Author's Note:

Hey all! It's been far too long since I've had a chance to work on any more omakes, and since I'm taking a little time away from Whole Again, now seems like a great opportunity to start working on omakes again. This one's actually a little different since it originally started life as a bridging element between chapters 32 and 33, but was ultimately cut due to dragging out an already spiralling series of events further still and just didn't quite fit in with the way things panned out.

It seemed a shame to lose what small amount of world building and character development was already there however, and so I kept it amongst my myriad of notes with the intention of borrowing elements for later use, only to subsequently forget all about it. Or at least that is until now, and with a bit of cleaning up around the edges, hopefully it'll provide an interesting glimpse at what could have been.

- RevenantReaper337

Disclaimer:

Ratchet & Clank, associated characters, organisations, and intellectual properties belong to Insomniac Games. All other real world organisations and products belong to their respective governments, companies, etc. Original characters, creatures, weapons, etc. belong to me.

2.0 Prison Break: Another Perspective

By RevenantReaper

(Whole Again, deleted/alternate scene)

"Hit it again!"

The merc didn't bother to answer his squad leader verbally, instead letting the Megacorp produced 'Skeleton Key' do all the talking as the pressure gauge indicated that its charge was full once more. A single depression of the trigger was all it took for the high tech, hydraulic-powered battering ram to unleash the concentrated equivalent of around 20,000 lbs of raw kinetic force directly onto the same single point he had been pounding at for the past few minutes. It proved to be far too much for the thick-plated and now thoroughly mangled security door between the response squad and the sub-control room they were attempting to breach, finally caving under pressure with a tortured screech of grinding metal and falling into the darkened room with a resounding clang.

"Go! Go! Go!"

The designated breacher hurriedly pulled back out of the way and the rest of the team wasted no time in hurling stun grenades through the breach before storming inside, an enforcer taking point with his shield raised while the rest followed just behind with yelled warnings and their own weapons at the ready. Unfortunately for them however, the intruders they had hoped to catch off guard were nowhere to be seen; the squad fanning out with practiced efficiency as they swept the admitted cramped area for anyone who might be hiding just out of sight or the traps they may have left behind.

With so many troopers and so little ground to cover, it was perhaps unsurprising when the control room was declared clear less than half a minute later; their squad leader running a clawed hand over his face with a frustrated growl. His mood didn't improve when the enforcer point man discovered an open ventilation duct high up on the wall that was missing its cover, providing perhaps one answer as to how their mystery infiltrators managed to escape. Nor did the worried tone of the squad's tech guy from the coffee-stained swivel chair he was perched upon while methodically stabbing at the holographic keyboard in front of him. "Hey, Sarge, I think you'd better take a look at this..."

He did so with a narrowed glare, having paced close enough so that he could lean down and view the main monitor over the man's shoulder. "What am I looking at, son?"

"If I'm reading this right, a total shutdown of the entire security system across three cellblocks on Delta wing," the merc replied without taking his eyes off screen, continuing to work as he talked. "Central may have flushed the system and started restoring from back ups, but the security system logs are kept on a separate server, and It looks like our guy managed to hit 'em with a viral bomb before bugging out."

"Meaning?" the sergeant tentatively asked with a building sense of dread, knowing that he wasn't going to like the answer one bit.

The tech specialist paused long enough to give him a look that was equal parts frustration and worry. "Meaning that, as of right now, all cameras, turrets and doors for the entire wing have been completely shutdown and need to be reset at the source. Manually."

"What about the cells? Are the laser grids still up and running?"

"For now, yeah; it looks like the virus hasn't gotten to them just yet. But when it does..."

That... was not good. While not used for housing the more dangerous and potentially volatile prisoners such as those kept in the self-contained ultra-max wing, Delta did however boast the single largest and most concentrated inmate population for the entire ship. The multitude of obvious surveillance cameras and ceiling-mounted automated turrets kept those entertaining any ideas of escape in check, even if they somehow managed to get past the laser grids that barred every open cell, and acted as a force multiplier for the comparatively small number of guards assigned there. But with no security measures in place or physical barriers to prevent the prisoners from leaving their cells...

"Son of a bitch... It just had to be Delta, didn't it?" Shaking his head in an effort to clear it, the sergeant pressed a finger to his earpiece before speaking once more in a much clearer tone. "Command, this is Tac-team Two. We have a code red situation..."

{()}

Aside from its crowded population and centralised location near the heart of the ship, Delta wing was also known for being home to several notable individuals whose crimes and reputations didn't quite warrant a permanent stint in the ultra-max wing, but nevertheless weren't the kind of people you wanted to mess with.

Kronan Von Mag, hitman for the Black Hand crime syndicate with a rumoured triple figure body count for one; his signature poisoned senbon and close quarters assassination techniques feared the galaxy over. The decidedly creepy and theatrical serial killer known as the Puppet Master was another; the permanently silent masked man supposedly having found a way to control the very Nanotech flowing through his victims' veins like the strings on a marionette and force them do his bidding, before disposing of themselves in a suitably gruesome manner. While the less was said about the Sekarii twins the better for everyone, least of all the unfortunate inmates who happened to be housed next door to their shared cell.

Tanis Tenenbaum, however, was on the opposite end of the spectrum. Aside from being one of only a few dozen women occupying the ship's only mixed sex wing, thanks to Thugs-4-Less not giving a damn about gender segregation, her crimes were considerably low brow in comparison. Insurance fraud, stock manipulation, and corporate espionage were practically nothing in the greater scheme of things; especially with some of the genuine psychopaths and lunatics roaming the galaxy with impunity these days. But apparently the local government on Damosel thought otherwise, and so instead of serving an unjustified sentence in a cushy all women's prison back home, she'd been immediately shipped off planet to this festering hellhole of criminal scum.

And that was just their jailors.

She still wasn't sure if the inmates were worse or not, given the guards' propensity to baseless violence without a cause, and as for the queen bitch of a warden herself... Tanis shuddered involuntarily. Having seen the woman only once at a distance was more than enough for her to never want to cross paths with the rather literal lunatic who ran this asylum, and who in her opinion was definitely on the wrong side of the cell bars. Still, as long as she kept her head down and didn't stir up any trouble, Tanis was sure she could endure for the next four years. Just so long as nobody did anything stupid or brought attention down upon her.

Which of course, is when the alarms suddenly went off.

Tanis jolted upright from the spartan bunk she had been lying on with a thundering heart, shock and confusion etched upon her face as blaring klaxons and dimmed red lighting overtook the bland corridor outside her cell. Her fellow inmates didn't seem to be taking it much better judging by their cacophony of indecipherable yelling and nor did the solitary guard she could see with one hand held up to his scaly head and tooth-laden maw flapping a mile a minute, no doubt frantically trying to find out just what the hell was going on. Something that was rendered moot when the power suddenly went out and plunged everything into darkness.

It didn't take long for a back up generator to kick in and the emergency lighting to flicker back on, but of more immediate interest was the distinct lack of a laser grid barring her now completely open cell. At first Tanis simply sat where she was on the edge of her bunk, blinking owlishly behind her large framed, rimless glasses before tentatively standing and slowly approaching the corridor beyond with hesitant but curious steps. After all, just because the bars were mysteriously gone, it didn't mean that the automated turrets standing watch outside weren't still active.

But as long seconds passed and nothing happened to the increasing number of inmates who were either brave or foolhardy enough to set foot outside of their cells and risk the gun's wrath, Tanis found the strength to follow suit. Soon the narrow corridor running between cells was filled with sentients of all races and temperament; united by their uniform orange prison jumpsuits and pent up sense of vengeance which was being directed towards the suddenly very nervous guard being backed into a corner. Tanis had a pretty good idea of how things were going to end, especially since that particular guard had a penchant for being a bit 'grabby' with new arrivals, and as such had little sympathy for the beat down that was about to take place.

Instead she busied herself with finding Cindy McCall; bomb making quasi terrorist extraordinaire. A girl who, despite her shy demeanour, was responsible for dozens of attacks on cosmetic firms implicit in animal testing, and one of the few people she could genuinely call a friend in this place. Thankfully she didn't have to look far. "Yo, Cindy! You still in there?"

Startled, the rilgarian girl looked up from the looted mess of wires and assorted metal scraps laid out on her bunk to see Tanis pushing through the crowd of inmates with a grin etched upon her face; one she had learned to recognise during their brief friendship thus far as a prelude to some crazy scheme. "O-oh, hello, Tanis. Um, what's going on?"

"What's going on?" the taller cazar woman repeated, lazily slinging an arm over Cindy's shoulders and pulling her close. "Girl, We're getting the hell outta here, that's what's going on. Think you finish that thing on the run?"

Flushing at the contact and the way it made her feel all tingly inside, Cindy simply nodded as her shaking hands fumbled unsuccessfully with what would eventually be part of a crude but effective timed detonator. "U-um, I... I think so, but I kind of need some nitro-"

"Good, because we're probably gonna need it. C'mon, let's go!"

"W-wait!"

With a startled squeak, Cindy found herself pulled upright and struggling to keep pace as Tanis grabbed her hand and practically dragged her out of the cell; the half finished bomb tucked under one arm and cheeks burning all the while. Security blackout or not, it wouldn't take long for the riot squads to come cracking down on the entire wing and Tanis had no intention of either of them being there when jackbooted thugs came in with all guns blazing. Meaning they had to get as far away from Delta wing and the others as possible if they were going to stand a chance at evading recapture or worse, and as they blew through one of the now unlocked security doors between cell blocks, the still grinning cazar had just the idea in mind for aiding their getaway.

"Hey, Cin... What do you know about starship fuel cells?"

Review replies:

The White Guardian - Ratchet being Ratchet, he'd definitely find some way to use them in combat, and if nothing else both weapons could be used to direct Skrunch and a horde of his fellow cycloptic simians against a soon to be very unlucky foe. The idea itself however came from some very random conversations with my brother and rapidly snowballed into 'just plain why' territory, before somehow settling upon badly punned gun names. Add in the Banana Bomb from the Worms series and you get a little something like this, plus a disproportionate amount of scrapped ideas on food based weaponry. My head can be a weird place at times. Thanks again, and if you can contribute that would be great, just don't push yourself. Take care!

Lkdog - Eventually I hope to do a fair amount more in the same vein, doing a little world building while providing a glimpse into everyday life in the Ratchet and Clank universe through various perspectives. If you do manage to come up with something for the omake collection then please, by all means go ahead. I'm curious to see what you can come up with.

Sonachugirl - Funnily enough, this omake was actually based upon something that happened to me a fair while back involving an overcooked (read near cremated) pie which I was supposed to be keeping a closer eye on, as opposed to playing Doom 2016. Suffice to say things didn't quite go to plan, but at least it provided good material for an omake, even if I did kind of ruin dinner.

Plasmatik - You know, it feels nice to have an easygoing chapter that doesn't involve mass destruction once in a while. I'll have to do slice of life stuff more often.

Firestar5277 - You're welcome! Of course you realise, this now means Ellen has to find a way a way to get even and give Ratchet his… Just Desserts.

GamerHeart - Who's to say she hasn't? This omake assumes that Ellen decides to stay with Ratchet and co post Going Commando, but doesn't specify when exactly or necessarily mean that she hasn't returned home since. Hence the 'possibly canon' tag, since I'm trying to keep things as spoiler free as possible so as not to ruin the ending for Whole Again.

starrat - Thanks again!

Kairi671 - Glad you enjoyed it! Hopefully this one will be to your liking too.