Fire's Child
Chapter 10- Blue Eco Demon
They made the long walk to the Water Slums in basically the same way they made their way to Tyr's house. This time, however, Jay was far behind, walking very slowly and was humming a song to herself. She didn't seem to listen to the calls for her to hurry up, or if she did she payed no attention.
As with everything else Jay did, Torn was highly annoyed. According to him, this was costing them precious time they did not have. Time which could be put to better use.
"Jak, will you tell her to hurry up!" Torn said.
"Hey, I gave you the address. Or aren't you allowed on the streets by yourself?" called Jay from where she was.
Sig and Daxter looked at her in awe at her sheer defiance of Torn. That and the fact that she spoke to him the way she did. They were just waiting patiently for Torn to snap. Then the fun would begin.
"You're coming along so we can keep an eye on you." Torn snapped.
"What am I? A criminal?" asked Jay.
"The way you act it seems like it!"
"Well lock me up why don't you!?"
"Maybe I should!!"
"Then go ahead! No-one's stoping you!!" Jay practically yelled.
She turned around and began walking in the other direction, her face rather flushed. Everyone stared after her and wondered at her sudden change in mood. It was rather strange, it seemed so out of character, not that they knew what her character was.
"Why did you go and do that for!?" asked an infuriated Jak.
"Where you even there!?"
The bickering was rather childish. Torn sighed in frustration and Jak gave him a rather nasty glare. Ashelin decided to question Tyr.
"What's her problem?" she asked.
"She's had a tough life. I don't blame her." Tyr answered.
"How do you mean?" asked Keira.
"She lived in a survival of the fittest type world." Tyr struggled to describe Jay's problematic life. "She basically stated at the bottom and had to fight her way to where she is now."
He went on to explain how Jay grew up in the worst part of town. How her mother struggled just to keep herself alive and Jay was left to fend for herself. Jay's mother did the best she could to give Jay hope for her future. The danger money Mika (Jay's mum) got was just enough to send Jay to school.
"They loved each other dearly, no doubt about it." Tyr commented. "They were so close. Jay was devastated when she died…"
Jak stoped dead in his tracks. Jay's mother was dead, that meant his mother was dead. He did not know what to think. Was Jay over this? Jak didn't think he be the same if he lost someone that dear. Jak shuddered at the very thought of this subject. Not to mention all the other things she seemed to have been through.
Jak jumped as something came into contact with his arm.
"Are you ok, Jak?" Keira asked him.
"Uh, yeah. I just… remembered something I had to do."
"Well hurry up!" Torn was still highly agitated.
Jak didn't even respond. He ran in the direction Jay had gone. Hopefully, he could catch up to her and comfort her. Or maybe he wanted comforting. Jak's head was swirling, he felt nauseous. All he wanted to do was cry. And he wanted more information on his past life. He might as well do it sooner rather than later.
Jak jumped on his JET board and raced down the streets. He stoped every so often to ask citizen if the had seen Jay. Lucky for him, Jay's bright red hair was extremely hard to miss.
Jak followed her trail, which eventually brought him to the Water Slums. This place looked as if it would fall into the water at any moment. He pitied the people living in this area of the city. Come to think of it, it wasn't any better than any other part of the city.
After questioning a few more people, Jak found himself at the front of a house that looked like any other house. Supposedly, Jay was in there. Jak took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
A middle aged man opened the door a crack and peered out at Jak. He looked at him with sad, tired eyes.
"Yes? Can I help you?" the man spoke slowly and his voice was raspy, as if it hadn't been used in a while.
Jak tried to look into the house, to see if Jay was in there. "I'm looking for someone." he said clearly.
The man looked back inside. His arm got nudged out of the way and a head emerged from behind the door.
"Jay!"
She was a mess. Her face was slightly flushed from running. Her eyes were red and puffy, as if she were crying. And she was trembling.
"Jay, is our mother dead?" Jak asked straight out.
Jay looked down to avoid the questioning glare, but nodded. Jak's shoulders fell and his eyes went to the floor.
"Would you like to come it?" the man opened the door wider to let Jak in.
Jak made his way slowly in. Jay met with him in the door way.
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way." she whispered.
Jak embraced his sister. She was shaking worse than he thought. She could hardly stand up on her own. Jay slowly pulled back, looked at the man and then back at Jak.
"Jak, this is Dreal." Jay told him weakly.
So this was the Blue Eco experiment. Funny, though. Jak would have thought he would have faster movements, snappy reflexes due to the fact that he had the Eco in his system. But he moved very slow, as though weighed down by age, not that he was that old.
Dreal led them into the cramped living room. They sat on tattered chairs, just sitting, not saying a word. Jay rested her head on Jak's shoulder. She was desperately trying to fight back oncoming tears.
"You're Jay's brother?" Dreal broke the depressing silence.
"Yeah." was the reply.
Jay sniffled and Jak automatically hugged her protectively. He then realised that Jay was asleep.
"She's had a rough time." commented Dreal. "I guess I should tell you what I told Jay."
Dreal know had Jak's full attention.
"What about?"
"About the Eco Experiments. About Loren in particular…"
"The Green Eco Experiment is dead!?!" Torn yelled.
"You shouldn't be surprised." countered Jay. "Loren was one of the earliest experiments. He would be in his sixties by now and he wasn't in the best of health to start with!"
Torn massaged his temple.
"Are you absolutely sure?"
"Dreal witnessed it, as well as Tyr." explained Jay.
"Did you 'look'?"
"Yeah, I went out and dug up the body myself!" sarcasm pulsating through Jay's pores.
Torn looked as if he were about to throw something at a wall. Whatever he was planing needed all the Eco experiments. Now it was all falling apart. The Yellow Eco experiment died years ago and now the Green Eco experiment was also dead.
"Look, you. It's not Loren's fault he was torn limb from limb by psychotic Metalheads!" Jay said, seeing the look on Torn's face.
"This is a disaster!"
It was Jay's turn to massage her temples.
"I don't see why you are making such a big deal about this. Why don't you just get one of the others?" Jay said, mater-of-factly.
Everyone in the room looked at her, confused. Others? What others? Torn's eyes widened in realisation.
"Brilliant!" he went over and placed his hands on Jay's shoulders.
Jay backed off in surprise.
"So, where are they? Try and get the one closest to us."
"Say what!?"
"Look for them, woman!"
"I can't. If I could I would have found one by now!" Jay explained.
"What? Can't your witchcraft work after lunch?" Keira snarled nastily.
"Ok, you are really starting to annoy me!"
"Then zap me, if I'm so annoying!' Keira challenged.
"Keira!"
Jak was just as shocked as everyone in the room. Keira was acting very strangely. She usually wasn't this critical. Jay wasn't too happy. Dreal seamed to be the first to react, restraining Jay before she could get at Keira's throat.
"I could do so much more than zap you! I could slowly burn your limbs off one at a time! I could burn you from the inside out! I could make you suffocate…!'
"Calm your self, FlameThrower!" Dreal yelled over her.
Jay stopped struggling, but kept her eyes on Keira. Jak dragged Keira to the side. He could not believe she would do something like this.
"Keira, what's wrong with you!?"
"I don't trust her, Jak." she explained her actions.
"She's trying to help us!"
"There is something she's not telling us."
"As long as it doesn't put us in jeopardy it's her business." Jak said wisely.
"Jay, you're burning up." Dreal informed her.
Jay began to regulate her breathing, inhaling and exhaling deeply.
"I know." she said calmly with her eyes closed. "Just go to the happy place. In with the positive, out with negative."
"You good?"
"I'm good."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure."
Jay planed out what she was going to do next in her head. Torn probably still wanted to track down someone with Green Eco in their system. Jay didn't understand why he didn't just use Samos for what ever he wanted to do. But it probably wouldn't hurt to find them, to let them know they're not alone.
"What do you plan to do?"
"Something I've wanted to try for a while."
She walked over and tapped Torn on the shoulder.
"Do you still wanna find the other experiments?" she asked him.
"Yes I do."
"Okies!" Jay clasped her hands together and beckoned Samos. "Samos, do you think you could conjure up some pure Green Eco essence?"
"Yes, it'll take a while through."
"What are you going to do?"
Jay explained that to search for someone using her clairvoyant powers she had to have had some sort of familiarity with that person. Jay was now going to attempt to search for an 'essence'. She would look for anything with even the slightest amount of Green Eco in its system. From there she would narrow it down to life forms and further more to other elves. Jay preferred to work with specific objects. Green Eco was a specific object, but there was no telling how many organisms contained it. It might not even work, but Jay considered herself a bit of a scientist.
"Here it is." Samos declared. A green clump of light floated before him.
It looks just like Samos's Light-Puff. Thought Jay. "Thank you."
Jay concentrated on the essence. Then she began her search. And it didn't take as long as she estimated. In fact, it only took a second, if not less.
"What is it?" asked Jak, seeing her confused look.
"It's strange. A life form with high concentrations of Green Eco and it feels like it's coming from…"
Jay looked out the window, everyone else followed her gaze.
"… Just out side."
Staring in through the window was a blurry figure. All that was certain was that he was male. He realised he had been spotted and began to run.
"Get him!" yelled Torn.
There was a rush to get out the door. Jay took to the roofs. The close-together architecture and lack of traffic, plus the fact that Jay was highly acrobatic, made it easy for her to get around.
Jak took out his Jet Board. His was highly skilled in manuvering the thing, weaving in and out of unsuspecting citizens.
Torn and Ashelin 'borrowed' some hovercars. The one seater ones.
Every one else ran as fast as they could, Dreal far ahead of the others, but Jay had a feeling he was not even at his top speed.
The man, who ever he was, glanced back as his pursuers. His eyes locked on Jay's. She got the feeling that she had seen him somewhere before. She saw him turn right. The other would not have seen it as their view was obscured by another turn. They would have to ask her which way he went.
Jay jumped off the roof and landed gracefully on the ground.
"Which way did he go?" asked Torn.
"Left." Jay said without hesitation.
So, the entire group went to the left at the junction. It didn't take them long to admit they had lost the person they were chasing. Torn was not too happy.
"Yeah, well. I have to get back to head quarters. The captain wants us to start the blueprints on our top secret project to blow up the stadium." said Jay.
Torn did a double-take. "What!?"
"She means she has to get to the Big Top because the producer wants to start on the basic flow of the next big production that's supposed to be even better that the one we saw." said Jak.
"Why can't you be normal, like everybody else?" Torn asked her.
"Where's the fun in that?" Jay smiled.
Jay walked away. Glancing back, she locked eyes with Keira. Keira glared at her. Jay decided to get even. She would scare the living daylights out of that cow, or at least startle her. Jay tilted her head and smirked at her. She was rewarded by the visible shock on Keira's face.
What ever did Keira see that made her go all… like she did? Who was that guy? What was the name of that song? Well, I'm not gonna tell you coz other wise it would ruin the suspense and I just plain don't feel like it. Suffer in your undergarment, you… Homo Sapiens!
Luck and Love,
Anita