Jace X vs. Project X

Chapter 8: Defeated Demons

     I couldn't move from the floor as Amaya rushed at Jordan, but he pushed her aside like nothing. When she got back up, Jordan threw the pipe she had used on him, hitting Amaya right in the stomach. All I could do was move my arms to the blade in my stomach. Jordan pulled the blade out of me and he turned it into a claw, fingers much sharper and thicker. He stabbed through me again.

     "Jace, I'm going to make it hurt," Jordan told me. "And how poetic, I kill you the same way you killed me." He chuckled before he pulled something out of his pocket. "AR, Blackout! Get the fuck over here!" Jordan shouted in a radio, and the two quickly showed up to push Jacob, Jade, and their son back into the room. "Get rid of the pink one while I deal with Jace." I watched Blackout and Adrenaline Rush outnumber Amaya and they subdued her like nothing. All I could hear was her screaming as Blackout shocked her to the core.

     I grabbed Jordan's wrist and pulled myself up slowly, suddenly finding the energy to move. The three of them turned to look at me as I stood up, Jordan's claw still stabbed through my body. I gritted my teeth as I looked Jordan in the eyes.

     "I get it, you know," I said quietly. "You think I don't constantly remind myself what I've done? I killed my best friend, ruined another, and even took down the girl I loved for years. You think I don't torment myself enough??" I asked angrily. "You think I don't care??? That I find some sadistic happiness for what I did???" I grabbed Jordan by the throat and his claw shrunk as the wounds in my body began to slowly drip blood. "I torture myself every goddamn day, just thinking of what I did? Do you think I'm proud of what I've done?? Killing my own friend because I can't seem to accept reality??? Every damn day, I wonder what could have been if I didn't get these powers, if I could accept what I lost, but I can't go back and change what I fucked up!! I have to go forward with the weight of my choices on my shoulders! But you showing up? Constantly reminding me what I messed up? It does not FUCKING HELP!!!" I screamed in his face, the rage that I bottled up for so long finally being let out.

     With the sudden burst of adrenaline, I pounded my fist into Jordan's face until it turned into something similar to a cinderblock in size and shape, and I used it to pummel Jordan over and over until I saw his blood drip. I stood up and looked at Blackout and Adrenaline Rush, both of them turning from Amaya. Adrenaline Rush ran towards me as Blackout sent a bolt of lightning at me, but I grabbed Adrenaline Rush and yanked him in front of my body, using him as a shield. The bolt hit his chest and he spasmed for a second before I threw him right at Blackout. The two of them hit the wall and I kicked their heads through it.

     When I looked back at Jordan, he was already getting up to his knees. He coughed and spit some blood out from his mouth. He hunched over as he breathed heavily.

     "What?" He asked me. "That all you got?? Come on, Jace. Show them all the monster you really are." I walked over to him and lifted him by his shirt, then turned my arm into a blade. I could so easily replicate what I did to him the first time, but would it be worth it? My hesitation was all he needed to stab my hand, making me drop him, and he clocked me in the throat. I stumbled back, but I stood upright and stopped his fist with my hand. I did the one thing I thought of and stabbed my thumb through his eye, making his scream in pain. He stumbled back and I sent my fist into his head, knocking him down. I jumped over him and put my hands to his throat, screaming in his face again as I looked down at him. As he choked and tried to catch his breath, failing while my hands blocked his wind pipe, I didn't see Project X. I saw Jordan, scared to die and questioning if this was the end for him. I slowly let go and he sat up slightly to cough and hold his neck, coughing violently while I sat above him. I couldn't let him go, I couldn't.

     I balled my hand up into a fist and sent it right into his nose, knocking him out with a single hit. When he was finally down, I could stop to hold my stomach in pain. Amaya slowly came over to help me stand right. I looked back at my old friends, and they gave me this unreadable look. Before I could say anything, Jacob walked forward.

     "Take us home, Jace," He told me. I nodded, then Amaya and I helped them find an exit to wherever Jordan had taken us. I kept a hand on my stomach while the wounds slowly, very slowly, healed. Once we reached the front door of Jacob's and Jade's house, Jade walked inside with her son. Jacob stopped me right outside of the door.

     "We're grabbing our stuff and leaving. Don't look for us." My heart dropped into my stomach as I heard this. "Everything relating to you clearly goes wrong, so... just stay out of our lives now. It's bad enough what you've done when we were teenagers." Part of me felt like I had lost in some way, but I knew he was right. I shouldn't have expected them to just forgive me for what happened, but part of me hoped for the best.

     "All I can say is I'm..." I hesitated for a moment, but I picked my head up and looked Jacob in the eyes. "...I'm sorry. For everything I put you through, and everything I hid from you guys."

     "Sorry???" Jacob said it like I insulted him. "Sorry can't fix what you've done! You killed Jordan, then lied to us about it. You killed Dawn, you turned Darce into something else entirely and god knows where he is now!" Jacob sighed and turned around to leave. "Don't look for us, Jace. Don't even think about us from now on." He closed the door on me then. I visited the house one last time a few days later and the house was already for sale and empty, any sign of Jade, Jacob, or their kid gone. All that was left was a broken toy in the front lawn, one that I delivered to them months ago.

     It had been about three weeks when my wounds finally healed and I could visit Jordan in his new home. I walked past Adrenaline Rush, past Blackout, and went immediately to Jordan's cell.

     "Come to say something?" He asked me when he saw me approach. His eye finally healed as well, but he still had a scar inside of it where my nail hit.

     "Actually, yes," I told him. "One question. From what I remember, the serum that gave us our powers, well it was supposed to only work with MY DNA. Blackout tried it, and no he shoots lightning. So how is it you got my exact powers?"

     He laughed and it was creepy to hear it. "You're right, it is only compatible with your DNA," He said as he looked at me. "So what's that tell you?" He asked me.

     "You know, if you know something I don't, just tell me," I told Jordan. "You're not getting out of here any time soon, so just spill it." He laughed in my face.

     "You really are clueless sometimes... brother." The last word he muttered made my heart skip and drop at the same time, and he could tell that he surprised me. "You're not the only one in your family that hid secrets. Or did your daddy never tell you that he secretly went behind your family's back and slept with my mom?" I took a step back, not wanting to believe him. I knew my father was an asshole, but... to do that? "Yeah, your dad was a real role model. Left your family to work on a cure that would never work and had a secret affair in the middle of it."

     "How would you know if you weren't born yet?" I asked him. "How would you know about any of it?"

     "Parents admit to a lot of shameful things when they come home drunk after work, or whenever they're crying their tears out when their spouse is done beating them," Jordan said. "My mother told me a lot of things. Like how she slept with your dad to get away from mine." I put my fist to the door, but I walked away.

     "Enjoy your new life, Jordan," I said to him before leaving. Once I was outside, I took a deep breath, before screaming into the empty fields in front of me.

     "Something on your mind?" Amaya asked me as she walked up to me from behind.

     "Nah, just a way to get out some anger without breaking something," I told her. She kissed my cheek and walked ahead of me.

     "So now what?" She asked me. "No ties to this place, the world to explore, what's the plan?" I simply shrugged as I got in my car.

     "I got no clue. For once, I don't feel like I have to worry about anything, like a huge weight was just lifted off my back." I sighed as I leaned back, starting the car and driving off down the road. The only thing I thought about was how long this new feeling I had would last.