IT'S FINALLY HERE! I present to you: chapter 19 of Worlds United. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Dude, why haven't you uploaded anything for a month!?"
Well there are three reasons. One: thanksgiving break and the other fanfic I put up. Two: since I hadn't uploaded anything for a while, I had to adapt to writing again and there were troubles there. And finally the most important reason of them all: FALLOUT 4! I have been having so much fun with that game I am now considering it to be the best first person RPG (Is it an RPG?) I have ever played. Its so much different than the other fallout's it is just awesome. I also got a kindle fire for 50$ (Best 50$ I've ever spent) and I got all of the Ratchet and Clank comics on it. Right now I'm reading the third issue and its definitely a good story so far. Also, since I am writing an insert on all of the games, I'll probably make an OC insert of the comics as well. So I will warn you that once we get that far with the story, I will always upload a warning regarding spoilers to the comic and that you should read them before you read the story. Anyhow, I'm gonna stop rambling and let you guys read on.
If you're enjoying the story so far, feel free to review, favorite, or follow, and please know that any feedback is much appreciated.
Disclaimer:
Ratchet and Clank, associated characters, weapons, locations, etc. belong to insomniac games. some real world companies and organizations belong to their respective owners, etc. I only own the right to some characters and some weapons and events introduced in the story.
P.S. Did anyone see the price of kindle fire drop to 35$ on black Friday? I almost had a heart attack when I saw that.
Planet Boldan
4:30pm Local Time
Save And Destroy
Jordan observed the tall skyscrapers and the dry, tropical climate as Ratchet landed the ship on a landing pad next to an entrance to the city that, unfortunately, was closed off by a forcefield. The group jumped out of the ship and after stocking up on 700 bolts worth of ammunition, they observed the field and tried to figure out what to do. "So how are we gonna do this?" Ratchet asked.
"I don't know. I guess look for any cables so we can turn it off."
"Okay." Ratchet walked around the field and saw that there were no cables around the forcefield whatsoever. "Well I don't see any. What are we gonna do now?"
"Why are you always asking me what to do?"
"Every time we get into a problem, you seem to have a solution."
"Well I don't!"
In the heat of Jordan's frustration, he felt tapping on his left shoulder and looked over his shoulder, at Sophia. "Yeah." he said more calmly.
"Maybe we can use that car over there." Sophia said, pointing behind him. Jordan looked to where she was pointing and saw an air taxi that was conveniently parked a few feet away from their ship. "An air taxi? Indeed, we might be able to use that." Jordan said.
The group walked over to the cab and let it take them to it's programmed destination. They were being take to a rectangular platform that had an elevator built right in the center of it. The group got off the taxi and onto the elevator and felt it take them down, into the planet's crust. Either the elevator was pretty slow or they were going deep into the planet. Either way, it took a few minutes for the elevator to reach the bottom floor.
Their destination was far from what they expected. They saw that the entire room consisted of huge, rotating gears and cogs that must have been part of some kind of machine. and on the floor was a familiar pad that they knew used the newly acquired Levitator modification for Clank. Jordan looked to his left and saw Ratchet step closer to him. "How are you going to do this?"
"Just give me some time." Jordan wiped his forehead with his hand.
To his surprise, he felt sweat. This was strange because it wasn't hot down there, and to Jordan it didn't feel hot either. For the first time in forever, Jordan actually felt one emotion going through his whole body.
Fear
"Are you sweating?" Ratchet asked.
"A little."
"But it's not that hot in here."
"The temperature in this room is exactly 65.56 degrees Fahrenheit." Clank added.
"I know, I know!" Jordan said with more anger in his tone.
Ratchet looked down and saw that Jordan's hands were shaking a bit. Jordan wasn't cold, he was scared. Ratchet decided to calm him down and put his right hand on Jordan's left shoulder. "Jordan, I know you're scared about this, so if you want-"
"I'm not scared!"
"You're not very good at lying pal. You're shaking and sweating like there's no tomorrow... You know what? I'm sure there's another way around this-"
"No. We must do this."
"But you're-"
"Don't worry about my fears Ratchet! No matter how scared I am, I have a job to do and dammit I'm gonna do it! I'll just have to come up with something."
Jordan slowly took Sophia off his back and as he was about to hand her to Ratchet, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged the Human. Jordan hugged back and saw her mouth get closer to his ear. "Be careful." she whispered.
"I will." he whispered back.
Sophia let go of him and Ratchet helped Sophia get on his back. At the same time Clank equipped the levitator. Before taking off, Ratchet turned to Jordan and gave him one last chance of bailing out on this. "You sure about this pal?"
"I'm sure."
Ratchet turned around and activated the jetpack, while the Human watched him glide around small openings in between the gears until he was out of sight. Jordan then paced back and forth and tried to figure out what to do. "I cant hold onto Clank like I did last time." Jordan said to himself. "My hands are shaking and my palms are sweating, so I've got no grip. What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?"
After a minute of pacing, Jordan had an idea, but didn't feel comfortable taking such a risk. What he planned on doing was using his jacket like a belt and tie it around Clank, then himself. That way it would not only hold him in place, but hopefully get some kind of result like it did with Ratchet. But Jordan knew one complication of the plan.
He had to take off his jacket.
Even he knew that it was weird to call taking off your jacket an complication, but Jordan didn't feel comfortable with this. Did he really trust the group that much that he could expose himself like that to the group? But Jordan was running out of ideas and he concluded that this is the only idea that might actually work. With the Human now having a plan of attack, he saw Clank approaching in the distance. Once he was close, the robot started hovering down and landed. "Are you alright Jordan?" Clank asked with a hint of concern.
"Yes, I'm fine Clank."
"Should I get onto your back and you hold on?"
"No. I have a better Idea."
No turning back now. Jordan took of his jacket and let it fall to the floor. He then quickly grabbed Clank and put him on his back. He told Clank to hold on. Clank did and Jordan pulled the jacket around Clank, then used the arms of the jacket to tie it around himself. He made two knots and told Clank to let go. Jordan then walked around and leaned back and forth slightly and felt that Clank wasn't too high or too low on his back, he was just right. Jordan then told Clank to equip the Levitator and heard the wings come out like they always did, so there were no problems with Clank's hands either. Jordan stepped towards the edge and waited for Clank to activate the thrusters. "Are you sure this will work?"
"Let's hope so."
Clank activated the thrusters and Jordan could feel himself being lifted into the air. Jordan held his arms out and got ready to dodge the first gear. But then he realized that he something very important.
The controls.
"Wait, you forgot to tell me how to steer!"
"Do not worry Jordan. Using special gyro-sensors that came with the upgrade, all you have to do is shift your weight in the direction you want to go and I will do the rest." Clank explained.
"But what if I want to go up or down?"
"Just leave that to me Jordan."
They were now approaching the first turn and Jordan leaned to the right ever so slightly. Jordan felt the thruster on his left become more powerful and Jordan felt himself glide to the right. Jordan then flew left to avoid another gear, then centered himself as he was going through a circular opening. And what was on the other side was incoming traffic. But this was exactly the kind of traffic he hated most, especially right now.
Busy traffic.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Jordan mumbled to himself. Jordan looked down and saw a small platform that had another levitator pad on it, and he felt Clank start to glide towards the platform. "I believe Ratchet went left here." Clank said as Jordan stepped onto the pad to refuel. Jordan looked to where left was, and unfortunately for him 'left' meant the tunnel the busy traffic was flying out of
"There?!"
"I'm afraid so Jordan."
"Oh my god, what are you getting me into!?" Jordan growled to himself.
Jordan positioned himself on the platform and slowly felt himself going up. Once they were at the highest possible altitude, Jordan got ready to work against the grain. Jordan saw the first car approaching, but saw one on each side of it, making it impossible to turn. "Clank!" Jordan said with fear in his voice. As the cars got closer, Clank responded by disabling the trusters, dropping altitude immediately, barely avoiding the car. Two more vehicles were approaching and Jordan hovered to the left to dodge the first one, then to the right to dodge the second one. Another car was approaching and Jordan could barely see the figure inside, who was talking his cellphone while flying a twelve ton ship. Jordan flew slightly to the left to try to dodge it, but saw it switch lanes at the last second. Jordan quickly leaned to the right and from the force of the movement, Clank instantly put full force on the left thruster and sharply turned them to the right. Jordan then centered his balance and looked back at the ship. "HEEEEY! DON'T YOU KNOW TEXTING AND DRIV-I MEAN FLYING IS GONNA GET YOU KILLED?!" he yelled. However, the Human failed to notice the approaching car.
Luckily, Clank's audio sensors picked up the incoming vehicle, and the robot dropped altitude at the last moment. "Whoa!" Jordan yelped. They were now approaching a small ledge with another pad on it and Clank slowly hovered down. "Wait a minute, how did you know to drop altitude when that last car was approaching?"
"Using special audio sensors in my head, I was able to hear the car and judge it's distance, as well as determine at what time I should deactivate the thrusters to avoid it."
"Guess I wasn't exactly paying attention when I was yelling back at that alien. Well, thanks for that."
"No problem Jordan."
Jordan then noticed the tunnel ahead of them. It would have easy if it weren't for the fact that the tunnel was full of electrified wires. Jordan got ready and Clank activated thrusters. They were approaching the first powerline and as he was leaning back to avoid it, he felt himself go down. Then when he leaned forward, he went up. He tried the same with the next powerline, and got the same results. "Let me guess: there's some kind of sensor in that little head of yours that detects electricity?"
"No. I simply felt you lean back, as if you were going to hit something, so I went down. Then when I felt you lean forward, I figured we dodged it and went up."
"Oh. What about those other time though?"
"I simply remembered where the cables were and flew down at the right time."
"Oh. Okay then."
After hovering over one more powerline. Jordan saw two familiar faces standing next to an elevator. He was so glad to see them, because it meant this nightmare was over. Clank slowly hovered down until Jordan's feet touch the ground, then transformed back into his normal self as his wings transformed into hands and feet. "Ah there you two are." Ratchet said. "And I see you've actually opened up to us for the first time." Jordan instantly knew what Ratchet was talking about and quickly untied the two knots and as he was about to throw the jacket on himself, he forgot about his little robotic friend and threw him a few feet in front of him by accident. But Jordan ignored this as he quickly put his jacket back on and pulled up the hood so it was covering his eyes. "Sorry, shows over!" Jordan said with anger. But he immediately felt sympathy for Clank and ran over and helped him up. "Sorry about that. Kinda forgot about you."
"It is quite alright Jordan."
"Well we better get moving." Ratchet said.
Clank walked over to Ratchet and quickly jumped onto his back, while Sophia slowly got on Jordans back. Once the group was reunited, they walked into the elevator and took it all the way to the surface. But Jordan was not pleased at all about what was at the top. They looked around and saw that they were in a room with a glass covered walls, and they could see their ship outside of it. They looked around even more and saw that they got out right outside of the blocked entrance. "OH C'MON! All of that for THIS!"
"Shhh, you need to quiet down. At least until now we were the only ones here."
"Fine!"
They looked in front of them and saw an entrance into a building, but saw it was being guarded by two aliens from Thugs-4-Less. They also so some strange panels sticking out of the ground and knew those could be ideal for cover. Ratchet and Jordan slowly crouched down and walked behind two different panels and started to communicate.
"Thugs For Less?" Jordan whispered loudly to Ratchet "Why are they here? I thought you said Miss Angela called them off."
"Remember that new employer she was talking about?"
"You dont think that new employer sent them after us...If that's the case, then who sent them. The only people who have seen our faces were the leader, Miss Angela, and..." The answer hit him like a punch in the gut. It was all clear now. "Fizzwidget." he growled. Jordan quickly peeked around his cover and saw one of the guards start walking back and forth. Now that he knew the positions of the guards, he equipped his weapon ready to ambush them.
"Wait, wait, wait you cant just jump to conclusions like that. There isn't any evidence that-"
"I don't care how you feel towards that man. He sent them. He knew we got off that planet and figured instead of deserting us, he'd kill us instead with these guys. He's the employer. He knew we got off that planet. He knows we're working with Miss Angela. and now, he knows we're coming."
"So what?"
"This is it. This is my opportunity of getting him to spill his guts on how he will send me home."
"Jordan." Sophia added as she tugged on Jordan's jacket.
"Not now Sophia."
"And what if he doesn't?"
"What do you mean?"
"What if he doesn't have a way?"
"Oh he's going to find a way."
"Or what? Your gonna splatter the ceo of a galactic corporation's brains all over the wall?"
"...Maybe."
"Jordan."
"What?"
Jordan turned his head towards the Lombax, but saw a large shadow engulf him. He looked up and saw one of the two guards that used to be guarding the entrance looking down on him. Jordan stood up with wide eyes, but quickly thought of something to hopefully fool the guard. "Uh... hi. I uhh... I was just... working on this panel right here, trying to push it down, y'know, because it's blocking people's way." Both Jordan and Sophia tried pushing the small panel down, but it was useless since the panel did not move a single inch. The guard of course didn't buy this and pointed a large Lancer at them. "Up against the wall." the thug said with a really deep accent. Jordan and Sophia started walking back towards the glass wall, with Ratchet following them, knowing that whatever the Thugs were going to do to them, he was not going to leave them alone. They were now against the glass and facing the guard, who signaled for his friend to walk over. He did so and once of the guards looked at Ratchet and Clank. "I recognize these two, but not them." the thug said with a much lighter voice. He them pulled out a large holographic picture that was see through and Jordan saw that it was a picture of Ratchet and the group, just before they were separated to go to the Megacorp training ship.
"Where did you get that?" Jordan questioned.
"QUIET!" the thug yelled. and Jordan stopped in his tracks.
"Yeah, these the ones he wants." As the guard aimed his gun at the group. The older sounded alien stopped him. "WAIT, what about the girl?"
"Oh yeah I remember now. I'll get her." the younger alien thug set his gun down and as he was about to grab Sophia, she quickly jumped out of the way and ran towards his gun. Sophia grabbed the large handle, but couldn't pick it up due to its weight. "Ha ha ha ha, nice try little one." the thug said. He grabbed the Lombax and she tried to use his claws on him, but his skin was too thick to penetrate. So she started screaming hoping to draw someone's attention, but to no avail. As the thug was walking away, he looked back to his friend and saw he was still standing there with the Lombax, Robot, and Human alive. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, GET THEM!" he yelled.
It was at this moment that Jordan felt a sudden jolt of energy hit him, but as he looked at Sophia, this jolt turned to pure anger. With fire in his eyes, he equipped the Blitz Cannon with lightning speed and fired five times, drilling more holes in the Thug than there were stars in Bogon. The other Thug who, of course, heard the noise, looked behind him and saw Jordan charging at him, full speed and weapon ready. The Thug was almost at door and he instantly ran through it.
"JORDAN..." was all Sophia yelled as the door quickly closed in front of her.
"YOU GIVE HER BACK RIGHT NOW!" Jordan yelled.
Ratchet saw Jordan jump all of the stairs and run full speed into the building. Leaving him and Clank. Ratchet sighed while rolling his eyes "Pal what have you gotten yourself into this time? C'mon Clank, let's just follow him." Clank quickly got on his back and he ran up the stairs and through the door. As they entered the room, Ratchet saw one dead body on the floor, and saw Jordan put his foot on one thug and blow his brains out with the Blitz Cannon. Ratchet then saw the Human run full speed up the stairs. "Jordan, wait!" he yelled. Ratchet followed him up a flight of stair, but saw Jordan take cover behind a curved panel to dodge a shotgun blast from a Thug. Ratchet immediately ducked and crouched over to Jordan, and together they peeked out to see the Thug and Sophia going up an elevator.
"There she is." Jordan said.
"How do you plan to get past this guard?"
"How about that HX22 Gun of yours?"
"I want to save ammo for that."
"Oh cmon this is just one guy."
"Jordan I-"
"Please... for Sophia's sake."
"...Alright."
Ratchet equipped the HX22 Gun and peeked from cover, though he got back down immediately to avoid another shotgun blast from the Thug. He then got up and pulled the trigger, then got back down immediately. After hearing a loud explosion, they both got stood up and saw that the Thug had been blown into a million pieces (litterally). The Lombax and Human quickly shielded their eyes from the gorefest and ran to the elevator and took it to the top, getting into an enclosed area with more cover, and three Thugs, two of them tall and green, and one that was short and red, but they all had one thing in common.
They were all holding shotguns.
They all fired at the sight of the duo so both immediately took cover, barely missing the incoming bullets. Ratchet and Jordan then decided to use both their Mini-Nuke and Bomb Glove. While the thugs were reloading their weapons, Ratchet and Jordan got out of cover and each threw one bomb at the Thugs, hitting one directly and blowing him to bits, killing one with the help of another direct hit and a bomb's blast radius, but completely missing the one on the left. Ratchet and Jordan quickly threw a bomb at him, but not before getting another shotgun blast from the opponent sent their way. Ratchet quickly ducked, but Jordan couldn't duck fast enough and got three bullets into the shoulder. Jordan yelled in agonizing pain as he fell to the ground. Ratchet quickly looked over and saw the thug explode. With the area clear, he got on one knew and assisted his friend, who was bleeding out of one shoulder. Due to the placement of the wound though, Jordan simply took deep breaths while the Nanotech did its thing. Once the Nanotech completed its healing, the only thing left was a massive burnt hole in his jacket that use to cover his right shoulder. Jordan definitely was going to fix his jacket once this was all over, but he worried more about the task at hand. "You okay pal?" Ratchet asked with concern.
"Yeah... yes I'm fine."
"Well c'mon. Let's go get Sophia back." Ratchet offered Jordan his hand and helped the Human get up. They then took a left, walked down a long hallway, and into an elevator that took them down to street level. Once they reached the bottom, they saw the alien with Sophia commanding two green thugs to keep an eye out. He then ran into another building and closed the door behind him. While the thugs were playing a few games of rock paper scissors out of boredom, Ratchet and Jordan both quietly sneaked over to two different panels and ducked. Before they did this, Jordan had suggested an old guerrilla warfare tactic: ambush them with their upgraded lancers.
Once Ratchet and Jordan heard one of the Thugs yell in defeat, they quickly jumped from cover and took each of them out, completely catching them by surprise and riddling them with bullets. With the threat neutralized gone, they ran to the entrance of the building and saw that it just consisted of an elevator that took them up into the clock tower. So they decided to ride the elevator all the way to the top. Once it stopped, they saw that it lead them into a room and in the center was a vendor of a different kind, and behind it were twenty bolt crates. Ratchet and Jordan walked up to the machine and observed it. "What is it?" Jordan asked.
"I believe that is a Megacorp Armor Dispenser." Clank said, still attached to Ratchets back.
"You're saying they sell Armor too?"
"Indeed."
"But why would they sell it on a separate machine, why not save money and sell it on a normal Megacorp Vendor?"
"The way the machine functions is different-"
"Lets just find out why." Ratchet said, stopping Clank.
"You're buying armor? Don't you think you should save your money?"
"What's the point? Fizzwidget's waiting for us, our mission's almost over. Lets have a little fun spending our bolts for once."
"You go on ahead then, I'll just watch."
Ratchet browsed through the vendor and saw that only one suit of armor for 25,000 bolts was available. Ratchet knew he would only have 10,000 bolts left, but he bought it anyway. Suddenly a drone flew out of the machine and put a curtain over the Lombax. Three more drones then flew from the vendor and into the curtain "Whoa, hey, AH, don't touch there!" Ratchet yelled. But as quick as it happened, all the robots flew back into the machine, leaving Ratchet with new armor consisting of a futuristic chestplate and gauntlets, all in the fashionable color of light blue. "Nice outfit." Jordan said while Ratchet was looking up and down himself to see the new look.
"Thanks, I kinda like it too."
"Well lets get moving if were going to catch that guy and save Sophia."
Ratchet Jordan of course divided the crates amongst themselves and each of them got 13,000 bolts from all of it. They now looked to the far side of the room and saw a platform that led outside, they walked over and onto the platform and suddenly felt it move, but instead of going down it rotated. Luckily, Ratchet was wearing his Gravity Boots and stuck to the platform. Jordan however was about to fall off the wall. As Jordan was about to fall from a giant clock tower, Ratchet barely grabbed him by his shoe and held on. But Ratchet was soo focused on his Human friend that he failed to notice a guard one level above him take out a blaster and fire one shot at him. "Watch out!" Jordan yelled. Ratchet looked above him and saw the incoming projectile, he quickly ran to the right. Ratchet then equipped his Lancer and fired one bullet from his gun, hitting the thug right between the eyes and watched him fall from the window and into the river far below. "Now what are we gonna do?" Ratchet asked.
"Simple: you have those boots, so I get on your back and we walk all the way down until there's an open window."
"You sure?"
"Well there isn't alot of options here now is there?"
Ratchet slowly pulled Jordan up by his leg and once the Human was high enough, he pulled himself onto Ratchet and moved and twisted his body around the Lombax until his head was upright with his. He then wrapped his legs around his waist, held onto his shoulder with his left hand, and quickly equipped his Lancer. "I'll try my best to help you, in case there's any more guys."
Ratchet now began the slow walk down the clock tower. Suddenly, platforms opened up from windows, and on it were two more green thugs, both armed with simple Lancers this time. Jordan decided to help and both he and the Lombax fired two rounds at the first guy, and Jordan quickly fired one at the second guy. However their bullets weren't what killed the Thugs: their bullets damaged the Thugs' gravity boots, and thus, the thugs fell down into the water far below.
They then saw one last window open up. Ratchet walked through the window and saw that the only thing inside was a magnetic walkway that spiraled into a corkscrew. Ratchet walked through it and saw that it connected to a walkway. Once Ratchet stepped on the platform, he looked at his surroundings and saw that they were upright again. But Ratchet felt alot of weight still on him and looked behind him to see the Human still holding on. "Uh Jordan, you can get off me now."
"Are we upright again?"
"Yes."
Jordan released one leg from Ratchets waist and tapped the ground a few times. He didn't feel any gravity changes and decided to release his whole body from the Lombax now. He felt that he was indeed upright, but felt himself stumble and fall down. When it comes to Jordan, it wasn't heights or gravity that made him sick. Ever since their last adventure he would get sick from vertigo, or changes in gravity or force. Ratchet quickly rushed to Jordan's aid. "Are you okay?"
"Yes."
"You look like your about to throw up."
"Yeah."
"Is something wrong?"
"I just tend to get sick from doing what we just did. I just cant stand things like that."
"Well if your going to throw up, don't do that on me."
"I'll try my best."
After a few seconds, Jordan slowly got up and saw that there was a flight of stairs that lead down, then back up. They looked and saw that a few feet away from them were two guards still patroling, and at the bottom of the stairs were two more guards. Jordan and Ratchet equipped the Mini-Nuke, and Bomb Glove respectively and both threw a bomb down at the two Thugs, Blowing them both to pieces. The other Thugs above them noticed this of course this and opened fire. Ratchet and Jordan quickly hid behind an exposed floor panel and started firing back, this time using their Lancers. Ratchet and Jordan were both able to blow a large amount of holes in both of their enemies. The Thugs stumbled back and fell out the window. With the threat gone, they quickly ran up the stairs and saw an elevator to their left. They ran to the elevator and let it take them up to the top. Once the elevator stopped, they saw a gap that had another Versa target, and across from that were two purple Thugs, both armed with shotguns.
Ratchet and Jordan quickly took cover behind two floor panels and they both used their Lancers to fire at the enemies. They quickly ducked to avoid incoming shotgun pellets, but as soon as the enemy fire ceased, they were once again raining plasma on their opponents. Jordan got a lucky neckshot, and a headshot to finish the Thug. Ratchet, on the other hand, had more trouble with his opponent as he missed three times. He hit the Thug once in the chest, but the Thug was still standing. The Thug fired his shotgun at Ratchet, but Jordan was able to land another chest shot and killed the Thug.
Ratchet then equipped his swingshot and while Jordan held onto the Lombax for dear life the Lombax swung across the gap. Once they landed, they saw another metallic walkway in the shape of a large spiral, and on it were two thugs, both armed with shotguns. Jordan really didn't want to go through this, but saw the elevator on the other side and understood which way was up. He got on Ratchets back and the Lombax slowly walked onto the platform, and the Human started shooting at the first guy.
He hit him once in the chest, and once in the leg and saw him fall down to Earth (or... well... Boldan). The same happened to the other Thug a few seconds later. With the walkway now cleared, he just endured the vertigo for a little bit longer, then saw Ratchet step onto the platform. Jordan got off and they both stepped onto the elevator and let it take them to the top. They saw that it took them up to a strange room with magnetic strips along the sides of the wall, and across from them were three thugs with normal Lancers this time. But instead of taking cover behind two seperate floor panels, they took cover behind one large panel, big enough to cover both of them. However, the Thugs released a barrage of bullet fire, and by the looks of it, their cover wasn't going to last for long. They had to think of something and fast. Getting a plan, Jordan and Ratchet equipped their Bomb Glove and HX22 gun respectively.
Once the Thugs stopped firing, Jordan threw one bomb at them, damaging all of them. The killing blow came a few seconds later in the form of three highly-explosive auto-targeting drones. The duo quickly walked across a narrow walkway, past the pieces of Thugs and saw another window open up. Jordan knew what to do held on to Ratchet. Ratchet and Jordan slowly walked onto the small platform and felt it move back into the side of the building.
They saw two different windows open up and saw two Thugs walk out, though a rain of Lancer fire sent them tumbling down to the river far below. Another set of windows then opened up and Ratchet used the previous platforms as cover while he equipped the Mini-Nuke and threw a bomb at the first Thug, killing him instantly. Jordan then used his Lancer and shot the second one three times until he fell off the platform. As they were walking down the building, Ratchet saw a room with a glass dome on it and inside were the familiar colors of a person, and Ratchet knew it was indeed Mr. Fizzwidget. "There's Mr Fizzwidget!" Ratchet said pointing to him. Jordan followed his finger and saw the same thing and instantly equipped his Blitz Cannon.
"Good, lets go!"
Ratchet saw an opened window and walked into a room with two large metallic doors, but there was one problem. If Jordan's calculations were correct, they were upside down. Ratchet knew this as well and was able to walk along a guided magnetic path until they were upright again. Once Jordan got off his back, they got ready to enter the room. "Ready?" Ratchet asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
The duo rushed into the room to see Fizzwidget standing in the middle. But as they got closer, they saw that it look nothing like Fizzwidget at all. Instead it was one of those Fizzwidget-look-alike robots from Todano. "This isn't him, it's just a robot. You screwed up!"
"He looked like him through the window!"
"Well look again!"
"So it's one mistake, so what?"
"Why I outta-"
"Would any of you like a free protopet sample? Available today only." the robotic Fizzwidget interrupted.
"WHERE IS HE!" Jordan yelled aiming his shotgun at the robot. Ratchet also focused on the robot and started raising his wrench. But suddenly the door behind them opened up and they heard a familiar voice from it.
"Freeze knuckleheads!" the Thug leader said.
The group turned to the voice and saw that he was healthy and still standing, which shocked both Ratchet and Clank. "You told me he was dead!" Jordan said to Ratchet.
"I thought he was!"
"You didnt double check!"
"Forget it now. So, what are you gonna do now, kill us?" Ratchet said turning to the thug leader himself.
"Oh no. The three of youse are under arrest for attempting to bump off Mr Fizzwidget."
"But this isn't-"
"Save it fuzzy, your not foolin' anyone. You and your little pals just earned yourselves a trip to our new prison. Watch this." the thug leader pulled out a Holovision screen from behind him and the group watched a commercial of their large prision ship, one much bigger than the floating lab that Angela Cross had.
"Thugs-4-Less Prison would like to wish you a happy incarceration." A relaxing female robot said on the screen. "After a poolside orientation, all new inmates will meet with the intergalactic nutritionist." the screen now transitioned to another picture and this time it showed a robot on a strange weight scale, and beside him was the familiar wrestler that called himself the Mathematician. "This professional will ensure that you're eating a species appropriate diet for your entire stay." Another picture showed up and this time it was of a robot lifting metallic weights and beside him was a familiar female, Helga, who was saying something to the robot, but ended up spitting all over the other robot while he was shielding himself "Next, come check out our fitness spa with your personal trainer. Remember, a prison term can feel twice as long if your not in proper shape." Another picture showed up and this time it was a robot laying on a metallic chair and he was talking to that mystic freak the group saw earlier. "And for those times when you're just feeling blue, come talk it out with one of our ten full time coaches. They'll help you find your smile again. Thugs-4-Less Prison, experience the maximum in security." the video ended and the thugs laughed, knowing how innocent looking the commercial was.
"Wha'd ya think of that?"
"That didn't seem so bad." Ratchet replied.
"That actually looks kinda nice."
"I assume you have provisions for vegetarians?" Clank asked.
"Of course! Vegan or... Wait a minute!" the thug leader turned to a guard on his left side. "You, take em away." he then turned to the next guard on his right. "And you, impound their ship." One of the guards started approaching the Lombax, Human, and Robot and Ratchet got closer to Jordan hoping he had a plan "What do we do now?" Ratchet asked, but the only thing Jordan did was drop his weapon.
"Lets just go." Jordan said.
"But what about-"
"No fight! Just surrender. We'll find another way."
Ratchet listened to the Human and dropped his wrench. They both now walked out the door and as they were about to get into a transport ship, the thug leader told the guard to stop and they both turned around to see him hold Sophia by her legs, which were strapped together, including her arms and mouth.
"Oh that remind me! Make sure to take this brat with you! you will not believe the trouble I went through to get her like this. She almost chewed off my hole arm just trying to tie her up." The thug leader showed them his arm and they all saw very deep marks that were still oozing blood and they resembled small rows of teeth.
"You put her down right now!" The Human now tried to break free from the thug, but he held him back and was now trying to get him and the Lombax into the ship, with Sophia struggling to break free from the grip of the thug leader. "SOPHIA-!" Jordan yelled as he finally broke free, but what he felt next was cold metal hit his face with such incredible force that he instantly felt nothing, not even the feeling of hitting the ground.
Everything went black.
OOOH WHAT AN INTERESTING ENDING FOR THIS CHAPTER! I hope this is worth the month wait for this and I will say I will re-edit a previous chapter and add Stuart Zurgo should time permit. Thanks to some kind viewers who gave me some more information on where I can find the cutscene in a video, I do want to thank you for the help, it is much appreciated for the story. I will also say to any DeviantArt viewers, I just uploaded a drawing of Talwyn Apogee. Its just the sketch though and I will soon upload the colored version, and the emotion Joy from Inside out that I promised.
If your enjoying the story so far, feel free to review, favorite, or follow, and please know that any feedback is much appreciated.
P.S. DON'T TEXT AND FLY, OR DRIVE PEOPLE!