The Human Condition
Chapter 4: Things Better Left Unsaid
Author's Note: This one is kinda short and lacks much action. Let me know if the sap o meter is going off the scale. I like fluff alright but I don't want it dripping with so much sugar you'll need to take insulin after reading this. All in all this is just one of those chapters you have to sludge through to get to the good stuff. Hurray.
----Underground----
It was nearly dawn by the time a familiar duo managed to get back to that part of city. The rain had passed, leaving only large puddles and muddled gray skies as Jak weakly slid the door open.
Up with the birds as usual Torn lifted his head from his paperwork as he heard the hinges creak.
"Jak?" He muttered trying to recognize the person that trudged in through the door. It was a surprising scene even by Torn's standards.
The kid looked like shit.
Dirt and blood covered the young man like a second skin, matting ever inch of his hair and the tattered remains of his clothing. The only thing on Jak that wasn't covered in grime was the rat.
"What the hell happened to you?" The ex-guard asked his voice dripping with frustration. "You never showed up at the check point yesterday."
As if challenging him Jak raised his tired eyes up to give the sub-commander a half-assed scowl before he moved past silently.
"Yeah? Well sorry we missed the tea party but half of the Baron's mobile infantry is what happened ta us!" Daxter snapped in Jak's place as he leapt onto the table.
"So I take it Vin was onto something." Torn replied crossing his arms.
"Guards were crawling all over the place!" The ottsel began wiggling his fingers for effect as he spoke, "You shoulda seen the joint! It was one big--" Holding a hand up to cut him off Torn's thin lips twisted into a scowl.
"Quit wasting air and get to the point, rodent." The man said dangerously as he lost what little patience he had with the creature. "This was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission. I never gave the order for a preemptive strike. So spare me the crap. Are the mines shut down or not?"
"Yeah." The taller of the two answered. In a tired rasp Jak finally managed to dredge his voice up from the depths of exhaustion. "The Baron won't be able to use them again."
"Well. That's the first good news I've heard all week." The underground's sub-commander commented in unvoiced satisfaction. Eyes narrowing he turned his cold gaze on Jak. "But that still doesn't change the fact you disobeyed a direct order. The next time you decide to compromise a mission, I'll shoot you myself."
There was a very real threat in those simple words and it was one he'd carry out to the letter if it happened again. Torn had enough on his plate than to clean up after headstrong vigilantes with heads so far up their ass they couldn't see the light of day.
But he left it as a warning.
As much as he hated to admit it, the kid was useful.
And they needed all the help they could get if they wanted to win this thing.
If it helped them defeat the Baron, Torn could put up with some hot shot rookie's shit.
But not much.
Making his way to the wall in the corner Jak ignored the older man's warning. Now that his body was no longer working on dark eco and adrenaline alone the kid looked like he was ready to crash. Leaning against the cold slab of stone Jak tried not show how tired he really was as he folded his arms and muttered, "You have a funny way of saying you're welcome."
"That's because I didn't say it. If that's all you two have to report, clean up and get out of my sight." Torn muttered looking the outlaw over. "You look like you've been through a fricking meat grinder. At this rate it'll take us days to air out the smell."
"Yeah?" Daxter asked shoving his hands on his hips, "Well you try running through a geyser of dark eco and lessee if you come out smellin pretty!"
Without another word Jak gave the underground leader a halfhearted grunt before he turned his back on him. Both elves had taken just about all they could stand of one another. Dragging his feet sluggishly through the barracks Jak opened the door to the locker room and stepped inside while the older of the two went back to his pile of paperwork. After a few seconds of deafening silence the warrior turned his burning gaze on the rat that was still on his table. "Are you still here?" He practically seethed.
"I'm getting, I'm getting... no need to get your panties in a wedge, bub." Daxter snapped back before a well placed dagger flew into the table inches from the creature's groin.
Daxter guts twisted in horror as he realized he was a few centimeters off from becoming a eunuch.
Torn was a better aim than he expected.
And that epiphany sent him running.
Scrambling into the locker room after Jak, Daxter managed to slam the door shut before a few more sharp objects could graze his hide. Hiding the sweat that poured down his face as a few metallic edges poked through the broken wood Daxter dusted himself off and threw his friend a grin, "Oh yeah that guy's nuts about us, he just hides it well."
Glancing at his friend with heavy eyes Jak was too detached to say something even if he wanted to. Lifting up his shirt the rebel hardly noticed his broken fingernails were caking mud and blood onto his skin as worked to pull his clothes.
Daxter caught some sight of some of Jak's souvenirs and suddenly wished he hadn't.
Granted the big guy looked pretty good for someone that had taken on what he had.
But he still looked like he had been run over by a stampede of rabid yakkows.
Leaving his rancid clothes where they had fallen on the floor Jak stepped past his friend and into the men's showers without a word. Already the crumbled up skin and tattered blue splotches that came with the massive taser burns were fading into nothing but black, ugly bruises.
There was nothing the young man wanted more than the chance to sleep his previous night's experience off but he knew protocol demanded he clean up first.
Fingering his chest absently Jak stuck his fingers in a bullet wound and was glad all the shots that hit him had passed through completely. It was always so much more of a hassle to have to yank lodged bullets out afterwards. At this rate the gun wounds would be gone by morning. Already they had healed to the point that there were only small gashes and pink exposed bits of muscle left where the flesh had been torn.
In a day or two they'd just be more scars.
It was of the only good things being pumped full of dark eco did.
"Don't forget to rinse, lather and repeat, babe." Daxter called after him. "You smell worse than old green stuff's breath."
Cracking a smile Jak shook his head and left his friend to clean up.
Daxter turned his attention to a nudey magazine one of the underground boy's had left hanging by the toilet as he heard the shower crank on.
Jak just needed to sleep it off, than he'd be good as new.
You could call it insensitive if you wanted, although Daxter preferred something like beer goggle vision or selective hearing instead.
Jak had always done whatever the hell he wanted for as long as he could remember.
And worrying about it wasn't gonna help, so somewhere in his book Jak stopped bleeding red like everyone else.
It had been that way long before the Baron pumped him full of dark eco.
That was the silent understanding between the big guy and himself.
See your average Joe smuck could get tired or stumble along the way.
Hell they could even fail.
But Jak was Jak.
And that meant he would always come through in the end.
So you didn't try to wrap your head around the rest too much.
And while Daxter didn't like being a peon for Captain Laryngitis and his crusade he knew why Jak stuck it out in the Underground. He had one hell of a score to settle and being a hired stooge seemed to be the easiest way to get there.
Sure the danger part wasn't that great, and the feeling only got amplified now that he was covered in fur but as long as Jak never stopped Daxter'd always be right there with him to shout a few juicy comments at each suicide mission they were tossed into.
Cuz that's just was pals did.
They stuck by each other.
Jak closed his eyes as the shower head poured down on him. His teeth were rigidly clenched as the bite of his bruised ribs and shredded chest tissue gnawed at his insides with each drop of water that hit it. It was a halfway point between pleasure and pain as the heat worked out the knots in each pulled muscle and cleaned out each wound. Though the cheap lye soap that made up the Underground's inventory didn't help the pain part much.
Running his thick calloused hands through scar covered flesh he pulled out the many scraps of metal and pieces of gravel that had embedded themselves in his skin while he had been preoccupied with making it out alive. By the time he was finished it felt as though about twenty pounds of dirt and blood had been washed down the drain.
And rigidly he realized most of the blood wasn't his.
The sun was already shining brightly by the time Jak finally emerged out of the shower and shoved himself into a spare change of clothes. Leaving his goggles and scarf on the floor with his other belongings Jak pushed his coarse hair out of his eyes and headed for the barracks.
The first cot he got to wasn't going to know what hit it.
Stepping into the main room Jak was glad to see it was no longer occupied by Torn. Something big must have happened for the sub-commander to leave his base. But all traces of the rigid ex-guard had been replaced with a smaller form that made itself busy on the floor.
Sprawled out along with a series of land mines made out of a box of crayons was a kid he recognized instantly as the boy he had met the night he had escaped the Baron's prison.
He had only met the kid on a few short occasions but something about the little guy managed to stick with him.
It was something he just couldn't put his finger on.
Glancing up at the huge shadow that covered him like a blanket the Kid immediately stopped working on the picture he was making and raised his head up to stare at Jak's intimidating frame.
They stared at each other for a few awkward seconds before the little boy closed his eyes and gave Jak a shy smile offering the rebel a blue crayon and a spare piece of paper.
"Uh." Was about the only thing Jak could think of to say slightly stiffening as the little boy continued to stare at him.
The kid made him severely uncomfortable.
Metal heads he could handle but he had absolutely no idea what to do in a situation like this.
As if sensing his apprehension the little boy took his mumble as a no and turned back to his picture without another word.
Glad to be let off the hook that easily Jak moved past the kid and managed to finally make it to bunks, spying a orange bundle of fur sprawled out on the one they normally occupied.
Daxter's front half was hanging off the edge while his feet were propped up on the metal backings causing him to look as straight as a question mark.
Watching as a glob of drool slid down the sleeping ottsel's mouth Jak managed a smirk. How anyone could sleep like that was beyond him.
But he didn't feel like pondering it in his current state.
Lying back on the next available bunk Jak bit back the seeping pain in his sides before he was finally able to get off his feet.
Unable to close his eyes immediately he was so tired he was almost past the point of exhaustion where sleep was even possible.
It was too bright. Everything was just too damn bright.
While his body was on the brink of exhaustion Jak's mind was still intensely sharp, focusing in on every sound, every rustle of paper and small rise of breath that went on in the room around him. He was still too wired from dark eco to completely shake off the edge from the previous night's fight.
Grinding his teeth together Jak put a hand to his forehead in frustration.
Sleep was a lot more out of his reach than he had hoped.
And that's when he noticed the kid was staring at him again.
Evaluating the rebel for a few seconds the boy could tell Jak was hurt just by looking at him. As he watched him, one finger propped in his mouth solemnly the kid seemed to think hard before a light bulb went off in his head. Scooting towards a corner the child started quickly digging through the remains of beaten up cheesecloth. Watching him work with heavy lidded eyes Jak found it hard to imagine the squirt was the lost heir to anything when everything the kid had to his name fit inside a moth eaten handkerchief.
No matter which way you looked at him the skinny, rundown little guy wasn't what you thought of when you imagined the descendant of Mar.
Still Jak found he couldn't help but somewhat like him.
The Kid seemed to treat each beaten up toy and worn down crayon he owned as if it were as important as a precursor artifact. Even if he was a bit of a wimp, kindness was something you didn't come across too often in this horrible place.
Finally finding what he was looking for the little boy neatly tied up his belongings and moved over to where Jak was laying. One hand was still firmly closed around the item in question as the kid tugged on the hem of Jak's shirt causing the rebel to stifle a groan as he pulled himself into a sitting position.
"Ugn...?" Jak slurred groggily before two small foil wrapped objects were waved in front of his face.
Climbing up on the cot and sitting down beside the rugged outlaw the Kid held out the two lollipops and eagerly waited for Jak to chose one of them.
Blue eyes widening in surprise Jak bit back a wash of uneasiness at the boy's simple gesture. He could tell from the dust on the wrappers that the kid had been saving them for sometime.
It was pretty obvious people like Kor and Torn had more important things to deal with than to spoil the child.
Jak wasn't really sure someone like him deserved that type of kindness.
Cocking his head in curiosity when Jak didn't move the little boy tugged his arm again, pushing the treats into the man's open palm.
Finally Jak managed a defeated sigh.
It didn't look like the little guy was going to take no for an answer.
"... Thanks kid." He replied closing his fingers around the more broken of the two suckers.
Satisfied the little boy placed the remaining sucker carefully in his pocket before he jumped off the cot and grinned. Then without a sound he went back to his drawing on the floor so Jak could sleep.
Just like that.
The kid sure didn't waste words getting to the point.
Closing his eyes as he laid back down Jak couldn't help actually smiling as he set the lollipop down.
It felt like it had been a lifetime since the last time anyone had given him something for being brave.
END CHAPTER 4