Anya couldn't tell how long she had been out, but she could only assume it had been for a while as she regained consciousness. Though she wished she hadn't or that it was a dream as her eyes opened to see Otis looking at her. She was in his room too, this just kept getting worse by the second. She cursed herself for wanting to believe that Otis could change as her face contorted into contemptuous anger.
"Why?" Anya asked the doberman with growing anger. "Why the hell did you lie?! I was willing to talk to you, so why did you kidnap me?!"
"Because it was necessary." Otis replied without any care.
"Necessary...NECESSARY?! Like hell it was!" Anya growled. "I've put up with a LOT of your shit, made excuses, wanted to believe you might come around, but you just keep making me feel like an idiot for wanting to see the good in you. I'm beginning to think Shinoku might be-"
"Don't say that fucking mutt's name again!" Otis snapped. "That fucking piece of shit DARED to embarrass ME, make ME look like some two-bit weakling." The venom and spite in his voice as clear as day. "Fortunately, that won't be a problem anymore." He added as a cruel grin crossed his lips.
"...What do you mean by that?" Anya asked. "Otis...what did you do?" The worry in her voice building.
"Just made sure that that bastard isn't a problem." Otis grinned.
Anya's eyes slowly went wide, she had always had a very slight suspicion that Otis might be involved in the disappearance of those that grew too close to her, but she didn't want to believe he was that possessive. Again, something she kicked herself for given everything else he had done. But her now immediate fear was what he might have done to Shinoku, the ever-growing fear on her face now mixing with anger.
"Don't give me that look, you'll come to realize that I'm the best thing for you." Otis said as he went to caress Anya's cheek, only for the tigress to jerk away.
"Don't touch me." Anya hissed. "I don't and will NEVER love you. Why can't you get that through your thick head?!" She punctuated her point by kicking Otis in the gut, making him stumble back.
"Heh...feisty as always…but you'll learn." Otis said with a chuckle as he approached her.
"I said back off!" Anya hissed as she went to scratch him, only for her hand to be caught. "Let go!"
"No, not again, I will never let go of you." Otis remarked as he held her hand firmly.
"You're delusional!" Anya growled as she struggled, trying to swipe at Otis with her other claws only for him to grab her other hand.
"No sense in fighting it, you're mine." Otis said confidently.
"I'll never be yours, I hate you!" Anya yelled in defiance. "My heart belongs to Shin, it always will!"
Otis' face twisted into a fierce snarl. "Your mutt is dead!" He snapped. "Or soon will be, I am the only one you can love!"
"I'd rather die!" Anya spit back, managing to get a hand free and slapping Otis hard with her claws.
The doberman only grew angrier as she struggled, grabbing hold of her other arm again and clutching her tighter as he began pulling her closer to him. He was about to say something when he caught a whiff of something, a very faint whiff. His eyes narrowed as he started sniffing her more closely, much to Anya's growing horror as she tried to free herself. As he got a better smell of his scent the anger in his expression slowly transformed into a possessive, malicious, blind rage. 'Ha ha ha...what a pathetic piece of shit…' He could hear his father say. 'weak...too weak to even control the girl you want...Then again...figures a weakling like you would want someone as weak as your mother.' the voice only made Otis more irrational as his anger grew.
"You fucking whore!"Otis roared. "You slept with him!" His yelled as he dug into her flesh.
"L-let go!" Anya cried as she struggled. resorting to kicking Otis in the leg only to be shoved down to the bed.
"How could you?!" Otis exclaimed, rage dripping out with every word.
"Because I keep telling you, I don't love you! I. Love. Him!" Anya shot back defiantly.
Otis' fury only grew as his eye began tow twitch. 'She's just like her...your mother…she'll never be loyal. Just another bad decision from a runt, always the embarrassment. Just how much longer are you going to prove how much of a fool you are?' He could his hear his father say. "Alright...you'd rather die? Then so be it! If I can't have you no one can!" Otis roared in fury as he went to hit her.
Anya barely managed to dodge as his fist came down upon her, stumbling onto her feat. "You're insane!" she shouted as she got ready to defend herself. She always knew Otis was damaged, needed help, but she never imagined he was this damaged. Whatever good she might have seen at first, whatever faint hope there might have been to help him be better, now seemed completely gone. Now all she saw was pure deranged hatred and possessiveness, all Anya could do now is hope she could take him, survive, or get away from him. Not just that, but that Shinoku was alive despite whatever Otis had tried to do.
The horrible feeling in Shinoku's gut only grew as they made their way through street after street, the section of the city getting seedier and more run down looking the deeper they went. Anya was in danger, he could just feel it, and he had no idea when they might get there. The arctic wolf clenched his fist tight as the temptation to run with all his might grew with every second. It took every ounce of his willpower not to, but it was almost impossible to do so.
It helped that what Sebastian had suggested seemed to be working, for the most part no one really paid them any mind. Sure, they were given the occasional glance here or there, but for the most part it seemed like nobody really cared about them. It was almost enough to take a slight edge off his nerves, almost. Though his worries only increased as a somewhat large group of rottweilers approached them and blocked their path, causing the frustrated anger to become ever more prominent on his face. Though none of the rottweilers seemed phased, especially the particularly tough looking one leading the group who just seemed to not pay the arctic wolf any real mind.
"Can we help you?" Hassan asked as he he looked at the group.
The lead rottweiler didn't answer as he looked at Shinoku and his friends. "White wolf...must be the guy boss said Otis wanted dead. He didn't mention anything bout him having friends though." He said finally only to hear Shinoku start to growl angrily. "Yup, definitely him."
"You just had to say it'd be easy didn't you?" Vega muttered to in Jax's direction.
"Sue me, next time I'll say it's not like we'll stumble onto three hundred million yen." Jax countered.
Hassan looked over at Sebastian. "So, what's the plan?"
"We likely can take them, but then we might all be too exhausted to fight Otis's gang..." Sebastian replied before sighing and looking at Shinoku. "Remember when I said not to run? Well that's changed. Go, we'll handle these guys."
Shinoku blinked a bit. "You sure?"
"Yeah...leave this to us." Sebastian assured. "And don't stop running till you reach Anya, no matter what."
"Ha! You think we're going to let any of you by or live?" The lead rottweiler scoffed. "Look, it's nothing personal, just business. So don't try to make this any harder than it needs to be."
"Now see, that's something we just can't do." Sebastian shot back at the rottweiler. "So why don't you do yourselves a favor and just walk away before you get your asses kicked."
The rottweiler scoffed. "Big talk for a kid."
Shinoku got ready to run before looking at his friends. "Don't die."
"Like hell we will! I got to have that second date with Sheila, no way in hell I'm going to die before that." Vega replied as he got ready to fight
"I definitely don't plan on dying." Sebastian remarked. Though if we survive this, I'm asking out miss Nazomi." He commented.
"Cool..." Vega commented before it finally clicked what Sebastian said a few seconds later and he, Jax, and Shinoku looked at him in shock. "What?!" he said in shock along with them.
"I'll tell you about it later, right now focus on the guys trying to kill us." Sebastian commented.
"You better...I wanna know how and why you hid this from us." Vega retorted.
"I will." Sebastian promised. "Now, let's make a path for Shin."
Jax and Vega nodded, deciding to take lead as they charged the group of rottweilers, getting alongside each other as they rushed up to one of the rottweilers and punched him. The combined punch sent the rottweiler into another and causing both to fall to the ground. Hassan wasn't far behind as he quickly grabbed another and flung him into a few more. Shinoku didn't wait, he used the moment of the rottweilers being off guard to charge right through, contributing himself to the path as a few rottweilers hit the ground.
"Don't just stand there, stop him!" The lead rottweiler shouted.
Three of the other rottweilers nodded, turning to give chase to Shinoku. Sebastian was about to engage some of the rottweilers when he saw the three gang members give chase to Shinoku. He didn't think twice as he pulled out the silenced gun he took from doberman, taking aim and hoping he wouldn't miss. He had never fired a gun before, but he knew enough how to fire it at least. He did his best to steady the weapon and fired a shot, the bullet grazing one of the rottweilers ears.
The one hit almost stumbled as he let out a yelp of pain, grabbing his ear in the process and causing his friends to stop briefly to see if he was alright. Sebastian didn't let the opportunity go to waste as he quickly took aim and fired off another shot after readjusting. This time he hit the rottweiler along the neck causing him to collapse. He then quickly took aim at the other two and fired, only for them to dodge out of the way.
The lead rottweiler cursed as he went to tackle Sebastian, knocking the gun out of his hand. "Didn't think you brats had weapons, doesn't matter though, you're all dead." he snarled as he went to bite Sebastian, only for the lion to narrowly get out of the way of the bite.
"Weapons or not, we're not letting you stop Shin!" Sebastian declared as he delivered a headbutt to the lead rottweiler, causing him to stumble and allowing himself to get back up. He quickly looked about to see the two other goons start to give chase again, as well as noting that Hassan was the one with the least problems between them, noting Jax and Vega having their hands pretty full. "Hassan, stop them!" he shouted as the head rottweiler engaged him again, managing to narrowly miss being swiped at.
"On it!" Hassan shouted as he kicked a rottweiler out of the way into two others before giving chase to the ones trying to reach Shinoku. He was at least thankful that Shinoku was as fast as he was, though he still didn't want to get too far away from the others. He moved as fast as he could, managing to catch up eventually and throw a punch at one of them.
The rottweiler barely managed to dodge as he and his friend stopped, "Fucking hell...Go, I'll deal with him." He ordered as he drew a knife.
"Not happening." Hassan simply said as he quickly moved to get in front of them, barely dodging the incoming knife that came at him. "You got to get through me first."
The goon groaned. "Fine. Harry, let's make this fast so we can catch up to the wolf."
"Right." Harry replied as he pulled out his own knife.
As he began to engage the two, he could only hope that Shinoku could make it in time. He was actually surprised that the two were fairly competent fighters, managing to dodge a few of his kicks and punches. He only hoped that Shinoku could make it in time to save Anya, and that he could deal with the two rottweilers in time to get back to the others in case more showed up.
As Jax and Vega fought alongside each other they managed to hold their own fairly well, though they'd be far from willing to boast being fighters like Shinoku and Hassan. Still, despite the punches they received they didn't back down, giving back as good as they got as they watched each other's backs. As soon as one rottweiler went for one the other would go to intervene.
"That makes Three I've knocked out, what are you at?" Jax asked as he narrowly dodged a punch.
"Five." Vega replied as he dodged a knife.
"Bullshit." Jax scoffed.
Vega just chuckled, managing to dodge a knife just in time as it just grazed his fur. Sure it was pretty close calls for him and Jax, hell he could see that Sebastian was just barely getting by with being hit by glancing blows, but the thrill of it all was intoxicating. He and Jax just barely managed to take down two more, feeling rather confident that they might just make it out with minor injuries, when more rottweilers showed up, one managing to land a sucker punch on Vega and causing him to stumble a bit.
"Well shit..." Jax commented. "Hope Hassan gets back soon..."
"Tell me about it…Still, quite the party eh?" Vega replied with a grin, doing his best to keep positive.
"Hell yeah, just hope the bruises will be worth it." Jax chuckled.
Shinoku continued to run as fast as he could to get to Otis' hideout, he didn't exactly know how much farther he had to go, but he knew that he couldn't risk slowing down in the slightest. He didn't care if he drew any attention now, he only had one goal, one singular thought, save Anya from Otis before any of his fears came to pass. He didn't even want to think about what she might be going through right now.
Anya stared at Otis, his malicious gaze fixated on her, the doberman had clearly went over the deep end. How could she have ignored all the signs of him being so close to losing it? Was she really that blind? No, she wanted to see the good in him, give him a fair chance. He had confided in her once, she knew about his past. She wanted t be there for him, but he had tried to push it too far, tried to make them that she ultimately didn't want. In the end, she couldn't save him from his demons, he was too far gone, she saw that now. There was only one thing she could do now, fight and hopefully survive.
There was no more talking to Otis, no more trying to rationalize with him, she just prayed Shinoku was alright. Anya lunged at the crazed doberman, not wanting to give him a chance as she swiped at him with her claws, only to graze him as he dodged and kicked her in the stomach. Anya winced as the force of the kick sent her into the wall, the impact causing her to cry out in slight pain.
"I did everything for you! I treated you well and you turn around and sleep with that mutt! You were supposed to be mine!" Otis snarled as he moved over to Anya, bringing his hand back in a fist and punching her"
Anya did her best to get out of his way, hissing as she kicked him in the gut and scrambling to her feet as he stumbled back. "You treated me like shit! At first you might have, but then you got some delusional notion that I was only yours! I liked being your friend at first, but that's all I ever wanted to be!"
Otis sneered. "You're nothing more than a weak, pathetic whore. When I'm done with you, I think I'll go ahead and pay your brother a visit." He said as a wicked grin crossed his lips.
Don't you dare!" Anya roared as she sprung at him, punching him hard enough to make him stumble back a few steps.
"Heh, that all you got? This is going to be fun." Otis said darkly, his state of mind clearly fully deteriorated into a state of jealousy and hate fueled rage.
The doberman advanced on Anya, knocking her back with a slap followed by a punch to her gut. The tigress stumbled, cursing that she wasn't much of a fighter, all she could do was try. She readied her claws and went to swipe at Otis, the doberman dodging and then kneeing her in the gut. Anya could feel the air leave her lungs as she gripped her stomach, leaving her open to Otis elbowing her on the head.
As she hit the floor Otis grabbed her by the fur on her head, lifting her up and delivering another punch to her stomach. Anya gasped out in pain, managing out a weakened growl before managing to land a swipe on Otis, leaving him a nice across his face. Otis didn't seem to mind, ignoring the bleeding wound as he tossed her towards the balcony. The tigress let out a yelp of pain as her back hit the railing, unable to do anything before Otis descended upon her and wrapped his hands around her neck.
It seemed as though Otis was done toying around, Anya could feel his grip tightening around her neck, making it harder and harder to breathe. She tried to fight back, struggling and flailing to claw at the mad doberman, but she was having to hard a time breathing and panicking to really do anything to stop him. She felt helpless, was this it? Was this how her life ended, by the hands of someone she at first wanted to help? She felt so weak, so useless, and the fear of what Otis might do to her brother began to consume her as well as thoughts of Shinoku being alive or dead.
Shinoku ran with all his might, as street after street went by, the determination to reach Anya driving him through pure Adrenaline. He was beginning to start to lose hope when he finally caught site of what he had been looking for, Otis' hideout. He felt an overwhelming sense of relief as he quickly slowed down, moving more quietly as he hid to take quick stock of what he was up against. Surveying the hideout, he saw two dobermans at an open gate, though from what he could see beyond it, there were more...a lot more. He could only guess to how many there were and he knew he had to play it smart to get in, the dobermans at the gate being the biggest hurdle.
He could rush them from the side, sure, but that might not work. He was going through the options in his head when all of a sudden he saw them turn their attention to the hideout, something drawing their attention as thy looked upward. Shinoku couldn't help but be curious as to what they were looking at only for his eyes to go wide with horror as he saw Otis Strangling Anya on a Balcony. In that moment rage consumed him, his teeth gritted and eyes narrowed as he started walking over to the dobermans, no longer caring about being too subtle. He had to draw Otis' attention away from Anya, get him to focus on him before it was too late.
As Shinoku walked up to the guards at the gate he pulled out the gun Ibuki gave him, point it to the back of one guard's head and firing as he rammed his claws straight into the back of the other. "OTIS! If you want someone dead here I am! Face me, or are you too much of a coward to fight me one on one!" he cried out for all to hear, his voice filled with rage, he only hoped it was enough to make Otis stop and focus on him as the rest of Otis' gang immediately turned to face him.
Otis blinked as he heard the shot, then he heard that voice, the one voice that angered him to no end. "Fucking mutt! Why won't you just die!" He snarled, the mere sight of the arctic wolf filling him with even more rage. "Don't just stand there, kill him or I'll gut each and every one of you!" Otis shouted.
The dobermans didn't even take a second as they scrambled to attack Shinoku, one near the entrance of the hideout running in to get more just in case. Shinoku didn't waste any time, he brought the gun to bare against one of the incoming dobermans and fired, hitting him in the chest as he fell to the ground. He charged at the dobermans, firing the gun at another, hitting him in the jaw as he swiped at the neck of another that crumpled down dead.
He wasn't going to risk any of them being a future threat, they were all going to die right there so they could never come for revenge or any other reason. He fired again at the one he had hit in the chest, making sure he was dead. Two of the dobermans took advantage of it and swiped at him, one getting a gash across his maw, the other ripping through his uniform and clawing his torso. The goon also went for the gun Shinoku had, grabbing his arm and trying to force it out. Through Sheer strength and will Shin held on to it, slowly pointing it at the doberman before shooting him in the head before grabbing the other one by the throat, sinking his claws deeply in before tossing the gasping doberman into another.
As Anya had heard Shinoku's voice she not only felt relief, but worry as well, she felt horrible that things had gotten this bad, but the fact he was here and fighting for her made her feel all the more determined to live. She took advantage of Otis' moment of distraction and kicked him with both feet in the gut, causing him to let go of her and stumble back. Not wanting to lose the momentum, Anya charged at Otis, running into him with her shoulder and causing him to fall to the ground. She tried to keep running, get out and away from Otis, but he stopped her by grabbing her leg and forcing her to the ground.
Shinoku went at another of Otis' gang, barely dodging an incoming knife that grazed his uniform to land a punch square in the throat. There was a crunching sound as the doberman grabbed his throat, gasping for air before collapsing. The arctic wolf wasn't taking any prisoners, especially since they were going all out against him. More had come out of the hideout, quickly surrounding him much to his growing frustration. Some even had guns, one taking a shot at him as he just barely managed to move out of the way in time for it to graze his maw. He barely had a moment to breathe before a knife came at him and he ducked just in enough time for it to just barely touch one of his ears.
The arctic wolf snarled as he retaliated by grabbing the guy by the knife arm and forcing it into his neck, only to be sliced a bit in the back. He ignored the pain though as he brought the gun to bare and shot the attacker point blank in the head. There were a lot of them, at least around fifteen or so that he could count, including the dead ones. But that wasn't going to stop him, nothing was going to stop him from saving Anya and killing Otis. He let out a growl as he charged at two more that had guns, leaping at one and pouncing on him before slicing at his neck. As he brought the gun to bare on the other and fired the goon dodged, causing him to curse in frustration. He tried to fire again and missed once more before just getting in close to the doberman and kicking him with such force in the bottom jaw that he snapped the goon's neck.
Anya swiped at Otis's arm as she struggled to get up, cutting fairly deep into it before he let go. The mad doberman cursed as he got up seconds before Anya did, going to bite at her only for the tigress to dodge in the nick of time. Anya went to punch him only for him to dodge and punch her in the throat, sending her to her knees. Before Anya could recover, Otis back handed her and sent the tigress on her side with a growl.
"What else did you two do?!" Otis asked as he went for her throat, moving some of the fur out of the way to get a good angle to bite her. As he did, the rage he felt only amplified as he saw a mark on her neck. "YOU LET HIM MARK YOU TOO?!" Otis yelled before delivering a powerful kick to her stomach.
Anya winced, her survival instincts now running into overdrive as she ignored the pain she felt as she gritted her teeth and went to bite at Otis, getting his arm and causing the doberman to roar out and throw her across the room at the door. Despite the pain she felt she scrambled to her feet, ready to fight Otis, Otis had had enough though, he moved to his dresser drawer, opening it and retrieving his gun. The tigress' eyes went wide with fear as she saw him get the gun, there was no more trying to hold her own, only getting out. Before he could bring his gun to bare she managed to open the door, fleeing as the first shot rang out and flew by her. She had to flee; he was just too strong, too deranged. A feeling of self-hatred at being so weak filled her as she ran down the hall, Otis hot on her tail.
Shinoku continued his onslaught, whatever minor wounds were building, whatever connecting slashes he received he ignored, his uniform now filled with cuts. Despite that, he was making headway, the focused precision he had built up boxing serving him well as he cut down more of Otis' thugs, starting to claw and swipe at them more as the gun he was given ran out of bullets. He put the gun away quickly, freeing his other hand as another goon rushed him, dodging out of the way before ramming his claws into the doberman and slicing up to his throat. He could only count a handful he had to deal with now, taking a breath he prepared to deal with what was left.
Anya fled through the hideout, ducking and dodging out of Otis' line of fire the best she could. Thankfully that had so far been enough to keep him from firing any more than he had at her, though she hoped once she made it out, she and Shinoku could just leave, though deep down she knew Otis had to be dealt with. Shinoku had been right, there were just some animals that just had to be put down, and she hated she couldn't fight him more than she had.
It felt like forever as she ran through the hideout, going down floor after floor as Otis tried to catch up with her. When she finally managed to get to the final set of stairs that lead to the entrance she let out an internal sigh of relief. She could see Shinoku not too far from the entrance, he was right there, and from the looks of it he was almost done with all of Otis' underlings, though the effort it took showed. She was so close, just a bit further…
Otis snarled as he chased after Anya, only stopping when he saw Shinoku. He had his pick of targets, both deserving of his ire. It only took him a moment to think which one he wanted to shoot the most before he settled on a target. Raising his gun he took steady aim at his victim, readying the shot before firing a shot off, then another.