I was dragged back to consciousness by a hand shaking me. I groggily turned my head to look at the hand still resting on my shoulder. Following the arm upwards, I was met with a 20 year old man's face. Shaggy brown hair, fair skin, and unnaturally blue eyes. "Jumpstart, let me sleep!" I muttered, shoving my head under my pillow. Through the air hole I left, I could see the midsection of Jumpstart's holoform. Red jacket unzipped to reveal a black shirt with the Autobot logo on the collar of the jacket. Leather belt holding up jeans. Same as always. "No can do, Sunshine." Jumpstart insisted, stripping off the blankets in one swift motion. "Jumpstart, give me back the blankets, it's cold!" I demanded, sending a sleepy glare his way. It always was cold here. I was used to California weather. I brought out a jacket on days where the locals around here walked around in a T-shirt and were totally fine. "We have to go. We're moving back to Diego Garcia." Jumpstart explained. "I thought you said it was compromised or something?" I asked. "I dunno. I just follow orders. The other Autobots and I are being sent ahead, carrying the soldiers of NEST. Everyone else will be there a few days later after they transfer data and deal with clean up. So, unless you wanna be left here alone with the lawyers, you need to hustle."

I was off the bed in seconds. Jumpstart ushered me into the bathroom where my suitcase was already laid out. I changed quickly, ran a brush through my hair, and dashed outside, my suitcase in hand. The large bag thumped against my leg as I made my way out to Jumpstart, who waited in the hallway. "Finally ready?" he asked. I rolled my eyes. "I'll take that for ya." he said, snatching my suitcase and shoving it into his subspace pocket. I followed him out to the command room and up into the warehouse area topside, which most of the crates had already been cleaned out of. The soldiers were bustling about making final preparations. Finally, Lennox called up to Optimus. "Okay, we're all set." Optimus nodded and called to his soldiers "Autobots, transform and roll out!"

Obediently, all the Autobots folded in on themselves until various cars sat in their places. All doors popped open and soldiers piled in. I waved at Epps and Lennox as they climbed into Ironhide. I suddenly found that something was wrapped around my waving wrist. It was a seatbelt coming from Jumpstart's open passenger door. "You're with me." Jumpstart said, giving a playful tug with the seatbelt. It unwound as I climbed in, the door shutting behind me and the seatbelt snaking over me. The now loaded Autobots pulled out onto the road. I felt how Jumpstart molded the seats to the backs of his passengers, and adjusted the seatbelts for optimum comfort. We settled in for a long ride to come.

The ride hadn't been as boring as I'd feared. The Autobots used comm frequencies to connect to each other, and played the conversation over their radios, so that it didn't matter which Autobot you were riding with, the entire NEST team could chip into the conversation.

Once the sun started to set, the Autobots knew they had to stop for the night. The Autobots needed rest after driving for so long, and the humans were all getting drowsy. They Autobots pulled off the freeway and onto a smaller country road. They pulled into the woods and quickly found a clearing that would accommodate the bots as well as conceal them. The humans piled out of the cars and stretched stiff muscles. The Autobots transformed and mimicked the humans, stretching muscle cables and twisting stiff joints.

Most of the soldiers were handed tents that had been stored in the bots' subspace pockets, and they made their places to sleep. Autobots milled about helping the soldiers where they could. Some were with Optimus receiving their orders. Since the bots needed less sleep, they were going to handle watch duty. The duty would be alternated night to night, instead of changing every few hours like humans would have to. Jumpstart had gone into the woods to check for any signs of Decepticons along with Bumblebee. Optimus, Bumblebee, and Jumpstart were the ones with watch duty tonight.

With Jumpstart occupied, that left me standing alone, feeling awkward. Just when I was pondering what to do with myself, I heard someone call my name. Turning to the source, I saw Lennox and Epps waving me over. I trotted over to them. "What's up?" I asked. "You looked like you didn't know where to go. Am I right?" Lennox asked. "Yeah, pretty much." I admitted. "Then bunk with us. We've got room." Epps offered, with a nod of agreement from Lennox. I was confused for a moment, because they were standing on an open part of the clearing with not even a basic kind of shelter in the vicinity. I didn't have too much time to be confused as mini earthquakes announced the approach of an Autobot. I turned to see Ironhide stepping over a tent and coming to a stop just behind Lennox and Epps.

"Evenin' Ironhide." Lennox greeted the mech with a grin. "Evening." Ironhide replied. "You guys bunk with Ironhide?" I asked of the soldiers. "Oh yeah, a lot of the guys bunk with the bots. No reason not to." Epps explained. "While on the road, it is best to recharge in vehicular mode so as not to be accidentally spotted by civilians, which leaves our cabs able to be occupied." Ironhide added. "Hey, Ironhide, Eva's got nobody to bunk with. You got room?" Lennox asked, turning back to the giant robot. "Yes. I can make room." Ironhide said simply. With that, the black mech transformed back into his GMC Topkick alt mode. Even after he was a truck, gears were still turning as he adjusted the seats into beds of sorts. The doors popped opened to reveal the new setup. The front seats were leaned back to make comfortable bunks, and the back bench seat had been lowered to floor level to give the sleeper room under the backs of the front seats.

Lennox climbed into the drivers side, where the steering wheel made no appearance, and Epps got into the passenger side. I crawled into the back and laid on the surprisingly comfortable bench seat. The seat came alive as the cushions molded to my shape. The cab was much warmer than the frigid air outside, but the chill lingered, so I threw my jacket over me like a blanket and attempted to pillow my head on my arm unsuccessfully. Ironhide must have noticed, because I felt the jacket being dragged off me. Opening my eyes, I saw that two seatbelts were folding it, and then my head was lifted by another seatbelt and the makeshift pillow slipped underneath. As I settled my head into the jacket-pillow, a current of warm air washed over me from an unseen vent and continued until I stopped shivering. I was vaguely aware of the lights on the dashboard finally deactivating, meaning Ironhide had fallen asleep. I quickly followed his lead.

Camp was quickly packed in the morning, and we were back on the road. I sat in Jumpstart's drivers seat, the conversation over the comm providing entertainment once again. Ironhide rode just behind Optimus, who lead the convoy. Jumpstart brought up the rear. Optimus and Ironhide disappeared for a moment as the road bent sharply. "We've got company." Ironhide's gruff voice reported over the comm just as Jumpstart started to take the turn. Sure enough, just around the bend there was a blockade of Decepticons with blasters trained on our caravan. One stood in front of the others. Jumpstart had explained about the Decepticons well enough that I recognized him as Megatron. Megatron grinned, showing off his fang-like teeth, saying "Hello, Autobots. Welcome to your death."