Here it is, chapter two of The Channeler, The Conduit. Cole's made his landing in the sands of Spargus, but rather unceremoniously. It seems his welcome doesn't go unnoticed either.
Please read, rate, and reply. All feedback is appreciated.
Also you may find typos. I spellcheck manually. Sometimes I forget to check if a word is right because I have dyslexia and spell the way it sounds, or get it confused with the european way. Please do your best to ignore my 'free-thought' form of writing and my unusual use of sentence structure :p
Last but not least, inFAMOUS is property of Sucker Punch Productions Ltd/SCEA and Jak and Daxter is property of Ready At Dawn Games/SCEA. No infringement is intended.
Sake is mine :P (to those of you who've read What If and May It Be, the events of this story are not canon to either of those stories nore to Sake's history. this is strictly AU.)
"...They've really become a bother." An old man, skin paled and speckled with dark and light spots alike, held firmly to a cane while a younger man stood next to him, arms crossed. "The Guards insist on taking control, I'm sure of it." He gave a disdainful frown before looking to the man next to him, then up at the man sitting atop the throne before him.
"What my grandfather is trying to say is.. Is this really the best place for them?" the younger man asked now, gesturing toward the benevelant figure that warmed the stone seat of power.
"Haven City threw your grandfather out for treason, a crime he did not commit. This is Spargus, we've always welcomed outcasts and we will continue to do so, But I will do what I can to send a message to our latest refugees that we will not tolerate their behavior." The leader stood, speaking with authority. Slowly he spanned the gap between him and the elderly long-eared man, resting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I'll personally see to it in an address at the Stadium tom-"
He froze, staring at the flashing red light suspended from the high arched cieling as loud sirens wailed. Then he swivelled and stared out the large glassed wall toward the horizon. The sky had grown dark and angry, palm trees whipping about suddenly in violent winds. Quickly he ran for the throne, smashing a button on its arm-rest before speaking into a device next to it.
"Everyone into your homes immediatly. Drop everything. THIS IS NOT A DRILL." He ordered, voice booming over loud-speakers throughout the sprawling desert oasis. Outside the winds howled and the sky flashed brightly as lighting threatened to tear the city in two. Then he pressed another button, "Alpha, Beta, Gamma scouting parties, report!"
'Alpha green, Sir! Safe and sound!'
'Beta cleared sir, we're all in one piece!'
There was a pause.
"Gamma, Do you read me. This is Jak, I repeat, status report!" Jak stared frantically at the speaker and a look of desperation washed over him.
Then the device flared to life, crackled voices coming through.
'Gam-here-I-ad yo- J-.. We'-re- safe. St-rm-i-rea-lly-bad.' The channel was choppy as hell, every other word consumed by static and distortion. Another bolt of white ripped through the sky. Jak watched as more roared in the distance and the hairs on his neck bristled.
"Just get to safety. Report to me the moment you're safe." He demanded into the communication console, only to be followed by radio silence which he assumed was from the storm. Overhead the alarm screamed still and all at once the room became blindly white as a bolt struck the front of the vast throne room. Glass shattered, falling for a split second before being blown inward at violent speeds as a gust of sand and wind threw Jak from his feet. The supports of the windows had broken and were caught in the zephyr, a fairly large chunk of stone hurdling at Jak before smashing into the back of his head. The collission blurred his vision and with a gasp of pain, crippled to his knees while the grandson struggled to help his grandfather to his feet and flee. Then black creapt up from the corners of his vision.
The sky seemed to come to life as dark clouds spiraled around an invisible vortex, a wash of red, violet and blue emerging from the almost blinding light forming in the center. Then all at once a burst of energy was thrust forward and into the endless sands of the expansive desert. Sand hardened into stone and blackened upon impact and slowly the clouds began to fade.
Cerulean eyes behind goggles watched from a distance as the clouds spat out a ball of light and threw it violently to the sands, tossing earth into the air either to fall or be caught in the wind's relentless gusts. Ebony hair streaked behind her, untamed as wind sailed through it. Once the clouds had birthed their abomination, they calmed and slowed. The wind that threatened to rip trees from their rocky holdings stopped all together and content that it was safe, she removed her goggles and scarf. Then with a signal to two men at either side of her, she slid back down into her seat and turned the keys in her dune-strider, making way toward what would no doubt be a sizable hole in the ground to investigate. The two other drivers followed in their own vehicles.
The show had been visible for miles and she wondered if he had been watching. This far out however, someone else was sure to notice and it didn't take long before the radar equipped to her vehicle pinged five incoming bogies, tracking their progress as they sped toward her squad. With one hand she tapped a communicator strapped to her goggle strap.
"Sig, Jinx, stay loose. We've got company-Marauders. Cover me while I make a break for the impact zone! Do NOT let them get close!"
Immediatly both vehicles darted to the right, vectoring north to greet their new friends. Almost instantly they were met with a hail of gunfire, bullets ricocheting off the plating protecting their vehicles. Sig sat cozy in the seat of his buggy, grinning as a beep indicated a weapons lock. Then he smashed down both triggers and a hail of high calibur rounds sped toward their mark and tore through the sheet metal welded and bolted to the Marauder's frames. The thin metal did little to protect their drivers and the first of the two interruptions veered to the side, rolled then caught aflame as their gas tanks were ignited by the sparks from the gunfire.
Three more sped toward them, the third vehicle in the far back far more imposing than the front two. Atop its body sat a sizable mounted gun upon which stood a helmeted Wastelander.
"Jinx, look out, those are missle launchers. When the hell did they get those?" Sig screamed over his communicator.
"Hell if I know! You flank left, take out the asshole. Your guns have better tracking than mine, I'll deal with the pipsqueaks in the front."
With the coordination of finely trained performers, each man jerked the wheel and split formation, Sig flanking right while enabling his lower calibur mounted gun. With precision it tracked onto the slower missile-laden vehicle and began targetting its largest source of heat- the engine. Jinx meanwhile swerved right, plucking a wad of explosives from his passenger seat before moving to pass to the side of his first target while priming its timed detonator.
Five seconds, four secounds- Bullets peppered his vehicle, and in the last second he swerved left, startling the oncoming driver who served right and in a second's time he hurled the bomb toward the car. It seemed to float gracefully into the cockpit of the other vehicle and Jinx gunned it, wanting to put as much space between him and the half a pound of explosives now cooking inside the Marauder's lap.
The resulting explosion was loud but Jinx didn't care. Instead he smiled and watched his rear view mirror as it lit up with the sizable angry orange and red fireball spewing black smoke into the sky. All that remained was a smouldering crater and debris, which the desert would make short work of until it was gone like it never existed. Jinx revelled in his success, jerking the wheel to his left to rejoin Sig.
Meanwhile the dark skinned Wastelander pulled his wheel to and fro as his tires spat up sand in their desperate attempt to keep traction. Salvo after salvo of rockets peppered the landscape around and behind him and the lower calibur mounted gun was locked and firing rapidly, the barrel becoming red-hot. Each round did little to the massive armored tank-like buggy, but they were gradually chizzling away at its hide. Finally Sig managed to flank to its rear and the cannon had an easier shot at its engine. Gaps in its plating were all his guns needed to make short work of the gas tank as the Red Eco charged rounds reacted with the fuel and sent the lumbering beast up in an incredible fireball. In the distance he watched Jinx gift another marauder with a special delivery.
The third and final Marauder had dodged to follow Jinx, ignoring Sig while he tore away at the now-defunct tank. The man behind the wheel sneered at his target, pulling up behind him to take aim with his own medium calibur guns and when he had a lock, pressed down on his trigger as the barrels spun and sprayed bullets, peppering the backside of Jinx's buggy. Sparks flew from the impact.
"Jinx, he's on your tail!" Sig yelled, barely managing over the roar of his engine.
"I can't shake him, take care of this assholem, will ya!" Jinx had attempted to swerve to break line of fire but it was no use- the Marauder's vehicle was smaller and more nimble, more easily navigating the sand to correct his firing trajectory. Sig gritted his teeth and slammed his foot down onto the accelerator, speeding for Jinx's would-be killer with the goal of meeting him halfway.
"Hey, chilli pepper! Get that toy out tha' desert!" Sig howled, laughing as he watched the Marauder turn and face him, eyes wide open with horror as Sig's far larger buggy sped toward him. In one last cry of desperation the man screamed loudly, blinded by headlights like a deerbull.
The smaller vehicle was immediatly thrown to its side as Sig made contact, catching air as it hurdled end over end. After several flips and revolutions along its body it came to a stop in the sand, the driver bloodied and half-dead as he pried himself from the mangled wreckage. Sig watched from the distance and fuel began to drip from the upside-down buggy. Jinx wheeled around, striking a match on his buggy's frame before rolling by and tossing it into the gas soaked sand and gunning it. Seconds later the third marauder was consumed in flames and likely pulverised by shrapnel.
Besides, even if he wasn't dead, the vulchards would pick the flesh from his very bones.
"They blow up so nicely don't they." Jinx smiled wide.
"Yeah.. Yeah they do.. Kinda pretty, if I say so myself." Sig laughed back with a wide grin.
We better meet back up with the boss lady, Make sure she ain't dead in that crater." Jinx retorted, chewing thoughtfully on the butt of his cigar as he spun around to meet Sig.
The battle waged behind her, and she took comfort in knowing that wouldn't be the case for long. Sig and Jinx were two her most capable drivers, and while Jinx had his whiney moments, he was reliable for the most part. She'd known Sig for years and he'd never done them wrong. Now though, she had other more pressing concerns.
Her vehicle spanned the mile and a half distance between their origin and the site of the impact, pulling up to a dozen or so feet from the edge of what she expected to be there.
Sprawled out infront of her, some one hundred and fifty yards across, was a massive blackened smouldering crater. Electricity danced around the charged ground and it licked at her ankles as she got closer to its edge. Looking further, she observed what looked to be the shape of a human at its center, a man from the looks of it.
Slowly she creapt foward, wincing as more sparks nipped at her legs but for the most part ignoring the minor irritation. Behind her engines roar then came to a stop and two voices called for her from behind. As she got closer, something struck her as peculiar yet familiar about the man that lay still before her. He lacked the long 'elven' ears she and the others posessed, but he was clearly human in design. The shape of his ears hardly bewildered her. Instead of was a sudden reminder of her own origins and the circumstances through which she had arrived in this world- much the way this individual did, she thought.
Sig and Jinx quickly joined her, staring down curiously at the body of the man. Sig was the first to get to one knee, and with two fingers, pushed gently at his throat.
"Got a live one. Pulse is weak and breathing is slow. What do you make of this clothing?" he took a moment to examine the man's attire. He wore a short sleeved white shirt with light grey sleeves, and dark blue pants, right leg splashed with a white pattern that stretched from top to bottom. A bag of some type was wrapped around his chest, greyish white in color with black straps. Rubber and cloth split-toed shoes completed the look, but the obviously once pristine clothing had become tattered and stained, dusted black from the charred earth.
"Hey Uh.. Mrs. Mar.. Lookit' those ears. He's definatly not from around here." Jinx observed, craning forward to get a better look as he reached for his cigar and puffed. Blowing smoke into the wind, he lowered his goggles with his other hand.
"No boys. No he's not. But, I think I know exactly where he came from. Sig, load him up. We're getting back to Spargus and fast. Collect that.. thing too." She said, pointing to the pronged device next to him.
"If you say so. Either way we better bail before more Marauders come looking for their missing men."
"Pbbbt, Haa Not like they'll find anything left of em. The birds'll make sure of that." Jinx grinned before making a grab for the metal device while Sig hefted the unconcious man over his shoulder. Jinx yelped as a vivid blue charge closed the gap between him and the forked device.
"Fuck that stings." He hissed before reaching for it again, more cautiously this time. As he touched the warm metal, nothing happened, then picked it up. "Must've just been statically charged." With that he turned and followed the other two back to their respective vehicles while Sig strapped their find in for safe-keeping as they were still miles out from Spargus.
"Control, this is Scouting group Gamma. Sorry for radio silence." She had climbed back into her own vehicle, engaging the long ranged communicator on her vehicle.
"Good to hear from you ma'am. Jak was worried."
"I figured as much. Anyways inform the King that we'll be returning with something he'll be very interested in. And tell the mechanics and Infirmiry to get ready. Marauders tried to rough us up."
"Rodger that, ma'am. Control, out."
"Sake, Out."
Please let me know what you think! I plan on updating quickly as i've got it allll laid out in my head :)