I don't own Jak and Daxter. Sorry. Wish I did. Hey, anyone know how long before a copyright has to be renewed for a video game? Cause last I checked, Naughty Dog wasn't exactly all that good about holding onto its old IP... /evil laugh/ Yeah, right... I wish.

Vacation or War-Endgame
Chapter Eleven-Impasse

Torn didn't like lying to his men. Or, in Loor's case, women. On the other hand, she was brain damaged. According to him she was just a ticking time-bomb in the first place. Not useless, but not completely worthy of trust.

Right now, she could do without knowing that metal heads had broken through the security gate in agricultural shortly after all the KG had vanished from the city, and several more breeches were letting them all in from the west side. She didn't need to know that FL forces had been forced back as far as the Bazaar and palace square, holding them out of the Port but failing to force them back out of the farming zones.

She most definitely didn't need to know that he hadn't heard a peep from either Jak nor Daxter since the wall was breached. Granted, Jak wasn't the most talkative type when he was working, and he'd just be telling Torn everything he was already hearing from dozens of other men on the ground; that things were not going well. At this point it didn't really matter if they could get the metal heads out; fighting in agricultural would poison the soil. The eco in their blood would kill or at least mutate everything.

Ashelin was watching over that right now. She and a few trusted advisers were overseeing a virtual display of the city, now being used to represent a battle that no one had expected to actually penetrate past the walls. While he was listening to just a few comm. links, occasionally shouting changes in the situation over his shoulder at her, she had at least a dozen people talking into her head set, as well as a few people arguing across the holographic display of Haven about what needed to be done to protect the city. Torn had been there too, not long ago, trying to sort out all the chaos for her when Loor's report came in.

KG rebels, leaving the city like all the others, but through the sewers... like they had something to hide. All the codes they'd used thus far to get through the system without tripping a single alarm disturbed Torn, making him wonder who leaked the information out of the FL to them. Someone would have to find that leak and plug it. The longer she followed them, the more his his attention he gave to her situation, slowly shutting out the tumult that Ashelin was dealing with.

"Barricade it!" Ashelin snapped, suddenly breaking into everyone's head with a stern and authoritative voice. "We may not be able to kill them all, or even get them all the way out, but we can blockade them in there, can't we? Force 'em back and seal agricultural off!"

"They'll taint the soil!" One of the others shouted in shock and protest. "The city will starve next year-"

"Let's work on living through tonight, huh?" Ashelin's argument was carried by the force of her voice. No one really wanted to fight her. "Seal it! Reactivate the barriers between city sections and seal off agriculture. Clear the bazaar and do the same. We'll use it as a buffer zone."

Reluctant agreement came from those assembled, only a moment more stalled before they all got onto various modes of communication, handing Ashelin's orders down to the people who needed to know them. Torn could hear her letting off an exasperated sigh, looking over his shoulder to see her pulling off the headset and leaning her hands on the rim of the giant computer in the middle of the room. It was shaped like a tall kiddy pool, but had enough technological muscle to display holograms, act as a communications hub, and hold all the intel the FL would ever need with room to spare. And, as Ashelin was currently demonstrating, it was perfect height for leaning on when one was exhausted beyond belief.

"Good move." Torn encouraged softly from the background, watching as her eyes closed in only the briefest of respite.

"Vegar's idea." She snorted, a finger tapping the headset she'd put down on the rim of the computer. "Got the whole council shouting in my ear... only way to shut the old bags up is to agree with 'em... But I'm no patsy."

Torn nodded; he knew what else the council was calling for. Ashelin may have given in to the commands that made sense, but she still relented on one very key thing; throwing Jak and Loor out of the city.

"Torn... you still there?"

Rounding again, Torn returned to his message station. Ashelin stood straighter as she walked over, curious to know what Loor had found down in the sewers, chasing after some of the KG members who'd left the city. "What do you got, Loor?"

"The door you told me about, that leads outside the wall... where is it supposed to go?" It was now that Torn noticed Loor was speaking in little more than a stage-whisper. Her voice was tense.

"Outside the city, on a cargo ramp for the surface. There should be grooves in the floor and a winch for moving pallets of materials."

"Well yeah, I saw all that. But the ramp didn't go outside... it's like some kind of warehouse. Huge, I'm seeing barrels of raw eco, sheet metal, pipes... there's enough here to build a small city. The guys I was following went through a door on the far end, but-"

She suddenly cut off, fuzz coming over her mic for a moment. Torn blinked, and Ashelin swept in. "What's going on?"

"Ashelin, you too?" Loor swore. "Something's happening. The door just shut behind me, and there's humming like a lot of power is moving... what the?"

An unmistakable roar of an engine came over Loor's mic. Correction; several engines.

Loor had taken a step back when the whole room rumbled with the roar of a massive group of engines turning over. Since walking into the large warehouse like space she'd had her hand on her pistol, ready for one of those guards to come back. She'd even picked out several good spots to take cover in respect to the door she'd seen them all go through. Now she lifted that hand away to hold it out, steadying herself against the very pallet of sheet metal she'd been planning to duck behind if the need so arouse.

"Hell!" She abandoned her whisper, bending her knees in the desperate attempt to keep upright as she felt the world around her lurch. "It's not a building, it's a vehicle!"

This garnered no response from Torn. At least, not for her. Loor imagined he was hurriedly speaking with the unit he'd sent to follow her, trying to get them to catch up and bail her out before whatever vehicle she'd unwittingly walked into took off with her trapped inside. Left with that, she simply stayed crouched down low, trying to ignore the vibration all around her. It made the lashed-together lengths of pipe on the far end of the room rattle, along with her teeth.

"Loor, you there?"

Ashelin's voice. Torn was in the background, talking to someone else.

"Still alive, for the moment." She answered, feeling terror beginning to well up in her. There was no doubt in her mind that all of what she was seeing here were the stolen materials from the industrial section and the FL construction projects. That meant the people she'd been following were indeed rebels, and they were taking all of this stuff... somewhere... with her on-board. Usually an enemy ship full of stolen goods would be a good idea to destroy, but the fact that she was in the cargo hold with at least three dozen barrels of raw eco had her hesitant about trying to blow it up from the inside.

"You need to get off that thing." Ashelin's level and commanding voice acted as a comfort to Loor. It brought her back to earth, preventing panic. "Preferably while it's still warming up. The unit Torn sent is following after you, but none of them are carrying the type of heat that'll blast through a cargo door. Is there anything you can use? Look around."

Loor pushed herself to move, crossing the room and nearly crawling in order to get to the only useful thing she saw in all of this. "Raw eco, several barrels. Pretty sure I can use it to blow the door, assuming I don't hurt myself with it." An idea was already forming, but to be totally honest she had no clue if it would work the way she wanted it to. "Kick a barrel over and blow the door with it... assuming I don't blow myself to bits at the same time. Think that'll-"

The rumbling of engines drove up to a roar, cutting Loor off as the whole world seemed to jerk under her feet, knocking her to the floor and hanging desperately onto the grooves that had been used to slide pallets of material into place around the cargo hold. Cursing, desperately trying to get her footing back, she realized this ship was already moving.

"Damn!" Ashelin swore as well, though it didn't matter much. Loor was sure they were tracking her location through her comm. unit, so Ashelin knew from more than the roaring the background that Loor was now on the move. "Taking off that fast is dangerous, they must have figured out they were followed."

"Think they know I'm on board?"

"No idea... I wouldn't wait around for it though."

"What's your suggestion?" Loor had finally gotten her feet under her again, clamping onto an eco barrel and thanking the powers that be for her FL breastplate; it gave her an extra layer of protection as she clung to the hard edge of metal. "Jump from a moving aircraft?"

Ashelin answered without hesitation. "They're flying low, probably trying to avoid notice so close to the city. It's either that or wait for them to find you. I don't want to loose you in there, Loor. The guard had you prisoner once before, do you really wanna do that again?" She didn't wait for an answer. "You gotta move fast, or you're going to go off of the city's location grid. Now or never."

"Alright!" The girl snapped, aware that Ashelin's demand only sounded crazy because she was terrified. Or maybe that was the reason it only sounded kinda crazy instead of totally crazy. Either way, she yanked hard on the barrel she'd been leaning upon. The metal drum of eco was strapped onto it's pallet, she noted after her first yank, and released it before trying a second time to tumble the drum and send it rolling to the cargo door.

It landed with a hard thud, the other drums now rattling with the movement of the ship without their securing tether. Without a second thought she pulled her juice rod from her back, stabbing it through the metal drum, jarring her hands in the process. Now wasn't the time to care though; if she dropped off of the location grid Ashelin and Torn wouldn't be able to find her through her comm. unit; she'd make a death-defying leap from this ship only to die slowly of whatever injuries she might sustain from the fall.

Using her weapon as a lever, she turned the new hole she'd made until it faced forward and dripped liquid eco down the side of the drum, onto the floor. The dark substance sparked wherever it contacted with or got close to solid material, several purple arcs hitting her skin among other things. The jolts of energy disturbed her, but she refused to lose her focus.

She ran back into the hold, taking cover behind a pallet of pipes, and pulled out her pistol. She'd fire at the spilled eco like a fuse for a powder keg.

"Loor, you've got about five minuets before we lose you."

She didn't respond, taking a deep breath and letting it out before leaning out of her cover, firing a single shot, and ducking back again to hug her own head around the ears, screwing her eyes shut. Despite her desperate move to protect herself from the sound, she felt the explosion throughout her body. It whacked into the pallet she was leaning against, pitching her forward to fall against the metal floor yet again. She knew she screamed, but that didn't conquer the sound of the violent boom. Worse was the residue; eco energy that had been contained within the liquid now raced through the air, seeking anything to wrap up into. Adsorbing it was both painful and pleasurable for her, her scream getting kicked out of her lungs with greater violence.

For a moment she feared losing control.

She forced her jaw shut, to cut off the noise. She had to keep control. She had to. Letting go of her head and realizing her nose was bleeding from being the first thing to hit the floor, she could faintly hear the rushing wind over the ringing in her head. Looking behind her, she found her first objective had been accomplished; the door was open. Darkness rushed by outside, the wind lashing into the space and scrambling to grab anything and drag it back out. The other loose eco barrels went first as Loor clung to the pallet that had saved her from the explosion that blew the door.

"Loor! You still there? Talk to me!"

"Still alive." She numbly confirmed, surprised the ear piece was still attached to her person. Ashelin sounded like she was very far away though, the ringing so loud in her head. She could barely hear anything else. "Door's open."

"Four minuets. Sooner you jump, the sooner we get you back for treatment."

Assuming I survive. She thought grimly to herself. Her thoughts were easier to hear over the high pitched ringing. She didn't need Ashelin telling her to make the jump, she just had to step out from behind the pallet. The wind would take her and whip her out of the cargo hold on a short trip to the ground. She'd hold her head, to protect it, and likely curl up into a little ball. Would that be the best way to avoid injury? She didn't know. She didn't know anything.

All she knew is she was afraid. Paralyzed with fear. The ripping currents of air had all of her attention as she gripped her feeble shield; the strap holding the pallet of pipes together.

Don't wait. The sooner you move, the more likely we survive.

She didn't know if she could move. She wanted to; she wanted to escape. She had no memory of the previous time the KG had held her, but the creature whispering in her head was the result. Her insanity, her monster, now trying to save her was a somewhat ironic point in all of this. If she continued to exist, it would be free from any imprisonment.

But reason had she to live? The idea struck her suddenly. Did she actually have a reason to want her own survival?

Idiotic child!

Do I?

I DO!

The takeover was sudden and violent; the monster's emotions rushing past her own and forcing her to step out and away from her cover, willingly leaping into the wind as the transformation rippled through them. Loor was removed from the drivers seat, and Lyra took control for what could possibly be the end of them... or at least something that was going to be extremely painful.

It didn't matter. Pain and suffering were the cost of survival, and nothing was more important than that.

The ground rushed up in a way that was blindingly fast... and yet almost in slow motion. Sensations like the cold and ripping gales of wind could be closely examined, and while the scrubby wilderness below seemed to be rushing up so quickly, it was always so far away.

And then it wasn't so far away at all. Impact was sudden but without sensation; it was too much for even Lyra's mind to take. Her body seemed to bounce, tumbling as another impact rocked her, claws reaching for anything to hold onto. Shrubs and grasses crushed, short saplings and thorny bushes stabbed and scratched, and yet another meeting with the ground threw her into a whole different spin.

Then she slid. She stayed upon the ground, skidding and rolling and eventually coming to a final stop. While Lyra's usual focus was complete awareness, she found herself withdrawn to her own person. Things were broken, bleeding, sensation coming back in sudden and rude spurts that faded away as quickly as they tore through her. She growled softly in all of this, the first noise she'd made, having not even roared on the way down.

Silly child... She snorted, tasting blood on her fangs. For once, it was her own. There is always reason to live.

The Author's Corner

HOLY FUCK! TWO UPDATES IN THE SAME FUCKING WEEK.

But my web comic suffered a late page... Ah, guess you can't win 'em all, right?

So, why the fuck did Loor suddenly have a suicidal moment? FIND OUT NEXT TIME!

Happy reading. :)

-Loor