Shattered Reality Part 12
Risky Confrontation
by
Sailor Janus
The six teenager's dread filled thoughts on the prospect of the existence of mobile dolls while they no longer had their Gundams was suddenly interrupted as the chilling sounds of gun fire and shattering glass filled the room.
"EVERYONE DOWN!" Hotaru shouted, diving over the table to shove Heero away from an approaching bullet's path. Harshly, she landed on top of the teenaged boy, shoving him backwards. "Sorry."
The Perfect Soldier blankly looked at the violet-eyed girl who had practically thrown herself on top of him as glass and bullets flew across the room. 'Did she just risk her life for me?! Why?!' he thought watching Hotaru ease herself off him.
The other pilots threw themselves to the floor, trying earnestly to shelter their own bodies as well.
"This is a wild shot, but I think they found us!" Duo mumbled as he covered his head as the window behind him burst into a million pieces.
"Now what?!" Wufei asked loudly, trying to be heard over the noise. None of them were really in the mood to either die or be arrested that day.
Quatre winced as a porcelain vase broke next to him. "Finding a way out of here would probably be a very good idea."
"Yes, but where and how? Whoever is shooting at us does not seem to be willing to let up anytime soon," Trowa shook his head as he glanced up at his friends.
'Damn it. This is all my fault! If only... no, I can't start thinking like that again. Guilt will not consume me.' The dark-haired girl thought as she tried to strategize a plan.
"They will run out of bullets soon and once that happens, they'll try breaking through the door to get in. Our only chance as cowardly as it may sound, is hiding." Heero said in his perfect monotone voice. Everyone knew the stoic ex-pilot was correct, especially since neither of the six teens had access to their weapons.
All of a sudden, the gunfire ceased as the door was swiftly kicked in.
"Oh shit! Cancel that plan because here they come!" the cobalt blue-eyed teen grimaced as Heero's prediction was sadly confirmed by several armed men charged into the mansion.
Hotaru quickly got to her knees and grabbed the nearest object to her. A coffee mug which miraculously, was not broken. The plan was to throw the mug, and then race upstairs where all her weapons were awaiting her. Unfortunately, after catching sight of the first man, she froze, dropping the ceramic mug to the floor which shattered on impact as she stared at the man.
Eddan chuckled, walking closer to the petrified girl. "So we meet again darling princess. Don't even think I haven't forgotten about our little encounter. In fact, I plan on completing it."
Heero spun around, stunned to find the deadly girl, actually displaying signs of fear once again. Sadly, that thought was ended as well, once a new realization hit. They were now surrounded. The intruders had the teens round up in a nice little circle with various weapons in their hands. The odds appeared very bad.
"Um, any clue on how to stay alive?" Duo said in a shaky voice as he sat up, balancing himself on the balls of his feet in a very unstable kneeling stance.
The blonde shook his head in remorse. They were trapped and defenseless. Sure the teens could try fighting their way out, but considering the massive size of the Iron Fist hulks that were sneering at them, those chances appeared very slim.
Wufei and Trowa also straightened up, climbing up to their knees so that they too could have a better advantage if attacked. Unfortunately, both of the silent ex-pilots were fresh out of ideas as well.
At that moment, Hotaru finally lost it. Everything, which had occurred in the past few days, had successfully taken its toll. Before the Prussian blue-eyed ex-pilot even had time to grab her wrist to prevent the girl from taking a very reckless action, she struck.
Sprinting, with a high level of speed, Hotaru approached the man who had violated her the other day and swung a punch square into the hated man's nose. Unfortunately, instead of breaking Eddan's nose, he grabbed the offending hand, and twisted it painfully behind her back.
"I am going to kill you," she growled with venom dripping off of every word. "You shall suffer just as I did. Your dignity stripped away as if it were nothing more but a fallen eyelash. You shall pay."
"Not, if I kill you first," the black-haired Iron Fist guard coolly said, spinning the girl around so her back was facing him. Roughly, he forced Hotaru against a wall.
"Leave her alone you asshole!" Heero said through gritted teeth as he tried to move forward, but was instead slammed in the head by the butt of one of the guard's rifles. Two other guards held him down as the Perfect Soldier struggled to fight them off, but it was no use. There were just too many of them.
Hotaru stiffened her body as Eddan held her tightly against the wall. Foolishly however, the girl was pinned with only one arm. She had to be swift or her plan would be futile not to mention the idea of being raped and probably slaughtered in front of her friends was not her idea of a good time.
Carefully, the violet-eyed girl wrapped her left arm around her stomach to the point where she could reach the right pocket of her jeans as she sickeningly felt the man grope her. 'Okay, that's enough. Now we end this,' she thought as her fingertips grazed the smooth surface of the pocketknife. Quickly, she grasped the item, pulling it out, and clutched it in her hand as she flicked it open.
Just as Eddan, attempted to reach under her shirt, she stomped on his foot, before spinning around, and stabbing the ignorant bastard deeply in the chest as everyone in room looked on in horror.
"Eddan, darling, when are you going to learn you cannot treat me like your personal lust object? You are the lowest life form to exist," Hotaru harshly stated, pulling out the bloodstain knife as she glared down at the guard who was struggling to stay alive. "You should have remembered how deadly I am. Now that incomprehension shall be your undoing," the girl whispered with an evil glint in her eye.
The man gargled as he slid down the wall. With his own liquid of life slowly draining from his body. "You'll pay, bitch."
"Funny, because I sort of doubt that. I guess we all bleed red. Even vile scum such as you," Hotaru dryly said as she turned away.
"Hotaru! Behind you!" Quatre shouted as his aquamarine eyes grew huge in disbelief.
Suddenly Eddan was on his feet, with a knife from his back pocket in hand and grabbed the dark-haired girl around her waist from behind, placing the blade against her throat before she even had time to react. "Let's test your theory."
The girl gasped in shock but only for a brief moment before slamming the back of her head into the man's chest, removing the stainless steel blade from her throat. This action resulted in the release of Eddan's grip due to her head smacking painfully into his wound.
Just then a gun went off, as Hotaru instinctively, dropped herself to the floor allowing the bullet to pierce through Eddan's heart, instantly killing him.
The violet-eyed girl finally caught sight of the six ex-pilots. All of which were placed in handcuffs, kneeling on the floor. They were also unable to fight back because of the fact that they were completely surrounded by gun toting guards, ready to shoot them if they even attempted to escape. 'Shit. Now what?' she contemplated, as she caught Heero's eye.
"Firefly. You better surrender, or we'll execute these six one by one," a redheaded man sneered as the girl sitting on the floor glanced up at him.
Hotaru took a deep breath, realizing that Iron Fist had just gained the upper hand. 'Why the hell didn't they fight back? Of course they were probably distracted by my performance with that jerk. Damn it. I did it again.' she thought as her frustration increased. She had to be as crafty as possible right now. Finally, she had a plan.
Mutely, The girl's violet eyes met the Perfect Soldier's icy blue gaze. Silently, he nodded his head as if he knew exactly what Hotaru was plotting. Hopefully the other ex-gundam pilots will realize what was about to occur.
Cautiously, the dark-haired teenaged girl reached up to brush a lock of hair out of her face while she secretly removed an earring, concealing the piece of jewelry in her hand.
Taking a deep breath she began to speak, glancing at each of the pilots throughout the entire speech. "Smoking is very bad for you. Before you know it, you're in front of an X-ray screen, which depicts the insidious lung cancer that has violated your body. Your lungs soon scream for air but it's too late. Soon, it's almost as if you've been smothered. Covering your mouth and nose while your ears ring before dropping dead, taking your breath away."
The Iron Fist agents looked highly confused at the girl as if she had just gone insane. 'What was that girl just babbling about?'
The ex-pilots on the other hand, knew better. Well most of them.
Trowa blinked as his eyes shifted to Hotaru's face. 'Hn. Did she just cryptically say what I thought she did?'
'Perhaps Hotaru isn't such a weak girl after all. Actually I believe she is probably far from it. I wonder if Maxwell understood the warning.' The Chinese teen thought as he tried to prepare for the plan to take effect.
'Good use of code, Firefly. Hopefully the others recognized it as well,' Heero decided as he nodded his head to Hotaru.
Duo frowned, dropping his gaze to the floor. 'Why did she talk about lung cancer?!'
'Okay, either Hotaru is strongly against smoking or she just alerted us about creating a smoke screen,' Quatre pondered as he looked at his friends.
Hotaru sighed, wondering if perhaps she was a little too cryptic. 'Great. Maybe they all didn't understand what I meant. Better try something else before Iron Fist gets suspicious.' Pointing towards the center of the room the dark-haired girl shouted, "Look at each other and indicate whether you understand smoking can be deadly. I'm serious! No more cigarettes!"
The five teenagers exchanged glances, almost as if asking whether they knew what the psychotic acting girl was planning.
"Ouch My ear hurts! Damn these earrings!" the girl groaned loudly, pacing around the room.
"Great, looks like Firefly finally went over the deep end," one of Iron Fist's guard grumbled as they watched the girl prance around the room.
'I hope that was not too obvious!' Hotaru thought as she cringed at her friends. Apparently only Duo was oblivious to the girl's masked scheme.
Trowa sighed as he began coughing while the others came to the same conclusion as well. Their braided-haired friend still did not understand Hotaru's strange antics.
"Maxwell, cover your mouth," Wufei said quietly.
"Huh?" Duo asked as he stared at the Chinese teen. 'Did Wu-man just lose his mind?'
The green-eyed ex-pilot coughed again, louder this time.
Heero looked straight into cobalt blue-eyed teen's eyes as he said, "Duo, cover your mouth. We know you're allergic to smoke."
"Your nose is starting to run too," Quatre whispered, in hopes that their friend would understand what was about to occur.
"Ah! My earring is caught in my hair," Hotaru abruptly cried out as she stared at Duo as well, who finally nods his head in recognition.
The red haired guard however was growing impatient. "Enough of this insipid babbling! I know exactly what you are planning Firefly. I saw right through your little act and you no longer have any time left to buy! Surrender now or they shall die!"
'Good, he's just as stupid as he looks.' The girl glanced down at each of the ex-pilots, carefully catching them in the eye before replying, "Okay." Swiftly she tossed the earring to the ground as she and the five teenaged boys took a deep breath and covered their mouths and noses. Suddenly a loud popping sound echoed in the large room, which soon filled with a thick smoke.
"Shit! She had a gas bomb! Hold your breath!" on of the men yelled as the other guards slowly went down, coughing and wheezing with an excruciating amount of pain.
Heero crawled over to the unconscious red headed man, and dug out the handcuff keys from his pocket, while successfully not drawing a single breath as his friends rushed out of the smoke filled mansion.
Hotaru as well, searched through another passed out guards pocket frantically for keys, which finally after several attempts, she located. Two pairs were better than one.
Quickly, the two teens raced out of the mansion as fact as they could. The girl only stopped once to grab her laptop, knowing how vital it was to have access to at least one of Iron Fist's data.
By the time, she made it outside, the ex-pilots were kneeling on the grass, gasping for air. Only the Perfect Soldier appeared, to be handling the lack of oxygen all right as he freed the others of their shackles.
Hotaru let out the breath she was holding, oddly appearing as if she were only holding it for a second rather than a few minutes. Silently she tossed the other set of keys to Quatre who began freeing Wufei and then Heero.
"Good job," Heero complimented the girl who received nods of agreement from the rest of the group.
Urgently, however she shook her head vigorously. "This is far from over. We have to get out of here now."
"She's right. I don't know whether we are wanted dead anymore, but they still seem to be focused on apprehending the six of us now," Quatre nodded his head in agreement.
"Uh, question? Where are we going to go?" the chestnut brown-haired teen asked as he stood up from where his was trying to catch his breath.
Hotaru began heading off in the opposite direction of the van, which made the teens very skeptical of her actions. "Anywhere but here."
"Hotaru, where are you going? The van is back that way," The circus performer quietly said, but the girl continued walking in the same direction she started off in.
"Because they probably threw in a detonation device which will cause the van to explode once the ignition key is turned on. Always was a great backup plan if the main one fails. You still get your man in the end. Anyway, stay there, I need to stash the laptop incase we run into any problems," the girl answered with her back still turned towards to the other teens.
*~*~*~*
Hotaru walked practically to the opposite side of the property before she found he perfect place to hide her portable computer containing very valuable information. Glancing up, she noted there was a very large tree with enormous branches stretched out several feet from the mansion.
Quickly, she spun around, as if to inspect whether she was being watched before tossing the laptop, which landed safely on a particularly high branch. 'Now to get back to the others,' the dark-haired girl thought as she took off running back the way she came.
"I just hope nothing has happened while I've been gone!"
*~*~*~*
At that moment, Chaos had broken out once again. The ex-gundam pilots found themselves fighting for their lives against a group of large group of guards.
Quatre was fighting as hard as possible, but he never was too good at hand to hand. Needless to say, the blonde still possessed the ability to hold his own. Each punch and kick successfully found its target. It was odd, first he was winning and then they had to bring out the big hulk like guard, which sent the poor boy flying into the side of the mansion, practically knocking the sense out of him.
After one spinning kick, Wufei found himself having an advantage. The guys he was contending against were too weak. Unfortunately, ignorance is not always bliss because Iron Fist decided to play a little tag team, by bringing in a guy who was twice the size of the Chinese teen, making the battle even worse. Every hit Wufei scored, caused little to no pain. It was like trying to fight an oak tree! Unfortunately, one punch was all it took to end that fight, leaving the teen sprawled painfully on the ground.
Trowa was doing well against the Iron Fist guard. He could fight just as well as he could pilot a mobile suit. The two practically went together. Unfortunately, once they decided to play dirty by a guard who appeared to eat steroids for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The circus performer was growing tired and losing his upper hand. Soon he found the wind knocked out of him, followed by a blow, which he swore he saw stars before going down.
The long haired teen could battle like the best of them. Sure usually it was dirty but hey, he was still winning! Duo, In fact immobilized one guy due to a kick in the knee, which probably either broke or dislocated it, and quite frankly, the teen could care less. That one kick, sadly created open opportunity for another opponent, a big burly Iron Fist guard that could probably beat the teen to a pulp. Regardless, Duo gave all he could, and lost, dropping painfully to the guard as he clutched his stomach.
Heero Yuy, was able to stay strong against the guard he was confronting. a few spinning kicks here, several punches there, and some elbow and thrusts as well. The guard stood no chance against the Perfect Soldier. This fact unfortunately, became the Prussian blue-eyed teen's undoing as they decided to have a hulk-like guard join the strife, turning the tables in result. One fatal blow to head threw the teen to the ground, causing him to lose consciousness.
With snickers, the guards managed to carry off Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell, just as Hotaru arrived on the scene, but she was too late. The Iron Fist thugs had already left with the two teens in their clutches.
*~*~*~*
Author's Notes: Sorry it took so long to update but I had a hard time piecing this chapter together. Some of my chapters are preplanned while others, like this one, are spur of the moment.
Another fact that helped was my new Staind Cd. I can actually visualize It's been Awhile, as a music Vid for this story. It goes too perfectly! Hmm, Perhaps I'll do that after my story is over with. Why after? There's some scene in my head that have not been written yet.
Um, sorry about the cliffhanger again but if I don't then, I'll have to put this chapter out much later because I need to do a little research on something. At least I am exactly where I want to be. Now things will get very interesting.
Thank you for the reviews and I'm glad everyone is enjoying my nice dark suspenseful story. ^_^
Hopefully I will have updated again sometime next week if not sooner.