Phew! It's been a while since I've been here. I deleted all of my stories a few years ago, but now I'm back with a new XS fanfic. I don't know how or why, but I've somehow gotten back into writing. Let's see how long that lasts. Hopefully long enough to finish this story.

Disclaimer: Xiaolin Showdown does not belong to me.

Warning: There's a bit of descriptive gore in the first part of the chapter.

"I'm not ready Jack." A young female voice quivered in pain and despair. Her short, orange hair was matted to her forehead with blood and sweat. Her torso had been stripped of all clothing and armor leaving her flat, creamy bosom bare. Bare except for the coat of smeared blood that is. She hissed in pain as a certain red haired genius and his newly built medi-bots worked on her right arm.

Jack examined his patient with concern. Her blood was spreading quickly on the sheets. He had his bots work on stopping the bleeding and getting the woman stabilized. "You're not gonna die Jo. I'm not gonna let that happen."

Jo chuckled weakly. "No. No… I'm not scared of dying Jack." At the look of confusion on Jack's face, she replied, "It's a given that my occupation is going to kill me. I'm just not ready to stop fighting." Her emerald eyes strayed to the cause of her immense pain. Her forearm was barely attached to the rest of her arm. Thin strings of muscle and ligament were barely hanging on to the elbow, and with every heartbeat, streams of blood rushed out and coated everything in its path. It was a gruesome sight, and Jo was thankful that Jack was somehow able to stomach it. If there was one person she'd trust her life with, it was him. "I'm… going to lose it, aren't I?"

Jack swallowed down a lump of bile as a spray of blood hit his shirt. "You need to calm down. At the rate your heart is beating, you're going to die of blood loss." He glared at one of his medi-bots. "Why haven't you stopped the bleeding yet?"

"Jack, come on. Don't ignore my question. Am I going to lose my arm?" Jo was incredibly pale now and her words were beginning to slur. Her eyes began to droop, and her head rolled to the side. Her breathing became shallow, but her heart rate continued to rise. "It's ok… I…"

"Jo?" Jack growled in frustration. He couldn't let her die. Not like this! This type of death wasn't suitable for a warrior like her. "Damn it, Jo! Stay with me!"

A few weeks earlier

It was a lazy day for Jack Spicer. No shen gong wu had revealed itself all day. No monks had burst into his evil lair. Wuya was off bothering who gives a damn, and Chase… well Jack didn't feel like getting crushed by the giant stone door today. The evil genius yawned as he tinkered away at a new contraption that would no doubt get destroyed by the monks at a later date. He stopped and slumped on the bench he was sitting on. "I'm… bored. Not even my beautiful works of genius are doing anything for me." Deciding it was time for a pudding break, the goth exited his basement and strolled leisurely through the empty mansion. As he rummaged through the refrigerator, a voice whispered into his ear.

"Jackie."

Ok so maybe the mansion wasn't exactly empty.

Jack let out a scream and proceeded to knock himself out on a low hanging cabinet as he backed away as fast as he could.

There was silence for a moment before a young woman with orange cropped hair and lively emerald eyes burst out laughing. She looked and sounded very boyish. She wore a black tank top, camo pants, leather boots and a leather jacket. She had various weapons hidden on her person. Shaking her head, she easily picked up the unconscious youth and carried him to a couch. "You're still as clumsy as ever." She crossed her arms. "What am I going to do with you?"

...

Jack woke up a few hours later. The back of his head was throbbing, and he hissed as he felt the large lump that had formed there. What happened?

"You ok Jack? You were muttering in your sleep."

Jack whipped his head around and immediately cursed. He held his head as sharp pains radiated to his forehead. He knew that voice. "Jo?"

The young woman grinned. "In the flesh." She walked over to him and handed him an ice pack. "Sorry for scaring you earlier. One of your robots let me in so I thought you knew I was here."

"It's ok." Jack gingerly held it to his head. "What're you doing here? I thought you were visiting in two months."

Jo shrugged. "Oh yeah well... They let me out early on the condition that I bring you back with me."

Jack looked at her skeptically as he sat up. "You know I told them what I thought about their offer."

Jo sat next to him. "I know. That's why I made them change it."

"Oh yeah?" Jack didn't know his cousin had that kind of pull with the higher-ups. "So what do they want now?"

"Medical robots." She replied. "There are a lot of good soldiers getting hurt on the battlefield, and it would help quite a bit if you could build some robots to help our doctors treat them." Jo watched her cousin carefully as he considered the new offer. "I know you weren't really interested in making weapons for them, and I agree. That type of technology is best kept out of their hands." At the shocked look from her cousin, she explained her view. "I may be loyal to the king's army, but I do put the best of the people first. The king's advisors are corrupt, and they would no doubt convince the king to use your robots against our people along with our enemies if given the chance."

Jack smiled. This was one of the reasons why he liked his cousin so much. Jo was a soldier for the king of a small but powerful country. From what he knew, the country had been under siege by neighboring countries for centuries. As soon as Jo had become a part of the army, Jack had been bombarded with requests from the king to build him powerful weapons, and Jack had refused every time under the advice of his cousin. "Ok. I can help you out with that."

The orange-haired woman smiled. "Thank you Jack. I really appreciate it. This will help my country a lot." She chuckled. "Don't worry. You'll be compensated for your time."

Jack nodded. He grinned cockily. "What can I say? I am a genius."

"An evil genius?" Jo teased. Jack made a face. "As I said, you were muttering in your sleep."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Jack stood up, the ice pack still held firmly against his head. "Are you hungry?" He snapped his fingers and one of his robots rushed towards them.

She shook her head. "Nah. I helped myself to your fridge while you were asleep. I'm surprised your robots have stayed out of my way."

"You've got Spicer blood in you somewhere even if our parents are distant cousins."

"Makes sense."

The robot stopped in front of them. It was smaller in design compared to his battle bots and could change into a small sphere for easy transport. "How may I serve you, Master?" It asked.

"I want you to do whatever Jo asks of you, got it? As long as she's here, treat her like an honored guest." Jack replied. He turned to Jo. "I'm gonna start on those medi-bots. How many do you need?"

Jo shrugged. "Hmm... Enough to serve a small country, I guess."

"I guess I'll make a hundred then. I should be done in a few days." He felt a sense of pride at the surprised look on Jo's face. "Why don't you go shopping while I get this done? I doubt you've been able to do that in a while."

Jo crossed her arms. "Are you insulting my clothing choice?" Jack knew better than to answer and scampered away to his basement. "Hey! I didn't even bring any money!" A second robot greeted her with a suitcase of money. "Oh cool. Thanks Jack!"

There you have it. Please excuse any grammatical or spelling mistakes. I'm sure I caught most, if not all of them, though. Hope you liked it. :)