LONG STORY SHORT | adrian chase

well, you heard wrong.

JADA WALKED DOWN THE HOSPITAL HALLWAY WITH HARCOURT AND ECONOMOS, led by one of the doctors. It had been a few days after the aftermath of Corto Maltese, and Waller had a little something in mind for the three of them since they decided to help the rest of Task Force X.

And Jada wasn't too thrilled about it.

"Said they found him in the rubble. They were shocked his heart was still beating. I wasn't certain how safe it was, shipping him back here. But, if anything, he's shown he's resilient," the doctor explained before they stopped in front of the window that showed Christopher Smith's unconscious body. Seeing him made Jada's fists clench up. "It'll take some surgery, but eventually we'll get him back up to speed."

"You realize this is revenge, right?" Economos said to Jada and Harcourt. "Waller knows we double-crossed her and she's getting back at us by saddling us with this douchebag."

"Yep," Harcourt replied monotonously, not taking her eyes off of Smith through the window.

Jada kept silent, her eyes narrowed at the man. She could easily storm in there now and kill him with the gun she had hidden on her, but she knew it would only result in either Waller firing her or killing her, and she didn't want either.

"I heard he was sort of a hero down in Corto Maltese," the doctor argued softly.

"Well, you heard wrong," Jada finally spoke up, tearing her eyes way from Smith to look at the doctor.

The doctor gulped under Jada's scary gaze before she changed the subject and asked, "What do you guys want him for?"

"Just to save the fucking world, that's all," Harcourt told her nonchalantly.

"Honestly, we could save the world on our own, there was really no need to save him," Jada told the doctor. "And besides, he'll be dead soon anyway, so it wasn't worth it to go through all those extensive procedures."

"Excuse me?" the doctor asked, her brows furrowed.

"She's kidding," the blonde spoke for Jada, finally turning away from the glass. The doctor nodded slowly before she walked into Smith's room to check on his vitals. "You can't be saying that shit, people will think you're being serious," Harcourt said, her eyes wide.

"I am being serious," Jada revealed, causing Harcourt and Economos to share a glance. "He would have been better off dead under that building than having to deal with me."

"Reyes, don't tell me you're thinking about killing him as soon as he wakes up," Harcourt said, crossing her arms.

"That's exactly what I'm thinking," the brunette replied, her eyes narrowed. Jada hadn't killed anyone in a while, so Peacemaker would make for some good practice. And she'd feel good doing it, which was a bonus.

"You can't do that!" Economos exclaimed.

"Why not?" Jada questioned, giving her two coworkers death glares. "He killed Colonel Flag," she stated, using Rick's professional name so she didn't seem personal with what she was saying, "when he was supposed to be working with him, and no one batted an eye. Why is it different with me?"

"Because that was Waller's fucking plan all along. She didn't care who died, she just wanted any evidence against the US government to be destroyed. And she used Peacemaker to do that," Harcourt explained. "And if you decide to go through with this, you'll be the next one on her kill list."

"I don't care. He killed Rick, he doesn't deserve to live," Jada argued, now using his first name since she began to get upset. Although her face appeared to be pissed off more than emotional, the other two could still tell what she was feeling. She just had different feelings with Rick compared to anyone else.

"And maybe he doesn't. But if you kill him, you'll only hurt yourself. Killing him will show Waller that she got to you and that bitch doesn't deserve the satisfaction. And hey, maybe she knew all along that Flag was gonna die. I mean, she did put him on the weaker squad from the start, right? If anything, after this is all over, we'll let Peacemaker go and kill her and they'll both go down," Harcourt said and Economos nodded, urging Jada to agree with it.

Harcourt wasn't actually planning on doing that since she knew that killing Waller would probably also hurt them in the process, but she just wanted to try and reason with Jada so the mission went as smooth as possible.

The brunette realized that Waller did put Rick on the weaker team in the beginning, the team that died apart from him and Harley. Did she want to kill him from the beginning? Jada thought, her throat dry. She couldn't fucking believe it — the audacity.

"Reyes? Reyes? Hey, Jada!" Harcourt called out since Jada had drifted off in her own thoughts for a second. Jada snapped back into reality and looked at the blonde. "What are you gonna do? Because you need to fucking decide before you get us all killed."

Jada sighed, releasing her clenched fists that had now made a mark in her palms from her finger nails. "I won't kill him," Jada told them, making Economos release an audible sigh. "But make sure not to leave me in a room alone with the bastard. I can't promise I won't try to do anything."

"Fine," Harcourt replied, seemingly satisfied with her answer. "As long as we end up saving the world, I don't care how it happens."

Jada nodded before she looked back at Smith through the glass, her nose flaring. She was going to fight with everything within her not to get revenge on him. She knew that Waller had done this, making her work with Rick's killer, on purpose to spite her for helping Task Force X. And if Waller had planned this against anyone else, Jada would have applauded her for her smarts, but since it was against Jada's own self...Jada could've killed her, too, if she wanted to.

She just didn't feel like going to jail at the moment.

"Flag cheated on you, from what we've heard. Why go to these lengths to avenge him?" Harcourt then asked after a moment of silence. Economos gave her a wary look at her question, scared at what Jada would do because of it.

Jada looked back over at Harcourt, debating on how to answer the question. She wasn't mad at Harcourt for asking since it seemed genuine, it was just that she didn't really know why she wanted to avenge Rick.

He cheated on her without hesitation and yet, she still cared for him. But why? She assumed it was because he was the first ever guy she had let in, in more ways than one, and that she was never really ever going to get over her first love. Yes, she had gotten over his cheating, but she just couldn't let go of the feelings attached.

"He was a friend before he was ever my ex. I cared about him no matter what," she revealed, causing Harcourt and Economos to share another glance. "I guess he'll be the first and last person I'll ever care about again," she added after seeing their faces, wanting to keep up her unfazed facade. "Anyway, we should plan on how this whole thing will work," she said after a second, changing the subject.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Economos agreed slowly and Harcourt nodded.