Them
A puff of air obscured her view right before she plunged into the doorway. The cold darkness clung around her as she stepped on through the doorway, Ratchet's light doing little to illuminate the room. Particularly since he had it pointing straight down at ….
Zoni!
Bones. Splintered, shattered, scattered bones. Everywhere the light shined she saw bones. She had seen her own x-rays before, she knew a Lombax skull when she saw one.
She stood stock still, colder than she was before. There was a substance to darkness, almost tangible. It wrapped itself around her and tried to suffocate her. She was acutely aware of Crash shaking in her arms, but she had no idea how to comfort the boy.
Stars, what do you even say to this!
Ratchet slowly turned around and looked right at her. Green eyes met blue. Pain met pain. She could see something so alien to Rivet in his eyes. She had seen him in pain, but she didn't think she'd ever see despair from Ratchet.
"I guess that's it then." He croaked.
"No! This … this doesn't mean they're all gone! There might be whole planets full! We just gotta keep looking!"
We can't be the last!
Ratchet was staring at her with vacant eyes. He blinked a few times before he shifted his gaze downwards and forced a smile.
"Hey pal, you okay with exploring a dark, spooky ruin?"
Crash stares for a moment before emphatically shaking his head in the negative.
"Oh it'll be fine. Your aunty and uncle are here, and we've saved the universe dozens of times between us!"
Rivet could detect none of Ratchet's normal cheer, but forced or not, she found his attempt to comfort Crash comforting to her as well.
He's right, Rivet. We've toppled empires! We can find and save our species! Oh, but please don't need saving!
Crash looked around him. The skulls returned his gaze with open mouthed horrific expressions. Rivet couldn't help but wonder if it had been quick for them.
"Crash."
The kid's head shifted back to Ratchet who was now kneeling in front of him, his hand on the kid's shoulder.
"You're with us. Nothing's going to happen to you. We won't let anything happen."
She felt Crash release a puff of air. He slowly nodded. Ratchet looked back up at her, his features carrying more determination than before.
"Come on. There's got to be something in here that can tell us what's going on."
They peered around the wrecked room. The dust stirring up as they passed through the bombed out rooms. Occasionally a faint crunch was heard as one of them stepped on a bone they failed to avoid. Crash was actively squeezing the life out of her. Not that she blamed him, if she could squeeze the life out of someone right now she could.
Two different emotions Rivet.
She was experiencing a hodgepodge of anger, grief, fear, and shock. She had decided to settle on anger though. It could be a bit more useful.
They moved deeper into the ruin. The shattered remains of the Lombaxes became more scarred into her mind. The opened jawed skulls seemed to stare up at her with even more dread and warning as they went deeper. She also noticed a pattern, many of the skulls had singed holes drilled into them.
What happened here?
"And what are we hoping to find?" She found herself saying out loud.
"Perhaps one of the computers has valuable information?" Kit responded.
Ratchet paused from his position on point and looked over his shoulder at the gang.
"What do you think pal?"
"It's certainly worth a look!"
Rivet shined her light along the perimeter of the current room. Every computer she had seen looked damaged in some capacity. Looks like this room was a complete loss.
"Right, just find an undamaged working computer. No problem."
"I never said undamaged and working." Countered Kit.
"We might still be able to pull information from the damaged drive."
"Eh, good point."
"We might be looking at this the wrong way." Ratchet stated after making his own sweep.
"What are you thinking?" Asked Rivet.
"Look over there." He said while indicating with his blaster. She shifted her gaze and saw what looked to be a sign near the door. Ratchet approached it and wiped away a fine layer of dust revealing Lombax letters.
"I hate to break it to you, but I don't read Lombax."
"I'm not the best either, but I've picked a little, and it looks like there's a lower level."
"You think there's a better chance of finding something down there."
"Like Clank said, it's worth a look. We might find something intact. Better chance than up here."
They followed the directions of the inner building map and progressed to where the emergency staircase was. It was probably a given that the elevators didn't work. Rivet wouldn't want to try them even if they did work.
Crash had calmed down considerably. He was still holding her via her hand but he was on his own two feet now and was no longer shaking. His silence was starting to bother Rivet though.
"Hey Crash, you holding up okay? Am I going too quickly for you?"
"No Aunty."
"Hey Crash, it's just an old building. We're fine."
She heard him let out another puff of air. "Okay Aunty."
Uh, okay then? I'm not very good at this.
The underground rooms were in a far better state. Fewer bones as well. The amount of burned holes in the walls also indicated better prospects. They passed through the rooms without finding much of anything. Most of the rooms appeared to be maintenance in nature, nothing all that techy. That's when they found more stairs. It led deeper into the mountain. The dark was overwhelming.
"Should we risk it?" Ratchet asked in a less determined voice.
"I'm tired of not knowing. Let's get some answers."
She felt Crash's grip tighten as he stepped closer to her. She also heard him whimper.
Poor thing. This is got to be hard on the little guy! Nice job Rivet, he's only going to need a decade of therapy for this.
"Maybe one of us should head back with Crash?"
"No!" The boy cried.
"I … I need to … I need to be brave!" He whimpered. "Kar said I should be brave."
Rivet adjusted her hold and knelt to hug the little kid, bones scattering as she knelt. She could see Ratchet staring wordlessly, he looked as uncertain as Rivet felt. She tried to throw him a look that said 'help' as best as she could.
He's better at this part. I'll take fun any day.
He cleared his throat. "Crash. Crash, look at me."
Crash who had buried his face into Rivet's neck, slowly turned to look at him. A small sniffle escaping as he did so.
Ratchet just knelt down with the rest of them.
"You're very brave Crash. And it's okay, I get scared too sometimes."
Another sniffle. "R-really?"
"Sure, I once fought a giant Grunthor ske- well, I once fought a giant Grunthor. But it's okay to be scared."
"I-I-I d-don't want to be sc-scared."
"Crash, keep looking at me. Don't look at the floor, look at me. Just focus on something other than what you're afraid of. Look at one of us, I know Clank gives you funny faces when he thinks I'm not looking."
"I most certainly do not!"
Crash giggled a bit despite himself.
"See bud, we're all fine, we're all here, and we'll be okay so long as we're together. We're not in any danger."
Crash nodded with a bit more enthusiasm. "Okay, Uncle."
Ratchet gave Crash a good scratch behind the ears before standing up to proceed into the dark. Rivet gave the kid another tight hug before picking him up to go after the other Lombax.
Step after step they descended. They were islands of light in this dark decline, but Rivet was starting to feel something in the pit of her stomach. She had similar feelings when a mission was about to go south, or when a friend had been out of contact for a while.
You've lost so many friends that you're friends with this feeling now. Something's not right and it's not just the bones everywhere.
Step after step they proceeded until Ratchet reached the bottom. He turned to her when stepped off the final step. That's when they heard it in the distance.
CRUNCH
They all went rigid, their sensitive ears straining to hear in the dark.
CRUNCH
The sound emanated from where they came. Above them.
CRUNCH
Rivet sucked in a breath.
We have to move!
She motioned to Ratchet and they hurried down the hall.
CRUNCH
It's getting closer!
Ratchet led them past the first couple of rooms until they reached a much larger room filled with computer servers. They ran inside and looked through the various aisles looking for anywhere they could hide.
We are not having a firefight while we have the kid with us!
It was towards the back of the room that they found the control stations. She also noticed a supply closet.
Not the best idea but beggars can't be choosers.
She latched onto Ratchet's arm and nodded her head to the door.
"That's a terrible idea." He whispered.
"You got a better idea?"
"Er, no."
"Let's go."
They opened the door and found another skeleton.
There's a joke here somewhere.
They jumped inside, closed the door to a crack then doused the lights. They waited.
Silence reigned for an uncomfortable length of time. She would periodically pat Crash on the arm to keep him from shaking so much. She felt Ratchet squeeze her on the shoulder, she realized that she was shaking too and she felt him trembling too.
Nervous energy is all it is Rivet.
She couldn't see anything in the dark. Another moment passed and still nothing. She was almost beginning to believe that they had been hearing things when she heard it.
TAP
CRUNCH
TAP
TAP
TAP
CRUNCH
TAP
They're coming.
She still couldn't see anything. A flash of red light went by, passing between the server aisles. There it was again. Two red hovering orbs passed between the server aisles.
TAP
TAP
TAP
Finally the two red orbs emerged from the server aisles and came to hover. Rivet could just make out the silhouette of a bipedal creature. Very tall, almost seven feet tall, with red glowing eyes. That was the only real detail she could make out. The red pupil-less eyes were obviously the visors of its helmet, possibly its robot head, but every other detail about it seemed shrouded in the dark.
The red eyes shift slowly to the left then the right, scanning it's surroundings. No other movement except it's head. Left and right. Then it paused.
Rivet readied her blaster, prepping for it to just open up on them. It stood there unmoving. The seconds kept bleeding away but it stayed still. No movement, just waiting.
Then came an unholy gasping sound, more like a thousand tiny screams than breathing. One pain inducing gasp. No exhale.
The creature turned around and began retreating to whence it came.
TAP
TAP
TAP
CRUNCH
The sounds receded and Rivet found herself releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding. None of them moved for a moment. The moment turned into minutes as they continued to wait. At length she turned to Ratchet. She couldn't see his face, much less his expression, but she reached out and placed her organic hand on his shoulder. She gave one firm pat before she opened the door and tip-toed out with blaster brandished.
She kept Crash behind her as she peered around the servers.
"We're clear." She whispered.
"Clank, Kit, do you see anything we can use?"
Wasting no time, Clank and Kit disembarked and began to scan the servers. Keeping silent, Clank and Kit coordinated with taps and points. They began to pull open one of the servers and started to rip out hard drives.
Ratchet began to head over to the entryway but not before whispering, "Try to hurry up guys."
"The more drives the better. Some are undoubtedly corrupted." Clank responded absently, more focused on the task than Ratchet's comment.
Crash fidgeted in Rivet's arms. She almost began to regret bringing Crash along.
This is dangerous.
Nothing was heard except for the minor clacking sounds coming from Clank and Kit's manipulation of the servers.
A dull crash was heard from above followed by muffled yelling.
There's more than one of those things here.
"Is there any other way out of here?" She asked the other Lombax.
"Um, I don't exactly remember the map."
"No." Clank spoke up suddenly. "The map clearly showed that the only exits were on the first level."
She sighed. This is why we can't have nice things Rivet.
"Looks like we're shooting our way out."
She checked the cells in her blaster and confirmed her telequip connection. Satisfied that she would still be able to equip most of the equipment from her fighter, she turned to Ratchet.
"You take Crash, I'll take point with the Enforcer."
"You know, I brought my Pyrocitor. That's also pretty useful for close encounters."
I do like the sound of fire right about now.
"Then I'll take the Pyrocitor till we make it to the surface."
"I can take the point."
"You can also keep Crash. You're more comforting anyway."
"Have you even used a Pyrocitor? It's much easier to set yourself on fire than you think."
"Oh, so I don't know anything about weapons now?"
"I'm just saying I've never seen you use one."
"Well if you're going to be so defensive about it then you can just hand over the Enforcer."
"But I … I like the Enforcer."
"And I'd like to have a flame projector weapon! It's freaking cold in here!"
"You see, this is why I'm hesitant to give it to you. It's not a hand warmer!"
"Bah, I've handled much more dangerous weapons! Besides, do you really have room to argue about weapon responsibility after that incident with the Topiary Sprinkler?!"
"Well yo- … you've got a point."
"Looks like it's settled then."
"Why don't we see who Crash wants to go with?" The words had just left Ratchet's mouth when he was latched onto by the little furball named Crash. The sudden loss of said warm little fuzzball made the atmosphere all the colder to Rivet. The victory of being emancipated from childcare came with the cost of the cold.
It's okay Rivet, just think about Sargasso! Nice humid swamps. Or the bunk on the Phoenix. Wait! NO! Don't think about snuggling with Ratchet! Focus! Mission here!
Shaking her head clear of dangerous pleasant thoughts, Rivet began to move back through the aisles, Enforcer at the ready. She felt a slight jolt as Kit fixed herself onto the magnetic lock on Rivet's back. She looked over her shoulder and gave the bot a slight nudge with her elbow before pulling her goggles down and activating her night vision.
"Keep your eyes on the boys. Make sure they're keeping us with us. Ratchet, keep the lights off and follow my lead."
They took three steps.
"OW! Son of a …"
"Ratchet!"
"What! I can't see!"
She walked over to the other Lombax who was peering into the pitch black and grabbed ahold of his hand.
"Looks like I'm sticking with the blaster then."
They retraced their steps cautiously. Sounds of moving debris and muffled voices carried over their heads. Internally she was worried about all the sounds that they had been making, but the closer they got to the surface, the louder the sounds became.
They got a mining operation going or something?
They were on the second level. A few beams of light came through the ceiling allowing for slight illumination. Not enough to justify her letting go of Ratchet's hand and leaving him to the vicious hands of fate. She couldn't just do that to him.
The band continued forward. Rivet holding Ratchet's hand, Ratchet holding Crash's hand, and the bots literally having their mutual partner's back. It probably would've been funny to look at if it wasn't for the seriousness of the situation.
The sounds started to become a little more distinct. She could make out a few words that were being shouted like 'find' or 'cold.' As they drew to the staircase to the ground floor her heart began to beat to a new rhythm. She focused on her breathing, she would be warming her blaster soon and it wouldn't do if her ever expanding and collapsing lungs threw her aim off.
She felt a new but familiar cold sensation in her veins as adrenaline started to pump.
Be quick Rivet. Don't stop. Draw the fire away from the boys and just unload everything onto these thugs.
She was on the staircase now. She released Ratchet and began her ascent.
Step.
Step.
Step.
The clatter of movement was much louder now. It sounded like furniture being moved and rocks being moved. She paused right at the staircase entrance, the door of which was left slightly ajar.
"I don't think they're here." she heard a voice say.
"They've got to be here. She sent them all here. They're just hiding." Voice two replied.
"What if they're downstairs?" Voice three chimed in.
"Nah, the elevator's offline." Voice two rebutted.
"Hey Vice, what if Kida was pulling our legs?" Voice four asked. "I mean, it's been years since anyone had seen a Lombax around these parts and she just happens to see one in her library?"
"You think I would've dragged you lot up here without confirming it first? I checked the security logs. A small little Lombax family. Don't think they'll put up much of a fight. Should be easy money." Voice two, Vice, asserted.
"Besides," he continued. "She said she sent them up here and we found their ships. She knows better than to waste our time and collect a finders fee from us. They're probably just about maybe over … Hah! Gotcha!"
Rivet squinted in confusion for a second when nothing happened.
"Uh, did you get em boss?" Voice three asked, voice dripping with sardonic inflection.
"Oh shut up Gunt. Nobody likes you."
"Aww."
"I like you Gunt." Voice one timidly stated.
"And nobody likes you either, Dori!"
"Hey boss, there's no reason to be rude."
"Shut up and keep looking! It's freaking cold here!"
She heard a few muffled mumbles and the grinding and scraping sounds recommenced. She looked over her shoulder at Ratchet who looked incredibly unimpressed. He looked bored even.
Remember the Goons Rivet. Even idiots can be dangerous … kinda.
She nudged the door open slowly. She peered around and saw in her green tinted vision Badgerlings, about seven of them. All but one were moving rubble aside, opening ruined cupboards, or shifting toppled furniture around. She could make out weapons holstered on their belts. Small powered pistols from the looks of things.
Not exactly commandos are they?
She nudged the door open further and stepped out. They hadn't noticed her, their noses were downwards or upwards respectively. She took another exaggerated step into the room but they still hadn't noticed the movement. She looked over to the stairway entrance and found Ratchet stepping out sans Crash. He walked over to stand beside her and proceeded to just watch them search.
A few more grumbles were heard, a curse when one dropped a larger rock on his foot, but nobody saw the pair of Lombaxes standing in the middle of the room.
I know we're not the tallest species around but COME ON!
She heard Ratchet clear his throat. Nobody looked their way. He tried again but still nothing.
"Excuse me," he finally said, but they kept to their task.
"Excuse me!" He stated a little louder.
"Yeah, yeah, just go outside. I know it's a mess in here but there's no reason to make it even more of one. And get some hand sanitizer from the ship! Just because we're digging through Lombax bones doesn't mean you shouldn't wash your hands."
Ratchet just slowly turned to Rivet. His mouth slightly ajar and his brows drawn together by a sudden disbelieving tension that Rivet shared with him. Clearing her own throat she took a step forward.
"I heard you were looking for a pair of Lombaxes?"
"Yeah, where have you be-"
The supposed leader, Vice, was now turned towards them with an open mouth and a confused expression. He stayed that way for a moment too long, before he rubbed his eyes and stared at them again.
"Hey fellas! I found the Lombaxes!"
"What? Where?"
"I don't see em!"
"Are they on the ceiling?!"
"No you morons, they're right there!"
"Oh good job boss!"
"Yeah, nice job Vice!"
"You really showed us boss!"
"Now, now, now, there's a reason I'm in charge after all. But I couldn't have done it without you lot."
"Aw boss!"
"Don't go getting teary eyed on me! I'm still the boss! But as the boss, I should congratulate you on a job well done."
"Three cheers for us!"
"But you haven't caught us yet." Ratchet interrupted.
"What?" Vice turned back to the Lombaxes.
"You haven't caught us yet."
"Well you're mostly caught."
"We're not even ten percent caught."
"You're like, a bit caught."
"We're not caught at all!"
"You see, this is why those Hunters kill you lot. You're all a bunch of know it alls."
"You tell em boss!" Dori chimed
"Furry little know it alls!" Voice four lashed out.
"You don't know nothing!" Gunt piled on.
"Who are they?" Rivet asked.
"Who?" Vice replied.
"The Hunters." She clarified.
"What, you don't know the Hunters? Well, well, well, looks like they're not so know it all-y after all!"
"Just humor us." Ratchet asked drily.
"Well you know, those bastards that wear the long gray coats, talk funny, and hunt Lombaxes. Those gits."
"Why are they hunting Lombaxes?" Rivet quiried
"Do I look like a historian! Ask that librarian, she'd know history."
"What librarian?" Ratchet asked a small smirk adorning his face.
"You know, the one that set you up and sent you here? Any of that ringing any bells geniuses?"
"Why would she set us up?"
"Oi, these knockers really are stupid aren't they? The bounty on the Lombaxes! Them Hunters pay for any Lombaxes handed over to them! I'll finally be able to settle me med school debts!"
Huh?
"You went to med school?" Rivet found herself saying before she could comprehend anything else.
"Nah, law school. I burned down a med school though and I'm still paying that off!"
"Well good luck with that."
"Yeah, thanks."
She turned to Ratchet.
"Think they know anything else."
"What you two going on about?"
"I think we've gotten all we can from them."
"It's rude to interrupt a conversation like that!"
"I'll take the big one and go right, you go left."
"Alright." He flashed her an evil smirk and she found herself smirking as well.
"Hello! I'm talking t-" A hammer to the face interrupted him. The hammer in question bounced back to Rivet's hand right before she lept at the next dumbstruck badgerling, hammer crashing down on the unfortunate head. The badgerlings stammered around, fidgeting for their blasters that seemed to glue themselves to their holsters. The poor bumbling oversize rodents fumbled around for their weapons as they were summarily beaten one by one by handyman tools. Till at last, no one was left standing. The Lombax pair stood side by side, diligently scanning the room for more targets. Rivet's breathing was unaffected and her heart was beating its normal rhythm.
What a bunch of morons.
She gave the big one a nudge with her foot and heard a slight groan.
We were scared of these guys?
She moved back to the stairway to retrieve Crash. She threw open the door and found nothing.
"Crash!" She called down.
Nothing.
"Crash!" She called again.
A cold feeling ran up her spine. She remembered the red eyes in the dark, the ghastly gasp of air, and she suddenly observed that that creature wasn't amongst the badgerlings on the floor.
Oh Zoni, please be okay!
"Crash!" she called more desperately, now stepping fully into the stairway.
"Rivet, what's going on?"
"Crash is gone!"
"Again!"
"Yes! I think he might be down there!"
"Okay let's not panic!"
"I'm not panicking, you're panicking!"
"Let's just head back down there and find him!"
"Ratchet?" Clank spoke up.
"If he's not at the bottom of the staircase we'll split up."
"He's right over there." Clank said with a sigh.
"Where?!" Both Lombaxes exclaimed as they whirred around.
Crash sat on top Vice, sorting through his pockets and examining various items that he had claimed. Rivet placed a hand over her heart and willed it to return to normal.
Just breathe girl.
She felt a hand pat her shoulder before Ratchet moved forward to Crash.
"Didn't I say to wait there pal?"
Crash shook his head. "No, you said to wait till the coast was clear but there is no coast. So, it looked clear."
Rivet couldn't tell if Crash actually confused by the phraseology or was simply playing dumb to get around their orders. In either case, they were going to have to be a little bit more careful now. There was the matter of him not responding though.
She marched up to Crash, her dread now morphing into annoyance.
"Didn't you hear us call you!"
He nodded, "Uh huh."
"Why didn't you respond?"
He looked sheepishly at the grou- … Vice, he looked sheepishly at Vice who was acting as the ground.
"I don't know."
Criminy! What does he mean he doesn't know!
"Crash." Ratchet spoke up. "You're not in trouble and we're not upset. It's all good, but why didn't you respond?"
"..."
"..."
"I didn't want to get in trouble."
"So you knew that weren't supposed to come out?"
"..."
"..."
"Sorry."
Both of the adult Lombaxes sighed simultaneously. Rivet stepped up and placed her hand on Crash's shoulder.
"It's okay fuzzball, but please remember that when we tell you to do something we're trying to protect you. We don't want you hurt."
"We're just looking after you pal." Ratchet added.
"..."
"..."
"I'll never be hurt with you and Uncle around."
The Lombaxes exchanged glances.
What have we gotten ourselves into?
Ratchet stepped forward and picked up Crash who tried to snatch up a few more things before being hoisted onto his Uncle's shoulders.
"Come on bud. Let's head back to the ship."
Rivet again took the point but they walked unopposed through the ruin. They stepped over bones and rubble, then they stepped through snow. They passed an old run down dropship parked in the courtyard, but nothing stirred. They made it to their ships with nothing else happening. They jumped into their mutual fighters and left unscathed and unmolested. Rivet just wished that she somehow felt good about that.
Breaking into the atmosphere, she followed right behind Ratchet's Aphelion and a comfortable cruise. She distracted herself from her premonitions by marveling at the other fighter's design. Sure, her ship had some upgraded weaponry, he even made a point to emphasize it when he lent it to her, but part of her couldn't help but feel like he was trying to offload the Azimuth onto her.
Maybe Aphelion has some additional upgrades that I'm not aware of?
"Hey Kit, Can you see any hidden upgrades in the Aphelion?"
"Nothing that I could tell from my initial scans. It is a well designed piece of Lombax technology. Ratchet must be very proud to own one, much less two of these ships."
"Did he ever tell you how he got this one?"
"No, but I assume he put it together like he did Aphelion."
She's probably right. How lucky can one guy get? Finds two Lombax fighters.
They were already at the ship hanger before she could ponder anymore. She set the ship down right beside Ratchet who was already disembarking with Crash. She leapt out of her ship with a flourished flip and walked over to her boys. She saw Clank pairing up with Kit as they left for what she assumed was the bridge. She turned to Crash who was suddenly looking at her expectantly.
"You going to behave yourself from now on Crash?
"Yes Aunty, I will never do it again."
And just like that, Rivet no longer believed him. I'm beginning to see what Ratchet meant about difficult Lombax boys.
"Well how about see what Qwark is up to, me and your uncle need to talk."
"I'm not in trouble am I?" Crash asked with a sudden hesitation.
"No pal, me and Aunty are just going to have some boring adult talk."
Crash's eyes suddenly narrowed and he looked slowly between Rivet and Ratchet. Rivet was taken aback by the abrupt change in atmosphere as the kid sniffed conspiratorially at them. With a head cocked to the side and with one eye shift between the two of them he asked.
"Are you talking about kissy stuff?"
Ratchet immediately began to choke and sputter.
"What? Of cour- I mean, there's nothing wrong wi- I like your Aunty and all, bu- what I'm try-"
"Yep."
"Wha?"
Rivet threw her bio arm around Ratchet and pulled him close, her cheek against his.
"Me and your uncle are going to be talking about a lot kissy stuff. In fact, we're going to be talking about it for quite a while. So unless you want to get an earful, I suggest you check up on Qwark."
"Aguh!"
Oblivious to Ratchet's shocked expression, Crash recoiled in abject horror. He stuck his tongue out in distaste and closed his eyes as he willed away the mental images that now tortured his mind. He turned and fled at lightning speed. A hole in space and time narrowly avoided being made at the speed of his departure.
Rivet admired her cleverness for a moment. Nah, you've still got this Rivet. You can handle the kid.
"..."
"..."
"Uh, Rivet?"
"Yeah Ratchet?"
"You, uh, going to let me go?"
"..."
"..."
"Huh? Oh, sure."
"Ahem, right. So what's up?"
"What do you mean, 'what's up?' There's that whole ruin filled with bones thing!"
She regretted bringing it up instantly. She saw the emerald spark in his eyes flicker out and his face relaxed in an unaffected morose state.
"Yeah, I guess that happened huh"
Winner goes to Rivet for being the most delicate in the universe.
"Well … I mean, we can, that is, there's other places we can look!"
Ratchet's expression held none of the amusement and self confidence she was used to seeing. The most jarring thing was how vacantly he stared at her. He didn't avert his eyes, he just stared at her. She had no idea what thoughts were occurring behind that stare. Perhaps he was looking at her in shock, maybe he was looking at her as the last Lombax besides himself and Crash, all Rivet knew was she couldn't afford to entertain the idea that he was looking at her in brokenness.
"I think …" He trailed off.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"..."
"..."
She reached out her arms and wrapped around him in an embrace. She didn't feel okay. It didn't look like there were many Lombaxes left now. It was one thing being the last of her species, but to have her hopes raised like this only have them shattered. It was more than she could ever admit to anyone.
Ratchet returned the embrace with a sudden desperate strength. It was, however, a surprising comfort that he was there too. He was suffering just as much as she was, but at least they were suffering together. Maybe suffering shared was suffering lessened? Rivet didn't know but she didn't really care at this point.
"Let's … let's see what Bolts and Kit found. Maybe they found some clues?"
He nodded, his chin jabbing into her shoulder with the movement. She gave his bicep and firm squeeze before releasing her embrace and turning to head to the bridge. They walked mostly in complete silence, but the silence was punctured once by Ratchet.
"Hey Rivet?"
"Yeah Ratchet?"
"Thanks."
"Yeah, don't mention it."
They already found the bots in their collapsed state, hooked up to a computer.
"Uh, maybe we should come back later?"
"What, why?"
"I mean, we're kinda interrupting their thing. It's embarrassing."
"I don't think they're interfacing Ratchet."
"Do you even know what interfacing looks like?"
"Do you?"
"You think I'm going to be looking up that stuff? I'm not a weirdo Rivet."
"So we have no idea what they're doing. It could be perfectly harmless."
"Again, let's not be naïve here. They probably find it comforting after all the stress we've been experiencing."
"Um, excuse me?" Clank spoke up. "Kit and I are not interfacing as you might be fearing."
"We have enough self-respect to do that in our own privacy." Kit chimed in.
"Oh, sorry about that buddy."
Clank shared a look with Kit, his optical shutters narrowed at an upward angle. He looked sad.
"I think you and Rivet should see this."
"You guys pulled info from the drives already?"
"It wasn't difficult." Kit added. "Between Myself, Clank, and Chad it was the work of seconds. We're still going through all the data but this caught our eye."
"What did you find?" Rivet asked.
"Sensory and transmission logs mostly. Not many transmissions are sent to Opherion IV directly and the research facility was not part of any galactic net, but it was quite capable of intercepting transmissions for a time."
"And you found transmissions about other Lombaxes?" Rivet quired.
"Yes." His mournful tone was unmistakable to Rivet.
By mutual nodding, Ratchet and Rivet decided to hold off any more questions until they saw what the bots were talking about. Kit stood up and directed them to the screen at the sensor station.
"This is the video log on the attack on U'Tura. This was the planet we found Crash on." She stated. Then she played the video.
The planet looked lively, ships buzzed around the world like flies, and trails of light shone out from the surface of the dark side of the world. What struck Rivet was the amount of water and green on the world. It was completely different from the desert dust bowl she was familiar with. The viewpoint struck Rivet as odd, the camera was stationary as it viewed the world turning under its gaze.
It's a satellite.
She could also hear various transmissions being intercepted.
"Sector five, this is Oracle, report your status."
"Oracle, this is sector five. Confirmed status is nominal."
"Sector five, we are seeing unusual activity in subspace. Anything on your scopes?"
"Negative. We only have civilians on our scope."
"Acknowledged. Sector seven, report status."
"Nothing to report Oracle. Perhaps it's solar flare interference? Lot's of activity this month."
"All sectors be advised, we are dispatching Squadron Tau to investigate. Be prepared to provide technical and logistical support as needed."
"Oracle, this is Wayfarer, I just lost all long range comms. Repeat, long range comms are down."
"Oracle copies Wayfarer. Conduct diagnostics and power up auxiliary comms."
"Oracle, all systems are green and auxiliary systems are already running. Something's interfering with the signal."
"Oracle this is Tau one, my sensors are detecting magnetic signatures but I don't se- ZONI!"
A massive explosion flashed out on the edge of the system.
Then decloaking ships came into view, hundreds of capital ships. The massive fleet was already in attack formation. Giant beams lanced out from the larger vessels. Fire and explosions flickered around the orbit of the planet. Hundreds of voices babbled over feed, Rivet heard only a fraction of the sentences.
"It's them! All stations code 1911! Repeat code 1911!"
"We've got fighters going after civilian ships!"
"I'm losing power! We can't take another hit like that!"
"Weapon guidance systems are offline!"
"Picto Station is down!"
"This is Raptor three! I've got four on my tail!"
"Razor four, seven, and eight are all that's left of Razor Squadron ma'am!"
"The Valiant has lost engines! They are plummeting into the atmosphere!"
"Begin mass evacuation!"
"They're still targeting the civilian ships!"
"BRACE FOR IMPA-"
Audio transmissions ceased. The visual feed continued. The explosions were fewer and farther between now, and the attacking capital ships began to assume synchronous orbit around the planet.
They opened fire.
Powerful beams carved into the surface of the planet, incinerating cities, vaporizing oceans, killing everyone. The beams kept carving long after every city was destroyed. The whole planet glowed with fire, and the atmosphere was nothing but ash and smoke.
The feed ended.
"It goes on like that." Clank mumbled. "That message was over ten years ago. This was the last message received before the facility was attacked"
Kit flicked a switch on the controls. Silence was heard for a few beats. Then a hiss and a growl was heard followed by an iron laced raspy baritone.
"Denizens of the Andromeda Galaxy, we won. All Lombax forces capable of retaliating have been crushed. We will be contacting the governments of your worlds with the terms of our occupation. Rest assured, we will recognize the claims of your governments over your worlds. We come as liberators, not conquerors. Be warned, anyone who continues to help the Lombax will be deemed our enemy. If you hand them over to us now, we will not be forced to take action against you. We will contact you soon for negotiation."
The recording ended. The silence was deafening. Rivet stood there, but she was no longer truly there, she could see herself standing there, mouth slightly open and ears laid back. She noticed just how unaffected she looked, like she had been told that the ion coils on her ship needed to be replaced and not that her people were being hunted down and executed.
Then her heart twisted in her chest and she was no longer out of her own body. With excruciating pain, her soul was sucked back into her chest. Her hand was at her chest as she felt her lungs crush themselves from the lack of oxygen.
They're being slaughtered! The Lombaxes are being slaughtered!
A hand was on her shoulder. Her head was already moving to see who it was. Blue eyes met green, pain met pain, and she found herself latching onto his hand as an anchor. The pain was a familiar one, this wasn't the first time that Rivet had been orphaned, but this wasn't Ratchet's first time either.
She found herself sitting on one of the station chairs, Ratchet sitting right beside her. Their arms were entangled and they were leaning on one another. Supporting each other. The bots came to the flanks of their mutual partners and offered comforting hands as well. She didn't know how long they stayed that way, but it was some time before she was able to croak out.
"We'll … we'll find the survivors! There's got to be survivors! Look at Crash!"
Ratchet nodded. "We'll find them and bring them home!"
"Then we'll find these Hunters and stop them!"
Their hands were now gripping each other tightly, consummating their promise. They were both orphans but they weren't alone. They were about to take on a galaxy but they had fought galaxies before. They were heroes. They could do this.
We have to do this.
"What's our next move, Bolts?"
Groans were heard as the badgerlings brushed off their clothes and popped limbs back into place. They had recovered, concussions notwithstanding, and were hobbling out of the ruins towards their dropship
"Oi, where are going Vice?"
"Where does it look like? We're going after the Lombaxes!"
"Come off it Vice! We got licked good."
"I'm not coming off it! Nobody beats us and makes us look like fools! We'll chase em down and gut them for it!"
"No, you won't."
The mercenaries turned with a bit more grace than they had displayed earlier but froze before they could pull any weapons.
A bipedal creature stood in the doorway of the ruins. Its red unblinking eyes bore into them. It stood over seven feet in height and was dressed in an amalgamation of gray cloth and painted gray plate armor. The long coat cut off above its knees, just above reinforced rocket boots. The masked helmet was motionless as it stared at Vice.
"Wha- what do you mean no?! There's a bounty! It's fair game! And you lot are going to pay for it!"
The helmet tilted to one side and regarded him.
"You will be awarded the finders fee, but you will not hunt these Lombaxes."
"Ye-yeah! W-Why's that?!
The helmet looked down. The creature bent over and picked up a Lombax skull, holding it up and out at the badgerling.
"Three more Lombaxes are not worth our time. They can lead us to a nest though."
"Well, so can we!"
"No, you can't. And the tracking beacon is already in place. We don't need your services."
"Well you can't stop us anyway! It's not illegal! We're doing what we're supposed to be doing right?! Hunting Lombaxes! You telling me we can't do that!"
"As per the Junture accords, you can hunt Lombaxes provided that it does not interfere with our activities. This is not only an interference but also an active annoyance."
Vice suddenly strove forward, his men reaching out to stop him but he shrugged them off. He crunched through the snow as he approached the tall and lean monster. As large as the badgerling was, he was dwarfed in height by the gray clad creature that watched him undisturbed.
He stopped with a conservative distance between them. "You lot have been telling us what to do for a long time now! You're don't tell us what to do! We're free! We can do what we want! We don't got to listen to you! We're not your slaves! We're citizens of Opherion! We've got rights!"
The red eyes burned with brighter luminosity. The skull was crushed in its five digit grip. "Those rights have been waived."
The other six badgerlings dropped dead, having all been rendered headless by the team of a dozen snipers decloaking at the creature's flanks. Before Vice could realize his mistake, the creature blasted off his rocket boots, leaping at him from above. He was on his back and pinned before he had the chance to draw his weapon. The sounds of screaming and breaking bones echoed across the mountain range.
A/N: Well its been a while. I would apologize for the delay but that would just be me apologizing for life and responsibilities. Instead, I'll apologize for not letting you know that it was going to take longer. This chapter was a bit of a challenge in so far as keeping the tone consistent. I don't want to lose the humor but I don't want to take serious things lightly either. Hopefully the balance was struck and you'll like this one. I imagine that the next update will be either next week or the week after. If I pass the second deadline with no update then feel free to commence with your ... "Badgering." See what I did there? Too soon? Oh well.
Also, a user here, Charley1925, has made some fantastic fanart of Crash on his DeviantArt page under the same name. I'd link it but that's a bit of a challenge with this website. As someone who's greatest artistic achievement was the stick figure portrait I drew of my family when I was six, I am always impressed by good artistic talent. Check out his page and show some love.
On a final note, I was thinking about creating an account on AO3 and uploading the story there. Anyone have advice or tidbits on the site? Anything would be helpful.
Be well,
Karl