Veneer
Summary: Suddenly everything comes into perspective…
Stretching his long spindly arms up over his head, Jack Spicer groaned when his spine popped loudly. He let his arms lose their strength and flop bonelessly by his sides. Blinking his red, sleep-ridden eyes clear; the youth smiled lightly at the sight of his tidy lab.
Although no morning light was spilling into the room, Jack's body-clock was screaming; he should've been up hours ago. But, the youth admitted grudgingly; he had been up the night before, late, tracking down a Shen Gong Wu.
The albino snorted at the memory. He had scrambled and tripped over himself, sobbing when he was beaten, yet again, by the Xiaolin monks. Jack almost laughed outright; he couldn't believe how gullible the monks were. Surely the genius' overacting wasn't ithat/i convincing?
When he was younger, Jack hadn't ever considered his actions exaggerated, only concerned with keeping his true nature masked. Now, it was simply entertaining to see how far he could push his act without the Xiaolin Monks raising an eyebrow.
Throwing a quick, subtle glance to the corner of the lab, Jack's red eyes lit up, and a smirk lashed across his face.
Pressed up against a corner, under a table and virtually out of sight, was a small, inconspicuous machine. Lights flickered across its surface, with seemingly no pattern to follow. But Jack saw the change and he grinned, watching three small lights that glowed yellow; a sign he'd been pining for, for weeks.
The lights signalled that any eyes placed in his home had disbanded; be them government cameras or the sharp eyes of Chase's crows.
This time, some organisation or another had placed cameras in his lab; whatever they had been chasing, Jack made sure to keep from them. He had spent the last month distracting the watching eyes until they finally grew sick of his antics and disbanded; they had cleared the clutch of cameras out of his home during the night.
Jack laughed quietly to himself as he yanked his yellow goggles from his hair, dropping them down by his bare feet, before ruffling his red hair until it spiked oddly, but still kept some semblance.
Now, Jack didn't have to act the fool in his own home.
Free to quieten and work efficiently, Jack felt a bounce in his step. Slapping his hands together and rubbing them excitedly, he hurried over to one of his work tables and threw himself into a wheelie chair and let his momentum wind him around until he was facing his laptop.
He stilled and, for a long moment, Jack blinked curiously; his mind unable to process what was right in front him. Slowly his entire body went ridged as his wide red eyes locked on several red flashing warnings that danced across his monitor.
A scowl split his face and the albino snapped angrily, slamming a palm over the keys of his laptop, scattering different commands across the glowing screen.
He paused, cancelling and closing some controls down until he could double-click on the message and skim over it. After a pause, the youth was seething, wanting nothing more than to rise up and scream and refuse to admit he'd let it slip.
It took everything he had not to throw his laptop across the room.
His pale lips formed a thin, dangerous line, before it melted away into a small smirk.
Leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling of his lab, Jack took a long, steadying breath,
"Well, it was fun…" he muttered lightly. The albino closed his eyes momentarily, before shifting himself upright, "JB-24."
A humming chunk of technology moved into the light of the small laptop, black and gold metal catching the dim glow. The automaton's creator eyed his robot momentarily, silently wishing he'd had time to modernise his little gadgets with stronger alloys and maybe an arsenal that would make the monks turn tail.
Sadly, Jack knew his time was up.
"Clean up the lab; guests will be arriving in 8 minutes…" Jack muttered after a moment, "We don't want to give the wrong impression, do we?"
Before the robot could bleep an affirmative, another electronic noise caught the albino's attention. Jack wheeled about on his chair and narrowed his red eyes on the device that presented him with four large arrows.
"Well… better late than never. JB-24, make sure our guests feel right at home."
"-Look! It's the Central Shopping Plaza! Can't we just-?"
"C'mon Kimiko, do you really think Master Fung would just let us enjoy ourselves? Let alone, in Beijing?" Raimundo rolled his eyes up to the sky, frowning when he could already see a distinct tang of smog turning the sky a sick shade of grey.
Kimiko pouted, letting her eyes flitter down to the city's central mall that she knew like her element.
"Raimundo is right!" Omi cried, thrusting a finger towards the dull sky, "We have business to be present at!"
All of the other monks cringed, their shoulders bunching into knots. The Dragon of Wind, finally forced out through clenched teeth-
"'Business to attend to', Omi…"
Before Omi could chirp a response, Clay shifted, coughing quietly to catch the group's attention,
"So, what do ya think of this new Wu, Dojo?"
"Oh, so now you're going to listen to me?" the begrudged green reptile rolled his eyes once, cutting off any weak-watered replies the group of monks could come up with, "The Shan Dagger is monstrously dangerous; in the wrong hands-"
"Wait, let me guess." Raimundo cut in with a sharp grin, "In the wrong hands the Wu could lead to the end of the world as we know it?" the brunette snorted, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, we know the drill. So, what does it do?"
The dragon jerked irritably, but continued without too much hesitation,
"It's a sister Wu is the Sword of the Storms, the Shan Dagger harnesses lightning, and can-"
"-Dojo… Does the Shan Dagger have a jagged blade?" asked Omi quietly from his seat.
Dojo blinked curiously over his shoulder,
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
The youngest monk was peering over his own shoulder, his eyes comically wide,
"Because Jack Spicer is waving us down with it…"
The rest of the Xiaolin Monks' heads shot around, following Omi's gaze, their eyes widening when they focused on the evil boy genius, playfully waving to them with a glinting dagger, standing on a ledge of a skyscraper.
Dojo choked on his words; he arched his back abruptly, struggling to stop himself from flying any further, which forced the monks on his back to clutch at his scales to stop themselves from losing their grip.
Jack grinned, brushing some red hair from his dancing red eyes,
"Come on Gecko; at least moving targets are a challenge," the young genius waited a beat to let his words sink in, before muttering a name and summoning a crackle of electricity. If Jack didn't have a prior engagement, he might have paused a little longer, but he didn't have time for games.
The monks instinctively leapt when Dojo shrank, all scrambling to avoid the bolt of electricity that broke the clouds in two.
Jack took a moment to enjoy the looks of sheer disbelief that were scattered across each of the monks' faces; the group seemed unable to comprehend that the evil youth had aimed to kill.
"Watch yourself, Jack, you might poke out an eye," called Raimundo over the crackle of a building storm. He was clutching at window ledge of a nearby skyscraper, swiping spikes of brown hair from his eyes.
"Hopefully, I'll do more than that," Jack offered with a dangerous grin, one that none of the monks recognised.
Lightning screamed to life once more, this time, striking a nearby building, shattering windows and brickwork. Kimiko and Omi had been settled on the roof and had to scramble to leap away. Both were singed by the attack, their bones aching when stray electricity caught them in their escape, but landed safely on a neighbouring building.
Raimundo didn't hesitate to attack then, not bothering to see if his friends had made it safely. He ran at Jack, leaping, intent of knocking the albino down, to get the dagger from the other's pale hands. But Jack was already turning to him, smiling wickedly as he summoned the power of the Wu again, this time, targeting the Dragon of the Wind.
Sharp and biting electricity rose from the Earth to meet Raimundo when he landed where Jack had been a moment before. It was over fast, travelling up into the clouds, leaving Raimundo's fingertips blackened. All muscles along the boy's arms and legs suddenly turned to jelly, he wavered violently, before finally collapsing, barely making out the startled yells of his companions.
"Rai!"
Kimiko leapt to her boyfriend's side, ignoring all danger Jack suddenly posed. When lightning crackled overhead, she didn't flinch or stop running. No attack befell her.
Then she heard laughing.
It wasn't the forced laughter that normally spilled past the albino's lips, no, this time it was almost silent, dark. It rose in the silence like a wave, before receding again, shifting into a chuckle that sent chills down the spine.
Jack was smiling at the almost tender scene; but it was a twisted grin did not fit on the youth's face and made Kimiko shudder when she saw it. He turned the grin on the two other shell-shocked monks, before lifting the dagger to their eye-level.
"Omi," he called; his voice soft.
The yellow monk blinked his teary eyes up and away from his fallen friend. Omi gazed at Jack for a moment,
"Jack Spicer… you… you are possessed!"
Jack grinned suddenly,
"No, Baldy. It's me," the sick smile grew in size, "Game time's over; I've been found out. It was fun while it lasted," the words took a long moment to sink in, longer than it took for Jack to throw the blade up, and for the smaller monk to catch it.
Omi breathed heavily, trembling and clutching at the Wu until it cut his small fingers,
"W-Why?"
"Why?" Jack asked, his voice rising, "Why what, cheese-puff?"
"Why-… why did you… why are you-?"
"-Doing this?" Jack asked, enjoying the shock that went through Omi's eyes, "It's just my way of saying goodbye, my finale, my big exit!" Jack laughed now, smiling brightly.
Clay stirred then, like a wild animal finally waking,
"Spicer, I hope you ain't talking about what I think you're-?"
Jack shook his head, cutting off the cowboy's words,
"Oh, if I die or not really depends on the nice Commander Richards," the youth waved in the direction of a shadow that shifted. Clay and Omi gasped when a man stepped from the shadows, holding a gun, aimed for Jack's head. "Isn't that right Commander?"
"Jack Spicer, you are under arrest," called the man, he was glaring angrily at the youth, shaking subtly. He looked tired, like he had slept in days and his hair and clothes were covered in a fine layer of dust and ash, "For the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Spicer-"
Jack's expression didn't waver, nor did his eyes shift from a spot above a nearby stairwell. Finally, he smiled,
"Fancy meeting you here…"
It was then that the group caught sight of another shadow, one that moved like silk. Chase moved into the open, his expression not letting his amusement show.
"I see you're getting yourself into trouble, yet again, Spicer."
The youth laughed,
"Yes, well, my mother always warned me that everything catches up on you sooner or later-"
"-Place your hands on the back of your head, boy."
Jack finally let his eyes stray back to the officer,
"How cruel, you tell me my parents are dead… accusing me of murder…"
Omi spoke up then, eyes wide and horrified,
"What evidence do you have-?"
"Don't play dumb, Spicer," Richards yelled over Omi's voice "Your robot-clone overheated in Egypt; your 'father' all but exploded."
Jack grinned, truly amused,
"Talking about 'explosions', how did your team enjoy the fireworks?"
The Commander narrowed his eyes, all but snarling,
"I lost three men… all were good officers, all of them were married-"
"Is that supposed to make me feel guilty?" Jack asked, sounding hurt, but smiling nonetheless "I'm sorry to disappoint you Commander Richards… but you were coming to arrest me…"
The officer frowned, his brown eyes glancing over the others present for a second. The youths scattered about the two roof tops were still, eyes wide, as if the ground had been torn out from underneath them. The older man, the only other, was settled on a ledge, watching Jack like a hawk, as if he was looking at the boy for the first time.
Richards wasn't surprised; Jack was another, terrible, person under his little mask.
Catching sight of a small movement behind Jack, the Commander quickly spoke up; he had to distract Jack,
"What did you do with their bodies, Spicer?"
Jack turned away from the officer, to Omi, then to Chase, smiling when he met the dragon-lord's hard gaze that couldn't be read.
"When you work with chemicals, it's quite easy to mix some volatile acids," he gave the officer a quick smile, "It took two days to melt away the flesh, another week to dispose of the bones… Now, are you going to shoot me, or try and talk me down while your partner sneaks up on me?" Jack glanced playfully at a fire escape, waving at cursing officer that peeked over at the youth.
"You need help, Spicer," Commander Richards tried weakly, "We can help you-"
Jack smile fell away almost instantly, and Richards knew he'd made a mistake;
"My father thought I needed to be put away… said it would settle me down." Jack's face twisted, angrily "No psychologist would agree; they all knew I was perfectly sane," Jack laughed then; his eyes sharpening "My father paid to have me locked up in some asylum. The day they let me out, I killed them both…" Jack grinned sharply, "I'm warning you now, I'll die before you take me back."
Chase shifted then, only an inch, but it was enough to catch Richards' eyes.
Whoever he was, he remained still and calm, perched on the corner of building, he didn't seem to care that Jack was only a few feet away from a ledge.
The man was odd in every sense of the word, Richards decided silently. The strange man had dark hair that spilled down his back and unnatural gold eyes. The heavy armour he was wearing didn't help his case; Richards frowned and looked back to Jack. The Commander wasn't surprised that the quiet man knew Jack.
Richards took a quick breath and forced himself still; he knew better that the other's present that Jack was more than serious and would rather throw himself off the building than return to the mental institute.
"Spicer."
Jack glanced over a Chase, gazing at the immortal before smiling,
"Don't look at me like that; I lasted way longer than I thought I would; I played along." The youth gave a little chuckle; his red eyes flickered away from Chase, to the officer trying to creep up on him, freezing the cringing man in his place, "Played an incompetent fool for four years… It's about time… I stopped." Jack's eyes suddenly seemed tired, like all his energy had drained away. He glanced over to the ledge, taking a step towards it.
"No, it isn't Jack," Richards called out, taking a step after the youth "The judge will go easy on you; you're still a minor-"
"Don't," Jack said, glancing over a Richards, "There's no place for me in society, after this, you're going to go home, glad another murderer is out of picture. That's your job; I'm just making things easier for you."
Raimundo had regained his senses moments before, and stared across the roof at Jack who took a step up onto the ledge. The monk was startled to feel his heart leap into his throat while Kimiko tightened her hold on him nervously. Omi made a terrified sound as Jack made the move, Clay shifting next to the younger monk, nervously.
Chase didn't move; he was staring at Jack, caught by the resolved red eyes. Jack was a totally different person, someone so vastly different from his put-on persona, that even Chase was unsettled.
Jack's Heli-Pack fell off his back, screaming down to the awaiting street below.
Smiling like a child would, Jack waved at Richards, playfully,
"Don't let anyone mourn me," then he took a final step back.
Almost everyone jerked into action at that point; Richards bolted to the ledge and yelled out. While Omi leapt to the edge, screaming in shock, while Clay kept the youth from barrelling after the albino.
Jack knew the fall would be quick and he smiled when he felt his heart race for the first time since he could remember.
His eyes snapped open when he felt a pair of strong arms encircle his waist.
They had over eighty stories to fall, but Jack didn't show any fear, instead blinked at Chase, curiously. He couldn't read the immortal's expression.
Suddenly, the fall came to an abrupt stop, but not from impact.
Jack's world was torn around upright, and it took a moment for the blood to recede from his brain. He swayed, momentarily, but became fully aware that he was being held upright. It didn't take long for Jack to recognise the magnificent foyer of Doom Mountain, the rare jade and blue marble staircase and platform was impossible to miss.
Narrowing his red eyes, Jack tried to tug himself out of Chase's grip, but the dragon-lord refused to loosen his hold.
"Let go of me." Jack said when the immortal made no move.
Chase narrowed his eyes on the youth, who glared up at him; it was such an unusual look to receive from the albino. Ignoring the boy's demand, Chase tightened his hold until Jack was breathless and wincing.
Jack growled under his breath, glancing up at the immortal, "Why-… why are you doing this, Chase…?"
Chase wouldn't admit it now, but Jack intrigued him- had always intrigued him. Now, even more so.
Refusing to answer, the immortal lifted the boy up into his arms so his feet couldn't reach the ground, making sure to keep the boy's arms trapped, so he couldn't struggle.
Jack snorted, not stupid enough to fight the immortal's hold, knowing clearly Chase wouldn't let him. So he stayed still, his nose almost brushing the immortal's, staring into Chase's gold eyes, that stared back, even as the dragon-lord began walking.
Jack snorted irritably, enjoying the crinkle that lined Chase's forehead when he did. The youth couldn't understand the immortal; so many times before, Chase had made it more than clear that Jack's life was not worth saving. The albino's smile slipped then, unsure of what to make of Chase.
Moments later, Chase's arms loosened and Jack gasped when he found himself plopped down on a plush bed. The youth blinked up at the immortal, who gazed down on him, his expression not giving anything away.
"You have a place, Spicer."
Hearing those words, Jack's narrowed eyes widened. The tightness that had coiled in his chest loosened, and he took a breath; trying to settle his heart.
"What-?"
But Chase didn't give Jack a chance to ask; he turned on the youth and stepped purposely through the door, where he glanced back,
"Your life is mine now, so your place is with me."