Haven

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Lombax Luver (even though she isn't reading this story), for the Morph Gun "tutorial" inspiration and general JaKeira interaction.

ALL READERS: You might notice that I make a reference to the Vulcan Fury in a scene were I don't think Jak had it yet in the game, but just humor me.

Also, Jak doesn't swear like the rest of the characters who say "Mar" in their expressions, like "Thank Mar you're here," etc. One reason being that while Keira may say it, she's been exposed to the city much longer than Jak, who was imprisoned those two years. Also, considering the third game, I think that it would be "inappropriate."

Sorry about the long A/N. On with the story!

-P

Chapter 4

"Now, the Metal Heads have known about this entrance into the city for a long time," Jak was explaining as he and Keira picked their way through the dingy tunnels. They had taken the elevator down to the bottom-most floor, and after a few false starts (Keira had snagged her huge sweatshirt on a valve that twisted and released a hissing rush of steam behind them, which Jak had shot at madly before he realized what it was), they were on their way.

"So why the heck are we down here, then?" Keira asked bluntly. It still didn't make sense to her that they were mucking around in Mar knew what, probably missing their only chance to find the others...

"Think about it," Jak said impatiently, his eyes still scanning the room for signs of movement. "The Metal Heads are retreating. We came all the way through the slums here without seeing so much as a skull gem, so that must mean that they're leaving the city. They'll be heading away from the center, which means they won't be pushing toward us through here since the exit is in the opposite direction."

"Unless they decide to use this as an escape route," Keira added darkly, still sure that this was a bad idea. "I mean, we left the doors wide open."

"Great, give me something else to worry about, why don't you?" Jak muttered as he cast a quick look backward. He toggled the Morph Gun to "Scatter," just in case he didn't turn around fast enough, and kept walking.

"What's that one called?" Keira asked innocently.

"What's what one called?" Jak asked irritably.

"That thing that you keep changing, on the gun," she pointed at the end of the gun, which Jak pulled up so that he didn't accidentally shoot her in the face.

"Watch where you're pointing those things," he nodded toward her "mechanic's hands." "It's called a Morph Gun, and right now it's in 'Scatter Mode.'"

"Why? How can it do that?" she asked, genuinely curious about anything technical.

"For close range attacks," he said matter-of-factly as he jumped up onto a slippery ledge. He reached down and extended a hand to Keira, who took it and sprang up onto the ledge next to him, careful to avoid landing on her injured ankle. "And don't ask me how it does that," he went on. "You're the genius, you tell me."

"Hmm..." Keira eyed the gun as if she wanted nothing more than to sneak it back to her workshop and dismantle it. Jak, entirely familiar with that gleam in Keira's eye, held his gun a little more protectively and walked ahead.

"Anyway, I call this one 'Shotty,' otherwise I get it confused with the blue one."

"What's the blue one?"

"Lefty."

"Why?"

Jak sighed. "Just because, Keira. Don't ask a man to explain his guns."

Keira would have giggled if she didn't find that statement extremely chauvinist. "Okay, then," she decided to ignore that last comment. "What's the one that you had on earlier? The yellow one."

"Oh, that one?" Jak paused to switch it back to "Blaster Mode." He suddenly couldn't remember ever giving that one a nickname.

"It's, uh... 'rifle.'"

"Rifle?" Keira did giggle this time. "Just 'rifle?' I was figuring you'd say something obtuse like, 'Old Yeller.'"

Jak flushed. "No, we just call it 'rifle,' now quit making fun of me."

"Who's 'we?'" Keira smiled at him, wondering if he spoke to his chauvinistic self in the third person, too.

"...Daxter."

"Oh."

They passed the next few moments in silence, the only sounds were their heavy footfalls on the wet cement, freakishly amplified in the tunnels. Keira was beginning to feel very depressed as she thought about Daxter, Samos, and even Brutter, wondering if they were okay when Jak suddenly chuckled. Keira looked up sharply to find Jak stifling back another laugh. He noticed her looking at him as if he had sprouted two heads.

"I just remembered..." he said, smiling as he looked ahead. "When Dax and me were down here for the first time, and we fell into this dark pit..." He smiled over at Keira, who was still looking at him as if he were mental.

"We fell into this pit with about thirty Metal Heads, and Daxter started screaming, 'Shotty! Shotty!' because he wanted me to use the Scatter Gun, but he was screaming so loud that I accidentally jammed it into 'Vulcan Fury' and got the trigger stuck..." He glanced at Keira again, who looked horrified that first they had fallen into a pit with thirty Metal Heads, and then they had broken their gun.

"Then it just fired until all the bullets were gone. But so were the Metal Heads, don't worry..." he said quickly, noticing Keira's paling face.

"Anyway... when it was all over, Dax picked himself off the floor, looked at me and said, 'Jak, the next time you decide to give old 'Lefty' a workout, take it to the bedroom..." Jak's face suddenly burned red as he realized he had just told Keira a dirty joke, but to his amazement, she started laughing.

"Jak!" she gasped between giggles. "You're such a… pervert!"

Jak smiled and was about to reply when a pipe suddenly burst above them, deafening them with the hissing sound. Momentarily blinded by the escaping gas, Jak could only hear Keira screaming above the noise of the sudden rupture. At first, Jak was worried that the steam was burning her face. Only when he noticed that the cloud of 'steam' bursting from the vent was cool and that Keira was still screaming did it register in his mind that something was very wrong.

"Keira!" Jak yelled through the dense fog. He grasped wildly about in front of him, searching for her as he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face through the thick air, when he was suddenly clubbed from behind. He hit the floor, his teeth clacking together when his jaw hit the pavement. He rolled over quickly as whatever had hit him swung again at his head but crashed into the floor instead. It was a Metal Head.

Jak started firing the Scatter Gun, pumping round after round into the area around him. He ran into at least three Metal Head bodies as they hit the ground. Jak couldn't hear Keira anymore. Abruptly, he stopped firing as a wave of horror overtook him.

"Keira!" he cried out again, feeling his way forward along the wall as he made his way through the dissipating fog. The air pressure in the pipe went down, reducing the noise level to a low sigh.

"Damn it!" he swore to himself. "Keira! Answer me!"

Jak paused and thought he heard a low whimper. He stumbled over the body of a newly-dead Metal Head as he moved toward the sound. The fog lifted and Jak saw a shapeless, quivering blob huddled in a corner of the room.

He quickly lowered his gun and ran to the huddled form of Keira, who had tucked herself almost completely into the giant grey sweatshirt with only her aqua-green hair poking out of the top. Jak dropped to the floor and pulled her roughly into his arms.

"Keira..." Jak said, his voice thick as he tucked her head under his chin. Keira swallowed hard and tried to stop crying. She shook her head and slowly unfolded her self from the tangles of the sweatshirt and out of Jak's death grip. She sat back and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

Jak stood up and surveyed the room, raising the Morph Gun again. He counted five dead Metal Heads, and identified the one with huge scythe arms that must have been the one who ruptured the pipe. He walked over and shot a Blaster bullet into its skull for good measure. Satisfied, he walked back over to where Keira was still slumped against the wall. She cracked an eyelid as he squatted down in front of her.

"That was... close, wasn't it?" she asked slowly.

"Yeah, that was pretty close."

"I'm sorry I... ran away."

"It's okay, Keir..."

"The Metal Head, with the claws..." she nodded toward the one that Jak had just put a bullet through. "It came at me, but it only got the shirt..." she held up her left arm to show Jak the vicious slashes that had reduced the cloth to shreds on that side. His face darkened at the sight of the near-miss.

"Then I... fell, and I ended up over here..."

"Don't think about it anymore."

"But Jak..."

"I said don't think about it, Keira," he repeated forcefully. "It's over now, it's dead. You can get up now."

Keira looked terrified again. "No, no I can't," she shook her head vigorously and drew herself into a little ball again. Jak had never seen her so shaken, but then again, he had never seen her get viciously mauled by a monster in the sewers before.

"Keira, listen to me," Jak said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. She immediately clung to him, burying her face against his chest. He sighed and held her with his free arm. "I will never, ever let anything come that close to hurting you again. I swear."

She looked up at him and found his face set in absolute certainty– his jaw line straight and rigid, and his eyes narrowed and determined. She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.

A/N: Jak's gun nicknames are actually names that my little brother and I used when we were playing the game together (btw, "Lefty" is so named after the button that you press to bring out the gun). My little brother actually played the part of Daxter when he screamed "Shotty! Shotty!" whenever I was being mauled by Metal Heads.

-P

Disclaimer: I do not own nor did I create Jak II, its characters, plots, locations, etc. It all belongs to Naughty Dog and Sony Computer Entertainment America.