A/N: This should hopefully be the last week of being insanely busy for now. Which should hopefully also mean actual chapters again now, instead of interludes :D

There had been a lot of details about leadership that Robert Epps had never considered until he had ended up in charge of NEST himself. He was intimately familiar with the paperwork, of course – Will Lennox had been notoriously good at delegating that sort of thing to his unfortunate second-in-command – but that had been then and being handed command of NEST had quickly taught him that there had been a lot of other stuff he hadn't really paid attention to before. The fact that he had taken over in the middle of a clusterslag of a situation hadn't helped at all, either. By the end of the first week, he had been sleep-deprived, buried in paperwork and various appointments, and not entirely sure what day of the week it had even been. Then he'd actually slept for the better part of a day, on a couch in one of the Autobots' hangars and well away from stupid people who might bother him, and things had looked marginally more approachable... but honestly not much.

Dealing with liaisons, politicians, paper-pushers, and whatever other disgusting things that appeared when Epps poked the numerous connections NEST had to just as many groups and people and countries and organisations was not something he had enjoyed as second-in-command of their little unit, and it wasn't until he got the actual brunt of their attention that he realised just how much of that crap their former commander had had to deal with and that maybe, just maybe, delegating all that paperwork hadn't all been laziness, even if Epps would deny that one to his dying day if asked.

He wasn't above taking pointers from more experienced people, though, even if Lennox probably didn't even know he had taught him, and so Epps had done the only reasonable thing and found himself an equally unfortunate underling-slash-minion to take the worst of the administrative stress from him as well.

That had taken care of the worst of the paperwork but still left him with the politicians and assorted other pests and it was nothing short of a miracle that he hadn't snapped at any of the idiots yet. Decepticons didn't kill themselves and inch-thick reports explaining 'budget cuts' and 'right-sizing' wasn't going to do a whole lot of good against thirty-something feet of psychotic, malevolent, red-eyed destruction, either.

The sympathetic look he had gotten in return when he had shared that particular rant with Optimus Prime had told him entirely too clearly that it hadn't been the first time they'd had that argument with the political pukes and that it damn well wouldn't be the last one, either.

It had started with paperwork, it had continued with Pit-spawned politicians, and it had all gone downhill from there. He had demanded – okay, possibly begged for, but Robert Epps was never going to admit that out loud to anyone – information and when he had finally gotten it, it hadn't taken him long to wish he could just un-read the whole damn thing again. In any other situation it might have been interesting – it probably wouldn't have mattered much in combat since Seekers were Seekers and best left to mechs like Sideswipe and Ironhide to deal with – but it would still have been interesting in the way that most things about their allies tended to be, for the sole reason that it was so completely alien that they couldn't have made up the stuff if they'd wanted to.

In any other situation it might have been interesting but not now, not when everything he read about Seekers in general and the current situation in specific got filtered through the knowledge that it wasn't some random flying Decepticon they were talking about but a former human that Epps considered a damn good friend. He had gone through the whole spectrum of emotions as he had read through the stack of material he had been given, from disbelief to anger to fear and grief and morbid amusement, and finally he had caved, waited until their human-turned-Seeker seemed to have a calm day and then gone to Ratchet for some answers that weren't in the shape of dry, scientific language that told him nothing beyond the fact that Seekers were some seriously messed-up fraggers and that however alien the Autobots might be sometimes, they had nothing on the flying fraggers that had always been so much of a pain to them in combat.

He had found Ratchet in a decent enough mood – suspiciously so, if Epps paused to think about it, which probably explained his willingness to go in detail to such a degree, and either the medic was being a sadist or it was his way of reminding Epps of just what they were dealing with and either way, he really didn't care – and he had left again an hour later with entirely too much information to file away and the vaguely twitchy, bemused thought that someone had really had it out for William Lennox.

The mechs probably disagreed with that part of it, Epps figured, but Will had been human and would have agreed. Not that Epps got a lot of chances to ask but really, in that case he didn't have to.

'Maybe', Epps had theorised in a quickly scribbled message through Will's personal comm-frequency in between the stupid meetings and paperwork that bred like rabbits on speed, 'you really pissed off someone in a past life.'

'Says the guy who got stuck with Sideswipe. What'd you do, steal candy from a bunch of nuns?', Will had sent back via email and Epps could almost hear the snort in the words. Winged bundle of issues or not, at least some part of Will was obviously still in there and Robert Epps could work with that.

Sarah Lennox seemed to agree with him and that was surprisingly comforting to know, too – and not just, Epps realised, because of the whole 'married' issue. Sarah Lennox was a good judge of character. Sarah Lennox had always been a good judge of character and for all that her husband was now stuck as something big and winged and ugly and alien, she was still willing to fight for him and however stubborn she might be – and experience had taught Robert Epps plenty about that particular side of her – she wouldn't have been willing to do that if there hadn't been at least a small part of him worth fighting for.

A human part, Epps knew. Not the Seeker part that would as soon step on them as give them the time of day, but a human part. The part, Epps figured, that was still Will somewhere in the mess of programming. The part that gave their Seeker – or what little he'd seen of it, which hadn't been a whole damn lot – the human traits that Epps wasn't even sure the Seeker itself noticed. Enough to keep him from looking entirely 'Con, at least, and that made Epps sleep a lot better at night. Denial helped, too. He couldn't exactly delete a memory like the 'Bots could but that wasn't about to stop him from doing everything he could not to think about Will's little training session with Sideswipe that Epps had been able to imagine in all too vivid details from what little he had heard from the mechs. Denial worked beautifully there and if denial was to credit for not having the image of one of Ironhide's cannon's trained straight on Will's spark running through his head whenever he thought too much about the situation, then denial was all good with him. He had enough to worry about without adding the cold dread of Will going 'Con on them to the list.

Not that Epps thought he would go along with it voluntarily for a moment but if even half the stuff Ratchet had shared about Seekers had been true, then consent wasn't a requirement when it came to a whole lot of things.

Possibly, Robert Epps was a teeny, tiny bit sleep deprived still but he wasn't about to admit it and his NEST team knew better than to ask and he could fragging well sleep when he was dead. At the rate things were going, that was the only sleep he'd get, too.

"Commander?" Optimus Prime's voice, low and calm, cut through the chaotic mess of thoughts that rambled about in his head and however many times he'd heard the mech speak before, it was different somehow when you were the one in charge of the human side, when you were the one who made the decisions and the only humans above you were somewhere in the States, playing politics while people died. Equals, Epps had finally realised, or as close as it could be. Optimus Prime respected his troops, respected the humans who went up against the 'Cons at the Bots' side, but that didn't change the fact that there was a lot of difference between being second-in-command and being the one in charge. Never true equals, because there was a whole ton of issues that came with being Prime that Epps couldn't even begin to make sense of – and the religious aspect was probably the least of it – but... somewhat equals, at least.

Enough that it still unnerved him and made him wonder how long it had taken his former boss to get used to it and how long it would take before Optimus Prime realised that Epps had no clue what he was doing and lost patience with him.

Ratchet had told Epps to sleep more. Possibly, he conceded, the medic had a point. At least he was pretty sure that he hadn't been rambling like that to himself before the whole world had gone FUBAR on them.

'Cons, Seekers, plans. Right.

Their Prime's voice still in the back of his mind, he forced his thoughts back into somewhat-focus and back on track again... for all of the good that would do him.

Robert Epps understood military strategy but Decepticons had never worked on human logic much.

"They're giving us every chance to stop them. They're asking us to stop them. We all know Screamer isn't stable but Big and Ugly? I don't like him, Prime, and he's got some damn alternative approaches to handling troop morale, but he's not stupid. Arrogant, sadistic, and willing to throw away lives on a whim but not stupid. He's smarter than that."

Had to be, at least, to go up against Optimus Prime and hold his own... but then, going up against Optimus Prime in the first place wasn't exactly a sign of awe-inspiring intelligence to begin with. Competent, though, on his own merits, Epps knew that much even if he didn't like to admit it. Megatron might be a grade-A asshole but that didn't mean he was stupid in the least and expecting him to be could get them all killed.

"It gives him the psychological advantage," Optimus Prime responded and Epps suspected it wasn't all his own tiredness that made their Prime's voice sound a little weary as well. "In this case, it may very well be worth surrendering part of the element of surprise."

He paused for a moment and it was just long enough for Epps to hear the dreaded catch-all explanation in his head even as the mech spoke it. "He is targeting a Seeker. Common sense and known military strategies do not always serve their purpose in those cases."

Right, Epps mentally groaned, he's a Seeker, but the mech continued before any of those comments could be voiced out loud.

"The... display is aimed at Will," Optimus Prime said carefully. "It would have had little effect on a normal mech but for a Seeker, the rules are different. What Megatron does – what Starscream does, in all honesty, as he is undoubtedly a strong force behind this – is a reminder of the attraction the Decepticon cause holds for Seekers. Even Autobot Seekers had... abrasive personalities for the most part. Will, whatever he might have been before, carries around part of those same traits now. They may show to varying degrees and may at times not even show at all but they remain there all the same. Starscream is making a point and regretfully, William's new personality traits will not allow him to ignore it."

Programming. Right.

Epps resisted the urge to rub his face tiredly. Alien robots had taken a while to get used to but the 'Bots had always made an effort to pick up some human traits. Even Sideswipe had adapted eventually. Not very well and Epps knew that, too, but enough that even his attitude on his bad days felt more like a human asshole with way too big of an ego than it felt like an alien. They were alien but acted surprisingly human for the most part. Will... really, really hadn't. Epps hadn't been around him that much but it had still been enough to make it very, very clear that there were two personalities in there and the second one was pretty damn alien. The whole 'programming' thing didn't help on that in the least. Epps liked to believe in personal choice and free will and whatever else had been hammered into his head over the years. Something like Will's programming that ran haywire if he didn't get laid and which was apparently wired to pay attention to Starscream of all people... Epps wasn't too proud to admit that the thought was more than just a bit freaky and that if their new Seeker-human decided to go batshit insane from it, he really couldn't blame them, either. Or blame Will, at least. The Seeker probably didn't think it was a problem.

There was probably some interesting theories to make about programming and the nature or nurture slag he'd put up with from an ex-girlfriend in his teenage years, but NEST undoubtedly had smarter men than grunts working on that already and Epps' main concern was more aimed at the human-mech in question than the theories behind it.

"They know we can stop them," Epps finally repeated as he forced himself to start over and try to get somewhat of a grip on the special brand of logic that Seekers apparently used.

"They do," Optimus agreed, and not for the first time Epps mentally thanked whatever deity might be listening that they had a patient Prime. "Their target, whichever one they may decide on, is secondary, and yes, they are well aware that we will strike against them the moment the location they choose becomes clear. The display of power and decisiveness is the purpose of their attack." The large mech paused and Epps just knew he wouldn't like what followed. "I suppose, to a Seeker, it could be seen as a display of courtship towards Will."

I hate being right.

There were a lot of things Epps could have said to that particular little bit of explanation but in the end he settled for the first thing his brain could think of: "He's married."

"Seekers," Optimus Prime responded dryly, "are somewhat confused by the concept of 'monogamy'."

Trines, Epps realised, and wouldn't that just bring a whole 'nother level of wrong to the situation the next time NEST went up against Starscream and the rest of the flying fraggers? Ratchet had mentioned something similar, in the written briefing and the lecture afterwards, but that had been Ratchet and he wasn't exactly known for putting things in easy-to-understand packages when it came to medical stuff. That little bit of information had been there, it just hadn't clicked until Optimus Prime's dry comment.

Seekers were confused by monogamy, and even if Starscream hadn't been likely to at the very least ignore the fact that Will still had a human wife who refused to let him leave for her own good – and at worst try to kill her, even if Epps would do everything in his power to keep Sarah Lennox safe – it still wouldn't have meant a damn thing if he had accepted her, because Seekers didn't do monogamy and the fact that Will already had a mate wasn't going to stop a determined Seeker.

Or Ironhide, apparently, but that mental image was something Epps could have lived just fine with never, ever crossing his mind again. The mech was right up there with Prime on the list of beings Epps would want to have at his back in battle, and target practice with him never got old, but that didn't exactly mean that Epps was about to... ask him out for Energon and a grope or whatever alien robots did for that sort of thing.

Even if his wife wouldn't have killed him for those kind of ideas.

Sarah Lennox, Epps noticed, had done nothing of that sort but that just reinforced his long-standing belief that nobody who was entirely sane could stay married to William Lennox. He wasn't sure if it had been Will-the-human or whatever kind of Seeker programming the guy now had that had gone after Tall, Dark, and Not Too Handsome, either, and honestly, he could live a happy life never knowing.

Determined to get off of that particular train of thought before it headed any further into too-much-information-ville, he forced his attention back on the situation at hand with less certainty than he would have liked – sleep, sleep was good, he should catch up on that one of these days – and then pursed his lips in vague distaste as he silently demanded answers of the screen in front of him that it stubbornly refused to give.

"I wish to hell I could help but all we know about Seekers is to get out of the way and let Ironhide and Sideswipe have their go at the slaggers. If you have a plan, sir, I'm all ears."

And just like that he stepped down for the moment and let Optimus Prime take over – it wasn't a situation he had experience with, not a situation he had any idea of how to handle, and he wasn't going to risk the lives of any of his men because his ego demanded he got a say about something he didn't have a clue about. Working for NEST and fighting the 'Cons had a way of keeping you humble. Somewhat equals or not, he'd seen Will step back often enough when whatever they were handling got too weird. He had still been involved, still listened and learned and offered suggestions, but he had also made it very clear that he was in over his head and not afraid to admit it. It had become less common over the years as they had learned more about their new allies and enemies, sure, but he'd still done it occasionally. A lot of common sense for an officer to show but then, NEST had never been normal and Epps was starting to realise that he would have to get used to the weird ways of doing stuff sooner rather than later.

Besides, whatever Will might have been before, however much of the human might be left, he was still a Cybertronian now and that put him solely under Optimus Prime's jurisdiction. The 'Bots might take orders from select humans but when it came down to it, Optimus Prime's word was law.

"We have no choice but to move to stop them," the large mech finally responded as the view on the screen changed at some silent command to bring up the map of potential targets. "The only question that remains is how to handle the matter of our Seeker."

It was silent for a moment as he seemed to consider the situation and then he made a soft sound that Epps recognised as a sigh. "Ratchet reminded me of a human expression during a... previous situation we found ourselves in with regards to William. 'Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.'. To bring him with us would give Megatron and Starscream what they wish and make him a target. To let him remain here..."

"... Would drive him crazy," Epps finished quietly. "Will's not going to sit out a battle if he can fight, we both know that. Not if his people are out there in the line of fire. None of us would."

"All of NEST has shown commendable loyalty," Optimus Prime remarked. "I agree with the assessment. To let him remain here would be unwise at best and leave him open for Starscream's manipulations. Opposing factions or not, Starscream, as the Air Commander, still has a hold on him."

Another of those things that Epps really didn't want to think about but couldn't afford to ignore, either. "How bad?" he finally asked.

"We don't know." Prime's admission was quiet and serious and told Epps far more about how bad the situation was than he ever wanted to know. "Autobot Seekers all went through great pain to distance themselves from their Decepticon kin. Starscream had little, if any, influence left with them. William's responses to Starscream up until now have shown that he is more open to that influence than previous Autobot Seekers have been but how much is something I doubt even he is aware of. The dominant personality at the time would have quite a lot to say in regards to their response to him, I suspect." He paused for a moment. "If nothing else, he will at least be unable to raise a weapon against Ironhide with the intention to offline or injure now. Such is the nature of that kind of bond."

Epps wondered for a moment if that was why Will had done it – it had probably had at least something to say about it – but he doubted that had been all there had been to it, and then he pushed those thoughts away before he could linger for too long on them. "Why him? He's a Seeker, sure, but he's-"

"-Just one mech?" Optimus finished quietly. "He is. It is a matter of principle for Megatron. He is a Seeker and as such he should be at Megatron's side in the war. He who commands the Seekers commands the skies. There are other Cybertronians that can fly but none as capable as the Seekers. To have even one Autobot Seeker free of his rule would be a potential weakness and a challenge he can not afford to leave alone. The few Seekers at our side were always targets, far more so than all but the most dangerous of the ground-bound mechs. That he listens to Starscream to even a small degree only offers further encouragement."

Not the sort of thing Epps wanted to hear, really not the sort of thing he wanted to consider, but he didn't have much of a choice and so he just closed his eyes briefly, wearily before returning his attention to their Prime. All the bits of the puzzle were there. It was just a matter of completing the image he didn't want to acknowledge out loud.

"We're going to lose him." Not a question and not something the mech needed to respond to, either. "One way or another, we're going to lose him. Either he's going to try and run off and Ironhide will take him down, or the goddamn 'Cons are going to shoot him out of the sky when he tells them to go frag themselves."

Optimus Prime nodded slightly. "Yes."

Fuck.

This time, Epps didn't try to resist that urge to rub his face tiredly and try to clear his thoughts a little but it didn't help, the same nasty words and images going through his mind over and over and over again. Maybe that was why his mouth got started before he could stop it or maybe it was just the all-together amazing combination of fatigue and sleep deprivation and paperwork, and oddly he found that he couldn't bring himself to care in the least.

"Why?" he demanded. "You're the Prime, you have the Matrix, you know... whatever the hell is out there, Primus or the Unmaker or whatever the hell you call it. That thing brought Will back, with blue optics and Autobot insignias and the whole damn package, and it did it just so he could go right ahead and get himself killed again."

He was probably breaking half a dozen unwritten rules and likely just as many written ones but right now he didn't care – it was Optimus, he respected Optimus, would go right up and kick open the gates of Hell at Optimus' side if that was what it came to, but it didn't change the fact that right now Epps was tired and angry and confused and Optimus Prime was a convenient target.

Judging by their Prime's calm, measured reaction, he probably knew it, too.

"I would like to think there is a reason," he said, and while the voice was calm it also left no doubts at all that that was about as far as he was willing to tolerate their human commander's remarks, and Epps knew that, too. He forced himself to calm down again and nod briefly in a silent half-acknowledgement, half-apology, and Optimus waited for another few seconds before he continued. "I would like to think there is a reason but we may never know it. I have wondered, too."

And come to think of it, he probably had. Surprisingly, that thought helped a little, and Epps let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

"So now what?"

Another pause and if it had been Ratchet instead of Optimus Prime, Epps was sure he would have felt that tell-tale feeling of a scan sweeping over him. As it was, Optimus knew him too well to really need it.

"Now, you rest. We need you clear-headed, commander, and you are far from it." Gentle amusement, a verbal tap on the shoulder of a particularly stubborn subordinate, and Epps just offered a tired smile.

"I'd argue but I know I look like crap." For a moment he almost did argue, anyway, because there were things to be done, people to meet, reports to write, politicians to glare at, but in the end he didn't bother. Optimus Prime could have made it an order but respect meant that he hadn't. It had been a suggestion, from one concerned comrade-in-arms to another, and it helped soothe the part of Epps that was still worrying itself into an early grave at the thought of being top dog of NEST. "Thank you, sir."

Optimus Prime nodded slightly, regally, and then Epps made his way out of the office, already mentally halfway in bed. He did have things to do, way too many, but it didn't really matter now. They had a war to fight and a battle approaching and he would be of no use to anyone right now.

He should find his own quarters, do it the proper way, but his feet moved of their own accord and he found himself in a familiar Autobot hangar, empty of any inhabitants but with a familiar couch in one human-sized corner. Old, worn, comfy, and Ratchet had left standing orders that waking up their napping new human commander when he finally did sleep was grounds for a massive chewing out to make even Sideswipe pay attention.

He should find his own quarters, his own bed, but the hangar was familiar and empty and safe, and he could always go find his bed later. Rest. Rest was good.

Decision made, Epps flopped down on the couch.

He would wake up again ten hours later, properly rested for the first time in weeks and somewhat ready to face the world again, but for now Robert Epps slept.