Night-time

The first thing Jakuelynn Mar Hagai, Sandover City protector and far down in line to the throne heard upon her father and Daxter returning from a "little spin, just to blow off the dust" (or so Jak said) was the sizzle of Daxter's fur as he slid on his knees across the shiny, newly-polished wooden floor towards the young woman, a large, teeth-revealing grin on his face.

"...ah!" he said as he came to a half just by the named woman's size fifteens. She put her spanner down and rested her goggles on her forehead, standing up, putting her hands on her hips and fixing Daxter with a 'What do you WANT?' stare.

"Ahehe. OW!" Daxter hissed as he got to his feet, dusting himself up. He put his hands behind his back, tapping his foot, the grin still affixed to his face. "Jakuelynn, you beautiful, sexy best friend's daughter, Sandover's best mechanic full-stop and rebellious Princess – "

She sliced Daxter's sycophancy with a "Okay. What would you like me to polish, fix, add on, take off or test? More to the fact, if it is NOT a car you would like me to fix..." She sighed, taking another deep breath. "Whom would you guys like me to shake down, knock out, blow up or shoot?"

"You read me so well, my darling," Daxter continued in a syrupy tone. "We, ah, kinda...had a little accident in the Wasteland..."

Jakuelynn turned her deadly glare up to her father. "Jak, what happened?"

"We...got into a scuffle with some Metal Heads in the Wasteland...and..." Jak trailed off, his face a furious, flaming red.

"And?" the mechanic demanded. "Daxter, unless you wish to ever have sex again, you will not touch it!" she snapped as her ottsel-uncle laid his fingertip on the mini-Zoomer she was building for Rufas.

"Our car got – "

"Destroyed," Jak finished.

"I was gonna say 'mangled'," Daxter whispered.

Jakuelynn rolled her eyes. "Would that happen to be the Sand Hopper that I fixed for you just...last...week?" She drew out the last three words deliberately, Jak and Daxter wincing as the drawn-out words nicked at them.

"Yes..." Daxter said, scooting back to Jak's shoulder.

Jakuelynn shook her head, took a deep breath and counted to ten in her mind. Jak saw this, and also her mother once again. By the Precursors, Jakuelynn was the image of Keira when she got angry. Jak did not like it when she got angry.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen!" Jakuelynn sighed, exasperatedly. Her tone rose with every word. "Precursors, when are you not going to crash the fucking car EVERY time you go out in it?"

"Uhh, Nel..." her father said in a low tone, nodding towards the bottom of the stairs, where a small boy, around four years of age, stood waiting. His large, violet-black eyes – the eyes of his father and paternal great-grandfather combined – were fixed on his mother, his night-black hair messed up. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking afraid.

"Roo?" Jakuelynn said softly, all the anger in her voice gone. It always did whenever she saw her son. "Roo, honey, come here. Did I scare you?"

Her son nodded.

"Darling, I didn't mean to. Mummy gets very cross with Grandpa Jak and Uncle Daxter when they don't look after things properly, that's all. I'm sorry, Rufas. Come here. Give me a hug." She crouched down to his level and opened her arms wide, locking her green eyes with his dark ones. He gave a small smile and ran to his mother, throwing himself into her arms and tightening his own around her neck. She locked her arms around him and stood up, swaying slightly as she held him. No matter what mood she was in, Rufas would always be the one to lift her spirits, much like Deimin used to in the past and Rhogan did in the present.

"You okay now? You want to go back to bed?" she whispered in his ear, breathing in Rufas' sleepy scent. She felt him nod and turned around, giving her father and uncle a glare – this isn't finished yet – and trod upstairs to settle her son just as Rapace Mar Hagai, her adoptive son, yelled "Hey! Keep it down, I'm trying to sleep!"

The best friends looked at each other.

"Jak, I got the feeling we've really pissed her off this time," the ottsel whispered.

The veteran warrior shrugged. He saw his daughter's point – she had never complained in the past, simply fixing the vehicles, her mouth set in a tight line. She finally returned downstairs, a lot calmer than when she left, the warrioress in her resurfacing.

"I'll fix it, okay? But next time you take it to a Sandover mechanic to get it fixed."

"Problem with that, my dear almost-niece," Daxter put in. "We don't have any money."

"Ex-actly!" Jakuelynn replied acidly. "So don't crash the cars, yes?" She sighed frustratedly. "Where's the car?"

"In the garage," Jak said weakly, drawing back as Jakuelynn raged past them, box of tools in her hand. "Precursors, Dax, I think I'll sleep in your room tonight..."

"Oh yeah, you got the one next door to her!" Daxter let out a roar – well, as loud a roar as a two-foot tall ottsel could manage – of laughter. "Sucks to be you, bud. Sucks...to be you."

~x~

Several hours later, Jakuelynn gave the seventh-time-fixed vehicle the once-over, just to make sure that it was completely fixed. It was her ritual after every project, every assignment: the once, or even twice-over. She sighed, locking her tools away in the usual cabinet before remembering that she'd left the half-finished mini-Zoomer in the kitchen. So much for her lecturing her father about crashing his cars; Tess was going to explode for leaving so much mess in the kitchen. Jakuelynn sighed and dragged the Zoomer to the garage, locking it up one final time before clearing up every speck of oil, grease, every tiny particle of metal, every stray nail so that Rufas wouldn't cut his feet open when he walked in the kitchen the next morning. She straightened up, threw the rag away and went upstairs, heading to Rufas' room to check on him one last time before going to her bed next door. His door was ajar as always; he couldn't sleep without a light, as many little boys didn't. Rapace was fourteen years old, but the experience with his real father Yuhmer Krazak had left him needing a light at night.

Jakuelynn pushed the door open and noticed a cold wind blowing in. She shivered involuntarily. Wait a minute...I didn't open the window and Rufas couldn't have possibly opened it himself. Child locks. Thanks, Dad.

Then her eyes strayed to the empty bed. Her heart constricted in her chest and her breathing became wheezing as she made the connection.

Window wide open.

Bed empty.

Rufas missing.

Someone had taken him.

A/N: Ooooh, now it all kicks off! Read and review - and also read marneus90's "Haven City IM". It's fuunny! :D:D