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Simon isn’t making it out alive, he knows it.
He tried his best to stop the heavily bleeding wound, but nothing worked. He has lost all hope of ever surviving.
He knows Syndrome plans, creating a powerful Omnidroid and luring Supers to the island for it to kill them. That’s why he carved the computer password: KRONOS on the wall, in hopes of any future Supers possibly finding the cave, gaining access to it and stopping his plans.
Now, all he could do is sit there and wait for death to come.
It has gotten colder now. Simon isn’t sure if that means death is getting near. He can hardly think of anything important.
All he could think about is Jack, the man waiting for him back at home.
Sure they had their arguments here and there, but they always made up. Simon is thankful that they recovered from another argument before Simon had to leave. He told Jack it was another business trip to help re-legalize Supers. Since he’s a well-known lawyer and a strong advocate of it, his help would be great.
He informed Jack of the trip, he remembers the man being suspicious of the invitation, telling Simon he got a bad feeling and that he should throw it away or call in sick and stay home.
God, Simon feels like an idiot now. He should’ve done that. Instead, he assured Jack that he’ll be alright, he’ll come back home as soon as he’s able to, and that he’ll take Jack out on a date. To Jack’s favorite restaurant, where they have the most delicious spaghetti carbonara.
He feels so guilty now. Jack will spend the rest of his life wondering where he is, and why isn’t he coming back.
Simon can’t tell how much time has passed, has it been hours? Or has it been days?
His vision is much blurrier than usual.
He hears footsteps echoing throughout the cave. It doesn't sound like it’s coming from an Omnidroid, but he can’t tell if it’s real or if he’s hallucinating it.
“It’s so cold in here.”
Jack’s voice.
He’s definitely hallucinating.
The very familiar blue and yellow figure comes into view, holding something that Simon couldn’t make out, trying to avoid cutting himself on jagged rocks. The moment he looks up and sees Gazerbeam in his current state, he drops whatever he was holding and immediately runs over to him.
“Simon!” Jack says, freaking out at the sight.
His Gamma Jack outfit…he hasn’t worn it in years…
Simon missed it…
“Jack…it’s okay…” Simon speaks, his voice hoarse now.
“No it’s not okay! You’re literally dying!” Jack yells at him, removing his cape at the same time and wrapping it around the still-bleeding wound.
“Jack…please remember…that I will always love you…no matter what…I will do my best to protect you…even in the afterlife…” Simon manages to speak those words. Jack interrupts him before he could say more.
“No! You listen here Simon James Paladino! You are not going to die! I forbid it! We are going to make it out of here alive and you’ll make it up to me with all those dates!”
All Simon could do is chuckle. He has always loved Jack’s fiery attitude.
“I would love too…maybe in the next life…where nothing would separate us…”
He feels sleepy now, he could barely hear Jack.
“I love you so much…Jackson…”
Darkness takes over.
“Simon!”
……
“SIMON!”
---------------
When Simon woke up, he didn’t expect to find himself in a dimly lit hospital room. As he looks around with his poor vision, he is lying on the bed, bandage wraps around his abdomen, which stings with pain when he tries touching it, and a person laying down on a nearby couch, sleeping.
His groans from the pain woke up the person. As they sat up, Simon can see it in the dim light now.
Jack.
When Jack sees Simon awake, he reaches for his bag nearby and searches for something. Simon can’t see clearly what Jack pulled out, but he walks towards the bed and carefully places the item on his face.
His glasses. He can see much better now, including Jack’s beautiful face. The poor man looks so exhausted.
“I assume a scolding is much needed?” Simon tries to joke, which receives a light chuckle from Jack.
"That can wait.” Jack answers.
Silence again.
“What happened?” Simon asks.
“I told you that I forbid you to die. You passed out and I carried you out of that cave, off that island, and flew straight here. The doctors said that if you were left alone for another few hours, you would’ve been dead. You lost a lot of blood and you were out for days. They also took care of the wounds and stitched them up.” Jack explains and points out the bandages.
“I see…and how did you know where I was?” Simon asks another question.
“Remember the last time you came back from that ‘trip’? You had some tears on your suit and asked me if I could drop it off at Edna for repairs because you were busy?”
“Yes.”
“Well…I asked her to make a slight adjustment…which was adding a tracker to your suit.” The blond confessed.
“Jack!”
“It was a good thing! That’s how I was able to know you were at that island and hiding in that cave! You can yell at me all you want for doing that but that extra money was worth it and it basically saved your life!” Jack defended himself.
Simon doesn’t have the energy to argue with him. He already knew Jack has a habit of doing stuff like that. Plus, Jack actually has a point, if he didn’t have that tracker, he would’ve died from blood loss in that cave, or the Omnidroid finding him and finishing him off. He would never admit to Jack actually being right for once, too much pride and ego this man has.
Now that he thinks about it, has Jack seen the Omnidroid?
“Have you seen that Omnidroid?” Simon asks.
“The what?” Jack asks with a confused expression. Oh, he doesn’t know what it was called.
“The giant robot.” Simon clarified.
“Oh that one, I destroyed it.” Jack answers, seemingly proud of it.
Well that’s a relief. What about Syndrome? Or Mirage?
“Syndrome? Mirage? What happened to them?”
“Who?”
…Nevermind.
---------------
The next day, his two closest friends, Bob and Lucius arrived to see him. They’re happy to see him recovering well, but confused as they have no idea what’s happening besides Simon and Jack, who’s making the injured man a peanut butter and chocolate sandwich and refusing to say anything (Jack is likely very angry and exhausted from what he went through on the island trying to save Simon).
The NSA has already been notified of the situation and will be making their arrival soon.
Only Simon told Bob and Lucius about his experience on the island, Syndrome’s plans, the terminated Supers, the Omnidroid, etc.
“We will figure out why this ‘Syndrome’ person is doing all of this. But most importantly, your recovery comes first.” Lucius says.
Simon nods and looks over at Jack, making another one of those peanut butter and chocolate sandwiches. The dark spots under his eyes are much more noticeable in the daylight.
“He hasn’t been able to sleep for days, you know?” Bob comments.
“I figured.” Simon says, the blond man already showed enough evidence of being sleep deprived.
“It’s not just that, he showed up with you here covered in blood and refused to leave. He cried while arguing with the doctors and we even had to hold him back once. They eventually gave in and let him sleep here. We have never seen him behave that way before.” Bob explains.
“My behavior is none of your damn business!” Jack suddenly shouts at him.
“It may not be our business, but it will be the NSA’s business once they get here!” Bob argues.
“That’s it! Visiting hour is over! Simon and I would like you to leave now!” Jack stands up and points to the door. Bob is about to say something until Lucius stops him, giving him a look that means they prefer to be alone. They have dealt with an angry Gamma Jack before and they prefer not to experience that again.
“Take care, Simon. We’ll see you again soon.” Lucius says as he waves them both goodbyes and drags Bob out of the room. Simon sees Jack taking some deep breaths, trying to calm down.
It seems that Simon isn’t the only one who needs help.
Managing to calm himself down, Jack resumes back to finishing up the sandwich. Simon breaks the silence between them.
“You do know that the NSA will require you to tell them your experience, right?”
“Yes I know. Now eat your stupid sandwich, I don’t want to think about it.” Jack says, half-heartedly shoving the sandwich in Simon’s mouth as he eats his own. Taking a bite out of his sandwich, Simon can see Jack trying to hold back tears. He may be skilled at it to others, but Simon can see through Jack.
It might not help much, but he’s trying.
Being careful of the healing wound, Simon moves aside in the bed, leaving enough space for another person, and gestures to Jack to lie down next to him. Jack doesn’t move from the chair, nor say anything because of the sandwich still in his mouth. After a minute of silence, Jack gets up from the chair and lies down next to Simon on the bed, being careful not to touch the bandages. Lying down on his side and resting his head on the brunette man’s shoulder.
Eating the sandwiches in peace, Simon feels something wet on his shoulder. Looking down, he sees some tears on the blond’s face. It’s understandable that Jack would cry, he nearly lost Simon, the love of his life, for God’s sake!
Knowing Jack, he’ll act like Simon must’ve had a head injury and is seeing things if the brunette man points out the tears. So he managed to wrap his arm around Jack and hold him close.
Jack fails to hold back his sobs.
---------------
The item that Jack was holding when he found Simon in that cave? The one he couldn’t make out because of his blurry vision?
That turned out to be Mirage’s decapitated head.
How did Simon find out? Because a few weeks after his release from the hospital, the NSA contacted him and Jack, informing them to come to a meeting scheduled on a specific date to discuss what’s going to happen now that they’re aware of Syndrome’s plans.
The only unfortunate thing was that it was scheduled really early in the morning.
On that day, they arrived at the building with some time to spare. Jack, being grouchy because of the early timing, said that he’s going to go buy them both coffees first, that Simon and go to the meeting room and that he’ll catch up with him there.
Getting to one of the conference rooms, no one was there, but there were documents and photos scattered on one side of the table. Walking to that side and taking a look at them, the first photo he saw made him freeze.
A photo of Gamma Jack covered in blood, and holding Mirage’s decapitated head by the hair.
He was in shock for a moment, but once remembering that Mirage lured him twice to the island in an attempt to kill him, he snapped out of it. He knew what Jack was capable of, but murdering a woman, especially a beautiful one…that exceeded his expectations.
The next photo he saw was Mirage’s headless body lying in a room. Based on the closer look of it, it seemed that Jack had melted her neck with his power.
Another shows countless dead bodyguards throughout the halls. Some had melted skins, some were shot, and some were burned to the point they couldn’t even be identified. Jack went on a massacre.
The next picture he sees shows the destroyed Omnidroid. Its legs are depicted to have melted off and was horrifically burnt with holes all over its body. Another picture shows the destroyed and burnt power core a few feet away from the robot. Jack showed no mercy on it.
The next items he looked over were the documents. Simon didn’t have time to read all of them, so he picked out a few of them by random.
One reported that although Mirage’s body is in custody, Syndrome was nowhere to be found, and Gamma Jack’s statement that he had not seen him either. Camera footage from the island showed Syndrome leaving the place in a jet. The NSA came to believe that once Syndrome saw what Gamma Jack was capable of, out of fear, he abandoned his plans and fled.
The other document he picked out reported Gamma Jack’s behaviors. Stating he was extremely aggressive and emotional. Also written is that he refused to hand over Mirage’s head, repeatedly saying he wanted to keep it. He was threatened to be locked in one of the containment rooms and be given medicines if he refuses to cooperate. That had Gamma Jack handing over the head to them.
“Mr. Paladino.”
A voice snaps him out of it and he looks up to see Rick Dicker standing in the doorway. Simon drops the documents back on the table and apologizes.
“I’m sorry Mr. Dicker! I didn’t mean to look over them-” He gets interrupted.
“No need to apologize, it’s my fault for leaving them out in the open like that.” Mr. Dicker walks over and collects the photos and documents. Before Simon realizes it, he’s already asking the question.
“Whatever happened to Mirage’s body?...And head.”
“Her body is likely radioactive now because of Jack’s abilities, so it’s currently in an isolation storage room. We’re having professionals coming in and dealing with it.” Mr. Dicker answers him.
A few minutes later, Jack comes in holding two coffee cups, one for himself and another for Simon. Handing him his coffee and saying a quick hello to Mr. Dicker. As they all settle into their seats, the NSA agent starts the meeting.
“I do apologize for having you two come in this early, but it is urgent and cannot be delayed longer. As you both know, Syndrome is still on the run and we have agents working very hard to track him down and catch him. Since he was able to track down Supers, we have reasons to believe that based on the events at Nomanisan Island, he’ll find you two and finish the job.”
Jack shows no expression whatsoever, but Simon tensed up at those words.
“Not to worry, we have already made plans for both of you to go into hiding together. A new place has been set up and your new identifications are ready. We will have someone deliver Mr. Paladino his medications and keep you two updated on the situation. You can return to your normal lives once we have captured Syndrome.”
During Mr. Dicker’s explanations, Simon feels a hand move up his leg and hold his hand. Taking a quick peek, Jack is holding his hand under the table. Simon is starting to feel less tense now.
“And one last thing, while we do understand why Jackson behaved that way, we cannot risk any more meltdowns. Once he gets to the new place, he is required to be monitored and report his issues to us.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.” Jack says as he takes another drink from his coffee.
“So…when are we leaving?” Simon asks.
“At eight o’clock today, you can go home and pack your stuff. We will have Harry pick you both up and drive you to your new location.”
---------------
The sun has already risen by the time they both leave Metroville. Jack is even more angsty when he tries and fails to sleep in the car.
The car ride took hours, but they eventually made it to their hideout, a small one-story house. It is definitely a downgrade from their previous residence, which was a nice apartment, but it’s the best the NSA can provide for them to avoid being tracked by Syndrome again.
Gathering their suitcases and waving goodbye to Harry, both men enter their new home. The moment they set down their suitcases, a wave of exhaustion crashes over them. It’s been a rough few weeks and the only thing they both want is sleep.
They find their new bedroom and take off their clothes to change into pajamas. Jack instantly flops onto the bed while Simon carefully gets in, still taking caution of his healing wounds. Jack moves closer and wraps his arms and legs around him.
Simon kisses Jack on the forehead.
“So you really do forbid me to die, huh?” He teases.
“Yes…now sleep.” Jack mumbles against his chest.
Holding each other close with warmth, they both drift off to sleep.