Warehouse Seventeen burned behind them, but Jack didn't look back.
Fire was honest. But People weren't.
The trio regrouped inside a secured underground base beneath the ruins. Concrete walls. Single entrance. Kevin had personally ripped off the cameras. The silence felt heavier than gunfire.
Jack stood alone near a steel table, calm and composed, blood drying on his knuckles.
"Say it", Jack said suddenly.
Kevin looked up, "Say what?"
"You know something, ......and you've known it longer than tonight", Jack replied calmly.
Peter's jaw tightened. He didn't interrupt. He knew better the consequences of interrupting.
Kevin exhaled slowly, dragged a hand down his face, then lit a cigarette he didn't even smoke. It burned between his fingers, forgotten.
"I was just trying to save you." Kevin said.
Jack turned towards Kevin, his eyes full of unspoken rage.
"Broker isn't a man, it's a title", Kevin continued.
Jack's eyes sharpened, "Who holds it now?"
Kevin hesitated.
That hesitation was louder than any confession.
"Kevin," Jack said quietly, "if you value your next breath—"
"It's a woman."
Silence crashed into the room.
Jack didn't blink, his lips trembling as he whispered, "Name."
Kevin looked him dead in the eye.
"Ruhi"
The word hit like a suppressed explosion.
Jack staggered backwards, he couldn't control his body. Something inside him fractured.
"That's-That's not possible, S-She saved me.", Jack murmured slowly.
"Yes, and that's why you're alive.", Kevin replied.
Jack laughed once—thin, broken, almost a sob, "You expect me to believe my girlfriend is the mastermind behind all this." His voice cracked and eyes welled up with tears, "That she even tried to kill me ??"
He couldn't control himself any longer. His legs gave up, striking the ground with a heavy thud as Jack collapsed, bursting into tears. He cried without restraint, shoulders trembling, breath coming apart in jagged gasps. The world around him stopped moving, time losing its meaning, except the pain crushing his chest. The flame that had kept him alive felt extinguished. The name that once felt like home, warm-familiar-safe, now echoed as a threat to his life.
Kevin took a step forward, then stopped. For the first time in years, he didn't know how to reach Jack. But Peter moved toward Jack, he didn't speak nor rushed. He simply knelt beside him, placing a steady hand on Jack's shoulder. Kevin stood still where he was, cigarette forgotten, burning down to ash between his fingers. For the first time that night, he looked afraid.
Not of enemies, but of losing Jack.
Jack's breakdown wasn't loud anymore. It was worse than that. Jack's sobs slowly tore themselves apart, weakening into broken breaths. His forehead pressed against the cold concrete floor, his shoulders shaking as if every breath scraped something raw inside his chest. He didn't wipe his face. He didn't care who saw him like this. The man feared by cities, hunted by empires, was kneeling in his own ruin.
"I loved her," Jack whispered, the words barely surviving the air. "That wasn't a lie… was it?"
Peter and Kevin nodded in silence.
"She held my hand," Jack whispered hoarsely, eyes unfocused. "When I couldn't sleep… she stayed."
His fingers curled against the floor. "She knew the scars on my body. She knew me better than me myself."
His voice dropped to a whisper, "So every time she touched me...Every kiss...Every promise…"
He swallowed hard. "...It was all a lie??"
Kevin crushed the cigarette under his boot, "I don't know." He said honestly, "And that's the worst part."
Peter's jaw tightened painfully, "She watched you bleed."
Kevin said softly. "And she learned your flaws."
Jack shook his head, denial clawing its way back up, "No… she cried when I was hurt. She—she—" His voice cracked again, "She saved me that night."
Jack slowly pushed himself up, sitting against the steel table. His eyes were red, hollow. The pain didn't disappear. It hardened.
Jack closed his eyes.
A memory surfaced—clearer than the rest.
Ruhi sitting beside him in a dense forest.
Peach colored dress.
Her voice calm and soft, full of care, "You aren't going to fight this battle alone, I'll be always protecting you. If one day I disappear, don't look for me. Promise me you'll live. Promise me my lifeline."