Theo hurried forward to open the door, shifting Aster in his arms to open it.

Kayden stood on the other side, groceries in hand.

Ahahaha

Hiya!

Stern, she said, “Theo!  I called you twice.  Can you go down to the lobby and get the last two bags of groc-”

“Yeah, sure. Sorry, I had a couple visitors. Kayden, this is Jack. Jack, this is Kayden. Oh, and this is Oni, but I think you know him already.”

She fell silent as the door opened wider, revealing Jack.  In a moment, the bags in her arms were tumbling to the ground, and her hair, eyes, and hands were glowing with blinding light.

Good reflexes.

“Kayden,” Theo had to control his voice to keep it from shaking, “Let him go.”

Theo, on his part, is just trying to deescalate this situation however he can.

I feel like Kayden isn’t going to be super willing to just let him go, though.

“I had a wonderful conversation with young Theo here,” Jack spoke.  He rested his hand on top of Theo’s head.  Theo could feel the hard handle of the knife tap against his scalp.  “Very interesting.”

Yeah, it was.

“What are you-” Kayden started, her voice rising with anger, but Theo lunged forward, gripping her shirt and shaking his head.  She looked down, confused.

I really can’t blame her for her confusion. I don’t know if she recognizes the guy who’s standing in her apartment with a naked and bleeding Oni Lee over his shoulder and a knife in one hand, but even if she does, it’s a pretty confusing situation to walk in on.

Theo swallowed.  A thousand people?  Could he say no?  Could he refuse the offer?  Or would Jack carry what he threatened regardless?

Jack may be a psycho, but I think he’s a man of his word. He might still end up with a bodycount like that, but I think these 1000 would just be on top of those anyway.

“Well,” Jack spoke, smiling.  “I’ll be off.”

Hey, you gotta wait for a response! I mean, if you just wanna fuck off anyway without a deal, that’s fine, but if you want to make this a deal, you need the other party to actually seal it.

Although you’re not exactly Lawful, so maybe it’s silly of me to want to enforce these sorts of rules.

He stepped into the bathroom, turning away from the door for the second time in his entire ‘visit’.  When he emerged from the bathroom, he held the naked form of Oni Lee over one shoulder, a knife in his free hand.

Also I still wonder why he’s bringing Oni around with him.

“A treat for a teammate, this is,” Jack winked.  “Doesn’t need to be alive.  Just fresh.

I… see…

I don’t know if that’s supposed to imply cannibalism or just messing around with a corpse, but either way it’s not exactly good.

Would you get the door, Theo?”

“Sure, sir.” *opens door to see Kayden, reaching for where the handle just was* “Oh hi, Kayden. Don’t mind the Slaughterhouse Nine member carrying a naked, bloodied Oni Lee over his shoulder, he was just leaving.”

Theo glanced at the phone.  It glowed and moved again.  Was Kayden in the lobby?

Second attempt. In case he just didn’t catch it the first time.

After this, perhaps, it’s time for “something’s wrong” mode.

Jack went on.  “If you fail in this, I’ll kill nine hundred and ninety-nine people in your name.  I’ll even break my usual rules to get the body count that high, so it’s something special, beyond my usual habits.

Wow.

Maybe a bomb, maybe poison.  I’ll come up with something.  I can target the people you love, those you’re closest to, people you’ve affected.  Aster there can be the nine hundred and ninety ninth, and you’ll be the thousandth.  Perfect.

Oh hey, that would imply he’s going to spare Aster too. For now, I mean.

Canceling out the impact you’ve made in the world, it’s poetic.”

I suppose so.

Something tells me that if Jack had been informed about Dinah’s prophecy, he’d love that. Knowing that his impact was on such a global scale.

That is, if he doesn’t already know by virtue of whatever way this impact takes place.

“Two years then.  Two years to get your powers, to train, to do whatever it takes to become the motherfucking badass you describe.  That should be long enough without risking that one of us gets offed by bad luck or picking the wrong fight.

Two years, huh. That figure sounds familiar.

At that two-year mark?  You hunt me down, you kill, disable or sneak past my Nine, whoever they are two years from now, you look me in the eyes, and then you try to kill me.  If you fail?  If you cannot find me?  If you chicken out?  Hmmm… what’s a good consequence?”

I mean, the straightforward one would be that Theo gets killed in return, but I get the sense you’re looking for something more “interesting”.

In his hurry to resolve this before the door opened, Theo made the first suggestion that came to mind, “You kill me.”

“That goes without saying.  No.  It should be meaningful.  What’s your name, boy?”

A death that somehow relates to gods? Religion?

“Theo.”

“Fifteen year old Theo.  How many people’s lives will you touch in these coming two years, because I’ve spared your life?  Two hundred?  Five hundred?  A thousand?  How far will the flaps of your butterfly wings extend?”

Who knows. Besides Dinah, I mean.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Jack said.

…about what? Killing Theo? Are you thinking of allowing him to live so you can see what he’s good for against you later?

Theo stared, trying to fathom what the man was saying.

“Don’t let it be said that I can’t delay my gratification.  Listen carefully now, I’m making you a deal.”

Sounds like it might be something like that.

Theo nodded, mute.

“I want to see this.  This picture you paint.  So I’m going to give you a chance to make this happen.”

Yeah. But what’s the cost? Just that he does this?

Theo nodded slowly, but his thoughts were on Kayden’s approach.  How long until Kayden opened the door?  Would Jack attack her?  Attack Aster?  Despite what he was saying now?  Or would Kayden attack him and provoke something?

Jack is right about one thing. There are a lot of ways this could unfold.

“How old are you?  Fourteen? Fifteen?”

“Fifteen, sir,” Theo said.  Hurry up, finish before she comes.

Despite enjoying puns and occasional innuendos, I consider jokes about innocent meanings of “come” being interpreted sexually to be one of the lowest forms of humor. But “finish before she comes”?

This sentence is just asking for it.

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.