Metal Man

Chapter 12: Extreme proportions

Jade ran to her father, joy bursting through her. "Dad!" she yelled in bliss. She threw her arms around him, completely forgetting about her suspicions about the amnesia serum.

"Dad, I've missed you so much!" she said. Then she looked at his face. His expression was confused and eyes were perplexed. But he was still her dad. His dark brown hair and short beard were longer than she remembered, and his eyes seemed a shade lighter green than Jade had thought. But he was still her dad.

He looked down at her. "I'm sorry, but five months ago or so I woke up and I didn't remember anything. Who are you?"

Jade pulled away from her embrace, her worst fears confirmed. Her father didn't remember her. Tears sprung into her eyes. "I-I'm your daughter, Jade." she said, trying desperately to spark a memory of her in his mind. But she knew it wouldn't work.

His brow creased. "I'm afraid you've mistaken me for somebody else. I would have remembered a daughter, though the name Jade is certainly one I would have picked out."

"You did pick it out," said Jade, her tears leaking over. "You fought with Mom over my name, and I went two days being unnamed. Your name is Todd McGuire, you're an archeologist, you have an identical twin named Allen, you're married to Gabriella McGuire, you have a son, Tim, and a daughter, me, Jade, and your favorite color is green."

Her father stared at her. "I'm very sorry, but none of this sounds familiar."

"I know it doesn't," said Jade in a rush. "A man called the Boss gave you a serum that made you forget your entire life, so you'll never remember any of this. Maybe if you see Mom again..." she trailed off.

"Are you absolutely sure?" he asked.

"You loved your job. Then we went to Italy because we thought your brother had tuberculosis, but it was just so they could capture me because I can read emotions. Like right now, you're confused than you've ever been before, because you literally have no memories of me, but you don't want to hurt my feelings."

He smiled kindly while looking shocked at the same time. It was not an easy expression to pull off, but Jade knew it, from when she would read his feelings when she was little, and he'd give her the exact same look. Tears spilled down her face, and she turned to walk away just as he grabbed her shoulder. She turned around.

"I really am sorry I don't remember you. You could be my daughter, for all I know," He smiled, but Jade knew he was mostly trying to make her feel better. "But maybe I can help you."

Jade shook her head violently. If there were two people she needed to stay away from her, it was her father and mother. She had already risked so much just talking to him.

"I-I need to go." she stammered out. "Things to do, people to help." Like you. She gave her amnesiac father a quick hug, and dashed off. Just before she left the church, though, she looked back. There was her father, staring at the spot where she had gone, his hand raised in a silent farewell. 

Jade stood there, and made a promise. Not like one she had ever made before. This promise she would die to carry out. I will come back, she swore silently.

Jade brushed back a few more tears and darted away to catch a train. By luck, she met no more trouble, but the recent memory of her father floated around in her head, haunting her.

She had always known that when the Boss was defeated- if he was defeated- she would do everything within her power to find a cure to the serum, but seeing her father again made her even, if possible, more dedicated to overcome the Boss.