[scikaiju]

<Episode 41>


*Opening theme – Smile Empty Soul – Who I Am*


He heard a slow clapping sound and tried to locate it. He found somebody coming toward him in the shadows still clapping his hands. He could tell from where he was he was wearing a World Inc. assault team uniform. “I got to tell you something buddy,” the figure said. “I was worried when I found out you were having problems. But it looks like you actually gained a step or two since I last saw you.”

He stepped into the light and Jack got a good look at him, but he already recognized the voice, “Mitchell.”

“I bet you thought you’d never see me again.” Mitchell started jogging in place, looking pleased, “I was wondering it myself after you paralyzed me that day.” He stared at Jack for a second, losing some of his mirth, “You did know that right? I mean you had to have heard my back snap when I landed on the edge of that van. Yeah, I thought about that for a long time, I still do actually. But you got to love the Fusion system though right? You barely had any legs at all when we found you. Now look at us, on our feet like nothing happened.”

Jack felt a strong urge to back up but he held his ground, “So you guys arranged this little get together for a reunion or something? You could have just sent a postcard.”

“Oh no,” Mitchell quickly dismissed it. “No the plan was to get one of the other cells. When they raided that Trent guy cell a couple of the prisoners who were willing to talk said your group was pretty close to this other one. That was the one we were targeting tonight. The boys back at World Inc. were certain that the rumors we planted would draw them out. The idea was to try to draw you out by holding you for bait actually.” He chuckled a bit, “Imagine my surprise when you showed up instead. So the new plan was to get you away from the others. That idiot knocked you down here instead. I really had to hoof it to find you two.”

“So I forced you to think on the fly?”, Jack commented. “I’d bet that sprained something.”

He chuckled again, “I almost forgot you had a sense of humor. Well you can’t blame me with the look you gave me last time. That entire day was burned in my brain. I can’t tell you how many times I relived it. Hell I probably dreamed about it while I was in that tube being turned into a thing like you. Well not like you exactly,” he corrected himself. “For one I still have all my original parts,” he sneered. “And two I was bonded to the Mark two system.”

“Let me guess,” Jack cut him off, “You’re just dying to show me the difference between the two.”

Mitchell grinned, “Since you insist.”

Jack quickly got his left arm up to materialize the belt. Swinging his arm to the side he raised his right to his left. Shouting, “Henshin!”, he slammed his right hand on top of the belt. It scanned him and he was back in the Fusion armor.

Mitchell raised his left arm, bent at the elbow and his hand balled up in a fist. A familiar looking belt appeared round his waist, except the faceplate was blue. Glaring at him he clenched his fist tighter as he said, “Transform!” He moved his arm to the side and in one motion he swung his right arm up and over before slamming his right hand on top of the belt. Jack watched as he was covered in a black body suit and red armor formed around. He stared into the blue lenses of Mitchells’ helmet. Based on the look Jack guess he was based on a dragonfly too.

Jack snorted as he said, “Transform? Oh that’s real original.”

Mitchell cracked his neck, “At least my word sounds American. I mean hen…shin, what in the hell does that mean any way?”

“Transform you moron.” Jack ran at him and tried to catch him with a flying knee. He missed as Mitchell sidestepped out of the way. He turned toward him quickly as he landed and ducked a punch he barely had any time to react to. He scored a couple punched to Mitchells’ chest and gut but he quickly backed away before any more made any contact. Jack went after him throwing punches and kicks, but Mitchell was able to block or dodge them easily. Jack almost thought he heard him snicker at one point. He went for a haymaker of a right cross that the other man got under and countered with an uppercut that knocked Jack off his feet.

As he tried to get back up Mitchell stood there and actually dusted his hands off. That got on his nerves fast. “Same old Jack,” he said. “Always thinking pound on them until they give. Always looking for that one big hit.” Disdain entered his voice as he added, “Always relying on luck instead of some skill.”

“Sometimes it better to be lucky than good,” Jack said before kicking his foot out at the other man shin. Mitchell stepped back top avoid it and that gave him enough room to get back up. He went for another punch but Mitchell caught him by the wrist and twisted hard. The pain made him drop to a knee and grab at his shoulder as Mitchell continued to apply the pressure, “Ugh,’ he grunted.

“That’s definitely true in your case ‘buddy’,” Mitchell told him. “From what I hear you took out that blind hit man Logan and Kathy. Granted she had her quirks, hell some of the boys called her a psycho dominatrix, but she was one of Anderson’s top assassins. But if you fought them like you’re fighting me right now I’d say luck played a huge part in it.” Jack rolled foreword with the pressure on his arm. As soon as he landed on his back he kicked Mitchell in the head. Shaking his arm slightly as he got up he turned around and kicked him in the gut. He swung a knee in fast and caught Mitchell flush in the face as it forced him back up. Jack finally connected with a punch to the head. God that felt better than it should have. He went for another one but Mitchell caught his fist with his hand. Jacks’ arm was shaking with the effort but it wasn’t going foreword, in fact Mitchell slowly started to push it back.

“There’s a reason why it’s called the Mark two buddy boy,” Mitchell informed him. “They realized all the mistakes they made with you and corrected them. And not only am I stronger than you I’m pretty sure I’m faster too.” He let go of the fist and punched him. Jack was just able to block the next couple of punches and a kick aimed at his head. Then his head snapped back from a straight right. Then several more strikes he couldn’t see coming rocked him. Finally a right cross spun Jack to the ground.

Through the stars he saw the meter start to flash. Mitchells’ must have started doing the same because he heard the pod on his belt click. Jack watched him out of the corner of his eye. A punch or kick was coming, it was just a question of which one. Mitchell raised his foot up for a stomp. Jack quickly rolled foreword as the foot came down hit hard on the floor. As that part of the floor exploded form the charge he twisted his pod up as he got to his feet. As Mitchell turned to face him Jack put everything he had into the punch and nailed him in the chest. “Gotcha,” he grunted as he fell to a knee and Mitchell stumbled back. He lowered his head not rally wanting to see this. Then he heard the turbines in Mitchell belt start to hit hard. An electrical charge ran down his chest armor and into his belt. Jack looked on stunned, “What the hell?”

Mitchell acted as surprised as he was as he patted himself down, “Heh, I didn’t think that was actually going to work when they told me about it.” Then he looked right at him, “Too bad for you.” He pulled Jack to his feet and started unleashing on him before he could react. Holding him against a metal wall Mitchell told him, “Thanks for the recharge by the way.” He twisted the pod up and threw the punch. Jack got out of his grasp and all he got was wall. But Mitchell grabbed him and pulled him back as soon as the wall exploded. A chunk of wall smashed into his head and he fell to the floor dazed. Jack was vaguely aware of Mitchell standing there and deactivating his system. Reaching into a pocket on his vest he pulled out a small flat oval shape device that he slapped onto Jacks’ chest and stepped back.

“ARGH!”, Jack screamed in pain as it felt like a huge electric charge ran through him. As his body arched from the pain as his armor slowly started to disappear. He laid there breathing heavy and clutching his chest as Mitchell hovered over him.

“That looked like it hurt,” Mitchell commented. “Like a real kick in the nuts. Actually…,” he trailed off as he kicked him low. Jack sat up and held himself as a new pain ran through him. “I’m surprised you still had any,” he said while kicking him back down. Standing over him Mitchell looked thoughtful, “This look familiar doesn’t it? What was it you said the last time I saw you? I remember now, you asked me what the biggest difference between you and me was. You said you didn’t enjoy this. Which kind of implied I did. And you know what?” A sick grin grew and he knelt on top of him, reached into the hood and pulled his head up by the hair, “You’re right.”He started punching him in the face again, again and again.

Jack lost track at how many times he was hit and was about to lose consciousness when he heard Sparky shout out, “Jack!” Mitchell let go and looked to his left, then he heard what sounded like those shock sticks being activated.

“We’ll finish this later buddy boy,” Mitchell said as he got off of him and ran. Jack thought he heard multiple footsteps go after him. Rachel knelt down beside him with a horrified look on her face.

“Oh my God,” was all he heard before he finally passed out.

***
Where is he?”, Dusty said as he jumped out of Bessie looking worried when he arrived at the habitat. He must have pushed that old truck to its limits to get here so fast

“They should be here any second now,” Melissa told him. Beside her Lance was kicking himself with guilt. “Lance you didn’t know this was going to happen,” she tried to comfort him. “Emily didn’t even get a notion until they were in the middle of it.”

“I still sent you guys there,” was his only response.

“Two coming in!”, the guard at the door announced. Just like she feared Arron came in riding Jack’s bike. She ran for the van behind him with Lance and Dusty in tow. The door opened up and she felt a wave of relief to seeing Jack sitting up right. His face was battered and bloody. Rachel and Sparky were at his side trying to clean the blood off of him.

“No offence son,” Dusty spoke up, “but you look like hell.”

“You should see the other guys’ fist,” Jack smiled weakly, “I totally messed it up.” Dusty looked away but she was feeling his relief that he was trying to joke about it. It meant he wasn’t hurt that bad. “Just get me a couple of bottles of aspirins, I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll be the judge of that son,” Dusty told him. “Sparky help me get him out of here.”

Jack actually tried to pull away from them, “I can do it.”

“Son, either you let us help you out of this thing or I’m gonna jab a needle into you and knock ya out,” Dusty threatened him.

“Whatever,” he grunted and they eased him out of the van. “But I’m walking on my own.”

“You’re definitely as stubborn as ever,” Dusty told him as he under one of his arms while Sparky did the same on the other side. “Besides we’re not going that far, just to Bessie and my medical bag.”

“Mitchell just hit me in the head,” Jack protested, “nothing important got hurt.”

“Mitchell,” Melissa repeated, “I know that name but I can’t place it.” She looked to Rachel for some help. That’s when she noticed she was sitting in the opening of the van, looking at his blood on her hands and shaking. How did she miss reading that when she was that close? Melissa immediately sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders.

“How much more crap is he suppose to take?”, she asked to nobody in particular.

“I wish I knew,” Melissa answered her. Hopefully Emily knew something but she didn’t say that out loud. “We’ve seen Jack bounce back from way worse,” she assured her. “Besides he’s too stubborn to let this stop him for long.”

“We just got him fixed mentally,” she said. “Now he comes back and tried to bust Jack up,” she wiped the tears on her face with the clean part of her hand. Closing her eye to compose herself a bit she started talking, “Mitchell was the one in charge of Anderson assault troops while we were there.” That’s why the name sounded familiar but she kept quiet. “The last time we saw him Jack tossed him on top of one of their vans. The way Jack explained it that messed him up enough for them to bond him to a new version of the Fusion system.” Standing up she reached into a pocket and handed Melissa an oval shaped device. “I found this by Jack. He said Mitchell used it to deactivate the systems.” She glanced over to Lance, “Your cell is good at the tech stuff right?”, there was a slight edge to her voice when she said the word cell. Before either of them could respond she walked past hem and over to where Jack was.

Lance took the device and studied it, “I remember them telling us about a device Anderson had that could stop the armor from forming. Looks like they took it a step further.” Melissa didn’t have to read any of his emotions this time around. She knew that look all too well.

“Just give her time to start thinking straight,” she told him. “Emotions are running a little high right now. Trust me I know better than anybody,” she smiled in hopes he would too.

“Nice try kid,” he said instead. “But I know they’re right in being angry with me right now.” He walked away and left her wondering if she had any chance in fixing this any time soon.

***
Rachel watched silently as Dusty finished up stitching one of the bigger gashed on Jack forehead over his eye. As he taped a bandage over it to join the others he placed previously Dusty commented, “I’ll check on that in a couple of days to see how it’s healing. Hopefully that won’t scar up on you.”

“Like one more going to make that much of a difference,” Jack said. Touching the bandage a bit he joked, “At least with this one I can tell people I tried to be like Evel Kinevel.” Something must have shown on her face because he looked at her and went, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she said immediately. “I’m just happy you’re all right.”

“This boys head is harder than granite,” Dusty grinned. “It’s going to take more than a few hits to crack his thing open.”

“It’s not like he didn’t try.” Again he looked at her and said, “Sorry.”

Lance came up to them. Looking uncomfortable he said, “Jack I wanted to…”

“I don’t think now’s a good time,” Rachel quickly said.

“The boy needs his rest,” Dusty said at the same time.

“Guys, it’s alright,” Jack told them. Slowing standing up he looked at Lance. “There’s no need to apologize. Their plan was to get your guys and use them as bait for me. Chances are this was going to happen anyway, we just cut out the middle man.” Seeing the device in Lances hand he said, “I see Rachel gave you my little memento. You probably want to know how that worked. Melissa probably needs to know too so I’ll tell you both at the same time. Just make sure I don’t fall down on the way there.” Jack went off toward Melissa with Lance right behind looking slightly confused.

Rachel and Dusty watched them leave. Dusty looked at her and went, “Was I the only one expecting that boy to rip into him?”

“You’re not the only one,” she remembered how he was acting when they got the job. “I guess it’s a good thing he can still surprise us at times.” He nodded in response. “Are you going to be staying long?”

“At least ‘till morning,” he answered. “Jack’s got no outward signs of a concussion but I just want to make sure. Besides,” he smiled, “it looks like you could use somebody to talk to right about now.”

Feeling grateful she said, “Thanks Dusty.”

***
Anderson got out of his chair immediately as Mitchell and Perez walked into the office. “Mitchell,” he said as he walked over and took his hand, “if I haven’t said it already it is good to have you back.” Remembering Perez was in the room he added, “Not to knock your performance Mr. Perez.”

“Even I knew I had some big boots to fill when I took the job,” Perez said.

“I just wish I was able to bring Jack in to make this particular celebration complete,” Mitchell said.

“No offence Mitchell,” Perez told him, “but Davidson been proven to be a real pain in the ass since you’ve been laid up.”

“Yes,” Anderson agreed, “Mr. Davidson has proven to be a worthy challenge to the men.”

“I think you mean lucky,” Mitchell commented with a smirk. He was still on this particular kick apparently.

“Well if you two will excuse me I’m going to see if I can train the men to be that ‘lucky’,” Perez said before he left the room.”

“I’ll be down there too in a bit,” Mitchell said before the door closed. “I have to head down to R&D first. I owe Armstrong and his team an apology for doubting them about that little surprise for Jack.”

When they were alone Anderson said, “I’m surprised you haven’t taken back total control of them men yet.”

“I was out of the loop longer than anybody anticipated,” Mitchell explained. “Perez made the unit his own in that time. He’s a good man and I don’t want to step on his toes. Besides you were always telling me the Fusion system was designed to be a solo act when Jack was here.”

“Quite right,” Anderson said as he sat back in his chair. “Did Perez tell you that he and the men discovered we have Drakan in the troops?”

“I told him I was aware of it,” he said. “I also told him I kept quiet about it because I didn’t want to prejudice the men and affect the unit. He accepted that answer.”

“Good,” he nodded. “It was a tense couple of days after that bit of information got out. As mad as he was at the time I was surprised Perez was able to calm the situation.” Anderson picked up a particular file off the desk and looked at him, “Now about your proposal.”

“I hurt Jack pretty good,” was his only explanation. “If he’s anything like I remember he’s going to be itching for a shot at some payback.”

“A person can change in the time you were out.”

“I looked him in the eyes, he didn’t change that much. And sometimes the reward is worth the risk.”

Anderson raised an eyebrow,” Quite. I believe I’ve said that on a couple of occasions myself. Or something similar. Work out the basics of the plan with Perez and bring it to me.” He nodded and left the room. Anderson leaned back in his chair a bit, he never realized how much he missed having this particular human around. He was actually happy he graced Mitchell with the red armor.

***
“This is nuts,” Melissa stated as she read the note in his hands. Two days after Jack encounter with Mitchell they get this down the grapevine. Her first instinct was to rip it up, nothing about it felt right. But Emily was there and convinced her to show it to Jack. She had no idea why she listened at this particular time. They found him and Rachel in the gym. Jack face was still bruised and bandaged as he pounded the hell out of the heavy bag. He only stopped when Rachel pointed out they were there.

“You’re holding a piece of paper and that can’t be good,” he commented.

“Mitchell wants you one on one,” she told them. “They talked to their contacts and word just now got to us. He even designated when and where if you can believe it.” Jack took the note without another word.

Dropping the note to the floor he headed for the exit, “It’s tomorrow, I’m there.”

“Are you nuts?”, Rachel asked as she picked up the note and read it for herself. “You’re not even healed from the last time.”

“It’s something I have to do,” was his only explanation as he kept going.

“Do you want me to show you exactly how short that leash is?”, Melissa told him making him stop in his tracks. “I know he hurt you but I’m not going to risk everything because you want revenge. And don’t think a lot of people will be backing you this time around.”

“This isn’t about what he did to me,” he told her.

Apparently Rachel didn’t believe him either, “I’m sorry Jack but even I know better this time around.”

“And he used the word ‘cell’ last time,” Jack told them. “If they didn’t know it before they know now there’s more than one group of rebels out there. And how soon before he goes looking for them if I don’t show up, if he hasn’t already. Those cells will be facing a Drakan Killer who’s going to have no problem killing anybody who get’s in his way. He has to be stopped before he starts living up to the name.”

She looked him in the eyes and read him. Melissa was a bit surprised, there were a couple of things in there that indicated revenge but that wasn’t what was driving his words at the moment. Thinking it over for a moment she slowly said, “I guess we have a day to work it out.” Jack nodded and Rachel just looked at her as they left. Turning toward Emily she said, “One of these days we are going to sit down and you’re going to explain to me exactly what this champion business is you planted in his head.”

“It’s nothing I planted child,” she said, “it was something that was already there. Certain events just brought it out of him, even if he’s still trying to figure it out what it means for him.”

***
The “meeting” place was at the pier, specifically near the area where they rebuilt Richie. Mitchell was definitely trying to push any button he could. Rachel insisted on coming with him saying she wanted to watch his back if he tried anything, despite the fact Sparky, Arron and the others were going to be around to cover the area. He only agreed to let her come this far after making her promise to get out of there if it got violent, which would probably be pretty quick if things went down like he thought they would. When they found him Mitchell was actually leaning against the same building they kept Richie in. “Rachel, long time no see,” he grinned. “Are you making the job of tracking you down easier after I take down Jack?”

“No she just wanted a reminder of what a jackass actually looked like,” Jack said as they got off the bike.

Laughing a bit as he got off the wall he said, “Cute, I hope you’re still this funny while you’re both in a detention cell.” Mitchell started to do his movements. Jack did the same as Rachel quickly backed away. “Transform!”, Mitchell shouted.

“Henshin!”, Jack said at once. Their armor formed around them as that ran. Jack went low at the last second and kicked his legs out from under him. Mitchell quickly kicked him away and got back to his feet. He found himself backing up from Mitchells’ attacks. Then he went in and under a left hook and hit him in the gut as hard he could. Quickly following up with a knee he grabbed him by the head. Mitchell broke his grip and hit several punches to his chest while he was open. Jack was forced to stumble back and fell to a knee. Mitchell took a second to gloat before aiming a kick at his head. He caught the other mans’ foot and pushed him back. Walking into a backhand Jack was grabbed and barely kept up as Mitchell started running. Next thing he knew he was flying in the air.

Landing on a loading he heard Mitchell cry out, “Damn it, I was aiming for a corner.” Jack got to his feet and saw Mitchell come right at him. Diving out of the way he thought fast as he saw a pipe by Mitchell. Jumping for the pipe Jack swung foreword and planted both of his feet in his chest. Jack ran at him and tackled him, crashing through the door behind him. He got in a couple of punches in before getting pushed off. Mitchell went for a back roundhouse that he stepped away from. He went in fast using the other man leg to jump off as he kicked him in the head. Jack got behind him, grabbed him by the waist and threw him. Again Mitchell broke his grip, flipped backwards in the air and landed on his feet. Jack got up and got tagged with a right hook that sent him back top the floor. Mitchell stood over him saying, “I guess that fall took more out of you than I thought. You’re actually putting up a fight this time around. Too bad the end is still going to be the same.” He kicked him in the head before he could to anything.

***
Rachel ran toward the warehouse they crashed into. She didn’t tell Jack but she had another reason for wanting to come with him. When she reached the door she saw Jack on the ground and Mitchell picking his shots. Her hand going for her jean pocket she ran toward them. In her hand was the same device Mitchell used on him, fully recharged. He didn’t see her coming until it was too late and she slapped it on his back. She stepped back as Mitchell did everything not to scream as the charge racked his body. Like she hopped the armor faded away and he fell to his all fours. “Jack are you…,” was all she got out as Mitchell popped back up and hit her with a backhand that had a very audible smack that sent her sprawling to the floor.

Mitchell stood over her and spat, “You stupid bi…*gack*!”. She looked up to see him trying to pry Jack’s hand from around his neck.

“Big mistake,” his voice was dripping with anger as he wouldn’t let up. Mitchell quickly drew his gun. For a brief moment Rachel thought they found a way to turn that metal into bullets shells. Then he pointed it right at her. Jack started to squeeze harder. The muzzle of the gun started shaking slightly but it was still aimed at her and she was too scared to move. Mitchell face was turning a deep red but the gun wouldn’t waiver. It was almost like he was challenging Jack to do it before he could pull the trigger. Jack threw him to the side after a moment. He put his arms around her and forced her head back down to the ground. Rachel felt her heart skipped a beat as she heard the gun fire and the bullets ping off of his armor.

“Jack, Rachel!”, Arron shouted in his wolf form as he lead some of the others into the building. Mitchell fired off a few more rounds to keep them at bay.

“You’re luck going to run out one of these days,” he croaked before running off. Jack got off of her stood there watching Mitchell leave, his fist shaking slightly. He deactivated the armor after it looked like it was clear.

“We found most of the troopers and sent them running,” Arron explained. “We came as soon as we heard the gunfire.” He looked down at her and went to a knee immediately, “Geez Rachel what happened to you? You’re going to have a bit of a mouse under that eye.”

“What?”, Jack turned toward them and hurried over. He knelt down and she looked away not wanting him to see for some reason. Gently he took her by the chin and looked at the damage. She watched the concern in his eyes turn into something colder in a couple of blinks. He grunted, “I’m going to kill him,” as he looked to were Mitchell went and started to get up. Rachel grabbed his arm to stop him.

“I want to go home,” she said.

“Might not be a bad idea,” Arron agreed.

Jack looked at her and his eyes soften again as he softly said, “OK.” Kneeling back down he told Arron, “Let’s give her a few minutes first.” She was going to ask why then she noticed her hands were still shaking. She only been close to dying one other time, and she was unconscious for most of that one. Jack stayed with her rubbing her neck and shoulder until the shaking stopped. Again he took her by the chin and lifted her head up. With that half grin of his on his face he said, “You’re suppose to be the smart one in this duo. Leave the rough stuff to me in the future, ok.”

She grinned back, “I’m not making any promises.”

“Good enough,” he said.

***
Mitchell didn’t go far, only a couple of building away. The mission was blown and Jack got away, again. But he couldn’t stop smiling to himself. Still holding his throat he looked back at where he came from he said out loud, “You shouldn’t have shown me that one Jack.”


*Ending theme – Linkin Park – What I’ve Done*