45: Rules and Stipulations.

The ride home sucked. Jack didn’t look out of the window a single time, even if it was a beautiful afternoon for flying. The helicopter rocked above the ocean, a small breeze entering the craft as it gained distance from Manhattan. It wasn’t one of the open helicopters that he liked anyway, where you could stick your feet out and enjoy the ride. This one had two rows across from each other, each with enough room to seat four people.

Jack sat next to Melissa and his mom, and across from him sat Michael, Sarah, and Deven, the latter of whom seemed to pull back his lip and shrug whenever he looked at Jack, as if understanding his pained confusion. Jack liked the man. He wasn’t like all the other uptight Psychs.

“Sweetie, fasten your seatbelt,” Alana said. She had her coat resting on the empty seat next to her, and it seemed that now she was trying to be pleasant. She kept trying to dab his face with some kind of ointment where it’d been pummeled at school, and she didn’t even frown when he shot her angry looks.

“I don’t wanna talk to you mom, I don’t ever wanna talk to you again.” Jack turned away from her, and hoped his words sent her into a frenzy of apologies and cries for forgiveness. Instead, she tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to her neatly folded General’s coat resting on the unoccupied seat.

“I can talk to you as your mother, or as General Harris. Your pick,” she said. Jack groaned, caught in a discomforting mesh of bitterness and fear. “Well?”

“Alright, alright,” he said throwing over the safety harness. “What do you want, anyway?”

The helicopter shook as it gained altitude, crossing into New Jersey. This was usually Jack’s favorite part, when he’d be able to spot all the people shuffling around on the ground while he soared over them like a hawk. His mood was far too bitter, even for that.

“First, I wanted to give you this,” she said. She leaned over to her white General’s coat, and for a brief moment Jack felt a pounding in his heart, worried she was going to go nuts on him again. Instead, she reached into a small pocket and removed something.

At first Jack thought it was too good to be true, but as it came closer and closer to him, he knew it was real. Alana held out her hand, and Jack looked at what she held, afraid to grab it, wondering if it was some kind of trap.

“Go ahead,” she said.

Jack picked up the stack of cards, and with a blinding speed shuffled through them, making certain they were all there. It was his deck, nothing missing or damaged. “But I thought…”

“You were lucky,” Alana said. “I saved these because I’m your mother. Disrespect your team-leader ever again, and not even these will survive.”

“But what about my room,” Jack moaned. “Did you really break everything?”

Alana nodded. “I did.”

Jack felt a flush of annoyance. In the corner of his eye he spotted Michael and Sarah watching the conversation like it was some kind of show. Without warning Jack whipped his head around and turned to them, and they whipped their heads just as fast, pretending to be involved in a conversation about the weather.

Eavesdroppers, Jack thought to himself with a grunt. I hope they do something wrong and get in trouble too.

“I want that stuff back!” Jack yelled.

Alana cocked her right eyebrow, and held out a disciplining finger. “What did I say about shouting at me, Jack?”

Jack lowered his voice and apologized. “I really want my stuff back, mom. Please, you can’t just break all my stuff.”

“Hmm, you want it back, do you? Ok, I’ll tell you what. There is actually one way for you to get it back, but… it won’t be easy.”

Jack leaned in closer, eager for any way to get his life back. Without his television, video games, and especially his computer, his life would be miserable. “What is it, tell me!”

This time she seemed to forgive him for raising his voice. She grinned. “There’s a case that’s just come up, something we need you for. It will be really hard, sweetie, but if you’re able to do it you’ll be able to get all new stuff. In fact, better than what you had before. A bigger T.V, even more games, and the most powerful computer you can imagine.”

Jack’s mind filled with the delicious thoughts. His mom had hooked him alright. Whatever case it was, Jack was sure he could do it. “What is it? Tell me, mom.”

She leaned in closer, and whispered. “There’s this camp, right? It’s a place where young Psychs are trained. We think it’s being operated by rouge Psychs, but we’re not sure. We need someone your age to get in there, and earn their trust, and then report back to us.”

Jack struggled to concentrate on her words, already his mind was running through a list of computers he’d wanted to upgrade to. “How do I earn their trust?”

“It’s simple. If you can pass their training program, you’ll get a certificate. That’s all you’ll need, and then you can report back to us.”

It sounded like an easy job, and Jack nodded. “What about my team?” he asked. “Will they be providing backup?”

“That’s up to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, they can come along, but then the reward will have to be split. Ah well, you’re a team and all, so I guess that’s only natural. I guess you can have the T.V, and Paro can have the –“

“No!” Jack shouted, before forcing his voice back into a whisper. He looked over to Michael and Sarah, hoping they didn’t overhear. Their cheeks were puffed up, and they looked like they were struggling to contain their laughter. Jack had no idea what it was about. “I’ve got this one, mom,” he whispered. “When do I leave?”

“This Friday, after school,” she said. “Make it through this, and not only do you get all new stuff, but you get better stuff. Sounds good, doesn’t it?”

Jack’s agony was replaced with hope, and he kissed his mom on the cheek. “Thanks for getting me this job,” he said. “I’m going to ace it.”

“Oh, and one more thing,” Alana said.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t ever tell them you suspect them of being Rouge Psychs, or the case is off. Cooperate and do every last thing they say, you got it? Even if you don’t want to, or it seems too hard. Do what they tell you, or you’ll be coming home empty handed.”

Jack nodded. “Got it, ma.”

The helicopter flew over a basketball court, kids jumping and throwing around a ball. This time, Jack did look out of his window.

This is going to be a piece of cake, Jack grinned. I’ll do some stupid training camp, and then it’s back to paradise!

********

“Sebastian,” Cyrus called. “You’ve been challenged.”

Sebastian kicked a dusty old bucket, not even bothering to conceal his rage. It bounced off the side of the dark wall with a clang. He was in one of the lowest level rooms of the packaging facility, free from the smell of fish, but reeking with the decay of dead rodents.

Requiem was by his side, scratching her red hair. “Darling, what is this man talking about?”

Sebastian looked back at her. She’d been nagging him about her son for almost a week now, and still he was no closer to understanding her. “Only a certain number of people can be marked at a time,” he answered. “No one here likes walking around knowing they can be killed at any minute, for any reason. So, every now and then one of them challenges us. It’s kill or be killed. You can’t refuse.”

Requiem shrugged. “Oh, I thought it was something dangerous. Carry on then, Darling.”

Sebastian growled to himself, wondering what would possess his son to kiss such a maniac. She’d rambled on and on about it for the entire week that Sebastian had known her. “Cyrus,” he called.

The man was sitting in another one of his thrones. It seemed he had the ridiculous things installed all over the disgusting place. Sebastian wondered if the man thought it made him royalty, because if so, then the royalty of what? An old dusty building filled with rotten fish and rats the size of dogs.

There was a wide area along the floor, covered with a filthy grey padded mat. This was where the “combatants” settled their dispute over who was allowed to receive the mark of The Raven. Thinking of which, Requiem’s mark raised quite a few questions. Something was off about the girl, more so than her connection to his son, and questionable motives. Sebastian was becoming more and more certain that the girl was here on behalf of the organization. For one, it was undeniable that she had a criminal background, and she knew too much about his son to be making the things up. The only conclusion Sebastian could draw was that she’d been captured, and sent here for a purpose.

That wasn’t what bothered him, though. No, what disturbed him was the way she was being treated by Cyrus. She was the only one aside from that ridiculous girl Clair that wasn’t able to be challenged for The Raven. She was granted his highest level of protection. There was more to the girl, and Sebastian could only pray that the organization knew what they were doing sending her here.

But how did they even know we’re here? Sebastian wondered. It was the biggest piece of the mystery. If the organization knew of Cyrus’s location, then they’d be storming the place with a thousand Psychs. They wouldn’t bother to send some girl after him alone, and without any foreseeable backup.

The door to the combat-area opened, and four roughed up Psychs stepped inside. Cyrus knew them well; all four of them were lunatics. “Gonna come back and kill each one of them,” Davey spat. “Can’t wait to catch them alone.” His face was covered in shallow cuts, possibly from shards of glass.

Clair chortled, and Sebastian tensed as Requiem grabbed his hand and squeezed. Sebastian didn’t blame her, he hated the sound too. “Why are you still laughing?” Robby asked. “You’ve been laughing the whole way back.”

“Because,” she chortled, causing Requiem to squeeze even harder. “I might end up meeting him again, and this time it will be he who covers his ears!”

Cyrus leapt off his throne. “What is going on? Why do you four look like hell?”

“Well,” Davey answered. “We went after the Japanese man’s brother, but the dude’s friends showed up. It was one of those other teams, you know what I mean. Not the ones that kill. I forget what they’re called. We had to run away.”

“Op. teams,” Cyrus breathed. “And these ones are called ‘Investigative teams.’ Honestly, it should’ve been no problem for you four. Mind telling me why you four fled from a bunch of Carebears?”

Clair came to Davey’s defense. “It wasn’t the team itself,” she answered. “We could have killed the rest of them, all of them, but their team-leader was just too strong. Shall I explain?”

Cyrus waved her off. “No, don’t bother. I don’t really care, just, well, I don’t know. Go back and kill him some other time. I’m actually in high spirits today; we’re finally going to see our boy Sebastian here kill someone that fight back. That is, if he’s not killed first.”

There were a few minutes of relative silence, while Sebastian prepared himself. He didn’t know the name of the man who challenged him, only that it was some overconfident Manipulator. Those were always a pain to deal with.

The room would’ve been completely absent of noise, if not for Clair’s continual chortling. Even Cyrus seemed to be getting annoying, and the man practically treasured the girl. “Dear, why are you laughing? Have you gone madder than you already are?”

Clair shook her head. “I’m practicing. You see, there was this boy, and he challenged me. He told me my laugh was awful, and that his was even more awful. He was a strange boy, one I cannot wait to find and kill. In fact, while I was on my way out, and mind you, this was after a rather large fight, I overheard him ask his friends if the story ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ was actually about a tree. Oh, how they all seemed to yell at him for it.”

Sebastian and Requiem looked at each other, and hissed in the same whispered scream. “Jack!”

The door slammed open yet again, and Sebastian shook the thoughts from his mind. A man entered wearing a purple feathered hat, and a pair of matching purple sweatpants. He pointed at Sebastian, grinning. “You’re gonna die, old man,” he said.

Who is he calling old man? Sebastian thought. I’m only a few days past forty.

He walked to the center of the pad, and came to stand before Cyrus. “I am Abasi. I have come for the mark.” The main was small, but the way he carried himself made him seem larger. Abasi had a thick accent, and Sebastian recognized it as Swahili.

“Sebastian,” Cyrus called. “Meet him in the middle. When I give the command, begin.”

Sebastian took his first step toward the center of the arena – and stopped, Requiem tugging on his arm. “What is it now?” he asked.

“Darling,” she whispered. There was worry filling her eyes. “Please, wait a second.”

She’s worried about me, Sebastian thought hiding a grin. Poor girl has come to like Jack’s old man better than Jack himself. Ah, my son will never be the charmer that I am.

“Yes?” Sebastian asked. He was flattered that the young girl was becoming interested in him, but he’d have to put her down gently.

“Umm,” Requiem said blushing. “If you die, can I have your stereo?”

Sebastian had to struggle not to trip and fall on his face. Stupid girl!

“I’m not gonna die, don’t you worry about it. Now, I better get over there before Cyrus gets impatient.” Sebastian pulled his arm free, and walked to the middle, standing a few feet across from Abasi.

“Gentlemen,” Cyrus said. “Are you both ready?”

Abasi laughed, spitting at Sebastian’s feet. “I’m a Manipulator,” he said. “And you’re a Telekinetic. So, I guess in your customs that would be like Rock against scissor no?”

Sebastian ignored him. Trash talking was for idiots. “Let’s get this over with,” he said.

“Ah, come now, Sebastian. Can’t a man have a little ceremony? Fine, have it your way. You two, fight!”

Abasi held out his hand. “Say goodbye to your face, my friend. I’m sorry that –“

And he was dead, just like that. Sebastian wasn’t one to be messed with. With a wave of his hand, Abasi’s neck was snapped like a twig, spinning full circle to twist back into its starting position. “Done,” Sebastian said, looking around the room at the shocked faces of spectators. “Anyone else?”

“Sebastian!” Cyrus shouted. “That was most boring of you. I knew you were strong, but… damn! Damn it with hotdogs and salsa on top! At least dance on his corpse or something, I wanted a show.”

Sebastian ignored him and stepped away. He knew he was irreplaceable, Cyrus had only allowed this farce out of boredom. It was the same way he’d killed the Japanese member of the Op. team. It was too quick to even feel. Among Telekinetics, there were none stronger. His wife, Alana, she came close, and there’d been quite a bit of damage done from marital disputes years earlier. They’d once fought so fiercely that other Generals had to be called in to calm them down. Sebastian didn’t mess around, and he didn’t like to be messed with, either.

“Darling,” Requiem whispered astonished. “What was that?”

“Why are you so surprised? You’ve seen me do it before.”

“Yes, but… that was against a wounded man. You just twisted his head like it was the cap on a Pepsi bottle!”

Sebastian shrugged. “Well, I’m not one to play games. Come on, Requiem. I’ll tell you a story about Jack.” Sebastian had begun to like the girl in his own twisted way, just as he suspected she felt the same about him.

They walked through the dark hallway, and climbed the steps back into the fishy-smelling area that held their rooms. Requiem folded her hands, and cheered in delight. “Oh, Jack, Angel, Darling!” Sebastian knew love when he saw it, and for a moment he felt a bit of suspicion, turning soon thereafter into outright worry.

“Wait a minute,” he said. They stopped in the middle of a dark staircase, with candles providing the only scant source of light. “Requiem, I know that you were sent by one of the Psych Generals.”

She shrugged. “What of it? It’s quite obvious, Darling. I also know who you are, don’t worry, I won’t break your precious cover.”

Sebastian took a breath. “Did they promise you anything? Stop! I already see you mouthing the word no. Listen, I need you to trust me for once. Did they promise you anything?”

“They said that I’d be allowed to see my true Darling, Jack.”

Sebastian swallowed, and looked down into the face of the girl who burned with such passion for his child.

They’re using her, he thought. I know how they work. The moment she does whatever she’s been sent to do, they’re going to throw her into a facility, or some other disgusting place.

Sebastian didn’t know why he felt such a protective and fatherly instinct toward the girl, but he knew from experience that fighting feelings was always a losing battle. “I know you won’t tell me why they sent you,” Sebastian said. “But I promise you – and I’m not a man to make false promises – you’ll get to see Jack when this is done.”

“I actually don’t know why they sent me,” Requiem said. “All I was told was to find you, and remain put. Ah, really? I hope I don’t smell like fish when we meet, I’ve been in this dump for far too long.”

Sebastian was never one to break his promises, and he didn’t plan to start. He’d only known the girl for a week, and yet already he was determined to fight on her behalf. He wouldn’t stand to see her used by the organization. No, not when he saw how much she cared for Jack.