Once again, walking into his team's base gave Optimus the distinct feeling of walking in front of a firing squad. Almost everyone was waiting for him, barring Wheeljack and Miko, the only two that would be so easy to speak with. Some gazes were as bewildered as Bumblebee's was at first, some surprisingly sympathetic, others guarded from everything except extreme caution. Bulkhead was still in his medical berth, but he sat up with just the strength of suspicion and distrust in his spinal strut. Even the humans were there to smother him in guilt, though Jack was the only one utterly confused out of the two of them, half shielded by Arcee's legs. She'd decided to emerge for his return.
Optimus guided his gaze steadily over all of them, though he kept away from Arcee until he knew he couldn't avoid her any longer. Each feature on her faceplate was sharp enough to sting, and everything in her frame brimmed with hurt. However much of it was at being lied to, and however much at knowing her beloved mentor was now her sworn enemy, Optimus couldn't possibly have guessed.
"Arcee..." He took one step forward, and though she didn't flinch her optics flared that much brighter, like warning flares.
"Whatever you've got to say to me, you can say to everyone else as well," she said, bitterness soaked deep into her vocaliser.
She couldn't have been more wrong, but Optimus was in no place to contest. There was no room for any more secrets or lies now. Everyone would get the same uncensored truth today. "Very well." Optimus raised his optics, forcing himself to watch when the trust he'd spent so long building with his team crumbled apart. If it hadn't happened already.
"I am not sure what Ratchet has told you all, so I will start from the beginning. As some of you already know... I have been sheltering Airachnid since her defection from the Decepticons, following the birth of a sparkling forced on her by Megatron." Only the humans were shocked, tiny faces twisted with the grim feeling, but Optimus couldn't take any time to console them.
"And as some of you also know... it has come to light that Airachnid is... actually Elita One. My sparkmate, and once a dear friend to some of you." Now the shock rippled out further, even hitting those who already knew. "I do not expect any of you to accept this as an excuse for my controversial decisions, and my deceptions. And I do not expect anyone to forgive her or myself, knowing this fact about her." Like film over water, wherever he looked he saw angry blue lights still insistent on accusing him, which made having to turn his voice into steel much easier.
"But I remain adamant that my decision to protect her and her child was the same one any Prime would have made. Regardless of who she was in the past, she is a refugee from our enemy, and in all the time I have sheltered her she has made no attempt to harm any Autobot, or any innocent human. Above all... she is still my sparkmate. She is still my other half, and I do expect that she be treated with that in mind. And that is all I have to say." He wrenched himself away from them before the inevitable volley of confused questions and thick betrayal could pelt him, going where only the truly hurt would follow him for more answers. But he didn't make it to the safety of his quarters, not even halfway there before he simply sagged and collapsed against the wall. So early in the day, and he was already exhausted, his shoulders and spark starting to crush together.
His joints were already stiff by the time he heard the grim sound of peds thudding closer to him, and he braced himself for the snarled insults he only deserved. But they never came. Ratchet just sat next to him, old cables creaking and plating protesting, groaning lightly as he rested his spinal strut against the wall. If not for the Matrix powering him, Primus' blessing permanently carried in his ageless frame, Optimus might have been in the same state as his friend. Yet despite their similar ages, Ratchet had the ability to make anyone feel like a helpless sparkling in his presence.
"How did I do?" Optimus asked, half dreading the consensus.
Ratchet didn't answer for a long moment, so Optimus knew it wouldn't just be something thrown out to make him feel better. "I think you handled it as well as you could."
"Yet Arcee still hates me."
"I wouldn't go that far-"
"You didn't see what was in her optics, Ratchet," Optimus interrupted, closing his own over before they started leaking at the memory of how much she wanted to claw at him in that moment. "You didn't see how her entire body tensed when I named Airachnid my sparkmate."
Again Ratchet didn't answer for at least a klick, though it was more from having so many things to say and picking the right one out of all of them. And the one he chose was already obvious to to them both. "How else would you feel, Optimus, knowing your closest friend killed all your other ones?" At least he didn't add on 'knowing your leader was covering it all up', else even Optimus' strengthened spark might not have survived the guilt.
"If I'd known this was the path Primus had in mind... if I'd just realised who she was earlier, so much of this ache could have been avoided. I wouldn't have had to lie for so long." His helm collided heavily with the wall now, dim optics staring up into the gloom of the ceiling.
"Primes don't have to know everything, Optimus. Especially not in a case like this," Ratchet said quietly, but even the tug of that millennias-old gentleness couldn't pull Optimus' helm out of the shadows of his own guilt. "Did she seem more like Elita, after you... bonded?"
That was the one question Optimus was terrified of answering, because he didn't know. Even bathed in their memories, bringing them back out of the dark and drenching her in the love of centuries, she seemed no different that morning to the femme he'd known since Scorpia's birth, other than how much more beautiful she looked to him. In truth, it had been so long since he'd last spoke to Elita, the one he remembered, he feared that his memories were wrong somehow. That death made her more special, more precious to him than she actually was in life. What if Airachnid's and Elita's actions were always identical, both of them equally cold and warm, capable of the same good and evil, yet he fooled himself into only remembering Elita as a saint? What if Elita truly had been standing in front of him this whole time, yet he'd been too blinded by sweet memories to see her?
"...I am still not sure," he said with immense effort. "She needs time to process this, like everyone else."
"And if she rejects the part of her that's still Elita?" Ratchet asked. "What then?"
"...Then that will be her choice to make."
Ratchet said nothing, not even a neutral huff of air, and when it was clear Optimus had nothing else to add he struggled back onto his peds. "Come on, then. You can't spend the whole day sulking here," he said gruffly, holding a hand out that even Optimus couldn't ignore. His frame still felt heavy with years worth of rust in his spark, and it was a wonder Ratchet managed to lift him up without toppling back on his aft.
"You didn't believe me at first, when I said she was like Elita," Optimus said, not quite knowing why he did.
Ratchet shrugged, fighting against a sad smile. "Well, just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm always wise."
With that, they trudged in a soft silence back to the foyer. Optimus wasn't sure what to expect on his return, groups of whispering bots or even just an empty space with everyone gone in disgust, but surprisingly everyone was gathered around the main computer screen. Some glanced back at Optimus, but curiosity seemed to override their hostility as they didn't spend long staring before their attention went back to the screen.
"What is this?" Ratchet asked, easing himself to the front of the group to look at the monitor for himself.
"A recent post I found on a conspiracy site," Rafael explained, staring down at his laptop. "The photo's a little grainy, but..." He zoomed in, which did the same to the projected image showing a huge object surrounded by a fiery corona as it entered the atmosphere.
"A meteor?" Bee suggested, before Ratchet stepped closer and pointed at an emblem on the side of the object.
"No... a Cybertronian escape pod."
Then they were all staring back at Optimus, as if expecting him to confess to knowing about the pod all along. It was something he felt he'd have to get used to for the next long while.
"Set the Ground Bridge to its landing area," he ordered, slipping back into command as it was all he could think to do. "We must investigate before the Decepticons have a chance to reach it." Though there was some hesitant inaction, the bots eventually drifted to their battle positions around Optimus as the Bridge powered up. Though when Arcee stepped past him, he could almost feel the barbed wire in her EM field scraping across his plating.
xx
"So... lemme get this straight." The new arrival, Smokescreen, vented deeply for the third time since entering the base, creasing his forehelm with closed optics. He phrased each impossible statement with a gesture of his hands. "Elita One is alive."
"Yes," Optimus said.
"But she's a Decepticon."
"A former one, yes."
"And she got cosy with Megatron and knocked up with his kid?"
"That is a very condensed view, but yes."
Smokescreen sighed, blinked, warped his faceplate in several confused expressions. "...How long was I out for, again?" Out of all the reactions to the news, Smokescreen's was the easiest to deal with. It helped that Optimus brought him to a quiet corner of the foyer, away from where the other Autobots could give him opinions before fact.
"I'm sure you realise that this is a... very complicated time for my team," Optimus said, quiet despite the fact no one was in audio range anyway. "I do not wish to burden you with our own internal issues, but I do ask that you remain sensitive to them."
Smokescreen blinked and threw his hands up as he glanced nervously around the powder keg he'd just been escorted into. "Hey, trust me, I don't wanna cause any more trouble. I'm just glad to be outta that pod and... well, just having the chance to roll with a Prime. Anything you need me to do, just point me to it and I'll get it done."
Ironic that the most trustworthy member of his team now was the one who'd literally just joined it in the last five klicks. "Your enthusiasm is much appreciated, Smokescreen."
"So, uh... is it alright if I ask where Elita is right now?" Smokescreen smiled as he asked, but his nerves showed through in how he rubbed the back of his neck.
"She is in a safe place," Optimus told him. "And she will remain there until she is comfortable with Autobot company."
Smokescreen's smile dropped, assumedly from surprise. "Oh... okay, sure. It's just, Alpha Trion had a lot of stories about you two- when you were Orion Pax, I mean, how she encouraged you to go before the Council in the first place and stuff. It'd be cool to... see her for myself. Even if she's a Con, ex Con now, I mean." He was frantic to cover up his mistake, hands flailing in defense, and despite his youth Optimus couldn't help having respect for the mech.
"I'm afraid I must put her safety first and foremost. But I shall ask if she would be receptive to visitors." It was unlikely she would, especially any unknown Autobots, but Smokescreen's doors perked up at the promise. "For now, it would be best if you familiarise yourself with the base. After that, Ratchet can supply you with duties."
Smokescreen nodded eagerly with a salute, ambling off with caution towards approaching the other bots scattered around the foyer. Though Optimus felt safe in the corner, he knew this wasn't a time to just stand back and watch his team wrestle with all that had happened in just one day. Especially when he heard the commotion from the med-bay, only muffled shouts until he moved closer with his audio against the door. Miko and Wheeljack had finally shown up while the Bots were gone, and Rafael did his best to fill them in. But whatever argument they'd gotten into with Bulkhead in their absence, it was still going on when they returned.
"As if Optimus keeping secrets like this wasn't bad enough, I find out my closest friends were doing it as well?!" Like most Wreckers Bulkhead tended to keep his anger simmering and bottled up, so hearing it come out in such an intense fireball, even from behind inches of door, almost made Optimus flinch away.
"Bulk, buddy, you know I wouldn't have done it unless I had to-"
"And what the Pit was making you do it?!" Bulk cut across Wheeljack's plea. "It's not like someone stuck a compliance chip in your head and if you told me your spark would've exploded!" Then the two devolved into a crossfire that only Miko's tearful voice managed to stop.
"Bulkhead, please don't yell, we're sorry! We didn't mean to hurt you, or... anyone else."
Bulkhead's sigh was so immense that Optimus felt it vibrate through the wall. "Miko, I know you were just trying to be good, but I thought I could trust you! I thought... you could tell me anything."
"It wasn't my secret to tell, Bulk. And it wasn't Wheeljack's, either."
"...I know."
After that point Optimus wasn't sure if he could bear to listen any further, and luckily as he pulled away from the med-bay he had something else to focus on. The computer was beeping insistently, demanding everyone's attention again.
"Two disturbances in one day?" Ratchet grumbled as he brought up whatever the base's sensors managed to find.
"You bring any friends along, Smokescreen?" Arcee asked, calm for only as long as she could pretend Optimus wasn't in the same room as her. Jack was even more unreadable, curled small on the couch next to his partner.
"I didn't have many on that prison ship, so I sure hope not," Smokescreen said with a grimace. Ratchet managed to make sense of the report the computer coughed up for him, but he just hummed louder.
"It's a suspiciously large Decepticon signal reading," he said. "Mostly drones, perhaps the Nemesis itself."
"Are they trying to dig another mine?" Bee asked, actually managing to act like nothing was awry among them.
"It seems so, but... hang on." Ratchet looked closer at the screen, tapping as quickly as the windows on the monitor popped up and faded away, then groaning at what he saw. "I fear this is something much more disruptive than a mining operation... they're digging in the area of an Relic co-ordinate."
Only Smokescreen was excited by it, pumping his servo in the air. "Alright, first day and already I'm tracking down magic stuff!"
Optimus was starting to have doubts about the merits of his enthusiasm, but at least it was a welcome change from the surly gloom that saturated the base that morning. "Usually I would not send an untested soldier into such an environment, but we need as many fighters as possible. Anyone who would prefer to rest after the fight for the escape pod is welcome to."
"No way, Optimus, there's no such thing as too many Cons to pound!" Bee chirred, punching one of his palms eagerly.
"I'm comin', too," Wheeljack said behind them, who must have left the med-bay without Optimus noticing. "My blasters are due for some good target practice."
And though Arcee kept her mouth clamped shut, she was drifting into position near the Ground Bridge. Everyone that was able would be going.
Optimus nodded first to the soldiers, then to Ratchet as a signal to fire up the Bridge. Smokescreen went pelting ahead with a battle cry of his own, forcing everyone else to chase after him before he ran helm first into a Vehicon patrol. Wheeljack just laughed at the panic Smokescreen caused, walking to the vortex just as Optimus pieced together something from Airachnid's own memories that flashed during their bond, something very very unfortunate for him to know.
"Wheeljack?"
The Wrecker turned to face Optimus, completely oblivious to what was coming. "Yeah, boss?"
"If you don't mind, I'd like a word with you at some point about the... specifics of your relationship with Airachnid during the war."
Wheeljack started to furrow his eyeridges before his optics went wide under them, and his jaw went slack with the heavy guilty gulp of a mech once caught interfacing with his superior's wife. Which was fitting, considering that was exactly what Optimus saw in Airachnid's spark.
xx
So obviously this chapter takes place in the time frame of New Recruit, since I think Smokescreen would be a refreshing addition to the team at this point. Also Jackie finally gets busted for all those trysts he used to have with Air when he was supposed to be fighting Decepticons...
From here on I'm gonna have to do some tricky manipulation of episode canon. Starscream is back with the Decepticons and Breakdown is still alive so I've just skipped over the Red Energon struggle and the Human Factor episode to go straight to Legacy (where Optimus gets his hands on the Star Sabre).
