CLEANED UP

Clean up notes for this chapter: Hokay so there was a mission here that I honestly hated writing because it was full of game mechanics that were tough to work into fiction... so I worked around it. It's funny because that work-around looked like it was going to pose more of a problem then the original thing I didn't wanna write... and it turned into a huge opportunity.

WARNING TO VETS! A big change happened here, but I feel it's for the better. Meow.

Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter.

Vacation Or War
Chapter Thirty Seven- Ambush

"Mar's seal, huh?" Loor asked, following Jak and Daxter as they explained what they'd done that morning after letting her sleep in till noon. She hadn't realized she'd stayed in bed that long, but it would seem she didn't miss out on too much. The trouble twins had gone and seen Onin, finding out about Mar's Tomb and why the Baron was so desperately looking for it.

They'd already retrieved one of the three pieces of the seal that would open the way into the canyon back in Haven Forest, which would in turn let them get at some of Mar's old machines, made to pin-point the location of the tomb. Now she was following them as they were en-rout to a second piece.

"Yeah. Apparently there's this thing called the Precursor Stone in the tomb that's got enough power to do just about anything." Daxter nodded. "The Baron is after it, so it's a good idea to swoop in and nab it first, right?"

"We gotta find it first." Jak muttered, shaking his head. "Brutter gave us a call just before the race; he's got something he thinks we might be interested in... something about shiny things... It may be coincidence, but if the guy wants to pay us back for rescuing lurkers and turns out to hand us something we need, I'm not going to argue."

She nodded, trotting to keep up with the guys; Jak was walking rather briskly. "Something up?" She asked, their path taking them through the stadium section and back to the slums. They were picking up the seal piece from Brutter's home in the flooded section of the city. Loor knew they were also marching towards an ambush, but for some reason she wasn't too terribly worried. The name of the game would be running, not fighting... which was good, because she doubted her ability to attack her fellow man.

But her ability to run from her fellow man? That was doing better than ever.

Jak shrugged. "I feel like things are going to start speeding up... like everything before this was just a warm-up, and now we're headed for the main event. Even if we find the tomb first... just this feeling I got that it's not going to go well."

"You're being paranoid, buddy." Daxter said, relaxing by leaning on Jak's head. "Take it one day at a time, would ya?"

"Like you do, Dax?" Loor snickered. "Wining and womanizing with every loose second?"

"Hey, at least not a second goes to waste! It's what you gotta do, toots. You never get those seconds back, you know."

"I think the ottsel might have just said something zen..." She shook her head. "Jak, is he allowed to do that?"

"Don't look at me. Dax is kinda his own little furball... It's not like I put him on a leash and walk him like a dog."

"Some chicks dig that though..." Daxter mused for a moment before shaking his head. "Ah, yeah, no, not my thing."

The three had passed through the slums, entering the flooded section and picking their way through the tangle of bridges. Lauren was making an effort to remember which ones they took so their run back out of this place would be easier. She wondered just how the Baron knew that Jak would be here; had he bugged random communications and they happened to pick up Brutter's signal? Or was it that they thought it was some sort of black market thing, people trading under the Baron's nose?

It didn't really matter though. Reasons why were out of her reach, about to be swept up into the event. They were coming to the end of the bridges, walking up to a simple yet dilapidated house. It was built on stilts to stay out of the water, just like everything else in the area.

Oddly enough, Brutter was not actually there. His hut was shut up tight, and the seal piece, looking like part of a yin-yang symbol, was hung up on his door.

Oh. That's why the cavalry rolled out; the Baron's people saw it and organized a sting for whoever came to get it. Proof that Brutter wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.

As Jak was taking the shining item off of the door, Loor noticed something. It was quiet, and not in the relative sense. This section of the city had gone dead silent, and she wasn't sure why... until she glanced up. No traffic; no zoomers in the air space. There weren't any people on the bridges either; just them.

'Sitting ducks' is the term that came to her mind.

"That was easy..." Daxter commented. "Two pieces down! Just one left."

Jak noticed Loor staring into the air space, and in the general silence heard a sound that was similar to a zoomer... just a lot bigger.

KG carriers were coming in fast. There had to be a dozen of them, each stopping at a different point to drop their cargo of men. Each red vehicle dropped at least twenty men, though no one was doing a serious count. It was more of a quick glance to decide what the best course of action was.

The Baron had deployed a small army to corner and kill them.

"I think you spoke too soon, Dax." Loor muttered, staring. She hadn't expected such a mass, and not all at once. She was backing up, not sure of how to handle this. Her original thoughts of charging right through wouldn't work; this was a wall, no, a sea of red armor and guns...

And people. She couldn't forget that.

Jak pushed forward, gun in hand, switching over to the vulcan barrel and opening fire. He didn't even think about it; he understood the simple facts of the situation. People were going to die here. It was all about which people died.

"Stay behind me." Jak ordered after mowing down the closest group of guards. He was switching weapons, changing the vulcan barrel out for the blaster mod. The other groups of guards would come closer to take better aim; his strategy was to pick them off first... and he understood that she was essentially useless at the moment.

Being protected would usually upset her, but she was too busy staring at the bodies that hadn't fallen off of the edges of the narrow walk-ways, red armor cracked by bullets and the owners falling. She was momentarily disembodied, a specter upon the event, silently looking on as Jak started firing again. Senses came in sharp focus, but then faded into a disengaged memory. The yellow eco slugs had a stunk similar to sulfur, mixing in with the copper reek of blood, salty fear on the back of her tongue, icy realization falling down the back of her neck in beads of nervous sweat.

The moment seemed to pause. For her, it all stopped.

Up till that point, it had been something she was watching. A game. A show, even. She understood that she could ruin everything, of course, understood that people would die if she didn't make sure that history went unaltered... but people were dying now. She'd never realized it before, but Jak was a killer. Self defense, indeed, but he'd taken intelligent life. Human life. He faced it with a cold expression, unfeeling towards those in his way.

She wanted to escape from this nightmare. The whole experience had been surreal. She'd assured herself that she wasn't a big deal; just along for the ride. A quiet by-stander, not to be noticed, not to effect anything. She wanted to be invisible.

But that wasn't possible. They were after her just as much as they were after Jak. Maybe she wasn't a hero, or the person who would open up Mar's Tomb, find the precursor stone, or the one who was gonna save the city, but right now she had a choice.

She had to decide if she was just window dressing, un-willing to commit to her fate... or if she was gonna help. Metal heads were one thing, but she had to take on all that posed a danger.

The ice began to break. The moment was passing, time speeding up again. Jak was firing off quickly, shots hitting home and knocking guards either into the water or felling them on growing piles of flesh and armor. Fire was returning, though the shots were wild and poorly placed.

She blinked an overwhelmed tear away, gritting her teeth and drawing her pistol, taking a knee to steady herself. She knew she'd never be able to convince herself to fire at her fellow man, but her body had already taken care of that for her.

She was detached; memory and thought processes had long disengaged. There was no complicated over-thinking now.

She'd given in, submitted to the understanding.

It's either us or them.

All she remembered was the feel of her heart. It beat loudly, over the noise as bullets flew from both sides. It made her hands shake at first, but they steadied by the time she had to switch out the clip for another one in her pouch. It was like a drum, pulsing, keeping her from realizing how easy it was to do what she was doing.

It was a beat. A tempo to which this dance was preformed. Shooting was given a break to run onto ground they'd gained, seeking a more advantageous position. Then it was her and her gun, following Jak's lead.

Replace the clip. Fire.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Dare to blink.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Remember to breathe.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

Change the cli-

Run!

He'd moved, and she kicked to follow, the tempo speeding up. Her feet wanted to fall with the beat, but weren't fast enough.

And they weren't stopping. He'd readied his gun as a bludgeoning weapon.

She switched from the pistol in her hand, her tool, to dance to a different beat. He was there first, plowing through, and she was right behind.

She had her juice-rod in hand, the ends sparking with dangerous energy from the blue eco crystal inside. Maybe she yelled when she used the weapon to throw the red wall aside, but she hadn't a clue. She was sprinting, trying to keep up with the beat.

Faster!

The pulse was in her neck, felt in her hands, bursting from her chest. How much longer?

The water was gone; they'd made it past the bridges, but the guns still fired after them. She still followed where Jak led.

He'd found a zoomer as her brain began to come back, panting and breaking free of that pressing beat. She didn't even ask, stashing her weapon and jumping on behind him, trusting that he'd get them away.

Jak took a long and confusing route through the slums, eventually turning into the industrial section and then the ramp over the Bazaar, using the traffic to discourage pursuit. Then around the palace, circling back into south town and ending in the port, dropping into the lower zone and stopping to breathe.

They'd survived. The Baron had dropped an army on their heads in a dead-end, and they'd survived. Jak was actually quite surprised that Loor had started shooting. Though her accuracy had been questionable, she had made the effort despite the discomfort he knew she had about attacking people. She hadn't made a deal about her independence, or even tried to take the lead.

And good thing too; that was one trick he never wanted to pull twice. The reason he'd started running was because he'd run out of ammo for the blaster and didn't have the seconds to waste switching to something else.

It was just now that he realized Loor was still holding on to him. She'd taken a grip around his middle when she jumped on the back of the zoomer, and was yet to ease off, even a little bit. Daxter was just starting to calm out of battle mode too, and looked back at the girl. She was hiding against Jak's back, her hair thrown over her face and her shoulders up and tense.

"Hey, Loor, babe." Dax tried to call her back to earth. "It's cool. We made it."

"I... uh..." She was still breathing too hard. "Can we never do that again... please?"

"We'll try." Jak tried to turn, but found himself rather rooted to the spot as long as she refused to let go of him.

He also realized he felt something damp through his shirt.

She was crying.

"What now, partner?" Daxter asked, returning to the proper shoulder. "Report back to Onin and see if she's got any hints on the last piece we're missing?"

"Sounds like the right idea... Loor, you gonna survive back there?"

There was a long pause before the boys got any response from her. She just clung to Jak, but eventually her grip loosened. She didn't let go, but she stopped crushing his ribs. "I... I'd like to go back. You guys do what you gotta... but I think my day just got it's fill of action."

"Your day?" Daxter snickered. "Try my week!"

"It's cool." Jak assured, accelerating back into normal traffic, switching into the upper zone. "Just take it easy."

Lauren nodded, not saying a word on the whole way back.

The Author's Corner

I love my fiancee. I mean here in the real world. He may not be the most charismatic guy on the planet, but I got the idea that completed this chapter while talking to him so HA! I get annoyed sometimes because I can blab on for hours and he won't say a word, but that also makes him sorta a trampoline for bouncing ideas.

When I can get up the nerve to talk to him about my stories. Original or fan fiction, I'm always worried he'll decide I'm creepy or laugh at me...

MEOW!

Happy reading,

-Loor