"Gh-h... Do you know how much easier this would be if you would just quit resisting?!" A steady glare answered Knockout, not a word from Ratchet.

"Just get him into the cell, before Lord Megatron comes," Breakdown grunted as the struggling Autobot jerked back from the cell door and elbowed his middle sharply. "He wasn't this resistant last time."

On Ratchet's other side, Knockout made an attempt to shove him back forward, but the medic planted his pedes into the floor and refused to budge. "He was wounded last time!" He muttered. "Come on...!" Breakdown joined in on the push, and Ratchet stumbled forward, through the cell door. Once inside, he spun around, glaring and gritting his denta as the door slammed shut, gears shifting within as it locked. "Finally." He heard Knockout groan, backed up by the sound of the two of them walking away.

Well, frag. Ratchet sighed heavily, letting his gaze shift over the room, taking in his surroundings. It was small, dark, empty, other than a low, poorly constructed berth. The barred door allowed some light to fall into the floor with the silhouettes of the bars, but it wasn't enough to illuminate to the level Ratchet was used to. It was a bit intimidating, as most cells would be. But what was more intimidating, was knowing that Megatron would be coming soon, for whatever reason. Perhaps he would have Jennie. Ratchet sincerely hoped he would, having not been able to see his charge for a couple weeks. He was greatly concerned for her wellbeing, as any guardian would be. He had a feeling she'd been hurt. Megatron obviously had some way of getting the location of the base, and having Jennie in his grasp, a successful interrogation seemed the most reasonable. Hopefully, Jennie was alright. Ratchet knew that the Decepticons had a series of strategies in getting information out of prisoners, and one of them obviously did the trick, unfortunately. He could only imagine what they'd done to her.

The sound of footfalls down the hall silenced his thoughts, and his gaze lifted to watch the barred door as Megatron's large frame came to stand before it. "Resting comfortably?" The warlord rumbled as he unlocked the door slowly. Ratchet glared, opening his mouth to speak, but he silenced himself as Jennie, in Megatron's servo, came into view. He would have to choose his words wisely while she was in his hold. "I'll bet you are much more comfortable than your pet is right now," Megatron raised an optic ridge slowly, a testy look in his optics.

Ratchet set his jaw, trying to bite back his tension. "I would too, Megatron." He played along, it was the best thing he could do to remedy the warlord's games, and get Jennie back. "Will you be allowing me to tend to her, then?"

"You want to assist the human that doomed your cause? That betrayed you, handed over the trusted secret, and got your leader terminated?" Megatron's voice was slow and agonizingly teasing. Jennie's head jerked up to stare at him at the last sentence, eyes widening in horror, yet she wouldn't look at Ratchet, which caught him a bit off guard.

"He is not offline yet," Ratchet pointed out in tense words.

The warlord scoffed. "He may as well be, Doctor." He looked down at Jennie, chuckling darkly. "Who knew something so small could cause such destruction, by itself?" Slowly, his optics raised to meet Ratchet's once more. "And you still want to help it?"

Ratchet couldn't bring himself to speak, silently furious. Megatron was messing with him, and he absolutely hated it... He nodded, gritting his denta and watching Megatron with badly hidden anger. "Hm. Very well. Megatron carelessly placed Jennie on the floor, before turning on his heel and striding out, leaving Ratchet an angry mess and his charge with her crippling guilt.

"Jennie," the medic breathed, rushing over and transforming so his holoform could step out and drop to one knee beside her. His gaze swept over her wounds, tensing and gritting his teeth. Jennie whimpered in pain as he shifted her slightly, lifting her up slowly, and taking her into the back of his vehicular form, where the gurney was set up. Carefully, he laid her down, wincing at her yelps of pain. "Easy..." He said softly, watching from her bedside. She kept her teary gaze averted, avoiding his eye contact as she shook and breathed heavily, her entire lower half burning madly. "I'll get you fixed up." Ratchet retrieved his first aid kit and pulled her shirt up enough to look at her stomach, despite her whines of pain. Gently, he began to smear ointment across the burn wounds, as lightly as he could, while Jennie cried out and gripped the edges of the gurney, her tears coming more rapidly.

"R-R-Ratchet..." She sobbed heavily, as the burns screamed at the physical contact.

"I know," her guardian whispered softly, speeding up a bit to get it over with. He finished her stomach, and moved onto her legs, which caused her more pain and drew many more wails of agony. Her pants were completely shredded and burnt, stained with her blood, thus fell apart as he ripped them to get to the wounds. He applied ointments, before bandaging both legs and her stomach, which was the worst part yet. She screamed as he pulled them tight, and then it was done. Now, she laid there, still sobbing heavily, head turned away from Ratchet. He was a bit tense from the experience, her screams still stuck in his head. He absolutely hated causing her such pain, but he couldn't leave her wounds untreated...

"Jennie... I'm sorry..." He said gently. His charge didn't acknowledge him, keeping her gaze far from him. "Jennie...?" He asked.

Jennie still refused, whimpering softly.

Ratchet reached over and touched the base of her arm. "Jennie, please." He tried again. "Please, talk to me... What's wrong?" There was obviously many things wrong with the current situation, he reminded himself, but there had to be something more than was bothering her.

She tensed slightly at his touch, closing her eyes as a fresh layer of tears coated her cheeks. "Jennie." Ratchet repeated slowly.

Then, she snapped.

"I-I'm so sorry-y!" She cried suddenly, her voice coming out in a series of trembling sobs. Despite her pain, she desperately shifted over towards him, ignoring him as he immediately chastised her gently for her movements, though he moved in closer and let her bury her face against him and sob. "I-I didn't mean t-to... I didn't w-want to tell him, b-but, but... He-... p-please don't h-hate me..."

"Jennie, it's not your fault." Ratchet said softly, shaking his head. "It's alright, I don't hate you..." He wrapped an arm around her gently, embracing her as she cried against him.

"But... Optimus..."

"Optimus is going to be alright. The others can... somewhat... stabilize him long enough for us to get out of here." Ratchet didn't know if that was true... And it bothered him to imagine what would happen if it wasn't. But Jennie needed to be reassured.

"I'm sorry, R-Ratchet... I didn't want to..."

Ratchet shook his head again. "Jennie, please, stop blaming yourself. It isn't your fault... Do you understand?"

She bit her lip, tears running down her cheeks. It took her a moment to collect herself enough to reply, in a quiet, trembling voice:

"Yes."