Chapter 5

Hey everyone! Thaks so much for waiting on this chapter, and I hope you enjoy it as much I enjoyed writing it. This contains my first attempts at an action-style scene, so please be brutal! Can't get better without decent critisim, ne? Oh, and please don't hurt me too badly for the last part... Please?

Huge thankyous to everyone later, and I am also working on a picture to go with this chapter, so keep an eye on my deviantart page, ok? (shameless plug)

Also, my cliche-parody fic will be updated soon, promise!

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Torn was already at the opening when the pair returned.

"What took you two so long?" he growled, "Sightseeing?"

"We were examining the extent of the Eco lakes." Jak said, reminding himself that hauling off and hitting Torn was not an advisable plan.

"And?"

"I can't belive that there's so much Eco in one place! What could the Metalheads have possibly needed it all for?!"

Torn shrugged. "I don't know. Vin had some theories on it, but I don't think he had any hard evidence. What types of Eco do we have here?"

Daxter wondered if Torn was oblivious to the masses of different Eco types nearby, or if he just liked ordering Jak around.

"Dark, Green, Blue, Red... all types!" Jak said, "Barring white of course."

Torn's brow furrowed. "White Eco? What the hell is that?"

Jak thought for a moment, mentally reliving the awesome feeling of power that had flowed through him the single time he'd used it. "It's pretty powerful," he said, painfully aware of how little justice the description gave it, "It's made from a combination of Green, Blue, Yellow and Red Eco."

"Not possible." Torn said. "When the Baron first started experimenting with Eco, I think they tried mixing those Eco types together, in the hopes of getting a super warrior."

Jak blinked. "I've never heard of this before now."

"You wouldn't have. Not many people know about it."

"What happened?"

"The resulting explosion took out most of the labs and killed all of the scientists. I'm not sure what cover story the Baron used, but I was able to find out what really happened. But my point is, we simply don't have the equipment to create this 'White Eco', and unless you know the secret, it can't be done." Torn crossed his arms, watching Jak carefully.

"I don't know..." Jak stared at his feet, then turned and surveyed the room. "Chances are the secret was left behind with Sandover..."

Torn scowled. "Quit your babbling. No one knows about it, and that's final. Now if we've finished our little chat, I need to get everyone back to the city and inform Ashelin about this Eco mine."

Jak rolled his eyes as Torn flipped open the communicator and began barking orders down it. Then it would be back to the Ottsel and sitting around waiting for something to happen. He halfway wished the Metalheads would attack again.... At least he wasn't as useless then.

"Who needs heroes, anyway?" Jak muttered to himself.

Daxter looked at him nervously and began to worry again.

-----

Jak blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light outside of MetalKor's nest. The sun was beginning to sink towards the horizon, and was apparently positioned perfectly to blind Jak as he stepped outside.

"Hey there, Cherry." Sig called as Jak tried to blink the after-images away from his eyes. "We're 'bout ready to head on back to the city. How's your end?"

Jak rolled his shoulders casually. "Nothing much to bother about," he replied, "I didn't find anything really challenging, the Krimzon Guard should have been able to clean this out on their own."

Sig grinned, landing a huge hand on Jak's shoulder. "Too true, Cherry, but still, the money's good, and easy too. Can't complain about that."

"Well, I just wish that I had more to do... It's so irritating, just sitting around waiting for Torn or Ashelin to decide if I could be useful or not." Jak sighed, dragging his fingers through his hair. "I don't think anyone needs me anymore. Maybe I should just go off somewhere. Explore or something..."

Sig shared a glance with Daxter before answering. "I don't know... 'All the Metalheads still around it might be better for you to wait a bit. 'Sides I'm sure that Keira would like you to..."

"Will everyone just shut up about Keira?!" Jak snapped. "My life doesn't happen to revolve around her, no matter what she wants. Anyway, it's not like she really cares about me. I'm going back to the transport..." He turned and stalked off before Sig had a chance to answer.

"Eh.. Jak? Maybe you shouldn't have yelled like that... I mean, it's not Sig's fault, he didn't even know that you and Keira aren't together anymore..." Daxter said, trying to catch Jak's eye. "And shouldn't we go check with Torn about what we do next? There might still be Metalheads around."

Jak snorted. "I doubt it. Besides, I can deal with any Metalheads that come our way. There hasn't been anything worth worrying about all day. Face it Dax, the Metalhead Nest is dead. Nothing worth worrying about, and nothing dangerous." He scowled at the landscape. "Just rocks and dirt.."

Daxter swallowed nervously, keeping an eye on the terrain just in case. There didn't seem to be any signs of Metalheads... the odd monster, but no Metalheads. Come to think of it, even the monsters were leaving. Some of the good sized ones that he caught glimpses of would have had a decent chance at attacking Jak, but they were all leaving, like maybe something worse was around...

"Uhhh, Jak? Maybe we should turn back. I have a bad feeling..."

"Relax, Daxter, nothing is going to happen to us, besides we're almost back to the transport."

Daxter was vaguely aware of the note of concern in Jak's voice, but was much more interested in the odd movements he kept seeing out of the corner of his eye, though it was never there when he turned his head. This, coupled with the sudden quiet and the monsters leaving, was making for a very nervous Daxter.

"Please can we go back, Jak?" Daxter didn't care how scared his voice sounded. He was technically a rodent, and the primal senses of rodents everywhere were screaming at him to get far, far away from this place.

"If you think so Dax.."

"I know so! MOVE!!"

Jak turned back towards the Metalhead lair, surprised by the amount of terror he'd heard in Daxter's voice. "Daxter, what's wrong? I've never seen you this.."

The ground moved.

"What the-" Jak exclaimed.

"Jak!! Run! We've got to get away from here!" Then, partially blind with panic and the overwhelming sense of danger, Daxter sank his teeth into Jak's ear.

"Ow! Daxter!" The ground moved again, pitching Jak forward onto his knees. "What's happening?!"

The ground moved again, cascading loose dry earth and sending Jak and Daxter off the edge of the rapidly rising mound. Jak instinctively rolled away from the mound, still painfully aware of Daxter's teeth in his ear, then leapt to his feet. At first, his eyes couldn't comprehend what they were seeing, as obscured as it was by the dirt, but then he saw a glowing gem, and Jak realized he was staring at one of the largest Metalheads he'd ever seen.

'Shooting this one will only make it mad!'

Sig's words came back to him. It wasn't the same Metalhead that they had fought in Underport, but it's size was comparable. As the dirt cleared, Jak became aware of two things. It was very, very angry, and he had nowhere to run...

-----

"Where the hell is Jak?" Torn demanded. "He was supposed to wait for my orders before he decided to do anything. This isn't a playground for kiddies where he can do as he likes."

Sig shrugged. "Got all fumed up about something, said he was going back to the transport. Rest of the team's about finished up around here, so we may as well head back there anyway."

Torn glared at him for good measure, but decided not to push it. The Wastelander was a lot larger and more powerful than he was, and didn't have to follow Torn's orders. "Fine."

Sig blinked, staring in the direction of the transport. "Funny, you don't get dust storms out here normally..." He reached for his binoculars and sighted down them.

"Do we have to worry about this now?" Torn growled. "We have more important things to worry about."

"I think we need to worry about this! That thing's the biggest Metalhead I've ever laid eyes on!!"

"What?!" Torn grabbed the binoculars and aimed them at the dust storm, enlarging it until it became- "A Metalhead?!" The behemoth resembled the small, scorpion-like Metalheads they were used to, except it was a lot larger and a lot meaner. Torn was willing to bet it was poisonous too, with the way his luck seemed to be going. A flash of colour drew his eyes to a smaller form in front of the monster. "That idiot..." he hissed.

"We'd better hurry, before we need us a replacement hero," Sig commented, breaking into a run.

"At least we might get there in time to pick up the pieces..."

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Jak leapt into the air, twisting his body to arch away from the Metalhead's attack. He'd already made several attempts to back away from the monster, all of which had been foiled by the surprising speed of it. The Metalhead was unbelievably fast, and Jak had quickly found that he needed all of his physical abilities just to avoid its attacks. In one way, he was glad that firing at it would do nothing, it meant that he didn't have to try and execute these moves with his gun weighing him down. Still, it would have been nice to know that he could do something to hurt it...

"Jak!! Behind you!" Daxter screamed in his ear.

Jak rolled sharply to his left then threw himself backwards through a series of flips. He was starting to get tired, fatigue was beginning to burn at his muscles. The dust wasn't helping him either, meaning he had to rely on Daxter to warn him if anything came his way suddenly.

"Jak! Jak! Jak!! RIGHT!!!"

Muscles bunched and fired the hero and his companion into the air, while a spin managed to lift them just over the flailing Metalhead limb. Jak wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up with the creature's movements. The dust rising around them had veiled his vision, making it almost impossible for Jak to find any possible escape routes, while also filling his mouth with its gritty taste. Every breath Jak took was laden with the choking particles. He didn't have enough time to pull up his face-cloth either, meaning he had to put up with the clouds of dirt caused by the Metalhead's flailing. A fighter's nightmare, half blind and barely able to breathe against an opponent who had no such problems...

And didn't the thing have a tail?

He threw himself sideways just in time, narrowly missing becoming hero shish-kebab on the stinger.

"Doesn't this thing get tired?!" Jak coughed, while Daxter groaned in his ear.

"Fighting against you? I'm surprised it hasn't died of boredom yet." Came a sarcastic voice, one which Jak knew too well.

"Torn," he groaned, "When did you decide to join the party?"

Torn scowled and heaved Jak to his feet. "We don't have time for this, Sig is distracting it with his Peacemaker. I suggest we get out of here before he runs out of ammo."

Jak dragged a hand across his eyes, transferring the dirt from it onto his face. "Sig? But that thing could kill him!"

"It could kill us too, unless we get out of here, or unless you happen to have a cannon hidden on you somewhere, Jak. Jak!!"

Jak ignored Torn's voice as he ran back towards the Metalhead. He mighn't have a cannon, but he did have some rather deadly firepower...

"Jak! We're going the wrong way!" Daxter yelled from beside Jak's ear. "We've got to turn around and get to the transport! Sig can handle it! He did fine against that other giant Metalhead!"

"Not this time Dax." Jak answered as he stopped a short distance behind the Metalhead, hoping it wouldn't notice them until it was too late. "You go back, but I have unfinished business..."

Jak closed his eyes, oblivious to Daxter's nervous stare, and reached out for his internal store of Dark Eco and the anger that boiled just below the surface. He could feel the changes, and even while he had never seen what his body became when he changed, he knew what it felt like. Rage. The rage he'd kept bottled up inside of him, anger at the Baron, anger at Keira, anger at everything, it all came bubbling over, a red-hot tingling layer just underneath his skin. He could feel it working with the Eco, sharpening his senses, his reflexes and increasing his power. The rage seemed to build in his body until it felt as though he were an inferno, fire storm restrained only by his own flimsy skin. Jak felt the scream tear free from his lips as his hands clawed at his temples, desperately trying to alleviate the pressure. Then the pressure died, and Jak felt the rage take a different form and push him down into the darkness.

-----

Daxter was surprised that his claws hadn't ripped through Jak's protection plate, with the way he was gripping it. After all, it was bad enough that Jak had decided to go after the Metalhead, but then he had to do this as well?! Daxter was just thankful that he'd gone the bathroom before they'd come here...

It was just that… The other Jak, Dark Jak, was... uncontrollable. Most of the time Daxter had been able to get Jak away from the area before he realized what he was seeing, but other times... Daxter knew why Jak screamed at night, often weeks afterwards, and visions of blood-splattered rooms and twisted corpses invaded both their dreams. Jak had never seemed to notice that Daxter was always there to chase away the nightmares, and never seemed to ask himself how Daxter had known what those dreams had been. Because Jak didn't know that on those nights, and sometimes for weeks afterwards, Daxter couldn't sleep for fear of the horrible predictions his dreams would bring.

Daxter knew this, knew more than anyone what the other Jak could do, and would do, as often as he could, while twisting Jak's beautiful face into a parody of his smiles, hitting and hitting and hitting, well beyond the point when there was nothing left to hit besides meat and gore, and Daxter would cling to his shoulder and hope to anything that might be listening that Dark Jak didn't notice him...

Every time having to see his Jak writhe as the other one took his body over, using it like a puppet, before throwing it back, soaked in blood and seeping darkness, as all the while it fed the nightmares that would come that night.

But still Jak let himself be used, let that monster take control of his form and wreak havoc on all those around him, and the only reason Daxter could think of was that Jak thought he deserved to be used...

It was here, the other Jak. Dark Jak. Already in control, was the transition becoming faster? Daxter wasn't certain, he just hunkered down and hoped that he wouldn't be noticed, that Jak wouldn't have to wake up and find a limp ottsel body laying there.

Dark Jak was looking at the Metalhead, now attempting to get closer to Sig to prevent him from using the Peacemaker. Daxter risked a glance at his face, and saw that it was grinning, stretching Jak's mouth into an insane grin, wider than Daxter would have thought possible. 'I don't want to see Jak like this...' Daxter thought, but couldn't move his eyes away.

The grin somehow managed to widen even more, and Dark Jak burst into motion. Daxter clung frantically to the shoulder guard as they raced along the ground, the dust flying around them and choking his lungs, then Dark Jak threw Jak's body into a huge leap, catching the top of a leg with his fingertips before flinging the two of them up onto the broad back of the Metalhead.

Daxter had just enough time to think that this time they would definitely die before they were moving again, this time towards the Metalhead's skull. 'He's going to do a full-on attack! We're not going to make it out alive!!'

And they were there, the skull gem gleaming bright enough to light up the area, and Dark Jak was laughing, though Daxter didn't remember hearing him start, and the Metalhead knew where they were...

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Torn cursed loudly when Sig appeared by his side, well away from the Metalhead. "Where's Jak?!" he shouted around his mouthpiece.

"Isn't he with you?" Sig called back, his voice slightly muffled by the dust-cloth shrouding the lower half of his face.

"That idiot ran back into the melee! We don't have time to save his sorry ass, we have to go now!"

Sig growled. "I am not leaving him hanging in there! We owe him, hell, the city owes him more than that!"

"Fine! Run in and die your heroic little death, it won't matter either way if the city falls because I wasn't there to protect it!" Torn glared at the Wastelander before turning to leave. "I have more important things to attend to."

A blaze of purple light froze him in his tracks, and Torn turned back to see the dust distorting the light into bizarre shapes. "What the-"

Then it hit him. The source of light had to be... Jak. Or, more specifically, Dark Jak. He'd heard the stories and rumours. While a lot of them differed, they all agreed on a few basic details, eyes like the pits of hell, inhuman strength and the purple lightning that surrounded it. But, Torn had thought they were just that, stories. After all, no person could really change into a monster, capable of tearing Guards apart with its bare hands, could they?

Torn glanced at Sig, and the two of them ran deeper into the dust cloud.

"What is going on?" Torn yelled as they headed deeper.

"I don't know!" came the reply, "I ain't never seen nothing like this before!"

Torn stopped as close as he dared to the Metalhead, training his binoculars around the form to try and locate the wayward hero. But the movement he finally noticed came instead from the creature's head.

"He really is insane..." Torn breathed.

Jak, but it couldn't be Jak, the skin and hair were all wrong, was driving his fingers deep into a crevice in the armour at the back of the Metalhead's skull, black blood already welling up around his arms. The purple light was emanating from Jak's, Dark Jak's, body, coursing down his arms to strike deeper into the Metalhead's flesh. The Metalhead itself was already writhing as it tried to rid itself of the painful thing on its head, but Dark Jak was grinning and laughing as he drove his arms in further, ripping away the flesh around the gap in order to reach ever deeper.

The Metalhead was really struggling now, its legs and tail flailing around as Dark Jak drove more electricity into it's body, interfering with the nerves of the Metalhead's body.

"What... what kind of monster did the Baron make?" Torn glanced at Sig, the colour starting to seep from his face as Dark Jak drove his arms fully into the beast and gave it one final charge of power.

"Whatever it is, we'd better be careful. It's about to come down..." Sig said, tightening his grip on his Peacemaker, though he had no shots left, and he doubted he'd be fast enough to bludgeon Jak down...

Dark Jak ripped his arms free from the Metalhead and threw himself into the air in one sinuous movement. The Metalhead's legs buckled as the last of the energy fried its nervous system, and it hit the ground with a visible shudder, Dark Jak landing in front of it a moment later. He raised his head slowly and smirked at Torn, face splattered with blood and arms drenched in gore. He flicked a tongue out cat-like to lap at a few drops of blood around his mouth.

Torn noted Daxter's quivering form on Dark Jak's shoulder. If Jak's closest 'friend' was terrified of this thing, then obviously it didn't care who or what you were. He wrinkled his nose slightly at the smell of the Metalhead's blood but remained silent; everything about this new Jak suggested a predator ready to spring...

Both Sig and Torn raised their guns instinctively when Dark Jak suddenly clutched his hands to his head, leaving twin bloody marks in Jak's hair. It almost seemed like the thing was in pain... Torn's eyes widened for a moment as the deathly pale skin took on a normal tone, hair returned to bedraggled, blonde-green locks, and those cold, unfeeling eyes became the blue they were more familiar with. Even Daxter relaxed, sliding off Jak's shoulder with a whimper, the remains of the Metalhead still convulsing a short distance away.

"Well, it looks like you bagged yourself another monster there, boy!" Sig said, obviously trying to reassure himself that this Jak wasn't dangerous.

Torn watched Jak with distrust written on his face, the boy seemed rather out of it, still trying to realize what had happened to him. A shadow passed over Torn's face, and he looked up-

"Get out of the way!!"

The Metalhead's tail slammed into the ground, as Torn threw himself sideways, dust exploding into the air once again. Once certain that the movements of the Metalhead had stopped for the time being, Torn stood and risked a look around. The dust was still clearing, and he could hear at least two other voices besides his own coughing. Swallowing forcefully to try and clear his mouth of the dust, he called, "Everyone in one piece?"

"Still here," came Sig's voice, "though I'm starting to regret it."

"I'm OK!" Torn figured that the weasel would have survived, it seemed like nothing short of a direct missile hit could hurt him.

"And Jak?"

Catching a movement to his left, Torn squinted his eyes trying to make out what it was. "Well?"

"Uhhh.. you'd better... you'd better come and see.."

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Jak groaned and opened his eyes. Dust clouded a lot of his view, as did several other more solid things, though he wasn't sure what they were. He thought he could hear someone talking, but it seemed pretty vague and distant and probably didn't matter at the moment.

The pain hit like a zoomer on full-speed.

It left Jak gasping for air, shapes suddenly becoming sharper, and voices becoming clearer.

"Jak! Y-you're alive!" Daxter's face hovered above him, it seemed really relieved, though Jak wasn't sure why. Maybe if the pain went away, he'd be able to think about it better.

"Dax?" It seemed to be all he could manage at the moment.

"Yeah buddy. Torn and Sig are here too, and you're going to be fine, ok? All you have to do is stay awake..." Jak blinked, his mind was still fuzzy, and the pain screamed like a banshee, but it seemed to him that Daxter was crying. Without thinking, Jak raised his arm to wipe at the tears, but the shriek and roar of pain flooded his mind, and sent coughs racking through his body.

The coughing stopped, and Jak was aware that his mouth was filled with blood, and that there was something terribly wrong with his chest. Daxter was crying harder now, tears leaving tracks through his orange fur and landing in the dirt beside Jak.

"Dax..." He felt cold now, horribly cold. And more tired than he'd ever been. Jak let his head roll a little to the side, and found that he was lying in a small pool of mud. Deep crimson mud.

Jak blinked back up at Daxter, and started to turn his head the other way, towards the source of pain. Daxter tried to stop him, but a glance was all Jak needed. He remembered now, the falling Metalhead's tail, flailing in the throes of death, then the horrible piercing pain in his chest...

The stinger on the end of the tail was driven deep into the ground, but it had passed through Jak's chest first. The crimson mud...

"Daxter. I'm tired and my blood... it's so cold. Why am I so... cold?" His voice was choked and strained, barely a pained whisper that sent agony rolling through his torso.

Daxter shook his head silently, dropping more glistening tears to the earth. Torn lowered his communicator and looked down at Jak.

"Medics should be here soon. Lucky we had some with us. If they get here fast enough, they can save his life. Otherwise, they can clean up what's left."

Daxter glared at Torn and opened his mouth, but Jak didn't get to hear his words as a tide of pain and blissful silence washed over him.

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whimpers Please, no hurting Keskes, please?