Once again, sorry for the delay, people, as I know you have doubtlessly been waiting for this one for a while. As it stands, I've had writers block, a hellish computer programming exam that I likely bombed (don't you hate it when a teacher makes half of the test based upon something that you covered for only about a day or two out of a three chapter test that you never even worked with on a computer before?)

Also, and I am praying that you don't kill me for this, I have been occupied trying to pen down the first few chapters of a second story that I have been trying to write. My first idea for writing was actually a Sonic the Hedgehog (Satam, as it was the cartoon series that I grew up with) story with a more militaristic twist, and I have finally resumed the courage to try to write it… though I am not sure how well it will be received by that community, as weapon use in those fics are highly unorthodox….

At any rate, I want to thank everyone who reviewed, especially those of you who reviewed anonymously and whom I have been unable to respond to (glares at administration). You guys give me the inspiration to keep going, and your ideas have allowed me to shatter writers block more times than any one person could do on his own. For that, you have my humblest thanks. (bows)

Lawyers: I own nothing, so bugger off!

That said, here is chapter twenty one, may it be worth your wait.

&

Homecoming

The quartet was deathly silent as they approached the ruins of Haven City. Even from miles away, it was blatantly obvious that the Shield Wall was filled almost to the brim with smoke, and Jak was grateful that the Precursian helmet that he wore hid his look of despair as he finally gazed upon his home once more.

Haven City looked much like Spargus had when they had left. Through the shimmering fields of the Lockdown barriers, he could see the ruined districts. The sole hope that he took from looking upon his homeland was the Residential District, which gleamed pristinely, untouched by the ravages of this war. That silver lining meant there was a good possibility that most of the civilians, and at least some of the military, was still alive and intact, which meant that they yet had a chance, however slim it might have been.

"There's the hole," Keira said as she pointed out the breach in the Shield Wall, her voice once again subdued as she stared at the city.

"I see it," Jak responded as he slowed the Sand Shark down to a stop.

They'd go on foot from here, lest the noise of their buggy alert any Death Bots that might have been within hearing range. After all, whoever was leading those mechanized nightmares was a very cunning tactician, and it was not inconceivable that said leader might have left a rear guard to take care of any pesky intruders.

Thus, it was once again decided that Jak, with his ability to cloak himself, would take the point, and then signal to the others when it was safe to come.

The way had been clear, thankfully enough, but any relief that they might have felt over that was soon outweighed by the despair of seeing the city in ruins. The Industrial District had been hit hard in both the initial assault of the Death Bots, and debris was everywhere.

Even Daxter and Pecker forgot about their petty differences and bowed their heads as they thought of how many must have lost their life trying to hold this sector, and how many more had needlessly died later as Veger had ordered that foolhardy counteroffensive.

'We'll make them pay for this,' Kage growled quietly, the fires of vengeance burning brightly in his crimson eyes as he 'stared' around at the destruction. 'I'll rip out their circuits with my bare talons!'

"I foresee a surge in the recycling business." His host growled out loud, his teeth bared in a feral snarl as he stared around, wondering where all of the guards were.

"Save your hatred for the Metal Heads." Keira muttered, causing everyone present to give her a look. "Advanced as they are, they're just machines, Jak." She explained, her voice filled with sorrow. "They can't do anything except what they're programmed to do, they're just slaves."

At once, the dark elf and the oni both understood why she was acting so strange. Keira had always had an aptitude for the mechanical, and it probably pained her to no end to see these battle droids, these marvelous technical creations, used as cannon fodder in a war. The Ascended Channeler nodded towards his wife, wondering what thoughts, if any, the Death Bots processed as they went about a battle. Were they truly cold hearted killing machines, or deep down, was it possible that they might have had feelings? What went through their motherboards when they saw one of their comrades fall in battle, did they feel anything, or was it all just logic to them?

An explosion sounded from some ways up, yanking all present out of any musings that they might have been having at the current moment, and causing them to exchange glances before they rushed up to where the blast had come from.

It did not take them long to reach the are from which the explosion had come from, and they ducked back into an alley, Keira and Jak both scanning around with their visors, attempting to discern what might have caused this building to suddenly go up in flames.

Gunfire split the air a moment later, and both Ascended Channelers exchanged glances at with one another, as this strange little twist played itself out.

They emerged from another alley a moment later, a group of a half dozen or so Freedom League troopers, clad in their battle armor and bracing themselves up against he walls, with two of them sticking their BR-55 rifles down the back street that they had come from and firing. They were using semi automatic fire, which meant they were going for precision from what Jak could tell, and that probably meant their ammo supplies weren't all that great.

He and his soul mate once more exchanged a look, before they decided that it was time that they officially announce their return. Telling Daxter and Pecker to stay put, they drew their Vibrium weapons, and charged out from their concealment, battle cries upon their tongues.

The blue armored soldiers that were about twenty feet away from them turned, and their jaws dropped as they saw these strange beings come from seemingly out of nowhere, and rush towards them. Some hesitated, not knowing what to make of these beings, while one leveled his weapon. However, speedy as they were, the two Ascended Channelers were past the group and into the other alley before the elf could fire off a shot at them.

There were battle droids present all right, a squadron of about ten Rollers, all of them unfurled and in their combat modes. They paused for all of a millisecond, and then reoriented their blasters at the two foes that were charging them. However, the two soul mates were not about to let the robots get a bead on them, as while they were certain that their armor would absorb the shots, they wished to keep their equipment in pristine condition for a later time when they might need it more.

With about thirty feet separating them from the foremost Death Bot, both of them leapt up into the air, and began to run along the walls. This had the desired effect of screwing with their adversaries aims. They could only keep their momentum up for so long running as they were, but the few seconds they had were more than enough to get them into attack range, and they leapt off the walls, coming straight at the bots in the front. Kitetsu and Masamune hissed and metallic shrieking split the air as the first two robots fell apart, having been cleaved in half.

Jak opted not to summon a phantom blade, knowing that the Eco Crystal in his sword's hilt was running low on Dark Eco, and that using it in a confrontation like this would be a waste. True enough, the dark katana and the Ataru fighting styles themselves would prove to be more than sufficient for dealing with the Rollers, as he decapitated his second opponent, bringing the runed blade up from the strike to deflect a few Eco bolts that were being thrown at him. This had the humorous result of throwing them directly back at the battle droid that had been responsible for the barrage. Several bolts slammed into its cranial area, tearing through its armor and shredding its vital circuits.

Keira, meanwhile, was putting her own Precursor crafted weapon to good use. She brought it in from the right, swinging it at an upwards angle at one of the mechanized soldiers. The Vibrium blade parted the titanium-A armor plating like it was parchment, and the bot fell apart, both halves of it sparking as she extended her hand. As it had with the Hunter Killer those weeks ago, a shield formed around it, blocking the shots from the Rollers as they tried to bring her down. However, unlike before, this shield did not go all the way around her, rather it formed a semi sphere and stopped. With a war cry, she charged forward, keeping the shield up as she approached her next victim. The Death Bot tried to back away from her, but it could not match the angelic Channeler's speed, and the next thing it knew, it was being driven into the wall as Keira rammed it.

Not wasting a second, the girl spun about, blocking a few more shots while readjusting her grip upon Masamune, thrusting it forward and impaling another one of the mechanized warriors.

She then dispelled the shield, and placed her naginata blade end first in the ground, before using it like a pole vault, leaping twenty feet up into the air, before performing a few flips and twists to keep the Death Bots from being able to accurately target her. She hit the ground in a crouch, her weapon thrust out fully and bisecting one of the battle droids.

Its companion fared no better, a wave of blue white fire turning it into a bubbling pile of slag a second later.

Jak was just as efficient when it came to dealing with his enemies, and the last of them hit the ground at the same time she finished, its wires sparking and its blasters harmlessly firing a few times as its protocols went haywire right before it went offline.

The dark elf spun the Blade of Mar around a few times, before effortlessly sheathing it back in its scabbard, and then walking back to the alley entrance, where the Freedom League soldiers were standing, their expressions one of those who had just been overwhelmed by what they saw. Daxter and Pecker were there as well, having emerged from the alley that they had been hiding in.

"Jak, Keira, nice one's there," The ottsel remarked, giving them a thumps up. His identification of the two armor clad elves, the blue armored soldiers present immeidiatly went ramrod straight.

"Who's in charge here?" Jak inquired, crossing his arms over his chest.

The soldiers, whether in awe over what they had witnessed or the fact that the elves before them stood clad in Mar's own armor, and what appeared to be a variation of it, took a moment or two to reply.

"That would be me, Sir," a young man said, stepping forward and saluting. It took a moment, but Jak recognized him after a second or two.

"Corporal Davis?" The dark elf said, somewhat surprised, but in a way happy to know that the elf was still alive.

"It's Sergeant Davis now, Sir," The elf replied with a weary smile, pointing to his rank bars on his shoulders.

A sergeant, which meant that he was in charge of a platoon of forty or so men and women. But if that was the case, then where were the others?

"Where's the rest of your platoon?" Keira asked, a note of uneasiness in her voice as she drew a conclusion.

"Platoon, ma'am?" the soldier said, before looking down at the ground and gesturing to the men and women around him. "These are all that's left of Fox and Gable companies out of the First Infantry Division."

The news hit the group like a ton of bricks, and all four felt their jaws drop as they let that bit of information soak in. Even Keira was surprised. They'd taken heavy losses in the Harbor Sector, but nothing like that.

"Twelve of you," she said, her voice quiet, "out of four hundred?"

"That's correct, ma'am," Benton replied, shaking his head. "Veger and the rest of the council steered us right into the biggest fierfeking ambush I've ever seen." He paused for a moment, before getting a hold of himself. "But I think we should save the whole story for a later time, we're a little exposed here and it's a wonder that the Death Bots aren't swooping down on us."

"Probably up at the front," A girl muttered.

"Yeah, but let's not take chances, Ariel," He responded, before turning back to the two Ascended Channelers. "We've got a base nearby, follow us and we'll lead you to it."

They nodded silently, before falling in behind the squad, their eyes darting about and ever alert for more trouble.

They reached the Freedom League base without further incident. The base, if it could truly be called that, was an abandoned warehouse on the far side of the Industrial District, and was currently the home for about three hundred soldiers, from what Benton had been telling them.

The quartet had just given each other all a look, as they let that sink in. They knew that some had to have escaped before the lockdown set in, but to have so few left from the hundred thousand soldiers that had marched in here just a few weeks ago, it was sobering news, to say the least.

"Come with me," Sergeant Davis said, motioning them to follow him while simultaneously dismissing the men and women under his command, "I've got to make my report, and I think our commander will be happy to see you guys again."

They marched through the warehouse, the two Ascended Channelers very much aware of all the stares that they were drawing from the soldiers. But they saw past those awe filled looks, they saw the soldiers who were wounded and couldn't get proper medical attention, they saw the fatigue in their eyes, the slump of their shoulders, and they saw the bitter resignation of the thousand yard stare. These troopers were about to come apart at the seams. They were overworked, and in need of rest, a few good meals, and some Green Eco to tend to their wounds.

"These guys aren't going to last much longer out here like this," Keira muttered over a private comm. channel. "They're ready to break."

"Tell me something I don't know," Her soul mate responded sadly, shaking his head as he looked at one particular soldier who seemed to be missing almost half of his face.

'We need to get them out of here somehow,' Kage mused, scratching his muzzle and trying his best to think of means by which they could extract these troopers before they all got waxed.

'You're right about that,' His host responded, though he too was at a loss for how they were going to pull that off with the Lockdown in effect and an army of battle droids surrounding them.

They fell silent after that, saving words until they met with this mysterious commander of these soldiers. They did not have to wait long, for as Benton rounded a corner, they could hear muttered voices, and knew that they had to be at the makeshift command office of this place. The sergeant saluted, and walked forward, and they saw him at last.

The soldier was clad in some very familiar gray battle armor, many areas of it now black from carbon scoring. His fiery hair was disheveled and looked like it hadn't been washed in quite some time, which was probably the case, seeing as how there weren't any showers around this place. 1st Lieutenant Cody Balic was hunched over a procured map of the sector, and was busy talking in hushed voices with a few other soldiers, also sergeants apparently.

"Sergeant Benton Davis reporting back in, Sir," their guide said, causing the Revenant to look up at him.

Whatever Cody had been about to say was immeidiatly forgotten as he looked to the blue armored soldier, and the warriors who were behind him. His eyes bulged and his mouth dropped open, as did those of his fellows, before they managed to compose themselves and assumed a stance more befitting a soldier.

"Jak?" the spec ops trooper inquired, guessing who it was from the ottsel that was riding upon his shoulder.

"That's correct, Cody," the dark elf replied as he and Keira removed their helmets, "nice to see your still breathing."

"I'm bloody lucky about that, Sir," the lieutenant replied, his New Zealander accent distorting his words slightly.

"Where's the rest of your group?" Jak asked, hoping that what he was thinking was incorrect.

"Probably back in the Residential Sector, Sir," Cody said, "I got separated from them during our little ill fated escapade here."

"And the rest of the soldiers?" Keira asked, fearing the worst.

"I'm not sure, but our best estimates from the reports we got before the Lockdown hit was that we might be looking at casualties as high as sixty percent, Ma'am, with most of those coming from the forward ranks." He said, before launching into his tale of what had happened in the Industrial District on that dark day.

"Dear gods!" Pecker exclaimed as Cody finished, his jaw dropping before he lowered his head.

"For once we agree on something," Daxter muttered quietly, his ears drooping as he thought of all the life that had been lost for nothing.

"Like I said, Sir," the Revenant replied, "we're in a bad way here. These soldiers are a few that we've managed to round up, and I think that they're all that's left from the guys who got trapped in here." He paused for a moment, sighing bitterly. "We've been trying to cause some trouble, but we've mostly been limited to hit and run raids, sabotage, that sort of thing. Silver lining might be that's probably why we're still alive."

"What do you mean?" Keira asked, cocking her head to the side.

"We haven't been a big enough problem for those Death Bots to root us out and take care of us." The lieutenant explained. "They've got bigger fish to fry, if you catch my drift, like trying to break the Lockdown and deal with this little insurrection on their hands."

"Insurrection?" Jak said, interrupting Cody and getting a nod from the red head.

"Yes, Sir, there seems to be something of a rebellion within their ranks."

"How?" Pecker asked.

"Not sure," Cody replied with a shrug, "but we've all seen the droids fighting in the streets, taking potshots at each other. It's like somebody's gotten a hold of them and screwed with their CPU's. I've even seen the Hunter Killers scrapping it out with each other."

"So it looks like the one that helped me out wasn't just some maverick…" Keira muttered, rubbing her chin. "That settles it then, someone or something is reprogramming these things and using them against the others."

"That's my best guess," the Revenant stated in a weary tone of voice, "and I'm just glad that whoever or whatever is doing it is on our side at the moment."

"What were you doing before we came in?" the dark elf asked, walking over to the map and looking over it.

"Trying to figure a way to get ourselves the bloody hell out of here, Sir," Cody said, frustration present in his voice.

"Why do you keep calling me sir?" Jak asked all of a sudden, giving the lieutenant a look.

"Oh," the heavy weapons expert exclaimed slapping himself upside the head, "I forgot, you wouldn't know." He smiled and looked up at the Ascended Channeler. "The Governess passed out a 'for eyes only' order to commanders loyal to her after you were banished. She wanted us to know that if and when you returned, and soldiers that encountered you were to treat you with the standing field rank of colonel." He paused for a moment, letting his statement sink in. "That effectively makes you the ranking officer here at the moment, Sir."

That bit of information nearly rocked Jak back on his heels, as it was the absolute last thing that he was expecting. For a moment, he just looked at Cody with a dictionary definition of a stunned expression upon his face. Then came the denial.

"But…" he began, only to find Cody holding up a hand.

"Sir, with all due respect, I think its one of the best decisions that Governess Ashelin has ever made." He looked the dark elf straight in the eye. "I've done my best here, Sir, but I'm trained for spec ops and small squad tactics, not leading a company and a half of men who are at the current moment, demoralized, starving, and ready to break and run."

"And you think I am?" Jak responded, placing two fingers against his chest for emphasis. "I haven't even been through boot camp!"

"Sir," the Revenant said, a crooked smile on his face, "That's true, but tactics and strategies can be learned. You've got something I don't: you're a natural born leader. That's something you've either got or you haven't." Jak still looked skeptical, so he continued on. "Sir, when the Metal Heads laid siege to the city, the people, the soldiers, and even General Praxis himself rallied to you. Do you know why, Sir?"

"Because Praxis figured out who I was," he grumbled.

"It's because you're a leader, Sir," Cody said. "People look at you and they follow you and fight to the death beside you because you are special. You've got a gods given talent for it, you follow me?"

"I still think you're wrong," Jak muttered, shaking his head.

'I am not quite so sure about that…' Kage mused, getting a 'look' from his host. 'Valthos saw it in you as well.'

'But I don't have any training in this area!' his host exclaimed, frustration present in his voice.

'So? We've winged things before, haven't we?' the oni responded with a shrug, before crossing his arms and becoming serious once again. 'Besides, if we get into trouble, we can just ask Cody what he would do. Right about now, I think our just being here and appearing to have some form of control over the situation might be enough to keep everything from falling apart.'

Jak was about to shoot something back at his alter ego, when he paused, and thought about what Kage was saying. It was certainly true that he lacked formal military training, but he had indeed led troops before, during the Metal Head attack upon the city those months ago. Still, he had a great deal of fear and uncertainty about this, and for good reason. The stakes were high to say the least, and one mistake could spell their doom. Not to mention that these troopers were already exhausted and looked as if they could have used a few week of R and R before being rotated back to frontline duty. He nearly sighed, and looked around the room, staring into the eyes of everyone who was present. They were all looking to him, hoping that he could somehow pull a miracle out of thin air and get them out of this mess that Veger had gotten them into.

He made a decision then, and prayed it was the right one.

"So what are we looking at here, Lieutenant Balic?" he inquired as he walked over and stared at the map, doing his best to try to put some confidence into his voice and remember how Torn used to do things back with the Underground.

"This is a map of the sewer system, Sir," the Revenant said, before tapping his finger against an area of it. "We're right here, and we've been trying to decide what the best course of action would be. We can't decide if we should try and make a break for the Residential Sectors," he said, pointing to that region on the map, and Jak noted that they'd have quite a bit of ground to cover. "Our only other option is to take a shorter, but likely more dangerous route through to the Harbor Sector, and see if we can't shore up the defenders that are in there."

Jak paused, rubbing his chin slightly, a frown upon his face as he considered the possibilities. Keira had told him that Torn and the others were in a lot of trouble in that region, and they'd likely need all the help that they could get in order to break through the enemy ranks, or to even hold them at bay if they were attacking through the sewers. Of course, that also meant that said sewers were likely swarming with both Metal Head and Death Bot reinforcements.

But he couldn't stomach the thought of just leaving them there, likely fighting for their lives, while he and the others bugged out.

"We're going to help out the soldiers in the Harbor," the dark elf stated, a grizzled, almost weary tone coming into his voice. He then looked at Cody. "Lieutenant, get your men together, we're moving out just as soon as they can grab their gear and get ready."

"Yes, Sir!" the Revenant said, before walking out of the command room and heading for the main troop areas.

The others followed him, Jak and Kage both trying to record every detail of what the gray armored soldier was about to do, knowing that if they were going to live up to the trust that had been placed in them, that they would need to remember this.

"Officer on deck!" Sergeant Davis shouted as they entered.

Slowly, the men and women present stood and got to attention, but one could tell that they were tired and ready to drop.

"At ease," Cody said, before looking around at them. "Soldiers, it has been decided that we need to leave this scrap heap." He paused for a moment, letting the thought sink into the troops. "We are going to be embarking upon a dangerous mission through the sewers of the city in the hopes of linking up with soldiers that are fighting in the Harbor Sector. Now grab what you can, and get ready to move!"

Everyone stood frozen for a moment, and then they dissolved into a strange, organized chaos. The soldiers, taking hope in the fact that they were going to try to get out of this mess, even if it meant wading into another one, felt their adrenaline surge, giving them the energy they would need to get this done.

Jak, Keira, and the others watched them scurry about for several minutes, grabbing weapons and ammo, grenades, launchers, mortars, a few morph guns, and a vulcan that someone managed to scrounge up.

Finally, it appeared as though everyone was as good to go as they were going to be, and they stood in ranks, awaiting their next order, looking at the lieutenant, who in turned looked at Jak. The dark elf could never recall having been so nervous, and he put his helmet back on, lest the troopers see the uneasiness in his eyes and lose what little hope they seemed to have gathered. He licked his lips, and stared around at them and realized how much faith they were placing in him, faith that was about to have a baptism by fire if there ever was one. Then, he willed the words to come forth.

"Move out!"

And then they were off, the troopers forming up behind him and his soul mate as they prepared for a do or die quest to reach their brothers and sisters.

&

Ooookayyyy, know I'm getting really out ther, with Jak being 'adopted' by the military, but I figured that Ashelin would want to use him as a charismatic 'let's all rally around the guy whose saved our miserable hides more times than we'd care to recall' type leader.

Will be gone on a family trip for most of my upcoming spring break (leaving early tomorrow morning acutally), but I have managed to talk good ole mom into hauling around a laptop, so I should be able to get some writing done. That said, any ideas, comments, constructive criticism, or outright flames are more than welcome.

And finally, for your further entertainment, more clichés!

Cliché 43

Midgar Principle
The capital of the evil empire is always divided into two sections: a lower city slum filled with slaves and supporters of the rebellion, and an upper city filled with loyal fanatics and corrupt aristocrats.

Cliché 62

Thousand Year Rule
The Ancient Evil returns to savage the land every thousand years on the dot, and the last time it showed up was just about 999.9875 years ago. Despite their best efforts, heroes of the past were never able to do more than seal the Evil away again for the future to deal with (which brings up the question of just how exactly does this "sealing away" works anyway, but never mind.) The good news is that this time, the Evil will get destroyed permanently. The bad news is that you're the one who's going to have to do it.

Cliché 65

First Law of Travel
Anything can become a vehicle -- castles, cities, military academies, you name it -- so do not be alarmed when the stones of the ancient fortress you are visiting shake underfoot and the whole thing lifts off into the sky. As a corollary, anything is capable of flight if it would be cool, aeronautics or even basic physics be damned.

Cliché 70

Sixth Law of Travel
Nobody gets to own a cooler ride than you. If you ever do see a cooler vehicle than the one you've got now, at some point before the end of the game you will either take over this vehicle, get something even bigger and better, or else see it destroyed in a glorious blaze.

Clichés 76 and 77

Magical Inequality Theorem
In the course of your travels you may find useful-sounding spells such as Petrify, Silence, and Instant Death. However, you will end up never using these spells in combat because a) all ordinary enemies can be killed with a few normal attacks, making fancy attacks unnecessary, b) all bosses and other stronger-than-average monsters are immune to those effects so there's no point in using them for long fights where they'd actually come in handy, and c) the spells usually don't work anyway.

Magical Inequality Corollary
When the enemy uses Petrify, Silence, Instant Death, et cetera spells on you, they will be effective 100 of the time.

Cliché 105

Law of Mooks
Soldiers and guards working for the Evil Empire are, as a rule, sloppy, cowardly and incompetent. Members of the heroic Resistance Faction are, as a rule, dreadfully weak and under trained and will be wiped out to the last man the moment they come in contact with the enemy.