Chapter 3
What You Do Best

16D 09h 26m

Rise and shine!!

"Gah..." Alex groaned as he got up from his bed, wincing from the pain of forced wakefulness. Joumae had taken to waking him up as such over the last few days, and it tormented Alexander to no end. He had no doubt that his torment was the purpose, but there was really nothing he could do.

Now that he knew he was awake, Alex laid back down in his cot and stared up at the ceiling. Yesterday had been another cafeteria day – it was apparent they were held once a week. He'd been able to spend more time with Azelas, Balke, Seth, and Jinx. Frankly, they were the only ones who would bother going near him; everyone else made sure to keep their distance.

He'd been assaulted with more questions, as could be expected. He'd managed to avoid telling them that he was from a different world entirely, though it would probably come up next time. The link between his abilities and his unusual ears couldn't be avoided for too much longer.

Alex sighed and got up once again, and then – after another moment of contemplation – stood up and started doing some stretches. It had been Azelas' suggestion that he should start exercising regularly, since he was going to be spending a fair amount of time in prison. Joumae had supported this idea whole-heartedly, noting that he hadn't really needed to keep in shape with his magical garments, but becoming more fit would help his overall strength even if he got his garments again.

His regime wasn't too complex right now, in order to give his hands time to complete healing. However, as he stretched his arms and flexed his hands, he felt no pain coming from his wrists. He even tried punching the air experimentally, and a few more times with greater force. No pain whatsoever.

Excellent. You have your hands back, Joumae declared. You should be able to use alchemy again.

"Finally," Alexander growled. He clapped his hands, creating a nice sharp soundwave from the impact. He then placed his hands on both of the Shock-cuffs. Green sparks covered both of the devices...

But then pain wracked Alex's body once more, and he could see nothing but bright golden light. A black door-like structure appeared in his view, and it started to get larger.

Pull out!! Joumae screamed. Alexander felt both his hands suddenly move of their own accord off the Shock-cuffs. The pain and visions ceased, and Alex was shaken by what had transpired. Joumae wasn't too happy either. Son of a... You were about to end up at the Gate!

Alex looked down at the cuffs. They hadn't changed in the slightest. "What do you mean...?"

I mean, Joumae replied pointedly, that you were about to attempt the equivalent of human transmutation, and pay a similar price. ...I suspected this, but it was our last shot of escaping. Those Shock-cuffs are powered by Eco. Eco is quite literally the essence of life in this world. To attempt to transmute Eco is to attempt the transmutation of a life. Including a heart.

Alexander fell back onto his cot, wide-eyed. Their last means of escaping was gone. They were truly trapped here. Now there was no way out. Anger suddenly filled him up, and he slammed a fist into his stone cot. Already he'd spent more time in this world than in any other adventure. And now he would be spending the rest of the two years in the same damn situation.

17D 10h 00m

A Krimzon Guard walked up to the door of High-Sec Prisoner #74 and punched in a few buttons in the keypad next to it. He was glad that this prisoner was on the first floor of cells; there were many cells embedded into the walls, set in layers upon layers. He thought about this for a moment while the door slowly moved open, and then walked inside.

He blinked behind his armor's mask. There was now a mattress and a pillow on the cot, on which the short-eared prisoner was laying. It also seemed like... some of the stone in the walls of the cell had been simply cut out. "Wha...?"

The prisoner grinned at his reaction. "Just thought I'd make my stay more comfortable, now that I have my hands back."

The guard shook himself out of his confusion. Better not to dwell on such a weird thing. With people like Baron Praxis running the show, the habit of simply not asking was widely accepted. Glaring at the prisoner, he said, "Get up and follow me. The Commanders want to see you."

"The Commanders?" the prisoner echoed, raising an eyebrow. He seemed to think about it for a while, but he then shrugged and got up from the bed. "Alright. Lead the way."

Alexander followed the guard through the fortress into a large conference room of some sort. Seated at the long, central table were seven armored men; three on each side and one at the far end. All of the men shared the same facial tattoos, though the design varied from one man to another. The color and style of armor also varied.

After a quick glance, Alex noted with disdain that Erol was in attendance. On top of that, Torn was seated prominently at the far end. Everyone else was a stranger, though. All he could guess from there, of course, was that these were all of the Commanders of the Krimzon Guard.

One of them seated nearer to Alex, a young-looking man with dark hair, stood up and looked over to him. "Prisoner number 74 of the high-security division. State your name for the record."

This didn't really tell Alex anything about why he was here yet, but he shrugged and simply said, "Alexander Karsath."

The Commander nodded and sat back down. Alex looked around in confusion, wondering what was happening, and finally found a camera situated in the corner immediately to his left. Apparently, this was standard procedure they were going through. The real purpose would come in time.

Finally, Torn stood up and glared at Alex. "So, Alex, is it? Well, kid, ever since you've arrived, you've shown that there's more to you than in most other prisoners here at the Fortress."

Erol nodded with a grim look. "Yes... the ears first of all. Then there's your accomplishment of breaking everyone out of an entire low-sec cell block... and then incapacitating four men without laying a finger on them..."

Torn rolled his eyes and shot a glare at Erol. "Yes, you've pointed those things out many, many times now. Please shut up, Erol."

The antagonist scowled but averted his gaze; an unwilling retreat from the spotlight. Alex, in spite of all the trouble he'd gone through since arriving in this world, found this sight to be rather heartwarming.

So... Torn is Erol's superior? Man, how much cooler does it get than that!? Joumae agreed.

"Fact is," Torn continued, "we could use someone like you. You obviously have some power that would help us a lot. If you'd be willing to cooperate, we'd like you to aid us in some tasks."

Erol chuckled evilly. "And if you wouldn't be willing, that can be fixed."

"Erol..." Torn growled, but the inferior Commander simply feigned innocence.

Alexander was surprised. They wanted to recruit him for missions? That sounded okay... It would allow him to get out of the cell for a while and stretch. It'll also allow you to familiarize yourself with the city and the KG's procedures, on the off chance that you might escape, Joumae suggested. I say go for it.

"I guess... I don't see why not," Alex replied at last. "Not really much in it for me, but..."

"Of course there's nothing for you," Erol cut in, leaning forward in his seat with a sadistic grin. "You're still a prisoner of the Baron, and you'll remain that way. This is merely our way of helping you repay your debt to our society."

"Goddammit, Erol!!" Torn shouted, slamming a fist onto the table. "For the last damn time, shut the hell up!"

The other Commanders seemed to shift away from the two Commanders as their gazes locked in twin burning glares. But Erol finally backed down once more, and appeared resolved to remain silent from this point on.

"Grr..." Torn growled again, but finally recomposed himself and looked back at Alex. "Anyway, we have a task for you today, if you're ready."

Another Commander, a tall man with shockingly white, spiky hair and blue tattoos stood up, and Torn sat back down. "The sewers have been a long-established smuggling route for the local crime scene here in Haven City. There have been many problems with Metal Head infestations as well. But we plan to fix that."

Yet another Commander picked up a piece of paper and passed it along the desk until it reached Alex's side. Alex picked up the paper and looked at it, and found it to be a sort of blueprint sketch for some type of rectangular turret with a single, long gun barrel sticking out..

"By installing these turrets," the first Commander stated, "we hope to correct both problems at once. These cannons will shoot down anything that moves, human or Metal Head. That's fine by us; no one but the guards who piss us off should be down there in that hole anyway."

At this remark, all of the men at the table shared a chuckle, including Torn and Erol. The extra Krimzon Guards in the room didn't make a sound, but you could see them squirm a little if you looked closely.

After the short burst of mirth, Torn stood up again. "This is where you come in. The amount of Metal Heads down there has almost become too much to handle, but we also have another challenge. A group of the engineers who designed these turrets will be accompanying you and the cargo. They're the only ones who can install these things, and they need to be kept alive. That will be your objective; to protect the engineers until they install all of the turrets, and get them back out of there. You got that?"

Alexander frowned. It was an escort mission. On just the gaming side of things, he hated those kinds of missions. Those were always a challenge, no matter how skilled you were. And now he had to do that kind of thing in real life!

But he sighed and said, "Yeah, I got it. When do we leave?"

Torn smirked. "Well, since you seem so eager... right now."

The meeting had ended abruptly, and he was escorted through the Fortress to the outside. They passed a fairly large control room of sorts that Alex recognized from the game. There was a large tank humming in the middle of the room, and Alex watched it warily as they moved to the door.

Finally, the door opened, allowing Alexander a view outside the Fortress into Haven City. It wasn't all that great. The Fortress' main entrance was in the southwest corner of the Slums, the worst district of Haven City that was situated in the northeast part of the city.

It didn't exactly smell all that great either, but it was fresh air and – all things considered – better than the prison. He looked around, seeing the decrepit residential buildings, the uneven and poor streets, and the people walking around in it. The people only gave him and the guards a quick, nervous glance, though some of them continued to stare for a few seconds before looking away nervously. Alex self-consciously put a hand to one of his ears, knowing that they were the reason why they stared.

A large vehicle was floating near the Fortress' door. It was a large, dark red cruiser of sorts – large in comparison to most of the vehicles Alex could see flying around – with a large cage in the back. One of the guards walked over to the side of the vehicle and pressed a button, and the front section of the cage lowered.

Knowing its function, Alex walked over to the vehicle and took a seat within the cage. The front section closed up again, and the Krimzon Guards boarded the vehicle. After a few seconds, they took off.

The first thing that happened was that the ship sharply hovered up many feet from the ground, until it was completely level with the other vehicles – Zoomers – that were flying around as well.

Uh... what the heck was that for?

Alex sighed, and mentally told Joumae that the Zoomers in Haven City were restricted to two hover zones: low and high. The act of switching hover zones had always seemed violent in the game, but he hadn't realized it was that bad. In any case, you could use the high zone to avoid pedestrians, and the low zones to avoid traffic if you were a good enough driver.

I see, Joumae replied. And... is this really the fastest these things can go!?

The vehicles around them, including the carrier they were in, were going at a slow and steady pace, perhaps a third of the top speed that the fastest of them could pull off. Alex shrugged, and assumed that there was probably a speed limit. But it was hardly enforced at all, if the gameplay was evidence to anything. The only time driving fast did you any harm was if you crashed into a Krimzon Guard vehicle.

They probably don't mind civilian crashes, Joumae supposed. A few less people to worry about in a cramped city like this is not exactly a bad thing. And... Hey, is that a Zoomer just sitting there?

Alexander looked down through the side bars of his cage, and noticed an empty Zoomer hovering low as Joumae described; it was without a pilot and completely still. He hypothesized that Zoomers weren't all that hard to manufacture, and the transportation system was probably public and free of charge. Every Zoomer in the air was probably one that the civilians had found parked somewhere.

Well, I guess we don't have to worry about getting charged with grand theft auto, then, Joumae joked. No one actually owns a Zoomer. The only specialized ones belong to the Krimzon Guard.

Alex nodded as the carrier turned to the right and passed into a different section of the city. The Slums suddenly ended, and they were now surrounded by dark metal. The ground was metal, the generic structures around them were metal, and there was a walkway for people to walk above the high hover zone. It was the same type of area that he, Jak, and Daxter had landed in when they had appeared here.

Ah, the Industrial Sector, huh? Judging by your memories, we must be near the sewer entrance, huh?

Alexander nodded yet again. In the remaining time that they had, he watched the people and vehicles as they passed by, making note of a few things about the latter. The public Zoomers came in four main varieties, and each variety had about three or four color variants.

There was a single-seat light Zoomer, shaped and handled like a motorbike, that was easily the fastest of all the types. Then there was a light double-seated Zoomer that looked like two light single Zoomers given wheel controls and fins on the side, and then stuck together. Then there was a heavy double-seated Zoomer that actually resembled something like a car, as one single vehicle that looked almost rectangular in design. And lastly, there was the remarkably heavy single-seat Zoomer that was somewhat triangular if you looked down on it, with three large compartment spaces in the back.

There were a few other vehicles as well. A few Krimzon Guards could be seen riding their custom light single Zoomers, which had some armor reinforcement and a turret on the end. Then there were the bulky, round, two-seated Hellcat cruisers, which looked like an armored disc at first glance. They also had a turret on the bottom of the vehicle, but there also seemed to be a larger, manipulable turret nest in the raised back portion.

And finally, to round out the list of vehicles, there was the prisoner carrier that Alex was seated in right now. ...Which suddenly dropped to the lower hover zone, breaking Alexander's train of thought abruptly.

The cage swung open, and a few guards motioned for Alexander to get out, which he did. They were parked in front of a suddenly steep ramp down into a cut-out part of the ground, which eventually led to a security door. The few guards accompanied Alexander to the door, and they watched as the large knobs in the door ground through their grooves in the door from left to right and right to left, until it finally split apart to reveal an elevator platform.

Alexander shrugged and walked onto the elevator, and suddenly realized that he had done so alone. He looked back just in time to see the door close in front of the chuckling Krimzon Guards, and the elevator slowly lowered. He groaned and hoped that he wouldn't have to do this alone.

The elevator came to a stop in front of another security door, and he watched a large gear slide along the door and spin until it was right in the center, and the door split apart again. A horrible stench came wafting through as the air was released, and Alex groaned as his mind fought against the signals he was getting. This was going to be a horrible job.

Alex stepped off the lift and looked at the welcoming committee. There were three regular looking people standing in the main hallway he was facing, and there were two Krimzon Guards. All five of them were standing next to a large floating platform, which was carrying four gray uninstalled turrets.

Needless to say, the civilians weren't all that pleased. "What the heck...?" one of them remarked. "This is... This is it!? We ask for a strong escort and they send us a kid on two leashes?!"

"Shaddup!" one of the KG barked, and the civilian fell silent. "Don't mess with this kid; he's got those things for a reason." He then looked at Alexander. "Alright, kid. We're here for backup, but you've got point for this mission. I've seen you fight, so you better live up to what the Commanders think of you. Understand?"

Alex realized that these two guards were the same ones that had witnessed his fight with Zach. After a moment, he sighed and said, "Yeah, alright."

The other KG held his rifle at the ready, and gestured with it toward the three civilians. "Do not let any of these engineers die. They are the only ones who can install it, and it'll take longer if only one or two of them are around to do it."

The engineers glanced amongst themselves, and said, "Um... three people are kinda required to install these things. If one of us dies, one of you guys will have to take his place in helping!"

Alexander groaned. Less engineers meant less backup. So it would be simply best if he kept all of them alive. He'd toyed with the idea of being secure with the knowledge that he only needed at least one, but that was apparently out the window. He held out his hand, and the Heartless Seal Lockshield appeared in an inky black smoke. "Alright, let's get going."

He walked forward and looked ahead. Beyond the current stretch of the sewer pathway was nothing but darkness, but there was a shining floor switch that Alex knew would turn on some lights. So he continued walking, and the guards followed. The engineers followed, but they kept some distance. The hovering platform carrying the turrets followed as well, propelled by an automatic system of some sort.

Alexander looked down at the circular protrusion from the ground at the edge of the light, and stepped on it. Nothing gave way, but a clicking sound accompanied the return of the lights. What they saw was a large, square pool of water in front of them that was remarkably deep. If one looked closely, one could see another pathway at the bottom of the pool. But there was a small section of grating at the nearest right corner leading to another wide hallway, so Alexander walked along that and led the way.

When the entire group had entered the next section of the sewer pathway, one of the engineers pointed forward and said, "There's one of the places!"

Alex looked in the direction he was pointing in. There was a small metal stump-like object embedded in the floor at the far end. It appeared that one of the turrets would be placed in that mount.

But they suddenly heard a growl. Several growling noises, in fact. The engineers froze in their places, their excitement completely forgotten. The guards cocked their rifles and pointed them at the other end of the hallway, where the noises had come from. Suddenly, two dark creatures popped out of the water where the hallway ended and bared their fangs. They were large, beast-like creatures with four legs that had plenty of gray metal covering their dark blue bodies. There was a shining golden gem protruding from each of their skulls.

"Metal Heads!" another engineer screamed, and cowered next to the hovering platform.

"Grunts!" a guard growled, lifting up his rifle and firing a shot. A red blast of energy hit a Metal Head in the face, which enraged the two Metal Head Grunts and sent them into a charge.

Alexander took a deep breath and rushed in toward the two Metal Heads. When he got close, the Grunts got up and started approaching bipedal-style. One of them swiped at Alexander with its metal claws, which glanced off the Lockshield. Alex backpedaled and swung at the second Grunt to knock it back, and then shouted, "Thundaga!"

A bolt of lightning zapped the first Grunt, leaving it stunned for a few moments. The other Grunt took some damage but wasn't stunned, so it charged once more with increasing rage. Alex managed to bring the Lockshield up just in time to block the strike. He then pushed the Metal Head's claw aside and slashed it, sending it to the ground. The golden gem in its skull popped out with a thwock sound. Before the first Grunt could recover, Alexander gave it a few quick slashes as well. The second Grunt's gem popped out of its skull, and both Metal Heads faded away in bursts of violet energy.

There was a bit of a silence. Then Alex found himself pushed aside as the engineers came rushing through with the floating platform close behind. Two of them boarded the platform and hefted up one of the turrets, while the third started to fiddle with the mount.

But Alex couldn't really get to see this because his attention was diverted. Behind them, five of a different kind of Metal Head had appeared. These appeared to be strictly four-legged, and had dark red skin. They had much less actual metal on their bodies, and most of it was on their backs and skulls. Overall, they were more lizard-like in appearance.

"Hurry up!" one of the guards called to the engineers as he lifted up his gun.

The other guard took a shot at one of them, but missed. As he reloaded (the guns only fired one high-powered round at a time!) he muttered, "Damn... you ever seen five Swipers at once?"

The first guard took a shot at the same Metal Head Swiper, which was hit dead on. Alexander, deciding he didn't like the numbers he was up against, switched his Lockshield over to the Crimson Catalyst design. He then clapped his hands and placed them on the ground. Green sparks traveled across the floor, and collected in the Swipers' path.

All of a sudden, a row of Stonespikes rapidly rose up from the transmutation reaction, ramming into three of the Swipers. The Metal Heads' gems popped out of their skulls, and those Swipers faded away.

"Ready! Watch out!" one of the engineers called out. Alexander found himself pulled to the side by the guards, and looked back. The turret let out a mechanical whine as it began to move, and it fired two rapid shots at one of the Swipers. Both shots hit their target, destroying the Metal Head instantly. The turret paused for a moment, automatically rotated, and fired at the last one with true aim.

Alexander gulped. He certainly didn't want to be caught unaware of that thing!

One of the Krimzon Guards smirked. "Those are some sweet guns," he said, looking back at the engineers. "Those things aren't going to shoot us, right?"

The turret certainly wasn't moving. Another engineer, the middle in height amongst the three, grinned back at the guard. "Don't worry, this thing's been programmed to only attack Metal Heads for today. But after that, the only thing it won't shoot are people with a KG signal. Just like the Baron ordered."

"Good," the other Krimzon Guard remarked, and then looked back at Alex. "Let's move on, convict."

Alexander took the lead again. The platform abruptly ended in front of a stagnant sewer stream. However, some of the underwater pipework had large, inactive gas vents sticking up out of the water, creating circular platforms that crossed over to the other side of the canal. On the other side was a relatively thin stone ledge in front of some wire mesh that blocked off a darkened passage. There were two such ledges separated by some water, before three more gas vents created a series of platforms leading to another hallway on their current side of the canal.

Alex had no problem leaping from platform to platform. The guards had some trouble with their heavy armor, and the engineers were encumbered by their own fear and lack of practice. Alexander went some distance on ahead, but stopped after he leaped over to the second ledge. He heard a growling noise just before he stopped.

He remembered this particular detail from the game, so he cautiously stepped forward. With frightening speed, a Grunt dashed out from the darkness and crashed into the wire mesh, trying desperately to claw at Alexander. Startled but annoyed, Alex brought up his Lockshield and slammed it against the section of mesh the Metal Head was pushing against. The Metal Head recoiled violently, and the gem immediately popped out of its head before it disappeared.

As soon as they had all crossed over, Alex continued to move on. They were in another hallway structure, but it only went on for a short while before it came to a circular junction and continued on to the right. From there, there was another light switch on the border of an extremely unlit area. But it seemed there were three golden lights moving around in the midst of the darkness.

Alexander switched his Lockshield to the Time Fracture design, and stepped on the switch. A well-lit circular room came into sight between them and the next section of the sewer pathway, and three Metal Head Grunts were waiting for them. Before any of the guards or engineers could react, however, Alexander swung his Lockshield horizontally and shouted, "Slash!"

A white blade of energy arced through the air and sliced through the three Grunts with surprising force. The Grunts were knocked onto their backs, and they struggled to get back to their feet. The Krimzon Guards immediately fired their shots, taking out two of the Grunts sequentially. Alexander then rushed over to the third and slashed it with the Time Fracture's blade, finishing it off.

Hmph. It's good that you are finishing them off so quickly and without any damage, buddy, Joumae informed Alex. Wanna know why? Without your garments, you won't automatically recharge your Kingdom Hearts magic power like you did before. One Cure spell and it's gone for the day. You'll need to rest up before it'll come back in full, and I'm sure they don't sell Ethers in this world.

Alexander was almost furious, but certainly frightened by the news. It would've been nice to know earlier. Now it was absolute; he needed to get through this with taking little damage, if any at all.

Finally, they moved on. As soon as the next hallway started, the path started to slightly go uphill. It came to another circular junction, then went to the left. Then the uphill hallway ended after a short distance, and they came into a large room. They were on a tall structure overlooking a pool of water several yards below them. There was a series of short bridges extending off the main block and ending at a circular structure that had another turret mount on it.

The engineers rushed over to the mount, and one of the guards was almost bowled over as the hovering carrier went into overdrive to keep up. Alexander and the guards slowly followed along. Alex soon realized why the engineers were so excited; there was only this thin pathway leading up to this turret mount, creating a choke point in case they were rushed.

They all couldn't crowd around the mount with the platform hovering there, so one of the guards and Alexander remained on the second section of the bridge. Alex looked back, and was surprised to see no Metal Heads at all.

Suddenly, sounds came from below them. Everyone froze and looked down from the platform... into the water below. A few moments passed by, with the strange sound repeating itself. It sounded like something was moving through the sewer water...

"I don't like the sound of that..." one of the guards mumbled. He whipped around toward the engineers and shouted, "Step on it!"

"There!" the other guard shouted, and aimed his gun at the water. Alexander saw a strange, orange, lizard-like creature stick its head out of the water for the briefest moment. It bared its many fangs and quickly stuck out its long tongue, which came within an inch of whipping Alex in the face. It then submerged and resumed swimming around. It sounded like there were several of them.

"It's... it's done!" one of the engineers exclaimed nervously. "Though... it wouldn't be able to hit them anyway, if it could target them."

One of the guards groaned. "Gah... What are a bunch of Snaggle Teeth doing down in the sewers, anyway?"

Huh? Singular: Snaggle Tooth? Weird name... But, then again, most creatures in this universe are weird as all get-out.

Alexander shook himself a little. That attack had come too close, and he had been a little startled by it. Still, he had an idea. "Let me take care of 'em," he said, and concentrated. After a few moments, golden energy rose up from his body, and he shouted, "Lightning!"

To everyone else's surprise, a bolt of lightning crashed into view and struck the water below. A charge was subsequently sent through the water to all of the creatures in it. The sound of multiple creatures fading away simultaneously was heard moments after.

The others were speechless. "Well... damn," the second Krimzon Guard muttered, unable to come up with anything other than a vulgarity.

With that trial out of the way, they crossed the bridge back to the main platform, and continued where the main path made another left turn. The lights had seemed to have gone out in this section, but there was a large metal bridge spanning the dark space below.

Alex was hesitant at this part. In the game, this metal bridge fell apart as soon as it was stepped on. But an impatient guard pushed him forward with the rifle and sent him stumbling onto the bridge. His full weight was trusted to it, but it actually didn't fall.

Another two years and it'll have rusted enough, huh? Joumae remarked.

The bridge went around a corner to the right and then connected to another section of hallways to the left. Alex felt fortunate that this bridge was still stable, because all of them could see a large number of glowing golden gems waiting in the darkness a few yards below them.

The path came to an immediate junction and went to the right, but they were immediately confronted by two strange green frog-like creatures that started hopping toward them with what appeared to be combative intent. However, the Krimzon Guards both fired one shot each and killed both creatures.

"Geez," one guard said as he lowered his rifle, "it's a whole... um, I want to say 'plethora'. Would that be the right word?"

The other guard shrugged. "I guess so."

"Yeah, there's a whole plethora of things down here," the first one agreed. "Metal Heads, Snaggle Teeth, and even those wimpy little Puffers."

They moved along, and the air was suddenly filled with a silence only filled by the hum of the hovering platform. The group ended up coming to another canal, with more air vents available to cross it. On the other side of that makeshift path was a small stone ledge with a turret mount on it. They crossed over with no trouble at all, and – despite all their wariness – nothing attacked them while they installed the third turret.

They were at the back corner of the canal, so they jumped up to a small stone ledge to the left and then up to where another sewer passage began. Most of the forward path was covered in darkness, but there was a light switch there as well. Alex stepped on it and revealed the hallway ahead, which swerved slightly to the right and then to the left. But the light went out after a moment.

"Damn," one of the guards said. "Well, we can see the other side, so..." But he eventually trailed off as a noise could be faintly heard from behind them. The two guards quickly turned around and looked into the canal. Suddenly, the turret they'd just installed started to open fire as a whole bunch of Metal Head Grunts started climbing out of the previous passage and crawled along the sides of the walls.

"W-Where did those...!?" an engineer mumbled.

"Must've been the ones we passed over!" Alexander quickly answered, trying to think quickly out of this predicament. The turret couldn't handle them all with its slow reload and the wide spread, so...

"Just run!" Alexander shouted, motioning for the others to get going. "Let's get them to a choke point!" The engineers and guards alike were not slow to accepting this idea, and they started running down the hallway.

They soon passed through the unlit portion of the hall and entered the next large room. It was a rectangular, tall room that had another deep pool that the platforms were overlooking. Ahead of the main block were three long metal platforms jutting out of the wall, and a larger fourth one in the corner with a turret mount on it. The engineers were quick to make the necessary jumps, with the carrier and the guards close behind.

Alexander jumped to the second platform and looked back to watch the Metal Heads' approach. They moved as a close-knit group, so the entire group came at once. There were six of them. There seemed to have been more earlier, but it was likely that the turret had done its job to some degree.

Still, six on one – as it seemed to be with the Krimzon Guards having little time for preparation – wasn't a set of odds Alexander liked. So he held up the Time Fracture and concentrated for a moment. When the Grunts made their first leap, Alexander intoned, "Chronos Break!"

And, in an instant, everything came to a standstill. Color was lost from everything except for Alexander's body (though his clothes remained colorless). The airborne Metal Heads were frozen in midair, and every action had halted. Alexander smirked and brandished the Time Fracture.

The others only saw one simple thing. One moment the Metal Heads were rushing them, and the next they all simply died, with Alexander holding his shield on the other side of them. The guards and engineers were left simply speechless again, though the engineers were quick to get back to work on the last turret placement.

"Finally!" one of the engineers cried out as the last turret became installed. Their job was finished.

The first Krimzon Guard nodded and turned to the side. A crackling sound came from his helmet, and he said, "Sewer patrol reporting in. Guns are installed, and we are now escorting the prisoner back to the security barrier."

"Roger that," a sound crackled out from both guards' communications systems somewhere in their armor.

They climbed up to another sewer passage up the ledge to their left. The path came to a right turn and finally to an overhanging metal platform. This platform was looking over the first junction of the sewers, with the pool underneath.

Alexander, the guards, and the engineers rode the floating platform back down to the entrance hallway, and they all walked back to the sewer's security door. The door opened up, and the guards motioned for Alexander to get on the elevator. It seemed that they had some last-minute things to do before they went back into the city. Alex sighed and stepped onto the elevator lift, which started to rise as the thick security door closed up behind him. He was exhausted; that Chronos ability had taken a fair amount of wind out of him.

At least he had the satisfaction of knowing that, after a likely debriefing with the KG Commanders, he'd be able to spend the rest of the day resting in his high-security cell.

See how good you've got it? Joumae teased at this thought. But Alex didn't really feel like he was in the mood to argue, so he just kept his mind devoid of responses. Joumae didn't enjoy this at all. Good grief... Even in your own head, you're a spoilsport.

Disclaimer: Alexander, Joumae, the Lockshield, the overall concept of The Interference, and related concepts and characters are the intellectual property of Newbie-Spud. Kingdom Hearts, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Chrono Trigger and their characters and concepts belong to Square-Enix and its business partners. Jak and Daxter and related concepts and characters are the property of Naughty Dog, Inc.