" ….hmm…..oh my goodness, what…..is this...poor li…...oh god, why wo….."

Clank slowly opened his eyes to a blinding light, or perhaps what he could see of that light if not for the figure standing over him. He shifted uncomfortably as he was unsettlingly poked and prodded at by a pair of tweezers on what he found to be a bed of some sort. There was a ripping pain almost everywhere as he moaned and shivered at their touch. If not for his condition, he would immediately be attempting to escape and pick a fight with anyone who decided to come across his path. The voice that he'd heard started to become much clearer...

" Oh...hey…..hey, bu….are you…..HEY! "

" WAAUGH! "

...and of course, louder.

Clank yelped and panickingly scurried away from the sudden harsh voice, the figure jumping in surprise as well. His optics blurred in a frenzy and his head smacked right into the top of the bed. He curled into a tightly-knit ball as he hid his face from the figure attempting to do whatever it is he or she were doing to him even more. He whined quite loudly as he could hear this figure stepping towards him, making a shushing noise and caressing his back.

" Shhh…..I'm sorry….hey, hey, it's fine...hello...Clank…? "

Clank quickly shot up and fell to the floor in shock. This stranger knows his name? She's speaking to him as if she were any companion of his, like Ratchet or Elaris or even Qwark. But the two of them, as far as he was concerned, had never met. What was this flattery and companionship she was showing to him?

The poor, worried robot lifted his head and observed the girl who stood above him. It was an almost short statured, almost 16-looking young Markazian woman with short, dark brown hair and a long white lab coat. She donned on her face round, trimmed glasses. She of course had an extremely worried expression on herself as she knelt down to take a look, caressing him more.

" There, there….you just woke up, okay? Everything's fine, little buddy. "

Clank used all his might to throw some words out of his mouth. " H-how exactly do you know me? Do we have some sort of...s-secret connection? "

Her face suddenly turned into a blank one as she starting to crack a smile, resulting in a long, satisfying laugh.

" Oh, Clank, how could I have not heard of you?! You're part of freaking RATCHET AND CLANK! The dynamic duo! The absolute madmen! The twin….okay, you don't have that many nicknames, but you get my point, right?! "

Clank scratched his head and then had a good chuckle himself, though he was still clutching his body tightly. " I suppose you are right on that part...but who exactly are you…? "

" Oh, I'm so sorry! " she proclaimed, lifting Clank carefully back onto the bed and rubbing his head. " My name's, er, Juliet, you can call me- "

" I believe the common nickname would be Julie- "

Clank was immediately interrupted by Julie pinching his " cheeks ".

" Oooh, of course that's what you were gonna say, heh heh! Right?... "

Clank had failed to produce any form of intelligent speech due to the current position of Julie's hands. Julie giggled and moved away immediately.

" Why am I here? What exactly makes someone like me, a mere robot, so special to one person like you? " asked Clank.

" Oh, uh, well, I mean…can you give me one second? "

Julie moved to the back of this empty room (Where even was he, Clank thought?) and opened a nearby door near what appeared to be a closet. She cleared her throat as she pulled out some decently sized cardboard boxes and sat them down on a nearby table.

"You see, I'm, well… "

She immediately opened them all up and revealed a treasure trove of what appeared to be dozens, possibly hundreds of collectible items and merchandise. Clank carefully leaned over to take a look and saw tons of figures, laniards, posters, comic books, you name it. It was certainly a weighty, worthy collection. There seemed to be one strange trend among them, however: it was all based on the lone robot himself, no Ratchet in sight.

" I am just such a HUGE fan of you! " she exclaimed with a bright smile. " Ever since I saw you on TV a couple years back in college, I was always so...intrigued by you! I collected tons of guides, books, and I read up on all that you were about! I know your favorite colors, books, TV shows...I thought you were so innocent, and, and cute that I was just getting all these mixed feelings...so I, uh...crap…"

"May I ask one question, Julie? " asked Clank. " Why did you take me in in the first place? Anyone could have rescued me… "

" I was just, uh, taking a stroll through the shopping area to pick up lunch, this was right around the time the bomb went off...at the last second, I saw you and Ratchet get engulfed in that huge explosion and I couldn't help it! "

Clank knew something was clearly up. " Why didn't you take Ratchet also? " he asked. " Did you take him?! "

" Calm down, calm down, please...I think it may have been...someone else…? "

" What? Are you saying- "

" Clank, I'm so sorry, I really just want to see you get better right now! I took you in because I couldn't let you die, okay?! "

" Julie, I- " She immediately placed her finger between Clank's eyes as he whimpered cautiously, getting back to work on fixing the little robot's wounds and scrapes. As she began to wipe down one of his legs, she leaned in a bit and whispered to Clank somewhat aggressively:

" Let me tell you something, if you even try to move a muscle during this operation, buddy- "

She motioned a finger to the tip of his foot, sporting a devilish grin. She slightly moved it across as Clank giggled and reared his leg back, staring at Julie carefully.

" I've read my books. I know all your weakpoints. "

Clank's " pupils " shrunk as he was immediately shut up for the rest of the procedure.