Author's Notes: So this is something I've been working on for a while. Just a little something. This is just the prologue. If you want the first chapter I'm gonna need some reviews telling me that you want one. Otherwise, if no one wants one, there's no point in writing one. Flames are welcome as well. Critiques are welcome, and more appreciated than Flames. Praise is also welcome, but in this age, praise is a rarity few can afford to give.

Prologue: First Night

It's the city that never sleeps, not the people. In truth the people of the city sleep quite well, some in their rich penthouse apartments, others in their brick houses, and still others on the streets themselves. Lights are supposed to keep darkness away, but these dim city lights keep the starlight away, while serving as a blanket for the true darkness, the darkness of men's hearts. Unspeakable crimes are committed under the blanket of nightfall, in fact one was happening right now.

"Hey baby..."

Males are the worst sinners when it comes to sins of the flesh. Their flesh drives them, the animalistic instincts of nature decide their actions. Men are driven by their minds some say, where women are driven by their hearts. Some disagree, some say that men are driven by their heart's most basic instinctual desires, where women are driven by their most deeply routed emotions that keep the primal feelings at bay. Perhaps women are more driven with their minds than men are, perhaps not.

"Leave me alone!"

There are many sins in this world. The loss of life, the loss of property, the loss of money, and so many more. The worst sin however is the atrocity that is committed every day, every hour, in every city: Loss of innocence. Life has a way of destroying innocence, others merely help it along, that is what so many have come to believe.

"Now that's no way to talk baby..."

Depravity. It is the opposite of innocence. All men have it. All women hide it. It is concealed within the innocent shell of the human body. When the innocence is stripped away from the human shell, the soul shines forth with its true darkness the overwhelming depravity of man and woman.

"Somebody help me! For God's sake!"

God. The only entity in the universe infinitely knowledgeable, infinitely powerful, and infinitely benevolent. Innocent, yet with full knowledge of the penetrating depth of the depravity of the human soul. He was forced to watch the masterpiece creation of humanity be twisted and destroyed over the millennia.

"Ain't nobody here but us, and we're gonna have a fun time."

How can a depraved man gain back his innocence once he has lost it? Can the fragile pieces of a broken shell be forged together again, and if they can, what can hold them? How can man atone for his life, can he even do it at all? It is said that life is made of crossroads, never a straight path. This means that in life there is an infinite number of chances. It means that man is presented constantly with the choice between right and wrong.

"No!"

Some say that living is an automatic function of the body. Blood being bumped through the veins as the heart pumps it over and over again. Others say that to live is to think, and without thought one cannot truly live. In trying to atone for their life, for their wrong actions, many men change their living. Some stop their heart, stop their lives. Others stop their thinking, they change their beliefs they change their religion, they change their very minds. Others realize that living is more than just being alive, and thinking, it is action. To act is to live. This truth brings some to change more than their lives, more than their minds, it makes them turn at the crossroad.

"Shut up bitch."

The men here, they have no appreciation for innocence, they think only of their depravity. Their depraved flesh drives them onward to the point where innocence is stolen from another victim. It is something that happens every day, every hour, in ever city. Unnoticed by those who do not care to see, untouched by those who refuse to act.

"When are we gonna get this over with?"

They are held in by their fear, a natural animalistic instinct that is found in all of mankind. Fear keeps them safe, protects them from harm and danger. The simple minded majority of the world were content to live in their cage and look at the outside world, never truly seeing. There are only a few, a marginal minority that truly see what happen.

This man was one of them, this man that stood above the scene watching, looking outward from his broken cage as he tried to piece together his broken shell. Looking was one thing, thinking another, now it was time for action.

The men below grunted and called at the running woman as though they were starved predators running down their prey. Five men, one woman. The brightly colored eyes of the woman sparkled with a fiercely burning flame as she ran. The primitive instinct of fear burning through her soul, willing her to survive. The depravity of five men burning to end her life over nothing more than enjoyment. Such was the depth of their depravity.

In this man's eyes, they each deserved what they were so eager to give and had doubtlessly given before. Death comes to each man once, and only once. With death there are no crossroads. Was death truly his to give, or did that make him no better than these men?

"Let the woman go. In return for your debt."

The five men stopped as one man stood between them and the woman as if he had been there the entire time. His fingers uncurled as his hands dropped to his sides. His dark clothing shrouded him in the shadows of twilight that filled that streets on which they stood. His long coat reached to the middle of his calves and hung motionless in the still air of the night. His face was uncovered, his head full of long red hair that was combed back and gelled to stay that way. His sharp features were turned down in an eternally blank expression and his tone of voice was deep, almost as if it were the space itself speaking.

"What the hell you talking about?" One of the men asked as he flipped open the knife in his hand, a weapon he had apparently been itching to open. "We don't owe anybody any money. Now back off, or it's your ass."

The man didn't move, his green eyes merely turned towards the man who had spoken to him. They burned with the same primitive fire that the woman's eyes burned with as she continued to run, not thanking the stranger that had just saved her life. Such was the way of mankind.

"What you think you're some tough shit don't you?" One of the men asked moving forward, a baseball bat in his hands patting his palm with it as though he were a metronome timing the patience of the stranger that stood before them.

The man with the knife had apparently had enough, the predator's prey was getting away, and he didn't like it. He moved to run after her, but was stopped as the stranger's forearm collided with his throat, close lining him as he tried to run past the stranger. The man's feet rushed forward without him, and his body fell to the ground, the back of his head slamming into the cold street beneath as his eyes closed in unconsciousness. It seemed to happen in slow motion to those who were watching, and it seemed to be unbelievable to the remaining four men of the pack that had been chasing the woman.

"What the hell?!" A man shouted as he moved forward and grabbed the man's knife. Rushing towards the stranger's side as though to stab him with the knife. The man with the baseball bat swung straight level at the man's head at the same time, hoping to do some damage and teach this punk a lesson.

The stranger grabbed the man who was diving at him by the wrist of the hand that held the knife with his right hand. His left arm came up and blocked the bat's swing with his forearm splintering the wooden bat as he did so, as though it had just swung into a brick wall. His right hand twisted the man's wrist so far that one could hear an audible crack as the bones' ligaments ripped off of them and the bones splintered into several pieces.

Two of the men took off running in the opposite direction of the long gone woman, the direction that they had come. The one who had swung the bat cussed violently as he threw away the remainder of the bat and took a swing at the man with his fist. The stranger's left foot came up and kicked him in the jaw in a sweeping kick that hooked the man's head and brought it to the right down to the ground.

The stranger released the wrist of the man that he was holding, the thug had dropped the knife when he had lost feeling in his hand. His eyes stared off towards the two men that were running. They were running as though they had nothing else to live for, they were running as they had made the woman run just minutes before. The primitive flame of fear burning within them, willing them to survive. Would they change their lives? Would they take a turn at the crossroads that they were presented with in life?

One could only hope.

The stranger picked up the knife that the man had dropped and wiped it off on his pant leg. He closed it and stuck it in the pocket of his coat.

"So this is Metropolis... Beautiful."