"The people are blaming you, Jak!"
"Tch. I wonder who started that movement?"
"...what?" It wasn't just Ashelin that gave Jak a surprised look at his scathing reply, blue eyes boring into green.
"You heard me. Now that your father's gone and you're in control, I'm a threat, right? You have no idea what the hell I could do."
"Jak, what the hell are you-...?"
The kid was bristling like a cornered animal, taking a few steps back from the command center. His arms hung almost too loosely at his sides, although his hands twitched often, as if just itching to reach for the weapon at his back - or to let something worse out of his head. Even Daxter, perfectly calm when Jak turned into his Dark Eco form, stared at the teen as if he'd sprouted a second head, his ears drooping.
"...Jak?"
Blue eyes cut to him, searching and apparently not happy with what they saw.
"You don't believe them, do you Dax?" The question was normal, and the tone was Jak, but those eyes...something was very, very wrong, and the ottsel found himself crawling along to the end of Jak's arm and hopping to the floor, staring up at the teen from a perspective he still wasn't used to.
"Jak, what're ya talkin' about? Ashelin ain't-"
"And how do you know that?" Jak's snarl derailed his speech almost before he'd started, vicious and almost painful to hear.
"Jak, you know Ashe. You know she wouldn't-"
"Do I really? How long have I known any of you people? A few months? For all I know, you were all working with the Baron, or even with Kor! Trying to send my younger self back to the past- why?! What did the rest of you gain from that?!"
His voice rang for a second or two after he'd spoke, the words - and the teen's actions, eyes darting as he edged around to one side of the room, as if feeling trapped - leaving the group dumbfounded. He held a hand down for Daxter and the ottsel obediently climbed back up to his shoulder guard, ears drooping.
"I know who I can trust. The rest of you can burn with the city for all I care." He stormed towards the door, strides long and much quicker than normal.
"Jak, wait-!" Keira moved to stand in his way, but drew back rather quickly as the teen loomed over her, eyes rapidly darkening over.
"Move."
"Keira, get outta there!" Torn jumped across the console, his form causing the hologram above it to fizzle out for a few moments as he passed through it. He grabbed the petrified mechanic's arm and yanked her back, barely keeping three-inch claws from finding her throat.
Jak didn't look back, sprinting out of the control room and out of the Freedom League HQ. The security cameras lost him somewhere in the Port, but a quick survey of the Naughty Ottsel found nothing.
Torn wasn't a religious man, but at that point he was praying to every deity he could think of that they could find Jak before he did something they'd all regret.