Act 1, Chapter 1

It had been a few weeks since Mina revealed the truth about her past to Ratchet and Clank. Not long afterwards, the gang defeated Tachyon, and Clank was taken away by the Zoni. Mina wanted to join Ratchet and Talwyn in their search for him, but Ratchet insisted that she should go back to her family to reconcile with them. She decided to take his advice and stick around in Polaris where her aunt Adelaide lived. The Markazian Adelaide, or "Ada", was a retired Polaris defense soldier. She lived with her wife, Colette, a Cazar who worked as a combat medic and later became a regular nurse. The two organized a family reunion, where Mina did, in fact, see her Bogonian parents and siblings again. It was the first time Mina had seen or spoken to her family in years. Lots of arguments and tears were blown at one another for days. At the end of the reunion, everyone explained to Mina that even though she is now a robot, she's still their beloved daughter, sister, and niece. This made her feel better about herself; but not enough to stop covering herself with electronic prosthetics from the watch she prompted her parents to buy for her.

Mina told her aunts of her adventures in the Solana Galaxy, as well as her contribution to saving Polaris from Tachyon. Although she left out the detail about Clank's capture, as they were worried enough already. After the family quarrels died down, Mina decided it was time to start looking for work. Being stuck in Polaris, she was in desperate need of finding new employment as her family's debt wasn't going to get smaller on its own. Afterall, Ratchet and Talwyn were still out searching for clues. So she figured she might as well settle down for a bit and look around for work in various places across Markazia.

Ada and Colette pitched in some help by telling all of their friends and coworkers about their incredibly skilled niece. If a machine or an idea of a machine existed, Mina could build, modify, or fix it. Soon, the entire local community recognized Mina as the gifted engineer that she was. Even though she managed to get a few interviews, she had no luck in getting an actual job. Leaving her incredibly bored and irritable.

One day, Mina sat at an outdoor bar where she would watch people walk by as she sipped on a margarita and got lost in her thoughts. She still missed her dear friends greatly and hoped they were all doing okay. Ratchet promised Mina before she left that he would call her. She hadn't heard a word from him at all since then. From her peripheral vision, Mina saw someone sit on the stool directly next to her. This irritated her as there were plenty of empty seats that weren't so close. She gave them no attention as she continued sipping her drink and watching people going about their business. Mina could feel this person staring at her. Growing uncomfortable, she was about ready to turn her head to ask them if she could help them. Before she could, the person finally spoke; "Who would've thought I'd need to travel across the galaxy to find the best engineer?"

The voice was so familiar, so dark, so chilling. But she couldn't quite figure out exactly where she remembered that voice from. Mina very slowly turned her head to stare into burning red optics. It's Dr. Nefarious! She thought to herself while attempting to maintain a blank expression. Years had gone by since Mina aided the Q-Force and Galactic Rangers to fight against Nefarious and his plot to turn the Solana Galaxy's population into robots. It had been established and experienced first-hand that Nefarious was a very powerful, dangerously smart villain. Who knows what he could be capable of against Mina as she was completely alone and defenseless? His presence gave off negative energy that felt like a lingering storm cloud, waiting to erupt with lighting at any moment. The doctor could see every ounce of fear in Mina's eyes and he loved it as he smirked back at her. Mina's entire body went stiff as her thoughts raced faster by the second. Stay calm, stay calm. She felt horrified for her safety and confused as to what the hell he could possibly want with her. The two stared at each other for what felt like a full minute. Mina finally found her voice as she spoke in a serious, dark tone, "What's up?" Oh my gosh, Mina, you are so stupid.

"First off, I know you are a former Q-Force member." Nefarious said, "But I also know you're not actually a squishy, which means you're better than them."

"Uhm-"

"You're a very skilled engineer, and I'm in need of one as soon as possible." He cut right to the point. Mina had trouble processing what she was hearing. One of the most feared supervillains in the Solana Galaxy might've actually been offering to recruit her for whatever dastardly plans he had. Which got Mina thinking, he was casually out in public by himself, as if nobody in this side of Polaris even knew who he was. Nefarious leaned in closer "Listen, I have found a way to manipulate time. If you join me, I will take you back in time, before your… incident happened."

Mina once again lost her voice. She felt uncomfortable at how much he knew about her. She didn't even know if his statement was true or not; whether or not he found a way to control time itself. Nefarious also added that he was more than happy to pay her a hefty amount of bolts for her work. Which was fine with Mina; she definitely didn't want to work for a single reward. "Care to explain," Mina spoke very softly with her head tilted down slightly while still making eye contact, "how exactly you're able to control time? And what you plan to do with it?"

Nefarious' face lit up as he realized Mina's slowly becoming more interested. "Before I tell you anything else, you need to tell me that you won't contact that rat again."

'That rat'? What a jerk. "I haven't heard from Ratchet since Clank was… I, I haven't heard from them in a long time, anyway." Mina felt her chest get tight as she almost revealed to Nefarious about Clank's capture. She didn't know if he could do anything with that information, but she didn't want to wait and find out. "...Alright." Nefarious responded. "I have discovered a giant time machine located in the center of the universe. I am currently in the process of taking it over. However, my A.I.'s are complete imbeciles-"

"So, you need a sentient imbecile to help you out a bit?" Mina interrupted.

"...Yes."

Any sensible person would know that working alongside a supervillain is both inherently criminal, and just plain stupid. Especially a supervillain as destructive as Nefarious. But still, the temptation was too great. Mina's accident wasn't just the cause of losing her organic body, but also putting her family in poverty after she convinced them to buy the watch for her. Undoing the accident would fix all the problems as if they never happened in the first place. Working with Nefarious would also open many doors for many different things. Perhaps Mina could defeat him while working right under his nose, or could go out and warn the public if anything were to inevitably go wrong. Or maybe that's just how she justified her own thoughts to herself. Too many possibilities lay right before her, and she didn't know when an opportunity like this would come up again. Mina got the idea that she would end up changing her mind if Nefarious told her anything more. She didn't want to waste all that exciting temptation.

"Alright. I'll do it." Mina confirmed.

Nefarious was rather stunned by her response. He didn't expect her to comply so quickly, or at all. Especially considering the fact that he didn't even tell her what his actual plans were. It seemed very suspicious, so recruiting her suddenly seemed like a bad idea. But where else would he find a fellow robot who was also such a brilliant engineer? As long as she was obedient, nothing should go wrong. Nefarious gave Mina permission to tell her family that she would be gone for a while. She told them over the holo-phone on her watch that she got accepted for a job and would be gone for the business for quite some time. They felt no suspicion and congratulated her as well as tried to keep her on the line to continue chatting.

"Well it's about time you found a job!" Ada exclaimed. "Then you won't have to be stuck here in Polaris with us much longer, huh? Make sure you dazzle your managers and coworkers. And don't forget to write to us about it!"

Colette joined in, "Oh, I hope you enjoy your new job, hun!"

"Thanks, Colette." Mina was about to hang up until Ada decided to continue the conversation.

"I realize you're familiar with the whole adventuring thing, but be careful when you're traveling around here! The galaxy is still recovering after Tachyon's defeat. And who knows what's going to happen next?"

Mina uncomfortably turned her head to make eye contact with an ever-growing impatient Nefarious. He tapped his claw on the counter as he let out a long, annoyed growl. "Y-yeah." Mina stuttered. "Well, I have to go now. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay, Mina. Sorry to bother you so much. Have a good business trip!"

"And try not to get into too much trouble, alright?" Colette added.

"I have everything under control. Love you guys!" Mina immediately hung up.

"Got everything you need?" Nefarious asked, with an irritated sigh.

"Y-yes-"

"Good." He grabbed onto Mina's watch -to avoid touching her "skin"-, and started dragging her away from the bar and into the middle of an empty alley in town. She quickly decided that she probably shouldn't have agreed to this job. But it was too late to turn back. Nefarious called Lawrence to have him pick them up, and it seemed he was already waiting nearby for the call; as he arrived very quickly. The little ship's door opened and Nefarious quickly walked in and sat down in the passenger seat. Mina walked into the doorway, "Hey, Lawrence" she greeted him with a hint of nervousness in her voice. "Hello, Minerva." He responded apathetically without looking at her.

"You can call me Mina. It's okay." She said while making her way into the back. There wasn't a proper seat for her to sit in, so she sat on the floor and held onto a bar that stuck out on the side of the inner wall. The doors came to a close and the ship flew off into the sky. Then Lawrence shifted it into overdrive to make a jump to wherever they were planning to go. The ship traveled so fast that Mina would've been launched through the windshield had she not clung onto that bar. Within a few minutes, they made it to the Nefarious space station. The station was built entirely to resemble the doctor's face. Mina stared out the window in awe, and in discomfort. This guy's got some serious problems.

Lawrence landed the ship and let Nefarious and Mina walk out before him. Nefarious stood in Mina's way, stopping her dead in her tracks. "Let's go over some rules," He began, pacing back and forth. "When you're here, you will do exactly as I say, when I say it. I will not tolerate slow working or blatant stupidity. And you will refer to me as 'Doctor' or 'Sir'. Do you understand?"

I'm definitely not calling him 'Sir'. "I understand, Doctor." Mina complied.

Inside the Space Station, Mina was given her very own room. The room was completely empty besides a small couch in the middle of the floor in front of a tiny holovision. The floor was poorly kept as it was covered in dust and cracks. A single window on the wall had a view of the starry sky, which was the most pleasant thing about the entire room. During her stay, Mina was given plenty of work to do. Whether that was building and repairing mechs, organizing robot prototypes, or just bringing Nefarious whatever he may ask for. On slower days, Nefarious would have Mina do petty tasks for him just to keep her busy. Every other week, Mina would send holomail to her aunts to let them know how well her job was going. Just to make sure they didn't get suspicious.

Every time Nefarious directly asked Mina to do a new task, she did everything in her power to not let him see how nervous she was. Just the way he literally looked down on her and spoke in such a dark voice gave her chills every time. Maybe if he was a bit shorter, he wouldn't have been so intimidating. "Now," He began, "When you're working on fixing the defense system's mechanism, make sure you keep track of all the wiring and ammo! I don't want you to screw up by swapping the lasers and missiles!"

Mina nodded her head, "Okay. But you don't have to overly explain it to me. It's not brain surgery-"

"No. But it is rocket science. Get busy!" He walked off.

Mina mumbled under her breath, "Jerkwad."

"What was that?" Nefarious stopped and turned his head.

"I-I said, 'I'll get right to it'."

"Uh-huh. That's what I thought you said."

While fixing the canons, Mina was struck with inspiration. She had all the tools and equipment required to bring all of her ideas to life. Whenever Nefarious was nowhere to be seen, that's when Mina could work in peace and enjoy herself to a certain degree. Mina's new idea was later tested on some asteroids that floated a little too close to the station. She watched with delight as the rocks blew up.

Nefarious came back over to check on Mina after hearing constant explosions. "Whatever you're doing, keep it quiet!" He scolded. "I can barely hear myself think!"

Holding in sass, Mina decided to show Nefarious what she had proudly completed. "You see what I did here?" She took aim for another asteroid. "I found a way to combine the missiles and rockets with the lasers. After the missiles blow up on a target, it sends off an electrical charge for added damage. Just to give an extra punch to more stubborn opponents and whatnot. Well, whaddya think?"

Nefarious couldn't help but watch in awe as Mina showed off her latest work. If so much damage could be done to an asteroid, he could only imagine what it would do to a pestering squishy. He could just imagine helpless ships being blown to bits. It was perfect. "I acknowledge your sufficient work on this project." For once, Nefarious didn't sound angry. "I will be expecting this level of excellence from now on. You better not start slacking off!" And there he went again.

"Yes. Of course. Wouldn't dream of it." Mina replied apathetically. Somehow, Nefarious didn't seem to notice her sarcasm. She felt very accomplished and proud of herself; both for her successful project and just the fact that she had received an attempt at a compliment from a big, mean supervillain.

Mina went right back to working and quickly began to pick up on more tasks as time went on. All day. All night. Everyday and every night. Time almost seemed non-existent as work kept piling up. Mina very rarely ever had time to herself. Whenever she did have time to herself, however, she was very lonely. And when she was lonely, she would start to question her thoughts and actions. Am I seriously working for the villain who has tried to conquer Solana? She would ask herself. What would Ratchet and Clank say about this? I hope they're doing okay-

Mina's door opened out of nowhere, causing her to jump. "YOU." Nefarious shouted as he entered her room. "Why are you just sitting there?!"

"What else am I supposed to do at the moment?" Mina asked. "And I have a name, by the way."

Nefarious growled as he walked up to and got uncomfortably close to her. "Errr… Whatever, Mia." He rolled his bright red, glowing eyes.

"It's Mina. With an 'N.'" She corrected.

"I don't care. I found a pile of broken down bots on the other side of the station and I would very much appreciate if you cleaned them up."

"Ugh. You were just there, why wouldn't you clean them up?" Mina huffed. "And I'm not a janitor-"

"DON'T TALK BACK TO ME, YOU TWIT! You work for ME, remember?! NOT the other way around!"

Well screw you too, Doctor. "Alright, fine. I'll head over there right now-"

"Uhh sir-" Lawrence had very quietly peeked into the room.

"What is it, Lawrence?!" Nefarious asserted.

"Might we have a word outside?" Lawrence responded. Nefarious grunted as he glared at Mina, as she stared back in discomfort. Lawrence and Nefarious walked out of her room and closed the door. "I do not think you're going about this in the right way." Lawrence pointed out.

"What are you going on about?!" Nefarious hissed.

"You want Mina to be working with you, not just for you." Lawrence continued. "If you want to use her abilities to your advantage, bullying her may not be the best way to get her to do so." Nefarious growled and grunted at Lawrence's words. Being as arrogant as he is, Nefarious never liked to be proven wrong. After pacing back and forth as Lawrence remained silent, Nefarious walked back into Mina's room and she stared back at him with a blank expression. "Nevermind." He mumbled. "You don't have to clean up the bots." Mina opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Nefarious called in a worker bot to bring in a hologame system for her. "Why don't you uhh…. take a load off." He immediately walked out.

Mina was confused. "Uhm.. Okay." She said aloud, even though Nefarious was no longer in the room with her. She never would've thought he was the gamer type. Other than his villainy, all Mina knew about his hobbies was that he was a huge Secret Agent Clank fan. She decided to plug in the gaming console and searched through the downloads to find any game that looked interesting to her. Mina came across a fighting game that starred Nefarious himself and Captain Qwark. She couldn't resist. She just had to play a game that looked so ridiculous.

An hour later, Nefarious became irritated at loud noises coming from Mina's room. He could hear his own minions' muffled cheering along with Mina's gleeful yelling. As he burst in, he saw she was surrounded by a crowd of his robots, watching her play that fighting game and cheering her on. Everyone in the room paused and stared at Nefarious. "Sorry." Mina apologized. "I didn't mean to make so much noise." Nefarious disregarded what she said and walked over to the back of the couch to look over her shoulder to stare at the holo-vision screen. "Did you- Did you beat my high score?" He asked.

"Y-yeah I did." Mina responded.

"And are you playing as… me?"

"Why would I want to play as Qwark?"

Nefarious felt a laugh coming on, but pretended his throat needed clearing. "Well uhh…" he said, "Just keep it down. I'm trying to concentrate."

Mina and the robots never kept their eyes off of Nefarious as he walked back out of the room without another word. "That was awkward." said one of the robots.

"Tell me about it." Mina responded. "One minute he's screaming, the next minute he's perfectly calm. Someone's moody. '' The crowd of robots all chattered in agreement. Mina chuckled as she pressed the "play" button to continue the game.


Whew! After almost a year of developing this fic, I have finally published the first chapter! Before I go, I'd like to take a moment to talk about two dear friends of mine who helped make this possible. TheLilyoftheValley here on FFNet, and CSHanners on Instagram. If it weren't for them, I never would've had the confidence to show my writing to the world. And I appreciate them greatly for that.

I hope you enjoyed this and I'll see you in the next chapter!