The city was cold. Not just with chilly weather, but there was no real relationships among its people. They walked past each other, thinking of nothing more than a desire to get where they were going. People didn't even know their own neighbours. All these thoughts swirled around in her head as she walked down the dark streets of New York, trying to clear her head. How could people live like this? Every one of them crushed together, yet not knowing a single thing about those they shared this world with.

She sighed, pausing in her steps to glance about the glowing skyline that surrounded her. The city had finally recovered from 9/11, but there appeared to be no real change in how New York's people felt about each other, no real change in the overall feel of the city. All that was left was the hole in the skyline, where those two glimmering towers once stood. Looking out over it now, she realized the city felt almost... empty... to her. Like something was missing now that those two looming guardians were no more.

A cold wind shoved past her, whirling her blonde hair about, causing her to shiver. She shoved her hands into her pockets, curling further into her coat. All she wanted to do now was get home, eat, take a hot bath and fall into bed. She wanted to forget these thoughts about the city she now called home. She wanted to believe, even if it was a false belief, that somewhere out there among the eight million plus people that inhabited New York was at least one person who gave a damn about what might happen to their neighbour, not because they had to, but simply because they wanted to.

"Like that's going to happen." She muttered, starting her walk once more. The cold was beginning to get to her. She had thought Vancouver was chilly in the fall, but New York... 'New York can be brutal.' She thought to herself, grinning quietly at her own belly-aching. Her steps quickened ever so slightly, the thought of her warm apartment making her smile.

She was passing one of the many alleys between her and her building when something made her pause. A frown crossed her face as she stood looking down the darkened stretch of pavement, listening intently. It sounded almost like someone was... crying?

"Shut up!" Her frown deepened and she began to pad silently through the darkness, closer and closer to the sound. "I told you to shut up, Bitch!" It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but soon enough she could see what was going on. A man, about six feet tall, had a slip of a woman shoved up against the wall, her feet barely touching the ground. "What's wrong with you?" She heard him hiss. "You think you can run? You think I wouldn't find you?" His voice rose steadily, until he was all but screaming in the woman's face.

She had heard enough. No man had the right to treat a woman this way. Without even thinking she felt her feet eat up the remaining distance between herself and the couple. She watched his face turn towards her, hearing her steps, turning right into the hard left hook she had coming towards him. She took great satisfaction in the feeling of his nose caving beneath her knuckles and the sickening crunch that went with it. She heard the man scream and watched him back away, doubled over, clutching his nose in pain.

She turned quickly to the woman at her side, gripping her shoulders lightly at the little thing slid down the wall to sit on the ground. "You alright?" she asked quickly, getting only a nod in response. Poor woman was shaking like a leaf in a gale, seeming so very shocked that anyone had stopped to help her. Her saviour grinned at her, receiving a weak, watery smile in return.

She tensed as she watched the smile fade, the woman's eyes widening with fear. That could only mean... The blonde jumped to the side, pulling the frightened woman with her, just narrowly avoiding the kick that had been coming at her. She leapt to her feet watching the man spin around to face her, an evil look glimmering in his eye. "Get outta here!" he snarled. "This isn't any of your business!" He lunged at her, throwing himself on the knee she had brought up to meet him.

"That's where you're wrong." She said, shoving him off her before moving to stand between him and the woman he had been about to harm. "You hurt another woman, you make it my business." She pushed against the woman behind her. "Run!" she hissed, never taking her eyes off the guy in front of her. "Get out of here! Now!" She sighed with relief as she listened to the woman's footsteps fade into the distance. Now she could focus on getting herself out of this mess, which wasn't going to be the easiest thing to do.

She licked her lips as her mind raced; trying to figure out what she was going to do. She didn't want to fight with this guy any longer than she had to, but she got the feeling that this guy wasn't about to give up. She waited quietly, falling forward into a fighting stance, as the man slowly got to his feet. She watched as he glanced about, apparently looking for the woman she had just sent away. It took a few moments for him to realize she was gone and that the woman in front of him was responsible.

"You BITCH!" He screamed, once again charging at her. She danced aside, feeling to wind against her skin as she imagined a matador would feel as their bull lumbered past. She tried to run, but soon felt his iron grip wrap around her arm. "You ain't going nowhere!" Stars exploded before her eyes as she felt the punch land on her cheek. She reeled for a moment, trying to shake the stars out of her eyes as he continued to try and land hit after hit. He managed to land a few gut shots before she started fighting back, ramming her shoulder into his chest, knocking the wind out of him, before laying into him with all her might. She could feel the pain in her knuckles as the continued to connect with his flesh and bone. Her hands would be stiff for weeks after this.

Suddenly she felt herself being flung across the alley, her body slamming into a brick wall. The guy had managed to make a blind grab for her and was now proceeding to try and choke her to death. "This wasn't your business." He hissed. "You shoulda stayed outta it."

She grimaced before bringing her arms up through his arm and breaking his grip on her throat in one swift motion, breaking his left arm over her knee in the process. 'Thank you mom for making me take self-defence.' She thought to herself as the struggle for dominance resumed once again. They grappled at each other, him reaching for her throat, her for the strength to get him off her so she could run. She managed to push him back a bit, but he just came barrelling back, like a quarterback about to tackle her to the ground. He managed to use his momentum to carry them both back over to the wall and was scrambling up her body when oblivion hit. Before he had a chance to get out of his crouch, she had already brought up her arms and brought her elbows slamming down on the back of his head with as much force as her ten years of lifting weights could muster.

She sighed with relief, watching the man drop like a stone. Panting from the exertion, she allowed herself a moment or two to calm her breathing before bringing the cell phone that had, miraculously, stayed in her pocket to her lips, dialling as she went.

"911, what is your emergency."

"There's been an assault." She said, breathing heavily between sentences. "I need an ambulance and the cops to..." she glanced around, trying to figure out which end of the alley she was closer to. "...an alley off west 22nd and Avenue of the Americas, halfway down the street. There's a convenience store and a brick apartment building at the entrance."

"Alright ma'me, and how badly are you hurt?"

She drew back her hand from wiping her mouth and found blood. "Bastard split my lip." She muttered, incredulous, not really registering the dispatcher's question for a moment. "Oh, you're talking to me? Honey," she laughed. "The ambulance ain't for me; it's for the guy who tried to whip me." She looked down at her unconscious rival. "You should have known better than to start that shit with me boy." She said down to him.

"Is he still there ma'me? " The dispatcher sounded very concerned, worried that he might have a victim die on the phone with him.

"Yeah, he's out cold." She replied, massaging her jaw which was starting to get really sore now that the adrenaline from the fight was wearing off. "It started out as domestic thing between him and some woman he knew. I cold-cocked him to get him off of her, she ran, we fought, I knocked him out and called you." She breathed out a weary sigh. "Tell me those cops are on their way." She asked, starting to worry this guy might wake up for round two before the boys in blue got to her.

"Yes ma'me, they were on Reade when I called them out. They should be there in the next minute or so. The ambulance is coming from the downtown hospital so I'll be a little be longer given the traffic today."

"Yeah, traffic's a bitch in this city." She laughed, stopping only when her jaw began to hurt from it. She sighed, rubbing her jaw, and leaned against the brick wall that had, only moments before, been used as a weapon against her. "God I need a drink after this."

"I hear that." Dispatch laughed. "You sound like you've had a pretty rough night."

"Rougher than even you can imagine." She chuckled, going over the minutes of her day, and all the problems that had come with them. Glancing about her she managed to spot the furious red flicker of an approaching emergency vehicle. "Oh, thank you Lord." She sighed. "I can see the lights. Those cops are getting close to the entrance of the alley. Thank you." She smiled into the phone. "You guys probably don't get thanked near enough for the stuff you do. So... thanks."

She heard the dispatcher pause for a moment, obviously not used to this kind of reaction from the folk he spoke to during his shift. "You-you're welcome. You going to be alright now?"

"Yes, I think so; I can see someone running down the alley now." She watched a man in a suit jogging down the alley towards her, pulling a gun for his protection. "I gotta go. Have a decent night... well, as decent as can be expected for you in your line of work."

She heard the dispatcher chuckle. "I'll try." She smiled as she hung up the phone, slipping the thin piece of plastic back into her pocket. She pushed herself off of the wall and turned towards the man heading towards her. "Sorry to ruin your Friday night detective." She called.

"I was on call, this is nothin'." He approached the situation, gun drawn, taking in his surroundings with a careful and observant eye. His gaze landed on the form at her feet, now slowly starting to come around. "Can you tell me what happened here?"

She gave him a wry grin and shrugged a little. 'This guy's cute.' She thought. "My prostrated friend here decided to let his temper get the best of him when dealing with a lady friend. I simply decided that, that just wasn't going to fly while I was around."

"And where would this lady friend be right now?" he asked, holstering his gun and kneeling down to cuff the man at her feet.

"Don't know. I told her to run a while back." She looked around the alley, now alternating from dark to light red with the flickering of the detective's dashboard light. "I guess she took my advice."

"You know her?" he asked, rising up having finished cuffing the now semi-conscious man.

"Never seen her before in my life." She replied. "I just figured he knew her from how he was talking to her when I came on scene. He said something like...'You think you could run? You think I wouldn't find you?' I got the feeling that she had been trying to get out of a bad situation." She shrugged. "I wasn't about to let that attempt be in vain."

She watched him silently taking his notes, taking down her unofficial statement. The ambulance pulled up beside the SUV, the medics jumping out of the cab, prepping to get her assailant to the hospital. "So you took this guy out?" She turned back to the Detective. "On your own? With your bare hands?" He shook his head. "I would hate to get on your bad side."

She laughed softly at his incredulous tone. "Believe it or not, I've handled worse things than him. He's 160... 170 pounds max." She grinned quietly. "Try wrangling a bucking stallion that happens to be 1000+ pounds, that'll really work your muscles." She took a look at her knuckled, wincing at the large gashes she had opened up breaking in this guy's face. Trying to forget the stinging pain she now felt in her hands, she looked up at the handsome man in front of her. "Can I ask who the congratulations are from though? You never did introduce yourself."

His white teeth glimmered in the alternating light from the two emergency vehicles. "Don Flack, NYPD detective." He said, holding out his hand.

She smirked slightly, taking his large hands in one of her own calloused ones. "Jessie Kilburne, one L." She added, conscious of his need to document this. "Though I suppose, in this instance, one could call me the champion of women everywhere." She shook her head as the medics loaded their patient onto the stretcher. "Dude just kept coming. He kept charging me once he figured out his lady was gone." She snorted softly as she watched him get wheeled towards the waiting ambulance. "Shoulda listened to your mama, boy. Don't start shit you can't finish."