A/N: Here's the second chapter, where Torn, Erol, and Tess will do some investigating. I also changed Jak and Keira's reunion around.
,O,
Torn and Erol walked into the Krimzon Guard Headquarters. Neither had been there for a while; Torn was visiting some old friends, and Erol was "sick." Errol nudged Torn.
"Look!" he pointed out, gesturing at a most wanted poster. Torn looked. It had a large picture of who he assumed was Jak, with a reward of 10,000 precursor orbs. Torn's eyes widened.
"That's a lot of cash," he muttered, walking closer to inspect the fine print. He cursed as he read Jak's crime: convicted of murdering 219 Krimzon Guards and 23 innocent bystanders.
"What is it?" asked Erol, leaning closer. Torn stayed silent, thoughts raging through his mind. "$&#!" said Erol after reading it. "How the hell are we going to tell Keira her sweetie's a mass murderer!" Torn's jaw dropped.
"I didn't think of that," he admitted. "But this was rather unexpected. Hell, you'd think Keira was lying about his 'sweet' nature this whole time! And here it says he murdered them in cold blood!" Erol's first reaction was one of pity for Keira, but his worse half was telling him that this was maybe a good thing that Jak was a phsyco killer. Sure, she'd be maybe a little more than upset, but she'd get over it, right? Then, she'd maybe open her eyes-
"Did you read the whole thing, Erol? It says that he turns into a dark eco monster. I'll bet you he was the run-away experiment!" Torn exclaimed, interrupting Erol's thoughts. "And to think, if we had been on duty, we might not be here right now." Erol decided he'd rather not think about that.
"Should we still look for him?" he asked.
"I don't see why not, seeing as we told Keira we would. Oh, about Keira…do you think we should tell her? I suppose we should, because she'd find out anyway. It would be better if she found out from us," Torn said, answering himself.Errol nodded and sat down in front of a monitor. He entered his ID, password, and card and did a search on Jak. An image of a purple beast crackling with dark energy and several pictures and illustrations of a handsome young man with a green goatee appeared.
"The renegade was last reported being seen in Sector 7, where he hijacked a zoomer, throwing out 32 year old Carl Hutchins. The fall fractured three of his lumber vertebrae, paralyzing him from the waist down," Erol read out loud. "Whoa, this guy is bad!" He bit his lip. "How 'bout we spare Keira the gory details, just tell her that he's on the most wanted list for various crimes?" Torn frowned at him and sighed, then kneaded his forehead.
"Whatever," he groaned. "I really don't want to have to deal with this," he muttered to himself. "Let's get out of here and talk to Tess, okay?" Erol nodded, and they left the KG Headquarters.
xXIXx
Tess walked into the Hip Hog, swinging her purse behind her. She had just received a message from Torn and Erol via the talkbox explaining Jak's rather gory background. Her face was still a little pale after listening to Erol describe the eco demon viciously ripping an innocent man open. She walked through the grimy double doors, and was shocked and horrified to see none other than Jak leaning against the bar talking to Krew. She attempted to casually walk over to the bar, but suddenly forgot what 'casual' meant. She ran a bit, stopped, gathered herself, then tripped and fell onto Jak. She shrieked and scrambled backwards, backing up against a large portrait of Krew in a tight green suit. Jak calmly got up, dusted himself off, and raised a green eyebrow at her. She took deep, calming breaths, and walked briskly behind the counter and disappeared into the back storage room. There she leaned up against a pile of boxes and sighed in relief. All of a sudden, she heard a rather obnoxious glugging noise coming from behind her pile of boxes. Nervously, she peeked around and saw the same talking orange creature from the bazaar downing a bottle of neon green liquid.
"Erm, hello?" she called uneasily. The ottsel looked up and smacked its lips.
"Hey babe, I'm Daxter! How 'bout a scratch for the ears, eh?" Tess looked around warily, then walked forward and scooped the little creature up. It was kind of cute…Tess looked at the bottle he had been drinking from.
"Ewww, why on earth were you drinking cleaning fluid!" she asked in disgust.
"Cleaning fluid! Yech, no wonder! Thanks babe, you saved me there!" he snuggled against her bosom. Tess stroked his fur.
"Aww, your fur's so soft!" she crooned.
"That's what all the babes say," Daxter said proudly. Tess looked around again.
"Are you lost?" she asked. "I don't see anyone else back here, and you don't have a collar."
"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down! Collar? Collar? Babe, you gotta be kidding me! I ain't no pet, I'm your handsome orange sex god, at your service! And about being lost? I'm with Tall, Dark, and Gruesome out there. I think he's talking with Tub o' Lard." Tess giggled. This queer yet irresistible cute animal wasquite funny, and was taking her mind off her troubles already. She began to scratch behind his ears, and Daxter started to smile.
"Yeah, that's the spot, babe…" he said with his eyes closed, a dreamy expressionon his furry face.
"Well, I'm gonna take you out to the bar, okay? Jak might come looking for you…" Tess shuddered at the thought of being in a quiet and empty room with a cold-blooded killer.
"Sure thing, babe," he said loudly. Tess walked back out, Daxter cradled in her arms.
"-and I want you to join this particular racing team, mmm?" said Krew in his ugly voice. "The address is Apartment 1 in the Racing Sector. The mechanic will want you to prove you're worth it though, so get there in 3 minutes, and don't fail me or else, mmm?" Jak nodded. Tess leaned in close to hear better.
"And you're sure this will get me into the Baron's palace?" he asked.
"Yes, yes," waved Krew impatiently. "Now get on with it!" he belched.
"Gotta go, babe!" Daxter said, leaping from Tess's arms onto Jak's shoulder. "See ya!" And with that, Jak ran out the door, hotwired a zoomer, and blasted off, leaving a stream of knocked over pedestrians in his wake. Tess ran over the conversation in her mind, then plopped down on the bar counter with a deep feeling of dread. She knew Keira's address, which happened to be Apartment 1 in the Racing Sector. She ran outside to call Torn and Erol on her talkbox, only to bump into them.
"Hey Tess, what's with the freaky expression?" asked Erol curiously.
"Jak's heading over to Keira's apartment to sign up for her racing team! She could be in danger very soon! We have to catch him before it's too late!" Tess blurted out. Torn and Erol looked at each other, bewildered.
"Well…" started Erol.
"Knowing the speeds that physco drives at from his crime description, we don't have any hopes of catching him before he gets there," finished Torn. "We'll just have to get there after him, hopefully catching him while he's there."
"But we're Krimzon Guards! He'll probably go crazy and kill us all!" Erol protested.
"If we don't try, Keira might be killed!" Torn said sternly.
"Yeah, Erol, where are your guts?" Tess jeered. Erol flushed.
"Fine, then let's go, instead of arguing here!" he said, jumping on his KG zoomer. Tess grinned at Torn, but the grin soon slipped off at the thought of Keira's dire situation. Torn and Tess got into Torn's two-seater sped off after Erol.
xXIXx
Jak got off of his zoomer and strolled towards Apartment 1. He was extremely pleased with his time: 1 minute and 49 seconds. The sound of water trickling in a pretty spray down the artistically carved fountains suddenly sounded…well, beautiful. Whisting a tune, he knocked upon the beaten up wooden door.
"Whoo, Jak! I bet that was a record!" exclaimed Daxter. Jak just nodded, barely concealing a triumphant smile. "I bet this mechanic dude is gonna be one ugly galoot. It seems all these Haven guys who get down and dirty are!"
"Come on in! The door's open," came a rather raspy yet vaguely famililar voice. Jak's ears pricked up unconsciously. Daxter sauntered in, and Jak followed hesitantly. He looked around; it was a poor, dingy room lit by a bare bulb from the ceiling. On one side, there was a broken table with some used wrapping paper strewn on its surface, surrounded by four chairs. On the other, there was a dusty shelf filled with gleaming gold trophies. Strewn everywhere were disassembled zoomer parts and various mechanical tools. Dividing the room was a moth-eaten, patched-up green curtain, and silhouetted behind it was a familiarly enticing, curvy figure of a female. Jak stared. He wasn't one to gawk at females, except for Keira Hagai when they were back in Sandover and now Ashelin Praxis.
"Hi, just give me a moment here, alright?" said the figure,her shadow archingas she pried of a metal paint from the side of an old two-seater.
"Hey lady," called Daxter. "We don't want to see you, we wanna see your gorilla of a guy! We're here for the racing team." The female's ears twitched; she ceased her prying. The voice was so familiar to Keira, but she was too incensed by this man's sexist comment to care.
"Excuse me?" she said in a dangerously icy voice. Daxter's tail fur stood on end. Jak tried to put his hand over Daxter's fat mouth, but it was too late.
"You heard me! Now go fetch your hubby!"
"For your information, you sexist, inconsiderate bastard, I am the manager of the racing team. I do believe you blew your chance, so how 'bout you scram!" she snarled.
"Whoa whoa whoa, no need to get feisty! I didn't know! Now can you come out here for us? Jak and I wanna get started!" There was a squeak from behind the curtain.
"D-Daxter? I-is that you? And…Jak?" she uttered softly. Jak's jaw dropped. Daxter's ears perked up.
"Keira! Hey babe! Long times no see!" he said excitedly. There was a huge crash, and Keira came stumbling out from behind the curtain, emotional tears forming at the corners of her green eyes.
"Oh, Jak!" she cried. She stopped. Stared. Who the hell was this guy? Not her Jak, that was for sure. She blushed. "Oh my, I'm terribly sorry. I thought you were some one else." She backed away,dissapearing behind the curtain again. Daxter pouted.
"She didn't even look at me!" he whispered to Jak. Jak was numb with disbelief. He had gotten about a 10 second look at hischildhood friendthat he had been searching for starting the moment he got out of prison (well, he had other things to do also, but that's not the point), and she didn't even recognize him!
"Hey, um, Keira, it is me! It's Jak, from Sandover!" Strange choking noises were coming from behind the curtain. Keira was having trouble breathing from disbelief. She cautiously peeked back out, took a look at the strange man, and tentatively walked forward.
"Hey Keira, what about me, Orange Lightning over here!" Daxter said, seeking attention as usual. Keira turned her gaze to Daxter, and breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that he hadn't changed like Jak had.
"Oh, hi Daxter!" she said, doing a very out of character thing and scooping him up in her arms. "I'm glad to see that you're okay!" Jak frowned slightly. Keira seemed to be in denial. She put Daxter down and turned to him once again. "Oh, Jak…you've…well, changed," she said weakly. 'A lot,' she thought to herself. Jak felt awkward.
"It's been a tough ride," he replied. There was an uncomfortable silence. Keira felt a lump forming in her throat. Suddenly, she couldn't take it and ran forward, hugging him tightly around the neck. Looks didn't matter; he was still her Jak. Bewildered, Jak patted her on the back. He could feel his blue tunic getting soaked as she cried into his chest. Daxter, for once, couldn't think of a suitable comment.
And just as fate likes to do its little things to life (or the author to stories), Erol, Tess and Torn chose this exact moment to bust the door open, guns cocked.
,O,
A/N: I myself am not sure what will happen next. I'm also sorry if people don't like this story.