Chapter XIIX: Trouble In Haven City
LES: I know a few of you have asked me when I'm going to update about events in Haven City, well here you are, after a quick Spargus thing...
Jak was walking down the beach when he came across Kleiver standing at the base of a huge gun.
Kleiver smiled evilly. "Oh-oh, here come the insults!" Daxter said.
"Ain't it time for your ankle-biter's naps?" Kleiver laughed.
"Oh, you're a riot!" Daxter said sarcastically.
"What's with the gun?" Jak asked.
"That gun?" Kleiver asked, pointing at the cannon-like gun. Jak nodded. "That gun turret used to be the only thing that protected us from the Wasteland beast and Marauders, this was before the walls were built. I was the top gunner back then, and no one has been able to top my score in the four years we've been here. Hey… you wanna try and beat me score?"
Jak was about to answer when Daxter interrupted. "Oh, don't worry. Jak 'beats' things all the time!" Daxter said, drawing quotation marks in the air around the word 'beats', which changed the meaning of the sentence entirely. What it now meant was that Jak… pleasures himself all the time. Jak glared down at Daxter angrily. "Eh, Jak?" Daxter laughed, elbowing Jak's leg and laughing evilly.
Jak hit the back of the Ottsel's head to get him to shut up. Daxter glared at the elf. "I don't 'beat' things, okay!" Jak hissed. "The only things I beat are gunning records, racers, and monsters intent on killing me!"
"Fine!" Daxter said hurriedly. "I just thought since…"
"Dax!"
"Okay, take a pill, all right?"
Long, boring story short, Jak beat the score with little effort. He jumped out of the turret's cockpit and walked up to Kleiver, grinning cockily.
"So…" Kleiver began. "You nippers beat me score…"
"Yeah, what a surprise." Daxter said sarcastically.
Kleiver sighed. "The Law of the Land says that the Top Gunner is to hold a special trophy in honor of their skills." He pulled out a Light Crystal out of his pocket and tossed it to Jak. "That crystal's yours now, but I'll be getting it back soon enough."
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Daxter asked. "Would it be too much to ask for a foot-rub?" Kleiver growled loudly. "Nope, didn't think so."
"By the way, your last arena fight is this afternoon." Kleiver said. "Get yourself ready by then."
"Don't worry about me." Jak said, even though he was well aware that Kleiver didn't give a damn whether he lived or died in this next fight. "I was born ready."
"I was born naked and crying." Daxter quipped.
Jak rolled his eyes and headed back to his flat.
Once there, the duo was free to argue about Daxter's comment. "How dare you say that about me? In public of all places!"
"What? It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Everyone does it!" Daxter defended himself.
"Not everyone!" Jak growled, and then he sighed, massaging his temples as if it was taking all his will power not to go Dark and eat Daxter at that moment. "Just because I happen to lust for Keira, and I can't have her, doesn't mean I'm desperate!"
"Really? You could have fooled me."
Jak sighed in annoyance and walked away with the thought of getting a few hours of sleep without Daxter's annoying chatter before his last arena fight.
(Haven City)
Ashelin sat in the new Freedom League Headquarters, rubbing her temples to get rid of her throbbing headache. Since Jak had been banished a few months ago, things had really gone down the crapper. Vegar usually didn't make mistakes, but banishing Jak was the worst possible mistake that he could have in the present troubles. Having Jak, and indeed the power he had at his fist on their side would tip the scales in their favor.
Torn walked in and paused when he saw Ashelin's distressed state. "If it's not good news…" Ashelin began. "Please don't tell me."
"I'm sorry." Torn said, now feeling really terrible at having to be the bearer of bad news. "But we've lost the Farming District. It is under complete Metal-Head Control."
Ashelin shook her head hopelessly. "The Farming District? They supplied over seventy-five percent of our produce! This can't be happening…"
"Things are going downhill really fast." Torn said.
"What will the Metal-Head's next move be?" Ashelin asked, for Torn had more training in battle-tactics than she did.
"They are going to try and take the Port next." He said after a slight pause. "Not only will that bring them one step closer to our HQ, but it will give them access to the Underport, allowing them to bring in reinforcements."
"We can't allow that to happen." Ashelin said. "We can't afford to lose the Port."
"I agree." A new voice said. Torn and Ashelin looked around. Vegar walked into the room with his usual arrogant air.
Ashelin frowned. "This is a private council, Vegar." She said.
"Of course. But I agree with you. The Port should not, and can not, fall. But I am concerned with the number of troops we have currently stationed in the Port area. I think we should… double their ranks."
"Double?" Torn demanded. "But that will leave us with very little protection!"
"You don't have the authority to decide how we divide our forces." Ashelin hissed. "That power still rests with me, Count."
"Oh? I have a document here that says otherwise." Vegar pulled out a piece of paper and began to read with a flourish. "We, the undersigned, due to the current time of civil unrest have agreed the Count Vegar should take over such aspects as civil affairs, military decisions, and political aspects of this great City of Haven." Vegar handed Ashelin the paper. "You'll find all fifty signatures there."
Ashelin looked down the list. "How many of these men and women did you have to blackmail into signing this?" She asked.
"Oh, come now, Governess I don't blackmail. Besides, you know this document is legal and binding." Vegar said.
Ashelin sighed. "Yes, it is."
"Good, then you realize that my opinions do, in fact, matter." Vegar said. "I want a task force sent into the Port area to reinforce our brave comrades holding the Port. Commander Torn, you should lead the assault."
"What?" Both Ashelin and Torn demanded.
"Commander Torn has enough battle-field experience to lead such an assault." Vegar said.
"Torn is needed here." Ashelin said.
"Commander Torn is a warrior, is he not?" Vegar asked. "Don't warriors belong on the battle-field?"
"Not necessarily." Ashelin said. "You need warriors 'behind the scenes' too, directing things. Or else tough decisions are made by weasels like you while good men are killed needlessly."
"Now, now, I am only doing my job." Vegar said.
"At the expense of others." Ashelin pointed out. "You're the one who threw our Ace-In-The-Hole out into the Wasteland!"
"Ace-In-The-Hole?" Vegar scoffed. "Surely you're not talking about the Dark Eco Freak?"
"That so-called 'Freak' happens to be our best chance of winning this war!" Ashelin said.
"We can win this war WITHOUT resorting to black magic." Vegar said. "That Freak is a danger to us all! Even you cannot deny that, Governess."
"We've never said that Jak wasn't dangerous." Torn said. "Of course, he's dangerous! He's dangerous to his enemies. If we had Jak on our side, we could just let him loose in the City and we'd be Metal-Head free within a month!"
"And now, thanks to your actions, Jak might just consider us his enemies!" Ashelin yelled. "You might as well sign your own death warrant. If I know Jak at all, he'll never rest until you've been punished in the most brutal way possible."
"Threats won't work on me, Governess." Vegar said. "Besides, that Freak has been in the Wasteland for months. You don't actually think he's alive? No one can survive out there for long. I give it an hour, tops, before he collapsed. He's probably burning in the fires of hell right now… and good riddens!"
Suddenly, something hit Vegar, hard, right in the side of his head. Vegar staggered at the attack, and then he saw who had attacked him. It was Keira, her hand still curled into a fist after she had punched Vegar. It seemed that she had picked up a few tricks from Jak. Ashelin and Torn stared, they hadn't even noticed the she-elf coming in.
"You!" Vegar hissed, recognizing her. "The Freak's girl…"
"STOP CALLING HIM A FREAK!" Keira yelled. "You prejudice son of a bitch!" Torn and Ashelin stared even more. They had never heard the young mechanic swear before. Possibly more things she had learned from Jak. "You don't know Jak! You'll never know Jak! All of you!" She rounded on Torn and Ashelin. "You think you know him! 'He's a monster! He's dangerous! He's a Freak!' You don't know him… none of you know the real Jak! He's NOT dangerous! He's NOT the villain, or even the hero…" Keira paused. The extreme emotion that she was feeling, anger and sadness, caused tears to run down her face. "He's the victim."
No body spoke for fear of bringing the young she-elf's fury down on them. Finally, she let out a sob and stormed out of the room.
Vegar was the first to recover from Keira's out burst. "The victim, indeed." He scoffed. "That man murdered hundreds… maybe thousands of people, and she says that he's the victim? Her blind attraction to that Freak has blinded her to what he really is… a murderous Dark Eco Demon that would kill you as soon as look at you."
"No…" Ashelin said. "She knows him better than any of us. None of us knows what happened to him inside those prison walls. None of us knew him before he stepped onto the scene."
"Don't start that 'Oh, he's just the victim' stuff!" Vegar growled. "I'll tell you who the real victims are: the people he killed! Why should he be allowed back into the City… if he's still alive?"
"Because… we need him." Ashelin said.
"We don't need the help of an Eco Freak if you do what I tell you to do." Vegar said, turning to Torn. "Commander, you will lead a large battalion of troops to join our comrades in the Port."
Torn looked at Ashelin for instructions. Ashelin nodded. "Yessir." Torn said to Vegar before he turned and walked out.
Keira ran into her new quarters that she had been forced to live in since the Metal-Heads had attacked the Palace. She flopped down on the bed and began to sob loudly.
Samos, who was walking by Keira's open door, heard his daughter's crying and came into the room, shutting the door behind him so that no one else could hear what would be discussed through the soundproof walls and doors. "Keira, what's wrong?" He asked, concerned.
"It's just… everyone!" Keira cried. "They all judge Jak before they even know him!"
Samos sighed; he knew exactly what Keira was so upset about. "Well, you can't blame them." He said. "The only Jak they know is the one he shows them, an angry man without a soul. But… you and I… we know better than that… we know that the boy he was is still in that shell somewhere." Samos laughed, a kind of 'I'm pretending to be happy' sound. "You know, when he was with you, I swear to the Precursors that I could almost see the young boy that I helped raise back in Sandover."
"I know…" Keira said. "I saw it too."
"His soul…" Samos shuttered as the memory of the first time he had met the new Jak in the Fortress returned to him. "His soul was damaged horribly in prison. When I first saw him, I couldn't see anything of that little boy anymore. I…" He paused, as though afraid to say what he really thought. "I gave up hope on his recovery. I believed that his soul was too damaged to ever be pieced back together, damaged beyond repair. The Precursor did more than cure his Eco Poisoning that day in the nest… it pieced Jak's broken soul back together. Certainly, he's not going to turn back into the boy he was, but he's not a broken man anymore."
Keira's mind also drifted back to the first time she met Jak after they arrived in Haven City. His physical changes didn't put her off nearly as much as the changes to his eyes. Eyes that she had loved in Sandover were dark, empty, and hollow. The sight of those haunted eyes scared her, for she thought that the boy she loved was dead, replaced by a man who could only feel one emotion… hate. But… after the Precursor healed Jak, every once in a while, she'd see a younger Jak looking out through those eyes, eyes that now had hope of a better life, one that was not merely to serve others and eventually give his life for other people. "I know that he's not broken anymore. He's whole again." Keira said. She looked at her father. "Do you think he's going to come back to Haven City?"
"I don't know." Samos said. "But I think so… I think so…"
"Sir, why are we doing this?" A young Captain asked Torn as the Commander piloted a new Freedom League cruiser through the Industrial section.
"Because… we have to." Torn answered. "Vegar has taken control of the City."
"That weasel?" The captain asked, shocked. "Commander, you could have overpowered him alone!"
"Definitely." Torn said. "Do you know Keira Hagai?" The Captain nodded. All the guards knew Keira Hagai as she was currently one of the few people who had top-level security status, she was the most heavily guarded civilian in Haven City. "She could have beaten the crap out of Vegar. You know, she socked him right in the side of his head." Torn couldn't help but laugh.
"She did?" The Captain demanded.
"But, it would do no good if we fought against Vegar. That would only cause in-fighting and that's the last thing we need right now."
The Captain sighed. "You're right, sir. There are guards loyal to you and the Governess, and there are those loyal to the Council… or its leader."
"Exactly. We have two common enemies right now, and that's the only thing that's keeping us united. If we start fighting each other… our entire defense will fall apart. Maybe if Jak were here, we could attempt it. He could keep things from exploding."
"Is he really that powerful?" The Captain asked. "I've heard the stories…"
"And they are true." Torn said. "He can kill dozens with a single blow, he can fight Metal-Heads without getting a scratch, and he did kill the Metal-Head Leader single-handedly even though he was near death himself. But his greatest weapon is his ability to turn into a demon at will."
"Why did Vegar banish such a powerful ally?" The Captain asked. "Politics 101: You don't piss off powerful allies, or they may become powerful enemies."
"If you ask me, Vegar always was kind of stupid. Lots of brains, no common sense." Torn said. "But, let's concentrate on the matter at hand: reinforcing the Port's defenses."
"Yessir!" The Captain said as he had been trained to do.
Then they arrived in the Port area and Torn landed. It wasn't a battle, it was a slaughter. Everywhere they looked, there were Elvin guards tearing down Metal-Heads, or visa-versa. The Port, normally stained with pollution, was now stained brown with the hideous mixture of red Elvin blood and green Metal-Head blood.
"Sweet Precursors…" Torn whispered, looking down at a small group of blue-armored elves that were being mowed down by a large Crab-Head. One of the guards managed to raise his weapon and shot the monster in the eye. The monster fell to the ground, died, but a shield wielding Metal-Head Commander took its place and killed the bold guard with a single gunshot to the head. "What are we waiting for? Let's get in there and help them!" Torn yelled. More cruisers landed and several hundred guards jumped out.
With a single great yell, the battalion of Freedom League guards charged the Metal-Head forces that were slowly advancing through the Port.
The Metal-Head ranks took note of the battle cry and turned in surprise just as the first ranks of elves his them. The monsters gave a roar and turned to face this new threat as the remaining guards cheered.
Torn ducked and weaved through the Metal-Heads, shooting them with the pistol that he carried. While the pistol was smaller than the shock rods the Guards carried, it packed a serious punch. The small bullet was infused with the powers of Blue and Red Eco, both extremely rare.
Jak once told him that the Blue and Red Ecos were very common where he came from, but that was in the past. The Blue Eco allowed the bullet to travel many times faster than a normal slug. Some scientists theorized that, in good conditions, the bullet could almost break the speed of light! While the Red Eco gave the slug the power to tear through even the toughest Metal-Head armor. The result of a Metal-Head getting hit with this powerful weapon was a remarkable amount of green goo.
But, the weapon had one downfall. Because of the rarity of the Ecos that powered it, it only had a limited number of shots, and there were thousands of Metal-Heads in the area, Torn could not take care of them all. He doubted that even Jak, or his Dark Side, could handle thousands of Metal-Heads at once by himself. Dozens upon dozens, maybe, but not thousands.
The Metal-Heads had numbers, brutality, and ruthlessness; and they had the advantage of having their base nearby. They had the upper hand right from the get-go.
Torn shot a Crab-Head, which exploded, and found that he had run out of bullets. So he pulled himself off the front-line, moving towards the back. Another one of his trusted Captains, a man who even served Torn loyally in the Underground movement, moved towards him. "Commander, why don't we bring up the tanks?"
"No!" Torn said instantly. "A blast from a tank would hit the Metal-Heads and us at the same time."
Torn looked over the battlefield, elves were falling left and right and everywhere in between. Screams and roars filled the air. "What do we do, sir?" The Captain asked.
After a few seconds, Torn yelled. "Fall back! Fall back to the Industrial area!"
However, little known to the Freedom League, the Krimzon Bots were working. As soon as the last cruiser had passed into the Port, they set to work. They began to set up three strategically placed force fields. The fields were set up at a speed and were extremely crude. But crude don't mean not effective by any means.
A large Dark Being, which was more mechanical than biological, oversaw the building of the shields, pleased. With the Dark Eco Freak out of the way and hated by most in the City, and the majority of the Freedom troops, plus Torn, trapped in the Port, the City would fall easily. Then, once the most powerful City on the planet was destroyed, he would turn his attention to the Dark Eco Freak. If his Dark Friends were right, he would be the biggest threat to their cause. The mechanical monstrosity grinned. He would kill that Freak, the Dark Beings said it was his destiny to destroy that boy… the stupid little boy who had made his life and death a living hell… the boy he once called 'Number Eleven'.
The Freedom League ran back into the narrow entrance that led to the industrial section and stopped in horror. A large force field separated them from HQ. And the Krimzon Bots were now hard at work sabotaging their cruisers.
"Shit!" Torn swore. "We're trapped!"
"Trapped? What do you mean trapped?" Someone asked.
"I mean we're completely cut off here!" Torn pulled out his Comm. "Ashelin? Ashelin? Are you there?"
A pause, and then: "I'm reading you. What's your status?"
"It's crap, Ashelin!" Torn said hurriedly. "There's too many of them! We tried to retreat, but there are force fields here! We can't get back to HQ!"
"Shit!" Ashelin swore.
"What do we do?" Torn asked.
"Take cover in a building… perhaps the Ottsel. Then try to reconnect with us as soon as possible! We can not afford to have our forces divided for long…"
Torn sighed angrily. "We really need Jak back in the City! I hate to admit it, but we need him and his… unusual talents."
Ashelin paused, thinking. "Perhaps there's something I can do about that. If the Council votes to reverse Jak's banishment, Vegar can't stop us! We could get Jak to come back and help us out!"
"Yeah, if he still wants to help us." Torn said. "Jak's not one who forgets wrongs done that easily."
"I take care of getting Jak back here in Haven City." Ashelin said. "You just stay alive, that's not a request, it's an order. There are few who can get Jak to do their bidding, and you are one of those people." With that, Ashelin hung up.
Torn put away the Comm. and looked over his troops. "Well, you've got your orders! Let's get to the Naughty Ottsel!"
Later that day, Governess Ashelin surprised everyone by calling an emergency session of the Council.
Vegar was not happy about this. He did not like the fact that Ashelin had the power to call a session of Council without his knowledge or approval. "What is the meaning of this?" He demanded, his normal calm and cool demeanor was replaced with a mad and disheveled look. "You do not have this power! Ah! I know what this is! You're rising up against me! This is blasphemy!"
"Blasphemy is a religious term." Ashelin said. "I believe the term you are looking for is 'treachery'. And I do have the power to call a session of Council." She left Vegar dumbfounded and stood up on the podium where Vegar usually stood. "Grand Council of Haven City." Ashelin began. "We are here to right a wrong that was committed months ago right here in this chamber." The Council members looked uncomfortable. They did not like being told that they did something wrong. "It was the banishment of one Jak, AKA: The Dark One."
"The Freak?" One Councilman asked. "We did nothing wrong, Governess. Look at all the crimes he has committed, look at what he's capable of! He's dangerous and should not be allowed to walk our streets!"
"No one ever said that Jak wasn't dangerous." Ashelin said. "But he has a hatred for Metal-Heads that could be of use to us. The fact of the matter is that we need his special abilities to win this war."
"No, the fact of the matter is that he let the Metal-Heads into the City!" Another councilor said. "We let him back into the City and he'll sell us out even more!"
"The evidence does point to Jak, almost overwhelmingly so. But, has no one ever considered the fact that this whole thing might have been a set up to get Jak killed or thrown out of the City?" Ashelin asked, and silence responded. "He certainly has enough enemies that would have something to gain."
Suddenly, one brave Councilwoman stood up. "I think the Governess is right. It has bothered me for some time. It was too obvious. If I were a traitor, I would do my very best to hide it."
"Exactly. It wouldn't take much. They would only need to catch Jak down there, knock him out, plant some Dark Eco evidence, and all fingers would point straight at him." Ashelin said.
"Okay, hypothetically, let's say that the Freak did not let in the Metal-Heads… What about his past crimes: murder, armed robbery, conspiracy, prison break… the list goes on and on." The Councilman said. "And, what's worse, he showed absolutely no guilt or remorse for his crimes. Can the Governess explain that?"
Ashelin sighed and looked away. "He feels no guilt because he is not capable of feeling guilt anymore. Very few know this, but the man is question was not always a criminal. His name is… well earned. But my father started a project three years ago called the Dark Warrior Program, which would take Channelers and turn them into Dark Eco-wielding warriors. Fifteen went into the project… only one came back out alive. Jak was only seventeen when he was put into the project because of his superior channeling abilities." She paused to let the horror of that statement sink in. Seventeen wasn't even considered 'grown-up.' He was still a child! "Now, I respect Jak's privacy, so I won't describe everything the records say they did to him, but I will say that he was tortured every day with Dark Eco to the point of death. This… would be enough to break even the strongest men. Those that knew Jak immediately after he broke out of prison described him as a… broken man. The Dark Eco treatments for which my father, not Jak, is responsible gave him the powers that he never asked for; broke the man into a cruel joke of his former self. He is unable to feel guilt because it was bleed out of him long ago by the horrors he experienced in prison. Horrors that none of us could've hoped to survive."
"Boo-hoo." Vegar said sarcastically. "You can't romanticize what he's done! He's done what he's done, and nothing will ever change that!"
"All those people dying is a terrible thing. But, I'm sure that if Jak was capable of feeling remorse, he would." Ashelin said.
"We can't blame him for what has happened to him." Another Council member spoke up. "You don't blame the experiments, but the one who invented them."
"This is not a machine we're talking about!" Someone else said. "This is a living, sentient being that can think for himself!"
"He was designed to be a biological weapon of mass destruction." Ashelin said. "And that's what he has become. He cannot be blamed for doing what he was created and programmed to do! Crocadogs will bite the hand of a stranger, but we do not banish them!"
"This is no Crocadog!" The Councilman yelled again.
The whole room erupted into a fit of arguing. The room seemed divided about half-and-half. But Ashelin didn't think she could say anymore to help Jak. It was now or never. "Please!" Se yelled over the arguments. "Order!" The room fell silent slowly. "It is now time to vote. All those in favor of reversing Jak's banishment, raise your hand."
Dozens of people did so. Ashelin counted swiftly. Twenty-seven… only two more than half.
The others realized that they were beaten, so one stood up. "We will allow that Freak back into the City under one condition." He said. "That he will come only to fight the Metal-Heads and the Bots. Once these enemies are no longer a threat to us, he must return to the Wasteland where he belongs!"
Several of the freak-haters nodded their approval. Ashelin looked away. She would need the Council's support, most of it, to ensure Jak's safe return to the City. "Very well." She said. "I agree to these terms. As soon as there is no threat to Haven City, his banishment will be re-effected and he'll be transported back out of our walls."
"That is, assuming that he's still alive." Vegar said, frowning at the turn of events. Even he couldn't over-rule the Council.
"We have ever reason to believe that he's still alive." Ashelin said. "This meeting is adjourned." She said, and everyone got up.
Vegar stormed over to her. "You may have won the Freak this small battle, but I'll win the war! One single slip-up by your freak friend, and they will scream for his rebanishment. One guard killed, and your friend is washed up!" Vegar paused, and straightened to his full height. "Good-bye, Governess." With that, Vegar walked out of the chamber. Ashelin ignored him and ran off to contact Torn to tell him the good news.
LES: Okay, this is the end of Binder Two of this story. I'm keeping this story in four different binders, three of them are rather small, and the fourth binder is at least four times bigger than the others. Okay, moving on to the Binder Three of War Of The Champions!
