Within the darkness of a confined space, dim lights flickered about, glinting upon a shining crystal ball. As the flames from the surrounding candles danced about inside the glass, a wicked face also emerged in the light, though all you could see were the pair of cat like fangs and the glowing yellow eyes through the dimness. In a flowing manner, clawed fingers moved about around the crystal and a laugh escaped the cat woman's mouth as she hissed, "Yes, continue on…I await you and the destiny that will consume you."
Slowly, the image of the teenagers faded from the ball and the dark shadowy figure stood up and crossed the quiet room. Reaching a shelf against the far wall, the cat with a woman's figure picked up a small shining box as her tail swished from side to side. Brining it into her chest, she hugged it tightly as she stroked it and stated in her hissing voice, "Soon my dear we will be together again. I shall break you from this prison you are bound in, and together we shall be unstoppable. Then, the fools who put you here will pay…they will pay dearly when you return with thrice the power."
Another low sadistic chuckle escaped her throat as she gently placed the box back upon the shelf, and within her dark attire, seemed to disappear from sight.
As night closed in for the day, the air grew colder, but it didn't stop Angel from sitting out on her front porch. Sitting bundled up in her sweater; she stared up at the stars above her wondering what she was going to do about the two strangers that now resided in her house. She knew that soon her mother would start complaining, but at the same time, she just couldn't seem to tell them to leave. She had spent so much of her time building up a cold front to everyone besides Kelly it had shocked her beyond reason for these two to warm her up so quickly. Hanging her head, she told herself how tired she was of thinking about it, but her thoughts were ripped when Raimundo's voice said from behind her, "Hey…nice night eh?"
Turning slightly, she glanced up at him and only offered a nod, "Yeah, cold, but nice."
Walking over, he stood next to her, then glanced down to her as he requested, "Mind if I have a seat?"
"Be my guest." She scooted over a bit, watching him as he took a seat beside her. The air between them fell silent, and her eyes made it back to the stars as she sighed out, "I don't guess I ever really thanked you for what you did last night. I keep telling myself that if you hadn't been there to wake me up, I could have ended up getting run over, or mugged…all in my sleep."
"It was nothing," he passively replied, "I just did what I thought was right. However, you say this happens often…how do you keep it from happening during the other times?"
Angel's eyes cut over toward him as she realized he had picked up on her lie, so to try and keep from answering, she asked, "So where's carrot top? What's he up to?"
"Heh," Raimundo laughed out, "Carrot top. He's inside doing something… fiddling with a toy or something there. He's so weird most of the time."
"What?" Angel's head came around and she stared into the living room, but unable to see Jack, she finally stood up and headed through the front door. Watching him from the opposite side of the couch, she only stared as he prodded and poked at something with a screwdriver. Raising an eyebrow, she cleared her throat and asked, "What exactly are you doing?"
"Hey," he picked the small robot he had been working on up and held it toward her, "Meet, Mark101."
"Mark101?" she questioned and finally took note of all the left over pieces of Mark's electronic toys lying about. Placing a hand on her hip, she demanded, "You tore all my son's toys apart!? Why?"
"I had to so I could make Mark101." he grinned still holding the little robot up for her to see. Angel only looked at him strangely and eventually realized, "Wait… you used all these toys…to make this?" she reached down and took the thing from his hands. He nodded as he smiled up at her. Turning the thing in her hands, she looked it over, its intricacy astounding her. Angel noticed a button on the back of the contraption and couldn't resist but to push it, it replying, "Evil, rocks."
Again, her eyebrow rose and she gave him a disapproving glance, "You made my son a toy that says, evil rocks? What the hell?"
"I told you he was weird." Raimundo now said from behind her. Jack only glared at him, and then reached out snatching the robot from Angel's hands. Sitting it down on the floor, he pushed a button on the watch on his arm and laughed out as it began to roll around, "Ha!" he shouted and pointed, "See what else he can do!? He's remote controlled!"
"Okay," Angel nodded slowly, "Honestly… that is next to amazing, but just let me make one request."
"It's about the gun I put on it…isn't it?" he watched her unsure. Her eyes grew wide as he said that and she quickly grabbed the machine up and shoved it at him, "Remove the gun, and as I was going to say, don't just go around tearing things apart. Mark101 can stay, but you have to make him so that Mark Catron can play with him without getting his eye shot out."
"He doesn't like guns?" Jack asked innocently.
"Remove the gun, or I remove the robot." She told him.
"I can do that." He grinned, and then reached out taking the toy from her hands, and once again sat down and began to work on it. Angel sighed as she turned and made her way back out onto the porch. Raimundo followed, stating, "He's always making stuff like that back in our world, only bigger, but if you really want to see something amazing…take a look at this." He reached into his pocket, and pulled out both, mystical, Shen Gong Wu he had been carrying around with him.
Angel's face was overtaken with awe as she stared down at the two items, but her hand led her to pick up the Golden Tiger Claws. Looking it over, she grinned, "Wow…this is cool, what is it, some kind of new glove? Looks kinda like something from a horror movie."
"It's called… the Golden Tiger Claws." He tried to make it sound enchanting, "Back in our world these things hold great powers, but here they just don't seem to work."
"Nonetheless, that is awesome." She told him as she handed it back. Raimundo took it from her as he continued, "Yeah, those things right there are the whole reason we," he pointed between him and Jack Spicer, "are here."
"Really?" she looked confused, "How so?"
"They rip a warp in time and space, allowing you to go wherever you desire, but nimrod in there used them without knowing what he was doing. We ended up here and now we can't get back." He explained.
"Wait…" she shook her head, "I knew you couldn't have been from around here. Asia isn't even in this world?"
"No way," he informed her as his head moved back and forth, "It's dimensions away and we can't even return." He frowned as he thought of his friends back at the Xiaolin Temple. Angel picked the item up and looked at it, "How come you just don't use it again?"
"Like I said," he shrugged, "For some reason in this world, they don't work. I tried out both of these items, but neither one of them would do anything." He stopped when he realized how he must sound, "This sounds whacked doesn't it? To you it's probably just a comb and a glove."
Watching him, he hung his head causing her to reach out to him. Placing her hand on his shoulder she assured him, "It does sound farfetched, but that's not to say it's not true. There are many things that are unexplainable, and I realize that."
"Really?" he looked up at her, "Then I don't just sound like a lunatic?"
"Na." she gave him a crooked grin, but the both of them looked to the door when Jack appeared there, his finger pointed at Raimundo as he accused, "Unfair play, you wooing her with the Wu!"
"Whatever," Raimundo glared at him, "Get a life Spicer."
"Hey," he retorted as he watched Raimundo storm inside, "I'll have you know I have a life." He looked back at Angel and shrugged, "Was it something I said?"
"You know," she looked him in the eyes, "I really think it's time we all get some rest." She stared past him, but turned back, "Oh, and did you fix that robot?"
"Was that, remove the gun?" he grinned.
"Yes." she glared somberly.
"Heh…I'm just kidding. It's good as new." He stated nervously. Angel's head nodded and she smiled lightly, "Good, somehow I feel that tomorrow Mark will be feeling better and he'll want to play with his new toy." She tested him.
"Uhm…" he stepped over closer to her, "Can it still say… evil rocks?"
Angel thought about it for a moment, but finally agreed, "Alright, the evil rocks can stay, as long as you and Raimundo stop fighting like babies."
"Great!" he exclaimed and then walked on in the house picking the little robot up off the floor, "Come on Mark101…time for bed."
Angel, after gathering the blankets and pillows for her guests, headed on to bed herself, glad to have the burden of leaving Jack behind off her shoulders.
Within her bed, Angel tossed and turned, wretched images once again crowding her mind and her dream world. As she slumbered, she once again saw Jack and like before, he was alone. This time in her dream, a pouring rain surrounded as he stood by himself within the darkness of the wet city streets. Though she was there, it was like just her presence, her body felt gone and it seemed she couldn't even be seen. As she drew nearer, she circled around to try and get a glimpse of his face, but upon her eyes meeting his, the glare in them made her gasp and move away.
"How could you?" he growled at her, now confirming to her that she was more visible than she had thought. Turning away, she felt ashamed to be seen by him, but no matter where she went, she could feel his eyes piercing her. As the rain poured harder around her, she tried to think of something to say to answer his question, but no matter how she tried no thought of what he was talking about came to mind.
"Why?" he demanded to her again. Unable to speak without an answer, Angel dodged his grasping hand, the feeling of shame refusing to lift from her. Taking one last glance at him, the fury and anger in his eyes for her caused her own eyes to fill with tears. Unable to break down in front of him, she turned and started off down the sidewalk and away from him as fast as she could. Without looking back, she ran faster and then even faster, until all of a sudden the ground seemed to just fall from beneath her, sending her careening off into darkness. Tears still streamed from her eyes as she fell, although they seemed in vain since she didn't even know what she cried for.
Angel's eyes popped open, and she stared up at her ceiling, glad to see she hadn't gotten up out of her bed this time. However, as she reached up to her face, she rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes feeling the wetness of the tears that had fallen in her sleep. Quickly sitting up, she shook her head distressed as she stated lowly, "No…this can't be. Why am I still dreaming this way? The guilt is gone, so why?"
Turning her legs to the side of the bed, she gently allowed her feet to touch the floor as she stood and exited her room. Going just a room down from her own, she reached out and pushed the door open, peering inside at Mark who rested peacefully. A small smile crept upon her face as she watched him in his bed, and before turning, she blew him a kiss. Pulling the door loosely shut, she continued on down the hallway and into the living room where she immediately noticed Jack was gone.
"What the…" she questioned, but turned her eyes to the front door, which stood slightly open. The light from the porch, shined a small beam through and also lead her over where she pulled the door back and stepped out onto the porch. Scanning the area with her eyes, she didn't see him anywhere in sight, until she barely noticed him standing in the shadows beneath a tree on the far side of the yard. She stepped off the porch, and started the way, her low footsteps alerting him in the quiet of the night.
Quickly, his eyes shot to where she stood, and the moment became very awkward feeling. Though the night was chilly, Angel hadn't really noticed it until his eyes had landed on her and in that moment an uncontrollable chill had taken over her entire body. She tried to keep the shivering under control, but had no choice but to allow it to continue as she spoke, "It's late."
"I know." Jack spoke, still shaded by the shadow of the tree.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked him, as she wrapped her arms around herself for warmth. He only shifted under the branches as he stated, "I couldn't sleep. Is that okay?"
"It's fine," she nodded, and although her feet seemed unimaginably heavy, she took a step toward him, "I couldn't really either."
"You know," his head came up and she immediately knew he was looking at her, "I'm not a weirdo. I don't care what he…says." He jerked his thumb toward her house, "I have my reasons for doing what I do…he just doesn't understand them."
"What do you do, besides build amazing robots from the parts of a child's toy?" she questioned. He merely looked away as he shrugged, "Ah…I want to take over the world. I want to rule it all, so I can tell everyone what to do."
Angel's eyebrows both rose as he stated that, and all she could do was stare at him. In the few spots of light he could see of her, he noticed this and frowned, "You think I'm weird too…don't you?"
"Well," she shook her head, "It is an outstanding dream, no doubt, but…if that is indeed what you wish for, who am I to shoot that dream down? I don't choose the destiny for anyone, so who's to say that someday you may not, certainly not me."
Jack's sullen expression changed to that of wonder as he looked at her, "You can't be for real when you say that."
"Why not," she asked.
"I don't know," he shrugged, "Because the only person in the world that has even understood that is Wuya, and that's only because she wants the same thing."
"Wuya?" Angel cocked an eyebrow, "Who the hell is Wuya?"
"A clown faced ghost lady…" he shrugged again, "It's a long story. By the way," he shifted his eyes away from her gaze, "I heard you."
"What?"
"I heard you in your room. What were you crying about?" he now refused to look at her. Angel felt ice cold when asked that, and she knew for sure, that she couldn't tell him the truth of the matter. Now her turn to shrug, she shook her head, "Sometimes…I have these overly vivid dreams. I was crying in my dream, so I must have been crying aloud too."
"What was the dream about?" he pressed.
"I…I don't really remember." She passed it off, "Not all of it. I just remember looking for someone. When I found them, they were angry at me. That must have been why I was crying…it upset me."
"Who were you looking for?" he still questioned.
"I'm not sure," she covered, "I never really knew, and the face when I found them…was unclear. Why?" she wondered why he asked so many questions. He only allowed an "I don't know" look to cover his face as he stated, "Dunno, I was just thinking that it must have been someone really special for you to cry over them."
"I wish I could say." Her eyes fell away from him. Jack's glance finally made it back up to her, but for some reason it made her feel uncomfortable. He allowed a cunning smirk to cross his lips, thus adding to the uneasiness she was feeling. Her heart had begun to beat uncontrollably, her eyes shifting about with nervousness, and she decided it was time for her to head back inside.
"Well," turning, she took a step from under the tree, "I need to head back to bed, and I might suggest that you do the same."
"I will later," he waved her suggestion off, "I have too much evil thinking and planning to do. After all," he grinned at her fully, "I am Jack Spicer, evil boy genius."
"Well evil boy genius, when you're done, don't be so evil that you won't lock the door behind you when you come back inside. If you please." She informed him, before starting off across the yard and toward the house. Upon stepping inside, her thoughts wandered for a moment about what had just happened, but she only shook her head and continued on quietly, so not to wake Raimundo. Angel wouldn't have ever admitted at the moment, but she had just acquired a very deep soft spot for Jack Spicer.