Bionica: Origins

Chapter Four

I want to strangle Ratchet. But I know I'm going to need all the help I can get to free Siren. So I just sit there and cry silently for a while. Then I feel a hand on my shoulder.

"Gayge-" Ratchet starts.

"No!" I shout, slapping his hand. "Don't touch me! This wasn't supposed to happen again! Not to anyone else but me!" And I stare again into the distance. Thirty seconds, a minute, two minutes pass.

Ratchet's voice makes its way through my ears again, but this time it's more soothing than flirty. "What do you mean, again?"

I sigh as I think about what happened to Jackson. "Were you there when I came to the rebels?" I ask. "My memory's a little fuzzy."

"I don't know," he says. "I think if I was, I was with a different squad."

"Well, then I guess I owe you a story," I say, getting ready to recount what I want to forget. "About five years ago, I lost my parents to a nuclear strike. They locked me and my little brother in a bunker and tried to help everyone else get to safety, but it didn't work. I was left to raise my brother."

Ratchet looks at me. "You have a brother? Is he here?"

I look away from him. "No... I had a brother." Ratchet's face falls a little bit. "About three years after our parents died, he came down with radiation sickness. We tried everything to make him better, but we just didn't have the money to pay for medical treatment. He fought really hard though, and nine months later we got him into a clinic that some of the lower class people were running for way less than the high-end one. Only problem was, it was near a war zone. We didn't mind; all we wanted was for him to get better. But one day the missiles got too close. They couldn't evacuate the patients in time. I wanted to stay with him, but..." I start to cry. "A nurse pulled me out and dragged me away. The nuke hit the hospital. I was thrown back and must've hit something, because I lost consciousness. When I woke up, the nurse who pulled me out was dead beside me. I looked over and..." I look at my bionic arm. "Siren and Sprocket found me bleeding to death out there, and they brought me back to the rebels. Crescent built this for me, and I'm running as good as ever. And now I'm ready to end President Tronyx for screwing up my life."

Ratchet exhales deeply. "Wow... you've been through a lot, huh?"

"No kidding," I say and get up. "This is why I didn't want her to go. I wanted to save her because I owe her. Now all I've got is something else to blame Tronyx and Steele for."

"In that case," says Ratchet, standing up, "you should probably go save her." I look at him and nod.

We walk back towards the compound. Crescent and Sprocket see us and run up to us. "Wow, you did it!" Sprocket exclaims. "We heard the explosions and we could see a little, but that was incredible! In record time, too!" Ratchet and I keep walking. Crescent looks around.

"Hey, where's Siren?" she asks.

"Give me a day," I answer. "She'll be here."

Eclipse and Glitch see us and ask where we're going.

"Siren's not here," Ratchet says curtly. "Where do you think she's going?" They don't say anything after that.

I walk back into the compound and go straight to the garage, finding my motorcycle in the midst of scattered bikes, broken ATVs, and disused ping-pong tables. As I mount, Ratchet comes tearing in after me.

"Wait! I'm coming, too!" he yells over my engine.

"Drop dead, Ratchet," I say. "It's your fault I'm in this mess anyway."

"Exactly," he replies quickly. "So it's my job to help you fix it."

I roll my eyes. "If you can keep up, you can come."