Soulmates - Jack Thompson

-19-

To be honest, I wasn't expecting that at all. He believed us? Why would he? Well, I shouldn't start whining now. Jack, Daniel and a few other officers had decided to meet Dottie in a building across the street. The building Peggy saw the creepy doctor sending codes to. I wanted to come, but I couldn't, so I had to stay here with Peggy and Jarvis. I left the room for a moment to look at the building. Maybe Dottie was still standing across the street and I could see her. I only saw Jack getting out of the elevator and Daniel walking down the hall. No sign of Dottie. As I walked back to Peggy, I heard a bang on the wall. They must be other suspects, although I hadn't noticed other people entering. As soon as I walked into the room and didn't see Peggy or Jarvis, I knew who had been banging on the wall. What have they got themselves into now?" I ran as quickly as I could to the interrogation room. As I looked through the glass, I saw them chained to a table. This must not have been their intention. I quickly ran back to the door, which was locked. The key had broken off the lock. Jeez. I tried to ram the door open, but it didn't help. Then it occurred to me that my hair was in a bun. It had hairpins in it! I immediately pulled one out and put it next to the broken key. It worked. The skewer fell out of the lock and Jarvis flew out of the caner. He must have been banging against the door.
"Good morning too, Mr Jarvis." He quickly scrambled back up.
"It just happens to be noon." he said with a stern look as he wiped the dust from his jacket.

"He really fell for you." Peggy said as she gave Jarvis a little push so she could pass.
"Coincidentally, Ms. Stark is already in a relationship."
"Yes, but otherwise you would have gone for it, wouldn't you?" He let out a soft cough.
"Maybe I would." I rolled my eyes and walked back. Jack and Daniel were back by now. A crowd gathered around Dooley's office. I tried to squeeze in and ended up next to Sousa. Then I saw what was going on. Dooley lay on his desk, asleep I think. He seemed dead. The scary doctor was gone and Dooley was wearing some sort of safety vest. It didn't look very good and he was sweating. I nudged Daniel.
"What happened?" I whispered. He raised his shoulders.
"We found him like that when we got back." I looked back into his office and Jack started yelling at him.
"Chief Dooley! Chief!" His head came up, he looked rather tired and confused. Jarvis and Peggy also squeezed toward the office and someone opened the door. Jarvis immediately jumped in front of it.
"Very calmly now, everybody stand clear, please. Miss Stark, stand clear. Mr. Thompson, stand back, please." He made us go out of the way.
"He's gone, isn't he?" Jack said.
"What is that?"
"That is the prototype for a new system of armor." Jarvis looked terrified.
"How do we get it off of him?" I asked, a little scared of what was gonna happen.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Jack tried to open the vest.
"Please don't touch. It was intended to double as a heat source, for use in the winter months on the European front. Locking the armor ignites a self-sustaining battery."
"But there's always a catch to this stuff, isn't there?"
"I'm afraid the energy source is experimental, powerful, and incredibly flawed. It invariably overheats with rather violent results."
"How violent?"
"Explosive." Jeez, Howard, what did you do???
"Get the scientists."

A few scientists tried to get the vest off hem as gently as possible, but every time they tried something, Jarvis would push them away, saying it was too dangerous. Jack seemed scared, and to be honest I was scared too. But every time I tried to get near him, he would either push me away or walk the other way. I was sick of it, so I just kept hanging around Sousa and Peggy.