I do not own Ratchet and Clank (I wish I did) that honor belongs to Insomniac Games. This is for entertainment purposes only.

ON WITH THE STORY!

It took a week for the nanotech to heal Ratchets wounds to the point where he could move, but he was now up and exploring the old fort. He found out that an old order of thieves used to reside here, they were called the hand of shadows and they are the ones who made Fastoon free.

Ratchet was pretty tired and his wounds started to ache. It was getting pretty close to lunch time so Ratchet decided to head over to the mess hall for a bite to eat. He ran into Lucilla and Kate on his way to the mess hall.

"Aren't you supposed to be resting Ratchet?" Kate asked

"Yeah, why aren't you in bed?" Lucilla chimed in

Ratchet rolled his eyes "I have been in that blasted bed for a week, I need to move"

Lucilla pulled Ratchets bandage half off to examine his wound "It's not healed enough Ratchet. You should rest"

"Lucilla I am fine, it doesn't hurt much anymore, I can move, and fight if need be"

"Well, your mother seems to be running things around here, she can decide"

Ratchet looked at his mother with a puppy dog eyes, as if begging her to let him get out of that bed for a while. "Well, if you think you can move around I will let you have light duty until your wound heals enough. Take watch up on the wall tonight"

Ratchet was overjoyed "Thank you so much mom, I have had enough of being penned up in the infirmary"

Kate smiled "we had better get to the mess hall before the food is all eaten up". With that the trio walked off to get their lunch.

Later that night, Ratchet was on guard duty. He had to sit atop the wall and watch for Kane's scouts. It was pretty boring because he was up there alone for hours on end. Of course Lucilla would come up and keep him company every now and again until she was needed in the fort. However one thing was on Ratchets mind the whole time he was sitting up on the wall, his dream. Could Lucilla really be Pregnant? Ratchet thought out loud. "That was no normal dream, it was like a warning, I must protect Lucilla" Ratchet said to nobody in general.

Ratchet was about to head back to the living courters since he was getting ready to switch shifts when he noticed a scope glint in the brush about a hundred feet away. He dove onto the ground just in time to avoid a plasma bolt that would have taken his head off. Ratchet low crawled to his splitter rifle that was leaning against the wall where he was sitting. He grabbed his rifle and set off the alarm. Resistance started coming up the stairs to him. He tried to warn of a sniper but he was too late. A young lombax no more than sixteen years old took a round to his chest and he screamed in pain as he fell right next to Ratchet. The kid was still alive but he was mortally wounded. Ratchet grabbed the kid by the collar of his armor and he pulled him into cover. "Stay with me buddy" Ratchet said as he noticed the kid's eyes start to shut. Ratchet put pressure on the kids wound to slow down the bleeding. "Hey, what's your name" Ratchet asked, the kid grimaced as he spoke "my friends call me Rook". Ratchet nodded "okay Rook I'm going to make sure you get out of this, okay" Rook nodded. Rook started to go out of consciousness "hey Rook stay with me, keep talking, to me. How old are you" Rook only managed out "sixteen" before he passed out from blood loss. Ratchet felt a tear run down his cheek. "Medic I need a medic over here!" Ratchet yelled. But no medic came. So Ratchet decided to use his own personal nanotech to save the kid. He pulled out a few of the blue orbs and he crushed them in his hands and rubbed the liquid all over the wound. The bleeding stopped and Ratchet wiped the blood off of his hands and he started shooting back at the sniper.

After Ratchet emptied his clip at the sniper Kate and Lucilla showed up and they got into cover with Ratchet. "Lucilla, can you get this kid down to Weiss's he is in need of medical attention" Ratchet said as he was loading another clip into his rifle. "Bring me back some nanotech; I used all of mine on him. One more thing, they have snipers out there so stay low". Lucilla nodded and she picked the kid up and carried him down the stairs to the infirmary.

"How are things looking Ratchet?" Kate asked. Ratchet wiped a tear from his eye. "I can't believe they would shoot a young kid like that, he's not even seventeen years old"

"If it wasn't for you that kid would probably be dead right now, you did a good thing Ratchet"

Ratchet turned to Kate and she saw a look in his eye. It was distant and emotionless, like the look of a soldier that has been through too many bloody conflicts "I will kill them all" Ratchet said, pure anger burning deep inside of him. With that Ratchet peeked around the corner of the wall that he was sitting against and he lined up the sniper in his sights and he shot him right in between the eyes. The snipers spotter seen his comrade bet blown away and he started to run. Ratchet lined up another shot and he pulled the trigger. A plasma bolt caught the enemy soldier in the back of the leg rendering him immobile. "I don't think there are any more. I am going out there to bring back that spotter for interrogation". Ratchet went out against his mother's wishes to bring back the spotter.

A few other resistance members went with Ratchet to cover his back. They came up on the wounded Lombax who was crawling down the road. When he noticed Ratchet and his comrades coming up to him he reached for his service pistol. Ratchet pressed the barrel of his splitter rifle against the back of his head before he could draw. "Do you know what a splitter rifle can do at close range?" Ratchet asked, the soldier took his hand off of his pistol, "good choice". Ratchet bent down and disarmed his new captive. The two Lombaxes with Ratchet picked up the prisoner and they carried him back to fort crimson.

I Hope you all liked the chapter. It was pretty fun to write, especially Ratchets emotional change (chuckles sinisterly). Inspirational song (Monster by skillet). Please leave a review it is what feeds my writing so the more I get the more I pump out. Also I would like to dedicate this chapter to all of the views I have gotten on this, 1,800 views! wow thanks guys. I love you guys (Evil Ratchet Out!)