Over the past months, Rivet, along with the rest of the company she belongs to, has been sent on various missions. Stealing fuel, ammunition or food, attacking enemy outposts or finding and recruiting former IMC commander James MacAllan and his buddies. This Markazian man was fed up with his former superiors and their actions against the people of the Frontiers, so he devised a plan that Sarah Briggs, one of the most important people in the Militia, agreed to. MacAllan's plan was to destroy the fuel facility on Demeter, where IMC forces always arrive after hyperspace jumps. This, however, required a lot of preparation, and young Lombax was also enlisted for this, like stealing a blueprints of a defense towers, hacking attacks or gather resources
Besides that, Rivet was eventually spotted by one of the officers who, as it turned out, knew Lombax biology and recognized that the girl was underage. The teenager asked the officer not to expel her. The man, however, was not going to listen to this and was about to send the girl away, but at the same time Sarah intervened, who decided that Rivet would stay in the Militia fleet, even though the officer still expressed his objections.
And so Lombax continued her activities in the ranks of the Militia. She continued to fight and destroy IMC forces.
But even with her loyalty to that faction, the girl still saw how POWs and civilian IMC workers were treated. Lack of food, brutal interrogations or executions in front of cheering Militia soldiers. She didn't like it.
But what's an ordinary soldier like her supposed to do?
The first thing Ratchet felt after another night in the cell was an electrifying pain in his chest. An electric baton was pressed to his body, which caused a lot of pain. When it was put back, Lombax looked at the person that was hurting him.
He is a representative of Eliksni, whose body is covered with orange full body armor, he has all four hands, each with a different torture device.
"Well, well, well. Look who woke up here? Did you sleep well, spawn of Clyde?" Eliksni asked.
In response, Ratchet only groaned in pain. Everything hurt him. Ever since he was found by the Fallen pirate ship, he has been notoriously tortured. Not because he had any information, but just because it pleased the leader of this band.
Second later, the door next to him opened and the Eliksni woman walked through it. Her white and blue armor, with small dark blue crystals covered her body, and two of her four hands held electrified sabers.
"Hello, Taniks. I hope our "guest" is treated well?" she asked.
"As you wished, Eramis-Kell. Still, I think we should kill him and sell his fur, or make a rug out of him." Taniks replied.
"I understand your desire, bounty hunter. But why should we destroy our toy when we can still play with it."
At the moment she said that, a small, levitating, dark blue crystal appeared in her hand, which after a while took the form of a knife. Eramis then plunged the blade into the teenager's body and began to spin it, causing the boy to scream in pain.
This is how Ratchet spent the last few months. Taken by Eramis, the Shipstealer and leader of House of Salvation, then placed in her fortress on some icy planet, and then tortured by her and Taniks. This two used a variety of torture methods, ranging from cuts on the body with knives, electrification with batons, the insertion of those powered by a Darkness dark blue Crystals, to suffocation.
Day after day, week after week, month after month. This was how Ratchet lived his life these days. In a cold, dark cell.
But he didn't know that someone was watching him. Someone from outside this universe.
When Ratchet opened his eyes, he saw that he was in someone's apartment, not in his cell. The walls and furniture are completely dirty and damaged, as if no one had taken care of them for many, many years. The boy didn't know what was going on, then looked at his body. Instead of rags, he wears black jumpsuit, and his torture scars are gone.
Second later he heard the sound of plates being put down behind him. He turned around and saw two people, a man and a boy, who looked very similar. Both of them were busy with their activities, such as a washing plates or preparing food.
The young man finished washing the dishes and turned around. His face took on a surprised expression when he saw Ratchet standing in the room, but a smile quickly appeared on his lips.
"You're finally here. Me and Drifter were wondering when you'd show up." The boy said, pointing to the man.
The older individual stopped making food and also turned around and was surprised to see Lombax too. After a second, he smiled too and pointed to a nearby table.
"Howdy. Seems we all three are here now. Sit down at the table and we'll serve you food in a moment. You must be hungry after all this torture," said the man.
Even though Ratchet had been taught not to trust strangers, he didn't care now. If this whole situation is some sick way to kill him with poisoned food, he'll still eat it. So he sat down at the table and waited.
After a while, the three of them were sitting at the table with a tray full of food.
"Voila! Bon appetite or whatever you want to hear," said the Drifter, scooping up food that was actually cubes of different colors. Then he looked at his smaller version. "Tenno, will you pass me the salt?"
"Sure," replied the teenager.
As the two of them ate peacefully, Ratchet sat and did nothing but watch his hosts.
The Drifter looks like a man approaching 30. He has brown, messy hair with yellow tips and a thick brown beard, also with yellow tips. His attire consists of a dark jumpsuit, which is under a badly worn gray poncho. His pale pink face bore many scars, and his green eyes flashed white from time to time.
The Tenno looks like a younger version of the Drifter, only without the beard. Even scars are the same and in the same places. His attire consists of a dark jumpsuit with small details painted in gold.
Lombax has never seen anyone look like this except Captain Qwark, but he has three fingers instead of five and an antenna on top of his head.
At some point, Tenno saw that his visitor wasn't eating, so he stopped eating and asked a question.
"Everything's all right? Is the food not tasty?" he asked softly. The Drifter also stopped.
Ratchet thought for a moment about what to say, then chose to ask a question.
"W-why are you doing this? Is this some kind of trick? Where am I?"
Hearing the teenager's frightened voice, the Tenno and the Drifter looked at him sadly. The younger host snapped his fingers and a warm blanket appeared on Lombax's body, and he held a cup of hot chocolate in his hand. Unable to control his urges any longer, Ratchet drank the entire drink and then ate the remaining cubes on the tray. Each one tasted like the food his parents made him.
After he had eaten and saw that he did not feel poisoned, Lombax looked at his hosts.
"T-thank you. It was d-delicious."
"I hope so, Third. Do you know how much work I've done on this food?" said the older man with a smirk on his face, which earned him a nudge from the younger host.
"Show some tact, Two. He's still our guest, even if it's still his home. In some way"
"Yeah, yeah. Take it easy, First. I was just joking."
Ratchet was slightly confused by what he was hearing. Third? His house? What is this about?
His hosts quickly realized that a few things needed to be clarified
"So…you must be wondering what the hell is going on here, huh?" asked the Drifter, receiving only a nod in response. He pointed to his younger self. "You see…You, Me and One are the same person. And we're here because of the young one."
"Wow, thanks for throwing me under a speeding bus, Two. It's really nice." Tenno said sarcastically. "But yeah… the three of us are the same person. In some sense."
Seeing that Ratchet was surprised by this version, First began to explain everything in order. He told how he and a million other colonists on the Zariman 10-0 were about to move to another star system by doing a hyperspace jump through the Void, which is a dimension where the laws of physics, time and space do not exist. He told of how the jump had failed and instead the entire ship had been swallowed up by this chaotic dimension, and how it had caused the adults to go on a bloody rampage, killing anyone else who still was normal. First also mentioned how he had to kill his parents by himself when he was twelve because they threatened a few-year-old girl. He also talked about how he and other children met a mysterious being from this dimension who offered them the power to save themselves, and they all agreed.
"And that's where the fun begins," the Drifter interjected. "You see, there is such a thing as Eternalism, which is that the past, present and future are all equally real. So are the choices. If, for example, you wake up in the morning and want breakfast, it doesn't matter if you choose cereal or sandwiches, both choices are equally real. The same goes for this taking power, when it shouldn't be."
"W-what does it mean?" Ratchet asked.
"As I mentioned, the Void is a dimension where the laws of physics, time and space don't apply. This allows you to travel to other universes, whatever they may be. Eternalism, however, does not apply here. When I took this power, my other versions should completely disappear, as well as the timelines they were in." The Tenno replied, being interrupted again by the older man.
"But as you can see, you and I still exist, although your existence is still a mystery to us."
"W-why?" asked Lombax.
"Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to that. We can only assume that either the Man in the Wall, that being from the Void, or the Void itself had a hand in this. For what purpose and how, I do not know." One replied. He then got up from his chair and sat next to his furry version and put his hand on Lombax's shoulder. "But know that it doesn't mean you're fake or anything like that. You're as real as that old man next to us."
"Oi!"
This make Lombax laugh slightly. It made him feel a bit better.
For the next few minutes, the three of them talked to each other. First explained to Ratchet how the energy they control works, to which Lombax showed his other versions that he could create weapons imitating the Lightbearers' abilities from his dimension. This took the Tenno by surprise and made the Drifter try to do it himself, but with rather explosive results in the face. The two also informed Lombax that he might be receiving scraps of their memories in the near future, and vice versa. It worried the last representative of the Iron Lords that he would slowly turn grumpy like a Drifter, to which the grown man countered with a middle finger and a laugh. Both representatives of the human race also told about what happened to them in their lives after meeting the being of the Void, i.e. wars, experiments, tortures, betrayals, fairy-tale islands and their totalitarian regime and such.
Although he had only just met them, Ratchet quickly liked his other versions, but even such a warm meeting needed to end. Suddenly he felt a pain in his chest, the same pain when Taniks electrified him with the baton. Before Lombax could say goodbye to the Drifter and the Tenno, he found himself back in his cell, with the bounty hunter standing before him.
"Ding, ding, din. It's time to wake up, sleeping prince. Another day full of pain awaits."
And so three years passed. Three years of torturing, stabbing, and Eramis and her followers using the power of Darkness on him. Ratchet had had enough. He just wanted it to end.
Looks like someone must have heard his pleas.
The now Eighteen-year-old Lombax woke up in the middle of the night. He heard a sound coming from behind the walls. He figured it must be a rat or a spider.
"Wow… that insult me, my dear kid."
Before the young adult could react, he felt his body break free from its shackles and fall to the ground. Everything hurt like hell. Then he felt fingers touch his chin and lift his head. When he looked at the person doing it, he froze.
"Hey, kiddo. How are you?"
Before Ratchet stood his doppelganger. Same look, scars and clothes. Only the eyes were as dark as a black hole. Lombax knew who it was.
"The Man in the Wall," the young adult said.
At the mention of his name, the being from the Void just smiled devilishly.
"Ahhh…so I don't need to introduce myself. Good. This saves us time and allows us to get down to business." He then released Ratchet's chin and sat in the air as if there was a chair underneath him. "I have an offer for you, Rachet. I'm going to give you a little boost of energy, allowing you to get out, but when you're gonna do it, I want you to create incredibly brutal and destructive chaos. And when you're free, I'll leave you alone. So…deal?
Lombax knew that the thing before him was the Devil in evil form. No brakes on damage or casualties. Normally, it would be clear to Ratchet not to ally himself or make any deals with such a creature. But now? All he wanted now was revenge on Eramis, Taniks and those who had killed his father and mother. If that means he has to fight his way through the fortress-city, full of Eliksni civilians, then so be it.
The young adult accepted the Void creature's offer. Second later, he felt his whole body fill with energy, which quickly put him on his feet.
He then ran towards the exit of his cell and let out a demonic roar.
Three years, four months, tw weeks and five days. That's exactly how long it took Cayde and Petra to figure out where Ratchet was. They spent all this time searching, neglecting their duties, which often ended in arguments at work. But they didn't care. All that mattered was finding Lombax. And now they stand at the entrance to the fortress-city of House of Salvation, where their nephew is being held.
"Ready?" asked the Awakened woman, rifle in hand.
"Yup. Let's save our boy." Cayde-6 replied, loading his Ace of Spades revolver.
When they got inside, they saw a scene from a horror movie. Eliksni corpses lay everywhere. Torn to pieces, cut up, impaled on something, or even shot. Children also meet this fate.
Both adults had seen a lot of death in their lives, but this looked like the work of a demon or some other monstrosity. They began to fear for Ratchet's life, thinking that the being who did this had hurt him. Oh, how big was their surprise when they discovered that he was behind it. As proof, they saw a sign written in blue blood on the wall that said, "You are next, Eramis. And you, too, Taniks, and anyone who had a hand in killing Clyde!"
When they saw this, they quickly understood that there is now a very dangerous, hateful monster on the loose that needs to be caught quickly.
