I want to strangle Ratchet. But I know I'm going to need all the help I can get to free Siren. So I just sit there and cry silently for a while. Then I feel a hand on my shoulder.
"Gayge-" Ratchet starts.
"No!" I shout, slapping his hand. "Don't touch me! This wasn't supposed to happen again! Not to anyone else but me!" And I stare again into the distance. Thirty seconds, a minute, two minutes pass.
Ratchet's voice makes its way through my ears again, but this time it's more soothing than flirty. "What do you mean, again?"
I sigh as I think about what happened to Jackson. "Were you there when I came to the rebels?" I ask. "My memory's a little fuzzy."
"I don't know," he says. "I think if I was, I was with a different squad."
"Well, then I guess I owe you a story," I say, getting ready to recount what I want to forget. "About five years ago, I lost my parents to a nuclear strike. They locked me and my little brother in a bunker and tried to help everyone else get to safety, but it didn't work. I was left to raise my brother."
Ratchet looks at me. "You have a brother? Is he here?"
I look away from him. "No... I had a brother." Ratchet's face falls a little bit. "About three years after our parents died, he came down with radiation sickness. We tried everything to make him better, but we just didn't have the money to pay for medical treatment. He fought really hard though, and nine months later we got him into a clinic that some of the lower class people were running for way less than the high-end one. Only problem was, it was near a war zone. We didn't mind; all we wanted was for him to get better. But one day the missiles got too close. They couldn't evacuate the patients in time. I wanted to stay with him, but..." I start to cry. "A nurse pulled me out and dragged me away. The nuke hit the hospital. I was thrown back and must've hit something, because I lost consciousness. When I woke up, the nurse who pulled me out was dead beside me. I looked over and..." I look at my bionic arm. "Siren and Sprocket found me bleeding to death out there, and they brought me back to the rebels. Crescent built this for me, and I'm running as good as ever. And now I'm ready to end President Tronyx for screwing up my life."
Ratchet exhales deeply. "Wow... you've been through a lot, huh?"
"No kidding," I say and get up. "This is why I didn't want her to go. I wanted to save her because I owe her. Now all I've got is something else to blame Tronyx and Steele for."
"In that case," says Ratchet, standing up, "you should probably go save her." I look at him and nod.
We walk back towards the compound. Crescent and Sprocket see us and run up to us. "Wow, you did it!" Sprocket exclaims. "We heard the explosions and we could see a little, but that was incredible! In record time, too!" Ratchet and I keep walking. Crescent looks around.
"Hey, where's Siren?" she asks.
"Give me a day," I answer. "She'll be here."
Eclipse and Glitch see us and ask where we're going.
"Siren's not here," Ratchet says curtly. "Where do you think she's going?" They don't say anything after that.
I walk back into the compound and go straight to the garage, finding my motorcycle in the midst of scattered bikes, broken ATVs, and disused ping-pong tables. As I mount, Ratchet comes tearing in after me.
"Wait! I'm coming, too!" he yells over my engine.
"Drop dead, Ratchet," I say. "It's your fault I'm in this mess anyway."
"Exactly," he replies quickly. "So it's my job to help you fix it."
I roll my eyes. "If you can keep up, you can come."
Ratchet's face lights up and he grabs an ATV, probably his, judging by the bumper stickers. A whole lot of hearts with arrows through them and other manly-type things. I hit the gas and we zoom out of the compound.
Ratchet does a pretty good job of keeping up. It's a pretty long ride to the Presidential House, and all I can think of is how dead Tronyx is going to be when I get there. See, Tronyx isn't the official president. He was Icharus Steele's business partner back in the day, and after the prototype exoskeletons were successful but not forced, people basically worshipped Steele as a god. Since the real president was still showing his true colors underground, Steele installed Tronyx as the new leader of the United States. The people didn't question their new president; they trusted Steele enough to the point where he could've controlled the country if he wanted. Turns out they should have thought twice. Tronyx ended up enforcing the mandatory exoskeletons. Now the country's fighting two wars at once: one against the world, and the other against itself.
After about four hours of riding at top speed and avoiding Motor platoons, we make it there. I pull my helmet off and my braid tumbles down my shoulders. Ratchet stares up at the mansion. It's supposed to be bomb-proof all the way around, so it looks like an oasis in this sea of would-be city. How symbolic- the only thing that stands in the midst of all this rubble is the comfortable Presidential House.
Ratchet gets off his ATV. "So... we just walk in the front door?"
"Sure, Ratchet," I say, giving him a sarcastic look. "Why don't we make the President a nice little gift basket while we're at it?"
"Okay, okay," Ratchet says defensively. "So what do we do, then?"
I start looking around for another entrance and see a window right by me, nearly underground. I look through it and see a kitchen bustling with cooks. And they're all human. This should be a cinch. Waving Ratchet over, I point down to it so he can see. He stands on the other side of the window as I unfold my scythe.
And I smack the window with the butt of the handle.
Glass rains down on the workers as I jump through, holding the scythe out towards them. Ratchet follows me, rocket launcher at the ready. Most of the workers are women; they've probably been beaten into submission already. Screams fill the air and I really hope this place is soundproof.
"Everyone stay calm!" I yell. "We don't mean to hurt you! Just tell me where I can find the holding cells and we'll let you go!" There's no one brave enough to get up and tell me. "Listen, someone better get up and tell me where this place is or I'm gonna have my little friend do his job!" Ratchet lifts the rocket launcher higher and starts pointing it around the room. A younger girl, probably my age, stands up.
"It's around that way and to the right! You can't miss it!" she says frantically. Poor girl. She can't be older than sixteen. But I nod and wave Ratchet onward.
"Gayge," he starts as he catches up to me, "how are we going to get her out of here? We're gonna meet opposition sometime or other."
"Don't worry," I reply. "They won't like my angry side." That seems to scare him a little. When we meet two Motors in the hall right before the right turn, I demolish them with two swings of my scythe. Ratchet steps back.
"I don't think I like your angry side either... please don't ever get mad at me."
I smile at him. "Only if you don't do anything to hurt me."
"Why would I hurt you?" Ratchet scoffs. "You're picture-perfect for me, aren't you?"
"Not the time for flirting." We keep walking.
"Gayge, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that there's always a time to flirt. Why, just a few weeks ago, I-"
"Get down!"
I pull him to the ground as a volley of explosives goes over our heads. I get up, whipping out my scythe. Ratchet launches a missile at them and a few of them go down. I rush in and take the last of them out before turning to Ratchet. "We gotta go!" I yell. He understands and runs toward the cell, ducking behind a wall before loading his rocket launcher.
"Siren! Get back!" he yells as he fires off a few rounds to take out the guards at the door. I jump into the middle of everything, confirming that all the Motors are disabled. Then I rush to the cell and slash the lock off.
"Hey! What are you doing here?!" yells Siren.
"Good to see you, too," I say, taking her cuffs off. "Now let's get out of here!"
We run out of the cell and back the way we came, coming to the kitchen and boosting Siren out the window. Ratchet lifts my foot up and I turn and offer him my hand. Once we're all out of there, Siren hops on the back of my motorcycle and we drive off.
Two hours in we stop and take a rest. "Whoo..." I say. "What a fight."
"You're telling me," Ratchet says, going behind a rock. I walk over to Siren.
"You all right?" I ask her.
She cracks her knuckles. "I'm doing just fine," she says.
And she slugs me in the face.
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