Jack pressed a series of commands on the control in his hand, and the test jackbot launched itself against a wall of titanium. It left a dent on the wall, but the new reinforcements to the armor held on. Jack took a small computer and checked the amount of internal damage sustained. It was roughly the same as before, and the jackbot would overheat in a few minutes.
"Dammit. Fix one thing and a hundred other problems spring out." He growled.
"Hello, Jack Spicer," Said a voice behind him, making Jack shriek like a girl and drop his computer. It smashed into pieces in the ground. Behind Jack stood Omi.
"W-what the-?! How did you get in here?!" said Jack.
"Through the door," said Omi.
Jack blinked. The Xiaolin monks usually blasted their way through any of the walls, so he hadn't put any defense mechanisms regarding anyone who just walked through the front door. And he had deactivated the motion alarms around the house that last time reporters had crowded around the house. He made a mental note of setting everything back up and running. Soon he would need all the protection he could get. Soon.
"I see… And what do you want, cheeseball? Come for a showdown all by your mighty little self?" said Jack, leaning against the table he had set up in the garden.
"I come not to do battle, Jack Spicer. I have come because I was worried about you," said Omi.
"Worried about me? You?"
Omi nodded. "You did not seem like yourself in the last showdown, and haven't been present in any of the showdowns lately. That does not seem like you."
Jack lifted an eyebrow at him. "Well, look at the perceptive little monk. Maybe I should kidnap you before you discover my evil secrets," he said.
Omi huffed. "I do not understand. You do not seem like yourself, but you also do not seem to be under any spell. Perhaps you are possessionated by a strange spirit?"
"Possess…It's possessed, you dumbass! Now make yourself useful and punch that robot as hard as you can," he pointed to the robot he was testing.
Omi shrugged, and did as he was told. The armor broke like glass under the little monk's powerful fist. Jack facepalmed.
"There goes a week of testing," he grumbled.
"But you told me to-" started Omi.
"I know, I know," said Jack. "The problem isn't you. It's that I can't find anything that guys won't break into pieces as soon as you touch it."
Omi scratched his head. "I don't know anything about robots, but all things come from the four elements, so it makes sense that all things would be sensitive to our elemental powers."
"Actually…You're kind of right," he said, and smirked. "I should have looked into the electromagnetic composition of the alloy, instead of…yes, yes, yes…," he muttered, taking notes in a notebook on the table.
He should have noticed that sooner. The monks, Chase and Wuya, they all had the capacity to affect mass at an atomic level. It seemed so obvious to him now. A plan started forming in his exhausted mind. He hadn't slept more than four hours during the past three days, but his rage sustained him. A cold, whisperind kind of rage that he had never felt. Building inside him. Waiting.
"You seem more like yourself now," said Omi, nudging the remains of the robot with the tip of his foot. "Were you acting so sad and strange because we kept breaking your robots?"
The joy Jack felt at his new discovery vanished when he remembered that he still had to take a decision about his future.
"Sad? Nah. It's something dumb," said Jack, throwing the notebook back on the table. "My parents are getting divorced, that's all."
The words felt strange in his mouth. Like he had just confessed a secret about himself. His parents hadn't come public with the divorce yet. A separation where both of them had such great company empires had to be handled with excessive care. Their state would have to be accounted for and separated. Just like their memories. Just like their scarce time with Jack.
Who, by the way, had turned eighteen a couple days ago, and had received delivery cakes and emails from his parents apologizing for not being able to be with him due to their busy schedules.
"What is 'divorced'?" asked Omi.
"It's when you stop being married to each other," explained Jack.
"Oh. Does that mean they will stop being your parents?"
"What? No! They just…It's…" Jack struggled to find the words for what was bothering him, but Omi had struck an integral truth. His parents wouldn't stop being his parents, married or not. "They decided that they don't like each other anymore, and will be getting separated. It's not like this will be such a big change in my life. I barely even see them anyway. This shouldn't bother me so much. I should just tell them to sell the house and be done with it."
"Sell the house? This house? But where will you live?" asked Omi.
"I don't know…somewhere else. Some other home," said Jack, looking at the huge house. It was too big for him. It had been too big for the three of them anyway, even when by some miracle they happened to be all together at the same time.
And yet, he couldn't see himself living in any other house. Even the apartment that his mother had chosen for him in Leipzig seemed like nothing more than a temporary setup for him to be closer to the university.
"I've never seen your home," said Omi, following Jacks gaze and looking over the house. "Other than the basement, of course."
Jack shrugged. "Well, you might as well see it while it's still mine."
They entered through the glass doors that led to the garden from the living room.
"I put glass panels because they're cheaper to repair when you guys inevitably crash through them," said Jack, tapping the reinforced glass that might as well be made of sugar whenever the monks decided to crash by.
"That is a good idea," said Omi.
"You're supposed to feel bad about tearing up my place, Omi."
"Really?"
"Forget it. Here, this is the kitchen. You hungry? I don't have much. There's some leftover cake." he opened the refrigerator and peered inside.
The birthday cake looked sad in the empty refrigerator that only had a few pudding cups and some milk jugs. He wondered if he would get maid service like usual after his parents divorced, and felt like the stupidest spoiled child. He was eighteen now, but he wanted to throw a tantrum like did when he was eight. The desire to scream and tear everything up cooled, piling down into the ever increasing rage inside him.
"Ooh, cake!" said Omi, almost drooling.
Jack took the cake, a couple of pudding cups, and some soda.
"Come, I have a better tv in my room."
They climbed the marble staircase, and Jack pointed at the doors as they passed them.
"That's mom's dressing room, dad's study, the bathroom, my parents' room, the main bathroom…"
"What is that?" asked Omi when they passed a door without Jack even mentioning it.
"Uh? That's my old room. It had a door to my nanny's room," said Jack. "I'd almost forgotten about that one."
He hesitated opening it even as he had his hand on the doorknob. After a deep breath, he turned the knob.
Inside, time seemed to have stopped back when he was nine, with even his old travel coat hanging from the back of Jeannette's chair.
"You have almost as many stuffed animals as Kimiko," pointed out Omi.
"What-! This isn't my room anymore!" hissed Jack.
"It looks like a girl's room."
"My mom decorated it. She liked pastels back then," said Jack.
After Jeannette's mess though, her mom despised them.
He closed the door. Whatever he had been expecting wasn't lurking inside. He felt a little emptiness in his chest at the realization. Of course Jeannette wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere after his mom was done with her. He smirked.
Jack's room was the one at the end of the hall. It had a king sized bed with silk black covers, a deep red carpet and goth style clothes thrown around.
"This looks more like you."
"Keep that up, we'll be best friends forever soon," said Jack, his voice dripping sarcasm.
"And you will turn to the side of good?" asked Omi with a bright smile.
"Now that's asking too much. Just take the cake, alright?"
As they sat on the middle of the bed, watching cartoons, Jack decided that was the best birthday cake he had ever had.