"We have to stop." Mikaela insisted, much to Ironhide's chagrin. She had already been brushed off once, the teen having allowed it for the sake of urgency and saving Mr. Faireborn's daughter, but now her dilemma couldn't be ignored.

         "Out of the question." Ironhide stated once more.

         "There's a gas station, right there!" She pointed ahead. "Humans have basic needs. Unlike Lennox, I wasn't trained to hold in my bodily urges such as going to the bathroom. Besides, Barricade and Starscream will have to stop at some point too."

         "You're assuming they'll cater to a human's needs?" Ironhide could barely hold in a huff of amusement. "Kid, you're dellusional."

     Mikaela watched as they neared the gas station before smirking.

         "Marissa Faireborn is a woman, just like me." She leaned closer to Ironhide's steering wheel. "That means she just might be on her period too. So, it's either stop, or I bleed all over your seat."

     Suddenly reminded of the girl's menstrual cycle, Ironhide suggested to the team that they stop at the gas station. The mech watched as the woman grinned ear-to-ear at her triumph when Optimus admitted it would be wise for their human passengers to stretch their legs. The change in attitude was quick and her glee continued as they parked. Lennox quickly went to Ironhide while Shane Faireborn stretched his own legs and trudged into the woods for who-knew-what. The weapons specialist felt a weight on his passenger side door, observing that Lennox was staring where the older man had gone.

         "Not a fan of your elders?" Ironhide teased, feeling the man stiffen. Apparently, he wasn't aware that Ratchet was complaining about him. 

         "Not particularly." Lennox muttered, watching as Shane came trekking back from the bushes.

         "Why not mention your own daughter?" Came the next question.

         "I don't think he'd be willing to listen. Doesn't seem like the kind of guy to respect authority when he's angry."

         "You really are dense sometimes." Ironhide huffed, earning a bitter 'what's that supposed to mean?' in return. The mech only ignored him as Mikaela came back with more Primus-forsaken snacks, a coffee and water.

     Shane smiled softly as the girl he learned to be Mikaela kissed her boyfriend, Sam, on the cheek before they separated to their guardians. The wacky one he remembered to be Miles dropped a sandwich on his way back to the Autobot leader. He was apparently informed of his clumsiness by the semi because he went back to get it, a rather embarrassed smile on his face. The fact that mere kids were caught in the middle of an alien war puzzled the father. They were teenagers that still had at least one more year of high school left. What business did they have saving a whole planet?

         "They aren't as bad as I might make them sound." 

     The man jumped, being startled by the older voice behind him. He had forgotten the ambulance was a living being.

         "They seem like good kids." Shane admitted with a shrug. "A little young for an intergalactic war, though." 

     Ratchet would have nodded if he were in his root mode.

         "I must agree. I also think the human race is too young for our war, yet here we are, unexplainably intertwined. It's our duty to get along as best we can."

     That comment made the pepper-haired man chuckled.

         "I see. I'll apologize to Colonel Lennox when I'm ready. I don't hold any grudge against him, he just wanted to talk at the wrong time." Said military man was getting back into Ratchet's driver's seat, making the ambulance rock back mildly. "Time to go." Shane muttered and joined the army grunt.

     Sam dug into his sandwich like it was his last meal. Bee chirped his concern, but the boy ignored him in favor of putting more mayonnaise on his poor excuse for a breakfast. His sleep schedule (what there was of one) had been completely destroyed and his body was making up for it in the form of hunger. Witwicky wasn't concerned, but he knew after his sandwich and the chips he planned on eating afterward were done, he'd fall into a food-coma. After 6 hours of driving already, he felt he deserved it anyway. 

         "You think Mikaela is okay?" He decided to ask around a mouthful of sandwich. "I mean-" he swallowed, "Ironhide isn't exactly as nice as her."

     It was probably the millionth time Sam wondered if Mikaela was going to be alright with Ironhide as her guardian. Sam wasn't too fond of him for offering to kill his parents and his dog when the Autobots first arrived. He had also scared her upon their first meeting with his giant cannons and was frankly rather abrasive. A hard-core trigger-happy warrior taking care of Sam's hard-core grease monkey girlfriend.

     Bumblebee would have bet Mikaela would have never given Sam a chance if she met Ironhide first. Alas, she had to deal with being chased by Frenzy and ultimately saving Sam, which was before Ironhide was even on Earth. Not that Bee didn't think they made a nice couple. He understood winning a femme like Mikaela made a human male enviable and he would remain Sam's wingman until either of their dying day. That didn't stop him from assuring Sam that Mikaela was perfectly fine as he flipped through the stations of Wisconsin.

         -:You've got a friend in - him - so stop you're worrying and - have a blast!:-

     Sam enjoyed guessing what Bumblebee used for his speech. He knew the first was a song, the second was too short to determine but the third was clearly a preacher's sermon and the second was a commercial he'd heard for an amusement park. It made him smile, though he couldn't really "have a blast" knowing that some poor civilian was in the clutches of two of the worst Decepticons next to Megatron. The memory of Barricade was still far too fresh and Starscream tearing into those pilots in Mission City was terrifying. What if those pilots had families, like William? There was likely nothing to bury.

         "She can handle herself." Sam agreed with a nod, putting his half-eaten sandwich back in its wrap for later. His stomach had started to disagree with him. "I'm going to hop in the back seat and take a nap. You good?"

     Bee responded with a happy chirp, keeping his driving steady as the teen cleaned up his mess before sliding back and curling up with the black blanket he always kept on the floor. 

     When everyone had reported that their main passengers were sound asleep, they picked up their pace, though a pothole woke up Shane from his crooked nap, making his neck snap uncomfortably. He wiped his eyes of lingering sleep before looking around. He spotted an unfamiliar, scenic view.

         "Where are we?" He questioned, noting Lennox was somehow still asleep. It was guessed that the army man was exhausted enough that not much could wake him. 

         "We are currently passing into Minnesota." Ratchet explained quietly. "The device your daughter holds is still within its borders, perhaps four hours ahead of us."

         "Four hours?" Shane frowned, arms crossing over his thick chest. "We left my property maybe two hours after those things took Marissa, how could they be ahead by that much already?" 

     Lennox snored in the driver's seat, forcing the two males into silence for a moment before Ratchet answered the distraught man.

         "Mr. Faireborn, you must understand that we are not actually bound to the human mechanics of the alternative modes we have chosen." The medic watched as the human shuffled in his seat uncomfortably, still unsure of sentient robots from outer space, obviously. "Starscream is far faster than any human aircraft, and Barricade is just the same."

         "Then why are you only going 55 in a 50 MPH highway?" 

         "Unlike the Decepticons," he started slowly, keeping his moodiness to a minimum, "we Autobots do our best to keep human safety a priority. That means driving the speed limit- for the most part. Unless Colonel Lennox gives us the 'all clear', we have to abide by human law."

     Again, the man shifted. Shane wanted his daughter back, safe and sound in her bed where she had been not even half a day ago. It had already felt like days of racing after her. A wild goose chase combined with searching for a needle in a haystack. How many planes passed by the skies, and how many police cars had they already driven by? The mere possibility of one of these many vehicles holding his daughter hostage made the man paranoid and antsy. Despite the assurances that their targets were far from them, the farmer couldn't bring himself to believe that they were following a Cybertronian version of a gut feeling. His gut feelings weren't always accurate, so why would theirs be?

         "Can't Colonel Lennox hinder the guys or something? Make the lights red, force the cities into lockdown?"

         "And force an entire state into a panic like yours when you had no idea what was going on?" This comment forced Shane to see reason in that aspect. Ratchet sighed. "You are worried for your daughter, as a parental unit should be, but we cannot risk more lives than we already have."

)-/\-(

         "You're just fortunate I never changed into my pajamas." Marissa hummed, eating a bagel with cheese. She had convinced Barricade to stop at a gas station, though he forced her to walk most of the way to avoid letting her know his hologram couldn't even move out of the driver's seat to open his own door (or look like it). "I wouldn't have had my wallet."

         "I fail to see how I am fortunate to have to witness you ingesting that poor excuse for fuel." Barricade rumbled, irritated with the sound of her chewing which he swore the human smacked her little lips like that on purpose.

     The mech felt degraded after practically being forced to talk to the squishy organic. Unfortunately, after she had woken up, Marissa was feeling chatty once more, not helped by her nagging for the next 45 minutes about needing sustenance. She was only able to convince the irritable mech to stop after explaining she could throw up from a lack of food caused by headaches and nausea. He would rather let her eat and lose five minutes of precious time than need to clean his back seats and stink of bile for the next Earth week. Starscream taunted and teased him enough as it was.

         "Pretty sure I already told you why you're so fortunate." Marissa hummed. "It's either witness me eat or witness the stomach acid pouring all over your plastic interior."

     The reminder did nothing to ease the mech. He found both options absolutely revolting.

         "Hurry up." He decided to order instead of insulting her, which was a rather enticing option. "I grow tired of your stench-filled fuel."

         "So energon doesn't smell?" Marissa used the opening to ask about the strange substance. She understood it was the Cybertronian's life blood, but that was all Barricade would tell her. 

         "Of course, it does." Came the snippy answer. "As your fuel has a scent, and a taste, as does energon."

     His answer held a 'I can't believe you don't know this' kind of tone to it, but Marissa had accepted that it was just part of the alien's personality.

         "Does it have different tastes and smells?" She pushed her luck since the mech seemed like he was in the mood to answer questions.

         "You're prepared for the next ten minutes of silence you're about to add to?"

     The fact he remembered their agreement made the woman's eyes roll. She didn't think he was always in the kind of mood to want silence but clearly, she was wrong.

         "Whatever. Where's Starscream?" 

     Barricade wondered why she changed the subject, answering with a short 'ahead of us' as the woman finished her bagel and nodded simply. She curled back up in the plastic seat before falling silent, head resting on the folded-up flannel. The mech's sensors caught her eyes flicking in random patterns, suggesting that she was thinking. Thinking of what, he didn't quite care to know. What he wanted to know was why she went from annoyingly inquisitive to almost reclusive. Human behavior had always puzzled the mech, so it didn't compute that the human woman was actually being considerate of his dislike for conversation. He thought she may have just had enough of his usual personality. Not many liked it anyways. 

         :We need to change course.: Starscream came back from his excursion in the skies. The serious deadpan made Barricade edgy.

         :What's up ahead?: The interrogator questioned. 

         :Autobots.:

     According to the flier, these were not of the same team as their previous pursuers. The Seeker didn't care who they were, just that their signatures identified as Autobots. It didn't bode well for either party, knowing that more of these wretched cowards were coming out of hiding from wherever just for one small device currently hanging on the human woman's snappable wrist. Forcing her to give it to them suddenly didn't sound so bad. 

     Starscream was for some reason against the idea when Barricade suggested they just take the device and leave the human for dead. They didn't need it anyway; they wanted the device. The police car asked for his reasoning. 

         :What better way to keep our query from the Autobots, than with the very species they are trying to save?: His abrasive chuckle made Barricade want to snap at him to get on with it. :If we convince this human to trust us, and only us, then she won't give the trinket to the Autobots if you do somehow lose her.:

         :And do you plan on helping in this endeavor to trick the human into liking us?: Barricade wanted to purge his tanks at the idea, though he was already executing the plan, albeit without much thought into what a human would consider trustworthy and friendly.

         :Unfortunately.: Starscream sighed. :Human brains are so small I doubt she'd be able to tell the difference between an insult and a compliment, anyway. How hard could it be?:

     Both mechs would find out soon enough.