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Weak Points
Chapter Summary
With Zedderek secured aboard the Phoenix, the heroes will finally learn what it is that Tachyon is really after.
They quickly learn much more than they expected, and their discovery of Tachyon's only possible weakness is cut short as an unexpected and most unwelcome visitor pays them a visit...
The five heroes' return to the Phoenix was uneventful enough, unless you count Rivet waking up, putting her feet on the floor, and purging immediately... Other than that, the next few days were rather quiet, which was quite fortunate. Rivet spent the first night after their mission to Corson V in the infirmary, and the following two days in her bed, back in hers and Kit's room with a pounding headache, an upset stomach, and in a much, much more weak and vulnerable state than Ratchet had ever seen her. The female had passed out again shortly after being sick, after which she had been taken to the infirmary where she remained asleep until 3:00 AM.
"W-wha…? What… Where…?"
Ratchet looked up at once, her soft voice jerking him out of his stupor. He had almost dozed off, sitting in his chair, listening to her slow, deep breathing and her sporadic, indiscernible muttering. Clank and Kit had returned to their respective rooms at around 2:36.
"Rivet…!" he said softly.
She had gasped and turned her head quickly, wincing and grasping her forehead immediately after.
"Ratchet…! Wh-where… where are we…? What happened? Last thing I remember was that… that thug challenging me to a drinking contest for something..." she winced again as she tried to remember, but her head was pounding too painfully to recall anything beyond surface-level, and she gave up.
"We're in the infirmary, Riv – aboard the Phoenix. You err… Let's just say you ermmm… got a bit tipsy…"
This was stretching it to breaking point. He remembered the way her speech had slurred, the way
her eyes had been so unfocused, and… her behavioral shift… "But what happened…? I don't remember anything."
Ratchet's heart skipped a beat. He recalled in vivid detail the way she had sidled up to him, the tone of her voice, the way she had stroked his chest, how she had reached down and groped his-
He blushed and cleared his throat, sitting back in his chair.
"Well, we… We got Zedderek, so all good on that end!" he said, his voice unnaturally cheery and a grimace on his face.
Rivet blinked slowly, looking as though her eyelids weighed a hundred quadratons. "I… screwed things up didn't I?"
Ratchet looked into her eyes. The fog was gone, as was that… burning, longing look that had flared so passionately within them while she had been drunk. Their usual sparkle was back, but there was also a shadow of guilt and trepidation there. He hesitated. What should he tell her? No, she hadn't 'screwed things up', but her little drinking game had nonetheless added struggle to anxiety, despite her uncanny boost in skill during a fight, which in all honesty was really saying something, considering how talented she already was.
He decided on the truth… or at least part of it… The way she had acted toward him and the things she had said and done were secrets the male Lombax would carry to the grave.
"…No, you were awesome as always… But the err… playful part was a bit distracting… We almost missed Zedderek."
Rivet cursed softly, wincing again.
"Sorry…" she said, weakly. "That thug had a databoard he said he'd gotten from an official… he challenged me to a drinking contest – my arm for the databoard."
"You wagered your arm?!" Ratchet blurted out, shocked, and Rivet winced a little at the volume.
"Oh! Sorry…" he added hastily.
"No biggie… as for the arm, I got like five spares… so I took him up. Things get hazy after the twentieth shot… I don't remember anything beyond the firty-sixth."
Ratchet gaped at her. Forty-six? Well no wonder she had been so smashed…
"I… don't drink…" she added, with a hint of a smile, her ears, though flat against her pillow, going slightly limp nonetheless as though drooping. "…Guess it hit me kinda hard…"
"(Well, that's a bit of an understatement…)" Ratchet had thought, privately, yet also thoroughly impressed that she had consumed that much of Mort's Limeade for someone who didn't drink.
The matron had seen Rivet awake at that point, and had bustled over to urge Ratchet kindly to go and get some sleep himself.
"Or we'll have two team leaders out of action!" she had said, and Ratchet left the room rather reluctantly.
The next few days passed smoothly enough, although Ratchet was unable to visit Rivet anymore once she had moved back into her room.
None aboard the Phoenix had seen or studied the contents of the databoard. It was encrypted, and even the Terachnoids were unable to decipher it. The encoding appeared to be unique, and so it was Clank who studied it. Ratchet had been sure the silver bot would have the thing cracked in no time, but to his surprise and slight disappointment, the task remained unfinished a full four days after their mission. Pleased though Derek, Locke and Qwark were at the heroes' success, their excitement at finding out what lay within the databoard and their impatience at learning what top-secret information it hid was slowly beginning to show.
"C'mon rook, when's your friend gonna be done crackin' that darn thing open?!" Locke had said on day five, his tone full of longing and impatience.
"Just… Give him time, all right? He's trying as hard as he can. You'll see though, Clank won't disappoint; ya won't find anyone organic or synthenoid as skilled with this stuff."
Rivet's patience was wearing too. She had returned to normal life aboard the Phoenix at last on the third day after their mission, cursing Mort for the alcohol level in their Limeade recipe, and making Kit promise to take and hide her bionic arms from her if she ever took a sip again.
"They're like family to me, but why the hell did they have to make the alcohol levels so high?!"
Despite her growing impatience, she knew that Ratchet was right… Though her time with Clank was dwarfed in comparison to the ten years the male Lombax and defective warbot had known each other, the short time she had spent with Clank nevertheless provided sufficient proof that he was exactly who they needed on the job.
Several floors below, Clank was sitting alone atop a metal workbench – a computer to his right on which was a terminal reading back data streamed from the little chunk of silicon and copper he had in front of him. His synthetic eyes itched with tiredness, figuratively speaking, having been up for thirty-nine hours straight, trying to crack the encryption at last. His sisterboard felt fried, and he longed for his top bunk where he could recharge his metaphorical batteries.
The four captains, Derek, Locke, Qwark, and Talwyn called for Rivet, Kit, and Ratchet to visit them in the interrogation room.
The two Lombaxes and the yellow bot did as they were asked and arrived to find the four leaders of the Alliance already there, Zedderek sitting unrestrained in a chair, looking rather calm, but Ratchet saw anxiety in his eyes all the same. They chose to leave him unguarded after quickly discerning how timid the man was, and his complete lack of weapons, obvious or concealed. They had also assured the Tharpod he was in no danger so long as he cooperated, and he had agreed to do so willingly.
They had held off from interrogating him until they could be sure Rivet and Ratchet could both be there, at Talwyn's insistence, rather to the male Lombax's surprise, and increasing his sense of guilt for how he had treated her during their breakup. They had hoped Clank could join them, but with the ongoing struggle of learning what lay within the databoard Rivet had won from the thug at Club Esoteric, they chose to continue without him so he could focus on unlocking its secrets.
"Okay – " Qwark began, huddled closely with the others, " – I've had many years of training in the area of interrogation from my millions of adventures… Allow me to begin the proceedings."
And Qwark had whipped about, stomped up to the Tharpod, lifted him by his shirt and slammed him against the wall.
"Qwark, STOP!" Talwyn cried, sounding as frightened as she did angry.
"Spill the beans, FOUL CRIMINAL! What is Tachyon after?!" "Y-you promised -! Somebody make this BUFFOON RELEASE ME!" "'Buffoon?!' Hey, words hurt, man!"
Qwark had released Zedderek and fell to the floor with a thud, his face pale and looking both shaken and cross.
Talwyn hurried over and helped Zedderek back to his feet as Qwark's lip trembled. "Steady there, Captain!" Derek said
"He must not come to any harm! However, if he lies or becomes hesitant, YOU may do the honors!", said Locke proudly, and Qwark cheered up at once, while Ratchet and Rivet facepalmed.
Zedderek sat back down and Talwyn took over.
"You're Zedderek? The scientist that was aiding the emperor in building his army and stealing weapons from across the universe?"
"That's me – Algerion Descondes Mattson Zedderek XII, or DJ ZDK, if you please!"
"No wonder he changed his name…" Rivet whispered, and both she and the yellow bot chuckled softly, and Ratchet couldn't help but join in.
"Okay… So that's a good place to start…" Talwyn said. Ratchet had a sneaking suspicion the had noticed the three of them chuckling. "Why'd you run out on the emperor? Why the name change, the hobby change, etcetera…"
"and WHY TECHNO MUSIC?" Locke demanded. "Bloody genre's grating to my audio receptors!"
"Hey, techno and trance are LIFE." Zedderek said defiantly.
"So that answers the third question - " Talwyn interrupted, raising her voice slightly, for Locke and Derek showed signs of arguing back. The two warbots were quite partial to country and smooth jazz themselves.
"- But why'd you run out? You had protection, a job, the universe under Tachyon's rule."
"Why'd I run out? Because I had enough of it, I had. Look-" he added, for everyone showed signs of disbelief, aside from Talwyn, who remained stoic and pokerfaced, something she had become quite skilled at… "- Look, I'm a scientist and a weapons enthusiast. I love my BANGS and my BOOMS as much as the next imperial slave, but when ya don't get any sleep for a month, when ya watch your employer vaporize his twelve-hundredth victim, when ya… watch your home get destroyed because your boss' patience wore out…" the Tharpod faltered for a second, his face spasming slightly, and Ratchet blinked his surprise. If he was being honest, then this guy knew what it was like to see your family destroyed quite as much as he and Rivet did.
"…Then there was the whole 'find that weapon you imbecilic dirtbag or I'll shave off that ridiculous hairdo and launch the individual follicles into space one-by-one' deal. Yes, I had enough of it and took my leave! Took my leave to do something constructive for a change, like following my passion for MUSIC!"
There was a short pause as they all digested this. Talwyn, as Ratchet expected, was the first to break the silence.
"Tell us about this weapon, then." Talwyn said.
Zedderek essentially repeated everything Al had told Ratchet at the club, and as he did so, Ratchet's trust in the Tharpod grew; everything he said matched up exactly. He told them how the Cragmites had initially designed it to terrorize planets into submission before the Great War, after which they made the shocking discovery of the shared atom structure that was unique to every species, and how they could exploit this to eradicate their nemeses for good before being banished by the Dimensionator.
"'The light of the sun'…" Kit repeated, and Ratchet saw comprehension dawning in her glowing blue eyes. "'The light of the sun'! Rivet, Ratchet!"
"Yeah, I… I know." Ratchet said quietly. Rivet was looking from Kit, to Ratchet, then to Zedderek, the light of excitement kindling in her eyes again at the revelation of the next-to-last piece of the puzzle, despite how shocking the news was to her.
"But you never found it?" the female Lombax asked abruptly.
"Found it?! Heck you'd know if I found the damn thing! Though of course, you'd both be dead and the Lombaxes extinct, so maybe ya wouldn't know after all… Either way, the answer's the same – no I never found it. But Tachyon ain't gonna rest 'til he does and annihilates your kind for what they did to his ancestors. He's obsessed!"
Ratchet spoke next. He had to know the answer to his question.
"So… How'd Tachyon survive? Did he tell you?"
"Ah! That…" Zedderek sat up a little straighter, a curious gleam in his orange eyes. "Yes… That creep told me everything about your battle – how you damaged the Dimensionator, how you dueled atop the asteroids before you destroyed his throne, scarred and crippled him before banishing him to A2-66… You see, he spent some time adrift atop an asteroid with your ol' friend Artemis Zogg before crash-landing on my home world. I recognized him for what he was at once! Before I pursued my former passion of science and engineering, I considered the position of history teacher. I knew all about the Great War, the Cragmites, the Lombaxes… I had of course by this time long-abandoned my first choice of career, but still… I could not resist… an actual Cragmite!"
Kit gasped.
"You… SPARED him?! You spared that murderous, genocidal monster?!"
"I had to." He said, quietly. "He's a Cragmite! The weapons, they invented, the technology they used! Things the likes of which I could never imagine! If he rose to power, my dreams could come true… I was obsessed with saving my home. I should explain… My planet was plagued by raiders for centuries; we lost hundreds every few weeks, and when it wasn't people, it was our resources. Our defenses were poor; our home was not a violent nor trained in self-defense. I turned to science and weaponry to defend my family, but even then it wasn't enough. Under Tachyon's rule, that dream became reality, and yes, every one of us gladly dedicated ourselves to Tachyon's dream of complete domination... Until he learned of the Solar Hammer, and everything went south from that point… When I couldn't find the Hammer he began to threaten me with my home world's safety; thought that would make me try harder. But there's only twenty-four hours in a day, and I spent every waking second trying to locate it… For my home's sake! But it was futile… It wasn't until
then I realized what a horrible mistake I had made in not finishing the injured Cragmite off when he landed on my homeworld."
Zedderek fell into silence, bowing his head and his eyes full of remorse.
"I swore to atone for my horrible sin." he said suddenly, leaning forward now, his eyes fixed on Ratchet and Rivet. "…There was a time when I would have had you both slaughtered like animals… But no… There is no forgiveness for what that bastard did to my home, and YOU are my only chance at redemption. None could stand against the Cragmites before the Lombaxes; None were able to defeat Tachyon. Except you." The Tharpod pointed dramatically at Ratchet. "Not even a planet of Lombaxes could stand before the Cragmite ruler. But YOU Ratchet, you alone managed to do it. But even with your undeniable skill and experience, you must understand that Tachyon is far, far more powerful and wise than he was seven years ago. As you are right now, you stand no chance against him."
"Wait, say what now?" Ratchet cut in, surprised. The Tharpod had just been talking him up like some sort of fantasy hero chosen by some higher power to slay a dragon. Sure Tachyon was wiser and more imposing than before, Ratchet readily admitted it, but what could be so different or special about him now that had Zedderek telling him he stood no chance whatsoever?
"…Without knowing his secret, that is." Zedderek added, and Qwark gasped.
"Remember that part about him being adrift in space? Well, the truth of the matter is he didn't get outta that unscathed. It destroyed him, it did! When I found the Cragmite on my homeworld, he was literally falling apart at the seams. It was only because of those bionic limbs he built for hisself that he was still alive. Nevertheless, the months he spent floating through that chilled vacuum full of devastating radiation and gamma rays cost him severely; he was hangin' on by a thread. Regardless, the mind was still just as intact as ever. Like his ancestors, he'd been planning to build hisself somethin' before he learned of your existence seven years ago, and set those plans on the backburner in order to hunt you down. I don't s'ppose the term 'Lifehold Crystal' means anything to you? It was technology discovered by the Lombaxes."
Ratchet merely looked his confusion. He glanced around at the others, and no one, not even Kit or Talwyn, both of whom were the closest they had to Lombax experts, remained silent.
"…Thought not." Said Zedderek. "They tried hard to hide it away… Your kind discovered this knowledge in their attempts to aid in the universe's ongoing struggle to extend life. Problem was, it was deemed far too dangerous to use, and this led to them abandoning the project and tryin' to erase it from history."
"Dangerous? How so?" Kit asked.
"Well, this Lifehold Crystal… It worked all right, but the problem was its user would become completely dependent on the thing. It was necessary to embed the crystal into one's body – a dangerous procedure in itself – but made worse by the fact the thing's almost completely indestructible, so once you began the procedure of bonding yourself with it, there would be no turning back. Furthermore, it required a regular flow of other lives to keep it charged."
"Wait, this 'Lifehold Crystal' was powered by other lives? So's that mean it only worked if the user killed someone?" Rivet interrupted, looking somewhere between skeptical and shocked. Ratchet couldn't blame her; the idea was quite as insane as it was repulsive. Stealing someone else's life force to extend your own life? He could hardly believe that the Lombaxes would have invented such a thing.
"Correct." Said Zedderek. "Can you create life from none-life? Can the power of Phaze Quartz revive a dying person? And what of Nanotech? Nanotech can heal a dying person, even if they are a millimeter from death, but once you cross from the land of the living to the dead, that marvelous cure-all is useless. The only thing powerful enough to give life, is life itself."
Silence fell through the room once more as everyone considered what they had just heard. Well, Everyone except Qwark, whose attention had disengaged and was now playing with his fingers.
A device that extended your life indefinitely and revived you instantly upon death… It sounded exactly like the sort of thing the Cragmite ruler would create for himself. He had probably learned about it as he scoured the libraries and archives on Fastoon when Azimuth had convinced the other Lombaxes Tachyon's plans and designs were worth teaming up with him.
"I'd be lying if I didn't confess the manner in which it worked was remarkable…" Zedderek continued. "It was paired with what was called a Vixteron Staff, named after an unusual mineral mined from planet Viceron. This staff acts as both a sort of one-way 'transmitter' as well as a weapon. You see, anyone struck by the blasts from this staff would have their life force ripped from their bodies and harvested into the Lifehold Crystal.
Ratchet's felt a chill in the pit of his stomach at these words. He remembered as clear as day the staff in Tachyon's hand, and with which he had come close to smashing the monitor as he, Ratchet, had taunted him at Tekogai Outpost. He remembered the white gemstone in Tachyon's crown, which he now suspected was embedded within the Cragmite's forehead. He remembered the way it had pulsed, almost like a heart beating in one's chest, and recalled how, on their first night aboard the Phoenix, Locke and Derek had told them of how Tachyon had singlehandedly wiped out an entire legion of Lombaxes in a flash of light. Was that what had happened? Had the Cragmite made himself vulnerable on that fateful day the Alliance had been defeated so that he could test the Vixteron Staff and extend his own life by stealing it from those creatures whom he so hated?
"You said that Ratchet can beat Tachyon again, but not without knowing his secret -" Talwyn said now, "- but you just said a moment ago that this Lifehold Crystal's indestructible."
"Actually," said Kit, "He said 'almost completely indestructible'."
"That's correct!" the Tharpod said. "Once the Lombaxes realized how dangerous it was, they came up with a way to destroy it. It's fortunately very simple, all you need is to-"
But he stopped abruptly as there was a crash from somewhere below, a crash that made the table and chair legs rattle against the floor.
"The heck wuzzat?!" Locke blurted out, looking down at the floor in bewilderment.
Ratchet spun about and hurried to the door.
"Ratchet? Where're you going?" Talwyn called after the Lombax.
"Clank's downstairs! Gotta make sure he's all right!"
Five minutes earlier, Clank is still sitting at the table, continuing his efforts to break through the databoard's encryption.
"Just… just five more minutes… Five minutes, that is all…" Clank groaned. He had been telling himself these same words for the good part of six hours now. Every time he had been close to taking a break, he made another small breakthrough, and his resolve had returned. But with every
breakthrough Clank found himself at another dead end. But he trudged on; the universe was depending on him… Ratchet was depending on him. He had to keep going, going, going…
There was a beep.
Clank's exhausted, mechanical eyes opened to their full extent, his exhaustion temporarily put at bay. The terminal on the screen was finally printing characters he recognized, and an LED on the databoard began to blink rapidly. He had done it at last.
"Oh, eureka!" Clank cried in delight. He focused his attention on the terminal before him to read what it said.
"'Databoard must be held at all times; leaving on flat surface poses a security risk, should any rebels become nosey'… Odd, but if you insist…"
Clank took up the databoard in both hands and watched the orange little light blinking. It began to flicker on and off more and more quickly, and he redirected his attention to the terminal once more.
"'Hold still'…?"
There was a blinding flash of light and a terrible burning pain in his metallic fingers. The databoard glowed a bright brilliant gold, and the light had focused into a single pinprick which melded into his hand. The pain was now in his forearm, his upper-arm, his chassis, following the little yellow light as it sped through Clank's metal body.
"Wh-what…!? What is happening?!"
The pain surged to his head and he spun on the spot, dazed from the searing agony in his metal skull, and he knocked several tools and scattered notes to the floor. The room around him was fading rapidly, blurring into a muddled pool of pain and swirling color as he fell off the desk, and everything went dark.
Several minutes later, or perhaps no time later at all, he came to. The pain had gone, but he felt groggy. The room was dark. Who had turned out the lights?
"Must… Must find Ratchet…"
He staggered to his feet and walked to the door, which slid open of its own accord.
His metal heart stopped. The Phoenix was ablaze, fires roaring in every corner, doorways, staircases, and passages blocked by walls of flame and smoke, and there was nobody around… or he thought there was nobody around…
A creature walked out of the thick smoke ahead. Four spiked legs, thin, a pale, purple-scaled insectoid body, glowing yellow eyes, and a long snout with razor-sharp fangs - There was a Cragmite aboard the Phoenix.
Clank fell back as the beast approached, its weapon drawn, and the silver bot sprinted through the flame-engulfed hallway.
"Ratchet! Ratchet, where are you?!" he shouted, but there was no answering voice. He had to do something! If there were any survivors left, he had to protect them! There was only one thing that made logical sense.
Ignoring the warning flags being raised all throughout his metal brain, he sprinted toward a particular hallway which, to his relief, was not blocked by fire and smoke.
He ran through the hallway and down a flight of stairs to the door at the bottom – the Secure Storage room. The door slid open and he dashed inside, running passed the Phaze Quartz, the strange pyramidal device, coming to a halt in front of the Dimensionator.
He faltered as he gazed upon it, watching it float serenely behind its protecting lasers.
"Oh, please think carefully about this, Clank! It is too dangerous…! But… What else can I use to defeat the Cragmites?!"
Closing his eyes, he connected to the security system and forced the lasers to deactivate. The Dimensionator floated down and he took hold of it, large though it was.
He bolted back toward the door, but again came to a halt, his green eyes falling on the pyramidal device once more, and he suddenly understood.
"'The hottest day of their life…'"
He ran forward and deactivated the security lasers blocking the small pyramid, and he took hold of it.
The moment it touched his metal fingers, it glowed bright, brilliant turquoise, and split into a million fragments which covered his entire body. For a moment he too shone with a greenish-blue light, then it vanished and his color returned to its usual silver. He stood there puzzled for a second, observing his fingers, wondering what exactly had just happened.
"Oh dear mercy me oh my! That is rather shiny, isn't it?" Clank whirled on the spot. That voice!
Ratchet sprinted to the door that Clank was in, trying to break through the databoard encryption, but he was no longer there.
"Clank?!"
Ratchet entered the room and began searching for his best friend. What had happened? Where'd he gone? Several papers and tools lay scattered about on the floor, as was the databoard, on which the orange LED was still blinking rapidly, and Ratchet bent down to examine it.
There were a few traces of something bright gold moving slowly through the circuitry. "What is this stuff…?"
He ran a gloved finger over it and examined it closely, his eyes narrowed. His attention was diverted by the terminal on the screen, on which text was scrolling rapidly upward. He approached and took a screen capture so as to be able to read what was scrolling up.
Intermixed with a random series of digits and symbols Ratchet could clearly make out two words. "'Got you'…?"
His heart skipped and his eyes fell back on the bright yellow substance moving through the databoard. Clank had been infected by some sort of virus!
No sooner had this thought struck him than another crashing sound came from below. "The Secure Storage Room…! Oh no… CLANK!"
Ratchet tore from the room, his ears flopping and his tail flying behind him. Why was Clank in Secure Storage? What had that virus done to him?!
He crashed down the stairs and threw himself at the sliding door, forcing his way through when it didn't open fast enough.
"YOU!" Ratchet shouted furiously. Lord Valen was standing before him, the Dimensionator in one hand, a staff in the other, and an unconscious Clank floating in a purple force field behind him.
"Oh! You decided to show up after all, how marvelous! I was hoping it would be you that got here first! Let me guess, you're wondering 'how oh how did this fabulous specimen get aboard our ship', right? Quite easy, actually! You see, we knew you were looking for Zedderek… We set one of our spies to be on the lookout for a Lombax, and luckily for us you found him! That databoard you won? Loaded with a schizavirus! Your friend here saw your little base up in flames and swarming with Cragmites and ran straight down here to try and fight them off! Once he was infected we simply tracked the location of the active virus, and it led yours truly right where he wanted!~"
Ratchet ran at the Fongoid, his Omniwrench raised, but Valen sank through a portal he had just opened at his feet and fell from the ceiling right behind Ratchet instead.
"My, what a thrill! I can see why his Excellence sought to build one of these so ardently… But of course, thanks to your little deathbot here, building one of our own is no longer necessary! You can keep your little Phaze Quartz, your toy guns, and your pop rocks; THIS is all we need… Well, and your toaster of course~"
Ratchet gave a roar of fury and launched himself at Valen once more, but was blasted backwards as he collided once again with what seemed to be an invisible force field around the Fongoid.
"GIVE HIM BACK! GIVE HIM BACK YOU-"
"Now now, patience my dear Lombax… You'll get him back if you do exactly as I say…"
Ratchet glared at Valen in hatred, breathing hard and his teeth bared.
"I want you to come to a little get-together planned by His Brilliance on planet Cheunor; I've already taken the liberty of sending the coordinates to you! Yes, I'm that excited! How about you, Lombax? Can't you just feel the pangs of anticipation threatening to burst from your chest?!"
Ratchet threw his wrench at Valen, but his target fired the Dimensionator at it and caused the Omniwrench to come soaring at Ratchet through a rift that had just opened beside him, forcing the Lombax to roll to the side to avoid being hit by his own attack.
"Dear me, you're quite right! I'm talking far too much… We'll be on our merry little way now! Come quickly Lombax! You don't want to keep your deathbot waiting, do you?"
And Valen vanished in a flash of blue light.
Ratchet didn't pause to think. He scrambled to his feet and tore out of the room, stumbling up the stairs in his haste. He flew out of the passage and skidded around the corner, flashing passed Rivet and Kit as he ran.
"Woah, hey! Ratchet, what's wrong?!" Rivet called after the fleeing Lombax.
"No time to talk! Gotta go NOW!" he bellowed over his shoulder.
Looking highly confused, the female Lombax and the yellow bot hurried after him.
Ratchet flew into the hangar which was mostly empty right now save for a few workers servicing the few ships that were there.
"(Ship… where's an available ship?!)"
He spotted one near the hangar exit and dashed forward, ignoring the staring onlookers, not answering any of their puzzled inquiries. He leapt up and forced the cockpit open, falling into the pilot's seat.
"Hey hotshot! WHERE YA GOIN'?!"
Rivet and Kit had sprinted into the hangar just in time to see Ratchet's starship rise from the ground and exit the Phoenix before blasting off with a flash of light.
The female Lombax looked back at Kit, who shrugged. They hurried back out of the hangar and ran smack into Derek, Locke, and Talwyn. Rivet felt a massive wave of relief, regardless of the sour feelings she had felt for the Markazian as of late. She would surely know the reason behind Ratchet's odd behavior.
"Talwyn!" she gasped, "Ratchet didn't tell you where he was going didhe? He just jacked a starship and left!"
Talwyn's eyes widened, the cold look in them vanishing to be replaced by mingled astonishment and worry.
"He did what?! I thought he was with Clank! Why the heck would he have done that?"
"Darn rook! I thought we told the both of ya's we don't go runnin' off an' stealin' starships without askin' first!" said Derek indignantly.
"That's not like Ratchet at all…" Talwyn said thoughtfully. "He's done some pea-brained things before, but he's never stolen a starship! Did he say anything to either of you?"
"Just that he had no time to talk and had to leave now." Kit replied. "He seemed… rather panicky, however. What could make Ratchet panic?"
Talwyn's brows furrowed as she considered this odd behavior in her ex-boyfriend.
"I've seen him act that way on only a few occasions, but it was always because…" Her face went suddenly pale. "…Clank…!"
"Bolts? You don't… you don't think something…"
Rivet glanced back at Kit again, and she nodded. Without another word, Rivet turned now and was sprinting up the hall, back to where they had seen Ratchet skidding around the corner.
They tore down the steps to Secure Storage.
"Oh, shit…!"
The Dimensionator was gone.
Rivet spun about and ran back up the stairs.
"But… But why would Ratchet and Clank take the Dimensionator? Had we not all been in agreement it was too dangerous to use while Tachyon is so powerful?"
"I don't think either of them took the Dimensionator Kit! I don't know how, but… but I think something really bad just happened!"
Rivet and Kit flew passed Locke, Derek, and Talwyn, who had run after the two girls, but spun about and were now running the opposite direction, trying to catch up to Rivet.
"Hey! Rivet what's going on?!"
"No time! GOTTA GO! Phantom, send me the destination coordinates of starship X-33 now!"
Rivet sprinted into the hangar, and just like her counterpart, she made straight for an available starship and climbed aboard.
"Rivet, Kit, WAIT!"
Talwyn had just entered the hangar, Locke and Derek a short ways behind her, both warbots wheezing and doubled over from all the running.
Rivet didn't stop however. Kit entered the destination coordinates that Phantom had pulled down from Ratchet's launch, and together, Rivet and Kit exited the Phoenix and rocketed off into the vast unknown.
