Not sure what to say about this chapter other then despite the time it took me to write it, it feels rushed somehow. That and "Tada"
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The man standing in the door way looked like he had seen better days. He had some kind of light armor on, every part of it scratched and singed. His hair was cut neatly short, giving a good view to the tattoos on his face. Above all that made the man stand out was that Samos the Sage looked as though he had seen a ghost.
"Torn? Is that really you? But how?!" The man, Torn, held up a halting hand.
"Easy Shadow, we don't have time for a briefing. Come on, this place isn't safe." He said looking cautiously out the door the entire time. Daxter raised an eyebrow at the behavior.
"What's the hurry, tattoo face? 'Fraid a nasty little lurker's gonna jump in an' chew off yer leg?" Daxter let out an amused chuckle that was cut short when Samos' staff thwacked him over the head.
" This is no time for joking, Daxter! If Torn says we're not safe here, then we're not safe!" Turning back to Torn, he ushered Keira towards the door. " What's the hostile?"
"Metal-heads." Torn replied with an odd look at Daxter.
"Whoa! Hold on there, you mean them critters from the story you just told us? Gotta get yer hired help to follow the script Green stuff. You said them things were only in the Future." Daxter said planting his feet firmly, only to have Torn yank him out the door.
"Come on rat, I don't feel like putting up with your mouth today so get moving before I just shove you off the side." 'Off the side' being into the lava that surrounded the Red Sage's lab. Daxter gulped and eyed the burning magma warily.
"Well, lead the way then…" Once Torn dropped him and took the lead again, he mumbled a few impolite things about said mans mother. Torn glared back at him like he had heard what Daxter had said, but kept moving. He led them to a dark cave entrance in the side of the gorge.
"In here, it's a ways back but well defended. Only thing in here are spiders…though a few 'heads wander in now and then. Heh heh, the dumbest ones." Torn gave Daxter a leering glance briefly before catching himself. " Anyway they don't last long, we've got Jinx on security detail. It's amazing what he can do with so little materials." He paused to help Keira down off a high ledge.
" Jinx is here too?" Samos asked, using his green eco powers to float down. Torn nodded, again at the head of the group alertly watching their surroundings. The remaining trip was short and silent, though you could practically feel the waves of anxiety washing off of Samos. Finally they came to a crude but sturdy looking metal door with many deep gouges in it. Torn pulled some kind of flat card from his pocket and shoved it into a box on the side of the door. There was a beep and a creak as the door opened.
"Torn! Did you find them?" There were several people in the room who looked up at their arrival, but the busty blonde woman rushing towards them was the one who had spoken.
" Yeah, They were practically right out side our door." The woman looked at the assembled group quizzically, as though confused about something. Daxter spared a glance around the room. It seemed to be a mix of Keira's workshop and a large house. He could see a group of crude cots in one corner and something that looked like a kitchen area in another. Groups of mostly men were doing various busy looking things in the midsection, which was composed mostly of work benches with various machinery on them.
"Nice place you got here, now mind telling us what the deep fried precursors is goin' on here?" The woman gasped, hands flying to her mouth before Torn could respond.
"Daxxie?!" The room seemed to freeze at those words. The men who had been listening with one ear now had their full attention on the small group, Daxter in particular.
"In the flesh baby, although…do I know you Toots?" The woman looking on the verge of tears did nothing to stop the greasy looking blonde man who had walked up the their group from laughing his ass off.
"Well what'da you know? He really did use to be an elf!" Torn looked like he wanted to deck the man, but refrained.
" Tess, this isn't the Daxter we knew a few months ago. He doesn't know you." Tess took a deep breath to calm her self.
"I know Torn, but it's still…" She trailed off a moment, then shook herself. " Ashelin reported in right after you left, the Lurkers in the mountain continue to prove the only obstacle in getting the frozen reserves of Eco. Turns out Jak was right, Metal heads can't take the cold." Keira gasped slightly at the name, while Daxter just felt more annoyed.
"Lovely an all that, really. Though would someone mind explainin' WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" He shouted the last part at Torn, who glared him down with an un-amused look. Daxter glared back, until both of them shifted to their gazes to the blonde man, who was laughing again.
" In the half-hour you've been gone, the reports have pilled up. I put 'em on yer desk." The blonde man said, addressing Torn. " See'in as I find my self with little to do at the moment, I'd be Imore/I then happy to debrief rat boy an' the Shadow" Keira looked un-amused at being left out from the short list, but was ignored. Turning back to the small group, the man introduced himself.
" I'm Jinx." The man paused and shook his head "You don't know how weird that was…freaking time travel shit. Any way follow me over to mah' own personal corner and we'll get this over with, and hopefully straightened out." Jinx sauntered off, obviously expecting them to follow him. Torn looked like he was about to go after t he man himself, but Tess grabbed his arm and shook her head before leading him off in another direction.
When Daxter turned his attention back to Jinx, Samos and Keira had nearly caught up with him. Leaving Daxter to stand in the front of the room being stared at by himself. With a sigh and a grumble he jogged after them.
--
Jinx's "own personal corner" was nothing more then a small lab of sorts tucked into a large niche in the cave wall and curtained off from the main room. Closing the curtain behind them, he pulled out a cigar and shoved it unlit into his mouth.
"So here's how things went down after ya left Shadow. Abbreviated of course ta' save time. The city got pissed at Jak, blaming the current metal head invasion on him, exiled him and rat boy to the waste land, and practically doomed themselves. Jak joins the Wastelanders somehow, quickly becomes one of their top fighters, then comes back to the city after Ashe' begs him to." Daxter and Keira opened their mouths at the same time to question the man, but jinx held up a hand.
"Whoa, questions at the end please. Anyway, Back at Haven the guys up top are all out of their minds, don't know rule one about warfare. Ya' ask me it was obvious the Baron and Erol really WERE the only ones keeping the metal heads from taking over. Go figure. Jak shows up outta nowhere and saves our Ass'es again, then finds out Erol's still alive somehow and bringin' the Darkmakers, they're like evil precursors, to own us all. So with minimal help from the Precursors Jak kicks THEIR ass'es and blows up their ship and we all find out that Pretty Boy is really Mar. Ensue more time travel headache." Jinx paused for a breath. "Then there was that whole racing thing but it's rather unimportant and I wasn't there so who really cares?"
"Now here's where our current situation starts. One day we're all going about our business rebuilding the city and BOOM! There's this huge shockwave. When we got our wits about us the city looked more like a battleground then it did during the Darkmaker war. Which wasn't what had most everyone screaming in the streets. People went ballistic the first few days, cause' all of a sudden we all had two sets of memories: Ones where shit went down how I just told you, and ones where things went differently…different like Jak was never there."
" But here's where the real fun starts, Remember the metal heads? Not only are they back full force, they're smarter and badder then before, being led by these two Dark Eco beings calling themselves sages. Gol and Maia Acheron." Jinx waved down Samos this time. "At the end, the end!" Samos quieted but urged him on silently.
" From the "other memories" people knew more or less what going on, but there were people who weren't supposed to be there that I didn't /I have the right memories. From what we got out of Pecker an Onin before a 'Head got them was that the two Timelines had melded into one, bringing along whoever was alive in both into one existence. So of course the only way to fix it was to got back into the time line and find out what went wrong…an' as soon as we discovered that no one had any clue where Jak was (or who he was sometimes) we knew something had gone wrong in this time era."
"I can see the question on your faces, 'how'd we get back here'? Turns out Erol an' the Baron were still alive in the other timeline, more or less leading what was left of Haven too!" Jinx shook his head and chewed on his Cigar for a moment before continuing. " Erol used to hang out at your" he motioned to Keira " Garage for some reason or another that no one is willing to dig into, and knew the schematics for somthin' he insisted on calling 'the rift rider'. He managed to get it built with the help of the Head wasteland Monk Seem, who also got her band of monks to dig up the precursor time ring, and here we are." Jinx motioned to the room with an exaggerated wave.
The group of three took a moment to let all that information sink in. Samos was the first one to speak up.
"If what you said is true, and Erol and Praxis have their memories from your timeline, why are they helping you?" Jinx gave him a long look and sighed. "Since they were only alive in one timeline, that versions personality is dominant. Their goal is to do what ever they can to get rid of the Metalhead's, and fixin' the timeline was the only option left. For those of us who were still kick'n in both timelines, well this one guy went nuts and killed himself. Wasn't pretty."
"From the way you were worried about the Metal heads it's obvious they followed you, and if things are as bad as you keep saying, how are WE supposed to help ya?" Daxter interjected, folding his arms.
"Well, for starters, if you have any idea of when the timeline went wrong I'd be happy to hear it." Daxter held his stare.
" Sorry to burst 'yer bubble but you didn't go back far enough. Jak's been dead for over a week now."