Kat: I disclaim the lyrics that follow. I've been listening to these songs over and over and I've been dying to put them in a story, but I know it's against the TOS. I'm not getting any profit for putting these lyrics in and I don't own any part of them, so don't report me just for using a few lines of a few songs. I'd tell you which one's which, but I wanna see if you know what songs I used (and who made them, of course). I'll say what songs I used (and the bands) in the next chapter.

Hey, miss murder can I

Hey, miss murder can I

Make beauty stay if I

Take my life?

Whoa-oh-ohh…

"Daxter! Turn that infernal music off!" Samos covered his ears. "And I use the term 'music' very loosely." The group (minus Sig; he had left a few days before) was in the Naughty Ottsel, just hanging out and Daxter had the radio on playing the songs on the CD he'd just burned.

"Fine," Daxter said, changing to a different track.

Sit tight, I'm gonna need you to keep time

Come on, just snap, snap, snap your fingers for me

Good, good, now we're making some progress

Come on, just tap, tap, tap your toes to the beat…

"Daxter! You know I don't like rock music!" Samos snarled.

"Fine, no more rock," Daxter said, skipping ahead four songs.

I feel you creepin' I can see it from my shadow

Wanna jump up in my Lamborghini Gallago

Maybe go to my place and just kick it like tae bo

And possibly bend you over

Look back and watch me smack that…

"Daxter!"

"You hate all my music! Besides, no one said you had to be here," Daxter huffed.

Samos walked out, grumbling about what a nuisance Daxter was.

"Now that he's gone…" Daxter turned the volume up.

Smack that, all on the floor

Smack that, give me some more

Smack that, 'til you get sore

Smack that, oh-oh-oh-ohh

"Haven't had the chance to kick back for awhile," Torn mused.

"Yeah… and Pecker, if you start singing along, I swear I'll rip your tongue out and strangle you with it," Daxter threatened when he saw Pecker open his mouth. The bird promptly closed it.

Suddenly the building shook. The radio fell off the counter and hit the floor with a crash.

"Aw, man," Daxter said.

"What the hell was that?" Ashelin asked.

The group ran outside to and saw the citizens of the city running around in a panic. Pecker landed on the ground in front of the group.

"I don't see anything," Pecker said. "What's got them so worked up?"

Daxter reached out and grabbed Pecker by the shoulders, pulling him backwards seconds before a small bomb fell and exploded in the very spot he was standing.

"This is just a wild guess, but that's probably what's got them scared shitless," Daxter said, pointing to a wave of KG robots that were hurling small bombs and energy blasts onto the city.

"What? Why are they firing on us?" Torn asked, drawing his gun.

"Scatter!" Jak yelled. The group leapt out of the way as another bomb hit. Suddenly a squad of KGs closed in on them.

"I'M OUTTA HERE!" Pecker squawked, flying full-speed towards the slums. The robots paid him no heed, but instead converged on Jak. Jak pulled out his Morph Gun and mowed down a cluster of KG robots with the Vulcan Fury while Keira clung to him in fear.

"Captain, report!" Ashelin screamed into her communicator as she shot a few robots that were heading for her. "What's going on?"

"The KG botses have turned, milady! They is…" the deep voice on the other end was replaced by static.

"Brutter!" Ashelin yelled.

"Ashe! Duck!" Torn tackled her as a laser blast whizzed past them.

"Thanks," Ashelin said.

Daxter felt a cold metal hand close around his stomach. "Aah! Let go!" Daxter kicked the robot in the head and it spun around a full 360 degrees before stopping. The robot then glared (?) at the ottsel. Daxter squirmed and managed to slip out of its hand. The robot lifted a foot to stomp on him when it was shot and fell over.

"Huh?" Daxter looked around for his rescuer. It was a human Krimzon Guard. A small group of them had arrived to help out.

"The cavalry is here!"

The group spared a quick glance to see the Guard coming to the rescue. Thank the Precursors… Keira thought.


Hours later, the robots had retreated, but not before leaving behind considerable damage. Much of the bazaar had been trashed, but thankfully, the section Onin lived in was still intact. The death toll hit a whopping 98 men, women, and children, not to mention many a member of the New Krimzon Guard was killed… Brutter included.

That night, services were held for the dead and "Krimzon Guard" became an even more hated term than it was during Praxis' rule. Ashelin announced that there would be no more Krimzon Guard. Instead, it would be the Freedom League. Serving Krimzon Guards were given a choice: serve in the Freedom League or retire. Many Guards decided to transfer, but a few wished to retire. And who could blame them?

The next morning, Torn and Ashelin called Jak to the Freedom League HQ in the palace. On the way there, Daxter was unusually quiet.

"Dax?" Jak asked.

Daxter started and looked at his friend. "Yeah?"

"You've been really quiet lately. What's up?"

"Lately? Only since yesterday," Daxter replied. The ottsel sighed, "Actually--"

"Hold that thought, Dax. We're here." Jak entered the palace and headed for the elevator. Daxter sighed again as the lift started to rise.

"Sorry, Dax. You were saying?" Jak asked.

Daxter looked at Jak and started to say something, but stopped. After thinking for a bit, he shook his head lightly and spoke. "Guess I'm just depressed. Brutter was a pretty good friend."

That's not what he was really going to say…oh, well, Jak thought. When they reached the palace, Jak exited the lift. Jak walked down the ornate hallways, the lights making the red carpet and gold-colored walls seem to glow. Jak reached a door and opened in. He entered a dark room with lots of gadgets and huge computer screens. In the center, Ashelin and Torn were waiting for him near a round terminal. Torn looked up as Jak entered.

"Jak, the city's divided," Torn said. "Reports say new Krimzon Death Bots are holding a vital section of the industrial area. My men are getting their asses kicked!" Daxter winced as Torn slammed his hands on the terminal. Slightly calmer, Torn continued. "The KG have a new leader. We're trying to find out who it is," he said, looking at Ashelin.

"I'm afraid I have even more bad news," a voice said. The group looked to the other door and saw Samos heading their way. "A large group of surviving Metal Heads have concentrated in another section of the city."

"But we destroyed Kor!" Jak said, while Daxter nodded vigorously. Kaeden couldn't be helping them… he was dead, too!

"I'm afraid the strongest Metal Heads have survived," Samos said. "The battle for the city had just begun!"

"The people are blaming you, Jak," Ashelin said. Jak turned away from the group, deep in thought.

Blaming me? Why? Didn't I just save them?

Daxter looked at his friend. Blaming him? Why? Didn't he just save them?

"There have been rumors…" Ashelin said, taking out a few sheets of paper and handing them to Jak. "… that you gave Krew the Ruby Key, which he used to let the Metal Heads in."

Jak looked through the papers. They were mostly conversations on online message boards, but even so…

Daxter grabbed the papers out of Jak's hands and looked at them himself. He let out a low growl, uncharacteristic for him, and crumpled the papers into a ball before throwing them across the room as if they were contaminated with some kind of disease.

"You can't trust the crap you see online," Daxter said. "I don't even know what idiot thought that up, but if I did…"

"Daxter," Jak stopped his friend. Daxter crossed his arms and glared at nothing in particular. Jak looked at his other friends. "What's the Council think?"

"They agree with Daxter," Torn said. "They think it's a loud of bullcrap and not worth their time to investigate. They still favor you, Jak. Well, except for Veger, but he's outnumbered."

"But how long before Veger and the citizens persuade the Council to turn against Jak?" Samos asked. "The sooner we clean up this mess, the better."