The city was great bright lights good eats. Indeed it was a place that never slept but for Atian it was starting to prove a bit too much. His first week was horrible, broken phone META attack. He did meet a cute girl but he was sure she’d never call. All in all he needed a break from it all. So he took a trip up north. He had read on a web site that upstate had some beautiful parks and forest. Something he found himself missing, the quiet serenity that nature provided was exactly what the doctor ordered after the week he just experienced.

He was on the bus headed back to the city, already missing the quiet. The bus came to a halt, the brakes squealing. “Last stop” The driver called, Atian sat up a bit confused, had he missed his stop? He looked around franticly realizing he was he only one left. Well him and the driver.

“Yo, mutie last stop. Time to get off.” The driver hollered clearly ready to end his day.

Reluctantly Atian climbed off the bus, the area looked a little shady with rundown buildings and boarded up entrances. Defiantly not the section of the city he was used to. Pulling his grey hood over his head he proceeded in the direction the bus came. Home had to be this way.

The sun had set hours ago, Atian walked underneath each street light in his path. The moon was nice but even that couldn’t keep are the darkness at bay, and the warm feeling of the streetlights against his skin let him know he was safe. Even if this part of the city didn’t, graffiti covered most of the buildings; all the shops were closed and gated with thick metal bars. And the few people who were out didn’t seem too friendly. There was one constant among tagging, the words “Sanctuary Near.” At first he paid it no mind, but again it was had a constant presence on every block.

“You lost homie.” A voice stated more so than asked. Atian ignored it and kept walking. “I said you lost homie!” The voice said louder. Atian heard the sound of movement behind him, he started to walk faster. “I know you heard me kid, you lost or naw!?” The voice said again, the last words coming out with physical effort. Atian felt the impact, followed by the sound of shattering glass and the stench of warm beer. He doubled over, the weight of the thick glass knocking him off balance.
He felt a foot, slam into his back knocking him down.
"Yea, homie you lost..."

Atian tumbled onto his belly, scraping it on the sidewalk as he slide forward. He attempted to get to his feet but, a fist slammed into the back of his neck, his eyes flashing white from the impact. He fell back onto the sidewalk, his vision blurred, a constant ringing in his ears. He could hear the voice discussing something as they stood over him. Unable to make out their words through the ringing. 
*******
"Oh crap it's on of dem freaks..." One stated, stepping back from Atian's body, his voice crackling slightly."Yo man we better go, before on of them Sanc goons show up." He attempted to persuade the others.
"Naw man, those guys ain't been roun' here in a while, plus we been talking about taken our neighborhood back from those freaks. I think we start with him." It was the voice that called out earlier, the ring leader Atian guessed. Attempting once more to stand.

"Leave me alone..." He spoke shakily, his head spinning as he pulled himself further off the sidewalk.
"Shut up." Another male voice stated kicking Aian in the ribs knocking him onto his back.
"I say we beat em, leave a message." The leader stated, drawing a few cheers from the others. 

They couldn't have been much older then himself, Atian noticed as he opened his eye trying to get his bearings. Another foot stomping on his chest knocking the wind from his lungs and bile from his stomach. He curled over from the pain, spitting the stomach contents on the sidewalk.
"So who wanna go first?" The leader asked looking at the others. "No takers? You bring me that broom stick."

It felt like hours, but in reality their cruel fun only lasted ten minutes before the beaten mutant was no longer entertaining. Fading in and out consciousness he could barely hear or make out their jokes and laughs. One of them placed a foot on his stomach rolling him over. He felt something wet impact his cheek before the sound of their voices faded into nothingness. He couldn’t tell you how long he laid there, unable muster the strength or will to get up. Each breathe was agonizing, the thought of moving was painful. Through the pain and the pounding of his head he could hear footsteps, someone approaching. His heart raced with panic at the thought of his attackers returning. Fear overcoming the pain as his body began to crawl. He felt his eyelids grow heavy the footsteps growing near. No he couldn’t allow himself to pass out now. Voices, and then more footsteps. He was surrounded, he tried to lift his head to see who or what but he could make nothing through the swelling, and blood. His eye lids grew heavy, as he felt a hand and a voice.

Despite being a card carrying member of The Order and therefore having an open invitation to stay at Sanctuary whenever she desired, she rarely took advantage of it.  Small, cramped and run-down as it was, there was something comforting about having her own place paid for through her own sweat and blood.  Irrelevant was the fact that most of the ways in which she made the money needed to pay for her place was somewhat less than legal.  What had the law ever done for her anyway?

Recently, however, she had started to take on some of the tasks that her mentor, Aura, had been doing for years.  Specifically, she had begun patrolling the streets in order to help the many mutants upon them who were unable or unwilling to help themselves.  Of course, her methods were a little more gentle than those of her mentor.  Killing was out of the question.  A broken bone or two, a few scars and the fear of death, well, those were other matters.  So, tonight, she roamed within Order territory, pitch black scales covering her from head to tow.  From the shadows she stalked any who would dare do her people wrong.

It was voices that drew Darkshift's attention, three of them in a ring surrounding something.  As she got nearer, unsure voices referenced 'mutie freak' and what words she caught made it clear that they were debating stealing any belongings the man might have or helping him.  Stealing his stuff seemed to be winning.  Well, she could do something about that.

Silent, keeping to the deepest shadows of the building beside her, Darkshift's human face transformed into that of black panther.  Bull horns sprouted from the top of her skull and, to top things off, a pair of black bat wings emerged from her back.  Once the transformation was complete, she emerged from her shadowed hiding place and spoke, voice a growl.  "Leave him alone or face my wrath!"  Wings spread to look as large and intimidating as possible, it didn't the trio long to decide fleeing was the best possible option for their own personal health.  Threat dissipated, she knelt down and touched the injured man.  "Hey, are you hurt badly?"  Her voice no longer growled.

He could feel his body stirring, a dreamless sleep seemingly closing in on him. A voice interrupted his slide into unconsciousness from out of nowhere; he looked around seeing nothing through the dried blood that covered his face. Although he was sure he could feel the pressure of a reassuring hand, he could feel nothing else through the agony, there were no sounds, no light just emptiness all around. He attempted to mutter something, give his savior some sign of life.

He felt himself being rolled onto his back, his entire body wincing in pain. He managed the fight through the pain in his chest as he inhaled to speak. “Help…” he sputtered before coughing up a significant amount of blood. As bad as he looked on the outside it was clear, the more severe injuries were internal. Raising his hand slowly he reached out to his unknown hero, before passing out completely.

The mutant was clearly hurt and hurt pretty badly.  Rolling him gingerly onto his back, she tried to take stock of his injuries.  On the outside it didn't look like the damage was too serious, but his coughing up blood made it clear that he had some internal injuries.  How severe was anyone's guess and not for the first time she wished she knew more about first aid and medicine.  Being a mutant and especially a mutant vigilante super-hero, it seemed, was dangerous work.

"Listen, Sanctuary is nearby.  Its a mutant safe-house.  If I can get you there, you'll be safe and there's a mutant doctor that can heal your injuries.  If you have me to lean on, can you walk?"  Wings melted back into her body to be replaced by a pair of black gorilla arms, just below her human arms.  They would provide the much needed strength to help carry him back to Sanctuary.  She leaned down to try and help him back to his feet.