Chapter 95: 85. Junkside Reckoning

Jay rubbed the top of his head after receiving one of Brit’s bonks. That one left some solid damage that would take five minutes to heal up.

He glowered at her. She smiled with a southern meanness that would show him the business end of a frying pan and some grits.

“But I’m first ranked,” Jay whined.

“And you’re pushing it with the people supporting us,” Brit replied. “Be strong, Jay, but don’t be some chuckling, clowning terror in front of plain folks.” She leaned in. “Save that for the boys up top when they need to get pushed a little more. Not the boys in the trenches.”

Jay glanced back at the square where he and Brit had executed five assassins in front of a bunch of people. The national guardsmen were moving out to their assigned duties despite that slice of horror pie.

Some guardsmen would head into Junkside and do a sweep for monsters as a safety measure. Behind them, other guardsmen helped provide humanitarian relief as well as maintain the quarantine perimeter. The U.S. government was afraid that an apocalyptic germ might get out and create more roach ladies elsewhere. They had a cleaning station all the guardsmen had to go through. And hazmat uniforms that looked similar to what the MPC had used when they quarantined the first anomalies.

Either way, these guys had their work cut out for them. And more military and government forces were pouring in to provide aid. Or to conduct tests. Or whatever. It was all controlled chaos that was going to highlight this little city in Central Florida for a long while. This was a story brewing with intensity. Jay’s more sharpened meta-g was cataloging narratives for him to examine and poke around.

He filed through the section that spoke of the grunts on the ground. Lots of rumors would spread about the crazy glowy-eyed [Freak]. And how he’d accused their buddies of being assassins, tossed them around and piled them up with weird powers, and had them smote as he laughed. Ignoring Kleo’s involvement, it didn’t matter if the assassins had exposed themselves. And it didn’t matter if Brit had done the smiting.

The blame would fall on Jay. Brit was easy on the eyes and would quickly become blameless. Jay was some short, clearly deranged, unconventional black male with dreadlocks. And freaky powers. The last person you’d expect to be in charge of anything. Someone easy to paint as a menace to society. Easy to point at him as someone who brought ill and misfortune and pain to good guardsmen.

Whether or not they were assassins. Maybe the assassins were necessary just to stop a monster like Jay.

“Come back to me, Jay. Back to the here and now,” Brit’s honey-like voice drew him out of his head. “There you are. That was a deep dive. How was it?”

“I screwed up again,” Jay muttered, looking in the direction the older men absconded to. He frowned. “I should’ve pointed out the assassins quietly and let the adults handle it.”

“Nope.”

Jay arched an eyebrow, surprised.

“I think it’s a good move to oust them and make examples.” Brit fingered her curly hair. “It sent a message. Everyone finna know how powerful we are. And that we won’t accept literal attacks interrupting our celestial work.” She dimmed her magic before setting her hand on Jay’s shoulder. “They are small-minded creatures compared to the Multiverse. But these small-minded creatures will hurt us if we don’t show them there are circles of hell and pain in wait when you try to cross our Pantheon.”

Jay opened and closed his mouth, struggling to find what to say. The former band lead was more hardcore than Jay had given her credit for.

“How far can you sense into the Multiverse?” Jay asked. It had been a subject of conversation that surrounded Brit for a good minute. The Holy Affinity seemed the most multifaceted of affinities. It could be one of the most powerful affinities of the Multiverse.

Brit looked up into the sky.

“It’s all still vague. We aren’t ready yet. We still have some work on this tiny world.” She waved off the cryptic mystery. “Ain’t no reason we should get stuck on the what if and what could be. Come on, mister first ranked, let’s go get something to grub on.” 

They went to the camp section for food.

Since this camp was hastily built, everybody had to get food together in one spot. Jay had an inkling that the high military and government officials preferred to eat separately from the grunts and regular workers.

Jay had never been around many military people before. Central High had a JROTC program, but they weren’t people Jay would normally associate with. His entire personality was an antithesis to military and tightly controlled command.

So, it was an alien experience for Jay to wander past a bunch of uniformed adults that lived under a strict hierarchy. He didn’t try to make himself a big deal anymore. Just a little hooded shadow meandering toward food. And Brit helped shift attention off of them, too. Which was probably a good idea. There might be too much excitement surrounding the Holy Gravity pair after Jay had ordered Brit to smite five men.

They couldn’t stay unnoticed for long. Someone special to Jay entered his range of spatial-g and meta-g.

Jay froze in front of an unhappy cook waiting for him to choose between powdered eggs or cold oatmeal. Jay could sense Brit’s confusion by the way she arched her brow. The subtle motion was very visible to his spatial-g.

But Brit had her own special senses with her holiness. Before Jay could even say it, she dropped the subtle cloaking. 

One moment, they were just two nobodies.

The next moment, they were two of the most important teens on planet Earth. The nearest guardsmen flipped out, losing their military discipline. One guy actually screamed.

A female officer pounced to get everyone under control as talks of assassins and getting smote passed through the ranks quickly. Almost like high schoolers. But unlike high schoolers, they had to shut up and listen, or they’d get tossed in the brig or something lame.

“Must we have all of this attention?” Brit asked, frowning.

“Can’t be helped. This requires max attention.” Jay started to feel cheery.

Kleo had gone back inside of his chest after the assassins were dealt with. She sensed the same thing that raised her master’s mood and crawled out of his chest, a sensation that felt weirdly cool and squiggly without leaving a mark.

She went as far as scaling up to the top of his head. Just like that, Jay felt more reassured about the death of secrecy. For the non-serious stuff that wouldn’t point to hundreds of people dying as the fault of the Pantheon sworn to protect the universe. But that was one of those things that had to stay buried no matter what, right?

Right?

Jay’s cheery mood dimmed all of a sudden right when his mom turned the corner. She strolled across the mess hall grounds while getting escorted by Derek and Amanda. Mom stood out compared to everyone else. Not quite like a Champion. But she certainly had a touch of moreness to her the Systemless lacked.

And she was Jhara Luckrun, the original Luckrun Madlass.

“What up, man? What’s got you down?” Mom asked aloud, solidifying her presence as somebody important to the dangerous Champions.

The guardsmen provided a wide berth of space while having breakfast. They ogled the son and mom like being graced with the best reality TV they’d ever seen.

“Killed a lot of stuff. Seen some bad stuff. Did some bad stuff. The usual main hero stuff.” Jay shrugged.

His mom nodded seriously. “Did you start the path of acquiring alternate sources of power that are ill-advised?”

“Of course not,” Jay lied.

“Of course you haven’t!” his mom agreed, swinging in to hug his head to her chest. Kleo crawled onto their mom’s shoulder and hugged her neck. “Hey, Kleo.”

“Mm,” Kleo grunted.

“She’s going through [Faerie] stuff,” Jay explained vaguely because he vaguely understood it himself.

Mom patted Kleo gently and looked around at the hastily built mess hall. Which was really a pavilion, some tables, a few condiments, and a couple of trucks filled with easy-to-reheat food.

“I totally don’t belong here, but here I am anyway,” his mom said before looking at Brit. “You look like the priestess of trouble that’s good and bad all at once.”

Brit’s discomfort rose just slightly before getting swallowed under the sea that was her Conviction. Jay could tell right away that both his mom and Brit might be at odds with each other.

His mom was kind of untraditional. Like a pagan witch.

Brit had the more traditional holy thing. With a Multiverse scope.

Jay greeted Derek and Amanda and thanked them for bringing his mom safely. He quickly learned that he wasn’t the only one getting parental visits. Mother Zhou and Mister Hernandez appeared in Jay’s spatial-g with their children walking beside them.

Brit’s head snapped to the side. “Mama?” 

Jay swung his focus around to find any more parents standing out. A heavy-set woman waddled through the camp with a CWG escort and a small contingency of guardsmen. There was a sharply dressed man walking with her, too. The guy seemed like he was made of money.

“Amanda,” Jay called.

“Yes, Jay?” she squeaked.

“Was it your idea to bring our parents here?” Jay asked.

Derek tried to speak for her, but Jhara waved him off and gave Amanda room to speak. The CWG agent, formerly Buddy One, fidgeted slightly.

“I thought it would be nice after all you’ve done to save Junkside from those horrible monsters,” Amanda said. “Despite the troubles, Jay. You guys. The Champions. You’re our heroes. And heroes need to have their families with them to help them through the hard stuff.”

It took everything for Jay not to break and spill his guts. To tell everyone the truth. Then he could rid himself of the secret and face the consequences regardless of what happened. But he looked at his mom. He recalled her entire week in a motel battling her mental demons.

The bloody truth had to stay buried deep. His meta-g had cataloged a lot of scenarios, too. And most of it looked bad. Jay would be damned to let the truth come out of his own mouth. His mom would suffer too much.

“Being a hero of comedy,” Jay said hauntingly, “is a lot harder than I thought.”

His mom nodded sagely as if the pain her son was going through was par for the course. Derek and Amanda shared a worried look.

Brit looked like she was stuck between choosing duty or fulfilling her personal wishes.

Jay knew Brit wanted to check on his well-being and talk through the horror brought to life by the misplaced blood of a godling. Brit would probably want to help Jay stay leveled and do what was necessary. Keep it secret. Even though Jay’s hands were stained deeply with innocent people’s blood. Apparently, the Holy Affinity wouldn't mind.

“Go,” Jay told Brit. “I’ll be here. We’ll have breakfast together.”

“Thank you.” Brit split away to go meet with her mom.

At the same time, all of the Divine Four exited their tent and moved toward the sharply dressed guy.

Was that guy their dad? They were moving fast, too, with an extra perk to their steps. If that guy was their dad, he must be well-liked by his daughters. Even though their stories as half-sisters would suggest otherwise.

“I should go report to my superiors,” Amanda said.

“You should shush your cute mouth and eat soldier breakfast with us,” Mom said.

“Yeah, don’t go,” Jay said plainly, without magic. He rather Amanda chose to stay than be compelled by magic.

“I’m supposed to report in,” Amanda whined.

Jay frowned.

“Amanda, look at me.” Derek pointed at his face. “Look at Jay.” He pointed at the deranged magical teenager with differently colored eyes that shine. “If I was your superior. Do you want to stroke my ego? Or do you want to stroke his ego?”

“I’m kinda getting excited now,” Jay admitted.

“I’m not drunk enough for all of this innuendo,” his mom added.

“You brought enough to share with the class?” Jay asked.

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His mom gave him a very hard look. Slowly, she pulled out one flask. Then she pulled out a second flask.

The Luckruns beamed a smile.

She handed one to her son. They uncapped the flasks, toasted, and took in some sweet rum. Ah, that hit the spot.

“Woo,” Jay said.

“Yippy!” His mom cheered.

Kleo giggled, staying in the crook of their momma’s neck.

Amanda and Derek shared a resigned look, forced to ignore the bug-eyed stares of the military, three-letter agencies, and the cook still waiting for Jay to pick between the eggs or the oatmeal.

“Oh, damn, I forgot about you, dude,” Jay admitted. “Lemme get the eggs.”

***

They had the most interesting collection of people sitting together for breakfast. It consisted of Champions, all of which were super clean thanks to Brit’s application of non-smiting [Cleanse]. Some of the Champions had had their families. And they had Derek and Amanda. The other three-letter agency escorts weren’t close with their Champion charges. The extras sat at a table off to the side.

The military officers rushed their people to get breakfast and sent them off to eat elsewhere. It was as if they feared the Champions would point their holy magic at any of their soldiers and vaporize them.

Jay didn’t mind having the space for Champions.

The guardsmen might get traumatized by what was going to happen soon. Or they might get a kick out of it. The families gathered at the table were going to get shaken for sure. They were already tense from the heavy silence pervading over the table between the Champions.

There was an obvious split.

On one side were the Divine Four, their dad, Dennis, and Rick. On the other side was Jay, his friends, their folks, Frank, and–surprisingly–Tim.

The silence was mostly born from the icy hatred blowing in like a blizzard storm from Casey and her sisters. Emily looked like she had ditched her cute death side. She was pure goth now. All black. Not even a dash of red to break up the appearance.

None of the Divine would look at him except for Casey. But she looked like she wanted to fly over the table and make Jay bleed in return for what he’d told them.

He had marked and bloodied their Pantheon Leader, the Queen of Central High. That blood had changed roaches into monsters. And those monsters had laid waste to the north quarters and parts of the west and east of Junkside.

He had taken the fault entirely, explaining that Kleo was an extension of him. He had made no excuses. The meeting had ended abruptly with most of the Champions storming out after Jay finished.

Now it was time for the reckoning.

“There is an issue,” Jay said softly as his mom stroked his hair. “That can’t be resolved easily. It is an issue that may follow us for the rest of our days. Such an issue is bothersome for us Champions.”

Mister Hernandez and Mother Zhou looked closely at Jhara as if searching the elder Luckrun for an explanation. Mister Hernandez and Mother Zhou were practically extra parents, and they had chipped in to help the Luckruns right around the time Jhara was first getting into writing and working at the library. They’d met that year at daycare, and everything seemed to slide into place perfectly despite how weird and out there the Luckruns could be.

“What you will see,” Jay said, “is going to be painful. But it must be done. The gravity of the situation, the nature of what we are, and the lives we will live going forward to carve our place in the Multiverse are brutally simple. When challenges arrive, we will face them. When a wrong is found, punishments will be dealt out.”

Jay took the hand his mom used to stroke his hair and kissed the back of it. She nodded resolutely as if she understood the magnitude of what he was requesting from her. She was a good mom. The toughest, too. Sometimes to her own detriment.

Jay looked at Kleo. He asked through [Faerie Master] if he had to command her to be still.

“Please,” Kleo answered quietly.

“Stay put and do not interfere,” Jay ordered, his voice causing the air to ripple with gravity ripples.

Mister Hernandez gripped his daughter as if to protect her from the strange wrinkles passing through the air. The Divine Father looked curiously at the phenomenon, uncaring of his daughters’ obvious hatred of Jay. Brit’s mom was just a simple woman that was feeling way out of place among all of these characters.

“What’s happening? Michael, what is this?” Mother Zhou asked, her maternal instincts kicking in.

Without saying a word, Jhara separated from her son and wrapped her arms around Mother Zhou. The latter tried to push Jhara away, but she had a good hold of Michelle.

Mike wasn’t going to stop Jhara from keeping his stubborn mom from getting herself hurt. Lilith gave Jay a supportive nod from within the embrace of her father.

Jay stood up, feeling heavy and weary. But he dawdled over to a clear spot of grass. Amanda started to stand to follow, but Derek being savvy enough to read a room grabbed her and forced her back into her seat. They whispered heatedly at each other, but Derek got through to her in the end. It might’ve helped that the O'Kelly Twins stalked after Jay like they were setting up an ambush.

“It’s true, by the way,” Brit said, using a light amount of her Holy Affinity to calm the parents. She wouldn’t dare push it overtly even if they could use more. That would cross boundaries involving another Champions’ family.

“What is true?” the Divine’s dad asked curiously.

“We are violent. And we kill. Lots and lots.” Brit scanned the entire table. “And some issues can’t be talked through between us. For we are Her Champions of Challenge and Change. And the power behind that comes with heavy prices and burdens. And heavy consequences.” She sighed. “Jay made a huge mistake. So, we gotta try to even the scales. Even if only a little.”

Tim was a blur of movement. One moment he was to the right side of Jay. The next, he was skipping to a stop while Jay was upside down, his head cranked so hard to the side he might’ve had a broken neck. His jaw was definitely dislocated. And after he tumbled around a bit and slid to a stop, he realized he’d gotten punched a good thirty feet.

A squad of guardsmen providing overwatch shouted in surprise. Half of them wanted to see if Jay was okay. The other half wanted to pull back in fear of getting smote.

Jay waved them off as he shifted his jaw, shifted it some more, then popped it back in place. He spat a glob of blood, a piece of his cheek tissue, and a molar. He dug himself out of the dent his body put in the grass, staggered toward the guardsmen, then realized he was going the wrong way. He stumbled back toward the pavilion.

Tim was waiting, cracking his knuckles. They looked eye to eye for a while. Then Tim nodded in satisfaction and went back to sitting at the table.

Mother Zhou looked like she wanted to pluck the eyes away from the Junker. Jhara held her back. There was a range of reactions across the table. Mostly horror and surprise from the Systemless.

The Divine Four looked eager for Jay’s punishment. Dennis looked queasy. Frank was unreadable. Brit endured it. Mike and Lilith were understanding but displeased. Tim had gotten his needed hit for Junkside retribution.

And Rick was a bonfire of rage.

He’d been nursing this anger since Jay had dropped the truth on them. Rick held his rage behind that big, wide, leering grin he wore most of the time. But he walked more like someone bent out of shape than someone pleased as punch. The Red Affinity fitted him very well, even as Rick contained his Affinity under the surface.

“You’re a little too short for my liking, Jay,” Rick admitted as he slowly walked up.

“Stop being so tall,” Jay quipped, getting that much out before the Red [Fighter] buried a punch to his liver.

Even with all of his new gains, Jay’s body registered that as a critical hit. Every hit was going to have a few modifiers pushed against him because of Chance. The story was in favor of the Red [Fighter] right now.

Jay was hurt. He was hurt badly.

“I didn’t like how that punch came out, Jay-o-boy. Had to dip down a little too far. Not good for shoulder rotation, you get me?” Rick said, sounding jovial as he snatched Jay by his dreadlocks, yoinked his head back, then pulled it down into a rising knee to the middle of his face.

Pain! His nose was an explosion of hot, throbbing, bloody pain! His vision got fuzzy and wet, but he blinked through it in time to see Rick dragging him toward an armored humvee. Rick whipped Jay around and sent him crashing into the side. The vehicle swayed hard. It swayed even harder as Rick let loose wild punches coming from all angles. Jay could barely block them and stay conscious.

“Everyone treats you like you deserve to be the top dog!” Rick shouted, his passion rising. The anger shifted into something else. Into eagerness. Zany battle lust. “But is it true? Are you really the top dog? Do you know what it takes to be responsible for a group like ours? Or any group? Because I still don’t believe you got what it takes?!”

Rick’s anger over Jay’s screwup and Junkside’s pain had fallen away. This became a totally different fight. And the transition happened right when Jay was down to a fifth of his Health. He could get incapacitated if he didn’t take action.

Jay dodged a punch, Rick’s fist smashing a dent into the humvee’s armored door. Jay sidestepped a knee strike that dented the door more.

“There’s no wall to blast me through now, [Freak]!” Rick howled, his Red Affinity oozing out.

“No ceiling, either,” Jay said.

“Huh?” Rick looked up. “Oh.”

Jay’s right eye flashed bright neon purple, warning of great doom and retribution.

Rick tried to grab Jay. He was too late.

“[Dance Floor Relativity].”

Sometime later, Jay dropped Rick from three hundred feet in the air. Would’ve killed the Red [Fighter] if he didn’t have 100 Resilience and his new Talent: [Resilient Juggernaut].

Jay had to lift and drop Rick two more times for the O'Kelly twin to understand he was under Jay’s mercy. Doing so burned through a lot of mana for Jay, but he had enough to spare. Good thing, too, because Rick’s aggressive Red Affinity stacked with a decent 40 Poise would’ve hurt otherwise.

“Satisfied?” Jay stood over the small crater Rick was laying in.

“For now I am,” Rick said.

Jay offered a hand.

Rick took it, using Jay’s help to get back to his feet. The redhead looked Jay up and down. “Pretty damn tough for an uptowner.”

Jay looked over at his mom. “Learned it from the best.”

They rejoined the table. Jay released Kleo from his command and took a flying tackle to his neck. The [Faerie] latched on and hugged him lovingly.

Brit offered Jay healing aloud, but they both knew he wasn’t going to accept it. He was going to drag his hurt self around for a bit and let his Status regens heal him back up normally. Which should work out okay for him. His [Status Channels] Talent sped up his regen for Health, Stamina, and Mana. Though, he might suffer a crooked nose or a missing tooth if it healed wrong.

“I don’t know if I can keep working with you, Jay, if I’m led from one outrageously horrible thing to the next,” Amanda said stiffly.

Jay nodded understandably. He looked around the table.

The Divine Four had different opinions. Two out of the four were less angry now. One was questioning her own anger. Casey remained resolutely angry. She probably wanted him to suffer more or to get her own licks in.

Dennis gave the [Freak] furtive glances. Jay gave it fifty/fifty that Dennis would tell the truth to the wrong people and screw everyone over. Maybe Brit might talk him out of it. Jay wasn’t going to press the issue.

Rick and Tim were satisfied. Mike and Lilith were ready to move on with their day. Frank was still unreadable. And all the parents, CWG, and nearby guardsmen were stunned and scared from having seen a bout between Champions.

It could’ve been worse. They hadn’t used weapons, after all. Rick hadn’t even used a Skill when he could’ve. He’d probably wanted to gut-check Jay. Junkers wouldn’t follow a wimp, and Jay could respect that. If only it didn’t drag down the mood around the table.

At least the next subject of Jay’s attention should be more interesting.

“Wanna see who wins a Super Monster?” Jay asked everyone.