Authors Note: Yay people like the new book! Quick update because I had been off on Wednesday XD. Ok I really don't have much to say right now so I'm just gonna reply to my readers and then shut up so you people can go read XD To my lovely reviewers:
Nostalgic Beauty: I'm glad you liked it, thanks for the review!
Light-Eco-Freak: Lol! Yup, she uses guns now, and Jak'll get his own either in this chapter or the next, not sure yet. Anyways, thanks for the review!
AngelSilentWind: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! And I'm glad you think Tera is cool, I worked really hard on her. Thanks for the review!
Katella: Woot! Lol, glad you think the changes suit her, I was trying to stay more or less true to her character. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the review! No hurting the author! XD
And now, on with the chapter!
Through Another's Eyes: Book Two
Chapter Two: Working For the Underground
Jak woke the next morning to find Tera moving around her room; re-tying all the little straps on her clothes and pulling her outer jacket on over top her white shirt. Not noticing he was awake, Tera pulled her hair back and secured it with a hair elastic, pulling her goggles on then glancing behind her, giving Jak a small smile when she saw him watching her.
"Hey," she greeted, poking the ottsel sleeping beside him to wake him up, "how do you feel?"
"Better," he admitted, sitting up and stretching, "I haven't gotten a good sleep in…" Jak trailed off, neither having to hear any more to know what he was referring to.
"Well," Tera coughed, not liking the silence that settled in the room, "Torn wants to see us about something, so we should get going."
Jak nodded, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and raking his fingers through his hair in order to make it look at least slightly presentable before shaking Daxter.
"C'mon Dax, we've gotta go," the ottsel mumbled something under his breath, then pushed himself up, sleepily hopping onto Jak's shoulder.
"Alright, lets go before tattooed wonder gets more pissy then he already is." His companions laughed.
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Reaching the hideout fairly quickly, the three operatives moved down into the building, Torn already waiting at his table.
"Wooo!" Daxter exclaimed, striding over to the water pipe hanging from the wall, "Man am I thirsty!"
Tera's eyes narrowed at Torn's smug look as he watched Daxter pull the leaver to release the water, the ottsel instead meeting with a face full of brown muck. The ottsel broke away quickly, coughing and hacking as he attempted to scrape the taste off his tongue. Tera and Jak flinched, the girl's nose scrunching up in disgust.
"The baron turned off all water to the slums," Torn explained, crossing his arms and leaning back against the table, "he's willing to sacrifice innocent lives just to destroy the underground!"
The underground officer sighed, "I shouldn't be surprised. I've seen his evil before, while serving in the Krimzon Guard," he looked away, "That's why I quit."
"You were a Krimzon Guard?!" Jak spoke, surprised, then gave a dry chuckle, "That explains your charming sense of humor."
Tera rolled her eyes, "Where can we find the valve to turn the water back on Torn?"
"My friend in the Krimzon guard tells me the valve is located outside the city, at the Pumping Station."
"Outside the city?" Tera echoed, her arms crossed, "what about the security walls?"
"What about the metalheads?!" Daxter piped up, "that ain't no pettin' zoo out there! Peeps be getting' deep sixed!" he exclaimed, crossing his arms in what could only be an attempt at a gangster sign.
"Find the large drain pipe in the north wall," Torn continued, ignoring the ottsel, "it'll take you outside the city to the pumping station. Get to the valve and open it." He paused again, smirking and crossing his arms, "If you survive, the slums'll be indebted to yah. If not, maybe we'll have a touching moment of silence in your honor."
"I'd like to give him a touching moment," Daxter muttered after jumping back onto Jak's shoulder, the three leaving the head quarters and heading out to the alleyway.
Tera sighed in frustration when only a single seater zoomer sat outside, "We'll have to find a two seater I guess."
"Why?" Tera looked back at Jak, not liking the evil smirk that had spread across his lips.
"Oh there is no way in HELL I'm letting you drive, let alone while on a single!" she hissed, crossing her arms. Tera ignored him when he climbed onto the zoomer, looking at her expectantly.
"Tera…"
"No."
"Tera," sighing, she gave in, climbing on behind him much as she had during their days in Sandover, that feeling of dread slinking over her again.
She was given no warning when Jak switched hover zones and sped off, falling the small map on his com that Torn had given him. Tera clenched her teeth and held on tightly, swearing mentally that she would never let Jak drive again. They reached the water slums quickly, hopping down onto the wooden platforms once they were near the drain pipe.
Exiting out to the pumping station, Tera put a hand out to stop Jak, pointing up ahead, "Those are metal heads."
Three metal head swiper's prowled back in forth in front of a big machine just ahead of them, not noticing them due to their distance. She glanced at Jak, "You want to try out your moves or should I just shoot 'em?"
Jak smirked, rushing forwards and punching through the creatures before they had a chance to retaliate, grabbing the skull gems that were left behind as the dark eco swept into his body.
"Nice moves," Tera shared his grin as she walked forwards, hopping up the pistons to the top and taking out the two goobers there with easily placed shots. The three made their way around to the right, taking down the creatures that came at them with ease. They hopped over a rotating tube and two blue-eco charged electric grates that swept back and forth over another section of the tubing. Continuing on and killing all of the metal heads and monsters that came in their way, the three eventually reached the valve.
Daxter hopped down off Jak's shoulder, striding forwards confidently, "Ah, the valve! Allow me."
Grabbing hold of the large metal wheel, Daxter attempted to turn it. Straining and yanking on it, his human companions shared a look, Jak moving forwards to slam on the metal pipe, sufficiently spinning the valve. A vent opened above Daxter and sucked the ottsel in, sending him flying through the vast number of metal tubes towards the ground.
When he's finally stopped, Daxter whimpered, "Jak… help."
The two humans followed his voice back down to where they'd started, Daxter once more calling out "Jak… please… help."
Turning the valve down on the main machine, the two watched their friend slowly be pushed out through the end of the water hose, flying out to land face first on the sand.
Bending down to help him, the two smirked when Daxter raised a hand towards them, "Don't say it. Don't even chuckle. Next time, you, turn the valve."
"Whatever you say Daxter," Jak grinned, helping the ottsel back up onto his shoulder.
"Lets get back and tell Torn we did as he asked," Jak nodded, following Tera back to the drain pipe and walking back out into the water slums.
Jak paused, however, when he felt a sort of… tugging, at the back of his mind. Turning towards it, his gaze found a building that looked slightly less… ratty then the rest, and he couldn't help following the board walk towards it.
"Jak?" noticing her friends destination, Tera quickly followed, wondering what it was he was heading towards. Walking inside the building, the three gaped up at the glowing structure in front of them.
"An…oracle? Tera gasped, surprised, "I thought they'd all vanished…"
"Greetings great warrior," the oracles voice, the same as the ones back in Sandover had been, began, "I sense there is a dark rage burning within you, and in time, it will destroy you with its madness."
Tera frowned, Jak staring emotionlessly at the giant metal structure as it continued, "Only the last power of the Precursor's can save you. Destroy my enemies, those creatures you call the metal heads. Bring me twenty five of their skull gems, and I will teach you how to control these powers."
"Jak?" shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Jak looked down at Tera, "We have to go see Torn now." Nodding, he followed the girl outside and hopped up to grab a two seater as it flew over them, the three flying quickly to Torn's. Reaching the hideout, the three walked quietly down into the main area, entering to see Torn pacing back and forth in front of his table.
"The slums water is back on," he grinned when they entered, stopping and placing his hands down on his work surface, "I'd love to see the heads roll when the baron finds out!"
"Yah, I'm sure he's loosing lots of sleep over this armpit of the city," Jak snapped, "we've done what you asked! Now when do we see the Shadow?"
"When I say so, if I say so," Torn replied coolly, motioning them over, "but before I even think about it, I want you to take care of an ammo dump we've id'd in the fortress. Lots of Krimzon guards, constant patrols. We know it's vulnerable," he turned back to look at the three, "and the underground needs you to blow up all the ammo you find inside. Get all of it, and we'll deal a body blow to the baron."
"You're sending us in tough guy! So what's with this, we'll deal a body blow stuff?!" Daxter demanded.
"That's fine," everyone turned to look at Jak, who pounded a fist on the table and continued, "I want the baron to know that it's me who's hurting him."
"Well, lets get this over with," Tera sighed.
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"I think this is it," Tera panted, stepping inside the next room. Jak nodded, spotting something on top of a barrel and picking it up.
"Cool, that's a security pass!" Daxter piped, "we need those to get through city check points."
The three jumped when a sudden lurch sounded below them, Jak motioning for his friends to be silent as they crept forward and looked down through the gate in the floor. Two Krimzon guards stood in front of a large opening, two metal heads staring back at them.
"These barrels are the latest shipment of eco; the baron says take them and get out." One of the guards spoke, both raising their guns when the metal heads growled and took a few steps forwards.
"Metal heads in the city?" Jak whispered, "Why are the guards giving them Eco?"
Another sound rising from behind them, the three stood and stared when the security tank reappeared through the door, locking on to them.
"Oh shit," Tera cursed, diving out of the way when it started firing again. She and Jak ran in opposite directions around the large missile, the tank following Tera around the right side. Dodging its fire again, the bullets instead hit one of the cooling pipes, destroying it. Realizing what they had to do, Tera dashed around the other side.
"Jak! We have to get it to fire at the cooling pipes!" nodding to himself, Jak dodged around another round of shots, a second cooling pipe falling to its fire. Soon, the two had managed to lead it around to all four of the pipes, sufficiently cutting off the cooling system. A sudden count down sounded above them, the door at the other end of the room opening.
"Let's go!" Jak shouted, grabbing Tera's wrist and running to the exit. The three jumped just as the missile exploded, sending them careening down to the ground below. Daxter crawled out from under Jak, his friend having landed on him, and panted.
"This place has too much excitement. We need to move back to the country!" Jak shrugged, Tera rolling her eyes. Frowning at the memory of what they had just witnessed, she stood.
"We need to tell Torn about what we saw," Jak nodded, and the three grabbed another zoomer to head back to the Underground Hide out.