Chapter 2
The Escape
"What is this?" Raye asked, ducking under another pipe as she and Jak walked through the unlit room that had been through the passageway above the boxes.
"Utilities, I think." Jak said, kicking a wrench out of his path. "I heard a guard talking about a busted pipe a couple days ago. The workers must've left before our eco treatments."
"Praxis probably MADE them leave. I doubt that anyone in Haven would like the fact that he's pulling people off the streets to inject them with dark eco to try and turn them into bio-weapons." Raye scowled.
Jak grimaced, but it abated slightly as he saw a sliver of light ahead. "That must be the door out of here." He ran his hands over the metal, grinning when he found the handle. Grunting, he pulled the door open enough for them both to slip out. As Jak's feet touched the floor, alarms started blaring.
"Alert. Prison escape in progress."
"Damn it, we're busted." Raye growled.
Jak grabbed her arm. "We aren't busted until we get caught. Follow me." He pulled her up another stack of boxes and atop another ledge.
"Uh, Jak? I can't reach that." Raye commented dryly, looking at the next ledge before her. Jak just grinned over at her and before she could realize what he had done, he was sitting on top of the ledge, offering her a hand down. "Show off." She muttered, letting him pull her up.
Jak grinned at her again and headed through the archway in the wall next to him. However, this time HE stopped and frowned. Before him was series of flat, transport cranes suspended from the ceiling by yellow and black striped arms. "Problem?" Raye asked, stepping up behind him with a smug grin on her face.
Looking back at her, Jak smirked. "No." And with that, he easily jumped to the first and second platforms, then turned around grinned at her. "You coming?"
"I despise you, do you know that?" Raye asked, glaring at the platform in front of her.
Jak laughed. "Are you talking to me or the crane?" He blinked as she leapt up the first platform, then up to the second, grinning at him.
"You." She said, poking him in the chest and jumping to the next platform.
"You are in a restricted sector. This sector is on high alert." Jak and Raye both started as the computer voice warned them from a speaker somewhere high on the ceiling.
"It just loves giving us away, doesn't it?" Raye groaned as Jak leapt up next to her.
"We'll have to time this last jump." Jak muttered, watching as the crane in front of them rose up and down.
"And then what? There aren't any other cranes." Daxter said.
Jak looked around, then pointed up. "Up there, see?"
Raye shook her head. "I'm beginning to wonder if all that eco DIDN'T fry your brain."
Jak just grabbed her wrist. "Just jump when I say go." As the crane lowered so it was just a few feet above them, Jak tugged on Raye's wrist. "Now!"
"That was insane." Raye laughed as they ran down the hall. "You almost made us miss!"
"How was I supposed to know that it was going to go back up the exact moment we jumped?" Jak asked, aiming a punch at her arm.
"Well, you were the one watching the crane…" Daxter said oh-so-helpfully.
Jak glared at him. "Whose best friend are you again?" He jerked back slightly as something grabbed his shirt and pulled him to a halt.
"Wall." Raye said, pointing in front of him. Jak blinked and looked in the direction of Raye's finger to see that there was indeed a wall barely a foot from his face. "Well, actually, a ledge would be more precise, but we can't reach the top."
Jak paused, then walked over to the wall and knelt down. Raye blinked, surprised as Jak vaulted up, grabbing the side of the ledge and hauling himself over. "Okay, correction. I can't reach the top." She muttered under her breath, jumping up and grabbing Jak's hand.
Raye froze as she pulled herself halfway up onto the ledge. "Jak?"
"What?" He asked, a confused frown on his face.
"Guard. Behind you." Jak looked over his shoulder and saw a single guard standing at the end of the path.
"He hasn't noticed us yet." Jak muttered, pulling her up. "Let's get rid of him before he does."
Daxter looked down at Jak, frowning. "Get rid of him? You mean… as in, kill him?"
Jak looked up at the Ottsel. "What else would I mean?"
"It wouldn't be the first time. For either of us." Raye muttered, crossing her arms and directing her gaze at the floor. Daxter looked between the two, his expression shocked. "They were accidents. Sort of."
"We'll talk about this later, Dax." Jak muttered, walking forward.
A few minutes later, the guard was lying on the ground. "He's only unconscious, Dax." Jak said at the look on his friend's face. "Let's go, Raye."
Raye walked up next to him. "There's another one up there." She said, pointing past the moving platform in front of them. Jak took a step forward and Raye placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll get him." She said, hopping up the platform.
Daxter sat down on the shoulder pad underneath him, glancing over at Jak's face. Jak looked over at the numerous flashing computers on the wall. Daxter frowned and turned away, crossing his arms. "Look, we don't remember doing it, alright?" Jak sighed finally. "Praxis used to put us through these… 'test runs' to see if the eco was having an effect and… Raye and I lost our tempers. Next thing we knew, we were standing in the middle of a bunch of corpses. That's where the scars on Raye's hand came from; she punched through some guard's face plate and sliced her hand up. She didn't even know about it until we got sent to the infirmary and the doctor pulled out all the shards."
A loud cry made both look up. Raye stood at the edge of the platform, looking down with a horrified expression as a blur of red plummeted to the far away ground below. Jak jumped onto the slowly moving platform and over to stable ground. "Raye, what happened?"
"I-I was trying to knock him out, and-and I thought I did, but he got back up and charged at me, so I moved, and he…" Jak put a hand on Raye's shoulder and she quieted down, following him.
--
"You sure you're alright?" Jak asked, steadying Raye.
"Never again. I never want to do that again." She growled, glaring at the pole behind her that she had just leapt off of. "Let's just go. The faster we get out of here, the better."
"She has a point. Let's go." Daxter said, tugging on Jak's ear.
As the two of them neared the platform moving forward and back from the solid ground they were standing on, an unseen speaker crackled to life overhead. "Surrender yourself. You are under arrest."
"Stubborn little bitch, isn't she?" Jak muttered, leaping onto the platform. A red bullet flew behind him.
"More guards." Raye sighed, jumping after him, ducking immediately to avoid the bullet aimed toward her head.
Five minutes later, the two guards had been dealt with, and were lying, unconscious, in a corner. "Okay, forget Praxis; I'm going to kill his interior designer first." Raye growled.
Jak rolled his eyes and, backing up slightly, took a running leap over the gap, rolling as he landed. Raye growled at him and did the same, though not landing so gracefully. "Not a word." She hissed at Jak as she stood up, backing up to the edge of the platform and taking the next gap, managing to stay on her feet as she landed this time. Jak landed cleanly next to her and they took off around the corner.
"What's up with this weird floor?" Daxter asked, hopping down from Jak's shoulder to examine it. A bullet shot up at him. Daxter yelped and scrambled back up to Jak's shoulder.
Said elf's blue eyes followed the path of the grated floor. "There must be dozens of guards under there."
"And all of them are just waiting for some target practice." Raye muttered. "What do we do? Just make a run for it?"
Jak nodded. "On three. One… two…"
Daxter huddled down on Jak's shoulder. "Maybe we should count to ten, or stop and think this-"
"Three!" The two elves ran forward, weaving a complicated path through the room in an attempt to avoid the many bullets. Unfortunately, the guards didn't seem to be taking the idea of shooting just at Jak and Raye, and began to fire randomly through the holes, lighting the already red room with shots of bright red-orange. Finally, they reached the end of the grated floor, only to be faced with another problem.
"Dead end." Jak said dryly.
Daxter grinned at him. "Not exactly." He hopped off Jak's shoulder and walked over to the large metal plate in the center of the floor.
"Daxter, what are you doing?" Jak asked, crossing his arms and watching the Ottsel. "It's part of the floor."
Finally, he stopped circling the plate and grinned up at the two elves. "Oh, ye of little faith." He said, stepping on a small red button. The plate- which was now obviously proven to be a hatch- popped open.
Jak sighed and scooped the Ottsel up. "Okay, okay. Nice job Daxter. Now let's go."
Raye walked over to the edge of the hatch and swung her legs through. "Way ahead of you." She said, hopping down. Jak followed.
--
"You guys are sure they aren't dead, right?" Daxter asked, looking at the two bodies that had been kicked to the side of the room.
"They aren't dead." Jak sighed for the fifth time.
Raye smirked, popping open the hatch. "They're going to wish they were when they wake up." She said with a sadistic note of pleasure in her voice, sliding through the hole. There was a slight shriek a moment later.
"Raye!" Jak yelled, kneeling down next to the hatch.
"I'm alright!" Came the echoing reply. "Soaking wet, but alright. Damn thing's like a slide when you drop down, and there's a huge pool when you reach the end."
"Ooh, I hate water." Daxter shuddered. "That wet fur smell… not great for attracting the ladies."
"Daxter, you're a two foot tall rat." Jak said, swinging his legs into the hole.
"Your point?" Jak rolled his eyes and slid down onto the slanted floor below. Raye was right; the metal was incredibly slippery and gave no chance for stopping.
"There is no escape." The computer warned from above him as he leapt off the end of the slide, landing on the top of a slightly submerged box.
"We must be getting close." Raye said from a metal platform near the center of the room. Jak hopped over using the submerged boxes.
"For someone who said she was soaked, you look pretty dry." Daxter pointed out, crossing his arms.
"Can't you feel it?" She questioned, grinning at Jak. "It's getting warmer. We're almost out."
Jak lifted his head slightly, and a light breeze ruffled his hair. "This way." He said, running over to a pile of boxes.
"The Baron really should learn to pick up after himself." Raye said, scaling the makeshift ladder behind him.
As they reached the ledge beyond the boxes, they both saw something that neither had seen for the good portion of two years; sky. Both scrambled up to the next ledge and stood in the doorway, staring outside. "It must be the middle of the night." Raye muttered. "There's no one on the streets."
"Just around here. No one's stupid enough to walk around Krimzon Guard HQ, daylight or not." Daxter muttered. "Being a two foot tall rat IS helpful sometimes."
"If we get caught, we're just gonna get thrown right back in here." Raye muttered, wincing at the memory of her own capture.
"I don't see any guards." Jak said, crouching down and glancing along the deserted paths. "Come on, let's go before any show up." Hesitating, Raye nodded, walking off the edge of the doorway as Jak did, landing, once again, much more clumsily than the blonde elf. He didn't take the time to tease her, instead grabbing her wrist and pulling her along once she'd regained a little of her balance.
The pair got a few strange looks, but not a word was said as they walked around the corner and into the much more crowded streets. But it was obvious that the Baron's enforced curfew was getting closer, as the crowds were thin, and many were entering into the battered homes lining the streets.
Raye looked over as movement, toward the place where she and Jak were standing, caught her eye. Her entire body stiffened as she saw a harmless looking old man hobbling over, a young boy following behind him obediently. 'Kor and little Jak.' She reminded herself, the once clear details sketchy in her mind.
"Hello, strangers." The old man greeted, drawing Jak and Daxter's attention now as well. "My name is Kor. May I help-"
Kor was quite rudely interrupted when Jak stepped up to him, glaring down at him threateningly and grabbing the front of his robes. "You look like a reasonably smart man. I want information! Where the hell are we?"
Raye put a hand on Jak's chest and pushed him back. "Jak, calm down."
Daxter leapt down from Jak's shoulder, smiling widely. "Eh, sorry!" He apologized. Then, leaning over and loudly whispering behind his hand to the Kid, "He's new to the whole 'conversation' thing."
Kor smoothed his robes as he answered. "Well, my angry young friend, you are a 'guest' of his 'majesty' Baron Praxis, the ruler of 'glorious' Haven City." The elf-disguised-Metal-Head told Jak.
Jak snorted. "We were just 'guests' in the good Baron's prison." He growled out the last word, like it was poisonous to say.
Kor 'hmph'ed. "Inside a cell or inside the city, walls surround us all. We are all his prisoners."
As the words left his mouth, the sound of heavy, clunking footsteps made themselves known behind the trio. Kor's eyes widened as he looked behind the two elves. "Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'd move on if I were you."
As Jak and Raye turned around, they saw that the few elves that had been lagging in the streets were now rushing for their homes as a group of Krimzon Guards marched from the fortress toward them.
"By order of his eminence, the Grand Protector of Haven City, Baron Praxis, everyone in this section is hereby under arrest for suspicion of harboring underground fugitives." One of the guards stated, readying his gun. "Surrender and die!"
Daxter looked over at the guard. "Ah, excuse me sir," He started, looking as innocent as he could, "Don't you mean surrender, OR die!?"
Kor took a step back as if preparing to flee. "Not in this city. Protect us from these guards, and I'll introduce the two of you to someone who could help you!"
Jak and Raye glanced at each other, nodding. "This is going to feel SO good." Jak muttered, stepping toward the guards.
"It's them!" One yelled, and suddenly half a dozen charging guns were pointed at the two elves chests. However, they did not stay this way for long, as said elves rushed forward into the midst of the surprised guards, fists flying.
As the last fell to the ground, a rumble overhead made Raye look up. "Ah, crap." She cursed as a KG transport hovered above them. The click of a lock preceded the back hatch falling open, and another legion of guards poured out.
'At least there aren't any civilians around now.' She thought, readying herself. For some reason, a warning bell was going off in the back of her mind, and, on instinct, she turned to look at Jak.
"Jak?" Raye questioned, her eyes wide. He was doubled over as if in pain, right in the path of the oncoming guards, with a faint, purple haze surrounding his form. Suddenly, Raye realized why those warning bells were going off. She backpedaled to a few feet away just as the growing haze exploded into bolts of violet lightning, and Jak let out a roar.
Time seemed to freeze as a monstrous being replaced the elf standing before the red-armored troops a moment ago. No one dared to move. And then…
A white blur dove into the guards, throwing them to the ground and into buildings like they were nothing more than rag dolls. It was over before it had even started; the troops had never had a chance. Raye looked up as a blast of hot wind blew her hair every which way to see the transport taking off. At least the driver was smart.
There was a pained groan from the side and Raye looked over at Jak to see him stumbling back as the effects of his transformation faded. Running over, she looped one of his arms around her shoulders and one of hers around his back, helping him to stay standing. He cast her an almost grateful look, the almost being for the fact that Daxter walked up and diverted his attention.
"That was cool! Do it again!" The Ottsel exclaimed excitedly, almost bouncing with energy.
"Something's happening to me…" Jak groaned, looking down at his hand. "Something he did… I can't… control it." Daxter's expression changed from awestruck to worried.
"Very impressive." Kor murmured, eyeing Jak with an odd, ill-placed interest. Raye glared at the man.
"Eh, you okay Jak?" Daxter asked, putting a hand on his friend's leg. Jak just nodded slightly, sliding out of Raye's grasp. She let go of him, knowing that male egos are quite fragile, and never needed help.
"What you just did was very brave." Kor said, stepping up in front of them. "This child is important." He informed them helpfully, patting the boy's head.
Daxter walked over to examine him. "This kid? He looks kinda…" He poked the kid in the chest. The boy, in return, flinched, putting his hands over his head. "Scruffy." Daxter concluded.
All looked up as a guard on a Krimzon Zoomer flew up. Jak and Raye tensed, predicting another fight. "Move along." The guard ordered. "Curfew starts in ten minutes." He said before flying off.
This seemed to remind Kor of what he had been doing before the two fugitives had arrived. "Thank you for your help, but I must get this boy to safety." He stated, turning and beginning to walk off with the child.
"Hey!" Daxter protested, making Kor turn. "What about us?"
"There is an underground group waging war against Baron Praxis. Its leader, the Shadow, could use fighters like you two." He nodded at Jak and Raye, then handed something to the boy, who ran over. "This is a map to their hideout. It is located in a dead end alley near the city wall. Ask for Torn. He can help you." And so he walked off with the boy, disappearing among what was left of the quickly dispersing crowd.
"Let's get going, and quick." Raye said, unfolding the map. "I got caught once after curfew before, and once was enough for me." Studying the parchment for a moment, she looked up at Jak and jerked her head forward. "This way."
--
SC: Woohoo! Chapter 2 is redone! All rejoice and celebrate!