Snippet (or chapter?) Thursday
Viper: Exodus
Jak, now a captain in Spargus's infiltration division, has been gathering people who have helped them in the past, and Daxter has convinced whole sections of the slums to trust the Wastelanders over the Grand Council. (LONG post warning, it's basically a whole chapter)
240 people crowded around the narrow road in front of the Naughty Ottsel, murmuring nervously to each other. They had been slowly preparing for this night for weeks -- hardly enough time to uproot an entire life. But then, many of them had been uprooted already. Many carried young children, only recently reunited with their families after Praxis's mass kidnapping orders during his hunt for Mar. They varied between terrified silence and hungry wailing as the people waited for their chosen leader to arrive.
It had been a difficult, and at times acrimonious, task choosing someone to lead them once beyond the walls for good. Fifty people had withdrawn from the evacuation entirely when a Lurker was ultimately chosen. But Brutter had lived among the people of the Water Slums for years. They knew him. They trusted him.
His deputy, the blonde barmaid from the pub, seemed like an odd choice at first. But as preparations progressed, it became clear that Tess had a way with people -- and with weapons. Her confidence put them all at ease.
The murmurs quieted when Tess appeared with Brutter, Jak, and Daxter. More people gathered in the pub doorway behind them to watch, but it was clear that they were on team "leaving Haven is mutiny or cowardice".
"This is everyone?" Brutter called, furrowing his fuzzy brow. "Water Slum friends?"
"Here!" One of his former neighbors called, waving from a section of the crowd.
"Good! Saltpeter Row?"
The inhabitants of the row houses made varying sounds of acknowledgement, and Brutter nodded, continuing to call out the names of streets who had agreed to join the secession.
"Morgan street!"
"Redcap Row!"
"Shark Flats!"
"4th Street!"
Only a few groups were unaccounted for in the end, though this wasn't as much of a surprise as expected. They'd known from the beginning that some would probably back out when it was time to go. Better the devil they knew than the one they didn't. But everyone else had shown up.
They shuffled restlessly, meager belongings in carts or on their backs, and waited to find out what was going to happen. Surely they weren't all going to walk to the abandoned temple!
Brutter nodded to Jak, and the boy stepped forward and raised his voice.
"Okay! Here's what's going to happen! Anyone with small kids or trouble walking is going to take the air train to the foot of the mountains. The Babak are waiting with balloons to get you to the temple. It's going to take a few trips, so don't crowd. You'll all get there, I promise."
Daxter took over as soon as Jak finished.
"Everybody else: we're formin' a convoy of four groups! If you know how to fight, yer on the outside of the column. If you don't, stay in the middle! We're gonna stop for breaks sometimes, but we're hiking straight through the Industrial Sector, folks. It's gonna be a good hour or two before we get everyone into the Power Station teleport ring."
Jak nodded and pointed left in the direction they'd be heading. "Tess will be leading Group 1 with the gyro-burster to clear out any threats ahead of us. Jinx is taking Group 2. Group 3, you're with Mogg and Grim. Everyone else, you're with me. For now, everyone with kids move to the right."
The shuffle was tedious, and it was close to ten minutes before everyone was divided into the five groups. The thirty-five people with elderly, children, and mobility issues huddled together as the rest split into crowds of roughly fifty each. Even fifty civilians was a massive number to protect from Deathbots and metalheads. Tess and Jak shot each other grim looks, each worrying about the same thing:
How many people were they going to lose on their way to the power station?
"I'm coming too!"
Jak turned to see Keira pulling her arm free of Samos's grip. His heart leapt: he'd hoped against hope that she would flee the city with them. That she would wrench herself out from under the sage's thumb.
"Keira, no!" Samos gasped, "This is madness!”
He turned a stern look to Jak. "This has gone too far, Jak! You are out of control!"
"Out of your control," Daxter corrected sharply, "That's what you mean, right?"
"You're leading these people to their deaths! I will not allow my daughter to be one of them!" Samos snapped.
Jak felt nerves crawl up his throat. He wanted to vomit. It didn't matter how confident he was as a Captain of Spargus, Samos had programmed his behavior for years and standing up to him was hard.
He swallowed back bile and cleared the trepidation from his throat.
"You didn't have a problem sending someone else's kid into hell for your own gain. You're not doing yourself any favors by waiting until now to have a problem with it."
Keira gestured to him. "See? Thank you, Jak."
"Keira, that's enough," said Samos sternly, "I know it seems harsh to you, but someday you will understand that I am simply doing what is best for you!"
"No, I'm doing what's best for me," Keira retorted, "I'm helping people."
"Keira, I forbid you to step out that door!" the sage cried in a panic.
Keira swung a bag up onto her shoulder.
"I'm no good to anyone in a gilded cage, kept out of danger. And you have no right to fight about it after what you put the boys through."
"Of course I have a right! You're my daughter!"
Keira set her jaw. She closed her eyes and took in a long, shaky breath. Then she stepped out the door.
"Goodbye, Daddy."
Tess squeezed her shoulder as she passed them to gather her platoon. "Hang in there, kiddo," she murmured.
Brutter also eyed her with sympathy as he followed.
"Let us go, friends!" He loudly croaked, "Before we are losing the moonlight!"
Jak frowned thoughtfully. "You got a gun?" he asked Keira quietly.
She shook her head, still trembling with the same adrenaline he felt.
"N-no. But I've got some EMP grenades I've been working on. In case of bots."
Jak's eyebrows rose, and he grinned. "Can't wait to see 'em."
"Yeah well. You probably won't have to.”
÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷
Two days after the exodus
"I hooked the generator up to the temple, so we should have working shields in a day or two." Keira collapsed onto the ledge beside Jak, utterly exhausted.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and dropped an impulsive kiss onto the crown of her head. "You're a miracle worker, you know that?"
The butterflies in Keira's stomach made an unwelcome encore appearance, beating their little wings to fan heat up into her cheeks. She liked this new Jak. He was more open with his feelings. Braver about touch. But Precursors if it wasn't an adjustment!
Still. She needed the comfort just now. Keira had just uprooted…everything, for the second time in her young life. She'd walked away from her own father, and no matter how justified she knew it was, it still hurt. She felt small, and lost, in a world far too large for her. Had she really stopped to fully count the cost of joining the formation of the refugee village?
Yes. She had. Keira forced her mind away from the betrayal in her father's eyes, back to the joy that was in Jak’s eyes when he whispered to her that he'd found freedom.
"I don't feel like a miracle worker," she confessed after a few minutes, "I feel like a fraud. I'm- I'm just shy of completely overwhelmed. We have almost nothing, and if Haven decides they don't like us being up here, I don't know how long my shields will even work. Why are they looking to me for all the solutions? Why not Brutter, or Tess?"
Jak made a sympathetic noise. "Yeah...I know how that feels. But apparently sixteen is "too young" to be carrying that kind of responsibility on your shoulders. So. I dunno, take it easy on yourself, I guess?"
Keira rested her head on Jak’s shoulder with a soft hmph, and noted with some amusement that she could hear how fast his heart was beating. Lucky for them Jak had already been in battle that day, clearing out the last metalheads, and had no more eco to react to the adrenaline. Dark Jak was much more snuggly than regular Jak, and much denser in mass, which made it fairly problematic if he happened to doze off while resting against her.
“Kee, I-”
Jak swallowed hard.
“I have to- we need- Mountain Clan is going to join the Wasteland Federation. You- everyone is going to have to get used to a new set of laws. A new. A new king.”
Keira winced. She'd had enough of overbearing authority figures.
“It's going to be…interesting,” she said begrudgingly.
“I have to report to him.” Jak sounded like he was trying to sound her out, gauge her reaction.
“I was going to call him tonight, actually. I just…I guess, don't freak out if he…when he gets here.”
Here? Keira sat up to look Jak in the eye.
“This king person is coming here?”
The buzz of the crickets down the slope seemed to rise, drowning out her thoughts. In a way, she'd known it had to be coming. Jak and Daxter wouldn't have been so insistent on evacuation if there wasn't actually a war coming. It just hadn't felt real.
She looked down at the tents and rudimentary huts their people -- Precursors, she had people now -- had spent the last two days setting up along the hill. So many people who couldn't fight, or wouldn't. If the Wastelanders really were a warrior people, would this king even accept them?
“He has to, Keira. Even if Haven hadn't-” Jak tensed, and a low anger rippled below his words. “Even if they hadn't tried to assassinate him, Damas would still have to come out here. He's the current head of the Federation, and all clans have to send representatives when someone threatens the whole.”
Leave it to Jak to speak of someone with that much power as casually as he spoke about Daxter.
“You all just call him by his name?”
Jak shrugged, and the grin he offered was a little sheepish. “Not to his face. Unless you're me, or Sig. Daxter could, he just likes to call him Spikes or King Lunatic instead. Damas doesn't mind.”
“Spikes?” Keira felt her eyebrows go up. "King Lunatic?!"
“You'll see when he gets here.”
Jak was entirely too calm about that. Keira grimaced, but reasoned that if he was more relaxed now than he was when talking about Ashelin or Samos, that had to be a promising sign, right?
“He um. He sounds…tough,” the girl said, gingerly searching for words. “Is…Is he-”
Keira gave up beating about the bush and decided to just ask the question honestly.
“Jak, you talk about him like you actually trust him. Do you?”
“With my life,” Jak answered, simply and openly.
“And I'd trust him with all of those people down there, more importantly. I'd trust him with Daxter’s life. With yours.”
What could she say to that? Even when they'd been little kids, when they had foolishly trusted Samos to have their best interests at heart, Jak hadn't trusted him around Daxter. And after the…the prison, Daxter was probably the only person Jak truly trusted. For some warrior king of a nation of Sigs to have earned Jak's faith so completely was hard to believe. Almost as hard to take as the respect in Jak’s voice when he so much as mentioned this man.
Who was this King Damas, and what had he done to make Jak of all people so devoted to him and his cause? And more importantly in Keira's mind, did he deserve Jak's loyalty?
“You look up to this guy,” she realized.
And Jak laughed. He rubbed the back of his neck, and looked embarrassed, and laughed.
“Yeah…I mean, I…yeah…he's kind of my hero.”
He covered his face abruptly as his ears burned scarlet.
“Don't you dare tell him I said that.”
“Oh right, because I'd totally get a chance to have a casual conversation with a king and squeal on you.” Keira rolled her eyes.
“If he's as cool as you think he is, maybe he already knows, anyway.”
“No!” Jak groaned, “Don't say that, I have an image to keep up!”
Keira cracked a smile and settled her head back onto Jak’s shoulder. His arm slipped around her waist, and she felt his cheek rest against her hair. An innocent closeness neither of them had felt in too many years, shared for a moment at the beginning of something new and a little frightening.
“When do you think your king will get here?”
Jak grinned into Keira's hair. She'd stopped calling Damas “this king”. The simple acknowledgement of how important he was to Jak felt a lot more validating than he'd anticipated.
“If I call him tonight, I'd say tomorrow evening at the latest. It's only about five hours from here to home by air train.”
Considering the commotion at dawn, when some hut building efforts were abandoned in favor of clearing a landing strip, Keira had her suspicions that the Wastelanders were already on their way before Jak ever placed that hushed and enthusiastic call.
“Clear the field!” Grim waved his arms wildly, scattering refugees into tents and back onto the rope bridge the Babak had built into the temple. “Make some room, everybody!”
Jak was out of his tent with Daxter on his shoulder before the craft had even begun its final approach. He darted to the edge of the makeshift runway and just waited. Brutter opened the door of his hut with a surprised croak, and Tess was already loosening her gun in her holster. Just in case.
There was a pit in Keira's stomach as she joined the people watching the air train land. This was it. Judgement Day.
Out of the air train seven heavily armored Wastelanders practically sauntered, six taking guard positions in a semicircle while the seventh strolled right up to where Jak stood ramrod straight.
It was unnatural, seeing Jak like that. Even more so seeing Daxter in the same attentive posture on his shoulder. Keira watched them nervously for cues.
Jak spoke about the leader of the Wastelander Federation like he was this great hero. Like he idolized the man. Keira suspected she'd get a better read on this new authority figure by observing how he spoke to the boys -- if he spoke to them directly at all.
The king of the desert was an imposing man wielding an elaborate staff. He didn't look like the type to suffer fools gladly. Keira watched his eyes sweep across the huts and lean-tos covering the slopes leading to the temple. They had already constructed fifteen small houses in the style of Sandover Village, and Vin and Keira had just finished setting up a basic eco grid for power. Was it good enough?
"By the forges boys!" The Wasteland king suddenly laughed aloud. "When you said you could find allies in the city, I thought you meant five or six, not an entire village!"
He clapped a hand to Jak’s unoccupied shoulder in a gesture Keira recognized -- with her share of bittersweet longing -- as pride.
"Welcome to Mountain Clan, sir," Jak answered, just as proud.
So. Jak wasn't exaggerating his admiration for this man. Not that Keira had thought he would. Jak wasn't prone to exaggeration and hyperbole. And while he still stood smartly at attention, if Keira looked closely she could see her friend practically vibrating with excitement. He behaved like a soldier -- the soldier Haven always wanted but could never have -- and yet at the same time he reminded Keira of nothing as much as a little boy whose parent had finally come home from a long journey.
That thought stuck in her mind as Brutter and Tess approached.
To her shock -- and the shock of the boys -- the Babak let out a jubilant cry when he recognized the man in armor.
"Brother Damas!" he trumpeted, catching the attention of the other Lurkers helping in the new village.
"Brother Damas lives! Our hearts are full!"
Damas looked taken aback for a moment, then a smile creased his weatherbeaten face and he reached out to clasp Brutter's forearm.
"You-! I remember you! It's been a long time, Bluefeather."
"Too long," Brutter croaked.
"Are your people safe?" Damas frowned. "I'm- I'm sorry. One operative wasn't enough to help free them. It was a poor repayment for the way you supported my family during the coup."
Sadly, the Babak leader shook his head. "We Lurkers were not saving your friends, Brother. We could not stop the executing after you exiled. Always my elders feel they failed you."
Damas squeezed the Lurker's thick forearm with an earnest expression. "You failed no one, Brother. Welcome to the Federation."
Beside them, Jak's face went from confusion to wonder to a barely restrained glee. Damas had organized the abolition efforts? That meant Jak had been working for Damas long before he ever heard the man's name! He exchanged excited looks with Daxter. This went beyond best case scenario for them. Their honorary tribe and their adopted people were now united.
"Now then!" Damas turned on his heel to raise an amused eyebrow at Jak.
"I've been getting extremely detailed reports from you, Captain. Come! Walk me through what you're doing up here!"
Jak practically scrambled to follow him, an almost silly grin stamped across his face. It made Keira's heart ache to realize she hadn't seen that smile since Sandover. Brutter broke into her thoughts with a gurgling chuckle.
"Once king, always king," he said fondly. "Brutter did not know he had offspring! Jak is very good son. Very loyal."
Keira jolted. "Offspring?! What do you mean?!"
Brutter looked confused, as though he thought his observation was obvious.