Disclaimer: Don't own Jak and Daxter. Naughty Dog does. Lucky Bastards. But I do own Davis, Vergil and Knox. (huggles her precious boys)

Author's Note: (dances spastically) My fic received da love! And because of this I boosted my word limit from at least 2500 words to 3500 words. Because you guys are worth it and my author's notes are becoming exceedingly long as well. (shrugs)

Okay, I'm really excited about this chapter because I finally get to write an action sequence á la Jak. I have been told I'm pretty good with action scenes, but that was in my Dragonball Z fics. There's a huge difference when compared to Jak. While the DBZ boys fly around shooting energy blasts from their hands and drag fights out until the end of time. Jak is more about gun slinging and turning into dark creatures and ripping guts out and stuff like that (wiggles in anticipation) I have been waiting three chapters to get my hands on Dark Jak. (swoons) And Torn is actually doing some field work this chapter, he's fighting! (drops dead)

Enjoy my friends… Because I sure as hell did.

Work

Chapter Four: Give Me Novocain

"Davis!" Vergil yelled to the back of the retreating teenager. "Wha…What the hell are you doing!"

The dark haired boy paused and turned around just long enough to stutter, "Knox! Th…the medic! Ca…Commander Torn said to always keep the medic alive… or we ain't got nobody ta… ta medic!"

The golden haired guardsmen watched in bemusement as his partner ran off towards the back of the hall. Davis never listened to anything anyone told him let alone remembered it.

They'd been ambushed. Of course, they'd all seen it coming (or so they said) though no one had said anything before hand. Torn had been leading them back toward the front door of the temple, absolutely furious that the mission had seemed to turn out a bust. But as soon as they stepped over the threshold, they were surrounded by what Davis had so tactfully described as 'an assload' of metal heads. Oh and these weren't those little kanga rat sized metal heads his partner had so wished for. These were the nasty boys; Bombers, Gunners and a few too many Flyers as well.

The first thing Vergil did was turn to Torn for instructions on what to do next. The devilish smirk he found on his commander's face did nothing to boost his morale. What his commander said next did not help matters much either.

"Try not to die, rookies!" The higher-ranking FG chuckled darkly before whipping out both his pistols and taking cover behind the nearest decorative gourd.

The blond sighed. Precursors, he really hated being on this team. A group of expendable fucks ups they were.

"Very nice Vergil, and this is what your mum spent so much money to get you into the early admittance program for." He thought bitterly.

"Fuck!" Quin growled. He had some how found a way over to Vergil's hiding place with out being blown to hell. "I thought that monk lady said there weren't that many of the bastards!"

"She was just gonna send that Jak guy and the rat out here by themselves!" another one said in utter disbelief.

"What are you guys doing over here!" Vergil roared, "Get your own fucking spots!"

The sounds of the blasts had forced the teenager to yell to get his point across but it was the odd noises that he heard next that got his attention. Though, most of these guys were acting like they'd never even seen a metal head before, he had been in a handful of battles himself back in Haven. Thus, the sounds were unmistakable. They were the cries of injured metal heads screaming in fury. Against his better judgment he peeked over the huge hunk of temple rubble he and his comrades were hiding behind.

Storm gray eyes widened in disbelief; oh, he'd heard the stories. Stories being the only thing he had to go on because the Freedom Guard's infamous Commander would not be caught dead with a bunch of rookies like them. The sight before him transfixed Vergil. He watched as their commander single handedly took on some 50 odd metal head beasts.

"He really is crazy." Quin breathed, eyes just as wide.

oo0oo

"Okay. If I can just stop shaking… Calm down Knox. Your team needs you. (deep breath) Alright, gun up… take aim…"

Viwhip.

A grin bloomed on the boy's face as the beast's he had been trying for head snapped back and it fell to the ground evaporating into purple sparks and slimy globs of dark eco.

Ta hell with this medic gig. He should really be a sniper he thought.

Dark brown eyes widened suddenly and he threw himself back behind cover. An explosion of bright purple energy went off not too far from where he was and a moment later what felt like a body smacked right into the side of him. He peeked up from the forearms he'd buried his head under and found himself staring back into wide green eyes.

"You okay, Knox!" Davis said sitting up and scrambling to get his back against the fallen rocks.

The rubble that had fallen as a result of the blast had boxed them in. It wasn't that high, but they'd still have to hop over it to get out. Causing them precious time if they ever did decide to move from the spot.

"I'm okay, but…" the red head turned to his side glancing at the fallen soldier lying further to the left of them. "But he's not doing so hot. I got the bleeding to stop but he's burned pretty badly."

Davis tilted his head and took a look at the guy at Knox's side. He was sorry to say he couldn't remember the boy's name. He had to have been Quin's partner though. He grimaced at the sight of the soldier's mangled arm and the bloodied gauze that Knox had obviously applied.

The sickening noise of the shooting and bombing only got louder and more insistent, inflicting damage to their sensitive ears. Knox growled and picked up his morph gun.

"You a decent shot, Davis?" He asked checking the ammo clip.

Davis smiled. "Of course I am."

oo0oo

Torn had never been one to cower behind rocks for too long. If he wasn't putting together a viciously cunningly plan back at headquarters he simply had to be doing something. He was damned near crazy in his attention disorder otherwise. Something Ashelin had picked up on quite quickly. His numerous trips to the Underground's infirmary in the very beginning had tipped the Shadow off to him as well. That had been the reason for his reappointment to strict desk duty. And though he had grown to love it, there had been times when he'd sorely missed the good old days.

Oh how he had missed being out on the field of battle. He hadn't even realized it until Ashelin had sent him and Jinx out on bomb bus duty during the metal head/KG war. Up until then he'd taken a little too much pleasure in all the dangerous missions he'd sent Jak on.

Ah, but there was nothing like blasting the hell of those thick skulled fuckers with one's own two guns. The gloriousness of it almost brought a tear to the tattooed commander's baby blues… almost. He was having a hell of a good time just cackling quietly at the poor demons' misfortunes at this point however.

Though he did have a masochistic streak he wasn't insane. He dared not delve too deeply in the metal head's ranks. He stayed near the outskirts. Taking out as many of the bastards as he could. A few of the less frightened of his "F" Troop were picking off some of the Flyers. Perhaps not all of them were as useless as he'd thought. But it wasn't long before he needed to reload himself. He glanced over his shoulder in the direction of where most of the decent shots had originated and noted the shock of blood red hair.

The damned medic was proving to be the most useful out of all of them. And was that Davis! No way, it couldn't be…

"Knox," He bellowed as he holstered his pistols and unsheathed his blade. "Cover my ass!"

The four-eyed kid was a pretty decent shot, he thought as he plowed back through the metal head horde. Kicking, punching and slashing greasy black throats as he went. Once he'd made it back through the worst of the lot he'd resorted to flips and quite a few more interesting evasive maneuvers. All of them ending in yelps, broken bones and cracked skull gems for a few unfortunate metal head bastards.

Once Torn had found some more cover, he looked around at his mess of a squadron. Yep, most of them were doing exactly what he had expected them to. Cowering like a bunch of newbies. He would have never considered taking these jackasses out under normal circumstances. But the conditions had at least seemed favorable at first. Only a few small metal heads… Jak… He hadn't seen the harm in dragging the jokes of the Guard along. At least they had all passed the gun training without too many problems.

The Freedom Guard commander admittedly had not expected this sort of welcome from the metal heads but after the day he was having he was more then happy with a little excitement. Or at least something to blow to hell in all his frustration. These bastards were right on time too. He had been just about to believe that he'd go home with out getting a decent work out. Deskwork had made him a little flabby in a few areas.

He smirked; he supposed that he couldn't keep all the fun to himself though. After finding what had have been his fifth try at coverage he whipped out his communicator and tapped Jak's signal. The handheld device sparked and crackled growing at least five times its original size. And once Jak's ever present scowl was visible on the screen the commander barked:

"Jak get your sorry hide out here! We got metal heads… in mass!"

Daxter's voice crackled over the comm line. "Keep your friggin' panties on, Wonder boy! We're on our way!"

oo0oo

They'd searched the entire back portion of the Temple and had yet to yield anything. Light's supply of eco was running out so they'd decided to head back to the others to make sure things were okay on their end. The warrior of the pure light activated Jak's communicator once he'd made it across the broken pillars. But he heard and saw little more than static. Torn's comm unit wasn't activated. Whether that was a good or bad thing was yet to be decided.

It was still baffling to the glowing warrior that they had yet to hear a shot fired or an animalistic snarl. Nothing. Light was getting suspicious. He had to agree with his green haired counterpart on this one… Dark's nose never lied. He was sure that the dark eco demon was pleased to know this.

After they made it past the Precursor idol again with still not one sighting, Light Jak was convinced that something was up. There was no way that so many metal heads could have just disappeared over night. Especially when they had no idea that they were coming. Or did they?

"Something's… not right." Light said breaking the uneasy silence. He turned to the doped up ottsel on his shoulder. "Tell Jak to go with his instincts, okay Daxter?"

"Sure thing, Blue boy." Daxter grinned lazily but it suddenly turned into a pronounced pout once he realized what that meant. "Aww… you ain't leaving are ya?"

"I am afraid so, my friend." Light said a weary smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. "I am feeling a bit… drained."

And with that the pulsing aura around the boy shattered into a million shimmering shards. His glowing wings falling apart and sprinkling to the ground dulling into nothing. Light faded away completely returning to from wince he came, leaving only Jak behind.

The disoriented teen clutched at his head and tried to steady himself on wobbly feet. The buzzing ottsel on his shoulder placed a paw on his friend's blond head. As much as he enjoyed Light's visits there was nothing like having his Jak back.

"Still nothing?" Jak muttered as he came back to himself.

"Nope. Not so much as a snarl, big guy." The ottsel said looking back at the dim hallway they had just come thorough earlier.

The blond groaned. "I don't like this."

"Neither did LJ, but… Oh, by the by, Blue said something about going with yer instincts or somethin' like that." Daxter said kneeling down and gripping Jak's sholder plate with his gloved paws. "Whatever the hell that means."

Jak rolled his eyes and a smirk laced the teen's face.

"Never was one for making much sense, that guy." Dax joked.

"He's right though, I should follow my instincts." Jak said as he pulled the morph gun from his back immediately flipping it to the blaster setting.

He then sniffed the air, the act causing his sidekick to raise a brow.

His comm unit finally crackled to life at that exact moment. It was Torn, asking for their help in his usual 'pleasant' manner. After giving the tattooed commander his response, Daxter turned to his morph gun wielding friend.

"Wee….eell!"

"I knew it!"

A snarl ripped from the boy's mouth and he was speeding toward the exit before Daxter could even get the word out. The ottsel was forced to steady himself on the fly. But he was used to it by now. It was the price you paid for hanging with Jak.

oo0oo

"I… I can't die like this!"

Vergil had so hoped he'd heard the boy wrong. Or at least mistaken the cowardly wavering of the voice for the stuttered excitement of a soldier in the field. But this was Cutter he was talking about. Most of the boy's reprimands had involved some sort of cowardice. He had never actually run though. If that had been the case, the boy would have been put down mercifully by one of his commanding officers. That would be a much better fate of course than Torn actually finding out about it. But no, mostly he was just known freeze in the face of danger. Usually when he was needed the most. Probably something their commander should have been warned about though.

The boy was still shaking and muttering in that annoyingly grating voice. All the while nervously fiddling with the ammo clip on his morph gun and glancing from side to side anxiously.

"Calm down, Cutter, man!" Quin growled.

"You can sit here and die if you want to, but I ain't waiting for those ugly bastards to come for me!" The boy screamed back and before neither he nor Vergil knew it, Cutter was running toward the horde of hungry metal heads gun blazing.

Too bad the chicken-hearted son of a bitch was such a bad shot.

"Bloody hell…" Vergil muttered taking aim at a charging metal head.

"Cutter, you jackass!" Quin yelled rushing from cover to try and catch the frightened boy.

"Vergil, what the hell is he doing!" Torn shouted at him.

The blond looked back at his commander with a confused expression and shrugged hurriedly. He could hear the man's frustrated snarl even from where he was.

Vergil tired his best to keep the skull gemmed monsters from getting to them but it was useless. The two boys were right smack dab in the middle of the horde now. He couldn't even get a visual on them anymore.

"Cutter! Quin!" He screamed desperately.

The only response he got were shrieks of pain and they most definitely weren't from the metal heads. He winced in sympathy.

"Poor bastards." he muttered.

The teenager jumped when his ear registered the odd sound of a body landing haphazardly behind him. He whipped around instantly, his gun cocked and ready.

"Whoa, Verg!" Davis flailed around hurriedly climbing upright. "The enemy's that way!"

"You stupid bas…"

Both of them turned as… Someone or something emerged from the ruined temple door, a wide-eyed Daxter holding on to its shoulder plate for dear life. Davis' mouth dropped, both he and Vergil stared witlessly.

"Is that…?"

"Jak!" Torn yelled at the dark figure. "It about fucking time!"

oo0oo

The transformation had begun as soon as the initial snarl died on his friend's lips. The atmosphere began to get impossibly hot, leaving the ottsel nearly gasping for breath. The air around them crackled and popped. Dark purple sparks of electricity arching from Jak's form. He was forced to stop his sprint and drop his gun. He clutched at his head howling in pain as the horns finally forced their way through his skull and through the paling strains of hair.

No matter how many times he'd witnessed it, Daxter never got used to seeing his best friend go through such agony. Why Jak even continued to call on the pale skinned freak he still didn't understand. Jak's hands fell away from his face revealing his bleaching skin. Dark clouds of eco traveled just under the surface rushing to the front of his face invading the whites and then the deep blues of his eyes. And then all turned to endless abysmal black.

Muscles tensed and Jak's armor gave in favor for their growth. The flesh on the very tips of the boy's fingers tore to make way for long wickedly sharp claws. This was the transformation, the change necessary for each and every call of the beast.

Daxter didn't even flinch when those bottomless pits of eyes turned on him. Not even when the riotous fang infested grin made a twisted parody of his friend's face.

As usual, Dark Jak never uttered a word. He simply picked up the gun and slung it over his shoulder before taking off towards the exit.

Riding on the beast's shoulder was definitely its own unique experience. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as if the creature had some how learned to use Light's time stop abilities. He was sure to everyone else that it all happened in a blur but he was able to see it all in painstaking clarity. Every punch that was thrown, every kick… Each swipe of those wicked claws… the arching of bodily fluids as the talons connected with a metal head's flesh. Sparks flew, metal screeched when claws struck. But it was all muffled to Daxter, as the world seemed to creep past.

The limp body of an unfortunate Freedom Guard was flung over Dark's shoulder as he continued to plow through the metal heads. The boy had still been breathing apparently otherwise the monster wouldn't have bothered. Another boy hadn't been so lucky. The ottsel turned his head in disgust. Refusing to look any longer upon the carnage of beast and beasts alike.

oo0oo

Quin's body hit the ground with a sickening smack rolling side over side a few times before coming to a stop. Knox was the first to spring from behind the rubble to reach the fallen soldier. Torn and then Davis weren't far behind.

"What the hell… is that!" Davis asked watching the massacre, completely enthralled.

The boy could not believe what he was seeing. The wraith like creature that Jak had apparently become… the way that creature slaughtered all those metal heads with only its bare hands. There was no way that that beast was the blond haired, blue-eyed teen he'd seen early. How was it even possible?

"Shut up, Davis and help!" Torn yelled his voice even more husky and rasped than usual.

"Is that… is that really Jak!" the dark haired boy stuttered. "I mean I heard of the dark eco monster but…"

"Davis!" Knox wailed tearing open his satchel, trying desperately to figure out where to begin his treatment. "Help me!"

Torn turned away from the situation at hand and found himself quickly caught up in the spectacle not ten feet in front of them, ignoring Davis's questions entirely. He too had heard stories of Jak's darker side as well but he had never actually seen him in action close up and personal. The very air was charged with dark eco and the concentration was only getting higher. A gasp suddenly ripped its way out of his throat.

"Find some cover!" the commander yelled. "Now!"

"Wha… We can't move 'im!" Knox shrieked.

"Move… Now! Or you're toast. Do it!" He added shoving the boy. "Now!"

He wasn't going to say it again. The tattooed brunet grabbed one of Quin's ruined legs and quickly helped them haul the boy behind some downed rubble. They'd made it just in time.

Dark Jak was surrounded by what was left of the snarling beasts. A dark chuckle gurgled from the Eco monster's throat. Daxter already knew what was coming next. He hunkered down on the creature's shoulder and grinned himself.

"Uh oh, looks like it's the end of the line boys," the ottsel said with a mischievous smirk. "Its been fun but we've gotta blow this joint."

With that Dark sprung straight into the air. Time seemed to completely stop but for a moment, before the beast suddenly came crashing down to the ground. And just by inserting a clawed fist deep into stone, he unleashed a shock wave of devastating dark eco out around him. The remaining metal heads disintegrated instantly leaving behind vast amounts of their poisonous lifeblood, Jak's body quickly absorbing it.

Davis and Torn peeked over their hiding places both their mouths agape.

"Shit." The higher ranting soldier scoffed.

"He has got to teach me how to do that." Davis gasped.