Red Light District

It was 5:23 in the evening. The only people walking the streets were the people who “worked” and lived there. At times they seemed to be the walking dead, moving about like there was nothing to live for. In the darkest alley, where many crimes have taken place, is where a dark shadow stood. The figure stood 5’7” in a dark long trench coat; all that can be seen was steam from the person’s breathing. The figure just stood there in silence watching, waiting. Suddenly a group of three men walked down the alley after noticing the figure.
“Hey buddy. Whatta you doing out here?” one man asked.
The figure just stood still, frozen like a statue.
The men glanced back and forth between each other. “What’s with you dude?” another asked.
Again, no response. The figure stood there with its head down, hiding their face.
The biggest and what looked like the leader of the group laughs and push his cohorts to the sides to step right in front of the figure. “That’s a nice coat you’re wearing.”
“Come on Stan lets go.” One of the men said.
“But this here fella was offering me his coat. It’s really nice of you. It looks like it would fit me perfectly.”
“Stan you’re twice his size, there’s no way that’ll fit you.”
“So.”
The figure slowly lifts its head. Its face was drenched in darkness and all that could be seen was a smirk.
“Well hand it over.” Stan said, but the figure just stood there. “I said, hand it over!” he yelled as he stepped forward to grab the coat. But the figure just moved to the side and the man fell onto his face breaking his nose. The man screams holding his face as blood gushed between his fingers and down his chin. The man’s friends helped him up. “You’re dead. You hear me you are dead!” as he pulled out a knife. There was a flash of light and nothing else. Nothing could be heard because of the sounds coming from the cars driving by. The shadowed figure walked out of the alleyway, pulling on black leather gloves, leaving the three men pulverized.

The figure left the alley with the three men groaning. The figure started walking faster, heart beating like a humming bird’s. Abby hated leaving survivors with the chance to catch, but left them behind anyway. After six blocks and ducking into a vacant alley the figure pulled the hood of the sweat shirt off revealing a young woman in her late teens. She needed to catch her breath. Suddenly she is pushed up against the wall. Having trouble breathing she see’s two of the men who she gave a beat down earlier. ‘SHIT!’ she thought to herself.

“You’re going to pay for what you did to Stan.” The taller man said.

“WhAt? Is hE yOUr boyFriEnd?” the girl squaked.

The man squeezed tighter. “You don’t want to make me angry. You won’t like me when I’m angry.”

“ReAlLY? Now yOu’Re a gAy HuLk?” Abby wheezed. “YoU aRe tUrnIng GrEen.”

The man upper cuts her into her stomach, making the teen slump over into the man’s arms. The shorter man wanted a turn and the other man grabbed her around the shoulders and held her as the shorter man got a few punches to her jaw making the girl spat blood.

“Have anything to say to that, BITCH?” the taller man questioned.

“JuSt OnE ThINg.” She looked up smiling with blood dripping down her lip. “YoU woN’t LiKe ME wHen I’M aNGrY.”

The smirk on the two men’s faces went away when light started coming from her hands. Her gloves were off and what looked like blue lightning spheres were forming in her hands. The two guys smirked again. “A Taser how cute. You won’t be able to zap us this time.” The short guy said grabbing a wooden plank. “Can’t shock through this sweetheart,” he says as he swings what looked like a piece of crate toward Abby’s chest hitting it with a loud crack breaking the wood. The lightning appeared to be absorbed into her body and the girl fell to the ground.

The taller man started kicking her in the stomach when it started to rain. He rolled Abby over as she was coughing up blood. “Oh look Todd I think we broke her little toy.” He said picking the girl up off the soaked pavement. Suddenly there was a siren blare and the two men dropped the girl to hide from the oncoming cops.

Abby picked herself up and ran in the direction of an AM/PM holding her chest. She didn’t know if anything was broken but she was too afraid to go to a hospital. ‘Hospital asks questions.’ As she was faltering up to the little shop she saw the two men coming back for more. She had to hid and quick.

Abby stumbled into the AM/PM’s bathroom. Abby quickly bolts the door behind her making sure they couldn’t get in if she hadn’t been followed. Abby couldn’t get her hands to stop shaking as she limped over to the dirty, broken mirror seeing blood slinking down the left side of her face. Without even thinking she twists on the hot water and cups her hands under the steaming liquid capturing the water and throwing it up against her face, wincing when it hit her deep cut above her eye. Her breathing is staggered and heavy; she grips the sink tightly focusing all her energy not to lose control. Abby’s anger and hatred slowly melted away as fear and panic falls over her face. She slowly slips down to the floor and starts crying.

Suddenly she hears the two angry men asking the clerk if they had seen a woman in a black trench coat and her tears were put on hold. She heard their footsteps coming closer to the bathroom. Panicked, Abby looks around frantically for a way out. Abby could hear the banging of the restroom door, with the two men yelling for her to come out. She finally sees a window she should be able to fit through, she had no other way out so Abby decided it was her exit. By the time the men kicked down the door she had made it out. She put her hoodie over her face and walked toward the motels in the red district.
Paranoid that she was being followed she stepped up her hobble of a pace to get to her safe spot, her home away from home. The motel 6; 2 blocks away from the streets where drug deals and sex deals are made was where she felt the safest. She pushes past the gate into the junk yard behind the motel where the owner throws away the old mattresses, pillows, and blankets. She flops down on her made shift bed and lays there for a few minutes calming herself down. Wiping the last of her tears away, Abby stares up into the bright night sky, just watching the stars until she falls asleep.

Isaac

"Well that was a nice walk" "Geez why do they always need to drop me so far out of the way"

Isaac arrives in the city an hour after his jump when he spots a figure running away from some pursuers. He decides to follow the chase and sees that the figure seemed to be in trouble and decides to intervene. He follows the group into the AM/PM and he listens as the men pound on the bathroom door. He formulates a plan quickly as he notices the figure slipping out the window. Isaac exits the AM/PM and moves down the street at a drunken looking pace. the men also noticed that the figure slipped out the window and they said "let's go get her". The men run out the door and topple over Isaac slightly down the street in the alley they saw the girl run through. The men say "hey stupid get out of the way".

"*hiccup* Well aren't you guys rude, you knock a guy down and call him stupid, the least you could do is get me a drink *hiccup*"

The men reply " you should just get out of the way we're busy" as they attempt to push back Isaac he speeds behind them and knocks one on the back of the head knocking him out almost instantly. The other stops trying to continue the pursuit and his jaw just drops. "What the hell just happened?!" the man raises his hands up in a fighting position. Isaac replies "Not only are you guys rude but weak and stupid as well." The man replies "come on you bastard i'll show you!!!". He swings and Isaac merely accelerates behind him and says in a mocking tone "your attacks are so obvious you couldn't possibly hit me" the man tries one more time to the same result but this time Isaac pulls out one of his knives and places it against the man's throat

"I think it's time for you to go now your friend will be awake in about an hour your don't even deserve a warrior's death. Now, GO!" The man pulls his friend onto his shoulder and runs away from the alley as fast as he could. "Well that was fun" Isaac says sarcastically "now lets go see what that was about." He finds where the girl went behind the run down motel marks the location and decides to have his contact meet him here to give him his city supplies (apartment key, False Resume, Some money to get him started and used to the currency, etc).

"Pith to TC change the rendezvous point to this location, witness count is in acceptable levels and no LEOs to be seen."

"Roger Pith, location accepted ETA with contact 35 mins, TC out" within the 35 mins the contact shows up and drops off the packet with all the information he needs to the common passerby it most likely just looked like a drug deal which is a common occurrence in this district. Contents of the packet include currency for this location a false resume showing work in bars and pubs, and an apartment key with details of a fully furnished apartment in Little Italy that has been rented in his name as well as all proper documentation to be in the city and drive a vehicle. Isaac returns to the other side of the hotel to find the girl fast asleep and as he walks to an outcropping of junk to sit on he accidentally gives her mattress a little shove.

... and started to charge her powers in her right hand.

Isaac

"Woah there girlie ... hold on just a moment I mean you no harm" he says as he gets on guard.

"I was just passing by earlier and saw that you were in trouble and Just wanted to see how you were doing and get your side of the story"

He tries to keep his voice in a friendly manner as he monitors the girl for any sudden movements that might seem like an attack and one hand reaches for one of his knives hidden on his lower back. His focus is on the girl's glowing right hand.

"Besides its not polite to ask who someone is without first revealing your name"

Abby didn’t know what to think. The man seemed friendly enough but he was reaching for something. She started to feel pain in her right arm. ‘Charging was a bad idea.’ She thought as the pain became hot and started growing up into her shoulder. She couldn’t release it without him pulling his weapon on her and she couldn’t absorb it either. She knew she could turn it off she had done it before when she desperately needed to prevent herself from killing a child a year ago, but it wasn’t seeming to work this time. ‘Damn.’ She needed a way to get rid of the burning before it killed her or he did.

Abby could feel her arm pulsing like fire was in her veins. It was getting too close, she had to do something or one of them was going to die. He seemed like a good man so she decided that she would have to absorb it and hope he would help her. Her vision started to blur as the pain reached her already aching chest. Abby didn’t know how much she could hold on. Her knees started to buckle as she absorbed her own electric energy. Falling to the ground she could feel her heart slowing. She thought he called to her but all she could focus on was the scorching pain now in her chest and head. It seemed like it was all in slow motion as she hit the ground blacking out, her heart stopping.

The Girl collapsed before him. He immediately pulls his hand away from his weapon and he gets down to the girl's side he feels for a pulse but finds none. Immediately he turns the girl's body over and begins CPR. While trying to perform CPR he accesses his phone through voice commands and starts an internet search to find out what the area around the heart is like in order to try and use his ability to jump start it by using his ability. He begins thinking to himself while he is performing CPR asking 'who is this girl? What was he doing? Why was he helping this stranger? and had he already made contact with his first talent in this city?' Isaac checks her pulse and feels it faintly coming back and he decides that she needs to get to a doctor but not a city Doctor.

He sits back as she slowly wakes up when he says in a friendly tone "almost lost you there it it doesn't matter who you are at the moment but i'm going to take you to a doctor and if your worried about them asking too many questions don't be, the doctor is paid extra money just to not ask questions." His tone becomes slightly more serious and he continues, "Well what do you say will you go the easy way or the hard way?"

Abby’s eyes slowly opened. Her vision was blurry but could make out a figure hovering over her. He had saved her. Abby felt like an idiot for not trusting him. The burning pain was less but still present. He had asked her a question but she couldn’t remember it. All she was able to say was, “thank you”. Then her vision slowly came back and his question came back to her. "Well what do you say will you go the easy way or the hard way?" She smiled. “I’ll go.” She said weakly. “As long as we get some food afterwards.” She adds as she puts out her hands to be helped up.

" You just lay there for another minute or two while I find out where we're headed I just got here haven't read my packet yet" he says while he reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out his large envelope.

He helps the girl over to the mattress she was laying on earlier and has her lay there to recover a bit of her strength. He leafs through the packet and finds out where the doctors that are loyal to the syndicate are located as well as finds out where he will be staying.

"Huh, I apparently have an apartment in Little Italy and my name is Isaac Masters. Speaking of names I never did catch your's", He says with a smile that to most people would seem genuine, "I mean I can't really keep calling you Girlie or kiddo so what are you called? Also is there any other information I should know so that we stay out of trouble." He listens to her response as he keeps flipping through his information packet he adds the enclosed wallet into his pocket and takes the key to the apartment and the flash drive with the resume the rest of it he sets on fire and destroys.

"Well now that that is over with if your ready to go our destination is Little Italy. Let's go" He extends his hand down to help her up and they take off towards Little Italy.

He had asked for her name again. Abby at first was hesitant. But his smile calmed her nerves. ‘Trust him.’ A voice inside her head said. So she did. “I’m Abby, Abby Raiden. I’m not in any data bases except for running from my orphanage nine years ago. I’m unknown to police that I know of and I don’t have any records since I was eight. Other than that it’s what you see. Other than I’m a freak there isn’t really much to know.” She said holding her true identity a secret.

"Well now that that is over with if you’re ready to go our destination is Little Italy. Let's go" He extends his hand down to help her up and they take off towards Little Italy. She wondered why anyone would willingly go into Little Italy unless it was for food or dirty business. She hadn’t heard many good things coming out of that part of the city. Of course the Red District wasn’t any better. She chuckled at her thought. ‘Who am I to judge,’ she thought. ‘I lived on the streets for nine years I don’t really know the good from bad anyways. I should be locked up myself.’ She looked up at the young man again. He seemed older than he appeared. She knew he had seen things, both good and bad things.