Seventeen... wow, didn't know I would right seventeen chapters of this.
Before you ask, I did name this chapter after the Russel Crowe movie, it's one of my favorites.
Anyways, I can't thank evil Ratchet96 and Katratzi for the reviews and input. Because of you guys this story has continued.
Now, one with the show...
Chapter 17, The Next Three Days,
The three, beat-up warriors left Belvedere and they learned about Sly's condition. Though initially he had gained some health, he had begun to decline. The Healer had kept him alive but the amount of poison in his system was taking its toll. "We need to get him to a clinic," Clank stated as Bones began to run checks on the hurt Bonded.
"I concur, if he stays here too much longer, he's going to die." Bones said, "Velocity isn't far, let's go."
Rykk carried Sly and everyone piled into Ratchet's giant palm. He took off towards Velocity and they left Belvedere as the rotting sore of the forest.
It took them less than a half hour to reach the city. Rykk carried Sly into Velocity's main clinic. On the way Sly passed out and his condition plummeted. "Sly! Stay with me!" Rykk yelled. He gave Sly some more Healer to buy time.
Carmelita was frantic upon seeing Sly's condition. She had to be physically forced from the operating room so Bones, Clank, and the docs could work on him. As they took him into the O.R. Carmelita turned and faced Rykk, Ratchet, Atlas, and Murray; "What happened?! How could this happen?!" She yelled. She looked at each of them before ending on Rykk (of course).
He looked at her; he tried not to look uncaring or cold as he didn't feel that way at all. Ultimately he succeeded little in that endeavor. "I'm sorry, Ebony did it, and she's dead now."
Carmelita began to sob. "Please, tell me he's going to make it! Tell me!"
Rykk was conflicted, he didn't want to make a promise he couldn't keep yet wanted to comfort his distraught friend. "The doctors will do their best and Sly is tough, one of the toughest I know." That was the best he could offer.
It helped a bit and Carmelita looked at Ratchet next. "Was it worth his pain? Did you get your father back?"
Ratchet himself was trying to figure out the situation. "We didn't get him back, we're working on that. But Sly helped us defeat Ebony."
Atlas tried to help, "E fought well, wit out 'es help we would 'ave not made et trou her army."
Murray also jumped in, "You should have seen him! He was incredible!"
Their words helped Carmelita feel just a touch better. Murray took her aside and did his best to comfort her.
Bentley appeared from a computer terminal. He looked more than a little upset and worried. "Bones told me about Sly! What can I do?"
"Pray," Rykk asked, "The docs are working on him. I'm sorry,"
Bentley was stunned, he didn't respond. He just sat in his wheelchair and felt tears run down his face.
Ratchet looked at Rykk. "How are we getting my dad back?"
Rykk felt fear as he imagined what Calamity would do to him if he gave himself up. "Don't know Ratchet. I do care about your father, and if he were taken by anyone else I would give myself up. But I… I can't just surrender to Calamity, not without some kind of plan. If I just went along and gave up…" Rykk shuddered, "I can't imagine what he'd do."
Ratchet looked more than a bit distraught, "But he's my father! And your my friend! I don't want to give either up!"
Rykk shouted, "I know!"
Rykk's exclamation turned every head in the clinic and he looked down.
"I know that Ratchet…" it was then; Ratchet, Atlas, Carmelita, and Murray saw fear on Rykk's face. It was the first time they had seen it on him; worry, doubt, and despair were painted all over his mouth and eyes. "… and I'm scared. I want to help your dad but if I do what Calamity wants I'll be tortured to death! Yet if I don't, then your dad dies! There has to be another way!"
As they stood there, six Praetorian Guards walked up behind the four. "You guys," the head guard stated, "Come with us."
"Where are we going?" Ratchet asked.
"The Chiefs want a word with the lot of ya."
Rykk sighed. Dang it Clank or Bones, you told them about the deal didn't you? Guess you had to or else they wouldn't have been ready for Sly. "I figured as such. Just don't collar me."
"We won't, it's not that kind of meeting."
They had little choice but to go with them and meet with the remaining chiefs. They all sat around a rectangular table, each one looked worn out and distraught.
The Chief of Justice started, "Rykk, first off I want to apologize for our previous encounter. We should have listened to you."
Rykk nodded, "I'm sorry I couldn't save Decagon, Calamity…"
"Yeah, his death is on me. But we're here to figure out what to do about this deal."
Rykk crossed his arms, "I can guess where you guys stand on this deal. And if it were anyone besides Calamity I would do it. Besides the fact he's my archenemy, if he gets a hold of me I won't die quickly. That and the fact our relationship is more personal… I'll be dying for weeks."
The chief nodded, "We all know that Calamity isn't going to be honest. We have a plan if you wish to hear it?"
Rykk nodded, "Shoot."
"Chief Argand, you explain," the Chief of Justice said.
Chief Argand stood, "Yes sir," He pointed at the table and restraining collar appeared on it.
Seeing it gave Rykk a slight repulsion.
Argand then explained, "This will be a modified Restraining Collar, yes it still works. What's going to be different about it is that it will have a tracking device inside. The device will be small and put in in such a way that if removed the collar will cease to work."
"So if he finds it, he'll release Rykk?" Bentley nodded, "Not bad."
"We will also have two more trackers, one, Rykk will ingest and the other will be attached to his tail. The tail tracker is the decoy, the one for Calamity to find."
Atlas asked, "Es dat all?"
Argand shook his head, "No, in theory these collars should also work on Calamity. That being said, we will install a single Utility square in this collar as well and, the Utility will have a regular collar inside it. Get close, collar him, and kill him. We won't be far behind you."
Rykk nodded, "Not bad, he wants me only wearing; pants, the collar, and shackles, so that makes the collar the only place to hide something." Rykk looked at Argand, not too long ago he wanted Rykk dead. "Argand, why are you helping me? Figured you'd want me dead,"
Argand nodded, "I do, however not to this madman; I want you to hang for Arctan's death."
Rykk shrugged, "Hey whatever gets me out of this mess."
"So what will we do for the next three days?" Ratchet asked.
"We make sure everything is in order. We make sure there are no loopholes or unseen weaknesses." Rykk responded, "That and we help Fen and Sly get better."
Ratchet then asked everyone in the room, "Speaking of Fen, how's the red furball?" He tried to add some humor into the dark situation. It may or may not have worked though.
Bentley responded, "We have prosthetics for him and are going to attach them today. They are strong and I was able to give them a thin layer of energy shielding. The shields offer little in the way of physical protection; but, if my calculations are correct, they should grant them protection from Calamity's Ravage. He'll also have his sense of touch through them as well."
"How is he?" Ratchet asked.
"When he first arrived he was in agony; both for the loss of his limbs, and Draxis' death. Though, now he seems a bit more calm."
"What about Arco?" Rykk asked.
Bentley responded with a bit of a sad tone. "She's passed out from grief in a guestroom. We were able to recover Draxis' body."
"Fen, can we see him?" Ratchet asked. "His abilities will be invaluable to this operation."
"One sec, getting a message from Bones," Bentley held his head and focused. "…They're giving Sly…" Bentley paused and wiped away some tears. "…they're giving him a 30% chance of pulling through." He had to take a second to compose himself. Atlas gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I'm sorry…"
"No, it's fine," Ratchet replied.
Bentley sniffed and resumed his update. "Yeah, you can see Fen. He's actually about to get the prosthetics put on. I'll take you guys to him."
Bentley led them through the lombax clinic. It was a clean but bustling facility. Nurses and doctors rushed around, read charts, escorted, and took care of patients.
Bentley led them through the controlled chaos of the ER and found Fen's room.
They went in and found the young lombax sitting on the edge of his bed. He already had his prosthetic leg on and a medical engineer was attaching his arm.
His arm was cut off just above the elbow, and his leg just above the knee.
Both prosthetics were a shiny silver color and looked strong.
They each had decorative lines on them.
The lines were the same color as his fur. The silver and red prosthetics looked almost elegant against it.
Fen looked up as the engineer attached the arm. "Hi guys," His brown eyes had a distant quality to them.
"Hey Fen," Ratchet said as he sat down next to him, "You feeling ok?"
Fen nodded once, "Besides missing my arm and leg and…" He looked away for a second. "…my friend…" he wiped some tears away. "…I'm fine."
Ratchet then asked, "Fen, I know this is terrible timing, but do you know about Calamity's deal?"
Fen looked down, "I heard about it, but don't know it. What does he want?" His last sentence was laced with hate and he practically spat it.
"Me," Rykk stated, "In exchange for Ratchet's father. We need your eyes in the sky."
"Are you going to kill Calamity?" Fen asked in a cold tone.
Rykk nodded and grinned, "I may be chained and collared but I can still kick tail."
Fen nodded in reply, "I'm in besides; Calamity can't do anything with these." Fen stated as he raised his prosthetic arm. It shimmered and was smooth in action. "Well, I guess these'll do." He said as the engineer finished with his leg.
"Go ahead, try walking a bit." The engineer advised.
Fen used his robotic arm to push himself off the bed. He stood up and was a bit shaky. He took a few, unstable steps around the room.
"How does it feel Fen?" Ratchet asked.
Fen shortly started to walk in a smoother fashion. "It feel like my arm and leg are… mostly back."
"Here," Ratchet picked up a small paper cup filled with water and offered it to Fen. "Have a drink."
Fen looked at the cup with a curious look. He focused a little and his robotic arm moved. The silver and red hand moved towards the cup, its fingers opened and closed gently around the cup. There was a slight mechanical sound as it moved but it was otherwise silent.
Fen held the cup in his metal hand; he could actually feel the weak plastic in his grip. He raised the cup to his mouth and took a sip. "Well, guess this isn't too bad." He emptied the cup before setting it down. "Let's see what Ferra thinks." At that he focused a bit more and Ferra materialized on his metallic forearm.
The brown and red hawk looked down at its perch. It took a few steps from side-to-side as if testing the stability of her stand. She looked up at her partner and gave an inquisitive look.
"Yeah girl, this is new." Fen cooed as he stroked her back with his organic hand. "You and I will have to adjust." Ferra gave a cry of agreement.
Rykk chuckled, "Seems like she doesn't mind it that much."
Kaden felt really out of it, he opened his eyes in a groggy manner. He was chained up in what looked like some kind of cave. The cave was dark and a torch cast a yellow light. The light revealed a limited area and showed the crimson rock the cave was made of. His hands were bound above his head and his feet just barely touched the ground.
He was sore all over and felt weak.
"Hello Mr. Ellipse, you've been out for a while."
Kaden was instantly alert when he heard that voice. "I'm guessing you are Calamity?"
A dark chuckle came from the darkness. "Correct, so you know what kind of situation you're in right?"
"I've been in better." Kaden replied, "So… you're going to kill me?"
Calamity stepped forward. His inhuman appearance and malevolent grin sent a chill down Kaden's spine. "Kill you? Why does everyone think I'm just going to kill them?" He gave a chilling chuckle, as if Kaden's question amused him. "I don't kill; death is an unfortunate consequence of what I do. I like seeing pain on others, pain, suffering, misery, and chaos. It's all delicious;" His next sentence carried the tone of its-not-my-fault and he shrugged. "I can't help it if humans and lombaxes can take only so much abuse."
Calamity's words both sickened and terrified Kaden. "Do what you want with me. I won't give you any satisfaction."
Calamity frowned, "While I will have some fun with you, I will not kill you. You are a means to my real target."
Kaden connected the dots, "Rykk, you're going to trade me for him."
Calamity's grin got bigger, "You catch on quick Kaden. We will be making the trade in three days. Until then, you're mine. Now, while I like physical pain and anguish, I like screwing around with your mind even more." Calamity pointed at the defenseless Kaden. A black shadow left him and flew into the strung-up chief.
Kaden screamed as he felt a searing wedge forcefully enter his mind. AAAAAHHH! So this is what this feels… YYYYOOOOWWW!
One of his painful memories plays through his mind like a movie.
"Alistair, I don't like Tachyon. I don't trust him."
"His ideas could be of enormous benefit," The bigger, white and crimson lombax stated. Kaden's best friend argued against Kaden's warning. "Just because he's a Cragmite, you won't accept him!"
"Precisely!" Kaden exclaimed, "You forget that his race wanted to exterminate us! If he knows about the past, he will not be happy. And you want to give him top-secret clearance?! He will have access to all of our strengths and weaknesses!"
Alistair furrowed his brow and growled, "It's not your call. Soon, you'll see how much he can help us."
You blasted ghost! Get out of my skull!
The next set of memories brought back absolute terror and heartbreak to him. He had done his best to forget them, now they played back in HD.
He also felt Calamity's wicked satisfaction in it.
Kaden looked up and felt sick. He saw one of the Drophyd henchmen fire its weapon and hit his wife.
It hit her in the back and she fell.
She was dead.
Kaden was enraged, tears flowed in generous amounts, and his ears were as far back as possible.
He was about to kill it when he heard his infant son crying.
It cleared his rage and he ran to the crib inside the house that was falling.
He grabbed Chace and ran.
He and his son entered a ship and fled the burning Fastoon. He went to the Solana galaxy and to a remote, backwater planet where he was sure Tachyon wouldn't find him.
He felt such heartbreak, such loss, as he left the small, sleeping, lombax infant on the doorstep of a small orphanage.
Again his eyes became wet and he was sniffing away the tears as they fell.
He gave his son a kiss on the forehead, "I'll make this right, I promise you." He heard movement from inside the orphanage and fled.
He couldn't stay.
He was blasted onto his back by Tachyon. "You furry rats will all die! The Cragmites will rule the universe!" If it weren't for the dire situation, Tachyon's voice and small stature would've been amusing.
Kaden looked around; he was outmatched in the Court of Azimuth.
He knew something that Tachyon didn't, Velocity.
He figured he could get there, regroup, and prepare a counterstrike and get his son.
He ran and was able to convince Tachyon that he was dead.
Then he found the portal and entered it.
He also programed it so that only a lombax could open the protective blinds.
He was in a tough spot as a Chief.
He needed to get at least one Dark Radiation Core from Parson but all of the scout teams he sent were either killed or came back with extreme injury.
Then, the legendary explorer, Max Apogee appeared on Agrona. It was a miracle!
He knew that if anyone could take Parson's horrors it would have been him.
Max was only too happy to try, as long as his friend, Angela Cross, could go. Besides, she was a biologist, she was more than happy to study the effects of Dark Radiation.
It was less than a day after they left for Parson when Kaden got a call from Angela.
The fact that they contacted him at all was troubling. The com devices could only work for so long in Parson, so they were told to only use them in dire situations.
"This is Angela Cross, requesting immediate back-up! Our team has been killed! Only Max and I are alive and I have a core!"
Kaden was about to send an order for a rescue attempt when one of his advisors told him not to. "You'll just get more lombaxes killed. They're dead anyway."
Kaden considered both options. Was it worth six lives to get a Core? He knew the lombaxes that would go.
He couldn't do it, he knew the chances of saving Max and Angela were nil.
He growled as he hung up the call and left.
He couldn't take the feeling of leaving someone to die, even though he was pretty sure it was the right thing to do.
He couldn't bear it; the guilt was so bad he had to throw up.
The puppet then tore through all of Kaden's recent memories.
You son of a whore! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
Kaden felt such relief as the puppet left him.
"Well, well, so you are more than just a Chief. You are something incredible, the father of a galactic hero. And you know what?" Calamity didn't wait for Kaden to answer; he drew a cat o' nine-tails and hit Kaden's exposed chest with it.
It ripped out fur and muscle, leaving a dozen, excruciating cuts.
Kaden yelped but didn't scream.
Calamity continued, "I… don't… care. Just because I plan on exchanging you, doesn't mean I have to return you whole… or healthy."
He swung the whip again and hit Kaden's belly. Kaden yelped again and resisted the nearly irresistible urge to yell.
He refused to give Calamity satisfaction.
Calamity hit Kaden another three times before pausing.
On the second hit, the hooks got caught on the muscle of his upper chest. Calamity yanked the hooks out along with a good chunk of the meat.
Kaden couldn't hold it back anymore, that blow made him scream, it made him howl.
Calamity smiled widely and started laughing. "Thank you Kaden! Thank you…" he stood back and thought for a second. "I think… tomorrow I'm going to follow the Romans' example."
Calamity's hint made Kaden's ears fall, his eyes went wide, his tail stopped moving, and his heart raced. He doesn't mean…
"From tomorrow till I turn you over, you'll be on a cross. Up there, we'll have so much more fun."
Terror took Kaden as Calamity turned to leave. The dread of knowing what Calamity was going to do filled his being with horror.
Calamity paused and gave him another hit with the whip before leaving.
Kaden was left alone and bleeding in the cave. The rhythmic sound of his blood dripping to the ground was a haunting prelude to what was coming.
His breathing was erratic and the knowledge of what was going to happen made him lose whatever was in his stomach.
The next three days were going to be hell.
It was a few hours later and the gang had to console Arco. She was a complete wreck.
Draxis being dead was bad enough, the fact that he went in such a violent manner traumatized her.
She had no problem agreeing to help take Calamity out.
It was early the next day when everyone was told that Sly could be seen; though he was unconscious.
Sly lay on a bed; he was mostly covered in white bandages and had an IV machine hooked up to him. There was a heart rate monitor active and a slightly irregular beat came from it. Sly's chest moved up and down in a shallow motion.
He looked rough.
"How are his chances doc?" Ratchet asked.
The doc sighed, "The surgery was the riskiest part; we almost lost him four times. Now it's all up to him. We're giving him everything we can; I'd say he has a 55% chance of survival."
"Why so low?" Carmelita asked. She was on the verge of tears upon hearing the odds.
"For one, he's a Bonded, though that means he's tougher, it also adds an unknown element to his physiology. Each Bonded is different from humans, lombaxes, and other Bonded; so that makes it even harder. That and the thorns did great damage and the poison they secreted delayed healing, clotting, and promoted infection. They were the nastiest things I had seen. To be honest, that fact that he's still alive is amazing."
"I got cut a bunch as well, so why am I not feeling the same?" Ratchet asked and looked down at his legs and lower torso. The cuts were there though, not nearly as bad as before.
"I'd say it's due to your tough skin," Bones interjected as he floated into the room. "The poison's effects were minimized."
"Hey Bones, shouldn't you be helping the technicians in building Rykk's collar? As I recall it was a bit more technical than they thought initially." Ratchet asked.
Bones nodded, "I am, Bentley and Clank are currently with me. I am also helping them coordinate search teams for Calamity, though I have very little hope that they'll find anything. I am also monitoring Sly's vitals, I must say, they're all over the place and change constantly. If he weren't knocked out right now, he'd be dead."
Ratchet whistled, "Whew, sounds like you're doing a lot."
Bones shook his head, "Actually I'm only using about 34.7% of my computing abilities. When I ran the agency known as FIRE (read The Jolt to learn about FIRE, it's on FictionPress) I used up to 88.6% of my abilities."
"Bones," Rykk started while still looking down at Sly. "Can you see any other option in this deal that won't get Kaden or me killed by Calamity?"
Bones closed his eyes and ran through all possible scenarios and predictable outcomes. It took him about a second, "No Rykk, I cannot see any other option based on what we are presented with."
"We got the rest of today and tomorrow, maybe something will come up in our favor." Ratchet suggested, "Why did Calamity give us so much time?"
The question made Rykk sick as he knew the answer. "Ratchet, do you really want to know?"
Ratchet was now intrigued as he didn't guess it. "Now I do, why?"
Rykk took a deep breath, "He didn't give us time; he gave your father time."
Ratchet's eyes went wide as did his mouth. "Wh… what's he gonna do to my dad?" Ratchet had forgotten up till now that it was Calamity that had taken his dad, not some mindless thug or gang.
Rykk shook his head, "Don't think about that my friend, it will just get you down."
Ratchet couldn't help but think of what that monster was doing to the one relative he had that was still alive.
"Hey Ratchet…" Rykk continued then looked at Fen, "Fen, let's go outside practice some hand-to-hand." He figured it was a good way for the two lombaxes to vent and forget for a bit.
Besides, they both still needed training in it.
A few minutes later and Fen and Ratchet faced each other.
No powers, no weapons, just hands, feet, and tails.
Even though Fen had a robotic arm, Ratchet's tough hide meant that he wouldn't be hurt by it.
Ratchet made the first move; he ran at Fen and threw a punch at his face.
Fen ducked and blocked the blow with his organic, left hand. He then delivered a punch at Ratchet's core.
Ratchet, having had a few lessons from Rykk, blocked the counter and delivered his own, a chop to the side of Fen's neck.
Fen caught the chop and did a backflip/knee to Ratchet's chin.
It connected and sent Ratchet reeling a bit. He grinned, "Nice hit kid."
Fen landed and smiled, "Thanks," he ran back at Ratchet and performed a leg-sweep with his metallic leg.
Ratchet then did a flip of his own, a front one and kicked Fen in the back of the head. "But, mine was better."
Fen growled in a competitive manner and full-body tackled Ratchet.
The two wrestled and rolled on the ground for a few minutes.
It ended with Ratchet sitting on Fen's back, he had the younger lombax pinned in such a way that he couldn't do anything.
Fen flailed his arms and legs but couldn't reach Ratchet.
Ratchet just sat there, his tail wagged back and forth as Rykk approached.
Fen yelled, "Get off me Ratchet! This is humiliating!"
Ratchet stood up and helped Fen to his feet, "Sorry Fen, never had a brother. If I did, we would have wrestled just like this."
Fen looked at Ratchet, "You, you're calling me your brother?"
Ratchet shrugged, "If I did, I'd like him to be like you." Ratchet gave a warming smile to the young lombax. The look on Fen's face became forlorn and Ratchet was alarmed. "What's wrong?"
Fen looked away for a second. "Draxis used to call me his little brother. I liked it until about a month before we met you guys. I got onto him to stop calling me that cause I thought I was too old. Now…" He let out a few sobs before regaining control. "…now I'd give anything to hear him call me that again."
Ratchet embraced the grieving kid in a brotherly hug. "I can call you that, if you want."
Fen let it out; he had no family except for Arco and Draxis. To hear Ratchet call him his brother, was the best feeling he had in a long time.
Fen let go and wiped his face, "I'm sorry, I usually don't cry."
"It's alright; it's been a rough time." Rykk said then looked at Ratchet, "You won, and so you face me."
Ratchet sighed, "Now comes the hard one."
Ratchet and Rykk faced each other; Rykk made the first move. He ran, faked a punch and then kicked.
Ratchet fell for the punch but also blocked the kick. He then threw a counter-vertical-punch at Rykk's sternum. The hit connected.
Rykk didn't flinch; he hit Ratchet on the side of the head before spinning in midair. As he spun, Rykk wrapped the tip of his tail around Ratchet's neck.
The motion made Ratchet spin and fall to the ground. It also surprised and stunned Ratchet as he fell. He then felt pressure on his back and groaned, "Really Rykk?"
Rykk was doing to Ratchet, what Ratchet did to Fen.
Rykk chuckled, "Yeah, Fen told me to. You two are already acting like siblings."
Rykk stayed on Ratchet for a minute, let him flail about for a short time before helping him to his feet.
At that moment, the three of them felt like kin.
At that moment, Sly was fighting to live.
At that moment, Kaden was being nailed to a cross.
At that moment, a shadow stirred among them.
Everyone was busy during the next three days.
Well I hope I got you ready for the next chapter. To be honest I have some idea on what I want.
But I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen.
It may or may not be the last.
Either way, it'll be fun,
Thanks for reading,
Jerod2447