Jack looked at me with an odd expression that seemed to combine deep-rooted melancholy with profound loss and sadness. As both Jims, I took a step towards him and he recoiled slightly, at which point I realized that I was still sporting Gray’s countenance – on both Jims, no less.
Switching both faces back to my own, I spoke as Jim-1, saying, “It’s over, Jack. You’re done.”
“No,” he insisted firmly as he got to his feet.
“Your powers are gone,” I stressed. “It’s time to face up to what you’ve done.”
“You mean go back into stasis,” he muttered, taking a step back. “Probably forever.”
“You don’t know that,” I countered.
“It’s you who doesn’t know,” he shot back. “They’ll stick me back in a box, only this time it’ll be for good. Powers or not, I can’t go back to that. I won’t. I’d rather die.”
I should have seen it coming, should have known what he was about to do. Should have realized what he was capable of.
Without another word, Jack turned and raced towards the nearest edge of the roof. Being slow on the uptake, it was another second or two before I realized what he had in mind, and I took off after him.
I wasn’t going to catch him; we were too evenly matched and he had a head start. Nevertheless, I shouted to him as we ran, begged him not to, yelled that he’d be treated fairly.
My words fell on deaf ears. Jack reach the edge of the roof and calmly stepped over the side without a word and without looking back.
Chapter 93
Jack didn’t hit the ground. The building we were on had a balcony that ran around the fiftieth floor, and that’s where he landed. Fortunately, there had been no one around to see it. After the tremors Jack caused when we were on the roof, the entire place had been evacuated.
At present, I was actually on the fiftieth floor (known as the “Sky Lobby”) of the building in question, sitting in a lounge chair. After Jack went over the side, I had reached out to Mouse telepathically, letting him know it was okay to stand down on repairing the nullifier. He had done so – turned it off, actually – and I’d immediately gotten my powers back. (I had been particularly grateful to have my healing ability back, as it quickly remedied the injuries I’d received at Jack’s hands.)
I had then teleported to Mouse and given him a quick telepathic overview of everything that had happened, but not before bringing the two Jims together again. (Basically, all I’d had to do was want them unified again, and it happened.) Following that, we had coordinated with Gray, essentially telling him to come clean up his mess (although it was obviously a poor choice of words).
Gray had shown up with a small army, sealed off the building, and was now having a deep and intense discussion with Mouse in a far corner of the Sky Lobby while his people put things in order. Mouse had told me that I didn’t have to be here, but – although others may have found it morbid – I had to see what had happened to Jack for myself. It wasn’t pretty, and I’d been grateful when Gray’s people, showing a decency I wouldn’t have expected considering who they worked for, had covered the remains with a sheet before respectfully taking them away. Now I was primarily just hanging around to get debriefed by Mouse.
Eventually, the conversation between Gray and Mouse ended, punctuated – to my surprise – by a handshake. Then, while Gray stayed put, Mouse headed in my direction. I got up and met him halfway.
“Look,” Mouse began, “you’ve had enough on your plate for one day. Let’s just shoot for catching up in the morning.”
“Does that include what you and Gray were talking about?” I asked.
Mouse glanced back at Gray before responding. “Yeah, we’ll talk. For now, though, I think our mutual friend wants a word with you.”
With that, Mouse gave me a time to meet at his lab the next day and then said goodbye. He turned to leave, but then expectedly spun back towards me.
“Also, I just wanted to add that it was a pretty gutsy move deciding to squirt the neural blocker on yourself as well as Jack,” he said. “Most supers would have been too worried about losing their powers.”
I shrugged. “My powers were going to be forfeited anyway if Jack injected me – or so I thought. That being the case, I didn’t have anything to lose, and if nothing else, I figured it would stop him.”
Mouse merely nodded in understanding before turning to leave, at which point I sauntered over to speak with my new boss.
“You rang?” I said when I got close.
Gray smiled. “I just wanted to say that I thought you did well – not just today, but during this entire episode with Jack. There aren’t many people who could have bested him on his worst day. Just proves I was right about having you on our team.”
“And if Jack had killed me?”
Gray shrugged. “Then I guess I’d have been wrong.” I gave him an incredulous stare, at which point he laughed and said, “I’m kidding; I’m kidding.”
“Then why does it feel like all I’ve done today is literally survive some probationary period? And my reward is that I get to fix your screw-ups on a full-time basis now.”
“Oh, come on – it won’t be that bad,” Gray insisted. “Especially after Mouse started haggling on your behalf. Your friend drives a pretty hard bargain.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Bargain?”
“For having you on my team,” Gray said. “Mouse negotiated some terms that I think we can all live with.”
I frowned. “I don’t think I understand.”
“We had to figure out a way to coordinate
