Darker by the Day

By JakandTornSweetheart

Disclaimer: We the racers hereby agree to give JATS all rights for…. Just kidding. v


Chapter 7

What a Day

What a day! Blowing the hell outta the Ammo Dump, racing past Krimzon Guards, killing Metal Heads, and to top it all off, he had a gun. A cool new gun to blow away as many things as he had shells for.

And he was good with it too. He had the top score on the Scatter Gun course and put his practice to use by expertly protecting Sig on their Metal Head hunt. Metal Heads were new to him, but they weren't much different than lurkers; only bigger and uglier. The good part was that he had found a vent for his ever-building rage.

He grinned darkly to himself. Praxis was going to realize that payback was a bitch… and he was only getting started.

Jak hadn't been this excited since… well, he couldn't remember ever being this exhilarated in his life.

Daxter, on the other hand, saw things differently. Since teaming up with Jak again, he had been sucked down a pipe, blown out of a building, and taken a nasty fall down a very uncomfortable tension cable. He still cringed if he moved wrong.

Being Jak's friend sucked…

But he was glad to have his best friend back. He tried to ignore the drastic changes in him, though Jak didn't seem to mind having strange powers. He sure used them often enough. Daxter didn't mind Jak being able to destroy a swarm of Metal Heads with one slam of his fist, but he was worried that he might lose his friend again if this dark power stuff got too out of hand.

In mid thought, Daxter's stomach unceremoniously let out a loud growl. Jak looked over his shoulder at him. For a while, they just looked at each other. Then they both burst out laughing.

And for the first time in a long time, Daxter felt relief. It was good to hear Jak laugh again.

"Whaddya say we find some food before heading back to the Hip Hog, eh Dax?"

He started walking again before his friend could answer. Suddenly, he felt something strange on his left shoulder.

"Dax?"

Daxter answered him with a slack-jawed sound.

"Stop drooling on me."


What a day…

Keira had almost said it aloud. After a few measly hours of sleep, she had dragged herself away from her work desk in the Underground's secret weapon-making room to go to work at the garage.

She spent her first few hours there fixing a few dozen racers and zoomers, which was supposed to be her work for the whole day. But being the extraordinary mechanic she was, she finished before lunch and spent the rest of the day alternating between napping and working on her replication of the Rift Rider.

The machine was almost done. For the last two years, she had managed countless favors for the scrap yard manager in exchange for parts to build it. Now that the structure was done, she worked on the mechanics of it.

She had never been so glad that she had taken the whole thing apart and put it back together again in Sandover. It had taken weeks, but she never forgot anything about machinery, and this was no exception. Tomorrow she would have to visit the bookkeeper in order to study some of the Precursor artifacts she needed to run it. Those few pieces were the only things missing. And if she couldn't find them… she'd never be able to see her home again.

And all that was would be for nothing if she couldn't find a Rift Ring.

If only she could find her father – her real father – and Jak and Daxter.

But if she had to, she'd go back alone.

On top of her troubles with the Rift Rider, Erol had made his first appearance today.

She tried to act normal. She thought for sure that he'd recognize her. She thought she'd be arrested again and stuck in a cell waiting to be tortured.

Instead, he had thrown line after line her way, using his position with the Guard and his championship status to try to impress her. He had flirted with her!

When she took this mission, she thought for sure that she would have to come up with some sort of ingenious plan to pry information from him. Now she realized all she had to do was bat her eyelashes and stroke his ego – and only his ego – to get what she needed.

Unfortunately, it was still going to be a slow process. None of the things he said today were useful at all, because they mostly concerned her breasts and her ass. The commander of the Krimzon Guard knew nothing of tact or flattery.

Her night wasn't starting out so well either. Going back to her old house in Dead Town on the anniversary of the attack seemed to get harder every year instead of easier. What she needed now was to vent on the Gun Course. The new shells she had been making could wait.

Keira found herself back where she started; back at the Gun Course.

Tess waited until the door slid shut behind Keira before making her appearance from behind the shelved structure that hid the path to the Underground's weapons room. The grin on her face made Keira wonder what had happened.

"Keir, you have seen him!"

"Seen who?"

"This new guy. I heard from Torn that he'd probably be coming by the Gun Course today to try out his gun. He asked me to watch him to see if he was any good. Boy, was he ever!"

Keira gave Tess the best smile she could manage and brushed past her to sit at her work table. It was especially nice to have Tess' bubbly personality around on a day like today. In some small way, Tess lifted her spirits a little.

Tess' specialty with weapons was making mechanical modifications so that they worked more efficiently. Keira's job was to make better shells and abilities for the guns since she had a talent for manipulating eco. She had come up with four so far – one for each kind of eco except health eco – but more types were needed.

Keira guessed she had caught Tess in the middle of a modification since the gun on the table was more apart than it was together. Still was still going on and on about the new recruit for the Underground.

"He's tall… taller than you even, and you're nearly taller than Ashelin. And he has this gorgeous long, blond hair. His shoulders are so broad, and his legs… he's so quick! Oh, and his face. He's so cute. He has the deepest most dreamy blue blue eyes you've ever seen!" Tess went on.

Hearing her talk about him made her think of Jak. No one's eyes were a deeper blue than Jak's. But today was definitely not a day to be thinking about Jak. She was trouble enough as is.

"Yes, well, how was his shooting?" Keira asked passively.

Tess nearly sighed in exasperation. Her tone turned more serious. "You never were one for girl talk." Leaning over her friend, Tess pushed a button on the panel in front of Keira. "See for yourself."

Keira was nearly slack-jawed as the record board appeared in front of her. "He beat my record? That's…"

"Impossible? Not for this guy," Tess said, the girlish tone gone from her voice. "He has the reflexes of a cat. He handles a gun like he's been shooting his whole life. It's not just that. Watching him wasn't just pleasing to the eye. The way he moved… I can tell he's going to give the people a lot of hope. He's reckless, but I can tell…. He's a hero."

That really did sound like Jak. But this new guy could talk, and she had never known Jak to say a word in his life.

She supposed she wouldn't know until she saw him. She supposed she shouldn't get her hopes up anyway.

"Anyway, I guess I better go. Torn says he's got a new undercover mission for me. See ya, Keir!"

"Yeah… see ya."

What if he really is Jak?

Her communicator crackled to life. "Keira. I need you to do something." It was Torn.

"Yeah, Torn. What is it, and how far do I have to go to do it?" She really didn't feel like driving around Haven all night for a simple errand.

"Just around the corner. I need you to pay Krew to find a racer for your racing team."

"But I don't have a racing team," she protested. "I only just started the garage job."

"Well now you have a team. No doubt Krew'll give the job to the rookie. Then we'll have two people on the inside, and you'll be able to give him missions under the guise of a racing and his manager."

"I think I understand now. Wait, so what am I doing on the night shift? I thought I was giving missions to the new guy?"

"Change of plans. We're getting more missions than we have men for. I need you on the ball come sunset, so get as much rest as you can during the day without getting caught. Your main job is to get info out of Erol any way you can."

She cringed at knowing how she would have to do it. Her disgust nearly distracted her from what he was trying to tell her.

"Wait… you're putting me on missions? Real missions?"

Torn hesitated. He wanted to tell her that what she had been doing was important and they were real missions, but knew she wouldn't listen. He hadn't expected things to get this hectic this fast, and he saw no way to keep Keira out of it. They seriously needed her sharp-shooting skills.

"Yes, Keira."

For the first time that day, Keira smiled. A real smile. A victorious smile. Finally her bad day was looking up.

"Thank you, Torn."

"Whatever." He turned off the communicator.

Looking down at the Morph Gun, she sighed both pleasantly and wearily.

What a day…


As Torn broke communication with Keira, Jak entered the hideout. He stretched his arms over his head as he descended the stairs, relaxed and stuffed full of Yakow steaks. "You wanted to see me?" he asked.

"Yeah. I've got some news for you. Your recklessness around the Guard is drawing them closer to the location of the Hideout. So you need to stay away from the Slums for a while. Unless I need to give you missions personally, you'll be given orders from someone else."

"Someone else?" Jak asked warily. "Who?"

"She's our best spy, and your new boss. So deal with it."

"She? Our new boss is a girl?"

Torn smirked. "She's not just any girl. You got a problem with that?"

Daxter jumped off of Jak's shoulder and onto the table in front of Torn. "Hey! Tattooed wonder! How come you're giving us all the crappy missions and handing us over to some chick?" He almost asked if she was hot, but Torn poked him in the stomach with his finger.

"Because… I… Don't… Like… You."

Torn had gotten so in his face that he ungracefully fell to the floor. "Uh… fair enough."

"Don't give her any trouble. Just do what she says when she says to do it."

"Or we'll have you to answer to?" Jak smarted.

"Or she'll kick your ass herself. She doesn't tolerate lip from anyone. I wouldn't get on her bad side if I were you."

Jak didn't like it, but he suppose arguing would do him no good. His good day seemed to be getting worse and worse. "Fine. But if she runs us into trouble, you're the one who's going to get an ass-kicking."

"Hmph. If you get into trouble, it'll be your own damn fault. I just received some intel that one of the Baron's mining operations is under attack by the Metal Heads."

Jak scoffed. "That's not our problem."

Torn wanted to growl. If this guy wasn't so good at what he did, he'd be a serious problem. "It is our problem when the foreman's one of the Underground's best informants. His name is Vin and he's just valuable enough to save. Get to the Power Station in the Industrial sector. Use the warp gate to travel to the Strip Mine so you can rescue Vin's pathetic hide."

As Daxter hopped onto his shoulder, Jak turned and left. He wasn't going to like this one bit.

As he heard the door slide shut, Torn leaned his elbows on the table and rubbed his throbbing temples.

What a day…


Congratulate me people, because I've just set a new record! For the first time ever, I'm updating after only four days! And really, it's all thanks to your encouragement. I'd still write if you guys didn't review, but I wouldn't enjoy it as much. You guys keep me going! So keep those reviews coming, and maybe my next update will be just as soon!

In the next chapter, Jak and Keira are finally reunited. Don't miss it! – JATS

Since the previous chapter has only been up four days, I don't have many reviewers to thank.

So, an EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS goes to my early reviewers!

Angel0four

Mecca-dog

Xazz