Brooklyn, New York.
The sky had been fairly clear before nightfall, but before midnight, dark clouds of unknown origin blotted out the moonlight.
Intermittent flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder accompanied the gathering clouds. Within moments, both grew increasingly frequent.
Anyone with a little life experience knew that a downpour could fall at any moment.
Few people saw the figure faintly visible within the clouds whenever the winding bolts of lightning flashed.
In the early hours of the morning, rain came pouring down.
All of Brooklyn slumbered beneath the torrential storm. Even the bikers who partied the latest headed home cursing, shouting profanities about the weather ruining their fun.
Their vicious swearing echoed through the streets, too loud for even the roar of their engines to drown out.
Strangely, Manhattan, just across the water, was almost unaffected by the downpour.
It was as though some mysterious force had intervened, controlling the weather overhead to create a stark divide.
A slight figure bundled in a hood emerged from a subway station that was still operating. She was a young woman with an Asian face.
The rain fell in sheets, yet she had no choice but to run through this awful weather to her dormitory in the slums after getting off work.
Fortunately, it was less than two blocks from the subway entrance, and in weather like this, she did not have to worry about thugs on street corners targeting her as she walked at night.
The only bad thing was that she was soaked through after just two steps. She might well catch a cold tomorrow.
Suddenly, the girl startled at the sight of a figure standing motionless in the middle of the road beneath a streetlight.
The figure did not look particularly tall and was also wearing a hood.