Vendra lay awake in what passed for her bed, with it's old, termite-eaten wood frame and lice-infested mattress. On the floor next to her, Neftin snored softly underneath their only blanket.
The two of them alternated nights for who got the bed and who got the blanket, since a hard floor and a cold night were easier to take separately and in turns.
Like most orphaned siblings, Meero only gave the Progs one room to share, but the sorry excuse for a bed couldn't hold more than one of even their tiny forms without collapsing.
Not that it mattered, though. Vendra rarely slept well regardless. Recently her dreams had been plagued with visions of strange purple lights, while a constant tap, tap, tapping tormented her every night.
Tonight was no different and she once more attempted to fall asleep as the steady beating rang in her ears.
The young Nether could only assume that the noise was caused by some busted water pipe that ran beneath their bedroom, but for some reason she seemed to be the only one who heard it.
It wasn't exactly strange for the many concerns about the structural integrity of the orphanage to be dismissed by the people who ran it, but even Neftin seemed oblivious to the mind-numbing staccato.
Tonight was especially bad. The harsh rapping seemed to be louder than ever. Vendra tossed and turned, not even her deep exhaustion enough to make her lose consciousness thanks to the sound.
Eventually, she'd had enough, and slid out of her bed. She put her ear to the floorboards and searched for the sound.
But even as she got closer to where the tapping seemed like it was coming from, the sound remained constant, regardless of where she put her ear.
Still, she was desperate this night to locate its tormenting source. She pushed her ear down harder against the floor, gritting her teeth as focused on sound.
Suddenly, the rickety old floorboard popped loose and fell away, startling Vendra and making her pull back.
The young Nether hesitated as she slowly peeked down into the dark hole she'd uncovered. She could feel the tapping even faster now, as if it were drawing her into the darkness.
Neftin let out a deep snore that pulled Vendra's attention away for a moment. She briefly considered waking her brother, but even her twin gave her strange looks when she spoke of the noise. Perhaps she was going mad.
When Vendra turned back to the hole, there was something that wasn't there before. A dim, purple light that glowed from somewhere far below. It flickered in time with the incessant tapping in her head.
Swallowing, the young Nether hesitantly peaked over the remaining floorboards and as she strained her eyes to see what the light, a shape began to form.
A huge, cyclopic eye blinked up at her and froze. It stared straight at her, as if it's gaze were piercing her soul!
The tapping stopped at once and soft whispers in a language Vendra had never heard, whose words sound inexplicably familiar, replaced them.
Vendra leapt back and stifled a scream.
Terrified, she crawled back onto her bed and buried her face in the rotten fibers of her pillow.
She felt cold as she curled into a ball and held herself tight.
She squeezed her eyes shut and wished the nightmare would just go away, but that tapping only increased. It grew louder and louder in her mind, as if the eye were coming for her.
Tap… TAP… TAP, TAP, TAP... snap… snap...
Vendra opened her eyes to see the darkening sky of Torren IV high above her.
There was a moment of confusion as she wondered where she was, before a wave of pain slammed into her and brought her to full awareness.
Her whole body felt like a starship had been dropped on it.
Blinking the exhaustion from her eyes, the young Nether sat up painfully and took in her surroundings.
As she tried to get her bearings she could hear a snap… snap… … … snap, coming from somewhere.
She was on a roof she didn't recognize in a part of the Hollow that she was unfamiliar with. However, kneeling just a few meters away, was someone she 'was' familiar with.
Ratchet had his Plasma Striker positioned over the roof's wall and was sending the occasional precision shot into the distance.
Still confused, Vendra tried to move her leg and accidentally kicked a piece of rubbish. It made a soft 'clang' as it fell onto the scrap metal roof.
Ratchet immediately looked up from his shooting and eyed her. Their gazes met as the young Lombax studied her with a serious expression.
Then a warm smile split his stupid, furry face, "Well, look who's awake?" he said in a voice so sickeningly cheerful that Vendra considered blasting him clear off the building.
Before she could proceed, however, her head began to pound and she leaned forward to cup it in her hands.
Bits and pieces of the fight with the Agorians came back to her in flashes. They brought with them the memory of the terrible pain that now caused her current soreness.
"Ughhhh… what happened?" she groaned as she shut her eyes from the still oppressive light of the sun.
When she opened her eyes again, Ratchet was crouched by her side, his arms out as if he were ready to catch her at any moment, "You took down a band of raging Agorian Raiders, that's what," he explained, his merry expression and words not reaching his stiff and poised body. "I already gave you an injection of Nanotech. The wounds should all be healed by now, but the soreness won't go away anytime soon."
Slowly, and painfully, Vendra recalled the battle. Everything right up to her last-ditch effort to take down the leader.
Suddenly she sat up, ignoring the protesting throb of her skull and ache of her back as she turned to Ratchet, "What happened with the Vullards?" she questioned desperately. "Did I get all the Agorians?! Did they…"
At this, Ratchet smiled and put an arm on hers to calm her down, "You weren't able to finish them off completely," he began with a shrug. "A couple of grenadiers had only been stunned. I showed up just after you took down the big one, but the stragglers were confused and easy to finish off as they tried to regroup."
Vendra let out a sigh of relief and leaned back against the wall. She'd been afraid that just one lucky bomb wasn't enough to take out all three of the other Agorians, but if Ratchet was able to dispatch them before they could recover, then they probably weren't able to attack the Vullards either.
Ratchet's grin widened as he watched Vendra's reaction.
Vendra didn't like it when the preachy Lombax smiled, but for some reason she found this one particularly unsettling.
"What?" she growled, knowing she wasn't going to like the answer.
"The Vullards told me what happened," he explained with a face that said he knew some juicy secret that he was dying to tell. "They went on and on about how you swooped in and saved them. How you single-handedly fought off an entire mob of screaming Agorian Raiders… they called you a 'hero'."
Vendra's relatively good mood immediately evaporated, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" she declared, as if she'd just been insulted.
"You did save their lives," Ratchet pointed out.
"Hey, 'you're' the one that told me we had to protect the stupid garbage snails."
Ratchet gave her a cheeky look, "And since when do you listen to anything 'I' say?"
Vendra scoffed and waved a hand dismissively, "Please, I was just frying some stupid Agorians because I was bored. The Vullards just happened to benefit from it."
Ratchet shook his head, "It doesn't change the fact that they were saved. Besides, they told me exactly how you stood your ground in front of an oncoming rush of enemies. You took the Agorians head-on and that's what gave those Vullards the time to get to safety."
Vendra didn't say anything, she simply scowled at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with Ratchet.
But the Lombax wasn't done. This was the clearest evidence he'd seen that Vendra could maybe turn herself around and he wasn't willing to let it go easily.
"You should have heard them," he pressed. "The group you saved, I mean. At first, they were all frantic at the thought that you might have died protecting them. Some even promised to erect a statue in your honor, imagine that. But after I checked your vitals and administered a Nanotech booster, I told them you'd be fine. Then they began going on and on about wanting to show their gratitude. I'll bet if you come back in a few months there will be at least one little Vendra statue in that square."
Vendra listened silently, pretending not to care about her praise and adulation, but the more Ratchet talked, the more guilt she felt.
"I didn't try to save them," she whispered under her breath.
Ratchet, hearing her perfectly with his Lombax ears, laughed, "You can deny it all you want, but the evidence is clear. You saved those-"
"I didn't save anyone!" she snarled, snapping her head back around and fixing Ratchet with a cold stare. Her head spun from the sudden gesture, but she didn't look away. "I stayed at first, but that was only because I didn't want to hear you lecturing me about letting some junk-backs get slaughtered... Then things started to get bad… then I realized I might not win that fight. So I just… I just left... I tried to fly away, knowing full well that those Vullards were still in danger, but the Agorians caught me in some kind of grav-tether. That's the 'only' reason they were saved."
Vendra's cold stare darkened further, but then softened just before she looked away again, "I'm not a hero," she breathed. "I just couldn't get out of the way fast enough."
Silence fell over the small roof as Ratchet let the words settle.
In that silence, Vendra quickly found herself wishing the Lombax would just say something. Call her weak, cowardly, cruel. All of them were true after all. The disappointed silence, however, felt somehow worse.
"So?" he said at last, breaking the quiet with a tone that was neither cheerful nor judgmental.
Confused, Vendra glanced back at Ratchet. His expression was firm, but his eyes were soft.
"Do you think being a hero means not valuing your own life?"
Vendra opened her mouth to respond but didn't know how to reply to that. She kind of 'did' think that's what being a hero meant.
Ratchet shook his head, "Maybe you 'were' mostly just interested in letting loose, maybe you 'did' only face them down because you didn't want to hear about it later, and maybe you 'did' try to hightail it when the going got tough…"
Vendra's expression darkened. She wasn't sure where the Lombax was going with this, but she was sure it wasn't making her feel any better.
But Ratchet's eyes remained kind and that warmth reached his lips as he gave her a soft smile, "None of that matters because the truth is: you 'did' stay. You 'did' fight to protect them. And you 'did' save their lives. Maybe you weren't a saint about it, but Vendra… you were a hero to those Vullards when they needed one, and 'that's' what matters."
The tired Nether stared dumbfounded at Ratchet's approving features, her mind unable to comprehend what he was saying, 'Was that actually true?' she asked herself. 'Could being a hero be so... half-assed?'
Then the former villain remembered how close she'd come, not just to death, but to being skinned alive. The only reason she still had her hide was because the Vullards she'd protected risked their lives to return the favor.
The hunched junk-lovers were weak and pathetic and had no hope of beating even one Agorian warrior, but still, they tried. And they did so because they saw her as their hero.
"Maybe you're right," Vendra began, hardly believing the words herself as a look of understanding spread across her face.
She sat up a little closer to Ratchet, "Maybe I 'can' be a hero. Maybe all I needed was someone to show me how? Someone, to believe in me and to give me the freedom to make that choice?"
Ratchet's smile grew and he put his hand reassuringly on Vendra's shoulder, "Maybe…" he agreed, giving her a look of understanding and acceptance. "But I'm not releasing your powers any further."
All pretense of enlightenment drained from Vendra's face and she scowled with disdain, "Pathetic," she snapped, slapping his hand from her shoulder and standing despite how painful it was to do so. "What good is your bleeding heart naiveté and sappy speeches if I can't even use them for my own gain? Didn't you say I was a 'hero'? Shouldn't heroes not need control collars?"
Ratchet's smile didn't fade as he stood up, "Because that's not a matter of heroism, that's a matter of trust, and you haven't earned that… yet."
Vendra rolled her eyes. She couldn't tell if the Lombax really was just a naive fool like he acted or if he was just messing with her, but it was starting to get annoying.
An explosion sounded in the distance, making both Ratchet and Vendra turn toward the source of the sound.
Together they peeked out over the roof wall to find a smoking pile of rubble that had once been a small Vullard hut. It was now surrounded by cheering Agorians.
To Vendra's astonishment, the brutes were digging up what looked to be Lombax body parts.
Ratchet clicked his teeth and shook his head, "Looks like they got the last one."
Vendra turned to the calm-looking Lombax with eyes wide, "The last one of what?!" she demanded. "What are those things?"
Ratchet shrugged and answered casually, "I set up a bunch of Dopplebangers, along with tesla-spikes and mines all around the area while you were unconscious. The Agorians have been periodically assaulting them thinking they're me and I've been picking off as many as I can without giving away my position. That one they're cheering over was the last decoy." He then hefted his Plasma Slayer and eyed the Agorian mob, "Looks like the break is over."
Vendra let out a sigh, before standing up and beginning to work the stiffness from her body, "Well good," she declared, before pushing power through her veins to gauge how much she'd recovered. "Any more of that fluffy heart-to-heart drivel and I was going to jump off this roof 'without' using my wings."
Ratchet gave her a disapproving look, but something about his expression told the still injured Nether that it wasn't because of her comment.
"You're in no condition to fight," he countered firmly. "You barely survived the last battle and you still haven't fully recovered. There aren't that many of them, so you should just rest here for now."
Vendra's eyes flashed. If there was one thing she hated more than being considered a hero, it was being considered weak.
"I've recovered just fine," she argued, letting the raw glow of her powers coalesce around her body to emphasize her point.
Unfortunately, she glowed so brightly that others took notice.
The stolen Agorian radio Ratchet still had crackled to life, "All Magora's Raiders! We've located the space-rat and the witch! Sending coordinates now!"
Ratchet looked out into the distance where the Agorians, furious that they'd been duped by yet another mechanical Lombax, were pointing and shouting at the purple light that Vendra was giving off.
"Look what you did," he grumbled with a scowl. "No hiding here now."
"Good," was all Vendra said in reply.
Ratchet gave the obstinate space witch one last disapproving look, before shaking his head and leaping smoothly from the rooftop.
Using his hoverboots to slow his descent, he landed with cat-like grace before blasting off to meet the oncoming rush of Agorians.
Vendra let her powers simmer down and snickered as she watched him go.
'This was for the best,' she thought.
Ratchet's words about being a hero had been confusing. They hadn't made any sense, but they churned something in her. The former villain couldn't sort out her feelings about any of it, so she decided that it was best just not to think about it at all.
Fighting was simple. Kill the Agorians, find the shard, get a big-screen holo-vision.
That made sense.
Vendra spotted Ratchet just after he'd engaged the Agorian Vanguard.
Twin streams of plasma fire poured from his dual-wielded blasters and several enemies had already fallen in just the few seconds it'd taken her to catch up. The rest of the mob was charging him, but he was far too agile to be hit with their favored skewering-swords. He easily avoided the attacks, jumping back when opponents got too close, and opening up with his blasters again.
It was an impressive entrance, but Vendra was in the mood to show him up. She let her power overflow in her body, feeling the rush and exhilaration as she increased her speed. She flew right past Ratchet and crashed headlong into the charging waves of Agorians.
Wrapped in a bubble of her own power, the projected energy formed a strong shield around her. It had the effect of turning her into a giant wrecking ball.
The massive Agorian warriors unfortunate enough to be standing directly in her path were tossed aside, while the ones lucky enough to stand their ground were unlucky enough to feel her electric wrath when she finally came to a halt in their midst and released all the contained energy at once.
Panting from the exertion, Vendra turned in hopes of finding a look of awe on Ratchet's face, but the Lombax wasn't even looking her way. He had instead switched to offering targeted fire support that made quick work of the remaining advanced forces around them.
Disappointed, Vendra turned as a particularly sturdy Agorian managed to pick themselves up from the ground.
The wounded warrior eyed her with dazed aggression, their target and intent clear as day.
Reacting quickly, Vendra used her powers to seize a nearby skewering sword off a dead warrior and drove the blade into her opponent's chest.
It all happened in an instant. The large Agorain grunted in surprise and their aggressive gaze faded as they fell back to the ground…
'Where they belong.'
Vendra grinned. As she released her psychic grip on the weapon, however, she looked down to see a blinking orb lying just inches from her feet.
The space witch's eyes went wide. She'd once again left herself open as she'd focused her powers completely on attacking.
Before she could even react, however, a shining Omniwrench came flying in from out of nowhere. It caught the blinking bomb in its twin prongs, before boomeranging back from whence it came.
Vendra followed the spinning tool reflexively and it brought her gaze up to see Ratchet in mid-air with several other Agorians swinging swords at the ground he'd just jumped from.
Without breaking his arc, the nimble Lombax caught his wrench and, while still airborne, slung the bomb it carried into his opponents below.
The explosion killed some outright and knocked others to the ground. As he landed Ratchet even brought the wrench itself down on one of the survivors, finishing them off instantly.
The galaxy-famous adventure had been facing off against half-a-dozen Agorians, but in a heartbeat, he'd laid them low with bomb and Omniwrench and was already back-flipping away to safety before any of his enemies could even react to his onslaught.
The effortless way with which Ratchet danced around his enemies made Vendra question if he secretly had the ability to fly as well.
Of course, not wanting to be outdone, the petty space witch rose up into the sky, making her a clear target for any Agorian with a ranged weapon.
Like moths to the flame the grenadiers all raised their cannon-arms and lobbed a salvo of explosive orbs in her direction.
Vendra grinned, giving her silent thanks to them (sarcastically, even in her own mind) and with a sweep of her hand caught them mid-air.
And with a flick of her wrist she rained destruction back down upon her enemies.
Many of the Grenadiers had shields, but there were a few who did not and none of the sword-wielding Agorians had any protection at all.
Vendra focused her attacks on those vulnerable enemies, letting the Grenadiers continue to ignorantly feed her an endless supply of explosives.
She was wanton in her destruction. The former villain was on the verge of laughter as the foolish Agorians died so easily to her brutal assault.
It was only after she'd unleashed the entire salvo-worth of explosives did she realize that she'd bombarded the area Ratchet had been in as well.
A sudden twinge of panic ran through Vendra as she realized what her carelessness might have done. She quickly scanned the battlefield, squinting through the burning smoke for any sign of Ratchet. Her panic began to rise when she didn't immediately spot him, but a second later she saw a tan-furred figure flitting about in the chaos below, seemingly unaware of what she'd done.
Vendra let out a sigh of relief, but then immediately checked herself and literally tried to suck it back in. Cheeks burning with embarrassment, the ashamed space witch chided herself for having any thought other than utter glee at the possibility of Ratchet's demise. She reminded herself that if she did 'accidentally' kill the foolish hero in the turmoil of the fight, then that was one less problem off her 'neck'.
But that outcome seemed unlikely now.
The nimble Lombax slid between the falling bombs and screaming Agorians like a leaf on the wind... A leaf that was simultaneously unleashing devastation as it went.
Blaster shots, bomb-glove explosions, and wrench strikes were all distributed with blinding skill and speed. All the while he was systematically tearing Agorian shields from their arms and leaving them completely vulnerable to Vendra's attacks.
As much as she hated the idea of accepting his assistance, Vendra quickly made short work of them after that.
Vendra was secretly, begrudgingly, painfully... impressed.
She realized that this was actually the first time she had seen Ratchet fight from 'this side' of the battlefield, and as she watched his tiny form work its way through the hulking Agorian warriors like a scythe through grain, she was forced to remember what it was like to be his opponent.
Back then, she hadn't been able to fathom how the pint-sized bag of space-rat fur had her brother and their legion of thugs.
Only now could she appreciate the reality and was forced to secretly, begrudgingly, painfully… admit that she preferred fighting 'with' him than against him.
Vendra was so caught up in her thoughts and the fighting that she almost didn't see an incoming Agorian Rider's flail.
At the last second she managed to use her powers to redirect the burning spike ball and send it crashing back down into the teaming melee of Agorians below.
Several more searing flails followed the first, but she was able to dodge these outright.
Vendra followed the projectiles' trajectory and spotted their source, several riders that hadn't been with the first group of Agorians. They must have only just caught up after the announcement of their location over the Agorian's radio. They were like the first of more reinforcements yet to come.
Vendra scowled at the new threat. Unlike the relatively tiny bombs that were lobbed at her from the Grenadiers, the heavy flaming chain flails were hurled at her with a lot more force. Catching them meant absorbing all of the momentum and that was twice as hard to do up in the air.
To make matters worse, Ratchet had been right. She hadn't fully recovered from her last fight, even with the Nanotech boosters he'd given her. She could already feel the strength born of her stubbornness starting to wear off.
Reluctantly she began lowering herself back to the ground, but she was in no way giving up.
An Agorian Rider came charging straight at her the moment she landed, but Vendra simply captured a nearby Agorian footsoldier with her powers and threw them into the beast's path.
The surprised warrior screamed as they were skewered on the mount's two massive tusks and the rider was forced to swerve off course.
Several more riders hurled flails at her and, despite the strain, she managed to catch them and send them back. She didn't manage to take out any of the riders, though they all moved to flank her.
Just like the last times, Vendra was forced to turn her back to her enemies and it was already hard enough for her to focus her exhausted mind as it was.
Stretched thin between watching both her sides, the last thing she expected was to hear an ear-piercing warcry suddenly erupt from behind her.
Vendra spun to find a hulking Agorian standing over her with their sword raised. She had been too focused on the riders and had completely missed the footsoldier closing in on her.
Desperately, the cornered space witch focused her powers in preparation to block, but the massive warrior was already bringing their sword down on her.
There was a bright flash of multi-colored light. Vendra had to look away as her eyes burned. When she opened them again, the raging Agorian was gone. Replaced by a furry marsupial beast... a Kangaroo.
The surprised Nether was dumbfounded. Mouth hanging open in befuddlement, she looked up to see Ratchet holding a smoking, multi-colored cannon, with several other Kangaroos hopping around him. Some were even beating up other Agorians.
Vendra gave the grinning Lombax a deeply questioning look, but he simply smiled back at her proudly. It was as if the species-altering chaos that he'd just unleashed wasn't the single most incomprehensible act of combat that one could imagine.
In fact, by the way he grinned, Vendra feared that he actually 'didn't' understand the strangeness of the situation, and that this kind of thing was considered 'normal' for him.
But unbeknownst to the smiling hero, a blade-wielding Agorian had pushed past the hopping animals and managed to sneak up behind him. Salivating in anticipation, the blood-thristy warrior pulled back their skewering swords and prepared to eviscerate Ratchet in one fell swoop.
There wasn't time for a warning. Without thinking, Vendra reached out with her powers and pulled Ratchet toward her.
Wrapped in purple light, the surprised Lombax flew forward, narrowly avoiding the Agorian's strike.
With Ratchet clear of the imminent danger, Vendra used her other hand to blast the Agorian back into the mass of Kangaroos. They landed with a crash and the hopping beasts pounced on their prone form, before proceeding to pummel the hapless warrior to death.
Vendra let out a huge breath at how close the call had been. An instant later, she spun on Ratchet, ready to berate him for his lack of awareness and hypocrisy. However, she found him there, not only still grinning, but smiling even wider now, as if he hadn't just been an inch away from being 'twice' as annoying.
All at once the realization hit her and the former villain's eyes widened in horror.
Vendra almost fell to her knees, as she dropped her head shamefully into her hands, she couldn't even look at him as she spoke, "You did that on purpose," she said in a hushed, accusatory tone.
Ratchet flicked his ears, "Eh, I heard him coming," he admitted.
Vendra looked up, anger in her eyes, "You tricked me!" she barked, rage and shame filling her at the thought that she'd just tried to save his miserable life.
But Ratchet continued to look at her with that infuriatingly self-satisfied grin, "Thanks for the assist," he said with genuine appreciation.
To Vendra, the words were an insult and she raised a purple-glowing fist. She opened her mouth to retort, but before she could say another word, Ratchet's smile vanished and his expression turned to surprise.
"Look out!" he shouted, and Vendra turned just in time to see the charging Agorian Rider coming straight for her. She barely managed to throw up a barrier with her powers in time to stop them.
Her feet slid across the ground as her body compressed painfully from the impact. Without time to set up her barrier properly, the young space witch was forced to absorb much of the impact through her own limbs.
Her collar burned and it took all of the power she could muster just to stop the massive beast. When they both finally came to a halt, its pointed tusks quivered just inches from her chest.
With her attention on holding back the mount, Vendra was only vaguely aware of the clinking whistle of a chain flail being spun above her head. While the beast had been immobilized, its rider was still free to continue the attack, but Vendra didn't have the strength to spare to stop them. If she let up even a bit, she would be impaled.
Oddly enough, though, she wasn't concerned.
A loud splash sounded in her ears, immediately followed by a scream from the Agora rider and, soon after, from the beast.
Through blurred vision that was strained from her efforts, Vendra saw a massive blob of green liquid consume the Agorian rider and its mount. It dissolved them until there was nothing left of either but a large glowing puddle.
With her overtaxed muscles shaking, Vendra turned to see a cheerful-looking Lombax holding some kind of wrist-mounted goo gun.
He gave her a thumbs up and she glared at him. Besides the fact that keeping track of all the weird weapons he used was giving her a headache, Vendra was mostly annoyed that he'd killed the Agorian rider before they'd have a chance to hurt her, because she knew he would.
More than knew, in fact. The former villain had expected it without a doubt.
Vendra was tired and drained. She had suffered several near-death experiences in just a few short moments. Her stubborn desire to prove herself had been shattered the moment the first flail had nearly struck her and Ratchet had even made it clear that he wanted her to stay out of the fight. She had absolutely no reason to keep putting herself in such danger and yet she wasn't afraid. She 'wanted' to stay and fight.
The truth was, despite her recent brushes with death and her weakened powers, the exhausted space witch continued to fight... continued to recklessly use her abilities even though they left her vulnerable... only because Ratchet was there... because she knew that he would guard her back when she couldn't.
And the amount of comfort this gave her was infuriating.