Chapter 3
Jade woke up in a hospital bed with wires and beeping machines all around her. It was just turning to evening wherever she was with the light dimming and the room’s lights becoming that much brighter. She looked around. She looked to be in the institute’s single infirmary room. It was curious that they didn’t take her immediately to the Avengers base, but perhaps they did and they just transferred her over here. There were special tools to help mutants in the infirmary at the institute anyway.
When the pain of her injuries fully set in, a dull, constant burning sensation on her chest and other parts of her body, she gave a gasp. It was so sudden, it almost caused her to panic. However, there was someone right by her bedside who woke up due to her shocked gasp and immediately began to soothe her. When she saw a two fingered, blue hand reaching toward her, she instantly calmed down.
“Kurt?” she asked, her voice quiet and her breathing heavy.
Kurt gently put his hand to her face and stroked her cheek. “Hello, darling,” he whispered to her. “You’re safe now. You don’t have to worry.”
“B-but how did I get here?” she asked. “What happened?”
Kurt sighed and leaned up against the bed a little bit to get closer to her and to put his other hand on hers. The slight weight and warmth of his hand centered Jade as she tried to get her bearings once more. “We managed to take Cassandra down,” Kurt said, his voice still a whisper. “The wounds caused from the energy blast may take a while to heal so they brought you here. We all thought you weren’t going to survive your injuries.”
Jade focused on Kurt’s soft, sweet face, her head spinning from everything that happened to her and the others. She remembered everything. Betraying her teams, the fight with Cassandra, and the same people she betrayed coming to save her sorry ass as Cassandra said. However, did they save her because they wanted to or because they were just fulfilling a mission? Her head was too fuzzy to try to grasp it. Instead she almost pleaded with Kurt.
“What’s going to happen to me?” she asked, her voice still soft. “Where am I going to go?”
Kurt looked perplexed at the question, trying to figure out what she meant. Was she losing it? Did they mess with her mind while she was on that ship? “Darling, what do you mean?” he asked, putting his hand to her forehead gently and feeling her temperature. “You’re staying here. At the institute. With everyone else.”
Jade gave a confused look. “But…but I betrayed you,” she said. “How could you…trust me again.”
When she asked that next question, Kurt gave a sheepish look. He didn’t want to tell her what he was going to tell her next. Actually, he wasn’t even sure he was supposed to. But, he believed she had a right to know. “While you were out, the professor and Jean went through your memories,” he said. “They know to what extent you were tortured, what you were forced to do, and everything else. They know you couldn’t have refused under the eye of Hydra even if you wanted to. So, no, you are not going anywhere.”
Jade’s heart started to beat so fast it was causing the wounds on her chest to flare up. She shifted slightly and Kurt helped her to resituate herself since she was still weak. She wanted to be mad at the invasion of privacy, but knew it had to be done. At that point, though she saved Kurt, she was still their “prisoner.” They could do whatever they wanted to her if it meant the rest of the planet would stay safe. Mostly she was relieved that they no longer wanted to get rid of her. Whether they would go back to being friends was another situation in and of itself.
“I’m glad they did,” she said. “Hopefully I can rebuild the trust they had in me over time.”
“It won’t take you that long,” a voice said. Both Kurt and Jade looked to the door and saw Tony standing there. Wounds were on his head and on his arms covered by bandages. He was sporting a black eye and, like always, he had something in his hand to snack on. He looked tired, but it also looked like he wasn’t willing to go to bed.
“Mr…Mr. Stark,” Jade said.
“Kid, don’t call me that, that was my father’s name,” he said with a wave of his hand. “You have every right to call me Tony.”
Kurt and Jade looked at each other before looking back at Tony. “I’m sorry, Tony, but I don’t think I understand,” Kurt asked. “What do you mean by what you said?”
Tony took a bite of his food, swallowed, and gave a sigh. “Well, for one, we all collectively should have known what happens to people under the watchful eye of Hydra,” Tony said. “They get turned into weapons or end up dead. Of course, we didn’t know that at the time. But we should have.” Tony took bites in between his words. “Second, we know that this was likely your first real group of friends in your entire life,” he said. “That’s…that’s wow. Heartbreaking.”
Jade looked at Kurt, her eyes confused. Where was this going? What did he mean? It was all so cryptic and she didn’t have the mental capacity to understand what was going on. She liked what he was saying, she truly did, but she knew there had to be a catch. There always was. What sort of government watched training did she have to go through? Where were they going to take her? Kurt said she was staying at the institute, but she didn’t buy it. No one got away with almost causing world annihilation without any repercussions.
“Wh-what do I have to do?” Jade asked. “Where…where do I have to go?”
Kurt turned to Jade and gave her a worried look. “Jade, honey, I already told you, you’re staying here,” he said. “No one is going to be able to touch you here.”
“I-I believe you, but no one almost destroys the world and…and commits espionage without any…any punishments,” she said.
Tony’s expression softened to one of pity and sadness. This whole trust thing was going to take a lot longer not on their part, but on hers. Her mind was so warped that she couldn’t believe anything that anyone said no matter who said it. However, she did have a point. No one got away with what she did without anything happening to them. He knew that. She knew that painfully. Thankfully what she would have to do would help her out in the long run.
“Jade, we’re not monsters,” he said. He threw away whatever he was eating, his appetite lost when he thought about everything that’s happened so far to get to this point. “We have empathy and some of us can, unfortunately, relate to what you’ve gone through,” he said. He let his words hang in the air for a moment before he spoke. “But what the government is going to have you do is go to therapy,” he said. “You can do it with Kurt here or someone else you trust since I know you’re not going to trust a complete stranger to talk you through years of trauma. I tried to talk them down as much as I could and this was our compromise.”
Both Tony and Kurt looked to Jade to gauge her reaction. Her eyes were wide and her chest seemed to rapidly rise and fall with her breaths. However, it wasn’t from fear. It was from excitement. Maybe, with this government sanctioned therapy, she’ll be able to start living a real life. Not one filled with missions and other dangerous endeavors, but one with Kurt and the rest of the people she’s learned to let in. Maybe her barriers will finally come down and she’ll be able to live without fear. With Kurt right next to her every step of the way, she knew she would be able to do anything.
Tears welled in her eyes, clouding her vision. She grabbed onto Kurt’s hand as an anchor to keep her steady as she spoke and the emotions overwhelmed her. “That sounds…sounds fantastic,” she said. “Maybe…maybe I’ll finally be able to live. It’s just a matter of…of Kurt being able to listen to what I’ve gone through. Are you ready to do that, Elf?”
The worried look Kurt wore faded away as it finally set in that everything was going to be okay. “I’m ready for whatever happens,” he said. “I won’t leave you.” He took her hand and gently gave it a kiss giving her a sweet smile which she returned.
Tony gave a large sigh and slumped a bit against the door frame. It finally felt as if everything was going to turn out fine. The world was no longer ending, they didn’t have a dangerous double agent following them, and they just gained more man power. But more importantly, they just gained a friend and saved her from the cruel fate that awaited her.
“You know what?” he asked and both Jade and Kurt listened to what he had to say. “I think this is all going to work out. Now, you better not go die on me anytime soon, you hear, Jade? I expect you to live a long life surrounded by people who care for you and support you. Got it?”
Jade’s heart swelled at the notion. She kept repeating the words he said in her head. ‘People who care for you and support you.’ What seemed like a far away dream was finally tangible and she could finally imagine what her new found family would look like. Studying with Doctor Strange, going out for coffee with Jean and the other girls, and going on dates with Kurt, her Elf. She could finally see it and she was so excited.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I plan on living a long life with all of you by my side. Thank you for…everything.”
Tony waved as he pushed himself up from the door frame and started to walk out of the tiny room. “Don’t thank me,” he said as he left. “Just focused on getting better.” With that Tony left leaving Jade and Kurt to talk.
Jade was at peace and she would end up being a valuable asset to all the teams she was a part of. But you know what she was known for the most? Being a fiercely loyal friend, willing to protect her family at all costs and being the one to stay by Kurt’s side until the end of time. The two went on to have a relationship many adored and envied. They said the day they almost lost each other was the day they found out they couldn’t live without each other. It was a startling realization caused by the bravery of all involved. It was the day Jade finally learned how to fly.