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Man In Uniform
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Lucky bastards.
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He had been
floating at the edge of consciousness for a few moments now. He barely
registered the draping of the heavier then usual forearm over his eyes. But no
matter what he did that damned light still found a way to slither through his
make shift shield. Making its presence known to the weary young man. And it
stung his eyes; fucking light, prompting the thick tears of all sleep
addled men.
It wasn’t long
before he felt the metal frame of his cot rattle beneath him causing a weak
groan in annoyance. His brain felt like loose jell-o in the casing of his skull
and any little jolt sent it reeling unrelentingly against the electrified fence
that was his dreaded hang over.
“Go. A. Way.” He
rasped pathetically.
“No. I don’t think
I will.” Was the indignant reply.
The current and
often Bain of his existence sighed dramatically and kicked his bunk even
harder.
The world sparked
and spun behind his wrinkled lids.
“Get up you ass!
We’re going to be late… Again!”
“So leave already.”
The lounging one growled as he pulled the covers over his head.
“You know I can’t.
We already had this discussion. We always have this discussion.”
He was clenching
his teeth; the splayed man could tell by the way the words seemed to mimic a
steamy hiss as they crossed the other man’s lips.
“I will not have my
ass chewed out again because of you, Davis!” the other boy growled. “Now get
your sorry hide out of this fucking bed before I smother you and tell the
commander you croaked in your sleep!”
A pale hand inched
the lonely blanket away from a pair of blood shot eyes. They were wide in
disbelief (well, what passed for wide in the state he was in). The blanket
inched down even lower to reveal the bags underneath those same tired eyes. A
lawn of vaguely disturbing stubble followed only adding more detail to the
man’s haggard visage.
It was amazing what
a weekend of binge drinking could do to a guy by Monday morning.
The man apparently
named Davis licked his dry lips. Green eyes tinged in red never wavered,
although the view was a bit hazy. After a staring match the poor guy was much
too ill to win, the raven-haired boy reluctantly emerged from the covers. He
hit the floor on his feet surprisingly, although with a pronounced wince.
bathroom they shared, muttering something that sounded an awful like:
“Well, fuck you too
Vergil.”
He inhaled sharply.
And immediately gagged. Jak scrunched up his nose but the pressure there
remained, something rough but soft at the same time tickling him. He was till
half asleep but the smell was bothering him.
“Ugh…” he moaned
tiredly and swung his arms forward wildly.
The attack was
brief and the man’s arms fell just as quickly to his sides again.
The smell and the
tickling pressure were gone momentarily but it wasn’t long before it returned.
There was a jagged giggle. So he cracked open a heavy eyelid. The vision before
him was incredibly distorted. He was forced to open the other just to focus.
There was a blob of orange and yellow standing on his chest.
“Daxter?” he
groaned.
Another chuckle was
the only response he got.
Okay, so Dax was
standing on his chest, but that didn’t explain the stinky weight on his face…
or maybe it did. His eyes crossed as he tried to focus on his nose and the
presence there.
“Dax!” He wailed
sitting up so abruptly the ottsel was sent flying to the end of the cot.
Jak grimaced and
wiped the imaginary filth from his face. He growled and jumped up on his feet,
the mattress squeaking painfully. Before Daxter could even get upright, he was
shoved back into the matt by his best friend’s foot. Jak’s big toe muffled any
protest Daxter could have mustered.
“Let’s see how you
like it!” Jak cackled. “Oww!”
The blonde shrieked
and fell back on the cot. He bent his foot up to eye level and examined his
injured toe. Dax had bitten him.
Unfortunately for
Daxter, however, Jak was not the only one who had suffered. He spit and
retched, trying desperately to get the taste of the man’s foot out of his
mouth.
“Geez Louise, Jak!”
He said pulling a face. “When’s tha last time ya washed them dogs ah yours!”
“You’re one to
talk!” Jak smiled before pouting pitifully as he continued to prod his toe.
“You are up to date on your shots, right?”
Before Dax could
edge out a reply, Jak sneezed loudly catching it with his hand. The older boy
looked at said hand with a frown, before promptly wiping what ever it was that
had caused such a reaction on the blanket.
Dax palled.
“Alright!” the
ottsel yelled. “In ta the shower with ya Mr. Manners! And hurry it up! Tattooed
Wonder will probably already be bitchin’ at us for over sleepin’ as it is! And
as much as I’d love ta give the guy a furry foot where the sun don’t shine, I
will consider your feelings on the matter.”
Jak raised a brow
at the concluding remark. Dax didn’t notice however as the boy’s hand was
currently distracting him. The ottsel watched with barely contained disgust as
it continued to scratch in various…um… places. The glorious Precursor sighed
audibly, hoped off the bed and headed out the door.
“What?!”
innocently.
“I swear sometimes,
it’s like living with an animal.” He muttered.
hall, Davis was feeling slightly better. He’d even managed a modified version
of his usual swagger despite the pain. He would catch the blonde watching him
out the corner of his eye every now and then and made a point to ignore the
older man.
saying a word. Davis was in complete bliss; of course Vergil must have sensed this.
He couldn’t let his partner stay happy for long. Not with all the trouble he’d
caused him this weekend. Besides what type of idiot thought that it was a good
idea to get wasted the night before a big mission. And not only that, but to
get into a bar wide brawl with a bunch of Wastelanders at that.
throat and limped just a bit faster. Trying his best to put some distance between
himself and Vergil. He could hear the man’s snort and quiet chuckle.
zoomers. Sure, he’d ridden on the gods forbidden things trillions of times but
that didn’t mean he liked it. Hell after all the screaming he’d done in Jak’s
ears over the years, you’d think the guy would get the hint. But no, not
perpetually suicidal Jak, even when they were young the boy had seemed to have
some sort of a death wish.
some sort of hot vacation spot or something.
darkening. The rain clouds were rolling in again. And the day had started off
so promising.
was having moods swings like some prepubescent girl or something. He ducked
down lower on Jak shoulder. His body automatically positioned it self for
maximum balance on the living breathing ledge.
probably wouldn’t miss him until old tattoo face cracked some pissy remark
asking where he was. He really didn’t feel like this today. He hadn’t even
realized his ears were drooping.
realized they had ditched the zoomer. His ears perked as he recognized the
sound of screaming pedestrians and the explosion of said zoomer as it collided
with one of the industrial walls.
properly.
We’ll just jump off. The zoomer’ll stop it self if no one’s on it.”
he tried to duplicate it in his head. The ottsel sighed and forced a weary
smile.
guy?”
today…”
is nothing that’ll make me feel better then mashing in some metal head skulls,
alright. I mean… I… I been waitin’ for this all weekend.”
the corner of his eyes. Nope, he was still not convinced. But he didn’t have a
clue what to say, if any thing at all.
back in Sandover. Though, Daxter had never been this moody then.
abruptly closing it again. It was so easy to fall back on words. But they never
seemed to make things better. Maybe Dax was right. Things were so much simpler
when he didn’t talk.
changed so much between them? Even with everything that’s happened… They
were still the same weren’t they?
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m fine.”
before putting the key pass into the coded lock of Freedom HQ and typed in the
password. The metal door whirled open and the two of them hoped on the steel
grated elevator.
with people. It wasn’t like it was his job or anything. Well, if you asked
Ashelin she seemed to think it was.
make it back when the woman thought you should’ve, it was always him she
bitched to. And why was that? He had people especially recruited to look into
the matters like that for him. He was a busy man. He didn’t have time to baby
sit. Besides, troops turned up missing all the time. Being in the Freedom Guard
wasn’t like being in some city council or something. Sometimes… shit happened.
the communicator with Haven’s venerable governor, Torn was not feeling his
usual upbeat self.
was it his job to find out.
assign Jak a mission anyway. It had been Sig. The mission was in the Wasteland.
Technically Torn wasn’t even in command. It had nothing to do with Haven. That
monk boy…girl…whatever… had sent for Jak. He and his boys were just tagging
along.
resent recruits. He frowned looking at the group of fresh-faced youngsters,
faces that were pale and devoid of ink. If there was anything Torn actually
missed about the Krimson Guard, it was the tattoos. This sort of work was a
life long commitment. And nothing said commitment like facial tattoos if you
asked Torn.
put upon sigh. They were a bunch of idiots, this lot. Each of them had at least
six reprimands apiece. These little bastards were in dire need of a reality
check. And he had figured that hanging out with Jak was exactly what these boys
needed.
The dark haired one that looked like death had warmed over.
got him out of the city.
sort of reminded him of Jak when he’d first met him. Only this one had to be at
least four times as stupid. Torn actually felt a bit of pity for the kid’s
partner. He looked a little worse for wear himself. But if there was anyone
he’d pair the kid up with it was Vergil. If you had to team a psycho jackass up
with anyone it was best if it was a stick in the mud.
idiot?!
entirely. He slumped back on the control panel behind him. Vergil’s eyes were
immediately on him but he didn’t say anything. The teenager rolled his eyes.
Torn couldn’t have actually expected them to stay standing like that all this
time anyway. But of course these brownnosers seemed to insist on following
protocol.
Davis.
young Freedom Guard from making his opinion known.
that the two of them had been called in on this special mission was
because he was such a fuck up. Which of course was absolutely not true. Most of
those failed missions had been Vergil’s fault anyway. For instance, if Verg had
just listened to him when he’d told him to use one of his defrag grenades on
that group of metal heads. They wouldn’t have ended up in the mess they had
back at the eco mine. But no, the guy had insisted that it was too dangerous
and the mine was full of unstable eco and a grenade would probably kill them.
wrong. At the most it would have probably blown a hole in the mine. The fucking
place was full of holes. It was a goddamned strip mine!
authorized him to carry any grenades. He’d barely trusted him with his blaster
mod. And that had taken some serious hoop jumping on his part. It was just
embarrassing being the only guy still running around with a scatter gun.
Torn looking at him. His commander cleared his throat still staring at him expectantly.
Davis sighed and sat up straight mumbling something rude under his breath.
blazing.
boy up against the nearest wall.
have to wait for the metal heads to get a hold ta ya scrawny hide. I’ll break
your fucking neck myself, you little shit!” He growled.
and legs whipping all around. But he would not dare lay a hand on his
commander. Sure he was an ass, but he wasn’t a complete ass. He’d seen that
knife Torn always fiddled with.
pissing him off any further. He really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut.
But it was so hard! He was trying his damnedest to ignore his comrades’
snickering in the background and focus on Torn’s angry face.
that voice. It was about fucking time! It was Jak and his pet rat.
obnoxious self. “We interrupting something?”
ear. “I told ya something was iffy ‘bout that guy.”
boy to drop helplessly to the floor.
us.” He said waggling his eyebrows.
couldn’t help the grin. It was kind of nice to see Dax and Torn go at it again.
Just like old times.
brunet snarled.
shook his head.
boys…” He said looking down at a winded Davis who was still sprawled out on the
floor, a perverted grin on his face. “Are just tagging along.”
the war table.
said pointing at the lot of rookies. “Cause me and Jakky boy don’t roll with
scrubs. Ya gotta be made of the tough stuff if ya even think ya got a chance
where we’re about ta go.”
creature. Dark gray eyes turned to look upon his commander in a brief show of
worry. Torn just stared back, a bored expression on his face.
Wasteland metal head?” Daxter said with a smirk.
interested.
suddenly grinned. “Well you’re in for a treat!” He crowed.
sooner we get this over with the better.” He added before stalking out the
door.
shoulder. “Geez, what a kill joy!” he sneered.
suddenly and turned around.
been aiming to kill when they’d walked in.
got all day!”
to retrieve his gun, but he never took his eyes off Jak. Jak cut his eyes in
Daxter’s direction.
finally asked his eyes narrowed as he sized the other man up.
operation.” The ottsel leaned in. “He’s just the pretty face.” He whispered
jutting his thumb in Jak’s direction.
hall. The boy hurried out the door saying something along the lines of…
idea.” The older boy mumbled.
Author’s
Note: Dun, dun, dun…
Uh oh, the introduction of the infamous Original Character. Davis is…um…
something, isn’t he? Give him a chance though, he’s a lot more then I’m letting
on just yet.
This one turned
out a lot more humorous than I had intended. You’ll have to forgive me; I was
feeling a bit snarky. I don’t think Jak was out of character though. He is a
guy so I could so see him doing those things. I love Torn in this one.
much needed action because Jak’s all about that action right? Dax’s POV is up
as well.