Galactic High

“Well done, Sephy!” Alora called out, as suddenly several turrets along the outer wall activated and swivelled towards the mob of Klowns who started bellowing in anger as the heavy superheated plasma began to light them the fuck up.

“What!?” Sephy called back from where she had been trying to slice into the system. “That wasn’t me! What the fuck just happened?”

“Someone must have turned the emergency power on!” Sigrin gasped in shock. “The only place they could have done that from is the Security Nexus!”

“I thought you said you couldn’t contact anyone there?” Luvia questioned, having quickly flown down from the wall to demand an update.

“I couldn’t!” Sigrin confirmed. “I haven’t received any answer from our guards there, and someone activated the siege system before the attack began - it should have been completely locked down and impregnable! But by tripping the emergency power, the basic automated defences have been activated!”

“What about the other systems you have?” Nika spoke up from where she had stationed herself.

“They wouldn’t be triggered by default,” Sigrin replied, before turning to Sephy. “Can you get me a line to the Security Nexus?”

“I can, now that I have power to work with!” Sephy grinned as she quickly got to work, slipping into cyberspace and rerouting connections to get a secure line, before nodding to Sigrin to confirm she was now connected.

“Nexus, this is Sigrin Bharzum, why the fuck haven’t you been doing your jobs?” the Acting Elder asked.

“Whoa, what the shit?” a familiar voice called in surprise from the other end. “Where the fuck did that come from?”

“Jack!” Alora gasped in relief. “Thank the gods you’re alright!”

“Alora?” Jack called back. “Is that you? Are the others ok?”

“We’re fine for now!” Alora called back shaking. “We-”

“Jack was it? What’s the status of the security team?” Sigrin interrupted. “They should have alerted us to the attack and deployed countermeasures before it was allowed to occur.”

“Dead,” Jack announced. “Taken by surprise, some still dead in their seats. I don’t think the Klowns did this, don’t know what did, they’re not here any more as far as I can tell.”

Sigrin paused for a moment to allow that to sink in, before Jack spoke up.

“I need medics down here as soon as possible, there are badly wounded that need urgent attention! Where the hell is the cavalry?”

Sigrin looked confused for a moment at the expression, but quickly realised what he meant.

“I don’t know, I got a distress signal out but haven’t had a response - the Klowns are jamming us. Jack, I need you to activate the secondary and tertiary defences from where you are.”

“How the hell do I do that?” Jack asked into the walkie-talkie-looking device he had picked up from someone who was probably the deceased security chief.

“Now that the power is back on, there are several coloured switches that you should see at the main terminal, you just need to activate-”

Jack wasted no time, pressing buttons, turning keys and flipping switches. He heard several rumblings in the distance, followed by a lot of powerful-sounding gunfire.

“Done it, what’s next?” Jack asked.

“I- alright,” Sigrin confirmed, pleased that the Klowns were now getting some payback. “Next are the droids. Next to each charging station is a button that will-”

“Get them to do something? On it!” Jack quickly panted as he sprinted to the far wall, pounding each button and releasing several intimidating-looking robots with powerful guns that looked even more impressive than the Zero-Zone droids from the Prefect’s Lockup, as well as several others that were slightly smaller and looked like they had been designed with utility in mind. He really hoped that some of them were better able to render first aid than he was as he pointed a group back the way he came from.

“That’s good, I can see why my sisters told me about you,” Sigrin replied, checking the status of the bots from the monitor at the gate security post. Using the hidden staff doors, they would be able to get the drop on the Klowns and begin purging the complex of them. “My team can remotely access the long range comms from here. Good job, there’s nothing else you need to do. Stay there and a High Threat Response Team will come and pick you up when-”

“No way,” Jack interrupted. “I can still fight and I might be able to rescue some more people. Has the Killer Klown been sighted?”

“I haven’t been told of any sightings but that doesn’t mean he isn’t here. Why do you ask?”

“I can take him,” Jack replied in a low growl.

“You’ll be on your own! A High Threat Response team has confirmed that they'll-” Sigrin began to argue before Jack cut her off again.

“I need a map of the complex so I know where the hell I’m going.” Jack told her. “I can bring people into the staff section if I’m careful.”

“Here you go, Jack!” Sephy replied, sending an interactive minimap to Jack’s commlink.

“The Klowns suppression field is weakening,” Alora added. “Commlinks should start to work again and we’re working on a portal to get the wounded out.”

“Oh shit…” she heard Jack gasp.

“What? What’s happening?” Sigrin asked as she could hear sprinting on the other end.

“I’m not letting him get away!” Was all they heard before the line went static…

*****

“The portal is up! Get the wounded out!” Luviannestixxx ordered from the sky, before swooping down and breathing a line of fire that melted any Klown it directly hit.

“If any of you die with a cold gun…” Svaartal snarled from the head of the battle formation at the gate, “I’ll sodomize your fucking corpse!”

Svaarti was leading the ritual to create and maintain a powerful portal to the school, but she needed time to hold it open long enough for everyone else to escape through it before she used it herself. Though Svaartal was more than accomplished enough to participate in the ritual and help, he trusted the defence of his sister to nobody else.

Though the fort's defences had finally been activated, this had only emboldened the Klowns, and as Svaarti’s barrier dissipated, they howled in glee as they charged in.

A volley of plasma from the front gate cut several Klowns down, though many more were able to climb over the bodies that were already there, led by a large brute with a thick, cruel maul that seemed to shrug off any shot that hit. Recognising the danger, Svaartal began casting as quickly as he could; the giant glaring at the mage with murderous intent as they held the maul above their head, roared as he got closer and closer, with several of the defenders breaking in panic as they knew they couldn’t take him down…

“Shri’ak!” Svaartal growled, timing the spell just right and pointing his wand straight at the brute. A bolt of powerful blue light shot out towards the Klown, smacking him right in the chest, and the powerful force spell ripped the giant apart, instantly turning them into a spray of gore that exploded outwards with the strength of the spell, which expanded in a semicircle from the point of impact, blasting the Klowns around them.

Several of those that remained - mostly the Hoduth guards he had commandeered - cheered, though Svaartal could also see the Kizun, Skritta, Eladrie and Ilithii from his class eying him cautiously.

“Let them be afraid,” Carrow spoke up from his dutiful place on Svaartal’s shoulder as the familiar cast protective enchantments on the pair of them. “This is your hour, master.”

“Yes.” Svaartal grinned in agreement.

“Yes it is.”

*****

Jack sprinted down the staff corridor as quickly as he could, trusting the minimap Sephy had sent him on his commlink. He had been checking the camera footage from the freshly activated CCTV, looking to see if he could find anyone that had needed help, and finding nobody, when he spotted the figure in one of the upper chambers.

Recognising the room from where Vanya and Svaarti had spoken to him earlier that night, he had exited the Security Nexus and was rushing to the far end of the complex, hoping that he had correctly remembered the commlink mapping software that Sephy had taught him the basics of using.

Checking the peephole of the secret door, Jack opened it into the body-laden corridor and shut it behind him, forgoing his safe haven. There had been a slaughter here, and as Jack followed the bodies, he could see several of both innocents and Klowns who had been struck down with wounds not too dissimilar to those of the guards in the Security Nexus.

Getting to the end of the corridor, Jack could see the end of the fight he had seen on the cameras, with a figure in the distance swiftly dodging a sword swipe before they leapt in close and mercilessly stabbed a knife into the swordsman’s neck. Jack sprinted to catch up as the figure instantly turned to recognise the threat, before they threw their victim at Jack with unnatural strength, knocking the human down before running away and putting distance between them.

Jack roughly grunted as he got up, not having expected that kind of power. He briefly looked at the victim’s face, and felt a pang of guilt when he saw the glazed eyes of Killer Kush staring back at him. Though the bounty hunter had tried to kill him previously, he had died fighting the Klowns tonight, and so Jack gave him his full respect.

“Hope you’re smoking the good stuff in a better place,” Jack whispered as he gently closed the fallen warrior’s eyes and laid him down. He quickly got himself together before picking up the pace and chasing the figure in the distance, letting off shots on pure instinct with his Dominator at any Klowns that tried to jump him, and sent several after his target, who seemed to sense where the shots would be and swiftly moved out of the way just before impact.

Jack sprinted as fast as he possibly could down the blood-stained tunnels, making some slight ground on the figure in the distance.

Though the other person was fast. Impossibly so.

Grunting with effort, Jack kept on the figure as they weaved down side passages in an attempt to shake him, not even bothering to look back at him before skidding to a halt at a dead end cavern, calmly turning around as Jack stopped and heard the readying of rifles around the room.

Like an idiot, he’d been led straight into an ambush!

“Hold your fire,” Dr Reyazz Grine spoke quietly and deliberately to the others in the room, so quiet that Jack barely heard him.

Dr Grine said nothing else for the moment as they just stared at Jack with hateful yellow eyes, like a child would examine a particularly interesting insect.

Right before pulling it to pieces.

“I know everything I need to know about you from your bounty,” Jack growled. “Murder. Torture. Mutilation. And to top that off you like to target children. You’re probably one of the most fucked up dudes I’ve heard about in this crapsack place.”

Dr Grine still said nothing, just staring at Jack. Looking closely, Jack thought he could see the wicked facial scars that jigsawed along his pale white flesh part and move, almost like they were alive.

“It is now apparent to me that you clearly know nothing of consequence, boy,” Dr Grine calmly sneered back after several seconds. “How disappointing. At least the samples of your DNA your Drow associates provided proved promising. An excellent tool I will use to eliminate Devil’s Daughter.”

“I doubt it…” Jack snarled, as Dr Grine’s expression shifted to a slight hint of curiosity.

“You’ll be too dead.”

Adrenaline rushing through him, Jack quickly dove to the side, drawing his Dominator and letting loose a bolt of photon energy at Dr Grine, who quickly dodged the shot. Swinging his arm around in a fluid motion, Jack fired again, taking out one of the Klown guards with a clean headshot, then again, catching another in the chest. Before the remaining two could aim their plasma rifles at Jack, the prone human quickly snapped his gun to them and let out a rapid burst that took out both.

It took him barely a second to wipe them out.

Kicking up to his feet, Jack quickly summoned his shield and braced as something slammed into him hard, flipping up and over him as he angled his block upwards, diverging the momentum of the charge. Dr Grine landed gracefully like a cat, quickly spinning around to face the human before dodging a swing of Jack’s axe that missed his head by millimetres, skidding back rapidly to dodge the swipe.

“Why the hell did you open a way for the Klowns to get in anyway?” Jack taunted, trying to get a rise out of this monster and break his calm facade. “Do you work for them or are you just a bitch that’ll do anything for a quick buck? Gonna take it up the ass from the Killer Klown next?”

Grine calmly paced to the side, not responding as Jack taunted him, though the human was being anything but careless.

He’s definitely looking for a weakness and getting ready to attack. Jack thought. So I’ve gotta nail him first!

Jack leapt in, seeing Grine’s eyes slightly widen as he saw the vivisectionist lean slightly to their left to dodge a vertical chop from Jack’s axe. However, Jack knew that would happen, and he used his momentum to pivot on his leading foot to follow through with a kick aimed at where he knew Dr Grine would be, briefly connecting and sending the red-haired scientist slightly stumbling back, though they quickly recovered as Jack swung his axe hard horizontally, ducking under the blow and delivering a punch to Jack’s stomach that the human felt hard, though that didn’t stop him from reversing his swing and slashing again at Grine, and he once again felt a slight hint of resistance as his axe connected just before the Dr leapt back to get out of Jack’s superior range.

“Manlets. When will they ever learn?” Jack taunted as he quickly switched to his Dominator and forced Grine to dodge several shots, before Grine suddenly changed tactics and charged Jack, who barely got his shield up in time to eat a strike that sent him staggering back several paces.

This guy had no right to be this fast or strong!

“Interesting,” Dr Grine muttered quietly, almost to himself, jumping away to avoid Jack’s counter-attack while reaching into his pocket and throwing something purple at Jack’s feet. Recognising the grenade for what it was, Jack jumped back too, bringing his shield up as the shockwave blasted him back to smack against the rough stone walls of the chamber.

Jack quickly got up just in time to see Dr Grine pull out some sort of injection device from his coat, stabbing himself hard in the chest and holding the plunger down as his form began to warp and shift. The scars along Grine’s face and the visible parts of his body began to get far more pronounced as his body began to stretch and twist in crooked forms. Bony spikes began to protrude in various places along the body almost protectively, and a spiked tail extended outwards, swishing back and forth in anticipation.

As Jack started shooting, two bony appendages blasted out from the top of Grine’s shoulders and almost automatically blocked the shots. Chunks of burned bone and flesh spattered off as the appendages began to self-repair, harden and expand in response to the trauma.

‘You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.’ Jack thought to himself. “OVERCHARGE!”

The mutated mass of Dr Grine visibly panicked on hearing Jack charge up his weapon, and tried to quickly dodge to the side to avoid the shot. But though Grine was now larger and more durable than before, that clearly came at a cost of speed as the heavy shot clipped the flailing limbs of flesh, blasting sizzling and bubbling gore against the back walls.

“It is obvious why Malakiel sees you as a high level threat, Outsider,” Dr Grine sneered, breaking the facade of calmness he had maintained before as he quickly pounced to his feet, his damaged body already beginning to repair itself. “But I doubt that fool A.I. has even scratched the surface…”

Dr Grine dashed forward as Jack quickly fired a rapid burst. As the monstrous form shook off the blasts, Jack heard the subtle ‘beep’ of the Dominator to tell him it needed to recharge. Cursing, Jack swapped to his axe as he dodged to the side of the sudden rush, being caught off guard as Grine reacted quicker than he expected, turning and striking with a bladed fist that made a dent and poked a hole through Jack’s shield as he only just brought it up in time, before several protrusions attached to the arm slithered past Jack’s guard and began raking his arm repeatedly, leaving jagged cuts along his forearm that began dripping heavily with blood.

Jack shoved back as hard as he could, but this time, the bash barely knocked Grine back. His arm hurt through the adrenaline and Jack fought in his mind to put the pain to one side. Pulling out his by now very blunted axe, he rushed forward, ducking a swipe from a bone spike and aimed for Grine’s head, hitting one of the shoulder joints and digging deep as the Vivisectionist attempted to dodge to the side, much quicker than Jack had predicted.

Tearing the weapon out with a squelching sound, Jack ducked as rapidly as he could just in time as a mutated claw nearly took his head off. Using the momentum of his movement, Jack swung up with the axe and caught the limb at the elbow, almost severing it completely, proving he was still strong enough to mostly cut through the bone and sinew despite the relative bluntness of the axe blade at this point.

Dr Grine growled, now having totally lost control of his emotions as he raged at the boy who was somehow still alive. “I will enjoy dissecting what remains of your body! You’re too dangerous to live!”

“Kill me if you can!” Jack roared back as he charged forward, now on the offensive as he quickly blocked a flurry of bone shards that were shot at him, embedding into his shield but not punching all the way through. Grine took a defensive stance as he prepared to meet Jack head-on, but at the last moment Jack leapt to the side, jumping and kicking off the wall and taking Grine by surprise as he changed the direction of his attack and chopped down, anticipating the likely direction of the inevitable dodge and extending the grip of his axe to give him more length to work with.

The axe wickedly sliced down and caught Dr Grine in the face, slicing through one of the hateful yellow eyes and tearing down to rip through part of his mouth as the evil doctor roared in pain, barely having enough time to block Jack’s powerful backswing and counter with another claw that dug deep into Jack’s stomach as he tried to jump back and block it.

“I can do this all night!” Jack grinned through the pain, leaping forward with another charge as he saw Grine subconsciously move a hand to feel his injury.

Swiftly blocking the chop with a bony arm, dodging back with a snarl and pulling back, Dr Grine ripped the axe from Jack’s grasp before wildly throwing it back, the human barely dodging in time to avoid the deadly projectile as it slammed and stuck into the rock wall behind. Jack realised with a pang of horror that he had been baited into attacking, and Grine had wanted to disarm him. He’d need to buy himself enough time to get it back…

On pure instinct Jack took a stance and blocked an overhead haymaker that rocked him. Though he had diverted the power of the attack, it was even stronger than anything Grine had hit him with so far, and Jack knew he was in big trouble. Taking a risk, he stayed low as he dashed forward, tackling Grine around the waist and knocking him to the ground, finding his enemy to be considerably lighter than he expected…

Wait a moment…That was it!

The extra elongated arms and body were powerful, but the limbs were thin and spindly, and though Grine had some kind of regenerative ability for lighter wounds, the body parts Jack had severed were not growing back.

He hasn’t gained any mass from transforming. Jack thought to himself. He’s just moved his natural mass around to optimise it for a fight. That’s why he still weighs the same if not less than before. If I can reduce his mass enough or destroy a vital organ he needs to pull this off…

Jack wasted no time, blocking a desperate swipe from a claw with his forearm before Grine could build up any power, though Jack still strained against the unnatural strength of his enemy. There was no doubt about it - Dr Grine was getting stronger and faster with each passing second.

His energy levels are immense! Surely he can’t maintain it for very long! Jack thought to himself as he fought to maintain the grapple as Dr Grine shook hard to get him off. “Aegis!” he growled as he blindly slid his arm forward while Grine kicked and battered Jack’s body, bone barbs stabbing and digging deeply into the human’s body.

The shield caught Grine at the ankle just as he was able to break the grip, slicing just enough to force the doctor to shift his mass to reinforce a supporting bone to act as a peg leg.

You’re stable enough on your feet but that’ll still slow you down. Jack thought in the back of his mind as he registered the pain all over his body. But I’m not in a good spot either. I need to finish this quickly before he gets reinforcements!

The expression on Dr Grine’s face changed as he realised what was coming when Jack quickly sprinted for his axe, bringing his shield up just in time as several shards of bone were desperately fired in his direction, firing back a few shots with his barely-recharged dominator while Grine threw another one of his purple bombs towards him. One of the shots intercepted it mid-air, blasting the explosive apart before it got too close, the resulting shockwave knocking both of them down.

Jack got up quickly as the adrenaline rushed through him, pulling himself up and coughing up blood as rock dust kicked up in the air. Quickly looking around for where his axe was, he brought his shield up as he heard the movement just before Dr Grine charged in, barely managing to stifle a yelp of agony when a spear of bone broke through the metal plating of his shield and stabbed him in the stomach.

Jack grabbed the haft of bone and held on as tightly as he could, whilst Grine grabbed the shield and pulled him in closer. Jack growled in pain as the spear dug deeper and deeper, and in desperation he brought his knee up with all of his might, snapping the bone and taking a thick nasty cut across one of his ribs for the trouble at the sudden give of resistance, as the newly splintered bone raked across him.

Growling with determination, Jack held on as he yanked the bone spike out of him, getting to one knee as his leg gave out from under him. He felt something pull hard on his shield as Dr Grine lashed out with a flurry of attacks, knocking Jack senseless as he ate the strikes, hearing more than feeling the thunderous impacts as they battered, stung and slashed his body.

I can’t keep on the defensive any more, I need to... Jack thought to himself, trying to come up with a way to fight back.

Wait.

He did have…

Jack roared a battle cry as he got back up to his feet, shoving back, and grinning as he predicted the pushback from Grine. He held his stance as the evil doctor pushed back harder, and that was when Jack deactivated his shield, bringing Grine off balance as he stumbled forward.

“Agni!” Jack yelled, and a jet of fire burst out from his bracer that quickly enveloped Grine as he struggled to get away, his flesh bubbling and blackening from the cleansing flames. He felt the metal of the bracer heat up and sear into his own flesh, knowing that Chiyo had not completed the magical binding that would fuse the shield and his newly liberated flame gauntlet together safely, but he was out of options, and he knew he could take the pain.

“Oh no you don’t!” Jack yelled as he grabbed Grine by his red hair and pulled him closer to the roaring inferno he was spewing, growling as the flames licked his forearm and hand, but causing devastating damage to Grine as he flailed wildly in Jack’s grip, desperate to get away. Suddenly, both Grine and Jack were flung away from each other hard as Grine’s final purple bomb exploded point blank, ignited by the flames. Jack’s vision spun as he smacked hard into rock with a sickening crunch, blacking out for a brief moment before he found his resolve and pushed himself up again, forcing himself not to look too hard at his wounds. He saw Dr Grine getting up as well, growing fresh appendages as he started slowly climbing up the wall towards a metal grate at the top…

Jack roared in rage, sprinting as fast and hard as he could, leaping high and only just catching Grine by the ankle, pushing against the wall and tearing them both away from it before they slammed onto the ground with a nasty thud. Jack quickly got on top of Grine, pinning him to the ground, though the doctor was able to grab Jack’s bracer-arm, using his power to twist and point it away. Jack felt the strain and knew Grine would try to break it, which left him with only one option…

“Overcharge you son of a bitch!” Jack yelled at Grine, as he dug the barrel of his Dominator right into the vivisectionist’s torso. He heard the whine of his gun charge up power, and knew the countdown for what it would mean.

“Fool boy! It will kill you too!” Grine sneered as he struggled to get away, trying to throw Jack off of him.

But despite the powerful, desperate strength of Dr Grine, Jack held on with everything he had.

“I know,” Jack replied, as he felt the serene calmness of acceptance in his mind. “But I’ll take you with me!”

Grine’s eyes widened as he realised what Jack was trying to do, panicking as he redoubled his efforts, stabbing Jack in the leg repeatedly to try and force the human to relinquish the pin.

But Jack held on.

Alora, Sephy, Nika, Chiyo and Dante, I love you all! To all the friends and companions I have met…I am honoured and privileged to have known you and hope my sacrifice saves a lot of people from this monster.

Mum, Dad, I hope you would be proud of me. Aliza….I’ll see you soon. Jack thought desperately in the back of his mind as Dr Grine gave one last defiant roar, desperate to break away as the overcharge audio cue for the Dominator wound up, almost ready to unleash hell…

Suddenly, with a screeching sound, a black-hooded figure magically materialised in the centre of the room. Turning to the noise of the struggle, they pointed a wand at Jack with a golden claw, who had enough presence of mind to realise they weren’t friendly and rolled away to block the ray of green light, able to bring his shield up as Dr Grine quickly disengaged and dashed to the newcomer, freeing his arm.

As Jack hurriedly dashed into cover and shot behind him, the metal of the shield instantly began to rupture and disintegrate, turning to a fine grey powder before Jack retracted the shield, which fortunately didn’t reach him or the bracer itself.

“You want some too?!” Jack yelled as he let loose several shots at Dr Grine before he got behind cover with the robed figure.

“Gladly, Outsider!” the voice of the newcomer hissed as they returned fire with a spell that clipped the pillar Jack had hidden behind.

“No!” Grine called to his associate. “Others are targeting him, we don’t need to get involved!”

“Too late, assholes!” Jack growled back with false bravado as he peeked out of cover, looking for an accurate shot as he saw bright lights sparking from where he knew the mage was. “I’m just getting warmed up!”

“Foolish boy!” Grine snarled, spitting out black bile as he spoke back in his usual, calm, cold demeanour. “We know about the Spawn of Nekdon! And the one that summoned it will see you dead!”

Jack was taken aback by that for just a split second, which was all the time the mage needed to complete his spell.

“No you don’t!” Jack roared as he got his second wind and rushed in, firing a burst as both Dr Grine and his mage associate vanished.

“Shit,” Jack growled as he steadied himself, before quickly snapping round on instinct, levelling his gun at the newcomer that had silently approached down the lone tunnel he had come from, before lowering it slightly, but not fully.

“Rena?” he asked, slightly confused. The yellow fox-like being looked almost surprised she had been discovered but quickly composed herself.

“Frost? What are you doing here?” she asked as Jack checked over his injuries. They were bad, but he was still standing and he could still move.

That was all that mattered.

“I could ask you the same question,” Jack retorted, before sighing and elaborating. “Dr Reyazz Grine was here, I think he was the one to take out central security and make it easy for the Klowns to attack. I reactivated the backup power and defences, but when I saw Grine on the cameras making an exit I went after him.”

“Dr Grine? Are you sure?” Rena asked. Jack rolled his eyes, taking a few paces to the severed claw he had cut from the man, and kicked it to his mysterious acquaintance, spraying black ichor over her previously clean feet.

“I see…” Rena whispered to herself as she turned away for a moment, almost as if confirming something to herself.

“And he has accomplices,” Jack continued, seeing no reason to keep the information secret and wanting to share what details he knew while they were fresh in his mind. “A mage with a golden claw-like hand got him out. The bounty entry on him never mentioned working with others, but where there’s one there may be more around.”

“What are you planning to do?” Rena asked incredulously as Jack marched up to one of the walls and yanked hard to retrieve his axe.

“Finding out,” Jack replied simply. “And killing any Klowns still standing.”

“You are seriously injured, there is no shame in-” Rena began before Jack cut her off as he began trying to grind his axe on the rock floor to sharpen it. It was heavily damaged by this point and likely beyond repair, but as long as it could still inflict damage, it would do for now until he could replace it.

“Not a chance,” Jack replied with an aggressive stare, trying not to show the pain. “There are still people here that need help, and I’m gonna help as many as I can.” He glanced around and found what he was looking for. An abandoned tray of beer bottles sat on the edge of a coffee table in the only far corner untouched by the fighting. Moving over, he uncorked all the bottles before chugging them down three at once.

“What are you doing?” Rena asked in surprise. “It would be wise if you were to remain here or retreat to a safer location.”

“Just a little something for the pain,” Jack explained with a shrug, barely noticing Rena’s eye-bulging expression of shock. “Follow me and help, or stay out of the way.”

Jack narrowed his eyes as he heard the sounds of gunfire in the distance. He took in a deep breath…

Bellowing a war cry, Jack charged towards the battle!