Chapter 4
Jakie sat on the couch in the safe house, watching Leon as he paced back and forth across the room in deep thought. She wanted to say something, anything to him, even if it was something complimenting the weather, but she couldn't think of anything. So, she just watched. Finally, he stopped.
"Jakie, is your heart giving you problems?" he asked out of the blue. She raised an eyebrow.
"No, why?"
"Dawn told me you were exceptionally tired earlier."
"Well, yeah, I was. I'm not sure why, but-"
"Jakie, please, for Mar's sake, don't overwork yourself like that again," Leon said sternly. Jakie stared at him blankly. Was that a flicker of emotion in his eyes she just saw?
"You know…" she began, "you worry about me too much, Leon." He scoffed.
"We grew up together. Of course I worry about you." Jakie continued to gape at him like a fish. If she knew one thing, Leon was not one to admit something like that openly. Especially with Truth and Dawn in the room.
"Leon… is something… amiss?" she questioned. He hesitated, but shook his head.
"Nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Well… if you say so." She sighed and let her head fall back and closed her eyes, trying to relax a little. But before she could, Leon spoke again.
"All right, Now that we know where Jak is, we can get started with Operation: Underground," he stated. Truth and Dawn looked up as he sat next to Jakie, and then joined them.
"I take it you have something figured out now," Jakie said, looking at her fingernails carelessly. Leon smirked.
"Good, then let's have it!" Dawn urged.
"Well, first, we need to keep an eye on the Hideout. Dawn, that's your job. Stay in that area and call us up when Torn and Tess step outside. While she's doing that, Jakie, mug a Krimson guard and steal his uniform. From there, you can spread a few vicious rumors about Krew around the KG. With any luck, the Baron will hear some of them and start sending goons in to question him. No doubt that will get the Undergrounds attention and should help things along and get Tess to spying on him a little quicker. When that finally happens, I'll take to the rooftops near the fortress and keep an eye on Jak. Dawn, you sneak into the hideout and grab a map of the entire city, then get out of there. If you need more time, I'll try to distract Jak to gain a few extra minutes and if needed, Jakie, you try to keep Torn and Tess out there as long as you can."
"What about me?" Truth asked.
"You get to stay and guard this place," Jakie answered, messing up his hair in an affectionate sisterly way. Truth pushed her hand away.
"Cut it out, sis," he said, trying not to laugh.
"Well, we all know what to do."
"Hey, what are you going to do the whole time we're out there, Leon?" Dawn demanded.
"Keeping an eye on things so nothing unexpected comes up," he answered. "Now, let's hurry and get things going."
Jakie's POV
Once we got outside, I hugged my little brother and hopped on the zoomer behind Leon. Dawn climbed up on my shoulder.
"Ready?" Leon asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be," I answered. Truth waved and Leon hit the gas. I clung tightly to his waist as we accelerated through the Water slums and finally onto dry land. I felt Dawn clinging to my shoulder as well. I thought about telling Leon to slow down a little, but I changed my mind. There was really no point to it… I mean, I love speed, we have somewhere to get to, fast, and I'm feeling fine.
Argh…. My heart is always getting in the way. It's a stupid condition that I was born with. I'm not really sure what the cause is, but apparently, my heart isn't strong enough to beat on it's own. That's why I have to take medication to help it out. When I was little, they were all the time telling me I had to try extra hard to strengthen my heart, but I had to be careful not to overwork it or else it would give out. Of course, me being who I was at the time, I was always out playing hard with the other kids in Spargus, wearing myself out to the point where I thought I would faint from the stress of it all. A couple times I did faint and I ended up in the hospital. Mom and Dad were always scolding me afterwards, saying I was way too reckless and that I should be more careful. I never listened, of course, and I was right back outside only days later.
That was back when I had to take two pills a day: one in the morning and one at night. Now I'm down to one a day, and sometimes I don't need it at all, even though Leon makes my take it anyway. I'm getting stronger. I think. But anyway, back to our present situation.
Here we are, zooming around Haven City, about to pull off "Operation: Where the Hell Are We?" That's what I call it, anyway. You know, I'm starting to think that going back to find out what happened to our parents wasn't such a great idea after all… well, it's too late now. Just have to go with it, I guess. The zoomer stopped suddenly. If Leon hadn't been in front of me, I probably would've flown off headfirst. Dawn however, did fly off and landed on the pavement. I choked back a few giggled and looked at Leon.
"This is as close to the hideout as I dare go for now," he explained, "from here on out, it's all you." I watched Dawn pick herself up off the ground, glaring at Leon the whole time.
"Right. Leave it to me," she mumbled.
"And remember," I added, "Call us up when they're outside."
"I know I know."
"Good luck, partner." Leon hit the gas again and we left Dawn by the hideout. My turn next. I grinned as I thought about my roll in this thing. I get to mug someone! And then I get to start rumors! Oh yeah! I couldn't wait. I wonder what kind of things I should say… Hmmmm… maybe Krew has some kind of weapon that could take out the Baron? Or maybe he has a secret stock of eco? Oh, I'm good. This was going to be fun.
Kiri: Well? any good? I'm thinking about changing it back to Jackie's POV or something... what do you all think?