Disclaimer: Once again, I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE JAK GAMES OR CHARACTERS OF SAID GAMES

In Love and War

Chapter 4

Meanwhile, far away, in the Forbidden Jungle, a concrete building stood out of place against all the foliage. This building was three stories high, and was the size of a Haven city street block. Inside, numerous scientists worked on countless machines, doing experiments with DNA. In the high tower, which was at the back of the building, an office sat on the top. Inside were four figures. One was Paxton. The dark skinned smuggler did not look happy to be there and said it. Time and time again. "I'm serious, man. If I get caught making one of YOUR shipments, you're gonna pay!" Another figure chuckled. This one was kind of husky, and wore a bulletproof jacket made out of woven Precursor metal. A tough job, yes, but worth it. This man was light skinned, wore a cowboy hat, and had enormous muscles. Basically, a perfect candidate for a bodyguard. And that's exactly what he was, from his steel booted toes, to the automatic pistols on his belt, to his shaved head. And the person he was guarding was…"Upton Julius," the man said, relaxing his hands so that they were down by his pistols. "Does not like complaints." "Now, now, Whitey, we must let some of our contacts express their opinions," said the figure behind the desk, in a Southern drawl. Julius was tall, wire thin, and intelligent. The man standing in the corner, fumbling with his notes was his head scientist, Dr. Eric Chanikov. "Doctor," said Julius, turning to him with a small smile on his face. "How many more shipments of the supplies we requested do we need?" Chanikov fumbled his notes a little more, than said "Well, our experiments in mixing animal DNA have proved successful, so we don't need anymore of the said animal DNA, except for a few." He thumbed through the list, before saying "We only need one shipment of each. Polar bear DNA, Gorilla DNA, Bat DNA, Chameleon DNA, Giant Spider DNA, and…"Chanikov paused, cleared his throat nervously and said "Metal Head DNA." Paxton look surprised. "Metal Head DNA? But Metal Heads are becoming rarer and rarer. It's going to be expensive, so I'm going to need to charge some more for it." "Done," said Julius. Paxton seemed satisfied, so he turned to leave. Once the sound of his footsteps died off, Julius said "Have we located the Principle?" "Yes sir," said Whitey Hooten, the bodyguard, pulling out a map and placing it on the desk. "It is currently in Haven City. It seems to spend most of its time around South Town. We have found it currently heading towards the Naughty Ottsel, a bar in that area." Julius thought for a few moments, then turned to Chanikov and said "Can we neutralize the Principle with your new tranquilizer?" "Yes, but, there is one side effect to worry about; apparently, the compound awakens animalistic rage. It'll be hard to control him." "I don't care." Scoffed Julius, turning back to Hooten, and saying "Get yourself an air rifle and some tranquilizers. Take a few men too. I want him alive, but he needn't be intact." Hooten nodded, then walked out. Julius leaned forward, looking at the photo on his desk. It showed a young man, walking out of a building, with a trench coat and a hat. A sailor's hat. "You won't escape me this time, boy. I'll find you, and when I do, you'll go through hell."

Mat had to admit, this place was real swinging joint. If that's what people called places like these anymore. On the way over with Keira, he'd lit up a cigarette. She'd flashed him a look of both shock and distaste. In response, Mat had simply smiled at her, revealing his clean, white teeth. For some reason, they were never stained with nicotine. "Don't worry. I just light one of these up whenever I'm in deep thought." And indeed he was. Strange and familiar images kept coming back to his mind again and again. He'd been having some weird dreams, as well. His latest one consisted of him running through a forest, feeling apprehension, panic, pain. It had ended when he'd had to hit his alarm clock. But what did it mean? And the memories. One was of a busy laboratory and him pounding on the glass with more fury than he'd ever had in his life. Another was of pain, just nerve-wracking pain. Mat shook this off. He was just…Mat. Although, just being Mat could one day get him killed. He flicked the cigarette over the side when it was only half finished. He had to get his mind off these sorts of things and onto other thing like his job, Paxton...'Or Keira,' said the voice in his head. 'Oh, great, you again.' 'I'm always here Mat. And now I'm telling you that tonight, you're going to do something bold, daring. Something that'll get Keira's interest so much that she'll never get it back.' 'You say that like it's a good thing.' 'Oh, but it is, isn't it. Put aside all these memories, the tough guy act and just…live a little. Oh, and you might want to start talking to Keira right about now.' "Mat?" Keira asked, a little worried. "Are you…OK?" Mat snapped back, turned to her and said "Yeah, I'm fine. What were you saying?" "I was saying that we're here." Mat turned around. The bar sat a few yards away from where the Zoomer was currently being parked. Mat swung his legs over the side after disconnecting his seat belt. Big mistake. The ground was about five yards away, since the Zoomer was still being parked. But, amazingly, Mat landed, catlike, and rolled forward, springing up onto his feet. Keira, amazed, finished bringing the Zoomer down and said "How did you do that?" Mat just shrugged and said "To tell you the truth, I don't know. I just feel like I've been doing that all my life, but I've hardly ever fallen from that kind of a distance." And now, here he was, sitting with Keira in a booth. He'd met a few more people. Tess, another ottsel who was apparently an elf only a few weeks ago, a tall Wastelander named Sig, a few of Torn's 'pals', and a few guys who were the bar's band. Right now, he was engaged in a drinking contest between Daxter, Sig, Jak, and a reluctant Torn. The object of the game was to drink as much as you could without falling over or throwing up. So far, they'd all gone through about five bottles of beer, and Daxter had fallen over AND thrown up. Torn was starting to sway a little, and Jak and Sig had both missed their bottles at least once. But Mat kept chugging the stuff down, and nothing seemed to happen to him. Finally, Torn held up a hand after his seventh bottle, belched loudly, and fell onto the table. By the time they got to the twentieth bottle, Jak and Sig were just staring as Mat gulped down the last of his beer and said "What, giving up so soon?" It was official, Mat was the best drinker among them, and he wasn't even legal. "How did you do that?" asked Keira, Ashelin, and Tess when he got back to the bar. Mat just shrugged and said "I don't know. I just never get drunk I guess." Tess walked up to his face with a suspicious look on hers and said "Say something else." Mat shrugged and asked "Why?" Tess sniffed and said "Whoa! I smell a lot of things on your breath but none of its alcohol!" Mat smiled and lit up another cigarette. Tess frowned and said "You're a smoker too? But your teeth look perfect, and there's no nicotine on your breath!" Mat smiled and said "That's just another mystery about the way my body works, I guess." Once again, all the girls frowned and Ashelin asked "Another mystery? What else is there that you haven't told us about?" Mat smiled, leaned back and said "Tess, get some drinks for all of us. Whiskey for me, and whatever these girls want. Put it on my tab." Once Tess came back with the drinks, which she struggled with since she had to juggle three bottles in her ottsel arms, Mat took a gulp and said "Well, I first noticed it back in basic…"

(Flashback…)

"TEN-HUT!" shouted the Captain, and instantly, all the occupants in the room stood and saluted as the Colonel walked in. He was an old elf, maybe around seventy-six years old, but he looked serious all the same. "At ease," he said, in a gruff voice. All the room's occupants took a seat. The Colonel stood up at the front of the room, glaring at everyone through his spectacles. "All of you have been chosen from your home cities of Haven, Kras, and Spargus cities because you are the best of the best at your age. You're even better than some who are older than you." Pulling his pistol out, he held it up and said "Who can identify this gun by sight?" Everyone rolled their eyes, trying not to laugh. Just about everyone used that kind of pistol. "Cohen J-37, .50 caliber," they all answered, almost all at the same time. The Colonel nodded and said "I knew you would all know that." Grabbing a rifle from one of the officers, he held it up and asked "Who can identify THIS gun by sight?" Only about half of them knew it. The first one to say so was a small, 14 year old boy in the back with dirty glasses, dirty-blonde hair…and a sailor's cap. "A Harlow '96!" The Colonel nodded and gave the rifle back to the man he'd taken it from. Walking up to a door, he opened it, reached in, and pulled out a machine gun. No one knew what it was, except the same kid who'd answered first before. "A Walker '64, commonly known on the streets as a 'Gravedigger'."The Colonel, frowning, nodded, then walked back to the kid, still holding the machine gun. Standing in front of the kid, the Colonel motioned for him to stand up. Once the kid did so, the Colonel asked "How do you know that?" The kid, fearless, said "I come from Kras City. I practically act like it's a day to day basis if stray shots happen to pass me from a gang war." The Colonel nodded again and said "What's your name?" The kid threw out his chest and said "Mat Roder, sir." "Well, Mat, why don't you take this 'Gravedigger,' as you gangsters call it and try out the gun course." Turning to the rest of the boys, he said "This kid here has a passion for firearms that I expect you all to develop if you want to survive in the service of the Pinkertons. Anyone who thinks they cannot develop such a passion, leave now." No one got up. And the regiment was made.

(Present)

"Now, the weird thing was, I'd seen the pistol a lot, so that was no surprise. The rifle I'd seen and heard identified a few times before, no more than that. But the machine gun…I'd only seen it once. Yet I could remember it perfectly. Photographic memory." He took another swig of his whiskey and said "Then on the Gun Course I slaughtered the record for the first time. Would've been a big surprise if it wasn't for the fact that everyone who went in there used the same kind of machine gun I did. I hit every hostile target and ignored every friendly target. It's like I had enhanced reflexes and sight, or something. Then there came one time I was on the trail of a black market dealer in illegal racing parts. I wasn't wearing a very good bulletproof vest, and I got shot in the back. The bullet went through the vest, but for some reason didn't penetrate my skin. It's like I was bullet proof or something. Any way, then came the case in which I was hunting down Jinx for dealing in explosives. I chased him down to the sewers and he blasted me with a sentry gun. That's where I got the scar I was telling you about earlier, Keira. Anyway, I just kept running and shooting. Jinx got away, but not before I destroyed every gun in the sewers, AND filled half the place up with enough lead to make a few air trains. It was only after I got out did I realize I didn't feel any pain. I look down and the skin's already healed. Instead, there's only that scar. I went to the hospital anyway. That's why I lost half of my right lung." Mat continued to tell stories, with Tess smelling his breath every now and then to make sure he wasn't drunk. Eventually, however, the dance floor lit up, and Tess and Ashelin went off to get Jak and Daxter, who were awake now, to dance with them. It was only Keira and Mat at the bar now. A moment of silence passed between them, then, surprisingly for both of them, Keira grabbed Mat's hand and hauled him onto the dance floor. "I can't really dance," Mat had began, and Keira had responded "Don't worry, neither can I!" It actually turned out that Mat was a better dancer than he thought. After a few fast dances, they went back to the bar to get another drink and relax a bit. Mat's thoughts were reeling with what he'd just said to himself before. 'Something daring...' He lit up another cigarette, thinking. Than, an idea came to him, and excused himself briefly, rushing towards the DJ. Keira rolled her eyes and went back to her drink. Mat ran up and whispered something in the DJ's ear, then slapped some money down on the music counter. Immediately, the DJ did what Mat told him to do; turned off the music. However, the band had set up behind him, and were beginning to play a song (It's called Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, by a guy named Trace Adkins. Look it up, it's pretty good) with a good tune to it. A singer walked up onto the stage, and to everyone's surprise, it was Mat. "Alright boys," he said into the microphone. "This is her favorite song, you know that right? So if we play it good and loud, she might get up and dance again." A girl at the bar perked up at this, then put her drink down. "Ooooh, she put her drink down." The girl started walking up to the stage, and Mat received a moment of surprise when he saw who it was, but recovered and said "Aw, here she comes, here she comes." He then started bobbing his head, saying "Left, Left, Left, Right Left," and Keira stepped onto the stage and started dancing as Mat sang, through his cigarette. (If you do not want to make this story seem like a total waste of your time, look up the song. Title is above.)

Two minutes later…

The crowd in the bar clapped, cheered and whistled as Mat finished his song, discarded his cigarette butte and smiled. He had been surprised at Keira, who had busted out moves he'd never expected. 'Must be the alcohol' he thought. As the party ended and they stepped outside, everyone was laughing, except for Jak, Daxter and Torn, who were suffering from massive hangovers. Daxter was swinging an arm around, saying how he loved this "friggin', god-awful, piece-o-shit dump," and Ashelin was supporting Torn as he stumbled out the door. Keira was standing next to Mat, looking a little swayed from the alcohol. "How did you know that was my favorite song? I never told ANYONE!" "Just lucky, I guess." Mat wondered what Keira was thinking. She was so attractive, and he'd seen her checking him out. At least, he thought he had. He was in so much of a good mood right now that he was willing to take risks. He reached his hand out for Keira's…and that's when the first shot rang out, striking Mat in the chest.

(Kind of a suspenseful ending, doncha think? Write good stuff, please!)