Power

Help me

"Hi, guys! I'm going for a short walk." I smiled as I wrapped my green scarf around my throat.

"Why?" asked Pietro, confused, as if I had just said "I'm gonna go wash a yellow duck in a frozen pond".

"I like walking around when it's snowing" I shrugged.

"It's nighttime, the streets aren't safe" said Clint.

"No, It's just dark outside. It's like 5 pm. Would you stop being so overprotective?" I laughed, rolling my eyes.

"Only walk on crowded streets" said Tony, lifting his eyes from a document he was reading.

"Fineeee"

"And take your phone with you" said Steve.

"I have it. You guys really have to relax, it's not the first time I walk by myself, you know? See ya!" I said, rushing out the door.

The air was fresh and it was snowing lightly. The trees and parks were covered in snow and there weren't many people on the street. I saw many balconies decorated with lights, I heard some people singing carols and saw a few men dressed as Santa. Some trees in the park were decorated with sparkly lights and there were Christmas garlands hanging over the road, tied to the street lamps, which were showing off the snowflakes like a spotlight.

I hummed a Christmas song to myself as I walked around the neighborhood.

                                                                                               ****

When I felt too cold to keep walking and my feet hurt from the freezing snow that got into my shoes, I decided to walk back to the Tower.

I was about 5 minutes away, if I took a shortcut. It involved walking on a pretty deserted alley, but I thought it would be fine. It wasn't the first time I took that shortcut, anyway. I heard Tony's voice like an echo in the back of my mind: "Only walk on crowded streets!"  No, it was gonna be alright. I punched that bad guy in the weapon room, and he was even holding a gun. Nothing was gonna happen this time. I just had to hurry and I would be back to the Tower in no time.

As I walked towards the alley, I felt like someone was following me. I turned around a few times, fear slowly crippling in my stomach, but I didn't see anyone.

After I took a few steps on the alley, I got the same feeling, but way more intense, like a siren screaming in my head. I heard footsteps behind me quickly turned around. 

More hands then I could count grabbed me, and one covered my mouth. The panic raised inside my chest as I tried to fight them off and scream. What was happening? I was terrified to my very core. 

I kicked them with my legs as hard as I could, but they were indestructible. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think. My heart was pounding in my ears and tears rolled down my face as I tried to squirm away. I tried to fight them off desperately, but nothing worked. All of my sounds were muffled by the palm. God, I was going to die. This was the end.

I heard a thud, then a sharp pain through my jaw and everything went black.