No one thinks superheroes exist. No one. They were only things you would read about in comic books and watched on TV. Like Superman. Never would you actually see a badass super dude with incredible powers just flying around.

Not in this world at least. Well, that's what I thought until crime started to escalate. It was a slow process, one bank robbery here, a shootout there. It took the people of Whisper City a while to finally figure out that there was a gang war going on in their own backyard. It scared them.

The police tired, they really did. But when you have a code of conduct telling you what to do in a certain situation instead of being able to judge the situation and do what your gut tells you, there isn't really much the police could do that actually worked.

Slowly, but surly, the system became corrupt. It was the only way to fight the new violence. The cops started to bribe the gangs to at least keep their violence to a down low and keep the casualties to a minimum. However, even if intentions started out good, time loves to screw with things. It took two years for the once laid back and safe place of Whisper City to turn into one of the worst cities to ever go to. Crime rates were higher than ever before and there was nothing the police could do to stop it. With the system corrupted everyone got away with everything.

It took a woman with a mask and a cape to bring crime level to an all time low. I had only seen her once in person, but what I saw changed how I saw her. As corrupted places tend to not only corrupt the people of politics, it also corrupts the news as well.

I had always been told by my dad, "That no-good cape and mask wearing whore is gonna regret ever messing with the gangs. You'll see, you'll see."

I had never understood why he hated her so much. I alway thought that maybe she was a bad person. That she killed people. But it took a trip to the city's bank to finally meet her in person. What I had seen that day amazed me and proved that my dad was just being my dad. He exagerated everything the woman had done and had soaked up everything on the news, as if it was a reliable source.

The lady the news had dubbed, "Swan", wasn't a violent killer as I had been lead to belive. In fact, she was calm and soft the whole time while dealing with the situation. When the bank was being robbed, the gun men shot at the ceiling, not killing anyone, but threatening to. They had a big bright red X on the back of their jackets, meaning they were from the Level X gang. I knew little about the gangs, but I knew that Level X and The Twisted were the two largest gangs in Whisper City.

At least, they were until Swan swooped in, looking like an angel (I guessed) as she calmly and sweetly difused the situation. She really appeared out of nowhere. No one noticed her until she spoke, "Do you want to talk about it?" Her voice sounded like silk and I snapped my head to look at her, as well as everyone else in the room.

A sturdy man with a gruff looking face turned his gun to her, he was obviously the leader of the group, but looked slightly conflicted as he did, not knowing whether to shoot or not to shoot. "There's nothing to talk about. You either get on the floor or I kill you."

There were gasps of fear from those of us huddled on the floor of the bank, and I saw a mother clutch her son tightly.

Swan didn't seem to be affected by the threat and kept walking toward the man. "Do you like killing people? Would you like it if I screamed in pain as you shot me? My agony... Would it make yours go away?" Her voice sent chills down my spine. Her voice was soft, with a tinge of sadness to it. It was creepy and heart breaking at the same time.

I could see why they dubbed her Swan. She was beautiful, her hair a golden color with vivid blue eyes that shone through her mardi gras like mask. Her outfit was completely white, standing out against her tan skin. 'Heavenly...' I had thought to myself. No one had told me she was gorgeous. She also smelled nice, and the deeper in I breathed, I noticed, the more I calm I felt. It took me years to finally realize that she had made a calming perfume that she put on herself to calm people down, a smart move.

The man with the gun looked uncomfortable with the question. His voice stuttered as he said, "Lady, I'm warning you. Stay back. I'll shoot!"

The man's other X buddies looked just as uncomfortable. None of them knew how to respond so they stayed quiet, guns pointed to their feet.

Swan was close to the man, if she reached out she could take his assault rifle away, but she stopped an inch away from the mouth of it, her body directly in front of it. "If you are willing to shoot someone. Shoot me." The man visably flinched at her orders, trying to take a step back. Her blue eyes never left his green ones as she pressed her stomach to the end of the gun. The X man's buddies were shocked as well as everyone else in the room. They stared at the two, anticipating only bad outcomes.

"But-"

"Do it." There was a tense pause. Everyone was waiting for the splitting sound of gunfire, but it never came. "You know why you can't do it, don't you?" She tilted her head, gazing at him with sorrow. She raised a hand to the man's face and softly traced her thumb on his cheek. "Stop this right now. The police are outside, if you go willingly, no one will be hurt. The worst that will happen is that you go to jail."

To everyone's surprise, then man started to cry, making Swan give him a small smile. She meant to leave, but the man wrapped his strong beefy arms around her and pulled her close, sobbing thanks into her shoulder. At first Swan was shocked, but then she relaxed and returned the hug, kissing the man's temple. She whispered sweet things to him and then, when he stopped crying, she took his hand and walked him out to the police. His crew followed in a daze, not sure what to do other than follow their leader.

But to my extreme horror as soon as Swan stepped out of the bank holding the man's hand all of the men were shot down by police. Blood had tainted the whitness of Swan's uniform and it was then as the girl fell to her knees, screaming, with a dead man's head in her lap that I realized that it wasn't her that was wrong. Even my father who had hated her let out a sad gasp and a small, "No."

All my life that I had knew about Swan, all I had known was bad things. But that day at the bank I learned that it was the government that were the real monsters, now too corrupt to protect anyone. It wasn't the ones who actaully defended the civilians, not the people like Swan who were in the wrong.

Swan's screams keep me up at night. Echoing in her smooth voice, she screams in pain and agony as she watches the men she thought she saved bleed out on the sidewalk around her. The police had then tried to also shoot Swan, but a kid from the bank whose mother had been threatened stood in front of her, blocking the gunfire if it were to happen.

It didn't take long before everyone from the bank stood in front of Swan, my father and I in the front, glaring at the police. The girl had looked shocked before she smiled a greatful smile at everyone of us who blocked her from the cops. Our baracade angered the cops. They said they'd shoot us if we didn't move, they said they would arrest us, and many more threats, but none of us moved until Swan was safe and gone, using our bodies to shield her from reciving any bullets.

Nobody was shot, but we were all arrested. I think it was worth it.

I never saw Swan again, but she stayed a popular topic on the news for a long time. Even with the arrival of others like her, Swan dominated the TV. It didn't take much before others followed in her footsteps, creating a safer environment in Whisper City.

At least until JJ&J Inc. came to Whisper City.