Disclaimer: Transformers is property of Takara-Tomy and Hasbro. I'm just borrowing it. Other characters are property of their respective owners.
Friday afternoon came slowly for Leo. His anticipation of the upcoming mission with Optimus Prime made his classes monumentally dull by comparison, and his perception of time slowed to a crawl as a consequence. But, time moving on as it does, Friday afternoon did, finally, arrive.
"Did you stuff your entire closet in that bag?" Sam asked Leo as the latter tossed a full hockey duffel bag into Bumblebee's trunk.
"No, but a man's gotta be prepared for the unexpected," Leo replied. "I've got a parka, hat, gloves, long underwear, shaving kit, rain coat, 5 changes of socks and tighty-whiteys, two pairs of pants, 4 shirts, a dress suit, and a wet suit in there."
"A wet suit? Leo, Optimus isn't going to take you deep-sea diving."
"Probably not, but what if we end up on a beach with a bunch of hotties? I gotta have a wet suit so I can do some surfing."
"You don't have a board."
"I'll rent one on the beach."
"You don't know how to surf."
"Details, details," Leo dismissed as he got into Bumblebee's passenger side. Sam shook his head and got into the driver's seat and they took off for the rendezvous point.
Bumblebee did the actual driving because Sam had no idea where they were going. The ride was about half an hour long; just far enough to get out of town to a secluded barn. The doors of the barn were open and Bumblebee rolled inside to join Optimus and two smaller Autobots.
"What are they doing here?" Leo asked with some hostility.
"We glad to see you too, Chia-head," the red Autobot replied while blinking his headlights.
"Leo, Mudflap and Skids will be providing us escort for this mission. They are optimized for certain kinds of combat that I am less proficient in."
"Yeah! We got the fastest guns this side a Cybertron. Ain't no ugly little flyin' Cons getting' past the Twins," the green Autobot, Skids, commented.
"Leo, if you would load up, we can get underway," Optimus said as he opened his driver side door.
"Uh, sure," Leo agreed before he hauled the duffel bag from Bumblebee's trunk to Optimus' cab (with some difficulty) and then heaved the bag into Optimus' sleeper compartment while settling himself in the driver's seat. "Okay, I'm ready."
"Sam, Bumblebee, have good weekend. I will try my best to have Leo back here by Sunday night," Optimus said. Sam nodded and Bumblebee blinked his headlights. "Autobots: Let's roll out!" Upon Optimus' command, the three vehicles drove around Bumblebee and out of the barn, and then Skids pulled out in front of Optimus and Mudflap took position behind.
After several hours of travel, the small convoy drove slowly down a residential street in a suburb of college town in Connecticut.
"Skids, Mudflap, start patrolling in a circuit around my location," Optimus ordered over the radio.
"Got it, boss bot," Skids replied for the twins, who drove away from Optimus in opposite directions to begin their patrol.
"Leo, I am going to activate my hologram in the passenger seat. Do not be alarmed," Leo nodded and a man in his late 50s came into focus in the passenger seat. Optimus' hologram avatar wore a red plaid shirt, jeans, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat. He looked perfectly like a trucker, but somehow fit Optimus as well. "Repeat back to me the cover story," Optimus ordered politely. The hologram's mouth moved perfectly in synchronization with Optimus' words, in fact, it sounded like the words originated from the hologram.
"You are Orion Paxton and I'm your assistant. You're germophobic, so you won't touch anything or accept offered food. I'm supposed to keep my mouth shut," Leo recited.
"Very good. We are good to go," Optimus said with a nod of his hologram's head. Optimus pulled his truck form into the driveway of a nondescript house and stopped. "Leo, take point."
Leo nodded and got out of the truck. He walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. After a few moments, an elderly man, dressed in an outfit a lot similar to Optimus', came to the door. His thin white hair moved a little bit in the breeze as he opened the door.
"Can I help you?" the gentleman asked.
"Uh, are you Professor Jones?" Leo asked.
"Hmph. You teach for enough years and you're stuck with that title forever. Yes, I'm Henry Jones. Who are you, and what do you want?"
"I'm Leo Spitz. My boss, he's in the truck, he wants to talk to you about a paper you wrote a long time ago."
"So why are you at the door and not him?"
"He's a germophobe. He's too paranoid to touch most stuff."
"Nut-job. Fine. Tell your boss you can come in," Jones said as he stood back from the door way. Leo waved to the truck and Optimus' avatar made his way to the house. Leo went in first and held the door for Optimus. Optimus removed his hat to reveal black hair with a touch of grey.
"Professor Jones, thank you for taking the time to speak to me. My name is Orion Paxton."
"Well, Mr. Paxton, why don't we go sit down, and you can tell me what you want to know," Jones led Leo and Optimus to his living room where he sat down in a large leather recliner. Leo sat down at one end of the couch that was in the room, while Optimus pulled a cloth from his pocket, set it upon the seat at the opposite end of the couch, and sat down.
"I would like to discuss your translation of Pharoah Khufu's decree to construct the Great Pyramid," Optimus said.