It took Optimus significantly longer than usual to rise from his berth that morning, and even longer to clear his optics from coolant. He should have known that memory was going to surface at some point... not the worst he could have went through, but his spark was in quiet agony all the same. The last time he saw Elita she'd been wearing that same armour, with the same expression of reproach and guilt.

Sometimes he wished she'd rejected him then and there. Then things might have been different. She might have survived a few more centuries, at least.

By the time he was ready to make an appearance to the rest of the Autobots, it was what humans would have called noon. The others seemed to dismiss his strange late rising and replaced concern for congratulations on dealing with Silas- apparently Ratchet made sure a modified version of the good news made its rounds. Optimus humbly took in the thanks, and only felt temporary relief at the thought of the humans still being in school for at least a few hours when he realised it was the weekend, and that they were already in the base.

Miko was cheering about the "defeat of sicko Silas" and, as Ratchet said, Rafael was waiting for him.

"You've been gone a lot, Optimus," the human observed with an innocence Optimus struggled to find suspicious.

"I can only apologise for my absences, Rafael," he said, acknowledging the flimsiness of his excuse and kneeling to make easier eye contact. "Ratchet informed me you had something to address?"

Raf nodded and opened up his laptop. "Just some more blog posts I dug up..." He tapped at some keys and turned the screen towards Optimus. "There's one here about mysterious tremors around coastal areas... I'm worried it might have something to do with Unicron, with what happened last time he woke up."

Optimus immediately focused on the names of the affected areas, noting how close they were to North Sister Island. 'You would be correct, Rafael, if Unicron was a Dinobot with notoriously loud steps...' He made an affirmative sound, but something in it must have came out wrong from the sudden sheepishness that entered Raf's expression.

"Sorry I keep bringing these up, Optimus, I just... have a lot of free time, I guess."

Optimus scolded himself internally- all his time with Airachnid was affecting his ability to connect with his team."Do not apologise for being responsible, Rafael. I know some Autobots who could learn much from you." The sluggish morning cold around his spark thawed from the pride in Raf's smile. "Are there any other concerns you'd like to bring to my attention?"

For a nanoklick the human seemed hesitant to share, debating with himself before eventually reaching an agreement with his brain. "Just one more." Raf typed something in again, bringing up a stern looking webpage. "This is from one of the usual conspiracy sites. It's talking about a compound not too far from here. Allegedly it's an abandoned military base, but there's been sights of trucks and people in goggles and leather going in at night. I know Silas has been taken in and all, but... it sounds like M.E.C.H to me."

Optimus shared that exact thought as soon as he saw the dark photographs of trucks parked outside rows of buildings. They were re-organising themselves faster than he or Fowler had anticipated. "An astute discovery and observation, Rafael. I will be sure to look into it." He rose to his peds with a stern breath of air pushing past his vents. "For now... I'd best check in on their leader."

xx

"Y'know, Bishop, I ain't an expert on military protocol, but I'm pretty sure 'don't go up against the team with alien robots' is more common sense than a rule." Fowler laughed once again and, as usual, Silas tried to ignore him and the irony of being in the exact same situation he'd forced onto Airachnid. The only difference was his child was lying dormant underground miles away from here.

"Tell you what, I think there's a few Decepticons who'd love to see you right now. 'Specially your little one eye friend, how 'bout we drop them a line once you're up and runnin' again?" Silas knew full well it was an empty threat- as if the US government had the means or the balls to make contact with aliens who actually did want to kill them. Even so, the thought of meeting up with the 'Cons again didn't do much to help his healing. Doctors and medics had asked him what the hell he'd done to end up with more holes than Swiss cheese, but he wasn't saying a word. Partly because he wasn't about to let his newest discovery fall into government hands (assuming they were too lazy to do an extensive search of the island) and partly because had bandages all over his face. It was those bandages that allowed him to keep his composure as he decided to use some personal experience in his rebuke.

"Go ahead, I'll just take my leave while they're picking you out of their teeth." The venom in his threat was wasted from how muffled it came out, causing Fowler to just laugh and grate even more on his ears. At least the bandages helped dampen the sound somewhat.

When Fowler finally sobered from humour, an incoming call stopped him from antagonising Silas further. He turned his back to the cell and pulled a video phone from his pocket, moving out of view as he spoke into it.

"For once it's actually good to see you, Prime."

Despite the pain, Silas gritted his teeth at the sound of Optimus' voice. "Greetings to you too, Agent Fowler. May I ask for a status update of our prisoner?"

"Oh, he's doin' just fine. We're takin' real good care of him..." He moved out of hearing range, but his laugh still echoed down the corridor of the prison. All the other empty cells only amplified the accursed noise and covered the sound of footsteps from the opposite direction.

A pair of guards pulled up to his cell, speaking to the other two stationed by the barred door. Silas couldn't hear the exchange, but it ended with the newcomers replacing them. They seemed to watch them leave, carefully checking along the rest of the corridor, before nodding and turning to open the door. Broken ribs stabbed into Silas as he inhaled sharply, unsure what to expect from them. For all he knew they could have had a vendetta against him, and now he was powerless to stop them carrying it out.

Only one guard entered though, and he pulled a familiar pair of red goggles over his eyes before saluting the medical bed Silas was confined to. "You still have some friends around here, General," he said.

The pain evaporated as hope almost dared to replace it. "At ease, soldier. Who sent you here?"

The guard lowered his arm and cast a wary look behind him. "Delta squadron, or what's left of it at least. They got off the island and managed to recon with the rest. They report that all data collected from the two lifeforms was lost when the base was seized, but that Nemesis is almost complete. All that's left is to set up the command hub and get you inside it-"

"Don't bother," Silas interrupted, trying and failing to seat himself upright without grunting. "I based the schematics entirely off of a training simulation module somewhere in this building. All we need to to is upload Nemesis' command frequency to it and I can control him from right here." The gauze over his mouth creased from the onset of a grin at the prospect.

The guard nodded, almost betraying a smile himself. "Very well, sir. We'll formulate a plan to infiltrate the module and arrange for your escape when the time comes. In the meantime... get well soon. We'll need you in full health." He saluted again, just when the other man at the cell door made a gesture that had his companion pulling his goggles off and rushing to leave, taking up his position on the other side. About thirty seconds later, Fowler and his facetious laughter had returned to mock Silas.

"Hope you're comfortable in there, Bishop. You're gonna be in there for a long, long while."

The bandages creased again, hiding Silas' all too knowing smirk.