Tainted Balance

Uncertainty and a Manhunt

"Tucker, I'm worried about Jordan."

Tucker turned to Sonja and raised an eyebrow.

"Why? Well, I mean. I know /why/ but why are you worried about him?"

"Well, I'm just worried that he's.. Not exactly in his right mind, you know?"

Tucker shrugged and grabbed a chunk of rubble, which was surprisingly not Tainted, and chucked it off behind him into a pile that had began to grow higher and higher as they worked.

"Of course he's not in his right mind. The guys crazy! Or at least on the way."

"But aren't you worried? It's obvious that he didn't want to hurt us.."

"If you say so. Personally, I think he's finally snapped and gone ape-shit."

"Tucker!"

"What?"

"Tucker, you and I both know that Jordan is the least likely out of us all to do something like this!" She waved her hand at the wreckage of the town.

"No, if anything he's the most likely."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Look, we haven't exactly been easy on him, what with the pranks and shit. And he'd just smile and wave it off. Normally, he didn't even play a revenge prank! He could've just been bottling it up until this happened."

"Tucker, that's stupid and you know it."

She shook her head and picked up a severed plank of wood, tossing it into the ever growing pile.

"Look, all I'm saying is that there's a reason people tell you to watch out for the quiet guys in movies and junk. Jordan happens to be one of those quiet guys."

"Tucker, this is real life not a movie!"

"And? Most of those kinds of movies are based on a true story!"

She huffed and folded her arms, narrowing her eyes at her boyfriend.

"Honesty, it sounds like you're just trying to find a way to blame Jordan for something he obviously didn't want to do."

"Obviously, huh? Tell that to all the villagers who saw him laughing and having the time of his damn life wrecking the town!"

"Tucker.." She sighed. She understood where he was coming from but to get it was obvious that something was making Jordan do this. She knew him well enough to know that he would never do something like this normally.

"Look Sonja, Jordan's my friend and I wanna believe that he didn't do this on purpose. I really do! But all the evidence points to him just finally losing it and going ham on the town."

He walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently.

"Tucker didn't you see him? He was covered in Taint.. He wouldn't do that willingly, right?"

Tucker shrugged and walked back over to the remains of what used to be someone's house.

"He said something about a mission, right? Maybe he really did snap and covering himself in Taint is just some weird thing to help that plan? I mean, the guy did fire Taint /from his hands/. That's not really normal.."

Sonja sighed and shook her head, tossing a few pieces of cracked bricks into the pile.

"This is really confusing.."

"Well, we'll provably figure something out when Tom gets back."

She turned to him and tilted her head curiously.

"What'd you mean?"

"Well, Tom and Jordan are /pretty/ close. So I assume he went off to find him or something. Most likely anyways."

Sonja was about to reply when they heard the familiar muttering of the Town Herald. He looked distraught as he made his way towards him, carrying an official looking scroll in his hands.

"Oh, hey Herald! What's with that fancy lookin' scroll?"

"Greetings Heros. With the.. Recent events that have taken place I've come to give you and the other two a message. When you see them, let them know, yes?"

Tucker and Sonja nodded and took the scroll. With a quick wave the Herald rushed off to Mianite knew where.

"So, what's it say?" Sonja asked, curiously looking over Tucker's shoulder as he unraveled the ribbon from the scroll.

"It says.. 'By order of the Town Herald, under command of the King, the one known as Jordan 'Sparkles' is...now a wanted criminal in the eyes of Dagrun?! He is wanted dead or alive and a reward of 64 diamonds shall be paid to whomever can bring him to justice. Mianite be with you all. Sincerely, the Town Herald..'

The couple stood in shock for a few seconds before Tucker broke the silence.

"Well... The reward isn't worth it."

"Tucker!"

"What? I'm trying to lighten the mood!"

"Nows not the time for jokes Tucker."

"Fine, fine. Sorry." He huffed and shrugged, pocketing the slightly curled paper in his pocket.

"What're we going to do?"

"What can we do? Wait for Tom and see if he knows anything.. Maybe Wag can help but other than that we don't have anything we can do."

"Can't we at least /try/ and help him?"

"How're we gonna do that? Sonja, you saw Jordan earlier! He's not exactly help-able right now ."

"W-Well.. Can't we go see if Wag can help or something?"

Tucker thought to himself for a second before relenting, sighing and nodding.

"Fine. But let's finish cleaning up this place first, ok? We /are/ getting paid after all."

Sonja nodded and smiled, walking over to Tucker's pile of wreckage.

"Well, come on then! The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get to Wag!"

"Alright, alright. Let's get this over with then."

((And done! There. Another chapter completed! This one is kind of dialogue heavy so beware! Also, the idea to have Tucker and Sonja's perspectives (and also Wag's in the next chapter) was thought up by the lovely @punken316 so if you see them in the comments section; give them a thank you for the idea! But anyways! This chapter seems kind of short to me but hey! It's something to read while I'm (potentially) gone right? Ok then! That's about it for me! I hope you enjoyed and I will see all you lovely people in the next chapter! Later!))