Hi everyone! Decided to post the first chapter of a hopefully long fanfic that I'm currently working on. Not quite sure where it's going to go yet, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!
oOoOoOo
"I promise they won't even notice it's missing! C'mon Clank." Ratchet scoffed, rolling his eyes as the diminutive robot hurriedly followed after him.
"Ratchet-!" Clank tried to catch up with the lombax's long strides, his tone full of exasperation. With a helpful boost from his heli pack, he hopped up and onto the secure position on Ratchet's back. Lowering his voice to a hissed whisper, he tugged at Ratchet's ear in a scolding manner. "We should not steal from a planet we just saved!"
"It's not like we got a thank you or anything." Ratchet muttered back, flicking his ear unhappily as he hastily stuffed the small antimatter bomb into the satchel on his hip, aqua eyes skillfully scanning over the crowds to be sure his action went unnoticed. "We deserve a reward at least."
"Stealing is wrong."
"You worry too much."
Clank remained silent yet his disapproval was loud enough to be heard without further speaking. He knew his friend couldn't help it sometimes. After all, he lived off of thievery most of his life to survive. Yet now that the lombax had a secure income as a Galactic Ranger and a comfortable home and bed to sleep in, Clank was trying hard to get him to quit his thieving ways for good.
If Clank had a heart, it would have shattered after hearing Ratchet tell him his life's story. Being found as a baby in a crashed pod and then taken to a worn down orphanage, being only a single cycle old. Then the young lombax was beaten by the other kids due to his fluffy appearance and oversized ears until eventually he ran away to escape the abuse. Thus did the young lombax live out on his own at barely ten years old.
The universe could be a terribly cruel place. Even the matron cared not for the little child brought to her doorstep. When Ratchet arrived in front of her with a toddler's open heart, she only saw an annoyance. Another mouth to feed. His crying was seen as manipulation and his sadness was claimed to be only for attention. Everyday the small lombax looked up at the woman and everyday she killed him a little more. She killed him with the same 'professional care' that everyone else in the orphanage did. Since then he vowed to be stronger and more resilient so as to never need to surrender to another like her.
Ratchet grew up without the security and comfort that most children were dependent upon. Sure, he was provided with food and clothing at the orphanage, but were such amenities truly worth it at the cost of such crippling loneliness and trauma?
The lombax always shrugged Clank's worries off, claiming that his life sounded worse then it really was. Things may have been hard, but he got through it, right?
Clank nodded along with his friend's words but deep inside his cogs and sisterboards ached with sympathy for the lombax that never got the chance to be a child. The universe had such a cruel sense of humor.
He was here now with Ratchet, though, and he vowed to never allow the lombax to go through such horrors again. He'd try to give the lombax whatever bits of childhood and happiness that he could, cherishing every moment that his friend got to experience something new. Always watching with such fondness as the lombax excitedly went through many adventures all over the galaxy, making new friends along the way.
If Clank could bring just a spark of that childlike joy back into Ratchet's eyes for even a moment, then everything leading up to this point would be worth it.
So when Ratchet did a little bounce on their way back to Aphelion, practically vibrating with excitement upon the acquisition of his new gadget, Clank supposed it would be alright to steal just this once.
Aphelion's new paint job shimmered in the light of the planet's two golden suns as they approached her. She was a thing of beauty and precise lombax engineering-with Ratchet's own added upgrades of course.
"Hey, Aphelion! Got a new toy~" Ratchet snickered as he ran a hand carefully over the smooth metal of her hull.
"Another weapon of mass destruction, I presume?" Her light but mechanical voice hummed with amusement.
"Of course."
Clank hopped down from Ratchet's back, sighing and trying to hide his fond smile. Ratchet may be slightly unhinged sometimes, but he was Clank's slightly unhinged lombax.
"Stop right where you are and put your hands up!"
The lombax's ears flattened against his skull and his eyes went wide in surprise as both robot and felid whizzed around to see the nine armed humanoids pointing their weapons right at Ratchet. They wore the black colored military garments of the planet and their weapons were painted bright red.
Ratchet automatically reached for his omniwrench only for Clank's hissed whisper to stop him. "Do as the man says. We do not want to cause more trouble then is strictly necessary."
The lombax hesitated, but with a heavy sigh he slowly raised his hands up into the air as Clank followed suit.
The armed men were quick to arrive at their sides, one man forcefully grabbing Ratchet's wrists while two others began to pat the lombax down.
"Hey! Whoa, whoa whoa." Ratchet tried to squirm away from their grasp to no avail. "Don't I have rights or something?"
Clank watched, rooted to the spot with a mixture of shock and confusion. The military men seemed completely focused on Ratchet, not even sparing the small robot a second glance.
"Keep that mouth of yours shut or we'll get a muzzle and cut your tongue out." One harshly shoved Ratchet to the ground, clicking a pair of cuffs into place around his wrists.
The lombax let out a small yelp as he fell to his knees, mouth opening to yell obscenities at them only to shut just as quickly as their threat sank in. His eyes met Clank's with a hint of panic and the robot quickly regained his senses.
"What are you doing? Unhand him at once!" Clank stepped forward, optics narrowed and glaring at the group of humanoids.
"Ratchet, you are under arrest for theft. Your punishment shall be carried out under this system's laws in two day's time. You may leave your last will and testament behind before the day of your execution and are privy to a last meal of your choosing the night before." The man speaking had an uncaring look on his face, seeming almost bored in manner, as though he'd recited said words far too many times to count. He reached into the lombax's satchel and pulled out the bomb, rolling it in his hand once before handing it over to one of his comrades.
"W-What!?" Ratchet sputtered, face turning pale and tail going limp. He stammered in shock, trying to find words as he desperately tried to escape his shackles.
"You can not do such a thing!" Clank exclaimed, frantically rushing forward to grab at his friend's cuffed hand. "Such punishments are cruel and unacceptable for minor crimes!" Ratchet clutched the familiar metal hand in his grasp, grimacing as one of the soldiers pulled him up to his feet.
"It's the law." A man said. "The law of Draconian."
Ratchet's breath hitched in his throat as he felt Clank's hand slip from his grasp, his head turning to look at Clank as the men began to force him away. His eyes narrowed and he gave his friend a short nod before turning back to face the man currently pulling him away from Aphelion.
"Let me go!" He demanded, kicking one of the soldiers to the ground and wrenching his cuffed wrists away from another. Clank took that as his que to hastily grab a pistol from Ratchet's fallen satchel, aiming and firing at another dark clad humanoid.
Ratchet turned to swing his wrists at another man only for a sharp yell to escape his lips as a jolt of piercing electricity ran up his arms and through his body. He slumped in the man's grip and let out a weak cough as he tried to gather his bearings.
Red engulfed Clank's vision and he pointed his gun up at the man now holding his friend in the most demeaning way possible-by the scruff of his neck. "Let him go."
"I think not. Justice must be served to criminals." The man to Ratchet's left smirked and with a bright flash of light and the sound of scorching metal, Clank was left on the ground, paralyzed by the stun blaster.
He could only lay there helplessly, watching as his best friend was carried off by the group of soldiers, feebly kicking out only to find himself falling chin first into the mud. The men laughed and Clank felt his rage bubble over.
Yet he could do nothing but watch as Ratchet was yanked up and once more tugged further away from Clank.
Frightened mint colored eyes locked onto Clank's emerald optics, refusing to look away until he was dragged around the corner and out of sight.
The small robot remained there on the ground uselessly, despairingly staring into the direction of his captured friend.
His joints began to loosen slowly and his systems were quick to reboot. Soon he was back up on his feet, muttering to himself and pacing the ground worriedly. He debated internally, logic and emotions warring in his body as he tried to figure out the next best course of action. He had to save Ratchet. But how?
With a determined look and clenched fists, he looked back up at where he had last seen Ratchet.
"I promise I will come and get you Ratchet."
He turned and began to head back to Aphelion.
"But first I am going to need some backup."