(Earlier that night.)

Knock Out was resting in his hospital room when he was suddenly woken up by the feeling of a servo clamped over his mouth and a bot on top of him in a way to keep him pinned down on the berth.

The now frightened red medic started thrashing against the berth and his attacking while letting out muffled screams and struggling as hard as he could but was still recovering so couldn't put up much of a fight.

Knock Out suddenly felt a prick in his neck cables and became still, Then saw the bot pull a syringe he had just used on him out of his neck cables and throw it away, And to Knock Out's horror he couldn't move anything but his optics, And also recognized the bot as the same one with the spikes who had drugged him and then attacked him at the Seedia 500.

"That should make you more manageable." The bot hissed in his audio receptors. "You'll be fully conscious but unable to move or speak for a few of hours."

The bot looked down at the now immobilized red medic seeing fear in his optics.

"Don't worry your just the bait." The bot said as he mocking petted Knock Out on the helm.

"My name is Lockdown and Night Rain hired me to capture or kill Starscream and to kill random bots close to him, She let us choose who to target but I actually have my own agenda." Lockdown started explaining.

"You see I'm a bounty hunter and there was a certain Autobot medic who once helped a target I was after escape and got me arrested before I broke out, And to my surprise Ratchet is one of Starscream's friends now giving me the perfect opportunity to not only take my revenge but make a few credits for it, Though I'm usually just in it for the upgrades,"

"I was all set to kill him when he and the Prime were talking outside Starscream's house I even had my blaster aimed and was about to pull the trigger when I overheard him mention he had a son before seeing you come out and greet him, So I got a better idea why kill Ratchet right away when I could make him suffer." Lockdown added.

"So I chose to target you at the Speedia 500, Your stronger then I thought you were I'm actually kind of impressed that you survived and your certainly have your mother's color scheme." Lockdown finished.

"Now let's wait for your Dad to get here." He said darkly.

A few minutes later Ratchet went to Knock Out's room to see if his son needed anything and to just visit with him, But upon entering was greeted with the sight of Lockdown standing over his son's berth.

"Get away from him!" Ratchet hissed at the bounty hunter as he brought out his saws, He could tell Lockdown had done something to his son noticing how still Knock Out was.

"What did you do to him?" Ratchet asked and there was no missing the anger in his voice. "If you've hurt him..."

"He's fine for now, He'll just be paralyzed for a couple more hours plenty of time for me to do plenty of damage." Lockdown told him mockingly while stroking Knock Out faceplates then transformed one of his servos into a blaster that he pointed at Knock Out's helm.

"Now come in the rest of the way and shut the door behind you or I blow his processor out." Lockdown threatened, And Ratchet obeyed not wanting to risk his son's life.

Then Lockdown put the blaster away and changed his other servo into a blade and lounged at Ratchet who started trying to fight him with his saws but unfortunately Lockdown was faster and stabbed the old medic in the midsection then started beating him, while poor Knock Out was forced to watch helplessly.

The red medic was now letting out low moans still unable to move or speak but trying to beg Lockdown to stop.

"This will be my favorite trophy." Lockdown hissed in Ratchet's audio receptors then slammed the medic into a wall while ripping out his spark and let him fall to the floor as his optics stop glowing and his body turned gunmetal gray.

Then lockdown left the room after looking at Knock Out who was still paralyzed and now had coolant tears flowing from his optics having just been forced to watch his sire die and couldn't even stop his killer from walking out the door.

The red medic had to lay there with Ratchet's body right in his sight line for over half an hour before a nurse came in and found him immobilized and Ratchet dead on the floor, And got help.

Knock Out regained his mobility an hour later when the rest of the Autobots got there and Arcee called Starscream.

(Now)

Starscream walked through the ground bridge arriving at the hospital and spoke with First Aid then saw Ratchet's body on a stretcher and Knock Out looking like he was about to fall apart and Arcee there trying to comfort him while visible trying to withhold her own coolant tears.

Then Knock Out broke down and Starscream and Arcee both put a servo on each of his shoulders.

"Knock Out I'm so sorry." Starscream told his best friend feeling like this was his fault since Night Rain had hired Lockdown to go after him and he had ended up killing Ratchet.

"It's not your fault Starscream even if she hadn't hired him he would have gone after him anyway." Knock Out explained after calming down a bit but he still had coolant tears coming out of his optics and didn't feel any better.

"This isn't on you I'm the one who he used as bait and then couldn't do anything to help." He added.

"This isn't on you either First Aid told me what happened and there's nothing you could have done." Starscream hugged his friend, Then Arcee hugged him.

And Megatron was talking to Optimus, Smokescreen and Bumblebee who were also taking it hard and Bulkhead had punched a hole in the wall of a broom closet.

Starscream felt bad for Knock Out he had already lost his best friend during the war and now he had been forced to watch his sire die, And Ratchet had become Starscream's friend too.

One thing was for sure the seeker wanted to make Night Rain and Lockdown pay for what happened to Ratchet.

To Be Continued.

Hope this chapter turned out ok, Sorry it was a sad one, I'll try to get the next chapter up soon, In the meantime feel free to send feedback.