Distortion [STOPPED]

-1-

     JC bolts upright in her bed, the screams of her best friend echoing through her mind. She grips her head, whimpers escaping her lips as her breath becomes very shaky. Abe looks over at her from working on his project.

     "Hey, hey, hey," he says as he quickly walks over to her. 

     She puts her head in her hands, trying not to cry. Abe sees this and pulls her close.

     "It's alright. You're alright," he tells her. She looks up at him, her eyes bloodshot and surrounded by dark circles from her lack of sleep.

     "Is she?" she whispers and he nods.

     "I know she is," he states as he takes her hand and kisses it. "If Lira is as strong as you are, she's fine. Especially when her ability is strength and speed."

     She half smiles and hugs him tightly. She gets up and heads to the bathroom. The two had found a place for them to crash that they can manage and Abe can work on his project. When she gets into the bathroom, she looks in the mirror at her reflection. 

     JC's red hair is in two braids on the left side of her head with the rest of her hair down. The clothes she has on is a black, cloak-like outfit, some of the material draping off her shoulders in front and behind her, with a hood on the back and black leggings underneath with flat, knee length, black combat boots.

     She messes with the ends of her sleeves and places a hand on her shoulder where the scar of her stab wound was located, yet not seen. She then places an arm around her stomach where she was stabbed a little while ago.

     She walks out and sees Abe at the window with a cigarette in his hand, staring out the window. Her eyes glow a faint, white glow, smiling as she looks inside his mind as he plays out his detective stereotype, hearing the faint, soft jazz music play in the background as he lights a cigarette.

     "I've never been much for smoking but taking a bullet to the chest will make you a lot less worried about the slow deaths of the world," Abe starts as he goes over and sits at his desk, picking up his whiskey and drinks it.

     "Long story short: I took a job I shouldn't have,"  he states as he puts the drink down. "They say the pretty ones will always get you killed, but he was so damn handsome, I just couldn't resist."

     JC chuckles and shakes her head as Abe writes something on a piece of paper with a cigarette in hand.

     "I was a frog in a slow pot of boiling water, or the first clown to get into the clown car, you never know when to get out until it's too late," Abe says as he lights a cigar and blows smoke.

     "One thing led to another and I found myself slow dancing with the devil in the moonlight," Abe says as he smokes the cigar and rummages through the papers on his desk.

     The detective stands up and walks over to the filing cabinets and looks at the picture board, JC going to sit down in the chair, still listening to the conversation.

     "Except instead of leaving room for Jesus, he left room for a 357 Magnum," he says as he takes a drink and sets it on top of the cabinets. 

     "I won't bore you with the details, so I'll cut right to the quick: a lot of people died because of this man." Abe starts as he takes a small dagger out of the drawer and tries to stab the picture of the Colonel, but it doesn't work.

     He growls to himself as he picks it up and tries again, JC smiling as she stands and leans against the wall in the corner.

     "William J..."  he pauses as it doesn't work again. He tries again two more times.