Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Having saved his life or not, Jack's impression of Dr Flux steadily dropped with every step towards the gate, and the subsequent 2 hour wait after a friendly jogger had allowed him to use his phone. 

 

Eventually his friend Sebstian arrived, and motioned for him to get in like he was the one who'd been waiting and not him. Jack slid into the passenger seat, and made it recline.

 

"So... what the hell happened to you? You didn't answer anybody's calls for 3 weeks, and you look like you were hit by a deathray!" Sebastian said as the car reluctantly started back up.

 

"I was in fact hit by a deathray, good guess" Jack chuckled

 

"I don't follow" Sebastian said confused

 

"That massive pileup on the highway, some Hero hit me with his energy attack ank knocked me out." Jack replied

 

"Oh damn! I'm gonna tell everybody about this!" Sebastian said excitedly

 

'I know you will' Jack muttered to himself

 

The drive home was uneventful, thankfully. He lived on a 15-acre property he got from his parents, back then it was worth next to nothing, now with the house he built on it, it was a large amount, way more than he paid to build the house. The actual house was small but well built, and there were no guest rooms, so no pesky family would come over uninvited and expect to stay.

 

He got out of his hospital uniform and got into something nice, a form fitting dark blue short sleeve shirt, and a pair of black, what he guessed would be called khaki shorts, although they only had the 2 regular pockets. He wasn't overly concerned with style, he didn't quite know the names of all the different stuff.

 

He sat down on the sofa and turned on the tv, watching some of his favorite mountain bike channels to relax as he thought about things. He reasoned he could just do whatever jobs Dr Flux required of him and try to continue living a normal life, no need to get any more involved with these types of things than need be.

 

Jack didn't realize something was up until he went outside to shoot some archery targets with his 80lb draw recurve bow, and found that it took next to no effort to do so. He was right handed, his bionic arm shouldn't have anything to do with this. Then it dawned on him, they did say Elixirs didn't they? But those things cost millions.... oh, the second revelation struck even harder, this was why he had to work for Dr Flux, he had to pay off the millions spent in Elixirs.

 

What jobs could that doctor possibly come up with that could make up that much? Surely not anything legay. First order of business however, was finding a stronger bow. After a bit of browsing, he found a company that made equipment marketed towards Supers, including those with super strength, and they had a very wide range of draw weights to choose from. He needed to figure out the limits of his newfound strength first though. 

 

Jack stepped outside and grabbed onto his pullup rack, 2 wooden posts with a metal bar inserted into them. He has hey to surpass 20 uninterrupted one so far, and even those were with relatively poor form towards the last half. This time he kept his legs together, and ascended and descended slowly and controlled.

 

The first one felt just as good as the 10th, and he quickly approached 20 without any signs of fatigue. Even a small increase in strength would be night and day if it didn't increase his bodyweight, and if the absolute ease in which he pulled back 80lb was anything to go by, it wasn't an insubstantial increase.

 

The number kept going up, and it started to feel more like a cardio session than anything, so he decided to call it quits for now. It was still pretty early on in the day and he needed to make sure no employees had left.

 

He opened up Messages and clicked on the group chat.

 

[Sorry about the unexpected leave, I was hospitalized, things should resume as normal this Thursday]

 

After confirming everything was spelled correctly, he clicked Send. He decided to give himself and his employees an extra day off, he needed some reacclimating time anyways.

 

Jack went back inside and started making himself something to eat, when he heard a knock on his door. He tiptoed over and peeked through the hole, there were 4 people waiting impatiently on his front porch, or lack thereof, and they all looked like less than savory types.

 

It seems as if his reacclimating time was going to be short lived.

 

He let them sit there for a few more seconds hoping they would go away, they did not. Jack reluctantly opened the door and stuck his head out, his left hand holding a pistol just in case.

 

"Hello?" Jack asked

 

"We're with Dr Flux, it's time for your first job" the only female of the group said, Jack instantly disliked her off the tone she used to speak with him alone.

 

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"And what is the job?" Jack asked, not making any moves to follow them when they turned around.

 

"You'll see when you get there" she said haughtily

 

"No, you'll tell me where we're going or I won't go at all, you're a bunch of strangers to me, and so is Dr Flux." Jack sneered, he disliked her that much more now.

 

"You will do what the Doctor says" she insisted

 

"If he calls me and tells me what he wants me to do and where then I sure would, but you aren't the Doctor if my eyes aren't mistaken me"Jack stood his ground, he would not be pressured into whatever they want him to do without more information.

 

"Fiiiine. There's this minor Super the Doctor wants us to talk to, alright." she explained, sounding as if she was talking to a child.

 

Jack shrugged and closed the door. He opened his closet, grabbed a jacket he almost never uses, and stuffed a halloween mask he found in a box of miscellaneous and put it in his pocket, he then grabbed a pair of construction gloves out of the garage and put those on, he kept the pistol with him.

 

He met them outside, they were all in the SUV waiting for him. He got in the backseat and they soundlessly drove off, Jack left his phone at the house since he didn't want everybody who could track him knowing he was going to be at the scene in case something happens to the Super, better safe than sorry.

 

Jack lived in a rural suburban area, and if he had to guess, the destination was somewhere in the city. The SUV wasn't in the greatest condition and the seat was uncomfortable to say the least, but he endured. No chat was struck during the ride, everyone was on their phones, including the driver. Jack just stared out the windor and occasionally observed the other.

 

Eventually, they entered the city, he even got to see one Super through another through a large building, then that super flew out and threw the other one through a different building. The driver got off her phone and focused in on something, and it soon became apparent what, they were tracking down a car.

 

It was a pre-super car, a convertatable as well, letting everyone see the obviously Superpowered individual driving it. They looked normal enough but they wore their Foundation uniform proudly, the driver pulled their SUV up beside the car, and they all pulled out their weapons. The weapons were some type of high-tech rifle, and he was really starting to suspect Dr Flux wasn’t just some random Superpowered crafter himself, and someone with more malicious intentions.

 

Jack quickly put on his mask and pulled his hood further over his head in case someone saw him. The guy to his left rolled down his window and quickly fired a blast at the Hero, but it missed and instead hit the hood, going through it. Everything was quit for a second before the engine exploded, the Here created a glowing blue sphere around his person, and the flames washed into their car.

 

The driver yanked the steering wheel unnecessarily hard to the left and smashed us into the Hero's already demolished but still moving vehicle, we both crashed into the side of a coffee shop, probably taking out a pedestrian or two. Jack quickly jumped out of the SUV after they stopped and made a run for it. Moments later, an explosion knocked him off his feet, making him exceedingly glad he decided to wear a jacket.

 

Jack decided to play dead, not seeing anyway he could get out of this, he was on his side, and discreetly rolled onto his back so he could see what was going on. The Hero stepped out of the wreckage a bit scraped up but otherwise fine, he didn't see how Dr Flux's other thugs could've made it through that explosion.

 

The Hero walked around the wreckage, searching for something, Jack decided this was the best chance he'd get as the Hero's back was turned. He drew his pistol, and unloaded into the unaware Hero's back, the Hero dropped instantly, and Jack got up and sprinted further into the city.

 

He had now time to consider his cold blooded murder, or assination really, as he ran through the streets. After a few minutes, he felt safe enough to slow down to a walk, he walked into a bakery shop and walked up to the cashier with his head down. He then quickly jumped over the register and ran to the back of the store, exiting the small shop and slamming the door behind him.

 

All the cameras throughout the city could easily track him, he needed to somehow loose their trail. He came to the conclusion that he'd probably need to steal a car, there was no place he could walk into, take his stuff off, then walk out and not be discovered.

 

Jack spent the next few hours walking in and out of different shops and businesses trying to make it that much harder, before mugging a lady who had just exited her car to enter a small mexican restaurant, climbing into her car, and driving off. He drove most of the way back to his house, before carefully driving the car into a river, and traveling a few thousand feet along the edge of river just deep enough for the water to wash away his tracks.

 

He came out in some backwoods area, he threw his jacket, gloves, and mask into a trash can, and then waited. 

 

After 15 minutes, a jogger came by, and he asked to borrow their phone for a second and called a friend to pick him up. He gave back the phone and thanked them, and they continued on their way, meanwhile Jack sat down in the grass and waited.

 

 

put his mask back in his pocket, took his gloves off and put them away as well, before pulling down his hood and stepping into a small bakery with an innocent of a smile as he could muster.

 

 

"What the hell have I gotten myself into?" Jack lamented