"Outta my way, moron!"
Shoving past said moron has the worker smacking into the stairwell wall and dropping alongside stolen tech. Koi-Bots behind pause and move aside for the tumbling mess, but Jack turns a wicked grin on it.
The sight's wonderful as it sounds – the very definition of a hot mess – and he only resumes following a Koi-Bot upstairs when the poor sap tumbles for the next flight down.
Yet metallic clangs and dull grunts continue to amuse, muffled as they're getting.
It's just too bad the evil upper doesn't last. Previous agitation is steadily squelching it, but at least some of the tension is gone. It had to go somewhere, and the guy was in Jack's way, walking down the stairwell like he owned the damn thing.
Jack glares. 'He was asking for it. Just like PandaBubba is.'
He owes that (remarkably) traitorous mob boss a giant, gushing back-stab, now. Their last scuffle's conclusion was already bad enough, but now PB has the evil audacity to think he can rip Jack off using his own robots? By simply re-skinning them?
Forget insincere apologies: This is long overdo, and since the crime boss likely thinks Jack long gone, right now is prime time to strike.
The short-sighted moron will never see it coming.
And now that Jack thinks about it, there's also that ridiculous rendezvous. The place was without a doubt chosen specifically for the hassle it presented Jack and sheer convenience it offered PandaBubba. It's no wonder PB hung up on Jack so abruptly: He saw the question for how to get there coming.
Heck, the panda-freak probably planned the whole thing out prior to calling – burger and all!
An angry growl lodges in Jack's throat, but is interrupted by a derisive snort, followed by him chuckling.
PandaBubba is out of his (small) mind if he thinks they share anything in the mental department. 'I'm the only evil genius around here.' That's how it's been, how it will always be, and is why he's going for the world, and that short-sighted wanna-be, a quasi-country.
Victory is assured. Revenge will be his. Ten-fold.
Besides, as an evil genius extraordinaire, what reason could Jack possibly need other than the irate expression PandaBubba will soon wear when he inevitably succumbs to, 'the evil magnificence of… Jack Spicer!'
His exit of the stairwell into a familiar hallway is with dastardly snickers. The goth can feel clearly the evil flowing through his veins, which is made all the better by improbable chance of Loser-esque interruption.
For this is a black-op. Personal evil obligation. Rep. No one will ever find out PandaBubba once again played him for a fool. All that will remain is PB's total defeat. That, or an outright lie, seeing as only he and Pandabubba will bear witness to it.
Either works for Jack, as reality will side with him, and those losers won't be able to mar it with their lame presences. He can already see what Cheddar Head's naive reaction would be: "Oh, Jack Spicer, I always knew you would eventually reject the ways of evil and observe the rays!"
The cueball would say it in that stupid sunshine-through-the-clouds happy voice, too, and probably try to hug Jack while saying it. Then Jack or one of the other monks will end up correcting Chrome Dome, telling him it's "see the light".
A chill runs all the way down Jack's spine. He shudders.
Right now's not exactly prime time for a big fight, so, yeah, he's definitely not getting caught. He's lucky enough his bots work well enough to retrace their steps.
Assuming he succeeds, anyways.
'Wait, what?' Jack halts and raises a brow sky-high. He shakes his head, right eye narrowing at the absurdity of there being any doubt. 'Of course I'll succeed.' His walk resumes. 'I'm Jack Spicer! Evil Genius, Prince of Darkness!'
There's nothing to worry about! 'Those losers don't even know where PandaBubba is, let alone what's actually going on here.' Add in the building's enormity, and, well, he might as well laugh out loud (again). Even if they came up with the great idea of splitting off into bigger losers, it would still take half a Wuya-lifetime for them to find Pandabubba.
When the zombie aspect re-hits, though, Jack bursts into cruel laughter and stops to double over. An arm goes across his stomach, the goth clutching at his side as he rears back to cackle at the ceiling.
Onward to inevitable revenge!
And speaking of: "Heh-Hey, what's our ETA?"
"Three minutes, sir," the leading re-skinned Koi-Bot answers.
He shrugs. 'Close enough.'
His smile can't rescind – not with imagination of the fury PandaBubba will display when his evil scheme's shred to pieces. The clenched jaw. The sharp, vengeful eyes. Fists trembling their desire to throttle. Thoughts of what could have been – where he would be – if not for one particularly evil genius. How fantastic it'll feel to smirk at it all, to taunt PandaBubba into red-hot humiliation until finally zapping these mindless workers' expression onto him.
Jack snickers, coming to a stop before the destined set of doors – fully intent on once again ignoring their message.
Yet his humor ebbs to a frowning consideration…
Will the mob boss really still be there, wearing a menacing smile on his face as brain-dead slaves do his bidding...?
Jack lays a hand upon one door's push-pad and gently pushes until it's open just enough to partially pop his head through.
His one-eyed peek gives a blank stare.
… Apparently so, because there the man is, looking as if he's just accomplished world domination. Jack isn't particularly surprised, but PandaBubba did just go from short-sighted to full fledged eye-failure, so he feels it necessary to let his unimpressed gaze linger.
There's reveling in your moment of triumph, and then there's this. What this is, he's never been able to fathom in any regard other than some form of health issues; because whatever it is, there's back-up.
The vision-less mob boss is making this almost too easy – even for him. And that isn't saying something.
All he has to do now is… get… the Wu…
…
Jack inches his head back out the door's opening and groans.
There isn't a plan. Not once since thundering the mob boss' name has he thought on just how, exactly, he would enact his revenge. How it would end was never in question, but how to get there…
The evil genius curses to himself, his frustration ultimately being ousted through a growl.
'Ah, whatever. It's a plan in-progress. Nothing I can't handle.'
That being so, Jack re-opens the door just enough to see PandaBubba – and that not a thing has changed.
Wonderful.
'Alright, I'll just sneak up on him, snatch the Wu from his grubby hands, and then zap him on the spot. That should work.' PandaBubba's even holding the Wu on the side of himself that's facing Jack. 'Piece of cake.'
There's just one teeny, tiny problem…
Jack grimaces at the door he's holding open.
'If PandaBubba hears this thing close, I'm screwed.'
So, gripping the push-pad, Jack steadily closes the door until its almost shut, then hurries to look around for anything he can use to jam it open. Seconds of this are all it takes for anxiety to rear its ugly head, as all it would take is a look in his direction for PB to bust him.
A worrisome concept. Enough that Jack cracks the door open for a quick, reassuring peek, and in time does so twice more, but with the eventual addition of fast fingers tapping on his upper thigh.
Needless to say, he's not particularly prepared for a sudden shout from PandaBubba and all but leaps right out of his skin. He's on the tip of his toes, posture stiff and utterly straight; but fortunately not a peep comes from going through the embarrassing motion.
Checking on the status of his obscurity reveals little change in Pandabubba, for which Jack sighs in the direction of a re-skinned Koi-Bot. He looks away, but does an immediate double-take for the long, fang-like teeth jutting from the robot's mouth.
Seconds of consideration are all he needs before waving the re-skinned Koi-Bot over, after which he leans down for a better look at its large frontal teeth.
'Looks big enough,' Jack thinks, if optimistically. 'How to remove it, though…'
He runs a thumb over one's white surface and frowns as nothing comes to mind. Nonetheless, his fingers wrap around the tooth and give a testing tug.
To his surprise, it bends just so, feeling not particularly dense.
Jack's frown deepens. He tugs back and forth, to which the thing wiggles.
'They're plastic...'
What. A. Rip.
He tears the damn thing out, a quick pop suggesting it'd been glued in place, and raises its repugnant form before narrowing eyes. However, he's sort of in a rush, so the goth merely grumbles to himself, opens the door fully, and wedges the tooth underneath it.
Still, there's meager time to smirk in devious delight at a problem solved, and following the positively negative moment, Jack motions for his bots to follow whilst tiptoeing along the opposite side of the platform than the target of his justly unjust aggression.
Right now would be disastrous timing for those Xiaolin Losers to come bursting through one of the entrances, ready to save the day, but now's also not exactly prime time for a groan, so the unsettling consideration is swiftly banished from mind. And anyways, he's soon enough crouched behind the mob boss, sticky fingers twitching as he cycles between eyeing the Zom-Bone and the back of PandaBubba's head.
Jack's right hand reaches for the Wu, inch by inch.
He takes another glance at the man's head… and…
The swipe is swift. His long fingers grip like industrial-grade adhesive, their pull on the Wu enough to jerk PandaBubba towards Jack with a surprised grunt. Unfortunately, though, little else is accomplished, even after Jack hurriedly uses both hands.
'Oh come on...'
Exasperated, Jack glowers at the now-glowing Wu still tightly held by PandaBubba.
'Just my luck. Of course the guy would be holding it in a damn iron grip.'
"What is the meaning of this, Spicer?"
Great, now the guy's demanding an answer he already has. Well too bad, because this evil genius needs a moment to adjust, which Jack indicates by jutting a risen finger right into the man's face.
Otherwise, there's only one course of action: Take a quick breath to calm the nerves, make a tight fist of his lowering free hand, force on an evil smirk, and at last meet PandaBubba's enraged glare. In doing that last bit, however, Jack's carefully crafted expression of pure immorality degrades straight into anger.
"You know exactly what this is about, PandaBubba, so wipe that stupid look off your face."
PandaBubba merely smirks.
Jack speaks on with one of his own: "Fitting as it is for you, at least pretend to have some evil decency before I wipe the floor with you."
True anger flashes at once upon PandaBubba. His mouth opens to retort, but Jack thrusts his pointer right in the mob boss's face and yells, "Cuz it's payback time, baby: I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown!"
PandaBubba growls. His eyes narrow. "Very well."
Admittedly, the guy's got one heck of a glare. Unfortunately for him, Jack's seen and smelled worse, so it's not working. It's just an observation is all.
That he maybe wishes to be further from…
'Woah, woah, hold on– what? He accepts?'
"Really?" Jack blurts. "But you don't have any–"
His words are cut off by the man reaching within his suit – deep into who knows what sinister pockets – and pulling out The Shroud of Shadows. All with a nasty smile. Such a rare display of relatively stellar evil is normally cause for a bit of worry (if not consideration), but all Jack can do is gawk at the Wu.
"Wha– why do– how did you–" the teen stammers.
It's once again PandaBubba's turn to smirk, sinister triumph glinting in the depths of his black eyes.
Aggravated acceptance replaces Jack's confusion: 'They're Xiaolin Losers,' he reminds himself.
"Forget it, I don't even wanna know," Jack amends, utterly fed up with his luck today… and just about every other one as of late.
He reaches within his trench coat and digs around for a moment, before producing his favorite Shen Gong Wu of all. His evil smirk returns at the sight of the staff, his eyebrows pulling down and together before he gives the look to PandaBubba.
"My Monkey Staff against your Shroud of Shadows; the game is Goo Zombies Survival!"
Subsequently, the golden hue surrounding the Zing Zom-Bone intensifies. Both contenders shut and shield their eyes from its bright expansion, the light soon encapsulating them, too.
In unison, the Heylin shout, "Let's go! Xiaolin Showdown!"
The revolving glow suddenly bloats three sizes larger, capturing even the Koi-Bots. Yet it shines brighter still, dissolving its yellow hue to a pure white. Until at last it implodes, teleporting all within itself into a portable game system on the lower level.