"Nothing's wrong with me" Torn said trying to sound convincing.

"We need to close the bar Daxter" Jak said, as if he had ignored Torn. "This isn't going to be pretty"

Daxter rolled his eyes and crossed his arms,

"Whose going to reimburse me for lost revenue then"

Torn looked around. Apart from the Jak, Daxter, and Tess, and one awkward couple in a booth drinking nothing but water the bar was completely empty.

"Daxter, believe me, you'll have bigger problems than that if we don't shut down right now. We need to deal with this now. There isn't enough time to move Torn" Growled Jak.

Daxter rolled his eyes once again and agreed. He knew better than to argue with Jak when that tone of voice came out. That tone meant Jak was angry and arguing with him would only risk Dark Jak making an appearance.

"Ok, fine I'll close the bar" sighed Daxter as he jumped off the counter and walked towards the couple.

"I'm going to go call Samos" Said Tess as she rushed back into the kitchen.

Torn sat in silence. He was worried. He had never seen Jak freak out like he had earlier. He had watched Jak bring down the KG bot factory, risk his life fighting metalheads, and defeat the dark makers, but he had never seen Jak as worried as he was now. Torn tried to piece together the events earlier but no matter how hard he tried it still came up blank.

"Torn I need you to follow me into the office" Jak said, breaking Torn out of his thoughts.

"Ok, but I really think you're overreacting" Torn replied once again trying to sound convincing.

Jak wasn't listening though and had already propped open the office door. Torn begrudgingly got up and walking into the office. The office was not what Torn would have imagined for Daxter. It had white walls with a black glass desk and a fancy office chair behind it. In front of the desk were two luxurious black leather chairs. The desk had nothing on it but a white note pad and an expensive looking black and gold pen.

"So the rat works here?" questioned Torn.

"No one has been in the office since it was renovated" replied Jak. "Daxter just wanted a fancy looking office to show off in case he had any big deals to sign"

Torn couldn't help but smile. As annoying as the little orange fur bag was, he certainly had personality.

"Sit down" Commanded Jak

'Ok but you need to tell me what's going on." Torn said as he took a seat in one of the leather chairs.

"It's complicated Torn." Jak said as he took a seat in the chair beside Torn's. "essentially that bruise on your neck is dark eco. I know that because when I was in the dark warrior program myself and the other prisoners had the same makers.

"There were other prisoners in the program" Torn tried to sound surprised. He had known about the dark warrior program long before Jak had been subject to its testing. He never wanted anyone to find out though. The fact that he knew what was happening to innocent men and hadn't done anything to stop it would have been enough to ruin his friendship with Jak and the gang. After joining the underground Torn had always planned to try and stop the program but he had never thought of a way to do that without bringing up his involvement with Damas' exile. They had been under the same level of confidentiality so releasing information regarding the dark warrior program would have also released intel about Damas being released.

"Yes" Said Jak. 'There were a dozen other prisoners. I think all of them died. Most people couldn't handle the dark eco that they were injected with. They would get marks like yours and slowly succumb to the poisoning."

"So, I'm gonna die then" Asked Torn.

Before Jak could answer Samos burst through the door.

"Jak I got here as quickly as I could. What's going on" Said Samos, obviously out of breath.

"Torn has dark eco poisoning. I don't know how to deal with it but I'm worried about what it's going to do to him" Replied Jak.

"I don't know much about dark eco Jak" Samos admitted. "If Gol hadn't gone insane maybe I would have learned something from him but I never got the chance to before he imprisoned me."

"Look Samos" Jak sneered. "I just need to know if Torn is at risk of dying. I don't care about a cure I just want to fix it."

"Calm down boy" huffed Samos. "What I do know is that with your power if you make an incision on the mark your body will absorb the dark eco. Think about it like electricity always wanting to get to the ground. Eco always wants to get to the best storage place, and in this situation Jak, you're that place"

Torn wasn't listening. He was too busy thinking about the dark warrior program to both. He had so many regrets. He had been so stupid as a young crimson Guard. All he wanted to do was make a difference and the only difference he had made was for the worse. He was too deep in his thoughts to see Jak pull out a knife from his pocket. Torn's thoughts were rudely interrupted by a searing pain in his neck.

"What the fuck" screamed Torn. He grabbed his neck and was greeted by warm blood. Suddenly he felt a shock as a dark eco particle shot from his neck and was absorbed into Jak"

"Oh good I was right" Cheered Samos.

"Wait so you were going to let me cut open his neck without being sure? Jak replied.

"You fucking cut open my neck? Screamed Torn.

"Yes we did." Replied Samos. "And we saved your life. You're going to need to stay with jack for at least the next 24 hours. That's how long it's going to take for the eco to drain out of your body and be absorbed into his. You'll have to stay at the very most two feet from one another."

Jak started to sweat. He had a college exam tomorrow that he couldn't miss. He didn't want to have to tell torn about his studies. Torn would ridicule him. For some reason even after saving the world a few times Jak felt like Torn had never given him the respect he deserved. Torn always treated Jak like a punk kid.

Torn actually didn't mind this arrangement. It meant he would get company at work all day and with the cut on his neck might actually give him a reason to take the day off.

"Well sounds like we're not doing anything tomorrow so might as well get drunk together tonight' laughed Torn.

Samos rolled his eyes and left the office without saying anything. He had dealt with Jak drunk enough. He was the closest thing Jak had to a father so he was always the one that Jak dialed up on the communicated when he had had a little too much to drink. Jak was a messy drunk, and with the amount of trauma the kid had been through Samos didn't blame him. It wasn't uncommon for Jak to end up crying or asking to sleep on Samos' couch so he wasn't alone. Samos knew that Jak was still having nightmares and that he was too embarrassed to tell Daxter.

Jak looked at Torn and rolled his eyes. He actually didn't mind the idea of getting smashed with Torn. Jak had few friends and had struggled to move past a professional relationship with Torn and tonight seemed like a good opportunity to do so.

Jak and Torn exited the office and were greeted by Tess and Daxter.

"let's get drunk but keep Jak by my side" Torn Screamed.

" I don't know what happened in the office and old green stuff left in a hurry but with an idea like that I no longer care!" Yelled Daxter.

And like that the four friends started to drink completely forgetting the magnitude of what had happened early. Jak knew how serious this was. He knew that something must have happened, something bad. But Jak didn't want to deal with that. He was finally living a violence free life and he didn't want to risk that trying to figure out what had happened with torn. He had been terrified earlier when he thought that it could be fatal but now that he knew it was going to be ok Jak made a conscious effort to forget the earlier events.

Samos left the bar in a panic. He didn't understand why the kids were acting so carefree about this. Torn had dark eco poisoning. Samos knew that the only way this could happen was through an attack. He and Vin had discovered technology capable of this while inspecting dark maker ruins.

The level of skill in eco manipulation and channeling though to not completely destroy something as fragile as a human with this was something the dark makers were incapable of doing. Jak wasn't even talented enough for this.

When someone was poisoned with dark eco, it spread in a matter of minutes. Samos knew that even in the dark warrior program, when someone who couldn't channel was injected, they would die in a matter of seconds. Torn couldn't channel yet somehow he was still alive.

Samos shuddered as he realized the gravity of the situation. Someone had attacked Torn, and purposely not killed him, and whoever it was, they had the ability to channel dark eco in a way that not even the dark makers could manage.

Someone who had that skill that precision could ruin the world.

Samos was so preoccupied in these thoughts that he didn't realize he was being followed. Suddenly behind him he heard a spark, and turned around just in time to be slammed by a bolt of eco.

"You might come in handy once again" Rasped the same voice from Torn's office as Samos' lied unconscious on the sidewalk.