A/N: *Blows away dust from account*

Jesus, how long has it been since I published something. I would like to apologize for the EXTREMELY LONG absence on story publishing. I'm now in college, working towards my Master's in Electrical Engineering. I haven't completely forgotten my stories, I've just been extremely busy after High School. I've been writing here and there whenever I had time. Have no fear: I WILL continue writing this story and the following ones after this. Just bear with me as my Graduate work still takes priority.

Additionally, I didn't get a chance to get this looked over extensively by editors, but I didn't want to make you guys wait much longer for an update.

Now that's out of the way, please enjoy this latest chapter!

Ratchet's helmet collapsed back into its storage unit at the back of his neck. How long has it been since he and Louis were face to face? Five months? Six? Louis had to go back to Earth after the whole incident with the Great Clock for a new assignment, apparently to train this new task force. Despite it being a short separation, the Lombax did indeed miss his brother in all but blood, as much as he missed Clank and Clark. Ignoring all the eyes on him and Louis, Ratchet rushed up to him and tackled him into a hug. The human gave a slight "oof" when the felinoid collided with him, but soon chuckled deeply and returned the gesture.

"Of course I missed ya, you big dolp," Ratchet replied, chuckling. "Although your timing is still crap, Lou."

Louis Ramirez chuckled deeply once more as he ruffled the top of Ratchet's had, messing up his mane. "Well excuse me for saving your sorry ass, Ratchet," Louis jabbed back. They released each other from the embrace as he motioned to the now gathering Task Force. "Ratchet, meet the Leviathans, some of the elite, hyper-lethal forces of the Coalition. Troops, take off the buckets and introduce yourselves."

One by one, most of the Leviathans released the sealed mag-locks to their helmets and began to remove them. The only exception was Wyngate for some reason. Ratchet was greeted by a multitude of soldiers from various nationalities. Some he recognized—Russian, Korean, American, and more—while others he wasn't familiar with. Most if not all were thrilled to meet the Lombax face to face. Each Leviathan was able to introduce themselves to Ratchet, giving names, nationalities, ranks, and a handshake here and there. There were way too many to remember them all, but Ratchet always tried to make the effort to.

"Alright, now that introductions are in order, we should…" Louis began but trailed off as he looked at the sky. "Hold on, I see the authorities arriving. I bet our little shindig attracted attention."

True to the human's word, a small blue and white colored transport flew towards them. In a few moments, it landed near Ratchet's garage and the doors slid open. Stepping out into full view were two heavily armed Veldinian police officers. Although Ratchet and Louis rarely encountered them, Veldinians were essentially lizard-folk, anthropomorphic reptilians. Biologically coldblooded, the species thrived on desert planets; Veldin especially since it had a twenty-eight-hour day-night cycle. When they go off planet, however, they wore an insulated thermo-undersuit to keep their bodies warm.

"I'll deal with them," Louis announced to the others. "Locke, take Miller and head towards the Cragmite dropship. I saw it land north of us during our orbital drop. Burton, you're on security detail; take a few others and form a perimeter around the garage. We're not taking any more chances. Ravena," the female Leviathan looked up from the Cragmte corpse she was examining. "Keep doing what you're doing: find any Intel on the corpses, but please…try not to make it…too messy?" There was a chorus of "yes sir's", and the four Leviathans left to perform their respective tasks. "Wyngate."

Sergeant Wyngate turned to Louis and saluted. "Sir?"

"Get our bird down from orbit. It's about time we give Ratchet our gift."

The former Delta gave a brisk nod in confirmation. "Yes, sir." He then turned around and headed to a clearing nearby while contacting the transport.

Hearing the word of "gift", Ratchet turned to Louis, curiosity adorned on his face. "Gift? What gift, Lou?" Ratchet asked, his head tilted slightly from the implications.

Louis only gave a mischievous smirk. "It's better for you to find out on your own, hermano," Louis replied. "Go follow Wyngate, he'll explain it once our transport lands."

"Alright, if you say so." With that, Ratchet turned and followed Wyngate to a clearing near the garage. Meanwhile, Louis left to talk with the local authorities and explain what was going on.

When Ratchet reached Wyngate, the super soldier just finished providing coordinates for the transport to land. The Leviathan sergeant turned to him and cocked his helmeted head. "Those Veldinians, sir…they were the standard police officers?" he asked.

Ratchet gave a small chuckle and nodded. "Yeah," Ratchet replied. "They've upped their security after Drek and the Tyhrannoid war."

"Sheesh, if that's the case, I hate to see what happens when you piss off their SWAT here."

A few moments later, the engines of the Task Force's transport roared overhead. Ratchet gazed up towards the VTOL craft as it hovered above, his mechanic curiosity taking over. The craft was designed as transport, almost akin to C-130 Hercules transport plane in shape but much smaller in scale. The main difference it had vertical thrusters installed near each wing base in addition to the main thrusters at the back. It was a sleek aircraft, jet black that matched the vastness of space. Its vertical thrusters soon turned on, kicking up dust everywhere. Its wings tucked against the hull of the craft on as it descended to the landing zone. Ratchet instinctively brought up his arm to protect his eyes before his helmet encased his head again.

When the transport landed, its access ramp lowered and Sergeant Wyngate waved at Ratchet to follow. The Lombax nodded, and the two proceeded to enter the spacecraft.

"Welcome to the United Earth Coalition E-301 Star Warden," Wyngate announced as his hands motioned to either side of the interior. The two continued walking through the staging area of the craft. "Vertical Take Off and Landing capable, 3-inch Titanium-Carbonox alloy plating, oscillating kinetic/thermal barriers, armed with ten, twenty, and forty millimeter guns and plasma torpedoes installed under each wing. All of this powered by an industrial microfusion generator."

Ratchet gave out a long whistle as he continued to gaze around the ship. The Lombax's engineering mind was very impressed by the specifications. "Hot daayuum…" Ratchet murmured.

Wyngate gave a small chuckle as he slapped the side of the ship appreciatively. "Indeed, and I'm not even done. Each Star Warden is installed with a Gravimetric Warp Drive—which, by the way, is based off on your schematics, sir. The techies from Seongnam were impressed that you made one from Blargian scrap metal. They were wondering how you did it."

Ratchet gave a helpless shrug to the human as they reached into the armory section of the transport. "I was just bored one day. It was after the Protopet scandal—actually, Angela was the one who—" Suddenly, Ratchet's train of thought came to a screeching halt as the name passed his lips.

Angela Cross…goodness, her name had not come across his mind for years. Ratchet's brows furrowed quite a bit; he could not believe that he had not thought of her till now. The geneticist and former thief was one of his closest friends after they have dealt with Quark's corporate blunder back then in Bogan. Many questions filled Ratchet's mind. What has come to her? Where was she? Was she still working with Megacorp? The last time they talked was…

Aww dammit…the day Veldin was attacked…Ratchet grimly realized. Six years…

"Uh…Sir?" Wyngate's sudden question snapped Ratchet out of his trance and returned his attention to the soldier. The soldier's head was cocked to the side from curiosity and confusion. "You were saying, sir?"

Ratchet shook his head a bit, trying to remove the last traces of the trance. "Huh? Oh...sorry," he apologized. "Angela was the one that suggested the idea." It was a hallowed response, as Ratchet's mind flooded of memories of her. How they met, their game of cat and mouse, their confrontation at Siberius and eventual but shaky alliance. After the unpleasantness of the whole incident, memories of more pleasant times flowed through.

The occasional hangouts at Ratchet's Megalopolis apartment, meeting during Angela's breaks at Megacorp…the times they shared smiles, laughs, even the few tears they had together gave the male Lombax a sense of peace…for a fleeting moment.

"...If you say so, sir," Wyngate replied slowly, nodding slightly. He walked further to the back of the armory section of the transport, reaching a long, curved storage container attached to the wall. "Well, this here's the Commander's gift." The operative walked to the side of the container to a keypad, dialing digits on its surface. "The engineers had a field day with this, but there's still room for your own customizations."

"Now you got me curious," Ratchet chuckled, though his tail was swishing slightly from excitement. "C'mon, open it already!"

"The Commander always told us about your excitement on new tech," Wyngate chuckled lightly back as he pressed the last digit on the keypad. "Now I see why. Try not to drool too much, sir? We just cleaned the floors." He soon pressed the enter button, causing the case to open slightly down the middle, compressed air leaked out in a gust from the opening. Slowly, the doors opened to either side, revealing its contents within.

Now, Ratchet did his best to not drool as Wyngate asked, but he did feel his jaw going slack.

"Whoa..." he murmured in a breathless whisper.

Inside the case, secured in memory foam, was a complete set of armor designed for a Lombax. In the center of the case was a tailored synthetic muscle body glove, designed to simulate the wearer's own body movements and rotations. Surrounding the body suit was a series of intricate interlocking plates of some sort of alloy he wasn't familiar with. They were manufactured to attach over the body glove, giving the user free reign on customization. The helmet was in three parts: two sections acted as a base, covering the lower jawbone, going upwards to cover along sides the rest of the jawbone, and the back of the skull. The third portion covered the rest of head, the top, and the face. The faceplate only had a red-tinted horizontal visor that goes across at eye level, similar to Ratchet's Hyperflux helmet.

"Say hello to your own customized Atrax Powered Mobility Gear Model L Mark 1," Wyngate announced proudly. "The L stands for Lombax, by the way. It's not as fancy as the hologram-tech armor that you have on now, but we make up for it in functionality."

Ratchet walked over to the container and carefully retrieved the front section of the helmet, his eyes studied it his hands. "This isn't Raritarium or Carbonox." Ratchet noted, bouncing the piece in his palms. "It's too light."

"Right you are, sir," Wyngate nodded, picking up a piece of an armored gauntlet. "It's a new alloy we're experimenting with from the Bogon Galaxy. This is Malduvian Alloy, found on Maldos. Lighter than Raritarium and Carbonox, but preliminary examinations on its properties showed us that it's just as strong and durable." He soon placed it on top of a crate against the side. "This also makes it a bit more expensive to import across galaxies."

"How was the Coalition able to afford the permits for importing the metals?"

"Well, you can thank ol' man Fizzwidget for working his magic with the Bogon Galaxian Permit Office," Wyngate chuckled a bit more. "The Commander didn't have to bribe anyone, or dangle over bridges."

Ratchet couldn't stop the bark of laughter at that last part of information. He remembered that instance when they got the first RYNO weapon systems. "Well, I might as well give him a call to say thanks later," Ratchet chuckled. "Guess I'll have to put on the body glove on first?"

"Yep, change out of that and into the body glove. Afterward, I'll start putting the pieces on and tell you the bells and whistles," Wyngate replied, starting to take out the bigger pieces of the armor.

The Lombax nodded eagerly as he turned off the hologram armor, the set disappearing in a red light and leaving him in his usual attire of an orange colored vest, dark blue trousers, and a chest harness. The circular, crimson-colored control device on his harness dimmed once the armor was turned off. Once it was safe, Ratchet detached it from his harness and stripped himself of his clothes, leaving himself in a pair of boxers. As the Lombax shivered slightly from being exposed to the cold air of the ship's interior, he went to the storage container and retrieved the bodysuit, his fingers glossing over the material. He could tell it was composed partially of some sort of Carbon Nanotubes, but some there were other materials that he didn't recognize. Shrugging, Ratchet began the tedious task of putting on the suit.

"Always-argh!-hated putting on body suits," Ratchet grunted as he slipped his tail into the suit. "It's tough getting my tail through without making it feel like it's shoved up my ass." Soon, the Lombax managed to slip on the suit over his body, then pulled over the hood to cover his ears, the back, and top of his head. Once that was done, he experimented how well the suit contoured to his body by flexing and rotating his arms and legs. "It's bit loose..." He noted with a hint of disappointment, seeing how some of the material sagged from his limbs and torso.

"Don't worry about that, sir," Wyngate replied as he went behind the Lombax holding a datapad in one hand. "Arms out to the side please while I do this." The Lombax soon did as said, lifting arms parallel to the ground. "The entire system's power is here with the micro-fusion cell on the back of the suit, so with commands here on my datapad..." Wyngate mused, his hand tapping a few commands on his device. "Enter the authorization code and...we're in business."

With the last command input, there was a faint hum coming from the cell on the suit's back as it turned on. As soon as it did, the material of the suit reacted in such a way that it conformed much better to the Lombax's physique. Incredibly impressed, Ratchet tested his limbs again with a series of different motions; the suit responded acted as a second skin, the synthetic muscles reacting realistically to his movements.

"Whoa...smart materials?" Ratchet took a guess.

"Yes, sir," Wyngate nodded as he set the datapad down and went back to the Atrax suit's container, started to take the large pieces of the armor set out of the case. "The material is designed to alter its shape when it's powered. The sensors throughout the suit are in sync with the nanites you had in your body for years, tracking and copying muscular movement. Not only that, but the synthetic muscles also enhance your natural strength and speed." He noted down, attaching the torso pieces on first. "Makes it up for you not having the expensive enhancements like the rest of us."

"Right, right," Ratchet chuckled as he stood still for Wyngate to start putting the armor on him.

"Hold still for a bit longer, sir," he asked, securing the front and back portions of the torso on. "Arms out to the side again."

The Lombax nodded, holding his arms still against his side again as Wyngate continued the process of attaching the suit. As he did, Ratchet's mind began to wander through his memories. The Lombax gave a slight sigh, replaying the moments of the last conversation he had with Angela.

Ratchet walked out of his Megalapolis Apartment, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder as he approached his starship. He was wearing the grey standard issued Bogon pilot suit, the helmet tucked under his other arm. A determined scowl adorned his visage, the news of the ongoing attack on Veldin still fresh on his mind-the videos and images of the battle between the Tyhrranoids and the Galactic Rangers tearing up the landscape of his home planet. That only caused the Lombax to hasten his steps to his ship.

"Clank, how's the Gravimetric Warp Drive?" He asked his robotic friend and brother after he tossed the duffle into the storage compartment underneath.

Clank was busy pacing back and forth along sides the craft, a datapad on his hands. The robot was studying the information before he stopped to turn to the Lombax. "Ratchet, you know what I am going to say," the robot replied, concern and worry etched into his near monotoned voice. "It is installed properly, but the likelihood of success is unknown. It is made from Blargian scrap metal, and it has never been tested."

"And I would've tested it after some more fine tuning, but we don't have time!" he replied, dusting his gloved hands off as he made sure his wrench and Storage Device Unit, or SDU, were attached to his hip. Unfortunately, the SDU was currently empty, as he didn't have the permits from the Bogon Galaxian Permit Office to carry his arsenal back to Solona, and that included his Carbonox suit.

Fething hell, he growled in his mind, running his gloved hand through his mane. If there weren't constant scans and the consequences of a large sum of bolts and internment, I would bring everything—

"Ratchet!" a familiar, feminine voice called out from behind.

The aforementioned Lombax's ears twitched from the voice, making him turn around to face the speaker. As he did, he saw his good friend Angela Cross bounded to them.

"Angela?" he called out, setting his helmet down on the ground as he headed towards her, meeting halfway. Clank meanwhile also set his datapad down and met up with them, jogging due to his diminutive state.

"Ratchet, Clank," the geneticist replied, slowing to a stop in front of the duo and looked down at Ratchet to talk. "I've heard what's happening on Veldin. Are you two going back to Solana?"

The Lombax nodded back to her, rubbing his head again with a gloved hand. "Yeah, we are. I...I just can't abandon Solana, Angie," he replied, using the nickname he picked out for her once their friendship solidified. "It's home."

"We've made a promise to protect the Galaxy of Solana after the Drek Crisis," Clank added.

Angela nodded in understanding, one hand rubbing the bicep of her other arm. "I figured..." She then noticed the dramatic difference in the kit the Commando had. "Why aren't you wearing the Carbonox suit?"

Ratchet promptly rolled his eyes with a heavy groan, his previous frustration building up in his veins. "Permits..." he replied, hoping the simple would suffice.

Fortunately, it did, as Angela let out a groan of her own as she covered her eyes with her hand. "Ugh...of course..." she sighed as her hand dropped down and shook her head slightly. "Why don't you ask Fizzwidget for help? You know he has major sway in Bogon politics."

"It'll still take time, and MegaCorp is still recovering from Qwark's takeover. I don't wanna add more stress to his plate."

"Okay...where are Louis and Clark? I thought when word got to them, they would be joining you?"

"Louis and Clark are going to meet us from the Milky Way Galaxy," Clank answered back, "They heard about the news over there and are bringing whatever forces the US military can spare for Veldin."

"You think they're ready?" she asked them. "Despite being a protectorate world under Solana's jurisdiction, Earth only just entered in the inter-galactic scene just recently."

"So was Louis, but I have no doubt that they'll show their worth," Ratchet replied, giving a confident nod back.

"Okay...okay," she conceded, her hand going back up to rub her bicep. "It's not gonna end with just Veldin, is it?"

The commando shook his head sadly, his ears drooped against his skull. "No, it most likely won't," he replied, knowing the reality of such large-scale conflicts from what he heard from Louis and experienced from the Drek and Protopet crises.

"Should've known..." she sighed again sadly, her own ears drooped slightly. The geneticist bent down to Ratchet's level and wrapped her arms around his neck, surprising him. "Please stay safe..."

Ratchet was still surprised for a brief moment, but he soon returned the hug, a smile on his muzzle. "Promise, Angie," he replied, giving Angela a few reassuring pats on her upper back. "You know nothing will bring me down. Mercs, robots, genetically engineered pets...hell, rabid squirrels."

Angela gave a short snort of laughter as she withdrew from the hug. "Heh, I know," she chuckled a bit before she reached over to Clank with one arm to give the robot a hug as well. "You stay safe too, Clank."

"We will do our best, Miss Cross," Clank replied, smiling as well as he returned the embrace.

The tender scene lasted for a few more moments before the all separated. Smiles, however, were all still on their faces.

"Send Louis and Clark my regards, okay? And you better stay alive, Ratchet. Who's butt I'm gonna kick on the Gamestation if you're not around?" she joked, hoping that it would lighten the mood.

"Oh back to the smack talk now, huh Angie?" Ratchet laughed as he went back to his helmet to put it on. He walked back towards the ship with Clank in tow. "I was close that last game!"

"Yeah? Close doesn't even cut it, Ratchet!"

"Well, I've been practicing, I'm getting good—"

"Riiiiight."

"—and my hand-eye is way better than it used to be."

"Seriously?"

"Are you afraid to play me?"

"I am so not afraid to play you."

"On a scale from one to ten, how scared are ya?"

"A two."

"Yeah, well, bump that up to eleven, alright? Because I'm gonna get ya next time."

"Ele—oh yeah right!"

During the playful banter, the duo entered the ship and soon buckled in their seats. Before Ratchet lowered the canopy shield, he gave Angela another challenging smirk. "Well how about it then, chicken? When this whole thing is done, one more rematch?"

" I could—you're—ha! I cannot do that to you again!" Angela laughed back at Ratchet, jubilation lacing her voice and a beaming smile still on her face.

"Bwa bwa bawk?"

"Oh...oh wow," she smirked, biting on top of her finger knuckle as her shoulders shook faintly from barely repressed laughter. "Okay, Ratchet. After saving Solana again, you're on!"

But we never did get that rematch... Ratchet mused sadly, his ears bent slightly.

"Sir?" Wyngate asked, his voice knocking the Lombax out of his musings.

"Huh?" Ratchet murmured as he shook his head slightly. "Sorry, what was that?"

"I was saying that I'm almost done," the super soldeir replied, his head tilted slightly as his nearly featureless faceplate looked at the Lombax. "Are you sure you're okay, sir? You seem a bit out of it."

"Yeah, yeah," Ratchet insisted, waving the man off with a fully gauntleted hand. "Just...just remembering some things."

"Must be some intense memories you're thinking about, sir" Wyngate mused, head tilted slightly as he held onto the last piece of Ratchet's helmet in his hands. "I was telling you could put your arms back down for the last minute or two."

At that snippet of information, Ratchet let out an inaudible swore under his breath, looking away slightly. "Sorry about that, it's just...I remembered something personal I need to take care of later," the Lombax promised, finally lowering his arms. Once he did, Ratchet finally looked throughout his armored body. "Whoa..." He breathed out, moving his arms and other parts of his body to get a feel of the nearly assembled kit. The overall assembly added nearly an inch to the Lombax's lithe frame. The thickest of the drab-grey armor plating covered the most vital areas of Ratchet's body, particularly the chest, inner thighs, upper arms, and base of the neck where most of the major organs and arteries were located. Fortunately, the segmented pieces interlocked together in a way that they did not impede with any of Ratchet's mobility. When he flexed his armored fingers, they moved almost naturally.

"Almost there, sir. Now's the final piece of the helmet." The human walked up to Ratchet, lifting the final piece of the helmet up to the Lombax's face.

Ratchet instinctively closed his eyes as the faceplate connected with the seals on the rest of the helmet frame. Once he opened his eyes, he could see his vision was tinted red from the visor. Wyngate he saw stepped back and picked up the PDA he had earlier, pressing a few commands on the interface.

"Alright, now to boot up the HUD's operating system," Wyngate mused, pressing one last command on the pad. On Ratchet's visor, the Lombax saw that the Head's Up Display coming to life, the red tint from the visor fading into the more natural tints and hues of the real world. The words Atrax Personalized Holographic Data Display v1.01 blinked onto the screen, a progress bar filling up as the OS booted.

"The Model L's combat suite is adapted from the standard Task Force Mark 1 armor," Wyngate explained, motioning to his own kit before going back to the datapad once more. "Like the TF Mark 1, the Model L comes with its own Kinetic-Energy shield generator. Unfortunately, since the overall suit enhances your own natural abilities because you weren't augmented like us, the shielding is weaker compared to ours to compensate for the power distribution." The man looked back up to the Lombax, his helmet tilting slightly. "Hopefully with how the Commander describes you fight in the field, you'll avoid most of the shots aiming for you sir, correct?" There was a slight playful lift to his last question.

"Heh, I'll let you know how the armor fares after getting to the frontlines," Ratchet joked, chuckling as the visor's OS finished booting. "So tell me a bit more of the armor?" As Wyngate nodded and started to explain more on the armor's functionality, Ratchet made a mental reminder that he needed to make a couple of calls after this.

One especially for being several years late.