I don't own any of the following characters or places, this is just a fanfiction written for my own entertainment.
Jak slammed on the zoomer's brakes and slid to a halt in front of the Naughty Ottsel. He jumped down and strode through the door, and before his eyes had adjusted to the low light, Daxter's face popped up in front of him.
"Hey Jakky boy, where were you all night?" The ottsel bounced up and down on the ropes of the boxing ring in the middle of the bar, clearly still buzzed from his partying the previous night.
"Nowhere, Dax," he muttered. "Where's Torn?"
Daxter wasn't about to let him get away so easily. "Yeah right, nowhere! Come on Jak, spill the beans! Gettin' a little lovin' from the ladies?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Don't be afraid to ask for some tips from O-range Lightning."
Jak was saved from having to answer when Torn's gruff voice reached his ears. "Come on Jak, we don't got all day."
Ignoring Daxter's protests, Jak turned and made his way towards the back of the bar. He frowned when he saw that Torn was sitting in the corner booth with Ashelin. If the Governor was involved, this could not be a routine problem. He slid in across from them and scowled at Torn. "Why are we meeting here instead of regular HQ?"
Before Torn could give him an answer, Daxter leaped up onto the table holding a menu. "What'll it be, gents? And what about you, hot stuff?" he asked, grinning cheekily at Ashelin. "You know you want some of this, if you know what I mean."
Jak couldn't decide whether Torn or Ashelin looked more ready to strangle Daxter. Quickly he pushed the ottsel back off the table and said "You know, Dax, I think we could all just use some peace and quiet right now. Maybe Tess needs some help restocking bottles or something."
"Fine, fine, I know when I'm not wanted here," grumbled Daxter. "I can take a hint, I know when my strategic planning abilities aren't good enough for you people!" His voice increased in volume and shrillness with every word. He threw up his arms dramatically. "Don't you worry about me, I'll just be in the back, hoarding my valuable skills to myself and – " Daxter's mouth snapped suddenly shut when he saw Torn aiming a pistol at him.
"Listen, rat, I don't want to see a single hair of your orange hide for the next hour, you got that?"
"Aahh… hehe… I'll just, uh, be in the back helping Tess, then!" With that, the ottsel took off quicker than his self-imposed nickname, Orange Lightning.
Torn flipped his pistol back into its holster and brought his hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. Jak had seen him looking worn-down before, but the look on Torn's face now was a whole new level of haggard. "We're not at HQ because we didn't want to attract attention. People see you coming and going in there all the time, and it could cause a panic at this point."
"Would you just tell me what's going on, already?" Jak asked impatiently.
Ashelin spoke up. "My men are bringing reports of massive groups of Metal Heads moving towards the city. They're definitely getting ready to attack, but we have no idea when or where the assault will come."
"I thought you said that destroying Kor would take down the Metal Heads forever!" Jak said to Torn.
"Yeah, well I thought so too. I don't have any answers to why they're still alive and why they picked now to attack. All I know is that we're going to have to brace ourselves. The city's eco shield has taken too many hits this past year to hold them back for long, and with Krew's tampering just before his death, it's only a matter of time before they break through."
"It gets worse," said Ashelin. She spread a map of the city on the table in front of them, pointing to a spot just outside of the old prison. "A few hours ago there was an attack on some civilians. It was carried out by robots stamped with the KG insignia – but we don't know who sent them or what they're after. My men took them out quickly, but people are angry. They don't believe that I had no knowledge or control over these robots." She smoothed the map again and rested her forehead on her knuckles. "If more robots show up during a metal head attack, I don't know what we're going to do."
Jak grimaced. "So that's why Daxter was talking about strategic planning. What are we going to do?" Torn and Ashelin exchanged glances. Jak's eyes narrowed. "So, what are you not telling me?"
Ashelin took a deep breath. "That meeting with the city council didn't exactly go well. People are scared, and they're looking for someone to blame." She didn't seem to want to go on.
"It might be better if you weren't on the front lines for a while, Jak. Just until things die down," Torn said. "It wouldn't help if the citizens rioted or attacked you, not on top of everything else."
"Why would they – " Jak stopped and sucked in his breath as the dark eco stirred in his veins. He felt the energy crackling around him, and for a moment his vision went black. When he opened his eyes again, Torn and Ashelin both had their hands on their guns.
"That's why people might panic, Jak," Torn said grimly. "I know that your… condition is something that you're dealing with. I know what the Baron did to you. The people of Haven, though… they want to pin things on you."
"The city council is the same," added Ashelin. "They're calling for action, but the only thing they can think of is to punish you in some way. I know you haven't done anything," she said hastily, watching the way Jak's fists clench on the table. "I won't let them get away with this. But Torn and I thought you should know what was going on. We didn't want you to hear it in a more… unpleasant way."
Whatever Jak might have had to say about the situation was cut short by the sounds of screaming from outside the bar. At the same time, both Torn and Ashelin's comm units simultaneously squawked to life, filling the booth with the voices of terrified soldiers.
"More robots spotted in the port district! Sir, they're everywhere"
"Sir, we're taking heavy fire in the – "
"Governor, Metal Heads have breached the northern wall! They're overrunning the square! Awaiting orders!"
When Jak heard the latest soldier's report, he stood immediately and was halfway to the door before he even realized that he was moving. Torn stopped barking orders into his communicator and yelled, "Jak! Where the hell do you think you're going? I need you to – "
"Whatever it is, I can't do it," snarled Jak. "I have to get to the racing garages now!" Ignoring Ashelin and Torn's objections, he ran out the door of the Naughty Ottsel only to be confronted with a scene of terrible carnage.
Hundreds of red robots marched and rolling through the streets. They looked like twisted versions of the human Krimzon Guards they were fighting against. Citizens ran screaming from the relentless onslaught of the machines, and Jak could already see several bodies floating in the waters of the port.
Jak whipped out his gun and set it to blaster mode, pausing to check his ammunition. He began to run steadily down the street, a grim expression set on his face. He smashed two robots to the ground with the butt of his gun and fired four quick rounds into a third before finding an unoccupied zoomer. He fired it to life and rocketed down the street, smashing into an entire phalanx of robots. Luckily, the zoomer stayed intact and he sped around the corner, where the fighting wasn't so thick. Ashelin's voice sounded over the city's speaker system, urging citizens not to panic and to get indoors immediately.
Jak heard none of it. All he heard was the roaring in his ears and thudding of his heart. Metal Heads have breached the northern wall. They're overrunning the square. That means they're near Keira. He pushed down harder on the zoomer's throttle, willing it to go faster even though it was already at top speed. I promised her I'd come back. I promised her she'd be safe.
When he finally reached the square, his ride was on its last legs. He'd crashed into two more groups of robots, and the zoomer died at the foot of the stairs. Jak jumped out of the smoking wreckage and found a sight worse than he could have imagined. Metal Heads of every shape and size poured down the stairs from a large gap in the wall, roaring and chasing citizens into the stadium and down the streets. The larger beasts clawed against doors and windows, trying to get to the people hiding inside the buildings. Jak flipped his gun to the Vulcan Fury mod and began cutting a path through the hordes of metal heads, but the more he mowed down, the more seemed to pour through the gap in the wall.
Finally, he made it to the top of the stairs, only to find a large cluster of Metal Heads tearing at the bay doors of Keira's garage. One corner of the thick metal door was already peeled back like cardboard, and Jak knew it was only a matter of time before they would break through. He sprinted towards the metal heads and opened fire. His gun was down to its last few rounds of ammo when the last metal head was a twitching, bloody corpse. Jak slammed the code into the keypad between the doors and growled in frustration when they only opened halfway. The Metal Heads' assault had crumpled part of the doors inwards, so he had to climb over the pile of corpses and slide into the small opening.
The lights were off in the garage. Jak edged past the zoomers and benches, his heart still racing. "Keira!" he yelled. His voice sounded muffled in the small garage. "Keira!" He pulled the curtain aside and thundered up the stairs, pounding on the locked door. "Keira, you in there?"
The door flew open and Keira stood there trembling like a leaf, looking at him with wide eyes. Jak saw that she was clutching her largest, heaviest wrench in her hands. Without thinking, he put his gun in its holster and gathered her in his arms, holding her tightly and trying to stop her shaking. He closed his eyes and his heart slowly stopped its frantic thundering. She's safe.
"Jak, what are we going to do?" She pulled away slightly to look at him, resting her hands on his chest. He looked down at her, temporarily enthralled by the tears clinging to her eyelashes. She's safe.
"What matters is you're okay," he said, releasing her and getting his gun back out. "Now we need to – " A terrible crashing and tearing sound from the garage cut him off, and he barely had time to turn around before a wave of Metal Heads came roaring up the stairs. One landed right on top of him, digging its claws into him and snapping its jaws near his face. He kicked it back against the wall and fired a few rounds into its skull, then whipped around to blast as many as he could back down the stairs. His gun was already out of ammunition before he could push many of them back. Jak braced himself for the next attack when he heard Keira screaming.
His world froze into painful slowness. He couldn't move fast enough – one glimpse of the single Metal Head cornering Keira against the wall was enough to set the dark eco flaring painfully through his body. He was aware of snarls coming from his mouth, aware of his claws ripping through the Metal Head's body and the dark energy blazing out of him, but then everything went black.
Some time later Jak came around with his hands gripping his forehead. He crouched on the floor of Keira's garage, and pain rippled through his body. The only sound was his harsh breathing. He slowly raised his head to see Metal Head corpses piled along the walls, their black blood spattered everywhere. He stood up unsteadily and then slumped against the wall - the dark eco was still burning out of him. His eyes flicked towards the stairs when he caught a movement there – and his heart sank.
Keira stood next to the ripped, blood spattered curtain that used to separate the main garage from her private workspace. If she'd been trembling before, she was positively quivering now. Her eyes were wide and brimming with tears.
Jak slowly raised his hands to show her that he was harmless. "Keira… are you all right?" he asked in a low voice. His heart contracted painfully when she flinched back. She gulped and it seemed to take her a moment to find her voice.
"I might ask you the same thing."
"I'm just… I'm sorry you had to see that." He gestured around helplessly. "This is what happens when I panic. I couldn't let that thing hurt you. I just lost control." The tears finally spilled out of Keira's eyes, and Jak turned away from her. He couldn't handle being the one to make her cry. He felt unclean – she had finally seen what was inside him and he didn't want to stick around long enough for her to reject him.
When Keira came up behind him and put her arms around him, it was all he could do to not drop dead in shock. He twisted gently around to face her. "Why do you even want to be close to me?"
Keira raised her eyes to look at him. "I told you before. To me, you're still you." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. "I will admit… that you scared me. But this has shown me that I need to be there for you more than ever. You're not getting rid of me that easily."
Jak stared down at her. He had no words to tell her how much it meant to him that she wasn't rejecting him. That she would even admit to being afraid but still be willing to stand by him. He threaded his fingers in her hair and slowly drew her face close to his. He could feel her breath on his lips and it made him feel dizzy in a way he'd never felt before. Their lips were a hair's breadth apart when Daxter came rocketing into the workshop, yelling "Jak! Jak!" They jumped apart immediately.
The ottsel seemed truly distraught, climbing quickly up to his friend's shoulder and checking to see if he was all right. "Come on, buddy, you scared me! Do not ever do that again, you hear me?" Torn climbed into the shop next. Both he and Daxter seemed oblivious to Jak's uneven breathing and Keira's reddened cheeks.
"Glad to see you're safe, Keira, Jak," he said curtly. "I've got a Hellcat Cruiser waiting outside. We need to get this area evacuated immediately." Torn ushered them quickly out of the shop and down to where the cruiser was parked. As they flew over the walls, Jak glanced at Keira, who was staring intently back at the ruins of her garage. He put his hand cautiously over hers.
"Once everything blows over, I'll help you get your shop fixed back up, Keira." She nodded mutely, drained from the terrible events of the day. Neither of them had any way of knowing just how far things were from blowing over.