Nova opens her eyes to find herself in the Veldin garage, lying on a familiar couch. Her entire body seems chilled, and still sore to the bone, and the cracks of light spreading across the room tell her that this must be a dream. "Good, it worked. Still, it seems…" Her voice drifts off, taking in the sight of objects around her in a strange, glitched state. Some of the furniture seems fuzzy, and smaller things like photos, charms she's placed, or even the VG9000 and it's controllers phase in and out of existence. "Broken."

Shaking off the thought of what caused this damage, she moves to search the premises. "Ratchet? Are you still here?" Stepping around the glowing cracks in the floors, she checks every room, and finds herself alone. Passing by the bathroom is a bit of a comfort at least; her reflection is her own and her clothes are her own. Even her hair's been updated to the new cut, and she smiles as she puffs up a curl, preening herself in the mirror for a moment. "I had no idea how much I could miss this outfit."

The smile quickly fades as she turns to leave. "But now's not the time for this. Please let Aphelion still be here," she prays.

Outside, the condition of things isn't much better. Those same cracks seem to spread all across the plateau, and as the garage door shuts behind her it too begins to glitch, effectively locking her out. Thankfully, luck seems to be on her side as Aphelion remains parked right where she saw it last. The cockpit opens, as if the ship expects her, and Nova turns her attention to the moon hovering above her head.

…

Aphelion touches down in front of a very modest building, closed by a grand door with gears at it's center, and at her eye level is a string of symbols she doesn't recognize. "This place," she mutters, taking in every detail. Nova recalls the story it came from; Clank's retelling of Tachyon's defeat. "It seems…different." It's a gut feeling, far too close to her heart to be a guess yet too distant and vague to be a memory. Looking closer at the words, they must be a different phrase than what Talwyn would have translated so long ago anyway.

With no better ideas, she presses her left hand to the door, only to give a startled gasp as her hand is suddenly surrounded by sparks. The charge fills the door, causing the gears to spin and light the text printed on it. Slowly, the symbols shift and change, rearranging themselves to something Nova can read.

In this room lies the subconscious, life, and legacy of Ratchet Apogee. Only Ratchet himself or those permitted shall enter.

The text's glow fades, and the door eventually lifts open. Rubbing her palm with her right hand, she stares at the skin, watching as the sparks at her fingertips fade as if they were never there at all. Unlike the painful shocks of Nefarious' machine, however, this fuzzy feeling seems softer. It seems warmer, and entirely her own. "What was that?" A light breeze seems to call her inside, flowing into the dark space within.

She steps inside, startled as the door slams behind her. She isn't left in the darkness for long, however, as the room inside reveals itself to be an old bunker that's much larger from the inside. Metal doors lie to the left and right, and large crates clutter the space. "When Ratchet called this a museum, this isn't what I'd picture," she hums to herself. At the end of the hall lies a set of five monitors; a large one at the center and surrounded by four smaller ones. It's screen flickers a bit, but as Nova steps closer the static dissolves, revealing several images. However, the one at the center catches her attention.

Ratchet holds Clank close, smiling brightly at the camera as he holds a peace sign in his right hand; the same image Clank showed her so long ago in all its original colors as if it was taken yesterday.

Nova tears her eyes away from the screens to find a bolt crank appear behind her, and she jumps at the sudden change in the room with a yelp. "Oh! I, uh, guess that's where I need to be. Not sure how I'm supposed to do that without a wrench, though."

Just as the thought escapes her mouth, there's a shift in the air. A puff of air from nowhere whips at her hair, causing her curls to smack her in the face. Pulling at the strands with her fingers, she pushes it back, noticing that she's wearing a tiny earpiece. "A telequip? Does that mean…" Testing out her theory, Nova raises her left hand, eyes shut tight as she concentrates with all she has…

And the millennium 12 omniwrench she once threw away appears out of thin air. Sighing at the tool, she takes in every detail of it. "Sorry, Ratchet." Turning towards the bolt crank, she's surprised to find a dark, yet thin shadow in front of it.

The shadow looks at her for a moment, before circling the crank a few times and fading away. Following in it's footsteps, Nova hesitantly spins along as the crank clicks into place.

The floor shakes as the elevator drops to reveal a circular metal corridor, adorned with spinning gears that circle the tiny hall and light the way to a door at the end of the walk. As if ensuring that she's still following, the dark shadow turns back to her. "Wait," she says, and it stops. "I don't understand. Why would you bring me here?"

The shape, Ratchet's shape, moves its hands as if he's trying to say something, but Nova hears nothing but a voice that's far too faint and distant to pick up speech. "You don't have much left in you, huh?" It shakes it's head disappointingly, confirming her theory. "I see. Well, you wouldn't bring me here if it wasn't important." He nods at this, phasing through the closed door.

As Nova steps closer, the door spins open, revealing a shimmering portal. It seems to flash different images, including dense forests, factories, abandoned labs, and a bright balcony overseeing a grand building that lies between lush trees. "Memory lane, but not a road," the markazian mutters, gliding her fingertips over the portal. The surface of it almost behaves like a liquid, and the picture fades to distorted light as she touches it. Closing her eyes, she steps through, and immediately lets out a scream as she tumbles forward and falls.

Throwing her eyes open, it's almost overwhelming, and a sharp pain in her skull rattles her brain. Every inch of her view seems to be a kaleidoscope of memory, each image like a window into a certain time of Ratchet's life. Some of it she recognizes from stories, like the faces of old friends and the trials they faced, but it passes by too quickly and skips around so haphazardly that it's hard to place it in a timeline. Scattered words pass her by, the voices of Ratchet and others, but layered on top of each other too quickly to pick up context. Even the very feeling of falling like this seems eerily familiar somehow.

As the memories pass, her clothes are briefly covered in armor that glitches in and out of existence, and for a moment her vision's slightly obscured by a helmet that's far too big to be practical.

Despite the fear, the frustration, and the pain that flashes by with every single scene that floods her, there's something constant and warm that follows, flowing with it's own sets of colors. Green, red, blue, silver, slightly rusted metal and flaked paint. The young hero thinks of home, for just a moment, and finds a word for that feeling.

Love, in all of it's forms.

Before long, a crack opens below her, or what she assumes to be downwards from the disorienting surroundings, and Nova falls through.

Opening her eyes, the young woman looks around, feeling an almost familiar shock hit her body. A bright light fills her gaze, and at the center of it all is a silver frame that slowly floats upward. Distant speech reaches her ears, but she can't hear it. It isn't until she recovers herself to see Ratchet call for Clank that her eyes adjust to the scene.

She's never seen him look so lost.

There's a pulse to the air, and the memory stops. The others present; Qwark, Rusty Pete, Cronk, Zephyr, and Talwyn, freeze in their tracks as if time itself has frozen everything but Ratchet and herself.

He finally speaks. "Sorry to drag you here, kid."

Nova blinks, not expecting him to turn and look her way. "Ratchet…"

"This place," he gestures to the space station they're on, "A lotta memories here. Some good, some bad; there's a lot of time spent here. A lot to cling to." Staring into the space where Clank once was, he grabs his hand and holds it close. "I felt like such a failure that day. Like me not believing Clank back then caused all this."

Nova drops her gaze, tapping her fingers against her thigh. She lets out a weak chuckle. "I guess I know the feeling right now."

"Which is why the door must have brought you here," he theorizes. "You're too much like me. Old habits die hard, I guess, so I'll say the same thing Tal told me that day: none of this is your fault. What happened today, that wasn't on you, Nova."

"It's not just that," she clarifies. "I failed everyone. We were too late; my home is just rubble and ash now. I thought my parents and the others were dead but this..it's worse. Nefarious won, and the galaxy only has a few hours left before everyone is just metal zombies. He was right about me. About everything."

Ratchet gives her space, sensing that there's so much frustration to vent out and right now; it needs to come out without interruption. "I tried to be a hero. I tried to be worth a fraction of what you were and I…I couldn't handle it. The Zoni wasted their time on me." The markazian before him leans down, holding her arms at her gut and squeezing tight as she avoids his eyes. "You wasted your time on me. I'm sorry I got you taken, and that I couldn't keep your promise to Clank. I can't protect him. Hells, I couldn't even protect Saros from Nefarious."

Ratchet thinks for a moment on how to respond, ears folded and eyes low as he searches for something that'll help. Like a lightbulb humming to life, the light returns to his eyes as he gets an idea. "I think there's something you're not seein' here. I mean, look at what you've done so far!"

"You mean how I allowed Nefarious to almost rip both of our souls into cosmic confetti?"

"You're not listening," he snaps, then continues. "Remember your light-volleyball thing at the battleplex? What about the seance?"

Nova leans up, and a flicker of hope flashes across her body that's quickly snuffed out. "Powers you gave me. That doesn't count."

"All I 'gave' you was access bullet time and seeing into my past with my old crap. And honestly," he shrugs, "That second one was kinda a surprise to me too. But the rest of it, like the Goons at Qwark's party and how you took out that mech on Quantos? That's you. You know how those Zoni energy spells work, right?"

With a bit of thought, those lessons from childhood resurface. "We're taught that it requires channeling bioenergy through our own bodies," she answers. "That it's potent energy that's fatal in huge doses, so it takes years of training to work up resistance to it."

"And you and your mom are alive, aren't you?" The lombax grins as he watches the realization hit her face, bringing the spark back to her eyes. He steps closer. "Your natural energy pool would probably off most people, kid, and hey," he bumps against her shoulder, "Zoni are stronger in numbers right?"

The gears begin to turn faster in her mind as she counts them off, a hopeful curiosity brightening her voice. "So you're saying that you and Clank…just expand my own mana pool? This power, it's mine?"

"Believe me, I know it's hard to see what you're capable of sometimes. But I see it. Clank sees it. Qwark, Al, and Sigmund see it. Heck, Saros sees it now." Ratchet smiles, watching as she stands up a bit straighter.

"Nefarious has fought so hard to take you down because he sees it too." There's a cold pressure as the ghost taps her back, bringing Nova back to reality before asking one question. "You've still got the time capsule in your inventory, right?"

She stammers, but ultimately nods. "I-uh, I do. Is there something you need from it?"

"Nope, but there's something I want to give you while there's time."

Nova decides to go along with it; the case is summoned from inventory, and quickly unlocked with a hiss. She carefully digs through the pile, still just as filled to the brim with memories. None of it seems particularly helpful at the moment, though. "What am I even looking for?"

There's a slight delay in his response, wondering if it'll even help, but he ultimately decides to stick to it. "There's a folder on the very bottom; you're looking for a piece of paper in the very back."

Sure enough, there's a folder filled with all kinds of paperwork. Most of it is boring enough, legal documents and Ratchet's will. Irrelevant to the situation at hand, at least. However, as if to hide its existence, there's a sheet of paper with two signatures and text written entirely in Lombax just where he said it was. "Here it is," she says, holding the document towards Ratchet, "But I don't see how it's supposed to help me here."

"Tal found this for me," he explains. "She'd been teaching me a bit of Lombax so I could sort of read it by then. Just handed me an envelope and said 'Here. I skimmed the top of it to see what it is, but you should be the one to read this.'"

Hesitant to interrupt the story, yet too curious not to ask, she does so. "What could be that important?"

"It's my birth certificate," he clarifies, the confidence returning to his voice. "Tal said she wanted me to be able to decide what it means for me. I guess I could have made a copy in Galactic Standard, but there wasn't really any need to. This right here," He taps the paper, pointing to a single line of text. "Read it."

Figuring he means 'use your powers', Nova does so. Sure enough, the longer she squints at the text, it slowly pieces together into a phrase just as the museum bunker door did.

Before she can say it out loud, Ratchet stops her. "Now there's only two people alive that know that name, and I expect you to keep it that way."

The word echoes as it sticks in her mind, left at the tip of her tongue as she looks at her predecessor. It stays there, strange and unfamiliar, and harshly clashing with his image.

All that she can manage to say after a heavy pause is "It really doesn't suit you," and she truly, deeply means it.

"I agree. Tal and Clank were there when I read it." A thoughtful smile spreads on his face, nostalgia taking him through the rest of the story. "They didn't pry, but Clank looked up at me and asked me 'so, my friend, what is your name?' I just looked at them both, said 'it's always been Ratchet,' and that was it. Proposed to Tal that day too," he adds with a chuckle as he envisions the scene. "Later on I told her and Clank, and they promised to keep it to themselves. They insisted I didn't have to share it if I didn't want to, but I wanted them to know it."

"And they did; keep it to themselves I mean," Nova assures him. "Clank's never mentioned it, but I never thought to ask either." The markazian smiles at the thought, but it quickly turns to genuine confusion. "But, I don't understand. If it's such a deeply personal thing, why are you giving me your birth name? I haven't earned that kind of gift."

"I want you to have it, simple as that," Ratchet explains. "When life throws crap your way, your name is the one thing you have full control over no matter what. No one can take it from you or change it unless you want to, and your birth name only has the power you give it. Some people are happy with their birth names and that's fine." The lombax gives an indifferent shrug; "For me, it's my dead name and it stayed that way all my life."

"A dead name," Nova mutters to herself, unable to stop a soft grin from forming on her face. "I like that term. I like my birth name, but Ratchet suits you a lot more."

"Yeah. My point is: whenever you feel like you've lost everything, or that you haven't earned your place in the world, or feel like you're not meant to be here, I want you to remember that name. I trust you with it, so you need to trust me."

The young woman closes her eyes, running her fingers under the dead name. She sounds out the word in her mind, letting the weight of such a gift wash over her like a heavy blanket. Finally, she looks up, offering him a respectful nod. "Thank you, Ratchet. I promise I'll take good care of it."

"Thank you," Ratchet nods, content that she'll keep her word. "And try to remember that even though the others talk a big game about me, I was just one person. A mortal, like you. So the whole 'be a great hero like me' thing or whatever, I promise you the stakes aren't that high, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Ratchet. Means a lot to hear that from you." Both of them stay there in silence for a moment, until a sharp "Oh!" from Nova startles him. "There's something I need you to do if you can, since we're still tied. Can you tell me where you are right now?!"

An ear is raised at the request. "Where the rest of me is? I can try, but how?"

The markazian grabs him by the hands, closing her eyes, and she gestures for him to do the same. "With Zoni light there's this…soft hum, I don't know how to explain it. You probably have it. Focus on it, but I need you to try to kinda ground yourself to it too. Let me see through your eyes, if you can."

Ratchet shuts his eyes, scrunching his face in focus, with his ears eventually pricking up as he picks up on something.

…

The metallic lombax opens his optics, glowing a soft green instead of the intended orange, and he quickly scans the space to find any sort of clues that'll help. In front of him is Lawrence, who watches his employer practically bouncing at the wheel like a child at the playground as he steers the battle cruiser towards his destination. "Are you certain that ignoring their escape was a good idea, sir?"

Waving off the butler's concerns, Nefarious continues to drive. "It's fine, I got what I needed anyway. There should be enough charge to continue on, and that spell was lethal, from what research showed. Nothing we can do. But just picture it, Lawrence; in just a few hours my plans will finally be realized! After all these years, I win! I finally win! Oh, I can't wait to test this pet project of mine out! So many opportunities, so much chaos!"

Despite the very notion of it and the phrasing making him want to puke, and his energy beginning to fade from the distance, Ratchet remains still as he squints at the villain. Lawrence turns back to check on said 'project', and he hopes he closed his eyes in time. Satisfied that there's no disturbance, the butler returns his attention to the control panel before him.

With the coast clear, Ratchet tries to zoom in to the screen at Nefarious' hip to read the coordinates with the last of his focus. "Of course, sir," the butler encourages. "And such a project needs to be armed, does it not?"

…

The others carefully watch as Nova, currently floating in the mnemonic station, suddenly twitches at some unknown disturbance. Her eyes shoot open, glowing green for a moment before flashing to a bright blue and fading to a more natural hue. Gravity returns to her, and the chamber is immediately opened, exposing her to the fresh air once more. She passes on the message with a horrified whisper.

"Veldin."

They're caught off guard by her sudden and harsh awakening, and Nova's practically sprints towards the nearest teleporter and nearly trips over her own feet. "Have to move, get to-"

"Whoa, whoa, hey," Saros stops her, gently grabbing her shoulders before she rushes off. "You gotta breathe, Nova, in and out." Her hands quickly push his off, and fear fills her eyes. "Tell us what you learned so we can help."

Trying her best to shake off his grip again, her eyes dart in the general direction of the exit. "I-it's Veldin, he's going for the armory! We have to get there before they do!"

Clank shudders, the gravity of the situation hitting him just as hard. "If Nefarious gains access to our arsenal, there is nothing stopping him from updating the weapons and having a full range of tools to do whatever he pleases. The garage walls are reinforced with raritanium, but that will not hold for long."

"I don't want to know what Nefarious would do with a dozen RYNOs; we don't have any time to waste!" With that, Nova dashes towards her partner, flicking him to her back as they lead the way with a sprint. "Qwark, you made those calls, right?"

"Sure did," he answers, joining the other heroes. "The cavalry's on it's way, just waiting on the signal!"

"Wait!" Saros calls from behind them, his 'lungs' working overtime to cool his internals as he follows them. "I'm coming with you!"

Nova whips her head back for a split second, enough for him to notice a smile on her face despite everything. "Glad to have you on our side!"

He nods in response, calling ahead to her. "Wouldn't your weapons be locked up? Nefarious doesn't have a key; that'll buy us time."

"He has a key," Nova corrects. "It's locked with a bolt crank!"