The rumbling of the Warships engines reverberated through the heavy layered metal that made out the heavily secured room, it was spacious with a singular light fixture in the center. Anything that stood outside of the lights' gaze was met with the gathering darkness. Within this room lies a singular occupant that was in the center where the lights cast over their slumped form.

Lucy was laid on her side in a fetal position, clutching on to her aching stomach that was slowly leaking energon beneath the metal plating. No matter how much pressure she added to try and stop the bleeding the energon didn't seem to coagulate. Human blood and energon blood were two contrary fluids, human blood was much thicker than energon which was thinner in comparison. It was unfortunate that energon was incapable of providing the normal functions as regular blood would.

She thought back of the events prior, standing between Ratchet's unconscious form from Soundwaves' advances and then surprising her by speaking in his voice for the first time to her. Offering Ratchet's safety if she came along otherwise her friends lives would be at stake, including the immediate destruction of their base. She was left with no choice but to begrudgingly accept, following him until she boarded the Warship carrying her unconscious medic on her back.

Loud thuds jolted her back, her heart leaping from her chest from the noise and was immediately met with a wave of pain. She took a sharp intake trying to alleviate the pain, to no success.

There were hurried footfalls approaching behind her and eventually someone cradled her head and carefully shifted her body upward. A hand rests on top of her injury making her hiss through gritted teeth.

"Primus… be with me please."

Ratchet was frantically looking over for any additional injuries on her frame before stopping once he caught her staring at him. He let out a sigh of relief to see she was still conscious, drained but alive nonetheless. What worried him was the concerning amount of energon she had lost during his absence.

"Hey Ratch…" She made a weak attempt at a smile which further deepened his sullen expression.

"You should've stayed behind with the others."

"I couldn't risk our friends getting killed. It was their lives over yours, I had no other choice."

Ratchet scoffed, opting to stare angrily at the ground. It was clear to him that Megatron would never miss the chance to get his filthy hands on Lucy in order to get his way. His scheme worked too after he initially refused to cooperate in the restoration of the Omega Lock, tempting at first but he stood his ground. That is until Megatron blatantly expressed his disappointment and would have to resort to much dire means of convincing him. There he pulled up a live video feed and it revealed an all too familiar femme with faintly glowing hair, laying on her side with a small pool of her own energon.

If he hadn't been restrained at that given moment he would've most likely lashed out to do the unimaginable to wipe that smug look off of Megatron's face maybe even worse. All he could do was watch through clenched teeth as Megatron once again reminded him about the offer. Ratchet swallowed his fury to look him dead in the optics and agreed with much disdain.

Ratchet took a moment to regain his composure before focusing his attention on Lucy. His main priority is tending to her wounds so he carefully took out his medical kit which thankfully the decepticons hadn't confiscated as he began dressing her wound. It wasn't his best work but it did prove useful enough to stop the bleeding and worked on the area until it was sealed, much to Lucy's colorful vocabulary from the matter.

He put away his kit to help her sit upright being mindful as to not tear open the freshly mended area. His hand resting on the small of her back and the other holding on to her hand for support. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore. I think I can manage—fuck…" She cursed under her breath.

The pain was tolerable now that it was properly sutured. She could have done it herself—being a doctor herself, but she was too weak to do anything. This also affected the stability of her powers when she attempted to create a small orb of light. No matter how many times she tried, it would solely send forth a pale glow. Anything more than that would simply be dispelled, a terrible sense of dread made her blood run cold.

"My powers…"

"I'm sorry?"

Ratchet could see the immense fear written across her features as she leaned forward to whisper into his audio-receptors.

"Ratchet, my powers… they're not working."

It was already bad enough that they were held captive within the Warship where it was overrun by no fewer than a dozen Decepticons, including the Predacon that was undoubtedly aboard too. Without her powers at their fullest potential, she is vulnerable. Her combative skills were decent enough to get by and a hint of weapon experience. This wasn't nearly enough compared to the centuries of honing one's skills that the Autobots and Decepticons have at their disposal. Something that she, for better or worse, lacked.

Her fear stricken face didn't go unnoticed. Ratchet uses his hands to hold her head forcing her to look him straight in the eyes.

"Don't force it, you lost a lot of energon and you must reserve whatever energy you have left once we escape. The others will find us."

"What if they can't find us in time? I won't be able to protect you when we do escape... what then Ratchet?"

"Lucy," Ratchet held a firm gaze with his hands holding her head in place that it was unlikely for her to look away. "You are capable of so much more than you let yourself believe with or without them."

Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, her breath trembled as she whispered. "I'll be lucky to scrape by if we do escape and you... I don't want to lose you, Ratchet. I can't—I can't..."

A stilled silence fell between them where all they could do was to hold each other close. The dreaded hum of the warship looming over them, reminding them that at any given moment a decepticon would whisk Ratchet away from her. It was at that moment Ratchet murmured onto the side of her temple.

"The decepticons have rebuilt the Omega Lock, and Megatron wants me to find the final solution for the synthetic energon formula."

She pulls away to meet his gaze, worry written across her features. "Ratchet you can't, you know what he'll do to you once he gets what he wants."

"He threatened your life if I didn't comply." Ratchet takes her hands bringing them up to his chest, never once breaking eye-contact. "Whatever happens from this point onward, when we do escape, fight—fight for your life until we are out of this warship."

"What about you?"

He let out a dry chuckle and tightened his grip on her hands. "What do you think? I may be an old medic but that doesn't stop me from fighting." He leans in, nuzzling his temple against the side of her head.

She sighs, closing her eyes and savoring the gesture with what little time was left before the decepticons would take him away. "Please, come back to me, Ratchet."

"I promise…"

...

...

...

The silence has been deafening ever since Ratchet was escorted out of their shared cell, and there has been little to no movement outside of the room. With the occasional footsteps from vehicles patrolling the halls outside but had become so quiet that she wanted to scream.

Ratchet has been gone longer than she had anticipated, it worried her. They had kept him away for hours. If Megatron desperately wanted the Synth-en formula completed then there's no doubt that he would keep monitoring Ratchet, keeping him long enough until the formula was completed. Then what? Once his services weren't needed anymore there was a high chance that Megatron would quickly dispose of him with or without her knowledge.

And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"Son of a bitch." She hissed from the abdominal pain. Luckily, she had regained enough strength to keep herself upright without having to lay on the cold floor every so often to alleviate the pain.

She couldn't afford to open up her mended injury and has since remained rooted to her spot ever since Ratchet's absence. All she could now was to wait until Ratchets' return, at least that's what she hoped for. Suddenly the doors slid open and she was greatly displeased to see Megatron himself stepping inside the room.

"It's such a shame to see your skills wasted when instead you should be aiming for a much worthy cause. Wouldn't you agree?"

She wasn't going to entertain the thought of giving him the satisfaction of breaking her, and so, she purposely turned away. When she did, Megatron was too stumped to comment on her unusually docile demeanor. He maintained his stolid composure, however.

"Why so quiet? What happened to that fire of yours?" His taunt didn't seem to graze her. Despite the lack of response, he switched to a different approach, one that will guarantee her attention. "It was quite admirable of you, shielding the medic from Soundwaves advances."

Megatron smirked when she peered over her shoulder.

Lucy clenched her teeth, she could feel her anger boiling beneath the seams. She couldn't let him see her this way, it would only boost his damn ego. "Where is he?" It came out as a venomous hiss, her question no doubt was fueling him in some way but she had the right to know.

"Rest assured, he will come to no harm."

Lucy didn't believe him, and she knew damn well that once Ratchets' usefulness is over the outcome will not be in her favor.

"You think of me as a fool." She retorts, shifting to fully face the opposing leader. "Is that why you came here? To commend my actions and then shove them aside to give me a false sense of hope." She leans forward, giving him a death stare that could instill unease to even the greatest and fearsome decepticons. "You think I can't sense your lies…"

The air surrounding them became thick with tension. Her stare unwavering, unblinking and those eyes of hers were almost identical from when she first unleashed her wrath upon him. Megatron found himself back in the energon mines where she was brutally beating him, her movements were too fast for him to block and every strike was more painful than the last. He blinked back into the present, no longer was he in the mine, instead, his optics never strayed from her menacing glare.

"What are you going to do with Ratchet?"

She felt her temper rise at the lack of response, ignoring the fact that he had a faraway look and watching him turn his back to her.

"What will you do to him?!"

Still there was no response from the all imposing tyrant. She could tell something in him had changed, noting the stiffness in his movements as he made his way over to the door.

She bared her teeth, hands curled into tight fists as she lunged forward. Despite the fact that her unnatural speed was reduced because of the loss of energon she still closed the distance at a rapid pace. Megatron had already stepped through the door when she threw a jab right as the door closed. The impact was so great that it left a prominent dent onto the metal, as she yelled through the metal that stood between them.

"YOU BASTARD!" She huffed, vapor coming out of her mouth the harder she breathed.

Her body trembled when she moved away from the door, returning to her original spot where she fell on her knees with a thud. The adrenaline in her systems became overwhelming and eventually began to cry. She was bent forward where she sat on the floor with her arms wrapped around herself as a way of comfort.

She feared the worst was yet to come.

Almost an hour goes by, and that was when she heard it—a ferocious war-cry echoed throughout the halls of the warship. Multiple shots were exchanged and were swiftly silenced by the thundering stomps as metal was torn in its wake. She knew who was causing the rampage and that alone left her on edge.

Even when the roars had grown faint, she hadn't dared move from her spot. All she could think about was Ratchets' well-being.

Was he okay? Did he manage to escape and call for the others?

Her thoughts were cut short when there was movement just outside. There was a brief scuffle until metal pierced metal. She shuddered when a gurgle was heard followed by their body scratching the wall. Once the doors to her cell had opened, standing by the entryway was Ratchet and judging by the amount of dents, claw marks and dried energon on his armor said enough.

Lucy released a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Her body acted out on its own, running over to him and then throwing her arms around his neck. He grunted from the pain, nonetheless, he pulled her close with one arm around her waist and the other still sheathing his built-in blade which was covered in energon. He tried his best to keep himself upright but his joints gave way almost falling if it weren't for Lucy keeping him standing.

"Who did this to you?" Her hand gingerly moved across his armor plate, feeling every new indent that she came across.

"That's—agh! Besides the point," He huffed and managed to find his footing as he began to guide her out of the cell. "We must hurry. Megatron is about to cyberform Earth as we speak, we have to stop them before it can be activated."

Ratchet lets go of her once he spotted a vehicon rounding the corner, he broke into a sprint sheathing his other blade and struck. The vehicons head landed across the hall as the body crashed to the floor. He looked over and urged for her to follow and she did so without question.

I've been in a real writing slump for over a year now. Because deep down I know that this story will soon come to a close. Thank you for sticking around, means a lot knowing that people still come back to this.

Until then, happy reading!