Chapter 3: A Tale of Thunder - Part 2

The Raijin opened his mouth, continuing his pleas for her to wait. Though with the shroud in place, all sound was lost. The only communication between the two was through their expressions. A desperate plea for understanding from the spirit who controlled the storms. Met with a hollow, almost ghostly look in Jess’s eyes.

With a rat scurrying over towards Joker for cover the battle was on. Movements were so quick that it was difficult for Joker to keep up with them.

Jess closed the distance to the spirit without any extraneous movement. Though with a single smack to one of the Raijin’s drums a bolt of lightning shot through her stomach. Leaving a gapping whole that was immediately cauterized. Her body is sent backward from the force of the initial impact. However, once the corpse hit the ground it bloomed into a cloud of balloon animals.

The spirit’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief. Unable to comprehend what he was witnessing with his own eyes. Giving Jess the opening she was looking to create. Appearing behind him seemingly out of the shadows she plunged her dagger into his shoulder. Twisting the blade further into the muscle in an attempt to put the arm out of commission.

Joker ran like the rat by his feet and hid behind a pillar in the lobby for some much-needed cover. The man and critter poke their heads around the corner to keep an eye on the fight.

The Raijin reached over his shoulder with his unharmed arm. Grabbing Jess by the collar of her uniform and holding her up like a mother cat with her kitten. An embarrassing display that caused her to try and claw at the Raijin like the feline she was being compared to. Only lasting a moment until he launched her over him and slammed her to the ground. A decision that caused Jess to grin as her body sunk into the black smoke as if she was plunging into a lake of her creation. Vanishing out of sight, her knives hissed as they turned to black smoke.

Silence, as eerie as it was fell over their battlefield. Until a light chime was heard from a small bell. The very bells that were a part of her uniform. The sound taunted the spirit then fell silent before taunting again from a different location. The silence, the shadows, the darkness, and the very smoke were her domain. An empress in her own castle and the Raijin the intruder.

With a final chime of her bell, the area of black smoke that surrounded the spirit shrunk in an instant. Fitting perfectly in the enclosure of his shadow. Another smack from the Raijin’s drum he fired a shot at his own shadow. The light is being swallowed by the smoke completely. Then with another crash of lightning, Jess shot down from above with her knives. Landing atop her prey, driving her daggers into the space between the Raijin’s neck and shoulders.

This time sound flowed through the lobby. The ringing of the Raijin’s agony fills the confines of their surroundings.

“I won’t let that freak touch a hair on his head again,” Jess screamed at the lightning spirit. All before her body curled into a billow of smoke and vanished.

“You don’t… understand.” He growled out as he searched for her. Blood streaming freely from his injuries down his body. “I came here to help… That spirit isn’t a part of either faction. He doesn’t want to help or eradicate this realm of humans. That shape-shifter,”

A blood-curdling scream erupted that caused Joker’s hair to stand on end and flooded the room. Jess shot out from the Raijin’s shadow like a bullet. Her blades dived into his back as she took him to the ground. She removed her blades from his body while she straddled his lower back.

“No, no, no. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter! That monster can die, burn for eternity, be drained of all his blood and it still wouldn’t be enough. Never, never, never again. He’ll never take away my Joker from me. My, my, my, MINE! I’ll kill all of the spirits if I have to just to be with him.” Jess screamed hysterically as she drove her knives into the spirit’s back repeatedly.

When it was all said and done and the spirit dead. She was coated in a thick layer of blood. Breathing heavily as she stared down at the corpse beneath her.

Joker took a deep breath before stepping out from behind the pillar. Surely his mind was littered with questions that spawned from the altercation. But he needed to get his priorities in order before he could interrogate her.

“Jess?” He hesitated to call out her name as he moved closer to her. Which caused her to flinch and freeze for a moment. “Are you alright?”

Jess jumped up from the corpse grabbed both of Joker’s hands and held them together between them. Her eyes sparkled with unadulterated appreciation and admiration. Her smile far too wide to even be considered normal.

“I did good right, right? I was amazing, right? I fought just like you taught me to. I listened to everything and moved like you were moving my body. I did let my emotions take over at the end but I still did good. Right, right, right?” Her words tumbled out of her mouth faster and faster.

Two things were made abundantly clear for Joker. Their relationship ran far deeper and was more complicated than he could have imagined. Not only that but it was obvious that she lived for his praise and acceptance.

Joker put his hand on top of her head and rubbed it awkwardly. Causing Jess’s eyes to widen immensely. The image of a cat about to receive catnip after having gone a prolonged time without it. A little drool dribbled down her chin.

“Yes, Jess. You did a very good job. You were… amazing.” He praised her hesitantly.

But it was all enough for her eyes to roll back in her head in euphoria. Causing her to bite back a moan as she savored the moment of being rewarded. Which only made him feel more strange about the situation.

Joker quickly removed his hand from her head. A needy whimper escaped Jess in response as she batted her lashes at him. Silently begging him to continue praising her. But he simply wiped his hand on the side of his pants and stepped away from her.

“We should return to that room I woke up in and regroup. Give you some time to clean up and shower if the water still works here. While I try and figure out our next steps. I doubt this place will be safe so we should relocate somewhere else.” Joker spoke as he made his way back to the stairwell. He stopped at the door and looked back at Jess. “This time you will explain things to me,” Joker emphasized the will, making it clear that he was demanding answers this time. Not asking.