Chapter Text
Smoke rose into the already musty and dark sky. Lights from street lamps or apartments broke through like stars, and the tall buildings crowded the already thin streets, barely wide enough for even the vehicles designed to drive on them. Neon lights were the only thing that broke the monotony of the grayness, although even their bright colors became monotonous as well.
Jack watched it all from above. He sat with his feet dangling off the roof. His head bopped with the music in his headphones as he adjusted his visor on his face. It helped him to peer into the dark and see individual people and items. He pulled his hoodie over his head to keep out of the cold wind. He checked his phone, furrowing his brow at it as if it was at fault for his partner’s lateness. Through the music, he heard someone approaching, and with a tap, he paused the music and stood up to face the person approaching.
“Jack Manifold, my friend.” Tommy held out his arms and he laughed.
Jack shook his head as he smacked the boy’s arm down. “You’re late, Tommy. Where’s Tubbo?”
“Relax, Jack, he’s on his way.”
“We were supposed to be in there twenty minutes ago, Tommy!”
“Well, it’s not my fault, quit yelling at me, you bitch.” Tommy crossed his arms as he watched as Jack was looking at his phone again. “Just call him if you’re so worried about it.”
Jack sighed as he scrolled to Tubbo’s contact. He glared at Tommy as his phone connected and after a few moments, Tubbo answered. “Tubbo! Where the hell are you?”
“Shit, Jack.” Tubbo’s voice came from the phone and into his headphones. “I was helping Ranboo. Tommy with you already?”
“Yeah, twenty minutes late, you know this job is on a timetable, right?”
“Okay, how about you and Tommy meet me there. I’ve got Ranboo, he’ll direct me, you two go on and I'll catch up,” Tubbo said.
Jack looked over to Tommy, who raised his eyebrow. He knew that Jack was expecting something, but he had no idea what that something was. “Fine, don’t be late, this could be our biggest break yet.” He hung up the phone and looked at Tommy.
“So?”
“So, we’re gonna meet Tubbo there,” Jack said. He turned back to the ledge. It was a long way down, but Jack was confident. Tommy grinned as he pulled a small metal bar from deep within his pocket. Jack turned back to him for a moment. “Ten to whoever gets there first?”
“You’re on, bitch.” Tommy cackled as he threw the bar to the ground. Once it bounced off of the ground, it burst into shape, a long hoverboard covered in stickers. He jumped on it and off he went.
Jack watched him for only a moment as he skated down the side of the building before he himself jumped off. At first he was diving, the ground coming closer and closer to him, but with his momentum, he caught himself on a bar that used to hold an awning. He spun around it a couple times until he slowed down enough to land on the ground without breaking his ankles. As soon as he landed, he tried to find how far Tommy had gotten, but he couldn’t see him. Swearing under his breath, he jumped on his motorcycle, a slick purple beauty that was designed to hook up to his visor.
He was off now as well, with the engine of his bike purring as he let it dart off down the street. He could feel the occasional tug as it corrected its own balance or path so it wouldn’t collide with anything or fall. Then a ringing in his ears alerted him to Niki’s call. With a tap, he answered the call.
“Jack! Why aren’t you at the site yet?” she scolded.
“Oi! Don’t blame me! Tommy and Tubbo were late,” Jack said. He took a sharp turn, using his foot as a pivot to make the turn better. “This is why I don’t like working with them anymore.”
“I know, Jack.” Niki’s voice softened. She sighed. “But this job is too big for just you.”
“I’m aware, and you’re better off where you are.” He could see the place in view now. Some rich asshole’s penthouse at the top floor at one of the nicer apartment blocks in the city. He had a collection of diamonds, and rumor around town was that he had a diamond the size of a person. From Jack’s intel, he knew that it wasn’t true. What was true, that with Tommy and Tubbo’s help, he could steal enough diamonds to let every single person left in the L’Manburg gang finally retire.
While Jack had gained the intel, he had to give the credit to Niki and Ranboo, they were the minds behind the plan. Everything was in line to be perfect--well, except for the fact they were twenty minutes late.
“We can still pull this off, here, let me patch in Ranboo and Tommy," Niki said.
“Hello?” Tommy’s voice was nearly deafening. Jack had to pull his headphones a bit before he could shake it off.
He stepped off his bike. “Tommy, do you want to get caught?” Jack asked.
“Hey! This is just as important to me as it is to you," Tommy said. Jack looked over to him, he was approaching him with his hoverboard compacting itself to its portable size. "I beat you here, where's my ten?"
Jack huffed as he pulled a note from his pocket, not even looking at Tommy as he handed it over. There was still someone missing. "Where the hell is Tubbo?"
"Uh, he's…" Ranboo's voice came through. He cleared his throat. "He's had to take a detour. He accidentally tripped an old lady, and now he's being chased by cops. Hang on, let me patch him in.
Jack looked over to Tommy, who shrugged his shoulders too. A second later, a scream nearly deafened everyone already on the call. "Fuck you, you son of a bitch! You'll have to be quicker than that." Tubbo's shrill screams shocked everyone. It was cut off just as quickly as it appeared.
"At least he's distracting the cops," Ranboo said.
"For fucks sake, I'm calling it off," Jack said. He threw his hands in the air. He could hear the sirens of police a few streets down, no doubt it was Tubbo leading them on.
"You can't!" Niki said. Even through the noise suppression filter, Jack could hear Niki slamming the table. "I mean, tonight is the only night we'll be able to pull this off. If we don't do it tonight, we'll never do it."
"Come on, Jack, don't be a bitch. You and me, right? We've done it before." Tommy held out his hand for Jack to shake.
Jack stared at Tommy. In that moment, he could see why Tommy didn't get any mods for himself. He could stand out without them, not to mention how much he looked like his older brother, Wilbur, at least in his stature. That made Jack remember why he was here in the first place. He shook Tommy's hand. "You and me, buddy."
"And us," Ranboo said timidly.
Niki laughed. "Now, we can't waste anymore time, get up there, guys."
"On it," Tommy said. He was already pulling out his hoverboard.
Jack grabbed his arm and shook his head. "They'll hear that, come on, the door should unlock. Right Niki?"
"Yeah, go on, you got thirty seconds," she said.
Jack pulled Tommy through the door, shushing him when he noticed that Tommy was about to say some slick shit. Jack motioned for Tommy to follow. There was a reception desk, but no one staffing it, meaning Jack and Tommy could walk straight to the elevator and go in.
"The elevator is keycard protected," Ranboo said.
Jack and Tommy both paused, and they looked at each other cautiously. "I'll go look behind the desk, you check the mailboxes, see if there's any someone left," Tommy said. Jack nodded as he made his way to the mailboxes. He had a feeling that Tommy would find the doorperson's card no problem, meaning he could just pretend to be trying to look for the keycard while he waited for Tommy.
"I can't find it anywhere," Tommy said. He was speaking quietly for once, which surprised Jack in of itself.
"Keep looking, it's got to be around somewhere," Ranboo said.
"Yeah, not out here, mate," Jack said. He turned, haphazardly looking at the mailboxes, but something else caught his eye. It was a window. He looked back at Tommy for a moment. He was still trying to find the keycard, so Jack knew he had a moment. He started to approach the window. Through the darkness, he could see the metal scaffolding. They were doing external renovations on the building. "Niki, did you see this reno out here?"
"Huh? No, I had no idea," she said.
Jack hummed as he inspected it. It was a complex mess, like a drunk spider had spun its webs in a chaotic cluster.
"Found it!" Tommy's voice broke the silence. Jack turned around, meeting Tommy at the elevator.
"I'll loop the security footage," Niki said.
Tommy pressed the call button, and waited the few seconds it took to have the elevator reach the lobby. Jack and Tommy stepped in, and Tommy scanned the keycard.
"We'll have to climb a bit," Jack said.
"What, this elevator doesn't open to the penthouse?" Tommy asked, he leaned on the wall while Jack hit one of the floor numbers. The elevator started to ascend rapidly.
"Not unless you happened to swipe their cards," Jack said.
Tommy shrugged. "Whatever, I'm fit enough."
Jack snickered as the elevator slowed. They were near the top, and when the elevator opened, they could tell that they were close. The hall was ornate and the carpet was even clean. Jack almost felt bad for stepping on the carpet, but since Tommy didn't seem to bear the same concern and just walked all over it, Jack didn't really care.
"Hey, Tubbo might be getting arrested," Ranboo said.
"Tell him to hoof it, we'll get him after this job," Tommy said flippantly.
"Over here's the fire escape," Jack said. Tommy followed. As quietly as he could, Jack opened the door, and shut it behind them. He did his best to not make a sound, and they started up the stairs.
"You think a fall from this height would kill me?" Tommy asked.
Jack snorted. "Why don't you jump off and find out?"
Tommy narrowed his eyes at Jack for a moment, before he daringly put a foot over the rail. "Bet, bitch."
"Tommy, don't!" Niki yelled over the headset, making Tommy step back.
"What, you think I was actually gonna do it? No, I'm too poggers for that." Tommy dusted off his shoulder as he continued up the stairs.
Jack snickered as he momentarily turned back to him. "No one says 'poggers' anymore, bruv."
"As if anyone says 'bruv', bitch."
"Tommy, get new insults, Jack, stop antagonizing Tommy," Niki said.
"My insults are fucking perfect!" Tommy huffed.
"And your mouth is huge." Jack smacked Tommy's arm.
Tommy grumbled for a moment as he watched Jack kneel down in front of the door. He only now realized they had climbed all the stairs. He tried to listen through the door, wondering if he could hear anybody at all. It was quiet, though. He couldn't hear anything other than the quiet clicks of Jack's lockpicker. Then the door clicked open, and Jack motioned for Tommy to follow.
"Okay, I turned off the alarm," Ranboo said.
"And I have the blueprints. Jack, I'm sending them to you," Niki said.
Jack tapped the side of his visor, and it started to glow dimly, a faint blue and red, matching his eyes. After a moment, the outlines of the blueprints to the penthouse appeared, and they moved to the side so they wouldn't be obstructing Jack's vision.
"Do a sweep real quick, make sure no one's home. Mr. Halo shouldn't be home, but you never know," Niki said.
Jack leaned close to Tommy. "You take the south side, I got the north."
"Got it."
They split, and they kept their feet quiet; better safe than sorry they always knew. They didn't want to risk anything, especially since they were already twenty minutes behind schedule. Jack peered into each room, thankful for his visor which could tell him if there was someone in the room waiting. The one spot that caught his attention was an intersection of hallways, where one of them was against tall windows looking out over the cityscape. Even Jack had to admit that from up here, the city was beautiful. He even saw that the renovations weren't being done this high up. He couldn't gawk, though, he had to keep moving.
All it took was a quick scan, and he was onto the next room. Each room was empty as expected. When Jack opened the door to a bedroom, he froze. There was a light in the otherwise dark room, and illuminated by the light was a man. He had modded skin and hair, making him look like he himself was made of crystal. He was slouching far back into the chair, and he had big headphones over his ears. It was clear he could not hear a thing.
Jack shut the door, making sure to minimize all sounds. "Niki, did you see that?" he whispered.
"That's Mr. Halo's friend, Skeppy,” Niki said. “Is the penthouse otherwise clear?”
“All clear on my side,” Tommy said.
Jack looked back to the door for a moment. He stepped away, not wanting to risk that Skeppy person hearing him. “Rest of the rooms are clear.”
“Then we’ll proceed as planned. Hope you boys are ready to crack a safe," Niki said.
Jack found Tommy in the foyer again. He couldn't explain it, but something felt horribly off. He wanted to call the whole thing off, try again a different day, but he could see how excited Tommy was. He just couldn't bring himself to say anything. He just had to push his feelings aside and proceed with the job.
"Tubbo's still got a trail of cops behind him, I can't believe they sent that many after him," Ranboo said. "Want me to patch him in again?"
"Fuck no," Tommy said quickly.
"Well, that's your loss. I'm gonna go talk to him, Niki can help you guys, Tubbo's gonna need my help."
"Okay, we're gonna have to cut the power," Niki said.
"Sure, but we're gonna alert that guy. He's playing video games or something," Jack said.
"Alright, well, Tommy, go cut the power and then distract him. Jack, you're gonna have to do this on your own."
Tommy gave Jack a little two fingered salute. "On it. You got this, king."
"Dude, update your fucking vocabulary," Jack said as he pushed Tommy away from him. Tommy snickered as he walked passed. Jack rolled his eyes as he brought his attention to the blueprints on his visor so he could come up with an escape route.
"Okay, Tommy, go down that hall to the left, it's in the closet," Niki said. "Jack…"
"I know, in the master bedroom's closet, under the rug," Jack said. He started to make his way there. Maybe he could swipe a couple of other cool things while he waited for Tommy. He could hear Niki talking him through how to cut the power properly, especially since it needed a passcode to be opened at all. Knowing Tommy, it would take a couple of minutes before Jack had to crack the safe.
The master bedroom was decadent, that was the only word that came to mind for Jack. It was big, spacious, ornately decorated, and neat. If he didn't know any better, Jack would have assumed that the room was never used, but he knew that this was Mr. Halo's bedroom. He checked the nightstands, but found the drawers filled with junk, and the only thing of value on top was the alarm clock, which looked to be an antique, it had a physical display, and he hadn't seen something like that possibly ever. He knew it would fetch a fair price, but what kind of man would steal another's alarm? Jack instead turned to some of the dressers. He opened up a couple of the drawers, and felt around, but the only thing in those were night clothes and hoodies. Who knew a powerful man like Mr. Halo would have hoodies.
Jack was beginning to feel cheated. This guy seemed to be living a comparatively austere life. He was living in one of the nicest penthouses in the entirety of the city, and yet he had nothing worth stealing sitting out, except for that damn alarm clock. All Jack knew was that Mr. Halo better be hiding some good shit in that safe.
"Okay, Tommy, do you know what you're doing?"
"Yep, I'm gonna cut the power and then be a nuisance," Tommy said.
"Thank should be easy for you," Jack said as he stepped into the closet. "Okay, ready whenever."
"Tommy, I'm cutting you off the line. Call me if you need help, but I need to help Jack with this safe," Niki said.
"Sounds good, I'll keep them distracted."
Finally, it was quiet for a moment. It was just him and Niki, well, just her voice. "So, what do you think we should do with all this money?"
"We need the diamonds for other things, Jack," Niki said. She at least giggled.
"Yeah, yeah, but there's gonna be money too, I won't just leave that behind," Jack said. He pulled back the rug and started to pull out the safe cracker. It was a small device with a pin and a display screen, currently turned off.
"Maybe then we can get some good food," Niki said.
Jack chuckled. "Or maybe you could get that mod you wanted."
Niki squealed with happiness. "You think there'll be enough?"
"Probably." Finally, the lights went out, which meant that Tommy had finally gotten the power cut. He heard yelling. "Go time, Niki," Jack said. He stabbed the safecracker into the keypad.
"Alright, give me a minute."
Jack stood, closing his eyes so he could listen. He could hear crashing, even a door slamming open, and for a moment, he could make out Tommy's hoverboard.
"Alright, code is four, eight, zero, two, six, eight."
Jack pulled the cracker from the pad and he input the code Niki had given him. The buttons flashed green before the door popped open. "Got it," Jack quickly started shoveling everything from inside the safe into his bag. It was mostly some money, but also a few gems and even metals, but he could help but notice…"Where the fuck are the diamonds?"
"Damn it, Mr. Halo must have moved them, let me do a search."
Jack heard glass breaking, and he knew it was close. He knew Tommy was leading him that way, and Jack wasn't about to be caught in a dead-end. He had to move, and so he didn't even bother hiding the fact he just broke into the safe. He grabbed his bag and he tapped the side of his visor a few times, until little dots appeared on the blueprints of the penthouse. They were moving towards him. He moved, not waiting for Niki to give him instruction.
He slipped out the bedroom, and he could hear someone yelling at Tommy from around the corner. Before Jack could turn around to run in the opposite direction, he heard something whiz by head. He didn't bother to look, he just ran, ducking around a corner just in time to hear Tommy turn the other way.
"Okay, I found them, you're going to have to go to the office on the other end," Niki said.
"Hopefully Tommy can keep moving," Jack said. He started to make his way to the office. He hadn't personally seen it, but he could figure out how to get there based on the blueprints he was looking at. He moved swiftly.
"It's a big safe, we're gonna have to do more than just input a code," Niki said.
"It's fine, I'll get it." He pushed open the door to the office. This place was more densely packed, with tech and weapons on display, a couple old, paper books, and a high end computer.
"Alright, there's a display case with a sword, do you see it?"
Jack turned to the back wall, where the case resided. "Yeah."
"Figure out how to move it, I’m gonna restore power to that room for you.”
It didn’t take long for Jack to find the control panel on the side. So, while Niki was rerouting the power, Jack expanded the blueprints of the place, seeing where Tommy had led the guy. It looked like they were on the other side of the building, meaning Jack didn’t have to worry about them, at least not for a little bit. Suddenly, the lights in the room clicked on.
“Alright, I got the backup generator on,” Niki said. She sounded relieved.
Jack flipped open the control panel, and he took a look. “It needs a code.”
“Just punch it.”
“Seriously?”
“Look, it’s BlockTech branded, right?”
Jack took a closer look. He saw the unmistakable logo for BlockTech. It was a square with the company name next to it, one of the most boring logos Jack could think of, but it was easy to tell what it was. “How’d you know?”
“Because all these rich, fancy types use BlockTech because they brag about how good their equipment is, but it’s usually pretty faulty. You’ve got gloves on, just punch it and pull the display out.”
Jack shook his head as he did as he was told. The glass shattered pretty easily and it was already starting to pop out. There was just enough room for him to pry his fingers underneath. He was able to snap it off and reveal all the wires underneath. “What next, Niki?”
“Pull the small wire in the center, then move away from it, it’s gonna get confused,” Niki said.
Once again, Jack did as he was told. He pulled the little wire and then he stepped back as the machines started to whirr and groan. A couple sparks shot out, and then everything went still. Jack stared at it for a moment before he decided to go in. He pulled out his phone and he pulled up an app, an app with a bright pink color scheme. A little cartoon version of Niki appeared on his screen. After a moment, it fully loaded and Jack started to work through the prompts.
“Is it open?” Niki asked.
“Nope, I’m using your app.”
“Really? That didn’t work?”
“It sparked a bit and made some noises, but nope, it's not open. Looks like I can get in from here,” Jack said. He looked up, and he could see that it wasn’t moving. “Fuck it.” He shoved his phone in his pocket.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m gonna beat the fuck out of it until it moves,” Jack said. He cracked his knuckles, then he bent down to make sure his boots were fully on before he approached the case. He took a brief look at it before he started kicking.
“Jack, it’s not gonna work,” Niki said softly.
Jack took a running start before he drop kicked the case, right in the center. He crashed to the ground, but at least his effort was not in vain. The case cracked just enough that it freed itself and started to open. "Ha! It worked." Jack laughed. He watched as it realized what it was supposed to do. The broken case slowly dragged itself out of the way--well at least half of it– and panels behind the wall folded into themselves to reveal a safe. "There it is, Niki. Holy shit, it's beautiful."
"Take a picture to admire it later, Jack, we've got work to do. You need to start cutting. We're not hacking into that safe," Niki said. Jack took his bag off his shoulder. It was heavy anyway, so he was relieved to finally have it off his back. This was such an old piece of equipment, he was always surprised when it actually worked. It was always a gamble whether or not it actually worked.
“Well, we’ve got more time to chat, Niki,” Jack said as he pushed the suction cups from the drill onto the safe.
“You got the drill going already?”
He activated the drill. “I’m a pro, Niki,” he said.
Niki giggled. “I only doubt you for a couple seconds at a time.”
“Oh that’s reassuring.”
“Well, you can’t be too competent or you’d never need me.”
Jack heard the drill secure itself, which meant that he could relax and just wait. He was sure that Tommy had that Skeppy guy handled, which meant that Jack just had to get a hold of the diamonds. “Don’t be ridiculous, I will always need my best friend.”
“Aww, you’re too sweet, Jack.” She paused for a moment. “Hang on, I gotta check in on Tommy.”
“Alright, I’ll be just fine here,” Jack said. Then he was suddenly alone in the quietness. Well, except for the loud clanking of the drill. He really had to focus on listening if there was anyone coming, but there was nothing. Jack didn’t have to worry. Except for that deep feeling like something was going wrong. He decided it wouldn’t hurt to check, just poke his head out into the hallway and see if there was anything.
He started walking out, then he put his hand on the handle to open the door and he took a deep breath. The drill let out a shrill squeal that almost made Jack scream in shock. He stepped back, and he debated if he should fix the drill, or if he should look. The more he was wasting time deciding, the longer it would take to get the safe open. He just went to go fix it. It wouldn’t be a hard fix, after all, it was just a jam. All it took was a quick readjustment and potential calibrating and it would be well on its way.
He was tinkering with it for a moment with a screwdriver, and it kicked back on. He estimated it was about halfway through. It was almost over. He figured Tommy would find his own way out, besides, he couldn’t waste time trying to find Tommy when he would have all the valuables on him. He just watched as the sparks from the safecracker flew.
Finally, the tool clicked off, and the safe groaned as it no longer was able to hold itself closed. Jack smiled as he went to call Niki. He had no connection. It was bizarre, Jack had only ever seen his phone lose signal when there was a service outage a couple of years back. It was concerning, but Jack was already deep in this job. He just had to finish pulling open the safe, and the diamonds would be his.
He pulled open the door, and inside were all sorts of valuables, not just the diamonds. More antiques–ones that were worth a lot more than an alarm clock–tech that Jack had never seen before, books, papers, money, keys; and that was just what Jack could see right away. Jack felt his heart flutter in excitement as he reached his hand up to stack stuffing his bag.
He didn’t even get to grab the diamonds before a knife stabbed into his hand. He gasped as he tore it out and threw it to the ground, he turned around. In the doorway was a man with white eyes. He was modded to look like a demon. Jack quickly reached for his gun.
“Don’t even think about it,” the man said.
Jack could recall that Mr. Halo was a heavily modded person, just like his friend Skeppy, and his mods were of much higher quality than any of his friends’, even Niki’s. There was not a single doubt in his mind that the demon-man in front of him was Mr. Halo, meaning these were his diamonds. He slowly held his hands up, showing that he was holding nothing. “Easy now, let’s not do anything rash.” Jack eyed the gun trained on him.
“The police are on their way, you’re going to stay right here until they get here,” Mr. Halo said. He didn’t sound very threatening, but the fact that he had thrown a knife right into Jack’s hand–which now had blood dripping down his arm–and was clearly confidently aiming a gun right at Jack was enough to make Jack do what he was told.
“You weren’t supposed to be home.” He was trying to come up with a plan. He needed to figure something out so that he could get out of this. If not with the diamonds, then at least his life.
“Skeppy called me,” Mr. Halo said.
Jack swallowed as he tried to get an idea on what to do, but the pain in his hand was distracting. He started to lower his hands, he didn’t care, he needed to tend to his hand.
“Put your hands back up!” Mr. Halo yelled.
“Easy man,” Jack said. “My hand’s bleeding real good, I just wanna wrap it up, that okay?”
Mr. Halo seemed to be debating it for a second before he sighed. “Fine, but don’t try anything stupid.”
Jack had no idea what to wrap his hand with. The only thing he could think of was the fabric on the sleeve of his hoodie. So he yanked at the seams until they gave way and Jack had a strip of fabric that he could use to wrap his hand up. He did it quickly, and he pulled it tightly so it could help stop the bleeding. This gave him an idea. He bent over, pretending that he needed a better angle to tie the sleeve. But it gave him a chance to grab the first thing he could get his hands on in his pocket. It was the screwdriver he used to fix the drill. He threw it at Mr. Halo and he started to charge forward.
Jack was shot in the shoulder, but that didn’t stop him as Mr. Halo dodged the screwdriver. He could have tackled Mr. Halo, but he decided he just needed to run. He was shot, and he was bleeding again, and he needed to get out and get it looked at. He remembered the layout of the halls. He just had to go. Mr. Halo was yelling after him, but Jack was too focused. He figured he could jump out the hallway with the big windows. That was the side of the building with the scaffolding, if he jumped out in the right way, he would be able to catch himself and get down without too much more pain.
At least Jack knew that there was no more illusion of stealth. “Tommy!” Jack yelled as loud as he could. He quickly pressed a button on the side of his headphones, and he prepared himself. Everything was so loud for a moment, he tried to listen for Tommy, but he couldn’t make him out before the sound became overwhelming. He had to turn it off. He just kept running, knowing Mr. Halo was right behind him. He had to try to shake him, so he figured instead of taking the direct route, he turned.
Just in time too, as another shot whizzed past him. “Holy shit, you crazy motherfucker!” Jack yelled behind him.
“Language!”
That was almost enough to make Jack stop in his tracks, but he kept going. Jack wasn’t about to die here like this. He slowed down when he felt like he had shaken Mr. Halo, at least a little bit. He took a little bit of time to catch his breath and devise a plan. In the distance, he could hear Tommy’s hoverboard.
Jack then heard Mr. Halo turn the corner, and if Jack hadn’t ducked, he would have been shot again. He took off his backpack, and he hurled it behind him, throwing it at just the right angle so Mr. Halo would trip on it, and luckily he heard the gun slide away from Mr. Halo. That would stall him at least a bit longer. It gave Jack just enough time to find the big wall of windows again. He turned around, and he tried to see if he could find Tommy.
He couldn’t wait any longer. He backed up to get a little bit of room to get a proper jump. He needed to hype himself up. He knew this was a stupid idea, but he needed to do something crazy so he could lost Mr. Halo.
“Jack!” Finally, Tommy was there, though his tone was different. Besides, Tommy never called him just Jack. It was always Jack Manifold. Jack turned, and there Tommy was. He could see Skeppy just standing at the end of the hall, and Tommy was speeding towards Jack. He looked angry.
“Shit, Tommy!”
“I got him!” Tommy yelled.
Jack wanted to ask what the fuck Tommy was talking about, but nothing came out, other than all the air from his lungs as Tommy tackled him. Jack was shoved back, and then thrown as Tommy suddenly stopped. He crashed through the window and his bearings were gone. He looked up, and he could see Tommy glaring down at him. He wanted the diamonds for himself. That’s why he shoved Jack out the window. Tommy backed up, and Jack fell. He twisted himself, but he realized he was in no position to catch himself now.
He heard the crackle of his headphones connecting back on the line with Niki just as his back crashed into the scaffolding. For a moment, he was enveloped in blinding pain, but then it went away completely.
“Jack?” Niki’s voice broke through the static, both in his headphones, and in his mind. There was no time to respond. He crashed into the ground, and he hated that he could hear the sound of his own body crunching under the velocity of the fall. “Jack!” Niki’s voice peaked her mic as she screamed. Jack wished he hadn’t heard that either, because he knew that she heard the same thing. “Jack, hang in there, I’m on my way.”
But she knew as well as he did, that she would get there too late. Jack couldn’t see anything, and his hearing was going too. He could barely make out Niki’s voice as is. The only thing he could feel was the seething hatred of betrayal. If there were second chances, the only thing Jack knew was that he would use his second chance to make Tommy feel the same pain.