It was nice to be alone with my thoughts for once. While I usually preferred to do my work alone, I couldn't help but admit that it was nice to travel in a group like I once did in my youth. However while a younger, more spry Jack would spend his days seeing the sights with a seemingly endless amount of energy, nowadays I couldn't seem to muster but an ounce of vitality. The day had come and gone, myself being left behind to keep a watchful eye outside the Lord's tower as our hotel room was stationed just next to it. While I had hoped to be a little more help to the party, I suppose I couldn't complain. Sitting and doing nothing was what I did best, and as long as I was promised the full cut of the pay, I'd do a damn good job of it.
I had just watched Ray and the rest of the Marauders step into the gates, the glass balcony I was positioned on giving me a crystal clear view of the situation. While I was aware of the team's strength and cunning, I couldn't help myself feel slightly uneasy. After all, this was Zleigh, one of the most heavily guarded and monitored cities on the westside of Aclium. Not to mention that some of the most valuable businessmen to ever exist would be attending, adding that extra little hint of nervousness to the already overflowing mess that was this job.
And that's where I worried. If anything were to go wrong, which let's be honest had a high probability to begin with, I would be the one responsible for helping the group recover. The others were counting on me to locate a safe space for them to hide out in until the whole, "wanted dead or alive" thing blew over. Thankfully, my train of thought was cut short as a familiar voice broke the silence.
"Rough night?" I whirled to see Cornelius in the living room behind me, leaning on his cane in his usual dignified manner.
Instinctively, I stood to greet him, "It's good to see you Cornelius, I thought you were with Levi at the ship?"
"I figured I would come down here and assist you in any way I could."
"That's awfully kind of you, but I-"
"Now now." Cornelius shook his head as he motioned for me to sit down, "It was the least I could do."
I sat, but for some reason Cornelius did not. Simply staring as if to read me like a paperback novel, his hand stroking his pepper grey beard over and over instinctively.
"So I-" I said, but Cornelius cut me off, still staring into my eyes deeply.
"Tell me Jack, what is one thing you would change about this world?" Cornelius questioned, his hands still firmly placed on the head of his cane. "Infact, let me correct myself. In your mind, what would you picture to be an ideal world?"
"That's an… odd question." I shuffled nervously in my seat. "I suppose one without rules, without judgement. Why do you ask?"
Cornelius completely ignored my question, "Aren't you tired of the constant hiding? The constant mockery by humans like myself?"
"I suppose, but I don't resent them for it. They've been desensitized to those thoughts, and I've learned to ignore them and thrive."
"Then I suppose that's where you and I disagree," Corenlius continued, his gaze in my direction had slightly tilted into a glare. "A world without race. That's what I'd strive for. Not one would be different from the other, then the mockery would seize."
I instinctively shot upward, my stained wooden handled revolver twirling into my hand as I cocked it in Cornelius' direction. He simply stood there staring, the creaking of the hotel settling filling the silence.
"You're not the Cornelius I know. Show yourself." I felt my paw grip the revolver tighter as he opened his mouth to speak.
"I am simply a man wishing to discuss." Cornelius' accent was beginning to fade, revealing a creamier texture.
"Well unfortunately for you, I'm not." I motioned my revolver in his direction as I stepped forward, "Who are you?"
Cornelius shrugged, his body shimmering with a purple aura. I watched as his features melted away as his body lengthened, straight slicked back and kempt aging hair coming undone and turning into a silver mop. The ivory cane flumping to the ground as Greyson Okinji stood in front of me, brushing the barely visible specks of dirt off his silk suit.
"Does this suffice?" He replied.
I gripped my revolver tighter, lunging forward and pressing it's barrel into his pale neck, "Give me a reason to not pump your throat full of lead."
In a split second, Greyson had grasped the barrel of my gun. The ring around his finger gleaming a luminous purple as he pulled upwards, the shaft of the revolver giving way and snapping clean off as it clattered on the hardwood flooring of the hotel.
Greyson brushed his hands together, "Shall we… start over?"
I put what was left of my revolver back in its holster, "What do you want?"
"What do I want?!" Greyson laughed, "Oh Jack, there is so much that I want, no... desire. All my efforts, all the work done by my father before me has led up to this moment. And I'm not going to let you or your pathetic little crew get in my way. Although, I assume I'm getting ahead of myself."
For a moment I was confused but then realization set in, my eyes widening as I began to understand. "Y-You're after the scarf, aren't you?"
"What else?" Greyson scoffed.
"You don't want to do this Grey," I reasoned. "You're dealing with uncontrollable power you can't even begin to fathom in understanding."
"Don't appraise me of what I can and cannot do creat." Greyson was practically yelling now. I began to back up as he advanced towards me, "When I'm finished here in Zleigh, humanity will beg for mercy at my feet. Then they'll finally understand just how cruel this world is."
"I'd like to see you try."
Those words were enough to drive Greyson over the edge. He grasped me by the collar of my shirt, slamming me into a nearby wall as his ring seared with violet energy. I watched as outside, a large group of Dawn Syndicate members gathered outside the Lord's tower. They appeared to be planning something.
"Do you know why you won't win Greyson?"
"And why would that be?" He snarled
"Because Ray Mejia has more tricks up his sleeve then you could possibly imagine."
"Ray Mejia... is a senile fool." Greyson spat, "And besides, all I need to do to get what I want from him is one simple, tiny, little thing."
"And that is?"
"The only thing he cares about in this world, my daughter." I felt my grip tighten as he uttered those words, "And once she's been swept out from underneath him, rage will blind him. It always does."
"You're a moron if you think Ray will succept to such mind games."
"Well then, it's a shame you won't be alive to see it happen."
I squirmed as Greyson's grasp around my neck grew tighter. Spasmodic purple electricity dripping off of his golden ring like wax melting off a candle. As I clawed at his bare hand, I felt his grip grow hotter and hotter like that of a kettle, a smile creeping up his face as my struggling grew more desperate.
"Goodnight Jack. Unfortunately, you're not fit to live in my perfect world."
With Greyson's free hand crackling with electricity, I felt pain take over my body as he sliced into my abdomen.