I watch as Jessica comes walking back down the hallway with a white bag clutched in her hand. I know what's coming next and this may just end up being the first chance I get at escaping, so I need to focus. I just have no idea how to play it so that the opportunity presents itself. Jessica and Hogarth talk and then Jessica is walking over to the door, going through the airlock and into my cell. I turn to face her, eyes drawn to the white bag she's holding.
It's been several hours since I've woken up in Kilgrave's body, and I'm certainly hungry by this point, so I make a point to bring that up first, "What's in the bag Jessica?"
She tosses it towards my 'bed' and it hits the wall before sliding down, "Food."
Time to change the script a bit. Instead of insulting the food as Kilgrave would have done or even keeping my attention on Jessica at all, I make my way to the bag, throwing out as I do so, "Thank you, I'm famished."
That clearly disrupts Jessica's flow considerably, as she just stands there staring for a moment, giving me enough time to open the bag up, shove a few fries in my mouth, and even take a bite from the burger before she collects herself enough to react. Striding over she grabs me by the collar and forces me to focus back on her, "I get that you think you can pull some stupid little act to make me look crazy, but it's not going to work asshole. We both know who you really are underneath this. What you can do."
I swallow the bite of burger and wrap up the rest, setting the bag aside before I answer the very strong woman that currently has a hold of me, putting on as brave a front as I can manage, "Is this where you torture me Jessica? Hurt me until I confess to the crimes you want to pin on me?"
She grits her teeth and a moment later rears back and smacks me hard across the face before dragging me off the metal cot and tossing me into the nearby wall. I groan in real pain as I steady myself against it. She might be holding back right now, but I am not used to getting beaten or tortured. I used to like to think I had a pretty high pain tolerance, as I dealt with a spreading infection for several months as a teenager before a surgery removed it… but that was nothing compared to what Kilgrave had gone through growing up.
Still, brave face. I look Jessica in the eye and stick to my made up narrative as she walks forward, "Jess, this won't bring back Riva. She died in that bus crash and I nearly died along with her. You need to stop blaming yourself and you need to stop blaming me. It's the first step to breaking this delusion you've created."
She snarls, "Shut up! You're the one who killed her! You raped me! Admit it! Use your powers, make me stop!"
She punctuates that statement by picking me up again and throwing me back onto the metal cot, and then moves to tower over me with her fists clenched. I speak up again, my tone ragged with pain by this point, "I don't know what you're talking about Jessica. We were happy together. I loved you."
Another blow to my head and this time Jessica doesn't stop, raining down strike after strike on me as she yells out her words of defiance. I can't even focus on what she's saying, my head is swimming, my mouth is filling with blood and my entire world is becoming shrouded in pain. At some point I'm thrown straight into a ceiling corner, and as I fall to the water below, I look up to see Trish has arrived and Hogarth is leaving in disgust.
This is something I've been waiting for, when Trish finally hits that button both Jess and I will go down. They don't show what happens after that in the show but I'm hoping that Trish will rush in to pull Jessica out if I play at being knocked unconscious. However the more time goes on the less sure I am I'll be capable of pretending.
I'm depending on Trish pressing that button, but she hasn't yet and Jessica isn't letting up. My limit for pain was passed a while ago, and I know I won't be able to take much more before I literally beg my attacker to stop, and that might just lead to her finding out I can no longer control her.
So instead, I throw up a hand and begin to recite a line I'd been keeping in reserve as a bit of a contingency plan, "Please! Please, no more… I'll confess."
That stops Jessica dead in her tracks and I can see both surprise and the slightest bit of hope in her eyes, immediately crushed by my next words, "Whatever crime you think I've done, I'll confess. Just please no more. It hurts."
I can see the wheels turn in Jessica's head and have to keep the grin off my face as she realizes what I've done, Hogarth's voice probably playing in her head, reminding her of duress and my testimony being inadmissible in court if gotten through torture. I can see the moment she lets her anger over the fact that I've outplayed her finally take her, and she rears back to kick me square in the face. That's also the moment Trish finally fucking presses the button and shocks the two of us.
Unfortunately, I find myself immediately fading out, darness filling my vision and destroying any chance at trying to use my powers on Trish when she comes to help Jessica out. All I can hope at this point is that I wake up again.