Act 1 Chapter 6

Lawrence was returning to the Nefarious space station to pick up his boss and bring them both to the Great Clock. The flight was slow, quiet, and uneventful. Certainly more pleasant than having to listen to Nefarious' high-pitched yelling. The space station finally came into view, as well as a small cluster of metal debris off to the side. Which wasn't uncommon; sometimes garbage would continue to float nearby after being let out the airlock. However, upon turning his head to the side, Lawrence noticed a heavily damaged ship drifting away from the debris.

Not concerned, Lawrence looked back in the direction where he was flying. He pulled into the ship loading bay to find a massive group of troops running around and chanting, Annihilate, annihilate, annihilate. Surely something had to have gone wrong, but it wasn't Lawrence's issue, so he paid little attention. He shook his head at the sight and carefully slid by all the angry robots to go look for Nefarious.

Lawrence looked around the station and couldn't find the doctor anywhere. Until he heard a repetitive, metallic clashing nearby, followed by the familiar angry screeches of Nefarious himself. Lawrence turned a corner to see his boss, flailing around a severed metallic arm, and hitting it against the walls and floor. Lawrence stood by and watched with concerned eyes. He took a few steps back to avoid getting whacked. Nefarious shrieked, "THAT LITTLE SKANK THINKS SHE CAN DOUBLE CROSS ME?! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HER I'LL MAKE HER REGRET THE DAY SHE WAS BORN-" As expected by Lawrence, Nefarious had froze and started playing Lance and Janice again-

"Why, Janice… Why did you leave me… WHYYY?!"

"Oh dear…" Lawrence muttered to himself.

"Janice… You were the only one who understood me. Now how will I go on?!"

Lawrence quickly smacked Nefarious in the head and opened his mouth only to be interrupted by more yelling. Nefarious threw the disembodied arm to the floor then proceeded to loudly screech and thrash around his arms in frustration. "Sir," Lawrence said, "You're going to end up blowing a fuse if you don't stop that." Nefarious ignored his butler, yet slightly calmed down. He started aggressively pacing back and forth, letting out furious grunts. Lawrence stood and stared in his typical apathetic state, waiting for Nefarious to cool down. The butler hesitated before he decided to ask, "Who does that arm belong to, Sir?"

Nefarious snarled, and kicked the arm across the room. "If you MUST know," Nefarious ranted, "THAT ARM belongs to that pathetic excuse of a robot. That liar, that traitor, that SQUISHY WANNABE!" The doctor's gears and pumps were moving so fast, they looked like they could explode at any moment.

"The woman who used to work for your nemesis betrayed you?" Jested Lawrence. "Oh my, who could have ever predicted that?"

Nefarious' head started to smoke.

"Before you set yourself on fire, Sir," Lawrence began, "Perhaps we should discuss the ever growing obstacles in your plan." The doctor relaxed his shoulders, his eyes still burning with rage. "The Zoni are awaiting your return to the Clock to 'fix' Clank. Oh, and I believe it is worth noting that... the rebel, Azimuth, is on the run again, causing more trouble."

Nefarious glared at Mina's arm on the floor, then back up at his butler. "Fine." He growled. "I have something else I'd like to add on our to-do list, Lawrence. Have my new servant- er… Vorselon meet me in my office as soon as possible..."

Back in his office, Nefarious sat straight up in his chair, hands folded together. He pressed the giant red button, opening the door to allow someone in; The Terraklon assassin, Lord Vorselon. He had a devious smirk on his face.

"Do you know why you are here?" Nefarious asked in a dark tone.

"I believe I do."

Hundreds of miles away, Mina was still floating through space in her broken ship hours after her escape. Earlier, she decided to sleep in an attempt to block out all of her overwhelming thoughts. However, she didn't even consider the amount of inevitable dangers that awaited her.

In the midst of her sleep, Mina's sensors alerted her to wake up after the ship was hit. She lunged forward in her seat and rubbed her eyes. After her sight adjusted, she noticed another ship was close and fired a single missile at her. Mina struggled to sit still and fastened her seat belt as the ship rocked. She pressed the speaker button so that she could communicate with whoever was flying the other ship. Mina clenched her fist in frustration. She had completely forgotten that all functions on the ship were destroyed when it was hit by the space station's lasers.

Mina frantically waved her arm around and yelled, "HEY!" She knew whoever was flying that other ship couldn't possibly have heard her, but they certainly saw her. They must have thought she was dead. The other ship stop firing at Mina which gave her time to come up with a solution to the problem. "How about, you get me an arm," she said slowly while gesturing to her arm socket, then gestured at the weapons piled up behind her seat, "and I'll give you all my stuff? Huh? Fair deal?"

The other ship slowly moved in closer. Mina could barely see through their windshield as it was tinted. She made hand gestured that resembled using a lasso, "Give me a tow? My ship is dead." She added. The unknown person got Mina's message. They used their ship tether to grab ahold of Mina's ship and towed her to a nearby moon.

Mina couldn't help but feel a little nervous as she couldn't take her eyes off the other ship. She had no idea as to who she was about to make a deal with. She draped her arm across her curled up knees as she waited to land.

Both ships safely landed and Mina unbuckled herself to quickly step out. She stayed perfectly still as she stood to wait for the other person to exit their ship. The hatch opened, and out stepped a tall, blue skinned man wearing a hat. He had a parrot on his shoulder. Mina's eyebrows raised before she relaxed her posture.

The man held his hand to his chin as he looked up and down Mina. "You seem familiar." He said in a thick, country accent. "Ain't we met before?"

"Uhh, maybe?"

"Ah, that's right. Yer friends with that lombax and that little robot."

Oh, great. That guy. It was him, the smuggler whom Ratchet occasionally bought weapons from. Not exactly the kind of person Mina was happy to be getting help from.

The Smuggler continued, "As a matter of fact, I just saw him recently."

Mina's ears perked up, "Really? Where?"

"Merdegraw. He said he was lookin' for an obsidian eye to find the location of yer little robot friend."

The Smuggler's parrot joined in, "Squak! Pirates everywhere!"

"Merdegraw? Pirates? Eh, I think Ratchet's probably doing just fine. Thanks again for sending us skydiving, by the way."

"Enough about that. Now, what can I do ya for?"

Mina turned and signaled to her empty arm socket. "I wanted to know if you'd like to trade a robotic arm for all my weapons."

Both the Smuggler and his parrot squinted at the bizarre sight of the seemingly organic woman's shoulder and the wires that protruded from it. The Smuggler took a step closer to slightly kneel down to get a closer look, making Mina hesitate.

"You some kinda cyborg?" He asked.

"I guess you can say that. I don't need anything super fancy. I just need something slim. If you can get me that, I'll give you everything that's in my ship."

The Smuggler looked behind Mina to see the opened ship with all the weapons. His stoic expression lit up. His eyes went back to Mina. "Y'got all that all by yourself?" He asked. "Bet it cost you yer arm."

"It cost me an arm," Mina turned her head and looked to the ground, "and a life."

"'And a life'? Hah! Well who would'a thought? Ya got some evil in ya afterall!"

Mina's eyes quickly filled with anger and hurt. Her face heated up and her chest get tight. She failed to hide a scowl then turned away from the Smuggler.

"Alright, little lady. I think I can help ya out." The Smuggler started to walk back towards his ship. "I got some buddies who should have plenty of robotic parts. I'll call em over here."

Mina walked over to her ship and sat down on the ground next to it. She slouched while keeping her chin cupped in her hand. She glanced up to see the Smuggler whispering into his ship's communicator. His parrot kept its big eyes locked on Mina. The two had a staring match until Mina gave up and focused back on the ground. Then she decided to look up again- yep, the parrot was still staring.

The Smuggler stayed in his ship even after hanging up the call with his 'buddies'. He made sure not to give even a slight glimpse outside the window. Not until his fellow smuggler showed up. His dismembered cyborg acquaintance could easily wait a few minutes. He didn't particularly care as to what she was doing by herself over there. Instead, the Smuggler pretended to be doing some kind of work on his ship- pretending to press random buttons and mumbling gibberish to his parrot.

A larger, blocky-looking ship arrived rather quickly and landed a few yards away from the others. Mina immediately stood to her feet before noticing the Smuggler was already on his way to his friend's ship. The tinted black window rolled down a crack. "What'cha got for us, friend?" The Smuggler asked. Said friend responded by opening the two back doors of the ship. The Smuggler went to the back to see a hoard of various robot parts. Plenty of arms, legs, torsos, and optics galore. "C'mon, Lady." The Smuggler gestured towards himself.

Mina made her way to the opened trunk and scanned all over. Without thinking, she lunged in quickly, causing a pile to fall out. She tried to reach out both her arms to catch everything, completely forgetting the obvious. The pile of robotic parts clashed on the ground, and Mina jolted at the sudden noise. The Smuggler silently took a step back to avoid having his feet crushed. He gave a smile at the sight of Mina's grouchy expression. Mina wasn't looking at him, but the Smuggler still noticed her bushy eyebrows glaring and her chubby cheeks puffing up.

For every robot part that was moved, a puff of metallic and rusty stench filled the air. Without any aid, Mina dug through the pile and couldn't find anything even remotely similar to her original arm. Parts of every size, shape and color could be found, except the one she needed. Not giving it much thought, Mina took a step and pulled herself into the trunk to get deeper into the pile. She looked up where the flyer of the ship was seated. It was just an ominous silhouette. Mina's eyes and ears twitched at a disturbing thought. She peeked her head out the back to meet the Smuggler, "Hey, uhh, you're not gonna close these doors behind me, are you?" She asked.

"Ha ha. Y'got quite the sense of humor, Lady." The Smuggler chuckled. "Dunno what use a Markazian cyborg would have for me."

The parrot joined in, "Squawk! Useless!"

Mina joked with dullness in her voice, "Aw. Well now I feel kind of insulted."

She continued her search for the perfect arm. After another moment of desperate digging, she came across a slim, robotic arm with five fingers on the hand. It still had all its wires and mechanisms on the inside, too. The color was a dark crimson, which was obviously different from the rest of her robot body- not that it mattered. It was going to be covered up anyway. Mina knew she completely lucked out on this one. She clumsily slid out of the ship's trunk while hugging the arm tightly to her chest. She showed it to the Smuggler. "I think this one will do." She said. "Can you help me attach it? Please?"

The Smuggler pulled out a screwdriver and some pliers from his pants' pockets. Mina sat down on the back end of the trunk and turned so that her arm socket was perfectly in view. She handed the arm to the Smuggler and let him get to work. Luckily for the two of them, reattaching a robotic arm wasn't anything too difficult. Especially since both her socket and the new arm still had all their wires. The Smuggler intensely stared at every little area of the socket, carefully attaching each wire to the new arm. Mina watched the entire time to make sure the man knew what he was doing. She could have easily done it herself if it wasn't such a difficult reach.

A few minutes went by before the Smuggler decided he was done. He took a step back and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Go ahead, Lady." He said. "Try it out."

Mina tried to move her new arm to no avail. She tried again- no movement. She tried once more and she felt a jolt of energy pulse from her shoulder to her finger tips. The first thing she gained control of were her fingers. They all curled and extended the way any finger should. The thumb worked perfectly. Then she tried bending the elbow, which took more effort, but she quickly managed to re-learn how to move it. As happy as she felt, she only had the energy to form a small, slightly opened smile. That was enough for the Smuggler to realize he did his job right, and he would be receiving a bunch of new weapons any second now.

"Well, it was a pleasure doin' business with a Markazian cyborg." the Smuggler began, "Now if ya don't mind, I think I'll be taking those weapons ya promised me and head out-"

"Hold on." Mina interjected. She nervously pressed the surface of her watch with her newly attached appendage. It worked. Her eyes lit up at the little light teal projection screen that emanated from the watch. She immediately accessed the settings for her artificial organic properties. "Sorry. This might be a little gross." Mina turned back on the settings for where her arm should be, and soon all the skin and muscle tissue formed back. The Smuggler and his parrot couldn't believe what they were seeing, their eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

Mina and the Smuggler put back the rest of the fallen robot parts back into the ship, then the Smuggler's buddy took off without the two of them exchanging any more words. Mina went back to her totaled ship to help the Smuggler pack up every last weapon she had stolen from Nefarious. She was displeased to let it all go, but it was worth it for an arm. She looked at every scratch, dent, and missing pieces on the ship and couldn't help but brainstorm as to what she would do to fix it. Then she came to the important realization that she had no means of transportation. And the Smuggler never once mentioned giving her a ride or anything of the sort. He was really about to leave her there.

"Wait a minute." Mina held up her hand as the Smuggler was about to head for his front seat. Both the Smuggler and his parrot scowled down at Mina. "Maybe we can work out one more deal?"

"As much as I enjoyed helping out a nice young lady such as yerself," the Smuggler griped, "I got more important things that should be occupying my time. Besides, I figured since you killed someone for all those weapons, that you'd thrive here just fine-"

"I didn't kill anyone." Shot Mina. She paused for a moment, then continued, "I would just like to get a ride and have my ship towed somewhere so that I can fix it. I have lots of bolts, so I don't expect you to do this for free."

The Smuggler and his parrot looked each other in the eye then back at Mina. "Ya really wanna put that much trust into a lawless man like me, huh?"

"Oh, believe me, I've trusted way more dangerous men than you." Way more... nefarious men. Ha ha. She mentally gave herself a pat on the back for that pun. Even though thinking about him made her skin crawl. "So," Mina continued, "how does 2,000 bolts sound? For a ride and a tow?"

"Squawk! Make it 3,000!"

The Smuggler looked to his feathered companion, "You took the words right out of my mouth, friend."

"Fine. Deal." Mina reluctantly agreed.

Trusting yet another criminal was far from ideal, though it's not as if there were any other choices available. For all she knew, the Smuggler could dump her into space again at any moment. Mina climbed into the passenger seat of the Smuggler's ship, her weight causing a harsh tilt. The Smuggler watched Mina as she settled herself in. He came to the conclusion that the Markazian must have been entirely robotic- not just her arm. She was undoubtedly a heavy-looking woman on the outside, but she certainly didn't look that heavy.

Mina rested her elbow on the windowsill and stared outside, not giving any reaction to the Smuggler getting in on his side. Mina could've sworn she heard him say a few words, but they didn't reach her, and she didn't care to ask him to repeat himself.

The flight was quiet and slow- slow due to the fact that they were towing another ship along the way. The uncomfortable silence only made the trip go by even slower, which fueled Mina's mind with unwanted reminders of everything that has been happening. She finally decided to ask an important question, "So where do you plan on dropping me off?"

"Krell Canyon. The Vullards got themselves a settlement there. They should have everything ya need to fix yer ship."

Mina slightly nodded her head in acknowledgement. "Oh, and uhh, thanks for helping me. I really appreciate it." She looked away mid-sentence.

"Yer very welcome, Lady."

At last, they came to a landing on top of a cliff with a view of one of the Vullard settlements the Smuggler had spoken of. The large snail-like robotic creatures could be seen walking around in the distance with all their piles of junk, looking for pieces for whatever projects they were working on. The ground was hot and dry, and the air smelled of metal, smoke, and hard work.

Before exiting the ship, Mina pulled 3,000 bolts out of her watch to give to the Smuggler. "Thank you kindly." He said.

Mina stepped out without a word and was about to head over to her own ship before the Smuggler rolled down the passenger window, "One more thing, Lady." Mina turned her head and her ears twitched. The man continued, "If ya ever wanna make any more deals or ya wanna do some work for someone, you be sure to come and find me, alright?" He had a slight smile on his face as he tilted his hat before rolling up the window and flying away. Mina watched with curious eyes as the Smuggler's ship left the scene.

After her mysterious acquaintance was gone, Mina went over to her ship to figure out where to start fixing it. Several little pieces scattered across the outside of the ship were broken or missing. And everything on the inside didn't work at all. To make matters more complicated, Mina knew that Nefarious had a bunch of other ships that looked exactly like this one. Flying it around the galaxy would be too dangerous. The woman shrugged her shoulders. "I'm gonna have to take this whole thing apart and start from scratch, aren't I?" She said aloud.

Mina turned on her watch to find an old sketchbook stored inside. She flipped through the pages to find all sorts of plans and equations she wrote for a bunch of robots, ships, and weapons she had previously designed. Then she came across a crude drawing of Ratchet and his ship that she had intended to give to him as a joke gift. She couldn't help but let out a quiet giggle at the sight of it. The conclusion was decided: Mina wanted to redesign the ship to look like her best friend's, with only a doodle and memory as references. She knew it would be far from a perfect replica, but it was the best idea she had.

Without another moment to lose, Mina got right to work. She drew half a dozen sketches and wrote down even more measurements. Once everything was written down, she scavenged through the endless piles of junk that were scattered across the plain. Every possible piece she needed could be found within just a few minutes. Some pieces less than perfect, but good enough for her current standards. Mina knew better than to settle for subpar machinery. She knew that better than anyone else. However, she was stuck in a situation where time meant everything. As soon as she finished building that ship, she were to get to planet Markazia as soon as possible. For she knew her next step in her plan was to see her aunts, as they were likely starting to worry at that point.

The Vullards were very friendly and allowed Mina to use whatever materials she wanted. Afterall, they were nowhere near aggressive enough to start a fight anyway. As she continued to work, Mina started to think about what Nefarious would say to her if he knew that she was remodelling one of his ships. She came up with the conversation in her head,

"Mina, why the HELL are you taking apart one of my precious ships?!"

"Relax, Doctor. It just needs a woman's touch. Speaking of which, I know of another machine that could use a woman's touch..."

She smiled blissfully to herself, then went blank within a split second. Her next thought was what any rational person would ask her, Why am I still thinking about him like that? Nefarious not only ripped Mina's arm clean off, but was also responsible for having Roger killed. Roger was a friend and a perfectly innocent robot who let himself die just to help Mina escape. He sacrificed himself to save Mina from Nefarious, and yet there she was, still thinking fondly of the tyrant.

No. She thought to herself again, I stayed there for too long. It got to my head. Yeah. That's what this is. Once I see my aunts, I'll be back to my old self. Hmm… It's been a while since my escape. Is Nefarious looking for me? Does he think I'm dead? I hope so. He's dead to me.

A week's worth of trials and errors went by since Mina first arrived at Krell Canyon. After the first few days, her ship was already newly built. The outer shape did, in fact, slightly resemble Ratchet's ship, the Aphelion. However, due to having it made out of various pieces of junk, it looked like just that: Junk. The rest of Mina's stay in the canyon revolved around her attempting to fly her ship and having one thing go wrong after the other. Some days the steering wheel wouldn't steer, other days the gasket would blow up or the wings wouldn't budge.

Mina had little to no sleep during the entire process. Not that she necessarily needed the sleep, but she still craved it. Her sensors and response time slowed down more and more each day. She needed to power down and take a break. Each time she gave herself time to rest, her mind was overloaded with intrusive thoughts and unpleasant reminders. When she felt overwhelmed, all she could do was sit on the ground and lay up against her ship. She would shake and tightly grip her face as the deafening memories and worries clouded her mind. It was all too much, and working on the ship was a helpful, much needed distraction. Regardless of how tired she felt, Mina kept up her work until Aphelion's ugly sister was complete.

The ship was able to fly all the way into space without any issue. At last, Mina had the capability to travel by herself. It was such a lovely, refreshing feeling. She was still plagued with responsibilities and worries for herself and everyone else, but it was the most freedom she had in such a long time. Mina turned on her watch to try and call her aunt to let her know she was coming back. It didn't ring. There was hardly a signal. She waited a few more minutes then called again. The first ring wasn't even done when Aunt Ada picked up, "Hello?! Mina?!" she exclaimed, "Is that really you?!"

"Hey, Aunt Ada." Mina responded. "I'll be coming back to your house soon-"

"COLETTE! HONEY! MINA IS FINALLY COMING BACK!"

"Oh, well it's about time." Colette's voice could barely be heard in the background. "She's been gone at that job for over eight months now."

Mina could've sworn she felt her heart jump into her throat. "I've been gone for that long?" She asked in shock.

"No, no. That can't be right." Said Ada. "I'm pretty sure you've been working at that job for over a year… I think?"

Mina muttered. "I'll be there soon. We have a lot to talk about."

"Okay, sweetie." Ada happily sighed. "I hope you tell us everything. Love you."

Mina hung up before her aunt had the chance to. She hit the back of her head against the headrest and nervously groaned. She only wished she could tell her aunts everything. Or anyone else in her life for that matter.

The Oxford-Carter household was a large, yet mostly empty home. Mina had the luxury of being allowed to stay as long as she wanted, rent free- only at the cost of repairing household machinery such as the dryer or the electric heater. Which was fine by her, except most of the machinery hadn't been properly inspected in who-knows-how-long. Before any projects could be worked on, however, it was time to have a nice, family dinner.

The kitchen was the fanciest room in the entire house. It had plenty of counters, cabinets and every possible cooking and baking utensils one could ever need. Which was perfect for Colette, who always enjoys making meals for herself and her wife, even after working as a nurse all day. The middle-aged Cazar wore her pink apron as she was preparing dinner while her wife leaned up against the other side of the island. Mina sat down at the table with a glass of iced tea in her hand, not taking even a sip.

"I know you don't need to eat," said Ada, "but you're welcome to if you want."

"Only if you'll volunteer to clean out my stomach." Mina responded.

"Ew. No thank you. I didn't have kids for that exact reason."

Colette joined in, "Sure, Ada. Sure."

"I'm sorry things didn't work out with that job of yours." Ada continued. "I know how hard you tried. Hell, I say you always try too hard. I mean that in the best way, of course."

Mina curled her wrist to watch her iced tea twist. "Eh, it's alright." She shrugged. "The boss was a jerk anyway."

"Aw… Did you even try to use your charm to get on his good side?"

"Please don't say things like that."

After letting out an obnoxious laugh, Ada walked closer to where Colette was cutting vegetables to help her clean as she worked. The two exchanged a few words which were incoherent to Mina, who was still swishing her drink around in silence. Mina had been back at her aunts' place for just over an hour and did everything she could to keep conversations going, just to prevent herself from overthinking again. More silence meant more thinking.

Mina's thoughts raced faster and roared louder by the second. Before long, she lost all constraints and blurted out, "Have you ever heard of these creatures called 'the Zoni'?" Her sudden, slightly loud question made her aunts stop dead in their tracks. They stared at their niece with uncomfortable confusion on their faces.

"Zoni?" Ada asked. "What are you on about?"

"Oh, I think I know what you're talking about," said Colette. She bent down to put her casserole in the oven. "Those are little creatures that control all the energy in the universe, or something like that. I'm pretty sure they're just a myth. Why do you ask?"

Mina closed her eyes and mentally took a deep breath. "A while ago," she started, "my friend, Clank, was captured by these Zoni. We haven't seen him since, and I was wondering if you knew anything that could help-"

"Whoa, whoa." Ada interrupted with her hands held up. She walked to the other side of the table to look Mina in the eye. "Slow down." She began again, "What do you mean a while ago, Clank was captured?"

"What do you think I mean?" Mina broke eye contact after Ada arched her eyebrows at her. "He got captured not long before you told my parents and siblings to come here."

"What?!" Ada shrilled. Colette quickly took off her apron to rush over to her upset wife. She put her hand on Ada's shoulder, but the Markazian didn't calm down. "Clank got captured that long ago and you didn't tell us?!"

"The Zoni are real?" Colette's question went ignored.

Mina grumbled, "I would've said something, but the second I showed up here, you were like, 'we need to call your parents immediately.'"

"Oh, don't even think about trying to blame me for anything." Ada's tone began to grow more aggressive. "Besides, we all know you hadn't spoken to your parents or Jamison and Eleanor since you moved to Solana how many years ago? You also wrote to Colette and I while you were at your job, for cryin' out loud! You could've mentioned your friend during that time, too!"

"I don't need to tell you everything that's going on with me." Mina muttered as she slouched in her seat. "I'm not a child."

"Then why are you acting like one?"

"Okay," Colette put her hand in between the line of sight of Ada and Mina. "That's enough. Let's all sit down and discuss this like the mature, grown-up adults we are."

With an unpleasant expression and a heavy sigh, Ada took a seat at the kitchen table across from Mina and calmed herself. Colette sat between the two of them with her hands folded, waiting for the conversation to continue.

"I want to ask you a question, Mina. And I want a straight answer." Ada calmly stated. "Why didn't you tell us about your friend getting captured?"

Mina slightly raised her voice, "Because-" she stopped herself from sounding like she was even remotely shouting. "Because I was nervous as hell to see my parents and James and Norrie after so long. I knew they would be mad."

"Well you can't just form bonds with people, leave them, then act surprised when they get upset."

"... I wanted to help Ratchet look for Clank, but before his capture, I finally told both of them about, uhm, the becoming a robot thing. So he wanted me to see my family again instead."

"Did you join him in his search at any point in the past year?"

"No. I really was working."

Colette stayed perfectly still and silent in her seat, only moving her head to face whoever spoke.

Ada shook her head. "And you had to tell him about the robot thing, too, huh? That had to have been pleasant. I guess this explains why you were so insistent on staying in Polaris. You still have that debt to pay off, and your best friends are scattered across the galaxy. No wonder you're so crotchety right now."

Colette got up from her seat to give Mina a tight hug. "Mina," She softly said. "We know exactly how you're feeling right now. Right, Adalaide?"

"Yes." Ada nodded. "As you know, Colette and I used to be soldiers way back when Tachyon first ruled Polaris. Sure, we could have taken the risky move of sneaking out of the galaxy to Bogon where your parents lived, but it was too dangerous. So we stayed here for the sake of safely keeping our jobs to support each other and our marriage. Dammit, Mina. You could have at least told us what happened. You know I would've busted out my armor and joined in to help!"

Colette noted, "Honey, we've been over this. Your armor is old and falling apart, just like you."

"I am not falling apart!" Ada huffed. "My hip just does this weird pop thing whenever I sit down!"

Mina gave a slight smile before returning to a numb expression.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Ada went back to her old statement, "we know how it feels to be torn apart by responsibilities and supporting loved ones. And we want you to know that you can tell us anything." Colette nodded her head in approval.

"Thanks, Aunt Ada."

"Now, about those Zoni…" Colette reiterated. "If you want to learn more about them, I suggest going to Planet Quantos. There's a race known as the Fongoids who live there. I've heard that the Fongoids aren't like us. Supposedly, they don't use technology of any kind. Only energy from the Zoni. I can't guarantee they'll want to speak with you, but Quantos may offer some clues."

"Hold on," Ada's attention went back onto Mina. "What has Ratchet told you about what he's found since Clank's capture? Let me guess, you aren't on speaking terms with him anymore, either?"

Mina cringed as she felt like she had been punched in the chest. "I wouldn't say that." she answered. "We kind of had a little argument after Clank's capture. He said he'd call me as soon as possible but never did. So now I feel kind of awkward about reaching out to him."

Ada shrugged, "Might as well go to Quantos and figure out your own clues, then. Either way, I know you two are gonna pull through and see Clank again. I believe in you. Come here and gimme a hug, you brat."

The trio all got up from their seats and wrapped their arms around each other for a tight squeeze. Ada held on for an extra couple seconds after Colette had already pulled away from Mina.

"I think I should start packing now." Mina suggested. "I'll need to leave first thing in the morning. You understand, right?"

Ada opened her mouth but was immediately interrupted by Colette, "Oh, of course we do!" She reassured. "After all, you've got so much on your plate… except for my casserole."

"I'm sorry that I'm a robot." Mina said sarcastically.

She left the kitchen in a hurry and Ada hollered, "Don't forget you still have to fix our dryer!"

"I'll work on it tonight!" Mina shouted back. She sunk against the wall after she was no longer in view of the doorway. Mina ran her hands up her forehead to push her bangs out of her face as her head pounded.

Colette placed her hand on Ada's back and whispered in her ear, "I hope you got through to her alright. I do think you said all the right things."

"Thanks, honey."

"But you need to realize that Mina is 27 now. Do you really have to discipline her like that?"

"Well, someone has to do it."

And that's a wrap for act one! Wow… This is way overdue XD I apologize for that. My work schedule got hectic and then it got even more hectic. That, and as I was re-reading this chapter, it just didn't work for me. So I re-wrote the entire thing. And I told myself I'll be damned if I don't get this thing published before the new year lol.

Now that act one is done, I can work on smaller fics in the meantime! That, and I would love to work on drawing and illustrating certain moments from this act. Yes, that means I'll be taking a hiatus from this fic. But don't worry! If you're enjoying this story so far then I have good news for you: It's far from over!

I would like to once again thank my best friends, EmilyCastrov, TheLilyOfTheValley, and CSHanners (On Instagram) for supporting me in this project and everywhere else. You guys are amazing and my biggest inspirations and I can't thank you enough!

May 2020 bring us all happiness!