These Ruins Sadden me

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.

With a boost from Hawkwing, Jinx scrambled through the open window and fairly giggled as she opened the door of the muscle car and tossed her backpack inside. "Take it, of course!" She called to him. "Walking around out there is just painting a big ol' target on your forehead, you know?" Still giggling like a child at Christmas, checked the visor for a garage door opener or, better yet, a key. She struck out on both.

"Rats!" Jinx muttered, Climbing back out of the car, she moved to the large garage door, "Can you help push the door open? I think it might be sprung." She hauled on it with no success. "Why couldn't I be super-strong instead of so irresistable?" She muttered under her breath.

Hawkwing shrugged as she mentioned that walking is like having a target on you. "I wouldn't know," he said, "I don't do much walking myself, I tend to keep to the skies." He leaned up against the wall, shoving his hands into his pockets as she scrambled around inside. He was popping his lips out of boredom, until she asked for some help.

He jumped into action and started to lift the garage door, yay for being super strong. He lifted the door and kind of hung on it looking at her with a goofy half-cocked smile.

"Sooooooo," he said, "I take it you don't have super strength."

Jinx nodded slightly when Hawkwing explained that he generally flew everywhere. "That'd be wicked. I think every kid that ever was wished they could fly." Jinx 'helped' Hawkwing lift the garage door and she watched him as he stood there for a moment. He poses nicely. She thought to herself. When he observed that she didn't have super strength she laughed brightly and 'flexed' a very thin arm at him. "Oh yeah. I can push entire mountains off their bases. Yep, that's me."

The question, however did tell her that he knew she was a super. So she shrugged and pointed at the Camaro. It sputtered and then roared to life. "Me and machines sorta understand each other, you know? She winked suddenly, "Word to the wise? Don't ever challenge me to any console or computer games. I seriously kick butt." She whirled to climb into the car and added an aside over her shoulder, "Besides, I cheat." She laughed brightly at that and beckoned to Hawkwing. "Come on. Time's a'wasting."

Jake grinned at her widely when she flexed then mocked amazement. God, this girl was amazing. "I will make sure not to arm wrestle you then." he said quietly. He watched with actual amazement though when the car sputtered to life. He could hardly believe it. This girl had an amazing power. She was pretty cool. He grinned when she winked at him.

He followed her toward the car and hesitated before opening the car door. He hated being inside of anything. Especially really tight spaces. If he couldn't get his wings out, then he felt constricted. He slipped into the car slowly. He was starting to sweat a bit, and his leg bounced up and down almost unconsciously. His eyes darted around the inside of the car, and his hand rest on the handle.

Throwing the Camaro into gear, Jinx eased the car out of the narrow garage. Once she hit the street, she stepped on the gas and made the tires squeal. "Woot!" She crowed in delight. She kept her speed to a reasonable rate, after that initial burst of enthusiasm, there was just too much debris in the street to dodge for her driving skills to handle at speed. Besides, the Camaro was too sweet to wreck.

As Jinx picked her way along the darkened streets, she noted Hawkwing's discomfort. She shot him a worried glance, "You alright?" She misinterpreted the cause of his nerves, however, "Someone after you or something?" She looked all around the street as if looking for an unseen enemy. "Something I should know? I mean...you know...I'd hate to get shot up or anything."

Jake shook his head at her and shot her a reassuring smile. He thought it was funny that she thought he was being hunted down. "No," he said, "that's not it at all, I just don't like enclosed spaces." Smiling, he gestured at the inside of the car, "Anywhere I can't get my wings out, makes me uncomfortable."

Jinx looked at Hawkwing's shoulders speculatively before simply giving an 'Oh." She nodded then, "I guess I can see that...but...have you always had wings? I mean, I wasn't born with my power. Not many I've heard of have." She paused to check a street sign than was pushed over at nearly a 75 degree angle from the upright. "Hey! I know where we are!" She eased the Camaro around the corner and gave it a little more gas before returning to her line of questioning. "Were you always claustrophobic or is that new?" She grinned suddenly, "If I had wings, I'd fly everywhere! And I'd make sure my apartment was on the top floor of the tallest building in the city."

She paused once again, "Say. Where are you from anyway? Not New York, that's for sure." She pursed her lips trying to guess, "Midwest somewhere?" She tilted her head at him, "You have no accent. Like all the reporters on TV. They must all study in the midwest or something. It's kind of weird, don't you think?" Jinx prattled on happily, bouncing from topic to topic almost without pausing for a breath until she pulled up to a structure that must have been a house at one time. A portion of a charred frame and most of the chimney was all that was left.

"oh" Jinx murmured in a soft voice.

Jake shook his head at Jinx and smiled. "No, not born with them," he said thinking back, "This was a genetic experiment that I got myself wrapped up in, I really didn't want any of this, it just kinda fell on my lap." He shrugged, "It's ok though."

He smiled when a flash of recognition flashed across her face. "Not always, I've just gotten used to the freedom of flying. And yeah, I fly pretty much everywhere, and I try to get as high up as I can when I have a place to stay."

He smiled again when she noticed he wasn't from around here, man she was a smart girl. "I'm from Chicago actually, born and raised in Illinois." He smiled at her.. she was really a pretty girl, and kind of fun. Well, as fun as you can be driving through the wreckage that was New York. He looked at the building she pulled up in front of, well it really wasn't much of a building, and he frowned slightly.

"Is this... where you lived, Jinx?" he asked softly, looking at her with kind, gentle eyes.

Jinx listened to Hawkwing explain about volunteering to be experimented on with a shudder. "I'd never trust anyone to experiment on me. Not a chance." She murmured.

Staring at the ruin of her childhood home caused angry, hot tears to start in her eyes. She dashed them away with an embarrassed swipe of her fist. "Yeah. I grew up here." She whispered. "I...don't really have a permanent place at the moment. I move a lot."

She glances toward Hawkwing with a small smile, "I sort of expected this, I guess. But, I didn't think it would hurt this bad." Her tone was still a little embarrassed. "Um..." She looked at her hands on the steering wheel for a few moments. "Guess nothing survived..." She took a deep breath and added, "Pictures and stuff, I mean."

Clearing her throat softly, Jinx visibly took herself in hand, "OK. So. That's a bust." She glanced back at Hawkwing once more. "Now what?" She asked, rather at a loss. "Think it's worth checking?"

Jake looked away from Jinx, hating to see her hurt. He was always a very empathetic person, so he got it, what she was going through. He put his hand on her shoulder, trying to help comfort her. He let her talk and cope, figuring stuff out. He squeezed her shoulder lightly.

"Whatever you want to do," he said with a smile, "I will tag along, if you'll let me, that is." He looked out at the ruins and bit his lower lip. He really didn't have much hop that they would find anything, but he felt like it would be good for her. Maybe she would be able to have some closure or something. He smiled back at her and put his hand back in his lap.

Jinx smiled at the reassuring squeeze on her shoulder. "Thanks." She said simply. Jinx's normal, upbeat attitude reasserted itself somewhat. "What the hell. We might as well dig a little. " She paused and glanced at Hawkwing, "But, we probably shouldn't stick around too long. I'm pretty sure the area is crawling with looters and other crazies." She winked suddenly, "Crazies besides us, I mean."

Opening the door to the Camaro, Jinx slid out and took her backpack with her. leaving the door open, just in case. She waited for Hawkwing to join her before she approached the burned out shell of her childhood home.

Stepping gingerly through the wreckage and ashes, Jinx absently pushed some of the debris aside with the toe of her shoe, searching for anything that might have survived the fire. A little more searching yielded a charred wooden jewelry box and a half-melted plastic shoebox of old pictures. Jinx brushed the items off with her hands and carried the items to the Camaro. She smiled to Hawkwing, "Better than I'd hoped." She said.

Eerie howls and cat calls sounded against the still night just as they arrived at the car. Jinx froze, spooked. "Uh...I'm pretty sure that's not a good sign." She stated unnecessarily.

Jake got out of the Camaro and helped Jinx, sorting through the rubble and the debris. After a while of sorting and looking at old belongings, a thump sounded out behind them. Jake pulled up his hood and and masked and turned to see what the noise was. As he turned, gunfire rang out through the twilight.

Jake dropped into a crouch and his wings snapped out, scanning for the source of the gunshots. He didn't see a source, but a large winged being was perched on top of the camaro. Normally, Hawk would just shoot up into the sky and figure things out up there, but he didn't want to leave Jinx on the ground by herself. He decided to do what he does best and waited for a few moments, getting his bearings and waiting for whatever would happen next.

Too many things happened at once. First and foremost was the tall, winged woman in a ball gown and carrying a sword that landed on the roof of Jinx’s newly acquired ride. Next and probably worst was the sudden sound of gunfire that came from the other side of the winged woman. Instinctively, Jinx dropped onto her face in the dirt. “Holy shit!” She cried out. Her dark eyes flashed to where Hawkwing was crouched, “I thought no one was hunting you!” She erroneously accused her new traveling companion. Despite her initial accusation, Jinx scuttled toward Hawkwing, at least she knew he was safe. She had no idea who the other winged creature was or who was shooting. For that matter, she and Hawkwing might not be involved in this fight at all and were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Hiding behind Hawkwing slightly, Jinx placed her hands against his back and peeked over his shoulder to see if she could see who was firing. And at who. “Holy crap…what the hell is going on?” She stammered at Hawkwing.

The faint, barely audible hiss and the muted sounds of voices alerted Jinx that radio communications were being used. And that scared her even more. “They…they’re using radios! They’re shooting and they’re organized!” Jinx squeaked in panic. “What the f**k?!” Her grip on Hawkwing tightened unconsciously as she looked around for another car they could take off in, but naturally the only one that looked viable had a winged Nike on top of it.

Radios…wait. Radios. Jinx leaned up to speak into Hawkwing’s ear, so that he could hear her over the sound of the gunfire, “I’m going to screw with their radios.” She paused, praying that the guys with guns were the bad guys. “Then we maybe can make a run for it?” She suggested hopefully. Not really waiting for the go ahead from the ‘angel’ she was hiding behind, Jinx closed her eyes and lifted her hand slightly. She called it her ‘Yoda pose’. Her senses reached out searching for the ‘feel’ of the electronics in the area and quickly found the radios the gunmen had tucked into their ears. With a sudden jerk, the ear buds in the gun men’s ear shrieked shrilly causing the men to stagger and paw at their ears trying to get the buds out of their ears with yelps of pain.