Chapter Ten: Do That Tattoo Voodoo You Do So Well!
Jak awoke the next morning with a strange pain in his stomach and no recollection of the events of the night. He groaned before sitting up.
Feeling the shifting movement of the bed's surface, Trista faced Jak, a questioning look on her face, though she frowned at seeing him of an etched expression on his face of pain. "Jak, before... your tattoo's were bleeding," she informed, showing the bits of blood staining one of her hands.
"What in the world..." Jak said. "When did that happen?"
"During the night obviously, though when I touched one of your tattoos and they began to bleed," she whispered, retrieving her hand. Nevertheless, Trista was concerned over this situation dearly hoping it wouldn't happen again. She averted her gaze away, fully turning away from him to rest at the edge of the bed. 'Would it happen if I did that again?' she wondered.
"But Vin swore that wouldn't happen!" Jak mumbled, arm still wrapped around his torso.
She quirked a brow, "So Vin knew of this? Mind telling me of what?" Trista asked tilting her head towards him.
"It's... complicated. Vin gave me these... he assured me that any normal side affects... I just wouldn't have any, but... I guess he lied..." Jak cursed, wondering what the Shadow would say.
Trista nodded slightly, "How long have you had them?" she asked, continuing to interrogate incase there was something peculiar.
"I really can't remember... few years, maybe..." Jak mumbled something along the lines of 'Torn is gonna kill Vin when he finds out...'
At that she froze, resting one of her legs against the bed while the other remained off the edge. "Then it seems odd that it's only affecting you now," Trista stated. "Maybe you should talk with Vin," she added.
"IF we can get to him..." Jak muttered, knowing how Vin holes himself up.
"We should really," she muttered standing up. Trista placed her boots on, glancing once more towards Jak. She was about to ask how he felt thought ceased herself, not wanting to pester further.
Jak sighed and stood. He wasn't sure about any of this. He grabbed his jacket and flung it on before heading towards the door.
Trista followed after him, on several occasions she actually seen Vin. She placed her jacket on as well, her gaze averted towards the almost empty bar several sleeping within booths.
Jak strode out the door into the open air and 'borrowed' a vehicle, switched zones, and accidentally smashed a KG.
"Common Trista!" Jak said as he was almost swarmed by the Krimson Guards.
Trista leapt within the seat in the vehicle. She didn't pay much attention to putting the seatbelt on before clasping her arm around his waist, making sure not to touch any of his tattoos.
Jak sped to Vin's place, constantly switching zones to avoid traffic. When they got there Jak jumped out and ran to the door.
"Vin! Let us in!" Jak said, banging on the door.
Trista dismounted the zoomer, quite unsure if Vin would open the door or not. She stood besides Jak, with holding her breath as she waited for Vin to open up.
Vin poked his head out, shaking like a leaf. Jak sighed.
"Vin we need to talk..."Jak muttered. Vin nodded, opening the door just enough for the duo to get in before going back to tinkering with a wire on the floor. Moments later it snapped and there was a crash behind a console.
Trista arched a brow before walking in, "You alright?" she asked. She avoided being right besides the wire, not wanting to be electrocuted. She took time to examine the area Vin usually held himself within.
"DANGIT VIN! I SWEAR I DID NOT ASK YOU TO DROP ME!" Came a woman's voice from behind the console. Vin let out a yelp of fear and hid behind Jak. A girls head appeared, smeared with grease, oil, and blood. Blonde hair fell in neat curls to the girl's shoulders, her roots being more golden. She had pale skin and crystal eyes, though now obscured by golden eyebrows. Her ears were black tipped, and she wore a pair of goggles with golden brown straps. Standing, the girl was short, maybe 5'2, and wore a simple blue midriff shirt, red jacket that came barely past her shirt, and a pair of low rise jeans. She had a black belt holding them in place, and wore a pair of red fingerless gloves with a Precursor symbol on each. Adorning her thin arms was the same black scrawl that Jak had on his stomach, and on her thin torso she had the same Precursor symbol that was on her gloves. She wore steel toes boots with ridged soles. She grumbled, brushing off the dust and dirt that had accumulated on her from the fall.
'Well well, doesn't seem like Vin's alone,' Trista smirked inwardly. She shifted her gaze towards the woman before glancing at the hidden Vin. Trista examined the symbols adorning her before averting her gaze away. 'How peculiar,' she told herself, brushing back an ebony strand of hair.
Jak laughed quietly to himself.
"Vin, Tori won't hurt you!" He said, pushing Vin in front of himself. Vin flinched.
"She's going to kill me!" Vin squeaked. Tori sighed.
"Vin, I'm not going to kill you!" She stated, her voice dripping with an unnamable accent.
Trista smiled slightly, "Anyway, Vin, we came here to talk about Jak's markings." She informed, crossing her arms slightly.
Vin sighed, as Tori mumbled something like 'Scheißkopf' to herself.
"W-well... w-what about the markings...?"Vin asked, as Jak gave Tori a death glare. He kinda knew what she had just said and he didn't like it.
Trista quirked a thin brow before answering, "I heard you said that the markings Jak had didn't have a side affect, well they seemed to have." She paused, "Last night they turned darker then they usually were, and when I touched a bit of the tattoo, it began to bleed," Trista concluded.
"W-what?" Vin said, startled so much he fell backwards onto the major console. "T-t-that isn't e-even an n-normal side affect!" Vin said.
Tori sighed." I TOLD you that there is no way to rid ANYTHING of ALL the side affects." Tori said.
She lowered her gaze towards the ground, 'Question is will the effect continue,' Trista thought. She began to ponder slightly before shifting her gaze back towards Jak. "Do they still hurt?" Trista asked.
"No... Jak murmured." But if you touch um, they probably would."
"Tori...?" Vin said, silent question coming from the look in his goggled eyes rather than his mouth.
"Ya. Quite a bit, actually. But I get used to it." She said, her accent being finally recognizable as German.
Trista bit her lower lip, 'Is there any possible cure for this?' she thought. Once silence reigned she sighed inwardly, "Probably not.' She glanced once more towards Tori, examining the markings on her arms.
Ronan knocked on Vin's door, well managed too. Within his arms he carried a small box, containing several wires, clips, and a battery he ordered.
Tori ran and opened the door, taking the parcels with a nod and a Doncha. Moments later, leaving the door open for Ronan, she walked over to the main console.
"Vin, I have this covered. You can talk with the Weibchen and her man." Tori said. Vin nodded slightly, still not familiar with the German language enough to translate. But Jak was, and he steamed.
"Tori, take it back." He said.
"Nein."
"Hello Vin," Ronan greeted, nodding towards his sister, Trista. He was about to greet Jak but held his tongue at seeing the expression on his face.
Trista sweat-dropped before turning towards Vin, "Will Jak's markings side affects likely stay for a while?" she asked.
"I-I really don't know..." Vin stuttered, nervously playing with his goggles. A loud boom made him jump as something Tori was working on blew and covered her face with ash and soot.
Trista nodded with a sigh, Ronan giving her a questioning look. He quickly averted his gaze away from her towards Tori, "Something wrong?" Ronan asked.
" 'Sploded… 'Gain." Tori muttered. Her communicator rang and she answered it.
"Hallo? Ya, Tori here. No, I can't go on a mission now Torn. I'm helping Vin. Why? You told me to! Yes, you said to keep Vin out of trouble, so I am. Well how was I to know you only ment that day! You never said that! Oh, shush. Look, let me finish this thing and I'll bring JG and his girl as backup. What'll that do! Well for one thing you don't have to search for some, 'course! Sometimes, you are thicker than bricks! Don't ask me why I joined up. God, you are very pushy today." The machine she was working on blew up in her face… again. "Alright, alright, it blew. I'll be over before you can say Du Verdammte Scheißkopf Weibchen. Ya, ya. Bye." Tori hung up and brushed herself off, using a hand-towel on her face, revealing some rectangular tattoos on her face coming from the base of her ears and on coming from her hairline in the middle of her forehead.
"Vin, drop everything, you gotta work on the platform. Get it fixed so you won't become Metalhead Meat. Call me if you need me." Tori said. She hugged Vin tightly before heading out the door. Vin was taken aback by the close contact.
Ronan glanced towards the door before sighing, "I have to get going, see yeah," mentioning towards everyone before heading out the door.
"Bye Ronan," she informed, knowing well that her brother had to continue his job. Reviewing on what Tori recently said, she hesitated to follow. "What is Torn asking for now?" Trista said, sighing inwardly.
"He just wants us to get some info on a couple people. Not much. 'Cept for the fact that he wants everything we can get on them, i.e. what places they frequent, what do they have for dinner most often, who do they visit, and so on." Tori sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Torn always send me on the time consuming missions..."
'Wonder why,' she mused towards herself. 'What they eat often? That's quite strange.' Trista didn't question at that moment, though waited a few minutes after. "Who does he want us to interrogate?
"Hasn't said yet. He wants us to come to the underground. Or at least get to somewhere with a better connection, because he said the static on his end of the line was awful. We need to get Singular(R)..." Tori mumbled, locking the door behind the trio. Jak sighed.
Trista nodded slightly, having to agree with Tori never the less. She kept her arms crossed, continuing to ponder on what Torn had requested. She didn't focus much on it until they actually began leaving towards the underground.
Tori walked to a glass bridge over the road and dialed Torn's number.
"So, who do you want us to tail? No, we are not heading half way across Haven to the Underground, only to, knowing you, head all the way back here to the portal so we can head over to Kras city or something! Alright, I'll stop ranting. So, Erol, Razor, and... that's it? That's short! Ah well, ya, bye." Tori hung up and sighed.
Trista flinched inwardly at the name of Erol. 'How great,' she sighed softly. Her gaze shifted towards Tori, part of herself actually paying attention at the moment. 'Doesn't seem like I'd be able to go talk with Erol,' she mentioned to herself, recalling the previous event.
"Ok, Erol... Thank god for me! See, this is a thing of smartness." Tori grinned and tapped her head. "You see, I already gots all I need on him! And I know where Razor is gonna be in around 2 hours, so nabbing a bit of info and maybe a race will be no problem!" Tori turned and began to walk back to Vin's lace.
"To the portal and another race with Razor! AWAY!"
Trista arched a brow towards Tori before following after. 'Razor...Razor,' she pondered, 'Where have I heard that name.' Her gaze remained fixed ahead, believing if it was necessary to race, she should join.
Tori bolted back into Vin's place and began to dig around in a pile of junk. She pulled out a black little box and opened it, pulling out an ID with her picture and a number. With a smile she turned to Jak, who was standing, bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation.
"Alright ladies, you need to watch yourselves in Kras. I have a feeling the Kras City Welcoming Crew won't be too happy to see us, 'specially me, so you better keep your backs and buns covered. When we get there we'll head straight to the stadium, and we will take the back alleys. Ya see, I'm not really supposed to be there. I still have a few minutes on my clock to wear off, so to speak. I was banned for five years, and Kras isn't that forgiving. But beware. UR-86 is out and about nowadays and he will burn us good. Let's get the heck outta here, cherries." And she turned and went through the glowing portal. During her speech her accent faded, to be replaced with a southern city accent. Jak laughed.
"One girl, many voices. Damn, I still don't know how Sig cant keep track of her accents." He muttered, thumbing his nose.
Trista inwardly chuckled before entering the portal. She herself, taking view of the arriving city, taking a cautious glance towards where she had just come from. Her neutral expression remained, though alert at the same time.
Her arms crossed, scanning a bit for any who had the suspicion or essence of The Crew.
Tori ran and pulled a car over to Jak and Trista. She could already hear the revving engines of the trio of Welcoming Crew and really didn't have time to do anything else.
"Both of ya'll get in! AND I MEAN NOW!" Jak hopped in the back, checking the wires behind the seat. Tori grinned at him.
"You better pray I don't tell Nikki cause I hear she got a new wrench." Tori said, making Jak jump.
Trista quickly obeyed and took an empty seat. She didn't bother to place on her seatbelt, shifting her attention towards the sound of engines. All in all she remained silent, though she avoided contact with several open wires.
"Five..." Tori began to count as the engines roared closer. Then when she hit One she gunned it just as the Crew blew through the wall. One button push later and the cars behind them were either in flames or going in circles. Tori chuckled as they pulled up to the local pub. She got out and walked in, noting no one inside and signaled for the others. Jak walked in first and was bowled over by an over excited ottsel. The creature was black all over with a white stripe running down her belly and little white stripes on her wrist. She wore a white tank, white pants and white gloves. The ottsel, Nikki, jumped on Tori's shoulder and put an arm on the girls head.
"I missed ya." Nikki said. Jak groaned some inaudible obsinities before sitting up and giving Nikki a glare.
She remained outside for a moment; something didn't feel right, at least in her opinion. Trista glanced towards the side, watching as the remnant of the fire die off in the distance.
'I'm just hallucinating,' she inwardly mentioned before walking in. Eyes immediately landing upon a black and white ottsel upon Tori's shoulder.
Jak cursed at the Ottsel. Tori laughed.
"Now, how sure are you that GT isn't anywhere near here?" Tori asked the ottsel girl. Nikki though for a moment and then muttered something before responding.
"Pretty sure. I blew his hair off the last time he came so I'm pretty sure he won't be back." Tori raised a hand up to Nikki's level and Nikki hi-fived it.
"Good girl."