#i still like both answers to the is jak THE mar question

[shenzuul]

[image id: Ashelin turns to Seem and says, “Wait, Jak is Mar? The Mar?”]

I finally have an alternate explanation for this line at the end of Jak 3 that lets me off the hook. I’d always thought that the only way to interpret this is that, through time travel shenanigans, Jak is the same Mar that founded Haven City. But I’ve finally fucking remembered that even though we never get a detailed backstory, Ashelin canonically knew Damas even before the events of Jak 3 took place. Ashelin is the one who passes Jak a Wasteland beacon when he gets exiled, and when they meet up again later, she tells Jak that she knew Damas would find him. That means there’s a good chance that Ashelin knew Damas had lost a son named Mar--and what she might mean here is, “Jak is Damas’ missing child? The one I thought was only like, five years old?”

[radioactivepeasant]

Snippet Tuesday: Blackmail au

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If he had to answer one more question, Jak was going to punch someone in the throat.

He sat in the same alcove, still out of reach, and glowered at the supposed king from under a curtain of tangles as the interrogation began again.

"What's your name?"

"You already know my name."

"How old are you?"

"Don't know, don't care."

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"You can't have him."

"Do you know your father's name?"

"No."

"What's your mother's name?"

"Don't know. Never met her."

"Are you going to come out?"

"No?? I don't know you people!"

"Where is Mar?"

"#$^ off."

"I'm asking nicely, boy. Where. Is. Your brother."

"....go away. Let me go."

And so it went, around in circles again and again. The man they called Damas was getting more and more upset, Jak understood that on some level. But he was past caring. If Krew had told the truth, this was a coward. Someone who had abandoned either him or Mar. Jak didn't owe him anything.

"You may not care about the child-" Damas began, frustrated, and Jak snapped.

"I don't care? I'm not the one who ditched him when Praxis took over!" Jak scrambled out of the alcove and planted both hands in the center of Damas’s chest, shoving him back. “I don't eat so he won't starve! I stay up all night to make sure those idiots don't send him to look for artifacts if they think I'm "busy"! Don't you ever tell me I don't care about him!"

Jak balled up his fists, chest heaving.

Too late he realized he'd played right into their hands.

The man who allegedly sired Jak didn't retaliate after being shoved. Instead, he held up a hand to forestall the reactions of the other Wastelanders, who had been about to intervene. There was something new in his eyes when he looked at Jak now. An understanding Jak didn't share.

"You care about Mar," he said pointedly. Was that gratitude in his voice? Why?

Daxter squirreled out of the alcove and up Jak’s back, baring sharp little teeth.

"No kidding? What part of “he starves himself for Junior's sake” didn't you understand?! You guys got a lot of nerve, kidnapping us and then acting like it's our fault that left Junior without his favorite role model and Jak!"

Damas kept his eyes on Jak’s. "If you had the opportunity to free him from Haven, would you take it? Would you give up his location to people who could save him?"

Defiantly, Jak raised his chin. "And give him to you, you mean? Nah, man. You only get one chance when I get my brother back. If the dog doesn't like you, you're done. I take the kid and we disappear. No one chains us ever again."

Consternation, anger, fear and grief each flickered across Damas’s face in turn -- and across Sig’s. But Jak held firm. Just because Mar was stolen didn't mean this horned king had been a good father before. For all he knew, the guy was just another Praxis!

"Uh. Pal? I don't think you were supposed to say that part out loud," Daxter whispered in his ear.

Sig set his jaw, mouth in a thin, hard, line. "Kid," he said softly, "You don't know the first thing about Damas."

"No," Jak retorted, "I don't. So why would I trust him with something this important?"

Damas turned away. In long, stiff, strides he marched into the antechamber he'd sequestered himself in before. Before sealing the door behind him, he made a vague gesture.

"Sig. Please."

The boys didn't have to wait long to find out what he meant. Sig caught Jak by the scruff of the neck and rather firmly "encouraged" him to follow the Wasteland leader. It did not escape their notice that Sig leaned against the door once it closed, blocking off their escape.

Inside the circular room, benches lined the walls around a brazier and altar. Damas sat on one of these benches and ran his hands over his face.

"I understand your anger," he said dully, "and I do not fault you for it. But I need you to know, here and now, that I did not abandon you. Either of you. You were taken from me."

Daxter reached down and squeezed Jak's shoulder when he noticed him tensing up. "S'ok, Jak," he whispered, "We're stuck here, so we might as well hear him out, right? What if he's tellin' the truth? What if this was just the most half-baked rescue in history?"

Damas twitched as though he'd heard him.

"I would rather the circumstances of your departure had been less...traumatic. But the truth is that I told Kleiver to get you out of that city by any means necessary."

He glanced up.

"I've only known your name for three weeks. Until the ransom message arrived, I believed that you had perished with your mother and other supporters of the House of Mar.”

Jak folded his arms and remained standing. "Ransom again. You can say that word as much as you want, doesn't mean I know what you're talking about."

That got a raised eyebrow and a quick glance at Sig. Sig cringed and shrugged. Damas nodded and took a slow, deep, breath. He seemed to exhale much of his anger with it.

"Almost a month ago," he said quietly, "Krew sent a message to one of my outposts. He said that a young boy, allegedly of my bloodline, had fallen into his "care". And that- that if I did not provide him with a certain "finders fee", as he put it, he would hand the boy -- hand you over to Praxis. I didn't trust him not to take the money and turn you in anyway. Sent Kleiver to make sure everything was on the level."

Jak’s fingers dug into his arms. "I- I don't know you," he argued, "and you don't know me! Why would you do that? What if that computer had said something else?"

Damas shrugged. "Didn't plan that far ahead. I knew it could have been a fool's hope, but how could I risk ignoring it? There aren't that many channelers who can survive dark eco out there. Even fewer who look that much like me. After seeing your face, the blood test was more formality than anything."

"Damas..."

Sig’s voice was soft. Almost wounded.

"I couldn't tell you, Sig." Damas frowned down at his hands. "I promised you- I promised I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize your cover. I would never risk tipping Krew off. You know that."

"For something this important?" Sig demanded, a catch in his throat. “You couldn’t even drop me a message, “Hey, I think Baby Heart might have survived” so I could be ready for something like this?”

"Uh...so...you guys clearly know each other?" Daxter asked uncomfortably, glancing between Sig and Damas.

Damas sat with his fingers steepled against his forehead and didn't answer. Sig only nodded slowly. After an extremely awkward silence, Damas looked up at Jak again.

"You didn't know your mother, you said."

"Nope."

Jak wondered idly if there was a prize for the most uncomfortable conversations ever had. This definitely topped the poor old guy in the cell beside his who had to tell him where babies came from.

"Were- were you in Haven the whole time?" Damas swallowed hard. "How is it that you were only just now discovered?"

Jak’s eyes hardened like chips of granite. "I was free," he said, short and clipped. "We were free. Coastal kids, no walls, no fences. Raised to be a rottin' secret weapon for the sage. He knew what was beyond that transport ring and he just let me walk into a trap. I think-”

He clenched his fists until his nails dug into the skin. “I think he needed me to be old enough to survive Praxis's super-soldier experiments."

Damas clenched own his fists until his knuckles turned white, and Sig cursed violently behind them.

"How old?" Sig demanded. When Jak didn't answer, he repeated himself. "How old were you, Jak?"

It was Daxter who answered on his behalf. "Ei- either thirteen or fourteen. We were never sure, we just know his voice finally broke."

Sig slammed his fist into the stone door and tipped his head back, cursing the Underground, the Baron, and the entire lineage of Praxis in obscene terms.

"I'm sorry." Damas couldn't look at Jak. "Gods, I'm- I'm sorry, boy. If I’d known-!”

He covered his eyes a moment.

“I never got a chance to speak to any of the people I cared about the night of the mutiny. They dragged me out of the city and flew me out to the desert in the middle of the night. I was supposed to die within two days."

He ran a hand across his throat as if remembering an old thirst.

"Praxis bragged that he had "ended my line". He wanted me to think he'd killed you and your mother."

“You’re…really sure I’m this “Baby Heart” person, aren’t you.” Jak frowned.

“There is not a single doubt in my mind.” Damas dragged his fingers down his face and peered out over them. “If I could have gotten back into the city-!”

"They threw you away too, huh?" Jak asked bitterly.

"Runs in the family, it would seem," answered Damas.

He rubbed his chin wearily and leaned back against the wall.

"I know you have only my word to go by when I tell you I would die before letting myself be anything like Praxis-"

"Just your word?" Sig interjected with a very sharp tone.

Damas winced. "You're already upset with me, I didn't want to presume-"

"No, you didn't want to communicate like an adult again." Sig rolled his eye. "If you’d just talked to your partner, I could’ve prevented Jak from flipping out from the beginning. You keep doubling down and I'm not gonna dig you out of the hole you get yourself into next time."

“You told me not to blow your cover while you searched for Mar!”

“I said don’t blow my cover unless it’s an emergency!” Sig made a frustrated wave in Jak’s direction. “I’m pretty sure this counts as an emergency, Daym.”

Daxter snickered, and even Jak had to hide a quick grin at the thoroughly chastised look on the king’s face.

"Love the drama for you, Sig baby," Daxter drawled, "but little ears are present, can you not?"

He pointed to himself.

"It's me. My ears are little. Please stop scarring my mind."

Jak studied Sig’s annoyed posture for a few seconds before turning to him.

"You really trust this guy?"

"With my life, boneheaded though he is," Sig replied immediately, "More importantly, I trust him with yours."

Finally, Jak sank down to sit on one of the other benches. "...Okay, why are you really in Haven?" he asked Sig.

The big man frowned. "I'm...I'm looking for Mar, cherry. Damas was searching this continent, and I was searching the mainland. That was the plan. Playing bodyguard to Krew means I get access to every rumor in the whole godforsaken city."

"So you were actually looking for him? He wasn't forgotten?"

A trickle of guilt squirmed through Jak's ribs. He glanced over at Damas, then away.

"I...uh. Sorry."

"Only a fool would hold it against you, given the circumstances," Damas sighed. As if thinking of Jak's prior outburst, he pursed his lips and asked, "When did you last eat, boy?"

The slightly blank look in Jak’s eyes answered the question a little too well.

"Like...eat what? Anything?"

Jak shrugged and tried to sound tough. "Stole a roll yesterday. And some fruit."

Four grapes, to be precise. Half of them had gone to Daxter, half of them had gone to Mar. And a third of the roll had gone to the puppy.

"And that was yesterday?"

Something suspicious glinted in Damas’s eyes, reflected in Sig’s.

"How much of that did you eat?"

The tips of Jak's ears burned. What did they want him to say? That he was a starving street rat? Apparently that was already obvious. Let him keep what little remained of his pride!

"You...gave it to Mar, didn't you?" Damas asked. His voice caught. "You- oh gods, you only just saw him yesterday, didn't you?"

Flushed with shame for having to admit it, Jak sullenly nodded. He didn't expect Damas to leap from the bench and race across the room to grip his shoulders. Jak tried to pull back, but he was already against the wall.

"Is he alright?" Damas gasped, "Is he hurt? How- how tall is he now? Please, Jak, we- we lost two years of his life-"

Abruptly Damas released him and fell into a crouch before him.

"Two years of his life," he realized, and a guilty wince creased his brow, "...but all of yours. I- I am sorry, Jak. I do want to know what I have missed of your life, I do. I should be asking more about you, too."

"You don't know me," Jak mumbled again. "I don't expect you to."

This time the pain in the king's eyes was that of a fresh wound, not an old grief. He stood slowly and cleared his throat.

"I...er, I'm going to get some trail rations from the Dozer. It's- well, it's not much. But it's protein, and iron. And clearly you need both."

"Huh?"

"Food, genius," Daxter scoffed, pinching Jak's ear, "He's getting us food! Finally!"

Sig caught Damas by the elbow as he neared the door and murmured, "So you know: this conversation is not even slightly over."

"I know," Damas grimaced. "I- no, I know. I just- we'll talk about it later."

"We'd better. We're a team, Daym. You gotta keep me in the loop, no matter how you think I'm gonna react." Sig squeezed his arm affectionately, then let go. "You want me to find a bedroll for the boys? Just need one. Chili Pepper prefers to use Jak's head for a mattress."

"That doesn't suffocate him?!" Damas sputtered, looking back at the two foot mustelid climbing up Jak’s arm.

“Apparently not, but don’t ask me how. I’ve seen those two sleep all of three times,” Sig huffed.

<Prev Next>

[commenter2]

Jak & Daxter game(s) finale idea (part 3)

I thought I posted this before, I apologize for those who were waiting but here it is.

In part 2 I left off with Jak, Daxter, and the others looking for a temple and this journal finally ends Jak 4 and goes over the plot for a potential Jak 5.

The heroes eventually find the temple and the devices only for the bad guys to get them and the location of the temple leading to Jak and Daxter along with there allies to try and stop them in said temple.  Though the bad guys are able to make and get away with some white eco, Jak puts a stop to any future productivity, he even gets some white eco for Samos and finding out that Mar was the one who made the temple as he needed white eco for something. This angers Gol and Maia and this results in a boss fight where he fights and defeats both. There defeat angers Flak but he says there is still more to come and rest of their plan is revealed either due to some writing on the walls of the temple or Flak tells them. Turns out Mar needed white eco as it was the power source for an ancient weapon he used against the Dark Makers the first time they invaded the planet. The Dark Makers want to find the weapon and with some alterations want to use it to destroy the world and the Precursors once and for all.

Jak tries to defeat Flak with his light form however Gol tries to counter this with his dark eco but there attacks mix with some white eco and as a result starts an explosion with Flak and the siblings escaping. Jak and Daxter try to outrun it however realizing they won’t make it, Jak heroically throws Daxter away from him as the temple gets destroyed. The smoke clears and everyone is shocked when they can’t find Jak besides his goggles and broken morph gun mods and they (especially Daxter and Keira) are heart broken. However this passes as its revealed Jak is behind them, wearing an odd outfit, everyone is glad he’s ok especially Daxter and Keira but Jak tells them they have much to do as he pulls up a map.

This is when the next game would take place, maybe called Jak & Daxter 5: The Final Battle.

The game opens with Samos starting the opening monologue only for Daxter to stop him and quickly gives a recap of what happened in the last game before Samos continues. We get a shot of Jak, Daxter, and the others driving somewhere being directed by Jak till Keria after giving him his goggles asked how he got out of the temple alive and Jak tells everyone, which takes the form of a flashback. Turns outs he turned into Light Jak to take the explosion but when the explosion reached him, it reacted oddly to his form and sent him back in time where he met Mar who found him unconscious and tended to his injuries, showing us a bit of Mar’s personality in the process. I also see Jak meeting a young Onin here to since in Jak 2 she said she was glad to see him again, completing that bit of plot. This idea gives the writers the chance to finally answer the question on if Jak is Mar or not, which I don’t think he should as that would be really hard to write, though I do have an idea to please fans of that theory.

Turns out Jak appeared in the middle of a war with the Metal Heads who are about to use a object that Mar and his troops don’t know how it works or what it does, except for Jak as it turns out it’s a rift gate, a different one then the one in Jak 2. Realizing this rift gate could send him back to his own time he decides to join Mar in an attack of the Metal Head base where the rift is, this counting as a training level and a bit of actual gameplay. Like I said earlier maybe to please fans of the “Jak is Mar” theory Mar becomes unconscious during the battle so Jak dresses up as Mar to encourage his troops. After a boss fight with the Metal Head leader, Jak activates the rift gate using his light form but before leaving tells Mar that he will need to use his weapon someday to save the world and tells him to draw a map to a place where he can get it and after Mar agrees so Jak uses the rift gate to go back to his own time, which inspires Mar to build the components needed to use a said rift gate as well as a hiding Kor to use it to take over the world.

In the present everyone is surprised on what he did and realize that there going to get the weapon. Once there, Jak and Daxter go through some puzzles and enemies they get to a room only to find a piece of the weapon and a note left by Mar. After many years of thieves and metal heads trying to get the weapon, Mar had to sadly separate the weapon and scatter the pieces throughout the world, one being left there to show what he did. Jak takes this news to the others who then start to think of places Mar could have place the parts. After checking out the Tomb of Mar for clues, they find a map of places Mar was known to go and think it’s a good start to where they can find pieces of the weapon. Of course Flak and the others find out about the places, maybe they got it after threatening to kill Torn and Ashelin's child, so now it’s a race to try and find the pieces before them.

Of course there are side mission to do in the plot, like maybe at one point Jak and the others need Rayn’s (Krew’s daughter) help as her father had one of the pieces of the weapon but before they get the weapon they have to do some things for her. Another is that the semi nice Dark Maker seen in the Eco Wars is slowly turning into an ally of Jak’s till he finally joins ¾ of the way of act 2. And just some that tell u more about the Jak and Daxter universe and its history. Maybe someone dies which effects the group deeply, some ideas that come to mind are Sig, Onin, Pecker, or a new character introduced introduce in Jak 4, or maybe Samos is put into a coma for the rest of the game. Also Maybe in Jak 5 Jak acquires a new form, one idea is white Jak, in this form Jak can use all 4 types of eco and there abilities at once. Another one I have is shadow Jak (or different name) where he combines his dark and light forms to get a form where he can use all the powers of dark and light Jak at once for a much limited time. Maybe that could have been the reason why he time traveled ?

Eventually all the pieces of the weapon are found and with the weapon our heroes use it to attack the Dark Makers, giving the player a taste of its power. Of course maybe something happens where the bad guys damage the weapon putting it out of commission for a bit while also realizing that the bad guys able to make there own version of the weapon and have started there plan to destroy the world, maybe its revealed that a spy was in the heroes mix and sent blueprints of the parts to the Dark Makers. This leads to the heroes and there allies attacking the Dark Maker base and after another fight with Gol and Maia maybe in which the siblings die Jak and Daxter fight Flak before he can start the master weapon, maybe reacquiring the weapon for this fight. Flak is defeated and the villain’s master weapon is destroyed but instead of killing him, Jak makes that nice Dark Maker put him in jail as Jak realizes that destroying the dark makers would make them just as bad as them that and maybe its time to mix the dark with the light instead of letting one side rule everything and a peace treaty is made between Jak’s race, the Precursors and the Dark Makers, a different but interesting twist to how the games turn out.

The game ends with everyone attending Daxter and Tess’s wedding where though nice has some funny moments like Daxter saying Hell yeah and seeing funny pictures of the wedding reception appear as the ends credits roll, showing stuff like Torn dancing with his kid, Daxter almost getting in a fight with Samos, and maybe Jak proposing to Keira as well as maybe pictures of the previous J&D games. After that we get an after credit cutscene where it turns outs the credits were pages from a book Jak and Keira’s child was looking at where he stops when his parents say his Aunt Tess and Uncle Daxter are here with there kid and we see the kids going on a walk and it freezes on them running like Jak and Daxter did when they were young.

What are your thoughts on the idea of a Jak 4 ? Do any of theses ideas, whether gameplay or story wise, sound like good ideas for a new game ?

[jak-of-a-few-trades-blog]

Metal Head Fic

Title: Squish

Words: 1600

Summary: Gol and Maia, surrounded by their fallen enemies, meet an elderly man.

Setting: Sometime after Kor's arrival at the start of Jak II, during the "first" metal head war.

Note: Another piece I wrote for the Jak and Daxter theme week, this time for the theme: metal heads. I wanted to explore an option as to what happened to Gol and Maia, especially since dark eco was such a precious resource.

-------------

Sitting cross-legged in the air, Maia huffed loudly to her brother. Gol returned the look cautiously, floating above the remains of the scattered bug-like legion. Not taking a threat seriously was how they lost last time, and yet she apparently learned nothing from their entrapment and thought little of a Precursor silo being ripped open as well.

For him, at least, it was anything but dull. The hostile welcoming party was an inviting warm up after those years of confinement. Commanding such a great amount of dark eco exonerated his lungs momentarily, letting himself breathe clearly as another blast shot down a wave of enemies.

Once the last creature dropped, a cane followed by footsteps sauntered along the metal base of the citadel, alerting the dark eco sage.

"It seems you, too, have survived the onslaught of this world," the older man said, stepping into the purple light radiating off the siblings. The yellow gem glimmered against the glow, set above a suit of withered, blue robes. "Even the sages had fallen to this scourge, yet you are here unamused by the metal heads that have perished before you."

"The four sages, they are no more?"

"They were weak, dear brother. Much like these things," Maia chuckled, resting her head on a fist. She spun to the voice, now done playing with a dying metal head, raising an eyebrow. "You, on the other hand, are not like these pests. Alive, that is. For now."

Much like his sister, Gol raised an eyebrow. "And you are?"

"I am Kor, an elderly traveler who sought the wisdom of a dark eco sage," the man said, gracefully bowing to humble himself before two beings of such great power. "I came to this citadel looking for answers, but it seems I have ambled onto the Acheron siblings themselves."

"These creatures, you call them—" Gol wheezed, weights swinging recklessly through the air with each passing spasm. It ended as his lungs cleared. "—metal heads. I took them as Hora-Quan, beings responsible for the Precursor's undoing."

"It seems you are quite endowed with knowledge on our indomitable foe," Kor gave a ragged chuckle, impressed with the sage. "We have been waging war with them for quite some time, and the great Mar has prepared a defensive front in a village called Sandover."

A defensive front by a Mar, most likely some warrior too out of his wits. "The village of the green sage?"

"A village turned fortress. I believe it wise you come with me there. There is little time, and this citadel will not protect you from the metal head leader. Legends say it can rip through even the strongest Precursor metal, meaning this threat is no mere—"

"Yet they lay slaughtered at our feet," Maia interrupted, laughing at hearing the old man consider these things a threat. She sent a rogue coil of dark eco at a metal head with some life left, stilling it within an instant. "Dear brother, don't you remember how fast they fell?"

"Yes, dear sister," Gol sighed quietly to himself. The sage gave the older man, who was remorsefully glimpsing around him, a look down before returning to Maia. "This matter is different, and I—"

"Oh, hush. You were always reading your silly books and never were the one for a bout of fun," she said, smirking to Gol. "I do believe I saw a smile coming to when you took out a few of these disgusting pests."

"More of a reflex, dear sister," Gol coughed, both to clear his lungs and show he was finished speaking to Maia, who clearly wasn't taking any of this serious. He now shifted to Kor, the older man raising his head in recognition. "I, too, believe it wise to go, but we are behind on current… events."

"Ah, that must explain everything," Kor said, raising his cane to the large gash in the Precursor silo's base, and the ruined Precursor robot head. "I never took the legends as fact, but this proves them true. Ask what you may, and I shall do my best to answer."

"What exactly are these—" Another hack came from Gol, stronger than last time to where Maia had grasped his shoulder. She gave him a worried look before a nod and a raspy cough returned her to a blithe attitude. "—metal heads. They contain dark eco, but not that of which we can freely channel whilst they live."

"Marvelous creatures, aren't they?" Kor started, walking down the hollow corridor at the base of the citadel. "They work with a hive mind, controlled by a single leader with unfathomable power. Separate from dark eco, yet without it, they cannot live and grow. That, I assume, is why they targeted your citadel. These silos hold an insurmountable amount of eco that very well could allow them to dominate this world."

As Gol floated cautiously behind, Maia rolled her eyes and followed close to her brother. There weren't any metal heads left hiding in the shadows anyhow, much to her disappointment after winning so easily without even as much of a fight. She hadn't even tested out her true powers yet.

"These silos, our only source of eco," the sage said haggardly, coughing early to stop too much buildup as he spoke on. "Truly, it would be devastating to allow our years of work to fall into the hands of such a being."

Nodding, Kor agreed. "Mar's resistance cannot hold without this either, but now you have waned out the threat and he may be able to reclaim it."

"Who said this Mar was allowed to have himself with our precious dark eco?" Maia questioned. "If anything, this Hora-whatever leader and that Mar are too laughably pathetic to even control it. Anyhow, we need it for that stupid boy. The one with the rat. Dear brother, what was his name? Jake? Jack?"

"The boy's name was Jak, dear sister. The ottsel's was Daxter," Gol answered. Scratching and tapping echoed from the center of the citadel, a distance away from the trio. He turned, only to see a dark violet hue surrounding Maia. "And they're called Hora-Quan."

"That's what I said. Jak. And I know a rat when I see one," Maia said frustratedly, letting out an aggressive sigh at her brother. "Now, take us to that Mar, old man. I am decades late on patience, and that nuisance back there shortened it. We may as well squash that leader of theirs and end it all now."

"Squash their leader?" Kor chuckled as he continued to pace before them. A light shake came from him, agitating his cane to tap on the floor. "I have heard he is something of a god. Even the strongest have fallen before him."

"Dear sister…"

"You heard me," Maia said arrogantly, placing her knuckles on her hips. "Nobody cares what the opinion of a fly is on their purpose in this world. God of the bugs or not, even they know it is to lay under our heel. To be squished."

"My, I was warned that you were disagreeable, but this is something else," Kor laughed, a ridged smile painted on his face. Maia slightly dropped her previous demeanor as the old man shook violently, skin molting. "You say my children are little more than nuisances?"

The scratching grew louder as two iridescent wings shot from Kor's back, a smaller pair followed suit, ripping through him. Hooked legs broke free from beneath, a large tail covered in membranous sacs lashed out as the rest of his body flushed from the facade. "Come, show them how wrong they are!"

Gol fired off a wary look to Maia, who was yawning at the transformation. She knew this Kor wasn't who he seemed, even without reading ancient texts describing the Hora-Quan's transformative abilities. That, or she hadn't bothered to think past a strange old man walking into their citadel, surrounded by metal heads, and their missing leader that saved them from captivity by ripping open the silo. What was he to do with her?

"You make such a mocking expression at us? We have destroyed countless worlds, diminished entire races, and tore timelines out of existence!" Metal Kor bundled backward with a blaring roar, the gem on his forehead beginning to shine a bright yellow. "This is but one planet that will be crushed under my power, as the Precursors had so long ago! My children shall know no pain brought upon them by the likes of such inferior beings of dark eco as you!"

"Inferior...?"

"Dear sister," Gol said, floating closer to the center of the tunnel. He took Maia by the arm as the crawling caught up, pulling her close to him. Thousands of yellow eyes mirrored through both ends of the corridors. "I think it is time you take our situation seriously."

Throwing herself into a maniacal fit, Maia cackled. She held herself with her free hand, helping to not double over from laughter. "You, an insignificant, pathetic insect, dare call us inferior?"

Tendrils of dark eco spun from her fingertips, sending violet streaks of lightning viciously sparking. a devilish smirk illustrated in the form of a strengthening aura emanated from her skin. Gol felt fear, not for himself, but for the mass of metal heads and their leader that angered his sister.

"That boy will have to wait, dear brother," Maia grinned, throwing her hair back. She grabbed hold of Gol, watching Kor charge the gem on his forehead. "It seems we'll have our fun after all."

[radioactivepeasant]

Snippet Friday: Faulty Info au Strikes Back

Jumping back to the first chapter I'd posted, this is the immediate follow-up. Warnings for mentions of medical trauma (via the Dark Warrior Program)

The scanner the young woman waved over Jak's body was old technology by the standards of most. Cast-offs from Haven, welded together with bits and curses. But to Jak, it was as strange and new as the vehicles he'd seen since his rescue. What was the woman looking at on that screen? What could she see? He craned his neck, trying to see.

"Keep still, young'un," the woman scolded.

She waved the boxy device close to Jak’s ribcage and it sounded a long tone. The medic frowned at the readout and tapped it a few times. Periodically, she stopped to write something on a notepad. Jak watched the medic get a little more tense with each note, and her eyes darkened a little bit more. He knew by now that when someone's eyes looked like that, pain was sure to follow. 

They hadn’t strapped him down, though. And the door was unguarded. Weary though he was, Jak was pretty sure that he could escape the woman and the king both if he had to. The question of where to go after that was shoved away, to be dealt with later.

The medic returned and sat down on a stool across from Jak. "How old did you say you were again?" she asked.

"Fifteen." Jak closed one eye to think. "Maybe almost sixteen? I don't know what season it is."

For some reason, that seemed to be the wrong answer.

"You're sure?" The medic pressed, "That's how old your parents say you are?"

The dark eco throbbed, hot and acidic, against Jak’s ribs. His mood darkened with it.

"I never had parents," he signed, and not very politely, "Uncle had to guess."

An expression of understanding crossed the medic's face. "Ah. Were you tall as a little tot?" she asked.

Jak shrugged. "I guess so."

He'd always been taller than Keira and Daxter, anyway. There weren't many other children to compare heights with in Sandover.

"Why the questions, Maud?" Damas asked from the back of the room. He folded his arms and raised a brow. "Do you suspect his age is incorrect?"

The medic, Maud, leaned back to retrieve her notebook and flipped through the pages. 

"My lord," she said, "this young'un's physical development has been altered slightly by the dark eco poisoning, but not enough to change the development of his bones."

"My bones?" Jak was alarmed. "What about my bones?!"

Maud didn't look up from her notes, missing Jak’s question. "Comparing average Spargan and Havenite skeletal development to the eco scan, this boy has barely entered puberty. He can't be older than thirteen, by my calculation."

Thirteen?!

There had to be some mistake. Jak wasn't that young! He was just a late bloomer, that's what Samos always said. 

Samos wouldn't have sent a thirteen year old kid to fight Gol and Maia and all those Lurkers alone, right? 

...right?

Damas reached out and took the notes from the medic, and a chill ran down his spine. Only thirteen. This child was only thirteen and he had already suffered so much.

Please, Precursors, Winds, Volcan- anyone: don't let Mar suffer the same-!

Dark eco had been pumped forcibly into the boy's body for several months at least, according to the scan. Oddly, where most poisoning cases would have already had the unstable eco spreading through their body, Jak's case was isolated to his torso.

"How is-" Damas's voice betrayed him, weakening to a croak. He swallowed, cleared his throat, and asked, "How severe is the concentration of eco? Will he require an antidote?"

Maud sucked on her teeth and grimaced. "Ayup, I think so. Don't rightly know how he's keeping it from getting into his muscle fibers right now, but I doubt he can keep it up forever."

That, at least, Damas knew how to fix. Wordlessly, he moved to the shelves full of jars and boxes and began hunting for the ward's carefully conserved supply of light eco. The search, at least, could hold his attention and keep his mind from wandering too far from the matter at hand.

"What of his immunizations? Has he had any?" He asked over his shoulder.

"He said they didn't have a doctor in his village, just a green eco sage," Maud answered, "Which suggests he hasn't had many of his shots."

Jak immediately recoiled at the mention of shots. They were going to inject him with something! Blind panic seized him, and he bolted.

No more! No more pain! I won't let you!

"Hey, no-!" Maud skidded around the bed and jumped in front of the door. "Dangit, kid! You're still poisoned!"

Wild-eyed, Jak tried to shove her aside. The young woman barely budged. Spargans, it seemed, were very solidly built. Maud raised her hands and spoke quietly, trying to calm him, but the words seemed to float above his head as if he was underwater. Maud stepped closer, hands coming too close to Jak to feel safe. Panicking, he snapped at her fingers; she pulled back quickly. The dark eco boiled in Jak’s blood, and he could feel it spreading, seeping deeper into him. 

No-! 

With all his might he pushed at the chaotic substance, forcing it back into the wounds. 

His emotions were raw, and at any moment he felt he was about to snap. The medic still blocked his escape.

I don't- I don't want to hurt you! But- But you need to move!

With a silent snarl, Jak drew back and tensed to charge the woman, fist raised.

For years after, he would wonder how the king had moved so fast. One second he was peering into a glowing jar behind the counter, then within a heartbeat his arms were around Jak, restraining him as gently as he could manage against his chest. 

Jak thrashed in his grip, desperate to escape, but Damas held firm.

"Stop," he grunted, trapping Jak's arms beneath his own. "Stop, child! She will not harm you! Be still. Be still, Jak."

Jak couldn’t speak like this, hands pinned to his sides. He shook his head violently and tried to force a word -- a sound, anything -- out of his throat. A rusty, scratchy, cry faltered and trailed off between gasps for air.

Damas tightened his arms. "Be still, child. Be still," he whispered, over and over until at last the boy went limp. His heart still hammered against Damas's forearm, and the king frowned. He doubted the boy had calmed. More likely he feared the consequences of further resistance.

"Poor kid." Maud shook her head and slowly relaxed her guarded posture. "I'm betting he doesn't have any kinda good association with doctors. Lemme make a chart up for him, and we can figure out immunizations later. I think for now the light eco is the most we should do."

She crouched in front of Damas, trying to look into Jak's eyes.

"Hey, hey there, soldier. Breathe, breathe in now."

She waited until Jak had sucked in a ragged breath, then gave him a sympathetic half-smile. "Now breathe out, nice and slow. Easy does it, eh, kid? No shots today, it's okay."

Suspicious, Jak narrowed his eyes at her. The medic didn't seem to be offended. She stood and offered the glowing jar to Damas.

"I'd rather counteract the worst of the dark eco exposure and let that settle before introducing anything new to his system. For all we know about dark eco, it could exacerbate any potential diseases instead of inoculating him."

Damas sighed heavily. 

"Boy," he said, "I am going to let go now. Do not try to bite the medic again. She opened the clinic in the middle of the night to help you, is that understood?"

Oh, Jak understood. But that didn't mean he believed it.

He nodded and waited for a chance to run.

Before he could try, the jar caught his attention. This close to it, he could feel the contents being drawn towards him. It was...eco. Not dark eco, but warm, bright, good eco! Even after the experiments, he could still feel it!

It wasn't quite like green, nor blue or red or yellow. It was...it was all of them at once, just like during the battle against the Acherons. Was it really, truly, light eco? All the way out here?

Damas opened the jar and dipped two fingers into it. Light swirled around his hand, not quite liquid, but not quite vapor. 

He was channeling! Was the king a sage as well? Was that possible? Jak couldn’t stop himself from reaching out for the ball of light. 

"Don't-!" Damas tried to pull it out of the boy's reach. 

Only a trained channeler could use eco to heal another. Without training, it could end up doing far worse damage than the wounds it was meant to heal.

To his bewilderment, the light eco all but leaped from his fingers to the boy's outstretched hand. It jumped from finger to finger in sparks before being absorbed into the skin. Jak yelped in surprise and shook out his hand, then blinked down at his torso with wide eyes. One cautious hand pressed against the skin over his ribcage, gently prodding.

When Jak looked up, the shock was evident on his face.

"It...can heal?"

It took a moment for the medic to answer, as Damas was still staring at the boy with a perturbed look.

"Ah...that is, yes, yes it does. But you- kiddo, how'd you-" Maud scratched her freckled nose and squinted at him. "Only sages and the king can float that stuff around like that."

"Yeah, and me." Jak shrugged in a distracted fashion. "I think Samos wanted me to be a sage, but he gave up."

After a moment, he realized the sage's sign nickname wouldn't mean much to people from another city, and amended, "the Green Sage tried to train me to be like him, but I was too wild."

Damas and Maud exchanged a meaningful look. 

If the boy was claiming to be a channeler, that could explain the Baron’s interest in him. Channelers had become rare in the last two generations, and now only Sages remained. If word got out that a young boy had begun channeling light eco-

Like Mar? Like I can?

Stop. Don't do this to yourself. Focus on the task at hand. Focus on preparations for tomorrow's tasks. Focus on the next breath, the next step. 

"This visit will remain confidential," he announced. It was not a question, nor a request.

"Of course, lordship." The medic saluted him gravely. "He's one of my patients now. Would help if I had a responsible party to schedule with, but I s'pose it can't be helped."

Damas glanced down at Jak, who watched him with a mixture of curiosity and caution.

"I..." Damas blew out a breath. 

"I intend to declare the boy a ward of the city until his last known relatives or connections come forward. Winds know we've had our share of them in the years after Atys. Until a guardian can be appointed, I will handle matters for him to preserve confidentiality."

The medic made a little "hmph" noise and bobbed her head. "Makes good sense t'me, sire. The whole city don't need to see his chart, after all."

She pivoted on her heels to face Jak.

"You take care, kid. When you've gained some weight, and the light eco has been fully integrated into your system, then we can talk about vaccines."

"What's V-A-K-S-E-E-N-S?" Jak spelled out the unfamiliar word as best he could. 

Maud cracked a smile that was considerably easier in manner than her earlier ones.

"What's a vaccine? It's...think of it like a medicine where we take a tiny, weak, itty-bitty form of a really nasty disease -- like Dune Pox, or White Flu, or Crane Cough -- and we inject it into your bloodstream. It's not enough to make you sick, it's just enough to teach your body what those germs look like. Then your blood cells learn to hunt down and destroy those diseases."

Jak remembered Samos talking about germs once or twice as a little kid. Nobody else in the village ever seemed to know what he was talking about. Little beasties too small to see that made you sick? Equally tiny bits in your blood that hunted the little beasties? It all seemed like a silly story for children. Something to make sick days easier to bear.

"That sounds fake." He narrowed his eyes skeptically. "Blood doesn't fight, it's just blood."

Maud blinked several times. She glanced up at Damas. "Remedial classes?" she guessed.

"I suspect so," Damas agreed.

Maud picked up the medical scanner again and took it back behind the sandstone counter. "I'll be running some tests on these results in the morning. Should I contact you if I find anything of note?"

With a sharp nod, Damas answered, "You have the palace frequency should the need arise." 

"Understood." Maud dragged her stool back and took a seat. "I'd have liked to keep Jak for observation after that light display, but I doubt that would be good for his emotional state. Will you alert me if there are any changes?"

Ah. Damas hadn't anticipated that. The boy would require supervision for the next few hours to ensure that the light eco was working as intended. Usually, patients remained in the medical ward until the observation period was over. But Maud was right: the longer Jak was around medical equipment, the more agitated he was becoming. High levels of stress wouldn't help his case much.

Well. You did say you would look out for the boy until a place could be found for him. It's not Sig or the boy's fault that you didn't fully think that through. 

Damas gave a short, sharp, nod, then guided Jak out of the clinic. The boy was decidedly more subdued than he had been a moment ago, and thanks to the light eco, his breathing had finally calmed. Between streets, he periodically glanced up at Damas, then away just as quickly. By the time they'd gotten to the palm row, Damas had had enough of it. He stopped and turned to look down at Jak. Jak winced and hung his head, signing a contrite apology.

"I am not the person you should be apologizing to, young one," Damas answered. He clasped his hands behind his back and clicked his tongue. "I understand that you panicked. I understand that you feared for your safety. You do not know us, why would you trust strangers? But fear dulls the senses, Jak. You must learn to breathe first, and act second."

Jak fidgeted with his fingers and stared down at his feet. None of the twisting motions were words. Just the awkward fidgeting of a frightened boy. He nodded miserably. 

Damas stepped closer and crouched slightly to look him in the eye. Don't think of Mar. Don't think of him, he told himself, no matter how much it felt like a betrayal.

"Every person in Spargus has a part to play and a job to do," Damas gently admonished the boy, "Maud's role is to ensure that our citizens are safe and healthy, and to treat them when they are injured, not injure them further. That's her job. If you had managed to harm Maud back there, she might have had difficulty caring for other citizens tomorrow."

Ashamed, Jak hitched his shoulders. He knew the man was right. And it wasn't like he'd even wanted to hurt Medic Maud. But he almost had, anyway, hadn't he?

"I'm sorry I tried to bite her," he signed again. "I'll...Should I go apologize?"

The king shook his head. "Wait for the morning. When the clinic is officially open, then you may apologize. If you are reminded of something that happened in Haven, or something she is doing causes you pain, you can tell her, or me. But I will not have you attacking my people, is that clear?"

"Yes sir." Jak's hands moved so little that he was barely above a whisper.

Damas nodded curtly and straightened. “Good. We wish to see you recover from your trials, Jak, but there will be rules to follow in this city. For the sake of clarity, consider "no biting the medic" your first rule."

Not that having such rules had prevented little ones from occasionally biting Maud and the pediatrician, Petros, before. Jak certainly wouldn't have been the first to try to take a chunk out of the person with the needle. Damas knew it was a little too optimistic to hope he would be the last.

The remainder of the trip to the palace was unnervingly quiet. The boy stole glances periodically over his shoulder, in the direction of the clinic, with a perturbed expression. Perhaps the details of his moment of panic were beginning to set in. Or perhaps he was stinging from the scolding. He walked with the body language of a younger child, fidgeting with guilt. It was a blessing that the dim torchlights did not illuminate them enough for Damas to see the color of Jak’s eyes. The reminders of his son clung to his ribs and ached with every breath.

Please be alive, my son. Be strong, for me. I will find you, I promise.