We came to find out that Maggie was a fantastic woman. She was caring, loving and a fantastic cook. She acted like a mother to us. And like all mothers who get new children, she gave us names. But with her, she named us like she named her animals. She thought about our looks and our personalities. For me, my name was Raven because of my black hair and my leadership over the others. I wasn't entirely sure about the leadership part, but my hair was black like the feathers of a raven. I liked the name a lot. For the girl, Maggie named her Sophie. She was sweet and had an innocent face. Sophie was definitely the perfect name for her. For the boys, they both had the same personality. They liked to act tough, but they were really gentle. Maggie decided that their names would be Luke and Eric. They seemed fine with the names and thanked Maggie.

After getting our names, Maggie said that it was ok for us to live with her. I knew it was going to happen anyways but it was good to hear that it was official. Maggie then told us that, since we were going to live with her, we could decorate our rooms however we wanted. That was good because it meant that Sophie, Luke and Eric could start preparing for the birth of their babies. They seemed especially happy because no one was going to take the babies away this time.

We lived with Maggie for a month before she allowed us to go out on our own. Sophie, Luke and Eric would have loved to go out, but they were showing. And the showing brought the pregnancy symptoms. The symptoms weren't that bad but Sophie and the boys didn't want to go out in public. I couldn't blame them. With Sophie, Luke and Eric at home, Maggie and I went shopping together.

We went to some clothing stores to see if we could find Sophie, Luke and Eric some bigger clothes. I also wanted to find some new clothes for myself. Maggie had some clothes that she didn't like anymore and had given them to me. They were nice clothes, but they weren't me. We spent the entire day shopping and had found some nice things. The sun had set and the street lights had come on.

Maggie and I started to walk home. Maggie was laughing as she told me a story about something that involved one of the cats at the shelter and a tissue box. She was in the middle of the story when she suddenly stopped.

"Damn it! I forgot to get some pads for the new puppies. Raven? Are you ok to continue on your own? I'll only be a bit. The closest store that has puppy pads is only two minutes from where we stand."

I nodded and smiled. "I'm ok. You go get the pads. Here. I'll take the bags and bring them to the house."

"Thanks, Raven. I'll be back as soon as I can." I took the bags from Maggie and continued to walk home.

I was probably about a block away from home when I heard a scream near by. It was definitely a woman and she sounded scared. I looked around and saw the woman who screamed. She was in an alley and was cornered by a man who wore all black. No ordinary person would have seen it but thanks to my supervision, I could see that the man was holding a knife to the woman's throat. From what I could tell, the man was threatening the woman and demanding that she give him all her valuables. The woman was crying and begging the man but he wouldn't have it. Finally, the woman gave in and gave the man her purse and the few pieces of jewelry that she wore. The man ran off but not before he punched the woman, rendering her unconscious.

I watched the whole thing with dread. I knew I should have done something but I was afraid of what would have happened. Back at the science facility, the scientist would do experiments to see what we could do when threatened. They always put us against either an animal or a person. It was always the same ending. The animal or person would charge us, the person usually wielding some sort of weapon, and we would get scared. Apparently, the scientists noticed that there was some other mutation in our DNA that allowed us to control some sort of element. I could control two. I could control fire as well as metal. Well, technically I could only make chains appear. The scientists seemed impressed and tried other things to see what made me tick. It turns out that I can get extremely angry when provoked. Luckily, the scientists seemed to "care" a little and didn't go ahead with anymore tests. It was because of what the scientists did that made me stare and watch.

Two weeks passed and I still thought about the woman. I thought about how I should have done something. Then I thought about how there was others like the woman who got mugged. They were probably left to defend themselves against their attackers. Well, that was going to change. With my abilities, I could protect the people who couldn't protect themselves. But I had one small problem. If I was going to be a vigilante, I had to have some sort of costume, but it had to be awesome. It had to be something that the bad guys would remember.

I raced across the rooftops, a silhouette against the night. It had taken me a few days and a bit of money, but I finally got together a costume. I wore a tight leather tank top with matching leather leggings, knee-high combat boots, a leather utility belt, finger less black gloves that went up to my elbow and a black mask over my eyes. The mask was just a strip of cloth, but it was made to be a mask. I didn't have a weapon, but I would save that for later.

I jumped over a few allies before I heard a scream. I was in mid-jump over an alley so I did a quick stop-and-turn before launching myself back in the direction the scream came from. The scream came from a girl who was surrounded by a group of seven guys who were way older than her. They were making faces at her and saying disturbing things. I watched as she turned to try to keep everyone in her sight but when her back would be turned, a guy would lunge at her causing her to shriek. My blood boiled with anger, almost literally. A poor girl was being tormented by a bunch of guys and she was completely terrified. I decided that enough was enough and went into action.

"It's creeps like you that make the streets unsafe. You should be ashamed of yourself."

All eyes landed on me. The girl looked surprised and relieved. Someone had come to her rescue at last. The guys on the other hand looked mad. Someone had ruined their fun. One guy spoke and it seemed like he was speaking for everyone.

"Who the hell are you? This is none of your business. Get lost before we come up there and make you."

I chuckled and jumped down to their level. A normal person would have broken something but I wasn't normal. The guys seemed shocked as I landed unharmed on the ground and walked right in the middle of them.

"It's not nice to hurt those who can't fend for themselves. You prey on the weak just to get what you think you deserve. But in reality, without all the goods you steal from others, you would be the same. Just another weak animal that gets preyed upon."

I saw fury building up in the eyes of the guy who spoke to me first. He must have been the leader of the group.

"Listen and listen good. If you don't move your ass out of this alley you are going to regret ever coming down here. Understand?"

"Oh. Yes, I do understand very clearly."

I turned as if to walk away but quickly spun around and punched the guy right in the nose. He stumbled back and hit the concrete with a grunt. 

smiled at his pain. His punishment was just beginning. He glared at me from the ground and then pushed himself up, lunging at me.

"BITCH! YOU'RE DEAD NOW!"

The guy lunged at me, fists flying. I dodged every attack and then kicked the guy in the stomach. He stumbled but regained his footing. He was really mad. But the poor guy didn't have any fighting skill. I didn't either but the moves just seemed to come to me naturally. We kept fighting until signs showed that the guy was becoming tired. His moves slowed and he was breathing heavy. I laughed a little and decided that the guy had had enough.

"I think you have had a little too much fun. Why don't you just lay down and sleep for a while." With that, I gave the guy a nice roundhouse kick to the head. He flew sideways and slammed into the wall. With a thud, he landed on the ground completely unconscious. I then turned my attention back to the others and was suddenly annoyed. No one moved once as I fought the leader. They just watched. But they slowly began to react to the scene. Some of them even started to back up slowly. I snickered and shook my head.

"Where do you boys think you're going. You're not gonna let your boss take the fall for your crime are ya?"

The guys just stared at like they had no clue what I just said. I shook my head at them and let them have it. I brought my arms up with my hands curled together like I was holding a pole. Bringing my hands apart, a chain extended. The guys looked scared and started to run. Quick and fast, I threw my chain at the guys. As if the chain was a living thing, I silently told it to wrap itself tightly around the runners and lock it self closed. The chain did what I wanted and caught the guys before they could get away. Like a dog at the end of its leash, the guys were yanked back. I shook my head as I pulled the guys back like a fisherman bringing in his line.

"You did this to yourselves. Living a life of crime is no way to live. You boys should review your lives because you will have a lot of time to think in jail."

The guys grumbled when I mentioned jail. I snickered to myself and then remembered the girl. She was still in the alley and had seen everything. She looked like she had been to hell and back. But she was ok. I walked back and joined the girl where she stood.

"Are you alright? Did they hurt you in any way?"

"I'm alright. They just shook me up a bit. Thanks for saving me."

"You are welcome. No one should be treated like that. They are definitely going to get put away for this."

"You know what? You remind me of some friends of mine. They go around and save people from time to time. They probably would have beat you to the save but they had some other things to do tonight."

"Well, next time you see them, tell them they should look out for you more."

"I will. I promise."

I smiled at the girl and then turned to leave. But the girl had a few last words.

"Wait! Don't I get to know the name of my savior?"

I turned to her with a nervous expression. I couldn't tell her what my name was. That would break the whole hero thing. I thought quickly and found a name that would be suitable for my hero life.

"Shadow. My name is Shadow."

The girl stared at me quizzically but seemed to see that I was serious. She nodded with acceptance. I nodded back and started to leave again, but a thought entered my mind as I turned back to the girl.

"By the way, you should probably call the police and tell them what happened. Don't want to leave these guys sitting around."

The girl nodded with agreement. "Right. I'll do that now. Oh, just so you know the name of the girl you saved, my name is April."

"Nice to meet you, April."

With that I walked to the end of the alley. I figured I wouldn't meet April again so I decided that I would give her one last surprise. Dropping down to one knee and pushing up, I opened my wings and flew away from the scene. I wished I could have seen April's face but I had to go as sirens and flashing blue lights approached the alley I had been in.

I stood looking down at the streets from the rooftops. I thought about the events of the night and realized that there were still more bad guys out in the streets. They had to be stopped and I would be the one to stop them. I backed away from the edge and started to walk in the direction of home. As I started to break into a run, something caught my eye. They were heading away from me but they were close enough to see the colors of their masks. Four green shapes, each with a different colored mask. I could see a red, blue, orange, and purple mask. As I watched the four shapes drop off the roof, the one wearing the red mask lingered. I couldn't see the eyes but I could tell that the being was looking at me. I stared back until the being disappeared.

I silently went back home and slipped through my bedroom window. I hid my costume in a box and hid it in my closet. Then I crawled into the covers and started to fall asleep. The events of the night played in my head over and over, but the being that watched me was the most recurring. What was it? I thought about the possibilities as I finally fell asleep.