Chapter #13: Ratchet & Clank Go Commando

Ratchet and Clank were hidden in some bushes only yards away from the cylinder-shaped Police Station. The building was quiet; it was the perfect time for a night raid, and they weren't going to wait any longer. Ratchet cocked his N90 Hurricane, and Clank climbed into the backpack on his back. The Lombax then rushed out of the bushes in a silent but quick sprint to the back of the station. When he was well hidden in the shadows, he stopped to take a deep breath. Then he leaned as close to the wall as he dared; he didn't want to crush Clank. He crouched and sidestepped to the edge of the gaping doorway, and then carefully peeked into the station. The only light on was a small lamp on the place's only desk. No one was inside.

"All clear," the commando whispered to his companion. "Now let's find that secret door."

The locker stood in one corner of the room and looked normal. Ratchet opened the door and pushed on the back wall. It gave way and revealed a dark passage. He snapped his fingers. "Drat, I don't have a flashlight."

"Ratchet, we must not dawdle. Time is of the essence," Clank said. His partner nodded; they could do without a flashlight.

The Lombax walked inside the locker and into the dark passage. He was careful to close the back wall so no one would know of his entry into the secret base. The duo continued until they reached another door, and Ratchet rapped on it several times. There was the sound of shuffling, and a peephole near the top of the door opened. A pair of red, robotic eyes stared at them. A monotone voice droned, "Password."

Ratchet replied casually, "Evil shall rule."

"Access granted." The door opened, and Ratchet stepped through the opening. He turned to look at the doorkeeper, who had his back turned to them, and then pulled out his Annihilator and fired off a shot.

BOOM!!

Whatever pieces of the robot that weren't destroyed by Ratchet's weapon scattered and disappeared into the darkness. Satisfied, Ratchet blew away the smoke emitting from the Annihilator's barrel. Then he spat at one of the pieces and muttered, "Evil shall rule, my foot."

Clank, however, wasn't so pleased. "You should not have done that, Ratchet. Someone could have heard the noise."

"Relax, Clank. There's more where that came from."

The two continued on down the tunnel in silence. Ratchet finally stopped when he saw a light further ahead. He pulled out a glove from his weapons pack and put it on his left hand. Then he pressed a button on the glove with his right hand, and a capsule popped out of a container on the glove into his left hand. He tossed the capsule onto the ground, and a small robot with a camera attached to its back came out of the capsule. Clank quickly recognized the tiny gizmo.

"Are you sure you should use an Agent of Doom, Ratchet?" he asked with worry.

"Don't worry, buddy," the Lombax assured him. "I've equipped 'em with self-destruct devices and replaced their turrets with surveillance cams. They're for recon instead of combat."

Ratchet pulled a remote out of his backpack and directed the Agent of Doom toward the light. As he sent the little robot on its mission, he watched the green screen on the remote; it showed him what the Agent's camera was seeing.

The light grew brighter on the screen as the Agent drew closer to the end of the tunnel. The screen became white for a few seconds, and then the picture finally materialized into an image of a room. Office cubicles, benches, and tables were scattered throughout the cavern, and tall, tough-looking robots with heavy navy-blue armor (the regular police) and a few Secret Police robots were patrolling about. There was another door at the back of the room, straight across from the first; the problem was that there were lots of obstacles in the way.

That door might lead to a jail, Ratchet thought.

He guided the little Agent carefully under the tables, chairs, and desks, past the guards, and to the door. Just as the recon robot reached it, a guard opened it, and the Agent slipped past it into another tunnel. But this one was larger than the main tunnel, and iron bars lined the walls. Ratchet suddenly realized that those were jail cells, and he turned the Agent's head with the remote to examine each one. He caught a glimpse of a blue uniform in one cell and focused on it. The cell's prisoners were Copper and Booker!

"Bingo," he said to Clank with a triumphant smile.

The Agent crawled in between the iron bars into the cell toward the two dogs. Booker saw it, yelped, and jumped onto his bed. Copper glared at him and snapped, "Oh what are you whimperin' about?"

The bulldog shivered and whimpered, "Those eyes! Those horrible, yellow eyes! Take 'em away! Take them away!"

"Did you see a rat again?"

Booker vigorously shook his head and pointed at the Agent. Copper stared at it in wonder. "What in the world…"

Ratchet pressed a red button, and the Agent's mouth popped open. Copper jumped back a few steps. The Lombax held down the red button and whispered into a small speaker on the remote. "Calm down, Copper. It's Ratchet and Clank. We're here to help you."

"You shrank yourselves and came to us in a little robot?" Booker asked, a bit confused.

The commando slapped his forehead. "No, no, no. I'm speaking to you guys through a walkie-talkie I put into this recon Agent of Doom. Keep your voices down! Copper, how many people are in there?"

"Ten: Booker and me, the Able Sisters, Blathers, Jingle, Chip, Rover, Blanca, and Wendell. Are you thinkin' of tryin' to bust us out? It's not gonna work. It's you against 20 robot guards."

"Don't underestimate Clank and me, Copper. I've brought my weapons with me. Clank and I are a two-man army. The only thing we need is a diversion."

Ever heard of the verse "Ask and you shall receive"?

Right on cue, a loud crash rocked the jail. Ratchet swiveled the Agent's head around to see what was happening. The jail cell door at the very back of the room had been knocked down, and the cell's prisoner was running down the hall and screaming.

It was Wendell!

"No! You can't take me back!" he screamed. "I won't go back! Nooooooooo!"

"Oh great," Copper muttered.

"Perfect timing!" Ratchet exclaimed. "I'm on my way, Copper. Oh, and step away from the Agent. It's gonna self-destruct."

"It's gonna what?!"

The screen turned red and blacked out; the Agent had exploded. Ratchet stood up, took off his glove, and armed himself with his N90 Hurricane. Clank climbed onto Ratchet's back again, and the Lombax ducked into a shadowy corner of the tunnel. He did it just in time. A purple blur whizzed past him, and twenty robot guards followed it. When they were gone, Ratchet stepped out of the corner and shook his head in amazement. "I never thought Wendell could run that fast. He could beat Sonic at that rate!"

"Do not worry about him, Ratchet," said Clank. "I have calculated that, at that rate of speed, Wendell will outrun the guards. We can pick him up later."

"Alright. Now let's bust the others out!"

Ratchet ran down the tunnel, through the main cavern, and into the jail room. He grabbed a ring of keys that were hanging on a nail above the jailer's desk. As he unlocked Copper and Booker's cell, he noticed that Copper's face was covered with black dirt, with the dog tapping his right foot angrily.

"What happened to you?" asked the Lombax.

"Your Agent of Doom blew up in my face!" he yelled angrily.

He chuckled. "I warned you to get away from it, didn't I?"

Copper growled and muttered, but he quickly forgave Ratchet, and they let out the other animals, each of them expressing their gratitude. Copper had to yell to get them to be quiet and let their rescuer explain where they were going. Then, with Ratchet and Clank in the lead, the party of animals made their way through the tunnels to the base's secret entrance in the locker. Luckily, Wendell had bashed through the locker's back wall, so they only had to open the locker's door. Just as the Lombax was about to do so, he heard robotic voices. He held up his hand, and the animals halted and became silent. Then Ratchet carefully peeked through the locker's opening. One guard, the Robot Captain, had just picked up its walkie-talkie and activated it.

"This is ACSP Captain #405. Identify your number and…"

The person on the other end shouted, "Cut that protocol junk, Captain; this is your Chief speaking."

The Secret Police Chief? thought Ratchet.

The Captain changed its tone slightly to one of respect and obedience and even stood at attention as though the Chief was in front of it. "Affirmative, Chief!"

"Whatever. How is HQ?"

"One of our prisoners, Wendell, has escaped, sir."

"What?! Your unit will be sent to the recycling plant for this failure!"

"But sir, he has been evaluated as no threat. He knows nothing about our plans, especially not tonight's operation."

"Hmph, then perhaps I will spare you. But your subordinates won't be so lucky. Anyway, I was calling to warn you that an assault might be attempted on HQ; according to information from an agent, the Rebels have discovered where we hide our prisoners. Be on your guard. Is there anything else you would like to report?"

"Two reports, sir. One of the suspected Rebels, Kapp'n, has been seen shipping boxes of items to the heavily protected Paradisa Isle."

"He must've heard about our plans to check the Museum. Did you see any of the equipment?"

"Yes. The boxes contained documents and weapons, believed to be Alliance weapons."

"So Boss was right: the Rebels do have a base here. What was the other report?"

"Capture Squads Beta and Delta were dispatched to arrest the suspected leaders Tom Nook and Tortimer, but they were not in their homes. The buildings were locked up, and it appeared that they were abandoned."

"They must've heard we were on to them, and they may have plans to warn the their friends! There is only one thing we can do now: we must begin Operation Apocalypse tonight!"

Ratchet didn't know what "Operation Apocalypse" was, but he had a feeling it was some kind of diabolical plan. And, from the response of the captain, a dangerous one, too.

"But sir, innocent civilians are on the premises! Big Boss gave the instruction that…"

"I know what he ordered, Captain! And I'm giving you new orders! Lock down the base and stay there. I will contact you when the bombing is over."

Ratchet's eyes went wide, and he gulped. A bombing?! This can't be good…

The Robot Captain hesitated before replying, "Affirmative, sir. What of your status?"

"I will arrive shortly. Keep the doors open until I get there."

"And what of your search for Agent #017?"

"If you must know, it was a success. We discovered him inside one of the storekeeper's houses. Two idiotic-looking sea creatures were guarding him. They were no trouble."

Again Ratchet became afraid. They found Resetti?! I hope SpongeBob and Patrick are okay. …What am I thinking?!

The Chief summed up his conversation. "Follow my orders and I just may forgive you of your failure. Chief out."

The Captain's radio clicked and shut off, and the Captain ordered to its units, "Operation Apocalypse has been moved to tonight. Retreat to the main bunker and await further instructions."

Ratchet barely had time to think about what the Chief had said, because the robots were turning to head back into the locker. He quickly pulled out a bazooka-like missile launcher that was much heavier than his Annihilator. He turned to the animals and said to them, "Go back into the tunnel, now! Things are gonna get ugly!" Copper and the other Allies quickly obeyed; the weapon and the gleam in Ratchet's eyes gave them the chills.

Ratchet loaded his weapon and said with an evil smile, "'Bots, it's time to 'Rip Ya a New One'."

Clank eyes widened. "Ratchet, I do not think you should use the R.Y.N.O.! It is dangerous!"

"None of my other weapons can quickly take out twenty guards at once! Brace yourself!"

The robot nodded and ducked his head into his body. "Here we go…" he mumbled from inside.

Ratchet kicked the locker door down and held the R.Y.N.O. in front of him. The robots stared at him in shock. "Surprise!" he whooped. And then he pulled the R.Y.N.O.'s trigger.

Bang!! Kaboom!! Crash!!

Silence followed the deafening ruckus. Inside the tunnel, Copper and the other fighters wondered if Ratchet and Clank had been killed in action. They breathed a sigh of relief when Ratchet's voice called out to them, "It's okay, guys! You can come out!"

When they stepped out of the locker, their mouths fell open. The room looked like an atomic bomb had exploded inside it. Black dirt was all over the walls, and there were impressions of robot guards in the dirt. The robots themselves were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are all the guards?" Rover asked while glancing around as though one would jump on him.

Ratchet smiled and replied, "All over the room. You can see some of their parts."

The whole group gaped. "Wow," said Rover.

"Ratchet, let's go to the jetty," Copper suggested to him. "Kapp'n can take the others to our island base! They'll be safe there!"

"Paradisa?! I've always wanted to go there!" Joan the turnip seller cried happily.

"Well, what are we waitin' for?!" Ratchet said. "Let's go!"

Ratchet took back his place as leader of the fugitives and led them out of the Police Station. They trotted towards the jetty, but they halted when they heard the sound of moaning.

"Where is it coming from?" asked Clank.

Booker scratched his head. "Behind us, I think…"

Ratchet said, "Copper, come with me. The rest of you, go now and leave for Paradisa."

Obediently the group turned and ran for the jetty. Ratchet, Clank, and Copper continued creeping toward the moaning noise. Now they saw where it was coming from: a thicket surrounded by trees. Ratchet stepped up to the hiding place and pushed away some of the bushes. A huge form was lying in the grass. Copper gasped.

It was Wendell!

"Wendell! Are you OK?" Copper asked.

The walrus moaned in reply, "Must…have…fishies. Need…strength. Must…eat."

Ratchet looked at Copper. "Copper, you don't happen to have a fishing rod, do you? I don't think he'll tell us anything unless we give him some fish."

"I just came out of jail, Ratchet! Of course I don't have a fishing rod!"

Clank knelt down by Wendell's head and told him, "Wendell, this is Clank. We want to assist you. We will nourish you with fish when we can acquire some. First, did you hear any important information from the robots?"

Surprisingly, Wendell sat up and stared at them with intelligent eyes. Copper began to wonder if the fish thing was just an act. "Info? Yeah, I heard some. Those 'botsknow who a lot of us are."

"Wait a minute…whaddya mean by us?" Copper asked.

Wendell grinned. "I'm a fighter, too! The stupid voice and the annoying moron were all an act."

Ratchet was dumbfounded. "You have got to be kidding me!"

Copper ignored the commando's comment. "Anyway, what were you saying?"

"They kept talking about 'Operation Apocalypse'," Wendell replied. "I don't know all the details, but they plan on destroying AnimaCity."

Copper stared at Ratchet with wide eyes. "Oh no…"

The puzzle pieces quickly came together in Ratchet's mind. "That's what the Police Chief meant by a bombing! They're going to bomb AnimaCity!"

Clank's green eyes were bright with shock. "Oh my. We must warn the mayor!"

"The little robot's right! We have to find Mr. Tortimer!" Wendell said frantically.

"We need to find all the other agents too," Copper pointed out. "Let's check the jetty!" They raced to the dock, where they found Kapp'n loading some boxes onto his tiny boat.

"Ahoy there, Copper! I thought you and Booker were caught, matey!" he greeted them.

Copper wasn't there to chitchat; he went right down to business. "We were, but a couple of friends busted us out. Have you taken the others to Paradisa?"

"Aye, I did, me doggie friend! But that's made me behind in me work!" The sea turtle gestured to the stacks of boxes all around the jetty and told them about the smuggling. "Two strong young lads are helpin' Blathers and K.K., too."

"Spike and Jimmy?" Ratchet guessed.

"I believe those were their names. Here they are now!"

Spike and Jimmy appeared with K.K. Slider and Blathers. They were all carrying boxes filled with weapons, gadgets, maps, and plans from the Museum. They set them down beside the boat.

Jimmy noticed Ratchet and Clank first. "Hey, Ratchet! You guys did it!" he exclaimed.

"Good work, Lombax! Not bad for an alien," said Spike.

The commando frowned. "Would you quit sayin' that?!"

The older boy shrugged. "Sorry. Anyway, these are the last of the boxes, so I thought we should go check on SpongeBob and Patrick. I wonder what happened to Sonic and Tails."

Ratchet offered a suggestion. "Maybe they went to check on DorkyPants and 'The Brain'."

Copper gave him a puzzled look. "Who?"

"SpongeBob and Patrick."

"Oh. Perfect names. Heheheh."

Ratchet turned back to Spike and Jimmy. "Guys, we heard the Secret Police Chief talking to his robots. He said that he discovered Resetti at our house, and he talked about SpongeBob and Patrick. He didn't take them with him, but he might have done some harm."

"He also mentioned an act called 'Operation Apocalypse'," Clank put in. "It is important that we locate Tortimer and consult him about this information."

Understanding their urgency, Spike set down his last box and said, "Let's go then!"

K.K. Slider told the boys, "You dudes go on ahead. I'll stay behind and help Kapp'n with these boxes." Blathers agreed to do the same, and Wendell said that he was going to Paradisa.

The four heroes and Copper raced away toward the gang's house, hoping (much to their surprise) that nothing terrible had happened to SpongeBob and Patrick.

One note before I go: the Agents of Doom Ratchet uses are not controlled by a remote in the games; they automatically attack any enemies close by. I made up the remote.