Ratchet woke up. His headache was still there. His vision returned to normal as he blinked a few times. He was in the Phoenix infirmary, and the only person there. Various types of medical equipment were set up around the darkly lit room.

He tried to sit up, but found he couldn't. He tried moving his arms and legs, but to no avail. His neck turned to see. His eyes widened when he found he was strapped to a medical bed via leather restraints around his wrists and ankles. His shoes, gloves, aviator's helmet, watch, and belt strap were gone. He was only wearing his pants. His tail shook uselessly under him.

He noticed that the wounds were healed, except for a small plaster over his left bicep. He could just see it through his peripheral vision.

"Nnngh! Rrrggf!" Ratchet grunted as he tried to tear through the restraints. He stopped when he heard voices. His tired eyes moved towards the sliding door. Through the reflecting glass, he could make out two silhouettes. They were of Sasha and Al. The voices were muffled.

Schhhwishh.

The automatic door slid open, and Sasha stepped in. Another swish and the door closed. The ship Captain took a seat on a stool besides the left side of the bed, and crossed her legs.

"Hello, Ratchet," Sasha said with a stern face. "Nice to see you're finally awake."

Ratchet didn't answer. Then, a horrible thought came to mind. With raised eyebrows and wide eyes, he exclaimed, "The Biobliterators! We have to--!"

"Ratchet," Sasha cut him off, "it's been over four hours….. Nothing has happened."

"It must be another of Nefarious' tricks then!" Ratchet pressed.

She sighed. "There are no Biobliterators."

"……………Well, why am I here then?"

"You were brought here for testing, Ratchet," Sasha explained. "We're worried about you. We want to help you."

"…"

"You keep saying that you saw Dr. Nefarious. Yet, when you pointed him out, no one else saw him." She took another breath, "You're extremely angry about something which we have no idea about. You could be hallucinating."

"'Hallucinating'?" Ratchet raised his voice. "I'm NOT HALLUCINAT--!"

"Keep your voice down," Sasha interrupted coldly. "I'm right here."

"I'm not hallucinating! I had scars to prove that I was fighting someone!"

Sasha seemed doubtful.

Ratchet glared. "Don't tell me 'they're self-inflicted'."

"I have no idea what to believe," she looked to the floor sadly. "The team I sent to investigate hasn't come up with any results yet."

"Why am I restrained?" Ratchet demanded.

"Why do you think?.!" Sasha pointed with a gloved hand. "To keep you from running off and killing yourself."

"I'm not going to kill myself!" Ratchet yelled. "I'm not going crazy! I'm just trying to stop Nefarious!"

"How can you be so sure he's back?"

"Tyhrranoids are everywhere!" Ratchet cried. "They attacked the Palace, and ambushed us on Florana! They even attacked the Phoenix!"

"That's not good enough," Sasha told him. "They could just be surviving tyhrranoids still believing the war hasn't ended!"

"Then, why would they attack several months later? HUH?.?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Sasha scowled.

"Pffft," Ratchet looked away with a stiff brow, "……figures."

"This isn't like you, Ratchet!" Sasha stood up as she let it all out. "At first, it began as a simple task. You scanned once a day for an hour before turning in. Then, it got worse……" She heaved a heavy sigh, "You started doing it more often…so much, that you bought a work station to replace Qwark's old cage. It went further downhill from there! You devoted less time to your friends, and went out less. You hired a research team to drain the lakes near the Command Centre on Mylon. When the results came out negative, you still didn't let it go." She sniffed. "You began to spend more time in that room than any other. You smoke, for Heaven's sake! Are you going to obsess about Nefarious until you die from it?.!"

"……," Ratchet starred at her.

She continued. "Everything's falling apart, Ratchet……. WE are falling apart… no, we already fell apart..," she sniffed. "Don't you care?"

"How do you know I smoke?" it was amazing. It was as if all Ratchet heard was the part about him smoking. He didn't seem to care about anything else his ex said.

"Does it matter?.!" Sasha's eyes watered. It was the most unprofessional thing she did.

"I told Skidd not to--" his muttering was silenced.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?.!.?.!.?.!"

Ratchet's body jerked at her outburst. That was it though. He remained silent after. Cold.

Sasha looked at him with an astonished expression. Her eyes narrowed, "So that's it then…. You're not going to say anything at all?"

"……"

"Okay then," she sighed. "Be that way. We'll figure something out."

"……"

Without another word, she left the infirmary.

Scchwishh.

The door swished shut and Ratchet was alone.

He sighed sadly.

"That was really cold, man."

Ratchet gasped, "Nefarious?"

"The one and only," he stepped out from behind a curtain, and stopped at the foot of the bed. "Now how can you be so disrespectful to her?"

"Mind your own business!" Ratchet pulled at his restraints, trying to be free so he could pulverise the robot.

"You really have issues."

"It's your fault!" Ratchet growled with animosity. "You're the reason all of this happened to me!"

"Am I?" Nefarious remarked. "I beg to differ, squishy. Y'see, I'm just the villain who's trying to take over the galaxy and so on. After my supposed defeat, YOU'RE the one who decided to change his life and turn into a stinky hermit." He grabbed the railings at the foot of the bed and leaned over, his face nearing Ratchet's as he spoke, "You're the one who's ruining everything, you single, squishy, scrawny, smoking, skunk!"

After fighting the robot so long, Ratchet couldn't even bare to look at Nefarious. He couldn't deny it; Nefarious, despite his immaturity, was absolutely right. Everyone was right…from Nefarious to Sasha. The lombax couldn't hold back a small tear that fell down his left cheek.

Nefarious stopped leaning and stood up straight. He made his way to the right side of the bed…towards a tray of medical tools. "Hurts, don't it, Ratchet?" he picked up a scalpel. "If you hold still, I promise to put you out of your misery."

Ratchet sniffed. He was looking straight ahead, not at nefarious, so he didn't notice what the robot had picked up. He sniffed, "I h-hate you…Nefa-arious. Y-You've ruined m-me….." another sniff.

"Awww, don't cry, Ratchet," Nefarious actually placed a cold palm on his shoulder. "You obviously haven't been listening to me. That's alright," He walked towards the middle of the room, hiding the scalpel from Ratchet's gaze, "I was never listened to when I was young."

Ratchet hiccupped.

"Torment is what drives someone to villainy," Nefarious said seriously. "Not corruption. Chairman Drek was just money-hungry. It's a good thing you defeated him. Otherwise, I'd have no planets to conquer. Heh…"

"…."

"You're so lucky, Ratchet," Nefarious said with a clenched fist. "You had friends, someone to love and to be loved by, and an army of fangirls. Yet…you threw all that away just because I was never discovered after the Biobliterator II explosion." He relaxed his hand, looked at Ratchet with hard red eyes, "Why?"

"S-Since when…..did you c-care?"

"I don't care; I'm just curious."

"……," Ratchet exhaled.

"What? Gonna tell me it's none of my business?"

"Y-You already know the reason, Nef-farious…….," Ratchet chocked. "You just want me to repeat what you said to m-make me feel ba-ad."

"I've been through more anguish in a day then you have all your life!" Nefarious yelled.

Ratchet said nothing.

"Don't go and feel sorry for yourself, Ratchet," Nefarious said harshly. "You brought this upon yourself!"

"Everyone's say-ying…you're not real…."

"They don't know the truth," Nefarious muttered.

A moment of uncomfortable silence.

"Heh," Nefarious shook suddenly. "Heh heh heh heh heh…"

Ratchet squinted in confusion.

"Eh eh heh heh--HAH HAH HAH!" a chuckle, then a laugh, then a horrible cackle. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!" Nefarious held both arms out like a crucifix, exposing the scalpel.

Ratchet sniffed, "Wh-What's so funny?"

"You're funny," Nefarious pointed the medical tool. "Funny and DEAD!" he leapt towards the lombax.

Ratchet's eyes widened in pure, white horror.

"Skidd, why are we going to the infirmary?" Qwark asked as he, Clank, and Al followed the Rilgraion down a metallic hall.

"I swear, dudes," he said, "I heard noises coming from--"

"NNNRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!"

They stopped dead in their tracks.

"What the heck was that?" Qwark blurted.

"It totally came from Ratchet's room!" Skidd pointed.

"Good heavens, Ratchet could be in great danger!" Clank jogged ahead.

"Let's go!" Al followed.

The door swished open and all four people stepped in.

"Oh my," Al was the first to speak.

Ratchet was gone. The restraints that were keeping him in place were torn to shreds. Machines were pushed aside from some sort of struggle. There was a horrible stench of sweat in the air.

"Where is he?" Qwark ran to another section.

"Up there," Clank pointed.

They looked.

A ventilation duct was open. Various sounds of metal being pounded could be heard echoing from inside.

"Ventilation shaft, dudes!" Skidd exclaimed.

"Quick!" Al panicked. "Get Sasha on the line!"

"Here," Clank said as the holo-vid came up to Al's sweaty face. "I'm going after Ratchet." His antenna and arms turned into propellers and he drifted towards the shaft.

"Sasha here. Yes, Al?"

"Sasha," Al panted as Qwark and Skidd inspected the room for anything out of the ordinary, "we have a problem!"