Without a word, her hoverboots blast off, bouncing across the cliffs to climb towards Saros as quickly as possible. "You fool!" The general's scolding voice rings in her ears, "You're leaving your back exposed!"

Ignoring him entirely, she overclocks the boots. "I'm saving my friend first!"

"Well, what are you waiting for?!" Nefarious' voice echoes in the weapon's mind. "Follow them!"

Weaving across the cracks that spread further and further apart, the metal markazian attempts to climb to safety, finding no real path to it. Between his feet, the ground beneath him begins to give way-and he falls.

The hum and light of hoverboots flies closer and closer to him, and Nova calls out to him. "Ross!"

Reaching out with his own hand, he calls towards his friend. "Nova!"

It's close, far too close, but they connect, sending both of them into an embrace that sends them skidding across the sand. Recovering her breath, the young woman immediately places a hand on his good arm to check on him. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," he gets out just as out of breath; old habits dying hard despite air not being a requirement. "You?"

Nova blinks at the phrasing, and while the question of why that specifically felt important remains, it's quickly forgotten in favor of her own question. "I-I thought you were in the garage! Why'd you come out here?! I-if that thing finds you, it'll-"

"It won't," Saros flatly argues. Then, his features soften into a smile. "Because I know you've got my back."

The sound of hydraulic footsteps pricks her ears, and Nova quickly turns her attention back to him with a smile of her own. "You're right. And I always will." Her face then hardens, having spoken something aloud she didn't consider before.

Saros watches as she turns towards her opponent, gripping her weapon to protect him as the metal copy does the same to attack. "I get it now!" Nova grits her teeth as she pushes against Puppet Ratchet's weapon once more. Dust pushes up from against their feet as she calls back to her friend. "Why things had to turn out this way! We were both wrong! About everything!"

The copy suddenly jumps back, throwing off her balance only for a moment before the organic immediately blocks him again. "It was always you! You unlocked my powers! You were fooled by Nefarious, and by the stars I wanted to smack you for it! But you meant well! You always did! I love you, Ross, but you aren't my Sasha or my Talwyn!"

A bright blue and green glow fills her eyes, and an electrified knee slams beneath the metal lombax's rib cage, leaving a heavy dent. The weapon reels back, and Nova uses the opportunity to snatch the dropped silver omniwrench. Gripping the handle, sparks spread from her hands throughout the wrench itself, overcharging it with her own power. Leaning back with every ounce of her body weight, she calls out to her friend in a spirited cry; "You're my Clank!"

Striking the robot with all her might launches it into a spin, and Saros watches it eventually tumble to the ground limply, still sparking with energy.

It moves no more.

Nefarious' wine glass cracks and shatters beneath his grip.

It's over.

Nova drops Ratchet's wrench, slowly walking over to the body, and gently presses a hand to it's chest as she closes her eyes. "I'm so sorry. To both of you."

After dismounting from his perch, it takes the caretaker a long time to respond. "He would be proud of you, Nova," he eventually says. "And now, it is our goal to make sure that Nefarious pays for this."

Just as she nods in response and moves to get up, to gesture for the others to return to the garage, a radio static fills her ears that Clank hears too. Without a word, the markazian peels away the chest paneling to reveal a cracked core, still holding a charge. Snatching the piece out of the frame, she's surprised to hear a faint voice emanating from it. "...Thanks, kid."

"You saved me, now it's my turn to save your home. Get some rest, we'll take care of this, Ratchet."

"Gladly," he responds, the exhaustion in his voice clear.

With that, she cracks the core's glass, allowing it's light to fill her body once more. Finally, after all that's happened, she feels strong enough to finish this. 'No', she corrects herself, 'this is stronger than before.' "The universe is with us, I can feel it."

As the garage once more comes into view, Nefarious' personal ship floats down to the plateau. "You have GOT to be KIDDING ME! YOU'RE STILL ALIVE?!"

Despite the knowledge that her silence would irritate him far more, Nova calls out to the villainous doctor. "And better than ever, lime-brain!" Clank prepares himself for a fight, squatting his legs to jump onto his perch, then Nova stops him. "Wait," she asks gently. There's a soft smile on her face, and he hears the rest. 'Trust me,' and so he does.

"Saros," she calls just as warmly, but with a slightly more jovial tone to it. "Let's end this. You and me."

Behind her, Nefarious and a dozen of his troops flies towards them both with fury in his eyes, but for the first time in his life, there's not an ounce of fear in him.

He stares into her outstretched hand, and sees the flash of a knowing smirk on her face. Returning that look, he grips her palm, and when his weaker arm falls limp she quickly holds it in place at her back. "For everything he's put us through. By your lead, then?"

"Oh, hell yeah."

A Groovitron is flung upwards by both of their hands, and the music begins to play. As their bodies twist, they both expertly dodge Nefarious' attempts to slash them with his claws. "Stay STILL!"

"And why would we do that?" Nova asks, allowing Saros to spin her to kick the doctor with her hoverboots, knocking his jaw out of place for a moment. As he adjusts it back, a guttural yell echoes across the desert and blends with the melody of the Groovitron's song.

Even his minions aren't exempt from the disco ball's pull, and he flies back to avoid it himself. As the markazians tango around the sands, bullets flying, their backup dancers crumble to the ground.

"You took my victory!" Flying back, he gathers a dark purple energy in his claws and sends it towards them, watching as their tango's steps avoid the laser entirely. "I'll annihilate BOTH OF YOU MYSELF for that!" Growing more and more frustrated, Nefarious calls out to his troops. "Get reinforcements down there!"

Nova flicks her eyes to the dirt, and gets an idea. "Ross!" At her call, he dips her downwards. "Do you think you could handle a Zoni charge right now?!"

"I'll be fine! Whatever you're planning, go for it!" They share a nod, and he lifts his partner back to her feet, watching closely to put together whatever it is. Her footwork changes, pressing the tip of her boots into the loose sand like a pencil, and he gladly allows her to keep the lead.

Qwark emerges, out of breath from his own fighting, and he calls out to Clank. "What's going on?! Where's the fight?"

"Nova and Saros have this handled," he gestures, and they watch as Nova draws a spell into the dirt, taking out Nefarious' goons one by one as they move in unison. In some strange, vague way, it seems so natural to look at.

It's Qwark, surprisingly enough, that verbalizes it best. "You know, it sort of reminds me of the Megacorp ballroom dance training you two had."

"That it does," he responds. Lifting his yellow hand towards the symbol, a soft orb of light appears. "In that case, let us make this a bit more interesting."

A brilliant light begins to emanate from every line on the ground as the Zoni leader adds his own charge to the spell. That same light seems to surround their bodies, and Nova's clothes begin to change. The holoflux armor lights up, although it's design seems altered as if to take pointers from the Zoni's protective plating. At the front and back, the glowing Nanotech lines within it seem to have more of an hourglass motif, and the brooch she'd worn before sits itself in the chest plate as if it was never broken at all. Even the armor body itself seems to have expanded downwards in the torso, the cloth of the outer protection giving almost a coat-like appearance.

Upon closer inspection, Saros' own broken arm seems to be surrounded by a glow that stops time for the injury, evident by the timer in his mind freezing in place. There's a smile on his dance partner's face, more warm and genuine and truly happy than he's ever seen her, and he can't help but feel that things are finally going their way.

Nefarious charges forward once more, and is too angry to bother attempting to fight with the groovitron rather than against it. "You-" Saros swings Nova with all his might, causing her to kick his previous employer to the dirt. "Irritating little squishies!"

The markazians both sense a shift in their inventories; one with the staff in his possession, and the other with the shards of crystal she carries. As they share a glance, Saros spins Nova away from him, allowing her a free hand to catch the weapon he throws, and as she presses the crystal shards into it they combine in a flash of light, revealing a new weapon entirely.

The new staff seems to have a small omniwrench prong at each end, put together by the same silver and blue colors of her predecessor's preferred weapon. Closing her eyes, she can sense the latent power within it, and so she narrows her gaze to her target.

As he groans, recovering from the damage to stand once more, Nefarious finally sees it; the one thing he's worked so hard to achieve. It's almost nostalgic in a way, to see an organic bare their teeth and growl and lash out at him for his action. He's no stranger to such behavior; he's lived it, seen it from his old nemesis, and deep down he longed to see it again.

But this…this is different.

There's only the tiniest scowl, eyes and brows pushed in, fights tightly clenched and sparkling with a power he's only ever seen during his time on the Great Clock. It's silence carries something the lombax only ever showed him on the rarest of occasions; a complete and utter lack of patience that unsettles him, far more than he would ever care to admit.

And this being that carries it is a monster he created.

Placing two fingers at the side of it's base, Nova summons a string of light that seems almost to burn the tips of her gloves away, leaving them fingerless and exposing the sparks between the digits. A sharp point of energy where an arrow would be, and whether it's a trick of the light or his own optics betraying him, he could swear that Ratchet's ghostly form overlaps over her own.

Then finally, she says something.

"Game over, Nefarious!"

It only takes an instant for a powerful flash of light-which he could swear he sees his nemesis' image and weapon within-to crash right into the crack of his eye. His body flies backwards, careening to the distant rocks with a thud.