Something happened along the genetic pathway. The scientists and doctors aren't sure what just yet. But more and more humans each day are discovering that they aren't exactly... normal. Mutants. That's what the normal people call them. Freaks with some twist in their genetic make up that allow them to do strange things, look weird or perform feats once thought impossible.

These mutants are often kicked out of schools and disowned from their families. Seeking refuge in the streets mutants started forming gangs rivaling for territory in the abandoned parts of rundown towns and cities. Some wanted to kill the humans others wanted to just be accepted. Yet others just wanted to survive it all.

*.*.*

Miracle pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up over her face as she walked down the alley way. Something didn't feel right, it felt like there were eyes all around here. The young woman should have been starting college but no, her parents cut all ties with her when her freaky little ability manifested and then she was no longer their daughter. Now she was on her own. The only problem was her ability was more passive, it helped aid in a fight but didn't really do much on its own.

A tangled blonde lock fell over her bright green eye as she looked around. Her other eye, while the same bright green, had a pure black sclera, a symbol of her manipulation of peoples perception of light and dark. Mira could mess with peoples sight in more ways than one.

Reaching into her backpack she pulled out a dented metal baseball bat, her only real defense. Small hands tightened around the worn out grip just as a flame streaked across before her and smacked into the wall. Mira hit the ground, her sweatshirt singed as she looked up at the fire escape.

"Boss we got another one!" The teen up there cried as he lit his hand on fire once more.

"Shit!" Mira dove behind a dumpster just as it was bombarded with fire. Curling up she put her arms around her head and waited for a chance to run.

Around the corner stood a woman in a tight vest, black curls framed her face as she stepped out in to the midst of flying weapons of all kinds. It was a gang war. The woman suddenly started to go transparent and evaporate like a fog. Moving around the street and alley, passing over and through people like nothing. Weapons went right through her. Coiling around one of the necks of an opponent, the woman solidified once more her arms strangling him now. "Thane! Move your ass!" She shouted.

Glancing down to the dumpster now engulfed in flames she caught sight of the girl that wasn't with them, and was obviously under attack. A new one? Fuck. Breaking the neck of the man in her arms she headed towards the new girl that was under attack but got stopped when the concrete under her feet melted and held her in place, another mutants ploy to delay her.

She was just about to change forms again when her eyes caught an even more terrifying sight. Standing in a door way just a few feet away was a little girl no older than eight or nine. She had stark white hair, and eyes that seemed almost colorless. She was trembling as she hid in the corner, trying to stay out of sight. What the hell was a little girl doing here?

"Thane! We have a problem!" She shouted over to the man that was the leader of their band of mutants. He had saved her more times than she could remember, and now they did the same for those that they could help. But more often then not they ran into these other gangs and got into wars instead of helping one another.

A gang war had erupted. It was what the mutants had been reduced to in order to survive. They fought over the right to live in certain areas or to simply maintain their independence. Thane was the King of this turf, and he defended his land and his people like a demon straight from Hell. Powers clashed as his group was being beaten back by their rivals from cross town and it seemed that more mutants were popping up out of nowhere recently. Or rather they were being flushed out and marked so that everyone would know they were mutants. It was sad really, but that was the reality.

Thane waded through the fight unleashing flashes of lightning and teleporting from place to place to avoid attacks. Thane's group had been dubbed the Eclipse. That was the name he preferred for them and there were seven of them in total right now. They were focused in the center of the city with four other gangs surrounding them. The people they were fighting were called Soundwave. They were the gang from the North-side. They were a violent gang who often attacked their neighboring gangs and were lead by a mutant named Terrace.

Bats, knives brass knuckles, swords and powers were all being used right now. He had been trying to keep close to Brey but at some point they'd gotten seperated. He teleported away from a bat swing when he heard her call him, "What's wrong," he said angrily when he suddenly appeared next to the pushy woman. Then he noticed the little girl. Squatting down he looked at the girl, "Hey, you shouldn't be here little girl." Then suddenly he felt his back slamming against a brick wall and a younger male standing there in front of the girl, "Stay away from her, he said." The person was a lean muscular dark skinned with black dreadlocks and his eyes were a bright hazel.

Thane was a tanned male with long reddish-brown hair pulled into a ponytail. He was thicker built than the slender male he was facing right now, but they were both about the same height. Thane did have a slanted cross shaped scar on his left cheek as well. Standing up he dusted himself off and locked eyes with the male, "Who are you?" The man stared at him and stayed silent. Smirking he looked to Brey, "Go help the others run those guys off. I'll deal with these two here."

Altyre looked at the woman then turned behind him and glanced at Hayden, "Don't worry," he said.

Then suddenly two mutants came running towards them from around the corner. Both he and the older male blasted them with their powers before rushing them.

Hayden's eyes got wide as the strange man approached her. She pressed her tiny body back against the wall as much as she could in an effort to get away but thankfully Tyre showed up and shoved him away. He was her savior. He had showed up out of nowhere a few years ago and rescued her from a different gang, taking her in under his wing he protected her and cared for her like a little sister. It was nice having someone so close, that would do anything for her, she'd do anything for him. Not that she could do much.

Her long pale hair fell into her face as she closed her eyes and turned away from the fight, trying to disappear into the back ground. She was of no use here. She just hoped none of the bad guys would see her.

Miracle was pinned behind the flaming dumpster. She had to move. Scrambling to her feet she high tailed it to another doorway. On the way she smacked one of them on the head with her bat before sliding on her knees into the door, tearing the hole in her cargo pants even more.

Brey changed forms and slipped out of her concrete hold before solidifying once more. She watched a girl streak across the battle ground and crack one of their opponents on the head with a bat, but she had yet to use an ability. Curious. At least she seemed to be holding her own. Her gaze shifted back to the little girl cowering in the doorway. Rushing to her Brey hunched down beside her. "Sweetie you shouldn't be here." The girl said nothing, just blinked her big almost white eyes. "It's dangerous." She watched as the little girl squinted her eyes shut and hunched down covering up her head as she buried her face in the knees of her dirty little dress.

Hayden had seen the hit coming, Brey didn't. A giant tree branch came out of no where and slammed into her, throwing her into the brick wall beside the little girl. The woman couldn't hold back the scream that came from her lips as she fell. Holding her side she struggled to get up to her knees as she looked over at Gina. The girl had the ability to grow and control plants however she wanted. The red head stood there grinning over Brey. "Bye bye Brey."

But before she could do anything Mira hit her with a hard tackle, knocking her to the ground and bouncing her face off the pavement. Screaming in frustration Gina flailed as she tried to right herself in Mira's unrelenting grasp, only there was one problem. She couldn't see a thing any more. All she could see was black. "What the hell did you do to me?!"

Thane and Altyre were both protecting Hayden from Terrace and Vance. Thane and Terrace were fighting as flashes of lightning were flying everywhere and Tyr and Vance were exchanging punches enhanced with their individual talents. Terrace and Thane had once been friends, and they had even been in the same gang once upon a time. Thane had grown up under Terrace's wing. The truth was, they were brothers. Only Brey knew this about them. She'd left the Soundwave with Thane eight years ago when the incident had happened and broke that family apart. Now they'd been reduced to this.

"Still trying to take what's mine, eh Terrace?" The elder sibling looked at his brother and simply smiled as he released a lightning bolt of his own then removed a bench from the side of the road and tossed it at him, "Things turned out this way because you wanted them to plain and simple. Don't try and blame me," he snapped back.

Flashes of lightning continued to strike and the cracks of impact could be heard for miles. The police didn't interfere with gang fights, they knew better than that. It had ended disastrously the last few times they'd tried. Vance glazed his hands and feet with flames and Altyre coated his with psionic energy as the two brawled savagely in the alley.

"You're not with the Eclipse, so who are you?" Tyr simply dodged the flames that came streaming by his face before hitting the mutant with a strong surge of telepathic energy. There was no reply. "Tsk. You're pretty good. Why don't you join the Soundwave? I'm sure Terrace would love to have someone strong like you on our side." To answer the male, Tyr pulled him in with his telekinesis and charged his fist with energy again as he landed a powerful fist to Vance's face leaving him unconscious. "No."

Then he turned around to check on Hayden and was glad to see she was unharmed. He noticed there was another woman trying to hide with a bat in her hand. Maybe she got caught up in this fight unexpectedly as well?

On the rooftop Fisher had been facing off against Alex, but that fight was already over. He leaned over the side of the building looking down at Thane, "Hey, boss. I'm finished up here!" Terrace looked up and shook his head, "Soundwave, we're leaving. Get your allies and let's go!" He looked over at Thane, "This isn't over." Thane replied, "No, it's not."

Then he turned around as they retreated and called to Brey, "What's our count?" He was asking about casualties. There were only a handful of them in his gang to begin with, and with all the fighting, it wasn't unusual for them to kill one another sometimes. The thing was, they lived off of their areas which was why territory meant so much. You ate at the places you could eat at. You worked in the places you could work at so long as it was all within the jurisdiction of your King and his turf.

Gina got a got shot off to Mira's gut and her vision instantly came back and Mira rolled to her side coughing a bit, clutching her stomach. She grabbed her bat with her other hand, ready to hit her, but the girl simply glared and turned. It seemed her leader called them all off as half the field started clearing of fighters. "Oh thank god..." She mumbled before coughing some more as she hung her head a bit. It was a good sucker punch. Mira wasn't exactly prepared for the world of fighting.

Brey was holding her ribs as she got to her feet, much more composed than one would expect. She glanced over at the little girl to make sure she hadn't been hit before she looked around to see the damage. She sighed, a chocolate curl falling over her eyes. "Marshall is gone... Dana too... I don't see Adam anywhere though."

The woman strode over to the younger woman lying on the pavement. She looked down at the blonde that looked as though she had been living on the street for a while. "You saved my ass back there... I appreciate it." She offered her a hand up.

Mira looked up at her and hesitantly took her hand to get to her feet. "Yeah sure..." She said looking around. "I uh... don't normally get involved in these kind of things. Don't really have anything useful." She shrugged.

Brey gestured over to the little girl still sitting in a curled up little ball. "She with you?"

Miracle shook her head. "Uh... no." Her brow creased. No little girl should be there alone. That was just wrong. Mira turned her eyes back to the brunette and she quirked a brow as she looked to the bat in her hand and then made the decision to shove it in her back pack.

"It seems we have a few extras though Thane." Brey called over to him.

Thane listened to his second in command and realized that their entire gang was gone. He shook his head in sadness, all of them had been like a family to him. It was that way for all the mutants that lived together. He looked up as Alex jumped off the top of that building onto a dumpster then started towards him. "Looks like we took some heavy casualties this time." Thane stared at him for a moment before releasing a long sigh, "Seems that way."

The two of them closed the gap between them and Brey. Alex looked at Brey and placed his hand on her side, "Are you alright?" he asked. Thane looked over at Tyr and extended a hand although he was speaking, "Thanks for helping us." The slender male looked at the hand and turned away.

Then Tyr wiped the blood from his mouth knowing he probably had a few internal bruises and walked back over to Hayden to check on her. The girl was still so small, and it pissed him off that her parents could just throw her away like that just because she was different. But then again, it had happened to him and all the rest of them here now. It showed just how sad a state the world was in right now. Just being different than everyone else, and not by choice, got you isolated, marked and discarded to fend for yourself no matter your age. It was so stupid.

He bent down and placed a gentle hand on her head, "It's okay, its all over now," he said in a comforting voice. Once upon a time he may have smiled, but since he'd been thrown away, Altyre had found it almost impossible to manage something that had come so natural to him now.

Thane watched the scene with great interest and looked over at the woman that Brey was speaking with. "You guys are all in my territory, so you fall under my jurisdiction. I know that's a harsh way of putting things but that's the way of the world that we live in." He glanced at the dark skinned male and the little girl, "My name is Thane, and I'm the leader of the mutants in this area. Or the one's left. I want to offer you all a place to stay. A roof over your head, and a promise that you'll always have food to eat as long as you're with us."

Tyr was still squatted down facing Hayden as Thane spoke. He didn't trust those words. He didn't trust the words of someone whom he'd never met. He held out his hand towards the young girl he'd vowed to protect, "Come on Hayden, let's go." Then he stood up with Hayden and was about to walk away before Alex stood in his path.

"Hey look, I'm not the smartest guy in the school of life but don't you think this is a pretty good offer? I mean come on, think about it for a bit?" The hazel eyed mutant looked at the blonde with a blank expression, "Move." Alex looked at Thane and Brey before locking his eyes back on the male, "Let's not be rash okay. Why don't you spend a little time with us before you make your final choice, eh mate?" His Australian accent was light but heavy enough to pick up easily.

Brey waved Alex away. She hated being fussed over, if was probably just a cracked rib, maybe some internal bruising. She had seen a lot worse. "I'll be fine." Her eyes shifted over to the dark skinned young man as he approached the pale little girl. It was a striking contrast between them. She let Thane address them as she turned to the girl at her side. "My name's Brey." She extended her hand.

Miracle was busy probing the scraped off skin on her chin, wincing when she touched the raw areas. Her face bounced a few times on the pavement when she tackled the other girl. At least that seemed to be her only Injury beside some bruises. Her stuff was a bit burned but she was mostly fine. When her eyes met Brey's, Mira saw the other woman's expression shift to that of slight fear and wonder. At least that was it. "Call me Mira." She took her hand in a slight shake before shoving it back into her pocket. She found her sunglasses but they were broken from the fight... great, no hiding her eyes now.

The little girl slowly looked up when she felt Altyre's hand on her. When her eyes found him she jumped to her feet and latched her arms to his, clinging to him for dear life. She sniffled a bit, wiping at her big eyes. but the tears weren't for her, never for her anymore. She only ever cried when she saw Tyr hurt. She hated that. He was all she had.

Hayden tugged on Tyr's arm as the Australian blocked their path. "Tyr... I'm tired of running. Can we stay for just a little bit?" Her voice was small as she leaned into him, half hiding behind him. The girl knew all too well what it was like to be betrayed by people. But these ones here had just saved them right?

Mira looked for the Little girl, to Thane, who seemed to be in charge, and then back to Tyr as he glared at the boy before him. She shook her head and walked over to them, giving a small smile to the girl. "Excuse me guys... Hi." Her eyes found Tyr's. "Look, You don't know me, and I'm not with them... But, I had a little brother before my parents kicked me out." She tried to keep her eyes hidden behind her long bangs as to not draw attention to them. "These guys, at least seem to have their stuff together, and I don't know about you but It was pretty hard for me to find food out there on my own. Why don't you at least let her get a good meal and some rest before you decide you don't like them and tear out again. Heck I don't even know if I'm going to stay but not eating in three days kinda overrides that decision for me..." she gave him a smile. "Its just a thought."

With that she stepped away and looked back towards Brey and Thane.