"Pass the pepper, Omi."

"Um, but..." Omi stammered, looking at the shaker next to Stryker, who was eating with his eyes closed. "Raimundo-"

"Just pass it."

Stryker, without missing a beat, pushed the pepper across the table to Raimundo.

"Thank you, Omi," Rai said.

"But, I did not-"

"Just go with it, Omi," Kimiko said quietly.

Jack breathed heavily out his nose, picking at the eight ounce steak in front of him. He was sitting at the end, facing Raimundo, with Stryker on his left and Clay on his right; Kimiko was next to Clay and Omi was between Stryker and Rai. It could've been worse, since Rai was mostly sending glares at Stryker (who was doing a very good job of ignoring them), Clay was too busy scarfing down food to do anything else, and Kimiko and Omi were trying to keep to themselves. Even so he could tell he wasn't wanted; he might have been wanted less than Stryker was, and the monks were proving not to like him very much either. His stomach lurched again and he stood.

"I'll be right back," he told Stryker, heading for the bathroom.

The monks exchanged quick glances with each other before leaning closer to Stryker, who sighed and put down his fork.

"Was wondering when you guys would pounce," he mumbled.

"Please listen to us, Stryker," Omi pleaded. "Jack Spicer can not be trusted. He has proven this to us many times-"

"And you all have proven to him that he can't trust you."

"Look, he's probably told you a bunch of stuff that isn't true, right?" Kimiko started. "But you have to believe us when we say-"

"Did you four drag Jack by the back of your jet when he was stranded in the Arctic?"

There was silence at this mention, and when he looked around none of them met his eyes.

"Yeah, thought so," he growled. "But let me take another guess and say you did it because he kidnapped Kimiko, because he made Omi believe he'd found his family, because he worked for people like my uncle?"

More silence followed, and now instead of tension, Stryker felt the monks' guilt surfacing. Raimundo scoffed.

"You expecting us to feel bad, amigo?" he snarled. "Jack's an idiot. You wanna stay on his side, fine. Not like you'd be helpful anyway."

"Your tough guy schtick doesn't work well if I can sense how you actually feel."

Rai's eyes flashed as he and Stryker locked glares.

"You all feel guilt," he said, lacing his fingers together, resting his elbows on the table and his head on the top of his hands, and looking at the wall behind Clay and Kimiko. "And now fear, because I can see right through each one of you. I suppose that comes from being part of the Young family; I gained the ability to detect exactly how people feel about every situation."

A smirk came to his lips as he said:

"Maybe one day I'll even learn to manipulate them."

An involuntary shiver raced across the monks' backs; it was unspeakable how much Stryker looked like Chase at the moment. He probably didn't even know.

The smirk slipped from Stryker's face and after a moment the part of him that was Chase had disappeared again as he turned and glared at the monks individually.

"If you're what this world calls 'good guys', then we're closer to ten thousand years of darkness than you all think. And even I don't want that."

"Look, partner," Clay started, setting down his fork, as his appetite was gone. "We've done some bad things to Spicer, I'll admit ta that. But we tried to give him a chance. He still betrayed us."

"What'd you have him do while he was here?" Stryker asked icily.

"Lots of things!" Omi assured him. "He did laundry, he cleaned toilets, he washed dishes..."

He stopped as Stryker turned and squinted down at him.

"Ever talk to him? Ever invite him to train?"

"...No..." the littlest monk said, bowing his head in shame. "That we did not do."

"Gee, wonder why he betrayed you," Stryker retorted, grabbing his and Jack's plates and standing to leave.

Raimundo scowled and bolted out of his chair, slamming his hands on the table. Stryker stopped at the doorway but didn't turn to him.

"You wanna judge us, whatever?" Rai shouted. "But don't think that makes us trust that loser at all! He's pathetic, useless, and about as trustworthy as a snake!"

Stryker jolted and slowly turned his head towards him, his eyes blazing fiercely.

"You know what they say where I come from?" Rai continued. "'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on...'"

Stryker had stepped aside to reveal that Jack was standing in the hallway; by the look on his face they knew he had heard everything Rai had said. The animosity in his eyes was vibrant and menacing as he glared at Raimundo, who stood with a frozen expression of embarrassment. Without a word Jack spun on his heel and stormed back the way he came. Stryker gave the monks his own nasty look.

"You know, I read something that this really great guy said about, oh, two thousand years ago," he started. "He said you should forgive your brother seven times seventy times. Sounds like that's something you guys need to work on."

With that he followed Jack, his words finally sinking into Rai's mind. He sat slowly and stared at his plate, his green eyes wide.

"...Well, I've been slapped hard with the truth," Kimiko said tonelessly. "What about you guys."

"I'd say the truth done cattle-whipped me pretty hard," Clay agreed.

"I agree," Omi said sullenly. "I am, as you say, placed in my vicinity."

No one bothered to correct him. Rai grimaced and sighed.

"I really messed up, didn't I?" he said quietly.

They all looked at him and Kimiko put a hand on his.

"We all did, Rai," she said.

He nodded slowly, then Kimiko stood and pulled him up, smiling at his confusion.

"There's always tomorrow." she said.