Things were actually kind of peaceful at the moment, to Ratchet, at least, who was in a nice, relaxing recharge on Megatron's berth, seeming to have forgotten, for the moment, that that very morning he and Sky Rocket would be executed. He was rudely reminded when a rough servo suddenly snatched his shoulder and yanked him off the berth, so he landed hard on the gashes on his back. Ratchet cried out in pain, rolling off his back immediately and staring up at Megatron angrily. "D-Did you have to d-do that!?" He hissed through gritted denta. A smirk crossed Megatron's lips, and he reached down and pulled Ratchet to his peds by his wrist, raising an optic ridge.

"Did you not like that? I'm sorry." He sneered. "I guess I just thought that you'd have much worse to worry about." Ratchet opened his mouth to reply with some snappy comeback, or anything that would satisfy him, but stopped when he heard Sky Rocket give a yelp of fear. He turned his helm to see Palladium jerking her through the door carelessly. "Off we go." Megatron muttered, following close behind Palladium, dragging an agitated Ratchet behind him, who, tugged and cursed without pause every step of the way.

"Damned, worthless, pitspawned devil!" He exclaimed as they turned a few corners and walked down a few halls and entered the bridge, where the monitors offered the little light that illuminated the room. Soundwave was typing, a few vehicons were running about, but other than that, there wasn't much movement, other than Ratchet's resistance. Sky Rocket was walking stiffly and fearfully, silent, pale. She looked horrified.

"Alright, Medic...," Megatron released Ratchet and pushed him forward, so he stood in the middle of the room, facing away from them. Ratchet was about to turn around, but he felt the tip of a blade nudging his back, barely missing a gash. A shiver passed through Ratchet's frame, feeling how close it was to the lash marks. "Well, Ratchet... I guess this is it for you." Megatron purred. "I never thought I'd be doing this so soon... especially without proper ceremony. But this is what it's come to. Any last words?"

Ratchet sighed. "At least finally you gained the bearings to do this, Megatron. You seemed to have failed every time you've tried." He muttered, just loud enough so Megatron could hear him. The warlord stopped, narrowing his optics angrily. Ratchet smiled slightly, sensing the tension. "You certainly procrastinated. Is there still a spark in there, after all?" If he was going to go out like this, he was going to go out mocking Megatron. Ratchet decided this immediately and stood quietly, hearing the warlord inhale deeply in advance to whatever angry outburst that would occur this time. Admittedly, Ratchet expected a series of angry snarls and furious threats, which is why he was surprised when a servo suddenly wrapped around his neck and tightened, claws scraping the sensitive cabling. Ratchet gasped immediately, his breath choked as he barely managed to intake.

"Now, listen here, pest," Megatron hissed into his audio receptor, tightening his grip, and lifting him off the ground slightly, "the only procrastination affecting us today was the procrastination of Orion Pax gaining his sanity. He should've known you were a worthless little scrap and avoided bonding with you. Now look at the mess it's gotten you into."

"Ughk-kh...," Ratchet choked, squeezing his optics shut tightly and trying to pry Megatron's servo off him with his own.

"You've really dug your grave, Ratchet. You poor, poor Autobot... now my soldiers will be wiping your energon off the floor, because of your incompetence and foolishness that has been bringing your end to you for eons now." Megatron snarled, his lips curving into a wild smirk.

"L-Let him go!" Sky Rocket whimpered, watching with terrified optics. "Please!" Palladium growled at her, which silenced her.

Megatron looked at her for a moment, before laughing darkly. "You want me to let him go?" He then pulled his arm back and threw Ratchet into the monitors, hard and carelessly. Ratchet gave a choked scream as he hit it and fell to the ground, damaging the screen and keyboard in the process, causing error signs and warnings to pop up all over the cracked screen. Gasping in pain, feeling energon begin to trickle from the now re-opened gashes in his back, Ratchet collected himself to a kneeling position, staying on one knee. He panted, turning his gaze to the screen for a moment, hearing the damaged monitors beeping and alarming it's errors, before he realized that the specific monitor that he had struck was the shielding system. The ship's cloaking was damaged. He turned his gaze back to Megatron, who was approaching Sky Rocket, stupidly not paying attention, and never realizing the mistake he made. Ratchet couldn't believe the luck. He slowly raised his digit to his audio receptor, keeping his voice at a quiet whisper as he spoke over the com link:

"This is Ratchet, can anyone hear me? You should be able to get a lock on my signal, the ship's shielding is damaged. Optimus? Are you there?"

"I'm here, Ratchet. We'll come immediately."

A sigh of relief escaped Ratchet, which turned to worry as Megatron struck Sky Rocket to the ground, and slashed his blade across the femme's abdominal area, earning a pained shriek. Palladium had stepped back, and was now watching emotionlessly, arms crossed. "Leave her alone!" Ratchet exclaimed, wincing as he hauled himself to his peds. Megatron looked at him, raising an optic ridge.

"Now Sweetspark. Are you really in the condition to order me about?" He sneered.

"N-No, I'm not." Ratchet shook his helm. "But I'm going to fight back, Megatron. I will not submit to you like your common drones!" He hissed through gritted denta, clenching his servos into fists. Megatron slowly walked over to him, blade sliding out and moving to slide along Ratchet's cheek, as it's wielder moved closer to Ratchet, to the point where he was face to face with the medic.

"I'm ready to kill you, Ratchet." Megatron said quietly. "Do you truly wish to anger me?"

"It wouldn't be fun if I didn't." Ratchet raised an optic ridge, narrowing his optics. He held his breath, and waited for the retaliation. It came as suspected. The blade swiped across his faceplate, catching his left optic, and a massive ped slammed into his chassis, sending him onto the ground again. Ratchet shouted in pain, one servo covering his left optic, but stayed on his back, which was leaking energon even worse now. Megatron knelt beside him, clicking his glossa.

"If you want to die this bad..." He shook his helm. "My my, Ratchet. Your being quite the little pest." His gaze locked onto Ratchet's. "So let's end this. Will you obey one more task, for your master, slave?" Ratchet didn't answer, only breathed shakily, staring at Megatron with his good optic. Megatron smiled. "Will you open your sparkchamber, Medic? Allow me to snuff your light directly?" Ratchet shakily shook his helm, narrowing the only optic he could see out of.

"I-I'll never comply to you again..." He said softly, turning his helm away. Megatron sighed, before standing, and activating his fusion cannon, and pointing it at Ratchet chestplates, lowering it so it hovered above his sparkchamber. Ratchet squeezed his optics shut and held his breath.

The cannon never fired.

There was a loud crash, and a shout of surprise coming from Megatron. Ratchet opened his optics and looked up to see his mate, slashing at Megatron's chassis with a blade and kicking him back. He sighed in relief, pulling himself to sit up a little, still covering his wounded optic. Bulkhead and Bumblebee launched themselves at Palladium, while Arcee leapt for Sky Rocket, who backed away fearfully. "W-Wait, Arcee, don't hurt her!" He exclaimed, earning the Autobot femme's attention. Arcee looked at him, before giving a small nod, and ran to help Bulkhead and Bumblebee. Cliffjumper joined Optimus in forcing Megatron back, and after gaining the courage to, Sky Rocket ran over to Ratchet and knelt beside him.

"Ratchet?" She asked worriedly. Ratchet didn't pay much attention to her, for his attention was on Optimus, who came beside him as well.

"Ratchet, hang on. We'll get you out of here." The Prime said softly, lifting him up, careful to avoid his wounds. Ratchet didn't answer, only smiled and snuggled up to Optimus, careless of the situation, closing his optic. His mate had him now. He'd be alright.

Sky Rocket stared up at Optimus. "Hey, care to take me prisoner? It'd be like a vacation, compared to this here hellhole."