NOTES:
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some of the chapters of which will contain pictures and illustrations of certain scenes,
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Twisted Motives
Chapter Summary
Ratchet and Clank have been assigned the job of destroying the former Neptune Research Facility, which Valen has converted to a base of operations where he researches and develops weapons and monsters for Tachyon's empire.
However, their plans swiftly take a most unexpected and unwelcome turn upon their arrival.
Shouldn't a top-secret, all-important facility where one of the most dangerous and powerful people in the universe conduct their research be guarded? And where are the employees? And when posed with an old, forgotten fear of his, will Ratchet be able to overcome it?
The answers to all of these questions lie within the facility's depths.
" – Ratchet -" "Wha-?"
The male Lombax turned his head in the direction of the deep, half-monotone voice, his emerald-colored eyes a little wide, and his heart thumping unusually fast for someone sitting so still.
Although the first ten minutes of their journey through the galaxy had been spent in near total silence, Clank made the rather unfortunate mistake of wondering aloud what Kelith Minor was like, and Ratchet had burst into an unending concerned babble on the safety and well-being of his girlfriend.
Clank was silent for a while, looking up closely into his best friend's anxious face.
Worry after worry, thought after anxious thought; they were whirling around Ratchet's mind as rapidly and blinding as the never-ending sea of stars through which he and Clank travelled. Ratchet and Rivet had not been separated in over four months now, and it was their first missions back after
commencing their relationship.
Ratchet's love for her burned hotter than it ever had, and the knowledge that she, Rivet, his savior and his soulmate, was on a mission that not only sounded as though its outcome could have a tremendous impact on the coming weeks in the war, but was only too likely to be her most dangerous undertaking yet, was eating away at his heart and mind like an angry swarm of tetramites glued to Breegus Nectar.
"Please, Ratch -" Clank said, finally, "Please, you must calm yourself. She is with Kit, and she promised to take care of her. If you will not accept her assurances, then please accept them from me: Everything will work out fine."
"I… I just- …B-but how can you know that?" Ratchet said, his ears drooping and the anxiety in his eyes growing more pronounced as his heartrate quickened yet further, "What if the pirates got there first? And Tachyon! What if he's there? What if he brought backup? What if there's Cragmites, or Seraphs?! What if the Harbinger's-"
Ratchet froze up, and he distinctly felt the scar in his chest give an unexpected and most unpleasant twinge as this terrible thought shot through his mind, making his body go cold and sweat break out on his forehead.
Clank registered the sudden rigidity of Ratchet's posture.
He leaned over, and placed his small metal hand over Ratchet's glove.
Ratchet blinked and looked down, slightly surprised.
"Ratchet, honestly, that is enough." Clank said gently, "I… understand your concerns. I would be doing you a disservice if I professed to not be a tad anxious myself. But we must stay focused on our mission ahead; it is too important for us to burden our minds with yet more troublesome thoughts."
Ratchet looked up into Clank's fluorescent eyes, feeling slightly incredulous.
Sure, it was easy for him to say that; Clank is a robot, he can choose what he wants to think about! He, Ratchet, however, had no control over that seething mass of chaos in his skull that kept forcing images sharp as life before his eyes.
However, this too seemed unmissed by Clank, who's eyes spun once and focused more sharply on Ratchet's face.
"And we must remember of whom we are talking. Rivet is a more-than-capable fighter, as I know you are aware. You have seen her in action a hundred times; you saw her take down Nefarious, and you have heard her stories of the battles she fought in. Kit is a former warbot, and Phantom has restored some degree of functionality to her weapons module. Just as is the case with us, so long as they have each other, everything will be all right."
Ratchet stared down at Clank's hand as his calm voice washed over his large, low-hanging ears, trying to control his breathing.
He blinked, and in that infinitesimal expanse of time between darkness and light, he saw Rivet, in her untarnishable radiance, singlehandedly fighting off swarms of Nefarious Troopers, hurlshotting onto imperial battle cruisers, which she singlehandedly hijacked and crashed into other attacking airships, charging headfirst and unfazed by the onslaught of blaster fire as imperial sympathizers fought to defend Nefarious Tower, and standing toe-to-toe against the cruel, sadistic oppressor of
her dimension of the last sixteen years.
"And besides…" Clank added, suddenly, "…She has the thought of you to sustain her. I know she will not fail to return safely, as long as you live."
Ratchet's face burned, but in spite of himself, his spirits lifted substantially and his breathing and heartrate instantly calmed down.
He remained silent, still taking slow deep breaths, allowing Clank's words and his memories of Rivet to gestate within his anxious, overburdened mind, and slowly he felt his muscles beginning to relax.
"Much better." Said Clank, "Sitting like that for too long is horrible for your neck and back."
The corners of Ratchet's mouth twitched. Clank would be thinking about his physical well-being through all of this…
The console gave a small *beep*, and Ratchet's and Clank's attention was drawn onto a red indicator LED that had just lit up.
"Looks like we're here." Ratchet said, his voice much calmer, yet with a definite note of resignation. Dangerous though this mission would undoubtedly be, Ratchet felt it would almost be nice for some action. Besides, the sooner they got done, the quicker he could be back with Rivet.
His mind began to wander as they exited warp speed and their surroundings sharpened.
He saw her, that beautiful Lombax, disembarking from hers and Kit's starship, her snow-white fur, with those wonderful complementary bluish-gray stripes, her bushy tail, her gorgeous, smiling face, and her brilliantly blue eyes that sparkled with love and adoration for her boyfriend - For him…
Ratchet was dashing forward, and he called out to her. Rivet turned and her smile broadened.
She too broke into a run, Kit flying off Rivet's back as anticipation of what was coming sprang to the yellow bot's mind.
He reached out, feeling Clank leap away as Rivet's face glowed pink and she threw out her mismatched arms.
They were only a foot away, when-
"Ratchet?"
"Whuh?!"
He had grown almost completely blind to his surroundings, the visions in his mind obscuring reality as they rested on the girl he loved and how much he longed to see her once this mission was over.
Ratchet blinked rapidly as though trying to see through a bright light.
They had come to a halt, their ship suspended in the apparent void of space… But no, there was something ahead of them…
Ratchet blinked again and opened his eyes a little wider.
"Hoo-lyy…" he said, stunned.
Some couple-hundred meters ahead was a vast structure, with a large biosphere enclosing it. At the top of this apparent soap-bubble of breathable air stuck a few smoke stacks, from which billowed dark smoke which flickered orange and red in the flames at its depths.
There were walls enclosing the main structure, and guard towers on either side of the gate. The facility went deep; the underside of the vast structure hung several hundred feet below the landing platforms at the front, the sides, and the back, and adorning the front of the large complex before them hung a colossal tapestry that rippled in the light breeze within the biosphere, bearing the Cragmite insignia.
Ratchet rubbed his eyes and opened them again, half convinced what he was looking at wasn't real.
"Heyyy, Clank… Are you sure this is the right place? I don't remember the Neptune Research Facility being so… huge… or freakishly dangerous-looking."
"Yes, this is the correct place-", said Clank at once, "These are the coordinates Talwyn sent me. And they also align perfectly with those of the Neptune Research facility. However, I suppose such ought to have been expected. Talwyn did say Tachyon ordered a complete overhaul once the Cragmites had taken the facility, did she not? And the size of the structure now would make sense, given this is now where all of Valen's work is centralized. Large operations demand large facilities, after all."
"Yeah, I suppose-" said Ratchet, keeping their shuttle stationary as he scanned the surrounding vacuum and the guard posts below, "-I suppose… But haven't'cha noticed somethin' odd? Where're the guards? I don't see anyone at the security towers below, and I can't see any sky patrols either. How 'bout you?"
Clank fell momentarily silent, the shutters of his lenses squinting slightly as he observed the structures and vacuum ahead.
"…No hostiles within range." Clank said, sounding puzzled, "How curious… What do you think, Ratchet?"
"What do I think?" asked Ratchet, a smug, half-smile appearing on his face, "I think Qwark's lucky streak at guessing's finally come to an end!"
Clank stared at him.
"Ratchet, are you seriously gloating over the apparent incorrect nature of the information Qwark delivered to us?"
"C'mon pal, don't tell me you actually put that much stock into what that fraud says."
"His track record is flawless-"
"PPPFFFT"
"Allow me to elaborate-" said Clank, slightly impatient at Ratchet's interruption, "His curious-knowledge-on-a-top-secret-and-highly-dangerous-enemy-structure is flawless. Is that what I should have said?"
"Well, it's a lot less misleading after what he's put us through over the years."
"In any case-" said Clank, "It does not add up. He told us security would be tight, and yet there is
not even a single patrol anywhere."
"Well, everyone's gotta be wrong at least once in their lives, right? And let's face it, this is a huge mission here. Who else in the Alliance has ever been given the job to destroy what's gotta be the biggest imperial stronghold outside'a Tachyon's base? It's gonna be hard to make plans for missions that're this big without screwing up a little at best."
"…Yes, I suppose that is correct…" said Clank, "…I still detect no life readings nor any sort of imperial weaponry or warcraft. Furthermore, I sense no silent alarms… The path onto which we halo-jumped the last time we were here is up ahead. Take us down there."
"Wait, are you serious, pal? You really think we should land here, just like that?"
Clank turned to look at Ratchet again, slightly surprised.
"Do you wish not to land? I thought you were pleased at Qwark's failed estimate?"
"I am!" Ratchet replied at once, "But that doesn't mean it's safe either! I mean, sure Qwark drives me nuts and part of me hates how he's always right when he lays out these stupid plans of his, which for the record, it's a miracle we've pulled through 'em all so far with how chaotic they get, but seein' how this place is as important to the empire and to Tachyon as it is, it's just not right for it to be left so… exposed like this, ya feel me?"
Clank sat in silence for a while, considering Ratchet's arguments.
"A fair point… Although, it may be possible, as Valen and Tachyon believe you dead, that they have lightened security so they may focus their efforts on their attacks on the budding rebel alliances?"
Ratchet hesitated. This didn't seem very likely, and he could tell Clank's proposal was more of a wild, though undoubtedly well-thought-out guess. He had experienced too many situations like this in the past, and honestly he would have expected Clank to have come to terms with it by now, that not everything was always as it seemed, despite the conclusions he came to based on the evidence of his surroundings, observations, and calculations. It was at times like this that Ratchet was always reminded how, although they were like brothers in so many ways, there were still so many things that were drastically different between them.
But there was still the fate of the universe he had to think about.
As little as he wanted to, they still had a mission of the utmost importance to complete. What would Rivet say if they got back and he told everyone they had aborted? Rivet would never abort a mission, especially over something as silly as there being no patrols, and he cringed slightly as he imagined the look of utter disappointment on her face if they got back and she learned he had chickened out.
With all his instincts telling him not to, he accelerated and brought them down, his eyes fixed on the radar.
Still, no hostiles appeared.
Their ship landed with a light bump, and Ratchet reached for the button to open the cockpit door.
"Just a moment, Ratchet-", said Clank, suddenly, catching Ratchet by the arm.
"Everything all right, pal?"
Clank looked hesitant; he was tapping one of his fingers, and he was looking off to the side, his head cocked at a slight angle.
"…'Sup?" Ratchet prompted when Clank refused to answer.
Clank looked around again, back into Ratchet's face, having clearly made up his mind.
"…Take this." He said.
Clank opened his chassis, and out into his open metal palm tumbled the shard of Phaze Quartz.
Ratchet gaped at him.
"What the-!? …When'd'ja-? Are you-!?" Ratchet babbled, shocked.
"Yes, I stole it." Clank said in a completely calm, matter-of-fact tone of voice, "I told Kit and Rivet I was looking for you this morning at breakfast because I wanted to show you something… And while yes, I did show you your self-portrait, my true intention was to reclaim the Phaze Quartz. Talwyn told me she had a big, important job for us, and I felt compelled to… increase our odds, shall we say. Tachyon has the Dimensionator and the Vixteron Staff, Valen controls a facility where monsters are mass-produced, and Cragmites roam every corner of the universe in their search for the Solar Hammer."
Ratchet's mind reeled from this sudden flood of information, not to mention the shock of learning Clank had actually trespassed and committed theft. Quite apart from this, all of them, Clank included, had agreed that it was WAY too risky to use the Phaze Quartz with Tachyon back.
"Ratchet, it is rude to stare. And please close your mouth."
Ratchet blinked and closed his mouth, shaking his head in bewilderment.
"Clank… pal… don't'cha realize-"
"How dangerous and foolish this is? Yes, I do. You have been a terrible influence on me, Ratch." Clank said, with a hint of amusement in his voice now, "But Valen said it himself - he no longer believes he or Tachyon require the Phaze Quartz. After all, their intention was to build another Dimensionator, but of course that is no longer necessary, so I feel it is safe to put this crystal to use in our favor. The time for caution is passed, and we must up our arsenal if we wish to emerge victorious. Now please, enough questions. Take the Phaze Quartz, and use it if you must."
He took Ratchet's hand and turned his palm upside down, depositing the small, glowing purple crystal into his glove.
Ratchet looked down at it for a while, still feeling shocked at this transaction.
But after a moment, his fingers closed around the small gemstone and it dematerialized into his glove.
"Heh… An' here I was thinkin' you never looked at me as a role model."
"If one can call 'stealing their best friend's lunch from the fridge at 3:00 AM' an inspirational act, yes."
Ratchet snickered and Clank chuckled, and the Lombax pressed a button on the side of the console.
The cockpit sprang open, and Ratchet leapt out, Clank fixed securely to his back.
It was completely silent, save for the soft hiss of the leaves in the bushes lining the path up to the large, glass front door.
Ratchet glanced at the Chameleon cloak he had just materialized from his omniglove.
"…May as well just in case…." And he threw the large ugly fabric over himself and Clank, and
their bodies turned at once into the same color and texture of their surroundings.
Ratchet proceeded toward the entrance, darting from bush to bush, behind tree to tree, his head turning left then right every few feet. The lack of opposition was… almost unnerving, and he expected with every step to hear the blaring of an alarm, the shriek of a Herald, the bellow of a Cragmite.
But all remained peaceful and quiet as Ratchet dashed up the steps toward the large glass doors, through which light flooded out onto the path.
The heroes reached the front door, and Ratchet stopped in his tracks, gazing through the translucent barrier into the lobby.
"Ratchet?" Clank asked, curious as to what had brought the Lombax to such a sudden and complete halt.
Ratchet didn't answer at first; he was too busy scanning the inside of the facility's lobby.
Papers were littered about the room, coffee tables were pushed back and misaligned, and some were on their sides. Waiting chairs were torn, their cushions oozing copious amounts of white, wooly stuffing, and Ratchet registered what were unmistakably burn marks from where blaster fire had struck the walls.
There was not a soul in sight, organic or synthetic.
"Oh dear…" Clank said, suddenly realizing what Ratchet was looking at.
Slowly, Ratchet reached out and pulled the glass door, which swung outward at once without resistance, and the pair stepped into the large, open, and abandoned lobby.
Loose sheets of paper blew across the floor, some flipping over lazily in the momentary breeze from the opening and closing of the door, and Ratchet stepped forward cautiously, looking up at the new second floor that had not been there the last time he, Clank, Rivet, and Kit had been here.
"Do ya think that maybe one of the new alliances tried to get a head start on us?" Ratchet suggested, pulling off the chameleon cloak as it flickered and became its usual swamp-green once more.
"I do not think so-", replied Clank, "Locke and Derek said the rebels had no starcraft of their own, and by the sounds of it I would be shocked if they managed to hijack any imperial ships for their cause. No, I think something… unexpected happened here. That computer at the receptionist desk – let me see it."
Ratchet didn't think much of Clank's request at first. He wanted to plant that bomb and get the heck outta here. The silence, the lack of security, the absence of imperials or enslaved employees, and the general air of disarray was unsettling.
However, Ratchet knew Clank was bound to find something useful, and so redirected his steps over to the cluttered desk, stepping over an overturned swiveling chair.
Clank leapt onto the desk and tapped the keypad, waking the sleeping computer back up, and he began hacking in at once.
As Clank worked his way through the machine's security, Ratchet directed his attention back at his surroundings, his burst pistol clutched tightly in his right hand, ready to duck at a moment's notice.
But still, the seconds trickled by, and not a sound permeated the air, save for the soft clacking of Clank's metal fingers on the flat surface of the keypad.
Ratchet had just turned to ask Clank if he was nearly done when his attention was caught by something on the desk – an almost box full of doughnuts, minus one which sat neglected and half-eaten at its side, and a partially-drunken mug of dark tea.
"(Since when has Qwark been sponsored by Erklon's Doughnuts?)" He said to himself, but even more importantly, "(…and who would only take one bite of these things anyway? Erklon's are the best!)"
He reached down and picked the doughnut up, not to eat it, tempting though it was, but to examine it.
He held the strawberry-frosted and sprinkled treat close to his eyes. It looked quite good; it wasn't even stale yet…
He sniffed and then blinked in mild surprise.
"(Is that… sleeping spice?)"
He turned his attention to the mug of tea and looked at it more closely.
"(Not even black coffee's this dark… Smells like…)"
Ratchet shivered violently, and his eyes flew wide open as his heart skipped a beat and he gasped, dropping the mug back onto the desk, causing some of it to slop over the side.
"Ratchet?" Clank asked sharply, looking over his shoulder.
Ratchet took a deep breath and sighed as that sweeping cold that had flooded his chest vanished in an instant.
He looked back at the mug of tea, which swirled sickeningly before his eyes.
"N-nothing, pal." He said, shakily. He could have sworn he had seen something stirring in the depths of the black liquid, something large and hulking, with gleaming eyes.
Clank continued to observe him curiously for a minute, then turned back to the computer.
"I am nearly finished-", He said, "There is nothing here, save for important company dates, Tachyon appreciation day, Cragmite Liberation Day, Cherub Census, Seraph Census, Killer Rock-Paper-Scizzors Tournaments, and expected shipment and delivery times."
"Great… Cool…" Ratchet said vaguely, still looking at the caffeinated beverage in confusion and mild unease.
He shook himself mentally. He was being stupid; it was impossible, in every sense of the word, for what he had seen to actually be there. Why had he seen that?
But then a certain thought occurred to him.
"Hey pal-"
"Yes?"
"…Why would the employees be eating doughnuts laced with sleeping spice, and drinking tea made from phobis herbs?"
Clank looked thoroughly taken aback.
"Phobis tea? But Ratchet that cannot be possible, phobis leaves are-"
"Powerful psychostimulants that make you see stuff that scares you. Yeah, I know. This mug's fulluvit! Just got a powerful waft of it myself and thought for a second that I saw- …Anyway, let's get a move on, we need to find that reactor core."
"Yes, I quite agree-", Clank said, turning from the computer and jumping onto Ratchet's back once more, "I confess this revelation of the phobis tea and sleeping spice has rather heightened my anxiety levels."
"That's one way to put it…" Ratchet said as he turned and headed back toward a long hallway that branched off the lobby.
"But on the plus side-" said Clank, a little more cheerfully, "I did manage to acquire a map. The reactor core is downstairs. We shall need to take two separate elevators, down to the Essential Employees offices, then another to the Production floors in the deepest recesses of the facility."
"Can't'cha use another phrase or something?" Ratchet asked, speaking quietly as they headed toward what had once been the Lethal Force Weapons Lab, but was now adorned with a sign proclaiming 'Research And Development (And Boring old Offices)', "I'm feelin' creeped out enough from the lack of resistance and from seein' things in that phobis tea back there without thinkin' about goin' underground."
"Apologies-" said Clank, "How does, 'a jolly jaunt down the stairs' sound?" "That's more like it."
They reached the door to the former weapons lab, and the door opened automatically without issue, and Ratchet was brought up short.
The former weapons lab was a large, square room with a high ceiling and glass windows lining an upper level where researchers and interested parties could get a first glance or take notes on new weapon developments. But where there once had been tables and displays where weapons were mounted or suspended in zero-G, there were clusters of stasis tanks… broken stasis tanks.
Greenish-blue puddles of water and shards of glass were everywhere, and a rather abhorrent stench permeated the air, making Ratchet wrinkle his nose in disgust and his nerves tingle unpleasantly. The sight and the smell brought, with painful ease, the memory of the Cherubs of Tekogai outpost breaking free of their stasis tanks and chasing him and Clank through the labyrinthine passages of the research lab to the forefront of his mind.
"…Shall I think up something to lighten the mood again?" Clank asked, as Ratchet took a few tentative steps forward into the ruined laboratory.
"No thanks." Ratchet said quietly, swapping out his burst pistol for the pyrocitor, and turning his eyes into the shadowy corners of the room to make sure they were not about to be set upon. Right now, he felt like the thing they really needed was to stay as quiet as possible…
Despite the careful speed at which he now walked, the slapping of Ratchet's boots on the thin puddles of water flooding the room echoed off the walls, and in his anxiety, the noise seemed to echo through the halls branching beyond an open door ahead.
But still, they proceeded without interruption, and Ratchet glanced back at Clank as they exited the lab and made their way down the well-lit but just-as-disheveled and silent corridor.
Ratchet turned a corner and descended a flight of stairs, passing another abandoned security station, then arrived at last at the double elevator doors, above which was a sign labelled "Essential Workers".
The doors opened and Ratchet stepped inside, Clank performing a scan as the elevator gave a jolt and began sinking deeper into the complex.
"No life forms detected." Clank said, sounding slightly surprised, "How odd… I would have expected we would have seen someone by now."
"Honestly, I hope it stays that way-" said Ratchet, "-But let's throw things into that group as well. I'd rather not find ourselves trapped in a dark maze swarming with Cherubs again…"
"Yes, a fair point." Replied Clank, and the two of them fell back into silence.
After another few bumpy seconds, there was a *ding*, and Ratchet redoubled his grip on the pyrocitor, ready to attack at the first sign of movement.
The doors slid open.
"Dear heavens…" Clank said, stunned as the Lombax stepped out of the elevator.
Deep claw marks were etched into the walls, which were peppered in blaster shots, spent round casings littered the floor, which rippled in the still-flowing water that sprayed freely from a nearby drinking fountain, long, black streaks – evidence of powerful flames – were burned into the doors and crossed over to the walls, lights hung down from the ceiling, flickering feebly and humming in the silence, and discarded weapons occurred every few feet.
"Clank… you sure you don't see anything?" Ratchet whispered, his eyes fixed on a door at the end of a short passaged beyond some sort of break area with overturned chairs and tables. The door was hanging off its hinges, and it swayed slightly, as if something had just passed through seconds before.
"I… do not sense life, organic or synthetic. However, there is a curious high concentration of electricity nearby. I can only assume it is a generator of some kind. Let us proceed… carefully."
Ratchet took a deep breath, then slowly, he stepped through the destroyed break room, his large, furry ears straining to pick up on the first hint of approaching hostiles.
He passed an open door, and the fur on the back of his neck prickled as he registered, while the light within sparked and died, crimson splotches that blossomed out from a vent in the ceiling and leaked down the walls.
He glanced up, and saw more air vents, and hastily stepped out from beneath them before shaking
himself mentally.
"(Focus, Ratchet… You've been through worse! Now's not the time to start worrying, Rivet's counting on you, remember that!)"
He peaked around the corner of the buckled, broken door, and felt another spasm of cold unease.
The destruction was worse than ever - Cubicles had holes torn clean through them, the edges of these apparent portholes blackened from heat, while yet more claw marks adorned the walls, and there were some on the floor and ceiling. Bits of circuitry and ruined computer parts were everywhere, walls had large chunks torn clean out of them, and broken pipes hissed, filling the air with a light, warm mist, and at the corner ahead, Ratchet distinctly saw a mixture of crimson and deepest green.
"(…Okay, so it's kinda bad…)"
"Careful Ratchet…" Clank whispered, but never before had the Lombax needed his advice less. Ratchet's main goal right at this moment was to move as slowly, silently, and cautiously as possible.
He walked passed the humming, flickering light and around the corner, half afraid of what he might see, but there was nobody and nothing there.
*Squelsh*
"What the-!?"
Ratchet halted in his tracks and looked down.
His left foot had fallen into something squishy, and as he tried to bring his foot back up again, he found his sole practically glued to the floor.
"Clank…! What the… hell is this?" Ratchet demanded through gritted teeth as he strained to pull his foot free again.
"Hmmm… I am uncertain; it appears to be some sort of secretion, but my database shows no connection to any creature or plant in the known universe. I gather the substance is, however, quite adhesive." He added.
"Really? What gave ya that idea?" Ratchet asked sarcastically as he finally pulled his foot free with the sound of a suction cup being plucked off a surface.
"Lucky guess. But still, please do watch your step from now on; it would not do well to step into more should we need to make a hasty escape."
Ratchet turned and walked up a narrow aisle between cubicles, peering around the corners into the
entrances of these miniature offices and checking for lurking foes. The trail of slime was growing
more copious, and the male Lombax now had to pay close attention to where he put his feet down.
A sudden prickling on the back of his neck made him turn around, even though he knew Clank would have said something if someone or something was there. The silence seemed to be growing denser, almost as though a cloud were engulfing the Lombax and defective warbot.
Ratchet's ears twitched, and he jerked his head around again, squeezing the handle on his pyrocitor more firmly as they entered an adjoining room of offices. For a split second, he sensed something
moving in the bloody and debris-littered shadows of the dying fluorescent lights that hung lopsided and damaged from the ceiling, but then he blinked, and the momentary sense of a hostile presence vanished.
They emerged out of another network of ruined cubicles an into a long aisle through the center of the large room.
Ratchet's heart skipped a beat.
There was a door some thirty feet ahead, at the end of another aisle, and down on the floor, propping the door open to reveal a dark and shadowy passage beyond, was the lower half of a body, its legs tangled over one another, and blood pooled at its waist.
Ratchet nudged Clank, and he felt the diminutive bot nod.
The Lombax raised his pyrocitor and took a step forward, the silence pressing over his furry ears like a thick muffler and his heart beating faster than he was used to, making his breathing shallower and more quick.
Suddenly Clank grabbed Ratchet's arm and tugged, directing the Lombax to take cover in one of the cubicles to their left, and Ratchet obeyed without hesitation.
Ratchet crouched down in the shadow of his hiding place, still unable to hear anything, but knew full well Clank would not make him hide like this if it was not something that frightened him, and Clank had exceptionally few genuine fears.
Unable to resist however, Ratchet peered around the corner.
He saw nothing; nothing except the lower half of the corpse in the doorway ahead.
But then the corpse moved.
Ratchet hastily suppressed a gasp and watched as the lower half of the body was dragged through the door, into the darkness, and out of sight.
The door closed with a soft *click*.
The duo waited for a moment, then, after about thirty seconds of tense silence –
"It is gone." Clank whispered.
Ratchet relaxed his grip on his weapon, but his heart continued to thump as though he had just run a vast distance.
"What was it, pal?"
"…Bioscan yielded inconclusive results. It is undoubtedly a product of whatever operation Valen is running here."
"Well… as long as it's going that way, no biggie… So where next?"
"You must go through the door ahead."
"…Of course I do…"
Ratchet stood up and began taking slow, tentative steps forward, ignoring the tingling he felt in his
fingers, and the way his tail had curled itself around his stomach and torso.
"Wait-" Clank said, suddenly, and Ratchet jumped.
"What?" he asked, feeling slightly annoyed at the suddenness and sharpness of Clank's voice while things were so tense.
"'Administrator's Office'-", said Clank, pointing at a plaque fastened to a scratched and burned wooden door, "Let us investigate. Perhaps we shall learn something of Valen's operations here and prepare ourselves for what lies ahead."
Feigning a disgruntled emotion that he did not feel, Ratchet gladly turned, toward the door and pushed it open.
Much like the rest of the place, the small office was a total mess – papers scattered about the floor, bloodstains along the floor and walls, and an overturned mug, from which dripped what Ratchet was sure was more phobis tea.
The computer monitor had fallen to the floor and the computer was overturned, yet Clank leapt down and approached it at once, while Ratchet hastily and silently shut the door and locked it behind them.
He turned back and let out a sigh.
Little though he knew a thin wooden door would work should anyone or anything come knocking, and despite knowing full well their reprieve was only temporary, the fact they had entered, undetected, into a small, enclosed room where they would be able to regather their thoughts and their wits was comforting to Ratchet.
"Ah, this is precisely what I was looking for-", said Clank, sounding pleased.
Ratchet approached his best friend, who had already straightened up the computer and placed the monitor back on the scratched and disheveled desktop.
"What'd'ja find, buddy?"
"A records log; The administrator was to keep track of events and new employees, among other responsibilities of course. Let us see what they say."
Ratchet leaned in, and together, Lombax and robot read through the short number of record entries.
July 18, UCE 512:
Starting day.
Been looking forward to this. It's no secret that His Brilliance has been interested in focusing all of his and Valen's work to one large facility, so that the good Lord may increase production output. And I get some say over others for a change in addition to overseeing some of the best work this new glorious regime will bring about. These logs aren't really meant for personal ramblings like this, so, signing out.
August 31, UCE 512:
Everything is going well and all tasks are on schedule. Valen says output is up by 200%, now that
the Lombax menace is gone.
Only problem is these 'Essential Employees'. They know what sort of work they are accomplishing here and they KNOW the repercussions if they don't show up, and yet so many have just… stopped coming in! I've only been here over a month and I've had to bring on at least two hundred new employees.
I've reported this to the good Lord of course, but he seems unconcerned. He even seems pleased, musing about 'how carefree their lives must be now'. Brilliant mind, and a force to be reckoned with, but definitely an odd one.
September 14, UCE 512:
Had to report another absence today, and this one just makes ZERO sense; Gadsten has ALWAYS been to work on time, and he has NEVER been late or shirked his duties before, but he just… vanished over lunch break! He knows company policy, so this just doesn't seem normal… Actually, many employees have vanished over lunch break… Security is always light during then. I will have to speak to the captain of the guard about this.
September 25, UCE 512:
Things have… Gotten out of hand.
Our employees have grown restless, and many have fled in fear of them also going missing. Well, I decided to tail one of these workers, as he went to lunch, and witnessed Lord Valen catching up to him with a glass of tea while they discussed his future projects. The Poor Tharpod drank it and became incredibly distressed, and Valen put him to sleep with his staff before taking him through one of the forbidden doors… Not even I know what goes on back there, but I must confess I am worried… That Tharpod hasn't been seen since.
September 27, UCE 512:
This is my final entry.
To anyone who reads this, I don't care if you are rebel scum or one of us, but you must know what happened and you MUST do as I say. Not even I would wish this brand of death upon my enemies.
Today is what our calendar has labelled as 'Employee Sacrifice Recognition Day', which WE thought was just a way of saying they appreciated us, but no… He turned them loose – the very creatures we have been studying and producing for Tachyon's great empire – turned them on us for, what he called, the 'betterment of all species'! He's gone full psycho; it's like a frickin' mad scientist movie.
Even as I type, locked in my eventual tomb, I still hear them ravaging the offices outside. They're killing EVERYONE, and taking them away.
Reader, you MUST destroy this place. Rebel or not, YOU CANNOT let Valen keep this facility!
I have seen what lies behind the forbidden doors now, and I have seen what becomes of the employees who vanished over lunch breaks. Valen is mad. MAD I tell you. He is taking those poor souls and turning them –
Both Lombax and robot stared at the monitor, their minds racing.
"Turning them what?" asked Ratchet, but Clank was too deep in thought to answer.
"So, Valen was capturing and killing people on his own side… Why?" the silver bot wondered aloud.
For a while, neither spoke, each absorbed in his own thoughts.
"Well… Is there anything else you see on that computer we could use? Sounds like the admin's told us all he can."
Clank minimized the records log, and began running a system search, expedited along by connecting his sisterboard to the system.
"Hmmm… A lot of things we already know – The Cherubs' weakness to fire, which I am pleased to report they never were able to address, the removal of the emergency shut off switch on the Seraphs, etc. It seems their shoulder joints are weak though; makes sense, given their hands are literal buzz-saws. Weight like that continuously bearing down on your arms would eventually do some damage. And-"
Clank froze, and without a word, he immediately began downloading a large file.
"Everything good, pal? What'd'ja find?" Ratchet asked, eagerly.
"Notes on… the Harbinger, Ratchet."
The sound of that name made Ratchet's stomach lurch rather unpleasantly.
"Really?" he said, trying but only partially managing to to speak naturally, "Does… does it mention any weaknesses?"
"Let us see… How curious… 'the Harbinger, or Holly, as so-named by our glorious leader, has proven to possess no external weaknesses that any potential prey can exploit through orthodox means. To date, the only known weakness this magnificent creature is held back by, is its own life force. After months of research and development, attempts at finding a solution to this have proven unsuccessful.'"
Clank looked up at Ratchet, confusion in his green, fluorescent eyes.
"I do not understand… 'its only weakness is its own life force'… what does that mean?"
But Ratchet understood at once. It was so simple, and yet so - he hated to admit it - genius. He would never have thought of it before now; it went against everything he knew about nature, but after all, the Harbinger by its mere existence alone was a violation against the laws of the universe.
He opened his mouth to respond, when-
*THUD*
Both Lombax and robot jumped and looked back at the door.
Someone, or something, had bumped forcibly into some object or structure just outside the room.
They froze in place, Ratchet raising the pyrocitor once more, aiming at the door.
"…Whaddaya see, pal?" Ratchet asked in a hushed voice.
"…I… do not know. Its life signal was obfuscated by an electrical field, making it impossible to recognize any sort of discernible features or anatomy." Clank hissed back.
Ratchet's mind raced and his heartrate quickened again.
He remembered Clank saying something like this before, back at Tekogai Outpost, as they wandered the dark labyrinthine passages to the inner laboratories, and Ratchet recalled how that time, the signal had belonged to Valen.
A sudden idea occurred to him – a stupid idea, but which just might put things in their favor if he pulled it off…
"Let's go." Ratchet whispered, holding out a hand to help Clank onto his back.
Clank looked stunned.
"Ratchet, are you proposing we go after whatever is outside?"
"It's Valen, pal! Remember back at Tekogai Outpost? He doesn't know we're here; if we take him out now, our mission gets ten times easier and we take out one of the greatest threats to the universe all at once!"
Clank averted his gaze, evidently thinking hard about Ratchet's proposition.
"…Yes, your proposal does make sense, and I quite agree, based on our previous experience, that it must be Valen himself… But I cannot leave just yet, I must finish downloading this file; it is quite large."
"Don't worry pal, I can handle this one." Ratchet said as he took a step forward, his pyrocitor dematerializing to be replaced with his Omniwrench.
"Ratchet, are you-"
"Yeah pal, don't worry. I only need one strike… and besides-" the Lombax said, gritting his teeth and squeezing the handle of his tool so hard his fist shook, "- I owe him some payback for what he did to you on the Phoenix."
Clank looked into Ratchet's determined, suddenly angered face. He felt nervous about what his best friend was about to do, yet also rather touched at the Lombax's indignation on his behalf.
Slowly, Ratchet turned the lock and turned the handle, opening the door noiselessly.
He peaked through the crack. There was no one there, but he could hear something moving ahead through the mist.
Quiet as a mouse, the Lombax crept out into the aisle, closing the door behind him, and followed after the sound of shuffling footsteps.
He turned up another aisle, and saw dimly the shadow of something turning a corner ahead.
The footsteps slowed, and Ratchet inched forward more cautiously. He was getting close now, and he raised his wrench as he approached the corner around which his prey had vanished, preparing to deliver a killing strike.
*Squish*
Ratchet's stomach turned over.
So keen on reaching his quarry, the Lombax had not noticed the sudden, overwhelming abundance of that same foul, greenish-brown slime that trailed along the floor, and had stepped in yet more of the disgusting refuse.
The footsteps halted at the sound, and there was a long, deep, rasping wheeze.
The footsteps started back, and the Lombax's target came back into view.
Ratchet's stomach dissolved.
Six feet tall, pale-green flesh with a long tail that trailed along the floor, stubby, T-Rex-like arms with two pointed fingers, two dog-like legs with spiked toes, no visible eyes, and a seam that made a cross-shape in the center of its face was coming slowly nearer and nearer.
It could not see him, but the creature seemed to sense his presence ahead, and its mouth opened wide in four directions, wide enough to swallow him whole, revealing hundreds of short, razor-sharp teeth, and glands that secreted the foul slime that trailed in every direction.
Ratchet yelped and reached down, tugging and twisting at his foot with all his might.
The monster was close, and Ratchet could smell its putrid breath, flooding his lungs with the odor of death.
He flung a shatterbomb into its gaping mouth, and the beast's shriek rent the air, mingling with the sound of the explosion as its maw was littered with frag-shards.
It staggered back, reeling in pain, and with a loud *PLOP* Ratchet's foot was free.
The beast spun around, and let out a low, long, deep, rattling growl, blood pouring from the seams of its mouth as it returned its attention back on the short, highly edible Lombax ahead.
It opened its mouth again, and Ratchet ducked behind a cubicle wall as a jet of brown-green goo shot forward.
He spun around the corner and squeezed the trigger of the pyrocitor, but though the creature yelped in apparent pain, it continued forward, its heavy feet now thudding on the floor as it sped up.
Ratchet took several steps back, looking over his shoulder and trying to avoid stepping in more puddles of slime. The nightmare creature was still pressing forward, despite the red-hot flames licking its pale, slimy body, and Ratchet was swiftly being backed into a corner.
It opened its maw again, and without thinking, he hurled two more shatterbombs into its mouth.
They exploded and the creature gave another shriek, before breaking into a full-on charge.
Ratchet gave a loud, vulgar shout of fear and leapt aside as the beast's jaws clamped shut with a loud, powerful slapping noise that sprayed blood in every direction and cracked the wall as it smashed into it, missing the Lombax by mere feet.
The monster was dazed, but no less angry and ravenous, and Ratchet, his heart thudding madly, did the only thing that made sense.
While the beast was stunned and disoriented, he dashed forward, the warmonger materializing in
both hands, slammed the front end of the rocket launcher into an open flap of the creature's maw, and squeezed the trigger.
There was a muffled explosion and a sickening mixture of flesh and bone being rent apart, and the beast reeled back, stamping and yelping raspily, smoke and blood pouring from its mouth, before at last, with a thudding, crunching sound, it collapsed, twitching and unsensible.
Ratchet leaned against a cubicle wall, breathing hard and his heart throwing itself against his ribs in fright.
"(The hell… is this…?!)"
He had never seen anything like it before; like something straight outta some horror holofilm. Didn't the administrator say it was the Cherubs that had been released? Or was he misremembering? No records mentioned anything remotely like this creature…
KSSHZZ
"Ratchet!"
The Lombax jumped, his feet coming off the floor as the sound of his communicator and of Clank's voice sounded in his ear, tearing through the silence that had so recently fallen back over the place.
"Clank! I'm… I'm all right! I just-"
"Ratchet! HE IS-"
There was a crunching *THUD* and Clank's communicator went silent.
"Clank?! CLANK!"
Ratchet sprang off the wall and, all caution thrown to the wind, he tore off back in the direction of the Administrator's office.
He flew around the corner, up the aisle, and staggered to a halt, his stomach turning to lead.
The once-fine wood door was splintered, half lay on the floor, and the other was almost ripped completely off its hinges, and Clank was gone.
"Nononononono, gods PLEASE no, don't do this to me…! Clank!" Ratchet said desperately, touching his communicator again, but still there was nothing.
He tuned his communicator, and he almost collapsed with relief.
There was a soft, sine-wave-like tune in his ears – the one he heard when Clank was alive, but in trouble.
He looked around.
The debris from the office went outward, so whatever had taken Clank had left the way it came in.
He suddenly noticed a trail of bloody footprints that had most certainly not been there when he and Clank had arrived.
He followed them hastily, and saw they led into the doorway through which they had witnessed
the body from earlier getting dragged.
Ratchet dashed forward, ignoring the tingling in his fingers and the second-guesses that were springing to mind. Now was not the time to think, now was the time to act. Clank was in danger, and no matter what happened when he walked through that door, he would rescue him.
He pushed the door open and was swallowed in semi-darkness and the stench of decay.
A trail of blood left behind by a body being dragged along the floor painted a path for the Lombax to follow, and though he knew he was making too much noise, he didn't slow down.
He turned at a corner and sped down a wide, spiraling staircase.
The darkness intensified the further down he ran, and he turned on his flashlight and drew a combuster, expecting at any second to run into another one of those monsters or a Cherub.
But he saw nothing, and eventually he reached the bottom and was faced with a door - the elevator down to the Production facilities Clank had mentioned.
It was the only door he had seen as he raced through the darkness, and Clank's signal was definitely coming from below him. There was no turning back now.
The doors opened automatically as he approached, and he stepped inside the pitch-black shuttle, taking care not to stand in the pool of blood where a corpse had doubtless laid for several minutes as the elevator made its previous trip.
The shuttle hummed softly as it descended into the depths of the stronghold, and Ratchet stood in silence, his heart thumping, breathing hard, his mind on Clank – so focused in fact, that he almost didn't notice the air growing steadily colder and colder, until his breath rose in a misty fog in his flashlight.
He began to shiver.
"(Would it've k-killed 'em to t-turn the heat up?)"
The elevator gave a jolt and the humming stopped, and Ratchet got on the left side of the door, hiding in case anyone or anything was waiting for him at the bottom.
But there was nothing there – nothing but still, echoing, silent darkness.
The Lombax stepped forward. Though he wanted to find his best friend as fast as possible, his instincts were telling him it would be exceptionally foolish to continue making noise.
Much like the floors above, the passage was in a state that resembled the aftermath of a fierce battle, but the stench of decay intensified with every step he took, and the cold bit deeper, bypassing the fur covering his body, and chilling his very bones.
*Tink*
Ratchet whipped about as the unmistakable sound of something metallic reached his ears upon passing a doorway, his combuster raised and his hand, though the rest of him shook, quite steady.
"Clank?" Ratchet hissed. The diminutive bot's signal was a little stronger now, but there was no answering voice.
He entered through the doorway and came to a flight of stairs. He descended them slowly, looking
over the banister to look for the source of whatever had made the noise.
But upon reaching the foot of the large, twisting staircase, he was met only with more destruction and he pressed on, each step becoming subtly more difficult as his nerves mounted with horrible, twisted anticipation.
He passed a large door that was humming and sparking feebly, rising about six inches, then thudding to the ground before trying again, blood pouring from underneath, and a dismembered hand still clutching onto the grip of a pulse rifle at its base.
He jerked around. He could have sworn he heard something moving in the shadows, but as his light flooded the long passage behind him, he saw he was still very much alone.
Alone…
Ratchet swallowed, forcing his mind back to Clank who needed him, thinking of Rivet who was counting on him to return. No, he wasn't alone; he had Clank, Rivet, and Kit. He couldn't lose focus, he had to stay strong.
With the thought of Clank and of Rivet on his mind, his anxiety lessened somewhat and he continued through the silent, oppressive shadows and death-scented air of the facility.
He came to a door whose motion tracker still seemed to be working, and it rose slowly with a dull hum as he approached.
The room was full of large, slimy pods that emitted a dull green glow in the darkness. Thick strands of some mucousy substance spread out from these pods in every direction like tentacles, interlinking and interweaving with one another, some connecting to the ceiling, and transmitting some sort of fluid to and from the pods.
All his instincts telling him to turn back, the fact remained there was no other way forward.
Squeezing the combuster tightly in his hand, his breath shaking and rising in quick puffs of fog before his eyes, he set forth through the cramped room, doing his best not to step on any of the tendrils. He had seen enough horror films to know that to touch anything in here would be a death wish…
The fluid in the pods was almost fully opaque, but Ratchet could see silhouettes of unknown creatures, drifting about lazily within the fluid, and making the pods writhe and pulse sporadically.
The time it took to reach the end of this hallway felt like hours, and more than once the Lombax came close to stumbling as he was forced to place his boots in awkward and precarious positions as he navigated through the field of slimy tendrils.
At last he reached the end, and had to force himself to continue to walk slowly as he began putting distance between him and the pods.
The distant, muffled sound of machinery reached his ears, echoing dully through the silent passage.
"(Maybe they'll actually have the lights on if they're operating machines… )"
He passed through another door and entered a sort of lab, and repressed a shudder as he saw more of the pods dotting the room.
Shaking his head, he tuned back into Clank's distress signal. It was clearer now, and he could sense his best friend was close.
"Clank…?" he whispered again, passing a bloodstained desk and choosing not to check behind it for fear of what he might see.
He walked up a narrow passaged with a sign at its entrance – 'Production Line'.
Ratchet lengthened his strides, the sound of his boots on the metal floor muffled now by the sound of machinery, which grew louder with each step.
Much as the last few doors had, Ratchet's entrance to the next room revealed itself to him as he approached, and he saw a dim, reddish-orange glow, and making him turn off his flashlight at once.
He was standing on an observation platform high, high above what appeared to be a sort of assembly line.
Though it was far, FAR from any assembly line like he had ever seen.
The conveyors below were transporting, not bits of scrap or assembled machinery, but dead bodies, some mangled, others covered in the brownish green slime secreted by the sightless monster Ratchet had fought earlier.
But far worse than this, the conveyors were leading into the top of a large structure with a sign labelled 'Fertilization', and at the bottom, out came more of the sickly green pods, dark and flattened and slimy, which were then lifted carried away by dozens of those pale-green, eyeless monsters.
The stench of death and the sight of the abominations below were almost overwhelming, and Ratchet averted his eyes in disgust, his stomach churning.
So this was what Valen meant by 'essential employees'…
The crazed Fongoid had killed them all, and converted their bodies to some sort of nourishing pods for whatever monsters they would become from his twisted experiments. But still, why kill people on his own side…?
Clank's signal was coming from a room across the chasm below, and Ratchet looked for a way forward. If he was careful, he could tether onto the Fertilization tower, then over to the adjacent observation platform.
Checking his surroundings and making sure none of the monsters below were aware of his presence, he fired his tethershot at one of the columns and sprang across the large gap, landing catlike on the humming, clanking and banging metallic tower.
He looked below, and was relieved to see none of the monsters had noticed him as they continued doing their work of transporting these pods away to various locations in the facility where they could flourish.
He tethershotted again, and landed on the opposite platform with a dull thud of leather on metal, and he passed through the door, into a passage whose lights flickered on as the door shut behind him.
So relieved to be away from the stench and the mingled sounds of heavy machinery and unseen
atrocities, Ratchet almost didn't immediately register the dull, blue-ish white light that had flared in the hallway, illuminating his surroundings.
The passage here was much cleaner; there was no blood, and there was very little debris scattered across the floor.
"(Must be close to Valen's office, or room, or whatever the heck is stays in…)"
After all, he certainly wouldn't want his and Clank's apartment to be so messy… And speaking of Clank…
"Clank!"
Ratchet broke into a run. The small, diminutive bot was in another cage, which was set into a small cavity in a wall through a door at the end of the hallway, looking a little scratched, but nevertheless alive.
"Ratchet!" Clank called, relieved, "Oh, thank heaven! I was worried when you stopped answering my attempts to contact you!"
"Valen must be jamming our communicators. It's a good thing you set up your distress signal on a custom channel, or I might never've found'ja! All right, now let's get you- What the-?!"
Ratchet had just reached forward to lift Clank out of the cavity in the wall, but as his fingers came within a few inches of the metal bars, security lasers burst to life, blocking Ratchet's access to his best friend.
Before either Lombax or bot could say another word, a hook came down behind Clank's cage and lifted the bot away, carrying him out of sight.
Ratchet swore loudly and punched the wall before wheeling about and dashing back for the door.
But as he approached, the door slammed shut, the already dim lights sparked and died, and the Lombax was plunged once more into darkness.
"Oh, Ratchet… You're soooo predictable... Honestly darling, do try a bit, won't you? I've been looking forward to this!"
Ratchet froze.
Echoing through the room and the shadowy halls, the voice of Lord Valen had sprung to life over the intercom.
"All the same, I shan't feign stoicism at the fact of your continued survival. Oh, that isn't a criticism by the way! I must confess I'm quite pleased! Shocked, but delighted! Life had grown so dull without you around my dear! And then to see you take out one of my beloved Harvesters? What a thrill! You're the first one ever to survive, I'll have you know! Yes, it's lovely to see you still alive and full of such passion my dear Lombax. However…"
Valen gave a theatrical sigh.
"The fact remains His Brilliance wishes to exterminate every last one of your kind. He has been in a good mood lately, and it would be such a drag if he learned of your continued existence. And worse still, what if he learned you were under my roof, and I failed to stop you? It just won't do Ratchet, sooo… I'm afraid I cannot allow you to leave this place. Oh, OH! But how about a little
game? Find your deathbot, and I shall introduce myself to you more properly! After all, I don't believe we've ever exchanged any sort of formalities! 'Tis a temping offer, no?"
"Or, how 'bout'cha tell me where Clank is and show yourself now so I can introduce your face to my Omniwrench?!"
Valen let loose a wild, cold laugh which reverberated through the dark halls.
"Such a sassy one! How I missed your smart mouth, Lombax… No, you must have forgotten how things work in this empire! You must work for your food or you will become the meal yourself... How shall you answer tonight? Let us see, shall we…?"
And with a crackle, Valen's voice died, throwing the veil of silence over the Lombax's ears once more.
A door opened on the opposite side of the room.
With the path behind him now locked, Ratchet turned his flashlight back on, drew his combuster, and set off once more into the endless shadow.