"Whatever you might have been; fallen by your own hubris, a fool, or a victim, it stopped being relevant the moment you took children and tortured them to death for your own gains, Victor. If I had a certain way to contain and stop you from doing it again, I would take it, but to my knowledge, nobody does. Either you die today, or I let you live so that you might kill again, there is no third option," Jack explains. He really feels no remorse about the man. With his memory, he'll forever live with the memory of those children buried in the sand, as if he were there.

Forever.

Even now, it fills him with a rage that he knows this won't quench.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 620):

"Maybe.  But there's much worse in this life.  You don't know what it's like to be afraid of something you can't even understand.

"Fine then.  It's obvious I can't defeat like I did the others.

"Let's do this then."

The scene changes one last time.  This time it's a colleseum.

Across the way from you is a guy who looks like some kid's dad who's had a bad day at work.

He glares at you, with his five o'clock shadow and beer gut, and waves at you.

"Well? Come on then."

I am going to make you work a little bit for this one.

Give me three moves.  Heat vision.  A left hook.  Shot to the gut.  Whatever.  Give them to me in the order you take them.

Thanks

"Not for those kids, there wasn't," Jack replies and let's be honest, what more need be said to the evil bastard. His eyes flash white as the scenery changes. Constantly mindful for last ditch efforts.

As the fight begins he comes in fast with a feinted sweep of his heat vision at head level to get Victor to duck.

He follows that with a leg sweep. Keeping his opponent off balance.

Aiming to finish the thing with a spear hand through the heart.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 622):

Victor ducks the heat ray as you planned.

You sweep the leg.

But as you pierce his chest with your Jack-Spear, you notice the issue right away.

His skin gives way too easily.  His bones give easily like making indentions in wet sand.

Victor begins to come apart and slide up your arm, going liquid metal.  He covers your arm and shoulder and slithers up your neck to your ear.

"This is my world.  Everything in it.  Including myself.  You exist here too.  Now."

He's trying to slither into your ear canal.

Jack ignores the dead man walking and starts to blast at his own arm and all the surfaces of the Victor-goo with his heat vision. If it'd killed Victor before, it'd kill him now, and now he's gotten so close he can't possibly dodge.

As to the approach on his ear, he lifts his hands and cups them over his ears. He doesn't actually think getting in his ears would do anything because it's not like his membranous tissue is somehow weaker than the rest of the tissue on his body, but it doesn't hurt to make the guy think it's a vulnerable target.

If there is no attempt on one ear or the other, he uses that hand to pull off and cook all the Victor goo, rapidly. Right out of his hand.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 624):

The goo tries slithering into the spaces between your fingers, and does a reasonable enough job of it.  But...alas Poor Victor...he doesn't know you have eardrums of steel.

You feel the pressure as Goo Victor tries to pierce your eardrum.  But it does him no good.  You manage to dig the bits of him out and cook off the bulk of him.

Soon, the goo falls off, collecting and turning into a sad looking old man.  He glares up at you.

"It's not my fault.  I shouldn't have to go away over something that's not my fault."

I'll let you decide how to coup-de-grace him.  And then we will wrap this one up.

Unless there is something else you want to do here?

Jack had already explained to the man his reasoning. He’d already explained that if there were any other method to contain the guy, reliably, and to be certain he would never hurt anyone else, he would chose that. He might not want to, but it’s better than sinking to the guy’s level. But he doesn’t have any of those options and to his knowledge, there’s nobody in his circle of acquaintances who could.

Maybe that guy with the localized reality warping powers? Short term at least, but long term? No.

“Tell the devil I said hello,” he replies and then reduces the man to ash. Lifting his hand to his ear as he continues to hunt down even hints of floating ash in the air and burn them further until he can find nothing that remains.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 626):

You sizzle every part of Victor you can find.  And you have really good eyesight.

There's a squawk in your ear.  The earpiece has started working again.

".....lo?  Hello?  Can you hear me?  I'm going to try broadcasting for another two minutes and then assume we've lost you too."

Sounds like Mrs. Image is used to giving up on guys they send in here.

"Hello Mrs. Image, please open a gateway. Victor is dead," Jack answers, realizing after a moment that if Victor had gone for the earpiece, it could have been a real pickle. He'll have to make sure the guy hadn't snuck into the ear piece once he is back on the other side. In fact, he'll probably just blast the thing to be certain, and then double check his equipment.

Just to be certain.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 628):

There's nothing but silence at the other end of the earpiece.

For a loooooooong time.

Then the space in front of you starts to glow.  Soon, the same portal you stepped through opens up.

You come out somewhere different than where you started.  You are on top of a building.  That hospital across from the mall you and Lydia had your date at.  No sign of Paley or Mrs. Paley.

You vaporize the earpiece.  No other indications Vic has attached himself.

It seems to be over.

Your cell phone starts pinging like mad.

Marlene is asking where you are.

Lydia asking why you haven't been in school

Same with Kevin and Darja and HT and several others.

Checking the date, you can see why.  It's been four days since you went through the portal.

To everyone, with personalize additions to follow: I was in another dimension, back now. All good now.

To Marlene: Sorry about not letting you know, I didn't know there was a time dilation problem, it's only been a short while for me.

To Lydia: We should get together, soon! Sorry about not telling you I'd be gone.

To Kevin: Sandman is done. Pale Image should go out of business, he said he would in exchange for dealing with the Sandman.

To HT: Time dilation sucks. The Sandman case is done, Pale Image should go out of business on his own as part of the deal.

To Darja: You didn't answer before: How's Colby?

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 630):

Lydia texts you back a heart and a WOW!!! emoji.

Marlene calls.  She has a few words to say, but it's mostly overprotective parental speak.  You handle her easily enough.

HT pings back.  They'll want to debrief.  Took care of your abcense with the school.  Stop in tomorrow after classes

Kevin: Got a lead on Manitou.  Can't talk tonight cos of doings.  Need to meet tomorrow

Darja.  He's in the hospital.

It's not the hospital you're standing on top of.  This one is across town not far from his house.  She gives you the room number.

Jack sends off an: OK. to pretty much everyone except Marlene and Lydia.

To Darja, he has outstanding questions: Clarify, please, Princess.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 632):

He got beaten up.  Not sure by who.

's pretty bad.  He had to have surgery.

They tried to cut off his nose Jack

Didn't we have Darja watching him and he was being protected because Roger was after him?

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 634):

I believe that was how things were before you jumped into Vic-Land, yes.

You'd have to talk to her to get the specifics

What happened? Clearly some things happened while I was elsewhere.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 636):

Instead of a reply or your phone ringing, you "hear"

"Jack."

Darja sounds exhausted.  And a little bitter.  She almost sounds like Mom did when she got really drunk and started talking about how Dad left.

"Sorry.  I-

"So somethings happened.  Roger came after Cody.  He hired this guy.  Kinslayer.  HT says Kinslayer is a bad ass."

You know the name and quite a bit about him.  Kinslayer.  On the Meta Threat Index he's a Black.  Not quite your level, but he's serious enough to give the average superteam trouble.

"And he was.  Kinslayer came after Cody and I fought him.  HT and some of the teachers showed up, but by that time Roger got in.  He'd taken over Cody's father.  Kidnapped Cody and drove off in their delivery truck.

"By the time I found them, someone had intercepted them.  Cody's Dad was knocked out.  Cody was...they beat him pretty bad.  It was like they were trying to do surgery on his nose.

"I must have scared them off, because they were gone by the time I landed.  But Cody...

"Anyway.  Program has Cody under guard.  They say Roger's gone from his Dad.

"Jack, they're saying Cody is some kind of special meta.  That he can sense other metas.

"Did you know anything about that?"

Colby, btw.

Jack would have thought Darja could handle a guy of that level of strength, but apparently not, he doesn’t regret going to deal with Victor, it needed to happen—only that the time dilation had resulted in an injury to his friend. He doesn’t say anything for a moment as he listens to her explanation.

“I do, he asked me to keep it between us, so I did, as I would hope you would too, friends or not,” he tells Darja. He’d told her to watch out for him, the psycho’s reasoning is sort of irrelevant, and that he’d brought in ‘Kinslayer’ is just a reason to be more annoyed with Roger.

He’d have to step on that nerd eventually. Just need to find a way.

Staring off into space for a moment, he blitzes a change of clothes, and a wipe down with a moistened toilette and some fresh deodorant. He doesn’t sweat, or really expel anything, and he has no oily skin to speak of, ever, but he had definitely gotten a little Victor on him—so a little clean-up is necessary before he flies to the hospital fast enough to ever so briefly crack the sound barrier before he lands on the roof.

“I’m going to go see him now, if you want to join me Princess,” he adds, “He won’t blame you for what happened,” he adds before she might express something stupid.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 638):

Sorry.  I was actually talking to someone named Cody as I was typing that post up.

I'm old.  I get confused easily

Darj draws in a sharp intake of breath.  Obviously she does blame herself.  But she just says, "Yeah.  I'll see you there."

You arrive first by 2.4 seconds.  Darja looks like hell.  Her arm is in a sling.  She has a black eye.  There's a patch over one of her ears, which under the padding is a bit of a mess.

She gives you a feeble smile and opens his door.  "He's awake I think."

The program has a couple of guards in the hall. They've tech'd up the room with plenty of monitoring.  And they seem to have people stationed at various choke points on the floors above and below.

Colby is very bad.  From below his eyes to above his upper lip is completely bandaged up.  He's on a respirator.

He blinks at you once.  Pause.  And then once again.

"He can't talk," Darja explains.  "Blinks like that for Hello.  Rapidly for get a nurse.  Otherwise, it's two blinks for yes.  Three for no."

Seeing Darja coming from a few miles off, given how fast she flies and how far he can see, Jack pulls out his phone and sends off a message to HT: Do we not have someone on speed-dial with the ability to heal others in the case of a massive clusterfluffle? Darja looks like she got hit by a bus.

When Darja lands, he steps close and puts an arm around the uninjured side in a sort of pseudo hug. Taking a step back, he then spends a moment assessing the damage to her.

Perhaps a blood donation would help her and Colby, he’d need to cut himself to donate a single drop, but it might put her back to rights rather quickly. If only mom wasn’t a crazy person and hadn’t escaped from her prison, he would have just asked her.

Looking toward Colby, as they walk into the hospital and get past the Program people, he nods at his buddy.

“Hey dude,” he greets. “Sorry I couldn’t be there to help you guys, I was in another dimension.”

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 640):

Colby blinks twice.  You guess that's as close as he can get to No worries.

Darja smiles wanly at him and you.  "I'm glad you're back. I...didn't think it would that tough.  Anyway." She changes topic as quickly as she can.

"The doctors say the news is good.  He should be here for a while, but they expect him to mend."

Colby blinks twice.

Darja nods her head towards the hall.  "I'm gonna get us some sodas.  Mr. Pibb, right?"

She whispers so only you can hear come outside when you can

---

HT texts back.  Not right now.  Omen's on a mission.  Working on it

Jack nods to Darja and decides he'll need to reiterate his earlier comments, he won't tell her to stick around Colby just to make him happy, but she needs to know that this sort of thing can happen. He can't guarantee he can protect Lydia, and he'd made sure to warn his girlfriend that there was a small chance she could be targeted because of who he is--but the world is full of supervillains that could target the whole city.

People get hurt.

"Yeah, Pibb," he confirms, pleased that he hasn't been offered a g-d Fresca.

Standing next to the bed with Colby, he checks him over with his hands on his hips and then looks back up at his buddy.

"Okay, first, do you need me to change the channel? Get you a USB drive with a bunch of movies on it to stream? Maybe catch up on some anime?" he proposes, making an offer for several things and making note of whatever Colby wants to watch. Deciphering things and working down a list of possible shows that Colby might like. Audiobooks, shows, whatever he asks for, Jack will get.

He doesn't mention working to get a healer, but doesn't want to get Colby's hopes up by over-promising, and it'll just be cleaner to bring them in and have it done than make a production out of it.

Talking with his friend, he asks about things like how the jello is, whether there are any cute nurses, and if he needs to beat anyone up.

"Now that they know, they talk to you about the Program?" he asks after a bit.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 642):

Change the Channel No

USB Drive Yes

Anime Yes but it seems non-commital.

Program.  There's a long, long pause.  And then Yes

"Cool. I'll get the drive for you as soon as we're done here," Jack mentions with a thumbs up and then glances toward the door. "In fact, let me go get that real quick--I'll want to set it up myself, these nerds don't know what they're doing," he moves his head to indicate the Program people, they undoubtedly could have done it themselves, but he might as well do it. "Back in a few."

Heading into the hallway, he goes over to Darja and looks at her expectantly.