Retrospect『 avengers au 』

Chapter VIII: The Chase

"The waffles with strawberries and whipped cream?" The waiter checked as he looked down at her pointing finger, and Ariel nodded reluctantly, secretly finding the word waffles amusing. "Great, I'll have that right out for you." And the young man retreated to the kitchen again.

Ariel gazed down at the mug of coffee, noticing that it was not black like it was in the tower when she first saw it. Perhaps the added cream and sugar changed the color. She noticed steam curling up into the air above the liquid and gathered that it was probably too hot at the moment to drink, so she waited for it to cool down, staring at it patiently with her hands folded. Though, her mouth only watered as the sweet and fresh smell of the coffee wafted up towards her nose and decided to speed up the process by blowing gently on the surface of the beverage.

Ariel's attention was taken away from her coffee when the sound of someone new entering the diner alerted her. She lifted her head of shoulder-length curls to see a man and woman enter, both dressed in bland, dark clothes with flat expressions plastered across their faces. The man had a buzzcut, nearly balding anyway, and appeared to be in his late forties, whereas the woman seemed younger, her dark straight hair thick and her skin wrinkle-free. Their eyes scanned the diner and soon landed on Ariel, resting there on her for a moment before they looked away to a waitress who offered them a table. The hair on Ariel's arms and back of her neck rose, a feeling of uneasiness swirling in the pit of her stomach as she clutched the steaming hot mug of coffee tighter in her caramel hands.

"Can I get you two something to drink?" Ariel heard the waitress ask the two and they both dismissively requested water, and the waitress left their table uncomfortably.

Ariel tried not to stare, but the aura of the man and woman oozed danger, red flags popping up in front of Ariel's eyes as she gazed at them from across the small diner. They didn't speak much to each other, but when they did, their voices were low, and their eyes would briefly flicker towards Ariel. This was the last signal that the young girl took indicating she needed to leave- and now. She stood to her feet, leaving her coffee forgotten on the table and began to head towards the front door of the diner, knowing she would have to pass by the man and woman on her way out. She avoided eye contact and remained as calm as she could as she was almost to the door when suddenly a firm grip was clamped around her wrist, squeezing painfully.

"Where are you going? Sit down and finish your coffee," the man ordered lowly in a raspy voice, his tone laced with a clear threat and a hint of sarcasm. Ariel met his eyes as her heart rate skyrocketed and he gazed back at her darkly, finishing his sentence with, "Ariel."

Without hesitation, Ariel dug her grown fingernails into the skin of the man's arm as deeply as she could, causing him to hiss in pain and loosen his grip. She ripped her hand from his fingers and ran out of the diner as fast as her legs would take her, the panic expanding in her chest with every leaping step she took down the sidewalk away from the restaurant. The slam of the diner's front door alerted her the man and woman had begun the chase, pushing Ariel to run faster through the tiny town, earning her strange looks from passersby. Her charcoal eyes darted left and right, desperately searching for a safe haven, but all she spotted was a right turn down a slim alleyway between a barbershop and a grocery store.

Just as she was about to take the turn, two more women emerged dressed similarly to the people chasing her with guns strapped to their hips and menacing looks crossing their faces as they stalked towards her. Ariel skidded to a stop, her first instinct to throw her arm out in front of her protectively. She felt a surge of energy leave her and watched in shock as the two women were sent flying back into a brick wall. Screams and shouts erupted from fellow residents of the town who witnessed the action and all Ariel knew to do was dart past the two injured women and head down the alleyway. She glanced behind her to find the initial man and woman after her gaining in closer and she turned her head back forward, picking up speed that didn't seem humanly possible.