Chapter 16: Overpowered
„We are almost there." Haruka whispered to her fellow comrades, already reaching for the doorknob that separated the stairs from the hallway of the first floor. She turned the knob as quiet as possible before she pushed the door open. The steel barrel of a heavy gun smashed into her face, breaking her nose and causing her to fall down the stairs with a painful yelp. "Haruka!" Michiru cried out, shocked. The aqua haired girl heard how Cloud readied her shotgun, and then a shot rang, followed by a weird gurgling sound. "Get Haruka!" Cloud yelled at Michiru before reloading her shotgun and kicking the door all the way open. Laras eyes fell on the bodyguard her lover had shot; the man laid on the ground in a pool of blood, his chest being nothing more than a reddish and black hole. The brunette shivered and turned away. "Sorry." Cloud mumbled, staring down on the polished tips of her black police shoes. "But there was no other way." The cop turned to look at Haruka, who laid on the ground in front of the stairway, holding her shoulder and moaning in pain. "Her shoulder wound reopened." Michiru spoke, looking at Cloud, Lara and Jimmy with a concerned look in her eyes. "Damn." Haruka moaned, trying to sit up, but failed miserably. "That just had to happen." "I guess we better retreat." Cloud spoke while peeking down the long hallway of the first floor to make sure that no one came to attack them. "No way!" Haruka protested, finally getting to her feet – with support of Michiru. "We made it that far, and we are not going to give up now!" Cloud was just about to give her an angered reply when all the doors of the hallway flew open at once, and about twenty men jumped out. Every one of them held a gun in his hands which they now aimed at the shocked group. "Drop your weapons." A well-known voice came, and Haruka gritted her teeth at the sight of Peter Parker grinning down at her. Her grip around the machine gun tightened, but before she had the slightest chance to fire, Peter shot himself, the bullet hitting Harukas right knee, shattering it. The blonde let out a painful scream while she fell to the ground, blood splashing from the wound in her leg. "I said, drop your weapons." Peter repeated, glaring at the shotgun in Clouds hands. "Drop your guns if you don't want to suffer through the pain Haruka is in now." Sighing, Cloud threw her shotgun over to Peter and raised her hands above her head. "Very good." Peter grinned. "I think it's time to get rid of all of you now. For once and for all." He made a vague gesture towards his men, who started to move towards the quintet. Two men grabbed Harukas arms, pulling her to her feet without caring about the pain they brought to her when she had to put some weight on her hurt leg, and started to drag her away while Michiru, Lara, Cloud and Jimmy found themselves surrounded by eight men. "Where are you taking her?" Michiru demanded to know, her eyes glued to the retreating form of Haruka. "Into the cellar." Peter informed her, grinning. "The four of you will have a fast, painless death, but for Haruka, I have other plans." "Bastard." Cloud spat, but she shut up immediately when Peter pointed his gun to her leg. "Want to have a shot?" he asked, menace in his voice. "Um, rather not." Cloud quickly replied. "Good, then shut up." Peter commanded. "And now, be all nice and good and go outside." "I won't let you harm Haruka!" Michiru protested, only to receive a hard slap across the face. "Shut up and do what I tell you." Peter hissed. "Or do you want to join your blonde dykish friend in dying through torture?" Michiru looked down on her feet and shook her head. Slowly, the group started to make it's way towards the entrance.
"In there, dyke!" the tallest of the men snarled, roughly pushing Haruka forward. The blondes leg gave in underneath her, and she fell to the ground, grimacing from the immense pain. Rough hands grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her back, and one second later, cold handcuffs closed around her wrists. Haruka heard a weird ripping noise, and she knew what had produced it when a stripe of duct tape was plastered over her mouth. She heard how the men who had brought her here – in the same room where she had been captive before – left, and then, there was nothing except darkness – and the raging pain in her leg.
Meanwhile, Michiru, Lara and Cloud – poor Jimmy had been shot after trying to escape – reached the main door of the agency. "Outside." Peter commanded. Cloud reached out to open the door, but all of a sudden, she twirled around, her fist crashing against Peters chin. While the evil man still was busy with groaning, Cloud already had taken his gun from him, pressing it against his temple now and staring at the remaining men, fire in her eyes. "Stay back, if you want your boss to live!" "Do what she says." Peter panted, sweat on his brow. "Honey, open the door." Cloud spoke, without looking away from the remaining bodyguards. Lara did as she had been told, and quickly, the quartet moved out, with Peter in tow.
"Now we have Peter." Michiru spoke as soon as they all sat in her living room, Parker being locked away in the cellar. "But they have Haruka…oh God, what if they kill her?" "They won't." Lara spoke, sudden fire in her eyes. "I have a plan."