Soulmates - Jack Thompson

-20-

"How you feeling, chief?" Thompson asked. He'd been by Dooley's side the whole time.
"Burning up. He got in my head. He made me steal something from the lab. You can't let him talk to you. If he starts talking to you, he got you." He was talking about the evil scientist.
"There's got to be a way to get him out of this, right?" I asked as I looked worried at the chief.
"These clasps... They're locked, as I said before. It's what activates the system. Tampering with them trips a circuit to the battery and speeds up the reaction." Jarvis said.
"That's not making it any better." I said and he shrugged.
"What is this thing made out of?"
"It's an alloy of Mr. Stark's creation."
"Can't you cut him out of this thing?"
"I-I don't think we have the time. Tampering with the circuitry... speeds up the reaction." He seemed to get a little scared too now. I think we started to understand that there was no way to get him out of this thing.
"I got it. Let's pack him with ice. Perhaps we can cool the core." Jack said, he looked proud. Like he had a genius idea.
"The armor is designed to be impervious to all outside elements, whether it be artillery or temperature." His smile faded away.
"Damn you, Howard." Peggy had tears in her eyes.
"My God, it's searing his skin. It's in the final stages. We're running out of time. I don't know what to do." Jarvis was freaking out, just like everyone else. The only one who was a little calm, was Chief Dooley himself. Don't ask me how he did it.
"What does that mean?" Jack asked.
"It means that... I don't know what to do."
"I know what to do." Dooley said. I immediately knew This wasn't a good idea.
"Here, give me a hand. Give me a hand."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" People gasped a he lifted a gun.
"Tell... Tell my wife..." He was breathing heavily.
"Tell her I'm sorry I missed dinner. And you?" He chuckled weakly and pointed to Peggy, while looking at me.
"Promise me you'll get the son of a bitch who did this. Say it!" I couldn't speak, so Peggy promised. I just nodded.
"Chief!" Jack looked terrified by now.
"Chief! Chief, don't!" Too late. I heard gunshots and a few seconds later, glass shattering and a huge boom. He jumped out of the window and sacrificed his life. Jack looked like he was about to cry. I wanted to hug him so bad, but I knew he wouldn't let me. Instead, I shuffled a little closer to Sousa, who put an arm around me.

It was very quiet in the office. Wounds were treated and we just sat in silence. Jack hadn't said anything since Dooley jumped out the window. At one point I couldn't contain myself anymore and sat down next to him on his desk. To my surprise, he didn't push me away. He even put an arm around me.
"This is probably not the right time, but we need to talk later." He just nodded. The longer I looked at the broken glass, the more guilty I felt. If we had just confessed right away, none of this would have happened. I felt tears welling up and laid my face on Jack's shoulder. He still didn't say anything, but held me tighter. I felt eyes on my back and realized this was the first time we'd done something like this in public. Of course they were shocked. I turned my head and looked straight into Peggy's face. She had her index finger pointed at us and her mouth open. As soon as Jack looked back, it slammed shut.
"You- he-" I just nodded and looked back outside.