Angela Cross

"Wow, she's got a few bolts loose."

- Ratchet, about Angela

Angela Cross, also known as the unknown thief was one of the few lombaxes who did not escape into the lombax dimension. She was a former MegaCorp employee, and a friend of Ratchet, Clank, and—later—Max Apogee. Angela was prone to having minor, clumsy accidents, such as tripping over rugs.

Pre-Going Commando
Angela was of some relation to Lorna Cross (it was implied Lorna was her mother). In the eve of Tachyon's attack Angela was sent to the Bogon Galaxy, and was raised on Grelbin. She had a home in the Tundor Wastes and eventually went to work for MegaCorp as an engineer.

Prior to the events of Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, Angela Cross worked for MegaCorp in the Genetics Division, and also as a skilled engineer. Her goal was to create the perfect pet, but while she was working on fixing the original Protopet's flaws, the MegaCorp CEO Abercrombie Fizzwidget (who was actually Qwark in disguise) suddenly pushed the release date forward. Angela protested that the experimental pet was flawed and could not be distributed. As a result, she was kicked off the team.

Rise of the unknown thief
With the defective pet almost about to be unleashed on the public, Angela assumed the role of The Unknown Thief. Wearing a mask integrated with a voice-distorting device and a hooded cape, she stole the Original Protopet (at the time, known only as "the experiment") in hopes of obliterating it before it could be mass-produced. She had the experiment caged inside her Flying Lab on Planet Aranos, but was forced to flee with it after Ratchet, hired by Fizzwidget, infiltrated the ship, who almost managed to retrieve it.

With a MegaCorp Commando now on her tail, Angela hired Thugs-4-Less to protect her. With the help of ruthless mercenaries, she managed to collect all the components needed to dispose of the experiment. She first passed by planet Oozla, where she went to the MegaCorp store to buy a map. Since she had "forgotten" her wallet, she asked one of her bodyguards to "take care of it." The thugs did as ordered and threw the MegaCorp employee to the wall, inadvertently deactivating the store's defenses, which led to savage wildlife overrunning the store.

Abducting Clank
While Ratchet tracked the Thief to the Maktar Resort, Angela concluded that she needed to be more persuasive if she wanted to get rid of Ratchet's meddling, and so that she abducted Clank from his apartment. When Ratchet was about to leave the Maktar Resort, she sent a transmission in which she presented Clank as her hostage and demanded Ratchet leave the chase and return to his home galaxy. Undeterred, Ratchet managed to save Clank on planet Endako. While on the planet, Ratchet also battled and defeated the Thugs' Leader. During the battle, Angela escaped.

Showdown on Siberius
After failing to intimidate Ratchet, Angela passed by planet Notak, but fled when Ratchet and Clank arrived. She escaped to her base on planet Siberius, but she sent a transmission to Notak's Chemical Plant for a delivery of five containers of sulfuric acid, four containers of liquid hydrogen and six crates of nitroglycerin (though she ultimately ended up asking for double the last order due to the experiment destroying everything). This transmission provided Ratchet and Clank with the coordinates of Angela's base, and after breaching through the defenses and infiltrating her convoy, they confronted the enigmatic Thief. Angela had the experiment strapped to a rocket, planning on sending the experiment to another dimension, but Ratchet and Clank defeated her, saving the experiment. Despite being stunned due to the duo's attacks, Angela managed to escape once more, but Ratchet decided not to pursue her, now that the experiment was safe and in their possession.

Unmasked
After failing to stop Ratchet on Siberius, Angela tried to retrieve the experiment on planet Tabora, demanding the duo hand it over immediately, but Ratchet simply stated he could not do that. Angela threatened to shoot Ratchet if he did not give her the experiment in three seconds. While counting, Angela slipped and fell from the ship. Her mask fell off and her true identity was revealed. After learning from Clank that they had returned the experiment to Fizzwidget, she immediately berated the two for placing the entire galaxy in "imminent danger." She then showed Ratchet and Clank a commercial of the MegaCorp Testing Facility, and left immediately after, leaving the duo confused. Later, when the Ratchet and Clank explored the MegaCorp Armory on planet Todano, Angela sent another transmission - a public advertisement for the experiment, now known as the Protopet. She also informed the duo that Thugs-4-Less had a new employer and that they had taken over her Flying Lab.

Captured
Now aware of MegaCorp's insidious plot, Ratchet and Clank attempted to inform Fizzwidget on planet personally Boldan, but were captured by Thugs-4-Less mercenaries (now under the payroll of MegaCorp) and sent to the Flying Lab, now re-purposed as the Thugs-4-Less Prison. While they were imprisoned, Angela infiltrated the Thugs-4-Less Fleet, but was captured and taken to the Thugs-4-Less Headquarters on planet Snivelak. After breaking out the prison and learning of Angela's capture, Ratchet and Clank fought their way through the Thugs-4-Less Headquarters. Angela was freed when Ratchet and Clank faced and destroyed the Thugs's Leader's penultimate fighting machine, the Giganto Mech,

Angela informed them about her past as a MegaCorp employee, and the three decided to break into MegaCorp Headquarters and end MegaCorp's plans once and for all. To get in, Angela had to retrieve her old MegaCorp ID Badge from her home planet, while Ratchet and Clank explored the distribution facility on planet Smolg. Unbeknownst to Angela, Grelbin had already been invaded by Protopets, and so that she called Ratchet and Clank for help. After eradicating the nuisance Protopets, the trio planned their infiltration.

Infiltrating the MegaCorp Headquarters
"Alright, just what the *honk*is going on?"

- Angela, confused, after Qwark reveals himself

Angela, Ratchet, and Clank infiltrated the MegaCorp Headquarters on Yeedil to find the Protopet Duplication room, where the Original Protopet was contained. However, before they could enter the area, they were stopped by Clank's Infobot friend, who showed them a video, revealing that Captain Qwark was using the Protopet disaster to restore his tarnished reputation. The Infobot was destroyed by Fizzwidget just as the video finished, who then revealed himself to be Captain Qwark in disguise, and arrested the three. In a live transmission to the galaxy, Qwark attempted to frame Angela, Ratchet and Clank as the masterminds behind the Protopet menace, and also used the Helix-O-Morph, a device of Angela's creation but stolen by Qwark, to render the Original Protopet harmless. However, the device instead mutated the creature into an enormous abomination, which swallowed the false superhero whole, forcing Ratchet and Clank to fight the rampaging Mutant Protopet.

During the battle, Angela somehow managed to find the real Fizzwidget, whom Qwark had tied up in a supply closet the entire time and introduced Ratchet and Clank to him after the Mutant Protopet was defeated. Qwark was spat out by the Mutant Protopet shortly after, who in turn spat out the Helix-O-Morph. Puzzled by the outcome of the device, Angela said that it might take months of research to figure what was wrong before Clank quickly pointed out the batteries were in backward. Amending Qwark's foolish mistake, Angela was able to transform the Protopet back to its original state, rendering it harmless in the process. By amplifying the device with MegaCorp's TV transponders, she was able to cure all the other Protopets in the galaxy, thus ending the Protopet menace. She later visited the duo in Clank's apartment, telling them Qwark was now working at MegaCorp.

Up Your Arsenal
During the ending of Up Your Arsenal, Angela went to the premiere of the latest Secret Agent Clank holo-film in her Unknown Thief disguise (presumably to avoid spoilers for those who had not played Going Commando).

Deadlocked

 * While Angela Cross does not appear in Deadlocked, some of her history takes place around this timeframe.

It is said in A Crack in Time that when Tachyon began hunting for surviving Lombaxes he first went after Angela in Bogon in the year 5357; however, Max Apogee found out about Angela and traveled to the Bogon galaxy to save her from Tachyon. She was last seen fleeing the Cerullean Sector in the Polaris galaxy in Max Apogee's starship. The starship was later recovered by galactic authorities, who discovered Jasindu was its point of origin, and it had been sent from there via autopilot. Max Apogee left the Dimensionator in Kerchu City on Jasindu under the Kerchu's protection. The two were either given refuge by the Kerchu, or escaped using the Dimensionator. The story of The Ratchet & Clank Collection implies that she stayed on Jasindu, and did not use the Dimensionator to leave.

The Ratchet & Clank Collection
Angela visited Ratchet at one point (either during or after the year 5362) and stated that she had not seen him in a long time, although she hinted that she might have been there all along. Angela then said that she wished she could go on another adventure with Ratchet and Clank, and together, they watched the events of Going Commando that Clank had found.

Abilities
Angela Cross was a skilled fighter; she utilized a Skyboard-like platform to fly through the air while in combat, she would primarily utilize a high powered energy blaster which she was quite accurate with, and would throw orbs that released Machine Gun Turrets.

Behind the scenes

 * For years, a huge disagreement among fans, and arguably the biggest one, was whether or not Angela Cross was a Lombax. The dispute was finally resolved six years after the release of Going Commando, when Pirate Radio news announcers confirmed that Angela was a Lombax in A Crack in Time, and that female Lombaxes do not have tails. Kip Darling, one of the announcers, questioned this fact, referencing the disagreement among fans. Senior writer TJ Fixman‏‎ stated at the Ratchet & Clank tenth anniversary panel at PAX 2012 that Angela Cross is a Lombax.
 * The "Cross" part of Angela Cross's name might come from the fact that Angela Cross is often cross (angry; irritated).

Trivia

 * Angela can be seen in her thief disguise watching the Secret Agent Clank movie at the end of Up Your Arsenal. She sits in the second row from the back near the right side.
 * It is possible that her thief costume was a holo-guise. When her mask fell off, there was no trace of the rest of her apparel other than her boots, belt, and jumpsuit.
 * In A Crack in Time, there is a pink Constructo Bomb paint job called "Angela's Special," a reference to Angela Cross.
 * It was never explained why Angela considered Grelbin her home planet. It is possible that, like Ratchet's association with Veldin, she was sent away during the attack of Fastoon and Grelbin was her adopted homeworld.
 * She, Gleeman Vox and Ratchet are some of the only characters to complete a curse word in the series.
 * Lorna Cross, a presumed relative of Angela, was mentioned by Alister Azimuth in cut files for A Crack in Time.

Appearances

 * Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
 * Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
 * Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
 * Ratchet & Clank: Issue 5: Multiple Organisms
 * Ratchet & Clank Collection
 * Ratchet & Clank (PS4)


 * Non-canon
 * Ratchet & Clank Manga: Volume 1

Notes and references
Angela Cross