Based on characters and situations created and/or owned by Marvel Comics, DC Comics Sunbow Entertainment, Kids WB, Monkey Punch Publications, Nickelodeon entertainment, and John Proft. Special thanks to Red Witch for the use of her character, Spyder.
Chapter 25: Trial by fire
Jack sat nervously at the table off to one side in the massive hall. He never expected to be sitting this close to a judge. He bit his lip as he looked timidly up at the judge. Jack looked off to his left, passed his lawyer, to get a second look at the accusing attorney, the towering tall jade giantess, Jenifer Walters. The media had dubbed her the Sensational she-hulk. He hoped she didn't have mood swings like her cousin. His thoughts were shaken back to the hear and now when the judge walked into the courtroom from his chambers, and took a seat at his podium.
He looked down at the papers that awaited him, and slipped on his glasses and looked them over for a moment. Jack used this moment to look around the room behind him. The room was packed. Besides himself, the lawyers, the judge and bailiff, and the jury, the audience seemed to be packed in as if awaiting a sold out show. Among the crowd Jack could see the professor, Steve Rogers, and rogue, as well as many people he didn't recognize, some of which had angry looks on their faces, and the all to clear arm band with the letters "F.O.H." proudly displayed on half the audience's arms. Then there was the man in the back, he wore a long brown trench coat and his eyes... Jack couldn't get a look but there just seemed to be something wrong with his eyes. Suddenly the sound of the gavel rang, silencing the whispered chattering that filled the room.
"That's enough, this circus will come to order." The judge demanded, before giving his papers one last glance. " Now... Mr.. Carson, stand up." The judge ordered. Jack gulped as he stood. "On the grounds of murder in the first degree, how do you plead?" Jack took a deep breath... Now was the time, it was all going to get difficult from here on in.
"Not guilty, your honor." The room erupted in chattering, and the occasional outburst from people who hated him. The gavel slammed down again, silencing the room after a moment.
"Now then..." The judge said evenly as he scanned the papers once more. "Jack Carson, since you have pled not guilty, you will be ordered to appear for court on august 4th, at 4 pm, failure to do so will result in contempt... And believe me boy, that is something you do not want." Jack nodded, clearly the thought of prison was something that scared him. "Now since that it a good month or so away, you will be sent to the Bayville maximum security prison until that time." And with a final slam of the gavel, jack's heart dropped. A month... For a month jack was going to prison, probably more if they couldn't prove he was innocent. He was so lost he almost didn't see the man in the trenchcoat as he stood, and flung something passed him, something that was thin as paper... But was glowing.
Jack was just barely able to make it out as the jack of clubs, before the card connected with the ground dead center between the tables where he and the lawyers sat, and the judges podium... And exploded. Jack felt himself pushed back, his head ringing from the loud burst of the explosion. Jack coughed as he sat up, waving away the smoke, to see Matt Murdock, his lawyer, crouched over him. He had pulled jack out of the way just in time. After a moment, jack slowly was able to hear again. He looked around, and spotted Ms. Walters, laying motionless on the ground.
"Let tha boy go, he done notin wrong!" The thick Cajun voice called out from the man in the coat, another glowing card held firmly between two fingers.
"On the ground now!" A voice called out. The card holding man smiled as he turned, to see Officer Jim Hammond, his pistol pointed at the man's head. Jack mentally kicked himself. Ofcourse Hammond was there, he was the cop who was in charge of the investigation. The man with the card gave a sigh.
"The name is gambit..." He said, as he tossed the card at the cop, "Remember it." He said, as he leapt backwards as the card impacted with Hammond chest, and burst into flames, sending the cop flying. The walls were now bright with flames, climbing to the ceiling as people scattered for the door in a panic. Steve and Xavier had to struggle to keep rogue from running to help jack.
"Let me go!" She demanded.
"Rogue, Jack is alright, but if we go to his aid, we will be arrested for becoming involves with the matter, we can not help him as we are." Xavier called out. Rogue looked into Xavier's eyes. Clearly this was not enough to get her to leave.
"I will keep a link with Jack, if he is in trouble, you and Steve may come back for him, but for now we must get these people to safety." Rogue bit her tongue, and nodded, racing off to guide others out of the room. Meanwhile Murdock was helping jack to stay on his knees, to crawl out. After a moment however, Murdock realized jack was going in the wrong direction.
"Carson, what are you doing?!" Murdock demanded.
"Go get that cop, make sure he's OK, Walters took a rock to the face and is out cold, I got to get her out of here." Jack called back, before a roaring flame curled out, separating them. Murdock growled in anger, but knew Carson was right, and crawled off to find Hammond.
Jack felt the smoke filling his lungs as he slowly crawled around the debris, to find the green lawyer laying at the floor under the table, a small trickle of blood slithering down her forehead.
"That can't be good." Jack thought as he took a deep breath, got to his feet, and with all his strength, lifted the she-hulk up to stand like a rag doll beside him, one powerful yet lifeless arm draped over his shoulder, as he slowly pulled her for the door.
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Jack powers, along with his sister, Julie, found themselves wandering the ally at the edge of the Bayville city limits. Jack paced back and forth, while Julie simply sat on an old garbage dumpster.
"You know he won't show up faster if you keep pacing like that." She said evenly as she watched her brother pace, with an irritated look on her face.
"I know but... Don't you feel at all guilty about what happened?" Jack asked angrily. Julie matched the cold stare jack gave her with her own.
"Ofcourse I do, that's why I'm here, and not with Alex and Katie. But I don't have to enjoy this ether." She said with a cold tone. Jack calmed himself. He knew his sister felt bad about what happened, he knew Alex and Katie did to, but unlike himself and Julie, his other brother and sister decided to go into hiding instead of, for lack of a better term, repent for past sins.
"For a couple of kids, you sure do talk like adults." A cocky, smug voice said from the edge of the ally. The two children turned to see the shadowed man slowly walk down the ally towards them. The first thing that came into view was his self centered smile, it was all they needed to id the man.
"Longshot..." Julie said evenly. When they had all first met him, none of them trusted them, but Julie was so fallen head over heels at the sight of a cute boy, that she tried hard to convince the rest of her family to go along with his reality TV show. Looking back she regretted letting her emotions make her decisions.
"In the flesh pretty lady, but you called me, what do you want, I figured you could tell by the empty base that the show was... Well.. Cancelled." Longshot said coldly. Jack bit his lip in anger.
"You know a guy called "o'maley" how did he die?" Jack asked simply. Longshots eyes went wide in shock. This was the last thing he expected to be asked by these kids.
"Go home half pint, don't ask questions that would get you killed." longshot replied. He turned to leave, only to see the ally behind him was blocked off by some kind of bizarre net. He turned again, intending to walk past the kids, only to see his path had been blocked in the other direction as well by the same netting. He smiled, and started leaping wildly like a spring, hopping from wall to wall. He was half way to the rooftops when there was a strange "thip" sound from above. The two kids watched as something fell from the sky, crashing hard on the ground. It was longshot, incased in a sticky grey cocoon like substance.
The two kids raced up to him, watching in shock as the self centered mutant squirmed to free himself, then his eyes went wide in terror. The two kids looked up, and Julie fought to snicker, as spider-girl leapt down, crouching beside him. The blank wide eyes of her mask staring down almost emotionlessly, as if filling the boy in terror.
"What were you saying about o'malay?" Spider-girl asked in a voice that made jack and Julie shiver.
"I... I'll talk... Just get me out of here before mojo catches us." He begged in fear. The two kids looked at eachother, confused.
"Mojo?"
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Jack moaned weakly as his vision slowly cleared. First the total blackness, then slowly there was light, then colors. Eventually they began to take shape, and sounds came with the images. He reached out to rub his eyes, to find one hand wouldn't come to his eyes, the other did, but it felt strange, like it was wrapped in bandages. He rubbed his eyes as best he could and then let his head focus.
When his vision finally cleared completely, he saw he was laying in a hospital bed. The room was bleak and bright white, giving a very sterile feeling. He looked down at himself to see most of his body hidden in a blanket, his one free arm was completely bandaged, and the tight wrapping at the end of his arm a painful reminder that he still was short one hand, the other arm was cuffed to the bed, which made sence as the past events returned to his memory. He gave a weak sigh as he leaned back, looking up at the empty ceiling.
"So your finally awake?" a voice called out. Jack sat up, startled, to see a nurse. Jack took a deep breath, feeling the pain in his chest.
"What happened?" Jack asked, slowly looking around for some sign of... Anything.
"Well your hearing was attacked, you passed out after pulling the prosecutor out of the court room, and then you've been laying here for the past two days." Jack frowned.
"Two days... " Jack said absently.
"You certainly have a talent for bad luck, don't you Mr.. Carson?" The nurse asked as she looked down at her chart. Suddenly the events of the court room attack flashed in his head.
"Oh god... The cop... Hammond, I saw him get a direct hit.. Is he OK?" Jack asked in fear.
"They couldn't find his body, so the cops assumed he got out, whether he's okay or not no one knows." Jack grumbled, he never liked that kind of answer.
After another moment Jack realized something else.
"You said I have a talent for bad luck, what did you mean by that?" Jack asked.
"well, you are on trial for murder, right? On top of being attacked, that must be alot, It makes you wonder what other problems you've had in your life." The nurse said, looking over the AV. Jack's eyes narrowed.
"You seem to know more than your letting on." The nurse sighed, then turned to face him. Suddenly hoer body morphed and changed, until she was no longer the nurse, but instead a much more recognizable, blue skinned woman. Jack bit his lip.
"Why are you here... Come to see me at my worst? Or maybe you plan to finish the job?" Jack asked with venom in his words. Mystique gave no sign of emotion as she spoke.
"Don't get me wrong, I have no love for you boy, or any of your kind, but... You showed me I've made a mistake in my life, and I do not like to owe anyone in any way... " She said evenly as she started for the door.
"So I ask again... Why are you here?" Mystique morphed back into the form of the nurse as she headed for the door. She stopped for a moment as she stood just in front of the closed door.
"Let's just say I always repay my debts... But once I've done so, you wont see me again." She said as she walked out. Jack was about to yell, to demand she return and explain herself... But that's when Rogue, Xavier and Steve raced into the room.
"Jack, your awake, how ya feelin?" Rogue asked as she raced up to his bedside. Jack took one last glance at the door, and took a deep breath.
"I guess I'm fine... I just... Just alittle confused. I'm guessing nothings changed?" Xavier shook his head.
"Things have gotten somewhat complicated, however your current situation has not changed. Your going to be moved to the maximum security hospital wing, until your burns heal, then you will be transferred to the normal part of the prison until your court date." Xavier said sadly. Jack looked up at Steve, then to rogue. He nodded, his eyes weary, his whole body aching.
"I guess that's to be expected..." He said sadly.
"There's good news too." Steve said. "Cause your case has gotten so much media attention, their moving your court date ahead, we don't have a date yet but it's supposed to be within a week." That did help, jack thought, then he looked up at the look rogue was giving him, and it made him blush. Xavier also noticed this look, and desired to look up to Steve.
"Captain Rogers, I believe I saw a cafeteria around the corner, perhaps you would join me in a cup of coffee?" Xavier asked as he and Steve slipped out of the room, leaving Jack and rogue alone for a moment. Jack watched them leave, then looked back up at rogue.
For a moment there was silence.
"I ah... I finished tha book y'all loaned me." she said shyly. Jack smiled.
"Glad one of us did." he said with a snicker. Rogue growled.
"Y'all mean y'all never read it?" She asked.
"I started it... But then I kind of... Went to another planet." he said with a snicker.
"Well.. Then what was all that about it bein ah sign of the future?" Rogue asked angrily.
"The person who gave it to me told me that..." He said nervously, looking away," I ment to read it but... Things kind of got complicated." He said, looking down at his hand, or where it once was before it was taken from him. He needed to change the subject, depression was the last thing he needed right now.
"Rogue... I want you to do something for me... Something important." He said evenly. Rogue gulped, the tone in jacks voice sounded stern and determined.
"Alright..." She said nervously.
"Touch me." Rogue's eyes went wide.
"No, I mean ah.. Ah can't..." Jack looked deep into her eyes.
"Rogue, touch me... Please... Just for a moment." Rogue bit her lip, almost terrified, as she nervously pulled off her glove. She looked down at her bare hand, before slowly, timidly pressing her finger against jack's forehead. She pulled away instantly, waiting for the instant of new memories to flash threw her head, but nothing happened. She looked, mesmerized at her hand... And then without a word, she pressed her palm against jack's head. Jack snickered at her reaction, and waited for her to pull her hand away. She looked deep into his eyes.
"W... What happened? Why can't ah drain ya..." She asked, half terrified.
"You still might be able to, From what I can guess I'm guessing you can control it now." He said with a smile. Rogue gave him an even look.
"What did y'all do?" She asked sternly. Jack looked down nervously.
"I um... I used a... a miracle I got while we were... In heaven." He said, trying to ignore how idiotic that statement sounded. Rogue, turned his face to make him look at her.
"why... ya could have brought back your hand, or.. Brought your family back." Jack sighed.
"I could have... But that wouldn't be fair to them. And as for my hand... I can live with one less limb, but... You deserve to live more of a normal life..." He said shyly. Rogue found herself tearing up, and without a thought, she leaned down and kissed him hard. Jack's eyes went wide, but after a moment let go, kissing back softly. He blushed brightly as rogue finally pulled back, seeing color in her cheeks as well.
"you ah... For a girl who's never done it before... Your a good kisser." He said with a smile. Rogue blushed redder, before pulling up a chair and sitting beside the bed.
"Ya still wanna... Hear more about meh?" Rogue asked shyly." Jack nodded, feeling as if they had reached a new level together, and couldn't help but But look forward to see where this new chapter in their life would take them.
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Meanwhile, somewhere deep in the heart of Bayville's suburban landscape, Dr. Curt Connors leaned over his desk in the late night hours. He groaned as the empty sleeve of his lab coat brushed his thigh, but the irritation was forgotten when the door behind him swung open, and a shadowed man stood in the doorframe, the man was clearly injured, but it was nothing more than various cuts and bruises. This wouldn't be odd at all, if not for the fact that he was literally on fire.
"Dr. Connors... It's happened again."
End of Chapter
Next Chapter: Kingdom of Crime
Sorry I took so long with this one, I've been having afew hickups in my life lately. But PLEASE send me your feedback, I need to know now more than ever if this is still a good story. Any impute would be very helpful.