[ Co-Author: butterfly123199 ]


The streets of Haven were exceptionally quiet, only a few people roaming the streets, most on their way home. Elise and Trinity had made their way back sooner than thought, and had headed down into the UG. Down there, Torn was waiting, with quite the annoyed look. The both of them could tell it was towards Jak, but mostly Daxter.

Elise stepped up to Torn's desk, "Soo-"

"No."

She blinked. "Wha..? But I didn't even-"

Torn squinted, "You're gonna ask to go watch the cargo exchange that happens in an hour. No. You're not doing the mission at night." He began looking back at the map. "There's another shipment tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?! Torn, do you know how much easier it'll be to do this at night?!" Elise glared, crossing her arms over her chest. Torn pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Elise... need I remind you of Trinity's condition? And last time you were on your own mission you got kidnapped by Erol." He said. His tone leaked aggression, but not too much. He still respected both her AND Trinity. "My answer is no. End of discussion now go to bed."

She growled in annoyance, "So you're gonna use that shit against me, huh?" She mumbled "Torn, you don't understand how easy this'll be at night! Come on, just let us do this!" Elise glanced at Trinity for support, biting her lip in anger.

Trinity already knew what was playing in Torn's mind, because Trin and his partner used to do all missions at night together. With some thought, Trinity knew it was foolish of him to side with Elise on this one.

"Torn." He glanced up to meet Trin's eyes from the table of crumpled maps of insufficient plans. "I won't do anything rash." Trinity couldn't come up with a valid enough argument, he felt as if those were all the words he could think of.

With a stern grimace, he motioned Trinity to follow him to whisper to the side. "Trinity, this is a costly decision. You're making a fool of yourself getting out on the field so soon." He spoke lowly.

Jak, Dax, and Elise were all giving each other their own mean looks, but the recruit with his ottsel couldn't help but be curious to see Torn NOT so uptight or in a toxic mood. To be fair though, Torn does look after his own men and well-beings.

He gritted his teeth, they watched the brief but tense exchange between the two, Torn seething and Trinity balling up his hands into fists, showing rage but remained with composure.

Torn slowly unsheathed his dagger and pointed dangerously to Trinity, its sharp end almost scraping against his painted steel mask. It gleamed under the dim ceiling light, "I won't allow any of us to be put into such a risk for something as meager as this, Trin."

With a wordless exchange, and a few heavy moments of stillness, he stabbed the table with the worn dagger. The sound snapping everyone back into reality.

Trinity pointed towards the bunker rooms for Elise to follow, she went in first. Before Trin followed suit, he glanced back at Jak, feeling as if he should tell him something. But continued on.

Elise quickly sped up her walking to follow Trinity, walking past Torn like some sort of lost puppy. Jak only furrowed his eyebrows in suspicion. He could never grasp anything the masked man would do, let alone understand any of it.

"So... what was that about? I've never seen Torn act like that." Elise asked, raising an eyebrow as she sat down on the mattress on the floor beside Trinity's bed. She started sleeping there ever since he had come back (after the 'situation') Just to make sure he'd be okay overnight. "Most importantly, are you really sure you wanna do this?"

Having some strange absolute resolve in his heart, he blurted out. "Yes." Checking on his eco grenades, grabbing a supply of green eco to stuff in his pockets, and finally putting on his brown jacket and black cape; he carefully stretched his limbs. "Before there were many of the UG members you see, all three of us would be the ones to go do the missions ourselves and plan." He didn't feel the need to bring her up again, so he stated quickly. "He blames himself too. For many disasters we've had in the past. That's why he's... You know - that."

Without another word, she nodded and stood up. She scratched at the scar on her arm before digging through a drawer. "I've had this for safe keeping..." See mumbled and pulled out a dagger. "It runs on dark eco... I want you to keep it, just in case." She placed the blade into Trinity's hands. "We can't always count on those guns of ours."

She closed the drawer after she holstered her weapons. "Oh, and Trin?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "If it counts for anything..." She hesitantly reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I don't think it's your fault..."

He stared intriguingly at the blade, until El's statement caught his attention, "Hmm?" He looked up.

She gave him a weak smile. "What happened to... her. I don't think it's your fault." She leaned forward and gave his temple a little kiss. "You did all you could, but look at you now?" She nudged his shoulder with a grin, hoping to lighten up the mood. "You've got me, eh?"

Secretly, her demeanor and reply gave him a recollection, but he pushed it away as hard as he could. In his heart, he knew that he saw his old partner in Elise.

He gave a weak smile under the mask, "I don't know El, you don't intend to put me in a tutu and tear me to pieces at the same time now, are you?" He tried to distract himself and chuckled lightly, then sighed. "Everyone says that to me. It's...okay, though. I'm still going, and I'm not going to stop until this is over." He grasped the dagger firmly and determinedly. "Thanks for this. I'm sure I'll have use for this, you got everything for tonight?" He grabbed the familiar handle of his Snipertron and flung it to his back."Yeah, I've got everything." She smiled. "Oh! And one more thing before we go..." she slowly grinned widely, grabbing his pillow and launching it in his direction. "Cheer up you big baby!" She laughed, "Come on! Like I said you've got me, Trinny! Unless you're too scared to have lil ol' me around," She joked, covering her mouth to hold back a bundle of laughter.

"Precursors, you sound like those old advertisements or something." Tossing the pillow on a bed he laughed, "Let's get back into the game, I'm tired of resting, ironically."

They went back out, passing by Torn who had his back turned to the posters of the KG and the Baron on the walls, he didn't show any sign of wanting to respond to them as they walked out. Jak and Dax weren't in the room, so Trin assumed they were off doing something else again. 'I hope Torn didn't send them to enduring missions because of us rascals.' He thought.

He took out a device, fiddling with it so it projected the layout of Haven City. "Alright." He said as they boarded the Zoomer and revved it back to life. "South Town... There's a lot of open spaces there and KG's roaming about, not to mention Krew." He muttered as he took the passenger's seat. "...You can swim, yes?"

"Yeah, I can swim," She raised an eyebrow, climbing into the driver's side of the zoomer. "And not that I'm complaining, But is there a reason Torn didn't squawk at me?" She asked, waiting for his direction before beginning to drive. She visibly became uncomfortable at the mention of Krew's name, unknowingly brushing her hand over her thigh, which retained a new scar from the 'incident'.

"You boys are gonna be the death of me..." She huffed quietly, half joking but half serious. "Oh, and where the hell is Elie? I know she works for the KG but that girl practically disappeared!"

"Elie's got her own issues to sort out, not to mention that she's still in a tighter spot than usual. Heard long ago she eventually ended up being promoted to a higher position." He explained, looking around even though he didn't feel like there were any eyes on them. "As for Torn, let's just say he's just about at boiling point with me, doesn't want to speak for a while. Proceeds on making future plans and movements... Anyway, good, you can swim. We'll need to travel along the edges and into the water in order to avoid anyone. At least - that's my plan right now. Got any better ideas?"

She blinked, talking in all the information at once before nodding. "I think so..." She huffed softly, glancing at Trinity as she pulled the zoomer to a stop. "Ladies first," She joked softly, desperately hoping to change the mood.

"Funny." He shook his head, but grinned.

They had just arrived at The Port, looking just as dull as The Slums. The water was murky from the pollutants of who knows what, thankfully neither of them were thirsty or stupid enough to swallow a mouthful of that.

His eyes scanned the city's ring that surrounds the waters, "In that alley way..." He noticed the number of KGs patrolling around, "I wouldn't be surprised if that fat kingpin Krew hired them..." Watching the sides, Trinity looked ahead. "Follow me, and we'll take that ladder over there. Eyes peeled." His tone was very professional-like, seeing that he pushed all jokes and funny businesses aside.

Elise nodded and kept her hand on one of her eco pistols, just to keep in check. "Why the hell are there so many of them?" She asked, her tone almost as low as Trinity's.

The air around them slowly became more and more difficult to tolerate, harder to inhale. The more they crept deeper into the alley way, the heavier the guards were. A few of the guards were carrying large crates, some with caution signs and others with chain locks on them.

Dawn: Chain locks? What the hell are these guys even smuggling?

"That seems a bit too guarded for green eco..." Elise whispered, her ears almost pinning back as she squinted. "There's gotta be something more to it than just green eco."

Trinity even saw a few particular cargo ships bringing in a couple of crates. "Let's get closer..."

Doing as she was told, El followed suit, dipping themselves into the water and Trin was holding his sniper rifle above the surface of it.

They swam near the edge, cautiously looking around for any flying Hellcats or other KG Zoomers. "Are these...? The Dark Eco supplies for the Metalheads Jak picked up at the Ammo Dump a while back?"

Trin narrowed his eyes dangerously. 'Wherever Torn has picked up this info from, this needs to be reported, unless it's from her in the KG...'

"There's no way we can get any closer..." He mumbled in frustration. "Wait..." Placing his Snipertron on top and on the edge, he used the scope, and then quickly sank back into the dark waters with Elise on his side. If he stuck out too long, they might be caught.

Elise flinched at the polluted water, gripping tightly onto Trinity's good arm to not lose him. She hesitated before peeking her head over one of the port docks, "I think I see someone.." She whispered. She squinted towards the figure, a shiver running down her spine. And it wasn't from the cold water.

"Erol..." She hissed under her breath, her grip on Trin's arm tightening with rage. "That son of a bitch - why would he be smuggling dark eco?" She asked and lowered her head again.

"He's talking with someone," she said, turning back to Trinity. "I think we can get closer to hear, follow me," She didn't wait for a response before starting to swim closer and closer to Erol, Trinity tailing behind her, whisper-shouting warnings and words of caution. But did she listen? Not at all.

Dawn: Elise, control yourself. You can't let your anger get the best of you.

"That bastard's gonna pay one way or another. For Me... Jak... and Moria." She growled.

He desperately tried to catch up to her, but with his injuries, Trin wasn't fast enough to grab her before she went off even further.

"Elise! Damn Precursors- don't!" He hissed.

Trinity didn't know whether the gutsy feeling was a sick churning of emotions due to seeing Erol, or if it was the wellbeing of Elise, he secretly hoped she wasn't planning to do something to worsen the situation. He used the dirty and scarred concrete edge to push himself and catch up.

Elise ignored his pleads, gripping onto the ledge of one of the docks and hoisted herself up. She hid behind one of the huts, squinting towards Erol. "Dirty mother fucker..." She grumbled.

Dawn: Elise! God damn it, snap out of it!

"No!" She snapped, rather too loudly, in the accident. "I won't stop, I won't ever stop until he's dead or I'm dead..."

"That can be arranged."

She tensed, feeling the cold metal of a gun on her shoulder.

"Erol..."

"Wonderful to see you too, dear."

The red head's voice rang through Elise's ears. She squeezed her eyes shut and began cursing herself, now wishing that she had listened to Trinity and Dawn. "Fuck..."

She grunted when he roughly gripped her arm. "Now, Princess, I know you're not alone." He turned to face the open area, "WHOEVER YOU ARE!" He shouted, "SHOW YOURSELF OR SHE DIES!"

His hand was on the dock, he cursed himself.

"Well?" The man gripped Elise's arm so harshly that she let out a small utter of pain.

He did as he told, wordlessly, there was a sound of the water splash and he hopped back onto the dock. His hand tightly grasping his rifle.

"I've been waiting to see you again, friend." He spat with utmost venom as he pressed the barrel of his gun on Trinity's companion. Erol had a dark, twisted smile. "This all seems too familiar, doesn't it, Trinny?"

The masked man's fists started to shake with immense anger, but he remained silent. He was continuously looking between Elise and Erol, his heart and mind raced. But dared not to show any emotions.

Elise glanced at Trinity, an apologetic look in her eyes. She quickly gritted her teeth when Erol roughly pulled Elise a bit back. "Planning the same fate with this one, eh?" Erol grinned widely.

Elise huffed. "Trinity, don't listen to him," she growled, "Piece of shit would use anything against you- Agh!" She gripped Erol's wrist in hopes of alleviating his grip, but no alas. She knew it was gonna bruise.

"Yeah, 'Trinny', I would say that, because you're repeating it all again." He forced Elise to step forward. "Why do you surround yourself with weaker people?!" He swiftly twisted Elise's arm back, pulling it until he heard a pop.

"AH! FUCK!" She cried.

"Moria wasn't enough was she?!" He gritted his teeth, "You continue to walk down the SAME road, only with a new failed project! Isn't that right, Trinity?!"

He grinded his teeth, wanting to tear his ex-partner's head. At this very moment, if he really had the power to risk it all, he'd throw away all his morals and hesitations on disemboweling Erol in order to save Elise.

His thoughts went at lightspeed, so many offensive words were swimming in his mind, that he couldn't quite say anything. But Trinity managed to let a single word, "Elise."

Anxiety burdened his heavy heart, would he really let her turn?

Elise let out heavy growls, noting how vulnerable Trinity was becoming. Her clothes stuck to her from their previous skulking in the waters. "Trin- AH!" She let out another pained yell when Erol managed to cause her arm to let out another little 'pop'.

Dawn: Oh shit oh shit oh shit-

Beth: Dawn! You have to let her go!

Dawn: I can't! What about last time?!

Beth: I'll be here THIS time, for the sake of the both of them, Dawn! There won't be a LAST time if you don't!

Dawn: I...

Elise gazed at Trinity, "You're stronger than this, Trinity - you know he's only tormenting you!" She shouted. Erol shoves Elise forward, holding her still as he walks her forward, almost 'face to face' with Trinity.

"Take a good look at her, Trinity..." He grinned, "Because this time... I'm not letting her slip away."

Elise gazed up at Trinity, her brown eyes holding nothing but pleads and warnings. She almost looked as if her pupils had a purple tint to them.

"Trinny..."

The anxiety was overwhelming, the terror striking his heart was overbearing, and he knew there was no way out. They all knew. Erol turned his wicked eyes to Trinity's bad arm and shoulder, he laughed. "Sooner or later, that Dark Eco's not going to be healthy in the long run for you."

'I could say the same, Erol.' He thought grimly. Trinity however, didn't shift his gaze as they fell on El.

He whispered, so softly, so quietly, that it was almost like nothing. But it did not tremble, showing that he had made up his mind, that he had some impossible hope. "Turn."

Almost immediately, Erol's nasty smile disappeared.

Elise's skin paled to a bright white. Much like before, her transformation looked painful, but this time - she didn't seem phased. She broke free from Erol's grip with a hard elbow to his stomach. Somehow the man felt it through his armor, sending him back.

"What the?! No!" Erol gritted his teeth. "There's no controlling that beast! She'll kill you!" He howled.

Dark Elise hissed and let out a deep growl, jerking her arm. She grinned a devilishly wide smile when it loudly popped back into place, sending Erol to a shudder. Her claws were overbearing, sending fear into those around them.

Dawn: Easy! Easy... remember who's here...

Dark Elise snapped at the voice in her mind, taking a quick glance back at Trinity. She stared at him, her dark eyes piercing. She remembered the masked man... back from the pumping station...


"Uragh!...I- It's you, Elise!... Y- you're the light...!" He said, finally turning his head up to stare her right in the eyes.


Dark Elise's vicious gaze slowly began to falter, yet she didn't dare settle down. She hesitantly reached her clawed hand up and touched Trinity's wounded shoulder, tracing her fingers over the purple streaks.


"You aren't a monster... Remember those words I told you th-that night..." He tried to be on his two feet again, but his body was reaching its limit, and he fell to his knees. "It's never too late ...to turn back on the road you have taken..."


The creature lowered her hand, a scoff still on her face. She remembered him, but she didn't know why she had a feeling...

She felt the need to protect him, to guard him as if he were a mere child in need. She didn't move, but she gazed to lock eyes with him.

"Elise..." In the inside, he was sweating and trembling in fear, seeing her made him think of Dark Moria. The dark electricity crackled upon the very tips of her long nails, contacting his purple veins and wound. Trinity gritted his teeth once again.

But there was no time to reminisce or think, as Erol retreated and called out, "Kill the Eco freak!" He sprinted like a coward and as Dark Elise tried to lunge for it, Erol turned with a sadistic smirk, held up his arm, and got picked up by a Hellcat Cruiser. To the creature's frustration, her claws narrowly missed him.

Soon, the area was surrounded by the KG, some that were outside of Erol's squadron trembled, "S- So the stories were true!"

Trinity (despite the bothersome prickly arm that worsened ten-fold from the dark eco Elise emits), he holstered his sniper rifle and held out the dagger she had given him.


"It runs on Dark Eco..."


He gripped it with his bad arm, and the sinister blade glowed; the horrible needle-like feel on his arm eased, but was still there. 'Fitting...'

Thanks to the subtle signs of recognition from Elise however, the burden had lifted just a bit. "Get 'em!" They yelled, and the KGs armed with electric rods attacked!

Elise let out a vicious roar, watching Erol zoom away on a hellcat. She quickly snapped her gaze to the guards beginning to surround her. Her frown turned into a grin yet again.

"S-Stay back!" A guard shouted, pointing its weapon directly at the beast.

"Heheheh..." She let out a sinister chuckle, her eyes darting from one guard to another, then back to Trinity. She slowly inched her gaze back to the guards, taking one small step at a time.

She hardly needed to do anything, for the men were trembling in fear just at the sight of her.

Dawn: Do you think...? No... it's impossible... isn't it?

Beth: What? What do you mean?

Dark Elise grazed her claws along the dock, scraping the wood before she came to a halt. Her ears were pinned up, almost as if she were listening.

Dawn: Holy Precursors...

Beth: What?! What's happening?!

Dawn: She's...

Beth: Yeah?

Dawn: She's waiting for an order... from Trinity!

Dark Elise remained still, but let out a snarl, demanding the two voices to hush themselves.

Seeing how she hasn't lashed out at the Krimzon Guards, Trinity soon realized and suddenly, it's as if all color and hope came back, the city wasn't as gray as it was before to him. He stood behind Dark Elise, "Take that side, and I'll take mine." Trinity smiled, determined.

Dark Elise smirked, not waiting another moment to lunge towards the guards. She made sure to follow Trinity's demand and clear out her area. She slashed at one of the guards, almost letting out a laugh when she flung him into the water.

Dawn: WHOOO HOOO! THIS IS SO AWESOME!

Beth: I can't believe this...

*SLASH!*
"AAAHHHHHHHH!"

The Guards on Elise's side seemed to be scattering, attempting to confuse the beast, which only angered her. She gripped onto one of the guards, raising her claws. The guard held up his hands as if to defend himself. As she looked down at him, she took a sudden pause...


"GRAH!" Elise had lunged on Trinity, plunging her nails on his shoulder!

"AGH!" Trinity yelled, his hand grabbing her's in order to soften the blow. But her undeniable strength easily powered him in this current state, the dark electricity ran over his body, giving pain.


She shook her head, letting out a loud help of pain when the guard below her landed a hard hit onto her. She growled, blood slowly dripping down her nose.

"Elise! Rgh, you'll pay!" He turned on his heel instantly, tackling the guard.

Consequently, he completely ignored the guards behind them; but Dark Elise, shaking her head out of the trance and abrupt pain, she covered Trinny's nine o'clock.

With his gleaming purple and obsidian colored blade, he plunged the cursed steel into the KG! "RAGH!" With a sickening seizure and jolt, the electrical Dark Eco devoured the man from inside out and he laid there, unmoving.

"No!" One of them yelled.

"FALL BACK! I REPEAT, FALL BACK!" One KG yelled, causing multiple soldiers to start gathering up on hellcats.

Dark Elise grinned widely as she listened, quickly darting over to the hellcat and swiping at the guards. "RAAHH!"

"MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN!"

She grabbed onto a soldier just before the hellcat took off! The soldier groaned in utter pain, gripping onto his wounded shoulder. In his suit, were deep claw marks from the ravish beast.

She gripped the soldier and threw him over to where Trinity was, purple eco now jolting off her body. She skulked her way back over the Trinity and looked at the dead body below him, licking her lips with a hungered gaze.

The soldier Elise has thrown over remained still. She couldn't tell if it was from pain or fear, but she didn't dare move without another order... even though that dead guy was looking pretty tasty.

"Here..." Trinity slowly and carefully pointed the weapon to her, "Running low." He said, which was true.

The ominous purple glow had dimmed from the fight, and even the veins under the sleeve of his jacket was more faint in black and indigo than before. It seemed that it had drained most of the eco it could take from him.

'It should filter out some from her...' He wondered curiously, and kept his watchful gaze on the soldier who stayed shut.

Dark Elise gripped onto the blade with her hand, black and purple jolts of eco quickly dancing their way into the dagger. Granted, she could've done it a smarter way and not grip the blade with her bare hand... but hey! It worked, didn't it?

She let out a small yet snarky growl, almost trying to speak. She let the blade go and stared down at her hand. It was cut deep - which meant that was a pretty damn good blade.

The dagger flowed back to life, purple light illuminating off of its silver lining. Only instead of purple shocks, the dagger gave off deep black jolts of electricity.

"Thank you." Nodding, he turned to the KG. "Now... Just what were you doing with these shipments, why are they chained up? These extra precautions?"

Trinity darkly stood next to him, both were eyeing the blade. He kept an eye on Dark Elise and her hand, unsure whether how long she'll be in control, or when she'll turn back.

Nonetheless, it seemed that she had control of herself, Trinity was overjoyed secretly, but he had to interrogate the KG before he succumbed to the blood loss and Dark Eco poisoning.

The guard panted, a grin slowly cascading his lips. "I'll take it to my grave... Commander Trinity." He scoffed, "Erol told us all about you, you traitor..."

Dark Elise seemed to snap at the guard, a little too pissed with his response. She looked down at her hand and waved it a bit, hissing at the stinging.

The guard flinched at the pain the dark eco brought to him, "W-Wait..." he panted, cursing himself before looking back up. "If I tell you, c-can I leave?" He asked, completely unaware that the dark eco was slowly killing him.

Trinity pitied him, sad that even if he did, he wouldn't last. He took a knee next to the poor man, unfazed and unsurprising of his old rank and title he had called Trin. "Yes. We're not the KG."

Despite knowing the poisoning, Trin had his own thoughts whether or not to save the guard. He could, but was the risk worth it?

"But know this. If Erol had said everything about me, you know I could track down and kill anyone you ever cared about." He threatened. "I'm just as twisted as Erol can be." His voice was as cold as the crackling steel of the dagger.

The guard swallowed thickly, "If I tell you... Erol will kill me..." he stared up at Trinity, taking occasional glances at Dark Elise, fear bubbling in his stomach.

"The crates are full of dark eco... Erol is planning on bringing someone else in for the Dark Warrior project... he still never decided on who, thought..." he motioned to one of the crates. "There's equipment for the new machine he's making... that's all I know, I swear to the precursors."

Dark Elise slowly furrowed her eyebrows, her calm attitude quickly shifting when she noticed the guard reaching for his belt.

"And Commander Trinity..." the guard slowly began to grin, holding up the ring to an eco grenade. "I'm already a dead man."

Dark Elise quickly ran over and Tackled Trinity off of the soldier, wrapping herself around him as tightly as she could as the Grenade sent off bundles of dark eco!

She hissed out, waiting a while before slowly letting Trinity go.

"Ugh!" Landing on his bad arm, he cursed as the knife clattered upon the concrete, its obsidian colored shining material ringing.

It wasn't the only thing ringing however, even his own ear drums were pounding from the nearby grenade. Quickly breaking out of his shock, he crawled up and stood on his knees, grasping his arm tightly. The prickly feeling wasn't giving him an easy time for sure.

'Me and my damned compassion sometimes!' He scolded himself, then called out. "E- El... El?!" Trin grunted from his aching back from landing on the ground.

Dark Elise shook her head, whimpering as her ears rang. She made sure to take most of the impact from the grenade(which hardly affected her, it being dark eco). She attempted to sit up, her hands shaking slightly. Soon enough, her skin was slowly shading back to normal. Her hair faded black and her nails shrunk size. Elise dry heaved slightly, but held back from puking anything at all...

She groaned as she turned around, quickly glancing at Trinity. "T-Trin!" She yelled, quickly scampering to her feet and rushing beside him. "Trin, are you okay?!" She asked, gripping his chin and beginning to inspect his figure. "Your arm..." she gritted her teeth. "Damn it, fucking KG guard!" She shook her head, attempting to block away the ringing in her ears. "What happened?! Did Erol do this to you, Trinity?! Did he send that guy after you?" She seemed to not recall any of her actions as Dark Elise... for now.

He shook his head, trying to snap the ringing from his ears out, "Ugh, I'm fine - you took most of..." He looked up, confused. "You don't recall?" Then proceeded to stand. Albeit, woozy and wobbly, but with El's help, he was able to get back on his two feet.

The Dark Eco grenade had made the veins on his bad arm have saturated purple once again, however, only a tad bit. The needle feel was worse though. "Th- The dagger..." He uttered out, the arm growing ever more annoying. "Please." Trin's tone was restricted by the pain.

"Easy..." she warned softly, getting him balanced before reaching for the dagger and handing it to him. "I-..." she blinked, suddenly noting the dagger. "Did I...?" She looked up at him, hoping she didn't have to finish her sentence. "I only remember you saying turn..." she carefully wrapped an arm around Trinity's waist to keep him up, holding onto his torso with her other arm(being shorter than him). "Did I hurt you?" She asked, gazing up at him. Her eyes seemed to still have the purple tint.

He gingerly held the dagger, the pain being too much despite his high tolerance. The violet in upon his skin seemed to drip into the blade itself as if it was absorbing it, he couldn't quite answer Elise until after the pain has washed away like a wave.

He sighed in relief, "No... You didn't." Trinity saw the knife radiating with life from the given energies.

Elise stared at the dagger, blinking in shock. "Since when could it..?" She glanced at Trinity and frowned, "I'm sorry, I lashed out... I just - I saw him and all I could think about was what he did back at the prison." she shook her head and helped Trinity stand up completely. "Let's get you back. I can already tell Torn isn't gonna be - Whoa!" Elise blinked, raising her arms up in utter shock. "Trinity?" She questioned, her tone now hardly a whisper.

It seemed that the large man pulled her into a hug, one almost as tight as any she would get from Brutter. She hesitated before slowly hugging back, gripping onto him as tightly as she could without hurting him.

"To Precursors above I thought I'd lose you like her," Then he quickly broke it, heat rising into his face. He looked at the crates, "We must destroy these, I'll dispose of it, grab those KG Zoomers."

Without a moment's hesitation, they went back into business, seeing that the area remained high alert. Trinity grabbed an eco grenade of his own and tossed it!

"I can't believe you still surprise me, you know that?" She quickly drove over, bashing the floor of the Zoomer on the ground. "Whoops."

He laughed, climbing on, and they fled off! "I'll explain what happened back at the bunkers, those crates...There's no way Erol's going to be any happier either, we've just pushed back their progress even more."

*BOOOM!*

Just as he finished that line, the explosion blasted dangerous colors of black, red, and purple. 'Never mix eco.' He reminded himself of a tip he gave Jak once about eco ammunitions.

"Forget the road, let's go over the water!" Other Hellcats soon began pouring into The Port, firing tracers overhead. He pulled out his Snipertron, and with a grin, he muttered. "Missed using you." Then began firing back. "Same routes, El! I've got security passes, don't worry about the turrets when going through the Industrial Sector!" He bellowed over the winds.

Elise grinned, "Alright, time to see what this can really do." She mumbled, quickly starting up the zoomer and taking off, hellcats trailing behind them. "Left flank!" She warned, her gaze now as stolid as before.

"Gotcha!"

*BANG!* Went the Snipertron, its yellow eco bullet slicing through the air and catching one of the opposing drivers!

They weaved through the cities and sectors, while the biggest turrets weren't the issue thanks to Trinity's security passes, the smaller ones were dangerously tracing their movements with twin massive barrels!

"Cut through here!" Trinity pointed, "We'll lose 'em in East Bazaar!"

Racing through in-between buildings and bashing the Zoomer so badly that one of the front mounted guns were now useless, Elise did as told, and they rounded into an alleyway to avoid both the civilians and KG-

-Elise yelped as she was yanked off of the vehicle! "Kill me later!" Trinity joked as he was the one to pull her out of it and the Hellcat was done. It had exploded and while still holding her hand, they retreated through the other end of the narrow road to rejoin the panicking crowd, using it as an advantage to lose the Krimzon Guards.

Running passed a lonely, small business foundation called Muse Supply & Shop. 'Muses still exist?' Trinity wondered. They carefully slink back into The Slums, the KG still rattled and so were the civilians.

Elise followed Trinity, a bit rattled up from the zoomer incident. "Trinity I'm gonna kill you!" She hissed under her breath, gasping when she was suddenly pulled into an alleyway with him. "Hey! What are you— Mh!"

"Shh!"

She looked down at the hand placed over her mouth, giving Trinity a heavy glare. Krimzon guards ran by, Elise recognizing a few from back at the port.

Once they ran away, Elise slapped Trinity's hand away, seemingly in a flustered manner. "You asshat!" She scolded. "You're wounded and you go around doin' all this?!" She asked, completely oblivious to her own wounds, especially the cuts on her hand Dark Elise managed when grabbing the dagger.

"And the mere fact you scared the soul out of me?!" She slapped him on his good arm. "You're lucky I care about you, stupid!" She hissed in a harsh yet scolding tone.

Trinity seemed silent, until he bursted into chuckles. "Well, I did say to follow me." He straightened up, "While I'm glad you didn't go after me as Dark El, you still went off on your own accord, acting on pure emotions when everything could've been avoided." Trinity peered out of the corner for a moment, then sighed in relief. "I apologize, but please don't do that again."

Elise's gaze suddenly softened, "I know." She huffed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I should've known better... especially with Erol." She let out a chuckle of disbelief.

"I don't even know what came over, I felt like... Rage just took over me." She glanced up at him, a weak smile slowly fixing her sad expression. "I'm glad nothing serious happened to you, though..."

He smiled in gratitude, then saw her hand. "I can say the same, but right now, we need to go back to the hideout. In short, when you've turned, I've gotten information I couldn't ignore, what I did back there? I had to." His voice turned utterly dark and grim, like when he spoke of the Prison, it sent chills down her spine. "C'mon."

They went to the familiar dead end, seeing the door bearing the cracked emblem of the Baron. Before they stepped in however, he stopped abruptly, almost making Elise crash into him. He turned his head, "By the way... This is normal for me." He laughed.

Elise rolled her eyes playfully and shoved Trinity forward. "Keep on walking you big dope- WHOA!" She quickly ducked down when a dagger was launched their direction, landing barely above the both of them and lodging into the wall.

"WHY am I getting alerts about an EXPLOSION AT THE PORTS?!" Torn snapped, his deadly gaze on both Trinity and Elise. Jak raised an eyebrow, but decided not to speak on the situation.

Daxter jumped up onto the desk. "That was you two?" He asked, clearly instigating. Elise shot a glare towards him.

"You're just as destructive as this idiot!" Torn shouted, pointing to Jak and Daxter. Elise's ears pinned back slightly.

The whole fiasco was technically her fault. She might have caused a bit too much damage overall. She glanced up at Trinity, playing with the open wound on her hand from paranoia.

Trinity however, remained unusually calm (or usually calm in his point of view). "Torn, this valuable information will have even The Shadow be interested."

Torn narrowed his gaze, "Fine. Everyone- "

"No, they stay. This applies to them as well." He was equally as serious as Torn was, whenever their mysterious leader was brought up, everyone knew it was heavy business.

Dax hopped back onto the table as Jak stood to join them, now intrigued. "Ey, now ya got us!" Daxter perked up.

Trin stated, "First things, Jak, hopefully this makes up for the last time."

The recruit crossed his arms, "It does. Hopefully."

Hesitantly, Elise stepped to stand beside Trinity, her demeanor slightly changing. "You sent us to check out green eco being smuggled." Torn raised an eyebrow, his eyes narrowing slightly. He didn't bother to respond, seeing as Elise wasn't even going to let him. "It's much bigger than we thought it was. It's not just green eco." She swallowed thickly. "Erol is gathering supplies for another DWP."

Jak seemed to sit up quickly, his expression turning dark. "What?" He snapped his gaze towards Trinity. "What the hell is she talking about?"

Trinity explained, "The Dark Warrior Project. They were chained, heavy, large amounts of Dark Eco. There were even parts for a new machinery for it. A stronger, more efficient one." Then he gave a sideways glance to Elise. "Erol was there, his squadron was. We didn't get him, and El... Well she turned."

All three were shocked, Daxter slightly sinking back to Jak's side. "I thought Sunshine here was dangerous -"

Elise got insulted, Jak shook his head and blurted out. "How are you still standing here then?"

Elise squinted at Jak. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She stepped forward, pressing an accusing finger to Jak's chest. "Not everyone is a cold-hearted prick like you! I actually TRIED to keep Trinity safe!"

Jak slapped her hand away and let out a chuckle of disbelief. "With the last time? Yeah, nice joke. Now what really happened?"

She waved her hand from the slap, growling softly. "You're gonna use that against me?! That was an accident!—"

"But it was still you."

"Technically, But—"

"End of discussion." He grumbled, unfazed by the ravenette's deadly glare. He grinned slightly, "What? You gonna turn on me next?"

"Really considering it." She snarled, her eyes gaining their purple tint back.

Dawn: I would be the bad guy if I let her go, wouldn't I?

Beth: Even I'm tempted to...

*BAM!*

With his infected arm, Trinity had slammed the evil dark dagger on the table. The indigo glow was as menacing as the substance of Dark Eco itself, "Enough. I'm not done."

The sound and presence of the blade attracted all of them. The purple in his veins transferred and bled into the knife itself, "Thanks to the Oracle and this El gave me, she has control. Both of you have control over your dark counterparts, but that doesn't mean you should be at each other's throats!"

Daxter leaned near the weapon, "Woah! Fancy knife there - wait wait hold your Yakows!" He over exaggerated his movements and waved his arms. "Are you telling us this runs on dark eco?! How's the arm?..." He mumbled.

Everyone stared at the dagger, Torn giving it a slight paranoid gaze. "Mh." he crossed his arms, "I've seen that before..." He muttered under his breath.

Elise quickly shot her gaze downwards, clenching her fists together. The fresh wound on her hand began to sting, small droplets of blood beginning to trickle down. Torn noted the tension between everyone and glanced at Trinity. "We'll finish this later." He rubbed his temples. "Go collect yourselves in your bunkers, just. Get out of my sight so I can think." He grumbled. "And you." He glared at Jak. "You have a pretty bold mouth for someone who can barely get a job done right."

Without another word, Elise stomped her way to the bunkers, cursing under her breath as she did so.

Seeing that Trinity still hasn't finished his information, he scoffed, wrenched the dagger free, and sheathed it. "Fine." He was about to leave, but then Torn called.

"I still need to ask you." His rough voice echoed around the now empty room as the other three returned to the bunkers as told, all toxic.

Trinity wouldn't be surprised if they were still listening in though.

"All this - how are you feeling?" It was out of the blue, Torn sighed and rubbed his face in stress. Trinity couldn't quite answer it, he just began pacing back and forth across the table from Torn.

"I- I can't believe it." Suddenly he stopped and leaned on the planning table.

"Trinity?"

The masked man chuckled, which made Torn worried whether or not the Dark Eco was getting to him.

"Elise can control herself, both Jak and her..." He trembled.

"What's the matter?"

He laughed. "I can save them." Then he looked up to Torn, his old friend. "Never again, never again am I going to let this happen like her. All of the sudden, it's like a weight of mine has lifted only just." Trinity admitted.

Unbeknownst to the two, the trio were eavesdropping in on their conversation.

Jak smiled weakly, giving a breathless chuckle when he felt Daxter nuzzled his cheek. He gave the tired ottsel a pat on the head and walked off to his own bed.

On the other hand, Elise remained. She stared at the tall man, a wide smile on her face. "Hmph, you moron..." She whispered, glancing at the wound on her hand. "I'll do anything to help you forgive yourself..."


Butterfly's A/N: Yes, Bliss is still under construction and will be for a while! Overall, I'm hoping to get it back up sometime this year, but until then, keep reading Haven's Heroes! Or else I'll come into your house and eat all your cheese. ):c
If they do not read, their cheese will DIE D:c

JV007's A/N: NO NOT THE CHEZ! :O We went overboard over this RP lol
Technically though, isn't this book one long roleplay? Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it! It's finally to get back into gear and move on to the main story missions in the game!