Everything was quiet in Haven City Hospital. The doctors found that this particular day had been pretty easygoing thus far. Although there was a big battle going on between the Freedom League and the KG Robots, the hospital still hadn't received any casualties.
"How're the patients from yesterday, nurse?" A doctor asked.
"They're recovering nicely." The nurse replied, handing the doctor a clipboard. "You can check the records if you like."
The doctor scanned over the records for a few seconds, wondering if things would even pick up for the rest of the day.
Suddenly, as if on cue, the front door to the hospital was kicked open. A small group ran inside, looking frenzied.
"Doctor! Doctor!" The young man leading shouted as he ran over to the doctor. "We have an emergency!"
The doctor turned and saw the Freedom League running over, Jak being the one to address him. "Jak, what seems to be-" That was all he managed to say before seeing the bloody figure in Jak's arms. "Oh, my! Nurse, call the others! We need to get going on this young man as quick as possible!"
"Right away, sir!" The nurse nodded.
Almost instantly, a group of doctors rushed over to the group with a wheeled bed. Jak placed the injured man on the bed as the doctors wheeled the victim away to get to work. The group followed from a distance.
"Son, what in the world happened?!" The doctor asked Jak.
(FLASHBACK)
"Yeah! Take that, freak!" Sig laughed as he sniped several robots at once with Peace Maker.
"Jak, where are all of these things coming from?!" Ashelin asked as she shot several robots with her gun. "I thought you guys took care of Errol!"
"We did!" Jak shouted back as he used his machine gun to take out a few robots. "I don't know how the KG Robots are still active!"
"Whatever the reason, these guys are still just as easy to take care of now as they were back then!" Daxter said as he stood on Jak's shoulder and attacked with a shotgun.
Ashelin looked around and did a head count. "Where's Torn?!"
Suddenly, a shot rang out. Ashelin turned and saw a robot standing over her, which toppled over to reveal Torn with a smoking rifle.
"Thanks, Torn." Ashelin nodded. "I let my guard down."
"Look alive, Ashelin!" Torn warned. "They're coming again!"
Ashelin spun around and quickly picked off several more robots.
Jak, in the meantime, suddenly stopped firing his weapon when he saw a huge robot approaching.
"Jak, what the heck is that thing?!" Sig asked as he approached. "I've never seen a KG bot that big!"
"Neither had I." Jak shook his head. "And from the looks of things, it's too armoured to attack anywhere but on the top."
"Great. We don't have anything that can do that." Sig growled.
"Leave this one to me, boys." Jinx chuckled as he walked past the two of them, spinning an explosive in his hand while holding the wire. "Let's see…The wind seems to be coming from the west today, but it's only a faint breeze."
Spinning his explosive a few times, Jinx let loose and sent it flying upwards, making it land directly on top of the huge robot's head. A few seconds later and the explosive detonated, sending the whole robot up in flames.
"Way to go, Jinx!" Jak said as he turned and shot another couple of robots.
"Hey, what can I say?" Jinx asked. "I'm the king of explosions."
Ashelin tried to shoot another robot, only to find herself out of ammo. Cursing her luck, Ashelin ran over to a downed robot, took its gun and started using that instead. "We've almost got them!" She called out. "There's just a few more left!"
Torn still hadn't run out of ammo yet, but was getting pretty close. The red-haired young man swung his gun like a club and struck a robot in the head with the blunt end of it, bashing its head in.
"Heh. They don't make 'em like they used to." Torn chuckled.
With a well-placed round of shots from Jak, the last of the robots collapsed, broken and inactive. The team looked around for a few seconds until they were sure that they had won.
"We did it!" Daxter cheered, leaping from Jak's shoulder. "Those tinheads didn't stand a chance!"
"It's certainly good to see that we got rid of the threat before they could do any real damage." Ashelin noted.
"Yeah. A couple of buildings got some minor hits, but it's nothing that can't be fixed." Jak added.
"Let's head back to HQ." Ashelin suggested. "We can regroup there and see of these metal monstrosities were alone in the attack or if the city's being attacked elsewhere."
Everyone agreed as they turned to leave. However, as they were leaving, Torn glanced to the side and his eyes widened when he saw that one of the KG bots was still alive and was holding a gun in its barley-functioning hand. It was almost as if the robot was trying to fire off one last shot before it deactivated.
That wasn't Torn's main concern, because he suddenly saw that the robot was pointing the gun at Ashelin.
"Ashelin! Watch out!" Torn shouted as he whipped out his gun and fired it at the robot's arm, hoping to knock the gun out of its hand. Ashelin turned to watch the scene in shock.
Torn's aim was off a bit and the shot struck the robot in the arm, causing it to tense up a bit, moving the arm. The robot fired the shot, but the arm was already moved, so the shot was sent flying a few feet behind Ashelin.
Everyone watched in shock and horror as Torn's eyes widened in pain. Torn felt his chest, where the shot had found a home, for a few seconds before collapsing onto his side.
"Torn!" Everyone shouted as they ran over to the young man's side. Unfortunately, he was already out like a light.
(END FLASHBACK)
"After that, we loaded Torn onto Sig's ship and we all flew over here." Jak explained.
"You did the right thing, and you got here in record time." The doctor assured. "We may be able to do something."
"Thank you." Jak nodded.
With that, the doctor vanished through a door to assist in aiding the injured Torn. Jak turned and saw the rest of the 'team' gathered in the lobby with him. Daxter was sitting on a chair that was clearly too big for him, twiddling his thumbs. Sig was looking at the floor, Peace Maker propped up beside the chair he was sitting in. Even Jinx had come along, and he had respected the hospital's 'no smoking' rule by defusing and throwing out his cigar before coming inside.
Then Jak looked at Ashelin. The poor redhead looked like she was struggling to stay calm, but the tears in her eyes and the deep breaths she was taking told everyone otherwise. This was to be expected, because Torn had saved her from getting shot herself.
Jak was about to go over to comfort Ashelin before the front doors opened again. Keira and Tess entered the lobby, the blonde ottsel sitting on Keira's shoulder like Daxter did with Jak. Seeing her boyfriend on the large chair, Tess jumped from Keira's shoulder and scampered over to join Daxter on the chair.
"Thanks for calling, Jak." Keira said as she approached Jak. "How's Torn?"
"I don't know. The doctors just took him in." Jak explained. "But the lead doctor said that we got here quickly, so he has a chance."
"That's good to hear." Keira nodded. "I guess the only thing left to do is wait for the results and see how Torn is."
Jak nodded as he went over to a chair and sat down. Keira was about to do the same when she saw Ashelin and the condition she looked like she was in. Feeling sorry for her, Keira walked over.
"You okay, Ashelin?" Keira asked.
"Torn ended up getting shot saving me and he could be dying for all I know." Ashelin replied, turning her tear-stained face away from her friend. "How do you THINK I feel?"
"I'm sorry. I can understand what you must be going through." Keira replied.
"How would YOU know?" Ashelin challenged, perhaps a little harsher than she was hoping for. "Uh, sorry."
"It's okay. I know what you're going through because something similar happened to me."
"R-Really?"
"Yes. When Jak and I were young, back when we lived back in the past, we were fooling around down by the beach." Keira explained. "Jak saw a Lurker Shark approaching me from behind and got me out of the way in time, but he got a REAL bad bite in the leg. The doctor of Sandover Village considered it a miracle that his leg didn't need to be amputated."
Ashelin's eyes widened as she looked towards Jak.
"He still bares the scars on his left thigh." Keira explained. "I felt extremely guilty for months and was afraid that he'd never talk to me again. But Jak told me that the scars he received from that attack were worth it for saving me. Maybe Torn was thinking the same thing."
Ashelin looked down, in deep thought.
"Look, I know you're upset now, but Torn's strong. He can recover from this." She said. "From what I've heard, this wasn't the first time he was shot, either."
"No. He was shot a couple of times while he was a KG and once more while trying to escape my father when he defected." Ashelin said.
"See? Surely he can recover from something like this, then." Keira said, attempting to cheer the redhead up.
"I sure hope so." Ashelin said. "If he dies in there, I'll never forgive myself."
After what seemed like an eternity, the head doctor emerged from the door again. The small group of friends was almost instantly in his face.
"How is he?!"
"Is he alright?!"
"Is he gonna croak?!"
"Daxter, hush up!"
"One at a time! One at a time!" The doctor said, making everyone back off a little. "Okay. Torn is going to be fine." The team relaxed after hearing this. "He was real lucky. The gunshot missed his heart and lungs. BARELY. We got the wound disinfected and closed up again."
"Can we see him?" Ashelin asked.
"You can, but he's still out like a light." The doctor sighed. "Don't expect him to wake up for a while."
"He's in a coma?" Jak asked, his eyes widened.
"I wouldn't call it a coma." The doctor replied. "He's just resting. He should be up and about in a day."
The group was led into Torn's room and saw the redhead soldier sleeping soundly on a bed. His wound was still visible, even with the bandages wrapped around his chest. In spite of the situation, Torn looked peaceful.
"I feel so sorry for him." Tess sighed.
"Don't worry, baby." Daxter assured with a smirk. "Torn'll get through this with no problem."
Eventually, the group filed out of the room one at a time. Jinx left first, followed shortly afterwards by Sig. Daxter and Tess left to head back to the Naughty Ottsel and Keira had left on her own to tell her father about Torn's condition.
This left Jak and Ashelin in the room with Torn. Soon, Jak turned towards the door and looked over his shoulder.
"I'm heading out, Ashelin." Jak said. "You want me to give you a ride back to HQ?"
"No." Ashelin shook her head. "I'm not leaving his side."
Jak sighed, knowing that once Ashelin's mind was set, there was no changing it. "Okay. I'll see you later, Ashelin."
With that, Jak left the room, leaving Ashelin alone, sitting on a chair beside Torn's bed. Once Jak was gone, Ashelin held Torn's hand.
"Don't worry, Torn." Ashelin said. "I'm not leaving. I'm here."
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Torn groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, only to shut them tightly after the sunlight from outside beamed down onto his face.
"Welcome back to the world of the living, buddy."
Torn was surprised at the sudden voice, but was too tired to show it. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw Jak standing by the door to his room smirking.
"What happened?" Torn asked.
"A KG bot was about to shoot Ashelin and you shot it in the arm, knocking it off target and accidentally making it shoot you." Jak replied.
"What time is it?" The redhead asked.
"Three in the afternoon." Jak replied, pausing a bit before adding. "The day AFTER."
Torn's eyes widened. "I was out for a full day?" He asked.
"Almost a day and a half." Jak pointed out.
"How's Ashelin?"
"See for yourself." Jak said, motioning to Torn's left.
Torn looked and his eyes widened again when he saw a sleeping Ashelin resting her head on the side of his bed, holding his hand.
"She said that she wouldn't leave your side." Jak pointed out before chuckling. "I didn't know she meant it literally."
"You mean that she's-"
"She's been here the entire time, waiting for you to wake up."
"…Man."
"I know." Jak chuckled quietly so as not to wake Ashelin up. "Torn, you're one lucky guy."
"Yeah. I didn't think I could survive a gunshot to the chest like that." Torn shook his head.
"I wasn't talking about that." Jak replied. "Most guys would kill to have a girl that would stay by their side like Ashelin has." Smirking, Jak turned towards the door. "Well, I'd better go tell the others you're awake. Take care, Torn."
"Yeah. You too, Jak." Torn nodded.
After Jak left, Torn looked at Ashelin's sleeping figure and gently shook her by the shoulder. Slowly, Ashelin started to wake up.
"No, Jak. I'm not hungry." Ashelin mumbled. "I'm not moving."
"It's not Jak." Torn replied.
Ashelin's eyes widened as she shot up into a sitting position, finding herself staring into Torn's eyes.
"You're…You're awake!" Ashelin said as she practically jumped onto the bed and wrapped her arms around Torn.
"Ack! Ashelin! Ashelin!" Torn gasped. "You're crushing my lungs!"
Suddenly remembering Torn's wound, Ashelin jumped back into her seat.
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting here for you to wake up, Torn." Ashelin said.
"Actually, yes." Torn said. "Jak just left and he said you've been here the entire time I was out."
"I was." Ashelin assured. "I wanted to be here when you woke up."
"You didn't have to do that, Ashelin…"
"I know, but I wanted to." Ashelin said. "You save my life before you were shot, Torn. I wanted to tell you how much that meant to me."
"Hey, you would have done the same for me, wouldn't you?"
Ashelin brushed her fingers against Torn's red hair. "Yes. And I also know that if I were the one to get shot saving you, you would have stayed by my side, right?" She quizzed.
"Well…Yeah. I guess I would."
"Well, thank you for saving me, anyway." Ashelin said. "Even though it was a stupid move."
Torn chuckled. "Hey, you just admitted that you'd do the same for me." He replied.
Ashelin couldn't help but laugh a bit herself. "Okay. You got me there."
"So how long am I supposed to be in this hospital?" Torn asked. "I want to get back into the field and help out again."
"Oh, no you're not." Ashelin scolded. "You're spending some time off until that wound recovers completely."
"Great. And knowing you, you're going to make sure I don't set foot on the field."
"You got that right, buster." Ashelin replied with a smirk.
END