Slap! Kira felt the creep's hand smack her ass again, something she has gotten used to over the years, working at a bar in a less than reputable part of the city. How to deal with drunks is something you must learn quickly when you're a sixteen-year-old waitress. It becomes even more complex when your patrons all have superpowers, and you don't.

"Hey! Do that again and I'll get Mick involved!" Kira shouted furiously at the three gentlemen who all clearly had too much to drink.

Mick was the owner of The Capeless, a popular bar for class four and five citizens, located in the outskirts of the slums. Class four and five were the lowest of the low when it came to power rating and were outcast to the slums because of it. The power ratings were a simple one to five system the ruling class developed to help sort and keep track of everyone.

"Leave her be," came a deep, rough voice from behind the bar.

"Sorry, Mick. You know, sometimes I just can't help myself," replied one of the men sitting at the offender's table, a man who looked more like a gecko than a human.

Kira continued toward the front of the bar to deposit the collection of dirty glasses she had been gathering. "I swear the higher your class, the bigger the asshole you are," she stated with a little more spite than she expected. Kira remembered Mick was a class four and her face quickly became flushed. "Present company excluded, of course," she spat out as quickly as she could.

"Of course," Mick replied with a wide grin.

Mick was a tall, muscular, and hairy man. Not normal hairy but hairy like a bear. The only part of him that wasn't completely covered in hair was his face, which had a longer than normal nose with a black button like tip on it. His superpower, we call them abilities, gave him the physical attributes and appearance of a brown bear. He even had solid black eyes and rounded ears.

That's why the United Nations of Powers, commonly called UNOP, gave him the codename Bear. Everyone received a codename and rank by their tenth birthday. Mick hated being called Bear, though. It made him feel less human, even though a lot of people had animal type abilities. He was the only one Kira knew who hated himself for it.

"Mick, do you mind if I get off early today? I want to meet Nate for some scavenging." Kira pleaded with her best puppy dog eyes. She didn't have actual puppy eyes, but she did her best impression.

Mick looked sternly at Kira for a moment, but his face eventually gave way to a smile. "You know I spoil you, don't you?"

"I know, but that's why I love you," Kira said as she removed her apron and ran for the door. "I'll be back in the morning for the early shift. I promise," she shouted as she ran out of The Capeless.

The door opened to smog infested streets crowded with factory workers shuffling from one job to the next, or if they were lucky, shuffling home. If you lived in the slums, there wasn't a lot for you to do with your time other than work or drink. There weren't any movie theaters, very few restaurants and no other leisurely activity Kira could think of. There wasn't even a gym or park to visit.

Kira changed directions and started walking toward the edge of the great wall that encompassed the entire city. It was a massive feat of engineering and metal work that was hundreds of feet tall, separating them from the scars of the past.

There is another pair of rings located within the city. One separates the slums (the outer ring full of class four and five citizens) from where the class three and two citizens live. The final ring separates the class one citizens from everyone else. The middle ring has natural components in it and is like a bustling small city, but it pales in comparison to the massive skyscrapers that are within the inner ring. Someone unimaginably named the rings one, two and three, but everyone calls them the slums, the burbs and the city.

Taking her eyes off the wall, Kira pulled out her phone and started texting her friend Nate.

>> Kira: I'm on my way. Mick let me go early.

<< Nate: Ok, see you soon. I'll send you my location. I think I found something interesting not too far outside of the wall.

>> Kira: Outside? Nate, you know we're not supposed to go out there.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

<< Nate: Come on, Kira. Where's your sense of adventure?

>> Kira: It died when my parents abandoned me in the slums.

<< Nate: But then you met me. ^_^ Always look on the bright side.

Kira groaned as her phone buzzed. It was a GPS tag from Nate for her to follow. She clicked on it and a large blue arrow appeared on her phone for her to follow. The location was only a few minutes walk from where she was. Giving the phone her full attention, she didn't notice the man standing infront of her until she walked directly into him.

"What the fuck!" shouted the man as he spun around. Beer was dripping off his leather jacket. All of his buddies were laughing at the mess.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention," Kira apologized.

The man gave Kira a once over, admiring her long jade hair that matched her eyes. "Well, well, what do we have here, boys? A little girl far from home." His buddies started cackling and grinning. "Why don't you come for a drink and make it up to me. I can think of a few ways to start," his eyes giving away his intentions.

"No, thank you," Kira replied in a firm but shaky voice.

There were four of them in total, all wearing matching black leather jackets and holding beers. One had the physical characteristics of an alligator, teeth and all. Another had long dreadlocks that appeared to be made of metal with sharp points at each end. The third was a shorter man with the head of a pig and food stains all over his white undershirt. The last, what appeared to be their leader and the one with beer dripping off him, had short black hair, brown eyes and an evil grin splitting his face.

"Hey boss, I recognize her," said the shorter man. "She's that powerless kid."

"Powerless?" snorted their leader. "That makes her defenseless if you ask me," stated the man as he grabbed Kira's wrist. "Looks like we're going to have some fun, boys."

"You know what I find fun?" asked the eight-foot tall man walking up to the situation. "Busting a bunch of lowlifes who think they are tough."

The man continued his approach to the group as all eyes met his. He looked more like walking rocks than a human. His skin was composed entirely of shifting rocks which had a dull gray tone to them. The man was wearing a blue shirt with long sleeves and blue pants with some gold stripes running down the sides of his arms and legs.

He tapped at a large golden badge located on his upper right pectoral. It read, PPD, Powered Police Department, in large letters above the roman numeral III underneath in smaller lettering, denoting his class.

"It doesn't appear to me that the lady wants to go with you, Pete," he stated with authority as he finally reached the confrontation.

Pete let go of Kira and took a step back. "We were just playing around Blockhead. No reason not to be civil with each other, right?" Pete declared with a shrug of his arms and a smile.

"Everything ok here?" Blockhead asked, facing Kira.

"Everything's fine now. I was just explaining to these gentlemen that I was on my way out," Kira said, emphasizing the word gentlemen. She probably would have reported them if it didn't mean spending her afternoon at the local station filling out reports. Most of the PPD were corrupt anyway, so her trust in them wasn't high.

"Are you sure?" officer Blockhead asked. Kira nodded her head. "Move along, Pete. Looks like you got lucky. Take your buddies and get out of here."

"Absolutely, officer," Pete said with an overly friendly tone to his voice. "We'll be seeing you around, Powerless." And with that, Pete and his gang departed.

"Are you sure you're ok, miss?" Blockhead asked in a soft tone, the kind of tone adults used with kids.

"Yes, I'm fine. Lucky you came around, but I'm fine now that you did. I'm just going to meet up with a..." Kira was interrupted by a loud shout.

"KIRA! HEY KIRA!" screamed a young man as he ran up the street toward the pair. "Are you ok? Whatever it is, she didn't do it officer. Kira wouldn't do anything wrong," stated the young man.

The man looked to be the same age as Kira and had short, dirty blond hair. His face was slender and covered in dirt and grime. To be fair, most of the citizens of the slums were covered in some form of filth. The only thing that made the young man noticeable were small protrusions of bone coming out of the back side of each of his palms.

"Nate, Nate, calm down. He's just here helping me with a little situation," Kira replied.

"Situation? Is everything ok? What happened?" Nate asked.

"Everything's fine, Nate. Can we just get going?" she asked, directing her question to both Nate and the Officer.

"If you're ok, then I'm ok. Have a nice day you two," said Blockhead as he waved goodbye and walked away.

"Are you sure everything's ok? What happened?" Nathen asked again.

"I'm fine, really. Can we just drop it? Didn't you have something you wanted to show me?" Kira replied.

Nathen smiled, grabbed her hand and started pulling her toward the wall. "It's amazing! I think this is the big score, Kira. This is the one that's going to put us on the way to easy street," Nate said excitedly.

"You say that about everything, Nate. Last month it was the weird eggs you found that ended up just being spoiled chicken eggs. The month before that, it was the lock box. I spent nearly a week's wage getting that box open just to find out it was full of cigarette butts. This isn't another cigarette butt container again, is it?"

"No. This is different. This is the big one, Kira. I swear it! This will change our lives. This will buy our way into the city for sure."

Kira sighed as Nate pulled her along. "They'll never let us into the city. We're lesser beings, remember? Only rank ones can live there."

"Fine, whatever. We'll buy our way into the burbs then. Anything's better than working two factory jobs in the slums."

Kira smiled as they approached the massive wall. She would never admit it aloud, but Nate's optimism was one of her favorite things about him, even though it never led to anything positive.

The shadow cast by the wall towered over them as they finished their approach. Time to see this big find, she thought as Nate tugged her again.