Chapter 36

Upon reaching the sewers of New Haven, we emerged to find that the place we had to go through was filled with Metal Heads! Upon first entering, the Jetpack Metal Heads were the first to greet us, but they stood no chance against our powerful weapons. Though we did agree that Daxter's new gun would only be used for the big and beefy enemies, which he was all for, especially since the weapon still hadn't recharged to full yet. In fact, it was only halfway charged.

"I guess that weapon upgrade came with a compromise. It fires a giant blast of destruction, but at the cost of taking much longer to recharge," I said to Dax, him nodding at that.

"Eh, so long as it can destroy big targets in one blast, I'm fine with it," Daxter smirked as we then had to resort to Jet Boarding through the next few areas, since the floor was warped... that and it was also full of disgusting water filled with poop, piss, blood, and other items sent through the pipes from the citizens.

"Ugh, could people please stop flushing their city passes down the drain? I know we got rid of them after Ashelin took charge, but it's going to end up clogging the sewage systems at this point!" Sasha groaned in disgust as we made it to an area that had some more Metal Heads and some spike frogs, which we had to defeat in order to move on. And after moving through the sewers some more, through more clean water and over some pipes that we grinded on, we came across something very annoying. Fans that blew on us so hard, that we couldn't move forward!

"I'll take these things out," Errol frowned as he armed his gun and shot the Arc Wielder at them, which fried them and then destroyed them instantly. I would've expected us to be shocked horribly, since we were in water, but it didn't hurt us at all.

"I guess the electricity really is just a stream of Blue Eco. Cool!" Sasha smirked widely as we then did the same thing through the rest of the sewers until we got to the exit, which we then proceeded up and saw we had arrived in the port. It looked like it was pretty peaceful, but I knew this place in particular was in a bad area. The Metal Head sector of the city was directly to the west and the Industrial sector, filled with KG robots, was directly east.

"So where would we be able to find out how to link up with HQ from here?" Errol asked with a frown.

"Well, how about we scope out the Naughty Ottsel first? After all, we have a bunch of supplies there, all left behind by Krew," Kiki suggested.

"Hey, that's a great idea! Krew had weapons up the wazoo, so he's bound to have left some upgrades for our guns! Let's go check it out!" I said with a smile as we then used our Jet Boards to head over to the Naughty Ottsel while Kiki flew over there and we then went inside with smiles on our faces, but no one smiled as much as Daxter.

"Ah, the Naughty Ottsel... Honey, I'm home!" Daxter smiled widely as we then saw someone from the center table... which had been converted into a communicator/radar!

"Jak? Errol and Sasha? I didn't expect to see you back so soon," said the gravelly voice of Torn, though he did still give a glare towards Errol.

"Torn?! What are you doing to my place?!" Daxter asked angrily as I noticed that Metal Kor's head was still hung up for all the see.

"We needed a southern HQ for the war. Plus, I kinda like the Ottsel statue on the sign," Torn smiled.

"Thanks, looks good, huh?" Daxter smiled.

"We use it for target practice," Torn said soon after, which made Kiki and Sasha burst out laughing while Daxter yelled, "HEY!"

"Listen, I'm sorry we couldn't stop Count Veger. We all are," Torn said with a frown.

"We met Veger outside of Haven City in the old mines. He's trying to use Precursor Technology for something involving the Catacombs," I said.

"Heh, why am I not surprised? That guy was always one monk short of a choir," Torn said.

"You know, I never asked before, but why is Veger commuting with the Precursor Monks in the Wasteland? Does he know about Spargus? If so, he might try to hurt them with this new power, where he said, and I quote, 'I will be the light that destroys all shadows'. He's sure to kill innocents, just like he did when he destroyed the Palace and nearly half the city," Sasha frowned angrily.

"I dunno, but we got bigger fish to fry right now. Veger sent me and my men on a suicide attack into the Port and we got cut off. Then, shortly after, he activated the roadblock forcefields. We're going to need to break through those barriers and also push back the threats of the KG robots and the Metal Heads, which are squeezing us from both sides," Torn said, me frowning at the fact that Veger sent him here and just left him to die, much like with us.

"Never fear, the family o' trouble is here!" Daxter smiled widely. And then the radar picked up something nasty and turned red.

"Uh-oh, speaking of trouble, we've got incoming Blast Bots from the KG sector. They're headed right for the hideout! Can you guys handle it?" Torn asked, me smirking at that.

"Come on, guys, let's go fry those robots with our new Arc Wielders," Sasha said widely as she then cocked her gun and led the charge outside, me looking into the radar and seeing that there was one towards the KG sector and two on the bridges out in the water. I proceeded to get in a Zoomer and head right for the one to the KG sector, Errol and Kiki went for the one on the western side of the bridge, and Sasha went to the one on the east side of the bridge. Once I got there with Dax, I then proceeded to pepper the large robot with a steady stream of constant Blue Eco electricity, the robot taking a bit longer to take out than the other ones we'd been dealing with, but it soon smoked and short-circuited after about 25 individual ammo bits were used, the robot then making a large explosion that created a small crater on the ground. I then got a message from Errol soon after.

"Kiki and I got this one. How about you two?" Errol asked. And then Sasha got on the line.

"Got mine, and so did Jak. Let's meet back up at the Naughty Ottsel to see what Torn has for us next," Sasha said, me nodding at that. We then went back and we saw Torn was trying to make a call.

"Ashelin! Ashelin, you there? This is Torn. Jak, Sasha, and Errol are back in the city!" Torn said, Ashelin's hologram appearing from the machine soon after.

"Really? They're back? Oh, thank god you're back!" Ashelin said, me smiling at that as Torn then started to speak.

"That new KG leader must be pissin' in his-" he was about to finish before I saw the signal start to get jammed. And I saw a new hologram... of someone I gasped at. It was just as she looked in the past, only with her right side of her face being completely mechanical!

"MAIA!" I exclaimed in shock, her laughing soon after.

"Yes, I am alive! AHAHAHAHA! So, we meet again, Jak. And I see you have your little fuzzy friend with you!" Maia laughed, me gawking at her. I knew it was her on the communicator in the Wasteland!

"Wait... Maia?! As in, one of the two Dark Eco Sages from Jak's time? The same Maia that Jak sunk into a silo filled with Dark Eco?! How in the fucking hell are you still alive?! It's been over 2 thousand years!" Sasha asked in absolute bafflement. I couldn't blame her, since that was one of the talking points we had often when we were in jail all that time ago.

"Haha, yes, it has been too long. I was able to survive the process of being in that Dark Eco. In fact, since I wasn't a full sage, I was able to gain an unaging body at the cost of it deteriorating with every passing century. Only my head remained after I was released from that Silo and I was kept as a small display piece in that Weapons Factory that you so rudely blew up! But thanks to the KG robots that were there, I was able to have a brand new body built for me," Maia said, me looking at her in shock.

"A brand new body?" I asked in curiosity.

"Haha, even the Metal Heads have their biological weaknesses. But as for me? I'm almost 99 percent metal. And I'm going to be so interested in seeing you squirm. I've got big plans for the future of this world, starting when that light in the sky comes ever so closer... tata," Maia said as she then cut the connection and I looked a bit shocked as did Daxter.

"You know her from your time, Jak?" Errol asked me.

"She planned to flood the entire world in my time with Dark Eco, which wouldn't have been good at all, since my timeline had much more greenery as opposed to this future world," I said with a frown.

"If we can break through those barricades through the KG zones, we can link up with HQ in order to get more firepower. We're going to need to destroy the weakest of the barriers first, the one to the east of the Port. I have an idea and Kiki will be the perfect candidate for it," Torn said, Kiki smiling at that.

"What do I have to do?" Kiki asked.

"Go out to the nearby missile launcher outside the saloon, grab onto it and activate it. It'll be a wild ride, since the missile's got the same amount of speed as a rocket. You'll need to hold onto it and force it to collide into the forcefield after adding at least 10 of your bombs to the tip of it, and make sure to clear out before sending the missile at the forcefield, or you'll be the next one mounted on the walls. And we wouldn't want that," Torn said, Kiki smirking and simply sticking her tongue out at that last part.

"Just a quick tip, Torn, but if you ever make a tasteless joke like that again, I'm going to rip those tattoos off of your face with my bare hands! Okay? Heehee," Kiki giggled, Torn smirking at how playful her attitude was, almost like it were a joke.

"Trust me Torn, you don't want to mess with Kiki. She was able to destroy a heavy-duty reinforced gate in the old Eco mines with just a couple bombs, so I'd hate to see what would happen if she wanted to show her brute strength on that face," Sasha smiled as she and our group went outside to watch Kiki work her magic.