Maria flipped open the black leather wallet that she had simply acquired from the passing boy. Inside of it was a sullen face staring back out at her from the confines of a plastic card. After confirming that he was indeed as student at ESPU, Maria tucked the wallet down into her vest pocket. She could use the payment function on it until it was reported stolen, a huge reward for her currently grumbling stomach.

Unfortunately she wasn't the only one after a free lunch. Like starving dogs around a cornered animal, three hoodlums turned into the alley, blocking one side of it. Maria quickly turned and began heading for the other exit at the first sight of them.

"Hey little girl, where do you think you're going?" The middle guy, somewhat diminutive compared to the two giants by his sides, seemed to be the boisterous leader of the trio.

Maria attempted to ignore them, quickening her pace.

"Eric." The middle guy motioned towards the cohort on his left.

Eric spun his hands around in a complex maneuver before slamming his foot to the floor. The concrete under them rippled slightly, traveling past Maria. As she was attempting to maintain her balance, a wall shot up in front of her, more than twice her height.

The leader was now walking up to her slowly. "Maria Rodriguez, you do give someone trouble when they are looking for you. As truly loyal members of K13, we'd like you to think we are going to be taking you back home safe and sound. After all, a dead body isn't worth that much money!" He was gawking, as though trying to look suprised. "If you'll just make this easier for me, play dead. I'll even show you a good time as a reward." The man to his right's head sunk a few degrees. The leader continued. "I'm sure you are aware that everyone has to do what's necessary to put food on the table."

The group walked forward towards Maria, who now had her back against the wall. Maria surveyed them coldly, her eyes carefully darted between them. The one in the center was forward from the others, with his legs spread at a nearly awkward angle, and his arms were high into the air, as if to give himself more presence than he rightfully deserved. The one on his left, Eric, was just behind him, with an expressionless face, a faithful man. The one on his right was farther back than the others, and seemed to be doubting his actions.

"I think our little lady here is too scared to talk! Why don't I comfort her? A little privacy please." The leader motioned back to Eric, who guided the other one back, and threw up a short wall behind them, locking the leader and Maria into a small area. Now was the time for action.

Maria dashed forward, and felt wind rush behind her head. She almost dropped to the ground, and brought her leg up with her as she sprang upwards, landing her blow squarely between the man's unguarded legs. As he fell to his knees, she brought her heel behind her, and caught his jaw with it, slamming his faltering body to the floor.

The short wall began falling, but Maria dashed to it, and leaped up to and off of it. On the other side, Eric was frantically running up to the wall to see what had happened, only to have a heel land on his forehead with a sickening thud. He staggered to the side, leaving only one obstacle left.

Maria turned to see the last man, only to have her vision clouded by dozens of orange pellets. One of them caught her in the shoulder and with a loud pop, exploded, knocking her back with an inane amount of impact force. It burned as it touched her, but only lightly singed her clothes. As she fell over from the first hit, the rest of the pellets suppressed her, striking her over and over again.

Maria's vision was blurred, and her body was nearly a broken mess. The two that she had previously knocked down were already back up again, nursing their respective wounds.

"Y'know, I like a woman with a little fight in her. But that-" The leader, now standing over Maria, brought a heavy kick into her side. She could feel a rib snap. "...was too damn much. Luckily for me, my right hand Apollo here, doesn't have any issues with beating the shit out of a bitch."

Apollo cut in. "Boss, we need to hurry. It's most likely that Red Claw has received disturbance reports by now. Even the IMB might show up."

"Level headed as always. Fucking hell!" He delivered another kick to the helpless Maria on the ground. "Eric grab her, we are getting out of here."

Eric scooped her up, only for her to twist her way out of his grasp and fall back to the floor. Only, where they expected to see her, was now empty space. Eric fell back with a thud.

"Goddammit! Eric block her in. Don't let her weasel her way out of this shit. We're dead men if Ricardo finds out."

Eric, getting back on his feet, waved his hand forward, summoning another tall wall. The wall slowly moved forward, passing the surface of the ground over it as though it was a liquid. The walls stopped, a mere foot apart.

Apollo stepped forward. "We can't risk being caught. We need to eliminate her. Open a few holes in the wall." Two orange pellets were spinning around in his hand.

"If she's fucking dead we don't get paid!"

"If we're dead it doesn't matter."

The two men were interrupted by the sound of a wall shattering, followed by somber whistling.

***

A young man, with long blond hair tied into a ponytail, was carrying the battered Maria away. His olive green jacket, though rough and torn, was comfy enough to allow her to fall asleep.

"Quite the beating you took back there young lady, didn't your parents ever to tell you to stay away from dark alleys. It's dangerous. Not that you can hear me."

His gentle chidings didn't only fall on deaf ears, a large bald man with dark skin was following closely behind him in a full navy blue suit.

"Grant, I trust you don't have to report such a matter to the IMB, this girl after all, was being targeted by her own group for some reason."

"How can you tell? I know you are the 'heir' to your gang, but what gives you the impression that this girl has any ties to the criminal world?"

"You heard the news about how one of the old tyrant's adopted kids, Ricardo, took over the other day? This is his sister, Maria Rodriguez. The power of blocking off alleys like that belongs to a notorious troublemaker in District 13 that has been active for the last three years. It's likely that they belong to K13 as well, and have an issue with the new kid in charge."

"Why are they all the way here in District 7?"

"She ran away from home."

"Alright, now that's a stretch, Fetter."

"If your brother killed the man who raised you with love and care, and then no one batted an eye, what would you do? Don't tell me you don't have enough empathy for this, Detective Johnson."

"I asked you not to call me that. I am effectively your underling as long as you don't break the law."

"Yeah, yeah, I guess we are all civil servants here." Fetter let out a dry monotonous laugh.

"So what are you going to do with a rival's sister in your hands?"

"Keep the peace, as always. Anyways, we're here my sweet princess."

The trio had entered a staircase leading deep below the surface and were now at a large overhead door and an entry station. A man with dozens of tattoos and a white tank top stood stoically behind the counter.

"Welcome back young boss."

He gave a hand signal backwards, and the door opened to the city beneath the streets. It was a few hundred yards straight forward, and then it opened up into a great hall that was massive in scale. The sand colored bricks were illuminated by bright florescent lights hanging down from the huge vaulted roof. A giant red banner with three black claw marks hung from the opposite side of the hall. Hundreds of people crossed back and forth, weaving between eachother, between dozens of smaller archways on the sides.

Their target was a specific one on the back wall, the one on the far right. Above it was a small banner with a white cross on a red background. Inside was an entirely different world, covered in pristine white tiles was a significantly smaller hallway, with various rooms on the sides. At the very front, a nurse looked up and jotted down a few lines on a scrap of paper.

"He'll be with you in a moment, Fetter."

"Thank you."

The trio continued on down, before entering into the first open door. The room was like a typical doctor's office, with the same paper covered chair and lifeless posters on the walls. The main difference was the door itself instead had a large color wheel on the inside with three colors: red, yellow, and green. Fetter turned it to red, and laid Maria down onto the chair.

Not even a minute passed before the door opened, and a blond boy, who looked about sixteen, walked in. He was wearing a doctor's coat over shorts and a t-shirt.

"Fetter, you better not have gotten yourself into- oh gosh what happened to her?"

"Don't know exactly, saw her being attacked in an alley, and she's not from around here."

"Not from around here, hmm."

"Do you think you can help her, Don?"

"Of course I can, but I need to check for broken bones and realign anything that wouldn't heal properly first, additionally she might not have enough calories to withstand it, looking at her. She seems to be quite malnourished. Now get out, I can't have you staring at a patient."

Fetter and Grant stood outside of the door silently for the next twenty minutes. Finally Don exited the room. He handed Fetter a small plastic card.

"Her entire body is bruised, she has several cracked and broken ribs, and is incredibly malnourished. It looks like she spent the last three days walking as well. I'm gonna get her set up on an IV and I'd like a psychokineticist to set the ribs so I can heal her."

"What about this? It's some guy's ID."

"It was in her vest pocket, judging by her malnourishment, she probably stole it."

"I'll go give the owner a surprise visit then."

"Fine, as long as it's nothing dangerous, and bring Grant with you. I don't like my brother being my most frequent flyer."

"Don, You worry about me too much."

Grant stared back at the door silently as the brothers talked.