|The Underground, Main Office|
'She stopped screaming.' Torn observed, looking in the cage with a look of concern. The cage hadn't been in use for years, not since they had had to lock Valentine in there the last time. Looking through the tiny rosters he could see how fast she was breathing and how the sweat beaded on her face, streaming down. The jeans and shirt she had been wearing when he had gotten her from her home were soaked, and there seemed to be no sign of it stopping.
'Aren't you going in there?' Daxter asked. 'She might need help.' The bars around the cage were so clustered together that he couldn't even climb up them to have a look, instead resorting to climbing on Torn, who had allowed it reluctantly.
'And get ripped open for the trouble? No thanks.' Torn answered, turning around to face Samos, the Green Sage. The man seemed to be troubled as well, and not just by Valentine's condition. His staff glowed up green as he sat on his bench, brow furrowed in sadness.
'It's not working. For some reason, her body is rejecting the Green Eco.' He almost flinched when he heard her let out a gasp, as she done for the past half hour. At least the crying had stopped. Now there was just the occasional whimper, the cry of pain. They hadn't dare to go near her, seeing how her body seemed to be on the verge of transforming, but never fully going through with it. Samos got up and walked towards the cage, suddenly seeming so much older than he had before that.
'I don't know how much longer she'll be able to keep this up.' He admitted.
'Shut it, old man.' Valentine's voice came from the cage.
Samos straightened, moving closer to peer through the tiny gaps. Valentine had turned on her side, looking outside. Only her eyes weren't the blue ones that she should have when not transformed. The only trace of blue was a small circle around the iris, the rest of her eyes tinted in that horrible purple black that was a tell-tale sign of the Dark Eco in her body.
'Valentine?' Torn asked, moving closer as well.
Valentine got up, with an uncommon suppleness for the woman as she ran a hand through her hair.
'Valentine?' she repeated, in a mocking tone. 'Please answer, Valentine. We need you. Without you, the Underground would be nothing.' Valentine continued, with a crude smile as she suddenly rushed towards the bars, slamming against them. The heavy steel didn't so much as budge from its place as she made contact. A low growl emanated from inside her as she started to pace the inside of the cage.
'You've learned since I was last in here, haven't you, Torn?' It inquired. It was only too clear that even if It looked like Valentine, for the moment there was nothing of the sweet scientist girl in there. 'Made adjustments for when I had to be incarcerated again.' The black eyes looked back at the two men who led the Underground and their furry companion. 'Have you been expecting it for a long time now, Torn? The day I would become insane and dangerous?'
'You're not Valentine.' He answered, sounding as if he had to squeeze his voice through a throat shut with anger and fear.
'Ding ding, somebody get the boy a bottle of champagne. He gets to go on to the next round.' It replied sarcastically.
'What happened to Valentine?' Samos demanded. The woman inside the cage narrowed her eyes as she squinted at the shorter man, before letting out another growl. 'What happened?' he pressed on.
'Why don't you ask the little Ottsel on Tornie's shoulder, huh? He saw just as much of it as I did. Or, maybe even more. I'm usually just stuck inside our little good two-shoes, until she gets really pissed off that is.' It suggested, trying to pry her fingers through the cage. When that didn't work, It banged a fist against the interlocked bars, only to be rewards with the snapping of fragile fingers. It didn't even cry out in pain. 'Useless.' Was the only comment she could be bothered to say.
When the men didn't say anything, but just kept watching, she sneered softly. 'If you're wondering where she is now, she's somewhere in here.' It said, pointing a finger to her head, and then around her body. 'Somewhere. I can't really be bothered with knowing where exactly. That's more something for her.' It clarified, walking back to the bed and taking a stretch there. Before It sat down, it looked back at the men. 'Aren't you going to release me soon?' it asked, almost sounding like Valentine. Almost.
|A Few Hours Later|
It lay on the bed, eyes closed and arms folded underneath her head. It was good to be free again, though this body was so damnably weak. The broken fingers itched, and didn't feel like they were mending soon. It didn't mind. It was listening to the music of the hive mind the Metal Heads all shared. The music the Dark Eco sent through the world, a dark orchestra of despair and anger, all around the city. It almost laughed out loud when it found an extremely large concentration of Eco in the town, something which almost certainly belonged to a Leader. It hadn't detected it before, not being able to leisurely survey the city in a battle.
Somewhere, in the back of the mind, Valentine was trying to break free. Already It could feel small cracks as Valentine kept trying to regain control. But things were slightly different now. There were changes in this body. Even if the scientist had used Metal DNA – an ingenious idea, and something to be complimented in fact – her body would never be able to break down the Dark Eco. And now It was momentarily in control. It might become easier to become the dominant persona now, with a little practice. For now, it was important to learn about the city, in a way that Valentine would never have thought of. It searched for important Eco storages, and where the Metal Heads were most likely to break in. It couldn't see past the Dark Eco field surrounding the City, but that was okay. It was such a wonderful field, making It feel very secure.
Someone was coming down the stairs. Someone with Dark Eco in their body. Not the Ottsel, that creature didn't have enough Eco in its body to be this highly noticeable.
Jak.
Wonderfully strong Jak. It got up eagerly to see this arrivant. Valentine wasn't able to shield her feelings about the young man from It because they were so closely entwined. And It had an interest in Jak too. The man was so wonderfully strong, so wonderfully violent in his own nature. The Eco had only made it more apparent, but the man had a natural tendency to violence. Most heroes had that tendency, it made things so much easier for them.
'Valentine, I came as soon as I heard! Are you okay?' his deep voice sounded through the cage as he pressed a hand against it.
'Jak. I was so scared. I don't know what's happening to me, and they won't let me out. Please help me.' It said, sounding more like Valentine than ever before. She pressed her body against the steel confines, wishing it could touch through the bars, touch Jak. The Dark Eco in his body sang out so deliriously.
When he remained quiet, It continued. 'Jak? Why aren't you saying something?'
'Look into my eyes, Valentine.' He asked her.
'Humph… you're smarter than I gave you credit for, hero.' It answered, annoyed at already having been found out. Passing for Valentine would be much easier if she could just walk around. She wouldn't even have problems with the guards, it was mostly because of her bleeding little heart that Valentine didn't want to take them out.
'I learned from the best.' He replied softly, still trying to see her eyes.
It threw her head in her neck, laughing heartily. 'Did you now? And we can both see how great that has worked out for 'the best', can't we. Locked in a cage, angry at the entire world. And at you. You have a really special place in her heart, you know. If you only knew how angry she was at you these past few days, you would have been scared to be in the same house as her.'
'That's a lie.' Valentine told It. 'Being upset isn't the same as being angry.'
It ignored her, focusing on the hero in front of her. She took a step back, spreading her hands away from her body. 'So, what's it going to be, hero? Are you going to save the damsel in distress, from what's been eating her up on the inside for so damned long? Or are you going to leave her rot in a cage while you waltz away with a mechanic girl as you try to ignore the beast you have in yourself?'
'I wouldn't do that.' Jak growled at it in anger. 'Now, let her go.'
'Not my call, hero. I'm gonna level it with you. You see, she was trying to make sure you got your precious happy ending, so she worked extra hard on getting that cure ready. Only… well.' It let out a throaty laugh at this point. 'Looks like she got more than she bargained for. We've gotten a lot closer, she and I in these past few hours. What a wonderful feeling it is too, finally being able to just relax. Fighting gets so boring after a while, especially if she refuses to kill stuff. First she didn't want to kill humans, and then she saved a Metal Head. It's so annoying to be inside of her.'
Jak looked pained when he heard that Valentine ended up like this because of him. He banged a fist against the cage, shouting at It.
'Well, then just give her back the control! She'll let you out when she needs you to come out.'
'Promises, empty promises. What fun it would be to have the control over your body though. You never hesitate to end a life. You just run out and get it all done in a matter of moments. Even now, I can feel how your heart is beating, how it's making the Eco thump in your body.' It closed her eyes, placing her hands against her chest. 'I don't know how she would ever be able to cure so much anger, you know. From either of you. You are both just simple mortals, but the Eco is the greatest hive mind there has ever been. I can hear it now, singing in you and all around us. Because of the way everybody in this town is using it, it draws the Metal Heads near, and because both these bodies have the ability to conduct Eco, it gathers inside you. Without the Baron, it would have happened slowly, until finally you would have gone mad with rage that you couldn't understand. But now, you can fight, and It can use your bodies to wreak havoc in this world. You both are so much better than Metal Heads.'
'Stop your blabbering. Our bodies are our own, and how we fight is our own choice. Now give me back the control!'
It staggered to the sides, grabbing her head in pain. 'Damn you! I'm the one in power now! Let me keep it, let me listen to the singing of my own!'
She screamed, causing Jak to take a step back as she fell to her knees. 'Stop, trying to control me! You're just some wimpy girl that can't really fight! Without us, you would have been dead long ago. I'm the strongest one here!'
'Like hell you are. This is still my body. You're just someone who's a temporary guest, and you will obey my house rules!'
With a final scream, Valentine regained the power over her own body. She was immediately aware of the pain in her broken hand, letting out a whimper when the pain hit her. She could feel how It moved back in her, furiously struggling to be let out again.
'Valentine!' Jak yelled, rushing back towards the cage. 'Valentine, are you okay?'
She ignored him as she tried to orient herself in her body again. She could feel how the Eco had spread in her body, she could feel the pain that it caused more acutely than ever before. In order to calm down she tried to calculate what had gone wrong with the formula. What had happened to make the Eco be closed in the cells, but not be digested in the blood stream as it had been supposed to?
'Valentine, answer me.' Jak pleaded with her, sinking to his knees in order to be at her level.
She looked up from her sunken position, in Jak's blue eyes. She still loved those eyes more than anything, but at the same time she was painfully aware of the distance between the two of them.
'I never could have won, could I?' she murmured softly.
'What?' Jak asked, straining to hear her.
'I said, get Samos. I need to talk to him.' She said, louder this time. He nodded, stumbling back in order to get the Sage. Valentine looked in front of her sadly, down at her broken hand, smiling at how stupid she had been to believe that she could be anything more to Jak than a friend.
|Later|
Torn brought her a cup of coffee, before he squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. She smiled up sweetly at him, hiding her emotions.
'I didn't give you any new scars this time, did I?' she asked him. She remembered most of what had happened in the cell, though she wasn't quite sure about what had happened while they had brought her here.
'I'm happy to say you didn't.' He answered in his usual gravely tone of voice, sounding angry as usual. But when she looked up in his eyes, she could see just how concerned he had been about her. He nodded once, while Samos kept moving his staff around her body as he checked the Eco in her body.
'I can't sense any of the Dark Eco in your body, my dear. Are you certain that it's still in there?' Samos asked, seemingly terribly confused with the situation as he banged his staff on the ground a bit.
'Oh trust me, it's there.' She answered quietly. Daxter was sitting on the ground near her feet, while Jak was casting concerned looks her way every few minutes from his position near Torn's desk. She could feel the Eco, not only in her body, but in Jak's body too. Not to mention the constant whispering in her ears that belonged to It.
'We have to get back to my place now.' She announced as she stood up, draining the scorching coffee in one go. Her bandaged hand lay at her side uselessly as she handed Torn the cup.
'Are you sure you should be going now?' he asked her. She shook her head curtly, as if to dismiss something nobody else could hear.
'I've got it, trust me. For now, everybody is perfectly safe.' She answered, picking up Daxter. She could sense a tiny bit of Eco in his body as well, though it wasn't overpowering at all. He gave her a pat on the cheek as he rested on her shoulder, looking at Jak to come and join them. After a quick goodbye, she left her two friends in the office as she took the stairs back up to the city.
'Valentine, are you sure you're okay?' Jak asked as he touched her shoulder. She looked up at him, keeping her face incredibly calm. She was stunned by this new sensation of being able to feel the Eco all around her. She had never before realized how much the city used to stay up and running. It pulsated until her heartbeat synchronized with that of the city.
'I feel perfectly fine.' She lied to him, making her way to a two-seated Zoomer, leaving Jak to trot after her.
'I feel sorry about the fight.' He said, as he took his place at the driver seat. Daxter sat down in the middle, keeping quiet during the talk. Valentine showed a wry smile at that remark.
'Yeah, I feel sorry about it too.' But she didn't feel sorry about what she had said. Every single word had been the truth, as far as she was concerned. Keira who was so quick about rejecting Valentine was just as quick to accept Jak. If she didn't find a cure for Jak, then he would never be able to live a normal life.
'So what?' It whispered at her.
She ignored that comment, instead focusing on the people in the streets. They were the ones giving the city its heartbeat. They were the ones she was fighting for, next to little Mar. She shouldn't forget that, and instead get over her infatuation with Jak. He was too dense to notice her feelings anyway, though she should be glad that he was. If he ever noticed, it would make things only more complicated.
'I'll be going to Keira tomorrow.' He said softly, taking a turn in order to avoid a patrol. 'There's another race coming up, and I'll be expected to participate in order to bring in some extra cash for the Underground.'
'Sounds lovely.' She replied, softly. 'I'll be using the time to visit Uncle. Maybe he can help me figure out what went wrong. I'm afraid that I'll have to find out what happened with me before I can make a decent antidote though.'
Jak gave her a sideways look, not sure what was expected of him. 'You… you take all the time you need, okay?'