'Shit, shit, shit, shit!' Jackie paced around in his apartment. He couldn't believe he just stole something from Anti like that!

He had never stolen anything in his life!

Why NOW!?

'Is Anti's mannerisms getting in my head?'

He shook his head, 'It was for a cause' he tried to tell himself but argued with himself again, 'Dumbass, you don't even know what's in it!'

He wanted so bad to rip it open and read it but he was having second thoughts now.

'I should go back when he's gone again and put it back where I found it'

But what could possibly be IN it!?

Anti couldn't possibly be the type to write down his feelings, right!? No way! He was much too tough and stubborn to do such a thing!

Jackie bit his nails, having ripped off the Blood-streak mask, 'This whole thing is getting way out of control . . . . .'

Taking a deep breathe, Jackie tried to calm himself down. After all, he could still feel the draft from his last meltdown.

He looked at the journal he had discarded on the bed. It looked so fragile and unguarded.

So easy to open and go through.

The suspense was killing him.

He found himself reaching forward to touch it.

'RING' 'RING' 'BUZZ'

Jackie flinched at the sound of his phone ringing and rolled his eyes. He was grateful, though. He didn't want to be that kind of person to just look through someone else's private thoughts like that.

Seeing the caller ID, he thought he'd pass out, though.

He remembered giving Anti his cell phone number before raiding his apartment and his heart skipped. Would he just glitch through the phone!? Like this, he'd surely recognize him! He didn't want Anti to know where he lived!

Quickly, Jackie forced on his mask a little lopsided and answered the phone.

"Jaysus, asshole! Took you long enough to answer the fooking phone!"

Jackie grunted, "Caught me in the middle of something. What do you need?"

"I bet" Anti mumbled to himself and Jackie was a little worried until the glitched moved on, "Just wanted to tell ya I've decided we'll bait out the bastard hero tomorrow. You and me. We'll meet at the warehouse and go from there, got it?"

"Alright. Thought we were going to wait until I got something on him"

"I changed my mind."

"Okay"

". . . . . . You're not too chatty tonight, are ya?"

"I never am"

"Got a point there, I guess" Anti paused for a moment, " . . . Be prepared to cause trouble tomorrow. I'll see then if I really can trust you or not. Nine in the morning. Don't forget"

With that, Anti quickly hung up the phone, leaving Jackie pretty dumbfounded.

'Fuck!'

This wasn't supposed to work like that. Anti was changing the plans too quickly on him.

Did he know something?

. .. . . . .

No. Jackie shook his head and ripped off the mask again, running a hand through his hair, 'If he did, he'd attack no holds barred. I'm being too paranoid'

He looked over to his alarm clock.

'Getting late already. . . . . I should probably just . . . . get some sleep. I'll worry about every else tomorrow. I don't HAVE to show myself, I guess unless Anti causes some serious problems on citizens.'

He shook his head again.

Of course he would, though.

With a deep sigh, Jackie got ready for bed, letting all of his worries melt away for the time being.

Marvin was on a rooftop in his cat form.

He stared out ahead of him through a window of some apartments.

He never told Jackie the tracker worked both ways. Of course he'd be able to track Anti, too.

Marvin watched the glitch pace around his room. It looked like he was mumbling something to himself.

'Crazy bastard anyway' Marvin thought to himself, 'Tomorrow, though, huh? Interesting'

The poofy white cat stretched and flicked his ears.

He wanted that glove back but on the other hand, he was starting to think that perhaps Anti really didn't have it. But if he didn't, then who did? No, it had to be him. There was no one else with his capabilities that could.

Marvin thought back to how gently Anti held and pet him before shaking himself off in the cold air. No, Anti wasn't good. He was a monster. He might prefer cats but that didn't mean he wouldn't destroy a whole city.

'I guess tomorrow, I'll have to make my move, too'

Morning finally came and Jackie woke up to his hand covering Anti's journal.

He still hadn't looked inside.

He wanted to . . . . but he wouldn't. It wouldn't be right.

But during the night, he thought of a different plan.

He'd never show up to the warehouse as Blood-streak.

He wouldn't show up at all.

Jackie had the perfect idea and that was to make Anti so pissed off, he'd go off and do something stupid on his own. Then he'd come out as Jackieboyman and Blood-streak wouldn't have to be involved at all! He'd just say he put him in his place before he got to Anti!

It was flawless!

Right?

Groaning to himself, Jackie finally got up around eight-thirty in the morning. He showered and ate and then did something he hadn't done in quite a few weeks.

He put on his red suit again.

Honestly, it felt weird to do so. He felt almost as if he wasn't even the same person anymore.

The Blood-streak suit was actually more comfortable to wear now.

Fixing his blue eye-mask, Jackie cleared his throat and looked at himself in the mirror.

'I look . . .. almost obnoxious now. Maybe when this whole glove threat thing is over, I could get Jameson to update my . . . hero suit.'

Before Nine o'clock hit, he got out of the apartment across a few rooftops before landing on one far enough away. Then he got out his phone and laid it on a roof tile just in case Anti were to try calling and glitch through it when he didn't answer.

And now all he had to do was hide but just in case, he brought along Marvin's little screen to tell him where exactly Anti was, too.

Speaking of Anti, the glitch was starting to get impatient. Here it was already ten minutes after nine and Blood-streak STILL wasn't there! Usually he was so punctual! Usually meaning the only few times he's ever met him.

And Anti still couldn't shake off what he had seen on his cameras. Did it have something to do with why his partner wasn't showing up?

Tapping his foot furiously, he finally decided to cave and took out his phone, dialing his number.

It rang on and on for a while but he finally just glitched through to see where the hell he was at.

But what he found only made him more anxious.

The phone was all alone on a roof downtown.

Swallowing thickly, Anti reached down to take the phone in his hand.

'What the hell? What happened to him?' he wasn't about to say he was worried but he was nervous.

Anti looked around cautiously, unsure of what to do, really.

Should he look for his new partner or should he move on with the plan?

'Damn idiot, getting himself into trouble.' he thought to himself, 'Guess I'll do this on my own. I'll look for you later and you better have a good excuse why you're gone. If you got kidnapped, I'm sure you can break out on your own. If not, then . . . .'

Anti didn't finish his thought but simply stood there, looking lost.

Yes, Blood-streak took his journal and that sort of pissed him off but also . . . .

He's been the only one so far to actually tolerate him. And he didn't really judge him like others always did.

"Where are you, fuck-face?"

With a sigh, Anti finally made a decision. He'd go after the dumbass after this mission of his. It wouldn't take long, after all.

Putting the phone in his pocket, he glitched to the next rendezvous point near the city hall.

Little did he know, Jackie was watching on the tracker screen and rushed to get there.

Anti had enough of waiting.

He had enough of waiting for Jackie to come and stop his crimes. It seems like a normal run of the mill attack wasn't good enough anymore to get his attention.

'I'll make him see. He won't ignore me this time . . Like he has been for weeks. Not anymore!'

He was in the middle of the street in front of city hall and the clocktower. Surely this would be enough to get his attention?

A car drove up to him and stopped. An angry woman inside rolled down her window and shouted, "Hey, you fucking idiot! Get out of the middle of the road!"

Anti turned to face her. She wasn't his target.

"What are you, deaf!? Fucking move it, fucktard!"

She was thinning his patience, but she wasn't a good enough target.

His eyes searched around, ignoring her car horn honking at him. With a light touch of the hood, Anti turned the car off with a glitch.

"What the hell!?"

Then he saw his target. Jackie and the others always had a fondness for children.

This one was a teen, probably around fourteen years old but he didn't care. Glitching, he appeared in front of the boy and glitched again at the top of the city hall building.

"Hey what the-!?" the boy wriggled in his grasp as Anti drug him to the edge of the roof, "Let me you, you fucking freak!"

Anti grinned at the words chosen, "Oh don't you worry. I'll let you go, alright" he swung him over the edge but didn't let him go. The boy squeaked in terror and curled in on himself.

"Fuck! No, wait! Please! Don't drop me! Don't drop me! I don't wanna die!" the boy started to cry and Anti felt a small twinge of pity for him.

"You better pray Jackieboyman comes around to save you. You better hope you're worth it to him"

"Oh god, but he hasn't been around for weeks! Please don't kill me!" he sobbed, "I want my mom!"

As the boy cried, Anti was reminded of little Sammy and Kallie. They were a lot younger, of course but . . . . . Anti was still feeling something. Not that he liked it.

Just when he was about to cave and go grab the angry bitch woman instead, he heard a thud behind him.

He could feel it in the air.

The boy in his claws looked over behind him with hopeful eyes.

"Put the boy down on the rooftop, Anti"

Anti couldn't help but feel this joy in his heart. This thrilling thumping in his chest threatening to break out. How long he had been wanting this again.

He turned to face the man with a wicked grin, "What are you gonna do, hero? You've been gone for a while . . . . aren't ya a bit . . . . rusty?"

Jackie wasn't in the mood for playing games and watched as Anti threatened to 'lose his grip'.

"Anti, you wouldn't kill a child. I heard you had the perfect chance to kill Chase and his kids while I was gone but you didn't."

"That was different. Let's see how fast you can run after your long rest, Red. Catch" he let the boy go but Jackie was already running. He ran past Anti and jumped down, ignoring the glitch's wide smile.

The boy screamed and many people below freaked out but Jackie was able to quickly grab him and throw out his grappling hook to swing off so they didn't hit the ground below.

Gently, Jackie swung back to the street and placed the boy down on the ground, allowing him to run to his mother. Ignoring the happy reunion, Jackie used the grappling hook to force himself back up to the roof where Anti was still waiting.

He looked so pleased with himself.

"I've been calling for you, you know. . . . . Imagine my surprised when I saw the good doctor's records of you on his computer the other day. You've been healed for weeks now!"

Anti glitched furiously, losing his smile, "WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN!? DO YOU NOT CARE ABOUT THIS CITY ANYMORE!?" It was meant to be a taunt but he didn't realize how well he actually hit the mark.

Jackie understood where Anti was coming from but refused to lose his cool like he was, "Did you miss me that much? I've been away for something else that is none of your concern."

Anti twitched, "None of my concern? I robbed a bank, threatened an art museum and killed an entire gang while you've been gone, asshole! What do you have to say about that!?"

Jackie smirked this time, "Killed a gang? I heard you did take out Vicky's group. Good for you"

"Good for . . ." Anti was confused. Did he just . . .. praise him for murder?

Anti took a step back from him, "What happened to you, hero? You're not the same as before. The REAL Jackie would never tolerate any sort of murder or crime!"

Jackie hated that Anti felt he was like that. Maybe he used to seem like that.

But after his talk with Abe and Anti's reasonings for killing that group. . . . They would have walked free again out of jail otherwise . . .

"Yeah, well maybe my time away has changed me. I can't worry about other people constantly like I used to. They don't need me anyway"

Anti was floored. This wasn't the hero he once knew.

He grew angry again and Anti glitched furiously, flashes of electricity sparking off of him, "So you've become a coward, then. How pathetic of you. I BET I COULD DESTROY THIS WHOLE BLOCK THEN AND YOU WOULDN'T DO ANYTHING TO STOP ME, HUH!?"

His lightning grew stronger in his anger but Jackie just watched. He wouldn't really do that, would he? But an angry Anti wasn't a rational one. Then again, when was he ever rational?

Jackie watched the lightning zap around furiously as Anti charged himself. Vaguely, he wondered to himself if he should counter the attack but it had been a long time since he had used that power. Here he had the same electric abilities as Anti but never liked using it before because he thought that would make him too much like the enemy.

Was he already not the enemy, conspiring with him as Blood-streak?

But Anti's words also pissed Jackie off. How dare he act like he knew him so well!?

Jackie stomped towards him in threat, glaring daggers at him and as he got closer, Anti felt his rage and the charge died down. Jackie suddenly gripped his throat and squeezed, lifting him up off his feet.

Anti was actually . . . . scared?

Jackie had never possessed this sort of anger towards him or anyone before.

It was frightening.

Jackie muttered just so he could hear him, "You don't get to act as if you know anything about me, glitch. . . . . because obviously, you don't."

Anti tried clawing at the hand choking him but it was no use and Jackie's own eyes held a deathly promise.

"Because maybe . . . . . just maybe . . .. I'm tired of always being the good guy"

Anti had the urge to gulp but unfortunately, his airway was blocked. Almost too gently, Jackie set him down, still gripping his throat, "But if I ever see you threatening to kill a child again, Anti . . . . I'll fucking kill you. Do you believe me?"

For once, Anti actually did and he nodded.

"Good." and just to fuck with him, he added, "I think your new partner believes me, too, now"

He let him go with a smirk and Anti backed away coughing, holding his throat, "Y-you . . .Th-that was YOU!? Wh-what did you do to him!?"

Jackie wasn't prepared for Anti to come running at him to attack, bringing out his knife.

"You bastard!"

But before he could plunge the knife into him, a strange force shot them apart, sending them flying on opposite ends of the roof.

A man gently glided down onto the roof from watching on another rooftop above.

He was very concerned about Jackie's way of handling things in this encounter but he'd talk with him later about it.

Anti shot up, still pissed, "Magician. . . ." he shuddered in his anger but grinned nonetheless, "I guess I can kill two birds with one knife then"

"What are you doing here, Marvin!?" Jackie shouted at him.

This wasn't part of the plan at all.

Well really . . . . he ran off course of the plan a while ago.

Marvin glared at him, clearly upset, "Ending this whole stupid ordeal, what's it look like?"

He strut a little closer, "Because you obviously couldn't do it yourself, Jackie"