Disclaimer: I do not own Ratchet and Clank or any of its characters. Rivet Appreciation Week 2021 prompt list by weeksofrac of Twitter.
Figured I'd do Kit for today bc we need more content for this sweet yellow gorl.
Standing in the Eye of the Hurricane
Day 2: Kit
Chapter Summary: Day 2 – Kit. Something was wrong. Kit wasn't able to transform, and there was a good chance the little robot was going to end up as scrap metal if Rivet didn't do something.
It was a good thing Rivet would never let that happen.
It wasn't the shock of hitting the ground and rolling over the rocky terrain that hurt Rivet. That pain was nothing.
It was seeing Kit—one of her legs unmoving and her chest dented inward and the immense terror in her blue optics—that hurt the most.
The Lombax sucked in air, spitting out blood from her mouth. Getting backhanded by a war mech was rough, but it was so much harder watching the world move in slow motion, looking on as Kit tried to push herself to her feet.
Rivet turned her upper body, swiveling back to the Cragmite dictator that was currently handing them their rears.
Emperor Luxon screeched with triumph. A sadistic grin twisted the corners of his open-fanged mouth, and his arms stretched out in a dramatic, taunting manner. The four-legged battle mech beneath the warped Cragmite moved with the creature on top of it, melding body actions with mechanical movements. Acid-green eyes rimmed with sickly yellow colors centered in on the injured Lombax and robot, widening with the same hunger a predator had right before they slaughtered their prey.
Fury lined Rivet's face, scrunching up her nose and slitting her pupils to near nothing. As she pushed herself off the hard ground with her organic arm, a vicious snarl rose from her throat.
"Now, now, my dear Lombax. You lost." Luxon moved the mech forward, throwing out another small bomb mech from one of the battle mech's long arms. The bomb threw Rivet back another foot before she could get away, and a pained groan left her. "This is the natural order of things. Your kind destroys mine, and I destroy them. A perfect balance, don't you think?"
Her lungs felt constricted, and it took every ounce of effort for Rivet to breathe.
"But speaking of balance… I'm so surprised that you managed to create such a terrifying little death bot. You actually had me worried there!" A shrill, condescending laugh reached Rivet's ears. "And yet, you didn't think that a very simple EMP would take out your precious war machine."
"Rivet? Rivet, please, hold on! I am coming to you!"
Kit's voice woke up a small part of Rivet's mind, and the Lombax immediately pushed herself up toward the voice of her best friend.
Kit was there. She was on her feet, stumbling and hobbling towards Rivet with everything the little robot had left. Concern painted her face, pulling the corners of her mouthpiece down. Even though the little robot was no more than ten feet away, it was clear that the yellow bot was struggling. "Please, I am coming to you! Hold on just a moment longer!"
And then robotic claws snatched Kit from the ground.
Rivet's eyes followed the robot. Everything moved at a snail's pace. Kit's working, outstretched hand flailed with desperation, and before Rivet could register what her body was doing, her robotic hand tried to reach out for Kit's.
Luxon fished the struggling robot close, pulling the terrified bot up close to his open cockpit. Fear shone in Kit's optics, a small squeak leaving her.
"Oh, look. What a wonderful little war machine…"
Blue optics narrowed, and Kit visibly pushed away her terror to glare at the Cragmite.
Luxon clicked his tongue. "Tsk, such a waste. I abhor destroying such useful machines, especially ones that could bring me such success, but I'm not as imbecilic as that Emperor Nefarious fellow who thought it was unimportant to eradicate such a threat to his seat of power." One of the battle mech's arms drew close to Kit's face. "A pity though…"
Claws gently traced the curve of Kit's face, and Luxon's malicious grin grew as Kit's courage began to fail her. "…You would have made such a wonderful sidekick for me…"
That was the final straw that broke the Grunthor's back.
Red filmed over Rivet's vision, and anger unlike anything she had ever felt before seared through each and every vein in her body. In a moment, she was on her feet—her mind completely shut off to the world around her—and her outstretched mallet swung at a side-curve…
Luxon was too slow. Rivet registered his sudden yelp of surprise, but it was already far too late.
Kit's scream followed shortly after Rivet ran under all four legs. The Lombax twirled with the force of the swing, pushing off against one of the back legs to get clear before Luxon kicked at her. Her upper body turned as her lower body did, and as her feet and organic hand slid against the rough dirt—her mallet lowered near to the ground—her focus zeroed in on Kit.
Kit didn't appear to have suffered any further damage. She had landed on her back, and as she pushed her upper body up to look at Rivet, worry mixed with the blue of her eyes.
The red film was easing away. Rivet spread out her index finger and her middle finger in a V-shape, pointed the fingertips at her eyes, then jabbed them in Kit's direction.
You and me. I'm coming to get you.
"Oh…" Luxon's arrogant purr reached her ears, but Rivet kept her sights on Kit. "You want your worthless little sidekick…?"
The mech moved, stealing itself for another attack. One of the back legs that Rivet had hit dipped a bit lower than the others.
"Come and get it."
The anger from earlier returned in full force.
"First of all, you worthless excuse for a bug-"
Rivet moved, shooting to the right side. Luxon kicked out with both of his mech's legs, but Rivet curved around them effortlessly.
"That 'war machine' is one of the best people I've ever met in my life-" her body narrowly dodged a long arm aiming for her face- "not that you would know because you're nowhere near the same level of amazing as she is."
Before she could get to Kit, another arm whirled toward her face in a sweeping motion.
"Second off-"
Rivet ducked under the arm and rolled to her right as one of the legs kicked out to get her.
Luxon's scream of terror, along with the struggling to keep the long-range-designed battle mech from toppling over in close quarter combat, let Rivet know that he was distracted. Dirt sprayed out from under the soles of her boots as she tore towards Kit on all-fours, desperate to get to the robot before anything else could hurt her.
Their hands met just as Luxon steadied the mech.
Rivet flipped Kit onto her back in a motion that was second nature, and as the battlefield clicked back into real time, both the Cragmite and the Lombax glared at the other.
"Kit is more than a 'worthless sidekick,'" Rivet gasped. She lowered herself into a fighting stance, eyes slitted with unbridled rage. "She's my partner."
Luxon huffed, his rage matching her own. Then, a shrill, high-pitched laugh left the Cragmite, one that scratched at the Lombax's hearing and heightened the fire in her rage.
"So, you want to keep going? You want to protect your needy little sidekick's honor? You want me to keep beating you down until you can't get up anymore?" Luxon leaned forward, sneering at Rivet. "I look forward to this, my dear, and you have such typical, nonsensical Lombax behavior. So noble, so courageous-"
The mech stomped into a fighting stance, and the lasers in the palms of the metal arms glowed poison green with power.
"-AND SO VERY DEAD!"
When Rivet woke up, vision adjusting to the harsh light of the room, a dash of bright yellow registered in the corner of her right eye.
A soft groan left her. With a steady hand, she cupped the curve of her forehead, ruffling the hair poof just under her… Her goggles were gone.
"Rivet, are you awake?" Kit's sweet voice, a melody to her sore ears, pipped up from Rivet's right. "I am here."
Another groan, this one more pained than the last, rose from Rivet's throat as she rolled her head to Kit's direction. "Heh, this guy really kicked our butts, didn't he, Sunshine?"
"Well, he has been defeated, so I believe that still counts as a win on our behalf."
"And good riddance to that slimy bug." A pause, then Rivet shifted in her hospital bed. "Holy crap, everything hurts… This guy wasn't playing around, but I guess I should have known that this was gunna happen when he took out every Nanotech crate and vender on the whole planet before we finally confronted him."
"It worked as a double-edged sword, or so I theorize. We were unable to acquire Nanotech during the fight, however Luxon had been so arrogant and dedicated to the removal of healing supplies that he was unable to use anything when you weakened him beyond repair."
"Heh, you'd think these guys would stop being their own downfall…" Rivet murmured. A smile curled up the corners of her mouth. "At least it's all over, Sunshine."
"Indeed, though I may need to leave soon for a mechanic."
Rivet's eyebrows raised, and she forced her eyes to open. "Wait, huh?"
On a chair next to the bed, sitting atop a stack of over a dozen books, was Kit. The damage she had suffered during the battle still weathered the little robot's form. In this light, however, everything looked sharper, and there was no doubt in Rivet's mind that the little robot was still in pain from her injuries.
Rivet's heart twisted at the sight.
"Oh… Oh, Kit…" Her robotic hand immediately lifted from the bed and reached toward the little robot. Yellow metal fingers cupped the curve of Kit's face, thumb gently stroking the smooth surface. "Why didn't you go to the mechanic first? I don't know how long it's been, but I take much longer than you to heal."
A soft, shy smile appeared on the robot's face. "Well… some helpers inquired if I needed medical attention about two days ago, however, I was reluctant to leave your side. You had sustained so much damage during the fight…"
"Hey, it's nothing to me." Rivet craned her neck toward Kit, eager to bump her head against Kit's forehead in a caring gesture, but pain kept her from going too far. "I've lived through so much worse. But you… You gotta promise me that you'll look out for yourself too, Sunshine. You're way too important to lose."
Blue optics sank from Rivet's gaze, and Kit reached up to hold Rivet's hand away from her face. "Thank you, however, I know my place. I am not as important to the safety of the universe as you are."
"No."
Rivet's robotic hand slipped out of Kit's hand and cupped the little robot's face, firmer this time. "You are so important to me, Kit." Rivet made sure to look at the blue optics, and when they looked up to meet the Lombax's gaze, Rivet made sure to pour sincerity into every word. "You help me be strong at the moments when I'm at my weakest, and if we had never met, I don't know where I'd be now. You know how to handle things I don't know about, and I don't think I'd be able to do half the things I can do now without you."
"I… I do not-"
Rivet rubbed her thumb against Kit's head. "You're my second half, Sunshine. You're not just some robot that I picked up because you have a tank of an alternate form. You're not someone I could just replace with some rando I could pick off the street. You're you, Kit. You're irreplaceable, strong, just as capable as I am, and one of the best friends I've ever had in my life."
Soft love rimmed Kit's eyes. "Rivet-"
"You're more than a sidekick, Sunshine. You're my partner, and I don't care if existence is falling apart around us, I'm going to make sure you're okay because I can't do the things I do without you."
Oil bubbled up around the lower rims of Kit's optics, and the little robot pushed one of her hands across the lens, smearing the tiny dribble of oil across her face. "Thank you, Rivet," she said, a touch of bashfulness in her words. "I could honestly say the same about you, which is why I did not want to leave your side until you awoke."
A soft snort left Rivet. "Look at us dumbos. Can't even get better without making sure the other's alright."
"Ehehehe, yes. I certainly feel silly creating this kind of friendship loop."
Rivet's hand fell from Kit's face, and the Lombax pulled the robotic arm back to her side. "Alright, now that you know I'm fine, it's your turn to get care." She flicked her eyes towards the room's door. "There's gotta be someone here that knows how to fix you up. Heck, with half the people Quantum found ready to take down Luxon's empire, I'd be surprised if you weren't swarmed by a half a dozen mechanics the second you stepped out that door."
Kit shook her head, and a joyful smile she was clearly trying to hide stretched across her mouthpiece. "I do not believe you have calculated the odds of that as I have."
"Oh, get movin', you lil–"
Kit squeezed her optics shut and mimicked sticking out her tongue before she slowly lowered herself to the floor. A tiny crutch, just her size, caught Rivet's eye as Kit slipped it under her injured side. The little robot pushed out to the door of the room, tapping a small control panel near the bottom of the door.
As the door slid open, Kit turned her head back to Rivet. "Thank you, Rivet, for everything."
Rivet felt exhaustion pull at her conscious, but before she surrendered to the beautiful darkness of sleep, she winked to her partner. "Of course, Sunshine. It's you and me against the world, and nothing will change that…"
Song Inspo: "Someone to You" by Roses and Revolutions.
This turned out to be much longer than I had expected, but I've been needing to write Kit more, so I'll take this as it is. I had too much fun in that first half with Alt!Tachyon, and I may touch him again, but we'll come back to that later.
I hope you all enjoyed, and thank you all for reading and supporting! :)