:: Shockwave, assembly of the Omega Lock is entering the final stage. :: Megatron is heard over the comms in the lab.:: Your guidance is required. ::

"Understood, my liege," Shockwave says as he turns away from what he was doing and heads to the door. "Knock Out, supervise our guest in my absence," he tells Knock Out before he exits the lab.

"Wow, thanks for the big vote of confidence." Knock Out mumbles as the door closes behind Shockwave.

Ratchet watches Shockwave leave before whispering to himself, "I can't allow Megatron to possess the stabilized formula." He looks at the screen in front of him as something pops up on it, "Not now, or ever."

He creates an explosion which causes Knock Out to turn around, "For the love of...! What is happening!?"

Ratchet quickly turns to face him, "The formula's instability, it must have triggered a chain reaction," he says as smoke begins to envelop him.

Knock Out gets on the comm, "Guards! Get in here and help me extinguish this inferno before it scorches the project... and my finish!" 

The door opens and the two Vehicons that were standing guard run in, Ratchet transforms and drives out of the lab. He passes some Vehicons who chase after him as they shoot at him but he manages to swerve out of the way of each shot. "Not bad for an old bot," he says to himself when he sees that he lost the Vehicons. He needs to find where they're keeping Arcee but he doesn't have a clue where she could be.

When he turns a corner to go up another corridor he's stopped by Megatron who places a foot on top of him and starts pressing down, "If you terminate me, you'll never get your hands on the formula!" Ratchet chokes out.

Megatron removes his foot to allow the old bot to transform, after he transforms he stays down on his knees as he places a servo on the floor trying to recover. Megatron looks down at him as he speaks, "Oh I wouldn't be so certain, doctor. My experts are working diligently to disentangle your false trail as we speak." Ratchet looks up at him in shock.

~~~~~~~~~~

Knock Out waves the same canister of the formula that Ratchet tried to take, in his face. "Nice try. I'll just put this back where it belongs," he says before walking off to put it up.

"Spectrum analysis conforms, that the Synthetic Energon is stable," Shockwave says as he grabs a canister out of the machine. He turns to look at Megatron, "The formula is now complete."

"And your timetable for production?" Megatron asks him.

Shockwave lifts the canister for Megatron to take it as he responds, "With the aid of hyper-acceleration technology, not long," he says as Megatron takes the canister and examines it.

Megatron turns around to walk towards Ratchet, "Ohh, a pity you won't live long enough to witness the fruits of your labor. But as much as we appreciate your contributions, doctor. I made a promise to someone that I intend to keep." He looks over at the Vehicons, "Make sure the femme watches as the Predacon tears him apart, and make sure she doesn't interfere."

"Yes, my liege," the Vehicons both said before they walked out of the lab with Ratchet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arcee paces back and forth as worry consumes her, she doesn't like that she hasn't heard anything about Ratchet. After she and Predaking finished taking a shower to wash away the fluids from their bodies she wanted to go check on Ratchet and see how he was doing but she was told that she couldn't see him which really unsettled her.

Predaking watched her pace as he dealt with his own turmoil, he wanted to beat up the Autobot, he wanted to tear him to pieces as payback for what they did to his brethren. But how can he kill a mech that Arcee really cares about right in front of her? She would go back to hating him and he's not sure if he can handle that. But he has to do it to prove that his loyalties still lie with Megatron.

:: Predaking, the Autobot is on his way to you. Make sure Arcee watches as you tear him apart. :: Megatron tells him over the comm. His spark ceases for a second. Why does his master want him to do it right in front of his mate? Does he want her to hate him?

He walks over to the door as he feels sadness and disappointment fill his spark and his spark feels like it's breaking, but it's not his feelings. He looks back at Arcee who is looking at him with pleading optics, silently begging him not to do it. They both turn their attention to the door as it opens to reveal Ratchet who gets shoved in by two Vehicons. The two then walk over to Arcee and grab her arms to make sure she stays still at the side and watches.

Ratchet lifts himself off the ground as he shakes his helm. Predaking stands in front of him and starts speaking which makes Ratchet look up at him, "Do you feel defenseless, Autobot?" Predaking says as he tries his best to ignore Arcee.

"Predaking, don't! Please don't do this!" Arcee pleads with him.

Predaking tries to focus on the Predacon brethren that he lost as he allows his anger to build, "Good. Now you know what my fellow Predacons endured...!" He slams his massive servo onto Ratchet's face, he lifts him by his helm as he continues, "...Right before you massacred them!" He tosses Ratchet backward to the other side of the deck as he turns around.

"No!" Arcee shouts as she brings up a leg to kick one of the Vehicons in the abdomen before bringing the leg back to kick the other one in the groin plating, they both double over and she punches them both hard enough to knock them out. She runs over to Predaking who is getting ready to charge at Ratchet. She gets in front of Predaking which stops him dead in his tracks, "Predaking, please listen to me!"

Predaking growls, "Move, Arcee."

"No! Can't you see what Megatron is doing? He wants me to watch because he wants me to hate you. What kind of master would want you to make your own sparkmate hate you?"

Ratchet watches them as he slowly gets up, "Megatron can see that she means so much to you and that she's causing you to question your loyalty to him. He wants her to hate you so you two can start drifting apart and she can't divert you away from his cause."

"Megatron wants nothing more than to keep controlling you as a pawn," Arcee adds.

Once Ratchet steadies himself on his feet he walks over to them, "If you want to avenge your cohorts then keep avenging all the way to Megatron."

"What!? What do you mean!?"

"Your high and mighty leader wanted your Predacons exterminated, and simply allowed us to do his dirty work for him!"

Predaking growls at him before looking down at Arcee as she chimes in, "Just as I've been trying to tell you. It's not just a hunch, I'm certain the Decepticons set it up for the Autobots to find the Predacons so they can destroy them."

"You consider yourself an intelligent being, don't you?" Ratchet asks and Predaking stays silent to hear where he's going, "Then rise above your base instincts and analyze the situation."

Arcee turns to look at Ratchet while staying between the two, "How did it happen, Ratchet?"

"We followed the trail that day with a desperate hope that it would lead to an Energon mine. We had no idea that we would find Shockwave's laboratory."

"The coincidence barely seems plausible!" Predaking says with a growl.

"Because it wasn't a coincidence!"

"The Decepticons put the Energon there as a lure to get you guys to go there and find Shockwave's secret laboratory," Arcee says as she pieces everything together.

"Exactly."

"Why would he want to destroy the Predacons?" Predaking asks.

"Because he fears you. That's why he's been trying to keep you pleased and on his side, he knows that he would be no match for you if you ever went against him," Arcee replies.

Predaking looks down at Arcee, "Forgive me for not wanting to listen before, I should believe what my mate tells me."

"Of course, it's not your fault. Megatron had you brainwashed into believing everything he says."

Predaking gets down on one knee so he can be closer to her level and he pulls her into a hug, "I love you, Arcee. I always will."

Arcee hugs him back and she feels her spark begin to break at hearing him say that, it feels like a goodbye, "I love you too."

Predaking pulls back and stands up, "I'll go after Megatron, you two find the Ground Bridge control room and get off this ship. Be safe," he says before he turns to head for the door.

Arcee and Ratchet watch him as he walks through the door and enters the corridors of the ship shooting any drones that got in his way. Ratchet looks over at Arcee, "You really love him?"

Arcee looks over at him, "I do now. The mating and bonding were forced, I didn't love him at the beginning but now I do."

Ratchet just nodded as a thought crossed his processor, "Are your weapons still activated?"

"No, they deactivated my weapons."

"I'll have to reactivate your weapons then so you can fight."

Arcee just nods and Ratchet gets to work reactivating her weapons system. After a few minutes, she's able to transform her servos into her blasters and bring out her blades once more. While he worked he filled her in on what's been happening and told her that they need to get in touch with the team and send them coordinates to the ship so they can get onto the ship and stop the Decepticons from activating the Omega Lock.

Once he's done they waste no time running towards the nearest computer to call the Autobots, they find one with a couple of Vehicons by it and they take the Vehicons down. Ratchet gets on the controls and calls out to the Autobots, "Autobot base, do you read? This is Ratchet, can anyone hear me?"

It doesn't take long for them to hear Optimus responding.:: Loud and clear, old friend. :: Followed by cheering coming from the others.

"Arcee is here too."

"Hey, everyone," Arcee says with a smile.

:: Arcee! ::

:: Thank Primus! ::

:: It's great to hear from you! ::

"Listen to me, Megatron has managed to rebuild the Omega Lock on board his warship. I deactivated the Decepticon shielding system. You should be able to get a fix on my coordinates," Ratchet says as he and Arcee check their surroundings for any Decepticons. Shooting comes from a corridor not far from them and they both turn to look in that direction.

"Hurry up and finish what you have to say, Ratchet. We need to get going," Arcee says as she points her blaster in the direction the shooting came from, she's ready to blast any Decepticon that comes around that corner.

Ratchet turns to the computer again, "Optimus, you must hurry. Megatron is preparing to Cyberform Earth as we speak." They hear more shooting and they turn to run in the opposite direction.