First contact with Kitt had been as intense as Karr had suspected it. His younger brother had flooded him with concern, worry, happiness and a ton of questions. He had let the white light that represented Kitt through the private channel they shared wash over him, enjoying the softness. Kitt flowed all around him, fine tendrils seeking the inky darkness that was a total contrast to himself. Finally they locked onto Karr, intent not to let go.

//What happened to you?// his brother asked. //Why did you go silent? Are you okay? Is Nick okay?//

Karr smiled at the flood of questions and the accompanying emotions. //It is a long story.//

Kitt moved closer, a brilliant spark of life compared to Karr's darkness, but still they were so much the same.

//Karr?// he queried.

The darker AI hesitated. Nick was currently in a small coffee house, sitting across from Michael Knight, and the two were talking. Karr sighed and sent a burst of data, all the information Kitt would need in one file, and waited for his brother's reaction.

There was stunned silence. Disbelief, Curiosity. Fear… for Karr. And then Kitt gave a little whisper of compassion. Karr let it wash over him, unclear how to react himself. He had never been too good at dealing with his younger brother's more emotional, a lot more human side. Not even the past years of close contact had enabled him to feel more in that regard, or handle it better.

//Michael and I picked up reports on something happening out here in Nevada//, Kitt finally said. //We didn't think it would be such a grand scale event//

//Like alien robots//, Karr muttered darkly.

Kitt flowed closer again. //Are you okay?//

Leave it to Kitt to ignore the implications and ask the simple questions, Karr mused.

//As well as we can be like this. Things have changed.//

//You haven't.//

//Kitt, I'm able to become a sixteen feet robot,// Karr said in exasperation.

//You're still yourself.//

Stunned, the other AI gazed at the softly glowing light close to him.

//I'd like to see your other mode one day,// Kitt added, sounding curious.

He shifted, uneasy.

//Karr?//

//One day//, he answered evasively.

//You have no intention to come back?//

Karr sighed. //Not yet, Kitt. There is too much about us we need to learn again.//

The lighter AI shivered a little and huddled closer. //I don't want to lose you.//

//You won't. Our connection is still there. I won't allow it to be taken away.//

Karr needed Kitt's presence, though never as much as Nick's. Still, Kitt was part of him and they had gone through too much to easily lose this connection.

//You're still the same//, Kitt stated softly, repeating an earlier notion.

//With a few changes.//

//No. Your soul is still the same.//

Karr sat speechless, aware how close the other car was. Kitt had inched forward, pushing their fenders together. It was an old ritual, one both took comfort from. The physical connection had never faltered ever since that fateful first time when Karr had tried to reassure a frightened, terrified and tortured Kitt that he was safe.

That had been so many years ago and so much had changed after that moment of complete openness.

//Don't shut me out//, Kitt requested.

//I won't//, was the solemn promise.

Michael looked at him like Nick had grown a second head. Maybe he had. At least something inside of him had grown.

"You are serious," Knight stated.

"Dead serious."

Michael shook his head. "Damn."

Nick smiled. It was brief but appropriate, a reaction he had expected.

"And you expect me, after telling me all of this, to turn around and drive home, no questions asked?"

"Actually, no. You'd surprise me if you did."

"So what now?"

"So now you share something few people actually know about. It's a secret."

Michael grimaced. "I'm no longer five, Nick. Secrets or not. This is Top Secret government stuff, right?"

"Yes."

"And you work for them again?"

Nick's face darkened. "No. I'm staying with the Autobots out of necessity. Karr needs to learn more about his new abilities, as do I."

"What about the implant?"

"It's no longer what it was. It still has the same function, but with a few extras. I've yet to find out what else it might be able to do."

Michael regarded him solemnly. "How long?" he only wanted to know.

"I don't know. Things happened. They are still happening. There are changes I can't tell you about right now."

"So there's more," Knight sighed. "Figures."

Nick smiled slightly. "There's always more. Optimus Prime has extended an invitation to you too. They would love to meet Kitt, seeing he is version 2.0."

Michael grimaced.

"Ratchet, their medical officer, is fascinated by the concept of human-built AIs of such sophistication." Nick shrugged. "Karr has given Kitt the coordinates. Should you feel like dropping in, do so."

"I'm not sure I want to present Kitt on a silver platter to an advanced robotic race."

"Neither do I," Nick told him honestly.

He had always protected them, had gone out of his way to insure their safety and survival.

Conversation changed from the latest changes to Foundation matters, to cases, to those who supported them. Nick had contacted Bear earlier this month and told him that he would be incommunicado for a while; extent of time unknown. Michael and Kitt would have Bear's full support. They also had full access to Nick's rather impressive fund. Michael had only once peeked at the numbers and he had been floored. He doubted the Foundation had this much spending money for Kitt.

"Nick," Michael stopped him from leaving. "Be careful, okay?"

"I always am. Give the others my best."

"Duck will miss Karr," Knight teased.

Nick laughed. "Yeah. Like a sore thumb."

#

The drive back to the Autobot base felt like he was leaving something very important behind. It was the first time he felt this way. Michael and Kitt had become a huge part of his life, in their lives, and Karr was quiet and brooding the whole way.

Karr kept in contact with Kitt and Nick suspected his partner was giving them updates on Nick's condition and health. Karr was evasive with answers and Nick sometimes wanted to strangle him, but part of him was glad. Michael and Kitt were friends. The only ones he had and which he trusted.

The implant lay more or less dormant. Having spread far out into his body it didn't so much as blip or misbehave in any way that had Nick alert toward any changes. A large part of him doubted that the only alteration of the Allspark had been the size and mass of the implant. A very small part prayed nothing would come of the changes anymore.

Throughout his time with the Autobots and Lennox's team, Nick found rather uncomplicated and laid-back company in Captain Will Lennox himself. The man was young for his rank and he agreed whole-heartedly that it had been sheer damn and dumb luck. He had had his own unit before others of his age and experience had even made it halfway where he had ended up. Qatar had shaped him in many ways and it had laid the path for his future career.

By now he was outside the military chain of command. His immediate superior and only commanding officer was, aside from the president, of course, the Secretary of Defense. Out here, in the desert, with the Autobots, Lennox was the liaison and the ruling power when it came to decisions. Epps was his second in command and his men came from various fields and branches of the military.

It was a rather mixed group, but it fit the whole rag-tag group of Autobots, civilians, military and one lone Decepticon quasi-prisoner who was attached to a hybrid human, who in turn was linked to an artificial intelligence touched by the Allspark as well.

It was after his meeting with Michael that Nick made a decision that was monumental for him.

Secretary of Defense John Keller had never met Nick MacKenzie before, but he had met the man now calling himself by this name. He recognized the sharp-cut features, the pale blue eyes and the dark hair, as well as the tall, lithe figure. Back then Keller had been younger, hadn't been SecDef, and the presence of the mysterious stranger had unnerved him. That hadn't changed. MacKenzie was unnerving.

"I take it it's not your real name," Keller said casually as he looked at the visitor.

MacKenzie smiled humorlessly, standing at ease in front of the heavy desk. "Probably not."

The Stealth had been in Nick's possession back then, too. It had been ten years since then and things had changed. Even Nick had. Keller saw more in the cool blue eyes than MacKenzie probably wanted him to know.

"I won't ask what you did in the last decade," Keller stated. "I don't even want to know what you did in Mission City at the time of the battle. I only want to know what you and that car of yours plan to do now."

"Actually, I have no real plans. I never do."

Keller had been surprised when Optimus Prime had contacted him about something that concerned everyone involved in the first contact between Autobots and humans. Since Sector Seven no longer existed, Keller had taken over :Lennox had field command and aside from Keller no one could order him to do or to leave anything. Well, except the president, and he had been as stunned as many who had heard about the mechanoids the first time.

Revealing what had truly happened at the Hoover Dam and in Mission City to his commander in chief had been a trying few hours. Presidents came and went, and new candidates were given the truth behind the scenes every time they stepped up to take over the reigns of the country. This, though… it had been incredible. It had been massive. And it had shaken every foundation. Sector Seven had been formed decades ago and had been a secret so fiercely kept, they were more like the famous Men in Black than anything else.

Sector Seven had been disbanded, the Hoover Dam facility had been locked down, and all evidence had been removed. Those involved in the fight against the alien robots had been sworn to secrecy, and some, like the team of Captain Lennox, had been reassigned permanently to the Autobots.

Now there was Nick MacKenzie, another well-kept secret of the US government. Up until he had met the man ten years ago, John Keller had never heard of General Jackson Nash and his experimental task force. Nash was dead. He had heard about his demise a few weeks ago, and Keller wondered if Nick had had anything to do with it.

MacKenzie had agreed to make his presence known to Keller, but John had no idea why. It was what he asked now.

"Because I think it would be mutually beneficial," Nick answered.

"You're the most secretive man I know, Nick." And he hadn't known him for long that time ten years ago. "It's not like you to come out in the open, to the government, and tell us what happened."

It got him a smile. "Maybe you're right, John. But things have changed, even before Mission City. I have changed."

Keller refrained from snorting. The man was now a Cybertronian hybrid. He had technology in his brain that had been put there by Wilton Knight and had later been expanded by contact with the Allspark. His survival of the primary surgery, the years later, and now of the changes was a miracle.

"I know how everything works, John. I was in the system. Long enough to know my way around. I can be an asset, I can be a pain in the system."

Oh yes, he could.

"I know I owe the Autobots and I know that going back to my life before Mission City, pretending this never happened, is impossible. I won't stick my head in the sand and do nothing."

He wasn't the type.

"I don't know what will still happen because of the changes, but I know whatever it is, the Autobots are my best chance to survive it."

"So it's self-preservation?"

"In a way." MacKenzie shrugged. "I'm linked to not only an artificial intelligence constructed by using reverse engineering from an alien machine, but I'm also connected to such an alien entity."

Keller had heard about that from Prime, too. It had shocked him, mildly put. "How's that working out?" he wanted to know.

"It's working."

He studied the almost inscrutable face. "I have no idea why I trusted you back then, Nick. I have no idea why I should trust you now."

"Even if you don't trust me, you can't change what happened. My connection to Karr is ancient. It has nothing to do with the here and now. The accident in Mission City cannot be reversed. It happened just the same. Karr and I have Cybertronian technology in us. As for why I would come to you freely: you'd find out about it one day. I don't want that to be when the Airforce or Army is aiming bombs at us."

"I understand. Optimus reassured me that everything is under control."

"It is."

It didn't really sound like it, though.

"What are you now?" Keller asked openly.

"What I always was."

"A ghost?"

Nick smirked a little. "Yes."

"Will Captain Lennox have any trouble with you there?"

That got him a laugh. "John, I'm easy maintenance. Let me be and I let you be. It's the Autobots' base. I accept Optimus Prime as its commander. Karr isn't an Autobot, but he won't oppose any of them either."

"Good to hear. What about your involvement with the Foundation for Law and Government?"

Nick's face was blank.

Keller sighed. "All right. No questions."

That got him a humorless smile. "You learned."

"Rumors persist," Keller joked. "Rest assured, Nick. Whatever concerns the Autobots and now you, too, it stays with me and the select few who know about them."

"I hope so."

There was no threat in the words, not even a veiled one. It was a simple statement and Keller knew how to take it.

Meeting Optimus Prime in person always was fascinating and humbling in one. Keller had spoken to the Autobot leader dozens of times before and he was always astounded by the calmness, the quiet humor, and the weight of responsibility this mechanoid showed. He was a true leader and he had been for a time span that boggled a human mind. They had had personal talks as well and Keller knew about Optimus' past, where he came from, that he had been a commander who had ruled Cybertron together with Megatron, who had then been Lord Protector of Cybertron. The whole civil war, which had turned into an all-out destruction of their home planet, had torn the mechanoid race apart and had scattered them throughout the universe. Prime was still hoping for some of his kind to find their way here.

Keller was prepared. As was everyone else involved. Even if he wouldn't be around any longer should more Autobots arrive, the SecDef had made preparations. He knew he wasn't immortal; no one was. Not even the Autobots.

"I believe he has great potential," Optimus now said, voice soft and quiet.

"He always had. Nick is a dangerous man, but he is the best ally you could wish for."

Prime nodded. "We appreciate that he will stay."

"What about Barricade?"

That got him the electronic equivalent of a sigh. "He poses an unknown factor. His connection to Nick makes him both controllable and dangerous. We don't know if he can influence the implant. Karr is fiercely protective and he won't let Barricade touch the human mind, but he is a Decepticon. He is dangerous."

"But you won't kill him."

Blue optics regarded him evenly. "No. It's not what we stand for."

"Sometimes decisions are not easy to make, especially in regard to one's principles."

"This isn't a matter of principles, John. We don't take a life in cold blood."

Keller knew there was no arguing with Prime on that, no matter how dangerous the individual in question was. Nick himself hadn't said much about Barricade and John knew the man was a survivor. Should Barricade be a danger, Nick would deal with him to ensure he would come of this alive.

"Well, good luck on that then."

Optimus inclined his head. "I suppose we will need it." Humor swung in his voice. "Thank you."