Xiaolin Showdown Fan Fiction ❯ Out of the Shadows ❯ The Answer and the Job ( Chapter 4 )

Out of the Shadows

 

By HeavenSentTenshi

 

Chapter 4: The Answer and the Job

 

 

Jack slumped in his chair as he listened with glassy eyes to the man before him. How many times could one subject themselves to this sort of torture? At least once more, he supposed. The hours ticked by with the sluggishness of a tortoise; he had had to have been sitting in the same position for at least half of the last hour, and his backside was beginning to ache. Wuya was becoming irritable; she had left the room not ten minutes before, complaining of a headache, to which Jack questioned the possibility of a ghost receiving a headache when she didn't have any physical features at all.

 

As the man finished counting off the last ten jobs he had had as a body guard and several other forms of protective enlistment, Jack was slowly brought back to reality. He blinked several times, yawned, and then asked, “Are you done?” in a very sincere manner. He received a nod to the affirmative and was handed a sheet of paper listing what Jack had drown out for the last five minutes; it was a resume. Jack half-frowned at it and set it on the table.

 

“That's all well and good, but, uh, I'm not quite sure you'd stand up to the type of work I've got in mind.” Never once did the man say anything about actually fighting anyone since he'd been employed. The man hung his head, muttered something indistinguishable, then sulked off, and up the stairs. As he had done so, Jack's face met with the metal table in front of him with a loud “thud”. He moaned as the light above him flickered several times.

 

“Well?” came a harsh voice from behind Jack. His head snapped up as he squeaked in fright.

 

“Don't sneak up on me, Wuya!” he shouted as he whipped around. Unfortunately for him, Wuya was close enough that his face had passed through her body. He shuddered and groped at his skin; it tingled in great severity. “And don't get so close!” he finished, turning back to the table.

 

“It isn't my fault that you haven't heightened your senses enough to know where I am.” Wuya floated out in front of Jack and started toward the staircase. As she did, Jack glanced at the stack of resumes beside him. He sighed and swiped them off of the table and into the garbage can beneath the table. “Remind me why we're doing this,” Wuya muttered, her eyes gliding back to see the teen.

 

“Because I deserve a vacation. Besides, all my Jackbots need repaired, and that by itself would take a while. If I get someone else to do all my dirty work, I-”

 

“Have the chance to be lazy?” Wuya muttered.

 

“No! I get to rest my creative mind, and enough time to repair all my robots!” Jack proceeded in sticking out his tongue at Wuya in an attempt to prove to her that he had everything handled and that she was mistaken. Her eyes merely narrowed as she looked away from the stupidity that emanated from him.

 

“And what makes you think that this time will be any different from all of the other attempts you've wasted trying to employ someone? Every time you do this, they always turn on us.”

 

“So do you…” Jack muttered, as he crossed his arms over his chest and slumped down in his chair again.

 

“What was that?” Wuya hissed, spinning around.

 

“Nothing, nothing… I didn't say anything….”

 

“No, not you, you fool… I heard something…” Her eyes traveled upward as a footstep echoed from the above floor. Another followed, and the lamp above Jack flickered several more times, this time, going out. Jack shrieked as the lab was engulfed in darkness.

 

The door leading upstairs creaked open as Jack drew in a sharp breath. Standing in the doorway was the dark silhouette of a girl.

 

“Jack Spicer?” she asked. Her voice was haunting; it resembled that of a mystic's.

 

“Uh-huh…” Jack squeaked from under the table. He dove under there as soon as the door had opened. The figured sighed in joyful finality. The lights flickered once more and chased the darkness away. Red hair slowly emerged from the edge of the table, followed by the pale face of Jack. His crimson eyes rested upon a young woman standing at 5'6” with black hair. Her hair was mostly above her shoulders, excluding the long braid on her left that reached to the middle of her chest. Different colored beads held the braid together; a large red bead pulled the hair on her right to the proximity of her ear. Her eyes were hidden in shadow; her nose and mouth were behind a black bandanna; not one shred of her face was visible.

 

Her outfit was intricate. Around her neck sat a black choker embedded with diamond-shaped, silver studs. A ring stuck out from the middle, which was surrounded by small circular studs of the same metal, and hanging from the chain attached to the ring, a metal heart with tiny clear diamonds in the shape of an “S”. She wore a crimson dress that was torn at the bottoms and cut to show off most of her stomach. Each side had an original slit that extended high up her thigh, creating two flaps, one in front and one in back. The front flap was torn to above her knees, the back torn to above her ankles.

 

The top portion of the dress would be a bit revealing, though she had taken care of that. There was a ring below her collar bone; attached to it were the thin red straps that held the dress up; they disappeared over the outermost edges of her shoulders. Beneath the ring, the straps headed for the sides of her chest and disappeared under a large black sash that covered anything revealing. An identical, though longer, sash was tied around her waist into a large bow in the back; the ends were torn as well. She wore a pair of black, skin tight pants, which vanished into the black, ankle high boots she wore. Small belts were wrapped around her ankles and around the base of her boots. To top it all off, she also adorned a pair of fingerless gloves; fingerless because she had torn them accordingly. The base of each glove had in it two rips. The uppermost rip of each glove was pinned together with a safety pin.

 

The stale aroma of salt lingered in the air as she creaked down the steps. There was a slightly tired atmosphere about her as well. Jack watched her in silence as she approached the table. There was a small movement from beneath the bandana on her face just before she brought herself to speak again in that same quiet tone.

 

“You're running an interview of sorts, correct?” Jack nodded. “Good, then I haven't wasted my time.”

 

Jack thought a moment. “Wait, what's that supposed to mean?”

 

The girl made a waving motion with her hand as she raised it. “Never mind…” She then tilted her head and spotted the chair beside her. She lowered herself into it and leaned back. “So… what is it that you wanted to know?”

 

Jack shook his head a moment in an attempt to remember what all he had planned to say to each interviewee. His eyes traveled down to the sheet of paper before him; his cheat sheet of sorts. “Uh, oh yeah… ok… so, what makes you think that you'll be able to work for me?”

 

“From what I saw on that website,” she leaned back a bit further to eye him without his knowing, “there isn't much that'll be required; merely a fighting skill of sorts, and the ability to travel. You said something about taking on multiple opponents, and I'll be ready for that. And, also, I'm here and ready to work.”

 

“Ok, so what kind of work have you done before?”

 

“Well, nothing of this sort… just odd jobs; mostly waitressing… but I got fired from those…. The way I think of it, if I can't do that, I'm better off here.”

 

“So, no fighting experience?”

 

“I never said that.” She leaned forward and propped herself up on her elbows which she dug into her knees. “You may rest assured that I can indeed fight… and fight well.”

 

Jack's head pulled back a bit, surprised on account of her answer and the action she had taken to emphasize it. He found it difficult to deliver a sound answer and was therefore caught murmur something indistinct. The girl frowned beneath her bandana and raised a shadowed eyebrow. After a moment of composure, Jack found his words. “Uh, do you have any kinda proof?” The girl nodded, rising from the chair.

 

Her back was to Jack as she stood before him now. She closed her eyes and allowed the darkness to envelope her as she prepared a song which could show what she was able to do. As soon as Wuya noticed that she had turned, she carefully positioned herself so that she would be able to watch and keep from being seen. When the girl first arrived, and the lights went out, she made sure she was hidden from view; Wuya knew that the sight of a ghost often frightens a person unaccustomed to it.

 

It was almost entertaining, the demonstration. Jack watched in growing enthusiasm. If he was lucky enough, he would finally have that secret weapon he'd always needed; finally, he would have behind him the power and strength enough to collect all the Shen Gong Wu; finally, his dreams of ruling the world would come true. With each perfectly executed movement, his excitement mounted. Finally, with a brilliant spinning leap, a sweep of her hand and a dip of her abdomen, she landed in an almost bow-like stance, her head lowered and arm outstretched.

 

Jack summoned up all of his strength to keep from crying out in delight. He was barely able to keep his cool as she raised her head. Once more, audible words were hard to come by. He cleared his throat behind his hand, pushed his hair back and resettled himself.

 

“Well, that was…” he cleared his throat once more, “good,” he finished in a high pitched squeak. He took a deep breath afterward and cleared his throat for a third time. Wuya recognized his behavior; he was a terrible liar, which explained the flawed dismount, and he didn't want this girl to know he was truly interested in her; he had pulled this stunt with Tubbimura, and with decent results. Wuya listened carefully to observe whether Jack would screw this one up or not.

 

The girl rose from her position and straightened herself. “Thank you,” was all that she uttered.

 

“So… urm… what's your name?” Jack asked in an inquisitive voice.

 

“Sauda… I believe that is all you should require to know.”

 

Jack paused for a moment. She spoke in odd riddles, ones that he wasn't sure were meant to trick him or not. And there was an oddly over-confident air to her as well. Suddenly, he wondered whether she too would turn disobedient, join forces with Wuya, and leave him scrounging around for Shen Gong Wu behind them if he agreed to take her on as a hired hand. But then, he suddenly saw her head tip down and all thoughts vanished. She had her head bowed to him, slightly, but still bowed… she was waiting for him to say something. He took another deep breath.

 

“Alright… uh… I guess if you leave your name and phone number here, I'll get back to when I make a decision…” He most definitely didn't sound as interested as he truly was. He'd done it again. Wuya smirked. Perhaps they would receive free service this time as well.

 

To their surprise, though, Sauda's head rose in a sharp snap; neither Jack nor Wuya could tell, but her eyes had grown in size a bit. “That's all?” she asked in horror. She'd crossed an entire ocean to be hired and now she was already getting the cold shoulder. She feared this was his way of telling her that she wasn't good enough. Her stomach did a somersault and her heart plummeted. “That… that's it?”

 

Jack was taken aback. Had she believed him? Was she that thick? “Yeah… just leave-” Sauda's head lowered.

 

“Damn,” she muttered, turning around. She was so flustered by his words, so eager to hear him say “You're hired!” that she hadn't seen straight through his lies. Had she not been so preoccupied, she would have stood there, smirking evilly at him and messed with his mind; but she hadn't caught it. Instead, she began a shameful walk to the stairs, her frustration threatening to spill over her eyelids.

 

Jack's eyes widened this time. “Wait!” he cried out, “Where are you going?!” Desperation began to slowly leak into his words; but once more, Sauda was too engrossed in her own perturbed thoughts to hear it. She stopped where she stood, one foot on the bottom step of the stairs, her hand already on the railing. She turned her head to see him, standing up out of his chair, his hands on the table, his anxiety emanating from his stance. She was confused, though only for a few moments.

 

“What do you mean?” she asked, her tone now becoming sharper. She had just now realized his feint.

 

“…What about that contact number?” Jack replied weakly, slowly melting into his chair. He knew she knew. He swallowed with difficulty as Wuya slapped her forehead and pulled her face down as her hand went along.

 

“You know,” Sauda began, resting her left hip against the rail, “good things only come to those who deserve it.” And she left it at that; a riddle the likes of which Jack might or might not solve. She hoped he could before she reached the top of the staircase; she began climbing and allowed Jack to think. When it finally dawned on him, he leapt to his feet again, rushing to the bottom step.

 

“Ok, so maybe I… deceived you… but that doesn't mean you have to leave, does it?” Jack crossed his fingers.

 

“Maybe? You think that you may have deceived me? I believe that you tried, though ended up falling flat on your face. The only question left for me to ask is this; should I go home?”

 

“No! No, you shouldn't! You should stay and I should hire you!” Wuya face faulted.

 

“You failed to pull through, Jack…” she hissed, floating out from behind the large metallic object she had shielded herself with.

 

Sauda wasn't sure at this point over what she should be more surprised; the sight of a purple ghost or Jack's outburst. She stood at the top of the stairwell, watching, waiting, confused and shocked. Her hand shot out and gripped the rail as her knees grew overwhelmingly weak. Finally, after a long, uncomfortable pause, Sauda opened her mouth.

 

“What… what is that…?” She lifted her left hand and pointed to Wuya. Jack looked back and realized what exactly was going on.

 

“I am not a `what'…” Wuya growled. Sauda's head dropped in a half nod. She then took a deep breath and stepped back.

 

“Alright… alright… then… uh…” Words decided to become difficult. Thousands of thoughts swirled in her head, confusing her for the moment. It was bad enough to the point that she didn't notice Wuya speak to Jack. Soon, something else hit her, something she had forgotten for that small amount of time. She interrupted Jack mid-sentence, “You… said that you'd… hire me?” she asked timidly. Her mind was still swirling, though she was able to form this one sentence. Images of huge waves and the crashing of rain drops washed over her eyes as Jack answered her.

 

“I… uh…” Jack paused. “Did I say that?”

 

“Yes, you imbecile!” Wuya cried out in frustration. Suddenly, the waves dissipated and the lab became clear. The black figure of Jack and the purple one of Wuya came into view. Along with the clarity came her confidence. Slowly, she felt herself bend down into another bow.

 

“If you do wish to hire me, tell me now. If you do, you will not regret it; I swear that to you.” She raised her head a bit, and purple flashed through the dark shadows and disappeared once more.

 

Jack nodded, a smirk breaking his lips. “I hope I don't.” Sauda climbed back down the stairs and Jack held out his hand. Sauda took it, and the contract began.