The Master Programmer

The taxi screeched to a halt outside an old building Jason knew well. Hello then, Grayson Apartments…He went up the stairs a bit and then knocked on one of the doors, his patience wearing thin as he cracked his knuckles, he might have to do something pretty rough to the people in that room. Inside the room, Marcus sat nursing his bruising ego, glancing at his "subordinates" who had been acting shifty and weird recently. Ever since that day when they had seen him getting beat up by Jason, that day when they had watched him as he suffered right in front of them, that day when Jason had "put him in his place", the gang had been drifting apart. The others no longer followed Marcus's orders without question. He knew this now and it started a week ago when one of them dared to talk back to him, asking him why he was the one who had to do something and why Marcus was not the one who fetched food. Back then Marcus was so confused by what was happening, that he did not realise that it was only the beginning. In the next bit of time, they would contradict him and argue with him over the smallest things, and even when he puffed up his chest and gave them some threats, they did absolutely nothing, also puffing out their chests in response. These bastards dared to stand up to him! Marcus couldn't help but think about the reason behind that. It was Jason! Jason had shattered everything Marcus had built. If Marcus could get his hands on him, he would destroy him!!! *Dok! Dok! Dok!* The door was being knocked on. And nobody was standing up to go open it. These fuckers. If it was before then they would stand up and do the things they needed to do. "Aren't you guys going to get it? That might be money!!" "Money? You never have money! We always have to get it from our contacts, and you take most of it for yourself." "Yeah, what money do you have, Marcus? You don't even dare to beat up a weakling like Jason, I don't think you should talk about money." Marcus gritted his teeth, standing up and then he finally went ahead and walked over to the two but right as he did that- *Dok! Dok! Dok!* he heard another knock on the door, clearly louder than before. Who was the fucker who dared to stand there making that loud ass fucking noise like that? "Get the fucking door you bastards!!" But still, the goons ignored Marcus's barked command to answer the door, with one muttering something about being on a call with his girlfriend even though he was clearly looking at a porno on his phone. The other one didn't even look at him. Damn it! Jason, it's all because of you! All of it is because of you!!!! Furious, Marcus stomped toward the entrance himself. And when he got there, he clicked the door's lock open and just as he was about to open it and scream his lungs out at the person who was outside, something incredible happened. The door swung open violently, slamming against Marcus and then sending him flying backwards as he hit the floor, saying, "What the fuck are you even doing you fucker!!" But as he looked up towards the entrance, Marcus froze as he saw Jason standing there, his presence filling the doorway. "Hello, Marcus. It seemed we learned nothing in all this time. How sad…" Jason said as he walked in, closing the door so gently and so carefully that it seemed a bit crazy to imagine he was the person who had done what he had done to them before. "Jason?" Marcus's voice cracked. "What the hell are you doing here? You're not allowed to be in the building! How did you get past the guards at the front?" Jason smirked as he turned to Marcus who was on the floor and to the two guys who were standing there, practically shaking in their boots. Perfect. So this was the after-effect of all his effort in all this time. He had accomplished a great deal, and so had they, each contributing in their own way. After all, most of the things Jason did were very reliant on their ability to imagine things. Their imagination of the scene, their watching Marcus breaking down, and their fear for Marcus had all been transferred to him, to Jason. Jason was now Marcus. It was pretty messed up, but he was now going to assume the position of Marcus. But not just that. He was going to be worse. He needed to. Jason stepped inside, his gaze cold and unrelenting. "So. I told you before that I would come over and ask you a few questions the next time I saw you. And here I am. What do you think that means?" Marcus sneered, masking his fear with bravado. "Fuck you, Jason! You think we're scared of you?" Marcus got up and then when he did, he saw that his surroundings were not as they used to be. There used to be two idiots who stood by him. But now those two idiots were standing over there, looking at Jason like he was some evil god. Marcus inwardly sighed. He had even signalled to them to join the fight, by saying "we're". But they stood there, just shaking in their boots, and this was something Marcus could not fathom. Why was this all happening?! He had no clue. But it was all due to the man who stood there! It was all Because of Jason Cross! Marcus got up speedily, running over while flexing his arm for a punch, saying, "Fuck you, Jason!!" and then when he did, Jason did not even react to the man, merely leaning aside and then landing a punch at his side, his kidney, making him keel over and as he did, Jason kicked him again, making him roll on the floor. Marcus, rolled to a stop, expecting to be helped, but still, he saw nothing. It wasn't this that broke his heart though. It was what he heard. "Look, Jason! We can let you go! We can let you go, after all, we will never bother you ever again! We will never even let you look your way. Just let us leave? Please! It's all Marcus' fault. He was the one who wanted to fuck Emily!" "Yeah! He saw you guys one day, how Emily was blushing, and ever since then, he wanted to destroy you. He got us to help him! We were idiots! We'll never listen to him again, so please, would you let us go?" Jason ignored those idiots, staring at his progression, and he sighed. |———————————— … —> Take Revenge on the Goons (93% done) … ————————————| It still wasn't enough. They didn't mean it fully and this meant that he still had work to do. They had to mean it, otherwise there was no need to even say it. When Jason thought this far, he got annoyed. He had 30 minutes left. He had no time to waste. And yet these idiots dared to lie to him?! Jason walked over to Marcus and leaned in, his voice dropping to a calm, commanding tone. "Because you know what I can do. I don't waste time on empty threats. I will ask you questions and you will answer them. I will not take lies for an answer. I will know when and if you lie. But if you listen to me, I will let you go. I promise. You understand, don't you?" He let the words hang in the air, the silence speaking louder than any threat. Marcus swallowed hard. Jason was converting to man both authority and opportunity, and he did this by creating a compelling contrast between reward and consequence. He a trying to make sure that compliance was the only real choice. He was making sure that nothing else existed that the choice that he wanted to see coming into reality. Marcus gulped and then nodded slowly, bringing a smile to his face. Just from that, the progress had gone up by another 2 per cent. Excellent. "So, I will ask you the same question I asked you before. What do you get from picking on people like me? I mean what's the real payoff for you?" said Jason in a calm tone. An open-ended question like this was something that would make them curious and make them reveal more. In this situation, where he would be forced to either reveal information or get hurt, he would reveal information for sure. "Because it's fun! It's fun! That's all, I swear!" said Marcus, shaking his head and still trying to move backwards by dragging his body backwards. And when he did, it was also at that moment that he managed to take a deep breath. But Jason would never allow him to get away. "Fair enough. But fun comes in a lot of forms, does it not?" "What are you saying?" Marcus said, dismissively, even while his arm was shaking as he balanced himself on the wall. Jason came to him, crouching down to his level. "Like would you say it's more fun to tear someone down or build someone up and owe you something big?" Jason said this and then Marcus stared at him in fear and confusion. Jason initiated his true purpose, which was to reshape their thoughts and situation. He shifted the emphasis from dominance to influence, aiming to encourage a spirit of helpfulness and a vision for aiding others, all in service of his own objectives. Jason was making three bets simultaneously. He was betting he could make them his subordinates quickly, he was also betting on Oliver finishing his mission and thus subordinating himself quickly, and he was betting on him doing all this, and then getting to the Dragon Gambling Ring in less than thirty minutes to save Isabella. It was a crazy gamble, but it was something he had to do to ensure he managed to save Isabella. Jason was willing to take any action, to do anything he needed to do to get what he wanted to get. If the Jason from before could see the Jason of today, he wondered what he would say. Would he even say anything? He might just praise him would he not?