Part 3: Laying Down the Line
A while later, Raven sat in a large, dark room in front of a desk.On the other side sat Jack.
"So- What do you do?" he asked in a business-like manner.
"Fight," Raven said her eyes revealing nothing, "and I want to make something perfectly clear. I am not a common thief." She couldn't believe she was dealing with this... child.
"What is the objective?" Raven asked.
"Shen-gong-wu retrieval," Jack said.
"All I do is obtain these items?"
"You got it, sister."
A vein twitched in Raven's temple but she let it go. "What are these 'shen-gong-wu'?"
"It's all right here," Jack said, holding up a manila envelope.
"Fine." Raven said, holding out her hand.
Continuing in a business-like manner, Jack began, titling the envelope away from her hand, "Now I'll have to get back to you and see if we have any openings-"
"Let me clarify Spicer," Raven said coolly- dangerously, her unidentifyable accent rolling off her toungue, "either you require me or you do not. If you choose to employ me, keep foremost in your mind that I am NOT a possession and you have no real power over me whatsoever. If you are not going to employ me then be silent. I am certain I will be of service elsewhere."
Looking around at the broken robots littered around the floor, then back at Raven's scary expression, Jack said in a small voice, "Whatever you say."
Raven grinned under her mask as she took the envelope. Maybe the child wouldn't be so bad after all.
...
That night, she slept outside. Behind the grounds of Jack's mansion, about a mile away, she stretched out on a limb of one of the tall oaks that partially surrounded the place, the cell phone Jack had given her for calling her when she was needed tucked in her belt pouch safely, a flashlight still in her hand, and the file laying on her stomach. She had read through it three times, and had fallen asleep halfway through it a fourth. She had learned about the magical artifacts called the 'shen-gong-wu' and the xiaolin dragons that fought to keep them out of the hands of the heylin witch Wuya and (in his own words) Jack Spicer, 'evil boy genius'. The file had included a character profile for each xiaolin warrior (and not very kind ones either). There were four of them: Clay Bailey of the element earth, Kimiko Tohomiko of fire, Raimundo Pedrosa of wind, and Omi of water. The profiles also contained personal information, history, and strengths of the dragons... as well as a few comments Jack had added- 'q-ball' and 'hick' being some of the kinder ones. There was also a list of all the activated shen-gong-wu and their properties. It was all interesting enough, but she couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity, as if she knew it all already. Raven smiled in her sleep, clutching the papers closer to her. She had made it- she was finally getting a chance to fit in...