Chapter 2: "Hero"
Keira had been given access to a large cargo bay suitable for constructing large machines, and once she'd gotten some basic ideas down, she was quite pleased to get it. Late at night, a week and a half after she'd agreed to work on the project, the entire bay was very dark, save for one lamp at a desk in the back corner, and the young woman was fast asleep on the desk, sketches, small parts, and blue-prints arrayed around and beneath her.
A door hissed open slowly, and a silhouette moved through, armored boots softly clunking off the cement floor. The shadow drew closer to her desk, and paused with a mildly amused sigh. Commander Frost walked around the desk, and spotted a blanket lying over the corner of an old storage crate they hadn't been cleared out of the bay yet. He took it, and gently lay it over the young woman's back. "…Hard worker…"
Keira stirred with a muffled moan, her eyebrows shifting. Frost backed away, seeing if she would wake fully or not. Indeed, her bright green eyes fluttered open, and she pulled herself upright, noticing the blanket over her first. "O-oh! Frost, hi…"
He smiled easily for her. "Just came to check on you. Why don't you head home for the night, ma'am?"
She giggled. "I don't have a rank, Frost. Just call me Keira."
"Oh? Seems a very nice name to let a brute like me use," he replied in good humor.
Though she just laughed, a faint blush was glowing on her cheeks. "Thanks…" She stretched for a moment, gasped with relief, and patted her hands down on the desk. "Well, since you're here… Things are going a little slow, but my design will work. I know it's dangerous to put all our eggs in one basket, but we just don't have the means to make more than one in the time-line, and this one will do the job."
Frost looked back at a monolithic shadow behind him. "It's one heck of a pump, Keira. Must crank out a great deal of force."
"It does," Keira admitted gravely. "That's why I'll be going right along with it to keep the pressure levels carefully monitored."
Frost rounded on her in alarm. "You? In a combat zone? I can't let you do that, Keira. I have no way of guaranteeing your safety!"
She was a bit stunned by the abruptness of his change in tone, but he immediately became apologetic.
"I didn't mean to snap, I'm sorry, but… Please, I'll have one of my guards come learn how it operates from you…" he trailed off as he saw her shake her head.
"If I had more time, I could make it more user-friendly, but as it is, it's too complicated to trust to someone who didn't build it. There are signs I'll know to listen for and see without having an actual read-out or control to adjust. Besides, it's about time I gave a little back to the city myself."
Frost gave her an incredulous look. "If you've done half the things I've heard about you, you've given plenty back already. Besides, Jak would never forgive me for putting you in harms way."
Keira glanced down abruptly, sadness etching across her features. Frost paused carefully, and then spoke in a softened, concerned tone. "…Has something happened between the two of you?"
She shook her head. "No," she put her hands on the table, "that's the problem." Standing up, she turned away from Frost, she held her hands together in front of herself. "You remember when he got kicked out of the city?"
"…Of course."
"I didn't…" She twisted around, her eyes shivering with emotion, "I was his friend, Frost! And I didn't do anything to help him! We were close! I thought we-!" she cut herself off and looked down to the side. A tight sob choked her, and she hid her face with her hands.
Frost eased closer. "Keira… it'll be okay…" She started to cry, and he came close enough to hold her shoulders gently. "Cry if you like, but it will be. We all need to let our emotions out, so relax, cry as much as you like…"
She paused a bit, looking pitifully up at him, and then flung her arms around his shoulders, breaking down in his arms. Frost let his expression fall sorrowfully, eyes closing, as he just held her about the shoulders in return, keeping the blanket over her in the cool, garage-like room. "There you go… just let it out… You can think clearly later…"
Her shivering, gasping voice started to speak anyway. "I didn't mean… to abandon him! I just… didn't… didn't know what to do! I didn't see… any… options… I knew he'd be in danger! I came up with that desert… Zoomer for him! But… Ashelin… was… was there… for him when… he needed it… not me… not me…" she whispered painfully, squeezing Frost as if it would push the pain out of her heart.
Frost finally reached up and stroked her hair softly. It was like his sister was back in his arms, when they were younger, crying over some boyfriend or even just a doll that broke when they were children. He pushed his selfish reminiscence out of his mind, and remembered exactly who was crying in his arms, and why. "Keira… Ashelin respects Jak… more than most because of… well, he's a hero, and there weren't any heroes in her life until he came along. He gave her something to believe in. But you've known Jak all your life, you know Jak, not a hero. I can tell he cares very much about you. Don't despair about this until you know things for sure. Give him that chance, alright?"
Keira's eyes opened past his arm, surprised. It was as if she knew everything Frost had said, but just didn't believe it until someone else said it. Then she realized she was clinging to the poor man like a frightened little girl, and quickly pulled back, blushing. He let her, his arms snapping open and falling to his sides as she let her hands down from his shoulder armor. "S-sorry…I… thank you…" she looked down, her face turning redder with each heart-beat.
A hand rested softly on her shoulder, and she looked up into a kind smile. "Hey, we all have tough times. I'm happy I could be a shoulder to cry on, if you found it welcome. If not… sorry for intruding."
Keira instantly shook her head. "No, no! I mean… it was… I appreciated it…" she smiled again. "And…" she raised the blanket over her shoulders with her hands.
Frost laughed softly, shaking his head. "No problem."
She looked back to her desk, smiling wistfully. "It's funny, though. For a little while, during that Dark Maker fiasco… it was like the old Jak was back, Daddy and I helping him while he took on everything for us… You're right, Frost, I've known Jak all my life… and he's been my hero for the last few years anyway." She looked up at her new friend. "If he's connected with Ashelin… I don't want to steal that from either of them. I should have… proven I cared before."
She started to turn away, but the hand more urgently touched her shoulder, and she looked back with concern into Frost's intense, but sorrowfully passive eyes. "Love doesn't need proof, it simply acts or not. You know, in your heart, you did everything you could for him. Do all three of you a favor, and talk to Jak about this situation. It may not be what you think, after all."
He spoke with such sincerity and depth of feeling, that Keira abruptly realized a great deal about him. Her own expression became softened with sympathy, and she touched the hand on her shoulder. "…Poor Frost, I wasn't thinking… Of course… you did everything you could for your sister, too."
It startled him, she could see it clearly in his abruptly widened eyes, and his hand shivered under hers. He calmed, looked down, and pulled his hand from hers carefully. "…Did I? If more people, like me, had joined the guard…"
"You had your reasons for not joining it, I'm sure. That you joined now, and have done so much, means you had a real sense of duty, even back then, or you wouldn't have just jumped up and joined at all."
Frost turned aside, wiping one hand down his un-tattooed face. "…I thought they'd become another Kay-Gee, and I just didn't want to be part of that mess… But I realized they weren't soon enough, I could've joined… helped stop Veger…"
Keira came a little closer, and softly put her hand on his shoulder this time. "I guess… neither of us should look at the past like that. It's done… and we can do more now."
His eyes lightened, and then he looked up at her, patting her hand. "…How right you are, Keira."
"And I'm still running this thing," she finished dryly, nodding at the huge shadow behind her.
Frost turned dismal, his arms sinking. "Since you're not under my command, I can't really say yea or nay to the matter, but you better tell Jak for me, because I'm not getting in the way of him and his temper. I've heard those stories, as much as I respect him as a hero."
Keira gave him a playfully annoyed look, but then nodded. "Fair enough… and I'll ask him about… that as well."
Frost grinned. "Brave woman."
She giggled.
(A short time later…)
Jak and Torn were both leaning on the holo-table in the command center of the fortress, debating some of the details of the dispersal for the troops in the attack on the nest. Torn jabbed his finger down at the heart of the nest. "What bugs me is that these Metal-Heads have gotten real quiet over the past few days. Frost's border teams reported a noticeable drop in skirmishes. I think they're preparing something…"
Jak nodded, rubbing his chin. "You're right. Metal-Heads are only quiet when they're building for a bigger attack. Maybe Frost's plan is just what the doctor ordered?"
The door opened behind them. It was early in the morning after Keira's talk with Frost, so neither of the two at the table bothered to look up and see who it was. Likely just the day-crew coming in.
"Hey."
Jak abruptly looked over his left shoulder, and saw a gently smiling Keira in her overalls—and mildly oil-stained—standing there. "…Hey… Something up with the pump?"
That it was his first assumption was both extremely practical and very hurtful for her, but she kept her smile. "No, actually I needed to talk with you about a couple of things. …One of them related to the pump, yeah."
Now thoroughly confused, Jak took a moment to turn to Torn. "I'll be back."
Torn just nodded, and Jak walked aside with Keira. "So… what's up?"
Keira felt like a melon was lodged in her throat, but forced herself to stay light-hearted. "First, about the pump… It's complicated, so I'll need to operate it myself during the assault."
Jak's eyes flared. "What? Keira, I can't let you do that! Tell me how to run it, I'll make sure it's…" he trailed off to her slowly shaking head and knowing smile.
"The attack force needs your gun with you behind it. I'm the only person that can properly man that pump once it's finished and in position. Frost just insisted I clear it with you before he got blamed for letting me go."
Jak set his hands on his hips. "And he was right. Keira, you've never been in a battle-zone like what's going to come charging at you in there!" he gestured firmly to the side. "They will tear you apart if they get the chance! I can't let that happen to you!"
The combination of Keira's startled expression and the sudden realization of how loud his own voice was made him stop and ease back, anxious. "Uh… what I mean is… you… You don't need to be danger like that. I'm sure you can build that thing to run fully automatic anyway…"
"Yes, if I had more time." She was starting to smile and she wasn't even sure why. He'd just been so worried about her (and so immediately).
Jak frowned, but looked down. He knew she was the only person that could solve an emergency problem, which meant she was about the only person worth having on the mission. But her being in danger… He could just see Metal-Heads swarming at her, leaping in for the… He shook his head, rubbing his forehead slowly. "…Alright… but you promise me one thing," he added firmly, looking her in the eyes with a faint bow to his head.
Keira had never seen him so intent and grave, not directly to her at least. "…Yeah, okay…"
"If we start to lose ground, and you see Metal-Heads coming for you… get out of there, and don't look back for a second, just run as fast as you can," he listed off rapidly and with surprising focus in his lowered voice.
Keira was quite touched by his concern and sincerity, but she turned serious as well. "…Would you?"
He blinked, confused, but then turned grave again, the two locking gazes as equals in a new way. They'd never been like this, both preparing for a war. Jak had gone through it many times with Daxter… but not with Keira. They'd never 'had each other's back' in that kind of way. Jak finally exhaled, and said, "You don't know how to fight like I can. If I was in your situation, yes."
Keira's frustration flared for a heart-beat, he could see it, but she stopped short, and looked down. He had a very good point. "…Alright. If I see them breaking through, I'll run."
Jak smiled, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks, Keira… So," he let his hand down, "what else was there?"
Her mouth opened, but nothing came out, and her eyes flickered. "Ah… oh! N-nothing, really, I… just…" her eyes tightened, and she focused, "Can I ask you something personal, Jak?"
He blinked. "Uh… like what?"
Keira gawked. "A-ah, I…" Just ask it! Ask if he's involved with Ashelin! Or wants to be! "I just… Are you and…"
Jak wasn't any less confused, but when he heard the 'and', he raised his eyebrows. "…Me and who?"
Keira looked down, blushing. "I just wanted to know if… you and Ashelin were… together."
Jak's eyes flared, and he actually blushed himself. "A-Ashelin and I…? Together? K-Keira, I mean… sure we kissed once, but-!" he instantly realized it was the wrong thing to say.
Keira's face collapsed, and her eyes just stayed wide for a horribly long stretch of time.
His jaw slack for a bit. "Uh… well, okay, yes, we kissed. It was after I took out Errol on the Dark Maker, I'm pretty sure she was just saying thank you, and it's not like she's ugly, so… seemed like a nice idea at the time… But, no… we're not together. She and Torn have more of a thing than she does with me, anyway."
The young woman swallowed, and her eyes were watery, but she slowly nodded. It was the strangest combination of pain and relief she'd ever felt. "So… you're not with her…?"
Jak shook his head, but knew the damage was already done. "I… didn't know it would bother you like this…" …I don't think I would've let it happen if I did, but… I should have stopped it anyway, shouldn't I…? Looking at Keira that moment seemed to clarify so much for him. He'd always found her attractive, so intelligent and helpful, but not weak-willed in the slightest. It was simply… being banished, he'd decided to sever his ties, stay independent. Ashelin helped him get past that, but in many ways… He hadn't yet.
Keira also realized something abruptly. I always thought I'd be the first, didn't I? We came so close… twice even, but…
"Keira?"
She looked up, his voice softer, more like what she'd always expected his voice to be when he'd been a quiet young man in the country. "Yeah?" She forced an easy smile, but her tightened throat and watery eyes spoiled it.
"…I'm sorry for pushing you away after…" He just shook his head, and stepped closer, embracing her.
She was surprised, but then wrapped her arms around him. "Thanks, Jak. …Thank you so much," she whispered more emphatically.
"And thanks for coming to me about it… I'm so bull-headed, I probably wouldn't have noticed until it was too late." They separated, and he looked in her eyes for a thoughtful moment. It was all flooding back abruptly, the childish fondness he'd always had of her, growing into a subtle longing when he first became Baron Praxis' prisoner. But she wasn't his to hold… not yet. He'd hurt her—badly—and he need to make up for that.
Keira sincerely smiled. "…I missed you…"
Jak grinned. "I missed you, too. Now what do you say we send these Metal-Heads packing?"
Grinning back, she gave a thumbs up. "Definitely!"
(Later…)
The heavily industrialized avenue the led from the docks to the opening of the old gardens, what was then the Metal-Head nest, was a wide, long, hall-like structure. It would keep any attack, from either side, bottle-necked until reaching the dock itself. It kept the Metal-Head attacks concentrated in one area, as it was the only direct access to the city they had. Commander Frost had added a new element to it, however. A guard-wall as high as the walls of the city, with various manners of opening for various sizes of troops, vehicles, and larger weapon systems. It had two towers at the top, where a full crew of city guards were stationed, with regular shift changes, constantly. Behind the defense wall remained a garrison of Freedom League guards and a hellcat cruiser unit.
The morning of the assault, however, things were different. At the defense wall, the troops spread to either side as bomb-bots, four-legged, laser-turret armed, robotic bombs that had, in fact, been used against the Freedom League, since the resistance, by the KG, marched up, armored in the blue colors of the Freedom League this time. Four of them in total, they marched up in square formation, and halted near the heavy defense wall. Two more full units of hellcats hovered to a halt above them, sixteen in addition to the original eight stationed with the wall, and two more full garrisons of guards marched in behind them.
A large space had been left just near the defense wall, and four troop-carriers, thrusters burning at full, swept down, carrying a large, box-like machine in tow-cables attached to their ventral hulls.
A final hellcat flew down from the docks as the transport ships lowered the big machine to the ground with a loud boom, and then detached their cables, quickly flying off. The latest hellcat arrival swept down beside the huge machine, and hovered just over the ground. Frost was piloting it, and Jak, with Daxter perched on his shoulder, hopped out of the gun-turret on the back, Keira slipping out of the passenger side.
"I'm going to make sure the Haven Forest force is ready to go, keep us coordinated, and then I'll go prep the bomb-ship," Frost explained quickly, starting to rise back into the air as Jak, Daxter, and Keira looked up after him.
Jak waved. "We'll watch for the signal. Come back in one piece, Frost!"
The city guard commander chuckled, and waved down to them. "You ,too. The three of you!" And he shot off into the sky at full speed.
Keira quickly trotted over to her pump machine, climbing up a ladder to a small chair and command console situated in the back, top, right-hand corner of the big, boxy machine. It was three times of the height of a person, and twice as wide as a hellcat. Jak walked up on the machine's right, pulling out his morph-gun and setting it to Blaster out of habit, an elongated, more precise weapon for general use.
"Are you sure this thing can move in there on its own with the cable attached?"
Keira grinned to herself, adjusting some controls. Wheels, broad and large, raised the machine just off the ground. "It has two modes of operation. Basically, I'm using the pump engine to turn the wheels, and then when it locks down, the engine goes back to pumping. So it has enough torque to tug three of those barges in the docks out of the water."
Jak laughed. "Fair enough. Just watch yourself up there."
"Will do."
Daxter looked at his friend nervously as Jak walked up to the defense wall itself, giving a testing pound with his fist. "We've done a lot of crazy things together, old pal of mine, but this… is one of the craziest ones. We're marching into a Metal-Head nest for the third time! Not to mention that we don't have a specific target to get to, but we're just going to fend 'em off for two hours!"
Jak eyed the furry rodent sidelong. "It probably won't be two hours. Keira's pump is… Keira's pump, she always delivers, Dax. You remember that. We've just got to hold the place as long as we can. 'Sides… you always enjoy having stories to brag to Tess about. Now you'll have a whole lot more…"
"Pipe-lines connected, moving into position!" someone shouted out behind them.
Jak turned to look, and saw a massive pipe being pulled forward by most of the hellcats they had. The pump-machine gave a loud series of bangs and scrapes, a massive hole opening in its back with mechanical grippers inside the edge.
The hellcats pulled the pipeline, which was going to be delivering the load from all of the other pipes they'd built into the chemical system back at the dock, as Keira reversed the pump machine into the end. Once it was seated just inside the pump machine, she started working the controls again, and a series of loud clamping sounds filled the air, the machine hissing and settling in. Keira looked down to Jak, and gave a thumbs up.
He returned it, and moved in front of the pump machine, gun-ready, Daxter gritting his teeth on his shoulder as the garrisons and hellcats formed up around the machine and behind him.
"We wait for the signal, and then we put it to these armored monsters!" Jak shouted powerfully.
"Yes, sir!" chorused back. The bomb-bots were moved up to the front. They would push through first and detonate, buying the bulk of the force the time it needed to move into position and cover the slow-moving pump machine.
The nest area itself was simply arranged, but not straight. The dock entrance led to a short straight section, which then curved off to the right. This longer straight section had a fork to the left, which curved back almost completely, and led to the Haven Forest security gate, which the other force would be using. The longer straightaway kept going, twisting a few more times, before terminating with the base of the old hive tower. A central channel ran through all of these paths, filled with highly corrosive chemicals, and narrow paths on either side normally swarmed with Metal-Heads, the strange, dark-skinned beasts fused by their nature with metallic armor, usually recognized by the glowing yellow gems buried in their heads. They varied is size from small, scuttling, scorpion like creatures the size of a dog, to gorilla-like monsters. Larger, massive beasts were known in the wasteland and in the deeper ruins beneath the city, but none of these had been seen in the nest itself… not yet.
In Haven Forest, Frost was just hopping back into his hellcat, rising from the organized force preparing to open both security gates and charge through, their own hellcat forces ready to fly right over the wall. As he flew back to the city himself, he opened the comm.. "This is Commander Frost to all guard forces. I'm heading back to secure the bomb-ship and prep it. In ten minutes, the signal will come from the central fortress. Don't hesitate. Frost out." And he flew off.
Jak cocked his weapon with a dark smirk on his face. "Let's take care of business."
Daxter finally relaxed into his own battle grin. "Now we're talking."
Reports came down from the towers. Still no movement from inside the visible parts of the nest, which was troubling. Nevertheless, a missile shot overhead, trailing purple smoke, and exploding into a puff of it. The defense wall split down the center, folding into either side as the blast-bots started marching forward, Jak, the pump machine, and the guard forces moving in their wake. The Haven Forest gates split open, and the soldiers started pouring through, hellcats flying down out of the sky at both entry-points.
And it was totally still inside. Aside from the bubbling, bright green 'acid' in the canal below and the naturally moving parts of the walls, there was no activity. Jak quickly ran back to Keira and the machine, and climbed up the front, hopping on top. "Once you're in position, start 'er up, Keira. No point in wasting time."
"Understood," she responded seriously, busily working on her controls, pulling a few levers as the machine drifted to a halt near the edge of the canal in front of them.
"Sir, what about the blast bots?" one of the guards called up from below.
Jak nodded out, facing the canal with his gun ready. "Keep 'em moving in until they reach that junction with the Haven Forest route. If the Metal-Heads start swarming, those will put a nice dent in their formation."
"Yes, sir!"
Daxter rubbed his hands together with dark glee. "Nice to have those boom-boxes with legs on our side for a change."
"Yeah…" Jak muttered, aiming down his blaster, looking around warily. The nest had never been this quiet. Ever.
"Beginning chemical injection!" Keira called out, and punched a large red button in the center of the console.
The front of the machine opened up, but rather than just being a mobile end of the huge tube, the creamy white, dull yellow, and clear chemicals burst out of the machine like a geyser, several meters thick. Jak found himself almost being pushed back from the raw force of the release as he stayed on top of the machine, the jet of chemicals almost spraying the far side of the junction before sinking into the acid of the canal.
Looking down, Jak's brow creased. "No steam or anything?"
Keira giggled, and responded loudly enough to be heard over the roar of the machine and chemicals. "It's making the acid inert, locking with the molecules rather than just vaporizing each other. Besides… the fumes would eat away your lungs as fast as the acid used to eat up raw materials."
Daxter swallowed, and it was one of the few times Jak shared his feeling, grimacing as he looked down into the canal. "Well… that's good then."
Keira pulled up a small hand-held device, and held a small red-button down. "Frost, this is Keira. Chemicals being injected. If we don't have to stall, it'll be ready for the tower to collapse in… twenty-five minutes."
Frost's garbled voice came back. "That fast? Amazing work, Keira. I'm ready with the ship, I just want to keep it hidden from the Metal-Heads until the last possible minute."
"Understood… it's just really… quiet out here," Keira muttered anxiously, looking around at the troops and hovering hellcats.
"I've heard. I've ordered the Haven Forest force to stay near their entrance. The likelihood of an ambush is too great to let anyone go too far in, leaving our backs open. Frost out."
Keira let the control down and her finger off the button. Monitoring the controls, she nodded to herself. Purring like a kitten… Let's hope it stays that way…
Jak was still panning his view, his eyes tensed. Then he saw it. Over from the tower's side… a dark haze on the side-paths. "It's on! Ready your weapons!"
The guard formed up into lines and the hellcats primed their guns, even their turrets active. It was a swarm of the small, scorpion like Metal-Heads, rushing down the right side toward them, and the left toward the Haven Forest group.
"Let 'em get in range, then let 'em have it!" Jak shouted, and he heard a wave of guns locking.
Then he smirked, and flipped his gun around. It shortened a bit, but the barrel widened, and sprouted what looked like a Metal-Head head over it. A ball of energy started building with bright blue light on the end before he fired once. The energy ball spiraled through the air, and slammed into the first wave of insect-like beasts, ripping nearly ten of them apart in a chain-lightning blast of energy. The hellcats and guards opened fire in a storm of crimson bolts, and the creatures were sent rolling back, their cranial gems flying free into the air as they died.
Keira couldn't resist looking up and around, watching the firepower rain into the enemy ranks. It was so loud she could barely hear the pump, but then she looked up at Jak from behind, and saw how calm he was, how smoothly he fired the Peacemaker after each charge, wiping groups of Metal-Heads out with every one.
Jak, however, looked up after his seventh shot, and saw the ape-like, much bigger Metal-Heads just starting to come around the bend. "Blow the bots! On the right side!"
The two blast-bots firing beams into the swarms around them on that side suddenly fell down and exploded with shockwaves and fire, sending Metal-Heads flying in every direction, blowing a huge gap in their swarming formation. Jak lowered his gun for a moment, his brow creased. "This is too easy…"
"What are you talking about?" Daxter exclaimed on his shoulder. "You want 'em to get smart!"
Jak shook his head. "They are smart, Dax. Smarter than this. Something is very wrong."
Keira saw him lower his weapon, and she became concerned, but then some movement caught her eye. She glanced up to the left, thinking maybe it was just hellcats shifting position as they opened fire, but no… There were three of the ape beasts hefting a large, purple, glowing object over their heads, almost like a barrel of some kind. "JAK! Up on the left!" Keira shouted.
He twisted, his eyes snapping into focus on the glowing 'barrel' of Dark Eco energy. His eyes widened, but he snapped the peace-maker up and fired an uncharged shot. It scatted power across a few hellcats, and struck the Dark Eco. The explosion blasted down through the wall and sent the two closest cruisers flying off into the other. The raw force made the other cruisers rush to stabilize, and the guards on the ground scramble for footing.
"Dark Eco bombs!" Jak shouted. "Frost!" he yanked a comm-link up. "They have Eco-bombs! On the walls!"
"Oh hell… I'll warn the other force, keep on your toes!" Frost replied instantly.
Three of the massive explosions sounded from across the nest. Jak growled, and flipped his gun around, dropping it into an overhand grip with both arms as a rotary chamber constructed near the front. "Watch for the bombs!" he roared, and then spun around, another trio of Metal-Heads hefting another bomb on the opposite side. He unleashed with the Vulcan Fury cannon, blue shots almost creating a solid fan of death as he panned the gun from side to side, blowing the creatures away and shooting the bomb back slightly before triggering it, badly damaging the wall again.
He looked ahead once more, but his face sank, his gun lowering for a heart-beat. Daxter focused up as well. "JaaaaaaaAAAAAK!"
Two of the bombs were hurtling through the air toward them… and the pump. Jak snapped his gun up and unloaded, filling the air with a swirling rush of death. The first bomb exploded with a trio of angled ring-waves and a rushing cloud of purple particles and dark lightning, the second flipping back through the air and exploding just above the catapult-like devices, and the Metal-Heads manning them, which had launched the two.
Jak pulled his gun up for a breather. "This makes more sense. Bombs… Probably been so quiet to make them."
Keira focused down on the pump, and her brow creased. The pressure was spiking. She quickly pulled a few levers, saw nothing change, and so she kicked the metal down near her feet with a grunt. It gave a loud bang, and the pressure started to go down. "Okay… I did come for a good reason," she muttered to herself.
An explosion just above and behind her made Keira snap down over herself with a yelp, Jak twisting so violently Daxter was almost flung from his shoulder as he aimed the Vulcan Fury up. One of the hellcats had just blown up, and leaper Metal-Heads were diving in. Small, agile, mantis-like creatures, they were weak, but incredibly fast as they shot from point to point with high-pitched whistles.
Two had landed from destroying the hellcat, and were quickly felled by some of the soldiers down on the ground, but Jak looked up and saw a swarm of them leaping from the walls on both sides. "Hop through this!"
The Vulcan Fury sprouted several prongs on the end of the barrel, which were starting to whir around violently as a storm of blue lasers burst out of the weapon, spiraling and filling the air in barely ten seconds, homing in on enemy units. Keira eased back into her seat as she looked up into a glowing blue cloud of death, leapers falling and squealing all around them as Jak smoothly spun around, keeping the spread of firepower well-spaced.
With the blue ammo-type depleted, and no more leapers falling on them, Jak switched his weapon to a shorter, thicker design, with another rotary barrel on the end. The grenade launcher. He lobbed a few shots into the charging swarm on the right side, blowing dozens away before he held fire, and looked back to Keira. "Holding up?"
She managed a wan smile. "Just keep 'em off me."
"And ME!" Daxter wailed.
"No worries, Dax." Jak flipped his gun into a longer, narrow model, but the barrel was modified from the blaster type. "The main force is holding them off pretty well now… I'll just keep an eye out."
"Commander Jak!" a voice squawked through his comm.
He snapped it up. "Talk to me."
"The Haven Forest group… we're being swarmed by Leapers and the main force is pushing closer. We need back-up!"
Frustration etched through Jak's expression. "I'm on it… Hold on!" He let down the comm. unit, and watched the guards around him easily holding off the force attacking them, but it was taking all of them. He growled, and then hopped back to Keira, perched directly in front of her. "I have to back up the other force, they're getting wiped out."
Keira did waver, but she firmed her manner and nodded. "I'll keep this puppy going. Help them!"
Jak gave her a nod of deep gratitude, and she understood he was only leaving her for a dire need, and that he viewed it exactly that way. He shot off the pump on the left side, yanking his jet-board beneath his feet, and shooting down the path, Daxter clinging to his shoulder.
"And what exactly are we gonna do against a whole swarm?" his small, furry friend demanded.
"What's the matter, Dax, you don't trust me?" Jak replied with a badly hidden grin.
"If you hadn't gotten me out of scrapes like this before, I'd wallop you a good one right on the kisser for this!"
Jak flew around the bend, and saw the storm of guard-fire and Metal-Heads near the other gate ahead of him. He had to duck under the legs of the two blast-bots as he came around the bend, and then hopped, twisting around, and getting a speed boost as he landed, rocketing into a fresh jump. "Hang on, Dax!" He straightened, pulling the jet-board onto his back, and tensed in mid air as he flew into the heart of the battle.
He roared, but his voice distorted, deepened, and rumbled through the air. He struck the ground heavily, purple lightning crackling off his body and along the warped terrain. "Guards!" Dark Jak shouted, his eyes solid black, his skin a dead gray, horns rising through his whitened hair as his black talons glistened from his hands. "Get back!"
"Listen to him!" Daxter shouted piteously.
The remaining hellcats and guards yanked themselves back, firing constantly. Jak curled over himself, gathering dark power in his claws. Around him everything seemed to slow down, his senses heightening with his building power. Leapers, apes, little scuttling creatures, everywhere, pressing in on the gap the guards had made. Smiling with evil satisfaction, Jak roared, and snapped his arms to the left. A bolo-shot of dark energy spheres tethered with purple lightning flew out, shuddering the air. It simply blew away an entire rank of Metal-Heads, and detonated against the wall, sending dozens more flying off, dead.
He twisted the other way, unleashing another shot even faster, ripping their ranks apart. Looking around briefly, he laughed, and shot into the air. "That's right! SWARM!"
Metal-Heads surged into the gap he'd left below, but he had his fist raised high, energy crackling violently around it. He came crashing down, and swung his right arm into the fall with stony silence. His fist took one ape Metal-Head down to the ground by its head, and Jak's senses stretched at impact. A wave of metallic purple energy, distorting the air around it, blew out from the blow of his Dark Eco charged fist. The swarm in that portion of the nest simply went away, bouncing off the walls, crackling with a storm of dark lightning.
The guards looked up from protecting their eyes or averting their gazes to see Jak moaning as he leaned upright, reverting to normal as his voice warped and shifted back as well. He held his head for a moment, and then pulled his Beam Reflexor back out, the modified blaster from just before he left. Looking ahead, he saw another swarm of leapers and scuttling bugs.
"Blow the blast-bots."
The two robots flew apart in blazing glory, taking a fair amount of the fresh swarm with them, but then Jak looked up, seeing two more bombs flying through the air toward them. "Dax?" he asked with calm focus.
"Yeeees?" the little voice moaned back.
"Hold on."
Daxter wailed as Jak shot into the air and twirled around, firing so rapidly he unleashed a storm of ricocheting yellow blasts down the nest valley, almost like a wall of gold power. And he simply kept firing until he landed to one hand and both feet, his gun held out to the right. He grinned, Daxter rubbing his hands together as they watched the Metal-Heads fly back and fall under the onslaught.
"That's what we're talking about…" the furry member of the pair said with satisfaction.
"Let's get back." Jak flipped onto his jet-board again, and took off amid a hail of thanks from the guards at that gate.
Keira kept glancing up warily as she worked. The pump was proving troublesome in handling its own pressure, but she was keeping under control. Looking up once more, she felt her life flash before her eyes. Three bombs were hurtling through the air toward the pump. She simply couldn't move for a heart-beat, but then crimson blasts rained into the bombs, blowing up in a brilliantly colored show a safe distance from the pump. Keira gasped, and breathed heavily for a moment, getting back to work.
And then she was almost thrown out of her chair by an explosion close on her left side. She instantly focused back in that direction, and saw the remains of a hellcat crashing down into the guards as a towering Metal-Head perched on the wall was joined by two of the same kind. They were hulking, silver and blue, four-legged, heavily armored creatures… armed with blasters. The deadly trio started to rain purple blasts of death on the guards on the left flank of the pump machine and pipe, dropping several guards before return fire kept them quite busy.
Keira controlled her sorrow at seeing so many good people die so abruptly, and focused back on her job. Seeing the pressure spiking again, she turned grimly outraged, and rammed her foot down into the same metal plate. "DON'T do that again!" The pressure almost seemed to vanish.
A horribly close bang made her yelp, instantly focusing up into the face of one of the three hulking Metal-Heads, its forward left leg scraping closer on the top of the pump as it leaned in at her from above, energy charging in its arms. She just focused into its glistening, white eyes, knowing she could never dodge in time, her senses seeming to pull the moment into an eternity. …Jak…
With a rush of almost blinding, pure light, the creature flew off to the right with a screech, bursting into dark eco mist and sending its skull-gem flying. Keira's mouth fell open, seeing a figure stand up from simply punching the massive beast out of the way. He turned toward her, tendrils of pure light arching beautifully behind him in wing-like formations, his body wreathed in the same luminous power. She gazed into his blazing, peaceful eyes, framed by shadow-darkened skin, lost in the mysterious beauty and comfort she felt from his presence.
"Oooohhhhm…" Daxter mockingly sounded, standing on the glowing figures shoulder with his hands pressed together and his body straight. He relaxed, and winked down at Keira, "I know, crazy stuff, right?"
Jak reverted with a snapping flash, rainbows flitting through life from the release of altered photons. He shook his head to regain his normal cognition, and grinned down at Keira. "Sorry to scare you like that. I'll be sticking around this time."
Keira just sagged with relief, smiling and nodding to him. Jak twisted his grenade launcher up, and lobbed it at the last of the three big Metal-Heads, the guards themselves having felled the second. The explosion sent the creature flying off into nothing. As she worked, though, Keira found herself remembering the strangely peaceful feeling that had filled her heart when Jak appeared as he had, both saving her life, and calming her down in a single action. Looking up at him as he gave supporting fire against the main swarm, now coming down both sides against both forces, she realized he really was a mixture of his two selves. The dark beast of destruction, and the angelic bringer of peace. As himself, only armed with a gun and his skill, he was both at once. Fierce, brave, and compassionate.
A protesting buzzer on her machine snapped her attention back to reality, and she busily reset a few controls. They just had to hold a little longer, the canal was near full.
(Elsewhere…)
Frost had his head tilted down, his eyes opened, but focused on nothing. He was seated in a modified hellcat, more heavily armored, colored in black and gray, with two large missiles, pale gray and white, locked under each 'wing'. He was in some kind of landing bay, with only some sunlight filtering through a semi-open door off to his left, the hum of the cruiser's hover jets shaking his ears.
Already, dozens of good people had died in his attack plan. He was a realistic tactician, he knew it would happen, and knew the plan was justified. They had known the risks very well themselves. …But he was still responsible. His slender hands gripped the controls more tightly as he remembered his sister, her family… How many families would share his pain because of his plan now?
"Frost!"
It was Keira's voice, urgent, but sounding relieved as well.
"We're ready! According to all calculation, the canal is full enough to drop the main tower!"
The hellcat spun around violently, the doors rushing open, and it shot out into the air with a rush. "Roger that, Keira. I'm coming. Don't panic when a hellcat goes overhead." He was flying across the dock at full throttle, the modified hellcat capable of rather high speed. They risked their lives for this, time to do my part…
"We gotcha. Come back in one piece!"
He glanced down at the comm. speaker. "…I'll do my best. Frost out."
(At the battle…)
Keira looked up from her own speaker with concern, but focused on Jak. "He's coming. How's the battle going?"
"Not too bad, really," Jak shouted back, lobbing another grenade at the swarm.
"Not too bad, he says," Daxter repeated dryly. "We're fighting for our lives, as usual!"
"Like I said… since we've gotten out of worse scrapes before."
"Have we?"
"…We have an army with us, Dax."
"Oh fine, spoil my complaining with your 'logic'," the ottsel actually raised his hands from Jak's shoulder and gestured quotes with his fingers.
Jak just chuckled, launching another grenade, to the left this time. He almost ducked when a black mass shot over his head like a bolt of Dark Eco. "Whoa! Frost…" he realized quietly, watching the hellcat zoom off and swerve into the right turn that would lead it to the nest tower at the far corner of the area.
"Does he need to fly that fast?" Keira called up anxiously.
Jak looked back to her, a sincerely unsure expression on his own face. "Not sure… but he knows how to handle high-speed maneuvers."
Indeed, he did. Alone with a swarm of Metal-Heads on either side, Frost dove down to the glistening river of chemicals filling the canal, his thrust rippling the surface as he juked from side to side, avoiding a handful of suicidal Metal-Heads that wanted to take him out. Seeing the final turn ahead, he ascended into the air, and hit a few controls. The two missiles locked out to the sides, armed and ready to fire. A small screen showed the programmed target lock already active. He just needed as straight a shot as possible, and the bend was closing fast.
Swerving around the final bend, his ship angled into the turn, he couldn't really maneuver otherwise. Looking up, which was objectively to the left, his eyes widened as his heart sank. A Metal-Head of the ape-like variety was flying through the air toward him. Frost jerked his right hand from the controls to the rifle lodged between the two command seats in the hellcat, wrenching it free just as the beast slammed into his port hull.
Frost roared, using one arm to yank the ship back onto the horizontal as his path straightened toward the tower, and aimed the rifle over his left shoulder with his other. The Metal-Head roared at him, and he fired straight into it's open mouth with a dark lock of gazes with the creature. It flew off with a rapid flip, dispersing, but then the hellcat pitched down on the other side.
Twisting his head around, Frost's alarm clenched in his eyes as he saw another Metal-Head on the other side. They pair must have landed on his ship at the same time. This one was just crawling on top of the wing from the under side.
"Enough!"
Yanking his left arm down as he snapped the other limb across the control seats, Frost sent the hellcat into a barrel-rolling dive toward the canal as he fired at the Metal-Head. The beast took a glancing hit to its skull-gem, yelping. It started to slip free, but Frost heard a ripping tear of metal before the weight finally came off his ship. He yanked the controls again, putting the rifle down for a heart-beat, and pulled the hellcat out of diving straight into the canal. He was in good range, and he started to reach for the missile controls, but his eyes focused up on an Eco bomb hurtling toward him from the base of the nest tower.
Growling with exertion, Frost jammed the controls down, hard, and opened fire with the nose-gun. The hellcat almost halted, angling upright, and unleashed a spray of crimson blasts, detonating the bomb just a few meters from the ship. He shouted from the sting of the mist and force of the shock-wave, but managed to correct the hellcat out of it, and aim down at the tower. "Try mine…" And he slammed his palm into the firing control.
The left missile shot free with a streaming rush, and slammed into the base of the tower, blowing a huge chunk out of it, angling the tower fractionally on its own. Frost, however, looked down in alarm at the console. The right missile had failed to fire. Under the wing on the right side, the clamp mechanism had been damaged, torn apart partially by the dying Metal-Head he'd shot off during the barrel-roll dive. He had seconds to pull up or crash into the tower, and the missile was stuck. "Oh G'd…" he couldn't help but breathe in despair, but then his eyes sharpened, and he focused on the tower's base. He growled, "Fine."
The hellcat's thrusters flared to maximum, and the ship hurtled toward the tower's base itself. But a group of hulking Metal-Heads with blaster-arms scuttled into view from within, and there were several Eco bombs with them. They opened fire, practically erasing the nose of the hellcat and sending into a spinning swerve toward the right side of the nest valley.
Undoing his harness, Frost grabbed his rifle, and let the vehicle throw him into the air. It struck the wall and exploded with the missile, sending Metal-Heads flying and dispersing as their skull-gems ricocheted and bounced off the walls, many falling into the canal. Frost fell into a roll on the end of the right path near the tower, and uprighted firing from a crouch.
Two of the largest Metal-Heads dropped under his fire before the city guard snapped around with the butt of his rifle, ramming an ape Metal-Head across the jaw hard enough to drop it for the count. He simply ran, charging toward the tower on foot, firing wherever it was needed to clear his path. As the beasts opened fire in response, he dove into rolls, quick, strafing hops, and managed to take several down before he finally reached the tower… with nearly five Eco bombs visible just inside. He knew the size of the tower by memory. The base was so wide that the five bombs were easily close enough to the right side of the front to not cause the tower to fall the wrong direction. He didn't need the missile.
Roaring just behind his head made the Commander dive forward, narrowly missing a decapitating swipe from one of the ape Metal-Heads. Twisting as he rose up, Frost saw that the swarm was surging back to the tower. He had no exit. Nodding to himself, quite calm, he ran deeper into the tower, shooting down a few leapers as they tried to take him out, and he quickly scrambled up a spiky, wall-like protrusion from the left wall of the base chamber of the tower. The first bomb was right in front of it. He slid down, and rammed his feet into the side of the barrel-like Eco concentration, knocking it forward enough to fall completely on its own weight. Then he shoulder rammed it as he dodged another leaper attack, rolling the bomb toward the others near the remains of the tower's base on its forward left side.
Frost twisted, ramming the leaper away with the butt of his rifle, and aimed as he came back around, firing once. "Don't be sad for me…" he whispered.
The shot struck the first bomb, and the five of them, all total, exploded in a roaring rush. The ground below Frost pitched him up as the blasts reached him, and he went flying into the air, parts of his armor stripping off as he flipped like a rag-doll inside the tower, the base falling out and revealing a glistening lake of darkness beneath. The concentrated explosion unleashed a storm of purplish lightning as well, arcing across the walls and new, gaping hole in the ground.
Back at the pump-machine, Keira's eyes widened as she saw the nest-tower start to tilt forward in the distance. "He did it!"
Jak focused up, seeing that the Metal-Heads were starting to rush back toward the tower as well. Probably a last-ditch instinct to protect the heart of their nest. Then his brow creased. "…Where's Frost?"
Daxter looked from his fiend, to the gradually tilting tower. "…He'll make it! …Right?"
Frost came hurtling down inside the tower, his rifle still clutched in his right hand as he saw the dark waves in the lake below rushing to meet him. A roar made him look up at the remains of the entrance, parts of the tower raining down around him, and he saw one of the larger Metal-Heads ready to pounce at him… just before a bolt of dark power slammed into it, killing it instantly. The skull-gem shot off like a bullet, and Frost saw it twirl toward his face just before pain exploded through his head.
The gem had struck his own forehead, and the arcs of dark lightning had followed it, suddenly the entire storm of it blasting Frost's body at once. He screamed, but his voice distorted through the Dark Eco power, and he became a falling ball of crackling energy, even his rifle splintering with the power. He struck the surface of the Dark Eco lake with such a blunt ram that it seemed unnatural for his small body, the energy dispersing through the fluid like sheet-lightning through clouds, filling the troughs of the waves as his rifle and hand vanished beneath the surface.
Outside, the tower finally broke its balance point, and its base flew apart as it came crashing down into the nest itself. The chemicals filling the canal exploded against the walls, sending a heavy wave down the whole nest, washing just over the walls of the inner canal, washing away the Metal-Head carapace, exposing charred dirt from the old gardens.
In the same instant, however, the energy which had struck the Dark Eco lake with Frost continued through it, rushing deeper into the planet, and shooting through a narrow channel hidden deep in the rocks. It skittered down the rock-tube like a swarm of mad insects, and finally burst out into a cavernous, underground chamber. The warped ruins of some great machine were just visible in some parts of the glistening darkness, and the emaciated remains of a body preserved only in shape loomed in the visible part of a head-like mass of the machine. The energy, however, crackled around a small thing down near the other body. A hand, thick, and covered in Dark Eco like mud. It crackled violently, and the energy slowly faded. And then the hand slowly closed under its own power…
The release of the Dark Eco power shook the entire nest area, even so, and Jak stumbled to a crouch on the pump as the shock-wave rushed beneath them. "What the-?"
Keira looked ahead with concern. "That was too big a delay for the missiles to cause…" Her heart sank into her stomach, and she jammed her hand over one of the controls. "Frost? Frost, come in!"
Jak ran back to her, leaning over her controls as they both listened to the horribly undisturbed static on the other end of the line. Keira jammed the controls again. "Frost?" She started thumping her fist off the comm. unit. "Frost? Frost?"
Daxter didn't know what to do, but Jak finally hopped down with Keira and grabbed her hand before she hurt it seriously. "Easy, Keira… He did his job."
Keira looked up into his grave expression with tears in her own eyes. "What are you saying…? He has to be alright!"
"He'd answer if he was."
Daxter just looked down, the situation too serious for even his cynical humor. Jak felt Keira ease slowly, but then she fell against him, sobbing. He exhaled heavily, dropping his gun, and returned the embrace consolingly. "He pulled it off…" he muttered, patting her shoulder.
As Keira continued to cry into his shoulder, he looked across the nest as it continued to melt down into the ruins of the old garden area. It would still need a lot of work, but the bulk of the job was done.
"Jak," a familiar voice sputtered over the speaker, "Jak, this is Ashelin. The tower's down, but is everything okay over there?"
Jak held onto Keira, but responded. "Yeah… yeah. We lost some good people… but it's working…"
Apparently Ashelin heard it in his voice. "…Why didn't Commander Frost signal us?"
Keira tightened her grip on Jak, and he just breathed for a moment. "He can't."
Ashelin's voice was silent for a while, and came back at length a bit hoarse. "Understood… Sorry to… be cold, but we need to keep going. Can Keira operate the pump still?"
The young woman nodded quietly, slowly calming down. Jak answered, "She'll be good to go in a minute."
"Right… We'll… Keira, we'll make him proud, don't worry." In the command center of the fortress, Ashelin cut the transmission, leaning on her hands over the holo-table as she swallowed. "Why didn't I order back-up with him?"
Torn was standing just to her left, his expression grave even for him, but he stepped closer and put a hand on her shoulder. "It was his job, and he got it done. Back-up might've just gotten in the way." He paused, and then finished, "…So let's do ours."
Ashelin nodded. "Right." She looked at the holographic display. "Even if it's just for your, Frost… We'll build those gardens just the way your sister would've wanted them. I promise…" And she shut the hologram down, walking away.
(Later…)
The pump pushed the pipeline down into the canal, and started to reverse its flow, sucking the chemicals and remains of the nest they'd corroded back into the storage tank beneath the city. Within two hours of the tower's final collapse, crews, along with Jak and Keira, were investigating the ruins of its base for any remains to bury. They found the smoldering wreckage of the hellcat easily, but a more dire discovery soon distracted the bulk of their attention. Jak stood on the edge, Daxter leaning back on his shoulder. "…Dark Eco."
Keira looked in seriously herself. "I've only heard of a concentration this big in the ruins in the forest, contained by the Precursor ruins themselves. Was this always under the city?"
"It must be part of that lake in the ruins. They're not that far from here. Maybe linked under the foundations of the city," Jak pointed out.
"Sir!"
The three of them hurried down to the edge of the all but empty canal, to see a group of guards looking busily down at the base of the raised path they were all standing on. "What is it?" Jak asked seriously as he came up.
"Look, sir. Down there," one guard gestured with his gun.
Jak did so, and his eyes widened. "The eco!"
A crack through the rocks was dumping a steady stream of Dark Eco into the canal from the lake behind them. It was easily big enough for a Metal-Head to fit through.
"Dax, go with Keira. Soldier, get everyone out of here!" Jak just yanked his friend off his shoulder and tossed him to Keira, both yelping in surprise as she caught him.
The soldiers hurried off to follow his orders, but Keira lingered as Jak transformed into his darker form.
"Wait, Jak…"
He turned around, and she winced a bit, seeing his dark form and how it twisted the brave young man she knew so well. His voice was deep and rumbling. "I'm the only one that can seal the crack and get rid of that Eco. I need some containers. Tell a hellcat team to bring some in to get the stuff that's already come out." And then he spun around, leaping down into the canal.
Containing her concern, Keira put Daxter on her shoulder, and ran down the right-hand path. Daxter glanced back, and saw Jak use his dark-blast to seal the hole with rubble immediately. "So, ah… none of that came back with the chemicals and stuff, right?"
"It almost definitely did, but not much compared to the whole volume. No point in worrying too much about it now. Maybe Jak can look into it later," Keira explained as she hurried.
Another forty-five minutes later, Jak let himself finally revert, breathing heavily. Keira and Daxter came down an another hellcat, and hurried up to meet him.
"You okay? Do you need anything?" Keira immediately asked, her concern obvious and sincere.
Jak smiled wanly, but shook his head. "I'll be alright. I think we all need to rest, though. And… they never found…"
Keira nodded. "We know." She swallowed. "His body may have gotten taken back with the chemicals…"
Jak put a hand on her shoulder. "Not your fault, so don't even start blaming yourself, if that's the case. But come on… let's rest…"
(Elsewhere…)
The smell would've made anyone gag on reflex, but the storage chamber for the chemicals and liquefied remains of the nest was nearly filled to the brim. Catwalks and platforms were arrayed around its edges for any purpose that could be conceived within the chamber itself, just in case.
A few Metal-Heads were still alive, but they were obviously doing badly as they slowly crawled around. A group of the ape-like ones and leapers were slowly gathering around one part of the catwalk. The Dark Eco had conglomerated in one part, near the surface, and they were hungrily closing in on it.
Terror seized the horrible beasts and they jerked back as a group when a limb burst out of the black, powerful eco, and slammed down onto the grating. The fingers were shivering, but clutched the gaps with desperate power, talons glistening on the finger-tips… and the remains of blue armor, mostly scorched or stained black led back into the obsidian fluid in the midst of the pale chemicals. Even the creature's skin was black, but a flawless, onyx variety of it.
The chamber was so dark that only the glistening surfaces of the limb were clearly distinguishable, as were the glowing skull-gems on the Metal-Heads, but then the arm pulled its owner further up. A rasping, unnaturally echoing voice gasped the free air, and his torso slumped over the grating. Beyond the damaged armor, plates of glistening, silvery metal appeared to have sprouted off his body in random places. His right arm was still half-submerged, his body all but limp as he wheezed through his ethereal voice.
A slow growl followed, and his arms came up at the elbows, dragging his body free of the Dark Eco, the dark purple-red energy crackling off his body and along the grating. Getting his feet under himself with painful, deliberate motion, he remained hunched over, finally tilting his head up. Only the glowing red irises and unmistakable skull-gem just above and between them were clearly visible from his jagged, spiky silhouette. His body heaved with slow breathing, the sound making it clear that his mouth was hanging open as he focused from one creature to the next.
As the remains of a rifle bubbled up behind him, the Metal-Heads started to close in, some growling, others hissing.
His eyes sharpened. Whispers… in my head… all of them… you… The figure suddenly roared, and energy violently arced from his claws to the ground, his skull-gem glistening brightly.
The Metal-Heads fell back, cowering away from him, some whimpering and pawing at the ground near his feet. The red eyes focused down, and then he raised his hands, slowly absorbing their appearance as energy continued to crackle and snap off of them. "I… am…" He lowered his hands, and focused on the closest Metal-Head, on its skull-gem. A claw of his own slowly reached up, and scratched its talons across the glowing yellow stone in his own head.
Slowly, he straightened up. We're still in the city, obviously… He turned, and looked down at the Dark Eco. He stepped over, picked the warped weapon out of it without harm, aside from a great deal of crackling energy, and then rounded on the Metal-Heads around him. He pointed back at the Dark Eco. "Collect it all," he rasped firmly. "We're leaving."
After only a moment's silence, every Metal-Head still alive began to move to his will. The silhouette simply took the weapon in hand, and moved toward a large, sealed door along the grated catwalk upon which he was already standing.
