The moon was high in the cloudy, smoggy sky, but the stars couldn't be seen through all the bright streetlights. Eric lifted the collar on his dark trench coat, and brushed his brown hair back out of his eyes, which only flopped forward again as he turned his head down towards the ground. His only companion was his shadow as he forced himself down the empty street, his shoes going clomp, clomp, clomp on the pavement. His emotional energy was quite low at this point, and the gathering at the pub with his friends a few hours earlier hadn't lifted his mood at all.

Another of his friends (Michael) got his first power today. He was younger than the rest of them by at least three years (Eric wasn't honestly sure how old he was - he just knew Michael was 'young'), so he was right on time for its arrival. Shannon had her second power; that was quite unique. The others had gotten theirs years ago, and they all shared their stories over pints about when they first got theirs, and Michael was quite proud retelling his first experience. Eric had just sat quietly in the corner of their booth, sipping on his drink and wishing he was on the other end so he could make an easy escape.

Eric was the virgin of the group. 24 and not a tingle of mystical energy (or whatever it was that let everyone do whatever they were able to do). There wasn't much point going to a doctor, because all they'd be able to say would be, "Any week now... Any month now..."

Clomp, clomp, clomp.

Risking the cold and taking his hand out of his pocket, he moved over closer to the long terrace of houses and let his fingers run along the cold, rough brickwork as he walked along. He let his finger find their way in and out of the mortar as he thought about the powers he'd love to have. In all honesty, he didn't even know specifically what he wanted, and he felt like a bit of a child thinking about it. "What power do you want to have?" a mother would ask to humour her child. "To fly and run fast and be strong!"

Fast reflexes. That was Michael's special ability. He had told the group back at the pub about how he was fighting with his brother when he stormed off down the hall. He'd heard a whistle through the air and spun around and caught a glass only and inch from his face. His brother's arm was still in the air having only just released it from his grip, his jaw on the floor seeing how fast Michael was able to catch the glass. They'd then spent the entire afternoon finding as many things as possible to throw at Michael, just to see how fast he was. And he was very fast.

Steve was a fast runner, although his reflexes didn't seem to be able to work at the same speed. As a result, he was always running into things if he used his power anywhere but an open street or field. Not that the rest of the group cared, because it was all rather amusing.

Clomp, clomp, clomp.

Eric breathed in the cold Manchester air, and pushed his lips out in a mock-kiss as he expelled the air, trying to see how far he could make the frost on his breath travel. He wondered momentarily what it would be like to travel with it as it floated up and joined with the fog that sat just above the rooves of the houses. With his next step, he flicked himself up onto the tips of his toes, and for the half-second it took him to reach the maximum height, he wished with all his will that somehow he'd lift off and keep rising and that within a few seconds he'd be staring down at the roof tops and tearing a void through the fog as he burst through it.

As gravity forced him to regain his balance, he stumbled forward a few steps, blood rushing to his cheeks as he blushed at the idea that someone on the street saw him acting like a kid. With a quick look over his shoulder to confirm that the street was still only occupied by him and his shadow, he kept on moving down the lane.

Eric peering in through the large front-windows of an electronics store he was passing. He rubbed away the fog with the cuff of his jacket to get a better look inside and browsed for a minute or two for the few bits and pieces he needed to pick up. A movement in the distance off to his left caught his eye as he stood back from the large window. Turning to face it, he could see a dark shadow against the wall disappear into an alleyway, but it was too far away to discern what it was.

"Great," Eric groaned to himself as he pictured two lovers, half-drunk from an evening at a club or pub, stumbling into a dark corner for a kiss and a grope. He had to walk past them to get back to his flat, and didn't fancy standing out in the cold for half an hour waiting for them to finish, so he crossed the street and kept on going.

The closer he got to the alley the more noise he could hear coming from it. The rest of the street was dead quiet accept for the distant thumping of music from a club a number of blocks away. Being half-eleven on a Saturday night, most people were in bed or watching TV quietly, not making any noise to pollute the street. Not these two. The closer Eric got the more moans and groans and shuffling about he could hear. He really didn't need to see (nor hear) this, rubbing in the fact that he was single and without a girl.

As he passed the alley on the opposite side of the street, he ran his fingers through his hair, blocking out his peripheral vision with his arm and hand. Now that he could hear more clearly, the moans sounded quite 'odd'. Not that he was experienced in listening to drunken couples making-out in dark alleys, but still. "Drunks," he shrugged it off and continued to walk.

It wasn't until he heard a half-scream from the alley that he stopped and looked at it. He held his breath to eliminate any excess noise as he tried to listen again. Not even the moans came from it this time. He tried to squint through the darkness, but it was no good with three over-head streetlights pounding down on him. After about thirty seconds of standing dead still, the only sound he could hear was of something heavy being dragged across rough, loose ground.

Looking up and down the street, he quickly made his way back across the street, treading as lightly as possible on his noisy shoes. He paused, hiding behind the corner of the building on one side of the alley, and listened again. Again he could hear the dragging noise, and he stuck his head around the corner.

"H-hello?" the stammered slightly looking down the dark passage. The lights were all behind him now, so his eyes were slowly allowed to adjust. About 20 metres down he saw the glistening to two large eyes staring back at him. "Are... are you ok?"

The hunched-over figure let go of whatever it was he was carrying and stood up to his full height, which (thankfully) measured something similar to Eric's. "My friend had a bit too much to drink," the figure said in a deep, male voice, scratchy and hoarse from breathing in the cold night air for hours on end. Eric only just noticed the young woman laying it the man's feet. As he took several cautious steps into the alley, he started to make out the shapes better. He could see that her long dress was torn in the middle, and the rip ran basically all the way up to her waist. As the moonlight passed over her face he could make out several different shades on her cheeks and a tiny trickle of blood in the corner of her lips.

"W-what's going on?" Eric asked, looking the strange man back in the eye.

"She fell... I'm taking her back to my place."

"She looks like she needs a hospital," Eric stated as firmly as he could, taking several more steps into the alley, and hoping like hell this guy didn't have any friends waiting nearby.

"What the hell does it matter to you?" the man snapped and spat at Eric. "Fuck off and mind your own business." He knelt back down and grabbed the woman roughly under the armpits and again began to drag her unconscious and limp body along the alley.

"I can't do that," Eric said, the volume of his voice getting louder.

The man stopped again and looked up: "What did you say?"

"I said," his volume again raising, "I can't do that." Super strength would come in really handy about now, Eric thought. Or even lightning speed or reflexes. Eric just hoped that they weren't any of this guy's powers.

"Then why don't you come and stop me, boy?" the man said, continuing on, sounding only annoyed by Eric, but not in the least intimidated by his threats.

Eric gulped, realising what he'd have to do now. He ran forward at top speed, all the while finding it very disconcerting that the man wasn't reacting to his advance. When he came within reach, Eric grabbed the man by the shoulders to try and pull him off and away from the girl (who sounded like she was starting to rouse), not even a second later, he was thrown back several feet by a sudden jolt of electricity that filled the night air.

Landing with a thud, the pain in Eric's hands was immense and throbbing. He held them up to the light that shone into the alley and saw wide burns on both his palms. "I think I know what this guy's ability is," he thought to himself.

The man had picked up his pace down the dark passage as Eric stood up. He looked around on the ground quickly, trying to find something he could use as a weapon. Next to a dumpster was a large wooden box, which looked like it had been attacked by several kids, as a number of the panels were missing and large splinters of wood lay all over the ground. Grabbing one of the long, thin planks that still made up the container, he grunted with pain as he strained to tear it from the box. He had to hold it by the tips of his fingers as he jogged down the alley towards the man. Seeing his approach, the man stood up (again dropping the girl roughly), but this time his whole body seemed to glow with the tingle of electricity. All Eric could do was squint through the light as he gripped the plank of wood firmly in both hands, raised it above his head, and brought it down as fast as he could onto the shoulder of the attacker.

The man stumbled back, letting out a scream of pain. Eric raised the piece of wood again and struck the man several more times as his electric field fizzled in and out of life. The man didn't even bother trying to take a swing before turning tail and running off into the night.

The girl was moaning louder now and beginning to move about. Eric knelt down beside her taking a closer look at the wound on her face. He brushed her long brown hair out of her face gently with his finger and couldn't have been any more surprised to see the face of Hannah looking back at him. His eyes widened as he placed his hand at the back of her neck and helped her to sit up slightly. "Hannah?" he said with some urgency in his voice. "Are you ok?"

He moved her out of the shadows and cold, damp ground and sat her up against a wall were some light managed to pierce the darkness. He took off his jacket and draped it over her cold, bare legs as he again inspected her face. And just as quickly as her face had appeared to him, it was replaced with another, one he did not know.

"Who?" the woman asked, dazed and groggy from being attacked.

"Sorry... you just reminded me of someone else... Are you OK?" he asked again.

"My face hurts," she said, not being able to open her eyes for more than a few seconds at a time before having to close them again and let her head droop about.

"I'm gonna get you to a doctor," he said, placing his arms behind her knees and behind her back. "Hold on to me."

"Ok," she said weakly, letting him pick her up. Resting his head on Eric's shoulder, she drifted off to sleep as he carried her as fast as he could away.

To Be Continued...