Want to find out what that noise was? Well, I just might tell you.
Chapter 29: The Source of the Bang
The cries of the boy rang in Gol's ears, even long after they had ended. Maia was off on her own duties, checking on the status of Haven City, ensuring their machines were still working properly, and other such things, but alone as he was, these noises that weren't there kept at bay the silence that should have been his right now. The robot was nearly complete, the cooling system ready, the Dark Eco crystal in place. Any tests had been successful, and now he worked on any final adjustments. Haven City would soon be destroyed. Tonight, even. Nevertheless, the sounds heard only by him were distracting, and he found himself on more than one occasion pausing far too long in his work to listen to the sounds residing in his mind.
His head jerked to the side in response to what turned out to be nothing. That boy. That stubborn boy. The more they did to him, the more unsettling his demeanor became. Nothing would break him. Not needles or electric shocks or the various liquids they injected into him during this past week. And while the boy's body became weaker and weaker from the research performed on him, his resolve only got stronger. He was waiting. Biding his time until he could kill them. Of course, that wasn't going to happen, but having someone so bent on your demise was still unpleasant, to say the least.
It was this feeling and the sense that the boy was watching him even when he wasn't that the Sage did his best to ignore, not always an easy task, as the boy was a most valuable specimen, and there were so many things he could learn about Dark Eco if he could only have a better understanding of its nature within this boy. How the Dark Eco had created another presence within him and where this presence resided, whether it be in the boy's mind only or was a sentient being of its own that he shared a body with. How he managed to retain his original, weak body most of the time, and yet could become quite powerful when he wanted to. And so many other things the research would no doubt answer that he hadn't even thought to ask yet.
These things Gol hoped to learn when he began his research, and yet sometimes it was nearly impossible to concentrate on his work when he had the feeling that this boy not only had the potential to be very bad for them, as he had been in the past, but that everything they did to him now was only creating an even worse fate for themselves later. This was nonsense, of course, as the boy wasn't going anywhere, and he was helpless as he was now, but these thoughts continued to distract the Sage, and he wondered on more than one occasion if they should just kill the boy and find another test subject in the future.
Nevertheless, he had managed to learn some things in their studies. He had delved deeper into the nature of Dark Eco. Having lived so long in its presence, the Dark Eco had become a part of them, blending with them, making them stronger and giving them powers beyond what they ever expected, but also leaving their personalities intact. They embraced the Dark Eco, but the boy, it was obviously forced upon him. He didn't accept the Dark Eco's gifts as they had, and with exposure that was clearly more intense, more concentrated, it made a new being within him rather than bonding with him. Not only was the Dark Eco forced into the boy, but he never allowed it to become a part of him, but rather, held it back, creating a new being inside him with a personality all its own. And so the boy, besides being a rather angrier thing than Gol remembered, retained his original, weak self, while a creature of immense power resided inside. A creature that was not unlike their servants, but simply retained an appearance similar to that of its host. A being of Dark Eco created within another person, another personality, being kept in a cage of flesh. He would certainly need to study this phenomenon further once he had the time. After all, even when his dear sister and he conquer the world, he will always be the Dark Sage.
He jumped again, this time not from nerves, as a distant bang traveled down the hallway, weak by the time it reached him, like the dying cries of a far off beast. He stared at the doorway, tools still held in the positions they had been in right before he was distracted. Now what could that be? He began to head for the hallway, backtracking for a moment to return his things to their table, before making his way back towards the exit again, eventually giving up walking when this took too long to instead float out the doorway.
Once out here, he listened, but no other sound could be heard. Whatever happened, happened. He glided down the passageway, now silent again, but something was wrong. Very wrong. It was the beginning. The beginning of something. Now what made him think that?
He continued on his way, his coat fluttering behind him and his thoughts racing as he searched his mind for what could have possibly caused that noise. What had the boy done? Or the rat. Where was Maia? Why hadn't he found her yet? Well, this place was immense, so it only stood to reason that he hadn't been able to locate her yet. But, was she hurt? Had something happened to her?
Gol's speed increased as his thoughts did, and as he turned a corner, he collided with something. Something that let out a yell.
"Watch where you're going!"
He steadied himself with a hand to the wall as Maia picked herself up from where she had fallen and proceeded to study her as best he could in the gloom for any sign of injury as she dusted herself off. Aside from ending up on the floor just now (he blamed her heels for her lack of balance, not his collision with her), she didn't appear to be the worse for wear.
"What's the matter, dear sister? I heard a noise—"
"Come quickly, dear brother! It's the rat's handiwork!"
As was always the case lately, Jak sat slumped in the corner of his cell. He could hardly keep his eyes open, so exhausted was he from the last group of experiments, and whatever it was they had injected him with had left him feeling fuzzy and disorientated. And yet it had managed to do nothing for the pain. The food and drink brought for him were untouched, some kind of stunted vegetable not meant to grow in the desert and hot, gritty water. He knew his stomach couldn't take it. He would throw up just from looking at it. Again. All he wanted besides escape right now was sleep, and yet he couldn't even do that with his body aching as it was. And when he had almost managed to doze off, a strange noise that had sounded like a bomb had startled him awake again. Though, for all he knew, that had just been his imagination.
He coughed, his throat raw, and wiped blood from his mouth. He had to escape from those two monsters. They were not human. They hadn't been for too long. Their slaves were just animals. They didn't know what they were doing. But, those two…
And for once, the voice was gone. And he missed it. Well, he didn't miss it, but it was an option, even if not a very attractive one. He was really starting to consider using Dark Jak again, but he didn't know if his body could take it. It sapped his strength on good days, let alone now, when he couldn't even stand without support. He needed to help Haven City. He couldn't let more of the people he cared about die.
No, no one had died yet. Daxter was fine. They had never shown him proof. But, how long had it been since he had last seen his friend? Weeks? It felt like years, but he was pretty sure it was weeks.
Daxter's fine.
But, where is he?
He sat there longer, breaths coming out in wheezes. He was then startled by a sequence of loud bangs from out in the hallway. He blinked. It wasn't…heels… Was it related to that sound he had heard earlier?
Jak's ears picked up voices outside the door. Not them again! He couldn't… He stopped and listened. Those voices didn't sound right.
"For the last time, you're not sitting on my shoulder!"
"I don't sit, I stand! Let me up already, Jak 2!"
"Jak's right here! You can sit on his shoulder now!"
"Stand! And I don't care! It's a matter of principle! No one disobeys Orange Lightning! Even Jak wouldn't dare!"
"Get off my leg!"
"You asked for it! I'm comin' up; be prepared!"
"Get off my—"
Jak jumped as he heard a loud thunk that made the door shake.
"Ow! You tossed me into the door!"
"Not on purpose! And you were groping me!"
"I was not! I—"
"Shut up already! They'll hear us!"
"Don't—"
"Just shut up!"
"Fine, fine!"
Jak listened longer, but now his ears met only with silence. Had new voices moved into his head? Then, the doorknob was turning, and the door swung open to reveal a man whose face was unclear in the darkness and…
"D…Daxter!" It took some effort to get the words out, but it was no longer difficult to keep his eyes open. It was really him! He was alive! Those monsters had lied to him, that… Daxter's huge smile disappeared, and his ears dropped back.
"Jak, what happened to ya?"
"That…that bad, huh?"
Daxter came forward to stand in front of him, looking at his friend like he hadn't seen Jak in years. With the ottsel now within arm's reach, Jak snatched his friend up and squeezed him tight. "They said they had killed you!"
"Me? You can't kill lightning!" Daxter squirmed around. "Jak, you're slowin' down Orange Lightning." He started kicking Jak in the stomach with his feet, but this only caused the man to hold on tighter. "Help, he's got me hostage!"
"Just so you know, I'm fine if I don't get a hug."
Jak released his friend and looked up to see the man he had all but forgotten in his excitement to find the ottsel alive and well. "Torn, what are…how'd you get here?"
The man strode forward, Jak's Morph-Gun in tow. "That's not important right now. What is important is that we get outta here alive. Can you walk?"
"I…I can try."
Jak attempted to stand, leaning on the wall at his back. Nothing was broken, but he was weak. No doubt about that. Finally, he managed to get himself upright, but walking might be a problem.
Torn stepped forward and handed Jak his gun. "Need help or no?"
Jak took his long-lost weapon. He had missed it, too, actually. "I think I can manage."
"Let's get out of here. After what we did, those two will be none too happy."
"We? What 'we' was there? I did all the hard work! Me!" Daxter jabbed a thumb at his chest.
"I found Jak's gun and shot all the monsters in the hallway."
"And I found the key to Jak's cell and destroyed the big, fancy machine makin' all the monsters!"
"I didn't even say I did more than you! I'm just sayin'—"
"I know exactly what you're sayin', you glory hog!"
"Want me to shoot you, too, rat?"
"Oooh, that does it! I'm gonna—"
"Wait a minute," Jak said, as Daxter put up two tiny fists and went into a fighting stance before the much larger and much more intimidating Torn, who looked ready to simply step on the ottsel and be done with the whole thing. "You destroyed what? How?"
Daxter's rage was replaced by pride, his pose changing accordingly, with his fists on his waist and his head held high. "That's right. I destroyed their monster factory. Single-handed. Well, I used both hands, but you know what I mean. I coulda done it with one hand, though, if I…"
"But how?"
"Simple. I climbed up high onto the monstrous machine, twenty feet up (which is more like 50 for me), carrying rocks that weighed as much as I did. And then, 50 feet up (which is more like 100 for me), I dropped these 50 pound rocks into the massive, 300 foot tall machine! And then, kaboom, I was tossed 50, nay, 100 feet across the room, like an incredibly handsome, orange torpedo as the machine blew up!" Daxter jumped into the air and waved his arms around to ensure that no part of the epic tale could possibly be in doubt.
Torn rolled his eyes. "Right. So are we gonna just stand here all night, or are we gonna leave before they find us? A dozen gunshots are a little hard to miss."
"He's right. Let's get out of here, Dax."
I felt bad being so mean to poor Jak. I'm being nice now. You're welcome, Jak. Please review.