-Back at Headquarters-
Torn's hands were on the table, fingers clenched around a scrap of paper. His thin lips were pulled into a nasty sneer, and he growled, pacing slowly around the table. Jak stood, knees together, more ashamed than he had ever been. Daxter was standing on the edge of the table, shrinking away from Torn, who was right up in his face now.
"You what?" Torn's voice was shallow, dark and it scared the shit out of Dax.
"It wasn't our fault!" he said, raising his voice in ill-placed fear.
"You fucking- I can't believe it." Torn put his head in his hand, growling. "You missed him. You missed Zevin fucking Renterina!" Torn, as angry as he was, kept deadly silent, and even Jak knew he was about to explode.
"Woah, calm down," Jak said, holding up his hands, "We can work this out."
"Work this out? Jak, do you realize what you screwed up? That man was our foothold for everything else I've been working on for months." Torn shoved all the papers off the table. They twirled through the air, cascading in a off-white flurry of wrinkled torn maps. Torn had his back to them now, rummaging through a desk to look like he was doing something. Daxter sighed, jumping onto the scratched table.
"Listen, we'll go back and fix it! We can always go hit again, say, next Tuesday, when he walks by again." Torn stopped, hands on the edge of the desk. His shoulders heaved up and down in short bursts of frustration.
"No, it'll be too late by then."
"Late?" Jak asked.
"Zevin is a slippery man. We've only been able to track him a few times," he paused, and when he spoke again, there was less anger in his voice, "but there is one location we know for sure. One place he goes more often than any other..." He turned to the drawers again, searching through several rolled up papers, until he found one tied with red string. He brought it over to the now clean table, untying it. The paper, which was actually a map, unrolled. It was a chart of the harbor, with a few other markings on it from other missions. Torn scanned the map, then looked up at the others. "Are you boys up for a little breaking-and-entering?" A gleam appeared in Jak's eye.
"Eh?" Daxter said, raising an eyebrow.
"You heard it. Anyway, it's been a plan for some time now, just in case, and it's a good thing we had it. We know where Zevin lives."
"You know where he lives?" Jak asked in pure amazement. Even from meeting him only once, he knew Torn was right; he was a very sneaky man. Daxter meanwhile, eyed Torn, then coughed rather loudly in his paw. A few more coughs, and the word "stalker" mixed in, Torn smacked him upside the head. With a sharp glare, he continued.
"We had an agent check up on it a few weeks ago, and only recently we confirmed the location."
"But he must live in the fortress with some other Krimzon guards." Torn smiled deviously.
"The good thing is, Zev insists on staying alone, in a small apartment up in the Stadium Sector. Problem is, he's paid for some high security to keep watch on him," Torn said, gesturing to five smaller green circles on the main map of the city. They were sitting in the water, all places strategically around one dark gray square on the map; most likely the bunker.
"Eh, we'll just blow right by 'em, right Jak?" Daxter said, nudging his friend.
"Not so fast," Torn held up a hand, "It's not that easy. Being the unfortunately clever being he is, Zevin has those turrets wired with an alarm system. If one goes off, all the other jump into commission. Not only that, but it sets off an alarm in his house, giving him time to escape, leaving you in the dust. Besides, even if you did get him in the house, he's got the insides rigged is a way around that problem, however. We know there's a switch to shut down those guns and his inner home security."
"Great," Jak said, "Where is it?"
"You'll need to talk to Vin. He's got plans for the whole power network for that particular part of the city." Torn said.
"Will do," Daxter said, an almost proud intonation.
"Now get your skinny asses out of here," Torn growled, glancing with piercing green eyes looking over his shoulder. But the boys, to his relief, were already out the door and in the streets.
-In the Industrial part of Haven-
"Jak?" came a shaking voice from the circular room. The lift Jak and Daxter were riding clanked to a stop, and the sliding door opened. The room in which they were now was quite the sight. It was covered in two panels that ran the curved length of the main floor, and there were hovering screens and wires everywhere. Blue and orange sparks shot from sockets, lights blinked from buttons, the loud hum of Precursor machinery, and in the middle of it all was Vin. He was, as always, wearing his white lab coat, and his gray hair was messier than usual. When his eyes rested on Jak and Daxter, he broke out into a smile.
"You came!" he cried, running and throwing his arms around the taller of the two. Jak held up his hands, very uncomfortable to say the least. Vin backed up, hands shaking at his chest. He wrung his fingers together. "You got my note?" he asked.
"Yep," Daxter said. Vin sighed.
"I would have given it to you myself but-" and he stopped. Jak raised his eyebrows.
"But what?"
"But the guards have been looking for me! I stay in here all day, in hopes they'll leave me alone and stop pestering me for eco! My time's running out. Is there anything you could do?" Jak thought for a moment, wanting to help his friend, but not having any idea how.
"We can try, but I can't promise anything." However, as vague as that response was, Vin clapped his hands in delight.
"Thank you, thank you! But how rude of me, you're expecting something in return, yes?"
"Well now that you mention it, I would like a hot tub," Daxter said. Vin looked helpless, staring blankly at the other. He rubbed the back of his neck worriedly.
"A, uh, hot tub? Um, sure, I guess."
"Yes! And while you're at it-" Daxter started, but Jak clamped a hand over the Ottsel's mouth.
"Forget about that. What we really need is information regarding the security system in and around an apartment in the Stadium Sector. The man who lives there blew up the boardwalk, and he works for Praxis." Vin jumped backward, then skittered over to a screen covered in Precursor writing. He began tapping away, pulling up a map there, then quickly walking to another where he pushed more buttons.
"I know of the place you speak. It's very tricky..." he said, concentrating hard on the screen, biting his lower lip, "but I think I can get you what you need."
"We need anything he has out of commission," Jak said. Vin gave another nervous jump.
"I-I'm afraid I can't shut it off from here. The primary power lines haven't worked in ages. I do know," he paused, "another way. There's a secondary power channel-."
"Hurry up, we ain't got all day!" Daxter said, crossing his arms.
"Oh" Vin said to himself worriedly, pressing several buttons, "yes, uh, power grids. That I can do." Jak and Daxter both exchanged ruthless grins. "Now," he continued, voice wavering, "the off switch to his security network is in the palace commons, so Praxis can keep an eye on him, but it requires a pass code, which I can get for you..." He tapped away at a few more screens and buttons, before a machine at the end of the panel began to whirr loudly. Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder onto the machine, looking into a black slot near the top.
"Woah! What is this?" Vin let out a little "eep!" noise, before running over to him.
"That's the printer, Daxter," he said.
"Oh," replied the Ottsel, watching it carefully. The scanner light came on inside, and it spat out a strip of blue paper covered in white numbers. Vin checked over it, then handed it to Jak.
"Do not lose this. There will be a keypad by the entrance to the palace. This is the combination. Type it in, and it should tell you if you've disabled the security or not."
"Should?" Vin blushed, rubbing the back of his neck again.
"Well, eheh, it's been some time since it's been used. There's still... debate as to whether it actually works or not, since it's so far away from the primary source of power and several breaks have been reported around the uh, heheh..." He looked up sheepishly. Jak, fuming, pushed him against the panel. The screens changed, things went all out of whack, and poor Vin and his OCD could do nothing about it, for he was pinned by two strong arms, connected to a very angry Jak.
"You're just telling us now?" he growled. Dark eco sparked around him, making Vin shudder and shrink away.
"Jak..." Daxter said carefully, as to not upset the other further, "Calm down." The taller looked behind him at Daxter, who honestly seemed a little frightened. Jak relaxed his arms, and Vin slipped out from under them, burying his nose in the electronics on the other side of the room.
"Now, uh, if you'll just e-excuse me, boys, I really must b-be getting back to work," he stuttered, not glancing over his hunched shoulders. Jak's blue eyes looked from the slip of paper to Vin.
"Thank you," he said.
"Oh! Oh, a-anytime," Vin called after them as Jak and Daxter made their way up the lift again.
"You alright buddy?" Dax asked, patting Jak on the head.
"Fine, fine," Jak said, glancing around for Krimzon guards as he stepped into the street. He looked up to see the green star closer and brighter than ever before, even in the bright haze. Daxter looked up too. "I just need to get to the Oracle. Somehow, I need to keep this in check. I can't let it get out of hand."
"But Jak," Daxter said, "the Oracle was destroyed in the bombing." A thought popped into Jak's head, and he took off down the ramp.
"I don't think so, but we can always check."
"With who?" But Daxter was never given an answer as Jak nicked another zoomer, and they stole off across the city.
-Several minutes of driving later-
"I wonder how many zoomers we've stolen over the years," Daxter thought aloud as Jak coasted into an alleyway. They were past the palace's outer gates, and back in the nicer part of the city. Jak laughed, jumping onto the pitted ground.
"Probably thousands," he said.
"More than that," Dax agreed. They made their way through the bazaar, where they had been before. The masses of people made it almost impossible to navigate though, but Jak knew his way well enough, and he had his mind one a set corner of the bazaar. Daxter looked around, until, slowly, the dreaded realization of where they were going struck him. "We're not going to the old wrinkly lady and her crazy bird, are we?"
"Dax, she's the only one who might have any clue as to what might have happened."
"The Soothsayer! Oh no! Jak!" he whined as they rounded a corner to find a big brown tent made of canvas, and Jak shook his head.
"What? Daxter, Onin is the only one who-" but Daxter cut him short.
"It's not the old hag I mind, but her bird-"
"Shh!" Jak silenced his friend as he pushed open the flap to the tent. A silence filled the tent, until a shrill Spanish accented voice cawed at them.
"Oh, great," said the blue, red, and yellow moncaw in the corner, "not you two again. You're the last ones I wanted to see." He flapped his fingered wings over to them, the three upright feathers on top of his head bouncing.
"Trust me, we ain't too thrilled to see you either, Birdie," Daxter said, jumping off Jak shoulder as he stepped into the stuffy tent. The light now came only from the candles and blue light radiating off of the dishes.
"We were around, so we thought we'd stop by. Besides," Jak said, "I have a question for Onin." The old woman, in turn, opened her colorless eyes, tipping her head at the two of them. She moved her hands around in the air, and Pecker watched carefully.
"She says it's good to see you survived the bombing," he translated, then scoffed to the side, "Though I would say different." Daxter made faces, but Jak was more mature about the whole situation, as he normally was. He listened as Pecker went on, "She knows you have something to ask her about that day, something inside the fire and the smoke and the wreckage of the Water Slums?" There. That was the window Jak had been looking for. It always astounded both of them, how much the Soothsayer knew, how she knew their names the first time they'd met.
"What about the Oracle? Was it destroyed in the explosion?" Jak asked. The Soothsayer made more extravagant hand gestures, and Pecker, turned back to the others.
"The Oracle's power is far stronger than the power of a few measly bombs, she says. It's has moved itself to a new location, outside the city's walls, yet very close to here. It lies in an old citadel in Haven Forest. Go there and..." He watched her again for a moment, before rolling his eyes. "In a nut shell, the Oracle is still fine, just weakened, and yada yada yada. Listen, if you go back, I'm sure you'll be able to find it fine. Why do you care, anyway?" Pecker asked, cocking his feathered head. Jak gave one last look at the Soothsayer before turning and opening the tent flap.
"The Precursors and us go way back," he said.
"Yeah, wayyy back," Daxter threw in, looking around the tent one last time before Jak closed the flap behind them, and they were back out in the streets of the busy Bazaar. They walked around in the hot sun, going no where in particular. They were both fed up with the rebellion, but it had happened so many times before, that they knew it would pass soon. Until then, they took to rambling the city, cracking jokes with one another. Oh, sure they knew it was dangerous, but under the watchful eye of the Shadow, and feeding off their happy auras, they felt invincible.
"What do you mean you 'lost interest' in her? Ja-aaak, nobody just 'looses interest' with a girl like Kiera!" Daxter said, crawling to the other's opposite shoulder.
"I never said I lost interest in her!" Jak said, "I only said that right now isn't the best time-"
"Now is a good a time as any! Besides," Dax said, "if you don't get her, someone else will." Jak was about to retort something else back, when he saw a familiar squat figure move through an alley. Daxter followed his gaze.
"Samos," they both said in unison, and Jak took off after him. In the cool shade of a deserted open stoop, they watched the other looking around, and as he was about to step on into the streets, Daxter climbed atop a box and whistled to catch Samos's attention. It worked, for the other turned, a shocked look on his face. He glanced over his shoulder at the street before walking quickly over. Jak and Daxter met up with him in the middle.
"Jak?"' he asked, "Daxter?" And in that moment, Jak felt a ping inside him, some lost memory ringing out. He remembered that same voice calling to them in a hut basked in the hot sun. He needed to try again. "What are you boys doing here?" Samos asked. Jak walked right over to him, voice almost frantic.
"Samos, you're sure you don't remember who we are? From, before we came to you in the Underground." The green man laughed, and Daxter's eyes grew wide, in hopes that the old man had remembered, but he was sadly disappointed.
"We've been over this a thousand times, I've never seen you two before the day you took out all those Metalheads out past the city limits, which I am still very grateful for."
"Oh Samos pleeeeese!" Daxter groaned, "Even I remember you!"
"You were a sage! The green eco sage of Sandover Village, don't you remember? You yelled at us for taking the fisherman's boat, you yelled at Daxter when he fell into the pit of dark eco on Misty Island. You helped defeat Gol and Maia in their citadel, before they flooded the world with eco!"
"Yeah," Dax put in, "and you promised me I'd be a human again!" Then he turned to Jak. "And for the record, I didn't fall, you knocked me in." Samos looked amused, but if either of the boys were paying any attention to the little details, they would have seen Samos's green fingers fiddling with a little charm at his belt.
"I hate to interrupt what would have been a very good story boys, but I must be going! The city needs our help, and they're not going to get it from two crazies like yourselves, babbling on about things that never happened!" That destroyed Jak a little inside. Denial. Again. Years of living in this crazy place, and their only connection to any way home was busy off fighting a war that wasn't even his to be any part of. Daxter crawled up onto Jak's shoulder.
"Come on," he said quietly, "we don't need him." Jak shook his head, and watched as Samos hurried down the rest of the alley, casting a glance over his shoulder. Turning, the pair walked back out into the streets, blending in with the rest of life for the moment. Even though there wasn't much life around, they blended in. All too comfortably they blended in with a dead city and a cracking superpower in charge.
"Why is he so ignorant all the time?" Jak asked, still upset about the whole ordeal.
"Maybe he just chose to forget?"
"But why would he do that? I mean, he practically raised us!"
"I know, Jakie, but ehe," he looked around, "we might wanna get going. Not piss Torn off anymore..."
"Yeah," Jak said absentmindedly, still looking down the alley after Samos. "Yeah, right." He started back down the alley, and then again out into the street where they mixed with the people and started out towards the towering palace.
