What If? (P1) || Jake / Reader || Draft

(Cont'd)

"Whatever they need, Grace. Let us know."

"I will. I've gotta head back in - Tsu'tey wants to discuss a few things with me. I'll be back home soon, okay?"

"Alright. See you later, Grace."

A sort of emptiness fills the room when the comms go silent - and you almost forget to grab the cups you've been working on.

"Here." You walk up to Trudy and set it on the table for her, which she elects to sit on rather than one of the chairs.
"You want me to take him for a minute?"

"Oh, if you would that would be great. My hands cramping already. He's getting so big."

"He sure is." You take him and sit back down in your chair, kicking your feet up on the table as you hold him in your arms. "When he was first discovered - we didn't spend much time with him, and I regret that. I felt.. I don't know, guilty - I guess.
  I saw some photos of younger Quaritch when we were cleaning out HellsGate... he looked just like him."
And you brush your hand over his face.
"The same features I drove a dagger into; and my heart breaks."

"You did what you had to. Do you really think Q would've raised a proper kid out of him? He would've become like the militia - Sanchez and his men aside -
And learned everything through a Colonizer-view-lens. Justifying the killing."

Norm and Max work their way in - a lot earlier than expected, of course.

"What the hell?" You greet with as they come in carrying some sort of exo-skeleton contraption shaved down to fit a human.
   It looks oddly enough like the one Jake had on in your past life - but he could only ever stand up with it - is that where they were going with this?

"Hey guys." Max shortly waves as they bring in everything, and unlike before - this one has a more electrical and mechanical part to it. It's maybe a few mm thick of material, and one could probably cover it with jeans and never know the difference.

"What is this?" Trudy hops over to see the contraption, and stares on in wonder as they put it together.

"It's to help Jake stand, right?"

"Well, not exactly." Norm corrects. "If we get this right, he's gonna walk. We're not using the Avatars for who knows how long, so.. figured it may help."

"We don't have anything to give him his legs back permanently, but we have smaller things to sort of help at least."

What you don't know - is this was brought on a few nights ago to begin with. Jake had visited Max after-hours and asked him about any kind of surgery he could do on him.
    While it wasn't as up to parr with HellsGate here - there were at least a few things they could try, they sure stole more than enough from HG as it is.

"Does Jake know?"

"Nope, total surprise when he comes in. We're gonna get him fitted for it, and then adjust as needed."

"Jake shouldn't be too much longer. He was taking another shower last I saw."

"You call for me?" He asks, wheeling in at just the right moment - until he notices what Max and Norm are up to. "What is this?"

"Oh, Hey Jake." Max gives him a small wave. "Something we've been working on for you."

Jake goes over to run his hand over it - it hardly looks like an old mech suit with how thin it is. This must be the inner parts of it, reworked.

"It's titanium, so it's sturdy. We adjusted it so it would wrap around your legs a bit tighter, and we have-" He pulls out some large pieces of foam. "-cushioning for it, too."

"Wait, seriously? For me? For what? Walking?"

Max pulls him aside for a second, and only Norm can hear.
     "I can get you that surgery you wanted first thing tomorrow if you're ready - but I figured this might help to have as well. With time, we can strengthen your legs again."

"Will it work until they are?"

"Absolutely. We have these arm canes you can use for the time being to help balance. We can start with just walking around here, and then try outside when you're more comfortable. Even if we do get the Avatars back, it would help to get this body up to parr, too- right?"

"Hell yeah. Wow. I can't believe you did this for me.
Thank you, Max." And he wheels over to face Norm. "Thank you, Norm."

He reaches out and places his hand on Jake's shoulder. "It's nothin. We want to help."

He sheds a few tears, and they help him out of the wheelchair and into the device. He has his arms hugged around Norms shoulders, held on tight as they help him into it.

It's a rough fit at first, far too loose - but they get all the smaller pieces worked out - and Trudy comes over to offer a shoulder for Jake to hold himself upright as they make those adjustments.

"I know you can barely feel much of anything, but are you feeling okay with what you can?" Norm asks, checking over each strap.

"Feels fine. It's strange standing back at my previous height."

"You're taller than me, Jake." Trudy remarks with a sarcastic grunt. "Who would've guessed?"

"I'm average height, Trudy. Your boyfriends just injected himself with growth hormones."

"Hey." Norm calls out defensively. "- I come from a long line of very tall spellmans, thank you very much."

"Any relation to witches or wizards?" You muse.

"Ha-ha. Like I haven't heard that one."
He spares you a small, unamused look before he turns back to Jake and grabs the side of his arm.
"Alright, Jake- now for the arm pieces-"

"Looks like a stunt man for a movie with those." You comment.

"It's going to be tricky getting this adjusted, Jake. It'll take time." Max warns.

"Knowing how he is, he's gonna manage it as soon as tomorrow." You comment.

"We have some bars you can practice on in the gym - but for now just try to use us. We want to see if you can figure out the hand controls." Norm reaches over to attach it to his wrist. "I know you use both hands but favor your left, so this one will be on your right hand."

"Okay, so what do I do?"

"Pointer finger will help step forward - hold it out like you're making a pretend gun, then curl it in - slowly. These work like those VR gloves we used as kids."

He doesn't have his arm attachments on yet- relying on the men to keep him upright. It's a heavy first step on the ground, but it works.

"There you go, now try it again. Once more, your other leg is the middle finger for now. We'll work on the controls later to fit what you prefer, or get you a digital screen for it."

"Wow." Jake muses. "Can I try standing? On my own? See how that works?"

Trudy makes her way back, and takes Spider so you have a chance to see what's going on up close.

You haven't seen his human form like this in so long, either.

"Great, now you're taller than me here - too." You step before him, and place a hand on his chest to help steady him as he gets into position.

Max and Norm let go, and Jake places a hand on yours as he nods slowly - showing he's okay without as they slip on the arm attachments.

And there it is, Jake is fully standing on his own - relying on his arm strength and balancing with the weight of the exoskeleton as he does.