Having a severe pack of energon and medical staff in a medical emergency was such an unfortunate situation to have to work with.

Especially in the current scenario.

Optimus was losing energon so fast, it was unbelievable. The patchwork Arcee had done was far from professional, and didn't save much of his spilling energon, until a while later, when she'd managed to plaster bandages on top of each other and completely cover everything, did it finally stop. But the severe lack of it in his systems didn't change. And to add to it, Ratchet was gone, thus, proper medical care was out of the question.

Things weren't looking good for Optimus.

And the others were well aware of that. In the rush of panic to get the Autobot leader stabilized, they were barely able to keep him well for the rest of the day, his condition worsening, slowly. Without a doctor, it wouldn't be long before his wounds killed him. That was well known, to everyone. The next day, he had worsened, and his vitals had to be monitored at all times, which took tremendously from the team. With only two Autobots able to go out at a time, the intake of energon was incredibly little and slow. It was after experiencing such a struggle, that the remaining well Autobots made the decision to summon Wheeljack, who had come to Earth months before, but had continued his travels nearby. Still, without a leader, medic, or recources, they were not able to function like the team they had been before. And while Optimus slowly dying, and the others struggling to keep him, and themselves, alive, the Decepticons were thriving on the victories. And in their captivity, Ratchet and his charge were watching it happen with no hopes of stopping it.

Jennie was doing better with her guardian at her side. She had missed him greatly during the capture, and having him with her now, was a comfort that made being there easier. Ratchet was relieved to be able to take care of her and worry less about her safety, but that didn't change how terrified he was for his leader and his team. Megatron had planned this out too well. Ratchet was well aware that without him, Optimus' condition would be the end of him, and that's exactly how Megatron wanted it. And he let it taunt Ratchet. As the next two days passed, the warlord would boast and taunt him as his rations were dropped off, something he knew would upset Ratchet greatly. That was the point, after all. Ratchet wouldn't respond to it, would only try to block it out and wait until it ceased. It easily got to Jennie, and she let him know, by apologizing constantly and begging for the forgiveness she already had. Her guardian couldn't blame her. It would be wrong to, there's nothing she could've done to prevent it. His only hope was that Optimus would somehow pull through. But the possibility of him doing so didn't seem too realistic.

These thoughts were going through Ratchet's head as he sat with his back against the wall, and with his charge at his side, doing the same. She was picking at the bandages on her arm subconsciously, her eyes trained on the floor, deep in thought. Ratchet rose an optic ridge. "Don't mess with them. I only have so many with me."

"Hm?" Jennie glanced up at him, before realizing what she was doing and ceasing the action. "Oh, I didn't realize I was tearing it off so much." She rubbed the bandaging so it stuck back on more.

Her guardian nodded, sighing softly and shifting to get more comfortable, which was hard in a room like this. "Lost in thought?"

"Yeah."

A moment of silence passed.

"I'm worried too, Jennie."

Jennie bit her lip, lowering her gaze a bit. Before she could respond, pedsteps sounded from down the hall,  which made her tense a bit and move closer to Ratchet. He straightened up a bit and fixed his optics on the door, setting his jaw.

The door opened, Megatron's frame becoming visible in the dim light. "Well, don't you look comfortable," he sneered.

Ratchet glared, without responding.

"You could always be more comfortable, perhaps while working for me, uncovering more energon supplies and increasing the expertise in our lab," the warlord slowly smirked, his offer more taunting than generous.

"I will never perform under your rule, Megatron." Ratchet answered evenly.

Megatron gave a dry chuckle. "You are indeed a stubborn mech. Stubborn up until your leader is gone. Then I suppose you'll prefer here than with your continuously failing team. Once you've returned to the conditions I've put them under, you'll be begging to take up my offer."

Ratchet narrowed his optics. "What do you mean?" He asked quietly.

"You are only here until Optimus is dead, Doctor. I'd hate for you to miss out on the grieving."

"Bastard..." Jennie said angrily, just loud enough for Megatron to hear.

The warlord's optics flicked down to her. "And perhaps you'd like to revisit the interrogation room. That seemed to set you straight before, didn't it? You turned into quite the cooperative human, once encouraged..." He threatened, not once dropping his teasing voice.

"Jennie," Ratchet said softly, not looking down at her.

"Ratchet-"

"Enough." He cut her off. "You will not be putting yourself in danger." She sighed and lowered her gaze, falling silent.

"You have that pet of yours trained very well, Doctor," Megatron cut back in, chuckling. "Almost as well as Optimus has you trained. I'm sensing a pattern in the lapdogs within your faction."

Ratchet gritted his denta angrily. "Are you going to give me energon, or are you just here to boast?"

"I'm deciding."

"It's taking you a bit too long." Ratchet snapped. "It took you much less time to decide to wage a Primus forsaken war, and that's a tremendous decision to make! So will you be finishing up, now?"

It took a mere three seconds for Megatron to slam the cell door shut after stepping through the doorway, cross over to the wall, and have Ratchet off the ground by his neck. It happened fast, and Ratchet was completely unprepared, thus gasped and instinctively struggled against the grip, peds searching for support. "Do I need to set you straight, Lapdog?" Megatron asked in a slow growl, clearly provoked. "Or are you going to quiet down and take advantage of how well I am treating you?"

"Gh-h... Put me down..." Ratchet pulled at the servo wrapped around his neck.

"You could be screaming for mercy while I tortured you until death right now, couldn't you?" Megatron's hissed in a menacing whisper. "I could just kill you now, it wouldn't be hard... I could spill your energon across the floor and there would be nothing anybody could do about it. But here you are, alive, unbound and kept alive. Because I want you to live to regret not being able to save your leader." Ratchet squeezed his optics shut at that, whimpering a bit as the servo tightened. "Letting you die would be an easy way out, reuniting with your leader in the Allspark, not having to witness what happens when you can't prevent the death of someone so close to you... I want you to feel that pain. But I have no problem with keeping you alive in much worse condition. You don't want that, do you?"

"Let him go!" Jennie spoke up, pleading through scared tears.

"Answer me," Megatron snarled.

Through a great wall of reluctance and pride, Ratchet answered quietly, "no."

"Didn't think so. So do us both a favor, and be a good little lapdog, like how Optimus trained you to be." Megatron smirked, before releasing him, letting him fall from his grasp. Ratchet caught himself shakily and leaned his back against the wall, rubbing his bruised neck cables and staring up at the warlord stubbornly. "I think you'll do without energon, for today." Megatron turned on his heel and left, locking the door behind him.

"Ratchet are you okay?" Jennie whimpered.

Her guardian looked down at her, nodding. "I'm fine, Jennie. It's Optimus I'm worried about." He sighed, still rubbing his neck to soothe the aching, a bitter look in his optics. "I can't believe he's executing this so slowly. He wants to make it as agonizing as possible..."

"Ratchet... Is Optimus going to be okay?"

Ratchet tensed, closing his optics slowly, not answering for a moment.

"I hope so."