Chapter 27:

It was a long and arduous ordeal, but we had finally managed to rebuild Haven City as a very good place once again, just like it was during the reign of the House of Mar... but that peace did not last long at ALL! Roughly a month into peace, something started to happen that shocked all of us. For some bizarre reason, a floating robotics factory hovered above Haven City overnight, it producing attack robots by the storm, which all honed in on attacking the citizenry and the newly formed Freedom Fighters, which were the new and improved Krimzon Guard, only they wore a cool blue instead of fiery red.

But that wasn't the worst part. Apparently the Metal Heads had found some new leader, because they started to attack our city once again, them completely overtaking the western farm area and turning it into their new nest. We had to seal them off, and even then, they found ways to get into the city daily.

But even then, that was not the absolute worst part. During one of the big attacks from both sides, rumors began to spread that the citizens were against myself, Jak, and Errol because we had a hand in the Metal Heads' "revenge" on the city because of Krew tricking Jak and I with the Ruby Key. And why did they also decide Errol was at fault? Because they already hated him beforehand and he was now one of our allies. And during this attack, the enemies sent forth a giant volley of mortars at the Palace, which ended up making it collapse completely in the Stadium, most of Maintown, and the entire Western Bazaars! Jak, Daxter and I barely escaped the wreckage unscathed, as we were on the Palace's balcony when this happened! And directly underneath where the Palace stood was a bunch of Precursor tunnels that looked very intricately designed, which Samos called the Catacombs, which were the oldest Precursor ruins on the planet.

And then, after three days since that event, a certain member of the Baron's city counsel, known as Count Vegar, declared a vote to be cast by the entire city. What was the vote for? To banish myself, Jak, and Errol into the deserted Wastelands for life. The exact same thing that Praxis did to the former king and queen! And apparently, despite my friends being on our side, Vegar declared the vote UNANIMOUS! Jak and Errol were furious at this, but I was quick to remind them that our allies would have NEVER joined the unanimous party, so I knew there was corruption going on. But even as I demanded Ashelin to investigate it, she frowned as she then told the truth to me.

"You're right, it wasn't unanimous... it was 80 to 20 in favor of you getting exiled. Vegar just wanted to gloat, so he declared it a unanimous vote," she said, me knowing then that, even if it wasn't unanimous, we were now as good as fucking dead. The Freedom League guards soon came to arrest us and we simply let them do it. I mean, how could we resist? If we did that, then the city would hate us even more. Even after we saved them from the Metal Heads and Metal Kor in the past, they thought we were the ones at fault. It really agitated me and it made me even more so when they decided that Kiki and Daxter would have to watch us go through the whole ordeal.

"Mom, I don't want you or dad to go! Please, tell me there has to be another way!" Kiki said, me sighing at her as we were arriving at the destination. I could feel it from the sudden heat that was inside of the Air Train we were using.

"Kiki... the only other way is if you got banished along with us. And we don't want that for you, okay?" I said to her with sadness, but she then clung to me and started to produce tears from her yellow eyes.

"Then banish me too! If mom and dad get banished, you aren't doing so without leaving me with them! I REFUSE to join you assholes after you all sold us out! Especially you, Count Demon!" Kiki exclaimed angrily at Vegar with tears, him growling at that.

"That's not even close to my name and you damn well know it, you Dark Eco freak!" Vegar exclaimed, me feeling something snap inside of me when he said that. Every single time he looked at us, he called me and Jak freaks, despite the fact that he knew about our injections long before Praxis was killed! And him saying that about our Metal Head child, who was more human than Metal Head by this point? It made me go dark form immediately as I then snapped free of my cuffs and rushed Vegar, grabbing him by the neck and choking him, the Freedom League immediately zapping me with their shock sticks so that I'd stop, but I didn't let go until I got shocked for the third time, me growling angrily as I glared Vegar in the face as he gasped for breath.

"If you call my daughter that name ONE MORE TIME, then your head will be served on a silver platter as her next meal! YOU HEAR ME?!" I exclaimed angrily at him, just as we landed. I then growled as I simply walked out on my own accord and Daxter and Kiki joined me, Jak, and Errol as we exited.

"By order of the Haven City counsel, for heinous acts and crimes against the people, you are hereby banished to the Wastelands for life," Vegar said as Ashelin then gave me something. It was a very old beacon.

"Someone will find you. I promise, momma Sasha," she said, me nodding at that as I hid the beacon in my bra and Vegar, her, and the guards then went back into the Air Train as it closed up.

"May the Precursors have mercy on you," Vegar said with a snarky smile as he then jetted off into the distance and I looked at my allies with a frown. Errol had since gotten healed up from our excursions in the past, since it was nearly 6 months ago and he's had plenty of healing sessions with Samos since then. But he still decided to opt for his old racing attire, since it reminded him of the days when he still had his pride... before Jak and I completely shredded it.

"Okay, now what?" Errol asked with a frown.

"I don't know, to be honest... Kiki, do you think you can scout ahead? You do have wings after all," I said, Kiki nodding at that. It was true. During our break for peace, Kiki had managed to get more eco from more mining operations, which made her finally turn into her adult form, it looking exactly like a cross between myself, Jak, and a Metal Head Scout. She had the Skull Gem hidden underneath her black and blonde hair, she had very quick agility thanks to her having tons of cartilage in her bones and tons of joints in her arms, legs, and back. And she actually was able to sprout very large and tough wings on her back that allowed her to fly and take out targets from the skies, namely with her trademark bombs, which had upgraded to be more like a Red Eco explosion instead of Dark Eco, since we'd learned that Red Eco was her favorite to eat. She said it tasted a lot like cherries, which were oddly enough one of her favorite human foods.

"Okay, I'll scope out from the skies and come back with an update," Kiki said as she then flew into the air very high and into the distance, us staying in place for roughly a minute before she returned with a wide smile on her face.

"Great news! There's actually some kind of settlement directly north of our location! They've got a big beacon of fire and a big walled gate! No doubt we can find shelter there!" Kiki smirked, me smiling at her and giving her a bit of Red Eco for the job well done, since, oddly enough, we were allowed to keep our weapons after getting banished.

"Okay, then we go north... which way is north again?" Daxter asked.

"This way! Follow me," Kiki said, me nodding as we then followed her on foot, since all of us combined were too much for Kiki to carry. She may have gotten tougher since reaching adulthood, but she was still only as big as I was, which wasn't much. We ended up walking for a good 30 minutes in the blazing hot sun until we could finally see the beacon that Kiki mentioned.

"There... I see it... we need to get there..." I puffed from being tired as we then moved forward again after a small break underneath the shade of a palm tree. By the time we finally got there, however, all of us were extremely exhausted, even Kiki. We then collapsed right at the front entrance to the city, just as the doors opened up. I tried to stay awake to see who the people were, but it was very difficult because I could feel some kind of stinging sensation happen to me whenever I tried to open my eyes.

"Looks like we have some live ones here. And they have a beacon on them," said a very gruff voice, me then looking in front of me with my eyes squinted to see that the beacon had fallen out of my bra in the process of me falling to the ground.

"An' why does this lass 'ere 'ave all that gray skin? An' a glowin' 'ead on top o' that?" asked another voice, this one sounding cockney.

"She's... my daughter..." I managed to groan as I then held onto the one guy's ankles with barely any strength left in me. "Water... please..." I groaned.

"Get them in here. And hurry it up. There's a storm coming," the gruff voice said, me finally passing out soon after.