Ratchet just wanted to make it clear that it wasn't his fault at all. The ship exploding had nothing to do with him this time. The entire airspace of the planet Umbris was constantly filled with anti-aircraft fire.

Even though the lombax had some lessons on how to avoid being shot down out of the air. The missile hell he found himself in would tax any ace pilot's skill. Even so the end result had both Ratchet and Clank soaring through the air in their seats. Both crashing to make a little cloud of dust at their landing.

To the lombax's eyes there was nothing but blasted wasteland as far as the eye could see. Down below flowing between the island like crag the duo were on, was rivers of lava. Suddenly disturbing the stillness of the place was the loud whirring of blades.

Above, Captain Qwark sat within a helicopter. Steering with only one hand, the other held a megaphone and he spoke. "Welcome to my challenge course. Now is your chance to prove yourself

strong and brave!" Gesturing to himself at this description he returned the megaphone's amplifier in Ratchet's direction. "Conquer it and you'll join in my fight against evil!"

Ratchet blinked and held his hands to his mouth. "Haven't we done enough already?" The lombax shouted, but his voice was drowned out by the noise of Qwark's helicopter. And it showed, with the Captain declaring he couldn't even hear Ratchet. So the lombax tried to repeat himself to empathize all the struggle, the blood, sweat and fear the lombax and the robot underwent to get this far.

Qwark's only reply to that. "Sorry, still having trouble! Tell me later!"

"LATER?!" Ratchet screamed out this time. "WE MIGHT BE DEAD BY THEN!"

But Captain Qwark flew away, unable to hear Ratchet's protests. The hero's helicopter becoming a mere speck entering the looming complex in the distance. Ratchet shook his head, sending his ears flopping. "Alright Clank, let's get going."

The nearest path towards Qwark's secret base lay across another river of lava. A wide expanse broken only by the faint hum of hover drones floating above the fiery abyss having the occasional lava plume flare up. It was to this abyss that Ratchet swung-shot over. His fur blown upwards in spite of his motion. The great heat rising countering the natural effects of the lombax's motion forward. With Clank's aid, Ratchet made a slow descent onto what could be deemed a shore by the lava river.

Another Gadgetron vendor was there, with the vendor offering the newest weapon to come off the company's weapon line. Ratchet shook it once to straighten it out and pulled it taut over his hand. The mine glove, a more tactical weapon. It worked much differently than all the other weapons that Ratchet had collected. While in a pinch, Ratchet could use spam explosives, energy bolts, or little tiny minions when needed. This glove however was much too slow for that, shooting out floating explosives that took time to revert to normal size after the minimization used to make the mines portable.

Going through the defenses of Qwark's hideout though, needing a second to think about where to place these mines was an actual positive. Everything from the hidden line of homing mines, machine pellet guns, and actual flamethrowers. Not to mention the occasional mechanical security drone. More often than not, it was more tactically sound and safer for the duo to chuck a mine beforehand and lead enemies and moving weaponry straight into the lombax's preset mines. Clank on his end was quite content with his continued ability to zap any enemy that approached the lombax.

To Ratchet however it only got worse inside the base proper, past all the barbed wire and electrocuted fences. There was a set of water based defenses that required the hydro-displacer that Clank had picked up. But that only led up to a cycle of fiery agony being cooled by the rush of nano-tech.

They made his way through the traps and enemies and defenses. This is a bit much isn't it? Ratchet said. It's almost like Captain Qwark doesn't want us getting in.

Ratchet the man is trusting us to succeed and get through these obstacles, Executive Chairman Drek would not be an easy figure to take down.

All right but there's something fishy about this. Ratchet said. At least the defenses weren't set on a setting that would mark instant death. Still the defenses here were at a level where they would land Ratchet in some serious time in the med-ward.

In Ratchet's estimation from the beating he getting. While everything was set to really hurt, these defenses were just shy of being lethal. Still in the end, running out of nano-tech here would seriously land him in the med-ward for months. But eventually the pair entered the inner chamber surrounded by metal grates. Making the room seem more like a prison than an actual location worthy of a hero like Captain Qwark.

Qwark himself stood upon a floating circular platform, above the duo who were just entering by the only way inside the central chamber. :Well, well. You two continue to surprise me." Qwark said, sweeping as if any doubts he had about the duo's ability were as but dust. "Step into the Ring of Heroes and I will give you what you truly need."

Ratchet halted his approach whether it was from the Captain's tone or the wording, every combat instinct he had developed was screaming at him. The message wasn't clear but it was there. On the other hand, Clank detached himself from Ratchet after a few seconds of this sudden halt. "Ratchet, this is no time for you to become cautious! We have reached our goal!"

The lombax inched back from the center. "I don't know" Ratchet raised an eyebrow while holding his chin in his gloved hand. "There's something fishy going on around here."

"Listen to your little metal friend, Ratchet." Qwark answered, beckoning "Destiny is just mere

steps away."

"It's just something doesn't seem right." Ratchet said raising his fingers to his chin. Eyeing the surroundings, the lombax just couldn't tell what was making him want to get his tail out of here.

He was broken out of his search by Clank seizing his hand and pulling him forward. Stronger than what Ratchet would have expected from the robot's small chassis. "Come on Ratchet, this is the chance to prove ourselves." Clank said. "This is it! Qwark is going to help us stop Chairman Drek!"

Qwark looked down at the two, with a more stoic expression on the hero's face than any of the public had ever saw. "Why thank you Clank. You have been... most helpful." It was that face that both lombax and robot saw recede from them. Both free falling from the loss of the ground beneath them.

Ratchet's screams drowned within the boiling heat of the lava pit below. On the other hand Clank calmly glided down with the aid of his propeller attachments. But they were retracted, leaving Clank to knock the breath out of Ratchet who had a much rougher landing upon rough brown stone. "Get offa me, you pile of crossed circuits!" Ratchet snarled shoving the robot off of his chest.

Descending from above. Captain Qwark floated upon his platform slowly clapping and laughing with a booming monotone. " Ha, ha, I love it when a plan comes together." He said.

"What do you mean?" The robot still not comprehending the situation with what limited social skills he had gained these past few days.

"What do you think he means, genius?" Ratchet said, teeth grinding and green eyes harshly directed at the traitorous hero. "He's not gonna help us, he's gonna kill us!"

"You catch on quick kid. Pity about that" Qwark said pointing towards the disgruntled Ratchet.. "Although there is one problem with your hypothesis I'm not going to kill you.

"You're not?" Ratchet said, faint embers of hope flaring up further when exposed to the oxygen to Qwark's reply of "nope."

It quickly died to Qwark pointing to another corner where a large monstrous white furred beast was chained to two stone pillars, trying to break free. It looked suspiciously like the Snagglebeast that had appeared on one of the Captain's more popular commercials and the video that introduced the duo to this death trap. "He's going to horribly maim you instead!" Qwark pointed,

"But... why?" Clank's question edged with his slowly building realization of betrayal

"You really think it's that easy being a hero don't you! Of course when you've reached the top like me, you get the fame and the fortune." Qwark's hand swept out. "But it's all downhill from here. Especially with villains hitting you where it hurts the most."

"This isn't over, Qwark!" Ratchet snapped out.

"No... but it will be soon." Qwark said. "So long, kid, I'll be sending you flowers in your medical ward from yours truly." The captain soared away from the pit in his hovercraft. The chains holding the Snagglebeast snapped.

There was no other sound from Ratchet, who just pulled out his blaster and started unloading the clip straight into the beast's face. Teeth snarled and bare, Ratchet hopped over the shockwaves brought from the Snagglebeast jumping onto the unstable stone platforms above the lava.

The lombax sent the animal into several lava baths by collapsing the ground under the snagglebeast with his bombs. Soon that white fur was blackened and scorched and the body that it rested on stumbled more often than not. But Ratchet didn't let up his assault. He knew that if he gave the snagglebeast an inch. He would be torn apart into pieces.

Quakes from the snagglebeast's desperate jumps spilled lava onto the stone islands. The semi-solid liquid ate away at the rock. Cracks being etched in the blue gray mineral floor. Eventually the monster jumped one too many times and the floor beneath it collapsed from its sheer weight. The Snagglebeast flailed in the molten lava as it sank. But it did not get up again.

Ratchet looked around but they were isolated in the middle of a lava lake, with no way to jump or swing-shot out of this place. "Damnit! How are we going to get out of here now?" The lombax growled out roughly.

A rather small click made the lombax turn quickly, Omni-wrench raised. But it was nothing but a hidden bridge dropping down from the entrance of a large cavern overhanging the lava pool.

"What did that?" Ratchet asked but shook his head. He could see the sky further on into the cavern but paused when another info-bot appeared. One with a darker message, a desperate plea from a Batalian commando in need of assistance in defending his planet. A planet being bombarded with missiles upon its now dark surface.

"Those are Drek's ships destroying that planet! We must help that commando!" Clank said, the robot getting off from his place on the lombax's back to watch the video.

Ratchet's fur bristled at this. "Are you serious? That's it! I'm done! I'm getting Qwark, getting Drek and then I'm going home. I've had enough!" The lombax stalked off, spotting a more sleeker spacecraft still docked on a landing platform.

Clank ran to catch up. "This is not about Captain Qwark any more. There are innocent lives

being lost."

"Yeah, well I'm done with this! I just want to get rid of those two and go home. Never should have gone with you." Ratchet hopped into the spacecraft's cockpit, strapping himself in.

"Ratchet, this is not like you." Clank said, flying his way up into the spacecraft with his heli-pack blades. "You wouldn't just abandon those people to Drek's airships."

"What do you know about me?" The lombax snapped. "You spent this whole time, going Captain Qwark this and Captain Qwark that." Ratchet conveniently forgot any admiration he did have for the hero that left them to die. "You don't know anything about me!" Every word followed with a poke on Clank's chest.

"I know that you will do the right thing." Clank could only say. The robot got no answer except for the lombax's grumbling and attempts to get the ship to start. "Have you forgotten? Ships of this nature require a robotic ignition system." The robot glanced sidelong at Ratchet "I will start the ship as long as you help that commando."

"Blackmail, is it? From you of all robots? Fine. Just start the ship." Ratchet said, both to leave the planet with a great gap between them..