After a day of training with Natasha Romanova, my wings were sore. I exited the SHIELD HQ and took off into the air.

Skyscrapers reached up farther than the eye could see. Across the horizon shone the brilliant sunrays that cover the darkening sky with stunning shades of purple, pink orange, red, and a hint of yellow. Tall high rises reaching for the sky gleamed and glowed from the sun's rays as if it was on fire.

I flew towards a small-unused tower block close to central park. I flew down to the ground and landed. I folded my wing. I looked around before approaching the building. I tapped the door three times and it creaked open. I coughed as the musty smell of mold hit my nose. It wasn't the greatest accommodation but it was better than sleeping in the trees. And most of all, it still had running water and electricity.

I took off my jacket and tossed it on the old couch I found in a nearby dumpster. The couch was worn down in some areas and springs were poking out.

After that, I walked toward the window and looked out. I saw the day soon turned to night. The sun dipped below the horizon, and the sparkling stars made their appearance. A large round disk that is the moon arose from the horizon.

I was living there living there ever since I came into New York. I was hoping to start a new life in the city and forget my traumatic past as a lab experiment at Itex. All life I was on the run from the erasers, mutant human-wolf hybrid, and crazy scientists that wanted to use me for their own nefarious purpose. Working for SHIELD gave me a sense of purpose, something useful to do with my life.

Had I asked to have wings? No. My mom, Dr. Valencia Martinez is a vet. Ironic huh? Well she's not really my "mom" in a sense and I had never lived with her my whole life. She worked on the avian-human recombinant project, giving the egg that would soon become me to be studied, but she was shut out of the project once the embryo was viable. Crazy scientists thought it would be fun to combine human and bird DNA together. They used protean to combine bird DNA with my normal human DNA making me 2% bird 98% human; 2% of my DNA is bird DNA. As a lab experiment, I was kept in a cage and poke and prodded, subjected to various tests, some of which are too graphic to describe to you readers.

I sighed and went to the bathroom. I grabbed a green towel I had nabbed from a supermarket and wrapped it around myself. I have to admit that I don't condone stealing but as a avian-human freak on the run, I am not exactly rolling in money.

I took off my clothes and wrapped myself with the green hotel tower. I went to the sink and brushed my teeth. When that was done, I placed the plug and filled it up with water. I added a few drops of liquid soap, which I has stolen from a nearby convince store, into the sink. The water started to foam up. I grabbed the pants and rubbed them together. When that was clean, I repeated with the shirt. Then I placed clothes on the sink to air-dry.

After that, I removed the towel and left it on the rack. I looked closely at my face in the bathroom mirror. My cheeks were hollow and there were dark rings under my eyes. My face was littered with scars I obtained from years of battling with the erasers.

I turned the tap on. Brrr, too cold. I tweaked the tap a little to the right, then left until the right temperature was reached.

I let the warm water wash the dirt from my body. I lathered my body with the liquid soap and then stepped under the stream of water, letting my stress and emotion wash way with the cool refreshing stream of water emanating from the showerhead. I spread my wings and carefully cleaned that as well. After ten minutes, I got out of the shower feeling cleansed and energized.

I dried myself off and put on another clean pair of clothes I nicked from a clothing store. I went to the couch and plopped down on it. I turned on the old TV left behind in the house. The pictures on the screen were fuzzy so I got up and giggled the antenna until the picture was clear. I changed the channel to the BBC World News Service which had the headline of "Federal Polytechnic Mubi students killed in Nigeria." The news reporter said, "According to the police, some 25 people, mostly students, have been killed by unknown gunmen in Mubi, north-eastern Nigeria."

War, violence, destruction, I thought, these are the three prevalent words mentioned in the news these days. Why not peace, prosperity, and cooperation? Why can't there ever be peace in the world? Why can't all the people ever live in unity?

I flipped through the channel and flipped through the channels before settling on the X-Factor where people singing badly almost made my cringe. When the program was done,

I shuffled towards my bed and crawled under the blanket. At night, I tossed and turned, tormented by dreams of Ari laughing in my face and tearing me to pieces limb by limb.

I woke up the next morning screaming. My heart was pounding and I was drenched with sweat. The next day, I woke up to the sun shining in my face.

We ate our breakfast in silence. The next day I woke up with the sun shining in my face. I groaned and threw off the blanket off me. Then I got up and shuffled to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I put on the clothes which I had dried the previous night and flew back to SHIELD HQ where more training awaited.

As I entered the building, I saw General Fury talking to a man in blue navy blue uniform. I waited for him to finish before I said, "Excuse me sir."

"Agent Ride, what do you want?" Fury said.

"I was thinking, if it's not too much to ask," I said nervously, "I would like to for an accommodation here at the SHIELD dorm. I had been living in an old run building not far from here. Also, how about my uniform? I saw the other SHIELD recruits have them, but I don't."

General Fury replied, "Your uniform is finished, we made a special one because of your wings, when you finish the training, you'll get a room based on your Level. But for now you can get one… Didn't Agent Romanov tell you this?"

"Umm no, Max replied.

"She will show you the room," Fury said, "I'll send someone with the uniform. Anything else?"

"No that'll be it for now," I said as I walked away looking for Romanov.