Chapter 13: Questions and Answers

Written by Etnalla

Edited by Goald3n

Jack and Judge were seated a distance from each other. Not too far, though, Jack wouldn't let Judge out of the range of the grenade's explosion and Judge wanted to be able to be close enough to kill Jack the moment the grenades left the kid's hand.

The duo, eyed each other carefully each feeling the tension in the air.

Jack didn't know how effective the grenades would be against whatever inhuman thing Judge was. He took comfort in the fact that since Judge agreed to his demands it meant that the other man was at least wary of the explosives Jack had in his hand. If he was afraid of them, then it might be able to kill him.

"So," Jack said, restarting the conversation. "Care to tell me what the hell you are? Not to say you're a monster, but you aredefinitelynot human. Unless you know any humans that can survive a hundred foot fall like nothing happened?"

"You first." Responded Judge. "Tell me how long you've been controlling me, then I'll tell you what I am."

"Nope~ Why should I go first? You obviously want to kill me, so why should I give up the only thing keeping me alive?"

Judge's face took on a frustrated look as he debated internally whether it would be better to just kill the kid and be done with it, consequences be damned. Then again, since he was going to kill the kid anyway he wasn't gonna lose anything....

"Oh! How could I be so stupid!" Jack exclaimed with a surprised look on his face. "I forgot to tell you, I took all our weapons and equipment and hid them somewhere. If you kill me not only will you not get your answer but also you will lose all your weapons~"

While Judge was grinding his teeth at Jack's provocation, the gears in Jack's head were turning. In terms of intelligence or tactics he was way below Michael or Luke, but since neither of those two were available at the moment he had to take charge. He didn't want to die, so he had to make his life valuable, give Judge a reason not to kill him.

In this negotiation Jack's bargaining chips were the fact that Judge wanted an answer, only he knew where the weapons were hidden, and the three grenades he was holding in his hand. If Judge was a smart man, and despite everything Jack still thought he was one, then he would wait till he at least got the weapons before killing him or not act unless he was sure he could disarm Jack before he could detonate the grenades. Still, that was a problem since the moment he gave up the location of the weapons or answered the question wrong he was as good as dead. There was only one course of action he could take; stalling. Fortunately, that was something he was very good at.

"So~ What's your choice? Will you kill me now and put yourself at a disadvantage, or keep me alive and kill me later? I know you really want to kill me, but don't you think you should at least try to make the smart decision? You might be an idiot, stupid, possibly a predator, limp dicked idiot, but you're not a stupid idiot are you? I mean if you were—"

"Okay."

"Huh?"

"I said 'okay'. I'll tell you what I am. Is there a problem?"

Jack was dumbfounded. Before he even had a chance to begin stalling the initiative was decisively taken by Judge. If he still insisted on continuing with his monologue, then Judge would definitely be suspicious. It was such a shame. He had a lot of things he planned to say. Most of it was vulgar nonsense like his earlier trash talk but that was the essence of stalling anyway—you just had to keep the nonsense flowing until everyone fell into your flow,

"Okay, I'll start. What I am is a former member of the Sleeping Forest guild. What are guilds? Guilds are composed of multiple teams that work together for a common goal If a team like Team 66 could be said as being one of the guild's fingers then the guild is the whole hand. The reason I survived is because of my mutation. Those guys from Team 66 told you that you could only get mutation from God's Dimension, that was a lie. It might have been true in the past but with the size of the guilds now they have brought out different ways for normal people to become enhanced. Viruses, Ki techniques, Nen awakening, Medicinal pills are merely a few of the methods the guilds use in order to bolster their numbers. Any questions?"

Jack was overwhelmed at the information Judge told him, but even more than that he was surprised at the fact that Judge actually answered his question! Now, he was even more suspicious of Judge than ever. There was only one reason why Judge would be so forthcoming with the information. He was going to kill him.

"Umm...I..I.. Ah. I do. I do. Umm..." The pressure he was feeling caused Jack to stutter uncontrollably. He absolutely had no idea what to do now. Before, at least he felt like he had a chance to win over Judge. Now, given how the other man was acting there was no doubt in Jack's head that Judge had decided to kill him.

"So? Any questions? If you're not gonna ask any, then would you care to answer mine?" Judge calmly asked.

"Wait!" In a panic Jack shouted. He had to keep the conversation from going further. If it did, then the closer he would be to his death. "You still haven't answered my question! How did you survive the fall!?"

"That is a completely different question, but I have no problem answering that. My...particular enhancement grants me a much stronger body composition that allows me to survive things like than. In fact it would take a fall twice that height to even pose a threat to me. Now care to answer my question?"

"Hold up! You still didn't answer my question! What exactly is this enhancement of yours that allows you to do such things?"

"Hmm.... Well that is something that I should probably keep secret. Though I might consider telling you if you answer my question. Quid pro quo and all that."

Judge was calm. Too calm. It was unnerving Jack to an almost insane degree. When Judge stood up and started coming closer he immediately panicked and prepared to throw the grenades at the man.

"Stay back! Don't come any closer or I'll blow you away!"

"Are you sure you want to do that? There is something called the genetic constraint. When you're exposed to stressful environments or life or death situations your body pushes past this constraint and allows you to surpass human limits. It has five stages and of those five I have unlocked two. If I wanted to I could cover the distance between us in a split second and knock those grenades out of your hand before you know what happens. If I am forced to do that, then I think you what would happen next."

The pressure on Jack's mind was immense. The fear of death was overriding any sense of reason he had. His fiery attitude also made him much more sensitive to emotions than the other personalities, but that also made him much more vulnerable to pressure and psychological attacks.

"So, Lucky. If you're not going to ask anything else I would like to ask you a question."

Jack was trembling. He knew what was coming. The only thing he was thinking at the moment was how sorry he was to Michael and Luke, all the effort they'd put into protecting Lucky would go to waste because of him. He was so caught up in his fear that he hadn't noticed Judge had approached him and hand a firm grip on the hand holding the grenades.

"My question is....will you join my guild?"

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Author’s note

Hey guys~

Editor’s note

Well that was a twist I expected before last chapter, I really thought judge was still confused on what jack and friends did. Judge must’ve realised that jack did not know what he was talking about so he disregarded it. Well anyways congratulate our Author, he is starting a new SHONEN story and editing it himself, I also heard he was taught by the great Goald3n :3