Quick message: Trigger Warning- there will be mentions of attempted rape (not explicitly).

Rehearsals mid-January are the worst Anne thinks. Not the rehearsals themselves of course, but the travel home. It's dark and cold, and the only sound to be heard is the icy wind relentlessly attacking anyone who is unfortunate enough to walk around outside at this hour. Rehearsals had ran late again, by two hours nonetheless, and now Anne is stuck walking the streets at 11 p.m. to get home. Home sounds lovely right now, and a warm shower to thaw out her skin before curling into her nest of bed sheets. She had opted for the quick way home as soon as she felt a chill in the air, despite its potential dangers e.g. alleyways. But with superheroes patrolling the city the crime rate of random attacks and sexual assaults had lowered, so she thought that she'd take that risk. She makes her way to her final shortcut, albeit it is the longest alleyway in her route but it takes away about 15 minutes of walking time.

The wind cuts off upon entry, now all Anne can hear are her footsteps, breathing, and the wind that bellows outside the alley. She practically power walks through, jogging in this weather hurts her throat and lungs, but slows down as she reaches the end. She tends to look both ways when leaving an alley, but with the rush to get home she's entirely focused on the direction she intends turning to, and that's when arms wrap around her body and drag her back. She thinks she has just stumbled backwards at first, but the firm pressure around her body tells her otherwise.

She lets out a shrill, "Get the fuck off of me!", before her mouth is viciously covered. She sees that as an opening to struggle more, but fuck that guy is strong. Too strong for her. And that's when she begins frantically elbowing his ribs, kicking back into his shins, and stomping onto his feet. Nothing seems to deter this creature. He just holds onto her even harder, until she's gasping for breath, and he whispers, "Struggle again and I'll do more than just fuck you". Her whimper is smothered by his hand. She can't allow this, she'd rather die than this. So she bites him. His hand that is. She thinks, If I'm going to die, I want to at least fight with everything I've got. He screeches. She just bites down harder. Blood fills her mouth and she feels her gag reflex kicking in, yet she holds on. He suddenly lets her go, and she breaks into a staggering run. She can hear him pursuing her, shouting curses and threats. She spits out the blood as she runs, and she can feel herself hyperventilating; the adrenaline rush is drifting away from her body. She can't have him catch her, he will definitely kill her for what she did. She only stumbles for a second, some idiot decided to litter the street with a can or something, but that's enough time for him to catch up and grab her scarf.

He roughly spins her around and punches her in the stomach making her keel over in pain. She goes to look back up and a warm liquid suddenly sprays onto her face, blurring her vision. The man has let go of her. She hears his body fall to the floor so she wipes her eyes to see what has happened, and in place of the man stands a woman, clad in her purple superhero outfit wielding a bloody knife. Anne's stomach throbs and aches, so she places her hands gently on there intending to rub and soothe the muscles. She takes deep breathes to calm herself, trying to seem somewhat composed before thanking the woman. She goes to speak, and realises her hands are wet and warm where they had been on her stomach. Slowly she looks down, and in place of her white hands are red stained ones. She feels her legs give out on her at the sight and realisation of what has happened, and the woman swiftly moves to grab her and lower her safely to the ground. The world is starting to blur and blacken before her.

She feels so tired. She wants to rest, just for a second and she does...until a growling voice brings her out of complete unconsciousness, "Hey, don't you dare go closing your eyes on me! Open them now and stay the fuck awake!" She refuses to open them, and then a sharp slap hits her on the face. It successfully makes her open her eyes and she sees the superheroin in place of the sky.

"I didn't want to do that, but you left me no choice," she smiles, "Now stay awake, I've called an ambulance, and they should be here soon. Hope you don't mind but I had to use your scarf to stem the blood flow. Pretty nasty stab wound you got going on there." Anne looks down and sees the woman's hand pressing onto her stomach. She places her hand on top of the woman's and whispers out a thank you.

"No problem Red, just doing my job really." They both hear the ambulance sirens from a distance. "I gotta go now, the ambulance is almost here and I kinda can't get caught. Maybe I'll see ya around."

Anne watches her leave, returning to the shadows from whence she came and the ambulance arrives moments after. She passes out again as soon as she's placed on the carrier, exhaustion finally taking over.