Weekly Oneshot #21: Conflicting Feelings

Emotion. Illogical feelings inside. These were things that Clank was not supposed to feel in his lifetime. As a warbot, he was originally supposed to be empty inside. A simple soldier without their own train of thought and had two words on their mind: target acquired. Then the lightning strike happened, and for that one moment, everything changed. The blueprints of the warbot changed into what Clank knew as his diminutive and self aware being.

Clank remembered when the original warbot code was forced into his programming, how it told him to go to the Hall of Heroes and kill all of the Galactic Rangers, but his own program resisted and rejected the override. This and the body that he had been given was not taken well by the warbot inspector that would have equipped him with a Combustor and sent him on his way if it hadn't scanned him and reported him as a defect. It had yelled out that the defect was going to be destroyed within a matter of seconds, and in the heat of the moment, instead of accepting his fate, Clank had ran away, only to get that brute, Victor Von Ion sent after him. The lieutenant had thrown everything he had at the young defect: lasers, missiles, blades, it was a very dangerous and deadly situation.

However, despite all of the odds that were against him, Clank had managed to escape in the end, his entire body was barely even scratched. He had made it out of there alive, he had escaped from the clutches of Drek, Nefarious and Victor Von Ion. There was no reason to feel intimidated. Why then...why was he so unsettled now? Why did he feel the urge to wait in the ship until the Rangers were done chasing Drek off of the planet? Why did they have to go into the robot factory at all?

Nervous green eyes narrowed as Ratchet and Cora crept down the hallway of the Quartu robot factory. They both had their Combustors drawn, shooting every once in awhile as a stray Mr. Zurkon flew by, trying to find another pack to join.

"Man, those Zurkons are annoying, but they sure do explode good," Ratchet said with a smile.

"Don't get too distracted by the explosions, rookie," Cora said a bit bitterly, "I don't want to have to save your furry hide again."

"I didn't know that they were coming up behind us!" The Lombax argued with the Markazian.

Clank's audio sensors picked up the sound of Ratchet and Cora bickering, but none of it made it through mentally. Instead, he found his mind wandering, along with his shining green eyes. The factory was a lot darker than he remembered. Though it was probably because he was usually surrounded with deadly lava when it came to previous times that he had went through.

The small stayed still as he swayed back and forth a bit on Ratchet's back. He didn't say or do anything, and Ratchet and Cora didn't even notice because they were busy talking to one another. And Clank was alright with that, because he didn't really feel like talking at the moment. This was because he was trying to sort out just exactly what was going on inside of him.

The rate at which his heart was pulsing seemed to be increasing the more he looked around and thought about the warbot factory. And these things that he was feeling mentally, these...'feelings' that people called them...they almost felt like that they were clashing within him. He was experiencing many conflicting feeling, he should say. It was like each one had another to fight against. Clank was happy to be back on his home planet, but angry because warbots were being produced so they can destroy. He was scared that he and his friends would be killed, but determined to bring Chairman Drek down. It was enough to make his processor spin. He tried to believe that he would be okay, though. After all, it was just a factory, right? It was just the...the place of his creation and...and deadly warbots...but he would be fine...as long as they didn't go into the factory line room itself, then he would be completely-

"We're here," Cora said, walking up to a touch pad that locked a large pair of metal doors.

Clank looked over Ratchet's shoulder to see where they were. If he was correct, they were near the middle of the factory, right where the warbots were...oh no...

As Cora touched the pale green pad, the doors whooshed open, and the robot factory innards were revealed. Left and right, there were warbots being pulled on a conveyor belt, forcing to be programmed and speak their first pair of deadly words ("Target acquired!"). The whole scene was so familiar to the tiny warbot that was on Ratchet's back. Ratchet jumped a bit as he smiled excitedly.

"Alright, we're in! Let's go-huh?"

With his heart racing and his eyes wide, Clank jumped off of Ratchet's Galactic Ranger suit and fell to the ground. His green eyes quickly drifted to the warbot factory. Images flashed before his mind. The murderous code. The near destruction of him. Victor Von Ion chasing him. Defect. Target Acquired. Destruction...destruction...he...he was not made for destruction! He was a good warbot! He had escaped death several times here just to make sure of that! This place wasn't going to change him...i-it wouldn't! And he wasn't going to die here...right? Victor Von Ion wasn't here...r-right?

...Right?

Clank found himself in a sudden panic as he began scooting away from the sight of the inner warbot factory. His heart was pulsing at a very unhealthy rate, and his eyes were as wide as they would go. If he was organic, he would have been hyperventilating. Clank kept scooting away, often slipping off of his palms and hitting his elbows on the floor. He wasn't going in there...he didn't want to go in there!

Ratchet became very concerned for his friend as he noticed how scared the robot was becoming. The Lombax put his Combustor on the ground and took small steps towards Clank, "Clank? Pal, are you alright?"

"What's his problem?" Cora asked, watching the panicked robot back up. Her finger was impatiently twitching on the Combustor's trigger, wanting to blow something up.

"I-I don't know. Clank? Buddy, what's wrong? Can you even hear me?" Ratchet got down on his knees and reached forward, grabbing Clank by the shoulder so he couldn't back away anymore. But Clank seemed to be fighting his way out of Ratchet's grip. Well, he was trying to, at least. Ratchet tried to get his attention, "Clank, come on, talk to me! What's wrong?"

"I...I...I-I..." Clank tried to find the right words, but the orange glow of the lava in the next room threw him out of the conversation and went through his system in the form of pure fear. The small robot began to shake as he tried to start backing up.

This caught Cora's attention. She joined Ratchet, but she didn't get down on the floor, "Clank, if you have a problem with something, you have to tell us. Sitting around and shaking isn't giving us much to go off of. So just calm down and use your words."

"I um...I..." the warbot kept stumbling for correct terminology. He managed to pry his eyes away from the the other room and look at the Lombax and Markazian, who were waiting for him to say something. They truly had no idea what was going on within him. They didn't know the horrible things that he experienced in his factory. And they didn't know how unsettled and uncomfortable he was with going into the very room where he was created. He had to try and tell them what was wrong so they could hopefully understand. He looked up at the two and spoke with a shaky voice as his body shook as well, "I...I-I do n-not...I a-am..."

"You do not...you are...come on, pal, out with it. We can't just sit here and do this all day. So just please tell us what's wrong," Ratchet begged his friend.

The robot noticed the begging tone in Ratchet's voice. The robot then felt a bit guilty when he realized that by sitting here without saying anything, he was delaying the mission. He had to tell them, he was too deep in to say that nothing was wrong. It was time to be brave, even with the unsettling atmosphere hovering around his being. So, the robot tried to take a second to calm down, which didn't work at all, and he looked Ratchet dead in the eyes. "This...this factory is the place of my creation. I am experiencing many...conflicting feelings..."

Ratchet and Cora stared at the little robot for several seconds, sometimes sending glances at each other. Finally, Ratchet broke the silence with something that didn't satisfy Clank in anyway, "I...I don't know how to respond to that."

"I...I do not want to go in there," the robot replied, his shake increasing a bit.

"Wait, you're not going in? Clank, you have to! Ratchet needs a jetpack so he can get around the factory! And I am not carrying him," Cora said firmly, making Clank shrink a bit. "Now come on, we're losing time. Drek could be getting away right now!"

"I-I know, but..." Clank screwed his eyes shut and simply curled up into a little ball, "please...please do not make me go in there!"

"Ugh! We don't have time for this! Ratchet, please calm him down quickly so we can go in," the Markazian said, waving her gun at him.

"I don't know what to do! I don't know how to deal with stuff like this! It's new to me!" Ratchet argued, genuinely not knowing what to do.

"It's just ridiculous! You're being ridiculous, Clank! Now get up and let's go!"

"It's not ridiculous, you guys just don't understand," Elaris suddenly spoke up through the communicator.

"What was that?" Cora asked bitterly.

"I've been listening to you guys the whole time. Clank's behavior right now isn't at all a surprise to me. Actually, what he's doing and experiencing is pretty common for robots."

"What do you mean?" Ratchet asked.

"Well, think about it. Clank takes in emotions differently than organics. He spends time analyzing them and seeing how logical they are. And coming back to the place where he was created and nearly killed, it has to be a lot for him. Plus, don't forget, he's a defect. He was meant to destroy like other warbots, but he ended up wanting to do good instead. So no doubt he feels very unwelcome here. And I mean unwelcome on a more personal level. Do you guys understand now?" Elaris said.

"No! We can't be sitting around here, waiting for Clank to process his emotions! We're on a very important mission and we need to move."

"I understand that, and Clank probably does too, but he needs to-" Elaris was interrupted.

"Ratchet, grab Clank and let's go. We don't have time to be dealing with feelings, we need to be dealing with Drek right now...Ratchet? What are you doing? Are you listening to me?"

Ratchet wasn't listening to Cora at all. His ears were too filled with what Elaris had told them about Clank and his home. It looked like that Clank was unwelcome and afraid...unwelcome and afraid of his own home. There were other things that had happened but...with all of the excitement that had been going on, Ratchet had totally forgotten about them. So, the Lombax reached forward and placed a hand on Clank's shoulder, making the robot jump and look up. Trying to ignore the impatient and stern look on Cora's face, Clank looked at Ratchet with innocent green eyes.

"Hey, Clank, do you think that you can tell me about what happened after you were built again? Sorry, my mind kinda pushed it out of my head," Ratchet asked in a calm and friendly voice.

The warbot blinked once. Twice. Three times. Then he sat up a bit as he tried to pull himself together mentally. If Clank was an organic, he would have taken a deep breath before he spoke. "After I was built, I was programmed. The first thought that I had on my mind was...was to kill the Galactic Rangers. But my systems rejected the program, and instead, it made me see that what I was built to do was very wrong. The warbot inspector noticed this and the body that I was given, and it knew how different I was to the others on my factory line. And in response, it named me 'Defect' and tried to destroy me..."

Clank paused for a moment, trying to pull himself back together again. Ratchet waited patiently, and Cora, though she was still eager to get on with the mission, was changing her expression as Clank told his story. The warbot continued. "I tried to escape, but Chairman Drek saw me, and ordered Victor to come and kill me. I was tormented with a series of lasers, Negotiator rockets, and Razor Claws. I do not know how I managed to escape, because the odds were against me from the moment I was born. And...and re-entering this factory...makes me believe that they will turn on me again..." Clank hugged his knees tightly, "I-I am sorry that I am delaying the mission. I am trying to get over it, I really am, but my systems simply cannot take all of these conflicting emotions. I keep trying to process them, but they all keep coming back whenever...well, whenever I look into that room."

Ratchet and Cora looked behind them and into the warbot assembly line room. Large warbots were pushed on a conveyor belt, each one with one objective: kill. And Clank was almost one of them. The two then looked at each other, both of them had a look on their face that made them feel bad for being so impatient with the small robot. They hadn't known everything that Clank had went through after he was built. All that they knew before was that he was a defective warbot who escaped the robot factory; they had never been given the details. And they agreed with Clank in feeling uncomfortable coming back, what he went through sounded horrible.

Ratchet looked back at the small robot, who was hugging his knees tightly, and prepared to say something. But, surprisingly, Cora spoke first. "Clank, I...I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"I'm sorry, too, pal. I didn't know either...well, actually I did. I just forgot because I became a Galactic Ranger and um...th-this is not helping, is it?" Ratchet said before having his helmet shoved into his face by Cora, who rolled her eyes. She then looked at Clank.

"Look, we understand that you're not comfortable being here. If I were you, I wouldn't be comfortable either. But we need to go and stop Drek before he hurts anyone else or destroys any more planets. Our entire galaxy is in danger. And we all need to be brave, even in situations and places that we don't want to be in. Do you understand?"

Clank took a moment to ponder what Cora said. His heart was still racing, and his body was still shaking a bit and telling him to not go in that room. But...he knew that Cora was right. Drek was in there in his office, and he was currently plotting the destruction of another planet. They had lost five of them already, who knew which one would be next? Who knew if the next one would be populated or not? And who knew why Chairman Drek was doing this in the first place? They would never find out unless Clank got his act together and got on Ratchet's back. He might have been a defect, but he still had his own prime objective, the one that overrode the original warbot programming: save the universe with the Galactic Rangers.

However, the small robot couldn't help but still feel nervous about going into the place of his creation, and Ratchet noticed this. The Lombax placed his hands on the robot's shoulders and looked his green eyes into Clank's green eyes. "Don't worry. We'll be with you every step of the way. We're not going to let them remind you of what you were going to be. But we'll let them remind you of what you are: a Galactic Ranger. Right, Cora?"

"Of course," Cora said with a nod and a small sympathetic smile.

Clank looked between the two. If he was an organic and had the ability to cry, he would be right now. But, since he wasn't an organic, all he could offer was a nod and a small smile of his own, "Thank you."

"So, what do you say, pal," Ratchet held out his hand, "you ready to go and knock down Drek's door?"

The warbot stared at the armor hand of his friend. He blinked several times. Come on, warbot, you can do it, he told himself He could stay strong and keep his courage. After all, he had his friends with him. He had Ratchet with him. It may have been tough at first, but Clank was willing to tough it out...and go into that assembly line room.

So, with his newfound bravery, Clank reached forward and grabbed Ratchet's hand. "Yes...I am. Let us take down Chairman Drek once and for all."

"Now you're talkin'! We're with you all the way, buddy!"

The Lombax, with a smile, pulled him onto his back and attached the robot to his harness. Ratchet looked at his teammate, who looked like she was trying to hide her face. And were her eyes...were her eyes damp? The two looked at the Markazian, but Ratchet was the one who asked the question.

"Cora, are you...are you crying?"

"What! N-No! Why would you think that! You...stupid rookie!" Cora snapped, turning her head for a moment. She lifted her helmet for a moment and rubbed one of her eyes, swearing a bit under her breath, then she whipped her head back to the duo, making them both jump. "Alright, enough feelings and sappy stuff! We've got a mission to do! Let's move out!"

Cora went into the elevator and stood there, waiting for Ratchet. The Lombax looked over his shoulder at Clank, who looked right back at him. Ratchet seemed to show the slightest bit of concern for his friend, but Clank dismissed it by giving him a smile and nodding. Ratchet nodded back. It was time to move. The duo went into the elevator with Cora and continued with their mission.

So one thing that disappointed me about the game/movie was that they never expanded on the idea of how Clank felt when they went back to the warbot factory. They even added this line for Clank to say when you get to the room with all of the warbots:

"Oh my...this room is the place of my creation. I am experiencing many conflicting feelings."

Heck, Ratchet didn't even RESPOND to that line. So, I decided that it was time to do something about Clank's conflicting feelings about returning to the place of his creation. I would have done more in this oneshot, but I'm saving a lot of content for when I write my own version of the movie.

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This is Amberdiamondswords, Lordess of Diamond Swordness, pledger to Tobuscus, signing off!