At the moment, Kat and Renee landed on top of Cherry, leaving her dazed that pulled themselves up and dusted themselves clean. All the while, Carol and Dana stood, waiting for an explanation...
"So, what happened to you guys?", she asked them.
"Well, we WERE following you through the ducts.", Renee stated. "But somehow, we ended up separated, so Kat and I had to go through a maze of air ducts.
Flashing back to that moment, we find Kat and Renee slowly crawling through the air ducts. They had ended up going a different path, separate from the rest of the group and were now lost, wanting to find a way out.
"Kat! Renee!", Carol called out to them, hoping they would hear here. But it didn't seem to be doing her any good, as her voice just seemed to echo off every wall in the ducts.
"Yeah, I don't think they're coming back." said Dana.
"Then we'll just have to wait and hope to find them again later.", said Carol as they continued through the vents.
It was really hard, having little to no light, wanting to not bump into each other or to any walls and Kat wasn't making things any easier, crawling with only one hand, using the other hand hold onto her hair so that it doesn't get caught in anything...
"Could you be any slower, Kat?", said Renee.
"Drop it, Renee.", said Kat. "And back, I think we're going the wrong way!"
"The get your butt out of my face!", said Renee.
"I said drop it!", Kat said, right before a vent below them opened on it's own. That's how they need up falling from the ceiling, because they were in the ducts above what was happening right now.
"And that's pretty much it.", finished Renee.
"Well, thanks for dropping in at the nick of time.", said Carol.
"Funny.", Kat said blankly.
Carol also said, "And sorry we got separated. I was hoping to see that you guys were alright."
"It's cool.", said Renee. "I'm just glad to have Kat's butt out of my face."
"Oh, give it a rest, Renee!", screamed Kat. "It's not even that big!"
"I never said it was.", Renee remarked with a smirk.
Kat turned red while growling at Renee, while Carol tried to hold in her laughter.
"Well, since you guys are here, you mind helping me with the door?", Dana called out. "Let's just grab Greg and the others and get out of here!"
But soon enough, Cherry from the ground, looking angry, saying "You're not going anywhere!"
Suddenly, Cherry uses her spear as a pole vault and launches herself at the group, kicking Carol against the wall, knocking her down. Then she turns her attention towards the others, taking her weapon and spinning crazily as she tries to cut their heads off. Kat, Renee and Dana scatter across the room, hoping to find anything the could use to fight against. Renee found a a lead pipe and was about to fight back, but Cherry merely cut the pole in half and was about to do the same with Renee. However, Carol managed to get back on her feet and was now running towards Cherry. She threw the knife at her, only for Cherry to repel it as Carol then grabs hold of the spear, wanting to pry it from her hands. But then Cherry kicked her down to the ground, getting ready to finish her off.
"Let's try this again!", Cherry says, raising her blade.
Fortunately, Renee jumps on top Cherry and starts to try and clobber her. This forced Cherry to drop her spear as she then takes hold of Renee, throws her and slams her into a crate, leaving her unconscious. As she turns to get her spear, she then got hit by a rock, turning towards Dana who threw it. Growing angry, she grabs her weapon and charges at the girl and thrusts her blade. Dodging as quickly as she could, Dana hits the ground before the blade had hit her. But she did feel the blade hit something, seeing what looked like a chunk of her hair now on the ground. Cherry had managed to cut Dana's ponytail in half.
"My hair! You cut my hair!", yelled Dana. "You little-"
Before you could finish, Cherry smacks Dana in the face. She brings Dana to her feet and then uses the blunt end of her spear to take her down, hitting her across the face. She then drags her spear across the floor, heading straight for Carol who was struggling to recover. She saw the psycho chick towering over him, with a sadistic smile on her face as she raised her weapon above her head...
"Let's get this over with!", she said, ready to finish Carol off.
But then, Cherry got hit in the back of the head. Soon dropping her weapon, she falls to the ground, revealing that it was Kat who hit her...
"Couldn't agree more.", panted Kat, clutching a wooden board in her hands.
Meanwhile, Carlota was trying to get Fiona down from the net, but she wasn't making it easy since she wouldn't stop moving. She managed to find a knife and was cutting away at the rope of the net...
"You know, I still can't believe how easily you got yourself into this mess!", yelled Carlota to Fiona.
"Hey, why not let your hips grow bigger?", said Fiona. "Maybe someday, we'll call it even!"
Unamused by that statement, Carlota finishes cutting through the rope and decides to let it go and have Fiona fall to the ground. It wasn't a soft landing as Fiona groaned in pain, but soon was beginning to shake herself out. Carlota helps out a little, finding the opening for her to wiggle out of...
"Now that we've wasted so much time on that...", said Carlota. "Can we please go look for the others?"
But soon enough, a blade is launched near them, landed in the wall as Margaret walks in with an evil smile on her face and her small sword in hand.
"Mind if I help out with that?", she asked the two girls, who's fear was starting to rise. "You two are coming with me."
"N-Not in this life or the next!", said Fiona, taking the net she just got out of an throws it at Margaret. But the latter had sliced the net in half with her sword.
"Now, any other stunts you two wanna pull?", Margaret asked.
"You think this'll be easy?", said Carlota. "I mean...there's two of us."
"I'd say the odds are in my favor then.", said Margaret, putting away her sword and taking a stance.
Seeing no other choice. Carlota and Fiona charge at Margaret, who leaps in between them, dodging their attack. She then turns towards them again, beginning to take the offensive with some kicks that are coming in fast. Carlota and Fiona took a few to the head, making them back off and feel dazed as Margaret grabs Fiona and slams her to the ground. Deciding to retaliate, Carlota runs over to Margaret again, ready to get her. But she ends up tripping over her own feet and was now spinning uncontrollably. Just as Margaret was about to turn attention over to Carlota, she sees the girl spinning out of control and she ends up getting whacked by Carlota's hips. This ends up making crashing against the wall and leaving Carlota surprised...
"Whoa...", Carlota said. "I guess all the exercise is paying off."
Decided to try that move again, Carlota is feeling proud of herself as she goes in for a hip swing. Buy this time, Margaret anticipates that and counter it rather quickly, grabbing Carlota and flipping her.
"That was pretty good.", said Margaret, picking herself up. "But let's see you handle this!"
Charging at Carlota, Margaret jumps and does a flying kick at her, sending Carlota at the wall. With ridiculous strength, the kick was enough to have Carlota make a crater in the wall. She was left dazed and hurt as she fell to the floor.
"Too easy.", said Margaret, smirking at her victory.
To where Sam's group was, she was busy fighting Frank with crowbar in hand, seeming to not be holding anything back. Mazzy was knocked out by Margaret, so Sam was fighting more angrily now, and she still had Girl Jordan and Mollie by her side, so it seemed to that the odds were in their favor. Girl Jordan had found herself a Hockey Stick to fight with, while Mollie got herself a wooden plank. Frank wasn't making it easy for them, though, leaving all three of the girls with cuts and bruises. But they were starting to give him a run for his money, as Frank wasn't looking too good himself. Pretty soon, they managed to back off each other...
"You're all some pretty good fighters.", Frank said while spitting out blood. "Hate to see all those pretty faces ruined. Just like your little friend here."
He pointed towards the out cold Mazzy, showing that her nose was bleeding, possibly broken from Margaret knocked her out. That moment kept replaying in Sam's had, making her angry and clenching onto the crowbar so tightly, it even start to bend in her hand...
"There's plenty pretty faces out there, though.", said Frank. "I've broken plenty before. Yours will be no different."
Sam spoke up, saying, "I'm gonna leave your smug face of your as a bloody crater!"
"I'd like to that!", laughed Frank as he goes in for another attack.
The three girls had spread out across the room, having a trick up their sleeves. While Sam fended off against Frank, Jordan and Mollie devise a plan to get behind him and Finally take him down. Frank was seeming to get the upper hand, but then Girl Jordan takes her hockey stick and puts it between Frank's feet. She then yanks it and makes him trip. As he falls to his knees, Mollies comes in and smashes the wooden plank over his head. Then Sam finishes him off by rapidly hitting him across the face with her crowbar. She stopped as soon as she saw blood beginning to seep out of his mouth and then he fell backwards.
"Thank goodness that's over and done with.", said Sam dropping the bloody crowbar.
"Yeah. Now let's check up on Mazzy.", said Girl Jordan. Then the three rush over to their unconstitutional friend. She was starting to come to as they approached her...
"Hey.", Sam says. "Mazzy, you alright?"
"Ugh...did we win?", Mazzy asked.
Mollie replied, "Yeah, we won. Now, let's get out of here.
But suddenly, they heard a huge crash not too far from where they are.
"What was that?", asked Mazzy.
"... Let's go find out.", said Sam
Meanwhile...again, Ronnie Anne and Parvana were just about finished getting Shannon out of all the mouse traps she had gotten herself into. There was were still a few in her hair which seemed to be even harder for them to get out of...
"This is turning out to be one of the worst days of my life.", said Shannon.
"It's okay. We managed to get most of them.", said Ronnie Anne. "Now, come on. Let's see if we can find anything.*
But it was then that they heard what sounded like a large crash as well, and looked over to one of the hallways, seeing something coming their way. To their shock, they saw Margaret dragging an unconscious Carlota and Fiona with her. She seemed to be struggling as both girls seem to be really heavy, especially Carlota. But she soon paused as she saw the other three girls in front of her, who were looking a little bit peeved at her. Not that she care, since she thought she could easily take care of them as well.
"Oh, look at this.", she said. "More garbage I need to take out."
"What the heck did you with our friends?", scream Ronnie Anne, getting angrier by the second.
"Same I'm gonna do to you if you don't be good girls and leave now.", threatened Margaret.
"Not gonna happen.", said Shannon.
"Well, then...", Margaret started to say as she took out her sword. "I guess-"
Before she could continue, Ronnie Anne jumped on her and began to beat her up. Shannon and Parvana were wide-eyed to see that Ronnie Anne was able to show such violence. They started to to wince as Ronnie Anne was showing such brutality that was "Too violent to describe". Soon enough, she was on Margaret's back, who looked like she just lost a fight with a crazed bear. Ronnie Anne had her in a headlock, and was beginning to strangle her. Margaret tried hitting Ronnie Anne's arm, but it didn't work as she fell to ground, gasping for air. Pretty soon, she just passed out and Ronnie Anne stood on top of her, breathing heavily...
"Well...", Ronnie Anne said. "That was refreshing."
"Wow, Ronnie Anne.", said Shannon, still surprised. "Who knew you had that in you?"
"Honestly, I didn't even know myself.", said Ronnie Anne, before turning to Carlota Fiona. "Come on, let's see if they're okay."
Checking up on the two, seeing that they were still out cold. They looked pretty beat and the dust on Carlota might explain where the crash came from. Figuring that they were not gonna wake up anytime soon, Ronnie Anne decides that they best solution at the moment was to carry them. She struggles as she grabs her cousins and puts her head over her shoulder...
"Uh, Ronnie Anne?", said Parvana. "What are you doing?"
"Well, they're still awake, so I figured that this may be the best solution.", Ronnie Anne explained as she then tried to walk while carrying Carlota. But, she could barely move as the weight of her cousin was pushing her down.
"How is she this heavy?", asked Ronnie Anne, straining to even stand. "All that working out for nothing."
She tried to take one more step, but then ends up tripping and falling down, with the limp Carlota on top of her. She tried to get up, but that she couldn't move. Shannon and Parvana were finding this a little bit funny...
"A little help?", Ronnie Anne called out.
Back to Carol's group, we find them working on the lock which seemed to be taken a long time. But Dana was doing her best, although Kat was getting tempted to try and break the door down...
"How long do you think this is gonna take?", Kat said impatiently.
"Would you relax?", said Dana. "I never had to do this before?"
"Yeah, pretty sure none of us had to.", said Carol. "But it's only a matter of time until she recovers.", pointing towards Cherry on the ground, who seemed to be groaning in pain.
"You're just gonna have to give me a little bit more time!", said Dana.
And it was then that Cherry's eyes began to open once more. She tried reaching for her spear, but found it missing. Raising her head, she saw that Carol was clutching onto her spear. Getting angry, Cherry rose up and saw a machete that was hanging on the wall. She smiled as she took the blade and faced the group once more, who looked terrified to see that she still had some fight in her...
"You guys are really starting to be a pain.", she said with murderous intention...
Carol looked at her straight on with a angry look on her face, saying "Likewise..."
And suddenly, Carol charges at the psycho chick, grabbing onto her and they both go smashing through a door behind them. They were outside the room they were in, showing to be on the second floor of Cherry's hideout. Below them were Ronnie Anne's group, who was watching everything from where they stood. They watched as Cherry relentlessly swung her machete at Carol, trying to cut her, but Carol had the spear on her now, blocking as many attacks as he could. But the machete soon had cut away at the handle, chopping the spear in two once again, but that didn't change anything. Carol kicked Cherry the ground, making her drop her machete. She then returns the favor, kicking Carol away, getting back on her feet. She then takes Carol and throws her over the side, making her all to the second floor; dropping down after her, Cherry was ready to finish the job...
"Oh, no, you don't!", Ronnie Anne says, charging at Cherry.
"Back off!", Cherry says, landing a roundhouse kick on the girls, sending her rolling backwards. Shannon and Parvana were a little bit terrified to do something...
"You girls wanna give it a go?", Cherry said mockingly.
"We gotta do something!", Shannon told Parvana.
Cherry told the two of them, "How about you stay out of this?"
Running straight at the two, Cherry jumped and kicked both of them to the ground. Then, she turns her attention back towards Carol, who was struggling to get up. She forced Carol back to the ground and placed both of her hands around her neck, her grip slowly getting tighter and tighter. Carol was gasping for air and her eyes were beginning to roll back into her head and she was about to pass out, and Cherry was smiling crazily as she could feel Carol's life was short to end.
BONK!
Carol's heard what sounded like a baseball bat hitting someone across the head. She opens her eyes and sees that Cherry now lays out cold in front of her, with her head seeming to be bleeding a little.
"Never did liked that crazy girl anyway."
Carol froze after hearing that familiar voice. She turned around to see...Lori. She was wearing a navy blue jacket over her normal clothes, had a baseball bat resting on her shoulder and had a pretty blank expression on her face. she offered a hand and helped Carol get back on her feet. Carol herself wasn't sure whether or not to be relieved or concerned..
"Lori?", she then spoke up. "How did you-?"
"Lincoln told me.", Lori said straight away.
"So, you figured it out huh?", Carol said, beginning to almost feel ashamed.
"I literally got a whole bunch of questions I want to ask you.", Lori said. "...But, we'll talk later."
Just then, they heard what sounded like a door unlock, rather loudly by the sound of it. Walking out of the room that Carol and Cherry just fought were Kat, Renee and Dana who had Greg resting on her shoulder...
"Finally got him out!", yelled out Dana.
"Hey, everyone.", Greg said drowsily. "Thanks for coming back."
"So that's Greg, huh?", asked Lori, nodding her head. "He seems like an okay guy."
Carol replied, "Yeah. Now we just need to get everyone else and we're out of here."
"Let's do it then.", said Lori.
"I don't think so."
Just then, jumping from the second floor was Joshua, holding a baton in his hand and blocking their exit...
"No one's leaving here without a fight.", he said, pointing his weapon towards everyone.
"Here we go again.", Carol says as she steps forward, but Lori stops her with the bat.
"Hang back for a little while, Carol.", Lori says. "You need time to recover. I got this goon."
"But, Lori, he'll kill you.", Carol warned her.
"Not if I kill him first.", Lori said, giving Carol a wink.
Seeing how Lori was determined to see this through, Carol stepped back and went with everyone else to find who remained missing. This left Lori and Joshua alone as the circled each other...
"You got some guts, girl.", Joshua said. "Maybe I'll see what they look like."
Lori said to him, "You sound pretty murderous for a hired thug."
"Hmph. Yeah, but I'm not paid yet.", said Joshua. "And that's pissed me off. Frankly, I would care less about what that chick Cherry was gonna do with the little white-haired freak, I just wanted the job over and done with."
"So much for you're little three way split then.", Lori said.
"Three way split?", Joshua asked before chuckling a little. "I would've offed the other two the second we got paid. I'd care less about anyone I work with. I'm only looking out for number one.", he points to himself.
"Wow.", Lori said. "A heartless jerk who has no regard for other human life and does anything to get the job done and to look after himself. Who would've guess?"
And then...they fought. Joshua threw the first hits, managing to knock Lori down to the floor. But she managed to get back on her feet really fast and starts to run around Joshua, trying to land a hit at any chance she's got. She could tell Joshua was a skilled fighter, being quick on his feet and not hesitant to hit back, and he was tough too, very tough, blocking with his arms and making it look like the baseball bat was barely grazing him. But she wasn't holding back. She was giving all of it to him, hoping to take him down with every next swing. She didn't stop moving either, knowing that if she did, she'd be on the ground again. But soon, they backed off each other, and Lori could tell that Joshua was preparing something...
"...Time to stop holding back.", he said, rolling his shoulder.
He soon charges straight at Lori, going in with full force. He grabs onto her and throws her to the ground. There, he begins rapidly punching as she desperately tries to block his attacks. She lost her bat and was being left defenseless. Pretty soon, he had his hand at her head, forcing it down in an attempt to crush her skull. But Lori saw the machete Cherry was using and reaches for it. She struggled to even get closer to it, and he saw what she was going for and then, he made his mistake. Deciding to go for the machete before she could, Joshua accidentally made Lori get closer, allowing her to grab hold of the machete and take a hit at him. She managed to get him across the face, leaving a huge bleeding cut across it. He looked at Lori with a sadistic smile, while she looked at him with a horrified expression...
"Now, we're getting somewhere.", he said crazily.
"What the heck is wrong with this guy?", Lori said to himself.
Again he charges at Lori, but this time, she managed to dodge at cut him at his side. His attacks were just coming in widely, now acting crazy as he tries to kill Lori. But Lori was doing more sufficient damage, practically covering the dude in cuts now. The fight was ending and Joshua looked like he could barely stand on his too feet right now. His blood was dripping to the floor and Lori was growing nauseous, making her drop the machete...
"W-What's you problem anyway?", she asks him.
"Everybody got what's theirs.", Joshua said, leaving Lori confused by what he meant. "Everybody gets what's theirs! I wanted it to be my time!"
"Well, you're right about one thing.", Lori said.
"What's that?", he asked.
"It is your time.", Lori told him, looking up.
It was then that Joshua looked up and the last thing he saw was the bottom of a huge wooden crate coming down on him. Lori looked away as the crate crushed the thug, and waved over at Carol, who happened to be the one who dropped the crate. Carol came back down to the first floor to see how Lori was doing...
"You were looking pretty good out there.", Carol said.
Lori replied, "Thanks, Carol. But...", she then looks at the broken crate, seeing a puddle of blood begin to appear. "Does this mean we've just killed that dude?"
"Uhh...", Carol said, looking at the crate. "We'll...take this to our grave."
"Hey guys! Up here!", said Kat. Both girls looked up to see Kat with the others. They had managed to find Miguel, Mandee Jackie, who weren't exactly looking to good themselves. They looked like they were beaten up, strung up by their feet and left like that for a while.
"We found them hanging by their feet!", Dana said. "They're gonna be okay though!"
"I also managed to find Dana's ponytail.", Kat said, holding up the piece of hair Cherry snipped off Dana's head. "Uh, Dana. Do you still want this?"
Without a word, Dana snatched it from Kat's hands and began to walk away, mumbling something to herself.
"I'm gonna have to wear extensions for a week."
"Well, looks like everyone's accounted for.", Carol said. "Let's get out of here."
"Couldn't agree with you more.", said Lori.
And with that, they grabbed everyone who couldn't be able to walk by themselves at this point and headed out of the Hideout. As they were leaving, Cherry was struggling to get up, barely able to left their arms as she saw the blurry vision of everyone leaving...
"I will get you guys...", she said quietly. "One way...or another...", and then, she passes out once more.
Back at the Club, the three who were there were waiting for any sort of feedback from the group. It's been quite for a while, they hoped the group was alright. But then, the club doors opened and they saw everyone coming inside. Lyberti, Rex and Lincoln winced in discomfort seeing how beat up some of them were.
"Is there any place where we can put these guys?", Dana asked?"
"Uh...yeah.", Lyberti answered. "You can take them to the backroom."
"We have a backroom?", asked the weak Miguel."
"Over there.", Lyberti said, pointing to her left.
As the others got the injured situated, Lori had come up and saw her brother after what had felt like a long time. Lincoln wasn't surprised to see her here; he did call her after all. Both of them seemed to be having mixed emotions about all this as they faced each other, looking straight into each other's eyes. After a little bit of awkward time, Lincoln had finally said...
"Heeeeeey Lori..."