The ABC's of Orderly Chaos

Chapter Fourteen: N is for Necessary

The buzzing of the hospital woke Jak from his slumber. The sounds reminded him of waking in the hospital, the noises and the smells took him back to that night. After he checked on Daxter, he found Parker restrained to a bed. Daxter told him what happened after they were attacked.

His head pounded as he struggled to sit up, a darkness crept into his vision as he looked around the room. Pain bloomed behind his eyes as Dark spoke: Where are we? Where is she? Jak shook the voice away.

He spotted his clothes on the floor, bloody and soaking wet. He looked to the chair beside his bed, Daxter slept on it with his communicator under his head.

"Dax?" Jak whispered. His best friend ears perked at his name. He sat up, his eyes lit up and he jumped onto the bed. "Dax…" Jak murmured again, covering one eye with his hand. "What happened?"

Daxter's ears flattened. "We found you in an alley… by yourself."

"Shit," Jak cursed. "Parker."

"Oh!" Daxter shouted. "I forgot to call everyone when you woke up!" He jumped off the bed. "I'll be right back!"

Find her… Dark growled again.

"Shut up." Jak snarled at the voice. "We can't do anything from a hospital bed." He glanced up when he heard footsteps coming from the hallway. He clenched and unclenched his fists as Keira ran into the room, followed quickly by Torn, Ashelin, Samos, Sig and Rayn. Tess and Daxter rode on Torn's shoulders. Daxter jumped off Torn's shoulder and onto the bed as Keira threw her arms around him.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" She cried hugging him tighter, he wrapped an arm around her. Even though he pissed him off earlier in the week, she was still one of his longest friends. He felt some tears on his shoulder as he stared at the door, any second, she'd come over the threshold and, pregnant or not, he was going to kill her.

Slim came in first, file in hand followed by Lena. She was pale as she waddled in, she dared to look at him too. She took a deep breath and walked to the end of the bed.

"Don't come any fucking closer." Jak snarled.

Lena raised an eyebrow. "But I bring gifts." She dropped a cannister on the bed. "Light Eco, right from Seem and the monks."

"I don't want anything from you."

"Are you sure?" Lena asked, she typed something on her tablet. She gave a sigh. "Still not awake, although she's all healed up." She turned the tablet to him. There was a woman in a chair, knitting something. Her face was covered but what drew his attention was the bed. Parker laid on her back, her chest rose and fell slowly. Her hair was arranged over the pillow, she was pale and looked sickly, but she was alive. He grabbed the tablet from her. She looked like a doll, set up like a model.

"Where is she?" Daxter asked.

"Bring her back." Jak snarled.

"I can't." Lena whispered as her tablet off. "I don't know where she is, Erol's old tracker is gone and mine has been scrambled." Lena looked at all their friends. "Parker is officially offline."

"How did they know about Erol's tracker?" Ashelin asked. "The only people who knew about that are in this room."

"I told." Lena answered. "I told Kleiver after our last race. I turned it back on and gave him the tracking number."

Everyone was silent, Keira got off the bed as Slim moved to stand beside Lena. "Tell them."

Lena shook her head. "I can't." She whispered.

Slim took a deep breath. "As many of you remember-"

"Don't start with this bullshit!" Jak shouted. "You," He pointed at Lena. "Signed with Mizo and then pulled Parker into your illegal crime business."

"Illegal crime businesses never bothered you before."

Jak stood. "Dax, I want my gun."

"Not if I use it first." Daxter snapped back.

Lena chuckled. "Parker knew you'd react like this. I knew you'd follow her but she said you wouldn't, you'd be too busy to notice if she left early." Lena handed the tablet to Slim. "For those of you that care, Parker and I didn't come to this choice easily. Our contracts with Mizo were on their way to becoming active. So, Parker and I made a deal. My contract would be void and Parker's would active once it the Blue Eco Cup was over."

"You sold her out." Jak snarled.

Lena smirked. "Only if you knew, Jak." She looked at all her friends. "Say what you may about me, but Parker was a willing part in this. Now we have someone on the inside, a spy. She knows what's really at stake here and will do her best to bring down the Mizo family." Lena placed a hand on Jak's foot, he yanked his foot away. "No matter what you think, she does love you."

"I don't need you to confirm that." Jak snapped again. "Now get out before I blow your head off!"

Lena smirked. "See you on the track, friends."

Jak paced the length of the common room, he bit at the skin on his thumb as he listened to the generic news behind him. His ears listened for Parker's name, but they kept talking about the weather. He looked over to Sig, he was also watching the news, but he seemed just as tense as Jak. Daxter, on the other hand, was scrolling through the tablet with Tess. While Jak didn't want to leave Kras City, Daxter convinced him to go back to Haven for a small race. Hardly anyone showed up, even Mizo's team didn't show up.

Now, they were heading back to Kras and no closer to where Parker was. He heard the theme song for GT Blitz's show but didn't stop. Find her. Dark growled in his head, he was having a hard time blocking out Dark and his influences. He glared at the television as GT welcomed everyone to great show, Pecker sat on a chair beside him as they welcomed their guest. Razer stepped onto the set, he took a long drag from his cigarette and joked about coming onto set with a man and his pet.

"I heard you have a new teammate?" Pecker asked.

Jak stopped and turned to the screen.

Razer gave Pecker a glare. "Well we weren't going to introduce her until later in the interview." Razer glanced to GT. Blitz, he shrugged and motioned for him to carry on. "Yes, we do have a member on our team. She's a loan from the Haven Branch. May I introduce Amberly Grace."

"WHAT?!" Daxter shouted as Amberly walked onto the stage, she smiled and sat down beside Razer. "No! No! No!"

"Amberly Grace?" GT. Blitz questioned. "Well, this is a surprise. I didn't know you could even race."

She smiled. "Neither did I, Mr. Blitz," She crossed her legs and looked at the camera. "It just came so easily for me, like most things."

"Well we're excited to see what you have to bring to the sport young lady."

"Me too." She answered in a giggly voice.

"If I see her on the track," Ashelin started from behind the seating section. "I'm peacemaking her ass."

"Not if I get her first." Torn snapped back.

"Don't they have a crazy test or something?" Daxter shouted. "Because THAT," He pointed at Amberly's frozen smile. "Shouldn't be behind any wheel!"

"She's plotting something," Jak whispered. "There's something we're missing."

"Like what?" Sig asked. "Mizo has one of our racers and a friend. Of course, they're hiding something."

"But what," Jak snapped, he turned and walked away from the common space. He almost bumped into Keira as he left, he heard her call his name before he could hear her shoes behind him.

"Where are you going?" Keira shouted.

"Getting ready for the next race."

"You were just in the hospital! Shouldn't you be taking it easy?"

"Slim cleared me for races." Jak answered.

"What happens when we get to the end of this and she's still on their side?"

Jak turned on her. "You didn't see her that night, she was scared and even wanted to die." He leaned against the wall. "Even when Erol had control of her, she didn't beg for death. She did this time."

"If we win the antidote, are you going to share with her?"

Jak glanced to Keira, she was one of his best friends. The things she said the other night hurt him to his core but how could he be mad at someone that he loved so much? He let out a rough sigh. "I'd give her anything because she gave me everything."

Keira chuckled. "You're a fool."

"Yup," Jak smirked. "But I'm her fool."

TBC…