Jason opened his eyes and stared at the white ceiling above him. Birds chirped from the balcony as the door that led to it was wide open. The light springing from the large windows brightened the room and the curtains that covered the balcony entrance danced to the wind's breeze.

“Huh, an unfamiliar ceiling,” Jason muttered the words he always thought of every time he awoke in a strange room. He detected a presence next to his bed and turned to look at them, his impassive eyes shining like black opals.

A woman, past her thirties, stood elegantly in front of him. Her black hair was held behind her ears by a white headband. She was wearing a maid outfit that settled a little lower than her knee. The sides and center of the end were split, no doubt to allow her to move flexibly without hindering her. The white apron on top of her black uniform reached below her hips hugging them well despite her uniform being loose.

“Young master,” the maid bowed but her hazel eyes did not leave Jason's face. “I am Meredith, the head maid. Madam Sage has asked for you to join them in breakfast.”

Meredith continued studying Jason after he nodded. The sheet covering his body was moved away as he sat up. His scarred body and taut muscles shifted as his biceps flexed from his stretches. Meredith looked away in surprise; she was shocked at how scarred his body was.

“Please inform her that I will join her shortly,” Jason said stiffly.

“Yes, young master,” Meredith bowed and walked to the exit when Jason called out again.

“And next time, have that other maid wake me,” Jason said to her. “Mmm … what was her name again? The one that follows Alina around.”

“Katelyn. As you wish,” Meredith answered.

Jason freshened up in his bathroom before walking out. He was wearing a silk sleeping robe that was tied by a waist sash. The simple black robe had an electric blue trim and his perfect upside-down triangle figure was displayed as the robe hugged his upper body exquisitely while his sculpted chest was outlined splendidly. His legs also peeked out from the robe as he walked, showing off its muscular features. With his damp hair that was pulled back and his relaxed look, he was the perfect eye candy for everyone.

“Young master,” Katelyn, who was waiting for him outside, bowed her head slightly when he walked out. Her maid dress was similar to Meredith's, however, they were much longer, indicating that she did not need to do much work such as cleaning.

“Ah, you're here,” Jason said, smiling seductively while thinking on how fast Meredith caught on. “But please, call me Jason.”

“Master Jason,” Katelyn replied. Her sweet voice was blunt while her face seemed expressionless, but inside she was nearly bursting with both nervousness and admiration: admiration at his mind-boggling looks and nervousness at interacting with him.

Since she was young, Katelyn was never good at interacting with people. She was always shy and nervous, especially when it came to the opposite sex, so she created a cold exterior to hide behind and it was for this reason many considered her being cold and unapproachable. Just being in close proximity to Jason caused her to scream internally; he was too attractive and she needed to control herself from blushing.

“Nuh uh,” Jason leaned closer to her and she pulled back until she reached the wall. Jason smiled and placed a hand on the wall behind her while leaning ever so close. “Only Jason. No young or master, just Jason.”

His voice was extra husky from waking up, and Katelyn felt a shudder run past her back, tingling her spine when she heard him. His musky scent mixed with a spicy perfume tickled her nose and made her knees feel weak as she considered whether it would be improper of her to lean forward and breath in more of him. Once more, she screamed internally while exposing none of her true emotions.

“I -”

“Hey, are you bullying Katie?” a child's voice, full of righteous anger, interrupted them, causing Jason to click his tongue and pull away; Alina who was still half asleep and in a pajamas glared at Jason from under her hood which was shaped like a bear’s head, demanding to know what he was doing by pushing Katelyn to the wall.

Oh thank God, Katelyn thought as she tilted her head while her face remained detached and expressionless. Any later and I'd have done something we'd both regret!

“Calm down, kid, I was just trying to get her to call me by my name,” Jason said while trying to pacify Alina.

“I'm not a kid!” Alina said, even more annoyed.

Katelyn didn't realize it, but she had a smile while she watched Jason pull back from an angry Alina. It was amusing to see a tall adult being pressured by a little girl who was half his size. Jason turned to look at her and smiled back, his breath-stealing smile made her focus on his full lips, she couldn't help but wonder what they would feel like, what they would taste like if she kissed him.

“See? She's smiling. When was the last time you saw that?” Jason pointed out to Alina, who turned just in time to see Katelyn's smile which was directed at Jason by now.

“Yeah, you're right,” Alina said in surprise. “I've never seen her smile before.”

“And that's why I was so close to her,” Jason continued with a sly smile. “I was only just trying to, uh, get closer to her physically, y'know?”

Jason's ambiguous words caused Katelyn to squeal inside, a crack formed on her reserved exterior as a hint of blush warmed her cheeks and she looked away, hoping to avoid seeing his satisfied smirk.

“What's wrong Katie? You look like you have a cold,” Alina asked, not realizing that she was blushing.

“Yeah, Katie, it looks really bad,” Jason added, a hint of mischievousness danced through his obsidian eyes as they twinkled brightly and Katelyn shuddered when she heard Jason call her nickname in an endearing voice. He turned and he looked at Alina. “Tell you what, kid. You go on ahead, while I take Katelyn here to the docs. You do have an in-house physician, right?”

Alina nodded and told him where the doctor was located and Jason smiled before turning to Katelyn. To others, his smile was gentle and full of concern. To her, however, he looked like the devil and that smile of his was filled with deviousness. Katelyn tried to control her heart which was threatening to leap out of her chest and focused on remaining calm however Jason's next sentence cut her last lifeline.

“Well then, that sounds perfect,” Jason said in a low husky voice before turning to Alina. “Don't worry, she'll be in good hands. My hands, specifically. Now run along and keep Madam Sage company. I'll join you two shortly.”

Alina thought for a moment before leaving, fully confident of Jason's abilities while Katelyn wanted to call out to her, asking her to wait when she felt Jason's breath on her neck. Like a deer in headlights, she froze completely as her mind tried to process what was happening.

“Now that that's settled, let's get back to where we were,” Jason muttered, his breath tickling her neck as he spoke. He took in a deep breath, the natural floral scent of her body made him giddy. “You smell lovely, by the way.”

Katelyn pulled back quickly, trying to gain some distance from him while Jason looked on bemusedly.

“Master Jason,” Katelyn was about to ask him not to be so passionate when he interrupted her.

“That's strange... Hmm, maybe I should test it?” Jason said out loud before moving quickly towards Katelyn.

Jason's eyes turned cold and Katelyn felt like she was drowning in a cold lake when he focused his killing aura on her while raising a hand. His index and middle finger were stretched out and aimed at Katelyn's eyes; he was aiming to gorge her eyes out.

Reflex kicked in and a dagger slipped out from Katelyn's sleeve which she threw at Jason with amazing accuracy and speed. He caught the knife aimed at his arm easily, the outstretched fingers that were aimed at Katelyn closed themselves in on the blade.

“Ah, see. There it is,” Jason said. He turned to look at Katelyn closely. “I knew you were skilled in martial arts. It makes sense, considering that you're so close to Alina and you may need to protect her. But what I don't understand is why you didn't fight back previously.”

“I -” Katelyn hesitated to answer. In truth, she was skilled in fighting because she was meant to be Alina's bodyguard. But her empathy prevented her from seriously harming her opponents. This affected her skills as she would always hesitate during a battle, letting even her instructors best her.

“It's alright, I understand,” Jason said softly as he handed her the knife back. He then settled his hand on her chin and slowly raised her head. “I'll do the fighting and killing, you do what you're best at, alright?”

What I'm best at? Katelyn understood what Jason and nodded while looking away, a blush reappearing on her face, making Jason smirk when he noticed that. Breaking the embarrassed Katelyn's impassive barrier was more fun than he imagined. Still, he was reminded of Elizabeth whenever he saw her eyes, and because of that, what he wanted was to see her serene blue eyes stare at him openly with the emotions she tried repressing.

***

“Jason, you listening?” Raphael asked Jason, who was roused from his memories by the former.

Jason blinked and looked around. After he met Raphael and his team, they went to Joe's Diner where they sat down on the table furthest from the door, right next to the jukebox. They were sitting on the only round table and each one of them occupied the four seats. Raphael sat opposite of Jason, with Suni and Junco sitting next to him. Dhole, on the other hand, was sitting in the nearest diner booth preventing anyone from sitting near them and overhearing their conversation.

“Sorry, Raphy,” Jason said while moving his hand and yawning. “Your voice, it's so ... sanctimonious. I zoned out. You could give a professor a run for their money.

“How ‘bout this?” Jason ignored Raphael's glare and turned to Junco. “Why don't you tell me everything. I listen better when it's a beauty talking.”

Junco rolled her eyes while Suni looked away with a noncommittal nod of his head; he loathed to agree with Jason but the latter had a point: it was more enjoyable to hear a woman's voice.

“At o’ two hundred, a certain criminal and his followers were brutally murdered in the alleyways of the Sumps,” Junco explained proficiently as she passed a tab to Jason. “As you can see from the crime scene, it was not a normal killing. Several victims actually died from cardiac arrest, the result of intense adrenaline brought by fear literally killed them.

“Unfortunately, there were no cameras in the alleyways so we don't have any suspects. However, the timing of the attacks …”

“You suspect that a Practitioner is the culprit,” Jason finished and Junco nodded. Jason swiped through the images before handing the tab back to Junco. “But why come to me?”

“Recognize this guy?” Raphael asked after playing with the tab for a while and handing it to Jason. The latter looked at the image calmly. It was a police record of someone named Quentin Burl and his mugshot portrayed his sneering smirk.

“Nope, not really. Why?” Jason asked bemused. Annie arrived and placed a few sugar-powdered doughnuts in front of them. “Thanks, Annie.”

“Really? Despite the fact that you met him before?” Raphael asked sharply after Annie nodded and left.

“Did I?” Jason became more confused as he took another look at the picture. Recognition flashed through his eyes as he snapped his fingers. “Ah, right. Now I remember. Q-tip!”

The four of them stared at Jason, some with exasperation, others with amusement. Jason shrugged his shoulders as he grabbed a jam-filled doughnut and took a large bite out of it. His mouth and the tips of his mustache ended up being coated in powdered sugar but he ignored it and continued eating.

“Right, you were the last one to see the victims,” Raphael said while trying to ignore the comical look of Jason's face as he chewed exaggeratedly.

“It wasn't me,” Jason answered amusedly after swallowing his mouthful. “I was in the hospital, remember? Pretty good alibi. But, I know who did it.”

“Who?” Raphael asked impatiently after waiting a while. Jason finished his doughnut and grabbed another.

“Pow, wa ib tul lu?” Jason replied with his mouth full. The powdered sugar now coated his nose and a bit of his chin and Suni was having a hard time not smiling while Junco avoided looking at Jason, feeling that he was being too immature right now.

“What? Ungh, you ... you mind?” Raphael rolled his eyes while gesturing at Jason's face. He was clearly asking Jason to stop eating for a moment. Jason swallowed and looked down at the doughnut in his hand before turning back to Raphael.

“No, Raphy, I don't mind,” he answered nonchalantly as he stuffed the rest of the doughnut into his mouth. Raphael opened his mouth before closing it again. His sharp nose flared with annoyance at how juvenile Jason was and, if looks could kill, Jason would've been dead by now.

“Can you tell us who could have killed them?” Junco asked and Jason grabbed a nearby napkin to clean his face then turned and smiled at her.

“Should've asked sooner, I'd have told you, beautiful,” Jason said with a smirk before he leaned back. He didn't tell them immediately, instead, he gathered his thoughts for a moment before speaking slowly. “It was the Reaper.”

The table became awfully silent with the boys looking worried while Junco gave Jason a look mired with disbelief.

“Reaper? You're joking, right?” Junco asked with a slight scoff. She noticed that no one else shared her skepticism. “A vengeful spirit that's been killing people for centuries? The Grim Reaper? That's just a fairytale.”

“Practitioners, people who can evolve by cultivating different forms of energy, exists,” Jason said quietly with raised eyebrows. “Espers, folks with superpowers, exist. Fucking monsters exist and you're skeptical of spirits and ghosts?”

“Every classification you just mentioned, save for the last one, have roots in science,” Junco answered. “Practitioners absorb the natural energy around them to strengthen themselves, Espers have Strange matter, Psionic Aether, that allows them to bend the laws of physics, and then monsters that are basically mutated or evolved animals. But ghosts and spirits? They're mostly stories and hallucinations of the superstitious.”

“Ah, a scientist,” Jason said disdainfully. “Nerds who hypothesis and get everything wrong at first due to their shortcomings, right until they have the facts stuffed into their faces.”

“Excuse me?” Junco asked offended.

“You morons are the ones who wrongly theorized that gravity was slowing down the expansion of the universe. And that the earth was the center of the universe. Heck, for years, you guys refuted vitalism until Aether came along.” [1]

“That's …”

“Look, I'm not saying you're wrong,” Jason interrupted Junco who wanted to continue arguing. “It's good to be skeptical. Healthy even. All I'm saying is to keep an open mind. Because spirits, they exist.”

As Jason spoke he used his holo-watch to send an attachment to Junco's tab. Junco opened the file and her mouth fell open as she was stupefied: there were news clippings and video clips of the very beings she refuted. A headless woodcutter swinging his ax, trying to behead Jason. A humanoid creature tearing through a group of armed hunters, the instability of the camera prevented her from getting a better look at the image. And finally, a clip showing the ineffectiveness of bullets against the Reaper; the bullets that hit him were simply dropping from his hands as he slowly slaughtered the people shooting at him.

“You're suggesting that we're not up against a person?” Raphael asked with a scowl. These monsters in the video clips would definitely be hard to deal with, even with an AKEERA.

“I'm saying you can't treat him like a normal target,” Jason answered. “Even if he's a Practitioner, the fact that he can turn himself incorporeal means he's beyond the level of Grandmaster, and, to my understanding, no modern Practitioner has managed to break into the Sovereign stage.

“What I'm trying to say is…” Jason paused and leaned forward. His voice became low with caution, surprising Raphael who knew how cocky he usually was. “You see the hooded Reaper? Run the other way if you want to live. That black mist surrounding him? That's the lingering emotion that his victims had. He's killed hundreds without blinking and he'll kill you without even looking. Cause to him, he's just reaping souls the way a farmer reaps his crops. Do. Not. Fight. Him.”

Raphael narrowed his eyes when he heard Jason's warning. Despite feeling the heavy atmosphere that was suffocating everyone, he still spoke his mind.

“You know something more, don't you?” he asked as he let out the breath he was unintentionally holding in. “You've fought before?”

“Like you said, I talked to Q-tip before his death,” Jason said, trying to deflect Raphael's question. “That's probably why he was killed.”

“What do you mean?” Suni asked, opening his mouth for the first time. His hoarse voice indicated that he believed Jason. After all, he was with Raphael the longest and both had seen some crazy shit before.

“I'm the only one to have escaped his grasp,” Jason said. “He got a bit of a fixation on me since then.”

“So, what? He kills anyone that upsets you?” Junco asked suspiciously.

“Nope, he's killed others as well, including Alina's father,” Jason's hands were tightened into fists as he spoke. “He did that right after her mother died, trying to break her spirit ... and that was because he knew how precious the kid is to me. He does whatever he wants, based on his mood, or a whim. Sometimes, he helps me, other times …”

The room was silent once again as everyone was lost in their thoughts.

“Stay away from him,” Jason said after a long pause. He pressed his holo-watch and tapped on the holo-screen that popped out before standing up and leaving. “The Reaper is the one enemy that I refuse to fight. Again.”

Raphael didn't answer and looked at the video where Jason was fighting the headless ghost. This happened years ago, judging from how young Jason looked. Despite fighting the ghost to a standstill, it was clear that he was struggling to fend off that monster, even though he was using his Esper abilities.

Would I be able to handle such a creature, no, a monster?

His musings were interrupted by Annie who arrived with a bill.

“That would be 85 in total,” Annie said, shocking Raphael.

“What? But ... how?” he asked after looking at the table. There were only three doughnuts left but he couldn't see why the bill would be so high from just a few snacks.

“He ordered takeout,” Annie answered while pointing at where Jason had left before tilting her head. “He said you'd foot the bill.”

“Son of a …”

Jason who left the diner with a bag full of food whistled as he watched as his motorcycle which was flying towards him, slowly land in front of him. The four wheels which were positioned horizontally at the sides of the bike slowly folded in on itself until it was back to its normal vertical position. He mounted the bike and sped off quickly as Raphael burst through the door yelling obscenities at him. Jason chuckled and flipped the middle finger at him before sharply turning the bike and disappearing from sight. [2]

“Hey, could we place this in our mission expenditures?” Raphael asked rather desperately while breathing for air, exhausted from shouting at Jason.

“No, sir. This wasn't a mission so…” Junco answered.

“So …” Raphael looked at his three teammates, hoping dearly that they would split the payment between themselves.

“It comes out from your pockets, yeah,” Suni answered, finishing Raphael's sentence while Dhole nodded.

“Indeed, this was your idea, after all, boss,” Dhole added. Suni patted Raphael's shoulder before walking away and Dhole followed after him.

“But-” Raphael was nearly in tears when he saw Junco give him an apologetic look and walk away as well.

“Uh, hey. You paying up or what?” Annie who was at the doorway asked with her hips at her hand.

Raphael sighed as he sorrowfully paid the bill, his heart bleeding at this unexpected downfall.

***

Selena tapped her fingers as she sat on her chair in the CEO's office. She was looking out the window, admiring the technological structure of Atlantis when she sighed and turned back to her desk. She dialed a holographic video call that was connected to two private satellites, waiting patiently for the call to connect. A moment later the call went through as a woman appeared in 3D holographic format over a portion of her desk.

The woman had shoulder length hair that was pulled back behind her ears. The dark brown hair was dyed with several highlights, the most prominent being red, orange, and gold. Combined together, it gave her hair an appearance similar to flames. Her fair skin was currently caked in mud as she fought a wolf the size of a grizzly bear. Her armor was similar to Jason's under-armor, however, the plated armor she wore was black and more archaic. Her shoulder, chest, and gauntlets had a feathered texture on the metal, and the flames burning around her talon claws burned the flesh of the wolf.

“Oh, hey, Selly,” the woman said as she dodged the wolf's gaping maw. “Don't tell me the executives figured out I'm not in Egypt?”

The woman dodged the wolf's attack again and raised her left arm. A section of the gauntlet rose up, turning into a hand cannon, which she aimed at the wolf. A ball of compressed flames shot out and flew towards the large predator. The ball became elongated as the heat turned the very air into plasma; it struck the wolf head on and imploded, the force of the explosion caved inwards as opposed to outwards. The wolf howled miserably before collapsing, whimpering as it let out its last breath.

“No, your cover is safe,” Selena said while rubbing her eyebrows, shocked at how fast Katherine Rogue, the woman in the hologram, was progressing at. If given more time, perhaps she could stand amongst the strongest Practitioners but Selena knew that she would instead exit her seclusion once she told her the good news. “I'm calling about your family. I … Kat, I found Alina Sage. She's here, in Sanctuary.”

[1] Jason’s had bad experiences with scientists so he doesn’t like them, especially after finding out his sister was a lab rat. Also, vitalism is an old theory that has been refuted.

[2] Like the Lazareth LM-496, a real-life motorcycle that can transform into a hovercraft.