The skeleton of New York City was rather beautiful the autumn afternoon of October 3rd. The caramel and red hues of the leaves sprinkled against the grey background as they delicately swam through the wind to the ground. The leaves, decaying as much as the city, still were a treat to the eye. Angel had only been on the third floor of an apartment building a few days now and she longed to be back in the woods. Though there was something eerie about a large city abandoned that really tickled Angel's fancy, it got old pretty quickly. She preferred to venture through woods rather than walk through an open road.

The apartment was very small and clearly for a lower income occupant. It could comfortably fit maybe two people at most. The bedroom was just a large, stained queen mattress on the floor and a small dresser against the wall. The wallpaper was peeling off the wall and had an unpleasant odor. The kitchen had clearly already been ransacked and consisted of a bunch of crappy 20-year old appliances that no longer worked. Angel thought maybe they never did in the first place considering the quality. A roach skittered by on the old grey carpet under her mattress as she reached over to yank the chain hanging by the window to slowly shut the blinds.

She had spent much of her days going through the belongings of the past occupants whilst waiting out a few bandits that were running around. There was a large group of them looting the city. They didn't seem to be any of the super menacing or infamous ones yet they did carry a good number of people. There were at least ten of them. If she had approached them on the ground level, they would easily win the battle. She only needed one of them in particular dead. Angel guessed he was the leader. While advertising her hunting skills, someone in Newark had given her a description of a man in a green bandana and a reward for killing him. It was something that often happened and Angel was beginning to think she had figured out some underground assassin code without realizing it.

Angel didn't feel as much guilt as she used to for ending a life. It became more routine and easy to swallow the more she did it. The people she killed tended to kill and steal just the same so she felt it was fair game. Angel had been undereating for the last week and this was a deal she could not refuse. As voices echoed in the distance, she rolled over to the side of the mattress closer to the window. She sat up on her mattress, the sunlight illuminating part of her face as she loaded her sniper rifle and leaned against the wall. The thin, pale girl was still fully dressed in her clothes as she steadied herself. Her red hair was frizzing due to the humidity of the air. She pulled it back into a low, loose ponytail and loaded the gun onto the ledge of the window, the hum of an vehicle reaching her ears.

There were about four males and one female visible in an old grey jeep with no roof. It slowly came down the road. The car seemed so loud contrast to the silence of the city that it was hard to imagine that this road was once filled with the sound of engines and blaring horns. She held back a sigh of relief. The group must have split up and she was lucky to have the man in the green bandana sitting right up on the back of the car. She lined up her sight and readied her aim as the jeep began to line up with it.

Angel was thankful for the silencer on her rifle as the bullet whizzed out and right into the guy next to her target. He collapsed forward into the seats ahead of him, causing a vocal reaction from the seated boys. It had been a shot through his chest and would probably be fatal. The jeep had sped up a bit just as she had been firing and threw everything off. She cursed under her breath and quickly shot at the tires as they began to attempt their getaway. The jeep swerved to a messy stop as both tires facing her side of the road were blown out. She shot again at her target, finally causing the man in the green bandana to collapse off the back of the truck onto the road. However, this was enough for the others to spot where the shots were coming from. The three remaining jumped out of the car and ran right for her building.

Perched on a building like a bird, Jet looked more like a mechanical angel as he watched over the city under the clear sky. It was a perfect day for things to scavenge for new supplies. The city was a good place for easy pickings since people go in and out of it constantly. He looked around calmly and spotted a Jeep driving on a road with around five people inside about a block ahead from where he was. Multiple bullets then came down, killing two of the people inside. It seemed as if someone else had the same idea. The jeep had begun to speed up but came to a sudden stop swerving, as two of the tires were shot out from underneath it. Jet knew it was time as he stood up and started his wingsuit and jumped from the building. He flew towards the Jeep as fast as he could. Jet saw three people exit the vehicle and as he reached them, he stretched his legs out in front of him and grabbed one of them by his shoulders, like an eagle picking a fish from the water and slammed him into the ground, cracking the pavement under him. This killed the man instantly from the impact. He then turned around, pulling his energy pistols out and sending two large purple bolts through the chest of the other man, leaving large cauterized holes through his body as he fell lifelessly to the ground. The remaining female was already in the building and out of reach. He wasted no time looting and grabbed what guns and supplies he could inspecting the area once more. Jet then flew to the top of the building opposite of the one the girl had entered and perched on the edge waiting.

Most times Angel had found herself in hot pursuit, she had found herself in the bony hands of death, nearly escaping from its strong grasp. She had learned in recent years turning and facing your opponent head-on often shocked them and gave her the upper hand. She slung her bag over her shoulder and darted out the door of the apartment and into the corridor at full speed. She threw herself into a run down the stairs, making sure every step was loud and not soon after the other. The girl that had been coming up the stairs herself, probably trying to be stealthy, was very much caught off guard and did not have much time to think when Angel's boot slammed her into her stomach, sending her down the stairs. Angel let her tumble quite a few steps before she ran to grab her by the back of her shirt and slammed her up against the wall.

She was a young brunette, younger than Angel had expected. Her brown eyes were brimming with tears and wide with fear. Her nose was out of place and drenching the lower half of her face with blood. The girl's gun had fallen out of her hand and was a few steps down from them. "Who do you work for?"She demanded, keeping voice steady and cold. Part of her had wanted to soften and be nice to the girl, but she knew better than to not be wary of crocodile tears. She had to keep her poker face.

"The Wolves."She said quietly without much hesitation. The girl wasn't trained well at all. Surely, a member of The Wolves would be able to hold their tongue a little longer than that. The Wolves were very infamous for being absolutely destructive and well-trained. She had been told her target had been a no-one. Angel couldn't help but grit her teeth a little. Killing two of them were going to paint a giant target on her back. She had assumed they'd be much smarter than to just drive through the middle of the street and get picked off as easily as they did. Her only regret was that she had killed more than necessary. This girl had been kicked down the stairs as easy as kicking a child. With her looks, Angel thought maybe it had not been so long ago that she had been one.

Why would they send amateurs into the city? Angel thought, wracking her brain. They had to have been some sort of bait for someone or something. There definitely was some sort of testing going on. "Alright."She said and pulled out her handgun. Roughly gripping the girl's shoulder, she turned her around so she was in front of her. She pressed it to her back, pushing her forward. "There were two more with you. Where are they?"

"They were right behind me."She replied, her voice choking up. The girl began to whimper as she said, "Please don't kill me. "

Angel pushed her forward, doing her best to ignore the empathetic side of her. "Don't make me then." Her voice came out like venom from a snake, startling herself a bit. Once at the front door, she ordered her, "Open the door."

The first thing that made Angel hesitate was the scent of burnt flesh. The second being the girl bursting into tears. She easily was able to glance over the girl's shoulder, towering over her in height. There was a dead body strewn in front of them with a giant, gaping hole burned through his chest. The smell was dreadful. A few feet of them, someone's bloodied and smashed body was shoved into a crater in the pavement. Angel drew the girl back by her arm as she scoped the scene as quickly as possible, spotting a winged figure up on the building across from them. She reached over the girl and slammed the door shut. "What the fuck is that robot thing?"Angel snapped at her.

"I-I don't know! Oh my God... My brother...No no..."She broke down, falling to her knees with loud sobs wracking her body. Angel bit her lip and forced herself to slap her. "Shut up or we die next." The girl crawled away from her onto the steps and curled up, trying to silence herself. She was going to be useless. Angel moved over to the side of the window and put her handgun away, taking out her rifle. She didn't care what the hell that thing was. Person or robot, it was a killing machine and they could not get out of here safely with it standing there. This was a lot more effort than she had signed up for. "Looks like it's bird hunting season." She muttered to herself, trying to angle herself so she could get a good shot at the thing without making herself too evident.

Savannah

- Pennsylvania, one mile from Wolves camp

"I am getting sick of you dirty wolves entering my territory!"

Angel looked over her shoulder at the girl. She was hunched up in a ball, terrified. The man's words had not made her move at all. Her knees were stained red over her cargo pants, her hair sprawled out messily over her face. Angel took a small towel out of her bag and threw it at her. "For your nose." She whispered. "Go up the stairs, go out a back door to a back staircase. If you don't want to deal with being bait on the Wolves' fishing rod anymore, stay there and I'll help you. Otherwise, get out while you can." The girl reacted hastily, scampering up the stairs like a startled puppy. She knew that this was a risk to let her go back to the Wolves but she did not think she could bring herself to kill a helpless minor. If they were possibly baited as she suspected, then she knew someone was here to spy anyway. She had a feeling she wasn't the target they were after.

She readjusted her attention to the mechanical bird out the window. Up-close, his appearance was a bit more clear. It seemed to be some sort of high-tech suit that achieved man-made flight, something completely unheard of as far as she knew. The voice coming from it was obviously human and he was wearing a helmet to mask his identity. He was expressing a desire to speak to her for some reason. Her eyes traveled from his gun to the guy with the hole in his chest. This type of weaponry was also unheard of. This must have been the Wolves target. They'd be all over for this the moment they saw it. Without budging, she finally said, "Say what you have to say then. I'm right here and can hear you loud and clear."

The white-haired boy lounging in the throne of his mansion could be framed in painting at that moment. His skin was almost as white as his hair and his dark eyelashes reached down his sharp cheekbones as his eyelids shut. He looked fairly surreal at that moment. He was fairly tall and lean, with a decent amount of muscle tone. He was dressed in a very expensive black suit and tie at this moment. He never wore anything of any less quality. Nestled at the top of his head was a golden crown. It was without a doubt real.

The mansion had an outdated look to it, clearly one of Pittsburgh's historic mansions. It had almost a castle-feel to it on the outside. He had people touch it up and clean it on the daily. The carpet was that of a dead bear. Two marble staircases on each side of the throne curved up to the second floor. Archways on each side of the room lead to other rooms. A beautiful crystal chandelier hung from the high ceiling, lighting up the room brilliantly.

The double-doors swung open as armed men in daunting wolf masks came through the door, dragging a family. The family consisted of the parents, a girl, and a boy in their late teens, and then a young male child. All were a mix of blonde hair and brown hair. One man was at each side of the person with an iron grip under their armpits.
They lined up with one family member a time.

Roman sighed, opening his eyes with mild interest. A few hushed gasps as per usual entered the air in reaction to his eye color. He straightened in his throne and glanced at the man. He was very muscular and seemed to have some history in some sort of athletic training.

"Michael Goodwin. He's forty-four years old and served in the army during the war. He and his family have resided in D.C. the past few years but seemed to be relocating. He refuses to tell us why." The armed man holding Michael described him a loud, clearly used to the routine.

"There's a mutant among them, that's why. D.C. has no tolerance for them."Roman said without emotion, standing up. "Is it you, Michael? "

"Yes... It's me..."Michael said defeatedly without picking up his head.

"Ah. So it's not you."Roman concluded, making the man look up quickly in shock. "I'm not an idiot, Mr. Goodwin. I've been through this and I know a man taking the hit for his family when I see it. Regardless, I'm undecided on his life. I will decide after the rest. The mother will remain here with the youngest child. She will be a maid or chef depending on her cooking ability. Bring her and the young boy to a room." If he ended up killing one of them, the parents tended to react the worst. It was best to decide on the children before the parents since their deaths would break them. These two were too old to be broken and turned into weapons. If he was killing either of their kids, then the father would have to die. There was too much of a risk of vengeance. Keeping the young child with the mother would keep the mother in check and be a constant motivation for her loyalty.

The mother started to cry as she was brought up the stairs with the youngest. Roman paid no mind to it. He turned his head to the blonde girl and the dark-haired boy before him. "Names."He ordered

"Lauren and Peter. Twins, age 19. "One wolf announced. "We suspect mutation from Brandon."

Roman stood up, making the two jump a little. He tilted his head, picking up on their facial expressions. They were fighters. Peter was giving him a death glare and Lauren fighting against the restrain. They were going to be rebellious regardless if he killed their father. "Do you have any strange ability, Lauren?" He asked calmly, moving over to stand in front of her.

"No. Even if I did... I'd never tell you!" She spat at him in reply, quite literally spitting at his feet. Roman did not react much, simply gripping her upper arm and feeling it, making her brother react quite negatively. "Any skills? She's weak." He asked like a child disappointed in his new toy. "I thought I told you I want soldiers."

Roman was quickly replied to with, "Her father taught her how to defend herself but she lived a sheltered life in D.C. "

"Right. You guys lived the boring life." Roman mused and took the girl's chin. "She's pretty. Her shit attitude could use some work. Throw her in the whore house." He had a separate house that was always well guarded in case any of his soldiers were lonely. There was no system of dating anymore and the population had dwindled so a pretty girl was hard to come by. Not to mention they were fantastic motivation for lonely young men he found. It was a dangerous world out there so he thought it was fair trade. A safe house that included a nice bed and food along with beautiful clothes and parties as long as they kept his boys happy.

"No!"The father shouted in rage, managing to get out of his restraints. He threw himself toward his daughter only to be viciously shot to death by a machine gunner up over the second-floor railing. Roman laughed at his demise, gaining vengeful stares from the tearing up daughter and son. He composed himself, allowing himself to keep his grin, "It's about time for you birds to fly the nest. Say goodbye to your daddy." He nodded his head to the left, "Boy goes to Alaia, girl to the house. Tell Alaia to shake him up a bit before we throw him into training."

Roman watched the girl taken out the door, screaming obscenities while the boy threatened him with his glare. This scene happened a couple of times a week and he was not particularly moved by their temper tantrums. He sat back in his chair and glanced at the soldiers that remained. "I want updates on the flying man and the thief." Someone had been robbing from their food supply for a long time now. He was getting fed up with it. He couldn't understand what imbecile would not fear them enough to try stealing from them. Whoever it was, was going to be shown no mercy.

"It's been decided that the thief is not among us. We are starting to think that they are not too far from here. I have sent out a search of the nearby surrounding woods. "

Roman's face reddened and he stood up. "You mean to say they've been sitting outside our territory the whole time? I will be accompanying the party then. I want to see the raccoon myself. Lock up the boy for Alaia to play with later. I want her to also accompany me. " He pulled his jacket on and moved swiftly down the main carpet toward the door, pausing in the middle. "And the flying man?"

"We dumped the new recruits in the area, the ones from a few days ago with no experience you wanted to kill. Four spies are in different spots recording to see exactly what kind of weapons he has. They should return with the footage by night time. "A woman reported.

Roman nodded as he listened. "Good. We'll see if the rumors are true then. I'd like him identified and brought to me at some point along with a raid of his fancy weapons if he indeed does possess what people say he does. Iris and him will probably get along well. I'll consider sending her. "
He continued to the door where he made them all stop and wait for Alaia to join them.

The man was offering her shelter and food. She watched as he took off helmet to reveal a good-looking brown-haired man with a friendly demeanor. He probably had a few inches of height on her. It was a lot easier for her to talk to him now that he did not look like someone out of Star Wars. She felt her nervousness increase all of a sudden. Perhaps she wasn't used to one-on-one conversations with people. "That sounds great and all. I really appreciate it that is, if it isn't a weird murder attempt. I doubt you actually need any of my belongings considering the weird-ass alien technology you already have. "

Angel hesitantly moved into the view of the window, revealing herself but keeping a good grip on her gun. "It's a bit hard to trust your words considering the wonderful display you've created." She gestured to the bodies, her token sarcasm already making its arrival into the conversation. "But I guess I can't judge you too much since I was sent here to assassinate one of them. Someone in Newark promised me a pretty good amount of food and I already did it so I don't feel that it's right he dies for nothing." She added mentally in her head, a bit of despair settling in her stomach as she thought, especially since I accidentally killed someone else too.

The whole thing suddenly felt strange. If these people were bait, then why would someone sent her to kill one and tell her it's the leader? Someone obviously overheard their plan to send them here. She couldn't understand why the man in the green bandana then. Bird guy probably did not realize he was being baited here.

Setting her sights on the bird-man, she decided that he probably wouldn't kill her. He had killed the others with ease and probably would have killed her already if he so wanted. He most likely could have just vaporized her through the building. Revealing his face and not aiming at weapons at her were signs that he wanted to earn her trust. It could be that he truly needed to recruit people to help him or possibly even company. On the other hand, he could have an interest in just devouring or raping her. People had various reasons to try to trick you nowadays.

Angel stood up, wary that she may regret her decision. She slowly moved around and to the doorway. "My name is Angel. You should probably tell me yours even though I already have at least seven immature nicknames tied to your whole get-up." A nearby gun-shot startled her before she could say much else. It served as a good reminder to how dangerous the place they were standing around in really was. "Yeah maybe get out of the street."

Angel blinked. He knew her name? He was the one who called the shots of this whole thing. She had definitely not seen that coming but it made sense why he happened to be in this exact spot. New York City was very big after all and it was a small chance to stumble upon people. She wasn't sure how comfortable she was being tested of her worth and being made to murder just for that sake. Angel supposed her loyalty to the idea was also tested. Perhaps he could provide her with a weapon and food as she had requested. If the weapon was anything like he was using, this all may be worth the risk. She watched as he started shooting down the road, addressing a new person now. She listened to this exchange and bit her lip. Angel was pretty sure Jet was not super merciful so she stepped out into the road and over to his side. "Let him go if he wants to go, Jet."

Angel did a double-take, glancing back and forth between them when Jet suddenly invited them somewhere to stay. Did he expect her to just hang out with people she didn't know? Especially this random man off the street with a very badly scarred face. He could have pissed someone off in order to get those scars as far as they knew. She rubbed her own arm and stepped backward, wary of the situation, listening as he introduced himself as Abel and began to greet them with pop culture references. Angel could follow the Inspector Gadget reference but mad Maxine was lost on her brain. She supposed he kinda reminded her of the Joker from Batman but she felt it would be unwise to say so. "Yeah your look suits you too."She replied. "My name's Angel. "

She wanted one of those guns. Angel could live a smooth life and not have to worry about anyone overpowering her. It would take a second to just vaporize anyone. Not that she wanted to actually pursue such a thing, but it would come in handy and definitely be easy to give a warning shot and ward people away. It seemed like he wasn't going to just hand one over.

Whatever, I'll keep playing your game.

"Tires, huh?"She repeated what Jet had said to get away from the small talk and moved over to a broken down car nearby. "We can take from this car but I don't know how to take them off. "

Angel had glanced over when Abel sat next to her in the jeep. He was shouting something to her that she couldn't make out over the wind. She watched him act out zipping his lips and she decided it probably had not been important. She, however, did overhear him say, "What a shit hole." Following his gaze to the house Jet was landing them in front of, she stared in disbelief. Many people sure did run to mansions during the apocalypse but quickly found that they were a hassle to maintain alone. No way Jet cleaned the whole thing. She expected the inside to be a mess.

She hopped out of the jeep and took a few steps toward the house, glancing at it for a moment then turning back towards the other two. Abel was at it again with the pop culture references of course. "So... Big wings. Big guns. Big house. Compensating for something, buddy?"She quipped with a smirk. Immediately, she started making her way toward the house without waiting for either of them, knowing they'd catch up.