Act 1, Chapter 3

Before long, Mina arrived in Axiom City. She stared out her windows in amazement of the plethora of lit up buildings. The navigation unit on her ship lead her to a very populated portion of the city, which attracted a lot of attention. Several Terachnoids looked up at Mina and kept their eyes on her as she parked the ship. Her face remained blank as she stepped out.

"So, Nefarious recruited a random young woman?" asked one Terachnoid. "I didn't think he was that type".

"Huh?" Mina asked in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'll show you were the VX-99 is." The squid-like creature ignored Mina's question and led her to a levitating taxi where they both climbed aboard. The massive city consisted of giant skyscrapers, flying cars, and tons of other Terachnoids going about their business. Mina also noticed several of Nefarious' troops throughout the whole city, patrolling every area. "Sooo," Mina began, "What exactly is this 'VX-99' used for, anyway?"

"Nefarious created it to help defend us and our city against anyone who tries to interfere with… his plan." the Terachnoid responded. "Although I'm not sure how true that is. I'm getting pretty sick of him, to be honest."

Mina shrugged, "I understand that. I work and live at the space station. So I'm always dealing with-"

"Wait, wait." The Terachnoid interrupted. "You actually live there?"

"Yeah? It's my workplace."

"And you're there on your own free will?"

"Uh-huh."

"You're crazy."

Mina's face formed a scowl before she turned to look away from the Terachnoid. She stared off at the city as the taxi continued to carry the two. She thought to herself, It is a little weird that I'm the only one living at the space station. The only one who isn't a creation of Nefarious, anyway. Why do I live there again? I guess it's not so bad all the time. Roger is fun to talk to. Even Nefarious himself isn't always awful-

"Uhh… miss lady? Hello?" The Terachnoid waved his hand in front of Mina's gaze, snapping her back into reality.

"O-oh, sorry."

The taxi came to a halt and the VX-99 was just a short walk away. The giant, skyscraper-sized machine was still smoking as another Terachnoid wearing huge glasses was on the scene. Mina's face lit up at the sight of the massive machine. It wasn't just big, it was beautifully built. Besides the obvious issues with the burning engine. The ground was covered in various tool boxes and scattered materials; as well as a pair of gravity boots.

"Okay so this didn't last long at all." The second Terachnoid said while looking in the direction of the one with Mina.

"Hey! It wasn't MY fault the reactor had a short fuse!" The first Terachnoid snapped back.

"Maybe if Nefarious really was as smart as he claims to be, his machines wouldn't constantly be breaking down!" Both of the Technoids continued to shout at each other as Mina slid past them.

"Aaanyways," She interjected while picking up the pair of gravity boots to put on. "Miss 'crazy' here has a giant mech to repair. So if you two will excuse me-" A few clumsy jumps and a climb later, Mina had reached the center of the VX-99.

The young woman took one look through the smoking green dome at the core and realized there was a powered down turret in the middle of it. She opened the dome to be greeted with a massive cloud of hot smoke. Mina took a step back to allow the smoke to clear just enough to get a better view of the turret's engine. Sweat dripped from her forehead as she examined the rest of the core to discover more of the mechanism was falling apart. Her face lit up at the exhilarating thought of spending all day working on such a fascinating machine. "Welp," Mina pulled up her gloves and wiped off her sweaty face, "Time to get to work."

Mina mumbled and hummed to herself as she carried tools in her mouth while working with both hands. The turrets arms and firepower took hours to work on. Everytime Mina attempted a simple test, she got burned and shot at by mistake. Luckily, every inch of her damaged synthetic skin easily regenerated. Her voice would squeak and crack whenever she yelped in surprise at her own accidents with the turret.

As Mina continued working, she could vaguely hear conversations between the two Terachnoids; who were still loitering.

"Why did Nefarious hire a Markazian?" The first Terachnoid asked.

"Well apparently she's super skilled." The second one responded.

"Yeah, but members of our race have been doing most of the work for years. What's so special about her? Markazians aren't exactly known for being highly intelligent like we are."

Mina scoffed at their comments and refused to give them a real reaction. She kept up the hard work yet couldn't help but think about what those two were saying. They have a point, She wondered to herself. Why hire someone like me when there's already dozens of Terachnoids already working for him and doing a lot of the same stuff as me? Unless I really am more intelligent than them? Does Nefarious really think that highly of me? I also used to work with Qwark and he hates Qwark... His hatred seems oddly personal.

Her curiosities kept running through her mind, causing her to struggle staying focused on the more important task. She stood in place with her arms crossed, staring at the turret and engine she was supposed to be working on. Even though she was employed months ago, Mina didn't ever think too deep as to why she was hired. Hearing the Terachnoids noticing the same oddities only made her think more. She had to admit; the idea of Nefarious thinking that highly of her felt good. At the same time, she didn't know why she even cared.

Mina shook her head and walked over to the other side of the turret. A smaller portion of the mechanism needed attention yet she lacked the tools. So, Mina moved over to the edge of the machine and crouched down. "HEY!" She shouted, "Can one of you throw me a smaller wrench pleaaase?"

The Terachnoids stared at each other and then back up at Mina. "WHAAAAT?" The glasses-wearing one yelled back.

"THROW ME A SMALLER WRENCH! PLEASE!"

"WE CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"SMALLER. WRENCH. THROW ME A SMALLER WRENCH!"

The first Terachnoid then threw the wrench up at Mina, only for it to barely reach her. He tried once again, only to miss yet again. The Terachnoid with the glasses snatched the wrench from the first one's hand, then threw it with all his might. Mina leaned forward too quickly, allowing the wrench to smack her in the forehead; causing her to lose her position and fall. She landed and created a loud THUD on the ground. The two Terachnoids gasped in horror. Mina got up without issue, laughing uncontrollably as she stood to her feet. She decided to playfully through nuts and screws at them, "This is what you get for hitting me in the face!" Mina cackled.

The two looked at each other with confused, offended expressions. They whispered and quietly laughed to each other and then decided to play along. The three started to have a full on battle with each other as they threw whatever small items and light tools they could reach. All of them broke out into laughter every time one of them ended up getting hit. None of them were hit hard enough to cause any pain, so it was all fun and games. The stress of being bossed around by Nefarious and his troops really got to them, so it was nice to be able to relax and have fun for a bit.

Mina's particularly obnoxious howling drew the attention of a Nefarious trooper onto the scene. It spoke in a raspy, robotic voice, "Aren't you supposed to be fixing the VX-99?" The three instantly stopped playing and awkwardly stood in place. "Get back to work!" The trooper snapped.

"Uhm, you can't tell me what to do." Mina sassed.

"If you do not get back to work this second, I will report you to Dr. Nefarious immediately."

"On second thought, yes you can-"

Without another word, Mina rushed to climb back up the giant machine. This time, under the constant supervision of the trooper. Another hour went by and the machine was completely fixed and better than ever. It was then taken on a short test run just to make sure that it still worked. As a matter of fact, it worked beautifully. As beautiful as a death machine can be. Every piece of the machine moved perfectly smooth without shorting out or creaking. Mina felt immensely proud of herself for being able to contribute to such an incredible mech. Her grin stretched from ear to ear, holding her hands together and shaking with excitement.

After double checking, Mina decided to climb into her ship to head back to the space station. Before her departure, she waved goodbye to her Terachnoid acquaintances and they waved back. The next thought that came to her head was what Ratchet would think about her fixing such a great machine. Of course, Mina realized that he wouldn't be quite as proud. Her head sunk as she began to feel dismal at the thought about the fact that she was providing aid to a supervillain.


Mina parked her little ship back at Nefarious' space station. She was quivering while stepping out and ended up tripping over her own feet. She walked inside, turned a corner and jumped with a squeak in her voice as Nefarious was standing right in her way. "I expected to see you come back hours ago." He asserted.

"Sorry." Mina mumbled out an apology. "But I fixed the VX-99. It works better than ever."

"Good." Nefarious responded with a scowl, and immediately started to walk off. Mina glared at Nefarious after he turned his back. Not that she expected much of a response anyway. Still, it was better than being yelled at. This was the first time in a little while that the two were talking face-to-face, and Mina remembered she had been curious about something.

"Doctor, can I ask you a question?" Mina asked.

"No." He continued walking.

"Why do you hate Qwark so much?" She completely disregarded his refusal.

"What?" Nefarious turned around and slowly walked back towards her with his head tilted.

"Not that there's anything likeable about him. But in your play- Qwark's dialogue. A-and just the fact that you've always seemed to hate him the most-"

"You're a former Q-Force member! How can you not know about that?!" Nefarious interrupted.

"Huh, I guess I must've missed that part in the employee orientation thing."

"WELL… It's none of your business!"

"Oh, but my situation with my family and everything I've been trying to fix, that's your business?"

"... Touche."


Mina sat down on Nefarious' couch as he paced back and forth, explaining his history with Captain Qwark. He explained that the two went to high school together and how Qwark would often bully Nefarious and push him around. "Wow, that's just horrible." Mina cringed. Sure, she was, in fact, a Q-Force member back in the day. Although that was just because her friend, Al was a member and prompted her to join. Not because she particularly wanted to. Mina disliked Qwark for how full of himself he was. That, and he was, oddly enough, very insecure and cowardly at the same time. It always annoyed her.

"I'm guessing you were kind of friends with him, too?" Mina inquired.

"HAH!" Nefarious scoffed. "If anything, he has always looked up to me!"

That's not what I said. "Uh-huh…" Mina crossed her legs and rested her face in her palms. "I remember how much I hated school, too. Sure, I was good at everything but man did it irritate my teachers. And my peers teased me so much. Well, until they needed help with their homework. It sometimes sucks being so smart, huh?"

Nefarious stopped pacing to make eye contact with Mina, whose face immediately lifted. "Tell me about it!" Nefarious groaned, "Even in my youth, I was constantly surrounded by morons! Nothing's changed except me, of course."

"You've gotten smarter?"

"No! Well, yes..."

Mina let out a quiet snicker then sucked it back in after noticing Nefarious' impatient stare. He continued talking, "If you weren't informed of the rest of this, then you probably didn't know… I was once a squishy." Nefarious hated this fact about himself and hated being reminded of it. Just admitting it made him cringe and shutter.

Mina's big green eyes widened, "You were… You were organic, too?"

Nefarious nodded his head and explained how it happened; mentioning how it all happened at the hands of Qwark.

"Qwark did this to you?" Mina asked. "Heh. I guess he did do something right afterall."

"Literally the only thing he's ever done right!"

Mina smiled as her boss continued his side of the story, but she had trouble listening. Instead, she spaced out as her mind focused on the fact that the squishy-hating mad scientist was once the type of creature he grew to despise. She never met anyone else who survived such a horrific accident and lost their body. The doctors and roboticists who saved Mina's life tried to make her feel better by saying there were others who met a similar tragedy. But they only mentioned people who lost limbs or just parts of their faces. Not their entire bodies. Even Al tried to make Mina feel better after he lost an arm and an eye at the Dreadzone games.

"I… I thought I was the only one." Mina mumbled. She spoke up again in a louder tone, "Is that why you hired me, Doctor?"

"What are you going on about?"

"I'm just wondering," Mina sat up straight and brushed her bangs out of her face with her fingers. "When you heard about me, you were just as surprised, weren't you?"

Nefarious folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "I was in need of a skillful engineer and you met all of my requirements! That's it!"

"I'm not gonna like, make fun of you or anything. It's pretty awful to have something like that happen to you and nobody else understands."

Nefarious' agitation grew as he let out a snarl, "You never know when to shut it, do you?" He pointed to his door, "How about you stop trying to play psychiatrist, make yourself useful, and find work that needs done?! Get out!"

"Alright, alright! Jeez!" Mina swiftly let herself out of Nefarious' room and sighed to herself.

She knew she was supposed to find work to do, but she just couldn't. Nefarious didn't let her talk about all the things that were truly on her mind during their conversation. Instead, she decided to talk to herself about it. She silently walked through the space station, staring at her feet as she processed her thoughts. Of course the grumpy scientist would never admit to anyone as to why he hired Mina. It all finally made more sense to her.

Mina knew exactly how terrifying it was to wake up in a body that wasn't her own. To look in a mirror and see somebody completely different. To have a sudden, significant change happen and believing you're the only one who's ever experienced it; It changes you. Mina knew that better than anyone else in her life. She felt so much relief knowing there was finally someone else who understood. Even if that 'someone else' was an angry villain who's also her boss.

Roger came around the corner, "Hey, Mina." His voice seemed to have more energy in it.

Mina lifted her head and quickly hid her bewildered expression. "Oh hi, Roger."

"I heard you fixed the VX-99?"

"Yep. It's now a perfectly functioning death machine."

"Good job. I knew you were very skilled."

"Aww, thanks."

"So what are you up to now?"

"Well, Nefarious kicked me out of his office so I'm just walking around."

"Hmm… Can I walk around with you? And talk?"

"Sure."

Mina and Roger then started walking around the space station, just talking about themselves and whatever adventures they've been on. Roger had only existed for a little over a year, while Mina was going on 27-years-old. So she definitely had a lot more to talk about. Her robot friend mostly enjoyed just watching her talk. The way she was so expressive with her hands and face fascinated him. Her widening eyes and constantly changing hand gestures were almost humorous to look at. Even if she wasn't trying to be funny.

"Do you ever think that you might be working too hard?" Roger asked.

"Yeah… A lot of the time, really." Mina responded. "I've rarely ever have time to myself, or to anything else. But that's why I'm glad Nefarious is helping me- Oh, wanna know a secret?"

"A secret?"

Mina leaned in and whispered, "Nefarious used to be organic. Just like me!"

Roger jumped. "But he hates them!" He exclaimed.

"Shh! I know, I was shocked, too! I seriously thought I was the only person to have ever lost their entire body like this. I'm assuming he felt the same way when he decided to hire me."

The friendly robot rubbed his pincers together. "Maybe that's why he's so fond of you?" He suggested.

Mina's face burned as she choked out laughter, "He's not 'fond' of me." She dismissed, folding her arms and leaning up against the wall. "The only things that he's fond of are yelling at everyone for no reason and throwing temper tantrums. He's like a child."

Roger moved to stand next to Mina. "Yet you still respect him as your boss, right?" He asked.

"Well yeah," She hesitated, "I guess. But that's only because I have to." Silenced filled the air as Mina stared down at her feet. She sunk to the floor and rested her arms and chin on her knees, "Why do you think he's fond of me, anyway?"

"Oh, I've just been hearing rumors around the space station." Roger shrugged, "They're probably just rumors, though."

"Really? What-"

Nefarious' high-pitched screaming instantly blared through the station's speakers, "MINA!"

Roger and Mina jumped. She shouted back, "YES?"

Absolute silence.

She continued, "So anyway-"

"MINA!' Nefarious' screeching only got louder.

"YES! I SAID 'YES'!" Silenced followed yet again. Mina groaned, clutching her hair as she stood back up. She put her forehead on her palm as she felt intense ringing and buzzing.

Roger took note of his friend's discomfort, "Maybe he went deaf from his own screaming?" he joked.

Mina let go of her head and giggled, "Hey, that's pretty funny-"

Nefarious once again yelled into the speakers, "MINA! COME TO MY OFFICE IMMEDIATELY!"

She slapped her hand on her thigh and gripped the surface with her fingers, "I'm gonna kill him."

Roger shook his head, "Maybe don't do that."

"Too late. I already want to."

Mina said goodbye to Roger before heading back to Nefarious' office. She reluctantly knocked on the door and it opened almost immediately; Nefarious stood right in the doorway and stared down at his employee. Mina looked back up at him with a stiff form and face. He didn't say anything. Instead, he walked over to his couch and picked up a game controller. Mina stayed in the doorway. Her shoulders relaxed and she cocked her head.

"So," Nefarious began, "Are you going to come in or are you just going to stand there?"

Mina's lips formed half a smile. She slowly walked in and sat down on the opposite end of the couch while keeping her widening smirk pointed away from Nefarious. Both of them tightly held their controllers as the main menu music of the Qwark vs. Nefarious holo-game played.