Chapter Text
"...Sir?"
The body laid limp against the moist rock of the cave. From the embedded icicles, came droplets of water; Each sharp point momentary becoming round, before the inevitable disconnect. The water mixed with the blood, both dried and new. Nova couldn't determine whether or not what she was looking at was a corpse, or if it was the body of someone who needed help. They eyed the area further beyond, expectantly waiting for something, or someone to appear. But the cave remained quiet.
Her hand reaches out and gently pulls on their shoulder, causing them to roll painfully slow onto their back.
Nova jumped back, tripping on her own feet, then crawling back on all fours until she was a few feet away. Her eyes were wide and she was visibly shaken. Turning her head, she faced the way she came and then back to the body.
She stood up quickly and moved to retract back home, but she heard the almost silent shuffle.
Her head whipped back, as she watched him cough and struggle to move. This was her chance. If she left now, there was a possibility that he wouldn't bother going deeper into the cave. He was injured. Almost deathly so from what she could see. She just needs to avoid being seen-
"Hey-"
Jack’s raspy voice was cut short when he began to choke on his words. He manages to sit up, though he was quick to hunch over in pain. He eyes her over his blood-covered hand. Before finally falling to his side.
Nova watches silently, almost hoping that he was dead. She had half the mind to quickly escape, whilst he was still unconscious, but she knew she couldn’t risk him trying to find her if he awoke again. The agonising silence pricked at her conscience, she knew the risks of exposing her home to Jack but living with his blood on her hands wasn’t a tempting option.
The sound of clothes scratching against the rough cave ground caused Nova to grimace. She didn’t doubt that thanks to the various sharp rocks, the back of his shirt was now tattered and ripped; The small trails of blood that began to appear were a cause for concern.
By the time they had reached the doors of the laboratory, she wasn’t even sure if he was still alive.
She did what she could to hoist him up onto the metal table and was quick to place an ear to his chest. There was a heartbeat.
She didn’t know what she would have done if he had died. There weren’t many places she could bury him and she certainly wasn’t going to risk going outside. At least not for his sake. She shudders at the thought of people lingering around, looking for Jack.
Nova dashes around the room, slamming cupboards closed with newly added desperation. She barely knew anything when it came to medicare; Her expertise lay only in plants and animals, and she was certain that Jack didn’t have the time to wait for a plant remedy to heal him.
Not to mention, if Jack were to die, would that make her a murderer? An accomplice of sorts? Surely allowing him to die, would have its consequences. That’s if they ever found him.
She wiped the sweat from her brow as she cut away at Jack's tattered and bloody clothing.
His chest seemed to carry most of the wounds; bullet wounds were scattered around and Nova noticed that not all the holes reflected on the other side. Meaning that she would have to remove the bullets before she could dress his wounds.
The removal went about as smoothly as it could, considering that she was blindly picking at his insides. She could almost wince at the lacklustre job she did at sewing him up.
She hoped that once he awoke he wasn’t planning on moving. Like, at all. She didn’t have it in her to sit there for another two hours. After removing the gloves from her hands, she sits among one of the only clean counters and watches Jack's bare chest rise now and then.
Most of what surrounded them were vials or jars filled with samples; long discarded, dust collected on their surfaces.
The laboratory walls were a dull silver, rusting with a copper tint from the bottom up, adamantly showing its lack of care over the years.
For what it’s worth, the various scratches on the wall indicated that Nova sought to hold some resistance to the inevitable ageing of the walls. Just below the wall laid several cloths and scrubbers, all painted with the same rust and dirt.
Her efforts seemed to have worsened the condition of the wall, adding bright silver lines that contrasted against the dirted walls.
The Fridge was one of the most secure and appropriate locations for what the association were trying to achieve, at least at the time. Compared to what remained of the old labs, Nova didn’t feel all too bad about the mess.
Nova felt as if some kind of sick fate was at play; she didn’t often leave the grounds of the labs and she had only left on a whim, planning on adventuring only as far as the crystalisks.
The Crystalisks were one of the few remaining projects of the association. Their existence was the combination of a bullymong and the crystals that inhabited the cave of The Fridge. After being genetically modified, the creatures were far less hostile, only opting to attack if bothered.
That was the point of all their projects and their modifications, to control their hostility without rendering them defenceless. Although the changes were small, some would say pointless, it was a step closer to a better future for Pandora. At least, that’s what her parents would tell her.
Her parents weren’t around by the time of the accident. They had left prior when the opportunity to study at the Wildlife Preserve was available. Nova tried her best not to recall the pain of knowing that she would never see her parents again.
Maybe that’s why she brought him here. Despite trying to delude herself with good intentions, she knew she didn’t have any.
Nova found herself spoiled with time, of course, she had her daily chores, check-ups… but she knew Jack wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. She may not be knowledgeable in fixing up bullet holes, but she knew plenty about anaesthesia.
Jack grunted and tried his utmost to move in his barely conscious state. He was just able to open his eyes, but what met him reminded him of the jail cells back on Helios. He had just about convinced himself that where he was, but the woman who looked at him distastefully was anything but familiar.
If her large clothing was any indication, the chill he was feeling wasn’t just due to the metal table.
“Do you know where you are?”
Jack raised a brow, as he began to feel his eyes strain from the awkward angle he was staring at her with.
“No?”
“Good.”
With that, she promptly left the room.
Jack stared at the ceiling with disbelief.
“Hey, if-” His voice came out raspy “your planning on doing the whole ‘torture routine’, maybe… don’t?”
He was quiet for a moment, waiting to hear anything to indicate anyone was listening. He heard nothing. He did his best to look around the room, trying to find any cameras but was unable to find any.
He released an aspirated sigh in between hoarse coughs.
“‘Cause, y’know. I’m one of Tassitors’ best employees. If anything happens to me, who knows what he’ll do.” There was no reply. “Well, let’s hope this tracking chip in my neck ain’t for nothing.”
There’s a bang from outside the room and quickly after the woman walks in. She paces the room, arms crossed and a frown on her face.
Jack smirked at her when she glared at him.
“You said your neck, right?” The woman walked over to one of the metal counters and picked something up “It shouldn’t be too hard to remove.”
When she turned around, Jack sees her holding a scalpel.
“You can’t!” Jack tried his best to move, but his limbs remained still. “It’ll explode.”
The woman raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him.
“Yeah, you heard me. It’ll explode. Doesn’t seem like the best outcome for either of us.”
“What kind of tracking device has a self-destruct feature?”
“The Hyperion kind…?”
She rolls her eyes, dropping the scalpel onto the counter as she leans against it.
“You could just return me. I’m sure nothing too bad will happen to you.” Her eyes narrowed at him “Helios’ security must be lacking, you don’t even have as much as a scratch on you. You’re Pandoran, right?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Jack matched the weird look she gave him.
“You managed to get into Helios, kidnap an employee and get back to wherever the fuck this is. I’d say ‘well done’, but I’m not exactly feeling up to it.”
She pulled her coat closer to her chest and walked over to Jack.
“If you’re feeling nice, could really do with some painkillers.”
“Who are you?”
“Geez, you couldn’t have the courtesy to at least learn my name before kidnapping me?” She stared unimpressed. “Name’s John, but my friends call me Jack.”
The room went silent. Nova’s mouth hung open slightly and her brows furrowed. Nova didn’t consider the extent of his injuries. She knew first-hand the damage done to his chest and back, but a head injury hadn’t even crossed her mind.
Jack flinches as her hand reaches for his head. He watches her face scrunch up in confusion as she examines his head.
There was no bump, no blood, nothing to indicate any reason for his memory loss. Perhaps it was shock. Maybe she gave him a little too much anaesthesia-
“You aren’t like actually planning on killing me, are you? I think that chip needs a live carrier… might explode if you try and off me.”
Nova removed her hands and crossed her arms.
“...you were lying about the chip.”
“Perhaps I went a little hard on the sell.” Jack tried to avoid her piercing gaze “This is awkward.”
Nova scoffed and left the room, but she could still be heard from Jack's spot on the table.
Echo-logs lay scattered on the hard floor, disregarded from Nova’s moment of panic. Most were at the most scratched but Nova was left to pick up the glass fragments and pieces of one of her newest entries.
“I didn’t kidnap you. I saved you.” Nova called
“Saved me?” He questions “From Hyperion?”
“No.” She stood up, her echo logs and broken fragments in her hands. “I found you in the tunnels and I patched you up.”
She walked back into the room and placed the item on the counter. She notices that Jack had managed to sit up and that he was slowly regaining his ability to move.
His hand graze his chest gently, feeling at the bandages that wrapped around his torso. He glances back at Nova who is reading the labels on the echo-logs.
“Don’t move too much, you’ll rip your stitches.”
After organising the echo-logs, she begins to examine the mess of yesterday's entry. She knew that not much could be done to salvage the log, but she didn’t want to admit it was broken for the sole purpose that doing so would mean that she would have to recreate it.
Jack watched as she poked at the broken echo-log, seemingly despising its existence.
“Whats the diary for?”
“It’s for-” Nova sends a quick glare his way “It’s none of your business.”
Pushing the logs aside, Nova focuses her full attention on Jack.
“and for the record, it's not a diary.” She refuted.
Jack throws his hands up in mock surrender, wincing slightly from the movement.
“Y’know, since we’re pals now,” Nova raises an eyebrow “maybe you could…I don't know, let me go?” He finished quickly
“I can’t”
“Yeah, I thought you would say something like that-!” He luges from the table, bee-lining out the door.
For a moment, Nova only stared at the doorway that Jack had basically thrown himself through. She holds back a grin, only to grimace at the sound of a door being unlatched. The Reserve.
By the time she had gotten to the door, Jack had already pushed through the gap of the heavy door. The second she enters she hears a scream.
“What the fuck is that?!”