The ABC's of Perfect Mistakes

Chapter Three: C is for Curiosity

"Oww!" Parker shouted wrenching her arm away from Amberly. "Are you even trying to make it painless?"

"Slim told me to clean it."

"With what a lava rock and broken light bulbs?"

"Maybe you shouldn't jump out windows."

"Maybe you should stick to working behind the desk!"

"You're giving me a headache," Torn grumbled from his desk. He thumbed lazily through one of the files on his desk, without even reading the notes written in a sloppy hand. Parker blew her bangs out of her face but stayed quiet while Amberly finished the glass out of her arm. She watched her friend work, mumbling to herself or cursing at Parker. She knew jumping out the window was stupid and she didn't need Torn or Amberly to tell her that. At least her Green Eco saved her from getting stitches.

"When are you sending someone to save Vin?" Amberly asked while she picked out the last bits of glass from Parker's leg.

"Vin?" Parker echoed. "His name sounds familiar."

"He's the foreman at the Strip Mines." Torn said while picking up another file. "And I have someone in mind."

Amberly tensed without even hearing the agent's name; she turned away from Torn hiding her face behind her hair. "You mean Jak and Daxter?"

"Yes."

"Why do you trust them?" She whispered.

"They're good at what they do." Torn responded as the door opened and the two walked in. Jak glanced to Parker, looking at the bloody gauze, tweezers and the cotton balls in the small bowl Amberly used. He looked away when he saw that she was staring at him. "One of the Baron's mining operations is under attack by Metal Heads."

"That's not our problem." Jak snapped.

"It is our problem when one of the foreman's one of the Underground's best informants!" Erol snapped back advancing on the boys. "His name is Vin and he's just valuable enough to save." Amberly snorted at that comment making Torn glance to her before looking back at the boys. "Find the Wrap Gate at the Power Station and use it to travel to the Strip Mine so you can rescue Vin's pathetic hide."

"Hey!" Daxter shouted from the ground. "Tattooed Wonder!" He jumped on the table. "How come we get all the crappy missions?"

"Because I," He poked Daxter. "Don't." Torn poked him again. "Like." He poked him again and this time Daxter fell of the table. "You."

"Fair enough." Daxter mumbled from the floor.

"Whatever deal the Baron made with the Metal Heads, the city's Eco is almost gone, and his time is running out." Torn looked to the girls and then back to Jak. "If we don't get the Kid back on the throne soon there may not be a city left to defend."

Jak nodded and turned to leave, but was stopped when Torn spoke again, "Wait. Take some back up with you, if you don't make it out alive. Parker," The black haired girl jumped at her name, wincing at her bullet wounds and the unhealed cuts on her legs. "Go with them."

"WHAT?!" Everyone said at the same time.

Torn smirked. "You wanted to prove yourself right? Go to the Strip Mine with the boys and bring Vin back safely." He crossed his arms. "If you do this the Shadow will take it as a good sign you've left your Krimzon Guard days behind you."

"And jumping out a window to get away from Erol wasn't enough?" Parker barked back, but sighed and jumped off the bunk. "Can I at least have a weapon?"

"Amberly," Torn looked to the blonde. "Give Parker your Juice Rod."

"Rather have some real hardware."

"Prove yourself worthy first," Torn said taking the rod from Amberly and handing it to Parker. "Then we'll talk pistols and morph guns."

"I want my family's knife."

He hesitated but slid it towards the girl. "Don't make me regret this Parker."

She picked it up by its jewelled handle. She took a deep breath. She liked the feeling of the metal in her hands, a welcoming weight of her family's legacy. She slid it into its sheath on her leg and moved to follow the two boys out. Although she paused at the entrance, this will be the first she's ever been alone with Jak without the threat of the project over his head or the fear of Erol behind her. Jak was terrified of her back then, he'd retreat to the farthest corner of his cell, curl into a ball and whimper as she approached. Now the tables were turned. She felt her own fear growing in her chest as she walked outside. The boys were a couple feet ahead of her most likely looking for a zoomer.

"Hey Trouble!" Daxter shouted when Parker ran up to them. She saw Jak tense and cross his arms over his chest. Parker braced herself on her knees and breathed deeply. "Hey are you okay?"

She waved away his question. "I'm fine, just still injured from my first mission." She straightened herself out. "I fell out a window."

"You said you jumped out the window." Jak said glaring at the cut on her arm.

She shrugged. "Either way, I went out the window instead of using the stairs." She looked to Daxter. "My name is Parker not Trouble."

"I'm Daxter!" He said pointing at himself. "The Hero." He motioned to Jak. "He's Jak, my sidekick."

Parker smirked and glanced to Jak. "I've met your sidekick."

Jak glared at her, stormy eyes making her shiver as he turned and walked to a zoomer. "My name is Jak, not Boy or whatever name those guards called me when they thought I was passed out."

She only ever heard the names Boy or Dark Eco Freak, but she felt a ting of regret. All those years she spent prodding him with needles, drawing blood, recording Eco levels and watching from afar the abuse he took you'd think she'd take some time to learn his name. He obviously learned her name –even her rank in the Guard. Was she so obsessed with herself that she didn't care about this person she, and the Baron, were placing their faith in? If he did succeed what were the chances Jak would've agreed to help them? Would he turn on them like a starved circus tiger?

"Are you coming?" Jak snapped from the front seat of the two person zoomer he grabbed.

Parker nodded and climbed into the passenger seat. They drove in silence to the Power Station, Parker giving small prompts on where to turn with small hand gestures. The air was tense. Jak sat on the furthest part of his seat without falling out of the Zoomer as if she had bad breath or an incurable disease. She crossed her legs at the knee and kept her eyes on the passing world around her, before she used to walk these streets with a sense of pride and entitlement as she, and the other guards, owned the city. Jak stopped at the Power Station and she jumped out first, itching to get away from Jak and his poisonous cloud of hatred. The Power Station was chilly and she shivered as she walked to the Warp gate.

"Ladies first." Daxter commented motioning forward. Parker smirked and jumped through, closing her eyes on the whirling mess of Blue Eco that the Warp Gate made. She landed firmly on the ground in the Strip Mine and sidestepped so when Jak came through he'd land beside her. She watched as he loaded his gun and ran to the first group of Stingers. He didn't both using his gun, he just punched the little Metal Heads and moved on. She raced after him but paused at their Skull Gems. Didn't Metal Heads drop Dark Eco after they died? Where did it go? She shrugged it off and chased after Jak. The blonde in question was shooting at a group of Grunts that charged down from the top of a sand dune. She ran forward and clicked on the Juice Rod, it vibrated in her hand as she ran past Jak and fired a ball of electricity at one of the Grunts. It growled at her, white fangs dripping spit and bits of glowing Dark Eco. She ran forward, ducking under its massive claws. She slid in the dirt and jabbed the rod into the Grunt's stomach. It twitched as electricity ran through its body, the Grunt gave one last growl before collapsing beside her. She bent forward at her hips as a Grunt swiped at her; she gave a hiss as she rolled forward and landed flat on her back. She shoved her rod upwards and clicked the button, this Grunt gave a howl before she kicked upwards into its jaw. She rolled onto her front clumsily kicking up dirt and biting her lip. She laid on her stomach for a second before she pushed herself off the ground.

She found Jak at the conveyer belt heading upwards to a lift carrying dirt. She followed behind him, ignoring the Metal Heads he left in his wake –Skull Gems long gone. She jumped on the lift, kicking up dirt beside him. For a second, Jak looked surprised she made it to the lift with him, but his surprise turned to the stony wall that he put up the day he escaped the Fortress. He shot down the Stingers that flew towards them before they jumped onto the platform and walked to the building. She stood beside Daxter as the door opened but dove to the left when bullets started firing from the room.

"Do something Jak!" Daxter shouted. "This guy's crazy!"

"Hey are you Vin?" Jak shouted into the room, daring to look into the room. "We're here to help! Torn sent us."

"Stay back!" A voice shouted from the room.

"Look, if we were here to kill you, you wouldn't be talking right now!"

"Oh friendlies?" He collapsed on the control panel. "Oh thank goodness," He stood. "So… we… whe… where's the army?"

Parker stepped out from behind the door frame and looked down at Daxter. "You're looking at it."

"Yah," Daxter said motioning to the three of them. "We're it."

"What? Just you three! What do they think I'm worth?"

"I'm beginning to wonder that myself," Jak grumbled to himself. "If you want, you can stay here and be Metal meat but Daxter and I are leaving before those monster get back." Parker shot him a glare. Did he care if she followed him or if she survived? She glanced around as they backed towards the Warp Gate, she jumped through and stumbled into Vin as he ran to the control panel. Jak walked up behind Vin as the man looked at the computer screens.

"Hey I want to thank you guys for saving my butt out there at the Strip Mine." Vin said pressing a group of buttons.

"And we'd like to thank you for being such a bad shot." Daxter piped.

"Ah yeah," Vin chuckled. "Sorry about that guys, I'm about jumpy these days."

"Jumpy?" Daxter snapped with a tense smile. "We hadn't noticed." He screamed causing Parker to jump as well reaching for her gun but only grabbing fabric. "METAL HEAD RIGHT BEHIND YOU!"

"AHHH!" Vin screamed jumping around and fell to the ground when he realized there wasn't a Metal Head behind him. She glared at Daxter as he walked past Vin.

"Just kidding. Nice reaction time though."

"Not funny!" Vin snapped. Parker looked to Jak, he had a smirk on his face. She blinked a couple of times before he looked to her, his smirk quickly disappeared as Vin walked past them. "Those Metal Heads have been attacking our mining operations and we're running out of Eco." He pointed at the screens. "Eco power keeps the city shield walls up and if the shield drops…" He swallowed. "Well we can all kiss our butts good-bye!"

"I've got a few surprises for those Metal Heads." Jak commented.

"You've got to keep the shield walls up until the Shadow figures out what to do! My readings show a large drop in Eco flow at the Drill Platform, probably some Metal Head eggs suckin' away power." He turned to Jak. "Use the Warp Gate to go to the platform and destroy every Metal Head egg you can find!" Jak nodded and ran towards the gate, she moved to follow when her communicator beeped. She unclipped it from her belt and saw Lena's smiling face.

"Heeeeeeeey Park, come by Lucky, I've got some prototype weapons I want you to try! Also, I sent Sucker Punch to Keira so she can work some of her magic. See you soon cutie pie!"

Parker rolled her eyes at the voice message. "Hey guys, I've gotta-" She stopped short. Jak and Daxter were both gone. It was just her and Vin in the room.

Without all the Krimzon Guard vehicles Lena's place looked pretty empty. Parker did miss the skeletons of the Hellcat Cruisers Lena promised to the Baron and of course Mizo's men. They sent back to Lena when Erol shot her but Parker still recognized a couple of faces from above, but now they wore red scarfs around their necks. She held up her scarfed wrist to them, they nodded and went back to the jet boards or zoomer parts they were working on.

"It's so dumb, you know," Keira said walking around Lena's work table, she picked up a screwdriver and picked at the black specks on it. "I'm making an effort to engage in awkward conversation hopefully he'd take the hints I've dropped him."

"Boys can't take a hint," Lena said through a wielding mask. Parker rolled her eyes and brushed some dirt off her shoulder. Ever since she left the Strip Mine she's been picking dirt out of her hair, boots and shorts. Lena even forced her to dig the dirt out from under her nails until she was somewhat clean. Keira sighed and sat on the table.

"How was I supposed to know that?" She huffed. "The only boy I've ever loved was mute and we really didn't discuss our feelings."

"Maybe he was gay?" Parker nonchalant tone.

Keira giggled. "He's not gay, we almost kissed."

Parker gasped. "Oh my God! Almost kissed, well let's plan the fucking wedding!"

"You don't have to be so bitchy."

"You don't have to be so hypocritical slut."

"Ladies, ladies," Lena said taking the mask off. "You're both pretty."

"At least Erol thinks I'm the prettiest." Keira smirked.

Parker bit her tongue and crossed her arms as Lena came over with her weapons. She held up the belt and smiled. "Do you like?"

"It's a belt…"

"With weapons," Lena giggled looping the belt around her friend's waist, she buckled it into place and stepped around the girl. "It doesn't really fit but you can adjust it later." She poked the pack on her side. "When Torn gives you some real guns I'll hook you up with a morph gun and some mods, until now knives will have to do."

"Knives?" Parker echoed. "I won't make it past the guards without guns."

"You're faster than those losers," Lena smirked. "And smarter." She turned when her phone rang. "Hold on a sec, and then we'll go to the training course in the Port." She left taking her phone with her.

"So I heard you jumped out a window to get away from Erol." Keira piped.

"You heard right."

"So you guys are over?"

Parker shrugged. "We were never together and when we were we wanted to kill each other."

"So I can date him?"

"I don't care." Parker leaned over to Keira and smiled. "But remember when he gets tired of you he'll be coming back to me –and only me."

Keira's bottom lip trembled as Lena came back. "Alright I have an errand to run but it's on our way." She looked to Keira. "You okay?"

"Yes," Keira said turning to leave. "I have things to do, work and a date to get ready for."

Parker growled as the girl left the room, and considered running her down as soon as she left the shop. Lena tossed Parker a money bag. "Come on, one of Krew's errand boys is pick up his money bags." Parker groaned and followed her friend out. Whenever Lena had to pay Krew (for services she didn't want or care to know), she always ended up late for work or drunk in the street making out with Erol. Both girls took separate zoomers and Parker dropped her money bag just outside the Port. Lena, obviously, made it to training course first and was waiting inside for her friend.

"What did you do teleport here?" Parker asked.

"Nope," Lena smiled. "Okay the course is set up for what you'll meet in the field."

Parker stepped up to the door and paused. "I won't find any crossed blondes in there, will I?"

Lena pushed her, "Go!"

Parker stumbled through the steel doors and they slammed shut. She took a deep breath and stepped forward, reaching back and grazing the knives. The first guard popped up and fired a red bullet, she threw her shoulder back and dodged it. The knife left her hand before she had a chance to process the idea, it sunk into the fake guard's chest. She moved past him and stepped around the civilian props, crudely cut out women and children. Two guards popped up at once and threw two more knives at them, she spun and threw a knife at a Metal Head cut out –right where the Skull Gem connected with it's forehead.

"What's with you and digging gems out with a knife?" Lena asked through the P.A. system. "Metal Heads have feelings too." She rolled her eyes and kept moving, hitting only one civilian with a knife but she stopped when she realized she threw all six of her knives. "Push the centre button on your belt." Parker did as she was told and felt six snaps against her hips. She looked down, all six of her chrome knives were back in place, deadly and waiting to be used. She smirked.

"Lena you're a genius."

"Tell me something I don't know." Lena snorted. "Alright now go for the bronze medal!"

Parker smirked and ran through the course, whipping knives at anything that was red or metal. It felt like a dance again, like she was back in the field with her Wolves. Her feet knew what to do before she even thought about it, they jumped over fake children, kicked at the fake monsters and moved her through the course. Even though she liked the feeling of a gun in her hands, the knives reminded her of her father. He liked knives more than guns, he taught her how to throw knives before she got her hands on a gun. The feeling didn't last for long though, she slid through the gate back into the room she started in. It took her a second to realize she wasn't in a battle and that Lena wasn't the only one in the room. She straightened and glared at Jak. She hadn't forgiven him for ditching her at the Power Station –although she was about to do the same.

Jak just glared back at her, crossing his arms as Lena typed on the computer. "Bronze medal, Drake, Parker." She cheered and pressed ENTER. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks Lena," Parker smiled.

"You're vicious." Daxter chuckled. "And I like it, you have a bite to you." He growled and bit the air at her. "Do you have all your shots because I'm willing to play doctor?"

Jak shrugged. "It's just knife throwing, it's not a real skill at all." Although he straightened pretty fast when one of the knives flew past his head and clanked to the floor. He glared at Parker as she turned and walked away.

"Sorry, I thought I saw a bug."

TBC…