Cause you gotta guilty, filthy soul (Jack)

31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m90uldt5w01qa4vg4o1_500.jpg

Jack didn’t fail her, questioning about the so called papers before they even arrived at the interrogation room. She didn’t respond and just kept walking, papers…no papers…it was all the same. He had a rap sheet a mile long and even if she did take the time to find the supposed papers she hardly knew if she’d even care. Once again the guards were a bit too rough with him for her liking and she shoot them a look of daggers as they shoved him into the room, of course the boy had frozen and gawked a bit at the entrance so the physical action wasn’t totally unwarranted. Jack was stubborn, Lee could tell as she tried to clean him up a bit and he shifted away. ”If you don’t want the help Mr. Lexington then all you had to do was say…no need to be rude. I’m only here to help you.” she kept gently dabbing at his face and sighed. Her breath still held the spicy scent of the cinnamon flavored gum she had been chewing before her visit to his cell and she could only imagine he was becoming even more uncomfortable under her gentle touch.

But you win more flies with honey than vinegar. she reminded herself as she shifted back and looked down at him her hands folded in her lap with the stained handkerchief still in her fingers. ”I don’t really think you’re in the place to question kindness now are you Jack. I’m doing this because it’s what is best for you, or would you rather that I go find Peacekeeper Patton to deal with you again?” Lee’s voice stayed soft and smooth as she cocked her head and searched his battered face. He was a year older than her but his looks would have him be her senior by more than that. His life was hard, she could tell by the callouses on his hands and the wrinkles and weathered look of his skin, but just because his lot in life was tough didn’t give him the right to rebel against the rules. They were there to make sure that order stayed and that life didn’t destruct into a ball of chaos. Jack didn’t have the right to try to change that, he didn’t have the right to disrupt the order.

Standing up she moved to sit across from him, Lee’s tongue darted out to moisten her lower lip and she relaxed back into the chair. Let him question me more. Please let him question me and try to push my buttons the way he did James. I’ll show him just how I deal with things. He seemed uncomfortable around her, and from his files she could only deduct that it had to do with the shooting after the reaping. The peacekeeper was new, inexperienced, green…none of the things she was, and now he was going to be caught in her web as well. ”Do I make you uncomfortable Jack. I’m not trying to I promise. But I will tell you, I’ve read your file and I know everything.“ Her emphasis sat on the last word letting him soak up the implications.

She could pull out the file, snap her fingers and the guards would bring it in, let him see the words that spelled out his history, his fate. Lee wanted to make him squirm, she could feel the burn of the power inside her, but earning his trust or at least his attention was first. ”I want to get you home to your children Jack, but first we have to figure this mess out. They’re what, three years old now?” The sixty-fourth games were just now coming to an end and his wife was reaped in the sixty first, ” I’m sure their missing their father.” Maybe the mention of his children were enough to get him to talk, maybe he would pick up that she was just trying to be there for him. Hopefully he’d understand she was giving him a little bit of space to open up about what happened. Her eyes travelled down to the shackles holding him to the chair and stood up to walk next to him her fingers lightly tracing the skin next to the iron bracelet on his right arm. ”Please don’t make this hard on me Jack.”

31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m90uldt5w01qa4vg4o1_500.jpg

Giving a soft sigh Lee stepped back, ”I don’t want you to be uncomfortable Jack. I’m doing the best I can to make sure you’re cleaned up, you’re not being harmed, I’m even listening to all you have to say. I’m not here to hurt you.” she smiled. The last part was true, she wasn’t there to hurt him, she was there to teach him. Obviously his trips to the center before were too casual, too easy on him, and now here he was in her little web. He wouldn’t forget this trip to the Detention Center. Not this time. Pressing her lips together and then pursing them slightly she looked down at Jack as if he had hurt her feelings with his reaction when he asked if she had children.

”Why Mr. Lexington! I thought you knew that peace keepers weren’t allowed to marry and especially not to have children while they’re in the service.” sure a few of her male counterparts had often produced offspring they’d never claim, but she couldn’t hide a pregnancy, she couldn’t get away with things like a man could. ”Besides, I have thousands upon thousands of children. ..you see all the citizens of Panem are my children. I help guide them, keep them safe, love them…I’ve sacrificed everything for them. And now I have to deal with children who are disrespectful and disobedient. “ Sitting back in the chair she cocked her head again and smiled. He was scared; Lee could read it across his face. It was strange how a grown man nearly twice her size would shiver in his boots in front of her, but it was her job. And she loved every minute of it.

”What do you do to your kids when they disobey Jack? Or are you even home enough to watch them? It’s a shame their mother isn’t around isn’t it?” She watched him carefully as she ignored his comments about the papers for now. She wanted to hear him speak, to watch him crumbled under the pressure of his family. Never once did she lose her softness as she relaxed back trying to comfort him she pulled up her legs so that they were tucked under her as if he was going to tell her a story. But before he could finish she butted in. ”Jack I think you look miserable chained to that chair. Do you think I could trust you if I just placed you in cuffs instead of this? I really hate to see you locked up like some sort of animal, but I have to know you aren’t going to lash out.” Her eyes travelled to the baton on her hip and the small hand gun in its holster at her side before looking him square in the eyes. ”I will use them if you try anything, and there are guards directly outside the doors, but I think you deserve a little reward for being so good already.” Snapping her fingers one of the guards moved in and deftly unchained his wrists seeing that they were the only parts of him that were restrained.

”Can you tell me more about this so called cattle run?” Lee nodded as she tucked herself back up in the chair. ”I’ve been patrolling District 10 myself, I know the community very well…”. Jack had to know that she was being gentle with him, she was trying her best to get him to relax and open up so she could figure out this case but in the end she already knew exactly how to punish a naughty child, and Jack was very naughty.

31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m90uldt5w01qa4vg4o1_500.jpg

Speaking with Jack was very much like talking to a child, Lee soon realized as he claimed he’d always played by the rules even when she had solid proof he hadn’t. Letting out a little tsk tsk she shook her head. ”Jack, why would you lie to me? It’s already been proven you’ve hardly ever followed the rules; I know this isn’t your first time in the Detention Center. I know it’s hardly your first time to have a run in with a peace keeper. I thought we were trying to figure this out, not mess it up more.” Her lips pursed again and she sighed again. He was beginning to wear on her with this helpless never do wrong attitude. Was this the man who was always in trouble? The one who now seemed to cower at a woman half his size? By reading through his file she expected a hardened criminal yet the man in front of her was all too easy to crack.

As he tried to adjust to the fact he was no long chained she still sat and watched him carefully. ”Mr. Lexington I am not the reason your children will never know your dead wife. I am not the one who killed her, I am not the one that let her represent your District in those games. If you are looking for someone to blame I suggest you take a peak around you, no one stepped up for her, no one volunteered for her spot. They let you down Mr. Lexington not me. “ Lee pointed out softly. Though no doubt had she been the one selected for that fateful games she would have probably searched the young mother out herself just to end the poor girls suffering. She wasn’t set to win, that one, she was just there for the show.

Lee sits back and the thoughts run through her mind, the way she trained every day in District Two for the games. How she craved the glory and the blood and the glory…yet she never ever got it. Instead she enlisted in the Peace Keeping core, the way she could keep going with her training to use what gifts she was given to keep this beautiful nation alive. She could hear Jack prattle on about what he thought he had done and how he assumed all the paperwork was filled out properly, and truthfully she didn’t care, yet she kept a serious look and nodding along with what he said before putting her hand up. ”Everything you say makes perfect sense Mr. Lexington. However…” She paused and cracked her neck, ”In my time in District 10 I came to find that most cattle was sent on the train to District 11, and the so called cattle runs that came from certain farms were not as authorized as they’d seem. I’m wondering if your Denman actually filled out the papers the way he needed.”

Running my fingers through my hair I flash a smile at the battered man across from me. He doesn’t seem as mouthy and tough as Patton’s report had suggested. Maybe it was because he was scared of me, or maybe it was because he realized how long it had been since he’d dealt with a real woman who knew how to speak to him properly. They were all a bunch of inbred rednecks in District 10, most of them didn’t seem to have all their teeth. ”Jack it’s coming down to this. I know you’re a criminal. You know you’re a criminal. Every punishment you’ve had has not stopped you from going back to breaking the law again has it? I think this time you need more than just a little slap on the wrist. You actually need to learn your lesson and the only way you’ll learn is to lose something important to you.” Taking a deep breath Lee looked to the door to let the guards know to be on their toes, he isn’t going to like what I have to offer and I don’t want him acting rashly

”Tell me, what do you think your punishment should be Jack? I already know what the others want me to do, but I think you have too much potential to be an avox. I think you need to be the one to show the others in District 10 that lawbreaking will no longer be something tolerated while I’m there…so what should it be.” Her eyes travel down his body and settle somewhere between his thighs suggesting that she is aiming to take his manhood with her. However it was just a cover up for what she really had planned. Something that would make Jack remember just how much Panem will put up with when it comes to common criminals like him.

31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m90uldt5w01qa4vg4o1_500.jpg

Just like that she saw big strong Jack Lexington crumble under her. She had won, and he knew it too. There was no more trying to prove his innocence as he’d finally realized it didn’t matter to her. Guilty or not he had a history and just couldn’t seem to keep his nose clean. ”I’m not here to hurt you Jack, you should know that already, I’m here to teach you a lesson.” Lee couldn’t help but shake her head and give a soft chuckle at his fear. ”Patton wasn’t the one you needed to worry about.” Looking back over to the guards she nodded and they moved quickly to shackle him back to his chair and as Lee stood and made her way over to him. His eyes were filled with tears and it was enough to make her cold black heart pitter patter with excitement. He was finally scared the way he should be. He finally realized that she wasn’t an angel of mercy, she was as dark as night. ”A finger or a broken arm isn’t going to teach you anything is it truthfully Jack?” she let her own fingers trail over his and up his arm as she smiled.

Moving to stand behind him now her hand reached his shoulder and she could feel the muscle the farm and ranching life had giving him before moving forward and leaning over him her hand reaching to the spot he assumed she was going to take, ”I don’t want this. It’s of no use to me.” Her hand squeezed it roughly before letting go and laughing. ”You’re so funny Jack with your tears and your pleading, you know that’s not going to do any good. Why can’t you just take your punishment like a man? Why can’t you just admit that you’ve always been on the wrong side of the law and get this over with?” She just wanted him to hear him say it: I’m wrong. I messed up.

Moving back out to stand in front of him she looked him in the eye. This was going to be too easy. She could feel the power welling up inside her as she watched the broke man in front of her practically trembling with the possibilities racing through his head. He must have surely figured out what she was going to propose. He couldn’t possibly be dense enough to think that she was going to send him back to let everything be fine. He would be the one the crowd pointed too when they thought about breaking the law, he would be the one that would let them know she was not someone to be messed with. ”To put it simply Mr. Lexington: You owe me something. For the time it’s taken to find you to the amount of time we’ve wasted on trying to get you to listen to the rules laid out; it’s just been too much. So I’ll give you the choice. The peace keeper core always needs new recruits and judging from how well you’re built living in relative squalor I’d have to believe your son would make a great addition. He’d be well taken care of never have to worry about being reaped, and grow up with a well-paying career already planned for him.”

Lee paused and cocked her head. It had to sting to hear that his son would be better off without him. Without the troubles and pain of District 10; without knowing what it was like to struggle for food or to worry about being tossed into the Games. The little boy would always be safe, but without Jack or his mother. ”There is another option though,” This time a wide smile crossed her face and for a second she looked radiantly beautiful. ”Your leg.”

31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m90uldt5w01qa4vg4o1_500.jpg

If there was anything to make Lee feel powerful it was the blood draining from Jack’s face as she laid out the options before him. Criminal’s require punishment, and what bigger statement than to pull him apart mentally or physically. The smile never wanes from her lips as she watches him squirm and melt into a puddle of nothingness; the feeling of losing must sting. A soft “no” falls from his lips at the thought of losing his only son with his precious dead wife…but it’s obvious that some of the security of the option might be getting through to him. How could he pass up the chance to secure the life of his only son? To never have to worry about him being reaped or killed before millions of watching views. He’d never live the same life of his poor dead mother.

”Josh would be safe,” Lee couldn’t help but whisper back, ”You’d never ever worry about his death…you’d never see him falter and die at the hands of tributes before everyone, see the punishment isn’t for Josh. It’s for you. Knowing that a piece of you will grow up to hate you, to despise people like you, to punish his own set of criminals…that is what would hurt isn’t it Jack?” She’d make sure his son hated worthless no good law breakers, she’d make sure he grew up strong and confident in his job.

Lee could see the panic start to set in and she let out a little laugh, ”Are you scared Jack? If you lost your leg your children could still take out tesserae for you. They could help support you and you could live to be a happy little family. You and that red head girl, you could forget about your past and move forward. Hell in a few years I bet you’ll be saying she’s their mother anyway, and all it would cost is your leg. Not the whole thing of course.” Stepping forward her hand rested on his left leg. ”I bet we could take it right below the knee. That way every time you looked down you’d be reminded of just how dumb you really are.”

Flicking her eyes up to the guards she held up a hand to tell them to give them a few more minutes together. Crossing her arms she stood next to him with a gentle sigh”I’m leaving this up to you because I’m hoping you make the best choice. If you don’t choose then I’ll just assume you’re okay with both options and I’ll have your leg and your son.” suddenly she leaned down and let her lips drag against Jack’s ear, ” and if you keep pushing me I’ll take your daughter too. I hear she looks just like her mother…” Quickly Lee stepped back and snapped her fingers. In came the guards and she flashed a smile as she started towards the door her hips swaying softly, ”Take Mr. Lexington to his cell. He has a lot to think about…check back with him in an hour and see if he’s made up his mind. If he hasn’t, take him directly to Dr. Harrison. He has the paperwork concerning the procedure and will get started as soon as he’s brought to him…Also Jack. You’ll be awake during the procedure. I want you to remember everything you’re losing.” Turning around she smiled at him and lifted her hand to give him a practically childlike wave good bye. ”One hour Mr. Lexington, or its all mine.”