"You doin' okay Jak?" Torn looked up from his paperwork with a rare glimpse of humanity in his cold eyes. "You haven't been yourself lately." Jak chuckled, gathering ammo from his gun-rack, and polishing the pieces for his Vulcan Fury. His fingers traced the lines of each piece softly, cleaning the metal with care, assembling it with skill, and not allowing a single piece to touch another beyond its perfect place for the gun. The detail always captivated his attention; keeping it away from unwarranted thoughts. As soon as the weapon was assembled, he cocked it and aimed at the various posters around the room, only pausing to leave a scorch-mark on the spot where a poster of the now dead commander of the Krimzon Guard once hung; one Captain Erol. Torn watched the weapon discharge with clear disapproval of its use inside the building, much less further damaging his wall.
"I'm fine Torn. I've been fine, I will be fine, and I still don't understand why you ask me that every day." Torn shrugged and tapped his papers into order, slapping them onto the table and sitting upright. As though it were a call to attention, Jak turned to face him, holstering the gun across his back. A certain orange rat also reacted to the charge, scampering up his best friend's body to perch on his shoulder and stand stock still, mocking the military aire of the room.
"Alright then. Your mission today is a simple one, so I won't expect you to fuck it up. You're to play babysitter for Vin while he sets up a few… Devices for the shadow to … ahem, shadow the Krimzon Guard's general activities. If we're lucky, we may even find out about some raids in advance." Leaning under the desk to grab a new stack of papers, Torn continued. "Of course… The information will be useless pretty quickly if we use any of it, and will probably cause more trouble than good, but the Shadow is encouraging the plan just in case it saves a few agents." Jak was already halfway to the door by the time Torn sat upright again. The older soldier smiled roguishly, proud of his friend for his strength. Though he'd never mention it, Torn was appreciative of Jak's tough attitude. The boy seemed odd ever since Erol's death, and acted highly defensive about the topic, but at least he was handling it like a man. Returning his thoughts to work, Torn rifled through the papers, and shivered softly as what seemed to be a cold breeze flowed through the air vent beneath him. "I'll have to get that checked by the tech later."
Jak leaned in and out of traffic, racing to his destination as though running from something. His best friend and fur ball was blissfully unaware of the tense anxiety racing through his friend and mount, just enjoying the speed that Jak usually employed on the road. The two proceeded to Vin's lair without words, and when they arrived, as usual, Daxter was the first one to talk. "Hey kibbles'n'bits! How goes?!" Vin shuddered at the nickname and turned from the screen. "Honestly… I- I don't know where y-you get these weird n-nicknames for me." The jittery scientist was collecting miscellaneous items hurriedly. "I- I'll be ready in just a moment. Then we can go to place the devices." Daxter jumped down from Jak's shoulder and started to tease the scientist as he prepared for the trip. Jak hung near the entrance and waited, though it wasn't long before something he didn't invite came. At first Jak thought it was a figment of his imagination. Like phantom pain, he felt fingers caressing him. Flashbacks eclipsed his vision, unwanted hands caressing him, sweet nothings in his ear and intrusive fingers, pressing, invading… so much pain. Those same fingers seemed to be on him now, that same breath pervading the air. Jak shook his head, drawing himself out of his thoughts, and returning to reality. Those fingers seemed to remain, as the breath, but Jak willed them away. Taking his gun from his holster he came up behind Vin and grabbed his shoulder, startling the nervous scientist. "Have you got everything?" Vin rifled through the box he held and nodded silently, pushing his glasses up on his face. "Then lets go." Jak walked straight toward the teleporter as Vin hastily set the coordinates. Daxter barely had time to jump to his shoulder as he stepped through the portal.
"WATCH OUT!" a piece of debris flew past Jak, barely clipping his face. The hero dodge-rolled out of the way, immediately readying his weapon and pushing Daxter closer to his pack to protect him from any other stray attacks. Investigating the area, Jak saw nothing, as the clearing immediately following entrance from the portal was filled with Dust. The familiar sound of the portal activating and a flurry of coughing and fumbling followed as Jak rushed over, grabbing a very bewildered Vin and savagely pulling him out of the way of the prior explosion's source, nearly dislocating the scientists' arm in the process. The stunned man was silent instinctually save the clinking of the metal in his arms as he shook like a leaf. There were no sounds now, and the dust was starting to clear, so Jak signaled Dax to stay and keep Vin quiet while he investigated. Surprisingly serious, Daxter obeyed wordlessly as Jak slinked toward the source of the explosion. As he came around the corner, he touched at his cheek gingerly, and found that the flying debris hadn't drawn blood, only left a streak of black soot across his face. Turning the corner cautiously Jak was suddenly bowled over by something immediately preceeding an explosion. In the sudden lack of visibility caused by the dust, Jak quickly twisted to land on top of whatever had hit him, and pinned it to the ground, holding his gun to its head, ready to shoot if it moved, fearing a metal head. He almost dropped his gun when he found what it was instead.