Chapter 3

Putting on a light jacket, Keira got ready to go out into the city. She kissed Errol lightly on the forehead while he slept, and couldn't help the feeling of disgust with herself that she felt afterwards. She hated lying to him about where she was going and almost didn't go. Taking one last glance at her boyfriend, she walked out of the apartment heading towards the Slums district of Haven City.

As she was walking through Maintown, she pulled out her communicator and dialed Torn's number.

Torn's communicator beeped and vibrated loudly on his unkempt desk. Daxter just happened to be drawing obscenities on the posters of the Baron and Errol that were stuck to the wall when he heard the device go off. Nosily, he answered it, hoping it was Ashelin.

"Daxter the hero, here," He said suavely in his annoyingly high voice.

"Um, where's Torn?" Keira asked, curious to why Torn was suddenly allowing other people to touch his stuff.

Daxter was silent on the other end, staring at Keira's holographic figure that sprouted from the communicator.

"Daxter? What the Hell!" Torn walked into the room and saw the gangly youth at his desk.

Keira heard a muffled yell followed by static. She ended the call and sighed, I guess I'll just have to go there myself.


"Get out!" Torn roared at the cowering Daxter.

He ran for his room where Jak still lay sleeping in his bottom bunk. Daxter slammed the door and slumped against it. Jak woke up with a shout, his dream having been rudely interrupted.

"Jak! You shoulda seen the smokin' hott girl I just talked to on Torn's communicator! I don't know how ol' Tattoo face does it! I mean, have you seen Ashelin?!" Daxter jumped about in front of Jak, mimicking Ashelin's bust size with his hands.

Jak had seen and met Ashelin before. Sure, she was attractive, but had an attitude about as hard as Precursor metal.

"Anyways..." Daxter continued, "You shoulda seen the curves on this one!" The energetic sidekick said, making an hourglass motion in front of him.

A flash of Jak smoothing his hand over the curves of Keira's body flickered before his eyes; and he mentally slapped himself.

"What's up with you, Jak? You've been all sulky since yesterday morning."

"Nothing," Jak said defensively.


Keira stood in the dead end alleyway where the Underground was located. Now that she was there, she had no idea what she was even going to say. He's probably not even there, she thought to herself. Why was she there anyways? What was she expecting to happen?

Keira felt a nervous pang squeeze in her stomach when she heard the hidden automatic door open. Thankfully though, it was only Torn.

"Keira? What are you doing here? We paid the last payment for your guns-" Torn began.

The curvaceous woman shook her head, "I wanted to ask you about someone...He's one of your members..." she spoke hesitantly.

He looked at her inquisitively, "Who?"

Slowly, she took from her pocket a folded piece of paper and opened it, showing it to the dreadlocked man.

Torn's eyes widened in surprise and he snatched the poster from her hands.

"Holy shit...Where did you get this?"

"It was in Errol's things..." Keira looked down; she knew her friends in the Underground greatly disapproved of her relationship with the right-hand man of their enemy.

Torn stared at her with a strange look of pity, and then his face turned to suspicion, "How did you know he's a member?"

She bit her lip and dodged his piercing gaze, "I...met him the other night..." she stopped when the door opened behind Torn and two young men stepped out.

The shorter one elbowed his blonde friend and whispered, "Dude! That's the chick!"

Jak stared, his mouth slightly ajar. Keira matched his stare with her own, looking past Torn at the handsome resistance member.

Torn looked between the two oddly. Sensing it was soon going to become awkward, he headed back towards the hideout, not even knowing why he had come outside in the first place. Before he went inside, he stopped in front of Jak and Daxter.

"Jak, you're off again today," he squeezed the wanted poster tightly, knowing he couldn't afford Jak to draw attention to himself, "And Daxter, Tess called, she wants you to help her redesign the gun course..."

'Yesss...!' Daxter mouthed and hopped on his zoomer in the direction of the Ports.

Soon, it was only Jak, Keira, and an uncomfortable silence.

"Do you want to...go somewhere?" Jak found himself asking.

"Sure," she gave a slight smile, grateful for the break in tension.

Since it was daytime, Jak pushed up his red scarf in an attempt to conceal his identity. They were quiet and kept a low profile as they waked to a nearby ramshackle café in the center of the slums. Among friendlies and lowly citizens, Jak lowered his scarf when they walked into the small eatery.

Distrustful of the quality of the food, they declined the menu and took their seats in a booth. Jak fidgeted in place while Keira idly toyed with a napkin.

"I didn't expect to see you again..." Jak said, looking into her viridian eyes before quickly averting his eyes again.

"You probably think I'm crazy...coming to find you and all..." she laughed lightheartedly, unable to hold eye contact with him without blushing.

"Nah," he laughed but then he looked at her intriguingly, "Why are you here, though? I don't mean to be rude...but you have a boyfriend, why come looking for me?"

The word 'boyfriend' stung, but she knew it was an inevitable question, but Keira didn't even know how to explain the strange way she felt.

"I," she stopped and gathered her thoughts, "don't regret the other night, Jak, I should, but I don't...and I...wanted to see you again..."

He cleared his throat, taken aback by her subtle 'confession'. But inside, he felt himself glow knowing she had been thinking about him, too. Jak reached for her hand smiling, and she smiled back brightly in return.


Errol woke up at the sound of his alarm going off. He groaned tiredly as he slipped on his gear and placed his pistol in its holster. Today he was on 'glorious' patrol duty...in the worst part of the city, the Slums.

Ever since he had lost the channeling, renegade prisoner, the Baron had been punishing him in less than clever ways.

"Keira?" he called out and received no answer.

On the mirror he saw a note stuck and read it: At the garage. Love, Keira. So, he decided to pay her a surprise visit before his patrol started.

Errol sped off in the direction of the Stadium, paying no attention to the traffic laws or the pedestrians he almost ran over. When he arrived at Keira's garage and asked for her, he was surprised to hear that she didn't work on Mondays.

Not exactly having the time to ponder his girlfriend's whereabouts, Errol got on his KG zoomer bike and headed for the Slums.

Feeling a bit grumpy as he hovered around in the traffic, he decided to give a citation to a perfectly legally parked zoomer. He snorted at the dirty café he landed next to as he wrote the ticket. Sticking it to the vehicle, he noticed a familiar face through the coffee shop's window. It was Keira; and she wasn't alone. Errol felt his jaw clench as he saw the stranger holding hands with her.

The stranger's back was to him, but the fuming commander could clearly see Keira's smiling face.


Jak blushed, having just admitted that he had thought about her constantly since their night together. He scooted closer to her in the booth and she gazed at the prominent and handsome features of his face, forgetting all his criminal records and only thinking about how fast his lips were closing the gap between them.

Oblivious to the audience they now had, they kissed.

"You little slut!" Errol roared, storming in. Keira and Jak broke apart, Keira's face paling when she saw her boyfriend standing at the door.


Hmmm...What will happen? Reviews! Please & Thanks!