Escape from Planet Bossatron: A Septic Story

The Crushed Heart

    "Princess!" Steve yelled up the roof. "What are you doing?"
    "What does it look like I'm doing, Steve?" Selah sneered. "I'm bargaining!"
    "Bargaining?" Chase shouted, starting to look angry. "Bargaining for what?"
    "A prisoner for a prisoner," Selah said, a sly smirk splitting on her face. "Simple. You let Anti go, and I don't drop the love-sick puppy here."
    Jackie didn't say a word, and he didn't try to struggle. He just looked unbelievably sad. His eyes were closed dejectedly. He only held onto Selah's arm in order to brace himself.
    "JackieBoyMan, hang on!" Jack called up, noticing Jackie's distress.
    "Selah, zis is madness!" Schneeplestein called up. "Put JhackieBoyMan down and come down here zis instant!"
    "No," Selah said, giving Jackie a little shake. "You can't tell me what to do, doctor! I'm in charge right now! I'm in control! Now release Anti, or I drop your little super hero!"
    "Where the hell did this even come from?" Marvin asked, his voice shaking in anger.
"Where do you think?" Chase muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
"Let's worry about that later! She'll drop JackieBoyMan if we don't do what she wants!"
    "We can't do that, Jameson!" Marvin snapped. "After all we've done just to get him confined? We can't just-!"
    Selah suddenly let her fingers loosen around Jackie's neck, and he slid a little, causing him to give a short cry of surprise.
    "JackieBoyMan!" Jack exclaimed, holding up his hand out of reflex. "Alright, Selah! Alright! Just don't drop him!"
    "But, Jack!" Chase protested, uncertain. "Anti...?"
"And JackieBoyMan won't exactly... you know," Marvin said.
    "Doesn't matter," Jack said, determined. "We can worry about Anti later. JackieBoyMan is more important right now. We don't want to lose him."
    "Aw isn't that cute!" Selah said, putting her free hand to her cheek in fake admiration. "Jack actually learned his lesson about toying with his so-called friends!"
    "Tell you what, Selah," Marvin said. "Let JackieBoyMan go first. Then we'll let Anti out!"
    Selah clicked her tongue at Marvin. "Oh no no, Marvin, you silly," she said, shaking her head. "That won't do. I know how this works. Besides, I think JackieBoyMan is in a more precarious situation than Anti is right now. Don't you think so too?"
    Selah extended her arm a little further out, making sure that Jackie was not going to hit any portion of the lighthouse until he got a very long way down should she let go of him right then.
    "Jameson," Jack said, giving a quick side glance to his silent ego, "can you let Anti out?"
    Jameson nodded.
"Of course I can."
    "Be careful," Jack said with a frown.
    Jameson tipped his hat and nodded.
"All the time, dear friend!"
    "I'll go with him," Steve said, following Jameson back inside the lighthouse.
    "What are you gonna do, Jack?" Chase questioned, looking from Jack to Selah to Jackie and back again worriedly.
    "Stay right there, Selah," Jack said, giving the princess a hard look. "I'm coming up."
"Jhack no," Schneep said.
    "Oh?" Selah questioned. "To do what?"
    "To make sure this goes smoothly," Jack said, grabbing the bottom of the roof and starting to push himself up onto it. Marvin and Chase quickly went over to give him a boost so that he could get on top of the rounded roof.
"Jhack!" Schneep shouted, looking angry and worried. "Stop! Come back here!"
    The wind picked up and messed with Jack's balance a little bit as he got to his feet.
    "Right there is close enough, Jack," Selah said, raising Jackie into the air a little more. "Until I see that Anti has been freed, don't come any closer."
    "Fine," Jack said, putting his hands up slightly.
    "Jack," Jackie moaned, "I'm sorry. I was just-!"
    "It's okay, JackieBoyMan," Jack said. "I know."
    "Well well welll!" Anti said, suddenly appearing next to Selah out of glitches. "Look who finally figured it out! Surprised, Jack? Didn't think the little princess would agree with me on anything, did you?"
    "Anti," Jack said (realizing just a little bit more than just Selah's betrayal), looking into the dark ego's eyes, "if you're in control here, then say it."
    "What?" Anti questioned, his face getting angry.
    "You haven't said it once the whole time I've been here," Jack said. "Tell me you're in control."
    "What does it matter?" Anti snapped. "You know it!"
    "Actually," Jack said, giving Selah an angry look, "I don't. So tell me. Tell me that it's all you, Anti."
    "This world is mine!" Anti said after a moment's hesitation. "You won't stop me from taking it!"
    "You're not saying it, Anti!" Jack said, knowing the truth. "Selah, you bitch!"
    "I'm done with this bullshit," Selah sighed, rolling her eyes. She pulled something out of her pocket and stabbed Anti with it.
    "ANTI!" Jack yelled, shocked.
    Then, the ego disappeared in a shower of glitches.
    "Don't be so dramatic, Jack," Selah said, waving what she had stabbed Anti with in her hand. It was a flash drive. She had downloaded him?
    "What the f**k?" Chase shouted. "What did you do to him, Selah? Where's Anti?"
    "He's fine," Selah rolled her eyes. "Seriously! I would've thought you'd be happy! He's out of your way now!"
    "Zee only reason he vas ever in zee vay vas because of you, vasn't it?" Schneeplestein yelled up at her. "You vere zee one behind everysing!"
    Selah gave a small laugh. "It took this long for you to figure it out, huh doctor? Why do you think I hadn't aged that much in thirty years? Anti's been sharing a little bit of his immortality with me."
    "Selah," Jack said, "put JackieBoyMan down now, and we can talk about this more later."
    "Oh really?" Selah smirked. "And then what, Jack? You're just going to let me get away with it, and we can all go home together and be friends again? Is that what'll happen? Because I don't want that to happen, Jack! I want so much more!"
    "Selah, you said that you'd let JackieBoyMan go if we let Anti go!" Jack said, starting to get angry. "We kept our promise, so you keep yours!"
    "Well I could easily let him go now," Selah said, pretending to look thoughtful. "Then, we could see if the superhero can really fly!"
    "Selah...," Jackie said suddenly, looking at her with strangely tearless eyes. "Please..."
    "Oh don't beg!" Selah sneered. "It's pathetic, JackieBoyMan! All you do is try to prove that you're amazing when you're really nothing! You're a frightened little kid hiding behind a mask and a suit! You wanted my attention so badly? Well here's what I really think of you!"
    Selah inched closer to the edge, getting ready to drop Jackie. Everyone below him inched forward, and Jack did the same on the roof. But it was Jackie who made her pause one more moment.
    "You know," Jackie said, suddenly sharp, "I wasn't begging on my behalf."
    Selah laughed and pulled Jackie in close so that they were nose to nose.
    "Then who were you begging for?" Selah asked quietly, a grin of pleasure spread across her face.
    "You!" Jackie said, suddenly punching Selah in the stomach.
    The princess grunted in pain and dropped Jackie, making him start to roll down the roof. Jack quickly dove for his friend's hand and thankfully caught it before he could get too far.
    "JackieBoyMan!" Jack exclaimed. "Are you okay?"
    Jackie nodded, his face hard. "I'm okay, Jack," he said. Then, he gave a small smile. "Thanks."
    "Yeah, no problem," Jack said, noticing that Selah was recovering from Jackie's punch.
"You shouldn't have come up here, though," Jackie said. "We need to get you down. And quick!"
    "Oh you douchebag!" Selah said, giving Jackie an angry look. "How could you have just punched me like that?"
    Jackie started to climb back up so that Jack and him could stand back up.
    "Because you deserved it, bitch!" Jackie said angrily as he and Jack straightened up.
    "Oh so you're over your little crush now?" Selah questioned. "That's all it took? I just had to threaten your sorry little ass?"
    Jackie didn't answer. Instead, he ran back up at Selah to attack her again.
    "JackieBoyMan, wait!" Jack called after him. But Jackie wasn't listening. He began to swing and kick at Selah, making the princess have to dodge his attacks.
    "Why, Selah?" Jackie asked in a rage. "Why'd you do all this? We were friends! Practically family!"
    Selah laughed almost as crazily as (if not more than) Anti would've done. "How couldn't I? You think I was ever on your side, you moron? No! I've always wanted that power of Jack's! The power to rule things how I wanted to! Anti gave me that opportunity! Ever since I first met him, he and I had always agreed on one thing: power! That was all we wanted! I mean, granted, I put that idea into his head whenever he was created, so he had no choice! He tried to resist me for a while, but Jack being the ass that he was pushed him over the edge."
    "You selfish bitch!" Jackie yelled, swinging at her with his fist again.
    He caught Selah in the side of the face, causing her to fall over and begin to slide down the roof.
    "Ah shit," Jack muttered to himself, diving (once again) to grab (this time) the princess's hand. He caught her just in time to have her dangling over the edge, Jack holding onto her with only one hand.
    "Selah," Jack said, "you gotta help me out here."
    Selah suddenly laughed again, making a chill go up Jack's back.
    "Oh no, Jack!" She cackled. "I think I have a better idea! Let's both go down together! Then you can have what you and your friends want! Peace in the kingdom! And then I can have the satisfaction of knowing that I killed all of you!"
    Selah laughed harder and then began to swing and tug at Jack, trying to make him let go of the roof. Jack didn't want to let go of Selah's hand, evil or not. He couldn't just let her die!
"No!" Schneep exclaimed. "JhackieBoyMan! Help him!"
    "Jack!" Jackie exclaimed, running over to help his friend. Jack's hands were starting to cramp. The one that was holding Selah's hand wasn't too much of a problem because she had his in a death grip. The other one however, was more problematic. At this point, it was the only thing keeping him and Selah from plummeting to their deaths.
    "I got ya, pal!" Jackie said, reaching Jack and grabbing onto his friend's arm with one hand, and grabbing Jack by the chest with the other. Selah noticed this extra security and scowled.
    "No!" She yelled. "I'll take you all down with me!"
    "Selah," Jackie said harshly, "we're not letting anyone die! Not us, and not you either! So stop being so dramatic and get your ass up here!"
    "You're one to talk about being dramatic!" Selah snapped. "Always frolicking around with that stupid costume."
    "It's a cool costume!" Jackie retaliated huffily as he started to carefully pull Jack back onto the roof.
    "Selah," Jack panted, "your hands are getting sweaty! I'm gonna have to pull you up, but you have to help me!"
    "I don't want your help, Jack!" Selah yelled. "I don't want any help! I never wanted it! Not ever!"
    Then, almost in slow motion, Selah's grip loosened and Jack couldn't keep a good grip on her. She fell out of his hand and started falling the long way down.
    "No!" Jack yelled as Selah began to scream and flail. "Selah!"
    Then, suddenly, a bright green bubble appeared around the princess and stopped her from falling. Jackie finished helping Jack get to safety and smirked.
    "Sam!" He said. "Good job!"
    Jack and Jackie looked down and saw Sam give a little salute from Schneeplestein's shoulder.
    "Good catch, little buddy!" Jack called down, giving the little eyeball a thumbs up.
    Sam gave a little jump of pride, his green glow brightening a little bit.
    Selah gave a sigh of relief despite herself. "That could've been bad," she muttered.
    "Oh trust me," Marvin sneered at her, "it's going to be a lot worse because you didn't fall!"
    Selah flipped Marvin off in response. Schneeplestein walked up to the bubble and reached inside it. Selah went to slap his hand away as the doctor reached for her, but then she suddenly found herself frozen. Sam wasn't going to let her hurt anyone else.
    Schneeplestein reached inside Selah's pocket and pulled out the flash drive with Anti in it, then pulled his hand back out.
    "I'll take zat!" He said, putting it into his own pocket. "I don't sink zat you'll need it anymore, your highness."
    "You damn bastards," Selah growled. "You'll pay for this! All of you!"
    "Shut up, Selah," Chase said, giving her a disgusted look. "You're done with threatening us!"
🔪🎧🔪
    "I'm shocked by my daughter's actions," the king of Bossatron said after discussing the whole matter with the whole group. "Thank you for trying to make her see reason. I'll take it from here and discipline her."
    "Not a problem, your majesty," Schneeplestein said with a shrug. "Vee just vish zat vee could've prevented it all from happening at zee start."
    "No worries, doctor," the king said. "You have all done quite enough for now. For that, I thank you."
    "Relax, Schneep," Chase said. "You can afford to do that now."
    "Not vith you idiots avround," Schneeplestein sighed, turning to leave the room.
    The rest of them followed as the king laughed at the doctor's comment. As they did, Jack caught up with Marvin.
    "Hey, where'd JackieBoyMan go?" Jack asked with a frown. "I know that he didn't want to come, but where is he?"
    "Probably went to his 'secret' hideout," Marvin shrugged. "You know, wherever he does his 'superhero' work."
    "And where's that?" Jack questioned.
    "It's just his closet. You'll have to go up to his apartment to find him."
    "Where's his apartment?" Jack questioned.
    "I'll drive you over zere," Schneeplestein said, hearing the conversation and knowing what Jack was thinking. "No problem. After zat, vee'll start figuring out how to get you back home."
    "Thanks, doc," Jack said with a grateful nod.
    "Of course, Jhack."
    So the doctor dropped the others off at their base and then drove Jack over to Jackie's apartment. Jack got out of the car, and then after making sure that he got the address correct, headed up to Jackie's apartment.
    Jack knocked on the apartment door and called for the superhero.
    "JackieBoyMan?"
    There was no answer from within, but Jack did hear footsteps coming towards the door. When it opened, Jackie was standing there, mask askew, eyes clearly red.
    "H-hey, Jack," Jackie said, trying (and failing) to stifle a small sniff. "Nice of you to drop by. What's up?"
    "I wanted to see if you wanted to talk or something," Jack said, feeling a little awkward. "I want you to talk to me if you need to."
    Jackie pushed his mask up to his forehead and rubbed his eyes.
    "F**k," he said. "Um... sure. Come on in, Jack."
    So Jackie stood aside and allowed Jack to walk past him and into the room. Jack immediately noticed how messy it was in there. I guess it made sense considering that 1) Jackie was a klutz and 2) Jackie was busy saving the world all the time and didn't exactly have the luxury of time to clean up his apartment. Jack also realized these two things as he looked around.
    "So," Jackie said, closing the door behind Jack, "you wanted me to talk to you...? About what?"
    "JackieBoyMan," Jack said with a small smile, "you don't have to pretend with me. We all know that you had a crush on Selah. What she did... well I'm pretty sure that it was shocking to you... you don't have to say anything if you don't want to, but I'm here if you do."
    Jackie was silent for a moment, staring at the floor between himself and Jack. Then, after taking a shaky breath, he looked up at Jack, his eyes surprisingly tearless again.
    "I still have a crush on her," Jackie said, "despite what she did. And yeah, you're right. It shocked me for a while. But about now, I kinda get what she was going for. It's not like I'm not used to hearing that kind've stuff all the time. Villains that I've defeated before have said the same things about power before."
    "How many villains have you defeated to hear it before?" Jack questioned.
    "Eh," Jackie shrugged. "I kinda lost count. At least, of every single little mission that I've done. As for the worst ones like Anti and... Selah... well, there's probably been about five or six of them."
    "Dude!" Jack said, eyes wide. "You really did take the initiative to help everyone you could, didn't you?"
    "I took the 'other Jack's' order, yeah," Jackie said, shaking his head. "But more because that's just how you made me. Right?"
"I guess," Jack said. "You kinda made yourself."
"Sure," Jackie said with a smile. "In any case, you did good, Jack. You saved the day."
    "I'm not the superhero," Jack said.
    "Bullshit," Jackie said, sliding his mask back down over his eyes. "You're the best one I've ever met."