Stake Out

I settled down for the long haul. Somehow, sitting curled together in that same position wasn't as uncomfortable as it should be. My muscles and tendons didn't grow weary from the restrained position as they would've just earlier today.

Jessica's powers. Convenient.

A phone call started inside the cell room. The lawyer was a piece of work. Going through a messy divorce from her wife, from the sounds of her one-sided conversation.

Kevin wasn't any less of a piece of work. It didn't take long before the phone call was over before he'd gotten Hogarth's attention, and his voice carried through again. Offering to take care of her problem, make her wife go away quietly. Insidious.

She brushed him off. Silence. The sound of heels pacing slowly across the floor. Kevin occasionally tried to convince her again. Smarmy, but I could tell it was hitting a sore spot for the lawyer. Too long pauses before she brushed him off.

I'd slowly gotten a firmer hold on his ability. Direct obedience. Something he gave off in that diffuse aura that would make people close to him do exactly as he told. Time limited, but absolute.

It was taking a different shape in my body, just like Jake's power had. Not sure how yet, but it wasn't spreading out around me.

Probably an hour had passed when I sensed Jessica returning. I'd siphoned off at most a fifth of his power, probably less. Less than I'd gotten from Jessica due to the lack of proximity.

Hogarth and Jessica argued. She was going in, the cop hadn't agreed to come without evidence of Kevin's power. She was going to try to make him hurt her.

"For the record, you are?" That was Hogarth. They were filming.

"I, Jessica Jones, of sound mind and body, submit the following footage into evidence." An uncomfortable feeling squirmed in my stomach. I heard metal moving against metal.

Jessica's voice came through again. Seductive, but taunting. They argued. She wasn't getting anything. It got more and more physical. A harsh slap, and something slamming into a wall.

A new set of footsteps passed the door to my hiding spot, another female voice, but her discussion with Hogarth was too quiet for me to hear over the sounds of **** and failed interrogation coming from inside the cell.

Kevin was getting to her, making Jessica angry.

One set of footsteps retreated again.

Slam, crash, another burst of electricity. Then silence.

After a while I heard metal sliding against metal in the sudden quiet, light splashing. It took perhaps a minute before I heard the new voice conversing with Jessica again. Near whispering. Even in the quiet it was mostly too faint to catch what they were saying.

They replayed the footage. She hadn't gotten a thing out of him. Jessica blamed herself. No sound from Hogarth, so I assumed the lawyer was the one who'd left.

The sound of a crying child being played through the speakers. Supposedly of how Kevin got his powers. Unnerving.

They were moving around. Talking about investigating Kevin's parents. Angles they could pursue. Jessica was a PI. I didn't know anything about it, but she sounded like a good one.

Jessica ended up sitting on the floor, almost back to back with me, and despite how I was focusing on siphoning off the mind controller's powers, I could feel myself soaking up hers too, passively, just from the proximity.

I'd been here a long time. Couldn't check my tool, but it had to have been hours.

I should get home, make sure my moms didn't worry about me, and I was getting hungry too - but I couldn't tell where the powerless girl was, and I didn't want them to see me.

More than that, this was absolutely the most excitement I'd ever experienced. I wanted to stay, to help make it right, and yes... I also wanted to gain what I could in return.

The SHIELD Alliance testers had speculated my absorption limit would be a couple of low-grade powers, at most. I still didn't know what my limit was, but they were definitely wrong.

Jessica talked to Hope on the phone, tried to convince her not to accept the plea deal that the prosecutors had offered Hogarth.

"Don't give me that look. I'm getting her out of there."

Even if she was unstable, she did have decent priorities. Jessica left again. She thought she had a lead on Kevin's mother.

Not knowing where the other one was through anything except the faint bouncing sound of her footsteps. No conversation. Just pacing.

I crawled closer, away from the door and carefully settled down against the wall closest to Killgrave. Further into the room, I was actually more hidden. I settled down again, drawing as much of his power into me as I could.

It seemed to be settling in my body, focusing around my throat, my vocal chords, instead of the diffuse aura Kevin had.