Rebel: This chapter might be a little stale, but I had to have it for the story to work. I couldn't very well skip a whole day. Thanks to Shadow Systems and Touch Me In The Morning, I've decided to try and add more detail. Please review and tell me what you think. Oh, and Jinx is here!

Since I added Jinx, I'll restate this, but it's the last time because you should all know it. I do not own the original Jak and Daxter characters. Anyone or place you haven't heard of however, is most likely mine. All mine, Bwahahaha! Enjoy!

4. Preparing for Battle

It was the third day since the Metalheads had invaded Haven City. Max had found his parents in one of the refugee buildings, and had decided to stay with them for the night. Grace and Derek had promised that they would all meet up again in the morning at the main gates.

Now the sun was just peeking over the horizon, setting the sky ablaze. The sound of people in the streets was almost completely drowned out by guns loading and wall turrets being tested. Sig was waiting when Grace, Max, and Derek arrived.

"Where's Kara?" Derek asked instantly.

"I sent her on an important mission." Sig said. "In fact, I've got jobs for all you hotshots. Max, I want you to go down to the battle arena. Ashelin and Torn have agreed to give basic defense lessons to everyone new to battle. I think you could do with some training. Derek, I understand you're fairly clever. I need you to help me sweet talk Kliever into bringing out his stash of Slam Dozers. Grace, you've got land mine detail. You'll be filled in when you get to your zoomer. Let's move Cherries!"

Sig walked off with Derek on his tail. Max looked at Grace and gave a little shrug before pulling out his board and taking off for the arena. Grace gave a sigh. "Let's get moving then." She said to herself. Grace came to the zoomer to find a strange man leaning against it. He was smoking a cigar and talking to a Wastelander.

"Look. There's Goldilocks junior now." He said to the man.

"Speak for yourself, ponytail." Grace snapped. "What are you doing leaning on that zoomer? It belongs to my friends and me."

"Chill, girlie." The stranger said. "My name's Jinx. I did some, uh, jobs with your dad. You're going to help me with the mines today." Jinx tapped the ashes off the end of his cigar.

Grace hopped in the driver seat and adjusted it.

"Hold on there, sweetheart. Who said you were driving?" Jinx protested as he leaned over the side of the zoomer.

"My years of training on lava tracks laced with lurker bombs and dark eco boxes." Grace said without looking at Jinx. She didn't like his attitude. He was treating her like a little girl, and while she expected that from important people like Sig or Ashelin, she would have none of it from this man.

"Okay, just don't get us killed." Jinx said as he hopped into the seat to her left. "You don't mind if I smoke, do you?" he asked mockingly.

Grace gave a loud sigh. "I suppose we'll be going fast enough I won't smell it so it's fine. Just hold on tight and tell me where I'm headed."

The door opened, and the zoomer took off. Jinx cradled the bag of mines in his lap to stop them from jolting and accidentally going off.

"Slow down there, speedy!" Jinx shouted. "We're coming up on the first spot. From here, we'll lace the mines along the desert, making sure to get all the paths those beasties might take." He gave a chuckle at the thought of Metalheads blowing themselves up.

Grace slowed to a stop. Jinx hopped out with his bag of mines and began setting some up. Then Grace heard a noise. Jinx heard it to, and began to hurry. Engines could be heard. As Jinx finished setting his mines, a Marauder came up around a dune.

Thinking fast, Grace grabbed her gun, stood up in her seat, and fired. Her aim was true, and the driver slumped over the wheel, dead. His foot off the gas, the vehicle slowed to a stop a few inches from Jinx's nose.

"Nice shooting there." Jinx said as he hopped in the zoomer. Grace looked pale. "What's wrong?"

"I-I've seen people die, and I've blown up a few Marauders, but this time, I just shot him. It was just…so easy." Grace hugged herself as she gave a little shudder.

Normally, Jinx wasn't a touchy feely kind of guy, but, he reminded himself, Jak's little girl was the one driving and watching his back on this mission. He needed her focused on the job and not some worthless dead Marauder, so he reached out and put a hand on Grace's shoulder.

"Hey now, don't get worked up over that piece of desert garbage. We're in a war now. It's going to get a lot worse, and you need to be strong." Jinx felt Grace's shoulders droop as she slumped a little.

'Oh nice job there, genius.' Jinx thought while mentally kicking himself.

"What I mean is if you want to go around saving the world, you can't feel sorry about killing your enemies." Grace looked down at her feet sadly. Jinx mentally kicked himself again while wondering if saying one last thing would make the situation any worse.

"Listen here, Gracie. I'll admit that I've done things I'm both proud and ashamed of, so trust me when I tell you this: What you're doing is the right thing. It may hurt, and it may be hard, but you just have to keep reminding yourself that it IS the right thing to do. Now dry those eyes and let's get a move on!"

Grace smiled weakly and wiped away the tears welling up. "So where to next?" she asked with a grin.

Grace and Jinx returned late in the evening just as the last hues of red left the sky, tired but satisfied. They parked the zoomer inside the city next to the garage door.

"See you later, Girlie." Jinx said, giving Grace's shoulder a squeeze. "I've got a bed calling my name." He put a new cigar in his mouth and walked off, waving to Grace before disappearing. As Jinx left, Derek came up behind Grace.

"So how was your day?" Derek asked, coming to a stop in front of Grace. Grace gave a groan as she rubbed out her cramped arms and legs.

Max came down one of the side streets to his friends. "You sound like how I feel." Max said. Derek noticed how stiff Max was.

"What's wrong with you?" Derek asked.

"I got Ashelin for a sparring partner." Max said. "I'm trying to flex as few muscles as possible so I don't hurt as much."

"Was it really that bad?"

"Let's put it this way. I'd be less sore if a herd of yakows trampled me."

"Well, let's all turn in for the night." Grace said, emphasizing her statement with a yawn. Her friends chuckled and followed as she led the way down a street.

As they walked, a hooded figure came down the road in the opposite direction. His face was hidden in shadows, and he limped as he walked. As the group passed the figure, Derek felt his shoulder brush the stranger's and the man whispered in his ear.

"Traitor." Derek turned to confront the man, but he was gone. Derek wondered who the stranger was, but didn't linger on it.

"So Derek," Max said to break the silence, "Is Kliever really as ugly as the rumors say he is?"

""Worse." Derek replied. Grace giggled.

Back up the street and around a corner, the stranger stood in the shadows. Nik reached up and pulled back his hood, running his fingers through his extremely pale blonde hair.

"Soon enough the Nyfe Vipers will have their revenge, and then we'll see who's laughing." Nik snarled and disappeared down the alley.

Rebel: You can just see the chaos beginning. Or at least you will in the next chapter. Sorry this took so long, but I had a writer's block. All three of the stories I'm writing were at either boring or difficult to write chapters so it took me a while. The next chappie however will be awesome. Don't forget to review and tell me what you liked in this chapter. I love Jinx trying to give his speech and screwing up. Hehe. If you give a good review and want to see it posted up on my profile in my review section, let me know. ; )