[center][h2][u]Previously...[/u][/h2][/center]
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[url=https://youtu.be/x7AUe82h630]Mood Music[/url]
Ace awoke to the sounds of medical equipment. She blinked slowly a few times as her eyes adjusted before finally sitting up. She winced from a sharp pain in her stomach. "Ow... Jesus.... What happened...?" 

Jack on the other hand was well on his way to Cole's office. He burst through the door to Cole's office before finally stopping. He was breathing heavily and was drenched with sweat but he was smiling and had a look of relief, "Cole.... She's awake... My little girl is finally awake...." He replied before finally collapsing on his knees; he hadn't run like this for a while and he knew he wasn't as young as he used to be but he wanted to tell Cole personally of the great news.

Cole jumped out of his seat the second Jack said, "She's awake". "How's she feeling? Did she seem off in any way?", Cole asked as he headed for the door. He was confident the CIR could help her but it was Ace personally he was concerned about. They needed to figure out who did this to her and if she had any memories of what happened Cole hoped she'd be in the mood to share.

"She's fine. Just sore and a little tired."  Jack replied as he got up and followed closely behind Cole. "I haven't told her about what happened yet.... So I think we should hold off on telling her about the prosthesis until after we figure out who did this..." He knew that if they had told Ace of the prosthesis; she wouldn't want to talk. 

They soon arrived at Ace's room. Jack opened the door and replied, "hey sweetie, I came to see you... And I brought a guest with me... Can we come in?"

Ace directed her attention to the two figures at the door; she instant recognized Jack and smiled warmly. "Yeah sure.... Come on in..." Her voice was tired but warm and gentle. She gestured  them to come in.

Cole slowly stepped into the room with a slight smile which in a second became that all too familiar stern look he wore. "Been a while Ace, it's good to see ya but I wish it wasn't under these circumstances", Cole was speaking but his mind was going at a mile a minute. Every possible reason as to why or how this happened was being played out in his head yet he couldn't figure out who could do this.

For a split second Ace's expression was that of shock but she quickly  regained her composure and warm smile as she replied, "I agree. I had planned on staying hidden for much longer." Unlike her expression, that she wore so well, her voice was cool and crisp. To be perfectly honest, she was overjoyed to see her beloved friend but at the same time she was utterly embarrassed for Cole to have seen her in the condition she was in.

"Do you remember how you got here? What happened before you arrived?", while he didn't wish to get straight to business, Cole had to find whoever did this to her. Whoever they were, for them to go up against a meta like Ace was not good for their health. These people were either very lucky or very skilled. That meant that if these people weren't brought in soon there'd be another incident like this or worse. 

Ace sighed," Jesus... You haven't changed a bit since I last saw you....it's kinda disappointing.... Though I gotta say... I didn really see you as a President of a large company such as the CIR.... But then again I guess I don't know you all that well to begin with..." She was avoiding the questions. She looked at Cole dead in the eyes before continuing. "Of course I know who it was that did this to me and I plan on giving them hell for it. Unfortunately I am not authorized to give you that information." she smirked. This was her way of pay back to mess with Cole.
[url=https://youtu.be/dJQYOYk9tSM]Mood Music[/url]
Cole smirked as he rounded her bedside and over to the window. "Between you and me I'd rather be out in the field but I'm afraid if I do that my back will give out. Perks of being old", he said as he glanced back between Ace and the window. There was some confusion when he heard Ace say she was unauthorized to tell him but quickly picked up on the joke. "Really? That's too bad then, I was going to give you access to the armory...speaking of which...there's something you need to know", Cole looked over to Jack with a sullen look that he knew Jack would understand it's meaning. 

Jack listened quietly until he noticed where the conversation was going, "don't you dare." Jack replied threateningly his eyes locked with Cole', his eyes were cold and showed killing intention.

"She deserves to know what happened, Jack. If anything it'll only strengthen her resolve to find the suspects if getting beaten half to death wasn't enough", tensions were high and the last thing he wanted was a brawl in the hospital room. With a sigh Cole turned to Ace before pausing to assess he situation, "Ace...you weren't just jumped. Whoever it was that attacked you put you on your death bed. We had to act fast...so we implanted a cybernetic replacement or your liver". Cole waited for Ace's reaction before telling her of the second half of the deal. This was not something you could rush and he was already doing just so. 

" I-I see..."  Her voice trembled as she hugged herself tightly. Ace hid her face as tears ran down her cheek. Her entire body was trembling. "I see..." She repeated. On the inside, Ace was desperately trying to hold herself back from taking the nearest sharp object and use it to carve out the thing that was currently keeping her alive. 

"I'm sorry Ace but it was the only thing we could do to keep you alive, at least until we figure out a permenant solution", Cole didn't want to tell her the last part. How could he? To wake up and learn you've been saved only to serve as a soldier was not something the average person wanted to wake up to. Even though Ace was more than the average individual Cole knew it was still wrong for Ace to be forced to work for the CIR. "We had no choice", he kept telling himself, not that it made the feeling of guilt go away. Finally after noticeable silence Cole spoke again, "There is also one other thing...the CIR covered your operation on the condition you work for them for a certain amount of time. How long I don't know, I'm supposed to receive news on how long after you wake up".

"So you need me to work for you and clean up the mess you made... That's why you kept me alive?! Because I'm some kind of tool at your disposal?! I'm sorry to break it to you but I'm not a weapon!" Ace yelled, her voice  was filled with a burning rage. She was loosing quickly control of herself and her gift. Suddenly the heater in her room caught fire; it quickly spread directly towards Cole and wraped around him, encasing him in a burning prison that one misstep could leave Cole with a nasty burn.

Things had gotten real bad real fast and in Cole's situation there wasn't much he could do without setting himself aflame in the process. "I did it to save you, Ace!", Cole yelled over the roaring blaze surrounding him "You would have died if we didn't, there was no other way!". 

"Then you should've just let me die!" Ace yelled, making the room fall silent. The fire surrounding Cole died down to the point where he could now step over it wiith no problem. "Do you have any idea what it's like being a monster? To know that a part of you is slowly getting stronger and in the process is slowly killing you? Do you know how that feels, Cole?!" Ace was crying heavily, a part of her nobody else has seen before, not even Jack. 
[url=https://youtu.be/e-_SCZZlrNs]Mood Music[/url]
"You were with us when we fought the DMA. You saw what I had to do to keep us safe. If anyone is a monster here its me", Cole's mind wandered to the time he first gained his powers. He killed a man for the first time in his life and from then on he's only done so again and again. 

Ace broke out into a fit of laughter, "you really have no idea what I've been doing for the past 15 year, do you? Ignorance must be blissful." she continued to laugh for a bit longer before continuing, " come here, Cole. I've got something that will make you realize how much of a 'monster' you really are." Ace gestured Cole to take a seat next to he as she pulled out an object wrapped with documents dating back as far as 15 years ago. All of the papers were detailed reports on all of the jobs Ace had taken on for the past 15 years; containing a brief description of the overall job and the statistics on the kills, injured, and missing people caused by her; the numbers were frightening to say the least.

"...you've been busy...I guess that makes us monsters together then", Cole glanced at the various reports before looking back to Ace. "Ace you know I did this for you. If there was any other way you know I would have taken it. For now at least you'll be back on your feet until we can find a way to fix the problem. In the meantime, you'll be working with a Sentinel team. You'll get your assignments some time soon but while you wait speak to Sergeant Walsh, he'll be your squadmate for the remainder of your time here. He's pretty casual, a little too casual, but all in all a pleasant person to work with. Cole looked away and sighed, this line of work had made him focused on business, a quality he could live without. "I'm sorry it had to be this way Ace. While you're working for us I'll have people look into this further. Like I said speak to Walsh, fill him in and he'll do what he can to help whenever the two of you are free". A low beep went off on Cole's phone which he quickly answered by turning on his phone. He stared at the screen for only a moment before getting up to head for the door, "I hate to leave like this but i have a meeting with some R&D scientist. I'll see you later, okay?"

"....yeah.... see yah...." Ace sighed as she hugged herself tightly, she was tired and has had enough for one day. For her, this was the first time she had felt truely broken in her entire life. The people who did this to her were going to have hell to pay; Ace was going to make sure of that. Ace glanced back at Cole one final time before finally replying to the questions Cole asked her prior. "The people that did this to me were the same people that have been killing off your Enforcers....They plan on picking us off one by one.... like flies... I was only the first one on their list.... once they figure out that I'm still alive... they'll be back to finish what they started..... and then they'll come after all of us.... Just like the DMA did 20 years ago except this time.... it won't be just Gifted; they'll be going after the humans, too. This wasn't just the work of the Scions..... it was also the Storm Hounds.... Cole, they don't just want us dead.... they want to start a war."

While this all went down; Jack listened quietly until he heard the part of who Ace's attackers were. Jack froze in fear. He glanced at Ace for a brief moment with a worried expression on his face before following Cole out the door. He then grabed Cole's shoulder before quietly replying, "Hey I'm sorry for not intervening back there but I feared that if I had done something; it would have only made the situation worse.....Look. I just wanted to say that... the reason why Ace can say these kinds of things to you is because she loves you very much and you're very dear to her..... Your like the brother she should've had... Now a' days... there aren't many people Ace can truly call her family..."