New York City

A young woman pushed her way through the crowd surrounding a caged arena in the center of a warehouse. The noise was nearly deafening by the time they reached the ring, and she pushed a large man aside to finally got a good look at the combatants.

A wiry skin head with piercings all through his face was facing off against a shorter man with shaggy black hair, and threw a charging punch. The shorter man stepped to the side reaching his hand out, grabbing the skinhead by the back of the head and pushing him passed him. Before he could fall face first into the mat though, a long monkey like tail whipped out of the back of the black haired mans pants, caught the skin head by the neck, and then hurled him backwards into the opposite side of the cage.

So this was “Rabat”.

The crowed screamed and booed as Rabat glared at the crowed through the cage, his tail twitching before he pulled it back into his pants.

A large man came up to the cage, handed over some cash, and was let in. He removed his leather jacket and tossed it aside while Rabat paced back and forth. The large man came at him swinging, and Rabat easily dodged the first flurry of punches before twisting and driving an uppercut into the mans gut. The large man was lifted off his feet, but he had latched onto Rabat’s arm, and when he came down, lifted the smaller man and tossed him through the air at the side of the cage.

Rabat twisted in mid-air and “landed” on the side of the cage, his toes and fingers gripping the interlocking wires of chain link. He glared at the large man again and launched himself off the side of the cage, torpedoing the man in the gut. He stood and lifted the man by the arm and tossed him through the air into the side of cage. The man had risen to his knee when Rabat reached him and booted him in the face, knocking him back against the cage where he lay unconscious.

The crowed went wild, screaming everything from encouragement to obscenities and death threats.

The man who seemed to be running the fights called Rabat over to the side and she moved to where she could listen.

Rabat was kneeling to be on a more level ground with the manager and she managed to catch a snatch of conversation, “-ant do that.”

“He pissed me off,” Rabat said in the kind of gruff voice that could be either comforting or the most threatening thing you’d ever heard.

“They always piss you off. They have to think they can take you or there wont be any fights.”

“Fine.”

Kat stood and thought for a moment, and then said to the man who was standing behind her, “If you even think about groping my ass again I’m going to stab you, skin you, burn you, shit on you, mount you on the wall, and then I’ll make you wish you were dead.”

The man moved away quickly.

She decided what she was going to do and moved towards the fight manager, “How much to fight the monkey?”

Inside the cage, Mark took a sip of water. It got hot enough sitting here in a cage with no shade, under spotlights for hours at a time even without having to fight people. He didn’t mind the fighting though. Most of the people he fought where the kind of assholes he’d beat the shit out of for free anyway.

It was a pain having to hold back though.

He briefly contemplated totally obliterating the next one and starting a riot so he wouldn’t have to hold back and could start to really crack skulls. He smirked at the thought then perked up when he heard the cage door open and close. He put the cup of water down and turned around and was startled to see a woman.

He didn’t see women in these things often, unless it was a special girl-on-girl fight night or something. But, this one didn’t seem the usually type anyway. She didn’t look like the punked out skinheads or neo-nazi bitches he’d usually see; she looked too feminine for that. Not that her clothes weren’t punk, and that hair style said she was either punk or dyke. Unless of course it was natural.

As a mutant, he always remembered to never discount something like that.

“All right cutie, lets do this. I promise not to mess up your face to badly.”

“Oh, what a shame. I didn’t think you were the kind of guy to go easy on a girl, Rabat.”

She came at him quickly; almost fast enough to surprise him.

He juked away from the right cross and ducked under the left fan kick, then threw a straight punch at her jaw. He felt his knuckles connect with her jaw, but felt absolutely no resistance whatsoever. His arm extended all the way, and her head turned all the way to her left, and she winked at him, before stumbling backwards.

Oh. Hell. No. He was not going to let this cocky bitch think she could play with him like that.

He rushed in and put a straight kick into her hip, which he knew connected properly, and sent her sprawling across the floor. She dodged the next kick and grabbed his calf, flipping him onto his back. He hit the mat and bounced back up.

They exchanged a flurry of punches that where parried and dodged, for a moment looking more like a professional boxing match than a street fight, until she connected the heel of her palm to his jaw. He reeled back and she dashed around him and locked her arms around him from behind and whispered into his ear, “Aww, is this all the big bad monkey’s got?”

“Fuck you.”

He grabbed her arms, planted his feet, bent his knees, and sent them both flying across the ring and smashing into the chain link fence, bending it out over the edge to the crowds cheers.

“Stop showing off!” his manager hissed at him.

“Shut up.” He and the girl said in unison.

She kicked him off of her and then pushed off the cage launching herself into the cage and landing in a low crouch, “Don’t you want more than this? Something more rewarding?” she asked.

“I get paid to beat the hell out of people I’d beat on for pleasure,” he said and ducked a spinning kick at his head, “what more could I ask for?”

He snap kicked at her and stepped in for a head but to her chest and then grabbed her jacket and tossed her over his shoulder, she flipped in mid-air and landed in a crouch, “I don’t know. Getting to kill them? More money? Power outside of this little dinky ring?”

He raised an eyebrow as she launched a flying knee kick that he barely got out of the way of, “What the hell do you want?” he said, catching her as she went by with his tail and dangling her in front of him.

“Just you baby,” she said, blew a kiss at him, and then punched him right in the mouth.

He hit the mat and she said, “I’ll be around after the fights. Why don’t you come look for me?”

He answered with a rising uppercut that caught her square in the jaw, lifted her off the mat, and sent her crashing back down.

The crowd cheered and when she didn’t move, someone came in to collect her. Rabat turned and spat at someone creaming obscenities at him from the edge of the cage as she was helped to her feet and assisted out. He looked at her again and her pain free purple eyes looked right back at him and then winked.

Perhaps he should go check her out.

New York City, the greatest city in the world, a city of of hope; a gateway to the new world. These words ring throughout the world beckoning people from all over to come to the grand city and experience the wonders of America. For many people the city is a jumping off point for a better life, but for some the experience is a much different affair. Enter William Loewe, a man who climbed out of poverty to bring his family to the city that never sleeps. His goal is start a new life, but he is about to find that the grass is not always greener... in the Twilight Zone.

“Will you turn that fucking thing off, you been watchin' it all day.”
“Jeez, Mickey, will ya watch your mouth? There's a kid here.”
“Are you kidding me? What the fuck do I care? I ain't her father.”
“Mickey, please! She doesn't need to hear that kind of language. Kids are highly impressionable at that age ya know?”
“You serious? I'll talk the way I wanna talk. Besides, she's locked in the closet, probably can't hear me anyway. Oh, and news flash Jerry, we kidnapped her; bet that left a real good fucking impression! Tell ya what, I'll stop cussin' when we get our god damned money.”
“Alright, jeez.”

Ashley Cook, a young girl around the age of eight, sat bound and gagged on the floor of the dark closet listening to every word her two kidnappers said. Dark locks of hair fell over shoulders and brushed her face as she tried to free herself from the bindings. Unfortunately she lacked the needed strength to achieve this feat, and with an exasperated whimper, she resigned herself. Her head was a little foggy and she could barely recall how she'd been kidnapped, or where she was at the time, but one thing was certain; these were not nice men and she was very scared. Thoughts of never seeing her parents again jumped into her mind. Bringing her knees to her chest she bowed her head and cried.

“Aw jeez Mickey, she's crying now. I told you.”
“Give me a break. Shut the fuck up kid or I'll give you a reason to cry!... There, no whinin' now; when the hell is the pizza getting here?”
“It should be here any minute.”

For a short time there was silence beyond the dark space she was imprisoned in, then came the sound of a knock on the door. She heard footsteps walk by and the release of a chain-lock. What happened next was hard to follow. The light beneath the closet door disappeared, then chaos erupted. The sounds coming through the door were terrifying yells and grunts, glass breaking and possibly furniture. Cries of “shoot him!” rang out, but gunfire was never heard; then there was nothing. Confused and scared she inched closer to the door. Panic set in when she heard the sound of foot steps drawing ever closer. The door opened and she beheld the visage of a terrible monster. In the darkness it appeared a menacing shadow with glowing green eyes. The thing reached for her. A muffled scream escaped her bound lips as she backed away from the creature. She continued to back away until she hit the back wall. The thing was getting closer and... it knew her name.

Her hands were bound, but her feet were free, she needed to run but she was so scared. In desperation she fell on her back and began kicking wildly at the shadow monster. Her little feet hit the creatures knees, but they weren't enough to stop it. It spoke her name again and asked her stop as it leaned in closer. When it was close enough, she kicked it hard in the face. With a yell the creature went down. Struggling to her feet she got up and out of the closet, giving the creature one final kick for good measure. As she ran toward the door the creature called out, but it wasn't her name this time, it was... “Pumpernickel” it was the password her parents had given her. Was this thing a friend? Timidly she stopped and turned around. The creature was rising to it's feet. Its glowing green eyes were now a blue, then the lights came on. It was just a man in a suit, at least she hoped that's all it was.

“Now, let's get your hands and mouth free.”

After the man freed her, Ashley looked at the man with a puzzled look. Once again his eyes changed color, but now they were the colors of the rainbow. “How do you do that with your eyes?”

“I was born this way, I'm a mutant. That's quite a kick you got there. You must have given those guys quite a fight.”

Ashley looked at the ground. “I... I don't know. When I try to remember it's all fuzzy. Um- what happened to the bad men?”

“Don't worry about them, they're just hanging around out side waiting for the cops to pick them up. Now lets get you back home.”

The first thing Ashley did when she got home was give her mother and father a big hug. Afterward, her parents thanked the masked man that rescued her then took her inside where she told them about the scary adventure and the amazing ride over power-lines .Ashley learned from her parents that the man was called Pulse; it would be a name she'd never forget.

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“The police were alerted to the scene by an anonymous caller; where they found the two suspects hanging from a window on the third floor. They appeared to be hanging by some type of wire and they were adamant about the gentleness at which the police should use when removing it. Apparently the wire had been slung between their legs.”

Turning off the TV, Derek decided to retire for the night. Crime had gone down considerably since he started cleaning up the streets, but it never seemed to really end. Hopefully the two kidnappers learned their lesson. The only thing that saved them tonight was the fact that they made good on their promises. When they received their money, they let the victim go. They never counted on the fact that some parents prefer justice over payment.

-Kat-

She watched as the warehouse was reduced to rubble. She watched as the man walked from the debris unscathed. She watched as he spoke…to nobody.

It seemed everything she’d heard about him was true.

She leapt down from the roof of an adjacent warehouse to land a few yards in front of him.

“You do nice work,” she said making a show of surveying the rubble, “A bit slow though, don’t you think?” she said with a soft smile and a cock of her hips. “I think we can help each other. We both want to bring the world to judgment; to see the unworthy culled from the herd. I know a way that will bring judgment to the whole world, but I can’t do it alone. I need help, as much as I can get.”

She tilted her head towards him and extend a hand, “Will you join me?”

-Jostica-

New York.

New York, New Yo~rk!

It sure was something. Something she wasn’t sure she liked, but hoped she would. For the past four months she’d been trying to catch up to her brother, but he just moved around too fast. He’d be somewhere else before she could get halfway there. This became especially frustrating when it was a cross country trip.

She finally decided it’d be more efficient to sit and wait for him to come to where she was. But where to wait? She’d been tracking him for years, it was the first spell she’d learned, and after thinking back she realized there was one place he kept coming back to.

New York.

She guessed it was because of how easy it was to loose yourself there. If you needed to hide, where could you find a better place than in one of the largest cities in the world?

Staking out the city for his eventual return would also be easier on the finances, since she could actually get a steady job instead of relying on her savings and what her parents were willing to give her.

Still, New York was expensive and she was going to need to get a handle on her expenses. Her first stop? Her bank.

* * *

The plus side to needing to see one of the people at a desk, was that you got to sit. The negative was that it was much harder to judge how long you’d be waiting.

So she sat, and waited, and debated whether or not to scratch a softening spell into the heavy oak chairs.

She started to nod off when someone tapped her on the shoulder, asking if she needed to speak with someone. Her answer was interrupted by gunfire and screams.

Five men in cheap suits, ski masks, and carrying automatic weapons marched into the center of the bank demanding everyone to get on the floor.

Jostica and the woman from the bank grabbed each other and dove behind one of the desks. The woman was letting loose a stream of terrified expletives as she groped blindly over the top of the desk for a phone as Jostica’s training kicked in and she whispered a basic “look away” spell before she knew what she was doing.

-Jostica-

As the woman beside her whispered hurriedly into the phone, Jostica poked her head over the desk. A tall girl stepped forward and started trying to talk the robbers down, or at least mediate the event, though the one she was talking to seemed to just be getting pissed off that she wasn’t face down on the floor.

There was another who kept trying to look over at her. It looked like he knew there was something over there to see, but his eyes kept turning back or skipping over them completely. The spell was doing its job, but it seemed to be agitating the robber; he knew he was over looking something, and couldn’t figure out what or why.

She decided to try something to calm them down. She hadn’t had much practice with this sort of spell, but it shouldn’t be too difficult work.

The room filled with what looked like softly falling, fluffy, glowing, snowflakes. Of course, only she could see it. Well anyone attuned enough to cast magic, or if someone had a similar ability to see energy, could see them as well. Though, if the robbers were using guns then she felt confident that none of them had such ability.

The “snow flakes” drifted slowly about, drifting towards every person in the room. Everyone except her, that is. The glowing motes of magic touched each person on the head and disappeared. With each touch the person became noticeably more drowsy. Soon most of the banks customers and employees were falling asleep; the robbers didn’t seem particularly affected though. They were probably too full of adrenalin to feel it yet.

The magic was wearing thin though; what had started as a blizzard was now just a few flurries, and she was doubting if the spell would prove strong enough to put everyone down. If only she had been good enough to target the only the robbers. If the magic wasn’t wasted on everyone else, including the woman who had been trying to call the cops and now lay snoring peacefully beside her, the robbers would have dropped long ago.

One of the robbers head started to droop, but he startled awake and yelled, “Someone’s trying to get into our heads!”

He fired his gun from the hip, spraying the entire room, and sending the few people still standing to the floor.

The few people that hadn’t fallen asleep were wide awake now, and the robbers looked pissed.

Her plan had failed, but she wasn’t above trying again. She wove a spell together, a relatively complicated one as it needed to involve sound as well as sight. It only took her a moment, illusions were her specialty after all, and sent an image of herself sprinting for the door, complete with panicked whimpers and echoing footsteps.

The robbers all instantly turned towards the illusion and the trigger happy one opened fire.

-Kat-

“Ever the faithful disciple,” she said with a smile.

“What I want from you is simply your aid in acquiring the tools I need to open a gate to the plane of the Goddess,” she started with near fanatical fervor, “With it open, she will be free to judge all,” her excitement was barely containable, “And the unworthy will be wiped from the earth en-mass leaving only the chosen to live in paradise.”

Her eyes gleaming with excitement, she extended her hand to him, “Will you help me create this world?”

Shadow stood there, unsure of what to say. The Goddess? Did she want to be released? If so why didn't she tell him? Was he not enough of her faithful servant?

"The Goddess you say." He said reaching out to shake her hand but he pulled back. "I am confused as to why she would have not told me, but you. I have served the Goddess faithfully for years... It is not... not my place to question the Goddesses judgment, what am I saying..." Shadow fell to his knees creating a dagger from the shadows.

"Forgive me Goddess for I have sinned." He said as he rammed the dagger into his leg. It disappeared, but not before leaving a good wound. It was nothing fatal, but it looked painful. He stood up, as blood ran down his leg, it wouldn't need stitches, but it still wasn't a paper cut either. He moved closer to Kat and extended his hand, this time gripping hers.

"I am the warrior of the Goddess. Whatever her wish is, I will help grant it. I know not of your plans, but if the Goddess has told you to find me, then I will gladly help create this world. Just tell me what must be done."

-Jostica-

The sound of the gunfire rattling off at her illusion shocked whatever the next part of her plan had been clear out of her brain.

She’d already started to step out of cover to do whatever it was, so she had to think of something and fast. Fortunately, years of training kicked in. With only a moments hesitation she brought both hands together by her left hip and began charging the go-to combat spell of any spell-caster.

She spun out from cover and brought both hands up and thrust them forward.

The plasma ball rocketed across the room, hit one of the robbers in the chest, and sent him crashing into a tellers booth. Her hands started to pull back, but after a mere two inches her right hand flicked forward launching a smaller and much weaker plasma ball striking another robber in the shoulder, causing him to drop his gun. Her left hand pulled all the way back before striking forward, launching a plasma ball that knocked a third off his feet, but not across the room.

As she wound up another attack, her eyes widened in fear as she saw one of the gunmen pointing their rifle straight at her, and her next attack wasn’t ready.

The girl with teal hair, the negotiator of all people, shot the guy who was about to shoot her. She didn’t even see the girl draw the weapon. She was just grateful that the girl and female Kato over there took those two out before she was taken out.

Now they just needed a way to bind them so… oh. Right. That’s what she had intended to do in the first place.

The one she’d merely knocked down was starting to get up so she needed to act now. She quickly said the spell under her breath and with several flicks oh her wrist, magical energy lashed out and cocooned the robbers. Without any powers on their own, the spell should last for at least an hour before it was weak enough for them to break free.

She exhaled, finally able to relax. Around them the other bank patrons and customers that were still awake were running for the door some tripping over the immobile bandits. She made her way over to the other two heroes of the day and, after tucking a loose lock of hair behind her ear, extended her hand and said, “Thanks. I don’t think I’d have made it without your help.”

After shaking hands she looked around at the last of the dispersing crowd and few people who were still sleeping, “I think we’re supposed to stay… I won’t say anything if you don’t want to, but I’m the only one who used powers so I should take responsibility.” She winced as the last word left her mouth. She hadn’t gotten a license to use her powers for “public service”, as she hadn’t intended to use them for that. She’d just wanted to be able to track down her brother and show him she could take care of herself. If she got in trouble for this it was going to be all kinds of suck.