A Prog in the Machine

by MBIII

Deep inside the Vartax Detention Center, Vendra Prog isn't coping well with the loss of her purpose or the guilt of what she'd done in the name of it. But when the discovery of a new Surinox Shard brings a former enemy to her jail cell, the space witch's knowledge of interdimensional physics might just be put to good use for once... If there's any good in her for Ratchet to find.

1. A Brother's Plea

Ratchet made his way down the corridor keeping his eyes front and his expression empty.

Flanking either side of him was a retinue of large robot prison guards as well as the Warden of Vartax himself.

Each time the group passed a cell, the inmates inside would recognize the famed Lombax almost immediately and a stream of shouts soon followed them as they walked.

The calls ranged from profanities and insults to offers of intimacy, but neither Ratchet nor his escort paid them any attention.

"He's been a model prisoner since he got here," the warden explained offhandedly, appearing right at home as he strolled through the halls of incarcerated hardened criminals. "He even keeps some of the more troublesome inmates in line. A man in my position can appreciate a convict like him. Still... he's dangerous and I don't like the idea of sitting him face to face with the guy what put him in here."

Ratchet glanced up at the warden, "He turned himself in," the tan-furred Lombax corrected.

"Hah," the warden laughed. "Well, that's not wrong. Anyway, you've been granted fifteen minutes under level five security, but I won't give you a second more."

Ratchet nodded his understanding, "It's alright. This shouldn't take that long," he replied, his tone making it clear he didn't want this to take any longer than necessary either.

The escort came to a halt in front of a large checkpoint door. This was the fourth checkpoint that Ratchet had crossed today and, after the five-minute-long process of getting patted down and scanned, he finally walked out into a wing of the prison that was unlike any other he'd seen.

The shouts and chaos of the previous blocks were instantly silenced as the heavy doors shut behind him, making this section seem eerily quiet in comparison. Unlike the previous, quadruple-stacked rows of metal and plasma-barred cells of the rest of the prison, this one housed just a few dozen reinforced doors. Doors that looked strong enough to take a blast from a tank shell.

Through some of the armored slits in those massive barriers, Ratchet could see the soft glow of eyes watching him, but no sound was made. If the Lombax had history with any of those eyes, they said nothing.

The warden walked on, still keeping the same casual pace, however, this time he kept his eyes fixed on every door as they passed. It seemed that even he wasn't entirely comfortable in every part of his own prison.

Ratchet followed all the way across the prison block, feeling the stares on him the entire way, but he made no outward show of it.

At last, they came to their final destination: yet another large door at the end of the block that was guarded by two more security bots.

The warden held up his hand and two of their escort retinue joined the guards standing at attention and the four of them took up position. A second later a loud buzz echoed through the silent hall and the door unlocked with several deep *thunks* that reverberated through the silent air.

The heavy door was then manually opened by the four guards.

The warden made a gesture for Ratchet to enter, "After you."

The wary Lombax peaked into the surprisingly bright-lit room, then back to the warden, then back to the room, before nodding and cautiously walking in.

The moment he was inside, the door was sealed shut behind him.

'No going back now,' Ratchet thought jokingly as he looked about the room he'd just been locked in.

It was small and simple. Four white walls, a white ceiling, and a white floor. The room would have been completely empty if not for the security cameras in the corners and the desk that sat in the middle of it.

Like the room, the desk was simple too. Made of metal, bolted to the floor, and flanked by two metal stools on either side.

Ratchet took a step toward the nearest chair, intending to take a seat, but stopped when he felt his fur tingle.

Curious, the young Lombax raised a hand into the air and carefully reached out across the table.

About halfway across, his fingers hit an invisible resistance. It was then that he realized the whole room was bisected by a clear forcefield.

Ratchet tested the field's strength, noting how little his touch disturbed or discolored the completely transparent barrier. It must have been very strong.

With a nod of approval, he at last took his seat on the stool and waited.

Several long minutes passed.

Then, without warning, several deep *thunks* rang out from the door on the other half of the room and it began to slide open.

Ratchet forced himself not to react, to keep his expression passive as the gate slowly revealed a colossal form standing behind it.

With just two heavy steps, which Ratchet felt reverberating through, if not the sturdy floor then his mind, the enormous inmate had crossed the room to their own chair and took a seat.

The moment they did so, two heavy auto-turrets popped down from the ceiling on their side of the room, each pointing a multi-barreled gun at the inmate's back.

At the same time, the large door behind them slid shut again and suddenly... all was silent, leaving the two occupants to just stare at each other.

"You have fifteen minutes," the Warden's voice chimed in from some unseen speaker. "Starting now."

When the speaker tone died, a wide grin split the inmate's face, "Well, isn't this a surprise!" the large Nether noted with a smirk. "Not too busy celebrating the defeat of the vile Prog twins to come to see an old friend, eh?"

"I wouldn't call us friends, Neftin," Ratchet countered. "You did try to murder me, several times, along with most of the galaxy."

"Bah," Neftin countered with a dismissive wave of his massive hand, a gesture which the auto-turrets tracked closely. "We worked together to stop the Nethers, didn't we?"

Ratchet shrugged and offered a nod of acknowledgement, "We did."

"See?!" The larger Prog exclaimed with his grin returning, "Besides… I'm reformed now. I don't break prison rules, I attend anger therapy classes, and I'm even getting my degree in Astrophysics. It turns out that years of trying to rip apart the fabric of space gives one a certain affinity for the material."

Ratchet raised an eyebrow, finding the news curious, but easy to believe given what the Warden had said about Neftin being a model inmate, "I'm glad to see you're adjusting so well," he admitted honestly.

With that, Neftin's grin faded and he leaned forward in his chair, causing the auto-turrets to whir dangerously, "So what's the deal, Lombax? I know you didn't come here just to exchange pleasantries, or to see how I'm 'adjusting'."

Ratchet considered the massive Nether for a moment, "You're right Neftin, I 'didn't' come to talk about your present situation," he confessed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small holo-projector. "I came to talk about your past."

Placing the small holoprojector on the desk, in clear view for Neftin to see, Ratchet switched the device on and a series of holographic images came to life, floating in the air just above it. All of them formed grainy snapshots of a lizard-like Snivelakian Thug.

"This is-" Ratchet began.

"Agron Snarg," Neftin finished, recognizing the Thugs-4-Less mercenary immediately.

"So, you remember him?"

The large former villain snorted and leaned back in his chair with the turrets spinning to follow, "Of course I remember him, he was the lieutenant that led the outfit of Thugs-4-Less I hired. Clever for a Thug, he was my second-in-command for our, er… 'little operation' in the Zarkov sector."

Ratchet looked from Neftin to the photos and then back again, "If he was so important, how come I never saw and/or vaporized him when I was dealing with your 'little operation'?"

Neftin shrugged, "We put him in charge of a particular side job we'd had going," he explained vaguely. "At the time, we had more pressing matters to deal with."

"Side job? You mean Pollux wasn't your only 'operation'?"

Neftin threw up his hands, followed closely by the turrets, "Of course not! You didn't think we only had one plan to reach the Nethers, did you? In fact, we tried hundreds, maybe even thousands of experiments. Spent most of our lives with just that one goal in mind..."

Neftin trailed off for a moment, silently reflecting on something that Ratchet could only guess at, before looking up and continuing, "We had one particular long-shot that held a lot of promise. But then that whole business with Pollux became even more promising and, well… you know the rest. Still, at the time it seemed like a waste to just write off all the work we'd done, so I left it to Snarg right before you showed up on Yerek."

"This 'side job'," Ratchet pressed. "It wouldn't have anything to do with a Surinox Shard, would it?"

Neftin sat back up and blinked in surprise, momentarily taken aback by the words. The large Nether studied Ratchet's expression for a moment before looking at the images once more.

Then a light bulb came on in his head, "Ahhhhh, so that's what this is about…" he said softly, a mix of both satisfaction and guilt on his face. "Ha! So he actually found it, didn't he?"

Ratchet waved a hand over the images, causing them to shift into one that was even more out of focus. It was an image of what looked like a bright shard of glowing crystal.

"Agron Snarg was spotted trying to sell a Surinox Shard to a known Black Market dealer. Ever since Artemis Zogg nearly took over two galaxies with just one of these things, the less savory parts of society have been searching high and low for more."

Neftin shrugged, "Makes sense," he noted offhandedly. "With us in prison, Snarg has no reason not to hawk it for a fortune."

The tan Lombax nodded, "True... but what 'doesn't' make sense is that after flashing it around a few times, Snarg has suddenly disappeared off the galactic authorities' radar. We know he never made a transaction with any of the dealers he made contact with, so we have no idea what he's up to. The things this little shard can do in the wrong hands..."

Ratchet then fixed the larger Prog sibling with a serious look, "Neftin, I need you to tell me everything you know about Agron Snarg, this 'side job' you sent him on, and the shard itself."

Neftin let out a deep sigh and sank into his chair, causing the metal to groan under his weight. He stared blankly at the grainy image for a long moment, pondering the question and how he should respond.

"I can't tell you much," he confessed eventually.

But hearing this made Ratchet's ears perk up, "'Not much' is more than we have right now," he replied, eager for any information at all.

The former villain scratched his chin as he considered his next words, "Well, like I said, we'd been trying for years to breach the dimensional wall between our world and the Nethers'. On occasion when we needed supplies, we contacted the local branch of Thugs-4-less to do some mercenary work, but we rarely had the bolts for much of that. Of course, in all that time we achieved nothing."

Ratchet narrowed his eyes slightly, "You managed to evacuate an entire sector because of spectral Nethers slipping into our dimension."

Neftin grimaced and shook his head, "Yeah, but never once could we bring a sentient Nether across to our side. At that point, both Vendra and that cyclops of a Gargathon, Mr. Eye, were getting pretty annoyed by our lack of progress. I even began to think we'd never do it. Until…"

"Until?" Ratchet repeated impatiently.

Neftin leaned forward and fixed the young Lombax with a knowing grin, "Until some mysterious hero took out Emperor Tachyon and revealed the Lombax secret to the galaxy."

Ratchet tried to hide his reaction, but he couldn't completely keep the pained look from his face. He'd always suspected his fight with Tachyon had catalyzed the twins' efforts, but it still didn't make hearing it confirmed any easier, "And, 'how' exactly did that change things?" he asked, though the answer was obvious enough.

"Up until that point, we'd never heard of any successful trans-dimensional travel," Neftin explained. "Aside from Vendra and I, of course. When we learned that another race had actually 'mastered' it… well, we dropped everything and turned our entire focus on the Dimensionator, the Lombaxes, and you."

"Me?" Ratchet repeated with an eyebrow raised.

Neftin nodded, "Obviously! You can't go researching Lombax interdimensional technology without looking into the most famous Lombax in the galaxy… also the only one, but that's beside the point."

"I see," Ratchet shrugged, not sure if he should be flattered or creeped out. "Must have been interesting."

"Oh yes, it was 'very' interesting," the former villain assured him with a smirk. "Not nearly as interesting as the Dimensionator itself, though. From the moment we learned about what the device could do, we wanted it. So, we bri-"

Neftin's words caught in his throat and he hesitated as he turned away from Ratchet to look into a nearby security camera.

He turned back back to the Lombax, "Say, can I get your word as a hero and a servant of galactic peace that nothing I say here will be used in a court of law?"

Ratchet hadn't been expecting the sudden request, but quickly agreed, "Of course. You have my word," he said without hesitation, eager to get any info he could.

Neftin nodded his appreciation, "As I was saying, we bribed and/or beat up every egg-head scientist and public official we could find until we finally learned that the Dimensionator would eventually be moved to the Intergalactic Museum of History in Meridian City. That's when we made plans to break in and steal the device before the exhibit even opened."

As he spoke, they could both hear a low grumbling noise that emanated from the walls. It sounded suspiciously like the warden grinding his teeth in frustration.

Ratchet ignored the sound, keeping his attention on the story, "But you didn't rob the museum?" he noted curiously. "Well, at least not until 'after' you and Vendra released the Nethers. You went after Pollux instead."

Neftin shrugged, "That was… a series of redirecting events," he confessed with a pensive look. "Before we could pull off the heist, Artemis Zogg attempted his whole 'New Galactic Order' stunt and revealed the truth about the Surinox Shards. After we knew a shard was the heart of the Dimensionator, Vendra and I realized that we didn't need to break into a highly secure facility and risk the galactic authorities catching wind of our little operation. Especially since they'd been so gracious as to write off an entire sector as being 'haunted' for us."

Ratchet frowned at the reminder of galactic government incompetence, but knew that he shouldn't be fazed by it at this point.

Neftin continued, "Not only did the Helios Project reveal what the Surinox Shard could do, it also told the galaxy that there were more shards out there. Like you said, the galactic black market exploded with a demand for anything shard related. It was a galaxy-wide treasure hunt for any information that could lead to one, and you can bet that the Progs were first in line."

"All that competition must have made it difficult to find one, huh?" Ratchet wondered.

Neftin smirked, "You'd think that, but you'd be wrong. Once every piece of scum in the galaxy and their mothers were out looking for shards, rumors and hearsay spread like nebula dust. Most were utter garbage, of course, but Vendra had a 'knack' for knowing where to look. We found several clues and even some strong evidence of a shard's existence, but all trails went cold eventually. We sold the most credible dead-end info to brokers and made a pretty bolt doing it."

"I'm surprised you didn't find one then," Ratchet noted with interest.

Neftin fixed Ratchet with a broad, knowing smile, "We 'did' find one," he reminded the Lombax. "That 'side job' we left for Snarg turned out to be gold, after all." The smile then fell away from, "Unfortunately, we got a bit too greedy. While on the hunt for shards, we ran into a Terachnoid exploration team… one funded by Pollux industries on a pet project of his."

Ratchet's expression soured, "So Pollux was in on the whole 'shard rush' too, huh?"

"Of course he was!" Neftin spat, "But I don't think he was in it for the same reasons as everyone else. Most criminals had dreams of recreating Project Helios, but not Pollux. Everyone knows that Terachnoids are the smartest race in the galaxy… that is, they are now that all the Lombaxes left. For a race of pink-skinned egg-heads, you'd never met a creature more green when talking about the Lombaxes. Well... talking about the ones that disappeared at least. None of them seemed to think much of you," he added with a nod to Ratchet.

Ratchet simply shrugged. He wasn't particularly offended by the dig at his intelligence. Perhaps it was the years of having a tin-can on his back that was smarter than all of them.

A little disappointed that he couldn't get a rise, Neftin leaned back in his chair and returned to his recounting, "Pollux had become obsessed with dimensional travel long before Helios. Word is, he rerouted most of his company's focus the day after you beat Tachyon and the Lombax Secret was revealed."

Neftin then straightened and shrugged, "You know the rest. Once we found out that a major player in Terachnoid technological society was researching interdimensional travel, we switched our attention away from the shard and onto Pollux. Of course, we knew kidnapping him wouldn't be easy, but we were confident we could pull it off… until a wrench got thrown in our plan..."

Neftin trailed off and his expression hardened.

In the silence, Ratchet recalled that very event from personal experience as he studied the larger Prog sibling's stone-faced gaze.

At the time, he and Clank had been investigating Pollux's recent black market dealings, having not known back then that the Terachnoid executive was after Surinox Shards. The day the Progs had tried to kidnap Pollux, Ratchet and Clank had just so happened to be snooping about the corporate R&D offices in the area.

The Progs had been as surprised to see them as they were to find a high-profile kidnapping going down. Vendra had ordered Neftin to take Pollux and go, but she'd underestimated the two heroes and they'd taken her into custody.

There was no look of accusation or anger in Neftin's expression now, but the larger Prog sibling must have felt considerable resentment towards Ratchet at the time.

With a sigh that let none of his true feelings slip, Neftin continued, "After Vendra was imprisoned, I took all the cash we made selling shard info and hired Thugs-4-Less. I paid enough to get Agron Snarg to handle the job personally and, with his help, we bribed dirty government officials for the flight path of the Nebulox, instigated an intergalactic crime wave to keep authorities busy, and ambushed the prison ship carrying my sister."

"Oh, come on!" barked the Warden over the speakers.

There seemed to be physical pain in his voice.

Neftin flashed a satisfied smile at the security camera, enjoying the suffering he was causing his jailer, but the smirk faded when he saw that now it was Ratchet who wore a stone-faced gaze.

The large, former villain instantly recalled the assault on the Nebulox and what he and Vendra had done to the crew. They had tried to kill Ratchet too, but that was clearly not what the Lombax was thinking about.

"And?" Ratchet said in a harsh voice that caught Neftin off-guard. "You said you sent Snarg on his shard hunt right after retrieving Vendra, so where did you send him?"

Neftin Prog opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated, before shutting it again.

Ratchet's face darkened, "Cat got your tongue?" he asked, without humor.

Neftin held Ratchet's cold gaze and swallowed. He had made a mistake in bringing up the Nebulox. Anger was never a good starting point for negotiations, but it was too late now.

He considered Ratchet for a long moment, before finally speaking, "What do I get in exchange, Hero?"

Ratchet clenched his jaw, before letting out a sigh and shaking his head, "I thought you were 'reformed', Prog," he noted as he leaned back and crossed his arms.

The large prisoner shrugged, "I am, but even decent people don't work for free. Vendra and I turned ourselves in, I fulfilled my part of the bargain to defeat the Nethers and get my sister back. If you want my help now, you're going to need a new deal."

Ratchet sighed again, but honestly, he wasn't surprised. In fact, he'd expected this and had doubted that Neftin would give him anything for free, if not outright refused to help, "I've worked out a deal with the head of the Polaris Defense Force," he began. "It's a basic 'Community Service' package. Depending on the information you provide, we'll knock your sentence down a few years and have you moved to a less restrictive wing of the prison. How's that sound?"

"A few years?" Neftin repeated with an eyebrow raised, "So instead of dying in here I have the chance to get wheelchaired out long enough to enjoy a bit of sunshine before I eat stardust?"

Ratchet looked the incarcerated Prog directly in the eye, "Yes," he said simply.

Neftin considered the offer for a moment, but quickly shook his head, "None of that means anything to me."

Ratchet scowled, "So what 'do' you want?" he pressed, getting a little annoyed now. "The information's doing you no good in here and if you were protecting Snarg you wouldn't have even acknowledged you knew him, so you must have something you want?"

At this, Neftin's expression became somber, "I do, Lombax," he said as he leaned forward onto the desk, nearly pressing his face against the invisible forcefield as he looked Ratchet in the eye. "It's… my sister."

"Vendra?!" Ratchet declared in surprise.

Neftin noded, "Yeah. She's not handling recent events very well. I'm worried about her."

A chime from the hidden speakers interrupted them, "Inmate Prog does not have access to any other inmate's personal information," the warden informed Ratchet. "Especially not in the other blocks."

Neftin smirked at the camera and turned back to Ratchet, "You can get anything you want in prison, Lombax. If you know how."

The warden didn't respond to this, so Ratchet assumed he was probably telling the truth, "Alright... well Vendra 'is' serving out multiple life sentences. It's not exactly surprising that a recently incarcerated homicidal criminal isn't enjoying prison…. no offense."

"None taken," Neftin dismissed, clearly understanding the truth in what Ratchet said. "But I know Vendra. The two of us have always had a hard life. Vartax is like a resort compared to the orphanage we grew up in. I didn't 'think' my sister would be happy about it. I knew she'd probably be angry that I made the deal with you to turn ourselves in, probably even angrier that I honored it, but from what I hear about her… things are bad."

Ratchet considered the larger Prog sibling. Neftin's concern for his sister showed clearly on his face, but the whole thing sounded strange to him.

When Ratchet didn't respond, Neftin pressed again, more intensely this time, "I told you once on Thram that Vendra wasn't always the person you knew. Her obsession… 'our' obsession, became all she could think about. It was all she had! Then, after all those years of planning and effort and cruelty, she finally succeeded... only to be betrayed and nearly killed for it!"

Neftin looked furious as he spoke, but as the turrets spun in anticipation, the large nether took a moment to collect himself. He relaxed his shoulders and let out a despondent sigh, one that Ratchet was sure contained some of Neftin's own pain at having learned the truth of Mr. Eye's intentions.

Ratchet felt a twinge of empathy for the former villain, but the memory of what Vendra had done to achieve her goal was still raw in the Lombax's mind.

"I understand," Ratchet began hesitantly. "But what exactly do you expect me to do about it?"

Neftin locked eyes with Ratchet, "I want you to take her with you to retrieve the shard and bring Snarg to justice."

Ratchet barely managed to stop his jaw from falling in disbelief, "You what?! Are you insane? You want me to just waltz over to her cell and take Vendra out for a stroll across the galaxy?!"

The large Nether raised his massive hands in a placating gesture, "I know it sounds crazy, but we both know you have some pull with the authorities. You could get a temporary release order for her on the condition of her assistance and she could help you clean up some of our mess. I think that would be good for her. Give her a purpose again and maybe help settle some of the guilt she must be feeling."

Ratchet was still shaking his head so hard in disbelief that his ears were smacking together, "What sounds crazy?" he asked in an indignantly sarcastic tone. "Taking one of the most notorious supervillains in the galaxy on a mission to hunt down a mercenary gang leader, who also happened to have worked for you? No, that doesn't sound crazy at all!"

Neftin stood up so suddenly that it was a wonder the auto-turrets didn't open fire, "Please," he begged, catching Ratchet by surprise with his desperation, "I can tell you where Snarg 'was', where we sent him, but Vendra can do so much more than that! I mentioned how she had a 'knack' for knowing where shards were, right? Well, that's because she has a unique 'affinity' for them… she can actually 'sense' their energy!"

Just when Ratchet thought that things couldn't be anything crazier, the bewildered Lombax dropped his hands to the desk and gave the former villain a stunned look, "She can 'sense' them?" he repeated skeptically.

Neftin nodded, "I'm not sure how, exactly, but it has to do with her powers and their connection to dimensional energy. She can actually 'feel' when the shards distort space-time. That's how we got so close to shard trails before. That's how we knew where to send Snarg."

It took a moment for Ratchet to wrap his head around what he'd been told, but knowing Vendra's powers, it sounded plausible.

Neftin saw the hesitation in Ratchet's expression and pressed harder, "Even if I tell you where we sent Snarg, there's no telling if you'll be able to pick up his scent, but Vendra can track down the shard... Find the shard, find Snarg. It's that simple."

With this new bit of information, the tan-furred hero actually found himself considering the proposition. Neftin was probably right that Snarg was nowhere near where the Progs had first sent him. Even if the Thugs-4-Less leader's shard hunt hadn't taken him far from the starting point, there's no way a smart villain would make themselves that easy to find with such precious treasure. Who knew how long it would take to pick up his scent. Having the help of a veritable shard blood-hound on the other hand, would be a game-changer.

But then reality came back to him and Ratchet realized what he was considering. This was 'Vendra Prog' they were talking about. She hated him, hated the galaxy it seemed, and the things she'd done…

Ratchet shook his head, "This is a terrible idea," he said, as much to himself as to Neftin. "I put Vendra in prison 'twice'. I'm not exactly someone she'd get along with on a dangerous mission."

Neftin eyed Ratchet for a moment, a hopeful look in his expression, "You might be surprised," he argued knowingly.

Ratchet looked confused, but curious "And why's that?"

"Like I said, we studied 'you' along with the Dimensonator," the larger Prog sibling explained. "And we found that the three of us have a lot in common. In fact, your life was so much like our own that we even considered approaching you in the hopes that you might be able to help us reconnect with our race."

Now Ratchet's face was a mask plain and utter disbelief, "You thought I'd 'help' you unleash the Nethers?!"

Neftin winced at the accusation in his voice, but he regained his composure and looked earnestly into Ratchet's eyes, "Orphaned and alone, abandoned on some miserable backwater, your entire race a dimension away... Despite our conflict, Ratchet, you might be the only other creature in this universe who understands what it's like to grow up without even a species to belong to."

Despite himself, Ratchet let out a laugh and shook his head, "That's a bit depressing, isn't it?" he said, with an awkward smile.

But Neftin didn't answer. Instead, the large Nether simply waited for an answer with a desperate look.

When it was clear Neftin had finished making his case, Ratchet looked away and put a hand on the back of his head, running his fingers through his fur in thought.

If he was honest with himself, he couldn't deny that he'd noticed the similarities as well. The fact was... he 'did' know what it felt like to be fundamentally different than every living thing he'd ever met. Of the few exceptions, Alister had been the one that gave him the most hope of belonging… and that had ended about as well as it did for the Progs.

Then there was the idea of Vendra herself. Besides being able to sense the shard's location, he knew first hand just how powerful she was. If she could be turned to the side of good…

Ratchet shook his head, still in disbelief that he could even be considering the idea. Vendra hurt people. She 'killed' people. People he cared about. And he'd seen first hand the pain she'd caused.

But then the undecided Lombax looked back up at the expression of desperate hope in Neftin's eyes. Vendra's brother knew her better than anyone and he clearly cared for her more than anything else. If he believed she could change, maybe it 'was' possible after all.

Ratchet began brushing his scalp fur harder as he pondered everything, but the scratching became more and more violent as his mind went back and forth with indecision. Finally, he stopped and let out an exasperated sigh.

At any rate, Ratchet was sure that he needed Neftin's info to stop Snarg.

"I can't promise anything," the divided Lombax said at last, secretly sure that there was nothing he could do to help even if he wanted to.

But with just those words, Neftin perked up immediately, "That's fine! You're a hero, after all. I just need your word that you'll try."

Ratchet shook his head, "You're putting too much faith in me, Neftin."

The large Nether held Ratchet's gaze for a long while and a sad smile curled his lips, "I don't have a choice."

At that, Ratchet set his resolve and sat up straight, "Alright, but you need to keep your end first. Tell me what you know about Agron Snarg and the Surinox Shard."

Neftin, still elated to have struck a deal, sat back down in his chair and told Ratchet everything, "Snarg is a clever Thug. Smarter than any I'd ever met. We sent him to the Corvus Sector. That's where Vendra said she sensed the shard before we had time to search for it."

A sector name. With that, Ratchet perked up, ears and all, in his excitement to finally have a lead on the case.

But Neftin shook his head, "Don't bother," he continued in a very dampening tone. "The Sector was as far as we got. Snarg must have been searching the whole sector this entire time since we sent him there and if he's only shown up again recently, it will likely take you that long to find him. That's if he hasn't left the sector altogether."

Ratchet looked disheartened for a moment, but then Neftin grinned, "Instead, go see the Vullards on Torren IV."

The name of the planet where Ratchet had first met Alister struck a nerve with the young Lombax, but he eyed Neftin skeptically, "Why would the Vullards know anything about Snarg?"

Neftin nodded, "Because the Vullards are who we got most of our equipment for Pollux from. Those junk mongers have a variety of wares and they know how to keep a secret. Very valuable for an operation to tear open reality. In the six months after Vendra's capture, we got almost everything we needed from the Hollow."

Ratchet furrowed his brow in thought. What Neftin was saying made sense, but he still wasn't sure about it, "What would Snarg need from the Vullards now, though?"

Neftin gave Ratchet a knowing look, "If Snarg hasn't sold the shard by now, it's because he's got grander plans. He wants to recreate Helios and for that, he's going to need equipment."

Ratchet rubbed his chin, slowly nodding as all the pieces fit together, "But what if-"

"Time's up!" bellowed the warden over the speakers and a loud buzzer sounded.

The door behind Neftin slid open and several guards walked through with shock batons raised and the auto-turrets whured dangerously.

Neftin gave one last pleading look to Ratchet, "Hero... save my sister," he begged, before turning and leaving.

When the heavy door on Neftin's side slammed shut, the large door on Ratchet's side opened.

With his mind racing, the young Lombax turned to leave and found the warden standing there with his guard escort ready to take him back out of the prison.

Ratchet turned to the warden, "I need to speak with you."