It took Ratchet an hour or so for them to get from Aranos and arrive at their destination, the planet Gorn, which he and his siblings found was a world with a rather stormy looking atmosphere, though according to what Autumn gained from her reading of Megacorp's provided information there was no one living on the planet, despite some structures that had been built in the past. Autumn had to assume, after taking a few minutes to read that information, that the Thugs were in control of the planet and used it as a base of operations, for this section of the galaxy anyway since their usual base was located in the Feltzin System, and after what had happened on Boldan she was sure that they might be flying into another trap, which was something that Ratchet agreed with. This time around he had Clank make sure that the weapons and defenses were at the ready, mostly to make sure that the Thugs hadn't done anything to their ship after capturing them, because the last thing any of them wanted was to fly into a trap and have no way to defend themselves from what might be waiting for them, save for magical means anyway. Starswirl, on the other hand, said nothing as they got ready for the upcoming battle, even if he and Autumn would be stuck inside the ship for some time when they breached the planet's atmosphere, though it was also for a potential fight that might come after facing the Thugs' fleet, since there was a chance that Angela might not be on Gorn and could have been moved to another planet while all of them were trapped on her flying lab.
Sure enough, when they breached the atmosphere and followed the trace of the transmission they had received, Ratchet found a number of Thug ships down in an area that had been built into some mountain peaks, though in addition to all of the normal ships they had seen in the past there were four larger ships that seemed to be transport ships, which had to be their main targets, before several ships fired at them.
"As we expected: Thug ships dead ahead." Clank stated, seeing the vast amount of ships that were flying around the area that the transmission had come from, enemies that Ratchet focused on as soon as they reached their destination, where he activated the weapons and prepared their defenses, all while Autumn and Starswirl took a moment to ready their magic for the battle that was about to begin.
"Good, because it's payback time." Ratchet replied, where he opened fire on the Thug ships that were in the area, without wasting time since they had no idea if Angela was here or not, while his siblings quickly weaved their magic into barriers to protect the ship, something the Thugs didn't seem to understand and still didn't know how to deal with it, which was just fine with Ratchet since it would make things easier for them.
None of them were surprised to find that some of the ships, the transports to be exact, had weapons that fired at them, though as that happened Autumn decided to change her tactics as she teleported outside the ship and weaved her magic to levitate through the air, like she was flying, and pulled out the RYNO II as she focused on one of the transports, which caused Clank to watch as she blasted the ship with her overpowered weapon. Sure enough the power of her weapon tore into the side of the transport and brought it down, though before that happened Autumn sent out a signal to track down Angela's, so she could figure out where she was and stop them from wrecking the entire fleet to find her, but she was able to figure out that Angela wasn't on the ship that she took down. As she did that Ratchet continued his assault on the ship he had been targeting, tearing into all of the defenses that the transport had to offer, before breaking it to the point where it exploded and fell into the depths of this area, though he only knew that Angela wasn't aboard it since Autumn had made sure that their ship had her readings, before Clank found that none of the transports had her signature. With that brand new discovery Autumn growled before loosing her magic at the other ship that was off in the distance, which seemed to be fleeing before it was knocked out of the air, while Ratchet fired on the fourth and final transport that the Thug Leader had left on this planet, and Starswirl channeled his magic into bolts of energy that rushed outwards and smashed into some of the lesser ships so Ratchet could focus on the ship he was targeting.
Eventually all of the ships, both the fighters and the transports, were wiped out and their ruins were scattered all over the area in question, where Ratchet frowned for a moment as he stared out at the surrounding area, all while Autumn came back to them and took her seat once more, though Starswirl found that his brother reached up and gripped his necklace, either to quell his anger or just to relax as he considered what they needed to do next.
"Clank, why don't you check the deep space channels for any transmissions?" Starswirl asked, because if the Thug Leader had a grudge with them, like he suspected he might since they had beaten him several times since coming to Bogon, there was a chance that he might use Angela as bait to bring them to a planet where he would have the home field advantage, or at least he would assume so, and this would give Ratchet some time alone with his thoughts.
What they discovered was a message for them from the Thug-4-Less Leader, who was outraged with them beating his men and trashing his operation, threatening all four of them for a time, that he would blast them to bits if they didn't head back to Solana, and he made a few remarks about being like the wind or something, but the siblings paid him no mind as they found that he gave them his exact coordinates, to which Ratchet set a course for the planet in question, as he was sure that Angela was being held on it and this would cripple the Thugs at long last.
While the siblings and Clank traveled to Snivelak, the planet that the transmission came from, they talked about things for some time, finding that the Thugs Leader was, by far, one of the dumbest people they had encountered during their two adventures across two galaxies, even if he cared about his employees and allowed all of them time off, good benefits, and even threw parties when certain things happened. The fact of the matter was that Qwark was far smarter than the leader of Thugs-4-Less, even if Ratchet didn't want to admit it, especially after everything he put them through back in Solana, just before they gunned him down and marooned him on Oltanis, before reporting him to the officials, but this time around all of them were planning on blasting down the Thugs Leader and saving Angela. Sure, this was definitely a trap and it meant that more of the Thugs were waiting for them, somewhere on Snivelak, but the fact that he actually transmitted his exact coordinates, while being a complete moron while doing so, made them wonder if it was intentional or not, though in the end it didn't matter since they were going to smash their way through however many forces he had, whatever trap he had for them, and then rescue Angela so they could get moving with their mission. Of course the interesting thing was that the planet in question was an orange-tinted planet with a dark red atmosphere, giving off a sense of danger as Ratchet made sure to target what had to be the landing pad, though what they found was that there was a sea of lava around a city of sorts, one with a large building, and judging from the readings this happened to be where the signal was coming from, so Angela had to be here somewhere.
"So, this is Snivelak... we had best be careful," Starswirl commented, where he and the others waited for a moment, all so Ratchet could bring the ship to a stop, before they climbed out, though of course Autumn growled as she glanced out at the area, no doubt seeking their target so she could put him down or knock him out so he could be arrested, to which he sighed for a moment as he turned towards Ratchet, "we have no telling how many enemies might be waiting for us... even with the Zodiac and all of Megacorp's weapons we might have trouble fighting our way through this place."
"I'm going to have to agree with you," Ratchet remarked, something that was followed by him and Starswirl checking out the Vendor to make sure there weren't any additional weapons for them to use against their upcoming enemies, only to find that there was nothing new, causing him to sigh as he faced the path that was in front of them, all while Clank jumped onto his usual place on his back once more.
The first thing they had to do was use the Swingshot on some targets to reach the structure that was in front of them, all while Autumn followed behind them as she focused on imagining what she would do to the Thug Leader, which meant her rage form might be waking up or something, before finding that there was nothing that needed to be done on this tower and used another set of targets to move forward. When Ratchet landed he found a glass wall that seemed too thick to be taken down by magic, even if Starswirl could likely teleport to the other side on his own, so he pulled down a grind rail and used it to head down to the base of another tower as his siblings followed after him, though upon reaching the base of the tower he found some Dynamo devices along a metallic walkway. As such he and Starswirl activated them while carefully walking up the path in question, with an enraged Autumn following after them, even if she was still in her normal state by the looks of it, which brought them to an area that connected to the main part of the path, with several helicopters being deployed based on what they were seeing, though not a few seconds later Autumn burst into the air and lashed out with her magic, breaking their enemies so her brothers could move forward with ease. Ratchet wasn't even surprised by this, or even worried for that matter since their sister knew what she was doing, where he and Starswirl caught up with Autumn and moved beyond her, which allowed them to discover a platform that sent them souring over to a long bridge that did look like it, which was crawling with enemies based on what they were seeing.
"Okay, that might be more than we were expecting," Starswirl commented, as it looked like an entire army was resting on the bridge and might be scattered around the city that was beyond this structure, which seemed to make sense due to the fact that this was a trap designed to lure all of them in and kill them, given how much the Thugs Leader didn't like them at all and wanted them out of his life.
"That might be so, but that's why we have these," Autumn replied, where she stepped forward and opened fire on the foes that were in front of them, choosing to use the RYNO II to start with since it could clear out far more enemies, while both of her brothers stepped up behind her and joined her in her assault, firing at the targets that she wasn't focused on right now, even though they kept their eyes open for anything linked to Angela.
What they discovered were that there happened to be a large number of Lesser Thugs, Elite Thugs, and Tanks resting on the bridge, not to mention the first part of the city that was behind the last of the first force of enemies the siblings found, even though they also had to avoid every missile and incoming blast from their enemies, as they wanted to beat them and claim whatever reward their boss had offered for their defeat. Another thing Ratchet and his siblings had to worry about, or at least focus on and avoid, were some traps that were actually lasers moving from one area to another and had some Thugs waiting on the other side of where it happened to be resting, not that the latter part mattered since it looked like a fair number of Thugs teleported into the area as well, confirming their suspicions on the matter. The Thugs Leader wanted all of them dead, or at least knocked out to the point where they could be contained in some sort of prison or cell, but that didn't stop Ratchet, Autumn, or Starswirl from opening fire on all of their enemies, as while Autumn was enraged by what their foe had done so far, not to mention what he might do next, she was still focused on saving Angela. While the siblings moved forward Clank found that they continued to meet heavy resistance, as a literal army of Thugs had been called in to deal with them, showing him something interesting, their Leader was taking this seriously, as there seemed to be a bounty on their heads and with the siblings constantly beating the Thugs it had to be ruining their reputation, maybe to the point where they might go out of business at this rate, but he remained silent as the siblings waged war on the Thugs and all of their diverse forces, including several Helicopters.
Another interesting fact was that the Thugs tried to trap them with electrical fences and ambush them, which caused them to focus on Starswirl's magic to wipe them out, before eventually rounding a corner after eliminating what seemed to be the third ambush, only to discover a massive mech that was taller than the highest building in the city, save for the rather massive one behind them, with the Thug Leader standing on the right shoulder of the mech and Angela seemed to be in a cage in the mech's chest.
"Greetings once more, morons!" the Thug Leader declared, with a laugh that showed them that he found this situation to be very funny, even if they had suspected that this might be a trap from the moment Clank found the transmission that had brought them here, before he paused as he looked down at them with a smile on his face, which annoyed Autumn as Ratchet found that Angela was safe and sound, for the most part, "I can't believe that my plan worked, to lure you three and your little robot to our base, with the perfect bait no less, and now, at long last, I can take you all out and restore our damaged reputation! Prepare to..."
"Bait? Please, I am no one's 'bait'!" Angela replied, though in that moment several things happened, she quickly pulled out her lightsaber and used it to slash open the cage she was standing in, allowing her to jump out of the mech's chest, though as she did that Starswirl used his magic to form steps so Ratchet could quickly climb up and catch her before something bad happened, along with a magical slide that returned the pair to where he was standing.
As the Thug Leader took that event into consideration Autumn decided that it was time to stop holding back and dipped into her rage once more, where Ratchet and Starswirl found that she shifted right into her rage form without delay, even if she dismissed all her weapons first before the beast inside her took over, and she let out a roar that shook the entire area that the city was resting on, reminding them that her magic was far stronger in this state. If it wasn't for the fact that she acted like a beast, relying on instinct or something, Ratchet would have assumed this form would have been a power up of some kind, but instead of staying near his sister, and getting caught in the crossfire, he pulled Angela back as quickly as he could as Starswirl teleported them up to the top of the bridge, allowing them to see what might happen next. Not even a few seconds later the Thug Leader took control of his mech and swung his right fist down at where Autumn was standing, who stood still as she raised her left hand and caught the attack, the energy behind her foe's attempt to harm her being transferred into the area around her, breaking the ground and sending cracks up some of the buildings, before she closed her hand on some of the metal of the middle finger and shattered it. The Thug Leader barely had time to register what was going on as Autumn went on the offensive, as she leapt into the air and swung her fist several times, releasing bursts of energy at the mech that slammed into the chest, arms, and legs without wasting any time at all, causing it to stagger back as small craters formed where she had struck it, with Autumn floating in the air and walking on air as she approached her target, even if it wasn't her true foe.
In the following moments the Thug Leader found that no matter what he did, as he swung and blasted his foe a few times, Autumn either dodged his attacks or shattered them with a wave of her right hand, to the point where she swung her own weapon at him, which transformed into a flaming blade, and cut through the left arm of his mech and the right leg, before she loosed a burst of wind that knocked it backwards, causing him to bail and leap out onto the ground of the city, even if it gave him a chance to see the mech fall into the lava before he faced Autumn.
"You moron, that cost over a million Bolts!" the Thug Leader stated, where he pulled out his own weapon, a gun that had a great deal of power inside it, and overclocked it, drawing out every drop of power that was inside it, despite the fact that it would mean he would have no ammunition left inside it, before firing a bolt of energy at his target once it was ready, as it should take her out and allow him to come up with another plan for the others.
Autumn raised her left hand and caught the bolt, shattering it in seconds, before using her magic to pull her foe up so she could punch him right in the face, causing him to stagger for a few moments as he seemed to realize that the punch felt like it lasted for more than a few seconds, like weeks or months, or at least it sure felt like it lasted far longer than what a simple punch should feel like. In the following seconds Autumn's dark side moved into a series of attacks, where she just punched and kicked at him while forcing him backwards, where he found that she was targeting every bit of his body and that each attack felt like the first, though in the process the Thug Leader had a moment of clarity, something he never had before and was sure that this would be the only time this might happen. He thought about all of this for a few moments, all while the beast smashed his body with the intense rage that seemed to be inside her, and had to wonder how in the world his life had come to this, going from being one of the biggest mercenary groups in all of Bogon and ending with him and his company becoming toys for such a powerful creature. As all that happened, which seemed to take a few seconds even though it sure felt like longer to him, Autumn pulled back and let him stagger for a moment, before she gathered all of her power into a sphere of magical energy that formed around her right fist, and when she punched the Thug Leader in the chest the energy of her attack transferred into the surrounding area, where the air cracked, the ground broke, a good number of buildings shattered, and the large building broke in half while a nearby volcano went off.
Ratchet, Starswirl, Angela, and Clank had to brace themselves as they witnessed what seemed to be an earthquake go off in the area they were standing in, one that even shook the bridge that Starswirl had picked out, though this confirmed that Autumn's rage form needed to be kept under control, especially since it looked like she was breaking the entire area, even though once that attack was done she delivered one more uppercut and knocked the Thug Leader out, causing her to let out a roar before collapsing as Autumn reverted to her normal form.
"Ratchet, as amazing as that was... not to mention terrifying... please give me a heads up when something like this is about to happen," Angela said, as while this was interesting to watch, Autumn taking down the Thugs-4-Less Leader like he was nothing, and she was sure that most of their enemies would be considered nothing to all of the siblings, Autumn's rage form was a force to be reckoned with and she didn't want to be on the receiving end of it's terrifying power.
Ratchet nodded his head as Starswirl collected Autumn, as while he had a feeling that this might happen, given the fact that his sister had been enraged when they landed on this planet, seeing it happen was another thing entirely, where he felt that he and his brother would have to figure out how to help their sister once this adventure was over, but for now all of them returned to the ship, using the levitation spell Starswirl had used previously, before blasting off for a safer place to rest and talk about what Angela had learned in her time away from the group.