Disclaimers: I don't own Ratchet and Clank or anyone or anything featured in the game. Anyone or anything NOT featured in the game is mine.
Chapter Ten: Puppet
The blue ship landed in Outpost X9. Heinous, Albert and ten other robots made their way inside the lab. Once inside, the troopers stood, in a straight line, against the wall. The sand shark was still in the lab, curled into a little ball, sleeping. Heinous and Albert went to the desk.
Albert said, "Well done, sir. It seems that your special control-chips work."
"Of course they work. I built them. And I also disabled the tracker-chips which Gadgetron use to find products," replied Dr. Heinous.
"I see, but why did we only steal ten troopers?"
"We didn't only steal ten troopers. We also stole that." Heinous pointed behind Albert. The butler looked behind him to see what looked like a big, yellow bucket, with three legs and an antenna.
(Author's Note: It was one of those things that throw out little balls that turn into enemies. If someone knows what they're called, tell me)
Heinous walked up the yellow machine. "With this, our robot supply will never run out," he said.
"Ok, sir. What are we going to do next?" asked Albert.
Dr. Heinous went to his desk, rested his metal hands on it and thought for a moment. He was then struck by inspiration. "I know what we do next," he said. "We go to the Obani Draco. There's something there that may be of use to us."
"Right away, sir," agreed Albert.
"Come, troopers, we're going to the Obani Draco."
The twelve robots exited the lab and boarded the ship. Dr. Heinous took hold of the controls and the ship took off.
Dr. Heinous' ship landed on the purple landing pad. Heinous, Albert and the troopers exited the vessel.
Albert was feeling rather uncomfortable here, because he hated the colours pink and purple and they were everywhere.
"How will we get across, sir? We don't have Gravity Boots," said Albert.
"We'll just use that," said Dr. Heinous, pointing to a teleport pad. "Okay, Albert, you come with me, as always, and you five stay here and guard the ship," he pointed at five troopers. They saluted. "And you other five come with us," he pointed at the other five troopers.
The seven robots went on the pad, one at a time, and teleported to the other side. They where in the same room where Skidd was turned into a robot. Dr. Heinous walked over to the computer on the left.
Rubbing his metal chin, he said, "I wonder if we'll find any useful footage on this computer." He started going through the screen menu, "Hey Albert, this computer contains every music video of Courtney Gears."
"Let's watch one, sir," said Albert.
"Nah. I'm not much of a music person," said Heinous. He scrolled all the way down, when he found something interesting. "Hey. What's this?" He asked. "'Biobliterator test'," he read.
"Maybe this could be useful, sir."
"Yeah. Let's watch it."
Dr. Heinous pressed the 'watch' button. The screen switched on. A male local from Rilgar was seen, strapped on a diagonal, pink table. Courtney was seen, securing the straps.
"Whoa," said the local from Rilgar, "Like, I didn't know you were this kinky, Miss Gears."
Courtney was standing next to three buttons. She looked annoyed. "Don't you ever shut up?" she asked spitefully. She pressed a button and backed away.
At the top right corner of the screen, there was a laser, powering up.
"Alright, I'll zip it," said the man, putting his hands behind his head.
The ball of energy, emitted from the laser, grew brighter.
"Man, the guys are not gonna believe this," he commented.
The laser was at full power. The local from Rilgar looked as if he realized the danger he was in and proceeded to cover his groin.
There was a flash of light and the local from Rilgar was all metal with red eyes. "Like, destroy all squishies, dude," he said in a robotic voice. When he said 'dude', he sat up.
The screen went black.
"Did you see that guy on the right?" Heinous asked. "That was Skidd Mcmarx."
"It was hard to miss him, sir," replied Albert.
"That laser could be of use to us," said Heinous. "Let's find it and bring it back to the lab."
"Found it, sir," said Albert. He was standing right next to the laser.
Dr. Heinous walked over to the laser and examined it. It was the same laser, seen on the computer.
"Perfect. This is what I'll use," said Dr. Heinous. "You there," he pointed to three troopers, "this laser is too big to fit in the teleport pad. You're equipped with the ability to hover. I want you to carry the laser to the ship. IF YOU DROP IT, I'LL TURN ALL OF YOU INTO TOSTERS!"
The three troopers saluted and unhinged the laser from the ceiling. Then they held it and started hovering towards the ship.
"Sir, I have found another teleport pad," said Albert, who was standing next to the said device.
Heinous signalled for the other two troopers to follow. They obeyed the command and followed.
The four robots were teleported to a round room. There where seven cages on the outside. There where many different screens, which displayed different pictures of Courtney. The ceiling was a glass dome, which gave a view of space. And, again, everywhere was coloured pink and purple.
"Oh my! What happened here?.!" exclaimed Albert.
There were many purple robot parts all over the floor. A fight had definitely occurred here.
"I don't know, Albert," said Dr. Heinous, walking to the centre of the room, "…but it looks like--" he stopped.
"Looks like what, sir?" asked Albert, walking up to Dr. Heinous. When he saw what Heinous was looking at, he put one hand over his mouth. "I think I'm going to be sick," he said, forgetting he was a robot.
The two troopers, curious to what Heinous and Albert were looking at, walked over to take see.
"Ewww. So that's what happened to her," said Heinous.
In front of the four robots was the body of Courtney Gears, with rust, almost all over her. Instead of the silverish glow, there was brownish red. She looked like she was sleeping.
Heinous noticed something on the floor. It was a hair. Heinous picked the hair up and examined it. It wasn't Courtney's hair, or any of the other robots'. It was the hair of a lombax.
"Ratchet was here," he said.
"Poor dear," said Albert. After a minute of silence, he said, "Come, sir there's nothing here."
But Dr. Heinous didn't listen. He continued to stare at Courtney's robotic 'corpse'. Then a smile appeared on his metal face.
"Sir?" asked the blarg.
"I have an idea," said Heinous. Before Albert could ask what the idea was, Heinous said to the troopers, "You two, I want you to take this robot's body to the ship."
The troopers saluted, picked Courtney's body up, went to the teleport pad and exited the room. Dr. Heinous and Albert were the only ones left in the room.
"Come, Albert. There's nothing left here that can be of use to us," said Heinous.
The two robots exited the room. They reappeared in the room where they saw the video of Skidd, they went to the other teleport pad and teleported themselves to the ship. Heinous commanded the troopers to enter the ship.
In the ship Heinous could see the laser and Courtney, next to each other, safely secured. Once again, Dr. Heinous took hold of the ship's controls and the vessel left the Obani Draco.
Before you criticise me, let me tell you that all this travelling from one planet to another will pay off. In the later chapters, everything will come together.