Ratchet was suddenly jostled awake by something hitting his head. He sat up quickly and gave a cry of surprise.
"Ah! Where am I?" He wondered aloud with a yawn. He turned to sit up and get his bearings, when he was met with a small, pudgy robot.
"Who are you?" He asked rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Aw, did we wake ya hero?" he asked in a twangy accent. "You're in galactic ultra high security lock-down; cell number J7B to be exact. I'm your friendly warden."
The warden tipped his hat. Ratchet could tell that this he didn't like him by the fact he was talking to him as if he were a child. He ignored this for now and searched his thoughts.
"How did I get here?" He thought out loud "The last thing I remember was brushing my teeth and then..."
Ratchet got up and tried to remember, but it was all a blank blur.
"Yea, everyone in here is innocent." The warden said with some sarcasm "This may be a bit of a shock to the system, but if you want to survive in here for more than...today... you better have a little fight in ya."
Ratchet was confused. What exactly did he mean by survive more than today?
"It seems that a lot of these folks were put in here by you and they got a score to settle." The warden explained coolly.
Just then the guards behind Ratchet grabbed him. He wriggled to get them off him, but they just tossed to the door frame. Ratchet quickly grabbed it and kept himself from falling on his face.
"Aren't you supposed to protect me?" The lombax asked
"Normally I would, but I didn't think a "big hero" like yourself needed protectin'. Besides I'm getting a little cash on the side to make sure your time in here less than hospitable. Ya'll take care now."
With that the guard grabbed Ratchet from behind and threw him out of the cell.
"Oh, by the way, you're late for lunch." He laughed wickedly, and walked away with both his men in tow.
Ratchet rubbed his forehead. What was going on today? Why was he in jail for something he had no recollection about? What had he done, and why couldn't he remember? He tried to make sense of it all as he followed the signs to the cafeteria. His thoughts were interrupted by a loud gurgle from his stomach. He couldn't remember the last time he ate and was starving. He quickened his pace so he could make it in time before they ran out of food.
Once Ratchet made it to the doors of the lunch room he lingered. The warden's words crossed through his mind "It seems that a lot of these folks were put in here you and they got a score to settle." That definitely didn't sound good. Ratchet looked around to find something to defend himself with if things got rough. He spotted an open tool box and went over to check in it. He peered in a spied a wrench.
"The owner wouldn't mind if I just borrowed this" he said to himself. The tool was pretty old and wasn't nearly as fancy as the one he had at home, but it would make do. The lombax put the wrench away into his belt and pushed open the door.
Now he knew what the Warden meant. It was a complete flashback to him. There were tyranoids, thugs 4 less men and those who used to work for Drek and they were all sitting in the same room. Upon his arrival the room had quieted to a hush and all eyes were on him. The only sounds were whispers from the other prisoners and the gulp from Ratchet's throat. The lombax cautiously made his way to the buffet counter and grabbed a plate. He tried to act casual but as he felt all their eyes burrowing through his skull he couldn't help but feel the sweat run down the back of his neck. The grotesque looking lunch lady couldn't care less of the situation as she plopped a gooey, unidentifiable substance on his plate. Ratchet gripped his plate hoping they would stop paying attention to him, but when he turned around it they were staring at him with such high intensity he wanted to run out of the room. Ratchet made his way across the area trying to keep a cool head. He found an empty table and sat at it with his "food". He shovelled a mouthful of it in when he felt someone looming over him. He looked up swallowing and froze. He was face to face with the head of thugs 4 less.
"Well, ain't this a happy reunion. What'd you do to get in here hero?" He said snidely
"I don't know." Ratchet replied taking more interest in his food than the speaker.
"It's too bad you're little buddy ain't here, we coulda smashed him to bits once we were done with you." He said lowering his eyes at the lombax.
Ratchet jumped up on the table at this remark. He was trying to keep cool, but the threat about his friend made him lose it.
"Don't you dare say anything like that about my friend!" He barked at him "If you know what's good for you you'll back off!"
The thugs 4 less brute didn't seem fazed by Ratchet's outburst; it was like he knew it was coming.
"Well punk, I'd like to see you try." He said bringing his face right up to Ratchet's.
The tension mounted as they stared at each other for what felt like forever. The lunch lady closed the metal gate in front of her and sealed herself from the scene. The other inmates were sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for someone to make the first move, and then Ratchet slowly reached for the wrench at his side. His hand crept closer and closer but he held eye contact. His hand finally touched the tool. There was a pause until suddenly the bully quickly tried to grab him, but Ratchet dodge just in time and smacked him over the head with the wrench. The prisoners broke into a frenzy. They all came at him at once trying to knock down the hero. Ratchet dodged each of them swiftly and was able to attack each in retaliation. One robot came at him from the front and the lombax jumped over him with ease and smacked him on the way down. Another charged from behind, but he turned around just in time to fight back. He smacked him so hard he went sprawling across the room. Ratchet tried to keep up with the attacks, but they were slowly gaining the upper hand. He was backing up trying the attack a tyranoid when a robot grabbed his glove and made him stall. He tried to shake him off, but while he did the tyranoid was able to retaliate with a punch to Ratchet's turned head. Slightly dazed he backed up trying to get his footing when he ran into a Thugs 4 less operate. Before Ratchet had time to think the thug pushed him to the ground. Ratchet went tumbling to the ground and dropped the wrench. They were about to overcome his when there was a loud whistle. The convicts all froze and looked for the source of the noise. It was the head of the thugs. It seemed he had become the head of the criminals as well as his own men. He cut through the crowd until he was standing over the beaten lombax.
"People if we're gunna do this, we gotta do it right," He addressed the prisoners. Ratchet attempted to get up, but he put his foot on top of him.
"Ya can't just wail into the rat, first ya gotta make him suffer." He emphasized the last word sinisterly. He took his foot off the lomabax and he tried again to get up, but he was met with a swift kick in the stomach. He let out a small cry of pain.
"Because of you and your little companion we coulda been rich and powerful," He said kicking the hero again.
"But ya had to mess everything up huh, everyone working for Drek woulda been well off," He kicked at the lombax again causing him to cry out louder.
"Me and my boys woulda got half the dough from Quark and his protopet scam," Ratchet howled again at the pain through his abdomen.
"And the tyranoids workin' for Dr. Nefarious woulda been the top of his army." He gave Ratchet one last hard kick and let him lay on the floor beaten and broken. Ratchet took ragged breathes trying to beat back the pain in his chest. He knew that one of his ribs was fractured.
Suddenly he was dragged up and pinned against the wall. He tried to use his remaining strength to break from their grasp, but with no such luck. A tyranoid had come across the wrench Ratchet had been wielding and handed it to the Thugs 4 less bully.
"Ain't this one of the weapon's you used to hit us with?" He said inspecting the tool. He brought up to Ratchet's face.
"I bet you don't know how it feels to be hit by one of these." He looked into Ratchet's eyes. They were scrunched up in pain and he was barely listening to what he was saying. All of a sudden he smacked the hero across the head with the wrench. Ratchet screamed in pain as blood began to protrude out of the fresh wound it had created. They all began to laugh and tease him. Ratchet felt sick and faint. He had saved countless lives with help from Clank, but now he was going to die. Everyone he had hurt in attempt to save innocent lives would now be his undoing. The wrench was raised again.
"Say goodnight furball." The leader said holding the instrument tightly in his hands. Ratchet lowered his head preparing for the blow when suddenly the lunch bell went off. The criminals dropped him to the ground and everyone left quickly.
"Guess, we'll have to continue this later." The thugs 4 less leader called back before disappearing through the doors. Ratchet found himself alone on the ground next to the wrench. He groaned as he lay in pain. He'd foolishly thought he could take care of himself in the jail but found it to be wrong. He wished Clank was there to help him, or at least trying to get him out. He picked himself up and grabbed the wrench before hobbling out of the cafeteria, and back to his cell.