The heroes were still unaware of the betrayal.

Eric had found the base, which was only a few meters away from them, and the human suggested looking for resources there. "Maybe the others have arrived here too. The facility is inevitably in their way," the young man pointed to the large building. Ratchet and Rivet, on the other hand, thought before they acted, " There could be xenomorphs or androids hiding there." The lombaxes reloaded their weapons for the case while their new ally on the tree searched the whole area. Sting found no sign of his partner, who was still alive. However, the predator picked up a heat signal of what was there.

And used it to alert his allies.

"Sting found something," Clank guessed the call was a warning or something, but when Eric listened closer it was something else, "No...he says Mr. Iron is there alone...and some of the aliens," Eric pulled out his pistol as a precaution at the mention of the dark monsters. The four heroes of the galaxy were also ready to shoot, but something strange caught the rebel's eye at that phrase, "Wait! Then where are the rest?"

"We'll find out when we rescue Mr. Iron," Eric ran off without hesitation. The lombaxes, and the predator too, tried to hold him back. Nobody knew what awaited them there. The heroes now followed behind, where they could already see the open door and the broken glass on the windows inside the room. They also noticed that there was a door on the outside leading to a long corridor behind the trees.

And on the other side of the glass they could find the elderly person.

"ERIC, HELP," Mr. Iron was in the passageway and was stuck, "I tried to enter through here and wanted to leave it open for you, but the door has locked!"

"One moment, I'm coming," the younger human ran towards the wall. But the lombaxes wondered where the others were. Adrian, Kenny, Tusk, they were nowhere to be found, "Tell me! Where's the rest of the group?"

"They're all dead," came sadly from the older man, who bowed his head. But then his eyes caught sight of a looming danger behind the fluffy aliens.

"WATCH OUT, BEHIND YOU!"

Before they could turn around, Sting intervened. The predator pierced one xenomorph with his spear before the lombaxes took care of the rest. Fire was opened and the aliens attacked the heroes. "Cover me, I'll try to open the door," then Eric began to climb up the wall. This was a construction that had not yet been completely finished. Therefore, the corridor was not yet completely finished and it was only possible to reach the door from inside the base. However, the young human skillfully climbed up the building to help his boss.

Meanwhile, Sting continued to slay the aliens with his arm blades, along with the lombaxes. Ratchet shot down one that was about to pounce on Rivet. Like a perfect unit, the lovers leapt around, shooting at the xenomorphs and even managing to back up the hunter in the process. "Damn it," in the midst of the battle, Ratchet pulled out his radio, "ADRIAN, PLEASE COME! ADRIAN!" "Ratchet," the rebel quickly put his hand aside and dodged a claw swipe, "There's nothing more we can do..."

The orange one lowered his head for a moment before continuing to beat the xenomorph into flight with his girlfriend. Finally, Eric reached his destination and clung to the door like a spider monkey, "I've got you, sir!"

"Eric, I need the key card. Open the door with it and give it to me, please", said and done and the dark-skinned man opened the lock and deftly stepped inside without being pulled away from the door. It opened from both sides. The humans were finally reunited and Eric handed over the card. But before he could utter a word of reassurance, he suddenly felt something touch against his stomach and the look on his superior's face was as cold as ice, "Sorry, my boy. I don't need you anymore!"

And a loud gunshot followed.

The heroes and the predator, having just defeated the xenomorphs, had set their sights on the source of the bang, where the young human fell into the stream that led to the waterfall. Rivet immediately recognized the gun in Mr. Irons' hand, and that had been proof enough. Without hesitation, the rebel fired at the red-haired man, who narrowly dodged the shot and went to close the door. "I knew we couldn't trust him," came furiously from the white Lombax, where the shocked Ratchet now also found his voice, "You... damn traitor!" This was too much for Sting, too, and the predator leapt with his powerful legs towards the open door. He arrived in time to reach out his left arm and grab Mr. Iron by the neck. Gasping for breath, the human tried to hit the emergency switch that would close the door. He just managed to reach his target before Sting could break his neck and hammered on the red button, causing the door to slam shut forcefully.

But the predator screamed out completely.

The force had separated his left arm. Mr. Iron took flight through the hallway, and the lombaxes and their robot friends stared even more shocked at the amputated hunter, "STING!" Green blood shot out of the shoulder where his left arm used to be, and after more screaming, the predator also plunged into the stream, drifting towards the waterfall. He couldn't swim without his second arm and then fell down the cliff. The heroes did not hesitate and ran towards it. Hoping to reach the predator, however, a big surprise awaited them, causing both lombaxes to lift their eyes in shock but also relief.

Eric had grabbed hold of the rock, and with his other hand he held onto Sting's right.

"Quick...I can't...hold him any longer," was all the human had to say. The lombaxes pulled them up with all their strength and even managed to pull them back down to the normal surface. On the ground, Sting was still bleeding out, grunting loudly in pain. Eric tore a piece from his sleeve and quickly tied it around his bullet wound before the heroes could even look at it. Rivet, on the other hand, stared at the armless Predator, sweating rather nervously, and held onto her own prosthesis out of reflex. Just watching someone else lose their arm brought back memories of how her arm was once taken from her. But now was no time for phantom pains.

Ratchet realized this immediately, wrapped his arms around the rebel and pulled her close, "It's going to be okay. I'm here." She accepted the hug gratefully before pulling herself together again, "Quick, or he'll bleed to death!"

"We have to get to the hospital! It's just around the corner," Eric supported the humanoid alien next to him, whose wound was still open. Fortunately, the young human had been right, because the station was nearby. The still conscious hunter immediately went through the door before he was thrown into the hospital bed by the lombaxes and humans. Grunting, he coughed up blood from behind his mask while the others closed his open wound with bandages, "You have to stay calm now! We'll fix it!" Now Sting remained calm for a moment and swallowed the pain. The lombaxes needed a moment to catch their breath while the young human got ready for the operation, "I'm... sorry. I had no idea what Mr. Iron was up to." The heroes did not respond. Rather, Rivet was preoccupied with something else that was still a mystery to her, and by the look on Ratchet's face, he was currently thinking the same thing.

"How did you survive," came from both of them at the same time.

"Well..." Eric stammered something under his breath, "He only...just missed...to..."

"Give me a break with this shit," the rebel finally burst her bubble and even raised her gun, threatening the human, "Who are you?"

"Rivet, wait," Kit jumped off her friend's back, "Don't let the situation escalate any more than..."

"No," Eric had interrupted her after all, which got everyone's attention, including Sting, "No more lies. I'll show you the truth." The man then reached for the bandage he had wrapped around himself and opened it again. They could first see the hole in his shirt before he lifted it slightly to reveal the bullet wound. The heroes raised their eyes in surprise and shock at the sight of the wound. There was no red blood flowing, but white. Now everyone here could put one and one together.

Clank was the first to make a move, "Eric...is an android."

The android bowed his head. Now everything became even clearer to the heroes than usual. "That's why he can pull all-nighters...climb like an athlete...," Ratchet went over everything he'd seen the supposed human do. "I was built to study the research," Eric said, "But...at some point something inside me said...no...I didn't want to hurt any more humans and refused to do the job. The other androids are all obedient, never questioned anything...only I asked questions, and for that I was locked up." Ratchet and Rivet listened intently. So the place where they had found Eric was not a hiding place, but a prison for him. "Mr. Iron was the only one who was nice to me," the android continued, "And now he betrayed me too. I'm not like the other androids, I have morals and limits."

Then he stared at his friends again, "Am... Am I broken?"

Silence. Only the heavy breathing of Sting could be heard as he held his wound. Before Eric could say another word, he felt someone slowly touching his leg. Kit had dared to do so first, and her look was sympathetic and sad, "I know how you feel." He stared at the little robot girl in amazement, "My makers created me for something evil too...until one day I went against my programming. It was only thanks to a very good friend and mentor that I was able to love myself...and Ratchet and Rivet...and Clank...also helped me a lot to finally get involved with other beings again. You're not broken...you're more human than your makers!"

Eric had to smile slightly at that. No one had ever said anything like that to him before. The android made a decision, and he would do everything in his power to help the lombaxes get off this horror planet, "Thank you. And now we should take care of Sting!"

"...Yes," Ratchet and Rivet hesitated briefly, but then they searched for medicine and painkillers. When the rebel opened a cupboard, there was suddenly a pile of synthetic arms hanging on the wall and various parts that resembled a human. "These are spare parts for androids, don't be scared," Eric admitted as he prepared the injection. But Rivet then stared at the predator before her familiar grin appeared and an idea came to her that could save Sting's life.

"I'll take over the operation! We'll give him a new arm!"

Ratchet was surprised by the suggestion, but didn't object. If anyone knew anything about prostheses, it was his girlfriend, "Do your best, Rivet!" A quick kiss followed before she and Eric entered the room next door with the patient, leaving her boyfriend with the two robots. The android and the lombax lady had everything they needed. Only the predator kept clicking away. "He keeps telling us to let him die. He has become useless... his words, not mine," the android put on rubber gloves and prepared the narcosis. Rivet, on the other hand, now made direct eye contact with the hunter.

Without hesitation, she took off his helmet, revealing his hideous face with its wide mouth. That didn't matter to the rebel for a moment, because she put her iron hand in front of Sting's eyes, who stared at it with his yellow eyes. No words were necessary. The predator already knew that despite her loss, the female lombax rebel would carry on, and if she could do it, maybe he could too. As he thought, he felt more and more tired. The narcosis being fed into his veins was spreading and the hunter finally closed his eyes, breathing in and out slowly thanks to the breathing mask Eric had put on. "He's in the land of dreams now," the rebel snapped her finger, whereupon Eric brought her the trolley with the tools and parts needed for the operation and put on her aviator goggles.

"Let's go then," and so Rivet began to help the yautja.

Ratchet didn't know how long he had been waiting. Had it been an hour or two? Clank and Kit, on the other hand, were sitting very close to each other, even holding hands, "That was very nice of you to comfort Eric."

"I had to say something," then she rested her head against his iron shoulder as they continued to stare at the impatient hero, "Ratchet, calm down."

"I am..." but that was a lie. He was a little nervous about whether his girlfriend could even save this hunter's life, or whether he would die in the process.

Finally the door was opened and the first to step out was the android Eric, then the bloodstained Rivet. She wiped the green blood off her face with a rag before being embraced by her boyfriend, "So, how did it go?" She couldn't hold back a cheeky grin and almost proudly pointed her arms towards the door, as if she were presenting something, "See for yourself, hotshot!" And there he came out. Sting was back on his feet, with his helmet on his face and healthier than ever. What Ratchet recognized immediately was the pitch-black left arm that was newly given to him. It also had claws, some knobs and a few spikes on the side to make it look more menacing. The bicep also had *Rebel Hunter* written on it, "Wow...are those flames on his arm?"

"Yeah, haha. I had an arm at home that was black and had flames painted on it," Rivet had a big grin on her face before the hunter got down on his knees in front of her. Sting reached for her prosthesis, and when the rebel knew what he was up to, he let him. The Predator pulled the xeno claw from his belt and engraved the shoulder of her prosthesis. The same mark as Ratchet was carved into her. Now the hunter had finally accepted Rivet and was in her debt. Rivet nodded in agreement with the young hunter's decision before Ratchet also stared at the yautja with satisfaction. In the end, they were able to save Sting from death and their journey was about to continue. It was time to put an end this madness.

"Oh and Ratchet: I take back the bit about him being hot! Behind the helmet, he's ugly as hell," Rivet laughed at the end, which her friend immediately agreed to.

"You could say he is one ugly motherf-"

"RIVET", before the rebel coould finish her joke, Kit screamed outraged between, whereupon the lombax had to laugh.