Chapter 20

Atonement

Clank sat across from Rivet; his arms folded on the table with optics glued downwards. Rivet sat back against her seat, blue eyes wide in total shock at the word that had previously left the mini bot's mouth.

"The surgery took around eighty-four hours in the hospital before they managed to stabilize him. His heart… had to be replaced." Clank still refused eye contact, unable to look her in the eye. "Ever since then, he's been agitated, refused to speak to anyone, losing his touch, and just flat out refusing help." He tightened his fist, shoulders trembling. "I begged him to tell you, but he… the look in his eyes… he was so devasted, I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone till the time was right."

Rivet said nothing, just stared at the silver bot with hollow eyes. Her jaw laid agape as if she was trying to speak but her lungs refused to provide the air needed to form the verbal responses. Clank tilted his head as concern crept upon him. Never has he seen the female completely frozen before.

"Rivet?" He reached a hand out to touch her. Then quickly yanking it back when Rivet shot to her feet, her chair legs screeching against the floor. Clank was about to try to speak again until Rivet flung her fist right at him but pulled away just in time to strike the wall instead of his head. The bot gasped in shock as the female began to ram her fist into the wall.

"How DARE you not tell me this!" She boomed so loud it almost sent Clank right off his chair. Tears of sheer anger burned her eyes as she delivered another angry blow to the wall. Denting it beneath her bionic fist, not that she felt it like she would've felt if her arm was still there. "What the hell Clank? You mean Ratchet almost died, and you didn't tell me anything!"

Clank coward back, hands running together in fear as the female lombax slammed her fist so hard, this time the punch pounded a hole right through the wall. Eyes stuck on the ground like a puppy dog in trouble for chewing up his master's shoes. "Rivet please u—understand, it happened so suddenly, we didn't know… I… Ratchet…"

"I'm so pissed off right now, you better not talk at all!" She boomed again, sending Clank back again. Her hands gripped at her forehead, such boiling rage and fear burned her heart nearly raw. But the sadness caused the tears to fall from her eyes in small droplets. Gripping her metal shoulder, her mind raced back to the times Ratchet got weird when she touched his chest. Teeth gnashing together, she snarled, struggling against the onslaught of these negative emotions piling up.

"I'm so damn angry right now, I want to slap you both so freaking hard your heads spin!" She used her arm to wipe the tears away. Trying desperately to recover from the surge of venom she just unleashed on her frightened friend. "H—how did this happen again…?"

"We…" Clank whispered, trying to pick his words carefully as not to further trigger the distressed female lombax. "He went out alone one night, I was waiting for him, that's when I got a call late a night he was at the hospital. I… noticed he had been lost in a haze so often. Feared he had been distracted and became injured."

"You mean he… didn't say how he got the injury?"

"No… he refused to talk about it. It was so unlike him. I fear he had… fell into an accident. So, I forbade him participating in any more hero work."

Rivet thought long and hard about all this information hitting her at once. How dare Ratchet not tell her something so serious, if he were here right now she wasn't sure she'd be able to refrain from smacking his ass silly! But then the rage was weighed down by fear at how close she came to losing him… and she didn't even know. The white lombax slowly sank to sit on her backside, head leaning against the wall she had pulverized a minute ago. Days before, she knew something was wrong, how distant he was, even refusing most of her advances. All this time she had developed feelings for the handsome, yet dumb male, and he never even noticed it. Now she wondered if a future was even possible if he didn't survive.

"Rivet?" Clank slowly got down from his chair and snuck up behind her. Carefully patting her back, he eyed her body language, prepared to leap away in case she had another angry blowout. When her shoulders moved an inch, he quickly took a step back, fighting the urge to fall into a defensive stance.

Rivet tried to cease her shaking till her sullen look found Clank. A thought struck her like a lightning bolt as she clamored to her feet. Hand against the hole she made in the wall, she curled her fingers and tapped her chin. Mind running over some thoughts in relation to all that had happened over the past few days. Till she shot a frightened look at Clank.

"What happened to Ratchet, I don't think it was an accident. I've had… dreams of Ratchet getting attacked by some weird creature one night. I thought it was just a nightmare, but…"

"Wait wait wait!" Clank waved his hands to silence her. "You've had dreams? About Ratchet getting attacked. How? This is not… logical. You had no way of knowing this happened."

"I don't know, nor can I explain it, but after all you told me. That was not some random nightmare, Ratchet was attacked. It was deliberate!" She smashed her organic hand angrily against the counter. Blue eyes pulsing a hard red from rubbing her eyes free of the tears. "Someone hurt him, and this individual probably scared him into keeping quiet. I know he wouldn't stay quiet for no reason."

"Rivet, these assumptions are getting a little wild." Clank planted his fists to his hips; no longer afraid the female was going to lash out again. "Well I sincerely apologize for not telling you, I strongly implore you to not run to Ratchet and throw all this stuff at him! He still does not know I told you, he'll become livid when he finds out—"

"Him being livid is the last thing he needs to worry about," she shot him a dark look that shut the mini bot up. "I'm still beyond pissed you never told me ANY of this, so when I get everyone back in this garage, we're in for a serious talk. There will be consequences for this!" Rivet stomped to the fridge to pull out a new can of soda to soothe her sizzling nerves.

"I… will welcome anything you feel the need to do. But please go easy on Ratchet, he didn't ask for any of this, he still refuses to accept this happened." Clank shook his head, "I think… me telling you might have meant he'd be forced to accept this was real. He'd been in powerful denial lately. So please, do what you will to me, but for him…"

"Clank, I love Ratchet…" she whispered, putting her soda down and turned away to hide her grief-stricken face. "I've loved him all this time, but I was… not sure how to go about it. I thought if I just flirted and initiated this stuff, it would all just fall into place. We wouldn't really have to talk to make anything official. Just that… it would happen. Didn't think my feelings were anything more than just strong care. But now, the thought of losing him…" she slowly looked out the window and into the sky, ears falling a little lower.

"I don't think… I could carry on with life if I lost him." She lowered her head once her ears couldn't flatten any further. "Do you understand how scared I have been these past few weeks?" Her voice cracked a bit, threatening to reveal the inner agony tearing her heart apart at the seams. "Now I know my fears are real and Ratchet…" the bionic arm hooked to her body twitched from the emotional onslaught wreaking havoc on her stomach. She stared at her prosthetic.

"And Ratchet… is now suffering the very pain I never wanted him to endure. But even more so. His whole entire heart is gone… and I…" she tightened her fist, grinding her teeth angrily as more tears threatened to fall. "And I failed to protect him…"

"Rivet, this was not your fault, none of it is. But mine… I should've told you sooner rather than letting Ratchet isolate himself further. He was not all there; it was my responsibility to do the right thing when he obviously couldn't think straight." Clank pressed his hands into his face, "This was all my fault."

"No, it's not…" she whispered, memory recalling the ominous black visor that hid sick-looking yellow eyes. "I know you don't believe me, but—" Rivet marched towards the door and flung it open, pausing and glanced back to Clank. "Ratchet is going to tell us exactly what happened, then we'll figure out where to go from there."

Surprised at this new turn of events, Clank nodded and went after Rivet. "Ratchet was in the hallway this morning; do you know where he went?"

"I'm not sure," she thought while peeking around the corner and into the garage. Not seeing any signs of the yellow male. Inhaling a nervous breath, she looked down to Clank who was also scanning the room. "Try calling him?"

"I will do that; in the meantime, why don't you look upstairs."

Nodding, Rivet dashed upstairs to see if she could find her allusive new beau.

~Torren IV~

Ratchet awoke to a dim blue light shining in his eyes. Raising his hand to block out the light, his pupils swelled and then shrank to adjust his vision. Once clear, he glanced around the cold metal room that contained him. Sitting up with one arm, he knelt forward and slowly got to his feet. His legs felt like jello as he wobbled a bit, grabbing the wall to support his weight. Ratchet groaned as he shook his head to clear it. The air was awfully cold around him, even his body felt much lighter and exposed. All his armor had been removed, only his shorts and tank top clothed him. Confusion hit as he tried to make sense of what he saw till a whooshing sound of the door redirected his attention.

The creature that had attacked him came through her helmet completely off and exposing her face's gruesome appearance. Ratchet gasped as he drew back with an arm up in a defensive posture. She slowly shook her head and gestured for him to follow her out. Which Ratchet did with great caution, keeping a close eye on her claw's every movement.

When he slinked past her, she shut the heavily bolted door and followed him. Ratchet wasn't sure where to go as he tried going to the left until his much larger captor gently got his shoulder and nudged him forward. He continued to walk straight until her paw coaxed him to the left, which he did so. Her paw on his shoulder made his skin crawl as he tried to push her off, but the massive hand was to strong for him, even in its gentle grip. The floor was freezing to his feet, Ratchet shot his ears up in surprise, now noticing even his boots were gone.

"Where is this place?" He asked with great caution.

"Your temporary stay," she whispered until they finally reached the main room. Swiping on the lights, she gestured for Rachet to go in while she turned around and locked everything down.

"What is this!?" A loud voice nearly scared Ratchet out of his skin. He whirled around and came face to face with Dr. Nefarious who wore… a burnt pink night robe? Ratchet tilted his head at the sight of his old enemy.

"Dr. Nefarious?" He leaped into a fighting stance, both fists raised. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"No!" The doctor screamed and shook his head in total disbelief. "I refuse to be kept in the same room as this fuzzy miscreant!" He stomped around Ratchet and got in his warden's face. "Demand you get him out of my sight!"

Snorting steam in his face, she simply walked around him and went up to Ratchet. Lifeless eyes gleaming down at him. When Dr. Nefarious came over to yell, her giant paw lashed out and grabbed his jaw, shutting him up. Ratchet put his face in his hands, shaking like a lunatic.

"W—what the hell is going on? Someone, please tell me!" The stress came so hard his heart jarred. With his bones beginning to constrict from the muscles tightening, he gasped and stumbled forward. His wound began to drip strangely colored fluids as blood trickled from his mouth. "N—no, not again… my pills…"

Horror fell upon Ratchet when he realized his pills were not on him. Frantically checking all his pockets only to come up empty. He rolled onto his side, curling up with knees to his chest. Fear gyrating his body with a tear leaking from his eye. No, this couldn't be, the agony becomes worse as he cried out, hands digging at his chest.

Watching him for a second, the creature got Ratchet by his arm and laid him onto a table. A big light shined down on him as restraints shot out and anchored his limbs down. Ratchet coughed up blood as he watched the kidnaper stab a small needle into his neck. Numb quickly washed over him along with darkness placating his eyes.

"W—what are you…" he whispered, eyes shutting. "Doing…?" Ratchet let out a tiny gasp and fell into slumber.

Taking out a scalpel, the disfigured Lombax removed Ratchets' shirt and applied pressure to the stitches. Plucking them out one by one, she pulled out a curtain to hide the sight from any curious eyes nearby. Dr. Nefarious tilted his head as he lingered a bit closer, standing on his tiptoes to peer over his warden's head. Until her powerful arm grabbed his head and threw him sideways till he slid to a stop from clear across the room.

"What are you doing?" Nefarious snarled while rubbing his backside to ease the friction burn.

"Fixing a mistake made," she answered while reaching over and grabbing a new part. "Being the only Lombax of his dimension, understandable doctors couldn't full assist him… limited on his kind's biology."

"Why not just let that little menace die?" The doctor grumbled with arms crossed.

She slowly turned her head and stared right at him. The force of her smolder shutting the doctor up as he whistled nervously. Once her quiet threat was received, she went back to quietly attending the lombax.

An hour ticked by until she finished and sowed the lombax back up. Whipping her hands down with a rag, she chuffed towards the doctor who had returned to working on the machines.

"His heart was to big for his body, often overloaded. Now it's size has been altered." She looked to Ratchet as he slept peacefully. "He shall return to his work. Retribution has been made."

"I don't understand, I thought he was your enemy." Dr. Nefarious called from behind some tall pipes.

"No." She answered, "He is but a means to an end. Nothing meant to kill."

"I see, you know… I thought I was crazy, but you, my friend, have taken the whole cake on that one!" Nefarious laughed while clanking a wrench against his hand. "You tell me you refuse the race that treated you like a freak, even though that's… kinda what you are." He laughed nervously when she cut him a look. "But but! If that's so, why bother helping him? Aren't you wanting revenge on the ones that wronged you? Like the elder that shamed his whole race?"

"Explained before, one section of plan was for pointless revenge. Was satisfied when the target's child paid a part of the price meant for him. The primary goal, however, is where you come in." The creature walked past Nefarious and came up to a small book she opened, looking into some notes written in her kind's language.

"Angry for what my kind did to me? Yes, but willing to forgive. Because will use this technology to prevent our extinction."

"You're… trying to bring more Lombaxes back?" Nefarious gasped as he threw his hands in the air. "You've got to be kidding me! I refuse to partake in the saving of my worst's enemy's race!"

"Matters not what you wish." She bluntly said while studying the genetic codes written out on each page. "Either you complete your work or will rip out your circuity piece… by piece." Her jaws hissed with saliva leaking from them, eyes glazing over into solid yellow orbs. "You decide…"

Glass crashing alerted both as they whirled around to see Pierre with Lance, a broken light scattered all beneath him. He sweatdropped as the kid burst into tears, the pirate stammered to explain himself as his warden skulked towards him.

"Oii, was just one tincy accident! Twas the kid's fault!"

Grunting, she went to a nearby closet and fished out a broom and dustpan. She knelt by the mess and began to sweep up the shards into the compartment. Lance's never-ending cries gave the rogue lombax a sheering headache while she struggled to focus. With the last piece of glass swept up, she carried it to a trash can and disposed of it. Pierre held the child upside down while patting his back as his captor leaned against the wall to massage her head.

"Is there being no off switch to this thing?"

"You're holding him wrong you one-eyed fool!" Dr. Nefarious kicked Pierre onto the floor and got the kid back in his arms. "You're supposed to hold them UPWARDS! Like this!" He demonstrated by straightening the kid till his head was propped against the Doctors' shoulder. This lessened the kid's cries as Pierre simply crossed his arms in sheer offense at the name-calling. "See? Even a trained squishy could figure this crap out!"

"Then why don't you be of babysitting the child!" He snapped while crossing his arms and whirling around till Nefarious faced his back. Hip jetted out in a sassy pose for good measures to show his displeasure. "Since you are oh so smart obviously!"

The lombax stared at the two male bots argue nonstop. Getting up, she inhaled her breath and released a ground-shattering roar. The sound boomed over the lab, shattering weak glass beneath the volume as both bots gasped and tumbled over their feet. Veins protruded up her neck as her lungs pushed out the last wave of air till her terrifying yell silenced. She licked her fangs, snout furrowed to expose her teeth in a fit to be tied snarl. This caused both Nefarious and Pierre to squeak in fright.

"Now then," she whispered and cleaned the spit from her mouth. Snatching the kid away from Nefarious, she shoved Lance Jr. back into Pierre's arms and gave the purple doctor a terrifying look. "Get back to work… now…"

Keeping his head low, Nefarious muttered to himself and slinked back to the massive collection of machines giving off waves of radiation. The rogue lombax then slowly inclined her head to Pierre, who quickly got the hint and ran away into a different room to tend to the kid who had miraculously gone quiet. Sighing, she leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to a sitting position. Her face buried into her paws as she felt all the nasty scars that disfigured her.

Ratchet's murmuring alerted her as she got up and went over to him. His eyes slowly started to peak open.

"U—ugh, w—what… was that sound?" he rubbed his ear in pain. "Like someone blew a blow horn right in my ear."

"Apologies... settled a disagreement."

Tilting his head, Ratchet struggled to drag his limb hand over his chest. His entire body was still numb, so there was no way he could really tell what his arms were doing. She chuffed another sound and got his hand, gently getting the former hero to rest it back by his side. As she lowered her head to check his wound, Ratchet's words suddenly caught her off.

"What's your… real name?"

Pausing, she glanced down at the tiny yellow male. Eyes blinked a few times to comprehend his question. "Ehm, purpose for the question?"

"This whole time, I was so scared… because I didn't know…" he shivered and gave a small cough. "W—where you were… going to come from. Now that… we're all here… at least tell me… your name. So, the unknown can be less… mysterious."

"My name, it does not matter what it was."

"Why… say that?" Ratchet asked, trying to force a nervous smile when seeing a large scalpel in her hand. "Don't all our names have some importance?"

She checked his pulse. "You're proceeding to distract me with polite small talk because you fear what I'll do. Understandable. But not needed." Her claw clicked on a small flashlight and checked his pupil dilation. "Just cooperate, and you'll be returned to your mate. Very soon."

Thrown off by her remark, Ratchet looked away from her. After a few minutes of poking around, the massive creature suddenly ceased her poking. Ratchet titled his head and glanced up as she hung her head over him. Her eyes shut and her body was completely still as if she turned into a stone statue.

"Aurora," she muttered. "Name… is Aurora."

Opening his mouth to comment, she pressed another needle into his neck. Ratchet felt his whole body go even more numb as his eyelids grew heavy. The black lombax named Aurora slowly began to fade from his sight. Her gold eyes being the last thing he was able to make out as she continued to whisper in a gentle voice.

"You… desire to find the other lombaxes. When there is next to none left." Her voice got softer by the second. "I am actually on a similar mission, to 'find' the rest of your kind. Not physically find, you see, but bring them… here."

"Wait…" Ratchet whispered as his eyes were but centimeters away from closing. "Please, I don't understand… what do you me—me… an…" his eyes finally lost the battle and fell into a deep sleep.

Aurora gently closed his mouth and propped a pillow beneath his head. Her gold eyes reflecting his sleeping face as she looked away. Once his wounds were stable, the massive creature turned on her heel and disappeared into a nearby darkroom. Desperate to be alone as she needed time to think.

~Sargasso~

Rivet flew downstairs, eyes wide in a total panic. "Clank, I can't find him anywhere!" She cried out while darting into the next few rooms and yelling his name. "Ratchet! Ratch, where are you?" Tools and other junk were thrown out as her hands raced to move stuff out of the way. Desperately hoping he was just hiding to teach her a lesson for brushing him off.

"He is not in there, I just checked," Clank also yelled back in fear as he checked under the bed. "Oh Ratchet, where did you go?" He quickly activated to see if he could pick on his friends' signal, but all he got was static.

Before both friends could lose their heads, Kit suddenly came into the room. A paper crinkled in her hand as she called both of their attentions.

"Guys, I found this note taped to Rivets' ship." Kit explained as Clank rushed over to see what she was talking about.

"Don't have time for games Kit, kinda in a panic right now!" Rivet yelled as she checked under the couch pillows.

"The note is from Ratchet," Clank snatched the paper from Kit in alarm to read it.

Gasping, Rivet lost her foot and fell face-first onto the ground. Back on her feet she ungracefully tumbled over with a bucket stuck on her foot and got the note from Clank. Her worried blue eyes darted all over the note to take in every letter she could.

"It just says 'I'm sorry'…?" She shot her friends a worried look. "Sorry? For what? I don't understand. Did he say something?" Rivet got Kit's arm. "Did he say what he was sorry for? Did you see where he went?"

"Rivet! Calm down, if that note was found on your ship then that means he's outside." Clank theorized as a white blur almost knocked him over. Kit quickly helped him to his feet as both robots ran with all their might to catch up to the one-armed rebel.

Rivet punched in the codes to open the door to her garage. "Come on guys hurry, he might be hu— eh?" She went silent when staring down the barrel of a gun. Ten big robotic policemen draped in bulky blue armor surrounded them. Their huge guns trained on all three as they made them raise their hands.

"Lombax, you're under arrest for criminal investigation." He showed his badge as two guards grabbed her wrist and hooked them behind her back. Rivet gasped as Kit and Clank were also grabbed and put into small electrical cages. "You have the right to remain silent and—"

"Hey, put my friends down! And what the heck are you talking about? A criminal investigation for what?" Rivet snapped as the guards began removing her guns from their holsters.

"A lombax sized warbot has been sighted running around for the past week. Terrorizing individuals for information. We even found a dead body of someone by the name 'Bridger'… whose been said to have been in the same facilities as you." The captain showed Rivet some pictures of them at the races and seeing the octopus-headed man. "You and your companion are the only two lombaxes we have on file in this entire district. So right now, until we get this stuff straightened out, you are going to be detained until further notice."

Rivet gasped in shock as she, Kit, and Clank were led away to some police cruisers and shoved in.