[Co-Author: Butterfly123199]
Context: After all the chaos we're left with *somewhat* wounded heroes and they're off to blow the crap out of the dig and the Baron's equipment! SURELY NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN, AM I RIGHT?
It wasn't long till the gang was driving and making their way into the Port again, but this time, they had a pass in their hands to prep up a little bit of dig site barbecue.
"Mmmrhghm..."
Unfortunately for two, one of them had an injured side and the other had an injured bottom.
"Laugh it up more and I'll see you covered in molten metal from head to toe."
Trinity was driving like a hunchback, sore was a massive understatement to explain his somewhat reopened wound from back at the sewers. Elise couldn't help but find it amusing to hear Nyx and Trin arguing internally, throwing insults left and right. 'What happened to being a tough guy- well, NYX, what happened to your snappy lil' backbone?' In fact, she found it a tad bit familiar.
'You two sound like Dawn and Beth..'
She sighed and leaned back, only to flinch forward.
"You uh... might not wanna lean back, sugar plum." Daxter was resting on Elise's shoulder.
For once, she had ignored the flirting and simply pet Daxter's ears. She grumbled swears and empty threats to both Trinity and Nyx, which she was positive they could hear.
'Just wait till we get back to the UG.. you're gonna get it!'
'We already DID get it...' Trinny sighed, still leaning so aggressively and hilariously forward that it really doesn't look comfortable.
Moving on...
They soon saw a vehicle not very common around here as they're made to take soldiers outside the grey, dull walls of Haven. It was no surprise the vehicle itself sported a livery and symbol barring the same as any Hellcat Cruisers they've encountered. As they parked and approached, they noticed someone leaning on the side of the Transport.
"You look like you haven't caught a whiff of sleep yet." Jak remarked.
They turned and stretched, "If it isn't sunshine for sore eyes? With all the fuss going about I'm surprised any of your asses haven't hit the slammer yet." Elie sighed. "Well, c'mon, let's get going. I need to drive. All before I get my ears chewed out from 'neglected duties'."
Trinity couldn't help but give a brief chuckle.
"I bet you missed that, don't you?" Trinny smirked, then shrugged. Elie raised a brow at his odd posture however, as the gang went over to the back of the transport zoomer where the backdoor would open. "And uh, mind explaining about that? Did you finally throw out your back, old man?"
Trin shook his head, "No."
Elise immediately lit up at the sight of Elie. Of course she wanted to just run up and hug the girl, but.. she could hardly walk. Come on you know why.
"Yeah the old man definitely strained himself." She smirked rather deviously. "Missed seein' another girl around. Being surrounded by morons isn't as fun as it seems."
'Not you, Nyxie.'
"Don't mean to rush into questions, but wouldn't we need an air train pass?" She asked and flinched when she attempted to stand up straight. "Don't ask."
Jak plucked one out of his pocket, "Got it right here, but why need it if you could just drive us there?"
'Nyxie?..' Trinity made a little cough to catch their attention, a tad bit rosy but they couldn't tell. Except for Elise, knowing that he must've sputtered a bit from pure embarrassment. "The Baron's systems scans and looks for those, if they find out we're going past outer city limits beyond usual airlocked gates, I bet we'll be done for at some point."
With that, Elie nodded and they headed at the back once she kicked the engines to life (literally). There was a slight giddiness from Nyx, 'Outside the city, even for a bit! And to bust up Praxis' operations, huh?'
There was no tiny window or any of the sort to chat with Elie unfortunately, but they were thrilled nonetheless, and the doors had windows where they could see Haven from up here. The Baron's Palace towering over everything as usual.
A bit of banter was made to pass the time, Elise was giving off a stink eye to 'Trinny' whenever she sat or did anything that summoned the pain from her bruises. Trinity was giving his own form of glare to Nyx - through carefully selected words, enough to make Elise have a tiny bit of amusement. Seeing under the calm or cool exterior of Trin to find a surprisingly vulgar man towards Nyx was enough for her. (For now.)
"Alright, stop is here. Do me a favor and really mess it up in there- "
"I'm going to bet you don't care because you're not filing reports?" The masked man asked.
"Pretty much - now, go, I can't be seen with you obviously, so I'm stuck here." She shrugged and huffed.
They ventured inside the facility, the deeper they went, the more the rocks were replaced with metal. Not only did the anticipation rise...
"Phew. Last time I went to a place like this was years ago." Trin remarked, El couldn't tell if it was Nyx or him or even both.
But she agreed. "Are we heading into a volcano?"
Daxter wanted to brush off some kind of memory from long ago, "Jak, buddy, I do not want my tail fur singed by lava AGAIN."
"Can't promise that."
The temperature rose. Even after they hopped off the lift, the humming of heavy machinery didn't stop. A long stretching cave system snaked ahead of them, "Sh.." Trin held up a hand and they made their way down.
Chatter echoed in the rocky halls and they quickly disposed of the few KGs patrolling around. El had gotten some green eco from the boxes, but her bruise was still there (unfortunately for her).
As soon as they stepped into the mouth which opens to the dig site, the heat bit at their faces. It was like a wakeup slap compared to the icy cold maws of Haven's tainted atmosphere.
Machine and metal ruled this part of the cave, there were impressive lifts of all sizes, bolts bigger than a man's torso, and (more importantly) had plenty of Krimzon Guards buzzing around. The air began to waver from all the heat, it was so hot that Trin began to roll up his sleeves not caring whether or not the purple veins of his arm peeked out. "Follow my lead and we'll shake loose the supporting pins with our boards, got it?"
"Yeah."
Elise didn't know whether she liked the fact she couldn't trail along with the JET-Board or the fact that the cool breeze from behind kissed her backside, away from the raging lava waves ahead.
Daxter suddenly shot up, wiping his forehead, fur slickened by sweat. "WOAH, just hold onto your board for a second masky, these KGs look like they're packin'!"
"Won't stop us since we'll be fast enough on my lead, but since they've got a lotta grenades under their belt..." 'Ahem, literally.' Trinny explained. "It's better to seek cover, El, or have different ones to move to."
As soon as Trinity zipped off, an unexpected race and competition was on, making things go along faster!
The guards were already calling them out and launching grenades that blew up in a dark violet puff of smoke, "It's the UG! Blow them apart!"
Trinity was quick to kick one sitting prettily on the metal gratings towards a nearby KG, shooting with one of Elise's pistols he borrowed yet again. El on the other hand, had a special weapon in her hands, the Stradivarius. She had taken aim and fired her first shot, a bright blue streak of its projectile ripping through the air! It didn't recoil as hard as the Snipertron, but it did remind her of Jak's Vulcan Fury. 'Wait, doesn't this fire three times in one go?' Elise saw a tiny button jutting out under her eye, then tried it out again. "Woah, that's fast- " She wasted no time however bringing her mind back to the action, shooting a lone Krimzon soldier to the point where he actually fell in the lava.
Jak tried to jump onto the steel pipes first, but Trin was quick to flip his board and launch himself right on it before he could. "Show off!" Dax remarked, but grinned nonetheless at the chase.
Managing to get through despite the few scary scrapes here and there, they had only eight supporting parts left to break. The more they continued, the more the giant drill at the very center of this cave began to yawn and tip at one side.
"One more pass and we're hightailin'!" Trin yelled against the rushing winds, exploding barrels, and screaming machinery.
The trio were so far away that Elise could barely see through the hazing heat, she wiped her brow and decided to deal with the nearby KGs, eventually learning something...
click!
"Crap, I'm out- " She had to take cover, figuring out how to reload.
She lifted the fancy curved hinged on the top, making the gun spit out the disc, and surprising her a bit. "Phew! Okay, okay now where?..." Kicking the boxes into pieces, Elise quickly slapped the magazine on and locked the hinge back.
"Woo-hoo!" Trinny exclaimed, doing another trick in the air and bashing against the last pin!
Plink!
...
CRRREEEAAAAK...
Eventually Trin and Jak zipped back around, skating upon the heat-resistant pipes! The towering drill broke on the parts that held it in place, metal groaned, and the guards were fleeing for it!
'RUN!' Nyx exclaimed, hoping for Elise to catch it even though they were a bit far away and the entire place was breaking apart!
'Nyxie?'
The voice was faint, but she could make it out to be Nyx.
"Run..?" Elise raised an eyebrow in utter confusion—Until the place started falling apart. "Oh precursors..." Her ears pinned back and she paled-
"WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE, JAK!" Daxter screeched.
"Trinity, let's go!" Jak shouted, in utter hopes of the soldier hearing him.
Elise scrambled, flinching and dodging debris that came her way.
'NYX! TRIN!'
Trinity almost lost his balance, but he kept hovering along, narrowly dodging both grenades and flying shots! There was one last trembling pipe to get through, it looked unstable as hell, but what is he going to do? Skate across the lava? (Wrong franchise guys.)
They made their way, with Trin's heart skipping a beat in a mere second as the pipe came loose!
But he flipped his board one last time, making it through!
One unfortunate little shrapnel from a lucky grenade exploded near him, sending a sharp shard scraping across his face. Once again, his old worn mask had another scratch for whatever stories to tell someday. They made it out regardless, using the lift before any other of the guards had caught up to them. Elie had already prepped up the vehicle, its back hatch opened for them to rush inside and escape from the dig site.
By the time they returned to Haven City, Elie dropping them over and driving elsewhere, Trin's Communicator zipped right out. An elderly voice erupted from its speakers, not quite like Samos' but Kor's.
Kor (Communicator): ["I am so proud of you all, and you too Daxter! Together, you have done real damage to the Baron. We may win this war yet!"]
Trinny couldn't help but say something snarky. 'I'm surprised he even mentioned Dax.' He grinned, 'I'm surprised you even brought that up.'
They were resting and lurking in The Port district, as much as they didn't like Krew, it was suggested that they might be better off laying low in there rather than outside.
"I bet he has another mission for us, honestly..." Trinity mindlessly wondered aloud.
Daxter hopped to his shoulder, "Fat man likes to bite more than he could chew! I bet he gives out more missions than he could ever eat on a free buffet day." He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "How many ya think he's gonna have to bribe us with gun mods til he runs out?"
"Anything that takes me one step closer to the Baron I'll take anyway."
They were searching around and cautiously made their way into the Hip Hog without any trouble. Surely enough from the cargo mission, patrols here have doubled since. Trinity eyed the reflection at the far back, seeing all the metalheads displayed. Drinks and bottles sit prettily on the shelves, in fact, a little too many with so little people around.
Krew flew around, admiring the paintings and photos of himself that were perched up high. 'Narcissistic much?' Elise couldn't help herself but think of that.
"Mm." Trinity hummed in response.
Krew seemed to have that slimy smile on his face, fanning excitedly as he studied the shiny alcohol bottles. "Hmm, years ago, when I was an art 'collector', I hit the local museum to, hm, 'borrow' a famous statue of Mar, the founder of Haven City." He floated around, a greedy glint in his mismatched eyes. "In his hands, the statue held the Ruby Key to the city, an artifact of surpassing beauty, and, of course..." He zipped down on eye level to Jak. "Priceless worth, eh!"
His smile immediately turned upside down when Dax spoke up as always, "Oh, I just looove art!" He swiftly ducked away when Krew almost whacked him with his orange fan.
"I'm gonna guess a delicate lil 'operation' gone wrong?"
With that, a sour snarl curled and crept upon Krew's ugly features. His back was turned but the mirror showed it clearly, "While smuggling the huge statue through the sewers, eh, a grueling rainstorm flooded the whole place. The statue, and five of my best men, were swept away." He fanned with frustration, turning his many-ringed hand into a fist.
"That's terrible."
"Yes, a tragic loss. I've missed that statue ever since." Elise and Trin eyed each other at that. Dax was telling Jak to duck by pointing down frantically, as Krew was rambling off, he almost hit the ottsel with his floating chair. "The sewers have been so full of water and metal heads that I can't get anyone to go down there and retrieve the artifact." Then he flew right to them, "But you're special, Jak and mm, el 'Capitan'. You can do it!"
The Orange Lightning barked, "Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?"
Krew suddenly had a hungry thought come to mind, "Oh don't I wish—mmm!"
He was licking his fingers imagining something delicious, making slurping sounds. But to everyone else, Nyx was gagging. 'Ugh, yuck.' Elise made a disgusted face, Jak and Daxter were weirded out. Trin? Trin's being Trin.
"Now go down there, drain the sewers, and find that statue at the bottom. Bring back the Ruby Key artifact, and it will open up doors beyond our wildest dreams, eh!"
"Great, more mucking in the mud."
Daxter leaned on his golden tuft of hair. "I hate to burst your bathtub bubbles baby, but that ain't just mud down there."
"Let's go." Trinity hmphed, then walked out.
As they 'borrowed' a civvie's Zoomer, a heavy thought came to mind. Trinity didn't dare bring it up, he did say a word of caution though.
"Jak, if you see any sort of glowing eyes in the ceiling, don't hesitate to shoot it."
"More metalheads and we'll have it in the bag though, it's not like you to say things so...?"
"Warily? That's because there's some kind of Metalhead I've never seen before." A tiny bit of anxiety was teetering across his insides.
Elise on the other hand didn't want to have another moment like that again, she had recalled and kept every word that was said to her since then. All because of the pendant, things seemed to be spiraling out of control. Trinity being one of the earliest experiments... She wondered if Moria looked like him in dark form. "Why's it always the sewers?... We always end up right back where all our troubles began, huh?" Elise partially grumbled, running her hand over thigh, over the scar. She sighed and rested back with a quick flinch, but relaxed. "So... are we gonna—"
'Absolutely not.'
"Oh shut up Nyxie, you're a pain in my ass... literally."
'You think you're tired of her, she's been a pain in my ass ever since.' Trinity thought, rolling his eyes.
Jak and Dax couldn't help but laugh a little, Elise gave a stink eye to Jak, and she bonked the ottsel upside in the head. The bubbling nervousness only seemed to get worse, spiking up for a split second as the elevator started up its motors when they arrived. Trinity took out his Stradivarius, keeping his head up high. Elise couldn't quite tell whether if it was Nyx or Trin that was getting uppity, but they both had their reasons... He narrowed his eyes, squinting against the ceiling for anything.
Whatever those types of metalheads were, they seem a little too coordinated and smart compared to the ambush back at the Bazaar sector. They all knew for a fact there was something brewing on the horizon for disaster, problem was - when will it dawn on them?
Daxter's fur stood on their end as he had a foreboding chill upon looking at the deep gashes in the other hallway, "I'd hate to s-see what made THOSE."
Trinity only bit his bottom lip, not daring to look at it since both El and him knew who made those gouges on the walls.
Elise slowly took Trinity's hand into her own and laced their fingers together. She gave his hand a tight yet comforting squeeze.
'You're okay. You both are.'
She smiled weakly, though she herself looked wary of the place.
Trinity brought up the map, seeing that the path they need to go leads to somewhere else. Elise glanced over and saw a long metal tunnel, some parts being submerged in old, musty water.
They walked to the other way and there was no other sound but the dripping water, just as before. Trinny and El refused to drop their guard despite that, Jak took out his board. "I guess it's this way?"
"Mhm." Trinity said from behind.
Unlike the other parts of this metal maze, the path was completely lit from (occasionally blinking but) working lights. Trinity quickly tried to find an alternative in his head but he sighed. "I guess we can group up when each part of this place gets drained." Trinny then felt like he wanted to roll his eyes and bit his lip. "Back in KG days we didn't wanna deal with Metalheads so Baron thought to fill the waters with mines and explosives."
Dax leaned out from Jak's shoulder and eyed the water cautiously. "Ohhh, I do NOT like the sound of that- like, enough to turn this into a sewage barbecue and collapse this place or somethin'?!"
Trinny shrugged, "Collapse this place? Nah, probably not." Trinity then let his Communicator on and Jak's was flying around too, "Don't make us see an ottsel rotisserie from the mines around here."
"What a way to say 'stay safe', masky." Dax crossed his arms, sticking his tongue out at him.
"I wouldn't mind an Ottsel rotisserie." Elise made sure to let out somewhat of a devious cackle.
"Ah.. aha.. bye!" Daxter's voice cut off immediately.
"So you gonna answer me?" She rested her arms on the back of her neck as they walked.
While Jak skated across the metal tunnels and heard an occasional splash of water down there, Trin was still eyeing around their surroundings. 'I should try a seasoned ottsel...'
"Mm." Trin then sighed. 'Good luck finding one then.' He eventually holstered his weapon, but still looked around just in case.
"Nothing's gonna happen, big guy." Elise sighed and looked forward as they walked, Trin grunting. 'Hopefully...' She looked down as they walked. She felt tinges of guilt in her for what had happened before, but pushed through it... mostly.
'That's what people said to me back in Ol- Nyx, don't.' Trinity's tone was serious unlike the usual banter Elise caught lately. El picked up on Trinny sighing and rolling their eyes.
"I'm not them, Nyxie. I'm me." She did her best to force a smile when she glanced at them. "I promise, you both will be alright till the very end of all this..."
There was a small moment where he closed his eyes and smiled a little, he was going to say something. Until there was a loud squeaking of metal somewhere below, the water began gurgling and draining.
When Trin leaned over to the edge, surely enough the water levels were lowering down below. From the Communicator's point of view, both of them saw just how much machinery consisted of whirling blades. They were like rotors.
'We could make our way down using, no, I know what you're thinking and we'll dive right into a mine.'
Instead Trinity and Elise continue to make their way down, where the water and them meet, somewhere in the distance they could hear Dax unsurprisingly screaming about the mines.
"Where did all the damn metalheads go? Place is completely empty." Trinny gave another scan, "I guess they're most likely planning more probing attacks on Haven..." He hummed, thinking.
"Orrr maybe they're just as tired as we are?" She grumbled under her breath. Her bruise was really starting to bug her.
"Them, tired? Hah, doubt that. We just saw them be suicidal in the Bazaar." There was another squeak echoing in the metal corridors of the sewers. "Another valve, let's go."
The deeper they descended, the more Elise had begun to realize there were less metal platings covering the walls and more of old, soaked stonework. It seemed that there was one last valve to turn on Jak's end, since they went down a steel ramp that was partially submerged. Up ahead, they could actually see the dynamic duo zipping around and avoiding all kinds of mines littered around the place. They beeped and blinked dangerously with their red lights, a ring of spikes surrounding them like the ones back at the Port. Yet they looked vastly different compared to those.
'Ah crud, there's no KG boxes around. But then again they'd be soaked and ruined.'
"I need to stock up on Green Eco later." Trinity rummaged around his small brown pouch but decided to leave it alone.
Having to make their way to regroup, there was another corridor for them to cross. The thing was, it was dark in there. There was a floor switch up ahead, but Trin and El cautiously observed around them. Waiting for some ambush.
Elise brought her pistols out, a nervous feeling bubbling in the pit of her stomach. They approached the floor button nonetheless, the darkness ahead obscuring whatever was lying in wait.
Trin didn't hesitate to stomp on the switch and shoulder the Stradivarius instantly, anticipating for some sound other than the leaking waterworks and murky, rushing waters.
...
But there was absolutely nothing.
"AGHHHH!"
Daxter's yell made Trin's ears flick up but he gave a heavy sigh and holstered the weapon-
BOOM!
The sudden shout made even Elise let out a frightened yell in response. She flushed and was going in to yell—
"Damn idiot! Any more like that and I'll make him swallow stuffing, yeah?!" Trinny crossed his arms and tapped his foot on the metal grating, huffing. A burst of adrenaline and with his heart feeling like a fluttering hummingbird gave him an unnecessary wake up call.
His out-of-character outburst made El laugh, knowing who's exactly who-
She halted when Nyx took that role. She snickered and covered her mouth, letting out a loud laugh.
Was she pissed? Yeah. But was the little jumpscare funny? Hell yeah.
Certainly enough though, the explosion around the corner lit the next room orange. Water hugging the pipes and ledges shook from the impact, making it rain down on both of them.
"Calm down, calm down." She rubbed his back with her free hand. 'Calm down, Nyxie.' She holstered her pistols. "Got the job done, boys?"
There was one last twist and turn of a sitting valve somewhere, the last of the mines got destroyed, and the sharp rotors of the sewers groaned to a complete stop.
Trinity merely grunted in response while Nyx was off throwing a small tantrum about embarrassments and horrible slurs, 'Keep it down, will you?'
They both finally hopped down, their boots grinding against the old concrete, and walking to the next room. Around the corner they spied with their little eye, a statue of stone. Jak and Dax did a little fistbump and took a good look at the figure themselves, walking up close.
"The Statue of Mar." Trinny recalled, "An old hero who's still facing new problems that we gotta clean up thanks to the Baron and metalheads making a mess of things in his city."
The statue was holding a towering greatsword, their face heroically looking skyward. The ottsel caught a red glint to where the massive, cold, and rocky hands met. The little guy climbed around, gripping the edges of the knight-like armor, and reached to the peak to finally see a gleaming golden key. Despite being submerged through time, the key shined like it was brand new. The crimson ruby was as big as Daxter's whole head!
"Now let's see...hrgh! HRGHMP!"
Underestimating it, it seemed really embedded in the statue's solid grip.
But with one last pull, he wretched it free!
Elise let out a small gasp seeing the golden glint winking in midair, Trin had only made an eyebrow raise, his hand still massaging the part El had punched.
"Woah!" Jak dove for it, catching it safe and sound. "Where would you be without me, eh Dax?" He pocketed the key to his back pouch, it peeked out of the top a bit.
"Well Jak," He lept down. "I probably wouldn't be two feet tall..." He looked at his tail and entire petite form, "Fuzzy and running around in a sewer without a pair of pants - God, I miss pants."
Trinity shook his head with a sigh and Nyx chuckled in his thoughts.
"Alright, let's get out of this nasty place before metalheads come. I bet that explosion must've caught their attention somewhere..."
JV007 A/N: How I never noticed this back as a kid and why- Nevermind LOL. Look at that, WE'RE GETTING THE BOOK GOING AND ALMOST AT THE 50th CHAPPIE MARK WHAT IS HAPPENING OHH HOLYY SHIEEET-
Butterfly A/N: Damn looking at all these chappies makes me feel old ):
JV007 A/N: And old writing makes me feel cringe-
Anyhow, here comes Elie once again! A special OC belonging to Tammatam in their book: "The Colour of Blood"!