"~Jaaaackie and Ciiindy! Sitting in a treeee-eeee~!"

"Entropy, please!" Cinder pleaded, grateful for the fact that they were the only ones in their room. "It's not funny anymore!"

"I know, it's adorable!" Entropy laughed giddily, zipping up her paisley pink hoodie with a bunny on the back. They and the boys were spending the afternoon at a movie theater to pass the time, since the monks hadn't appeared for the Showdown and the Heylins seemed to be missing in action as well. "And now we're going to a theater, where it's all dark and romantic, and-"

"Okay, okay," Cinder sighed, tugging her converse on over her baggy socks. "Just please don't bring it up anymore. It's hard enough for me to talk to him now without you pointing things out."

Entropy stopped and stared at her.

"...Wow," she said, making Cinder look back at her. "You're not even going to deny it?"

Cinder turned pink.

"Oh, well, I guess not," she said. "No point in it, I suppose."

She gave Entropy a stern look.

"That doesn't mean you can mention it to the guys though. I'll deny every word of it."

"That's okay, Stryker and Zephyr totally know already," Entropy told her. "You and Jackie need to work on not being so obvious about your feelings."

Cinder rolled her eyes at this.

"I think you should just keep falling on him! That's what seems to be working! After two weeks you'll be married!"

"Enny!" Cinder cried, to which Entropy snickered like crazy. "C'mon! It's not funny!"

"Oh, lighten up!" Entropy shouted. "You take things too seriously!"

"Yeah, and you make a joke out of everything and don't think about what you do!" Cinder shot at her, storming for the door. "I'm surprised your still in one piece after some of the stuff you pull!"

"Oh, here we go, us two polar opposites having a fight! What's next we're forced to walk a mile in each other's shoes-"

Cinder pulled open the door and shrieked as something slammed into her throat, hitting a pressure point and knocking her unconscious. Entropy gasped as a figure dashed towards her, throwing something at her face. She caught sight of Zephyr on the floor, his mouth parted but his eyes shut tight, his body still black from his Shadow Form.

Oh, no.

The object blasted apart, releasing some sort of smoke that gagged her and made her eyes well up with tears. The figure kicked her in the gut and slammed the ridge of their hand into the part where the neck connected to the cranium, snapping her head back and causing her to fall to the floor as well. It waited to see if she would get up, then held it's wrist up to it's black mask.

"The target has been detained," the figure said, looking over at Cinder and Zephyr. "But there are others with her. Would you like them too?"

"The boss won't care either way," a man's voice told her from the communicator on her wrist. "I say grab 'em all. Saves the trouble of any calling the police."

"Alright. There's two more out back. I'll let you know when it's over."

******JP******

"What's taking them so long?" Zephyr asked, slouching in his seat. "They've been in there forever!"

"You know girls, they're probably still figuring out what to wear," Stryker said, flipping through the radio stations.

He glanced over at Jack, who had his arms across the steering wheel and his chin rested on his arms, staring off into space again.

"Hey, Zeph," Stryker said. "Can you go tell them to hurry it up?"

"Yeah, sure," Zephyr said, sliding open the door and hopping out.

Stryker continued to fiddle with the nob until Zephyr went into the house, then he turned off the station and leaned back in the chair.

"So what's up?" he asked Jack. "You're acting all bummed again."

Jack sighed and sat up, looking at his boots wearily.

"It's nothing," he grumbled.

"Jack..."

They locked eyes for a moment, then Jack turned away again.

"...Today's my dad's birthday..."

Stryker's eyes widened.

"Oh..." he said softly. "...Are you okay?"

"No," Jack answered honestly. "It sucks. I barely got to see him when he was alive, but he was always home on his birthday or mom's birthday or mine. And now he won't be able to be here for any of them...and it sucks..."

His fists tightened and Stryker cringed.

"And Mom couldn't even be bothered to stay home from work. I know he's not here anymore...but just once I wish she'd care that he's not here anymore."

"I-I don't think she doesn't care, bud. I just think she has a hard time dealing with it."

Stryker leaned forward to see Jack's face better, but his friend looked out his window.

"Kinda like you do?"

Jack's jaw tensed as he tried to ignore that Stryker was right. Stryker bit his lip and sat back again.

"You know, it's alright for you to be upset," he told him. "You didn't have to try and hide it."

"I didn't want to ruin everyone's time," Jack said.

"You wouldn't have, Jack. Your dad died, what, two, three months ago?"

"Four..."

"Four. You haven't had enough time to be okay. Throw in this weird prophecy and the Shen Gong Wu fights and building a team and everything else? Dude, we ruined your time!"

"Don't!" Jack snapped, finally meeting his eyes. "If it wasn't for you...I don't know where I'd be! My mom only started spending time with me when Wuya came...and that was because you and I ticked Chase off so he drank that soup thing again. If you hadn't been here...I'd be dead!"

"Jack-" Stryker said, startled by his words.

"I'd be dead, Stryker! No one would have cared either! So don't. You and Enny and Cinder and Zephyr are the best things that could have happened to me!"

Stryker tried to get his mouth working, but he just sat there with his mouth open. Jack shook his head, then hit the steering wheel.

"Man I'm a sap!" he yelled.

That worked, and they both laughed at this.

"We're both saps, Billy," Stryker said, patting his shoulder.

"Dude, if you call me by my middle name in front of the others again," Jack laughed. "I will tell them what your name is."

Stryker stared at him.

"You wouldn't!"

"Wouldn't I?"

"That's like a rule! You can't spill my secret, it's code!"

"Well then I guess you won't be calling me Billy anymore, will you?"

Stryker laughed in shock at this, running a hand through his Mohawk.

"...You're blackmailing me!" he said, to which Jack laughed as well. "You little jerk!"

"Learned it from the best," Jack teased, a real smile on his face.

Stryker shook his head, then looked at the house.

"Hey...they've been in there a pretty long time now," he pointed out. "Should we go make sure they're okay?"

"Yeah, probably," Jack said as they pulled the handles on the doors. "Enny's probably caught up in-"

Their good moods diminished when the doors remained shut, no matter how hard they pushed for them to open.

"Uh...did you lock the doors?" Stryker asked, shoving at the portal with his shoulder.

"No," Jack said, trying to unlock them with the button but finding that it wasn't working. "They don't lock until I tell them to."

The boys looked ahead at something in front of the jet; a figure was staring at them, decked out in black from head to toe. They couldn't tell if they were male of female because of the bulky suit, but they could tell they were holding some sort of weapon on their shoulder. Something wrapped around their shoulders and they looked down to see that the ejection seat belts had come to life and strapped them in, restraining them completely.

"Oh, this is not good," Jack squeaked as they tried to pull the belts off.

"They won't come off!" Stryker declared, panicking as the figure seemed to aim their gun. "Oh...Jack!"

The person pulled the trigger, firing some sort of metal orb at them. The boys covered their faces with their arms as the projectile broke through the glass and bounced around the jet, finally settling onto the floor between them. They waited for something to happen, then sighed when it appeared to be a dud.

"So as soon as we get these off," Stryker growled as they tried to work the seatbelts again. "I'm going to kick this guy's..."

He stopped when he saw that the figure had some sort of trigger in its hand, its thumb over the red button. Jack cried out when Stryker reached over and yanked on his belt as hard as he could, tearing the cloth away and freeing him. It was then that Jack saw the trigger too, and tried to grab Stryker's seatbelt too. The figure tilted their head as they watched them, intrigued by their scrambling.

"Grab the Eye of Dashi, it'll work better," Stryker ordered.

The bomb opened as Jack reached back for the Eye. His eyes widened when he saw the timer start to count down from twenty.

"We gotta hurry!" he said as Stryker took the Wu from him. "I think it's gonna-"

"Eye of Dashi!" Stryker yelled, aiming the lightning bolt at Jack's door.

Jack stared as the door was ripped off its hinges and blown into the side of his house, then whipped around to look at Stryker. Stryker looked at the timer, saw it was at five, and decked Jack in the face; when Jack went limp he grabbed him before he fell and threw him as hard as he could, out of the jet, and onto his lawn.

The bomb exploded, filling the jet with fire and smoke. Jack bolted up and watched in horror as the glass of the windows and doors shattered into tiny shards and flew onto the grass, even the glass on the passenger side.

"Stryker!" he screamed, jumping up and running towards the vehicle.

Something grabbed the back of his coat and dragged him back; he felt a shock jolt through his body, leaving him numb and disoriented. Jack fell to his knees before he felt something crack across his skull, whipping him to the ground and causing his eyes to instantly close.