part0120

O nce they were in the air, Jenna moved over to where Savage sat and pressed an ice pack to his head.

"Thanks." He took it from her so she could sit across from him. "Where did you learn to do shit like that, anyway?"

"Oh, I did some Panantukan when I was in my formative years," she replied and rolled her shoulders. "Yeah, I know a thing or two about how to bring the pain."

"That's really not what I meant," he said. He wasn't really a fan of Panantukan himself, but who was he to say anything at the moment?

"Oh...yeah, the docs said there might be physical changes, and they tested for them too," she said with a nod. "Along with altering my bone marrow to get rid of the leukemia, there was higher bone and muscular density with no apparent changes to agility and no loss in speed or stamina. They looked as confused as you do now."

He nodded but winced when the movement made his head hurt. "Well, fuck, kid, is there anything you can't do?"

"She shouldn't go for too long without food, that's for certain," Jessica interjected and patted the girl on the shoulder. "There's breakfast in the back if you want."

"I do, thanks." She bounded up and moved away quickly.

The woman took the empty seat. "How are you feeling?"

"I’ve been better, but I'll live," he said. "Thanks for the assist there. I didn't know you were that good with an assault rifle."

"I take time at the range when I have some to spare," she responded, her expression thoughtful. "I like her, by the way. She’s a spunky kid. She raced down to help you almost before I realized what was going on."

"She's something else," he agreed. "I like her too."

"Well, I know you're not up for it, but Courtney would like a fucking word," she said. "So...steel yourself, or something—whatever you stoic types do when you have to face shit."

"Let's get this over with." He knew it was coming. Monroe would want to make sure her investment would pay out, and there was nothing he could do to prevent that. He would have to simply grit his teeth and wait for whatever it was she needed to get off her chest.

The TV on the side of the cabin came to life, thanks to Anja, and Monroe's face appeared.

"Savage, Jessica," she greeted and nodded at them. "How are you two?"

"Not too bad," he said and continued to press the ice pack to the side of his head. "How about you?"

"It's been a long day, but I'm happy to say it's coming to an end." She sounded tired but upbeat, which he assumed boded well for their discussion. "Thanks to Anderson's contacts, I've been informed that there are currently a handful of warrants executed on the lab you broke into last night. They should be able to shut the facility down as well as recover our stolen devices without too much difficulty."

"Well, that's always good news," Savage said.

"How's the girl?" she asked. "Jenna, right?"

"She's...well, she's something else," Jessica said. "She's having breakfast as we speak."

"I was," Jenna said. She’d clearly heard her name and returned to Savage's side with a plate full of food. "Who are you?"

"Hi, Jenna, I'm Dr Courtney Monroe," she replied and a warm smile crossed her face. "It's good to know you all managed to get out of that whole situation uninjured."

"Thanks...I guess?" the girl said around her mouth full of food.

"Now that you're all in the clear, do you have any idea what we'll do with Jenna?" Monroe asked and directed the question to the other two.

"I'll be honest, I didn't think that far ahead," Savage admitted.

"I'm not surprised," his boss replied with a small smirk, and he chuckled.

"I actually had a couple of ideas on that," Jessica interjected quickly. "I do need to ask Jenna about it first, of course, but I thought that considering the situation she is in, she will still need medical supervision over the next couple of months to ensure that none of the side effects she might run into become life-threatening. It would also be interesting to conduct studies on what was done to her and see the effects of the goop in human bodies."

"How do you propose to do that?" Monroe asked.

"Well—and again, I would need to talk to Jenna about this—I thought she might move in with me and perhaps even be enrolled to complete her education."

Savage glanced at the young woman beside him. "How do you feel about that, kid?"

She shrugged. "Jessica seems cool enough. I don't mind it, so long as I'm not locked in a cage anymore."

"It would take a fair amount of adjustment—for the both of us, I should add—but I think we would have fun getting to know each other better, Jenna," Jessica said.

The girl smiled. "I'd like that. And does that mean Jer will come over to visit from time to time?"