Chase stared into his spy-orb, frowning. Thought the image that it had held there faded quite a while ago, he was lost in thought, pondering what it had shown him.
For many reasons, it had been quite amusing to watch the Fire Dragon cower in fear because of Spicer. The very idea was absurd, actually iseeingi it was funny as hell. But at the same time, it also displayed why vampires were such a threat. He had not even touched her and she cowered in fear. Of course, if done right, they could be killed quite easily, if done wrong; the chances of you surviving to correct your mistakes were slim.
Then again, the idea to inot/i kill Spicer ihad/i crossed his mind. If he got to him now, made him swear loyalty (which would be simple considering how much the boy idolized him), there would be nothing to worry about. Well, not for Chase anyway. However, there was a reason he had never really never wanted the boy for an apprentice, it was not about power, it was attitude. Not the mention Spicer's amazing talent for possibly being the most annoying person on the face of Earth.
Subconsciously Chase had begun to pet the head of a tiger that lay at the base of his throne. The animal-warrior purred at the touch, hoping his master would scratch his ears as well.
Everything was perfectly quiet, peaceful even, and then something occurred to Chase. He froze for a moment in realization and the tiger, noting the change, looked up expectantly.
It was so blatantly obvious. He began scratching the tiger's ears. Not that it was a particularly shocking realization, but the fact that he had not seen it earlier perturbed him. It was not that Chase particularly cared about saving the life of a pathetic worm like Spicer, because he really did not, but this, the idea that had come so suddenly to him, would be much more convenient.
Chase stood up suddenly, jungle cats of all kinds looking over, waiting for instruction.
"I'm going out," he announced authoritatively, "I have some business to attend to and do not know when I will return." And then he was gone.
O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O
In the Kitchen of the Spicer mansion a certain Heylin Witch could be found leaning against the counter as she waited for coffee to brew. Her long fingernails tapped against the marble impatiently.
Wuya was in a very irritable mood. Mostly this was due to exhaustion, last night she had attempted to give Jack a lesson in shape-shifting and she had gotten very little hindsight, it had not been the best of ideas, but she was not about to wait for him to figure it out for himself.
In the first place, Wuya cannot shape-shift. It was a different kind of magic entirely from hers, so 'the blind was leading the blind', so to speak.
Traditionally, when a vampire created another vampire, the decision was discussed for months between the two parties, and before even that a vampire would only bring the option up at all for someone they really cared about. After all, you are going to be spending a long time with this person. And in fact, almost all vampires are turned by relatives or lovers.
Basically, most vampires learned how to be vampires form other vampires; just as Wuya had learned magic from another witch, her mother. But a witch teaching a vampire? It was like trying to learn math from an English professor. He can only help you so much because it is not his field of expertise.
In the second place, she currently did not have her full powers. Wuya could not perform any sort of demonstration that might have been helpful. (Then again, if she had her full powers she would not be bothering with the silly boy at all.)And in the third place, it was no help at all that her student was Jack.
True, she had put up with him before. In many ways she had gotten used to his antics as they hunted for Shen-gong-wu, but iteaching him/i? But for all her trouble in the end it ihad/i paid off, and for that she was grateful.
The coffee had finally finished brewing and she grabbed a random mug from the cabinet. She did not bother with cream and sugar, she liked it black. Halfway through her first cup she grimaced to see '#1 MOM' on the side of the cup.
She heard a low chuckle. "Well isn't that irony?" A familiar voice drawled. Wuya looked over, unsurprised to see the small form of Hannibal Roy Bean perched on the counter.
"Hannibal, what a surprise." Wuya gave an ingratiating smile, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Nothing much…but a little birdie told me we are to have a new immortal among us." He said in a conversational tone, as if simply trying to confirm local gossip.
"Yes, it's amazing isn't it? If I'm not mistaken, the last one was Chase. But you know all about that."
Hannibal's smile only grew. "So I do. But I must wonder what makes you think you can do better? Especially after what happened with the Wind Dragon?"
Wuya shugged. "Jack's already on our side."
"Is he really?" Questioned Bean, his tone completely serious, "It seems to me he's only just this side of evil. iAlmost good./i"
"Not for long." She smirked.
"True, but do you think it's his ievil/i side that follows you?" Now Hannibal smirked, knowing he was effectively making his case.
Wuya only shrugged, hiding her discomfort with the topic.
"Oh come now," said Bean, "Don't you know history repeats itself? Oh wait; you didn't get to live through history did you?"
"Is this just a social visit or are you here to discuss business?" It was too early in the morning for this. Though she tried to maintain her pleasant demeanor she honestly hoped he would either get to the point or leave. But that was not Hannibal's style.
"A little of both. I just wanted to make a point, and to welcome the new blood. After all, we've all got a long time to spend itogether…/i"
Wuya smirked again at the inflection. "Together?" Now she understood. "You want to join us?"
"We both want revenge against Chase. And I could help you."
This was interesting. "Help me? What do you have in mind?"
"That silver pendant you've hidden away won't do much of anything if our little blood-sucking friend decides he doesn't need a powerless witch."
"As if iyou're/i the expert on keeping your apprentices in line?"
"I admit, my plans didn't pan out exactly how I'd hoped…but that the beauty of it. I've learned from my mistakes. So whaddaya say?"
Wuya thought about it. Hannibal did have a point. Though it was hard to see from where she stood now, hard to think of the bumbling idiot who had opened the puzzle box as true evil, she had to keep in mind he would not be the Jack she knew anymore. Not that she cared. Immortals should never get attached to mortals. It was weak.
At the same time, some small art of her did not completely like the idea of forcing the boy to obey. Which seemed silly to her, after all, was slavery not evil? And after all she was forced to suffer through when she had been in ghost form was she not owed the right to make him do what she wanted?
It's not like she had not done something like that before, as she had with the Ruby of Ramses. It would only be for a while anyway, just long enough to defeat Chase…then Jack could do whatever he wanted.
Wuya smiled again, and said, "Welcome to the group."
O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O
The day was still young as Dojo landed in the grass outside the gate of the Spicer Mansion, his four passengers getting off just before he shrank back to his smaller size.
"Couldn't you kids have done this later in the day?" The dragon yawned.
"No." Kimiko responded stiffly.
"If Raimundo says we must get it under with so 'Kimiko will stop nagging about it', then we must follow our shok-." Omi began before a tan hand clamped over his mouth.
Kim crossed her arms over her chest shoot Rai a ilook/i, to which he smiled sheepishly at. "I swear I don't know what he's talking about." Kim's expression did not soften in the least.
"Whatever, I'm staying out here," Dojo yawned again, "and catching up on my sleep." The dragon curled up under the shade of a tree and a moment later was snoring loudly.
Raimundo rolled his eyes and turned to the rest of the team. Kimiko seemed to have let it go so he talked on. "Okay guys, let's make this quick. We get in, check for anything unusual, and get out."
"Sounds like a plan." Clay agreed.
"And if we ido/i find something?" Kimiko asked. It annoyed her the way Rai was acting like they would not find anything.
"We can come up with something when we're for sure about what we're facing." Raimundo responded coolly.
Since she could not argue with the logic, and honestly did not feel like trying, Kim just nodded.
Getting inside was simple. There were some Jack-bots roving around but a few well-aimed kicks took care of that. They snuck in through the outside entrance into the dimly lit basement that was Jack Spicer's 'evil lair'.
It looked the same as it usually did, a pile of broken robot in one corner, various parts all over various forms of shelving, devices that seemed to have no purpose what so ever, and the occasional empty pudding cup on the floor. However, one major element was missing: Jack himself.
This in and of itself was a bit unusual, but it iwas/i early in the morning. Most likely he was just asleep.
"Any one see him?" Raimundo called to others, who had wandered in other directions as they looked.
"Nothin' here." Clay responded.
"No." From Kim, whose frown deepened as she said it.
"Nothing." Said Omi.
The Dragon of the Wind sighed and ran his finger though his hair as he leaned back against Jack's lab table. It iwas/i too early for this. As the leader, some might berate him for giving in so easily to the demands of a teammate, but ithey/i would not have been the ones who had to listen to Kimiko's nightmares.
Said girl was surprisingly fine with being here. But that was Kimiko for you, she refused to show weakness.
Raimundo subconsciously moved his hand to lay his hand flat against the table when instead it landed directly on something cold and metal and caused his hand to slip. Instinctively his head turned to see what it was.
It was an open flask. What was it doing here?
"Have you found something?" Omi asked curiously, and Rai looked over to see his team standing around him.
"It's a flask…it was on the table…"
"That looks like what my Uncle uses to hide his booze in," Clay said, "don't tell me Spicer's drinking." He made a disapproving face at the notion.
"I don't think booze was in it guys," offered Kim, who took it from Rai and turned it upside down over the table. A single red drop poured out.