Chapter 32: SIG!
Music: Jersey by Mayday Parade
'I'll have you know I'm scared to death
That everything that you had said to me was just
A lie until you left
Now I'm hoping just a little bit stronger
Hold me up just a little bit longer
I'll be fine, I swear
Mood: Sorrowful :C
Disclaimer: Writers lie, just like your parents
After we were dropped off my Ashelin, Jak, Daxter and I made our way to Krew's saloon. Both Katie and Tess were there, and both looked equally as nervous.
"Hey guys," Tess greeted, patting Daxter's head affectionatley. "Whatever Krew put in that machine, he looked really nervous." I looked at the machine with narrowed eyes.
"I bet a months supply of Eco that that's where the Time Map is," I muttered in Jak's ear, standing on my tip toes to reach.
He looked at it, nodding.
"Whatever it is," Daxter said, shoving his way between Jak and my legs. "Krew won't be needing it anymore." He grinned widely. "He's, shall we say, not all together these day." I felt half my mouth pull up in a grin.
Before he could continue, Katie interrupted, twisting a strand of hair through her fingers and gnawing on her lip worriedly. "Krew sent Sig on one last mission to the Underport hours before he left." She said, and I frowned. Krew knew it was possible he wasn't coming back. "He said it was the last mission Sig needed to do. Something about unlocking a secret door with Mar's ruby key?" She finished, voice rising at the end of the sentence like it was a question.
"Of course!" I growled loudly. "Jak, that's a suicide mission. We gotta get out of here!" I looked at him imploringly
"But what about the machine?" Tess asked, eyes flicking to said machine.
I cast around for an answer. "Okay…" I said drawing it out and finding a plan. Simple. "You guys stay here and figure this out," I gestured to the machine with wide hand movements. "And I'll head to the Underport and find Sig and we meet up here later." I finished, kissing Jak's lips and heading out the door before I could think about what I just proposed.
There was a suspicious amount of guards in the city, so I had to lay low and not walk on the side walk, so I JET boarded across the water until I reached the big structure in the middle of the Port, and stepped through the door, being plummeted to the ground by the elevator that I hadn't been suspecting.
The Titan Suit was sitting on a weight platform in the middle of the room, so I stepped off the elevator onto the grate that was acting as the flooring, and surveyed the plate, poking it gingerly with my foot.
Nothing happened, and I got into the suit anyway, knowing whatever was going to happen was completely inevitable.
Once situated, I finally noticed the water level that had been just below the grate steadily rising until it reached the top of the room, and I stood there in panic for a second, watching the breath meter move down, thinking I shouldn't have done this alone, before kicking myself into action and walking through the open door to my left.
Inside the room was what looked like a Water Mine, and a glowing blue jet of light shooting to the ceiling. There were air bubbles escaping the pillar of light, so I stepped into it, watching as my oxygen tank refilled. I took a deep breath in relief, but stopped when I saw how fast that made the oxygen level go down.
I stepped through the pillar again and vowed to take shallow breaths.
The only other door in the room was blocked my metal bars, but they were easy to break open with the Mech's strength. There was a big, breakable looking platform on the ground, so I smashed it, and fell down to the level below it. There was a Water Mine in this room, and I accidentally triggered it. It didn't do much damage, but I still avoided them in the future, heading through the next door after breaking the metal guard.
The next water logged room was what seemed to be the main room, and it was filled with a whole lot of Water Mines – well four,- and at least three Squid-Heads. The Metal Heads used their long tentacles to grab the Mech suit and zap it. I could feel the electricity all the way in the suit, so it couldn't be very good for the suit itself, so I tried to avoid them, rather than fight.
The Squid-Heads seemed to ignore me if I didn't get to close, so I skirted around them, heading towards another water jet, and avoiding more mines.
From the main room I went through the first door I saw; it was protected by a Squid-Head and two Water Mines, but I managed to make it around all of them and step down the stairs into the new area.
I headed straight for the water jet in the back of the room, at first, but once my oxygen was refilled, I took the time to survey the room.
There wasn't much in it, no door but the one that I came through and a few chained down platforms that were straining to get to the top. Looking up, I realized I could see lighting fixtures above me, blurry by the water, which meant that there was air and that's where I had to go.
The solution was simple; I broke the chains holding the floating platforms down, and watched the rest of the chain extend as they all floated to the top. There was a small water elevator in the back of the room, so I got on it and it began to rise, reaching the top and breaking the surface to the air.
On the surface of the water, I could see that the floats created a sort of path across, leading me to the other side. I debated on getting out, but declined that thought, knowing I would probably need the suit later. So I used the Titan Suit to boost myself across as quickly as possible because the floats couldn't take much weight and would start tipping to one side or the other with too much.
I sighed when I saw the water on the other side, moving the suit around to see if there was any other way to go, and when I couldn't find any, I took a deep breath and jumped back down into the water.
Once submerged, I saw the door was blocked off, so I broke it and stepped through, my eyes automatically searching out a water jet.
There was one across a thin bridge that the suit barely fit on and was inhabited by Squid-Heads. I boosted across it, pushing my way through the wall of Metal Heads and into the water jet before barreling through the door and fast as I could push the Titan Suit to go to lose the pursuit of the Metal Heads and into the air.
Through the next door was another big main room with lots of Metal Heads floating around. There was a glowing air pillar through one of the doors, so I made a beeline for it, passing through and onto the water elevator that lifted me up to about half the height of the water. I jumped onto the ledge I could see and into another room with more Squid-Heads.
One of them almost shocked me, and I was so preoccupied with getting away from it that I didn't even notice passing into a new room until the door shut behind me and the water began to drain away.
I got out of the suit, jumping around a little bit and stretching to get used to the whole walking thing again before heading to the locked door.
It sensed my presence, or something, and opened, gears turning loudly, revealing a brightly lit corridor.
I rounded the corner and almost fell into the gap at my feet that I hadn't noticed. I was too busy looked across it to where I saw Sig, looking thankfully unharmed and shooting stray Metal Heads.
I rolled across the gap, standing next to Sig, who hadn't noticed me yet, too busy scanning ahead of him for more Metal Heads. "Hey there, tough guy." I greeted, waving. Sig turned immediatley and shot at me, thinking I was a Metal Head, causing me to have to drop to the ground in a crouch.
"Cherry!" He said acknowledgement before turning back to the Metal Heads approaching and shooting at them. "Where's blondie and the chili pepper?" He didn't even pause to let me answer. "Get your skinny ass over here and start shooting!" He ordered, and I backed towards him so we were standing shoulder to shoulder, or rather should to head, and pulled out my Blast bow, shooting at the approaching Metal Heads.
"Man, was I set up!" He exclaimed, and I nodded while letting an arrow fly to let him know I was listening. "Krew sent me down here to open some old doors with that Ruby Key you found, and when I did, Metal Heads came streaming in from some passage outside the city walls..." I glanced at him over my shoulder, eyes wide. "Just like they were waiting for me!" He turned back to the scene in front of us, firing. "There's one!" A Metal Head fell from an air vent.
"Krew's dead." I said blatantly, shooting off another arrow.
"Yeah? Well he's lucky!" Sig said hotly. "Because he would not want me to catch him alive!" I smirked.
"Precursors!" I wondered. "The Metal Heads must have promised Krew plenty for him to betray the whole city like this!"
Sig fired again, nodding before saying, "Let's get out of here!" And walking off.
I followed after him, catching up as he stopped at a room with two blocks in the middle. "If I can't shoot it, it's someone else's problem." Sig said, pointing to the blocks. "You do something about them."
I jumped down into the lowered room, punching at a block. I rolled forward, and I grinned, thinking about the Mountain Temple and Jak and I having to make our way across an Eco lake without JET boards.
I smacked the box twice more, setting it into one of the square locks. I punched the other box, setting it into the other lock, and it triggered the door, causing it to open.
I headed around the corner, but paused to wait when I heard Sig ask, "Did you hear that?"
I cocked my head to the side, listening intently. I did hear something, actually; a scrabbling sort of sound and the sound of something hitting something else, hard.
Just as I opened my mouth to ask Sig about it, the wall behind us burst open, revealing a large and growling Metalpede. The thing was huge, and I pulled out my bow hesitantly, looking for a chink in its armour. I couldn't really find one.
"Shootin' this one is only going to make him mad." Sig said, pulling at my arm. "RUN!"
He let go of my arm and we both sprinted down the hall to the broken up flooring ahead. I followed close behind Sig, jumping on platforms and crumbled floors literally seconds behind him.
"Move your butt!" I heard him yell at me when I started to lag behind a little at the moving platforms. It wasn't my fault I had short legs, or that he was six and a half feet tall.
I pushed, myself harder, though, jumping over the lasers and chasing Sig down a bridge, only a little behind him. The Metalpede was really close behind me, and really heavy, so when it got on the bridge, it collapsed with me on it. I pushed off as hard as I could, vaulting over, but falling short of the firm ground where Sig was standing.
I let out a small sound, think that that was it. Death by Metalpede. But Sig grabbed my wrist just before I fell, and pulled my back up. I took a deep breath on solid ground, and nodded at Sig, who continued on.
"I think that's the last we'll see of him." Sig said. I sure hoped so.
There was another locked door ahead of us and more bomb cube locks. I pushed them around and made Sig shoot at one to get it moving from where I couldn't without going over the edge, and got them both in the locks before they blew up.
The door slid open, revealing another room with more bomb blocks. I went to them, my mind already mapping out the path to fit them in the lock as Sig talked. "Get these done so we can go home." I hopped down into the lower level room, already moving the ticking blocks around. "I'll cover your butt while you figure this out." I heard the sounds of Sig's gun shooting, so I figured I should get this done fast before Sig became Metal Meat.
I got the keys into the locks, and the door opened, so I made my way back over to Sig, helping him take out the last of the Metal Heads before we both continued on into the new corridor.
There was a faint scratching sound again, and I turned to the wall behind me and Sig, tensed to run. He seemed to have to same idea, pulling me away just as the monster broke through again, looking angrier than ever.
"Great! Here comes that bad boy again! MOVE!" Sig exclaimed, and I couldn't agree more.
We both ran away, and I made sure to stay so close that I could touch Sig's back this time as we both ran away from the Metalpede. The only time I was behind was when there was the shoot-to-flip platforms and I had to wait.
Over those, there were grates that Sig shot through, taking us down two levels, both of us running into a room with the exit door, hopefull away from the Metal Head.
"Let's go! We're almost to the elevator!" I yelled to Sig, waving my hand as he made his way across the bridge. I took a deep breath, putting my hands on my knees to try to draw in more air.
"Looks like we finally lost 'em, cherry! Piece of cake, huh?" Sig asked, stopping to catch his breath in the middle of the bridge. I wanted to warn him how unstable the bridge looked, but I couldn't quite get the breath to talk, so I figured it would be safe. "Now you're a real Wastelander!" He complemented when I finally stood up straight. "I say it's time we take this fight to the Metal Head leader himself! What a trophy he'd make! We find a way to juice up that 'ol gun of Mar and Sylence and boom baby," I smirked darkly. Sounded like a good plan. Now we just had to get back to Jak. "We storm the nest, weapons blazing! Hell! We'll take 'em all on, together! You me and Blondie! Nothing'll stop us cuz we're-" Before he could finish the Metalpede broke through from the ceiling, crashing down on the bridge, taking itself and Sig with it.
I heard his shout as the he and Metal Head went tumbling down to the pits below and I stared in horror.
"SIG!" I yelled after him frantically, leaning over the pit to see if I could hear or see him, but there was nothing. I blinked, shock kicking in, sinking down to the ground, still staring over the pit, desperately searching to see something, but nothing.
Sig was dead.
A/N: Poor Sig :( it's okay, though, he comes back!
Has it occurred to anyone that this story will be over in about 3 chapters? 5 tops? I only just realized that…
Rezzkat: I know I know. I always have grammar and spelling mistakes but I'm too lazy to go back and fix them -.- I always write these chapters at ass-o-clock in the morning, so I'm tired and don't feel like going back and reading it through again, so I just post it the second I'm done writing. One day I'm going to go back and edit through this whole story for mistakes, and the first one too! One day…
xMonster