ROSE HILL BAR FIGHT
Abel whined against her sealed lips as she scratched her head. Her long blonde locks were no longer visible and were hidden behind a scratchy brown wig that Harley had bought for her. Along with a pair of thick-framed glasses that made her eyes look big and bug-like.
"It's not too bad," Tony said, attempting to cheer her up. "If anything, you look like a- "
"If you say sexy librarian, I'm going to be upset." Abel cut in, grumbling under her breath. She looked straight ahead at the road despite everything being blurry. The glasses were not her right prescription, but she could still make out enough of her surroundings.
"You're in hiding, right? It only makes since that you would have, uh, a secret identity. Hiding in plain sight." Harley said as he kept up with their long strides down the street.
Even though it sounded like a plot device for a comic book, Harley did have a point. Aside from Tony, Abel had the most recognizable face in the world. It made sense why Harley said she had to disguise herself.
"Beside, what's wrong with looking like a sexy librarian," Tony joked.
Abel snorted and lowered her head. She glanced at his hand and saw him wearing a girly pink watch. "The same with you wearing that watch." Abel shot back with a sly smile.
Tony frowned and pulled up his sleeve to show off the watch. "You know, when you said your sister had a watch, I was kinda hoping for something a little more than this."
Harley laughed. "She's six! Anyway, it's limited edition. When can we talk about New York?"
"Maybe never, relax about it." Tony immediately cut off the conversation, but Harley was a combination of two terrible things. He was both determined and curious.
"What about The Avengers, can you talk about them?" Harley asked again.
Abel reached around and set her hand gently on Harley's shoulder. "Harley, don't press it." she reminded him softly, keeping a watchful eye on Tony in the process.
They walked to the edge of the street, where scorched marks ran across the ground. It was the remains of a local explosion, one similar back at the Chinese Theater.
"So tell me… what's the official story?" Abel asked, walking in circles around the area. She placed her hand against the human-shaped scorched marks and gently caressed the stone with her fingers. There was still an odd oder in the air. One that smelled of burnt flesh.
Harley began, following close beside Abel. "I guess this guy named Chad Davis used to live roundabouts, won a bunch of medals in the army. One day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then he blew himself up right here."
Tony frowned and looked around. "Six people died, right?" Tony asked.
"Yeah."
"Including Chad Davis?"
"Yeah."
Tony nodded slowly and walked over to Abel, standing beside her as she wandered around, taking in the sight, the smell, and probably other things that he couldn't do himself.
"It doesn't make sense," Abel muttered after a moment.
Tony nodded in agreement. "I see what you mean. Six dead, only five shadows." He pointed to the human-shaped scorched marks.
Abel walked over to the crater and sat down on the edge, soon joined by Tony and Harley on each side. They stared at the haunted sight with perplexed looks.
"I'm sure that the shadow that's missing is Chad Davis," Abel said, recalling what she had seen at the theater.
Harley shrugged and scooted closer to Abel. "People said these shadows are like the mark of souls gone to Heaven. Except the bomb guy, he went to Hell on account of he didn't get a shadow. That's why there's only five."
"Do you buy that?" Tony asked skeptically.
"That's what everyone says. You know what this crater reminds me of?" he said with a growing smile. Abel could already see what he was about to talk about.
"No idea. I'm not...I don't care." Tony groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. Abel tried her best to comfort him by rubbing his back, but it could only help so much.
"That giant wormhole, in um...in New York. Does it remind you?" Harley persisted.
Tony paused for a moment. "That's manipulative. I don't want to talk about it."
"Are they coming back? The aliens?"
"Harley." Abel spoke up with a gentle voice. "Can we not talk about this?"
Tony's clenched his jaw and started wild-eyed at the two. "Yeah, can we? Remember when I told you, that I have an anxiety issue?" he rambled on as his words became shorter and strained.
Abel stiffened up and turned her full attention to Tony. "Tony, are you okay?"
"Nope," Tony said bluntly, gripping Abel's hand tightly.
"Does this subject make you...make you edgy?" Harley asked.
"Yeah, a little bit. Can I just catch my breath for a second?"
"Do you...do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do you have medication?"
"Nope."
"Do you need to be on it?"
"Probably."
"Do you have PTSD?"
"I don't think so."
The two rambled on as Abel watched, her eyes slowly growing wide as she saw Tony begin to spiral down into a panic attack.
Immediately, Abel got up and dragged Tony with her. "Harley, stop talking for a bit, " she said firmly, pulling Tony away from the scene. With a change in the environment, she was hoping it would cool him off so he wouldn't panic anymore.
Tony pulled his hand away from Abel and quickly stripped the coat off his body. He knelt down and grabbed a handful of snow, pressing it against his hot face. He began to feel better after a moment, and the soothing motion of Abel rubbing his back helped too.
"You're fault, you spazzed me out." Tony grumbled and threw a handful of snow at Harley. He took a couple breaths to straighten himself up, grabbing Abel's hand to pull himself back to his feet.
"Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died...relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?" Tony said, getting back on track in a blink of an eye. It was probably for the best too, to occupy his mind with business.
Abel frowned at him. "Tony, you sure you don't want to take a little longer? I mean you just had a…" she drew her words out when Tony snapped his head towards her.
"I'm fine, sweetheart." He tried to assure her, but Abel felt he was trying to convince himself rather than her. "Anyway, where is she?" he looked back to Harley.
Harley shrugged. "Where she always is."
"See, now you're being helpful."
Leaving Harley behind, Abel and Tony made their way to the local bar. As Abel headed towards the door, Tony accidentally bumped into a woman walking by.
"Sorry." he quickly apologized but noticed that she had dropped something. "Lady, this uh..." he called back and returned it to her.
"Thank you." the woman said with a small smile.
Tony cocked his head curiously to the side when he saw a burn mark on one side of her face. "Nice haircut, suits you."
"Nice watch," she responded back.
"Yeah, limited edition."
"Honey," Abel gently called to him, standing at the door waiting. She had a look about her, curious but almost cautious.
Tony looked back at her and nodded. "Right, right," he said and walked over to her. "Have a good evening," he said to the lady before heading into the bar. "I like when you call me 'Honey'. Can you do it more often?" he said with a sly grin.
"I'll think about it." A hint of a smile crept to Abel's lips as she scanned the bar. With the description she got from Harley, she was able to pick Mrs. Davis out of the crowd and go up to her. She was sitting at a table drinking alone.
"Mrs. Davis, mind if we join you?" Tony asked.
Mrs. Davis looked up at them, her face slightly sunken with remnants of guilt and remorse still in her dull eyes. "Free country."
"It sure is." Tony pulled up an extra chair and gestured for Abel to sit beside him.
Mrs. Davis sat up straight. "Alright. Where'd you like to start?"
"We just want to say we're sorry about your loss. I want to know what you think happened," Tony began.
Mrs. Davis bit down on her lips. "Look, I brought your damn file. You take it and go." she grabbed a file beside her and slid it over in front of Abel. "Whatever was in here, he wanted no part of it."
Abel's brow furrowed up into a perplexed stare. She looked down at the file and opened it up, seeing a list of information and pictures.
"Clearly, you're waiting for someone else. Yeah? Supposed to meet somebody here?" Tony said and watched Abel flip through the pages.
Abel quietly took in the information and looked over the pictures. Something very quickly caught her eye, though. A familiar image of a man right next to Chad Davis. It was Taggart.
Abel sighed deeply and gently closed the file. She looked up at Mrs. Davis and spoke as softly as possible, trying to come off as sincere. "Mrs. Davis, your son didn't kill himself. He didn't kill anyone. Someone had used him."
Mrs. Davis stiffened and stared Abel right in the eyes. She hoped to see some sort of deception, but there was no trace of it. Abel was being completely honest with her and saying it like it was a fact.
"What?"
"He was used as a weapon."
Mrs. Davis sat in silence for a moment while staring at the two. "You're not the one who called me after all, are you?" As the words left her mouth, a cell phone slammed down on the table. Mrs. Davis and Tony jumped, but Abel didn't look surprised. She looked up and saw the woman Tony had bumped into outside the bar.
"Actually, I am." the woman said and suddenly grabbed Tony and yanked him from his seat. She was about to twist his arm behind his back but was stopped when Abel pushed between them.
The gentle and kind look in Abel's brown eyes was gone, replaced with a stern and authoritative gaze. "You don't want to do that," Abel said. Even though her voice was still gentle, the look in her eyes was anything but that. It was a warning.
Tony stood behind Abel and looked down at his hand. When he was grabbed, he snatched up Chad Davis's dog tags off the table and quickly stuffed them in his pocket.
Being alerted to the commotion, the Rose Hill Sheriff exited his seat and hurried over to them. "Hey, hey, hey! What's all this about? What the hell's going on here?" he demanded, looking between them.
"It's called an arrest," the woman said, never taking her eyes off Abel. She then held up her badge. "Homeland Security. It would be in your best interest to step away, ma'am." she warned her.
Abel scoffed and took off her glasses. She pulled off her brown wig, revealing waves of blonde hair that fell over her shoulders. "I already warned you once. I'm not going to do it a second time."
Silence carried through the bar as realization washed over nearly everyone inside. As well as Ellen Brandt, the woman from Homeland Security.
Brandt clenched her fist tightly as her skin began to glow white hot. But before she could react, Abel launched forward and slammed her fist into the woman's stomach with tremendous force.
Her lungs quickly emptied as her feet were lifted off the floor. In an instant, she was thrown backward at breakneck speed, breaking through the wall and falling to the ground. She lay there, gasping for air, her body shaking and her heart pounding. Slowly, she rose to her feet and stumbled away, the sound of the breaking wall still ringing in her ears.
"I would've thought you lot read up on me…but apparently you didn't," Abel said coldly as she climbed out through the hole. "Now…are you going to answer my questions? Or are we going to have a bad time."
