Chapter Text
For the most part, Jack loved his job, but then there were weeks like the one he was currently experiencing. He’d been called in several times to mediate the chaos at the pharmacy. One of the techs had randomly quit, making each shift short-staffed, and now he was on day three of working a 10 hour night shift.
When he got up around 4 PM, he began his usual routine. He started off by waking up with a cup of hot cocoa with a shot of espresso added to it and a light breakfast. With a couple hours to spare, he headed to his gym. It was a Wednesday meaning he would hit upper body - specifically “Back and Bi” so by the time Jack returned home, it was just past 6:15 PM. After a quick shower, Jack had a protein shake as he got dressed in his navy blue scrubs and clipped on his badge and dosimeters. At last, he walked into his kitchen and began packing a lunch to bring to work.
He pulled into the pharmacy’s parking lot just before 9 PM and badged himself inside. The air in the pharmacy smelled of Lysol and lead; it always did, but Jack had gotten used to it over the years. Before he could head in the lab and start the daily quality control, he completed the aseptic prep that was as second nature as breathing. Wash hands. Dry hands. Hair cover. Mask. Shoe covers. Gown. First pair of gloves. Sanitize. Second pair of gloves.
Finally, he was ready to go.
Jack walked into the lab and began checking the measuring equipment. Once he knew everything was reading correctly, he started the elution QC (quality control) on the generators.
“Please don’t give me any problems today,” Jack grumbled as he shot the generator a dirty look.
Fortunately, both the Aluminum breakthrough test and the Mo-99 breakthrough tests yielded good results, which Jack recorded into the log books. Next on his agenda was the kit QC testing. Jack went through the motions with efficiency and recorded the results.
Now the lab was ready. Jack went over to the computer and logged in with his credentials. After a few clicks he pulled up the list of radiopharmaceutical orders, what he saw made him freeze.
“What the fuck is this…” he muttered, as he scrolled down the list in disbelief.
“Total: 92 doses,” it read.
What is it, like an ‘order two get one free’ deal??
His eyes scanned the list and lingered on the ‘White Blood Cell Tagged x1’ with a specific hatred. With a sigh, he resigned himself to start drawing the doses to ship off before the couriers arrived.
By 4:15 AM, Jack sat in the breakroom silently eating his packed lunch, when one of his coworkers, Ava, came through the door.
“Morning Jack.”
“Morning,” Jack replied, still stuck in autopilot.
“Someone’s grumpy this morning” Ava continued, as she threw a burrito in the microwave.
“Like you wouldn’t be if you started your shift off with 92 dose orders.”
Ava grimaced. “Yeah, I saw that. You’re a real trooper though, the lab wouldn’t survive without you.”
Jack rolled his eyes and continued to nibble at his lunch. He was more tired than hungry, but being tired was normal for him.
“Did you see the white blood cell tag on there?” Jack asked flatly.
Ava sighed, “yeah, of course someone ordered that today.”
The two chuckled, when the door opened again. This time, Drew stuck his head in.
“Hey guys, I need a little help with the last batch,” Drew said.
“Sure, be right there,” Jack replied as he stood up and packed his lunch back up with a sigh. With Jack back in the lab, the last batch of doses was quickly done and double-checked before the couriers returned for the final pick-up.
Finally, the end of the shift had arrived. Jack wished his coworkers luck with the rest of their shift, before quickly badging out and heading to his car. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he got inside his midnight blue Porsche 911. Out of all the things he owned, his car held a special place in his heart.
Jack started the car and leaned back into the leather seat. The small thought of taking a little five-minute nap popped into his mind, a thought which was quickly refuted. He knew if he closed his eyes now, they would not open until 4 hours later at best. The visual of his king-sized bed waiting for him was enough encouragement to put the car in reverse and start the journey back home.
As he expected, the drive back home was a struggle with the 7:30 AM traffic and sleep deprivation, but Jack made it through with only a few moments of road rage.
Jack pulled into his driveway when he noticed the blacked-out Chevrolet Suburban sitting on the far side of the street in front of his house.
Odd, Jack thought, maybe the HOA is being stupid again and using covert surveillance to measure the exact height of my lawn.
Regardless of the excuses Jack came up with, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched. Jack clicked his garage remote and pulled inside while keeping an eye on the black Chevy on the street through his rear view mirror. As the garage door came to a close, he released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
“I must be exhausted if I’m getting paranoid,” he muttered.
Quickly grabbing his things, he got out and walked through the door and into his kitchen. He’d only just set his keys down when he heard his doorbell ring.
Oh hell no.
Jack stalked around the corner and made sure his blinds were closed before he went up to the door. Peeking through the peephole he saw three men in suits.
First the 92 doses, and now The Men in Black are on my doorstep? What the fuck is wrong with today?
With a dejected sigh, Jack cracked the door barely open, “Can I help you fellas?”
The man closest to the door spoke up first.
“Am I speaking with Mr. Hart?”
“Who’s asking?”
There was a moment of silence before the man spoke again, “Mr. Hart, we’ve been sent here to escort you on official business. If you’d be so kind to come with us–”
“That’s going to be a hard no from me. You might be at the wrong address so have a good day,” Jack stated and began closing the door. A hand suddenly grabbed the door and pushed it open against Jack.
Jack stumbled back slightly from the unexpected force. His eyes widened as he saw the men entering into his home uninvited.
“Yeah no, this is not happening,” he started, “You all need to leave now before I call the cops or I throw you out myself.”
“Mr. Hart you need to come with us–”
Jack took a deep breath, giving him just a few moments to come up with something to get out of this.
“Listen,” he stated, adding a little authority to his voice, “Can we reschedule this to maybe Saturday. If not, let me grab a couple of things and I’ll go with you.”
The men looked between each other.
Come on, fall for it please.
“I’m afraid we can’t do that Mr. Hart,” one of them said before lunging at Jack.
GODDAMIT!
Jack dodged narrowly and jumped over his recliner to run down the hall back towards his kitchen. He could hear the men chasing him so he quickly grabbed one of his butcher knives and slammed the door to the garage behind him.
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” he yelled to himself as he hit his garage door opener on the wall. The men were already opening the kitchen door as Jack rolled under his barely open garage and took off down the street.
That’s when it hit him, how crazy he must look: scrubs still on, butcher knife in hand, sprinting down the street.
If only I wasn’t in the middle of goddamn suburbia, I could’ve flown off and lost these motherfuckers!!
On the other hand, Jack was glad he’d stayed in shape all those years after supers were forced underground. He rounded the corner of the neighborhood fence at full speed and crashed into a wall of muscle.
“Oof!”
“Alright Hart. That’s enough,” a voice said calmly.
Jack’s shoulders were suddenly grabbed. Jack looked up at the man and went pale as he noticed several others around him.
There were more?!?
Before he could react, other hands grabbed his arms, pried the knife out of his hand, before forcing his wrists together.
“FUCKING – SHIT GET OFF OF ME!!” Jack managed to yell, then he heard a click and felt cold metal on his wrists, “DID YOU JUST CUFF ME?!”
Jack hated being manhandled, but that was exactly what was happening as he was dragged backwards, constantly losing balance. Jack tried using his radiation to melt the cuff but nothing was responding.
“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!”
“These are lead cuffs, please stop being difficult and get in,” said one of the men dragging him.
That immediately caught Jack’s attention. Did they know he was Gamma Jack? How would they have known he had a weakness to lead?
He was shoved into the back seat of one of the blacked-out Chevys. Two of the agents got in on each side of him, making sure he was immobilized.
His brain went through a list of potential wrongdoings that could have brought this kind of judgment upon him– but nothing came to mind.
The cars began to move forward in a procession, leaving Jack attempting to formulate a plan out of this. But the adrenaline from earlier was gone, leaving him with a dull ache of exhaustion from his overnight shift.
The silence in the car was deafening, but oddly comforting. Jack was too tired to let it bother him anymore. He closed his eyes, determined to pretend he’d slept even if he hadn’t. He’d been awake for too long anyway.
—
Jack awoke with a jump as he realized he was being nudged from the side. He’d accidentally fallen asleep while captive.
Well, this is awkward.
Embarrassed, he cleared his throat and sat up straight, while trying to subtly blink the sleep from his eyes.
He could feel the car still moving so he assumed he hadn't missed much–though, for how long they had been driving he was unsure.
“So,” Jack said, breaking the silence, “can I at least get an explanation on what’s going on?”
The man that sat in the passenger seat turned around and took a long look at Jack.
“You’ll see soon enough,” he said, “how was the beauty sleep?”
Jack rolled his eyes. Of course they wouldn’t tell him.
“One star. Zero amenities. I would’ve liked my own bed better,” Jack answered sarcastically, “I’ll be sure to leave you a god awful Yelp review later.”
The agent smirked before turning back around to face the road, “I’m sure we can get you some coffee when we’ve arrived.”
Jack pursed his lips and looked at the window. He didn’t want their shitty coffee, he wanted sleep. The window he looked out of wasn’t so tinted that he couldn’t make out the city beyond. As for making out details, well that was a different story.
Jack guessed another 10 minutes or so passed when the car pulled off into a parking garage. The car headed down to the underground portion and took a tunnel to another section before the driver parked.
The men started getting out and pulled Jack with them. They headed inside an elevator and Jack watched as the one who seemed to be the leader of the two goons holding him pushed the button for the 60th floor.
Okay so we have to be in a sky scraper of some sort, Jack thought as he looked over the buttons.
In a few seconds, Jack felt his ears pop to adjust to the pressure as they headed up. When the elevator doors opened, the men led him down a hall and through a door. Beyond the door was an office with a man hidden behind a desk, clicking away at his computer. The man looked up with the sudden intrusion, and for once in his life Jack did not like the excitement that lit up in his eyes when they fell on him. Dread and anticipation fell over him as he was led further into the room.
“Glad to see you could join us today Jack,” the man said cheerfully as he got up from his desk.
“Yeah well, I didn’t exactly have a choice,” Jack stated with a tinge of annoyance.
The man chuckled and motioned to the men, who approached and began taking off the cuffs on his wrists.
“Sorry about that,” he said, “we weren’t sure how hostile you might be, so we had to take some precautions.”
Jack’s jaw dropped in disbelief, “Really?? You were worried I would be hostile? I just worked a ten hour shift, got jumped in my own neighborhood and dragged off to only god knows where, to do what exactly? Who are you people and why am I even here?”
The man gave a nod to the men who promptly headed out of the room, just leaving Jack and the man alone.
“Pardon the late introduction, I’m Kim and you’re at the NSA – well kind of, it’s under some new management.”
“Sorry, what?” Jack interrupted, “the NSA?? What happened to being disbanded?
Kim gave a polite smile while checking the tablet he had in his hand, “Mr. Hart, I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but it looks like they’re ready for you. Please follow me.”
Kim walked past Jack and to the door, leaving Jack’s questions blatantly ignored. Jack’s eye twitched as he plastered a fake smile on his face.
“Well fuck me I guess,” Jack grumbled as he followed Kim.
In a few moments, Jack was led to a pair of doors with a golden plaque above them that read: Conference Suite D.
“Please go on ahead,” Mr. Kim said, gesturing to the doors.
Jack just wanted to get this over with. He pushed open the doors and instantly recognized his former super coworkers sitting around the conference table.
It remained silent for a second as he walked in. Almost every gaze was on him as he headed to an empty seat.
“Gamma Jack?” A voice broke the silence as Jack sank into his seat. He looked up to see his old friend Mr. Incredible peering at him.
Suddenly, Jack was very self-conscious of the fact he was still in scrubs, his hair a mess, and probably looking as horribly tired as he felt.
“You look like you’ve seen better days, Jack.”
Jack’s eyes fell on Lucius, who was sitting beside Mr. Incredible. He ran his hands down his face in an attempt to wake himself up and ease the headache that was starting to form in his forehead.
“Good to see you too Lucius, but I’ve been awake for almost over 24 hours and got abducted just as I finished work to be brought here. I’m tired, I’m hungry and it’s freezing in here.”
“Oh sorry man,” Lucius apologized, unsure what to think of the information he just heard.
“So are you like a doctor? A nurse?” Bob asked.
The rest of the table silently tuned into the conversation, wanting to know the answer to Bob’s question as well.
“I’m a nuclear pharmacist, Bob. I make radioactive medicine. I have a doctorate, not an M.D. if that’s what you were asking.”
Unbeknownst to Jack, a pair of blue eyes had been on him since walking in. Simon sat back, silently taking in the details of this new version of his friend and former coworker. Jack looked tired; he had dark circles under his eyes and slight wrinkles on his forehead, probably due to stress. Simon also noticed how the dark blue scrubs complemented Jack’s fairer skin tone and how his hair was styled without the signature swoop he’d always had; instead, it was brushed back and out of his face. Simon had to admit that Jack’s hair looked much healthier now, probably due to the lack of hair products and gel. The last thing that caught Simon’s attention was the badge reel clipped to the chest pocket of Jack’s scrubs. The little image on the badge reel was of a cartoon dumpster fire. The badge attached to the reel was tucked into the pocket, which Jack had probably done to prevent his medical mugshot from being on display.
But before Simon could analyze Jack any further, the door to the conference room opened and Agent Dicker walked in.
“Alright, let’s go ahead and get started,” he said as he walked to the head of the table. Agent Dicker pulled a remote out of his pocket and turned on the large TVs that hung in the top corners of the room.
The logo of DevTech flashed across the screen before the slide show began.
“I’m going to get straight to the point here, although I’m sure most of you have figured it out already, but as of last week, legislation has been passed to legalize supers again.”