Disclaimer. I don't own the source material.

Disclaimer two. This stopped being funny.

:}

Jade's eyes opened. At first, she had no idea where she was. A quick look around confirmed she wasn't in her lair. The walls were white, the bed was moderately comfortable, and she had all kinds of tubes and wires sticking in at various places. Then there was that annoying beep that she heard. Tit lacked even the most basic rhythm, seeming to lack any purpose, it was just some annoying beep that seemed to randomly happen. She tried to speak, discovering that at least one tube was suck down her throat.

'Okay, this is too comfortable to be hell, and too uncomfortable to be heaven. No heart beat, but I hear they mute those things these days.' Jade processed. 'Is purgatory like a hospital? Or should I just assume I'm in a hospital.' Slowly she became aware of the dull ache that emanated from most of her body.

Once she'd established she was alive, probably, and in a hospital, she debated her options. Not sure what happened, and how long she'd been out, Jade decided to follow the better part of valor, and slipped back unconscious.

Her eyes opened again as a nurse was checking in on her. "Hello dear. How're you feeling?" The woman was far too cheery. Jade still couldn't have hoped to answer, so she lay there giving the nurse her best glare. But a half dead patients best glare wasn't too intimidating. The nurse finished up, and left to do other things. Jade lay there, wishing someone would point her towards the TV, turn it on, and give her anything to think about except how much she was hurting.

"Tori's still mad at you." A voice to the side said. Jade tried to turn her head to see, but the effort was too painful. "But it's only been two days. I think she'll get over it."

The voice was familiar, but through the haze of the pain killers they had Jade on, she still couldn't quite make out who it was. "I hope you don't mind that I told her you lived. But, I had to do something. She was majorly wazzed. And oh yea, I saved you. Otherwise, when Golden Shield popped out of that incubator tube you had him in, he'd have found you dead. The last thing I wanted for him was to know he would be able to walk, but it cost you your life for him to finish healing."

A tear ran down Jade's face. She hadn't wanted Tori to see her die. That was why she'd rendered the girl unconscious with her concealed stunner, the one she carried for self defense. But Tori probably wasn't out long, Jade knew that. Jade had counted on not having to deal with the aftermath. Mostly, she didn't expect to live through the fight. Her gadgets usually didn't work the way she hoped they would, and several of hers were getting a field test. She hadn't even had the chance to give them a real lab test yet, and she took them into battle. But none of that mattered at that time. Her mission had been to save Trina and the Vega girls father, and then end Epic's reason for tearing up the city.

"You realize Tara's not too smart." The voice continued. For another second, Jade was confused, but the boy continued. "Told me about the base and everything as a form of pillow talk. That's how I where to go when you started fighting Epic. She'd told me about your safety switch, or panic button, or whatever you called it, and that when you got hurt, you'd appear back there. Still, despite me being close, I didn't get there until you were near dropping. I heard what you said in that vlog, so I knew I had to act fast. I pulled you out of the house and called 911. Other way around, actually. But they did miracles, saved your life, kept you alive until they could get you into surgery. I'd say you're gonna have a major scar, but we both know you'll just put yourself in that healing tube of yours and get rid of the evidence."

Jade finally knew who the voice belonged too. 'Andre?'

"Oh yea, Doctor Devastation is now dead. Tara, or rather Tiff, just finished a show where she told the world that you died in battle with Epic." The musician added. "I haven't told anyone but Tori where you are. I didn't think they needed to know."

He was pacing, burning off nervous energy as he continued. "But now I know things. I know Tori's dad is Golden Shield, and Trina is probably the second Golden Shield. And I know one of my closest friends was a super villain bent on conquering the world. Not sure what to do with all of that, but Tara's broadcast should help me deal with part of it. As I said, Doctor Devastation is dead. You, you'll be healed and back to normal in a bit, after you get out of here. Maybe four months. Maybe less. So the question remains, what do we tell Tori?"

Andre'd moved so he could look at her face, and for the first time after the fight Jade got a good look at him. Worry dug deep lines in his face. Jade had wanted to answer, but she couldn't speak, or write, or hardly move. Al she could do at that moment was exists.

Andre didn't get an answer that day. He left shortly after that conversation, and Jade was left to wander inside her mind as she waited for her body to heal. She managed to go over the success of the devices she''d used in the fight. She decided that the touch based Demotivater worked well enough, but was probably too powerful for use on normal people. The enhancer field, however, needed the defenses bulked up to help ward off future spear attacks. 'Maybe I can increase the strength and resilience, add some protections against piercing type attacks.' But other then that, they were both successes in their first field test. 'Now, how do I test my other devices?' she wondered.

Jade often needed to make things. It was like a compulsion somethings. It contributed to her arsenal as a villain, and gave her mind things to work on. Jade mostly liked creating things because she got tangible results. She could see if things worked or not, and didn't have to wait or please anyone but herself. 'I wish I could write this chiz down, maybe diagram some stuff, work out the mathematics.' Jade thought. It was frustrating.

Jade was also wondering if Andre had ditched her body armor and costume, since those things tend to raise red flags among hospital personal. 'Makes it hard to see a doctor after a battle. Luckily I'm functionally one, so I usually can take care of my own problems..' Jade thought. No one had arrested her, so she assumed they'd used the costume to back up the story of her demise.

The next day, early, Jade had a quick succession of visitors. First her father dropped by to check on her and openly wonder how she managed to get pierced by an I-beam. He concluded it was probably her fault. He left after letting her know how lucky she was that he had good insurance, and that his company insisted she be covered until she was twenty five.

Then her mother dropped by to check on her and make sure she was okay. By then Jade could sit the bed up, and had some use of her arms, despite the lingering pain. Of course, her mother took care of everything, Fluffing her pillow and making sure her blanket was covering her, and Jade actually enjoyed being babied for a bit. Then the doctor came by to remove the tubes sticking down her throat. She was informed that they'd successfully re-inflated her lung, and that things looked good. She was lucky, since the beam had hit the wrong side. If it'd been on the other side of her body, it'd have pierced her heart, and she wouldn't have lived to see the hospital. As is, it was closer then most of them would have liked.

Finally, just after one in the afternoon, Billy walked in. Billy, the shy, nerdy man who no one took a second look at. If they did, they would recognize him from his less then concealed identity, Doctor Horrible.

"Jade, Hi, um, you're alive." He stammered. He often had trouble asserting himself, or otherwise showing the confidence he showed as Doctor Horrible. Billy was still that insecure guy who wanted success in his chosen profession. Jade knew how hard it was for him to open up and talk to pretty girls. The same guy who could hold a city hostage would mumble when he tried to talk to the object of his affection, despite all the practice Jade had done with him.

Jade tried to talk, like she had just a short while ago when they removed the tubes. This time, it kinda worked, but her voice was scratchy, something the doctors had assured her would go away fairly quickly. "Hurt, and I screwed up. Vicky... Tori, she's not going to want to see me any more. I..." Jade descended into tears. Her mentor held her, as best he could, letting her cry things out.

After comforting his one time protege, Billy went on to update her on league business. "Bad Horse doesn't know you're alive. He did say that beating Epic was kinda epic, but you did it for the wrong reasons. But hey, you have a second chance now. Live, do your movies. If I hadn't known who you were, so I could check on you, see you were listed as alive, I would have been devastated. As is, your representation is calling it a bad home based accident, and you'll recover."

"I need something." Jade's voice scratched out. Billy gave her his undivided attention. "I need you to go to my lair and modify my healing tube. Make some kind of small device, and get me out of here. I can tell you where the schematics are."

"I'll do what I can, but no promises, okay." Billy said. "How do I get into your lair?"

"Give me your phone, I'll put Tara's number into it. I hope she's not working for some new villain right now." Jade quietly entered the contact number, but didn't bother to call. There were cell blockers throughout the hospital. "Call her, she can get you in through the hidden back door. The plans for the healing tube are on my computer there." she informed him.

"Jade, I'll do this for you, okay." Billy said. "Just get better. I can't lose another friend. If I do this, you have to get better."

'And then, I'll just disappear.' Jade thought, her heart aching from the decision. 'I can't hurt Tori any more.'

:}

One more chapter, and then we're done.

Billy is Doctor horrible, and if you've never seen it, he doesn't wear a mask, just some goggles he wears, usually on his for head as opposed to covering his eyes. So I guess I'm saying, not a secret identity. Still, people notice the costume more then the face, so he can go incognito.

Review, so I know you like it.