Tortured [under temporary construction]

Chapter 6

"How did you get up there?", Brax questioned. Ratchet shrugged.

"We can find out later with the cameras", Cora stated and carefully climbed up the dangling wires. "Right now we need to get Ratchet down. Brax, hold him."

Brax approached them and sat beneath Ratchet to allow him to sit on his shoulder.

"Can someone help get this off too?", the young lombax asked, holding out his hand. Kaden walked over, carefully removing his son's clawed glove. Once his hand was free, Ratchet thanked him and reached up to help Cora with the wires.

"Careful with the reds, we cut one—", Ratchet started.

"We blow the ship", Cora finished.

Ratchet smirked. "You remembered something not directly related to combat!"

She gave him a playful glare, and he chuckled, still smiling.

—POV•••Kaden—

As they continued to cautiously extract Ratchet's hand from the tangle of wires, I began to wonder about the Thing I saw Ratchet fighting within. I turned to Alister to ask him about it.

"Al? Do you remember back in high school when we were learning Myths, Spirits, and Legends?"

"The class I nearly failed and you excelled in? Of course. Why?"

"Ever wonder if some of those myths are true?"

He tilted his head in thought. "Like what?"

"Like the telepathic connection between father and son."

He shrugged. "It's possible, I guess. But if it is, no one has had it in centuries, maybe even millennia."

"What are you two talking about?" I looked up when Brax spoke.

"A myth that may be real", I responded simply.

"At this time?", the big reptilian questioned.

"Yup." I turned back to my friend. "I saw something earlier."

He raised an eyebrow. "What was it?"

"I'm not really sure. Some sort of electrical demon, I think. But it was fighting Rowan in some sort of dark room. I... it may have been a spiritual fight." I paused. "In his mind."

This caught Alister off guard. "You're saying you saw into Rowan's mind?"

"I think so."

A loud electrical buzz sounded from the wires, causing us to look up. A red wire sparked dangerously. One of the claws had sliced halfway into it.

Ratchet stared at it for a moment, seemingly trying to compose himself. He then reached forward surprisingly steadily and gently moved the damaged wire away from his claw. Moving his hand away from the rest of the tangled mess, Ratchet breathed a sigh of pure relief. He was free from the wires.

A massive lightning-esque bolt suddenly shot from the power box, arched over my group, and slammed into the wall behind me, sending smaller sparks flying in all directions. Our headset mounted lights flickered off.

A low growl rose from somewhere in front of me.

"Ratchet!" Brax sounded worried.

Ratchet must have left his shoulder.

The source of the growl moved. I heard Cora engage motion scan on her helmet and Brax did the same. Alister and I didn't have any way to see in the darkness.

I felt something hit my left eye and instinctively attempted to counterattack, but my fists just hit air.

"Ratchet?", Cora called out.

No response.

The growl faded, and I heard soft, limping footsteps leave to my left.

Seconds later, a signal fuzzed in our ears.

"...gers. Come in... you copy?"

It sounded like Elaris.

"We're here." Cora reported. "We lost him again."

"What do you mean 'again'?", Max asked.

"We managed to free him from the power box but electricity shot out of it and he fled again."

A new voice spoke on the intercom.

"Would someone mind telling me what's going on?"

Yo! I've finally returned to this book!! It's been far too long, and I apologize for the wait. I'm back now, tho!

For those of you who are confused about he sudden improvement in the quality of the writing, I wrote the last chapter Feb. 24, and I wrote this one Sep. 21 — Oct 4.

I still accept constructive criticism.

Anywho, see y'all later!
—Rachel out

(I made a small edit, a few hours after I first published this chapter.)