Chapter Nine:

Mixed Feelings

It didn't take Erin too long to adjust to having the kid around. He was always so quiet, never saying a word. On this particular day she was cooped up in the Hideout, Jak and Daxter were out on a mission and she was at the base babysitting, as was her most common duty these days.

Erin sat at the table in the mission room, Torn seemed to ignore her as he continued to work through papers and listen to the Krimson Guard radio scanner. She just alternated her focus from his working, to the posters hanging on the wall, and watching the kid play with some Lurker toys he had. Erin was rather bored, but she didn't let it get to her, at least she tried not to let it get to her.

When her focus was on Torn, she wondered if the man ever didn't have a pile of work to do. Due to her level of boredom, she decided to ask.

Torn's head raised from his papers, irritable, no doubt, considering the look in his eyes.

"What?" He demanded.

Erin held up her hands in mock surrender, "Hey, sorry."

Torn sighed as he sat down in the seat behind him, instead of standing over the papers, and pushed his fingers back across the red rolls of hair along his head. "Sorry," he mumbled. Erin could easily see his muscles were rigid, perhaps the stress of being the leader of the Underground was beginning to take its toll on him.

Now that Erin thought of it, she had never seen the man sleep, she had never seen him off duty, or so much as take a break when he was on duty. "What are you working on?" She asked, slightly concerned.

Erin noticed his eyes light with a small amount of pride at the caring tone in her voice, "Just some more myths about the location of the Tomb of Mar, and stories about the items inside." Torn leaned back in the chair and sighed again. "There are a million myths about the tomb's location, I'm just trying to eliminate the false ones."

She nodded, in her own time they had fantastic myths about Mar as well. There were so many versions of the story of Mar, there was no way of knowing which ones were true. One version of Mar's story said that he could even travel through time at will! "Anything I can do to help?"

Torn gave her a strange look for a moment, but it vanished quickly. Obviously not many people offered to help their demanding leader, especially on their days off. "I suppose you could read through some of these books," he said as he pushed a few across the table to her.

The top book was thick, dark red, and covered with dust. Erin flipped through the first few pages. There were several pictures of what Mar was supposed to look like, along with things he created in his time.

"What exactly are we looking for?"

Torn didn't look up from the thicker blue book he had in his hands, "Anything that the Baron would find interesting. I'm sure we both know that Praxis isn't trying to find the tomb to honor our greatest leader."

Erin gave a small snort, "An item under the "take over the world category"? No problem."

Torn gave a little smirk, still not looking up from his book.

After reading a page of the deep red colored book, she discarded it. It was mostly concerned about Mar himself, and what type of man he was, not about his tomb. Another book she flipped through was based only on rumors and speculation, no use to them. When they had gone through all the books on the table, taking notes that could lead to finding the tomb, Torn went into the back and came back with another large stack of them.

Erin stopped to get the kid a snack, and then got back to work. She discarded yet another book and was about to grab another one when she noticed a book near the bottom of the pile that seemed to stick out. It wasn't in nearly as good of shape as the others, with a plain, dirty leather cover. She carefully pulled it out from the pile and examined it. It was old, very old. The pages were crisp and yellowed from age, the words were faded and hand written. She took particular care not to miss anything that could point to the location of Mar's Tomb. It went into long, interesting descriptions of times long past. The changes brought by Mar, and their affect on the world. It didn't take long for her to realize that it wasn't only historical, it was like a diary of a scientist. It contained all of his personal views on the intelligence of Mar, along with pages of descriptions. It was very interesting.

After flipping through the book for a while, she came across something that definitely would arouse the Baron's interest.

"Torn, listen to this." Erin started to read from the passage when she had got his attention, "This object Mar found in a deep cavern. It had been unearthed after a series of floods during the exceptionally wet season. A large gem of green, that seemed to glow with power. This gem, which Mar named the Precursor Stone, held one of the strongest powers of the Precursors. In myth it says that Mar used the gem to move mountains and build the great eco mines…" She skipped ahead to the interesting part.

"…But the gem was too powerful, it could be used to destroy entire armies, or even destroy the entire universe. Mar wisely feared what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands, and so he buried it in some unknown place. Many scholars believe the Mar took the gem and dumped it into the ocean, hoping to forever keep the gem safe, but after studying the man for a majority of my life, I don't think he would let such a gem out of his sight, even after death. After extensive study, I believe that Mar buried the gem with him in his tomb. Even his tomb's whereabouts are unknown, but if my study is correct, Mar's tomb may hold much more than the remains of the genius of centuries past."

"That's what the Baron is looking for." It was a statement, not a question. "This Precursor Stone is what Praxis wants," Torn continued with certainty. "He would do anything to kill off all the Metal Heads, and with the city's eco running short, he NEEDS something to turn the tides of this war."

"If the Precursor Stone even exists," Erin added.

Torn nodded. "Praxis believes it, so we continue to operate under the assumption that it does exist, and continue to try and find Mar's tomb."

"Have you found anything that would help us find it?" Erin asked, noting that she hadn't crossed ANY information that indicated the whereabouts.

Torn shook his head irritably. "Mar was definitely a genius, he didn't want his tomb to be found, and after centuries of searching, even the smartest of men haven't found a trace."

"Maybe that's a good thing," Erin commented, thinking of what some men would do with that power. Praxis had done terrible things, and if the Stone fell into his ruthless hands there wouldn't be ANY hope for the people in Haven City.

Even knowing Torn only for a few weeks, Erin know how tentative to perfection he was. It irritated him to no end that he couldn't find a trace of Mar's tomb. Even if hundreds of men before him had failed, he pushed himself so hard to find what he needed. But she also knew that he was stubborn, so any attempt to get him to rest would end in failure.

Erin sighed, sat back in her chair, and rubbed her tired eyes. They had been at it for hours, and her eyes were starting to burn. With nothing better to do she stood she decided to go to the Hip Hog. Torn had too much to think about to care as she led the kid out of the Hideout.

Erin and the young boy hadn't even taken two steps from the Hideout when Kor accosted them.

"Where are you going?"

Ever since Erin had taken over Kor's duty of watching over the boy, she had fallen under the impression that he didn't like her. He was always checking up on her and the kid, always making sure he was alright, as if she didn't have the slightest idea how to take care of him. She mentally rolled her eyes at his question. But she didn't take it personally that he always checked up on them, he was just trying to help.

"Around," She answered vaguely. So he didn't ask any more annoying questions, she changed the subject fast. "Have you seen Jak?"

"The Baron is conducting an excavation at the Dig. He is still looking for that ridiculous Tomb," Kor answered, "I sent him to disrupt Praxis's operation."

Erin nodded, thanked him, and walked away before he could ask any more questions.

The usual smell greeted her nose as when she finally entered the Saloon. This wasn't a place for a child, but it was mid-day, so no customers were around. Erin relaxed into a chair at the bar, Tess was behind it absently cleaning a glass.

"How are you doing today?" Tess asked, still scrubbing at an invisible dirty spot on the mug. Erin knew that Tess was just inventing things to do, this part of the day was the worst for business.

"Pretty good, how about you?" Erin gave a small smile, her and Tess had become quick friends at the Hideout, though they had to avoid the subject or Krew might get suspicious. Any crime lord would be raving mad if he found out he was being spied on.

"Can't complain," Erin had to stifle a laugh at the 'I am going to die from boredom' look that was plastered on her face.

For some reason even Krew was absent today, and Sig was at a booth at the far end of the saloon. Erin was sure that Sig could hear, so she asked.

Tess shook her head, "I don't know. He left without a word, I still think he doesn't trust me." She said with a fake smile so that Sig wouldn't wonder what they were talking about.

Erin shrugged, "It'll take time."

"So what are you up to today?" Tess asked, she had a quick moving mind. Erin figured that she got bored if they stayed on the same subject for too long.

"Oh, nothing. I just left 'home' to get some fresh air," Erin sighed.

"Have you been there all day?" Tess asked, for some reason very interested.

Erin dropped her voice as a habit, "Yeah, I was helping Torn with research. Now my eyes hurt."

Tess laughed genuinely. "You staring at him for too long?"

Tess' laughter stopped when she saw the authentic look of confusion on Erin's face. "You cannot tell me that you haven't noticed how completely gorgeous he is!" She exclaimed as she set the glass mug down on the counter.

Now that she thought about it, Torn was handsome, VERY handsome. "I guess I never thought about him that way," Erin answered vaguely.

"WHAT?!" Tess choked on her laughter. "Never thought about him that way? How could you NOT think about him like that?" She said dreamily as she leaned on the counter, obviously thinking about the tall, fire-haired commander. Erin just laughed, her friend always had something, or someone, to day-dream about.

"Wait," Tess woke from her day dream. "Have you been too occupied with thinking about someone else, other than Torn?"

Erin tried to keep her face completely neutral, "No."

Tess didn't fall for it. "Ha!" She laughed and pointed at her friend, "I got you! Now, who is it you've been thinking about?"

Erin wasn't about to tell. "I'm leaving." She grabbed the kid's hand and started for the door.

"Hey!" Tess called, "Is it Trent?!"

Erin laughed after she was out the door, "I'll talk to you later!"

In her rush to leave the Hip Hog, she wasn't watching where she was going, and walked right into someone. A pair of hands snaked around her waist to balance her.

"I'm so--" the words died on her lips when she noticed who she had walked into.

She tried to pull away, but his hands held her tight against him. "Well, well, well," a cocky grin tugged at his mouth, "I knew you'd come eagerly into my arms, one way or another."

If she hadn't been swallowed by terror from being so close to him, she might have had the sense of mind to claw that smirk right off his face.

She tried to push him away again, but he held her firmly. "Let. Go. Erol." She glared into his merciless hazel eyes.

Erol threw his red hair back slightly when he laughed. "Or what? You going to--"

His words were silenced when Erin dug her pistol deep into his ribs. He just continued to laugh, "Could you kill me, Erin?" He asked jeeringly. "Do it," he commanded, his eyes daring her to kill a high ranking Krimson Guard in a public street in broad daylight.

Her dark self wanted nothing more then to pull the trigger. Regular Erin, for once, agreed with her darker personality. Erol was blessed by the Precursors that she had the kid with her at that moment, or she wouldn't have had a second thought.

Then she remembered Erol talking to the Baron about finding the kid. She'd have to put personal revenge aside, she had to make sure that Erol didn't notice the kid. She could feel the young boy standing behind her, but Erol was too focused on her to notice him, which could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending how you thought about it.

At the lack of action from her, Erol just chuckled. One of his hands left its hold of her waist and moved up to the side of her face, lightly pushing her reddish-brown hair behind her ear. Erin stiffened to the point that she wouldn't allow herself to breathe. He found distinct pleasure in her obvious discomfort.

"It's such a pity your so stubborn, or we could have been like this sooner," he taunted in her ear.

Erin finally over powered him; she pushed him away, pushed away the heat of his breath and the coldness of his heart, but made sure to block Erol's view of the boy. When she had regained her balance and glared into his eyes she noticed they had changed from mocking to curiosity.

"It seems the stories I heard about you are true," he commented as he looked her up and down as if he were looking at a zoomer engine. An object to be studied to find how it works. She wished that she was back in prison rather than under his scrupulous gaze. Erin fought the urge to run, and the urge to shoot him in between the eyes.

For an instant she was completely lost as to his meaning, until she looked down at her hands. Her skin had paled, her nails were long and black, claws. It didn't strike her just how close she had come to changing until she looked down. The claws of the Temptress were proof of the terrible hunger for vengeance she wished to sate. In that instant she sobered, how many of her actions before this had been due to a want for revenge? She hadn't acknowledged the terrible anger she felt until that instant. She had been sure that the darkness was only a side effect of the experiments, not a change in her moral being. Now she had proof that the only person she was fooling was herself.

He laughed at the reaction plastered on her face.

"Leave her alone, Erol!"

Erin couldn't put into words how thankful she was just to hear Jak's voice. She also found some satisfaction that Erol was surprised to see him.

"Well, if it isn't the Dark Eco freak!" He said in a false-joyful voice. The fire in his eyes betrayed the loathing he felt for the man.

Jak raised his morph-gun a fraction of an inch higher. "Why don't you go crawl back into your Fortress?" His voice mirrored the loathing that Erol felt.

This time Erol really did laugh, but it wasn't pleasant, it was taunting. "We all have our little jobs, and since my job is done for the day I'm going to see a mechanic…" Erol left the sentence hanging, insinuating a deeper meaning.

He could have been talking about any mechanic in the city, but they way he said it… "You stay away from her!"

Once again Erol's face split into an evil grin. "Keira is something, isn't she?" He stopped as if in thinking. "Did she ever tell you she likes racers? I AM the grand champion of the city…"

Jak certainly didn't like what he was silently hinting at. Erin could see it as he rubbed his fingers on the trigger.

"I could easily take you both back to prison; I call for backup and they'll be here in thirty seconds--"

"--That leaves me twenty-nine seconds to kill you!" Jak hissed. Erol just smirked.

"I would have enjoyed killing you in prison, but now, it'll be so much more fun to take you on the track, in front of the entire city, not to mention your girlfriends. I'll be at the championship race, and if you're really worth your salt, so will you."

With that challenge, Erol turned. "Oh, and," He turned back to Erin, stepping closer, "I'll see you at the finish line."

Erin refused to allow herself the comfort of taking a step away from him, it would only show a weakness that he would exploit. She stood her ground, under his disconcerting gaze. But she couldn't force herself to look into his eyes, those same eyes that had gotten enjoyment out of torturing her. She kept her body stiff, her fists at her sides…

When Erol went whirling back a few steps and almost fell to the ground, holding his jaw in pain, Erin was stunned for a second. She could have sworn that she hadn't moved her clenched fist…

"You'll pay for that, Freak!" Erol spat red blood on the ground at Jak's feet. Jak's body was rigid, his fist a tight ball at his sides. Then it hit Erin; she hadn't punched Erol, Jak had. She was instantly overcome with a feeling of gratitude to Jak.

"I look forward to it," Jak said harshly, and rather cockily.

Erol just glared at Jak for one last moment, "Until you prove your worth, then." Without another word Erol turned and made his way down the crowded street.

Erin looked at Jak, who was glaring daggers at Erol's retreating form.

"Come on, Jak. We better go in case he changes his mind about calling backup."

Jak nodded and led the way down the street in the opposite direction that Erol had disappeared to. Erin grabbed the kid's hand and followed. The walk was silent. After they figured they had gotten far enough away, their pace slowed back down to normal.

"You should be more careful, Erin," Jak commented over his shoulder. "If Erol had seen the kid, this war would have been over."

Erin couldn't help but be agitated at the tone in his voice. "I know how important he is, but how was I supposed to know that Erol wanted to get a drink at the Saloon during midday?"

"You should have stayed at the Hideout," Jak answered.

What, does he think he needs to protect me? Erin thought, I'm not just a weakling girl.

"I can handle myself, thanks."

Jak sighed, "That's not the point…"

"I know what the point is, so can we just drop it?" Erin cut him off.

"Fine." He answered gruffly.

The silence filled the void between them. It irritated Erin that Jak thought that she was not doing her mission well. Like she wanted the Krimson Guards to find the kid. But then a part of her wondered, could it possibly be more than that? Was she being irate for no reason? Perhaps the dark eco was taking its toll on her body after all…

Erin took a deep breath, and expelled all of her unneeded anger. "So, how'd the mission go?"

Jak seemed just as eager to put their anger behind them. "Good."

Was it stupid that she felt irritation at his lack of detail? She took another deep breath in frustration, she was not going to get angry for another stupid reason. She would not let her generated anger win that easy.

"Any more missions planed for the day?" She asked simply to make conversation.

"I was going to go see if Krew had any missions for me, or go and try to get Keira to talk to me."

"Why are you so desperate to talk to her?" Erin noted the slight resentment in her voice a second too late.

Jak sighed, he had been getting the same treatment from Keira the whole week. She constantly had been ignoring him because Erin was a friend, and she didn't like it.

"I've been trying to tell her about her father," Jak said, defeated.

"What about her father?" Erin asked, feeling guilty because she had made Jak feel bad.

"Her father is Samos, but he doesn't remember Daxter and I," Jak sighed, "so I don't know if he will remember her."

Now she understood, Jak was worried about how Keira would take the news that her own father didn't remember her. That would be devastating news to anyone.

"I could talk to her for you," Erin wasn't sure why she said it, but Jak had saved her hide from Erol, so he deserved a favor in return.

"Would you?" Jak asked. "I don't know if that's a good idea…"

"Why not?" Erin asked at his reluctant voice.

"Well…she sort of thinks…we…um…" Jak started to rub the back of his neck in embarrassment, "we are…together."

Erin could feel her face flush, "Well, I could explain everything to her, tell her that we are not…together." She was rushing her words, she thought she was going to choke on the last one.

"That would be great…" Jak answered. "Uhh… could you also talk to her about Erol?"

Erin could easily see the anger in his eyes when he said Erol's name. Perhaps this was the time to talk about revenge.

"Why are you so eager to get to Erol and the Baron?" Erin asked.

Jak turned to her, shocked, "How can you not want to see them get what they deserve?" Jak's voice was demanding and angry at her for questioning his need for retribution.

"I want to see them out of power, just like everyone in this entire city, but…" Erin sighed, "…but revenge on Erol and Praxis won't change what happened to us, Jak," she was trying to keep her voice even.

Jak turned livid. "Erin, this isn't just about us! YOU weren't there when they experimented on hundreds of people. YOU weren't there to watch Praxis and Erol kill them slowly, one after the other. YOU weren't there to watch Erol enjoying every death that he brought!"

"ISN'T JUST ABOUT US? How many people have you helped since you got out of prison, Jak? You've been too busy trying to get payback for your own pain, then helping other people with theirs!"

"Have you honestly forgotten what they did to us?"

Erin went rigid, staring into his eyes. "No, Jak," her voice was cold, "I can never forget."

"Then why aren't you after revenge? What, are you 'better than that'?" Jak yelled at her.

All color drained from Erin's face, her voice was low and dangerous. "You don't know what 'revenge' can lead to."

"Oh really?! Then enlighten me!" Jak just couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Revenge changes people, Jak!" Erin screamed. "Can you honestly say that you're the same person you used to be?"

Jak was taken aback, it suddenly hit him how much he had changed... and he felt a terrible sadness.

Whatever anger Jak felt for Praxis and Erol seemed ridiculous in that moment. She was a much better person than he was, all he wanted was petty revenge... He felt ashamed of himself. After everything that she had been through, she didn't want revenge.

Jak wasn't sure what to say, but he knew that he had to say something. "I'm sorry, Erin."

Erin took a moment to try and get herself under control. She took a haggard breath and wiped the wetness out from under her eyes. She took another breath. "Maybe I'm just overreacting."

"You really didn't want to see Erol again did you?"

Erin shook her head sadly, "Can you blame me?"

"No, I can't." Jak answered quietly. A question had been bothering him for some time, but he didn't know if this was the time to bring it up. But then again, when was the time to bring it up? Might as well ask. "Erol didn't…touch you when we were in prison, did he?"

Erin's face went slightly pale. "No," she started, "the Precursors know he tried, but I wouldn't let him."

An uncomfortable silence filled the gap, yet again. Neither of them were sure what to say next.

Luckily, Erin didn't have to find anything to say. The boy started pulling on her arm. She looked down into his eyes, "What? Are you hungry?"

He shook his head 'no'.

"You need a bathroom?"

He shook his head anxiously.

"Ok, let's go find one for you. Talk to you later, Jak."

"Just be careful, Erin."

She gave a half-smile, "I will, and I'll go talk to Keira for you."
Authors notes: After about 5 weeks of now knowing what to do next, I decided to just end this chapter and go on with the next one. This chapter really irritated me when I wrote it... Tell me what you think, please!!