Chapter 5-The Rescue

Following Masaomi's reluctant guidance, the trio arrived at the seemingly abandoned warehouse. Ginji, using his abilities to shut down the power to allow them to discreetly navigate through the compound. They moved like shadows, evading guards and cameras until they reached the location where Shiori was held captive.

"Oh my god," Zen breathed when they reached the large, cube containers held at the far end of the warehouse. "Are they really keeping her in here?"

Ginji stares up at the closed doors, a silent rage building up in his as an electric charge runs through his body.

"Hey Ginji," Ban calls out. "Take it easy man." Using his right hand, Ban opens the large container doors causing Zen to stare in awe.

"Wow." Those doors were sealed shut and could be pretty hard to open. 'And he broke the locks on them and lifted it like it was nothing.' Inside the container, the three of them look on in horror.

A group of young women all looked to be in their mid teens to early twenties sat huddled in the darkness. They huddled closer to each other, fear coloring each and every one of their faces.

"It's okay," Ginji softens his voice. "We're gonna get you out of here."

Zen walks in, putting her hands up in a placating gesture. "Don't worry, we're not here to hurt you."

She grabs a flashlight from her pocket and flashes it in the room. "Shiori, are you in here?"

"Zen?"A young woman looks up, her brown eyes full of wariness. Her skin was pale and covered in sweat, her short brown hair disheveled. Zen turns towards the voice, flashing her light, noticing upping closer inspection that she had a beauty mark under the left side of her eyelid. "Shiori!" Zen rushes over to her, crouching down to her level.

"You remember me? I'm a friend of Trish." Shiori's dark eyes lit up in recognition. "Trish?"

"We're gonna get you out of here." She gives Shiori a comforting squeeze on the shoulder while the Get Backers look on.

"Good thing we found her when we did." Ban comments. "But we should get out of here now." "But Ban, what about the others?" Ginji gestures to the ten other women in the container. "We can't just leave them here."

Ban looked over at the over women who were huddled against the corner of the container. They weren't being paid to rescue anyone else but Shiori. He lets out a sigh, scratching the back of his head. "You know, we're not paid to be heroes," Ban began and Ginji's eyes start to fall. "But it wouldn't taste good to leave them here." Ginji smiles, letting out a chuckle as Ban grins back at him.

However, their stealthy approach was short-lived, as the alarm was raised, and they found themselves in a pitched against the facility's security forces. The lights flicked on and men flooded in with guns pointed in their direction. They encountered the leader of the operation who was overseeing the facility. He was tall; wearing a white dress shirt with black dress pants. He was bald, with muscles rippling underneath. The tension in the room was palpable as they engaged in a dialogue fraught with danger.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Trespassers in my domain?" the leader smirks, casting a deprecated look over at the trio.

Ban and Ginji look at him coldly. "We're here for Shiori." Ban proclaims, "Let her go, and we won't have to get rough."

He lets out a mocking laugh. "You must be quite naive to think you can just waltz in here and make demands. This is my business, and I don't take kindly to interference."

"We don't care about your business." Ginji clutches his hands into fists, his eyes blazing with determination. "We care about Shiori, and we won't leave without her. Or these women that you have imprisoned here"

Zen walks to the entrance of the container doors, her voice calm as she stares cooly at the leader. "You can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's your choice."

He laughs cruelly. "You think you can escape. These broads are my property and they work for me." The leader, undeterred, signaled for his underlings to attack. The room erupted into chaos as the trio and the leader's henchmen clashed in a fierce battle. The men had begun to shoot at them. Ginji and Ban stood unmoving as the bullets bounced off the invisible surface.

"What the hell!" One of the thugs yelled out. "The bullets aren't even hitting them!"

"Impossible!" The leader's eyes widened in shock.The Get Backers looked at Zen who gave them an encouraging nod. They then one another and nodded as they split up to take down the thugs.

During the intense confrontation with the man, Ginji harnessed his electric abilities, unleashing powerful strikes. There were several men screaming in pain as their spasming bodies fall to the floor. Ban had grabbed on of the men, his hand knocking the gun to the ground and grabbing his face with his right hand. Lifting him in the air, Ban slams him down, cracking the concrete floor. The other thugs step back nervously as Ban adjusts his glasses. "Who's next?" A low growl emitted from his throat.

Meanwhile, Zen utilized her Forcefield capabilities to shield them and ensure safety of everyone around them. "Come on ladies," she gestures to the women. "Follow me."

"Not so fast," a half dozen men point guns at them. "You ain't going nowhere."

Zen smirks. "I like to see you guys try and stop us." Suddenly, a large fist knocked one out. Another hand manifested, smacking a few of them out of the way. "What the fu.." he felt something propel him backwards towards the wall. The last two opened fire on her as she rushed at one, holding up her hand that generated a small shield to cover herself. She quacking disarms him, pistol whipping him in the face. As he crumples to the ground, Zen uses her shield to block incoming bullets. "You bitch!" The last one standing was still trying to shoot her. His hands were trembling and his eyes were wild and crazed. She points the stolen gun in her grasp and unloads two shots into him. He falls, a look of shock frozen on his face. "A bitch you say," Zen comments as she lowers the gun. "A bitch you'll get."

"Enough!" The large man procures a large gun and levels it at the Get Backers.

Ban smirks. "You're in over your head, pal."

"You think you can just walk in here and challenge me?" He snarls and then opens fire on them.

"Look out!" They dive behind a few containers, the metal denting at the force of the bullets. "Well this definitely took a turn" Ginji shouted over the bullets. "Any ideas, Ban?"

Ban looks up, spotting a crate above them. "Yeah I got one."

"You think you can challenge me!?"The man stops shooting, listening for any signs of life.

"We're not just challenging you." Ginji pops out of his hiding spot. "We're stopping you."

Just as he was about to aim his gun at Ginji, a large crate came flying at him. It hit him square in the chest, causing him to fly back a few feet. The gun was discarded and he was covered in wooden remains. Ban steps out from his hiding spot, flexing his right hand. "Great job Gin," he stops next to his partner as Ginji gives him thumbs up accompanied with a large smile.

Suddenly the leader lunges at Ban with a swift punch, but Ban sidesteps and counters with a powerful roundhouse kick. Meanwhile, Ginji engages with a burst of lightning, creating an electrifying barrier between him and the leader.

The man grins. "Lightning and a cocky attitude won't save you."

"You have no idea who you're dealing with." Ginji spits out.

As the leader charges again, Ban activates his Evil Eye, freezing him momentarily. In that split second, Ginji seizes the opportunity, delivering a series of lightning-fast punches. The leader, now enraged, breaks free and retaliates with a flurry of strikes.

Ginji, dodging his attacks, taunts him. "You're not bad, but you're not gonna beat us!"

Just when he's about to deal the final blow, the leader dodges and lands an uppercut on Ginji. It launches him into the air and he lands hard on the floor.

"Ginji!" Ban, watching his friend hit the ground, was not able to react fast enough to the punch that knocked him to his knees.

"You both thought you could come in here," he ground out, giving him another punch to the face.

"And-"

Punch!

"Mess."

Crack!

"With."

Whack!

"ME!"

He was on top of him now, his fists bringing up flecks of blood with every blow. The sound of bones breaking echoed throughout the warehouse. The man kept going until Ban's face was an unrecognizable, bloody, mess. He smiled, an unhinged laugh erupting from him as he lifted his bloodied hands to his face.

"No one… gonna… make fun of me…AGAIN!!"

The echoes of laughter could be heard everywhere.

"Just a minute."

A familiar voice rings through the air as the scene shatters before him. The scenes goes back to the warehouse, only with the men still on the ground and two familiar faces standing over him.

With his hands in his pockets, Ban adjusts his glasses as he looks down at the man. "Did you have a pleasant dream?"

"H-How?"

"Do you know what a Jagan is? From the second your eyes met mine you were wide awake and dreaming at the same time."

"No way…"

Afterwards, the authorities were called to help the rest of the women. The Get Backers and Zen along with Shiori back head back.

"I don't know how to thank you all," Shiori bows her head to both of the young men. "If you hadn't come when you did, worse things might have…" she trails off, shaking her head at the thought. Zen gives her a comforting squeeze on her shoulder.

"It's no problem Ms.Shiori." Ginji gives her a reassuring smile and she can't help but feel calm when she looks up at him. "Actually, you should be thanking Mr. Watanabe."

Shiori's ears perked up. "Hotaru?"

"He was the one that hired us to find you." Ban finished, his hands resting in his pockets. She looked between the young men with surprise in her eyes. "I don't believe it…"

"Once we get you home, you can thank him yourself." She looks down at Zen who smiles warmly at her. With tears in her eyes she nods happily.

"Yeah!"