Inverted AU Character Intros: 6/7
A JSE Fanfic
[These are intros for the versions of the guys for my Inverted AU! Inverted is a reverse-morality story where the good guys are bad and the bad guy—Anti—is good. These intros should help newcomers understand just how the dynamics work :) This one is for Inverted!Jack.]

“Hey bro, are you finished recording for the day?”

Jack pulled off his headphones and spun around to see his friend Chase peeking through the door to his recording room. “Oh hey,” he said. “What’s up?”

“Marvin’s back. He’s kinda…well, he wants to talk to everyone.”

“Oh! Yeah, of course.” Jack turned back around and paused the game he was playing, then stood up and followed Chase out of the recording room.

The upper floor of the house was mostly bedrooms, but there was also a closet, the recording room, and a room that Jackie kept locked. He said it was an office for his work, but Jack…wasn’t actually sure what that was. He asked a couple times, but Jackie had been evasive, and after a while Chase approached him and explained that Jackie was embarrassed, and asked that he stopped asking about it. Jack had immediately dropped the subject, not wanting to make his friend feel bad.

The downstairs, meanwhile, was the communal area. There was a kitchen, a dining room, a storage room, and a living room. Chase led Jack into the living room, which had a wall-mounted TV, a coffee table, two sofas, two armchairs, and three square tables. The one oddity was a tank in the corner, half-filled with a translucent green fluid. The glass had a jagged hole near the top, and small shards floated in the liquid inside. Jack’s eyes lingered on the tank for a long moment before looking at the other people in the room. Jackie was wearing his red hoodie, like always, and was slumped on one of the couches. Schneep was sitting on the other, filling out a stack of paperwork for his clinic. Jameson was sitting upright in one of the chairs. Marvin was pacing in front of the television, fuming. “The gang’s all here!” Jackie said when he saw Chase and Jack.

“Yeah, Chase said Marvin wanted to talk to us?” Jack sat down on the couch next to Schneep. He wrinkled his nose. The doctor had gone overboard with the cologne again. He kept telling him there was no reason to wear this much.

Marvin stopped pacing and looked at Jack, eyes bright behind his mask he always wore. “I lost them.”

Jack felt his heart stop. “Wh-what?”

“Are you sure?” Chase asked, moving over to sit in one of the chairs.

“Course I’m sure.” Marvin scowled. “That motherfucker has some good illusions up his sleeve. I thought everything was going perfectly, then I get back here and the thing fucking disappears.”

“Oh…” Jack said softly.

“That is unfortunate,” Schneep sighed. “Your Sam is unique, Jack. I have never seen anything like it. What luck, to have lost it!”

Jack instinctively opened his mouth to correct Schneep: Sam was a “they,” not an “it,” and they didn’t belong to Jack. But he stopped. Schneep had a hard time understanding that Sam, an eyeball, was actually sentient. It was no use trying to explain to him. He’d tried enough without success.

Jackie made a strangled kind of laugh. “We didn’t lose them, Henrik, they were taken and we need to get them back.”

“Can you shut up?” Marvin snapped. “I know I failed, you don’t need to fucking rub it in!”

{Marvin!} Jack jumped at the voice in his head. He was never going to get used to that. Jameson must’ve been broadcasting to the group as a whole, because everyone’s heads turned toward him. {Jackie didn’t mean that at all! Just because you’re in a tizzy doesn’t mean you need to lash out. If you’re going to continue to act this way, you can go chase yourself.}

“I’d prefer to stay, actually,” Marvin considered. “Alright, I’ll try to not do that.” Then he turned and continued his pacing.

“We’re sure we can get them back?” Jack asked nervously. “We’re really sure?”

“What do you take us for?” Schneep scoffed. “A batch of incompetents? Yes, we are sure.”

“That’s not what I—never mind. Sorry.” Jack sighed. “God, I hope Sam’s alright. They’d finally gotten used to living here.” He laughed a bit. “Only took them two years.”

“What?” Chase looked at Jack, head tilted, concerned. “Dude, you haven’t been here for two years.”

“Yeah we have.” Jack’s brow lowered as he remembered. “I…yeah.”

“You’ve been here for seven months, Jack.” Chase shifted back and forth in his seat. “You, uh, feeling okay?”

“No—no! We celebrated Christmas twice here! We had the year where we went to a hotel, then the year where we all stayed here. We got new sweaters then.”

“That was the same year, dude. It was only a couple months ago. We decided to go overboard? Because it was your first holiday with us? You moved in after Halloween last year? Any of this ringing a bell?”

“I…” Jack looked at the others for support, but they were all looking at him with variations of the same expression. “I could’ve sworn…”

{You’ve been pretty stressed lately,} Jameson pointed out. {Putting out all those videos, doing all those events. Perhaps the strain is getting to you.}

“Maybe you’re right…” Jack trailed off. “I’ve been thinking about taking a break…”

“Really?” Chase asked, interested. “I thought you loved YouTube.”

“Yeah, but—”

“I don’t take breaks, personally. But maybe that’s just me.”

“Oh. Well, then…” If Chase, of all people, still managed to keep to a schedule, with all the problems he had in his life, then he didn’t really have an excuse. “Yeah, you’re right. Stupid idea. I should—should probably get back to recording, actually.” He stood up.

{Capital idea,} Jameson said, giving a thumbs-up. {It’s rather late, actually. We should all go to bed.} He stood up as well.

“Not tired,” Jackie and Marvin said in unison.

“I have work to do.” Schneep looked back down to his paper work.

Chase merely shrugged.

Jameson looked to the ceiling, exasperated. {Well, if you four would prefer to burn the candle at both ends, you are free to do so. Meanwhile, I have business in the morning.}

“Really?” Jack asked.

{Oh yes. The cleaning company is sending a new maid over, and I plan to introduce her to the place. Show her around, where the problem areas are.}

“Ah! Man, those guys must have a quick rotation schedule, or whatever, there’s someone new here pretty often.” Wasn’t someone here most days? Just wandering about…? No, that wasn’t possible. He must be imagining things. Yeah, he definitely was, his vision was swirling in spirals a bit. He really needed to de-stress.

{It’s a big house! Needs lots of professional hands to take care of it!} Jameson bounced, hands on hips.

Jack held back a laugh. “Dude, I can’t take you seriously when you do that.”

Jameson shrugged, then turned on his heel and strode back towards the staircase. Jack followed. As he walked toward the staircase at the end of the hall, he noticed a door. It wasn’t anything unusual, looked just like the other doors. But he didn’t remember having ever been through it.

He stopped for a moment, considering. He’d been here for seven months, how was that possible? For a moment he paused. Then he decided to take a quick peek, just for the hell of it. He crossed to the door, grabbed the knob, and pulled it open.

Behind the door there was another hall. It was unlit, but he could make out the slight shape of a couple doors, and at the very end there was a staircase leading down into darkness.

It was kinda creepy. No, actually, it was very creepy. His breathing quickened, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and his vision became purple at the edges. He quickly shut the door and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. Freaky. Why did they have a place like that in the house? He’d have to ask them. But later. When his hands finally stopped shaking. God, it didn’t matter what it was for, he was never going through that door into such a…a scary place.

Jack opened his eyes, and frowned. He had the strangest feeling of deja vu. Whatever. He pushed away from the wall, gave the freaky door the side eye, and went upstairs. He had more important things to worry about.

He had more important things to do than worry.

He didn’t need to worry.

What was there to worry about?

Everything is fine.

Inverted AU Character Intros: 4/7
A JSE Fanfic
[These are intros for the versions of the guys for my Inverted AU! Inverted is a reverse-morality story where the good guys are bad and the bad guy—Anti—is good. These intros should help newcomers understand just how the dynamics work :) This one is for Inverted!Marvin.]

The party in the penthouse was still going late into the night. Honestly, it probably should have stopped long ago, considering the state half the guests were in. But the other half was keeping up the wild energy, downing drinks like crazy, jumping around in the middle of the impromptu dance floor, shouting out their conversations. It was surprising that the neighbors downstairs hadn’t called the police with a noise complaint yet. Maybe they’d just resigned themselves to their fate. All the normal lights were turned off, replaced by red and blue and pink party lights that made designs on the heads of the crowd. Music was pumping from a state-of-the-art stereo system.

Parties like this always attracted weird people. The hostess expected it, encouraged it even, but she’d never seen someone like this before. Not because he was particularly strange, but because…he wasn’t. She stared at him from across the room. He was just standing in a doorway, nursing a drink, watching the party. He was wearing a cape and a strange mask, which, in the hostess’s experience, meant he was one of the crazy ones. But he was just standing there. He hadn’t moved at all the entire night, and despite the cup in his hand he wasn’t drinking.

People came to these parties to go insane for a night. Everyone in the city knew this. The hostess finally decided to approach him and figure out what the deal was. She edged her way around the mass of flailing limbs that was the dance floor and sidled up next to him. “You enjoying yourself?” she asked, raising her voice a bit so he could hear her over the loud music.

His eyes snapped to hers. “Not yet,” he replied. He didn’t shout, but she could hear him perfectly.

“Well, the enjoyment of my guests is important to me,” she told him. “What can I do for you?”

The masked man hummed. “I don’t know. How many people are here?”

Odd question. But some people had issues with crowds, so she shrugged it off. “I dunno. I don’t invite people, I just open the door and let them come in. I think on average it’s about a hundred or two.”

“Nice.” He nodded, looking thoughtful.

“Yeah it is!” The hostess said, beaming. “I got the most popular parties in the city.” The man didn’t say anything, just turned and looked back at the party. He was…weirding her out a bit. “Maybe you just need a new drink,” she suggested. “Then you’ll start to loosen up.”

“That’s a good idea, actually. See you later.” He pushed away from his spot and walked toward one of the refreshment tables. The hostess watched him go. She decided to keep an eye on him. Just in case.

It was starting to look like the party would last all night. People showed up, people left if they were able, but the energy didn’t die down no matter what. The hostess left the dance floor to go get a drink. Not alcohol, she never drank, but just a regular refreshment. She tripped over someone who’d passed out. Not uncommon, but usually the wasted people either had the sense to stumble over to the edges of whichever room they were in, or their friends were able to carry them out of the way. This dude was right in the middle of the path to the refreshments.

The hostess frowned. That wasn’t a good sign. She knelt by the unconscious man, checking his pulse. It was as strong as it could be. She pulled back his eyelids to check his pupils. His eyes immediately rolled back, but she noticed his pupils were super dilated and tiny. Probably a problem. Now, she began to notice other strange things. The veins of his face were sticking out, and slightly purple in color. His temperature was unusually high. Despite being unconscious, he was breathing rapidly and shallowly. Was this a drug of some kind? She didn’t allow such things at her parties. Maybe she should call the police…

A few minutes later, she noticed a woman who’d passed out in the doorway to the kitchen. She was showing the same symptoms. And only moments later, a couple were knocked out on a couch, looking the same. Had someone smuggled some new drug into the party? God, she hoped it wasn’t too dangerous.

But an hour later, she was forced to conclude that it was, in fact, dangerous. At least a third of the party had passed out due to…whatever this was. The hostess, seriously worried, went into the kitchen, which was relatively empty of people and noise. She dodged a couple more unconscious people and pulled out her cellphone.

“Hey, it’s you again.” The hostess looked to her left and saw the masked man, sitting on one of her kitchen counters, reading something on his phone. “How’ve you been?”

“Oh. Hey.” She’d totally forgotten that she wanted to keep an eye on him. He was probably fine, she’d seen him hanging out normally. “I was having a great time a little bit ago, but now…people are acting weird. Passing out with weird…I dunno, symptoms? I think it’s a drug so I’m calling the cops.”

The man stood up, stretching. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“What? People could be dying!”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Okay. She was right to be concerned about this dude. She stared at him as she dialed emergency and raised the phone to her ear. His eyes were reflecting the purple party lighting. By this point, she’d forgotten she hadn’t hung any purple lights. She just listened to the dial tone on her phone as it rang…and rang…and rang…and rang…

The masked man walked up to her. “You know, for someone who runs crazy parties like this, you’re a very responsible person.”

“Uh, thanks.” Someone on the other side should’ve picked up by now. It wasn’t a personal number, it was emergency for god’s sake. “Who-who are you again?”

He smiled. “I’m the evening’s entertainment, of course!”

Before the hostess could say anything, he reached out and grabbed her wrist. Violet lightning raced down her arm. Her muscles spasmed and jerked, and when the lightning reached her head seconds later she didn’t even have time to yell before she was knocked out.

A few days later, Marvin was in the basement of the hideout, leaning against a wooden door. Strange symbols were scribbled around the doorframe in what looked like charcoal, but was actually a lot harder to wipe away. He was scrolling through a local news website on his phone. Somebody finally reported the hostess missing.

The article he was reading said she was last seen at her party, or as the media had begun calling it, “The Penthouse Pass-Out.” Stupid name. True, everyone who’d touched any of the refreshments had been affected by the Langoreem’Ysca spell, but they hadn’t really passed out. They all reported being conscious, but too sick to respond. Feverish, nauseous, weak,dizzy…thirteen who’d had too much alcohol had been rushed to the hospital. Of those, seven hadn’t made it. Interesting numbers. Significant.

Marvin decided to call that a successful test. Next, there was a level two version of the Langoreem’Ysca that he was dying to test out. This one happened with no complications, so the next one should work perfectly! He just needed another large group of people…

Actually, there had been one complication. That hostess. She got in the way. But at least he got something out of that. Marvin had a lot of spells he was excited to use. But most of them required a “volunteer.” He needed somebody to test them on, and his last volunteer…well, he decided it was fortunate that he’d picked that party to go to. Saved him a lot of effort.

Marvin leaned over and picked up the leather-bound book he’d laid by his feet earlier. Then he turned and opened the door, revealing steps leading downward still. He adjusted his mask, smiled, and climbed down the staircase, shutting the door behind him.

Inverted AU Character Intros: 3/7
A JSE Fanfic
[These are intros for the versions of the guys for my Inverted AU! Inverted is a reverse-morality story where the good guys are bad and the bad guy—Anti—is good. These intros should help newcomers understand just how the dynamics work :) This one is for Inverted!Schneep.]

“You sure this is the place?” the man asked. “Looks a little…sketchy.”

The building sat on the fringes of town. It wasn’t really run-down, actually it was in better repair than most of its surroundings. But there was no sign or any sort of label. The room through the large front window was dark, and with the sun barely setting you couldn’t see anything inside.

“Well, not like we have a choice.” The woman shrugged as best as she could while still supporting her companion. “Unless you want the hospital wondering why you got shot three times. They’re obligated to call the police with any gunshot wounds, you know.”

The man winced. His wounds throbbed with new pain: one in the leg, one in the abdomen, one in the hip. The leg has been a through-and-through, but he still had bullets lodged in his torso. “Good point,” he mumbled, leaning on the woman even more. “Let’s go.”

The door opened, and a buzzing sound let everyone inside know someone had just entered. The woman flipped a light switch near the door, revealing what looked like an impromptu waiting room. A bunch of upholstered chairs leaned against the walls, and small end tables next to them held some old out-of-date magazines. The walls were undecorated, off-white plaster only broken up by a single gray door. A long desk with a computer monitor and a swivel chair seemed to serve as reception, but nobody was there.

“Maybe it’s closed,” the man suggested hopefully.

“Places like this don’t close,” the woman said stubbornly. “Now stop worrying. This guy may be a little weird, but he’s very good.”

“I appreciate that you think so.” The door opened, and a man stepped out. “And you are right, of course. I am great doctor.”

“Ah, so you’re the guy,” the man mumbled. “Well I—” he stumbled a bit. The woman had to help him stay on his feet.

The doctor hummed thoughtfully, eyes scanning up and down. “The gun wounds, yes? I am assuming there are bullets still inside you want me to remove?”

“Exactly,” the woman confirmed. “Two of them. We hear you do good work and can, ah, keep quiet.”

“Of course, of course.” The doctor waved a dismissive hand. “I will expect payment for this.”

“I don’t carry cash—”

“I can wait a week or so. Now, if you could please wait here while I take your friend to be fixed up…”

“But I—”

“I do not care. I cannot have distractions while on such an important operation.”

The woman opened her mouth to keep protesting, but the man looked at her and shook his head. “It’s okay,” he said. “We’re in kind of a rush, since I don’t want to bleed out and all. And I’ll remind you that this was your idea.” The woman scowled, but let him shift his weight from her to the doctor. She sat on a chair and watched as her companion and the doctor went into the other room. The door swung shut with a strange finality.

“If you will lay down on the table, please,” the doctor said, pushing the man toward said table. “I am going to prepare anesthetic.”

The man eyed it. “Yeah, no thanks.”

“Ha! If you are worried about the straps, my friend, that is because I am not always able to have painkillers. We will not need them today, and I am not going to give you or your friend reason to not pay me.” The man stood stubbornly, despite his unsteady swaying, and the doctor rolled his eyes. “You can just sit, if that makes you feel better.”

Cautiously, the man did so, and looked around the room. It looked like the operating rooms you see on TV, just a bit more thrown-together. There were trays full of wicked-looking medical equipment, and giant lamps provided bright white spotlights. A couple rickety metal tables around the room held various devices and instruments, and two metal doors led deeper into the building.

The doctor busied himself at one of the tables, partially hidden in the shadows. “So, why is it that you come to me with three bullet holes inside you?”

“Why d’you care?” the man said suspiciously.

“I make it a point to know these things about my patients. Maybe your girlfriend out there could tell me if you won’t.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Sister, then?”

“Nah, I’m an only child. Don’t have much family left, and they probably wouldn’t care enough to drag me here if they knew I was shot.”

“I see, I see.” The doctor pulled on a pair of blue latex gloves, then glanced back over to the man. “You do not have to tell me the big picture. I am smart enough to figure things out. But I must know the details, like the type of gun.”

“I dunno, handgun? It was too dark in the room to make it out.” The man felt a sudden surge of anger. “It was going so well, too. That bitch-ass red hood wannabe didn’t see us coming. We probably could’ve done it, had his friend not shown up at the last minute. Just a few bang, bang, bangs and we had to run…They’re probably following us, actually, so you should make this quick if you don’t want a shootout in the middle of your little emergency room here.”

“…I see.” The doctor picked up a syringe. In this lighting, it looked so dramatic that the man half-expected the doctor to squirt out a bit of the fluid inside, like you see in movies. But that would’ve been a waste of whatever was inside. “This is the anesthetic. Now if you will stick out your arm, we could get underway.”

The man realized he’d leaned back unconsciously. He shook himself mentally. His friend thought this was a good place, and she was usually right. A backdoor operation like this would probably be kind of creepy. So, despite his instincts, he rolled up his sleeve and let the doctor shove a needle in his arm.

“It will take a few moments to kick in,” the doctor explained. “Now, if you don’t mind, that is enough time for me to make a very important phone call. I have been meaning to do so all day. I will see you in a little while.” And with that, he turned and pushed though a door into another room.

What a strange man. Well, he had an accent, so maybe it was a culture thing. The man could do nothing but sit and wait for the anesthesia to kick in.

He’d never been on painkillers before, at least not that he could remember. Was the room supposed to be tilting? Were his thoughts supposed to be spinning? He tried to lift his hand to his head, but his movements were beginning to slow…maybe he just…needed to lie down…but he didn’t want that…why was that again?…remembering took a longer time than it normally did…when he blinked the lights began to blur…

There was a pap! sound. In his slow mind, it took him too long to recognize it as a gunshot. A couple more followed. They were disturbingly close…didn’t he just say something about being followed?…He was hit with a sense of urgency all of a sudden. He tried to stand up but ended up almost falling over instead. He hadn’t lost that much blood, had he?

“Ah, seems they were closer than I thought.” The doctor came back into the room, the lower half of his face hidden by a blue surgical mask. He walked over to the operating table.

“Wha…what’s goin…?” the man slurred. Things were starting to swirl in front of his eyes.

“Well, you are very unlucky, my friend.” The doctor pushed the man down onto the table. Vaguely, the man was aware of something being strapped across his chest. “Had you been anyone else, I would have done the operation you wanted and sent you on your way, provided you did eventually pay. But the man you went after happens to be a friend of mine, and I just got his permission to do my actual work.”

The man turned his head. “My…she…”

“She’s probably already dead. You should not worry about her right now. Well, you should not worry about yourself either. I am very good at my job.”

“What…did you do…to me?”

The doctor pulled down his mask, smiling at the man. “Is not anesthetic. You may not be entirely conscious, but is not painkiller, because it will not kill the pain. You may not enjoy this.” He pulled the mask back in place.

The next morning, two men met in the local park. One of them wore a red hoodie, the other one wore a blue sweater and glasses. They sat in silence on a bench, each one nursing a coffee. After a while, Jackie asked, “Did you kill him?”

Dr. Schneeplestein made a so-so gesture with his hand. “Eventually. Actually, I should go check soon.”

Jackie raised an eyebrow. “Have I ever told you that you’re really fucked up?”

Schneep smiled. “Many times.” And he didn’t care.

Inverted AU Character Intros: 2/7
A JSE Fanfic
[These are intros for the versions of the guys for my Inverted AU! Inverted is a reverse-morality story where the good guys are bad and the bad guy—Anti—is good. These intros should help newcomers understand just how the dynamics work :) This one is for Inverted!Jackie.]

Why was it that the city was always empty when you needed it to be full? No matter where the man looked, all he saw was long, dark streets hemmed in by tall, dark buildings. It wasn’t that late! Nevertheless, nobody was out.

His feet pounded against the asphalt. Every so often he’d look over his shoulder, panting. His pursuer was fast, insanely so. But he had to outrun him. He had to push every last ounce of speed from his body. He couldn’t afford to be caught. The streets twisted and turned, and he twisted with him, taking a left turn, then a right, doing his best to lose his pursuer. Until finally, he glanced behind him and saw nothing.

He slowed to a walk, then fully turned around, scanning the street. In the light from the street lamps above, he could clearly see that nobody was there. Relieved, he laughed. He couldn’t believe he’d really outrun him. What luck! Still smiling, the man turned back around and set off at a leisurely pace. He turned a corner…

And got slammed into the nearest building wall.

“No!” he shouted. The pursuer had caught up with him. How, he didn’t know. And he didn’t have time to figure it out either. He pushed his attacker away and started to run again.

“Oh no you fucking don’t!”

He was yanked back by the collar of his shirt and slammed against the wall again. This time, the attacker held him there by the throat, squeezing just tight enough for him to notice, but not enough to cause serious damage. Yet. He grasped vaguely at the attacker’s hands, to no avail.

“I heard a rumor that your boss was planning something big tonight.” The man could see the merest outline of his attacker’s face, hidden as it was beneath a hood and mask. “So you’re gonna tell me what, exactly, that is.”

“I-I don’t know,” the man wheezed. “That’s above my-my pay grade.”

Slam. The man saw stars. “Bullshit,” the attacker spat. “Even the lowest grunts gossip, and you’re higher than them, enforcer. So tell me what I need to know.” He started to increase pressure on the man’s neck, to the point where he could almost feel every individual fiber of the attacker’s gloves.

“You…think…” he choked. “I’m gonna…tell you…anything? I know…what you’ll do…”

The attacker stared at him wordlessly. Then he relinquished his grip. The man collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. His attacker took a few steps backward, and for a second he thought he would finally leave. Then the boot came crashing down. He fell fully to the ground.

“Come on,” the attacker cajoled. “Make this easier for you.” Another impact. “It doesn’t have to be this way.” He was lifted to his feet, only to be be knocked down again by a fist. “You’re really gonna make me do this, huh?” Thunk. “Oh, look. I dunno who leaves bricks lying around, but—” Bash. “You’re being unreasonably difficult.” Crack. “I just need a location. Or a name. And you can make this stop.” Snap. Something broke.

This went on for far longer than it should have. And then…

“Alright! Alright!” The man cried out. “I’ll tell you what you want to know!” He’d never been trained for this. Nobody had thought there would be a situation where it would be needed.

“There we go!” The attacker said cheerfully. He knelt by the man, who lay on the ground. “Well? What dya got?”

“I don’ know everything the boss is planning,” the man panted. “But I do know that there’s a club on Greene…a few of the higher-ups are gathering there tonight, starting midnight. They’re getting guns and ammo for something… please. That’s all I know. Please just…” It always amazed him how this guy could go about and call himself a hero. Would a hero make someone beg?

“Hmm…I see.” The so-called hero stood up. “Thanks for your help. I know where I’ll be for the rest of the night.” With a lazy stretch, he turned and walked away.

“W-wait,” the man almost didn’t want to chance it. But he couldn’t move on his own. “You’re-you’re gonna leave me?”

He stopped in his tracks. “Yeah, that’d be a pretty shitty thing to do,” he considered. I’ll call a friend to come pick you up.” He waved a lazy hand. “I’m sure you’d both appreciate it.”

A chill went through his blood. “N-no…” It was too late. The hero was on his way.

Hours later, the morning news broke with the dawn, carrying with it a startling story. A building at 56 Greene Avenue had caught fire. Early reports said it was arson, with several starting points for the flames, all along the perimeter. Eleven people had been trapped inside, and six more had barely made it out, covered in burns. Police were still looking for the culprit, though one cop was quoted as saying it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, considering all casualties were part of a local gang. Many citizens thought that statement harsh.

But when Jackie watched the news story, all he felt was a sense of pride for having done his job successfully for another night.