Faithless: : ( Reviews? Where art thou? Let's see if we can reach ninety by chapter twenty-three, huh? That would be cool. This is pretty much just a filler chapter – but some important stuff happens and – in shameless self promotion – I have a new story up that I'm going to finish not matter what. Go take a look... plz?

Semi-Automatic

Part Three: Dead Men

Chapter Twenty-One: Aqua phobic

The small eco powered platform dropped into the canyon almost instantly as his foot left the bronze metal. The low humming and faint blue glow fading as it was swallowed up by the gorge that it had carried him over. Finally, with solid ground under his feet, Harry allowed his heart to go back down into his chest. He was in awe of the technology, the Precursor Temple ruins, and the sheer size of the forest. To hear it was one thing, to see it was another. The temple he had passed on the disc was nothing short of amazing. The structure, weather beaten and old, reflected the sun like it was on fire itself. It glowed like a beacon in the middle of the dark greens, dull greys, and the sinister purple that hissed at the base. Water cascaded from down from the temple itself from some unseen source pooling pits and hallows that had been beaten into the stone. Trees and vines grew out of the rock surging upward toward the sun and crawling up the stone towards the blue fire that was alive at the center of the temple.

The Forbidden Forest had nothing on this.

Passing through the massive bronze archway Harry found he was no longer in the tunnel like gorge, but on top of a drop-line cliff. The tree, only feet taller than the cliff, crowded out in front of him like a green shield. The spanned across to another dizzyingly high cliff that seemed to cut the forest in half. Leaning over the side, cautious of the fall, Harry was unable to break through the canopy to see the bottom. The clustered leaves and thick branches offered no crack or divide large enough for even sun to reach through. With the heavy scent of smoke, exhaust, and machines that hung in the air – Harry sure that was what caused the sickly yellow color of the top branches.

Even if it was outside Haven`s walls, he had already seen the start of demolish on the boarders of the forest. Drones, equipment, and boxes of supplies stacked up against a stone a valley wall near the Warp Gate. Harry, knowing better than to let a with a Krimzon Guard logo on lie in piece, picked through the crates and damaged the offline drones beyond repair. He had found a decent amount of ammo and a discarded combat knife. Harry had never been partial to the dagger-like weapon, but he didn`t doubt that it would help clear the underbrush he was sure to slog through.

Harry dropped his hand to his belt and unlatched the Eco Radar that Harry had passed onto him for the mission. It was, he had been told, modified to pick out eco from hidden sources. It was hyper sensitive to green and set only to find green for his mission. It would alert him with a loud blaring alarm once he was within ten paces of it. The radar was incredibly, thankfully, silent. Placing the device back, Harry pulled out his newly purchased Talkbox with the credit-chips he had received for his payment. He studied it uncertain for a moment, thinning his lips into a tight line. He still didn`t believe, despite seeing it himself, that this paper thin device was able to transform itself into a moderately large phone-like tool that hovered around Jak barking out orders of the caller.

"Call Jak..." He spoke quietly feeling like an idiot and repeated the number he had been given. Without fail the disc leapt from his palm and morphed itself out into a sleeker black design. It clicked and cracked making a connection and began to dial just like any other telephone on speed dial. The connection cut to white noise and the aggravated voice of Jak came through.

"I'm busy –" the sound of gunfire and the airy, breathless growls of Metal Heads cut him off briefly, "who the hell is it?"

Harry was half tempted to cut the call to leave Jak to the mess he had gotten himself it with his full attention. Yet, the memory of the wicked burn that had nearly taken his arm off picked at his brain. "It's me Jak,"

"Didn't know you had a Talkbox – move!" He shouted angrily over the gunfire, a woman screaming, scraping metal, and grinding gears.

"This a bad time, Jak?" He couldn't hold back the mocking tone as he quoted the elf.

"... Haha, Harry... what do you need?"

"You'll have to see the Soothsayer yourself," he went on as he began to scale down the massive cliff, "but I do have a problem."

"What?"

"Torn asked me to collect green eco crystals for the Shadow."

"Shit – get back to the wall!" His voice was once again drowned out by the sound of gunfire and growls.

Sliding on a slanted rock, Harry asked bemused. "Having fun?"

"Loads – what are you going to do then?"

"Jak! The roof! Look at the damn roof!" Screamed Daxter faintly in the background.

Harry decided that he had distracted the teen enough to get his revenge. "I'll figure it out." With that said, the connection cut and the Talkbox slid into his pocket as a small disk. It was definitely a feeling that he would have to get used to. With a final two foot drop Harry dipped below that last of the canopy to the ground below.

The forest changed dramatically within the two second fall. The sun completely masked by the alder trees massive leaves leaving the forest in a perpetual state of night. It was green. A dark rich, healthy green that the human didn't believe could exist in smog the industrial metropolis produced. The plants, bright and dark, grew with a vengeance. The aroma of damp earth, pollen, and floral scents was oddly calming to Harry. It reminded him, somewhat, of when the Herbology Greenhouses had been flooded with the pollen of a plant they had been trying to harvest for a Calming Drought.

The air, by far, was something he could appreciate. It was fresh and clean. No trace of smog, subtle decay, or pollution. It held the faint taste of a creek that cut through the forest from a waterfall on the farthest side. Idly he wondered if the thriving nature of the forest was due to the crystals Torn had sent him here for. Jak had told him once that green eco was connected solely to nature. Plants thrived on the energy and eventually produced more of it once they had taken in enough.

He wandered around without a direction for nearly an hour. He knew he should have been frustrated by the lack of crystals, but he was strangely calm. It was a hindrance, but he couldn't seem to find a reason to be mad about it. The sounds of the forest animals, birds, and the occasional frog, made Harry increasingly more at home. He studied the lush vegetation with admiration and wondered if there was really a point in going back to the city. This place was less stressful and just seemed... calm. Harry didn't even realize he had spent three hours walking around the dark side of the forest until he happened to glance down at the time radar. Even then, he didn't really care.

"Stupid Two-Legs..."

Harry banked right immediately with his gun already in his hand. His shoulders tensed searching for the source of the voice. He silently berated himself for not paying more attention to his surroundings. Harry now realized that the soothing effect of the forest wasn't as good as it had seemed. Even now, with a gun in hand, he was nowhere near as worried about the incoming threat as he should have been. The voice had been distant, probably behind him, but clear enough for him to understand. Had a guard followed him or did he just have the bad luck to have a patrol come back for the tools they had left near the Warp Gate? After five minutes no one appeared from any direction. He checked his back pocket thinking perhaps his Talkbox had activated, but the disc was harmlessly offline. Sagging his shoulder the teenager let out a sigh rubbing the back of his neck. He needed to get out this forest before he went crazy.

Great, he thought staring at the creek at his feet, now I'm hearing things...

The rustle of leaves made the hair on the nape of his neck stand on end. He whipped around aiming the gun and fired six times before he had time to stop himself. The last thing he needed was a Metal Head to rush him... But, then again, he hadn't seen a single Metal Head since he had been here. A tense silence passed as a very odd creature came slithering out from the decimated bush. It wasn't a Metal Head and looked relatively harmless.

The animal was small; its slim body covered in dark blue scales that made it almost blend with the dark grass. However, two white grey speckled feathery wings that sprouted from its back made it easily spotted in the open. The feathered wing told him that it definitely wasn't a brand of Metal Head he hadn't seen before; that and the absence of a yellow gem anywhere on its body. Metal Heads were insect-like in their wings and webbing. It was a thin membrane that shredded easily, not the sturdy bone supported appendages that came off the creature. It had no arms or legs and frankly looked like a bone armoured snake with wings. It reared back at him using its wings to support itself. Creature couldn't have been higher than two feet, the wing span perhaps a few feet more. Its green eyes glowed in the dark and narrowed on him as if angry that he had shot at it.

Harry let out a sigh as he rolled his eyes and packed his gun away. He pressed his palm to his forehead with a scowl. "Alright... Just too jumpy there, Harry." He wasn't used to calm like this; he didn't like it. Glancing back at the animal he was half tempted to provoke it to have something attack him. He needed to shoot something before he shot himself in the foot just to make this trip more interesting.

"Heh, Dax may have been right... I need to lay off the coffee..." Harry muttered smiling in spite of himself.

Six cups in the morning wasn't the best idea.

"Great... a Two-Legss that talks to himssself."

Every part of Harry's body froze at that moment. The voice wasn't familiar, but the way it was spoken caused every thought to come to a crashing halt. The voice had been too distant in sound for Harry to pick up on the way it was peaking. He started chuckle, then burst into uncontrollably laughter at the situation he found himself in, almost not believing it was happening here of all places.

The unmistakably female voice muttered disdainfully. "... and he's insane."

"I can hear you, you know that right?" Harry answered slowly turning back to face the creature. For a moment he wondered if the snake could understand him. Parseltongue worked on snakes exclusively, not reptiles. Harry barley had an understanding of the ability anyway. He didn't know when he was speaking English or Parseltongue other than the fact he dragged out his 'S's in a hiss. The surprise in its glowing eyes was enough to assure him that the hybrid understood him, but the way she reared back and bared her surprisingly long fangs wasn't so reassuring.

"Whoa, calm down," he told the creature rising up one hand, the second going to his gun. He had a feeling he could survive a bite if the thing was poisonous... But he had a thing about being bitten by snakes; he really didn't like it. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"How can you speak? Two-Legs can't ssspeak!" She demanded flicking her tail dangerously. It was then that Harry noticed the small, sharp, scythe like bone that grew out in a curve at the end. He had no doubt that was the main weapon of the creature other than the teeth.

For a moment Harry considered what he was going to say to the creature, but the thought was wiped as pain burst from his shoulder. The snake had lunged at him digging her fangs deep into his left should. She beat her wings dangerously close to Harry's face, beating at his neck harshly. He grabbed the neck and pried it off his shoulder holding her at arm's length to avoid the trashing wings and tail.

"Let me go!" she cried out enraged, "Let me down!"

Giving the creature a dull look, Harry waited the creature out. Eventually she stopped and glowered at him. "You done?"

Her silence was his answer.

As he still stood at the edge of the creek, he planned to drop the creature in just to have the satisfaction of watching it flop around in the rushing current. He doubted, by the feather of her wings, she was an aquatic creature. He didn't expect the creature to literally shriek, coil herself tightly around his arm terrified. She hugged her wings around his forearm desperately and pressed the bottom of her diamond shaped head to the back of it hand. It was clinging to him like he had held it over open flames.

"I had no idea... snakes could shriek." Harry muttered in both disbelief and amusement.

"Please don't!" She begged her glowing eyes wide in alarm and fear.

His shoulder stung painfully and he was very, very tempted to do it anyway. "No more biting?"

She nodded vigorously. Harry took her away from the water and, as she relaxed, threw her directly back into the bushes. The sound of breaking twigs and venomous hissing as it fumbled around caused Harry to smirk as he rubbed the spot where she had dug her fangs in. Pushing back the fabric of his jacket he studied the skin. He didn't know much about Precursian animals, but the thing was definitely poisonous. The skin was angry around the puncture woods, blood pooling in the craters. Blue tendrils coiled around the wounds growing steadily towards his neck before bending backwards. It was healing, slowly, but it still stung like a son of a bi-

His train of thought was cut off by the radar ringing loudly at his side breaking the endless silence of Haven Forest. "Finally!" He hissed in relief snatching the radar from his belt. The small screen displayed three green dots almost directly in front of him. Moving to the right the sound died, but moving back to the left it sprung up again. The encounter with the snake-thing was completely forgotten as he pressed the radar up against a tree. It blared as loud as it could signal that the crystals were inside of it.

Taking the K.G combat knife, Harry dug the tip into the bark ripping it back. It exposed the lighter underside of the tree and a crevice that held three large glowing emeralds. They pulsed vividly in the dark of the forest and emitted a green mist that Harry inhaled deeply.

"Ballocks!" Harry shouted clasping his hands over his mouth stumbling back. His head spun as his world tilted for a moment. His chest ignited with the same blistering feeling he had felt the first time he had experienced green eco. He coughed, sputtering, and let out a long string of profanities that would put Daxter to shame. The concentrated amounts of eco were going to screw with him the entire way back to the Hideout. He couldn't even touch them through his gloves without being burnt.

"You're such a basstard..."

Harry groaned loudly raising his eyes up the shaft of the tree. The winged snake descended to his eyes level, her body wrapped firmly around the trunk with her wings curled to her back. "And for a snake you have a very good grasp on human vocabulary." He shouldn't be surprised... Not after meeting Daxter.

"It is ssstupid to assume that Two-Legss are the only intelligent creatures around," she snapped turning her eyes on the green crystals that glowed the same way her eyes did. She slithered into the knot and played with them with her tail. "You can't touch these."

He growled slight at her tone, not impressed. "I'm being mocked by a three-foot ssnake scared of water..."

She hissed at him equally unimpressed, "Tell me how you can sspeak and I'll help you thessse."

"Or," Harry reminded her darkly, eyes skipping to the creek, "I can tosss you in the water and be done with you."

She narrowed her eyes on him, almost daring, and then ran the edge of her tail across her chin saying in a calm, none-caring way. "Then you are... How do you sssaay? Ssscrewed."

He really was. Harry couldn't walk away without those crystals... What harm was there in telling the creature anyway? He severally doubted that he was going to run across an elf with the same ability as him. "Short and simple – I am a human and a Parseltongue." He knew that the creature probably had no idea what he was talking about.

The snake-hybrid blinked once, then said. "Human...? Fair enough... I suppose. Might be the reason the paralytic isn't working..." Turning back to the crystals she stared at them intently. With a snap she adjusted her jaw to take in all three in one swallow slithering out of the knot and up his leg. He went stalk still as her scales grazed his skin and pushed up his shirt. One wing clung to his back underneath the jacket with a hook, the other spread over his chest. Her eyes, leveling with his, stared at him expectantly.

"What the hell are you doing?" He hissed. The way she wrapped herself around him was far too much like the way Nagini, Voldemort's massive diamonded head boa, had done nearly crushing his chest in the process. No. He didn't like the feeling of a snake wrapped around him.

She hooded her eyes hissing through the mouthful of gems. "Helping... Can you feel the cryssstals, Human?"

He had to admit that he couldn't feel them at all. No dizziness, no burning, and they were technically right beside his face. "No..."

"I am only helping you to the entrance of the foresst - then you are on your own." She told him dipping her head, but eyes never leaving his face.

"Fine with me..."

"You walk ssslow, Human." The hybrid commented sourly coiling tighter around his waist as he traversed his way back toward the archway - and where he could finally ditch the mouth-piece of a snake. Harry didn't look down as he knew she was staring up at him with distaste and anger that he wasn't rising to taunts. It was becoming increasingly harder by the moment. She was worse than Daxter... At least he had the decency to stop at one point or another. She had taken to demeaning him on his every fault and some that he, apparently, didn't know about. He was too skinny, too pale, and that all Two-Legs were annoying. That the only reason she was helping him was because she just wanted him out of her forest. That he smelled oddly, as her words had been, of canine and something else sharper.

Now, on top of it all, he walked too slowly.

Stay calm, he repeatedly silently to had to constantly remind himself why he was putting up with the creature. Why he didn't just toss the aqua phobic snake into the nearest pool of water. He needed those crystals.

As he continued to back track, his mind wandered away from the belittling creature clinging to his form. It went back to the Metal Heads and the cliff he had taken a swan dive off of. It went back to the Hig Hog and the magic he had used to silence Daxter. The way it had hurt and why, after the countless times he had wished Alec or Neverous dead, why he had never used accidental magic then. Was it because something as simple as the curse had taken so much out of him? That something on the level of the Killing Curse he couldn't even do when he had his wand? He had the intent behind it, but he didn't have the skill or practice.

That could be it, but something was still wrong.

Harry snorted, a spiteful smirk blooming on his lips. Of course something was wrong. He hadn't been right since he was fourteen years old. Or... Did it have something to do with his apparent banishment and penance?

Shaking his head in frustration, Harry let out aggravated grunt. He had too many questions and no answers in sight. He knew the more he focused on it, the more insane he was going to drive himself. He just needed to focus what was going on here and now. He didn't need answers, he needed to finish the sole reason he was in this forest, why he was still in this city.

He let out a sharp breath as his thighs suddenly snapped together tightly like he had been hit by a binding curse. Only because he had slammed his palm against a rock did he stop himself from falling face first into a bush full of thorns. Snapping his eyes down angrily to the snake he ground out furiously. "What?"

The snake was staring up at him intently. No intent on her face, but a neutral expression of thinking and considering. She flicked her forked tongue out at him, but remained slightly as she moved off him. He felt the claw-like hook dig deeper and let out a small growl as it scraped his skin. He half expected her to hurdle another insult at him, but she merely hit the ground and slithered behind him for a moment.

"What the hell are you doing - you said to the gate..." He demanded tiredly but relieved to have her off him.

Ignoring him the creature stopped in front of a crushed pink and yellow plant that Harry had trampled over on his way down here. Unfurling her wings she curled them around the plant like a shield and stared it at with a sad expression. Her eyes shimmered slightly as she hissed. "Two-Legs give very little about the forest..."

With a low gentle hiss the creature seemed to breathe the green mist on the damaged flower. It breathed life into it causing it grow and flourish nearly twice its size. She nudged with her nose and seemed to smile at it before turning back to him with a scowl.

He silently considered the creature as it coiled around him again. He knew that the Forbidden Forest that bordered his school had caretakers of sorts inside it. Magical animals and the Centaurs that lived within it - the forest itself was maintained by magic. He wondered if this creature was of a species that did the same for this forest. It was obvious by the fangs, the poison, and the scythe-like tail that she was meant for combat. Yet, the way he had just see her act towards something as small as a trampled flower...

"There," she broke his train of thought pointing her wing to the archway, "we're here." with that the creature pushed her head into his rucksack letting the crystals fall into the pack and slithered back into the underbrush without another word. Instantly Harry felt the mild heat from the crystals on his thigh. It seeped into a burning in his chest as he stepped onto the platform that would take him back to the Warp Gate. Once his feet touched down on the grass, the mild discomfort was staring to become an issue.

"I told you not to touch anything," Jak's bemused voice echoed from his side.

Turning slightly Harry spotted Jak walking down a path to his side. An irate Daxter was sitting on his shoulder stroking his tail gently. The smell of burnt fur and the black color of it led Harry to guess what had happened. Yet, for all of it, he still had to ask. "What happened to him?"

"Funny story behind that, really -" Jak stopped short turning to look to Harry with mild surprise, "... Hey?"

Daxter, not really caring for Harry sudden appearance, pulled on Jak's ear angrily shaking his tail in his other hand. "It wasn't funny! My poor tail!"

If the burning in his chest hadn't become almost painful, Harry would have laughed at the look Jak tossed the ottsel. He rubbed his chest subconsciously as Jak tugged his ear out of Daxter's hand rubbing it with a look of mild irritation. "Who is closest for a mission?"

"The Hip Hog." Daxter told them stroking his burnt tail with a quivering bottom lip.

"Then we're going to see Kre-" Started Jak.

"Gettin' lazy Jak?" Harry asked with a smirk, but before Jak was able to retort or toss more than a heated glare - the burn in Harry's chest turned into full blown knock-you-off-your-feet-pain.

"Harry!"

For a brief second fear crawled into his chest as he fell to his knees. He thought, mortified, he was slipping again. It was just as it had always been moments before he blacked out and woke up in a pool of his own or someone else's blood. The fire that roared over his skin and the concrete that threatened to drown him. He clawed at his throat as lava seemed to spill into his mouth searing his tongue and melting his teeth. Gasping for air he stared down at the substance that left his mouth, feeling Jak's hand on his shoulder to steady him.

It was blood or... maybe it had been blood at one time. The violet sheen and thick consistency that always reminded him of liquid dark stared back at him.

"Damn..." muttered Daxter.

"I knew it," Jak mumbled closing his eyes as if he, himself, was in pain.

"Human..." Harry breathed in his defense. He knew what he was looking at, but he didn't know why he was looking at it.

"You have dark eco poisoning..." The blonde seventeen year old admitted, "just like I do."

"How is that possible?" Harry choked out chin dipped to his chest. He had never heard of dark eco poisoning, but he assumed it was something caused by the substance. Harry had never had contact with it - green eco sent him to the ground. When Jak had too much dark eco in his system he couldn't go near the elf, how could he have gotten poisoning from it?

Daxter cast his anxiously towards Jak pursing his lips almost expectantly. They exchanged a brief look and Jak took in a deep breath, pulling Harry back to his feet. "In the Pumping Station..."

Harry turned his eyes sharply toward Jak. He had been waiting weeks to hear the truth about what happened. He had been begging the two help him understand what happened after he black out - what the flashes meant. Jak stared at the ground for a long time, twisting his lips as if he was debating with himself to finally admit what he had been keeping to himself this entire time.

"I don't know how you got back up the cliff, but..." he hooded his eyes, "you were something else."

The human thinned his lips narrowing his eyes on Jak skeptically. "... I was given enhancers, Jak..."

"No, Wolfie, that's not what he means..." Daxter added slowly.

"Then what?" Harry demanded angrily.

"... You were like me the night we escaped."

For a moment Harry stared at Jak disbelieving, but somewhere... he knew. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had recognized the pale skin. Closing his eyes he asked tiredly. "... Dark eco poisoning... It will kill us, won't it?"

Jak nodded slowly, "I don't know how long it will take... But it will kill us eventually."

Harry noted the flash of anger that crossed Daxter's face as his hands clenched at his sides bitterly. Did the ottsel know about this before? He glanced between them briefly, but Jak had taken to staring at the city in the distance, eyes narrowing on the pillar that struck in the middle of it.

He had always known that this city was going to be the death of them. In one way or another... But he now understood why Jak was so eager to get things done. He had a time limit that Harry didn't know existed till now. A time limit he now shared. He now knew why Jak was so reckless.

Dead men, after all, have nothing to lose.

Semi-Automatic