"Jack are you okay?" Allegra asked, putting a hand gently on his shoulder. Jack groaned in response and heaved over the side of the ship again. Somewhere down below, he could hear the startled honking of cars as they wondered why puke rained from the sky.

"I'm fine." He groaned. "Just...a little altitude sickness."

Allegra frowned, her brow scrunching up in that cute way of hers. "Since when did you have altitude sickness?"

Jack gave a dry laugh, but had to stop soon to keep from barfing on the polished floor. "It's not me, it's Khalix."

Allegra's surprised look was gone as soon as it came. "Oh, I guess that makes sense." She raised her eyebrows. "Just don't puke on me. I'm pretty sure humans don't take kindly to uncleanliness."

Jack grinned up at her. "I'm a human." He offered.

Allegra patted his shoulder as she turned to leave. "You're a cyborg. You don't count."

Jack felt a smile pull at the corners of his mouth.

You're sooo into her. Khalix snickered.

"Shut up." Jack muttered. The ship pitched again and Khalix moaned nauseously. Jack resisted the urge to smirk.

He stood up, leaning heavily on the rail, and stumbled over to the deck–trying to subtly clutch his stomach while simultaneously putting on a brave face.

Hypnova glanced up as he approached her.

"How far away are we?" He asked.

SHe turned back to the prow, her eyes distant and calculating, like she was imagining a battle plan on the horizon.

"Not far. We'll be there in about five minutes." She threw Jack a sideways glance. "What's wrong with you?"

Jack pointed to his chest, indicating Khalix. "Altitude sickness."

She cocked an eyebrow coolly. "Go downstairs. Lay down for a bit. You don't want to make a bad impression on your lifelong hero."

Jack smiled sheepishly. "No."

He staggered belowdecks, blindly making his way to a cabin and collapsed on the mattress. The Real World was always so much harder to cope with.

I regret nothing. Khalix said blatantly.

Jack glared at the ceiling. "Well you should. This is not fun, in the least."

Too bad. This is payback for the time you shoved an ice cream cone up my nose.

Jack's lips twitched. "You had that coming to you."

I did not! And anyway, everyone knows that butter pecan is my least favorite flavor.

"Right."

It is! Do your research Jack!

"You're not exactly–oh never mind."

Suddenly, there was a huge crash and the door banged open. Skerren stood there breathless, with both swords drawn.

Jack was up in a flash, despite the sudden spots that clouded his vision. In the back of his mind, he was notably aware of Khalix complaining professionally about moving so abruptly.

"What is it?" Jack demanded.

"We're here." His friend responded. "But we're not the only ones."

~line break~

"Are you kidding me?" Even to himself Jack sounded like a whiny first grader. "I'm supposed to be on vacation!"

Skerren rolled his eyes. "Please, when are you ever on vacation?"

Jack glared at him. "You're kind of missing the point." He peered over the railing again. "Dang, Speedrazor's having a field day."

And indeed, Jack's least favorite 'peacekeeper', along with a few of his loyal cronies, were down at ground level ransacking the house of Jack's favorite comic book author.

Allegra frowned. "What's the deal? Did they know we were coming?"

Skerren snorted. "Doubt it. The only thing that Speedrazor has brain capacity for is following blind orders and messing up Jack's life."

"My life is not messed up."

Yes it is.

"Shut up Khalix."

Jack's friends were still getting used to him talking to Khalix, but to their credit, at least they didn't flinch or stare at him openly.

"So what do we do? Go down there and help–"

Before Allegra could finish her sentence, a pair of teens rounded the corner. They looked about seventeen, and both wore orange t-shirts with black wording and some kind of symbol. The text was too far to read.

When they saw what was happening, Jack expected them to stand there with jaws on the ground and eyes the size of dinner plates. Instead, they didn't seem surprised at all. In fact, they looked kind of annoyed.

Then the boy reached into his pocket and pulled out something black and thin; a pen, Jack realized. But when he pulled off the cap, a three-foot bronze blade sprang out, turning a simple writing utensil into a beautiful, leaf-shaped sword.

He turned to his blonde girlfriend, who was now brandishing a dagger of the same bronze material. He must've said something funny, because she laughed and shoved his face away as he leaned in for a kiss. Then, they charged.

If Speedrazor hadn't been so, well… speedy, he would have already died. The teenagers were lethally skilled with their weapons, and seemed to anticipate the villains' every move. It was as if they had been fighting this way their whole lives, and together at that.

Skerren's eyes widened as the three of them continued to watch in amazement. "Woah." He breathed. "Their skill… it's–it's amazing."

Allegra shook her head in disbelief. "Yeah, and they're trying to kill Speedrazor, look!" She pointed to where the raven-haired teen slashed and hacked at Speedrazor, obviously trying to wound, or kill him. The blows came almost as fast as Speedrazor could dodge, leaving him no time to retaliate.

The rest of his posse had scattered, save for Pain, whom the blonde was fighting. Judging from the way she favored her left leg, Jack would guess that she had already discovered Pain's special ability. Though despite her apparent injury, the supervillain was also on the defensive. To say that Jack was awed would be an understatement.

Jack was itching to go down and help, but they were still too far away. Sure, Speedrazor was a jerk, but he didn't deserve to die. The boat drew closer to the house.

"We've gotta help." Allegra murmured, looking like she wanted to jump off the ship and run the rest of the way. Her brow was knit in concern. Skerren shook his head in response. "We're moving faster on the boat, and we're still too far away." Allegra stamped her foot in frustration.

Jack's attention was drawn back to Speedrazor when said supervillain cried out in pain. Jack's eyes widened when he saw the long gash running down Speedrazor's arm. The former peacekeeper, clutching his bleeding appendage, fell to his knees as the teen bore down on him, blade lifted to–

Out of nowhere, a smaller blade–a throwing knife–hurtled towards the teen and clipped his hand right before he could stab Speedrazor. The boy yelped in surprise and dropped his sword.

"Yes!" Skerren whispered. "Got him." Jack realized that part of Skerren's tunic was pulled back to reveal a belt full of knives. One of the slots was empty.

The boat was now directly over the house, and lowering gently.

"Come on!" Allegra hissed. "Let's go! We're close enough, now's our chance!"

Skerren nodded his assent and allowed Allegra to wrap her arm around his middle. She did the same to Jack, even though he hadn't said anything.

Together, they stepped up onto the railing and jumped.

The thirty-foot fall wasn't as controlled as Jack would have liked, but Allegra let them go at the last second, so both Skerren and Jack had time to land on the roof steadily. Well, Skerren landed steadily, whereas Jack stumbled over his own feet and fell off the roof.

Graceful. Khalix remarked, as Jack landed with a heavy thump on the ground. It was a good thing the house was only one story. Jack gritted his teeth. "Back to your obnoxious commentating I see." He grumbled as he stood up gingerly.

Above him, Skerren and Allegra leaped off the roof, charging to join the fight.

Hey! Khalix objected. Who said I was obnoxious?

"Anyone that had patience enough to listen to you."

Oh I beg to differ, you NEVER seem to have patience to listen to m–

"That's because I never have a choice whether or not I listen to you!"

Well actually…

"Jack!" Allegra's labored shouting halted Jack and Khalix's "bonding moment". "We could use a little help over here!" Jack glanced over and saw Allegra barely holding off the blonde, with her arms up in a shield.

Jack gave her a thumbs up. "Got it, hold on!" He turned and ran into the house.

Where are you going? Khalix demanded. The fight's outside!

"Yeah I know." Jack responded, weaving his way through the cluttered mess Speedrazor's team had created. "But I can't help unless you want me to be a sitting target–which I doubt those teens will fall for by the way."

So what are you doing in here?

Jack jumped over a stack of overturned boxes, peering through open doors until he found what he was looking for. "Finding a computer."

This answer did not please the Rüstov prince. Finding a computer? FINDING A COMPUTER? JACK BLANK, I AM YOUR COMPUTER.

Jack plopped down in the swivel chair and opened up the laptop. Everything else in the room had been ransacked, but for some reason Speedrazor had left the computer untouched.

"Yes Khalix," Jack said, after politely asking the computer to take him to the main frame. "You post blogs, infiltrate conservation websites and hack into girls' email accounts. I am very aware that you are my computer." ((lol don't feel bad if you don't get this reference. It's an inside joke. DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE APRIL?!))

Jack typed in a long string of code, managing to maximize the speaker twenty-fold. The laptop made a cheerful chirping sound, and pulled up a soundtrack of the most horrifying sounds Jack could ever imagine. One of them, strangely enough, was a brain fart. Jack did not want to know if that referenced someone blanking, or Khalix actually farting in someone's head. The latter did not sound very appealing at all.

You're going to blast them with cringy music? Khalix asked. That's your plan?

"It's flawed," Jack admitted. "but do you have a better idea?"

Yes in fact, I do. Khalix said, sounding a little too enthusiastic. Without warning, a terrible sound filled Jack's head. For lack of a better comparison, it was like a metal cat being run over repeatedly by a lawn mower.

Jack cringed and clenched his temples. "Ow."

Brilliant right? Khalix asked. Jack could practically see him beaming with pride. Just blare that from the loud speakers and everyone within a mile will soak the ground with the blood streaming from their ears!

"Yeah, that sounds fun."

It will be, trust me!

Jack rolled his eyes and typed some more code into the computer. If he was trusting Khalix, things must have looked pretty grim. "Can you repeat that?" Jack asked, then added hastily, "To the computer, not me."

When Khalix didn't immediately respond, Jack was ready to get agitated, but then a very long series of different lines and numbers and dashes appeared on the screen. If Jack hadn't known better, he would have said it was more coding. "Wait, is that Rüstov?"

Just play the track! And only once, mind you. I don't think your weak human ears can handle it more than that.

"Noted." Jack snapped the laptop closed, and raced back outside. It had barely been three minutes, but things were already looking bad. Skerren and Allegra were losing ground, and despite Skerren's skill and Allegra's incredible willpower, both of them had been forced on the defensive. Speedrazor and Pain were nowhere to be seen.

"Jack!" Allegra cried when she spotted him. Silver beads of sweat traced down her forehead. "Got anything good?"

Jack held the computer as far away from him as he could. "I hope so!" He clicked the space key, and clapped his free hand over his ear. The sound produced by the computer had abandoned the death-by-lawnmower phase. Now, it sounded more like a legion of banshees attempting soprano.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!" Skerren roared over the din. Jack peeled one of his eyes open to see Allegra, Skerren and their teenage opponents reduced to their knees and clutching their ears.

Jack reached for the computer and smacked a couple more keys, throwing the banshees for a loop.

What are you doing? Khalix asked. He sounded genuinely curious.

Jack ignored him and raced over to Allegra. She seemed to have an advantage over the other three–having turned her hands solid to muffle the noise. She frowned at Jack. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

Jack grinned at her. "You'll never be on my bad side."

Ack! No PDA! Khalix yelled. Jack ignored him.

"Can you tie them up?"

Allegra cringed, but she nodded, peeling her hands away from her head and wrapping her arms around the teens. When Jack was satisfied that they had been subdued, he ran back to where the computer sat in the grass, and slammed the escape button. The banshees stopped.

Skerren flopped onto his back and stared at the sky, where Hypnova had parked her ship not but a story above the house. "I will never look at computers the same way ever again."

"You say that all the time." Allegra retorted. She turned to her captives. "Who are you?" She demanded.

For the most part, the teens seemed to have recovered their alertness, and they didn't look very surprised by Allegra's morphing ability, or Skerren's swords. Again, they just looked annoyed.

"I would ask the same to you." The blonde responded. She stared Allegra down with stormy gray eyes. Her gaze was so unsettling that Allegra had to look away.

"None of your business."

"Then don't expect us to answer your question."

Allegra grit her teeth in frustration. "We'll let you go if you tell us!"

The blonde scoffed. "Why do I doubt that?"

"Guys!" Jack interrupted. "We just want to know why you attacked Speedrazor. You seemed pretty intent on killing him."

For a moment, the raven-haired teen looked thoughtful. "Wait… is Speedrazor the shiny dude with really sharp fingernails?" He shifted his arm to show four bleeding scratches running down his bicep. "Because, ow."

Skerren frowned, probably admiring the guy's pain tolerance. Those scratches looked pretty deep. "Yes. That's him."

The blonde seemed confused, but she hid it well. "You talk about him like he was a person. Was he not a monster?"

Jack and Allegra shared a confused look. "It… depends on what you mean by monster." Jack said, although he had a feeling he knew what the blonde meant. "Like, was he a complete and total jerk to us, or was he the kind of creature that hides under childrens' beds at night?"

The raven-haired one looked surprised. "So he wasn't a monster? But… what was he?"

Jack was beyond confused. "He used to be a peacekeeper…" Jack said, deciding that they must be from the Imagine Nation. They certainly seemed like the type, and they weren't at all surprised by the trio. They would surely know about Smart's peacekeepers.

But they didn't. The teenagers looked about as confused as Jack felt.

"What do you mean a 'peacekeeper'?" The blonde demanded. "And how does that explain why he was tearing apart this mortal's house?"

Skerren frowned. Apparently he didn't like the use of the word 'mortal'. The young warrior opened his mouth to make a biting retort, but Jack cut him off.

"I… aren't you guys from the Imagine Nation?"

The blonde scowled, and glanced at her boyfriend. "If that's any place like Camp Jupiter…" He shook his head, eyes wide. "Another place for half-bloods? Gods of Olympus! How many of us are there?"

Half-bloods? Olympus? Camp Jupiter? Gods? Jack was officially confused. He held up his hands. "Okay, obviously there's some crazy stuff going on here." Jack shared an agreeable look with Allegra.

"Promise not to kill us?" She asked the teens. The blonde rolled her eyes, a bit of a smile tugging on her lips. She nudged her boyfriend playfully. "Funny how we always get ourselves into these situations." Allegra loosened her arms around them, and the two stood up. After a sharp look from the Valorian, Skerren reluctantly sheathed his swords as well.

Turning, Jack made a gesture towards the ship floating above the house. "Come on… I think we need a place to talk."

A/N:

Finally! Okay, I know I've been talking (sort of) about this Fic for a long time, but I'm so happy to finally post the first chapter(!) I'm sorry it took so long, but I've had a busy past few... yikes, has it really been months?! (O/O) Well, thanks for bearing with me, I know some of you have been waiting forever and ever for this fic.

Just a heads up though, you saw how long this one chapter was, so it might be a little while before I update, just because I'll be really busy this summer.

Oh and real quick before I go! If any of you can catch the reference I made to another of my fics, send me a pm and let me know! You will get a shout out in the next chapter! Love you guys lots! R&R

Over and out!

-Amy