Disclaimers: I don't own Ratchet and Clank. If I did, there would have been more boss fights in the first game.

I'm sorry to say I won't be thanking people for reviewing. Why? I just don't feel like anymore. HA!

Chapter Twenty-six: Experiment 5

Three years ago...

The machines finally stopped.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! I have a super-soldier!"

"Yes, but this time, I'll call him 'E5' for short."

"I still think it's a bad and overused idea, sir."

"You think it's a bad and overused idea, huh? Then, why did you follow my orders without hesitation? Hmmm?"

"Because I wanted you to learn from your past mistakes. This is the fifth animal you've caught and mutated and it's bound to become too intelligent for our own good. We will have a shuffle with it. It will escape like the others. Probably die from being exiled by its own kind for being different. And--hopefully--you'll stop trying to create an army of 'super-soldiers'."

"Firstly, stop calling it 'It'. Secondly, how can you be so sure, Albert? And thirdly, someone has to save the galaxy from Supreme Executive Chairman Drek's planet-destruction!"

"What about that 'Ratchet' fellow? He could save the--"

"Ratchet has done nothing other than destroy a ship at BTS and win a hoverboard race along with his backpac intelligent for our own good. We will have a shuffle with it. It will escape like the others. Probably die from being exiled by its own kind for being different. And--hopefully--you'll stop trying to create an army of 'super-soldiers'."

"Firstly, stop calling it 'It'. Secondly, how can you be so sure, Albert? And thirdly, someone has to save the galaxy from Supreme Executive Chairman Drek's planet-destruction!"

"What about that 'Ratchet' fellow? He could save the--"

"Ratchet has done nothing other than destroy a ship at BTS and win a hoverboard race along with his backpack Clank. He hasn't done anything spectacular. But ME, however… I'll definitely manage to train E5 to respect and take orders from me. Once that's done, I'll make clones and together, we'll stop Drek and be rich!"

"Aren't you already rich?"

"Sorry, Albert. I mean richER."

"If you say so, sir."

"Glad to see you're agreeing with me, Albert."

"I'm not agreeing with you."

"It's close enough."

"Whatever."

"Let's wake him, shall we?"

"If you do, please don't say what you said to Experiment 4, sir."

"Don't worry, Albert, I won't."

"Well then, sir, I will not stop you from waking him."

"Good. I'll wake him after…"

"After what?"

"After a quick shower on the other ship. All this lab work is making me stinky with sweat."

"But you hardly moved, sir--"

"Later, Albert."

The sound of an automatic door opening and closing.

"I swear. He can be quite silly at times."

The smaller figure was heard walking to the other side of the room.

'E5' finally opened his eyes and scanned his surroundings.

He was inside a laboratory. Right in front of him was the automatic door where one of the other people left. Desks, loathed with beakers, bottles and other scientific apparatuses, littered the floor. They covered almost all the metallic, blue floor. One desk had a computer on it. A rather large, rectangular-shaped console 'stood' a few feet away. Attached to it were several pipes.

'E5' tried following them with his tentacled eyes, but the pipes moved out of his view. To be more specific, behind him.

To his relief, the sharp hooks were no longer holding his eyes open.

He gasped when he realised how well he could see. His vision had been magnified by a thousand fold.

The Experiment made a note to himself to ponder about his heightened sight later.

Another reason why he couldn't follow the pipes was because he was strapped to a flat surface of some sort. It held him up at a full ninety degree angle. His wrists bound to the cold surface by old-fashioned, metal restraints. The same for his ankles.

The eyes travelled up.

There it was, the laser which zapped his chest. It was hanging from the ceiling via things which where out of E5's line of vision, though.

The metal thing was still on his head. There where three holes made so his eyes could 'be free'.

E5's eyes scanned the right side of the room.

There was someone looking out the room's only window. He was bent forwards so his elbows could touch the windowsill, resulting him resting his head in is hands.

E5 tried speaking in his native tongue. However--

"You there, can you--?" he gasped in realisation that he was speaking English.

"?" the man who was resting at the window was no longer resting. The experiment's call startled him. He jumped and turned around, revealing himself to be a blarg in a butler's uniform.

The man trotted over towards the tyhrranoid. When he stopped, he said. "Ah, you're awake." He noticed that E5 was shaking. "Can I help you?"

E5 kept shaking. "I am…… I am not speaking in Tyhrranese! I can't speak in Tyhrranese!" He looked at the blarg. "Why am I speaking… speaking…--"

"English?" the butler finished for him.

"If that's what this weird language is called, then yes," E5 replied.

"I would try to explain to you, Experiment 5, but--"

"'Experiment 5'?"

"Uh, yes. That's your name."

"No, my name is………………… Oh no! I can't remember my name!"

"Quite right, you are. Your new name is 'Experiment 5'," the butler stated. A beat. "Or 'E5' for short."

"And why am I here? Bound by these things?"

"You mean bound by 'restraints'?"

"It doesn't matter what they're called!" E5 snarled. "Tell me why I'm here!"

The red butler didn't move. "Calm down, you are not in any danger whatsoever. All will be explained by Dr. Heinous."

"Who?"

"Dr. Heinous, Experiment 5. He's the one who brought you here. He is busy at the moment, but will be with you momentarily."

"And who are you?"

"'Albert Boltworth' at your service," 'Albert' bowed.

"Well, Albert, why don't we wait for Dr. Heinous when I'm on my feet?"

"Sorry, no can do, Experiment 5," Albert held a hand up and shook his head. "Dr. Heinous' orders are for me to keep you where you are to prevent you from escaping."

"You'll let me down right now!" E5 panted.

'Hmm. Everything seems to be going just like before,' Albert thought to himself. 'This time--however--things are going much quicker. He already has adapted to his language with out complaining about it so much, while the others kept howling in anguish at how they'll never be accepted by their fellow-beings.'

"What are you doing? I'm talking to you!" E5 'knocked' Albert out of his thoughts.

Albert was becoming irritated.

"I am sorry," Albert said, "but if you keep on yelling, I'll be forced to take extreme measures."

"Like what?"

"Like this," Albert said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a foot-long peace of wood."

"What's that?"

"A tranquiliser," Albert simply replied.

"What does it do?"

"You'll see," Albert inhaled, bought one end of the dart to his lips and blew hard."

Thift! SLINK!

"AAAAUGH!" E5 screamed as the sharp dart came in contact with his neck. "You won't get away with this!"

"Even if there was something to get away with," Albert began as he slid the wood back into his pocket, "I already have."

"I demand… an…… explanaaaaaaaaaaaaatioooon--" E5 was out like a light. He slumped in his restraints. Asleep. Tranquilised.

Albert approached the tyhrranoid and pulled the dart out of his neck (Yank!).

"I swear," Albert pocketed the dart and began walking to the window, "he may be more tolerant of the language, but he's still as annoying and demanding as the others."

"Hello?"

"……."

"Hellllo?"

"……………"

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooooooo?"

"……………………"

"Wake up, dammit!"

"H-Huh?" E5 stirred awake. He groaned silently at the fact that he was still hanging. He looked at the owner of the new voice.

In front of him stood a pointy-headed man. His black eyes were small and sharp. Atop his head was a small patch of orange hair. He wore a plain, dark green jumpsuit. He was much taller than Albert. When standing straight, the butler would have reached his shoulder height.

"Nice to see you're awake," he said in a deep voice.

"Dr. Heinous?" E5 frowned and sneered.

"You betcha," Heinous smiled proudly. "Don't sound so angry at me, E5--"

"Don't call me that. I have a name," E5 growled.

"Oh? Can you tell me what it is then," Heinous smirked confidently.

"……..," E5 remained silent. He decided to change the subject. "Could you please get me down from here?"

"I'd love to," Heinous simpered, "but Albert here--" he pointed at the blarg "--used his tranquiliser dart on you. It hasn't worn off completely. Take three steps and you'll have a headache along with a bad case of vomiting."

"Terrific," the tyhrranoid droned sarcastically.

Heinous blinked. "Was that sarcasm?"

"No, I'm asking you out on a date! Of course that was sarcasm, you moron!"

Heinous looked at Albert. "Wow, Albert, he's already learned how to use sarcasm. E5 is progressing faster than the others."

Albert nodded.

E5 frowned more. "Sarcasm is universal. Now why don't you start making sense and tell me what's going on here?"

"Certainly. Let me start from the top," Heinous said as he paced to and fro, his hands behind his back. "There's a planet, called 'Planet Orxon'. It's the home planet of a race known as blargs. Albert here is a blarg. Planet Orxon has become so polluted, overpopulated and poisonous; the blargs are unable to life there anymore. Now there's this man. His name is 'Drek'. Chairmen Drek. He's also a blarg. Drek has a solution. They--don't ask me who they are--will be constructing a new planet. A synthetic planet. How will they do it? Using highly sophisticated technology, which--I quote--'none of us could possibly understand', they will be taking a piece of several different planets and putting them together to form the new planet. Like a bigass puzzle. It sounds cool at first, but then you wonder what will happen to the other planet with missing pieces of themselves. According to Drek and the natural laws of physics, the sudden change in mass would cause the planets to spin out of control and drift into one of the suns where they'll explode into a flaming ball of gas. All Drek said about that was that sacrifices must be made."

"And what if the people of those planets don't like it?" E5 asked.

Heinous stopped pacing. He looked at E5 with a frown. "Drek said if they don't like it, they can take their whiny, snivelling, snot-nosed populations, form a line behind him and kiss his--"

"Uh, sir," Albert interrupted from where he stood, "not to be rude or anything, but I think he gets the idea."

Heinous smiled at Albert. "Funny how he almost said 'ass', eh?"

"If you say so, sir," Albert shrugged.

"What does that crap have to do with me?" E5 asked.

"Well, E5," Heinous continued pacing, "what Drek's doing is good for his race, but bad for many others, right?"

"Right…"

"So… an idea came to my head. 'Why not create an army of super-soldiers?' And I thought, 'Yeah, why not?' But I'm not good when it comes to creating life unnaturally, even if biology was one of my best subjects. And I have little knowledge when it comes to robotics… However, I'm good when it comes to buying or building machines. It took some time, but I managed to construct the Evolver."

"Is that what this is?"

"Yup. The transformation you went through--"

"More like the torture I went through."

"--increased your intelligence, gave you the ability to speak English, sharpened your eyesight and heightened your reflexes. The after effects--however--changed your skin colour to white and your eyes colour to blue."

"My eyes are blue?" E5 looked into his own eyes and gasped. "MY EYES ARE BLUE!"

"Yes they are," Heinous didn't stop pacing. "I know that blue eyes for tyhrranoids are unnatural, but if you'd like, I could give you some contacts. Any colour you like!"

"Just keep talking and maybe I'll wake up to find that this was all some dream."

"Although it's not a dream, I'll continue," Heinous kept pacing. "After transforming you into what you are, I'll train you encase there are some issues left with you. Once that's done, I'll make clones of you and together, we'll overthrow Drek, save the galaxy and be heroes."

"That sounds good," E5 admitted. "But how can I believe you?"

Heinous stopped pacing. "Would I have kidnapped and mutated you just for fun?"

"…"

"Heh… That's what I thought."

"Where are we?" E5 asked all of a sudden.

"My new lab on Planet Pokitaru. Jowai Resort, to be precise. It's always sunny here. If you think you're too pale, you could go catch some rays."

"No thanks."

"Suit yourself."

"You mentioned…… 'others'. Who are the 'others'?"

Heinous put on a sombre face. "You aren't the first creature I captured, Experiment 5. Hence your name. There were four others before you. Each one went through the same thing as you did. Unfortunately, they all ran away, because they hated it here or something."

"Were they also tyhrranoids?"

"Why bother obsessing about them if they're dead?"

E5's eyes widened. "You killed them?"

"I already told you. They ran away. All of them. I assume they're dead, cuz they would never be accepted into their own pack or tribe or whatever on account of the fact that they're weird-looking, you know?"

E5 sighed sadly.

"The same goes for you, E5. Your place is with us now. The tyhrranoids of Planet Tyhrranosis will never let you in, especially due to their ignorance, gullibility and stupidity."

"………"

"E5?"

"………"

"Hello? Pokitaru to E5!"

E5 was looking down. He then looked up and asked. "Why am I naked?"

"……," it took a moment for that question to reach Heinous' mind. "Um… cuz it's natural for tyhrranoids to be naked."

E5 huffed. "Well, I don't like it. Could you give me some clothes or at least some pants and underwear?"

"Not that I'm a gay weirdo or anything, but," Heinous raised an eyebrow, "why'd ya need clothes?"

"Because it's indecent!" E5 growled.

Heinous jumped from the outburst.

Albert winced.

"Alright, Albert will get you some clothes," Heinous gave in. "Man, you're just like the others." He turned to face Albert. "Albert, go get our guest some pants and underwear from the ship."

Albert raised a finger to speak--

"Make sure they're blue," E5 said.

Albert tried again--

"What are you waiting for, Albert?" Heinous put his hands on his hips. "Get your red ass into high gear!"

Albert frowned. He walked to the sliding door. But before he exited, he turned around with a smirk.

"Boxers or briefs?"

"Just go, Albert!"

Albert sniggered silently and was gone.

Heinous and E5 were alone.

Heinous turned back to E5. "So, what do you think about all this?"

"I'm not sure," E5 said.

"Be sure, E5. You'll be staying with us for the rest of your--or my--life."

"Nnnnnghh! Why can't I remember anything about my previous life?"

"Cuz I deleted them. Can't have you missing anyone or anything back home."

"YOU DELETED MY MEMORIES?" E5 bellowed. "My life, my family, my friends? ALL GONE?"

Heinous made a face. "'Family', 'friends'? The Evolver has definitely worked."

"What do you mean?"

"If you had one once of tyhrranoid-ness in you, you'd know that tyhrranoids don't build relationships! It's strictly……'professional', if you will. They just work in harmony with each other, and nothing more! They move in small tribes and that's it. You may look like a tyhrranoid, but that's all you are; a shell of your former self."

"Then change me back!" E5 barked.

Heinous smirked. With a shrug, he said, "I couldn't, even if I wanted to."

"Why?"

"The Evolver doesn't reverse what it's done."

"Then build something new!"

"Why bother, Experiment 5," Heinous used the full name, "your memories are long gone."

"…….," the albino freak glared at the scientist.

"…….," Heinous glared back, a smirk across his pale face.

"…….."

"…….."

"……"

"……."

"……"

"….."

"………. Are you telling me that the other four went through this exact same thing?"

"Yup. Same trauma, same colour-changing, same eye colour-changing, same intelligence, same speech, same memory loss and………………same bitching."

"Rrrrrgh… You just wait until I'm outta this. You'll wish I was never born."

"I think the correct term is 'wish I was never born'."

Just then, the automatic door opened. Albert stepped in. In his red hands, he held neatly folded pants, boxers and briefs. All of them coloured blue.

"The clothing for Experiment 5, sir," Albert said as he finished marching towards Heinous.

Heinous stopped glaring at E5. "Good, good, Albert. Lay them in front of him."

Albert did as he was told. After that was done he stepped to Heinous' right.

"Now what, sir."

"Release him."

"But the tranq--"

"Its effects are sure to have worn off by now, Albert," Heinous cut him off.

"They better have," E5 uttered though clenched teeth, "otherwise I'll have to use you as my personal barf-bag."

"Wow, Albert," Heinous said, "he really is progressing faster than the others."

"Mmmhmm," Albert hummed as he approached the Evolver's console. He pressed an unseen button.

CLANK-CLANK-CLANK-CLANK!

The restraints divided and--Thump!--E5 landed on his belly.

"Remove the helmet," Heinous commanded.

Albert pressed another button. He then grabbed a single joystick

E5 looked behind him to see that the helmet was connected to the evolver via two piped from both sides. The piped lifted up slowly. They were being controlled by none other than Albert. To quicken the process, E5 erected his eye stems straight up. Eventually the helmet slipped off.

E5 was free.

Albert left the console and returned to Heinous' side.

E5 eyed the clothes. He then looked at Heinous and Albert with one eye. "Turn around," he said.

Heinous rolled his eyes and turned around.

Albert did the same.

There was a shuffling sound from behind.

"Anyways," E5 said as he squeezed into the boxers, "what of me is heightened besides my intelligence and eyesight?"

"A lot, E5," Heinous said.

"I'm listening."

"Your reflexes have increased by tenfold, allowing you to be more reactive in the battlefield. You'er able to squeeze into any position you want. Your strength has also improved, giving you the power of a steroid-induced behemoth. Your body can adapt to any environment you are in. In short, you're practically invincible."

"Same for the other four?"

"In a way, yes."

"Interesting."

"May we turn around now?"

"Sure."

Heinous and Albert turned around.

E5 stood, wearing blue pants. Here." He tossed Albert the briefs.

The butler caught then awkwardly.

"Now if you'll excuse me," E5 said, "I'll be going now."

Heinous did a double-take. "Huh?"

"You have told me all I need to know, Doctor, but now I'll be setting off to find the other Experiments. And once that's done, we'll come back and kill you………………sssssssslllllllllloowwwwllllllly."

Heinous sweated a little, but tried not to show it. "You don't even know who they are, and don't expect me to tell ya!"

"I'll find out," E5 said.

Heinous fumbled for words. "You'll stay here and like it!"

"Sorry, but I have other plans."

"Albert, do some--"

WHOOOOOSH!

E5 blurred forward.

Albert jumped out of the way.

WHUMP!

E5 pushed Heinous into him and continued running towards the door.

He assumed the door would open by itself, so he kept running.

THUNK!

"YAUCH!" E5 gripped his head after colliding with the door which didn't open.

He grunted and started hammering at the door with amphibious fists. D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DOING!

"Why won't it open?" he growled in frustration.

"Because I've disabled it."

"?" E5 turned around.

Heinous stood with a controller in hand. He smirked. "If you want it, come and take it."

"RRRAUGH!" E5 ran forward. WHOOOOOSH!

"Use the tranquiliser, Albert!"

Albert already had he pipe to his lips.

Thift!

E5 stopped and side-stepped.

Albert quickly reloaded and--

Thift!

--fired again.

E5 ducked.

Albert fired three at once from the primitive weapon.

Thift! Th-Thift!

E5 ducked one, jumped over another and--

WHAP!

--batted the third.

Albert fired his last one.

Thift!

WHOOOO--!

CLAP!

Heinous gasped. So did Albert.

E5 had clapped his hands over the dart, stopping it before it could hit him above the mouth.

He gripped it with one hand, aimed and hurled it with all his might.

SWOOOSH! SLIIINK!

The dart met Albert's neck.

"…….," the butler blinked. "Uh oh." He collapsed.

"Albert!" Heinous caught him. "Stay with me!"

"Don't worry, sir," Albert wheezed, "I had worse……..when………………… Experiment 3 kicked…………..me in…………………………………………….the crooooooooooooootch."

And he was out like a light.

Heinous allowed the tranquilised butler to hit the floor. He glared at E5.

"……," E5 was silently waiting.

Heinous gestured the 'come and get me' sign with his left hand while pocketing the controller with the other.

FWOOOOOOOSH! E5 charged.

Heinous was still.

E5 was about to collide with him, when Heinous whipped out a taser.

E5 kept running.

Heinous aimed and--

ZZZZZZZZZZT!

"Aaaaaugh!" E5 screamed as his body sparked with overwhelming, electrical pain.

He slumped down to his knees, slightly smoking.

"Heh…….heh……...heh," Heinous walked past him." I'm gonna you out, put you back in the Evolver and turn you into a mindless zombie. Then I'll get the respect I deserve.

E5 panted.

Heinous marched towards one of the tranquilisers which missed earlier. He picked it up and strolled towards E5.

"You may be intelligent, E5," Heinous spoke, "but you still have a lot to learn."

E5 finally uttered, "Like learning from my mistakes?"

"Yes, like learning from your mist--"

SNATCH!

Heinous gasped as his taser was snatched out of his hand. He tried to sink the dart into E5's skin.

FWOOOSH!

E5 got up and ran forward, stopped and faced Heinous.

They glared at each other.

Three blue eyes to two black eyes.

"………."

"………."

TWOOSH!

Heinous threw the dart.

BITE!

E5 caught it between his teeth.

Heinous barely had time to blink as--

FSWOOOOOOSH!

--E5 blurred forward.

"!" Heinous made to jump left, but got zapped by the taser.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTT-ZZZT!

"YAAAAAAAUGH!" Heinous twitched and sparked all over.

He slumped to his knees, smoking. Just like E5.

Clank! The taser was discarded.

SLIIIIIIIINK! The dart was forced into the scientist's neck.

Before he slipped into unconsciousness, E5's voice filled his ears.

"I'll see you later, Dr. Heinous. I'll make sure to finish my deal and kill--no--destroy you."

Then Heinous was out of it.

Without a word, E5 pulled the controller out of Heinous' pocket and aimed it at the door.

Click.

E5 threw the controller over his shoulder. Before he made for the door, he uttered, "I just remembered. Thanks for the agility and stuff. They'll come in handy when I return." He knew Heinous wasn't listening.

He made for the door. This time, it opened for him.And was gone.

"After that was done, I found myself on one of Pokitaru's beaches. There, I stole a tourist's ship and left the place, not knowing where the Hell I was going. Soon, I crashed in Metropolis and was more lost than ever. I had to stay in the shadows, cuz I knew that people would have freaked at the sight of me. It was there where I met my associate. Although he didn't run away or wanna study me, he never gave me his name other than 'Mr. M'. He helped me find a ship and later, we thought of a name for me. 'E5' was lame. We came up with the name 'Sli'--er--'Jack Otingoc'. Later, we went to another galaxy, where he helped me establish my 'legitimate' business. He was even kind enough do give me a disguise to keep me unknown. In return, I give him ten percent of my profit. He even taught me slang. I aimed to search for my fellow freaks, but I got so caught up in my business, I practically forgot. The same for Mr. M."

Slim finished talking.

He was careful not to mention things that would identify him as 'Slim Cognito'. He had met Nefarious before and the robot was in the same room as him. The tyhrranoid was unaware of why Ratchet had to keep his identity secret.

"That was quite an awful past," Lawrence said.

"Are you kidding?" Nefarious stood up with a grin. "That was awesome! The way you kicked Jeremy's stinky ass! Aw man, I wish I was there to see it!" And he collapsed with laughter.

"So that means you're gonna join us?" Ratchet sleepily uttered.

"You bet!" Slim said. "If I couldn't find the others, the least I can do is avenge our mutation."

"I hate to break it you," Nefarious said, "but I'm gonna be the one who kicks Jeremy's ass. Whether you like it or not.

"We'll see about that," Slim said. He turned to face Ratchet. "But if I'm gonna join, we're gonna need help."

"Who?" Ratchet asked, suppressing a yawn.

"My associate. Mr. M. Come." Slim yanked Ratchet off the couch and dragged him to the door.

"What about you guys?" Ratchet asked the other two.

"I have to recharge my power cells."

"I gotta play."

Ratchet groaned. "Fine," he looked up at Slim. "Can't I sleep first?"

"I'll drive," Slim said. "It'll be a long trip, so you can catch some 'Z's."

"Where are we going?"

"Planet Otlantis. Mr. M should be there."

They walked/dragged to Ratchet's ship.

"Whew, that's done," Raxamis said as the last amounts of sewer crystals got sucked up the pipe.

"I'd hate to ruin it for you, Raxamis," Albert uttered, "but that was only one round."

"Huh?" Raxamis raised an eyebrow.

"We have many more crystals to find according to my Mapo-matic."

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, man! Why?"

"The more the merrier."

Raxamis pouted. "Fffffffine."

"Come along, robo roosters."

All the robots present walked to the transport craft.

Before Raxamis stepped in, he looked back at the landing pad.

"….."

A beat.

"Shoulda known it was Ratchet's ship."

"Raxamis, are you coming?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Sheesh! Keep your pants on."

"Don't overreact, Raxamis. Master Heinous wants as much sewer crystals as possible."

"I hear ya, Jeeves."

"………."

"…………"

"…… Stop calling me 'Jeeves'!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

The craft detached from the docking bay and drifted towards the sewers.

Finally! I'm sorry I'm taking so long to update, guys.

Anyways, R&R.