Behold, Torn's first chapter, as we follow the fight to defend Haven City…again.

Chapter 24: Unexpected Help

The sun rose on a Haven City Torn had seen far too often. It wasn't always in this dire of a state, though, it had seen more than its fair share of destruction. But, over and over again throughout the man's life, he had witnessed a broken Haven City. Time and time again, people started to hope, only to have it smashed yet again. The years of oppression under the Baron gave way to a Metal Head invasion. Then, the city was destroyed when the immense palace crashed down upon it, as if the Baron was striking one final blow against them from the grave. And then the city was overrun by not only Metal Heads, but KG robots, as well. And now, this.

Torn stood in the Freedom League Headquarters, doors sealed shut and reinforced by blast doors that wouldn't open for the Dark Makers themselves. He watched the destruction going on outside through the various screens situated around the room on a dozen computers, helmet tucked under one arm. Monsters overran the streets, while soldiers, having given up on holding the creatures back, just tried to kill as many as they could before they were inevitably brought down. There were too many of those things, and each one was stronger than ten men. They could bite clear through armor and snap a man like a twig. And yet, here he was, safe inside, while he just watched it all happen.

"This isn't right," he said, breaking his gaze with the screens when yet another group of soldiers was surrounded, their fates already sealed.

"Do you think I don't know that!" Ashelin said, leaning heavily on the central console, as if that was the only way to support herself against an invisible weight pressing down on her. Samos and Keira looked up from where they stood off to the side. Keira was biting her lip, while Samos' expression proved more difficult to judge, the way his glasses unevenly magnified his eyes.

"They're out there fighting, while we…" Torn stopped when Ashelin's eyes turned to him, saved from the strangely possible chance of being struck dead by her gaze alone when Samos piped up from behind.

"He's right. We must do something! I can—"

Ashelin twisted around to give likely the same look at the Green Sage, who continued on with an equally grave look directed right back at her. "I can heal the injured. People are dying out there, while I'm just—"

"The same goes for me," Keira said. "I've had enough practice channeling Eco that I can—"

"And lose our only Sages?"

"Well, technically I'm not a Sage yet…"

"You're not going anywhere, Keira!"

"But, Daddy…!"

The bickering stopped once the Governess abandoned the console to stand tall again, as if they now realized she could indeed reach them, after all. "Listen, I know all of you can help, but I can't afford to lose my best people. Not yet. Not before we have a clear plan." She looked at everyone in the room in turn, and upon seeing none were about to interrupt, she continued, "These things came out of nowhere, and they outnumber us twenty to one, and we don't know yet if more are on the way. I can send you out now, but if you all die long before the end, what then?" She put a hand to her forehead, seeming to be lost in thought for a moment, before lowering it back down. "And we still haven't had any sign of Jak yet."

"Oh, forget Jak," Keira said, crossing her arms, but it lacked any real intensity.

Samos shook his head. "Knowing him, he's probably gotten himself into trouble again." He paused, and his voice lowered. "But, it's not like him to ignore our attempts to communicate with him, either, especially at a time like this."

Everyone grew silent. It wasn't likely Jak was dead. Nothing could kill him. And plenty of things had tried. And Daxter proved to be equally as resilient, as much as Torn hated to admit it. Odds were slim they had both perished, and if something had happened to one, they would have been told by the other. Something else had happened. For all he knew, the two weren't even in the city anymore. He remembered seeing Jak not long before the robot left. Torn suppressed a grin. Now that was more like Jak…

Torn's musings over what trouble Jak was no doubt providing for their enemies were interrupted as the central console indicated someone was calling. Ashelin pressed a button. "This is Governess Praxis. Speak."

The voice crackled, a man. "Governess, there's someone outside the walls! There's…" The voice was overtaken by static.

"What, what is it?" Ashelin leaned in closer.

"There's an army out there! It's—"

"More of the creatures? How—"

"No."

"No what?"

"Wastelanders. It's like the entire population of Spargus is out there!" The voice continued, quieter than before, as if they were speaking under their breath. "What do those scumbags want…?"

Ashelin frowned, clearly perplexed, when she received another signal. She rolled her eyes and pressed another button. "Yes, I know—"

"How's it goin', chili peppers!"

She blinked. "Sig?"

"Looks like Haven's in a big heap of trouble, so we thought we'd drop on by and see what we could do. Think you can use our help?"

"Y-yes, thank you. The southern end of our western wall is destroyed, so you should have no trouble getting in."

"Sounds good. And tell your people to stop aimin' those turrets up on the wall at us." There was a click, and he was gone.

After a moment longer, everyone silent as they tried to make certain what they had just heard had really happened and was not just some shared hallucination brought about by their own desperation, Ashelin looked up, and for a moment, Torn thought he noticed a smile. Whether or not it was really there, no sign of it remained once she stood. "Maybe there's hope for us, after all."

Hours later, Maia had finished dealing with the boy (a most stubborn thing he was, as she had informed Gol afterward that he even had gone so far as to insult her weight halfway through their "session", as she called it) and had since gone out to check on the state of their army. This left the Sage some quiet time to continue his work on improving the Dark Eco cannon, a better frame having been designed by the two of them during their previous span of laboring, which he had since drawn out several designs for. Once the model that showed the most promise was chosen, he began the task of putting the cannon back together based on its new specifications, using parts brought in by the creatures that had been made to stay behind for these kinds of tasks. After the frame was rebuilt, all that would really be left would be some additional device for keeping the crystal cool (and however many revisions it took to get it right). And testing, of course, something he would not skimp on this time. He still had plenty to do, and he would make good use of this most welcome solitude.

As much as he enjoyed his dear sister's company, her constant chattering detailing all the creative things she intended on doing to Haven City and the boy was starting to get to him. He swore sometimes, after hearing her voice non-stop for so long, it was quite possible his own thoughts would begin to sound like her. Oh, the horrors! To have her forever living in his head! There were no recorded instances of that ever happening, though, were there?

But, now that he had some peace, the rate of his progress had picked up, and he was currently in the middle of securing in place one of the new pieces of the cannon's improved frame when he heard the click of her heels behind him. As he finished with the final rotations of a screw, he couldn't help but grumble.

"What was that?" she said.

"Nothing, dear sister." He looked up at her, not realizing until he did so that he had even been hanging his head in the first place, to get the full effect of a Maia who managed to have her hands on her hips in a more intense manner than usual, while her mouth was set in a tight line, eyes wide and looking ready to emit sparks, if that was possible. (There were no recorded instances of that, either. At least, not yet.)

His suspicions as to the status of her mood were confirmed when she spoke again. "Guess where your stupid, little plan got us!"

He sighed. What could have her dander up now? "You really must be more specific, dear sister. When you're in this mood, all of my plans are 'stupid'."

"Don't you take that tone with me."

"Did you come here to tell me something or didn't you?" He glanced over at her before his gaze returned to the wall behind her, his sister safely located in the side of his field of vision. Looking at her directly when she was like this was as dangerous as looking at the sun.

Maia snarled and stomped a foot. "The people from Spargus are helping Haven City with fighting our army! If we had just blasted them like I said—"

"You said nothing of the sort. You were actually quite fine with skipping them, if I recall correctly."

"Don't interrupt me!" She began to hover an inch off the ground like an oversized hornet and sped at him, stopping right in front of him, still floating. "Since when do you ever want to start something underprepared!"

"I had my reasoning." He continued to avoid her gaze. They couldn't destroy Spargus. They simply couldn't.

"Well, your reasoning is hurting our chances of winning this war! I had to start up the factory again to replace the troops we lost. Does that make you happy, dear brother?"

By now, her face was even closer to his, making it impossible to look away from her. He stayed silent, his eyes narrowing. She was ridiculous! Haven City and Spargus never got along. Not according to the history books. How could he possibly have foreseen this? She certainly didn't. He set his screwdriver down on the cannon and met her gaze. "Get out of my face."

She moved the smallest fraction of an inch closer. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm not going to do anything. I simply expected my dear sister to show me the same respect I show her. But, perhaps that is simply a result of me being 'stupid', as you say."

Her eyes widened, and he noticed her clench her jaw in silent rage, and then she disappeared in a cloud of Dark Eco.

Gol didn't return to his work right away, his eyes still staring off in the direction his sister had just been. Why must they bicker so? They always fought because that's what siblings did. That was nothing new. What was different now was how vicious she could become, ever since the Dark Eco began to really have an effect on them. Most of her changes were welcome, with a renewed sense of confidence and determination she had never had before, all of which made her better-suited to dealing with the hatred directed at them thanks to them being different. But, her previously gentle nature was nearly extinct, replaced by a rage that, especially when directed at him, he could do without.

He shook his head, choosing instead to focus on something else than a trait of his sister's that he didn't know how to resolve. Of greater concern right now was the news she had brought him. So the people of Spargus had gone to Haven City's aid? Considering they all seemed to be a bunch of firearms-obsessed fools, it was quite possible that virtually the entire city had gone. To think, the siblings had spared them, and yet they ran right into danger anyway. Surely not all of them went, though. Surely some had stayed behind….

The Sage picked his screwdriver back up and returned to his work, and though the silence from earlier had returned, his former vigor did not. There wasn't much more to be done before he could create the new cooling system, the final phase of the cannon's repairs, aside from the creation of another Dark Eco crystal, which could be replicated quickly enough after they had gotten so much practice creating them for the purposes of providing armor for their robot, and yet this did not give him the same excitement as it did before. He stopped again, thinking over the implications of the people of Spargus fighting alongside those of Haven City, and not just the most obvious fact that this would delay the eventual surrender of that place, but of other things he was even less capable of controlling. He sighed. Nothing much could be done about it. He had tried to spare Spargus. No one could claim otherwise. But, if they wanted to die along with Haven City, then so be it.

It just goes to show, even deranged villains have problems of their own. I also finally found a reference of the Freedom League HQ, though I didn't end up using it much. Please review.