Transformers Prime: Stay Tuned

Chapter Ten: Desperation

Today marked a month.

Ratchet squeezed his optics shut at the realization. He had been counting the days that he had been held hostage, tucked away into a dark cell. A month had passed since his capture.

The second month in his gestation period as well. His middle had grown considerably, and his sparkling had begun kicking. The little one was quite active, keeping him awake by squirming at random. It remained his only comfort. The sparkling made him feel less alone.

"Quiet down, Little One," he breathed as the sparkling entered a bout of thrashing and kicking. "I'm trying to rest." Of course, there was no change in the sparkling's activity. He sat up against the wall and vented softly, smiling. "I'm too old for this." He chuckled joylessly. He wished his wrists weren't cuffed behind his back. He'd love to stroke his stomach and feel his bitlet. "Save the excitement for when your sire comes for us."

"You seem so positive." Thundercracker's voice rumbled through the cell, the door sliding open. "So deluded. Why aren't you gagged?"

"Skywarp allowed it." Ratchet opened his optics, searching for the seeker's shadowy silhouette. "I have faith in Optimus." He said quietly.

"I'm certain you do, but the question is, is it misplaced?" Thundercracker knelt down beside him. "You belong to us, Medic. Optimus finds you when we say he can." He tightened a servo around Ratchet's neck, squeezing the bruised cables. "If we ever do."

"You can't hold me here forever." Ratchet rasped.

"Oh, but we can. Rumble isn't even certain if he wants to give you back to Optimus, once the demands are over and done with. You're a prize to be won, you are a beacon of leverage." The seeker basked in the medic's panicked silence for a moment, before drawing an energon cube from his subspace. "Now open, Autobot."

"Get fragged." Ratchet spat, before an edge of the cube was forcefully jammed in between his lips.

"Do you think that Optimus will give up and find another?" Thundercracker thought aloud as he poured the enriched fuel down Ratchet's throat. "Saving you will be too much hassle. Perhaps he'll move on and knock up some other 'bot." He laughed as Ratchet made an angry choking sound. "Maybe he's even fragging someone else as we speak, now that his berth is empty."

There wasn't a doubt in Ratchet's mind that the Prime's spark was his, but the implications infuriated him nonetheless. He twisted away, coughing. "Will you shut the frag up?!"

Thundercracker roughly backhanded him, snarling. "Do not waste good energon, Whore. Hold still." Ratchet yelped, wincing. His cheek stung. The cube was brought back to his mouth, and was dumped hastily into his intake. He choked, gasping as it was thrown aside. "You're lucky that you have a sparkling to protect you. I would love to have you in my torture chamber, screaming and begging for mercy." Thundercracker rose to his pedes, muttering. "I'll return for you in the morning. Rumble wants to send some pretty pictures to your mate."

The seeker turned on his heel and stalked out, the door snapping shut behind him.