Footsteps could be heard , splashing across the soggy ground as a cloaked and hodded figure ran though the downpour that had started earlier that day. He looked over his shoulder and rounded a corner, but came to a sharp halt. He muttered a swear under his breath as he dove out of the way of gunfire and slipped into a small space bewteen two buildings and out of sight.

"Blast it." someone practically snarled, slamming his fist into the side of a building. "That makes the seventh time he's gotten away." He looked up and walked away, mumbling curses under his breath.

The one that had been running sank against a wall, breathing heavily. He lifted his arms and pulled back his hood so he could breathe. After a minute he lifted his head to see where he was. He jumped nearly half a mile when he heard footsteps around a corner as he threw his hood back over his face and backed into the shadows. He needn't have worried, however, as the one that rounded the corner was in no way a threat to him.

The one in the shadows waited only second after he had seen this person before he took off running again. It dodn't take him long before he had caught up with and passed the one he had just seen. The other lifted his head, but hsi expression was unreadable. The one from the shadows payed no mind and rounded a corner, barreling across a bridge, and ducking into a dark building, shutting the door behind him. His breathing ragged and heavy, he walked forward and sat down, pushing his hood back.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" he asked himself. "Why always running away..." He had no answer, but he nearly jumped out of his skin at a knock at the door. His voice shaking terribly, he asked... "Who's there?" It was a few seconds before someone answered. "No one you know." At least, the one in the house thought, he was honest. He stood up shakily and walked to the door, opening it.

In the doorway was the one he had passed on the way to his house. It took him a moment of study, but with a shock, he jumped a foot in the air as he realized who it was. "Jak?" Jak's expression shifted to surprise. "You know me?" "Yes, I know you. I was there when the Baron was doing those damned experiments with Dark Eco." he said. "One of the many failed attempts..." he said, his voice dropping suddenly. Without another word, he stood back and Jak walked past him.

He shut the door and went back to his chair. "I'm not surprised you don't remember me." he said after a moment. "I only spoke to you once." he said. "Before the Baron injected you with the Dark Eco." Jak thought for a long moment, but he shook his head. "I don't remember anyone talking to me at all."

"I didn't figure you would." he said, shaking his head as he pulled back his hood again. "But I remember very well. And I also remember the day you got out of there." He looked down at his hands then. "Also remember your little friend." His head jerked up as he said that. "You hear that?" He had just heard footsteps again. Jak shook his head. "Don't worry, it's just Daxter. Getting lost everywhere because he's always worrying about losing his precious pants."

As if on cue, Daxter's scurrying footsteps stopped at the door and there came some very quick, but not quite loud knocks. Jak opened the door, as he was nearer, and Daxter practically jumped in ."JAK! There's some crazy people out there." he said, shaking water off him. "And I mean crazier than you." The one sitting down pulled his head back voer his face. Daxter noticed the movement and looked over at him. "Hey, I remember you! You were in the Baron's prison!"

He looked up hearing Daxter's words. "Oh great... The ottsel remembers me..." Daxter looked confused at that and he turned to Jak. "You don't remember him?" "I don't remember anything from my time in the Baron's prison. I try to forget." Daxter shook his head and was about to say something, but he was cut off. "I didn't thin kyou would remember much from your time there." the one sitting down said. "But I would expect you to remember some."

Daxter looked up at the cieling. "I can see this has 'long, boring story' written all over it." The one at the table made a kind of guttural roar as his eyes flashed a dangerous shade of black. "JAK! He's crazy!" Daxter shouted in fright, jumping from where he stood to Jak's shouldrr and hiding behind Jak's head. A look of realization suddenly dawned on Jak. "I do remember something..." he said. "You... You were the third one the Baron exposed to Dark Eco, and you were considered a complete failure..."

"That's because I could hide what the Eco had done to me."

"You can hide the effects of the Dark Eco?" Jak was shocked at that.

"Yes, I can." he said. "Unlike you Jak, I was exposed to a much larger amount of Dark Eco, far more than what was neccesary to kill me." His eyes went unfocused for a moment. "But I didn't die. I survived, if only barely for three years I was stuck there before you showed up." He looked up then. "Remember now?"

Jak nodded slowly. "I do remember..." he said. "You told me... To be ready for anything... Even things I would never expect..."

"And you were ready. That's why your body rejected the Dark Eco to some degree. You could use it, control it to some degree, but it always brought madness and an urge for destruction whenever you did use it." The one sitting shook his head. "I wish the same thing were true for me..." he said suddenly. "What do you mean by that?" Jak looked confused. "I mean, I wish that I couldn't control Dark Eco like I can. If I couldn't. I wouldn't still be being hunted down." He shook his head. "By the way," he said, "my name is Azrael." Jak nodded and was about to say something when his communicator went off.

Jak pulled it out and flipped it open. "Jak, where the hell are you?" It was, of course, Torn. Jak didn't say anything, he just flipped the communicator closed and pocketed it again, shaking his head. "I gotta go." he said and left. Azrael leaned back in his chair, thinking. "Yes... I think I might be able to make some allies after all..."