A World We All Live In
Chapter 10: All The Small Things
I something wet and soft on my right cheek and something wet and rough on my left. I turned my head away laughing because it tickled. Finally my eyes popped opened and I saw Harley and Violet licking my face. I sat up petting them both.
"Hey ya'll" I greeted standing up. Jak was up and ready to go and Dax, amazingly, was up also on the blonde's shoulder.
I pulled all my holsters and boots out from under the bed where someone had put them and began putting them on. Once done I stood up and then turned to the animals.
"See you two later, take care"
"Bye Jenny" Violet said jumping off the bed.
"We will see you later, Miss Jennifer" Harley jumped down beside Violet as we left.
Once outside I looked at Jak and Dax, "So where we goin'?"
"Krew's bar," Jak said, looking around for a zoomer "he said something about a racing contract."
"Cool" I grabbed a one-person zoomer from some man and brought it back to where Jak was standing. I switched hover zones and Daxter jumped into my lap while Jak climbed on behind me. It wasn't hard to drive this type of zoomer; just twist the handle forward to get it to go faster, back to make it stop or reverse, and lean to the right or left to get it to turn.
I floored the zoomer and it shot off in the direction of the port. I felt Jak grab onto my waist when I did that and sped up knowing no one was going to fall off. It's a lot better when you're the one driving instead of riding. Traffic wasn't that bad this time of the morning so it didn't take long before we were at the Hip Hog. We walked through the doors and saw Krew floating around like usual.
"I have a proposition for you, Jak. Racing is the biggest sport in this city. Erol is the undisputed grand champion. He's crazy and dangerous on the track; my kind of guy," Krew got right in Jak's face and Daxter jumped off his shoulder "only a fool would dare race against him, ey. That's where you three come in. A client of mine is looking for fast drivers for her racing team. Here's a pass to get you into the stadium section. Uh, and your contract with a few trifles for me. I've already signed both your names to save time" he floated away and tossed the papers over his shoulder which Dax caught and began to read out loud.
"We the racers hereby agree to give Krew all precedes and racing endorsement fees, broadcast royalties, vehicle sponsorships…" I didn't understand anymore of what Dax was saying. Looking over at Jak I noticed he was about to fall asleep and snapped my fingers infront of his face. His head shot up and he turned to me.
"…and of course all accident insurance claims" the little rodent threw the papers to Jak, who tucked them into his holster.
"Hee hee hee, we'll work out the tiny details later. If you can get from here to the racing garage near the stadium in less than 3 minutes my client said she would consider letting you two drive for her team. Make me proud!"
Daxter jumped back onto Jak's shoulder and we exited the bar. Two zoomers were parked outside with some big guy with a ton of armor on standing beside them.
"Hey cherries," he called to us "these are the zoomers you're to use."
"Hey Sig" Jak greeted the man.
Sig looked me up and down, "Who is this tiny cherry?"
"I'm Jenny" I answered swinging my leg over one of the zoomers and getting situated.
"Well you three better get going" Sig said as Jak climbed onto the other zoomer.
We both nodded to each other a then floored our zoomers in the direction of the stadium section. Daxter was clinging to Jak's holster for dear life as we entered the industrial section. We both stayed in the lower zone. Pedestrians jumped out of the way as we drove through the city. It was very funny watching them dodge us. Soon we entered the slums and past the turn that lead to the Hideout.
More turns and curves and we were in the stadium section. This place was a lot more high-tec than the rest of Haven. And also more crowded. We drove past one of the palace support towers. Jak turned and continued on the road but I pulled the handle bars back and jumped over the railing into the ravine below.
Jak took a quick glance at me as I evened up with him. I smiled and waved and shot over the top of the ramp that was at the end of the ravine. Jak was right infront of me as we reached the garage. I turned the handles back and the zoomer did a 360 then slammed into the wall. Jak and Dax began to laugh as I pulled out my comm.. We made it with 16 seconds to spare. I sighed then turned to Jak and Daxter.
"And?" Daxter asked.
"We made it but just barely" I answered as we walked towards the garage. Jak walked in first with me right behind him. All three of us were looking around the tiny garage.
"Uh hello," Jak called out "Krew said someone was looking for race driver."
"I'm busy right now. You must be Krew's new errand boy," a voice behind the curtain said "Look I don't mean to be rude, you two did get here fast. But I've just not interested in any new racers and I've got work to do!"
"Is there anything we could do?" Jak asked leaning against one of the tables and staring at the woman's silhouette.
"No! I'm uh working on a secret uh, uh vehicle project" the woman said trying to cover up some large thing behind the curtain.
"Ok, sorry" Jak said sounding offended while I just laughed.
"Listen if you think you've got the guts to race in this town, try taking my prototype Jet-Board out on the Stadium Course. Beat the Stadium challenge and maybe I'll consider you for my team" the woman behind the blue curtain leaned back against her machine making Jak stare mouth agape. Daxter just rolled his eyes at his best friend while I grabbed the scarf that was around Jak's neck and pulled him out of the garage and towards the Stadium. He was still in a daze when we entered the Stadium. I sighed heavily and slapped him lightly across the face to get his attention.
"Hey what was that for?" Jak asked coming back to earth.
"You was daydreaming," I said simply, putting my hands on my hips "now come on lets see what you got on that Jet-Board."
'Aw were not going to ride it!' Kala pouted in my head. I hadn't heard from her in awhile a it kind of shocked me.
Jak walked over to where some skateboard like thing was floating and jumped onto it riding around. His comm. popped out of his pocket as Daxter jumped off his shoulder and scurried over to get on mine. I went and sat on the railing and watched Jak ride around on the Jet-Board.
He came back to where me and Dax were sitting and put the Jet-Board up about 10 minutes later.
"Come on lets head back to the garage" Jak said turning to leave the Stadium.
"Why," I laughed catching up with him "so you can go stare at that mechanic."
Jak glared at me and Daxter laughed a little and held out his fist for me to punch with mine. The blonde renegade rolled his eyes as we walked back into the garage.
"We beat the Stadium challenge" Jak said a little to confidently. It was obvious that the woman behind the curtain had rolled her eyes. I looked closely at her shadow but this time saw another female's silhouette along with the mechanics.
"People do get lucky," the woman groaned "look don't you have someone to collect money from, or beat up, or somethin?"
"You don't like us very much do you?" Jak questioned curiously, looking at me and Daxter.
"What's to like you work for that slim ball Krew" the other female said. For some reason that voice sounded familiar.
"Looks like you two have won a lot of races. Is it true the city champion gets a tour of the palace?" Jak asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, why?" the first woman asked looking towards us.
"Could you get us into the palace?"
"A friendly visit I'd gather"
"Yeah I'm a real friend of the baron" Jak hissed, sarcastically.
"Okay, I'll help you out if you stop bothering us," the woman groaned "I saw an old elevator at the base of one of the palace support towers. That old lift may take you up to the palace if you can get it running."
We left the garage and went to go get a zoomer when my comm. popped out of my pocket with Torn's face on the screen.
"Jenny get your ass over here, I got a mission for you"
"'Kay," Torn disconnected and the comm. went back into my pouch "See you bad boys later."
Jak nodded then turned to head for Krew's bar again I guessed. I stole a zoomer and headed for the Hideout. Walking inside I saw Torn pacing infront of his table. He looked up at me.
"One of the baron's mining operations in under attack-" Torn began but I cut him off.
"That's not our problem" I hissed, thinking what the hell.
"It's is our problem when the foreman is one of the Underground's best informant," Torn snapped "He's just valuable enough to save. Use the warp gate at the Power Station to get you to the Stripe Mine and save Vin's pathetic hide."
I rolled my eyes then spoke, "Do you have any ammo for these pistols I'm running low?"
He threw me a package of ammo and I began to fill my guns and ammo belt till both were full. Tattoo Wonder dug for something under his table then pulled out 2 long daggers. Walking around the table he handed them to me.
"I noticed you had knife holsters on your legs," he stated as I pulled up my pants legs and slipped a knife into each holster "Those were Zan's."
I stood up and wrapped my arms around the ex-KG. He patted me on the back a little before pushing me away.
"Stop with the mushy crap and get to work soldier" he snapped with fake anger. I stood at attention and saluted him. Torn just rolled his eyes as if to say 'Damn teenager!' Laughing I turned and left the Hideout.
The zoomer I'd used to get there was still in the alleyway exactly where I'd left it. I slung my leg over it and switched hover zones and headed for the Power Station. I remembered where it was from my first day out of prison, about 3 days ago. Traffic was horrible at this time of day so it took a little longer that usual to get to the Power Station.
Walking into the PS I stared in awe. This place would be a computer geek's dream place! I spotted what had to be the warp gate and went over to it. Basically it was a large golden ring with a wavy bluish center. I stood back a bit to get a running start then ran and dove into the warp gate. Seconds later I was rolling over my shoulder and onto my back.
I heard metalhead stingers popping up and quickly stood pulling out my pistols. Three were scurrying towards me and I quickly shot them all. I headed down the path only to have 3 metalhead grunts and a jacket attack me. With both pistols it wasn't to hard to kill them all.
As I continued on more and more metalheads attacked me. I got a few scratches and bruises but nothing to bad. I ran up the moving escalator like thing that went to the highest point I knew of in the Strip Mine. Three grunts were waiting for me at the top. I quickly shot them down or off the platform. Running over to the side of the platform a jacket flew over and began firing balls of dark eco at me. I shot at it then dodged it's attack. Luckily these things went down pretty quick.
Once that was done I jumped onto a moving bucket like thing of rock and sand that would take me across to where this Vin was suppose to be. Two more jacket popped up along the ride but it wasn't to difficult to get rid of them. Once to the other side I fired immediately at the grunt and stinger that was there.
I walked over to the door and slowly pressed the button to open the door in. I quickly pressed myself against the wall as bullets flew out of the door and a girly like scream filled the area.
"Hey are you Vin," I called into the building "Torn sent me."
The bullets stopped and a white-haired man popped his head out the doorway.
"Ah friend," Vin sighed leaning against the doorframe "wait where's the army."
"Uh. Sorry man it's just me" I told him.
"What do the think I'm worth!" he moaned as I began to head for the warp gate beside the building.
"I'm beginning to wonder that myself," I said over my shoulder :you can stay here and me metalhead food but I'm leaving before those thing come back." With that said I dove through the warp gate and landed back at the Power Station.
Me: Ah good ol' Vin. Don't ya just love him!!! Well no one's answered my question yet other than my sister. Please tell me which is your favorite!!! Ah well, till next time!!! ;)