Author's Notes: Well, after months od threatening to do it, I've finally done it. I've finally written the first chapter of my first Bayverse fic. This will probably be the only movieverse story I write since I don't find the movies to be the most inspiring version of the franchise to draw from, but this story couldn't have been told in any other Transformers 'verse. I still don't know if this is going to be a Mikaela/Swindle fic or if I'm going to go in a different direction with the concept. This will be slightly AU, but like always I will do my best to keep all characters in-character. Please review, favorite, and follow to see more of this story :)

Chapter 1

Hitchhiking

There was sand in her sneakers irritating her feet. The road seemed to go on forever. Another text message came through on her phone. Mikaela looked to see who it was and sure enough, it was Sam once again asking her to call him. She knew what he would say. He would try to explain himself while at the same time indicating that they should get back together. She wasn't buying it. Not after what he did.

Mikaela walked along the hot empty summertime road trying to catch a ride to Bakersfield. Her aunt was there and was willing to take her in. This was not how she imagined her life turning out when she went off to college last year.

Her first bit of bad luck came when she found out the money she had squirreled away for her dorm room had mysteriously disappeared. It didn't take long for her to retrace everyone that had come into her room to figure out her dad had been the one to steal it from her. She wasn't surprised, but she was hurt from his predictable betrayal. With the money gone she had to move out of her dorm room.

Then came back luck item number two: her new car had been repossessed for nonpayment. She had been unable to find a job that allowed time for her college classes and therefore didn't have the money to keep up the payments. That would've been bad enough by itself, but without a dorm she had no place to live and no way to afford an apartment, so she was going to live in the car, but now she couldn't.

She had considered asking one of her friends if they had any spare room, but the sad fact was she didn't know anyone in town well enough to move in with them. She called Sam and asked if she could come over to visit. He said it was fine, and she thought she would bring up her need for an apartment then.

The next bit of bad luck (or bad timing) was when she made it to Sam's place a day earlier than expected thanks to the bus actually keeping its schedule for a change. She knocked on the door, and a beautiful blonde-headed girl had answered. Now, after the Alice incident, Mikaela wondered if this was another Pretender, but a quick visual scan showed all the imperfections and messiness on the girl's body that proved she was indeed human. She asked this new girl who she was, and she said she was Sam's girlfriend Thalia. Sam then came to the door wet with a towel around his waist and a look of mortification on his face. Mikaela stormed off without saying a word to him, and broke up with him by text message.

She and Sam had grown apart. She realized that now. Still, it hurt to find out he was actually cheating on her. Not to mention this meant if she got in contact with the Autobots now things would only be awkward between them. The last thing she needed was Ratchet lecturing her and/or Sam about pubescent hormones and asking endless questions about their biological functions. That got old really fast.

With no money, no place to go, and no boyfriend, Mikaela dropped out of school and was at that moment hitchhiking to Bakersfield, California. Her aunt wasn't exactly the warmest person in the world, but at least it beat going to her deadbeat thieving dad, her drug-addled mother, or her senile grandmother for help.

The temperature was approaching 90 degrees, and Mikaela was getting tired. She had been walking all morning, and the afternoon sun was beating down on her hard. She saw a flashy green car drive by and held out her thumb to flag them down, but they just sped right past her and kicked up dust into the air. Typical. It was the fifth one that had managed to get dust in her eyes.

She trudged on in silence and hoped she would at least get to a bus stop soon. She didn't have much money left, and had planned to save her limited funds for food, but at this point air conditioning and a place to sit took precedence.

She saw a yellow jeep driving in the opposite direction, but decided to try to flag it down anyway. She hoped she could convince them to drive her to a bus stop. She held out her thumb, and blessedly the jeep stopped for her! The passenger side door opened a little, and a male voice with a Jersey accent asked "Where're ya goin'?"

"Trying to catch a ride to a bus stop," Mikaela said hoarsely; having not had anything to drink in hours, "Or Bakersfield. Whichever comes first. Could you give me a ride, please?"

"Get in," ordered the unseen driver.

Mikaela smiled wide and hopped in the jeep immediately. She shut the door and closed her eyes as she let the air conditioning blow on her sweaty face. She was so happy to not be walking in the heat anymore. She sighed contentedly and leaned back in the seat.

"You're wet," the driver commented derisively, "Could you not sit back like that? You're gettin' biofluid all over my new seat covers."

Mikaela turned to glare at the driver, but then saw that there was no one in the driver's seat. With the tinted windows she hadn't noticed that the jeep was driving itself. There were two possibilities: Autobot or Decepticon. Autobots were more likely to take the forms of ordinary cars, while Decepticons usually took on the modes of jets, helicopters, and service vehicles. This was just a jeep. It was probably an Autobot. She was sure she was safe. Why would a Decepticon help a hitchhiker, after all?

"So, um, my name is Mikaela Banes. What's your's?" Mikaela asked in an effort to start up a friendly conversation.

"I'm Swindle," the jeep replied, "I got some business here on earth. What about you? Why are you goin' all the way to California?"

"I'm going to visit my Aunt Tilly," Mikaela told him, "Wait, did you say your name is Swindle? That's a weird name."

"Yeah, well my logs indicate that your name is quite ordinary. Too ordinary if you ask me," Swindle retorted, "Besides, my name is probably the only thing I came by honest in all my vorns of trade. Anyway, you don't have to worry about gettin' to Bakersfield."

"Yeah, thanks. I really appreciate you driving me there," Mikaela replied gratefully.

"No, you don't understand. You're not goin' to Bakersfield," Swindle replied; a new sinister tone to his voice, "You're comin' with me to see a client. One I'm sure will pay through the nose cone to get his claws on you."

"What...?" Mikaela asked softly, beginning to understand the huge mistake she made in getting into this jeep, "No, wait. You can't!"

"I can't what, doll face? Sell you to Megatron for a quick payday? I'm pretty sure I can, and I will," Swindle explained snidely, "After all, you're our ticket to Sam Witwicky. So just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. In a few hours, you're worm food."

Swindle then laughed a grating mechanical laugh that was common to Decepticons, and Mikaela tried in vain to get one of his doors open so she could jump out. She looked at the world whizzing by in the passenger window and realized that she was in serious danger. If she wanted to get out alive, she would have to rely on her wits to survive.

An hour had passed since Swindle had picked up the human. At first he had just stopped out of curiosity when he saw the squishy femme making that weird thumb gesture. It wasn't until he surreptitiously ran her through the Decepticon fugitive files that he discovered her importance to the Autobots and to Megatron's most hated human enemy, Sam Witwicky. Making a quick few credits while he was between missions seemed like a great use of his time. Well, it did at first.

Mikaela wasn't the soft submissive organic creature Swindle had been counting on her being. She had kicked his windshield repeatedly in an effort to break it. He had to send a surge of electricity through his entire frame just to get her to stop! She had screamed, which was an audio-grating sound, and then punched his dashboard in frustration despite being shocked by 30,000 volts of electricity!

"Hey sugar, if I get ya somethin' to eat will you stop tryin' to pound me into scrap?" Swindle finally asked once they were near a small town.

"Well...I am pretty hungry. Really thirsty," Mikaela begrudgingly admitted, "But don't call me sugar."

"How about baby?" Swindle asked cheekily.

"How about Mikaela?" Mikaela snapped; irritated by her abductor's nonchalant attitude.

"How about you cut the attitude before I transform and let my gears grind you into human juice?" Swindle snapped back, tired of playing around.

Mikaela pressed her lips shut and ducked further into the seat. She was angry at this good for nothing 'Con, but she couldn't ignore the part of her that was genuinely terrified of him. Swindle chuckled at her sudden compliance, satisfied that he had finally figured out how to deal with the annoying human.

"Alright then, I've found three human fueling stations nearby," Swindle announced as he indicated their names and locations on his GPS, "Which of these places is the cheapest?"

"The taco place will probably be the cheapest," Mikaela replied, "I have two dollars. That might get me a taco and some water with a little change left over."

"Don't worry about it, doll. I've got you covered," Swindle said in a chipper tone of voice.

Swindle then opened his glove box to reveal a stack of neatly wadded brand new dollar bills. Mikaela hadn't seen so much money since her dad had the "car repair" business where they stripped stolen vehicles for parts.

"Where did you get all this money?" Mikaela asked in shocked suspicion.

"I made it," Swindle replied vaguely.

"Yes, but how?" Mikaela asked skeptically, "Was it weapons trafficking? Did you rob a bank? Is it protection money?"

"All good ideas, but far too complicated," Swindle replied, "I made this money, as in I bought a bunch of cotton-based paper rolls and a printer and made it."

"I don't want to use counterfeit money," Mikaela protested, "I have two dollars. Let's just use that for my food, okay?"

"Sure, if you wanna do it the sucker's way, be my guest," Swindle scoffed.

When they got to the taco place Mikaela was tempted to scream into the speakers that she had been kidnapped and she needed help, but that idea was quickly disregarded when she realized what exactly she was dealing with. Local police couldn't handle a Decepticon! She'd need the army and the Autobots to help her, and no random Taco Casa employee was going to know how to get them there. Besides, if Swindle felt threatened he might just demolish the place. She was helpless for the moment.

When they pulled away and were nearing the window Swindle suddenly stopped; causing the car behind them to honk its horn aggressively.

"What the-?" Mikaela began to ask.

"Get in the driver's seat!" Swindle ordered harshly.

"Huh?" Mikaela asked dumbly.

"I have to look like there's a human driver in here!" Swindle explained curtly, "Get over here or I'm pullin' away without the food."

Mikaela was quick to comply as she struggled over Swindle's parking brake and raised cup holder to get to the driver's seat. He sure had picked an old and worn out alt mode. She could actually see a stick shift and a cassette player!

When they got to the window Mikaela paid for the food, was given .58 change, and took the bag and small water. Swindle drove off way too quickly and kicked up a bunch of dust behind him! Mikaela almost spilled the water, but managed to hold onto it until Swindle evened out. She was about to put her seatbelt on, but Swindle said "Nuh-uh. Get back in the passenger seat."

"Oh, come on!" Mikaela whined, "What if someone stops us? Wouldn't it look better if I were sitting here?"

"Not negotiable. Get out of my driver's seat!" Swindle snapped impatiently.

Mikaela didn't know what his problem was, and she hated climbing over things while the jeep was moving, but she didn't want to get him angry at her so she climbed back over to the passenger seat. If this was how he behaved all the time, then riding with this lunatic to get to Megatron was going to be a long grueling experience.