Author's Note: , This is a month or two after Sol joins the underground, will he save his sister? You'll have to read on to find out.
Sareen and Sol(stice), Tyr, Andir, Matauk and Chad are © me, all other characters etc. are © Naughtydog.
MisAdventure
A zoomer sped through the industrial sector, its driver weaving in and out of pedestrians who fled, screaming, out of its path and out of range of the Guard's cannon fire. The zoomer swerved round a corner and straight into a wall, it exploded, sending its driver rolling onto the walk, shaking his dark hair out of his eyes he sped up the walk towards the Power Station, where he sneaked through the doors, sagging against the rail he listened with a grin on his face to the shouts of the guards outside. Lights form the computers illuminated the room, casting shadows on the man who was also listening to the guards worriedly while absentmindedly tapping away at the controls in front of him. Stealing up silently behind him the man placed his hand heavily on his shoulder.
"Trouble Vin?"
Vin jumped a foot in the air and the man had to step back to avoid his flailing arm.
"Don't do that Sol!" he gasped.
"Don't be so wet, I heard you had a job"
"The Baron has found a link that could locate the hideout, someone dug up some documents about that alleyway, he only needs to locate it and he has it."
"Right…Where are these documents stashed?"
"In a crate at the end of the Port near the Hip Hog, but The Baron has set up a Guard, it'll be tough"
"No probs, I've met tougher kids than that lot out there"
"Maybe, but there's something else, where was it… Ah!" rifling through a box he produced a document, he passed it to Sol. "Torn thought you might want to see this."
Sol scanned the papers before stuffing them into a pocket. "What would we do without you, 'ey Vin?" With that he left.
Sol stalked through the port, using the shadows to avoid the guards who were still tailing him, had he not been on a mission, he would of gladly let them give chase, a Yakow on its death bed would have more chance of catching him than any guard ever would, but experience had told him it would be far easier to get the mission sorted before he had any fun, reaching the Hip Hog he scoured the area for any sign of its money-hungry owner, before speeding to the desired location, Vin was right, there was a heavy patrol, Sol edged forward to get a baring of his surroundings, a reinforced door opened on a flight of stairs through which he could see a patrol of guards, all searching for, what they hoped, would lead them to the threat on their Baron, in the space at the top of the stairs, at least half a dozen more guards were pacing, Sol grinned as he surveyed the scene, "Like candy from a baby" he breathed, eyeing the walls and spying a heavy grate with easy access, he knew all he really had to do was remove the cream covering his tattoos and he could easily gain access to the box, but the chance to cause mischief was too tempting.
The guards at the bottom of the stairs continued their search, only stopping as they heard a rumble overhead.
"Looks like rain" one commented to his colleague "Think we should relieve the poor bastards outside?"
"And get wet? Sod off"
None of them noticed the shadow moving behind the grate in the ceiling, Sol peered through the bars, his eyes scouring every corner, Vin had told him what to look for, if he could only spot it first, there was no sign of … there it was! His eyes immediately caught sight of it, a yellow box with the Underground symbol painted crudely on one side, hidden behind a pile of Krimzon Guard boxes, Sol moved to open the grate when he noticed a guard shifting through the boxes, reaching for his pocket he placed the blowpipe to his lips, he was satisfied to see the guard swat at his neck, another came to his aid as he became dizzy and a third rushed for a health pack, leaving the area near the boxes clear. Moving the grate the rest of the way, Sol managed to reach the corner undetected, opening the box, he found two rolls of documents inside, slipping them into a pocket in his belt across his chest he repositioned it so they were hidden and removed the last of the cream off his face, standing up he walked over to the group in the corner.
"I assume by your lack of work that the search is going well" Sol growled out, the guards immediately jumped to attention.
"Th-There have been no new developments sir." the commanding officer stammered.
"Would you mind telling me then why none of you were searching?" Sol asked, his eyes darting from one face to the other before landing on the one he had hit with the dart "What's his problem?"
"He suddenly fell ill sir, he was unable to work"
Sol tossed a vial to the man in question. "Give him that, it should clear his head, just something I carry around in case" he said in answer to their questioning glances. "As soon as he's recovered I want Everyone back to searching" With that he left.
Sol couldn't help but chuckle as he sped through the industrial section on a zoomer, those guards were so slow, he needed to give them a shock to keep them on their feet. He had taken the document to Vin and was now heading back to the hideout to get info on a new mission, his mind wandered to the document Vin had handed to him, something told him it was incomplete, but what he did have could be useful, he was running his mind over what he had read when his train of thought was broken, his head snapped round as something struck the zoomer's tail, switching zones he weaved through the traffic, trying to shake off whoever was behind him, for the first time he felt the need to run, he swore as he felt the rear explode, leaping off he grabbed onto a ledge before dropping to the ground in a crouch, he ran.
He caught sight of the edge of the slums and put on a burst of speed, his first thought was to head for the underground, but he knew he could be blowing their position, and he had no certainty that anyone would be there, so he swerved and headed for the fortress, he thought he would make it, but the next moment he was sprawled on the floor, he saw a foot descending on his head before darkness enveloped him.
Falling.
Always falling, Darkness surrounded her, but she was still able to see her hands as they reached out, hoping to grab something to halt her descent, a hand reached out from the darkness and held onto hers, a feeling of safety swept over her and she felt as if the forces causing her descent had suddenly been stopped leaving her weightless, she looked up as a face loomed into view, long dark hair softening stern features, dark eyes radiated affection, Sareen looked up into Sol's face and she felt as if pieces of her life were fitting together, but before she could understand them another figure appeared above Sol, Sareen caught a glimpse of metal framed in red hair as the man leaned down to strike Sol before she was falling again, and a feeling of loss washed over her, tears sprang unbidden to her eyes as she felt the end rushing towards her…
Sareen shot up into a sitting position, her hand instinctively drawing her dagger, she sat there for a few moments, her breathing heavy, before her surrounding began to sink in, the grey walls of her dormitory faded into view, moonlight shone through the single window onto the sleeping forms of her fellow guard, slumping back she tried to calm her breathing and realised that her shirt was clinging to her skin, she ran a hand through her damp hair, trying to dispel from her mind the thought that was nagging at the back of it, that her dream had meant something. If it did it wasn't important, she had patrol in the morning, she settled back under her sheets and tried to clear her mind, she'd be useless tomorrow if she let these thoughts clog her senses.
Darkness surrounded him, he thought he must have been blinded by the blow until he saw a faint glow which gradually grew brighter, his second thought was that he was dead, then he heard voices, and they were certainly no angels.
"What if squad 5 get sussed?"
"They shouldn't get caught as long as the bomb squad stays on target in the T-room"
Sol lay there with his eyes closed taking this in, it sounded like they were planning a kind of diversion, but what was their true target, and what was this T-room, he guessed it was some kind of code name while he was in the room.
"And what about this one?"
Sol flinched as he felt a foot come into contact with his shin.
"He may be useful, later on, scouts informed me that he was working for that rebel group, led by that other KG"
"You mean Torn? Think we can trust him then?"
"He's our enemy's enemy, so therefore he's our friend, and Torn trusts him… but still…"
"What?"
"We don't…shh, he's waking"
Sol hadn't realised that his eyes had opened, the sudden entry of light from the lamp caused the pain in his head to increase, he rolled towards the wall with a groan.
"Sleeping beauty sleep alright?" one of them chuckled
A hand descended onto his shoulder and he instinctively flinched away from it, but the size of the bed he was on prevented him from escaping for long and he was soon forced onto his back, he caught a glimpse of the room, the makeshift bed on which he was lying, a small wooden table with four chairs round it, three of which were occupied, and a cabinet in which stood a dim lamp, before he was forced to sit up and a bowl was shoved under his nose, he gagged and tried to push the vile smelling substance away but the pain in his head prevented him from summoning the strength needed.
"Don't be a fool, the sooner you drink this down, the sooner you stop feeling like shit."
Sol was tempted by this but was still wary as he took the bowl.
"It ain't poisoned if that's what you're worried about, you'd be dead already if we wanted it." said a ratty man in the corner chair, playing cards in his hand, he was small compared to the other three, who had large muscular build.
Sol saw the sense in that and took a gulp of the substance, gagging he forced the rest down, one of the larger fellows at the table chuckled as he tried to keep it down, but turned back to the card game at a glare from the man who was standing over him, he seemed different from the others, there was something kindly about him, he sat on the end of the bed and Sol scampered upright as it buckled slightly, the pain in his head was subsiding, so he was able to see his surroundings more clearly, the four men in the room were clearly wastelanders from their garb, the three larger figures wore heavy armour taken from metal head corpses, the ratty figure wore less armour and more lightweight weaponry, by his physique, he seemed to be of the assassin type.
"Matauk, go and check your men know their positions and instructions, if there is the slightest sigh of them being lax, any sign, I want you to drill them till they get it beyond perfect."
The ratty man stood and inclined his head respectfully before leaving
"Chad, go check on supplies and explosives before relieving Tir, tell him to deliver these plans to squad 5."
The man who had found Sol's reaction to the potion earlier amusing followed his comrade after receiving a roll of documents.
"What about me sir?"
"Andir, I want you to go through those plans with a fine tooth comb, note any problems you uncover."
Andir nodded and cleared the table of their card game before retrieving documents from the cabinet.
"Now" he said, turning back to Sol, "what would a guard like you be doing covering up their tattoos?"
Sol ran a hand over his cheek and realised that the cream had been removed from his face, he looked up and saw amusement in the man's gentle eyes.
"Can I at least know my captor's name?"
He raised an eyebrow, "Why captor"
"Why not? I didn't ask to come here"
"No one is stopping you from leaving either."
Sol though about this for a moment "You still haven't answered my question" he looked up "what's your name?"
"Tell me yours and I'll give you mine"
"Mine isn't important"
"Then neither is mine"
Sol's gaze hardened, but finally he let out a sigh "Sol"
"Pardon?"
"My name's Sol, I was named Solstice because my birthday fell on the Winter Solstice" he blinked, he had never admitted that to anyone before, why now?
"Alright then, Tyrrian, but I'm known as Tyr. and now we're even."
"Except, why did you chase me back in the city?"
"We have eyes almost everywhere, we know what transactions happen between the Baron's men."
Sol considered this and tried to make sense of how he came into it, then it hit him "The plans" he gasped, Tyr nodded, "Then Torn set me up"
"Not necessarily, he knew we were interested in the document, but he also thought you might be able to use it"
"How do you know this?"
"Vin talks easily when he loosens up on a couple of glasses of Brandy" they grinned imagining the paranoid computer freak getting drunk.
"So what are you going to do about me now?"
"Well, I thought about that, and, we need someone on the inside, Ashelin is no good, she is too well known, and being the Baron's daughter, she's always busy with official functions, besides, she doesn't trust us enough, you on the other hand, are in a good position to gain access to secure information but also with enough freedom to get it to us without suspicion."
"And what makes you think I would agree to that?"
"Well, I hear you have someone on the inside who means a lot to you."
"Sareen, you leave her out of this"
"We will, if you follow our orders" Sol still looked unsure "How much does she mean to you?"
"More than the world"
"Then do the right thing, after all, we are all after the same thing, we all want Baron Praxis overthrown"
"All I want is for my sister to remember who she is and for us to get back home"
"And revenge?"
"Would be a bonus, but not a necessity"
"But we can help you get it, and we would make sure Sareen was safe when the time comes"
Sol sighed, put like that, he had no choice "Fine, what do I need to do?"
Tyr grinned "Good lad, now, first off we need…"
A.N. I mean mad on Computers, not the same term of freak as Erol uses to label Jak. So no offence meant to Vin fans.