Blaze: Wow. I like this story. It's fun
Torn: You're gonna kill someone in this chapter, aren't you?
Blaze: (Evil grin) Maaaaaybe
Torn: Sweet.
Blaze: Torn! That is so unlike you!
Torn: Oh well. I have a few surprises.
Blaze: And now, onto chapter two! Oh, and for those of you who don't know, this takes place sometime in the middle of Jak 2. Just so none of ya'll were confused.
Torn stayed up late that night despite the pain in his ribs. Jak felt bad for what happened, so he stayed up as well and helped Torn. "So, oh great second-in-command, when do me and rat boy get another mission?" Jak asked, trying to make a joke. Torn smirked and chuckled lightly while shaking his head. "Not for a while. Nothing new has come up yet." Jak put his hands on his hips. "Then what in the hell are you doing up at this time of the night if nothing new has come up." Torn sighed. "I need to finish this. It's not anything new, but it needs to be done." Jak glared at Torn and Torn just glared back. "I have to do this, Jak." Jak shook his head. Torn was acting very out of character and it unnerved him. "Where's your rat? Maybe he can provide you with some entertainment." Torn said, turning his full attention back to his maps. Jak sighed. "He's with Tess at the Hip Hog. Knowing him he's probably drunk out of his mind." Torn chuckled again at the thought of a drunken ottsel.
Daxter came back to Jak with one leg off the cot he was sleeping on and the blanket somehow twisted up into his hair like a turban and Torn asleep on the table. Daxter laughed quietly and pulled out a camera and snapped pictures of both Jak and Torn. Torn didn't look as retarded as Jak did, but Daxter didn't care. He would still have blackmail on the sleeping duo. He was sure something would come up. After he was satisfied with the number of pictures he had, he safely hid his camera, climbed up on Jak, and fell asleep.
A week later, Torn and Jak were awoken to the sound of loud footsteps coming down the stairs. Torn stood up so quickly he banged his head on the lamp above the table and Jak fell the rest of the way off the bed, partially crushing Daxter who had been curled up on his chest. Ashelin came strolling in an almost laughed at the pained expression on Torn's face and he cursed the light. "Damn thing… why it's so low only Mar knows." Ashelin put her hands on her hips. "It's that low because the shadow is much shorter then you." She said, musing silently at the confused and surprised expression on Jak's face as he got up off the floor. "Ashelin! What are you doing here?" Torn asked, walking to the other side of the table. "My father is planning something. I thought you should know." Jak noticed Ashelin couldn't look Torn in the eyes. "What's he planning?" Torn asked, trying desperately to get Ashelin to look at him. "He's mass-producing some sort of missile that tracks down people according to their DNA." She said, finally looking into Torn's face. "And unfortunately, he has both of your DNA." "We've got to stop him." Jak said, standing finally and discarding the blanket still wrapped around his head. Torn nodded. "It will be terribly dangerous. The factory is heavily guarded. Take my security passes. I'll go to Vin and try to over-ride the alarms. You both should probably go." Torn and Jak nodded as Ashelin turned around. "Good luck Torn. Be careful." She whispered before walking out the door.
Torn reached under the desk and took out two belts full of ammo for the two guns on his waist. Jak walked to his side. "You shouldn't go, Torn. You're ribs-" "Are just fine." Torn finished, strapping his ammo on. "I've broken ribs before and gone out the same day without anything bad happening. I think I'll live. It's been a week." Still unsure, Jak nodded. "Fine. Let's go then." Jak picked up the amazingly still sleeping Daxter off the floor and walked out the door, Torn close behind. "I've never been to the factory before." Jak said, hopping into the passenger seat of a Zoomer, indicating for Torn to drive. Torn sighed and jumped in. "Neither have I, but I know how to get there." He said absently, starting up the Zoomer and speeding off.
They arrived about 15 minutes later and parked on top of the factory. "And we're on the top because…" Daxter half-asked, looking nervously around. Torn sighed. "We can't just pull into the driveway and not expect them to think anything!" He hissed. Jak bent down and handed Daxter the security passes. "Here, Dax. Go through the vents and activate this." Jak instructed Daxter, who nodded and scurried off. Torn tightened his holsters and loaded his guns. "You ready Jak?" Jak took out his own gun and gave his trademark smirk. "Oh yea." Torn smirked as well and rolled his eyes as he began climbing down the back of the building, carefully avoiding windows. Jak did the same, and soon they reached the ground. Jak touched the security pass to the door and it opened. The pass he had given Daxter was to get rid of any security traps. Jak and Torn entered the room slowly and Torn's communicator beeped quietly. "Torn. You'll need to find the plans and destroy them, then destroy whatever my father has made." Torn nodded to himself. "Alright." He turned the communicator off in case it went off at the wrong time. "Let's go." Torn said, walking stealthily down the hallway. Jak followed and soon they reached a room full of guards and lasers. Jak grabbed his Vulcan Fury mod and Torn shot the lasers with his gun, which was fortunately silent. "Nice aim." Jak said as Torn pulled out his other gun. The older elf smirked. "Thanks. Now, let's take care of business." With that, Torn and Jak jumped out from behind the corner.
Jak stood in front of Torn and began mowing the guards down with his Vulcan Fury. The guards were taken off-guard and didn't stand a chance. One did, however, clip Jak's shoulder. A small amount of blood sprayed onto Torn, who wiped it off quickly. "You ok?" He asked, combing the dead guards for anything useful, like ammo. Jak touched the wound softly. It was bleeding only a bit and didn't hurt much at all. "Yea, it's just a shallow cut." Torn nodded and moved on. Jak switched his gun to blaster mode as he and Torn came up to the next corner. "There are a lot more guards. We should wait until they come around the corner." Torn instructed, his back up against the wall. Jak nodded and Torn leaned over and shot a bullet into the room. "What was that?!" Jak and Torn heard one of the guards say. "Move!" Another said, and they all rushed to the corner where the bullet had come from. This was, all in all, a very bad move. Jak's scatter gun was set to rapid fire and the guards the gun didn't kill were quickly taken out by Torn.
Soon, every guard in the room was dead, but there was the matter of the lasers. "Torn, if you don't mind." Jak said, making a mock-bow and pointing to the lasers. Torn rolled his eyes a Jak's sarcasm, but shot the lasers anyway. 'This is waaaay too easy.' Jak thought as they arrived in the next room, surprised to see Ashelin smiling at them. "I convinced most of the guards to go on another mission, saying I would up the security. Most of them left, so you had it easier." Torn flashed an almost-invisible smile at her, but Jak noticed Torn was back to his old self within moments. Ashelin escorted the two into a large room. "You almost done, Dax?" She called to one other control panels. "Give me a second, sweet cheek." Came the reply. Torn sneered at the voice and Daxter crawled out of the hole in the panel, holding a memory chip.
Within moments, an alarm was flashing. Ashelin turned around to face Jak and Torn. "Daxter… throw Jak the chip and get back in the hole. Guards are coming and there's no time." Daxter did as he was told. "I have to shoot at you two, just so they don't suspect anything. There's a hidden door leading outside on the end of the hall on the right. Go!" Ashelin said. The two turned and ran as the guards came in. "After them, they have the memory chip!" Ashelin ordered, pointing toward Torn and Jak's retreating shadows and firing her guns. The guards ran after them and Ashelin lost herself in the middle.
Jak and Torn ran down the hallway, forgetting how long it was. Inevitably, one of them was shot. The guards were behind Torn and Jak in a bend in the hallway, but the bullet had ricocheted off the wall and hit Torn in his right side, and another in his leg. Jak caught him and quickly found the hidden door. He threw torn inside, jumped in, and closed the door before the guards turned the corner. Once Jak heard the guards all run by, he turned to Torn. "Are you ok?" Torn hand his left hand over the wound and tried to sit up. "I… don't know." Jak put his hand down to crawl over to Torn, and discovered something wet on the ground. "Oh Mar, you're bleeding Torn." Torn glared at him. "Don't you think I know that?!" Jak ignored Torn's angry outburst and helped him up. "Come on, you'll have to lean on me." Jak pulled Torn's arm around him and began walking down the pitch-black tunnel.
Torn limped along next to Jak, wincing with every step. The wounds in his side and leg were becoming more painful by the second and Torn could scarcely stand it. Jak suddenly stopped and jerked Torn behind him, causing Torn to cling on to Jak's side for balance. "Jak, what are you doing?" Torn still had not let go of Jak, and Jak didn't seem to particularly care. "The tunnel stops there." Torn's cerulean eyes had become slightly adjusted to the dark, and he could tell that the area in front of Jak and him was impossibly dark. "Damn. Now what?" Torn asked. His question was answered for him when the ground shook terribly and Jak's legs were swept out from under him and he began sliding down the floor. Because Torn was clinging to him, the said elf was now on top of Jak and they slid down the hole, banging painfully in the side every now and then. They were finally dumped in the back of the building.
Jak, who was now on top of Torn, pushed himself up. Torn opened his eyes and winced at the pain in his leg and side. "Jak… you can get off me now." Jak winced. "I would if I could feel my legs." Torn pushed himself up as well, his and Jak's noses only a breath apart. "Can you push yourself to the side? There's a Zoomer over there. We need to reach it before the guards reach us." Jak pushed himself over onto his side. He jerked his head up as he heard the footsteps of hundreds of guards coming down the stairs. "We need to hurry." Torn said, making his way to Jak. "Give me your jet board." He ordered. Jak painfully reached for it and Torn took it and activated it. He sat on it, and having no choice, pulled Jak up on to his lap. The jet board began moving forward slowly, and torn used his hand to push off the ground. They were a few feet away from the Zoomer when the footsteps got louder. Jak leaned into Torn, his head ringing. Torn unconsciously tightened his grip around Jak and they finally reached the passengers side of the Zoomer.
Torn stood up painfully and dragged Jak off the jet board. "Come on Jak, you have to help me here." Torn said, trying and failing miserably to get Jak into the hovering Zoomer. "I'm doing the best I can!" Jak was slowly pulling himself into the Zoomer. The first of the guards was nearing the end of the stairs. Torn knew they had about 5 seconds to get in the Zoomer and out of the area, so he put his hands on Jak's waist and hoisted him up. It took him a moment because he was still weak from the gunshot wounds, but Jak eventually got into the Zoomer. Torn tossed the jet board in after Jak and limp-ran to the other side. Before he even reached the other side, however, the guards burst out the door. Torn launched himself into the Zoomer and started it up, but it only sputtered once.
"Torn, we need to get going here." Jak said nervously, looking over his shoulder at the mass amount of guards approaching them at a run. "I'm doing the best I can!" Torn said, fidgeting with the controls. "Start shooting, Jak." Jak switched to his blaster mod and used the rest of the ammo he had, but it wasn't much. "I'm almost out Torn." The guards were a mere 10 feet away from the Zoomer when Torn started it and it flew above the wall around the factory. That's when the guards started shooting. Torn sped off toward the Underground hideout and arrived there less then 10 minutes later. "Torn, you have to help me. I still can't feel my legs." Torn nodded and jumped out of the Zoomer. He pulled Jak out of the Zoomer and carried him painfully, bridal style, to the door to the hideout. The door opened for Torn and he sat Jak at the top of the stairs. "I need to get rid of the Zoomer. The KG can't find this place." Torn said, limping as quickly as he could to the Zoomer. He started it up and put it on auto pilot. He aimed it so it wouldn't hit any of the homes and let it go. The Zoomer sped off, going up and over the city walls about 150 feet to the right of the hideout. Torn turned and limped back to where Jak sat on the top of the steps. He picked him up again and walked down the stairs, the door falling shut behind them.
Torn reached the bottom of the stairs, the half-conscious Jak clinging to his shirt for dear life. Ashelin and Daxter were in the middle of the room, Ashelin wringing her hands and Daxter looking around nervously. When Torn and Jak walked into the room, Ashelin nearly screamed. "Oh my god, Torn. You're hurt! Jak, what happened?" Jak gave her a half smile. "Don't worry about me. I just can't feel my legs." Torn set Jak down on one of the cots and then he collapsed on one next to it. His vision was fuzzy and neither of his wounds had stopped bleeding and he had lost so much blood. He passed out and fell backwards, his head hitting the wall too hard for health. "Torn!" Ashelin leapt across the room, positioning him on the bed that he was lying down. "Daxter, go get Tess and Keira. They're downstairs." Daxter nodded and ran down the open trap door. Jak leaned across his bed. "Is he ok Ashelin?" Ashelin shook her head. "I don't know Jak. It looks bad." Seeing Ashelin like this unnerved Jak. Normally Ashelin didn't show so much emotion, and now she was on the brink of tears. She turned to face him. "Are you alright, Jak?" Jak nodded. "I think my legs are broken and my head hurts, but I'll live. You worry about Torn."
Tess, Keira, and Daxter came rushing up only seconds later. Keira and Tess hovered over Torn for a few moments before the two started shouting orders at Daxter while Ashelin tended to Jak. "Your legs are definitely broken. I'm going to have to set them and put them in a cast." Ashelin said, rolling Jak's pant legs up. Jak nodded and laid back, ready to face the pain. She unexpectedly cracked his left leg into place, and it didn't hurt as bad as he had expected, probably because he wasn't tense. His right leg, however, was broken in three places. Ashelin snapped his bones back in place all in a row. That leg hurt much more and by the time Ashelin was done, Jak was panting heavily. "I'm sorry Jak, but I had to do it. I'm going to get some plaster for your casts and some medicine for your head." Jak nodded, still fighting the pain.
Three hours later, everyone was bandaged, drugged, and sleeping, save Ashelin and Jak. Ashelin sat on a chair in the middle of Torn and Jak's cots and was staring at Torn sorrowfully. "Ashelin, do you… still love him?" Jak asked, quite unnecessarily. It was obvious by the way she was looking at him, wasn't it? Ashelin smiled softly. "I don't know. He's changed a lot since his punishment by my father for finding us together. Not like it's entirely his fault, but he's not the person I fell in love with." "His dark eco treatments, you mean." Jak said off-handedly. Ashelin looked slightly surprised, but nodded. "I think I forced myself out of love with him. To protect him. He's like a brother to me now. So, yes, I love him, but only as a brother." Jak smiled a small smile. "Good." He said, without really knowing why. He couldn't control the words his mouth began forming. "Do you know… if Torn… cares for anyone… right now?" Ashelin looked at Jak suspiciously. "Not that I know of. Why? Do you know someone that likes him?" To be honest, Jak didn't know anyone who liked Torn. "Except yourself." It was that voice again, but Jak willed him to go away. 'Please, have some compassion. Torn's hurt. Don't come out now.' Jak could almost see his dark half sneering, but Dark Jak said nothing more. "No, I was just curious. Torn seems so unfeeling, I was just wondering if he really was." Ashelin sighed. "He is unfeeling. He has to be. He's been through so much." Ashelin sighed. "I'm going downstairs with the others. Get some rest Jak." Ashelin went down to the basement of the hideout, leaving Jak to stare up at the ceiling.
"Have fun talking to Ashelin?" Torn's voice asked from his cot. Jak jumped up, happy to hear he was ok. "Torn!" Jak turned to face torn, only to see him struggling to get up. "You should lie down, torn. You've been through a lot." Torn scoffed at him and sat up the rest of the way. "Oh Mar, why are my ears ringing?" Jak laughed. "You hit your head when you passed out." Jak saw Torn nod. A few minutes later, Jak spoke again. "Hey Torn, this just occurred to me, but how are your ribs?" Torn shrugged. "Fine. I've always been a fast healer." Jak nodded. The ground shook terribly again, and Jak and Torn were thrown from their cots to the middle of the floor. "What was that?" Jak moaned. "Earthquake. Happen a lot around this time of year." Torn said, sitting up. Jak did too, and he realized how utterly close his face was to Torn's. 'I wonder what it would be like to kiss him.' He thought. 'Wait, why did I just think that? I like Keira, don't I?' Torn looked into Jak's eyes and scowled at Jak's torn look. (No pun intended, lol) 'I still wonder what it would be like to kiss him… I'll bet he's good at it… what am I thinking?! This isn't like me at all!' Jak thought, fighting with himself. He couldn't help it though. His and Torn's faces were so close, and Torn was moving away. "Yes Jak, do it. Kiss Torn. You know you want to." 'You only want me to to cause problems' "So? You want to do it, so go ahead!" 'No. I don't think I will.' Before Jak could finish his argument with Dark Jak, the ground shook again, and Torn's and Jak's faces were pressed together. Jak moved his head only slightly as the ground stopped shaking and his lips pressed up against Torn's. 'Oh shit! I didn't mean to do that!' Jak thought, but he made no attempt to break the kiss. Torn, on the other hand, did. "Jak!" Torn protested, pushing his away with a disgusted look on his face. Jak scowled, even though he had oddly enjoyed the kiss. "What?!" "What the hell did you just do to me?!" Torn demanded, scooting approximately 2 centimeters away from Jak. Jak rolled his eyes. "The ground shook moron, you think that happened because I wanted it to?" Jak really hoped he sounded convincing, because truth be told, he really DID want to kiss Torn. Torn looked at him apprehensively and nodded. "Good then. Can you help me up?" Jak asked, propping himself up with his arms. Torn rolled his eyes and hoisted Jak up on his cot and returned to his own. Neither elf said a word to the other, but they were both rambling on to themselves.
"Heh. See? Wasn't that enjoyable?" Dark Jak asked. Jak mentally scoffed. 'Shut up.' He ordered feebly, rolling over to face the wall and trying desperately to sleep while his dark side continued taunting him.
Torn was contemplating whether or not he believed Jak. 'Nah. Jak likes Keira. I guess he was telling the truth. Mar was that disgusting though!' He thought, shutting his eyes. He slowly opened his eyes again and thought, 'But if it was so disgusting, why do I want it to happen again?'
Blaze: Wow. Chapter long enough for ya? Lol. Almost 7 pages on Word. Anyway, chapter 3 will DEFINITELY be up soon. This is such a fun story. Jak/Torn goodies won't be until chapter 4 or 5, unfortunately. They've got a lot to go through before anything good happens.
Torn: (Brushing his teeth over and over) Where's the Listerine, dammit?!
Blaze: (Rolls her eyes and walks off)