I dedicate this chapter to the lone favorite I've recently received. Thank you, XxMusicChickxX. I appreciate you! :* I apologize for being behind on my chapter updating. My new job makes me work 7 days in a row, 2 days off, 8 days in a row, 4 days off - I get fried and completely forget. Do not fear, I did not abandon!
Aiden stepped outside through the doors of the academy and paused at the top of the steps. Dropping her backpack at her feet, she sighed heavily. She didn't care to notice the students walking past her in droves, staring at her as she stood completely still with her eyes closed in concentrated thought. The fading sunlight felt warm on her face as it sunk behind the city. For just those few moments, she felt at peace.
Opening her eyes, she watched the last bit of sunlight disappear behind a dark cloud filtering its way slowly across the skyline. Her heart thudded in her chest at the sight. Although Aiden was a very logical person and had a hard time believing in anything your average person would consider "luck" or "omens", she couldn't help but feel that those clouds were a sign of worse things to come. She pushed those thoughts to the side, hoping that they wouldn't resurface for a long time, if at all.
Her thoughts returned to the commander of Haven City and she cracked a tiny smile at the image of him. To confess her secret to Torn felt like a weight was lifted off her chest. She was surprised how well he reacted. She thought he would have an aneurysm on the spot, and immediately call her father. Aiden came to the conclusion that the imaginary brownie points were working their wonders. She didn't know how she earned them considering he treated her like a punching bag most days, but she definitely wasn't going to complain.
Her gaze moved to the cadets dressed in their crisp blue and white uniforms; the men with their high and tight haircuts, and the women with the classic french braids or low neck buns; they chattered and laughed quietly among themselves as they made the haul up to the school. They are the future of Haven City. She worked with many of the other cadets on and off the field. Although she knew very few by their first names, she trusted most with her life. Unfortunately, there were some in her class not worth risking the lives of the others.
Those few people were shady individuals that Aiden made sure to keep away from at all times. They were the ones who would do anything for attention from the rest of the class and from the teachers. They would back stab, hurt and whisper, attempting to claw their way to the top of the class. They were also the ones who whispered about her and called her Torn's bitch.
She hoped that those words never reached Torn's ears, ever. She was glad that she was done associating with class 79 for the most part, now finishing up what was left of her training in the confines of Torn's office or out in the field. Hopefully by graduation, the mess that was brewing in her mind would be dealt with and quietly. She knew of people who would have a field day at her expense.
Aiden bit her lip, hating that she kept coming back to the idea of being a monster and what would happen to her life when it finally came true. It scared her to the depths of her soul. She was one of the toughest people to cross through the halls of the academy and here she was afraid of becoming a monster. Her father had once told her that being human also meant feeling afraid, and feeling compassion and love for other people. If she couldn't feel any of those emotions then she should consider herself a monster from the get go.
To a point, she was thankful she felt all emotions known to the human spectrum, but she knew that having compassion and love wouldn't help her in the long haul. What she needed to learn wasn't a mental state, but control. She was good at dwelling on the negative: shame, anxiety, anger... loneliness - emotions that she wished she could be rid of on a day to day basis. Learning to handle her own mind would save her one day. She would have to speak to Seem when she made her to return to Spargus City. Maybe he would be able to help her; stoicism only did so much.
Aiden was jostled from her thoughts as a cadet, walking past, bumped into her. Mumbling an apology, the young man returned to his conversation with his classmate. He took notice of Aiden as he talked to his classmate. Aiden shook her head at her continuing periods of lack of awareness. It wasn't good, and she knew it. It could get her or someone else hurt or killed one day.
She stooped down to pick her bag up only to hear someone whistle in appreciation as at her as she did so. She straightened up immediately with her bag gripped tightly in her hand. She looked around with a snarl etched on her face for the person catcalling her. She couldn't stand any of the male students acting like the female students were pieces of meat to toy with.
The man who whistled closed in on her from the left. His body pressed up against hers, he whispered in her ear and moved his hand over her rear, squeezing lightly as he spoke. "Nice ass you have there." He purred into her ear, "Is Torn sharing at all?"
Of course, it was one of her sleazy classmates; one of the few who didn't deserve to fight alongside the others in the Freedom League. The pervert didn't catch the fury in her face, or her eyes momentarily dilating completely black. She dropped her bag again and turned, shoving him. She watched him stumble back, taken by surprise before she pulled her leg up and kicked him in the stomach as hard as she could. He stumbled more and caught his balance.
Aiden stepped away, and with a moan the cadet fell onto his knees wrapping his arms around his stomach in obvious pain. His head made contact with the cement with a sickening crack.
"If that's how you treat the women you're interested in then you got a lot of learning to do." She hissed between her teeth.
She pulled at her gloves and picked up her bag again making her way down the steps to go home before an all-out war rampaged into the streets. She could feel the storm in her head kick into frenzy. She practically flew down the steps, hoping to get away if anything would happen.
"Cadet Mar!" Someone yelled for her. She stopped in her tracks and felt her heart in her throat, knowing who it was that was tracking her down. She exhaled, attempting to calm herself down and about faced, standing at attention. Her thousand yard stare was perfection.
Torn jogged up to her with an exasperated look on his face, "What just happened back there?" His lips were thin; his eyes were glaring holes into her. He pointed behind him, closing in on her face, watching her closely as he did. She hadn't seen him that pissed off at her in a few months.
"Did you seriously just kick another cadet in the fucking stomach?" His voice was loud and carrying. He was showing off his authority like he was supposed to; other cadets stopped and watched the exchange.
"Yes, Sir, Commander Nolan." She replied in return. She paused momentarily, "Permission to speak, Sir?"
Torn looked back up at the group of people gathering around the other cadet; he was red faced and glaring down at Aiden and Torn. When he caught Torn's eyes, the cadet looked away; shame quite obvious on his face. "Permission granted." Torn studied the man on the stairs with narrowed eyes before he returned his gaze to the woman standing in front of him.
"I would like to say that sexual harassment deserves much more than a kick in the stomach, Sir." She replied bluntly. She stopped speaking and allowed Torn to process her words. She wasn't ashamed of what she did but she was ashamed that it could have gotten more out of control.
Torn's jaw twitched at her words. He scrubbed at his face in momentary thought. When he finally spoke again, a sense of calm judgment radiated from his voice."You will have a disciplinary hearing tomorrow morning at 0800 Hours. If you do not appear at your hearing, you will be charged with assault and removed from Haven Military Academy. Is that understood cadet?"
"Yes Sir." Aiden replied tersely.
"Carry on." Torn waved her away. He backed up and watched the young woman strap her bag on her back before taking off on her hover-board, not looking back at the commander. He turned around and marched up the steps to find the other cadet.
Truth be told, Torn saw everything that happened between Aiden and the sleazeball. He was just stepping outside, ready to make his way home and change into his civilian clothing. He was looking forward to sitting down and enjoying a tall one at the Naughty Ottsel; maybe even be able to talk to Tess about opening a new gun course for the school.
He thanked a student for holding the door open for him while he attempted to pull his jacket on. He had stuffed the cookie he had grabbed from the staff room in his mouth, and tugged at the leather to straighten it out on his arms.
As he stepped out of the doors, he saw a familiar figure standing on the steps. A younger man was attached to her side; his hand moved slowly down her back and came to a stop on her backside. The entire scenario happened too fast for Torn to react as she immediately shoved him away and kicked the cadet for good measure. Torn heard Aiden speak caustically to the cadet on the ground before she snagged up her bag and made her way down the stairs.
It finally clicked that he needed to get his ass in gear to catch up with her before people start to wonder why he was even a commander in the first place. He stuffed his half eaten cookie in his jacket pocket, and sprinted down the stairs to the young woman fleeing the scene.
When he had finally caught up to her, she looked as normal as could be. No dark eco in her eyes, none sparking over her body. Torn took time to study her as they spoke. The lousy kid deserved what was coming to him, Torn knew that, but he had to punish both parties in the matter; follow the academy rules or lose his job.
He could feel the tension rolling off of Aiden in waves as she stood at attention. When he sent her off, he noticed that she did not look back at him. He hoped that he did not offend her with the disciplinary actions. He had to do his job and she had to finish school just like the rest of the academy: daughter of the Governor or not. This isn't going to be her first rodeo with the disciplinary committee.
It was time to deal with the cadet. When Torn reached the top of the stairs, he looked at the people milling about. "Who saw what happened?" Several hands shot up at his question. He glanced around at all of the cadets who didn't raise their hands and threw his thumb over his shoulder, "Beat it."
He waited for the non-witnesses to leave and spoke, "Alright, here's the deal. I need you all to be at my office tomorrow morning, bright and early at 0700 hours. You will all receive witness reports to fill out. It will allow the disciplinary committee and myself to net out the punishment for the two cadets involved in the fight tonight. I saw exactly what happened so no bullshitting your reports."
"I know your faces. If you don't show up, I will come find you. Also, what you saw is what you saw, what you heard is what you heard, but if you try to get either student in more trouble than what they are already in, you will also receive disciplinary action as well. Is that understood?" The cadets replied with a resounding Yes, sir before he dismissed them, leaving him with the injured cadet still looking pitiful sitting on the ground.
Torn looked down at him with disdain obvious on his face, "You had to grab her ass, didn't you, Cadet Whal?" He snarled at him before picking him up.
"I didn't do anything." Whal replied. He didn't look at Torn as he helped him stand up.
"Obviously you did, or you wouldn't have gotten a boot in your stomach, right?" Torn smirked; he directed the cadet back into the building in search of the nurse's station. Whal grumbled in response.
They walked in silence, Torn's grip on the cadet's arm was painfully tight but there was no complaint from the injured man. They came upon the nurse's station, and Torn knocked on the door, hoping that Nurse Shian was in. He didn't look forward to taking his student to the hospital if she wasn't.
The door opened. Nurse Shian was a small middle aged, soft-spoken woman; her glasses were perched on the tip of her nose, with dark red curly hair swept back in a side ponytail. The blue scrubs she wore were covered in bright yellow smiley faces. Torn rolled his eyes at the sight of her scrubs and she smiled merrily at the tall man standing grimly in front of her.
"Commander Nolan, what can I do for you?"
Torn pulled Whal in front of him. "He got kicked in the stomach tonight by another student. Could you check him over and make sure he's not too badly beaten up?" Torn gave a wink to the nurse before glaring daggers at the back of Whal's head.
Shian giggled slightly, rolling her eyes at the irritated man and replied, "Of course, Commander. Come on Whal, let's see what kind of damage you got here."
She directed Whal to the patient room, and helped him remove his jacket and undershirt before making him lie down on the table. She observed a deep red bruise in the middle of Whal's stomach.
"Oh my, what happened cadet?" She pushed on the tender flesh in search of broken bones and ruptured organs, to the displeasure of the cadet. She motioned for Whal to sit up, which he did so gingerly. She began taking his vitals as he spoke.
"I got into a fight with another student."
Torn's eyebrows shot up in disbelief at the blatant lie. This kid was ridiculous. "Tell the truth, Whal." Torn said, giving him an irritated look.
"I-I fondled a female student from behind." Whal replied glumly, his face turned red and he looked away from the nurse and commander.
Shian and Torn looked at each other knowingly. She already knew that it was Aiden who did this to him. She was one of very few female students that didn't put up with harassment that seemed to be incredibly rampant the last couple of years. It was getting to the point where the first sign of sexual harassment meant immediate expulsion from the academy. Of course, Whal didn't seem smart enough to understand just how precarious his chances of staying in the academy were as he committed the act either way.
Well, at least he felt some sort of shame from his actions, Torn thought, but it doesn't mean he won't do it again to someone else.
Tomorrow, Torn hoped Whal would at least be held back from graduating this year. The last year in the academy was pure hell. It was no road trip for any of the cadets. If he couldn't get Whal kicked out, than he'd be satisfied with Whal being held back, and he'd make sure to make the cadet's repeated year was worse than Hell.
Torn sat down on a stool in the corner of the room. He sighed, scratching at the shadow of a beard on his jawline. He was so ready to relax. He stuffed his hands in his leather jacket, feeling something in his pocket; he pulled it out and smirked. His cookie: still intact. Hell yes.
"Let's get you x-rayed, patched up and you should be free to go cadet. Am I correct, Commander?" Shian looked up at Torn. She smiled at the sight of Torn nibbling on a cookie in the corner of the room.
Torn didn't care, it was really the only thing he ate that day. He just wanted to get his report taken care of so he could go have a beer and something real to eat. "Yes, Ma'am." He replied. He winked at Shian and finished his cookie off, dusting the crumbs off his fingers and pants.
He directed his attention to Whal. "Cadet Whal, before we finish up here, tomorrow morning is your disciplinary hearing. I will expect to see you at 0900 hours. If you are so much as a minute late or do not show up, you are expelled from the Haven Military Academy, and you will be arrested for sexual assault, is that understood?"
Torn could visibly see Whal swallow nervously before he replied, "Yes, Sir." He did not look into Torn's face once.
Torn smiled brightly, patting Whal heartily on the back, inciting a small grunt from the disgruntled student, "Good. Now let's get the x-rays taking care of shall we?"
Aiden weaved through the crowds of people within the slums. She ignored the cries and shouts from the irritated people around her as she moved. She was stewing on the idea that she had to have a disciplinary hearing tomorrow, on a Saturday... when she was supposed to go to Spargus early in the morning.
She just hoped that her parents didn't blow up when they found out she got into a fight again. Maybe Torn would butter them up and let them know exactly what went down before she even laid eyes on them. Aiden scoffed at the idea. Fat chance. She knew he'd probably be late with the paperwork he had to do now because some moron had to touch her ass and call her names. After many encounters with other male cadets, you'd think they would take the hint and leave her the hell alone.
Jak most certainly had passed on his cool temperament to his daughter, but it was the anger issues that got her in trouble the most as a child. It was the main reason she was in the military academy. Ashelin and Jak hoped Torn would tame her a bit. He had proven quite successful over the last five years watching over her from the shadows and sometimes as a teacher.
He once kicked her out of a firearms class because she mouthed off to him. He didn't mess around when it came to teaching, and Aiden being the daughter of his best friend did not make her any more important than the rest of the class. She had a world of hurt coming for her when Jak found out what she did that day.
Aiden smirked at the memory, remembering that she didn't speak to Torn for about a month after that - stubborn to the core, the both of them. Ashelin had actually forced Torn to join the Mar family for dinner to make the pair talk to each other again. The intense silence didn't last very long as Torn almost choked on his food. Aiden snorted and laughed at him as he coughed up a lung.
He followed with pretending to scratch his forehead, giving her the finger in the process. Aiden and Jak both cracked up. Her mother glared at all of them, rolling her eyes and calling them all children, but she smiled all the same as the student and teacher soon began talking like nothing had ever happened.
Finally at the edge of the slums, Aiden looked up at the darkening sky; thunder growled and echoed through the city, threatening rain. She stepped off her hover board deciding that it'd be best to run home. She was faster on foot and had to get to the Naughty Ottsel as soon as possible which was literally on the other side of the city. She strapped her board to her pack and began legging it to her house near Freedom HQ.
Minutes later, Aiden walked up her front porch. She unlocked the door and opened it quietly, finding the house silent and dark; the only light on was a fluorescent bulb flickering haphazardly above the sink in the kitchen. Her family had probably made off to the bar already.
She dumped her belongings in the corner of the hall by the front door, and sprinted up to the bathroom. Barely five minutes had passed when she walked down the stairs, freshly showered and clothed. She sat down on the stairs and relaxed for a moment, attempting to place her watch back on her wrist in the process.
"Ahem."
Puzzled, Aiden looked over into her kitchen, her eyebrows furrowed, hand on the knife sitting on her right hip. Delilah stood on the breakfast table smirking at her.
"Hey Dee, I didn't even know you were here," Aiden relaxed, and smiled, happy to see her furry companion. She motioned for the ottsel, "Come on, we have to go, I got a meeting to go to."
She began to blindly struggle to put her boots on through cold wet hair plastered against her face. She really hated wet hair. Especially when it soaked her shirts around her neck and shoulders, but she had no time to dry it properly.
"My dad let me stay and wait for you." Delilah stood up, leaping down to the smooth wooden chair almost slipping in the process, and then to the floor, making her way towards her best friend. "So... how was the date with the prince of sexiness?"
Aiden pushed her hair out of her face and looked up Delilah as if she had grown a second head. It then dawned on her was she was talking about. "You're talking about Torn aren't you?" Aiden smiled coyly at her furry friend.
"Oh, you got it." Delilah scrambled up onto Aiden's shoulder. "That man makes my skin crawl, in a good way... even if he hates me."
Aiden shook her head at Delilah as she grabbed her belongings from the floor. "You of all people should know that it wasn't a date, Delilah. And you know he doesn't hate you. He just finds you annoying. He feels the same way your dad." She opened the door and slammed it shut behind her, locking it in the process.
Hopping over the porch railing, she landed lightly on her feet next to the small garage her father built into the side of the house. She opened the door, passing through the dark threshold in search of the button to open the automatic door. The garage door slid up and allowed her to push her zoomer out into the open. She slid on and turned the key, enjoying the feel of the powerful machine start. She returned to the garage to close it and lock up.
"I don't know how he can find anything about this annoying." Delilah waved her hand in front of her body in emphasis and gave Aiden an all knowing look. "Anything involving that man is a date in my opinion." Delilah replied. She sat on Aiden's shoulder, crossing her legs, and digging her elbow into Aiden's temple to the displeasure of the young woman.
Aiden frowned and pushed Dee's elbow off her head. "Do disciplinary hearings count as dates?" Aiden laughed nervously as she returned to the zoomer, setting off in the direction of the bar.
A moment of silence followed her question. Delilah sighed, "What'd you do this time?"
Aiden kept her grip on the handlebars as she switched levels of traffic, passing over people walking through the streets. Her eyes were focused as she thought of her answer. Was she really that bad to the point where the question was so rhetorical? It wasn't like she tried to find trouble. It found her.
"Uhh, I kind of kicked a guy in the stomach for feeling me up." Aiden replied cooly, the thought of that pervert made her grit her teeth. She could almost feel his hands still lingering on the small of her back.
"Seriously?" Delilah replied. A toothy grin erupted on her face, "So, a guy finds you attractive and you throw a fit? Sounds about right."
"Hey!" Aiden barked. "You weren't there, were you?" She directed her gaze between the street and Delilah, eyes twitching furiously back and forth in concentration. "If you would have heard the things that bastard was saying to me, you would have done the same."
"And lemme guess, your brooding hero came and saved the day?"
"Actually, no. Torn got in my face and threatened to expel me from school because I hurt that moron. Does that make you feel any better Dee? Does the fact that I may be arrested and tossed out of the academy make you feel better? "
"Actually it does." Delilah replied, "It means my chances are still good with Mr. War Hero."
Aiden laughed heartily at Delilah. She loved her narcissistic friend's wretched enthusiasm; she kept things so much more interesting. "You're impossible Dee. If there was ever a person to think for herself, it had to be you."
"Well hey, if you're not going to make the moves on him, someone has to. I bet that man hasn't be laid in years with the way he works."
Aiden rolled her eyes at her lewd friend."Here are a couple things to ponder Delilah." Aiden sat back in her seat on a long stretch of road and lifted a hand in emphasis, her gloved fingers counted out her points.
"Torn is one of my father's best friends. Could you imagine the world of shit that he and I would get into if something were to occur between us? He is my teacher. He would get fired for being involved with a cadet. Also, he's about twenty years older than me. He's old enough to be my father." She paused and gave Delilah an asinine look. "I'm pretty sure that math equals off limits. Am I right?"
"In your reality it does." Delilah mumbled, put off at the facts of the situation. She crossed her arms and actually went silent.
"You just want me to look for trouble Dee. I'm not that bratty troublemaker anymore. Sorry. As much as I love getting into messes, I'd rather not destroy any relationships with our families and friends for a man."
Rain began to drown the city just as Aiden and Delilah hit the business district. "Great." Aiden muttered, pushing her soaked hair out of her face. She pulled her goggles over her eyes, wiping the condensation away as she did. She looked down at the zoomer gauges, flinching at the cold stinging her face. Rounding a corner into the open air of the ports, she sighed in relief to be so close to her destination.
The Naughty Ottsel's neon sign burned brightly in the dark gray skies. Lightning continued to flash and the thunder rumbled as the pair stopped the zoomer on the side of the Naughty Ottsel and ran inside. Up on one of the water towers across the Naughty Ottsel, Gol and Maia watched the young female versions of Jak and Daxter walk through the front door to the bar.
"It's uncanny, the resemblance that girl has to that bastard. She even has a rat on her shoulder." Maia spoke sarcastically, sitting on the pipe with her legs crossed and her chin in her hand, looking slightly bored. She was oblivious by the rain soaking her to the bone.
"Yes it is-" Gol muttered, observing the pair below curiously.
Maia sighed with impatience and leaned back to glare up at her brother. "I'm already tired of playing hide and seek! The only person who could know who we are is that maggot and his rat. I think that if we're going to kill the boy we might as well get it over with and go kill him; we should not be doing any of this damn sneaking around!"
Gol balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth. Hundreds of years of impertinent whining. He was beginning to regret letting her live past the first one hundred years. He turned and squatted down in front of her, eyeing his sister with pure disdain. "For once, shut. up. Follow me, and I'll do all the work."
Gol knew exactly what he wanted for Jak. He wanted torture, pain… pleas for mercy. He wanted Jak to suffer as much as possible before he finally died in their hands. The last thing Jak would ever see before he died would be the Acheron twins smiling down at him in a long awaited satisfaction. That thought of it sent pleasurable shivers down Gol's spine. And after the hero's death, Gol and Maia would be able to do something about this disgusting new world they were forced into.
"We've waited this long, I think we can wait a little longer."
Ignoring the anger emanating from his bratty sister, Gol gasped slightly as he as he floated off the tower, and closer to the road. He was beginning to feel weak. They would need to return to the silo for more dark eco, and soon. This new world was so strange and empty of eco. He barely could feel any in the air. What has happened to this world since their disappearance?
As Maia had mentioned, he also felt that girl walking into the bar below would be the answer to his problem. He just had to find out who exactly she was to Jak and Daxter, if she was anything.
"Do you know that girl, Miss Rayn?"
Gol addressed the woman huddled against the slippery piping, trying not to fall into the dark water a distance below. Rayn clung to the water tower, tired, cold and annoyed, the trembling snark evident in her voice. She didn't even look at the girls to know who they were speaking of. She would not say anything, the fear of what would happen clutched harshly at her stomach making her sick.
What had she released onto the world?
"No - just another rebellious teenager with a pet, probably trying to get someone to buy her a drink, I'm sure. Can we get off this damn water tower now? I am freezing."
Gol didn't even acknowledge Rayn's answer and complaint as he continue speaking as if he weren't interrupted. "Jak knows we're here." Gol thought out loud. That answer was obvious the moment Jak directed his attention toward the unseen siblings on the roof earlier. "He just doesn't know who is here. I'm sure he wasn't expecting us, just as we weren't expecting him." Gol turned back to Maia, "Let's send a message. I feel a little more chaos will be helpful in our study of Jak and his friends. I'm sure you can agree, Maia?"
Maia smiled wickedly at her brother before floating toward him. "I can never turn down blood and violence." She turned her gaze at Rayn. "Wait here, woman. Enjoy the show. Don't even think to escape because I will find you."
