Jane and the Guardians: Sword of the Lady

Chapter 9

"Do you understand what happened?" Marie asks in a calm and soothing tone, trying to still Jane's apparent agitation.

"I think I tortured and almost killed him," Jane replies, shaking on the brink of tears. "I didn't know I could do that. I swear. I didn't mean to hurt him."

"It's alright. If you didn't stop him, he would have tortured you," Marie says in a gentle and comforting voice.

"I wasn't thinking about that. I just didn't want him to torture you. The two of you almost didn't make it the last time. I wouldn't know what to do if I lost you now." Jane holds back a tear.

Marie hugs her and whispers softly, "It's okay. It's okay. Everything will be fine."

From the driver seat, Albert says, "At least we know now that Jane has enough control of her powers to defend herself."

"Defend herself, she did more than that. She turned a lieutenant Guardian into a slobbering idiot in the fetal position sucking his thumb," Donnie says dryly.

"Did he really suck his thumb?" Jane asks after a moment of silence. Everyone holds their breaths, not knowing whether to laugh at Donnie's comment or not. With the tear still in her eyes, Jane bursts out laughing. Albert and Marie follow suit.

"No, it's just a figure of speech," Donnie says in his usual monotonous tone.

"And you figured he was sucking his thumb?" Jane says laughingly, now with tears running down her face. She slaps her knee and doubles over. Marie falls over holding her stomach and joins Jane in a burst of laughter. Albert chuckles and slaps Donnie on the back.

"Well, it was what came to me at the moment," Donnie answers seriously.

The car fills with laughter as it drives into the night, followed by a shadowy figure. After a couple hours they pull into a woody area, not too far off from the bright lights of New York City.

"What are we doing here?" Jane asks light-heartedly, not expecting them to stop at this destination.

"We're here to get the bomb," Albert answers.

"You mean it does exist?" Jane sits up stunned. "But you said nobody is building it."

"Nobody is building it. We don't have an actual bomb. It's just the blueprints." Albert gets out of the car. He walks deeper into the woods and the others follow.

"Blueprints? You mean someone already know how to build it?" Jane is amazed to find that even without any significant light source besides the overcast moon, she is able to see everything with great clarity and detail.

"Yes, Margaret gave me the blueprints years ago and now I'm giving it to you."

"Why? What am I going to do with it?"

"That is a question the answer to which you need to come up with soon," Albert says in a serious and grim tone. "The Nazis are trying to build one and it's a matter of time before they do."

"Giving me the blueprints is not going to stop that."

"No, but giving the blueprints to the US government might prevent the Nazis from using it."

"But who's going to prevent the US government from using it?"

"The Nazis," Albert stops walking and says tiredly in a defeated tone. They are standing at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Hudson River. Two more steps and they would fall five hundred feet off the sheer precipice and into the dark and turbulent water below.