Jessica could barely recognize herself in the mirror.
With her hands clenched together, she stretched her arms over her head, and her leather jacket crinkled roughly against her shirt. She hadn't worn it in months, and it felt alien.
The door opened behind her, and she jumped slightly at the noise without turning around.
"I still don't understand why you feel the need to wear that. It makes you look stocky," Kilgrave said quietly, walking up and observing her from behind.
Jessica looked at him from over her shoulder, her revulsion at that statement thoroughly suppressed. "I can't fight in a dress."
That got a small nod out of him, at least. "Okay, okay, fair enough, but I still don't think it's very threatening. Don't you want to wear a costume or something?"
They exchanged a brief glance, and she narrowed her eyes at the question.
"…Alright, point taken," he added, shrugging.
With a sigh, Kilgrave closed the distance between them and kissed her lightly on the cheek. She was all too conscious of her inability to recoil from it.
"Coming, Jessica? We're not exactly going to fight crime on the top floor, you know."
"I'm coming."
She followed him into the parlor, where he stopped short against the counter so he could turn around and face her.
"Here's the story: a pair of dastardly rogues rob a pawn shop at gunpoint and flee the scene- by the time the police arrive, they are nowhere to be seen. They nearly get away with it, but what do you know? Out of the blue, they are stopped by two plucky, intrepid superheroes, who apprehend them on the spot and turn them over to the police." He gesticulated wildly as he spoke, like the he found the idea exciting.
Jessica thought about it for a little while before responding. "You mean the police were contacted about this already?"
"I mean, I got the news from a police scanner, so of course they've heard about it." Disappointed with Jessica's lack of enthusiasm, he pouted at her before continuing. "But they aren't being pursued. The police lost them at the crime scene. So now the two of them are on the run."
"Sounds like we will just be getting in the way of an investigation."
"Well, that's the whole point, isn't it? We don't need all the red tape and bureaucracy of the police. All we need is our wits and our will!"
She watched him suspiciously for a while, off-put. He had said he wanted to do this because she wanted to, but the more he spoke the more it seemed he was genuinely looking forward to it.
Then again, it's not as though he would have ever agreed to do it if he didn't want to.
"And how are we supposed to find a pair of criminals if they fled the scene?" Jessica asked sharply, arms crossed.
"I dunno, I was thinking I would just… ask," he replied, grinning cheekily.
He opened the door as he spoke, gesturing for Jessica to follow him into the hall and out to the elevator. She trailed a little behind, and as such Kilgrave was already waiting with the elevator door open when a voice stopped her short.
"Jessica! Morning!" It was their neighbor, Jordan. He and his wife were the only other people rich enough to live on the top floor of the building, and they both wanted to be much closer friends than Jessica did.
"Morning!" Kilgrave called out, stopping the elevator door with one hand.
…He, on the other hand, seemed eager to have actual neighbors. He always entertained them, for some reason. Probably to help the husband and wife fantasy…
"Zeb! Caught you both, did I?" Jordan asked with a booming laugh.
Zeb, short for Zebediah. Talk about inconspicuous. Kilgrave thought he was the only one who needed an alias, which bothered Jessica a little for a reason she couldn't quite explain.
Kilgrave threw up his hands guiltily, smiling. "Yes, well, we're actually headed out; in a bit of a rush, to be honest… right, sweetheart?"
Jessica froze for a moment, then shrugged a little in Jordan's direction. "Yeah, well, you know. Stores close so damn early…"
"Right, right… I don't mean to keep you, of course. I just saw you headed out and figured I should say hello."
"As you well should," Kilgrave replied lightly. "It does get a bit tiresome, just the two of us, isolated in that little apartment." He tugged on his sleeve a little, thoughtful. "We're still on for dinner this weekend?"
"Of course. I've been looking forward to it."
"Excellent, so have we…" Trailing off as he remembered the time-sensitive nature of their trip, Kilgrave stepped forward a bit to look Jordan eye-to-eye. "Okay, leave. We'll see you later."
Jessica shuffled into the elevator next to him as he tapped on the button to take them to the ground floor. From outside, Jordan paused momentarily as though wanting to say something, but before he got a chance, he turned on his heel and returned to his apartment without another word.
Funny how people always seem to forget about those little interactions, Jessica thought.
"He's really quite nice, isn't he?" Kilgrave murmured absentmindedly.
The pawn shop that got robbed was only a few blocks away from Kilgrave's apartment, and the small park nearby seemed like the most likely place to search. Even if it was just some small part of her, Jessica still knew the right places to look for people that didn't want to be found.
The crowd grew sparse as Jessica and Kilgrave cut through, with Kilgrave tossing out throwaway questions to anyone who would listen. Anyone that didn't immediately confess to a robbery was brushed aside… if only investigations were always so easy.
Catching sight of a pair that fit Kilgrave's description, Jessica tapped on his arm, and the two of them tailed their master thieves as far from the road as possible, just to clear out the majority of the bystanders. With the foot traffic now sparse enough for a confrontation, Kilgrave held out a hand to let Jessica step forward first.
And, finally, Jessica did. She eyed them up for a moment before saying anything- it was just a couple of scrawny guys in hoodies and blue jeans. The one in front had a shopping bag full of stolen goods, like they didn't even know they were supposed to hide it. Amateurs, obviously.
"Jesus, you serious? You're just gonna tote it around? You realize you're robbers, right?" Jessica approached with crossed arms, Kilgrave watching with amusement from behind.
The pair, bewildered and a little amused, exchanged a glance before turning to Jessica.
"Yeah? What's it to you?" asked the one in front, tilting his head.
"Doesn't make a difference. Hand over the bag, dude. The cops are already looking for you."
"You called the cops? You really have no clue, do you?"
"As a matter of fact, I didn't call the cops; I assume the shop owner did when your stupid ass didn't think to cover your face before getting caught on security footage."
"Who is this bitch-?"
Shocked at Jessica's forwardness, the guy in front glanced to the one in the back and threw up his hand, and he immediately pulled a gun out of his coat.
…Oh, yeah. Armed robbery. Jessica was taken off-guard for a half-second, though she knew better than to let that be known.
Throwing up both hands in front of him to aim, the armed thief took a step forward, scowling in some strained attempt to look intimidating. "Back up, lady, you don't know what-"
"Drop it," Kilgrave called out lazily from the back, looking at his fingernails.
He did, immediately releasing the gun so that it clattered harmlessly to the ground.
The other one- the younger guy in front- flipped around, now staring with disbelief. "Dude, what the fuck? Are you serious? You didn't actually have to-"
"Hey. Jackass," Jessica snickered. "I'm still here, you know."
These two were just a couple of morons. Young twenty-something jackass kids, tattered clothes… the kinds of hapless ne'er-do-well that are probably just out doing this because they ran out of weed money.
"You have got to be kidding me," said the one in front, setting down the bag at his feet. "Look, I don't want to hurt you, lady."
"Yeah, y'know, I really wasn't too worried about that."
"God."
Clearly tired of arguing, he lunged forward and hit Jessica squarely in the chest, forcing her back a single step. He was clearly pissed and trying to hurt her, but she barely even felt it. Superhumans, these guys were not. From behind her, she heard Kilgrave snicker at the sheer audacity of the attack.
Smirking very slightly, she cracked her neck, crossing her arms like a disappointed parent. "Alright, got that out of your system?"
"Wh- how the hell did you…?"
"I eat my spinach. Don't worry about it." Taking a half-step forward, Jessica thrust her wrist casually into his chest, sending him flying into his buddy behind him. It was a pretty weak blow, but it still left the two of them floundering on the ground like morons.
And Jessica had to admit, it did feel a little satisfying. A few of the passerby even stopped to watch out of admiration.
"Christ-!" exclaimed the one Jessica hit, crawling on all fours off of his buddy and clutching his chest. "You're- Christ, this can't be happening…"
"Dude, shut up," groaned the other one. "Just… shut up…"
"God damn it."
Jessica glanced at Kilgrave briefly, who nodded at her with approval. He could have stopped them much more easily himself, but she knew that in his mind this was supposed to be her treat…
Pulling aside one of the spectators, Jessica held out a hand, speaking quietly. "Call the police and let them know we caught these guys. Don't give names." She let that thought hang for a moment before turning to the rest of the crowd. "Alright, people. Move it along. Nothing else to see."
The rest of the spectators, by now mostly losing interest anyway, returned to the footpath, leaving Jessica and Kilgrave alone with the two thugs they just stopped.
…Well, mostly alone.
"Jessica Jones?" cried out a shrill voice.
One of the spectators- the last to leave- took a few steps closer to examine Jessica's face. It was a familiar-looking middle aged woman, but Jessica couldn't place her.
"Wh- what?" murmured Jessica.
"Jessica Jones?" the woman repeated. "…That's you, right?"
She glanced over her shoulder at Kilgrave, who seemed stunned. This was… not expected, to say the least. Not exactly keeping a low profile, as Kilgrave had wanted.
"Sorry," Jessica replied hurriedly, "you're thinking of someone else."
"No, no! It's definitely you. From Alias Investigations!" The woman nodded in affirmation, tilting her head as she studied Jessica. "Don't worry, I want to thank you-! You helped me; I mean, you found that whore that my husband was-"
"Listen, lady," Jessica snapped automatically. The interruption gave her a moment of pause, like it was just occurring to her exactly why she needed to turn this woman away.
And there, just for one moment, Jessica had a little bit of freedom. A totally independent thought.
She had to save this woman's life.
"You're wrong," Jessica said fiercely. "We haven't met. Don't make a scene out of this."
"I'm… sorry…?" the woman responded, obviously confused. "I'm not trying to make a scene, I just wanted to-"
"Shut up!" Jessica barked. "Get out of here! We don't know each other."
"O- okay… I mean, I don't know what I…"
The woman trailed off as she switched her gaze from Jessica to Kilgrave. She seemed confused, almost suspicious… but if she would just leave, maybe…
"Ah, shit," said Kilgrave.
Whatever little bit of freedom Jessica was feeling snuffed out at the sound of Kilgrave's voice.
"Don't move. Don't speak," Kilgrave commanded to the woman, before he turned away from her entirely. "For God's sake… I didn't want this; really, I did not want this." Pressing two fingers into his temple, Kilgrave paced around the sidewalk for a while, the woman staring speechless at him the whole time. "Alright… alright, to hell with it. Jessica…?" He twirled his hand a little as he called out Jessica's name.
Jessica stared at the woman for a little while, Kilgrave's words lingering on her mind. That wasn't a command; it shouldn't matter that he spoke, but then why… would he…?
Time slowed down. Kilgrave's voice echoed around inside her head. He wanted to keep a low profile; that was what he said earlier… it was the last thing that Jessica wanted. She wondered if anyone even knew that she was alive. For a second, she thought about Malcolm, and Ruben, and Robyn… and Trish.
…And by the time she realized what was going on, she was already murdering the woman on the sidewalk in cold blood.
Moving like an automaton, she watched her fist plow into the woman's face, over and over. She died from the first punch. Her skull fractured from the second. Before long, there was nothing left but a smear of brain and shattered bone, a gallon of blood draining from her neck hole and running into the storm drain.
Jessica kept throwing her fist down, shattering the concrete where the woman's head used to be. Her face and jacket became spattered a little bit with the woman's blood and the former contents of her head, and then a bit more, and a bit more. The blows kept coming, kicking up grey dust and dirt and little bits of stone from the sidewalk that now contained numerous fist-sized dents. Eventually Jessica shut her eyes to protect herself from the debris.
Kilgrave said "Stop," and she froze halfway in the middle of the motion, before she could even register the words. After a second, she slumped down onto her knees in front of the corpse, breathing heavily.
"Good Lord, Jessica, what are you doing…?" Kilgrave asked in a hushed murmur, running a hand through Jessica's hair as he looked over the bloodied spot on the sidewalk. Jessica didn't know how to answer his question.
"Sorry," she said quietly.
"Why in the world did you do this…?"
"You just- I thought you…" Jessica whispered, more to herself than to him. "She recognized me, and you wanted to lie low, and…"
"God, you made this mess of her just to protect me…?"
"You- that was what you wanted, so…"
Jessica's voice grew softer the longer she spoke, tears welling up a little as she looked over the body of the woman she just murdered. She was red with blood, which ran off the ends of her coat and dripped onto her jeans.
"God, Jessica… poor thing…" hummed Kilgrave, voice obviously full of pity. "Go on, stand up…"
Jessica stood, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"It's alright, Jessica. It's done with now."
Kilgrave murmured to himself as he thought to himself, keeping Jessica close to his side and running his hands over her arms and through her hair.
"I'm really speechless, Jessica," he continued slowly. "It's been slow between us, but… you really have gone to such lengths to protect me…"
"That was what you wanted," Jessica repeated, hollow.
"I love you, Jessica."
Having run out of words, Kilgrave placed a hand to turn Jessica's head toward him, and pressed his lips against hers. The blood on her face transferred to his, in what had to be some kind of twisted romantic gesture.
Jessica returned the kiss passionately, her eyes firmly shut and still stinging with tears.
The two of them, eventually, broke apart, and Kilgrave placed a hand against Jessica's back to lead her away from the scene. She got a head start on him, but Kilgrave hung back for just a moment.
The two thugs from earlier cowered together on the ground, both absolutely speechless. Kilgrave clasped his hands together as he leaned over them, his face bloodstained.
He took a breath, then spoke as firmly as ever. "Don't you tell a soul what you saw here. Not 'till the day you die."