As my beginning note, I'm so sorry it took this long. It wasn't going to, but I had writers block.

I will rename the Metalheads so they will be called by the appropriate name from now on, but I won't change what I wrote last time. Here's the corrections for those whom might get lost.

Grunts stay as grunts, but there are so much more to the species then I thought there was

AraknidsMed.Gunner

SnipersGunner

HunterBomber

I think that's all from last time

I've come across the original drawings and properly spelled names for the said creatures and the rest of the cast so I will use them accordingly! I LOVE YOU BOB REFEI! He's the awesome artist who came up with what everyone, everything, and ever place would look like. E-mail me if you want his website, which should totally be looked at.

And my reviewers, you rock!

Arrrrrrrg

The Underground

The tapping sounds of boots going through the hallways filled the silence of the residential sector in the palace. The crimson red banners and drapes that decorated the halls seemed to clash with the smooth silver of the metallic walls. The few pieces of artwork scattered about were distasteful and obviously picked by someone with no style. Probably the Baron.

Jak was following Major Kalyx through the long hallways to his room. He had dismissed the rest of his squad once they reached the palace after returning from the pumping station. They had been reluctant to do so, remembering the Barons direct orders to never leave him alone unless it's his quarters. He tended to be unforgiving when defied. But then again, they were also very willing to oblige after witnessing his display back there.

While waiting for the orders to enter the throne room a lieutenant and a few of his officers had also told them what happened earlier at the fortress when the lieutenant had been the last string on Jak's lessening rope of control. That story, toppled with his transformation, had made the squad very wary of him. So really, it was only a moment's hesitation before they let him be. Their logic was that he would not be alone-Major Kalyx was with him-and they were on their way to his room anyway.

"Commander?" The major's voice echoed off the walls and reverberated back to his long ears. He grunted to let the elite know he had been heard. "Commander Errol wanted me to brief you on all aspects of your job description." Kalyx was positive that there was a disgruntled growl at Errols name.

"What's to know? Kill Metalheads and win this stupid war for the Baron."

"No, sir. There are still some things you need to know." Jak let him continue. "First of all, you're a Krimson Guard now. If you have not already noticed, every KG officer receives standard facial tattoos. Tomorrow you'll need to-"

"No."

This caught Kalyx off guard and he halted in his tracks. "What?"

"I said no." The blond was annoyed with the major's lack of understanding. It didn't help he was forced to stop walking and spell it out for him. "I'm not going to get tattoos across my face. The only reason I agreed to become a KG in the first place was to get out of that hell hole. Praxis shouldn't expect much effort from me to please him, so tell him if he wants a kiss up, he's looking at the wrong elf, and can kiss his own ass." Jak finished this note with a scowl plastered on his face.

Kalyx took only a moment to recover from shock. This was the first time he had seen anyone be so, rebellious, to the Baron. He smiled beneath his helmet as he led the superior to his room. Despite his quick temper, maybe he was exactly what this city needed.

"Certainly, sir. But there are still things you need to know."

Jak's left eyebrow rose at this. It seemed as though there was more to being a KG then killing things. He indicated for Kalyx to go on.

"As you all ready know, there is a war going on with the Metalheads that's lasted centuries." At this Jak nodded, when in fact he had no idea until today. "But as of a few years now there has been a rebellion against the Baron." Here Kalyx had to smile again when he heard him mumble something like, It must be that charming personality. "It's also part of your job to track them down, and bring them in or eliminate the threat." Jak took it back. He was right, it's all about killing. "They call them selves the Underground. It's actually a very large organization, but it's as hard as Precursor metal to find them. Also they're run by someone they call the 'ShadowCaster'..." The major continued to brief Jak on the Underground while leading him down the long hallways to his room.

"OUT! Get out! I want you gone! NOW!"

The sudden shouts startled any unfortunate person that happened to be passing by, as well as everyone else in the darkly lit room. Two elves inside the room had been reading the information on the table when their brown haired leader had finally gotten fed up. He had already received grim news earlier and this was just the frosting to his already bad cake. A young she-elf stood from her chair ready to leave.

"No. Not you. I like you. It's . . . him, I want gone." An angry glare that promised pain was directed at the thorn in his side.

Standing on the table was a three foot tall orange and yellow rodent. It might have been commonly placed as a regular ottsel, even if it was the only one in known existence, if it weren't standing on two of its legs, wearing brown fingerless gloves and a pilot's cap on its head. The said ottsel frowned at the dreadlocked man.

"Oh! And what did I ever do to you?"

"You exist."

"Oh shnookums! My poor Daxy waxy, is the mean ol' man hurting your wittle feelings?" A blond she-elf wearing a belly showing green shirt and blue jean shorts picked up the rodent and held him in a crushing hug. Had his face not been in her chest, and had he not been a pervert, he might have protested to her clinginess. In all his years as a soldier, having fought Metalheads of all kinds, this would always the weirdest thing he'd ever see.

Ignoring the cooing of the blond and the annoying rodent that looked a little too comfortable in her arms, he turned to the other woman. "Just tell me if you can fix it."

She was young, even younger then Tess, the one who was cuddling the rat to her chest. Like the blond she was both brains and beauty. But unlike Tess, her clothing made her look a little too innocent for this city. Her low slung purple Capri and belly showing white shirt made her look simply cute, contrasting with her exotic green and blue hair.

"Sure I can. But it'll take a while, maybe even a day or two, to recalibrate the systems correctly."

"Fine! Just as long as the furball is away from me, I don't care how long it takes."

"You really need to lighten up man. I'm not that bad. Ain't that right Kiera?" The furball looked all to pleased from his perch in Tess' arms. Somehow he had made a good impression on the blond. An impression that seemed to extend only as far as her.

The green eyed she-elf only rolled her eyes at him. This was just normal Daxter behavior to her. Ever since they were children he was the annoying and self centered one. Observing his position she couldn't help but be happy for him. He had found a girl that didn't care he was a rodent. She recalled the time she first spoke to him after his accident, when he didn't have as much luck. 'Rule number one. I don't date animals.' It was hard to believe he actually thought he was a babe magnet like this. But that was Daxter.

Looking at the underground commander who was inching for his curved dagger, she decided it was time to go. The mechanic walked over and snatched the ottsel from Tess. "Come on Daxter. We stay any longer and Torn is going to make you into a rug." As they walked out the door, they heard something from Torn on how the rat would make a better tablecloth. The door swished shut in his face before he could retaliate.

Giggling could be heard from the blond elf. "You really shouldn't let him get to you."

"I don't understand how you can like that nuisance." Tess looked as though she was going to reply but Torn beat her to it. "And I still don't want to know. Go, build a gun . . . or go to the Hip Hog, or, something." He waved her off with one hand while the other held his forehead. The blond slowly got up and left the room knowing he was having a rough day.

And it was only about to get worse. After only fifteen minutes of silence someone radioed him, saying that Ashlin had just entered the base. He okayed her entrance and waited until she got to the command room. About forty minutes ago she had gotten the water valve to the slums back on.

The door slid open, then shut and he heard her take a seat in the chair next to him that Kiera had been occupying, all the while never once looking up. "Please tell me you have some type of good news? I can't handle anything bad right now."

"Daxter was here?"

She got a half snort, half sigh for that. "Him, and a bunch of KG's intercepted our eco shipment that Kiera needed. It'll take a while before we can smuggle her a new one. Not too mention something broke down at the power station and Vin needs her help." The former KG sighed. The power plant could have been completely avoided if the genius had just come to him sooner instead of trying to keep his pride and refusing to ask for the girls help.

Ashlin could see he was tired, probably hadn't slept in the past twenty-four hours. He looked like he needed a shower, not to mention his blue and brown clothing had an odd smell coming from them. For a great commander, he dressed very simple. A slightly overlarge blue tunic was strapped to his torso by a simple chest plate. A curved dagger was strapped to his back and a simple set of hand pistols custom made for him by Tess were his only visible weapons. She knew, however that he had quite a few hidden on him. He kept a red cloth from his KG days and held his own tattoos, which always seemed to remind her of a sun.

The KG spy wanted to just leave, but she needed to tell him. She knew this was going to completely ruin his day. Cautiously, she got to why she came back to the hide out. "Well, this isn't going to make you feel any better." Torn straightened himself in his seat, took a few deep-hopefully calming-breaths and allowed her to continue after a moment. "We're in some deep shit Torn."

This caused him to raise his eyebrows in surprise to her blunt approach. "How deep?"

Ashlin wasted no time. "Baron Praxis got himself a second commander." She cut him off before he could ask how that was deep shit. "Not just any elf Torn. This guy took out over forty Metalheads single handedly. And he didn't have a gun."

And so the red head went on to describe what happened at the pumping station. When she began her tale, his first thought was that this was one really good fighter. Then she said how the dark eco in the dead bodies were drawn to him, and how he was able to channel it into an attack against the far away Gunner. It was unbelievable that anyone could even touch dark eco without side effects, let alone use it.

By the time she was finished Torn was eerily silent. He had begun pacing the room, fiddling with the dagger a while ago. She noticed a long time ago that he fiddled with the dagger when he was upset. His hard blue gaze was set on the blade of said dagger as he flicked it around in the air. Finally he spoke, but it seemed a little too calm for him. "So the Baron's got himself a dark eco channeler who can turn into some kind of demon." Ashlin remained silent when he stopped pacing. "That's Just Great!" Torn threw the dagger, landing dead center in the Barons face on a poster.

Ashlin grimaced. Torn may not have a winning personality, but it took real frustration for him to act like this. Hence why the ottsel wasn't his favorite person. Somehow he could bring out the worst in people.

Sighing, the underground commander set his hands on the table, head hanging downward. "I need to tell the ShadowCaster." The female KG stood up to console him with a hand on his shoulder. He was a mess, having to put up with all the problems of running a resistance. And he never showed anyone but her the worried wreck he was. Said it had something to do with the already diminishing morale of his troops.

She had to smile at the trust he held in her though, daughter of the most hated man in Haven. The burnet squeezed his shoulder, trying to get him to relax. He placed his hand over hers in return. Her voice was soft, contrasting with her normally stern one. "I'm sure we can figure something out. Just go tell the boss. I'll try and get as much information on him as I can."

He nodded his head and released her hand. Staying at the table he watched Ashlin head for the door. "Hey." She turned to him as the door opened for her. "Don't do anything stupid. We still need you around here."

She smiled, knowing what he really meant. Turning to the open door she murmured a response-almost to the point of being inaudible, but he heard anyway. "I know you do."

The demonic commander was lying down on his overly large bed. Night had fallen two hours ago and he had been in his room for three. The room was big, and held more then he knew what to do with. And it was red. Red window drapes, red covers, red pillows, red chairs, red rugs, red everything. In fact the only thing not red was the few walls and floor uncovered by drapes and rugs. Praxis must really like the color to put it everywhere, even in the name of his soldiers.

He on the other hand, was coming to hate the foul color.

Jak was in deep thought about the day's events. First he had been tortured. Then he had been set free on certain conditions. After that he was sent outside the city to kill some animals that seemed to want to destroy the city. And then came the big finale when he had become a dark eco monster.

Even he had no idea he could do that. But after some deep thinking he concluded that it was brought on by his frustration and anger during the fight. Because it had only just manifested and he had been under more intense emotions in prison, it was probably caused by his last "session".

For his first hour in the room ha had tried to manifest the demon again, but whenever he came close to it, he felt like there wasn't enough eco to finish the transformation. It was strange, even in his attempts, his mind seemed to become more animalistic then anything else. It was the weirdest feeling he'd ever had. Even more then the strange tingle caused by light eco. With his newfound darkness he would probably never be able to touch the pure substance anyway.

Having thought enough about what happened earlier he got up from his resting position to take a shower in his private bathroom. That was also very red.

He really has to get a new color scheme.

Standing in the dark room Torn waited for his orders. He had just retold everything their KG spy had informed him of the new commander. He wasn't disappointed when an old wizened voice spoke to him wearily.

"Inform the rest of the Underground of this development."

Torn nodded his head yes. He too wanted to warn his comrades of the new threat. Everyone needed to be ready for this. After a moment of silence the Caster spoke with a voice completely unlike before, hardened by war.

"And tell Ashlin to keep us informed. We need to know his everything about him to stay prepared." With that said the Underground commander was dismissed, and left the room to carry out his orders.

The ShadowCaster was worried. If they couldn't find out a weakness, any weakness, the Underground might fall.

Haha! Never thought I'd change the name of the leader did ya? Even if only a little. Bet you'll never guess why the caster is there. Actually. You might. But it's much more fun to say you won't. Insert evil pirate laugh here Anyway review please. All you have to do is click that lavender button over there on the left. Don't forget, suggestions welcome, especially for new missions, 'cause he can't really do those sabotage the Baron ones can he? And I can't look and see which ones I want cause my PS2 is not hooked up. I don't have a VCR anymore, it broke, so I can't connect it to the TV. So all help is greatly appreciated. Love ya!