|Spargus|
"… and then there is the damage to the storage rooms, which amounts to…" Valentine spoke out loud, the tip of her tongue poking from between her lips every once in a while. Numbers swam in front of her eyes as she realized how much damage the attack had caused to the city. Most of the resources they'd managed to gather in the past year had been contaminated by Dark Eco. Then there were the casualties. They had won, but they wouldn't make it through another two battles like the one they'd had today.
Weary she rubbed her eyes, reaching for the cup of coffee on her desk. When it touched her lips she cringed at the cold liquid. She hadn't realized she'd been working this long. Every once in a while Meta would update her about the conditions outside, though most of it was giving her an idea of how cleanup was faring.
"There you are. What you doin' holed up in here?" Sig asked as he walked in the room, holding a steaming plate of food in one hand. Valentine caught the delicious aroma of roasted Leaper Lizard like only Macie could deliver.
Grateful she accepted the plate, barely waiting until Sig handed her the necessary utensils so she wouldn't burn her hands. She replied in between mouthfuls, taking the minimum amount of time to blow on her food. "Damos wanted me to give him an overview of the city status. It's not looking pretty."
"Eat with your damn mouth closed," Sig told her at once, not keen on seeing too much of a thoroughly chewed lizard. Valentine rolled her eyes before continuing her meal while Sig asked another question. "How bad is it?"
"Disasterrific," Valentine explained at once.
"Wha?"
"Spargus was a plate of 'doin' great' and the Makers bombarded us with failsauce."
"You been spending too much time with Daxter! How 'bout some plain English, cherrypop?" Sig growled.
Valentine rolled her eyes before swallowing her food. "Basically the attack set us back a whole nine months, and that's not counting casualties on our side. Not that it matters much because if we don't destroy that Day Star Ship the entire planet will be a puddle of cosmic goo. Not even Damos can build a civilization from that."
The tall man nodded, clearly glad he'd eaten before being sent to the princess of Spargus. "Right. Seem actually sent me to get ya, there's a live Maker on her operating table."
Valentine stood up so quickly the food spilled from her lap. The plate landed on the ground with a loud clang, boiled potatoes scattering across the room. "She's got WHAT?"
"Relax, it's safe or I wouldn't be here. Thing's got his legs ripped clean off and the monks managed to restrain it. They want you to have a chat with it, since Ma'al went back to check on his nest and escape his horde of fangirls."
Valentine grabbed her cold mug of coffee - caffeine was caffeine no matter what the temperature and Precursors did she need it - and practically ran out of the door. Over her shoulder she talked to Sig while they made their way towards the monks' quarters. "That makes it sound like I was the second choice, you know?"
"That's because you were the second choice. Seem thinks you don't have the necessary diplomacy to wheedle information from someone," Sig replied as he nearly ran over one of the monks, cursing about how they should all grow a few inches stat.
"If she's talking about that one guy, she needed an excuse to keep him in the infirmary, he was rude and we were late for lunch. Everything worked out fine." The hero explained in a 'one plus two equals three last time I checked'.
Sig did a double-take at the statement. "He had to eat through a straw for months!"
"He was a Marauder and Damos was throwing him in the Arena either way. Seem just needed to ask him some que- oh hey, where's your boss?" Valentine stopped one of the more robust monks, only sneezing once due to the scent of heavy incenses. Despite still being in the palace, here there was a sense of serenity and inner peace. At least until something otherworldly screeched from a room further down.
"My money's on that room."
"No gambling in our quarters!" The monk half-shouted in indignation at Sig's remark.
Valentine walked up ahead, fairly confident Sig would follow her eventually, after getting lectured about proper behavior in holy circles. Following the sound of high-pitched squeaks and loud gurgling, like someone was plunging a toilet, she arrived in one of the hospital rooms.
In the center of the room was the still living upper half of a Maker, screeching hellishly at the surrounding monks. Valentine at once noted the Light Eco crystals surrounding the creature, and how the monks made sure to stay at a safe distance. She whistled, the sound drained out by more shrieking when the thing saw someone new arriving.
"And you said I was crazy for hanging out with the Metal Heads. We have got to get a pet that doesn't mess up your floor like this."
Not to mention the smell. The heavy scent of blood in the cool chamber nearly had her gagging. If it hadn't been for her love of food Valentine might have thrown up, no matter how much worse it would have made things. She was barely keeping her lizard inside of her stomach as it was.
"This is no time for your jokes," Seem at once reprimanded her. "We managed to find this one alive and thought it would be best to gather information. Sadly it does not speak our language, nor we theirs."
Valentine nodded. "And since I told you I did communicate with it, you called me."
"Actually we wanted-"
"Ma'al, but he's not here," Valentine finished the sentence with a sigh. They probably wanted her to stay cooped up with the paper work instead of getting up to her elbows in blood. There was a strong sense of Damos having set them up to that.
Meanwhile the thing was thrashing on the ground against chains she had not noticed before. From the way the shackles creaked menacingly Valentine guessed the only reason the monks still lived was because the creature was weakened.
Valentine took a few deep breaths, knowing now how much force these things had in them. Well, as Torn would say, hit them hard and fast before they do worse to you. She lashed out towards the thing with a firm image of how it looked to her, injured and torn in half, and how much survival would depend on keeping her happy.
It replied at once, jumbled words mixed in with the message. Unlike the creature that had spoken to her in the temple, this one was nowhere near coherent. She supposed missing half a body would do that. Still, the images it sent to her were clear; thousands of Dark Makers swarming down on the planet, killing what they could for sport before they'd either contaminate the planet or blow it up.
The images made her feel sick to her very core but she pushed them away, making what she knew to be a vain attempt at bargaining. She thought she was talking to Seem, her mouth was moving and making sounds at the very least. But her mind was too busy coping with the steady stream of threats the Maker was delivering.
Thinking of a possible threat to send the creature, the first thing that popped in her head was Ma'al in his natural form. Nothing like a big, bad and feral looking King to cool down an enemy after all. The image was received, before being warped into something that looked like an intact Maker that dwarfed the planet. Valentine fought to remain standing on her feet. Her insides felt like they might come to a boil any second, her skin sending wafts of heat up in the chilly air.
Seem touched her, the monk's hands cool on her burning skin. Valentine couldn't hear what Seem was saying, sending image after image to the Maker in an attempt to make it see they couldn't win. Every single time it sent back something else, something bigger or meaner. It acted as if it had never experienced fear.
Fear.
Perhaps it had never experienced fear, and didn't know what it would feel like. Perhaps all this confidence merely came from an incomprehension of fear. Valentine on the other hand knew the emotion all too well and was prepared to share it. From somewhere far away she thought she heard Seem talking to her. Valentine took a step closer to the Maker, hardly noticing how the monks attempted to stop her.
"You want to know why you should steer clear of this place?" she asked. At least she thought she did.
Somewhere deep inside her, covered in layers of happiness and anger, sass and love and all other emotions that made her who she was there was still a core that would never shed her inner fears. Deep down she still carried the memory of a twelve-year old girl that had been captured by Praxis.
Her breath hitched as she started to remember. This wasn't her thinking about the past while laying in bed, or telling Jak what it had been like for her. For this to work she had to distill how her heart had threatened to stop when chains jangled or heavy boots stomped on dirty floors. How dread had frozen her blood as there had been a new scream, the kind that came from within and could only be accompanied with a last breath. Pure panic as big hands grabbed her and held her down while straps were tied around her wrists.
Every single detail she transferred to the Maker, the images just seeds for the emotion. Somewhere along the line the buzzing and shrieking of anger transformed until the monks covered their ears in fear. But she still had more, so much more pain to share. All she needed to do was-
A slap landed on her cheek so hard her head jerked to the side. Dazed Valentine blinked and realized she had been crying. Gingerly she touched her cheek, wincing at the tender, hot spot before she cast an accusing look on Seem.
"What was that for?"
Seem nursed her offending fingers with the other hand, grimacing in pain. "You were getting out of control. And, like I suspected, you have no talent for interrogation."
Valentine followed Seem's gaze to the ground. The Maker had at some point clawed open its own throat to get away from the new emotion Valentine had forced into it's brain. Dark blood seeped from the open cut, adding to the growing pool on the floor. "Holy hell, did I do that?"
She hadn't even noticed there had been no recipient for her images and feelings.
"Did you manage to learn anything from it?" Seem asked, flexing her fingers. Slapping Valentine must have hurt the monk more than it had the recipient. None of the surrounding monks appeared very eager to remove the corpse.
Valentine nodded her head, pressing the tips of her fingers to her sore jaw. Who'd have thought Seem packed such a punch? Tentatively she moved her jaw back and forth to check if anything felt loose. Focusing on physical pain was easier than dealing with emotional pain after all. She'd rather get herself under control before facing someone who might ask questions. If she heard the words 'are you okay' she might burst out in tears there and then.
"Only that they consider themselves to be pretty much above all of creation. As far as their plans for this world are concerned, they've got termination, annihilation and elimination on the menu. Not necessarily in that order."
Quickly she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. "They don't handle emotions very well though. Namely fear gets them to their knees quickly, as demonstrated by this one." If it had had any knees, that is. Snark was also a good way of handling emotional trauma. Once this was over she'd need a good cry-session with Jak, preferably under the cover of a sob movie.
Seem nodded, her hands flashing signals to the other monks who looked like they would be rather be anywhere else than in this room. "We will inform the king of this. You should get some rest. Things are not over quite yet."
"Tell me about it. Now I have more paperwork to look forward to," Valentine tried to joke, taking a deep breath. Maybe there was another way besides bullets and sheer terror to take these things out. For a moment she considered pumping them full of Light Eco - it seemed to disagree with them - before she realized there wasn't really that much of a supply of it either way.
Seem walked her back to the tiny office waiting for Valentine, talking softly about meditation exercises Valentine could do to get level-headed once more. The monk was met with a soft, non-committing groan every once in a while as Valentine walked with her hands wrapped around her waist. While she was mentally trying to shake herself back in tough bitch mode something hard and cold hit her in the head.
With an 'oomph' she landed on the shiny tiles, Torn's gravely voice resounding in her poor pointy ears. "Valentine, that better be you!"
"Torn… you caught me by surprise," she muttered, picking herself up from the ground. If this kept up she would have more injuries from friendlies than from hostiles.
The sleek, silvery communication device hovered innocently in the air. It would have seemed completely harmless if not for the now perceptible dent right next to the audio system. Judging from the size of it, the matching bruise would be one for the record books. She was lucky that way.
Seem helped her to her feet, stumbling under the weight of a dizzy Valentine. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"
"Have you heard anything from Jak?"
A sudden dread grasped around her heart, only intensified by her recent trip down memory lane. "What do you mean?"
"Last time we saw him he was going in the remains of the Nest here in Haven. That was after he helped us get rid of those… Dark Makers? Tall, dark and extremely nasty. He said he'd let us know if he needed help, but we haven't gotten word yet," If communicators had had the ability to look worried, this one would have looked sorrier than ever. Right now the rigid silver cast was a poor indicator of how Torn felt about not knowing if one of his best friends needed help.
"He hasn't let us know anything yet," Valentine said, the exact same moment she entered her little office room. On the desk an alarm was blinking, signaling one of the citizens was in dire need of help. The number corresponding with the signal badge blared in bright digits. And it happened to be a number she knew by heart. It was her badge.
Alarmed she started to pat on her pockets before realizing she'd given it to Jak before he'd left Spargus the day before yesterday. "Speak of the devil, he's calling us for help. Torn, can you send him back-up?"
"Me and what men? The only thing standing here are your darned Pink Bots," Torn sounded surlier than ever.
"Then I'll go!" Even though she'd promised she'd stay and help out with rebuilding the city. But if Jak failed there wouldn't be a city left to defend. "Seem, tell dad I'm sorry for running off again."
"Where are you going?" Seem demanded to know.
Valentine grabbed a small handgun from the desk, along with two knives. She was nowhere near the shot that Jak was and still preferred hand to hand if she had the option. Not to mention she'd rather not be the cause of friendly fire. "I'm taking those blasted cars from the temple to get to Haven. They're fast enough, aren't they?"
"You can't drive a car!" Seem made the very valid point.
"Well, either I learn quickly or I smash into a wall. If I don't help Jak I might as well make an end to it quickly."
"You are not driving a car," This latest announcement came from the door, where Damos stood, glaring at both of the women. He was leaning on his staff, looking every bit the wartime king he was, proud and secure of his words.
Valentine couldn't believe her ears. "But my king, I've told you before that -"
Damos held up his hand, effectively shushing Valentine before she once again explained everything she knew to him. With a weary grin he motioned her to follow him. "I said you are not driving a car because you would never get to Haven in time. You need a driver."
"But-"
"I know my way around a buggy, my dear. And I've decided you wouldn't lie to me, even if you could gain something from it," Damos continued, making his way to the garage.
Valentine could almost feel her mouth dropping to the ground at those words. "Are you… I mean, we're… together?"
With a satisfied smirk Damos glanced over his shoulder, clearly satisfied over how he had robbed the princess of her words. "It is about time I show you youngsters how a true warrior fights his battles. You've been overdue for a practice with me either way."
"I… that's great! But, just to be clear on one thing?" Valentine thought to ask just in case. You could never be sure when going on a field trip with a parental figure.
"What?"
"Does this mean I don't have a curfew today?"
And that's the end of this chapter ^^ So anyway, y'all got lucky because I nearly died today xD No really, some schmutz that can't assess distances caused me to slide down four meters of cobblestoned road with a bike on top of me. I'm fine though, just a chipped nail and my white coat that got thrashed. Ughf, some people need to learn how to handle traffic. At least I walked away like a boss, though now half my butt is sore. The weird part is, it's the half I didn't land on.
Good news everybody! Sage Nightwing - you know, my beta-reader back since chapter 20-ish? - is writing a 'separate' chapter for this series with more... uhm... delicate content? You could call it a well-known yellow fruit that is stereotypically speaking known for it's sour taste. You could also not be me and just call it a lemon.
Either way, they are working on it, I'll totally let you know when it's finished and if it's possible provide a link to it. Does this count as a sort of fanfic of a fanfic? Cause that would be cool.
LadyAmazon : Yeah, comedy is one of my strong suits, and I figured a whole chapter of just fighting might be boring ^^
M-Angel 05 : I did figure Ma'al would be best suited for taking down the really big ones. It was one of those improvisation things I have going on in this fic where I go like : I have this and this element... let's put it together!
ayylmao : oh, kittens are so cute! But I think most animals are cute, so yeah ^^ And I know, life can be fun without a lover in it as well, having a special person like that should just add to the joy you already have.
And wow, this request o.O It's going to be hard, I'm not going to lie, but I like a challenge ^^ I already have a premises ready for it, though we'll have to see what the end result will be ^^
Oblique Strategies : Your request up until our last convo was just Ma'al appearing more in the story ^^ I am really glad you like him though. And I am better suited for comedy than for any other genre, at least that's what I believe.
Clueless1229 : Welcome new reader! So happy you are liking the story - thanks for the praise, my ego has been fed - and that it made you want to play the game again. This way I'm sure I'm doing a decent job.
Also, any Deadpool fans in the audience? I was thinking of starting a Deadpool fic next and I want someone to critique the idea I've been developing so far. Send me a personal message, okay? ^^