Chapter 2: Battle In the Alley

Date: October 1, 3657

Location: Haven City Prison

Daxter's jaw would've dropped had his face not suddenly been forced into two large breasts and that alone would've been awesome had not what been said, been just said. His brain seemed to have taken a mini vacation at that point because last time he knew Jak was a guy, not a girl. A very dirty, yet very pretty girl who was holding onto him like her life depended upon him and whatever he would say next. It was at that exact moment that his brain seemed to kick him in the ass. "Okay, pause and rewind babe." He said as he wiggled out of the girl's arms. "How is that even fucking possible? Last I check my best bud in the whole world was and is a dude; ya know with dick instead of-"

"I know." She said as her ears tipped backwards towards the back of her shoulders. "The dark eco did something to me. I don't know how this is even possible." She then looked at him. "It's like how you got changed into an ottsel." She gave him a look that Daxter would always know. It was the same look that Jak gave him the day he'd been attacked by those wumpbees on his birthday. The same look that said help me, I don't know what to do.

Sighing Daxter peeked around a cell corner and saw some boxes that led up to a ventilation duck system and the grate was partially off, all he'd have to do is give it a good yank. "Okay man, we'll figure this out." He said and ran over to where he'd dropped a package picked it up and ran back to Jak. "Put these on, they may be a bit big now that you're a…well a girl." He turned his back to Jak and kept an eye out for anybody who had either heard them or was patrolling this area. He suddenly felt two large hands grab his tiny frame and he found himself place upon a shoulder. "Wow, uh…warn a guy when yer gonna grab and nab him." He gave a cocky grin at the green blonde as she finished putting on the headband and goggles. "I know they ain't like yer old ones that Keira made ya, but these are better. They have an awesome zoom, a setting that can help ya find eco-" he was interrupted there.

"I can't channel anymore." She said with a sad sigh.

Daxter was silent for a moment and then cursed himself for being so late in finding and saving his best friend. This wasn't right! Jak never needed saving. It was him that needed Jak. He then sighed and gave his friend a pat. "Okay Jak, let's go." He pointed towards the ventilation shaft. "That'll come apart in no time. One good yank-" as he said this Jak gave that one good yank and pulled the grate right off of the hinges. "That works too." he said with a nervous laugh.

Running through the shaft was the easy part. They came out at some sort of storage area when Jak's foot tripped an alarm system. "WARNING!" came the synthetic voice over the fortress' comm. system. "Prisoner escape in process!"

Daxter heard his friend curse under her breath and take off into a sprint. Dodging cameras around corners, jumping over large gorges and then they came to a stop as Jak looked one way and then looked another before looking at Daxter. "Err…left?" he asked and that's when they came face to face with the first group of soldiers.

"FREEZE!" one said as he held out his gun and pointed it at the duo.

"YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" yelled the second as he ran forward towards them.

"STOP OR WE"LL SHOOT!" said the last one who took out a pistol and pointed it at them.

"Do something Jak!" Daxter yelled. "Punch them!" Jak rolled her eyes at him and ran at the first who was running towards them and punched him in the not so protected throat, her hand tightened and crushed the guards larynx and esophagus and as she pulled her hand back she didn't release and thus tore his throat out, blood splurted everywhere around the guard, but Jak was already onto her next target. She dodged the eco blasts from the pistol and jumped and spun at the same time and thrusted her right leg out just in time for it to connect with this guard's head. The third having witnessed its two companions deaths decided to try a different tactic and threw a small metal ball at Jak.

"GERNADE!" Daxter screamed as soon as he'd seen the metal object being thrown at them. Jak grabbed it mid-air and threw it back and hit the guard squarely in the chest and with such force that the grenade was forced into the metal armor that the guard wore. The guard only had a second to realize that he was doomed before the explosion occurred. The shockwave from the explosion threw Jak off her feet into a roll. Going with the momentum Jak rolled down the hall and came to a stop and picked up a few gernade belts as she'd seen them on the floor and put them into her pack for later.

Shaking herself off Jak got back to her feet and took off into a sprint once again when Daxter's comm. unit went off. Cursing the ottsel answered it. "Dude, now's not the time!" he yelled into it.

"Daxter, you better not have lost your stuff!" came the feminine voice over the comm. unit.

"Taryn, I'm currently a bit busy bustin' my buddy out. I'll chat later!" he yelled as Jak ran across a rusty grated floor and suddenly they were being shot at once again. "Yikes!" he gasped as he almost lost his balance as they ran around a corner. Jak came to a stop on top of a wooden floor and bent over panting. "Hey babe, I think yer outta practice of this runnin' thang." He snickered. Jak swatted at him for his teasing when suddenly the wooden boards beneath her feet gave way and they went falling downwards until they splashed into what seemed to be a flooded area in the basement of the fortress.

"Daxter!" came Taryn's sharp voice. "Those weapons…"

"They're fine sweet cheeks." He assured the woman as he gasped for breath and got out of the water as Jak looked around for a way out. "They're in Jak's backpack. So all's fine."

"Good." She sighed. "Here's the address for a safe house. It's not much, but it's better than you taking your friend to Zimon's place."

"What's wrong with-" Daxter cut himself off and took a good glance at Jak, who's clothes were now wet and sticking to her body showing off every….Daxter shook his head to get rid of that train of thought. I ain't even got Jak out and I'm a staring at his new girl body bits! he was horrified by himself. "Yeah, yer right. Good thinkin' sweets." He looked at the text on his comm. unit giving him the address and frowned, before rolling his eyes. Water slums. Just what I need. he thought as he remembered the last time he was in that area and shivered at the memory.

Jak looked over at Daxter and smiled when she spotted the window up on the ledge. She began to gather boxes and made a ladder of sorts out of them. "Dax!" she yelled and winced at the loud echo that bounced off the walls in this place. Daxter's ears popped up as he ran back over to Jak and jumped onto her shoulder and began climbing up the homemade ladder and jumped out of the window just as the boxes collapsed on themselves into a pile, but by the time that had happened the duo were already out of the window and Jak was breathing the first breaths of freedom that she'd had in two years.

Location: Haven City Slums

Jak had for the last year and half finally gotten use to his female body and had decided to give into it. He was no longer a man, not matter how much his mind said he was, his body no longer was. So when people called him a woman or a girl, it still made him cringe; but he was getting use to it. To the point that even he was calling himself a girl and it didn't bother him like it would've two years ago.

Daxter looked up at his friend from the ground and noticed her looked of absolute happiness and at that moment every burn, cut, scrape, bruise, metal head bug fight and alley cat fight he'd been through was worth that small smile that crept along Jak's face as they walked through the slums.

It was while they were walking through the slums that they came across an old man and a green haired little boy. "May I help you?" he asked, a slight quaver in his voice.

"You look like a reasonably intelligent old man, so tell me, where the hell am I?" Jak growled her eyes glowing slightly.

"You'll have to excuse her," Daxter said as he spoke to the little boy, "she's new to the whole conversation thing."

"Well, my angry young friend, you are a guest in glorious Haven City, under the rule of his Majesty, Baron Praxis." the old man replied, brushing off his robes and adjusting his grip on the staff he was carrying.

"I was just a guest in the Baron's prison." Jak growled, thinking of the years of experiments she'd been forced to endure at the tyrant's hands.

"Whether in a cell or in the city, we are no different. We are trapped; all are the prisoners of Praxis. That is why I must look after this boy." the man said with a gesture. "His survival is vital to the life of this city."

"This kid?" Daxter exclaimed, pointing at the child for emphasis. "He looks kind of scruffy."

The child said nothing, but suddenly turned a fear filled gaze down to the end of the street. The elderly man followed the gaze, and paled visibly as the child dashed behind his legs."Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time." He said, and Jak noticed a trio of Krimzon Guards marching down the street, with several more behind them. They had their eco rifles drawn, and Jak knew in an instant what they were looking for: her.

"By order of his eminence, the Grand Protector of Haven City, Baron Praxis, and this whole sector is under arrest for the suspected harboring of underground fugitives. Now, surrender and die!" the lead guard spoke.

"Eh, doesn't he mean, surrender or die?" Daxter whispered to the old man.

"Not in this city." old man's reply.

"Okay, no problemo," Daxter said nervously, before turning to his larger compatriot. "Jak, this is where you come in!"

As the trio approached the elves and rodent, Jak stepped in front of the old man and the boy, sticking her arm out as a gesture of protection. The guards paused for a moment, not knowing what to make of the audacity of this townie. Then the leader did a double take, staring hard at the teenage elf. Blonde hair, glowing dark aura, blue eyes, medium height and build, blue tunic, it matched the description of a prisoner that had just…

Any further thoughts were cut off as Jak's arm blurred forward and her fingers knifed into the guard's exposed throat, crushing his windpipe. The other two guards tried to bring their weapons up to shoot the young woman, but one found her foot on a collision course with his face. There was a crack, and the Krimzon Guard fell back, his faceplate crushed in and brain matter spilling out the back of his helmet. The final member of the trio desperately attempted to grab Jak, only to suddenly find the woman's other foot coming in towards his abdomen. He fell to the ground with an unearthly clang, and he suddenly felt a vice like grip around his helmet. His horrified expression would be forever etched into his face as Jak twisted, snapping his neck with a sickening grace.

It was then that a red Krimson Guard transport stop at the end of the alley and drop off a dozen Krimson Guards who turned towards her and her companions and began to change them. Jak growled and suddenly felt a pain in the back of her head, fearing what it could be she suddenly black out.

Daxter and the other two watched with a mixture of horror and awe as the demon manifested itself. The Krimzon Guard halted in their tracks, unsure of how to proceed. The monster took that opportunity to throw itself towards them, its claw like fingernails gleaming in the pale light of the alley. The first man went down, screaming as talons shredded his battle armor like it was made of butter. The next one to die fired once but missed completely. He fell to the ground, gurgling as he tried desperately to hold his innards in. The three behind him fared no better, as slaps from the beast removed faces and limbs. Another attempted to use his rifle as a club, but the creature ducked, and retaliated with a roundhouse kick that sent the K.G. flying a good twenty feet, with his flight being stopped only by a parked zoomer that he slammed into and proceeded to explode. Then, the creature leapt up onto the side of one of the slum buildings, using its massive talons to secure itself. There, gazing downward upon the now pools of blood that had appeared around each of its victims, its primitive mindset trying to instinctively calculate where the next greatest threat was going to come from.

One guard who was still alive somehow took this moment to sight the creature up in his rifle's crosshairs. It would prove to be his last mistake. With speed that seemed impossible, the creature launched itself from where it had been. Its weight and momentum slammed into its target, bearing the man to the ground that went to scream before the monster's teeth cut him off by ripping his throat out with its teeth. Then, the demon roared, and purplish electricity, which Daxter recognized as channeled dark eco, flew from its claws and suddenly the bodies vanished when the dark eco flew over the dead bodies and vaporized them. The battle was over in less than a minute, the patrol had gone from more than a dozen men to nothing but bloody corpses that littered the ground and then were vaporized. Suddenly, Jak's skin returned to its normal color, the talons and horns receded, and her eyes regained their beautiful blue color, complete with the now eerie glow that they possessed.

"Uh…" Daxter began as he noticed the scarred looked that both the child and old man were giving her. "You okay Jak?"

"W-Wha-" she stuttered before she saw the blood in pools on the ground and the blood running down her arms and staining the new shirt Daxter had bought her. She looked up at her friend. "Dax-ter?" she stuttered and realized that it had happened again.

"Hey it's okay babe." He said trying to calm her down. "We're all cool."

"Very impressive." the old man thought out loud his eyes showing fear and something else.

Jak turned to face the old man and the boy, who had finally summoned up the courage to stick his head out from behind the old man, though his face was filled with terror, whether because of the thoughts of capture, or because of what Jak had become, the dark eco infused woman wasn't sure. However, now that Jak got a good look at the kid, she felt a strange stirring within her, a feeling déjà vu. She frowned as she stared at the child for a period of time. Somehow, deep within the depths of her mind, she knew she'd seen this boy before, but was unsure where and how.

"The Underground could use such fighters as yourself." The old man suddenly said knocking Jak out of her thoughts of the little boy.

"The Underground?" she asked and looked at Daxter who's eyes had doubled in size.

"I've heard of 'em on the streets." He said. "They are a resistance group that is waging a guerilla war against the tyrant and his men. They're lead by a mysterious figure known as The Shadow."

"Yes." the old man said as he starred at the little creature with wide eyes that disbelieved what he was seeing and took a long glance at the diminutive rodent. "I believe that you might be able to find what it is that you seek if you join up with them."

"Where can I find them." Jak inquired an itch suddenly coming on, one that wasn't to be scratched, but one of revenge and suddenly she felt as if she was being watched; but couldn't see who or what was doing the watching.

"You will have to prove your loyalty to them in order to see him. However, I know where you can find one of their bases. Look for a dead-end alley in the northeastern part of the slums. You'll know you have the right one if you spot a large skull and hammer painted on the side of the city wall. Once there, ask for Torn, and tell him that Kor sent you." He spotted a patrol cruiser coming their way and decided not to push his luck and get to see an encore presentation of the demon woman. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get this boy to safety before any anything else happens. You had best make yourself scarce if you wish to continue to be free, young woman."And with that, Kor turned around, and ushered the child to follow him.

Looking over at Daxter who was still on the ground Jak began to walk away from the only evidence of what had occurred there only minutes ago. The two walked in silence as they headed the opposite way than what Kor had told them. Daxter having said that they needed to lay low until the heat vanished from what had occurred in the alley by the prison.

Jak agreed wholeheartedly; she was tired and her muscles hurt like hell. After a day like today, she just wanted to lay down and never get up, but she knew that, that wasn't going to happen; not after that had happened. She closed her eyes for a second and suddenly felt the dark eco inside of her move to her will and realized that yes, she'd lost her eco powers; but now it seemed she had new and unknown powers. Plus there was the fact that she'd go unconscious and when she came to blood was everywhere. What had happened? She knew that whatever had occurred had happened in the prison too.

"Daxter?" her voice was soft, almost too soft.

As they entered the water slums Daxter looked up at his friend. "Yeah, buddy?" he asked

"What happened?" she inquired, "I know I did something; but what did I do?"

Daxter's ears suddenly fell backwards against his skull. "Well…" he paused as he scratched behind his neck and looked down. "Ya, kinda; went nuts and changed into this dark creature and killed everything that was going to hurt us." he looked back up at her face and saw Jak's eyes had widened. "But ya know what?" Jak shook her head and muttered something her couldn't even hear with his far superior hearing. "I thought it was awesome." He said with a smile. "Darkie was awesome as she slashed and killed those guys and then she just vaporized them and they went bye bye." Jak blinked at Daxter when he looked up at his friend causing Daxter to laugh at his friend's face disbelieving what she'd just been told. "What?" he asked curiously and then saw the house they were staying at. "Eh…Taryn got us the best place here I guess." He looked at the two story metal house with a single pipe coming out of its roof. "I call dibs on the shower!" he yelled as he ran into the place.

The door was unlocked, so were the metal windows. It smelt as if whoever had once lived there had also died there. Jak climb the ladder that went up to the second story that was no more than a loft with a single queen mattress on the floor and was bare of any sheets or pillows. Climbing down she went on to look for any sheets or pillows and found pelts and one bottom sheet and one body pillow in a closet, along with a single red and black men's shirt. Looking down at her shirt she took it off and went to change.

"Shower is-" Daxter stopped in the middle of his speech as he saw his bare chested friend. "Yikes! Jak, ya gotta do that upstairs." He jumped and turned away from his friend as she chuckled. "It ain't funny!" he crossed his arms over his chest and waited for an okay or something to tell him Jak had a shirt on.

Jak approached Daxter and touched his shoulder causing the ottsel to look up at his friend. "Sorry." She said.

"So…" Daxter began, "How'd this happen buddy?" Jak's ears fell. "Ya don't haffta say nothin' if yer not ready."

Jak sighed. "It happened the first time they pumped the poison into my body." She said. "I woke up and freaked."

"I bet." Daxter said and got a look from Jak that said you want to hear this of not? "Right, shuttin' up buddy."

"After I changed Praxis ordered a twice a month treatment, but Erol went behind his back and pushed for one that occurred almost every day." She paused as she sat down on the bare floor and looked at the wood burner in the corner of the room. "This went on and on for months, but then he stopped. I don't know why; but the next time I saw him he had a mark that bisected his face from left eyebrow to right side of his chin. It was three lines, but it looked like it had hurt like hell." She shook her head. "After that he ordered for me to be given double the treatments. Then I began to self heal."

"Self heal?" Daxter asked not fully understanding.

"If I get hurt the eco heals me." she lifted her right hand and looked at it. "He'd use anything and everything to slice my body up, just to watch the dark eco heal me." she swallowed hard as she put her hand down. "I can hear way better than I use to. They use to put me in a dark cell just to mess with me. I use to get scared, but then one day I opened my eyes and I could see everything like it was day." She looked at Daxter. "Like here, there isn't a single light on, but I can see as clear as day." Daxter's jaw dropped. "Then a year and a half ago I stopped thinking of myself as a guy. I'm never going to change back, I'm stuck as girl and I've come to terms with it. I hate what they've done. I hate what they've made me. I want revenge at what's been done to me, but…"

"But?" Daxter asked, his ears lifting from where they'd fallen on the back of his head.

"But I don't want to become the monster they've made me become." she looked into Daxter's bright blue eyes. "Am I wrong to want to just leave?"

"Naw." Daxter said shaking his head. "Yer better than me." he placed his hands on his hips. "If it were me, I'd kill 'em all and dance on their bodies." Jak raised an eyebrow. "What?" he asked in all seriousness.

Sighing Jak stood up and walked over to the pelts and sheet and picked them both up and climbed up the ladder and put them on the bed. Climbing back down she grabbed the pillow and looked at Daxter. "You coming?" she asked causing the ottsel to smile up at her and before turning away and locking the doors and then going around and locking the windows. By the time he'd gotten up the ladder Jak was already sitting on the bed taking off her boots.

"Tomorrow after we see this Torn fellow we can find ya some clothes that actually fit ya." He said as they both laid on the bed and both fell into a deep sleep, but one that would leave neither rested.

Night clung to Haven City as the fog from the port began to sweep through the alleys of the slums. It was a night that welcomed nightmares and made children scream with fright. It was a night like this that allowed a single man with a tattoo markings on his face and his companion, a second man with similar tattoo's to meet in secret with a resource that would allow them to hit the local tyrant with a bit of a boom. The two men turned a corner that went down to the water slums and entered a hut with a large golden googley eyed metal statue in it. Only seconds later the door opened and a young red haired woman with tattoo's on her face entered the hut with a metal box in her hands. She sighed at seeing the two men.

"Jinx, Torn." She softly spoke their names as if in reverence.

"Hey red." The blonde man replied as he lit a cigar and took a puff. "Riding the hood to see us?" he winked at her.

"Jinx, you're crude as ever." She muttered, not even fazed by what he'd just said. Turning towards the dreadlocked red head who was smirking at his companion she smiled. "Torn, you're being silent tonight."

"I might have things on my mind." He muttered, his voice gravelly and hoarse from hours of debriefing his subordinates.

"I heard about an attack near the prison this earlier this evening…" the woman began as she handed Jinx the box. The blonde man whistled at what he saw.

"Prime stuff Ashelin." He said as he showed Torn his new toys. "Military grade explosives and oh good lordy is that C-4?" he asked as he looked up at the red haired woman, who nodded. "Thought that stuff went out of style a hundred years ago."

"It did." She muttered. "My father is up to something, as always. I don't know yet; but it has Krews stench all over it and my father has been spending more time at the weapons factory outside of town in these last few weeks than he ever has."

Torn nodded. "Keep your ears open and keep an eye out for whatever you think is going on." He then paused. "As for the attack this evening, it wasn't us."

"I know." was her reply. "Video footage that I took," she said this as she handed Torn a disk. "from a surveillance camera shows a young woman being attacked by the guards and protecting young Prince Mar and that old man. She-" Ashelin stopped talking for a second unsure how to explain what she saw happen. "well, she changed into something that's not Elvin and killed every single soldier and then she threw something that looked like lightning and mist and it ate up the bodies and they vaporized."

Jinx walked over to her and touched he forehead. "Nope, yer cool as a cucumber." He said, as he turned towards Torn who looked at the disk.

"So you're saying find her and get her to join us?" he asked as he looked up at Ashelin who nodded. "Okay."

"Hope she's hot." Jinx muttered, which earned him a glare from his two friends. "What?" he asked with a shrug. "The only hot chicks in our organization is her and my sister, and both are taken. One I'm related to and you and him.."

"We aren't anything." Ashelin said as a flush spread against her face.

"Yeah." Torn muttered as flush also spreading across his cheeks, though it was hard to tell because his face was caked in dirt and grime from the undergrounds poor ventilation.

Ashelin then turned and left. Jinx plucked the disk out of Torn's hands and pulled out a portable computer and began to play it. Both men watched as the young green blonde haired woman and a small orange rodent approached Kor and the boy. Kor began to speak to her, when suddenly the K.G. appeared on scene. That's when hell broke loose. The woman began to hit, kick, and just attack the men. Then a group of a dozen approached her and that's when the devil incarnate appeared. Jinx's cigar fell from his lips as the two men were enraptured by the transformation and the death that soon followed. When it was over the two men felt a bit sick, but also in the depths of their minds a bit of hope began to spark.

M-Angel: Hmm...I didn't get that many reviews last time. Maybe because of the need for violence is greater? Oh! I was working on my first lemon for this story and it got a bit heated; so I decided to only give the ff approved version on here and post the very Mature version on my deviantart and archiveofourown account because ff has gotten really impulsive on deleting stories with lemons in them and by the time I get to the lemon I really don't want my story deleted. So, I'll begin uploading this story to those sites in about two weeks.
xoxoangii: reviews give m-angel fuel to write! even a few words would mean a lot :)
M-Angel: review and I'll give ya a virtual cookie. ^_^