//------------------------------// // Commando: Siberius // Story: Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// Siberius, as Autumn discovered in her research, was a cold planet that was covered in a decent amount of ice and snow, or at least that was what the records seemed to suggest, with tall mountains that Megacorp had built a base into at one point in time, either an abandoned one or one that wasn't used a lot at this point in time, it was hard to tell with them after what they had seen and learned so far, but the siblings were sure it was the former. It served as a good place for someone to set up shop, without the prying eyes of Megacorp watching over them, meaning whatever the Thief was doing wouldn't be interrupted until it was too late, though her slip up in transmitted from the planet might bring about the end of her plans, depending on what happened when they reached the icy planet, which happened to be near Notak. Ratchet also voiced his opinion that this could be a trap, that she was waiting for them to arrive before revealing her plan to them, since they did work for Megacorp and would report their failure to Mr. Fizzwidget if she was successful in overcoming all three of them, and succeeded in her mission, causing Autumn and Starswirl to glance at each other for a second. Even Clank agreed that there was a possibility that this was a trap of some kind, especially after seeing everything that the Thief was capable of, since the moment they arrived in Bogon to this point in time, meaning they would have to be careful as they explored the base in question, since there was no telling what the Thief might do next. When they reached the planet in question Ratchet powered down the ship before climbing out of it, leaving Starswirl to use a bit of his magic to protect it, just in the off chance that the Thief lured them here so she could blow up their ship and escape to her true base of operations to fulfill her mission, though Autumn found no new weapons inside the Vendor, so the siblings moved forward and kept their guard up. Sure enough they found that the first part of the path had a number of Bladeballs, which happened to be the official name of the spheres that had spinning blades, and some of the Flame Bots guarding the area, causing the siblings to open fire on all of them without delay, finding that there were more enemies in this place than what they were expecting to find, so it told Ratchet that the Thief was definitely waiting for them. Of course there was also a walkway that connected to the side of the base, or part of it anyway, which had a number of Chainsaw Bots and a few more Flame Bots, causing them to turn and throw a few of the Miniturrets out to block the incoming enemies that they had spotted, allowing the siblings to focus on the first set of enemies and not divide their attention when they were outnumbered. Fortunately Ratchet, Starswirl, and Autumn cleared out the robotic enemies without being harmed, though each of them had come close to it happening two or three times, before Starswirl stepped up first and kept an eye out for more enemies as Ratchet and Autumn followed a few steps behind him, mostly because his magic would allow him to throw a barrier up in case more foes showed up, as it would give his siblings a chance to react without being harmed. Sure enough they found a number of Chainsaw Bots in the area near an elevator that would take them downwards a little, to connect with what had to be the next part of the path the Thief was resting at the end of, so Ratchet and his siblings took care of their enemies before using the lift to reach the lower section of the base, which involved taking out a pair of Flame Bots who were guarding the area. After that they found a platform to jump across, which deployed Bladeballs for them to take out, before discovering one of the dropships had arrived and was starting to deploy all sorts of robots, to which Autumn pulled out the RYNO II and just wasted all of the enemies that were in front of them, allowing her and her brothers to collect the Bolts before reaching the end of what appeared to be a transport that had to be heading to where the Thief was working. "This just screams 'trap'... we might have overestimated her villain skills and status," Autumn replied, as it felt like the Thief wasn't even trying at this point, rather it felt like she really wanted to rub their defeat in their faces or something, to which she sighed for a moment, as she was expecting more after everything else she and her brothers had seen, though it didn't stop them from restocking their ammunition. "Even so, we had best be careful," Ratchet said, because while he sort of shared Autumn's feelings on the matter, since the scene in front of them was against everything that they had seen so far, at least where the Thief was concerned when he thought about it, he also had a feeling that this was intentional, to lure them into a false sense of security so she could no doubt beat them that much easier. Starswirl and Autumn nodded as the three of them climbed into the back of the vehicle, which was beckoning for them to climb into it, and sure enough Ratchet found that the door closed behind them as the convoy started to move, though as that happened a door in front of them opened and a number of enemies emerged to do battle with them, Chainsaw Bots by the look of things. It was rather interesting for them to see that the Thief was going so far to defeat even one of them in battle, or even punish them enough to where they took her hint and returned to Solana with their tail between their legs, but it didn't stop the siblings from firing upon all of their enemies, as they were going to do everything possible to secure the Experiment, all so they could figure out what to do next. A few moments later, when they were sure that their enemies were taken care of, another door opened and revealed that to move forward they had to use their Swingshots, which was what they did as they landed on top of the next vehicle, something that was followed by the Thief flying out of wherever she had been hiding and revealed that she was using a Megacorp hoverboard to move around. What Autumn discovered was that while the Thief really wanted them to get out of here, just like she claimed when she shocked Clank earlier, none of the attacks that were aimed at Ratchet even got close to their brother, almost like the Thief had grown attached to him and didn't want him to be harmed in some manner, making her wonder if there was more to their foe than what they were seeing right now. After taking a few hits, or as best as they could do since their foe was good with a hoverboard, the Thief pulled out and it forced the siblings to move forward once more, swinging to another vehicle that happened to open it's back door so they could assault the enemies that happened to be inside it, more Chainsaw and Flame Bots with a few Bladeballs, though all of them fell in due time and they used another Swingshot target to catch up with the Thief. Autumn and Starswirl glanced at each other for a moment as both they and Ratchet resumed fighting their foe, both of them finding that the Thief still had no desire to actually hurt their brother, in fact it almost seemed like Ratchet might be catching onto it as well, but for now none of them said anything as they chased her off once more. As that happened the Thief tried something else in an attempt to make Ratchet and his siblings back off, she shot out one of the tires of the vehicle they were on and it quickly upturned, as in it twisted for a few moments and lifted off the ground, or at least part of it anyway, something that caused Autumn and Starswirl to weave their magic into a barrier protecting them, Ratchet, and Clank from harm, even if the poor vehicle ended up crashing and blocking the road. From there they found a rocket platform and started to make their way around it, finding that it had been built on a frozen lake and had crystals growing out of certain spots, and the enemies on the walkway fell without offering much resistance, allowing them to reach a walkway that linked up to where their foe had decided to stop, with the Experiment strapped to a missile that was almost ready to launch. "Ha! You've lost, Megacorp!" the Thief stated, where she pulled out a device and showed that she was going to send off the Experiment with them watching everything happen, even though she clearly had no idea who in the three galaxies she was dealing with, especially since Autumn and Starswirl were capable of magical feats beyond what they have shown their foes during their time in Bogon, "Take your imperialistic eco-fascism to..." Autumn wasted no time in engaging her magic, where she yanked the Thief off her hoverboard and brought her down to where they were standing, making sure to summon chains that quickly wrapped around her arms, to stop the Thief from doing anything that might interrupt what they were about to do. At the same time Starswirl removed the Experiment from where it was resting, allowing Autumn to dismantle the missile so it couldn't be used, even though she was careful not to harm any of the components since she might be able to use them later. While she did that, and Starswirl made sure that the Experiment was safe, Ratchet stepped forward and removed both the Thief's hood and mask, revealing a female feline creature that looked a lot like him, where her hair color matched her fur and was styled in a ponytail. "No way... another Lombax..." Ratchet said, which came as a surprise to both Autumn and Starswirl as well, as while they had been expecting to find a race that might be similar to their brother's, like a Cazar for example, finding another Lombax was something they weren't expecting, though while the Thief was surprised by them revealing her secret, no doubt due to the fact that she had been planning on leaving once her task had been complete or had failed, Ratchet was stunned, likely thinking back to his pod on Veldin, where he carefully pulled his necklace out, "...do you... do you have a necklace that is similar to this one?" The Thief continued to be surprised by what was going on, no doubt having expected that this would go differently, which Autumn and Starswirl shared while Clank climbed off of Ratchet's back, though once she determined that things had, for the time being, calmed down Autumn released the Lombax as Starswirl caged the Experiment in a case of magic, making sure it couldn't escape, causing the lady to rub her wrists before she gently held up Ratchet's necklace. "It... is similar to several Lombax artifacts, I even have a few hidden in storage... but no, I don't have something like this on my person, or in my collection," the Lombax replied, as she wasted no time in studying the necklace and determining what it might be, which quickly confirmed that it was something that came from their species, though as she let go of it she noticed something that stalled her for a moment, Ratchet, despite all the commando training they had gone through, was devastated when he heard the answer, to which he sighed as he turned to the side and faced another part of the area they were in, "um... did I say something wrong?" "Not really. Ratchet's, well, been looking for his sister for some time," Clank said, causing the Lombax to glance at him for a moment before glancing over to Autumn, clearly thinking that they were siblings after everything she had seen so far, due to the fact that the three of them acted like siblings who had grown up together, before he sighed as well, "what I mean is that Ratchet arrived on Veldin in a pod that was designed for two small Lombaxes, only he arrived by himself, and during our first adventure we found someone who told us that his twin sister was safe... he was hoping that, since you two look so similar with your fur color, you might be his sister, who has the other half of his necklace." The Lombax paused for a moment, no doubt feeling guilty about giving Ratchet hope, especially since he was looking for another member of their race and she was likely the first one he had encountered since his first adventure had started, to which she sighed for a moment as she considered something, which eventually causing her to mess with her belt for a few seconds, causing Autumn and Starswirl to watch as a more fox like Lombax tail appeared behind her, meaning she must have been hiding it from everyone. "Listen, there are a few things we need to discuss, the first being that my name is Angela Cross, so no more 'Thief' this or 'Thief' that," the Lombax stated, which was something that all of them were glad to have, because previously they had no name to give her and this meant they didn't have to worry about it, while at the same time Ratchet said nothing as he put his necklace back where he kept it, on him at all times, before facing her once more, "secondly, yes, I am a Lombax, and I have been keeping that secret from everyone in Bogon for as long as I can remember, as someone is looking for us, as in someone evil, so I've been trying to keep a low profile... now that you guys are here, that might not be possible. Third, the Experiment, or Subject 13 as it was previously called, is a genetically modified creature Megacorp designed to be, in the words of Mr. Fizzwidget, the 'perfect pet', even though it still has a number of errors and flaws that I was working on and would have succeeded in fixing had I been given the time." "If you knew about the problems, why not just take it to a lab and fix them?" Starswirl asked, because it seemed far better than blowing the creature up, putting whatever plans Megacorp had back in the process, but since things were different in Bogon he figured that there was a way to do things, hence why he and his siblings were listening to what Angela said, who was currently walking to a teleporter, which took them back to where their ship rested, before heading into a building so they could talk. "There were too many to fix in the time I was given," Angela replied, where she opened a door they had missed and found that she had brought them to an old meeting room for the base she had claimed as her own, though once everyone was inside the room she closed the door and sealed it so none of them were bothered by the cold wind, to which she sat down in a chair and set her mask in front of her, "my only option, to get more time, was to devise this plan and use my limited resources to gather everything I needed to blast the Experiment to pieces... then my boss had a great idea and called the heroes of another galaxy to track me down. Oh, and if you think the Experiment is bad now, remind me to show you one of the videos for Dobbo, as it has information about the creature that you might be disturbed by... or maybe you'll see why I was so set on making sure the Experiment wasn't produced with all these flaws." "Well, we have to return the creature to Mr. Fizzwidget, maybe you can... no, that's a dumb idea, as you would have tried to talk some sense into him before putting this plan into motion," Ratchet said, showing that he had definitely grown since the start of their first adventure and that he understood what they were being told right now, even the parts that hadn't been said yet, even though none of them were even surprised by Angela having been a Megacorp employee, given what she had told them so far, before he considered something, "well, since we've messed up your plans, maybe you'll consider joining up with us as we try to talk some sense into Mr. Fizzwidget... and, failing that, maybe taking matters into our own hands to make sure this galaxy is safe from harm." "Ratchet... I'm not sure that's a good idea. Two Lombaxes working together might draw unwanted attention, namely the one whose looking for us." Angela stated, though Autumn and Starswirl noticed the look on her face, as she seemed torn at the moment, part of her wanted to work alongside Ratchet, possibly even grow attached to him in due time, while the other part wanted to run and hide so she could avoid drawing attention to both herself and him. "Angela, if there is a threat to the Lombaxes out there, and I'm willing to believe you on that matter, than we'll take care of it at some point in the future," Ratchet replied, where his siblings and Clank said nothing, choosing to listen, because they could see that he was trying to persuade Angela to join them, instead of disappearing and returning to the shadows once more, and it seemed like Angela was warming up to the idea of teaming up with them, "and I mean it, as we learned about Drek's plans and dealt with him, and I'm sure we'll discover all of the truth behind the Experiment and deal with the one responsible for you having to do all of this... so, with that in mind, we'll track down whoever is hunting us down and deal with him in due time." Autumn wasn't sure if her brother had some hidden charisma, or something similar to it, but it was enough to convince Angela that nothing he had told her was a lie, that he would track down whoever the threat was and deal with them, with all of them at his side no less, causing the other Lombax to admit defeat and accept that his plan might be better that what she had come up with. With Angela deciding to join them on their adventure, something that excited them a little since it meant adding some new skills to their team, Ratchet actually came up with an interesting plan so they could explain her traveling with them, as with them having recovered the Experiment, which was trying to chew through Starswirl's magical cage, in vain to be exact, Mr. Fizzwidget might expect them to have the Thief in custody. If that was the case it would make sense for them to report that they had captured her, or 'him' since everyone else seemed to think Angela's disguise was a male humanoid, so they could figure out where he wanted to meet so they could hand over the Experiment, no doubt also making a stop at another world to drop Angela off, or maybe he'd wait until they were back at Megacorp's Headquarters before worrying about the Thief. Of course if things turned south, and Mr. Fizzwidget tried to off Angela at the coordinates he would be giving them, Starswirl or Autumn could 'free' her and she could escape without the Experiment, so they could meet up later and compare what happened after the separation, causing their new friend to take a moment to think about it before nodding, showing that she agreed with it, hence why she collected her mask, which had a hologuise module on it, which explained how she was able to hide her Lombax ears and everything else. They also found that Angela's weapon was a cylindrical device, like the handle of something without a blade or head piece, so it wasn't a wrench or something else, though once they were ready to go, and Angela carefully hid her tail, using a small device that safely condensed it into a belt and make it impossible to tell what it truly was, before returning her mask and hood to their proper places, the group returned to their ship before contacting their employer. "Cratchet, Spank, is that you?" Mr. Fizzwidget inquired, the man appearing on the holodisplay that they were using to send him this message in the first place, though it looked like he was looking for good news and not news that the Thief, and the Experiment, had evaded them once more, clearly ignoring both Autumn and Starswirl, while not seeing who was standing with them right now. "We've accomplished our mission, sir. The Experiment is safe and in our possession." Ratchet replied, where he held out the magical cage that Starswirl had created, allowing their employer to see what they had done, even though they knew that this adventure was far from over, if what Angela had told them was true, before he gestured to her for a moment, as it was the other part of their plan, "We even captured the Thief." "Why that's cutaneous. Absolutely munificent!" Mr. Fizzwidget stated, showing them that he was totally focused on staring at the violent creature that they had recovered from Angela, not even thinking about the fact that they had mentioned that they had caught the one responsible for stealing the Experiment, before he focused on them for a time, "You four are a galluptious team." "We were glad to assist, sir." Clank said, which would have been true had they not known about the danger that the small creature posed to the galaxy if it was released to the public, even if Angela hadn't given them every piece of information they needed to figure things out, he even considered that it was possible that she might not know everything either, but he continued to think about things before speaking again, "We just need coordinates to our next rendezvous point, so we can hand over the Experiment." "Of course, I'm on my way to give a tour of Megacorp's historical mining site." Mr. Fizzwidget replied, something that was followed by Angela pausing for a moment, meaning she must know about the planet in question, before the man tapped a few keys before pulling something up on his side of the holodisplay, no doubt a message about the planet in question, just like he had done previously, "Here's a little backtalk on the fragility." What they discovered was a commercial about Megacorp Manufacturing and Mining, a tireless drum major that apparently lead the galaxy on its march of progress, even though it claimed that their most precious product was their history, before it went into what happened when they came to the world of Tabora, naming the next planet that they would be visiting as they listened to the rest of the message. Apparently the corporation found a planet that was basically a massive rain forest and that no signs of civilization could be seen, though to complete their mission they transformed the impassable jungle into a wasteland that was easily navigable, terraforming the planet in what had to be the worst way possible, which had to explain why Angela froze when she heard the mention of Tabora. "Is that facility still operational, sir?" Autumn inquired, because if it was, and they were still tearing the planet apart for all of the resources that happened to be trapped below the ground, she might just blow up and start tearing things apart with her magic, before figuring out a way to restore a portion of the jungle that had been on this planet before Megacorp came here, looking for whatever they had been looking for. "Alas no... but it's steeped in hysterics. I've offloaded the condiments to your naval computer." Mr. Fizzwidget replied, but as he said that he seemed to be done talking to them and let them think about the information that he had shared with all of them, including the fact that Angela seemed unhappy about which planet they would be visiting next, meaning it was either the one she had landed on or had some connection to, or maybe she just didn't like what happened to it, before he disconnected the link between them. With that done the siblings paused for a moment, as Autumn made sure the ship could contain Angela and the Experiment as well, using magic to extend and strengthen their ship, before climbing into it as Angela removed the mask, allowing her to breath and focus on their mission, though once everyone was ready to go Ratchet blasted off and headed for Tabora, to see what they might learn during their visit to the vast desert planet.