Arwingmaster 23 Path of Destruction

Jak and Daxter

The Path of Destruction

Chapter 1.

Jak slowly walked down the street, debris was everywhere. The smell of burnt flesh and blood filled his nostrils as he crossed into South Town. Everywhere there were medical teams and FG units kneeling or running to another area of the city. It had been only 2 days since they had returned from the Brink to refuel, and this is what happened with the Eco storms.

Jak heard the Keira crying beside him. Her hair was set into a ponytail and grease was smudged around her face. Jak looked at his feet and saw Daxter shuffling beside him. Torn had called them while they were only a mile out and practically cried when he heard Jak and Keira's voice. "The city is practically a dead zone; thousands of civilians were trapped on the surface after the worst of the storms broke out. Thank God you three are safe."

Jak put his right arm around Keira's shoulders and held her close. No normal Eco storm could have caused this; something was behind the sudden drop of Eco flow on the planet. And he aimed to find out what.

Jak walked into the power station and looked around. "Vin, you here?" he called out. The holographic image of Vin's head appeared from thin air. "'Course I'm Jak, where else would I be in the after math of an attack." Jak looked confused and cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean an attack?" he asked. Vin's head floated to a monitor on the other side of the room. "To be sure I'm not completely sure myself, there was a massive buildup in the Eco core a couple of days after you left for the Brink. From what I'm thinking so far is that something probed us from space and then sucked Eco straight from the core!"

Jak folded his arms in front of his chest. "Something drained the Eco straight from the core? Could it have been Skyheed draining power from the core?" Vin shook his head. "Negative, compared to whatever decided to feed from the core, Skyheed only was scratching the surface." Jak nodded, Skyheed was only interested in the Dark Eco contained in the core rather than the other Eco. "So whatever is out there decided to send our planet into chaos?" Vin nodded. "Right Jak, thanks to what you, Keira, and Daxter did out there, our planet wasn't going to destroy itself like the others before us." Jak's eyes shot open. "Wait what! Other planets were drained of their Eco?" "Yep." Vin said.

Vin pulled a holographic chart up. "But thanks to you we weren't next. If our Eco depleted planet exploded, it would have torn through this galaxy and destroyed the next eighteen. Certainly would have torn the universe a new one that's for sure." Jak looked at the chart. "I got to go Vin." He said then ran out the door. "Alright then, see you later-" By then Jak wasn't listening. Jak ran down what was left of the ramp and jumped into his 2-seeter zoomer. He gunned the engine and within three minutes arrived at Freedom HQ.

He ran up to the door, but before he was able to enter a guard stopped him. "Identification please, sir." Jak let out a loud groan. "Really, you seriously do not recognize me?" The guard cocked his head. "Commander Mar? Sorry sir, I didn't recognize you for a moment. Didn't know you shaved your beard." Jak rolled his eyes, by now it was just growing stubble but it was coming back. Jak ran into the elevator and waited for the lift to come to the top.

When he stepped off the lift and onto the command deck, he marched all the way to Ashelin. "Why didn't you tell me it was an attack?" Jak demanded. Ashelin took her eyes off of the projector to eye Jak. "You had enough on your hands, if you learned the truth would have been hard to handle."

Jak pointed at her. "And I would have had a damn good reason to. I took it easy out there in the Brink, if I had known it was an attack I would have solved the problem much quicker than I did." Ashelin turned around. "And you would have endangered Daxter and Keira's lives even more than they were. Did you think about that Jak?"

Jak took a step back. "They didn't have to come; Dax and Keira knew the danger before the volunteered for the assignment." Ashelin shook her head. "They didn't just accept the assignment to save the world Jak." Jak crossed his arms. "They went because you were going." Jak shook his head. "What does this have to do with you not telling me about the attack!" Ashelin shook her head. "You really can't be that dense can you?" The anger faded from Jak's head. "oh." He said, finally getting the point. Ashelin turned back to the projector. "Go to her Jak, Keira's going to need some comfort for the next couple of days." Jak nodded. "Sorry about that Ashelin." Ashelin turned and smiled. "Hey, don't worry about it, happens to the best of us." Jak left the building and hopped into his zoomer. On the slow ride to the garage, Jak thought about all he had been through since the ending fight with Gol and Mira. Those few times he remembered Sandover village just brought him pain and homesickness.

When he arrived at the garage in the northern part of the city, parked his zoomer near the stairs and walked up to Keira's section. When he walked into Keira's personal area, Keira was bent over a half built car chassis, asleep. He walked up behind her and placed his jacket around her shoulders. The sudden motion of fabric rubbing up her bare arms caused her to raise her head. "Jak?" she asked. Jak reached down and took her hand. "Right here Keira." He said. Keira squeezed his hand and crawled into his lap. She hung onto him and closed her eyes.

"Why this have to happen Jak, those people shouldn't have died." Jak ran his hand up and down her back. "No one should have to die like that." He agreed. Keira buried her face in his chest; he could feel tears run down her cheek and through the cloth of his shirt. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.