A/N: So, after a delay here is the sequel to Fate is a Cruel Mistress.

The throne room was silent except for the tapping of clawed metal digits on stone. Knockout pretended to be examining his finish, anything to avoid looking at Megatron. He glanced down at the report Megatron had laid aside a while ago. Apparently whatever he'd read did not sit well with him. He'd been brooding ever since.

"Knockout, if you don't stop it I'm going to rip your arms off."

Dropping his arms to his sides, Knockout seethed. In the short time he'd been back, Megatron had made it very apparent that he was not trusted, or even wanted. Flatline was still occupying his laboratory and overseeing the installation of a new medical bay here in New Kaon. Megatron had not let him leave his sight. He just wished that Megatron would allow him to at least explain his actions, but there was no talking to the Decepticon leader. The public humiliation he'd suffered at the Primes' hands was too fresh. Knockout was thankful that Megatron's legendary temper hadn't come into play, at least not when he was around.

"Isn't there something you could be doing? Go help Flatline."

"With all due respect, My Liege, he does not want my assistance." Megatron growled, the nearly subsonic sound vibrating painfully in Knockout audio sensors. "Bu-but I'm sure there are some Vehicons that might need medical attention."

Sneaking out of the great hall, Knockout vented softly. At least the fortress was large enough for him to lose himself in it. It was becoming more and more obvious that his decision to take up Megatron's offer was one he'd made too hastily. Maybe it was time to rethink things.

###

June sipped at her coffee as she poured over the reports that Officer Routh and General Bryson had forwarded to her. Yesterday had been strange. She'd recieved a call from the President himself and during their conversation she'd somehow ended up appointed as the Autobot's Official Human Representative, unlike Agent Fowler who was their contact. She suspected William had something to do with it. She'd talk to him about it later. For now she was more interested in the contents of the reports. They mostly had to do with sightings of Cybertronians. Affiliation unknown.

A distant clang reverberated through the floor. June rolled her eyes and closed the file folder. Sure enough several more followed suit and the lights flickered.

"Whoever thought allowing Ratchet and Wheeljack free rein to retrofit this place was a good idea needs to have their head examined." She muttered as she got up. She frowned down at her coffee. Dust floated on the surface. Getting up she tossed the cup in the nearby sink and went to find the source of the racket.

The massive missile silo was still too cramped for the Autobots, especially Optimus who had to spend most of his time in his altmode while inside. He'd not complained but she could feel his discomfort at being so constrained.

Optimus?

Yes, June?

Are those two tearing up stuff again?

Yes. Wheeljack is convinced that the main tunnel needs to be wider.

Wider?

Yes.

With a sigh June headed up. It was a little eerie to be so far underground even though everything was well lit. There were no windows.

"Hey mom!"

"Jack, I thought you were with Miko and Raf at school?"

"Yeah, well its a snow day." Jack shrugged with a lopsided smile.

"Snow day?"

"Yeah there's like a foot of the stuff outside."

"Oh . . . And they cancel school for that?"

"Apparently. It's going to take some getting used too, huh?"

June smiled at him and patted his shoulder. "Yes it will, but we will manage."

He fell into step beside her as she walked. "So where are you going?"

"To see what Ratchet and Wheeljack are doing."

"Oh."

"Don't sound so disappointed, what did you think I was doing?"

"I don't know . . . Going to talk to the president or something . . ."

"Jack . . . Just because I am now the Autobot's ambassador doesn't mean that I'm going to be jetting all over the planet talking to world leaders. They need me here."

"June! There you are!"

"William, what brings you out here?" She couldn't help smiling at the man.

"Well I wanted to see how my favorite ambassador and her charges were doing and I have this for you." He handed me a large package.

"What's this?"

"Classified files regarding the Autobots."

"I already have them-"

"Not all of them . . ." William glanced down and away before meeting my eyes again.

"I'm not supposed to have this am I?"

William looked over at Jack. "She's good."

"I tried to tell you, dude."

"Agent Fowler, I will not jeopardize your career by accepting-"

"You won't. You aren't. I'm the head of the division overseeing this. Its my call and I need you on board." His smile faded. "We are at war now and I need every asset I've got."

Stepping forward June gave him a quick hug. "Thank you. I'll get right on this."

There was a muted rumble from below and then yelling. "Crap . . . Those bots are a menace." William groaned then looked back at June. "Is Optimus here? I can't seem to find him."

"Yes he's here, he's monitoring the communications console while Ratchet and Wheeljack work. Smokescreen, Bumblebee and Arcee are out scouting and . . . I guess Bulkhead is helping the others with the demolition."

William looked around. We were at a corridor junction. "So umm . . . Which way?"

"Here, I'll take you to him. He'd probably like to know what's on these files too."

"I'd rather you didn't tell him." William looked down at her, something hard and unreadable in his eyes. It wasn't a look June had ever seen before. This was the professional side of him coming through. The ex-Ranger.

"I see." She left it at that.

Optimus was in his bot form hunched down in front of the bank of computers. The ceiling was at least twenty feet high but still nearly ten foot too short for him to stand.

"That can't be comfortable, Prime." William grinned up at him as Optimus turned to look at them.

"It would be easier for Ratchet, but he is needed elsewhere."

"Such a selfless bot." June walked over to pat Optimus' foot. "Raf could help monitor-"

"He is in school, is he not?"

"No, snow day." Jack piped up.

"Snow day?"

"How long has it been since you were outside, Optimus?" June pulled her self up into his offered hand.

A thoughtful look crossed his faceplates. "Ninety-six earth hours."

"Optimus! Have you even recharged since we got here."

"I do not require recharge yet."

Jack muffled a laugh behind his hand and nodded his head to William, mouthing. "Watch this . . ."

"Optimus Prime, you have been working for ten days straight I think it's time you got to your berth and had a decent recharge for a change."

"June-"

"Raf will monitor the computers, you know how much he loves to. Now move it mister." June was not about to take no for an answer, now that she was touching him she could feel his fatigue. It wasn't just physical either. He was worrying himself to a frazzle. She was going to have to focus more to feel that through their link, especially when he was so guarded even within himself. Looking over at the bank of screens it startled her to see half of them set to monitor the world news. No wonder he was so wiped out. When he didn't move she looked up to see him intently focused on the screens.

Optimus?

Something . . . Has happened.

"What do you mean?" She looked back at the monitors. The BBC, NBC and CNN were all showing scenes of Jasper. Or at least where the town had been. It was now nothing more than burning rubble. June gasped and William let out a low curse.

"Mom . . . Do you think everyone got out."

"Yes. I'm sure of it. No one would be stupid enough to stay." At least she hoped not. It had been deserted when she'd been there but if someone had went back for their possessions and been caught in that. She couldn't dwell on it.

"I promised." Optimus voice was so low as to be subsonic. "I promised I would protect you. Yet more of you keep dying because of me."

"Optimus, those were soldiers. They understood the risks and they volunteered to rescue you."

Optimus shifted suddenly, catching June before she could fall, turning to look at them. "No one should have had to 'rescue me'.

"We would be lost without you." Ratchet's voice cut in, making Optimus look up. "We need you. We all need you."

Optimus nodded his gaze falling to the floor. "I'm going for a drive."

"Optimus . . ."

June moved out of the way, pulling Jack with her so the bot had room. The rumble of his diesel echoed in the corridors as he left.

"He's taking this really hard." Jack gripped June's hand looking over at her.

"He's Optimus, of course he is." Ratchet vented softly.

The snow muffled the sound of Optimus tires as he took the one lane road away from the missile silo. He couldn't actually tell where the road was except for the line of short bushes on either side. They too were covered in snow, little more than white mounds. So different from the Antartic. That had been stark beauty of postive and negative spaces. Here it was similar but the various shapes seemed softer now with their covering of snow. Climbing to the top of a low rise, he idled for a moment. Letting the soft patter of snowflakes against his mesh sooth his processors.

Megatron was not one to accept such a humiliating defeat so easily. There would be severe reprisals, Jasper was just a first taste. A low roar echoed in the clouds above, drawing closer. Transforming Optimus looked up. It was impossible to see the plane through the clouds but he knew from the sound of it that it wasn't Decepticon. It was most likely another Stealth bomber stationed not far from their base. They flew daily runs now, preparing for the coming battles in the war he'd brought to them. His war.

It was time to stop hiding. Their secret was revealed. It would be pointless to continue to hide when it would only result in more human casualties. That thought saddened him. He'd promised the humans would be safe. He'd failed, broken his promise. What more could he do? He'd fought so hard for so long and still nothing had changed. Cybertron was gone. The All Spark was gone. The Arc was gone. The Star Saber was gone. Everything he'd fought for was gone. What else was there to fight for?

He looked up again, blinking away the snowflakes that caught in his optics. June's quiet voice replayed in his mind. Reminding him why he'd fought in the first place, why he'd opposed Megatron for so long. Cybertron might be lost to them for now, but that didn't mean Earth had to suffer the same fate. As long as he still had a spark he would do everything in his power to make it so.

"Optimus?"

He started, shaken out of his revere. Glancing down he saw June peering up at him from under a fur lined hood. "Yes?"

"Having doubts again?"

"You can tell?"

"Even without our link, I would be able to tell." She walked over to stand next to his foot, one hand resting on the warm metal. "Everyone is worried about you."

"I know." He reached down so she could climb into his hand and lifted her up so that they were eye level. "I do not mean to cause them distress."

"I know you don't, they know it too. You've been through something horrible, something that most people couldn't even comprehend. Ratchet has allowed me to begin viewing what recorded history you have available. Your society was so grand and complex, I cannot imagine what it was like to see it crumble."

"It was . . . devastating."

June's smile was soft, her eyes full of pain. "I can't begin to understand Optimus, but I am willing to listen. You don't even have to say anything."

She leaned forward laying her hand on his windshield, the contact sending a soft tingle through his sensor net. He closed his optics his head dropping forward as soothing waves of reassurance underlaid with determination washed over his aching processors. It soothed a pain in his spark he hadn't even been aware of.

"Thank you June."

"Anytime, Optimus. You know that." She smiled again, "Now, would you mind driving me into town, we need some supplies."

"Are they gone?" Wheeljack peered around the column at the humans in the corridor.

"Yes." Jack shook his head a wry smile on his lips.

"Good. Com'mon Ratchet, let's get this done before Boss Bot gets back."

"Fine, where is Bulkhead, we are going to need him to move stuff."

Jack looked over at William who was staring at the bots one eyebrow raised. "Just what is all this about guys?"

"Oh, they were wanting to surprise Optimus with his own quarters when they get back." Jack shrugged and turned to head in the opposite direction. "He's not had much privacy since he got back and Mom said it's starting to wear on him. She said that at times she can feel him start to panic, but he fights it so hard it's giving him headaches."

William frowned as he followed Jack. "He suffering from PTSD, or at least as close to it as I can determine. Hope these guys have our equivalent of a shrink. Can't have the big guy having a panic attack and shooting up the place."

"Agent Fowler, pretty much his entire life as been one big traumatic event after another. He's tired and we both know he has more control than any human could dream of."

"Is that what your mom said?"

"No, I've seen it for myself." Jack sighed. "He needs some downtime. Real downtime not just recharge."

"So Prime needs a vacation."

Jack stopped short and pivoted to face William. His eyes narrowed. "Listen. He's fought for millenia. Hundreds of thousands of our years, without stopping, without reprieve, without anyone to relieve him. The man is exhausted. And yes, I said man. He's just as human as the rest of us, and we need to quit seeing just the machine."

William nodded slowly. "I wasn't trying to imply other wise, son, but I appreciate your candor. Its just that right now we humans, the squishy ones, are under attack from Megatron. And Optimus is pretty much our last and only line of defense."

"Don't you think he knows that? Why do you think he's so upset?" Jack shook his head and started walking again. "I just hope that having some privacy will help. Mom's trying to figure out ways to help him too. Wheeljack said something about trying to contact the others."

"Others? What others?"

"There are Autobots scattered all around the galaxy. If Ratchet can get in contact with them, we might have some back up."

"Why do I have the feeling that the same holds true for Megatron?"