Darker by the Day

By JakandTornSweetheart

Disclaimer: Slow down Jak and the fat man! I don't own anything!


Chapter 9

The Palace Mission

Her heart slammed hard against her chest. And it wasn't just because she was hundreds of feet in the air swinging from a skinny pole.

She had found her friends. She had found Jak.

Not only was she elated by their reunion, but it also gave her hope for finding her father. If they had all crashed in the same place, and if he had survived, maybe she could find him too.

As she landed on the platform ahead of her, Jak steadied her in his arms. She flashed him a small smile before surveying the next obstacle from the higher platform.

Surely she was dizzy because of the extreme heights. Surely that was it. It definitely wasn't because Jak touched her occasionally with the slightest of touches.

No, that was definitely not it.

Planting her feet, Keira leaned slightly over the edge to confirm the side landings were there. She nearly sighed with frustration.

Getting to the Palace was indeed hell.

As Jak came up behind her, she stood surveying the area ahead with her hands on her hips. "It's gonna be a delayed jump. With the turning platform and the electric floor beyond it, our best hope is to time the jump just right and land on that side platform. The difficult part is not over jumping it."

Jak nodded his head. "Alright. Let's go, Dax!"

"Hold on a minute! I'm the one who's gonna go first." She cracked all her knuckles at once. "I'm more agile than you, so I'll show you how it's done." With a smug grin, she took a moment to get the timing right and got a running start for the rotating platform.

In what seemed to be one fluid motion, Keira landed on the smooth surface of the rotating platform then angled her frontward flip toward the landing below. Her landing was perfect, and she did a flourish with her arms like a gymnast after she landed.

"Show off," he muttered before leaping onto one platform then turning to leap down to her. He landed hard, but steady all the same.

Keira rolled her eyes. "You have no grace. No finesse at all." Securing her gun strap across her shoulder again, she leapt to the higher platform to their left. Her fingerless gloves allowed her an easy grip and she quickly pulled back up.

Then, she froze.

Something in the distance whirred to life, and she was immediately dodging a barrage of bullets. As she jumped back to the lower platform, she ordered them to get down and out of the bullet spray's path.

Keira lay as flat as possible against the cold steel, her arms attempting to protect her head. It took her a moment to realize that everything had gone silent again. Tentatively, she looked up to see the turrets had stopped. Rising to one knee, she analyzed the platform.

"What the hell, Keira!" she heard Jak yell, but his voice was far off to her. Her mind was focused on the obstacle ahead.

"It's on some sort of pressure sensor." Then as if he had never yelled at her in the first place, she turned to him and said, "I'm going to climb along the bottom to disable the automatic sensors. Worse case scenario, even if I fall, you can at least get to the Palace safely."

Jak looked at her with the most severe expression he could manage. "I won't let you do that. We could shoot the pressure sensors. At the very least, we can jump over the line of fire!"

Keira stared back at him with the same severe expression. "We can't risk any of us getting shot. You know that! Those things," she said, gesturing toward the death machines in question, "produce a constant rotation of defense. Besides that, we need to think ahead. The malfunction needs to appear unsuspicious so that it'll take at least few days to make repairs. What if we need to sneak into the Palace again? The races aren't until next week! And that's assuming that you can win the championship."

Jak didn't like it one bit. He had just found Keira, and he wasn't about to let her go hanging hundreds of feet in the air just because of some stupid turrets. By the time she carefully climbed up to the turrets and did whatever she thought she was going to do, she'd be out of strength. Most likely, she'd fall. This wasn't worth killing herself over…

Daxter shifted on his shoulder, and Jak sent a small – albeit evil – smile his way. Daxter was being uncharacteristically quiet. "Let Daxter do it."

Daxter flinched. "Oh, no you don't! Don't count on me to dangle myself sky high above the ground to get to the stupid Palace… where we'll probably be killed anyway! I say we go back."

Jak and Keira glared at him.

"What? What'd I say?"

Keira scoffed. "It doesn't matter. Daxter doesn't know the mechanics. I'm the only one who can do this and not electrocute themselves."

"Keira…"

"It has to be me. I'm not the same little girl, Jak. I'm different." For a moment, she stared at her two friends. Friends she had grown up with. Friends she had shared more with than anyone could understand. "We're all different."

In one smooth movement, she slipped her morph gun strap off her shoulder and over her head. "Hold on to this for me. I won't need it."

Quietly, he took it and watched her rummage through a pack strapped to her belt. She felt the wrench, screwdriver, and wire cutters she needed and snapped the pack closed again. As an afterthought, she smiled. "Don't worry. I probably won't fall. I've got more tricks up my sleeve than I used to."

She said it to reassure them, but she couldn't guarantee there was much truth to it.

"I'll say!" Daxter chimed in, referring more to her rounder curves than to her improved skills.

Keira, who usually was irritated by his lewd remarks and shamelessness, gave him a playful wink before jumping to grab the edge of the platform ahead once again.

Jak stared after her. She really had changed.

Daxter shifted on his shoulder and leaned in such a way that his little orange elbow propped against the top of his friend's head. "Don't worry, Jak," he said. "If anybody can pull this off, it's Keira."

"She had better," Jak grumbled back.

Keira climbed along the underside of the platform in the quickest way she knew how to. The one time she could really make use of a harness, she didn't have one.

In what seemed like an eternity, she finally made it to the end of the multi-level platform. Bracing herself with her legs, she freed her hands and reached into her tool pack behind her. She was especially careful to factor in gravity and not drop any of her precious tools. There was so little light that she was glad for the small flashlight she had packed.

Above her head were the rotating turrets, and right before her eyes was the plate she needed to remove to disable them. With the right tools in deft hands and the flashlight in her mouth, she easily released the bolts and removed the panel. In a manner of seconds, she had yanked and snipped at an arrangement of wires that she hoped would disable the deadly guns for a few days.

With the panel still balancing in her bare stomach, she removed the flashlight from her mouth and called, "Try it now!"

She heard the heavy footsteps gain speed on the platform without the interference of bullet spray. But before she could celebrate, a strong gust of wind caught her sideways. Her legs, already weakened from the strain of supporting most of her body weight for so long a time, buckled under the added pressure and her footing failed her.

With quick reflexes, her arms swung out for something to grab, tools and the balancing panel forgotten. Her grip caught a metal support of some kind, but it too failed her.

Keira was falling. Her heart, her stomach, everything rose in her throat as inertia disoriented her senses. She couldn't scream. She couldn't do anything.

Then just as suddenly as she started to fall she stopped again. Still disoriented, she looked at the ground and noticed that it wasn't coming any closer. It was still as far away as when she started to fall.

She felt Jak squeeze her hand. "Keira! Are you okay?"

Her eyes left the ground and moved upward to loook at Jak. He held her by the hand, his other gripping fiercely at the platform's ledge. Slowly, he pulled her up until she could grab onto his waist.

As her grasp moved upward to his shoulders, his free arm snaked around her waist. His faced inched toward hers, and as she noticed, her eyes grew large. But his lips moved past her cheek and moved back to her ear.

In a low voice that was full of confidence and something else she didn't quite recognize, he said, "I need you… to hold on to me so I can pull us both up."

At that, she frowned. Her face moved away from his, and if they had been on solid ground, she would have pushed him away from her.

Keira Hagai needed no one to rescue her like a damsel in distress. She may have been in momentary distress, but she'd be damned if she was ever anything that resembled a damsel.

"I'll pull myself up, thank you," she said. Roughly, she pushed against his shoulders, and with a foot against his hip, pushed herself up to grab onto the edge of the platform. Then, with as much dignity as she could muster, she pulled herself up and over the edge.

As Jak stood, she held out her hand. "I would like my gun back now."

Without so much as another word, Jak returned Keira's gun. She slung the strap over her head and jumped over the disabled turrets and to the scaffolds along the Palace wall.

As they set foot outside the throne room, Keira halted their steps with a wave of her arm. She motioned for complete silence and kept low as she approached the glass ceiling. As her head peaked over the glass, a sudden 'plink' broke the silence. Followed by another. And another. Soon, a downpour showered them and made the image below wavy with small streams of water.

Great… just what they didn't need. Rain.

Keira wondered what she had done to make the Precursors hate her so much.

She looked sideways at Jak, Daxter peering over his shoulder at the scene below.

Well… perhaps the Precursors didn't hate her as much as she thought.

Keira's attention was brought back to the conversation below at the mention of a familiar name. "Move forward with the plan! Tell Ashelin to up her patrols. I want that tomb found!" Praxis ordered.

"But your daughter has not been... agreeable," Erol argued easily.

"Ashelin is the Baron's daughter?"

The surprise in Jak's voice directed her attention back to him. With surprise of her own she asked, "You know Ashelin?"

"Oh, yeah!" Daxter piped up, only two have his two friends shush him. "Gorgeous, red hair, sassy attitude, huge… ah, guns," he said more quietly.

Keira looked at Jak, but he was looking everywhere but at her. She hated to admit it, but she couldn't help but be a little jealous.

"If you spent as much time looking for the little brat as you spend flirting with that mechanic girl we would have pinned his royal ass to the wall long ago!"

Her eyes widened. Where the hell had that come from? Why had he said that of all things?

Their roles completely reversed. As Keira avoided Jak's gaze, jealously raged within him. He might have yelled at her – the Baron be damned – if Daxter hadn't made a strange sound.

The little ottsel was taking short gasps of air, and his eyes were half lidded. No doubt, he was going to sneeze. He was going to blow their cover. With just the three of them, they would have their asses handed to them.

"Don't you dare," Keira said in a low tone, having the exact same thoughts as Jak.

They both relaxed as Daxter returned to normal. But a second later, the sneeze returned full force and Jak was too late to muffle it with his hand.

Their cover was blown. The only thing they could do was flatten themselves against the metal structure of the roof and hope to the powers that be that they weren't discovered.

All three of them held their breath and strained their ears for sounds below that would tell them they were either safe or doomed to hell.

As they heard the doors to the throne room open and close again, it appeared that they were safe. Each breathed a sigh of relief.

Jak and Keira glared at Daxter, who released himself from Jak's grip and brushed himself off. "Ah… my bad. But relax. We didn't get caught or nothin'. No harm, no foul, right amigos? …. Right?"

Keira eventually let her glare fade, and sighed in defeat. "I guess you're right. Come on, you two. We need to find a way out of here before we find trouble."

But as luck would have it, they hadn't taken ten steps from where they had stood when trouble found them. Trouble in the form of Baron Praxis.

It figured. If getting to the Palace was hell, leaving was going to be worse hell.

"So, we have a rat in the walls, do we? A rat and his boy, it seems. Back for a few more Dark Eco treatments? And look… you brought your girlfriend along too. How nice. Well, allow me to put you all out of your misery!"

"Move!" Keira barked, and they rolled out of the line of fire as quickly as they could. They both came up on one knee and drew their weapons in a flash.

With a quick nod to each other, a silent plan was formed. As Jak laid cover fire, Keira moved against one of the columns at the ledge. Adrenaline rushed through her and went into overdrive as she knew it was almost her turn to attack. But as she peeked around the column to affirm the Baron's position, a rogue bullet nearly hit her face.

"Damn it, Jak! Don't hit the glass! The bullets ricochet." As she pressed her back to the column and prepared herself again, a blue hue caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Their escape was blocked by an electric security gate. Even if they somehow defeated the Baron or got away from him, there was no way out. The guards would be coming soon. They had to do something fast.

If only they could break through the gate…. Then it hit her. Of course! "Jak! Aim for the guns! If we can push him back, we might have a way out of here." It was brilliant. They could use the Baron and his hunk of junk to break through his own defense.

She looked at Jak, who was releasing a rather random spray of bullets toward the Baron. She could see his ammo cartridge from where she was. He'd be out soon. Changing strategies, she checked her own cartridge. Luckily, she'd be ready to take over while he went for the spare crates of ammo in the corner.

So it had been the Baron who had intercepted their shipment of ammo, probably in attempts to either copy or make a defense for her Morph Gun. For him to just leave the ammunition lying around sure was stupid on his part. But it was his loss and their gain.

In a rather wry thought, she wondered if she should send him a Thank You card.

Jak's gun made a whirring sound that signaled he was out of bullets. Keira jumped into action, but the Baron moved before she could fire a single round. His octopus-like machine hovered over the gate and gained a blue hue. He was charging it using the electricity in the gate!

"Keira!" she heard Jak yell from across the way. He was holding up a full cartridge of ammo.

A shifting sound from the large machine diverted her attention.

"Don't need it!" she called as she fired with amazing precision at the Baron's guns even as he moved through the air to take his position. Before he could return fire, Keira had already disabled one gun. She took cover behind the pillar again to avoid the barrage of fire, then worked at disabling the other gun as he changed positions again.

The battle was long and slow-moving, but Keira and Jak, and even Daxter at times, were managing. After the guns, they had had to dodge a shower of heat-seeking missiles, and now they were avoiding some sort of spinning fiery attacks. These attacks were faster, and it was a bitch trying to avoid them and fire at the Baron at the same time.

The incessant rain and the darkness didn't make it any easier.

The shallow wound in her right shoulder and the bits of graphite debris lodged in her left leg weren't much help either. And she was pretty sure that her forearms were singed from those aggravating spiral attacks. But Jak, having more serious wounds, needed the health pack they had found worse that she did.

She would fight through the pain, and they would defeat the Baron. They had to.

And with a strategy where Jak and Keira fired simultaneously until the last possible moment, avoided the fire attacks and the Baron's charges, then started the process all over again, they finally damaged his machine enough that it came to pieces.

Unfortunately, it didn't come apart in too many pieces, for the Baron's pod was still intact, allowing for his escape.

"The dark powers I gave you can't protect you forever! Since I made you, I can destroy you!" His attention shifted to Keira. "And you! I don't know who you are, but you will be found eventually. And when you are, you'll die a slow and very painful death. We'll meet again soon!"

As the Baron flew off in his puttering contraption, they all stood watching from the steep ledge overlooking the city. Daxter scoffed and waved his hand in the direction the Baron had fled. "Yeah... whatever. Bye bye!"

Keira wanted to cry with relief – and pain. It was over… for the time being. "Come on. I expected the guard to be here by now. But just because they aren't here now doesn't mean they're not coming."

"Here," Jak said, offering his hand to help her to the higher level. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I've had worse… believe me." But even as she said it, she limped on her hurt leg and cradled her right arm. She tried not to lean on him as the elevator rushed downward.

As the door opened, revealing a short hallway and a large entry room, she drew her laser pistol from its place at her hip. Carefully, she moved ahead of her friends to make sure the room was clear. Wary, but satisfied they were alone, she holstered her weapon.

"It looks like we're alone. Let's go," she said.

Jak gently picked Daxter up by the scruff of his neck and set him on the ground, letting him walk on his own. At his friend's confused look, he gave Dax a sly wink. And without words, Daxter understood.

The door to Haven City opened and Daxter leapt out first. Keira stepped out next, but a careful hand on her good arm pulled her back inside.

Before she could blink, her back was pressed against the wall and his arms wrapped around her. For one intense moment, they just stared at each other. And then the next, his lips descended onto hers.

Too tired and beyond elated, Keira relaxed her weight into his arms. One wrapped around her waist and pulled her close and the other cradled her head while his thumb sweetly stroked her cheek.

She was wounded, dirty, sweaty, and most likely in horrible disarray, but Jak was holding her, kissing her. It was nice to be kissed again. Kissed with feeling.

There was something charming about the way he kissed her. It wasn't a sweet kiss. It was eager, but not sloppy, like a hungry man but one who knew what he was doing.

She had kissed several other men in the last two years. And all of them had been business. It had been her job.

But this… this made her toes curl and her heart turn with unabated emotion. This made her kiss back with an eagerness equal to his. She held on to the back of his neck with her good arm. It was awkward, but it was good. So good that she almost whimpered as he pulled back.

Jak came away from the kiss breathless. He had wanted to kiss her ever since the Baron had run away with his tail between his legs. He should have waited until they were on safe ground, but he had been too long away from her. He had missed her. He had missed her kiss, her touch, to the point where he couldn't just wait anymore.

And the kiss had been more than he expected. He expected her rejection, or at least some hesitation. He wasn't who he used to be anymore, and he didn't expect her to just accept the changes with open arms. But then again, she wasn't who she used to be anymore either. She had handled the gun and the heat of the battle possibly better than even Ashelin. Or maybe it was that they simply made a great team. Either way, he wanted her now more than he had ever wanted her before.

He rested his forehead against hers, and just held her. Right now he didn't care about the darkness that threatened to take over his senses. He didn't care that the Baron had got away. They had won. It was a small victory, but it was a victory nonetheless.

"Keira…" He kissed her again. A small, gentle buss on the lips.

"Jak…" she tried to say, but he kissed her again. "We have to go. We have to update Torn about the Baron's plans."

"And then I have to go to the Bazaar. I'm supposed to meet some blind–"

"You're going to meet Onin? Do you have a–"

"Ashelin gave me her access pass."

That small twinge of jealousy made itself known again. It must have shown on her face, because Jak smiled in that confident way he now seemed to have. "Keira, Keira," he tisked and kissed her again. "If I wanted Ashelin, would I be kissing her or you?"

Her eyes shifted sideways to the blinking lights of some sort of control board. Why they would have them in the Palace entry room was beyond her. "I suppose not," she answered.

"If you are interested in Erol, too bad. I don't want you flirting with him."

She almost laughed in his face. Interested in Erol? Not when she wretched every time he touched her or looked at her with that leering stare that undressed her with his eyes.

"Too bad," she said. Then, at his serious frown, she added, "I would rather run a hot poker through my eye than flirt with him, or even be near him. But it's my job. So far, it's the only way that I'm able to get information out of him. And now that we know he and the Baron are planning something, it's even more important that I find out exactly what."

Jak sneered at the mere thought of it.

"Don't worry. I've done this sort of thing before. I can handle myself." With a sly grin, she maneuvered so she could bit and suckle at his ear. "After all this, we have earned a break for ourselves. And I promise to finish what we've started."

She moved away from his ear to kiss him again, but light noises sounded from the other side of the door. "Move it, you two!" came Daxter's muffled yell. "Someone sounded the alarm. We gotta get outta here!"

Keira quickly untangled herself from Jak's arms and rushed out the door, weapons drawn.


Yay! It's finished! Sorry this one took longer, but the summer semester started. Fortunately, it's not a lot of reading so far, and I still have a lot of time to write. So I think we can expect a few updates this summer. This chapter was also slow-going because I was trying to start yet another fic. But Angel04 reminded me that I still have fans waiting, so I hurried to finish it. And 48 hours later, here it is:D

Sometimes I just need a bit of encouragement to get me going. ;)

Oh... and sorry if it got a bit choppy in the middle. It seems like I'm shifting to a new style, but I haven't perfected it yet. Bear with me!


A special thanks to all my reviewers!

Angel04

GundamWingFanatic90

Jaklover123

LadyJuuromaru

Mecca-dog

Mysterious Prophetess

Tess

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