Jack began to walk toward V-2, pink irises glowing slightly as they followed every movement of the man in front of him, trying to predict his next move. Val was still surprised to see Jack alive, and was frozen in place, unsure of what to do. Timothy Grant was visibly irate, but a smile could be seen on his face as the man in black prepared to attack, not his usual, relaxed smile, but a twisted smile that reflected anger and an odd pleasure. He was already accepting victory before the fight even began.

V-2 made the first move, lunging at an incredible speed toward Jack, bringing his fist up in preparation. Jack smiled as the man in black approached, dodging to the side, and bringing his right hand up along with the threads of magic to V-2’s arm. Just as Jack thought, the threads didn’t cut into the dark figure, but just wrapped around his arm harmlessly. However, Jack had no intention to cut the man’s arm off, he pulled the five threads with all his might, tightening their grip and swinging V-2 around in a circle before dissipating the threads and flinging him off to Val and Timothy’s right. V-2 landed heavily, smashing into a large armored truck with a resounding crash.

V-2 sat there in the dented vehicle, dazed from the unexpected attack, and Jack didn’t waste a second, releasing magic from his feet, sending him dashing straight at the man with an explosive speed, his left arm pulled back in preparation to attack. V-2 snapped out of his stupor, and threw his arms up in defense as Jack approached, accepting the blow with his forearms while bracing his body with the truck. Jack’s fist made contact, and he released all the built-up magic along with some of his frustration out of his knuckles, sending all of the force into his opponent.

Pink electricity erupted over V-2’s body, enveloping him in the pulsating light before exploding, blowing the truck off into the far wall along with what remains of V-2, which at this point was just his legs, head, and various other unidentifiable parts. The resounding shockwave vibrated the air, nearly deafening the people standing nearby. Jack slowly retracted his fist, just as shocked as the others when he witnessed his own power, but trying to keep his cool.

“That was...”

Timothy began to say something, but couldn’t finish, probably due to his trembling. Jack finished the phrase for him, while brushing off some of the debris and gore from his previous attack and noticing his left hand had taken some superficial damage, revealing some of the metal circuits, and pink energy.

“Anticlimactic.”

Jack turned to face Timothy, who reached for Val, who was standing next to him with an intention to take her hostage, but she quickly stepped to the side and out of his reach, causing him to stumble slightly. His face was flushed, anger turning into fear as he tried to talk his way out of the situation.

“What do you think you’re doing!? You can’t kill me! What about all the monsters I keep in check, are you going to take responsibility for all the creatures that can now freely roam about without fear of me!?”

Jack didn’t stop walking, calmly approaching with an unreadable face.

“Y-you can leave! Take the girl with you, I-I don’t care, I won’t bother you ever again!”

Jack’s left index finger sparked, and electrified as he continued to approach. Timothy took a step back, holding his hand’s up in defense.

“W-wait! Be reasonable, I may not be the best guy, but I am a necessary evil. If you kill me, then you take will have to replace me! There are things out there you can’t hope to control! Gods, monsters, aliens, do you think you can handle them all!? Are you ready to take on all the responsibility I bare!?”

Jack stopped, standing directly in front of Timothy, and put his left index finger on the terrified man’s forehead. Timothy was drenched in sweat, and his legs were trembling, and Jack couldn’t believe this was the same man that nearly ended him. Jack paused, considering Timothy’s words, and realized he was right, whether Jack liked it or not, this pitiful excuse for a man did keep the monsters in check, and killing him does make him responsible for taking on his job.

But, he also endangered Val’s, Jenny’s, and Ellis’s lives, and Jack couldn’t let that go.

“Guess I’m a monster hunter now.”

Jack released the energy in his finger, projecting it through Timothy’s head, and extinguishing his life in an instant. He turned to Val, who was trembling slightly with tears filling her her eyes yet again as she stared at Jack.

‘Ah, I think I scared her. What do I do now?’

(Don’t ask me.)

Ellis was no help at all, and Jack stood awkwardly for several seconds, trying to figure out what to say.

“S-sorry, I-!?”

Jack was interrupted when Val dove forward and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest, soaking his shirt in tears.

‘That must have been pretty traumatizing. I hope she’s okay.’

(You’re an idiot.)

‘Why?’

(Because you are.)

Jack shook his head, and returned his attention to Val, who was still clinging to him. After a few moments passed, he figured he should get going, noticing the thugs in suits starting to gather, and not really wanting to deal with them right now, started trying to subtly pry Val off. She stubbornly clung tighter, and he only got her to move to the side of his chest before giving up, sighing in resignation.

“We have to go.”

She didn’t respond. Jack paused, noticing the gate open, allowing more of the thugs to enter, clearly missing what just happened.

“Are you going to let go?”

Val shook her head, without removing her face from his chest.

“Fine.”

Not seeing any other option, Jack put his left arm under her knees, and wrapped his right arm around her shoulders in a princess-style carry. While keeping her face buried, she removed her arms from around him, and gripped the front of his shirt tightly, pulling herself close to him, which made it significantly more comfortable. Jack turned toward the gate, and began to run, just now noticing his shoes had been destroyed when he lunged at V-2.

What Jack did was eject the magic out of his feet, which caused a minor explosion, and propelled him through the air at an incredible speed, which allowed him to attack V-2 before he recovered. Jack considered doing that now to jump over the suited mob that was blocking their escape, but decided against it, not wanting to disturb Val, and decided to just use his normal strength to escape.

As the mob came close, Jack leapt off the ground, landing on the face of one of the thugs, and jumped again, repeating this process over and over again until he cleared the mob, and exited the gate. Outside there were very few thugs, most of which were fleeing after seeing him perform several impossible stunts, while one climbed in a van, and began to drive at full speed in Jack’s direction.

The van rapidly drew near, accelerating to a good eighty miles an hour before reaching his location. Jack stuck out his foot in the direction of the van, and ejected magical energy from the base of his foot, making sure the magic went out and down instead of back at him. The sound of metal crumbling filled the air, as the van flipped longways, flying over Jack’s head, and landed on the helicopter, which was on with the blades already spinning rapidly and turning the two vehicles into one twisted heap of metal.

‘Damn, I was hoping for an explosion.’

(So you were aiming for the helicopter...?)

Jack continued to run, heading towards the distant buildings that could barely be seen over the trees, and soon arrived at his apartment, and entered, exhaustion immediately overwhelming his senses. Jack entered his bedroom, and placed Val, who had fallen asleep on the way back, on his bed, wrapping her in the covers before exiting the room. Jack went back into his living room, barely awake and dragging his bare feet on the carpet, and noticed something that he hadn’t when he entered. Jenny was sitting on his couch, staring at him with eyes filled with fire after seeing Jack princess-carry a girl to his bedroom.

“Explanation. Now.”

Jack nodded, knowing he couldn’t escape, and sat down next to her. For the next thirty minutes he gave Jenny the basic story of everything that has happened since last Friday, including Ellis, Val, the furies, his arm, Timothy Grant, V-2, and everything else. After he finished, he immediately fell asleep on the couch, and Jenny laid his head in her lap, thinking about the things he had told her.

After about an hour, Jenny heard movement from Jack’s bedroom, and went to see Val, wanting to talk to her about something. As soon as Jenny entered, Val looked up at her with a relatively emotionless face, only a slight smile betraying her current feelings.

“I accept your proposal.”