18 year old Cinder Fall was a newcomer in the criminal industry. At the time, her motives for joining the industry were unknown...But she was working her way up. She had started out doing petty theft, vandalism and whatnot...but she was very good at it, and eventually upgraded to becoming a henchman for one of the big league villains. That lasted about two months before she moved on to do her own thing.

The downside to being new in the criminal world? Good help was INCREDIBLY difficult to come across these days... Sure, Emerald and Mercury were quite helpful...But everyone else...

"Hey, you see how short Cinder's dress is?"

"Yeah, it's pretty sexy, I gotta say."

"I think I'm gonna try to sneak a peek later on..."

All three men froze as they felt an intense heat, and they turned to see Cinder looking at them with an unamused expression in her eyes.

"You three would be wise to not say such inappropriate things about me behind my back." She said, an eerie aura of calmness in her voice causing the three men to shiver despite the boiling air around them.

"I-we...I mean-"

"Enough." Cinder calmly held a ball of fire inches from the henchman's face, causing him to sweat. "Need I remind you what happens when you get on my bad side?" The men paled as they remembered the one unfortunate bastard who had the balls to try and actually flirt with Cinder face to face. She WAS kind enough to give him several warnings, but he didn't listen and...It was a miracle that the medics she had hired were able to prevent permanent scars...

Content that she had made her point, Cinder smirked, then turned and began to saunter off...then let out a yelp as she felt herself step on something slippery, causing her to slip forward and fall facefirst on the floor, her butt sticking up in the air, giving all three henchmen a perfect view of her assets, which caused them to nosebleed and fall unconscious. Cinder snarled at the indignity of her current position, then pulled herself to her feet and glared at a rather chubby man eating a banana.

"Stevie...HOW many times must I tell you NOT to leave banana peels lying around?!"

"Sorry, Boss!" Stevie said in an incredibly grating high pitched, nasally voice. "I forgot!"

"Yes, that seems to be a recurring theme around here..." Cinder muttered. She was often tempted to burn Stevie...but she had standards. She wasn't about to disfigure a man who was clearly mentally challenged. The young woman shook her head in aggravation. Between Stevie's idiocy, the constant misfortunes she suffered due to tossed banana peels, and 99.9 percent of her henchmen making innappropriate comments about her behind her back...She desperately needed some air... "Stevie. I'm going out. Tell Emerald that she's in charge while I'm gone, if you're capable of handling that." Really, Cinder couldn't care less what her minions did while she was out. What's the worst that could happen? Stevie saluted.

"Okay! I'll go tell her, and maybe even finally get her out on a super cool date!" Cinder rolled her eyes at her henchman's hopeless advances on one of two useful henchmen she had, then walked out the door into the late, cloudy evening.

The raven-haired young woman sighed in relief as she vaguely felt the cool night air flow through her hair. Due to her fire semblance, her body heat was extraordinarily high, so she didn't have to worry about something as trivial as being cold. She enjoyed her walk through the city...It gave her time to unwind and think about ways to properly deal with her henchmen that don't involve straight-up murder...

Eventually, her walk lead her to a small block called Number Four Privet Drive. Her brow raised in slight surprise. She hadn't meant to go quite so far...It appeared she had been too lost in her thoughts...She supposed there were worse neighbourhoods she could have ended up in, though...Still, couldn't hurt to keep an eye out for any...less than desirable pursuers.

Keeping her senses alert allowed the young woman to hear something from a nearby house... Something that sounded suspiciously like a man yelling...And then she heard a weak-sounding scream of agony cut through the night air. The criminal narrowed her eyes, then approached the house and took a peek through the window. She saw a large man standing over something, bringing what appeared to be a whip down onto it, occasionally stopping to kick it or stomp on it. From what little she could see of the figure, she knew that it was human. Cinder may have been a criminal, but sometimes criminals have standards too. She wasn't one who condoned going around violently beating the weak and defenceless for no reason. So, she decided to take action. She approached the door, and with a quick snap of her fingers, it exploded in an eruption of flames, allowing her to calmly stroll into the house.

Vernon stopped his violent acts towards his young nephew as the sound of his door exploding reached his ears.

"Damn..." He cursed, reaching down and picking Harry "James" Potter up. "Into the cupboard with you, freak." As fast as he could, the obese man threw the cupboard open and roughly tossed his nephew into the backwall, smirking as the little boy slammed into the wall and collapsed facefirst to the dusty wooden floor. The large man slammed the cupboard door shut as hard as he could and sighed in relief...

"Why hello there." Vernon whipped his head around at the sound of a silky smooth, almost seductive feminine voice. His eyes widened as he saw an attractive young woman with raven-coloured hair that obscured one of her piercing yellow eyes, wearing a short, red dress and black high-heels.

"Wh-What are you doing here?! Get out of my house!" The walrus-like man warned. Cinder smirked, and sauntered up to him with a sway in her hips. She cupped his chin in between her fingers and gave him a seductive smirk.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll be on my way shortly. I just have a few...things I need to take care of." Vernon felt himself blushing, but then he shook it off and glared angrily.

"I DEMAND THAT YOU LEAVE RIGHT THIS INSTA-" He never got to finish that sentence, as he suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a powerful kick to the stomach that launched him right into the wall on the other side of the room with a sickening crunch. Vernon roared in agony as he felt the sensation of broken bones. Cinder was not done. She firmly dug one of her heels into Vernon's ribs and twisted so that her high-heels would dig into the man's skin.

"You know, fat boy..." She said, never losing the absolute calmness in her tone. "I may not be on the right side of the law...But even I have to draw the line somewhere. And I'm pretty sure I saw you hitting a child with a whip. That is where I draw the line." Vernon's only response was a pained yell. Cinder rolled her eyes and kicked his ribs to shut him up. "Don't try to deny it, either. I saw the whole thing. And I know just the way to..." Cinder created a large fireball in her hand. "...Punish you." Vernon's eyes widened in horror, and he tried to crawl away...but it was too late. Cinder had already kneeled down and calmly placed the flames on the obese man's leg. Vernon howled in agony as the fire travelled up his body. Cinder stood, and smirked as she watched the obese man write in agony. "I don't regret that for one moment." She said calmly as she brushed her hand against her dress to clear the soot. With that, the young woman approached the cupboard, having seen Vernon stuff something in there moments before she had come in.

Cinder had seen some terrible things in her life...Murder...Grievous injuries...It never truly phased her...but that was likely because it was all happening to adults. However, the sight that awaited her when she opened the cupboard would have made her sympathize with the victim if they were an adult...but it was made all the more worse because the victim in this case was an innocent child, no older than four or five from the looks of it. He was curled up in a trembling ball, practically naked except for an overly large pair of boxers...And this allowed the criminal to see every inch of his mutilated back.

He was cut. He was bleeding. He was bruised. There were burn marks and blistered skin all over his body. Scars were everywhere, most of which would be very difficult to get rid of. There was some raw flesh, and even the slightest hint of muscle exposed. His left arm was twisted at an incredibly awkward angle, and she could practically see the bone poking through. He looked like he hadn't seen a decent meal in years. Tentatively, she reached out to place a hand on his hand...The moment she did so, his head snapped over to her, and her eyes widened in shock at the condition his face was in. His eyes were practically swollen shut. His lip was cut right open, leaking blood into his mouth. A few large patches of skin were burned raw.

Cinder was stunned by just how horrified she was at seeing a child in such a miserable condition. Immediately, she regretted not making Vernon suffer much longer than she had...

Harry took one look at Cinder, and he whimpered and retreated further into the cupboard. Cinder actually found herself tearing up...before coming to her senses. Scowling, Cinder wiped the tear away. This was not the time to start crying...This boy urgently needed medical attention...Without missing a beat, she reached into the cupboard and snatched the child up into her arms.

Harry weakly struggled to escape the strange woman's arms, but to no avail. He was far too injured to even come close to freedom...

Then the woman spoke.

"Relax." Harry stopped struggling, and shakily looked up through his blurred vision. "I'm not going to hurt you. If I wanted to, I would have done it already." Harry still trembled.

Cinder felt rather...moved by this child. She felt something stir inside her, an immense warmth in her chest that had nothing to do with her powers...She felt herself overcome by a powerful desire to protect this child, to make sure he felt safe, and to make sure no one ever hurt him.

Cinder found herself blushing at these emotions...but she didn't know why. She just found this child, he didn't mean anything to her!

Still...

Cinder looked down as the child finally lost consciousness in her arms, the steady rise and fall of his chest being a clear sign he was still alive. She knew that he needed medical attention...but she didn't feel comfortable going to a hospital...She hadn't been caught in the act of a crime yet...but she was a little paranoid.

She supposed her own medics would have to do...

"Vernon! I heard screaming, is everything-" Cinder turned to see a horse-faced woman and a baby whale run into the room. They stared at the charred husk that was once Vernon Dursley, then turned to the woman who was now holding the wizard.

Petunia was too terrified to even scream. Dudley was confused. What was going on?

Cinder gave them a glare. Petunia grabbed Dudley and ran out of the room. Cinder smirked and turned to walk away...but then heard the sound of a clicking gun. Raising a brow, she turned and saw the horse-faced woman shakily pointing a shotgun at her.

"...You're joking. You're joking, right?" She asked, bemused by the primitive weapon. Vale was known for creating so much unique weapons, and here this humanoid barn animal was pointing a plain old shotgun in her face. Then, Cinder learned that horses could speak.

"Now listen here, you...you..." Cinder adjusted her hold on Harry so she was only holding him in one arm, then used the other to grab hold of the gun and effortlessly tear it out of Petunia's grasp. The horse-face woman looked down at her now weapon-less hands, then at Cinder.

"Well? Please go on. I'm curious...what am I?" Petunia's only response was a terrified whimper, eliciting a smirk from Cinder. "That's what I thought. Tell me...Did you ever want to know what a horse looks like after it's been burned?" Petunia was rooted to the spot in fear. Then, she screeched like a banshee as she felt a wave of immense heat wash over her face, and staggered back as her face was further disfigured. "Just look in a mirror." And with that, Cinder turned to leave, leaving Petunia to stick her head in the sink to put the flames out.

Cinder stepped back out into the cold night air. While it didn't bother her in the slightest, Harry was visibly shaking due to the chilly air. Something compelled her to try to warm him up...So she held him close against her chest, allowing her body heat to do the work. Almost immediately, the unconscious little boy stopped shaking, and subconsciously snuggled closer to her.

Cinder scowled in aggravation when she felt a sudden urge to kiss the top of the boy's head. Shaking her head with a sigh, she looked down at him, considering what to do with him.

She decided...Her medics were highly trained, and very effective at their jobs. They would likely be able to heal over most of these injuries no problem. So, her goal in mind, Cinder began the walk back to her hideout. The boy would be healed if it killed her...