Sam received the call from Blaster within a minute after Mai contacted him. He dropped whatever he had been working on. Bumblebee was already in his alternate mode, the driver side door opening wordlessly.

x

Optimus Prime cleared his schedule and put the Nevada base on alert. Nellis responded similarly.

x

No more than twelve hours later a transport flight came in, accompanied by fighter jets and invisible to any normal radar. Four men and a mech life form were aboard.

x x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x x

Wherever they were, it wasn't your typical military base. The flight had been long, filled with tension and interrupted by brief conversations between the soldiers and the robots, but otherwise no one had interrupted Hannibal's thoughts. For once, B.A. had not thrown a fit about flying. The huge sergeant was too shell-shocked by the events to react to the flight at all. He was staring at his beloved van as if merely blinking would change everything once again.

"B.A.," Hannibal said in a low, soft voice.

No reaction.

His team was tense, despite the non-hostile behavior of the soldiers. They had been on the run too long to be lulled into a false sense of peace. This wasn't a normal situation and it was far from everything Smith had ever been confronted with.

Alien life forms. Robotic life forms. It was like a bad dream.

Their own van was an alien!

Okay, as far as he understood what the kid had told them the van hadn't always been a robot. It had come to life because some secret organization had meddled with it.

B.A. had bought the replacement for his beloved black van a few months after they had made their escape once more, after the shipyard fiasco. That had been five years ago. Ever since the team had been where they were needed, where people needed them. They had helped countless small business, families and those down on their luck when it came to facing off against much stronger opponents. Never in all those years had any of them noticed anything.

B.A., who loved tinkering with his van, had never remarked on something being amiss or different. The van had been a van.

Now it was a robot.

Glancing at his second-in-command Hannibal caught the sharp blue eyes. Face was as wary as all of them, tension radiating off him. What the kid had told him had shocked him more than anything he had ever heard or seen before, especially considering that Face had kept one detail about himself so very well hidden, not even Hannibal had ever found out.

"You think we'll get out of this?" the younger man asked, barely audible over the whine of the engines.

Hannibal frowned. He couldn't tell. This was, literally, out of this world. He had handled a lot in his time with the Special Forces, but this… never this. No.

Face, not getting an answer, turned back to surveying the men and women with them inside the military transporter.

When they finally landed, Hannibal had no idea where they were and he didn't expect an answer. He was simply surprised that they weren't shackled and escorted to a waiting MP guard. Escorted they were, but free and unbound. Unarmed, too.

The van and the other two vehicles rolled off the plane and their van was guided to the hangar just across the tarmac.

There were mountains not far away, but no landmark otherwise. Crisp blue sky above, hard-packed ground below.

A man approached them. Tall, slender, clearly military, though he was dressed in casual clothes. His bearing was of someone who knew what it meant to be in command. He was younger than Smith, but something about him alarmed Hannibal. He had no idea what it was; it was just a sense.

He thought he could make out something like a weird tattoo on his temple. More like a faint smudge. He blinked. Then again. It… had moved? An inscription running over the man's cheek and disappearing at the jaw line. Behind the man was a huge black Topkick, which sudden transformed into a gigantic robot, huge weapons folding out of his forearms.

"Colonel Smith?" the man asked, smiling briefly. "My name is Will Lennox. Welcome to Nevada Base."

No rank. Just a name. But the man was clearly, very clearly, higher in the command structure. Hannibal schooled his features.

"Thank you," he replied formally. "Quite an operation you've got here."

It got him a wry smile. "Follow me."

And they followed. Hannibal felt naked without his weapons, but he was more worried about Face than about a possibly armed conflict. They wouldn't be able to last against one of those machines.

Face looked paler by the moment. If his lieutenant had told him the whole truth about being able to sense those machines then being here, among so many, would create not just a mere thunderstorm. It would be a tornado in his mind.

"Colonel Smith," a deep, rather pleasant voice startled them and Hannibal had to crane his neck to meet the bright blue optics of the largest mech he had seen so far. "My name is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. Thank you and your team for agreeing to meet us."

"There was a choice?"

"Yes."

"And if we had said no?"

"We wouldn't be here right now."

Face rubbed one temple, clearly not at ease and fighting the thunderstorm.

"Mai has given us several reports. We also have extensive knowledge of yourself, your team, your history."

Well, that figured. Hannibal didn't know whether to laugh or be on high alert. He settled on a mixture of both.

"I believe you have questions."

A lot, Hannibal thought.

"And I'm willing to answer them all."

"In exchange for…?" He knew the game. Nothing came without a price tag.

Optimus Prime smiled a little. "I only ask of you and your team to keep us a secret."

Face almost snorted. "Not that hard. Who would believe in alien robots on Earth. Aside from Murdock, and he's certified insane."

"We have enemies, Lieutenant Peck."

Hannibal studied the alien features that looked far more human the longer he looked at the tall mech. "If you know about us, you know there's a prize on our heads."

"Yes."

"You could throw us in jail. I noticed the military contingent here. Don't tell me they're all your people in disguise."

"They aren't. But our presence on this planet is a difficult one and the military is protecting our existence, like we are protecting this world."

From what? Hannibal wondered. Who was the enemy?

"I'm not interested in your past. Your files tell me enough, as do your actions after the trial. Mai was created by something we call the Allspark and she wasn't born under the best of circumstances."

"She was an experiment," Hannibal agreed.

"And she isn't alone."

"So your plans with us are what?"

Optimus Prime suddenly knelt down, leaning closer, and Hannibal nearly took a step back. The mech was maybe even more imposing that closely than standing upright.

"I want you to understand who Mai is, where she came from, and how important her existence is. Unlike us, she isn't a child of Cybertron. The Allspark didn't give her a spark or a life. She trusts you, Colonel Smith, and she trusts your team. Your knowledge of her gives you power over a life that depends on you."

Hannibal stared into the blue optics, aware what was being said. "I'm responsible for me team, Optimus Prime. They trust me not to betray them; I trust them not to betray me."

"Can Mai trust you?"

"Yes."

"This situation is new for you."

"We can adapt."

It got him a smile. "That you can."

Hannibal glanced at Face, who didn't look too good. His face was white as a sheet. He also noticed that Lennox was still there, a silent, alert watcher, and that whatever skin condition he had, it seemed worse. Something weirdly rune-like was displayed prominently on his left temple and extended like a tribal tattoo down his cheek.

"Mai told us about Lieutenant Peck's condition," Optimus Prime interrupted his thoughts. It seems the explosion in Mission City that hospitalized him left the lieutenant with a special ability."

"Special my ass," Face whispered.

"Face."

Slightly glass blue eyes met steely ones. The younger man accepted the reprimand from his team leader.

"We might be able to help."

"How?" Hannibal demanded.

"Our doctors are more equipped to deal with something from Mission City," Lennox spoke up for the first time.

Hannibal gazed at the runes. Lennox smiled darkly, interpreting his look.

"That wasn't Mission City. It's something to be told another time."

"You ask for a lot more than just our cooperation when it comes to Mai."

"We offer. We don't ask."

Hannibal met the dark eyes, unable to put Lennox into any of the many categories he had for powerful figures he met. This man was so different, he was a category of his own.

"John."

The use of his given name had Smith turn to Face. Blue eyes burned with pain.

"I want to. Right now, I don't care if they lock me away forever."

"Are you sure?"

"Let them have a look." Face squeezed his eyes shut. "Anything is better than that."

x x x x x x

They had been asked to leave the examination room as long as a doctor was looking at face and while Hannibal hadn't wanted to, he had yielded when Face had silently pleaded him to. There had been no mechs in the medical area and the lieutenant had looked a lot more relaxed, which told Hannibal just how bad it was. B.A. had been not far from where Face was currently undergoing a close scan of his whole body. He and Murdock hadn't left Mai for a moment. B.A. because Mai was 'his girl' and his car; Murdock because of some obscure reason or other.

Hannibal had found himself in what looked like the base version of a hospital cafeteria. There was a coffee machine, a snack dispenser, and even computer pad that downloaded newspapers or magazines. He had been surprised that he wasn't alone. Will Lennox was there.

Hannibal didn't know why just being around Lennox had him so on the edge. The man was clearly command material and the soldiers at the base treated him like a high ranking officer, but he wore neither a uniform, nor did he behave like he had anything to say. Right now he was sitting with a young man, early twenties tops, who was devouring a whole pack of M&Ms like it was the last food he would ever get. Lennox was drinking coffee.

"Don't like that guy," B.A. rumbled when he joined him.

Mai seemed to be in no danger and Murdock had bounced out of the huge examination room not much later.

Hannibal tilted his head a little. "The kid or Lennox?"

"Both give off bad vibes."

"Didn't know you were psychic, big guy," Murdock piped up, but the serious expression in his eyes belied his words.

"Shut up, fool. Them are bad news."

"I'm not so sure about the news, more about what Lennox really is."

"Military," Murdock remarked. "Bad ass military. Black ops and worse."

Hannibal had to agree. The man had something about him that only a few hardcore black ops operatives had. He had met a few in his time with the Army. Lennox easily came out on top of that list of dangerous people.

"And while I see things you don't," Murdock went on, voice sing-songing a little, "I betcha we can all see what's wrong with him."

"Not from this world," B.A. agreed.

"Yeah. Whatever happened to him, he's not hiding it, but he's also not telling us. I know the kid from somewhere."

Murdock shrugged. "He was in New York."

B.A. shot him a sharp, disbelieving look.

"Y'know," the pilot went on, gesturing. "New York. Big Apple. The Burg. Father Knickerbocker. America's Financial Mecca."

"Shut up, Murdock, before I make you."

Hannibal stared at the kid, then shook his head. "Murdock's right. Ruth Chambers. And her pretty little niece Rebekka, who didn't fall for Face's charm. That was the kid, at reception. He had a room there."

One of the doctors who were with Face came out and approached Lennox and the kid. Lennox nodded, clapped the younger man on the shoulder, and left. The kid disappeared into the room and Hannibal felt himself tense.

"What's goin' on?" B.A. growled.

"Time to find out."

Hannibal stalked over to the room and pushed the door open.

tbc...