Can't Stop Now

by PingSquirrel

Chapter 4: Surprise

~~Earlier That Day~~

“Good day, Miss,” Jack happily chimed as he pursued over the selection of newspapers and magazines that could be found at the cluttered corner store.

“Already back? What did your co-workers do this time that sent you walking?” the middle-aged woman behind the counter asked. The conversation was no distraction from her paperwork that covered the counter.

“Nothing actually. I told them some things that I considered rather critical to the task at hand and working with each other. They didn’t take it so well, so I decided to take a step out and let them have some time to come to terms with the reality of our situation,” Jack explained as he picked up a copy of Times and flipped through the pages.

“You read more than two pages and you’ll need to pay for that,” she warned without even really glancing up.

Rules. Everywhere had rules. Some had to be followed and others didn’t, but the trick was knowing which rules he had to follow and which ones had no meaning beyond using up air to say them. For example, Jack could just ignore the rule he just heard, but then he’d lose this store as the place where he could buy lunches, and that simply wasn’t acceptable. As long as a rule gave as much as it took from him, it was acceptable in his eyes.

“I give you my word that I’ll only read two pages, less a sentence and no more,” he replied as he continued to read an excerpt on the “Death of Television”, He very much hoped it was true and would’ve read more if he could, but instead, he put it down as exactly as he promised the woman.

“Thank you,” she said, as she flipped the to the next page in her work, and he wasn’t sure why. He could figure it out, but it simply wasn’t worth his time to do so. Besides, he had the beginnings of a headache coming to him and that had to be addressed.

“Miss? Would you happen to have some Aspirin for sale?” Jack asked as he gave his forehead a rub.

“I’ve got it behind the counter,” she replied, and as soon a she actually looked up from the counter to see the man, she grinned. “Late night, last night?”

“No. Not particularly late,” he replied as he went into his own wallet; an empty thing with a few dirty bills in it. It was getting to be a rarity to see someone actually carrying cash with them, but he liked the anonymity it afforded him.

“You wouldn’t know it from how sunken your eyes are right now. You should go home and catch a nap if you can or you’ll get sick,” she said helpfully while she collected the payment.

Jack briefly considered the merits of slow police response times in this area and that one corner of the store that didn’t have any security cameras in response to the woman’s unsolicited advice, but ultimately just gave her a convincing smile and nodded. He had his own rules to follow and the top one was to never try to wage war with everything and everyone that irked him. It was simply not possible to win, though he’d make sure the struggle would be something to remember. “Thank you. I’ll consider it,” he replied warmly. “You have a wonderful day.”

The tower that held the girl was plainly in sight as soon as he stepped outside and he began walking only to stop a few steps into the journey. He had caught his reflection in one of the windows, and his eyes did seem darker. It was like they sank into his skull and were left permanently shaded away. He liked the change nearly as much as the red-brown colour his irises had took, but that was far less than other changes that have visited him.

All in all, it had been a curious few days, but nothing he couldn’t enjoy on some level. He quite thoroughly enjoyed that he could have a long mane, and be walking on toes constantly without a single person turning a head his way. He was beginning to suspect that no matter what happened to him, people just didn’t notice or care about it. Except for Porsche. She was something special, and he would enjoy his time with her.

With that thought in mind, he began his way back to the old, half-abandoned office tower. It was built during better times in the 90s when the economy was stronger, but since the third major crash in 2017 when the oil companies admitted that they had hit peak oil, it was one of many buildings that simply emptied out. As such, it made it a perfect place to keep the girl, though he had to convince the idiots of that. He could be having so much fun right now if they weren’t there to remind him that there was a task at hand.

Jack sighed. Maybe, he could be rid of them soon. That would truly be a wonderful and liberating thing.

It was a surprise for him to realise that he was whistling happily at that one thought, and it was a lovely little tune called I’ve Got a Little List by Gilbert and Sullivan. He knew the musical well and out of all the songs, it was that one he enjoyed the most, so why stop the mirthful tune? If he did have a little list, those two men would be amongst the top names on it. Maybe after the money was split up. He might not care much for the stuff, but it did make everything a little bit easier to deal with.

As the tune in his head continued, he moved from whistling to outright singing about all those he’d put on his little list and how they wouldn’t be missed, and that only got the barest of glances from a pedestrian as he entered into the building. Of course, he wouldn’t stop for anyone that he passed simply because he didn’t meet their approval. That included his compatriots, because when he walked into their abandoned office, they both shot him a sharp glance and neither offered a greeting.

He was in too good a mood to care. “Good afternoon, friends,” he said as he practically pranced into the room. “How have we all been?”

“Shh! He’s on the phone,” Chris said in a hushed sort of way. Brad was at their little fold-out table and talking on the phone.

“Oh? With the victim or client?” Jack asked without a bit of worry before he sat down at the table.

“Yes. I understand. We’ll call when you told us to. And thanks for the heads up,” Brad said before closing out the call.

“So, what’s the word?” Chris asked.

“Well, they’ve got a private eye. He’s not working the case to find us though, and he’s been set up to just help the father feel better,” he said. “Nothing’s really changed with the plan. We just have to keep the girl for a few more days.”

That was mildly interesting to Jack, but nothing to worry about. I wasn’t the first time someone was looking for him, and likely wouldn’t be the last time either. “You should see about getting a picture of this man, and his business name. Knowing what he looks like would be a benefit to us, and if we knew what his track record was like, we’d know if we had to worry,” Jack pointed out.

Brad gave Jack a venomous look, and looked ready to reject the suggestion off the cuff simply because of the source.

“Or, whatever course of action you think is best. I’m just here for the entertainment,” Jack said with a smile and a shrug.

Chris spoke up in the idea’s defense. “That’s actually a pretty good idea. Can’t hurt to be prepared and all.”

“Thank you, Chris,” Jack added, and nodded to the smaller of the two men. “He thinks it’s a good idea, at least.”

Brad looked between the two and finally conceded to the advice. “I’ll text her right now. Maybe she can get it to us soon,” he said as he picked his phone back up and started typing.

“Now, for my second piece of advice, who’s watching the girl? You shouldn’t leave her alone,” Jack asked as he looked towards the back room.

“She’s tied up tight. Ain’t no fucking way she’s going anywhere,” Brad stated confidently.

The ginger gave consideration to spending his time with these two, but decided against it in the end. The girl had tried to slip her bonds before, and she was liable to try it again because he never did have the chance to properly correct her behavior. “I think I’ll go and stand guard for a while, but would you please let me know when the information arrives? Thank you.”

“Uh yeah. Sure,” one of the men said. Jack didn’t particularly care who and was already heading into the improvised cell. The girl was there and properly tied to her chair, but quite aware of Jack’s entrance into the room. He was disappointed that the encounter earlier in the morning left the girl so mollified that she didn’t at least test her bonds again.

He closed the door behind him. “Good day. I trust you’re feeling better than you did this morning?” he asked.

She didn’t respond vocally, but her wide eyes showed clear terror. Of course, he could see that she was still securely gagged and any verbal answer would be impossible, but he at least hoped for a grunt or some sort of acknowledgement. He let the question hang for a moment longer before he walked over and took the gag from the girl. “So, are you feeling better? You were restless this morning,” he repeated.

“Yes, I’m feeling better,” she lied, hoping he hadn’t come to finish the job he started in the morning.

“Wonderful!” he declared with a smile. “Then you learnt your lesson. There’s many that would need several reiterations of the lesson to learn it.”

She relaxed very slightly and looked away from the man, though a glance down to his feet revealed he was still on his toes. When she looked back up, she could see that Jack had followed her eyes down.

“Like the hair, and other things, I haven’t a clue why those are doing that,” he said with a shrug and an honestly sheepish grin.

Porsche heard about that stuff on the news about the ponies. Everything from online posts complaining about “transformations” to a few bad video shots of ponies on the news, but now she was seeing what she suspected was living proof of the whole story. She was silent while she thought about how she might be able to use this, and Jack just lost his interest in the conversation.

He turned his attention to the window, and stared out of it at the motions of cars and pedestrians that were on the street. It was almost a peaceful moment, even when he brought out his balisong again to open and close out of nervous habit. He had done this before, but this time, there was something different. It took Porsche a few minutes to actually realise what it was, but the casual flicking of the blade had changed from a regular metronome that it was for the last few nights. Instead, it was irregular and clumsy as if it was the man’s first time with such a blade. This continued until he snapped the blade on his own finger.

“Ah, curse this thing!” he swore as he pulled the cut finger to his lips and sucked at the injury. His other hand pocketed the weapon away, though he continued to stare out of the window.

The girl looked at the man, and in the reflection in the glass, she could note a faint image of concern on his face. As much as she thought he deserved all the discomfort he got, she also saw an opportunity to garner a bit of trust from him and that might lead to her freedom.

“What other changes are there?” she asked after she gathered up her courage to speak.

He turned his head slightly to her. “What was that?” he questioned.

She nodded to his feet again. “What other changes do you have? You used to be better with that,” she repeated, hoping he wasn’t going to overreact to this line of questioning.

He chuckled and turned back to the window, though a hand reached behind him and tucked into his pants. When he pulled it back, a red tail of long hair followed. Like his new mane, it was long and straight, and ended just by his ankles. “There are other things, but this is likely the most obvious one,” he said dryly. “What gave me away?”

She really hoped that was a positive reaction. “Well, you said you had a ‘hoof’ when you told your story earlier, and I used to watch the show and really liked it, so when all the news about the sightings came up, I really payed attention to it,” she answered.

“Show?” he asked in confusion, before he turned all away around. “You must forgive me, but I never watched much television. Do you care to explain?”

“Well, um, the rumour is that people are turning into ponies from a show called My Little Pony,” she said and Jack’s eyebrows raised. He was always unreadable so she couldn’t decide if he didn’t believe her or he didn’t believe that she knew what was happening. She had to go for broke. “Do you have a cutie mark?”

“A what?” he asked with honest interest as he walked back to the girl.

“Um, it’s sort of a tattoo that appears on your rear that’s supposed to show a pony’s special talent. According to some posts online, it was the first thing someone gets when they change,” she explained as the man approached her, and she could feel that nervous fear start to build again. He even kneeled down to bring himself down to her level and looked her in the eyes for a moment of inspection. When she tried to look away, his hand grabbed her face and brought her right back to his gaze into those sunken, shadowed eyes.

“You’re serious about that. Well, yes, I do. I’m not about to put them on display, though. You’re far too young for a grown man to be flashing that sort of thing at you,” he finally replied, and let the girl go to get up and go back to his window.

She allowed herself to breathe again once he looked away, and once again, she built up her courage to speak. “So, this is a surprise to you, eh?” she asked.

The man thought about that then shook his head. “No. Not really, though getting the confirmation from a third party wasn’t something I anticipated. If that is all true, it would explain the dreams, as well as the more obvious things. Thank you for bringing this to my attention,” he answered.

“What dre-” the girl started to say before being hushed by Jack.

“I need time to think about this, and have a terrible headache. Do be quiet or I’ll have to gag you again,” he stated flatly, leaving Porsche without a clue if he appreciated her insight. She wasn’t about to ask, considering how close she came to losing a finger this morning.

He stood there in silence for quite some time, though the brooding demeanor was lessened by the casual flicking of his tail. He even brought out the knife again and resumed the flicking to a respectable rhythm, though it paled in comparison against the dexterity he showed off even a day ago.

If there was one thing that Porsche had gotten better at since being taken hostage, it was sitting in silence for extended periods of time. She didn’t even mind the boredom as much after a few days of the treatment. Jack eventually pushed his tail back into his pants and took her to the bathroom, where he waited patiently outside to take her back. It wasn’t like there was anywhere to go from there. He returned her to her chair, and a meal was shared between the two, all without words.

As for the other two, they constantly jabbered and chatted about one thing or another without an end, and were happy to let Jack tend to their charge. Porsche might have forgotten them entirely if it wasn’t for the constant noise they created, and nothing really changed until the evening when Brad called out loudly through the door, “I need some quiet! Important call I got to make.”

The ginger scoffed as he rubbed his forehead again; the headache was still bothering him. “Yes, because we’re the ones that need to be silent,” he added, before glancing at the girl over his shoulder. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

She nearly cracked a smile at the observation, though it was tempered quickly by knowing who was the one that said it. “They can certainly talk a lot about nothing,” she offered to the man.

“They certainly can,” he said before he walked to the door and leaned against it to listen in at what was being said. His brow furrowed in tightly and he even shook his head in confusion at one point. “That was terribly amatuer. I wish they’d let me handle those sorts of things. The only way he could’ve done that worse was to flat out state we knew about him.”

Porsche looked at Jack with confusion, but hesitated from asking what that was about.

“As for you, that was a remarkable display of self-restraint you showed there. You didn’t scream for the phone, or anything undignified. You should be proud of yourself,” Jack praised as he walked back to his window, only to be interrupted half way through the trip.

“Hey Jack. We got that stuff you wanted,” Chris called as he opened the door, and held up his phone. “Do you want a look still?”

Jack bounded across the room and grinned widely. “Of course! You’re a gentleman and a scholar,” he said thankfully, before settling down to study the information.

“Yeah. He’s some new kid at the job, so he’s pretty safe for us,” Chris explained before Jack put up his hand to stop what he was saying.

“First of all, don’t give meaningful details away in front of the hostage,” he scolded, but there was a grin coming to his lips. What he was seeing on that screen was an impossibility, but he had come to believe so many impossible things over the last two days.

“What’s the second thing?” Chris asked, watching the ginger and how he was focused on a picture of the private eye.

“That’s Vantage,” he said as his eyes grew wider.

“Well, yeah. The firm, if you can call it that is Vantage Point Security or something another,” Chris said, totally forgetting the lesson that he was just told, but it didn’t even matter to Jack.

“No. This man, right here. He’s Vantage,” Jack said again as he barely stifled a giggle. “Do you realise what this means?”

Chris could only offer a blank stare at the man, and Porsche just shrank back in her seat as far as she could go, so she might be forgotten.

“It means it’s all real! All of it. Every dream. Every promise and hint that was left for me was real!” Jack exclaimed as he leaped to his feet to laugh and dance out of pure excited exuberance.

“The fuck is going on in here?” Brad demanded as he poked his head into the room to see the man prancing without a care for who was watching him. The shorter man just shook his head at the sight before he turned to Chris and asked, “What the fuck is this?”

“I donno. He saw the picture then just lost it,” Chris answered with a confused shrug.

The outburst came to an abrupt end, and Jack turned to face the two. “I’ve got to thank you both for this. Really! We might never have found each other if it wasn’t for you two, though I think you’re being tools of a much higher power right now,” he said as he offered handshakes to the both of them. Chris took his hesitantly, while Brad stepped away from Jack.

“Uh, you’re welcome?” Chris said, then took another uneasy glance to Brad, as if he would be able to instantly fix this, or at least give an explanation.

“Fuck that noise. You’re fucking nuts, Jack. Time for you to get the fuck out before we make you go!” barked Brad as he stepped up again and pointed to the door.

There was a moment where Jack’s smile faded, then he shook his head and it was back. “You don’t understand. This is much bigger and more important than you or the money,” he said calmly as he could as if rational discourse could ease the tensions, “I need you two to let me take the leadership role in this.”

“No, and I’m done being a nice guy about you, shithead,” Brad spat back as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled an old glock and pointed it straight at Jack. “Now, get the fuck out!”

“Oh hey, a gun! Let’s all take a deep relaxing breath before we do something we’ll regret, my friends,” Jack said as he put his hands up and took a step away from the man, but that manic smile was still plastered on his face. Chris looked close to panicking outright at the the situation with his quick glances between the two.

“Brad. We can’t shoot him! Someone will hear it,” Chris warned in a shaky voice.

“Yeah Brad, you cannot shoot me,” Jack added as he turned his head down slightly to try and hide that smile of his, but it was just getting wider.

“Shut the fuck up, freakshow, and just start marching,” Brad ordered as he lifted the gun level with Jack’s head.

“No. I like it here and this is where Vantage is going to come,” stated Jack in defiance.

“For fuck’s sake, Jack, he’s not playing around!”

“I’m giving you to the count of five to get out! One!”

“If he really meant to shoot me, he’d used three.”

“Two!”

“I can finish the count for you. Three! Four! Five!” Jack took a long step towards Brad, and Chris shrank back from the scene, while Porsche tried her best to scoot her chair to a corner. Time stopped for all involved.

*CLICK*

Silence.

*CLICK* *CLICK*

Brad turned the gun slightly to the side and looked at it questioningly.

“Oh. When I went through the wallets this morning, I also decided to take some ammunition away from the angry man that really didn’t seem to want me around. It seemed like a reasonable precaution,” Jack said to the man who was staring at his weapon in stunned silence, before he flicked out his knife and stepped in. The soft noise of a razor sliding into a stomach was the only sound that could be heard.

“B-brad!” Chris screamed, but he was cut off by a solid blow across the jaw from the butt end of the same weapon that pierced his friend. The force of the blow sent him right to the ground where he sprawled out completely still.

Jack surveyed the scene before him and chuckled. “This turned out better than I’d ever hope for,” he said with the slightest of backwards glances towards Porsche, who was pushed right up to the corner in terror. “Now, come on out. You’re safe for now, and I really think you need to see what happens next.”

Porsche just whimpered and made no effort to move.

“Come out!” Jack roared, and with that a sickly, dripping red aura flared around the girl and her chair and it lurched towards him several feet. He blinked at what he just saw, then a terrible smile came to his face as he concentrated again. The aura came into place again, and pulled the chair along until it was at his side, facing the bleeding man on the ground. “It’s been so long, I forgot how it all felt.”

Brad coughed and struggled to get up. “Y-you son of a bitch,” the man choked as he tried to fight through the pain of his wound, and for it, he was simply pushed back to the ground by a foot on that deep puncture. The scream sent shivers up Jack’s spine.

“I think ‘son of a mare’ is much more accurate,” as he pulled his tail free again, because this moment was years in the making and he wasn’t going to let anything mar it, and that included a pinched tail. His mane was pulled back so he wouldn’t miss anything, revealing the beginnings of a shock white horn in the middle of his forehead. He stretched several times and cracked his joints as he considered every motion of his next act, and to his surprise, he was humming, while a phantom band could be heard from the aether. It was all perfect, and he wasn’t going to delay any further. He dropped his knife into the grip the red aura in the final preparation for what was to happen.

Then, he sang.

I don't ask much, less than you know

The limits of our language are the limits that we sow

And I want to explain why the vacancy gets you needing a buzz

You got to obey what it is that gets you off

While those words echoed through the small room, the man was letting his aura flick and twist the knife in an ever closing orbit to the wounded man and without so much as an effort the first slash sent a crimson arc to the wall. All that could be heard now was the faint slicing of the knife and Jack’s song.

Speak what you feel, not what you know

Fear in our cities leave us alone

The display was brutal, and yet, Jack leaned over the shoulder of the girl as if he was a spectator as well. As she tried to turn her eyes anywhere else, she could see the completely mad glee in his shadowed eyes.

I don't do much, I'm just passing through

On the authority of the beat and groove

Why do we kill all the things that we love because it's easy to do

It's easy to do because everyone else is doing it too

Speak what you feel, not what you show

Fear in our cities it only grows

Say it, say it's nothing or say nothing all

'Cause you don't get it from turning your face away

She tried to look away, to anywhere but the act in front of her, but a strong hand, pushed at her to keep looking straight at it. She just stared at his work, with tears flowing down her face the entire time.

At the sound of attack, I'm craving a blast for ease on my mind

I can never go back because I think I left a long-long time ago

Speak what you feel, not what you know

Fear in our cities we all know

We can never go back because we left a long time ago

And you don't get nothing from turning your face away today

Speak what you feel, what do you feel

Speak what you feel, what do you feel

I can never go back because I think I left a long time ago

At the sound of attack I'm craving a blast for ease on my mind

Ease on my mind

You had to take me on

As the song echoed away to wherever it came from, Jack let the knife fall from his aura and collapsed over the table with a satisfied groan. “Forgive my language, my dear, but I damn well needed that,” he gasped as he stared at the ceiling. “You know when you get a seed caught under a tooth, and you can’t quite get it out. That’s the sort of relief I’m getting right now. It’s bliss.”

The girl continued to sob while huddling into her chair.

As much as he would love stay here all night to bask in the glory and gore, there was one more thing that needed to be done. He reached out with his magic again, testing it for it’s limits. First thing was first; the use of magic left him hungry and he plucked up an apple, and brought it back. It was clumsier than he’d like, but that would improve with time. He took a rather large bite of it, while he looked to the phone Chris brought in, and scrolled through it for the last call placed. He didn’t wait to call because he had to find his friend as soon as he could and this was the only way he knew how to find him. There was so much to share and they definitely needed to meet up again as soon as possible. After all, the voice in the dreams had promised that it’d be like old times.

And, yet the phone kept ringing. He played with his mane in giddy excitement though, when his fingers brushed his ears. They stood pointed and fuzzy. “Hey! New ears! Take a look, Porsche!”

She didn’t even stop her tears long enough for the quickest of glances, and he just gave her a dismissive wave. She was no fun, but the first time seeing this sort of thing was always the hardest. He could recall his first time and even he bawled afterwards. Or, was it his first time, considering the new set of memories that were coming to him. It was so exciting!

This was more rings than he expected, and he started to lose hope in being answered. He even took another bite from his snack when the line picked up. He swallowed what he could, and spoke.

“Oh, good! You picked up! I was beginning to worry that you wouldn’t talk to me. I’m looking for a friend of mine. Is Vantage around? You can tell him it’s his old buddy, Jack. Oops, I’m sorry, that’s my fault. That name’s an old habit. You can tell him that Sanguine needs to talk with him.”

Author's Note:

There was to be more of description of what happened at the end there, but I really wanted to avoid having to put a gore tag on this.

Comments

[yrfoxtaur]

ah shit.

this situation's only gonna get worse for a bit...

[Flash_Magnus]

Wow

[PingSquirrel]

3053063

Wow?

[Flash_Magnus]

3053067

Just my reaction to the chapter is all,I didn't mean it in a bad way.

[PingSquirrel]

3053081 Oh good. The psychotic singing that song sort of inspired this whole experiement, actually.

[Von Snootingham]

Another fine chapter. Why was I not already watching this? The guy who writes this and the guy who edits it must be super cool, uncommonly good looking dudes.

[Flash_Magnus]

3053389

Good

[Pink Butterfly]

titaniumteddybear.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/hot-fuzz-shit-got-real.jpg

[swyrl]

why is this story not rated higher? This is by far one of the best 5score fics I've read in quite some time.