Thread: Kryptonite (Belle and Father)

Now far enough away from the night club opening, Jessie could hear the distinct sound of a woman screaming. The heart wrenching sound made her stop mid step. Cold terror washed over her as she neared the corner of the alley and peered around it. There were distinct shapes - someone on the ground writhing in pain, one cowering against the wall, and three that approached her. She heard the poor woman crying out for help and saw one of the advancing shadows reach a hand up to strike her across the face. Nausea broiled in the put of her stomach and Jessie took a cautious step in. For a moment she weighed her options - trying to decide what to do. Did she fight or did she fly? Whatever - or rather whoever she thought she saw obviously wasn't real. There was no Superman. But this woman still needed help. Jessie clung to her phone as though it was a bludgeoning weapon and dialed 911. She took a step forward - about to call out to the attackers - when another shadow landed in front of her. And suddenly the woman was no longer screaming. Instead her attackers were shrieking and blindly stabbing into the darkness, trying to attack the one attacking them. The woman dropped to her knees in terror, but Jessie never dropped her gaze. One by one the attackers fell to the cacophony of bones snapping, blood splattering against the stone walls, and howls of agony. The 'hero's' cloak swept around his body as he fought them, the edges of it stained in their blood, and in the distant moonlight Jessie could just make out his face - the deep blue eyes devoid of any light, warmth, or mercy. She recognized those eyes. From her phone she could hear the sound of the 911 operator trying to ask what the emergency was. As she glanced down at the phone in her hand she could perfectly remember Ms. Lane's harsh demanding tones, promising Hell to pay if she did not deliver that picture. Jessie's eyes looked down at the cowering couple and they seemed alright. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea to... Slowly lifting her hand she angled it perfectly to capture the Superman's profile and she pressed the center button. There was no 'click', but in that moment he looked up at those with those inhuman eyes. Jessie's own hazel eyes widened for a split moment and she imagined she looked like a proverbial doe in the headlights...and she felt as though he could see all the way through her, peeling away her skin with his gaze and see the still beating heart in her chest. Sirens blared in the distance. Jessie thought she saw the weight in his body shift. Was he going to come for her next? She drew in a breath ready to scream, but then the shadows behind Superman moved and one of the attackers launched himself at the Man of Steel. In the ensuing scuffle, Jessie turned on her heel and took off running. In her haste she didn't realize she had dropped her clutch, but she held onto her phone tightly as she ran back towards where Barbara was looking for her frantically. Jessie! she sighed in relief and ran forward to hug her friend. A-Are you okay?! Y-Yeah, Jessie panted and looked down at her phon, her trembling fingers dialing 911 once more. Hello? she asked as she began walking away from the alley as fast as she could, an uncertain pit forming in her stomach. Yes, I need to report an assault at the corner of Silver Way and Main... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Barbara hadn't wanted to leave Jessie that night, but she assured her friend that she would be alright. She just needed a long, hot shower, and a big glass of wine...then it all would be fine. Jessie fished her apartment keys out of her pocket when a dreadful realization slowly crept over her. Her clutch was gone! She must have somehow dropped it...and that meant her credit cards, her I.D., her Java Jane Coffee Shop loyalty cards were all gone. Jessie groaned and pressed her hand to her forehead as she moved to turn on the hot water. While she waited for it to get hot she reached for her cell phone and flipped through the pictures. The shot was there. The shot was good. Now that she got a better look at it she realized what she had in her possession. She'd managed to capture Superman mid strike with one fist tight around one of the criminal's neck, the other buried deep in the wretch's face - pummeling the bones and cartilage until it was a bloody pulp. In other words...exactly what Ms. Lane wanted. Jessie spent her entire time in the hot shower trying to tell herself that it was the right thing to do to send the photo in. It would save her job, it would mean a raise, it would mean...it would mean another war in the streets over Superman. Did she really want that? As she stepped out of the shower and dried off, she thought about the horror of a year ago. She thought of the horrific violence, the panic, the hysteria...would that all start up again? Dressed in a pair of dark navy sleep shorts and a black tank top she walked out into the kitchen with her phone still in hand. Her ginger hair hung down to her elbows. She's brushed it but already the strands were starting to kink back up into soft curls. To keep her hands busy she started making herself a chai latte as she continued to think about what she should do.