After a long terror filled night Kate woke up in her now empty bed. She really misses Mack, he did not deserve to die. she dried her eyes and headed out to meet with General Pentigril who was organizing a counter attack against Kane. George Pentigril was promoted after Thompson was murdered by Kane, he was a bright and organized lombax who had years of experience under his belt. Pentigril was twenty years old and already major in the guard when Tachyon attacked. Pentigril advanced through the ranks with a speed rivaling that of general azimuth; He is now forty three years old and a four bolt general.
Kate quickly found the General, he was in the newly refurbished Praetorian guard headquarters. Pentigril had an average build, blood red fur with black stripes, he wore the black praetorian guard chain mail and plate armor, and he had a scar that ran down the left side of his face, starting at his patch covered eye and ending at the tip of his nose. He lost his eye when he took a piece of shrapnel from a drophyd grenade while defending a wounded comrade.
"Give me a sitrep general" Kate said, the general turned around and replied "we have thirty men and women of the guard ready to face Kane tonight" Kate nodded "make that thirty two, me and Ratchet are coming" Pentigril waved his hand dismissively "no way Councillor, we cannot risk you getting killed" Kate gave a grin "that is what I thought you would say, that is why I tendered my resignation from the council before I came here". The general gave a sigh of defeat, he didn't even know why he would argue with Kate, she is just too smart. Kate had this way of knowing your next move before you even made it, that is why she made such a great politician. "fine, but you and your son are wearing the guard's armor so that we can distinguish friend from foe" Kate nodded and left to grab the armor and to find Ratchet.
Once Kate grabbed the armor she went off to look for Ratchet. While she was searching for Ratchet, she past construction site after construction site; she couldn't help but smile at the reconstruction of fastoon city. The reconstruction was almost completed and the city would soon be restored to its former beauty.
After an half hour of searching Kate found Ratchet in the motor pool with his new companion Lucilla. the two of them were covered in grease and oil from working on the old rusted lombax fighter parked in the garage. "Hey Ratchet" Kate yelled which made Ratchet smack the back of his head on the hood of the fighter "Damnit!" Ratchet yelled through gritted teeth, "sorry" Kate said. Ratchet waved his hand dismissively "don't worry it happens" Ratchet said while rubbing the back of his head. "We are going with the general for the raid tonight, here put this on" Kate said while handing Ratchet the Black raritanium armor, "ok I'll be ready in a bit, we just have a few more wires to connect and the ship will be finished" Kate nodded and went back to their house.
(Ratchet and Kates house 7:00 PM)
The sun was just starting to set over Fastoon leaving a beautiful orange sunset falling over the horizon. Ratchet and Kate were getting geared up for the attack on Kane. Lucilla added a prototype thruster upgrade to Aphelion, and she insisted on coming along for the chance that they hit a snag with it. Ratchet got the praetorian guard armor on and attached his weapon selecter on his utility belt; last but not least he strapped on his harness so that he could take clank along with him.
Kate was already waiting for Ratchet and Lucilla to arrive at the barracks. When they got there, they immediately got in their ships and took off for Axiom city. Ratchet did not like the idea of taking Lucilla along with them but she insisted and their was no changing her mind.
(Axiom city 9:00 PM)
Once they landed they immediately took in their surroundings. The guard sent out a few scouts to find Kane and his cronies, while the others held back and started a makeshift forward operating base or FOB for short. "Sir we have eyes on Kane, he and his men are hold up in city hall" one of the scouts said over the communicator "very good, get back here immediately" with that General Pentigril started rallying his troops "We are here for Kane, I know most of you went through the academy with him and fought beside him, but he is the enemy now, and he will not think twice before killing you. we want him alive, but if you have no other choice, put him down. if any of his men surrender, accept it, if not put them down, lets move out!"
(fifteen minutes later)
The attack was just about to begin, all that the guard needed was a distraction so that they could attack quickly and swiftly. "Hey clank do you still know those stealth techniques from the secret agent clank days" Ratchet asked. Clank hopped off of Ratchets back "Yes why do you ask" Ratchet pulled a bomb out of his gadget pouch and handed it to Clank. "Take this and plant it on that fuel storage container over there and come back" Clank nodded and went into stealth mode, he easily snuck up to the fuel container and planted the bomb, he then snuck back to Ratchet and climbed back onto his back. Ratchet looked over his shoulder at the praetorian guardsman that were in cover behind some rubble. Ratchet gave the thumbs up before reaching into his gadget pouch and he pulled out a detonator. Ratchet pressed the button and there was a giant firey explosion right in the middle of the city halls courtyard.
The explosion was a perfect distraction for the guard to attack. all of Kanes men ran to the disturbance. Pentigril saw this and gave the charge command. Ratchet charged the first group and he threw a few constructo bombs at them while they weren't looking, they were no more. Ratchet came to the next few that is when it got messy; clank saw something that Ratchet didn't "Ratchet look out, RYNO!" Ratchet jumped out of the way just in time, a second sooner and he would have been toast. as soon as the RYNO wielding Lombax ran out of rockets to shoot Ratchet jumped out of cover with his own RYNO; Ratchets attackers eyes grew wide as dinner plates "Yep, I have one too" Ratchet said before raining hell down on his enemy.
After Kanes men had all surrendered or been killed, they stormed the city hall. there waiting for them in the first room was Kane, on his knees with his hands on his head. Ratchet felt uneasy, this is just too easy, it has to be a trap. the praetorian guardsman quickly bound the black and white lombaxes hands together. "Time to pay for your crimes Kane" pentigril said as Kane was carried by.
Ratchet made his way back to Aphelion and waiting for him wa Lucilla sitting on Aphelions hood. She jumped off and hugged Ratchet "im glad you made it back" Ratchet hugged back "what you thought i was going to leave you here all by yourself" Ratchet said. "Hey Lucilla, i want you to take Aphelion I am going to ride back in the transport, I feel a bit uneasy on how easy it was to capture Kane" Lucilla nodded and climbed into Aphelions cockpit and took off.
Ratchet boarded the Transport ship with Kate and the rest of the guard as they strapped Kane into his seat. About twenty minutes into the trip Kane started talking. "It's good to see you again, brother, i never did get to finish you off" Ratchet just smirked "you know that you are getting the death penalty right" Kane closed his eyes and laid his head back "it pays off you know" Kane started "having friends in the guard" just as soon as Kane finished his sentence four of the five Praetorian guard members jumped out of their seats and held Ratchet and Kate at gunpoint.
Ok i want to try something a bit different here, a bit of reader input, I want everyone to leave an idea for the next chapter in the reviews. whichever one i like the most i will write. i will give everyone a week after the first review has been posted for a fair chance so start typing them ideas. i hope you liked the chapter as much as i liked writing it. i can't wait to see all the great ideas. Have fun ! (Evil Ratchet Out!)
