Chapter 12

Phantom's Pain & Joy

Ratchet came down the stairs into the kitchen facility, seeing Kit and Clank next to each other. Both robots snickered while whispering secrets into the other's ear section. Kit put a hand to her mouth after Clank took his turn to mutter something.

"Seriously? Oh, you bad bot boy," she giggled and flicked his antenna like the day they first met. Which gifted a loud laugh from Clank.

"Far from innocent yourself, eh?" he leaned forward with hands politely crossed. About to plant a small kiss until Kit tapped his shoulder, "what's wrong?" Clank followed Kit's finger till his eyes locked onto Ratchet. "Oh, Ratchet!" He straightened his posture and sat up straight to appear innocent. "What brings you down so early?"

"Apparently too early," the hero laughed while leaning against the wall. "And I'm going to forget what I just saw," he smirked as the bots gave each other embarrassed looks. Waving his hand, he began glancing around the kitchen. "Where's Rivet? She asked me to down for breakfast and—"

"Oh, she's at the workbench." Kit corrected while hearing the ding on the kitchen timer. Getting up to retrieve the pancake from the oven, "Only been in there for a few minutes, just making repairs."

"Repairs on what?" Ratchet tilted his head, ears straight up in confusion.

"Why not go and ask yourself?" Clank asked.

"Ah, good idea, I'll be right back," Ratchet gave a thumbs up and darted out of the room.

Sighing, Clank shook his head and glanced over to Kit who started lying out the pancakes. "I have done so more research on Lombax biology."

"And?" Kit tilted her head once lying down the last pancake.

"In a less professional description, young ones are very clueless with their feelings."

"What age usually signifies this behavior?" The yellow bot moved to re-seat herself by Clank, rubbing her hands together to get the pancake mix off her metal skin.

"About ten years younger than these two."

Falling silent for about fifteen seconds, Clank and Kit slowly look towards each other. Laughter flew from their mouths as they smacked their knees and poked at each other.

Into the next room, Ratchet hustled, eager to check on the female Lombax. Today was going to be a much better day, no more pulling away! Ratchet smiled to himself as he quickly smoothed his hair back and picked some food from his teeth. "Did I forget to brush my teeth?" he checked a nearby mirror, studying his pearly whites. "Darn, no wonder, forgot my toothbrush, will just have to get another one today…" rubbing his hands together, he resumed his trek to the workbench. Down the hall and out the door, it amazed him how diverse Rivet's garage was.

'Okay, just going to say good morning… how are you and ask if she'd like to join me for a date.' He rehearsed in his head. So simple, just ask and cross his fingers, it was full proof!

Rivet sat on the bench with her back to Ratchet, unaware of his coming presence. She wore a solid black welding outfit without sleeves. A wrench bit between her teeth as she wore matching plastic gloves. The male lombax titled his head in confusion at the sight as the female lombax was using her one organic arm to slide the forearm section of her bionic arm into the shoulder unit.

The sight caused Ratchet to freeze, never had he seen Rivet without her arm. With how often she wore it, he often forgot she was even missing an arm. Not that he ever really forgot, it just didn't cross his mind. With the female Lombax struggling to connect the two separate pieces, his vision started to shake. Rivet grunted in frustration as she bent the shoulder joint forward in a clumsy attempt to get the wire re-connected.

"Stupid power failures, I swear I thought I fixed it." She muttered to herself, giving up and slapping the forearm back onto the bench. With only one arm, she slid some tool to the side, searching for another piece to try. "Guess shouldn't have tried this without the clamp."

Staring at the side of her missing arm, Ratchet started to hear faint beats into his heart. Heartbeats loudly thumping like a drum as his blood began to grow cold. Pain boiled up within his ribcage as he suddenly clutched his chest, stumbling away from Rivet and back into the hallway.

"No…" he whispered through gritted teeth. "Not again, m—my chest… ribcage feels… like it's about to split in two." Realizing what was about to happen, Ratchet made a mad dash for upstairs. The beats getting louder and louder as his mind started to drift off again.

~Flashback: Seventeen Days Ago~

Ratchet wallowed in pain, so severe it practically left him paralyzed. Surgeons rushed all around him as medics laid him onto a white bed stained red from his small body. They quickly chunked off the loose pieces of armor before peeling him out of the rest of it. Laying a towel down to cover his waist to keep his privacy secure.

He gurgled in pain, barely able to see through foggy vision. One large human doctor zipped around him with a bunch of smaller nurses following him. All in a frenzy as the others raced to get some surgical equipment ready.

"He's lost too much blood!" the lead surgeon yelled as Ratchet felt three nurses tie his wrists down. "Most of his frontal organs have been sheered but the ribcage was broken, whatever hit him went straight to the heart."

"He's not going to make it doc, what do we do?" One nurse yelled as she quickly applied a heavy sedative IV to Ratchet's arm. "We have no experience in Lombax biology to treat him properly!"

Looking defeated for a second, the doctor tightened his fist. "No, we're going to do everything we can, Ross go alert the mechanics in room 8905! We need parts, on the double!"

One doctor took a razor and began shaving down part of Ratchet's fur so the surgeons could get easy access to the wound. All winced at the grizzly sight of the massive cut trailing from the top right pectoral all the down his midsection and to end close to his left hip. It was a clean-cut, which brought some relief to the doctors that stitching shouldn't be too harsh of a problem.

"Okay enough staring, everyone keeps his heart beating!"

"Sir, the organ is barely able to function on its own! The damage is too severe!"

"Then hook him up the backup! Just keep the pulsations going until the replacement is ready!" He picked up a scalpel and moved to Ratchet. Placing a hand on his shoulder, he whispered in a shaky breath.

"I promise, we won't let you die… just relax…"

Just relax…

~End of Flashback~

Just Relax… those words still lingered in Ratchet's mind as he fell onto the floor when getting through Rivet's office door. "Ugh, my heart… n—need my… pills…" he reached for his coat pocket and snatched the bottle out. Once all three blue pills were shoved into his mouth, he rolled onto his side, clutching his chest. Body tightening from the contracted muscles desperate to loosen up. Pressure slowly began to dim, allowing his body to feel a bit lighter.

He coughed harshly, rubbing his chest wound when slowly getting to his feet. Very carefully he stabilized himself into a standing position, hand on the wall just in case. All felt fine within him as he took another deep breath. One step at a time he sluggishly moved out the door and back down the stairs. Rivet suddenly emerged in front of him, her mechanical arm still missing from her disconnected shoulder joint. Her eyes were big with pupils shrunk in shock.

"Ratchet," she extended her only organic arm and caught his shoulder. "I heard a loud thump from downstairs, what happened? Are you okay?"

"Y—yea sorry, I tripped on the chair trying to get my jacket," he laughed while waving his hand. "Decided last second I didn't feel like wearing it."

"Oh, I see?" Rivet rubbed her neck, laughing a bit awkwardly at his weird behavior. Then she sighed and gave Ratchet a frustrated look. "Look Ratchet, my arm is currently going through a glitch and I can't get a replacement core till the Morts deliver it tonight. So, I'll be… 'one arming' it for today."

"Hey that's fine," Ratchet expanded both his arms out and slapped her right side where the yellow electronic arm connected to her shoulder. "I got two extras here just for you, whenever ya need em, just holler!"

Rivet tilted her head, a bit surprised to hear his voice filled with joy. "Oh, w—well thanks! But… there was… something I wanted to ask."

Just as Rivet nervously shuffled her feet, Ratchet breathed in and blurted out without thinking.

"How about we go out?"

"I think—wait, what?"

Ratchet quickly facepalmed as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed, desperate to make everything he said look intention. His mouth started to move on its own, everything that flew out was without his brain's consent.

"I… I mean, things have been a little crazy lately. Adjusting to this 'down' time, and I hate making you worry about me so how about I make up for it and you let me take you out sometimes?" He said the whole sentence without a single breath. Gasping for a bit for what he has done, his cheeks flared up in complete disbelief.

Rivet seemed just as surprised, "You mean… like a date?"

"W—well, I mean going to hang out as girl and guy… if you want to call it that. I mean…" Ratchet's mouth came to life again as he waved his hands around. "I think a girl like me and a guy like you would have fun h—hanging out and…" he froze, mouth open and closing in alarm as he even screwed up their genders. "I—I mean, um…"

Rivet quickly put her only finger to his mouth, hushing Ratchet's rambling.

"Ratchet," she said carefully.

"Yea?" he muffled out from beneath her finger.

"I think that'd… be a good idea." She smirked as she released his mouth, "But how about we go out first, see how it goes, and then figure out if we want to call it a date. Hm?"

"Uh, s—sure!" He rubbed his neck and gave a nervous chuckle. "I mean, anywhere is fine, just act like we usually do."

"Except I expect one thing to be different." Rivet answered sternly with a hand to her hip.

"What's that?"

"You stop pulling away every time I try to touch you." She got him by the ear and whispered, "I don't know how that works in your dimension, but here… girls don't like it when guys do that." Rivet gave him a slow wink with an awkward open-mouth smile. Trying her best to make the male lombax feel less weird.

Ratchet's eyes flared up as he listened to Rivet, mind starting to drift off. Hang on, what was he doing? He ran his hands together, now lost for words. He just told himself he was going to treat her better than he had been and instead of simply being open, he asked her on a date! The hero was in complete shock at what he had just done. Wait, maybe it was just another hallucination. Elbow stretched as Ratchet tapped Rivet's shoulder, waiting for her to vanish. The shock came even heavier when he realized this Rivet was indeed real.

"O—kay, guess we're in agreement then." She smirked as grabbed his hand in her one good arm, "now how about you get your handsome tail in here and help me fix this shoulder joint?" Rivet released his hand and banged on the empty yellow slot that stuck out from her shoulder section. "I could do it by myself, but always been tricky with one arm. But with me having two extra arms now… might as well take you up on that offer, huh?"

Ratchet chuckled awkwardly as he nodded, "Oh uh, sure!" He hesitantly followed the female lombax back to her workbench. Upon entering the room both saw three of the Morts waiting for them.

"Rivet!" Came the lead furry brown goblin-looking creature, wearing their usual construction worker clothes. "How the heck you doing?"

"Hey, look whose here!" Rivet laughed as she darted to the female Mort, gave a few high-fives, bumped elbows, and then jumped back to wiggle their fingers at each other.

Ratchet just stared at the odd sight of their 'secret handshake' technique. Rivet and Mort laughed as they finished their greeting until she gestured to the male Morts behind her. Though Ratchet couldn't tell who was who, as they all looked like fluffy clones with massive eyebrows and icky teeth.

"Ratchet, I don't think I ever properly introduced, this is Mort!" She gestured to the first one that greeted her. Mort, the female, gave a nonchalant wave in which Ratchet hesitantly returned. Then the female lombax got Ratchet to look at the last two, "Then this…" she pointed to the left one, "Is Mort. And this one is Mort!" Rivet then pointed to the right one.

Both Morts gave him a thumbs-up as the male lombax was in complete shock, not having any clue on how Rivet could tell them apart.

"Uh… nice to meet you Mort and…" He looked between all three of them, shaking their hands one at a time. "Mort?"

"Hey!" the third one piped up, obviously male by voice. "Forgot me."

"Sorry! And… Mort…" he muttered, confusion now blowing through the roof. How on earth Rivet could leave with these guys and not suffer a headache was beyond him.

"Sorry we're late," the female Mort answered while slapping Rivet on her left knee. "Heard you needed a part for that arm of yours," she turned to one of her clone companions that offered a toolbox. Opening its lid, she began rummaging through it all. Finally finding the part she wanted and held up a small circular orb that blinked a dim yellow glow.

"This piece right here should be enough to power the new models you've been making."

"Thanks, girl, you're the best!" She repeated their high five shakes before rushing to the workbench. "Hey Ratchet, come help me with this!"

Still staring at the Morts in complete disbelief, Ratchet sighed and went back to Rivets' side. Holding the extra robotic arm she had propped up on the rack, he opened the slot on its palm as the rebel slapped in the newest piece. It whirred to life as Rivet excitedly got the arm and hooked it back onto her exposed shoulder joint. After a couple of beeps, the bio-limb came to life as Rivet gawked in total joy at the sight. She began moving the arm in a series of directions, confirming it to be in working condition.

"Wow, it moves even more fluidly than my last one! Thanks Mort!"

"You're welcome girly!" She laughed as she elbowed her male companions and gave them a wink. "Knew that piece was just what you needed."

Ratchet chuckled as he watched the sight of Rivet engage happily with her little Mort family. To see her smile and laugh with the little goblin things he couldn't tell apart, man, that was what it must be like to have a family. The male lombax glanced back to her artificial limb, his arm moving without his consent to touch his touch. The pulses would ring in his ears, but he wouldn't feel any physical movement. Artificial hearts didn't make a sound, they simply kept the blood pumping. But because the doctors had very little equipment to help a Lombax specifically, they had to work with what they had.

'It's not their fault,' Ratchet thought to himself sadly, ears slowly lowering. 'I mean it's sort of expected, they don't know anything about Lombax biology, because they've never treated one. Just thankful they managed to find something that worked well enough to keep me alive.'

Sighing in a deep breath, Ratchet turned on his heel to leave Rivet and the Morts alone to catch up. He needed time to think about stuff that just transpired this evening. How his mouth came to life and asked Rivet to join him on a maybe-date. If that's what you'd call it, but either way, the topic was not out in the open.

Oh, how he hoped this goes well.