Chapter Text
Zanka stood at the edge of a collapsed overpass gripping his Lovely Assistaff as tight as he could possibly hold her.
He can’t believe he is face to face with Jabber once again. Just seeing that guy's face pisses him off.
Across from him jabber was leaning lazily against a shattered concrete pillar like this was all one big fucking joke. Mankira dripped venom onto the pavement.
“Ya look tense, what's wrong? Cat got your tongue?” Jabber called out cheerfully.
Zanka’s expression darkened immediately.
“Don’t try to make small talk with me, we aren’t friends.”
Jabber barked out a delighted laugh. “Aw, why ya so cold with me huh, Zanka?"
“You’re lucky you’re still breathing right now you sick fucker.”
“Ha, I Barely am.” Jabber tilted his head. “Are you planning on fixing that, Mr. Bad Attitude?”
That nickname hit exactly the way Jabber intended it to, Zanka was getting pissed off. He wanted to rip his brains out right then and there.
Zanka spun the Lovely Assistaff once in his grip before leveling the blade toward him.
“Call me that again and I’ll shove this through your skull.”
Jabber visibly brightened as he started laughing hysterically. “There he is.”
“You're fucking insane!” Zanka screams with his veins practically bulging out of his forehead, as lunges straight for Jabber's skull.
“Awh, you're cute when you’re violent.”
Jabber dodges the blow by narrowly twisted aside as Mankira tore through the concrete pillar behind him instead. The impact caused the pillar to quickly break apart causing Zanka to dodge for his life to not get crushed.
“What the actual hell is wrong with this guy? Has he lost his fucking mind?!” Zanka thinks to himself.
“Were you actually trying to aim for my head?! You’re really trying to kill me huh???” Jabber yells out.
“I missed.” Zanka says as he swiftly dodges the last remaining piece of rock and crushing it.
“Aw you sound disappointed, you really thought you could kill me with just one blow yeah? I thought you knew that I wouldn’t go down that easily.”
Zanka knew for a fact that this was going to be a tough fight ever since their first encounter with one another. Him and Rudo gave their all last time trying to take this fucker down but here he is still standing. He honestly can’t fucking believe it.
Zanka suddenly swings again, wasting no time. The staff spun violently, embedded knives flashing as Jabber ducked beneath one strike only for the blade to slice across his shoulder on the return swing.
Blood sprayed hot against the rain.
Jabber hissed sharply, Then grinned. “Oh, that’s nasty.” Jabber says smirking.
“You should bleed out.” Zanka hissed.
“You say the sweetest things to me, Zanka.”
Zanka slammed his arm directly at Jabber's rib, crushing it completely and then lunged his staff forward trying to deliver the finishing blow. The crack echoed loudly.
“You broke my damn rib- FUCKKK MAN-”
"You broke my rib and then you punched it!” Janka screams in pain.
“Your’re a fucking sadist-”
Jabber staggered sideways coughing blood into his hand. But somehow and someway, he gets back up and starts smiling. He even looked thrilled that Zanka was able to crush his ribs just now.
“This guy is definitely not human.” Zanka says to himself as a drip of cold sweat falls from his forehead. He was getting nervous at the fact that he might actually loose here. But he couldn't let that happen could he?
“You really are a masochist,” Zanka spat.
Jabber wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand as Jabber’s grin sharpened. “See? I feel like we would be so perfect together.”
“I’d rather suck demon dick.”
“Mm.” Jabber flexed Mankira’s claws slowly. “You’d look gorgeous doing it.”
Zanka attacked again before he could say anything worse. His Lovely Assistaff carved violently through the air in a silver blur. Jabber blocked with his poisoned claws, sparks exploding where metal collided. Rainwater hissed against heated steel.
Jabber shoved forward suddenly, forcing himself into Zanka’s space. Too close he was way too fucking close.
“You know,” Jabber murmured while locking blades against the staff, “most people buy me dinner before trying to gut me.”
“Well I'm not like most people.” Zanka says as he slams his forehead directing into Jabber's nose causing it to make a crunching noise. Blood burst instantly.
Jabber reeled backward laughing through the pain.
“God, you’re frickin mean man.”
“You’re still talking, can you shut up for once? My god.” Zanka says as his jaw tightens.
Jabber noticed immediately. “Hah, There’s that look again.”
“What look?” Zanka questions.
“The one where you wanna take my life, ha you’re so amusing Zan Zan I could never get tired of you.”Zanka nearly took his head off for that.
Lovely Assistaff whipped toward Jabber’s throat fast enough to split air.
Jabber ducked barely in time, the blade slicing a shallow cut across his cheek instead. Blood ran down his face. His grin widened. “Oh, you are definitely trying to kill me now.” Jabber says smugly. “I was trying to kill you this entire time, You’re such a fucking freak y’know that?!” Jabber shivered visibly.
Zanka froze for half a second.
Did-
Did he just-
“Oh,” Jabber breathed. “Say worse things to me.”
Zanka stared at him in complete disbelief. “You cannot be serious.” Zanka says his mouth slightly open, looking at jabber with the look of pure disgust on his face.
“I’m dead serious.”
“That’s pathetic.”
“Again.”
“You’re deranged.”
Jabber laughed quietly to himself, shoulders shaking. “Keep going.”
Zanka’s expression twisted like he genuinely regretted being born into the same world as this man. "You’re insane!”
“And?”
“A toxic psycho with brain damage.” Zanka says as he attempts to shove his staff against Jabber's throat.
Jabber groaned softly like he’d just heard something filthy. “Oh, you’re trying to kill me.”
“I am trying to kill you.”
“That’s so romantic.”
Zanka launched himself another time trying to end things quickly so he can get back to his fellow cleaners, who knew what kind of trouble they can be facing right now and he wasn’t there to help them because he is being held up by this god damn lunatic. Violence exploded instantly. Lovely Assistaff slammed against Mankira’s claws over and over again in brutal rapid succession. Jabber’s poisoned strikes carved glowing green marks into concrete every time Zanka narrowly avoided them. One hit. That was all it would take. The neurotoxins alone could cripple him.
Jabber grinned wildly like he knew exactly what Zanka was thinking. “Scared of getting touched?”
“I’m scared of catching whatever disease made you this way.”
Jabber barked out another delighted laugh. “You really do know exactly what to say to me.”
Zanka suddenly twisted the staff low before slamming the blade upward. The crescent edge tore brutally across Jabber’s side.Blood splattered across both of them.
Jabber choked sharply, then laughed like a crazy person yet again. “You almost disemboweled me!” Jabber says, still laughing.
“You say that like it’s surprising.” Zanka scoffs.
Jabber pressed a hand against the wound, staring down at the blood soaking through his fingers with visible fascination. Then he looked back up at Zanka with this intense stare. “That was so hot.”
Zanka looked genuinely offended by the sentence. “What is WRONG with you?”
“You keep stabbing me and asking that like the answer’s gonna change.”
Zanka attacked again.
Jabber dodged sideways this time and grabbed Zanka’s staff mid-swing.
"That was a bad move." Jabber says smiling.
The embedded claws immediately sliced into Zanka’s palm as he winced in pain as blood dripped between his fingers. Jabber stared at him and then his staff and smiled like this was just all fun in games. “You named this thing Lovely Assistaff?” He laughed breathlessly. “That’s adorable.”
“Shut up.” Zanka says, getting irritated.
“No, seriously.” Jabber leaned closer despite the blade near his throat. “That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Zanka slammed his knee directly into Jabber’s stomach and Jabber folded over coughing violently. Zanka then ripped the staff free and immediately swung again.
Jabber blocked too slowly due to the previous injuries Zanka gave to him previously. The blade carved across his chest. Jabber stumbled backward breathing harder now.
Zanka stepped toward him slowly. “Are you done laughing yet?” Zanka says annoyed.
Jabber wiped blood from his mouth. “Ha, Nope.”
“You’re exhausting, seriously exhausting.” Zanka says, sighing.
“Aw but you like me right?”
“I’d rather swallow glass.”
“You’d probably make eye contact while doing it too.”
Zanka swung at him again with his fists in a desperate attempt to get his staff back. Jabber caught the staff this time with both hands.
Mankira’s claws screeched against the metal. Then suddenly Jabber yanked hard and Zanka lost balance for a second.
“Hah that’s enough fun for now I gotta get you to the boss ya’ know?” Jabber says as he slammed into him violently.
Both of them crashed through the side of the overpass.
Concrete exploded outward around them as they fell into the abandoned train station below. The impact shattered tiles beneath them and pain shot through Zanka’s spine instantly and before he could recover, Jabber was already on him. One clawed hand wrapped around Zanka’s throat. Hard.
Zanka snarled immediately, grabbing Jabber’s wrist before poison-tipped claws could sink into skin. He lets a groan as he tries to get Jabber off him
“Crazy bastard GET OFF OF ME GODDAMMIT!- NGH-”
“There it is,” Jabber rasped excitedly.
Pressure tightened around Zanka’s neck and the air became increasingly thin. Jabber leaned closer, blood dripping from his grin onto Zanka’s chest.
“C’mon baby you sound amazing when you make those sounds,” he murmured. “Hm, tell me how awful I am again, yeah?.”
“You’re fucking sick.”
Jabber shuddered visibly. "Again.”
“You obsessive psycho.”
Another sharp inhale.
Zanka realized with growing horror that Jabber genuinely liked this.
Not tolerated it.
He fucking liked it.
“You enjoy being insulted,” Zanka said incredulously through the choking pressure.
“Only when you do it.”
Zanka shoved him off violently and staggered upright, rubbing bruises already forming around his throat. “You need serious help. Like seriously.”
“And you need to stop looking at me like that, it's making me feel a type of way.” Zanka glared murderously as Jabber grinned wider.
“See? That look. It looks so good on you.”
“I’m trying to figure out how you survived this long.” Zanka says angrily, “You have the survival instincts of a fucking toddler don’t you see I am trying to kill you? And you think this is just some sick joke?!”
“Aw is that so?.” Jabber says tilted his head.
Zanka slammed the arm directly into his face, crashing Jabber backward into a rusted train car hard enough to dent the metal.
He started laughing before he even stood back up. “Oh, Mr. Bad Attitude,” he wheezed. “You’re gonna kill me one day.”
“That’s the plan.” Zanka says coldly.
“Do you truly want to kill me or are you just saying that? Ain’t you cleaners supposed to be the “good guys” around here?
“I want to kill you and all you raider scum. Doesn’t matter if I’m a cleaner or not.”
“Sure ya do.”
Jabber slowly stood straighter despite blood soaking through his shirt from multiple wounds now. Rainwater dripped through cracks in the ceiling above them as the station lights flickered weakly. “You know what I think?” Jabber asked softly.
“I don’t care.”
“I think you enjoy this as much as I do.”
“I enjoy hurting you.”
“Exactly.”
Zanka’s expression darkened as Jabber stepped closer cautiously like he was approaching a feral animal.
“You hit me like you hate me,” Jabber murmured.
“I do hate you.”
“Mm sure ya do.” Jabber smiled faintly.
Jabber flexed Mankira slowly. Green venom dripped onto the floor. “I think you’re lonely.”
Zanka’s eyes immediately sharpened dangerously.
Jabber grinned. “Ooh. That one hit something.”
Zanka swung instantly.
Jabber barely blocked in time before Zanka drove him backward through a shattered ticket gate, the metal screeched apart around them.
Zanka attacked relentlessly now. Strike after strike after strike. The staff blurred silver beneath flickering station lights. Jabber defended sloppily through laughter and blood. “Oh, You’re pissed, huh?”
“Do you ever shut up?!” Zanka says angrily.
“You love it though don’t ya?”
“I’m going to bury you alive.”
Zanka slammed the blade into Jabber’s shoulder hard enough to pin him briefly against concrete. Jabber hissed sharply. Then I laughed again. “You really are a sadist-"
“And you’re still a masochist.” says cutting Jabber off mid sentence.
“Yeah.”
Jabber looked down briefly at the blade lodged through his shoulder. Then back at Zanka.
“You know what the worst part is?”
“What?”
“That kinda turned me on.”
Zanka looked moments away from actual homicide.
“You are deeply unwell. I really hope you get the help you need but that might not happen since I am going to kill you here, maybe in your next life you’ll be able to live a normal life.”
“Your insults hurt me Zan Zan why do you always gotta be so harsh hah?” and in an instant Zanka ripped the blade free viciously as Jabber groaned roughly at the pain. Then smiled through clenched teeth. “You’re so mean to me.”
“I should be meaner.”
“Please do, baby.”
Zanka stared at him. Actually speechless.
Jabber laughed breathlessly at the expression. “Oh, come on. You can’t act surprised anymore,” Jabber smiles, “You make me want to commit violence.”
Jabber suddenly lunged again and this time he succeeded in slashing across Zanka’s ribs. Pain exploded instantly as the neurotoxin burned like acid beneath his skin.
Zanka staggered sharply.
Jabber’s expression shifted immediately. “Oh.”Concern flickered there for one dangerous second. Then it disappeared beneath another grin. “That one looked bad.”
“You just poisoned me.”
“You were trying to cut my head off earlier, what was I supposed to do?”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“Actually it wasn’t any different.”
Jabber laughed so hard he nearly doubled over.
“God, you are funny.” Jabber says giggling.
Zanka shoved him violently against a support beam.
“You need psychological evaluation.”
“You need to kill me already,” Jabber sighs, “You’ve been blabbing on about how much you want me to die so why don’t you just end it now, yeah?”
Jabber stared at him with bloodied lips parted slightly.
“You’re unbelievable,” Zanka muttered quietly.
“You keep saying that..”
“Because you keep getting worse like how is that even possible?!.”
The toxin burned hotter beneath Zanka’s skin now and his breathing was getting uneven.
“You’re already slowing down”
“Shut up.” Zanka says, groaning.
“That hit got you good, huh?”
Zanka swung the staff again. Too slow.
Jabber dodged easily this time before slamming a brutal punch directly into Zanka’s injured ribs and pain detonated through him.
Zanka dropped to one knee hard. “AGH-” Zanka screeched in pain.
Jabber loomed over him breathing heavily and proceeded to kneel down to his level. Blood soaked both of them now.
“You okay there, Mr. Bad Attitude?”
“Go to hell,” Zanka continues, “You’re pathetic.”
Jabber visibly thrilled at the insult.
“You know exactly how to talk to me.”
“I seriously hate you.”
Zanka swung upward suddenly.
Lovely Assistaff clipped Jabber’s jaw hard enough to send him staggering backward. Jabber laughed breathlessly while touching his split mouth. “You really did almost kill me earlier.” He glanced toward the deep wound in his side. “It still hurts.” he continues, “You know,” he murmured, “I think you like hearing me laugh.”
“I think you should just keep your damn mouth shut.”
“But then who’d annoy you if it isn’t me?” Jabber said sadly.
“You think too highly of yourself, Jabber.”
"Aw you remember my name, you probably think about me often huh?" Jabber said smirking “Isn’t that right Zanka baby?”
Zanka’s face twisted.
Jabber laughed quietly. “Oh, right on the money?"
Before Zanka could retaliate, Jabber suddenly moved fast enough to blur.One brutal strike knocked Lovely Assistaff from Zanka’s grip.
Another slammed directly into his stomach. Then his jaw. Then his throat.Zanka crashed hard against the concrete floor coughing violently.
Jabber pinned him instantly. One knee forcing apart his legs.
One clawed hand wrapped carefully around his neck careful enough not to poison him further. “You’re heavy,” Zanka muttered.
Jabber leaned lower and the blood dripped from his hair onto Zanka’s face.
“You fight so pretty,” he murmured.
“Get off me.”
“Nah.”
Zanka struggled violently beneath him and Jabber was able to hold him down easily now. The poison had weakened him too much. “That's bothering you?” Jabber asked softly.
“What?”
“That I won.”
“You haven’t won.”
“Oh? is that right?”
Jabber grinned slowly. “You’re currently under me. Bleeding under me. Breathing hard under me. Kinda sounds like winning to me.”
“You arrogant fucking bastard.”
“There it is.”
Jabber’s free hand suddenly slid downward until it reached Zanka’s wrist.
Then lower.
His fingers curled loosely around Zanka’s hand.
Zanka immediately stiffened.
Jabber blinked.
“Hm...”
His thumb brushed across Zanka’s knuckles slowly. “Small hands you got there.”
Zanka stared up at him in disbelief. “What the hell are you doing?!”
Jabber ignored the question completely.
Instead he turned Zanka’s hand slightly beneath the dim station lights like he was studying it. “How’d you manage to land such a fatal hits on me with these?” Jabber laughed quietly unhinged and breathless and completely gone. “It still hurts, y’know.” Jabber says as he interlocks his hands with Zanka's.
Zanka’s pulse jumped unpleasantly.
“Shut up.” Zanka says as his cheeks become slightly pink because of the sudden contact.
“Hah, Make me.” in a demanding tone.
Zanka puts his hands around Jabber's neck as a final attempt to get him to just shut up. “Get off of me now.” Zanka says breath heavy. Jabber bites his lips as he puts his hand on Zanka’s cheek, slightly caressing his face. “You're so weak right now you can barely wrap your hands around my neck.” Jabber says as he bites his lips. At this point Zanka is feeling light headed, the poison must have finally fully kicked in. Zanka dropped his arms down to his sides, too weak to keep them around Jabber's neck for any longer.
"The poison must've finally kicked in." Jabber says excitedly, " I have to admit you have a high poison resistance, so I do applaud you."
“Ngh- Ah..” Zanka moans in pain still attempting to get out of Jabber's grip.
“Hah, you sound so good right now, if you continue to make those sounds I won’t be able to contain myself any longer.” Jabber says smugly. "
"You look so pretty, beaten up like that, Zanka baby."
Jabber moves his hand down lower, sliding his hands down Zanka’s waist, “Damn you have such a nice waist too.” Jabber bites his lips as he makes his way up to Zanka’s face.
Zanka is sweating profusely but he manages to get out the words, “what are you doing?”
“Nothing you don’t want me to, ”Jabber says calmly, “Y’know you’re really interesting Zanka.” Jabber says as he cups Zanka’s face. “I really do like you.”