My name is Ruby Dutchman. I live in Skyehaven. Crime has plagued my city. Violence and rape and hatred have ran rampant. The misery is ubiquitous. There is too much pain. Anyone with the power to change this has overlooked our suffering or has been bribed into corruption. Someone must save us before we plunge deeper into despair.

Click. Click. Click.

The heels of a woman’s shoes echoed as they came down on the concrete. The sun had long since set and the streets were now deserted. Dim street lights lit up sections of the sidewalk ahead of her. No one stayed out this late, much less did they dare walk home alone. The clicking of her heels hastened as the dark and silence began to make her nervous.

“Ya know,” a voice boomed from behind her.

She turned around on the spot to see what had broken the ominous quiet. It was a man, but she couldn’t see his face in the dim light. The woman began to back away from the figure.

He sauntered towards her slowly and continued, “a pretty girl like you shouldn’t be out this late. No. Not in Skyehaven. Somethin’ bad might happen.”

She took off running down the street and away from the man. She did not make it far. A man leaped out of an alley and wrapped his arms around her. Kicking and flailing, the girl screamed out for help.

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The other man came to her now. He gripped her wrist tightly and ripped her purse out of her hands.

CRACK!

The man holding the girl sank to his knees. Behind him, a man dressed in a black hoodie and jeans was holding a billy club in each hand. The thug holding the girl’s purse started to back away slowly, terrified of the masked vigilante. Turning to take off, the man immediately was stopped by yet another man wearing a brown hoodie and goggles. The thief punched at the man but he was unmoved. In one swift move, the man in brown swung his batons and the thief was unconscious.  

The man with the billy club casually popped his neck. “Well... that was easy.” He looked around for a second and then grabbed the wallet of the thief. He turned to the girl as he rummaged through the wallet. “Hey, you really shouldn’t be walking home alone. Here, I’ll get you a cab.”

The hooded man looked up and down the evening street for a moment before a cab turned onto the road. As the cab approached, the man stepped out into the street. The tires came to a screeching halt. With a spring in his step, the hooded man walked up to the driver’s window.

“Okay this girl needs to go home.” he pulled out some money from the thief’s wallet, “So here’s some money and take her wherever.”

Smiling, the hooded man opened the door and the girl timidly got in. “Now be careful and have a nice night ma’am.” He closed the door and watched as the car drove off.

He chuckled, “All in a night’s work.”

The man with the baton finished tying up the thugs and stood up. “Yeah, I guess so Ad-.”

The other boy hit him in the shoulder, “Shut up, you can’t say my real name. Man we really need code names.” The boy pushed his black hoodie back and revealed messy blonde hair. The two hurried off into an alleyway.