The Human Condition
Chapter 3: The Flames of Revolution
Author's Note: Just a quick thanks to everyone who reviewed. If I didn't reply to your comments please don't think I didn't appreciate your kind words I've just been hellabusy this week with fire drills and nine hour CPR classes. So uh, thanks again.
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----Strip Mine----
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White blinding light exploded through the area, followed by a wave of force that swept through the barren earth like thunder.
Jak had his eyes slammed shut, his whole body pressed into the side of a nearby boulder as he waited for the last of the explosions to hit the eco. But even with his eyes closed he could feel the electrifying sensation of power that was ripping through the earth and sky.
It was painfully silent for only a minute. But it was the type of quiet that washed over you like liquid, the type that only came with disaster.
Suddenly a ripping noise pierced the bitter silence and time started ticking again.
The mine nearest to him let out a sound a pitiful moan as the wooden panels and metal backings bent and snapped under the weight of falling dirt blown up from the explosions.
Dark eco began to bubble up from the cracks of earth, rising with pressure and finally shooting into the sky like water from a broken pipe.
Instantly the air was alive with sparks of purple as eco poured down on the crowd like raindrops. Shivering slightly Jak tried to hide the sick sensation that ran down his spine as the black drops splotched onto his clothes and face.
His efforts had backfired on him. At this rate the mines were going to flood the entire plain.
If he had any chance of plugging the mine again, he'd need to cave in the mountainside to do so.
And that was just what he planned to do.
Barreling forward Jak broke into a dead run, vaulting over broken bits of machinery and fallen guards as he pushed every ounce of adrenaline into his body.
He had to get one of the Hellcat cruisers away from the Krimzon Guard.
"DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!" One of the superior officers barked seeing the flash of blue darting past them. The explosions had bought him a little time but now that he was noticed again Jak quickened his pace as half the remaining KG members turned their guns on the rebel.
"Boy, this day just keeps getting better and better!" Daxter muttered his heart dropping into his stomach as he saw a guard load a missile launcher.
And Jak was running again.
The open fire zipped through the air like a swarm of insects, ripping into rock and damaged equipment as Jak raced forward.
Leave it to the KG to still find the time to pump him full of bullets when dark eco was raining on their heads.
Suddenly Jak faltered and for a moment he looked like he tripped.
Whipping his head up Daxter witnessed first hand as a well placed vulcan bullet landed heavily into Jak's side, piercing through his back and shooting straight to the other side.
The youth let out a choke as his body went rigid for a few seconds from the force of the shot.
But he was too preoccupied to pay it much more attention after that.
"JAK!" Daxter exclaimed his voice high with worry as he could make out the thick, dirty blood seep through Jak's blue tunic.
Leaping over one of the broken drill bases Jak heaved, "It 's just a scratch."
But despite his calm voice Jak's eyes were burning like an inferno.
It would take more than that to slow him down.
His breathing coming out in ragged gasps, the elf tried to force down the rage that was seeping through his body.
Suddenly he was done running.
The pain was bringing back the one reflex that dark eco had conditioned into a animal like instinct. When Jak was in pain he got angry and when he got angry other people got hurt.
Behind him the guards were so close they were practically on top of him. Ignoring their thundering footsteps the rebel took his friend off his shoulder. "Wait here." He ordered shoving the ottsel into the nearby cracked remains of an empty ammo box.
"HEY!" Daxter shrieked as he landed face first into the bottom of the broken husk. "WAIT JUST A--" Cutting him off Jak's fingers shot forward causing Daxter to stifle a gasp as the breath was squeezed out of him. Biting back pain and surprise the ottsel whirled his gaze to friend as the strong fingers practically slammed him into the box's bottom.
"Jak?" He asked staring up at his friend's unreadable features.
The blue eyes that stared down at him were hollow and detached, and Daxter knew Jak was staring at him without actually looking at him.
"JAK!" Daxter called again. Flinching as though he had come out of trance Jak jerked his head and looked down at his friend and the death grip he had on him. His blue eyes welling with horror Jak instantly regretted the force he had used.
With a scared almost childlike look the youth opened his mouth and blurted out a clumsy apology as realized he could have hurt his smaller friend.
"... Just wait here, Dax." Jak repeated his voice muffled as his calloused hands loosened around the small creature's haunches.
Suddenly the youth shot forward his teeth barred and eyes burning as the blast of a scatter gun ripped painfully close to his ears.
Two more bullets shot into his flesh and he fell back clumsily in discomfort as he tried not to barrel into his friend's hiding spot.
"Jak--" Daxter started before he was cut off again. He knew his friend could pass bullets like bad chili these days but that didn't make him stop worrying.
"I'll be right back." Was all his friend said before gently letting go as the KG surrounded them.
"Stay where you are, freak!" One of them snarled but the rebel could hardly register the words.
Jak's form lifted itself up off the ground fitting a corpse rising from the dead.
His blue eyes were narrowed into slits, his breath coming up in jagged puffs of air as the youth pushed back the tattered bits of cloth and blood covered hair that clung to his neck before he faced the crowd. Around him the specs of eco from the broken mine flew by him flashing through the air like bolts of purple lightning.
With one final glance at the broken ammo crate just a few feet behind him, the boy felt the last of his humanity fade into nothing.
All at once he felt nothing and everything as the gripping power within him began to stir.
"Drop your weapon and put your hands behind your head!" A KG sergeant ordered.
The boy didn't answer or oblige as color drained out of his flesh, turning the cold gray of a corpse. Taking another step forward a deep abyss crept out from the bottom of the young man's eyes washing away the unholy shade of blue until empty orbs of pitch remained.
And then the boy wasn't really a boy anymore.
Scanning the crowd Jak quickly narrowed in on one of the sergeants.
Jak's claws extended, and in a flash he had cleared the distance between the guard and himself, catching flesh and weak strips of bone before the soldier's words twisted into screams of pain. But to the creature with Jak's face words had lost their meaning from the beginning.
To it they were nothing now but useless sound.
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----Haven City----
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He couldn't breathe.
Flames encircled his head as the fire raged igniting the hallway in a blinding funnel of heat as the giant tapestries far above him set each room ablaze. The child ran regardless; the instinct to find the person he had lost overcoming even the intense fear that radiated through his small body. He tripped a few times; blindly making his way through the smoke that stabbed at his eyes and chest. And each time he fell, his young mind wretched at the thought of wondering whether the object he was lying on was merely a broken piece of pottery or the stiff body part of some unfortunate guard.
Finally when he could run no more the boy sank to his knees and began to crawl.
Biting back tears Mar pushed forward despite the smoke above him slowly sucking out his strength with every rush of breath he took. It hurt; he had never hurt this badly before in his life. His lungs seared with pain as he coughed and wretched, his mouth burning as though his insides were on fire too. But regardless he continued to clumsily make his way further into the corridor with each tiny inch.
If he stopped he knew that he would end up like the people on the floor.
At any other time the child would have stopped for them, unwilling to accept that they were gone but his body seemed to be working on an instinct his small heart couldn't fully register.
Even now when he was surrounded by it, Mar wasn't really sure what death was.
He only knew that it wasn't as good as being alive. That it was stopping, that it meant saying goodbye.
"Well well." A voice mused and suddenly Mar found himself up off the floor before he had time to turn his head. The man speaking was cold his voice burly and deep. And he spoke in a sneer that could only belong to someone who had seen many fights and laid witness to much bloodshed. Holding him up by the scruff of his overalls as if he were a cat the Baron smirked. "You're a lucky little bastard, I'll give you that. To still be breathing after all of this."
The boy's eyes were half-swollen shut from the heat and steam but he could make out the blurry gleam of metal on the washed out face of the person that held him easily enough.
So many times in his childhood Mar had hidden in his father's arms or buried himself in the protective apron of a nanny whenever the Baron had approached him. Despite how much his father had trusted the man, the child had always been frightened of the huge battle torn solider and his cold eyes. Now though, Mar's fear was tossed aside as the man before him carried him past the flames and into what he was sure was safety.
But his elation was short lived.
Opening his cracked lips Mar reached out and clung to the forearm of the huge man pleading with all his might for answers. Now that he was safe, the child's mind whirled over the safety of another.
As if reading his mind the large man's lips twisted into a small grin. "Don't worry, you'll be with your father soon."
The man sauntered down to the end of the hallway, where the flames had yet to reach the safety of the stairs and the huge glass windows that stretched out before them.
And then he stopped.
Quickly turning to huge glass windows in front of him, Mar put both hands on the panes and stared down at the city below them.
Down below him he could hear the angry screams of men fighting and the blasts of gunfire.
The entire city was on fire.
Lifting his eyes back up to the Baron, the boy opened his mouth but his blistered mouth just couldn't find the air for words. Pointing he begged the man to explain what was going on.
Putting the small child down roughly the Baron smiled ever so slightly at that.
The kid was still convinced he was here to save him. When the only reason he had rescued the little snot from the fire was so he could kill him himself.
The Baron was silent, watching in grim amusement as the child glanced around a few moments before he jerked his head up to meet the tall man with curious eyes.
"You couldn't just lie down and die quietly could you, brat? You had to be just like your old man even in the end." The man muttered before his eyes began to glitter with something Mar couldn't place. Pulling a scatter gun out from behind him the Baron turned the cylinder once listening to the sharp click as he savored the look on the child's face. Eyes widening in surprise and terror Mar could do nothing but stand there as the barrel was pointed inches from his temples.
By then even a four-year-old could realize what was going on.
"Sorry kid, but every war has sacrifices." The Baron sneered cocking the gun as he finished, "Tonight the line of Mar ends with you."
Suddenly out of the staircase a voice snarled, "No you fool!" Darting out of the darkness a tall, slender man leapt onto the Baron's gun. Although Mar couldn't see his face, his balding hair and almost rodent like features had an air of familiarity.
"This wasn't part of our agreement!" The man snapped pushing the gun backwards with all of his might, "Now that Damas is gone the boy is to be handed over to me! You've seen what he can do with eco. I want him for the Dark Eco experiments!"
"Veger, you pencil necked buffoon get off of me!" The Baron cried easily overpowering the smaller man. Lifting Count Veger and the gun up off the floor the warrior let out a snarl before he chucked both of them into the air. But the scar covered solider hadn't counted on the force that came with his blow. He sent the frail old man crashing into to the boy with such a powerful thrust that the glass behind them shattered almost instantly.
Just like that, Mar's small body tumbled backwards his arms opening wide only to catch air.
He let out a stifled gasped before time just seemed to stand still. The frozen faces of the Count and the Baron brushed past him before a large rush of air swept through his clothes and hair.
And then he plummeted into oblivion.
Hitting the floor hard, Mar let out a muffled cry as he fought to untangle himself from the sweat covered sheets he was encased in. After a few moments of fumbling he managed to pull the heavy blankets off his face and found himself back in the safety of the small storage room.
It had only been a dream.
Or a memory... Mar wasn't really sure anymore.
Already the nightmare was becoming fuzzy, as consciousness chased away most of the edge until only a dull pain of what had happened remained with him. Bringing his knuckles up the boy clumsily rubbed the cold sweat and tears out of his eyes not noticing the leathery body moving in the darkness towards him. Rubbing its scaly head against Mar's cheek his crocadog let out a whine gently trying to prop the boy's hands off of his face.
Stifling a giggle as the dog brushed against a ticklish part of his neck, Mar brought his hands down and placed them over the creature's head.
The nightmare already forgotten the boy turned his attention to his friend and hugged the crocadog with all his might.
This mean spirited, short tempered creature may have been on the hit list of every person in the Underground, but sweet Precursors how Mar loved it.
It had been his first friend in a world where friends were so few and far between. Scratching its ears as he cuddled up next to it, Mar let his eyes wander around the room. He could tell by the cracks in the boarded up windows that it was still too light for the sun to have gone down.
Voices were coming from the door in front of him, but they were much softer than the ones normally around when Torn barked orders. His small ears perking at the sound he could distinguish a woman's voice from the two that were speaking.
There was only woman that ever bothered stopping in here and it was someone he liked horrendously. The blond freedom fighter always had time to give him more than a few hugs and minutes of her time whenever she was around. Mar hadn't seen Tess in awhile since she was now working undercover in some other part of town. Grinning at the thought she might be around he stood on tip toes and quickly reached for the door knob.
Still he knew better than to interrupt Torn when they were doing important things so Mar didn't barge in on them. Instead he cracked the door opened and peeked out waiting for a good time to come out.
"That's just what we need." Torn muttered not even bothering to hide his disgust as he burned a hole in the table with his glare. "The Baron's getting pretty desperate if it's come to this."
"I've told you all I know." Ashelin said with an air of indifference. "I'll let you know if anything else comes up. In the meantime I have to get back to patrol."
"Off to oppress the masses?" Torn said with a small sliver of a smile.
"No more than you do." Ashelin retorted with a smile of her own. "Try to cut down on the speeches like the one this afternoon, cowboy. Your men already have enough to be depressed about."
"I always thought I'd make a great motivational speaker." The rigid ex-guard replied with a slightly upturned grin.
Looking him over with a smirk Ashelin shared a small moment of silence with her friend before she turned away. "Oh and one more thing." She added throwing her hair over her shoulder. "Tell Jak there better be a damn good reason he stood me up."
In the corner Mar had pushed the door open his little blue eyes wide in surprise.
The woman leaving wasn't Tess.
Still it was a person he recognized instantly.
"!"
Opening his mouth, Mar's broken voice was unable to speak the words that rang out in his head.
She was older now, and everything about her seemed cold and rigid.
But it was still her, he was sure of it.
Ashelin...
She was okay.
She had made it out okay too.
He hadn't remembered the last time he had been this happy.
There wasn't much he still remembered about the world before the Baron took over, but if Ashelin was okay then maybe his daddy was okay too.
No one in the Underground seemed to know where he was but if Ashelin was here, then maybe she knew.
Maybe she could help him find him.
A million maybes ran across his head as his heart nearly tripped over itself in excitement.
But she didn't see him.
Ashelin's business finished the woman pushed past the men's bunks without another word to Torn and was almost out the door before Mar could pull himself out of his thoughts. Letting out a soft outcry the boy raised a hand up to stop her but without a voice his plea went unnoticed.
Breaking into a run the child ducked under Torn's legs causing the warrior to cry out in surprise as he nearly tripped over the small mass of green.
"KID!" Torn called snapping his arms out to catch the boy. Barreling forward he leaned towards the ground almost catching the boy before a ragged pain jerked him to a hault. Crunching down on his ankle the little brat's crocadog gave the subleader of the underground a sour grin before it tightened it's grip on his leg.
And bit down.
HARD.
"AGGHHH! Just wait till I get my hands on you, you walking handbag!" The man started before he realized the door had already slammed shut.
"Damn!" Torn snarled.
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----City Streets----
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Mar ran into the pouring rain.
He passed the alley and managed to jump over the huge ditches in the road without tripping too much before he spotted a mass of red curls in the crowd of people.
Splashing through the huge puddles the little boy almost had his hands around the woman's pant leg just as two large patrol zoomers glided into the area.
"Captain!" A guard called instantly recognizing this woman. "We couldn't reach you on the communicator. Is everything alright?"
"Just fine." The woman answered coldly as her mask was slipped back on. "I was checking a lead here in the sector but it was nothing but a waste of time. When I find the person that sold me this shitty information--"
Spying the little boy reaching out for the Captain just a few feet behind her one of the guard's inquired. "Who's your friend, Captain?"
Her body stiffening the woman glanced over her shoulder.
The woman's heavy lashed eyes widened in shock as if she had been run over by a train. But the surprise was short lived. Straightening herself even more the woman's gaze suddenly turned cold. Looking around Mar wondered what had caused her sudden fierceness and instantly turned around to make sure no bad guy had managed to scramble behind him.
But there was no one... and turning back to her he realized the only person she could be staring at was him.
Looking him over if Ashelin was somehow affected by his presence the woman made no sign of it after that.
Suddenly very shy Mar swallowed trying to dislodge the huge lump in his throat. She was glaring at him, her painted mouth twisted in a snarl and her hands knotted like she was about to strike him.
But Mar's small hands opened despite how intimidating she looked.
He was nervous but he was also too happy to care.
She was okay.
She was really okay.
His tiny fingers brushed past her arm almost closing around her fingers before she jerked her hand back.
"I've never seen this brat before in my life." The Krimzon Guard Captain said simply brushing past the kid quickly.
Trailing behind her the boy tried to tug her arm, desperate for her to realize she had made a mistake.
Staring at him with the same disgust one would use to regard rotting trash Ashelin muttered,"Didn't you hear me? Get out of here. Go beg somewhere else kid, before I throw you in the stocks."
That did it.
His head whirling like he had been struck Mar quickly took a shaky step backwards.
Snickering one of the guards turned his eyes on the scrawny kid and sneered, "Don't let him bother you, Captain. In this part of the city you never can tell one beggar kid apart from the next."
The child looked up at her trying to force down the tears, his fingers still outstretched as if they had been frozen by her words.
But her eyes were nothing but cold amber lanterns of hate.
Dropping his gaze Mar stared at the ground quickly unable to look her in the face anymore.
Tears falling down in large puddles the boy shed them silently.
He didn't know what he had possibly done to make her this mad at him.
He just didn't understand.
Obviously finished with him Ashelin marched forward, "Let's move out." She ordered, "This sector of the city is clear."
"Yes ma'am." The drones saluted rigidly turning back to their patrol vehicles, no longer interested in the small child shivering in the freezing cold.
Once the officers were back in the vehicles and on their way, Ashelin moved to her own cruiser and opened the door throwing her equipment in the passenger seat.
"Hey kid." She said firmly her voice dripping with authority as she spoke.
Weakly raising his head Mar was afraid to look her in the eyes again. A part of him wanted to run, afraid she might hurt him now that they were alone. But this time when the woman spoke it was only a hushed murmur.
"It's cold out here." She stated her voice so much softer than it had been. "You should get inside. People will worry about you if you get sick."
Their eyes met and he could see tears shining back at him through her heavy lashes.
When you spoke as little as he did, you learned how to listen better.
"Go on, get out of here kid." She said again.
But her eyes told him all the things her mouth couldn't.
The things you couldn't say with words anyways.
Turning away from her Mar stepped back a few more feet until he could see the alley way and the entrance to the Underground again before he made his silent goodbye.
He didn't understand why things had to be this way.
But he would trust her now just like he always had.
Turning away the woman didn't look at him again. Closing the door the engine hummed before Ashelin and the crusier quickly disappeared into a row of zoomers high above the city streets.
And just like that she was gone.
Wiping his nose with the back of his hand Mar stared out at the broken streets.
It was okay if she had to leave.
He would still remember her.
He remembered everyone that went away.
From behind him two calloused hands picked the small boy up and raised him off the ground. Staring up at the rugged face of the Underground's subleader Mar allowed himself to be pulled close. "Come on kid." Torn said softly his raspy voice slightly hushed as the child wrapped his arms around his neck. "You shouldn't be out here."
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END CHAPTER 3