Burning down the clinical trial documentation was far from enough. Jessie knew that the moment she stepped out of the small office and back into the labs, closing the door behind her as quickly and as quietly as possible.

The men in white threw her a fleeting glance, but since she'd come out after Lee Hannigan had caught her at it, they all assumed everything was fine, that she could be trusted. They couldn't be more wrong.

Unfortunately, she didn't have much time until smoke would make its way under the door and into the lab, alerting everyone of what she had done. Her skin still crawling and her mind spinning, she made her way among tables filled with complicate chemistry sets. She was too bad at this, having no idea how to effectively sabotage the actual drugs. Did they have the samples stored somewhere?

A quick glance revealed what looked like giant refrigerator in one corner of the room. Upside, it was the most likely place and it was in the same room as the rest of the developing formulas. Down side... She still had no idea how to destroy everything in the next minute. Unless...

How explosive was this stuff? The thought sent a knot to her throat. If it was powerful enough to cause an explosion, it could also end up killing her or incapacitating her. And she had absolutely no idea how to make it blow up anyway. So she'd had to do what she was good at.

With well-practiced entitlement, she strode towards the back of the room and the large refrigerator. The moment she pulled the door open, a wave of cold had goosebumps erupting up her arms and vapor coming out. She hadn't been wrong, though. The thing was filled with phials upon phials of milky white liquid. Before anyone could ask what she was doing, she reached inside and dragged her arm on the surface of the first shelf, sending all phials and containers to the floor. They smashed with a satisfyingly loud noise.

"What are you doing?"

Of course they'd ask, but she ignored them and made short work of the second shelf. Footsteps rang behind her, so she turned around, pointing the gun she'd confiscated from Lee.

"Stay away from me," she said between her teeth, using her free arm to continue destroying potential serum samples.

All the scientists backed away, hands raised and faces weary. Understandable since they had absolutely no training on how to deal with an armed lunatic. It gave Jessie the opportunity to finish destroying everything in the refrigerated cabinet, but that still left everything they were working on.

Her plan only went so far. With a shaky hand, she aimed at the largest vessel bubbling with a purple concoction and shot it. Glass shattered in all directions, but nothing more spectacular happened.

"Stop," someone yelled. "You're ruining everything." 

That was actually her intention, so she moved deeper between the many tables, towards the exit, taking aim at random dishes, vessels and phials. She had to keep in mind that she didn't have infinite bullets, but she had no idea what was important and what wasn't.

The terrified glances surrounding her didn't clue her in either. The fear and confusion she was creating increased tenfold once someone finally noticed smoke coming from the office. The closest man opened the door and the orange light of flames flickered over the nearest tables.

"Someone get an extinguisher!"

Extinguisher, right. Jessie switched her aim and shot the nearest fire extinguisher. She'd expected it to blow up and maybe fill the room with foam. What she hadn't expected was for it to shoot across the room and towards her. She ducked right in time to avoid a hit full in the face. The metal crashed against the large window overlooking the hallway and exploded into tiny metal shards.

Jessie wasn't sure what happened once the shards speared more phials filled with experimental substances, but the next thing she knew, something really did explode, shaking the building. The wave of flames and heat pushed her back and through the window, into the cold hallway beyond. Somewhere above, an alarm started blaring and the sprinkler system activated. 

Water dripping on her face, she got to her hands and knees. Her elbows were shaking and everything was muffled. Liquid trickled down the sides of her face and she was too afraid to check if it was water or blood from her eardrums. Her entire body ached and her head buzzed. The screaming behind her made it even harder to focus. She forced herself to glance over her shoulder. The entire lab seemed to be on fire, and people were milling about, using the remaining fire extinguishers to try and put it out.

Good enough. It had to be good enough, because there was nothing else she could do. Even with her senses malfunctioning, she knew she had to get out of the hallway, knew that other people would be coming to put out the fire, undo the damage she had done. Undo her. 

There was only one place to retreat to, though she had no idea how long that would last.

Still on her hands and knees, she scurried across the hall and pushed the code to Jimmy's door. Once it closed behind her, she was left in a cool, silent room. Jimmy stood in front of the nearest glass wall, a frown on his face.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I destroyed it. Destroyed everything." She pushed herself to her feet. Her muscles ached, but she could stand, walk. "I need to get you out."

Jimmy glanced past her shoulder and retreated into the shadowy part of his cage. She frowned, but before she could ask, heat filled the room before the door shut again.

"You!"

Lee Hannigan's voice cut through the silence. Jessie didn't even have time to turn properly before his hand cupped the back of her neck and he shoved her forward. Her face hit the glass wall of Jimmy's cage. The barrel of a gun stuck to her side, digging painfully against her ribs.

"You bitch, you almost killed me," he breathed, forcing her to bend lower. "Did you think you could get away with this, with what you've done?"

Actually, that was exactly what she'd hoped. Not a lot of people knew the code to this room, but of course Lee would be one of the few who did and wouldn't stay knocked down. She didn't bother answering. Instead, she tried to even her breathing, to gain an ounce of strength and fight back. It didn't help much. Every inch of her hurt.

"Do you have any idea just how much damage you've done? I should kill you right now and get it over with!"

"Then stop running your mouth and do it," she said between her teeth. She was screwed anyway. No point in listening to Hannigan more than she absolutely had to.

His hold on her neck tightened and the gun dug deeper into her skin. She didn't think she could be in more pain, but she'd been wrong. Her knees shook with the effort to keep standing in such an uncomfortable position. Her ears still rang and the skin on her arms burned.

"I'm starting to think that would be too easy. Especially after what you did to me back in the office. What if I take your word for it?" He ran the gun over her breasts.

He had to be joking. With the labs on fire, this was his approach? "Get your hands off me!" She swiped back, but missed.

"Is that so? You were claiming you need a man."

"You're not a man, so your argument is void."

He pushed harder into her, thrusting his pelvis against her butt and forcing her against the glass. "I'd be careful what I say. There aren't many people who have the code to get in here."

This couldn't be happening. Not in a moment when her body failed her and she couldn't protect herself. A knot formed in her chest, powerful and raging, asking for control. If he touched her, she would let it out. One way or another, this wasn't happening.

A shadow loomed above them, and Jessie suspected Jimmy had decided to join the party. The creature inside her subsided. She wasn't sure if the realization gave her hope or terrified her.

"Let her go," he said, his voice resembling a growl.

"Oh, but this is perfect." Lee let out a high, cruel laugh. "Not only do I get to put you in your place, but he can watch."

Despite the death grip on her neck, she managed to turn and glance over her shoulder. She knew Lee was a slimeball, but she wouldn't have gone as far as to call him a rapist. The way he licked his lips said otherwise. The white noise in her ears grew louder.

"The sweetest punishment." The hand from her neck was removed, but the gun was still there. "If you move, I'll shoot you. And in a non-lethal place meant to incapacitate you, not kill you. I want you alive and aware for this."

"If you touch me, I swear to God..."

"What? Exactly what is it that you're going to do?"

He had her there. At the moment, there was nothing she could do beside hope that the serum would finally take her and solve the problem. But as she turned her tear-filled eyes forward and caught sight of Jimmy, none of that mattered. 

His eyes seemed to burn with a black fire that had the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. His entire body was tense, like a spring about to snap, and a muscle twitched in his jaw. In all the years they'd been together, Jessie had never been more afraid of him.

"Duck," was all he said.

She instantly listened. Her knees could no longer hold her, so she fell over. In a moment, the sound of shattering glass filled her ears and shards rained on top of her. Jimmy stepped over her, his fist raised again, his knuckles bloody. Before she could even turn, Lee lay knocked out against the opposite wall. Blood trickled from his temple to his chin and his eyes rolled into his head.

"Jimmy..." She had no idea what to say, what to do.

"Come on, we need to get out of here." He threw Hannigan one last disgusted look, then turned back, grabbed her hand and yanked her up. "You look like shit."

"I sort of flew through a window," she said, trying to compute everything that was happening. 

He was touching her. They hadn't touched in months, and yet the heat of his skin was so familiar. It filled her with a dire need to hug him, hold him tightly against her, but this was not the time.

He didn't seem half interested in the matter and he let her go the moment she stood on her own. "Which way?"

There was only one way out of that room, and they had to move quickly. So she took the lead and headed towards the door, aiming a kick at Hannigan on the way. She never wanted to have to see or think about that creep ever again.

The hallway was filled with people milling around the labs, but they had their backs turned, so no one paid them any mind. Jessie veered left and started walking at a brisk pace, Jimmy by her side. If only they could reach the end of the hall, they could take the stairs. Most people took the elevator, even if they were only on the second floor, so it would be at least a little safer.

"How high are we?" Jimmy asked as if reading her mind.

"Second floor. Why?"

"Because we're being followed." And without another word, he grabbed her hand again and he sprinted forward.

Jessie did her best to keep up, but the high heels were really starting to bother her. Add that to the increasing number of bad decisions she'd made that day.

"Hey, stop!" someone yelled from behind.

Before they could reach the door to the stairs, another few security guards blocked their path. Shit! She would've rather done this without having to beat up Agency personnel. Though that was out of the question as soon as the people in front of them pulled out guns. She faltered, wanting to stop, to turn back, but Jimmy yanked her harder to the left.

In the second before it happened, she realized what he wanted to do. Then his arms were around her and the sound of shattered glass filled her ears again. More adrenaline pumped through her, throwing her heart into a dizzying dance.  Air whooshed through her hair, then she hit something soft. She blinked, trying to process what had just happened. The smell of trash confirmed that they'd landed in a garbage container. The many garbage bags had broken their fall.

"Come on." With enviable speed and balance, Jimmy rolled out of the container and onto the asphalt.

She joined him, every muscle in her body screaming in agony, so sick of glass, of pain and urgency. They'd ended up in the parking lot behind the building. She could see her car from there. Out of instinct, she patted her pockets, but there was nothing.

"Shit, I dropped my keys." They could be anywhere, from the labs to the garbage.

"We're not taking your car anyway."

Fair point. Which also made her realize that she didn't care that she no longer had her phone. She'd deposited at the entrance, in a security box, as was requested of her, and she'd gladly leave it there. It was nothing but a tracker at this point anyway. Much like her car, probably.

Jimmy ran across the parking lot and stopped next to a blue sedan. He elbowed the window, smashing it to pieces and setting off the alarm. In a second, he was inside and the alarm stopped. By the time Jessie reached the car, he'd already hotwired it and started the engine. Her butt had barely hit the passenger seat when he raced off with the sound of screeching tires. She managed to close the door a second before it would've hit the fence.

They exited the Agency facility parking lot and headed towards the exit out of the compound. Jessie's fingers curled around the edges of her seat as the lowered barrier approached at alarming speed. He didn't care to slow down and rammed straight into it, throwing it back. The windshield cracked a little, but they were out.

Free. The wind from the broken window on Jimmy's side sent her hair flying into her eyes.

Her pulse still drummed madly and she couldn't process everything that had happened in the last fifteen minutes. Setting fire to the research, the explosion in the lab, Lee Hannigan attempting to force himself on her. Jimmy. Jimmy shattering the wall of the cage, pulling her out, hurling her out the window.

Shattered glass. So much shattered glass.

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy...

She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them tightly. She didn't even dare look at him. A part of her was terrified, wondering if he still remembered how to drive properly. But he could obviously remember a lot of things. Her glance drifted towards his knuckles. They were red, but there was no blood, just scrapes. The wound had closed already.

She wanted to ask where they were going, what they would do now, but her mouth refused to open. He was the helpless one, technically. She was supposed to know. Except she didn't. At the moment, she had nothing but this temporary freedom, a chance to calm down and assess just how screwed they were.

A shiver of fear ran down her spine once she realized she had no tranquilizers with her, nothing to give him to control him, to make sure he wouldn't hurt her. She'd always avoided sedating him, but at least she'd had the choice.

"Which way?"

His words snapped her out of her bleak thoughts. They'd reached the crossroads leading away from the facility. Her little beach house and Malibu were to the left, but as much as she wished she could tell him to go that way, it was impossible. Whether she like it or not, they were officially on the run.

"Go right. My house is the first place they would look."

He swerved without commenting and continued driving towards LA, though at a much slower pace. Probably to blend in. It wasn't hard to do, not even with a busted window. The thing was, now that they were fast approaching LA, she needed to figure out what to do, where to go.

Jimmy didn't ask where they were going again, just drove around aimlessly. The more the silent seconds ticked by, the more nervous Jessie became. Even if being on the move gave her a sense of safety, she knew it wouldn't last. The car came from the Agency so it was obviously bugged.

After another twenty minutes of random driving, they abandoned the car on a shady side street in one of the rougher neighborhoods, keys in the ignition, and continued on foot. It was so odd to walk next to him without holding hands, without touching him in any way. Her teeth clattered and her stomach twisted and turned with nausea as her adrenaline rush faded. Her muscles still ached and she was pretty sure she was covered in blood, but that didn't matter when she was walking next to a stranger. A potentially dangerous stranger. It was impossible to reconcile the two Jimmys she knew into one person.

The saddest part was that she hadn't seen the Jimmy she knew and loved in such a long time, she was afraid she would forget him. That he no longer existed.

How could he be so silent? Just walk alongside her as if this wasn't the most weird, distressing and nerve-wracking situation they'd ever been in.

She had to push past the weirdness, the discomfort and take the lead. He wasn't going to do it or help her decide what to do. It was simple anyway. Mathematical.

Step one, find a safe place. Step two, contact the others. Step three, hide until backup arrived.

She kept repeating the words inside her head as she looked around, all the while trying to appear like a ditzy tourist. It didn't help that she was walking next to a drop-dead gorgeous robot. Her just-came-out-of-an-explosion look couldn't be a plus either. People stared.

Finally, they reached the more touristy part of town and managed to get somewhat lost in the crowd. After a few moments, Jessie spotted a promising hiding place; a hotel holding and IT and hacking convention combined with some sort of video game ComiCon. The crowd of stylish geeks and cosplayers offered a great cover.

As luck would have it, the place still had a few rooms free, so since they had basically no money or ID, she distracted the receptionist with many questions about the conference while Jimmy nicked a key. She had to admit she was impressed he could still do stuff like that with ease, no questions asked. She just had to say it, and he would do it.

By the time they reached a room on the third floor, Jessie was exhausted. The moment Jimmy closed the door behind them and looked it, she dropped on the bed, her arms stretched out.

"Breathe, just breathe," she whispered to herself.

"You don't look so good," Jimmy observed.

"I'm really not. I'm trying to compute what happened in the last hour."

He hummed, leaning his back against the door, arms crossed over his chest. Jessie closed her eyes for a moment. The darkness was soothing. It didn't make their problems go away, but it put them off for a few seconds.

There was silence, and after a while, it became bothersome. Her eyes still closed, Jessie frowned. Why wasn't he saying anything? Asking? How could he be okay with just waiting around? That wasn't Jimmy.

She sat up and turned towards him. "Why doesn't this make you curious?"

He kept looking past her, not changing his position and she then realized that something was wrong.

"Jimmy?"

Nothing. He kept looking beyond her, a small crease between his eyebrows, as if something slightly bothered him. In normal circumstances, she would've gone to him, taken his face in her hands. As it was, it felt unwise to approach him.

"Can you hear me?" she tried a little louder.

He blinked and seemed to snap out of it. When he turned his eyes to her, there was something akin to despair behind them.

"Who am I?" he asked.

The question took her by surprise. "What do you mean?"

"What's my name?"

This was getting weird and very troubling. "Jimmy." The word came out as a whisper. She couldn't do this if he relapsed and stopped helping.

He shook his head. "My full name."

Even weirder, but she complied. "James Justin Grant." 

He repeated it slowly as if trying to taste it. Then he pushed off the door and started pacing, going faster and faster with each lap until it was hard for her to keep her eyes on him. He made her dizzy. It didn't help that the adrenaline had all but faded and her mind felt sluggish.

"I just..." He stopped pacing and turned to her. For the first time in maybe a year, there was definite life behind his eyes. "There's this big black hole inside me. The place where all the medication and the drugs kept sending me. I'm on the edge right now, but it's hard when it's trying to pull me in."

For a moment, she just stared. Then the meaning behind his words registered and her heart swelled so much, her ribs actually hurt.

"No." She got out of bed and walked to him. Fear nothing. This was her Jimmy, except he was rightfully confused. She took his face in her hands. "You listen to me. You fight this thing. Because it will get smaller and smaller until it will disappear. And I know that you can do it, because you're the bravest person I know. The most capable one. You're kind, and intelligent and loyal. You'll get through this."

Her words seemed to fascinate him. "Who are you?"

"I am Jessica Simone Stefanie and I'll be damned if I don't pull you out of this."

He didn't ask more, but smiled. Even if it was weak, her heart started thumping. She hadn't seen him smiling in so long. It warmed her up and froze her at the same time; a sign that it was possible to go back to how it used to be.

It didn't last long. He pulled back as if the contact bothered him and started pacing . After a few laps, he spoke again.

"Why are we here? What are we doing?"

Oh yes, the all-important questions. Not even Robot Jimmy could ignore them for long, not when he was fighting to not fall back into madness. The thought terrified Jessie, but she decided now was not the time to dwell on that.

"We need to contact the others and tell them what happened. And I don't think we should linger around here . Even without any tracking devices, they will find us if we stay in one place for too long."

"Contact them how?"

Wasn't that the million dollar question? "I need a phone. And since we can't get an encrypted one, any would do."

Jimmy stopped pacing, another mild frown on his face as if he was trying to remember something that was just beyond his reach. "Encrypted," he whispered like the word was foreign and familiar at the same time. Then, when he looked at her, he was more focused than she'd seen him in over a year. "Get me a laptop and a phone."

And at that moment, she knew that engineer Jimmy was back. And she'd never been more happy to see him.

🏯🏯🏯

Surprise update because Ruins reached 1k reads! And in my tradition, I'm celebrating with an update!

Also, I know you guys wanted this chapter. A lot happens here and I'm once again sort of leaving you on a cliffhanger because... Well, we all know they're not getting any help.

But everything just got a whole lot more risky and confusing. Did you like the outcome? The escape? The fact that Jimmy is actually a character again, although a confusing one?

All thoughts are greatly appreciated. And be prepared because the fun is just starting. Especially on an emotional level.

Don't forget to vote and comment for support!