The year was twenty-one hundred. Over one hundred years ago, a team of the world’s best scientists gathered in New York City. Their sponsor, an undisclosed figure funded them lavishly to experiment on humans to create a super human army. The money was enough to eliminate any moral complications from the scientists’ minds. These human experiments were mostly kidnapped from the harsh streets called Gifted because they were given extraordinary powers. They process was eventually a success, but, one day, six years after the initial experiment, almost all the Gifted escaped, and hid among society. They slowly spread all over the world starting families and secret societies. Other than their powers, the Gifted were set apart from society because of their strange colored hair and eyes. This was an unintentional side effect of the Gift, but it made the Gifted easier to spot. A government was formed by the unknown sponsor. It was independent of the world’s existing nations. Its goal to the public was to round up and euthanize the Gifted because they were too powerful to control. But, they really strove to keep the atrocities they committed secret.

New York had changed a lot from what it was in the early twenty-first century. Manhattan, being where the Gifted were originally from, became a sort of haven for them. Many had dispersed and gone abroad but others refused to abandon their home. The Bronx was no more. It and all the land to the north with the exception of the east coast became part of the vampire’s territory. The vampires had always existed, but they rose up shortly after the Gifted escaped and claimed these northern lands as their own. The Bronx became a town of anarchy and terror. The only people that could survive there in relative safety were Gifted. The city had adopted an entire slew of new names. The two most common were Vampire Town or Bloodville. Only the vampires that drank blood situated themselves in the city. The rest were content in the country away from humans.

The government set up headquarters in Manhattan to round up the Gifted. Manhattan was not the only location that a branch was set up. The government had set up branches in all the hot spots where Gifted were all over the world. The government had a special group of people called agents to accomplish its task. Most of the agents were regular humans, but some of them were Gifted. Many Gifted were pressed into militaristic organization. Gifted agents were not always signed up by force. Some did it willingly, but their motives were never mentioned.

Thus far, the Government was effective at reaching its goal. Most of the Gifted left were young, fit, and intelligent. Because of this, many orphans roamed street forced into adulthood before they were even in their teens. The story of the constant war between the Gifted and the government begins with such a girl.

…

Ember ran down the streets of Manhattan at top speed. She looked and dressed like any other person of New York, but her hair was light purple. ‘Damn it! How do they keep finding me?!’ she thought. All of the sudden, she ran into someone, a girl named Saya. The black haired girl crashed to the ground as Ember ran into her. "What are you doing?"

Ember cursed under her breath and looked up at Saya as if she blamed her for the accident. "What you want kid?" Suddenly, she heard her attackers. "Damn it all. Come on!!" She grabbed Saya’s hand and ran with her up a fire escape and off a building. She spread her wings and started to fly to her current safe house. Ember’s wings looked like the ones that would be found in picture books of fairies. They were translucent and had many opaque designs on them. They were part of the girl’s Gift. They normally did not show, but they appeared when she was in need regardless of what she was wearing. They were not really attached to her back.

Saya screamed, "HEY!" as they lifted off. She flailed, wondering what was going on. Everything had happened so fast that she couldn’t think clearly.

Ember landed at an old warehouse at the other end of the city. She looked around, and then knocked four times on the door. "What the hell is it now?" a grumpy voice yelled. Ember smiled and, dragging along her reluctant companion, walked into the building.

Saya struggled, "HEY, WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?!?" She groped for a pair of scimitars that she always had strapped to her buck under her clothes. It was dangerous for a Gifted to be unarmed; therefore, almost all of them had a weapon of some sort if their Gifted wasn’t for fighting.

Falcon, the grumpy occupant of the warehouse, gave Saya the once over. Then he read the fear and confusion in her mind. "Hey, asshole, how about you get us some soda and pocky?" Ember yelled from across the room.

Falcon flipped her off, but he did as he was told. "And what would the lovely Saya, is it, like?" he asked. Falcon had read the girl’s name off her mind.

"I would like some answers. Who are you? Where am I?" She glared fiercely at him with her opaque violet eyes. They were unable to see, but her Gift made up for it.

Falcon glanced at Ember. ‘You had to bring her here?’ He sent the thought to her, deciding it was more polite than to voice this aloud.

‘Only way,’ she thought back.

Falcon sighed. “I’m Falcon. Never mind my last name." He handed Ember the snacks.

"I'm Ember," Ember said between bites. After devouring the food, she left Saya with Falcon, knowing she would be safe. She started to walk aimlessly around town, scouting out for any danger in the area. She and Falcon, like most Gifted in cities, were nomadic and moved when they sensed danger.

Back at the warehouse, Saya scrutinized Falcon, and asked, "Ok, are you any form of agent? Because, if you are, you might as well say it now. I’ll find out sooner or later." She thought to herself, ‘Better sooner.’

Falcon laughed. "No we are not, and Ember left you with me…sorry"

"Humph!" Saya crossed her arms and looked away, looking around the “house.” She made odd clicking noises every now and then.

…

"Excuse me!" Kotetsu, another Gifted of Manhattan, apologized after shoving through the crowd of busy people in efforts to escape his pursuers. After making his way through the horde of people, Kotetsu took off in a sprint, hoping to escape from those who had been ordered to follow after him. Stealing a glance over his shoulder, he cursed to himself mildly, dove into the nearest alleyway. He had lost them, for now. Panting heavily, he leaned up against the wall and closed his eyes. ‘Where the heck are they coming from?! That's the fifth one today!’ He thought to himself, opened his eyes again and peered out from the alleyway he was currently hiding in. Kotetsu waited until he was sure that the coast was clear, after doing so he inched his way out from the alleyway and took off in the opposite direction from which his pursuers headed in, hoping to leave them in the dust, he ran as fast as his legs could take him. "Hey!" He heard one man shout as Kotetsu accidentally smacked into him. "Sorry!" He called over his shoulder, but continued on nonetheless. His efforts to escape were successful, for now anyway. Kotetsu knew they'd be back, that he should expect more of them. He let out a heavy sigh, leaned against the nearest wall. ‘There never used to be this many...They must be getting more serious about 'neutralizing' us.’ He thought, referring to the agents that were meant to destroy the Gifted ones.

Suddenly, Ember ran into Kotetsu. "Oh come on! What the hell is this, Run into Ember Day?" She screamed at him.

"Oof!” Kotetsu moaned, stepping back some, he rubbed at his head. "Me?! Run into you?! Excuse me; you're the one who needs to watch where the heck you're going! You're the one who smacked into me!" He insisted, screaming back at her.

Ember’s mood shifted easily. She smiled at the other Gifted. “Okay, you could be right about that. I do not think running into two people in the same day is an accident. Sorry. I'm Ember. Not Amber, Ember. It is spelled with an 'E.'"

Kotetsu blinked. This was confusing. The woman who smacked into him, then screamed at him was now introducing herself? He did not mind though, he shook his head. "Ah, it's alright. Nice to meet you Ember, I'm Kotetsu." He replied.

"You too," she said, sticking out her hand. Kotetsu smiled and shook her hand.

…

Niccea strolled through the cityscape on alert. Her team of agents was loosing trust in her. They were suspecting that she too was Gifted. But, then again, having too much fighting experience for a twenty year old and white hair did not help, did it? She had to pull off a mission without any mysterious deaths from her fellow agents, or it could very well be her time to be hunted. Niccea moved about the city effortlessly and on instinct. She did not like their plan, but someone in such a tenuous position as hers could not protest. What she had to do went against every fiber of her being, and was seriously going to ruin her day. She was stripped of her fatigues, sword, and gun and only had on a once beautiful but now ragged back dress and no shoes with only a dagger to protect her. This was the part that she hated the most. Her sword was the one thing that kept her of the agents’ radars that could track the Gift. The dress had come from a captive that was near Niccea’s since, though a bit taller. The white haired woman stood at an even five foot and usually had to have her clothes tailored to fit.

Niccea saw a likely target and moved in instantly to prove her loyalty to the government. She was instructed to play the damsel in distress to lure the Gifted in. Then, her team would attack. Niccea stumbled through the streets screaming for help and ran up to the couple that was stalled in the middle of the street. She was out of breath. She clung tightly to the male, interrupting their conversation. "Agents...they...they..." She continued to huff and puff and tried to get her breath.

Kotetsu raised an eyebrow. "Agents? What? ...Why should we trust you?"

Ember gave Niccea a strange look. "Really now? What are agents?" she asked innocently. The girl had lived in the city her entire life, but she didn’t know what the ones that hunted her were called.

Niccea, for the first time in her professional life, had hit a roadblock. ‘So much for stirring mass panic…’ she thought to herself. “Well...they...they're agents," she said rather lamely. She bit her lip and made sure that her companions in the shadows could not see her movements. A tiny ball of flame appeared in the palm of her hand and quickly went out. She looked at the man who was evidently less naive. "Does that answer your question?"

Kotetsu frowned at Niccea, "What about them?”

"Never heard of them." Ember smiled sweetly. For some odd reason she could not name, she did not like how this was going.

Niccea did not like how the "brilliant" plan was going south. There were no back-up plans at her briefing. "They are after me...I think I out distanced them..."

Ember looked at Niccea and started to slowly move back, going over all the escape plans she knew. ‘Why did I stop? For all I know they are both after me!’ She thought. Ember kept moving back, scolding herself and wishing she had Falcon or even that weird girl with her.

Kotetsu narrowed his eyes glaring at Niccea. He started to back up as well. "And how do we know you're not one of them?" he asked. He was half tempted to use his powers right then and there against her.

Niccea held back a derisive snort. "I'm unarmed, wearing a ragged dress, Gifted, and I'm way too young to have the military training of an agent." She knew that she was being too precise and informative, but she was making up her plan on the spot. Screw the others. Maybe her team could end up dead by the end of the night without her being blamed after all.

Ember’s thoughts were firing more rapid than ever. ‘What is the best way to fly out of here?’ She began to look for a building that was within reach. Maybe if she could reach one without dying, she could take off. ‘What about this guy? Do I leave him?’ Ember knew she could not do that, but she was not exactly sure how much weight she could carry.

"You're being awfully bold about this." Kotetsu narrowed his gaze; he clenched his left fist, glancing over at Ember. ‘I'm pretty sure I can get the both of us out of here, if I blow her away.’ he thought to himself. Ember looked back at him. Her wings popped out and flexed, but not enough to be noticed. She only hoped that Kotetsu noticed.

Niccea gave Kotetsu her bold smile and glanced over her shoulder apprehensively. This plan could go horrible wrong if she did not pull it off just right. She raised her hands in the air. "All right, you caught me. There are five others behind me. Two behind the left building, two behind the right, sniper on roof. I surrender to your valiant deductive reasoning." Her voice carried a slight mocking quality, but she did not sound overly rude. She only brought her hands down long enough to throw her knife at his feet.

Ember’s mouth fell open. Her mind went in to hyper drive. Kotetsu noticed Ember's nervous flick of the wings, but he found Niccea's confession more pressing. ‘Shit.’ He thought and glanced over to Niccea a moment and then to Ember. Gently pushing Ember out of harm's way he raised his left hand, palm extended, and a gush of wind forced the sniper out of his perch, glanced over to Niccea. "I'm not sure why I'm helping you, but you'd better move out of the way while you get the chance!" He stepped beside her; his pale icy blue eyes became even paler, his left hand started to ice over as he prepared to use one of his powers. Niccea flashed him a grin and hit the deck. She would just have to hope that she had enough time to plan her homecoming this time.

Ember waited and thought to herself, ‘Okay, when he's done, grab them both and run. Find a really high building and jump. No explanations. No time.’ It was not a set in stone plan, and it was not a good one, but it was the best she had.

Kotetsu sighed, spotting Niccea’s grin, he aimed upon the other hidden agents and unleashed a wave of ice upon the various hidden agents. Taking them out one by one, he finally took down the last of them. "There they are!" he heard a shout. More agents were on their way.

Grabbing Niccea's arm he pulled her to her feet. "Come on!" he shouted, looking to Ember, hoping that she'd get the gist help them escape. Niccea ran obligingly stopping only to pick up her sack of abandoned clothes and weapons. She immediately strapped on her katana before anything else. Technically she was not supposed to get them back until after the mission, but no one would know. ‘Serves the others right for not having a back-up plan. Mistakes are deadly...’

…

Falcon stared at Saya. ‘She is actually kinda pretty,’ he thought. He then asked as if to clear the thought from his mind, "What the hell is up with the weirdo noises, kid?"

She glared at him. "You never noticed I’m blind, you idiot?"

He laughed. "What has that to do with odd noises? And yes, thank you, I did notice."

Saya rolled her eyes. 'SOOOOOO stupid,’ she thought. "It is one of my powers. If there is noise, I can read the echoes and see clear shapes, but not colors. So, things are black and white to me."

Falcon nodded. " Ah yes, I see. How stupid of me. Please forgive me."

Saya nodded, "Yeah, sure. I’m gonna go and kill some time." She left to wander the streets.

Falcon followed her. "Perhaps we should wait for Ember, since you and her are…friends?"

Saya tossed her hair over her shoulder as she laughed, "Ha! Friends? I barely know the little squirt." She walked off again.

Falcon followed after her, chuckling. "How old are you?" The two of them continued walking down the streets and sharing information that they deemed was safe for the other to know.

They soon ended up in the same general area that the other two Gifted and the Gifted agent were. Saya sensed something was wrong, so she ran to the scene. Unfortunately, she ran in at a wrong angle, so some of Kotetsu’s power clipped her shoulder. She spun a little and fell to the ground. She got up painfully. There was enough sound around, so she did not need to make any. Falcon ran up behind her. ‘What should we do?’ he sent to Saya as a thought. He was truly afraid. Saya was on it. She glared at one of the agents and the air around him began to crush him, as the person beside him looked on in fear. She smiled grimly. "One down." Falcon followed her lead, taking out one with stress to his brain.

…

Ember grabbed Kotetsu and Niccea by their arms and ran like a speed demon. They ran up a skyscraper's inside staircase, got on the roof, and she jumped. Her wings felt good to be out again. "Hang on!" she shouted. Niccea hung on tightly. She was beginning to wish that agents had the hang gliders that popped out of their suits like in the movies, but that was wishful thinking. The government was big on technology, not theatrics. Despite this, many agents fought with antiquated weapons like swords out of preference.

Kotetsu clung on tightly, but he could not help but wonder just where Ember was leading them. Ember looked down at them. "Where to?" she called.

Kotetsu looked back up at Ember and then looked around a bit, before he replied. After picking out an ideal location, he pointed it out. "There!" He said, pointing to small, ordinary looking building in the distance. Saya followed Ember and the other two along the ground. Falcon followed them from the tops of buildings. He jumped from roof to roof, thinking, ‘What the hell is going on?’

Ember landed noiselessly. "So what now?"

Kotetsu let go of Ember as soon as they landed; he peered across the rooftop for a moment before he spotted a vent they'd be able to enter from. "I guess we should lay low for a bit, they're going to be looking for us, especially now that one of theirs has given them up." He mumbled, looking to Niccea. He opened up the vent and started down it, he landed into the main room of the building he had selected and looked around. "Looks like no one's been here for a few years..." He called out.

"After you," Ember said to Niccea. She still did not fully trust her.

Niccea jumped down easily looked at Kotetsu with mock innocence. "Really? Well my plan was to have you beat me up. I blotched my mission, and a Gifted killed my teammates. Fortunately it was not a traitor or anything like that, just a stinking over-observant Gifted." She seemed almost bemused. "Of course I could not get your name and you were too busy beating me up for me to obtain a physical description of you or anyone you was with."

Ember gave her an odd look. Kotetsu merely shrugged, and glanced back at Niccea. "Well, whatever you call it, they'll be after you too now," he forewarned.

Saya skidded as she reached the building that the others had landed on. She made a clicking noise to find the door and entered, running up the stairs. Falcon met her at the top. "So, genius, what is your plan to keep Ember from shooting you just because you walked in and she's nervous?" He asked her.

Saya brushed him off. She made it to the door to the room that the others were in and tripped, taking Falcon down in the process. "Oops."

He picked her up, dusted her off and asked, "You okay, dumbass?"

"HEY, DONT CALL ME A DUMBASS!" This interrupted Niccea, Ember and Kotetsu’s conversation.

Kotetsu narrowed his eyes once more. "Who are you?" he asked, looking at the two of them.

Ember ran over to them. “Falcon! Creepy girl! I am so happy to see that you are alright!" She gave them worried look. "You are, right?”

‘Falcon? Creepy girl? Who the?’ Kotetsu thought, but Ember seemed to know them, so he knew that he could trust them, for now at least.

Niccea ignored the interruption and continued her conversation with Kotetsu with a raised eyebrow, "Course they would be. That is why I'm going back to them tomorrow. And it is so hard to beat myself up, so I was wondering if you could give me a hand."

Turning his attention back to Niccea, Kotetsu blinked somewhat. "You want me, to hit you? Sorry, I do not think I could. You could ask her though," he made a gesture toward Ember.

"Going back?!" Ember shook her head "No no no no no. You are most certainly not!"

Niccea gave Ember a pleading look. "I have to go back. I am trying to tear them apart from the inside. To be able to do this, I need to be…well…on the inside. Do not worry about me. I have been at it for six years. I can take care of myself.”

Saya turned to Kotetsu, "Saya Kiramasu, nice to meet you!” she smiled.

Ember ignored Niccea and turned to Saya, "Oh, so that’s your name kid.” She heard Falcon say it earlier, but she had wanted to know the full name of her new friend.

Saya glared at Ember. "Do not call me ‘kid.’ I’m sixteen. I should be old enough not to be a 'kid' anymore."

"I'm seventeen! And Falcon is nineteen." Ember smiled at her.

Saya nodded. "And this guy?" she pointed at the other person in the room.

"Ask him," Ember said looking at him.

"Kotetsu Nakamuro. I'm nineteen." Kotetsu replied, with a soft smirk.

When Niccea realized that she was getting no sympathy or help, she threw herself out the nearest window.

As Niccea went past him, Kotetsu’s attention was snagged. ‘What the?!’ When Kotetsu heard the window shatter; he darted over to it and peered out. "What the?! What was she thinking?!" He shouted, looking over towards the others.

It was not that bad of a drop, Niccea survived easily. She picked herself up with a groan and clutching a broken arm, her face was all bloody. Ember jumped after Niccea, but was too late. Niccea had already disappeared into the night.

…

Niccea eventually made it back to the Manhattan branch headquarters. It was a very bland looking building. It was only three stories and was the same building that the first Gifted had been created in long ago. The bottom floor was mostly the nuts and bolts of the agency. There was a cafeteria for resident agents and a lounge for them. The sick bay and medical research division was also on this floor. The empty holding cells for captured Gifted were in the back. There was only room for three bed rooms on this floor and they were all occupied. Niccea was one of the tenants.

The second floor was mostly living quarters. The agent rooms for the most part were small. Not all of them had their own bathrooms, but there were community bathrooms and a few showers in the facility. The leaders of the agents, the superiors, also had their offices here. There were individual offices for each superior and one big conference room where they all would meet. The archives of all experiments and captured Gifted were also on the floor. They dated back to the beginning of the experiments before the government.

The third floor was the most spacious. There were only two areas to it. One half of the floor was devoted to the research division. This was the part that dealt with making new weapons and machinery for the agents. The other half was set aside as a training room. The walls were four times the regular thickness to keep training agents from bothering the scientist. There was also an armory on this floor. Most of the weapons were older, but they were free for all agents to use.

Niccea got her arm set and her cuts and bruises attended to in the sick bay and went back to her room on the first floor. She eventually filed her report:

"Though Agent Morgan's plan to have me run to the safety of the Gifted was brilliant, we were severely outclassed. Before I could even plead for help, my target told me to drop my knife and put my hands in the air. He then told me to tell him the locations of the other agents. He said if I did not point them out he would release his powers over the whole area to kill them and, potentially, the civilians that were out at night. For the sake of the civilians, I told them the location of the others. He released some kind of ice and wind power to kill them. But, before he could kill me, our reinforcements started to approach. He grabbed me by the collar and made me run with them. He entrusted a flyer to get them to a building. There were two others. They were clever and did not use their names. They asked me all sorts of questions about our plans, threatening me with my life. When I refused to tell them, they defenestrated me. I got away as quick as I could before they could make sure that I was dead."

Niccea sat down her pen as she ran her eyes over the report. It is seamless though the part about her saving civilians seemed to be laying it on a little thick. They could not pin this one on her either. The superiors were rather clueless. They did not even know that she was Gifted. Niccea was confined to her quarters by the doctors because of her injuries. They probably would not see fit to use her again for several days. She hated the waiting the most.

…

Ember looked over the side of the building. "Well, now what?" She turned to her companions.

Kotetsu sighed heavily, pulled away from the window and leaned against the wall. "I do not know, but I do not feel comfortable with letting her go like that. I mean, I was not so sure we could trust her when she was with us, but how is she so sure the government is not going to double cross her later?" he asked. But, after some thought, he shrugged it off, "Whatever."

"I do not think she would. Anyway, if she did, we would blow her legs off. Just kidding. I have no idea what we would do." Ember lapsed back into silence.

Kotetsu smiled mildly at her comment. She was right though, he was not sure of what he would do if he found out she double crossed them anyway, after all she was an agent that was her 'job'. "Well, regardless. I have a feeling they're out looking for us. We should probably just stay here for a while."

"Here? You have got to be kidding me! I will die of boredom! And hunger! And she knows where here is!" Ember grinned. She was pleased with her argument.

She was right about that unfortunately. "Yeah...true. So? What do you suggest?" he questioned, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Well, I may know a place."

"Oh?" Kotetsu looked over to her with some interest, as he was curious as to what she had in mind.

“Well, I might if it’s still there. Follow me." Ember said walking out of the building. She decided to walk for a while, since nothing was chasing them, and it was nice out. ‘Maybe we'll fly later, but not now,’ she thought.

Saya followed the others for a while, but she then decided that she knew where they were going, so she walked around on her own. She wanted to find where the other Gifted went.

Ember picked up the pace. She was anxious to get there. "Hurry it up slow pokes!" she yelled over her shoulder. She turned around and noticed Saya was gone. "Crap! Where is she?!" She took off, leaving the men behind, running down the streets in search of Saya. Ember crashed on the sidewalk. She was in a pit of despair. ‘Why does everyone leave me?’ she thought. Suddenly her mind went back to the past.

Her mom and dad's smiling faces, then the look when their car crashed. The nuns at the orphanage, her best friends Jonnie and Susanna, and the look of horror they gave when she showed them her powers. Running off, living in the sewer. Falcon finding her, making her safe. Meeting all her knew friends. Using her power to manipulate plants for food…

“But now everyone is gone,” Ember sighed. Then she did something she had not done in three years. She started to cry. Ember felt like death. She wanted death.