“You can call me Axton. I prefer to have a name over what I assume to be a partially derogatory moniker.” Axton replied, still somewhat wary of the other man’s motives.

“Axton it is, then,” Daxter said jovially, his face looking more like that of an old friend rather than that of a leader of orphans and other potential ne’er do wells. “So, Axton, I understand you gave me and mine an offer that we’d be fools to refuse. Care to elaborate?”

Axton began to walk forward to try and take a seat, but Daxter rushed out of the tunnel and put his hand up to stop Axton from moving any further. This act caught the Player off guard, and he immediately readied himself for a fight. Perhaps over a decade of playing other games had made Axton a bit jumpy, because Daxter was not doing anything remotely hostile.

“Hold up, Axton!” Daxter said as he tried to keep Axton from moving forward. “Those cuffs. If you go any farther, they’ll likely trigger an alarm and those maniacs that work with Stebbs with come running!”

Axton halted both his movement and his readiness upon hearing these words.

“How would you know that?” Axton asked, still a bit concerned that Daxter was keeping him in the dark.

“Simple,” Daxter said with a voice and look that seemed to be full of pain and anger. “Stebbs put some similar stuff on some of our people. Mostly the girls, to be precise, although he does have some others in chains as well.”

Axton stopped dead in his tracks.

“We still don’t have a way to free them, which kills me every time I think of it.” Daxter continued. “Which is part of the reason why I decided to bite on the lure you gave us.”

Axton was starting to get the idea and walked a bit further away from the other adult and leaned against some piled debris.

“So, you want me to keep up my end of the deal I proposed so you can get enough money to buy them out of bondage? Well, as long as I get a cut, I’m willing to-.”

Axton’s altered deal was halfway out of his mouth before Daxter interjected.

“No, there’s no point right now in attempting to buy their freedom. Stebbs will just use one random excuse or another to get them back and then make the price even higher. So long as that bastard keeps control over the colony, no one is safe, and everyone knows it. For Stebbs and his goons, it's party time 24-7, 365.25 days a year, and we just have to bear with it and fight in our little ways. The reason I am here is to get what we need for something we are working on, and I certainly hope you are willing to help. If we manage to pull it off, you’ll get those manacles off and Stebbs will get what he deserves.”

Daxter paused his rant to take a deep breath so as to calm his boiling rage before continuing.

“That aside, as if bleeding us dry of credits and taking people captive over pointless and asinine reasons wasn’t bad enough, he has treated everyone and everything like his personal toys, even going so far as to take kids as young as 5 as his nightly ‘companions’. Likewise, he has burning xenophobia that has seen anyone with even a hint of pigment in their skin strung up and beaten to bursting like pinatas. This colony is already viewed as the worst place on this planet, and I swear by everything that I am that Stebbs will be made to answer for his crimes, either in life or in death. I can’t offer much, and I’m not gonna ask you to help us fight him, but know that if we succeed thanks to your help, I swear that we’ll get those shackles off of you and treat you like you deserve.”

Axton was about to reply to the passionate speech of his new acquaintance, but a screen popped up in front of him.

『 New Quest Issued! 』

Axton paused to click on the notification, which, to Daxter and the other members of his gang, made Axton look rather… odd. Axton noticed this and as he read the description of the Quest, he realized that he had to make a choice.

“So, uh… What are you doing?” Daxter asked.

Axton clicked the 『 Accept 』button and allowed the quest to begin before replying to Daxter.

“So, Daxter, what do you know about us Outworlders?”

Daxter cocked his head at the question.

“Well, I know you see and experience reality differently than everyone else and that you come from another plane of existence. Also, that you people can’t be permanently killed, only put down for a few days at most.”

Axton nodded.

“That’s part of it. To be brutally honest, we see the world as a giant game, and right just a few minutes ago, the universe itself handed me a quest.”

Daxter snickered.

“And, what, you mean to tell me that the universe told you to help us? I mean, I get some people in weird cults saying that the universe speaks to them, but I figured that someone from outside our own reality wouldn’t be so… I don’t know… religious.”

“Well, Daxtimillion Bartolomeo Stebbs, I wouldn’t call it worship.”

Daxter’s face became red with rage.

“Where the goddamn fuck did you hear that name, Outworlder?!”

“As I said, Daxter,” Axton replied matter-of-factly, “my kind see this world as a game, and we can and do get weird tasks to do straight from the universe itself. The quest I was given gave me a choice, and I already have made my mind up, even though the rewards given would be what some would consider being unworthy of said decision.”

Daxter shook his head and held the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger.

“So, this ‘quest’ told you that name?”

“Yeah,” stated Axton. “And it also told me to take a side. Yours, or Stebbs’. Either I help you and get what some of my people would call a trash reward or I turn you all over to Stebbs and get my freedom and a whole bunch of shiny toys.”

Daxter’s eyes widened and he took a step backward. He knew he couldn’t permanently put Axton down, but it was not like he could spend eternity keeping Axton from ratting him out to Stebbs…

“I chose to side with you guys. Not because the reward is greater, but because I want to fuck that bastard over and make trouble for the asshole who got me chained up in the first place.”

Axton’s words were small comfort. But, if there was one thing that Daxter knew was certain, it was that Axton was either a damn good liar or he was seriously going to willfully lose out on instant gratification just to spite someone.

“So, then, what do you have to do?” Daxter asked nervously, now with him and his gang being the ones wary of Axton instead of the other way around.

“That’s simple,” Axton replied before dropping so much loot of such high quality that it would have blinded even a monk on a vow of poverty with the sheer value of it all. “Take these things and use them as you see fit. I just want a cut of the profits and, occasionally, I want some stuff that can be used to build a War Suit.”

“…Why a War Suit?” asked Daxter, now completely unsure of how to think given how much money was sitting in front of him.

“Because,” Axton replied with a shit-eating grin, “when you guys start the revolution, I want to be in on it. Do whatever the hell you want with everyone and everything else…”

Axton turned and walked back towards the deeper part of the scrap yard before looking over his shoulder and speaking one last time.

“Yeah, I don’t care what you do to whom, but Stebbs is mine. I’m gonna be the one that makes that racist, pedophilic, corrupt, deviant, ass of a man beg me for mercy. And as for my response? Well… that will depend on my mood.”