Hunter was never a man that believed in much, he believed that he was now nobody without his gracious speed. He believed that he could have been a normal boy if his father had not murdered his mother, now he was here to just relax and enjoy his day, he never knew much about just hanging out and relaxing. He was either busy putting down some rogue meta's or doing business that involved the speed force, he never had time for himself. Now he had that time, Hunter was not going to be wasting it, not one bit, a sweet moment of relaxation was what he needed. 

Hunter had left the city of Detroit for now, he was home there, even some of his more legitimate businesses had been out there. Only he was nothing if not adaptable, he heard some good news about businesses that would appeal to him. He stopped by a rather packed bar, the location seemed to be a favorite of many mobsters and people of high-profile careers. Solomon stepped to the bar with his stoic face in place. 

"What will you be having sir?"

Hunter smiled before bowing his head, turning away with a little flourish of his hand gesturing for a Bourbon. He had an acquired and he always wondered where it was from, he guessed that it was just the life and how it was. Deciding to wait for his drink, Hunter looked around and finding the scene to be a bit less packed now, seemingly people had enough and decided to go about a different route. 

"Here you go sir, don't mind me but I am sure that woman there is rather taken with you."

Solomon turned his head, sighing with a wave of his hand, he gave the woman his attention. He already saw that she was not his type, actually, nobody was to be fair. He had been a bit preoccupied with his murder spree to pay attention to women, his life scarred, he never found that one for him. He chuckled to himself bitterly, already knowing that he could not blame this one on his father, it was his fault.

"Oh father, how nice you've been to me with your wondrous gift of life! Hey, mate! Gimme another, it seems like I am going to be here for the long haul."

The bartender watched him warily but shrugged, deciding to put it to rest, placing another drink in front of the mysterious man.

The sky was clear, and covered in stars under the well-lit streets of the district. It was quiet except for the small bars and the patrons inside. Her shoes tapped against the sidewalk as she crossed her arms, long hair flowing down her back in a blonde mess of curls and waves. Freak stood looking around before crossing the street, heels clicking against the pavement before back up over the curb. Her light brown golden eyes stopped staring at a man who stepped out between two buildings.

She thought nothing more of as she was heading towards the bar she enjoyed. She spent a lot of time thinking about how she would get out of her rut, but she needed to find something. She stood staring at the window trying to gain her confidence and relax seeing as how one man that she could see was at the bar drinking while others were with friends family or loved ones. She figured she would try and speak to the man, seeing as how he looked to be a nice man, which happened to set off a soft blush hoping that if anything she made a new friend. Socializing was a difficult factor but she has stopped a hand on her shoulder, a tight grip and the smell of heavy alcohol. There were two other sets of footsteps following slowly behind before she pulled her shoulder away.

"Let go of me." She said.

Freak was short, but not small enough to be mistaken for a child. She furrowed her brows and turned. Her mistake was turning her back before her hair was pulled dragging her roughly back, covering her mouth she bites on the man's hand leaving her teeth marks indented in his skin before she was shoved to the ground.

Her mind went fuzzy after the sudden impact to the ground being grabbed by the collar of her short dress she was dragged towards the ally before she got her focus back kicking and thrashing trying to get herself free. 

She was shoved roughly into the wall held at the neck, she on instinct spat in the mans face before his grip tightened suddenly taking a hit to the stomach she coughed eyes widening as they let her drop to the ground. Her small form she stood wobbling before she took another hit to the face. She let out a loud scream collapsing and holding her nose before pulling her arms up to her face. Taking kicks, she coughed and tried to curl up more before feeling the toe of the man's shoe land on her spine, screaming in pain she uncurled getting up staking a kick straight to the stomach.

Freak rolled over after the kick being grabbed by her hair once more now on her knees beaten and bloody she was shaken back and forth letting out pained whimpers.

"Let go... of me..." She wheezed, why did it have to be tonight of all nights, she thought that life of being beaten up on the streets was over, she creamed out a cry for help before taking another hit cutting her scream shorter than she wanted she tried hard to get back up at least to her knees before she was pinned down with a heavy foot on her back.

Now call Hunter a savior or a hero, he would deny it, still, he heard that scream, it seemed like nobody else had heard it. They continued to party and drink like there was no tomorrow, they allowed themselves that sweet bliss. He cursed under his breath before cracking his neck to the side and speeding off towards where he heard the sound, his eyes went wide at the sight he witnessed before they went dark with anger and they crackled with blue lightning seen for the briefest of seconds. 

He stood there, shocked. Watching for a moment as he saw what they were doing, beating down a woman, for what reason? He did not know. Still, he stepped forward and they did not hear him. They continued their assault even as she let out a wheeze, clearly, this might not have been the first time. Then he heard that voice, she was telling them to stop, yet the kicks had continued. Her scream cut off as the man gut-punched her, he looked around, noticing that no one was doing anything, they walked passed as if this was a normal occurrence. 

Like he said, calling him a savior would have been the wrong thing to say but still, the sight had made his skin crawl. It all too much reminded him of his mother, how it happened and how the murder had been before his eyes. A scream that sounded like that, being picked on, being brought before your would-be killer or killers in this case. 

"Gentlemen, might I suggest you step away from the lady? As you can see, she's had enough and does not have the strength to fight all of you at once."

Finally, they all turned around, looking at him with disgust. Oh, how odd was that, the common petty thugs were looking at him like he was the stain. Could they even see in this light or were they just stupid? Hunter was going with the latter, she was already down or perhaps a bit too beat down to even stand at the time. He smiled at her in sympathy before turning his anger back onto the thugs. 

"And what are you going to do? I say you leave right now and maybe we won't mess you up like we did this....freak over here!"

Oh, they were one of those people? How funny, cracking his knuckles, he decided that enough was enough and his body started vibrating and he sped forward, slamming his hand through the first cronies chest and crushing his heart in seconds. 

"Now...I hope you two are much smarter than the brains of this little....organization."

He spat out the word organization, they were no organized group, they were just fools believing themselves higher than they really were. This was not something he truly had wanted to do today but if saving people and killing people that deserved it made him feel better, he was not going to deny anything else. 

"You bastard! You're going to die, then we're going to kill this little freak, do you hear me!?"

"Loud and Clear..." Hunter spoke with an amount of anger that he had not let loose in years. 

Speeding forward, he decided to make their torment much more torturous for them, delivering a number of speed punches before ending them with a hand in their chests, both fell to the ground as he wiped his mouth. The blood of his victims had smeared his lips, stretching in a creepy grin. 

Turning his head, he noticed the woman that they had called a freak still laying there on the floor from the beating. He walked forward, he kneeled down and tried to check if she was at the least conscious. 

"You know, you might want to wake up. Cause I just beat those guys up....it was awesome."

Shaking his head, knowing that was a bit insensitive, he sighed and continued to kneel next to her, he decided to wait. Sitting up against the wall, he looked down and knew that she was not going to be that bad but still, she might need some attention. 

"Well then, I guess that I'll just wait then. Give you some time to collect yourself and we can go from there. My name is Hunter, by the way, Hunter Solomon."

Freak laid there feeling a pit in her stomach, the dread that that would be the last time she would walk away from a beating. She coughed her eyes unable to focus even at the ground underneath her cheek. She was unable to fight back, not like this. Her eyes watered as the pressure on her back made her wheeze more in pain.

She almost blacked out, coming to the conclusion if she died there, she truly was was a freak, a person who would be frowned and looked down upon. That was when she heard a voice, the voice of a man who came from her pained cry for help, or was he a friend of theirs? She couldn't see the man as her face was turned. She heard him ask them to step away and that sparked some hope on making it away from the fight. She would have to thank him after it was over. She felt the foot lift off her back right after the sound someone taking a punch and the fall of a body, she gave a small twitch.

She kept her eyes closed as they shouted, exchanging words, one man threatening to kill them both, and the other admitting he heard? She was unsure but she could not bear to keep her eyes open, as she closed her eyes she coughed the pain in her body made her shake. There were some sounds of thrown punches, faster then normal as she heard the two bodies hit the floor, she heard the sound of steps before she felt the man check to see if she was conscious. After he stepped away and sat against the wall she partially opened her eyes, she laid on the ground staring at the man.

She opened her mouth and groaned moving one badly bruised arm underneath her trying to pry herself up off the ground. Whispering softly, "Hunter... Solomon... It's nice to meet you..."

She looked at him, her eyes watered before she stopped and laid there one beat up arm under her head trying to not cause more pain until she could gather her state.

"Thank you... I... I am called F..Freak.."

He kept up his straight face, somehow hearing her name and how she was referring to herself. That seemed quite rude to name herself, he did find himself sympathizing with the woman for a moment before noticing how she was struggling to sit up. He decided to help her out, pulling her up and setting her against the wall, allowing her a chance to recover for now before he had to take her to a medic or some other kind of professional. She would need to have some things checked out, for now, he knew that he could provide some comfort in the form of conversation 

"Hello to you...Freak....are you sure that you don't have another name? It feels wrong to call you a freak, everything seems about you normal to me. What I am though is what people call a freak nowadays. time has changed and things are becoming different. Now, why did those men attack you?"

Staring at the bodies for a moment, Hunter wished that he had yet to kill them. He knew that she should have gotten a blow in at the very least, she was their victim and deserved to face the men that would wish to beat her, then possibly kill her. It was not the best for him to just simply kill someone but he decided then, he was not a hero and Hunter knew that was not his job. It was just a moment to pass the time, to not feel like a real bad guy. Maybe she was just his escape, for now, a person that he had used to feel good about himself for the moment. 

Silence had filled the air for a few moments and he knew that it had been a while since someone opened up to him. Even back then, Hunter was not the best at advice, even now, he was one of the failures and one of the few people that needed to check his qualifications for being a therapist. 

"You don't have to talk about it, trust me, I would understand. People who wish to attack or just murder someone just for the sake of it are monsters, I mean that was me once upon a time. Don't worry, I'm not here to kill you, I am not one of those types to save you and then kill you. It would be a shitty thing to do."

Hunter sighed, knowing that he had possibly ruined his image to the woman but still, he stayed. Why? Hunter as much as anyone wanted to find out why he was staying here and protecting this woman, she had nothing of value to him. The speedster guessed that he just felt drawn and wanted to protect her, she had already suffered this night, she would not need to suffer again. 

"I could tell you about my experience with this sort of thing, not being the victim but being a witness. Yeah, it's not a pretty sight...I mean...wait...you probably don't want to hear about that sort of thing. I apologize for my insensitivity."

He sighed, ducking his head as he tried to connect with her, only to end up causing her more problems as he knew that this was not for the best. Hunter stood from his place by her, wanting to leave but knowing that he could not exactly leave her here to fend for herself again, he would stay and stand in the silence.

The speedster would not wish for her to become anymore traumatized than what already had happened to her, his eyes darkening on the bodies of the would-be assaulters. He growled before sliding down the wall once more taking a seat next to her.

"Hope, you make it sound like there is meant to be some good in this world, some dessert or some long-needed justice in the end. I don't think there is, right here, in this world, there is not. What you just went through proved that, if someone had not taken that into their hands, also known as me. You would have been hurt, people walked by, neither caring or desiring to help you from that fate. It's the way of the world, if it doesn't concern them, most people don't care."

While he did not want to crush her belief in the justice system, they were so different now. They were in pockets, dealt with things that were outside the usual jurisdiction of the law. Things were lawless and this little group of men here, they just seemed to be different, they were like men possessed. He wouldn't be surprised if they were affiliated with the infamous Durden Gang that roamed the streets here and there. 

"I'm not trying to crush your belief in that there is justice. In that, there is something for all of us at the end of this hell we live in right now. Only I have never had any of that and it is hard for me to even see something like that. When you witness the things I have, when you go through those things, you develop an armor, something you wield for people to never see the true side of you. You don't seem to have one, I recommend that you get one."

He smiled tightly, trying to be genuine but failing miserably as he couldn't really muster the strength to even do so. Hunter already knew what he was, maybe he could have been a hero, maybe he could have been the bad guy and walked away. Turning to study her for a moment, the speedster knew that he would never be doing such a thing.

"A lot of people say things like that, people may say we are crazy, the ones with gifts to change the world. The ones that wish to live peacefully, all those, all those kinds of people. They will be targeted because they are abominations and freaks because humanity fears the unknown, they know not of how these people got these 'gifts' but they know that in their minds, it cannot be anything good."

Scoffing, he gave her the cliff notes version, he just wanted to get this over with, killing all the bigots that were against the ones with gifts. People who wanted to be the best and could be the best, they lived with their apple pie lives and yet they remained that way. They never used their gifts unless it was a crisis and now, these things were changing, it was becoming people without gifts against those with said gifts. 

Hunter knew that he would have to pick a side and he knew who he would be fighting with but also against, he spared another glance to the so-called freak, noticing how she was leaning to the side, against his shoulder for support. While he would have found this weak in some people, he noticed that she had no gift about her, she was not a speedster or had any other trait that he could recognize. So why was she targeted today?

"I was not going to leave you...I mean...you had just been assaulted, leaving would have been the thing that people without souls do.  I have one, at least, a partial one and I know that I should have stayed. At the least, to make sure that you get checked out."

Turning his head to study her once more, Hunter noticed how she now sat upright against the wall, trying at her best to support herself currently. He smiled at her determined state of mind or maybe she did not wish to rely on anyone besides herself if so, he would understand the feeling greatly so. 

"Still, I can see no gift about you. I mean no offense but why would these men wish to target you? Are you like some kind of sympathizer with the freaks of this world?"

Hunter spoke with amusement clear in his tone but softened towards the end, knowing that he wanted to make sure she still had her humor intact.

Hunter heard her words but he still was not okay with whatever compelled him to even assist her, he knew the words that he wished to say but the fact that they would never leave his lips were something else. He noticed how she was looking, kind of tired. Solomon smiled before deciding to listen to the wind blowing in the air, wishing to just relax for now as he knew that she might want to go home soon enough. 

"Soul or no Soul? I said I had a partial one did I not? is that not enough. Some would think that I am not the soulless, one who wishes to see others suffer. That used to be what I was, I could have done that, watch you suffer, how would you see me then?"

Hunter spat the words out, not towards her but to himself, he remembered how he had been. That life was now getting to him once more, the life that he had before all this had come out, he was a leader, one of the few they trusted. He adopted a mien of pure coldness, his eyes were sharp and that of a man on a mission. Hunter knew why he was doing but he knew that he had to continue going on, it was for the best after all. 

"Isn't that all of us? Someone who is apparently nothing special, yet they are special enough to warrant the attention of the bigots themselves. It's quite odd, so obviously you are special, someone of interest to keep an eye on them for the enemy and possibly for the good guys if there is even such a thing anymore. The term would obviously be subjective, no, I assume you would just need some bodyguards. I'm sure you can find someone like that."

Hunter chuckled, already knowing that there were plenty of Bodyguards who wished to make an extra buck. It was the point that he would never need bodyguards, if he was to die, he would rather be facing his would-be killer one on one. Looking them in the eye, instead of through a couple of bodyguards that would die for nothing.

"Indeed, you are correct on that one. This is a messed up world, one that we allowed getting so messed up. People killed for no other reason and men who wish to attack women, such a world is something from the horror stories that people read but what can we do, hm? We are fighting in this cold world and all we can do is fight until we can fight no more!"

It was just here that he noticed how different she was. Seeming like she was trying to stay awake but ultimately failed as he felt her fall back onto shoulder. Clearly her energy-draining, he would need to get her somewhere, Hunter knew there was a hotel somewhere. 

Hunter stood from his place against the wall as he picked up the small bridal style, making sure that she was safe as he heard her mumble some words to him that made him smile despite the situation he had been in moments before and how he seemed to be hating himself. 

"Well I'm glad I found you, you're a healer. A doctor, what a noble profession. Let's get you somewhere safe Doc Freak."

Without another word, Hunter smiled, walking out of the alleyway with a woman in his arms as people stared at him like he was crazy or he had done something wrong but he paid no attention. This woman needed some help first, considering no one else wished to do so. It was left to him and a hotel to see if she could get the rest needed after this. 

Still, he would make it his goal to find out who attacked her and why? What was there a goal? Cause someone would answer and someone would pay, even if he had to kill innocents to get his answer.
 

Freak being out cold she breathed deeply propped against his shoulder as she sat. She was picked up simply after he stood, collecting her from the ground. Her head rolled from against his arm to back before she moved it craned forward. She could just barely hear his words as she let out a heavy breath being carried. 

Most eyes were following them as HunterSolomon carried Freak out from the alley. Whispers of how freaks should be left to rot in a dumpster. So much hatred towards the unknown yet few actually welcomed it. Freak was nothing but a dead weight while she was carried, given she did not weight much, she was a mess.

Her own mind raced, thinking on what would have happened if she was left to fend for herself. Grumbling as she knew she would have been left alone, broken beat and bloodied she would have been stuck to die alone. She was glad, that she had company, his words still echoing in her head as she let it soak in. She wanted badly for her memories, but her mind always reached the edge where nothing came through almost like a cliff that echoed with no end in sight.

Freak shuddered in her sleep state, her arms lightly crossed over her stomach while carried by Hunter. She thought she was still in the alley but the reality was she was moved. Oh how she hoped it was not just a bad dream, that when she woke up she never left her shop. She was glad to have met Hunter by fate, even though he refused to admit he was a kind man for helping.

Hunter felt the looks, he bore their glares, neither caring for them or even thinking of these people. If he wished, he could snap their necks and no one would be able to question him for a single second. No, he was protecting her, he wished for her to be safe and ready for whatever awaited. The freaks, they were the worst in their eyes, this was not what they needed, one of them being protected, actually, a doctor, a sympathizer. 

"If you want to look, then do so but I swear, if you lay a hand on her then I will make sure you regret it. Go about your business, and do what you wish. Just do not lay a single hand and you may go, that is all."

Hunter glared at those who gathered to confront them, this was not the time that all of them should be ganging up on her. No matter what she was, a sympathizer or something else entirely, she did not deserve to be left to the dogs. They all bowed their heads, moving past them but not without spitting out words of venom. 

"I promised that I would protect you, I meant that, get some rest Doc. We may need you in the future."

Hunter chuckled before finding himself staring up at a motel that seemed to not be in use for a good while. He started to walking, speeding over as blue lightning trailed after him, she was a bit knocked out and hopefully did not notice how fast he was in getting here. Hunter walked over to the counter, placing his hand on the counter, keeping her upright still. 

"Uh sir, do I have to call the police?"

"Why would you do that?"

The concierge raised an eyebrow towards Freak who was still knocked out in his arms before he nodded his head, understanding where he was coming from. Chuckling, Hunter knew that this would look a little suspicious to other people but decided to keep himself busy as he thought this over in his head. 

"Oh this, no no no! This one here was just attacked by a few men down the street, I kind of played hero. She was in trouble and asked for a freakish hero, low and behold, out comes me, a neutral in more ways than one. I hope that I can give you something to keep this quiet."

The concierge nodded his head, outstretching his head as Hunter placed two-hundred dollars in the concierge's hand. Hunter took the key quickly, heading to the room and unlocking the door with slight difficulty before stepping in and placing her on the bed without another word. Hunter looked around, knowing that this was okay for now, she did not need this but he felt good knowing she would be safe for a while here. 

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Doctor, I hope we meet again sometime."

Hunter whispered as he looked down at her for a moment before walking out of the room without another word, leaving her to rest and to forget the terrible night.