Daxter sat in his hiding place, wondering what to do. Voices sounded from inside the hall. The echo that bounced off the metallic walkway muffled its sounds. He turned his head to find the sauce amongst the echo. Cautiously he crawled from one hiding place to another, dodging the Krimzon Guard's line of vision. The last time he was here there was far less guards. Maybe since he sprang Jak out of here they upped the guards to prevent the same thing to happen to another prisoner.
Guess no more lab rats on the loose.
Daxter followed the noises until he was confronted by a thin dark grey sliding door. Daxter came in close range to catch the words that were being spoken behind the door. Daxter wished he could find some way to get a good peak in the room but there was no vents and there was no way he was going to enter through the door. He had to settle for his imagination, well what's left of it.
The voices were arguing something. He listened hard to recognize two voices that shouted at each other. One was Erol and the other was male and familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"That was part of the deal!" The male voice shouted
"No it wasn't! We agreed upon the traitor's death and overlook your pathetic operation! That was all!" Erol shouted back. Daxter heard a fist slamming after his shout.
"Well I will not complete my end of the deal if you wont complete your end" The male voice said stubbornly
"Well I won't complete the deal anyway. I haven't seen the Eco Freak and I only have your word and a pathetic photograph to prove he's in your possession" Erol pointed out
"Then a new agreement is needed to settle this argument" the male voice said calmly
"Fine. What do you purpose?" Erol asked
"You find this rodent and I'll bring your man in person" the male voice stated, "Once all components are in place we do the trade and complete this deal"
"Fine. This may take a while. There a lot of holes for rats to hide in" Erol quoted, "My patrols are not trained to find your 'pet'"
Daxter heard the man snort.
"Take as long as you need. Remember the longer you take the longer you have to wait to get your hands on my prisoner" The man reminded him
"What ever. Now get out! I don't want your presence to make the rest of the Guards here suspicious" Erol snarled
"Sure. But we'll meet again" The male voice said darkly
The door slid open and Daxter immediately shrank back in his hiding spot. Daxter didn't see who came out so he peaked his head around and got a good glimpse at the man. Daxter gasped as he recognized the man. The conversation he just heard made more sense because the other man that Erol was talking to was boss man of the T.I.D.A.M.
"Out of the fry pan and into the fire" Daxter muttered as he walked into a large lantern lifted room.
Colson explained to Daxter what T.I.D.A.M was and how he got into the organization. It was mainly to try and help his mother to fight an aggressive disease. Colson decided to stay. He had miss too much school to go back and now his family was gone the organization was his only family. Daxter felt sorry for the kid to have a gang of thieves as his 'family'.
The room that they entered was earthen like the tunnels. A desk with a chair was in the middle. Around the room were other homey touches, like bookcases, beds, vases, posters and maps of the city and surrounding country.
Daxter noticed the chair behind the desk was a brown swivel chair. He also noted that there was a large muscular man in the room. He stood on the far side of the room. He had deep red hair with a cold brown stare. His face was rugged and dirty from years of dealing with the enemies. He wore black clothing from top to bottom. He wore no accessories like any other of his gang member friends, he just simply wore black leather gloves and a dirty but durable leather jacket. The man's arms were folded and his eyes followed the two figures in the room.
The swivel chair suddenly turned and there sitting in it was a fat bald man. He wore a brown one-piece white stripe suit with decorative trinkets. He wore brown gloves. He had black beady eyes as his baldhead presented an small ugly wart.
"So, your the new thing that this Mar forsaken city has spat at us" the bald man said
Daxter was about to reply but the bald man cut in.
"I am glad to welcome you to our humble operation. I have to say it's the first time I ever take on a rodent. The only animals we get in here are to sell on the Black Market. Come to think of it, you look quite rare yourself" The man continued
"Look, uh, boss man, I not really interested in this show your running here. I came here by accident" Daxter tried to explain himself then added, "I'm not the only one! There are thousands of others like me. You just can't find any. I'm not rare, honest!"
The man laughed, "Your quite the funny rat. I know when someone is lying and I have no plans to ship you off somewhere. You have no use for anything... yet"
"That's good to know..." Daxter trailed off
"I hear you're an Ottsel and your looking for someone. Jak, is it? I'm guessing this person is your owner?" The man asked
"A f-r-i-e-n-d. Not owner, just a friend" Daxter corrected forcefully
"Taken by the Krimzon Guards? The beady-eyed man asked
"Yeah" Daxter replied
"I can find him for you" The man offered
Hope fluttered in Daxter's chest, "Really?"
"Yes. My organization is huge. I can find anyone, anywhere" The plump man said proudly
"Great!" Daxter said excitedly
"I'll find him on one condition" The beady-eyed man promised
Daxter heart fell to the bottom of his feet, "There always was a catch. What do you want?"
"You must work for me. You'll be trained in the operations here and do missions for me. I'm sure we'll put your size and soon to be skill in good use" The beady eyed man smiled
Daxter shivered. Those words were similar to what Oakan had said when he found him dying in the alley. He had a bad feeling about this.
"Do we get paid for this?" Daxter asked suspiciously
"Of course" The plump man smiled, "At first small wages but if you climb in rank more money you'll receive"
The plump man got up from his chair and walked around the desk to stand in front of it.
"Are you in?" the man asked
Daxter sighed then looked at the ugly man. Then he nodded, "Yeah, I guess I'm in, as long you find Jak"
"Of course" the beady eyed man purred, "You shall be given a code name and enrolled into a course of combat. Bye the way I'm known as Spran and by no other name. I'm the leader of T.I.D.A.M"
Daxter scurried into a secluded hiding spot he once used when he was here to rescue Jak. He pulled out a communicator he had swiped from Jak before the abduction incident. It was the pass that helped them get into the Bazaar. What could he say? Once a thief, always a thief. It had the picture of Ashelin and funnily enough it double served them as a communicator. He hoped he could directly contact Ashelin on it. She was the only one who could get Torn out of this mess and had the guts to take Erol on and use her status when necessary.
"Hello? Hello?" Daxter called in a hushed voice into the communicator
"Who is this?" a voice barked from the communicator. Daxter cleared it was female. An angry female, but female none the less.
"Daxter"
"What do you want?" came the snappy voice
"Well I like many things from you. Like your number and where we could meet for a hot date and..."
"Look I don't have time for this!" she growled, "If you're going to waste my time..."
"Ok, ok!" Daxter cut in, "Look I need your help. Well not me personally, more on the lines of Torn"
"Torn?" she asked, all anger disappeared from her voice. Typical.
"Yeah. It's a long story but Erol cut a deal with the leader of T.I.D.A.M and Erol managed to capture Torn. He's going to liquidize him... what ever that is, as part of a deal so Erol can end up having Jak" Daxter explained
"Liquidize? Are you in the Fortress?" she asked
"Yeah" he replied
"Stay out of sight. I'll do what I can for Torn but I cannot guarantee his freedom or his life"
"Oh"
The communicator bleeped out. Daxter sighed. He suddenly felt tired. It was a very long day. It was probably almost midnight. He was very well hidden in this spot so he decided to sleep.
Daxter stood in the organization's shooting gallery about 10 or 20 ft underground. With him was Colson which he got to known quite well and grew more to be his old self around. Maybe because Colson reminded him so much of Jak... The other person that was in the room was the red head that was in the room with the boss man before. Daxter found out that his name was Ravenblade. That was, of course, his code name. He refused to tell them his real name, which was understandable. After all they had only met.
"Well are you ready?" Ravenblade asked.
Well he hoped he was ready. He never trained an animal to fight before. People in the organization were suspicious of the weird little character that now joined them. He didn't know why Spran would agree to this animal working for him in the first place but he was the boss.
"Since you haven't decided on what code name you want I'm going to decide for you. The next few weeks of training shall see what your made of and what code name suits you"
"So, uh, what do I do?" Daxter asked
The red head handed a white pistol at Daxter. Daxter took the pistol off the man's hands. It was heavy and large for his hand size.
"I guess these don't come in Ottsel size" Daxter quipped
Ravenblade didn't reply.
"Just I thought" Daxter concluded
"Get the feel of the gun, shoot it if you have to. When your ready we'll start the shooting course" Ravenblade instructed
Ravenblade was familiar with the routine of training new recruits. Everyone knew he was the second in command of the organization. That means he was to take over when Spran is gone. He and Spran had a deep and secretive history. Many in the organization look up to him with fear as well as respect. Some of the younger members he was like a mentor to. Like Colson, they had lost everything to the Krimzon Guards, Metal Heads or some fatal sickness.
Daxter pointed the gun to the far wall. He pulled the trigger, unprepared for the fire it admitted, he stumbled back. He fired again and again to get the feel of it. Finally he gave the signal to Ravenblade to start the training.
Metal Head targets popped up. Daxter shot them roughly aiming for them. They popped up in various places and Daxter tried to shoot with more aim to blast the further ones. When it was over Daxter was quite proud of himself. He shot most of the targets with pretty good aim.
"That was good. Now lets see how you can cope with moving targets" Ravenblade smirked
"Moving?" Daxter muttered as he readied himself to shoot.
The targets popped up and moved about in their slots. Daxter shot the slow moving targets with ease but the faster ones he couldn't even burn a hole in. After the shooting was over Daxter was tired. He wielded a heavy gun with both hands and trying to shoot fast targets, it was hard work for a 2ft tall Ottsel.
"Not so easy is it?" Ravenblade smirked at the rookie. He knew this animal my have intelligence but he never used a gun before.
"No it isn't" Daxter puffed, "Maybe you could get me a smaller gun like something more Ottsel Friendly?"
Ravenblade just laughed. The rodent was humorous, he'll give him that, "Learn how to shoot with that gun then I may think about getting you a smaller gun"
Daxter's face fell. He looked at the white pistol then his brow narrowed. If he needed to train to join this organization, so the boss man could find Jak. He'll do what ever it takes. His promise to help him was growing thin. With every new day Daxter grew more guilty that he left Jak behind and he grew more determined to find him.
"Start the course again" Daxter demanded, his tone was determined.
Ravenblade smiled and pressed the button to start the training.
It took Daxter two months before he got the hang to shooting moving targets. He was also trained in field operations and combat. What to do in different situations, trying to prepare him for the rough world that existed above. When Daxter finally completed the training he was given a code name. Ravenblade suggested Swifter because Daxter had his speed and agility to his advantage. Daxter reluctantly agreed after the suggestion Orange Lightning was laughed out the window.... if there were any windows underground.
Daxter was now ready for his first mission.
Onward to chapter 5!
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