Chapter 2

A Strange Man

"Friendship is not something you can learn in college or some learning institution, no one knows how to become friends, you just become, but if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship you haven't learned anything"-Muhammad Ali

Ratchet awoke to the sound of the grate being opened. They never opened it for food. He sat up and looked to the grate. Jorgmet was there with someone else. Jorgmet never visited. And he noticed that the other person wasn't a robot. Jorgmet shoved the other person in and he fell down the stairs. Jorgmet laughed and said, "Remember your crimes as you rot in there!"

Then he shut the grate with a bang and left. Ratchet got up and ran to the man.

"Are you alright?" Ratchet asked, helping him up. He was a Markazian, just like Talwyn, but was older and had a beard. Ratchet noticed that he was wearing a big backpack.

"Thank you, young one. Not many people would help out an old man like me now a days," he said in a hoarse voice.

"Why are you in here?" Ratchet asked him. The man set the backpack down and looked at him with sad eyes.

"I never realized what they were and what they were doing," he replied.

"What are you talking about?" Ratchet asked, confused.

"I mean I was working for Jorgmet and his group," he said sadly, "I built their robots, ships, armor, and weapons. I thought they were helping people. I found out today what they were really doing. I tried getting away, but they caught me and threw me in here. So now I'm stuck, trapped in this horrible place, just like you."

Ratchet was shocked. This was the one that had made the robots? He didn't seem like he could but apparently he had. Then a thought struck Ratchet.

"Do you have any power boxes in that pack?" Ratchet asked quickly.

The man looked at him curiously and said, "Yes, but there's nothing we could use it for in here. It won't help us escape."

"Can I please have it?!" Ratchet asked excitedly. He could fix Clank!

"Sure, but like I said, it won't help," the old man said as he dug through his pack and handed Ratchet a power box. Ratchet grabbed it and ran to the table, then sat down and started fixing Clank again.

"Okaaaaaaay…." The old man said. He walked over and watched Ratchet. Ratchet worked fast, so excited that he was finally fixing his friend!

"You are doing well but what are you making?" the old man said.

"Ah!" Ratchet said and jerked back in his chair. He looked at the old man for a second in surprise, then calmed down and said, "I'm fixing my friend, Clank."

The old man looked closely at Clank and said, "But why? It's not going to help us escape."

"He's my best friend in the whole universe. I don't care if he's useful or not, he's my friend and I'm going to fix him. This is the last part I need," Ratchet said defensively.

"Alright, alright," the old man said, putting his arms up, "I was just asking. But you do know that robots don't have any personality, right?"

"Maybe the ones you build, but not him or some other ones I have met," Ratchet replied, going back to work. He replaced the power box, putting the broken one on the table. The old man picked it up and looked at it.

"Wow, my robots really did a number on him," he commented.

"Not the robots, Jorgmet. No offense but the robots are too easy for Clank to be hurt that bad by them," Ratchet said, not even looking up from his work.

"No offense taken. I haven't made them as well as I have gotten older," the old man replied, "But Jorgmet must be good if you are the one that broke all of those robots a few days ago and he captured you."

"You heard about that?" Ratchet asked, glancing over at him.

"Of course! They're my robots after all and I had to fix them afterwords. Jorgmet likes to gloat anyways so I heard the whole story from him. I also heard that you have faced many people and haven't been beaten. He's mighty proud of himself," the old man said as he leaned back in the chair.

Ratchet gritted his teeth and said, "He hasn't won yet. I'm still alive and am going to fix Clank. And no one has ever gotten away with messing with Clank. He'll pay."

"It's good to protect your friends but don't get too caught up in revenge, alright?" the old man said as he watched Ratchet.

"I know, Clank taught me that long ago," Ratchet said sadly. He remembered when he had wanted revenge on Captain Qwark so badly that he had let it blind him from the real threat. Clank had helped him realize this and together they had stopped Drek. That had been when they had first met. Ratchet smiled a little. They had been through so much together. At first he hadn't wanted anything to do with Clank but now he couldn't imagine life without him. He didn't have any regrets when it came to him meeting Clank. But now his friend was hurt. He had to fix him. His smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of determination. He realized he had stopped working to think and got back to it.

"You're good friends, aren't you?" the old man asked.

"You bet," Ratchet replied, "We do everything together. Nothing would be the same without him. That's why I must fix him."

The old man remained quiet as Ratchet continued working. Finally Ratchet put down his wrench and wiped his forehead.

"Now all I need to do is meld the metal together again. You don't happen to have a blowtorch in that pack, do you?" he asked the old man.

The old man smiled and said, "I just happen to have one. But you have to promise me something first."

Ratchet gave him a confused look and said, "What?"

"You have to promise to take me with you when you break out," he said and a huge grin appeared on his face.

Ratchet smiled and said, "No problem."

The old man dug through his pack and pulled out the blowtorch then handed him it and Ratchet got to work, melding Clank's outer piece back together so his insides would be protected. When he was finished he gave a cry of joy. He was finished!

"What's wrong with him?" the old man suddenly asked, "Why isn't he moving?"

"Because I haven't connected him to the new power box yet. I wanted to meld him back together first. He wouldn't have sat through that very well," Ratchet said. Then he opened Clank's flap on his chest and connected him. He closed the flap just as Clank jolted up and looked around quickly.

"Clank!" Ratchet cried and hugged him close.

"What happened?" Clank asked, still being squished against Ratchet.

"Jorgmet got you with his knife. But no worries, you're all fixed up now," Ratchet said as he pulled away from Clank. Clank looked around. When he saw the old man he asked, "Are you the one that fixed me?"

The old man looked at him for a second then started laughing."You think it was ME?" he said, "Thanks for the compliment but your lombax friend here is the one that fixed you! He just needed some things from me. Me, fix you that well in my old age? HA!"

Clank turned to Ratchet and said, "You fixed me?"

Ratchet smiled and said, "Of course pal. You don't think I would just sit around doing nothing while you were broken, did you?"

Clank smiled and said, "Thank you Ratchet. You are truly the best friend someone could have. Now, how long have we been here?"

"I think around three days," Ratchet said.

"Three and a half," the old man said.

Ratchet looked at him and he said, "What?! I was trying to tell you as well as him!"

Ratchet rolled his eyes and said, "Thank you for helping me. I never could have fixed Clank without your help."

"Of course, it was my pleasure," the old man said, then looked at Clank and said, "Hi, I'm Hertis Nerogo, nice to finally meet you."

"A pleasure to meet you too, sir. I'm Clank and this is my friend, Ratchet," Clank said and shook his hand.

"Ratchet, eh? Not very creative. Why did your parents call you that? Did they like ratchets?" Hertis asked.

Ratchet hung his head and said, "No, I never knew my parents. They died soon after I was born. The orphanage named me Ratchet because I was handy with one."

Hertis looked sad and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's alright, I know you meant nothing bad by it," Ratchet said.

Before anyone could say anything else a robot came and announced, "Lunch!" then left. Ratchet heard his stomach rumble and said, "Alright, I think I'll go eat right now and talk after I'm done."

He went off without waiting for them to say anything. He picked up the food and went to the bed, sitting down and looking at his food. He hadn't minded yesterday but today he noticed that it smelled horrible. When he took a bite it didn't taste very good either. He didn't really want to eat it but he knew he had to if he wanted to stay strong. He choked down a few mouthfuls and then set it down, not able to make himself eat anymore. He went over to Hertis and Clank, who were deep in a conversation.

"So they make it practically impossible to get in or out?" Clank asked Hertis.

"Yep, and I should know since they had me design the darn thing," Hertis replied.

"Then you must know something that could help," Clank pleaded.

"Well, there is one thing, but it's a long shot," Hertis said reluctantly.

"Please tell us," Clank said.

"Alright, but like I said, it's a long shot," Hertis said as he scratched his chin, "There is a weak spot in the grate because they rushed its production. If we can hit it hard enough it should break. Then we could unlock it and get out. The problem is that there will be guards and other robots everywhere."

"Is there some way we could distract them?" Clank asked hopefully.

Hertis shook his head and said, "There's no way. I made sure my robots couldn't be distracted. But I do have another idea. The boss is coming to see you guys in two days. At that time Jorgmet and all the robots will be at the landing pad to meet him. We could sneak out then. The only problem is that the landing pad is at the only exit. So we really have no chance of escaping."

Clank looked at him hopefully and said, "Are you sure that there's no other way?"

"Quite positive," Hertis said as he nodded.

Clank looked at Ratchet and asked him, "What are we going to do?"

"We'll try our best and fight our way out if we have to," he replied, smiling to reassure him.

Clank smiled back and said, "Right."

Ratchet then sat in the other chair. He picked Clank up and put him on the table, where he was taller and able to talk at Hertis' height. Ratchet then listened to them talk of irrelevant things, all the while thinking, Will we really be able to get out?

Sorry it took so long to make this chapter. Had some brain storming to do and was quite busy. Hope you enjoy it! By the way, I have updated my profile for those of you that haven't looked yet.