Jess had spent months in Skrull captivity, had been trapped in that stupid cell for nearly half a year now. In that time, she hadn’t been treated well. She’d been allowed very little to eat or drink, given only the bare minimum needed to survive. She’d endured torture as her captors attempted to extract information from her, been able to sleep very little in spite of her exhaustion. There was the fact that she’d been severely injured in the process of capture, as well; because her body had been denied nutrients and rest, the wound had been slow to heal. New wounds she’d collected through the Skrulls’ interrogations were similar, making her physical state a mess.
The doctor, upon examining her, had initially wanted her hospitalized. The idea made Jess sick, and she’d refused to even consider it. He’d ordered bedrest instead, instructing her not to leave her apartment for any reason for at least a week.
So, naturally, the first thing she did when she got home was change into her workout gear and head out for a run.
Sitting still, unfortunately, wasn’t an option. Jess couldn’t bring herself to stay confined in her apartment, couldn’t lay in the same bed Veranke had inhabited for the last few months, couldn’t sit on the couch where the Skrull had chatted with Jess’s friends and taken every ounce of agency Jess had fought so hard for like it was nothing. She needed to get out, needed to move, and no doctor’s orders were going to prevent it.
She wasn’t running anywhere in particular. She’d meant to simply take a jog, to enjoy the fresh air for the first time in months. Somehow, though, she wound up in front of Maria’s building, staring up at the bricks. She’d been told what happened only in vague terms, with no details. Maria Hill was murdered, they’d said, as if that sentence made sense at all. We still don’t know who did it.
The answer was obvious, of course. Jess knew they all knew it, even if they weren’t saying it. Maria Hill was a distrustful woman, and there were few people she’d let into her home without a fight. Jessica Drew was one of them.
Sighing, she made her way over to the steps in front of the building and sunk onto them, the exhaustion of the short run catching up to her all at once. She leaned against the concrete, tensing as she heard someone approach. After months of hell, she wasn’t exactly looking for company.
