A/N: For added atmosphere, listen to the song 'Slow Down' by Yellow Claw.

She's Worth Defending

Chapter Thirteen: Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

Two pairs of eyes were glued to the scoreboard.

Cara had both hands placed on her hips; her hip cocked to the side, while Jak stood quiet with his arms crossed.

The first thing that was on the trio's list for the day was to try out Haven's gun course and they made sure to rise early for it. It was only six o'clock in the morning and they had already completed the course…a few times. Mostly, because Cara was determined she could beat Jak's score. So far, no luck, but she was persistent. Every round prior, she had messed up somehow. Whether it be that she didn't stock up on enough ammo or shooting too many civilian targets, there were too many mistakes. This round, however, felt good. Cara knew she got more golden Metal Head targets than Jak this time and Jak hadn't shot one civilian target; not two, but three civilian targets. Plus, Jak got very quiet. She knew he was worried, but, of course, he wouldn't voice that he was. Also, there were no excuses: Jak couldn't say that Daxter was annoying him, in the way, or obstructing his view because Daxter wasn't even there. Sure, he had been invited, but the ottsel only looked at the two in disgust for waking him up so early, so he was left at the Hip Hog.

"I'm feelin' good," Cara said as she looked to her blonde partner, "I think this it; third time's a charm!" When an eye roll was the only thing she got in response, she plastered her eyes back on the scoreboard, but her pompous smile remained. Cara didn't know if beating Jak's score would bring on good things or bad things. Maybe he'd respect her more for getting a better score, but, of course, there was that risk of him giving her the cold shoulder for doing better than him. Based off of past experiences, Cara started to expect the cold shoulder. That is, if it could get colder than it already was.

Suddenly, the monitor lit up and numbers started to fly by. Cara's eyes were stuck to the left side and Jak was eyeing the right side. The numbers on both sides increased at, almost, a mirrored pace. This made Jak bite the inside of his cheek and for Cara's eyes to light up.

Then, the numbers stopped.

12120 v. 12120

"YES!" Cara yelled as she jumped in place. A tie: the perfect compromise!

"What?" Jak mumbled as he continued to stare at the scoreboard. There was no way. What happened? Jak started to backpedal; he tried to remember what went wrong. Oh, well he did hit a few civilians. Yeah, that's probably what did it. The competition really wasn't that fair, though: Cara had two pistols; pistols that had better range than his Scattergun. Plus, you can't really take out targets in bulk with it. If there's a civilian target among a cluster of Metal targets, you kind of just had to go with it. You'd be missing out on too many points; one civilian target was nothing. Maybe that wasn't it. Maybe it was because Cara, literally, hogged every golden Metal target to herself.

The end of the course was nearing; the exit door stood right in front of them.

An array of golden targets shot up - this was the opportunity to increase points to the max.

Jak held his gun up, quickly taking out as much as he could, but let out a sigh of annoyance. Every time Jak had cocked his gun back to reload the barrel, Cara had already pulled the trigger four times. Not to mention, she had two guns. Two! So, a total of eight bullets. That's quite the advantage to her and a huge disadvantage to Jak.

The timer buzzed and the exit opened after all of targets were taken out.

Jak lowered his gun and looked to Cara, "Are you kidding me?" He sounded extremely pissed, yet he spoke softly.

"What?" Cara asked with a smile on her face. Oh, she knew.

Jak sighed when remembering the last bit of the course. He should have refused to give her pistols back when he had the chance.

Jak held his arms slightly bent as he took out some targets with a single pistol. The pistol was definitely easier to handle and use. Not to mention, the recoil was nothing in comparison to the Scattergun. The only sound in the course was the echo of the pistol, but that was because a very hesitant woman was holding his Scattergun.

Cara shot the Scattergun sloppily and the recoil nearly knocked her back a foot or two. "Owwww," Cara whined with a chuckle as she rubbed her shoulder, "Okay, I'm done with this, you can have your gun back now."

Jak looked away in regret. If only he hadn't...

Cara turned to Jak with a huge smile, "That's good enough for me! 12120, me, 12120, you; a tie!"

Jak, who had his eyes still on the monitor, noticed that his side started to flicker. He squinted his eyes as he ignored Cara, hoping that it wasn't his mind playing tricks on him. Was his score count...broken? He just continued to stare. It better change; he'd kick that monitor as if it insulted his mother (wait..), like it ate his orb without giving him a soda; he'd go to town, for sure.

Once again, eyes were plastered to the scoreboard.

Then, as if for dramatic effect, the numbers changed.

...

12120 v. 12130

Jak finally exhaled in victory, not even realizing that he had been holding his breath, and lowered his head with a smile.

"WHAT?" Cara's face changed from absolute joy to disbelief in a matter of seconds. Cara turned to Jak instantly, "What did you do?"

Jak couldn't help but let out a dim chuckle as he gawked at his score, "I didn't do anything." Sure, him and Cara had a close score, but his was still ten points more. That's better than a tie. Translation: He's better and that's all that matters.

"Yeah, right!" Cara exclaimed as she walked towards the monitor, "Mine must be stuck, too."

Jak's eyes then glanced over to Cara, "I doubt it."

Cara jumped and slapped the side of the monitor, causing every bulb in it to flicker.

Jak just stared at her with a straight face. Typical, stupid Cara shenanigans.

Cara smacked the scoreboard another time; the scoreboard reacted the same as before: some flickers and that was it.

"You're going to break it," Jak said casually.

"No, I'm...NOT!" Cara yelled out as she hit it one last time. Nothing. She walked back in front of the scoreboard and sighed, "Well, next time..."

Jak scoffed as he shifted his footing, "Good luck."

Cara turned around sauntered back over to Jak, "WELL, I'm actually very happy with my score." With every step closer, Jak's smirk grew bigger. "Oh, but that's right, it must be because-," Cara then began to mock Jak in a deep voice, "-oh, you have two guns, that's so unfair. You have better range, that's sooo unfair!" Cara then chuckled at Jak's facial expression: completely unamused.

With arms crossed, Jak shrugged a single shoulder, "It's true."

"I could say the same for you, you know," Cara harassed.

"Oh, yeah?" Jak rose an eyebrow, "How?"

Oh, how perfect: Jak had run out of ammo.

Jak pulled the trigger and nothing came out. He lowered the gun and then looked to his waist for more ammo, but nothing was there.

"Shit," Jak whispered to himself as he looked around.

Suddenly, a Metal Head target popped up right in front of him.

Jak just stared at it, but could hear the clock counting down in his head.

So, he punched it.

He sighed in defeat until he heard a ding, a special ding that meant that he got points.

Cara continued down the course, shooting any enemy target that showed it's wooden face, but then saw Jak in her peripherals.

Jak was just cruising down the course, punching and kicking targets.

Cara just watched him in awe: he was just passing her and taking out targets with his bare hands. "You can't do that!"

"What?" Jak asked as he played stupid.

"That's cheating!" Cara yelled over to him, but he just ignored her.

A target popped up right in front of Cara and she eyed it suspiciously. When she was convinced that Jak wasn't watching, she punched the target. Cara withdrew her hand and shook it violently with a contorted face. "Ow," she mumbled as she grabbed her hurt hand, "That's a no-go."

"That's not cheating!" Jak argued.

"Yes, it is!" Cara argued further.

"How?" Jak asked in amusement. He seemed to be enjoying this argument.

Cara stammered, "This is a gun course, hello! You're suppose to use guns!"

"No," Jak corrected, "It's gun readiness," Jak said in a drawn out fashion. "What? You think that, if we're actually in combat, I'll just toss my gun aside and call it a day? It's survival; if you're out of ammo, use your fists.."

Cara just looked at Jak completely unamused.

"Or you can scare them off with your bad attitude, I don't care, whatever works," Jak added nonchalantly.

Cara eyed him, "My bad attitude?" She asked, slightly entertained.

It was quiet for a moment, but Cara broke the silence.

"Should we head back?"

Jak sighed and ran hand across the back of his neck, "Probably."

The two, before heading out, stocked up on as much ammo as they possibly could. They knew they'd need it later. They then clocked out of the gun course because, apparently, you'll get a fine if you don't and headed towards the door.

They, surprisingly, walked side by side, granted Jak made sure to keep his distance.

"So, do you think Daxter's still asleep?" Cara asked as she stopped as the door.

Jak pressed the control panel so the gun course, lobby door would open. "Definitely."

Cara went to walk through the door, but it slid back and hit her in the shoulder before bouncing back open. "Hey!"

Jak held an arm out so the door censor would keep it open, "You don't do well with moving objects, do you?"

Cara stood in once spot as she shot some targets at a distance.

That was until she almost got knocked over.

"Ah!" Cara stumbled as a moving target ran in to her, "Oh, my god..." She chuckled to herself.

Then another.

These targets were out for blood.

"Ah! No!" Cara was bombarded by yet another target, but she made sure to dispose of it with her pistol.

Jak had watched the whole thing and actually had a smile on his face.

With a final shriek, Cara ran past Jak and laughed, "They're attacking me!"

Cara turned around and leaned against the door frame from the outside. "Hey! At least I have a sense of direction!" Cara practically smirked in Jak's face.

Cara and Jak ran down the course, weapons in hand.

Except, they were met by nothing.

No targets, whatsoever.

They stopped running and looked around.

"Where did they go?" Jak asked.

Cara stood completely still, "I hear them.."

"I do, too.." Jak said as he peered behind a concrete pillar that jutted from the wall.

"That's weird," Cara chuckled.

"Maybe the targets are jammed," Jak said as he looked onward.

"Maybe...they kind of sound like they're-," Cara turned to look behind them, "-behind us..."

Targets everywhere.

"Oh, my god, Jak, really?" Cara questioned in annoyance.

"What?" Jak asked as he turned around.

Cara pointed a thumb behind her.

"Oh!" Jak said as he ran over to her.

As Jak ran past her, Cara sighed and shook her head.

"Honest mistake," Jak said as he walked outside.

"Yeah, uh-huh," Cara harassed as they walked back out onto the port and started towards the Hip Hog.

...

Meanwhile, in the gun course, the scoreboard flickered a bit more, let out a creak, and then fell off the wall; smashing into the ground.