Crownless King

        Denial. The first stage of grief. The grief of someone simply being the better warrior. Had nobody put this boy in his place before? This was going to be quite the adventure. It’s one thing to show someone who was in control, but another to be the first person to knock someone down a few notches. Like spanking a disobedient child that had never been disciplined before.

        “I’m sorry to disappoint you. Where’s your gung-ho spirit? Broken already? We’ve only just begun.”  And with a gloved hand reaching back, Jack of Blades proceeded to show off his own blade - A cleaver-like sword, with what appeared to be a gold-like metal around the handle’s end, and the blade’s base. A beautiful yet deadly weapon, one perfect for slicing out the eyes of children.

        “If this is all you can do, then I’ve already won.”

Damn, this guy might actually be a bit of a problem. The fact that it’s not even Henry... shit, if I don’t take this guy down now even he might not be able to.

“Aw c’mon, counting me out just because you can throw a kick?” Grunting, he got back onto his feet, twirling the beam katana idly by his side like one would a cane. Alright, looks like a simple metal sword. A good enough swing and Mk-lll could slice right through...

        But he wasn’t a normal human. Jack of Blades was far more. His Court burned the world, drowned the world, and twisted the minds of its people. Just because his original form was broken once upon a time, it didn’t make him any less weak.

        In the very moment the mortal swung at Jack, he was already within the air. And in that same moment, a cast-iron right boot was struck right across the left side of his attacker’s face - With enough strength to leave a large crack in concrete. Jack didn’t want to kill him, but to teach him a lesson, so his reputation may further spread.

        “Try again, boy.”

One moment Travis was sure this was over-- the next he was tumbling across the floor in the few moments before he could recover from the blow. Of course it wouldn’t be that damn easy... Driving his blade into the floor, the assassin stopped himself dead onto one knee, wincing at the force of his sudden stop. 

“Okay, chucklefuck, you’ve got my attention now.” He hissed, popping his neck with a sideways tilt of his head. I telegraphed that one, sure. Damn. Last one that dodged it so well was--

Shaking his head, Travis couldn’t help but laugh now. There was only one person that could have done that.

        Like the edgelord he was, Jack made no move to attack but instead stood there, arms dangling at his sides, and gold eyes scanning over the stranger’s form. That blade of his seemed dangerous, but avoiding the cut of a sword was a skill Jack was most proficient in. He had over a millennia to practice and perfect it after all.

        Growing impatient, Jack gave a roll of the eyes, before gesturing a lazy beckon with two curling fingers.  “Are you waiting for an invitation? Because this is it. This is your invitation. Hit me, if you can.”

“Well, if I have the edgelord’s blessing...” Damn, he was impatient. It was more Travis having to wait for the blade’s energy to peak. Once it did, however, the katana-like blade of energy became like a flame for the briefest moment. 

Now!

“ Pfft, I can handle pissy. And hey, it’s always best to be nice t’ me. ” There’s something ominous about what he says at the end, almost like a warning of sorts. Certainly isn’t helped by the fact it’s followed by a laugh. Though if anything it’s more so at watching the man fight than anything remotely sinister. But hey who could tell when it came to the Boss? “ Hey you mind if I shoot that guy in the head over there? Just feel like getting it outta my system. ”

And the award for the most offhanded threat goes to...

        What a fool. Jack remembered a time when the whole world feared his Court. Now he had to resort to warning people of the consequences of engaging him in direct combat. Of course there was some happiness to be gained from teaching the arrogant and the cocky who really was in control.

        Without so much as even drawing his cleaver, Jack gave a lazy gesture with a gloved hand at the other.  “Don’t keep me in suspense. It’s unmannerly.”

“What, no trading pre-battle banter? Damn, there goes half the fun.” With that however, Travis drew Camellia Mk-lll from the many beam katanas hanging off his belt, the blade sparking to life with a hum. 

So the guy’s goin’ for a fantasy motif. Probably hiding something around the room to fake magic. Better actually be a little careful.

“ ‘course not. Though if anything I got people who could reverse-engineer the thing and improve it. Damn though, that’s a real nice gesture from a total stranger. Why be so kind t’ someone ya just met? ” Had to admit watching the guy go at it was pretty impressive. Still looked like a fuckin’ dork though. If anything this really cemented to the Boss that he desperately needed to learn how to use a sword. Maybe Sue would be willing to lend a hand.. that is if she cared enough though. Then again it’s probably for the best not to have your sister be your teacher. Oh she’d abuse the hell out of that position, or at least that’s what he thought.

“ You think I could buy one off of the person who built that for ya? Ain’t like money’s that much of an issue for me. ”

“Considerin’ you made these guys completely distracted from the man with a beam katana, pretty sure you’re not someone I don’t want to be nice to. Just a hunch.” It was more the fact he didn’t want someone else to have to tango with. Travis didn’t think he had anything to particularly worry about, but he hadn’t come here to fight in the first place. Granted, he wasn’t surprised this happened. It happened whenever the man went just about anywhere anymore. 

Well who knew today would turn out to be interesting? The past few hours hadn’t produced a single bit of exciting content for the Boss. It was the usual handling of work and meandering about without a care in the world. It’s why he takes these occasional walks around god knows where. Sometimes you could find yourself in the middle of some real wild shit, and the scene playing out in front of him was just that. My god, who in the hell was this dude with the shades? Motherfucker looked like he was trying way too hard to look cool. Though the beam sword he had on him definitely helped. Fine-looking tech right there, so of course the Boss just NEEDED to get his hands on something like that.

“ Yo! Where’d ya get that thing? Made it yourself? Stole it? Buy it? Whatever ya did I want one. ” And so his presence has been made; the leader of the 3rd Street Saints leaning over a rail and possibly causing a couple of those assholes down there to shit themselves. Looks like things just got a helluva lot worse for them.

Well, that wasn’t expected. Glancing up at the words, Travis saw the other leaning over to watch them. While he personally found the man impressive at best, the would-be gangsters practically fell on their asses from shock and horror. That at least answered that he wasn’t with them... So at the very least, he took the distraction the Boss caused to kick the ‘disarmed’ thug into another, impaling the both of them with a swift thrust through their chest.

“I said ‘which one of you is the bitch’. Are you deaf?”

The supposed ‘gangsters’ calling themselves the ‘Wolfpack’ didn’t seem pleased with the man’s question, given several were pulling handguns and pointing them at him ghetto-style. He didn’t even flinch, however, despite their loud shouts about popping a cap into his retro ass. 

ｎ ｏ   ｍ ｏ ｒ ｅ   ｈ ｅ ｒ ｏ ｅ ｓ

Moe. Moe.

Moe.