They cried out as their head was slammed into the pavement, shocks aching from their surely bruised cheek. They tried to push themselves back up only for the witch's hand around the back of their neck to keep them there. The man was enjoying himself, watching them struggle under him like a defenseless animal. They couldn't see his face, but they could hear him chuckling to himself, like some kid watching an animal at the zoo.

Amidst their struggling against the larger man, Avery could hear the sound of metal hitting the pavement nearby. Close by. Was someone else there? Did the man come with someone else just in case? They kicked out with their unrusted foot to find if anyone was behind them, only to hit what must've been the man's bat away from them. It hadn't gone far, but it was enough to make the man hovering over them tut in distaste.

"Now why'd ya do that? I'm bein' nice and this is how ya repay me." The grip on their neck tightened, his fingers digging into the sides of Avery's neck to the point they were worried he was going to break their neck. In a panic they threw out their arm towards where they hoped his face was, only for it to be caught by the stranger's free hand. His grip was like steel digging into their wrist and it refused to give, just like the rust currently wrapped around their foot.

"So rude~! Graves shoulda' worked on yer manners some more little kitten. Pets learn th'most when they're still small after all." His grip on their wrist tightened to a point they were sure he was trying to break their wrist, before he yanked on their arm causing them to cry out in pain as he pushed their arm against their back. Their free hand was scrambling by their side, trying to find something, anything that could get them out of this situation. They had collapsed against the pavement of the street, but it was close enough to the sidewalk where they could see some empty bottles and some crash kicked up against the curb.

Could they use magic to get out? The man was way too strong for them, he'd probably shrug off anything they threw at him. He could probably give Mason a run for her money. They tried to reach for the closest bottle, only for it to escape their grasp by a few measly inches.

Avery tried grabbing it again only to to cry out as what felt like a mountain press into their back. It was mostly concentrated on their lower back with the center against their spine. They tried turning their head the best they could behind them, and saw the edges of the man in their peripheral vision with what Avery was guessing was their knee pushing against their back.

"Ya see, the best way t'make a pet learn something they're not allowed to do is t'use fear. Make 'em afraid of you. Punish 'em if they try an fight back." The pressure on their back increased again and they had to bite their lip to keep from crying out as tears welled up in their eyes. They wanted to call out for help, but the fear of what the man would do kept them quiet.

'Where is everybody!? This is a city! Why is it only when creeps show up that everybody else decides to stay inside!?' They scrambled against the man's grip only for him to laugh again as he held their arm behind their back.

"Now this is too cute! Keep strugglin', see how that works out~." The hand against their neck lessened its grip thankfully, only to start stroking the sides of their neck. Avery shook themselves again in disgust as they tried getting him off, lose his grip or just stop. He just seemed to laugh in response to their struggling as he continued to stroke them.

"So much spirit, could see why you'd get on with Graves. Doesn't matter, no one's spirit is endless. Just gotta show ya in a way that sticks." Avery's face blanched as the hand against their neck started moving downwards, trailing along their spinal column as their struggling began again in earnest. As his hand moved farther down, their hoodie seemed to fall against their arms with the sound of what they felt was...aluminum? Flakes of some kind was landing on their back as parts of their shirt rusted away with their hoodie.

'It's not spreading, like the rust on my foot! Does he have to focus more to make it spread, or keep it contained?' Avery was torn from their thoughts as the tension in the man's knee increased making them cry out, only to feel the man's breathing against the back of their neck. They shivered and shook themselves again, hoping that something or someone would stop what was happening.

"S-stop! Please, just stop!"

"Now why would I do that? Seems you need to learn a lesson, kitten. Can't just go around with that attitude of yours'." Tears started flowing down Avery's face as they struggled feebly against their assaulter.

They wanted to run, but couldn't. They wanted to cry out for help, but couldn't. They wanted to get this creep off of them, but couldn't. They wanted to go back to the cafe and forget this ever happened and cuddle with all her friends, but couldn't.

'I wanna go home. I wanna go home and forget about this stupid magic a-and these stupid crazy witches and aunt Mary's stupid apartment and this whole city!'

Avery strived to get out from under the man's grasp, wincing as his fingers pressed against their back, the only parts of their shirt and hoodie not split in half by rust was the bottom half covered by the man's knee. His fingers were cold against their back and they really didn't like it. They scrambled under him again trying to keep all their limbs moving while only successfully moving half as one hand was caught by him and the other still covered by rust. The pain in their ankle was getting worse, unable to move and forced to feel the metal mix between their pant leg and the pavement of the street.

'I hate him. I hate this guy and his stupid rust powers! I want him off of me. I want him to let go of my arm and fix my stupid hoodie!'

"Please, let me go! Leave me alone y-you sicko!" His taunting laugh only made them more infuriated. Their anger and fear having long since melted together into one corrosive ball that sat in their heart as they fought against his grip. Avery found their view becoming more and more blurry as tears flowed down their face.

'Let go! Let...go! Let go let go let go let go Let Me Go! LET ME GO!' Avery thought of the rust against their foot, one of the main reasons that they was still here. They thought of the rust crumbling away, crumbling away into little pieces as they burned up in the air. Flaking off like their hoodie had.

With a strangled shout, Avery reached for the bottle again as a warmth spread through their ankle. It felt like an immense heat was building up, but not actually hurting them. It felt like heated water flowed from their ankle to the rust covering it. Avery didn't know what it was, only that when they reached for the bottle again, they found their hand wrapping around the cold surface of the glass.

Refusing to give the creep anymore time with them, they twisted their body around to face the man. With their foot free, they could turn around fully to face the man causing him to drop his knee from their back to the paved street under them. Avery thought of the bottle sharpening. Of all the shards that the bottle would become sharp like barbed wire and struck.

The bottle seemed to smash against the man's face in slow motion: The widening of his eyes as Avery turned to face them, the surprise in his eyes as they followed the bottle growing closer. The sound of shattering glass as it exploded against man's temple. The shards separating against his face, slashing against his skin. The cuts from the glass growing along his nose, his cheek and his forehead. The grip he had along their neck vanished as his hand seemed to slowly reach for his face to cup the abused flesh.

And suddenly time seemed to speed up. One moment they were watching the glass shards as they seemingly melted into little liquid globs against their body and suddenly they found themselves running again. Running down an alleyway with the man's angered cry following them. Avery tried to put as much distance between them as they could while also using their magic to toss trash bags, litter and plastic behind them. Their assaulter had to get his bat first, then he'd follow them most likely. Avery didn't know what he could do with his rust specifically, but they know that bat had a reason behind them getting their foot stuck. Avery needed to make sure it didn't happen again.

They reached the entrance of the alley and turned sharply to follow the sidewalk before turning into another alley. They looked to another alley across the street and reached with their magic, sending the trash in the dumpster across the alley entrance. If they were lucky their assaulter would think they went in another direction.

They ran down the alley, passing the unfamiliar store fronts and back doors as they took random turns. Avery didn't know where they were, but they had to keep running, they were sure of that.

'What do I do? Where do I go!? Should I go back to the cafe? He knows that I work there so me must think I'm running back there! The only problem is that I don't if I'm running towards the cafe or not.'

Did they go to the cafe? They guessed that Graves had set up wards there since the bike incident. The walls that shimmered like shiny metal. It'd explain why Avery never saw the man before if he was looking for Graves. It would be the safest place to go, but the man probably knew that...he could probably tell that Graves warded the place, right? He probably expected them to go there.

Their apartment? He knew where they lived, but did he know their room number?
What about Mochi!? What if he went after him or something? The fat cat hadn't even had dinner yet! He could probably tell the man where they lived just by yowling loud enough.

Avery turned at an intersection in the alley, only for their feet to fly out from under them. The ground rushed under them as they flew through the air before finally coming down with a crash.

They cried out as their body flopped against the ground, their face hitting first before their body tumbled. Their elbow slammed into something metal with their knee hitting the concrete under them. When their body finally stopped moving they continued to lay there, taking deep breathes to try and alleviate the burning in their chest. Their whole body ached and their clothes were a mess with half their hoodie almost tumbling off their shoulder. They could feel something wet drip down their face, moving across their nose towards the ground that rested against their cheek.

Avery took the moment they had to stretch her hearing to the area around her, hearing nothing but the lull of the city traffic and the occasional stray animal. He must've lost them by now, right? They could finally take a second to relax? She eyed the area around her for somewhere safe, and could see a fenced in area with an open gate with a dumpster filled with trash.

Slowly while trying not to aggravate their injuries further, they shuffled over to the gate and shut it behind them. They made sure to grab some of the plastic bags and wrap them around the lock, melting it into a gooey substance that clung to the cold metal. After dealing with that, Avery shuffled over to the dumpster, After recoiling at the funky smell, they moved the mess of recycled materials and trash and created an impromptu wall, willing the mess to join together and close them off from anyone seeing them that happened to walk by.

After all that had happened, Avery could only sigh deeply and fall to the ground, curling inwards on themselves while trying to ignore the scent of iron and trash that filled their nose. The cut on their head had stopped bleeding, but there face was probably covered in sweat, blood and dried tears. Avery had done all they could on their own and gotten beat up because of it. As far as they knew, the others were safe and Graves was still missing. The man had hopefully lost them and was retreating back to where he stayed when he wasn't sexually harassing people or stalking them.

Avery felt numb, either by what had happened or the amount of running they had done. The only thing they could feel was the aching pain from their wounds and cuts. Each one shot pain back to their head with every beat of their heart. All of Avery's limbs hurt, and their back was sure to bruise badly from what had happened. They sighed and felt their eyes growing heavy from the extended period of energy spending. They tried fighting it at first, but it seemed useless.

'What more can I do? I'm exhausted. If he finds me...he finds me. There's nothing else I can do.' They dug further into themselves, and hoped that the wall of garbage could stop them from more pain.

'I hope the others...are alright. I could use some serious cuddling right now though.'