Rebel: Oh, my god, I'm so freakin' lazy! Forgive me, people! If it's any consolation, I have the pictures of Grace, Max, Derek, Kara, and Eruhl all up on my homepage on Deviantart which you can reach from my profile. For those of you who haven't heard of deviantart, know that it is not a bad website in any way unless you choose to view bad pictures which, by the way, should all have mature content blockers, so it is a safe website. Back to my story, there's a bit of gore, some of my long winded descriptions (forgive me), and a new villain whom I will soon post on my homepage as well. Enjoy!
Ch. 6 Enemies around Every Corner
When the gates had closed behind Grace's Sand Shark, the husky woman who'd been in charge of the kangarat release hurried up. At first she was worried about Grace, but then she saw the other passenger.
"By the Precursors! What happened?"
"An explosion." Grace said wearily as she got out of the dune buggy.
While the woman got the injured man on a stretcher, Max came up to Grace with a towel. "Hope this helps." he said, handing it to her. Grace took it with mumbled thanks and started to wipe off what blood she could.
"Come on. We need to get Derek." Grace said. Dropping the now filthy towel in the Sand Shark, Grace ran over to a ladder. Once on top of the wall, she waited for Max to climb up.
"Derek!" She called. From among the snipers, Derek rose, never taking his sight off an enemy below. He fired, toppling the distant beast before turning to Grace.
"What is it?" he asked, handing his gun to one of the men leaning against the vertical steel bracers sticking up out of the wall.
"Sig gave us orders to leave the city via the palace, and head north to warn the villages close by. Why are those guys there?" Grace asked, pointing to the group leaning on the bracers.
"Oh, them?" Derek replied. "That's the reserve. They replace snipers who either have to leave, like me, or people who get injured."
"How would you get hurt up here? You're on top of a wall!" Grace said. She was answered only moments later. Only twenty feet away, there was an explosion. As Derek got his friends out of the way so medics could reach the area, all three teenagers looked over the side of the wall. Three massive metalheads had snuck around the Spargaian defenses and were assaulting the gate.
Once on the ground, Derek looked at Grace and noted the look in her eye. "Forget it. Leave the gigantic and almost unstoppable metalheads to the soldiers. You're not superwoman and we've got orders." Grace's head drooped in defeat, but she nodded.
"We need our stuff before we go." Grace pointed out.
"We'll split up." Derek said. "I took our guns to a store for maintenance. I'll go pick them up."
Max piped in. "Our bags are back at the refuge. I'll get them. Grace, why don't you go on ahead and make sure the elevator's working?" They all agreed and ran off in different directions.
Grace ran through the dark streets, her throat burning from the dust on the wind. Finally, she reached the elevator and collapsed on the cool wooden floor breathing heavily. Then she noticed that the lift wasn't moving. "Crap." Grace muttered as she looked around to see what was wrong. There was a lever by her foot, but when she tried it, it wouldn't work.
As Grace tried to figure out what was jamming the lever, a large scaly tail suddenly wrapped itself around her waist and dragged her out. The tail quickly wrapped around Grace's entire body up to her shoulders, and she found herself facing the tail's owner, a terrifying new form of metalhead.
The metalhead appeared to be a huge cobra with arms that ended in sharp claws. Its scales were an almost black shade of green that gleamed like poison in the light of the street torches. A head gem glowed dully on the monster's brow, giving its eyes an eerie gleam.
The cobra-thing looked Grace up and down before hissing darkly in her ear, "Hello, there." It was the same reptile voice that had been talking with the metalhead queen on the radio after Haven City was invaded.
Grace wriggled in the metal snake's grip. Finally she got her left arm free and began to beat on the coils squeezing her mercilessly. The cobra creature began to laugh and grabbed Grace's wrist.
"You don't sseem to realize who you're dealing with." The metalhead said. He gave Grace's wrist a little squeeze and she cried out as his claws drew blood. "I am General Riemh. Now be good prey and hold sstill. I promisse to kill you fasst if not painlessssly."
"I don't care who you are." Grace snapped. "First chance I get, I'm going to turn you into a belt and matching boots!" She wrenched her other arm free and attempted to pry the claws around her wrist open.
Riemh brought his face level with Grace's as he examined the tattoos on her arms. "You? You are the one who bears the key to our destruction!" Riemh threw back his head and laughed.
'What is he talking about?' Grace wondered. 'What key?' Her train of thought was interrupted as Riemh fell silent.
"The weakling race'ss lasst hope and I get the pleassure of desstroying it." Riemh sneered. Grace watched as the metalhead's cobra hood flared and he opened his jaw wide to reveal glistening fangs.
Grace shut her eyes tight in fear as Riemh drew back to strike, but her eyes opened wide when she heard the familiar sound of a gun going off nearby. A reflexor shot came flying down the street and hit Riemh in the back of the neck.
Max and Derek came around the corner in time to see the giant snake-like metalhead drop Grace as he writhed in pain. Max ran to his friend's side while Derek covered him, his Vulcan's laser sighter on the cobra's chest.
"Are you alright?" Max asked as he threw Grace's arm over his shoulder and lifted her up.
"I will be." Grace said. Max helped her into the elevator and sat her down. Derek backed up into the lift, his gun still trained on the metalhead in the street.
"Get this hunk of junk moving." Derek told Max. Max tried the lever, but it still wouldn't move. "Hurry up!" Derek shouted. Riemh had finally recovered enough to wonder where his prey had gone. Grace gritted her teeth and kicked the lever hard, wincing as the pain shot up her leg and her bruised ribs. The lever snapped, but the lift began to move just Riemh realized what had happened. He raced over in an attempt to grab the three teenagers, but the lift was faster, and the trio found themselves in the safety of the shaft.
When the elevator finally stopped, Grace, Max, and Derek found themselves in the throne room. Max gave a low whistle as he looked around the grotto style room.
"Think that's impressive, look up." Derek said, stepping out of the elevator and glancing at the ceiling. Max looked up in awe at the massive urn-like chandelier spouting water on either side of the path. He helped Grace up and walked her over to the throne where he sat her down again.
"Now what?" Derek asked, looking around the room. "There's only one exit: the elevator."
"Jinx said there was a door behind the right water wheel. Grace said. Max pulled out a small first aid kit from the bags he'd brought. While Derek waded through the water, Max began to patch Grace up. First he had to clean the cut on her face which was luckily shallow. Then he began pulling out some wraps.
"Hey, Grace, there's nothing over here!" Derek called.
"What do you mean?" Grace asked. She winced as Max began to wash out the cuts on her arm that Riemh had given her.
"I mean I can't even get behind the wheel." Derek replied. "Heck, I can't even see back there."
"Keep looking." Grace pleaded. Derek nodded and started over toward the other water wheel.
Grace gripped the throne's arm rest tight as Max began to wrap her sliced up wrist. Max tied off the bandage, and Grace let go of the arm. As she did so, Grace felt a button click under her fingers. The sound of gears whirring could be heard, and suddenly, with a protesting screech and a grinding sound, the right water wheel moved forward. Behind the wheel lay a heavy wooden door.
"Well that was convenient." Max said, jumping in the water with Grace right behind him.
"Not convenient enough." Derek said. Max gave him a puzzled look. "Am I the only one who noticed the elevator went back down?" Max and Grace looked behind them. The elevator was indeed gone, but was coming back up.
"Quick, the door!" Grace shouted. Max reached the door first and ushered Grace through. He turned around and noticed that Derek had not moved from his spot by the second water wheel.
"What are you doing!" Max shouted heatedly.
"Keeping our guests busy." Derek replied, raising his gun and switching it to peacemaker. He aimed up towards the ceiling and fired. The water contraption overhead shattered and spilled its contents down the crevasse. Cries could be heard as metalheads in the lift were swept over the rail and down the shaft. Derek smiled grimly before hurrying over to where Max waited.
Max and Derek closed the heavy wooden door and locked it behind them before turning around. They stood on a small ledge illuminated by small flood lights over the door. A sudden gust of air swept across the platform at that moment. Max reached out to catch the rail, but found there was none. He would have fallen to the streets below if Derek hadn't caught him by the arm.
"Where's Grace?" Derek asked as he pulled Max back.
"I'm over here!" Grace called. Both boys turned their heads to see Grace waving from the opposite end of a rickety rope bridge.
"You've got to be kidding me." Derek muttered. "I am not getting on that thing." Just above his head, an eco round pierced the door. "Let's go."
Max went first, using the rope rails to put as little weight as possible on the floorboards. On the other side he waved for Derek to come.
Derek hesitated to get on the bridge, but moved when a second shot pierced the door behind him. Halfway across, a board snapped under Derek's foot and he pulled back. "I can't go on!" he called.
Max rolled his eyes. "Either jump and risk falling, or stay and wait for the metalheads!" he shouted.
"When you put it that way…" Derek reasoned, glancing back at the rattling door. He stepped back, breathed a little prayer, and leapt. He landed safely and rushed to the end of the bridge just as the door shattered into splinters. Four centurion metalheads wielding shields and short range blasters burst through the door.
"We need something to cut the ropes before they get in range of us!" Max realized. Derek reached down and whipped a knife out of his boot. "Do you always carry one of those?" Max asked.
Derek shrugged. "You don't?"
"Hold up a sec." Grace said. She walked up to the edge of the bridge and commenced provoking the metalheads on the opposite ledge.
"Hey, scum suckers! Over here!" When she had the attention of all four metalheads, Grace blatantly flipped them off. The metalheads, enraged beyond rational thinking by such behavior, all began to cross the bridge at once. "Your turn, Derek." Grace said with a smirk.
Derek flicked his blade and severed one of the ropes. The right side of the bridge collapsed, sending most of the wooden planks as well as a metalhead tumbling to the hard ground below. As the three others hung for dear life, Derek walked over to the other rope and cut it.
The bridge swung back and smashed against the palace wall. Two more metalheads fell to their death, but the last one was able to climb back up onto the platform. It turned around and slowly locked its gaze on Derek. Derek felt a shiver run down his spine. One of the metalhead's eyes was clouded over with a scar running across it. While the metalhead's good eye held Derek's gaze, the misty one seemed to look straight through him.
"Derek." Grace's hand on Derek's shoulder broke the cold spell. "Derek, we got to move." She nodded her head toward a ledge running along the volcano's side.
Everyone began to inch along the thin ledge, bits of rock crumbling underneath their feet. "Hey, Grace." Max said, breaking the silence. "Since we got some time to kill, can I ask you a few questions?"
"Sure." Grace said.
"First off, where'd a sheltered noble like you learn that hand gesture?"
"I'm not completely innocent to the ways of the world, you know." Grace replied.
"All right, I'll give you that." Max said. "Second question: Who fired that reflexor shot at Mr. Scaly?"
"You mean Riemh? I don't know." Grace replied. At least, she wasn't sure she knew. She replayed the terrifying moment in her head as she moved. As her eyes had shut tight, she thought she saw…but it couldn't be. Grace pushed the thought away and kept walking.
"Eruhl!" Nik shouted down the silent street. The silhouette at the end of the street waited for Nik to catch up.
"Yes?" Eruhl asked once Nik was at his side.
"Eruhl, why? Why didn't you let the metalhead eat that girl? You would have been rid of her for good."
"Because," Eruhl began in a terrifyingly soft voice, "When Jak Mar's child dies, I want her to feel true fear. I want her to suffer. And I want the last thing she sees to be me." Nik's hand went involuntarily to his throat as Eruhl gave a cruel laugh.
Eruhl walked over to his hellcat. "Come now, Nik. You don't want to stay and find out first hand who wins this battle, do you? I have a nasty suspicion it won't be the Wastelanders." Nik ran over as best he could with his limp, and hopped in. Eruhl climbed in and drove off.
Rebel: I noticed something. I think the reason I don't get many reviews is because people think they can't. Know that I do have my account set so you can send anonymous reviews. That means anyone reading can tell me what they think. I'd appreciate it. Also, I know all the new villains are overwhelming. I let a lot of minor metalheads live for a reason though. I want you to be able to read the third story, 'The Last Stand', and notice the metalheads from this chapter. I thought that would add an interesting dimension to the final story. Now I'm starting to ramble so I'll shut up.
Oh, and IF DRAGONJADEFIRE READS THIS, DON"T REVIEW YOU ANNOYING PERSON! I know that sounds harsh to all you readers, but my pal dragonjadefire doesn't read Jak and Daxter fics. She only reviews so she can gloat about her avatar DVD's and whatnot. The rest of you please review and be reassured that DJ is my friend. She's just overzealous sometimes.