Russian.
Higgins glanced to the left and saw a woman with brown shoulder-length hair pointing a gun at her. She was dressed in dark clothing similar to her counterparts. After a moment of thought, Higgins that should recognized the woman as the one that entered the police station and had Magnum arrested.
For a moment, everyone seemed to be frozen as if time itself had stopped. After quickly deciding on a course of action, Juliet's next movements were instinctive.
With quick and unpredictable movements, Higgins moved the gun away from her direction with her left arm as her right fist connected with the woman's jaw. The gun went off, but the shattering noise behind Higgins confirmed that the bullet was wide to the left, missing the intended target: her.
"Higgins!" Juliet heard Rick from the study. He obviously had heard the gunshot and was going to arrive in the kitchen within seconds for much-needed backup.
She dodged most of the punches and kicks the Russian woman had thrown her way, but when the gun went off a second time, Higgins felt a sensation that was both stinging and burning in her left side. She had been hit, but she didn't have time to check the damage; her choices were to keep fighting or be killed.
The three men were approaching the two fighting women when Rick appeared behind them, sneaking into the kitchen from a different entrance. He immediately noticed that the fight was about to be four against one, with Higgins being the severe underdog.
"Hey!" Rick shouted, effectively distracting the men.
Two of them turned their attention to Rick, pulling out their guns, while the blonde man went to aid their female companion. Rick pointed his weapon at the man on the left and shot him in the shoulder, causing the man to drop his gun, before taking aim at the other one. Rick was a good shot, great in fact, but in such close quarters he didn't want to risk missing and hitting Higgins, who was at an unfortunate position at the moment behind the other dark-haired man.
While the injured man nursed his shoulder while kneeling on the floor, the other assailant made his way towards Rick, likely trying to get closer in order to have better aim. A couple shots rang out, but Rick was left unharmed. Once they were close enough, Rick pistol-whipped the man in the head, causing him to drop his weapon. As Rick kicked the gun away, his attacker managed to also disarm him. Then it became an all-out, hand-to-hand brawl.
Higgins fared well against her opponent, especially considering the bullet wound in her side. She managed to knock the gun out of the other woman's hand, giving her a small sense of relief. When she heard another gunshot, she glanced in Rick's direction and was pleased to see that he had been the one to shoot, not one of their "guests," and he hit his target in the shoulder: a good and painful place to be shot.
When the blonde man approached Higgins, it became a two-on-one fight and Higgins was losing a lot of blood, making her odds of winning the fight lower. However, she put up a great fight and managed to land quite a few hits. Unfortunately, she took a few blows as well, especially to her face and torso. The blonde man had also brought a knife to the fistfight, causing Higgins to feel pain in multiple parts of her body, but she forced herself to push the pain aside and keep fighting while she could.
It had been a while since the last time Rick had to fight a man almost as large as TC, but he gave the large Russian man a run for his money. That is, until his wounded, and also rather large, friend returned to the party. Together, Thing 1 and Thing 2 (the nicknames Rick instantly gave his new Russian friends,) managed to get Rick on the hard kitchen floor. What they didn't realize, however, was that his gun was on the floor next to him.
In one motion, Rick grabbed his weapon, turned to focus on the target in front of him, and shot. A double-tap to the chest caused Thing 2 to instantly drop to the floor, dead. Before he could shoot the already injured Thing 1, the weapon was kicked out of Rick's hands and a boot stomped harshly on his ribcage. Before he suffered another blow, Rick rolled to the side before forced himself to his feet. His ribs ached, but he only had to deal with one more person before getting to Higgy.
Juliet's reactions and movements were starting to noticeable slow, and her two assailants took advantage of her weakened state. The woman was able to hold her arms behind her while the blonde man connected his fist to her ribs, focusing on the area covered in blood. Higgins tried to muffle her cries of pain, but she knew it didn't work.
Two more shots rang out, and both Higgins and the blonde Russian man turned to see Rick shoot and likely kill one of the invaders. Good, only three more to go. While the blonde man was distracted, a well-placed kick from Juliet caused him to crumple to the floor, questioning if he would ever be able to have children. Then Higgins threw her weight back, falling backwards and landing on the other woman. While the other woman was struggling to get to her feet, Higgins reached for the gun on the floor and shot the blonde man in the torso. She didn't need to look at him to know he wouldn't be a threat any longer; whether he was dead or alive, she knew that he wouldn't recover quickly enough from the kick or the bullet to do any more damage.
Rick heard another gunshot and glanced in Juliet's direction, praying she hadn't been the one to be shot. He was pleased to see his prayers were answered, but his relief turned to dread as Thing 1 produced a knife seemingly out of nowhere in front of him.
"Oh, come on," Rick pleaded as he resumed a fighting stance.
Luckily for Rick, the other man didn't seem to be as skilled with a knife as he expected. Thing 1 made dramatic stabs towards Rick and the former Marine easily dodged them. Rick was defending himself, waiting for an opening to knock his opponent out when he heard another gunshot. This time, the shot was accompanied by a painful noise coming from Juliet. Rick froze.
While she was struggling to keep up with her Russian assailants, Higgins couldn't ignore the threat of unconsciousness that was creeping in. Even with the adrenaline from the fight, she had lost so much blood that her body couldn't keep up. Her movements were still slowing down and the sides of her vision were starting to get dark. It was because of this that she hadn't noticed that the other woman had managed to get her gun back in her hand.
Higgins connected her fist to the woman's collarbone a fraction of a second before the shot rang out. She then felt an intense pressure in her left thigh before she felt herself hit the floor. Her world instantly went dark.
"Jules!" Rick yelled as he watched his friend hit the floor.
In his distracted state, Thing 1 managed to finally make the blade of his knife connect with Rick's abdomen, and Rick was startled back to awareness. The Russian man withdrew the knife and gave a few more slashes before Rick managed to disarm him, but Rick quickly found himself shoved back onto the kitchen floor.
Thing 1 pinned Rick to the floor, forcing him on his stomach and securing his arms behind him. Rick moaned in pain as the stab wound ached and the popping in his right shoulder indicated that it was dislocated. From the floor and under the weight of the massive Thing 1, Rick did the only thing he could do: talk.
"Leave her alone," Rick demanded.
The woman stood above the unconscious and bleeding Higgins, apparently assessing her physical state. She then turned to look at Rick, raising an eyebrow in question.
"Whatever you came here to steal, just take it." Rick knew Robin would rather have some stuff stolen than his friends hurt or dead.
The woman chuckled. "Actually, we're here for her."
While Rick didn't typically stereotype or discriminate against people with Russian accents, he was pretty sure there had to be a connection with these criminals and Juliet's MI6 background. Therefore, he concluded that these Russians were definitely planning something horrible and there were not to be taken lightly.
"Take me instead," Rick offered. Thing 1 pulled his right arm up at an awkward angle, causing Rick to grimace in pain, but he continued. "Whatever you want her for, take me instead. Leave her here."
The woman smiled evilly. "How kind of you to offer, but no. We came for her. We are taking her. You were just another obstacle, and you killed one of my men," she said as she motioned to Thing 2 on the floor. "We'll be going now," she said as she gave a look to Thing 1.
A moment later, Rick briefly felt something hit the side of his head before blacking out.
