Icy winds whipped through chestnut curls as an astute, muscular woman crouched at the edge of the roof of an abandoned warehouse in Mutant Town, a place transformed into a haven for the socially most ravaged souls who escaped from the torturous wrath of the discriminating humans. Beneath the crumbling concrete she walked on, people of all shapes and sizes huddled in old blankets around makeshift campfires made from the old boxes lying around the warehouse and whatever else they found inside. She didn't need to huddle downstairs with the rest of them. The chill didn't bother her anymore. Only the thought of him kept her warm as she stood on the rooftop, though she didn't know when he'd return or even if he'd return. She could only stand there and search the streets of Mutant Town, trying to track her lost lover. Bluish eyes flecked with amber watched the movements of every car and every person beneath the yellow-gold glow of the street lamps, some pooling in perfect circles of light on the sidewalk, others spread in erratic patterns, highlighting the jagged glass shards lying on the pavement below. Mutant Town teemed with life at night, maybe even more so than during the day. Her hawkish eyes followed the path past the dumpsters and crushed beer cans of a young couple hand in tentacle, walking together in the moonlight without fear of an attack from anti-mutant sympathizers. She watched them grin uncontrollably at each other and her heart ached for her missing love.

How she managed to end up in Mutant Town she couldn't quite remember. Her powers didn't manifest themselves until she turned 20, late for a mutant. Brilliant gold-flecked blue eyes switched color so often her entire life that she never thought her intensely accurate eyesight had anything to do with a mutant power. Until her wings broke out of her back in extremely painful fashion after a rough day at work and an even rougher walk home, she had no idea that her DNA included a mutant X gene. Though her magnificent eagle wings slid back into her body, the damage to her relationship with her family was complete. She fled from the 'help' they wanted to get for her 'condition' and only earned herself a hefty beating from a gang of mutant haters contracted by her family to find her. Julio saved her life then; he'd tracked the mutant haters for months and finally found them taking turns kicking and punching her in the gut. After dispatching with the thugs single-handedly, he took her to Mutant Town, healed her wounds, settled her in, and remade a life for her. Never would she feel more grateful to anyone for anything.

In a short period of time she did fall in love with Julio Richter, the protector of Mutant Town and her own personal savior. For all intents and purposes, he appeared to have fallen in love with her as well. The way he kissed her, the way he held her, everything just seemed to fall into place, like their bodies fit together perfectly. Mostly she just loved the way he breathlessly whispered 'te quiero' in her ear, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist as they'd stood on this very rooftop, his chin resting on her shoulder as they looked out over the town they'd helped to protect the last few years. Their conversations lasted for hours and sometimes they even stayed up talking in bed far later than they should have. Somehow she knew that despite her unfortunate circumstances with her family and her old life, God had created her a destiny that led her to Julio Richter. If one thing remained certain in this crazy world, her love for Julio had healed her and made her a better person after all the heartache.

That's why she needed to carry on the work they started in Mutant Town together. She needed to protect the people and what precious little they had left. Some mutants in Mutant Town hated humans. Most harbored resentment towards society. But mainly her people just wanted to be left alone, to live in peace with other mutants who wouldn't judge them for their genetics, for what they couldn't control. Society as a whole didn't accept mutants into the everyday workings of the social system, so they'd found their only alternative the creation of a new society where they could live in relative peace. But the economic part of society inter-connected so much that they could never truly break away from it, at least not in New York City. So unfortunately poverty posed a huge problem in the world she lived in, a problem neither she nor her fellow protectors of the town could solve successfully. Thus they needed to watch over the city, patrolling the desperate people who lived under their guardianship.

Every night she toured the city, dreadfully, for fear of what she might find. But her duty as a protector of Mutant Town called on her to keep a watchful eye on the city. Her leather pants creaked as she moved backwards on the rooftop, stepping lightly over crumbled roof tiles. She took off her leather jacket to reveal a long-sleeve, backless black shirt made of warm-looking material. A long red scabbed scar running down the center of her back split in two while two large bones shot out, covered in mucous and a little bit of blood. She fell to her hands and knees, head facing downward with a crown of brown curls falling around it as the feathers spread down her wings, stretching over the frame while wincing in all together too familiar pain. After only ten minutes her hated wings filled the backless space of her black top and she shook the fluid from each wing, stretching them in and out in a repetitive fashion. Sliding on a pair of gloves to protect her hands from the chill, she flexed her wings once more before running towards the edge of the roof, her wings catching the updraft from the arctic chill passing overhead. She soared over the top of the buildings, magnificent wings unfurled against the blackish smog of the night sky.

She hated her wings more than anything. Only on these nightly patrols did she reveal them, passing over as a guardian of Mutant Town. Watching over the city came to mean more than just the usual protection of the people over the past few weeks. Rictor left without a note, without a word in the middle of the night, leaving his things behind in the small rundown apartment they both shared in one of the nicer parts of Mutant Town. A very responsible person as a whole, the idea of him leaving her without notice remained out of the question. If he hadn't wanted to stay with her he would have discussed it with her as an adult, especially with his responsibilities to the town. So she felt that abandonment couldn't possibly be the answer. She loved him, he loved her- and something was very wrong with the disappearance of the honorary mayor of Mutant Town. Knowing that he hadn't left by his own choice or circumstances of his own creation, she couldn't help but feel torn between relief and even greater worry. Relief that he couldn't possibly run from her, but extreme concern for his well-being.

With eyes zeroing in on a red bandana attached to a street light, the woman once known as Rose Stevens and now known only as Valkyrie circled into a downward spiral and landed next to the post. Caught on a loosened screw in the middle of the post, she could tell the bandana could only be Julio's. Valkyrie trusted nothing, however, but Julio himself completely. She knew very well that the bandana could, and in fact, be, a plant, used to draw her attention. Blinking, her eyes took in the surrounding area of Mutant Town, noting the exits and entrances of the buildings around her. Satisfied with her reconnaissance, Valkyrie took off once more, snatching Rictor's bandana from the pole on her way up. Let whoever put it there know that they'd started a war with her, a war she didn't intent to lose if it took her last breath. Flying above the streets at a very fast pace, she landed running on the top of her won building. If she needed to stage a rescue mission she couldn't do it herself. Using her key, Valkyrie opened the roof door to the staircase leading below and entered. The warmth reminded her she'd left her leather jacket on the roof of the warehouse. She made a mental note to return for it later. Finally reaching the fifth floor of the building, the floor the entire protection team of Mutant Town lived on, Valkyrie knocked loudly on the nearest door, an apartment belonging to Jamie Madrox, also known as Multiple Man. The door swung open, to her surprise, and under the weight of her fist.

"Jamie! Jamie, I thought I told you to keep your door shut and locked! This isn't..." Valkyrie's voice trailed off as she entered the tiny apartment. Jamie's things, thrown about every which way on the floor instead of the neat organized piles one of his dupes usually kept around his room immediately alerted her to some sort of imminent or passed danger. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as her nose picked up the stench from what could only be a human body. Though afraid to look, she moved closer to the center of the room and lifted a few pieces of clothing from the mound in the center of the bed. A pretty blond woman stared up at her, ashen face of death empty and devoid of emotion. Valkyrie let out a scream of surprise more than horror, though she shrieked loud enough for the whole building to hear. She clutched the red bandana tightly to her chest, knuckles turning white from the strength of her grip. No one came to her call however, all too used to screams in Mutant Town. Most of the other guardians remained on their patrols at this time of night. Sadly, Valkyrie regained her composure and shut the eyelids of the mangled woman with her gloved forefingers and covered her back up with the clothes. She needed to find Jamie, pronto, and see if they couldn't get to the bottom of this.

For all she knew, any one of them could be next.