Therapy for a Monster

Jack shoved his way through the mall and downed his drink. He had been drinking more than he ever had ever since Kitty and Jack had broken it off. He probably needed to stop eventually, but luckily for the general populus; it seemed to have mellowed him out at least slightly, the alcohol keeping him from doing what he usually wanted to do. But today, he was 3 bottles in and ready to kill. Fuck it. Either he was going away with some sort of sated bloodlust, or some fuckin' hero would put him down finally and he could rest for a couple of days.

Jack threw his bottle against the wall and flew up into the air, pumpkin head shimmering into existence. He swayed as he stood on the handle of his scythe and spewed flames from his pumpkin mouth. Not a single person was hurt, or even hit by the flames; but Jack didn't really care. He was here to cause mayhem. "Lis... Listen here you fuckin' cowars!" Jack said, the slur in his voice evident by the way that he forgot to pronounce the D in coward. The crowd stared at the madman, some recognizing him; others trying to talk him out of whatever it is that he was about to do. Jack waved them away with a fireball made of green energy.

As one of the patrons turned to dust under the heat of the flames; the crowd began screaming and Jack sat on his scythe holding his hands to his head. "I'm such a fuck-up." Jack said before allowing his arms to lengthen and grab a woman from the crowd. He brushed a hair from her eyes. "Hey, you know... You're pretty cute... Maybe we should hang out." Jack said smiling, drunkenly. His arm was twisted around her like a coiled snake, the woman screamed for help but Jack covered her mouth. "Shh, shh, shh... It's okay. It's okay. No need to talk. Talking leads to fighting. I don't wanna fight you."

That's when Jack noticed the old man staring up at him. "What are you looking at, old man?! Can't you see I'm on a date!"

"Hrmm..." Terry said under his breathe. He was in one of the novelette corner shops in the mall, currently holding two books up to his view. A look of consideration etched into his aging features.

"Tom Sawyer is always a classic, but kids nowadays don't care about floating down rivers and painting fences anymore. Not sure on this one though..." He peered closer at the second book, noticing the neatly folded tie draped across the cover. "Well, Steve is coming back from a job interview so maybe the tie is a good sign? And the employee did say this was a best seller...I guess that settles it." Terry carefully put The Adventures of Tom Sawyer back on the half empty shelf. and begin walking towards the check out.

"I do hope he'll like Fifty Shades of Gre-" A loud commotion of screams and hurried feet broke him out of his thoughts as the ground lightly shook under him. All concerns over a gift long gone as he rushed to the entry plaza. Luckily, the now stampeding crowed left the outer left wall unblocked and Terry was able to slip through without fear of being trampled. Breaking past the throngs of shoppers he finally saw the situation at hand. Green fire spread throughout the main plaza and in the midst of the noxious smoke was a pumpkin-headed man atop a floating scythe. Beside him was a young woman, screams muffled as she was encased in the man's snakelike arm.

This was not the first time Terry White had found himself staring at a villain, nor did he think it would be the last. Many times before he had locked eyes with the wicket and dangerous, and yet, he was still here. He may not have the strength to stand up to these sometimes god-like beings , but he certainly had the heart to do what was right.

"Please, listen to me...People are scared, and getting hurt. Let her go. You know she wasn't what you came here for. Please, let her go and we can work this out...You don't have to do this."

Jack was just about to make his move on the woman, drunkenly trying to shove his tongue into her face when an old man came out of the book store. He stared at the man confusedly for a moment. Jack frowned. She wasn't what he came here for, was she... He stared at the man trying to regain focus. He dropped the now terrified woman to the ground and allowed her to run.

When she was out the door, he shook his head. "Do I know you? You look familiar for some reason." He said, letting himself slowly descend to the ground. He stared at him for a bit, before it clicked. "Oh, I know you!" He slid the scythe against the ground, allowing it to screech and spark as he brought it in front of himself. "Doctor Impossible! You're
a newer hero, but you keep showing up on the news." Jack spat onto the ground, and grinned.

"Lucky day for me, I think I'm starting to sober up. It's a regeneration thing." He said, and looked to Terry before smiling even wider. "How's about you and me blow off some steam, and I can go home with an old mans head in a jar?"

"That is what some people call me, yes, but I am no more of a person than anyone, even you."

Terry took a few steps closer towards the pumpkin-headed man.

"I'm sorry, but I can't fight you. I wouldn't even begin to think of how to possibly stop you, but more importantly, I don't want to fight you."

The old man takes another few steps closer now within arms reach.

"You have such incredible power. You could do all sorts of things with it. Help others, make your life better, live your dreams...So many thing. And yet, you're here, drunk as a skunk scaring people and like a kid at Christmas over the idea of fighting an old guy like me. Sorry if I'm assuming here, but that doesn't seem like the kind of life a man with your power would want...I can tell when someone is hurt, and the best I can offer you is my advice. You are not a monster and I am here for you now. What happened?"

Jack hesitated. Why wasn’t he attacking him? ‘Come on old man. Don’t be a dick.’ Jack thought. ‘I need you to take me off the field until I can get my head on straight at the very least.”
And yet, the man kept talking to him.

Jack shifted uncomfortably. Was he getting to him? Was it telepathy? Suggestion? Whatever it was… it made Jack want to be pissed off! ...and yet he couldn’t be. Somehow he knew that his words were true. He knew that he was just trying to help. It… comforted Jack.

He spun his scythe around and then strung it onto his back. “Alright, fine Doc. We’ll talk. But if this is a trick, don’t forget that I can and will incinerate you.” He said, despite the threat being totally empty.

Jack found a place to sit, and stared at the man for a long moment. Was he really doing this? Jack wasn’t usually the guy who talked about his feelings. Let alone to one of his potential victims. Maybe that booze was stronger than he thought. Finally, Jack exhaled and put on the illusion of his human head. Green eyes, a dark red beard, and a mop of red hair that had clearly been left unwashed. His eyes were swollen from crying, and red from a lack of sleep. A miserable tight frown lined his face. Even if Terry might not have recognized it, Jack did. This was his true face. This here? This was the reflection of Jack’s fears and feelings. “You wanna know what happened to me, Doc? I fucked up the best damn thing that I’ve ever had. Hell, the best thing I’ve ever seen. All because of some frisky family member, and an alcohol battered brain.”

Terry looked around, making sure that any potential victims were making their way to safety or would be safe in case the villain attacked suddenly. As much as he genuinely wanted to help this obviously pained man, he couldn't ignore the deaths he had already caused, nor the dangers he posed to everyone still. If the villain decided he was done talking then there was hardly anything Terry could do besides buying time for others. Seeing the vacated food court around him, Terry sat next to the villain as his pumpkin head shifted into a face of sadness and pain.

He listened patiently, not showing any signs of judgment or even fear as the villain began to open up.

There was a pregnant pause as Jack looked expectantly at Terry while he tried to gather his thoughts on how to approach this. The man was clearly suffering from loss and feels a lot of guilt over his involvement. It would be helpful to know exactly what happened but...baby steps. Going about this too quickly might just rile him up again.

"Loss...loss is a terrible thing. Even more so when you feel like you could have changed it, could have done better, not made mistakes...But that's what makes us all human, our mistakes. Loss happens to all of us, but we can dictate whether or not it breaks us down or builds us up."

Terry sighed as he remembered all the times he lost the chance of eating dinner with his wife because of his work...Back then life was harder, and money was everything, but he'd give it all back if he could just have one last dinner with her.

"If you'd like, you can tell me more about what happened. I know a thing or two about loss when it comes to family."

Thread retired. Vorik to claim XP.