There will be lots of big things going on in this chapter. And I had to make up some weird science stuff for the first scene.

Chapter 51: Freeze

Gol awoke from a restless sleep once again, but this time, he did not get straight back to work. Instead, he forced himself off the ground just enough so he could sit on the cold stone of the floor, all the while blinking away another sleep that was trying to claim him. Once it was clear his lethargy wasn't going anywhere, and he would just have to deal with it, just as he had been every day prior, he began to wonder just how in the world he planned on getting this monstrosity to fly in a relatively straight line all the way to Spargus and without alerting everyone within miles of it reaching its destination.

He struggled to his feet, clutching a back that was, by now, screaming at him for days spent sleeping on the floor, and then when standing seemed too precarious a position, he hovered into the air and began to circle the enormous object, just in case a second perusal would shed some light on the situation. It did not. With another look, in fact, it became all the more apparent that this thing would not only be very difficult to control, and undoubtedly slow, but it surely would bring just the attention he didn't want, especially when his enemies had likely not forgotten what he had done to them last time.

No, it wouldn't do to waste so much time and hard work building this thing, only to have all the people he intended to wipe out simply run away from it. He didn't care about blowing up Spargus. Spargus was just a bunch of buildings. What he was trying to do was finish off all the people that wished to see his plans fail, especially that boy and his confounded rat. That was his goal, and he could just see…he could just see himself taking out Kassra, while the boy and his rat escape unharmed. With his luck, that was what was surely going to happen. No, if the woman had to die, then those two had better, as well. That would be the only way it would be worth it. And even then…

He sighed. This would take some thinking, and he teleported himself somewhere a bit more comfortable, to the level of the citadel that contained his lab, still not as grand as it once was, and that useless library, and it was between these two rooms that he paced, trying to surmise some possible way of getting the bomb all the way to its intended destination unseen.

Simply bringing it there under the cover of nightfall was, at best, an uninspired idea, especially when his enemies would surely expect something he had already done before. But, how do you go about getting an object of that size to a city full of people unnoticed? He was certainly in no mood to suddenly invent some kind of cloaking device, and it wasn't as if the bomb was capable of teleportation like he was. Warp Gates could get things instantaneously from one place to another, but he didn't have one that big, and typically, you needed a second one at the other end for it to work. This was quite a conundrum indeed.

He stumbled into his lab, dropping into his chair and grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil, movement ceasing as he then could do nothing more but stare at the blank page before him, pencil poised in one hand. He lowered it, drawing a single, lopsided circle, though whether it was the bomb or a Warp Gate had yet to be determined. He huffed, scribbling it out before drawing another circle right below it, with no idea of anything better to do. He tapped the end of the pencil on the table.

Warp Gates. They were powered by Blue Eco, the Eco of movement, and they could transport objects from one ring to another, sending them nearly instantly through space, broken into their basest of materials, before reassembling them at the other end. But again, a second gate was needed for this to work, as the object needs a destination that's a fixed point in space, or else whatever is being sent could very well be doomed to wander the world as a cloud of molecules for eternity. That was the rumored fate of the original inventor.

Nevertheless, with half a hope that he could do better, the Dark Sage got to work sketching diagrams and equations in an effort to try to find some way he could get the bomb to Spargus without a giant Warp Gate suspended over the city, even if he would have to build the other end of it himself, but as the hours wore on and the table started to become covered in crumpled balls of paper, not so different from when he had tried to remember how to recreate the Dark Eco creatures so long ago, he came no closer to the conclusion he sought, either because it was impossible or because he was not currently in possession of the soundness of mind necessary for such a discovery right now. Surely Spargus didn't have some ordinary-sized Warp Gate somewhere that the bomb could squeeze through, did it?

Eventually, a waning afternoon found the Sage to still be in the same spot as he had been all day, pencil gnawed nearly beyond recognition, as he drummed the fingers of his free hand on the tabletop, staring at the markings that now even adorned the very surface of the table when he ran out of paper and when he was in no mood to get up and retrieve more. No, none of his ideas worked. None of his calculations brought him any closer to getting that ridiculous thing all the way to Spargus, his brainstorming leading him down one dead end after another. But, he had to get it there. He needed to. He just needed to get this whole thing over with, and he couldn't just sit around here all day long doing nothing. He had wasted an entire day without getting any closer to his goal, or his sister's goal, or whoever's goal it was. He couldn't wait forever. His nerves wouldn't allow it.

He dropped the pencil and reached across the table to swat away the balls of crumpled paper that had thus far avoided being knocked to the floor, and then he stood and kicked away the balls that lay scattered about his feet, as well, before stalking around the table and heading for the doorway. He might as well just fly the stupid thing to Spargus, after all. A lot of good it did him having it here. He turned the corner and headed down the hallway before remembering he could teleport, and he employed this method of travel to get him back to the room that held the bomb, stopping to glare at the hideous sphere of metal and explosives and Dark Eco, nearly covered with the very substance it contained, though it was all dried by now, a purple and black residue covering the bomb's shell, a warning to all of what hid inside. He was getting this thing to Spargus, today, or tonight, or however long it took, if it would at least cooperate long enough for him to accomplish that. He couldn't stand to have it here any longer. If only…

If only he could teleport it there just like he could with himself. While he could bring small objects here and there (a fortunate thing, as it was absolutely vital that his clothes always followed him to his destination), as long as such an object could fit along with him through the portal of Dark Eco he could create, it was simply not possible to create a portal that was much larger than oneself, like trying to displace more water in a lake than the amount of space you took up in it. That was how his kind of teleportation worked, using Dark Eco to replace his presence in one location to put him somewhere else, working with the fluidity of space that most were not aware of.

He blinked at the massive object before him, still stained with Dark Eco, and remembered that far more lay inside. Yes, this bomb was filled with Dark Eco. It was more Dark Eco than anything else, actually, the metal casing simply there to hold it all in place. It really wasn't so very different from himself and the Dark Eco that flowed through his veins. If he could use Dark Eco to teleport himself, perhaps…

The Sage grabbed the bomb's remote control from the table he had left it on and drifted over to the wall beside the doorway, pressing a button he had installed there, and the walls shook as the ceiling split open, sand from the sandstorm pouring in, a great deal at first before the amount diminished to almost nothing as both sides of the ceiling began to slide into the wall. Oh, yes, what a feat that was, but it was nothing, in terms of mere spectacle, to what came next.

He pressed a button on the controls in his hands, and the bomb's boosters roared to life, a glow emanating from their bases, a mere fraction of the power they would soon show, and he pushed one stick on the controls up, a groaning to be heard from the object before him, and he winced, half expecting it to explode right here and now. And then it began to lift, creaking, the immense weight of the thing feeling like it was transmitted through the very air around it, a few bolts popping out with the pressure of the liquid held inside, but other than that, the casing held, and the bomb lifted higher and higher into the air. He floated upward, as well, following it, and he kept a close eye on the thing as he eased it out of the room, and soon he passed it by to where he could float above it, where he could get a better view of just what was happening. It wasn't long before the massive object had cleared the entire citadel, the sight below him defying belief, and his heart jumped at the thought of his newest creation's success and what such a thing could also mean for him.

At last, the bomb hung high in the air, and now it was time to find out if his recent musings were correct or if he had a long, slow trip ahead of him. He floated over and, knowing no other way to go about it, rested his good hand on the bomb's cold surface, on a spot where the leaking Dark Eco had missed. He could smell the Dark Eco inside, its scent overwhelming, even through the metal, or perhaps it was just the dried Dark Eco on the outside that he was smelling, but nevertheless, he knew it was in there, and he could use it, just like the Dark Eco within his own veins. If it could take him to places far away, surely it could do the same with this, with a little direction.

He focused, on the great quantity of Dark Eco right before him, in addition to the much smaller amount that made up his own body, and he could feel it, all of it, responding to him, doing as he commanded, for he was the Dark Eco Sage, and the subject of his research always did his bidding, if he treated it right. Dark Eco enveloped them both, Sage and sphere, sending them miles away to the place the bomb had been designed for.

Jak ran out the door, the sky above turning to orange as dusk neared, his next destination the city gate. And while he raced through the desert city's streets, his mind moved at an even greater speed than his feet did, as he thought about just what it was he was running towards. Towards their last remaining enemy. Towards the one who had flooded Haven City with Dark Eco and who was about to try and blow Spargus off the face of the earth, as well. He was running towards what he was sure would be his last confrontation with Gol, and while bringing the fight to the Dark Sage had not worked in the past, he couldn't just wait around for that monster and his bomb to show up, either. And besides, this time he had Light Eco on his side, and if there was one thing a Dark Eco Sage would fear, that would be it.

He ran by soldiers, both those from the lost Haven City (but certainly not lost forever) and from Spargus, soldiers that would not have to fight again in this war. No, he would see to that. No one else would have to fight. And no one else would have to die. They stared at him as he dashed by, some of them turning to murmur to their comrades. Maybe a green and blonde-haired man and an ottsel simply looked like an odd pair to them. Or perhaps they had heard of the duo that had saved them in the past. Whatever it was, he did not hear their words, and it didn't matter. All that mattered right now was ending this war.

And then a voice called out to him, and he groaned when he saw who it was, before coming to a stop as the source of the voice ran up to him.

"Wait up!" Kass said, waving her arms over her head for good measure. "I was looking all over for you. I wanted to talk to you, y'know."

"What do you want?" he said as he bent over, panting for air. She was the last person he wanted to talk to right now. It was just like her to slow him down just when he was on his way to stop their enemy. She really did seem to have far too unhealthy of an interest in that monster. Not that she could have known that's where he was heading, though, could she?

"Where are you going?" she said, arms falling back down to her sides.

"It's none of your business." Now that his breathing had become easier again after his short, though involuntary, break, he attempted to walk around her, but this only caused her to follow him.

"I know you don't agree with me, but just listen. Please. It won't take long, and then you can do whatever it was you were doing, 'kay?"

He sighed and turned to face her again, arms rising in a half shrug. "What?"

"You're going to kill him, aren't you?"

"Yeah, and if you think you're going to convince me otherwise, don't bother." He turned and began to walk away from her again, in some effort to make at least a little more progress towards his destination, but he was forced to stop again when she ran around in front of him, hands together in a pleading gesture.

"Just hear me out! You don't need to kill him! You—"

Jak raised his hands to clutch his forehead, his voice coming out in a near growl. "Would you just leave me alone already! I have to do this, and—"

"No, you don't! I know you need to do something, but… Can't you just…capture him?" She moved in closer to him. "Wouldn't that be good enough?"

"No! No, it wouldn't!"

"Why not?"

"Because!" This time it was his turn to step closer. "Because he destroyed Haven City! Because he killed thousands of people! And because he killed…" His voice lowered. "Torn. He killed Torn. I can't let him live. Not after everything he's done."

This time she didn't have an instant response, but her eyes contained a pain, as if she knew what he was feeling, but she didn't. She didn't know. Not when it seemed like she was siding with that murderer. What could she possibly know?

"I…I don't know which one of them killed your friend." Her voice was soft, a private conversation between friends, almost, even if they weren't such. "I don't know who it was, but killing him won't bring your friend back."

"It'll stop anymore from dying."

"So will capturing him."

"After all he's done, how can you possibly want him to get off that easy? Even killing him wouldn't be punishment enough, but at least it would keep him from hurting anymore people." He paused. Why should he even have to argue with someone about this? "I still don't get it. I know you said he saved your life once, but how can you still care so much about what happens to him after everything he's done? He's…evil."

She was staring at the ground now, hands together. "He wasn't always that way."

"That doesn't matter. He's this way now."

She looked up. "It does matter. That's why it matters. I mean…it's not all his fault. Not entirely. The Dark Eco's changed him. He wasn't bad until the Dark Eco made him that way."

"That's not my problem."

"Isn't it? Because…I've seen what you can do…."

He stiffened.

"I've seen the…the monster you can change into," she continued. "Dark Eco's made you do things you wouldn't normally do, too. How would you like it if someone killed you because of something you had no control over?"

"He knows what he's doing."

"Not entirely."

The stared at each other, the sun beginning to dip towards the horizon, a reminder he was running out of time. For all he knew, today could be their last, if he didn't take action. He had to get going. This conversation was leading nowhere. She didn't understand. She didn't understand that this wasn't the same thing. Even disregarding the fact that he had just been healed, he had always still been him. His change wasn't permanent like Gol's was. He was only different when his dark side took over, but most of the time he was still himself. But, in Gol's case…maybe it was true that he was a different person once, but he was evil now and always would be. It was probably even too late for Light Eco to help him.

"Listen, I—" he began.

"Please, think about what I said. Please don't kill him. He's not all bad. Really. Maybe he can be helped."

"I really don't know about that."

She blinked at him. "Can you at least try?"

Jak sighed, lowering his eyes from her gaze. "I'll do what I can. I need to go."

He shouldered around her before she could stop him again, back on track, his path set once again for the city gate. Someone like the Dark Sage couldn't be helped so easily, for Jak knew what Dark Eco could do to a person. How it could make a normally peaceful man a violent animal and cause someone to turn on those they cared about without even being aware they were doing so until it was too late. Such a person shouldn't get special treatment just because they weren't fully in control of their own body.

But, that's why he had been banished out here to the Wasteland years ago, because of his dark side and because people thought he was dangerous. And he had been, he had been dangerous, but it didn't mean he was happy about being forced to leave those he loved, left to die from dehydration and a searing desert sun. Yes, maybe he had been a danger to people back then, just as he was up until recently, but he had to admit that it still didn't seem like he should have been punished like he was. Gol's situation was not the same thing, though. He had studied Dark Eco. He had purposely stayed around it for so long that it had warped his mind. He had allowed himself to become this way. Whether the Dark Eco was influencing him or not, he still knew what he was doing. And everything that happened was still his fault. Jak didn't show mercy to that kind of person.

They arrived at the city gate, and Jak got into the Sand Shark and headed out, realizing now that he wasn't entirely sure where the citadel was from here, but it was a large place, and he could at least guess. This would be it. This war was going to end today, or they would fail, but he was certainly leaning towards the former. No more were going to get hurt. No more were going to die. He was going to end what had begun three centuries ago, atop the silo. This time he would make sure that Gol was dead. That was why that monster had returned, because he hadn't finished his sister and him off, but Jak refused to make the same mistake twice. It didn't matter if the Dark Eco had changed him. It didn't matter if he had been an ordinary person once, just as Jak had been back in Sandover, before Dark Eco had ruined his life. All that mattered was that people had died, that Torn had died, and that other people he cared about could die if he didn't end this. He would end this, and it didn't matter what that woman said.

The sky began to turn to crimson, and Jak knew night would fall before he reached the citadel, and he could only hope that he could use the darkness to his advantage. He had failed on his first trip there, and Torn had failed on his last, but this time was different, as he now had Light Eco to aid him, and Dark Jak was no longer able to cloud his mind. He was as ready as he'd ever be. And that would have to be enough.

Come on, Jak. You've beaten them before, when you were just a kid, and they had a massive Precursor robot to use against you. Even back then, when the odds were not in your favor, you still did it. Because Light Eco had appeared, just when you needed it. And now, just as Samos had said would happen, here it was again. You've done this before. All you need is to do it one more time.

"Uh…Jak?"

"Yeah, Dax, what is it?"

"I'd turn around if I was you."

The man turned, eyes growing wide at the sight of what was taking place behind him, and he jerked the steering wheel to the side, the Sand Shark skidding sideways, spraying up sand before he brought it to a stop. Above Spargus, a great mass of purple clouds was materializing, electricity arcing between them and off into the air, like a particularly angry and inexplicably sudden thunderstorm, and then from within it, another shape began to emerge, something huge and round and metal.

Jak swore. Gol had brought the fight to them, after all. But, that's all he would do.

"Jak…?"

"I guess he couldn't wait to see us again. Well, let's not keep him waiting. Let's go, Dax."

And it was now that he let the Light Eco within him flow free, like a dam that had just burst, and never before had he ever felt so alive, as his body was enveloped in light and tendrils grew from his back, linked by nearly invisible membranes. But, none of this brought about the pain that his transformation into Dark Jak did. Only a new power and the clarity of mind that told him exactly what needed to be done. He flung himself from the vehicle without a moment's hesitation, ready to take flight as Daxter screamed and held on for dear life, and then he was soaring through the air, speeding off in the direction of Spargus and the giant bomb that hung above it.

As he neared the city, the sound of yelling greeted him far below, sounds of shock at what had just appeared above them and the terrified screams of Haven City civilians that shouldn't even be out right now, but had likely leaned out windows or doorways to get a better look at what the soldiers and Wastelanders outside were pointing at, before they were, no doubt, urged back inside by those who had been trained to deal with the worst, and yet had no idea what to do about this.

But, none of that mattered, because he knew exactly what needed to be done, and while his heart was pounding in his chest from the effort of flight, there was a calm within him that no bomb could extinguish, no matter how big it was and no matter how hopeless the situation seemed. Spargus was in no danger, even if no one in their right mind would have ever believed it.

And as he drew closer to the hovering bomb, Daxter's wailing at finding himself not only at such heights, but careening towards a giant bomb, began to form into words as he screamed into Jak's ear. "What are we gonna do, Jak!" the ottsel said, fistfuls of the man's hair clutched in his hands. "We're gonna die, Jak! I don't wanna blow up! I don't wanna!"

But, there was no time to respond to his friend's cries, as another sound reached his ears, and time seemed to slow, as the bomb began to creak, its sides splitting open as each pack of explosives wired onto its surface went off all at once, and surely it was already too late as the enormous metal object lost its shape, erupting in what was soon to be a gargantuan fireball, ready to release the Dark Eco he could already smell inside, but it never got that far, as he also became aware of an internal command he hadn't yet even realized he had issued, as a wave of blue shot forth from him in all directions, enveloping the bomb in a haze, halting it in the process of an explosion it wasn't able to continue, fireballs stopped, splitting metal held still, while the first droplets of Dark Eco hovered in midair, disregarding the gravity that should have taken its course and brought them to the ground.

Jak hovered there, staring at the frozen bomb, his thoughts just now catching up with what had happened, with what he had just done before he even knew he was doing it. Spargus was safe for now, but for this moment only. The freeze would only last for a limited time, and then it would be like he hadn't even done it.

He began to charge up his energy, for a power he had never unleashed before, but knew he had in him, as time began to inch forward, the bomb's radius just now starting to creep outward again, and then he released all of the power he had built up inside him, sending forth a wave of pure Light Eco that washed over the bomb, extinguishing the explosion like he was putting out a candle with a bucket of water, the Light Eco traveling into every crack and crevice that had formed in the bomb's surface to cancel out every drop of Dark Eco within.

Daxter's grip on his hair began to loosen, as the ottsel leaned forward to get a better look at what had just happened. "What'dja just do, Jak? Have you ever done that before? I've never seen ya do that before!"

Before Jak could answer, he heard a groaning as the last remnants of his freeze command began to wear off, and the bomb started to drop, slow at first, and then its speed began to pick up, and his attention snapped downward to anyone below. "Move it! Get out of the way!"

Perhaps already prepared for such a possibility and with reflexes made faster by the memory of what had happened not terribly long ago back in Haven City, the soldiers and Wastelanders below began to run as the massive object hurtled down towards them, some leaping away just in time as it landed with a horrendous bang, sending up a great cloud of dust that rushed over everything in the vicinity, enveloping everyone and the surrounding buildings, not to mention the bomb itself, in a thick haze. Jak waved a hand over his face and coughed when some of the dust even managed to float up to where he was, while Daxter chanced a short, precarious dance right before reclaiming a tight hold on Jak's hair.

"We did it, Jak! That'll teach that old goon to mess with us! I sure taught you well, didn't I?"

Jak gave a chuckle. "Yeah, sure…" His eyes went wide. There was one more thing. He spun about, searching in all directions for the Sage that surely must still be nearby, before his eyes locked onto a small shape in the distance, hovering at a height not much different from him. There he was. He knew it was him, and soon it would all be over. This war ended now.

Light Jak sped off in the direction of his next target with one thing in mind, the conviction that Torn's sacrifice wouldn't be for nothing. This was the end. The end that Torn had begun when he had killed Maia. And now, it was Jak's turn to finish it.

Gol couldn't believe it. He really couldn't believe it, and even now, after watching his bomb, the product of so many hours of work and exhaustion, all set and ready, hovering over the place he intended to destroy, just freeze over the city less than a second after he pressed the button that would cause its detonation… He just couldn't comprehend it, or what came next, as the bomb just dropped, lifeless, to the ground, with nothing but a most unsatisfactory thump and a cloud of dirt to say it had struck, when a massive explosion should have been the result. What he couldn't believe most of all, however, was… He could have sworn Light Eco had just enveloped his creation. Light Eco! All emanating from a glowing figure floating high over the city. Light Eco…what in the…and why…and… Where did it even come from, and who…?

Who was that? By the Precursors, please let it not be…of all people…

What did he do to deserve this? What did he—

His sister made him do it. It was her idea, not his. Don't blame him; it was her!

And try as he may to tell himself that none of this was happening, that it was all just an elaborate figment of his imagination brought about by a rather intense case of sleep-deprivation, he couldn't. He just couldn't bring himself to believe that his eyes and his mind were deceiving him, no matter how utterly unbelievable what he had seen was. And as he stared at the space where his bomb had just been, just before things had gone so terribly wrong, his eyes grew wide as he spotted something, something bright and glowing, the same thing that had miraculously stopped his bomb from blowing up, Precursors, save him, it was coming right for him!

The Sage dropped the controls he held in his hand, withdrawing backwards away from the figure that was approaching him before he remembered he had an easy way out of this. Yes, he could simply teleport, and everything would be fine. He would return to the citadel, and he would get a good rest and regroup and…

He opened a portal around himself. He could get away just in time. It, that thing, whatever it was, was almost upon him, but surely he could escape, but then it was right there, it, he, that…that boy, at least he thought it was, it was his face, all right, and he was struck, the full force of the boy's weight barreling into him as the portal closed, throwing him a good fifteen feet backwards, where he landed on the hard floor of the citadel, his lab and his library not so very far away, not much good they would do him right now, but only a week ago…only about a week ago, it was just him and the woman, and things were peaceful, and now…maybe he should have just ignored Maia's desires. She was gone now anyway. But, this wasn't supposed to happen! Her plan was supposed to work! Spargus should be gone, along with that blasted boy!

Gol pushed himself up onto his elbows as the boy, for that was the only person it could be, despite the glow and the tendrils growing from his back, began to walk towards him, and he backed away as best he could from his position on the floor, when trying to stand seemed like it would only cause more delays. But, this was not a very effective manner in which to make an escape, either, and he raised a hand, ready to make some attempt at defending himself, but the boy was faster, lifting one arm and sending a blindingly brilliant stream of Light Eco at him, and the Sage screamed and fell back to the floor when he was struck, the substance creating a white-hot pain within him that threatened to undo him, that threatened to eat up all the Dark Eco inside him that made him strong, but the boy only held it for a second, and the Sage attempted to rise again, his breathing now ragged and his voice hoarse.

"Kill me," the Dark Sage said, and the boy stopped, standing over him, with much less rage in his pupil-less eyes than he remembered last he had seen the boy on the operating table, even though the things that the Sage had done to him had still happened, and more had happened since. No, now the boy only gazed down at him, serene, a slight frown on his face, but not much else.

"Is that what you want?"

"Yes." I have failed my sister, and even if I hadn't, what am I really fighting for anymore? What's the point anymore?

The boy raised his hand, and Gol flinched, though the boy only looked at it, and nothing more. "Light Eco shouldn't cause you pain. It is life…and healing." He turned his attention back to the Sage. "It only confirms how far gone you are."

"None of this nonsense! Are you going to do it or not?"

The glowing figure before him shook his head, and Gol furrowed his eyebrows, continuing, "If you can spare any mercy for me, whether or not I deserve it, then…"

"That's exactly what I am doing." The boy raised his hand, sending Light Eco at him again, and the Sage cried out, arching his back as the pure white substance began to kill the Dark Eco in his veins, and it would surely kill him, as well, if it went on much longer, but he supposed that's what he wanted, if the boy followed through on it. He grew weak, his breathing becoming even more difficult, and things began to close in on him, blackness overtaking him, though, whether it was death or just sleep, he couldn't tell.

Don't worry, Gol did not perish. Phew, what a chapter this was. I really was pleased with the method I was able to come up with for how Jak stopped the bomb, if I do say so myself. And I also really enjoyed trying to get a little bit of a look into Light Jak's character, since we don't really see his light side's personality as we do with his dark side. If Dark Jak is crazy and violent, then Light Jak should have very opposite traits, and so I tried to show a little bit of what I think his light side would be like. Please review.