Bionica: Origins

Chapter Thirteen

Ratchet

My eyes are shut. I can tell that much. It still feels like I'm alive... is this what death is supposed to be like? I always figured it'd be more... y'know, painful. Just as I'm thinking this, I feel a slap on my face. My eyes shoot open as I hear a familiar voice.

"What the hell were you thinking?!"

It's Gayge. I've been looking forward to this since the moment I pulled out the gun. I turn around and look at her. She has tears in her eyes, and the expression on her face is one of pure terror.

"I thought you'd be glad I was here," I say, confused. "I had nothing to gain back there. Hey, since we're all here now, is this a good time for me to meet your little brother?"

Gayge looks confused. "My brother's been dead for a year."

"Right," I say. Gayge just stares at me. Did I miss something? I look around the room. Yeah, I did. I look at Gayge and see the wound on her good arm. It's bleeding, though not badly, and I'm still in my room. It's the same as when I left it. The cardboard ammo box is on top of my drawers, and the gun brushes against my thigh. I'm not in the afterlife.

I never died in the first place.

"Ratchet!" Siren calls as she bursts into the room, followed by the rest of the team. "What happened? We heard a gunshot and Glitch saw you on the camera... did you just try to kill yourself?"

I'm too dumbfounded by what has just happened to respond. That wound on Gayge's arm must be from the bullet; she must have pulled the gun away from my head. The whole battle... was that her? A clip of dialogue floats into my head from the battle. I took care of her.

She's an imposter.

I tackle Rove and start punching her repeatedly. She doesn't fight back, just shields herself to stop the blows. That's what I would do if I was trying to pass as someone I wasn't. "Ratchet!" I hear her shout. "Stop it! Please! Where is this coming from?"

I finally stop. "Where's it coming from?!" I repeat, finally enraged. "You led the army that killed my last reason to live! It was you who led her down there! She took care of you, huh? I bet you took care of her first!" And I continue to beat her until Sprocket pulls me off her. Siren and Glitch hold her, forcing her to kneel, while Eclipse handcuffs her. As they lead her to the prison blocks, I notice the large bruise under her eye and the blood flowing from her nose and lip. I am utterly satisfied.

_______

They thought they were alone when they did it. But in this compound, no one is ever alone. A security camera and hidden microphones captured everything. They took the alleged spy into the detention center, where the redheaded one and the girl with the short, black hair held her. The biracial girl and the one with pink streaks in her hair came in with them. One assailant gripping each of her arms, the spy did nothing to break free from the soldiers detaining her.

"Are you sure this isn't her, Glitch?" asked the one with red hair.

Glitch looked into the redhead's eyes. "I wish it were."

"It is!" the spy shouted, her brown braid swaying as she moved. "I promise! It's me!" She looked at the redhead. "Siren, you don't remember all the talks we had about how our pasts sucked?"

"Shut up!"

A new voice entered the room. Cold and unfeeling, the camera barely caught his spiky black hair with lavender streaks. "Gayge died in the battle. Now we keep this one until I say so."

The girls holding the spy nodded, and the camera caught a twinge of sadness in Siren's eyes. "Yes, Ratchet."

Another boy entered with Ratchet. Tall, blond, and muscular, he didn't look like he liked this either. Ratchet waved him forward, asking him to get a big tub and fill it with water. Sprocket went off, asking the girl with pink streaks to help him. Ratchet motioned for Siren and Glitch to make the spy kneel.

"Now, I'm going to ask you a question," he said, and the spy refused to meet his eyes. "Who are you and why are you here?"

The spy kept looking down. "My name is Gayge," she said. "I'm here because this is where I live."

Ratchet smacked the spy's face. "See, that's the kind of answer that's going to get you hurt real quickly," he said. "I'm going to ask you again. Who are you?"

The spy smiled. "I'm Canada," she said, looking up at Siren for some response. Ratchet smacked her again and she quickly looked away. A tear rolled down Siren's cheek at the thought of her friend.

"Eclipse," Ratchet said to the biracial girl, "go ask Sprocket and Crescent if the tub's ready yet." Eclipse nodded and ran down a hall. Ratchet turned back to the spy. "I'm done pushing you around," he said to her. "I'll let nature do the work this time around." The spy looked up at him, fear in her eyes, as he turned to watch Sprocket and Crescent drag a large metal tub full of water to the center of the room. Ratchet motioned for Siren and Glitch to bring forth the spy. When they had done so, he grabbed her shoulder and pushed her to her knees. Noting that she was cuffed, he gave a flick of his hand. Siren and Glitch released their grips on the girl.

"Remember that question I asked you?" he asked. The spy nodded. "Do you want to give me a straight answer this time?"

The spy kept her head down, staring at her reflection in the water. "I'm Gayge," she said.

Ratchet violently grabbed the back of her head and shoved it into the water. Siren rushed forward, but the blond boy held her back. "Sprocket, let me go!" she cried, breaking free. "Ratchet, this is wrong! You can't torture her this way, even if she really is Rove."

Ratchet stared back with eyes full of hatred. "I'm not going to stop until she and Tronyx are both dead!" he said, pulling the spy out of the water. She coughed uncontrollably, attempting to dry her face with the clothes on her shoulder.

"Ratchet, listen!" she shouted. "My name is Ruby Hale, I'm seventeen years old, and my birthday is June eighteenth. My place of birth is Chicago, Illinois. My parents were Lawrence Hale, deceased, and Marcella Scranton, deceased. Other immediate family includes Jackson Hale, deceased. You can look it up in my file, it's all there!"

Ratchet simply forced her under the water again. After about forty seconds she came up, sputtering. "We're done here," Ratchet said, waving everyone off. They exited quickly, whereas he stayed for an extra minute as the spy started to cry. "You can't even handle an enemy interrogation," he remarked. "You're weak."

As he turned to walk out, the spy replied, "Crying isn't a sign of weakness." She looked at him. "It's a sign of having been strong for too long."

Ratchet disregarded this comment and locked the cell door behind him.

_______

Tronyx was left pacing around his office in excitement. Not only had the rebel girl been killed, but he had won the battle. And on top of it all, Rove had infiltrated the rebel base! This day was too good to be true. The President kept talking to himself of his success.

"This is wonderful!" he remarked to no one except Servo. "Soon I will have the rebel forces in the palm of my hand!"

"Sir?" Servo tried, careful to not interrupt her master's rant.

"Rove is a genius, she really is. I still can't fathom how she did it. How did I not notice that she had snuck to their bases?"

"Sir?" But the President kept pacing.

"I tell you, I ought to try using more clones. Create an army for myself. You never know, things could go surprisingly well!" Tronyx paused to take a breath. He looked at Servo and smiled. "And now that you have me in such a good mood, you may tell me what has been bothering you so persistently." Servo obeyed her orders.

"Sir, Rove went offline some time ago."

A/N: Wow. I update two chapters and get almost a hundred more views. Thanks, people! Keep commenting what you want in the sequel, which I've decided is going to happen for sure!