Disclaimer: I don't own xiaolin showdown. If I did, Chase would be groveling at Jack's feet.

Warning: Chase x Jack, Bad grammar since English is only my second language.

AN: Thank you for reading this far.

Summary: The real Jack Spicer wasn't what they expected.

Existential

The Beginning of Chase-bot + The Deal to End all Deals

He was born in a hovel of a lab, underneath fluorescent lights, surrounded by the smell of machine oil, and the scent of heavy molted metal. The moment his eyes opened, it narrowed in contemplative thought. His gaze slid downward and he noticed that he was attached to several computers by wires that ran from his chest. It connected him to dozens of computer ports where nearby screens flashed with hundreds and hundreds of binary codes.

Bit by bit, limb by limb, he came to life.

That was how Chase-bot came into existence.

"How do you feel?" the creator asked. The creator had a blowtorch in one hand. Crimson eyes watched blankly from behind plastic goggles.

Chase-bot acknowledged the one who created him as he sat up.

"Fine," he nodded his head.

A floating blob with a face and eyes made a comment. "It looks and sounds just like the real thing..."

"He's suppose to, Wuya," the creator replied. The creator's hand reached up to take off the goggles and Chase-bot was finally treated to the actual face of the person who gave him life.

The whiteness of the creator's hair along with all too pale skin shined in the dimness of the lab.

"Do you know who I am?" the creator asked.

"Yes," Chase-bot nodded curtly.

"Good." The creator inspected him carefully. Red-eyes looked for any imperfection in the design.

"You should rest." The blob scrutinized the creator with concern eyes.

The creator, who looked exhausted and pale, agreed. He began taking off the rest of his safety-gear.

Heavy, thick work gloves were taken off, followed by an apron that was stained with black soot and oil.

"I'll be taking a short nap, Wuya," he said. "I'll start working on the Omi-bot when I wake up."

He turned a gaze to Chase-bot.

"Wuya will show you around," the creator said. "Please follow her instructions."

Chase-bot kept the distasteful look off his face as he nodded. The creator vanished out the door.

"Come on," said the blob. She motioned with a tentacle. She floated to another door. Grabbing the wires from his chest, Chase-bot pulled them out. He moved off from the metal table and he followed.

Chase-bot took his first few steps into the human world.

He was taken through the manor and along the way, the blob showed him where everything was.

"This is your private room," the blob said when they stopped at a bedroom on the upper floors. There was a wistful tone in her voice as they walked inside. "This use to be Jack's room. Lord knows the fool would be thrilled to know that you live here." She eyed him. "A version of you, at least."

"Jack?" Chase-bot reached out to touch a few scattered tools and bolts that were on the nightstand.

"Not your master. Your predecessor, Jack the Robot." Wuya said. She floated around, hemming and hawing over things that Jack the Robot once owned.

In his databank, Chase-bot searched for everything he could find out about his predecessor. What he found didn't impress him. He watched video after video of Shen Gong Wu battles and he sardonically found that Jack the Robot lost almost all of them.

"He was destroyed," Chase-bot deadpanned. He wasn't surprise at all as he replayed the last battle. No, what was really amazing was that Jack the Robot last as long as he did. That fool should have been destroyed long ago.

"He died," Wuya agreed as she floated back. "But with your help, we'll have him back in no time." Wuya headed for the door. "There are some yes-bots around if you need anything."

She left Chase-bot alone to ponder in the silence.

For the next few weeks afterwards, Chase-bot began familiarizing himself with the manor and the new world that he was created into. The creator, Jack Spicer, hasn't made any demands and Wuya was often absent; going off to do whatever it was that she did in her spare time. With the exception of the other yes-bots, he was essentially left alone and what he did with his time was left purely up to him.

Chase-bot left the manor to assimilate with the humans nearby.

There was a shopping center in town where he stoically sat at the corner of a cafe to observed as the humans walked passed. His databank was full of information about humans and how they acted. That knowledge made it easy to blend in and no one (except excited teenage girls) batted at eyelash at him. He easily spent days walking among them, going in whatever direction he felt like, whenever he felt like it.

There was a certain type of novelty in being able to make his own decision and in being his own master. Chase-bot found that he rather like the liberation. It was a heavy, bitter pill to swallow when the creator was finally ready to give him orders.

Feeling annoyed, but not showing it, he was summoned to the underground lair three months later.

He saw Wuya and the creator standing in front of a new creation.

"Chase-bot," the creator gently patted the new bot on the shoulder. "Meet Omi-bot."

The little bald robot looked around the lab with curiosity.

"Will you watch over him?" the creator asked.

Chase-bot inwardly sneered at the order that was disguised as a question.

"Yes," he said.

That's how he got a secondary shadow who eagerly and annoyingly wouldn't leave him alone.

The Kimiko-bot was created another two months later and after that was Clay-bot.

In a manor this size, Chase-bot found it hard to believe that he kept running into those three on a daily basis. Omi-bot was especially persistent on including him in their group outings.

Wuya found his irritation amusing.

"If you think they're bad, wait until you meet the real thing," Wuya snorted.

When Raimundo-bot joined them, Chase-bot's agitation grew tenfold. If he had his way, he would have made scrape metal out of them. But as it was, he was under strict orders not to destroy them. They were needed for the grand plan. The grand plan that would ultimately bring back the infamous Jack the Robot.

"I can not wait to meet Jack," Omi-bot said happily. The little bald bot liked to gossip. He was rocking on his toes as he spoke to a half-listening Chase-bot. "He seems most amusing!"

...

A year later and the plan was mostly complete.

After facing against the real Chase Young, Chase-bot felt the adrenaline slowly wear off as he accompanied the creator and Wuya to the underground lair.

"I must say-you actually look rather dashing," Wuya remarked. She floated around Jack's new form. The Moby Morpher had morphed the creator into the spitting image of Jack the Robot. The tall, lanky, teenager with the bright red hair and the goth like clothes had replaced the creator's old figure. The handicap of his albinism was gone and it took with it the creator's white hair and small body. "And a little creepy." Wuya added.

The creator stared down at his new hands.

When he moved, he moved rather wobbly on his new legs. With the new height, his center of gravity was thrown out the window. The creator stumbled when he tried to move forward. He would have fallen if it wasn't for Chase-bot catching him before he could hit the floor.

"It looks like the morpher gave you his clumsiness too, " Wuya guffaw. She looked amused as she watched the creator try to walk. "It's like watching a baby calf take its first step." She floated around Chase-bot's head. "You better get use to picking him up from the floor," she told him.

Chase-bot gave her a cool, almost disdain look.

"You did too good of a job," she said to the creator. "He is as much of a buzz kill as the original."

Before she could say another word, an explosion from outside the manor rocked the entire building.

"Speak of the devil..."

She and the creator turned to the monitors that projected the image of the real Chase Young setting siege to the manor. The real Chase Young seemed to sneer as he easily destroyed the weapons and the security measures of the outer perimeter.

Raimundo-bot was outside in an instant.

"Dude, that was uncalled for, you know!" The bot crafted from the likeness of the Dragon of Air crossed his arms.

"Move aside, robot," Chase said with an annoyed tone. "I'm here for what's mine."

"Finders keepers, Friend," Clay-bot said when he joined the fray. Kimiko-bot was next to him.

"I would suggest you leave while you still can," Raimundo-bot said as Omi-bot nodded sagely next to him.

"Yes, that would be a most wise decision," Omi-bot added.

Chase's eyes narrowed.

The creator chose then to close the feed to all the monitors. The screens went dark and the images of the Xiaolin-bots and Chase disappeared.

"Hey! I was watching that," Wuya protested.

"Not now, Wuya," the creator shook his head. He rerouted all the electricity of the monitors into the halo pack that he was wearing. "We don't have much time."

He grabbed the Sands of Time and he flipped it.

A powerful blast sent one of the walls in the lab crumbling inwardly. Dust waffled from the rubble and a very enraged Chase stepped through. His intense gaze caught sight of the Wu activating.

"Fool!" Chase vanished only to reappear in front of the creator. He grabbed onto the creator's collar. The only thing stopping him from hitting the creator was a hard grip on his wrist.

"Don't think about it," Chase-bot ordered. A dangerous glint was in his eyes. As much as he disliked taking orders, the creator was still the creator. No one was to harm him.

The real Chase Young's narrowed his eyes and he studied Chase-bot.

Chase-bot couldn't help the smirk.

They fought. This was be their second fight and Chase-bot found that he ended up underestimating the warlord whose image he was crafted after. Before he realized it, it was already too late. Chase Young was already in the air tugging on the Wu in the creator's hand.

There was a bright flash emitting from the shattered Wu before his circuits went crazy.

Then he went offline.

...

When Chase-bot woke it was to the bright light of the sun shining down and Hannibal Bean sitting on his chest.

"Good, you're awake," the bean said.

Chase-bot would have sat up if it wasn't for the immense weight holding him down. For something the size of a bean, the Heylin was able to hold Chase-bot effortlessly in place and he does it with an ease that was both irritating and admirable. When Chase-bot was created his system had been uploaded with all the information and statistics on how powerful Hannibal Bean was, but encountering that power still went beyond anything he expected. Chase-bot was both awed and wary.

Hannibal Bean wasn't someone to trifle with.

"I know you're not Chase Young. That sanctimonious fool of a monk isn't stupid enough to come so far into my territory." The bean poked a finger into Chase-bot's chest. The power behind that poke dented Chase-bot's chest slightly. He could feel the metal buckle from that one innocuous move. "Besides, you're not human, are you?"

Chase-bot doesn't answer out of cautiousness.

"Not answering, eh?" Hannibal doesn't look angry. If anything, he looked more amused as he continued to study Chase-bot. "No matter, you'll talk soon enough."

Within the blink of an eye, Chase-bot was forced to get up on his feet.

"Walk," Hannibal ordered.

Chase-bot's moved at the command.

As they trek, Hannibal decided to lazily laid on his back with one leg crossed over the other and his arms crossed behind his head as he laid nonchalantly on Chase-bot's shoulder. He seemed confident in his own powers as he used Chase-bot as an uber. The only time he spoke was when he wanted Chase-bot to change directions. His nonsensical way of dealing with his enemies was unsettling and Chase-bot warily kept one eye on Hannibal.

"Climb." Hannibal waved a hand upward. After crossing a whole terrain and two small villages, they ended up stopping at the base of a large mountain and Chase-bot turned his gaze to the top. He could make out the silhouette of a dark building sitting high at the top just passed a few clouds.

Biting back a retort, Chase-bot does what he was told. He reached out a hand for a handhold and he became to climb. Halfway up the mountain, where the temperature grew cold and the air was thinner, Hannibal began to interrogated him.

"What are you?" was the first question.

"Chase Young," Chase-bot replied.

"A joker, huh?" Chase-bot nearly lost his grip on the mountain as his left shoulder became unbearably heavy. He slid a foot down. Only his tight grip on the ledge in front of him kept him from plummeting. As tough and as close to indestructible as his creator made him, even his metal frame wouldn't survive the fall. Not with Hannibal's weight on him.

"I'm a robot," he answered finally. The pressure eased slightly.

"A what?"

"I'm from the future." The trip through the villages with the adobe like homes and the clothing of the villagers had confirmed it. The Sands of Time had flung him backwards. He had landed somewhere in time where Hannibal ruled (and Hannibal ruled with a vicious iron fist if the cowering villagers were any indication). From Hannibal's previous words, he gathered that the real Chase Young was still a Xiaolin Monk.

Chase-bot began narrowing down all the most probable time frame. Knowing the exact date and whether this was a Pre Shen Gong Wu or a Post Shen Gong Wu era, depended more on his knowledge of Wuya.

If Wuya was still human, then the Shen Gong Wu didn't exist yet. The Shen Gong Wu existed, after all, purely for the notion of stopping her rampage through the world. If this was the period before Wuya's rise to Heylin status, then potentially the Shen Gong Wu might not exist for years to come. He might end up being trapped here until then. Assuming, of course, that Hannibal wouldn't destroy him first.

If Wuya was already a Heylin, then the Shen Gong Wu shouldn't be far behind. With luck he might even be able to convince the witch to work with him to steal back the Sand of Time. As much as the thought of working with her was an irritation; he needed someone familiar with this world (his built in knowledge only brushed the top surface of this time period). All of the little details that he needed had to come from a reliable source and he couldn't reject the notion that Wuya was the most trust worthy out of all the choices he had. At least, the creator had trusted her.

The thought of his small creator made Chase-bot paused.

Most likely the creator had died in the implosion. He would been too close to have survived the magical backlash the Sand of Times created when it shattered. The Wuya from his time frame was most likely destroyed as well.

"The future, eh," Hannibal's voice broke through his reverie. "How far?"

"One thousand years." It was a guess, but Chase-bot didn't think he was too far off the mark.

"How did you get here?"

"Magic." Chase-bot kept his answers vague, but truthful. Hannibal was shrewd enough that he could spot a lie from a mile away. Lying would only serve to piss him off.

"Is that what you're made of?"

"No."

"Then what the hell are you made of? You're not made of flesh or bones."

"Metal."

"Is everyone in the future made of metal?"

"Some," Chase-bot said.

Hannibal seemed intrigue.

"Am I alive in this future?" Hannibal asked.

"Yes."

"Ohoho. Am I the Emperor of the World?"

Hannibal raised an eyebrow at the silence.

"Are you telling me," Hannibal said slowly. "that in a thousand years I still haven't taken over the planet?!" Hannibal doesn't wait for Chase-bot's answer. " Let me guess. The Xiaolin Monks stop me every time."

The Heylin had struck at the truth head on.

Hannibal wasn't just powerful. He was cunning, quick-witted, and intelligent. Hannibal humpf. "Seriously, a thousand years in the future and I still have to deal with those meddling monks." Hannibal made a gesture for Chase-bot to continue climbing and Chase-bot dutifully resumed the trek upwards. Hannibal abruptly looked over his shoulder at seemingly nothing.

Hannibal began to gleefully rubbed his hand. "Ohohoho, the scales are tilting in my favor, eh?" He obviously felt something. Reaching out with his sensors, Chase-bot felt nothing. He had always heard that Hannibal was particularly intune with the balance of the world. He never expected to witness it first hand.

"Two, no, three more unfamiliar presences are here," Hannibal eyed him. "Your friends?"

If he had a pulse, it would be racing. There were only three others were caught in the blast who could have ended up in this time frame with him. That meant that the creator had survived. Wuya was here as well. So was Chase Young. Chase-bot's expression were stoic even under Hannibal's scrutinizing.

Behind his blank expression, he began to plan.

"One of them is my creator," he said. Hannibal raised an eyebrow at the verbiage. "If you help me retrieve him, I'll tell you everything."

"What's to stop me from destroying you and going after him myself? I can make him tell me everything."

Chase-bot answered. "The creator doesn't take kindly to people destroying his things. He won't tell you anything and you won't get any closer to your goal."

"Oh?"

"You could spend the next one thousand years fighting the Xiaolin Monks," Chase-bot couldn't hide the snort in the words. "Or you can conquer the world sooner. My creator and I can help you." He watched as Hannibal thoughtfully rub a hand underneath his chin. "Do we have a deal?" He reached up a hand and waited.

Hannibal seemed to weight his options. "Deal."

They shook hands.

Across the mountain valley, two Xiaolin Monks stopped.

"Do you feel that?" Chase Young asked Dashi. They paused in their training.

"The landslide is beginning," Dashi remarked.

Overhead, the skies darken.