Chapter 7: A Rainy Day
Penny: See everyone? I told you that just because Jet was upset at Jak that doesn't mean that she's going to stop writing.
Jak: Come on Jet, I said sorry.
Keira: Jak? What am I doing here? And why's that kid crying?
Jet: I'm Jet and your boy-friend's a bit of jerk. He doesn't like my stories (Pouts lip).
Keira: I've read your stories and I like them.
Jet (Happy): You do?
Jak (Confused): You do?
Keira (Looks at Jak): Yes I do, why don't you?
Jak: Um…
Penny: I think we should leave them alone.
Jet: I think your right, so while they're talking we can read.
Jak and Daxter didn't come back to the hideout that night. This made Torn worry; not about Jak and Daxter but about Ashelin. He couldn't get a hold of Jak all day so he didn't know if Ashelin was okay or not. When the kid woke the next morning he could see that Torn was worried; however, about what the two-year-old didn't know. He got out of the bed and walked over to the man and tried to climb up on to the table. Torn looked at the small boy and smiled, a very sleepy smile. The kid looked up at him, still hanging onto the table and smiled at him. "Hey, Kid." He said, "You know, Keira's in her room. Why don't you go and find her?"
Mar nodded, let go of the table, opened the door and walked down the hall to find his friend. He walked to her room and opened the door. She was still asleep in her bed. Mar smiled evilly as he walked over to her bed; he climbed up onto it and started to jump on the bed. Keira woke up, not really knowing what was going on; she looked at Mar and then glared at him, "Stop it." She said. Mar smiled and shook his head as he continued to jump. Keira got up and Mar stopped jumping as Keira glared at him. She pushed him onto the floor and then crawled back under the covers. Mar looked up at her as she started to fall back to sleep. Mar climbed back up on to the bed and just looked at her. She opened her eyes and looked up at him; even thought she had pushed him off the bed he was still smiling at her, she couldn't help but to smile as well. Giving up on the thought of sleeping a little more the small girl got up and the two toddlers jumped off the bed onto the floor. The two walked out of Keira's room and up to the play room.
Kor was nowhere to be seen- and that was fine to the two little kids, this meant that they could do whatever they wanted; so the two went up to the play room and started to play with the stuffed toys that covered the floor. Keira, who was still a bit tired, stretched and curled up in a pile of stuffed toys. Mar looked at her and then he started to put other toys on top of her like a blanket. Keira looked at him and smiled and then she started to fall asleep again. Mar just sat next to her as she slept, even if she was sleeping and not playing with him he was still happy she was there. She was the only friend he had and whenever she was there he was happier than he could remember being.
It wasn't until much later that Kor did return to the hide out. Torn looked up when he heard the door open hoping that it was Jak, "What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean?" Kor asked.
"I thought that you were watching the Kid and Keira."
"No, I haven't been here all day. Where are they?"
Torn just looked at him with his mouth hanging open a bit, "Are you telling me they've been by themselves all day?"
"Where is the boy?!" Kor demanded. When Torn couldn't give him an answer Kor went looking for him. He looked in the play room and found him playing, Keira had woken up and the two had been in the play room all day by themselves.
Kor walked over to Mar and grabbed his hand and pulled him from the room, away from Keira. Mar didn't like this and tried to pull out of the old man's hand. Torn saw them; "Where's Keira?" He asked, but Kor didn't say anything. Torn walked up to the playroom and found Keira sitting there by herself, starting to cry. Torn walked over to the sad little girl, picked up a stuffed bear and moved it so it looked like it was dancing. Keira looked at it and smiled and then beginning to laugh she reached for the bear. Torn let her take it from him, and then he picked her up. "Have you and the kid been hiding up here all day?" He asked the little girl.
"Yes." She said.
Torn smiled and shook his head, "You know you're not allowed to go anywhere without a grown up." Torn said as he started to walk down the stairs.
"Where Daddy?" she asked.
"Um…" Torn said, "I don't know."
"Where Kid?"
"He's with Kor." They walked into the main room where they found Mar sitting sadly on his bed and Kor next to him.
Torn put Keira down and she ran over to him. Mar jumped off the bed so he could play with her but Kor grabbed the back of his overalls and held him back. Mar looked up at the old man as Keira came to stand next to Mar. She grabbed his hand and pulled on it, "Let's play." She said.
But Kor wouldn't let go of Mar so he couldn't go anywhere until Torn told him to let Mar go. Reluctantly, Kor let him go and him and Keira started play in the main room of the hideout. Much later that night Samos walked into the hideout and Keira stopped what she was doing and ran over to her father, "Daddy." She said as Samos picked her up.
Samos took Keira into the back rooms to put her to bed. Torn looked back at the Kid who - now that Keira had left - was laying on the floor, beginning to fall asleep. Torn looked at Kor but the old man was already walking out of the hideout; Torn shook his head and then he picked up the little boy and put him in the bed so he could sleep. No sooner had Torn put the little boy in bed that his communicator went off; He picked it up and was more than happy to fine that it was Ashelin, "Ashelin, where have you been?!" He asked.
"Don't worry about it. I just had to get out of the city, that's all, but I'm fine." She went quiet for a
minute and then she started to talk again, "Were you really so worried about me that you had to send a man and a rat to find me?"
Torn went a little red, "Well I didn't know what else to do. I mean, you said that you didn't want to meet me anymore. And when I found out-"
"How did you know that I've been missing?" Ashelin asked.
"Well…" Torn said, he couldn't tell her that he had gotten the info from Errol, she would never talk to him again if she knew that he was playing spy even if it was against his will. "I… I sent a spy into the guard." Torn lied.
"You… got a spy in the guard?" She asked, not fully believing him. "How did you do that? Who is it? I can help."
"I can't tell you. I'm not allowed." Ashelin went quiet and Torn just looked at the communicator, "I would if I could but the Shadow said that I can't."
Ashelin sighed, "Whatever, the point is that I'm fine and I don't need you to send some of your underground members just to see if I'm okay."
"Where are the members I sent?"
"I sent them to talk to Onin; I don't know where they went after that. And now that I'm thinking about it; I want to talk to you about the man. You do know that he's the one who broke out of the prison?
He's the one my father is after. And you need to be careful around him; he can become some kind of monster… I saw him do it."
"I know about all that. And don't worry, either the Baron will find him or he'll find the Baron. Either way, they'll run into each other." Torn said, almost laughing.
"What do you mean?" Ashelin asked, a little worried.
Torn didn't know what to tell her, "Um… Well… a… d- don't worry about it."
Ashelin shook her head, "Look, I've got to go; I'll talk to you again when I can." And with that she hung up.
The next day came and one of the underground members had left to take Keira to day care. The sky was gray and cloudy; around mid day it began to storm. Although the hideout didn't have any windows the sound of the thunder could be heard all throughout the place. Mar just sat still listening to it, for some reason he liked it. Kor stayed close to the young boy even though pretending to care for the child was starting to get on the disguised Metal-head's nerves. At times he just walked away from Mar just to get away from him. At a point Mar got bored with just hearing the storm, he wanted to see it. He hadn't been outside since Kor had taken him out and they had met Jak and Daxter. Mar walked to the door and it opened for him without a problem, he walked up the stairs and out the other door which again opened for him without a problem.
Mar walked out into the rain. He just stood there for a moment just looking up at the cloudy sky. Just being in the rain brought back a forgotten memory; mostly because in the memory it was raining too, he was outside in the rain and there was a lot of plants around him, to him where he was looked a lot like a jungle. But he wasn't alone in this jungle-like place; there was a crocadog with him and there was also a man there too. Mar couldn't remember what the man looked like very well but he did know who he was… his father. For some reason both Mar and his father were throwing mud at each other. Mar didn't know why but they were both laughing so they must have been having fun.
Mar started to walk through the streets; that was the first time he had thought about his parents for a long time. Really he didn't even remember them anymore and really he didn't know if his memory was real. The young boy walked sadly and no one even gave a second look to the fact that there was a toddler walking around the city on his own, even though everyone knew that the Baron was looking for a young boy- of reasons that most didn't even know.
Back in the hideout Torn had seen Kor in one of the rooms and asked where the boy was. Kor told him that he's sitting in the main room. Torn felt a little angry that Kor again wasn't looking after the boy like he should and really beginning to hate the fact that Tess wasn't there to look after him. Torn walked to the main room to see if the boy was okay. But when Torn walked in he didn't see the boy. Thinking that maybe he had crawled under the beds so that no one would find him, Torn looked under all the beds but he didn't see him. He looked behind the table but the boy wasn't there either. Torn started to look all around the hideout trying to find him, which got the attention of the whole underground. Eventually Samos found out what was going on and only after the whole hideout was searched did they realize that the Kid had gone outside. This got Kor's full attention and he, Torn and Samos all bolted out of the hideout to look for him in the storm.
Mar wasn't the only one walking the rain-soaked streets of Haven by himself; Mutt- who now had a Kirmzon guard tag around his neck –was also roaming the streets. The tag around his neck made it so that no one would mistake him for a stray but to also show the people that he was just as much a guard as the men that walked the streets. As Mutt walked he saw a familiar face in the crowd, what made this face so familiar to Mutt was the long nose on the man's face; it was Veger, the same man who had tried to take Mar away months ago. Mutt had bitten his hand to stop him and then he and Mar had run off away from him. Mutt followed Veger, not knowing where he was going but hoping that it would lead him to wherever Mar was.
Mar had sat down under a small piece of metal; he had tried to find his way back to the hideout- being that he was now starting to feel very cold from the rain, but he had no luck and the storm had gotten so bad that it was dark as night. He sat there for a long moment before someone grabbed him and pulled him to his feet. Mar looked into the face of who had grabbed him and instantly didn't like him, there was just something about this long-nosed man that scared Mar. He started to pull against the man who began to drag him away. But then a green blur ran past him and bit the man's wrist causing him to let Mar go. Mar fell onto his back but he was really happy when he saw Mutt standing between him and the man. Mutt growled and bared his teeth, the brown spikes on his back stood strait up; even thought Mutt was just a puppy, he looked terrifying. Veger glared down at the dog and the boy until he felt a fist collide with his face. Veger fell onto the ground, he looked at who had hit him and found Torn glaring daggers at him. Mutt jumped on Veger to stop him from getting up and growled at him. This scared Veger so badly that he couldn't break eye contact with the dog out of fear that if he looked away then the dog would eat him.
Mutt also couldn't break eye contact with Veger, for if he did then Veger could easily push him aside and take Mar away. However this meant that Mutt couldn't see as Kor grabbed Mar and he and Torn retreated to the hideout. Mar didn't want to taken away from Mutt again; Mar screamed and Mutt looked to see him being taken way. And sure enough when he looked away Veger shoved the hybrid dog off him and tried to chase after the boy. But Mutt bit into Veger's leg and Veger fell again; Veger and Mutt saw as Torn and Kor ran around the corner with Mar. The count became frustrated that because of the same dog he had lost the boy again; a group of guards who had headed the disturbers had come running just in time to see Veger kick Mutt. The guards grabbed Veger on grounds of disturbing the peace and violence in form of animal cruelty and they wouldn't listen to him as he tried to tell them that he knew where the prince was. Mutt, however didn't follow the guards, instead he took off in the direction that Mar had been taken. But when he turned the corner he had no idea where they had gone. He had lost Mar again.
Torn and Kor took Mar back to the hideout and no sooner had they walked into the hideout that Torn's communicator went off. He answered it and Ashelin spoke to him and she didn't seem too happy, "Torn, what the hell is going on?!" She almost yelled at him, Kor took Mar to get him dry.
"What are you talking about?" Torn asked, not knowing what was going on.
"I'm talking about the high alert that city is under now."
"I still don't know what you're talking about."
"Fine! Then let me ask you this. Did you send Jak and Daxter to the palace?"
Torn looked at her, shocked; this was news to him. What was Jak thinking? "No." He quickly said, "No, I swear I haven't sent anyone to the palace. Your sure it's was those two?"
"Well I would think it's them. Because the guards are now looking for a 'dangers young man with light hair, a blue tunic and a rabid orange rat on his shoulder.' Who else does that sound like?"
Torn shook his, "I will deal with them, don't worry."
"You better. And keep your head down for a while, okay?"
"I will." And with that the two of them hung up. Kor brought the Kid back into the main room and Torn glared down at him, "What were you doing out there?" He asked. Mar just looked up at him, not knowing what he did wrong. "You are not allowed to leave the hideout unless you are with someone." Torn voice was getting more and more angry; now Mar knew he was in trouble and as he looked up at Torn he started to cry. Torn saw this and his anger almost disappeared. He knelt down to comfort the boy, "Listen kid, you're not really in trouble, alright? We were just worried that something happened to you, that's all." Torn glared up at Kor, "If anything it's your fault." He stood up, "You are supposed to look after him. You're the one who is supposed to keep stuff like this from happening."
Kor looked at Torn, "Did you ever tell him that he wasn't supposed to leave?"
"He's a toddler, he most likely wouldn't understand anyways."
"Well I don't see how this is my fault. And if you want him to learn, then punish him."
Torn looked down at the boy, really Kor had a point; if Mar was going to learn what he did was wrong then he was going to have to be punished. Torn picked him up and sat him on the table, "Right, Kid you are to stay there until I say different." Torn found this a bit weird, he had never had to put anyone in time out; he had tried to make his little brother have a time out when they were younger but that never worked. Mar just looked up at him.
Torn looked at the papers on the table and Kor stayed close to the boy so he wouldn't leave. The more that Torn looked at the papers the more and more angry he got at Jak; now they would have a bit of a job on their hands, not all the underground members lived at the hideout there were many in the city that lived in safe houses. But now that there was a high alert on the city some of them would need to be moved to new safe houses; the ones that really needed it called Torn and he told them that he was working on it. Jak had made this mess so Jak was going to be the one to move them. But first Torn wanted Jak to tell him that he really was stupid enough to go up to the Baron's palace. The two walked into the hideout about twenty minutes later, Torn looked at them, "The city's on high alert. What the hell did you two do?"
Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder and onto the table, "Us? Ah… nothing." He said, "We've been ah… sightseeing, right Jak?"
"Really?" Torn asked, "Then why are the Kirmzon guards looking for-" He pretended to read from one of the papers, "-A dangers young man with light hair, blue tunic and a rabid orange rat on his
shoulder?" Torn asked.
Mar pointed to Daxter, happy that someone other than himself was in trouble, "Um, could be anyone," Daxter said, "Orange is the new black this season."
Jak shook his head; really he had enough of Daxter's failed attempts to get them out of trouble, "Look, we climbed up to the Baron's palace… and… we tripped a few alarms." Jak said with a bit of a smile on his face, not trying to hide that he had fun along the way
"Oh right, that too." Daxter said.
Torn however was not amused, "WHAT!" He asked, not believing that Jak really was that stupid, "I didn't authorize a strike on the-!"
"Hey, we kicked the Baron's ass." Jak jumped in, either forgetting that the Kid was there or just not caring, "Unfortunately, he escaped."
"And," Daxter jumped in, "We over heard a secret meeting with the leader of the Metal-heads!" He said.
Mar knew that Metal-heads were bad but he had never seen one. He got off the table and stood behind Kor. Torn looked at Kor who looked not only shock but also a bit scared, "You saw the Metal-head larder?" He asked.
"No," Jak said, "he was on some communicator. But we heard him talking to Baron Praxis."
"The Baron is bribing the Metal-heads with eco!" Daxter jumped in.
"Hmmph… It will never be enough." Kor said in a knowing tone.
"But the Baron's going to double cross 'em."
This got Kor's full interest, "Is that so? Well, our good Baron's wonderful charm must have angered someone. Because there's word from the wasteland that Metal-head armies are on the move again."
Mar was listening to what Kor was saying but Jak wasn't, he had other things on his mind, "Why didn't you tell me Ashelin was Praxis' daughter? What's you connection with her?!" He asked Torn.
"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUISNES!" Torn snapped, "Since you've stirred up the wumpbee's nest, you and whiskers here get to move four of our people to new safe houses. Shuttle each agent to a location they specify. Move all of them without any casualties." He glared at Jak, "Don't screw this up Jak."
Not even two minutes after Jak and Daxter had left the hideout that Samos walked in. Both Torn and Kor looked at each other; they had both forgotten that Samos had gone out looking for the Kid too. Samos just glared at them, Mar stayed behind Kor mostly because he had never seen Samos mad before. Samos looked at Mar and then went back to glaring at Torn and Kor, "So, you didn't think to call me when you found the boy?"
"Um…" Torn said, "Something came up."
"You were talking about that alert on the city. The whole city on high alert and you didn't think to call me?"
"We had to deal with Jak." Torn said.
"I see. Well speaking of the new request, I think it's about time I've met them."
Torn looked at Samos and Kor took Mar out of the room, "You really think that's a good idea?" Torn asked, "I mean, it's because of them that the city is on high alert after all."
"I know." Samos said, "They are reckless but no one can say they don't have guts. Going right up to the palace and taking the Baron head on. I don't have doubt that they are on our side, and it's about time I met them."
Torn shook his head, "Fine, but let me just give them one more mission just to see if they are also willing to fight the Metal-heads as well as the Baron."
Samos nodded, "If you must, I know just what to have them do." Torn just looked at Samos, "Metal-heads have moved back into dead town. They're after the old hut. I want Jak and Daxter to go and clear them out, that hut must be protected at all cost."
Torn looked back at the table; anytime that Metal-heads had come into Dead Town he had taken it upon himself to force them out. But still, if all they wanted was the old house- why not just let them have it? They had destroyed everything else in that place and the old house had been falling apart even before the Metal-heads had attacked the city so many years ago, "What's so important about the old house anyways?"
"There is… something very powerful in that house; when the Metal-heads attacked all those years ago I was drawn to that place. I ran in and… I don't really know what happened to me but something did happen. I somehow was able to push the Metal-heads back outside the city. I wasn't able to save many but I was able to save some… including Keira's mother." Samos went quiet thinking about the woman who had been his wife.
Torn looked him "What do you mean something happened?"
"You were there when Dead Town was attacked weren't you? What do you remember from that day?"
Torn thought, all he really remembered was the Baron had found him and his brother and had forced them to leave the place their parents had left them. The Baron had ordered the guards to fall back and so all the guards left, taking him and his brother with them. The Baron had left Torn's parents and many others to die in the attack. But there was something else that was almost so unreal that Torn thought he made it up, "There was a green flash of light, but I don't even think that's real."
Samos smiled, "It was real. My skin wasn't always green; my hair didn't always look like a bush. But something in that hut changed me and it stopped the attack. That hut needs to be protected. Do you understand?"
Torn nodded and then the door opened and Keira ran in with an underground member behind her. "Daddy." She said, running to her father.
"There's my little girl." He said hugging her.
"Where Kid?" She asked.
Samos smiled, "Let's go find him." He took Keira's hand and then he looked back at Torn, "Send Jak and Daxter to Dead Town and when they come back I want to meet them." And with that Samos took Keira to find Mar leaving Torn and the underground member in the main room.
The underground member looked a bit like a mess and Torn had a feeling he knew why; before he had to pick Keira up, he was sent to Krew's to pick up a new weapon mod, but Krew wasn't one to just give it away he most likely had this poor man do something very dangerous. The man put the volcan fury mod on the table and then headed for the showers. Torn picked it up, if Jak was going to go into Dead Town he was going to need this. About five minutes later, the last underground member called Torn to tell him that they all were safe. Torn called Jak back to the hideout to give him the mission. They walked into the hideout and Torn wasted no time in telling them what was going on. He gave them the volcan fury and they walked out.
Samos and Keira had found Mar in Kor's room. Kor looked at Samos, "I need to go to the power Station. Poor Vin is in a bad state and I fear that if he is left alone then he could hit something and the bring down the shield."
Samos looked at him, surprised, "Well this is out of nowhere."
"I've been going to the power Station a lot lately- as I said, Vin has me worried and also in the power Station I can look to see what the Baron is up to. So far though I know only one thing, he's looking for the tomb."
Samos looked at him, "You don't mean Mar's tomb?" Completely on instinct Mar looked at Samos and then not knowing why he went back to playing with Keira.
Kor nodded, "He's after the Precursor Stone."
Samos knew that the stone was said to be something of great power; if the baron got his hands on it then he would be able to rule the world. He looked at the Kid, "That's why he's after the kid; the tomb will only open for the descendants of Mar."
"Exactly," Kor said, "and once the tomb is open and the Baron has the stone then what do you think he will do this poor little boy?"
Samos looked at Mar; he knew that the baron would kill him. Samos also looked at his daughter; the Kid was her best friend. He couldn't let Mar be taken away for a number of reasons, but most of all he couldn't lose Mar for Keira's sake. Samos looked at Kor, "We have to get to the stone first, the Kid can open the tomb and then we can get the stone."
Kor looked at him, "And what do you plan to do about the test in the tomb?"
Samos had heard of them: legend said that the stone was guarded by the test of manhood and that Mar's heir must face them alone. Samos looked at the Kid; there was no way he would be able to do it but they would have no choice. "We'll worry about that later. Go to the power station and help Vin, see what you can find out and…" Samos looked back to the boy and then back at Kor, "I'll send the boy to you later, we can't keep him here, he needs to be somewhere more safe for now and I fear that if he's left here he will be found."
Kor nodded, "Very well, I'll look after the boy at the power station." And with that, Kor began to leave. Kor reached the door, but when it opened a small croca-dog ran in. Kor -shocked by the sudden appearance- stood aside as the dog ran through the hide out, barking. The underground members didn't know what to make of it but it seemed as if the dog knew what he was doing.
Mar and Keira heard the Dog and came out to see what it was… and a smile stretched across Mar's face. the croca-dog looked at Mar and the two ran to each other. Mutt pinned Mar to the ground and started to lick his face, both happy that they had finally found each other. Torn and Kor had followed Mutt, trying to catch him, but once the mutt had stopped Torn recognized him from earlier; it was the same dog that has been protecting the kid from Veger.
Keira just smiled, "Puppy." She said. She reached out to pet Mutt but he growled at her. The small girl pulled her hand back and hid behind her father. Mar looked at Mutt and then at Keira. He got off the floor and held out his hand to Keira. She took it and Mutt now knew that she was a friend and he started to lick her hand. Keira smiled and the two toddlers started to play with Mutt.
Samos reached out to pet Mutt but Mutt, who thought that Samos was going to try to take Mar away, growled at him. Samos pulled back his hand and Mutt went back to being content with having Mar back and having Keira pet him. Samos just smiled, "Well at least that mutt is protective."
Torn looked at him, "We're keeping it?" He asked.
Samos smiled, "Why not? Having a dog might be a good thing." He said, glaring at Kor who was now walking away.
Keira: I can't believe you're a brony Jak, that is one of the cutest things ever.
Jak: One of the characters sounds like you, that's all, I can't help it.
Penny: And he likes Rainbow Dash.
Keira: Jak, I like My Little Pony.
Jak: Yes, but you're a girl; you're supposed to like it.
Keira: I'm also an adult and that show is meant for five year olds.
Jet: Okay, getting off topic. You can talk about My Little Pony when I do my crossover fic
between Jak and Daxter and MLP.
Jak (A little scared): You're going to do what?
Jet: Don't worry, I'm going to do that write out of TLF first. Also I got Battle Royale and it's so cool! Josh is playing Jak again but he not nearly as bad as he was in TLF mostly because Jak looks more like himself.
Jak: What are you talking about?
Jet (not listening to Jak): So how do you all think the chapter went. Let me know and I'll see everyone for the next chapter.
