Jack Spicer was in many ways a brilliant man, but he was also a fool. With the ability to build complicated robots that could fight, transform, understand a series of spoken commands, fly, and do many other activities; Jack could be considered a genius. He even built a time machine out of boredom. However, Jack lacked social skills. His narcissism, fanboyism, and general tendency to act like a five year old when he didn't get his way certainly didn't speak highly of his ability to communicate with others effectively. Jack's somewhat forced interaction with the Xiaolin warriors had forced him to mature slightly and some of the nastier Shen Gon Wu had shown up parts of his personality he wasn't particularly fond of. Generally many of Jack's weaknesses could probably be attributed to the neglect of his parents and his isolation from other children his age.

Whom am I? You may ask. I'm nobody really. Just his neighbor. Jack's parents were one of those rich people who build their giant mansions in the middle of a perfectly normal block so that all the normal houses look smaller and poorer in comparison. Upon realizing that Mr. and Mrs. Spicer were not going to be friendly neighbors, but were only around to show off their wealth, the Spicer family was generally ignored. Their property was so huge that the house could barely be seen from the road anyway. I am not the kind of person just to ignore something. I may not be mechanically brilliant like Jack, but I am inquisitive.

This is why I found myself investigating Jack Spicer instead of ignoring him like the rest of the world does. I do admit my behavior tends to be a bit stalkerish but it certainly had not started that way. A few years back strange things had begun to happen at the Spicer household. In addition to Jack's Jack-bots (oh the narcissism) patrolling the yard, the security system was expanded. The cause for this became apparent after the first break-in. This break-in did not involve criminals wielding technologically advanced devices, rather it involved four children dressed as monks and a dragon. Things did not begin to make any more sense from there. Over the years I've witnessed many strange things happening at Spicer household ranging from tubby ninjas to giant stone monsters to an evil bean. Honestly if I told anyone about the amount of supernatural things I had witnessed they would probably assume I was mentally unbalanced.

Since I know I could not go to any form of normal authority about what was happening, I decided to look into it on my own. It was a bit disturbing how quickly I was able to uncover the war between the Xiaolin and Heylin sides. It was far more disturbing how few people outside of the conflict seemed to notice anything strange. Then again this could easily be explained by the human condition, but I don't have time to ponder the strange workings of the human mind. You see the more I investigated the more I realized that I needed to verify my theories. I could gather what was going on at the Spicer household from the evidence, but it was not the same as being in the loop. I had no good reasoning for wanting to know other than I had to know. Someone needed to say to me that I was correct and that indeed there was a magical war going on right beneath our feet that the rest of the world refused to acknowledge.

This was the exact reason I was perched on my windowsill at 6:39 am. My brain seems to be constantly running. It likes to ponder over questions, notice the bland, and invent reasons for the unreasonable. I had, at this point, been up for approximately thirty seven and a half hours straight. The human brain does not function properly after a certain amount of time without sleep and that is my excuse for my following actions. The Spicer mystery bothered me. The circumstances I already had concluded (although they needed verification) but Jack Spicer himself was what bothered me. How did he fit in? He was intellectually inclined sure, but he had no need for most of the mystical items he sought. He could easily build devices that could accomplish the same goals, within reason of course. So the question was why? Surely someone as smart as him could think of better things to do with his time? I could always provide some reasonable suggestions if he required. Perhaps it was a power thing.

I blew the bangs out of my face. They had grown past the acceptable length I had determined earlier and needed to be dealt with soon. If this had been any other person I would have solved this case in half a day and have found another way to occupy my time. Humans were really not that complicated. Jack Spicer should especially not be so, yet he was.

"Perhaps a direct confrontation is necessary?" I said to myself.

Yes. Why not? I was not going to get any more answers by staring into his yard. If I had not gotten the answers in all these years by sitting here than I should move onto the next step. Personal interaction. Shuffling backwards through my window, I landed on the floor of my room. I changed out of my pajamas and into a sunflower themed dress. I scooped my hair up into a ponytail after realizing that I had far too many braids, ribbons, and beads in it to brush it properly. Throwing on some flip-flops, I grabbed my wallet, keys, and jacket, and snuck out the front door.

Living next door and being somewhat obsessive had given me some advantages when it came to sneaking past Jack's security system. In fact I think I had a file buried somewhere in my closet about every version of the Spicer Security system along with noted weaknesses and evading paths. I frowned. Perhaps I was more invested in Spicer than I cared to admit. Oh well, as long as no one found that file. Slipping past Jack-bot number 4 as he turned right along the wall, I hurried towards the Spicer's front door. The biggest weakness in Jack's security system was always the front door. This was because Jack did not want to alert his parents of his activities nor interfere with his parents' normal routine. Not that it mattered because his parents had rarely been home and now they no longer lived there. Jack had officially brought the house from them seven months and twenty-two days ago. Still Jack not updated the security system in at least eight months. I rang the doorbell.

It was at this moment that several things occurred to me. One that it was, at most, only seven in the morning on a Saturday. Two that I had not prepared anything to say. Three that my ringing the doorbell had activated some part of the security system and I would not be able to quietly slink away before the door was answered. I winced slightly. I had been way too eager to get answers and had clearly not thought this through. Which once again brought the question to mind: why was I so obsessed with Jack Spicer?

At the moment the door was answered. Even though I knew I had been unprepared, I was stumped at how severely unprepared I was. You see I had forgotten that while I had been preoccupied with the circumstances surrounding Jack Spicer and his motivations years had passed. Since he was only fourteen when the events had started, and it had been five years, Jack Spicer was now nineteen years old. At some point he had physically developed. He was no longer a gangly awkward teenager. His face had become sharper and refined, his muscles apparent, and his voice deeper. I only knew this last fact because Jack was mumbling heavily under his breath about being woken up so early.

"What!" Jack growled at me, one hand propping the door open and the other dragging through his red hair.

If I had been a writer I probably would have described this moment with as many adjectives as possible, but I am not. In fact, I'm certain the moment Jack looked into my eyes that my IQ dropped forty points minimum. His half –asleep look with no goggles, face paint, and in a long-sleeve shirt that hung marvelously on him was too much for me. I felt my face flush as all the blood flooded the skin in my face. It occurred to me that somewhere in my adolescent brain when I had first started watching Jack Spicer that I had thought he was cute. After all I was just thirteen then, hormones taking over my usually logical brain, and I may have started stalking Jack because of a crush. This realization caused all the blood to drain from my face and the sudden loss of blood (along with lack of sleep) caused me to pass out.

Jack Spicer was not a happy man. He was mostly a nocturnal creature, a habit formed from staying up late way too many nights while working on his machines. After only three precious hours of sleep he was awakened by his doorbell ringing. No one ever rang his doorbell. He had no friends that visited. Any of his Heylin allies usually just broke in. The Xiaolin warriors tended to kick his front door in. The likelihood that his parents were visiting was laughable at best.

"If this ends up being one of those door to door salesmen, I'm using him as a test subject for my shrink ray," Jack muttered before ripping open the front door.

"What!" he growled looking the offender of his precious sleep in the eyes.

In front of Jack stood a girl that he vaguely recognized. The hair was the most familiar thing as it was filled with various hair bands, ribbons, and other accessories and therefore quite distinct. The girl seemed shocked at him answering the door. Why the hell did she ring the doorbell then? Maybe it was one of those pranks kids played. She didn't look like the type with her flowery dress, hippy hair, and jean jacket. Plus her face had turned a bright red at the sight of him. Jack raised an eyebrow. Was she embarrassed? As quickly as the blush appeared, it faded, and she turned very pale. Then her eyes rolled into her head and she pitched forward. Only years of fighting those stupid monks had given Jack somewhat quick reflexes, which he used to catch her in his arms.

"Hey!" he objected trying to prop her back on her feet to no use, "No passing out here!"

The girl clearly wasn't responding to his shouting. What was he supposed to do now? It's not like he had girls fainting on his steps everyday.

"Jack-bots!" he commanded the closest ones, "Carry her in and identify her."

One Jack-bot reached forward and grabbed the girl by the arms. Her head dropped forward as the robot dragged her into the house.

"You!" Jack shouted at another robot, "Get me some coffee!"

The second robot hurried to follow through with the order and Jack stepped back inside his house. This was going to be a long day. Well since he was up, he might as well get ready.

"Jackbot, get me if she wakes up," he shouted at the one who was placing the girl on the couch in the living room.

Muttering to himself, Jack headed back to his bedroom. How troublesome. He wasn't supposed to wake up for another three hours, now his whole schedule was off. Jack supposed he could use the extra time to work on some of his inventions. His wormhole generator was coming along nicely. At least this version hadn't blown up yet. After a quick shower and getting dressed, Jack came down the stairs drinking a cup of coffee a Jack-bot had delivered him.

"At least they make a decent cup of coffee," Jack told himself.

Being alone most of his time since Wuya left, Jack picked up the habit of talking to himself. Sometimes he talked to his robots but they weren't very good conversationalists. It's probably cause he created them and he wasn't a very good conversationalist. Sadly his battles over the Shen Gong Wu were the most social interaction he got nowadays. Well that and random girls fainting at his doorstep. At least he handled it better than he would have at age 14.

"Who is she?" he asked the Jack-bot who was watching the girl.

Jack took a seat in an armchair across from the couch the girl was on and sipped at his coffee.

"Her name is Cori Serentoff," the robot answered.

"A threat?" Jack asked wondering if this was one of his many nemesis's more twisted plots to get back at him.

"She carries no weapons or technology other than the phone which has been scanned for threats," came the mechanical reply.

"Cori huh?" Jack rubbed his chin, "That sounds familiar."

"Sir, she is your next door neighbor."

Jack snapped his fingers. No wonder he recognized her. He had seen her a couple of times. Mostly from a distance when he was either taking off or landing. Once or twice he had spotted her staring out her window into his yard. Jack had thought nothing of it at the time. Most of his neighbors were a little bit curious about his family but they were harmless.

"Sir, one more thing," the Jack-bot interrupted his thinking.

"What is it?" Jack asked taking another sip of his coffee.

"She didn't trigger any of the alarms," the Jack-bot admitted, "She is on no security camera either until she rings the doorbell."

Jack raised an eyebrow at this. Had he misjudged her? She looked relatively harmless, but Jack didn't know much about her. Still she could have been a spy placed against him. Or under some sort of spell. He couldn't take his chances. Still what kind of spy rings the doorbell and then passes out?

"One who wants access to your house," his mind suggested.

"Jack-bot, she has not woken right?" Jack asked.

"She has remained unconscious, sir."

Jack was puzzled. What kind of person snuck up to another's house without some sort of malicious intent? Just what kind of person was his neighbor anyway?

"Jack-bot find out all the information you can about her and bring me a crossword puzzle while you're at it."

Well if he had to sit here and watch her he might as well have something to do. Twenty minutes later Jack had grown bored with the puzzle and started playing games on his phone.

"Take that stupid pigs," he muttered at the game.

While Angry Birds had nothing on Goo Zombies it was still wildly entertaining. The profits these people must have made off this game.

"Jack-bot," Jack shouted over his shoulder, "Tell the creation team at Spicer Trade we need an addicting video game for the iphone."

"Yes sir," one of his many Jack-bots replied.

At one point Jack had tried to name them and give them more distinct personalities, but the monks destroyed them all so quickly that there was really no point. Stupid monks. Didn't they know that robots didn't grow on trees? Jack glanced up as he saw the girl across from him on the couch begin to stir.

"Shit," Jack cursed.

He hadn't really thought of what approach to take yet. Perhaps he could try the evil villain one? If she snuck past his alarms she couldn't have been an ordinary citizen and for once he would like to have someone afraid of him. Besides it's what Chase would do.

"Jack-bot, get the shades," he ordered, "You provide some threatening lighting. A couple of you stand around the couch. And would you stop vacuuming?"

The robot with the frilly apron that had been cleaning the hallway look dejected before floating out of sight with the vacuum tucked under his arm. Jack squirmed in his chair trying to find the perfect evil-looking position. He eventually decided on casually leaning back in his chair so that his face was partially hidden by shadow.

The girl opened her eyes and looked around for a moment. Jack didn't know exactly what he expected but it was more than what he was getting. She wasn't screaming in fright. She didn't look terrified. She didn't even look concerned. Instead she had appeared confused for all of two seconds before switching to curious. She didn't even make a peep as she sat up and glanced around. Jack forced himself to remain calm. The way she looked at everything, it was like she was studying it. Not the way Chase did, in which he looked at everyone as if they were a pawn in his plans (which they usually were). She just seemed to like to know. None of this was going to plan but Jack proceeded anyway.

"Cori Serentoff," he greeted ominously as her eyes landed on him, "How nice of you to drop by."

The girl blushed a little, seemingly embarrassed at how she fainted. She bit her lip and looked indecisive for a moment before coming to a conclusion. She tightened her posture and placed her arms across her lap like she was at a business deal instead of being held captured at an evil villain's house. Well not that she necessarily knew that's what this was.

"I apologize. I did not mean to faint on you or bother you so early in the morning," her voice was oddly quiet.

Perhaps Jack had misjudged her. Maybe she was just his shy neighbor who came over to ask a neighborly favor of some sort and accidently passed out. Still it was all too suspicious.

"Yes about that," Jack tried to maintain his cool evil villain persona, "I cannot help but notice that you avoided every part of my security system."

Surely Jack had her now.

"It's cause I know where they all are," she confessed shyly.

"What?!" Jack screeched temporarily breaking character.

How could she possibly know that? He spent months planning every detail of every component of his security system. There were cameras and robots and freaking lazers for crying out loud! And she just knew where everything was? Impossible. She had to be a spy.

"So you admit you're a spy! Working for one of my many enemies are you?" Jack interrogated.

Probably those goody Xialoin Monks. Well today they would not get the drop on him.

"No," she replied, "The weakness of your security system is always the front door."

"How could you possibly know that?" Jack asked, "Nobody knows that!"

"I have been your neighbor for ten years. I was curious," she answered honestly.

"Wait," Jack was extremely confused, "You figured out my security system because you were curious? Is that why you came over here today? You were curious!"

"To be blunt, yes. Interesting events have been happening at this address for years and nobody else seems to notice. I thought I would try to get to the bottom of it."

"You noticed all that crap?" Jack asked.

Nobody ever noticed. Not even when his house got lifted off its foundation by a giant stone monster. The girl nodded.

"Just how much do you know?"

"I know about the war between good and evil. I also have knowledge about the magical objects you fight over and a couple of identities of the numerous people who break into your house," she listed off.

Jack was speechless. Here was some random girl basically confessing to knowing everything about the somewhat secret war going on. His eyes narrowed. She also happened to be his neighbor and had a lot more personal information about him than most did. That could be dangerous for him.

"If you know all this, why are you here?" he asked, "Why didn't you run off to the monks and confess all my dirty little secrets?"

"They're not interesting," she confessed, "They have human faults yes but they are all basically good inside. A week tops with them and I would know exactly how each one of their minds work."

"So if you're here you must find me interesting," Jack raised his eyebrows at her.

"You are the most complex character I have met. I acknowledge that most people regard you as an idiot but you are also a mechanical genius. You live in shades of grey compared to black and white and I have quite a bit of trouble trying to predict your next move."

Jack brushed off the idiot comment. It was people's default comment about him and she was merely saying other people's views. Still, this girl was intriguing. She was obviously gifted intellectually to notice the war and figure out how to break into his house. Her neutrality was obvious, seeing as she was only here because she was curious. While quiet, she was not shy and she was confident in her ability to read people. Her outfit and mannerisms could fool most people as well. Perhaps he could use her. If he made her work for him.

Jack got up from his chair and approached the couch. The girl watched his every footstep but didn't make a move. He decided to get up close and personal. While he may not be as evil as Chase was, he did pick up a few intimidation techniques over the years and he was much more frightening as an adult than a teen boy. Lifting her chin between his fingers so her face was angled up towards him, Jack let loose an evil smirk.

"You do realize I am evil, right? Who's to say that I let you go so freely? After all you can be a threat to my plans."

The girl visibly flushed and looked a little intimated but she still held his gaze and replied softly.

"Honestly I did not think this through. I merely wanted answers so I decided to go get some."

Interesting answer. At least she didn't try that "I see good in you" bullcrap Omi always went on about. Jack realized he was still holding the girl's chin in his hands. He glanced at her. She was kind of cute. Jack quickly dropped her chin and took a step back. He could not afford to think like that when he was not sure of her alliance yet.

"And what would you do for these answers?" Jack asked, turning to glance into the fireplace.

There was no fire in the fireplace. Jack regretted that move, it would have added cool lighting to his face. But it was also a bit strange to have a roaring fire when the weather was still warm out.

"I never really thought about it," Cori admitted, "Usually I am able to acquire all the necessary information on my own and now that you know of my existence it would be much harder to spy on you."

How intently had she been spying on him anyway? Because from her knowledge it had to have been at least a couple of years and his younger teen years were not a pretty site. She hadn't seen him "discovering himself" right? Jack shuddered. He hoped not.

"I have a proposal for you," Jack said turning back to her.

"A proposal?"

"A business proposal," Jack clarified.

"You have my attention."

"Let's make a few things clear first." Jack started pacing back and forth in front of her, "You say you have been spying on me, am I correct?"

"I prefer the word investigating."

"Do you think this information is valuable?"

"Well, I was limited to observations from my window, as under law that is legal, but between what I have seen and my information gathering skills I believe my information could be valuable in the right hands."

"Information gathering?" Jack prodded.

"I tend to do a lot of research and I am quite good at psychologically profiling. Did you know Kimiko has mother-related issues?"

"What?" Jack was flabbergasted. Perhaps father-related issues were understandable because she seemed to be a daddy's girl, but mother-issues? Did she even have a mom?

"Yes and Omi suffers from parent issues too. Probably due to his status as orphan. Building robots that pretended to be his parents was a smart move on your part as you obviously took advantage of his psychological issues but you failed to account for the emotional response when your ploy was revealed."

Jack winced at that. Omi had not taken to finding out that his so called parents were nothing more than fancy Jack-bots.

"As I was saying before," Jack awkwardly cleared his throat, trying not to think about his past failures, "You have valuable information. You also desire answers. Let's strike a deal."

"What are the terms and conditions of this so called deal?" Cori asked.

"You become an associate of mine. You'll work for me. I can use your research skills to plan my attacks!" Jack announced triumphantly.

"What is my receiving end of the bargain?"

"I will answer any and all questions you have," Jack offered.

"Counter-offer," Cori said standing up to face Jack, "You hire me as an intern for Spicer Trade Inc. Of course this will be a cover for my real work with you. I will be your business partner. I will provide you with any and all information you desire that I can acquire. Maybe I'll even help you out with a plan or two. In return I get to make a psychological profile of you. I also reserve the right to refuse to work with any other Heylin villains. I cannot be traded out. My information is for you and you alone. I can also quit at any time."

"I'll pay you as Spicer Intern," Jack grinned, "But you also have to bring over any security detail files you have on me and destroy them. Additionally, if I feel you are betraying my secrets or trust I will take necessary action. AND I get to name any and all inventions and plans."

"Perhaps we should draw up a contract," Cori suggested.

"Or I can hold you hostage. I am evil you know." Jack added.

"That seems unnecessary. I am sure we can come to a verbal agreement."

"Ready to be my evil minion?" Jack offered out his hand to shake.

"Your business partner," Cori countered.

"Fine," Jack agreed.

"It's a deal," Cori took Jack's hand and shook it, "This should be most interesting."

"Oh you have no idea sweetheart," Jack grinned wickedly.