Now This is An Upgrade (Ratchet x Rodney)

Clearing Out the Dirt (No More Assumptions)

After dinner, everyone was getting ready for bed. As Aunt Fanny was cleaning up dinner, and the Rusties were thanking her and leaving the kitchen, Rodney grabbed Ratchet by the shoulders, stopping him from leaving. 

"What do you think you're doing?" Ratchet grumbled lowly at him. 

"Why don't you help Aunt Fanny with the dishes?" he asked Ratchet with a sort of fake sweetness in his voice. "I'm sure she'd appreciate it." 

Ratchet looked insulted. "Do I look like some kind of dishwasher to you?!" 

"Being coated in silver and shine brings that assumption, wouldn't you think?" Before Ratchet could respond to that, Rodney shouted out to Aunt Fanny. "Aunt Fanny! Ratchet would like you help you with cleaning up, if that's okay!" 

Aunt Fanny looked pleased. "That would be great!" 

Without another word, Rodney shoved Ratchet into the kitchen and closed the door, leaving in him there with the snail-shaped robot. As he turned to go into the living room, the Rusties were in his path, looking disappointed and confused with him. 

"What the heck was that, Rodney?!" Crank exclaimed. "Are you betraying us or something?" 

"No, no!" Rodney said, shaking his head and hands. "I would never!" 

"Then explain what happened back there," Piper demanded. "Why is he here, and why are you suddenly so buddy buddy with him now?" 

"Okay! Okay, I'll tell you." Rodney fiddled with his hands nervously. "Look, I'm just pretending to be nice to him, okay? I don't really want to be his friend." 

"You're not lying are you?" 

"Of course not! I would never lie to you guys! You're all like family to me." He rubbed his arm. "It's just that he came to me earlier at my work with a broken arm. I feel like he has some kind of intention coming to me of all people, and I want to find that out. I'm planning on going to talk to Bigweld tomorrow to see what else I can do." 

"Speaking of that guy," Lug jumped in, "I thought that he was supposed to get rid of Ratchet. You know, for parts and stuff." 

"I thought so too, and that's why I went to the underground today because I thought that no one would be there. But sure enough, he and his dad were still down there!" 

"I wonder why he didn't get rid of them," Lug pondered. 

Fender seemed to let out a big sigh of relief before going over to his friend. "Gosh, I'm glad that it's all just a façade. For a second I thought you were going over to the dark side." 

Piper looked a little relieved, too. She took a step toward Rodney. "So, what should we do?" 

"For now, I think it'd be better if we don't let Ratchet know that we're suspecting him of something. So just try to treat him like a normal robot." 

"Okay, but what about tonight? Where is he supposed to sleep?" Crank questioned. 

"Not it!" Diesel said. 

"I already said that I was going to do it," Rodney assured. "That means that one of you's gotta share a room." 

Fender wrapped his arm around his sister. "I'll sleep in Piper's room. You two can have mine for the night." He then frowned and furrowed his brows. "But you or him better not mess up or break anything!" he threatened.

"Don't worry, we won't." Rodney said. 

Lug looked a little concerned. "But Rod, are you sure that you want to do this? After all, out of all of us, Ratchet hates you the most. Who's to say that he won't do something to you?" 

"I think I'll be okay. And besides, if anything happens, I'll be sure to let you guys know." 

Piper punched Rodney's elbow and put her hands on her hips. "You better!" 

"Ahhh!" 

Screaming along with the sound of glass breaking came from inside the kitchen. Worried, the Rusties opened the door and ran inside, going to see what happened.