NOTES:
If you want a better-formated version of this story,
some of the chapters of which will contain pictures and illustrations of certain scenes,
head over to Archive of Our Own!
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The Harbinger
Chapter Summary
Ratchet races toward the destination coordinates given him by Valen to rescue his best friend Clank who's been abducted. While fully aware he is approaching a trap, Ratchet is quite alone, with no support in an uncharted region of the galaxy.
Upon reaching Clank, Ratchet is faced with his most terrifying and deadly challenge he'll have ever faced. Will he be able to overcome the dangers that await him on planet Cheunor and rescue Clank?
The radio in starship X-33 suddenly burst to life.
"Ratchet! Ratchet, come in!"
Talwyn's voice sounded from the console to the right of the ship's yoke, sounding both worried and upset.
"Rook! What the sam hill do ya think you're doin' stealin' an x-33 starship?!" said Locke's voice.
"You didn't even ask first!" Derek's voice said now, sounding indignant.
Talwyn's voice sounded again.
"Ratchet, you gotta tell us what's going on! Why'd ya-"
"It's Clank!" Ratchet interrupted. "It was a trap - that databoard had a virus on it; it led Valen right to us! He's taken Clank and the Dimensionator to planet Cheunor!"
"WHAT?!" the raised voices of Talwyn, Locke, and Derek chorused together from the radio sounding shocked. The volume made Ratchet wince as the sound crashed upon his large ears.
"And you're going after him by YOURSELF?!" Talwyn said, sounding furious.
"Rook! Ya gotta come back, it's far too dangerous for you to attempt a rescue mission without backup!"
"The ol' can of bolts is right, rook! Planet Cheunor? ALONE?! Get back here so we can-"
Ratchet disabled the Alliance's radio signal. He wouldn't hear another word they said, no warnings, no anything. Clank was in danger, and he knew it was his fault. He had been the one that volunteered Clank for the job of hacking into the databoard, he had been the one that told everyone Clank was the best one for the task, and he knew that Clank had not slept for days because of how he wanted to live up to his – Ratchet's – expectations.
"Clank! Clank do you copy?!" Ratchet asked desperately, touching the communicator in his chest harness.
'ZZZZZZSHHHHHKT'
Ratchet punched the side of the cockpit with all the force he could muster, cursing himself vehemently for what he had done, and accelerated. Either Clank was so far away that his communicator couldn't pick up Ratchet's signal, or he was in so much trouble that he couldn't respond. Ratchet tuned the radio to a specific wavelength, trying to pick up on a particular sound pattern. After a few seconds of fiddling, he arrived on the wavelength on which Clank had once before transmitted a distress signal. It was completely silent.
Ratchet's ears dropped and an ice cube slipped into his chest. Did this mean that-
"No!" Ratchet shouted furiously. Clank wasn't dead, he couldn't be! They had been through too much, too many deadly scenarios, and Clank had always, always survived. Clank was still alive, he knew it. Clank was alive and Ratchet was going to rescue him.
Planet Cheunor came into sight – a large, misshapen brownish-red 'circular' rock covered in thick, dusty clouds.
Ratchet looked at the large planet rather curiously. He had never seen or heard of this place before. If Clank had been with him, this would be where he'd have asked his best friend for a quick summary of the place – Was the air good? What sort of people live here? Are they territorial, tame, militant, hospitable, violent, chill, all of the above? No, instead he was forced to rely on a quick scan of the planet as he approached its atmosphere.
"Air's fine, citizens keep to themselves but are friendly enough, ground-level unfit for life due to frequent dust storms – residences and cities are sky-bound… and former home to The Galaxy's Most Extreme Rock Paper Scizzors Tournaments… Good to know."
Ratchet followed the coordinates Valen had sent him to a large twisting skyline that floated hundreds of feet above the red earth below, whereupon Ratchet could see swirling, bellowing dust clouds, and he brought his ship to land at a rather small starport.
Ratchet hopped onto the metallic platform below and looked around. There were several Cheunorians that had paused from going about their daily business to stare at the visitor. They reminded Ratchet vaguely of Vullards, though were clearly entirely mechanical rather than mixed, and they were only a few feet taller than himself, rather than towering. They also lacked the large steel containers Vullards often had slung over their backs in which they stored junk and scrap.
Their yellow eyes raked the Lombax curiously, taking in his tail and his ears specifically. Ratchet felt sure they were unused to seeing organics, but he couldn't help noticing, as he hurried out of the airport and into the street beyond, that they were whispering to each other almost nervously.
Ratchet checked his nav-unit again as he ran into what appeared to be a sort of street market where
the Cheunorians were going about their shopping. The nav-unit supplied him with directions out to what appeared to be an older region of the city.
"I'm comin' buddy, just hold on!"
As Ratchet hurried through the crowd, he registered vaguely how they also seemed to grow quieter as he ran passed, making his way for an old street that was far less crowded.
The crowd grew thinner and thinner until he was alone, turning left at an old rundown intersection, detouring through an alley when he came to a large, roped off chasm down the next road, and climbed to the top of what resembled an abandoned, old-fashioned apartment complex.
"Lombax!"
The nearby hiss was enough to make Ratchet falter to a stop as he raced across the roof, following his nav-unit's directions to what appeared to be a sort of stadium in the distance.
An old Cheunorian, covered in rust and with one of its glowing yellow glassy eyes cracked and dark, had just addressed him and was approaching slowly.
Ratchet gripped his Omniwrench more securely. The quick summary of the planet said the locals were 'friendly enough', but their curious muttering and staring had him on edge… as though his fear for Clank weren't enough to make him feel tense.
The old machine stopped a few feet short of Ratchet and waited… and waited some more.
"…Did'ja need something? I'm kind of in a hurry." Ratchet said impatiently. Every second he delayed only made the situation for Clank more dire.
"…Leave."
"Le- What?"
"Leave, and don't come back. We have been ordered to capture your kind if they came to this place, but-" The Cheunorian sighed wearily. Its voice was gravelly, and as its jaws moved, there was a constant, dull grinding of aged metal. "…Can we betray the race that liberated us eons before? No, you must leave, or we will all perish."
Ratchet stared at him. Were they yet another race Tachyon had threatened with destruction if they didn't aid him in his quest to eradicate the Lombaxes and conquer the universe?
"…I can't do that; My best friend is being held prisoner somewhere on this planet – there, I think! …If these coordinates are right." Ratchet said, pointing to the stadium in the distance. "I'm not leaving this place without him he's… he's like a brother to me!"
The old machine sighed again.
"Of course he is… Well then, do what you must for your friend Lombax, but be warned… None of your kind has left that place alive."
The Cheunorian offered no further insight but turned and shuffled slowly away.
Ratchet turned his attention once more to the large structure ahead, thinking. So, he wasn't the first Lombax to visit this place… Why? Was there something hidden here that was precious to his race? Had they perhaps come here in their search for clues as to the whereabouts of the Solar Hammer?
No, surely not, that'd be too dangerous…
"(Or…)", said a voice in Ratchet's mind as he resumed his journey, "(…it's a trap.)"
Of course it was, Ratchet knew it would be. Why else would Valen have given him exact coordinates to the place? But he couldn't stop, he needed to keep going. Clank needed him.
After a few minutes, with nothing but the distant, waning howl of the calming dust storm below, Ratchet reached the final building on the opposite side of the chasm. He hopped from the roof onto a fire escape, then down to the street below.
He dashed forward, but quickly came to a halt. The path to the arena converged into a rather precarious looking skybridge that appeared to not have been serviced in several years. Not a problem though, right? How many times had the Lombax crossed safely from one side of a death pit to the other?
"Weighing your chances, Lombax?"
Ratchet spun around. Two Heralds had appeared directly behind him, both bearing forceshields.
Ratchet reacted instinctively, drawing his Enforcer and firing directly between the two bio-synthenoidal beasts to catch them in the spread. They merely took cover behind their shields however, absorbing the attack.
"You'll wanna save that ammo, Lombax!" said a third Herald appearing from an alley to Ratchet's left.
Ratchet turned. They were appearing everywhere around him, weapons and shields drawn, a few of them chuckling sinisterly as they observed his snarling face, his flared ears.
Though tensed and ready to fight, Ratchet wasn't worried; he had of course singlehandedly taken out dozens of emperor Nefarious' soldiers atop the Dimensional Archives, defeated wave upon wave of machine and Agorian alike at the Agorian Battleplex.
But what caught him off guard was their behavior. None raised their weapons; none assumed an evasive or combative stance. They merely stood there, observing him, somewhere between amused and curious.
"Your friend's inside. Go get him." One of the creatures said.
Ratchet nevertheless didn't turn away. What, did they think he'd believe it would be that easy?
That they'd just stand there and let him pass without a fight?
It seemed they could tell what he was thinking however, for one by one, the Heralds all turned their backs on him and marched away, clamping their spiked hands onto the buildings around and scuttling out of sight like cockroaches.
Undeniably bewildered, Ratchet took a few steps backward, his eyes raking the buildings and the streets, expecting at any second for one of them to re-emerge, but none did.
"Clank…"
Ratchet took his chance. He turned his back on the streets behind and dashed across the skybridge, which creaked and groaned a little, but which remained stable, and he hurried into the stadium.
It was dark and quiet, save for the wind as it rushed through the openings here and there. Clank was here somewhere… And Ratchet was sure, knowing Valen, that he'd likely have placed Clank right in the center of the arena itself, probably atop a stand with a spotlight on him, and maybe even a crown of fig-leaves and roses or something beside.
Ratchet rounded a corner and entered the main arena. He was on an upper level, surrounded on either side by empty seats, and down below was-
"CLANK!"
It was almost exactly as Ratchet had envisioned. Clank was locked in a cage with flaming lasers in place of bars atop a pedestal, which was indeed bathed in a spotlight, though there was a fortunate absence of a decorative crown.
Ratchet hurried down a flight of stairs into the arena below and dashed toward the silver bot, whom he was overwhelmingly relieved to see looked unhurt.
"Ratchet?! You came!" Clank said, sounding both relieved and – if it were possible - even a little bit fearful?
"'Course I came! You think I was just gonna let that lunatic run off with you?! Are you all right? How ya feel? Everything working right? How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Ratchet-" Clank interrupted, "It is a trap; you must run while you can, do not worry about me!" Ratchet gaped at him. Was Clank serious?!
"No way pal! Do you think I'd've come here if I cared about that?! It's YOU I care about, not some-"
"Ratchet, please, I am begging you, you do not understand the danger you are in!"
"I just got surrounded by like ten Heralds outside and Valen's around here somewhere, of course I know how much danger I'm in, how many times do I gotta-"
"Oh, how touching…"
Ratchet froze. That wasn't Valen's voice coming from directly behind him.
Ratchet spun in place and was almost face-to-face with Tachyon. Pale, purple-scaled skin, glowing yellow eyes that burned with hatred, white burn scars, a synthetic insectoid body, and wielding an ornate staff.
"Do you love him, Lombax? Is the walking thermos… family to you?"
Ratchet swung his fist with all his might for the Cragmite's face, but he vanished from sight.
Ratchet wheeled about, his Enforcer drawn again, turning wildly to find the emperor in the darkness. He knew it would only take one mistake – one wrong move and he would fall to the Vixteron Staff, his life force adding to Tachyon's.
A flash of purple light blazed from a shadowy corner and Ratchet dove aside as a boulder came hurtling out of a rift right at him. It crashed into the wall and exploded into a cloud of dust and pebble.
Ratchet threw a shatterbomb at the point the purple light had flared, but with another purple flash
of light directly beside him, Tachyon reappeared through a rift.
"You're slower than I remember!" Tachyon cackled, and Ratchet let loose a volley of blasts from the shotgun in his hand, aiming directly at the Cragmite's head.
Tachyon didn't even try to dodge. His face was peppered with electronic beams and pellets, and his body twisted sickeningly backwards from the force of the attack, his neck and back apparently broken.
But Tachyon's body flashed bright white and within an instant he righted himself, grinning wickedly at the Lombax, who felt a chill run through his spin as the wounds covering Tachyon's face closed and healed instantly.
"That almost stung a bit!" the Cragmite said, sounding callously amused.
Of course… Ratchet had forgotten, in the rush of hatred he felt for the creature before him, that Tachyon was bonded with the Lifehold Crystal.
Tachyon vanished again as a rift opened at his feet, and he reappeared in a throne-like seat several levels above.
Ratchet looked at him curiously. What was he doing? Why wasn't Tachyon using the staff to fight?
"I think that's enough playing with you for now! You must save your energy Ratchet! Save it for what we have in store for you here!"
Clank suddenly fell through the floor as a rift opened beneath the pedestal his cage rested upon and he landed beside Tachyon.
"CLANK! GIVE HIM BACK YOU FUCKING-"
"Language Lombax!" Tachyon interrupted. "There will be children in the audience tonight!"
The lights all around the arena suddenly lit, revealing bloodstained ground and stone walls, doorways leading to lower levels, and – Ratchet felt a twinge of unease – the upper levels flooding with Heralds and imperial soldiers of varying races.
Ratchet looked left then right. Everywhere he looked – every seat, every stand was being taken by hostile forces to hold the Lombax in the crossfire of a thousand invisible beams of scrutiny.
Ratchet sighed.
"Lemme guess… They're all here to witness my demise."
"Why that's good Ratchet! Quite good indeed! But I'm afraid it's your slaughtering I've invited them all here to witness, not your demise¸ that would be rather dull after seven long years of burning, SEETHING hatred, would it not?"
"Well…" said Ratchet, in mock hesitancy, "well, I hope you haven't spent all their ticket money just yet; some may come to you for a refund!"
Tachyon laughed, a wild, sadistic laugh that was echoed around the arena by the crowd of imperials above, though none matched their leader in the insanity and complete lack of amusement with which he roared.
Tachyon waved for silence and the crowd obeyed at once.
"Ignorant slug! This arena, this home to childish tournaments those miserable machines once held
– it is the proving grounds for my greatest creation, the execution ground for every one of your worthless race! You think you can escape this time? You believe you will make your little heroic triumph, rescue your deathbot, and skip along home, do you?"
"Your 'greatest creation', huh? Better than that walking throne you once had, I hope?"
"FAR superior!" Tachyon screeched, and Ratchet was pleased to hear a note of indignation in the Cragmite's voice. Apparently the memory of the destruction of his walking throne he had once used to compensate for his short stature was still a sensitive subject to him.
"Actually, that gives me an idea…" Tachyon said suddenly, stroking his large lower jaw. "Yes, why not! This will be her final and GREATEST test! VALEN! Bring forth the Harbinger!"
There was a grinding and creaking sound from behind Ratchet, and the Lombax turned sharply to see the Fongoid pushing open a large set of double wooden doors, a look of cruel excitement on his face.
From behind him in the shadows emerged a large, hulking figure, half-resembling a Cragmite. It was heavily armored and its skin was a deep, dark blue-ish gray. It had long, tentacle-like locks that vaguely resembled hair that trailed down its back and almost touched the floor. Its arms were large and muscular, with five fingers on each hand that ended in blade-like retractable claws, walked on two legs, which were like those of a large dog with large talons on each toe, a large… something on its back which served an unknown purpose, and it stared out from behind a raritanium mask with otherworldy green eyes.
Unlike the other monsters Valen and Tachyon had unleashed upon the Lombax, this beast was calm, not drooling and screeching uncontrollably, trying with every action to tear open his throat. No, it walked forward slowly and calmly into the light and came to a stop several yards away, its deep breaths audible even from this distance, and which sent out a cloud of steam from behind its mask. It towered a good five feet over Ratchet, who looked up into its hidden face, feeling an undeniable hint of trepidation.
"Behold -", said Tachyon, " – my greatest creation! The ULTIMATE amalgamation of biology and science - The SLAYER of those foul, LOATHSOME scourges to the universe – The Harbinger of Lombaxes' Exctinction! Now cue the dramatic thunder, please!"
The audience of imperial soldiers cheered their leader and the Harbinger, the former taking a bow, the latter remaining motionless.
Ratchet raised an eyebrow at Tachyon.
"'Harbinger of Lombaxes' Extinction', huh? So, can I call her 'HOLE' for short?"
The cheering imperials fell silent at once, and several gasped. Tachyon's face flooded with color at the Lombax's comment.
"It's pronounced 'HOLLY' YOU WRETCHED CHILD!" Tachyon screamed, leaning forward and slamming his fists on the hand-rail, which clanged and rattled loudly throughout the suddenly silent arena.
For a moment Ratchet and Tachyon stared into each others' eyes, the former quite calmly, the latter breathing hard in his fury.
After a pause, Tachyon's breathing relaxed.
"But why not…" he said quietly. "After all… You don't stand a chance, Lombax… Yes, I'll let you have that one…"
He relaxed in his throne, his fingertips pressed together, observing the Lombax over the top of them.
"So… I've just done you a favor have I not? I let you have your fun, now why not indulge me by doing the same? Fight my beloved Harbinger before this audience! Entertain us all with a FULL performance! Show us the unfettered determination and unparalleled skill you're so famous for!
What do you say, Ratchet? There's a talking lunchbox in it for you!" Tachyon thumped the top of Clank's cage, making a high-pitched TINK echo through the arena.
Ratchet's blood boiled at the derisive comment made toward his best friend by the Cragmite.
"Ratchet, do not take his bait! Please forget about me and save yourself!" Clank called, but Ratchet ignored him.
"So you want me to put on a show for you guys, huh?" He drew a combuster and smirked. "And if I win, I get Clank back and I crush your pride. Fine, I'll fight your 'Hole'!"
Tachyon's face spasmed slightly, but the hint of fury that flashed across it vanished instantly as he leaned forward.
"Typical Lombax…" Tachyon said quietly, as Valen, beginning to giggle like a lunatic fled to the stands. "So brave… so valiant… so full of himself! …And so very DEAD!"
The crowd gave a roar as Tachyon stood up.
"Holly! Kill him!"
As though awakening from sleep, the Harbinger blinked, the bright green glow of her eyes flickering as her head turned to face the Lombax.
It walked forward, and Ratchet took aim, looking for a weak spot. Every inch of the monster's body was covered in thick armor. He highly doubted he would deal any damage if he didn't strike the right spots. The Harbinger was walking with her arms held kind of stiffly, and an idea occurred to Ratchet.
"(Armor joints must be weak…)"
He fired two blasts in quick succession, one at each shoulder joint.
Quick as a flash, the hulking figure drew a photon saber and deflected the Lombax's shots, making them ricochet and strike the stone walls to her side. Ratchet watched, in bewildered astonishment, as the Harbinger drew the photon saber back into its own forearm.
"Wha the-"
Ratchet faltered and took a step back. Holly was still coming closer.
"All right then, how about-"
Ratchet drew the Enforcer once more and fired both barrels.
With uncanny reflexes, the Harbinger deployed a forceshield, absorbing the spray from Ratchet's attack.
Half stunned, Ratchet threw himself back, rebounding off the wall over the Harbinger's head as she swung the forceshield at him with lethal force, sending a cloud of dust billowing across the arena.
Ratch landed on his feet behind her and fired again, but Holly seemed to have anticipated this, as she had already twisted her arm behind her, blocking the attack yet again.
She slammed the forceshield into the ground, using it as a means to throw herself skyward, and came crashing down, missing Ratchet by inches as he rolled out of the way.
The Lombax hurled a handful of shatterbombs at the Harbinger in a wide scattered pattern, but she had deployed a Suck Cannon from the large device she carried on her back, which ratchet now suspected was full of weapons, and fired his own grenades back at him.
Ratchet dodged the first three shatterbombs, but was forced to deflect the fourth with his Omniwrench as he fell to the ground.
The deflected shatterbomb missed the harbinger by inches, exploding into a million bits of frag-crystals behind her.
"Oh, simply MARVELOUS!" Tachyon cried jubilantly. "Very well done, Ratchet, very well done indeed! The last sixty-nine Lombaxes who tried shatterbombs weren't NEARLY as fortunate as you were just now!"
Ratchet jumped back to his feet, this time drawing a warmonger.
"All right, let's see you outsmart this one!"
He pulled the trigger twice, and two high-payload rockets blasted forth.
To Ratchet's shock, the first rocket was deflected casually as a beach ball and the second rocket was caught and flung back at him!
Ratchet dove aside and avoided the projectile, but was sent flying through the air as the force of the explosion erupted behind him, and he rolled across the ground, winded and bewildered.
Blinking the stars out from in front of his eyes, Ratchet staggered to his feet again, breathing hard. The Harbinger was walking toward him again, steam billowing from behind her mask and apparently not the slightest bit winded.
"(It knows every weapon I pull against it! The hell is up with this thing?!)"
He was suddenly visited by a horrible thought. The Harbinger must have been trained on every weapon Gadgetron, MegaCorp, and Mrs. Zurkon had ever developed… And it had been trained in these weapons against innumerable Lombaxes, which mean that this monster already knew every one of Ratchet's moves… Unless…
As little as he wanted, Ratchet replaced his guns and drew his Omniwrench. It was natural to want to engage such a monster from a distance. He was sure his kin would have all chosen to use ranged-combat rather than CQC. His suspicion was confirmed when Tachyon suddenly spoke to the crowd.
"Oh, look ladies and gentlemen! Our challenger is employing some new and unusual tactics
against our star! Is this maneuver wise?! How will our beloved champion fare against this unusual mixup of strategy?!"
The Harbinger seemed to register the Lombax's change of tactics. It drew the photon saber once more.
Ratchet watched, astonished as the hilt of the inactive beam sword seemed to appear from its flesh, or, armor, whatever it was once more. The blade lit up and the beast resumed its slow steady pace toward its prey.
It swung the photon saber down with vicious force, and Ratchet deflected it in a shower of sparks. The Harbinger swung again, horizontally this time, and Ratchet hopped over the blade, striking the Harbinger in the face which resulted in a deep gong-like note reverberating around the arena.
The Harbinger took a step backward, and Ratchet wondered whether the beast was surprised or impressed he had managed to land a blow as it stood there, motionless for a second.
Without warning the mouth-region of its mask glowed red and Ratchet, his eyes wide with shock, threw himself out of the way as a stream of flames blasted from the monster's mask.
Ratchet rolled over and looked up in time to see a bright yellow blade streaking through the air.
He rolled again and heard the photon saber crackle and spark as the blade struck the hard ground, exactly where his head had been a split-second before.
The blade came flashing down again and Ratchet deflected it, but as the beasts' weapon-wielding arm was knocked aside, the other arm swung downward and hurled Ratchet across the arena.
He smashed into the wall and landed in a crumpled heap on the ground, his surroundings spinning. "RATCHET!"
The Lombax looked up in time to see the Harbinger running for the first time straight for him, the photon saber drawn back, preparing to lunge forward.
Ratchet sprung up and as before, he leapt off from the wall and soared over Holly's head as the photon saber sank up to the hilt in the hard stone.
Yet Ratchet was halfway through his arc when the tentacle-like hair whipped up and struck the Lombax hard in the chest, sending him flying across the arena once more.
"Okay! *cough* I'll give it to ya – that one stung a bit!" Ratchet gasped, coughing as he staggered once again to his feet.
"Ratchet! Please, save yourself! This monster has no weaknesses!" Clank shouted down at his best friend.
"N-no! I'm not leaving without you!" Ratchet shouted angrily back, staggering against the wall.
"Aww, listen to that my loyal subjects!" cackled Tachyon in mock adoration. "He loves his little toaster! He will DIE for him even, WON'T YOU LOMBAX?!"
Ratchet glanced at the Harbinger, who was still tugging at the photon saber it had embedded into the stone, to Clank, who was gazing down at him in terror, pity, and hurt, then up at the Cragmite, whose eyes danced with savage entertainment.
There was a crash as Holly finally pulled the photon saber free. She wheeled about and ran at Ratchet once more.
With a spark of anger of resolve, Ratchet stood straight once more and charged at the beast head on. It leapt into the air as they approached each other, the saber drawn back, poised to strike, and at the last second, Ratchet threw himself onto his back, feeling the heat from the blade singing the fur on his head as he missed death by an inch, and slid beneath her, springing up with unsurpassed reflexes and swinging his Omniwrench up which fixed onto her saber-wielding arm's shoulder joint, causing him to be jerked around in a complete 180 of momentum.
Nevertheless Ratchet tore back with all his might with a bellow of exertion, and with a loud crunching, grinding sound, Holly's right arm broke clean off, the armor coming loose and her bone tearing right through her skin, spraying the arena and Lombax with hot, wet, bright blue blood.
Ratchet jumped free of the Harbinger who made no sound of pain, but sank to a knee nonetheless as her arm went limp and the blade fell to the ground.
The crowd gasped, and Tachyon raised an eyebrow.
Ratchet, panting and wincing, straightened up, clutching his side which now felt badly bruised.
"*Wheeze* W-Well?! What… What now?! I… I gave you your show! *pant* Return Clank!" Ratchet gasped, doubling over once more, trying to regain breath.
"Hmmm Yes, I did say I would, didn't I?" Tachyon said, musingly. "But the condition was that you give a 'full performance'!"
"Wh…What the hell are you-?!"
"RATCHET!"
Ratchet turned as Clank shouted and pointed behind him. The Harbinger was back on its feet, its arm, not only repaired… but was now affixed with a second arm growing from the shoulder joint.
"Nanotech is a marvelous thing isn't it?!" Tachyon cackled, and Ratchet understood. That wasn't some oddly colored blood or fuel-source that had been spurting from the Harbinger's broken arm…
"Holly's veins run FULL of that wondrous cure-all, and I even tinkered a bit and gave her the ability to grow NEW appendages if any were severed! The best part is, it only works for her! It took some time, and MANY trials and test runs against more of your kind to perfect it, but YOU are worth it! You must feel very special right now, don't you Ratchet!?"
The Harbinger lunged forward again and Ratchet, his body aching, threw himself out of the way, but he only dodged the lethal part of the attack.
Both of Holly's newly formed clawed hands slashed the Lombax's back and he felt a powerful stinging pain and cool wetness that told him he had three fresh cuts between his shoulder blades.
Steadying, he swung his Omniwrench for the Harbinger's legs, trying to stagger it, but the beast seemed to take cue from his earlier dodge and jumped over his low sweep, kicking him hard in the face. He flew backward, feeling a fresh deep cut blossoming on his cheek from where the Harbinger's talon had grazed him.
The world spun around him and all he could see were stars as he finally stopped rolling across the ground. His hearing was impaired and all he could hear was a low, dull rushing in his ears. He
nevertheless pushed himself up, leaning onto the wall for support. He couldn't stop! He had to fight! He had to rescue Clank!
Something punched him hard in the chest that had sharp blades in place of fingernails, and he smashed through a set of wooden doors, riddling his slashed, bleeding back with splinters. He rolled along a metal ground, the cool night air whipping his face, soothing to the cuts in his face, chest, and back, and finally coming to rest on his stomach some twenty feet away from the arena.
Ratchet pushed himself up but was too weak to stand. He coughed and gasped, shaking his head and trying to discern his surroundings. At last the stars vanished and his surroundings sharpened, though they continued to spin. He was back on the skybridge that connected the arena to the city.
There were crates ahead. He crawled forward, leaving a trail of blood behind him, and praying there was nanotech within one of the boxes.
There were heavy footsteps and a low deep breathing behind him and he felt a taloned foot kick him over, making him roll onto his back.
His eyes met with the eerily glowing green ones high above him sending a fear such as he had never felt before flooding into his frantically beating heart.
Holly reached down and closed a hand over Ratchet's throat, lifting the Lombax effortlessly off the ground.
The Lombax choked, his eyes bulging, tugging frantically on the powerful fingers constricting his windpipes. The world was melting, stars erupting once again before his eyes, his arms and legs feeling more and more like lead.
"Enough!"
The clawed fingers loosened and Ratchet fell six feet to the ground where he coughed, wretched, and gasped for air.
There was a set of four metal legs clanking across the metal skybridge now. Tachyon had arrived, with Clank still in that cage behind him.
"Ratchet! Get up! Stand up, Ratchet!" Clank shouted frantically.
His body was agony, his head an endlessly spinning carousel, but Ratchet struggled with all his might, growling with pain and effort to pull himself to his feet. Clank was close; He just needed to get to Clank and everything would be all right!
His feet slipped in his own blood and he thudded to the ground again with a grunt of pain.
Another set of footsteps joined Tachyon and an excited voice erupted in the dark.
"Oh sweet heavens! Such resolve! Even in death he continues to fight so passionately!~ I will almost miss him, won't you?" said Valen's voice.
"No." said Tachyon, simply.
"Oh such a killjoy! Well fine, if we're going to slaughter him how shall we have Holly do it?! She dismembered the others in such spectacular fashion, might I suggest decapitation? Oh! OH! The staff! The life of-"
"He is a special case, Valen." Tachyon interrupted the Fongoid's excited babbling, cutting smoothly across him like a hot knife through butter. "This foul, disgusting, WRETCHED excuse for a lifeform has caused me far too much ill. And even if I wanted to, the staff will not transfer his life force to me; his pathetic father saw to that… No, I want to see him die just as HE did…"
Valen fell silent, evidently displeased, but held his tongue nevertheless.
"Turn him toward me; I want to watch the light in this worthless creature's eyes disappear forever."
Ratchet was pulled to his feet and spun about. He had a half second to register it. Clank grasping and straining incredibly at the flaming laser bars of his cage, Valen looking excited, Tachyon with that blazing hatred in his glowing yellow eyes, and Holly raring back her hand, her five claws exposed.
He spasmed, trying valiantly to shift to the side, but was only partially successful.
A sick, agonized, guttural expulsion burst from the Lombax's mouth as the Harbinger's clawed hand tore clean into his chest.
He felt the blades pierce him, tearing through the muscle, narrowly missing his lungs and his heart, but which still made every nerve in his body scream as though he were being torched alive.
Holly withdrew her hand.
Blood spurted openly and freely from the wound in Ratchet's chest, and he scrambled at it desperately, trying to keep from spilling more. The pain became overwhelming and his severe bloodloss added to his disorientation. His eyes rolled back and he fell from the skybridge and into the lightly swirling dust clouds below.
Clank's mind went into freefall, spiraling and as hopeless as his best friend's body. He watched again as Ratchet was taken away in a containment cell, taken to be held or even killed in a maximum security prison wing, watched again as the Lombax was struck in the heart by Alister Azimuth for choosing not to abuse the Great Clock, watched as his best friend fell lifelessly from his perch into the endless expanse of space to drift senseless and unknowing forevermore had he, Clank, been unable to reverse events… but this time, there was no reversal. Ratchet was dying. His chest had been impaled by the Harbinger, and there was nothing he could do.
With a bellow of mingled despair and agony, the silver bot tore clean through the searing hot lasers of his cage, which miraculously did not tear him apart.
"What the DEVIL-?!"
Tachyon and Valen watched as Clank threw himself off the skybridge, chasing the dying Lombax into the dusty clouds below, and out of sight.
"Well… No matter. The deathbot can do nothing for him now." Said Tachyon, drawing the Dimensionator once more, and a cruel grin appearing on his face. "It's over at last… After seven years… victory is MINE! Come! We return to the arena! We have a welcome party to organize…"
Far, far below, the bleeding, dying Lombax came to, still falling and gathering speed.
He registered only one thing – the fast approaching earth below.
He raised his arm instinctively and fired his swingshot at a downward spire from the city high above. The cord tightened, and Ratchet swung in a great arc, his teeth gritted in pain, trying with all his might to stay conscious. He swung back, then forward again, making him feel horribly sick until at last he had slowed enough from using the thrusters in his hoverboots to slow his momentum and bringing him to rest some 10 feet above the earth.
Knowing he would regret it, he disengaged the swingshot and crashed onto the planet's surface, coughing, gasping and bleeding copiously.
He felt a surge of adrenaline, and he staggered to his feet, still clutching his chest and limping off in the direction of what looked like a planetside storage. He fell to his knees and heaved, vomiting blood onto the ground where he knelt.
Gasping and coughing, wiping his mouth, he pushed himself slowly back to his feet.
"N-nanotech…" he groaned, wincing, blood trickling from his mouth. "P-please… just… just one unit…!" He staggered to the door and pushed it open. It was completely empty.
Wheezing and moaning in pain, he turned slowly, leaning against the side of the small shack. "G-gotta… Gotta find…"
He sank to the ground with a groan. His strength was fading fast and his vision was blurring worse than ever. He felt a chill spreading inside of him that had nothing to do with fear or the cool night wind… He tried to push himself up using an old rusted barrel beside the rundown building, but couldn't. He no longer had the ability to stand up, and it was growing harder and harder to breathe.
He slumped back against the wall, feeling cold and exhausted.
He thought of Clank, and his frantically beating heart stabbed with pain. He gritted his teeth in sorrow. He had failed him. He had caused his best and closest friend to fall into a trap, caused him to fall victim to whatever nightmarish plans Tachyon had in store for the small silver bot. He had led Clank to his death.
He tried to think of something else. His mind was too hazy to recall much more; it was getting more and more difficult to recall thoughts and memories.
A pair of bright blue eyes flashed across the surface of his sluggish mind and he felt a single, weak leap of pleasure. Rivet's eyes.
The thought of her eased his storm of guilt slightly. He remembered her soft voice, the sparkling excitement in her eyes when they had first met each other, the competitive flame that he had so often seen dancing within, her gorgeous figure, her talent at dancing, her adorable laugh, and how meeting and spending time with her had made him feel.
"(You never told her.)"
The voice in his head was like a pick of ice driven through his chest.
Ratchet gasped, and he felt hot wetness begin streaming from his eyes. There was no escape this time, nothing he could do. He was never going to see her again.
"RATCHET!"
The Lombax turned his head weakly in the direction of the shout. It had sounded distant, as though coming from somewhere far, far away, but no.
Ratchet gave a weak smile as Clank appeared in front of him, looking devastated, but safe and undamaged.
"C-Clank…"
His voice was hoarse and gargly, but he reached forward and took one of the bot's hands.
"You're all right…"
There was so much he wanted to say, but the chill in his body was spreading to his heart and his brain and the world was growing dark, and he knew, befuddled though he was, that not even with a lifetime's worth of hours could he tell the small silver bot everything that was on his mind.
"L-look after… her."
The Lombax shivered, his labored breathing ceased, and Ratchet's tense, anguished, bleeding and bruised body became limp and still.
"Ratchet! WAKE UP!" Clank cried in anguish, shaking his best friend inconsequentially.
He pressed his head to the Lombax's blood-soaked chest. There was nothing. He scanned Ratchet's skull for activity and felt a spark of hope. There were still signals firing in his brain, but they were fading. Clank touched his communicator desperately. It was his last chance, his only hope.
"Alliance members! This is Clank, speaking planetside from Cheunor! Ratchet has stopped breathing and needs medical aid immediately!"
Right on cue, a starship came roaring onto the scene. Before it had even landed properly, the cockpit sprung open and Rivet came sprinting frantically toward the two of them, Kit close on her tail.
Rivet's eyes were wide and fearful, and as she looked down at the half-dead male Lombax, Clank distinctly heard her make a noise that sounded like a whimper.
She skidded to a halt and knelt down with a small container of nanotech.
"Don't do this to us, you fucking idiot! Don't you dare die on me!"
She sounded as furious as she did terrified, and she fumbled with the nanotech as she tipped it over the wound.
The nanotech spread over Ratchet's chest and the blood-soaked cavity closed, but a livid scar remained near his heart, where the Harbinger's claws had pierced him.
Ratchet's body spasmed and he gave a long, deep, rattling gasp, his eyes still closed, and all three of them jumped. For a short while they watched him as he panted and coughed, but he remained unsensible.
"Wh-what's wrong with him?! Will He be okay?!" Rivet asked, sounding immensely worried as Ratchet continued to gasp for air.
"He is on the verge of shock-", Kit said, "- we MUST return to the Phoenix at once!" There was an eruption overheard.
They all looked up. High, high above them, portals had opened in the sky and creatures were pouring forth from the rifts made in the fabric of reality, making Rivet seize up as memories of the dimensional cataclysm and emperor Nefarious flooded her mind.
"Oh, dear heaven…" Clank said quietly.
"What are those…?" Kit asked, as creatures began descending through the dust clouds above.
"It… it is the Cragmites…! We must flee! Now!"
There was an explosion behind them, making Clank and Kit leap behind the rundown shack and Rivet throw herself over Ratchet to protect him from flying debris.
Rivet swore as she turned to find their ship in flames. The Cragmites were coming down after them, undoubtedly sent by Tachyon who seemed to have decided it was worth killing Clank after all.
Rivet lifted the unconscious, gasping, and coughing male into her arms, waited for Kit to hop onto her back, and for Clank to grab onto Kit's hands before sprinting off into the badlands.
"Where are we going?!" Kit shouted.
"Somewhere that's NOT HERE!"
Gunshots rent the air and glowing green plasma rained down upon them, forcing Rivet to duck behind boulders and large hills. The Cragmites were shooting to kill, and there was no escape.
Suddenly the four of them were bathed in a bright searchlight.
"THEY'RE HERE! SET DOWN NOW!"
Rivet had never been so relieved to hear Derek's voice.
The ship descended, rather more quickly than was normal, and was being struck continuously by the pursuing Cragmites' attacks. The door slid open to reveal Derek and Talwyn.
Rivet jumped inside with Ratchet, Kit, and Clank, the latter two of whom jumped down once the door had closed.
"All aboard! Get us the HECK outta here ya old can o' screws!"
The ship rose again with incredible speed, leaving the pursuing Cragmites far, far behind, and upon exiting the gravitational pull of Cheunor, they shot off into infinity.
"Get 'em over here, ASAP!" said Derek urgently.
Rivet dashed after the old warbot who pulled out a folding medical bed and she laid the shivering, coughing male onto it gently. She was then immediately and unceremoniously pushed aside as Locke, who had clearly just put the ship on autopilot, came stomping by to aid Derek and Clank, the latter of whom had leapt onto the bed and was doing everything he could to help.
The two older warbots cut through Ratchet's shirt and Rivet averted her eyes before she could see anything, blushing slightly as she looked away.
Rivet suddenly noticed Talwyn standing beside her, and her insides went from cringing in anxiety and flustered embarrassment at imagining Ratchet shirtless, to chilled in an instant. Talwyn
however, was not looking at Ratchet as she had done as of late. There was no coldness or shrewdness in her dark blue eyes… There was terror, regret, and maybe even a hint of repulsion at what she was seeing.
"Those… Those wounds…! How did he…" she asked quietly, but Rivet didn't respond.
At last, Locke and Derek backed away, and Rivet chanced a glance. Ratchet's entire upper body - stomach and chest, were bound with white, though slightly bloodstained, medical wrappings, as was part of his head. He was also hooked up to a few IVs which were rehydrating and nourishing him. His breathing had eased up a little now, and his shivering had stopped at last.
Hours and hours later, Rivet, Kit, and Talwyn were sitting in the waiting area outside the infirmary, Rivet and Kit on one side, Talwyn on the other. Both Lombax and Markazian were avoiding each other's eyes, though occasionally they glanced in each other's direction, quickly looking away again when they registered the other had noticed. Clank had gone back to be with Ratchet, who, despite the nanotech and Locke's and Derek's work, was still in an exceptionally bad condition. The nanotech had revived him and restored some of his lost blood, but he had needed much, much more for a chest wound that severe, and from the fractured rips, and the bruised bones, and the deep slashes to his back, and the vomiting blood, and the hypothermia, and the shock, and the-
Talwyn cleared her throat and Rivet glanced up, an eyebrow raised.
The Markazian looked as though she were steeling herself to do something. She was taking several deep breaths and kept opening and closing her hands convulsively.
Finally she got to her feet and, to the Lombax's and yellow bot's surprise, she walked over and sat beside Kit, placing her just a seat away from Rivet.
The Lombax pointedly looked elsewhere.
"May I sit here?" Talwyn asked.
"You're the captain. I can't stop you." Replied Rivet stiffly.
Talwyn pursed her lips, but held her peace.
Another silence stretched between them, and Kit tapped her fingers together awkwardly, nervous about what might happen next.
"I just… I can't believe those wounds - " Talwyn resumed, "…I've seen him roughed up, terribly… But that… "
"Zedderek said nanotech saves a person even if they're a millimeter from death… That's how he could survive, if that's what you're wondering. Besides, you get used to it after a while." Said Rivet rather coolly.
Talwyn blinked.
"It didn't… put you off at all?"
"Did it put me off to see his wounds? Was I put off seeing the- …the first Lombax I've ever met covered in blood, and no longer breathing? Yeah, it did; made me sick to look at 'em. But They're not the first of their kind I've seen. I fought a sixteen-year war, remember?"
Talwyn blinked again.
"Oh, yeah I'm… I didn't mean to-"
"You get used to it… unfortunately."
Silence again. Rivet knocked her fingers together. She had almost let it slip a moment ago.
"Or-" Talwyn said, breaking the silence, "Or not."
"Wha?"
How could it not be unfortunate to see so much death and pain that you grew numb to it? What kinda person wanted to lose that part of them that remained… 'normal'?
Talwyn continued however, interrupting Rivet's thoughts.
"You saved his life." She said simply.
Rivet raised an eyebrow again. This was a rather odd observation. Yeah, she had saved his life. Even if she hadn't felt anything more than a mutual attraction for him, who would just stand there and watch someone else die?
Talwyn continued speaking.
"You could look beyond the shock of what you were facing and did what you had to. You did everything you could do. I couldn't have done that; I've never seen organic wounds that horrible before."
Rivet felt, oddly, rather flattered all of a sudden.
Talwyn sighed.
"I'm sorry." She said, and Rivet's head jerked up to look at her.
"'Sorry'?"
Talwyn closed her eyes. It looked like she was dredging up words she had long since hidden away, had perhaps even chosen not to say at one point.
"I'm sorry for the way I treated you. It was wrong, and you had every right to be mad at me for it… I was an idiot that wasn't looking beyond surface level. You really do care about him… The way you ran after him this morning, the look on your face tonight as you brought him aboard… The way you're sitting here now, hours after they took him back. He's… not just 'another Lombax' to you."
Rivet sat there rather stunned for a moment. While a short while ago she had felt elevated slightly from Talwyn's compliment, her insides now on the other hand felt rather diminished. She, Rivet, after all, wasn't completely innocent here either.
"Stop that. It's not right for you to sit there apologizing while I act like I'm always right and never wrong."
"Rivet, you don't-"
"Shush." And Rivet held up her bionic hand to silence herm as she had done a few times in the past. "I shouldn't have accused you of not caring for him… I didn't-" Rivet faltered. She had almost let it slip again. "…I just thought- It was stupid of me, and I was worried after everything
that'd happened to me an' Kit on Halua III. Ratchet an' me are just good friends and… Well, like I said - I was worried… And I'm sorry. You might not've been as close to him as I was tonight when he was on that bed, but I could tell from looking at you – could tell that..." Rivet clenched her teeth for a second and her fingers flexed unwillingly as the words she had formed wrestled with her feelings. "…Could tell that… you love him."
Talwyn looked down at Rivet, who looked determinedly back, trying to keep her body relaxed and not blink. Rivet wondered if the Markazian knew or at least suspected how she felt about the male Lombax… she wondered vaguely, from all the times Talwyn had fallen silent and scrutinous, whether it was a Markazian trait, or whether they could read minds… As odd as that sounded.
"…Yes… I do." She sighed, and Rivet felt a spark of anger erupt in her mind, but it was doused immediately by the surprisingly somber look that the Markazian had in her eyes. "I love him very much… But… But does that…" Talwyn hesitated, breathing unusually hard considering they were sitting in place. Her eyes were suddenly rather wet looking. "…But does that mean I can't let him enjoy friendship with other girls? Should I control his life or… Or pretend like everything's fine with him when it should be obvious that it isn't?"
Rivet stared at the Markazian. There was very obviously something that Talwyn wasn't telling her.
"I… Well, that's…" Rivet faltered into silence again.
Kit broke it.
"Can we… just agree to put this behind us and be friends?" she asked hesitantly.
Talwyn and Rivet looked at Kit, then at each other.
"Yeah… I think I can do that." Said Rivet, and a smile curled her lips, which Talwyn mirrored.
The doors opened at that moment, and all three girls stood up at once.
Clank was walking toward them, looking exhausted. Everyone waited with bated breath.
"He is going… to be all right." Clank said.
Such a powerful wave of relief crashed over Rivet that for a split second she felt light-headed. Kit gasped, looking joyous, and Talwyn sighed.
"He is still asleep - " Clank continued, " – but his vitals have stabilized at last… He will recover his strength in no time."
Locke and Derek now exited the infirmary doors behind Clank.
"Another life saved!" said Derek proudly. "Good work out there rooks… Even though ya almost got one of the last hopes in this war killed!"
"Cut that out ya bleedin' blabbermouth! We all just got through a whole mess o' trouble today an' everyone's keyed up quite enough without-"
"'Bleedin' blabbermouth' he says! HAH! Comin' from the walking, wasted roll o' scrap that let slip what everybody was really thinkin' about Madame Malones' massive-"
"Who are you callin' a 'walking wasted roll o' scrap', you two-faced-"
"Can we just… Go to bed please?" Talwyn interjected, stepping between the bickering warbots.
"Please? It's been… a long day…"
They both looked at their commanding officer then each other, then at Rivet, Kit, and Clank, who were all wearing determinedly blank expressions.
"Aye… I can do that." Said Locke, and Derek agreed.
The six of them set off down the hall.
Rivet had wanted to remain behind as Ratchet had done for her when she had been hungover, but given his condition, she had been informed only infirmary staff were permitted at this time, and she had departed with Kit, Clank, and the rest, feeling slightly aggrieved.
Rivet undressed that night for bed, Kit having climbed into the bunk above, and she had laid her head on her pillow, thinking of Ratchet, Clank, and Talwyn, and of the male Lombax's fierce love and dedication for Clank. Her initial frustration at his moronic behavior vanished rather abruptly to be replaced by admiration.
"(He… He really is one heck of a hotshot…)" she thought, rather foolishly, and she blushed and had to suppress a snicker in the dark for her own thoughts.
She closed her eyes and waited for sleep to come. She would go and check on him tomorrow, when he would hopefully be awake… and she could jokingly scold him for his rash behavior and tease him for saving his life again.
A synapse in her mind suddenly triggered.
Rash… 'Rashy'… 'Rashy'? Why did this sound so familiar…? And why did it make her blush and her heart purr?
Rivet shrugged, and as she rolled over, sleep fell upon the exhausted Lombax at once.
Millions of miles away, Tachyon had just stood from his throne and waved for silence, which fell at once.
"My loyal subjects!" cried the crippled, aged Cragmite, addressing an unseen crowd, Valen standing behind him on his right, the Harbinger on his left.
"It is done at last… Ratchet… The Son of Kaden… the Lombax Menace himself is DEAD, and the ALLIANCE BROKEN!"
There was a resounding, echoing roar from the invisible crowd. It went on for nearly a whole minute in which Tachyon seemed too self-satisfied to quell it.
"HOWEVER…" Tachyon continued, once the cheering had ceased. "…Our fight is not yet finished. The deathbot companion of the wretched Lombax contained important knowledge… I, Tachyon, your magnificent ruler, your SAVIOR and your GUIDE… I saw, within the databanks of this archaic machine that followed after the Lombax Menace like some foul travesty of a pet dog, knowledge of the continued existence of FURTHER abominations to the universe! That's right…" Tachyon added, for the invisible crowd began murmuring and some had even shouted curses in some unrecognizable language at the news.
"Yes, you are right, my loyalists – somewhere, in some unmapped, unknown dimension are hidden at least a HUNDRED MORE of these foul monsters! Do not despair!" he called, calmly, for the out of sight audience had given roars of displeasure. "Yes my friends, I say again – do not
despair… Our solution is simple… You remember the plans our forefathers devised during the Great War – the plans for that destroyer of rebellions, the cleanser of galaxies – the Solar Hammer! It is out there, somewhere… The universe is big, yes… But WE... We are the ones that cannot be erased. We have been put down, but not crushed. We have returned, bigger and STRONGER than ever! Our might is unmatched, our resolve – unbroken! We are the Cragmites! Rulers of the universe, conquerors of time and space! We will reclaim what is rightfully ours, and NONE shall stand in our way! Now go! Go my brothers and sisters! Scour, pillage, plunder, and DESTROY everything in this universe until that HAMMER IS OURS!"
Tachyon resumed his seat in his throne as the roar of a trillion bloodthirsty Cragmites mingled with Heralds and imperial soldiers swelled to shattering point. The sound could be heard from all corners of the planet, which had grown dark from the masses that spanned its surface.
