When Rivet was ready to go, getting over the shock of the fact that the little bot she had been carrying had been the one to take her right arm and the flash of phantom pain it brought, Autumn followed her sister out of the Catacombs and quickly returned to their ship. Neither of them said anything as they climbed into it, where Rivet paused for a moment, her mind torn between defeating Emperor Nefarious and going after their captured brothers, before she let out a sigh as she made up her mind and pressed a button on the console. Autumn noticed her sister's chosen destination, she was heading for the planet of Viceron so they could assault Zordoom and save their brothers, including anyone else who might be trapped inside it, since there was no telling how many people were stuck inside it's walls. This time around neither of them said a word during the flight, as Autumn could tell that Rivet was upset and she was annoyed, so she left her sister to her thoughts as she considered what they were going to do once their brothers were saved, and Kit if they found her.
This dimension's Zordoom was darker and more foreboding than what Autumn was used to, in fact the sections she could see made her think it was more like a citadel of evil or something, though Rivet landed far away from one station, no doubt to keep their ship undetected.
"Its been a while since I've been to Zordoom... used to raid it with a good friend of mine, before she lost her life." Rivet said, where she remembered the last time she came to this place, which just so happened to be the time she was talking about, though instead of allowing herself to succumb to the memories she opened the hatch and climbed out, finding that Autumn did the same thing without wasting time.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Autumn stated, though there wasn't much she could say in this situation, as it seemed like her sister had already gotten over the event in question and that she didn't want to talk about it anymore than what she had said so far, causing her to face what seemed like a broken path, "Come on, let's go save our brothers and our friends from whatever devices the Warden has installed."
Rivet nodded, even though she didn't consider Kit to be a 'friend' right now, as they carefully made their way across all the junk that formed a walkway right to the exterior of the facility she had landed near, which was designed to dismantle ships that were imprisoned as well, to incorporate the metal back into the Emperor's army. Sure enough they found Ms. Zurkon in the first chamber and restocked all of their weapons, since there was no telling when they might find a chance to do so again, before rushing at the energy wall that was in front of them, slipping through it thanks to their Phantom Dash, which was one of the more useful gadgets Autumn had found. Fortunately there were only some of the small Troopers, as in the head ones, so they were able to take care of their enemies within a matter of seconds before Rivet approached a terminal that was near a ledge, one that caused a piece of the satellite array to move. Such a thing allowed them to use a Swingshot target to cross the gap in front of them and then use their Rift Tethers to cross the rest of it, drawing closer to where Rivet was sure their brothers were being held in, where she stopped as she listened to some Troopers that were around the fence from where they landed.
Such a thing made Autumn wonder how dumb the Troopers were, as they were in plain sight, there was nothing to hide behind, and yet none of their enemies had noticed what was going on right now, allowing them to listen as they quickly talked about the movement of the array piece and that everyone was confused by it.
As the conversation stopped, however, Rivet opened fire on the Troopers and Autumn joined her, though they found that there were some sniper foes off in the distance, causing one to focus on their immediate enemies and the other to focus on wiping out those in the air. Fortunately they discovered that there weren't a lot of Troopers for them to worry about, for the time being anyway, though the downside was the fact that Rivet discovered that the main door was locked, which came as a surprise since she had been able to raid this place multiple times and they never locked the door. That meant it was either a recent change or the Warden had done so due to the arrival of Ratchet, Starswirl, Clank, and Kit, but she did have an alternate route to take, which was using a nearby piston, which would launch them into the air, along with some vertical running walls to reach the air duct of the second building. Autumn found that her sister was correct, the path in question would allow them to get around the blockade the Troopers had set up, though as they did so Rivet found that a familiar kraken, one the Pirates called 'Bubbles', was here as well, meaning he must have been caught in the rift that had been used on Ardolis.
Somehow none of the Troopers realized that they were in the air ducts, allowing the sisters to carefully make their way to where the prisoners were being held and dropped down, finding that there were Pirates, Goons, civilians, and Amoeboids, for some reason, in the nearby cells. As Autumn took that in they found a cell that held some of Rivet's friends, such as the Phantom and a man who had to be Quantum, though their first action was to break the nearby Troopers, who were in the middle of preparing the incinerator to dispatch Clank. With their timely arrival they were able to save him from what was about to happen, even though it looked like the Troopers had knocked him out for some odd reason, something that also allowed the captives to be released as well. Autumn had to wonder why the Emperor had locked up some of the Morts, a number of miners, and even the sheep from Zurkie's, but figured that he was just insane in some manner and that there was no reason behind most of his actions, rather it was because he wanted to, just like most tyrants she, Ratchet, and Starswirl had dealt with so far.
"Rivet... Autumn... thank you." Clank remarked, as it took a few moments to regain full consciousness, where he found that he was back on Rivet's back as she and Autumn cracked open the door leading back the way they came so Quantum and Phantom could ensure the safety of everyone else, especially since there were a number of ships still intact in the previous building so they could escape.
"We weren't about to leave you here, even with the multiverse at stake." Rivet said, because he was important to Ratchet and that meant he was important to her as well, especially when she took Autumn and Starswirl into the equation, but she was pleased that the inmates seemed to appreciate being freed and were planning on joining her back at Zurkie's for the final battle against the Emperor.
In that moment Autumn, as they continued out the backside of the building, discovered that the Warden was none other than the Assistant, which was kind of weird given her position, but even as she ordered the door closed they blasted open a new hole in the window to the left and left it. After that they found the spherical device that held a honeycomb shaped item inside it's handles, the cell that Ratchet, Starswirl, and Kit were currently locked inside, finding their way to an area that was full of cages with energy bars, containing Goons, miners, citizens, and even a Grunthor. It really made Autumn wonder what was up with this place, since there seemed to be far too many inmates for one prison to have, even if there was a way to cut down on the number of cells that were needed, but it just confirmed that the Emperor was insane, which worried her more than she was willing to admit. Fortunately some of the other warriors came out as well and that allowed her to hack into the cages, allowing more Goons and Pirates to join the battle as the non combatants fled, meaning that a full scale riot was going to happen at some point, where they were pleased to see more allied ships flying in to save the innocent civilians before something happened to them.
Once the first wave of enemies had been taken care of a door to the left opened and the sisters opened fire on the new Troopers who were being deployed to stop them, opening the way for them to invade the building with their new allies, a fact that the Assistant hadn't discovered yet. Autumn found that it confirmed something, Rivet was seen as the savior of her dimension, people flocked to her side whenever they were able to, meaning they might be able to gain an army for the final battle with the Emperor, with her sister leading the charge. Clank had the same opinions, though he was amazed and disturbed by everything they were seeing, the scale of this dimension's Zordoom versus the one they were used to, not to mention all the people that were currently trapped in it's walls. Still, they were able to tear their way through the Troopers as the now freed Goons and Pirates joined the battle, allowing them to find one of the Juggernauts that was protecting the cell that their brothers and Kit were in, which fell to their combined might.
As that happened, however, the cell started to move and they had to use their Swingshots to latch onto a target under it, to which they held on for a few moments as it surged down a path and reached the final structure of the entire prison, as Rivet recognized it, before they dropped down and walked towards a closed door.
"Based on what I've seen, Kit must be very worried about what is going on right now." Clank commented, as he spared a few glances at the trio as they were taken away and knew that the other bot must be terrified, since she seemed to be in a sitting position while the brothers tried to break open the force field itself.
"Yeah... listen, Clank, Kit is... she's the warbot that took off my arm." Rivet said, showing that she was still thinking about it and that part of her didn't want to save Kit, not for the damage that had been done to her body all those years ago, while the other side did since she was important to all of them.
"A word of warning, Ratchet's likely going to ask that you forgive her for that... he's likely already figured it out, after seeing how depressed she's been," Autumn remarked, because that was her take on everything they had seen of the trio before they were taken inside the larger building, especially since her brother was smarter than he appeared, though Rivet just looked at her like she didn't want to hear about the issue, to which she held up her hands in surrender, "Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. Come on, let's save them first... we can worry about anything else after we've off this planet."
"Sorry, I... just get angry when I think about it..." Rivet said, because she knew that Autumn didn't mean anything by saying what their brother was going to do once he and the others were freed from their cell, in fact she was expecting Clank to say something as well, since he was the one who usually spent the most time with her brother, before she sighed as she focused on their mission.
The first thing Rivet did after that was toss her hammer at the switch on the wall and it lowered the door, revealing a large number of cells on the outer wall of a spherical chamber, while a large power source was right in the middle of everything, before they spotted Ratchet and Starswirl's cell. By following it they had to deal with the Troopers that were positioned here to be sure the prisoners behaved until it was time for them to perish, or whatever happened to those who crossed the Emperor, meaning more and more potential soldiers for the end of this war. Their foes stood no chance against them and their might, allowing them to track down the cell that their brothers were in, where Ratchet informed them that both he and Starswirl had checked their surroundings and found that it was unable to be opened from their side. Rivet sighed as she heard that, as she had a feeling such a thing was the case, before informing them that they would have to head up to the Warden's office to hack into the system, causing Autumn to follow after her as she tore through the remaining few Troopers that were on the other side of the chamber.
After that they made their way to a loading zone, where more creatures were housed in cages, finding that Ms. Zurkon had caught up with them and hadn't alerted the Assistant to her existence, to which they restocked their weapons before using some platforms and some oddly placed rifts to enter a large air duct that allowed them to enter the office that the robot in question was working in.
The Assistant, seeing them enter her domain, fled before they could crush it into dust, opening the way for Rivet to hack into the system to the best of her ability, only for Autumn to find that the Assistant had rigged it to input a self destruct code, destroying the power core and shutting most of the systems down. The VIP cells, however, were just fine, as the one that their brothers were in happened to be online still and moved out of the chamber it was in, but, at the same time, the sisters found more Troopers warping into the area to deal with them. As such Rivet and Autumn fought off their enemies with all of their weapons, blasting the Troopers before they were able to do much damage, other than break the window they entered through, and when everything was said and done they emerged with ease. After that they found a platform that allowed them to return to the area that the cell had been resting in, where a Goon informed them that no 'furballs' were allowed, before laughing as he blasted a power switch and dropped the barrier that was stopping them from walking into the room.
Sure enough Autumn found that she was correct, the Pirates and Goons swore to join the fight against the Emperor, even if it meant working with her, and the citizens did what they could to ensure that they survived, in fact, even as they made their way along the ruined path of the spherical chamber's insides, they tore down a Juggernaut so the sisters could follow after the cell.
After tracking down the cell Rivet found that her brothers had no other ideas on how to break the cell and Kit claimed she had none to offer, where she growled and found that Ratchet was surprised, meaning he was piecing everything together on his own, before the computer activated the 'Giggle Gas Protocol'. Autumn engaged her helmet as she started to work on the nearby buttons, while Rivet just allowed it to happen since she needed a giggle, especially after everything she had encountered so far, before the door opened. Such a thing allowed them to use their Hoverboots to burst down the rather long passage in front of them, forcing them to grind on pipes and use rifts to even cross some of the sections, all while Rivet simply laughed at everything that was going on. Autumn understood her desire to be gassed up, it allowed her to take some of the weight off without having to sit down and talk to people, though at the very least it was temporarily, and once they were out of the gassed area her sister was able to shake off the effects with ease, allowing her to focus on their current mission once more.
Such a thing meant boosting themselves off the edge with a ramp and a boost platform, before using a Hurlshot target to launch themselves over to the last platform in the entirety of the prison, one that was large enough for a large force to try and defend, while the cell was slowly being claimed by another vessel.
This time around Rivet and Autumn gave the Troopers everything in their weapons, tearing through them at a slow pace due to the fact that there were a large number of them and they were split up in smaller groups, and even with that there were more warping into the area around the platform. While that happened they could hear the Assistant declaring that this was their end, that there was no way Rivet or Autumn would survive what was going on right now, though they tuned her out as more Troopers fell before their might. Of course there were more dimensional rifts breaking open around the area, meaning Autumn couldn't use their magic to combat their foes, but right now the sisters were just fine without her being able to blast or explode the Troopers, even if their enemies outnumbered them. In fact the Assistant called in a pair of imposing looking dropships that seemed like escorts for the ship that the she was aboard, causing the sisters to split up and open fire on their targets, hitting them hard enough to do some serious damage that caused them to crash right in the center of the arena.
With that done the sisters regrouped in front of a Hammercrank and Rivet activated it, allowing her to turn and drop the cell nearby, allowing Ratchet and Starswirl to emerge with ease, though before anyone could say anything the Phantom landed nearby with a heavily modified imperial ship, with enough room for everyone.
"Ratchet, could you guys give us some room?" Rivet asked, because this was something she had to do before they left the planet entirely, even though the others wanted to fight the Emperor as soon as possible, where her brother simply gave her a nod before retrieving Clank so he, Starswirl, and Autumn could climb into the ship as she walked up to where Kit was still sitting, "Clank and Autumn said that I should forgive you... honestly, I've been thinking about that since I learned who you really were, and... um..."
"I am going back to Savali... I never should have left in the first place." Kit said, as she could tell that Rivet had things she wanted to say, all of them that she deserved since she was the one who had cost the Lombax her arm, in fact it amazed her that Ratchet didn't try to break her after discovering her dark secret, so she wanted to cut the unneeded name calling and accusations out.
"Wait, you're just going to leave and hide again? Now, of all times?!" Rivet remarked, which was unbelievable, as Kit said she would stand before the Emperor and help take him down, so the universe could be free at last and the dimensions could be repaired once they got their hands on the Dimensionator, and now, after her secret had been revealed, she was just going to hide from her and the rest of the universe.
"I am very... truly, I am sorry for what happened, Rivet... for everything I've done to hurt you." Kit replied, doing her best to dodge the question and just get on with everything, since this was the last time she planned on seeing them, even though she was sad that this would be the last time she traveled with Ratchet, "I... I do not make a good partner..."
"Well maybe you could be! If you had just stopped to help me that night, instead of running away, things could have been different!" Rivet said, in fact she nearly snapped at Kit for her remark, because she was angry right now and it was clear that talking wasn't the answer, not in the manner that Ratchet and the others were hoping since they clearly wanted the pair to patch things up before leaving this planet, "Or maybe if you just told me the truth of who you were, maybe I'd..."
"Why don't any of you understand? I am broken... I will always be BROKEN!" Kit snapped, surprising Rivet for a moment, as she certainly wasn't expecting the little robot to get onto her feet and nearly shout at her in her own depressed anger like state, before she turned her back to Rivet and hugged herself, showing her that the conversation was over.
"Fine... be that way. Go hide and pretend this isn't happening... WE have a universe to save... multiverse, whatever." Rivet said, because now she knew that there was no getting through Kit's mental state, she was stuck in a rut and there was next to nothing she could do for someone in this state, though as she started to turn around, to head to the ship, she paused for a moment, "I didn't need a robotic partner anyway..."
Rivet said nothing as she climbed into the ship, save for telling the others that Kit wasn't coming, before she blasted off and left Zordoom behind, leaving everyone to their thoughts as she tried to focus on the Emperor and how they were going to take him down, before he wrecked everything beyond repair.
It took them some time to get back to Zurkie's, where Rivet found all sorts of newcomers parked outside, Goons, Pirates, and all sorts of allies that might be useful in the upcoming final battle with the Emperor, which they had to prepare for now that her family was safe and sound, though she said nothing as they landed and climbed out of the ship.
"Rivet, we shouldn't have left Kit behind... she would have wanted to see the end of this adventure." Ratchet said, as he had been thinking about what happened at the end of their time in this dimension's Zordoom, it was the only thing that came to mind after everything that they had been through, and it just didn't feel right to leave her behind, even if that was what she apparently wanted.
"Ratchet, she's a dangerous warbot who should have been destroyed... besides, she said she didn't want to come with us, so I granted her wish." Rivet remarked, because she had considered the fact that the object of her pain had been near her, at long last, and all she did was lecture her before leaving, meaning if someone else got hurt it was going to be her fault, but as her brother opened his mouth she held up a hand to stop him, "Don't even mention that I'm 'afraid of her', because I have every right to be... she's the warbot that blasted off my arm and nearly killed me. What about you? You haven't searched for the rest of the Lombaxes because your scared of how they'll react to you, right? My fear makes more sense!"
Autumn, Starswirl, and Phantom stood off to the side, observing the twins as they argued, though this was something that they needed and there was no reason for them to get involved at all, hence why all three of them patiently waited for them to wrap up so they could head inside the gastropub.
"I didn't search for the other Lombaxes because there was someone more important to me that I had to look for... I had all sorts of Lombax experiences thanks to Angela, Alister, and our parents." Ratchet said, showing Rivet that, while he could have taken offense to her words, he was calm and willing to talk with her about what was going on, though at the same time his comment reminded her that she had been the one he sought for a long time, "Maybe you're right, maybe I was scared of the possibilities of what might happen if I met more of our kind... but I was more worried about you, so I was able to bury those potential fears..."
It was clear that, while there was so much more they wanted to say, the twins simply stopped and stared at each other for a few seconds, ending in them apologizing to each other before making their way to the gastropub... where they found more people inside the bar, including Pierre, Quantum, Gary, and many others, including some Morts that Rivet interacted with as a smile appeared on her face.
"Ratchet, Rivet, I know there are preparations to be made, but there is information to be gained." Gary said, where he knew that Quantum was coming up with a plan of attack right now, which the siblings would likely counter once they heard it, so for now he had something to distract them for a few moments, causing him to withdraw the special Lorb that Ratchet and Starswirl had seen not that long ago.
"The special Lorb, left behind by dad and protected by two special keys." Ratchet remarked, though first he removed Clank and handed him to Starswirl, so he could see what was about to happen, before he accepted the Lorb and removed his own necklace from where it rested.
Rivet, upon seeing what he meant, in fact it surprised her to discover that their necklaces were actually keys, pulled hers out as well before holding it near Ratchet's, where they linked together with ease, before they inserted it into the slot, causing a number of gears to activate before the Lorb lifted into the air and created a hologram below it, one of their father, who her brother recognized, and another Lombax scientist.
Ratchet, Rivet, I do not know if I'll be alive whenever this Lorb is activated, but there is information that you need to know, in the event that a Dimensional Cataclysm starts. the projection of Kaden said, where Ratchet understood what their father was talking about, he had suspected an attack was coming and this was his way of ensuring that this knowledge was passed onto them, which meant he had high hopes for them, As you know, the Council and I tasked Mags here with mapping the entirety of the multiverse, locating the positions of each and every dimension that's out there... it was during that mission that we discovered something shocking. Mags?
As you no doubt know, the Dimensional Map contains the knowledge of every dimension that's in our multiverse, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. Mags, the other Lombax, said, where the lights dimmed on their end and a number of stars, just like what Ratchet and Starswirl had seen in the Archives not that long ago, appeared around them, where each dimension had a locational name and a nickname, no doubt Mag's way of keeping track of things, During my mapping I discovered the existence of a second multiverse, which we have nicknamed the 'Xeno Dimension', a collection of nineteen universes that, according to what we can see, if overseen by a child-like ruler who destroys whatever he wants. In addition to that we uncovered the presence of what we've determined to be a liminal barrier, a wall that prevents things from this multiverse from passing over to the other one... however...
A Dimensional Cataclysm... we're fairly certain that if such an event is triggered, it'll sunder the barrier and allow people to travel to another multiverse, at the cost of this one. Kaden finished, showing them that the brightest minds at the time had gone over the findings and knew what was at stake, which told Ratchet far more than he was expecting, since it told him why his father had insisted on leaving the Dimensionator alone until his friends and family talked him into restoring it so he could find Rivet, It's purely hypothetical, mind you, so there's a chance that we might be wrong, but... well, just to be safe, we're making this message to warn you two, and your allies, of the danger of such a thing. If someone is misusing the Dimensionator you must stop them, before irreparable damage is done to our multiverse... and before they do something that will endanger all of creation.
Ratchet and Rivet glanced at each other as the message ended, as this wasn't what they were expecting to hear, but this just confirmed that they needed to stop Emperor Nefarious at all costs, before he destroyed everything that they held dear in his mad crusade to rule over every dimension.