Corad: Ok...if you guys have any form of weapon, whether it be throwing knives, bows, swords, guns, bazookas...even grenades, then I suggest you pull them out now. I'll just stand here in the firing range (moves against wall) and you guys can let all your anger out now...so...like, you know, you won't start shouting at me later... but before you do, I've just been really busy over the past couple of weeks coz well...I'm finally leaving grade 12 in three weeks time, and I have last minute assignments and exams. So please try and excuse my lateness. If you can't, then here's ya opportunity now to take ya anger out...

Sharok: (appears out of nowhere) She means torture her now, so you don't have to do it later :)

Corad: Get outta here (shakes fist) Enjoy I guess...thanks too for all the reviews. Especially JakLover and ChristopherC who like...made me get off my backside to update tonight. And yeah, thanks heaps to all my other reviewers and readers. Thankies! Don't own, never will...now you can kill me...

Chapter 41 - Paranoid Vin

Since Jak had arrived in the underground, he'd heard so many personal complaints from Jinx that he wished he'd gone on the Skytha hunt himself. Jak was about to lose his head as Jinx began yelling about his nightmares, before Torn called for silence. Both Jak and Jinx fell silent, as Torn lifted his head up, a burning glare aimed at them both.

"Look! If you two want to keep carrying on like a couple of little kids, then get outside!" he shouted, his voice echoing around the base. Jak looked down to the table, and Jinx stared in anger at Torn, his arms crossed, and his eyes hard and fiery.

"That's better. Now Jak, if you're up to it, I want you to go speak with Vin. I need a report on the security walls, and how well they're functioning right now. If it's what I think it is, then the walls may be a part in this murder toll," Torn said, cutting the heavy silence. Jak nodded, and stood up, motioning for Daxter to follow.

He began to make his way to the exit, before Torn called him to stop. Jak shot a glance at Torn, who was now sitting up and held a small electronic card in his hand. "Take this. We've installed a new system into the power station. Only those with the electronic access card can get in. It stops Vin being so paranoid, and eliminates any unwanted visitors," he called, tossing the small white card to Jak. Jak caught it, and peered down at the plastic card.

"Thanks," he mumbled, pocketing it and following the stairs to the door. He waved to Torn and Jinx, and stepped outside, cold air flowing across his face. He gazed around, and spotted the same dark clouds appearing in the sky.

"Didn't we have a storm last night? I heard it thundering before I fell asleep," Jak asked, watching as a few elves ran by.

"Yeah, we did have that storm, but ya know Jak…it's probably just storm weather or something," Daxter replied, trying to get his friend off worrying about another thing. Jak figured that his friend might be right, and so ignored the clouds and found his old zoomer instead.

Grabbing hold of the bars, he hoisted himself into the seat and started up the engine, which roared to life. He changed height, and drove the zoomer more carefully this time towards the power station. A few minutes later, he stopped outside the power station door, and took out his security card, looking for a slot to put it in.

"Here Jak! Right here!" Daxter cried, and pointed towards the bottom of the door, where a fine slit hole was inside the wall. Jak figured that was another measure of security. No one would ever think of looking this low down. Kneeling down on the pavement, Jak slid the card into the slot, and the door clicked open.

"Quick Jak!" Daxter said, scurrying in, Jak right behind him. The door closed with a thud, and Jak looked up around the power station, feeling a little uneasy. He knew Vin was here somewhere, for there was nowhere else he could go.

"Vin? Vin?" Jak called out, heading into the round centre of the station. He stopped when he was beside the main control panel, and looked down at his friend, an eyebrow raised.

"What? Who's there? I demand an answer!" Jak startled when he heard Vin's paranoid voice echoing around, and he looked towards the hologram projection of Vin's head. "VIN! It's only us! Calm down!" Jak cried out, taking a step towards Vin's large, see through head.

"Oh Jak…I thought it was a stranger…like the stranger who has been coming in the past few nights," Vin apologized, his face looking around frantically. Jak took another step towards Vin, ignoring the last comment.

"Look Vin…Torn sent us. He wants a report on the security walls," Jak explained slowly, hoping Vin would understand what he wanted over his paranoid state of mind. Vin stopped looking around nervously, and cast a gaze down at Jak.

"A report? What report?" he asked, laughing slightly. Jak rolled his eyes, and tried to explain it again. "Torn reckons that the recent deaths have been caused due to a lull in the security walls. He thinks that something has been getting in and out of the city, when the walls haven't been functioning," Jak said clearly, crossing his arms again.

Vin stayed silent for a few moments, processing the information. "Well, heh, the walls haven't let us down once Jak. Don't know what Torn is on about. I've been here 24 / 7, and no such thing has ever occurred. Correct me if I'm wrong, but what if the murderer has been in the city the whole time?" Vin said, waking Jak into a possible explanation of the whole situation.

"You know, he could be right," Jak said quietly to Daxter at his feet. Maybe they had believed something had been coming in from the wasteland, when in fact they had been here the whole time. "But wolves don't live in the city," Daxter said in reply, loudly enough for Vin to hear.

"WHAT! WOLVES! Don't let them in here!" Vin cried dramatically, making Jak back slowly out towards the door. "Ok Vin! We'll just tell Torn the walls have been functioning the whole time! Thanks for you time!" he yelled out over Vin's panicked screams. Daxter ran out of the door, followed by Jak who was glad to get out of the station.

"That was very strange Jak…I mean, who would go bonkers over the mention of a wolf?" the Ottsel asked as the two walked over to the zoomer again. Jak shrugged in return, wondering that himself.

"Maybe they remind him of metal heads. You know how metal heads forced him to computerize his mind…well maybe he just fears them," Jak answered, as he stopped beside the zoomer. He sat himself down, and switched on the engine, to find black smoke billowing out. Choking on the smoke, the two leapt off the zoomer and rolled along the ground, just before the zoomer blew up.

"What the?" Jak asked weakly, still struggling to breath. He looked at the charcoaled heap just meters away, and laid his head on the ground, coughing. Daxter lay in a bundled heap just at his head, and he looked at though he was struggling to breath also.

"Jak, what happened?" Daxter said, sitting up and rubbing his head. Jak blinked a few times, before lifting his head and sitting up too. He looked at his friend, before standing up and brushing himself down. He glared at the zoomer, trying to work out why it had suddenly blown up, and noticed the same black Ottsel scurrying out of sight.

"Quick Dax!" Jak shouted, sprinting down the ramp and into the crowd of citizens. He followed the direction the black Ottsel was heading in, wondering whether he had taken the wrong turn after a few minutes of running and not finding it. Slowing down, Jak shouted out in frustration, about to give up when he saw it. The Ottsel, standing in a small crowd of people.

Jak began to sneak up to the black Ottsel, creeping quietly as he inched slowly closer. When he was only a few steps away, he leapt onto the Ottsel, and felt it struggling beneath him. "Get off me!" it yelled, clawing at Jak's arms and face. Jak growled deeply, and managed to get up onto his feet, holding the struggling Ottsel by the tail.

"Who are you!" he snapped, holding the Ottsel up to eye level. The black animal tried to claw at Jak's face some more, before Jak gave up trying to speak with him and just decided to take him to Torn. Jak finally met up with Daxter again a few minutes later, and Daxter began laughing at the Ottsel grasped in Jak's hands.

"Come on Dax, we need to report back to Torn…maybe also give him this guy," Jak said, again looking down at the furry thing hanging upside down, his head inches from the ground. Jak and Daxter decided to walk back to the underground, seeing Jak couldn't be bothered finding another zoomer to ride, and he worked out he couldn't drive holding his new discovery anyway.


Corad: Ye...ah...I gotta make this quick coz I'm doing art stuff at the moment too...but I hope you guys enjoyed this. I will have the next chapter up by Sunday, so it won't be a ridiculously long wait like this time. Review if you want or can, but other than that, see yas later!

PS: Again I'm sorry for the wait :( Please forgive me...;.;