The request part 2?
Chapter 15
Jack bends over himself to the point that staying seated on the sofa has become a balancing act. Each 'tsk' from his controller meant a new section of his army deactivated. Chase paces around the couch trying to determine their best course of action.
"You need one of your machines," Chase says, and Jack looks up from his controller.
"Eh? Like a gun? They are all in my lab," Jack plays with the controller, a small flexible black bracelet that is always on his person. It has the power to control almost every single one of his invention, except for a few manual procedures.
"Yes, you'll need a weapon of defense in case you find yourself in combat, which you often do. But I want you to stay as far away from the fight as physically possible."
Jack wasn't sure if his input was welcome or not in this decision, but he asked anyway. "But shouldn't I be there to bring a new element to the fight -or I don't know. Try to throw Wuya or the bean off balance, or maybe support you?"
"I'm expecting you to...support me" Chase couldn't help to chuckle at the word. Jack was ready to take part in a fight. "But do so from afar."
"So, we are attacking?" Jack asks as he tries to stand, there is a sharp pain in his shoulder and travels all the way to his midsection making nauseous.
Chase looks at Jack struggled with the small task; he knows then that they should wait. Whatever condition Hannibal is, he is ready to fight while Jack can barely stay on his feet.
"I can send someone to retrieve whatever you need from your lab," Chase says, and he calls for his second in command.
"Who? The Puma who is scared of electricity, or Yat who brought me a toaster thinking it was a laptop?" Jack chuckles and uses the arm of the sofa to push himself off. "I'm not even sure of what I need." Jack stops. He is too weak to hold a gun; he is even too hurt to escape if he was under attack and if he is hit! Jack isn't strong enough to withstand any attack.
The silence was heavy. It was oddly thick, Jack could feel its weight on the back of his throat; it kept him quiet.
He turns to look at Chase.
Chase always spoke clearly and accurately about any situation.
The millennium warrior stares at the young man resting on the sofa. He was out of breath while performing the simplest of tasks.
Hannibal promised to take him. Wuya traded immortally for a chance, and she will kill Jack if he gets in the way, even if it kills whatever sentimentality the woman is capable. Omi was not in control, Omi is but convenient.
Jack didn't belong in this battle.
Chase knew that if Jack were to participate, he might die.
Chase moves to the small table where two cups of cold peppermint tea wait. He picks both glasses and heats them up with his breath. He made sure Jack's was warm, not hot.
The warm cup was extended to Jack who stares at the tea like it was a rare object.
Chase could hid Jack; keep him safe and fight on his own.
Chase Young would fight Hannibal Roy Bean, The Heylin Witch, and Omi. The warlord has to be realistic; he could lose and die, even after all these years and all the power he accumulated, he could still die. So much for immortality.
Hannibal is known for his dirty tricks, Wuya was desperate and she might hold many of Jack's weapons that had been proved very useful, and Omi was a terrifically good fighter that could no longer be killed.
Jack slowly stretches his right arm to take the cup.
If Chase dies, then Hannibal will kill Jack right after. The sick little monster likes to keep his promises.
If Chase dies and Wuya gets to Jack first, then she will imprison Jack -the only way to keep him safe from the bean and use his genius to make weapons until she controls the world.
If Chase dies and Omi finds Jack first, then Hannibal will kill Jack and maybe Omi.
Chase looks at the hot green liquid in his cup and sees Jack spill his.
He could win. The odds were against him, but he could find a way to fool all his opponents and live.
But then he would have won on his own, and ridden himself of his enemies. Jack would never prove himself useful, and he would forever stay as his fanboy unable to outgrow the title.
It didn't matter the choice he took. Jack had little chances of surviving. But it was a selfish reason anyways.
"I need you to live." Chase could not quite understand why was it so important for Jack to survive this battle, but he wants Jack to live almost as much as he wants himself to live.
It takes more than a moment for the self-proclaimed genius to process that sentence.
"Yes."
Chase didn't need to explain after that.
A tiger rushes inside the library and informs them that Hannibal's bird was spotted.
"Shit!" Jack looks around for something can use as a weapon.
"He is not here," Chase tells Jack without hiding how uneasy the message made him.
Jack looks at his empty cup, he spilled the peppermint tea on himself earlier, he seems unconvinced the capability of weaponizing the lovely brown cup, but he still hides it in his pocket.
"What does he wants?" Jack says and he tries once again to lift himself from the sofa.
"To mess with us, most likely." Chase guesses and moves closer to pick up Jack. "But I -" Chase stops and turns to Jack. "Why are your pants both wet and warm?" Chase knew the answer, but it was fun to watch Jack trying to explain.
" What? What- No, What are saying? Chase You Know-" Jack continued to explain himself, and Chase ignored him. He needed to concentrate.
Jack talks the whole way to the entrance, and Chase lets him. He knew Jack wasn't a strategist, he was smart, but he couldn't figure out the inner workings of people -not while being under so much stress. Or maybe, not yet.
Chase walks through the main entrance keeping in mind that he might be walking into a trap. But he must get close enough to obtain some information or to make bean believe he has the upper hand. The trick is to turn around once you have enough and to not step in any mines. The man holds Jack a little tighter; if it is a trap, then Jack is the easiest target.
A small battalion of soldiers moves in front of them clearing the path.
Chase didn't think Hannibal would come to fight him in his territory. It wasn't to the old bean's advantage or style.
Chase didn't have to wonder for long. He reaches the position the bird has been spotted to find a pigeon. The animal was covered by Hannibal's magic, but it was nothing more than a pigeon.
"Kinda disappointing," Jack says, and the animal starts to fly in their direction. "Get away!" Jack screams, he hurries to throw his teacup to the bird. The cup was a few feet too to the right and curbs almost directly to the ground.
The animal landed on Chase's shoulder.
"Jack if you finish fighting the messenger, do you mind getting the message tied to its feet?" Chase looks at Jack with pity.
"I got shot, Chase!" Jack says as he tries to untie the little paper roll. "Also, a messenger pigeon? What year is it?"
"You got shot in the left arm, Jack," Chase says, and Jack pouts.
"My other arm hurts too." He whispers under his breath while he continues to struggle with the pigeon's leg.
It takes him under one minute to untied the paper. Chase takes into account that Jack is still capable of working small tasks.
Chase takes the paper from Jack, balancing him with one arm.
"What it says?"
The writing was messy with each letter twisted almost out of shape and the grammar too old to follow, but the message was clear.
Hannibal Roy summoned Chase Young to a duel.
The letter promised to be the last and asked explicitly for Jack's presence. Hannibal wanted to kill the fanboy before killing the idol.
Chase doesn't bother with walking, he teleports to Jack's lab and moves to the armory.
Jack doesn't asks questions he merely points a massive robot and waits.
"This is one of the armors I made when you asked me to- um, you know. It is fast and pretty impenetrable. Could it survive a direct hit from a space laser? No, never, I would be dead. But could it move out of the way when detected? Maybe." Jack felt panic rising in his stomach up to his throat. "The key word here is detecting. It could give us enough time to move out of the way." Jack tries to only look at the armor he created, to concentrate on the mechanical details and the calculations, and not to turn to look at Chase. He could feel Chase's eyes staring through everything as his brain tries to piece his enemies' plans before they take shape.
Chase felt his breathing peak, and a sense of hurry took control over him. Hannibal requested to faced him in the past once, and only once, and he did it because he was sure he would win. Chase was young when he accepted, and he walked clueless into a trap.
"I was running -on my head, I was running this scenario in which Wuya figured out that she can just ask the maintenance crew to recycle non-essential parts of the satellite and well, it is very possible." Jack turns to look at Chase, but the man doesn't seem affected by the news. He doesn't seem affected by anything. The warlord cleared himself from any emotion. Chase forced calm over everything, like postponing a storm. He stood motionless; his eyes transfixed on an enemy who waited for him to move first.
"Chase?" Jack called even though he knew he would not get an answer. Jack has seemed Chase become lost in thought, never for longer than a second but this was an extreme situation. The albino carefully lowered himself to the ground and stared at the golden eyes flash venom anger and control.
Chase almost die the day he faced Hannibal, he outsmarted the rotten bean by sending him to the Yin Yang world. He knew he should not put himself in a similar situation.
Chase knew it wasn't a bluff; Jack confirmed that Wuya has a weapon that could end their fight, Hannibal choose the place and time for the match, and Omi will work as the muscle to compensate for whatever physical strength the old evil lacks.
"This is the worst case scenario." Jack wasn't asking, but Chase answered.
The shorter man moved forward faster than humanly possible. The golden eyes fixed on the red irises, and like a predator, he unconsciously cornered Jack against his own creation. Their new proximity was ignored entirely a the cat-like black pupils devoured the gold until they look almost human. It was like seeing an idea being born.
"No." There was more resolved on that word that Jack had ever felt said out loud in his life.
"They can only shoot once."
Jack's mind race to consider the new information, and Jack couldn't find a way for Wuya to work the current engine in the satellite to power it more than one time.
"They know this Jack. It's why they picked the time and place; it is a trap, an obvious one." Chase chuckle at the last part, he should have noticed instead of bent under stress. The human-looking dragon moves closer pinning Jack tightly against his unnaturally warm breastplate over Jack's chest and the cold metal armor against his back. It was just enough pressure to be aware of the power Chase posses over the situation, but not enough to cause any harm.
"We will go and make their weapon useless." Chase smiled, and for a moment Jack forgot to think. But then he remembered that he must add his opinion.
"But. It is a trap. And; you want us to walk knowingly into a trap. I - It is a clever trap. Okay." Jack felt his breathing getting in the way of his words. "They want us to expose in the middle of a busy area while someone -most likely Omi." Panic spills from Jack's mouth. "Omi is expendable." Jack breaths in, Chase was so close he could smell him, and he smells like tea tree and aloe for some reason, and Jack couldn't remember how to breath out. "Omi is bait, isn't he? Shit. Chase, they could-" Jack felt Chase's arm on his side as he tries to softly regained Jack's attention. Jack stares at those golden eyes.
"Breath Spicer."
Jack follows the command.
And for some reason, Jack remembers a conversation he had with Omi about traps.
"We." Jack felt sick. "We are putting ourselves where they want us!" Why? Jack needs to know. "We know is a trap why?"
"Jack; the keyword is 'detect.'" Chase says, and Jack tilts his head finding the lack of a better explanation so infuriating he wanted to cry.
"What?"
"Your attention span could literally kill us both," Chase says almost softly as he moves back hoping that space will help Jack breath better. "You said your machine could detect the canon being activated it with enough time to move out of the way." Chase reminds him.
"Maybe," Jack says, and he wants to explain that it was an implausible maybe.
"Then we will play into their plan without falling into their trap." Chase tries to explain.
"How?"
"If we are unable to handle the situation, we will simply leave and live another day." Chase finally clarifies, and it makes the situation oddly funny to Jack.
Jack once told Omi that sometimes he knew he was playing into someone's plan but what can you do when is your only move.
'You Turn around.' Omi had answered feeling pretty proud of himself.
Chase brings Jack closer to him, worry that the young man has met his limit, but Jack laughs through his fears.
"We might die if you miscalculate the time." Jack felt overwhelmed with all the odd details.
"It is a matter of timing." Chase answers. "If I miscalculated, then I'll make sure to take Hannibal with me." Wuya will spare you. "Jack, they can only shoot once." Chase looks at those set of ruby colored eyes. They shine with adoration and fear; it really seems like Jack truly cares.
Jack swallows his leftover panic. He should have guessed that Chase has already considered every scenario. The young man searches for comfort in a familiar hand. The fear between them suddenly became apparent, even under the mask of a calm demeanor.
This was a situation they must face sooner or later. Now they have the advantage of knowing they are walking into a trap.
"Jack." Chase calls and Jack gives him his complete attention. "I want you to live."
AN: Sorry this took so long! I had problems with how I want to continue this story. Thanks for the wait :)