Jessica found herself suddenly torn from her thoughts by the tail end of Trish's gushing, "… I guess what I'm saying is, if he offered a ring I certainly wouldn't say no ya know?"
Plastering a fake smile on her face and stuffing her hands into her jacket, Jessica decided that it was time to nip this directly in the bud, even as her right hand closed around the pistol she was carrying, "Right, well you said he wanted to see me. So take me to… James."
This certainly seemed to please Trish as Jessica was led through empty halls and up a flight of stairs and through another set of large doors into a room that did not hold Kilgrave. Instead, she was brought face to face with Luke Cage… and Hope Schlottman. She couldn't help freezing up after stepping into the room. Hope looked odd, strange… carefree. She was smiling as she chatted amicably with Luke, though both of them stopped and turned when Trish opened the door.
The weirdest thing though? Hope's hair was brown and she almost looked like a completely different person, if Jessica hadn't already known her face. Jessica knew she was supposed to stay focused on the objective, but faced with this, she couldn't help her reaction, "Hope? Luke?"
Her unspoken question of just what Kilgrave had done to them was answered when Hope blinked in confusion before smiling a sad pitying smile, "You must be Jessica. James told me about you, said that you had constructed this separate identity for me in your mind. My name is Faith Rottshaw. I'm James' ward, I have been since my parents died years ago in a car accident and he was willing to take me in."
Luke steps forward before Jessica can really process that and she can't help notice how he angles himself so he's between her and Hope… like she's a danger to the girl. It makes her insides clench even as he speaks, "Jessica, if I'd known how sick you've been all this time… well, all I can say is I hope I didn't contribute to your mental problems or help them along. Jimmy is going to help you though, everything's going to be okay."
Oh god, Jessica was drowning fast and she hadn't even found Kilgrave yet. Unable to even fake a smile at this point, she speaks through gritted teeth even as she runs her fingers over the barrel of the pistol, her hands still in her pockets, "And where is Jimmy? Trish said he wanted to see me."
Luke smiles and nods, "Yes well, I wouldn't be doing a very good job as his bodyguard if I let him meet you with that pistol still in your pocket. Hand it over and you can see him."
Once again Jessica freezes up. How? Had she given it away somehow? How the fuck could they possibly know about the gun? No one knew, she hadn't even told Malcolm. Fuck, fuck, fuck… fuck!