I know this is a fast update, but I just had to put this chapter up! :D Thanks again for taking the time to read this story. I've also been meaning to announce that I've started backing up some of my stories here, just in case something goes wrong with my computer or my account.
DISCLAIMER: Only Paige is mine. Everything else belongs to Naughty Dog.
"Never thought we'd be back to see old sack of nerves again," Daxter commented as we entered the Power Station again after receiving a tip off from Krew's client to try and get into the Baron's Palace through one of the support towers. The whole time, even as she was telling us not to bother her anymore, I couldn't help but feel like she sounded familiar to me.
As always, we found Vin hunched over the computers as he typed frantically. "Vin, buddy," I began nonchalantly while Dax smirked, "We need a favor."
"I can't help you with your Eco bill!" Vin stammered, and Daxter and I just glanced at each other.
"We need you to switch on the access elevator in one of the Palace's support towers," I told him, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He's just as scared as Paige always is, I couldn't help but think to myself, Where'd she go, anyway?
"Sheesh!" the older man gasped, "That's part of the old B-Zone Power Grid! It hasn't worked for years!"
"Well, if it's too hard for you, I understand," I said, smirking as well, "Power stuff can be tricky."
"Tricky?" Vin yelled, "Hmmph." He then began to type on all sorts of keyboards and push different buttons.
"I could route the B-Zone conduit lines through the bypass grid, shunting past the eco rings to connect the inductor tubes in series, then back through the outer wall indicator helix and across the resonant flux routes into the number five capacitor array. Assuming the circuits in the GX75B can handle the surge, I could link the phase loop lines into the primary coils, and presto, you've got instant lift juice!"
Daxter and I just glanced at each other, and I had to admit I was impressed. "Vin, you're a genius!" I cried.
"Heh heh," Vin chuckled weakly, "Actually, Mar was the genius. People said he made most of this stuff long ago - the shield-wall system, the eco grid. Anyway, to get that elevator moving, you gotta find and turn on all the old B-Zone power boxes located in the city. There are five of 'em!"
"That doesn't sound so tough," Dax commented, and I nodded in agreement.
"No. Except those power boxes are guarded by motion-sensing turbo cannons! But, if you can destroy the cannons, and switch the boxes on, I can do the rest. Just don't tell the Baron I ever saw ya!"
Waving at him, we made our way back outside, where we immediately found the first box, and taking out my Scatter Gun, I took out the turbo cannon before turning on the switch. The KG chased us for most of the time, but we managed to avoid them by hopping onto Zoomers and traveling through different parts of the Slums in order to find the other switches. On my shoulder, I watched as Daxter closed his eyes and then opened them again, and I realized this was the first night we had done some missions straight without resting. After we investigated the Baron's palace, we would go back to the hideout and get some sleep.
Once all the switches were turned on, we cruised back to the Stadium section and found the support tower that had been turned on and made our way up the fast-moving elevator. What we saw in front of us surprised us: all sorts of defenses had been put up. That and the fact that it was starting to rain as we made our way past all the guns and hot plates that would have stalled anyone else. "What do you think we're gonna find here, buddy?" Daxter asked once we finished hopping over the last turret gun.
"I don't know," was all I could say, but I realized that was the most honest answer I could give. What would we find here?
We continued to walk until we spotted a large, glass window that looked down into the throne room. Positioning ourselves carefully, we peered down as we saw Praxis and Erol talking to someone on a communicator.
"I told you," Baron Praxis growled, "I'll have more eco by week's end. We'll transport it directly to your nest, as promised!"
"A deal is of no value if you can't deliver, my dear Baron!" the Metal Head leader replied, "I grow impatient with your puny gestures! Give me the agreed upon eco soon, or the deal is off! And your precious city will pay the price!" Erol disconnected the call, turned to face his boss, and balled his hands into fists.
"He's toying with us!" the Commander fumed, "Let me lead an assault on the nest before it's too late! I can take them!"
"Patience, Commander," Baron Praxis cooed, raising his hand, "No one has ever penetrated the Metal Head Nest before. You know that. I've seen what comes of such foolish actions."
Erol sighed as Praxis raised his hand to the right side of his face, which was covered in metal. The Baron nodded solemnly.
"No," he continued, "Strength is their weakness. We play helpless. We train them to eat from our hands, and then…move forward with the plan!" Baron Praxis pointed at Erol.
"Tell Ashelin to up her patrols!" he commanded, "I want that Tomb found!"
"But your daughter has not been…agreeable," Erol replied, bowing his head a little bit.
"Hmm," Praxis sighed, "I'll see to that problem. One way or another."
"Ashelin's the Baron's daughter?" I whispered to Daxter in shock.
"And find that child!" Praxis boomed, "If you'd spent half as much time looking for the little brat as you spend flirting with that mechanic girl, we would have pinned his royal ass to a wall long ago!"
"That mechanic girl has a name," Erol fumed defensively, "And it's-"
"I don't care! You promised me you would find Jak and Paige, and so far, I'd say that isn't working out for you. As soon as you leave here, I want you to start looking harder! Understand?"
"The Baron's after Paige, too?" Dax whispered to me, "Why?" I shrugged as Erol continued, and suddenly my friend looked like he was about to sneeze.
Erol huffed and relaxed a little bit. "As you wish," he quipped, "With enough persuasion, I'm sure our spy will…" Suddenly, he trailed off; in that moment, Daxter sneezed, and I covered his mouth as I rolled over onto my back in order to hide from their line of sight.
"What was that?" Erol demanded, drawing his pistol and glancing up at the glass roof.
Praxis also looked up for an instant as Erol narrowed his hazel eyes. "Probably one of the guards doing repair work up there," he mused, "Anyway, I'm going to lead a city sweep right now. I want you to find Ashelin and General Lloyd and work with them from now on. Got it?"
"Yes, sir." He then balled his hands into fists.
"I've already gotten word that Paige is with the Eco Freak," he continued, "I can't imagine why, though. After all, she was very useful with supplying all that Dark Eco. She never missed a day with that." At this, I gasped and widened my eyes in shock.
"We'll get her back," Praxis assured him, and with that, the two of them were gone.
As we stood up again, I had to take some deep breaths in order to process everything. "You okay, buddy?" Dax asked me.
"It was all an act," I mumbled to myself, "This whole time when I thought she was being overly cautious…it was all an act! She's not innocent! She was helping Erol and Praxis with those experiments!" I could have changed right then and there, but then decided against it. I didn't want to give away our position.
"Who would've thought?" was all Daxter could ask as we climbed down in order to get back to the hideout. Paige was going to answer for a lot when we got back.
Before we could ponder the situation anymore, a rumbling noise greeted our ears, and soon, Baron Praxis himself was hovering in front of us in a large machine gun. We stopped in our tracks.
"So," the Baron roared, "We have a rat in the walls, do we? A rat and his boy, it seems!" We clenched our teeth and glared at the Baron. He was the last person we expected to run into.
"Back for more Dark Eco treatments?" he shrieked at me, "Well, allow me to put both of you out of your misery!" With levers from inside the contraption, Praxis raised two machine guns and began shooting at us.
"Run!" I cried, ducking my head and running towards the closest wall. I spotted a Krimzon crate and broke it open to collect more ammo. Daxter kept his head down to avoid the bullets. I didn't care so much if I got hit, but I didn't want him to get hurt.
"Stay close, Daxter!" I shouted as I whipped out my Blaster gun and began shooting at Baron Praxis. This was a sudden turn of events. How had Praxis discovered that we were there?
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" the Baron cackled as he continued shooting at us until his gun flashed red. He flew over to the gate to our right and began to recharge.
At that moment, I decided to begin taking down his ship even more any time he recharged his weapons. After constant shooting and reloading, we began chasing Baron Praxis through the different sections of the Palace. As we did, the sky darkened even more and the rain changed from a light shower to a downpour. Lightning flashed above our heads and thunder rumbled in the distance.
"You cannot hurt me!" he bellowed as he sent bombs flying at us, "I am Baron Praxis, and I will make sure you all pay for your treachery!"
"Look out!" Daxter screamed. I felt one bomb just barely graze my hip, but I did feel the burn a little bit as I continued to shoot.
"What's the point, Jak?" Praxis taunted, "Why are you even bothering to fight me? You're helping a city who is afraid of you, who doesn't want you around. So tell me, renegade: is it all worth it in the end? If you stop now, I will take away your pain. You'll never have to think about how Smith is one of the reasons you are the way you are. And here I thought she was supposed to be on your side. Guess things don't always work out that way, do they?"
"I'm not listening to you!" I replied as I shot the cruiser and delivered some serious damage to Praxis.
"All right!" Daxter shouted victoriously, "Now, he's hurting!" Praxis crashed through the last gate and began releasing fire tornadoes from his machine as Dax and I caught up with him. While the tornadoes spun around us, the Baron tried to run us over a few times.
"Incoming!" Daxter yelled. I rolled out of the way as the Baron swooped towards us again.
The Baron's ship began to spark as I shot at it a few more times. Suddenly, the bottom exploded, leaving Praxis to recover quickly and fly towards the ledge.
"The dark powers I gave you can't protect you forever!" Baron Praxis yelled at me, "I made you, so I can destroy you! And tell Paige that she's going to pay for her rebellion! We'll meet again soon!" He flew into the stormy night.
"Yeah, whatever!" Daxter called after him, "Bye bye!"
From the hideout, all I could hear were piercing alarms throughout the city, and I couldn't imagine what had happened. Getting up from my bed, I left my helmet on one of the tables and entered the main conference room just as Torn was talking to a few guests. As soon as I stepped foot by the table, the older man, along with a little boy no older than two turned to face me, and I quickly covered my ears to avoid the looks I always got because of them.
"Oh, hello there," the man greeted with a warm smile on his face, "I don't think we've met before. My name is Kor. Who are you?"
I wasn't sure if it was just me, but…I was getting weird vibes from this Kor character. I tried to remember if my sisters mentioned anything about him. Nope. Nothing came to mind. "Paige," was all I said in response, "Nice to meet you, Kor."
"You can uncover your ears, too, by the way. We've already seen them just now." I sighed and slowly removed my hands, exposing my short ears once more.
"Those are some rather interesting ears you have," he continued, and I folded my arms and just stared neutrally at him.
"I'm going to pull a Torn here," I replied, turning to Torn and apologetically adding, "No offense." Torn shrugged noncommittally.
"None taken," he replied in a low voice.
"So you're not going to explain how you got them? Or where you're from?" Kor translated from my answer.
"Nope," I answered, "It's really not important."
Kor shrugged and announced, "Well, I was just talking with Torn and I asked if this young boy could stay here for a while." He pointed to the Kid.
"We can keep him here for the time being," Torn decided. I finally glanced at the young boy, who had light, blue eyes and short, blond-green hair. He was so cute! But who was he in relation to the game?
"Then it's settled," Kor said, his voice raspier than ever, "He shall stay here until we can think of what to do about the war."
At that moment, the door to the hideout opened, and Jak and Daxter returned, soaked to the bone. Upon realizing this, Torn faced them and frowned. "The city's on high alert!" he snapped, "What the hell did you two do?"
"Us?" Daxter stammered, "Uhh…nothing! We've been…umm…sightseeing! Right, Jak?"
"Really?" Torn scoffed, "Then why are the guards looking for a dangerous guy with light hair, a blue tunic, and a rabid orange rat on his shoulder, and a girl with short ears, a flower in her light hair, and blue eyes?"
"Ahh…could be anyone! Orange is the new black this season!"
"Look, we climbed up to the Baron's Palace and…we tripped a few alarms," Jak explained meekly.
"Oh, right. That, too," Daxter muttered.
"What?" Torn boomed, "I didn't authorize a strike on the-"
"Hey, we kicked the Baron's ass!" Jak snapped, interrupting Torn as the Kid stared back and forth between them, "Unfortunately, he escaped."
"And we overheard a secret meeting with the leader of the Metal Heads!" Daxter added.
At this news, Kor's expression changed instantly. "You saw the Metal Head leader?" he asked, his voice full of curiosity. I glanced at him and began drumming my fingers on the table in front of us.
"No," Jak replied, "He was on some communicator, but we heard him talking with Baron Praxis."
"The Baron is bribing the Metal Heads with Eco!" Daxter shouted.
"Hmmph," Kor said, "It will never be enough."
"But the Baron's gonna double cross 'em!" Once again, Kor's eyes widened, which did not go unnoticed by me. He was getting a little too curious about all this, to be honest. Did nobody else notice it but me?
"Is that so?" Kor asked calmly, "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."
Jak turned to Torn and demanded, "Why didn't you tell me Ashelin was Praxis's daughter? What's your connection with her?"
"That's none of your business!" Torn growled, slamming his fist onto the table, "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! Don't screw this up, Jak!"
Jak and Daxter turned to leave, but not before Jak gave me the ultimate death stare, which did not go unnoticed by Kor. For the first time in a long time, I felt fear course through me, and I wondered why he was looking at me like that. Without saying another word, he turned and left.
"Looks like you've angered him in some way," Kor commented once the duo was gone, "What was that all about?"
"Like I'd tell you," I mumbled, "I barely even know you."
Kor tilted his head to the side and then grinned again, and I knew this wouldn't be the last I'd see of him. "Well, I'm off now," he announced, "I will be back to check up on all of you. Great work so far!" He left the hideout. I watched him leave and then approached the Kid.
"So who's the little boy?" I asked Torn as I sat next to the two-year-old.
"We don't know for sure," Torn explained, "The Shadow found him. That was all he said."
I shrugged and watched as the Kid took some colored pencils and began to draw on a piece of paper. I had done some babysitting before, but something seemed different about this Kid. I guessed I would find out what it was.
Later on that night…
After the Kid was safely tucked in the bed closest to where Jak, Daxter, and I slept, I tiptoed back out into the main meeting room, where I took out the flower clip again and stared at the defamed poster of Erol. In fact, I was so lost in thought that I didn't hear the door to the hideout open.
"So when were you going to tell me?" a husky voice asked, and I turned around to see Jak and Daxter standing behind me, back from shuttling the four Underground members to their locations.
My heart began to beat again, and Daxter did the smart thing in that moment: he fled into a side room. "I don't know what you're talking about," I lied, though I had an inkling as to where this was going to lead.
"Stop with the lies, Paige!" Jak snapped, "I know everything! I know how you know Erol! I know about the Dark Eco you gave them over these last two years!"
I gulped and felt my face pale. "Jak," I began, "I was going to tell you, but-"
"When were you going to tell me?" he repeated, "You knew you couldn't keep that a secret from me for a long time! That 'follow the rules' crap was all an act, wasn't it?"
"No, it wasn't!" I shouted in response, "At the time, I didn't even know that was why they were using the Dark Eco! I had no idea! You've got to believe me, Jak!"
"That's the oldest excuse in the book! You act like you're an angel, but you're really just as bad as Praxis and Erol! You're not as innocent as you think you are!"
I narrowed my eyes in defense as I raised a finger and pointed it at the renegade. It took a lot for me to get angry like this, and he had pushed me where no one else had tried to. "Now wait a minute, Jak!" I jumped in, "You can call me whatever you like, but do not compare me to those bastards in the Fortress!"
"Why not?" Jak fired back, "Maybe you weren't there while they actually ran the experiments, but you still gave them the necessary tools! You still allowed it all to happen! You didn't bother to ask questions? You didn't bother to find out what was going on?"
"I did ask! But they didn't give me answers! Erol told me it wasn't wise to ask questions, so I didn't."
Jak continued to glare at me, and I noticed some Dark Eco sparking from his skin, and I prayed that he wouldn't turn into Dark Jak. "You're pathetic!" he cried, "You're weak! You don't question anything! You just follow orders even if you know it's wrong! For once in your life, why don't you stop acting like someone's pet and think for yourself?"
I felt my face turn red in anger. Even though Jak was coming down really hard on me, what made me even angrier is that I knew he was right. He was right about everything. And in my mind, I finally felt something snap. Grabbing the poster of Erol, I tore it down from the wall and ripped it into a million pieces, throwing the small pieces on the ground, and then I grabbed my helmet, my Scatter Gun, and some Green Eco as I made my way to the door.
"Where are you going?" Jak demanded, grabbing my wrist.
"To blow off some steam," I growled, prying his hand off me and running into the night.