Chapter 21: Chaos

Chaos is Among us... I've always wanted to say that :D!

Ratchet was resting on his bed reading a book from the library Nero let him access, he didn't understand much but he tried his best to remember what he had learnt from Clank. Ratchet suddenly heard a knocking from the door which scared him half to death and dropped his book on his bed named "Simple cloning Genetics"… even though there was nothing simple about it. He walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Weiss panting whilst leaning against a wall.

'Have… you seen… Vite?' she said between gasps of breath, Ratchet curiously cocked an eyebrow and shook his head.

'Why exactly do you need him?' he asked the elder who swallowed and finally answered his question.

'I saw a small pool of blood… that vas the same as Vite's… I think he vas attacked' she said still panting tiredly. Ratchet shook his head and thought about the situation logically, White attacks Ratchet, White leaves in a hurry and then White is mysteriously attacked.

'Have you asked Abel? I know that if Abel found out I was attacked he would get angry and attack him' he asked and looked at Weiss for an answer.

'I don't think Abel has anything to do with this,' Ratchet turned around and saw Sable standing there with an expressionless face, 'Abel knows he would get in trouble if he attacked White' he continued.

'I attacked White! Ratchet believe me when I say this that I didn't' Ratchet quickly averted his gaze towards a blue tattooed Lombax, who was looking at him with kitten eyes, hoping he believed him.

'I believe you, I truly do' Ratchet said calming down the Lombax and then was shocked when Abel hugged him to the ground.

'Zat still doesn't answer my question on Vhere he iz' Weiss said breaking up the two, Ratchet was happy the weight was lifted off of him while Abel sadly pouted.

'How about we split up and look for him?' Ratchet asked as he rubbed his chin thinking on how that it would turn out.

'Vell I haven't checked ze Vest ving of ze ship' she said and started for there with Ratchet, Sable and Abel following her. They walked past many rooms with the occasional look but alas, they couldn't find their man, only other clones. Once they had arrived Weiss turned to face the Lombax's and waited until they had stopped.

'Ratchet you go left, Sable forward, Abel right and I vill backtrack ze rest of ze ship' She said, they all nodded and walked their own separate ways. Ratchet walked down his path and turned back to see Abel had turned down his own along with Sable. He then looked forward and started heading his own way, keeping an eye out for White. He came to the first room and opened it slightly, then peeked his head inside only see crates of storage. He closed the door and moved onto the next, hoping to have better luck. He opened the second door to see several clones having a conversation, they all stopped and looked up at Ratchet.

'Sorry… have you seen White?' Ratchet asked but was replied with all of their heads shaking side to side. Ratchet let out a sigh and exit the room feeling annoyed at how hard it was to find one Lombax. He walked into an intersection and looked down each corridor, he was about to move on until he saw a familiar White fur.

'White! There you are!' Ratchet said as he walked up to him, he was standing in the middle, not moving. Ratchet stopped when he saw White had some sort of twisted smile that scared him, followed by the sound of him maniacally laughing.

'HaHaHaHa! I'm sorry but that number is no longer available!' White said as he looked up at Ratchet, his eyes were red and twisted, pupils were dilated and his smile was just as twisted.

'White?' Ratchet said as he backed away, scared of what he was going to do to him or worse… what he was going to do if he found the others. White started giggling to himself evilly and then turned into a fully-fledged laugh as he lifted his head towards the roof.

'I told you, that White isn't here!' he then lunged at the other, missing as Ratchet barrel rolled away. He stood back up on his feet and held his fists up, ready to parry any attack that came his way.

'What is that supposed to mean?' he asked as White began circling him, something was off about him but he couldn't put his finger on it.

'Ha! Let you make this easy to understand for you pathetic Progenitor… White is gone for good! Bye-bye! Adios! Gone!' he then started laughing again, still circling his prey.

'What did you do to him?' Ratchet asked as he kept his gaze on White, he was replied with more laughter.

'Don't you get it? I haven't done anything to him! He brought this on himself, I bet you have no idea who I even am!' he then lunged to attack Ratchet again but missed.

'Tell me the truth! What did you do to White and where is he?!' Ratchet yelled angrily having enough of this talk since it was going nowhere.

'Do I have to explain myself to you? I will then, White was a clone of you but he was special, Weiss used a plants sap instead. The sap was then mixed with other chemicals making Alpha Red ZX Nanotech, what she didn't know was the plant had a life of its own… My Life! I laid dormant for three years and once I was awoken I learned that I had new abilities, I could control someone's mind using telepathy. Unfortunately White was the only one I could connect to, his mind was too strong though leaving me in his head for many years. Until now I managed to take over this body and leave White in the back of my mind, lost in pitch black darkness. He doesn't talk much because I have been trying to control him non-stop for the past month and when he gave in I gained what was rightfully mine. Now that you know why White isn't here… I will kill you and your pathetic friends!' he lunged once again at Ratchet, this time slicing his skin, leaving multiple scars from his claws.

'Uggghhh!' Ratchet screamed as blood started pouring quickly onto the floor, he then placed his am on the wound slowing the bleeding down.

'HaHaHa! I think this is the end of you Ratchet! I am going to enjoy this!' he yelled as Ratchet looked into the Lombax's red eyes. White grabbed a knife from his pocket holding it above his head ready to strike Ratchet. He quickly closed his eyes to accept his fate, but it never came, he slowly opened his eyes and saw a corpse lying on top of him. Ratchet shocked managed to drag his own body away from the dead Lombax and saw White was pulling the knife out of him.

'Stupid clone! Did he seriously think he would live?' he then kicked the body away against a wall and turned his attention back to Ratchet.

'Now where were we? Oh yes, your death!' he slowly advanced towards Ratchet who was slowly dragging his body away from White. Eventually White caught up and slammed his foot onto Ratchets foot, twisting his ankle. Ratchet screamed in pain and held his leg as White laughed maniacally with pleasure.

'That was fun, but I think I had enough fun for now… Before you die remember… the name is Chaos!' he held the knife once again above his head and struck down hard.

'Missed' a new voice said as the knife hit the fur on his arm, Abel had found Ratchet and defended him from the blow. He then grabbed the knife and pulled it out of his arm, allowing the Nanotech to heal his wound quickly. He quickly punched Chaos on his cheek causing him to shriek in pain, Abel then struck again with an uppercut and Chaos fell on his back.

'White! If you ever hurt Ratchet again… I will kill you!' Abel then cracked his knuckles and turned to Ratchet to aid him.

'Abel, that isn't White… its Chaos… an evil version of him' Ratchet said between deep breaths as he was lifted to his feet. Chaos looked like he was offended and his madness quickly turned to anger.

'How dare you compare me to that… that… that imbecile! He was nothing without me!' Chaos then lunged towards the two, Abel managed to push Ratchet out of the way but was hit instead. He then lifted Abel off his feet and started punching the poor Lombax, hitting his face only to be healed almost instantly. Abel managed to kick him away but fell onto his back, grunting from the sudden pain. Chaos slowly rose and started laughing maniacally, he looked down at Ratchet scaring him at the sight of the blood red eyes.

'Well as they say, plan B always works out and always will' he walked towards Ratchet with his arm outstretched but stopped and looked over to see Sable had arrived to the scene. Sable quickly assessed the situation and then held out his hand as his eyes glowed purple.

'Huh, you think mind control will work on me?!' Chaos said as he closed his eyes, suddenly Sable started screaming in pain as he held his head in agony.

'That was easy, if only you studied science for a bit longer,' Chaos said sympathetically to the younger 'Now back to the matter at hand' he continued as he averted his gaze towards Ratchet.

'How did you even do that?' Ratchet asked as he slid his body away from him, eager to escape his clutches.

'Well it was quite easy, I used White's willpower is all' he then started laughing again.

'Abel? I need a little help here' Ratchet said as he hit the wall behind, signalling he ran out of room.

'He is paralysed, I wouldn't even bother… don't worry its temporary… unlike death,' he said and placed his foot onto his chest 'don't resist… it will be over soon'. He pushed down hard making Ratchet scream in pain, he felt all the air in his lungs disappear.

'Why are you… doing this?' Ratchet asked as he noted he had run out of air and tried to gasp for anything at all, his vision then started to blur.

'You will never n…' before he could finish his sentence he was suddenly tackled to the ground leaving Ratchet to take in as much air as he possible could at once. Ratchet's vision slowly restored and once he regained complete vision he saw Chaos standing over a clone covered in blood.

'You still seriously think that you can defeat me?! Looks like I should finish the job now' he then stabbed the Lombax into his chest and pulled it out leaving him lay there, motionless.

'This is going nowhere,' Chaos said as he faced Ratchet 'wish I could kill you now but I have bigger fish to fry' he continued his words and ran away from the group. Once he had disappeared from Ratchet's sight he turned to face Abel and dragged his body over towards him.

'You OK buddy?' Ratchet asked as he sat the blue tattooed Lombax up, he responded with a short and weak nod. Sable then approached the two with one hand clutching the side of his head and helped Ratchet up. He used Sable as a support and stood up, hoping Sable had enough brute strength to hold him up. Abel slowly stood up afterwards and supported Ratchet from the other side, Abel looked down at Sable. He then nodded letting go of Ratchet and ran away from them to look for help leaving Ratchet and Abel alone.

'He didn't deserve to die…' Ratchet said quietly to himself as he looked over to the dead clone that lay there with no recollection of life at all.

'I know but he at least saved your life… right?' Abel said to the other as he started slowly moving away from the pool of blood that covered the floor. Ratchet followed his actions hoping that they wouldn't run into any more trouble.

Chaos... Yeah he is quite demonic dont you think?

R&R and if you havent already read Mechromancer on Fictionpress by Me SnowyBlizz!