Chapter 19: Guns Still Aren't Maddy's Thing…
Music: Siva by Smashing Pumpkins
'I spin off and lose my head
Throwing stray a spark instead
Gather strength down in my hell
And dig it in the world I peel'
Mood: Scorched
Disclaimer: Writers lie, just like your parents
Jak and I walked back into the room, arms wrapped around one another, as close as possible, to see Vin pecking on the keyboard, babbling on about Metal Heads, and Daxter wondering around, poking things.
The otzel jumped when he was us, running to land on Jak's shoulder, saying, "What a brainwreck! Precursors am I glad to see you two love-birds. Vin sure is scared of Metal Heads."
"And for good reason. I've seen what Metal Heads do when they take a city." Kor said, walking into the Power Station. "The destruction. The killing. The devouring. The Baron's scheming will only result in this city's falling prey like all the others before it. We must replace Praxis before it's too late," I saw Daxter shaking his head, eyes on the ground. "I am happy to say that you, the girl, and your sidekick are causing quite a stir in our fight against the Baron."
"You hear that Jak?" Daxter asked gleefully. "You're the sidekick!" He looked and saw Kor fixing his robes. "Hey, uh, wise and whiskered. You, uh, got something itchin' under your robes? They have ointment for that you know…" He looked him up and down with an arched brow.
"It's just my aching bones," Kor wheezed sadly, before straightening up and putting his hands on his hips. "We have word that the Baron is sending out one of his large tanker ships and to the Drill Platform to pick up a load of ill-gotten eco. Go out to the Drill Platform through the Warp Gate,"He instructed. "and knock out that ship! The Shadow will send a team from the Underground to pick up the eco later. Keep up the good work. We're counting on you!"
Kor walked away to go talk to Vin, so we went to the Warp Gate and jumped through. We ended up in an open ended room. It looked like it was somewhere near the Platform, and I could see some sort of moving turret just to the left, with an electrified gate in front of it, blocking off the track.
Jak hopped into the turret, and I hopped in his lap, his arms wrapping around me to get to the controls. Jak hit the button to make it go, and the things started moving forward rather slowly. A KG in some sort of flying turret came out at us. Jak shot at it, hitting it after a few turns, and the thing went down, only to be replaced by another one.
That one blew up, but two more came out this time. I leant off to the side, pulling out my bow, knowing it would probably be useful, sending a Vulcan Arrow towards one of the flying turret KGs, blowing it up.
The turret approached the corner before the next gate, not turning fully, but stopping almost all the way around it. A ticker appeared on the computerized screen, with a picture of a KG turret with the number 40 under it. It went down to 39 when Jak hit another KG, then going down to 38 when an arrow hit home.
Three turrets came from the bottom, three from the top, and I went straight for the ones at the bottom, Jak went for the one at the top, the ticker going down to 32. I watched as the counter kept going down, Jak and I working together to slowly bring the counter down to zero, shooting rapidly to keep up with the number of KGs that kept approaching.
The Guards started coming from all sides, and I got just a little bit frantic, the troops coming in groups of four and five, but we ended up taking out the rest of them, the counter finally ticking down the zero.
The train stared moving again, the gate opening and letting us through. It reached the end of the track, so we got out and hopped into a new one on a new track with a new electrified gate. I settled on top of the turret this time, looping my legs under the metal bars, strapping myself in as best as I could. I knew it would be easier for both me and Jak if I wasn't sitting the way I was before.
The train started with a jolt, and I fell forward a little bit, but locked myself in place by looping my feet around the metal bars and sitting up straight. I hoped this train wouldn't go any faster than the last one had, because then I'd be in a little bit of a sticky predicament.
A few flying KGs came at us, but not that many, and I was confused until we turned the corner and saw the huge rising Eco Tanker with KGs flying off of it.
Oh.
I tried plucking off the flying KGs, but my arrows weren't fast enough, and we were gunna be dead if I didn't think of something soon. Jak was too preoccupied in hitting the Tanker to be able to help me. I knew we couldn't switch either, because my arrows wouldn't do much to a metal machine.
Fuck this, I thought, blowing up the nearest KG before reaching down through the metal bars to Jak. He looked mildly distracted as I snaked my hands to his front and unhooked the leather strap there, and went behind his back and took his gun, tossing my leather strap full of bows down to Dax, who caught it, holding them gingerly. It all took about five seconds tops.
Jak looked up at me with a kind of sad surprise for a split second before turning his attention back to taking down the Tanker. I just loaded it and twisted it to the Vulcan Mod, machine gunning the swarming Metal Heads. The weight of the gun was foreign in my hands, and I didn't like it much, but this was Haven City, I didn't have time to think of my immature aversion to guns.
I shot more, bracing myself from the kick that I definitely wasn't used to, taking out all the flying turrets that had replenished themselves in one large spray of blue bullets. Once I seemed to have taken out the supply of guards the Eco Tanker seemed to have, I turned the rifle onto the machine itself, or rather, the turrets on the machine, helping Jak take them out.
Eventually, the thing exploded in one mighty poof, falling from the sky slowly. I watched it go, attaching Jak's gun to my Weapon strap and slinging it behind my back. I still didn't like the weight. It was way heavier than I was used to.
Our train turret started moving us again, pushing through the now non electrified gate, and stopping at the end of the track. I hopped off the top, going to the boxes on the side and replenishing ammo for both the guns and the arrows.
I looked to see Jak hooking my bows around on his strap, and I couldn't help but let out a half smile when I saw that. "It's like we've switched places." I voiced.
"Yeah," Daxter said, "Next thing you know you're hair'll go blonde and you'll turn into a speed demon with a penchant for hitting people."
"I like your black hair." Jak said, threading his fingers through it. "So how're the guns? Great, aren't they?" He asked with a smirk.
"Uhh," I said, my nose wrinkling. "Bit too much kick."
He chuckled. "You get used to that. Yours are too light."
"You get used to that." I mocked.
xMx
The next train turret was up on a ledge, and I could already see another Tanker rising from under the tracks. I pulled out Jak's gun, twisting it to the Blaster Mod, easily sniping the KGs already coming towards us from behind. I had to admit, it was more convenient to just twist, rather than to have to pull out a whole other weapon.
The flying ship stopped next to us, turrets at the top of the thing coming out and shooting at us. Jak got those, and I got the multitude of KGs coming from the belly of the ship.
And, just like last time, the supply of Guards ran out, and I started sniping the turrets that Jak wasn't getting, speeding up the process.
Jak and I never went for the same gun, and that made it a whole lot easier, not having to be all confused about who's gunna go for what one. We were too attuned to one each other to do that. Sometimes I felt like I could still see in his mind. I mean, I knew he could hear my thoughts if he tried, but I couldn't hear his, or feel his emotions any more. It was still really sad; I had liked that special bond that we had had. I guess the Dark Warrior program eliminated that from one of us…
The Blaster ran out of ammo, my fingers clicking on empty, not shooting at the KG that was flying at me way too fast for comfort. It got to me before I could switch the Mod and situate again, so I ended up just smacking the thing with the butt of the gun. Crisis averted.
Soon, the Tanker went down in flames again, do to Jak and my combined shots, and the train was moving again, pulling through the gate and up till it was practically directly in front of a Warp Gate that I figured would take us back to the Power Station, and whatever mission we were needed for next. Sometimes I just felt like a pawn.
"You've all proved to be quite the asset!" Kor said, kind of proving my thoughts, "Without Eco, the Baron will soon topple. The city's future will be in our hands!" He sounded really excited…
The communicator went away as we ran through the Warp Gate, landing back in the Power Station. There was nobody there, though, so we left.
I finally unhooked the uncomfortable weight of Jak's gun, and handed it back to him gingerly. He gave me back the strap of bows, and I kind of awkwardly cradled it to my chest, wrapping my fingers around one of the bows for the familiarity.
We headed off to Krew's, not because of the symbol, but because of the people the mini map was showing were there. Katie, Tess, Sig, and Krew. I would much rather talk to any of them than say Torn or Kor, who were both at the hideout with the Shadow. Wasn't very fond of 'Ol Green Stuff myself, old or young.
We walked inside the saloon doors, and I was greeted by large armored arms wrapping around me.
"Cherry!" Sig exclaimed, lifting me up into the air, swinging me a little bit.
"Ahh Sig!" I whined. I was proud of myself for not flinching at the contact.
He put me down next to a laughing Jak and Daxter. At least Jak was trying to conceal his laughter behind his hand. I smacked them both. Well, tried to.
Jak grabbed my hand mid-slap, and pulled me over to the counter, jumping up and dragging me up with him. I settled myself between his legs as he twisted sideways on the counter, pushing us so both of out feet were stretched out on the counter. I leant back against his chest, feeling Jak put his arms around my waist and rest his chin on the top of my head, looking around at the cozy scene; Katie and Tess were sitting on the counter, chatting, and Sig was standing in front of the counter to the right of us, facing the wall, and listening to the story the girls were telling.
Daxter interrupted though, sliding across the counter to tell his own story. "So there I was, toe to toe with five of the nastiest Metal Heads you ever saw! Slime oozing from monstrous jaws! Teeth sharper than daggers!" Tess put her hand to her mouth in a dramatic gasp, Katie roller her eyes, and Sig just looked on with a type of amused interest. "Slowly," The rat continued. "all ten of 'em surround me. But do I surrender? No! I summon my highly trained killer instincts, and pounce! Hya! Chooy! Whaa! HAA!" He did some sort of cheap imitation karate, and I rolled my eyes, grinning, feeling Jak shaking with laughter under me. "And when the dust cleared, there were twenty less Metal Heads in the world!
"Ohhh, Daxter" Tess cooed, leaning over the counter towards him, "you're amazing!" I honestly thought she was joking, but the sincere tone in her voice made me think different. Jak nudged me, and I looked up. He mouthed 'really?' at me, and I just shook my head. I saw Katie rolling her eyes again in Tess's direction. Finally, someone with taste. I shook my head slightly at the thought.
"Yeah, I know." Daxter said, yawning ostentatiously. "Scratch me there." He pointed at his back, and Tess started rubbing him.
"Quite a story there, golden boy. I guess you're just the 'animal' I need for another dangerous gig." Sig said, an eyebrow raised. "Combat Metal Heads have now been spotted right here in Haven Forest! These new bad boys have special camouflage, so they're tough to spot but I'm sure with your 'killer instincts' you'll manage." He wiggled his finger in Daxter's direction. "Go to the forest and take 'em all out."
"Aww come on Sig, you have to give us another mission now?" I complained. "We were just getting comfy!"
A/N: Hullo! Sorry for not posting yesterday! I have no legit excuse except I fell asleep.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter yayyyyy
Did anyone else think the tanker mission as like the hardest mission in Jak II? Just me?
LadyAmazon: I had the same problem! I remember when i finally finished it, I had like one second left on the timer :P And my brother taught me a nifty little trick for the KG swarming mission. If you Dark Bomb the water, it kills whatever it is that kills you when you land on the water, and you can just JET board over the water and to the end. I thought that was a neat little glitch.
xMonster