Author's note:

Still a little rushed to get things done on schedule, but at least I'm in a better position than last time and not writing this at the very last minute yet again. In fact, I've already gotten a head start on the next chapter and hope to have both it and the second act for this story finished well within time; although that does bring me to my next point.

Maintaining my current update schedule is getting increasingly more difficult without having to compromise somewhere in terms of plot or overall quality and that's not something I'm prepared to do. So unless my circumstances otherwise change in the next few weeks, I'll probably be taking a short break once this arc is complete; giving a chance to work at a much more relaxed pace and have a chapter or two on hand as a buffer before powering on to the finish. Still not completely decided yet either way though, but I'll let you all know by the next update.

I'm always trying to improve as a writer, so please read and review. Constructive criticism is welcome, flamers are not. If you enjoy this story, please feel free to check out the other stories on my account should you wish.

- RevenantReaper337

Disclaimer:

Ratchet & Clank, associated characters, organisations, and intellectual properties belong to Insomniac Games. All other real world organisations and products belong to their respective governments, companies, etc. Original characters, creatures, weapons, etc. belong to me. Cover art belongs to Nekolover3 and is used with her kind permission.

'Thoughts'

Flashbacks

"Speech"

Chapter 39:

Attack on Titans

Thugs-4-Less Headquarters, Snivelak

Bogon Galaxy

G2.17.085 Galactic calendar

6:41pm local time

Putting actions to his words, Ratchet threw both Ellen and himself to the ground as an explosive rain of constant detonations rocked the street all around them, with Samus following suit. Using his body to help shield them both from the surprisingly small amount of debris that peppered their prone forms and waiting for it to taper off, before hurriedly scrambling back to his feet and dragging the redhead with him once more. "C'mon, we gotta go right now!"

"Wha... What the hell was that?" she managed between breaths. Just barely catching a glimpse of the Buddy brothers' mechs staggering in place from several direct hits on their hulking frames, before the vice-like grip Ratchet still held upon her wrist had Ellen following him down a small alleyway between buildings and away from the intended ambush site. "Artillery fire, maybe? Or..."

"Nope, just me!" came her immediate answer over their shared radio channel. The roar of jet turbines soaring overhead had Ellen's head snapping up in time to see Cash's armoured bulk of a ship banking away from the scene at high speed with a Thugs-4-Less attack ship in close pursuit. "Everybody alright down there?"

"A little singed, but we're good, thanks," Ratchet shot back as they veered off down another connected alley in an effort to put some distance between them and the twin mechs no doubt gunning for them. "Kinda cutting it a bit too close for comfort there though."

"Sorry I couldn't get here any quicker, but you wouldn't believe how bloody hard it is to plug a hydraulic line with nothing but a spot welder and a couple'o sticks of gum." the cazar replied with a strained tone. Having to constantly keep junking in order to avoid having his tail shot off while trying to swing around for another attack run. "Dunno how long it'll last either, so you're best off getting out of there while you still can and finding another way to take those mechs down."

"He's right... But do we have anything that'll even penetrate those things?" Ellen asked not unreasonably as they burst out of the alleyway and onto the next street over. "They look just as tough as Drek's mech was, and we're not exactly packing a RYNO this time around."

"Really wish we were," Ratchet muttered while thinking back to the shiny weapon of mass destruction that quirky robot saleswoman was offering way back during their visit to Barlow. Shaking his head at the lost opportunity, even if it was way too expensive to afford, he instead cast a glimpse over one shoulder. "Any ideas, pal?"

Clank hummed in thought as they crossed over the street and ducked into another alley, making it inside just as Buddy Boom's Titan thundered around the corner with its boosters flaring and unleashed a cannon salvo that blew chunks out of the adjacent building's ground floor. Ratchet and Ellen both staggering from the all too close force of impact and shower of debris falling from above, before double timing it through the narrow passage with a spread of Megaturrets to cover their escape.

"If these machines are even remotely similar to the model utilized by Logan during our Megacorp Games qualification battle in terms of build quality, then I severely doubt it," Clank finally answered a few moments later as they continued to dodge down several tight alleyways. "Even with a continuous barrage of high yield explosive rockets and significant application of kinetic force, causing any lasting form of debilitating damage was an exceptionally difficult feat."

"And even if there was one of those pads that lets you go giant robot mode conveniently stashed away around here, you'd still be outnumbered two to one," Ellen sighed in mounting frustration.

A feeling that only worsened as they burst out into the open once again another block over, only to encounter Buddy Bling blocking one end of the street with his mech's arms raised defensively. The attached emitters projecting a pair of hard light shields which simply shrugged off whatever they could throw at it with contemptible ease, and only serving to make the two commandos burn what precious little ammo they had.

"Damn it! We're gonna have to- Oh crap!"

Ratchet abruptly cut himself off as a jump jet assisted mass of metal crashed down on the road directly behind them and brought his Minirocket Tube to bear on it. Ellen quickly joining in with her HK22 Gun and causing a fresh series of scorched patches and superficial dents to join those Cash had already inflicted on Buddy Boom's mech as it slowly rose from a crouch, but otherwise not appearing to affect its performance whatsoever. Ignorant in their haste to Bling deactivating his mech's shield gauntlets and raising the oversized rifle in their direction with slow deliberation until Clank's sudden cry of alarm, before a building hum of electricity crackled along the barrel and violently discharged with a clap of thunder.

As it was, Ratchet and Ellen just barely managed to dive aside in opposite directions before the railgun's supersonic projectile split the air between them; sending the pair sprawling from the resulting shockwave alone and scoring a trench along a good portion of the road in the process. Leaving the two commandos in matching pained heaps and sluggishly trying to regain their footing as Bling stomped closer to finish them off, with Samus desperately trying to tug Ellen upright with increasingly fearful trills of alarm and Clank faring no better on his side of the street.

"Seriously, that's it? That's all you losers got?" Bling mocked before taking another deliberate, stalking step forward. Raising a clawed metal foot over Ellen's prone form and slamming it down, only to miss by a hair as she managed to roll to one side. "What happened to the guys who nearly whupped us back on Boldan, huh?"

"Why don't you come down here and find out, instead of hiding up there in your big ass mech," Ellen growled out as she finally staggered upright. Forcing her legs to move and directing a hateful glare towards where Bling's smug face gazed down upon her from the safety of his cockpit while repetitively trying to squash the redhead. "Afraid of getting your ass kicked by a girl again?"

Bling merely snorted at her attempt to bait him, while the sudden crunch of something heavy landing atop a nearby rooftop announced the relocation of his brother. Boom having avoided the railgun's line of fire with a well timed pulse of jump jets, before seeking a better angle to employ his Titan's shoulder based cannons against a rapidly recovered Ratchet as he answered instead. "No, just playing it smart. Why level the playing field when we can simply dominate it, and you along with it."

The lombax wasn't pulling any punches however and continued to pump rocket after rocket into the camo-painted mech while constantly staying mobile, trying to keep the merc off balance and hoping that at least one would hit something vital. It was an exercise in futility however and no end of frustration, with every attack he landed on the machine's ridiculously thick armour causing superficial damage at best and not phasing Buddy Boom in the slightest. Even when Ratchet switched tactics and tried to target one of the machine's leg joints in an effort to cripple its mobility, cleaving away plates of hastily welded extra armour like a hot knife through butter, only to find that his rocket launcher simply couldn't penetrate the much tougher materials underneath.

"You done goofed, losers, 'cause there's no way you can beat us this time," Bling continued from where his brother left off while jumping back to gain some distance. Apparently having grown weary of his attempts to flatten Ellen underfoot and opting to rely upon ranged weaponry instead. "Not while we're holding all the cards, and have these badass mechs to boot. So what're you gonna do now, huh?"

Hefting her Bouncer in both hands, Ellen carefully led the mech on its descending trajectory and braced herself for the expected recoil. Waiting for the brief moment of vulnerability as its leg joints bent upon landing, before squeezing the trigger with but a single worded retort.

"Improvise."

Eyes widening slightly at the cluster bomb arcing through the air towards his cockpit, Buddy Bling instinctively threw up the mech's arms once more and activated their built in hard light emitters, just as Ellen had hoped he would. The resulting spread of submunitions detonating against his projected shields and temporarily obscuring the merc's vision; leaving the redhead free to surge forth and rapidly close the distance, before drawing her Grapple Gun and pointing it at the rooftops just off to her right without breaking stride. A spiked metal hook soon embedding itself in the concrete facade with a hiss of pressurised gas, leaving a high tensity cable trailing behind it which soon tightened as Ellen reeled herself while using the momentum to run along the wall at an ascending angle.

It had been an epiphany of sorts that only really clicked after their alley hopping conversation had come to pass. A minor detail springing to mind from comparing stories with Ratchet a fair while back, right after leaving Megacorp's testing facility on Dobbo for Joba, and the giant robot showdown that Clank and himself had gotten into on an orbiting artificial moon in particular. For while their mutual robotic friend rightfully pointed out that the mechs themselves could take a ridiculous amount of punishment without slowing down in the slightest, Ratchet had mentioned previously that he'd managed to cause at least some damage to the cockpit's bubble canopy itself via a few well placed rockets.

Which in turn caused her to realise they had been going about this so far completely one-sided encounter in entirely the wrong way. Because they didn't actually need to take out the mechs at all in order to win, but rather those piloting the machines. Ellen's explosive distraction having neatly served its purpose in catching Bling's attention and allowing her to reach the necessary height, before disengaging the Grapple Gun's line and pushing off the wall with a flying, Jump Pack assisted leap towards the mech's currently unprotected flank. Landing heavily with a pained grunt and fingers scrabbling for purchase on its shoulder assembly, before looking up at the surprised merc sitting in the cockpit not five feet away in front of her with a vicious grin and a hastily drawn Leviathan.

"Surprise, assho-whoa!"

Her words were quickly cut off by Bling throwing his machine around in an effort to dislodge her, Ellen holding on for dear life with both legs and one arm wrapped around any available surface while trying to steady the weighted hand cannon she held in the other with limited success. A fair number of her shots going wide of the mark or otherwise just grazing the machine's thickly layered cockpit canopy, while those that did hit buried deep with a small network of hairline cracks forming across its surface.

Of course, with the mech's increasingly violent motions and her at best tenuous grip, it was inevitable that Ellen would eventually be thrown off of her precarious perch. One last shot flying harmlessly into the sky as she toppled over the edge with flailing limbs and a startled cry of fear, before triggering her Jump Pack and turning the ungraceful fall into a controlled descent away from the still thrashing mech as Bling tried to reorient it. Remotely triggering the explosive rounds via the gun's grip mounted detonator button almost feeling like an afterthought in a way, though the results themselves couldn't be denied.

Four separate detonations rippled across the canopy, spreading an expansive spider web of jagged fractures both across its surface and deeper within the layers of reinforced glass itself. Not enough to punch through entirely perhaps, but certainly enough to completely obscure the pilot's view on that side of his machine, and thus rendering him virtually blind to subsequent flanking attacks should Ellen wish to press the advantage. Although seeing how their previous attempts had worked out, inflicting direct damage on the Titan was no longer her goal. The redhead instead opting to keep beneath its looming shadow and skirt around the rear with Samus zipping close behind while relaying her ad hoc plan to Ratchet via radio.

"Ratchet, can you hear me? Forget about trying to take out the mech and focus fire on the cockpit." Jinking away from one of the hulking machine's legs as it took a step back, Ellen took a moment to draw her Grapple Gun once again and pointed it at the opposing rooftop in a mirror image of her earlier actions before continuing. "Hit 'em hard enough and they'll have no choice but to open up open up or try and fight us bli- Ugh!"

"Ellen!" Ratchet cried out in alarm as one of the mech's shield arms slammed into the wall alongside her, gouging out chunks of masonry and briefly obscuring the human from view.

Any thoughts he might have had on running to her aid however were quickly crushed by Buddy Boom's dynamic entry from above, shattering the already broken street beneath clawed metal feet and promptly cutting him off. Ratchet swiftly skidding to a halt and backflipping away as the mech deployed a pair of appropriately scaled, wrist-mounted grenade launchers that quickly began to blanket the surrounding area with a chain reaction of exploding shrapnel

Keeping Ellen's advice in mind however, Ratchet began to work his way towards the closest building while constantly dodging one lobbed grenade after another. Just barely keeping out of the effective blast radius long enough to reach what passed for a sidewalk in this place, where he could then leap at the solid wall just opposite and use it as a springboard to reach ever greater heights. The lombax bouncing off towards a nearby lamp post and latching on in passing, swinging around its length with typically feline grace, before using the built up momentum to fling himself directly at Boom's Titan with a wide grin upon his face.

"Let's see how you like it!"

Landing upon one of the mech's still outstretched arms, it was simplicity itself to jam his wrench into the revealed grenade launcher's ammo feed mechanism and sever it completely. Ratchet using the weapon's shaft to help steady himself against Boom's increasingly violent attempts to shake him off, while hosing what he could see of the cockpit canopy with the Meteor Gun held in his off hand. Sheer rate of fire ensuring a good coverage in spite of how many burning projectiles went astray, and leaving a patchwork of blackened scorch marks that all but robbed the merc of his forward facing vision.

Which was just as well really since the mech's other arm was seconds away from bringing a clawed swipe directly on top of his head, leaving Ratchet practically no time at all to dislodge his wrench and get clear before a screech of razor sharp metal on metal raked across his former perch. Using Clank's Heli-Pack to slow their descent and tumbling into a roll upon landing, the lombax gave a small sign of relief at spotting Ellen still in one piece as she dodged in and out of the other mech's legs, before just as quickly throwing himself back into the fray once more. Although a small part of his mind did wonder, even as one of Boom's heavy cannon shells whistled overhead with inches to spare, just where exactly Samus had gotten to.

The answer, had he been in a less threatening enough position to observe, would likely have both surprised and amused him in equal measure. For the little infobot was currently hovering unsteadily over the rooftops just off to his left with both servos tightly wrapped around Ellen's Megaturret Glove; struggling to keep it held aloft and probably unable to see where she was going at all since the weapon in question easily dwarfed her diminutive frame. But even so she continued along her meandering course, stopping to set the gauntlet down at regular intervals and trying to keep it balanced with fumbling digits, before deploying yet another rocket spewing sentry gun to join those already bombarding the mechs below.

While initially surprised at Ellen's request, the prospect of actually being able to do something useful in this fight while simultaneously keeping out of the immediate danger zone was an opportunity Samus simply couldn't pass up. The redhead keeping Buddy Bling distracted long enough for her to sluggishly hover up to the nearest rooftop without being spotted; thrusters straining against the extra weight and the borrowed Megaturret Glove held tightly against her chassis in a vice like grip, before thumping down heavily a good three storeys up with but one purpose in mind.

It was certainly effective if nothing else, and while Bling was easily able to ward off the incoming volleys of explosive rain with a raised shield, he couldn't properly keep track of Ellen at the same time as she darted out from beneath his Titan's shadow. Repeating her earlier wall scaling tactic in an attempt to blindside him, only for Bling to fire his jump jets and boost back out of range before raising his now fully charged railgun at the rooftop Samus had been meandering along. Ellen's shouted warning quickly lost to the deafening boom of thunder as a supersonic slug Virtually obliterating the entire top floor and the deployed Megaturrets with it.

"Samus, no!"

Thankfully her elevated position a few storeys up allowed Ellen to make out a small pink shape amongst the rain of falling rubble, tumbling through the shockwave displaced air and seemingly locked in an embrace with a vaguely gauntlet-shaped object as both plummeted uncontrollably towards street level. Retracting the Grapple Gun's embedded hook and shoving off the building's facade with a Jump Pack assisted boost, Ellen's inherent fear of heights was swiftly forgotten in favour of reaching her little friend in time. The redhead's seldom used Charge Boots that she had previously equipped on a whim providing the last second burst of speed needed to reach out and grab Samus in passing, before sending them both crashing to the ground in an undignified heap.

"You okay?" Ellen asked worriedly as she rolled over on to her side with a whole new set of aches and bruises added to the growing collection. Samus having slipped from her grasp on impact and now hovering just in front of her face with wide, frightened optics that seemed to be looking over her shoulder, before nodding timidly. "Good. Now let's get out of here before- The hell are they doing?"

'They' meaning the Buddy brothers, who appeared to be retreating much to her surprise. Jump jets flaring as they fell back in leapfrogging bounds that kept one another covered at all times, while ensuring that all available weapons were constantly pointed at the increasingly perplexed commando team. Ratchet having joined the girls along with Clank in time to see Boom's mech lay down one final explosive barrage that collapsed a building halfway up the street, blocking its length with a tidal wave of masonry and debris before using the resulting thick clouds of dust to mask them from view.

"I don't get it. Why pull back now while they've still got the advantage?" Ellen mused aloud while taking the opportunity to recover her Megaturret Glove from where it fallen nearby. "What're they hoping to gain?"

Maybe they got scared and ran away._ Samus offered hopefully, to which Clank slowly shook his helm.

"Given the behaviour exhibited in our previous encounter, I severely doubt it. It is more likely that the mechs are simply regrouping at a distance in order to make better use of their ranged weaponry, possibly in coordination with local artillery support."

...

Long seconds seemed to drag out during the following awkward pause as Clank's words set in, before Ratchet's ears twitched at a sound only he could hear and a frustrated groan escaped his lips. "Ah crap. You just had to give 'em ideas, didn't you. Everybody move! Now!"

Distant rumbles of thunder followed by a low whistling noise from above had them scrambling to reach the end of the street before a hail of artillery shells struck home. Dozens of airburst rounds exploding overhead and unleashing a deadly rain of smaller bomblets on anything unfortunate enough to be caught within the blast radius, including what was left of the surrounding buildings and crater filled road. Something that the fleeing quartet didn't appreciate one bit in their mad dash to stay one step ahead of the constant bombardment, and only tempered upon arrival at a massive sloping mound of debris that otherwise blocked the way forward, courtesy of Buddy Boom's last attack.,

"C'mon, up here! Let's go!"

It also made for a fairly decent ramp, and by some small miracle they managed to claw their way to the apex without getting hit, before hopping onto the closest undamaged rooftop. Pushing their exhausted bodies further still and trying to gain some distance from the ongoing localised barrage, while making best speed in a nominally western direction away from where they had last seen the Buddy Brothers.

It wasn't until they had gotten a few blocks away via roof hopping that they finally halted within the shadow of a large industrial air conditioning unit, taking the opportunity to recover and treat any wounds with a small dose of nanotech before planning out their next moves. The artillery barrage gradually ceasing its large scale renovation of the streets behind them and leaving the air oddly quiet for a several long moments. Not a soul around to be seen, or even any sign of the two hulking mechs that had to be still stalking them out there somewhere. Which only served to emphasise Ellen's whispered question; her tone hushed lest they be overheard.

"Where the hell did they go?"

The answer soon came in the form of a low, distant rumble from above that only seemed to grow with each passing second; one quickly accompanied by a whistling noise and an obnoxious voice blasting forth from external speakers as Buddy Bling's mech came screaming down directly on top of their heads. "Death from above, bitch- Argh!"

Or at least he tried, only for a torrent of laser fire to slam into the machine's side while still in midair and force him to crash through the adjacent building's roof instead while cursing all the while. Cash's ship streaking past overhead seconds later with what had to be mere feet to spare before Boom landed further off with a heavy thud and began to fill the air above with an explosive spam that otherwise seemed to have no real effect. His momentary distraction providing a golden opportunity for the commandos to reposition and open up on the as yet unmarked side of his cockpit from their elevated position with rockets and missiles both. The pair scoring a few good hits and marring his vision further still before being forced to relocate once more as Bling returned to the fray.

"That's it... No more playin' around," he growled out as the Titan slowly began to pull itself out of what was left of the building. Piles of loose masonry cascading from its form like water off a duck's back and kicking up fresh clouds of dust that partially obscured the machine's menacing, rising form. "Me and my bro are gonna wipe the floor with you assholes, and by the time we're through, they'll be nothing left but-"

"Hey, have you two numbskulls taken out those pests yet?" Logan's impatient and seemingly distracted voice suddenly interrupted. The mech's external speakers still apparently active and broadcasting his every word out loud for all to hear.

"We're still working on it," Boom answered with his customary rumbling tone. Pausing only to discharge his shoulder mounted cannons at the fleeing pair of commandos before continuing on. "Little bastards are a lot tougher than they look."

"Got that right," Bling added in growing frustration as his railgun failed to connect with intended targets once again. Instead skimming over the rooftop they were running across and punching through a number of buildings on the opposite side, and forcing him to shield himself from the inevitable return fire until his mech scaled rifle could adequately cool down. "Damn it, this is ridiculous! Why don't they just roll over and die already?"

"Don't worry, they'll get what's comin' to 'em real soon," Logan remarked with a dark chuckle and what sounded like heavy industrial machinery in the background. "Fall back to the citadel and regroup. It's about time we ended this once and for all."

Sure enough, the two scarred but still fully functional battle mechs began to retreat much like they had before. Jump jets flaring and weapons laying down a barrage of covering fire as they bounded past one another in sequence back towards the central avenue where they had originally ambushed the team, and which led directly to the towering citadel spire itself. Leaving the two commandos and their robotic commandos behind to speculate from their partially demolished rooftop vantage point, while taking the opportunity to pool what little ammo they had left.

"What do think he meant by that?" Ellen asked with a worried frown. Salvaging Nanoclips from the less effective weapons in her arsenal and using them to reload whatever actually had a chance of inflicting any kind of lasting damage.

Eyes narrowed in thought as he glared after the departing mechs, Ratchet finally tore his gaze away and began to follow suit. Exchanging his minirocket Tube's nigh spent magazine for a fresh one as he hesitantly answered. "I dunno, babe... But knowing him, it can't be good. Better make sure we're ready for anything-"

Before he could say anything more, a tremendous, earthshaking rumble suddenly began to roll across the entire area. Leaving the two commandos barely able to stay standing without grabbing hold of one another as it continued to grow in both intensity and sound with each passing second, while an accompanying chorus of klaxons blared across the entire area. Busy as they were with trying not to fall of the roof at that given point in time however, neither even considered what the source might be until Samus' startled exclamation grabbed their attention.

T-the tower! Look, it's splitting!_

Sure enough, the absolute monstrosity of a citadel tower, sitting at the very heart of the fortress as its nerve centre of operations, had developed a vertical crack down the exact centre and was now beginning to part in half at a glacial pace. Countless thousands of tons shifting and folded back upon itself with a drawn out groan of protest that was easily audible from miles away; revealing an intricate network of thick metal panels and heavy support struts underneath. Within which what appeared to be an incredibly spacious hanger-like interior was gradually exposed to the evening light; one filled with layer upon layer of gantries, platforms, and flexible industrial piping that soon began to recede away from some... thing that was truly gargantuan in scale.

With one final reverberating echo of metal on metal, the two half tower portions came to a rest against the citadel's rear and locked into place. The accompanying klaxons tapering off a few moments later, soon to be replaced with a dull bass roar of machinery that both commandos could easily feel all the way from where they were standing, a good half dozen or so blocks away from the source. Then, after a few long and apprehensive moments which passed in mutual silence, something moved within the transformed structure.

A massive, dull silver and vaguely cylindrical construct fell forth from the shadowy interior with a faint hum of electronics, easily capable of fitting a decent cruiser sized starship inside with room to spare. The lower half of which sported no small amount of thick and contoured charcoal grey plating, while the large and inverted bowl-like section at the very bottom crashed into the ground with one almighty earth-shattering thump. Causing any nearby glass windows to shudder in sympathy and a sizeable impression in the paved grounds surrounding the citadel tower from sheer weight alone. Sending Ellen's already frantically racing mind into overdrive as she tried to comprehend just what exactly it was they were seeing, only to freeze as Clank's whispered words reached her ears.

"No... It can not be. It simply can not be..."

"Clank?" Ratchet drew out slowly, not daring to take his eyes off of the spectacle before them or the Buddy brothers' mechs that had just taken up flanking positions on either side of it. "Is there something you wanna share with the rest of us?"

"Ratchet, do you not recall our return to planet Quartu after the Blargian retreat, and what we discovered there?" Clank continued with growing concern as a second identical construct soon joined the first. Similarly churning up the ground from where it fell alongside, and what looked to be a good twenty feet or so in front of, its identical twin. "How could Thugs-4-Less have possibly obtained the necessary blueprints to even conceive of building such a weapon?"

Oh, he remembered alright, and had a very bad feeling on just what exactly Clank was driving at. For while the galaxy at large was still dealing with the aftermath of Drek's mad scheme and numerous holdouts that had been left behind when the Blarg collectively made themselves scarce in the weeks following his death, Ratchet and Clank had revisited the robot plant on Quartu where Clank had been born in order to visit his 'mother'. During their subsequent conversations with the computer intelligence however, blueprints for a number of the Blargian projects being built at the facility had come to light, including those for the war robots that had previously been rolling off of the production lines before being shut down.

This included experimental models as well, such as those for the short-lived Ultra Mech program which Ellen, himself, and a transformed Clank had previously shut down with extreme prejudice, and a much grander model as well. One that was supposed to represent the ultimate in mechanised warfare, and had apparently never left the drawing board due to the obscenely high costs; along with the sheer amount of materials required and the necessary construction of an entirely new production facility just to build it, such was the sheer scale involved.

Drek had apparently nixed the idea altogether a few months prior to the Blarg's initial planet 'recycling' campaign, if the attached notes were anything to go by, and instead decided to pin his hopes on a multitude of other super weapon programs instead. A small relief in the greater scheme of things, but if that was the case and Clank's suspicions were correct, then how in the hell did Logan manage to get his hands on said technology? Especially after Clank's 'mother' had destroyed all files pertaining to the program within the plant's servers at their request, including any back ups or data storage that could be used to build the proposed monster of a machine.

That Thugs-4-Less had apparently done so anyway said something of the mercenary company's capabilities and available resources, plus the sheer amount of engineering know how needed to turn a pipe into apparent reality. But despite not being able to recall much of the weapon's specifics, or anything else really given that it had been nearly a year ago since that day, its name and designation had stuck with the lombax ever since. The first of its kind in a series of war machines designed to level entire cities while weathering even the heaviest of ground fire; the XLR-00 Giganto Mech. Otherwise known as...

"Behemoth..." Ratchet breathed out. Eyes widening and head slowly shaking in denial. "I don't know how or why, pal, but they sure as hell have one now."

E-Ellen? What are they t-talking about?_ Samus asked fearfully, having taken to hiding behind the redhead and peeking out at the ongoing spectacle in worry.

Before Ellen could so much as open her mouth to ask for herself however, realisation dawned as the first construct suddenly lifted up and moved past the second towards them. Her blood running cold upon understanding just what exactly had been hidden from view as the several storeys high armoured leg took one final step forth from the darkened structure's interior; bringing the utterly massive battle mech to which it was attached into full view.

Standing around 150 feet high and practically dwarfing the surrounding buildings, bar for its equally large hanger, the vaguely humanoid and exceptionally intimidating machine easily made even Clank's giant combat form look tiny in comparison. Its torso broad and almost barrel-like, with a large and circular mesh grille sunken within its chest and a vaguely triangular panel covering the groin area for some reason; both of which appeared to be back lit with a faint green pulsing glow.

A quartet of powerful-looking arms attached to the main body in an under-over arrangement via thick cords of synthetic musculature. The lower mismatched pair consisting of a massive clawed gauntlet and what appeared to be a tri-barrelled laser cannon of sorts respectively, while the upper set resembled twin mech-scaled mortar launchers more than anything else. Jutting as they were from the shoulder assembly at a sloping angle on short, stubby hardpoints in such a way that they could rotate freely, without being impaired by the short rounded dome of head that they were flanking on either side. The blazing orange mono eye camera set within its centre seeming to gaze unerringly down upon them from above in judgement.

Although it was Cash who perhaps best summed up what they were all thinking as he circled around overhead, his awestruck voice clearly audible over the team's still open radio channel. "Holy dooley! Just look at the size of that bastard!"

No other words were needed really, and Ellen wasn't sure if she could come up with something that wasn't an incoherent stutter anyway at the prospect of having to face off against something so overwhelming powerful. But that same sense of growing dread was soon sidelined by the appearance of a well built figure standing upon the skyscraper sized monstrosity's shoulders; easily recognisable despite the team being the best part of a block away, thanks in no small part to the zoom function on both commandos' helmet displays. The accompanying loudspeaker enhanced voice booming across the war torn fortress interior only serving to confirm his identity, along with drawing their ire as he flashed them a slightly unhinged and sharp toothed grin.

"Well, well, if it ain't our uninvited guests come to pay a little visit! Y'know, I gotta say, I really didn't expect you to get this far."

"Cut the crap, Logan!" Ratchet growled out with barely constrained anger; his hackles raised and what little fur was visible clearly standing on end. "Where's Angela?"

"You're in no place to start makin' demands, fuzzy," the reptilian man sneered. "I built this company up from nothing; takin' all the dirty jobs other mercs wouldn't touch with a long pointy stick and pouring every last bolt I earned over the next ten years into making Thugs-4-Less a place where guys like me could always find work."

'And it only took us about a week to bring it all crashing down,' Ellen mused to herself with a grim sense of satisfaction. The sheer amount of destroyed ships and hardware, along with probably a triple figure collective body count between Ratchet and herself, having almost certainly put a severe dent in the PMC's ability to do business. Not to mention seriously pissing off Logan as well if the darkening glower on his face was anything to go by; shifting his weight over to the opposite leg and jabbing one of his thick digits towards them in emphasis every few words.

"And then you interferin' morons just had to come along ruin everything! Running in here like you own the joint, shooting the place up, and killin' all my boys! Do you even have any idea just how much time and money you and your reject girlfriend there have cost me with this whole Protopet thing?! Hell, If I'd known what that lombax bitch was dragging me into back before all this began, then I woulda offed her myself right there!"

Eyes narrowing, Ellen ignored the probable jab at her species' appearance in favour of the last part of his rant. More specifically the implied threat to Angela's life, and the gnawing worry that he might have already carried it out before they could even reach her. "What did you do to her?"

"Who, me? Not a damn thing," he replied with a condescending tone and self centred smirk. One that only served to make Ratchet even more wary still and the growing knot in her stomach to churn in apprehension. "My boys on the other hand, they can be a little... creative when they put their minds to it. But don't worry, she's real close by."

As if on cue, a heavy shutter began to raise behind the circular mesh grille set within the centre of the gigantic mech's chest; revealing there to be a comparatively small and hollowed out space inside that was occupied by... a person? The zoom function on Ellen's helmet stabilising in time to witness a tall and somewhat dishevelled figure promptly throwing themselves at the bars in a fit of angered desperation; a startled gasp escaping her lips upon realising just who it was and why Logan seemed so smug.

"Angela...? What the hell?"

A little worse for wear though she might have appeared judging by the state of her fur and clothing, the lombax geneticist was easily recognisable unsurprisingly upset about her current predicament. Given the distance involved and distinct lack of any way to effectively amplify her voice however, Ellen had no way of knowing just what exactly the woman was trying to shout out, thanks to her poor attempts at lip reading. Although given Angela's body language, it was probably a safe bet that much of it was directed at the man stood a dozen or so feet above her head, and definitely not to thank him for the doubtlessly wonderful hospitality.

"Logan must intend to use her continued presence as a shield against us," Clank surmised with uncharacteristic grimness colouring his tone. "However, if this 'Behemoth' is even remotely similar in construction to the original design, then Miss Cross is presently on top of the primary fusion engine core and possibly in danger of being exposed to significant amounts of radiation should the reactor housing be damaged."

"Wait, are you saying that thing's nuclear?" Ratchet asked in disbelief. "So, even if we somehow blew it up..."

"You and all your little pals would never escape the blast radius in time," Logan finished for him with a dark chuckle and accompanying predatory grin. "Hell of an insurance policy, ain't it?"

"hey, uh, boss?" Buddy Bling piped up from his much smaller mech, having been stood alongside the transformed citadel and otherwise out of the war of words until now. "Not interrupting or anything, but..."

"Can we just skip to the part where we turn 'em into paste?" Boom finished for his brother with a flat, decidedly bored tone. "Only my trigger finger's getting kind of itchy."

Visibly blinking, Logan's face morphed into a scowl as he looked down over the edge of his towering machine. Eyes narrowed as he glared between the two flanking mechs, and apparently forgetting that his loudspeaker was still broadcasting every word as he hissed at the pair. "What're you two idiots still doing down there?! You're supposed to be outflanking them while I grab their attention!"

There was a long moment of awkward silence before Bling hesitantly spoke up with more than a hint of confusion. "...Since when?"

"Since- You know what, forget it!" Logan threw his hands up in frustration before stomping his way over to the mech's head and presumed cockpit. The central chest grille shutter closing once again with the stabbed button of a swiftly pocketed remote and cutting off an irate Angela from outside view. "We've got more than enough firepower anyway to-"

His head suddenly jerked sideways as a distinctive crack spit the air, almost causing him to topple over the edge in the process had Logan not grabbed on to the nearest available surface. A flash of blue light springing to life around the mercenary leader's body in a protective sphere, and preventing the quickly dissipating luminous green vapour trail left behind by Ellen's sniper rifle from penetrating his skull. Much to her annoyance.

"God damn it... He's got a personal shield too?" she muttered while trying and failing to tag him with a second shot. "Well, there goes the easy option."

"Worth a shot anyway," Ratchet shrugged before hefting his now fully loaded Minirocket Tube. A cluster of high explosive death soon streaking down range and impacting on Behemoth's less armoured waistline... with absolutely no effect whatsoever. Unless you counted the absolutely massive machine beginning to stomp its way towards them while the smaller titans spread out behind that is, or the tri-barrelled laser cannon arm rising to return the favour in spades with an ominous hum of building power.

"My turn!"

There was no time to think, and before she could even register what had happened, Ellen found herself falling from the roof with Ratchet and Samus alongside as their previous third storey perch was utterly pulverised beyond all recognition and most of the floors below with it. A last second panicked flaring of her Jump Pack thrusters ensuring only a rough landing as opposed to being splattered across the street, while Clank's Heli-Pack had similarly saved Ratchet and soon saw him hauling her upright into a staggered run as they tried to put some much needed distance between them and the oncoming war machines.

"Hey, uh, babe? D'you think he's trying to compensate for something?" the lombax joked weakly as half the block behind them went up in flames from sustained bombardment.

"...No, I think... we should be... running," she gasped out between harried breaths, while Logan's monstrosity of a mech ploughed through whatever was left of the remaining buildings and continued to hunt them with long, lopping strides.

On that everyone could agree, and even with Cash continually performing strafing runs on the Behemoth's upper body in an effort to grab Logan's attention, it still didn't so much as phase him. Which pretty much ruled out nigh all of their personal weapons as well in terms of effectiveness, seeing as they wouldn't so much as scratch the paint, let alone do any kind of real damage whatsoever. But nothing was ever truly invincible, and in Ratchet's eyes at least, there was no problem that couldn't be solved with a righteous application of overwhelming firepower. Meaning that unless they could find another way to at least slow down the marauding mechanised force rapidly closing in on them, there was only one true course of action available.

"We're gonna need bigger guns…"

…And once again I end up getting carried away, before having to cut the chapter in half. Still, at least with the all the build up and exposition out of the way, I can now jump straight into the action next time for what promises to be quite literally our heroes' biggest challenge yet. Here's hoping it'll be worth the wait.

Review replies:

bajy - What happens next, you ask? Carnage, my friend; sheer and utter carnage.

Gamer Heart - You mean like in Deadlocked? Hmm… Probably not something for now, given how close we are to the final act, but definitely something to consider for later in the series, should I get that far. Of course, they'd have to get a sample first, and since only Vox Industries makes them for Dreadzone contestants in canon…

starrat - Thanks!

Firestar5277 - Glad you liked it, and the not so subtle references too! The final battle with Thugs-4-Less promises to be something really special if I can pull it off right, and yes, 'Annie' is in fact the buddy brothers' cousin; one Warden Annabel Crudelis.

As mentioned in the author's note, I'm actually thinking about taking another break away from this story once the second act is wrapped up, given how draining it is keep up the current schedule without some kind of buffer. Not for long, since I don't like to let my readers down, but at least it would give me an opportunity to catch up and re-familiarise myself with the last handful of levels before getting stuck into the final act. I'll have to see how the next chapter goes before making a decision either way.

While I still can't really think of any good and original puns at the moment, I did have a flash of inspiration as to another omake idea. One in which Ratchet and Ellen find themselves testing increasingly ridiculous and impractical novelty weaponry such as the Carpet Bomb, which launches actual rolled up carpets at high velocity. Maybe I can use reader suggestions too and make such a semi-regular thing of it with enough material, who knows? Thanks again, and hope you enjoy the new chapter.

Razor of DOOM - If not, then consider this and the following chapter to be an early birthday present. Hope you like it!

Bookwriter94 - Thanks! I'm glad to hear you're liking this story and the series so far, although I suspect it might have been a bit of a slog to catch up given how lengthy this one has gotten. Things aren't going to be slowing down anytime soon either, and with the way I've got things planned out for the next chapter or so, the second act is definitely going to end with one hell of a bang. See you then!

DarkEnigma95 - Well, mass destruction does tend to follow in their wake wherever they go… In retrospect, I may have made my interpretation of the level a little too complex, but wanted to convey a sense of scale and just how hard Thugs-4-Less are willing to fight for their collective home. I wanted to give Angela a little bit more screen time too since she's kind of been left out for a while, although I do have plans to fix that, and unfortunately Samus just can't help herself when it comes to Clank. Or her overactive imagination for that matter…

Light Seeker 001 - That's actually a really good point, and one I'll likely have to address after Qwark's reveal, although I'm not so sure about Clunk though. That would depend upon whether Nefarious managed to copy all of Clank's memories as well or if he simply used a programmed emulation of Clank's expected behaviour instead in order to help remain undetected.

Snow Wolf Alpha - It can be a difficult balance at times in making extra characters relevant to the ongoing plot as opposed to simply being hangers on or overshadowing the main cast, but I think I've got a fairly decent grip. You've pretty much neatly summed up most of the issues Ellen will be facing as part of the Secret Agent Clank cast, too. Although rabid fans, a nosy press, and perhaps some questionable costume choices on the director's part won't be the only issues she may face; even though Ratchet would probably try and get her to take home some of the more… risqué numbers. After all, Nefarious is a fan of the show too and would likely violently object to a 'squishy' co-star being perceived as an equal to Clank in any way.

Lucas FTW - …Did I just get Rick-rolled in Spanish?

Sonachugirl - Yeah… I think it might be safe to say that Samus' mind is oftentimes a rather lewd place and prone to taking things entirely the wrong way when Clank is involved. I dread to think just what exactly you might have said to be that far out of context, even though a morbid part of me is curious, but I won't pry. Especially if it's as awkward as you imply…

Unfortunately, the series does seem to have gotten less frightening since Resi 4. Losing the brooding and forbidding atmosphere of its survival horror roots, where running away was often the best option, and gradually morphing into what is essentially a zombie themed shoot 'em up. Which is why Resi 7 gives me hope for a return to form, and while I haven't had a chance to play it myself, it does look genuinely scary from Youtube lets plays. Doubly so in VR too I would imagine.

Any-who, glad you liked the chapter, and hope you enjoy the new update too. Take care!

Until next time, please review and check out my other stories once they're posted and/or updated.

Thanks for reading

- RevenantReaper337