CLEANED UP
Clean up notes for this chapter: HOLY SHIT MY WRISTS HURT. Oh, wait, that's not what I'm supposed to be talking about up here. Um... content of this scene remained mainly the same. It just got a whole chapter this time, instead of like... a quarter of one. JEEZ how did I cram shit in like that back then? No idea... meow.
Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter. I wish I did... I totally thought of a way TLF could have not sucked. If I ever get rich enough, I'm buying rights and re-making that game into something I can accept as canon. FUCK DARK DAXTER.
Vacation or War
Chapter Twenty Six- Mousetrap
Lauren's brain had stopped ticking. Everything had frozen, all thoughts and processes grinding to a stop as if a wrench had been thrown into the gears of her mind. What she stared at was the proverbial wrench, but she didn't want to accept the sight. She wanted to deny it and bend the fabric of reality to make it vanish, but such things were obviously beyond her power.
She had to accept what she saw; let it pass to memory and deal with it.
She had arrived at Teek's home; the door was smashed in. What little that was left had the Baron's symbol burnt into it. The smell of a recent fire ripped at her sensitive nose, and no matter how she squinted her eyes she couldn't see inside the dwelling. Whatever lights had been in there must have been destroyed, leaving a pitch black portal where a beautiful tapestry of color used to be.
Did she dare step into it?
She sucked in a lungful of that rancid air, feeling the compulsion to enter and search for Teek; perhaps the woman had survived the raid. That was clearly what happened; the safe house had been found out and set alight like a powder keg. The damage wasn't too evident from the outside, but that didn't surprise her; it was likely a controlled burn so no one knew that an underground safe house had survived right across the street from the fortress.
Blowing out her lungs, she stepped over the threshold, pulling the tail of her scarf up and over her nose to protect it from the smell. Despite getting out of the light from outside, she still couldn't see. The darkness was consuming, and the reek of smoke seeped through her scarf, the whole room seeming to close in on her.
Need a little assitance?
Lauren realized that some of her own compulsion had been Lyra's curiosity. She wanted to know what this... Errol character was capable of. She was curious if he was something to challenge... or fear. In that want to know, the beast was willing to help her host, though Lauren hadn't the slightest clue of how the animal planned to do so.
That's when she felt the snap of eco. It came to her skin, made her face tingle before concentrating about her eyes. In a few moments she realized she'd lost control of her eyes, unable to feel or move them. It was strange, and somewhat frightening, until she also came to the realization that the room around her was coming into focus.
I learned this on my first time out... my eyes aren't made for light. But the darkness... that's clear as day for me.
"Of course..." Loor muttered while putting her hands out for balance. She didn't have any control on where she was looking; using Lyra's eyes meant the beast had control of what she was looking at. It was like having a friend with a flashlight, and in such visibility it left her dizzy while trying to get used to it. "Black eyes... not because they're actually black, just an insanely wide pupil..."
What are you mumbling about?
Nothing important. Loor quickly assured, remembering that Lyra didn't seem to understand spoken English. Given the gift of vision, she could finally see the wreckage.
Honestly, she wished she couldn't. What had been a blend of various shades of red, stretching as far as to include some deep shades of violet and and other swaths having been delicate shades of pink, breaking up the room and giving it an ethereal feel, was now a charred mess. The curtains had been yanked down and burned, the walls left barren and scarred. She now found that this first room of Teek's home was just a large and wide space that she'd broken into a maze with those silky strips of cloth.
All the weapons were gone, chests that had held clothing smashed and smoldering. There was no doubt; this had been a raid. Lyra pulled off to the right, looking back to the walls but unable to survey the area properly until Lauren complied and turned her head. Slowly she did, finding what had caught her beast's attention.
In the far corner, a few curtains had been left untouched. Their beauty had diminished, ash tainting their edges and dulling out the vibrant color, but they were there. It seemed a bit sloppy, for a single corner to have been left untouched, but Lauren didn't dwell on it. The guard wasn't the smartest organization in the world. She turned her attention back to her search for Teek.
There were a few doors, two of which were smashed in. With Lyra's eyes Lauren could see that one of those smashed in doors led to a kitchen, and the other was the room Teek had hidden away in when Lauren had asked for time alone to talk with her sister.
This door was not only smashed, but the Baron's symbol had been drawn in the ashes on the wall next to it.
Prickly fear stung the back of Loor's neck as she swallowed and took the steps forward to see what was within this room. Once she started moving she couldn't stop, Lyra's rampant curiosity like a rope around her middle, dragging her in. Soon she stepped over what was left of the door, and entered a smaller room.
The first thing that struck her was the smell. It was sour, a smell any human being would have a natural aversion to. At first she groped her brain to identify it, find what it was associated with that made her want to back right out of the room on some natural instinct.
Death... Lyra hissed, curiosity turning to tense aggression; her own fight-or-flight reaction had engaged, nearly shoving Loor right into the same mind-set.
She was right though; Loor had only had that smell caught in her nose once before, when there had been a dead squirrel under her bed. Her cat, Bojo, had drug it in and never eaten it, and her whole room reeked for days after she discovered it and removed it. Still, this was much stronger. Whatever was dead in this room... was much bigger.
She wanted to see, but Lyra was making her dizzy again, eyes dashing back and forth, scanning for anything that may have posed a threat.
Take it easy... I need to know what happened here.
Loor's calm but firm thoughts interfered with Lyra's nature, the beast growling begrudgingly before behaving once more, slowly scanning the room and letting her host take it in.
It was a bedroom. Unlike the previous room, it hadn't been burned. No, it was mostly untouched, the bed's scarlet covers neatly folded back from navy pillows, the walls painted the in the same rich blue with multicolored stars, reflecting the tapestry that shined in the true sky every night in this place. Lauren could have easily seen Teek painting this room herself, making it her personal sanctuary.
The crown jewel of the walls was just above the bed's headboard. Dark mountains impressed upon the sky, a dragon curled atop with red scales, each one given painstaking detail.
With such art on the wall, the damage to it stuck out like a flashlight in the inky black. Someone had taken a knife and carved precursor letters into the dragon's hide. Lauren didn't dare step on the bed, walking around the edge to read it.
"Hide and seek...?" She questioned her translation, double checking each letter and finding it to be correct. Someone had carved the words 'Hide and seek' along the dragon's body.
It was signed along the tail.
Errol.
This wasn't just him having fun... he planned this... he knew I'd come back, sooner or later. It... it's a trap.
She'd been backing away from the wall, her fear growing and only fed by the reek of decay in the room. What calm she'd been able to install in Lyra was quickly taking leave, her vision turning sharper as the animal focused on finding their oppressor before he found them.
Her heel caught on something, sending her tumbling to the white carpet of the room. The girl cursed, rolling over quickly and getting back up, looking to see what tripped her.
Girl and beast locked on to two things. First, the white carpet was stained with dark red. Blood.
Second, there was a hand peeking out from under the bed skirt. An old hand, weathered by hard work and time.
"No..." Loor whispered. It was enough that Errol had left a message for her. Now...
She reached for the hand. It was cold and stiff, making the girl want to recoil and retch, but she still forced herself to grab and pull.
Teek's ridged corpse slid out from under the bed, the eyes open and glassy. Her throat had been slit, but the true mess was the old woman's face. The same knife that had carved the wall had also carved her forehead and across her cheeks and nose. Inscribed in her flesh was the same message as that on the wall.
All of this was for her, she realized. Errol had to be out of his mind, looking for her, after she'd shot him. Now he was aiming to terrify her before snapping her up in his little trap. Well, mission accomplished. She was now staring at her first dead human body, realizing that she was in the room with a corpse.
She was up and out of that room not a moment later, trying to quell her sick stomach. She wanted to run straight out of there, but something held her back.
The curtains in the corner. Errol had been directly involved in this operation, which meant everything was on purpose.
Something was behind those curtains. Something for her.
As much as Lyra was pushing her to run, to get out, she turned her feet back to that corner, moving the swaths of cloth aside.
The wall had been protected, same as the curtains in the corner, and for a brief moment Loor could imagine this room in its former glory. Still, there was something pinned to that wall that prevented her from reveling in such an image for long.
Fury's clothes and been pinned to the wall with various types of knives, as if a person had been pinned there and then suddenly vanished out of their garments. Again, the Baron's symbol had been painted on the outfit with ashes, marking Fury as a victim of his regime.
He'll come for you too. Get out. Get out now!
Loor felt cold at the back of her head, and knew it had nothing to do with all the feelings bouncing about her body.
Too late.
"Do you like the little present we left for you?"
Errol's cocky voice. That arrogance.
And his gun. She remembered that from her last encounter with him.
"That woman must have thought she was so clever... and granted, I was fooled for a while... but I knew you face-to-face. When a guard said he'd seen a girl to your description leaving this place, so quickly after our little brush, how could I not have figured it out?"
Lauren had nothing to say. She feared answering him in any way would set off his psychotic personality and make him pull the trigger before she figured out a plan to get away.
"So we raid the place, kill the woman, and what do we find laying out, waiting to be put away? The outfit your friend was wearing... did she die quickly? It really is a shame... you two, and that freak. You turned into exactly what we wanted, but your bodies needed the right trigger. Anger, fear... Tell me, how badly do I have to frighten you to see it?" He chuckled. "Do I have to try and kill you?"
"Weren't you already going to do that? Blow my brains out on my sister's clothes?" She finally managed to speak.
"Sister?" Errol laughed. "My condolences, but no, I hadn't planned to join you two in death... yet. No, I think we'll take a nice little walk across the street... and I'll see just what it takes to bring the monster out of you. It'll be fun, like a game... a poke here, a prod there... we have so many toys back in the fortress that I've gotten so very good at using. Also... you have something I want."
Lauren was trying not to shake too terribly. Errol was going to try and torture Lyra out of her, and then he was going to kill her. Still, she had something of an idea forming. Her gun was near her hand... she'd shot him once before...
She had to keep him talking, distract him somehow, and buy the few seconds she needed to get the hell out of there. She just had to escape.
"And what would that be?" She asked, licking her lips nervously while trying to figure out just how many seconds would be vital to her successfully getting onto the street.
"Once we've captured one, we can kill the other... no need to leave one of you freaks running around the city. I assume your comm. unit will lead us right to all of your friends."
She'd decided. Now was the time to move. It was all one motion, ducking down and drawing her pistol out, turning and firing three shots into the dark before turning and running. She had no idea if she'd hit him, or even startled him. All she knew is that she'd broken away without getting her brains blown onto the wall, and she was sprinting for the portal of white that was the door. Lyra let go of her eyes, the light actually painful for the beast.
Errol had returned fire, but both shots he fired went wide of her.
She was to the door. Yes! She was going to get away.
Dashing out into the street, she stopped dead.
The street was empty, but for ten guards in red, arranged in a semi-circle around the door she'd just hopped out of.
"Don't think I'd fall for the same trick twice..." Errol was behind her, coming out of the doorway. "That's how you got away last time... so I bought a few friends to help me with my mousetrap."
She was out of her mind; she aimed her pistol at the nearest guard. She could see him, the helm covering his face, nothing but a tight frown showing at the bottom of his visor. She tried to blot it out. Ignore the fact that it was a human life on the other end of her gun.
The guard didn't flinch. He didn't move. He just stared at her as she hyperventilated, trying to bring herself to shoot him.
"They're not going to move. They're loyal to the Baron and myself... if you want them to get out of the way, you're going to have to kill them."
She whipped around, backing into the circle while aiming at Errol once more. She felt as if her finger had come loose. That was a life she was willing to take, on rage and fear she was willing to pull the trigger while looking at his face. She saw that one of her wild shots had hit him, skirting the same arm she'd planted a bullet in before. He didn't bother to cover the shallow wound; his racing suit had gotten the worst of it.
"Of course... if you shoot any of us, the rest of us will just detain you." Errol was smirking at her pistol, as if it were cute that she was aiming at him. "Ten against one are rather poor odds, don't you think?"
Her hand shook. She understood just how terrible those odds were. Still, she forced herself to realize the truth of the situation; this wasn't about her. Sure, Errol aimed to capture and kill her, but that wasn't the point.
He was after her comm. unit. If he got it, it wouldn't just lead him to Jak; Vin would also be found out for being a mole, and the location of the underground would be revealed to the Baron's right hand man. That was something the underground on a whole couldn't afford.
And if Errol killed Jak, it was all over.
Her next action was dictated by such thoughts. It didn't matter if she was captured, or even killed. This world's history had to play out as she knew it; and that meant keeping the Baron away from the underground.
She reached into her hip pouch, drew out her comm. unit, and watched as Errol's face morphed into surprise. Did he think she was surrendering?
She looked around herself. She was in the exact middle of the circle. There was nowhere for her to run.
"You want it, Errol?" She finally managed between erratic gasps for air. "Try using it like this."
She then crushed the little device in her hand. It was small, easy to snap in half, dropping it to the ground and grinding it under her boot. She then turned her free hand to draw out her juice rod, prepared to at least try and fight this horde of red.
To her confusion, Errol began laughing again. It was like his insanity had been turned up another notch, and when he finally looked at her he wore a grin that made him all the more frightening.
"You silly little girl, you're going to bring that other freak right to us!"
She got a shock as she realized what she'd done. She'd forgotten, but Vin had told her when he gave her that unit.
It was a KG war model; if it was damaged, it would send a distress signal to everyone on her contacts list. Jak would come running on his own, and if he didn't both Torn and Vin would send him her way.
It was one thing to bring Errol down on the whole underground, but Errol played his part in this story as well. He needed to survive to play that part, but he wouldn't be living very long if Jak got a hold of him now, in this hostile situation.
If either of them died, this world was lost.
The Author's Corner
DUNDUNDUN! I told you people I'm mean. Did you believe me? DID YOU? Um... maybe you did, maybe you didn't, but no one is reviewing so shit. People certainly seem to be reading, according to my hit-counter.
You vets must be pissed, since I managed to end this chapter on the same cliffy as I did last time. NOW if I can just get the following scene to work without any murder, we'll be good. I wish I could have killed Errol at this stage of the story... it would have been so satisfying... but sadly the guy's gotta live, for reasons beyond even the main character's knowledge!
Why, because the character Loor hasn't played Jak III yet. She don't know. Hah.
See you next time punks.
-Loor