Thread: Bounty Hunters Part II: The New Era

Jack opened his eyes and nodded. "Well, I suppose it's time to go out and meet them." He mused before finishing his drink. "They are probably anxious to see me after all." Jack said as he put the glass down on the desk. He hit a button on the desk, opening the office door so the Slayers could enter.

Leon grinned and said "I am definitely going to enjoy this" as the doors began to open. Seconds later he vanished in a flash of light the instant that the doors opened, reappearing in the room with his sword extended towards the other two, only mildly surprised to see Jack.

"Hi Jack long time no see. And now that formalities are out of the way..."

His sword then began to glow, and soonafter fired a highly pressurized jet of hallucinogenic Nightmare Haze at the two from its tip.

Evan was reluctant to leave Sakura. But he knew she could live through this. Instead, he steeled himself, and headed up the stairs. He knew Jack was on the other side of the door, he could tell with his demon eye. He was about to open it, when it opened by himself. Before he could do anything, Leon attacked Jack.

"Stop! Dammit Leon!" Evan said, slapping him in the face. "He's a former member, we should at least fucking try to talk to him. God, are you retarded?" He buried his hand in his face and stepped into the room.

"Any chance you'll come quietly?" He asked, his tone all business. "I guarantee you, you have a much higher chance of leaving this room alive if you agree to fight your new boss instead of your old one." His hands were balled into fists, but that was the only outward sign he was angry. He had trusted this guy, even came close to giving his life for him. But if he didn't manage to keep him alive, even that would be for nothing.

"If you promise not to fight and just listen, I promise that nobody with us will attack you until we're finished." Evan said. It was clearly directed at Jack, but he was staring at Leon while he said it.

Leon rubbed his face with his free hand and stepped back, muttering "if I truly wanted to attack I would have gone with an Armageddon or Nightmare Blast, not a frickin Haze. The only reason I would do that would be with the intention of him knocking it back into me and giving me a free Limit Break."

He then sheathed his blade, mentally focusing energy to go into an Ethereal Form if necessary.

Jack had not even reacted to Leon's attacks. There was simply no need for him to get up from his desk. Instead, he calmly lit a cigarette and took a long drag. And then he opened his eyes. "Do me a favor Evan and keep your pet on a leash." Jack said with an amused tone. "I'm not one to just put a beast down... But if I have to I will." Jack said icily as he looked at Evan for a long moment before smiling. "Now I'm glad that someone in your party had the sense to talk to me before attacking blindly." Jack remarked. "Because people often react when they should listen. And this is a case where your should listen. So come in, sit down and let's have a talk."

"Actually Jack none of us were going to attack you, at least not from the get go, only Leon reacted cause he's impatient." Schwarz pointed out as he eyed Leon before turning to Jack.

"Funny that the traitor is talking." Minerva smirked as she looked at Schwarz.

"Shut up old hag." Schwar stated simply, something that caused a vein to pop on Minerva's forehead. "I don't need a grandma that uses her powers to make herself look younger tell me what I should or shouldn't say." Schwarz nodded his head before looking at Gray. "We go here, Leon and Brine, you guys stay here with Evan in case things go sour and wait if some of the others are able to catch up, the two of us we'll go to the top."

Schwarz then grabbed Gray's hand before a seal appeared from beneath them. "I can only teleport up to two people so I couldn't really do it with the rest of the group."

"Now that we've settled that..." Jack couldn't help but look amused at the interaction between Minerva and Schwarz. He waited for him to activate his seal before speaking again. "I'm sure you all have questions, and I will get to those in due time." He said to the Slayers who remained in the room. "But I would advise you remain patient and wait for me to explain everything." He suggested, taking another sip of his drink before saying any more. "Now where were we..." He asked himself. "Ah yes, how we ended up here." He smiled at Evan and Brine. "You think I betrayed you." He stated, rather than asked. He didn't need to ask, he knew. "This couldn't be further from the truth." He said with a pensive look. "You see, that day when I left... I saved all of you from a certain death." He explained. "When my new boss wants something... he takes it." He shrugged. "Since I was the only one who saw that, I knew I had to give him what he wanted... that being me of course... or you were all going to die horribly." He stated bluntly. "Now I'm not the sentimental type by any means... but I didn't want you all to go out like that." He said in a somewhat bored tone. "And then you have the... well let's just say I'm not surprised you ended up here." He chuckled. "I mean without me there to keep you all from rushing into something stupid..." He stopped. "Now is not the time for that." He reminded himself. "The point is that I'm here to tell you that you should listen to reason. You can't win." He stated coldly. "The only reason you aren't dead is because he's testing you. That and..." He stopped himself once again. "The point is that the only way you make it out of here alive is if you turn back now."

"Bitch shut the fuck up." Evan said, launching a pimp slap at Minerva too. He examined his hand. That move was becoming increasingly useful. He wondered if thre Ultimate Warrior was vulnerable to it. He then turned to Jack.

"Listen, that's good that you saved us. But what makes you think that if your new boss gets what he wants, he won't try and kill us anyway? Demons are kinda known for lying." Evan asked. He was pretty relieved that Jack didn't want to fight, but he still needed to blow off some steam. So he started cutting Jack's desk in half with a chainsaw.

"The wa I see it, even if he doesn't, dying horribly and living in a world where he's in power are the same thing, the latter will just take longer." Evan said. "We've got nothing to lose, and most of the others are about to finish fighting and catch up pretty soon. The only way we'll beat the True Warrior is if we...Dammit, I keep on thinking it's a game show, can we just call him Steve?" Evan said.

"Anyway, the only way we'll beat Steve is if we do it now." Evan said. "If we don't, either because we surrender or we die, I don't think any of us wants to live in that world."

"Can you please stop cutting my desk in half?" Jack asked kindly. "It's a nice mahogany and I'm sure it cost a pretty penny." He sighed, listening to Evan's words with an annoyed expression.

"Well... I wasn't planning on beating 'Steve' at all." Jack used Evan's nickname for their foe to make it easier on himself. "You see, he was going to stab me in the back in the next couple of hours... and I wasn't planning on being here when he did so." He sighed. "But her presence here... it complicates things." He sighed, knowing that Evan would know that he meant Sakura. "I didn't want her getting involved in all this."

"So? It's not like your going to be using it anytime soon. You're not working here anymore." Evan said, nonetheless removing his chainsaw.

"She wants to be, and it's her decision. I'd prefer she doesn't die, just as much as you, maybe more. So that's why I'm going to help her." Evan said. "And you really think you can run from Cthulu? If he's as powerful as you say, he'll find you. If we fight him, it's got to be on our terms."

"I know a thing or two about disappearing. If I don't want to be found... I won't be." Jack shrugged at this thought. "But I don't want her here any longer than she already has been." He sighed. "The fire is coming and I fear that we don't have much time before..." He stopped, cutting himself off once again. "The point is that you really should heed my warnings and get the hell out of here while you still can."

"Actually your friends do have a point." Minerva interrupted, she crossing her arms before smacking the back of Evan's head with PSI. She then looked at Jack. "Even if you get away if he ever decides he wants to find you he just will." she explained simply before shrugging. "And they're also right on the fact that today is the best day to take him down, or at least the day with more chances, 'Steve' hasn't obtained his vessel yet, and even if he is reborn it'll take a while before he can perform at full capacity."

She then turned away from the group and began to pace. "Of course I probably shouldn't have let those two go ahead." she muttered, speaking about Gray and Schwarz. "That might've shortened the time we had left." She looked at Evan for a moment. "So you're his competition how interesting." She looked at Leon and Brine before appearing in front of the two. She threw both of her arms forward and proceeded to throw the two towards the wall on the other side before a barrier surrounded Evan and Jack. "This'll help make things more fun." She snickered. "I'm sorry Jack but I'll have to use you to stall I can't risk you guys deciding to fight together and endangering my own plans." She stated before she turned around and began walking towards the elevator. "Look at it as a favor, only one person can come out of that barrier and that person will have the right to have your loving Sakura."

"What." Evan said. "So we have to fight? Well this sucks. Although I fail to see how that will let Sakura choose who...Wait, Jack, you like Sakura too?!" Evan said, jumping.

"Dammit, am I going to have to beat up every guy on the planet? I mean seriously what the fuck. First Brine, now you, and I have my suspicions about Grey and Serah." He turned to Minerva.

"Do we have to fight? Can't we just play rock-paper-scissors and have one of us leave?" Evan asked Minerva.

Jack simply rolled his eyes at Evan's antics before looking at Minerva. "A shame." He said softly at her betrayal, even if he had expected it to be coming. "A damn shame." He sighed before turning back to Evan and considering his options for a moment. "Now I suppose we could be mature about this and take a look at breaking out of this barrier, or we could handle this in the barbaric way and duel." He shrugged. "Naturally I would go for the reasonable outlet, but I suppose when a man has the... well the misplaced defense mechanisms regarding a woman that was never his in the first place..." Jack smirked. "There's no reason to fight Evan. You've already lost her."

"I don't want to fight, and you're the one acting like she's yours or whatever. I mean, seriously, Sakura's already been forced to be some sort of super soldier and has had some sort of thing in her head ordering her around, she doesn't need us making her decisions for her." Evan pointed out, rubbing his temples. "Not sure we can break out of this one, though...Sorry about your office, but we may have to trash it. Try and get in Minerva's head, see if we can break out."

He looked around.

"Dammit, couldn't she at least have chosen a better place to fight? I mean an office? It's too cramped." He was keeping his eyes on Jack at all times. He still didn't trust him. Even if he did, they'd probably have to fight.

"Hey, Brine, beat up Minerva. That might help." He picked up a lamp, looking at it. Bah. He didn't want to fight, but it was looking like he had no choice.