Decoding Affection

Disclaimer: I do not own Jak X: Combat Racing or any of the characters there within.

Rayn had found what she was looking for. She picked up the little mechanical marvel of engineering and held it up to the light. Yes, this was it; Father's decoder. The device would unscramble the binary code of the computerized notepad she always carried with her since one of her father's associates had given it to her. She knew there were more of her father's secrets hidden inside the notepad, but the associate who had given her the notepad had conveniently forgotten the decoder to right the code.

The single file to open at her discretion was the will itself; the other files were locked under a specific scrambled code behind a locked mainframe. Obviously Krew had something to hide.

Luckily for her, her father had dropped enough clues on his will to tell her where the decoder was hidden. Naturally, Krew's office had been searched and carefully so, but Rayn knew her father, and his love of weapons. It took her a moment to piece it together, but she picked up an old, beat-up peacemaker and fished out a small chip from within the barrel chamber. Her father's decoder. Brilliant.

She took the notepad and device with her from the main bar room of the Naughty Ottsel and into the conference room. She gave a precursory glance about the room (so this was where her father had worked), holding fast to the decoder and ensuring that she had full privacy of the room.

Finding no one, she closed the door firmly behind her; examining the decoder chip closer to find a hub port and connecting it to the notepad. She waited patiently as the machine whirred noisily into hyper drive to descramble all the files locked on it. The girl could hardly contain the anticipation that rose in her breast.

With a satisfying ting, the mainframe opened before Rayn and several files sat waiting to be played. She gasped lightly, covering her mouth with one hand. It was her father's journal. She briefly skimmed over the files.

Third Class Race

Championship Race

Mar's Weapon

Jak

Bet with Mizo

To Rayn

Rayn swallowed her excitement as she read each enticing title. Reining back her emotions and calming her quickly beating heart, Rayn took a steadying hold on the desk before her. She knew she had to play certain files first. She opened the piece titled "To Rayn" first. Her father sprang up from the notepad as she placed it on the table and stood back, her arms crossed expectantly over her chest.

"Hello Rayn dear. I am pleased you have found the decoder to the notepad. I could not trust my associates to deliver both items securely. Everyone wants a piece of your father, dearest, but I knew you would find it. You always had your mother's brilliance and beauty." Rayn glanced at the floor with a shy smile at the compliment, one of the few she had received from her father. "Now, on to business; it is my intent to leave Kras City in your hands. I know you will do well in the position of power—just make sure the team I created for you win the races. I knew they wouldn't agree to help your dear old Father, nor for you, my daughter; so the poison was the best way to go. It was one of my finer vintages…An antidote is prepared for you just in case all goes wrong, so not to worry, though I am confident that at least one of them will pull through; that Jak boy especially. He's a special one, Rayn." Rayn watched her father intently as he seemed to move straight toward her, speaking in low serious tones. She could not remember the last time she had seen her father so fervently sincere, like he had seen a legend come true. She had felt that warmth, that attraction to Jak when she first laid eyes on him. "If there is any better ally to have, he is the one. If anyone is to win the championship, it is him! He will win my bet and secure your position. So play nicely with him, dear." Krew gave her a meaningful low-lidded gaze.

Rayn nodded despite herself as her father's hologram faded form view.

I know father, Rayn thought, Jak has the determination and drive to win. He is… very special.

Rayn closed her eyes, recalling the moment she had first met her racing team. They all seemed nice enough, but Jak had caught her eye from the start. He was handsome and had a power surrounding him—something she could not really describe or fully understand. It was frighteningly dark, then at once divinely light; this power that surrounded him. It enticed her.

At the toast, she had glanced furtively at Jak as the glass touched her lips and she drank the wine. While the lot of them downed the vintage, he had hesitated, she remembered. How adorable; he did not trust her. That made her smile despite herself. He was the most intelligent of them there then. Really, how could they trust her father not to pull a trick like this? Rayn's liking of Jak shot up even further in that instant as she sat back and played the will, donning her role as actress and steeling herself for the outburst that would surely follow.

When her father had mentioned the assembly would be forced to race for him, the company shouted their immediate disagreement. Rayn glanced about them all, startled. Had they detested her father so? What exactly had he done to them? Krew could be awfully secretive about his work oftentimes. If they resented him so terribly, then her father had been wise to poison them all into compliance. He had forewarned they would have argued against him otherwise.

Rayn played her part well. She had learned that a false, but believable front would give her nearly anything she wanted, and when the red-haired woman's gun glared vehemently just inches from her face, Jak had spoken in her defense—the only one out of the group to believe her. She felt instantly gratuitous for him and felt her heart sink all the more deeply into her unbridled fascination of him.

Rayn smiled to herself. He was very special indeed. Shaking her head lightly to realign her thoughts, she drew her attention back to the waiting notepad, remembering which step to take next. She was viciously tempted to open the entry titled "Jak", but her thirst to know more about her father's intentions with Mizo and Kras City were greater. She reached a hand to open the file titled "Bet with Mizo", promising to open the Jak file the instant it was through.

Krew appeared once more as a floating hologram and she listened once more as her father explained himself.

"Mizo and I both want the same things and we'll stop at nothing to get them. So I rolled the dice and made this—"

Suddenly with a heart-wrenching twist of the doorknob handle, the door behind her opened sharply. Rayn started in surprise and fear as she turned to eye the intruder; her father's notepad pressed to her chest like she had just been caught nosing in something she should not have. Krew crackled in midair and disappeared from sight.

Rayn felt better as she saw none other than Jak approaching her; it might have made her current situation more difficult if any other than him had shown up. Still she did not have a carefully procured speech prepared for him that would not betray her. She had barely just seen this hidden footage for a moment! Oh well, she would just have to wing it.

"I took the liberty of going back through Dad's things. I found his decoder for the will," she discovered herself talking as she looked up at Jak, carefully placing the computerized device on the table before them, "there's more on the disk. I think it's his journal." Rayn said standing up straight again; turning to face him resolutely. He studied her for a moment.

"Play it."

Rayn obeyed his command without hesitation, even though she did not know what her father might reveal to the both of them for the first time.

Krew appeared and Rayn stood back once more, hoping her father would not betray them both.

"Mizo and I both want the same things and we'll stop at nothing to get them. So I rolled the dice and made this bet with Mizo to avoid a costly gang war between us," Rayn covered her mouth in shock. Yes, her father had promised her the city, but he had not told her of this risky gamble. Krew had said he would find away to flush the bugger out, but he had not told her in this manner. Rayn glanced anxiously at Jak. His expression on her was hard. She dropped her gaze from his in disgrace. Krew continued in his message, further complicating her situation. "The winner of the next Kras City Grand Championship Race will win the other's dirty business. All I have to do is field a better racing team than him, win the big race, and Mizo and his nasty clan will slink off to whatever hole they crawled out of, eh?"

Even before the former crime boss finished, Rayn's mind was whirling to understand her father's motives. Things were beginning to crystallize in her vision; her father's vision for her. In the midst of the complicated mind process, Rayn was already conjuring what she should say after that performance. Jak was a step ahead of her however.

"No wonder they both want to win so badly."

Rayn turned so that Jak could only see her profile; she was still winging this situation after all. She took a few steps forward to clear her head as she began.

"My father made a wager with the Mizo crime family? He's been linked to some of the worst crime in Kras City." Rayn, though a tad rigid with suppressed anxiety, made to lean comfortably back against the table as she faced Jak. She had caught many a male's eye in this very position. She tested it again now. "I'm sure he's paying top dollar to field the best racers to beat us."

Rayn almost came to the conclusion as she said it. So that was Mizo's game. It was unfortunate she had been kept in the dark while Mizo had known about the bet since the beginning. Well then, she could no longer leave the races to chance.

She watched Jak carefully for any change in his expression, be it for their situation or her, specifically. He turned away from her, waving an arm as he went.

"So we're up against the world's nastiest crime boss with the best mercenary racers money can buy, and we've been poisoned. I've had better weeks."

Rayn could not help but feel guilty as he succinctly summed up their situation. She drew her analytical gaze to the ground, no longer wishing to play the game of fatal attraction. She had not felt guilt in ages, and she was not sure if she liked it. Standing from her rest on the table, Rayn reached a friendly hand out to Jak's back. She touched his shoulder.

"You must believe me, Jak. I never knew my father was in to all of this." She turned from him, not entirely acting. "Hell, I never knew my father at all." She dropped her head in remorse, unable to banish the feeling that her words were not entirely false.

"You're not alone in this," he returned her gesture with a gentle touch to her shoulder and she did not stifle the emotions that lanced through her for him this time. Rayn had gone through much of life alone and this simple reassuring phrase was…nice. The smile came, real and unabashed; he always seemed to bring out the happiness in her.

"Don't worry, we'll win."

Rayn turned, wanting so much to embrace him, but instead she grinned at him like a boorish school girl. He returned her smile, happy to have made her happy.

"I have faith in you."

Jak's smile broadened and Rayn felt her heart might burst with joy. "You are a brilliant driver; I am so glad we have you on the team. I…"

The door opened once again, interrupting her. The red-haired woman, Ashelin, entered. She did little to veil her distrust toward Rayn and the latter's eyes slanted at the open, unfriendly expression.

"Jak," Ashelin spoke, still glaring at Rayn before turning to face him.

"Yeah, what's up?" he responded.

"The next race will be starting soon." Jak nodded and turned to Rayn.

"Hey, you coming?"

Rayn seemed to physically break free from Ashelin's hostile gaze.

"Yes…yes, I'll be right with you."

Jak headed out the door, but Ashelin was a little slower to follow.

"Don't spend too much time in here," Ashelin spoke, not bothering to keep the threat out of her voice, "you might pick up some of your father's old habits."

Rayn frowned at her, but did not retort as Ashelin followed Jak out, no doubt to warn him again of her suspicions toward the old crime boss' daughter. Rayn doubted Jak would have any further misgivings about her. He was much too sweet, much too soft. He made it all too easy for her. She smiled despite herself.

"Yes, Father," Rayn murmured to the empty air, "very special indeed."

Author's Note: I've only had this story on my desktop for a month or so, sitting...but I'm rather pleased with the final result. I thought the whole Jak x Rayn idea was cute, though they both stuggled with difficulties towards each other--Rayn as a betrayer and Jak as Krew's killer. Though for this story, I gave Rayn a small benefit of the doubt. I was curious if she really knew right from the get-go about the bet. The creative side of me wanted her to be innocent, but the evil one liked the whole wicked plot of betrayel. Either way, I still loved Rayn as a character. Gotta watch your back from those proper ladies...

I got a tad tripped up on the "To Rayn" message, mostly because Rayn had to have known all of the facts before getting underway with the plan, but I like to think she had a smaller message about the plan, then the decoder to give her a detailed layout later to clear everything up. Why else include a decoder?

Anyway, I hoped you all enjoyed the story and will please review!

Blackfire 18