How they fall

[Jak Mar]

Jak felt distracted. A thought washed over him as he needed to check something out. Something about tangled greens..

Call it a bad feeling of some sort as he moved toward the gate. He walked toward the twisted greens portal and walked in. He was looking for the fort. Tired was a better word for the hero. After aimless walking, Jak found himself at the fort. Surprising there was no guards. He walked in and was suspicious , however. This was too easy.

[Jack Darby]

When he entered the fortress he could see that there were a few individuals hauling materials and still repairing the place.  Fort Zimmer was continually being worked on and made into a fortress that was something to be proud.  One of the people upon seeing him said to another. "Go rouse the boss." Another of the individuals nodded and said. "Go rouse the boss."   One of the individuals near the bedrooms went and woke up Warren Zimmer. "Uh Boss we may have an intruder in our base."  It was 3 Am in the morning.  Groaning Warren shook himself out of bed and bathed himself and shaved in a hurry before putting his armor back on over his body the familiar weight comforting him.  Whoever it was,  Warren was going to give them a stern talking to for coming at THIS particular hour in order to wake him like they had. 

Going to the main entrance quickly,  Warren looked for the intruder. Where was he?

[Jak Mar]

The hero heard footsteps and he was glad he slept with one eye open. He woke up and his trying to make little noise. Jak hid under the cover of night to avoid being tracked. The mercenary wasn't too quiet though.

The guards yelled "over here"

Jak heard the guards and moved his gun into position aiming at them. "Who's first." The mercenary wouldn't be caught.

[Jack Darby]

"None of them actually..."

The moment the guards noticed Warren they immediately ran off. Surely their boss could handle the intruder whoever he happened to be.  "You are trespassing on Fort Zimmer. Tell me why you are here when I have put the place under lock down for the night. I was enjoying a very pleasant dream until you interrupted and your presence caused the guards to run and wake me up."   

Warren's dream had been of conquering the Empire and shooting the clone troopers up.  But it wasn't something he'd tell. 

"So tell me. What brings you to Fort Zimmer at this late a time at night?" 

It was WAY too early for this shit.  Warren knew that he needed a cup of coffee. Using a tiny amount of Omnilium he summoned one and started to drink the cup of coffee.

[Jak Mar]

Jak was noticed and the gun was still up " I was looking for a place to sleep. This place was here.

Of course a dark secret coursed through the mercenary's body. He tried to hide it so warren didn't take notice of what was happening. If his guns didn't work, dark Jak and light Jak would be a backup.

[Jack Darby]

Warren thought about the person who had arrived.  Other than the hand guns that he carried there could be other secrets that he concealed. But fuck it, Warren was tired and needed his shuteye,  at least seven more hours before he was ready to face this shit.   "Tell ya what. You can stay inside at one of the empty bedrooms. There are two conditions however.  If ANYONE else shows up tonight you're the first line of defense,  kill them real good. The second is that under no circumstance are you to try anything while I am asleep."  With that one of the guards would lead Jak to an empty bedroom that was furnished and in tasteful colors while Warren proceeded to go back to bed himself.  Soon Warren's snoring could be heard.

[Jak Mar]

Jak raised a eyebrow at the very tired looking Warren and then eyed him. "Why trust me?" "I'm just a mercenary. You don't know what could happen to your guards or you."

The guards braced for impact from Jak but didn't expect much resistance.

Jak closed his eyes and eyed the guards as they walked him toward a very comfortable looking room. The room itself looked like a luxury in itself. However, Jak still felt extremely leery of the man. Was he a guest or intruder? The guards stood guard out front and was quiet while Warren slept.

[Jack Darby]

Bright and early in the morning Warren  was woken up by one of the Guards who had decided that he needed to be out of bed in order to deal with his 'guest' that was on the property and that had spent the night. Led by one of the guards to the room where Jak had been spending the night Warren sighed and knocked on the door. Sometimes it sucked being the owner of Fort Zimmer which was a castle that he'd found and heavily renovated until it had all the modern amenities such as running water and a few other things as well.  Never let it be said that Warren wasn't generous to his employees especially by providing them food,  clothing,  shelter and working facilities for waste disposal. 

Once he had knocked,  Warren said. 

"If you're going to continue to stay here,  we'll need to figure out how you can make yourself useful to me." 

[Jak Mar]

Jak eyed the door as Warren knocked on it. So the man did come back?

"You have a nice offer, a place to sleep, a bed and more.. I can't resist.. so ... what's the catch? What things are you willing for me to do?

Jak eyed the man with his arms crossed. He was a busy man. He wasn't about to trust a man he met so... blindly..

All he wanted to know is what things he had in mind and what goals he wanted to achieve with these.

All he hoped was to keep his sides hidden from Warren for the time being.

[Jack Darby]

There was a lot that Warren could use the individual for.  Should he be able to fight properly,  Warren might actually have uses for him. Exterminating both the Goblins and the Orcs required someone who was more powerful than he was.  Lord Dominator had been useless and wouldn't serve him for his purposes because she was a mastermind of her own.   Thinking about what he could put this individual to use for Warren smiled beneath his helmet. 

Finally he had several job options. "There are several jobs I could put you to use for.  Having a Prime at my disposal would be very useful." 

[Jak Mar]

Jak eyed Warren straight in his eyes and frowned. "What's in it for me?

If something came out of this, Jak would stay but who knew how dangerous Warren would actually be to Jak.

Time would tell.

[Jack Darby]

"Free room and board for one thing until you have a place of your own.  You'll also have my technological skills at your disposal to build you gadgets every now and then."   Warren paused as he thought about the individual. The individual was certainly likely going to be a power house and useful for purposes Warren had planned. He may even be useful when Warren took on the Empire himself.  There was a lot that could be done and so Warren smiled a little beneath his helmet.  Finally he said.   "Of course such a service isn't free.  I'm not a particularly strong Prime yet and that needs to change rather quickly.  Given you're more powerful than me... that is what we need to change." 

[Jak Mar]

Jak listened in and explained "So i got the housing situation so all I have to do is mess people up maybe and/or make you stronger than me in the process. That sounds good in the short run, in the long run. My weapons get upgrades. Interesting. However, remember this. I might not be able to control myself in Dark Jak form if I get a hand nearby.

[Jack Darby]

"Very well. We will begin after breakfast,  starting with my lessons in combat.  I have a lot to catch up on to raise myself to the levels of others." 

Warren then looked at the individual. "So where shall we begin? I need to hone my martial arts skills.  Also learning how to wield a sword properly couldn't hurt as I don't have any attacks with my sword that I can use.  Some ranged attacks would also likely come in handy because I'd need them in order to even out the playing field against other primes most likely. Really I've got to earn a lot of Omnilium to gain my powers back." 

After breakfast was over Warren entered the training grounds and waited for Jak. "Let's begin." 

[Jak Mar]

Jak nodded, waking up and dragging himself out of bed pulling on his armor and boots and clothing. "So you prefer fighting hand to hand or sword?" "I don't fight with swords, be prewarned... If you really want to fight me, you must be able to handle my gunfire. I'm not a pushover.

Jak growled and got into position. He realized he could easily summon and use eco here as well, but not sure how much was around here.

[Jack Darby]

Having gone outside a couple of hours ago, Warren had admired the looks of the place he called home. Sure a castle hadn’t been his first choice for design, but it did fit with the world and that counted for more than one might think. While he had gone out of his way to make sure the place looked as close to an actual castle as possible, the interior did possess several modern amenities. Of those amenities, Warren had made absolutely certain that the plumbing was operational because he was not a savage. To that end his morning check of the place had revealed that the sixty-four bathrooms throughout the castle were not going to malfunction any time soon.

As unwanted guests had visited a week ago, and at 3 AM in the morning... Warren was not very happy. It had become increasingly clear that he needed traps. A fence was definitely going to be a wise investment to keep out intruders. Some bear traps were also going to show up on his property. However, if it was not enough, he supposed some poisonous animals may be the ticket he needed to convince anyone else that his house was not a fucking hotel. Some napalm might also do the trick when rigged in certain key locations. To make a long story short, he was going to make sure his house had an ‘unwelcoming mat’ of extreme proportions set up outside. 

It was bad enough he’d encountered the goody two shoes known as ‘Saint Walker’ and took him in in the past. Were it not for the powers of the ring that the guy possessed Warren never would have agreed to that. Wild Card was most definitely going to have to replicate said device with his own twist on it. Obtaining the supplies needed to retrofit Fort Zimmer with proper defenses was going to be a logistical nightmare for him, however. Under normal circumstances, raiding a scrapyard wouldn’t have been considered by Wild Card, but he’d do it to get the supplies he needed to build up Fort Zimmer’s defenses.

Even though Saint Walker was not around to make a pest out of himself, it seemed another ‘house guest’ had moved in. Hopefully the current ‘house guest’ was not an Imperial or a sympathizer of them. If the individual was, Warren was going to have to kill him. Yet he could use the current house guest more than he could have used Saint Walker. After all, Saint Walker didn’t like to kill and the new one had hopefully no qualms about doing so. If he didn’t have qualms about killing, Wild Card’s unwanted neighbors could be… removed. Honestly, Warren could care less if the goblins and orcs packed up and moved or were exterminated.The more said pests tried to move back into Fort Zimmer the more the latter became…attractive as the recommended solution for them given they weren’t taking the hint that this place was his.

Coruscant was a world that he lacked the skills to take control of. If he even attempted such a thing,the chances of his blood being spilled were far too high. It was in short, a suicidal mission, and that meant he couldn’t do it yet. Omni had said that he would be revived but Warren was not the type to foolishly risk his life for little rewards. 

“Let’s see here. What tasks could I assign you? Eliminating the Orcs and Goblins is out as both would require more power than either of us possess most likely.”

The words came out of Warren’s mouth after a few moments of thought. But more were quick to join what came out of his mouth.

“The other jobs are less than morally sound and could result in you getting in trouble with the Empire or the Kingdom. Due to that I’m heavily reluctant to give out such jobs to someone I barely know.”    

There was wisdom in not trusting someone with jobs that required skills to obliterate people and make them suffer. Torture was not something Warren normally condoned. Unfortunately for the clones the situation they’d made him experience was not ‘normal’ for him. Being forced to clean up several dozen or more vehicles in Coruscant was not normal. It had been like his trip to Camelot namely a complete and total waste of his time that had resulted in irritation.  As his mind drifted back to both situations he became annoyed. After arriving back at the room where he’d forced the mercenary to stay, Warren realized something. There was one legal job that could serve his purposes. Raiding supplies was not exactly glamorous, but given Fort Zimmer definitely needed a security overhaul, he’d have it done in a matter of hours with the help of another Prime. Even though they were at the training grounds, Wild Card was still a little wary of the new arrival. There was something about him that Warren didn’t fully trust. 

Finally, he exclaimed. 

“I’ve figured out what job you could do. You’re accompanying me on what amounts to a supply run. Fort Zimmer needs more defenses if you could just waltz in here. I’m making the place the most unwelcoming castle that was ever built. As for the training,  I think we should start with hand to hand combat and perhaps work our way up to various guns,  and sword types. I need to learn as much as I possibly can,  in as short a time as possible. ”

[Jak Mar]

Jak’s refreshing nap had done him at least some good while but like all jobs he was assigned, he never quite fell asleep all the way. He never slept more than a few good hours before waking up in cold sweats on the bed. Having a dark side inside you never seems to make you sleep peacefully.

During the night, a few screams came from the bedroom as he realized that he woke up from past nightmares and squeezed his head. Cold sweats dripped down his head as he bit his tongue.

He didn’t need this right now, he didn’t need to think about prison, and the horrifying things he went through now of all times.

Nighttime went fast as the mercenary hero changed into his armor and clothing and frowned as he walked toward Warren’s training area outside.

Not often had he been a teacher for someone in the Omniverse.

The man seemed morally sound at the time, but things could change back and forth. The hero already had his rebel phase but Dante’s Abyss and Hero’s Graveyard had pushed him back into neutral and he had killed with his own two hands again and again.

His Corruptible nature was there but he hid it in the pits of his mind with Dark Jak. He made sure the beast in him didn’t claw to the top and for good reasons.

“So.. these jobs.. I’ll do them.”

Jak turned and nodded “I’ve done supply runs a while back a long time ago… What kind of destruction and various other things you need here..”

[Jack Darby]

Warren smiled as the individual known as 'Jak' said that he was going to take the jobs Warren offered.  Several of the jobs were going to be difficult but in order to break Camelot and Coruscant in a war against each other Warren knew he had a lot of work to do.  With the help of another prime,  the job was going to be less of a nightmare for him than it actually was.  After all one prime couldn't do everything that they were supposed to do on their own. Between the complexity of building up the defenses of Fort Zimmer and the other matter of making sure he was strong enough Warren had his work cut out for him.   "Alright. Your first assignment. We will find a martial arts or sword or gun style that fits me. I refuse to be helpless any longer.  Even though I can shoot energy blasts,  and have a sword I need to get much stronger.  We'll also be evaluating you to see what all you can do in combat so I know how to deploy you. " 

[Jak Mar]

Jak frowned and stood up straight "Warren, I'm not who you think I am..."

[Jack Darby]

Warren thought about it for a moment. What could those words possibly mean? There were many potential meanings to him not being what he thought he was. The guy could be a sinister mastermind or a super good guy like Saint Walker. But dealing with Saint Walker and his ilk was something that disinterested Warren. This made him more than a little miserable personally. Still he knew he had a lot of work to do. "So a supervillain,  a superhero or a good guy? Which are you?"