These Ruins Sadden me

Soaring through the bright blue skies seemed to be a freeing feeling for Jake. It made him feel alive, restless, made him want to fly higher and higher each time, testing his limits. He was over the wasteland of New York, trying to picture the grand city before it was destroyed. He wished he could have made it here before that, but alas, he was here now. He wanted to experience Time's square during its heyday, and Broadway. He flew higher and higher, the air starting to become to thin for even him to breathe. He gasped, but the lack of oxygen was starting to cloud his judgement, so he flew higher and higher. His breath caught in his throat and his vision went black. A spasm went through his body, then it went limp and started to fall through the sky, floating down toward the ground beneath him.

Jinx had failed getting a cab to take her into the city. In fact, she couldn't even *find* a cab at all. Not that it mattered, really. There were plenty of abandoned cars that were mostly undamaged to pick from. Finding one pointed in the right direction, Jinx scruffed her dark hair and climbed inside. "Bonus." She grinned. "Full tank of gas." Laying a slender hand on the dash, she closed her eyes and concentrated. After only a few seconds, the engine started and she was on her way.

Using her GPS, she was able to navigate the blocked and ruined streets for the most part on her way to her family home. Her Mother had forbid her from going into the city, but Jinx knew there were precious things still in the house that she wanted to save. As she drove along at a snail's pace, she saw roving gangs of teens and 20-somethings looting houses and ruined stores. Most of them were heavily armed and frankly scared her to death. She was careful not to stop as she picked her way through the streets.

Oxygen.

His body needed oxygen, and it needed it bad. His eyes snapped open, as enough oxygen coursed through his veins. He was falling fast, nearing the ground. His wings snapped open, and his head snapped back as he slowed down. He yelled out from the pain in his back, as his wings felt like they were going to be torn from his back. His fall slowed down and his started to soar about ten feet above the ground, and was flying faster than ever before. His momentum sent him careening through the air, barely dodging buildings, rubble, and trees. But then he saw people, who saw him coming sooner. They hit the ground as he soared above him and into a car, slamming into and through the windshield.

He was out cold again.

Jinx was busy avoiding the crumpled and charred wrecks of 3 cars that had been slagged into one twisted road block when the windshield of the car she was driving exploded inward under the impact of a body impacting with the borrowed sedan.

The safety glass peppered Jinx with glinting crumbles as she jerked the wheel to the right , sending the car into a careening tailspin before it jumped a curb and slammed into a mailbox and tree on someone's abandoned lawn. Jinx's forehead rebounded off her hands on the wheel leaving her momentarily dazed and the horn of the car blaring until she sat back to assess the damage.

To her shock, her eyes fell on the unconscious form of a young man with huge white wings lying half in and half out of the car, head hanging. "Oh shit...oh shit..." Jinx murmured. Knees shaking, she extricated herself from the car and staggered a few steps back trying to make sense of what she was looking at. Had the young man been shot down? Was he being hunted? Her dark eyes darted around the area to see if anyone was heading toward her and the car to finish him off. The fact that he was a super was impossible to miss and supers were not exactly popular right now.

The street remained quiet with no movement evident so Jinx turned her attention back to the 'angel'. Carefully making her way back to the car, she went to the passenger side and opened the door so she could see the man's face. his eyes remained closed, so she gingerly reached out to try to find a pulse on his limp wrist.

Jake should have pulled up, but he didn't. Obviously. Otherwise, he wouldn't be in the situation he was in, a situation that he still knew nothing about, being as unconscious as he was. His heart was still beating, but it was beating much faster and lighter than usual. And his heart beat incredibly fast and light as it was, because of the alternative constitution of his body.

As the touch of a human was felt on his skin, his body started to reboot. When he regained consciousness, the situation hit him like a freight train. He didn't know where he was, who was touching him, or why he was there. He sat straight up, his entire body going stiff as he let out a bloodcurdling scream. He jumped out of the car and started to run away, only making it a few steps before he fell flat on his face.

The goons from earlier had finally regained their bearings and had started to make their way toward where they had seen the bird man, and heard the scream.

Jake started to pick himself up, a groan escaping his lips.

Jinx frowned and bit her lip when she felt the unconscious guy's pulse. "Dude...I don't know if that's good or bad." She muttered half to herself and half to him. When he suddenly jerked upright and screamed like a marionette pulled by invisible strings, Jinx slammed her head on the roof and stumbled back to end up on her ass on the scorched grass of the lawn behind her. "OW! She groused and rubbed the rising knot on the back of her head.

The Angel takes off across the lawn and into the street in what looks like a blind panic before he dropped onto his knees and then onto his face.

Jinx looked around anxiously, "Too much noise...too much noise." She fretted aloud. As if to prove her right, a group of 5 gangers carrying stolen guns or other improvised melee weapons, turned the corner and began to stalk toward them.

"Oh crap..." Jinx groaned. She ran to crouch next to the angel guy. "Look. Can you move? We're about to have very unfriendly company and I'd rather not host a dance right now, ya know?"

Jake spat dirt out of his mouth and stood up slowly, barely listening to the girl... Wait? Girl? He glanced at her quickly, taking in how attractive she was. Ok, it was time to be a hero. He adjusted his costume and sized up the situation. Guns, pipes, bats, the works. Damn this was gonna suck. But maybe he'd get some...

"I got this" he said, heroically, then looked at her, "Unless, uh, you want to help of course," He shook his head and stepped in front of her, his wings snapping outward and blocking the girl.

"Uh, you guys should stay there, or I'm gonna have to hurt you." he said, putting a hand up. The men didn't seem to care and kept advancing steadily.

Jinx grabbed the young man's arm as if to help him up. Not that she was really a lot of help given her thin frame. He took a look to the street then did a double take back at her and Jinx watched him puff up just a little. Stepping in front of her, he faced the gangers heading for them and rather heroically told her that he could handle the situation.

Jinx would have laughed any other time, but not when there were 5 gang members and guns involved. "Unless you have some like...heat vision or...something like that, we're toast." She glanced around and assessed the condition of the wrecked car. It would still move. "Wait..." she breathed. "Maybe I can help after all." Lifting her hand, the car's tortured engine started and it put itself into reverse. Jinx made the engine rev and the car limped across the lawn and quickly managed to gain some speed. Jinx aimed it at the gang member, making them scatter to avoid being hit.

"Well!?" She yelled at the angel. "Do something!"

I don't got this, he thought to himself, I'm rather fucked. He watched with his jaw dropped open, as the girl started to move the car. He watched as it barreled toward the gangster, making them scatter in different directions. His jaw was still slack as the girl yelled at him.

He tensed up and pulled himself back together and shot into the sky and scanned the people, deciding who to hit first. There were two gunmen, and three club wielding goons. The gunmen were his first priority, he needed to keep an eye out for this girl, super or not. He dove down, coming inches from the ground and shot back up, flipping one of the gunmen over. He went straight up again and landed on the other gunman, crushing him.

One of the other men swung a pipe at him, he ducked slamming a wing into the goons ribs, knocking the wind out of him and dropping him. He swung at another, dropping his third goon. One of the goons dropped his bat and ran off, but the last one was shaking in his boots. He stood there and stared at Hawkwing. Jake flinched at him and he ran off.

He looked back at the girl.

"I'm Ja-- Hawkwing." he said to her, walking back to her and retracting his wings.

The distraction of the car barreling through the group of gangsters seemed to be just the opportunity the 'angel' needed. Jinx watched in awe as he swooped (literally) into action, battering and scattering the gang members in short order.

Jinx almost laughed out loud when the finally gangster was frightened off by a mere feint in his direction by the guy with the wings. Once the last gangster beat feet and vacated the immediate area, Jinx relaxed slightly, even though the semi-destroyed neighborhood was still a very dangerous place to be. She watched the wings retract somehow and when the young man introduce himself, she smiled. "Hi." Jinx greeted.

She tilted her head at him, making a leap of logic, "New at this, huh?" She stuck out her hand and offered jauntily, "I'm Jinx. Nice to meet you, Hawkwing." Suddenly curious, she asked,"What on earth are you doing here and...what happened before you crashed into my car?"

Jake shook her hand and removed his hood and mask, giving her a half-smile. She caught him, he was definitely new at all of this. "Is it that obvious?" he asked, "And it's nice to meet you Jinx." His head dropped a bit when she asked what he was doing.

"I came to see the city, and I flew too high and ran out of oxygen." he said sheepishly, as he scratched the back of his head, "what about you?"

Jinx fairly beamed when Hawkwing showed her the trust of removing his hood and mask so she could see his face. Her eyes twinkled at him, "Maybe, just a little bit." She admitted. "Most supers...just rush in and worry about the bystanders a bit after." Jinx shrugged, "At least...that I've seen,"

When Hawkwing explained flying too high and passing out, she quirked a brow, "I guess I'll call you Icarus, then," She teased just a little, "You came to see..." Jinx paused and sighed a little saddened, "There's nothing left to see."

She began to walk toward the ruined car she;d first borrowed and dug around inside for her Hello Kitty backpack. Emerging again, she finally looked back at Hawkwing and offered a small smile, "I used to live here. I was trying to find my old house to get some things for my Mom." She returned to stand near the 'angel'. "Probably not the smartest thing I've done, but...it felt like I should at least try, you know?"

"Um...what will you do now? Sticking around probably here isn't the best idea," Her eyes swept around the immediate area. "I need to find another car too." She murmured, half to herself.

Jake shook his head, but gave Jinx a smile when he noticed her brighten up. He frowned a bit though, "Supers should care about the bystanders, just as much as the goons." he said, rolling his eyes, "You guys are important too."

He smiled at her, "I like that name," he said, "You can definitely call me that," he frowned at her, "I can see that, it's very... eerie."

He looked up in the air, wondering what to do now. He could go back to Chicago, or...

"Would you mind if I just followed you," he asked, sheepishly, "I could keep an eye on you."

Hawkwing's referring to her as a bystander made Jinx's brows raise Maybe he missed her little trick with the car...? That suited her just fine,

When he mentioned how eerie the scorched earth, flattened and bombed out buildings were, Jinx had to nod her agreement. "Yeah." She agreed with a winsome sigh. But, true to her nature, she didn't dwell on things she couldn't change, "This is the quietest I remember home being...ever. But, I have faith. Us New Yorkers are a noisy, pushy bunch. We'll be back. You'll see." She assured Hawkwing with a jaunty wink.

Hawkwing looked around a little sheepishly and asked if he could hang around and Jinx grinned. "Sure! You can help me find our old house." She flipped her backpack over a shoulder and headed back to the street, "I think it's near here...maybe a couple blocks. I think...uh..." She paused considering the darkened streets and shrugged her thin shoulders, "Oh well. We'll find it. Lets find a car first. I can't fly the way you can." She grinned again and headed toward a driveway that lead to a closed garage.

Standing on her tiptoes, Jinx peered in through the dirty windows in the garage door, she didn't appear to be able to see into the garage's interior and rubbing her shirt's sleeve over the window's surface didn't help. "C'mon, let's see if there's a car inside we can use." Jinx matched her words with action by slipping around the side of the garage looking for a window or side door. She found a tiny window in the side of the garage and managed to push the jamb up despite half a century of paint, Peering inside Jinx crowed in triumph. "Jackpot!! Ohmigod, it's an old Camaro!" She looked back toward Hawkwing, "C'mon! Gimme a boost inside!"

Jake hadn't meant to lump her in with the bystander crowd, but she kind of had been a bystander. He realized she was a meta, but didn't want to draw attention to the fact, that's the way he would have wanted it.

He looked around the landscape again, not even really being able to take in the gravity of the situation, of the people that had died here. He shook his head then smiled at Jinx as she mentioned them rebuilding the city. He was kinda intoxicated by this girl. He followed her for few minutes until they found the garage. He really hated cars, never trusted them, but he would deal with it.

He looked inside, seeing the old orange camaro. He smiled nodded, helping Jinx get in.

"What are we gonna do once you get in the car?" he asked, not exactly sure how her powers worked.