"Hey there." Whispered a voice, singsong. Raimundo looked up. It was Ashley again.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing." She sat down by his feet, hugging her knees to her chest. He watched her, baffled. Who would want to sit around in a dungeon?

After a long while, she spoke. "If you're going to escape, you'd better do it soon," she said.

"Huh?"

"I did some research on the Shen-Gong-Wu that he's been using to hurt you. Apparently it turns the person holding it into some kind of blood-crazy fiend that spares no prisoners." She attempted a joke. "And that's not good if you're already a prisoner."

"Do I care?" He was still trying to ignore her presence.

Ashley's eyes turned up towards Raimundo. They were hollow. "It turned Wuya from someone like me, just a little bit on the greedy side, to what she's like now in a matter of days - before she was beaten by Dashi, of course."

"You might not have noticed, but he didn't beat her permanently."

"Stop it!" She stood up to face him and began to yell, "Stop being so calm! I'm trying to save your life here!"

"Why? We're not... Friends, or anything."

"That's a good question!" She screamed, flinging out an arm and slapping him before storming out, muttering. Raimundo grinned after her. But the smile faded when he heard the sounds of someone else entering the other room - someone in a bad mood.

Katnappé had been flung to the floor. The storm outside, at its peak of violence, flashed outside. Jack stood over her with the newly charged Trember Trident. There wasn't even a maniacal laugh, and somehow thatmade her more nervous.

"How dare you break into my lair!" Jack shouted, accompanied by a large roll of thunder. Katnappé crawled backward, away from the apparition. Jack had never been scary before, not like this. He'd been scary-weird, yes, lots of times, and occasionally scary-comical, but never scary-powerful. She flinched as he took a step towards her.

"Frightened, are we?" he grinned, maliciously. The Trember Trident was tight in the grip of both hands, she watched it rather than Jack. She didn't dare look him in the face. It sparked, as if sensing her gaze. She closed her eyes, shaking in fear. She felt a weight on her stomach, hot breath on her neck, an arm prising her knees apart...

She felt a tear trickle past her tightly sealed lids. She couldn't scream, couldn't cry, couldn't beg for mercy. He would have won, and worse would follow.

It didn't take a physic to know that Ashley was in Danger. And for some reason, the thought worried Raimundo. He opened his mouth.

"Hey! Come in here and pick on someone your own size!" he yelled as a distraction. Not that he knew who was picking on whom, but sometimes it paid to be impulsive. Not in this case, though.

Jack heard the voice from the other room, froze. He looked down at Katnappé. Her nose was running and mascara was smeared down the side of her face. Pathetic. Scaring her so badly that the marrow froze in her bones - it was too easy. And where did this new vocabulary come from? It was Evil.

He grinned, and got up. New prey awaited.

&o&o&

AN: How'd you like? Yes, that's the penultimate chapter of this arc - but I think that this is going to be a double-arc under one header.

Thanks to Jadebell, Cherrii, nerb, cartoonhottie200 and heylin minion for reading! (And anyone else who's reading but hasn't informed me by way of review or forum).