Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jake was snapped awake, feeling confusion, fear, panic rip through him, and he yanks forward, lashing out at whatever the fuck was ensnaring his arms.

He feels a bone break underneath his foot, and a jaw shatter against his fist, and the world slows just enough that he clocks the six people surrounding him. One falling to the ground.
He goes for the asshole with the rifle first, jabbing him in the throat before hauling him into the dude next to him, the dude catching the barrel of a rifle to the eye.

“The scarab! Don’t let them take the scarab!” Is bellowed in his ear, and he locks eyes with the older man in blue slowly stepping back, hands wrapped around and cradling something.

Jake redirects an incoming knife into a blonde lady’s chest, yanking out the knife and slashing at the bald dude, this one wearing a generic brown vest, already turning as he pulled the knife out of an artery, and stabbed down into the blue-older man’s hand.

The man screamed, and Jake yanked up and out, prying a golden beetle out of the man’s hand.

He silenced the man with a kick to the head, before punching out broken-jaw dude, and rifle-dude, their skulls echoing as they hit the cobblestone again.

Jake breathed, tossing the knife, before regretting it as he turns to stare at the stunned crowd, raising his fists by habit, before the pollo polvoriento was yelling, “Surrender the body at once!”

He felt something press against his skull.
Typical. No gratitude at all.

Jake let his vision jerk away from him as he’s shoved back.

Chapter Text

Jake snaps into the body with a gasp, something wrapped around his head, and he shoved the gun away from his face just as it goes off.

The shot rings in his ears and the glass goes cloudy as he elbows the dude in the nuts, shoving him into the back of the van.

Okay. He’s in a van, in a car chase.
God, Marc has all the fun.

Jake steadied the gun to settle in his hand, and ducked down as more gunshots echoed overhead.
Oh shit, how many cars were chasing them right now?

He aimed at the dude in the back, jerking as the car next to him rammed him. The dude in the back got away with a bullet in the shoulder, and Jake scowled, firing a shot at the car on his left.

He straightened the truck again, shooting at the screen so that he could fucking See past the cobwebbing mess. He ignored the glass shards falling into his lap, twisting around in his seat just enough to kick the charging asshole into the back of the van, crushing boxes and avoiding falling out the back by the skin of his teeth.
Jake aims for the head this time, and the dude goes slack against the door frame.

Alright, one, two, three… four cars chasing him. That’s do-able.

Jake whips around, and fires at a car, it swerving slightly, but not giving him the right angle to kill the driver.

He’s turning back around, exhaling a breath, when he finally notices the paste coating his hand and making the gun slippery. The smell of sugar and chocolate past the gunpowder, and the fucking icing on his jeans.

Holy fuck, is Marc escaping in a cupcake van?

Did he seriously use a cupcake as a improvised weapon?

This is seriously the greatest day of Jake’s life.

“Now is not the time for laughter!”

“¡Estoy usando una furgoneta de magdalena para una persecución de autos!”, Jake is finally able to wheeze out, firing a couple more bullets to his left, car 3 swerving dangerously as the driver jerked and went slack over the wheel.
Holy shit, he was never going to forget this.

“Enough! The world is at risk here!”

Jake cackled, and gasped as his vision went white, a heavy pressure against the inside of his skull–

Chapter Text

Jake gasped, hunched over, and slid lower when bullets grazed his hair.

He was still behind the wheel, and Jake choked on a laugh, picking up the gun from where Marc must have dropped it.

Mierda, what the hell made Marc drop the gun? He doesn’t feel in pain at all…?

More gunfire rips overhead, and Jake just leans down lower, glancing up to analyse what was left of the road before using his knee to keep the wheel still, checking the rounds left in the gun.

Five rounds left. The fuck? Did Marc not shoot at all?

Jake slid the magazine back into the gun with a click of his tongue, and slammed on the brakes.

He grinned as cars 1 & 2 shot past (huh– where’d car 3 go?), shooting at each of the rear windows, before slamming on the gas, listening to the van purr as the back of car 2 got closer and closer.

Jake’s nose almost met the wheel as he rammed into the back of the car, but aside from the dickheads swerving dangerously, stayed on the road.

He leaned back as more bullets flew, the car 1 drifting back behind him and car 2 leaning closer to his side.

Holy fuck he’s gotta come back here sometime.

A road with no railings on a cliff, overlooking those snow capped mountains? Come on.

Car 1 decided it’d try copying him by clipping one of his back tires, in hopes of forcing him to drift closer to the edge, or risk rolling the van.

Jake could do one better.

He cackled, yanking the wheel as he shoved the gearshift into reverse, ignoring how the gears ground in protest.

He grinned as the world spun on it’s axis, and both cars came into view.

Two bullets found a snug spot in the driver of car 1’s chest.

Something rushed up, pressing against the back of his eyes, and he had just enough time to curse, because it was just getting good–

Chapter Text

Jake blinked, the rush of humming adrenaline beating in his chest like a drum, making him restless and uneasy, even as he tried to relax.
He tried not to be horribly disappointed.
The shit he sacrifices for his compañeros de cerebro…

It was quiet and dark here.

Jake paused, watching as Steven walked through a shadowed museum.

Huh. What was Jake here for?

Jake pressed close to Marc within their mind, watching as Steven continued walking, following the sound of some kind of dog–

Jake watched as a jackal slowly stalked past, quietly shadowing Steven.

For a single second, Jake considered surging forward, before realising that Marc was already acutely aware.

Oh, Marc was already keeping an eye out for Steven.

There’s definitely no risk to Marc– it was a jackal.
And there’s only one anyways.

Yeah, Marc definitely has this handled.

Jake busting out would honestly just be overkill, and possibly put Steven at risk– what with all the expensive pottery and shit around.

Jake let himself sink away from the front, keeping a close eye on Marc’s emotions like normal, but nothing seemed wrong, just echoes of his usual determination, protectiveness, and concern pressing against Jake.

Jake let himself go blurry, drifting away.