Part IV
As Jack had promised, he had a plan.
The dawn's morning rays shined through the room's barred window, the shadow slowly moving across the samurai's face. Raven sat only a few feet away, staring at the steel door.
"Are you sure this plan's going to work?"
Before any response could be given, the door opened. The same, perky red-headed nurse entered the room, holding the small tray. She hummed a little tune under her breath, and walked toward the end of the room.
"Hello, you two! Why, you look awfully happy today, Raven!" Raven only blinked in surprise at her statement. The nurse stooped in front of the two, being sure to balance the tray on her right hand, while she grabbed a cup filled with small blue pills. Jack quickly glanced at Raven, who began to grin slowly.
"Hey, um...." She looked down nervously. "Nurse, I really have to go to the bathroom."
The nurse looked up. "Oh? Well, after I give you your pills, I can just escort you down to--"
"No, no, no, you don't understand." Raven's green eyes widened. "I REALLY have to go to the bathroom. I know that according to the rules, you have to have one of the guards take off my jacket, but I don't think I'll be able to go down there in time...If you know what I mean."
"But...." The nurse raised a brow as she watched Raven twist in agony.
"Well, I guess if it's an emergency...." She reached towards the buckles on Raven's straight-jacket, and began to pull them a loose. Raven continued to look frantic as the nurse got around to some of the larger buckles that were strapped behind her shoulders. Jack began to cough loudly.
"Oh, that's good enough!" Slowly, Raven extended her arms from underneath the jacket. She slowly winced at the creaky feeling in her elbows, but managed to push herself up from the floor. The nurse set down the tray on the springy floor, a look of worry on her face. She headed towards the door, eyeing Raven suspiciously. She grasped onto the latch on the side and pulled the door open.
"Thank you so much!" Raven smiled. "I guess I'll be going no--LOOK OVER THERE!!"
The nurse quickly turned around and looked at Jack. Raven balanced herself on one foot, and swung her leg through the air. The nurse cried out in pain as her foot smashed into the middle of her shoulder blades, sending her into the side of the wall. Raven growled, and jumped onto her back before the she could make another move; she pulled her arms and twisted them so that they were locked between her own.
"Haha--TOOL. I went to the bathroom hours ago!" The nurse began to scream, but was quickly muffled by Raven's jacket sleeve.
"Jack! Come and keep her down while I get you out of that thing!" Jack ran toward the nurse and threw himself on top of her sprawled form. The nurse gagged on the sleeve, and began to kick at Raven's legs. Jack carefully pulled himself up, and sat down square on the nurse's neck, keeping a close eye on Raven and she loosened her grasp from one of her arms. The nurse waved her free arm through the air, and grasped for a small bulge in her jacket pocket. Raven beat her to it; the nurse's long nails dug into her hand as she grabbed the object in her pocket.
"A gun!" Raven quickly jumped off of the nurse. Jack pushed himself against the nurse as hard as possible and she attempted to push herself up from the floor. Raven aimed the gun at the nurse in her right hand, and quickly began to un-buckle Jack with the other.
"It doesn't have any bullets!" The nurse thrashed against Jack as his arms were finally released from the imprisonment of the jacket. Raven motioned him to get up; he swiftly leapt across the room, and shut the door close.
The nurse crawled up from the floor from her fetal position, and screamed. She grabbed for a small electronic voice-box in her pants pocket, and quickly switched on a button.
"Alert! Two loose patients in room--"
BANG! The object flew into the air and exploded, bits of metal bouncing on the floor. Blood splatted against the back wall; the nurse groaned loudly and fell to the floor.
"I thought you said it wasn't loaded!" Raven took her finger off of the trigger after the shot, and stared at the nurse. Jack's eyes widened as he saw the nurse clinging to the remains of her bloody hand. She began to sob loudly, and lean onto the side of the wall. After a few tense moments of trying to comprehend the situation, Jack bent to his knees, and felt inside of the nurse's jacket pocket.
"Keys. What do they open?!" The woman's brown eyes were filled with tears as she looked up at Jack's stern face.
"They open the file room."
"Where's Jack's clothes?!" Raven hissed. She stepped forward slowly, the gun quivering between her fingers.
"Storage room. The second key." She groaned.
Raven looked over nervously at Jack. She fled for the door, panting loudly. Jack stared at the nurse once more.
"COME ON!"
They both flung open the door at the same time, bright light pouring in. The long hall extended in both directions, complete silence in the air.
"They'll be looking for us after hearing that shot," Jack said exasperatingly. "Listen. You take this key, and find my sword, like we planned. I'll find a way out of here. I'm going to try to go to this...file room to hide. Meet me back here in five minutes!"
Raven nodded, and frantically slid the key off of the metal ring it was bound to. She ran down the left side of the hallway, disappearing behind a corner.
Jack took a deep breath, and headed down the opposite direction. He passed dozens of large, wooden doors with golden-plated signs beside each one, the room number embedded into the surface. He looked down at the golden key in his sweaty palm, and went around a corner. Cold air brushed against his bare back as the jacket flew behind him, ruffling quietly. The hallway's lights dimmed as he turned another corner.
"Alert! Two patients in the building have escaped. All guards are allowed to leave their posts to search for any patients that aren't in their assigned rooms. If found, please bring them to Dr. Mather's head office."
Dr. Mathers? The image of the blonde woman he'd met before flashed in his mind, making him slightly grimace. Jack continued to run down the hallway, hopeful that the next door would lead to the file room. He heard loud footsteps around a corner.
"Samurai Jack has escaped? Dear God...." The recognizable voice of the woman--Dr. Mather's--echoed down the hallway and Jack skidded to a stop. "Aku's going to hate this. Search for him, you fools. And when you find him, I want you to--"
Jack's eyes widened as two large guards turned around the corner. Dr. Mather's stood behind them, eyeglasses glinting in the light.
"THERE HE IS!" Jack spun back around and headed down the hallway, faster than before.
"The file room!" Jack quickly pressed himself against the large wooden door with the words "FILE ROOM" inscribed in it, withdrawing the key. The guards turned around an opposite corner, heads turning in every direction. Jack felt himself fall to the floor at the door unlocked.
"He went that way!" The guards and Dr. Mathers ran down the opposite side of the hall. Jack pushed the door closed and began to catch his breath.
The room was bright and wide, with small cardboard boxes littered all over the floor. Tall, looming metal file cabinets sat in four long rows as Jack walked farther into the room, the light becoming dimmer near the far back.
He slowly allowed the jacket to fall off of his shoulders, a cold blast of air prickling his skin. The heavy jacket landed with a heavy thud onto the tiled floor. Jack's weary eyes noticed something shine in a corner of the room.
A mirror. A rather simple, rectangular mirror, edged with tarnished gold, sat leaned against the white wall. Jack stepped closer and gazed in wonder at his own reflection. He trailed his fingers around his eyes, noticing how dark they'd gotten since his arrival. He was a tad bit skinnier in the middle than before, his dark long hair slightly matted and fuzzy.
His image in the mirror slowly began to change...His eyes were turning to an odd red tint; his loose white pants turned black, and his blank, confused expression turned into an evil grin. Jack grasped onto both sides of the mirror, shaking his head slowly. His reflection began to cackle loudly.
"I'm back."
Jack jumped back, and the mirror fell with him. It shattered into a thousand pieces on the floor, glass sliding into every direction. Jack's eyes were wide in horror; he stepped back and felt himself bump into a cabinet.
"Where is he?!" Jack heard voiced outside the room's door. He ran down an aisle of cabinets, careful to look towards the door to see who was entering. The door flew open as Mathers walked in, her blonde hair slightly unraveled from her bun. Her glasses were gone, and replaced with the fierce look of her brown eyes.
Jack heard her heels click against the floor, crackling on glass. She muttered something incoherent. Jack pressed himself against the end row of cabinets, holding his breath. He felt himself get dizzy, and slipped to his knees...
Jack found himself in a clear opening. The sky was filled with bright fluffy clouds that were floating slowly towards the horizon. The vast place where a village once laid was before him, only burnt ashes and wood for its remains. He stepped through the debris, looking around for any sign of life. The soft sound of a child crying alerted his senses as her felt for his sword's hilt.
A small, bent form sat on a pile of wood, clinging to something big and blue. Jack walked towards the child, his hand extended.
"Are...You okay?"
She child looked up at him. Their dark face had burn marks all around it, going down towards their neck. Bright, green eyes stared back at Jack as the child clung to the stuffed animal between their arms, and began to back away slowly.
"My mom...and dad..." Jack stared at the child as she wiped a tear away from her eye.
"What happened to this village?"
"It burned down."
Jack stared sadly at the landscape, noticing some smoldering ruins in the far distance.
"What's your name?"
The child looked away. "My name...is...."
Jack's eyes flew open. He found himself looking to his left, towards a large bulletin board. Jack quickly diverted his attention to something in the corner. Pinned to a board were several Manila folders, with names printed in large bold letters written across them.
"Raven, Poe?"
Jack cried out as a sharp heel kicked into his back. Cold, smooth metal pressed into his forehead as he flipped onto his back, his back aching with pain.
"Hello, Jack." Mathers deep red lipstick was slightly smeared across her pale face. She had a long pistol pointed at him, her finger a fraction of an inch near the trigger. She walked forward, making Jack scoot back hesitantly. He slowly rose from the floor, Mathers keeping her eyes on his form.
"I know you've gotten yourself out of a lot of trouble in the past, but this is the last time you'll escape anyone's grasp. Aku may not be able to kill you like he planned, but at least I will finally have the chance to have that wonderful bounty on your head." Jack frowned, and kept a steady look at the tip of the gun. He heard something rustle in the back of the room...
"Do you really want to know something, Jack? You didn't catch that disease--" Jack yelled, and kicked the gun out of Mather's hand without warning. He jumped through the air onto a cabinets steel handle, and began to climb towards the top. Mathers clawed towards her gun that spun across the floor.
"JACK, HERE!" Someone called out from the door. Raven stood below, Jack's mighty katana in her hand. She flung it across the room, Jack catching it before the blade nearly went flying into his face.
Mathers hissed, and aimed her gun at Jack's chest. The gun went off; the bullet bounced off of the blunt edge of his sword, spiraling off to another corner of the room. She quickly turned her attention towards Raven, who was keeping a close eye at Jack. She thrust herself on top of her, managing to get her into a strong head-lock.
"NO!" Jack ran across the column of cabinets, and jumped to the floor, katana raised. Mathers shoved her gun into Raven's mouth, grinning maliciously.
"Let her go!" He raised his sword threateningly at Mather's glistening face. She only pushed the gun farther into the back of Raven's throat.
"Say goodbye, Jack."
Before Jack could bring his sword down, a gunshot went off. Mather's eyes widened in horror as a bullet flew through her chest, blasting through a cabinet. She clung to Raven's torso and cried out in agony as she went went tumbling backward into a cabinet. It swayed dangerously, and toppled to its side, thousands of dusty, yellow papers pouring out of it. The loud sound of the cabinet crashing onto the floor echoed throughout the room, Jack jumped back to avoid getting hit.
Jack watched Raven roll off of Mather's body, her back covered with dark, red blood. The blood trailed across the floor, Mather's own shirt becoming drenched in it. Raven stepped into the pile of glass and gasped slightly. A small black hole sat right on the left side of Mather's chest, more blood slightly dripping from her side.
"She's...It...." Raven stepped on the aged papers, bloody footprints following her. Mathers gun sat only a few feet away, sitting in a puddle of blood.
"I came because it was past five minutes...And...Jack, I--the guards! And...!" She stumbled across the room, blood dripping off of her jacket sleeve. The loud clank of the gun dropping to the floor echoed throughout the room, the gun dropping next to Mather's leg. She stood in front of Jack and began to choke slightly.
Jack stared deeply into her eyes, noticing they were brimmed with tears. She wrapped her arms tightly around Jack's abdomen and buried her head in his chest, sobbing loudly. Hesitantly, Jack wrapped his arms around her back, and set his chin on the top of her dark mess of locks, feeling warm tears slide against his skin.
Somewhere, in distant place, something screamed out in anger. It pounded its fist through the air, and screamed once more.
"IT'S NOT OVER YET, SAMURAI!"