Edge City. Gray and dirty and full of men with bad records. Not the type of place you'd want to raise a family. There were always fights in the streets and the bars between drunks and cokeheads. In the dark alleyways, men in long overcoats would try to bribe and swindle and coax anybody they could into stepping off the busy street.
In Edge City, there were no heroes to protect it from the criminals crawling out of every possible nook and cranny. The overwhelming number of villians had crushed any and all attempts of heroes trying to bring justice and order to the chaotic boundaries of the city.
Many heores tried to ban together to form teams to clear the streets, but the crimes of these devilish men were so unrelenting. This drove the heores out and attracted more fiends to shamelessly parade throughout the ruins of Edge City.
And this was the paradise of evil men and women. Anyone running from the law could find sanctuary in Edge City. But not for long. There was talk of a hooded figure bringing drug lords to their knees and helping the small band of ex-police men protect the small number of unfortunate citizens, who were too poor to move away from the anarchy.
This hooded heroine appeared overnight. Crooks were afraid of doing their business out in the open, as they once had. Cronies of these crooks worked in large numbers, hoping to intimidate the stranger with their quantities.
"Do you think the She's gonna be out tonight?" One man asked his partner as they hastily loaded the cargo onto the bed of a blue truck.
"Shut up!" The other hissed at him, hand automatically going to the hollister of his gun at his hip.
"Sorry!" The first man whispered harshly, looking over his shoulder at the darkness of the night, "It's just.. I gotta bad feelin' about this."
"Well, ignore it and let's finish this up, man." The second growled, going back to work.
"But what if the She comes?" The first asked, shaking in fear.
"Look, Matty, there are a million fellas like us working tonight, alright? What's the chances the She's gonna pick us to nab, huh?" Matty pondered this information for a moment before nodding with a reassured smile, "Now, let's get back to--did you hear that?"
"N-no.. shut up, Willie, stop tryin' to scare me.."
"I'm not foolin' around, Matty! Listen!" They both strained their ears, hunched over their precious cargo.
"What were the chances of the She nabbing you tonight, Willie?" Both men froze as the soft female voice invaded their ears. They slowly turned to face her as she stepped forth from the shadow.
The She was garbed in eggplant purple afghan pants and and soft-padded black shoes that curled at the toes. She wore a choli that matched the color of her slightly transparent afghan pants, her slender midriff exposed. The flesh of her abdomen was pale. Wrapped around her head was a black sari, hiding her face from their fearful eyes. Adorning her wrists were thick silver bracelets.
The She approached them, the only noise that could be heard was the clanking of her bracelets. That was the sound Willie heard.
"P-please.. h-have mercy!" Matty begged, cowering in fear. The She gazed at him for a moment before narrowing her eyes at Willie, who had withdrawn his gun and pointed the barrel at her.
"Lookit, woman, we ain't got no quarrel with you. Now just let us go about our business and I won't hafta shoot you, got it?" Willie sounded much braver than he felt.
The She slid her right foot in their direction, eversoslightly. The motion didn't go unnoticed by Willie as he quickly pulled the trigger. The She extended both arms, creating a silvery metallic force field, effortlessly blocking the bullet from harming her. Willie, now trembling, began firing at her. Matty dove behind Willie, arms covering his head.
"Leave us alone, you wench!" Matty cried out. The She ignored his pleas as the force field diminished. Her hand began to emit a violet glow, and the purple of her irises bled into the whites of the surrounding sclera: the only thing visible under her black veil. The She balled the glowing hand into a fist and pointed it at Willie.
A ball of purple energy shot at him, knocking the gun from his hand. The She continued approaching them, backing them into their truck. Willie and Matty began whimpering in fear, quietly begging and pleading for her to show mercy. The She said nothing as she bound and gagged them to a nearby lamp post.
A few minutes later, the militia, fighting against the crooks that had overrun Edge City, arrived after an anonymous tip-off. They knew who it was though. The She always had the bad guys bound and gagged, waiting to be shipped off to Gotham City, where a cell would be waiting for them in Blackgate Prison.
The head of the militia, Davis Burke, was a former officer of Gotham City's Quick Response Team, and nephew of Tommy Burke, who worked for Gotham's Major Crimes Unit. He had been dispatched to Edge City, to help the weakening police force. After the cause appeared to be lost, Davis Burke insisted upon staying and helping those who couldn't leave.
Burke nodded his head in approval at the two capturede criminals and looked to the sky for their heroine.
But the She was long gone.
Disclaimer: DC owns Batman and Thomas 'Tommy' Burke.
Edge City is from Smallville, if I'm not mistaken. This is my own interpretation of Edge City. It's got a very Gotham City feel to it, dontcha think?
The She, Matty, Willie and Davis Burke belong to me.