Chapter 25: The Night

Yawn! Im tired... Maybe

'How… can… you… still… be… standing?' Ratchet said as he was gasping for air with Abel giggling beside him at the sight.

'Easy, Nanotech makes everything easy,' he held out his hand towards his friend 'Let's go and see Nero about our progress'. At first Ratchet resisted because of the pain that flowed through his body, but gave in and grabbed Abel's hand. They walked at a steady pace to where Nero and Noir were discussing the building.

'Hey master, how much progress did we do today?' Abel said cheerfully as he embraced his masters hand. Nero looked down at Abel who was looking back up at him and quickly checked the checklist he held in his other hand.

'Well, we are slightly…'

'Behind schedule!' Noir rudely interrupted as he crossed his arms and looked down at both Abel and Ratchet in disgust. Ratchet ignored the ice cold eyes that stared at him and quickly looked around before asking a question.

'I thought Weiss was aloud down here, where is she?' he asked quizzically and scratched his head in wonder.

'She won't leave her quarters until she tracks down White… I think it's just a waste of time!' Noir answered before Nero could even begin this time.

'Ahem… well he was completely obedient and he followed her everywhere' Nero said trying to ignore Noir's last remark.

'But remember it was her fault in the first place it happened' everyone turned to the new voice in their presence to see Caine crossing his arms with an angry expression, like always.

'How exactly is it her fault?! How could she know that she made one small mistake?!' Ratchet yelled at the red eyed Lombax, who then devilishly grinned.

'Easy, she could have prevented this all by using the same Nanotech as Abel and I' he said with a devilish grin. Ratchet felt like he could hit Caine from his remark but decided to keep quiet, since he was in the presence of Noir he thought it would be best not to.

'CAINE! It was her decision… not yours or anyone else's, so butt out' Noir scolded at Caine who obediently listened and sat down in the grass.

'I was just saying that if I had to choose it would be plain obvious' Caine said as he rested his eyes.

'We better get back to the ship, gather up the clones and I will meet you there' Nero said as he walked towards one of the several drop ships. Noir grunted and turned back to the building to gather up the clones that were still building, with Caine quickly getting up and following him. Ratchet turned to face Abel, but he had disappeared and when he looked for him he found he was talking to Nero. He saw that Nero then nodded his head, Abel jumped up and down full of happiness and ran back to Ratchet.

'Nero is allowing us to stay here for the night!' he said as he embraced Ratchet which was more of a tackle to the ground.

'Well I'm glad you're happy, but what about Caine? Will he be joining us?' Ratchet asked with an unhappy expression spread across his face.

'I think he would say, that it would be an utter waste of time and was stupid' Abel said in his best mimic of Caine and started laughing with Ratchet.

'THAT SOUNDS NOTHING LIKE ME!' Caine yelled at Abel furiously as he lobbed a rock at him and missed by a centimetre.

'Ha Ha, nice try but you have to do better than that' Abel called back cheekily and started laughing once again. Caine was furious and started throwing anything he could get his hands on at the two.

'Caine! We're leaving, leave them to do their… whatever Nero lets them do' Noir said to Caine, who still furiously just put up his middle finger and walked away, mumbling to himself. Once they had gotten into the drop ship Abel waved goodbye to Noir, Caine and all the clones, naturally Caine rolled his eyes and turned away while Noir looked down at the two grumpily. The ship doors closed and they were off in a matter of seconds. Abel turned to Ratchet with a happy smile across his face and grabbed him by the arm as he ran towards the half built facility.

'C'mon, we can sleep in the infirmary for the night' he said as he opened the door manually, since they weren't automatic yet. Ratchet closed the door behind him and turned back to face Abel, who started screaming in pain as he held his head with his hands.

'Abel! What's wrong?!' Ratchet asked to the screaming Lombax, who of which started to calm down, panting heavily.

'I just got a killer headache is all' Abel said relieving Ratchet, but was still curious on how it was so strong.

'Abel, are you sure you're ok?' he asked Abel as he wrapped an arm around him.

'I think it was just Caine, he was probably trying to teach me a lesson from earlier' Abel said as he started laughing to himself. Abel then ran through the empty facility with Ratchet barely keeping up, afraid he would get lost he didn't keep his eyes off of Abel, not for even a second. He eventually got tired as he turned a corner and looked up ahead to see double doors with a red cross above it. He guessed this was the infirmary and entered to see several beds were already set up with a set of curtains that were open beside it.

'RAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!' Abel yelled playfully as he tackled a scared Ratchet to the ground. Ratchet was now dumbfounded and lying face down onto the ground with Abel towering over him.

'I got you' Abel said happily and proudly as he started to giggle to himself at his achievement. Ratchet rolled over to face Abel and smile before with brute force pushed the Lombax off of him.

'Yeah you did, now I got you!' he yelled as Abel flew off of him and landed on his bottom, followed by a loud ouch. Abel sat there for a while as he rubbed his hindquarters with an annoyed expression on his face, knowing he had been defeated.

'Abel, how about we sleep outside? It has a nice breeze' Ratchet said as he helped him to his feet.

'Why not? It's not going to make a huge difference anyway' Abel said happily as he chased Ratchet out of the Infirmary, through the corridor and then outside. Where he tackled Ratchet to the ground and rolled through the grass, fighting for dominance. Eventually when they stopped Abel was on top of Ratchet, pinning him down by his wrists.

'Okay, you win, I lose' Ratchet said as they both began to start laughing together, their voices echoing through the night. Abel and Ratchet looked into one another's eyes, not breaking from their trance Ratchet awkwardly smiled.

'Abel…can you please get off of me? You already won' Abel sadly pouted but decided if Ratchet was happy then he was too and right now he knew Ratchet would be happy if he was off of him. He lifted his body off of Ratchet's, laid right beside him and then slowly drifted off to sleep.

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