Jack broke into a second spell of hysterical laughter, and it was all Theo could do to keep Aster from squirming out of his grasp in her distress.

Laughy guy, that Jack.

“Can’t-” Jack had to break off to let another small laugh pass, “Can’t say I can imagine that, boy.  You, as one of the vigilantes?”

I mean, he was raised by Kaiser and to some extent Purity. Wanting to protect the innocent and make the world better but being willing to kill the particularly bad bad guys makes total sense for Theo.

Neither can I, Theo thought, but he remained silent.

Fair.

“But you’ve piqued my interest, and if there’s any reason I do what I do, it’s because I find it interesting.”

Seems I wasn’t entirely wrong when I took this as Jack’s reason to murder.

Theo could see the cell phone on the coffee table in the living room light up and shift position as it vibrated.

Oh hey. Kayden calling to say she’s on her way home?

It happened behind Jack, and the man didn’t appear to see or hear it.  The only person who called Theo’s phone was Kayden, and she’d been out getting groceries.  It was routine for her to call for him to open the lobby door, then come down to help bringing them up from the lobby…

Meaning that if he doesn’t answer the phone and then come down, she’ll know something is wrong, maybe blast open the door and fly up the stairs…

I wonder if she flies around more liberally in general, now that she doesn’t have an identity secret to protect.

She was coming up.  He was almost positive.  Could he distract Jack and give Kayden the opportunity to put the man down?

Perhaps if you spontaneously grow a power, that could help? But yeah, you might be able to do something even without one.

“And you’d fight people like me, I suppose?”

Probably.

Theo nodded.

Jack was still grinning.  “What would you do to people like me, then?  Let’s say you got powers.  Would you right wrongs, lecture schoolchildren on doing what’s right, and see bad guys like me carted off to the Birdcage?”

I wonder if any former members of the Slaughterhouse are in there. Honestly, it’s surprising that the place isn’t even more of a carnage.

Somehow, knowing the inevitability of his own death gave him a measure of courage he had never had before.

Makes sense. “Well, he’s gonna kill me anyway, so why not.”

Even so, it took all of the willpower he had.  Theo met Jack’s eyes for the first time.  The man’s eyes were a very pale blue, and there were lines at the corners.

Theo swallowed the lump in his throat.  “People like you?  I’d kill.  Sir.”

Nice.

And still the “Sir.”, ahaha

Also, I like how even after that little rant, Theo adds “Sir.” at the end.

“I-”  Theo shook his head.

“I’ll even let you relieve yourself in the bathroom beforehand so you don’t shit yourself so badly when you drop dead.  You’d have to be quick, unless you want to be on the toilet when she comes in, but it’s a chance few get.”

Heh.

“I wanted to be a superhero,” Theo blurted.

Niice. That might still come true.

Interesting decision from the son of a supervillain. I guess it might be a case of not wanting to be like his father, which is something we’ve already seen implied in this chapter.

Jack laughed abruptly enough that Aster was spooked and started screaming louder.  His laughs continued for several long seconds.

Wasn’t expecting that one?

Theo went on, as if Jack were still listening, “I’m probably going to get powers, because I’m Kaiser’s son.  But I don’t want to be a member of Purity’s group, I don’t want to cleanse the world or try to fix things by killing or through hate.  Sir.”

I like how he’s gone back to talking like he’s not about to die. He’s “probably going to get powers”, he says.

I suppose if that’s actually about to happen, this makes for a good way of reminding us of that likelihood and foreshadowing it happening in this chapter.

…oh yeah, I just realized another thing: If he does trigger, that alone ought to throw Jack off even without Theo using whatever his power would be, due to the whole motion sickness thing. Purity too, if she’s present when it happens, but that little bit of time might still be crucial.

I suppose Jack might recognize what just happened, too. I would imagine the Slaughterhouse have caused a fair few trigger events in their day.

I suppose if what I predicted earlier re: Theo triggering does happen, Jack might enjoy it nonetheless.

“Sometimes,” Jack started, pausing as if he was constructing the thought as he spoke it, “I like to imagine the impact I’ve made on the world.  What possible realities am I pruning, what events am I setting in motion, each time I take a life?

I feel like Dinah would have a couple things to say about that.

Maybe Jack being alive doesn’t cause the future calamity to move ahead so much as allow him to kill someone who would’ve been crucial to postponing it? Then again, that seems less reliable, and there should be plenty of timelines where he wouldn’t end up doing that.

If the flap of a butterfly’s wing can alter the course of a hurricane, what am I doing when I take a human life?  The life of a person who interacts with dozens of people every day, who would have a career, romance, children?”

Some people murder because they don’t care about or realize the value of a human life and the impact a single person other than themself can have.

Jack seems to murder because he does.

Tears ran down Theo’s face.  He clutched Aster tight.

“Can you tell me who you are, Kaiser’s boy?  What am I doing to reality when I open you up from cock to chin and let your entrails spill onto the floor?”

Entrails. I think I predicted Jack having a thing for removing internal organs, based on Jack the Ripper’s M.O.

How do you answer something like this, though?

“I-I don’t know,” Theo said, his voice quiet.

Besides that, of course.

“Don’t shut down on me, now.  Here, I’ll make you a deal.  If you give me a good answer, I’ll make it quick.  Thrust my knife right through the center of your brain.  It’ll be like flicking a light switch.  You just stop, and there’ll be no pain.  It’ll be as dignified as death can be.”

I guess… wouldn’t you need to make it quick anyway, though, before Purity could step in to stop you?

Although I guess trying to kill Aster and Theo while fighting Purity would add to the unpredictability.

“I’ll get to savor the expression on her face as she watches her keystone crumble.  I’ll get to see how she responds as that element in her life that supports everything else bleeds out on this nice white carpet.  Maybe say something to just twist the knife.”

Jack mimed a lunging stab and then slow turn of his blade.

It seems like this universe’s Ripper doesn’t just enjoy bodily pain and mutilation.

Straightening, Jack looked Theo over, “A pity she doesn’t love you, but if she likes you, at least, then it’ll have to do.”

I mean… fair. She’ll probably be far more upset over Aster, but I guess Theo is a neat little bonus from Jack’s perspective.

Why did I tell him that?

Maybe you felt the need to tell yourself that.

“She’ll kill you, sir.”  Theo said.  Then he added a hurried, “No offense.”

Considering what happened last time someone took Aster away, the chances are good of her trying to do that, yes.

Then again, there’s a crucial difference here: Last time it was actually possible to get Aster back. There was a twisted sense of hope in Purity’s despair and rage, hope that if she threw a big enough tantrum (and boy howdy she did), she could get her daughter back.

Seeing Aster die right in front of her might take that hope and slice it in half like Aster herself.

“I see.”  And Jack was in one piece, while Oni Lee was bleeding out into the bathtub.

Well, yeah. Learning that Oni and Jack actually fought just makes me surprised he’s alive all over again.

“So.  Come on out of the bathroom, now.” Jack ushered Theo out of the bathroom with the dying man. “There we go.  Back to  the subject of Purity and the baby…  Aster?”

Ah, he didn’t know her name?

Fair enough, I guess.

“Yes, Aster, sir.”

“We’re going to play a little game.  See, the moment Purity steps in that front door, I give her just a moment to take in the scene… and then snicker-snack, you and the baby die.”

Well. If you’re trying to break her, that seems like a good tactic. But why are you trying to break her? And why did you bother to bring Oni here?

Theo felt his blood run cold.  Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes.  I’m going to die.

Yeah, sorry about that… at least as long as Jack gets his way and isn’t bluffing, it seems this is the end of the road for you. Considering that Theo is the POV character, though, I’m guessing that’s not going to happen, since the chapter would most likely have to end with it and we wouldn’t get to see Purity’s reaction, unless Wildbow pulled and Interlude 6 and switched POVs towards the end.

So what could happen to change the outcome here? I think the main thing is that this becomes Theo’s trigger event and he gains the power to fight back, if not the control required to do it effectively. I don’t think it’s going to kill Jack (I’ve previously stated that I think he’ll survive any attempt to kill him before Dinah’s prophecy comes true), but getting caught off guard by Theo’s power right before the planned moment of Theo and Aster’s deaths would allow Purity to help fight him off.

Whether Aster will survive such a fight scene is a whole other question that I don’t have an answer for.

“Yes, sir.”

“But we didn’t even make it to the test.  I told him we had tinkers that could fix him up.  He was interested.  Then I told him he’d have to prove himself, he asked me how.  Now, it isn’t always done, that a member of the Nine tests their own candidates, but I decided to anyways.

I see… I guess that’s how Jack would have the opportunity to take a second nominee, if that’s what he’s planning with Purity. Oni failed a test, but it wasn’t the test, and as far as the other seven are concerned, Jack hasn’t brought back his first nominee yet.

Something off about him, wanted to make sure he didn’t embarass me.

Maybe it was his willingness to run away from fights he doesn’t think he can win.

Told him to come up with something, and he couldn’t.  Do you know what tabula rasa is, boy?”

I know it means “blank slate”, but I’m not entirely sure how it’s used. Maybe in a sense similar to a blank check, as in that because Oni didn’t come up with something, Jack had full freedom to come up with something to fill the blank?

“No, sir.”

“Blank slate.  A piece of paper with nothing on it.  A formatted computer.  A tombstone without the name on it.  Seems that fellow can copy his body just fine when he teleports, but something in his mind gets left behind.

…oh jeez.

Every time Oni teleports, he gets closer to ending up like, well… Bakuda? A mindless husk?

No wonder he doesn’t want to fight more than he has to.

Once I realized it, picked up on the fact that he was little more than a robot wanting his orders, I informed him I had decided we had no need for his services, we fought, and… here we are.”

That’s.

Kind of unnerving.