Jack wished he could be happy to see Ratchet still safe and unharmed, but his guilt twisted too much inside him to feel anything but self-loathing. After his impassioned plea for Ratchet to not give in, he was going to be a part of convincing the medic to do just that. His tail wrapped tighter around himself as Megatron pulled him into the holding cell, and the medic spared Jack some concern before he glared at the silver mech.

"And what have you come to sell me this time?" Ratchet huffed.

Jack's spark pulsed hot as the silver mech grinned sharply. Megatron pulled Jack to stand better at his side. "Why, Ratchet, it's not what I've come to say, but we."

Ratchet stiffened, his optics cycling as he glanced between them, before settling another glare onto Megatron. "I think not."

Megatron glanced at Jack, and shoved him forward. "Tell him."

Jack had never felt so self-conscious before, and the guilt just made it worse. He found it hard to meet Ratchet's optics. "It…it's…Megatron agreed to leave the Earth alone, and revive Cybertron instead." He whispered.

Ratchet's optics widened, a look of utter shock rippling across his faceplate before it contorted in disbelief. "Megatron is not one known for keeping his word; he'll say and do anything if it benefits him."

Jack could feel the silver mech's stare boring into his back, and he squared his shoulders. "Not this time." He replied softly. "He'll keep his word."

Ratchet shook his head. "And how can you possible believe that? What's changed in such short time you'd think he'd honor any promise?"

Jack grimaced. He couldn't say it, that he'd let Megatron blackmail him into compliance with the threat of Ratchet's safety hanging over him all this time. "It's…complicated."

Megatron let out a noise, and walked forward, heavy steps stopping beside Jack. "It's actually quite simple. Show him."

Jack flinched, because the one thing he'd tried to keep a secret from Ratchet was coming undone. He hated that this might tip the medic into working on the Synth-En. Reluctantly, he focused on his stomach plates, and let them slide apart to show his sheer protoform, and his spark did a flip as he looked at the small bud forming. It was still too soon to make out anything, and it sickened him to look for too long at it.

Yet meeting Ratchet's gaze was no better. The medic was frozen, his optics wide and cycling as if he couldn't believe the sight before him.

Then Ratchet's optics burned with fury as he glared at Megatron. "You vile monster!" It was the angriest Jack ever heard Ratchet sound, and his plates snapped back into place on instinct. "Does your madness and sadism know no bounds?"

Megatron made a disparaging noise. "The point though, is that it happened. Jack is carrying the first sparkling in such a long time," something in his tone changed, "and yet there is still no guarantee he'll carry to term."

Ratchet sneered at the silver mech. "No doubt to the horrendous circumstances you've put him through would be the cause of that."

Megatron chuckled, and it was not a nice sound. Jack tensed. "Why, I was referring to his incomplete CNA - after all, modified Synth-En can only do so much, it's not a real solution." Megatron seemed to become thoughtful. "In fact, I due wonder if the stress of the Synth-En will burn out his spark before the sparkling is brought to term."

It was such obvious bait, and they both knew it. Jack could see the medic fighting with himself, perhaps his defiance trying to measure against his principles – but the latter won out. Jack's shoulders dropped.

Ratchet's jaw set in a fierce scowl as he gazed at Megatron. "I'll do it. I'll work on that blasted Synth-En formula. But," he cut in quickly when the silver mech was about to speak, "I expect to be kept informed of Jack's condition, and I want to present for any examination he has."

Jack's spark twisted in worry that it might be too much, but when he looked up, his optics widened in surprise. Megatron didn't look the least big irritated or angered. There was a smug satisfaction in his optics, one Jack was depressingly familiar with by now.

"Why, of course." The silver mech drawled. "Another medic looking over the process will ensure the sparkling's survival." He explained, and grabbed Jack's arm. "You'll be escorted to the lab within the joor."

Jack was dragged out of the room, and he couldn't even bring himself to glance back for one last look. Whatever the expression was on Ratchet's faceplate, Jack didn't think he could handle seeing it. The cloud of despair and unease hung over him until they returned back to Megatron's room. The silver mech shoved the unopened energon cube into his hands, and Jack quietly drank it.

Megatron watched him for a moment, still unbearably smug. "You didn't tell Ratchet about what you agreed to do for Earth's continued existence."

Jack tensed, and the energon tasted only bitter now. "It would have made Ratchet feel guilty, but telling him I traded my life for the Earth wouldn't have made him give in."

"Is that so? Or is it you find the idea of the Autobots realizing you're my pet now shameful to you?"

Jack tensed. "What do you think?" he snapped. "And what are you still doing here? Don't you have troops to terrorize?"

Megatron chuckled. "Perhaps later. Right now, I feel like celebrating my imminent victory."

Jack grimaced around the last gulps of his energon. It still didn't feel like enough for his systems. "That means you'd have to have actually won something." He muttered.

Megatron set aside the empty cube and yanked Jack back off the berth, crashing him into the taller frame. "Haven't I?" The silver mech ran his free servo down Jack's arm, stroking the plating and causing the wolf Predacon to cringe away. "I have an heir on the way, the Synth-En will be stabilized for you and the Omega Lock, and Cybertron will soon by in my grasp. I believe those are well worth a celebration."

Jack didn't like the leer levelled at him. He shrank into himself, bracing for the inevitably. "And…how long will you be…celebrating for?"

Megatron narrowed his optics, his servo coming back up Jack's arm to brush his digits along his neck cables and across his cheek. "So tense you are. I believe an oil bath will alleviate that."

Jack's optic twitched. "A bath? You think a bath is going to get me to relax?" he spat. The silver mech said nothing, only smirking at him before pulling him back out of the room. Jack didn't trust any of this, and waiting for the moment Megatron decided to just get it over with was going to be awful. Was drawing it out the mech's sick way of having fun? Of celebrating?

The walk eventually ended as they went down a hall Jack hadn't been down before. His optics widened incredulously. He remembered Megatron mentioning a communal wash, but he didn't think it'd look so…ordinary. The walls were lined with all sorts of nozzles and dials, likely for the solvent and whatever passed as soap. The only small mercy was the room was empty, but Megatron didn't stop walking until they reached a room further in the back.

Jack wasn't quite sure what he was looking at, but if it had to guess, it was about the size of a large swimming pool. The surface was still, filled with some slick black fluid that caused Jack's spark to pulse hot. When the smell finally hit, Jack recoiled. Oil, it was oil in the pool.

Megatron chuckled. "Yes, the smell does leave something to be desired, but that's what turning off your olfactory is for." He smirked at Jack. "Unless you're still having trouble with even your simplest of functions."

Jack growled. "Of course I can. I just don't see the point in why you'd be using this. An oil bath seems more like Knock Out's thing."

Megatron scoffed. "True, Knock Out makes the most use of it, but it is still available for anyone to indulge in." He pulled Jack along until they reached the edge, and the silver mech stepped on a trigger.

Jack furrowed his optic ridges until they rose back up incredulously. The smell somehow got even worse, and the surface started to bubble. "You…you heat it up?"

"How else are our plates to get clean?" Megatron retorted. He looked at Jack smugly. "Unless you're frightened of a little heat, of course?"

Jack narrowed his optics. "Like hell I am." And he followed the other mech into the pool as he stepped inside. It was strange, no denying that. The smell nauseated him, and the first burst of an oil bubble caused Jack to flinch.

It should hurt like hell, but it…didn't. Jack's mouth pursed, feeling the oil slide over him up to his waist. Megatron grabbed his arm, and tugged him into sitting down next to him, the oil rising to cover his chest plates. Jack really wished he knew how to turn off his olfactory now. Beyond the smell, it…started to feel good.

Jack's optics shuttered rapidly as he felt the oil get into his crevices and ease away the tension. I can't believe you were right.

"Of course I was." Jack started, mortified he'd actually said that aloud, and Megatron was grinning sharply at him.

Jack scowled, and looked away. He stiffened back up when he felt one of Megatron's servos slide around his waist, and rest over his stomach plates where the sparkling was developing. Unfortunately, the oil got rid of the tension the touch brought, and Jack's joints and limbs relaxed until he was slumped back against the pool edge, his optics flickering as the urge to recharge came over him.

Megatron's arm tightened around him, his digits stroking along the seams of the wolf Predacon's plates. "Do you see now? Not everything I do is so terrible, is it?" his other servo came up and cupped Jack's chin, turning his listless expression towards him. "Your place at my side need not be as shameful as you find it. Obey, and you'll continue to find yourself rewarded for such good behavior."

Jack managed a scowl despite his lax state. "As your pet." He rasped.

"Call it whatever you'd like, but our time together is only as awful as you make it." Megatron replied.

Jack narrowed his optics. Unbelievable. Was the other mech really trying to put all the blame on him? That things would be different if Jack gave himself up and accepted his situation from the start? He frowned. "I'm playing along," he whispered, "only for my home. I'll be your good little pet who lets himself be held down and births your wretched spawn, but when the day comes that your spark is extinguished and your whole world crumbles – I'll jeer and laugh because I. Hate. You."

Megatron leaned in until he was a hairsbreadth away. "Then you will be playing for a very long time."