Haven city wasn't a happy, kind city like those in children's stories or fairy tales. It wasn't a clean city, or a beautiful city. It wasn't ruled by a gracious compassionate leader (as if Baron Praxis could ever be considered either of those things) with a pretty, giggling princess (in fact Ashlin would most likely kill anyone who called her that). It wasn't a city with friendly helpful citizens or guards. No, it was none of these things. But it was, if nothing else, safe. Well, as safe as a city could be when it was full of sadistic KG, threatening messages boomed out over the streets, very explosive vehicles and easily obtained guns. But at least it didn't have Metalheads, that was the most important thing. Metalheads roamed just outside the city walls, waiting for the shields to come down so they could add Haven city to their list of civilisations they'd dragged into the sands of the wasteland. Thankfully the city shield walls had never been broken, or let down, and never would be if Vin had anything to do about it.
Vin was the strip mine foreman and secret underground informant. This meant that he took care of the eco-grid, and in turn the shield walls. At least that was the 'foreman' bit of it. By being a secret underground informant he was putting that at jeopardy. Most would say that putting a job ahead of the city would sound selfish but in Vin's case it was true. If he lost his job as the strip mine foreman the city shield walls would be gone within a few days. He was the only one that could work the eco-grid.
Of course Baron Praxis refused to admit this, there were others that could take his job, but none good enough or fast enough to keep up with the damage the Metalheads were causing. And so, by this pure luck, Vin had managed to keep his job and still help out Jak, Torn and the underground. However his job was getting harder and harder each day. Or it had been. There had been a sudden drop in Metalhead attacks over the past few days. Vin thought this might mean the Metalheads were planning a final attack, but Torn wouldn't listen to him. Then again he did say the Metalheads were coming every few days, no wonder Torn stopped listening.
This time was different thought, it was like a silence on the eco-grid. It just wasn't right. Vin stood on his platform, moving it round the room of giant computers to check and see if there was anything he missed, the silence of it was unbearable. The front door whooshed open and Vin turned the platform round, rather than risk turning round himself and falling off. It was just Kor. His heart rate went back to normal, not that he'd been expecting Metalheads or anything. Okay, well maybe he'd expected them a little, but that was normal paranoia for him. The old man walked into the room quickly, which struck Vin as a little strange since his walk was normally slightly laboured and assisted by his cane. Maybe he'd been taking something for his 'aching bones'.
"How is everything running?"
Kor looked round at the control panels with a curiosity that unnerved Vin somewhat, though he couldn't figure out why.
"Er… good. Too good, it's quiet. I think the Metalheads are planning one final giant attack!"
Vin spoke quickly and waved his arms over his head a bit, overemphasising the concept of a massive attack on the city. Kor raised an eyebrow but otherwise looked unsurprised.
"Oh? Have you told anyone about this?"
Vin tried to think back in his mind as to if he'd told anyone other than Torn, but couldn't remember getting round to telling Jak and Daxter about his concerns.
"Well, just Torn, but… he thinks I'm being overly paranoid."
Vin scratched the back of his head and looked embarrassed. Apparently he'd become that much of a nuisance to everyone that they no longer cared for his opinion. Not that he blamed them. He thought he saw Kor smile out of the corner of his eye but when he looked up that same blank expression was on the old man's face.
"Oh dear, it's such a shame when people just stop listening."
Something in his voice sounded almost sarcastic. Vin was getting more and more nervous, a little alarm going off in the back of his head that something wasn't right here. But then again maybe the others were right and he was just paranoid, wasting their time with his own personal issues with the Metalheads and… Vin stopped his train of thought abruptly when he saw Kor reaching out towards one of the control panels.
"Eh, I wouldn't do that if I w-were you."
He stammered a little when Kor paused and looked up. He didn't move his hand from hovering over the buttons. His expression was almost amused, as though thinking of a personal joke.
"Oh? Why not?"
The alarm in Vin's head was screaming at him now, but he still tried to ignore it. Like Torn and Jak said, he was just being overly cautious. He glanced from Kor's hand to the buttons through his goggles.
"T-those control the shield w-walls."
The grin that spread across Kor's face was more than unnerving. It was disturbingly jovial. Kor's hand dropped onto the keyboard and expertly typed in the pass code without looking. The screen flashed red and a stupidly calm sounding female voice rang out in the room.
"Shield walls down. Warning. Shield walls down."
Vin's heart leapt in his chest. If the shield walls were down that would mean he was right, Metalheads were attacking. And Kor helped them! Vin didn't even think, he sped the platform across the room at Kor. The old man didn't seem to expect the foreman to fight back and was shocked when he was slammed into by the hovering platform and thrown out the opening front door. Vin leapt off the platform and let it collide with the metal bridge leading to the centre of the room, barricading the door. He sprinted to the controls and banged furiously on the keys for a few minutes before realising he couldn't bring the shield walls back up with such little eco. It was like turning on a lot of lights at once. It took more energy to start it up than to keep it running. Since the Baron had been bribing Metalheads with eco for some time now the grid was at an all time low. Vin hyperventilated madly for a few moments, trying to stave off an imminent panic attack. He had to try and stay calm, try and think. Right now Metalheads would be swarming into the city from all directions. Vin's head snapped up from it's thought when he heard a low angry growling coming from outside. They'd already made it this far? Vin swallowed and fished in his pocket for his communicator. He dialled the only number he could think of that might do any good at this point. Jak.