The Mission Part 2

It only took a few minutes before total anarchy reigned.

Ratchet saw the moment when the turrets suddenly changed sides, slowly turning clockwise towards the guards stationed by the doors and opening fire. In the blink of an eye, their bodies had already slumped over their chests like ragdolls. Flashes of gunfire blinked in the windows, and he could clearly make out the confused shouts and cries from the building.

Jenna nimbly picked herself up from the dune and switched her scope for an automatic assault rifle. "It won't be long before someone radios in for reinforcements." She said, not waiting for Ratchet or Xavier to get onto their feet. "Find the targets and subdue them. Kill anyone who gets in your way."

By the time Ratchet and Xavier were at the bottom of the dune, Jenna was already at the front entrance, kicking the door down and firing into the space.

"Let's make some noise, kid!" Xavier hooted as he prepped Bessy for action.

Ratchet allowed himself to smirk at Xavier's enthusiasm, and followed his teammates into the dragon's den.

Several bodies littered the cold, concrete floor, and their blood pooled around them. There were three hallways to pick from: one on the left, one on the right, and another leading straight ahead. He had no idea which one Jenna had gone through, but judging by the bullet holes in the wall he guessed she'd gone straight ahead.

"See you on the upside!" Xavier hollered over his shoulder, as he disappeared down the right corridor.

Looks like he was going left.

As he made his way down the hall and passed a left corner, he heard Xavier laughing manically over Bessy's gunshots, setting his fur on end. It was slightly unnerving that he was taking so much pleasure in this, but only slightly.

He kicked down several doors on the way, and quickly fired into the room the moment he saw movement. He only picked up his pace when a Blargian soldier managed to sneak up behind him, nearly stabbing a hefty looking knife into his neck.

Finally, he reached what seemed to be the end of the corridor – there was a staircase heading upstairs to the next level. From the looks of the bullet holes in the plaster walls and the ominous red-brown stains on the floor, someone was unlucky enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ratchet followed the same pattern when he reached the first floor – check all the rooms for any soldiers or the operatives, and go up the next flight of stairs. As Ratchet saw the number of bodies littering the floor and the large but discreet turrets above his head, he knew that most of the work had already been done.

There was no sign of Jenna or Xavier anywhere; Ratchet didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Of course neither one of them would opt to say in a group – they were the strongest members of the whole team. Xavier could mow an army down with Bessy, while Jenna was practically a one-woman army.

The wildcard and the soldier.

And then there was him. The rookie. The weak link. The expendable one.

He knew it was unfair to call himself that; he had proven himself time and time again. He was, after all, the one who took on an entire Blargian fleet, was harbouring a wanted fugitive, fought a Blargian Snagglebeast…and survived. If Clank could hear what he was thinking, he would gently admonish him. Tell him not to compare himself to anyone else. He was his own person, who didn't need to check up on his perfectly capable teammates, who were no doubt perfectly fine.

But that didn't stop him from doing so anyway.

He was somewhere on the third floor at the southern end of the building when he decided to use his earpiece. "Jenna? Xavier? Where are you guys?" So pathetic, he thought to himself. He doubted even Mercy had resorted to this during her service.

No response from the earpiece. It suddenly occurred to him if everyone heard the same commands from Jenna and Nero, then they had probably heard his message too.

Perfect. Better add that to growing list of the times he had embarrassed himself in front of everyone.

His arms were starting to ache from holding the large assault rifle, his legs even more from the trek across the desert. "Well, how did you day go, Ratchet?" he imitated in Jinx's squeaky voice, "Oh yeah, just fine. I managed to embarrass myself in front of my new boss twice, and got left behind during my first team mission."

He found his way again, finding more bodies trailing down the far corridor and deciding to follow them to the next stairwell.

"But there must have been something good that happened, right?"

The floorboards creaked underneath each step he took, followed by another creak while his foot was in midair.

"Well, I climbed several flights of stairs and walked across a desert, so that must count for something."

Ratchet continued following the bodies, taking a right and a left and another direction he couldn't remember. Suddenly, the body trail stopped at the end of the hallway. A dead end. On the far wall, an ugly portrait of Chairman Drek faced him, eyes glittering and an arrogant lop-sided smile taunting his every move.

"Seriously?" he groaned loudly towards to ceiling, echoing down the dead end hallway and back to his face.

Another creak of the floorboards behind him had him whirl around, gun aimed and loaded, at whoever was following him…

…and he came face to face with Jenna.

He let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding, lowering his rifle down to the floor. "Jenna." He breathed. He wouldn't have realised anyone was there if it weren't for the creaking floorboards. They don't, after all, creak while you're standing still. "What are you doing?"

Jenna looked at him sceptically, no doubt raising an eyebrow underneath her black visor. "You called for Xavier and me on the earpiece."

Oh, right. "But why were you sneaking up on me like that?"

Jenna motioned for Ratchet to follow her back down the corridor, weaving in and out in another confusing set of directions. "I didn't know if it was you or not. And besides, I didn't want to surprise you."

"Surprise me? You surprised me!"

"You do have a rifle."

He briefly glanced down at the weapon in his hands. She was right. He probably would have shot her the moment she made a sound. And he was justified in doing so; their situation called for it.

"Have you found any of the targets yet?"

He shook his head, thinking of how relatively empty the corridors have been for him. "Barely seen anyone. You?"

"One. Found the idiot around the front entrance. Thought that he could somehow waltz out of here regardless of all the turrets." Jenna's face was as sour as a lemon as she said, or rather spat, this. "Xavier is clearing out most of the rooms, trying to find the other two. It's a good thing that your robot was able to shut down all communication links in this area, otherwise Grim and Nero wouldn't have been able to land."

"They're here?"

"Holding the position outside. Our reinforcements shouldn't be here for at least another 5 minutes. Half will stay in the sky, in case anyone managed to get into a ship. The rest will provide support on-ground and help clear out remaining hostiles."

Jenna pinned herself against the wall, peaking over a corner before continuing down the hall. Ratchet followed her lead, keeping his ears open for any suspicious sounds. Suddenly, she held a hand up, motioning towards a slightly ajar door before heading inside.

The room was empty, save for a line of crates and turned over tables at the far end of the room. Jenna slowly crept towards the makeshift cover, aiming her gun as she checked if anyone was hiding behind it.

There wasn't.

"Alright," she said with a sigh, "Check the other rooms. We can't have the last official escape–" She fell silent for an instant, before aiming her gun at Ratchet. "Get behind cover!" she yelled, before firing into the space over his shoulder.

Ratchet dodged out of harm's way, not checking to see who was behind him, until he was behind the safety of the crates.

They splintered inches away from his ears, but he didn't dare to make any signs of movement. Bullets continued to riddle their way through the wood, inching closer and closer to his head. The sound of his blood pounding in his head drowned out the chaos around him though, much to his relief and irritation.

He snuck a glance over at Jenna, whose height put her in an even worse situation than him – she was literally lying on her side to keep out of the firing line. Even as shards of splintered wood dug into her cheeks, drawing a thin line of blood, she didn't take her eyes off Ratchet. Don't you dare, she glared at him. Take so much as a breath and I'll shoot you myself.

The gunfire finally ceased and someone reloaded their gun. A flash grenade suddenly materialised in Jenna's hand, as she pulled the pin and flung it over the crates. Ratchet managed to shut his eyes just as the grenade exploded, filling the room with blinding white light.

Their attackers yelled in surprise and stumbled around the room, squeezing their eyes shut in pain. As if they'd rehearsed it, the two of them leaned over the crates and fired at the group. Ratchet heard a loud, painful yelp and a body collapsing onto the floor. Jenna leapt over the crates and ran into the cloud without so much of a glance at Ratchet. "Hey!" he yelled at the swirling hole she left in the dust. What happened to sticking together?

The gunfire continued into the corridor, illuminating the darkness with quick, short blinks of light.

He quickly loaded another round into his Blaster before heading off into the dust again, trying to spot which direction Jenna had run off in.

Suddenly, he heard frantic shuffling and light footsteps behind the door next to him. Thinking back, Ratchet realised that neither he nor Jenna had actually checked this room yet.

He kicked on the door but it held firm. The noises stopped momentarily before becoming even louder. He kicked again, this time feeling something knock loose on the other side. On his third try, the door finally swung open, revealing a well-furnished room and a single Blarg dressed in a formal blue uniform behind the desk.

"Get down!" The man whirled around with a small inch of surprise wrinkling his face. Ratchet pointed his Blaster harder, trying to hide the frantic pounding in his chest. "I said get down!" But the man didn't move a muscle, wearing a calm and collected smile like a mask. His heart raced faster and his instincts told him something was wrong. The man slowly snaked his hand underneath the table, not taking his eyes off Ratchet.

Behind him, there was a sharp crackling sound and the man's cool mask suddenly cracked, leaking panic into his eyes. A long, curled wire shot past his ear and into the man's shoulder. Ratchet couldn't bring himself to look at the man jerking and flaying over the ground, but he never took his eyes off Jenna's cold, hardened smirk as she finally retracted the stun gun, walked over to the official and cuffed his hands. His breaths were jagged and painful, sounding more like those of dying animal than someone who had just been tasered. Ratchet pretended not to notice the sudden wet stain that spread out across the official's pants, or the yellow liquid trickling down and pooling at his feet. The official still shook and wobbled uncertainly on his feet, but Jenna pushed him forward with a gun pointed to his back.

"Keep moving." She said sternly, clicking the gun off safety.

The official obliged, but not without trying to cover the embarrassing stain on his pants.

Jenna called over her shoulder, "Ratchet, check the rest of the rooms for others. Use force if required."

It wasn't like he didn't hate the Blarg; he could never forgive them for what Drek was doing to the galaxy or for what they did to Jinx. And he certainly was committed to the Galactic Rangers. But he was starting to dislike Jenna's approach to the Blarg.

The time he spent checking over the other rooms gave him some time to think. Did the thought that this was too excessive ever pass Jenna's mind? Or did she somehow justify her actions since they were in a war? Ratchet was certainly one to talk, considering the number of Blargian men and women he had mowed down over the past weeks, but even he thought that this was taking it too far.

With the final room checked and cleared, Ratchet spoke into his earpiece. "Finished clearing the building, Jenna. Awaiting further orders." He let the static ring back at him while he inspected the room further. All the rooms had the same layout: several filing cabinets against the walls, thick red carpets, and a polished oak desk in the centre with a computer screen. Whoever this room belonged to clearly had some sense to decorate it, whether out of a strong desire for individuality amongst their peers or not. Two tall potted plants lined either side of the desk along with a tasteful landscape painting on the back wall, in a golden frame with overly dramatic spirals bordering it.

Something else that was different about this room caught his eye: the computer was still on. Someone must have forgotten to turn it off amidst the chaos they'd created. Whoever it was had left it on their email and a clearly labelled message stuck out. Alpha 29O4I, Phase D, C.Q.

Ratchet suddenly looked closer at the C.Q. Captain Quark. It could have just been coincidence that the initials matched Quark's, but Ratchet immediately launched himself into a chair and clicked on the message.

Alpha 29O4I, Phase D, C.Q.

Abort mission and wait at enclosed co-ordinates for Phase D. Stay low until further orders are sent.

C.Q.

Ratchet was so excited that he almost missed Jenna's voice crackling in his ear. "Everyone pack up and get ready to go. We've got Rangers dispatched to check the rest of the building for information."

"Wait, Jenna! I found something in one of the rooms."

There was a moment of static before he got a reply. "Copy that. But the order still stands – leave it for the other rangers. They're more trained in handling this."

"But–"

"That's an order soldier." Jenna said sternly. Ratchet cursed himself for acting so thoughtlessly. He didn't want to think what Jenna would have in store for him when they regrouped – she did warn him that his unique circumstances didn't make the rules not apply to him.

"Yes ma'am." He sighed, grimacing at the computer screen while the words danced across his mind tauntingly. Jenna was right, he thought reluctantly. There were other, more experienced Rangers who were trained to handle information like this. Tampering with it could do more harm than good, and he didn't even know for sure if Quark was the one who sent it. There were plenty of names that went with the initials 'C.Q'. It may not even be initials. Maybe it was another code.

But now he was just over-thinking it. With a sigh, he tore himself away from the screen and left to regroup with the others.


Hey everyone, I'm still alive! I know that it's been a while since I last updated (longer than just 'a while') so you probably deserve an explanation.

In the space of time since I last updated to today, I've spent all my school holidays doing either working or revising for mock weeks. And yes, that included the summer holidays as well (specifically, working on a lovely thing called the 'EPQ'). I don't even know how I've still managed to set aside some time for writing. At this stage, I know this year will be very hectic for me and I can't see any point where it's going to get better.

I really hate it when I don't update my stories for long periods of time and more so for making excuses as to why I'm taking longer to write chapters. You guys have been so patient with waiting, and I am unbelievably grateful for your support and comments.

Like I've said in the past, I really don't want to leave this story unfinished and have always intended to keep on writing until the final chapter. Abandoning this story now would be pretty selfish of me and I probably would never forgive myself for it.

What I'm trying to say is thank you for your continued support and patience with this. It's definitely going to take a while, but don't worry, Ratchet, Clank and Jinx will get their ending.

Thanks again!