Chapter 3
GOTHAM CITY
September 6th 08:40 EST
Jack could say that he had always imagined going to Gotham City in his daydreams. He had always been a huge fan of Batman growing up and even into his adulthood, even if he didn't always agree with the way the Dark Knight dealt with the crime that ravaged his home.
Jack had seen plenty of iterations of Gotham through comics, animated movies, and all other sorts of media. Standing here now in the fabled city of the Dark Knight he could honestly say that it was a lot cleaner than he thought it would be, and surprisingly brighter though that was to be expected considering it was early in the morning and the sun was starting to rise higher over the city skyline.
.
Most representations of Gotham depicted a dark, dreary, relatively dirty place that looked ravaged by time, neglect, and crime alike while looking like it had stepped out of a Gothic roman painting.
The fact of it was though it looked like New York City did in a way but just a smidge older looking and still different, like a '80s-90's action movie representation of New York with a few newer and more modernized looking buildings.
Jack could honestly say now standing outside of the clean looking "Grant's Gym" located on the dreaded "South Side" of Gotham he found that had to re-evaluate his understanding of Gotham City as far as aesthetics was concerned. The red brick setting of most of the buildings down this way was very uniform, and all things considered painted a very put together looking place.
Having spent the majority of his birthday with Occult just trying to get re-antiquated with being in his younger body was… an experience for Jack. After talking with Occult at length about his condition and the possibilities of what it could mean as far as his survivability in this new world went, that really only left beginning training his body back up and figuring out his cover for his new life here for however long he would need it.
FLASHBACK:
ATLANTIC CITY
September 5th 1430 EST
Occult had done a thorough scan of Jack while he had been unconscious and as far as the sorcerer could tell, Jack would live a long and natural human life if he stayed healthy which Jack took as a humongous comfort after Occult had told him. That news boded well for his now probable future as a hero, though many questions were still up in the air Occult quickly assured him that Ted Grant would be more than happy to help him.
Whether or not that was true, would be put to the test.
Jack had read about Ted Grant and watched a few iterations of him through DC animated cartoons. Considering the possibilities of what he figured he himself knew about Ted he wasn't going to get his hopes up, if only for the sake of either sparing himself the feeling of being in the man's debt or avoiding any kind of awkwardness that could waft around from time to time.
Quite frankly there was a lot of potential for both to be a possibility.
Ted Grant was a larger than life kind of guy looking like a slightly aged bodybuilder but without any ravages of time really showing on his person. Grant had been a boxer, a superhero and quite frankly many other things like any other person tended to be throughout life. The comics depicted him as a Masterful hand to hand combatant, having even gone on to train many great hero's that Occult had already confirmed were currently active today like Black Canary, Superman, and of course Batman.
Ted's history in this iteration of a DC timeline was still rather unknown to Jack as Occult had expressly stated that any questions he had would have to be vetted through Ted himself.
If Jackson was being honest that was one of the things he was not looking forward to when it came to meeting Wildcat.
The comics that he had read had been few in regards to Wildcat's screen time, and the wiki had claimed that he much like most hero's had a past coated with the brush of tragedy. Ted had had two sons and whether or not that was the case here had yet to be seen, and if so one of them may or may not be dead thanks to the interference of a villain.
Things could only be even more complicated after that.
Another thing to mention was the fact that Wildcat had possibly had known relations with Cat-woman (again whether it had happened or not here not withstanding), not only helping to train her in combat but also at one point being a past lover of her's.
All of these thoughts had swirled through Jack's head while he discussed the future with Occult as he stretched and performed basic exercises.
Most would think 'what is one day going to do for your physical fitness', well quite a bit to be honest as far as Jack was concerned. It wasn't anywhere near about improving his physique on this day anyway but forming his actual base for his development, testing what his body was currently capable of. Getting used to being in a teenage body again was definitely annoying, it came with not just having to shake off the fact that his reach was now different, or his height, but all the typical issues that came with being 14.
Awkward…
During his youth Jack had been flexible and quick on his feet with definite power behind his strikes, though that didn't come from an overabundance of muscle and more so his technique. Making it to Brown belt in Tae Kwon Do, learning mild boxing from friend's, and getting into a pretty ludicrous amount of street fights led to him having pretty decent form and power when it came to fighting.
Jack had many times as he had gotten older found that he regretted not having hit a weight room sooner in his life. As he had pushed forward into adult hood he knew in his own heart that he was strong for a guy his size, when he was an adult and even now that he had reverted back to being a teen he was still strong but definitely didn't have the size to back up what he knew One for All could output; definition maybe…size not so much.
Things had not changed it seemed as a lot of if not all of his looks were the same as when he had been 14 previously. He had a slightly defined v-line, relatively decent abs though they were the kind that a very thin and flexible person boasted, slightly defined arms which suited him just fine, and of course at 14 years old he had been around 5'7.
By the time that 9th grade had concluded for Jack he was close to 5'9. Throughout High school Jack had almost finished his height growth being 6'0 at 17 during graduation and had only topped out at 6'2 after getting to around 22, though that progression had been rough and rather slow going leaving him honestly feeling small even though 6'2 is nothing to sneeze at.
If things continued on the trend they had been on, then at the very least Jack knew he could probably count on being just a little under 6'0 by the time he was 16 or so which in his opinion was great.
The first half an hour after getting their baseline for what they were going to do once meeting Ted consisted of Jack experimenting with "One for All".
Knowing his fitness level at fourteen years old left Jack with pretty much limitless potential as far as he thought, the only thing he had to do now was start building.
'Thank you again Occult for figuring out the standing of my age' Jack thought as he paced around the small living room of Occult's safe house. He had been content to believe he was around 14-15 but having confirmation that he had literally just had what would be considered his 14th Birthday again left him with a good line of thought for his training.
He began running himself through basic stretches and then began cranking out push up's, sit up's, crunches, lunges, squats, and planks until he had cycled through his routine that he had started doing after joining the guard. 6 sets of 15 a piece per exercise with only 30 seconds of rest in between got his blood flowing and heartbeat up to what he considered an acceptable level.
'Okay so at least I confirmed that as a 14 year old I was way fitter than in my 20's, that's a wonderfully self-depreciating thought.'
Settling down for a seat on the fold out chair Occult had abandoned Jack took a more noticeable look around the 'Safe house' Occult had them in and then was struck by a very funny yet annoying train of thought.
Turns out that Occult had five separate safe houses in places that he typically wound up running into some kind of mystical mumbo jumbo. One being here in Jersey just backing up all the thoughts about Weird NJ rattling around made Jack chuckle a little until a particular thought hit.
'Limited Resources my butt, why is it that people in the hero gig always seem to have a skewed outlook on their resources' Jack thought as he glanced at the man reading the paper on the kitchen island. Normal people didn't own five home's especially not 'Safe Houses'. Period.
The next thing Jack knew he needed to do was establish his understanding of One For All, it wouldn't do him or anybody else any good if he couldn't even use the gift All Might had given him.
The first thing Jack did while Occult was checking current events was go over what he had seen from the four seasons of My Hero Academia he had watched albeit the 4th season being a little fuzzy. Jack then asked Occult for a notebook to compile that knowledge and what would turn out to be his own results after testing as time went on, which Occult then merely muttered something waved a hand and outta one of the cabinets a blank notebook with a pen already in it flew at Jack's head.
'Once again…Magic is awesome and yet such bullshit.'
Jack couldn't help but shake his head thinking about all of the things he had seen done with magic in the DC universe as he picked up the flung notebook. Some of it was obviously small scale, but then when compared to other things being so grand that to call it 'Magic' felt like a disservice it was completely ridiculous; and yet…that's exactly what and how it was.
Jack's following thoughts became interesting considering the possibilities, he began to run through scenarios in his own head of what he could do if he actually master One for All.
'Ya know Izuku was pretty dope in the fight with Overhaul even if it took Eri rewinding him to make him like that, almost kind of reminded me of…'
Let it be known that not only had Jack watched that particular episode of My Hero with great interest on his own, but had also seen a few reacts videos to it and was using all the comparisons that others had drawn as well as a few thoughts of his own to try and gauge where he would stand against greater threats when his mastery of One for All came about.
Many people had compared Izuku to a Super Saiyan, and even Superman.
Either one of those comparisons made the very thought of mastering One for All quite frankly frightening.
Normal humans can't just throw a punch and change the weather; fact.
But when they can?
Oh this was so fracking cool and yet so daunting all at the same time.
There was obviously no time like the present from there so Jack began with a simple battery of tests for himself.
'Okay… so as stupid as it sounds even to me after having watched the damn show… I'm a microwave. Let's see how far we can go with that striving for 2% power…yeah that sounds good…Please don't let me burst anything.'
Of course it was never was that easy? So at first Jack took a deep breath and felt for something different. Anything that could tell him One for All was even there.
And that's when he felt it.
'Maybe it is that easy?'
Jack let out a small gasp as he had briefly touched the quirk that was now his. It left him with the very simple question jarring his mind.
'How could something I just got feel like it's so natural…like it's always been there waiting for me to wake it up.' Jack thought wide-eyed feeling the power of One for All.
Because that's the only thing he could equate it to, as if it were what it was like to feel yourself waking after a deep sleep being absolutely ready for anything.
Jack proceeded to take a deep horse stance and started to concentrate on the power and immediately felt a rush of it as very small light green sparks started to barely dance around him, while the deep red veins began to show around his body before fading away again much like he had seen them do for Midoriya.
'Oh wow…hell…HELL YEAH.' Jack thought immediately as he knew the difference was there.
If he could have seen it, if he would have seen the smile that he had been giving off at that exact moment it had been blinding.
Jack had never been high, at least not off of actual drugs. The most he had ever happen was when he took 3 Advil p.m.'s once, and that just left him really groggy, unbelievably relaxed, and quite frankly to the point of feeling like a wet noodle… and being unable to really move the next morning for a little bit.
The feeling couldn't be described as like being drunk either, with that came a feeling of being care-free but that was not what he was feeling right now.
This…this was something completely different.
This was like a sugar rush. It was the only way that Jack could describe it but he also knew in his bones that it was so much more too.
He felt warm and full of energy, but at the same time he was extremely aware of his surroundings and his body had never felt this light and yet tight all at the same time.
He felt ready to spring into action, and stronger than he could ever remember feeling in his entire life.
'Well you know what they say the first step is usually the hardest right?'
That thought was the prelude to him almost winding up in the wall next to one of the cabinets as he sprung from the ground, though at the same time while feeling scared and stupid that he almost knocked himself out he was absolutely amazed. There was no pain as far as he could tell and he had just covered about four or so steps with just that movement alone at what he figured was 2% of One for All.
He knew that it would take time to adjust his senses to moving that quickly he just hoped that it happened fast.
Jack took a few steps from the wall measuring the flow of the energy through his body as he moved. He clenched his fist staring at it watching the sparks slightly dance around him as he still held onto the power. He still couldn't believe that all of this had happened, and if he was being honest he was glad for the distraction that trying to figure out his new power was bringing him.
Though soon enough another short lull came after that thought and put him back at square one.
The fact of the matter was... he missed his family.
He missed his wife, his son, their dog Hercules, his Dad, his Sister, the list went on.
Jack still had a myriad of questions dancing along his brain and when he wasn't doing something even remotely engaging his thoughts would attempt to drift into despair.
'What do they think happened to me?'
'Do they think I abandoned them?'
'Did they spontaneously find "me" lying in bed dead and now their mourning me?'
'Am I even in the same time stream, is time dilated here, or has time flown by while I've been gone?'
'Are they Safe?'
'Do they miss me?'
All of these question, and more kept trying to play on a continuous loop in Jack's mind as he thought about his new circumstances and the one's he'd left behind.
Quickly snapping himself out of his inner turmoil again he started to run through boxing drills, forms from Tae Kwon Do, and eight point contact fighting drills from Muay Thai trying to keep himself occupied, and at the same time adapt to his new speed and strength that he could feel flowing beneath and through his skin as he accessed One For All.
He would find his way back to them but to do that he was going to have to stand toe to toe with pretty much literal God's and Monster's to get the chance, and that wasn't gonna happen if he didn't work on being able to master this power.
He just hoped that he'd be able to measure up to the heavier threats that existed out in this universe.
Because quite frankly they were numerous, and he still had no idea how to handle any of this.
"While it has been interesting to watch you put yourself through your paces, I believe it's time we make our plans for what we will be doing next." Occult said as he made his way over from the kitchen island and proceeded to sit on the couch.
"Outside of giving you the tattoo I would feel remiss if I didn't give you something for your Birthday, after all it's not every day our young man turns 14 right?" Occult asked with a slight smile on his face while Jack winded down from his latest drill.
'He did not just make that reference.' Jack thought as he threw an amused eyebrow up while side eyeing Occult.
Occult began to chuckle seeing the look the young man was giving him.
"I know that there are many things you are concerned about, the first and foremost being your identity here in this world. I have a few contacts that operate on the more questionable side of the law, regardless of them being of a seedier disposition we will need their help to procure you a functioning identity; no need to worry yourself it will be nigh untraceable and 100% authentic."
"I don't know if this has passed your mind yet, so I would like to bring this up to you now and hopefully it doesn't cause you too much turmoil. If anything I feel that this would be a bit of an uplifting piece of news. Using a spell and a bit of your hair I have found that you actually have no relatives of any kind on this earth. Effectively you are the first and only of your family living here on this world, hence the reason for me saying that it should be uplifting as you have no chance of someone having an identity parallel to yours."
"As for another piece of something you might have been concerned about I took the liberty while first perusing your memories. I have an idea as to how to help you in developing a suit for you to wear when you begin your heroic career, and this is the bigger part of the gift I would like to give you. I will help you draft the plans and then I will have another contact help me produce the suit and some very particular support gear. In fact I should be able to have the support gear made fairly quickly so you can begin practicing using it."
Jack's thoughts had been a whirlwind until Occult had mentioned his potential uniform, and that brought everything to a grinding halt.
He immediately started listing things in his head that he wanted and didn't want for his hero uniform. Jack knew for a fact that he didn't want a skin tight suit like All Might, he wanted to somehow pay homage to Izuku as well, though he definitely wanted to have the color scheme like All Might's or Captain…
Like Lightning it hit him and brought another bright smile to his face.
"I know exactly what I want and I understand that you probably already knew some of this but were gonna write all this down so that we get it perfect."
"Excellent…well I dare say we start getting ready to settle in for the evening because first thing tomorrow I'll be taking us to see Ted."
FLASHBACK END:
Shaking himself out of his thoughts Jack started to follow Occult through the door's into "Grant's Gym".
The place was very spacious and had all the amenities you could find at any other gym from weight machines, to free weights, cardio machines, and all other manner of basic workout equipment.
However one big difference was that at the far back of the gym before the back exit there was a massive area sectioned off for a wooden floor for yoga, a massive boxing ring, and even a steel octagon cage.
Walking in-between all of the gear and heading back to the area where the fighting section of the gym was, Jack could see a wall that was covered in posters next to a line of three windows with their white blinds slightly tinted which no doubt led into an office of some kind.
Upon closer inspection Jack could see the names of the fighters on the posters and every single one had one thing in common.
Ted Grant's name was on the poster as one of the competitors for the main event of every single one.
Ted had obviously competed against great opponents his whole life and even had two separate sets of three posters detailing title fights against the likes of Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis.
Jack had been a fan of Boxing, MMA, and even WWE though he rarely mentioned that back in his previous life and knew both of the names of the men that Ted had apparently fought and even defeated if the posters were anything to go by.
"Before you ask, yeah I fought those boys. Let me tell ya somthin Dempsey was a mean son of a gun, and I still till this day haven't fought anybody with a better right hook than Louis…and as you can imagine that's pretty serious considering some of the bums and lowlifes I've come across."
Jack turned to face the voice and immediately knew who he was looking at. He recognized the large but obviously muscular frame underneath a basic white t-shirt, pair of blue jeans, and black trainers. The guy had to be at least 6'2 or 6'3, and if he was doing a comparison he'd say that Ted Grant could easily have given All Might a run for his money in the size department if they were to stand next to each other to compare.
The man had a very grizzled yet unblemished face, dark sharp eyes, a full head of hair though now all of the hair was a slightly silver color, and one of the squarest jaws Jack had ever seen.
Ted's arms were a thing to behold with his biceps looking almost half the size of a typical person's thigh, though his arms were obviously far more defined. His chest was almost as broad looking as his shoulders and if Jack had to guess the guy was absolutely solid.
"Hey Richard... this kid gonna start droolin on my floor, cause he's gonna clean it up if that's the case."
The statement was made amiably enough as Ted approached the duo and proceeded to pull Occult into a mild hug with a few large pats on the back, meanwhile Jack attempted to rid his face of the burning feeling from being teased by the older hero.
"Rich you sneaky devil I haven't seen you in forever, how ya been huh?! Hope you been keeping yourself healthy, I'd hate to have to kick your butt after not seeing you for what...it's been about... 6 years now? Grant said with his right hand on Occult's shoulder as he peered at the man underneath his hat.
"Yes it has been some time hasn't it Ted. It's good to see you old friend and I am glad you're looking well. As I said when I spoke to you on the phone yesterday, this is the young man I wanted to introduce you too. Could we perhaps take a seat in your office and discuss a few things?" Occult said as Ted released his grip on his shoulder to take a quick glance around the gym.
The place seemed a little empty considering it was about 9 am and back on his original earth when Jack had been a member of Retro fitness the place tended to be pretty busy around that time, with people coming and going for either spin classes or the HIIT training classes.
Right now there seemed to be only a few people on the cardio machines scattered about the place, two older gentlemen at the free weights, and one girl who had to be around Jack's age not too far from the three men viciously attacking a heavy bag with a barrage of kicks and punches alike.
"Yeah sure the place is looking kinda dead right now anyway, besides there's only one real knucklehead in here right now anyway and nobody that's here would dare take a shot at her after what she did to one of my regulars "Mad Dog" Grimes. HEY Helena…keep an eye on the place would 'ya I got some business I gotta take care of." Ted screamed over to the young girl as he turned waving as he went gesturing for the two to follow him into the office.
Jack heard a few deep breaths as he turned to follow the two veterans and heard a muttered "sure thing" from the girl as she started to take off her dark hand wraps.
Jack briefly had a sense of déjà vu as he glanced back a caught a look at the girl as she turned to walk away. She looked to be about 5'3 maybe 5'4 with a light olive complexion. Her long dark hair was tied into a tight ponytail and bunched up at the middle so that it was folded in on itself keeping what he had to estimate was about slightly passed shoulder length hair out of the way for her workout.
From this distance he couldn't tell if she had a lot of definition outside of her back muscles but watching her walk he knew one thing, she had great control of her body. Her steps were fluid and she had no stagger so she was either a dancer, a gymnast, a martial artist (probably more so), or maybe even a combination of the three because she had great control of her body. Her dark sports bra clung to her body and framed her defined back and her dark baggy sweat pants were taught against her hips showing off a vague hint of her bottom half's curves.
The name flashed through his mind again and he immediately knew who he was most probably dealing with, though he would have to meet and talk with her before he had confirmation. Though if Jack was right and he was willing to bet he was…that, was Helena Bertinelli; aka 'The Huntress'.
Jack had been a big fan of hero's his whole life and Justice League Unlimited had been a fantastic show for him growing up. He enjoyed all of the characters and had been introduced to many heroes/heroines he had never heard of before because of it. One of the main one's being The Huntress.
Helena Bertinelli had a tragic backstory her father was a criminal, and one of his underlings had killed him and his wife while a young Helena had been forced to quietly watch hoping not to be discovered and share the same fate.
Whether or not this was her he would find out, though it did strike him as odd considering that in the JLU universe Helena had been a full-fledged adult not a run of the mill teenager.
"You gonna ogle my student all day or are you gonna get your butt in here newbie I ain't gonna live forever?" Ted yelled from the office quickly taking Jack's attention back to the meeting he should be having making him dash into the office where Occult shut the door for privacy.
Jack never noticed the dark eyes watching him as he slipped into the office.
The office was rather plain, white walls, brown hardwood floor, and a small smattering of furniture leaving it almost completely lacking in decoration except for the back wall where there were two cabinets. Hanging above each cabinet was a golden belt, each signifying the victory that Ted had garnered having been the world's heavy weight champion. Beneath the belts in the brown cabinets behind glass panes were dozens of pictures of Ted with an assortment of other people. Pictures ranging from his pre-fight interviews with his competition to celebrities like "Marilyn Monroe" of all people.
Ted must have caught Jack staring again as he sat behind his metal double pedestal steel desk, because he turned slightly in his black swivel chair to look at the cases with Jack while Richard sat on a brown leather couch that was against the back wall near the door with his hands neatly folded in his lap.
"She was an absolute sweetheart let me tell ya, one of the nicest dames I ever met really. Contrary to popular belief she was also not stupid, not at all." Ted said with a slight smile on his face his eyes looking slightly lost in memory.
"Wish I coulda held onto her, I coulda probably helped her… kept her safe. But what are ya gonna do right? Things happen…people die. That's enough reminiscing. To avoid any more distractions let's get right to it. Richard explained some of your situation on the phone, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it's like this."
"I'm retired from the hero gig have been for a long time, and I got no reason whatsoeva to get myself involved in training some punk with meta powers. I'm betting you think your real special don'tcha junior?" The sarcasm and scorn had rolled off of every word of that statement and made Jack feel like he'd been gut punched.
The tirade came and went in the blink of an eye and while most would have been surprised or maybe even angry Jack had expected it, though that didn't make it any easier to digest.
The man sitting before him was just a normal guy, a peak of physical human condition guy who had had his ageing process retarded, and had to be killed 9 consecutive times to stay dead, but still a guy all the same. Ted Grant had loved and lost, and even fought and lost; of course he would do this to try and throw him off right on the jump but Jack wasn't gonna fall for this ploy.
Ted wasn't looking to tie anybody into this life. Jack could tell that while Ted's memories of his time as a hero were mostly good (the picture of him and the JSA in the upper right hand cabinet being all the proof he would need for that line of thought) he could also see in the man's eyes the need to caution Jack.
He wasn't gonna just let somebody walk into the hero life without knowing what they were in for.
The rebuke wasn't about Ted not wanting him to be a hero (at least Jack hoped not) no it was about taking the measure of Jack and seeing if he truly understood what it meant to get into this kind of life.
Jack had no delusions about it. All the media, the comics, the shows, the movies, all of it from any universe had painted the picture of the life of a super hero and it almost always ended in tragedy or was at least mired in it.
This was Ted asking if Jack thought he could really handle it, because once you got on this train and really started moving there was really no way off of it...not without consequences anyway.
'Hopefully this doesn't make me sound too full of it or get me knocked the heck out'
Jack took a deep breath and then started on what he hoped would be the speech that would start his hero career.
"How about This? Me and you go for one round? Cuz the way I see it you'll know within about 10-15 seconds whether or not I can cut it in a fight in this life. We do two sets after this place closes, one with me with no power's at all and the other with me going at the best I think I can handle right now. If by the time it's all over you think I can't hack it I'll walk no hard feelings, but if you even think there's the slightest chance I can do some good you help get me up to snuff."
"Look I didn't ask for this…hell part of me doesn't even want it for a lot of reasons the main one being I wanna go home; I miss my family. I don't know if Occult told you but I'm not exactly from around here, and I sure as hell shouldn't look like I can be friends with young Justin Bieber but here we are. I'm scared outta my mind for a lot of reasons, but more than anything I know that while I'm here and while I've got this power I have to use it to do some kinda good."
"I made a promise to a great man that was on his death bed that I would do the best I could to save people; so you can either help me, or just tell me to take a hike but don't try to play any mind games with me. We don't have time to mess around Sir. So…what's it gonna be?"
By the time Jack's speech ended it was hard to tell if Ted's eyebrows had merged with his hairline or not, and though he couldn't see it Occult had his head tilted down with his hat covering his face, concealing a wide smile.
It started out soft but quickly came out. All it took was one chuckle that then turned into a full blown belly laugh. It carried on for about a minute and once it had started Jack's face pinched into a scowl as his fists tightened at his sides.
'If this guy thinks for one minute…'
Any kind of outburst Jack was gonna have died once he noticed Ted's change in countenance from jovial to serious.
"Okay kid. That was a pretty impressive speech I'm not gonna lie. I'll tell ya right now I like that fire in your eyes. That determination right there is what your gonna need to get through the hell I plan to put you through. Your 14 so weight training while not exactly great for you at this stage is gonna be a pretty big benchmark for your training with me…besides the beat down's Imma give ya. Make no mistake that challenge is accepted, but not right now. Rich says you definitely have some martial skill and we'll get to that I promise."
Jack was completely shocked when the man looked up at him with a very serious glint in his eye his hands folded in front of him on the cherry wood of the desk, though Jack swore he could also see some pride mixed in. It kinda reminded him of his Dad.
"First things first, Imma put you through the ringer to get your body in peak shape and then your gonna show me what this power is that you got because according to Rich it's "Massive", and "Unreal for a human", but were just gonna let me be the judge of that."
"I live upstairs so now so do you, you'll be bunking here with me from now on. From 0530 am to 0730 am every morning for the next six months you better not even try to swear to god because you're gonna be swearing to me. Your ass is mine… plain and simple. Let me make myself clear as crystal right here and now…I give an order you best follow it. No if's no and's and no but's. I don't wanna hear a word of complaint outta ya unless it's about actual body pain, and I mean the kind that means somethings sprained or broken. You will not and I repeat "You will not" even ask about going on a patrol until the six months are up, I don't care if the god damn gym itself spontaneously combusts your ass will act as a civilian and you will evacuate like anybody else."
"There are other rules that we'll go over as times goes by but for now that will do as an introduction. From 0830 until 1530 sharp you will be working in this gym, from sweeping up, to re-racking weights, to scrubbing toilets. If you're going to live here, train here, and eat here… you're gonna earn your keep. For the rest of today me you and Trench coat McGee over here are gonna talk about you, get a bead on what your capable of from my perspective and then were gonna go see this friend of his to square away your identity. Now I don't know just where and when it is you come from, but I'm sure as hell not gonna let you go out into this world without at least knowing a little bit about you and seeing what you know and how it compares to here so you don't seem like a nutcase so get ready to spill your guts kid cause we got work to do."
Jack slowly released a breathe he had been holding in and stood as he saw Ted getting to his feet.
Ted extended his hand above and across the desk with the same fire from before in his eyes, looking to see if Jack would back down.
'Well I'm sure as hell not gonna disappoint the old timer.'
"It's an honor, and I promise you I'll give my best every day sir." Jack said as he clasped hands with the legend standing before him
Ted's genuine smile became something a little off as it switched to a smirk and he quickly began to add more pressure to the handshake hoping to shake the young man up and make him wince, but jack wouldn't be deterred.
Quickly summoning up the 2% of One for All he squeezed back and attempted to match the output that Ted was now putting on his hand.
Ted's eyes got a little wider at the light green sparks dancing around Jack, but then tapered off the pressure of the handshake for something a little more consistent as the smirk then shifted into more of an excited grin.
"I got a feeling knowing you is gonna be an exciting ride kid."
And there it is. Whew. Sorry it took so long guys. I know there wasn't a lot of action this chapter but bear with me guys we'll get there. Moving to a new place and getting settled into the new Job hasn't been easy but here we are. I hope to be a little more consistent with the updates, but I make zero promises because Life. If you liked it or even if you hated it please leave a review it will certainly help out. And if you did enjoy please Fave and Follow. I'll see you guys in the next one.