Jacks #1(of 4): Jacked

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    cbishop

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    Edited By cbishop
    DateJacks #1ViewRead the...
    11/28/15Jacked(Blog) (Forum)Disclaimer
    RatingRating explanation
    TMild cursing.

    “Don’t you get it?” hissed Doctor Xenos. “Jacks was no accident! Mutants on his level aren’t born, they’re created!” The man with the crew cut just stood there, staring through his wire rimmed glasses, allowing the statement to settle in the mind of the agent.

    “What... what are you saying?” the agent asked, his resolve obviously shaken, as was his gun.

    “Don’t play stupid with me now, Agent Orange! As idealistic as even you are, you must know what lengths our government will go to for the ultimate weapon. The police officer who shot Jacks’ father was on the government payroll. Hell, Jacks’ father was probably on the government payroll! The trauma that drove Jacks into schizophrenia was an organized plan! You’ve been investigating this case for nearly fifteen years; how stupid are you, agent?”

    The sheer ferocity of the doctor’s revelation shook Agent Orange further. He wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. Looking through the blast shield door, he saw Jacks destroy another containment drone. This was crazy. No one was capable of this kind of manipulation. The doctor was talking about a kid’s entire life. No one was that calculating. It just wasn’t possible. “This is crazy! You can’t create what’s being displayed in that theater, doctor! You may attempt to control it, but creation is beyond even this facility!”

    Doctor Xenos decided to try a calmer approach. “Agent Orange, think about the last fifteen years. Do you really think that it’s coincidence that every lead you’ve come up with has met a dead end? Do you think you’re living some dime store mystery novel, that every person who has offered you information has turned up dead before you could obtain it?

    “You wouldn’t even be here, agent, if one of our lab assistants hadn’t found you. Good God, he must have worked that one out months in advance. We thought he was tracing his family history. Naturally, we were suspicious when the investigator came across you at the same bar and grill. Nothing seemed out of sorts, but until now, we never thought it necessary to monitor the bathroom habits of minor players. A map on a hand towel. How clever. Suppose the man in the stall next to you had decided to wash his hands, when he got out ahead of you?”

    Agent Orange flinched for a second. It was odd to be bothered about it now, but the man Doctor Xenos was talking about was his waiter. He didn’t wash his hands? “The point is he didn’t, doctor, and here I am. Now you have about ninety seconds to sedate Jack before he panics, and lets his ‘Jack-in-the-Box’ out. These blast doors can’t withstand the kind of heat that kid generates.”

    Doctor Xenos viewed the scene through the window from the corner of his eye, sniffed, pushed his glasses back up his nose, and turned to go back towards the center of the complex. “That’s true. Jack O. Lantern could escape that testing theater easily, but that’s just Lumberjack. He’s not going anywhere.”

    Now who’s playing stupid? Agent Orange thought. “Dammit, doctor, you know even better than I do that Jack changes personalities like Michael Jackson changes noses. Sedate him, before you have real trouble on your hands! Hey! Are you listening? Come back here!”

    “Agent, where can I go that you can’t shoot me? Come along; I want to show you something. And I assure you, Lumberjack is going nowhere. If you’ll check your watch, your ninety seconds was up four seconds ago.” The doctor kept walking around the curve of the hallway.

    Agent Orange looked through the blast shield window again, and saw Jack still fighting with the containment drones. He looked at his watch again; two minutes, fifteen seconds. He lowered his gun. What the hell’s going on here? “Hey, doc’! Wait up!” He hurried down the corridor, and caught up to Doctor Xenos easily, who was strolling calmly, his hands clasped behind his back. “What the hell is going on in there, doc’? What have you done to Jack? This place should have gone up like Towering Inferno about...” glancing at his watch, “...two and a half minutes ago.”

    Next Issue: Jacked In.-
    Please let me know what you think, and thanks! -cbOriginally written Mar 26, 1997

    Story and characters owned by Chris Bishop, copyright 1997, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.

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    #1  Edited By cbishop
    OC Names:
    Characters:
    • Jacks (Jack O. Lantern [Jack-in-the-box]; Lumberjack)
    • Orange, Agent
    • Xenos, Doctor
    • unnamed father (Jack's)
    • unnamed investigator
    • unnamed lab assistant
    • unnamed police officer
    • unnamed waiter
    Locations:
    • testing theater
    • unnamed bar-and-grill
    Objects:
    • containment drone
    .Fic-O-Pedia: cbishop. (My library of fics)Fic #116

    Thanks for stopping in! :^D

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    #2  Edited By cbishop
    the unnamed waiter

    The waiter that didn't wash his hands was just a bit of whimsy on my part. Something to make the reader go, "Oh, grooooss!" lol ...But really, always wash your hands. If we haven't learned that with COVID, God help us all.

    That's all for now! Thanks for reading. :^D

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