Jack could hear the gears in his heli-pack straining as he scaled the foreboding summit which cradled his idol's palace in its menacing peak. He felt weighed down, mentally. The swirling emotions of shame, fear, and a seething bitterness bred a monstrous tempest in the recesses of his mind. Yet, with another defeat at the hands of the Xiaolin monks, that tempest was gradually destroying him inside.

He was tired of it. He was tired of losing. He was tired of the insults flung at his back like knives. But even then, the emotional pain the Xiaolin monks caused paled in comparison to the pain that….. he….. caused.

Jack shuddered. Visibly.

He was now standing before his door. His mind flared, and he suddenly wished that he wasn't standing there, that he didn't even exist.

That was the power, the authority, the control that Chase Young had over him. Even through that heavy iron door, out on this cold, barren ledge, Jack could feel Chase's malicious aura. True, he idolized the warrior, but something inside him always felt like it was being constricted.

His pride, perhaps?

His sanity? Maybe.

Either way, the more he served Chase, the more he began noticing that his own sense of self was being eclipsed by an almost palpable fear. Chase had a regal, prideful air about him, but that was nothing compared to the evil aura which poured off of him like fog. It was like stepping into nerve gas, but instead of constricting your muscles and causing agony, Chase's aura more or less surrounded you, made you sweat, and then clawed apart your very soul. His eyes contained a cold, piercing hatred which froze you in your tracks and burned you from the inside out. His voice dripped with poisonous loathing, yet it was calm to the point where, no matter what he said, any word felt cold.

And here Jack was, at this entity's doorstep.

Here he was to say, for the umpteenth time, that he'd lost.

Here he was to be suffocated once more by that poisonous hatred.

"I know you are there, insect."

Jack could feel Chase's hatred radiate through the door, and his voice sent uncomfortable chills down his spine. His body began shaking as the heavy iron door creaked open, and he numbly stepped within.

Chase was more than 50 feet away from him, clothed by the drapery of darkness which clung to the citadel's interior, but Jack could feel his anger, his disgust, and his loathing… He did not feel safe in the slightest.

"Well?"

Jack felt so cold he couldn't speak. He could just barely manage a whisper. "I-"

"You lost."

Jack could literally feel himself falling apart at the seams. He wanted to run. He wanted to get out of there… To disappear.

"You always… Lose." The last words rolled off of the warrior's tongue like a curse, and he slowly turned his burning amber eyes upon the trembling boy genius. "Whenever you come to me…" He began walking toward his lackey, ignoring the fact that Jack's already pale face was becoming paler by the second. "…With that pathetic look on your face…." His voice growled low, mirroring the predatory glare in his eyes. "It is always because…" He stopped only a few inches from Jack, who had fallen to the ground and all but curled into a simpering ball. "You lost." He was normally indifferent towards his younger henchman, but with all of the recent losses adding up, Chase was swiftly losing the iota of patience with Jack that he had left. "Look at me." He practically hissed, to which Jack reluctantly obeyed. "You wish to become a great villain, correct?"

"… Y-Yes…"

Chase's voice had calmed down a bit, but still retained its icy bite. "A true villain succumbs to failure, it is true… But he also knows how to do away with the factors that caused it."

Jack came out of his ball somewhat. "Wh-What?" He peeked timidly up at the looming form of his superior, but out of the corner of his eye he caught the sharp glint of metal. With a yelp, he rolled out of the way just as Chase drove the jagged blade of a sword into the ground where Jack had lay only a few seconds before. He looked at the sword, and then back up at Chase who was now standing with his arms folded. A steely glare shone in the dragon's eyes.

"Many of the warriors I have defeated in my time used archaic weapons such as these in an effort to defeat me," Chase purred. "As you know, I turned those warriors into my… Pets.. Their weapons serve no purpose to them now, nor do I have any use for them. However, I hold onto these weapons to show my adversaries how many types of these primitive implements have utterly failed against me."

Jack gulped and inspected the sword. Keepsake or not, Chase took great care of it. The metal was smooth and almost glowed with radiance, and the handle itself had been painstakingly polished. "S-So… What do I do with this…?"

"Simple." The icy, biting tone appeared in Chase's voice once more. "You are going to do away with the factors which are causing you to fail."

Jack thought for a while, trying to grasp what it was that Chase was hinting about. Mustering up his courage, Jack brought his eyes to meet with Chase's to search them for an answer… Chase allowed this, his glare cold, unwavering, and dead serious. What was it in this dragon's eyes at this point in time that was making Jack so… Uneasy…? He played Chase's words in his head over and over again, looking at the sword as he desperately sought an answer…

The sword clattered to the ground, its sharp sound echoing within the lonely citadel.

Jack's hands shook.

His body had completely gone numb.

With a cold smirk, Chase turned from his lackey and began to walk away. "You understand. Good. This is your next step toward becoming a great villain, worm. Prove yourself to me."

Jack couldn't even look at the sword. "But, I….. I can't do that, Chase-" In an instant, Chase was upon him, holding him single-handedly in the air by the front of his coat. Even his instinctive yelp fell silent before Chase's rage-filled glare.

"I did not ask you to carry out this mission, worm, I told you to do it," he hissed. "You are to eliminate that which is holding you back. You are a disgrace, and they prove it to me on countless occasions. You cannot beat them, therefore, you will destroy them." With Jack still in his grip, Chase made his way out to the ledge and held the boy over the abyss below. "Destroy them. They are a nuisance to me, just like you are. However, you will redeem yourself in my eyes if you complete this task. But until then… You are nothing to me." He released his grip and watched the boy plummet through the storm clouds, only to rise through them on his heli-pack. "Return to me with blood on that sword. If you fail this time, it will be your last."

Jack's heart was pounding up in his ears. He glanced at the sword clenched in his hands and suddenly felt sick and numb. When he was sure he was out of Chase's glaring range, Jack alighted upon a lower mountain ledge and collapsed to his knees. He stared down at the dirt, digging his fingers into the soil as he balled them into fists. Tears began stinging his eyes and though he tried to fight them, they betrayed his pride, rolling down his pale cheeks and into the dirt. "But I can't…." He choked out to himself. 'If… If this is what it takes to become a great villain…. A villain like him…'

Over and over, Jack played the budding scenario in his mind.

Over and over, the thought of this mission stabbed his heart like a knife.

Over and over, he repeated "but I can't" as though it were a mantra.

And then, nothing.

He froze, slowly raising his head to look off into the distance.

But a new look adorned his face. His brilliant ruby eyes shone with intent, completely devoid of the pitiful tears they'd been filled with only moments ago. His face was set as though he were face to face with an inescapable destiny; a foreign air of malicious confidence breathed life into his otherwise frail, unthreatening body. He snatched up the sword, pressing a button on his heli-pack strap.

"Jack Bots, converge on my position."

In no time flat, a veritable cloud of the malicious robots, headed by Jack himself, was gradually making its way toward the Xiaolin temple. Jack's new sword gleamed like a harbinger of death in the milky moonlight.