5 Feelings Of A Prisoner And Being Freed

POV - Jessica Jones

Every day was hell. Every day I was a prisoner in my own body - simply an observer for the sick and perverted things my captor made me do.

Even now I was but a fucking puppet as he spoke to me. He sat across from me, his smug face peering over at me as if no one on Earth could hurt him. Perhaps he was right. No one could hurt him if he gave a command not to hurt him. No one could escape his grasp.

"Jessica," his annoying voice wormed it's way into my ears, his smile twisting across his face but never reaching his eyes, "You want to eat out at a steakhouse with me and then we'll go back to our hotel room," he said. It might've been structured like a question...but it was far from it. It was a demand. One that you couldn't say no too.

Even as I tried my damnedest to not reply, to not even move a muscle...I still nodded. I still smiled. I still replied with words I didn't want to say, "Yes, I do," my voice was cheery but I felt my eyes fill with tears. All until a single tear rolled down my cheeks.

Kilgrave's expression twisted and his smile turned into a frown when he saw that.

"Why are you crying, Jessica?" he asked, his anger barely contained. I went to answer, his powers forcing me, but he continued speaking, "Aren't you satisfied with what I have planned for us?!--Stop crying. Stop crying, right now!" his voice burst out in anger, "Wipe those tears away right this instance, Jessica!" he shouted and began huffing in anger before he seemed to calm down. I knew what was coming next. I wanted to stop listening to him. I didn't want to follow what he was about to say--"Stop crying, wipe your tears...and smile, Jessica. You're happy to be with me."

I couldn't stop it. My lips spread into a wondrous smile. Like I was having the time of my life. Like I was happy. My eyes couldn't even tear up to show my real emotions either. He'd given a command and my body would follow.

I was the prisoner, and he was the warden.

While I was smiling so wide it hurt, I felt the limo slow to a halt before the driver's voice came from the front. His voice was shaky and he seemed nervous.

"Sir?" he called out and Kilgrave rolled his eyes before looking to the front.

"Yes? What do you want? Can't you tell we're having a moment?" he said in a spoiled tone, like a child who was far too used to getting what he wanted. Which he was, I suppose. He was like a child in the sense that he'd throw a tantrum if his demands weren't met as well.

Yet the driver didn't seem bothered by that possibility as his shaky voice continued, "T-there's a lady standing in front of the car--she h-has a g-gun pointed right at me, sir!"

Such an answer actually stopped Kilgrave for a second. Like he was unprepared for this.

"What?" he seemed to ask both himself and the driver before shaking his head and waving his hand in the air, "Just run her over. Don't interrupt us for such minor things again." Though just as he said this and the limo was beginning to lurch forward, a gunshot echoed through my ears and because there were no orders against it, I looked to where it came from. Through the divider that separated us and the driver, I saw an impossibly pale woman with blonde hair smiling crazily as she held an oversized magnum that had a literally smoking barrel*.

(A/N - In reference to the phrase 'smoking gun' which usually means a piece of conclusive evidence which directly links someone to a crime. And Harley is literally being caught with a smoking gun.)

...Crazy stripper clown aside, Kilgrave seemed quite annoyed by this turn of events as he scowled and threw his scarf around his neck, "For God's sake!" he yelled in a petulant way, "Come on out with me Jessica. It seems we have something to deal with," he said, getting up and out of the limo as my body followed him, obviously not under my control.

The woman who'd shot the driver pointed the gun right at Kilgrave who lifted his hand with a bored expression, "You can throw that away. The mallet too," he said and the blonde froze before she threw the gun away like it was searing hot before doing the same for the oversized mallet on her back. "Who are you? Why are you doing this?" he continued, his bored tone hiding the anger and annoyance I knew he was no doubt feeling.

"I'm Harley Quinn," the blonde replied, seemingly wanting to stop herself before she tried to turn and run away - but it was stopped by Kilgrave.

"Don't move," he said, "Answer my question. Why are you doing this?" he asked and now I really felt sorry for the woman currently across from me. Why? Because he was starting to sound curious about her and her reasons. The last time he got curious about someone, he ordered them to break their own bones simply because that specific person boasted that they had extreme pain resistance.

...They barely made it through their fingers and right arm before the passed out. Kilgrave forced them to wake up and cut out their own tongue for boasting about something that wasn't true. That's the type of curiosity this man holds.

"I'm..." she struggled to stop herself and I was surprised - how was she doing that? I'd been under his control for months and I could barely find loopholes to get around some instructions. Yet she was outright struggling and somewhat succeeding. But it was only somewhat. "I'm...here...to d-distract you...!" she spoke through gritted teeth and Kilgrave seemed as surprised as I was at her resistance to his powers.

He smiled. Now he was really curious.

"Distract me? From whom, my dear?" he asked, seeming intrigued with the idea. Yet I wasn't focused on him anymore. As if by teleportation, a tall and broad man appeared behind Kilgrave. He was built like some sort of professional athlete but something told me he was much stronger. Much deadlier. He had brown hair and from what I could see behind the plastic animal mask, his eyes were a maroon color that glinted under the nightlight of the street.

A tanned hand reached up and around Kilgrave's throat, clenching so tight Kilgrave couldn't even utter a single word, "From me, dickless," the masked man said, his voice smooth and deep yet also incredibly indifferent.

My eyes slightly widened when I saw the man's nails lengthen and sharpen into claws that glinted like they were made of metal. And true to their sharp and metallic appearance...they had no trouble ripping into Kilgrave's throat.

Kilgrave froze up before he tried to struggle, gurgled screams coming from him as the claws tore into his flesh...and then he was dead. So quickly. He was on the floor, blood pouring from the glaring wound in his throat. Or what was left of it anyway. The clawed man threw the lump of flesh onto Kilgrave's corpse, "Have this back, I guess," he murmured before his blood-covered and clawed hand lit up like a christmas tree.

Or more specifically, if a christmas tree was comprised of countless arcs of blue electric.

Then, those arcs of electricity combined...and shot like a lightning bolt at Kilgrave's corpse. The beam of energy jumped and fried through him, smoke rising up as his body was burnt up.

Soon enough, the smell of burning flesh filled the surrounding area and all that was left was a charred black corpse. The masked man, seemingly unperturbed by the smell, walked up to the pale woman and put his finger on her forehead, "This'll probably hurt. There's no guarantee it'll work either," he said before an arc of electricity traveled up his finger and into the woman's head. She was still under Kilgrave's control, even if he wasn't alive anymore. The same could be said for me.

The woman's eyes went wide and she shuddered as her head snapped back before falling forward again, except with a smile, "...That felt kinda good, catboy! Do it again!" she laughed in an unhinged manner and I kind of felt like she was a bit TOO unhinged.

The man turned to me and flicked his finger, sending a small bolt of electricity at my head. As soon as it hit, it felt like I'd been hit by a taser straight to the forehead--Wait a minute, this felt kinda good to her?! What a crazy bitch...

Yet, despite the pain and the slight nausea, I could easily feel that I was more in control of my body. Some of Kilgrave's control was still there...but it was miniscule compared to what it had been.

Like a whispering voice that was slowly getting quieter. It felt freeing.

I looked to my would-be savior, yet I couldn't feel like those cliche heroines who jump into their saviors arms - I was afraid I wouldn't be jumping into anything like that with anyone for a very long time. Not after what happened with Kilgrave. Instead, I just looked at him suspiciously, "...Who are you?" I asked, my innate nosiness coming to the surface.

The masked man ignored the crazy woman asking him to zap her again and looked back at me. I was decently tall for a woman and ever since I gained super strength after the accident that took my family away from me, I hadn't really felt intimidated by a person purely because of size. Because more often than not, I'd definitely be stronger than them. But something about this man was just...scary. It was like standing in front of a wild Tiger. Seeing him this up close just allowed me to see just what a physical specimen he actually was - even through the wool trench coat and baggy sweater he was wearing.

"I'm...well, a stranger, I suppose," he shrugged, seemingly genuinely stumped on how to explain who he was, "I mean, does it matter that much to you? You're free from Kilgrave's control now. Go live life or whatever," he shooed me away with his hands. But I just narrowed my eyes at him.

Looking down at Kilgrave's corpse, I gestured to it, "You have a grudge with that dick or something?"

"No," he answered near instantly, "I just didn't feel comfortable living in a city with someone who could and would control my body with whatever words that came out of their mouth."

"You...you killed someone because of a reason like that?" I asked, curious about the answer. I wasn't judging him or anything. He was right to be so organized in his own personal safety. I mean, I didn't agree with the murder of that innocent driver but I guess I can let it slide for a guy who saved me from that fucker Kilgrave, right?

The man rolled his eyes behind his mask before answering, "A surprising lack of gratitude for the guy who saved you from being a slave but whatever, I'm not exactly doing this for that," he shrugged before his ears perked up, "...We better get going. Police are on the way. Don't worry about evidence or being linked to the crime."

Before I could ask what he was talking about, a wave of electricity exuded out from him like a shockwave. I flinched, expecting it to hurt, but instead it only felt like when you put your hand on the TV when there's only static on it. Except all over my body. A sort of fuzzy and weird feeling.

When I opened my eyes, I realized that all the lights within the street had gone off.

...Was this dude a walking EMP or something?

Not only that, he pulled the dead driver out of the car before giving him the same treatment as Kilgrave - leaving the innocent man as nothing more than a charred corpse.

And with his other hand, the limo hovered off the floor a few feet before it began to compact in on itself like it was being pressured by unseen forces. The way it was crushed...was unsettling. That level of power was just insane. I mean, I can lift heavy stuff - a car wouldn't be too hard - but to compact a limo like it was an empty soda can without even physically touching it? That's...that's just absurd.

Once the limo was compacted into a ball of metal and whatever else the limo was made of, the man I was quickly becoming more and more wary of put his hand on the metal portion and just started channeling electricity into the thing. It quickly began heating up due to the level of current running through it and then it simply dropped to the floor. Whatever wasn't metal, was burned to cinders, and the metal that was left? It dropped to the floor in a half-liquid state.

"...We'll be going then," the man nonchalantly said, as if he hadn't just done such a supernatural feat. The woman next to him, Harley if I remember correctly, seemed surprised but not as surprised/shocked as I was by his display of power.

And then the two of them walked away. Or rather, he picked Harley up and held her on her shoulder, and them jumped up onto a nearby rooftop.

He was gone.

I wanted to slump to the floor. I wanted to have a long, hot bath to wash away the grime I could feel on my body. Most of all, I wanted a drink. Or a dozen.