, snow-covered landscape, and it was a beautiful sight. After driving for a while, the team turned down a side road that eventually led to a farm; from there the landowner led everyone down a secondary trail through his fields. Already they could see a large, smoking, metal object sitting out there. A big SUV was already on the scene, parked quietly off to the side.

Lennox jumped out of the vehicle he was traveling in and approached the farmer. "This shouldn't take too long, sir. Basically we're just here to get this thing off your land."

The man nodded in understanding. "Y'know, I always had a funny feeling that this might happen someday. You always here of space junk landing in the middle of nowhere, and this is right next to nowhere as far as the U. S. of A. is concerned."

"I'm relieved that it didn't land on any buildings of yours."

"Yeah. Wait, this thing isn't toxic, is it?"

"Uh…" Lennox quickly glanced over at the Prime's alt-mode truck, which made a kind of shuddering sound. "I don't believe it is. I will have to ask you to sign a confidentiality form."

"What for?"

Behind Colonel Lennox several of the vehicles began transforming into their bi-pedal forms, much to the astonishment of the man.

"I might have guessed!" he exclaimed. "I thought that you had some unusually fancy vehicles here! Aliens… wow-ee!"

"Well, there's your answer," Lennox responded. "Also, you're entitled to some compensation for the trouble and damages to your field. Mr. Conley here will go over all of that with you."

Lennox left to go direct his team, glad that Conley would actually have something to do that would keep him occupied.

The blue SUV waiting for the team was actually an Autobot as well – Gears. He was in the vicinity and had been able to get to the crash site before anyone else. As Optimus Prime approached he stood straighter and saluted.

"The area is completely secure and I've detected no Decepticon presence at all," Gears reported.

"That's good to hear," the Prime responded. "I doubt that any Decepticons were able to mobilize fast enough to get out here. Gears, I need you to remain in this region for a couple of cycles to make sure the humans are safe; we can't be sure that the Decepticons won't send a scout."

"Understood, Optimus."

The Autobot leader turned and faced his team. "All of you, please work quickly to dismantle as much of this spacecraft as possible. The faster we can get all of the pieces loaded onto the N.E.S.T. planes, the faster we can move on to the next crash site."

Immediately all of the Autobots moved into action, working carefully with their human counterparts. Bumblebee, who had already let Mikaela out of the car and transformed, waved at her. She waved back and went to stand out of the way. It was kind of surreal watching these aliens and humans interacting and cooperating; it had been a while since she had seen that. Mikaela chuckled at how the Autobots would kick snow at each other when Optimus wasn't looking – they loved to have fun.

Within forty-five minutes all the wreckage of the spaceship had been loaded onto flatbed trucks and covered with large tarps. The nearby town of Alliance would receive the official story that a satellite had crashed in their backyard. The N.E.S.T. team congratulated itself on a successful phase one of the mission and got ready to depart.

Conley, who had spent the majority of the time sitting around in a Humvee, now approached Mikaela as she walked by the parked vehicles. "Ms. Banes, I think you should be riding with me."

"You can think what you like," she retorted started walking away, but he stepped directly in front of her.

"You're a bit impertinent, aren't you?"

She ignored him and again tried to step away but he got even closer.

"Oh I see," he mused aloud, "you're angry at what I said earlier."

Mikaela looked up his tall frame and glared at him. "I lost a friend that day – have you no sympathy?"

Darin's face took on an insincere expression of concern and he put a hand to her shoulder. "I feel your pain."

Behind him an engine revved and they both looked to see the yellow Camaro waiting with an impatient air. Mikaela brushed his hand off and marched towards the car, quickly getting inside before Conley could say anything. Only when Bee accelerated did she exhale deeply. At least she was wearing Will's winter coat and hadn't felt the contact of his hand like last time.

"That guy getting on your nerves?" Bee asked.

"Yeah…" she said with a sigh. "I don't know what his game is, but I'm not playing."

A short distance away Lennox had noticed the exchange between Darin Conley and Mikaela. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but he definitely didn't like what he saw.


With the second part of the Cybertronian spaceship already making its last orbits around Earth, the N.E.S.T. team had to make tracks. They re-boarded the massive C-17s; one of the planes heading back to California with the spaceship pieces. Only Optimus, Ratchet and Bumblebee would continue on to the New Jersey base, where they would pick up others to take overseas. Since they did not want to deprive any region of sufficient Autobot protection, they would join up with local Autobots stationed near the next two crash sites.

When the planes landed at the N.E.S.T. base in New Jersey it was already twelve-thirty in the afternoon – lunchtime. Everyone was completely off their internal clocks anyways, so Lennox requested that his team be fed immediately before they reorganized. In the meantime, Conley had gone off to check on some details for the next phase of the mission. Now seemed to be like a good time to talk with Mikaela and see if there was some way that she could return home. She was sitting away from everyone else, eating and browsing a technical manual.

"You didn't have to come over," she stated without looking up at him.

"I know. I wanted to see what you thought of taking a flight back to California."

Her blue eyes met his. "I can go home?"

"If we discuss things with Conley, he might agree to letting you return."

She looked away again. "I doubt it; there's just no reasoning with him. He seems to love being able to use and abuse his power and position."

"Well, it's still worth a shot." Movement caught his eye and he glanced over to see Conley enter the room. "I'll go speak with him now."

As Lennox approached him, he noticed the usually subdued man looking slightly frantic. "Conley, I'd like to talk about…"

The councilor interrupted him. "If it's not about the mission it will have to wait. I've just been on the phone with Washington, and they've informed me that we have an issue with Morocco."

"That being?"

"Morocco isn't going to let us in."

"What? Why?"

"The government there knows all about what happened in Egypt last year, with the alien battle and all, and they don't want another botched operation happening in their country."

"Whoa, 'botched operation'?" Will's anger flared. "If my team hadn't been there, the Decepticons would have… never mind, I'm not even going to bother debating that with you. The real question is: why didn't you deal with this diplomatic stuff earlier? Like when we calculated that a giant chunk of alien space tech would be landing on north African soil?"

"I've been focusing my efforts on getting into China, because I knew that we might have trouble getting clearance to enter their borders."

"So, you completely neglected looking into northern Africa."

Conley stared back at him in silence.

Lennox heaved a sigh and passed a hand through his hair as he took a few steps aside to clear his head. A couple seconds later he returned to where he was standing and looked at Conley with fierce intensity. "One way or another you will get my team into Morocco. Every minute we delay is putting us at greater risk to encounter Decepticons, and I will not put my men in any greater risk than is necessary. So you better call in any and all favours right now and have us flying there within the hour, or I will go over your head."

The other man knew he was in the wrong and could do nothing but comply. "Yes, Colonel," he muttered, and quickly marched back out of the room.

Will heaved another sigh and went back over to Mikaela, sitting down beside her. "Hey, it looks like you'll have to stay on this ride until it stops."

"Is everything alright? Things looked a little tense just then."

"We've hit a bit of a diplomatic snag and it's going to delay our departure for Morocco."

"But won't that give the Decepticons time to get there?" Mikaela asked.

"That's exactly what I'm worried about." He saw the concern in her eyes and felt a little better – at least she wasn't as upset with him as she was earlier. "It's going to be okay, though."

She nodded, but inside she felt terrified. By the time they finally got there, the 'Cons would be waiting for them, just like in Egypt.


After a half hour of waiting around, Conley had finally put a plan together. Lennox was feeling a little desperate by this point, ready to agree to anything that would allow the N.E.S.T. team to gain access to the country, but he wasn't ready for the plan that Conley had devised.

"You want us to what?!"

"I'm telling you, it's the only way we'll be able to get in. I've gone through all of this with the embassy."

"But all of the gear?"

"We can bring it in but we'll have to do it discreetly."

"A military team, discreet, right…"

"You said you wanted a way into Morocco, Colonel. Well, this is it."

Muttering, he left to address his team; "The guys are going to love this…"

"As soon as I'm done talking we're going to load up and go," Lennox started, "but if you have any questions, ask them now. Because Morocco has denied N.E.S.T. access across its borders, our team will be going in as a tourist group." He paused a moment as a ripple of murmuring and quiet exclamations went through the group. "We're still taking in all of our gear and the Autobots are coming with us, but we'll have to keep a low profile."

Mikaela was listening attentively to Lennox's briefing as Conley came and stood next to her.

"Aren't you starting to feel a little glad about coming?" he whispered to her. "It's not everyday you get to be a tourist in such a beautiful place."

"I don't care about sightseeing. What matters is that it will be more dangerous for Lennox's team," she responded.

"You think a lot of him, don't you?"

Mikaela glared at Conley. "Is that your envy talking?"

"He was going to ask me to let you go home, am I right? I saw you two sitting together earlier."

"You're putting me in danger too, taking me along like this."

"Admit it – you'd rather be near Lennox than at home." She remained silent and he continued talking. "Maybe that's the reason you showed up at Edwards Air Force Base."

"It is not and you know it! Stop trying to twist facts, Conley. If you're embarrassed that Lennox got mad at you, go write it in your report and quit taking it out on me," Mikaela whispered furiously.

Conley's eyebrows went up in amusement at the strong reaction he'd been able to get from her. He gave her a sly smile. "Your face flushes so delicately when you're angry."

Mikaela instantly felt her cheeks grow hot in self-consciousness, and Conley stepped away. She was annoyed at herself for allowing him to provoke her. Hopefully she would be able to get some distance from Darin Conley once they reached Morocco.