1AN: 'Cause Jinx don't get enough lovin.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own it, the Naughty Dog ran off with the copyright papers.
WARNINGS: Hints of Boy Love.
Pairings: Dax/Tess, Jak/Torn, Jinx/OC Don't hold it against me eh?
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I never liked the smell of cigars…Until I met him.
Jinx.
The Man with the plan, the right bomb in the right place at the right time.
Cocky, overconfident, Stubborn, Pig headed…an absolute scoundrel.
"Well if it ain't pretty boy!" I winced as he entered the Med center, Loud and smelling of burnt gingerbread and the tramway.
"Hey Jinx, what's up?" I didn't blame Jak at all for his friend's rather…rough…appearance. But when the man lit up one of those cigars right in the middle of my sick room!
"Excuse me; this is a non smoking area."
"Yeah sure whatever toots." I felt my teeth clench.
"Uh Jinx…"
"Sir, either dispose of that filthy thing or I will remove you." Jak was making little hand signals but the older elf was ignoring them, turning to stare me down.
"Oh yeah? And just who are you anyway?" I smirked.
"I am the head the medical officer of this facility and you will either put out that cigar, or YOU will be put out."
"Try it toots."
"Jinx that's really not a good idea…" I cut the young hero off, waving a hand to get the attention of the nearest orderly; a tall man, young, but painfully earnest.
"Please escort this man to the exit." He nodded and approached the man gently taking his arm.
"Sir, I'm afraid you'll have to leave." The scruffy man gave me a glare and jerked his arm away.
"I can find my way out just fine." His eyes bore into mine as he chewed his infernal cigar.
"This ain't over toots." I smiled and waved. He snarled and stormed out. I turned to face the blonde on the bed.
"I'm sorry, but-" The hero held up his hand to stop my explanation.
"I know, it's okay, he can be stubborn. Sorry for causing a stir." I smiled and checked his records.
"No trouble at all." I let my eyes skim the reports; remarkable recovery speed, healing injections well taken. I grinned and snapped the file shut.
"Congratulations, you are now a free man! Go out there and smack down some more metalheads."
"Free? YES! FINALLY!" I rolled my eyes as the apparently sleeping orange blob shot up, quite awake.
"Ya hear that Jak?! We're outta this joint!" I rolled my eyes and moved on to the next patient.
I didn't see hide nor hair of him for two weeks. But then, one day at The Naughty Ottsel…
"Here ya go Claire, on the house." I looked at the pulsing burgundy drink.
"Tess, You KNOW what a Krimzon Guard Kicker does to me, I need to be able to make it to my zoomer!" There was a snicker behind me.
"Aw, Can the Lady not hold her liquor?" Even if his voice hadn't given him away the swish-hiss of a match followed by the instant aroma of those disgusting things he was so fond of would have told me instantly it was him.
That Man.
"The Doctor can hold her liquor just fine, thank you very much." I could have shot myself. Witty rejoinders are never around when you need them…
"And isn't it customary to introduce oneself before starting a conversation?" I could feel his eyes drilling into the back of my head.
"Ya mean like when ya tossed me outta the Hospital?" I swirled around on my stool crossing my arms.
"You mean when you lit one of those disgusting things in a distinctly labeled no smoking zone?" We glared at eachother for a few moments.
"Jinx."
"Claire."
"Tess?"
"Daxter!" I ducked as an orange streak leapt over my head.
"Hey!" I whirled around to see the little ottsel put down my now empty glass.
"Great stuff sweetcakes!"
"Nothing is too good for my snookums!" I winced and saw Jinx gag out of the corner of my eye. Jak strode up to the bar.
"Sorry about that Miss, he gets a little excited around alcohol." I looked at Tess who was now cuddling the little fur ball.
"I'd noticed." I turned back to come face to face with the man from my hospital.
"Ah! So you're running around already eh? Good." I gave him a quick once over.
"No residual pain or swelling?" He shook his head, a slightly embarrassed smile tweaking the corners of his mouth.
"Nope, I'm all good." An armored arm wrapped around his waist.
"I'll second THAT beautiful." The hero's fair face flushed a fantastic fuschia shade.
"Torn!" I laughed.
"Looks like the Captain's got you well 'In Hand' huh?" For a second I actually wondered if it was possible for an elf to spontaneously combust. Commander Torn chuckled with me then sobered.
"I have a Mission for you Claire, if you want it." I raised an eyebrow.
"I have a choice?" He shrugged.
"Not much of one. You can take your people and go, and maybe make it out; or I can send a less experienced unit and they can die." My eyes narrowed as I leaned back against the bar.
"You're right. That's not much of a choice."His smile was all teeth, no mirth.
"Told ya. You up for it?" Jak frowned slightly.
"You haven't told her what it is yet..." I watched as the former Krimzon Guard leaned his head on the young Hero's shoulder, wishing I had someone to lean on. Jinx, as I now knew his name to be puffed on his cigar.
"It's his way of letting her back out. If she don't know what it is she might not feel so guilty about turnin' him down." A small smile flickered across my face. Who knew the man was so perceptive? I spun around on my barstool as I thought. Like Torn said, it really wasn't a choice at all. Go and maybe make a difference, or send someone else and never know if they might have lived if you'd done it. The spin ended with me facing the giant metalhead mounted on the wall.
Mar curse it, I'm a doctor not a fighter...But I couldn't lie, my unit had the most field experience, and if he wanted me for a mission, it was for that. Not my delicate surgeon's hands.
"Alright, I'm in."
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I stood at the front of the shuttle bus facing my unit.
"Alright, the Metalheads have got them pinned down. The Spargans are going to be our transport and our bodyguards. We will have a few Freebies with us but not many, so don't count on them-" I stopped as one of my people raised his hand.
"Yes?" He tugged at his flight straps nervously.
"How many Freebies do we have, exactly?" I tried not to wince. I HAD hoped that none of them would ask.
"...Ten." The silence was deafening for a moment.
"What?!"
"Only ten?"
"Not even half a squad!" I raised my voice to be heard.
"QUIET!" After a few more mutters of discontent I went on.
"Like I said, don't count on them to save you." Turning on the small projector Torn had given me I brought up the map. Twenty blue dots in the center of a thick ring of red dots, in the middle of the desert.
"Here's the plan: The Spargans are going to drive us through the weakest point of the blockade, here." I pointed to a part if the red ring that was slightly thinner.
"After we're through we're to gather as many wounded as possible and load them onto the air buses while the Spargans and our Freebies provide cover fire." My second in command, Helena, snorted.
"Helluva plan." I grinned.
"You wanna live forever?"
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"Sonuvabitch!" I grit my teeth as the wounded man thrashed.
"Damnit Marny HOLD him!" The large boy grunted and bore down on the soldier's chest as I struggled to push the femur back through the skin to it's proper position.
"Where the hell is the Air support?" Explosions almost drowned out the commander's voice, but he was Spargan, and HAD been a KG drill sergeant once upon a time, before the Bastard Baron. I slapped a green eco patch on the hole the bone had come through and motioned for Marny to get the man with the others waiting for pick up.
"No idea. Think they got shot?" He growled, charging his peacemaker.
"If they did, we're screwed." He let the energy go, whooping as it hit one of the larger metalheads charging the makeshift barricades.
"Go find Amarden, he's got the radio." I winced and touched the tangled wad of dog-tags in my pocket.
"He's gone." The sergeant swore venomously.
"The Radio?"
"Scrap." I winced trying not think of where it had been embedded.
"Shit." I heartily agreed.
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"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" We all worked feverishly to get the ones that couldn't do more than twitch onto the last air bus. The metalheads were closing in fast, forcing the fighters back faster than we'd anticipated. I ushered the last of my unit onboard and started herding the non and less mortally wounded soldiers into the cramped space.
"Is this thing even gonna lift off the fucking ground?!" I growled and shoved the griping fighter aboard.
"Shut up and get moving!" Then it was just me, Sarge and an army of metalheads charging us. We both hopped aboard as the Bus lifted off, grinning as the Metalheads roared in fury, trying to shoot us down. Suddenly there was a smaller vehicle, it looked like a modified Hellcat. I couldn't make out who was driving, but they were excellent, their gunner was a fantastic shot, and we made it to Spargus without incident.
It was while we were unloading the wounded I smelt it.
That odor of motor grease and mouldy bathrooms. I didn't even need to turn around.
"You do realize those are going to kill you someday?" His laugh was sharp.
"Metalheads'll get me sooner. You owe me toots." I rolled my eyes as I turned to face him.
"Oh really? Do tell." He looked exactly the same as he had in the bar, slightly ruffled but not disheveled, scruffy without being truly dirty, and holding a cheroot between frustratingly perfect teeth. He gestured to the ship behind him, it was the modified hell cat I'd seen earlier.
"So that was you...driving?" He nodded.
"Pretty boy did the shooting." I smirked.
"Then I should probably go thank him." I would have left it at that, but I was feeling too tired for animosity.
"And thank you, as well." He looked surprised for a moment, I couldn't think why until it occurred to me, maybe he didn't get thanked all that often.
Then he smiled at me.
And I figured, hey, maybe the smell isn't too bad.
You know?
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AN: This has been on my computer for two years...I was figuring on doing a companion piece from Jinx's POV but I don't think it's necessary. If you want to see one go ahead and say so. But I promise nothing.