She followed one woman with her eyes and was alarmed to see her disappear, as did the man behind her. She suddenly felt something firm at her back and whirled around. Instantly horror and shock gripped her body. There standing in front of her was her own Dark Kaida.
Kaida stumbled backwards a few steps at the sight of the dark twin. But even as she looked at the figure in terror, the Dark Kaida merely stood irritated and looked down on her host. The air was still for a long moment before Kaida realized that the other wasn't going to attack her. Behind the creature, Kaida noticed that there were people walking slowly and silently just as there were on this side. None of these other people seemed to notice the girl on the ground or the phantom standing over her. A long moment passed before Dark Kaida's look evolved from irritation into a full sneer of anger.
"Stand up, weakling." she hissed. In obedience, Kaida jumped to her feet. The entity gave Kaida the once over. "You disgust me. How can you be my body?" she continued to growl.
"I... it's not your body." Kaida had finally found her voice.
"It's mine, just as much as it is yours." the darkness defended.
"No! None of it is yours! You are just some crap that's been put in my body against my will!" Kaida felt a slight rise of anger as she spoke.
"It's half mine! I am half of you!" Dark Kaida suddenly struck out and swiped a clawed hand, causing Kaida to stumble back in fear. But the Darkness didn't come any closer. She merely inspected her claws before speaking. "You are as stupid as I thought. You didn't hear anything that rusty Oracle said." Dark Kaida growled out.
"Shut up! I don't understand what you are getting at! Now tell me, where the hell am I?" demanded Kaida. In reality she was getting an idea what the darkness was saying, but that line of thought scared her. If it was true...
"I knew you wouldn't believe me." Dark Kaida responded with a look of angry comprehension, but that twisted to a smirk. "Why would you, I am a creature formed of all of your anger, jealously and everything you claim not to have!" Dark Kaida's voice became louder and angrier at each passing moment. "I have nothing to do with you, I am just some dark monster, right? Am I right! Well guess what princess; I am you! Listen to what is said to you, you stupid girl! I AM YOU!" with the last moment she swiped at Kaida, but her claws merely seemed to scrape across an invisible glass. Kaida stepped back yet again as energy arched around the dark creature's body. It took long moments before the electricity in the air around the pair calmed down.
"I don't care what you think, and I don't care what you do, but you need me and you know it. That ass-hole Praxis, he did this and I want revenge. Don't deny that you don't, I can feel it in your soul and it feeds mine." her black eyes were locked on Kaida's. "And I also know this. I hate your existence, you conflict mine, but right now, we are unbalanced and your body will fail. It WILL, despite what you might say. I don't want to share, but I don't want our body to fail. I want freedom and life just as much as you. So don't fuck up and kill us!" Kaida stood and stepped up to the invisible glass.
"I hope you know I hate you too. I can believe that YOU come from ME. And I don't know how you came about, but I will get rid of you." Kaida's voice took on a tone of venom.
"You cant." Dark Kaida hissed, "How can you 'get rid' of me, when I know that part of you cant even accept that I exist, that this whole world exists?"
"I will." Kaida's voice was fearful but defiant. "Now let me out of here!"
"I am not keeping you here. This isn't my place alone you know..." There was the sound like breaking glass and the scenery fell away. For a moment Kaida faced her darkness and watched as the invisible mirror between them shattered. For a moment it was just they, and they alone. Then somewhere a shattering noise sounded, and Kaida was left alone.
The sun was beginning to fall in the smog filled sky when Kaida stirred. She blinked from the ground, allowing her eyes to adjust to being open. She looked up at the hazy sky and saw the greenish glow of the daystar becoming brighter as the sun faded. Slowly she pushed herself up from the fragmented concrete. She felt sluggish, and tired, the sun-warmed concrete having made her comfortable. She knew, however, by the breeze she could barely feel that came off the ocean that soon the night would be freezing and she would not want to be caught out here. But it was just too tempting.
Kaida let herself lie down and relax, promising herself that it was only for a few more minutes. She wasn't sure how long passed. It could have been a few moments, or it could have been half an hour. But either way, she felt a sixth sense prickle at the back of her neck. She pushed herself up on her arms as the sense grew stronger and as she looked down at the floor a shadow overlapped her own.
She whipped around to see as best as she could but a boot to her chest rolled her, winded, onto her back. She coughed and looked up. A heavy foot stepped firmly on her sternum and she felt the strain on her ribs. The fading sun was in her eyes as she attempted to identify her captor, but when the silhouette spoke, she didn't need anything else to know.
"My, my, fancy meeting you here. Freak." It was Erol. He sent his weight down on her chest and she felt something crack. Before she had time to yelp he kicked her in the side and in the stomach. A small amount of bloody spit dripped from her mouth as the attempted to regain her breath. Kaida could barely feel the shifting of the holster on her hip as Erol took her only weapon away from her.
She was jerked upright by a set of heavy hands. A pair of Krimson guards dragged her towards a waiting Hellcat.
'Of course Erol came with the KG, he wouldn't be caught dead without some sort of guard. Why didn't I hear them?' she thought bitterly to herself. Suddenly they threw her into a cage waiting on the back of the Hellcat. She regained herself as quickly as she could and ran to the bars and pushed. Erol appeared and punched her in the throat through the bars with a laugh.
"Once we get into the city feel free to fight all you want. You'll never get out, but you will make a good spectacle. Everyone will know your face and if you ever escape again, you'll have nowhere to hide." He turned and was about to walk away but turned back.
"Oh yes, and one more thing." He snapped his fingers a pair of heavy manacles snapped themselves around her wrists. Erol laughed again before disappearing from her sight. She felt the floor rock as the vehicle rose from the ground and headed for the city. The stupid vehicle seemed to crawl infinitely slowly through the streets of the city and yet at the same time the end of their journey seemed to be rushing towards Kaida. She sat in the far back of the cage, and let her mind work furiously. There had to be a way out, she knew and she had to find it. She let her self think, and let all of the possible plans come to mind, but each one she easily dismissed knowing that it was just crap.
She watched the road pass through the window and when the road became pavement the panic set in. Kaida threw herself at the bars in desperation. She turned her body and felt her should connect with a bar, and out rightly painful thing. The cuffs kept her wrist a good foot away from the bars, leaving her arms useless. She jerked against her bonds like a caged animal and felt the pain in her shoulder joint well up. She stopped only for a moment and rested her face on the bar.
The cold metal sunk into her skin and poked ice needles at one long painful memory. Prison. Kaida wasn't afraid, but one long year with those bars, darkness and pain all in one place would be enough to set anyone with a bit of a painful trigger. She felt her breathing hike, and everything told her she needed to get out now. From the passenger seat Erol let a slick smirk twist across his face as he heard the cage rattle.
"That's right, keep fighting, wear yourself out and show everyone your pretty, wanted, face." He muttered to himself. That sick look was wiped of his face however, when a shot sounded and a bullet grazed his collar.
"What!" he demanded. There was a moment as the KG on board and Erol frantically looked for the source of the shot. There was screaming as people fled at the sound of a second shot. The vehicle came to a stop and the KG and Erol ducked as another bullet grazed the seat.
"Sir, a sniper?" Asked the driver of the Hellcat.
"That's ridiculous! Who would be sniping at us from within the city? Who would have the skill, no, the gall to do that with this public!" Erol snapped with malice. With another two shots, eyes were temporarily diverted to seaching for the source of the gunfire, but the attention of the guards was quickly turned to the sound of crashing metal. If possible Erol's face became twisted in an even worse expression as the cage fell off the Hellcat and breaking of metal sounded.
The cage was flipped over easily, as if papers, by Kaida, or something like her. Black eyes and a cold sneer/smirk met Erol's gaze. The sneer receded farther and a deeper more infuriating smirk over took it on the face of the being that now faced him. A mock salute to him sent waves of hatred through his body and over took the slight fear he had felt of the transformation.
"Shoot! Get her! I want that freak back in prison!" Erol yelled to his men. The KG followed orders and shot as best as they could at the transformed Kaida. Dark Kaida smirked and easily dodged the rain of shots, but a sudden wave of dizziness and nausea dropped her to her knees. The ground spun underneath her and before her eyes. She felt the whole world slip under her, but was quickly brought back by a sharp burning sensation as a bullet grazed her ear. She threw herself to her feet as quickly as she could and attempted to run to take cover.
The sniper increased his rate of fire. It seemed at this point that whoever it was, really was really intending to hinder Erol's mission as best as they could. Erol ducked as best as he could behind the seat, until a few too many stray shots caused the Hellcat explode. Just as unfortunately, moments before the vehicle exploded, on Krimson Guard managed to send a hot bullet into her leg. Kaida let out an exclamation of pain and dropped to the street. Erol hissed from behind the smoldering remains of his vehicle.
"Find the shooter! He must have shot from those buildings! Cover fire, and collect the prisoner before she gets away!" Barked Erol. And the good little KG did as they were told. Kaida knew that she must look like a beaten dog trying to crawl away, the way she was right now, but it didn't really matter much at this point. When 90 of the attending KG fire was directed the sniper's suspected hiding place, the enemy fire immediately ceased. The remaining 12 of the KG ran out and grabbed limping fugitive and dragged her back to the Hellcat as a supporting cruiser arrived just in time.
Erol threw the commander of the cruiser from his seat and viciously ordered the KG who were detaining Kaida onto the Hellcat so they could make their escape and leave the rest of the KG to clean up the mess. They took off as quickly as they could, Erol displaying his racing-honed reflexes as he maneuvered the large craft out of the area. The sniper cursed from his vantage point and flinched as the rain of bullets continued to fracture small bits of the concrete. Under the constant peppering of the KG fire it was going to be difficult to get away in time. Kaida struggled as best as she could against the grip of the Krimson Guards, but had no luck, and succeeded only in continuing to wear herself out.
"Quit struggling, you are getting blood on the upholstery." Erol spoke, his voice returning to its usual cocky calm. Kaida did the best thing she could think of at the time. She calmed herself and sat still, and calmly spit onto Erol's boots. He glared at her but was just out of reach, and so was forced to remain still. It seemed only to take moments before they arrived at the entrance to the prison. None of the guards had even given a vague attempt at staunching the bleeding of her wound in her leg. Kaida's heavy glare radiated from even as she left a trail of blood dripping from her leg as they dragged her into the building.
They made their way, Erol with a proud smirk on his face, through the building.
"You know, if your ego gets any bigger, Erol, you'll run the risk of falling on your face." Kaida slurred as best as she could. Her face was pale and she hardly had the will to lift her injured leg. Kaida looked up ahead and saw a familiar Krimson Guard supply box. She stood herself as straight up as she could, while still being forced along by the guards, and at the right moment she threw her full dead weight to the side and unbalanced the guards. They staggered to the side and kicked open the box.
The contents scattered onto the floor and Kaida put her weight on to her leg and smashed open a container of green eco. The guards roughly shoved her back into line, but it had been long enough. The eco had seeped into her leg and healed her wounds, in addition to renewing at least some of her lost energy. They continued into, what was obviously, a part of the prison, however she happened to have never been here before.
"Chain her up so she can't escape." Erol ordered, and heavy shackles were put on her wrists and ankles to bind her to the wall. "I will go get Baron Praxis and the necessary 'tools' for this occasion." He smirked and grabbed her jaw.
"I'll be back for you soon." He turned and made to exit the room. However he only managed to get about halfway across the room towards the door before he was halted in a volley of gunfire. Erol shielded himself from the seemingly random gunshots before he dove for his own gun. Kaida allowed a tiny part of her mind to be momentarily amused that for a moment she had thought that he only carried guns for show. The Krimson Guards too, went for their weapons, however some were not fast enough and soon were laying face down on the hard ground. Kaida's widened as
Jak jumped down from his vantage point in the building and continued to fire and fight off the guards.
"There a situation down here! Get your ass' in here now, I need back up!" Erol yelled into a communicator. The KG began to swarm into the room and Jak had his hands full keeping their numbers down. Kaida watched, her mind blank in surprise.
'Hey!' A voice sounding in her head brought her to her senses. She threw herself against the bindings and looked around to see if she could pick them, unfortunately, these were more high tech then that and she didn't have the ability open these. She stopped pulling and shut her eyes.
'Come on, I know I need energy for this, but please, just one more time.' She begged in her mind. She strained once again against he bonds and focused herself. 'Come on!' she jeered in her head. 'Come on!' Her entire mind was set in over coming her lack of energy in this one moment.
'I want out!' She yelled in her head and externally let out a yell. And it paid off. For just a moment she felt herself slip into that dark body which had the power to escape. With a twitch of her wrist she felt the shackles break, and the same with her ankles. But it was only for that moment, and she instantly felt the power fall away and she was left with sore joints. She reached for the first fallen KG gun she could find and took careful aim. Wary not to hit Jak she fired and shut all of the mechanical doors and locked them by shooting the code pads. With the number of KG now limited, the two had no problems ridding the room of the remaining guards.
Kaida stepped up to Erol, who had been shot in the side and was weak to the point that he could not stand. She leaned down with a dangerous sneer on her face and with a quick twitch of her hand took back her gun from his belt.
"This is mine." She took the opportunity to spit, again, on his boots and turned and stalked back towards Jak. The semi victory was only sweet for a moment before lights began to flash and the sound of an alarm rang through the building.
"Come on! We gotta go!" Jak yelled to Kaida and they ran from the building in the best direction that they could decipher. They threw the final doors open and ran out into the city. There was a complete understanding between the two that they need not hang around and so, they both stole zoomers and took off as fast as they dared into the city. Once into the slums the pair slowed and caught their breath.
"Whew! That was fun!" Declared Daxter, in an obnoxiously loud voice, from his safe perch on Jak's shoulder. There was silence from the pair however and Daxter's ears drooped and he gulped at the tension that seemed to still hang around. There was silence all the way back to the hideout and even inside. Torn watched with a glare, but in silence none the less, as the silent group passed again. No words were exchanged as Kaida went over to the pile of clean clothing and pulled out a few clean articles and quickly stalked to the shower. Daxter watched with his ears down, not daring to break the silence within the nearly empty hideout. He soon went to curl up on his bunk with a slight hint of confusion in his mind as Jak walked up to the door of the shower area and simply leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.
Kaida leaned against the cool tiled wall of the shower and put a hand on her face. She let the steam fill the room and make the air thick, but she still didn't leave. The long gap seemed to stretch on forever. At last, Kaida emerged from the shower, steam pouring out onto the ceiling. Jak did nothing to acknowledge that she was there and kept his cold eyes on the far wall. Kaida paused next to him and they both felt the wedge that had been forced between them.
"I'm sorry." At long last Kaida could take it no longer. "And…thank you. You were the sniper, yes?" Jak coughed and shifted his weight.
"Yeah, so it was me." He coughed awkwardly again. "And, I'm sorry too. It was… none of my business." Kaida shook her head gently.
"But I should have told. I am also sorry." There was another silence between them, however this time it was calmer and felt that the heavy steam of their fight was slowly cooling and seeping from the wedge between them.
Wow, sorry about that long break folks! Thank you for sticking with me though that! I am really sorry, its just that I have had work on the weekends and that is usually when I do my work. Oh well, now I have this one up, and I hope that you guys like this chapter! The next one will have more to do with the whole plot progression, and we will get a little closer to the end of the entire story! Yes and I am also sorry for the shortness, it just seemed like a good place to cut it off. However, I will attempt to be better and faster about my updates.