Universal Chaos

Chapter 3

Sutton panted as she raced down the sidewalk. Where was everyone? This was New York! Why wasn't anyone noticing her distress?

The concrete sidewalk scraped at her feet as she ran. There was sure to be unsavory litter on the ground and she'd already felt the sharp pain of something almost breaking through her skin a block ago. Axel was still behind her and probably gaining ground. She was too afraid to look. He'd stopped calling out to her, but she knew he hadn't given up on catching her.

"Help! Someone? Hello!"
"Sutton!"

She shrieked. His voice was agitated. Close. Scrambling and desperate, she tried to dart down a sidestreet.

A hand gripped her arm.

Sutton screamed as fingers dug into her skin. And then she was being whipped around, the ground spinning below her, into an alley and up against a wall. Sutton let out an angry grunt and pulled her arm upwards, twisting it, and then yanked down. Axel's grip was broken.

He was too close! She wasn't even thinking, just reacting, as she threw a palm up aiming for his nose. Axel parried and shoved her arm back down to her side. Sutton threw a leg out and kicked the heel of her foot directly into his knee cap. Axel cursed as he stumbled backwards to keep his leg from snapping back too far.

Natasha's voice rose to the forefront of her mind.

Don't let up. If you can't run, don't let them get the advantage. Be relentless.

She surged forward and aimed another kick. When he went to block it she threw a right hook at his jaw. The hit grazed him as he leaned back out of her reach. He laughed sharply.

"You've been serious about this working out thing, huh? Unfortunately we don't have time for this."

He leapt forward and swept her legs out from under her. Sutton found herself falling towards the ground and then sharply snapping back upwards as she was lifted by her arm. He twisted her arm behind her back and pressed her up against the side of a building before she could break his hold. Sutton struggled as Axel pried at her left hand until her phone dropped to the concrete.

"It wasn't supposed to be this difficult." He huffed. "We could've been in a comfortable car already and halfway to a nice base."

"Let go of me! Someone help!"

What had Natasha said about this sort of situation? What had she said!

Sutton was panting harshly and her arc reactor was chirping. It sounded especially loud in the night.

She tried hooking a foot behind his knee and yanking forward to throw him off balance, but he was too close for her to get a decent angle. Sutton twisted, throwing back a shoulder and arching her spine sharply with gritted teeth, but his hold still held tight.

"Ugh!"

"Are you done yet?"

Axel pressed her further into the wall with his body as he reached for a side pocket. Something glinted briefly in the low light. A needle.

"No!"

He was so heavy! It was hard to breathe. Sutton tried to kick, thrash, go slack; but nothing worked. Her face only scraped down the wall a few inches. The needle came closer to her arm.

She didn't mean to start crying. But her text tone starting going off again and she couldn't reach down to grab it and why was no one noticing her about to be drugged in an alleyway?

Not drugs. Not again.

"Hey man, I'm thinking the lady definitely said no."

Sutton could feel Axel's grip tighten around her and she craned her head to try and see who'd spoken.