2007-05-02: There's Something About Manny

Starring:

Elena_icon.gif Jack_icon.gif

Summary: The morning after Manny's powers became known, Elena meets Jack at the car shop to watch Julia get patched up. After some banter, they discuss what to do about Manny. In the end, Jack and Elena decide to teach Manny a lesson the hard way….by kidnapping him.

Date It Happened: May 2, 2007

There's Something About Manny


Ron Harvey's Sales and Repair, Brooklyn, New York

If one were to adequately sum up Ron Harvey's Sales & Repair, it'd be the word explosion. Based in a converted warehouse, the floor of Ron's shop has been roughly divided into quadrants: Motorcycles, cars, and trucks and repairs. Each section is filled with untidily placed and parked vehicles of every make, size and description, with the repair bay being largest of all. Currently, Jack is next to one of the lifts with Ron.

Julia has been freshly lowered to the ground and looks much different than she did after her race with Manny and Jack. One fender has been torn off, exposing the inside of the panel. The hood has been replaced, but has yet to be painted. The shattered windows and punctured upholstery has been removed. The only thing that's completed is the engine. Right now, Ron and Jack are muscling the last NOS tank into place. "I want to be able to burn twice when my baby gets put back together," the Irishman is explaining to the older, fatter, scruffier Ron. "And make sure and order those tires tonight. And ask Abe where he got those land mines. I think the three of us could rig up a—"

Ron cuts him off. "Kid, I like you. But you seriously have to shut up. Jut put the fucking tank in."

Unaccustomed to being called 'kid' (usually he's on the other end of that one) Jack grows sullen and pouty in what can only be described as a wildly immature fashion.

MEANWHILE, A FEW HOURS AGO:

It must be because of her father's date plans with Desiree, but when Elena goes to bed that night, she has a very strange dream. It was your typical scenario, in a dreamy, pastel landscape, with a hat on her head and wearing a simple, billowy white sundress. She is sitting under a tree, watching the dandelions wave with the breeze. And then…she sees him. Her honeybunny! Her babysnookums. Her One True Love.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarliiiiiiiiiiiing!" DreamElena says, standing up and running towards the person she sees in a distance, her arms outstretched. Music is playing, the sun is shining, and her Dread Pirate Roberts was tall and broad shouldered and just what every man should be.

And when he turns around….it's JACK DEREX. Dressed in a black, leather jacket, ripped jeans, combat boots and an untucked t-shirt, he spits aside a cigarette and stretches out both arms. "HONEY!" He sweeps her up in his arms, dips her over one knee, and then…….

Elena's eyes snap open. The camera pans out to outside of her building..

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Birds fly in all directions, scattering at the sudden scream.

Panting breathlessly, she rubs at her face, eyes wide and absolutely HORRIFIED at her dream. Her cellphone rings, and she looks at the memo alarm set there. The text….only augments what was possibly her WORST NIGHTMARE to date:

Meet Jack at Ron Harvey's Sales and Repair.

"……….oh. My god," she says, staring at her phone. Oh no. No. NO WAY. NOT AFTER THAT. She tries to pull herself together. It was just a dream. IT WAS JUST A DREAM. IT WASN'T REAL. It was WRONG. She can say she has food poisoning! That's it! She's TOO SICK to come with him and fix up Julia today!

….but it was because fo her that Julia was wrecked in the first place. She GROANS.

BACK TO THE PRESENT:

Elena trudges to the repair shop. Maybe she got the date wrong. Maybe he's not there. Maybe he left already. Oh please let it be that he left already.

By the time Elena winds her way back to the repair bay, Jack has climbed into the driver's seat and is fixing the mounts for a professional racer's safety harness to a set of newly-installed support braces. "Mmm. Honey…" After climbing back out, he runs a finger along the Pontiac's unfinished hood. "You're a beautiful girl. A sexy bitch. And we're gonna make you into a dirty girl, yes we are. You sexy car." Then he blinks and shakes himself out of his reverie. "Hey Scrappy."

Ron, with the timeless sixth sense for trouble possessed by most middle-aged men, chooses this moment to skedaddle.

His words were almost enough for her to turn around and RUN. RUN FOR THE HILLS. Leave New York and NEVER to come back again! Elena actually looks a little ill when she sees Jack, and the words coming out of his mouth only turns her a deeper scarlet. "What the- WHO DO YOU THINK YOU- oh. The car," she says. Whew. Thank god. The only thing that would make things worse right now is if Jack managed to possess the power to see through dreams and walk through them as opposed to yoinking everything just by thinking about it.

When Ron skedaddles, she blinks, walking around cautiously and peering at the car. "Is she done?" she wonders, trying to focus on something else. Trying to dwell on the fact that no, she did NOT just dream about making out with Jack. NUNCLE JACK. She feels so dirty. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Jack hops down deftly from the lift and lands in a crouch, then straightens and pulls a rag from his back pocket. Meticulously, he begins to clean grime, oil, and coolant from his hands. "Nah. Far from it. Still gotta bang out some of the body, get new seats and carpet, lotsa stuff. I could drive 'er now, but it.. Hey, you ok?" Cocking his head quizzically to one side, he tosses the now-dirty rag over his shoulder meticulously and crosses his arms over his untucked t-shirt. One booted toe scuffs at the workshop's cement floor. "You look like you've gotta toss, or maybe take a dump."

"No!" Elena says quickly, her face still red. And she's STUDIOUSLY NOT LOOKING at him. She turns her back, and makes a big show of checking the tires - only there's NO TIRES. Not yet. She grumbles under her breath. God. This was one of those situations where she -wished- she paid attention when Manny rambled about cars. Because then she might have been able to BS actually being focused on this. But noooooooo. "I mean…I didn't sleep well," she mutters. "Have a bit of a headache. Ran into some trouble with Armando again, last night. But Papa scored with a pretty lady, so the day didn't end too badly."

"Armando? Tall guy, fast car? Did this?" Jack chucks a thumb over his shoulder at the Pontiac. "Tell me where I can find 'im. He was supposed to leave you kids alone. I'll take care of it, you don't ne the.. What the fuck?" Purposefully, he strides around to stand between Elena and the car. "You dunno shit about cars, do you? And why won't you look at me?" With a groan, he thunks one palm against his forehead. "Ron drew a penis on my face when I was sleeping again, didn't he?"

"Yes, same Armando." Elena sighs and turns around to look at Jack. "That wasn't even the WORST part. The worst part was…." She pauses, and she groans. "UGGGHH. Where do I even BEGIN?" And then when he plants himself right in front of the car, she's forced to look at his face. "Ah…it's NOTHING." She's so red she's turning purple. "And— WHAT? No! No you don't have anything on your face~! I just…it….you…..it's nothing! Nothing nothing nothing! A big wad of nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero!" Of course, this….totally does NOT make her convincing.

Frowning, Jack leans closer. Now he's nearly nose to nose with Elena. "Scrappy, you're a piss-poor liar. Oh no. Nonononono." His grey eyes go wide. "Are you pregnant? You're not pregnant. You can't be pregnant. Oh God, you're pregnant. Scrappy, I'm sewin' your vagina shut." Having now convinced himself of the worst, he backs up against the lift and upsets a bucket of tools with a loud clatter, which only startles him and makes him even jumpier. "Shit!"

She shrinks back when Jack shoves his face towards her, Elena backing away so suddenly she practically trips on a toolbox. She hops around when she stubs her toe, her arms out trying to balance herself. And then? She almost DEFINITELY falls over. "WHAT?" Elena blurts out - she's looking so purple, she looks gray, if that was even possible. "NO. NO I'M NOT PREGNANT. It's PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE." Since she's never done it with anyone. "I haven't done- and you're not getting anywhere NEAR my- OH MY GOD."

"You're not?" Jack freezes in mid girly-flail. With a long sigh, he deflates and rearranges his limbs. In the span of a few seconds, he sheds ten years of age and a great deal of prematurely aquired wrinkles. "Well then. Hymen intact, that's good to hear. Glad I kept m'cool. Ahem." He coughs delicately into one fist. "So, what is it that's botherin' you, Scrappy?" Because Jack can help. Really.

"NO, I'M NOT. I'm…I'm CATHOLIC," Elena blurts out, even as Ron hides somewhere in the store. When she sees Jack calming down a bit (and wow, how does he do that? Did he actually just age in front of her?), she exhales softly. But she does look embarassed when he broadcasts in a shop full of GUYS…or a shop with some other guy she doesn't know…that her hymen was intact. She glowers at Jack, and she crosses her arms over her chest. "NOTHING is bothering me. I just had a stupid dream is all! It would've been okay, it was nice. It had music, and flowers, and trees….and then I had to MAKE OUT WITH YOU AND IT WAS JUST WRONG WRONG WRONG!" She pauses…..and her jaw hangs open, a look of PURE HORROR on her face. "Oh my god, did I say that out loud? OH. My god." That was it. This was officially the worst day ever.

Jack looks stunned. For approximately three seconds. Then a slow, sly smile spreads across his face and his eyes sparkle merrily. He widens his stance and drawls, "Awwww… issat all? You had a sex dream about me? You an' a million other women, Scrappy. Don't feel akward, I'm like an uncle or an older brother, it's natural… natural that you should…" Despite herculean effort on Jack's part, his shoulders shimmy with repressed laughter. "DREAM ABOUT HAVIN' SUCKLIPS WITH ME! WOOOOOOW!" Unbidden, mirthful tears trickle down his cheeks. "You horny little strumpet! I didn't think you had it in you!"

With the way her jaw is hanging, you'd think Elena can't open her mouth in pure horror any further. BUT NO. When Jack starts laughing at her, she stomps her foot on the ground like a petulant child. "I DIDN'T WANT TO DREAM ABOUT YOU OKAY? I TOTALLY DON'T SEE YOU THAT WAY!" she yells, her face flushing red. "You're my NOT UNCLE. It's SO WRONG I can't even describe it!" And then….her eyes bug out. "H…horny? STRUMPET? WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING BUT KISS in that dream!!!" she cries. Oh my god. What the hell. This was such a disaster! She's NEVER HANGING OUT WITH JACK AGAIN.

With his hands on his hips, Jack gives an exaggerated sashay and waggles his eyebrows. "Suuuuuure. I'm flattered, honey." Wink. "But if you want to get a little Irish in you, you'll have to look elsewhere. Just 'cause I'm your not uncle doesn't mean we can have not sex, you dig?"

She can't believe what she was hearing. Elena was ALREADY MORTIFIED enough, and now he's pretending to be a poof?! Her jaw keeps hanging open. "….ooooh my god," she says. "It's BAD ENOUGH that you're invading my dreams to beg- IT WASN'T A SEX DREAM. It was just a kiss! Oh my god. Oh my god. I'm SO going home!" And with that, she pivots around to storm towards the exit of the shop, red in the face and totally embarassed. Oh she'll probably laugh about this a week later down the line, despite the fact that Jack will never, in a million years, let her live this down, but not right now! She's too horrified!

"Whoa-whoa-whoa!" Still laughing, Jack sprints toward the doorway to head Elena off. "Ok, strumpet. 'M sorry you dreamed about havin' sucklips with me. No need to stamp and pout." Carefully, he smoothes the humor from his features and composes himself. "Ok. Heh. So. Uh. Nice weather, right?"

"I'm not a strumpet." Elena crosses her arms over her chest at him and inclines her head. There it was, the sass. It was on the line of her mouth as she glowers at him with her dark eyes. It was as if every day she was slowly, but surely, getting brassier and brassier considering just how much crap has piled onto her every day since discovering this entire Evolved business. But when he -thankfully- changes the subject, she exhales a breath. "It's getting better," she says simply. "Warmer, thank god. The winter cold just makes me want to hibernate, and I've way too much to do these days." She frowns. "I need to figure out what to do about Manny."

Now that he's had his fun, Jack is content to shift topics as well. "What's Manchild gotten himself into now?" he asks quietly. Having taken a liking to the Gomez boy during their race, Jack is now duly concerned and his mirthful teasing has been shelved. Thoughtfully, he reaches up to stroke the backs of his fingers against his stubbled jaw. "Nothing too terrible, I hope."

She sighs, Elena looking around to make sure they're alone, before she looks at Jack. "Manny. He's…he's like us, Jack. Papa and I had no idea. We only found out because Armando paid us a visit last night and things got a little….heated." Which was an understatement. "Manny was only trying to defend me, granted, but in the middle of it, it went a little too far. It was like he -enjoyed- it. Just a little bit. And what he did…" She rubs her face. "Jack, I really don't think it was my imagination, but Armand's -face-. It just started….breaking down in front of me. There was so much blood. It wasn't -natural-."

"Uhh…" Jack's accustomed to being the one to utter the phrase 'There was so much blood,' so he's a little caught off guard. "I guess you won't be needing my help to deal with Armando after all," is all he can come up with. "Jesus. His face melted? And Manny enjoyed it? Well, I say good on 'im. The bastard threatened my girl and messed up my car. He got what he deserved."

"Jack," Elena groans. Of course. She should've expected that reaction. Sliding her hands in her pockets, she purses her lips in thought. "What I'm more concerned about is that Manny's….when it comes to violence he's a little cavalier with it. He's not like you. -You- know how to get away with it. He doesn't. He just….thinks he can do whatever he wants, and the damage he wreaks is typically so visible, you know? He doesn't have the discipline. Not for this kind of….dark power." She uses her father's term for it.

Jack's brow furrows in contemplation. "I see what you mean," he murmurs. "I can talk with him if you like, explain the concept of discretion to him. Abilities like ours are no good if somebody can connect you to them." With a sigh, he leans back against the wall and thunks his head against the doorframe. "Visible is one of my least favorite words."

"Exactly. I'm afraid that….he gets in -so- much trouble. All the time. And he doesn't listen to me, even though I know he cares about me and Papa." Though the boy doesn't show it. He usually just throws out the infuriating apathetic air most teenagers did these days. When Jack offers his help, she gives him a fond smile. "You don't have to," she tells him. "I mean….I hate to get you involved with our domestic disputes. But he seems to like you. And he doesn't like a lot of people. I think coming from someone who's been there, maybe he'll listen to you more."

"Ah, it's no problem. If he's picked his path, the least I can do is guide his feet." Wearily, Jack rubs at his eyes. "I like him too, y'know. He's got guts. If I can help, I will. Now tell me more about what he can do. Do you know how it works? Because if we can get him to harness it properly, he'd be bloody powerful…" Jack trails off, leaving the implication clear.

"That's what I'm worried about," Elena murmurs, crossing her arms over her chest as she leans against the wall next to her nuncle. "If he can do this without breaking a sweat, he's….compared to my father and me, he might be extremely potent in the area." She catches the Irishman's implications. "If we do work to harness his powers, and he refines his control, he'd be a force to reckon with. That's why I'm worried about the fact that he's not disciplined enough to have this sort of thing. If he just goes on the way he is now, it'll be like slapping a target on his ass for the you-know-whats." She furrows her brows, and tries to think back to what she observed. "If it's genetic, and Papa's powers are mental based, and my powers are mental based….if we follow the family strain, his is probably the same. Papa can read human beings, but not animals. I can affect humans and animals, anything that has a brain. If we follow the chain along in a certain, linear progression, Manny -might- have the potential to affect -anything- living. Humans. Animals. Plants. Considering what just happened I have absolutely no idea how to test it, and testing it could be dangerous. But if I'm right…and I hope to God, I'm right….we can use plants."

"That seems like a natural place to start. If plants don't work, we can get him lab rats or something. The important thing is that he practice and have a chance to see what he can do." Jack glances over at his fake niece. "If he doesn't respect what he can do, he'll never want to control it. And if he's got as much destructive potential as it sounds, control is goin' to be very important."

"Okay." Elena looks a little squeamish about the lab rats idea. With her own powers, she considered it. She actually went -as far- as to go to a pet shop and look at the mice there. But…in the end, she couldn't. Not when the furry creatures are looking at her with their little, beady eyes and twitching their whiskers. Plants had to work. They HAD to. Otherwise she'll have no choice. She looks over at Jack and gives him a small smile. "But you're right, about all of that." She exhales a breath. "Papa says he's going to try to talk to him today. Give him a purpose. Maybe you can give him direction…I don't know if Manny trusts Papa. They've fought so much over the years."

Jack nods grimly. "I remember what bein' a rebellious little shit is like. Nothin' against your dad, but he'll probably take things better from me, just because I don't hold any power over him. You can send Manny 'round the Den anytime, I'll do what I can." The Irishman stretches, producing a protesting creak and crackle from his muscles and joints.

She looks over at him, shaking her head a touch. "If I tell him to go, he probably wouldn't." Elena pauses….and then she GRINS. She turns so she could face Jack fully, a wicked looking expression on her face and the devil in her coming out to the fore for just a few second. "I think," she says. "The next time he goes out late and tries to get in trouble, we ambush him. We -kidnap him- from where he is, and then we can take him someplace and you can talk to him." She crosses her arms over her chest and nods sagely. "I think that'll work better."

Jack snorts out a laugh. "Bag him up, stick him in the trunk, drive him around Manhattan for a few hours? Ought to put a solid scare into him, and it'll give the boy a real life look at what the Company will do to him if he isn't discrete. I'm in. " Grinning wickedly, Jack begins to tick off nessescities on his long fingers. "We'll need ski masks, a body bag, and a beater car. What do you think?"

"Works for me," Elena says, grinning and curling a fist to tap it against Jack's. "God. I'm the worst big sister ever. But this is the only way he's going to listen. Bring it home to him, you know. That bigger, badder people out there are after people like us." She inclines her head a little bit at Jack, and she laughs. "I'll leave -you- to figure out what we need exactly. Meanwhile I'm going to go keep tabs on him, what he's doing this entire week. And when he least expects it….we nab him."

Returning both the grin and the fist-bump, Jack nods easily. "Sounds fun. Just keep in touch, yes? I'm passin' fond of you Gomez kids, I wanna make sure you turn out ok. Man, your poor dad. If he's still got hair, he's probably tearin' it out right now." He closes his eyes and chuckles.

"Well, we'll see how his talk with Manny went," Elena says with a sigh. Finally, she steps away from the wall, and walks over so she could hug Nuncle. But this is brief. Warm, but brief. She's still a little wigged out from that dream, you know! She pulls away and grins at him. "I better get going. I need to get a potted plant." God, she doesn't waste any time, doesn't she? "So how long is fixing Julia gonna take? Did Ron tell you when you can expect her back?"

"We need another week. Most of the hard work is done. Ooh, if you go to a garden store, you can get those trays full of starter plants." Jack returns Elena's hug with one arm, then releases her. Mercifully, he opts not to tease her further about her smoochy-dreams. "Take care of yourself, ok?"

"I will," Elena says with a smile, and gives him a wave. "I'll call you," she promises. And with that, she turns on her heel, and starts heading out of the shop.

With one final laugh, Jack shakes his head and turns back to Julia. "Kids," he mutters.

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