A/N: Terribly sorry for the wait! Had writer's block, and I'm still struggling against it. I Will try to get back into daily updates, but I advise to be a bit patient.

Chapter 19

Time to Talk

Ratchet snorted awake; eyes heavy as he rapidly blinked to clear his vision. The clock by his bedside read five o'clock p.m., the early evening hours surprised him. He slowly sat up, realizing that he laid alone on the couch. Tilting his head, a bit, the memories of last night's provocative acts found him. Ah, the rebel had defiantly caught him off guard. That was not something he planned, but the surprise came further when he realized he laid alone. Upon his feet he went through the garage, not seeing a sign of Rivet anywhere. Till catching a whiff of a peculiar smell coming from the kitchen. Down the hall, he trekked till he found the kitchen door and peeked through. Thankful it was already open so he could be sneaky.

Inside was loud rock'n roll music bursting through some stereo systems. Rivet shuffled around in a quick dance while drinking some coffee. The microwave heating up some pan pizza as she held some soda in her bionic hand. On the table were some contraptions she worked on while occasionally returning to check on the pizza. Odd, Rivet wasn't usually the most thrilled to try multi-tasking even though she was decent at it. Ratchet crossed his arms, noticing she still wore the loose black tank top and baggy sweats he has last seen her when they… well, you know. He blushed at the memory and chuckled a bit nervously. Too nervous to make himself known to the busy female.

But the desire to be sneaky was snatched away when Rivet spotted him. Her ears shot up in fright as she quickly moved to turn the music down.

"H—hey Ratch," she nervously laughed with a hand pressed to her neck. "I—I hope I didn't wake you with my music." Her hands blindly grasped for the contraptions she was working on. The former fluid movement of her hands was now messy and distracted as things fell through her fingers. "Sorry, I would've made you breakfast, but you were still asleep when I woke up… and… well…"

Ratchet titled his head as she tripped over her words. He took a step into the kitchen, now noticing him to was still in his PJs. Laughing a bit nervously, he tried to keep his mind free of last night's events. But the shirt falling off his mates' shoulders as she aggressively pounded his brains out still stayed deeply ingrained into his brain. It was next to impossible to see the female the same as he did before last night.

"So, what's… up?" Ratchet laughed as he waved his hands to slow down her nervous rants. "You didn't wake me up, I mean.., um…." He rubbed his hands together, scolding himself for not knowing what to say. "About last night, I um… wanted to ask—"

"Hey, are you thirsty?" She quickly shoved her half drank soda into his face. He took it with caution as she laughed some more and whipped around to retrieve the pizza that finished cooking. "Or how about some food? I mean I would've made extra, but you slept so long I didn't know and…"

Ratchet watched her stammer some more before she gave an awkward chuckle and went back to trying to fix her newest contraptions. He peeked over her shoulder, wondering why she was behaving in such an odd manner. I mean, he doesn't blame her for being nervous, he was too. When he reached a hand out to touch her shoulder, she quickly pulled away. This caused the male lombax to tilt his head.

"Rivet—"

"How about later we go get something to eat? Maybe help Clank and Kit with their date nights!" She laughed nervously while pounding his hammer into the devices.

"I think Clank and Kit are doing just fine without help, um…" he tried to extend his hand again. But she continued to move away and dodge him. Sighing, he went back towards the door, only taking a second to peek back. "Are you okay?"

"Yea yea, solid!" She laughed while sitting down and shoved a big slice of pizza into her mouth. Chewing at a rapid rate before forcing a big swallow and then going back to her work.

Sighing, Ratchet heard robotic footsteps coming towards them. He glanced back once more to Rivet before sliding out of sight. Clank crossed him without notice and came into the sight of seeing the finicky rebel. When they began to conversate, the former hero bowed his hand and went away. The clock on the wall reminded him that it was time to return to his former scheme. Looking back once more to Rivet, she didn't even look back at him. With a heart now growing heavy, he lowered his hand and slowly stalked out.

"Rivet, may I ask what's wrong?" Clank asked while curling his hands beneath his chin. Sitting prim and proper in hopes of soothing the Lombax down. Which seemed to help as she slowed her random running around.

"Well, um…" she peaked over Clank to make sure Ratchet was not in earshot. "Last night, I woke up, saw he wasn't there. The nightmare I had, it just…" hands pressing over her forehead with distress, she sighed. "I couldn't take the loneliness, and when Ratchet came back… we um… did it."

Clank spit his oil drink mid-gulp, whipped his mouth, and stared wide optic at the one-armed rebel. "What? You SLEPT with each other?"

"I mean…" she twiddled her hands nervously, laughing a bit awkwardly. "Kind of?"

"Mating with one another is not a 'kind of,' act, Rivet." Bringing his hands to his face, the robot sighed in dismay. "This is not good, not good at all. What did you say to make this happen? Was he willing? Did he sleep?"

Rivet frowned, eyes starting to narrow a bit at the strange frantic tone in her friend's voice. "Clank, I didn't rape him or anything. I laid in his spot, asked if we could… well, you know, and we both consented." She crossed her arms and leaned forward to get a better look at the worried bot. "Why are you acting like I did some kind of unspeakable act?"

Her hand angrily smacked her forehead. "I mean, sure I didn't think it all the way through. When he came in a second ago, I just panicked, not sure what to do. I've never made it past the level of sex before the guys just walked out. So, I'm just as confused right now!"

"Because he's not in his right mind, Rivet, I told you to be patient with him." Clank smacked his forehead and cut her a sharp look. "You both have been very stressed out and jumping into bed with someone who's not at all mentally well was very irresponsible of you. Especially since you didn't pre-plan the aftermath of the situation!"

A hand slapped on the table, shutting the mini bot up as Rivet's blue eyes looked dangerously serious. "Okay, that's it, time to talk. WHAT is going on with Ratchet that makes you say he's not mentally well?"

Realizing the error in his choice of wording, Clank took his turn to fiddle his thumbs. "U—uh no reason, I think I should go check on Ratchet and—" A yellow robotic hand grabbed him and planted his metal backside back against the chair.

"I've had enough of this; you're going to tell me right now what's going on." She stood over him, her hand firmly on his elbow. The tight grip making it clear to Clank he was not going anywhere. "Because right now, you're blaming me for wanting something I don't ever get. But how am I supposed to know what is too far and what not when Ratchet never even talks to me?"

Clank looked around, worry weighing over his head. "I—I can't, I promised him I wouldn't…"

"You promised him? About what?" Growling, she released Clank and shut the kitchen door, locking it for good measures. "Clank, you have ten seconds to tell me what is going on, or so help me I'll march right up to Ratchet and ask him myself!"

The small robot stared at the fuming female, his antenna drooping when reality hit him. What had he done? Pressing his face into his hands, he shook his head.

"I am so sorry Rivet… I don't know how to explain this…" he whispered.

Rivet sat down across Clank and leaned forward, eyes widening a bit at his distress. "Then try you're best…" she whispered in complete sternness.

Outside the garage, Ratchet walked away from the entrance. Ears hanging low with eyes half shut in complete heartbreak. A tear threatened to roll down his cheek till his hand stubbornly wiped at it to conceal it. The memories of last night still laid forefront on his mind. How could he have let this happen? It's what she wanted, what he wanted, now she acts like she doesn't want him at all?

Gripping his chest, the wound started to hurt. Physical or emotional pain, he wasn't sure which was the culprit. But right now, it was clear that from Rivet's extreme dismissal that she had no other intentions towards him. He rammed his fist into a nearby tree, fighting to keep the angry tears from coming.

"I'm such an idiot, I never should've let last night get that far… she can't even look me directly in the eye!" Tightening his fist, he felt his pupils begin to shrink in growing rage. All his distressing thoughts beginning to swirl around back to the VIP bot trapped in his hideout. "I've wasted enough time on this…"

Getting a note out, he scribbled some words down on it before taping it to Rivets' ship. He lingered by the note for a few seconds, lost in thought, till rage re-sparked his direction. On his way, he activated his suit of battle armor, which quickly covered his eyes behind the devilish red screen. Another step his mechanical boots clanked until reaching his ship parked only a few feet away from Rivet's. Crawling in, he activated the thrusters and shot away from the garage.

He refused to look back at the garage the further he flew till the clouds completely covered him. It didn't take long till he landed on the outside of his shack and leaped from his ship. Beeping out to signal its hatches locked, the disguised lombax marched towards the door and smashed a solid kick into the metal. Forcing it wide open, denting the back wall that stopped the frame. What came to Ratchet's eyes left him completely speechless.

The whole area was a complete wreck. His monitors were torn right from the walls and crushed on the floor. Wires dangling from the damage, sparking yellow dots with fluids dripping onto the floor's puddles. VIP laid on in the chair, claw marks slashed all over his framing. Ratchet shook his head in denial before quickly darting over to his prisoner. Grabbing VIP's arm, he gave him a strong shake.

"VIP, hey, what happened!?" He called, panic growing further when his common sense told him this bot was offline. Permanently.

Slowly releasing the bot's arm that flopped back against the chair, Ratchet sluggishly moved back. Eyes scanning around the area till he saw strange paw prints imprinted in the ground. He knelt and ran a claw over the prints, they looked cat-like with long claws. Studying the width and diameter, his eyes grew wider as something slowly began to dawn on him.

"Oh no… it's…"

A massive black paw grabbed Ratchet by his shoulder and body slam him right into the wall. His suit sparked from the pressure tearing his metallic joints apart. He groaned in pain while struggling to crane his head back to see his attacker. Blood running cold when he saw familiar gold eyes behind a black visor.

"W—hat? How did you find this place!" Ratchet cried out as he squirmed to getaway. But that massive pressed down harder, forcing his body to be still. The pain eased up when he followed her silent command.

She stared at him, eyes darting to the mess she had made previously.

"When discovered my employer's body… accompanied with a taxi driver's testimony of a small… war bot chasing him. Knew you had something to do with this. So… decided to… 'wrap up' the work… for you." She quickly whirled Ratchet around till he was pinned on his back and looking right into her eyes. Those solid orbs of a sickly yellow color stared at him. No life was seen anywhere in those eyes, almost as lifeless as her monotone voice.

"You knew where I was this whole time?" Ratchet breathed out, feeling her massive metal claws grab his visor and rip it right from his helmet.

"Yes, and this little goose chase I sent you… needed to know how strong your resolve was. Before deciding what to do." Slowly she reached to her own helmet and began to remove it. "Happy to report… you've done well."

Ratchet watched in horror as the creature showed him her complete face. The long strands of black hair dangling from her thick mane. Almost as if this creature before him shouldn't be talking, or even have the props to do half the things she's done.

"You and I… are more alike than you think." She snorted steam into his exposed face, eyes darting down to the wound hidden behind his chest plates. "I… never meant to hurt you. That night."

"Hurt me?" Ratchet swallowed his fear and flexed his teeth, anger spewing off him in waves. "You coasted me my hurt, my job, and now my entire life!" Freeing his leg from the constant thrashing to get out from under her huge paw, he delivered a hard-sideways kick to her jaw. Able to knock out a small tooth. He grinned in some satisfaction at finally being able to hurt this cretin to some extent.

But the dental injury did little to change her lifeless stare. Sliding her paw over her mouth to casually wipe the blood away, she sighed. Pulling her head up, she got Ratchet firmly in her grip and sat down. The male lombax held in her fist like how he would hold a baby bird, firmly enough to keep it from falling, but gently enough as not to crush it. His attacker kept her eyes glued to the floor, completely lost in thought.

"You see… when you use a small fraction of a phase quart to jump through small scale dimensions, you become…" she tapped her short tail on the ground to find the right word. "Disoriented. Confused, less alert, stuck in a state… easier to make a mistake."

"That's how you've been ahead of me, you've somehow made your own dimensionator…!"

"Correct, in a sense." She chuffed, shushing Ratchet to let her finish. "Anyway, when you don't mentally prepare, you get groggy. When I found you that night… I mistook you for… the rebel leader."

"You thought I was Rivet and attacked me?" his eyes narrowed, veins creasing up his neck as he strained against her strength. "VIP… he told me Bridger and he contacted you before. You sent coordinates to a rebel leader… tell me what happened, now!"

A tear slid down the creature's eye, causing Ratchet to fall silent. He tilted his head as the creature started to tremble, emotions struggling to come forth in her eyes.

"It was all his fault." She whispered, pressing her paw to her face to hide the sadness. "He took the only thing that cared for me away. The only one… who helped me feel… normal." Slowly raising her head, she looked at the damage she had caused earlier. "Despite what they have done to me and others like me, was willing to forgive. Until that… foolish crimson striped lombax took him away from me. Then gunned the rest of ones like me down."

Ratchet felt the pressure beginning to find him. His eyes squinted while his mind raced to figure out what his attacker was talking about. Crimson striped lombax? He thought harder, come on, what was she talking about? Suddenly it hit him, till the creature beat him to it.

"Azimuth…" she whispered with the purest form of hatred. "He barely survived my attack that night at the mental institution. When he was sent away in exile, I had planned to kill him, to rip him apart, as he had done to me. But when word came to me had… lost his life. I became lost, confused, and completely… enraged. Back when I was… capable of feeling such anger."

She hoisted Ratchet up to look her right in the eye so the male lombax could see how serious she was getting.

"I learned… he had sired an offspring. Your little 'girlfriend'…" she slowly turned her head away, letting darkness veil her already black fur. "Was stumped, she did not cause my pain. But she carried the blood of the one who did. I was not paid retribution. He… Alister… needed to pay, one way or another. So, I factored in the credentials."

"You… sent Rivet the coordinates on how to find the emperor's secret hideout. But Kit… I thought she—?"

"I was aware of the warbots' patrol route scheduling. Simply set the stage, your female took the bait, and walked in just in time for the… play."

"You… freaking psycho!" Ratchet yelled as he thrashed in her grip, eyes burning hotly in utter rage. "How could you! She didn't do anything… she almost died because of you!"

The creature did nothing but stare at him, immune to his distress. Sighing, she tapped a claw against her knee. Contemplating on the information shared.

"Original retribution was for her father. But, with him gone, the only way to soothe the inferno in me… was to grant his daughter a smaller percentage of the punishment." She stood up and loomed over Ratchet, "Believe me… dear one, she has received GREAT mercy from what I had planned to originally do."

"Alister is Rivet's father? What? N—no, then that means… if you were in contact with him, then you are…" Ratchet shook his head, looking at her ear, face, snout, build, and overall appearance. She was… some kind of lombax, she had to be! This didn't matter now, right now all he wanted was to kill this person that lingered over him. He'd have to ponder Alister and Rivet's familial ties later.

"You… wanted Alister, for something he did to you long ago? Only because he 'took' something from you? Then you find it justifiable to take… Rivet's arm?" Ratchet shook his head, in total horror and disgust at the jacked-up mug staring at him. "Twisted does no justice describing you… you're a monster…!"

"That's what they all said, before locking ones like me up as children." She flexed her teeth, fur starting to rise the longer she looked into Ratchet's judgmental eyes. Angry veins began to crack around her iris. Alerting Ratchet that something dark was about to happen.

"My first toy… was a muzzle. Only one cared about us, to give us a future. He worked day and night to save ones like me. But all your kind did… was see us as a walking genetic plague of disformed individual's incapable of understanding what it means to exist in society." Wrapping her talons around Ratchet's neck, she started to squeeze.

"That arrogant male… took my groom away from me." She slammed Ratchet into the ground, eyes beginning to glaze over with tears. They began pouring from her eyes as her jaw rattled, emotions fighting a wicked battle within her. So much so, her entire body began to spasm and jerk like a seizure.

"My love is dead… all because ones like you couldn't see anything else but 'monster'." She released her grip on Ratchet, finally allowing him to breathe. Getting him back up, she dragged him out the door and into the wet grass where the rain started to trickle down. The water hiding the tears that kept pouring from her face.

"I won't let his legacy die." She whispered, dragging Ratchet further into the bushes. "Because soon, the Lombaxes will be saved from extinction. And this…" she pointed between her and Ratchet, hinting at the terror she endured from their own kind. "Will NEVER happen again."

Ratchet felt himself slowly fall into a black void. The last he saw was a purple blast and falling into, what felt like, hot sand. Then nothing, all melt away from him as quickly as he felt the area's heatwaves strike him.