Chapter nine, are any hard answers going to be gained, as we find out who jack really is?
Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread, because I'm too crazy to own anything.
#9: Feeding the Inferno
Barnette didn't know what she had just seen. A pool of blood rising up at the wave of a hand, exploding into purple flames at the snap of fingers. She didn't know if it was beautiful or horrifying. She wondered what Jack had meant when his told her she was going to find out who, and what he was. Jack sat down with his back to a tree, and motioned for her to join him. She walked over and sat next to him. She was scared of what he had shown her, but not of him.
He was speaking fast and quiet, not wanting to be overheard. He sounded scared, something new for her to hear from him, fear. "I'm am telling this to you, only because I love you, and you need to know, before you decide anything. What I will tell you, will most likely change any opinions you have had of me." He said, sadness tugging at his voice. Barnette didn't think anything could change her feelings of love to him. "I was taken in by the military, after an accident I caused. They locked me up, I couldn't escape. I hurt myself trying to get out. They said that they would let me out occasionally if I helped them. I agreed, and they trained me. I served them just to get out, and they repaid me with money and colonization artifacts. They warned me I could not get away, no matter what I did, they would get me back. I try it once, and they were right." He said, Barnette taking it in, and one question came to mind in an instant.
"What did they make you do?"
"I can't give you full details, they made sure of that, but basically horrible stuff, that was either too dangerous for others, or too unethical for normal soldiers. Taking over sigle enemy ships by myself, or slaughtering innocent and defenseless people who they felt would get in the way of things." He said, not able to meet her eyes. He was surprised when her arms wrapped around him.
"Your safe now," she whispered in his ear in a soothing voice. " You're with us, and they can't force you into anything anymore." She was holding him softly, and he kept up, a panic ceasing him.
"No! No I'm not. They're the whole reason I'm hear, the sent me." He said in hysteria. Barnette just hugged him tighter, and kept trying to calm him.
"They sent me to, to, capture something, and k-kill… ki... kill…" He couldn't finish as a wave of misery swept over him, and he tried to fight it back. Barnette just kept whispering hat it was okay, that he was safe. He couldn't believe she was doing this, after what she had seen, and what he had told her. She was still next to him, trying to confront him. Maybe this thing called love was more than he realized, more than anyone realized. Another surge of misery hit as he thought of what he would soon do, what no one, not even himself, could stop him from doing. At that exact moment in time, he hated everything. Most of all he hated himself, for his many short comings, for having this power flowing through him, and for helplessness to save anything. He hated every thing. Everything, except the woman holding him in her arms.
"I've got to go." He managed to get out, as he stood, fighting the burning at the corners of his eyes. He left as fast as he could disappearing into the dark, not wanting to taint her with his presence any longer.
Barnette sat there for a long time, just thinking, trying to figure out anything. She stood, knowing what she needed. More answers and information, and for the first time, she knew where she could get them from. She walked into the mess hall, empty now, as it was close to four in the morning, the small tables back in their normal places. She left, and headed to the left arm of the ship. She noticed that Jack's door was locked, but she headed for the door across from it. She knocked on the door, but there was no response. After several minutes of knocking and waiting, she finally got what she was looking for. The door slid open to reveal a sleepy, and severely annoyed John.
"What the hell you want." He said angrily.
"I want to talk about Jack." She said, not backing down
"Well, then why don't you talk to him then?" He said, but something caught his eye. "Wait, what is that." He said, pointing at a shiny handgun hanging at her waist, his voice curious instead of angry.
"It was a gift he gave me." She said, holding up the shiny firearm.
"Ok, just give me a sec," he said, slipping on his shoes, then stepping out the door, and closing it behind him, "lets go get some coffee." They went back to the mess hall, and John made a quick pot of coffee, then sat a the table with Barnette, handing her a cup as she examined the gun more closely, trying to see what had made John's attitude change once he saw it.
"What do you want to know?" He asked, sipping his coffee.
"What is so special about this?" she said, holding up the gun.
"That was Jack's favorite gun, all that he had when the military took him in. He said that he loved it more than the time he was aloud outside of were the kept him, loved it more than life." John said staring at the gun.
"What happened when the military took him in? What was the accident?" She said, seeing the little gun in a new way. He loved it more than life? Than why had he given it to her? What did this mean?
"He was four years old," John started, "there was a call that a housing complex on the edge of the city, and there was one survivor who had never left the building, but had little damage. MPs showed up to see what had happened. They found a little boy, with no skin on his hands. They questioned him, and he told them that he had made a purple light come out of his hands, and the building caught fire, with purple fire. Only a few things were left at the site, it was like the complex was never their, a few pieces of pipe, and a couple trinkets survived. They analyzed it and found they were all the same type of metal. They saw potential in the kid, so they inducted him into the military's special weapons program. After several tests, they found that he was shooting pure energy that he had a special affinity with. They also found that only that metal they had found, was undamaged by the energy. They knew that if they could control him, that they would have a nearly unstoppable weapon at their disposal. They found a place on the planet where the metal was plentiful, and began mining it. When they had enough, the built a cage ant threw him in it. He had that gun with him at the time and pulled it on the man who threw him in the cage, who snatched it away. He was angry, and fired a beam of that energy at the man. There wasn't much left of the man, or the wall behind him, but he had burned all of the skin off of his hands, and couldn't direct the energy anymore. The told him that he could have the gun back, and more, if he agreed to work for them. He agreed, and they started training him. They gave him those gauntlets he always wears, and they allowed him to direct the flow of his energy without harm to his hands, and he tried to get away. By then the military had a lot of the metal that was immune to the energy's power, and the military had formed exoskeletons that he was powerless against. He was recaptured, and didn't fight anymore. They put something in his head, that when triggered, turned him into their obedient servant, and there was nothing he could do about it. He learned faster than anyone they had ever seen, and soon knew more about hand to hand, gunplay, and swordplay than almost any of top brass, and he enjoyed using this knowledge. He was good at using it, something along the lines of a prodigy. He built the boots that he wears himself, with the same metal as the gauntlets. He made the cloak as well, but that was different. He wanted to combine some of his power in it, make it special. His power destroyed or damaged everything it touched, but he needed to get around that. He found that if he "donated" a part of himself to his energy, he could make it so it wouldn't harm what it was used on. They found him the next day, most of his skin gone, and managed to save him. He had made his cloak special with the donation of his flesh. Projectiles would hit the cloak, and the cloth would push them around his body, without harming him, and it could carry almost anything that was smaller than he was. He later learned that as he got better with the power, it would be easier to control, and eventually he would be able to make non-harmful energy without needing to donate himself to do it." The whole time Barnette listened horrified at what the military had done, but not really shocked at the lengths they would go to get an edge over the women.
"How he turned out to be they way he is, is nothing short of a miracle. All the death, destruction, and force servitude he's been through, and he can still look on life with good humor. He was the reason I quit, we had been friends for along time, and he couldn't tell me what they were doing, but I found out what they had done one day, and I quit the same day. Vinn is one of the only one's that knows this, but he had nowhere to turn so h stayed in. He told me tonight that Jack had made another donation on a gift for you tonight." John said, pouring himself another cup of coffee.
"Yeah, a little thing with pieces orbiting around one another." She said, still going over what John had told her in her head. "his side was hurt, and he left a pool of blood, and he came back, showed me that he could make it float, and made it burst into purple flames. He told me he was on a mission to steal something, and kill, but he broke of and ran away." Barnette said, wondering if John knew what he had been talking about.
"He told me this morning, he has been sent to take the Paexis in the ship, and kill anyone who was aboard, and destroy the ship. As usual, he is aloud to save me and Vinn, as we are, or were, military, and already know all about him. Told us he'd be doing it at 10:00 the next day." John said, and Barnette's eyes widened.
"Did you try and stop him?" Barnette said, horrified.
"Damn strait I did!" John said, his voice rising in anger. "He reminded me that I could do nothing to stop him. I said I'd do whatever I could, and die trying."
"Don't you mean, or die trying?"
"Nope, if you stand against him, there is no or, your as dead as if you jumped into the vacuum without a suit." Barnette didn't know what to say, and was wondering why he would do something like that, and the day after he said he loved her?
"He doesn't have too, he can stop, they can't get him out here!" Barnette said. John just sighed, and shook his head.
"It's that thing in his head, once it goes off, he is as powerless to stop himself as we are. But damn it, I'm still going to try, and Vinn too, Meia said shed do what she could, but I really don't want to lose her in that way. Vinn's going to ask Jura later today, but I doubt she'd want to." John said, grimly, especially when he had mentioned Meia.
"I'm in to." Barnette said resolutely, she wasn't going to let him destroy her heart and her home.
"Then go and get some sleep, you'll need to be at the top of your game." John said, downing the rest of his coffee, patting her on the shoulder, and walking of, muttering something like, "Crazy kids have all got death wishes." Barnette just sat thinking, her emotions already stretched to the failing. She had been so happy a few hours ago, when Jack had first showed up in the environmental area, and told her he shared her feelings, and now was told he had not only signed, but written her death certificate.
It was only 5 minutes to ten. Jack hadn't been seen by anyone all day, and most people were already in bed, still tired from the celebrations that had gone on last night. John, Vinn, Meia, Jura, and Barnette all stood in John's room armed to the teeth, and waiting to move out to put up their line of defense.
"Why didn't we post a guard on the door of the Paexis chamber?" Meia asked John, again, to which John replied, again,
"Because they would be dead before they could tell us he's there. Just watch the screens and when they BOTH go out, we'll move out." The small data pad in Meia's hand showed the images of a camera they had placed in the hall outside this room, and one showing the inside of the Paexis chamber.
"How do we know that he was telling the truth about the time? How does he know it will go off?"
Because it's in his brain, and he can feel it getting ready, and the military probably told him when it would go off." John answered, again. Meia had been asking the same questions for the last ten minutes. The little clock in the room hit 10:00. The door on the screen opened, and the camera's image disappeared. They waited in silence, and about 2 minutes later, the door to the Paexis chamber door opened, and the camera went out.
"That's the sign to go" John said, then added, "It's been nice knowing you all." The three women gave him a strange look, only he and Vinn knew what Jack was capable of in this state. They opened the door, and Barnette glanced at the camera, a number of small metal needles embedded in the device. They reached the Paexis chamber, and John entered first sweeping the room with his shotgun. The others followed, and set up overlapping field of fire. The Paexis glowed with dark patches of blue and turquoise, the showing fear and anger. Two of the six tendrils that the Paexis used to power the ship were no longer connected, and cupped in a strange cover to keep them from extending back into the ship. John stepped forward and shouted in to the room.
"Jack, come out here and face us!" A shadow moved in the back of the room, it scrambled further up the wall and on to the ceiling. It scurried toward them, and then dropped to the floor. It was suitable to make a shiver run down the spines of most of the group. It was dark, the only light provided by the Paexis, and something about the way the thing in front of them moved, seemed inhuman. The thing rose up, hooded head, cloaked body, shining boots and gauntlets.
"You shouldn't have come." It said, but the voice was the most horrible thing that most of them had ever heard. It was full to the brink with insanity and fury, and a sick joyfulness, it was fracture, rising and lowering in octave and volume, several voices speaking at once, like it brain had been broken to pieces, then sewn back together in the wrong order. The thing that was most disturbing, was that there was no humanity in the voice.
"I told you, won't let you destroy this place, the people I love, without a fight." John yelled back.
"Than you shall die with the rest." The insanity in the voice rose and it began cackling madly. The group opened fire, and it moved so fast that the almost missed it. It dropped to the floor and slid at Meia on its back, foot outstretched, sweeping her feet out from under her, and she fell to the floor. The thing rolled onto its stomach, raising one leg, and drove the sharp pointed toe of the boot down at her stomach. John had been ready though, and turned his shotgun to its side, and intercepted the boot. Meia rolled away as the thing increased the force behind the boot embedded in the shotgun, and snapped it in half, the boot embedding in the floor a full 5 inches where Meia had just vacated. A point of purple light appeared in the floor around the foot, and it swung its body sideways, etching a purple line in the floor in front of the entire group. Tall purple flames erupted out of the gash in the floor as it lifted its boot, and the group had to move out to either side of the wall. By the time John turned past the wall, the thing was pulling at another tendril of the Paexis, Gauntlets glowing with purple energy. They opened fire on it again, but it simply ignored them, the bullets not being able to get past the cloak, and pulled the other four tendrils out and capped them with the strange devices. It moved on all fours, scuttling close to the ground like a lizard, cloak swishing in its wake. It stood, back to them, hands out stretched at the Paexis, palms out, fingers spread, and a translucent purple barrier formed around the Paexis.
The group continued emptying everything they had into the thing. Meia had run out of projectiles, and was resorting to using the ring that she always wore. Jura used the last clip she had, and also switched to her multi-faceted ring. The laser seemed to have less effect than the guns. Barnette had just finished unloading the last of her main weapons ammo, and was in the process of switching to the pistol she always carried, when her hand brushed against the silver pistol that she had gotten as a gift. Jack's word floated up from the back of her head. "As long as you're pointing it at something, it will hit it." She had just dismissed it as him stating what a gun does, but maybe, it had meant something else. It was worth a try, and she was out almost out of time. She thumbed the clip release and checked to find 8 regular bullets in it. Something else hit her from her memory, something John had said. "He loved it more than life." She jammed the clip back in the gun, and pulled the casing back, pumping a round into the reciver. She leveled it at the thing's center, and pulled the trigger. The muzzle flash and retort had been ordinary. Her hope for anything special to happen died. The purple barrier around the Paexis intensified, then flickered and dissolved. The thing turned, clutching at its stomach with its right hand. It bought the gauntlet up and examined the blood upon it. Its head flicked up, and it said, more rage than anything, "you ought not have done that!" It clicked the pointed metal fingers together, and then spread them, a ball of fluctuating purple energy that grew as he spread the fingers. "You should have made that a fatal shot!" It cranked its hand back, and threw the ball of energy at Barnette. The ball of energy impacted with a explosion of deadly force.
Jack felt a sharp pain in his stomach, and watched, as his hand came up to his face, shining with his blood. How had his blood gotten on his hand, the cloak stopped all projectiles from hitting him. The part of Jack's brain that held his humanity was still working, which it shouldn't have, as the thing in his brain turned him into the thing that was facing his friends. He hadn't been aware of this protected region until the bullet had impacted. He felt the feeling of his body and the rest of his mind, and his humanity still worked to. At was like having two brains at once, so he saw things in two different ways. As he looked at the group, one part saw enemies, things that had hurt him, while at the same time, saw his friends, and the one person he truly loved, Barnette, holding a silver pistol in her hand. He realized that the power he put into the pistol to make it hit what ever she wanted, overrode the power in the cloak. The bad thing was that the bad part of his brain, heard these thoughts, and the perceptions it had had shifted from enemies, to threats. And it had to neutralize all threats. He felt himself say, "you should have made that a fatal shot!" as his arm cranked back to throw the energy ball it was holding, aimed at Barnette. "No!" the part of his mind shouted, and suddenly, his good mind got a boost from somewhere deep within him, expanded enough, just enough, to alter the trajectory of the orb to hit the wall above her head. It then contracted back to what it had been before. The thing turned and raised its arms, happier than it had been, because it had neutralized the threat, and placed the barrier back around the Paexis. It began to bring its hands together, one on top, to one on bottom, and the Paexis began to shrink. It cupped its hands together, and the Paexis shrank to about the size of a basketball. It grabbed it, and was in the process of stuffing it into its cloak, when a voice came from behind it.
"I won't make the same mistake twice." It was Barnette, she still had the pistol rasied, now pointed at the things head. The good part of Jacks mind had a swoop of joy, she would finish him now, and then he couldn't hurt her, or anyone, anymore. The bad part was furious, because it was about to die, because it couldn't complete its mission, but mostly because it had missed, and it never missed. Barnette's hand, however, began to tremble, and she lowered the gun slightly, tears in her eyes, she couldn't do it, and the bad part saw its chance. It dug its claws into the floor, the energy giving a considerable boost in strength, and it ripped up a piece of the thick metal floor, like it was opening peeling an orange. It dove into the hole below, and disappeared into the darkness beyond.
"I couldn't do it!" Barnette sobbed, out of sadness and anger at herself, and collapsed onto her knees. Meia grabbed her little telecom unit, and was about to call the commander.
"Don't do that, if you have someone go to stop him, their be dead before they can do anything, we might be able to stop him once he's out in space, his piloting skills aren't as good as his ground combat skills. But we have to wait tell he leaves, because he'll kill anyone who gets in his way." John said, and then convinced Meia was going to do what he said, he walked over to comfort Barnette. "Are the cameras in the Vangaurd launch by still working?" Meia grabbed her data pad, and was halfway through the word yes, when she finished with no. "Ok, than lets get going. Barnette, go get ready to launch, after you shot him, he missed you in his retaliation, I've never seen him miss. Meia, get anyone who can get out into space to help, tell them to get out there as soon as possible. Let's go, the sooner we get out there the better, even if it just keeps him busy tell more can get out to help. Vinn, go and get the men ready." The all rushed to what they had to do, because the next step in the Jack's mission was to destroy the ship, and anyone who was a witness. Meia, John, and Jura reached the door to the bay, and entered, to find Jack's Vanguard missing. John hopped into his Van, as Meia and Jura got in their dreads. Hibiki burst in with Dita, and got they prepped, and then the airlock cycled them through. They spotted Jacks Van accelerating away and Meia and Hibiki combined, much to Dita's discomfort. The dragon like Vandread sped after it, going nearly 4 times it speed, and delivering a glancing blow. It circled for another attack, and hit the Vanguard head on with their wing, but the thing grabbed on, and held. It climbed over the Vandread, over its body, then its neck. The Vandread did a complicated series of loops and rolls to dislodge the passenger, but to no avail. The Van braced itself, and stated trying to pull the head off. Meia and Hibiki split, sending Jack's Van Spinning off, and Dita flew in for her turn. Their Vandread looked around, unable to locate the Van. The proximity warning flared, and the Vanguard appeared in front of them. The twin cannons flipped onto the Vandread's shoulders and began charging, but not fast enough. The Van impacted the right shoulder, and after a few seconds of trying, ripped one off. The Vandread swatted the Vanguard and cannon away, but the Van managed to start charging the captured device. Vandread Dita spilt, and the thing disappeared. Hibiki had decided not to give Vandread Jura a go, not seeing the defensive capabilities of much use here.
"Can't Bart just shoot it down with the 'Nirvana's' weapons?" Hibiki yelled over the COM. Meia answered him.
"No, that thing has the Paexis, and the ship is powerless without it, we are going to Form the Super Vandread, and take it down now!" Meia said, and the 3 dreads and Vanguard fused. They looked up to see a bolt of purple energy flash past them, chasing a dread, and missing.
"Thought I'd lend a hand!" Barrette said, as she dodged another bolt of energy, "Doesn't seem to happy with me does it?"
Jack fired energy beam after energy beam at Barnette's dread, wanting revenge for the pain in his gut. Strength had flared in the good part of Jacks brain, enough to knock them off target, but it was getting weaker.
Another beam of purple energy flew past Barnette's dread, this one getting pretty close, the thing was so preoccupied with hitting her, it wasn't noticing the Super Vandread approaching. She was determined to keep it occupied as long as possible, to give her friends a chance to live on, even if it meant her end. Another beam lanced past her, this one grazing one of her wings, melting and burning the metal. Her dread slowed, and another beam hit her thrusters and engines. The insane and fractured laughter filled all the COM channels. The Van put both hands into the next beam, making it almost as big as the Vanguard. Her engines dead, Barnette could do nothing but watch as the massive energy beam streaked toward her, and hope that she had bought enough time for Hibiki and the others to do their thing.
The good part of Jack's watched the energy leave the Vanguards hands, unable to stop himself from firing it at the immobile dread, fighting the other times had worn him out to much. "No!" The good part yelled in his head, the bad part laughing its terrible laugh. A sudden surge of power rose in the good side from deep within, more powerful than ever before, but his good presence didn't expand, so he could make a last ditch effort to try and save Barnette. Instead, a searing pain shot through his mind, and the laughing stopped. His hand flew up and grabbed his head, and the pain vanished. He shook his head, eyes watering… Wait, he shook his head again. He was back in control of his body! He looked around him, just in time to see a massive green sword, heading strait for him.
The Super Vandread lunged forward, spearing the little Vanguard with its sword, directly through the cockpit. The Van slumped, and the sword faded, leaving the Vanguard floating, dead in space, hole clean through the center. Two other Vanguards grabbed it, and hauled it back to the 'Nirvana'. They landed in the bay and John jumped out of his vanguard, to look into Jack's. Meia walked up next to him, and said,
"Search the corpse, we need the Paexis."
"He ain't dead, look for yourself." Meia looked in, and saw Jack in an odd position, a purple energy barrier surrounding him. "And look, the barrier isn't burning anything, the cockpit only had special metal in the hand holds, to channel his energy."
Jack woke up in the medical bay bed, John next to him. Jack just stared, wondering how he got there. Then he remembered a green a sword, then a purple energy blast. His mind back track, and found what the blast has been directed at. Jack sat up straight, his eyes wide.
"You didn't kill her." John said, knowing what his friends first thought would be.
"But she couldn't have moved, I hit her engines." Jack said back, wanting to believe his friend but being unable.
"I was keeping close, as your shots were getting closer and closer, and you were so intent on hitting her, you didn't even notice me. I pushed her out of the way, with myself, except you roasted my Van's foot, and you'll owe me for that." John explained, then told him how most of the crew had now found out what he had did, and weren't too happy with him. "That Doctor, I had him do an X-ray of your head, and he found this." John held up a very tiny pronged object. "It was embedded in your brain stem. It is the thing that made you go into that frenzy, but it's burned out."
"That's not what it does, it does create that thing that I become. It only puts my mission goals into necessity, and locks away my humanity. That thing is stilling me, just the me I can keep back, until I want to let it out."
"Well, any, your back now, and we don't have to worry about the military interfering anymore." Jack stood up, and said he was going to talk to talk to the captain, and put the Paexis back. He put his cloak back on, and left an hour later, John felt the reverberations of the ship's engines starting, and 5 minutes later Jack walked back in.
"I'm out of here, I'm not wanted around anymore, and im leaving, as soon as I fix my Vanguard."
Than I'm going to!" John stood, he was all Jack had, all he ever had. They argued, Jack wanting John to stay with his new friends. John wouldn't let him leave him though.
"Fine, fine, but I bet Meia isn't going to be too happy you'll be leaving." John didn't say anything, he hadn't though about that he would be leaving Meia. "You had better go tell the captain, she'll want to know why the lead Vanguard pilot was leaving." Jack left, and headed to the Vanguard bay, getting looks as he walked through the ship. John walked onto the bridge and face the captain, and with out hesitating, turned in his resignation.
"Ma'am, your kicking my friend Jack off of you ship, and I'm afraid I will be accompanying him."
"I didn't kick him off the ship." The old woman said softly. "He said there was no way he could repay us for what he had almost done, and told me he was leaving. I told him that I knew what the military was capable of, and after Duero told me what he found, I said there was no need for him to leave. But he insisted."
The next day, around noon, Jack and John stood in John's room, all of his stuff in the bags around him.
"Aren't you going to say goodbye to Barnette?" John asked as he finished closing the last duffel.
"No, I've already caused her enough pain, and I don't think I need to cause her anymore. I'll be right back, I got to hit the bathroom." Jack said as he walked out the door, it shut behind him, and he locked it. It took a couple of seconds for John to realize what had happened. He ran to the door, slamming his fist against it, and yelling.
"Jack, you son of a bitch, open this door!" but there was no one in the hall to hear this, just a key laying by the door.
Jack's Vanguard left the bay, traveling in the opposite direction as the 'Nirvana'. By the time someone opened johns door, Jack would be to far away to follow, not having told him where he was going. Jack relaxed in the seat, he really liked being part of the 'Nirvana'. He laid his arm on his leg, and felt a small lump through the cloak. Odd, he had so much storage space in this thing, that there was never any outward appearance of the objects inside. He pulled out a small box, and flicked it open. He vomited over the side of his chair, a pain in his chest flaring at the sight of the little figure of death. It wasn't his heartache that made him sick, but the pain he had cause Barnette. He focused his rear camera at the ship, for one last look, and something caught his eye. A large column shaped ship, with little gray balls spraying from the sides and bottom. 7 more appeared as he watched. Then a giant ship, easily five times the size of the others, appeared behind the rest, purple light flaring from recessed places in it's hull.
"Enemy contact, 2 harvest flag ships…, no 3, no… 8 total, and," one of the bridge offices cryied out, as data started pouring in "one of the big Planet destroyers, pioleted by a Paexis!" B.C. opened a COM channel to the entire ship.
"All hands to battle stations, multiple enemy contacts, engage at will!"
Wow, sorry it took so long, but after all of that, all i can say is one thing."
"These hunters have come to our aid, Arbiter. They will fight by our side!"
If you want a better picture of some of the stuuf, for the silver pistol, think, of the Falcon 2 from Perfect dark, and for Jacks crazy evil voice, Kind of like the flamingo in the TV seires adress unknown, in Max Payne 2, the fall of max Payne, only crazyer and more fractured.