Opposites

Clank waited all night for Jinx to come out and meet them in the mess hall. The room was packed with the other soldiers, half of which had invited Ratchet to their table and filled him in on life with the rangers, as well as daily gossip. Apparently, Jenna was enforcing harsher training procedures for the young recruits, and one of the rangers food suppliers had recently been hit by a Blargian airstrike. No one had gotten seriously injured, but a year's supply of food had gone up in smoke.

The war with Drek was already taking its toll. Nearly everyone agreed that they had to find a way to end it now, before more lives were lost.

Clank watched the door to the mess hall with beady eyes, lighting up every time it opened or when he thought he saw a flash of blonde hair in the corner of his eye. But it always turned out to be another group of tired and beaten soldiers clambering in for their meal, or some muscular and much older veteran with choppy blonde locks.

Ratchet hadn't even noticed Jinx's absence. That or he was having too much fun with his new buddies to care.

Clank caught Mercy playing with her food, pushing an unrecognisable heap of mush across her tray. He believed it was mashed potatoes – if potatoes are supposed to be green. "Are you not going to eat that?" he chirped, trying to make friendly conversation. Mercy looked at him as if he'd bellowed it at her, a crimson blush rising up her neck.

"Wha‒ No, sorry. Just no hungry today." She stared back at the green pile and shoved the tray aside.

Clank looked at her pitifully, and gently rubbed her back. "You are still upset about your friend on Pokitaru." It wasn't a question.

Mercy nodded timidly. "Alec had trained me for the past year, ever since I joined the Rangers. He was really kind to me. He didn't yell when I was late for target practice, or roll his eyes when I collapsed at twenty press ups. 'Always remember why you joined,' He'd say. 'Never lose sight of what's really important.' He always loved to say that."

"You two were very close."

"He was like a second father to me."

They sat in silence for a few moments, Mercy staring down at her dinner with hard and glazed eyes. She finally shook her head, as if shaking a thought out, and made for the door. "I should be going. I have some work to do before the evening is over," She hesitated for a moment. "You know, if you're free I could make some upgrades to your system."

Clank blinked. "You are a mechanic?"

"It's more of a pastime I did back home. My folks run a repair garage and I did a few jobs for them."

"Then why did you train to be a soldier? Surely you should be an engineer."

Mercy rubbed the back of her neck and laughed, embarrassedly. "Jenna said I wasn't experienced enough to qualify. Fieldwork would be more suited to me." Clank didn't miss the sarcastic tone she used or the spite in her voice when she said 'Jenna'. "Well, I'd better get going." Before Clank could say anything else, she slipped out of the mess hall.

Jinx had the uneasy feeling that she was being watched, like someone was looking down on her like a moth pinned onto a cork-board. But at the same time, she felt completely alone and isolated from anyone – how could anyone be watching her? She could feel the judgmental gazes of hundreds of eyes, and yet there was no one in sight. So she knew without a doubt that she was right about the one-way window. She wondered how many people were standing behind it, watching her with their greedy eyes and waiting for her to do something, as if she was a circus animal. Not that she even knew what a circus was.

The only entrance to her silent prison, the large steel door that slid open and closed at the correct code of a keypad, was sealed shut. Turns out it could only be opened from the outside. She couldn't get out unless someone let her, and she wasn't very confident that anyone would be happy with her roaming freely around the ship any time soon.

Jinx had been staring at the door for what felt like days, but it had probably been a few hours. Hopefully. Her only solace back at the Blarg bunker was that she had some notion of the time of day. There was a small crack she'd look through, either seeing the blinding sun trying to make its way past the heavy grey clouds – and failing – or the pitch darkness outside. Here, there were no windows, no cracks, nothing that could let her guess the time. She could have been in here for days on end, and would have no idea about it.

Rule number one of making someone go crazy. Make them think they're going crazy.

The door suddenly swished open. In came in one of the lab suits, accompanied by two guards behind him. He looked down at her behind his dorky glasses and his clipboard, and held out a glass of water to her. "Your meal." He stated blatantly, and one of the guards tossed a plastic tray at her. It spun through the air, throwing two pieces of bread and some weird green mush across the room and splattering across the walls and floor. Jinx didn't let any of her emotions show. At least these guys were feeding her, she reminded herself, and that the lab coat looked genuinely unimpressed by the guard's display of idiocy.

Jinx stepped over the tray and what was her dinner, and hesitantly took the glass from the lab coat. He lowered his arm and watched her expectantly, waiting for her to down the whole thing.

She raised an eyebrow. "What's in it?" she said, in a monotone voice.

"Vitamins. We need you to keep your strength up."

Yeah, right. If they wanted to sedate her, they could at least be inconspicuous about it.

"No thanks," Jinx held the glass back at lab coat, "I'm not thirsty." When he didn't take the glass back, she dropped it and let it shatter on the floor. The water – or whatever it was – splashed onto her shoes, which made Jinx smile slightly. Shoes were weird – it was like a not-so-invisible force field around her feet.

She stalked back to her bed and plonked down, the bed groaning under her weight. She stared at the lab coat, daring him to do something. He looked back at her, apparently uninterested, but she could see his lips thinning and the narrowing of his eyes.

Was this how Roxanne acted? No wonder she did – she was having a great time!

Their staring contest continued for countless minutes until the guard behind the scientist grunted loudly, as if he had more important things to do than 'protect' him. "If you want to drug me so much, there are better ways than asking me to drink a sedative."

The scientist raised an eyebrow. It seemed like he was using all his strength to stay in the same room and talk to her. "I am required to have you drink it." He grinded his teeth together.

"Why." He didn't answer her. Fine then, she'll play his game. Jinx crossed her leg over the other and did her best to look smug. "Fine then, I can do this all day. I'm sure you'll have a great time cleaning up all the glass off the floor."

That seemed to do the trick. He knitted his eyebrows together intently. "Applying the dosage by force would affect the data. To have completely reliable information you must not experience any spikes in emotions when the sedative enters your bloodstream."

Jinx narrowed her eyes. These guys were just as bad as the Blarg, if not a little more polite about the whole drugging process. With the Blarg she could expect a sedative at any point. Other than the rare occasions where they put it in her food, a soldier would normally come in and roughly shove a syringe into her arm before she could even blink. Maybe they'd even dose a rag in some sickly sweet, smelly stuff and shove in her face until she passed out. Either way, those weren't fond memories.

"Alright then, I'm feeling generous." Jinx uncrossed her legs and leant over to him. "I'll drink your sedative, but I have my own demands." She didn't even let the scientist get a word in before she started counting off her fingers. Roxanne would be proud. "I can have complete access to the training room, and I don't get escorted there by guards. If I'm going there, I go by myself and only Private Winters will supervise me. I want training equipment in my room, proper training equipment. Your guards will treat me with some decency and not like I'm an animal."

The scientist took off his glasses, wiped the lenses, and then pushed them back onto his wrinkled nose. "Are you done yet?" he said irritably.

Jinx held a finger up at him – her final demand. "And I want to see my friends. Now."

Clank tugged gently at the small power socket plugged somewhere into his back. It had been a while since he last recharged, and he did feel pretty drained after everything that had happened recently, but he couldn't shut down for even a minute before Ratchet started prattling on and on about the piece of paper in his hands.

"…And they've even got their own armoury. Not one of those small ones the Blarg had, but a real, proper armoury. Camouflaged combat armour, benches where you can practice taking apart RYNO's and putting them back together, everything! And did I tell you about–hey Clank, wake up!" Clank jolted forward as Ratchet snapped his fingers in front of his eyes. But it was hard to get angry at that face. You'd think he'd won the galactic lottery.

The door to the room suddenly cracked open, and Jinx peaked her head out. "Hi." She said quietly, as she slid through the tiny gap she opened for herself.

Ratchet's face lit up with childish glee and a silly grin spread across his face as he realised he had someone else to ramble to. "Hey! We didn't see you at dinner." He shifted into a sitting position, positively beaming at her. "What do you think of his place? Isn't it great?"

Jinx shuffled on her feet and smiled painfully. "Yeah…great." She mumbled, biting the edge of her lip. "Um, listen, Ratchet. There's something I have to tell you–"

"I never thought I would be so happy here." Ratchet smiled, "This place is better than what I ever expected." And it was. Never in his life had he felt so complete. As if it was meant to be. Since the moment they arrived it had been all smiles and encouraging pats on the back. And not a single comment or lingering gaze on his unusually large ears, his golden tail, or large eyes. No "What are you supposed to be?", or "Say, I've never seen one of you before. What race are you again?" Everything was perfect.

Ratchet leapt off the bed and stuck the piece of paper into Jinx's face. "They've even given me the schedule of our training here. In the morning it's hand-to-hand combat, then some target practice in some room with loads of target dummies. After that there's survival training, gun assembling, then three hours of cardio and strength training." He gestured towards Clank, looking sleepily through his eyelids. "Even Clank's got his own schedule. They're gonna upgrade him, fix all the damage the Blarg have done to him recently, and completely redo his armour."

"That's great and all Ratchet, but I really–"

"I know, I know. I'm rambling. It's just that…for the first time, I feel like I have a family. A home."

A home. A family. All he ever wanted.

Everything came out easily after that. "When I was on Veldin, I spent every day doing the same thing. Scavenging junkyards for scrap metal, mapping out the area I lived in, tinkering with anything I could get my hands on. I've already told you that no one was exactly friendly towards me." His ears twitched as he said this, "But that hasn't been the case with the Rangers. They've been so kind to me, showing me the ropes and teaching me all about combat stances, how to improve my aiming, and all that stuff. They've been like a family to me – an actual family." Ratchet stretched out across his bed, staring up at the ceiling. "If this is what I was meant to be, then I couldn't ask for anything else."

He finally looked back towards Jinx. She looked completely speechless. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish, but no words came out. Her arms hang limply on either side and her ears drooped slightly. Ratchet must have been imagining it, because she actually looked sad.

"Anyway, was there something you wanted to say?"

Jinx blinked several times before grinning widely and waved him off. "It's nothing. I'm just happy that you like it here so much." Jinx got up as swiftly as she could and edged towards the door. "I'll…leave you guys be." She shut the door behind her.

She let out a deep breath and massaged her temple. What was she going to do now? There was no way she could break Ratchet's dream like that. Not after seeing that gleam in his eye, or how his fur coat seemed to brighten up when he spoke of the Galactic Rangers.

No way. There was no way she could be that cruel.

Maybe the problem will go away. Maybe she was just over reacting. Maybe everything will get better.

She could feel Roxanne eye rolling at that last comment. Sure it will. Just keep telling yourself that.

"You saw how he was." She hissed at herself. "I don't think even you're cruel enough to break that guy's heart."

Hey, I'm just saying.

Cheeks burning, Jinx stormed down the corridor back to her room. Anyone she came across on the way back immediately averted their eyes and kept their heads down as the passed her, or they just stared like she was a bug. Jinx couldn't be bothered to deal with any of them right now. She had more important things on her mind. Like how she was going to break the news to Ratchet – if she decided to.

And, to no surprise, Jenna was leaning on a wall further down the corridor, waiting for her. Her eyes went over every part of her body, like an eagle watching its prey.

"There you are." She said in a calm voice. Jinx took a deep breath and walked onwards, keeping her head down as she passed. But Jenna put an arm out in front of her, preventing her retreating. "I see you're still with us."

Jinx brought herself to look back at her. "Yes. I suppose I am."

Jenna stood in front of her with a small dark smile. They were alone in the corridor. Completely alone. "Answer me truthfully. What do you think of my rangers?"

Well that was easy enough. Jinx felt her shoulders sag with relief as the words easily came to her mouth. "They are well-trained and efficient soldiers, like nothing I've ever seen."

That seemed to be the right answer. Jenna bristled with pride and smiled proudly. "Yes. I handpicked all of the rangers at a young age, only slightly older than you. Then I put them through years of hard training regimes, changed their eating habits and lifestyles, taught them how to live off nothing but air. They are the epitome of everything a soldier should be." She smirked, looking Jinx up and down again.

"The same cannot be said for you.

"You're short, thin and practically nothing but skin and bones. I suppose you're slightly in shape, but nowhere near to where my men are. The other one…Roxanne, is only slightly better than you, but any value she has is lost by her temper and attitude. Your only skill is your power, but you can't even control it. And when you do, the damage done is far from necessary." Jenna walked around her as she said this, poking her skinny arms and flicking her hair. Jinx struggled to keep her mouth shut and felt her anger boil up her body.

"And your story I find very hard to believe. Why would the Blarg decide to keep a worthless, miserable runt like you? Exactly what worth do they see in you to keep you locked up for? And why, in the middle of their invasion, would they manage to lose you? Don't you find it odd how a Lombax, already trying to bring Drek down, is the one to 'rescue' you? And how he delivers you to the mobile base of the ones trying to bring Drek down? I find that odd. Don't you find it odd?"

She stopped in front of Jinx and took a step closer to her. She stared down at her with a scowl dripping off her face. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here because Ratchet is."

"So you follow him wherever he goes." She chuckled deeply and shook her head. "I pity the poor fellow."

"What?"

"He has to deal with you and clean up after your messes for you. He's stuck with you, whether he likes it or not. Don't you feel ashamed of yourself for putting him through that?"

Jinx couldn't think of a word to say. Was what Jenna was saying really true? Did Ratchet hate her? No, he couldn't. Could he? If this was just a way of intimidating her, it was certainly working.

"Here's a suggestion." Jenna leant towards Jinx's ear and whispered, "Ratchet is going on a mission in five minutes. You will tell him that you want to stay here, and let him go on with his own business. You will not continue to help him bring down Drek, and you will stay here with me. If my men ask you anything, to participate in some tests, help with their training, you will say yes. If you don't, I'll make Ratchet never want anything to do with you again."

Jenna's warm breath sent chills down her spine. She nodded.

"Good." She stepped away from Jinx with a smug expression. "And don't even think of mentioning this to Ratchet. I find it hard to believe that he'd take your word over mine." With that final jab, she sauntered off down the corridor.

Jinx stood there for a few minutes, alone in the long winding corridor. Exactly who did that woman think she was! President of the Solana Galaxy? Jinx thought she couldn't hate her any more than she already did. Clearly, she was mistaken.

In her mind, she knew she should tell Ratchet about this. Hadn't they agreed on being open with each other? No more secrets, Ratchet said. He had to know about Jenna. It was the right thing to do.

But was it? Would Ratchet even believe her? He looked so happy the last time she saw him. He even said how the Galactic Rangers made him feel. For the first time, I feel like I have a family. A home. Would he still feel the same if she told him the truth? How his new 'family' treated her like a lab rat? How the lovely Jenna had allowed wacky scientists access to her body, like she was just a…thing? She doubted that Ratchet even knew about the scientists. They certainly kept to themselves, and she hadn't seen them and the soldiers mingling with each other.

Tell him, or don't tell him. Let him live out his dream, or crush it in her palms. Leave or stay.

She had to choose. Either way, one of them was going to get hurt.

Alright, time to start writing again. It's been a long time since I last updated, but I'm glad to say that I've got a basic outline for the next couple of chapters. With luck, I shouldn't have to go on for so long without updating like I've had to recently.

Please R&R!