Thanks to all my reviewers, you guys rock my socks! Lol. Any ways, here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: all I own is my handy dandy notebook and my mind, both of which are filled to the brim with insanity. So don't sue, that's all you'll get!

Mr. Brightside

Chapter 8

In too Deep

+ part I +

"So where did you train?"

Torn looked over to the asker of this question, an eyebrow raised. "Why?

"Because I want to know." Kiera responded. Her curiosity was tweaked by his mentioning of training.

"Well, it was in a temple somewhere outside the city, up north."

"What was it like? Tell me about it!"

He looked over at her curiously.

"Well, the temple was pretty small. It was in a grove in the forest, surrounded by trees for miles. There were monks there, about a dozen all together, who trained us."

He paused and looked back in front of him. Normally, he hated talking about his life to anyone. Well, normally he hated talking period. But he really didn't mind talking to her. She wasn't being nibby, but she seemed generally interested.

"Go on! What was the training like?" she prompted. She didn't know much about his past and she didn't want him to quit talking now.

"Uh, well, training was strict. We got up every morning at dawn and ran along a path in the forest."

He remembered sprinting across the rocky, mountainous terrain for miles in the crisp cool air. He'd loved the rush he got from racing with the other students, feeling the wind against his face as he ran ahead of the others. A small smile crept onto his face.

"Then we sparred with each other for a few hours. After that, the monks showed us different techniques. We learned to use, let's see," he held up his hand and counted them off, "the bo staff, halbert, bow and arrow, heavy sword, light sword, double sword, dagger, and some other stuff too. Basically everything but guns," he frowned, " we never learned those. Not there.

"Then," he continued, "we'd have to show what we learned. Every moon cycle all the monks would gather and watch the students fight each other. If you won, you'd receive another mark. If you lost, they'd take one away."

"Wait," she interrupted him, "what do you mean 'mark'? It's not something gross is it? 'Cause if it is, I don't want to know."

He laughed at the look on her face, a mix of apprehension and curiosity. "Getting a mark meant you got another section of your hair rolled. Once you got ten, your training was complete. What did you think I meant?" he teased.

"I've seen some weird documentaries about cults when I couldn't sleep, so sue me!...Wait, that means you've completed your training, right? Cool!" she grinned up at him

"Yeah, I completed it about six years ago." he said.

"How long did it take?"

"Around a year." He was tempted to tell her he held the record for finishing in the least time, but he didn't want to sound like a show off. "I would've been done sooner, but the monks said that tricking a guy into knocking himself out didn't count as a fair fight since I didn't use any weapons."

She giggled and asked, "How did you manage that?"

He smirked and said, "I'll save that story for later, we're here."

Sure enough, a large metal door blocked their way into the room that lead to the elevator, and voices could be heard on the other side.

"Shh, I think I heard something!"

"What if it's more metal heads! I'm running low on ammo!"

"I wish there was a bathroom down here!"

"The Freedom League's best and brightest," Torn mumbled to Kiera, rolling his eyes. She laughed at his obvious annoyance. He walked up and knocked on the door.

One of the men screamed like a little girl.

"W-who's there?" one asked in a shaky voice.

"It's a big, bad metal head here to rip you all to shreds," he said monotonously. Then his tone got sharp and commanding. "It's Torn you morons! Who do you think it is?"

The door flew open and about nine guys stood up and saluted him.

"Sir, we're glad you're here, sir! The elevator is broke and we don't know how to fix it, sir!"

"At ease men. We're here to fix it and then we all can get out of here," Torn told his men.

"Wait, 'we're' here? Who's–"

"Hi boys! Don't worry, I'll have this baby up and running in no time," Kiera said smiling around her.

All the soldiers suddenly stood up straighter and smoothed their hair down. Kiera found this too funny, and had to hold in her laughter. Instead she continued to smile until she heard a voice she dreaded from over in the corner.

"Well, if it isn't the cute little mechanic ol' Jaky boy's got the hots for," said Jinx, smoking on one of his putrid cigars, "How's it going, baby? You look," he glanced down at her still damp chest, "perky."

Before she could throw the tool box she was carrying at his big, stupid head, Torn sent a glare Jinx's way and said, "Jinx, just for today, can you not be yourself? Just this once."

"Just teasing, Torn, no need to get angry. Want her all for yourself, ehh?"

This time it was Torn who was interrupted by Kiera, who, instead of throwing the whole tool box, settled for chucking a small screwdriver at him. It hit him square on the nose.

Jinx yelped and grabbed his nose, mumbling under his breath about 'green haired chicks and their tempers.' A few of the soldiers laughed and Torn was smirking as Kiera went into the elevator to get started.

She hadn't been surprised by Jinx's advance; he'd always been an ass. He'd come in to 'get his zoomer tuned up' and stare at her boobs the whole time. She'd given him a black eye one time when he'd grabbed her butt as she bent down to remove a faulty plug. 'He never learns.'

/T/

Torn would've killed Jinx, but Kiera's method worked too. He'd had to fight a blush off his face when he'd made that one comment; thankfully, no one noticed. Besides, if the jerk tried something again, his men needed a new moving object for target practice since the ottsel sign had got totaled.

The pyrotechnitian was currently sitting over in the corner, watching Kiera fix the elevator with his beady little eyes. Torn was scowling at him, daring him to try anything. Jinx licked his lips when she bent over to grab something from her tool box, undressing her with his eyes. Torn's hand casually went to his knife and he began to examine its deadly sharp blade.

Jinx glanced over and saw this. Their eyes met and Torn raised his eyebrow as if to say, 'go ahead, try something. You'll regret it.' After this exchange, Jinx went back to staring at his boots.

/N/

The problem with the elevator was simple to fix and only took about fifteen minutes to figure out. Kiera pushed her bangs out of her eyes and gave a satisfied smile.

"Okay boys, it should be up and running now," she said as she walked back out into the room, wiping her hands on an old rag.

Some of the men cheered; one even shed a tear. Everyone climbed onto the platform and the doors shut automatically. The ride up was smooth, owing to Kiera's great mechanics skills. When they reached the top, all the guys thanked her and began to leave. Jinx was headed her way. Damn.

"Nice work girly," was all he said before he turned away from her. Thinking he'd finally learned, she was about to walk away when he disproved her theory by grabbing her butt and squeezing it.

She was about to take a monkey wrench to his skull, when a long, extremely sharp dagger was held at his throat. Torn looked absolutely livid.

"Look, you freakin' bastard, she's not interested, okay! Don't you dare touch her again! If you do, I'll not hesitate to beat your scrawny ass to a bloody pulp and then throw it into prison for the rest of your sorry existence! Do I make myself clear!"

Jinx looked utterly terrified. The cool metal of Torn's blade was pressed so tightly to his neck, if he even talked he'd slit his own throat. He was shaking, as were some of the soldiers; they'd never seen their commander lose it like this before and it scared them.

Kiera's feelings were mixed. Yeah, it was pretty scary to see Torn get that angry, but in a way, she was flattered. He was threatening a guy in her honor, it was sort of a messed up kind of sweet. But she couldn't let him actually kill the jerk; he'd have to arrest himself if he did.

"Torn, let him go. I doubt he'll try it again," she said, putting a slender hand on his shoulder, "will he?" she asked as he let Jinx go.

Jinx shook his head and ran towards his parked zoomer, now afraid to even look at her.

She turned back to Torn.

"Thanks Torn, it was really nice of you to do that for me. He'll finally leave me alone now!" she said with a smile at him.

"No problem, he deserved it," Torn replied, a light flush coming to his cheeks from the praise.

"Yo, Kiera, Torn, over here!"

Both looked over to find Tess, Daxter, Sig, Jak and Ashelin walking towards them. Kiera realized her hand was still on his shoulder and quickly removed it.

As they got closer, the group noticed some odd things, which Daxter was quick to point out.

"Why are you both wet? And Torn, where is you shirt?" He was grinning that way again, he was up to something.

Oddly enough, it was Sig who answered.

"They had to jump into a hot spring in order to get to the sewers, that's why they're wet," he told the others. Torn and Kiera nodded in agreement. Then his face took on a mischievous grin, " But that doesn't explain why your shirt's missing in action Dr. Dreads."

'I hate you Mar.'

"Well, it was, uhh, really hot down there, so I, um, got rid of it," Torn told them, forcing himself not to blush in front of the guys. He could fee three pairs of female eyes scoping him out.

"A likely story," Daxter countered, still grinning like the idiot he was, "If you ask me you were 'getting breakfast' again."

Sig and Daxter both laughed, while Ashelin and Jak looked surly. Kiera and Torn just rolled their eyes, fighting the twin blushes trying to surface.

Ashelin was glaring a hole through Kiera's head and it was making her mad. She'd stole her boyfriend, not the other way around. She should be the one trying to kill her with a dirty look. She could go to hell! Just to piss her off some more, Kiera took a step closer to Torn. Ashelin's hand rested on her pistol. 'Pay backs a bitch, huh?' Kiera thought.

+ part II +

(Earlier that afternoon)

Jak was pacing around HQ, glaring at everything that dared be in his presence at that moment. He was angry: at Ashelin, at Torn, at the bright sunlight giving him a headache, and most of all, he was angry at himself.

When he'd walked away from the battle with the Dark Makers unhurt and alive, he'd been so pumped with adrenaline...and Ashelin had been there and had tempted him for months... he just kissed her. He'd known it was wrong, but he hadn't cared at the time.

Then everyone had gone back to the Naughty Ottsel for a party, congratulating him and egging him on. It got even worse when he got piss drunk. His mind had been so fuzzy, he couldn't tell one person from the next. So he danced with the governess, both intoxicated out of their minds.

He didn't realize the full extent of what he'd done until he woke up the next morning to find Ashelin curled up next to him in his bed. Oh Mar, what had he done? Kiera...shit! She'd never forgive him now! His head was pounding from all he'd drank the night before, so he did the worst possible thing he could do to help his situation: he drank some more.

That's why when Kiera had walked in with Torn, he'd got so mad. He let Daxter's comments get to him and as a result, lashed out and acted like a total ass to her. He'd had no right to be jealous, especially of something that hadn't even happened. He knew she'd never do something like that just to hurt him. 'I'd deserve it if she did, though,' he thought to himself as he and the others walked to where she, Torn, and the others would be coming out.

'I need to find some way to apologize. Maybe then she'll take me back.'

One major problem came to mind, however: Ashelin. She was way more into him than he was into her. She wouldn't let him go that easily.

'I'll deal with her later. First, I need Kiera to forgive me.'

will Kiera ever forgive him? Will Ashelin ever stop being so bitchy? Will the authoress ever get asked to the friggin' Snowball! Ahem, sorry. R&R please.

Heads up: this story's coming to a close folks, but have no fear, there's going to be a sequel! More later on that if you review.