literature

The setting of a trap

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Jak was recovering fast as soon as the light eco had gotten out in his system and getting him accessible to the use of green eco again. Daxter hardly ever left his side during the three days he had to stay in bed.

Whenever anyone came into the room, they found him already there, talking in a cheerful voice, laughing and making up stories that actually even made Jak laugh every once in a while.

At the fourth day after the ‘rescue’, Karidi was interrupted by a knock on her door while she was cleaning one of her guns.

She turned around to see who it was and couldn’t help but smiling at the young warrior standing there, leaning carelessly against the handle of the open door.

“Well I’ll be damned, back from the dead now, are ya’?” she said mockingly and put away the gun as she got up on her feet to greet him properly.

“Just wanted to stop by and tell you I’m walking again,” Jak said and took her outstretched hand in his, slightly smiling back at her.

“Good. Any idea when you’re getting back on the missions again?” Karidi replied, smile widening. “I could need ya’ back in the team, ya’ know.”

Jak shrugged at this and started to move away.

“My guess is that Sig wants to keep me locked up in the city for another week or so…”

“A week?” Daxter’s voice interrupted him and soon the redhead appeared in the doorway. “Try the rest of your life! And I’m with him! I mean, geez, look at what happens when I let you out of my sight!”  

The redhead smiled widely and patted his friend’s shoulder in a gesture that to Karidi for some reason seemed to be more of a proclamation of ownership than a friendly concern.

“I was just wondering where you’d taken off to,” Karidi said venomously in a whisper to her self before she raised her voice to finish the conversation.

“He’s just trying to make sure you won’t die while still recovering,” she said, referring to the king, and picked up her gun again.

Jak simply shook his head with an excusing smile and walked away, Daxter following him not more than a step behind his back.

“So, where’re ya’ heading?” Daxter asked as soon as they’d left Karidi’s doorway.

“Sig,” Jak said shortly, figuring it would be enough of an explanation.

Daxter felt like exploding with impatience as he didn’t get to know anything else, but he remained silent about it, not feeling like making Jak annoyed by asking once more.

Instead, he decided to talk about what ever came to his mind.  

“So, what’s up with you and that foxy lady back there?”

“What?”

Jak stopped in his steps and turned to look at him with a completely puzzled expression in his face that almost made Daxter laugh out loud.

“Don’t tell me ya’ haven’t noticed how she looks ya’ up and down every time you’re close? Seriously, you’re as blind as a lurker bat if you can’t pick that up!” Daxter pointed out with a widening grin and patted Jak’s shoulder guard in an acted gesture of comfort. In his mind though, he made a victory sign, glad that Jak apparently didn’t have any interest in the woman mentioned.

Jak pushed the hand away and shook his head at him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Dax. Karidi’s simply one of the commanders I’ve been working with. She’s good at her job and you can’t make me think differently.”

He started walking again, considering the conversation finished and heading on towards the palace.

“Geez, man, I’m serious! I’m just trying to feed ya’ some information here!” Daxter called out a bit mockingly as he ran after him.

Jak chuckled softly at this and put his arm around Daxter’s shoulders as soon as he’d caught up with him.

“Dax, trust me, if I’ll ever want that sort of information, I’ll ask for it.”

Daxter looked at him with a dubious face as they entered the palace.

“Really now?”

Jak didn’t answer him on this. Instead he let go of his shoulders with a gentle squeeze and got into the wooden elevator that would take them to the throne room above.

Daxter sighed dramatically and got on the elevator as well, before Jak pulled the lever to activate it.

Sig was waiting for them at the steps up to the throne podium.

“Hello there, cherries,” he said as he spotted them. “ It’s good to see you’re back on your feet again,” he said as he turned to Jak. “Now tell me, how did it go over at Haven? I sort of didn’t have a chance to ask you earlier. Did you get the coms to Torn and Samos?”

Jak pulled a face at the remembrance and cleared his voice.

“Yeah, I informed them of the situation and gave them the coms and your instructions. Why? Haven’t they tried to contact you yet?”

Sig shook his head slowly.

“Something seems to be amiss with the entire communication system lately. At first our coms wouldn’t contact any non- spargan com- device, that you know. But during these past five days, since you went over to Haven, we’ve been starting to have trouble reaching each other as well, even on the car radios,” he explained with a troubled voice and started to pace back and forth across the steps of the podium.

“Luckily we haven’t been attacked by any metalheads during this time, but my guess is that it’s only a matter of time until they hit us again,” he continued, sounding tired and more pessimistic than usual.

Jak caught himself remembering a stray thought he’d had right before he’d turned dark against the metalhead outside of Haven city’s gates.

“Sig, I think someone or something’s controlling them again.”

The battered wasteland warrior looked up from his stare at the floor and stopped in his pacing.

“What makes you think that?”

Jak explained the feeling he’d gotten as he’d been putting the facts together back at Haven.

“Metalheads don’t plan things or track their prey selectively like that. At least I don’t know of any metalheads having acted that way unless they’ve been under some sort of other influences,” he summed it up as he finished.

Sig was silently regarding the things he’d been told and got to the same conclusion as Jak had.

“I must say that seems to be the thing. Problem is we don’t know who or what that’s giving this influence, as you put it.”

“Wait a minute here, time-out. Am I the only one thinking this is totally surreal?” Daxter suddenly interrupted him and looked from Jak to Sig with a disbelieving face.

“I mean, first off, Errol was the one who did this the last time. Him and those icky dark makers. That was about, what? Four, five years ago? And they were all demolished by yours truly and wonderboy here, so how in all the universes of the precursors could this be happening again?”

Jak shrugged apologetically and Sig only lifted an eyebrow at this comment.

“Well, chilli pepper, we don’t know yet, but it’s happening. The leads we’ve gotten so far all points in that direction.”

“And the communication system then? What’s that got to do with any of this?” Daxter went on, trying to get some explanations as he had the chance.

“We don’t know yet,” Sig replied with a heavy sigh. “Any ideas for this yourself, chilli?

Daxter shut his mouth instantly and put himself behind Jak’s back, feeling a strange need to duck for cover as he looked at Sig.

Sig chuckled at his reaction and sat down on the steps, inviting Jak and Daxter to join him with a move of his hand over the empty space on his sides.

“What about the marauders?” Daxter asked as he sat himself down beside Jak. “I mean, they’re way too stupid to be able to do anything like that, but do you think they’ve got the same problems as us?”

This made both of the other men raise their eyebrows.

“I haven’t thought of that, but I think I might actually ask about it,” Sig said thoughtfully. “We’ve still got that blue haired man behind bars over by the arena.”

Daxter snorted loudly at the mentioning of the captured marauder.

“Dart’s a looser, but I have to admit he might actually be able to say something of use. He’s definitely smarter than the rest of the lot.”

“Dart?” Sig asked curiously.

“Yeah, the guy you’ve caught was called that by his men,” Daxter explained further.” I’m guessing he’s some sort of leader or commander. They’ve got this other hot shot bossing them all around, that part I realised at the arena, but Dart’s probably second to that guy. At least he acts like he is.”

Sig nodded at this.

“Yes, he likes to boast about his rank to the guards, or so I’ve heard,” he said slowly. “I still haven’t paid him the visit I planned, so I think I better do this right away.”

He got up on his feet again and turned towards Jak and Daxter with a crooked smile on his lips.

“Care to join me, cherries?”

“Never thought you’d ask,” Daxter answered for them both, a wide grin being exchanged between him and Jak as they followed Sig to the elevator.
---

Dart looked up from his hands as he heard someone entering the hallway leading past his cell.

When he saw the large shape of the spargan king coming closer, he spit at the dusty stone floor and cursed under his breath.

He was starting to get really irritated with this entire situation. Especially since he’d thought his men would’ve at least tried to get him out by now.

Someone was with the king.

Dart got up on his feet and leaned forward against the bars to get a better look, curious whether it was some ordinary guards or simply an executioner.

As far as he knew, he could be heading for either the arena or a fast death.

When he spotted the green rooted blonde hair of one of the warriors following the king, he swallowed down a surprised gasp and backed away from the bars as the small group of men got closer.

How could that man possibly still be alive?

Dart knew that Jak had been seriously injured at the chaos that had broken out at the arena before the wastelanders had crashed the camp. He’d seen the bullets hit him.

While the marauder tried to figure this riddle out, the two guards present backed away to leave more room for the visitors as they stopped outside his cell.

“Well then, I guess you know who we are,” Sig said slowly and Dart turned to face them, keeping his face calm so as to not show them the present confusion he felt.

“I guess,” he answered and sat himself down at the floor, seemingly not caring the least about them being there.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you earlier, but I simply had to take care of some other matters before I did,” Sig continued, not shifting his expression the least at Dart’s behaviour. “We both know we aren’t going to get friendly anytime soon, but I’ll jump to the most important questions right away, and I expect an honest answer. Our city has been having problems with an increasing attack rate by metalheads lately and now we seem to be having some difficulties with our communication system as well.”

“So?” Dart asked, curiosity forcing him to ask for more information as Sig paused for a moment.

“Apart from the fact that you seem to have taken advantage of the damage caused by the metalheads, I would like to know whether or not you’ve experienced a similar increase of trouble of this kind on your side.”

Dart lifted an eyebrow as he tried to think up anything he could say that could help his situation.

“Not…” he thought for a bit before he continued. “ Not really. No. The metalheads haven’t bothered us all too much lately, but that’s about all I can say about that. Our coms work perfectly as always.”

The other two standing behind the king made a face of disbelief at this, but Sig still kept his face set in a cold expression as he thought through the information.

“And may I ask why you and your men keep on attacking Spargus?”

The question wasn’t unexpected, but Dart still had some trouble finding a decent answer right away.

He looked up at the imposing former wasteland warrior and suddenly got the feeling he was going to die painfully if he ever did upset this man.

Another look at the two men behind the king made Dart realise that he had probably upset the man enough already.

He pushed back the insults that came rushing to his mind and tried to find a way to answer honestly without telling anything too valuable.

“Aww, don’t bother about that piece of trash! He’ll just lie and try to stab our backs as soon as he gets the chance!” the redhead suddenly said in an annoyed voice.

Dart felt like he should at least try to respond to this.

“If I can’t say anything without you assuming it’s a lie, then why should I even bother to say anything at all?” he said slowly and to his joy and surprise, Jak made a correcting move towards his friend, apparently underlining what he’d just said.

“I’m ready to listen to whatever you have to say about this matter,” Sig said, drawing Darts attention back to him.

“Well, then,” Dart mumbled. “What can I say, I’m not the one making up the orders; I just hand them out on the field. Personally, I’m just doing what I like. I’m good at that stuff, ya’ know. And I like the excitement.”

He said this in a leisured manner, leaning back against the wall behind his back and almost giving the impression he enjoyed the conversation.

“Besides, since we’re not welcome and don’t find it a good thing to be living in the city of Haven, we’re cast out here in the desert as well as you and your lot. But you have your precious rules and traditions of how to be accepted, rules we apparently don’t have the capacity or the want to live up to.” He paused and shot a look at the listeners on the other side of the bars. Noticing he had their full attention, he continued.

“I’m not saying this is a good reason to go fighting you all, but we do have our disagreements, right? This is a neat spot, if you’re getting me. All we want is to be able to call this spot ours as well. Nothing else.”

“If that’s true, you do know there are other ways to get in here than by simply forcing yourselves upon our walls?” the king said, slightly shifting his stand.

“Like what? Fighting in the arena? Make a deal about some sort of peace? Doesn’t sound so good to me,” Dart objected and shook his head. “Nah, I’d rather wait for the metalheads to finish you all off before we take over the place than to make a deal with a spargan.”

Suddenly Jak took a step forward, his eyes glowing darkly in the gloomy light with something close to anger, mixed with disgust.

Dart had to bite his tongue in order not to let out a frightened yelp as the warrior set his eyes on him.

“You’re saying you don’t know about the metalheads acting strangely, that you haven’t noticed they all seem to have disappeared from the desert lands, save a few strays?” Jak said with a voice filled of kept back rage. “Those metalheads you had me fight back at your arena, they were the only ones you’d seen in a long time, weren’t they? Still your entire mountain was infested with the stench of dark eco. Don’t tell me you don’t find it odd that metalheads aren’t swarming your camp with a dark eco well right beneath your feet!”

Dart was taken aback by the force in his voice and even more surprised at the information thrown at him.

“What? How, how do you know about that?” he asked before he could stop himself.

Both the redhead and the king had turned towards Jak with just as surprised expressions in their faces as Dart.

“They have a dark eco well beneath that mountain?” Sig asked slowly.

“The metalheads moved for it before they attacked me. Turning down their heads and sniffing. I could feel it as well when… after I’d taken care of them,” Jak explained, pausing only shortly at the mentioning of his own transformation. “The point is, you know this cave should attract the metalheads, you probably only picked the spot after they left, am I right?”

By having admitted his awareness of the eco well the way he did earlier, Dart found no reason to not agree with this.

“Well, yes. We did find it a bit odd to begin with, but we haven’t really thought about it,” he confessed and looked down in the floor to avoid the piercing look of Jak’s blue eyes.

“Well then, I guess we’ve gotten the answer we came for,” Sig said and with a hand upon Jak’s shoulder he made the younger man back away from the bars.

“Yeah, ya’ don’t have a clue and ya’ can’t help us,” the redhead said and turned to leave as well when the king and Jak did so.

As the guards moved back into their places by the bars, Dart suddenly saw his chances of getting out of the imprisonment fade away and decided to take a chance.

Rising to his feet he grabbed the bars and yelled out for the trio to stop.

“I never said I didn’t have a clue about what’s happening, I just said that the lot of us haven’t thought about it.”

Sig turned around and looked at him with a curious expression in his face, making the other two stop by the move of his hand.

“You mean to tell us you know something then?”

Dart smiled to himself as his bait was swallowed.

“All I know is that the boss said something about the catacombs of this city being some sort of sacred place for the precursors. I don’t know if that’s got anything to do with it all, but it could be the reason why the metalheads are focusing on Spargus and not any other place,” he said and leaned heavily at the bars. “After all, the precursors somehow seem to be involved in everything big that ever happens in this world.”

Sig thought about this in silence for a moment, before he turned back around, motioning for the others to start moving again.

“Wait, ya’ don’t mean to say you’re going to buy that? Why tha’ heck would he be helping us now?” the redhead objected, but was silenced by Jak, giving him a warning look.

Dart had to admit that this odd youngster had some nerve to go against his leader like that.

“I’ll give this a thought and return to you later with some more questions,” Sig said. At those words he started to move again and the others were soon to do the same.

The marauder followed the men with watchful eyes and hearing the metaphorical clicking of the wheels of his plan set in motion, he allowed himself to smile wider. He’d taken a wild shot, and it had worked.

As soon as he got out, he would have to make some explanations to the masters, but all in all he thought they’d appreciate his scheme once it was explained.

After all, if everything went as he thought it would, he’d be giving them not only their desired treasures served on a dish, but their most hated enemy as well.
This is a long one! And it took a little more time to do than the last four or five chapters, I admit that, but mostly it was because I had trouble getting Dart tro work out well. I also had to fit in so many details in the stuff to make it work well as a trigger for the next part of this story. You see, this is a turning point! Yep. From here, things are going to start running a bit down hill again... And the mystery deepens. ;)

Enjoy!

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Jak and Daxter and Sig belong to NDI
© 2009 - 2024 Silverspegel
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Zexion-Tamer's avatar
This chapter was really good, and it has me wanting to read more... but my sister wants on. I wonder what's up with the communicator stuff... and if Haven is having that trouble too...?