Well I did not realise that it had been so long since I last updated this story but time seems to fly when life keeps you busy. So I won't make you all wait a moment longer. I don't Own Transformers Prime.

Chapter 11

It took nearly a week for Amber to recover from her injuries and of course not really being able to walk around without a lot of pain June kept her home from school. This didn't bug Amber much since she was already so far ahead of everyone else and she found school boring anyway. Two days after her kidnapping Fowler had turned up at base with a few surprises for Amber. The first being a sincere apology letter from General Brice about what had happened and hoped that she was on the mend. It was than Fowler gave her papers, a passport, drivers licence etc, all bearing her name, her actual name. He explained that the good general had seen to it himself that she be brought back legally and with full rights as an American citizen. Fowler also informed Amber that after what had happened Casper had been reassigned as her guard dog giving her a book about Casper's military training. She now had to learn to work with him when she was back on her feet.

Also the down time did give her the opportunity to get some off the things from her family's collection of military things sold to collectors and museums that wanted them. This in turn allowed her and her Uncle Karl to get a contractor out to the cabin to not only fix the roof but maybe see about some additions to the property. It had long been in the families' plans to have a second and much larger cabin built to allow for more people to stay out there. Now with the money from selling parts of the collection they had enough to get it done. Fowler was happy to finally get the flame thrower and Miko finally got to watch the thing in action along with Wheeljack before he took off in the Jackhammer once again.

Once Amber was able to move around with little trouble, she was glad when Optimus let her and Casper go with him on a scouting mission. He had passed a location on one of his drives that he suspected may lead to a subterranean energon deposit. Optimus was proven right when they found a cavern full of energon crystals. "I got to say this about energon, in its crystallized state it is very beautiful." Amber said well looking at the crystals, giving her dad the space to cut a small sample for Ratchet to study.

"Indeed but it is also unstable if not handled with the up most care." Optimus said getting the sample free and stowed it away in his subspace. They headed back to the surface after that, realising that well they had been under ground the sun had set. So they headed back to base, and it was right before they reached it the Light of Primus grew hot on Amber's skin. When Amber told him this Optimus picked up his pace, keeping is scanners active in case of a Decepticon attack. They both let a sigh of relief out when they entered the base but it was short lived. Stopping to let Amber and Casper hop out Optimus transformed but Amber frowned at the looks the rest of the team was giving Prime.

"Huh?" Amber said confused walking next to Optimus, absently rubbing the relic around her neck. It had become increasingly warm against her skin, but thankfully not burning.

Optimus had also noticed the way his team was acting and carefully asked. "Is something wrong?"

"We were just-" Amber frowned when Arcee exchanged a nervous look with Bulkhead before she continued. "wondering where you two have been."

"We haven't been able to reach you." Bulkhead said carefully.

"We have been outside our communication range." Optimus said reaching for the energon crystal he had brought with them. Amber yelped and ran behind Prime when all the bots but Ratchet pointed their blasters at him. He held up his hand to calm them, doing the same for his daughter through the bond. "In a subterranean energon deposit."

Optimus showed them the crystal shard well Amber and Casper peeked out from behind his leg, wondering what was going on. "Come on, it's our guy can't you tell? Besides Amber and Casper were with him the whole time." Jack demanded. Eventually the bots all put their blasters away, which let Amber walk out from behind Optimus and up to the other humans. Casper bound up the stairs a head of her and right to the dog bed June had put in a corner for him.

"We're… sorry." Arcee told Prime, her voice sincere.

"Don't blame them Prime." Fowler said and then went on to explained. "I was attacked earlier tonight on an open highway by a big rig. One that bore a striking resemblance to you."

"If it was just his truck form it could have been-" Just like that the Light of Primus lit up and the same vison of Makeshift impersonating Wheeljack and Optimus falling replayed in her mind. She hissed in discomfort as the Light began to burn her, holding her head and sinking to her knees, filling everyone with concern. Optimus carefully picked her up and held her close to his spark, which calmed the relic and she let out a sigh of relief. "I'm ok, it was the same vision from last time."

"What vision are you talking about?" Jack asked confused as were the others.

"Um- it was one that showed me about that time the con Makeshift impersonated Wheeljack and infiltrated the base. Also I saw Optimus fighting an unknown mech before he- fell." Amber explained feeling a bit unnerved by the way the others were all looking at her. Fowler's phone suddenly rang making her and some others jump, well he pulled it out of his pocket and answer it.

"Fowler." He turned and walked away listening to whoever was on the other end. "What? That's not possible. I can tell you as sure that there are 50 stars on my star spangled shorts it isn't him." He turned to look at Optimus and Amber, who was now seated on her dad's shoulder, the two frowning. "Alden's military base is under attack by Optimus Prime."

"The truck?" Jack asked.

"The bot." Fowler stated looking back at the leader of the Autobots, who in turn was not pleased by this turn of events. After putting Amber back with the others Optimus and the other bots, minus Ratchet of course, went to confront the imposter. They were not gone long before Ratchet had to bridge them back to avoid human casualties. It wasn't long after that Fowler got a call from General Brice who was not pleased at all with the situation. The good general of course didn't believe Fowler or an unhappy Amber, who grabbed the phone and shouted at him, when they told him it wasn't Prime who attacked the base.

"So what's the damage?" Jack asked once Fowler hung up and pocketed his cell, shooting Amber a displeased look.

"All military personal are under strict orders to destroy any and all Autobots on sight." the former army ranger explained. Amber scoffed angrily and Optimus could feel why she was angry, having figured out like him and most the likely rest of the bots had about who was behind his fake copy.

"Are you kidding?" Jack demanded.

"Their innocent." Raf exclaimed.

"Optimus was framed." Miko of course had to put her bit in.

"Though unfortunate the military order changes nothing." Optimus said bringing calm to the situation, feeling Amber starting to calm some. "Our imposter clearly possess a great threat to humanity."

"A 30 foot transforming imposter." Fowler reminded them.

"They actually did it. Those butchers managed to crack the code." Ratchet said greatly displeased.

"MECH." Optimus said looking at Amber who was frowning, her lips in a thin line. With it out in the air about it being MECH behind a fake Optimus they did a rundown on what they knew.

"MECH abducted Breakdown and by all indications deconstructed him from cranial chamber to heel strut." Ractchet said disgusted.

"I was there." Bulk reminded them.

"And we know that recently they obtained Starscream's T-cog." Optimus said.

"Which they evidently installed in a knock off of you." Arcee surmised.

"Which in turn scanned an appropriate vehicle mode." Ratchet added.

"Fill the tank with energon…" Jack said and MIko was all too eager to finish it off for him.

"And say hello to Nemesis Prime."

"So where do we start? MECH's base could be anywhere, unless you know of where they could be operating?" Fowler asked Amber hopeful.

"Sorry nope. I gave General Brice all the locations I knew of." Amber said with a shrug.

"Well MECH may have learned much of our biology." Optimus said with certainty.

"They haven't necessarily absorbed our technology." Ratchet said moving to his workstation. "Without access to a ground bridge Nemesis Prime would rely solely on its vehicle mode for transportation."

"Chances are the MECH base is in driving distance of both incidents." Arcee said.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get out there and smash MECH's little science project." Fowler said not seeing the frown on Amber's face and the dread that was growing in her.

Optimus of course did and he sent her a feeling of reassurance to her well he spoke to their liaison. "Agent Fowler I do not think it advisable to put yourself in harm's way of MECH's robot again."

"Well I'm not sure it's advisable for bots to be running recon with the military out there gunning for you." Fowler snapped unhappy about the situation as a whole.

"We will maintain vehicular cover until absolutely necessary." Optimus said meeting Fowler's glare with his passive expression. With that decided the bots all headed out to search the land in and around where both attacks had happened. 'Be careful dad.' Amber told Optimus through the bond, trying to keep her worry from getting through.

Of course he felt it and knew why she was worried, since she had shared the details of her vision with him. 'Do not worry dear one, I will be.' Even with his reassurance Amber was still on edge and paced the base floor for the next couple of hours. Her worry grew with each passing report the team sent in about finding nothing. That is until Bee contacted base about finding an old ole refinery and Optimus told him to proceed with caution.

The rest of the team went rendezvous at the scout's location when Amber had another vision and this time she saw Silas sitting in a control chair. There was a screen in front of him, she could see Optimus's face and he was fighting. Fowler was also there with MECH agents around him with a gun at his head. When she came out of it Fowler was holding both of her shoulders, keeping her standing. "Amber what is it, what did you see?" he asked, slowly letting her go to sink into the armchair. It was only than she realised her feet were very sore but she pushed pass the pain, focusing on the details of the vision.

"Nothing good." was all she said and trying to calm herself down so to not distract Optimus out in the field. The others left her alone, choosing to give her some space well watching Ratchet work on locating Silas's location by isolating the control frequency. He soon did and Fowler argued with the medic to let him go through the bridge to confront MECH.

"Agent Fowler, did you not hear Optimus advice against your involvement. It's for your own safety." Ratchet told him.

"He may have told Fowler that but he didn't tell me to stay out of it." everyone looked at Amber in surprise, her face determined, Casper at her side.

"Amber I don't think-"

"Look Doc I don't plan on dancing with any bots but there's a human element in play here and in case you haven't noticed I happen to be a highly trained government-grade human. Also I'll have the best back up watching my six." Fowler sent Amber a smirk which she returned with a smile of her own.

"Yeah, plus Silas tried to run him off the road. It's personal for both of them." Miko added happily making Amber roll her eyes. In the end Ratchet let them go, Amber not being affected by the ground bridge well but Fowler was a bit sick. "I think I'm goanna toss the breakfast I ate back in flight school." Fowler groaned unhappily.

It was then that Optimus was thrown into a silo nearby right before Nemesis came at him, the two locked in battle. Ratchet contacted them saying the remote link's signal was 100 meters north of their position. Looking at the silo in question Amber thought it looked a bit familiar but pushed the thought aside well they made their way over to it. Fowler punched a sentry, knocking him out on top well Amber and Casper headed to the main door on the ground. Throwing her knife she took out one guard well Casper dealt with the other till she could knock him out.

Amber kept to the wall and stopped when they reached the end of the tunnel and wait till Fowler showed up. She thankfully didn't have long to wait till Fowler was on ground level and helped him to knocked out the last of the MECH agents that were present. "This is just the beginning. Imagine an army of transforming robots. No one will stand against the newly rebooted MECH." Silas said proudly to Prime through the video feed

"Think again Si." Fowler said approaching the former Lieutenant Colonel being sure to keep himself between father and the seething daughter. He did not like the way Amber was glaring at Silas, most likely she had heard that Prime was now hurt.

"Agent Fowler, in the flesh at last and Amber I'm surprised your standing on those feet." Silas said standing up and walking towards them.

Amber's glare deepened, well Casper growled, both ready to go at Silas for hurting Optimus but Fowler held them back. It was then he saw more MECH agents running over to them. "You take care of them and I'll handle him." Amber sigh but nodded, leaving to fight the men, well Fowler punching one hand into the other. "I'm pulling the plug on your video game."

Amber and Casper easily handled the other terrorist though she did see glances at Fowler and Silas, rolling at the two talking well they fought. "Ex-military?" Fowler asked despite knowing a lot about the former Lieutenant colonel

"Special tactics. You?" Silas asked really not sounding interested.

"Army Rangers."

"Retired clearly." Silas said referring to how over weight Fowler was.

"Oh for Primus sake! Not the time for a conversati-ohf!" Not really paying attention to her own fight Amber took a punch to the side of the face and staggered. The MECH agent that punched her felt fear when she glared at him right before she kicked him between the legs, then knocked him out.

"I maybe out of shape but I don't need to bust you up." Fowler said right before Silas knocked him to the floor but even though he was clearly out matched he was still smiling. "I just need to buy Prime a little time." Amber heard the computer beeping and smiled when she started to hear Silas's panic cries of no, but then the ceiling above their heads shook. Remembering her vision Amber abandoned her fight. "Casper Come!" she shouted, running over to Fowler and helped him up. They then ran for cover as the ceiling caved in and a large body fell on top of the control unit. Fowler covered Amber and Casper with his own body but an energy shield sprang up to surround them. Looking at the relic around her neck both of them were not surprised to see it was glowing.

"Oh good the shield still works." Amber muttered well the shield vanished and things settled down, letting them see which bot had fallen. She sighed in relief when she saw it was Nemesis and not her dad.

"Amber, Agent Fowler?" Looking up they both saw Optimus peering down at them, the sounds of helicopters soon reaching their ears.

"That would be our boys." Fowler said putting a hand on Amber's shoulder. "I advise you to pick up Amber and Casper outside and get back to base Prime. I'll handle Uncle Sam." Amber nodded and ran outside straight into Optimus's waiting cab.

-o0o-

They were soon back at base, the bots all getting patched back up after getting beat up by MECH's fake, and a bit disturbed by the events. MIko of course was not helping matters. "So how was it to see someone exactly like Optimus kicking the scrap out of you?"

"It's a sight I won't soon forget."Arcee said when all Bulk could do was heave a sigh.

"The question remains whether MECH will continue to function as we know it without its leader." Optimus said well Ratchet finished fixing him up.

(("Well here's the kicker.")) Fowler said from the com channel where he had been listening after telling them about General Bryce dropping the orders against the bots. (("We sifted through the wreckage with a fine tooth comb and couldn't find any trace of Silas."))

Feeling growing frustration through the bond Optimus looked at Amber and saw that she was scowling at the wall. "Amber do you know who would take over command of MECH if Silas is indeed gone?" he asked hoping to redirect her anger or simply calm her.

She shook her head refusing to look at him or any of them. "No but unless we find his lifeless body we should consider him still at large and very much in charge." her voice was filled with venom but all of them knew what she said was the unfortunate truth.

Later on that evening well Driving Amber home she asked Prime an important question. "I was punched in the face by a MECH operative but when Nemesis Prime crashed through the ceiling, an energy shield sprang up around me, Casper and Fowler. I'm wondering why I took the punch."

Optimus hummed in thought before he answered. "I do not understand save that perhaps the Light knew that you could take the blow."

That got a small laugh out of her well she rubbed the new bruise on her cheek. "Well I have had worse but its odd that it would know that about me."

"There is much that we do not know about The Light of Primus or other relics but I believe given time we will reach an understanding about all of them."

A/N: I know it is a short chapter but I'm hoping to have the next one up soon.