Once Rivals (Pika)

So she didn't know where it is? That would slow them down a bit, but it didn't matter as long as they could at least start off somewhere. Jemmy then summoned an armoured truck, Meta had already seen her powers in action, but this still surprised him, she could create something so complex? Something with electronics and working parts that worked like a real truck? Meta had to take a closer look, so while holding the unconscious form of the invisible assassin, he opened the hood to look at the engine, only to see there was no engine ...what?

He looked at her, squinted, then just sighed and went into the drivers seat with her. He didn't leave the assassin in the back, that would be extremely unwise; he instead left the assassin on Meta's lap. While it may be uncomfortable for Meta, it assured that Meta would know when the assassin moved so that he could be knocked out again; if the assassin were to be left in the back, he could wake up and escape. Meta then addressed Jemmy Have you been to St Roch before? Or at least have you been in the state Louisiana? If you have, you should teleport there, it will save time on our journey by a lot.

Jemmy frowned at Meta as he brought the invisible assassin into the cab with them. Why had she bothered to make the giant prison box if Meta was going to just do that? Maybe he wasn't as smart as she had thought.

"Fine." Everything except for their seats disappeared. A second later, the armored truck was replaced with a pontoon, with two chairs conveniently where Jemmy and Meta were already sitting. She had levitated the cushions during the transition, making it both seamless and jarring at the same time. "If we can't ride with security, we'll ride in style."

Wait a second, hadn't he asked her a question? Oh yeah, she better answer. "I've never been to St Roch. Where in California is Louisiana?" The pontoon floated through the air, rising above the building tops, but going nowhere specific. "And don't make me feel bad for not knowing where stuff is. I don't see you making any boats."

Meta felt the vehicle change around them and now they were in a plane, more specifically a pontoon plane, there was one of those in a movie he had watched recently, what was it called? Whatever. Jemmy explained that she'd never been to St Roch and asked where in California Louisiana was. Was she serious? Was she being real? Amberglass was in Europe, so Jemmy had left America before, yet didn't know that California was only a small part of a large continent?

Meta sighed Alright, can you make me a map of America and a compass? I'll help navigate while you fly us there if she did as asked, he'd check the map before looking at the compass and would then give her directions as to what direction to take.

What did he think she was, magic? Jemmy kept flying her magically conjured boat in a lazy circle around Jump City. Jemmy gave an unamused look at Meta. "We're never going to get there, are we? Look, I did more than just hit my head. I can't remember anything before two weeks ago. So I temporarily don't know anything, including how to make a full, accurate map of the anywhere."

She slumped back in her chair. "Dude, let's just dump him in the ocean. I'd rather die than go to jail. It isn't right to put someone in a big cage. Restricting their freedom like that...they'd be better off dead. I mean, he can always come back to life in the sequel, right?" She had no idea if that was how life and death worked. It wasn't a topic typically discussed in ice cream shops and swimming pools. She had needed to educate herself by watching some movies, assuming they were more or less accurate.

So she couldn't remember anything? Not even what a map of the united states looked like? Well, this would be tricky. Apparently it was too tricky for Jemmy to bother caring, because she simply stated that they should kill the assassin. Meta sighed, even if she had lost her memories, she was still the same little girl that slaughtered many innocent people It doesn't matter, even if he would be better off dead, it's not for us to decide.

This is what we're gonna do, we're gonna land, I'm going to buy a map from a store, we're gonna take this assassin to prison, we're he'll be kept until he's put on trial he realised how stupid he was being, she could just get rid of the boat and let them both fall. But he could tell that she wasn't going to do that, she hadn't killed either of them yet, despite having much chance to do so.

"Why not?" Jemmy looked at Meta, intently. Her eyes were filled with genuine curiosity. On TV, the good guys almost never killed the bad guys, but they never explained why. "We decided to put him in jail, didn't we? You decided to knock him out. He decided to hurt me. People decide things. Say he goes to trial and some old guy in a robe says that Mr. Invisible gets his head cut off. How does that make it different? Why is the old guy special? Or maybe a whole group of people make a vote and decide to let him live. What makes them right? Because there's a bunch of them? A bunch of people can be totally wrong. What if the judge and jury make the wrong decision, and you know it? Would you be okay with them making a mistake?"

Jemmy's eyes narrowed a bit. The ship was clearly not descending or going anywhere near a store. She wanted to get an answer before she did anything Meta wanted. "You didn't wait for a guy with a gavel to give you the thumbs up on helping me, did you? Maybe you're just trying to avoid responsibility." It was a word Jemmy may have never said before. It felt weird in her mouth to say. "You don't want people to think you're a bad person if they disagree with what you choose."

Metamorphi stayed respectfully silent while Jemmy argued her case, waiting for her to finish talking before he responded When I defended you, I was making a judgement on what to do. I didn't wait for approval. But taking action isn't the same as making a decision on someone's fate. Taking action is quick but making a decision takes time. Plus, in a case like this, they can't just execute him, the only thing they'll do is incarcerate him. That's more appropriate than just putting him down like a dog.

He sighed I'm not saying the justice system is perfect, it isn't. But to use your argument, what makes us so special that we can decide what to do with him? Why can't we be wrong and make the wrong decision? There is of course a risk of the justice system getting it wrong, but are we more at a right to chose than them? We are just one man and the little girl who was the victim. Neither of us has any experience with the legal system. If professionals who are qualified to do this can't make this decision, then neither can we, so where does that leave us? he was just saying things how he knew them to be, but his words were of course not fact.

"Exactly!" Jemmy said, triumphantly. "We are no better suited to make the decision than those 'professionals.' And no worse. No matter what job someone has, or how supposedly qualified they are, everybody is just a person. What right do we have? We are alive. That gives us all the right in the world. Why do you think you were given free will? So you could not make decisions? So you could not make mistakes? We all make big mistakes, but big whoop. You just keep on living."

Jemmy crossed her arms. "I can do whatever I want. Why shouldn't I just kill him right here? Because I don't have the right? Says who? No really, specifically who told you that Shivering Jemmy of the Shallow Brigade, the Lord of Chaos, did not have the authority to kill someone who tried to kill her first? Even if you had such a name, I never said I would follow those rules. I'm a Lord of Chaos, and I do whatever I want. I can make this decision, so I will. And I will make as good a decision as I can make with the information available to me, too."

Jemmy realized she hadn't taken a breath for quite a while. She had to gasp for air. Talking like this...it was strange. It made her feel excited. She wasn't angry at Meta, but she felt like she was pumped up and ready for a fight. She saw the world in a different light. Order was not evil in and of itself, but the world had too much Order in it right now, and that was causing an imbalance.

"Look, I know Chaos has kind of a bad name right now. Even I have done a lot of bad things in the past. But if you want to convince me to let the invisible guy live, you can't talk about rules and fate. I don't care about fate. No, if you want me to spare him, then you have to convince me it is good, not proper."

Jemmy started talking about how no one was more qualified than anyone else to make these kind of decisions and that because they had free will they had the right to make this decision There may be some cases where it's okay to make mistakes, but not when human life is at stake.

She then started ranting about how she's a Lord of chaos, so she can do whatever she wants, she apparently answers to no one. Meta watched her body language as she spoke, she wasn't breathing, she was so excited. Meta frowned and narrowed his eyes, was she about to have some kind of psychotic episode?

Whatever was going on, she didn't wait for him to figure it out, she gave him an important task, he had to convince her to let the guy live. Well, no pressure then, if he messed it up a man would die! Plus, it was clear by now that the unlikely duo had completely different ways of thinking, even if Meta could say the right thing, it is possible that she wouldn't accept it because it fits in with Meta's way of thinking, but not hers.

Either way, he had no choice, even if he couldn't do it, he had to at least try, so he started talking, but he couldn't find the words to do so. No matter what way of approaching this he could think of, there is nothing he could say that would convince her. Nothing that would get a positive reaction, short of appeasement. He was defeated, and Jemmy would be able to tell by his body language.

"If I may..." Spook said, seemingly having regained consciousness and breaking his general code of silence. "I knew I could not kill you, Shivering Jemmy. You are immortal. I merely intended to erase your memories. Killing you would have accomplished that, and you would have healed and come back to life a few seconds later. In this manner, the punishment does not seem to fit the crime."

Jemmy jumped a bit when the man spoke. So he could talk! His words made sense, too. Technically, he couldn't possibly have killed her for good. Wiping her memory was still mean, but probably not nearly as bad as murder. Besides, she didn't have that memories to hold on to right now.

"You're right," Jemmy said with a sigh. "Well you're lucky you weren't trying to kill anyone else, because then I'd eat...I mean...kill you in a humane way. So why did you want to erase my memory?"

Spook said nothing. To his credit, he wasn't trying to escape, either. Jemmy frowned. "Oh, back to this, then?" Jemmy looked at Meta. "Sorry for going off on you there. It's just...it's hard when you don't remember things." The pontoon lowered and landed gently on the roof of a gas station. "Go buy yourself a map, if you still want to help me. I'd probably just forget what I went in there for and buy some candy."

Meta snapped into attention when he heard Spook talking, listening as he defended himself against Jemmy, stating that since she's immortal, he wasn't trying to end her life since he couldn't. So taking that into account, killing him would not be a punishment that matches the crime. It certainly made sense, Meta had not taking that into account since he did not know enough about her immortality, but after thinking about it, Jemmy did have red on her person that hadn't been attacked.

Jemmy also had been convinced, since she agreed not to kill him and let the pontoon down to go and buy a map of America. He thanked her before going down and going into the shop. He purchased a map and a compass and went back up to the pontoon. He took a moment to plot their journey and told Jemmy which direction to go in Alright, are you ready?

As Meta returned, Jemmy piloted the pontoon in the direction of the prison. She had no idea how they were going to convince the warden to accept a prisoner, but Meta seemed like he was probably a Teen Titan or something. He would have ways.

"So, what have you been up to for the past few hundred years?" Jemmy had forgotten about the time travel thing. She just remembered that he knew her from a long time ago. She couldn't remember her own history, so her story was rather short. "I saw a flower yesterday, oh, and I met my family. They seemed nice."

So now they were off, stuck for hours at minimum with a little amnesiac girl who could potentially relapse and become the ruthless manipulator she once was and just kill them both with ease. It was a simple matter of getting rid of the pontoon and simply dropping lava on the two of them while they were falling and couldn't dodge. Just in case, Meta was ready to strike the red skirt she was wearing.

She then asked what he'd been up to for a few hundred years, for a second Meta was confused, not knowing what she was talking about ...what? Then he realised that she must not have known that he was sent backwards in time, to which he cleared his throat so he could set the record straight I was sent backwards in time, I'm actually from this time, I'm only 18. She talked about what she remembered, which wasn't much, but then she made reference to seeing her family, the thought of more people like her made Meta shiver slightly on the inside.

18? Jemmy giggled. He couldn't really have done very much in a mere 18 years. Oh well, she'd just have to tell a story to pass the time. "That's right, you said that. Well, even so, you do know that I'm a lot older than I look. I have a daughter named Rico. She's a bit serious. She gets it from her dad. He's real up-tight, always making up fake names for himself and stuff like that. He's kinda paranoid. I guess at one point I said I was going to kill him, and another time I said I was going to kill our daughter just to hurt him. Of course, that was before I...bumped my head, I guess. I haven't the slightest idea why I'd have wanted to kill either one of them now."

She thought for a moment. "I met a girl with pink hair who lives in a tree and claims she's my adopted mother. She's about your age. Not sure how that works. I am really, really old. I don't know how old, but I don't really need to be adopted. I don't mind, though. She gave me ice cream."

Jemmy looked at Meta. It wasn't like she needed to watch where they were going. They weren't going to crash into anything in the sky. "So that's my family. What about you? What is your family like? Can they all turn into metal like you?"

Jemmy giggled when she heard that he was only 18, to which Meta merely responded by leaning so that Jemmy was in his shadow At least I'm not 4 feet tall usually he wouldn't stoop to her level, but Jemmy made him feel extremely antagonistic. Meta then listened to her story about her family, and how the child's father was paranoid and how she threatened to kill him, and then their daughter to hurt him. Normally Meta would be disturbed at hearing this, but this sounded exactly like something she'd have done before she lost her memories.

She then talked about meeting a pink-haired girl who... lived in a tree? And said she was her mother? Was this a homeless crazy woman she was talking to? Apparently the gift of ice cream was enough for Jemmy to find nothing suspicious ...maybe you shouldn't hang out with this girl without an adult you trust Jemmy then asked about Meta's family, Meta was silent for a few moments before he spoke I... I don't have a family... my powers were given to me by a mad scientist... he was silent after that, looking out of the boat and at the horizon.