Snatch 1.4

Blood rumbled in her ears as the men bared down upon her. In front the man in the red shirt practically snarled in bitter anger, his large frame barreling down upon her with all the speed of a professional runner. Her heart beat with growing intensity with every step, the heavy rhythm of their feet seeming to pound down as the moment extended into another, and another and another.

Memory flared darkly of that time not more than three weeks past... of the larger bodies baring down, pressing in...

Pain. Fear. Violation...

Her heart quickened to a pulsating beat.

Fight or Flight...

Her frozen feet, it seemed, knew far better than the rest of her as she’d already begun to run without the realization catching fully up to her fearful brain. Every pounding heart beat already a step in the opposite direction, already born of the hope for escape from the violence to come. The world became narrow as she strode in singular focus for escape even as the man bounded behind her at an accelerating rate. Behind him the three bodyguards lagged behind, their own strides quickly lagging behind as the chase continued, clearly none of them having been selected for their prowess at foot chases rather than their large and imposing statures.

Three less worries to think about at the moment, though thinking was hardly the first thing on her mind.

She ran hard, as fast as she’d ever run before in her life. But the man in red continued to give chase, continued to sprint towards her with terrifying efficiency, his long strides overmatching her every step. And no matter how she tried to shift, to scramble and to throw herself along the street, he kept on getting closer, and closer and closer. Even when she scrambled and slid between places she swore he wouldn’t be able to follow, the man bounced and leapt with hellish vigor, parkouring his way through areas that should have left him cut off, only her newly made understanding of the lay of the land keeping her ahead of his ever closing strides.

“Get back here you little bitch!” His words echoed in her ears like gunshots. But she was tired, and he was larger, faster and seemed to know the streets as well if not better than she did. Even nearing the edge of solid empire territory, she knew that soon he’d catch up. Every inch of her screamed with the effort, as her lungs burned and her legs ached. “Fucking little... Get back here and tell me what the fuck happened to my car!”

His screams behind her only drove her on… but she was getting out of breath, and he didn’t seem to be relenting at all. In fact during the moment that she’d slowed to catch her breath, stumbling a bit with a clumsiness which seemed to have grown in intensity throughout the chase, he leapt landing next to her with an unnatural grace which made her fear all the more for what he might do.

“Fucking got you… and of course it’s some darkie cunt. Fucking hell… just tell me what the fuck happened to my car you little bitch, and maybe I won’t smash your teeth in.” He snarled, even as he finally got close enough to reach out, having caught a glimpse of her chin beneath the hood.

His hand gripped at her shoulder, only to slide away from the slick surface of the hoodie, leaving him off balanced for a moment of surprise.

“Wha…” He barely had time to exclaim as the panic stricken young woman gasped, pulling away at the same time as turning to smash her gloved hands against his chest in a desperate bid to get him away from her. A bid which worked all too well as her impromptu push slammed against his chest with enough force to thump the blonde man off his feet, throwing him bodily though the air and into a nearby wall.

“… I… I’m s-sorry...” She stammered out, glancing around at the crowd who were now giving wide berth to what was obviously now a matter of parahumans, instincts for self-preservation running deep within the long memory of this city. She needed to leave… right away. A moment’s reflection on how she felt about the situation left a new set of words to jump to mind even as she turned to flee the scene while the man in red slumped over, his arm bent at an odd angle. “…and fuck your car!”

She ran and didn’t stop until she was well deep into the docks.



-=-=-=-=-


Being wet sucked. Being cold sucked more. Being cold and wet… that sucked fat donkey balls as far as Sasha was concerned. But it was being cold, wet, and HUNGRY as all hell on top of it that really made the night suck like hell for the petite young woman. Already she’d scarfed down one of the extra muffins from in her pocket that had been meant to last her another day or two, even as the water dripped down from the super slick surface of her tattered hoodie.

At least it left her dryer than she’d have otherwise been, and thus slightly less miserable than could have otherwise been the case. She would have been dryer yet still inside the comforts of her little hideaway, she couldn’t help but grouse to herself.

Still she dared not head back home, the palpable anger of those Empire affiliated could already be seen on the streets mere hours after the confrontation between her and... well she didn’t exactly know the whole of their roster off hand, but she was hella willing to stake anything on the fact that the guy that had chased her down like a bloody action hero, had been one of their parahumans. And while she was sure he hadn’t seen her face, she figured he could give a description of her general dress pretty easily for the moment.

At best right now all she could do was to hang out in front of a store and try not to look like if she didn’t have anywhere to actually go. She didn’t particularly think that it was working so far, just that no one had yet shown up to actually chase her off from where she tried to squat, hoping that the rain would eventually finish and do so for long enough that there might actually be somewhere dry for her to sleep.

“You know... you’ve been there nibbling on muffins the whole evening. Are you waiting for someone to come pick you up?” A young lady spoke beside her, dark skinned and middle eastern in look, pretty brown eyes gazing over the Sasha’s squatting form. A light smile brushed the young woman’s face even as she lightly twirled the pretty pink umbrella in her hands ever so slightly in the rain, her conservative dress covered in a long waterproof coat. “I mean, you’ve been out here for a few hours yet and it’s already pretty dark out. I wouldn’t normally butt in, but you looked kind of lost out here.”

“Wet, cold, and hungry… but I happen to know exactly where I am.” Sasha didn’t really mean to snap, though the words seem to fling themselves from her mouth more harshly than she’d desired. Her expression shifted into a frown and then a sigh. “Look… I’m sorry bout that. If you all want me to move along I’ll just do it. I don’t need to be run off.”

“I wasn’t trying to run you anywhere. I just figured I’d check and see if there was anything to do here. You don’t particularly look like you really wanted to be out here hanging out.” The young woman shrugged lightly in the pouring rain. “I doubt anyone particularly wants to be out about in this stuff tonight. I wouldn’t have even stepped out of my door if I hadn’t had some promotional work to take care of.”

“You into advertising?” A sudden spark of curiosity swelled in the curly haired young woman. It was strange how little things from her old life would crop up sometimes, her father had worked with an advertising agency, before everything came tumbling down.

“I suppose you could say that. I do promotional work almost exclusively. It’s just something I keep up with to help with my actual aspirations.” The girl smiled a bit wider, seemingly happy to talk about herself casually, as if they two were friends.

Sasha really missed having those.

She kinda also liked the fact that this girl was about her own height as well, tiny and petite. Even better that it didn’t seem that she’d mistaken her for a boy. Still, Sasha couldn’t help but frown a bit, this had been too good, too nice and pleasant even for the chit chatter of the moment. She couldn’t help but eye the girl beneath her pink umbrella with a light air of suspicion. “So what really is your angle here? I don’t buy the just nice thing. People don’t work like that.”

“Well, again. I figured you looked a little lost. Even if it’s not physically. I know the feeling myself a bit too well.” The girl declined to elaborate beyond that, simply staring those big brown eyes in sympathy as her umbrella twirled between her fingers once more. “Do you have a place to go?”

Once more stabbed at the heart of the matter, Sasha couldn’t help but wince. “No... I have a spot but I can’t head back there tonight. Would have been fine if tonight didn’t suck so bad. But I’ve been out in worse so it’s no biggie. Just hungrier than normal is all, but that’s fine too.”

An odd expression seemed to cross the young woman’s face. “Maybe… at least come and let me get you some coffee? And a donut or something? I doubt soggy rain soaked muffins are exactly the best.”

“I don’t want your pity...” Sasha grumbled, almost simply a token effort as the girl reached out one gloved hand.

“Then just take advantage or come up with some way to repay me. Either way, let’s get something hot in you ok?” The girl turned, looking over her shoulder at Sasha pointedly, a relatively large backpack slung over her shoulder, itself only barely sheltered from the rain. Sasha pouted before stuffing her hands into the slick hoodie pockets and wordlessly following to the nearest open café.

Inside was nice and warm, and within minutes of entering the girl had ordered hot chocolate for both of them, both to Sasha’s shame and delight, adding also for the homeless girl to ask for anything she wanted within reason. A piping hot pasta meal was apparently on the menu for the night, and Sasha wasted no time in ordering and taking advantage of that fact.

They sat there together for a while longer in companiable silence, the girl not forcing the issue as Sasha waited, drank, and ate her fill.

“You know… I’m going to have to pay you back for this somehow right?” Sasha spoke up, her lips still pursed about a fork filled with cheesy meat and pasta, savoring its flavor and warmth. “I don’t exactly have a job or a place to stay that would help out with anything...”

“That’s fine.