Ratchet had been foolish enough to travel via Ground Bridge alone when he knew he should have had at least BumbleBee, Arcee or BulkHead in tow when he returned to the scared earth that was ripped harshly by the magic of Dark Energon. The gladiator and leader of the Decepticons had taken back the shard when he went to retrieve it from his foolish mistake of even leaving it there in the first place.

He should have known that not every mecha that laid to rest on the barren wasteland was disposed of, and he certainly knew how foolish he was to come alone when a pair of rusted servos clawed from the earth. He felt them clasp at his ankles, talons digging into the tires and nearly popping them if Ratchet wasn't quick enough to kick himself free.

And luckily, that worked, until he felt another pair of servos grip his shin plates and bury inside, drawing the bright blue glow of their precious life source. Ratchet shouted in pain before he wielded his blades and slashed at a servo, the other letting go before the blade could bite into it. The first set of servos had clawed out the body and it soon lunged, causing Ratchet to fall backwards with a stumble before he gripped it by the neck, having quickly returned the blade for his servo.

Dark Energon saliva splattered across his faceplates and neck as he struggled with the undead mecha that was hungry to tear him apart. The second set of servos clawed out of the earth to come to Ratchet's left flank, lowering down to give the medic a nasty gash on his thigh.

A pained choke as he thrust his blade into the others chassis when he had the chance and found the perfect moment to strike. The mecha squealed in surprise before Energon poured out of its severed tanks, splattering in a lake on Ratchet's white chassis, turning it bright lavender.

He continued to stab it repeatedly until its body broke in two, the upper half still squirming and trying to claw at his helm. A struggling breath as he squeezed the zombie's neck until its neck ruptured and more Energon poured, some getting onto his face as he winced. While this was going on, the second zombie was crawling on top of the two of them and hissing with a screech before digits dug into the medic's sides, causing him to grunt and shout in pain. Open wounds were met with Dark Energon as the medic quickly kicked the other away, using his blade to cut the half of the zombie into smaller portions.

Quickly getting up on his pedes, he stumbled before he was tackled down by a hungry terrorcon. Ratchet had no time to react as he struggled, his chassis finally getting the make-over the first failed to give as scratches littered his body, also being met with Dark Energon. The unholy substance made his mesh crawl as he felt an instant sickness start to spread over his body.

His arms started to tremble from the strain, he wasn't used to this, wasn't used to fighting for so long. He wasn't made to fight anymore, then why was he still equipped with his weapons? He needed those, in case something like this came up, where he needed to use self-defense. But he wasn't expecting to use them on these dead bodies again. Hell, he wasn't expecting to use them ever again.

The corpse on top of him was winning the struggle and it slashed and clawed at his chassis and moved high to his collar and soon his neck. A claw caught and tore a bright blue hole in the others neck, which caused Ratchet to gasp instantly and let the other go to put his servos to his neck. There was no way in hell he was going to die, but letting the other go was a foolish mistake. Before he could return his servos to the other's shoulders or neck, a mess of jagged denta dug into his neck cables, bright blue gushing out like a tomato being bit into.

His scream was cut off, his mouth and esophagus was being filled with Energon as he choked. He quickly, upon instinct for survival, thrust the blade into the zombie's chassis and continued to stab it repeatedly until it broke in two, then again quickly cut its helm off and kicked it off. Holding his neck, he tried to command for a Ground Bridge, but his voice was gone.

Instead he gasped and wheezed, sending out a distress signal. He knew he was close to Decepticon territory, and he honestly didn't seem to care if he got picked up by the enemy. He wanted to live, damn it, and he didn't care who fixed him. He didn't want to die out here alone.

He still held his servo to his neck as his blade had eaten itself deep inside the terrorcon's shoulder, lying on top of him as he wheezed. He was panicking, and he knew that wasn't a good thing to do in this situation. Taking in too much in-takes resulted from quicker dispersion of Energon, which meant leaking out faster.

He tried to focus on his in-takes, tried to calm himself down, but he just couldn't think at the moment. Energon pooled beneath his shoulder as his optics started to dim. To his left there was movement, and a thud as a heavy object landed. A weight was lifted as the corpse was grabbed and tossed aside, the mecha in his vision was a large gladiator, sleek and silver as it glared down at the medic.

He narrowed his optics in return to squint at the larger one. And he shuddered as he choked on his own Energon. "M-Megatron?" He rasped as he pressed his servo tighter to his neck. And indeed, Megatron lowered to one knee and moved the medic's servo away to glance at the damage before he placed it back and looked at Ratchet with a scowl.

"And what in the pits were you thinking of coming here when more of the undead no doubt still roam?" He growled at the medic who cringed slightly, although it was unnoticeable since his body refused to respond the way he wanted it to.

Ratchet tried to give a logical reply, but the warlord only hissed for him to be silent. "You are an idiot to come alone." He growled before he stood, turning slightly away before he felt a servo grip his ankle plating. Megatron looked back and down at the medic as he stared up at him with fear and anger in his dimming optics.

"H-Help me… P-P-Please…" He rasped with a weak and pathetic whimper. Megatron growled as he searched the medic's face before he bared his denta. "I must be a fool to be doing this for the enemy, but what choice have I if Prime is not able to fight a fair fight with me if he is not in his peak condition? Very well, Ratchet, I will save you." He growled, turning to face the emergency vehicle and kneeling down to pick the medic up the way a groom would his bride.

He radioed the Nemesis, requesting that his third in command bridge him immediately to the medical bay. He had found a wounded mecha and said mecha needed assistance. Although the third in command, SoundWave, was curious and would have asked his Lord why he had found a stray mecha and decided to do an act of kindness and see if he could possibly save its life, but it was quickly answered by Megatron's sharp voice as he answered his thoughts.

"Damn it SoundWave, it's Ratchet. Open the Primus damned bridge before you regret this." He snarled, the bridge soon appearing at the end of his sentence and he quickly made his way through, the vortex engulfing them in colors of white, green, blue and pink.

And the vortex was gone.