Act 1, Chapter 5

Mina hurried back to her room and slammed the door with shaky hands. She ran her fingers through her hair while pacing back and forth. Plagued by confusing thoughts and feelings, she sat down on the couch to try and relax. But it was pointless. Her gloves became drenched with sweat after a few short minutes of thinking to herself.

Struggling to stay calm, Mina decided to ring up Roger to come into her room. She aggressively pushed his contact button on her communicator dozens of times in a row. One minute that felt like a half an hour went by before the friendly yet awkward robot knocked on the door. Her head popped up and she ran to let him in.

Mina greeted Roger with a visibly distressed look on her face, "Come in, quickly!" She quietly asserted before pulling on her friend's pincer to bring him in.

"Mina?" Roger blinked. "Are you okay?"

"Well, Roger." Mina cupped her hands together and gritted her teeth. "Other than losing my organic body, putting my family in debt, almost dying half a dozen times, and developing an inappropriate crush on my tyrannical maniac of a boss, I'd say my life is just peachy right now."

"Uhh…"

"I'm sorry. I just..." Mina would've taken a deep breath if she could. "I'm freaking out. I did a lot of stupid things and you're the only one I can talk to about it." She took a seat and looked up at Roger, who was completely silent. He barely moved aside from his one blinking eye that was fixated on Mina.

"Oh man, where do I start?" Mina groaned. "Okay, so you and I both know that Nefarious is horrible, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, the more him and I spent time together, the more I realized how similar we are."

Roger cocked his head, "You're horrible, too?"

Mina gave a slight, uncomfortable smile then wiped it off. "I'm getting to that part." She continued, "Anyway, Nefarious and I are similar in ways that I never would have imagined. When he first hired me, I knew something was bound to happen. But that was several months ago. And he was gone for days or weeks at a time. Then recently… I, I didn't expect to feel this way about him." She sat up straight with her legs crossed and face lit up. "He's got weird hobbies but it's fun to watch him be so invested in them. He has a good sense of humor and he's great at everything he does. He was actually willing to sit down with me and let us both talk about how similar our young lives were. We spent all of last night together, and I had a really good time. He had a good time too, I think."

"Why don't you date him, then?"

Mina's purple skin immediately flashed into a bright red. "What?! No, no, no!" She shook her head rapidly. "No, Roger. There's so many reasons as to why I can't do that."

"Like what?

Poor Roger was too innocent for his own good. Of course, that moment was perfect for Mina to reveal the most important detail about her connection with Nefarious, "There's... something I didn't tell you before."

"What is it, Mina?"

Mina shrugged her shoulders and stared down at the floor, "Years ago, Nefarious tried to take over Solana." Mina lethargically spoke. "He planned to turn every organic being into a robot and rule them all. My friends and I formed an alliance called the 'Q-Force' to take him down. Then we blew up his super weapon, which sent him on an asteroid, and that's how he ended up here in Polaris."

Roger's form had gotten even more stiff than it was before. His eye was wide open and if he had a jaw, it would be on the floor. The robot slid back, "You were willing to accept a job from someone who tried to take over your galaxy?" He asked. "Someone who almost killed you and your friends? And now you want to date him?"

When it was put that way, it definitely felt much worse. Mina's eyes glistened with guilt. "I didn't mean for things to go this far!" She snapped, "After my friend got captured, my other friends told me to see my family again- which I did, but it only made me want to work even harder to pay off the debt!"

"Slow down." Roger put his pincer on Mina's shoulder. He began to show agitation in his voice, "Your friend got captured?"

Mina felt like she had just been punched in the chest. She jerked up from the couch and gripped her face. "Yes!" Mina blurted with a crack in her voice. "H-he went missing not long before Nefarious approached me about the job. I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, a highly intelligent scientist wanted me to work for him! Of all people… I just couldn't resist."

"Hmm… Maybe you are horrible." Roger sneered.

Another imaginary punch to the chest knocked Mina down to the floor. She pressed her back up against the front of the couch as she held her face in her palms. She had to admit to herself, receiving a reasonable lecture from one of Nefarious' creations did not feel good. She knew Roger was in the right, too.

Mina lifted her head and let out a grumble, "I'm sorry, Roger. I shouldn't be taking all this out on you." She turned to fully meet Roger's gaze, "You've been nothing but nice to me. And I've been, well-"

"Selfish? Impulsive?"

"Alright, alright." Mina deadpanned. "I get it. I didn't expect things to escalate like this. I just wanted bolts. And maybe, just maybe, Nefarious would use the time machine to-" Mina stopped dead in her tracks. In a split second, a memory from the previous night had flashed back to her;

"I'm going to rewrite history. Every hero who ever triumphed will lose... Every villain who has been defeated will get a do-over..."

Mina felt every mechanism in her body come to a halt. Her eyes and mouth stayed wide open for a few seconds as Nefarious' words replayed in her head over and over again. Mina stood back up and cupped her hands on Roger's head. "Roger!" She exclaimed, "I just remembered! Last night, Nefarious revealed his exact plan to me; he's going to rewrite history!"

Roger flinched at Mina's sudden touch. "Didn't you already know that when you got hired?"

"Well, no." Said Mina, still holding her friend's green dome. "I figured if I purposely stayed oblivious, then, you know, I wouldn't feel quite as guilty for working for him."

Roger glared and removed Mina's hands from his head. "Did you honestly think that was going to work as an excuse?"

"At the time? Yes. Now? Not so much."

Silence and tension filled the room. Roger folded his arms and glared. Even as a creation of Nefarious, Roger still had a basic understanding of betrayal and how wrong it was. He was perfectly aware of Mina's extreme selfishness. But she had a positive quality to her that Nefarious didn't; she was friendly to Roger. Much more than anyone else on the entire space station.

Roger's eye glanced down at the floor. His arms were still crossed as the inner mechanisms of his head turned faster. He looked back up at Mina, who's expression was blank. Roger gestured his pincers to Mina, "Let's leave to go look for your friends."

Mina's face illuminated. "You and me? Seriously?"

The robot felt whatever heart he had warm up at the sight of Mina smiling again. "Yes." Roger continued, "You may have made mistakes, but it's not too late to go back. I want to help you."

"I-I don't know if I… Oh, you're so sweet." Mina held her hand to her chest. "Thank you so much. Do you have a plan?"

"Maybe whatever your next impulse is will help guide us."

Mina playfully laughed and shook her head. "Well, uhh..." She began. "There's a bunch of little ships on the other side of the station. Let's just hop in one and head out."

Roger nodded his head before going to open the door to let Mina out first, "We need to hurry." he said.

Mina stopped for a second to give Roger a slight smile, "Hey, thanks for not giving up on me."

"You're welcome." Roger responded.

"Oh, and by the way, remind me to never touch alcohol ever again."

"What? Why?"

"It allows me to have too much fun. Come on. Let's get out of here." Mina gestured towards herself as she started walking.

The duo walked through the space station as quickly yet quietly as possible. Neither of them spoke a word to each other as they scanned the hallways. Oddly enough, every area was empty and quiet. Too quiet. There were no signs of Nefarious or any other trooper.

It was too suspicious. There had to be something wrong. Mina and Roger avoided looking at each other as they both didn't want to let the other one know how nervous they were. The duo passed by an opened walk-in closet with each wall on the inside covered in various weapons and guns. It immediately caught Mina's eye and she couldn't look away, even as she kept walking.

A few more minutes of ominous silence went by before Mina and Roger made it to the landing bay. Sure enough, there were plenty of ships to choose from. Roger pointed out a ship that had two seats, yet was still barely big enough for the two of them. Roger climbed in first as Mina kept looking over her shoulder. "Hang on, Roger. I gotta go get something." She whispered as she quietly ran off.

Mina rushed back to the weapon storage where she excitedly scanned everything. Every weapon definitely came from GrummelNet, except they all seemed to be heavily upgraded. Jackpot. Mina used her watch to shrink down every weapon to store inside of it. Her watch began to flash red, signifying that the storage was full and she couldn't fit anything else inside. She groaned in disappointment while looking up at the half empty wall.

Back at the landing bay, Roger tapped his pincer on the glass window of the ship as he was awaiting his friend's return. He heard the trunk of the ship open up then a loud SLAM. Roger peeked outside to see Mina dumping in at least half a dozen weapons. She looked up, "I wasn't gonna have us leave with nothing to defend ourselves." she said. "Give me a minute, I'll go get the rest." She took off once more.

The robot raised his voice barely above a whisper, "No! Mina, come back!"

Once more, Mina snagged as many weapons as her watch could allow. Before she could exit the closet, Mina could faintly hear Nefarious' muffled yelling. She felt her blood run cold as she huddled to the back corner of the closet. In her peripheral vision, Mina saw a small box of smoke bombs on a shelf next to her. She stuffed a few into her front pockets while carefully listening for Nefarious.

Nefarious' incoherent cursing got louder. Mina's heart beat so hard, the noise almost clouded out the yelling. Her whole body shook as she peeked her head out of the closet to look around. She snuck off to her left as she believed that was the opposite of where the yelling was coming from.

Mina rushed down the hallway and turned a corner, only to be immediately met with Nefarious. She jumped and let out a startled squeak. Nefarious kept his burning, furious eyes on Mina, whose forehead was already dripping with sweat.

"So," Nefarious snarled, "You decided to try and pull a fast one on me?"

Mina slightly opened her mouth, without a single word being able to come out. Her slanted stance and trembling arms made her fear way too obvious, and she knew that. It only made her more afraid.

"And to think…" Nefarious put his arms behind his back and inched closer, "I was starting to grow fond of you."

His mocking tone didn't go unnoticed to Mina. She slowly backed away while she lowered her shoulders and arms, not breaking eye contact for even a second.

"You finally had the chance to be useful, yet you're willing to throw it all away… And for what?" Nefarious hissed. "To go back to your squishy friends who always cast you aside? I'm sure they would be thrilled to know what you've been up to while your precious Clank has been missing for so long."

Mina's eyes widened and a chill ran up her back. Her face burned with fear and anger.

Nefarious slightly bent down to reach Mina's eye level, "Well? Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

The woman narrowed her eyes and still refused to speak.

"Fine…" The doctor began to fume. He started to slowly move one hand forward. "Then I think it's time for our partnership to come to an end."

'Partnership'…?

Without a second to lose, Mina shakenly dug into her pocket to grab a handful of smoke bombs and threw them to the floor. Black smoke erupted from the bombs, giving her the chance to run away. As quickly as Mina dashed, Nefarious was much quicker. He reached into the smoke cloud for the woman, his claws gripped onto her right arm. She looked back in complete horror as she saw nothing but his burning red eyes piercing through the smoke. Realizing her arm was in Nefarious' grip, Mina yanked away as hard as she could. She felt the doctor's hand grip tighter. One last intense pull was forced from both ends, then a loud, metallic SNAP echoed in the halls. Mina ran at top speed.

Seconds after freeing herself, Mina's sensors blared inside her head, signifying something was wrong with her robot body. She glanced at her right arm- or where her right arm should've been. She tripped over her own feet at the shocking sight and smacked down face first onto the floor. She struggled to stand back up to her feet before she continued running. Her arm socket's wires stook out and sparked while synthetic blood dripped from the wound. It all happened so fast she didn't even feel it.

Mina didn't make it far before she could hear Nefarious screaming loudly into the system's speakers, "ANNIHILATE HER! ANNIHILATE HER NOW!" A horde of troopers swarmed from all directions, chanting, "Annihilate, annihilate, annihilate". Within seconds, Mina was completely surrounded. She clutched her arm socket as she jerked her head from side to side, trying to find any means of immediate escape. Her sensors continued to blast in her head as loud as a siren. Mina gripped her face and growled in agony.

Nefarious once again hollered over the speakers, "You think you're in pain now, Mina?! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT PAIN IS!"

With more adrenaline pumping than ever, Mina desperately looked around to find any way out she could before the troops would inevitably move in for the kill. Although it was incredibly difficult for her to focus on anything other than her internal alarm that was still going off. Mina proceeded to harshly smack herself on the forehead and yell, "YES! I'M MISSING AN ARM! I KNOW! SHUT UP!"

After managing to turn off her system's alarm, Mina's attention went right back to the crowd of troops. Her only idea was to rush in head-on to catch them off guard. Which is exactly what she did. With her one arm, she threw various punches while still on the run. She was able to knock down a few of the robots while taking heavy hits herself. The little streams of synthetic blood on the floor also made the robots slip and fall. She continued to run as she barely saw Roger in the distance, waving his pincered hands to draw Mina's attention. "Mina!" He shouted. "Over here!"

Mina let out a short shriek as she couldn't find her voice. As soon as Mina caught up with Roger, he gripped her by her one hand and led her away from the crowd. The troops followed behind and were gaining on them very quickly. The designated escape ship was just around the corner; the duo of robots knew they just needed to keep running.

The troops began shooting simultaneously, one hitting Roger in the head. Electricity pulsed through his body, making him jittery and shaky, barely able to run anymore. Mina let out a shrill in shock and pulled at Roger's pincer to keep him going. Finally, the landing bay came into view and the duo of robots lit up in relief; but they were still surrounded.

Mina and Roger were frozen in a state of panic. They kept their sights locked onto their ship and rushed towards it quicker than ever. Except Mina noticed Roger was barely moving. His body was still in literal shock from the earlier direct attack. "C-come on!" Mina stuttered as she struggled to drag him closer to the ship. Suddenly he was directly shot again, making Mina jump back and yelp.

"Find… your... friends..." Roger's voice was faint and faded out quickly.

Mina's eyes immediately filled with tears right before she ran and climbed into the ship. She lowered the roof as she looked back at her friend in horror. The troops attacked him all at once and tore him limb from limb.

Flying a ship with only one arm- an arm that was shaking out of control, was nearly impossible. Mina activated the thrusters without putting on her seatbelt first. She screamed as the speed flung her to the back seat of the ship.

The space station's defense cannons rapidly fired at the little ship, electrocuting the whole thing. Mina yelped in pain and hysteria. All of the ship's functions were then completely offline, as well as the inside lights had shut off. The ship could no longer be controlled, and instead was stuck floating through space. Mina stayed seated as her body was trembling too much to do anything else. She glanced out the side window to see the space station slowly fading away in the distance.

Mina checked her arm socket to see that her synthetics were already attempting to grow back. Not having her metal arm- skin, muscles, and the body suit's sleeve were forming into a long blob. She rolled her eyes and quickly came up with a solution. Mina took off her right shoe and sock and carefully attempted to use her toes to access her watch. Her constant shaking and frustration only grew as her hips kept cramping due to the uncomfortable position. Finally, she was able to turn off her synthetics where her 'organic' right arm would have grown, leaving the socket and wires exposed.

Before shifting back into a normal position, Mina looked at her contacts on her watch, staring at Ratchet's name. All she could think about was what Roger said, "Find your friends". She knew she didn't deserve Roger's help, much less deserved his sacrifice. Mina climbed into the front seat and sat back, still neglecting to put on her seat belt. She stared at the ceiling while tears fell down her face.

The only thoughts racing through her mind were her own voice and Roger's voice telling her, "Call Ratchet. Just call him. He will help you. '' She curled up on the seat and buried her face into her knees, trying to block out all the overwhelming thoughts. Such an attempt was useless.

The way Nefarious said Clank's name made Mina feel sick. If she had the capability, she would have vomited at that very moment. She proceeded to contemplate how Nefarious possibly knew about Clank's disappearance, and wondered if he knew more than that. Then her mind shifted back to herself and her own actions. Nefarious had a point. What would her friends say if they knew the truth? She didn't want to find out.

Mina sat up and leaned her head back fast enough to whack it against the seat. Too much regret and guilt raced through her mind. She burnt herself out and lost the ability to think clearly or even truly feel anything.

All she could think to do about the anxiety was sleep. She laid back the seat as far as it could go and closed her eyes. This helped her relax, but her mind refused to shut off.

Every time she was about to shut down, Mina would receive a flashback about either Nefarious, Roger, or Clank. When the flashbacks happened, she jerked awake. What felt like an eternity went by before Mina had finally gotten to sleep. Her last thought before shutting down was a small sense of hope that someone, anyone, would find her and help her.


Oof I gotta say, I am sooo sorry this took so long for me to publish xD My work schedule has been a lot busier than usual. That, and I've also been working on lots of other writing and art projects. Hopefully the next chapter won't take too long. See you then!