Chapter Nine: The Commander

Finding Garret brought many advantages to our team. For example, if I wanted get some fresh air, I could go whenever I wanted, not wait until the butt crack of dawn when everyone's asleep. Plus, he was an experienced fighter. He didn't seem like it at first when I first met him, but Garret lossened up after a few days at the Naughty Ottsel. Michael seems to have taken a liking to him also.

Michael and I still haven't told anyone about our little cuddle session yet. Maybe we never would. Boy, if my dad new about this, he would kill me!

I hadn't used the cell phone in awhile. Hopefully it hadn't lost service. One day, Mike and the others gathered around as I tried to use it. Thankfully it rang. "Who ya' callin'?" asked Michael.

"My mom. She seemed real shook up the last time..."

"Hewo?" This time, the voice sounded younger. A LOT younger. "Karson?"

"Who's that?" I turned to Daxter who looked extremely confused. "He's my one year old brother!" The fat baby on the other end gasped. "Jordi! Way miss oo!" I laughed remembering his first words. Baba, Dada, Mama... And shit. "Listen, young fat one. Is Mommy there?"

"Nup! Mommy wen to powice tation!"

"What did he say?" I smacked Daxter on the back of the head. "Karson, do you mean police station?"

"Uh huh! Bubuh is washin' me. He is sweepin', so shhhhh!"

"Karson! Don't hang up the!" Click! "Phone..." I hung up and sighed. "I don't know who it was that taught him how long he's supposed to talk on the phone, but it sure as hell wasn't me!" Michael laughed. "You got that right! I'll bet that if you could, you'd be on the phone with your pals all day long!"

Tiffany. I picked up the phone again and dialed my best friends number. Brinnnnng!

"Hello?" Ah, good ol' Tiff. "Tiffany, it's me! Jordan!"

"JORDAN! Oh my God! OH MY GOD! Where are you! You've been gone for over a month!" I have? Seems like a couple of weeks... "I can't say. Listen, if you want to find me, grab something from my room, give it to Ellie and follow the trail to Houston, but you have to go by yourself!"

"... That's real funny Jordan. Really funny."

"I'm serious! Just do it!" I took the phone away from my ear and checked the battery. It was dangerously low. "Tiff! Trust me! I'm your best friend in the whole world! Just grab Ellie and go! Something will be waiting for you there. Just trust!" And the phone went dead. We sat in silence before Garret spoke up. "Looks like you're not trusted all over the place." I threw him a "If-your-not-careful-I-might-not-keep-my-promise" look. He stared shamefully at the floor.

"Wow, I wonder what it's like to have real friends like that..." Everyone directed their attention to Michael who was staring off into space. "Ya' know, to hang with. To laugh with, to share secrets with! You've got it all." Small tears began to form at the edges of his eyes. "Michael... I know you think I've got it all..." This is it. I'll tell him the full truth of what I thought about him. Now to get rid of the others...

Taken care of... I turned my head towards the entrance to see Samos leading the others out. Thanks... A muffled whimper distracted me. Michael was trying his best not to sob. "Michael, don't cry." My voice was shaky. It was now or never. "Mike, these past three years were...horrible. I didn't know what to do when you left. It was like I was...obsessed." He sat up and wiped his eyes. "Really?" I nodded my head. "There wasn't a minute in the day that I wouldn't think of that great day when you would return to your home in Tennessee. But then that last night that you called me..." He hung his head. "So that's why you came for me."

"Yep."

"Jordan."

"Huh?"

"I felt the same way that whole time, too." I almost laughed and cried. Did he just say what I think he just said? Oh no, my body's taking over again! I leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek lightly. Like all boys do, he jumped up and ran around the room. "Yahoo! I feel so much better now that I've gotten that off my chest!" I smiled, my face blushing into a fabulous crimson red. Even though his face was red too, he showed no signs of embarrassment. I got up and walked outside, leaving Michael to yee-haw around the bar some more...

The next day I found Garret sitting at the edge of Samos's old hut. What's he doing here? "Hey, Garret," I called. He jumped as usual and relaxed after a few moments. "Hey." His voice was distant like the first time I met him. But unlike our first meet, his armor was removed,but he wore a blue uniform. His hair was the darkest of black that I'd ever seen, almost blue. Agaotee covered his chin, giving his that perfect and handsome look to impress the ladies whenever he wants.

"Garret?" This time, he didn't even move. He just sat there...staring. "Whas' wrong?"

"Nothin'. I don't want to talk about it."

"Talking will make you feel better."

"I said I don't want to talk about it."

"But-"

"I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!"

"Fine! I didn't want to talk to you anyway!" Oh, yeah. The guilt trip.

"Wait." Still wanting him to feel guilty, I turned on my heel and acted like I had started to cry for him yelling at me. Unfortunatly, my powers forbidded me to be cute. "Don't start that crap!" Damn powers...

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise to keep things on the low. Deal?"

"Deal!"

"Okay, here goes. Well, when I was about your age, I had the same problem as Michael. No friends. My father had sent me to this academy so I could train to be a Krimzon Guard. I got kicked out for messing around with the weaponry. When I came home, my dad was furious. There wasn't a minute of the day that he didn't make me pay for it. Finally, I got the nerve to run away. I managed to make it past the city gates before the Baron came after me. Unfortunatly, they caught me and threw me in jail."

"Did they test Dark Eco on you, too?"

"Well, sort of. You see, after I was locked up for about a month, the Baron had finally decided it was time to start the Dark Warrior Program. That was when Jak came in. For days at a time I would watch him from my cell with horror. Every day they would strap him down to the chair and enjoy his suffering. At last, I couldn't take it. A few days later I managed to sneak a key off one of the guards. They'd absentmindedly left Jak in the torture divice unsupervised. I freed Jak and myself and we managed to escape."

"What happened?"

"We got caught, which only put me in worse trouble, not to mention Jak got it twice as hard. Now I was a part of the Dark Warrior Program. It wasn't as bad as what Jak had, though. They only gave me small shocks at a time until I became so weak I could hardly move. Like you, I eventually began to show signs of deformity. It wasn't long until these strange markings started to show..." He lifted his sleeve to reveal tatoo-like symbols. They wrapped halfway down his arm and stopped. "After a few weeks of nothing happening, they released me. And that's what I've been thinking about. All of this Dark Eco."

"How come you don't lose control?"

"I didn't have it as bad as you and Jak. Do you remember when you heard a guard and Vegar in front of your cell?"

"That was you!"

"Yes, it was me. I'm sure you remember when I said that some of your deformities have something to do with your age. These powers will eventually destroy you. There's nothing you can do about it, seeing that the last Precursor Power was given to Jak." I thought long and hard about this, and he was right. There was nothing I could do unless... The Precursors themselves! Without even saying good-bye, I sprinted towards the direction of the palace, hoping that Jak would be there...