A/N: This story is set in the Christopher Reeve universe. Please review!

The train passing by echoed up the tiled underground stairs of the Metropolis subway. Out on the street a hooded figure walked quietly towards the stairs leading down to the subway platform. The only noise now was the tapping of feet on each step as they descended down the stairs. Once they'd reached the platform the figure removed their hood revealing a head of long black hair rich with curls. She looked over at the timetable and saw that the next train was 15 minutes away. She exhaled blowing hair out of her face in frustration.

After a few minutes the unmistakable noise of drunken men came bouncing off the walls from the top of the stairs. The girl put her hood back on and backed up and stood next to the wall keeping her head down. Five men stumbled onto the platform laughing and yelling at each other. Three of them held half empty bottles of bourbon and one was smoking a cigarette. They stopped for a moment when they saw the girl but continued talking amongst themselves. She noticed that the men were getting closer and closer to her as the minutes ticked by. She breathed slowly and started walking to the exit, a strong draft making her hood fall down.

"Hey girly, where are you going?" one of them called. The others laughed and catcalled. The girl's shoulders hunched over and she began walking faster. She could hear them chugging from their bottles and saying awful things to each other.
"Hey! Girly I asked you a question!" the same man yelled again this time throwing his bottle in her direction. It bounced and shattered on the floor next to her making her jump away with a small yelp.

The men laughed and mimicked her cry until she spun around and yelled abuse at them, her voice cutting through their laughter like a knife. The men went quiet which made her hair stand on end and she stood frozen staring at them.
"What did you just say to me?" the man who threw the bottle began walking towards her.

She began to back away quickly and turned when she got to the bottom on the stairs. Though she began running up them she only made it a few steps before the man had caught up to her, grabbed her jacket and yanked her back down onto the platform floor. She screamed and began to scramble away from him but he crouched down only inches away from her face and repeated his question.
"What did you just say to me?" his breath smelt of alcohol and the girl cringed away. The man sneered and grabbed her hair. He yanked it back and repeated his question this time yelling in her face.
"What did you just say to me?!" the girl closed her eyes and whimpered what she'd said before.

By now the other men had circled her and all stood silent. "You are disrespecting me. No one disrespects me and gets away with it!" he growled pulling the girl up to her feet by her hair ignoring her cries of pain.

He shoved her into one of the other men who caught her and held her arms down. The first man punched her in the stomach making her legs give in. The other man held her up as she endured punch after punch until she vomited and was thrown down to the ground. She sobbed hard and curled up with her arms covering her head. "Get her to shut the fuck up!" one yelled over her crying.

They yelled and laughed as they kicked her a few times before one of them got down and tore off her jacket. "Let's have a look at what we've got here." He said licking his lips. He tore her shirt straight up the middle revealing her bra and he smiled and laughed.
"She looks yummy boys!" they laughed and edged him on while tormenting her. She screamed and struggled against the man but was met with a hard slap in the face. She felt the hands of some of the other men on her body. Under her bra, over her jeans, grabbing and feeling every part of her. She bawled as her shirt was ripped away and she became more exposed. The tiles were freezing against her skin and the smell of alcohol was strong on their breath. She writhed against their hold but was quickly hit over and over again until she stopped. Dizziness and pain filled her head and her vision became more and more blurry.

Suddenly one of the men was thrown off the girl and slammed into a wall. The tiles cracked and broke falling to the ground along with the man who slumped over unconscious. The other men jumped up in confusion and fear, they yelled at each other trying to figure out what had happened.

Even though her vision was blurry she could still make out the men spreading out around her looking in all directions. There was a blur of red and blue and then suddenly the man standing closest to where she lay was standing eye to eye with Superman.

There was a brief moment of pause and then violence erupted. The men ran at towards Superman and attacked. There was a swift blur of movements, the awful sounds of punching, cracking and crunching then Superman stood looking down at the group of men slumped over one another completely unconscious.

Through the girl's blurry vision she saw red boots coming towards her, becoming clearer the closer they got. She blinked and rubbed her face gently, she could already feel bruises beginning to form on her cheeks and around her eyes. "It's okay now. I'm not going to hurt you." His voice was strong and calming.

Tears started pouring down her face and she gasp for air, curling her legs up in front of her.
"It's okay let me help you." The girl felt something cover her but only opened her eyes when the cold ground disappeared and was replaced by warmth. She realised that Superman had picked her up, wrapped her in his cape and was carrying her to the subway stairs.

"Where are you taking me?" She mumbled tasting blood in her mouth. Her body ached and tiredness began to engulf her, so she rested her head on Superman's shoulder.
"I'm taking you to the hospital. Everything will be fine." He replied simply.

The girl was quiet for a few moments then she began to struggle. "No! No, no! I can't go there." Even though her weak struggles made Superman worry he did not let her go.
"Miss I promise you will be okay. I won't let anyone hurt you." By now Superman had reached the top of the stairs and very gently lifted off and began to fly up into the sky, he focused on keeping her warm and not letting her look over his shoulder and seeing how high up she was.

"No you don't understand, my parents will kill me when they find out I'm at the hospital." She sobbed clinging onto Superman around his neck.

"Why would they do that? Wouldn't they be more relieved that their daughter is safe in hospital and not out on the streets at night all alone?"

"You don't understand, please just take me home I don't need to go to the hospital. I'm really fine honestly. You have x-ray vision you can check yourself. "

Even though the girl was right about his x-ray vision Superman was apprehensive about not taking her to the hospital. He was silent for a few minutes then used his x-ray vision and checked her over. There were no broken bones or internal bleeding, she was fine. Superman cleared his throat.
"You don't have any serious damage so I will take you home. But I'll come back tomorrow to make sure you get to the hospital and get checked out by a doctor."
"Okay." She sobbed. "What's your name miss?" Superman asked holding the shivering girl a little closer to him.

"Amber Adderley."

"Pleasure to meet you Amber Adderley, now I need your address in order to take you home."

Amber directed Superman the building that she lived in and he gently flew in through the open window and lay her down on her bed. Amber pulled some blankets over her and Superman stood up now that his cape was free. Amber had already practically fallen asleep but she still heard Superman learn over her and whisper that he'd be back soon.