A/N: I'm SO sorry for not updating in a long time. My laptop keeps breaking down and on the weekends I now have meetings at my church because I'm going to something called NYGO. It means I got to New York City and tell people randomly about God. Kind of scary once you think about it, but I need training and people to pray for me, so can you guys do that? It would be nice. But here is your chapter! Please R&R. Thanks! And I don't own anything from Jak2!

Chapter 32

It is not fun being tied down to a wooden chair. It is worse when the rope tied around your wrists is cutting into your skin and you're gagged and blindfolded. At first Merlander had thought that Simon would come real soon, and his head went into panic mode. He finally calmed down and forced himself to think straight. He could get through this.

He had maybe an hour at the most. Merlander remembered that it took Simon about that much time to meditate. He needed a plan to get out of there after his mind was searched. He needed a way to block Simon out of some of the most important things. The location of the Underground hideout was one that the Baron could not have. All the others were just about what the Baron was doing.

Merlander cleared his head and thought up walls to try and stop Simon from getting in too deep. He knew of a way to led Simon down the wrong path for the Underground part. The more he thought about it the more it seemed to work in his head.

Suddenly Merlander heard the door open to the small cell he was in. Merlander could feel his mind being read, and he tried to block Simon once again. He would never go down without a fight.

"It is worthless, Merlander," came Simon's voice from in front of Merlander. He still had the blindfold on, so he could see nothing. All around him was a thick blanket of darkness. Simon was trying to make him a bit scared because everyone has to be just a little bit afraid of the dark. It was kind of working. Merlander was getting sick of not being able to see anything.

Merlander muttered a curse into his gag while struggling in the ropes. He was trying to reach into his back pocket for his small knife that would help him get out of the binds keeping him for the mean time stuck to the wooden chair. He never dared his mind to think about the knife. Simon could be sneaking around his head at any time.

"Now, Merlander," Simon started. Merlander could hear his voice clearly through the darkness surrounding him. He shivered mentally as he felt a hand press lightly on his forehead. "I am not here to hurt you. I'm only looking for information. You must keep calm, or it might hurt a bit. I'm going to take off the wristband because the pain might hurt me too."

Simon's voice was calm and soft. It was as if he was not even working for the Baron, but Merlander knew better. He felt the wristband come off his arm, and the small amount of pain flowing through his body stopped. He had been getting used to it.

"Now, I'm going to look just a little bit at the beginning to get you used to it," Simon said slowly and clearly. "It might feel strange, but I need you to be calm."

"No!" Merlander screamed in his head back at Simon.

Simon paid no attention to him. He pushed his hand down on Merlander's forehead. Fragment of memories sprang up into Merlander's head. They were of his early childhood. All the fights he had with his mom and feeling so lonely. Merlander was surprised at how easy Simon was looking into his mind. He quickly tried to block him, and it made his head hurt.

"Stop it, Merlander," Simon ordered firmly. "You're only hurting yourself. Now just let me in."

"No!" Merlander yelled in his head over and over again.

"That's it," Simon said with a bit of anger in his voice. This made Merlander's head feel dizzy. Merlander's blindfold was pulled off, and he could suddenly see again. He blinked in surprise a few times as his eyes adjusted to the light.

Simon grabbed Merlander's chin and forced the teen to look him in the eye. "Look at me, Merlander," Simon said with a stern voice. Merlander struggled in the ropes, and he looked down. He would not look at Simon for anything. He secretly pulled out his knife and started to slowly cut away on his bindings.

"I can get into every mind I want to," Simon muttered into Merlander's face while still trying to get eye contact. "But I can't get into yours. Why can't I? I'm determined to figure that out. What makes you tick?"

Pain started to erupt in Merlander's head like a massive migraine. The teen gave a wince as it kept going. It felt like his head was going to explode. The pain was too much for him. He finally looked up into Simon's eyes preparing for the worst. The pain stopped and Merlander seemed to be in a trance.

Every single memory Merlander held dear Simon saw as the two stared into each other's eyes. His life was flying past him. Merlander finally got a grip on himself and started to try to control the flow of memories. Every memory that he hated and every one that he loved flew by and was passed over to his enemy.

Wasteland, unwanted, alone, uncle, friend, betrayed, hurt, Haven City, Black Water, Underground, project, gone, love. Every emotion Merlander had Simon felt now. The kid had a strong mind. Simon knew he had missed a few details, but he had gotten what he wanted. Merlander's whole life was now his to pick through.

Simon finally looked away from Merlander and the memories stopped. Merlander closed his eyes as his whole life was so fresh in his mind. He had pushed all those thoughts into the back of his mind and told himself for so long to never remember them again. It had been working till now. Now it was too much for him.

"Good," Simon said with a nod to Merlander. "It took you a long time to let it all out, but you can never forget your past, Merlander. And you do have a purpose in life. The Baron is planning many things with you. You should have been his right hand man."

Merlander kept his head down. He still had a headache, and his vision kept doubling. Simon walked around Merlander and grabbed the knife out of his hand with a hint of a smile on his face. Merlander swore into his gag while glaring at Simon.

"Almost got away with this," Simon said with a laugh. "You have one of the strongest minds I've ever seen. I marvel at that in someone. You gained that by your life in the Wasteland. You're quick thinking. Keep your head sharp, Merlander. You'll need it."

Simon then opened the door to the room. Erol was there looking very angry with him. "You were not told to do that!" he hissed at Simon with his eyes narrow with anger. "You were told just to find things out about the Underground. You were not ordered to look through his whole life!"

"It needed to be done," Simon said calmly to Erol. "You're 'friend' is fine." Simon then brushed past Erol with a sly smile on his face as Erol kept glaring daggers at him. Erol then slammed the door to Merlander's room shut without looking at his childhood friend. How come he could not just move on?

Tuya gave a small smile as she drew on her pad a picture of Krew. Her frail fingers were placed lightly on her pencil, and her hand was skilled at the art of drawing almost anyone. Krew had been a new face that day, and she had been determined to draw him even if the guy totally creeped her out.

She had gone to work with Tess that morning. The two were becoming the best of friends. At first Krew had said that he did not want Humans to work at his saloon because most Elves did not like them. But after seeing Tuya, the fat Elf changed his mind and let the girl work for him that day. He had looked at her a little too long for Tuya's liking.

"Almost done," Tess said cheerfully to Tuya while wiping down the bar with an old rag. "Then we can head over to the target practice place so Torn can have a training session there."

It was okay for her to talk like this in front of Krew because the big guy was sleeping on his floating machine. It was quite funny if you watched him mutter a few things. He sometimes grunted in his sleep as if in his dreams someone was taking him away from his donuts. It always made Tuya laugh.

"Have to finish," Tuya said while glancing back up at Krew.

"What are you drawing?" Sig asked her from across the room. He was glancing over a paper that Krew had given him earlier.

"Fat boy," Tuya said with a smile. That was her nickname for Krew. Tess had loved it. Sig had just shaken his head with a chuckle when he first heard it.

"She draws everything," Tess said while coming up from behind the bar. "She drew you this morning, Sig."

"Really?" Sig asked with a sudden interest in his voice. "Was it good?"

"You should take a look at it sometime," Tess said with a nod. "She is the best artist I've ever seen."

"Done," Tuya announced to Tess while packing up her note pad into a small backpack she had on the day she was found. All of her stuff she had in there and she did not let anyone else see them. Only Torn had seen the weird stuff in her backpack when she was sleeping one time.

"Let's go!" Tess said with her usual perky tone. She lead Tuya out of the saloon and said short good byes to Sig. They walked down the port area's wide sidewalk to the training place because it was so nearby to them. Tuya noticed that most Elves saw her short ears and gave stares. It was like they had never really seen a Human before.

Tuya's new world was very different back to her life in America. School was very different. Tess said that most Elf kids don't go to school and just get trained by a relative or friend if they wanted to do that job the rest of their life. Schools were only for kids that could not be watched over all the time by parents and the kid did know what he or she wanted to do for their live. While back in America a kid's whole childhood and teenage years were all centered around school and was not taken so lightly as this new place.

"We're here," Tess said to Tuya and knocked her out of daydreaming. The automatic door swooshed open as they came up to it. Torn was already inside the small metal room leaning against the wall in a cool and relaxed manor. He looked up at them coming in and gave the two a grim smile as he always did. Mozart was circling at his feet, and the guy completely ignored the creature.

"First day of real training," Torn said while Tess took a seat in a corner of the room to watch. The room was a little smaller than the Hip Hog with metal walls, floor, and ceiling. A few lights were on the ceiling that cast a yellow glow to the place. Two doors lead to different places unknown. A red punching bag hung to the other side of the room with a few Krimson Guard boxes with ammo in them.

"First things first," Torn said while standing up straight and tall. Automatically Tuya did the same in silence. "You're too shy," he said while walking over to her. He made eye contact with her, but she dropped her gaze quickly and looked to the floor. "You need to toughen up. Now, I want you to hit me."

Tuya looked up at him with a smile on her face thinking that he was only joking. "Again," she said with a giggle.

"Hit me," Torn said with a nod. "Take your best shot." Tuya giggled and shook her head to say no. Torn saw that she was not taking things serious. "Then if you won't hit me then try to block me." In a flash he grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm behind her. He then shoved her against the wall and pinned her there.

Tuya was in a daze. It had happened so fast. Torn was going light on her, so he did not hold onto her tight. She tried to wiggle free from his grip, but he kept her pinned there with a small smirk on his face.

"Think, Tuya," Torn said to her while still keeping her there. "You can do many things to get out of this simple hold. You're a fast learner. I'm doing this to force you to think differently. Now get out of the hold on your own."

Tuya slammed her foot down on Torn's foot then shoved him backwards. He backed off of her to let the girl prepare for another attack. "Good," he said. "Always be thinking to yourself, 'What do I have open?' But you need to know how to block attacks as well. Try this one."

Torn threw a punch at Tuya. She ducked just in time. He nodded his head while watching her carefully. "You still need to know how to fight back. Now hit me."

"No," Tuya said. She was good-natured and did not like to hurt things unless it was out of self-defense. She had to be very angry to attack anyone. She just stood in front of Torn shaking her head.

"You're a wimp!" Torn said in a disgusted tone. He looked angry to Tuya, but really he was pretending it to get her wild up. "You will never make it in this city. Now hit me!" Tuya looked down to the ground with a spark of deep anger springing into her body. She did not like being a wimp. He had hit a nerve.

"You're a wimp, Tuya!" he yelled into her face. "Everyone will look down on you and pity you." Pity. That was one thing Tuya hated. Torn saw her eyes flash red. The Elf suddenly realized that her eyes did that when she was feeling of deep emotion. "HIT ME!" he yelled to finally make her snap.

Something strange happened to Tuya for a few seconds. It felt like another part of her had broken free. She felt different inside of her. But it was a nice feeling as if the real her was coming out.

BAM!

Tuya was back to her normal self again. She looked up at Torn and bit her lower lip. He stood there in total shock while holding onto his nose. He was wincing. What had she done?

"Wow," he said with a chuckle. "I think I got what was coming to me. She can really pack a punch!"

"What I do?" Tuya said with worry in her voice. She glanced over to Tess, but the girl only stared at Tuya with wide eyes of surprise. The Human girl was dying to know what she had done. She did not want to hurt Torn ever again after this.

"Nothing big," Torn said while removing his hands from his nose. It was bleeding a little and was puffing up. Tuya winced when she saw it start to swell up some more. "I just need some ice."

"Did you see that?" Tess yelled while getting up from the floor in a hurry. "Her whole arm changed!" Tess pointed to Tuya while running over to them. "Her arm turned red right before she hit you. I saw it!"

Torn and Tuya looked over to her with confusion. What was the girl talking about?

A/N: I'm really sorry for the short chapter. I had a bit of a Writer's Block, and I wanted this chapter to end as a cliffhanger kind of. This was the best I could muster. Next chapter will be of Jak. I'm wrapping this fan fic up and getting ready for my sequel and I'm making a Jak2 fan fic and Teen Titans one put together. And if anyone of you like Avatar I have a fan fiction out of it. It is new! But please give a review! Sorry for not answering reviews.