Chapter 14
By shadows/of/flame
Jak jumped out of the small window in the prison wall, finding himself in a very disgusting looking city. For the first time in a few years, two to be exact, he looked in a window he passed and saw his reflection.
He hated what he saw.
Shoulder length blond hair replaced the short 'do that Keira had used to love running her hands through.
Two years of being tortured, and in between injections nothing to do but exercise, had granted him a nice 6 pack and visible muscles on his arms.
A goatee had wormed its way onto his chin despite his hate of the damn thing, but all the people with a razor in prison had been killed. Brutally killed might I add.
He hated himself, and knew that when he found Keira again, she'd hate him too.
And the demon inside him that he was about to find the true strength of.
A young boy and what appeared to be his elderly grandfather were being harrassed by a Krimzon Guard, and Jaks hatred for the men in red spawned him to walk over and grab the man by the scruff of the neck.
"What do you think you're doing?" he glared, making the KG shift uncomfortably.
"I... everyone here is hereby under arrest for harbouring underground fugitives. Surrender and die."
Daxters mouth fell open. "Aaah, excuse me sir, don't you mean surrender OR die?"
The old man gulped, trying to lead the young kid away.
"Not in this city. Protect us from these guards, and I'll introduce you to someone who can help you."
Jaks anger overtook him, and it only took him a few minutes to transform into Dark Jak.
The old mans mouth fell open as the dark creature ripped apart everyone and anyone in sight that was wearing red armour, and soon no KG were left to be seen.
"Thats... very impressive. Very impressive indeed." He muttered, slowly dragging the kid off.
"Hey! You said that you'd help us!" Daxter glared, and the old man shifted uncomfortably under the ottsels gaze.
"Oh... fine. Go to a dead end street by the city wall, and ask for Torn. Hes the only one that can help you right now."
Jak rolled his eyes as the old man shuffled off, hiding the kid under his robes.
"So much for introducing us to 'Torn'." Jak muttered angrily, letting Daxter hop up onto his shoulder before he set off.
After finding many dead ended streets, and Daxter facing a lot of swearing and cursing, Jak eventually found the right dead ended street.
He hoped this was the right one anyway.
0o0o0
Tess saw a man in blue with what looked to be an orange rat on his shoulder, and decided to alert Keira. She ran down the stairs, and woke the blue haired mechanic up.
"Keira! Keira! Theres a blond guy with a rat on his shoulder coming! What should we do?"
"We'd better not let him come in here." Keira replied, wiping the sleep quickly from her eyes and pulling on her boots. "We'd better go and see what he wants."
Tess was outside again in a flash, and truth be told, Jak hadn't even noticed her absence. She put on her mean face as he approached, and Jak looked around.
"Is there a Torn here?" Jak asked cautiously, wishing he could shrink into the floor. He obviously wasn't welcome.
"Whos asking?" another voice came, and Jak looked around for the owner of the voice.
"What, can't you even show me your face?" Jak sneered, and Keira came out from behind Tess, NOT looking happy.
"Heres my face, you happ- J-J-J-Jak?"
Jaks jaw dropped. "K-Ker"
Tears slowly rolled down Keiras cheeks - was it really him? Sure he looked a little different, but...
She didn't know whether to race into his arms, and give him a huge hug, or just to stay where she was, speechless.
She didn't need to decide, as Jak made the first move.
He swept her into a huge hug, burying his face in her shoulder.
"Jak..." she whispered, wrapping her arms around the renegade.
Tess rolled her eyes and went inside the Underground, leaving them be for a wee while.
"Wh... where have you been these past two years? Whats happened? You've changed a lot." Keira finally said rather shyly, not knowing what to say around her oldest friend.
Jak broke the hug and held her at arms length, sighing.
"I've been... held prisoner for two years. Praxis kidnapped me, and for two years hes been injecting me with dark eco. Obviously, if it wasn't for my eco channeling abilities, I'd be dead right now."
"Well... as long as you're safer now... we can find daddy and find a way to get back home, right"
Jak slowly nodded, a bit of colour returning to his cheeks.
"Hey! Sugar plum! Don't I get a hello hug as well?" Daxter complained, and Keira just rolled her eyes at the rodent. "Sure, whatever Dax. Ask Tess, I'm sure that she'll be more than happy to "be-friend" you."
"Tess? Whos she? And you know Torn"
Keira nodded.
"Tess is my best girlfriend - shes been looking after me for one and a half years. And Torn... well... hes... my bodyguard."
Jaks eyes narrowed slightly. "Bodyguard? Why?"
Keiras eyes misted over - his harsh tone wasn't helping one bit. "I was receiving death threats a while back, AND I was raped, oh, only a few million times by this KG maniac, so they finally decided I needed a bodyguard." she said sourly.
Jak stepped back a bit, not letting go of her shoulders.
"N-now bec-cause of Erol, Torns lying in a coma, probably half-dead..."
The name rung in Jaks ears, and he almost dropped his composure.
Torn was the reason that he was still alive.
Torn was the one that had helped him in prison, made sure that he had the right food and care that he needed, even if he was banished from the KG for it.
"T... Torn... is he OK?" Jak asked desperately.
She then remembered Torn telling her about how he had helped Jak.
A weak smile crossed her lips as she spoke. "H-hes alright. Erol threw a brick at his head, and he has a huge headwound, but the Shadows convinced he'll be fine."
"Convinced? CONVINCED? Hes CONVINCED himself that Torn will be alright?" Jak screamed, and Keiras calm composure was shaken.
Jak barely knew Torn, and he was yelling about him as though the world was ending? Didn't Keira have a bigger right to be worried?
She let him yell, his hurtful words going straight over her head.
"And another thing..." he began, but the door slid open and Tess peered out.
"Keira! New guy! Rat! The Shadow thinks he may have tracked Erol down!" she giggled excitedly.
"Oh isn't he just easy to find?" Jak said sarcastically.