I feel so happy! I've got a review! thanks Air of mystery.
As for the constant change in POV, it was neccasary because I wrote this story to show what different people thought of Baron Praxis and that would be quite hard if we anly could reed it from Kate's POV.
But on with the story, this chapter is very important for the entire story, not to mention if nothing in this chapter ever happened, there would be no such thing as Jak and Daxter, Jak2 or Jak3, and we can'trisk that can we?
CHAPTER 13
SPECIAL BOY
212. Month 10
Maria
At first, Kate and I only planned to stay at Jake's house until we found somewhere else to stay.
Now, four years later I didn't want to go anywhere else.
"Come on, just a little bit more"
It felt funny when I thought about it, only four years ago I was sitting in the street waiting to die; now it felt like I was dying again.
"Almost there!"
The pain was almost unbearable, but I had gone trough it before and I couldn't give up.
"One more push, honey!"
I pushed hard, and finally I heard the sound that made it all worth the pain. A baby crying.
"It's a boy" the doctor said, wrapping the infant in a blue blanket and placed him in my arms.
Kate, who hadn't breathed since the contractions started, gave a sigh of relief.
"A little brother? That's great!" she said.
The boy stopped crying when I held him. He had short green hair and blue eyes, his ears where long and about an inch away from the tip the ears looked curled.
"He's just as cute as you" said Jake who was still holding my hand, "What are we going to name him?"
"How about we name him Jacob? After uncle" suggested Kate.
"That's a nice name, but what if we shorten it a bit?" I said, "We can call him Jak, that way he would be named after both his uncle and his father".
At that point the door opened and a nurse came in.
She and the doctor were old friends of Jake so we knew we could trust them.
"Excuse me, Maria? Theirs is a man here who wants to see you" she said, she sounded nervous.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"I'm not sure, he was wearing a hood so I couldn't…" the nurse started before she was pushed out of the doorway.
"Let me say it this way" said the man who entered the room, "I demand to see Maria!"
He took his hood of and revealed his real face.
"Ronny! What are you doing here?" I shouted.
"Looking for you of course" he looked at the boy in my arms,"Looks like I came too late".
I held Jak closer to me, "I'm not your wife any more, leave me alone!" I said.
"Or what? You'll call on the guards?" Ronny asked and laughed, "In case you haven't noticed they're on my side. You are the criminal here, for denying your daughter a good education"
Kate stood up and moved in front of my bed, blocking the way for Ronny.
"Don't even think about it" she said, sounding just as angry as Ronny, "I don't know what kind of future you and your crazy brother is planning to build but remember this: I will not be a part of it!
Ronny wasn't smiling anymore; he went from oblivious to furious in less than three seconds, "Get out of my way stupid girl! You never had the qualities needed to control this city anyway!" he shouted, "You should be happy that your uncle took the responsibility for it. At least he thinks about this city's safety! Instead of slowly changing it into a large amusement park like Jacob did! We don't need new malls! We need warriors!"
Ronny pushed Kate out of the way so she hit the wall and came closer to me again. I held Jak so close I was afraid I might choke him.
"It's all your mothers fault!" he said, "She could have married a nice rich man but instead she ran away with a slummer and they got you. Now I see you made the same mistake"
Jake came forward, "You can't talk like this! Get out of here and leave my family alone!"
"Your family? Is this little girl your family too? She's my daughter! And you stole her away from me! As well as my wife!" said Ronny,"Kate had the chance to become big! But she threw it away because she would rather be with her hopeless mother and her new flame. And mark my words! Your little bastard-son will end up in the gutter before he turns three unless the baron ends his suffering here and now!"
Jak started crying, Jake looked ready to hit Ronny but before he could even move his fingers a bottle filled with liquid green eco hit Ronny hard in the head so he fell over, unconscious. Kate was still standing by the wall, using a cupboard as support, "You're not my father" she snarled at the man on the floor," And you're not allowed to harm my brother either!"
Jake grabbed my arm, "we should get out of here" he dais, "the eco is going to heal him quickly, we must get out before he wakes up"
He was right, green sparks were already appearing on Ronny's head trying to fix the swelling in his brain.
I let Jake hold Jak as I got up, "Are you ok?" I asked Kate, I noticed she had a bump in her head.
"I'm fine, lets get out of here before the guards comes" she said and got up.
As we ran out of the hospital I was wondering how Ronny had found us.
Could it be that one of the doctors had told him? Could be, a lot of the inhabitants of Haven City were followers of Praxis.
We took a few detours to shake of eventual persecutors but after a few hours we were finally home.
We had moved there right after I found out I was pregnant, there was not enough room for another child in our old house.
The house was quite near the city wall, in the finest part of the slums.
Most of the area was flooded with water; the houses were built on small islands in the muddy water. Yet it was nothing like the water slums, where fragile wooden houses where connected with even more fragile bridges.
In this part of the city, the houses were of stone or both stone and wood.
The small islands were connected by roads of stone and sand but the thing I liked best was one particular building. The last remaining building from the old village which lay where Haven City is now, this building gave the quarter its name, New Sandover.
The hut had been built high over the water's surface, on what used to be ground level before Haven's first inhabitants dug away the old cliffs.
Our house lay not far from the old hut; it was in the first floor of a building close to the wall.
As soon as we came inside I put Jak in a bed Jake built for him about a week ago.
He fell asleep as soon as he touched the pillow, poor kid, just born and already he was completely exhausted.
"Look at the little guy" said Jake, "What kind of future does he have?"
"Not an easy one that's for sure" said Kate, "unless the city gets a new leader. Unfortunately the only ones who can claim the legal rights for the throne is currently wanted, dead or alive. Praxis obviously prefers dead"
Usually I would tell Kate to not talk about the fact that her uncle wanted us dead, but I decided it was no use anyway.
"I just hope they didn't follow us" I said while I made sure Jak's blanket didn't fall off him so he would get cold, "They can't find out where we live, or we'll be done for"
"I'll look" said Kate and hurried out the door.
"She's spent a lot of her time outdoors lately" said Jake, "And she never tells us where she goes".
"It's probably a boy" I said, as I said that, I started thinking about old times.
When I was her age I often sneaked out at night to be with… it was all in the past now, a long-lost past thanks to baron Praxis.
CHAPTER 13
COUNTERPART OF THE CRIMSON GUARD
212.
Kate
I looked around to see whether the cost were clear.
Then I walked into the city, calm, without attracting unwanted attention.
I made sure the crimson guards never got to take a good look at me as I walked past them and at the same time I tried my best to look casual.
Then again, the crimson guards never cared to memorize the face of every fugitive in the city, mostly because they never expected to see any out in the streets in broad daylight.
I walked into a dead end in one of the darker parts of the slums.
For everyone else it might seem like I was going to visit someone living there. Well, it wasn't far from the truth, though the ones I was "visiting" weren't living there.
"You're late" a voice from above me said as I exited the view of any crimson guard.
A boy with brown, black-striped hair was sitting on the roof at one of the buildings; right next to him was a little yellow and blue sparrow.
"Well excuse me, mister perfect" I said, "I had a bad hair day"
"You certainly must have. Its three a clock" said Cornelius laughing, "I was afraid we had to start without you. Though for me it might be an advantage"
I threw a rock but missed, on purpose of course. Cornelius always said I was nothing but a disadvantage for him but we both new (three counting Tanya) none of us would made it on our own.
Cornelius jumped of the roof and fell onto a bag of garbage which of course broke as he hit it. It would kill for a camera at that time, well, maybe not kill.
"You laugh" said Cornelius as he got up and brushed the leftovers from the residents dinners of his clothes, "Why don't you try to jump of a roof and fall into a flowerbed, unless the great Shara Sentinel is scared of getting her hands dirty"
He used the name I took on when I ran away from home, although he did know my real name he only used it whenever we where alone, not even Tanya knew who I really was.
"I see you're not afraid to get dirty" I said, "Don't Shadow have a shower at home you can use?"
Before Cornelius could come up with a sarcastic remark a hole opened in the wall.
A man came out of the hole, "why do you take so long? We're waiting!" he said, sounding impatient (as he often did when Cornelius and I found something amusing to talk about)
"Sorry boss, I didn't mean to keep you waiting" said Cornelius.
We walked in through the hole and came in to the underground headquarters.
Apart from Shadow and us there was only one other person in there, an old man named Kor. Kor turned his head in the other direction as soon as Cornelius entered the room.
"You could try to bathe a bit more young man" he said, "You smell like you fell into a garbage bag.
"Wow Kor, I didn't know you were psychic" said Cornelius and we al laughed, even Kor.
"Enough with the jokes, we've got a city to defend" said Shadow, still giggling, "I've just heard the baron is financing a new race at the stadium, even more violent than the old ones. It seems like he's trying to make the inhabitants more violent on purpose.
"I know all about it, my brother already signed in" said Cornelius, rolling his eyes, "He's hoping to add race-champion to all the other great achievements he wants in the future"
"As if none of us know that you want that title yourself" said Tanya, "You drive like a madman"
"Then you haven't seen Erol on a zoomer" said Cornelius, "I sneaked in to one of his training sessions once. If I'm a madman, Erol is king of all madmen"
"Are you still in touch with him? Though you hated him" I said.
"Uncle Charlie told me" said Cornelius, "I dropped by earlier today to see Spot, and Tiny Blue of course" he added and smiled at me, he hadn't forgotten Tiny Blue was my favourite flut-flut.
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that Cornelius" said Shadow, "It might be useful if you tried to talk to your brother sometimes. A couple of helpers inside the crimson guard might be useful for the underground".
"As if Erol would ever help the underground, he cares for no one but himself" said Tanya from her favourite spot, at the top of Cornelius' goggles, "He wants us all dead, even his own brother"
"I already fixed us some contacts within the guards, but if you haven't noticed most of my family is in the baron's fan club" Cornelius added, "But if you want us to check out the race we could do that, I could even attend if you ask me to".
"That's not necessary" said Shadow and Cornelius mood dropped several grades, "But if you need something to keep you busy, the baron just started a project about opening a new crimson school in the industrial area"
That helped the boy's mood, although I didn't like the sound of it.
"What do you want us to do boss? Blow the place up?" Cornelius asked, sounding like a kid at Christmas Eve. (Mrs.EF: I doubt elves celebrate Christmas but that's the only example I could think of)
"Not the whole place, you'll risk destroying nearby buildings and hurt civilians" said Shadow.
"It's always about the civilians is it?" Cornelius murmured.
"The underground was started to protect the people of Haven" I said, "besides, the industrial area is where the power station is, destroying it will cut the power supply for the entire city! Not to mention the eco shield.
"The baron would loose power too right?" said Cornelius.
"No buildings will be blown up unless I say so!" the Shadow said using his strictest voice, "The workers have left for the day, if you plant the bomb at the middle of the construction site and set it at low power it will blow up only the new school"
He gave Cornelius the small bomb. "Don't worry boss, the underground's hero is on the chase" said Cornelius, before he hurried out the door.
"I better make sure he doesn't hurt anyone out there" I said, "are you coming Tanya?"
The sparrowflut had flown of Cornelius' head and landed on the table while we were talking. "Sure, I don't have anything better to do" she said.
The industrial area wasn't far away, still Cornelius insisted in taking a zoomer. He had his own racing-zoomer parked outside HQ, locked to the wall of course so no one would take it.
Unfortunately it had two seats.
After nearly falling of twice and puking once we reached the construction site.
"Is this really it? Looks more like a fort than a school" I said.
"Trust me, this is it. The last school looked just the same" said Cornelius, "Man I wish I could blow that one up too"
I didn't comment it, many of the members of the underground had been to the crimson school and they all said the same, "it's a living hell".
"How are we going to get in?" Tanya asked, "There's guards everywhere"
"We just need a distraction" said Cornelius and took a small bag out of his pocket.
"What's that?" I asked, I couldn't help getting a bit suspicious, Cornelius rarely thought of the consequences of his actions as long as he knew it would make problems for the baron. "Relax Shar, it's just some false smoke" he said, "It looks like real fire when activated but it's completely harmless and contains no toxic gases. We just throw this at the wall at the power station and we'll be the guards' smallest concern"
He gave the small bag to Tanya and gave her the instructions needed.
She quickly took of and flew towards the power station which was quite close.
Soon we could see smoke coming from the building and al nearby guards suddenly ran towards the source to put out the "fire"
"First phase was a success!" said Cornelius, "Now it's our turn".
He climbed the fence in front of the unfinished building and I quickly followed.
As we hurried behind the building Tanya came back.
"We better hurry, it won't be long until they figure out they've been fooled" she said.
"Well we're not planning to stay behind" said Cornelius and took out the bomb Shadow gave us.
The bomb was adjustable, so we could choose if the explosion would be big or small.
In this case, we wanted it small enough to blow up the building and still not destroy the nearby houses, at least that's what I wanted.
"Don't forget to put it in the middle of the building" I whispered.
"I know, so we won't hurt the other houses" Cornelius said sounding bored, "It won't be a problem; they haven't built the roof yet so we can just climb over"
"The wall is three meters high and with no place to grip" said Tanya, "That bomb's gonna explode half a minute after it's activated, you can't possibly climb the over the wall quick enough to avoid the explosion"
For once, Cornelius didn't have a plan.
I looked around after a solution, some boxes perhaps or large rocks we could use to stand on. Then I saw something, a large steel door, locked of course but it didn't seem like it was any floor under it.
"Cornelius? Do you think there's only earth under that door?" I asked.
"Only one way to find out" said Cornelius and walked up to the door.
He started digging with his hands until he hit a wall that had been built under the ground before the hole had been filled up.
"It's too small for me to get trough" he said, "but you might, you're thinner than me".
Shadow always told me being an underground agent wouldn't be easy, especially since I insisted staying with Cornelius.
Cornelius handed me the bomb and I pushed it into the hole under the door before I crawled in.
Obviously there was some kind of basement under me but at least the gap under the door was still big enough for me to get trough. The steel door was probably just a temporary door, a small door like that wouldn't be enough to keep people out (as I had just proved)
When I came inside I entered a large room, probably it was going to become the entrance hall. I ran over to the wall closest to the middle of the building and put the bomb down before programming it to blow up after 30 seconds, the longest delay possible (new bombs had longer delays but the underground hadn't been able to get one of these yet)
The countdown started immediatetely after I pressed"Activate". I ran towards the door and threw myself down so I almost glided through without moving an inch.
Cornelius pulled me through the last bit and so we ran, making sure we were always hidden behind large rocks and machines.
Soon we found ourselves back out in the streets.
We ran in between some crowds walking past the building so we wouldn't look suspicious walking around alone.
That's when the explosion came.
The whole building just collapsed into itself and flames came out like magma out of a volcano.
The crimson guards came back from the power station, they had long since realised the fire was false alert and probably had been trying to find the culprit but this time there was no mistake, this school was history, before it was even finished.
"Underground one, crimson guards zero" Cornelius whispered.
to be continued.
surely there wouldn't be any Jak and Daxter without Jak, and the sequels would simply be known as 2 and 3;)