"Jack Goes to Jail"
Disclaimer: Heavily anticipated answer to the lightbulb question: how the hell would I know?
Open on the Las Vegas strip. Night. Jack and Marty the bum are being transported by a police car to the Metropolitan Police Department. They sit next to each other in handcuffs as they grumble to each other about their capture.
"I thought you had way more common sense than to just waltz right into the hospital wearing my coat!" Jack shouts. "What'd you think was going to happen when they saw you?"
Frustrated, Jack kicks Marty's leg as the bum yelps in pain. Marty kicks back but with more force.
"Hey, what I did say about touching me?" the bum asks. "Huh? And don't even try to pin this on me. You're the one who gave me the stupid coat."
"All right, you know what? Give it. I want my coat back," Jack says while trying to grab at it. Marty fights him off the best he can.
"Hey, dream on, man. We had a deal. This is the collateral, remember?"
"Yeah, but now that we've been caught, all that stuff goes out the window." Jack struggles to pry the coat off as Marty pushes him away.
"A deal's a deal!" Marty exclaims as he accidentally head-butts Jack.
"Ow! You did that on purpose!" Jack accuses.
"No … but this is!" Marty shoves Jack into the car door's window which smashes his face in. Jack growls and turns to the bum in anger. He then raises his wrist close to his mouth.
"Jack-bots, attack!"
Marty raises an eyebrow and then looks around in confusion as absolutely nothing happens.
"Sorry. Force of habit," Jack says with a shrug. Marty fixes his coat and then stares out the window.
"So, what now?" the bum asks in an effort to forget the fight they just had.
"No idea. Hey … do you remember that girl I told you about?"
"Which one?" the bum asks.
"The girl who brought me to the hospital." Jack lays his head back. "It's funny. The moment we met, we couldn't stand each other." Jack chuckles. "You should have seen us when we worked together. Usually one of us would end up bailing on the other. I don't know why we kept on teaming up."
"Sounds like you're a glutton for punishment," Marty states which earns a scoff from Jack.
"I was shocked to see her hovering over me at the desert … Even more so when she helped me. For some reason, it's different now. She's different. I honestly wanted to hate her all over again." Jack laughs while shaking his head. "However, as much as I want to, I can't."
"How could you?" Marty asks. "I mean, she rescued you, man."
"Not only that, but she also stayed with me at the hospital," Jack says. Marty smiles and lays his head back. He then shuts his eyes.
"I had a girl like that once. I'll never forget her … the name was Esmeralda or Teresa or somethin' Spanish, I don't know. But she was something else. Ah, we had some good memories. Yeah … Though, I can't seem to recall any at the moment …"
"You're not off to a good start," Jack points out.
All of a sudden, the police car brakes hard, which sends Jack and Marty colliding into the cage divider. The two then reel back and clutch their injured faces in pain. The policeman driving honks the horn at a man who's standing in front of the car with his hands placed on the hood. The man has a very thick beard and is dressed in ragged clothing along with a black coat over it.
"Hey! Get off the road, or I'll have you arrested!" the policeman shouts after rolling his window down. The man takes his hands off the hood and then says something unintelligible. The policeman riding in the passenger seat turns to his partner.
"Go around him." The car takes a sharp turn to the right and then drives off, leaving the homeless man yelling at them from the distance. Jack lowers his hands and then and looks around.
"What happened?"
"Some bum ran out in the middle of the street," the officer replies. "They got nothing better to do." Marty sneers after rubbing his sore bruises.
"Hey, I take offense to that!"
"Shut up," the officer quips before hitting the cage divider with his police baton. Marty scoffs and then turns to Jack.
"Can you believe –" Marty pauses when he sees Jack staring down at his wrists. "What?"
"I just noticed …" Jack lifts his right hand up revealing one handcuff dangling loose. "… One of my cuffs came off." Marty's eyes widen as Jack leans forward to speak to the officers riding up front. Marty remains staring at Jack's dangling cuff.
"Uh, sirs? Officers?" Jack begins as he raises his cuffs to eye level. Marty quietly gasps and reacts by smashing Jack's foot. The evil boy genius screams in pain as one of the officers looks over his shoulder.
"What's going on back there?"
"Uh, n-nothing, officer," Marty responds, trying to keep it cool. "Jack suffers from that, um … disease. Y-You know the one I mean. The one where you just scream at random points in time because your … your soul is attempting to speak out to the … you know, speak out to the world. And sometimes you have a really chatty soul that's unable to shut up! That's the, uh … precise moment when the disease kicks in. Can't keep what your soul has to say all bottled up … you know?" Marty finishes while nodding like he knows what's he's talking about. Jack and the officer stare at the bum in confusion.
Instead of responding, the puzzled officer slowly turns back in his seat. Marty lies back and lets a sigh of relief out. Jack leans in on the bum to whisper something.
"Is this disease fatal?" he asks with a look of concern.
"In your case, yes," the bum replies as Jack swallows a lump in his throat. Marty shifts his eyes to Jack's loose cuff. "We're gettin' out of here."
"How?"
"I have a plan." Marty grins and quickly glances at the two officers. "This time, we're doing things my way."
The car pulls up to the curb in front of the P.D. In the backseat, Jack and Marty anxiously wait to put their plan into motion. The officer driving turns the car off as the other officer opens his door to get out. Marty's right leg begins to bounce up and down in excitement as Jack stares curiously at his loose cuff. The officer that sat in the passenger seat makes his way around the front of the car to the rear door. Marty doesn't take his eyes off him.
"Follow my lead," he whispers to Jack. The officer puts his fingers under the handle of the rear door as Jack gasps, realizing something while staring at his cuff. He immediately wraps the cuff around his left wrist and locks it in as Marty watches, stunned.
"Fixed!"
The officer opens the door and grabs Jack's arm to pull him out. Shocked, Marty's jaw drops. The officer reaches in to take the bum out. Once outside, Marty stands across from Jack, giving him a death stare. After closing the door, the officer grabs both of them by the arm to bring them inside. As they walk towards the front door, Jack looks away from Marty's uncomfortable stare.
"What?"
"You idiot!" Marty exclaims prior to kicking him in the shin.
"Hey! What was that for?" Jack asks before kicking back. Marty doesn't flinch due to being overwhelmed with rage.
"You know what that was for!" the bum shouts while narrowing his eyes. Jack mimics him as the officer opens the Department's front doors. Once through the threshold, Jack freezes in his place as soon as he sees who's waiting for him at the front desk.
"Mother!" Jack squeaks.
"Jackie, I am appalled," she says while shaking her head reproachfully. She advances toward them while Jack squirms, uncertain what his mom's going to do to him. Marty looks at Jack and then back at his mom.
"Listen, Mrs. Jack, I just want to come forward and say that –"
"Quiet!" Jack's mom snaps. Marty flinches as she turns to her son.
"What has been going on with you, Jack? Not only do you run away from home, travel across the world to Las Vegas, and get yourself sent to the hospital … but you're also involved in a murder!" she shouts. Jack rolls his eyes.
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Jack asks, exasperated. "What murder?"
"Dude, you killed somebody?" Marty asks.
"Apparently!" Jack exclaims, shrugging in defeat. The officer turns to Marty.
"Your mom's here to see you, too," he says. Marty snorts.
"I find that hard to believe since I haven't seen my mom for three years. No way she'd – Ma!"
Marty's jaw drops again as soon as he sees his mom step out from the waiting area. She's a tall woman with short, curly blonde hair wearing a dark red dress with a pearl necklace, diamond earrings, and black high heels. She shuffles towards her son with open arms.
"Martin!"
She embraces him in a tight hug and then kisses his face on both sides. Marty doesn't return the hug, simply standing in place.
"Tell me, how did you get mixed up in all this? I came home earlier today, and you were nowhere to be found," she says while mildly blushing. Marty narrows his eyes and frowns.
"You kicked me out ... three years ago," he says with a blank face. His mom laughs nervously and then casually grabs him by the ear. "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"
"This way, Martin!" She pulls him by the ear further inside the police department as Marty awkwardly tries to keep up. He then raises his arm into the air, waving to Jack.
"See you later!"
Jack watches them walk away as his mom turns back to him.
"I want you to be straight with me," she begins as Jack rolls his eyes again. "Are you doing this for attention?"
"Yeah, mom, I ran away to Vegas just to off some random guy for you – to receive attention from you," Jack sarcastically says.
"You might want to consider changing your tone."
"Maybe it was the years of neglect, mom. Did you ever stop think of that? I mean, how many times was I sent downstairs so you could throw another one of your stuffy parties and not have to worry about me 'embarrassing' you in front of your pompous friends? Or – or how about the multiple times when you 'forgot' about me at the store?"
"Jack, you know I never meant –"
"You didn't even realize it until when I didn't respond when you yelled for me to get downstairs for another party!"
"Jack … I'm warning you --"
"I haven't even gotten to the best part," he says.
"That's enough," his mom orders.
"No, I don't think it is … because I know you, mom. And I know the true reason why you came to Vegas."
The mom pierces Jack with her intense stare, but he doesn't falter.
"It wasn't because you were worried about my well-being … it was because you felt nervous that I would end up embarrassing you," Jack finishes. Amazed, the officer gives a low-key whistle.
The mom ignores him as she continues to stare a hole into Jack, now angrier than ever. Feeling extremely uneasy now, Jack's bravery begins to dwindle, noticing that he may be murdered next. As a result, he gradually leans in close to the officer.
"… You'd better take me to my cell now."
Cut to black.
A/N: Next chapter, the Xiaolin Warriors and Marty (Bad Marty, not Bum Marty) face off. Please R&R!