She was terrified, upset and angry. On the constant. Yet even with all those emotions she felt hollow. It was the strangest sensation,and she couldn't put it into words. It lasted for a long time.
But she never cried.
She wouldn't let herself cry.
Mason had decided to that Jacelynn should move in with him, seeing it as his responsibility to take care of her. He gave her a spare room, made a risky trip to get the rest of her and her parents stuff from the apartment, and gave space for her to grieve. And most importantly, even if he wasn't aware of it, he'd given her opportunity.
He was a genius. Inventor, scientist, hacker. Hidden away in a "closet", he had a supercomputer, home to a massive information database. Hers for the taking.
So when he went out, she slipped down to it, getting as much information about that night as possible. It was relatively easy, he had been searching himself, and eventually, after many hours of staring at the bright screen of endless information, she got a name. Not quite a name of a person, but a group. The Dragons.
Newspapers, radio stations, local internet sites from the area, gossip circles, no one could stop talking about the fight, even though time slipped on. Nothing ever happened in the town, they said, its a warehouse town, why would anyone have an interest in foreign groceries and clothes they asked, why would something like that happen here?
But that was the thing, there must be something hidden that draws such an organization to be rooted here. But secrets such as this were hidden for a reason, and computers couldn't give you everything you needed. For that, you had to get out onto the field.
It was the summer when she felt, after hours of daylight exploration and synthetic 3-d maps, confident enough to head out and start her mission.
Mason would never approve if she went as herself. As Jacelynn. A cold, hard, no. But she didn't have to be Jacelynn. She could be anyone.
So there she spent an afternoon, on the floor in front of a tall mirror, trying to decide who, exactly, she was going to present to Mason and to the rest of the dark underworld.
And slowly, the picture formed in her mind. He was average, he was the every man in the crowd. His only distinguishable feature being the dark red eyes. The word she came up with to describe her powers, a glamour, went up.
His name was Daemon Cruise. He was a quiet, brooding type and he had a game plan.
He was ready.
Mason was going out on a "business venture." the first night she was planning on taking Daemon out.
Jacket pulled tight around him, he had a backpack slung over his shoulders, and in the shadows he looked years younger then he really was. Pulling open the door, she sat on the couch, "watching" tv as he prepared to leave.
"Now, I'll be back in the morning, you know the drill." he said, in response as she mock saluted him. "Just don't invite too many boys over, alright?" he asks, a mischievous grin on his face. Jacelynn made a face, and he laughed. "Oh just go already" She replied, sticking her tongue out.
With a final laugh, he closed the door, locking it behind him. Waiting for about ten minutes, she stretched, moving fast to her room, where she hastily pulled on a leather jacket, slipping in weapons in secret pockets hidden in the clothing she chose. She pulled out work boots that added to her height from under her bed, and slide it on.
Taking a dark blue messenger bag, she slid in the cans of spray paint she'd need for her calling card, an empty box, tape and a self-made map of the warehousing part of town, which showed which warehouse was controlled by who and what was in there, leaving the rest of the space for the stuff she was going to take.
Feeling ready, she opened her window, sliding out onto the ledge, and jumping onto the fire escape. Racing upwards, Jacelynn went for the top of the building. Poor planning led to the buildings being built close enough for her to travel by jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Getting a running start, she made the first leap of the night, landing safely in the shadows cast by the jutting bit of building where the stairs up must be located.
Taking the opportunity, she threw up her glamour, the one she'd practised in for a week. She was gone, existing only in the back of the mind, and was replaced with 20 year old Daemon Cruise, ready for action.
The journey was swift and easy, Daemon had an even easier time then Jacelynn did. Approaching the destination faster then he anticipated, his feet stopped abruptly, pulling out the map she made highlighting the warehouses he could stop into. He chose the one straight ahead of him, inside it held crates and crates with thousands of dollars worth of cash.
Peering down, the warehouse wasn't as tall as the building he was on currently, so it would be quite a jump. Folding up the map and sticking it back into the bag latching it closed, he turned and paced backwards. Giving himself one count of a breath, he raced off the side, and suddenly there was nothing beneath him,adrenaline pumping through his veins. Freedom. And excitement.
His feet slam onto the hard roof, stinging from the impact. Wasting no time, he goes to the edge, using the ladder to climb down. The side door was nestled behind a large trash compact, less used then the main doors at the front.
Pulling out a bobby pin from his jacket pocket, Daemon kneeled down, carefully twisting the pin inside the lock, hoping to hear the faithful click.
The door creaked open. He was in.
It was dark, but the boxes apparently were a different colour then the others, a pure white. From the inside of his coat he pulled out a small flashlight, flicking it on and walking around, dusting the light on every crate.
Daemon paused at the white crates, looking for the one with the brand that supposedly sold stuffed animals. It was the smallest crate of the white ones, neatly labelled and innocent looking.
Digging into a pocket, he pulled out a knife, stuffing it into the crack between the lid and prying upward. Surprisingly, the lid came off quite easily. Sheathing the knife and setting the flashlight down, he took the lid off, resting it on top of another crate.
Pastel coloured bears filled the crate to the top, he assumed that there was about 20. A light blue one he picked up to inspect, appeared to be normal. Daemon frowned, could he have been misinformed? The knife went back out, and in the dim light he had, sliced it open.
Out fell a large stack of money.
Jackpot.
Half an hour later, his bag held bears with money, while the rest of the money had been sliced to pieces, resting inside the box, beneath the rainbow of discarded bears, resting in halves. On the lid, he left the tag he thought up. A devil's tail wrapped around a sword, sticking out in bold red against black.
Already moving from roof to roof, the moon is high, shining down on the shadowy streets of town. He was less then halfway when he stopped moving at the side of the building, a straight drop less then a step away from him.
This part was going to be tricky. There was no convenient ladder, and the fire escape didn't come all the way to the roof. Poor building planning aside, he had to make the drop, which, if he missed, which wouldn't be all that hard, he'd smash onto the pavement. He just hoped the rickety old stairs wouldn't make a noise, or collapse under his feet.
Before he went down, he pulled two of the bears out of the bag, as well as the box and tape. Fingers flying, he stuck the bears ( and more importantly the money inside the box. The light blue one bore his tag. Taping it together, the box went back into the bag. And it was the drop this was Jacelynn, the drop would have daunted her, ad she would need a second to commit.
Good thing she wasn't here right now. Without a second thought, he took a half step needed and plummet.
He messed up. He hit the fire escape, but unfortunately, his left arm hit the wall on the way down. Badly.
Grinding his teeth together, he moves it stiffly testing to see if it was broken. It moved, albeit painfully, and that was good enough for him. Moving quickly, he descended two steps by two steps.
Looming across the street was an old building that used to be an apartment, no longer in use according to the general public. They were waiting to see when the rich owner would finally knock it down and rebuild.
But there were residents. The criminal kind.
It was simple, leave the package, and then get out of there. As fast as possible.
But he stopped. Just to scan the building with the most loathing and disgusted look he could. Tossing the package to the ground in front of the doors, he raced down the street, up the closest full fire escape, and continued his leaps from roof to roof.
It was the first time, and it certainly wasn't the last.
She spent what seemed like forever on working spontaneously chosen nights, dropping off packages at that same doorstep. Spending hours researching their moves, motives and the like. Building and building upon a fiery hatred that burned deep inside of her.
School started, but she barely noticed, leading to her grades slipping. Her friends grew distant from her. She didn't care about anything unless it affected her expeditions out.
Of course, she kept up an image, so no one got suspicious. If the school decided to call Mason, he'd be on alert, making her work that much harder. So she chatted and smiled and occasionally put effort into her homework. Started dating a boy or two, which all ended horribly, in an explosion of fighting arguing and hatred. Not because there was anything wrong with them, just that she was having a bad day and wanted to take it out on someone and maybe it made her feel a bit better to see someone reduced to yelling and irrational hatred.
But still her paranoia was growing, every move was calculated more then before, and each slip up left her waiting with baited breath for someone to call her out on it.
Daemon and herself were starting to separate in her head, she often referred to him as a person in her head, and when she was him her total headspace was different. Was it alarming? Quite possibly, but she didn't care.
It was then the decent down really started to show itself, but back then she still had thoughts for consequence, and her morals were somewhat intact. For example, after a few months, evading and lying to Mason was eating her alive. Lying to others, fine. But he had done so much for her, he deserved the truth. She made up her mind.
There was Chinese take out for supper that night, the night she chose to reveal it, because as Mason often said "Geniuses don't cook.". The sun was already slipping from the sky, falling beyond the table for two, hastily put between the "Kitchen" which was a refrigerator, a cabinet and trash can and the "Living room" which was a couch, bookshelf and a tv on the opposite side of the room.
It took a minute to get the words together in a coherent line. I was nervous. It could make or break everything, and she didn't like being nervous. I had always been confident and forward, I had been in theatre for years at that point. But now all of that seemed to dissolve inside of me as I set down the fork.
"Mason," she started, and he looked up from his food, a questioning expression on his face.
"I've been doing some research, some digging. I know who did it."His eyebrows furrowed, he knew exactly what "it" stands for.
"I've been going, I know the area like the back of my hand now. I want there attention. So I -"
"No." he interrupted, a stone cold look meeting my gaze.
"Please, I-"
"That is insane. Your thirteen, this is the grief speaking, its too dangerous for you. I know you want revenge."
"Need," I said quietly, "Need revenge."
"But they'd crush a kid your age out there. I won't allow it."
"But they wouldn't know it." I respond, take a breath, and showed Daemon. His jaw went slack, the fork clattering on his plate. The familiar, safe feeling overwhelmed him. It was just like every time he went out. "I'm Daemon Cruise. And I am the one behind the warehouse break ins."
The rage , something like memories, and the ever present curiosity burned in his eyes. "That was you?"
"Yes. I've been dropping off parts of stolen goods at there front door. I know I have it. I'm so close. Don't you want something done? You can't risk it, but I can."
"I really don't want you to do this." He sighed, rubbing his temples.
"I can give you part of the stuff I get. Let me do this, any compromise you want. Please Mason." Jacelynn was pleading now, and her glamour washed off as she wasn't paying attention, focused on swaying him to her side. She put every emotion she could behind her voice- he HAD to say yes.
"This is a horrible idea. But if I say no, your just going to go behind my back and pull even more crazy stunts." And money. He also saw easy money in this. As much as he cared about her, the lure of cash would always win in the end. While it wasn't the greatest quality in a guardian, or even a person, it was working to her advantage. Mason sighed." I suppose I have to say yes." She nearly cheered.
"But. But you have to follow some terms. And if you don't follow them, I assure that I will find out, and you will get shipped off to nearest preppy all girls boarding school I can find. Do I make myself clear?" She nodded eagerly, keen to hear what the restrictions were. She did not want to end up at a stuffy, be a lady, boarding school.
Mason listed a couple of obvious rules, put her own safety above getting away, and getting away from retrieving the goods if the cops or others showed up. Contact him if she got in a situation. Don't kill anyone. Never show anyone what she could do.
At that she asked why.
He rubbed his temples, sighing and not speaking for a moment. "There are people, out there, who like to keep their idea of normal in tact. They would do a lot to keep it that way. And the whole thing of people with powers wouldn't go over very well with them, and most likely, end violently. Its a lot safer for people like you and your parents to hide it."
She snap her head up, eyes widening and her jaw drops. Her mind can't quite process the last sentences. "Were they, my parents- were they like me? Could they do what I do?"
"More or less. Both of them had gifts. Your father could create lightning and electricity, while your mother could become a literal shadow. But you inherited the gene from them that gives you your gift." he explains. "I'm afraid I don't know much more then that, I've tried doing research, but with limited resources and few opportunities, not much has come up." He had the look on his face of curiosity and frustration that always showed up when he didn't have a chance to figure out how something worked.
"How come they never told me?" She felt a twinge of betrayal, thoughts flying around in her head, this was something that could have put all of us in a lot of danger, and they choose not to tell me? Especially when its a part of me and my heritage.
That was when she realised those thoughts could have applied to her parents not telling her about their work, and she had seen some sense in that, so she wouldn't comment about it.
"Okay, how about after supper, we work out some plans for the future? Make sure we minimise risk and danger as much as possible. Sound good?" He asked her. She nodded, taking a bite out of her food, a piece of her glowing with pride and happiness that she actually got him to work with her.
Two more weeks had passed, and three successful missions had followed. No reports on the news, and she knew that her explorations were unkown to the public.
Only once or twice had thoughts of consequences and morales of this crossed her mind, but the thrill of danger and the lure of revenge kept her from fully realising how dumb she was being. Not with the strategy or planning, not the idea, but her urge to go along with it. She slipped down the slop just a little bit more.
And just a little more. The slope was slippery. And more. She was nearing the cliff into nothingness. She was fighting with Mason over bits and parts of the plan. That slowly extended to just normal everyday things. It was rare an extended period of time passed and they didn't argue over something. Another slide downward.
When the letter had been slipped from under the door as she set down the package, she had been overjoyed. Excited beyond belief. This was it. She officially had a meeting with the leader of the dragons, apparently having proved her allegiance. She would tell Mason and he would give her a tiny gadget of his own creation. That would send a virus to their technology, starting a fire when it finished. A copy of all the information, all of their plans would be sent back to Mason's super computerm, where it would be passed off to one of his contacts for a good chunk of cash. It would ruin the Dragons, destroy their tiny empire. And they would have no idea who had orchestrated their fall.
Jacelynn would finally be free to live her life. She would be able to... She frowned. What would she do? She'd been doing this for a year now. Barely remembering what exactly she did before she started this.
It didn't matter right now, she consoled herself. She would figure that out after she actually completed it.
The start to the night couldn't have gone worse. She didn't know what happened, but she really fought with Mason. It was a blur, but she knew she said things she should not have sad, and Mason responded with cruel words. Ending with snarled words agreeing that she would leave after she finished.
"Why don't you tell me the godamn truth for once?" She yelled at him, having gone back on his word on what his plans were, originally they were going to move across the town, but now he had planned for Pennsylvania, in the middle of nowhere. Her words had a powerful echoing tone.
His face contorted, spilling his guts in the form of the words he didn't tell her. He was shocked. "Another power? And you say I hide things from you?" She was surprised too, but kept retorting his anger with hers. They fought like children.
It was long, her voice was hoarse by the end of it. They both brought up topics that should have been left alone. Then Jacelynn brought up something she shouldn't, something that should not have been said but ended the argument then and there.
"Why are you so paranoid about everything I do out there? I am not going to fail, not like you have." she yelled.
"I have never failed you. You are just being a self-absorbed kid who doesn't understand the real world yet."
"Tell that to my parents! You could have saved them but you failed them instead!"
He looked like he got punched in the gut. Silence overtakes them for a few seconds, before it is broken by Mason. In a voice exhausted and emotionally drained, he looked her in the eyes and said. "When you're done, don't come back here. Ever."
Later she would wonder why they ended so badly. It was mostly her fault, having driven herself into the mission, beginning to play the part of the villian more then she should have, becoming much more snarky ,"cruel" in a way, and others feelings no longer were a priority. Did she notice? Not really. Would she have cared to change? Probably not. Revenge was all that mattered.
Roof to roof, it was the same learned pattern, this time with a heavier messenger bag, having everything she'd need for living on her own. Going faster without the extra bulk, the Dragon's building loomed before her, tall in the shadowy grey clouds cast in the sky around this city. It looked as if they were going to have a thunder storm.
There was someone waiting for him as he dropped from the fire escape.
"Daemon. We have been waiting for you." Greeted the man, looming tall and dark, hidden partially by the shadows around him. He nodded in response, entering the building.
It was grand and elegant in a way for a criminal headquarters. Tall walls, arches, and a grand staircase that lead up. Their were others there as well , making their way down the hall past the stairs or filing up. He assumed the tall man was her guide, and followed him as he led him the entire way up the stairs, past floor after floor of the dark building. The final floor only had a single door on it. Nerves starting to fly, he followed quietly as they entered the room.
It was a rather well lit office, expensive looking furniture in every corner, a bookcase against the cream yellow wall, and a middle aged man sitting at the wooden desk. This was not what she was expecting. Especially the apparent leader.
He wasn't all that menacing looking. While not very tall, he had some muscle, wrinkles on his forehead and straight brown hair pulled back, already showing grey at the roots.
"Daemon Cruise I believe. What a pleasure to meet you. I've been noticing your work, it's quite well done." Like he was an artist talking to a fellow painter.
"Thank you."
"I've been wanting to talk to you about a position at our wonderful, ah, company."
"And what kind of position would that be?"
" You excel in the retrieval of objects, and we are in dire need of people who can cleanly get in and out without causing a scene, plus you seem to know your way around the city. But don't worry, if you kill them quietly and dump them in the harbour, we won't make a fuss about it." He winked at him, smiling as if it was a joke. Daemon wanted to punch his lights out.
"I'll keep that in mind."
He opens the top drawer of his desk, pulling out a stack of money, stretching out the elastic band as far it would go. "This would be for your first few jobs. If we like what you do, we keep you on."
Flipping through the green bills of 50's and 100's, he knew that this would definitely cover the start of a new life, wherever that was going to be. "This seems good. Do you have my first mission now or am I starting at a later date?"
"Of course we do." He opened the draw, picking out a folded piece of paper and sliding it across the desk. "I expect it done by the end of the week."
The mission was simple enough, but of course, he would never have to do it, he doubted that the Dragons would have recovered from the massive property damage and corruption by the end of the week.
"Done."
"Well, that is all I needed from you. Although, since your one of the dragons now, you'll need to start signing our calling card on certain missions, and as a tattoo if you feel bold. A red piece of fabric would suffice if you would be to cowardly to get one. But from seeing your previous excursions, I doubt this will be the case." A subtle way of saying your getting a tattoo.
Daemon nodded, rising from his chair. "I will be seeing you soon?"
He smiled. "Count on it." he started, sweeping his arm to the still guard he had almost forgot about. " Zach here will escort you out.
In one fluid movement, he unzipped one of her deeper pockets, taking the tiny device out with his finger where neither could notice it, stretching his free hand out to pick up his money and paper, the other planting the device on the under corner of the desk, starting the 10 minute timer. Unless he tried to move it, then it would start as he did so, the genetically engineered fire spreading like,well, wildfire.
He walked out the door, his escort following swiftly behind without looking back. As they started down the flights of stairs, Daemon started the mental countdown in his head.
It was beginning to get dangerously close as she passed through the doors and walked down the street, trying not to got too fast to arouse the guard's suspicion. The thunder was already going, sounding like massive drums against what would have otherwise been a quiet street. He could barely hear himself think.
As soon as he rounded the corner, he ran for it, running as fast as he could, until he found a bike, stealing and switching to that, making it to the far outskirts of the city by the time the time dawn was beginning to break, but that was the late or earlyness of when she set out
The sky was dark, pitchblack it seemed as the thunder rolled. He thought he might have heard firetrucks in the distance, which meant he caused enough commotion to get the public on them.
Smiling to herself, she let the glamour fall, revealing her ordinary, almost 14 self in the mirror of the home decor shop she stopped infront of.
And she stopped. She didn't see herself. She saw her mother.
Jacelynn thought she would no longer feel grief after getting revenge. But something inside of her ached with hurt when the familiar bright violet eyes and dark hair was reversed back on her. She closed her eyes, and felt a few tears slide down her cheek. No, she told herself, you haven't cried so far, you won't start crying now. But she didn't want to see it. It hurt her chest to even picture having to watch herself grow into her mother's appearance.
But she didn't have too.
Throwing on a simple glamour, she peeked at the mirror. Her hair was a wavy dark brown, her eyes blue, and the shape of her lips was fuller. She looked different.
This was the face of the new Jacelynn. The one that would carefully examine employees, masquerade as them when they left for 10 minutes from her "persuasion" and steal the money from the cash register. Stretch that money for however long she could. Who would jump from city, barely keeping up on any of her school except for learning other languages as that was useful to her. She was joined briefly by a companion for a few months, but they had parted ways by the time a woman caught her in the act. Who didn't report her to the police, but offered help, guidance and a new life, as long as Jacelynn would do a few things for her. She even told her to charmspeak ( her term for her power over words) the truth out of her, giving her the same exact answer.
It was too tempting to resist though the woman ,who gave her name as Mystique, said explicitly that she wouldn't be the good guy. That was fine, not like she ever was.
She bounced around with her for a few more months, occasionally getting to extract information from some apparently important person, a But that was until they finally stopped in Bayville, getting a boarding house, and Mystique disguised as a Principal. That meant Jacelynn would be attending that same school, and unfortunately Mystique took to plugging her ears with something to avoid her commands to keep up the relaxed homeschooling.
She got stuck at Bayville High, a school that seemed to operate on sports and gossip. It quieted down for a bit, until Mystique suddenly decided to drop in another unfortunate smelling mutant, forming a brotherhood so creatively named "The Brotherhood.". Even though it was formed by a woman and half of it was a girl, the other being a frog-like alien in the mold of a teen boy. (That was her personal theory at least)
It was at this point the story really starts to pick up, and life get more complicated then a teenaged girl with powers living a secret double life should be.