Solar Girl left the Inn and flew into the night, drizzle pattering lightly against her. After flying a few hundred feet up, she stopped, and just hovered there. She had to face facts. She had no way home, and what?s more, she had no way to express where her home was. There was an infinite number of worlds out there, and Rhy'din had a connection to all of them.

She flew into the bell tower of a nearby temple to get out of the rain. A pulse of light (lower in the tower, where she wouldn't be seen), and the rain sizzled away. She then sat down, and weighed her options. As far as she could tell, Rhy'din had no supers. So there was no joining a team. She was going to have to operate on her own. She'd done it before she joined the Guardians, and she could do it again. The only difficulty was in finding a place to live. A bell tower was definitely not going to be her home.

She was pondering just this conundrum when she heard the scream. She flew from the bell tower, and above the alleyway she had heard it come from. Below was a woman, fending off three men of very disreputibale appearance. Solar Girl frowned, and glided down.

She came to stop hovering a few inches above the ground behind the men and began to glow, a soft white light as bright as a torch. "Excuse me gentlemen" she said, "but I think the lady's entitled to her belongings."

One ruffian took off immediately, screaming something about an angel. One of the remaining two was pulling out a gun. That surprised her. She didn't expect there to be guns here. Then he shot her. His grin of victory quickly faded as the slug fell to the ground, flattened. "You'll have to do better than that," she stated, calmly, as beams of light shot from her outstretched right hand, heating the gun up rapidly. There was a loud bang as the bullets cooked off in the weapon, and its wielder dropped the remains, holding his hand in great pain.

That left the last man. He pulled a knife and stabbed at her. She shook her head as the blade broke. "You're not too bright, are you?" she asked, grabbing him by the face. "We'll see about that." And with that, her hand glowed like sunlight, and he screamed, falling back and holding his eyes.

"That's only temporary," she assured him. She then turned to the woman, who was looking at Solar Girl with eyes of fear. "You don't have to fear me, ma'am," she soothingly replied. "That's what I do. I right the wrongs. You can go now. They won't bother you any more tonight." And with that, she shot straight up, glowing until she was high in the sky, and then was dark again.

She stopped two house robberies and an assassination that night, although the assassin managed to wound her with a stab in the arm with his blade. She figured it had to be magical, but she subdued him just the same. Imagine her surprise to find out there was no police force to speak of.

"Rhy'din needs a defender," she mused. "Perhaps it has one. Maybe, just maybe, that's why I'm here."

With that, she went to find shelter and plan her next move.

Solar Girl was sitting above the alleyway....quite literally, as she was in a seated position in mid-air. She had just stopped yet another mugging. Rhy'din, it seemed, had no shortage of unwholesome characters. She was more than annoyed with that last mugger, however. You just don't mug a pregnant woman, especially one as far along as she was. It just isn't done, even in the worst sections of Centennial City, back home.

She was about to fly off, to go back on patrol, when she heard something in the alleyway below. She looked down to see a rabbit walking up to....She stopped. She looked away for a second, and looked down again. Indeed, it was a brown rabbit. Wearing a vest of all things.

"Well, I suppose when in Wonderland..." she mused aloud. "But isn't he supposed to be white?" Then she saw the darndest thing. She saw the rabbit walk up to, and untie, the mugger she had tied up not five minutes ago.

"Could this rabbit be the head of a syndicate"" she wondered, as she slowly and silently descended behind the mugger's rescuer. Then the mugger pulled a knife on the rabbit, and held it to his throat. "Okay, probably not." She couldn't believe her eyes....the thug was now mugging the rabbit, who had just untied him. The rabbit couldn't seem to believe it either. She at least had to admire the man's cheek. She finally settled in mid-air a foot behind the rabbit, her eyes glowing like two small suns, her expression cold and hard, staring right at the mugger.

The mugger had the predictable reaction. She had seen it a thousand times before. The bravado a criminal has when wielding a weapon rapidly fades when they realize their opponent has a better weapon. Bullies, one and all.

As the rabbit was slowly turning to face her, Solar Girl said to the two-time loser "I thought I took your little toy away from you. I suppose I'll have to check more thoroughly from now on." The thief looked conflicted. She didn't know what he'd do next, but she figured he'd probably cut and run. After all, that's what they do....isn't it?

Her eyes narrowed, and as if focused by that action, they started to glow more brightly. Great, a negotiator. When you've been crime fighting as long as Solar Girl had, you began to categorize the criminals.

There were the businessmen. They were the best. They tended to surrender, usually going off to jail without a fight, knowing it would look better for them that way. They were definitely the best.

Then there were the dealmakers. Dealmakers were like businessmen, but they thought they could bribe you. Failing that, they behaved more or less like businessmen, usually hoping to bribe the lawmen that came to arrest them.

Next were the cowards. Not usually muggers, these were the ones who would commit any crime, provided there was no actual risk of injury or imprisonment. They were the ones most likely to actually wet themselves when faced with a crimebuster.

The psychopaths were her least favorite. Monetary gain was secondary to them. For them, the payoff was pain and suffering. She usually didn't hold back as much with them, but tried not to permanently injure them.

Bullies were always amusing. They were the biggest and the baddest, until there was actual risk. And then they would fall apart like a house of cards. They most often got shot int he back with a laser pulse, as they ran away. Just enough to render them unconscious.

Finally, there were the negotiators. These were the most annoying. Often appearing to be bullies or dealmakers, they would take a hostage and parlay. And she'd have to figure out how to deal with them without hurting the hostage. Not something she enjoyed.

"Let me explain something to you, sport," she said. "I don't enjoy dealing with trash like you. And I especially don't like doing it twice in one night. And having one takes a hostage....well, that's your third strike." She noted the confusion in his eyes as she referenced baseball. "Nevermind. The important thing is, I'm not in a good mood. Now, we have two ways we can do this. You can surrender, and I won't hurt you anymore. Or you can continue to hold your hostage, and I'll have to hurt you. And I was holding back earlier. How's that face, by the way?"

"In any event, I can promise you that if any harm comes to him, I will track you down. And a few second degree burns on your face and a black eye will be thought of as the last good memory you have."

She continued to hover there, folding her arms, watching him for any indication that he was going to carry through on his threat. If he did, well, she'd have to deal with that. But she had to give peaceful resolution a chance first.

She had expected a trick, of course. She knew he wasn't a businessman when she first started dealing with him. But magic....ooh, how she hated magic. And the fact that magic was more plentiful here than guns were back home meant that she'd have to figure out some way of dealing with it. But not tonight.

Her momentary irritation was overshadowed by the realization that at least the rabbit was safe. She had foiled the same criminal twice in one night. That had to count for something.

She landed to catch him, but missed in the confusion. "I thought rabbit's feet were lucky," she mused silently. "He has two, and they don't seem to do him much good."

The rabbit thanked her, and told her the story of how he had thought that the mugger was, in fact, a mugging victim himself. Apparently word had not yet spread. She'd have to do something about that. But again, not tonight.

The rabbit told her that he was in her debt, but before she could dismiss that notion he offered to repay her by fixing things for her. She wasn't sure how much luck he could have with fixing things, judging by his overall amount of luck. But she could be gracious, and possible make a friend to boot.

By now, of course, her eyes had stopped glowing, but she was now shedding enough light for the rabbit to see her clearly, as if by torchlight. She had enough experience with night encounters to know that an ex-victim likes to be able to see their rescuer, given the vulnerability of the situation they had just escaped.

He introduced himself as Kaxyl, also, which at least eliminated the awkwardness of conversation. Speaking in terms of "sir" and "citizen" and such was fine, but it was so impersonal.

She saw him pull out a small device from his vest, heal miself, then look for another device. He seemed annoyed that he had lost it in a cab, which to be honest would annoy anyone. He then went silent and looked to Solar Girl. It was only then that she realized that she had been dumbstruck by the notion of a talking rabbit, and had just been standing there. Luckily, the rabbit was chatty, so she would be able to play this off as just polite. Yes, polite would work.

"Well Kaxyl, they call me Solar Girl. You don't really owe me anything for this, I'm glad to help, but if I do need anything fixed I'll certainly seek you out." She smiled then, her mood definitely having improved from dealing with that night's two-time loser. "And if you need aid, seek me out. I probably won't be that hard to find. For lack of a better place to associate, I frequent the Red Dragon. It seems popular enough, so if you're there, you'll probably find me."

"And keep your ears open..." she looked to his prominent auditory reptive organs and paused, "that is, pay attention to what you hear. I'd appreciate it if you passed along anyone else that could use help."

She game him a bit of a lopsided grin then. "And if you see my insignia," she pointed to the crest on her costume, "just keep in mind I don't leave that on people who do good things."

And with that, she turned, preparing to fly into the night.