Disclaimers: I don't own Ratchet and Clank. If I did, there would have been two Giant Clank battles in the third game.
Thanks, SLYFOXX and Black Rosettes, for reviewing.
In this chapter, we'll find out a shocking fact about Raxamis.
Note: This chapter has gone through some editing. A reviewer pointed out a big mistake.
Chapter Twenty-three: Family reunion
"Wow," Raxamis stared, "I can't believe I'm in the presence of Drek's deplanetizer."
"Yup. And I'm the one who stole it," Heinous added.
Heinous had been giving Raxamis the tour for half an hour. The scientist had explained everything to the new robot.
Raxamis was holding Sandy like a mother holds her child. He seemed quite fond of her. It took one Dr. Heinous and ten robo roosters to pry the sand shark loose from the robot's embrace after calling it 'cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute'.
At the moment, the two were in The Big Room. Several constructobots--some on foot and others in vehicles--moved along, working. The deplanetizer hung long and proud from the eighteen-story high ceiling, merely ten feet above the steel floor.
"What's that?" Raxamis pointed with his foot because he didn't want to let go of Sandy.
Heinous looked.
The robot pointed at something which looked like a boiler, but much bigger.
"That, Raxamis, will be where I'll store the source of power for that weapon I told you about," Heinous stated.
Raxamis looked at Heinous and said, "I can't believe one of our enemies is the robot who plays Agent Clank."
"Come now, Raxamis, if you destroy him, I'm sure he'll be replaced."
"By who?"
"I dunno," Heinous chuckled. "You shouldn't worry about that. Besides, you've spent a year, floating in space. You've practically missed two seasons."
"That won't stop me from writing my fanfic," Raxamis put on a serious face.
"You write fanfics?" Heinous' eyes widened. He held a thumb to his chest and said "I write fanfics!"
Raxamis smiled a crooked smile. "You do?" he asked.
"Uh huh. Right now, I'm writing a parody."
"About what?"
"Cartoon Crossovers. I'm doing an Empire Hearts parody."
"Ah jeez. Another one?" Raxamis' smile fell as he went on, "I swear that idea is soooooooooooo overused."
"What are you writing about?" Heinous put his hands on his hips.
"A Secret Agent Clank fic."
Heinous rolled his eyes.
"I'll get back to writing as soon as I can. Maybe, I can find a computer in that abandoned city."
"Yeah maybe." Heinous' eyes fell on that crystal in the middle of Raxamis' chest. "What's that thing?" Heinous extended a finger to touch it when--
"Don't touch that!" Raxamis grabbed Sandy by one leg with one hand so he could swat Heinous' hand away with the other.
Heinous recoiled. "What's wrong?"
"This is my source of power. It goes, I go."
"Sorry, but it should be hidden. You're vulnerable with it just hanging out like that. It's like a squishy with its heart hanging out."
"I can fix it."
"You're good with tools and fixing?" Heinous scratched his chin, "perhaps, you can help me build the weapon."
"Sir!" Albert came running, "I have good news!"
The butler stopped near the two.
"S'up, Jeeves?" Raxamis greeted.
Albert ignored him and said, "That chore you asked me to carry out is done, sir."
"Excellent," Heinous looked away from Raxamis for the moment.
"And I have more to tell you, sir…"
While the other two talked, Raxamis listened quietly. He had forgotten--however--that he was holding Sandy in an uncomfortable position. Sandy began shaking and growling.
"What is it, girl?" Raxamis looked down only to have Sandy escape from his hold, land safely on the floor and lunge at him.
The sand shark--literally--enveloped Raxamis' entire head in her mouth.
"AAAAAAAAAGH!" Raxamis screamed and ran in circles, waving his arms around, "GET HER OFF! GET HER OFF! SHE'S GONNA EAT MY BRAINS!" he stopped, "Well, technically, I don't have brains, but…" he continued running, "IT'S STILL SCARY! AAAAAAAAAUGH!"
His screams were muffled by Sandy's body.
"The constructobots have finished the final magnifying glass, sir."
"Alright!" Heinous mischievously rubbed his hands together.
Meanwhile…
"AAAAAAAUGH! SHE'S GNAWING AT ME!"
Raxamis run rampant, screaming and bumping into things.
THUMP!
He bumped into a constructobot.
SLICE! SLICE!
Outstretched claws sliced the heads off of two constructobots as Raxamis ran between them.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
Raxamis ran straight through eight parked vehicles, leaving holes which were shaped like his person.
"That pod you requested is complete, sir."
"Ha ha! Now I can begin."
"Begin what, sir?"
Heinous frowned. "I told you, Albert, it's a secret."
"I thought you grew out of keeping secrets, sir."
Heinous sighed. "Some things never change."
"Will you ever tell m--?"
CRASH!
Heinous and Albert looked in the direction of where the crashing sound came from.
Raxamis had crashed into a wall next to a shelf.
Raxamis lay on his back after spinning around on impact. He raised his head to rub it and sighed in relief when he actually felt it. Sandy was few feet away, doing nothing but standing there.
"What happened, Raxamis?" Heinous shouted.
Raxamis--still dizzy--got up and waved a goofy wave. "I'm okay--"
BONK!
A robot part--from the teetered shelf--fell on his head.
"I'm not okay…"
CLANG!
Raxamis fell on his front.
"Is he alright?" Heinous asked Albert.
Albert knelt down and inspected the robot. "He's unconscious, sir," Albert stated.
"Funny. I didn't know robots could fall unconscious," Heinous mused. He turned his attention to the sand shark. "Did you do this, Sandy?" he pointed to Raxamis.
Sandy slowly nodded her head.
"Bad, bad Sandy," Heinous waved a finger, "don't ever do something as hilarious and bad as that."
"Finally, sir, you witness that sand shark as it truly is: an undomesticated beast," Albert said.
"What? For your information, Albert, she doesn't know any better. Raxamis was holding her in an uncomfortable position!" Heinous retorted.
The scientist approached the butler, towering over him. "And I'd be happy if you never say that again." He looked back at Sandy and said, "Promise me you'll never do that again, Sandy."
Sandy barked a few times in response.
"Good girl," Heinous said with a smile.
"Oh, give me a brake," Albert palmed his forehead.
"Constructobots," Heinous called, "go to my cargo ship outside and empty it of my blue ship, will ya?"
The robots nodded and marched away.
"Albert, pick Raxamis up and follow me to my room," Heinous ordered, picking Sandy up.
Albert went to the unconscious robot and tried hoisting him up.
"He's… too… heavy… sir," Albert wheezed.
Heinous exhaled angrily and said, "Do I have to do everything myself?"
The scientist grabbed Raxamis and pulled him over his shoulder. With his other hand, he picked Sandy up.
"Follow me to my room, Albert."
"It makes you wonder who he really is, doesn't it?" Ratchet remarked.
"I've dealt with the guy a few times and he never showed me or Lawrence his face," Nefarious said.
"You knew him?" Ratchet asked.
"Yeah. He gave me some weapons for the tyhrranoids."
"I question how he became the narrator of the fifth Captain Qwark vid-comic," Lawrence mused.
"We may never find out who Slim Cognito is," Ratchet said.
"Will you please tell me who you're talking about?" Qwark asked.
"He's probably trying to cover up a big zit or something," Nefarious said.
Everyone stared.
"What?"
"I doubt Mr. Cognito covers himself up to perform what you tried to do in 9th Grade, sir," Lawrence remarked.
"Heheheheheheh. Yeah," Qwark agreed.
Nefarious angrily folded his arms in front of his chest.
Ratchet pulled a disgusted face. "I'm not even gonna ask."
"I believe he's coming to, sir"
Raxamis slowly opened his eyes. "What happened…?"
"Well, after you crashed into a wall, you got hit over the head by a robot part," Heinous explained, "and now, you're here in my room to see one of my inventions."
Raxamis stood up. He saw Heinous, Albert and… Sandy. He took one step away from her.
"Aww, don't worry, Raxamis," Heinous patted him on the shoulder, "she's sorry."
Sandy nodded in agreement.
"Okay, I forgive her," Raxamis said.
"Okay then. Let's quit wasting time and do this thing," Heinous walked to the cupboard.
"Do what?" Raxamis cocked a robotic eyebrow.
"Tell him, Albert. I'm busy." In saying this Heinous began rummaging through the cupboard.
"We'll be transmitting holograms of ourselves onto the Starship Phoenix to--as Dr. Heinous says--'make fun' of the ones who are trying to stop us in our quest to eradicate all organic life forms in the galaxy," Albert explained.
"Why?" Raxamis asked.
"Because it's fun," Heinous said, his head pocking out from the cupboard.
"Won't Dr. Nefarious be there?" Raxamis seemed nervous.
"Uh… YEAH! That's the whole point, Raxamis," Heinous said. "What's wrong with you suddenly? You're not the happy comic relief guy Albert and I met thirty-four minutes ago."
"Nothing," Raxamis looked at the floor, fidgeting with his fingers.
"Is there something you want to tell us?"
"Damnit! I said nothing!" Raxamis made fists.
"Alright, alright. Sheesh," Heinous said as he re-entered the cupboard, "don't have a time of the month."
"Anyway," Raxamis calmed down a bit, "isn't there a member of the Starship people who can trace our signal here and screw us over?"
"Yes, sir, he has a point," Albert agreed.
"Found it!" Heinous emerged, holding a black 'cube'.
"Oh, sir, not that old thing," Albert droned.
"What old thing?" Raxamis asked.
"Will you stop your bitching?" Heinous said, "they won't be able to trace the signal, because I'll be installing a HistoryKill. With it, no one will be able to trace the signal. Ha!"
"That thing is a holographic projector. It is tremendously outdated."
"So? That doesn't stop it from being useful," Heinous defended, while standing in the middle of the room.
The scientist slid a piece of the up facing side the cube off to reveal a green button. After he pressed the button, Heinous shifted the cube around so another side of the cube was facing up. As screen, resembling that of a laptop, unfolded. In the space between the screen and the edge of the gadget, was a keyboard. This gadget looked like a laptop, wearing a platform shoe.
(Author's Note: Imagine something like that. It's not that difficult, really)
"Come, Sandy," Heinous called.
Sandy trotted over towards the scientist.
Albert and Raxamis watched, silent.
"Okay, Sandy, install HistoryKill," Heinous commanded as the sand shark stopped near him.
Sandy made a sand shark sound that almost sounded like 'Uh huh'. Her mouth and………… a wire with an orange pin at the end of it came out in a snake-like manner. The cord found its way to a slot on top of the screen's frame and entered it.
After thirty seconds, Sandy's wire left the slot and returned to the sand shark's mouth. The robot nodded its head at Heinous.
Heinous smiled, gave a thumbs up and said, "Nice one, Sandy. If you were still a squishy, I'd give you a treat."
"Whoa!" Raxamis practically jumped. "That was so--"
"Here we go," Albert droned.
"--COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!"
After shaking his head with a frown, Albert asked, "How did she do that? And--furthermore--how did you know she could do that?"
"I gave Sandy the ability to install programmes on any machine whatsoever," Heinous responded.
"When, exactly did you do this, sir?"
"On the way back from Planet Koros, after I stole the deplanetizer."
"Awesome, man!" Raxamis punched the air above him.
"Okay then, let's project ourselves onto the Starship Phoenix. Who knows? Maybe I'll discourage them so much; they won't me confident enough to go after me."
"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Raxamis seemed nervous again.
"If you really want my opinion, Raxamis, it's an immature idea," Heinous said while typing on the keyboard.
"That's Dr. Heinous for you. He's mature at one appoint and a kid at the other," Albert said.
"Hmm… What're you typing, Doctor?" Raxamis asked.
"The Starship Phoenix's coordinates. Then we'll have to wait a few minutes to patch ourselves all the way through to the Bridge."
"'The Bridge'?" Raxamis raised an eyebrow.
"It's sort of the ship's main room," Albert stated.
"Done!" Heinous stood up and stepped away from the gadget. He stood in the way if the device. Out of another compartment, a robotic arm emerged. On its tip was a flat object that resembled a coaster. Another arm emerged from another side. This arm held a screen. The screen grew bigger. The arm with the 'coaster' moved itself a few feet away from the gadget.
Heinous stood on the flat, white object and pulled Albert next to him. When Raxamis and Sandy were about to go near them, Heinous said, "Not yet. I want to make it look cool. We won't introduce ourselves all at once."
"You can't be serious, sir," Albert cackled.
"Let him," Raxamis defended. "It'll make is look like better bad guys."
"We're not the bad guys," Heinous glared, "the squishies are the bad guys."
"Sorry."
Silence.
More silence.
……………………
"How long will this take?" Raxamis asked.
"Just a few minutes," Heinous replied.
"It would take a few seconds if you bought a new one," Albert muttered.
Sandy yawned.
"Goodbye. It's a shame you can't stay here and help us track Heinous," Sasha waved.
"We know. The president has put us on an important assignment on Planet Marcadia," Ed replied, getting onto a dropship.
In the Phoenix's hanger, Sasha was saying seeing off Ed, Will and Jane. The three were escorted into the dropship by two rangers.
"Go get Dr. Heinous!" Will exclaimed.
"Save the organics!" Jane said.
The dropship's door closed as the vessel hovered up. It turned around and left from the ship's main entrance.
Sasha was alone, save the four patrolling rangers. The captain decided to see how Ratchet, Qwark, Nefarious and Lawrence were. She assumed Ratchet's quarters were his favourite place, so there was were she'd go first.
When the entrance opened by itself, Sasha entered the room. What she saw bath shocked he and pleased her.
Instead of fighting, the lombax, green one and two robots were just talking.
"Glad to see you're getting along," Sasha smirked.
Everyone turned around to face her. When they remembered what Sasha said, Ratchet, Qwark and Nefarious frowned, crossed their arms and faces away from each other.
Sasha was about to say something--
"Yo, Captain," Skidd stumbled into the room.
"What is it, Skidd?" Sasha asked.
"Like--you'll not believe what just happened."
"I'm all ears."
"That Heinous dude's hologram is--like--in the Bridge."
"WHAT?" Nefarious jumped and ran right towards Skidd. "Jeremy? He's here?"
"No, man. Just a hologram. And--like--he wants to talk to you."
"Hmm! Probably wants to make fun of me just for the Hell of it."
"What are we waiting for?" Ratchet asked, "Let's go. It'll give you a chance to see what he looks like."
"What does he look like?" Qwark asked.
"Looks just like Nefarious, dude. But there are a few differences," Skidd asked.
"Well then. Let's go there! I have a few things I wanna say to Jeremy!" Nefarious yelled.
Everyone ran outside, up the stairs and into the transporter. When the pod reached its destination, all passengers ran to the doors which led to the Bridge.
First Ratchet, then Skidd, then Sasha, then Lawrence, then Qwark, then--
CLANG!
"OW!" Nefarious rubbed his head. "These doors are too low!"
Nefarious ran in.
"Hey, Clank," Ratchet greeted the small robot. "Where have you been?"
"I was merely discussing the plan to capture Dr. Heinous," Clank replied.
"Vot took you so long?" Helga fumed at the newcomers--Skidd most of all.
"Sorry," Skidd shrugged. "That transport thingy is wicked slow and--"
"Anyway," Al cut him off, "Heinous is here."
Nefarious clenched his fists.
"It's about time you got here!" Heinous' hologram fumed then smirked, "you always were a slow one, Vince."
The holographic figures of Dr. Heinous and Albert 'stood' above Sasha's chair.
Nefarious removed Qwark's chair and tossed it aside of more room. He stood at the end of the bridge. Next to him were Sasha, Helga, Skidd, Lawrence and Qwark. At the bottom, stood Al, Skrunch, Ratchet and Clank.
"Oh my God," Nefarious stared at Heinous' image.
Heinous seemed to notice. He grinned and said, "Like it? These antennas help me to--"
"YOU COPIED ME AGAIN! ISN'T THERE ONE OUNCE O--?"
"Oh, Lance. What are we going to do?"
"I don't know, Janice. It's all too--"
SLAP!
Before Lawrence could slap Nefarious, Sasha did it.
"--F ORIGINALITY IN YOU?"
Nefarious panted.
"Clam down, Vince," Heinous said. "I just wanted to see you and the people who are so desperate; they resort to asking a loser like you for help."
"I'm not a loser!"
"Are to!"
"Am not!"
"Are to!"
"Am not!"
While the stepbrothers argued, the butlers talked.
"Greetings, Lawrence," Albert's hologram waved.
"Oh, hello, Albert," Lawrence said.
"How are you?"
"I'm well. Thank you. You?"
"I'm just dandy," there was a bit of sarcasm in Albert's voice.
Meanwhile…
"ARE TO!"
"AM NOT!"
"Stop!" Sasha yelled. "Did you just call to argue?"
"No, I called to get on your nerves. Ha!" the hologram grinned. "No, really. I'm called just for the Hell of it. And I wanted to see the famous Ratchet up close again. We didn't have enough time to chat at Gadgetron, did we?
Ratchet glared.
"I also wanted to if Qwark's changed."
"Nope, I haven't changed," Qwark flexed his abs, "still as charming, sexy and--"
"--stupid as the dimwit from school," Heinous cut him off. "Nothing special here."
Qwark's antenna dropped.
"What about me?" Ratchet stepped forward.
"This is the famous Ratchet who I met earlier? I've seen pictures of you before, but I never realised how short you are. Even at Gadgetron!"
Ratchet frowned.
"Or maybe it's just a lombax thing."
"Enough bullshit!" Nefarious grew angrier. "What do you want?.!.?.!"
"Damn, have they told you nothing? I want the destruction of all squishies. DUH! I mean--"
"Not that! Why have you contacted us? And don't give that 'I want to make fun of you' carp! I know you, Jerem--" Nefarious stopped. He smiled. "I know you, Jeremiah."
That did it.
"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NOT TO--!"
Suddenly, Heinous stopped. His anger got the better of him. And his head……… went into radio mode.
"And now. We robots have taken over the radio station. We applaud Dr. Heinous. And for that, we're gonna play one of Courtney's Gear's songs. Here we go. 'Hey, what's up people, it's Courtney Gears. Are you feeling me, robots? I'm feeling you. I see the future and…'"
"………," everyone stared.
"Ooh! I love this song!" a voice came.
Albert's hologram looked over the group as he said, "Please stop dancing."
The group looked behind them. Nothing out of the ordinary. Something must have been happening at Heinous' location.
"I'll stop when the song's over," the voice replied.
Albert groaned.
"Try slapping him," Lawrence said.
"'Slapping him'?" Albert's hologram cocked an eyebrow.
"Trust me. It works when it happens to Dr. Nefarious."
Nefarious nodded.
"Okay, but I know I'm going to regret this…" Albert's hand reached out.
"…When we exterminate all or-gan-ic--"
SLAP!
"--CALL ME THAT!"
Heinous panted.
"Aww, man! It was getting to the good part!" the voice yelled.
He looked around to see everyone staring at him. "What just happened?"
As if on cue, Nefarious broke down in laughter. He had to lean on the railings to keep his footing.
"What's so funny, Vince?" Heinous glared.
"Hah hah hah. You got pissed off and--hah hah ha--went into radio mode--hehehehehehehehe!"
"Is it true, Albert?"
"I'm afraid so, sir," Albert gave Heinous a sympathetic face.
"Darn," the hologram snapped its fingers. "I have some repairs to work on."
"Enjoy it while it lasts, Jeremy, cuz the way we look and the radio thing are the only things we have in common," a serious Nefarious said.
"True. After all, one big difference between us is that I'm a better robot," Heinous smiled proudly.
"Excuse me? I don't see you sitting your ass on a throne while you rule a galaxy of robots!"
"Yet!" Heinous added.
Silence.
Nefarious and the hologram of Heinous stared daggers at each other.
Then…
Qwark raised a finger. "Excuse me, Dr. Anus--"
"'Heinous'! It's 'Heinous', you idiot!" the hologram barked.
"Whatever… Um, who else is there with you?" the costumed man asked.
"Oh. Well… There're two. Here, Sandy," Heinous faced the right, knelt down and held his hands out as if to call a pet. Soon, a robotic sand shark's hologram jumped into Heinous' arms and licked him. "Aww, good girl."
"Whoa, man. Like, what the heck is that?" Skidd pointed.
"Of all people, Skidd, you should know," Ratchet said. "It's a sand shark. A robotic sand shark."
"Ratchet is right," Heinous now stood straight up, pointing up with one hand while the other held the sand shark under itself. "This here is Sandy, not only is she the greatest pet in the galaxy--" Skrunch frowned, "--but she's also the first to be transformed."
"'Transformed'?" Sasha raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, transformed. You see, before I transformed Albert and myself into robots with the laser I built that won me first place at the Invention Convention--" Nefarious clenched his fists at that, "--I needed a test subject to make sure the transformation fluid I found at Vince's old base was safe. So, I sent Albert off to find a sand shark for me, and he found her. Later, I decided to keep her a pet."
"What does a laser have to do with 'transformation fluid'?" Al asked.
"Well, my laser was designed to amplify any liquid, by turning it into a laser beam. My first place to visit was Planet Magmos. I'm sure you remember Planet Magmos. Eh, Qwark? Eh, Vince?"
Qwark simply nodded. However, is Nefarious was still organic, he'd be sweating with a pounding heart.
"There, I found the liquid which was responsible for Vince's transformation."
Nefarious shook.
The hologram seemed to notice this and grinned. "Before I continue, let me say that I found a special book in the old office."
Nefarious was nervous.
"It was Vince's old diary."
All eyes fell on Nefarious. The robot shrugged. "Heh, I could have sworn I was gonna get rid of that."
"Don't worry, Vince," Heinous put on a fake, sympathetic smile, "I'll have the decency not to tell anyone anything… except for the last entry."
Nefarious growled.
"Apparently, Vince intended to jump into that machine."
"What? Really?" Al went bug-eyed.
"Yup. I read it in his diary. Although the handwriting was crappy, Albert and I managed to read."
"Dude…" Skidd muttered.
"What? Don't be so surprised I did it, after all," the hologram said.
"Who knew, eh, Nefarious?" Sasha said.
For some reason, Nefarious smiled at that.
"Anyways…" the hologram went on, "… I got the liquid. Albert got the sand shark. I zapped it. It lived. I zapped Albert. He lived. I zapped myself. I lived."
"Unfortunately…" Nefarious droned.
"But vuy did you do it?" Helga asked.
"For the same reason Vince did it. Immortality. Then--like Vince--I'd want to wipe out all who are different."
"Yup," Ratchet nodded with his eyes closed, "that's what Nefarious would do."
Nefarious glared at him.
Qwark raised a finger again. "Excuse me again, Dr. Anus--"
"Damn it! I said 'Heinous'!" Heinous yelled.
"Whatever. Can that sand shark talk?"
"No."
"Oh. Then who else is there? When your head went all kazzappy, I heard someone else talk."
The hologram thought for a moment. Then… "Oh, right. How rude of me." Heinous looked were Albert looked before and said, "Come, Raxamis."
Nefarious' and Lawrence's widened. "RAXAMIS?"
The hologram of Heinous frowned, put the sand shark down and stepped out of view. Only Albert's and Sandy's hologram stood. There was the sound of a struggle going on. The silence. Small amounts of talking which couldn't be understood.
Then…
"Okay, Dr. Heinous, I'm ready," a voice said.
"Ready for what?" Heinous' voice asked.
"You'll see. Just step in first and introduce me."
Heinous' hologram reappeared. "Ahem. Introducing the amazing Raxamis!"
That said, Raxamis' hologram stepped into view from the right.
"Looks like a badly painted Nefarious-clone," Sasha remarked.
Raxamis waved. "Hi, Ratchet. Hi, Skidd--nice race last year--Hi, Captain Sasha. Hi, Captain Qwark. Hi, Clank--love your show, by that way--Hi, Helga. Hi, Skrunch. Hi, Al. Hi, Lawrence. And helloooooooo--"
Nefarious cringed. 'Please don't say it.'
"—oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo--"
'Please don't say it.'
"--ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo--"
'Please don't say it.'
"--oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, Father."
'He said it.'
"FATHER?" everyone, except for Nefarious and Lawrence exclaimed in unison.
(Author's Note: No, Sandy and Skrunch didn't say 'FATHER?'. They exclaimed that in their own language)
"He's the one who created you?" Heinous pointed a bewildered finger at Nefarious. "No wonder you didn't want to tell us."
"That failed art project is your son?" Ratchet pointed at the hologram.
"Go ahead, Father," Raxamis looked sad and angry. "Tell them."
"This may be the only time I'll ever listen to you, Vince," Heinous said.
"This should be interesting," Al put a finger to his chin.
"Rrrrrrrgh," Nefarious growled. "It hasn't even been a damn day yet since I told the galaxy about my miserable childhood--"
"YOU DID WHAT? Man, you're pathetic, Vince," Heinous frowned.
"As I was saying! After Qwark escaped from my base and I got properly fixed," he glared at Lawrence, "I decided to plan my comeback. Later, I discovered how much I hate the life of a squishy--and I still do. But before I even considered building the Biobliterator or asking the tyhrranoids for help, I thought I'd build a robot. As you can see, there he is," he pointed at Raxamis, "Raxamis Nefarious. I designed him to be a fanboy, because I felt like it. Heh heh. I gave him powers and told him to call me 'Father'. It was great."
"Tell them what happened next, Father," Raxamis edged the scientist on.
"A few years later, I had Courtney kidnap Clank after a filming and bring him to me. I asked Clank to join me, but he refused. So, I had a plan, see? I kidnapped Clank and put a copy of him instead. His name was 'Klunck'."
"So that wasn't you who almost swore at Qwark's funeral," Al said to Clank.
The small robot gave Al a weird look.
"After I had Klunck posing as Clank, and the Biobliterator nearly complete," Nefarious went on, "I saw Raxamis as a sort of--well--nuisance. So then, I--"
"Tossed me into space like some piece of garbage!" Raxamis interrupted. He looked as if he was on the verge of tears. The fact that he was a robot prevented him from that. "Luckily, Dr. Heinous found me and he's gonna be a better person than you," Raxamis faced Heinous. "Right?"
"Of course I will," Heinous responded. The scientist closed his eyes, crossed his arms in front of his chest, tapped his foot, shook his head and said, "Tsk tsk tsk. All this just because you couldn't get laid. Shameful."
Sandy mimicked him--leaving out the closing of the eyes and crossing the arms.
Nefarious growled. "Excuse me! That never happened to you either!"
Sasha sweatdropped. "Could we stick to the subject here?"
She was ignored.
"Who'd want to be involved with someone related to a loser like you?" Heinous pointed.
"Dudes, can we--like--chill?" Skidd asked.
"Skidd's right. I'm not gonna waste time arguing. Farwell for now, Vince. When we meet face-to-face, we'll talk some more. Bye-bye," Heinous stretched his arm forward. His hand disappeared. There was a click and the holograms of Heinous, Albert, Sandy and Raxamis disappeared.
Al, trace the signal. It could give us a clue on where Heinous is," Sasha ordered.
"Already on it," Al said. He was sitting at his work station, typing.
Everyone crowded around the techno-genius.
Typing…
More typing…
The sound access being denied.
"What?" Al typed again.
The sound access being denied.
"Rrrrrrugh!" Al typed again.
The sound access being denied.
"It's no good. Dr. Heinous must have installed a HistoryKill. I can't trace the signal," Al sighed and got up from his chair. The crowd parted to let him pass.
Slowly, more people departed. Nefarious, Lawrence, Ratchet and Clank were left.
"So, Ratchet, got anymore games?" Nefarious asked.
"Sure. You coming, Clank?" Ratchet looked at the small robot.
The robot who had been silent throughout the entire conversation said, "Okay."
"Come on, Lawrence," Nefarious called.
While the four were being transported by the transporter, Clank said to Nefarious, "Do not despair, Dr. Nefarious. Your stepbrother will be apprehended."
"It's not Jeremy I'm worried about," Nefarious responded, "it's Raxamis. He can be very emotional at times. And the fact that he's on the other side makes things harder."
The transporter reached its destination. Ratchet, Clank, Nefarious and Lawrence disembarked.
"Not to worry, Nefarious. We'll kick Heinous' ass and maybe Raxamis will forgive you," Ratchet said.
"Who's We?" Nefarious frowned at the lombax.
Ratchet shut up.
The gadget's arms were returning to it.
"But, Dr. Heinous, I'm the son of your enemy!" Raxamis exclaimed. "Doesn't that make things worse or something?"
"On the contrary, Raxamis," Heinous said while putting the gadget in the cupboard. "This could make things better," he closed the cupboard.
"How, sir?" Albert raised an eyebrow.
"Think about it," Heinous said. "Vince hates me more than anything in the universe. But he still values you even if he threw you out a year ago."
"How do you know?" Raxamis said.
"Call it a brother's intuition," Heinous replied. "We could use you to our advantage."
The scientist walked to his desk, pulled a drawer open and extracted two black objects.
"Cool, walky-talkies!" Raxamis grinned.
"Yup, take them so we'll remain in contact while I'm working," Heinous handed the walky-talkies to Albert and Raxamis.
"Working on what, sir?" Albert asked.
"My weapon is nearly complete. All it needs is one more part. And after that's done, I'll need to find a power source."
"You said there's no more raritainium."
"That's right. I'll need to find an alternate sou--"
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Excuse me, Albert," Heinous reached behind him and pulled out a walky-talky of his own. "This is Heinous, report."
"Skkkkkkkk. Hey there, Heinous, this is Big R calling in to ask you if--ssskkkkkkkkkk--your refrigerator's running," the giddy voice said over the walky-talky.
"Okay, nice one, Raxamis. I'm not falling for that old joke," Heinous spoke. "Besides, I don't even have a refrigerator."
"Awwwwww! Dude! You ruined it!"
"Where are you?"
"Look behind you."
Heinous did so. He turned around to face Raxamis.
"Boo." Raxamis uttered.
"Okay, nice one. Can you please listen to me now?" Heinous obviously wasn't amused.
"Sure thing, Dr. Heinous," Raxamis mock saluted.
"I need to find an alternate source of power for my weapon. While I'm searching on my computer, Albert will show you to your room."
"My room?" Raxamis looked at Heinous funny.
"You are gonna live here, aren't you? While carrying your unconscious body here, I told Albert to escort you to your room. It's on floor down. However, it's empty. If you want valuable items, search the ruined city in the east."
"Wow! Thanks, Dr. Heinous!"
Raxamis ran past the scientist, grabbed Albert by the arm--Albert yelped in surprise--and made for the door. The door opened--
"Oh, and, Raxamis…" Heinous called back. Raxamis turned around. "Since we're related, call me 'Uncle Jerry'."
Whew, that took longer than I thought. Anyways, please review.
The next chapter will be great. I swear.