Kaida began to nod off, but even as she began to drift away to the hush of running water, she felt a tug on her mind. It was a familiar feeling now, and she knew what it meant. It felt like someone had placed a fishing line in her brain and was gently pulling her along. She swallowed, hoping it would be good news she would receive from the Oracle, but nonetheless, fell to sleep quickly and silently.
So, as it turned out, Jak had slipped and banged his head in the shower and came to bed in a very foul mood. However, everyone but Daxter was completely oblivious to the whole ordeal, and Daxter only knew because he was sleeping at the foot of the bed.
Jak rubbed his head on the, now, sore spot and muttered angrily in his head. This put a halt to his inner ranting. It had been a while. Actually only a few days but, still, it seemed like a long time. Really though, it had seemed like forever since he had found silence in his own head. There had been that voice for so long. It began as faint whispers so long ago, in his first night in the prison, and slowly grew to a maniacal laugh. A constant companion that he could not block out. But since that one day, since he had gained that power, it had been calm. And for the first time in year he had found silence.
Jak snapped out of his thoughts to find that he had succeed in rubbing his wet hair into the most violent and interesting cowlick. His scowl quickly returned as he remembered his head ache and managed to cultivate his irritation again as he lied down and attempted to fall to sleep. It was one of the few times he could hear that voice, and he was pretty sure it would always be there, like an echo.
Kaida found the next morning incredibly distasteful. She was sore and as she pulled her gun from the holster it had be resting in, her disposition only managed to sour at the sight.
The metal head had done a nice number on it and it looked rather useless at the moment. It honestly looked like it had been hit by a truck. Realistically, it had been through more than that. Unfortunately she had gotten this gun by 'borrowing' it, and she wasn't exactly of the opinion she could just waltz in and do it again. She sighed and emptied the gun of ammo before setting it dejectedly on the table next to her bed.
The thoughts of her ruined weapon only managed to distract her for a short time and that feeling of a tug in her mind returned. Her mood brightened with curiosity, though it was unclear why. Maybe it was that slight scrap of hope she held in her mind that maybe, just maybe, she could get home. Though, now that she thought about it, the last time she had gone she had received almost nothing but bad news. 'But still,' she thought as she looked up, 'it could be good news today. Today...' 'Just shut up and get going.' sounded the gruff voice in her mind.
She grit her teeth and ignored it. Ever since she had confronted her darkness that one day, this is what she had been gifted with. Although the Oracle had suppressed the darkness and given her the power to keep it away, most of the time, she could still hear that haunting voice in her head. She wondered how long she would be able to take it. This other version of herself, constantly listening to her every thought and often retorting with mean spirited comments and painful insults, was tolling on her nerves, and possibly her sanity(though there was no guarantee about that from what she knew).
Despite the constant irksome criticism and random vicious comments, Kaida dressed as causally as she could. Without her gun she wanted to look as much like a civilian as possible. She let her hair down and combed as best as she could. She knew she should take a shower but dismissed the idea and continued to yank on her boots. She tied them up and stood, tugging gently on her clothes to make sure everything fit right and was sitting properly.
Kaida took care not to wake those members who were still sleeping soundly in their bunks as she made for the exit, however, she took extra caution as she came to the front of the hideout, a.k.a. Torn's office. It wasn't that she thought that Torn might be sleeping and didn't want to wake him for one reason or another, it was more that she didn't want to be noticed, at the off chance that he wasn't paying attention, and get forced to do another mission. Again, not that she minded, particularly, doing missions to pay for her keep, more that she really wanted to get to the Oracle and having to do another mission would put a possible delay on that goal.
Luckily for her, as it happened, Torn wasn't even in his 'office' and Kaida hurried out of the door. Once in the street Kaida made the decision to walk as far as necessary, and only take a zoomer if she could find one lying around. She wasn't one for fighting and weapons normally but now that she was without her gun, she felt oddly at risk, and didn't want to attract the attention to herself if she stole one.
She ended up walking quite a ways and when at last she finally found a zoomer, the thought entered her head of whether or not it was really worth it to bother and take the damn thing, as she was nearly to her destination. She sighed and deliberately ignored the vacant zoomer at the entrance of the water slums.
With the walkway boards creaking beneath her feet, Kaida felt the pull of the Oracle in her mind tighten. Like being drawn in on a fishing line, the closer she came, the less room she had to flail and the tighter the line became, though in this case it was not painful. At last she came to the Oracle door and the line the tugged at her mind seemed to go slack, as it always did. As her hand reached for the door she noticed, for the first time since she had begun to hear the other consciousness in her mind, that it was strangely silent when the Oracle called. That or, she was more apt to ignoring it completely.
She entered the room, and looked through the candle light at the glowing idol in the back. As usual, without her even saying anything, the Oracle addressed her in its usual gruff voice. Here, too, in the presence of the Oracle, the voice in her mind was silent.
"Greetings, once more. It is good to know that you are well." Kaida tossed thoughts around in her mind as to how to respond. She did not want to seem rude but she wasn't sure how to properly return this particular greeting. The Oracle, however, solved her problem by eliminating the need for her to respond at all. "I see that you have gathered more skull gems from those creatures, the metal heads. That is good. They are proof to all that you are strong, and if you are ready, I will take them from you and grant you greater power over your own monster."
The Oracle never beat around the bush. Always straight to the point and she had never needed to do more than simply nod before the Oracle would take her skull gems, and then she would feel the great power of the idol. Each time it was different but the same. The licking pain, like flames, ebbed away from her finger tips and toes. It was pushed deeper into her flesh, but was no longer consuming her like the dark flame it was. Each time was like a breeze blowing across her body, cooling the wound, but feeding the flame, but none the less, containing it.
As the power the Oracle flowed out of her body she opened her eyes and came back to herself. The Oracle did not speak again and she felt a sudden need to prompt it to speak again, and perhaps give her some more hope. She opened her mouth, but the Oracle beat her to it, supposedly sensing her need for more.
"I am sorry, warrior, but I have found no more regarding your world. I do not even know the severity of the time lapse, but I will do all that I can to help you." There was a sort of note of finality in the voice of the idol as it spoke. And as the last sound vibrated around the room and in her head, she knew that there was no more to be said here. There was a certain amount of her hope that was dashed at this point but not enough to truly upset her. Kaida knew that she hadn't meant to come her expecting anything other than what she had received and at last she gave small nod of gratitude to the Oracle and exited from the building.
Without that pull in her mind, Kaida couldn't help but feel slightly empty, save the constant burning of the dark eco within her. The creek of the wooden planks seemed, somehow more lonely then ever. It was strange, she thought to herself. She looked up into the smoggy cloudy sky and wondered suddenly.
'Why do I suddenly feel alone? Where is this coming from? I cant seriously be this depressed over that little visit to the Oracle?' she looked down to her feet. She must have been imagining it, but some how it seemed quieter, and... 'Where the hell is this coming from! My god...'she chuckled to herself, 'I must be manic depressive. I swear to god, I was just so happy about five minutes ago.' Kaida shook her head and continued on her way, but for the life of her she could not figure out what was making her feel this way.
Jak pushed his way past a bush, flinching slightly as a stray branch snapped him in the face. He would have much liked to enjoy the, finally, fresh air but he couldn't. He was currently out side of Haven City, enjoying one of the few parts of the area where one could enjoy a fresh breath of air; Haven Forest. The down side? He had to collect 3 damned artifacts for the crazy old blind woman in the bazar. And, of course, the forest happened to be full of metal heads. So, as he fought his way past them, he had little time to enjoy the surroundings.
Currently, he was fighting a rather large metal head, that was covered on nearly all sides by thick armor. The only way to take this one down, he knew, was to shoot its underside, but some how, no one would think it to be a good idea to attempt to actually get underneath the damn thing. So, Jak was charged with the task of getting the damn thing to show its underside to him. The way, as he discovered, is to run from it. It was slow to turn and if it chased him and he dodged at just the right moment it would be unable to turn fast enough and its anger would get the best of it. It would rear in anger and he would take a well earned shot at its underside.
Due to a slight miscalculation, Jak succeed in getting himself cornered and, although he escaped, he had a few scrapes to show for it, and the creature was still after him. He dodged quickly to the left and heard the creature slide. He whirled around, ready to fire another shot into the metal head but he was met with a rather less pleasing sight as he realized to late that he had miscalculated yet again. The creature had managed the turn and was barreling at him, and seconds later, its horn
connected with his stomach and succeeded in sending him backwards.
Jak hit the ground a good distance from where he had just been standing and coughed. Luckily the creature took it as a victory and took a moment to snort and roar. Jak winced, but took a breath and stood up. As it charged him he stood his ground. He kept his eyes on the charging beast this time and when at last it was only seconds from him, he jumped to the side. This time there was no mistake and the metal head slid and reared in anger. Jak unloaded an unhappy round into the metal head and it finally fell to the ground.
At last with the metal head dead, he walked over to a smooth, ancient tile on the ground he jumped and landed hard on the button and a set of make shift steps appeared to let him continue his climb up the mountain. He had collected two of the artifacts that the old woman Onin had wanted, now he only needed this last item then he could go back. Though, truth be told, in the back of his mind he enjoyed it here. Well, he enjoyed it while in the brief periods he wasn't solving some damn ancient precursor puzzle, or being chased or chasing a metal head.
Some time, he thought in his head, he would have to come back, maybe bring Kaida with him. This was a nice place, when one had a peaceful moment. It was closer to home. There were growing things here, real green things like the forest back home. If he had taken that for granted, back then, he wouldn't take this for granted now. Jak touched the small place on his cheek that stung slightly. It felt only like a bug bite now, but he couldn't help being upset by it in some small way. Well, that and the fact that he had made to miscalculation withing seconds of each other and thus earned himself an aching stomach, and probably a set of rather large bruises.
But in any event, he made his way at last to the top of the slope he had been climbing for the last half hour. He walked across the grass and observed the moving arrangement of strange pieces of machinery. The ancient artifacts rotated and spun around each other effortlessly and Jak's eyes at last landed on one particular cog. Daxter jumped from his shoulder and made his way towards the strange apparatus and edged towards the single small gear in the mechanism.(1)
"I bet that's the prize! They wont miss one tiny gear." He reached out, his small paw fingers grasping the item. As he turned and walked away the mechanism seemed to be fine. "Like candy from a baby." Suddenly the machine ground to a halt, and all of the suspended cogs fell to the ground. "No one will ever know we were here." Daxter spoke as if he could not hear the crashing behind him, though knowing Dax, he was so wrapped up in his own success he honestly couldn't hear it all come crashing down. Jak was about to open his mouth in response but a frighteningly large gear rolled by slowly and silenced all of his thoughts, save the ones of him leaving, and soon.
With the three artifacts, now safely tucked in Jak's pack, and with Daxter, safely on his shoulder, Jak took one last deep cleansing breath of the forest before stepping though the warp gate that would head back into the city.
Before he reentered the city he took a look at the palace. It was like a giant watch tower, or some sort of creature, with is long tendril arms spread out over the city. A giant beast, both protecting the city, and threatening its demise. Jak made up his mind then, that he was up for doing something a little stupid. He touched his pouch, feeling the artifacts and knowing that they were secure. He hurried towards the zoomer he had left, and took off in to the industrial section of the city.
Kaida hurried along the streets towards, she didn't know what. She felt a strange sense of urgency but she didn't know where to go. She let her feet take her, and she soon found herself taking all of the back streets in the slums. She had no idea where she was going, and each time she looked around it felt like she had no idea how she got there. To an onlooker who cared to notice, it appeared like she was looking frantically for something. However, luckily, no one here noticed, or cared. She continued to wander, her feet carrying her faster and faster. Everything seemed to spin and eventually she couldn't take it. She stopped dead, with her eyes shut tightly and her hands on her head. The world continued to tilt as if she had been spinning in a tight circle and she leaned her forehead against the nearest wall. For a moment the idea passed her mind that perhaps she was looking for something. But then...that was ridiculous. She focused and forced her mind into a place she had only been once before.
There was silence. All she registered at first was the silence. She looked around. It was almost as she remembered it. The center of the city was splayed out around her while the hazy images of the towns people walked silently by. Her eyes followed one until it disappeared into the mirror glass that split this world in half. She turned and looked into the mirror but she could only see her reflection. She glared at the glass and her image glared back.
"Hey! Come out!" she yelled into the silence. "Where are you! I know you are here! What did you do to me!" she demanded. But she was greeted with nothing but silence. She felt her anger well up. The least that creature could do was appear when she called. But nothing. Not even a chuckle at her. She felt herself grow angrier and angrier until she let out a growl and smashed her hand into the mirror wall. She watched as the glass shattered and then seemed to fill, and return to its original position like water. She stared at the mirror as she watched her reflection, arching with energy, shift from one self, to another. Soon the image was just herself again.
"What is going on?" she asked the mirror. She was throughly confused. Here was a place where she and her other side could talk, where the darkness could take a form and speak directly to her. But now, even here, she was with in Kaida. She touched the mirror and felt a sear of pain through her body as the image in the mirror shifted. The change seemed forced and the face was twisted in agitation, though no less malice was present and there was no mistake. The pale face glared back from the mirror.
"'What's going on'? Well, you should know. I've already explained." the darkness's face contorted at the strain of continuing this. "This proves it. We are the same person. I told you this before. You are just to weak to control me. The oracle is doing as the damn thing says. Helping you control me. Its putting restrictions on me until you can get some back bone and become stronger. We are one person. The more even in power we get, the closer we will be." At last she was out of power and the darkness shrank away, but Kaida did not move.
Even though she had known that it was, she would never admit to herself that it was true. But now, now that the dark presence was no longer a voice in her head, now that she could no longer claim it as a separate entity, she was forced to admit it. It was a part of her. Though now that she was stronger, the burning dark eco no longer felt like it was a flame around her skin, it was more of an uncomfortable warmth. But with all that, she would rather have that pain back to be able to deny the darkness. She couldn't accept it. But there it was, in plain silence. The voice in her head was silent.
Jak strolled calmly into Vin's computer room, and watched said tech master flit about the room for a moment before speaking up.
"Vin, buddy, we need a favor." he walked towards Vin.
"I cant help you with you eco bill." Vin responded without even turning to the voice that had
spoken.
"We need you to switch on the access elevators in the one of the palace's support towers." Jak quickly cut the sweet talking act, knowing that he wasn't very good at it.
"Sheesh, that's part of the old B-zone power grid? It hasn't worked for years." again, he spoke without looking at Jak, though he didn't really need to.
"Well," Jak changed his direction, knowing that with Vin, he was going to need some sort of tact, even if that wasn't his forte, "if its too hard for you, I can understand. Power stuff can be tricky."
"Tricky!" Vin took the bait, and gave an indignant scowl. "I could route the old B-zone conduit line through the bypass grid, shunting the past the eco rings to connect the inductor tubes in series, then back through the outer wall insulator helix and across the resonant flux routers, to the number five capacitor array." Vin babbled aloud about his plan, and though Jak and Dax had no idea what he was talking about, they knew they got what they wanted. "Assuming the GX75B can handle the surge, I think I could link the phase loop lines into the primary coils, and presto,
you've got instant lift juice!"
"Vin, you're a genius!" Jak exclaimed, still having no idea what he had said, only that it would get done.
"Actually, Mar was the genius. People say he made most of this stuff long ago; the shield wall system, the eco grid... Anyway, to get the elevator moving you gotta find and turn on all the old B-zone power boxes located in the city. There are five of 'em."
"That doesn't sound too tough." Daxter gave his usual, incorrect, two cents.
"No." Vin was ever ready with the pessimistic truth. "Except those power boxes are guarded by motion sensing turbo cannons! But if you can destroy the cannons and switch on the boxes, I can do the rest. Just don't tell the Baron I ever saw ya!" That was an easy enough request and in moments, Jak was gone from the computer room.
The next few minutes found him on a zoomer tearing though the city looking for the bright red boxes that he was supposed to be looking for. When ever he approached the armed cannons would come to life and try to end his. For the most part is merely required some jumping and quick turns. The cannons would follow motion, but couldn't keep up when they fired. The rate of fire was slow and shots, predictable, but the accuracy and damage were deadly. Jak just had to keep moving, and when at last he go close enough, a well placed shot of his own would take care of the cannon and he would throw the power box. It was fairly obvious that there was a reason why the Baron didn't want people to turn on these power boxes. Perhaps is was to make sure no one could mess with them and damage the city, but somehow, Jak found it hard to believe that. He had asked Daxter when those guns had been installed, since he had been free for two years, but the animal couldn't say.
However, none of that mattered as Jak flipped the switch of the fifth power box. His pride in his work was only elevated when Vin's voice came over his communicator, telling him that he now had power and giving him directions to the correct tower, along with speaking some random technical terms that Jak basically ignored. He hurried through the city, trying to dodge the attention that he had managed to gather to himself by destroying those cannons. It wasn't easy, and by the time he managed to lose those damned guards he was panting heavily and sporting a few bruises. Luckily KG crates were plentiful and Jak was soon at his best once more.
Once he managed to find the particular support tower that Vin had mentioned he had to figure a way in. He found the damned door, with a little help from Daxter actually, and, wary of security, snuck in. He found a wonderfully long elevator and took a ride up. At the top of the tower the elevator opened up to, what was, most likely a maintenance path. The wind up here, blew viciously and he had to be careful as he moved.
To his great dismay, there was power running good and strong to the mechanisms upon the support ties. Some, he suspected, were most likely guard related, and meant for protection to stop people such as him, from doing what he was about to do. However, that was not a deterrent and he was quick to head down the dangerous path. He felt Daxter quiver on his should but stay quiet and still. Heights were the one thing is small friend did not handle well.
The wind whistled through the metal of the massive support cable, and Jak could feel the draft coming up through the small grate below him, that was his only separation from a few hundred foot fall. All he could think about was what was waiting at the end of this dangerous walk. His revenge was waiting. He dared not think it too loudly but still it was there and it helped him ignore the queasy feeling in his gut when the wind tipped him close to the edge of his platform. He was hoping beyond hope that he would finally get what he wanted. Jak didn't know what had driven to do this so suddenly but he did not worry, or stop to think.
At the end, he finally saw a door. Though he knew he should be wary, as he was certain he must have set off some alarm somewhere, he couldn't help but feel a surge of relief at the door and a desire to get off this support tower ASAP. With his gun at the ready, and a still quivering Daxter on his shoulder, Jak opened the door, meaning he kicked it in, and quickly went inside. He found himself, again, at an elevator. However, this elevator, unlike the last, had a list of levels. He glanced, unsure at the panel then hit the second highest number.
He took it as a good guess when the door opened up only moments later on a balcony. Jak felt a cold wind pick up, and he was sure it wasn't just the height. The sky was darkening, perhaps waiting for a storm. Jak, however, paid it no mind and stealthily crossed the balcony. He saw a stone pillar that arched over a great hall. Something told him that was the best way to go and he followed the intuition. He climbed up the pillar with some difficulty, but was pleased to find at the top, that the roof of the hall was made of glass panes in between the stone arches. He looked down and saw the best, in a strange sort of way, sight he could have found.
Erol and the Baron were standing in the room, along with a strange hologram projection. Jak squinted down into the room and could barely make out the figure on the hologram. It was no creature he had seen before. He quickly realized that it was, in fact a metal head. His head spun with questions about this but he remained silent and leaned as close as he dared to the glass and listened in on the conversation.
"I told you, we will have more eco by the weeks end." the Baron's gruff voice sounded loudly and was firm, though somewhere Jak might have been sure he heard a note of stress and strain in the voice. "We will transport it directly to your nest, as promised!"
"A deal I is of no value if you can't deliver, my dear Baron." The metal head's voice was vicious and unlike the Baron's, held nothing besides malice. "I grow impatient with your puny gestures. Give me the agreed upon eco, or the deal is off, and you and your precious city will pay the price!" The creatures voice rose and Jak was sure he nearly saw the Baron flinch.
"He is toying with us!" Erol yelled indignantly once the communicator clicked off. Jak let the questions run through his head, that metal head had been one of the biggest yet. And, most importantly, it could talk! 'Could that have been...' he wondered in his head. 'Could that have been the metal head leader!' He was unsure if even the Baron would risk making deals with that beast. "Let me lead an assault on the nest before it is too late!" Erol was continuing to argue. "I can take him!"
"Patience, commander." the Baron was surprisingly calm. "No on has ever penetrated the metal head nest. You know that! I've seen what comes of such foolish plans. No! Strength is their weakness... we play helpless...we train them to eat from our hands, and then... Move forward with the plan! Tell Ashelin to up her patrols. I want that tomb found!" The Baron was obviously livid at the metal head leader for doing what he had done.
"But your daughter has not been... agreeable.." Erol intersected cautiously. The Baron turned and growled.
"I'll see to that, one way or another." he grumbled out.
"Ashelin is the Baron's daughter!" Jak whispered, astonished. He dared not make too much noise and hoped beyond hope that the company below had not heard him
"And find that child!" apparently, they had not. "If you'd spent half as much time looking for the little brat, as you spend flirting with that mechanic girl, we would have pinned his royal ass to a wall long ago!" Erol looked away out of respect for the Baron but did not flinch. He was used to the loud and vicious manners of his superior.
"As you wish. With enough persuasion, I'm sure our spy will..." at that most inopportune moment, Daxter's nose got the better of him and he let out a sharp sneeze. It was only Jak's surprisingly good reflexes that stopped the pair from finding themselves with holes through their heads as Erol whipped around, gun ready.
"What was that!" Erol asked with alarm and hated surprise. He looked directly at the spot Jak and Daxter had occupied only a moment ago, and after a few seconds of silence he reluctantly lowered his weapon. He turned back to the Baron who signaled that he was done and dismissed himself and Erol from the room.
Jak lay motionless on the roof top, his arms and legs tucked tight to his body to avoid any possibility of being seen. He barely dared to breath and glared down at Daxter, who was being held in a death grip out of sight, with Jak's hand over his loud mouth. The cold wind picked up and as Jak lay still he became aware of the icy rain that had recently begun tapping against the glass panes. After long, still moments, and the rain had begun to make streams off of Jak's wet clothes, Jak finally dared to sneak a look in to the room below.
It was dark and empty as far as Jak could see, and he knew he couldn't stay like this up hear all day. He let go of Daxter and sat up on the cement arch. Daxter gasped for breath as if Jak had been choking him.
"Geez buddy, you think you could've held a little tighter." Daxter smoothed his wet fur and looked at Jak indignantly. Jak cracked a small smile and apologized. Daxter really didn't mean it, and knew full well that it was his fault that they had missed a juicy piece of gossip, but he didn't mind the apology. Jak looked down over the edge of the building and leaned forward slightly. Assured at the distance he allowed himself to slide down the curve, taking Daxter with him. He slid smoothly until the curve became a straight fall, and he let himself drop. He landed fairly softly considering the height. Jak was quite pleased with himself and began to walk casually to the elevator that would take him out of this dangerous place.
"So, we have a rat in the walls, do we!" Jak spun around to face the owner of that gruff voice. The Baron stood before Jak, in quite the piece of machinery. "A rat and his boy it seems! Back for a few more dark eco treatments? Well, allow me to put you both out of your misery!" With that the Baron charged.
Jak dodged to the side and looked frantically around for any sort of cover. Unfortunately there was little to be had on this balcony. The Baron's furious mech suit chose two machine guns to take down their target first. Jak knew he couldn't to hide forever and took out his own gun and took careful aim. He felt the hot sting of a few of the bullets that came dangerously close. Luckily he was fast enough to make it back behind some cover before he was badly injured.
Jak heard the Baron's yell of frustration as another of Jak's bullets made its mark. The Baron began to advance on Jak, while continuing to pepper him with machine gun fire. Jak changed the clip and unloaded a nice round into the Baron's outfit. After another growl of anger, Praxis made a quick retreat, ceasing fire. Jak, taking advantage of the situation, charged after the Baron.
That is, until he saw the marks that littered the ground. The thick cross hair scope marks told him to run. He turned around and made a mad dash for safety. He nearly made it before one of the missiles exploded on his heels. He was knocked forward and hit the ground, hard. He pushed himself up as fast as he could, just as more missile marks appeared. This time he dodged from side to side as the missiles found their marks. The balcony shook with the impact of the explosives. Jak new that, again, he couldn't run for his life forever.
He sucked in a deep breath and looked to where the Baron had retreated. He dashed forward, making sure to dodge from side to side to send the missiles off course. He stocked his gun and fired a few rounds with deathly accuracy at the Baron. Even from this distance, Jak could see the Baron's face turning red with fury. And, even though in the light of the overwhelming odds, Jak could see the scorching damage his well placed shots had caused.
The Baron, again, switched tactics. He abandoned his missiles and began to let of the strangest attach Jak had yet seen. His machine produced a sort of twister. It was short lived as twisters went and small. But as the winds whipped and scratched at the cement of the balcony, Jak felt that it would be best to avoid them. This, he soon found, proved to be difficult. The Baron was very adept at producing many of these twisters and the seemed almost to follow Jak before the burned themselves out.
Jak had a hard time running from these new weapons and still taking shots at the Baron but he was slowly working on destroying that death trap. Jak fired his gun but stayed a moment too long. One of the twisters sent him sprawling and he grit his teeth in pain. He looked down and saw blood starting to stain the deep color of his pants. He looked around for a KG box, but could see none on this roof. Daxter shook himself and stood up, having been jarred free of Jak's shoulder, and scrambled back to his friend.
"Come on man, we can take this guy!" He yelped encouragingly in Jak's ear. Jak stood, despite the pain in his leg and took aim at the Baron once again. The Baron had stopped for just a second to laugh at Jak's injury, and it was just enough time for Jak to cause the final stroke of damage to the Baron. An alarm went off inside the mech suit, telling the Baron he had better get his ass out of here if he wanted to live. Jak did not show his injury even as the last of the Baron's attacks glanced past him.
"The dark powers I gave you can't protect you forever! Since I made you, I can destroy you! We'll meet again soon!" Praxis yelled and flew his damaged weaponry away as fast as he could.
"Yeah, whatever, bye bye!" Daxter retorted in his usual cocky tone. Jak watched the man disappear around the corner of the building before he let himself fall to one knee under the pain of his injury.
"Jak! You ok?" Daxer asked, and hopped down from his perch. It was a rather obvious question but one that needed to be asked none the less.
"Dax, get me a KG crate!" Jak begged in his low tones. He grit his teeth and placed a hand on the wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding. Daxter tore around the area and found only one crate. He carried back the goods, a.k.a. ammo and a single eco pack.
"Sorry Jak, I could only find one..." Daxter seemed worried as he looked up at his cringing friend.
"Good enough." Jak said as he opened up the health back and used it on his leg wound. Unfortunately, even eco had its limits and it merely stopped the bleeding. The wound still looked unhealthy and the rest of his body was still bruised and battered but, he forced himself to stand.
"Lets go, Dax." Jak looked towards the elevator and Daxter climbed up onto his shoulder without another word. Jak did his best not to limp and to hurry as fast as he could. Once in the elevator he leaned heavily against the wall and shut his eyes as he felt the small room descend to the ground level. Jak felt the pain in his leg ebb and his grip on the world slip, just a little as he began to drift to sleep. He jerked himself, however a soon as he realized what had nearly happened and was slightly relieved at the spike of pain his movement had caused in his leg. He opened his eyes and watched as the lights lit up, signaling the end of their ride, as the ground came up to meet the elevator.
The doors slid open and Jak examined the area with care for a few seconds before venturing out.
He couldn't risk having his weapon out in public like this. The guards here, though normally uncaring of what he did, actually did enforce their no gun policy fairly well, and he had been chased through the city on a few occasions. Unfortunately for Jak, today happened to be a day when the guards were paying attention.
"You there!" Jak heard the shout.
'Oh shit' he thought.
"That is a restricted area, how did you get in there?" a, red suited, guard demanded. Jak stood stock still and the thought frantically of how to get out of this one. He put his hands up to face level, in a peaceful gesture.
"Hey now, sorry. I ugh...Got lost was all..." It was hard not to be a smart ass, though the pain of his leg was constantly, and sharply, assuring him of his own weakness. The KG wasn't buying it, however, and raised his gun. Jak knew he shouldn't fight but...he wasn't about to beg or get his ass taken without a struggle. When it became, without a shadow of a doubt that the KG was not going to back off, Jak pulled his gun out. The KG fell and Jak took off as fast as he could. His gunshot and the antics of the guard had attracted attention and he fought to escape from the situation.
Jak rounded a few frightened citizens and found himself face to face with another KG. This time, he wasn't alone, nor, did seem, was he any normal KG. His red uniform was the same but his badge style was different. It was more ornate and Jak had the feeling it was a level of rank. Perhaps a Captain, maybe? He had an air about him that Jak did not like in the least.
"Well, what do we have here? A trespasser?" He had a snide voice that make Jak's blood boil. Jak raised his gun but the Captain swung his and nailed Jak right in his wound on this leg. Jak let out a cry of pain and dropped to the ground.
"I saw you limping. You should cover up wounds like that better, trespasser." The Captain made a motion and two guards grabbed Jak's arms and dragged him along. Jak's gun was left forgotten in the street and Daxer hid in Jak's shirt. He refused to leave his friend again. Jak hissed as the pain kept him from fighting back. His mind began to form thoughts as he slowly gave into his helplessness.
'I don't know who this guy is but he seems to have some sort of authority.' he looked out of the corner of his eye at the KG. 'But...he isn't calling me a 'freak' or mentioning anything like that. It seems like...like he doesn't know I am the one that broke out of prison. Well, one of the ones...' This thought gave him some hope. If this Captain didn't know what kind of a prize he had, he might not be as quick or as careful. But still, it didn't matter much at the moment, he was still being dragged away and he had no idea what to do.
Kaida tore thought he streets as fast as she could. She was heading for the Hideout, the only place she knew Jak would go to eventually. Jak was the only one she could talk to about this. The voice in her head was silent. The darkness in her was silent. It frightened her. If it was no longer in her consciousness, yet she still felt its weight, where did it go? She knew the Oracle had not removed it, it couldn't, not had it done anything other than normal. Kaida was lost and, perhaps, in the most frantic and frightened state of her life.
It was merely by sheer chance that she tripped and fell over some heavy piece of trash in the road. She growled loudly and stagged to her feet so as not to be stepped on by the careless passers-by. She dusted herself off as best as she could and turned to see what she had tripped on. Again, it was by sheer chance that she had feeling to even bother to she what had been the cause of her fall, but all in all it was good luck, hopefully. Her eyes went wide and she quickly picked up the object on the ground and hurried off the side of the street, in the shade of a building.
She was horrified when she confirmed that the object she was holding was, in fact, Jak's gun. She shifted it around in her hands trying to deny it but the gun was unique and only Jak could have had it. She couldn't help the fright she had. In this city, the reasons were slim as to why Jak would have gone anywhere without it. She looked around to see if she could spot any way that he might have gone but she couldn't find anything. All thoughts of her missing darkness vanished from her mind and she attempted to hide the gun in her clothes, however, this was difficult as she was wearing very civilian clothes and no belt, no holster, nothing of the sort. Once she had stored it away as best as she could she continued in her direction, only now with greater speed, towards
the Hideout.
She took a zoomer as soon as she found an opening and had quite a time to steering it with one hand. She dared not let go of Jak's gun, and she would risk a few scrapes to keep it safe. Kaida was frantic and had jumped off the zoomer before it had even come to a stop. She looked around for guards and made her way down the alley and into the passage way into the Hideout.
Kaida was greeted by the sight of Torn sitting at his desk looking very agitated. She ran up and leaned panting on his desk for a moment before she was able to form any sort of words. However, Torn was the one who spoke first, and even though she had basically known what he was going to say, it still stopped her breath in her throat.
"I think Jak's been captured."
(the line isnt working so this is a line)
Ah yes, another chapter done. I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for all of your reviews, you make me so happy. I gave a lot more of Jak in this one and I hope you guys liked it. I hope it wasn't too much of a rewrite of what you already know. And now, reader responses!
Regrem Erutaerc: Thank you very much, I am glad that you don't mind the wait!
SilverDragon63: LOL yeah, sorry, I take my time...I am lazy
CrazyFFKHOttsel: Yes, I have beat it, and I LOVE the ending! Really? Thanks, I'll check it out.
Hikari Dragoness of Light: I Love long comments like this! Lmao, that is great! I am glad you like my story to much! I'll have to see what the public response is on that one I guess. TY for your imput!