#evil!jack

[csdp-disasterhotline]

It took forver for the portions to work with me, but this is Evil!Jacks dragon form. I went with a wyvern dragon because I think it fit him best. So here we are lol

[bridgertonbabe]

Ok but theory time: if Jack is a major character for the season and beyond, what if he is a villain of sort. Like, he is all charming and sweet and likeable heck the Featheringtons start to warm up to him. Colin for some reason dislikes him, in his gut feeling. By season 4 Jack is asking Pen for her hand and instead of Cressida, it’s Jack who blackmails Pen about her being LW. He wants to marry her cause the estate wouldn’t be fully his unless he married a Featherington.

Omg yes!!!

I can see Portia and the girls initially being frosty towards him, not knowing what he intends to do with them; whether to provide or chuck them out. He seems charming and good-natured at first but Portia is still skeptical. It's only after a whole season with them that she decides that actually he's a decent man and becomes comfortable with him. All of the Featheringtons end up liking him a great deal, as do most of the Ton, including the Bridgertons (seeing as Jack is part of the hunting party from that one promo); everyone, that is, but Colin. There's something about the man that doesn't sit right with Colin and though he shares his doubts with his brothers, they dismiss him. He even goes to Penelope and advises her to be wary of Jack but when he can't provide her with any actual reason why he doesn't like the man, even she waves off his concern.

Colin's dislike for the man continues throughout S3 and when he speaks to Penelope again (after the incident in which he states he would never marry her), he once more rears up his opinion that Jack shouldn't be trusted and this time Penelope lambastes him, demanding to know who he thinks he is to judge another man's character. He tries to quell her upset but she continues, angrily asking him why he is so self-righteous to be going around proclaiming how honourable a gentleman is or which women aren't worthy of marrying him. Colin is left shocked by her outburst and feels awful for agitating and upsetting his best friend so. When he leaves again on his travels, it's the first time they part on bad terms and the regret consumes him.

And then in S4, it's revealed at first to the audience that Colin was right to lack faith and trust in Jack. The Featherington heir has managed to catch wind that Penelope's been up to something all these years and he's spent a long time keeping a careful watch on her. Little by little and piece by piece, he finally discovers that she is in fact Lady Whistledown. One night at the gentleman's club he informs a gathered group of men that he's about to make a very prosperous marriage, which Colin hears and is puzzled by, seeing as Jack hasn't shown an attachment towards any woman and he hasn't heard of any arrangement. Colin starts to worry when he notices that the only woman Jack ever really speaks to or stands by the side of ballroom with is Penelope - and he's the only other man who ever asks her to dance. With Penelope officially "on the shelf" as a spinster, Jack proposes to her, thinking it'd be a no-brainer for a woman in want of a husband and children. He's shocked when she kindly turns him down, and then he sees her with Colin and realises she rejected him because she's in love with someone else. When he sees Colin clearly falling for her, Jack corners Penelope and blackmails her by revealing he knows of her alias. He needs to force her hand so he can access her Whistledown money for his own dwindling fortune and he's not about to let some Bridgerton swoop in and take what Jack believes is rightfully is...

[bridgertonbabe]

Yikes, if Jack is the true mastermind and blackmails Pen to marry him, imagine him mocking Pen how they both fooled the Ton with their personas. Sweet and quiet wallflower Pen is the notorious Lady Whistledown and good old and charitable Jack is more sinister than anyone could have thought. Him telling her, it’s a match made from heaven. Colin better beat him up if it’s the case.

And Pen would be horrified by the real Jack behind the facade she had fallen for all of those years. She would realise that Colin had been right all along not to trust him and now she finds herself trapped with no other choice but to marry him.

But what if the twist was that Cressida still announced she was Lady Whistledown?

Jack had intended to announce his (forced) engagement to Penelope that night but all anyone can talk about is Cressida's claim she is the famous writer. He had never liked Cressida and now he hated her even more for providing a loophole for Penelope to get out of marrying him. He marches off in search of his yet-to-be-announced fiancee, determined to still have their prospective marriage be known to all, and finds her with Lady Danbury, surrounded by guests as she rejects Cressida's allegation, all the while holding hands with a clearly besotted Colin Bridgerton. Though enraged that Penelope is holding hands with Bridgerton for anyone to see, he is relieved that she is rebuking Cressida's announcement; clearly Miss Featherington still took pride in her work enough to not want the likes of Cressida taking responsibility for it.

He's all politeness and smiles when he requires a word with Penelope away from the gathering she is a part of, and she has no choice but to go with him. He takes her out onto the terrace and informs her he still intends to announce their engagement that night -

"I beg your pardon?!" an incredulous Colin expostulates, having followed them out there, not wanting Penelope's honour to be encroached upon by the man he's never trusted.

Jack smugly informs Colin that Penelope has agreed to marry him and watches as Bridgerton's face falls.

"No. That can't be. She wouldn't. You wouldn't, Pen." Colin gasps for air and his sad eyes look to her.

Penelope can't speak, her throat has tightened, and she is powerless to give him an answer.

In that moment Jack decides he doesn't need to announce the engagement tonight; after all, the only man who would contest the news is about to break down in front of him. Perhaps they could wait to announce the news tomorrow, once all the excitement from Cressida's announcement has died down.

Colin manages to find his voice, suggesting to Penelope that she go find Eloise inside while he has a word with Jack. Still unable to speak up, Penelope follows his suggestion and leaves the men out on the terrace.

"I don't know what you've said or what you've done," Colin swallows, "but Penelope doesn't want to marry you and I'm not going to let you force her hand on the matter. She deserves to marry for love - and not whatever it is you've cornered her into."

"Poor Colin Bridgerton." Jack shakes his head and lets his charming facade fall - even if the man before him ran off to tell everyone what he was really like, nobody would believe him. "I should hate to be a man of such little thought that I only want what I cannot have."

"That is not true." Colin snarls.

"Are you sure?" Jack pokes. "After all, you have had about twelve years to ask Miss Featherington for her hand. I'd say you had more than enough time to beat me to it."

"Why are you doing this?" Colin croaks. "Why are you marrying her?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Jack shrugs back with a dark smile. "She's an intelligent young woman, nice on the eyes, she'd make for a wonderful wife." He watches as Colin's eyes dance with regret and Jack laps up the defeat he can see on his face. "And of course; I'll finally be able to have my way with her in our bed."

His goading works as temper flares in Colin's eyes.

"Don't you dare talk about Penelope like that!" he shouts.

"Why not? I'm only stating the very same sentiment that I sense you've been lusting over, Bridgerton." Jack smirks. "For once a man of your surname has lost out - at the very least, you could be a gracious loser towards the man who gets to touch Penelope in the most intimate of places,"

Colin sockets his fist into Jack's face.

"You will not marry her!" Colin rages and punches him again. "Over my dead body will you ever,"

But suddenly someone yells out Colin's name and the Viscount Bridgerton and Duke of Hastings have joined them out on the terrace, pulling the young man off of Jack. The masks falls back on and Jack acts shocked and confused by Colin's fury. Anthony and Simon fall for it, with the former marching his brother off and reprimanding him, whilst Simon extends his apologies to Jack on behalf of the family.

Once they're gone Jack smiles to himself in victory. Tomorrow, while Colin Bridgerton licks his wounds, he would announce Penelope is to become his wife, thus securing her Whistledown fortune.

(But little did he know that after a turn of events which involved Colin following Penelope taking a hired hack to a church and the pair sharing a carriage ride back, that an entirely different engagement would be announced instead, and Jack's plan would be scuppered once again...)

[bridgertonbabe]

Ok but the thought of Jack uniting Finch and Philippa and finding Prudence a loving match is actually quite nice. Maybe he even walks them down the alter. When in question of Pen, he gently lifts her chin up and smiles at her “I don’t think I want to be away from you for long, my dear Penelope, until the time is right, I will wait for you” while all the Bridgerton and Featherington are encouraging them, Colin is fuming,

Jack being a good guy and securing marriages for Phillippa and Prudence would definitely land him in Portia's good books, and Penelope would admire him for assisting her sisters in finding their love matches. I think he and Penelope would genuinely have a good relationship up until S4, meanwhile the entire time Colin is fuming in the background watching them, and hating how everyone sings Jack's praises. He's the only other man who approaches Penelope and it infuriates Colin to no end that Jack can make her laugh as much as he can. I can picture Colin grumbling to Benedict as they watch Penelope dance with him, mouthing off about how there's something not quite right about Jack, and Benedict just says "sounds like you're jealous" and swans off before Colin can say anything. It would piss Colin off even more to overhear Portia saying how even Penelope would end up married off by the looks of her relationship with Jack, and Colin turns to his mother, suggesting they need to work together to find a better potential husband for her. Violet would give him the once-over and say "you might provide yourself with your own solution if you simply married Penelope instead" and this might be her go-to response every time Colin goes on about his dislike for Jack, until one day he's moaning about his mother's wish to see him married with his brothers and he utters the infamous line; "and I am certainly not going to marry Penelope Featherington!"

[bridgertonbabe]

Lady Danbury do be disappointed in herself for getting fooled by Jack. For once, her eyes and judgement made a mistake but thankfully she isn’t the only one. Even Newton was guilty. The Ton owes Colin an apology, Anthony being the first.

Lady Danbury would be pissed to learn of what Jack tried to do and of his ill intentions. In the books Lady D has a hand in nudging Polin together so to hear that this man who she had previously respected had tried to come between them? She would be raging, not to mention once she finds out Pen is Lady Whistledown and that Jack tried to force her into marriage just to get her fortune, she'd be even more enraged to discover some guy was trying to get his hands on a self-made woman's money. She'd be extremely proud of Penelope though and would have her back for sure.

And as for everyone apologising to Colin for not taking his word at Jack wasn't to be trusted, I can see Colin asking everyone to form an orderly queue while he basks in the satisfaction that comes from being the person to utter "I told you so".

[bridgertonbabe]

Colin having a “I FUCKING KNEW IT” moment with Evil!Jack would be amazing. After years of telling people Jack can’t be trusted but never having real evidence, Jack dropping the facade when they are alone and see his worst enemy having the satisfaction in gloating at him and being in a trapped position where he knows Jack is right, no one will believe that Colin was right all along. Not even his family.

The realisation dawning on Colin's face when Jack finally lets his facade slip and for a brief second he's truimphant as he thinks I FUCKING KNEW IT before realising oh god he's trapped the woman I love into marriage and he's made everyone think I'm crazy and no one will even believe me, wtf am I going to do??? When Anthony and Simon haul him off and reprimand him for punching Jack he'll be so desperate for them to understand what he just witnessed and he's trying to tell them Jack's trapped Penelope into marriage somehow, he doesn't know how but he has, and that Jack was saying terrible things to get a rise out of him; and Anthony smacks him round the face and tells him to get a fucking grip. Anthony's genuinely concerned that Colin's lost the plot and takes him back to Bridgerton House, telling him he needs to calm down and go to bed, that the rest will do him good. Anthony also instructs him to go to Featherington House in the morning and apologise to Jack for assaulting him and Colin is in utter despair that not even his older brother believes him and thinks he's crazy. He has no idea what he's going to do but all he knows is that he has to save Penelope from Jack no matter what.

[bridgertonbabe]

Imagine the disbelief of Evil!Jack when Colin announces he is marrying Pen, while looking straight at him. He musters a charming but pointed look and cautious but his atmosphere that only Colin and Pen could feel indicates he is plotting something to regain the upper hand.

Jack would be left furious and shocked by the announcement of Colin and Penelope's engagement but all he can do is sit back and congratulate them with the rest of the Ton, because as much as he wants to beat Colin to a bloody pulp, he has a reputation to maintain. Only a day before Jack had been smugly content that he had got one over on Colin by forcing Penelope to become his wife - and now they've beaten him to an engagement announcement and with a gossipy matron like Portia Featherington, not to mention the prolific Bridgertons spreading the word by the second, there's nothing Jack can do to intervene or stop the nuptials between the woman he was supposed to marry and that blasted Bridgerton. When Colin announces the news and looks him in the eye, challenging him to react and refuse to accept their engagement, Jack simply has to grin and bear it. As the rest of the room congratulates the newly engaged pair, both Colin and Penelope are glancing over at Jack who stares back at them pointedly, all three of them aware that this isn't the end of whatever it is Jack is plotting. Colin and Penelope clutch each other's hand, putting on a united front, and share a look of apprehension. Jack's not going to let this pass by; he's going to get them back big time and they can only wonder what he has in store for them...

[bridgertonbabe]

Ooh but Evil!Jack pitting Pen and Colin’s insecurities by hitting where it hurts the most with his words, finding great satisfaction. Always one step in the game tho.

Yes Jack knows where to hit both of them where it hurts and he knows that the love they have for one another is the biggest weakness to both of them. Polin will find it so difficult to beat Jack at the game he's playing; Penelope can't outwit him with Whistledown anymore and this is one situation Colin can't charm his way out of. They find themselves without their biggest weapons respectively and they've got to put their heads together in order to figure out a way to defeat Jack.