Rise and Fall

Chapter 25: Pressure

Once Jak was done cleaning the cut on my head we decided that we could look for the Time Map in the morning. Tess led us down the hall at the back of the bar to a small bedroom. All that was in the room was a bed and a nightstand with a lamp on it.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and began pulling my effects off. I shoved them under the bed with my boots and lay back against the bed. I didn't feel the urge to sleep with all the adrenaline running through my body. I sighed with frustration and threw my arm over my face.

I felt the end of the bed dip down and looked up to see Jak crawling onto the bed. I smiled lightly as he leaned over me and pressed a kiss to my lips. I put my arms around his neck while his hands found my sides. The kiss deepened and soon his lips moved away from my lips to trail down my neck. I moaned quietly as Jak's hands found the hem of my shirt.

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I lay on my side with drooping eyes facing Jak as he reached up and pushed a piece of sweat covered hair out of my face. I wanted nothing more than to press myself against him and fall asleep in his arms but instead I rolled over on my side to face away from him.

"Jenn, what's wrong?" Jak asked running his hand up and down my bare back.

"I don't want you to leave" I whispered, burying my head in the pillow.

Jak pressed himself against my back and kissed my shoulder, "The whole time I was in prison I thought all I wanted was to get revenge on the baron and go home. And then you had to come a ruin all my plans."

The blonde pulled me around to face him and I saw that he was smiling lightly, "You crazy, stubborn, opinionated, strong, intelligent, beautiful, young woman. You drive me completely insane and I can't stop wanting you."

I blinked, trying to stop the blush creeping up on my face, "What are you saying?"

Jak laughed and pulled me against him, "I'm not going anywhere."

A huge, probably goofy looking grin spread across my face before I launched myself on top of him and kissed him with all the passion and happiness I was feeling.

Soon we were going in for round two.

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I sat on the bed pulling my boots on as Jak lay sleeping behind me. He gave a small snore and I laughed. I reached over and shook his shoulder. The blonde jumped and looked over at me with hazy eyes.

"What was that for?" he groaned as he stretched and sat up.

"It's time to get going," I said with a laugh. "We need to go find the Time Map."

"Fine" he groaned before moving to get dressed himself.

We walked out into the front of the bar to find Dax and Tess standing in front of some sort of game.

"Hey guys!" Tess greeted. "Krew hid something in that machine the other day. He looked really nervous."

"Whatever it is, Krew won't be needing it anymore," Daxter announced. "He's, shall we say, not all together these days. Step aside, Jak. Let the game player do his stuff."

Tess bent over and kissed Dax on the cheek, "You're such an animal."

Daxter grinned like a madman as he went towards the machine. He jumped on top of it and grabbed the hammer. Soon, miniature metalheads were popping out of the eight holes and Daxter was smashing them back down. I watched in amusement as Daxter played the game. Jak stood next to me and put his arm around my waist. I looked up at him and smiled and he smiled back.

A few minutes later Daxter was celebrating his victory as the Time Map popped out of the machine. Tess grabbed it as Daxter jumped on the ground in front of the door.

"The Time Map!" Daxter shouted. "You know, sugar plum, if any REAL metalheads came into town, I'd bonk 'em just like I did in the game!"

The door slid open behind him and my eyes grew wide.

"Daxter…" Tess mumbled.

"They'd be all 'Don't hurt me please!' and I'd be all 'Too late, metal monkies! You die screaming!' Hee, hee. Know what I'm saying?" the orange rodent continued.

"Um…" Jak said as he pulled is gun out and aimed at the metalheads behind Daxter.

Daxter looked back and screamed, "Jak, I think these trophies are still walking!"

Jak quickly fired at both and they fell over dead.

"Ma… ma… metalheads! Metalheads! Where's sig when you need him?" he yelled.

"Sig? I think Krew sent him on one last mission," Tess informed, rubbing her chin in thought. "Something about using Mar's Ruby Key to open a secret door in the Underport?"

"Of course! Come on Dax, we need to get to the Underport right now," Jak turned to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. "Jenny, I want you to stay here."

"No way, I'm coming with you to find my father" I stated walking past him.

"I'll take the Time Map to Kiera" Tess stated.

"Be careful angel cheeks and your hero will return shortly!" I grabbed Daxter by his scruff and placed him on my shoulder as I walked out the door.

As we stepped outside my comm. flew out of my pocket.

"The shield wall is down!" Vin shouted. "I repeat the shield wall is down! Sabotaged! Kor did it! I knew the metalheads would be the end of me… oh no! Metalheads at the door! Jenny! Jak! Aaaarrgh!"

I heard the distinct click of the comm. disconnecting. I looked up at Jak and he had the same shocked expression as I'm sure I had. I took a deep breath and shoved my comm. into my pouch before looking around at the city.

Haven City was a complete disaster. Metalheads were all over the place, attacking citizens and destroying shops. Jak grabbed my arm and pulled me onto a zoomer and took off towards the Underport. We found the maintenance elevator and headed down. The elevator opened up into a brightly lit hallway. I followed Jak around the corner to find my father trying to hold off a hoard of metalheads.

"Hey there, tough guy" Jak greeted with a wave.

Sig turned and fired a shot at us and we all ducked before he started shooting the metalheads again, "Get your skinny ass over her and start shooting!"

We both pulled out our guns and went to stand by Sig. I was running low on Vulcan ammo so I used my pistols. I shot down a metalhead coming out of a tunnel to the left while my father took the one coming from the right.

"Man, was I set up!" Sig growled angrily. "Krew sent me down here to open some old doors with that Ruby Key you found, and when I did, metalheads came streaming in from some passage outside the city walls… Just like they were waiting for me! There's one!"

Sig shot another metalhead and it fell to the ground in front of us.

"Krew's dead" Jak stated.

"Yeah?" Sig asked with a raised eyebrow, still steaming with rage. "Well he's lucky! Because he would not want me to catch him alive!"

"The metalheads must have promised Krew plenty for him to betray the whole city like this" Dax inquired as Sig shot another of the creatures.

"Let's get out of here" Jak said and Dax and I nodded our agreement.

The tunnel we had come down was now swarming with metalheads so we too the tunnel to the right. Sig took the lead and Jak brought up the rear leaving me in the center. We ran at a steady pace trying to keep a safe distance between us and the metalheads that were most likely following us down the corridor. As were rounded a corner we simultaneously stopped to catch our breath. We didn't have long, however, because the wall behind us began crumbling and the largest metalhead I'd ever seen came rushing at us.

"Shootin' this one is only going to make him mad," Sig informed as he began backing away. "Run!"

Jak was frozen up and I pushed him ahead of me. We managed to catch up with Sig as we tried desperately to stay out of the reach of the metalhead behind us. We were coming up on a bridge that I knew wouldn't hold the large creature. Sig made it across and turned to see if we were still behind him.

Half way across the bridge, the metalhead stepped onto it and it began to crumple beneath Jak and I. The metalhead went down first. My eyes widened as I reached to grip something. Sig quickly grabbed Jak's arm and I managed to grab onto the man's foot.

Sig pulled us both up and we knelt panting on the ground. My father basically pushed Jak aside as he knelt in front of me and looked me over.

"You alright?" he asked.

I stood and brushed myself off, "Yeah, I'm fine. We better get going before that thing comes back."

I helped Jak stand and we continued down the passageway, guns ready. We ran into a few metalhead grunts. My side were aching but luckily we didn't start running again and soon my breathing was back to normal. We only walked for a few minutes before we heard a rumbling behind us. The wall collapsed and the large metalhead from before appeared, angrier than ever.

"Great!" Sig growled. "Here comes that bad boy again! MOVE!"

Sig grabbed my arm and pushed me ahead of him. Jak managed to catch up and keep pace with me while Sig brought up the rear. We ran as fast as we possibly could and with all the twists and turns we managed to lose the large creature. We came up on another bridge and I could see the elevator nearby. I smiled in relief but didn't stop till I was across, Jak right behind me.

"Let's go! We're almost to the elevator!" Jak shouted back at Sig.

My father grinned as he stopped in the middle of the bridge, "Looks like we finally lost 'em, chili peppers! Piece of cake, huh? Now you're real Wastelander. I say it's time we take this fight to the metalhead leader himself! What a trophy he'd make! We find a way to juice up Mar's ol' gun, and the boom baby, we storm the nest, guns blazing! Hell! We'll take 'em all on together! You, me, and my girl! Side by side! Nothin'll stop us 'cause we're…"

Sig stopped to look up as the large metalhead fell through the ceiling. It landed right on top of Sig and in a matter of seconds they had both plummeted into the dark abyss.

"Sig!" Jak shouted as he searched the darkness in a vain attempt to find him.

I fell on my knees, tears stinging my eyes, "Sig?"

Nothing but silence answered me.

"Sig?" I shouted, more desperate. "DAD?"

Jak grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away from the edge. He knelt beside me and pulled me into a tight hug burying my face in his chest. I let out a loud sob as I cried into his shirt. Tears ran down my cheeks in a steady flow. My last family member was now gone. First my mom and now my stepfather. I clung to Jak and soon he was scooping me up and walking towards the elevator. The tears stopped falling and I laid my head against Jak's shoulder. Daxter climbed over and brushed my hair out of my face then continued to rub my head.

Everything became a blur but eventually we ended up back at the Hideout. Even though it was still light out I felt completely drained but when Jak laid me under the covers I found I couldn't fall asleep. I listened as Jak explained to Torn what had happened.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see the blonde. He pulled the covers back and laid down. I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head against his chest. Daxter joined us and sat on the pillow and brushed my hair back.

Eventually, I managed to doze off to sleep.

A/N: Whoop! Another chapter is up! I'm thinking only one more chapter and an epilogue… Gotta work tomorrow so no telling how much I'll get done but I'm really excited to finish this story.

I appreciate everyone whose read this story, favored it, alerted it, and especially to those that have reviewed! I really like reviews!

Anyways, hope to get the next chapter up soon! Please review!