Disclaimer: I don't own Jackie Chan Adventures; JCA and all its characters are the property of Phil Weinstein, Frank Squillace and Jackie Chan himself.
Author Notes: Thank you for the reviews that I got for the previous chapter. I didn't expect for this story to gather attention so quickly, but I'm pretty glad for it. For more notes, see end of the chapter.
Jackie Chan Adventures
Out of the Corner of the Eye
Chapter three
Sound of Thunder. Sound of Changes
From the journals of Marcus Malone. Third entry. February of 1946
You never see it coming, you know? You get distracted and when it hits it's too late. These people, things, I don't know what call them, but... they are just in front of you, and a part of you shrieks that there is something wrong, but you don't see it; or maybe you don't want to see. You get distracted with other, smaller and unimportant things, and they tempt you with promises out of your wildest dreams. Perhaps they know your dreams.
When that man came to us, (to me) with that book, that blasted book... we thought that it was just some madman that had lost himself due to the horrors of the battlefield. He told us if we would like to cover something that would make us famous. Something related with the book. He told us about something that the Nazis were doing and that no one knew about. Of course, we laughed in his face, but he just answered with a smile, and let the book with us, saying that we should give it a look.
And we did. Then, after a couple of weeks, I don't exactly understand how even now, but we were in Berlin. The man, that albino bastard, he got us inside the city. The book... its words... they took us as if we were children reading a bedtime story for the first time.
Necronomicon.
How in the name of God did I even read something with that name?
San Francisco
"Greetings, Jackie Chan," Tchang Zu, the Thunder Demon, now inhabiting the human body of Preston Fisher; said mockingly as he prepared a lightning bolt in his palm in order to obliterate Jackie once and for all. "AND FAREWELL!"
"Bad day!" Jackie shouted in terror, as his mind still hadn't processed that the Thunder Demon was out of the Netherworld once again, and even worse, occupying a human body. Those questions passed fast over his mind, which was now completely focused on the coming attack.
"HIYAH!" Jade shouted, jumping in the air and kicking Tchang Zu in the head with a flying kick, sending him to the ground and cancelling his incoming attack. She landed near Jackie and lent him a hand, helping him to his feet. Then she noticed the body of the driver over the concrete. "Is he… dead?"
Jackie kneeled at the agent's side and put his fingers in his neck. After a couple of seconds, his expression relaxed and softened. "He's just unconscious."
"Fiuh… Good heavens." Jade said. She then looked at how the possessed Preston got up in a rather unnecessarily complicated maneuver, pivoting over his back and jumping in order to be up again.
"Who dares?!" Tchang Zu exclaimed in his usual booming voice, charging more lighting around his body, looking as if he was a human-shaped Tesla coil. He looked at Jade and, seeing Jackie at his size, realized that it had been she who had hit him. "You! Who are you, mortal?! How dare you denying me of my REVENGEEEEE?!" Tchang Zu exclaimed.
Jade, meanwhile, had put her fingers in her eardrums. Why bad guys had to always be so freaking over the top?, the youngest of the Chans thought. "So, Tchang Zu, the Thunder Demon? Wasn't he locked in the Netherworld with the other winners of Friendliest Family in the World?"
"He should be!" Jackie said. "Uncle, where are you, we kind of need a chi spell right now and… careful!"
Jackie and Jade jumped each one to opposed sides in order to evade the incoming attacks of Tchang Zu, who had shot another stream of lightning towards the pair. The Thunder Demon looked incredibly irritated. "You think that you will be able to send me back to the Netherworld?! HA! Foolish mortals, I am a spirit now! The barriers of the Netherworld cannot constrain me anymore I am free! Free to conquer, free to roam, free to…" Tchang Zu then looked at the street around him. Neither Jackie nor Jade were anywhere in sight of the demon. Blasting lightning from his mouth, Tchang Zu roared in anger. "How dare you flee from a battle?! Coward; show yourself, Jackie CHAN! Show yourself or I will obliterate everything and everyone in this meaningless city!"
"Well, maybe if someone was paying attention to his opponents instead of being a Prima Dona!" Jade said, getting the demon's attention.
Standing near the crashed SUV of Section 13, Jackie and Jade were pulling together one of the wheels of the vehicle, that was almost one man's size. Then, with a little effort, they launched the wheel towards Tchang Zu, who looked at the incoming projectile as if it was nothing. "Stupid mortals, you attack a being with god-like power with tools meant for a carriage!" Tchang Zu fired another lightning towards the wheel, but the attack seemed to have no effect upon impacting against the coming wheel. "What?!" Tchang Zu exclaimed before the wheel hit him, sending him to the ground once again, groaning in pain.
"And maybe taking lessons in modern physics could have been a good idea, Thunder-idiot" Jade said with a mocking grin.
"Jade focus, we have to find Uncle," Jackie said at her side. "Without a chi spell, Tchang Zu could do a lot of harm if we aren't able to hold him for long. Uncle! Are you here?"
"Aiyah!" Jackie heard the elder's voice coming from the crashed and upside down SUV. "Uncle's here! Why is nephew making so much noise in the morning?" the voice paused for a brief time. "Why is Tohru in my room? Why has the room turned into a car?! TOHRU! WAKE UP!"
Rising from the debris that was the car at that moment, Tohru mumbled some incoherent words before noticing were he was. "What happened?" the Japanese giant asked.
"Short story, Tchang Zu is back from the Netherworld, has possessed a human, and is trying to turn us into Kentucky Fried Chicken." Jade explained, as Tchang Zu got up again, albeit with some difficulty in this case. Not wanting to let the possessing monster to take another chance into shooting them, Jade dazed towards him and started to exchange blows with the man. Jade had to admit that, for how incredibly scrawny this dude looked; he was really strong, probably due to the demon's possession. As Jade vigorously blocked a punch directed to her ribs, and counterattacked with a kick that Tchang Zu blocked with not too much effort, she sighed internally. Why did the bad guys always get the cool power ups?
"The Thunder Demon?" Tohru, remaining at Jackie's side, asked in disbelief while Jade battled the possessed human. "But how is that possible?"
"Answer later, magic now!" Jackie pressed the mountain of a man.
"How does Jackie want Tohru and Uncle to help, if they have no blow-fish or lizard? Uncle and Tohru need to go inside shop in order to use magic!" Uncle's voice came again from the car. Peeping inside, Jackie and Jade saw that the Chinese elder remained in his seat, hanging upside down. "One more thing, Uncle doesn't have castanets, the symbol of the Immortal who first defeated Tchang Zu, so no banishing demon for now! And one more thing!" Uncle said while struggling with his security belt. "I seem to be trapped."
"Don't worry sensei." Tohru said before ripping the entire seat where Uncle was sitting and taking it out of the crashed SUV, with Uncle still sat at it, of course. "We will prepare something to restrain Tchang Zu, but you must distract him to give us time." the Japanese Chi Wizard said.
"One more thing!" Uncle yelled, taking something from his suit's sleeve and then tossing it to Jackie. It was a little triangular amulet made of wood hanging from a small collar that, for some reason, stunk to garlic. "Use this to harm Thunder Demon; is imbued with good magic."
Jackie nodded, gripping the little amulet. "Right Uncle; now hurry!" the archeologist said as the pair of chi wizards headed to the shop and he ran towards the battle that his niece was fighting alone.
"You only have chosen dying by my hands than by my lightning, mortal!" Tchang Zu said as he struggled with Jade. "But I will remember you that stood in my way and battled the great Lord of Thunder! Who are you, mortal? Give me your name so I can tell to my future slaves of whom I made an example of what happens if someone stands against my will!"
"I liked you more when you stopped talking like that!" Jade yelled at him while she blocked more blows and attacked. She flipped backwards and hit Tchang Zu in his now human chin with the top of her foot, and then she twirled backwards in order to put some space between them. "And what do you meant with 'who are you'?" Jade asked offended. "I'm Jade Chan, ultra-awesome agent of Section 13, and kicker of demon-butt! You don't remember me?"
Tchang Zu looked confused for a moment. "The infant that was fooled by Hsi Wu?" the Thunder Demon asked in disbelief. "You have grown… but the bigger they are, the better they melt!" Tchang Zu said, adding another potent charge of lightning and taking another shot at Jade, who dodged barely, this time getting injured in her left arm, the contact of the lightning shattering and burning away the sleeve of her suit and leaving a serious burn in her flesh.
Jade dried a shout of pain in her throat and resisted the urge to touch her burn and tend to it. She glanced furiously at Tchang Zu, who was smirking at her both in a pedantic and malicious way. "See? That is exactly what I meant with…!"
Tchang Zu got interrupted when Jackie jumped and delivered a descending kick over his head by surprise. The Thunder Demon tumbled a little due to the impact, his head hurting and his vision blurring. "Ack… weak human body…"
Taking advantage of her uncle's entrance, an angry Jade rushed to the possessed human and punched Tchang Zu directly in the face as strong as she could, feeling his nose to break under her fist. "Agh! Pathetic human nose!" Tchang Zu screamed as his hands covered his nose as blood started to pour from it, painting both his hands and the lower part of his face in red.
"Jade, that's an innocent person, even if possessed!" Jackie scolded her, but then noticed the burn in her arm. "Jade, your arm!"
The teen shrugged. "It's nothing, I'm okay."
"You are burned!"
"It will be worse!" Tchang Zu said as he charged another attack, but then he tumbled and fell to the ground. "Uh... my head is spinning." He got in his feet barely, slow and tumbling. "Weak human flesh..." he whispered.
"Oh, don't be such a whinny," Jade commented. "Weren't you the 'Great Lord of Thunder' just moments ago?" she mocked.
"Silence! In the moment I recover..." Tchang Zu said in anger. But then Jackie threw Uncle's amulet at him, the Thunder Demon inhabiting a human body catching it withou further difficulty. Tchang Zu looked at the little triangular object with something between confusion and amusement. "And what this should be? If you think that tossing cheap jewelry to me will... ARGH!"
Tchang Zu screeched in pain as the little amulet started to glow green and the good chi that had been casted in the amulet started to burn the whole body of the demon in human form. The Thunder Demon threw the little amulet aside. "FILTHY GOOD CHI MAGIC!"
"You know, Mr. Talking Battery," Jade called the demon in human body. "For someone that brags about being so better than us, you kinda choose a weak team player over there." she said while pointing to Preston's body. "I have seen ballet dancers with more muscles."
"Of course he is weak!" Tchang Zu exclaimed. "I choose him for that same reason!"
"So, let me see if I get this straight." Jade continued, no masking her mockery. "You choose in purpose a weak body in order to go after the people who went toe to toe with you AND your siblings at full power."
Tchang Zu pointed at Jade while he opened his mouth as to say something, but then he looked sideways and closed his mouth slowly. Then he looked at both Jackie and Jade speechless. I made a terrible mistake, he thought.
"And to be fair, there are better places to attack us than here." Jackie said as he pointed into the shop's direction.
"What do you mean with that?!" the Thunder Demon asked before looking at the shop's entrance, where Tohru and Uncle (still attached to the ripped seat) were, blowfish, lizard and a couple of potions in hand.
The chant of 'Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao' that neither Jackie or Jade had heard into a long time fill the street where the battle had unfolded, and as the two chi wizards chanted their blowfishes and lizards glowed green and they shot a combined beam of good chi towards the demon. Tchang Zu looked horrified at the incoming attack and charging lightning, he fired his own beam of energy towards Tohru's and Uncle's. The two energy streams collided and struggled with each other, until the beam of chi magic started to win the upper hand.
"No! I won't be defeated!" Tchang Zu exclaimed, struggling with great effort in order for his lightning to not be crushed. "I won't return to the Netherworld! Not the skies covered in ash! Not the endless emptiness! Not to that thing, twirling above…"
For a moment, the memory flashed in Tchang Zu's mind for enough time for him to lose concentration and for the stream of good chi magic to overpower the lightning. The attack struck Tchang Zu with all its strength, knocking the fuming human form of the Thunder Demon to the ground, this time, unconscious.
"Finally!" Jade said. "Guy took a lot of damage before going down."
Jackie looked a Tchang Zu's, or rather, Preston's unconscious body. He checked the man's vital signals and after making sure that he wasn't dead, he looked around. The street had ended pretty damaged, lightning strikes could be seen both in the concrete of the street and in the exterior walls of the buildings. The SUV continued crashed in the middle of the road, and the agent that had driven them home continued unconscious, lying on the ground.
"I will call Captain Black." Jackie said, frustrated that the presence of magic still was present in his life. After all these years, he should have grown accustomed to the idea of dealing with magical artifact and forces of evil chasing him and his family to the end of the world, but after four years he thought that he could finally have some peace. He was wrong.
"Jackieeee!" the archeologist heard his uncle. "Release Uncle from seat belt before calling Captain Black! And one more thing, the tuxedo I bought you will come from your pocket!"
The archeologist noted how the jacket of his suit had been almost torn to shreds, probably by a combination of the possessed human's attacks and his own movements during battle. Jackie smiled. Well, at least his family was also a constant.
Section 13
Preston Fisher awoke only to feel extreme pain through his whole body. After he managed to open his eyes properly, he found himself in the interiors of a small room only occupied by a bed, a toilet and a mirror over a sink. The only light was the one proportioned by a little lamp in the ceiling and the one that entered via a large door made of reinforced crystal that served as entrance and exit of the room. There were no windows, and even for someone like Preston, it was clear that he was in a cell. But first things first, Preston got up from the bed and looked himself in the mirror. He had been bandaged almost from head to toe, especially in the face and the head. He touched his nose and winced due to the pain. "Whatever happened to my nose?" Preston asked to nobody as he checked out the rest of his body. "And to me?" He then noted how some sort of chinese symbol had been written over his forehead. "And what the hell is this?"
"I think you should leave that on, Mr.… Fisher, right?" the voice of Captain Black came from the glass door, surprising Preston enough to jump a little and look at him in shock.
"W-Where am I?" Preston asked. "How I ended here? Why am I covered in bandages? You can't hold me here, I have rights!"
Black shook his head silently. "Mr. Fisher, I'm sorry to told you this, but you are… sick; and sadly, your sickness could be pretty harmful for the people in the streets if we release you."
"Oh my God… I have the smallpox, don't I?" Preston asked, as he fell to his knees. "I'm going to die! Who will do my work if not me? No one knows how the system goes if I don't explain them how!"
Black rose an eyebrow at how not working anymore was the man's most prominent concern. "Mr. Fisher, I assure you that it's not smallpox." Black spoke. "But you have something inside your body that could prove fatal if left free from this place. That tattoo, if you like to call it that, it's what keeps your sickness under control."
Preston looked at Black in disbelief. "How can a tattoo keep a sickness under control?!" Preston shouted, just to cough and touch his ribcage with both hands. "Oh... it hurts."
"Mr. Fisher, do you recall how and where you were before waking up in this place?" Black asked.
"I don't know... no, wait. I was in my apartment and then the TV, and the phone, and the lightning..." Preston said, remembering the moment his own body had started.
"For the moment you will stay here until our experts are sure that letting you out won't be dangerous." Captain Black said, and then tried to look at Preston as warmly as he could. "If they say so, we will get you a more comfortable room. Until then, welcome to Section 13, Preston Fisher. And remember, don't remove the tattoo." Black said as he left the scene, leaving Preston alone in his new room, meditating about how he had ended in this surrealist but apparently totally real situation.
Captain Black entered Director White's office as soon as he could. Inside, he found the exact same scene he had found hours before, with the whole Chan family waiting inside and White behind his desk. Unlike before, however, the Chans were standing; with Uncle and Tohru discussing something with White while Jackie and Jade stood a little away from them. Black approached them trying to not molest the wizards and the Director. While he respected and admitted White's presence as something very helpful and valuable, he also knew that with a snap of his fingers he could send him out of the organization. So, unless strictly necessary, he will let the Director to his politics and he will maintain with his operations and field duty; a perspective that Black actually found very pleasant. Truth to be told, he didn't miss the insufferable mountains of paperwork.
"How's the burn, Jade?" Black asked softly to the new agent, who upon the captain's question tapped her now bandaged arm.
"Better." Jade answered. "How's that Preston guy?"
"I think that he is trying to cope with everything." Black answered. "How are things for here?"
Jackie moved his hand towards the other three men. "See for yourself."
Over White's desk were spread numerous books detailing not only specifics about demonic possession, but also about the Demon Sorcerers and the Eight Immortals. White was drumming his fingers against the surface of his desk while Uncle and Tohru discussed theories.
"Maybe Tchang Zu lost his body and that is how he was able to cross to our plane from the Netherworld?" Tohru said. "None of them seemed very close to each other. Perhaps a battle happened and his body got destroyed."
"Aiyah... But if that is the case, all Demon Sorcerers could be free now." Uncle complained, and then his eyes widened in horror. "Aiyah! All Demon Sorcerers could be free now!" Could this be it? The feeling of dread that the elder had felt the night before? "This is very bad news! As long as they don't use their powers continuously, Uncle would be unable to locate them! They will camouflage themselves with the human's chi!"
"Sensei, we don't know if all of them are free." Tohru tranquilized him. "It could be just Tchang Zu, and we have him locked here."
"But for how long?" Uncle asked. "If we exorcise him out of thin-man then Thunder Demon could go to other body! Demon Netherworld can't hold demons in spiritual form! Eight Immortals never designed it that way!"
"Why?" Jade asked, getting near to Uncle. "I mean, they could have put some ward or... OW!"
"Do not question wisdom of the Immortals!" Uncle said as he hit her.
"Oh, c'mon Uncle, it's common sense!" Jade said as she rubbed the spot where Uncle had hit her. "I mean, even you put that spell in Shendu's astral form when he possessed me."
Uncle fell silent for a moment, before smiling. "I did." he muttered. "Jackie!" the elder called, as he took a pen and a piece of paper that was over White's desk. He then wrote a list of diverse things on it. "Uncle needs these ingredients." Uncle handed the piece of paper to Jackie and then pointed to White. "Director, Uncle will borrow one of your books."
White raised an eyebrow. "Okay... serve yourself."
"One more thing!" Uncle said while he walked to one of the bookshelves and picked one of the tomes of chi magic and went back to the desk of the Director. "Jade and Tohru need to bring mask of Tarakudo to safety, the sooner, the better."
"Wait, what does that have to do with...?" White asked just before Uncle slapped him. The Director looked at Black, quite amused. Did this mean that he had passed a ritual of some sorts?
Uncle for his part looked pretty serious. "Shendu had control over one tribe of Shadowkhan without putting on its general's mask, by using a complicated spell no doubt. A rare spell that the other Demon Sorcerers probably know too. Tchang Zu may be a hotheaded enemy, but the likes of the Moon, Sky or Wind demons are not. If there are more Demon Sorcerers out there and they take a body, they could go after the mask in order to have army of shadows at their disposal."
Jackie flinched for a second. The thought of having Shendu's family running free around the world wasn't pleasant in the slightest, but having them with the power of the nine tribes of Shadowkhan at their total control? That was terrifying.
"Tch. We kicked their butts before, and we'll do it again." Jade said in confidence.
"Jade?" Jackie asked his niece. "What have we talked about in our way here?
Jade rolled her eyes. "That jumping at threats in arrogance only leads to underestimating your foes and being defeated." Jade quoted her uncle word for word. "Who do you think I am, Hak Foo?" Jade asked before a chuckle escaped her mouth as she imagined herself as a female version of the red headed ex-mercenary, blue bodysuit and all, shouting something overdramatic as 'ANGRY CROW TAKES FLIGHT!" in her own way.
"Well, I suppose I could advance the meeting a few hours, but none of the other parts involved will make a reunion before tomorrow just because of the possibility of the demons being free," White told the presents.
"Good, then Jade and Tohru will leave tomorrow with the first lights of the day." Uncle said as he passed page after page of White's book before he found what he was looking for. "Meanwhile Uncle will try to build a prison to contain Tchang Zu's spirit once he has been removed from Fisher's body."
"And what do I do?" Jackie asked to the elder.
"Jackie will remain here and help Uncle with demon's container and protect Uncle from forces of evil" Uncle said. "And he will prepare tea, of course."
"Then I suppose that we have all this settled," White said. "Now, if you all could leave, if a have a significant number of calls to make. Mr. Tohru, Jade; be ready at the port tomorrow at seven o'clock and a boat will take you and Augustus to the compound of the Pacific."
"I'll take some agents to accompany us," Black added. "In case someone decides that he wants a bunch of shadow creeps as his personal army."
"Good point." White retorted as he picked his phone with his only hand. "Now, if you'll excuse me…" the Director said as he started to push the phone's buttons and making a call.
"Oh yes, don't worry." Jackie said as he took Jade by the shoulders and the Chans and Captain Black left the office. Before the door closed, White could hear the voice of Jade. "Wait, what does that seven o'clock mean? Like, in the morning?"
As soon as they disappeared, White stopped from pressing buttons and hanged his phone. He got up from his seat and approached the mirror that was silently resting in the corner of his office. White touched the surface with his only palm, and after a few moments, the surface of the mirror started to produce ripples within it, as if it was composed of a dense liquid. After several minutes, the mass stopped from moving and then something crawled out of the glass of the mirror, materializing itself in front of White. It was an insectoid creature of about one meter and a half of stature, no bigger than an average man. It was a large, pinkish, fungous, crustacean-like entity; it's main body a large worm-like thing, which ended in a scorpion tail and was sustained by a pair of powerful three fingered claws of great size and strength. Were a head should be there was an ellipsoid of sorts, composed of pyramided, fleshy rings and covered in antennae. In the front part of its main body were several pairs of appendages and limbs very reminiscent of the claws of a crab, moving as if they were the legs of a spider. At the body's back there were several wings of different size, but they seemed to not being of use to the being, as they were all closed and without movement.
"Did you request the presence of Mi-Go, Joseph White?" the being asked in a raspy and unusual tone of voice. White never was sure if the Mi-Go really had been able to learn English, or were just using an instant translation via their telepathy. The grey-skinned Director bowed slightly to the being.
"Indeed." White spoke with respect, but authority. "It seems that a being know as Demon Sorcerer was set free from another dimension known as the Netherworld. I want to know if there are more like him out; if it's not a big problem."
"It shouldn't be." Mi-Go answered. The insectoid creature trembled a little, his multiple crustacean appendages moving fast, as if they were checking a large book. "Negatives of 八卦. They were trapped in an opposed plane of this universe. Seven of them were freed by the King in Yellow. The one with command over Fire remains in that Void, as does his offspring."
White cracked his neck. The sound of his bones sounded weirder than normal, unnatural, as if there were too many bones. "One of those idiots and his shortsighted way of thinking has almost cost me my entire operation. I don't want them to interfere when I'm so damn close to my objective."
"It was Lord Hastur's desire for them to be free." Mi-Go retorted. "It is not under Mi-Go's authority to question a Great Old One's will, independently of how much his cultists threaten and torture Mi-Go. Neither is under yours, hybrid."
The word didn't have a derogatory tone on it; but White frowned over hearing it. The Director cracked his neck again. When he did it this time his neck bended more than a human neck should have. "This could prove also in our mutual benefit, though." White said while he took his fingers to his chin and regained some calm. "Could you find the other six for me?"
The creature titled its fungous head. "And what does Mi-Go get?" the creature asked as his legs moved and the two large ones that sustained its worm-like body drummed against the floor.
White smirked and cracked a disturbing, deep laugh. "Do you still pursue the concept of intuition?"
The creature gave something similar to a nod. "Mi-Go does. The humans that had been collected by Mi-Go in this city had proven very useful. Mi-Go also thanks you for providing Mi-Go with a place for working under the city."
"No need for flattery," White said. "But, maybe I have something to give you; because I have met a human with a great intuition today. If you give me the information," White said. "I'll give you the human."
The creature produced a weird sound by rubbing its claws and appendages with each other. The scorpion tail smashed several times against the floor, as indicating the being's excitement. "Mi-Go... accepts your conditions. Mi-Go will have your information." Mi-Go started to leave towards the mirror. "Ah, one more thing. Mi-Go has lost track of one Shoggoth lately. Mi-Go advises to be careful in the tunnels beneath the city." And with that, the insectoid being entered the mirror and disappeared as it had appeared.
White went to his desk and let himself down in his chair. "Oh sure, you lost a Shoggoth," White said in a sarcastic tone as he took the phone again and started to dial his contacts for real this time. "Well, I suppose that it went as good as it could go with worshippers of the Black Pharaoh."
"Hello? Preston Fisher, right?"
Preston looked at the glass entrance of his room. He had been either resting or sitting in his new bed for the past hour. The voice was both welcome and suspicious. During his short time here the bronze haired man had started to put together some theories about his current location, and he had come to the conclusion that he was, for some reason, in a facility under the Government's control. Secret facility, probably, as they had completely ignored all his pleas about seeing his lawyer or calling to his job. So hearing a voice, this one clearly not belonging to the bald man from before; Preston was both wary about what this person wanted to do to him (images of himself attached to an operation table flashed in his mind, clearly product of the memory of some movie) and thankful at the fact of having a conversation. He got up from the bed and walked towards the glass door. He wasn't expecting a teenage girl with black hair falling in curly bangs to the sides of her head, golden-like almond eyes and a bandage around her left arm; all dressed in a quite trashed dark blue suit. But that was exactly what he got.
"Hi." Jade said, waving her hand at the other side. Preston frowned slightly. What kind of agency employed teens?
"Hello." Preston said. "Do you want something?"
"Just a little talk," Jade answered. "And I suppose to say sorry, too. I'm the one who broke your nose; sorry for that, hehe…"
"You broke my nose?" Preston asked in a dumbfounded tone. "Wait a second, did you… did you do this to me?!" the man said in a irritated tone as he pointed to his body's state.
"What? No, no. Well, not the majority of it." Jade answered. "But we had to stop you, you were shooting lightning in the middle of the city trying to kill us, and… that's not important. Look, I forgot that your body was yours in the middle of things and I hit you with very bad intentions, and…"
"Stop there." Preston said. "What do you mean trying to kill you? I didn't try to kill anyone; I remember my apartment, and the lightning and then waking up here…" Preston's eyes widened in horror. "Oh my God, that's it, isn't it? I'm a freak, like those things of four years ago!"
Was he referring to the Shadowkhan or maybe the Oni generals that walked free through San Francisco for a while? Or perhaps to Drago and his peers? Nevermind, this guy needed to calm down, so much stress all of a sudden couldn't be good for him, or at least that was Jade's opinion. "Okay, listen here; you aren't a 'freak'." Jade said trying to calm Preston down. "It's just that you got a problem, mainly about shooting lighting from your body, and we are trying to find a… Agh, this doesn't get us anywhere. You're possessed by a demon, okay?"
Preston stopped from babbling in anguish about his situation and looked straight to Jade. "What?"
"You. Are. Possessed. By a demon." Jade repeated slowly. "A Thunder Demon, to be exact, which my family and I threw time ago into another dimension and now has come for revenge… by using your body, sorry about that too."
"I'm possessed by a demon?" Preston asked, and then let out a relived sigh. "Well, that's… kind of tranquilizing."
"Is it? Whoa, kind of expecting you to freak out there." Jade commented.
"Well, that means that I can get exorcised, right?" Preston asked.
Jade folded her arms and nodded. "Yeah, Uncle is going to make a spell to get Sparky out of you. You are taking this pretty well, thought."
"Well, if it's not a logical explanation, it must be magic." Preston said. "That, or aliens. Have you ever met an alien? That thing that was flying above the stadium four years ago was pretty alien to me."
"Nope, he was all magic." Jade said. She laughed a little in the inside. This guy was proving much easier to talk to than she had thought at first! "Never thought that someone could believe in the 'magic' explanation so fast. And before you ask, I have never met an alien."
"Well, you never know. Four years ago if someone had asked me if I believed in an advancing mass of darkness commanded by a pair of monsters; I would have laughed in that someone's face. But now, well, the world's changing." Preston said. "Thank you for coming, anyway. It's nice having a decent explanation about what has happened to me, instead what that bald man told me."
"Don't blame Captain Black." Jade said. "He didn't know if telling you could be better or not before knowing if there was a solution." Jade looked at a little watch that was at her sleeve. "Look, my family is waiting for me, because we were just going out for lunch before all of this and…" Jade sighed, stopped talking and breathed deeply. "Sorry again about your nose, and try to recover. Bye!"
"Good bye." Preston said. After Jade disappeared from in front the glass door, he got back to his bed and sat in it. So, demonic possession then? Well, he was more a sci-fi guy than a religious horror guy, but he had to admit that it was something you didn't see every day. And it had to have a cure, it had to. Preston lied back in his bed, and little by little, he fell asleep.
The next morning
Jade, dressed in a very similar black uniform to the one her future self would use in not so many years ahead; rubbed her eyes, trying to take the tiredness away. After her talk with Preston yesterday, she and her family had lunch in Section 13's cafeteria instead of the restaurant they had chosen for her graduation party. Uncle was reading like crazy from the Director's book, while Tohru seemed occupied with preparing spells and wards for Big Red's mask. That let Jade and Jackie to talk about the archeologist's late works out of the country while Jade told him about the toughest parts of her training in Section 13. Sometimes during the lunch, it had come to Jade's mind to bring the subject of Viper, but she decided not to. That was something the two adults had to resolve in their own.
Jackie congratulated her behavior concerning Preston and lamented that Jade's 'great day' had been ruined by a demon. But surprisingly, Jade wasn't. Sure, she had been incredibly upset at Mr. 'Great Lord of Thunder' for crashing her happy moment with her family, but... maybe it was the adrenaline, or the fact that she had fought back to back with Jackie against a lightning shooting madman; but she felt at home. It was a somehow creepy thought, but she had missed this stuff. The magic, the ugly demons trying to destroy the world and her family stopping them in their adventures. The last night, talking with Steph until late about her encounter with Tchang Zu, the blonde had called her nuts for wanting that life back. Jade had retorted that Steph had signed in a secret agency too, but her friend said that she had signed up for the computers, the tech and the good salary; not to fight supernatural beings. Jade found that funny about Steph, she was incredible for 'mission control'; but horrible in battle. Well, not horrible, just average; but when you live with Jackie Chan, average tends to be quite overshadowed.
Speaking of Steph, who was dressed into a more usual and feminine clothing, she was there too, trying to not fall asleep as hard as Jade was. Who was the genius that dictated that the best way to organize the day was to make seven in the morning the official hour to start everything? Heck, even the other agents, the older ones, seemed like needing a nap, only being helped by the coffees someone had brought to the scene.
Jackie was there, yawning from time to time, but more focused in the fact that Jade was going to leave the town in her own for a while, even if it was with Tohru and Captain Black. He would usually come and ask Jade if she had picked everything that she needed for the trip, and she would answer mumbling something very similar to an affirmation that somehow Jackie was able to understand.
Tohru and Uncle arrived a little after that, the old Chinese wizard being the only one of the attendants to be fresh like a lettuce. Tohru was carrying a large bag, full of potions and diverse chi items. Uncle was making questions to Tohru in a very similar vein to how Jackie asked her, only it was about having picked out the right ingredients and having enough onions; to which Tohru replied with a respectful 'Yes, sensei' every time.
The last to arrive was Captain Black, carrying a metal box under his arm which, after gathering everyone around, he opened it; revealing a glass box under it, and Tarakudo's mask in all its glory inside that one.
"Well, here's the mission, everyone." Black said as he pointed to the mask. "Tohru here will come with us to the Pacific Compound in order to protect the mask and cast new spells over it. It's of vital importance that the mask stays within Tohru's range of action and that it never gets out of sight. And of course, no one is permitted to put on it." Black then pointed to a group of five agents that were standing near to the main group. Apparently it seemed directed by the same agent that drove them home yesterday. He seemed pretty well for having had a crash via Thunder Demon the day before. "Sergeant Gutierrez and his team here will be put in constant surveillance over Uncle's Rare Finds in order to protect Jackie and Mr. Chan if someone decides to attack them like yesterday. Everything clear?"
Each one of the agents, including Jade, gave Black a sonorous 'Yes, sir!' and they started to head to the boat that was waiting for them. It will be a long way until they reached the Compound, and an equal way back home. And of course, expending time there…
"One more thing!" Uncle said before everyone started to leave. He then pulled out several collars from one of the bags Tohru had brought, putting them around the agents' necks. "This are imbued with good chi, so if demon tries to possess you, it will prevent them from using your body."
"Take care of yourself, Jade." Jackie said as a farewell as h and Jade shared a hug. "And remember what you promised, no getting into trouble."
"Duh." Jade said. "You worry too much, uncle Jackie."
"Don't worry, Mr. Chan!" Stephanie stepped in, embracing Jade from behind. "I'll protect Jade from all harm!"
"More like I will protect you, dummy." Jade said, and the two girls walked towards the boat, letting Jackie to grab Tohru's arm and stop him.
"Look after her for me, Tohru." Jackie asked the Japanese mountain of a man.
The sumo nodded slowly, while a warm expression took over his semblance. "Always, Jackie. Look after sensei for me; he has been a little down usually, like something is molesting him."
"I'll see what I can do with that." Jackie answered, and gave the sumo a pat in the side of his arm. "Have a nice trip, my friend."
The boat departed with its passengers and its valuable load inside, Jackie, Uncle, and the team of agents directed by Gutierrez, were all left alone in the port. Jackie and Uncle looked at the boat going more and more far with each second that passed, and as the vehicle disappeared by the horizon, Uncle put a hand in Jackie's shoulder. "Now nephew knows what is to be like Uncle."
Jackie looked one more time at the boat. "I do."
The 'trip' to the Compound hadn't been as long as Tohru had thought about. In no more than a day, Section 13's boat arrived at a colossal construct floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in a midpoint between the America and Asia. Built in a metallic tone that reflected the sunbeams, it was a large cross with two airports and two ports in each one of the cross' arms. In the cross' center was something very similar to a large building, very similar to a tower that somehow reminded Jade of the one that served as Hsi Wu's castle back in that alternate reality. This one was smaller, stylized and of a platinum tone; but it was very similar.
"There's more than what meets the eye." Black spoke as the boat approached one of the ports and anchored there. "There is even more underwater, and goes all until the bottom. The lower the place, the most secure it is." Black pointed to the tower. "The higher level is for agents and other staff." His finger moved from the top of the tower to its bottom and the pointed even lower. "The lower levels are for prisoners with magical knowledge or know for abusing it in the past. Then there are cells made for criminals with supernatural abilities, and the lowest level if for things like the mask."
Tohru frowned. They needed to take the mask into the ocean itself? And worse, he would have to stay there until his magical defenses had been put? Great.
Meanwhile Jade was looking both excited and impressed at the structure. As the agents descended from the boat, she looked for Stephanie and grabbed her arm. "Hey Steph, could you get me the blueprints for this place?"
"What?" Stephanie asked. "Jade, this is probably the place with the strongest firewall and software in the face of the planet!" Stephanie smirked. "I'll get you something when I'm free."
"Great," Black said as he pointed to a pair of men waiting at the base of the tower without paying attention to the two teenage girls talk. "Takashi and Benoit are already here."
Waiting in front of an immense gate were two men of an advanced age. One of them was a slender and thin man of high stature with light grey hair that in one moment in the past must have been blond. He had a short, trimmed beard adorning his face, and little marks across the neck and behind the ears, a result of a surgery operation. His companion was a short Japanese man, who hadn't bothered to hide his real age with operations and so had a wrinkled, shaved face that matched his shaved head. Ovr his dark eyes rested a pair of tiny, circular glasses, and his skin looked tanned after a youth and adulthood under the sun.
"Everyone," Black said as they approached the pair. "Meet Benoit Belpois, representativeof Section 13's newly French branch within the European Union," the captain said pointing to the man of the beard. "And Takashi Matsuoka, head of the Japanese Agency Against Magical Threats... did I say it right?"
"The translation is a bit literal." the Japanese man said with a very marked accent as he bowed respectfully in the usual Japanese fashion. "But it sums up what we try to accomplish, Black-san."
Benoit was quicker to advance towards Black with a smile and taking his hand he shook it vigorously. "Monsieur Black! Good to see you!" the man glanced at the agents behind Black. "You have brought... a lot of company." The voice seemed neutral, but Black caught a slight suspicious tone behind it.
"We have a little problem yesterday." Black said. "The Chans got attacked by a Level Three. I'll explain later."
Benoit lost the suspiciousness of his eyes and the pointed to the gate of the Compound. "I think we should take this inside then, and discuss things alone. Dragunov and Lin have been here for quite a while."
"Very well." Black said. "Tohru, take the mask with some agents and get it to the lowest level, members of the staff will show you the way. I'll see you all later."
Tohru grabbed the box that held Tarakudo's mask inside it even more tightly. Glancing at Jade, she gave him a thumbs-up.
It was time to show that not only Jade had earned her graduation.
San Francisco
Back in Uncle's Rare Finds, specifically in the shop's backroom, Jackie was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Having four agents guarding the perimeter of Uncle's shop while Gutierrez himself was inside was hard enough for him, but having also the Chinese elder going from one corner to another of the shop like a madman, trying to find the corrects tomes in order to cast the correct spells. The book that Uncle had taken from Director White's library seemed to be of incredible help, but Uncle was trying to find the appropriate form of using the spells in it. According to the old man, he was trying to create an inanimate container in order to trap Tchang Zu's spiritual form inside it once removed from Preston, so the Thunder Demon couldn't possess another body or escape said object. And so, meanwhile the elder wizard worked in different vessels in order to restrain the spirit form of the demon, Jackie prepared tea, spoke with Gutierrez and his teammates, and just relaxed.
After one day since Jade's and Tohru's departure, something started to roam his mind. A sensation, like the peal of a drum in the back of his body. Did he… did he felt useless for a moment? He had nothing to do here, and albeit he hated the fact that he was involved with all this magical shenanigans over again, a part of him had to admit that maybe he was losing his touch. Thinking back to their battle with Tchang Zu two days before, Jackie had to admit that it had been Jade the one that had fought more the Thunder Demon out of the two. Jackie, resting now over a chair while Uncle drank a cup of tea and worked in a pentagonal box, rubbed the back of his head. For years he had asked for a tranquil life that didn't involve demons, or forces of darkness, or another thing like that. He had wanted to forget about magic, but now that was likely impossible, and he seemed to accustom to the idea. After Drago's rampage over San Francisco four years ago, many people had started to speculate what that all was about.
Aliens, terrorists, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse; those had been some of the most popular theories at first. He remembered seeing a priest in TV that claimed that it had been a heavenly punishment, that God had unleashed the hordes of hell in Earth in order to make humankind pay for their sins. Well, he had been somehow right, at least in the 'hordes of hell' part. After that conspiracy theories and people in the internet talking about magic and putting spells in their post. Both Jackie and Tohru had to be very restrictive on Jade in order to make her refrain from creating her own 'magic blog'. But little by little, there were more people that started to understand how the world worked behind the curtains of their normal, rational lives. Jackie suspected that as more time passed more people would start believing in magic and more people would start practicing it.
Jackie sighed. Magic was starting to become something very similar to common norm, his niece had become an agent of a secret agency and now there was he, preparing tea for a man trying to create a container for the chi of a demon. The world really was changing.
"Jackie!" Uncle yelled from his work spot. "Hand Uncle that jar with the leech spittle!" he said pointing to a jar into one of the shop's shelves.
"Yes, Uncle," Jackie replied from his chair as he got up and took the jar from the shelf. "You know, this reminds me of the past, when it was just the two of us."
"You mean when Jackie was as lively as Jade and Uncle had black hair, no wrinkles and could move swiftly?" the Chinese elder asked as a funny smile appeared in his face. "Uhm… yes, veeery good times." Jackie snickered at that remark. His old Uncle was still capable of cracking some funny jokes like those ones.
"Excuse me, Mr. Chan?" came then Gutierrez's voice, as he stepped into the backroom wearing civilian clothes instead of the usual suit the agents usually wore. He handed Jackie a phone. "You have a call."
"Is it a client?" Uncle asked as he put some of the leech spittle over a bunch of herbs in a little pot. "Don't let them make any offers under five hundred dollars!"
"No, Mr. Chan; I'm afraid it's not one of those calls." Gutierrez pressed a button of the phone. "Here, I've put it so everyone can hear."
"Jackie?" came a voice from the phone. A voice Jackie knew far too well.
"El Toro?" Jackie asked aloud in a surprised yet pleased tone. "Is that you?"
"It is, my dear amigo." the voice of El Toro Fuerte came from the machine, the strong Mexican accent of the luchadore making his words sound had on the phone. "But I'm afraid I'm not making a pleasure call. I have bad news."
"What kind of bad news?" Jackie asked.
"We have a little emergency here, in Mexico." El Toro spoke. "There was a riot and an escape in the Topo Chico prison."
Jackie was afraid to ask, because he knew the answer already. And yet, he asked. "What does that have to do with me? It seems like work for your government."
"That's the thing, amigo Jackie." El Toro said. "It can be all just a rumor, but… they say, in the news and in the streets, that the man who instigated the riot and escaped with some others… they say that he could produce earthquakes."
Jackie shivered and cursed in his thoughts. Now this seemed like the worst of things that were probable. Uncle stopped with what he was doing immediately after hearing that, and he started to make questions to El Toro. The luchadore answered as best as he could, and then Uncle hanged the phone.
Jackie went to his room and started to prepare luggage for him and Uncle. Meanwhile, Gutierrez started to make calls to Section 13, trying to get a message to Captain Black and speak with Director White. Of course it would be not only Tchang Zu. Of course there had to be more…
Mexico
Walking through the shadowy alleys of a small town, three men broke into a little shop. Working fast, they changed from their prison uniforms to something more confortable and well, less suspicious.
"Hey, hermano." one of them spoke, a man of an average look, nothing really special to say about him. "Do you think that the boss is okay? He seemed, weirder than normal, more violent…"
"You worry too much Luis, hermanito." a man older than the other, a huge scar running through his face, said as he adjusted his new acquired shirt. "He got us out, didn't he? So don't complain."
In another room of the shop, a bulky yet somehow short man was putting into some clothes, with not very good choice; but that was excusable with the little light he disposed of. Pedro Guerra had been always a man that had things clear. He knew how to kill, how to inspire fear. That was the reason why the majority of the Drug Cartels used to employ him in order to get rid of the pests… until they put him into that prison, and left him there to rot. Until they had forgotten of him. But now that was going to change. Now he had power, and a new associate that will look for his back. Because it was his back too.
Pedro looked at a vase that held some flowers inside. Noting a pinch of pain in the back of his head, he let his partner to take command for a moment. Pedro's hands moved and crushed the vase into pieces, and then he smashed the fallen flowers under his foot. Eyes without pupils and bighting in red appeared instead of the black ones of Pedro.
"Dai Gui hates flowers…" the Earth Demon murmured with a mouth that wasn't his.
A/N: yes, that seems a good moment to end the chapter. I hope that you all enjoyed this one, because, aside from the action from the beginning, it was dedicated mostly to world building. As said before, this fic is going to start like a JCA season to descent slowly into Lovecraft territory; but don't worry, because I have something prepared for next chapter. The confrontation with Dai Gui should end in chapter five, because is just going to start in the next one (mainly because I want to dwell a little more in how the Compund works), then we will have another little encounter with another Demon Sorcerer in chapter six, and then, in seven; this will take a turn. If things go as I've planned them this should have gone full Lovecraft around chapter ten.
See you all in the next chapter, then. Hope that you enjoyed the read and leave a review if you feel like it.