A/N: Okay, fair warning: there's going to be a lot of swearing.
Ratchet and Ramirez were waiting at the trade-off location. The "Hotel Metropolis" was destroyed when Emperor Tachyon invaded Metropolis. Mayor Sasha Phyronix, former Captain of the Galactic Rangers and Ratchet's ex-girlfriend, raised enough tax money to start the reconstruction of destroyed buildings. Ratchet and Ramirez were waiting on the recently constructed floor, which is approximately the 207th floor. Both of them were using holo-guises; Ratchet's disguise was a Blarg while Ramirez was a Novalian. The rest of the Task Force was in different positions. Five soldiers were positioned in different buildings, providing the two some sniper support. The rest were hiding somewhere in the construction site, lurking in the shadows ready to strike when given the order.
Soon, a huge hover-truck parked near them. The doors slid open. Wrex and 10 other Blarg rebels came out, all of them heavily armed. The Blargs, however, don't fit Roran's description. The Blargs brought out ten crates, which held all of their weapons.
Wrex stepped forward and "spoke" in Thyrrannese. His language consists of sounds, body movements, and gestures. One of the Blarg rebels went up and translated for Wrex. "Sorry that you couldn't meet the person on the phone. He has…some complications with another client at the market. Do you have the money?" Ramirez started to walk up with five duffel bags, until Wrex started to say something again. The translator soon continued, "Drop the bags and slide them over." Ramirez put the bags on the ground and, one-by-one, kicked them over to the smugglers. Once the bags reached them, Wrex checked each one to see if the cash was there. Once he confirmed that the money was there, Wrex ordered his assistants to bring the crates forward.
Before the crates could reach Ratchet and Ramirez, all of them heard some hover-ship's blades whirring in the air. They looked to the north and saw a Galactic Authority hover-ship.
"Wrex, you are under arrest!" the officer yelled through a speaker.
I thought I told them to leave it to us! Ramirez yelled in his mind.
One of the Blargs opened one of the crates, reached into it, and took out a Negotiator rocket launcher. He armed it, aimed at the hover-ship, and fired. The hover-ship exploded in a fiery ball of light. The fiery wreckage fell into the fog below.
"Son of a bitch!" Ramirez cursed. He activated coms and ordered, "We've been compromised! Whatever you do, don't kill the Tyhrranioid!"
Soon the air echoed with the sounds of sniper fire. Mists of plasma sprayed across all of the Blargs' faces. The Blargs went limp, and collapsed. They lied on the ground with badly burnt, smoking faces. The air smelled of cooked meat. Wrex saw his troops die and he tried to escape. Ratchet anticipated this; he grabbed one of the dead trooper's Constructo pistol and fired at Wrex's leg. He went down and howled in pain.
"He's down..." Ratchet informed through the coms.
Later…
They took Wrex to the lower levels of the construction site. They entered one of the finished rooms, carrying jump-starter wires and a low voltage battery.
"Okay, troops, this is going to take time. I'll try to get Angela's location from him. I want all of you to split into teams of four, and find Roran alive if I don't get Angela's location from Wrex." Ramirez ordered. "Also, feel free to take anything from the crates, but think fast 'cause the transport is going to retrieve the crates soon."
Ratchet picked Pvt. Ryan, Sgt. Miller, and 1st Lt. Locke. Their designation is Alpha Squad. Taking Ramirez's advice, all of them went to the crates. They took Bomb Gloves, rocket launchers, tesla weapons, and more. Ratchet picked up a new GrummelNet weapon for the Constructo Series. A Construco Rifle has better accuracy and stopping power than the Constructo Pistol and it can use a multitude of attachments based on all three previous weapons. Inside the crates were many attachments for it. Different triggers, scopes, barrels, chambers, fragmentation ammo, silencers, upgrades, and more. Ratchet spent time customizing his Rifle. It now has a rapid-fire trigger, Bio-Scope, Lance Chamber, and a Galvanic paralyzing charge upgrade.
They all took alternative routes to the market; some took "borrowed" hovercars and some took the higher or lower skyways.
Once Ratchet's team reached the market, they saw it was crowded with civilians. They didn't see Roran anywhere. They were hidden in a dark alley way between buildings. Ratchet activated coms and asked Ramirez, "Louis, do you have the Cragmites' location?"
"Unfortunately, no, he doesn't know where they are. Roran is our last hope of finding Angela," Ramirez replied, "Find him and capture him unharmed. I'll check if this scum has any more information worth telling the Authorities."
Then Ratchet switched channels and told all teams, "We got civvies in the market, so watch your fire. Keep an eye out for a Blarg with a robotic left eye and arm." He then turned off coms and asked his team, "Anyone got any ideas on how to clear this area of civvies?"
1st Lt. Locke replied, "I got an idea, but we need to turn on and link up our HUDs."
Ratchet was taken back, he didn't check if his HUD was on. "How do I turn on my HUD?"
"Didn't you read the manual that was in the armor's case?" Locke asked, dumbfounded. Ratchet shook his head. "Damn…this is a setback, but I think you can learn while on the field. Okay, system activation is by subconscious thought. Your helmet has a probe that is in contact with your neural brainwaves. Just think of turning your HUD on will turn it on. It also affects your hover/gravity boots, ballistic-gauntlet blades, suit ability enhancers, and many other programs."
Taking Locke's advice, Ratchet thought of turning his HUD on, and it did. His visor is completely different now. On the top center was a compass bar, bottom center is the shield center is the shield bar, bottom left had three green circles bordered by blue, telling Ratchet's squad's condition, and weapon icon and ammo on the top right. Outlines of people were colored; blue is friendly teammate, red is hostile, green is civilian, and a target tagged by a tracer was gold.
"Thanks," Ratchet said. "Wait, I think I see Roran." Ratchet indeed saw Roran; his robotic arm gave him away. He was arguing with another Blarg in their native language.
Their helmets' internal translator program turned on. Through the helmet's internal speakers, Roran yelled, "I told you, Red Eclipse scumbags, I'm completely sold out!"
The other Blarg yelled, "That isn't an excuse! We need your supplies!"
Ratchet has heard about the Red Eclipse. They're a crime syndicate that rules the lower levels of Metropolis, the levels that are below the fog. Ryan took out a small tracer gun, and fired at Roran. It was silent and non-lethal. The tracer hit its mark and Roran didn't even felt it. His body is now bordered by gold.
"All teams, the High Importance Target is now marked," Ratchet informed the Task Force. "Do not fire on Roran." He then switched channels to talk to Ramirez. "Louis, we found Roran. You can get rid of Wrex now."
"Okay," Ramirez replied. A gunshot was then heard through the radio. "He won't be missed. I'll meet you at the market. Oscar Mike. Out." The radio then went silent.
Ratchet then turned to Locke and asked, "So what's your plan to clear this area?"
Locke changed his magazine for a blank round magazine and replied, "This." He then ran out of the alley and fired the blank rounds into the air. The civilians panicked and ran to cover. Roran and the Red Eclipse troops drew the weapons and aimed at Locke.
Since the area was mostly cleared of civilians, Ratchet armed his Constructo Rifle and barked through coms, "All teams open fire! Don't shoot Roran or straggling civilians!" The teams were positioned throughout the market. Some were able to give sniper support from buildings while other teams can give support on the ground.
Ratchet took cover behind a vendor stand. His shields made him tough, but not invincible. He popped out of cover, looked through the Bio-Scope, and fired. The Bio-Scope showed each target's unique weakness; a gap between armor plating, one-shot kills, and more. The Rifle's chamber allows the rifle to shoot plasma coated, armor-piercing bullets, allowing the user to kill more than one target or burn through armor and kill the person under the armor.
Soon, chaos erupted. Ratchet saw a Red Eclipse Trooper behind a vendor. Ratchet looked through the Bio-Scope, aimed for the troopers head, and fired. The Lance bolts burned through the vendor, penetrated the Trooper's head and exited through the back. Blood and brain matter covered the wall and floor near the corpse. Ramirez soon showed up and joined in the fight.
Meanwhile, a Red Eclipse Trooper snuck behind Pvt. Ryan. The Trooper placed his rifle under Ryan's chin and pulled. Even though Ryan's neck was covered by thin and light metal plating, he can still feel being choked.
"H-help!" Ryan managed to cry out.
Ratchet doesn't have a shot and ordered, "Miller, save Ryan's ass!"
Miller heard Ratchet's orders. He took careful aim at the trooper's thigh and fired. The trooper let go of Ryan and withered in pain on the ground. Then Ryan fired a coup de grâce into the trooper's head.
"Bastard…" Ryan growled.
Roran knew that he was outmatched, so he ran for it.
Ramirez saw and yelled, "The bastard's making a run for it! Don't let him get away!"
"I have a clear shot at his leg, sir!" Locke replied, "We could end this here!"
"No! We can't risk it!" Ramirez then looked at Ratchet and ordered, "Ratchet, we'll hold them off, you go after Roran and capture him unharmed! We'll help you when the market's clear!"
After firing a few more shots overhead, Ratchet replied, "Okay!"
Ramirez reloaded his ACR rifle and added, "On three! One…" Ratchet reloaded his Rifle. "Two…" Ratchet got ready to run from cover. "Three!" Ramirez popped out of cover and fired at the Red Eclipse. While they were distracted, Ratchet ran out of cover and chased Roran.
Ratchet followed Roran on the skyway. Roran would sometimes turn around and fire at Ratchet, but he would miss. Ratchet's instincts tell him to return fire, but he forced himself not to. There were too many civilians and he might kill Roran by mistake. Ratchet was almost on him, until a sniper took a shot to his chest. A plasma beam hit Ratchet directly at his chest, but the shields took most of the blast. Ratchet staggered back and saw the shield bar drop dramatically, almost half way. The sniper shot came from the higher level skyway, in front of the office building. Ratchet looked for anything that would show the sniper's position. Then he saw a flash of light as the light was reflected off of the sniper scope. Ratchet fired at the flash of light and saw an Eclipse trooper fall of. Now that the sniper was taken care of, Ratchet continued with his pursuit.
While running after Roran, Ratchet heard Ramirez's voice through the radio. "Ratchet, the market's clear. We'll make sure Roran doesn't double back!"
"Understood," Ratchet replied, "I had a close call from snipers. Keep an eye out on the higher skyways and the buildings." He then cut off communication.
After a few minutes of pursuit, Roran reached two paths. There was a path to the left and a path in the middle. He took the middle path. When Ratchet reached the crossroads, he uploaded a map into his visor. The two paths lead to an office building, but the left path was shorter.
Ramirez caught up with Ratchet and asked, "Which way?"
"They both lead to the same building," Ratchet replied, "You take the middle path; make sure he doesn't double back. I'll take the shorter path and cut him off from escape."
"Okay."
Ramirez went through the middle path while Ratchet went to the left path. Ratchet ran as fast as he could, trying to cut off Roran from escape. All he heard was his own panting, gun fire, explosions, and civilians screaming. However, he did not see the rocket trooper that was hiding behind a low wall. The trooper fired at Ratchet, and the rocket hit him in the chest. Ratchet was knocked off his feet and landed on his back. Ratchet's vision fogged for a bit, and then it cleared up. He saw the shield bar empty, blinking red. He heard a soft alarm. Ratchet quickly got up and killed the trooper.
Ratchet's shield then regenerated and he managed to reach the office building before Roran. He hid behind one of the pillars in front of the main door. He saw Roran running towards the door with Ramirez right behind him. When Roran was about to reach the door, Ratchet stepped out of cover and tackled him to the ground. They wrestled on the ground and Roran was swearing in his native language.
Ramirez reached them and grabbed Roran by the hair then he elbowed his spine. Roran suffered a temporary paralysis. His eye looked at them in fear.
"Roran is secured, everyone fallback to our location," Ramirez said through the radio.
Ratchet got up and said, "The area is too hot to interrogate him now. We're going to get surrounded by the Red Eclipse. We need to get out of here and find a safe place to interrogate him."
"I know, it has to be secured and with people we trust…"
They pondered at the question, and at the same time, they yelled, "The Phoenix!"
