ASYLUM
chapter six

After washing up from training, Rogers decided to start watching some video footage the ward had sent of the new recruits. It showcased them in their cells, interaction with other prisoners and overall just an overview of their lives back in Korea. Steve chose the first disk that was ironically marked with a smiley face in which the smile was smudged red marker. It was clear that it was footage of Jae. Steve figured that it would only benefit him in the long run. He popped the disk into the laptop before him. 

The screen displayed a Jae in her strait-jacket. She was just sitting in the corner of her padded cell. Steve was able to zoom in and out from the frame. He zoomed in on her as she sat almost lifeless in the cell. The quality of the camera was enough for him to see that Jae's eyes were puffy as if she had been crying, lips chapped and he could see the beginnings of a bruise on her left cheek. Steve shuddered at the sight as it showed Jae in a such a vulnerable state when he figured she would never let anyone get her this way. Steve gathered that Jae doesn't let anyone see her as anything else but a deranged woman with a sick, twisted sense of humor. He fast forwarded through the scene to pick up on anything else. He stopped a minute later where it showed Jae as if she were screaming about something. 

"You think our little electroshock therapy sessions will stop me from committing crime. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were just doing this for fun. How many people do you get to use the belt on, hm?"
"Shut it clown unless you want to go another round." a voice yelled into her cell, most likely a prison guard. Steve let out a sigh. There was no where on her file that stated she was ever given electroshock therapy or that she was even let out of her cell. He continued watching the video before him; Jae mocking guards and provoking them as if she was asking to be beaten and shocked more. 
"Oh Jack, maybe it would've been better if he just killed me when he had the chance...." she softly spoke to herself. Her voice cracking like she was on the verge of tears and also from possible dehydration. He remembered reading about a Jack in her file; a partner of some sort but Steve couldn't definitively remember who he was.

He continued watching; Jae making comments before getting up from the corner and pacing. What took Steve by surprise was when Jae began running into every corner of her padded cell, screaming. She would bounce off but nothing stopped her from getting back up and doing it again. She even went as far as banging her head on each wall as if she were trying to forget something. 

"What are you watching?" a voice piped up from behind, scaring Steve for a moment. When he turned, it was Pietro. He too had freshened up after his training session with the clown. He was in a fresh t-shirt with some sweatpants and sneakers. His room was just a couple doors down from Steve's. Pietro had been looking for his sister but gave up after a minute of searching. He was incredibly bored and decided that the first person he saw would be his ticket out of boredom. Steve let out a sigh and shrugged at the blonde twin while motioning to the computer screen. 
"Is that the clown?" the blonde questioned. 
"Yup, back at the prison ward. They sent footage of all them. First one I'm watching. Not pretty so far." Steve sighed, recalling the scenes of Jae being so vulnerable. Pietro took a seat next to the Captain before reaching over and hitting the play button. 

The video resumed, showing Jae bouncing off the wall one last time before beginning to laugh as if the funniest joke in the world was just told to her.
"Do you remember how that partner of yours tried to control me? How miserably he failed. John was it? The look on his face when he realized he was getting beaten by an animal like me, oh good times. I shocked myself even. My arms were tied and I still managed to put him in the hospital. How is Johnny boy doing, by the way?" Jae walked up to the door of her cell, her face just inches away from the guard. The guard let out a huff. 
"You killed him, freak. Put him in the hospital for two months before finally giving in." he sternly spoke as he turned around to face Jae; his face riddled with anger and disdain for the clown. 
"Awe, sorry doll face. Didn't think I would kill the old ticker. But hey, my condolences, puddin'. I know you were and him were like family; you two did everything together but too bad the old b.astard couldn't handle me. He should've known better." Jae lightly spoke as if the matter weren't a big deal. She was egging the guard on; she knew the guard would get riled up. She enjoyed it. She enjoyed getting the guards riled up. 
"KNOWN BETTER?! Y'know who should've known better? That father of yours. May he rot in hell." the guard smirked as he looked Jae in the eye.
"Want to come in here and tell me that? Play with me, doll. You seem like a fun playmate." It was obvious that the guard had hit a nerve by bringing up her father but Jae kept her composure. The guard snickered before the sound of keys were heard. Jae began to back up from her door. The guard had unlocked her door, walking in with his baton raised. The alarm had gone off to signal the door being unlocked but that distract either of them.
"Afraid of me, puddin pop? Thought you weren't scared of anything." Jae commented with a laugh. The guard lunged towards her but Jae moved out of the way so he ended up making contact with the padded wall. She let out a laugh before she brought her tied arms to to cut through the jacket. Steve paused the video in disbelief of what had just happened. 

"How did she cut the jacket? She have fangs or something?" Pietro questioned before Steve rewinded back to the frame. He zoomed in and saw a sharp object come out of . It was somehow stashed in her body and found the perfect opportunity to upchuck it and use it to free her arms. Steve looked at Pietro in shock before hitting resume on the video. 

"Y'know, it's awfully stupid of you to even come at me with a baton when my arms are tied. It's not a fair fight, boy." Jae spoke as she stretched her arms out before going towards the guard who still had his baton raised at her. Jae managed to get close enough to jab the object into his stomach while dodging a swing from his baton. He yelled out in pain before Jae grabbed hold of the baton and began beating the guard with the sharp object in between her teeth.
"You should've known better than to speak ill of my father, puddin'. Not...very...nice." Jae spoke through gritted teeth as she beat the man who was begging for her to stop. A group of guards rushed to stop her but Jae jumped on top a guard, dropping the baton and fiercely stabbing him with her weapon in the face. He screamed in response until he fell, giving full view of the damage she had done to his eye. Before she could do anything else, the other guards lunged at Jae and began beating her with their batons along with kicking her. By the end, she was coughing up blood but still laughing through bloody teeth as she lied in the bloody cell. A guard came in with another jacket to restrain her while another came at her with a belt, beating her to comply and stay still. Jae laughed at the hits from the leather material but her eyes began to water and those laughs turned into cries. She was crying the same name over and over again; Jack. 

Steve looked away from the screen as the guard continued hitting and whipping her in every way he pleased; her face, her arms, her stomach, her back, and her legs. Pietro couldn't look away as he saw the pain that consumed Jae as she took the beating while the guards yelled nothing but slurs and insults in her direction. He felt his blood boil at the sight before him. After the torture stopped, the two beaten guards were taken out and Jae was left back in a jacket, with her walls painted in blood from the incident. Jae was bleeding from her face as the belt hit her scar and caused it to bleed and swell up. For a moment, it was silence in her cell with her lying in the middle of it all. Her heavy breathing filled the cell as she hoisted herself to a corner. She placed her face against the padded wall and rolled her face on the material. When she pulled away and fell to her side with a groan of pain, a bloody print of her smile was visible. 

The screen went black as to signal the ending of the disk. There was no more content on there. That was all. Steve buried his face into his palms, sighing. He ejected the disk and put it to the side. Pietro remained still; unable to remove the images that he saw before. The image of Jae being beaten and the pain he saw in her eyes was something he couldn't handle. Steve closed his laptop. "I can't watch another one." Steve murmured to himself before Pietro shot up from his seat and angrily walked out. "Ba.stards" he huffed under his breath. 

Pietro made his way to the kitchen to grab a glass of water - hoping it would settle his anger from what he witnessed. Ironically, Jae was also in the kitchen with Eve by the bar area with a book, ignoring everything around her. Jae was sporting her mask, a gray hoodie and sweatpants, her hair still damp from the shower she took earlier. She was playing with her knife, her mind in an obvious trance. He walked past her without her saying a word; a first for her since her arrival. He poured himself some water, observing Jae from the other end of the counter. Jae felt his eyes on her and shot her attention at him. She raised a brow at the blonde twin, not speaking a word as she walked up to him, her knife in hand. Pietro didn't fear her. He remained calm as she got closer, never breaking eye-contact with her. Jae pulled down her mask; her permenant smile staring him in the face. Eve directed her attention to the pair as she noticed Jae getting dangerously close Pietro. She didn't move but was worried she'd have to in a short moment. 

"Why so serious, blondie?" Jae cooed as she brought her knife to his lips, gently outlining where the scar would be if she went through with carving his face. 
"I'm sorry." Piet softly spoke before backing away and running back to his room, leaving Jae shocked and confused.