Chapter Three: No Pity, No Mercy, No Fear
As Jack Dante grew older, he began to learn more about the ways of the world, and just how he fit into it. He learned that people naturally did not like him, and the only way for him to befriend or even to get close to others would be if he made a relationship worth their while.
For this reason, he was easy to take advantage of, and the few 'friends' he was able to secure took him for all he was worth. Of course, the only thing he possessed that was of any material value in society was his body, so that was what they took, in any way he was willing to give it.
He soon found that he did not like the way of the world very much.
Jack made many 'friends' during his youth and into his young adulthood, but he could only remember those who had made the most impact on him (or, as he grew older, any impact at all). The first was a bully called Toby Crowell, a strapping yet dim-witted boy who had been Jack's bunkmate for several months back when he was nine years old (Toby had been twelve; his dull mind and dislike for learning frequently prevented academic advancement).
One night, Toby had decided that Jack's obsessive drawing---which always came before his love of conversing with other people, namely, Toby---and self-imposed solitude were too abnormal for him to be forced to abide, so the older boy advanced upon the younger with the intention of beating him to a pulp.
However, one look into Jack's searing blue eyes (Toby's first, for the quiet child almost never looked anyone in the eye) and at his longish hair and slim body caused the pre-adolescent to discard the intent to physically abuse the younger boy in favor of the newly found and far greater desire to sexually assault him.
Fortunately for young Toby, Jack was a compliant victim, and was so in awe of the attention being bestowed upon him by another living being that was not of his mind's making, that he had been willing to do anything that was asked of him as long it did not waver. While the feeling of being choked by Toby's developing penis was not altogether a pleasant experience, Jack felt that the expressions of euphoria on the older boy's face and the feeling of his large hands twisted into his hair or stroking his back more than made up for that discomfort.
This 'friendship' with Toby Crowell only lasted for a short time, for the troublesome boy was carted off to another orphanage less than half a year after having made the one in which Jack was residing his home. The two boys had been found out, as it were, by a member of the orphanage staff who was adamant that Toby be reassigned to another institution so that Jack would be safe from his abusive overtures.
How odd it was that this very same man was to become Jack's second 'friend' shortly after rescuing him from Toby. Though his sadness at Toby's abrupt departure from his life had been neatly assuaged by the 'friendship' of his 'rescuer', he became quite distraught when the man took the one thing from his body that Toby hadn't known how to.
Another one of his attacks followed the unfortunate incident, and Jack was once again placed in a psychiatric institution. That stay in the psych ward was his longest ever. During the first few weeks of his confinement, his agitation and mania could not be calmed down by any drug or procedure; nor, conversely, could the depressive stupor which eventually claimed his mind for the latter weeks, be relieved by any of the hospital staff.
To this day, he has no memory of that last stay in the psych ward, nor does he remember the name of the 'rescuer' who had ultimately sent him there.
After two months and several days at the hospital, young Jack Dante eventually achieved the proper level of sanity to be allowed to leave it, and was once again relocated to another orphanage. To the surprise of many, Jack remained in this same institution until he reached the age of majority. He would not have another psychotic episode until he reached adulthood.
The personnel of this new orphanage were not aware that the Jack Dante they knew was only a semblance of his former self. In fact, this Jack Dante was everything the former had not been: talkative, sarcastic, crude and unusually libidinous. He made many new 'friends' in this orphanage, both students and staff alike, and all of these brief conquests were initiated by him.
What people found most attractive about Jack was the desperate vulnerability that fairly emanated from his being and colored his personality, his need to be desired. They did not realize that it was love he craved, but since he didn't even recognize this need within himself, there was no way that he could search for it.
So, instead, the people he found to fulfill his baser needs were as sexually depraved as he had grown to be, and just as needy for someone to hold power over. These people were like physically stronger and mentally inferior mirrors of himself, and his consummations with them were more like battles for control than expressions of passion.
Along with his emerging sexuality, Jack had discovered the wonders of television (he had been oblivious of its existence in his childhood), most specifically children's sci-fi or fantasy cartoons, and spent many hours sprawled out on one of the couches in the orphanage's lounge watching them. He told anyone who asked him about this juvenile fixation that he watched so many cartoons so he could 'catch up with his runaway childhood'.
Any time he did not spend in front of the television was spent working tirelessly before a computer screen, painstakingly refining and advancing his robotic designs. The image of the indestructible man-machine still danced tantalizingly behind his eyes; it was the only god he had ever known and he worshipped it faithfully.
He did not draw during this time, and would not for years to come. Every time he picked up a pad of paper, he was reminded of his awakening to human nature, and the foul consequences it had wreaked upon his psyche.
Jack Dante now knew the ways of the world, and his eyes and demeanor came to reflect this knowledge, as well as the formidable sense of cunning he developed. Within himself, a great and intense anger was slowly being shaped and nourished, but he would never come to understand it.
For, while his intelligence grew stronger as his body grew larger, his emotional growth had been stunted shortly after he had left the hospital for the last time. If those who had taken care of him had actually cared for him at all, they might have been able to stop the murderous anger that he would become renowned for from taking root in his brain before it exploded in the form of a catastrophe that would change Jack Dante's life forever
As Jack Dante grew older, he began to learn more about the ways of the world, and just how he fit into it. He learned that people naturally did not like him, and the only way for him to befriend or even to get close to others would be if he made a relationship worth their while.
For this reason, he was easy to take advantage of, and the few 'friends' he was able to secure took him for all he was worth. Of course, the only thing he possessed that was of any material value in society was his body, so that was what they took, in any way he was willing to give it.
He soon found that he did not like the way of the world very much.
Jack made many 'friends' during his youth and into his young adulthood, but he could only remember those who had made the most impact on him (or, as he grew older, any impact at all). The first was a bully called Toby Crowell, a strapping yet dim-witted boy who had been Jack's bunkmate for several months back when he was nine years old (Toby had been twelve; his dull mind and dislike for learning frequently prevented academic advancement).
One night, Toby had decided that Jack's obsessive drawing---which always came before his love of conversing with other people, namely, Toby---and self-imposed solitude were too abnormal for him to be forced to abide, so the older boy advanced upon the younger with the intention of beating him to a pulp.
However, one look into Jack's searing blue eyes (Toby's first, for the quiet child almost never looked anyone in the eye) and at his longish hair and slim body caused the pre-adolescent to discard the intent to physically abuse the younger boy in favor of the newly found and far greater desire to sexually assault him.
Fortunately for young Toby, Jack was a compliant victim, and was so in awe of the attention being bestowed upon him by another living being that was not of his mind's making, that he had been willing to do anything that was asked of him as long it did not waver. While the feeling of being choked by Toby's developing penis was not altogether a pleasant experience, Jack felt that the expressions of euphoria on the older boy's face and the feeling of his large hands twisted into his hair or stroking his back more than made up for that discomfort.
This 'friendship' with Toby Crowell only lasted for a short time, for the troublesome boy was carted off to another orphanage less than half a year after having made the one in which Jack was residing his home. The two boys had been found out, as it were, by a member of the orphanage staff who was adamant that Toby be reassigned to another institution so that Jack would be safe from his abusive overtures.
How odd it was that this very same man was to become Jack's second 'friend' shortly after rescuing him from Toby. Though his sadness at Toby's abrupt departure from his life had been neatly assuaged by the 'friendship' of his 'rescuer', he became quite distraught when the man took the one thing from his body that Toby hadn't known how to.
Another one of his attacks followed the unfortunate incident, and Jack was once again placed in a psychiatric institution. That stay in the psych ward was his longest ever. During the first few weeks of his confinement, his agitation and mania could not be calmed down by any drug or procedure; nor, conversely, could the depressive stupor which eventually claimed his mind for the latter weeks, be relieved by any of the hospital staff.
To this day, he has no memory of that last stay in the psych ward, nor does he remember the name of the 'rescuer' who had ultimately sent him there.
After two months and several days at the hospital, young Jack Dante eventually achieved the proper level of sanity to be allowed to leave it, and was once again relocated to another orphanage. To the surprise of many, Jack remained in this same institution until he reached the age of majority. He would not have another psychotic episode until he reached adulthood.
The personnel of this new orphanage were not aware that the Jack Dante they knew was only a semblance of his former self. In fact, this Jack Dante was everything the former had not been: talkative, sarcastic, crude and unusually libidinous. He made many new 'friends' in this orphanage, both students and staff alike, and all of these brief conquests were initiated by him.
What people found most attractive about Jack was the desperate vulnerability that fairly emanated from his being and colored his personality, his need to be desired. They did not realize that it was love he craved, but since he didn't even recognize this need within himself, there was no way that he could search for it.
So, instead, the people he found to fulfill his baser needs were as sexually depraved as he had grown to be, and just as needy for someone to hold power over. These people were like physically stronger and mentally inferior mirrors of himself, and his consummations with them were more like battles for control than expressions of passion.
Along with his emerging sexuality, Jack had discovered the wonders of television (he had been oblivious of its existence in his childhood), most specifically children's sci-fi or fantasy cartoons, and spent many hours sprawled out on one of the couches in the orphanage's lounge watching them. He told anyone who asked him about this juvenile fixation that he watched so many cartoons so he could 'catch up with his runaway childhood'.
Any time he did not spend in front of the television was spent working tirelessly before a computer screen, painstakingly refining and advancing his robotic designs. The image of the indestructible man-machine still danced tantalizingly behind his eyes; it was the only god he had ever known and he worshipped it faithfully.
He did not draw during this time, and would not for years to come. Every time he picked up a pad of paper, he was reminded of his awakening to human nature, and the foul consequences it had wreaked upon his psyche.
Jack Dante now knew the ways of the world, and his eyes and demeanor came to reflect this knowledge, as well as the formidable sense of cunning he developed. Within himself, a great and intense anger was slowly being shaped and nourished, but he would never come to understand it.
For, while his intelligence grew stronger as his body grew larger, his emotional growth had been stunted shortly after he had left the hospital for the last time. If those who had taken care of him had actually cared for him at all, they might have been able to stop the murderous anger that he would become renowned for from taking root in his brain before it exploded in the form of a catastrophe that would change Jack Dante's life forever