There was a defiance in the Autobot's eyes up until the patch was hooked to the back of the berth, to his mind. It was a strong mind, fighting him every step of the way, but his own will was indomitable. Ratchet felt that, and but his loyalty to his oldest and truest of friends, those he had come to consider his family, the human children he had become so fond of, the humans he had come to see as equals… Those he would defend with everything he could.
So when Megatron told him what they were looking for, Ratchet made sure they wouldn't find it. He led Shockwave down false leads in his mind, taking him everywhere but the slight progress he had made on the synthetic energon formula.
But Shockwave found it anyways.
To say he was impressed with how the medic fought back would be an understatement. With the cortical psychic patch, it was not only a battle of wits but of will power and experience. No one was more experienced than Shockwave, but for someone who abhorred the tool, Ratchet held his own quite well. Shockwave had no doubts why the Autobots had lasted so long with a medic like this.
Shockwave was pleased to see Ratchet had agreed. He took it upon himself to brief the Autobot once he had been dropped off in his laboratory, unguarded save for himself and Knock Out. The troops were spread thin, but the complete lack of oversight was of his own design.
Soundwave may have been Megatron's first true follower, but no one had served the warlord longer than himself. No one knew how to manipulate him as well as he did. From the very beginning of their strange relationship, from when Shockwave served in the Pits as Megatron's medic. If he wanted something, he could get it.
And currently he wanted the Autobot's help in a matter.
For as long as the war had gone on, Ratchet had seen Shockwave as a monster. An unchained amoral monster who would stop at nothing to continue feeding his insatiable curiosity. To an extent, his time in Shockwave's lab furthered that opinion.
But there once was a time when Ratchet looked up to the scientist. Before the war.
Shockwave had once been a renowned scientist, one who traveled far to give lectures to rising medical mecha and in the science castes. He had been an incredibly handsome mech, and the pieces of him that had been unchanged still showed that, but one day he had simply disappeared. There had been rumors he had been offed for offending the wrong senator, or for going in a bad part of Kaon, but none of them had been confirmed.
Then came the day Megatron turned against Optimus, and not only Soundwave stood by his side but Shockwave.
Head and hand removed.
But working in the lab side by side with him reminded Ratchet more of his youth, of the mech who came to his university to lecture on the subtleties of hydrogen concentration in coolant and just how it affected the entire frame. A cordial mech who displayed a sincere respect for the medic, and excitement for having another serious scientist to speak with.
Ratchet felt much the same. It had been ages since he had someone with whom he could discuss what he had learned, someone who could counter his assertions and question him and understand what he was saying and then some.
He found himself getting lost in it.
Getting lost in Shockwave's enthusiasm.
Once he acknowledged this, he noticed him slipping in other ways.
When Shockwave would hand him a vial, for a brief moment their hands would touch, and while Shockwave seemed to think nothing of it (after all the vials were too small for a secure transfer without physical contact), Ratchet began to become hyper conscious of it. It was unnerving how at ease they were becoming. Perhaps it was something Shockwave slipped into easily, perhaps he meant nothing by it, but they fell in step with one another like old co-workers, old lab partners.
But the hand on his shoulder was undeniable.
Shockwave never came off as sinister.
When Knock Out left to refuel, Shockwave remained to guard Ratchet, to continue working. When the door sealed shut, Shockwave approached the medic, initially resting his hand on his shoulder. Ratchet turned to face Shockwave, the larger mech slightly bent over, looking him in the eyes.
Maybe it was the heat coming off of Shockwave, maybe it was how that single skilled hand wandered down to Ratchet's hips, how those sharp fingers glanced over seams and gaps in his armor, he didn't know. He didn't quite understand how they moved from the table to against the wall, Shockwave's head pressed against his neck, his hand running up and down his spinal strut, Ratchet grasping at Shockwave's shoulders waiting for something.
He knew what he wanted.
He didn't question that he wanted it from Shockwave, a mech he had openly disparaged, but when he felt Shockwave shift and reveal his interfacing ports and cables, Ratchet did the same. The two of them quickly plugged into each other, the surge of data washing over Ratchet. He had forgotten what it was like to hear another's voice like it was his own.
He grasped tightly to Shockwave's shoulders, a leg moving up to get some sort of hold on the violet mech's hips, when the first coherent data came through.
And it shocked him.
Shockwave was relentless in the data exchange, pushing them to an overload swiftly, but he made certain to high light various bits of data. In particular, a lack of desire to cyberform earth. A complete apathy for the human race. Loyalty to Megatron because it was his best option, not because he believed he would follow him to the end of the universe and back, not because it was earned.
But most of all, a plan.
One that couldn't be spoken aloud.
Shockwave did not foresee lasting to the end of the war, but he had backed up all of his data. One such thing was a pod on a relatively barren part of the Earth, near the arctic research center he had robbed, and in it the blue prints to reconstruct the Omega Lock. He had already explained to Ratchet the process to recreate Cybermatter, but the Omega Lock was something Megatron would have never allowed him to share.
Ratchet grasped at this subtle treachery right before his overload took him. It was almost painful.
He slumped against the larger mech, wide-eyed and still processing. Shockwave lifted his head up, cradling it in his hand, to which Ratchet gave the slightest of nods.