Siren stepped through the open window and onto the fire escape, overlooking the alley behind her apartment building.  She looked out at a partial view of the New York skyline as she sat down with her glass of wine, allowing her legs to hang over the edge of the platform.  There was a slight chill in the air, but not enough where she would not enjoy some quiet relaxing time in her private “lounge”.  Pulling a pack of cigarettes from her pocket, she struck a match and deeply inhales the nicotine into her lungs.  She rarely smoked, but she allowed herself the vice of a cigarette and a glass of red wine periodically.

It was nearly midnight, but the city never slept and was full of noise.  Just as she finished her cigarette and tossed it down onto the alley below, she heard noises coming from the end of the alley.  At first she thought it was a man and woman arguing, but then she saw a larger man walk up behind the woman and grab her from behind, with one hand covering her mouth and the other arm grabbing her under the arm and across the chest, picking her up easily.  The two men then proceeded into the dark of the alleyway as the woman struggled.  With the hand in place over her mouth, only muffled screams escaped and could barely be heard over the noise of the city.

Knowing that the woman was in trouble, Siren considered her options.  With only one plausible option, she quietly lowered herself over the edge of the railing and dropped down from the second story elevation quietly as she could.  She landed with a thud, but the sound was drowned out by the struggling woman and the laughter coming from the smaller man.  Siren reached down and pulled a knife from its hidden location in the small of her back.

The men had forced the woman only halfway down the alley.  Now they showed their true intentions.  As the larger man still held the woman off the ground the smaller man attempted to move in on her.  To the woman’s credit, Siren watched and silently cheered her on as she fought back, kicking out, knocking the smaller man back time and time again.  While she was kicking out, her hands began raking across the face of the larger man, causing him to grunt in pain.  With all the commotion and the aid of darkness, Siren was able to close the distance undetected and had a clear view of the assault.

Changing tactics, the larger man lowered the woman and with one motion, spun her around and backhanded her with a terrible blow.  The woman was knocked off her feet before she even had a chance to scream for help and slammed into a pile of shipping crates that had been stacked near the back of a warehouse back door.  The woman was dazed and only semi-conscious as the smaller man picked her up and threw her onto the top of the crates as a make shift table.  He laughed as he reached up under her dress and began tugging on her undergarments.

With both men facing away from her, Siren moved silently forward.  Her only chance was to take out the larger man first as he was easily eight inches taller and one hundred pounds heavier than her.  Moving in quickly, she knelt down and with a strong fast movement, sliced the sharp knife across the back of the large man’s leg, just above his shoe, severing the achilles tendon.  Crying out in pain and lifting his foot, he looked back just in time to see her arm flash toward the other leg in the same location.  The man screamed as he fell to the ground, both achilles tendons severed and hobbled.

As the large man fell, he reached for Siren and she was barely able to avoid his grasp as she rolled out of the way and came up in a defensive stance.  The smaller man had turned when the large man had screamed in pain and now was advancing quickly on her.  “Who the fuck are you, bitch?  You wanna play, eh?  Well, looks like I get two for one tonight!  Tom, get your ass up and help me fuck this girl up!”

The large man tried to hold his hands over the bleeding cuts on the back of his legs and said “I can’t, she did something to my legs.  It hurts really bad.  Pauly, my feet aren’t working right.”

The smaller man paused, looking down at his friend.  “I didn’t see what happened.  Did she cut you?”

The larger man, having lost his confidence, began to sob “Yes, she cut me Pauly.  On the back of my legs, just above my feet.  I’m bleeding really bad Pauly and it hurts real bad”.

Siren had continued backing away as the two had talked and now were separated by approximately ten feet of distance.  Even being the smaller of the two, he was still two inches taller than Siren.  She knew she could not match him in strength and wondered if she could outrun him.  With a track and field background, she was extremely fast, but that meant turning her back on a potential killer.

The smaller man turned on Siren and said with a cold menacing voice “Bitch, you’re going to pay for hurting my friend.  We were just having a little fun and now you’ve stepped over the line.  Nobody crosses Pauly and lives to brag about it”.  Remaining in a defensive position, her heart was beating rapidly and she knew she was in trouble.  As the larger man continued to wright in pain on the ground, the smaller man stalked forward with bad intentions.

As he approached she fainted a stab to his stomach and quickly adjusted her attack toward his neck.  He blocked her attack with ease and kicked out, catching her squarely in the chest and catapulting her backwards.  She landed hard and the knife slid from her grasp.  Seeing him reach for her, she pulled up her feet and kicked out, making contact with the top of his thighs, knocking his lets out from under him as he slammed to the ground, on top of her extend form.  She tried to scramble away, but his hands grabbed at her pulling himself more and more on top of her.

She felt a panic overcoming her thoughts as she could not match his strength.  He was right on top of her and she could smell his alcohol laden breath.  She reached up to gouge his eyes, but he rose up and straddling her, grabbed and controlled her hands.  Knowing she had no other options, she did the one thing she had left and she began to scream.

The scream was cut short as a fist slammed into her mouth and she her mouth was filled with the coppery taste of blood.  As she inhaled in preparation for another scream, she felt his hands around her throat and an iron grip applied that cut off her airway.  She tried to reach his face, but her arms fell short.  She kicked out, but could find no purchase.  She beat on his arms, but there was no give.  Her eyes wide with panic, she looked up as the man simply smiled at seeing her life slip away.

She felt it more than heard.  A sharp thud followed by some flash of movement.  The grin was gone and his gaze no longer was focused while his grip began to loosen.  Then she saw it again.  This time, she was able to see a 2x4 slam across the back of the small man’s head.  This time, the grip completely loosened and his limp body fell directly on top of Siren.  With a heavy exertion, she rolled him off of her and looked up to see the woman, battered, but unbeaten, standing with the one weapon she could find in the darkness.  She asked “Are you okay?”

Siren, shocked by the question, responded “Yes, I should be fine.  But I should be asking you that question?”

The woman reached up and wiped blood from her chin before responding “yeah, I guess we should both be fine.” 

As if on que, she heard the larger man moaning a small distance down the alley.  Siren quickly rose to her feet and said “Let’s get out of here before any others show up.  My apartment is just up there and we can clean up” as she pointed to the open window approximately 100 ft farther down the alley.  Glancing around, Siren spotted the reflection of moonlight on the blade of her knife and quickly retrieved it.  “Come with me” was the only statement needed for the two of them to head toward the entrance of the alley way and then toward the Siren’s apartment.

Looking at the woman, she said “By the way, my name is Siren”. The woman smiled and said, “You’re more like a guardian angel Siren.  My name is Amy.” The two women walked from the alley way, standing tall, as one man lay unconscious and the other hobbled and sobbing like a baby.