Steve wondered whether it was a good idea to go without his suit. Katrina was wounded. How difficult could she be?

Then again, he saw what that girl could do with her fists. He hoped he would never be at the receiving end of that punch because his nose would be done for.

The fact that she had managed to escape so discretely while being severely injured was…a little horrifying. Steve realized that he completely underestimated this girl. If this is what she could do debilitated…imagine what she could do in her fullest form.

This may be harder than he thought.

There was no place bigger than New York City. That was Katrina's conclusion. This city was just a giant maze that conspired against her. Every turn, every corner, made her more confused than the last. Not to mention, her head was throbbing. Maybe this was a mistake.

Katrina tried not to hobble, but with her limp leg, it was getting difficult not to, especially after all this walking. The only thing illuminating her path were the yellow toned street lights. She tried not to feel unsettled, but she knew that if anything happened, her wounds would put her at a serious disadvantage.

All she needed to do was find a store. An outlet, maybe a coffee shop, anything. She needed to get to civilization. Other people.

If other people saw the state she was in, they would help, wouldn't they? Isn't that what good civilians did?

Katrina realized that if she saw someone in her state, she would have scoffed and walked away. Not a chance, there was no way she would risk helping someone who may be an enemy. They can deal with it themselves. She was no one's parent.

But…these people were normal people, right? Good Samaritans? Surely, they would have no problem helping a poor, helpless—

Katrina swung her arm back as soon as she heard the crack. Her fist landed squarely in someone's face, and they yelled out, backing away. For a split second Katrina thought it may have been the Captain, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was just an idiot from the streets.

"You bitch!" he yelled. Katrina saw spit spewing from his mouth. She advanced, knowing she could take him easily, when she heard laughs from behind her. She whipped around to find three more guys cackling at their friend's pain.

Okay. One idiot she could take, but four…

Not while wounded.

In this moment, she cursed the Captain. She cursed him for taking away her freedom, for crippling her, for putting her in this situation. For making her vulnerable.

"What happened to your head, babe?" the one with the beanie asked, mockingly. Katrina growled. "Got a boo boo? Why don't we help," he sneered as he advanced on her.

"Don't touch me," she snarled.

They laughed. Katrina felt her stomach flip. Someone kicked the back of her knees and she flew forward. She felt someone's shoe on her back, shoving her into the pavement, knocking the breath out of her. Before she could even react, she felt grimy hands grip her arms and legs and flip her over. She gasped, and the faces were blurry. She felt her shirt being pulled up.

Not this. Anything but this.

Katrina watched the stars, the bright specks glittering in the onyx sky, the light illuminating the night. Her fingers tried to grip the pavement as the yellow from the streetlights leaked into her vision.

The stars gleamed brighter. The night darker.

Katrina sputtered as she was kicked down onto the floor again, blood leaking out of her mouth. The commander's boot print was stained on her shirt.

Katrina gasped as she was held underwater again, not yet being able to hold her breath for longer than a minute. She felt her head get lighter, her vision blurry. When she was pulled up, the fresh air was euphoric. Before she had a chance to breathe, she was dunked under again. Again and again and again.

Katrina's screams were muffled by fingers stuffed in her mouth, tears and drool dribbling down her face as the knife carved out another picture on her body. She writhed and thrashed, and when the knife penetrated harder, she bit down on the fingers. Her naked body went flying forward, and she lay there like a limp doll as she was beaten for disobeying. She tried to cover herself but her arms were yanked open, her dignity being lost, as she felt herself being suffocated in shame. She was fifteen.

Katrina screamed, loud, louder, so loud that she felt like her chest might explode. She felt fury enter her bloodstream; she felt her head being clouded in a darkness that she couldn't get out of. She felt herself being filled with sudden adrenaline, body activated. She growled, teeth baring, pain being the only thing in her mind, muddling it, making her want to kill, kill, kill.

She was done being beaten around.

Enraged, she reached up and clamped her teeth around one of the arms holding her, ripping their entire wrist out. The bloody scream reverberated through her entire body, giving her more energy to get up. She spit the skin out, the taste of iron penetrating her tongue. She laughed, spitting the blood out.

She crawled forward, grabbing someone's leg, someone who was trying to run away. She yanked them down, and twisted their foot until she heard the sickening crack, the yanked it until she was sure the bone was crushed up and shattered.

Another hand slammed against her throat, and she reached up and grabbed their shoulder, slamming them down to the ground. He tried to fight back, grabbing her hair and pulling her head back. He hit her throat, and she grabbed his face, using her thumbs to press against his eyes. Hard, harder, harder. He let go of her and she slammed him back down onto the pavement, making sure she blinded him before standing up.

The other two, one with the ripped wrist, stood there horrified, absolutely in shock. She slammed into them, ramming them both onto the ground. She stomped on one of their faces, she couldn't even tell who. She stomped until she felt the shattered skull beneath her feet.

It was when she heard the noise she realized that the last one was running away. Her leg was wounded. She couldn't run after him.

She wasn't letting him go.

She looked around and realized the ground was full of rocks. She picked up the heaviest one and, after readying herself, threw it at full force. It hit him squarely in the head and he fell over, clearly knocked out for a second. She calmly walked over to him.

When she looked down and saw his face, she came to see that it was the one who pulled shirt. She swallowed, rage behind her eyes. She knelt down, looking him in the eye. He glared up at her, his lip bleeding, his mouth sneering.

And she saw the General.

She looked into his evil eyes and found the General staring right back up at her, sneering at her, mocking her, taunting her. Her fists shook, her jaw trembling with rage.

She was done being controlled. She was done being told what to so. She was done being tied up and used as a punching bag.

She looked at the General squarely in the eyes, and as she felt the flashbacks of her haunting past, as she felt his hand around her throat, as she felt his words inside her bones, she whispered, with trembling lips, ever so quietly.

"Goodbye."

Steve's heart sank when he saw the bodies on the floor. He ran over, and was immediately hit by the pungent odor. He swallowed as he knelt down to one of the bodies. The guy's eyes were completely gouged in, blood dripping all over his face.

Slowly, Steve made his way to the body right next to it. He scanned it and picked up the limp foot. He immediately dropped it when he heard the crunch. He felt his stomach turn. This was awful. He could see two more bodies in the distance but didn't even want to look. He couldn't.

He didn't know exactly what had happened, but it didn't take a wild guess to know that Katrina was involved. He couldn't believe she had done something so morbid.

They must have attacked her first. Steve knew she wasn't stupid enough to go around attacking people when she herself was wounded. He searched the pockets of the bodies and found a wallet in one of them. The only thing left was a license. Anything of monetary value most likely taken by Katrina.

She was going to get herself thrown in jail at this rate. He couldn't let that happen. He had to get to her first.

In this moment, with four dead bodies in the ground, Steve, finally, became fully aware of how imperative this mission was. He needed to help this girl.

But he had no idea where to look. He was on the right path, clearly, but she could have gone anywhere. But he had to keep trying. He had to find her.

He sighed. He didn't want to do this, but he knew that if he wanted to catch Katrina before the police did, he had to. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number, his chest turning with every ring.

"Hey, Tony."