Chapter 4: The Old Man and the New Guy

Jet: Okay, I'm back and here is what happened in chapter 3; Mar wakes up and thinks what happened the day before was a dream. But then Torn runs out the door and Aida after him. Then Mar is happy because this means that the day before wasn't a dream. Then Torn goes and meets up with Ashelin at the Pumping station. The two are happy to be together and Ashelin tells Torn what her father is up to. Then Tess brought Keira back from daycare and Mar was even happier to see his friend. Tess asked Aida if her arm was alright, she said that it was fine. Then Tess points out how good Aida is with Mar and what a good mother she would be. Aida says that she's not the motherly type and says that Tess would be a better mother, but Tess doesn't think she would be a mother anytime soon mostly because she is waiting for the perfect guy.

Penny: You mean Daxter?

Jet: Yes. When I did that part I was more thinking 'what do people think when they think of Daxter?' And that's what I got. Then there was a little bit of the underground doing something other than babysitting. And Torn is sent on a mission and Aida and Tess give Mar and Keira a bath together.

Jak: … I don't know how I feel about you putting that in a story.

Jet: Jak, almost everyone who has sibling that are close to the same age took baths with them. Anyways, the toddlers get put to bed after that. Then the next day the two start playing with the papers that were on the table then they get busted by Aida and she takes them somewhere else to play. Mar is a bit unhappy because he misses his mom and dad. Aida can tell and she tells him that it's okay because now he has the underground for a family. Well that's it, and before we start this chapter just a bit of a heads up it's long and not really about Mar, but it's important there are some big things in this one. So, on we go. Oh by the way Jak, did you watch any My Little Pony?

Jak (Mumbled something)

Jet: Sorry, didn't hear you.

Jak: I watched the first two episodes.

Jet: Aaaaannnd?

Jak: … it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Two months had gone by; Aida, now fully recovered had returned to going on missions for the underground. Mar was not too happy about this, he was upset every time she left and he really wouldn't listen to anyone else. He was always waiting for her to walk through the door and every time she did he was happy again. Keira helped to keep him happy but she wasn't there all the time either, Tess did her best but Mar just felt so alone. He would usually just sitting sadly in a corner of the play room holding a teddy bear. Tess would sit next to him and try to cheer him up but nothing she did helped, he was like that all day. Tess knew why; he was lonely and as hard as she tried he just didn't want her. He wanted to play with Keira or Aida.

Aida knew how attached Mar was to her and she didn't mind, in fact she kinda liked it. He was such a nice and well behaved little boy. No matter how hard a mission was on her- she was aways happy to see Mar, just seeing him made everything better to her. Samos saw how happy Mar was with Aida around so he didn't send her on missions unless he absolutely had to. He also saw how happy both Keira and Mar were together but he felt that Keira had to go daycare when she could, it was good for her to be with other kids her own age also it wasn't good for her to be cooped up in the hideout all the time. Truth be told, it wasn't any good for Mar either but being that the Baron was looking for him Mar couldn't leave the hideout- it just wasn't safe. So Mar had not stepped outside for almost three months but that was going to change… very soon.

Aida was at the old temple, Samos had sent her there just to see how many Metal-heads had moved in there. What Aida found worried her a little; there were more and more Metal-heads there every time she looked. But at least they were all on the far end of the temple, but she feared that they would move closer to the city. She had to tell the others what was going on; she was on her way back to the city when out of nowhere a she heard someone yell for help. She ran to see what was going on, she followed the yells to a hole in the ground- she looked down into it and found an old man holding up a unconscious and much younger man as two Metal-heads crept closer to them, the man was bleeding badly from his face and chest, his arms and legs had deep gashes on them as well. He must have passed out from lack of blood.

Aida couldn't just watch this; she picked up a good size rock and chucked it at one of the Metal-heads. That pissed it off easy enough. The two Metal-heads looked up at her and they started to climb the rocky walls of the hole, a young she-elf much be more fun to kill than an old man and a half dead guy. Aida ran and climbed into a tree- she just wasn't the mood to fight Metal-heads, plus the Kid got really scared if she came back badly hurt so she had been taking it careful lately. The Metal-heads stopped at the bottom of the tree. At first, they didn't seem to know where she had gone then they found her, they jumped up on the tree but it seemed that Metal-heads could scale rocks but they couldn't climb trees. Aida smiled as she watched them try to climb and get her, but they had no luck. The Metal-heads seemed to get bored after a while and left, Aida climbed down and went back to the old man; she found him trying to make the other guy wake up. Aida jumped down into the hole which seemed to start the old man. "Oh, you're all right." He said. "Thank you for dealing with those Metal-heads. My friend here tried, but obviously he didn't stand a chance."

"It was nothing; we should get your friend back to the city, he needs help." Aida climbed out of the hole and together she and the old man got the younger man out of the hole then Aida helped the old man out and they began to head for the city, "I'm Aida by the way."

"And I am Kor."

Aida took them to the underground hideout, mostly because her walking into a hospital was out- being that there was no way that she or the old man could afford it. Torn wasn't too happy that she just brought two strangers into the hideout, but Samos knew that there wasn't any other choice. Kor told Samos and Torn what happened and Aida took the mostly dead man to the underground's doctor. He wasn't sure that the man would live though the night but he was willing to help him any way he could. After dropping him off there she went up to the play room where she found Mar, Tess and Keira all playing. Mar ran over to her when he saw her and she picked him up. Tess asked what happened and Aida told her everything.

Back with Samos, Torn and Kor; Kor was asking what this place was and Samos explained. Kor seemed a little over shocked that the Baron was running the city. Apparently for the last four months Kor and his companion had been exploring outside the city to just see how bad the Metal-head problem really was. "Wait," Torn said, "you're telling me that you and your friend have been living outside the city all this time studying the Metal-heads, and only now did one of you come close to death?"

"My friend and I were so happy that we were almost home that we got a bit careless I'm afraid." Kor looked around, "you still have yet to tell me where I am."

"This is our hide out," Samos explained, "we are the underground. We're trying to stop the Baron and set the city right again."

"Really?" Kor asked, "And what will you do once you've dethroned the Baron, what then? The city needs a leader."

Samos smiled, "We have that under control. See, we have the prince."

Kor looked at him a bit confused and intrigued, "The prince, but isn't he just a little boy?"

"For now, yes, but he won't always be."

"If my friend and I can be of any help, just let us know."

Torn looked at him, "You know, I think there is a way that you can be a great help to us. Do you like kids?"

Samos looked at Torn, "What are you getting at?"

"Well just look at him, he would be useless in a fight- he could just keep an eye on the Kid and Keira. That way we could send Tess and Aida on missions and there would still be someone to watch them."

"I suppose that could work."

Kor smiled, "I love kids, and I would be more than happy to keep a close eye on the young prince."

"Great, then it's settled then." Samos said, "I'll show you where they are." Samos leaded Kor down the hall and Torn left to go meet up with Ashlein at the pumping station. When they got to the play room Samos opened the door and Keira ran to her father.

Samos picked her up, and she pointed to Kor, "Who?" She asked.

"This is Kor." Samos said, "He's going to be your new babysitter."

Keira looked at him, pointed and said, "Silly."

Kor smiled and rolled his eyes a little, "I know, I look a bit silly." Keira just laughed.

Mar on the other hand, just stayed close to Aida, he didn't know why but there was something that was telling him to stay away from Kor, something that made the two-year-old almost scared of him. Aida looked at him and could see that he was scared, "It's okay kid." She said, taking his hand. "He's not going to hurt you." Mar looked up at Aida, he still didn't like Kor but if Aida said it was okay then he would trust what she said.

Kor held out his hand for the boy's. Mar looked up at Aida and then took Kor's hand. Kor smiled, "Don't worry; I won't let anything happen to you."

At the palace, Ashelin was about to leave to meet up with Torn when she found her path blocked by Errol, her father's right hand man. "What do you want?" She asked, clearly annoyed by the fact he was there.

"Oh, nothing." He said, smirking, "You know your father's is become a bit worried about you, you're always sneaking off and not telling anyone where you're going."

"Oh, my father remembers he has a daughter, well that's good to know, I was starting to think that he thought he had a son. Now get out of my way Errol."

Errol stepped aside with a bit of a bow, "As you wish, princess."

"I'm not the princess." Ashelin said as she walked away. Errol smirked to himself, he was going to find out what Ashelin was up to.

Ashelin didn't know that Errol was following her, she was a bit too distracted with her own thoughts. She knew that her father was starting to get curious about where she was going; in truth there was a small part of her that hoped that he was worrying about her, at least then she could tell if her father was somewhat of the same man he used to be. But the bigger part of her knew that if her father was wondering where she was then it would only be a matter of time before he found out that she was meeting up with Torn and that she was telling the Underground everything. She didn't care what happened to her; it was Torn she was worried about, if he was caught then he would be imprisoned, or worse killed. She couldn't let that happen, no matter what.

Torn got to the Pumping Station and found Ashlein waiting for him. They had found a place at the station that wasn't close to the wall and that had become there meeting place. He was happy to see her but she didn't seem happy to see him. Torn walked over to her, "Ashelin, is something wrong? You look upset."

She looked at him, she didn't show it but her heart was breaking. She looked away from him, "I don't think we should see each other like this anymore." She said.

Torn was shocked, "What do you mean?"

"It's getting way to dangerous." She looked at him, "My father and Errol are noticing that I'm disappearing and I don't even want to think what will happen if they find out that I'm seeing you."

Torn took her hands, "Ashelin, I don't care what happens to me."

"But I do. Torn, my father knows that you're part of the underground."

"How did he find out?"

"I don't know. But Torn, if he gets his hands on you he will have you killed." She embraced him, "I'm sorry, I just can't let that happen… not to you."

"Ashelin, look at me," she looked up at him, "when I was part of the guard there was a chance every day that I would get killed by something. You know that, you have the same risk. So what's the difference now?"

"I don't want to be the reason you get killed- that's what's different." She pulled away from him a little and reached into her pocket. She pulled out something and put it in his hand but she didn't take her hand out of his just yet. "Torn, if my life was in danger wouldn't you do anything to protect me?"

"Yes. Without another thought."

"Then let me do the same for you." She pulled her hand out of his and now in Torn's hand was a communicator. "That will only connect to my personal communicator. I'll keep letting the Underground know what my father is up to, but we can't meet like this anymore. I'm sorry."

She began to walk away, Torn watched her go, "Ashelin!" He called, she didn't turn around. "ASHELIN!" He called louder but she still didn't look at him. She walked out of his sight. He wanted to go after her; he wanted to tell her that she could just join the underground and that way they could stay together.

But when he was about to go after her he found a gun to his back. "Don't move and don't say anything."

Torn looked over his shoulder and he almost laughed, it was only Errol, "Am I supposed to be afraid of you?" He asked mockingly. Errol just glared at him. "Are you going to arrest me? Do you expect me to just give in because you have a gun?" Torn stalled; reaching for one of the guns that he kept at his sides. Errol had never been a strong fighter; his skills rested in getting others to fight for him, Torn knew this very well. And it seemed that Errol had made the mistake of coming alone.

"I'm not going to arrest you, I have a better idea. You are going to help the Baron and I."

"Why would I do that? If I don't, will you kill me?"

Errol smirked, "No, if I wanted you dead then I would just kill you here. But if you don't tell me what your precious underground is doing then I will see to it that the Baron knows of Ashelin's treachery. What do you think he will do to her when he finds out that his own daughter betrayed him?"

Torn's eyes widened in horror, he knew what would happen; the Baron would kill her without another thought. Torn hung his head in defeat, "Fine, you win. But I swear, Errol," He said, his voice going to a low and deadly tone, "If she dies I will kill you myself."

Errol smirked, "Now tell me everything." Torn told him a lot but he wouldn't tell him where the hide out was, mostly because if the guards just showed up then they would know someone had betrayed them and then they would lose their spy, this Errol bought. Also Torn didn't tell Errol about the kid, if he wasn't going to tell Ashelin then he sure as hell wasn't going to tell Errol that bit of info. At a point Errol was satisfied with what Torn had told him and allowed him to leave. Torn felt sick to his stomach, he had betrayed all his friends just to protect Ashelin and she would never know. Errol, on the other hand, was felling very good about himself. The Baron was going to be pleased with everything that Errol had to tell him. Even if that meant that Ashelin would be killed, that was not Errol's problem.

The next day at the underground hideout, Aida was in the play room with the Kid; Keira had daycare so there wasn't really no one else that Mar wanted to play with, Kor tried to play with him, but Mar didn't like him, everyone figured that he just had to get used to him, after all Kor was the first new person that Mar had met in almost three months. So Kor just sat in a corner of the room and watched the two play. Then the door opened and Tess walked in, "Aida, you know that guy that you brought in yesterday? He's awake."

Kor looked up at her with a bit of a relieved look. Aida looked at him as well, "Well, that's good." She looked at Mar, "Let's go see him." she took Mar's hand and the four of them left the room.

In the infirmary, the man that Aida had brought in was looking around, "Where am I?" He asked the doctor. "Who are you?"

"Most people just call me 'Doc'."

"You don't have a name?"

"I have one, just easier if I go by Doc. but my real name is Charlie. Now, what's your name?"

"Um… I don't know." he smiled, "Sorry Charlie."

Charlie rolled his eyes, "And that's why I go by Doc."

The door opened and Kor, Aida, the kid and Tess walked in. "Victor," Kor said. "you're alright." He said, relieved.

Victor looked at Doc, "I guess my name's Victor." He looked back at everyone. "Do I know any of you?"

"Victor, you know me. I'm Kor, remember?"

Doc looked at them, "It seems that our friend here has amnesia."

Aida walked over to him with Mar following her, Victor got a good look at her, "Oh please, tell me that I know you very well."

Aida laughed a little, "Nope sorry, you were out cold when I found you."

Mar tried to climb up onto the bed, Victor looked at him, "Is this kid yours?" He asked.

Aida's eyes widened, "What?! No, he's not mine."

Victor looked at everyone else, "I still don't know where I am."

Kor walked over to him, "Do not worry, there is plenty of time to catch up, for now you should rest."

"Rest?" Victor asked, "Rest is for the wicked." He got out of bed but the sudden movement made his head spin and he fell back onto the bed.

"You need rest my friend, those Metal-heads nearly killed you. If not for Aida-"

"Sorry," Victor said, "But what's a Metal-head?" Everyone started to laugh, even Mar did, thought he didn't know what was funny.

"I wish I could forget what they are." Tess said.

Aida looked at everyone, "Why don't you all go I'm going to stay here and help Victor remember what is going on." Everyone started to leave but Mar stayed. Aida looked at him, "Go on kid. Go back to the play room, I'll be back later."

"Kid." Kor called.

Mar looked up at Aida, "Go on. It's okay." Mar didn't want to go but he did anyway.

Victor and Aida watched Mar and Kor leave. Victor looked at her, "Are you sure that little boy's not your kid?"

Aida looked at him, "Yep, hard to have a kid when you've been single your whole life."

"Well if he's not yours, then who is he?"

"The prince."

"The prince?" Victor looked around the room, "I'm not in a palace, am I?"

Aida laughed a little, "No, quite the opposite. This is the underground hideout, the king and his family was betrayed a while back- so now we're trying to de-thrown the Baron."

"Who's the Baron?"

Aida shook her head and told him everything, and over the next three days Victor had met everyone in the underground. Keira, who always liked new people, liked to play hide-and-seek with him, Mar and Aida. They would use the whole underground hide out and at one point they surprisingly got of the underground to play… this was a lot of fun until Torn and Samos reminded them that they were trying to stop the Baron.

However every so often Aida, Victor and even Tess were sent out on missions and the two toddlers were left with Kor. Who would all but ignore Keira and give all his attention to Mar, but Mar didn't even like him. But he quickly learned that when Kor was in charge there was nothing for it but just put up with it. Kor liked having Mar next to him at all times and preferred it if Keira was nowhere near him or Mar. But that was only when it was just him with the toddlers, if anyone else was there he played with both of them, not that Mar wanted him to.

Aida, however, didn't know that Mar and Keira were unhappy, she thought that they were happy as could be with Kor so she started to spend more time alone with Victor. The two were happy, Aida kept trying to help him regain his lost memories but it did no good. Victor didn't really care though he felt that is was better to make new memories and forget the old.

Aida liked spending time with him but she wanted him to remember everything so she would encourage him to spend time with Kor, hoping that the old man could help bring back Victor's lost memories. But Victor liked spending time with Kor about as much as Mar did. There were holes in his memories but every time Victor talked to Kor he just felt afraid, he didn't know why Kor, was his friend, wasn't he? And the funny thing was that every time he'd talked to Kor he felt that he remembered less. But that couldn't be right, the only time he felt good was when he was away from Kor.

Kor was strange, when there was someone else to watch Keira and the kid, he seemed to just disappear. What was he up to? Victor told the others but they told him that he needed to stop worrying; Torn kept telling him that they had bigger things to worry about then what an old man was doing. Victor just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong about Kor. One day he followed him out to dead town; Kor walked deeper and deeper into the dead place, he stopped and Victor hid behind a crumbling building, Kor took out a holographic communicator and put it on the ground and then something that Victor would have never thought possible happened: Kor seemed to shed his skin like a snake and the old man was replaced by a giant Metal-head. It was the Metal-head leader! Victor was too stunned to move; he just stood there watching as the communicator turned on and the image of another old man appeared but he seemed to have his back to him. Kor saw what looked like an exterminator's zoomer go past and that didn't not make him happy, "Why is that last exterminator company still operating?" He asked.

The man turned around to look at Kor, "The owner, Osmo, proven… ah… difficult to discourage."

"Well then, help him down the path of despair!" Kor seemed to yell, "I can't have this Osmo interfering with my plans, we finally infiltrated Haven's security wall and I don't want some wrinkled old exterminator getting in my way."

The other man gave a small bow, "I have it handled grate one, I assure you. He's got some new hired help but it's only a matter of time before I-"

"Close him down! Soon!" Kor said, cutting him off, "Or else I'll be doing some exterminating myself." Kor turned off the communicator and looked in Victor's direction, "I know you are there, come out, Victor." Victor gulped and came out from behind the wall; he looked Kor right in the eye. Kor laughed, "Look at you, you think I'm your enemy?"

"You're a Metal-head, of course you're my enemy!" Victor clenched his fists, "and I'm going to tell everyone who you are."

"But Victor, I'm not your enemy. We are the same."

"What are you talking about? We're not the same; I'm not a Metal-head."

"Oh but you are, I'm not the only Metal-head that can change my form to one of an elf. But you are more of a younger breed. Young and reckless, I had to gain the trust of the underground to get close to the kid, so I used you. I knew that that woman would be in the forest that day."

"How could you've have known that?" Victor asked.

"Although you and I cannot access the city's wall in our true forms, our smaller brothers can."

"What?"

"Our little Metal-bugs have infiltrated the city they have been here for more than a month and have found homes in some of the city's most important places along with some of the places outside the city's walls."

"Let's say, for the sake of argument, that I believe this shit you're telling me; why would you need me?"

"An old man like me fighting off Metal-heads and living wouldn't be believable. I needed someone who could look young and strong. That is where you came in. But like I said, you are a young one and therefore not trained properly and so to stop you from killing everyone you saw I took your memories away. Giving you a clean slate, a way to absorb what the elves told you so you wouldn't kill them. You had to think you were one of them or you would destroy my plan."

"And what is that?"

Kor laughed, "That I'm not telling you." Kor got close to Victor's face, "I would keep your mouth shut about what we've talked about here."

"Oh yeah, and what is stopping me from telling everyone the truth?"

Kor bared his fangs into a smile, "You like that Aida girl, don't you? If you let slip one word about this then I will see to the death your precious pet."

Victor's eyes widened, "Don't you dare touch her!"

"Don't give me reason to." Kor turned back into the old man and began to walk back to the city. Victor had no chose but to follow. He didn't really believe that he was really a Metal-head but he couldn't let anything happen to Aida, he cared about her too much.

In the slums of the city Mutt kept up his search for Mar, being that Mutt couldn't get far on his own he started following the guard that had been taking care of him to work, and go on patrols with him, just to cover more ground. The other guards love having Mutt and the croca-dog became like their mascot; he would go on patrols with them and when they were at the fortress the guards would play with him. Even Errol couldn't help but play with the small croca-dog… but only if no one else was lookin'. As much as Mutt loved the attention that he was getting from all the guards, he still wanted nothing more than to find Mar if for no other reason than to make sure that he was alright. The guards didn't know that that was what Mutt wanted, in fact they didn't even know that his name was Mutt all the guards just called him 'pup' but that was fine. Every so often Mutt would just stay in the fortress and either play with Errol or just sleep. Errol would sometimes talk to Mutt about what was going on in the fortress- not that Mutt was really paying attention or even understood what Errol was talking about. All that Mutt knew was Errol liked talking about one thing or more rather one person that Errol was starting to see less and less since in keeping alive and was just waiting for the Baron to tell him that he could kill him. It was clear to Errol that is man was a freak; Errol would keep talking to Mutt about how no matter how much Dark eco was put into this man it just didn't affect him. Mutt didn't really care about what Errol was telling him; he was just happy to have someone to pet him.

Several days later, Aida, Victor and Tess were watching/playing with the toddlers. Aida was worried about Victor; over the last week he had been acting strange and every time she would ask him about it he would tell her that it was nothing and then he would walk away from her. He also would volunteer to go on missions every chance he got and he would go alone. Aida asked why he all of a sudden wanted to go on missions alone; his answer was always that he just wanted to kill the Metal-heads. But for now he was more of his usual self, meaning that he was a bit more care free. Mar liked playing with Victor; his favorite thing was hiding and having Victor find him, even though there wasn't many places to hide in the play room Victor would at least pretend that the kid had vanished, even if he was just hiding behind Aida or Tess. Keira also liked Victor a lot more then Kor and the two toddlers were happy that the old man wasn't there.

Victor was also happy that Kor wasn't there, he didn't care where he was but he was glad it was away from him and Aida. Victor had been debating with himself on whether he should tell Aida what Kor was and what he might be or not. He knew that Kor wasn't joking about killing Aida but if they were careful then they could kill Kor and end one of the problems that the underground was dealing with. The only reason that Victor hadn't tried to kill Kor by himself was because really… he was scared. One slipup would mean his life and he didn't want to be killed knowing that Kor was still fooling everyone.

Victor made up his mind; he looked at Aida who was playing with Keira. He walked over to her and grabbed her arm, she looked at him, "I need to talk to you."

Aida looked at Keira and the kid. "I'll be right back." She said to the toddlers and then followed Victor out of the room leaving Tess with the kids. The two of them walked into a one of the empty rooms of the hideout, "All right what is it?" She asked, crossing her arms.

Victor took a deep breath and looked at Aida, "You are not going to believe me." Aida rolled her eyes, "All right, here it goes… A week ago I followed Kor out to Dead Town and there he turned into the Metal-head leader."

Aida just looked at him, not knowing what to think. She shook her head, "Victor, are you okay? How could Kor be the Metal-head leader? Metal-heads can't get into the city. Not only that but he's an old man and I don't think the Metal-head leader is an old elf."

"That's just it though, he's not an elf. He can change into a Metal-head whenever he wants, and when as an elf he can get in the city. And… that's not even the worst part..."

"Then what is?" Aida asked, she didn't really believe any of this and more of thought that this was something he saw in a dream and that he mistook for reality.

Victor couldn't even look at her, "He said that… that I'm a Metal-head too, and that I can't remember my past because he took my memories away."

Aida looked at him and smiled, she put a hand on his shoulder which got him to look at her, "Well if you are a Metal-head then you're the best one I've ever met." She put her hand on his scarred cheek, "Just don't change okay?" She moved closer to him and kissed him.

Victor let himself forget everything for one moment and kissed her back. The two pulled apart and looked at each other, "So, let's say that I am a Metal-head, would you still like me?"

Aida smiled, "I don't care what you are as long as you stay the man I've come to love."

Victor smiled, "You don't believe me do you?" He asked her.

Aida shook her head, laughing a bit, "Victor, what you're saying is crazy."

Victor grabbed her shoulders, "You have to believe me, Aida. He said that if I told anyone then he would kill you. You have to believe me if for no other reason than to protect yourself."

"Victor, calm down. Now listen, what you're saying is completely crazy, and without proof then I can't believe you."

"I can prove it. Kor had to have gone back to Dead Town to talk to that other man."

"What other man?" Aida asked. Victor didn't answer; he just grabbed her wrist and started to lead her too Dead Town. They ran right past Torn and Samos and didn't bother to tell them what was going on; all that Aida managed to tell them was that they were going to Dead Town.

When the two got there, Victor lead Aida to where he had followed Kor to last time, and what Aida saw made her mouth fall open. There, standing right front of her, was the Metal-head leader himself. Victor held her shoulders so she wouldn't go and try to fight him. Kor was talking on the communicator and he didn't seem happy, "Once again you have failed and I must contemplate on how to exact pain for your misservice."

"Why is this Jak creature so important?" Aida heard another man ask, "And that annoying orange fur bag, he's nothing but a trifle."

"You have no idea how important they both are to the cosmos. Daxter must not be allowed to rescue Jak. Do you understand?"

"I will see to it personally."

"Yes. But if you fail maybe that orange rat can still be of service."

"I WILL NOT FAIL! This isn't over yet."

"If Daxter breaks the eco user out of prison, this… Jak, I can still beat them outside in disguise." Kor laughed and changed back into his elf form right in front of Aida, her mouth hung open in shock. "I can still get what I want." The other man mumbled something that Victor nor Aida could hear and the communicator turned off.

Victor began to lead Aida way, "Now do you believe me?" He whispered to her.

Aida nodded, she had never seen the Metal-head leader before and really she never thought she would ever see him. Then she looked at Victor, "We have to tell everyone as soon as we can."

"I agree, we need to get back as- AH!" Victor felt a stabbing pain in his leg.

The two looked down and saw a Striker. Aida stepped on it and looked at Victor, "Are you alright?" She asked. Victor didn't say anything, he collapsed onto the ground, "Victor?!"

"I warned him." Aida and Victor looked at Kor.

"No…" Victor pleaded weakly, "No, please. Please. Don't."

Kor's face stretched into an evil smile, "I'm not going to do anything… I'm ordering you, Victor, to kill her."

"You sick bastard, he wouldn't…" Aida hissed, but Victor started to get up, "Victor…?" But one look at him told Aida that he wasn't thinking for himself anymore, whatever was in that Striker's venom gave Kor a way to command Victor like a toy.

Back at the hideout, Tess came down with Keira and the kid following her, "Where's Aida and Victor?" She asked.

"Dead town I think." Torn said.

"What are they doing there?" Tess asked.

"I don't know. But I need Aida to get back here soon, I've got a job for her."

"What job?"

"I need her to go to the port and work at the Hip Hog and keep an eye on the owner, Krew."

"She won't answer her communicator and I can't get Victor to answer his either." Samos said.

"You don't think something could have happened?" Tess asked.

Keira tugged on her father, "Where Aida?"

Torn started to head for the door, "I'm going to go look for them. I've got a really bad feeling about this." He headed out the door.

Back in Dead Town, Kor just watched as Aida tried to reason with Victor but it did no good, "Victor, I'm not going to fight you!" She yelled at him as she dodged another blow.

"It does no good to plead with him. He can't hear you anymore."

Aida looked at him as he came at her again, this time she punched him in the face. He fell to the ground. He looked at her, "Aida…" He said, "Run." He trembled on the ground.

"I won't leave you, Victor! I can help you!"

"Just run." Victor was doing his best to fight back the venom that was controlling him but he could only do that for so long.

"I'll get help." She said as she started to run for the city. Victor had lost control again and was again Kor's puppet, he got up and chased after her.

Aida ran as fast as she could but Victor was faster than her. He tackled her, he grabbed her shirt and pulled her up and forced her into a corner. He grabbed a very big piece of broken glass and pulled it out of it's frame, the glass cut his hand but it seemed that he could no longer feel pain. Aida tried to fight back but he was stronger than she was. She grabbed his wrist and tried to keep him from stabbing the glass shard into her. Just a little ways away from them Torn stood watching all this in horror and trying to find the quickest way to them. He couldn't go through the water, it was so badly polluted that even touching it caused pain. He saw Kor and demanded to know what was going on. Kor told him that he didn't know, that he had just found them fighting.

Aida looked at Victor who had tears running down his face, "Victor." Aida pleaded.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as whatever freewill he had left him and he plunged the glass shard into Aida's chest, stabbing her through the heart.

He let her limp body fall to the ground; Torn was horrified by what had just happened. This couldn't have just happened; Aida couldn't really be dead, this had to be a joke that she and Victor were playing on him. She was going to get up and laugh at him, she had to. The three men just stood there for a moment but she didn't move. Victor just looked down at her with no feeling on his face. All of sudden nothing mattered to Torn anymore, he didn't try to find a way around the deadly brown water he went straight through it. Torn had never been so angry in his life, he pulled his dagger out of it's holder and ran Victor through with it. Victor didn't really seem to care he just seemed blank like he was dead before Torn stabbed him. But now he fell and was as dead as Aida was. Torn put his dagger back in it's holder and then he held Aida. He couldn't bring himself to say anything. It couldn't have been possible; Aida was too strong, to tough to die. And yet here she was, she had been like a sister to him and now because he had trusted a complete stranger she was dead and gone. He held her close "I'm sorry." He whispered as he started to cry.

Torn got a hold of himself, picked Aida up, walked back through the water which usually would have caused him pain but he just couldn't fell anything. He and Kor walked back to the hideout. When they got there Torn put Aida's body on one of the beds and Kor told Samos what happened. Tess came in, with Mar and Keira following her, she was shocked when Torn told her that Aida was dead but Mar wasn't listening to what they were saying, he went over to the bed. He climbed up on it and thinking that she was just asleep, he tried to wake her up but it didn't work, she wouldn't move. Mar started to shake her shoulder but she still wouldn't wake up. He had a very vague memory of something like this happening before, but the memory was blurry. Mar felt sad, he started to cry. Kor took Mar's hand and led him out of the hideout, no one tried to stop him. On the stairs Kor took out a small vial out of one of his pockets he took the cap off and made Mar drink it. It was a very small amount of Metal-head venom just enough to make Mar forget Aida. He had known that it was going to come to this and it suited his plans perfectly. Now Mar would have no memory of Aida, as far as the young boy knew Kor had always been the one watching him. Mar stopped crying and looked at Kor, confused; he wasn't sure what was going on. Kor took the boy's hand and let him out into the streets. Mar hadn't seen daylight for three months and the light of the setting sun hurt his eyes a little. After Mar was used to the light of day again the two of them started to walk, but to where Mar didn't know.

Back with the guard, he and his troops were heading back to the fortress, Mutt following them. But then Mutt saw a little boy just a little ways away from him. The dog barked and ran after the boy. "Aren't you going to call your dog back?" A guard asked.

The guard that was leading the group just laughed, "No, he'll meet me back home later, that's probably where he's going anyways." The troops kept walking but they got a tip about a sector harboring underground members and before they could call it a day they had to deal with it. On the upside where they had to go was close to the fortress anyways so he led his men on. Mutt ran to the boy but when he got there he found that boy wasn't who he thought he was. The boy cried for his mom and ran away from Mutt, who just sat there then. He looked around for the guard but he didn't see him so he headed for the place the guard lived.

It was dark by the time that Kor and the kid seemed to reach their destination. The two were outside the fortress and Kor seemed to be waiting for someone. However they weren't waiting long before Mar saw a man with shoulder length blond-green hair, a blue shirt and an orange… something on his shoulder. Mar didn't know why but the man looked like someone he knew but he didn't know who. The two were coming closer to them, Kor saw them "Hello stranger," The man seemed to try to go around him but Kor just wouldn't let him, "My name is Kor. May I help-"

"You look like a reasonably smart man." The man said a bit strongly, he grabbed Kor, "I want information. Where the hell am I?"

The orange rodent jumped off of the man's shoulder and looked at Mar, "Um… sorry. He's new the whole conversation thing."

Mar wanted to pet the furry orange thing but he thought better of it and instead hid behind Kor, "Well my angry young friend," Kor said, "You were a guest of his magisty Baron Praxis. The ruler of glorious Haven city."

Mar kept looking at the orange thing, a bit confused. "I was just a guest in the good Baron's prison?" the man asked, clearly not happy.

"Inside a cell or inside the city, walls surrounded us both." Kor explained, "We are all his prisoners." Then Kor heard what sounded like guards coming up behind them and looked, the man looked at the Kid getting a slightly strange feeling of déjà-vu. "Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time." Kor said, "I-I'd move on if I were you." He said, the boy did as Kor said.

"By order of his grand eminence, the grand protector of Haven city, Baron Praxis, everyone in this sector is here by under arrest for suspicion of harboring underground fugitive. Surrender and DIE!"

The orange thing walked up to the guard, "Um… excuse me, sir. But don't you mean 'surrender OR DIE!?'"

"Not in this city." Kor said, backing away, "Protect us from these guards and I'll introduce you to someone who can help you."

Back at the Underground, Aida's body had been taken to the forest to be buried. Samos was trying to find the best way to tell Keira that Aida was never coming back, Torn was cleaning Victor's blood off his knife and Tess was outside crying. Aida had been her best friend, they had joined the underground together a year ago and now what was she supposed to do? Torn came out and found Tess crying, he walked over to her and put an arm around her. "What are we going to do?" She asked as she cried into his shoulder.

"Move on, I guess." Torn said, "It's what she would have wanted. She wouldn't have wanted us to just mope around." Torn smiled a little, "You know if she was here she probably would just say 'I'm dead, so what? Now I don't have to worry about it.'"

Tess wiped her tears away and looked at him, "You're right, she probably would look at it like it was nothing. But I'm going to miss her."

"I am too."

"And what about the kid? He was so attached to her… He must be so upset."

"That's probably why Kor took him away to get him away from Aida. I just hope that he doesn't let something happen."

Torn and Tess stood up, Torn was about to go back into the hideout when Tess stopped him, "Torn, I have to know what happened." Torn looked at her and began to tell her everything.

Back near the fortress, the man had become some sort of monster, his hair and skin turned gray, his eyes became a deep black and his fingernails had become long black, deadly claws. Kor did his best to keep the kid from seeing this, even though the kid didn't like that, all the kid saw was the man defending himself and guards trying to hurt him. When the last guard fell the man changed back, "That was cool!" The rat said, "Do it again."

The man was shaking a little, "Something… happening to me. Something he did, I can't control it."

Kor and the boy had come back to the man, "Very impressive." Kor said.

"Ah… you okay Jak?" The rat asked, clearly not listening to what Kor had said.

"What you just did was very brave," Kor gestured to the kid "this child is important."

"This Kid?" Daxter asked, walking up to Mar and pointing at him. Mar covered his eyes, "He looks kind of scruffy."

A guard in a hellcat came up, "You are in a restricted zone," he said, "move along." Mar glared at the back of the hellcat as it drove away, he didn't think the guys in red were good guys.

"Thank you for your help," Kor said to Jak and his small orange friend, "But I must get this boy to safety."

"HEY!" The rat yelled, "What about us?"

Kor looked back at them, "There is an underground group waging war against Baron Praxis. It's leader, the Shadow, could use fighters like you. Go to the slums, find a dead end ally near the city wall, ask for Torn. He can help you." Jak just nodded, his friend jumped back up onto his shoulder and the two were off, Kor watched as Jak jumped into a flyer that was parked outside of someone's home, then the flyer took off, heading for the hideout. It seemed that Jak didn't care much for the speed limit, because he was gone. Kor smiled to himself and looked down at the boy, "I think that's enough fresh air. Let's go back to the hideout." Mar followed Kor as the two of them walked back. On the way back Kor called Torn and told him who was coming his way.

Jet: Like I said, there was a lot to go into this chapter. But I hope that it was as entertaining to read as it was for me to write.

Penny: You know Jet, the last time you did a long chapter Damas' parents died in Dead Town. And in this chapter you killed Aida and where did she die? In Dead town.

Jet: Well, it is called Dead town. Oh and Jak, see, there is no way you could remember most of the stuff that happened in the other chapters.

Jak: I drank some type of Metal-head poison when I was two? Really?

Jet: Yep, but to try to make it sound a little less strange, you pretty much got drugged.

Jak (Rolling his eyes): Yes, that sounds so much better.

Jet: Whatever. So back to My Little pony… Which pony do you like the most.

Jak: …

Jet: You like Rainbow Dash don't you?

Jak: Remind me, which one is Rainbow Dash?

Jet: The blue one with wings.

Jak: She's cool, but I have to say I did like the purple one a lot.

Jet: Oh really?

Jak: I liked her voice. I don't know why, but I did.

Jet (Big grin): Really?

Jak: What do you know that I don't? (Jet walks way) JET!

Penny: I'm starting to feel a bit left out here. (Holding Jet's Rainbow Dash plushy) Oh well, at least I go you Dashie. And to everyone, Jet doesn't know if Victor was really a Metal-head or if Kor was lying to him to get him to do what he wanted. So it's up to all of you whether he is or isn't.