The winter night was cold and biting, light breaths of icy wind shooting through the air. The moon, cleaved perfectly in half, hung low over the city buildings, painting the alleyways black. She walked alone along the sidewalk, her footsteps echoing quietly in the air. "These winter hours are crazy," she muttered, glancing at her watch: Seven o'clock. She sighed and shrugged under her heavy backpack.

The loud ring of her cell phone suddenly burst through the stillness. She brought it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Adrian!" the voice on the phone exclaimed. "Where are you? It's already dark."

Adrian rolled her eyes. "Hato, just calm down. I can take care of myself."

Her head suddenly snapped up. She narrowed her eyes and murmured, "See you at home." Pocketing the phone and pushing a stray lock of long, black hair from her face, she slunk forward to peer into one dark alley.

Grunts of pain and sounds of falling blows cam from the shadows. She grimaced and strode into view, standing before the narrow alley entrance with one hand on her hip. The man mugging the other meek form looked up at her and snorted. "Get back home, girlie. Stay out of this." As he was raising his fist once again, something suddenly smashed him against the wall. He groaned and started to slide down, but was lifted by the collar.

Adrian, one hand holding him up and the other brandishing a rock, glared angrily at him. He stared at her in disbelief as she sniffed with disdain. "You're not even worth my time."

The hand holding the rock began to glow. Blue ribbons of light seeped from her skin and enveloped the rock, stretching and changing it until it had turned into a crude knife. The man gulped nervously as Adrian taunted him with it, waving it back and forth before his eyes. "What are you?!" he rasped.

Adrian tossed the knife. It embedded itself into the wall a few centimeters from his face. A few locks of hair fell to the ground. With a whimper, the man passed out. Adrian let him fall and put her hands in her pockets with a shrug. "better than any police force, that's for sure."

The older man on th ground stared up at her, crying like he was looking at Jesus Christ. "Y-you saved me!" he whispered. "How can I ever thank--"

Adrian tossed him some change. "Call for help." She turned and walked away without looking back. The man stared after her for a moment, then rushed over to a nearby payphone. "Hello?" he said. "yes, there's an unconscious body here…."

There was a snap, and the man fell to the ground. Before the receiver had fallen, a hand caught it in midair and put it to a smiling mouth. "Sorry, that's two unconscious bodies."