Fire's Child
Chapter 5- Eco Demons
Jak did not like the way Jay had looked at him. It was like she was prying through his mind, getting at all his thoughts. But she seemed harmless enough.
It was morning, and the gang were at the Naughty Ottsle, adding more modifications. Every one was helping Daxter set up the bar to his liking.
"Jak, move the picture down a bit! Tess, where are those order forms? Be careful with that!!!" Daxter was standing on the counter, shouting orders at every one.
Ashlin had had enough. She intentionally dropped the box of liquor she was carrying, causing all the bottles to smash.
"NNNOOOOOOO!!!!" Daxter yelled.
"That was uncalled for." Jak told her later.
"I honestly couldn't give a stuff. What really pisses me off is that Torn didn't show." She replied bitterly.
Actually, no-one had seen Torn since last night, at the circus. He said he needed to look for something.
"Have you tried calling him?" asked Keira, emerging from behind Jak.
"Of course I have!" yelled Ashlin.
"Ok," Keira raised her hands in defence. "You don't have to be all bitchy about it!" And she went to talk to Tess.
Ashlin sighed and sat her self down. She looked stressed and tired. Probably due to her new role as a governess. She already had a short fuse and the extra pressure seemed to make it worse.
"Why hasn't he answered?" asked Jak.
"He's probably left the damn thing at home."
Ashlin continued to rant about how much Torn was pissing her off when, lo and behold, Torn came through the door.
"Hey," his tone of voice wasn't cheery.
"A little late, don't you think?" said Daxter, ever so sarcastically.
"Torn where have you been, and where is your communicator!?" yelled Ashlin.
"Ok, but first let me ask you this; did anyone find something odd about Jay last night?"
Torn was always suspicious of anything and everything. Old habits die hard or continue to haunt the people around you.
"She's a clown, what so odd about that?" as crude as that may sound, Daxter was actually being serious.
Jak, wanted to mention that she looked at him funny, but maybe he was being paranoid. And besides, Sig was talking.
"She did seem a bit distant. I've never seen the cherry act like that before. It's like she was scared or something, especially around you guys."
"She was a bit edgy."
"She looked 'knowing'. As if she knew thing others could only dream of." Samos said wisely.
Everyone nodded their heads.
"I thought as much, you guys better come with me."
They took their time to get to the palace. Torn was explaining his whereabouts of earlier on.
"Jay has supernatural powers."
Everyone was shocked.
"You mean she's a witch?!" asked Keira.
"I'll get to that. While I was still serving the Baron, he was conducting several of his 'projects' and I was helping." he said.
"You mean like the 'Dark Warrior' program?" said Ashlin.
They all shot a nervous glance at Jak.
"Sort of. We weren't really sure of the effects Dark Eco was going to have on the body, or even regular Eco for that matter." Torn continued.
"We weren't sure if Eco could be injected in the body and be used at will. This didn't stop Praxis.
He found that Green Eco didn't affect people as much as the others did. People exposed to it remained relatively normal. That was the first part done; now he just needed something to experiment on. He imprisoned many people; they were injected with Green Eco. Oh, turn here."
"Why?" asked Daxter.
"Coz I said." Daxter still managed to piss Torn off.
They turned into an outdoor restaurant. Jay, from the circus, was sitting at a table, sipping at her mug of tea. She sneezed then took another sip. Torn motioned them to follow as he went over.
"I'm glad you agreed to this." Torn told her as he sat down.
"Sure." Jay's nose was blocked and red. Her cold was making her talk funny.
"What exactly do you want me to do?"
"I would like you to come with us."
Jay sneezed again but said nothing. Torn went on.
"We need your knowledge of Eco, you studied it, right?" Jay nodded. "We are going to review the scientific reports."
"You mean...?"
Torn lowered his voice so only Jay could hear. "You know what we are dealing with."
Jay sipped and sighed. "Fine. Ok. I'll come. I won't ask why but I've got a feeling we'll find out soon enough." she stood up and paid the waiter.
Again, they began to walk to the palace. It was awkwardly silent, except for the various sneezes provided by Jay.
Once at the palace, Torn led them to the records library. The room was filled, wall to wall, with books, scrolls, video surveillance tapes and weird pre-recorded holographic things, you know, the usual.
"The Baron hid them somewhere, and it's not here." No-one knew what Torn was talking about. Jay, however, seemed to understand and began to scan the room.
After a short while, Jay moved over to a ladder and began to climb. Once at the very top, she placed her hand behind the shelf and searched with her touch. They all watched attentively. Suddenly, the shelf moved. Jay gave a startled yelp at the sudden jolt, soon followed by yet another sneeze.
The shelf thing moved its self out of the way to reveal another room. Gasps of awe and amazement went around.
Torn walked into the dusty room, Jay was descending the ladder.
Torn quickly searched the room.
"Is it it?" asked Jay. Torn simply nodded.
"This where the Baron kept the records and scientific reports on the Eco experiments." he explained.
"Torn, what is going on?" Ashlin wasn't the only one to notice the relative lack of information.
Torn grabbed a holographic projector and set on the table. A miniature man appeared above it.
"This is Loren. He was the 'guinea pig' for the Green Eco Project. He acquired an 'understanding' of plants on a much more spiritual level. Much like yourself, Samos. This alone was amazing, but the Baron wasn't too happy.
He wanted to acquire power, not understanding, so he continued with the injections. Eventually, we ran out of Green Eco, but the Baron got his wish. Loren could now control the plants."
The long silence was broken by a sneeze. (guess from whom) Jay placed another two holo-projector on the table. Two more guys appeared.
"Praxis decided to try the test with the other Ecos. With his knowledge from the previous test, it was modified to an extent. The Baron wanted to create an army of supernatural warriors.
Dreal was the 'Lightning Warrior', injected with Blue Eco. His speed increased dramatically. Tyr was injected with Red Eco. Again, we ran out of the Eco."
"What about Yellow Eco?" asked Samos.
Torn place yet another holo-projector n the table. This time a young woman appeared.
"This is the 'Flame Warrior'. Her name was Jaria-Kai. She was the Barons favourite, he had high hopes for her. She ended up being a disappointment, and waste of Eco."
"How so?" Jak spoke for the first time.
"Kai was strong, both mentally and physically. The Baron was hoping to break her and turn her into his weapon."
This comment sounded all too familiar to Jak.
"The last I heard, she died due to an over-dose of the Eco." Torn finished.
"Well that's understandable," said Samos. "Yellow Eco is the Eco of fire."
Silence took over again. Everyone was trying to make sense of all the information. For one, all the Eco was gone, used for stupid experiments. And there were more people like Jak, maybe not as fucked up but you get what I mean.
"What does this have to do with Jay?" Jak finally asked.
"As far as we know, Tyr, Loren and Dreal are still alive." answered Jay. "I'm guessing when I say Torn wants us to locate them and dissect them, remove their innards and manufacture them into food for the poor, causing them to digest the Eco and give them a temporary surge of adrenaline. Like when you mix Waterdust with Lurker ale in a small glass 7 centimetres tall with a diameter of 4 centimetres at the rim. The trick is to drink it in one shot and then squeeze some honey into your mouth as soon as possible. Now, it has to be squeezed, I cannot stress that enough. Afterwards you will be absolutely spasticated for hours on end. Did you know that honey is actually wumpbee puke?"
Several hands went to mouths and faces went pale. Daxter was secretly planing to get the Waterdust and Lurker ale recipe from Jay.
"NO! We could use their help on the remaining Metalheads. I was hoping Jay could help us out." replied Torn.
"How?" they all said in unison.
"It's because she's a witch." Keira said nastily.
"Actually, I'm Clairvoyant." Jay said defensively.
"A what?"
"A psychic." explained Torn. "She's a Seer. She can help us out by 'looking' for them."
"Ok, but can 'look' somewhere else? This place creeps me. It may be the bad spirits." Jay waved her hands around mystically. This enraged Keira.
Outside, it started raining again. The light drizzle still allowed for some activity.
Everyone was overflowing with information, each bit as far-fetched as the next.
As they closed in on the Naughty Ottsle Jay dragged Jak away from the others. Jak noticed she looked a little pale. She was definitely nervous.
"I need to talk to you." She whispered.
Jak waited patiently. Her breathing was uneven.
"Are you ok?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just hard to get it out." She attempted to calm herself.
"Do you want me to get you a drink or something?"
"Don't tempt me, baby brother. Our mother wouldn't be too happy."
Now he was confused beyond reason. What did she just call me? What was that about 'our' mother?
"Jak, I'm your sister."
Gasp! And the plot thickens... (shifty eyed)
And honey really IS regurgitated dehydrated nectar that was partially digested by bees. Yum!
Luck and Love,
Anita