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It was healthy, busy work, not giving Silent the time needed to dwell on who his creator was or why he had been abandoned in the back alley.  When he wasn't running messages he never bothered to read all over the city during the light hours, he was using all the tricks he knew to keep the bar quiet until it closed.

"You're Primus-sent."  The praise earned nothing more than a glance upward from the small mech and the flash of a smile.  Silent was currently helping Highgate back to his home, deep in the dark hours after the bar had been closed.  "Too good t'be workin' in a place like this.  Never woulda lasted half as long without'cha, mechlet.  Won't be able t'thank you enough."

He offered the larger mech another smile and patted his shoulder reassuringly.  It wasn't Highgate's fault that the cost of energon had skyrocketed shortly after Silent's arrival.  Tonight had been the bar's final close, though only the two of them knew it.  Their few regulars would be in for a rude surprise when darkness fell next.  It was good, really, that things had come to this: Highgate's health had deteriorated as rapidly as the price of energon had soared.  In his very few spare moments, Silent couldn't help but consider that the two were likely related.

"I'm sorry t'be turnin' you out like this," Highgate continued, genuine distress in his tone.  "I know y'ain't got any place t'go."

The young mech, true to the name Highgate had given him, didn't reply.  He instead helped the larger mech get settled on his recharge berth, heading for the door once the older mech was comfortable.  He had already made sure that oil, low-grade energon and a commlink were within easy reach.  This time, however, Silent didn't simply walk out the door.  He stopped and turned, gracing his friend with a gentle smile.

"Thanks for trustin' a nobody," he said quietly.  His voice was a gift to the audios, silver chimes pattering against the air with musical promise.  Highgate's expression wouldn't have been more stunned if he had taken a sudden and unexpected blow to the back of the head.  "Y' had no reason, me havin' no past an' you no way of knowin' if I was gonna bring trouble t'your door."  He paused, but not long enough for Highgate to gather himself enough to say anything.  "If I could have what's left in th' bar, I'll be fine.  Promise."

"Of ... of course," Highgate managed to stammer, rough voice at clumsy contrast to the younger mech.  "Take care of yourself," he added.  Silent offered a last smile and left.  In the moment, both mechs knew they would never cross paths again.

The ownership of the building still belonged to Highgate until the transfer documents were automatically transmitted at dawn.  Silent made his way back to the bar, quickly slipping in to gather what little energon remained.  At the onset of his sickness, perhaps knowing this was the inevitable outcome, Highgate had taken an afternoon to show Silent where all of the caches were, hidden against robbery and the more and more common gang raids.  Most of these were empty now, drained by the raising costs, but soon Silent had enough to get himself out of the city and to Cybertron's capital, Iacon.

Despite having little choice, it was not a plan Silent was particularly thrilled by.  He had listened to the talk which had circled endlessly in the bar, mechs dismissing him the moment they discovered he apparently had no vocalizer.  He had learned that Highgate was on the precipice of the High Council's war, possessing a kind spark and sympathizing with the cause of the dispossessed energon miners now known as Decepticons.  It couldn't be tolerated that such a respected community figure supported the turned freedom fighters despite their recent embracing of violent raids on Autobot outposts.

It was why Silent suspected Highgate's health issues were not natural.  It was also why Silent, as the last employee of the bar, needed to vanish before the local Council-run authorities made him vanish.  Despite not having an opinion either way, he was guilty by proxy, by association.

An alarm began to beep softly, interrupting his thoughts.  Moments later, someone began pounding heavily on the locked front door, apparently ignoring the 'closed' glyph softly glowing there.  Silent dashed into the back hallway, skidding to a stop when he saw the outline of several mechs through the frosted transparasteel window next to the door.

Sloppy, his processor mocked, while his body went into overdrive, sinking into a crouch to minimize his profile.  He skittered across the floor using both hands and feet, heading this time toward a mostly-hidden stairway leading to the upper floor.  These mechs obviously weren't expecting Highgate to have known they were coming and were hoping to scare him into submission.

"This is the Tyrest Guard!"  A mech boomed from outside, the sheer volume of his voice forcing Silent to freeze involuntarily.  "Search warrant!  Highgate!  You're hereby place under arrest un the name of the Autobot High Council and Sentinel Prime for the crime of aiding the Decepticon terrorist underground!  Open the door!  We have a turbo-hound!  If you do not come out, you will get bit!"

The moment the mech stopped shouting, Silent was up the stairs.  He knew he would get slammed in a detention cell and interrogated simply for being inside the building.  The small mech reached the landing the moment the whine of laser cutters shrieked through the formerly still morning air.  He mounted the stairs with even greater urgency, bursting out onto the roof to the sound of a door crashing inward below.  Transforming without missing a step, Silent shoved all the power into his hoverpads that they could handle, hurtling over the surface in a barely controlled surge of acceleration.  Launching from the roof, he threw himself through a fortunately open window in the building across the alley.

The gray mech spun into robot mode and used his momentum to hand-spring to a safe landing, crouching for a bare nano-click to get his bearings.  He wasn't safe; the Tyrest Guard would search all of the surrounding buildings to make sure no one had done what Silent just had.  He never wavered, bolting out the door and across the hall, slamming his shoulder against a closed door which mercifully gave at the first blow.  The rooms beyond were empty and he repeated his cross-alley jump, pulling himself into the third building just before the Guard appeared in the alley below.  Silent slid down the stairs to street level, transformed the moment he had room and left Tyrest behind, never looking back.