Delivery Boy

Good afternoon, evening, or whatever time of day it might happen to be wherever you are. Well, I said that I'd try and get this up in about a week, and here it is, hopefully not as horrible as I think it to be. Anyways, to those of you who have reviewed.

Light-Eco-Sage- Read that one myself, hope you liked the comment that I left, and please update it soon.

Lunatic Pandora1- Thanks, and you should really play that game. Its alot like Prince of Persia, only with more advanced A.I. enemies that are totally unforgiving and eviscerate you the very instant that you make a mistake.

gohan11- why are you so obssessed about tar and feathering me? Did I do something to you in a past life or something? Regardless, glad you liked it.

Also, to any lawyers who have nothing better to do than cruise through here looking for people who have simply forgotten their disclaimers, I own nothing of this franchise and go out and get a life!

That said, here's chapter three.

The shockwave from the explosion propelled the two of them forward. As they went sailing through a window, Jak felt his back blister under the heat. However, any concerns that he might have had for that particular region for his body took secondary priority as he realized that he and Dax were being shot straight towards a building. That thought had just registered when he plowed into it.

The next thing he was aware of was a sensation of weightlessness, and the distinctive screaming of a certain orange critter. The former Channeler was jolted back to full awareness when he hit the ground with a sickening thud. Shaking his head, and being certain to make sure that the red cloth still covered his face, hiding his identity, he looked around.

"Dax?" He called out, being unable to see his friend.

On cue, he felt a squirming underneath him, and Daxter's head suddenly poked out.

"This place has too much excitement." the Ottsel said, panting, "We need to move back to the country."

Jak chuckled and got to his feet, attempting to dust himself off in the process. Moments later, a slightly squashed Daxter was up on his shoulder again. Together, they slunk off through the shadows of the slum buildings, Jak smiling the whole time. The detonation of the ammo dump had given the Fortress a new sky roof, and the rumbling shockwave had probably interrupted even Baron Praxis' sleep.

These revenges, both small and large, made the dark elf feel good. He knew he was paying the tyrant back for all the years of agony and suffering that he had been put through. However, nothing would be good enough until he had taken care of both the Baron, and that psychopath, Errol. Until he had made both of them beg for mercy, before killing them off in a fiendishly slow and painful manner.

When they arrived back at the base, it was aflutter with its usual activity. There were guerilla soldiers taking breaks, others were priming and cleaning weapons, some were at work on the zoomer bikes that were often used with the resistance's hit and run raids on the Baron's convoy's, and a couple were making homemade C-4 and other such explosives like the ones that Jak had used to rip the top off of the Fortress.

Wearily, the dark elf made his way to the command area, where Torn awaited. The hardened commander stood in his usual spot, pouring over maps of the various city sectors. Behind him, one could see posters of both Baron Praxis and Commander Errol, each one of them having some rather…creative remarks written on them.

"Report." Torn growled, not even bothering to stare up from what he was doing.

"The demolition duo has returned, one barbequed ammo dump, served up hot!" Daxter replied in his usual cheeky way, earning him a frown from his superior.

"While we were there, we did see something interesting." Jak added. "Praxis had his guards giving barrels full of Eco to a group of metal heads." the Eco infused elf told his commander, while remembering the scene in his mind.

Torn paused for a moment, and then looked up.

"Really? Hmmm, The Shadow will be very interested to hear that." he responded in genuine concern.

"You know, so far your gigs have been easier than stealing grass from a sleeping yakow. When do we get to do something really challenging?" Daxter inquired.

"So, you guys want to really start irritating the Guard?" Torn asked, getting him a pair of affirmative nods.

"Okay then. One of our "suppliers" needs his payment delivered, a bag of Eco ore. Get some sleep, and I'll wake you at 0600 to deliver it."

Jak nodded, and then turned on his heel, and left his commander to head for the barracks. When at last he arrived he sighed contently, removed his weapons, and flopped down on one of the cots to get some shut-eye.

The Rift Machine was built and ready, much to Keira's relief. The aqua haired elf had spent many a day trying to repair the damaged creation that they had found. The Rift Gate, pulsing from the power of whatever Precursor technologies were keeping it up, floated serenely just off of a small dock by the three room house she shared with Samos.

"I just hope we didn't break anything carrying it from the lab." Keira said nervously, running her hands over the strange vehicle, before climbing into the seating bench at the front of the device.

"What are you complaining about? Jak and I did all the heavy lifting!" Daxter whined.

Jak just rolled his eyes and grinned, before taking a seat next to the girl.

"I just hope you know what you are doing." Samos, the Green Eco Sage replied. "Though the Precursors vanished long ago, the artifacts that they left behind are powerful indeed, and can be used for great evil."

"Or great good." Keira added, pointing at her adoptive father.

"I simply want you to be prepared, especially you, Jak, for whatever happens." The sage responded, his tone serious.

"Yeah, yeah, we hear ya, gramps, now get in here!" Daxter grumbled impatiently.

The sage clambered in, and Jak pressed the strange gem that activated the machine. Almost instantly, the beams of power had lanced out from the contraption, striking the Rift Gate, and causing it to open. Nearly as quickly, strange, insectoid creatures had come swarming out. They had been followed by the visage of a horrendous monster, almost as massive as the Rift itself.

"You cannot hide from me, boy!" it roared.

Then things happened in a blur, as Jak pressed the gem once more, and the Rift Machine shot forward into the swirling abyss. There was a blast of energy, and they were all separated. Then came the capture, and the tortures were soon to follow.

Jak bolted upright, panting. Yet again he had been forced to relive the nightmarish events that had cast him into the life he now lived. As his breathing calmed, his thoughts drifted to the others. Keira, Samos, had fate been kinder to them? Where were they?

He leaned his head forward, how he missed the two of them. Samos, wise beyond reckoning, offering his sagely advice whenever he saw fit, whether Daxter had felt it had been necessary or not. Keira, the optimistic tech-head, who had always been trying to find something to fiddle with or examine.

Keira, the thought of her tore at him. They had grown up together. As far back as the dark elf had been able to remember, she and Daxter had been a part of his life, his very existence. Whereas the other children had found his muteness as something to poke fun at, the aqua haired elf had instead seen someone who just needed a friend. This bond had grown, until friendship became something more, until it was even able to overcome his inability to talk. Keira had learned that if she wanted to know what he thought of something, she had only to look into his eyes, and everything was made plain as day.

He snorted bitterly. What would she think of him now? What would Keira think when she stared into his eyes, and saw, instead of the cheerful glow they had had in Sandover, a pair of blue stars that burned only with the fires of vengeance? The boy she had known and who had cared for her with all of his heart was gone, that person had died with the first of the injections, when the beatings and tortures began. The boy had simply not been strong enough to survive under those circumstances. Now, there was only the warrior, and the demon.

Speaking of which, he glowered inwardly as his thoughts drifted back to Keira, he felt the beast's presence rise once more. However, this time there was no hostility, no animalistic rage, just an instinctive curiosity. The creature's primitive mindset seemed to be trying to figure out what was the significance of this other elf, why she was so important to its host. For some reason that he couldn't fathom at the time, Jak let it roam as it wished through his mind and memories, until it once again withdrew, its curiosity apparently satisfied.

He looked over to a clock that was hanging on the wall; it read 5:20 in the morning. Thinking now was as good a time as any, Jak shook Daxter awake. Ignoring the death glare that he got from the Ottsel, the former Channeler trudged off towards the mess hall, looking forward to a meal.

"Yeck, how can you stand that stuff?"

"Simple, Dax, after two years of prison food, you learn to eat anything that has nutritional value to it."

"You mean that stuff actually had nutrients in it?" Daxter replied incredulously.

Jak simply chuckled at his friend. The breakfast had been the usual: a porridge type substance that had the consistency of runny eggs, but hey, food was food, right? The furry rodent on his shoulder had gone about his now to be expected tirade about there not being anything worth eating, but in the end, it had not been enough to stop the Ottsel from indulging heavily in the grub.

When they arrived at the command center, Torn looked up, motioned for them to come over to where he was. He then gestured to the map that he was staring at.

"You're to take the package to a bar located within the south town port, the Hip Hog Heaven Saloon. Once you arrive, deliver it to the owner, Krew. After that, I want you to pump Krew for information, he's wired into the city, and might know why the Baron's letting the Metal Heads walk off with all the Eco they can carry."

Jak nodded, confirming that he and Daxter understood their orders. For the moment, he simply stared at the map, trying to memorize the fastest route from where they were to the port area. Once he was satisfied that he knew the route, he left, Daxter following at his heels.

"Hawkeye reporting in, the way looks clear. Turn the delivery boy loose." an unnamed Underground member radioed in.

As the acknowledgement crackled over the radio, a portion of the garage wall slide away, revealing the run down alley in which the base was housed. The hover bike roared out, complete with a screaming orange rodent. Moments later, the wall resealed itself, hiding the large doorway in its entirety.

Jak whooped as he raced through the streets. He loved these zoomers, the thrill of being able to cruise above the ground at high speeds, the rush of adrenaline that it gave him, it was one of the few things that could actually make him forget the pain of the past. All the memories of the beatings and experiments were swept away by the feeling of the wind rushing through his hair and howling in his ears and teasing at the edges of the trench coat he was wearing over his gear.

He changed hover zones as he left the slums, allowing him to maneuver with more freedom do to the lower number of other zoomers present. The former Channeler was doing his best to keep a low profile on the bike, obeying all traffic laws, not doing anything that would call attention to himself or the package of Eco ore that was strapped to the rear of the vehicle.

His thoughts were swept away again, once more thinking of his lost companions. Daxter said that he had kept an eye out for them while he had tried to find a way to spring him from the slammer, but hadn't had much luck. Jak sighed bitterly at the notion of Keira and Samos being lost somewhere in this war-torn place and him being unable to help them. If the past two years had taught him one thing, it was that Haven was anything but what its name implied it to be. What if something had happened?

Jak was abruptly brought back to reality in a rather harsh way. He saw, directly in front of him, a Krimzon Guard roadblock. They were stopping every vehicle, checking out the drivers, examining speeders, and looking in packages. Jak cursed his luck, if he pulled out to head the other way, it might arouse suspicion, and he couldn't go forward. Besides, they would definitely ask him about the bag of ore.

Fortunately, the Eco infused elf was notorious for his abilities to think on his feet, and this time proved to be no exception. He suddenly yanked up the red cowl of his uniform, covering his faced, jammed the accelerator pedal down, and changed hover zones at the same time. He shot past the startled guards, leaning forward in the seat to increase his speed. He heard various shouts as the Krimzon Guard put their own bikes in gear and tore off after him.

Seconds later, he felt a searing heat, and an Eco burst whizzed by his ear. It was soon joined by others as the Guard tried to force him down. Immediately, Jak set about doing evasive maneuvers. He dodged left, then right, switching hover zones randomly, trying to throw their aim off, and even swerving into oncoming lanes of traffic. For a brief instant, he also entertained the idea of drawing the pistol that he had been issued as well, but then tossed the notion aside. Even if the gun packed a sufficient punch to damage the armored bikes, he'd have to take his eyes off the traffic in front of him, pivot around, and to shoot a moving target at ninety miles an hour while trying to avoid the K.G., who were very enthusiastically returning the favor. While not exactly a math genius, the dark elf realized that the odds of a shot connecting under those circumstances were nearly astronomical. He was still thinking about a way to overcome this disadvantage when the chase took him into the industrialized sector of the city

People looked up from their early morning routines as they heard the chase scream by. Some shook their heads, apparently not at all surprised about high speed chases tearing through the industrial sector these days, but Jak could have sworn that he saw a few of them cheer silently, rooting for him as he led the Guard on a wild goose chase throughout Haven City.

He changed his hover zone again, diving in close to the ground. At the same time, he leaned to the left and pulled back on the handlebars, sending the zoomer into a hard turn. The result was for him to start roaring down a side alley at triple digit speeds. Five of the six guard cycles following him compensated in time to make the turn, but the last one didn't, and Jak heard the explosion as the bike slammed into the dura-crete and titanium of the building.

The elf snarled as he looked back over his shoulder. He had underestimated his opponents' biking skills, and now here he was, racing down a back street with no room to maneuver. However, the former Channeler had a guardian angel, or something of that nature, as none of the shots that managed to rake the speeder hit anything vital, though it did cause Daxter to scream loud enough to nearly deafen him.

As he blasted out of the alley, he made another hard turn, putting him in the general direction of the port. The Krimzon Guard kept up in hot pursuit, firing at him indiscriminately, not caring if there happened to be any civilians in the way. It was then that a stroke of insanity decided to hit him. Boy, were his pursuers in for one nasty surprise.

"Hang on, Dax!" he shouted.

"Jak, wha'cha doing?" Daxter said, tightening his grip on his friend's shoulder.

Jak remained silent, opting instead to reach back and draw Kitetsu from its sheath. It gleamed brightly in the early morning sun, and seemed to hum in tune with his heartbeat as he whipped it around to where he held it normally, rather than the knife fighter style required to draw the dark blade. Without giving his pursuers any time to possibly think about what he was about to do, he suddenly hit the brakes, and yanked down hard on the left side of the handlebars. The result was to put the hover bike in a tight horizontal roll while bringing it to a screeching halt.

He stuck his right arm out, and tightened his grip on his blade as much as he possibly could. The troopers behind him did not know what to do, having never encountered such a crazy tactic before. Dumbstruck, they surged ahead, simply trying to get out of the way of the apparently insane Underground fighter.

Jak felt resistance twice, and the resulting strain nearly wrenched his arm from its socket. The armor on the bikes used by Praxis' men was designed to absorb and distribute heat created by Eco blasters, not deflect the blade of a masterfully crafted katana. Such was the advantage of apparently archaic technology. The runed sword sheared through the nose of one bike, destroying the controls and sending it and its rider on a one way trip to the tarmac. The completion of the barrel roll drove the blade home again, slicing the engines off of another zoomer. The rider had time to utter one terrified scream before he impacted against the street, lighting up the block with a blossom of fire and shrapnel.

Three down, three to go. As the remaining Guard members tried to turn their bikes around to renew the pursuit, Jak rocketed forward, blade held down at an angle. His intended target looked up again just in time to see the sun's glare reflecting off Kitetsu as the former Channeler extended it straight out. An instant later, the katana flashed again, blood pooling in the runes along the blade, and the trooper's corpse, now deprived of its head, fell to the ground below.

The remaining two fell into flanking position rapidly, their guns blasting wildly. For a brief instant, he thought about repeating his previous tactic, but decided against it, they would expect something like that. Instead, he spotted another golden opportunity to remove them from the situation.

He had finally arrived at the harbor, and now he shot down, shrieking towards the water. He pulled up at the last moment, the controls of his speeder screaming in protest. The two Krimzon Guard followed at a slightly higher level, and continued blasting at him. An abrupt swerve to the left sent him curving around one of the many towers that were used for loading cargo onto ships, and effectively put him out of sight of his pursuers.

They were moving too fast, their vision was too restricted, for them to see what had been done. When they came to a stop, they looked about, perplexed as to where the young elf could have disappeared to.

That question was answered a moment later when Jak sudden popped up from underneath one, his katana tearing out its undercarriage and effectively killing its engine. The Guard also plummeted into the water. Under normal circumstances, a fall of forty feet into deep water, would, at worst, leave one with a sore stomach. However, the Krimson Guard standard issue armor alone weighed close to fifty pounds, and when combined with wet clothing, made for it being the modern equivalent of being dropped into a lake in medieval plate mail and being expected to swim in it. Needless to say, the hapless elf sank like an anvil.

His compatriot met a similar fate when Jak powered up his engines, and blasted right across the windshield of the bike. The hot backwash of the zoomer's engines seared the elf's face, blinding and disorienting him. He tried to get his bike moving, to get away from this strange foe, but before he could, there was a white hot explosion across his chest, followed by Death's icy grip.

As the corpse toppled from the bike, Jak hovered around behind it. A quick stab of his sword into the engine system caused it to follow its rider's path. Satisfied that he had covered his tracks as best he could, Jak zipped across the harbor.

Okay, to answer a few questions before they are asked. I gave Jak a coat to conceal his armor and weapons because his appearance in the game virtually screams "Underground resistance fighter, please come and arrest me!" I mean, he's walking around with a huge freaking gun strapped to his back and no one else even bats an eye at this, not in real life.

Also, I have a request to make, two actually. One, if anyone knows what in the world that scarf/cowl/whatever it is that Jak wears around his neck is called, please let me know. And the other is does anyone know what the different kinds of Metal Heads are called, as I would really like to be able to be able to have the official ones, rather than some wacky titles I came up with myself.

Thanks, and please let me know how I am doing.