A short chapter, but the next one is a doozy. Happy reading!


The Underground hideout was just as unchanged as the day Torn had left it. Back then, with the high of victory over the metal heads and the Baron, he'd figured he'd never see it again. How wrong he was.

The place was dusty with debris from all the attacks from outside. Torn brushed broken chunks of drywall off the old desk and sat down. In the back of the hideout, a few of the pipes were leaking, though not bad enough for him to really be worried. The beds were musty and, if he was being honest, probably a bit moldy by now. He could still hear the scurrying of rats in the walls.

Still, at least he wasn't alone.

"Alright," he said wearily, "let's get to it. And no smoking in here, got it?"

In response, Jinx blew a smoke ring directly in Torn's face. Tess reached out and snatched the cigar from his mouth. "Hey!"

"Knock it off," she scolded, putting it out on the wall behind her. "This place has no ventilation."

Jinx folded his arms and grumbled, but didn't light another cigar. Instead, he sat on one of the chairs in the corner and leaned back in it. Tess didn't sit, instead just choosing to pace around and look at the old hideout.

"Thank you, both of you," Torn told them. "I know Ashelin isn't happy that you're aligning yourselves with me."

Tess snorted and replied, "Oh, I don't care," at the same time Jinx said, "Never cared about anything less in my life." Torn gave a raspy laugh.

"Just to be clear," he said, "this isn't me against Ashelin. I have my own personal issues with how she's handled this, but we're all still on the same side here."

Tess opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by the door opening. They all turned to see Keira, who came in looking slightly out of place. A little too clean cut for an Underground movement in the slums.

"What are you doing here?" Torn asked.

"I was trying to convince Daddy to come with me." Keira flopped down on one of the bunks. "But he just keeps saying we're being ridiculous to worry about this stuff, and that the Dark Makers are the most important thing. Then he asked me to try and contact Jak again."

Tess rolled her eyes, but Torn hesitantly asked, "Well…has anyone heard from Jak? He's the one who said he'd take care of the Dark Makers."

Tess sat beside Keira on the bed. "Sig says they're working on getting the last artifact, and then Jak's heading down to the catacombs."

Torn leaned back in his chair and exhaled slowly. "...Damn, I need a cigarette."

"Ha! Too bad, man, the boss around here doesn't like the second-hand smoke." Tess kicked Jinx's backside and he yelped. "Hey, hey! Don't aggravate my battle scars!"

"Stop screwing around." She folded her legs beneath her body. "Torn, you asked us all to come here. What do we do now?"

"..." Torn leaned on his elbows over the desk. "Right now, Ashelin is dealing with Veger. It might not be how I'd deal with him, but I'm in no position to fight against him."

"You might be," Jinx said cryptically. Torn stared at him. "You know, you gotta lot of pull in this city. I caught a peek at the newest guard roster and, let's just say, they had a mass retirement."

"What?" Torn glanced at Tess, as if looking for a translator. "What's he talking about?"

"About a third of the Freedom League resigned after you left. I guess Veger's been trying to get them on his side, so some of them think that he pushed you out. Which," she added bitterly, "he did."

Keira whistled. "That can't be good for Ashelin."

"It's not," Torn said grimly. "The last thing we need is less people protecting the , I didn't want this to happen."

"Well, it did," Jinx said bluntly. "So you oughta make use of it. Those folks who left? I'll bet they'd be happy to put a little pressure on Veger and his buddies."

"You have any friends who'd like to spread the word?" Torn asked Jinx. "Because all mine are in this room at the moment."

"I'll let a few little birdies loose, see what they hear."

"Thanks." Torn tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I'm in no position to help with the metal heads or KG, either. That's Ashelin's problem, too."

He stood up suddenly, the chair legs skidding on the cement floor. "You said Jak's going to fight the Dark Makers?" Tess nodded. "Great. Then let's focus on what we can do to help him."

He opened one of the rusted steel cabinets that was off to the side. "Here's hoping this still works," he mumbled to himself. He pulled out a dusty machine that caught Keira's eye.

"What'cha got there?" Jinx asked.

"It's a frequency interceptor." Keira leaned down to look at it closer. "Is this how you guys always knew where the KG were stationed?"

Torn nodded. "I've been thinking about this for a while," he mused, "but I wasn't sure it would work, or even be that helpful. But we might as well try it." He gestured to Keira. "Think we can rig this up to intercept the Dark Makers' frequency? Or Erol's?"

"First of all," Keira snarked, "there's no we. I can absolutely tune it to their frequency. But I think we're going to have a problem."

"You know how much I love those." Torn leaned on the table, looking over her. "What's the problem?"

"Those Dark Makers don't speak the same language we do," she explained. "Jak says they speak in some kind of weird…code, I guess."

"Then we'll crack it," Tess said. "If Erol can understand them, why can't we?"

"My thoughts exactly," Torn said grimly. "We might not be able to do everything Jak can, but we can at least help him out. Maybe we can figure out their plans and let him know."

He leaned back as Keira tinkered with the machine. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't angry at Ashelin. But if there was one thing Jak had taught him, it was that anger could be channeled into something good. Unconsciously, he touched the tattoos on his face.

There had to be something good here.


On the very same day that Jak had finally, finally, gathered all one hundred power cells, his communicator beeped with a message from Haven.

"It's probably Ol' Loghead again," Daxter said, rolling his eyes. "For a guy who ran the Underground, you'd think he'd be better at making decisions."

But, as it turned out, it wasn't Samos. Or, for that matter, Ashelin.

"Jak, I've got some intel for you." The voice over the communicator was so familiar, yet Jak hadn't heard it in a while. "Want to hear it?"

Daxter got to the speaker first. "Well, well, if it isn't the Tattooed Wonder. Bet you're missin' old Orange Lightning, huh? Need me to do all your dirty work?"

"Put Jak back on or I'm hanging up." Torn certainly sounded as irritated as ever. Jak took the comm from Daxter.

"Hey. Um…I heard that…Sig said…you got fired. Sorry."

"You are lousy at condolences," Torn replied flatly. "Anyway, don't worry about it. I didn't get fired, I quit, and I did it for a reason. Veger's wanted me out for a while."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." The comm got quiet for a moment, then Jak said, "So, what did you have for me?"

"I've been doing a bit of work behind the scenes. I'm code-breaking the messages from the Dark Makers."

"Wait, really?" Jak glanced at Daxter. "That's incredible!"

"So what are they sayin'?" Daxter asked. "Talkin' about how ugly Erol is?"

Torn ignored the jokes, as usual. "Keira said you're living in some place out in the desert called Spargus, right? Well, the Dark Makers are watching you."

Jak frowned. "Watching us?"

"They're watching to see who goes to some temple. They have a plan of attack once it happens, and it's a solid one. You could use an advantage."

"Then let's hear it, sketch pad!" Daxter clung to Jak's shoulder as he leaned towards the comm. "Don't keep us in suspense."

"They're waiting until you go after the artifact," Torn told them. "I guess they know where it is, but not how to get it. Then they're going to split their forces three ways."

Jak glanced at Daxter. "Three ways?"

"Ground forces at the temple," Torn replied. "Air forces are heading to Haven City, to try and block off the way to the catacombs. But they're sending the real big guns to wherever the hell Spargus is."

Jak furrowed his brow. "They're trying to head us off at every turn," he told Daxter. "Erol knows there's nowhere else for us to go."

"Good luck." Torn's voice was as grim as it had ever been. "If I hear anything else, I'll contact you."

"Got it. Thanks." The communicator beeped, then turned silent. "Dax, what do you think?"

"I think we oughta tell His Royal Prickliness." Daxter leaned against Jak's head as he started to walk through the city. "Betcha he'll come up with a plan."

"Yeah," Jak agreed. "Damas will know what to do."


Damas was a distrustful man.

Call it trauma from his past, or learning from previous mistakes, or something else. Regardless, he was not about to place his faith in a stranger from Haven City.

But he did have faith in Jak.

"Are you certain that this isn't some sort of…scheme from this Veger?" Damas frowned, his chin on his palm as he and Jak spoke. "From what Sig has told me, he's amassing quite a bit of power in that city."

"Maybe," Jak argued, "But Veger definitely isn't working with Torn. Look, I've known Torn for…it feels like since I was a kid. And, yeah, he's not perfect, but he's not working against us."

Damas hummed as he thought. "So, they are trying to destroy Spargus, leaving Ionna with nowhere to go with the Eco Sphere. Clever, but they underestimate us." He stood up from the throne and started to walk towards Jak. "We'll increase Spargus' defense as much as possible in the coming days. You're our best gunner, Jak, so we'll position you on the gun when Ionna heads to the temple."

Jak grinned ferally at Daxter. "Sounds like a great idea."

"Sig and I will station at either end of the city," Damas continued, pacing along the pathways. "We'll run tactics from there, keep the ground clear. Kleiver can handle the gate with his men."

"So, uh, when are we gonna go after that Eco Ball Mumbo-Jumbo thing?" Daxter asked. He hopped off Jak's shoulder and put his feet in the water pools. "We got the power cells now."

"Hmm." Damas pursed his lips and glanced at Jak. "Timing is crucial. If they're going to attack with larger creatures, then we'll need clear visibility for ourselves and our scanners. If that's the case…"

"After a sandstorm," Jak said suddenly. Damas gave him a slight smile. "All the sand settles, so we should wait until right after a sandstorm stops."

"Precisely what I was thinking," Damas confirmed. "I'll check the scanners and try to pinpoint the weather over the next several days. In the meantime, I want you two to take Ionna's place in the infirmary."

Daxter practically fell into the water. "What?! You want us in charge of the hospital around here?! What's wrong with you?!"

"Ionna is going to be training with Sig, Seem, and I," Damas explained. "She's never fought the Dark Makers before, so she asked us to show her what she'll be up against. You can handle it."

Jak winced. "Um…are you sure?" he asked. "What if—?"

"There is no time for hypotheticals," Damas interjected sharply. "Ionna has trained you to heal with light eco, and she's taught you the basics of first aid. She has the utmost faith in your abilities, as do I."

Jak's gaze flickered down to Daxter, who shrugged. "I mean…it can't be worse than anything else we've done, right?" Daxter looked up at Damas. "Of course, I think you just want us out of your hair. Metaphorically, of course. I'd make a joke about it, but, well…nothing to joke about."

"Okay," Jak said. "We'll do it."

"...I know you will." Damas smiled slightly at Jak. Daxter clambered back onto Jak's shoulder, water dripping off the shoulder plate. "You are a Wastelander, Jak, and Wastelanders always survive, or die trying."