Hellcat

Chapter 55

Jessica and Danny were the first to rush at Elektra, Danny getting knocked to the ground just seconds before the skylight behind us shattered. "Who's this?" Danny hissed as I spun to face an Asian man, standing on the ruins of a table with cold eyes. Matt's response was to chuck a chair at him. Luke and Jessica were working on Elektra while Danny shoved himself to his feet and Matt and I prepared to attack this new man.

I was about to jump forward when a foot slammed into my back. I grunted, rolling forward and landing near the man. He swiped out at me with a baton but I jumped off the ground, flipping in the air to land away from him. "She's annoying," I heard Luke comment as Matt, Danny and I started attacking the man. He managed to take all three of us on, keeping us at bay. Matt let out a grunt as he took three jabs to the ribs. But his pain was distraction enough for me to slam my fist up into the man's jaw, sending him to the ground.

"Where's Alexandra?" Danny asked, looking around as I turned back towards Elektra. The six of us all stood, watching her for a moment. "Get down!" Danny shouted. Before I could move, arms encircled my waist and pulled me down to the ground behind a table. Gunfire rained down on the building, even shattering the fish tank in the back, water crashing to the ground. Luke stood in the middle of the room, back to the bullets as he half-shielded Jessica, who Danny had knocked to the ground. Matt had pulled me to the side, where no bullets were flying.

At the moment, all gunmen were focused in the direction of Luke, Jessica, and Danny. Then one gunshot rang out louder than the rest, the other bullets stopping abruptly. "We want him alive," the familiar voice of Madame Gao warned. Matt finally released me as the others got to their feet, Stick coming out from behind a half wall. As we all stood, we were instantly surrounded by more men with swords and other weapons.

"Oh, shit," Jessica hissed as we all positioned ourselves in a circle. "We work together, we walk out of here alive," Stick told us. The tension in the room was its own physical being as we all waited for someone to make the first move. Matt was the first to do so, grabbing the man in front of him and spinning, tossing him into the man beside him before Matt slipped through the gap in the circle and rushed at Elektra.

"Now!" Stick called out, annoyance in his voice as we started fighting for our lives. I kicked and slashed and punched my opponents. Stick was very adept with his sword, making quick work of any who came his way. Danny was much like me, minus the slashing since he had no weapon beside himself. Jessica and Luke pretty much just threw people away from them. "Where's Matt? What's he thinking?" Danny barked above the fighting. "He's not. Stay with me!" Stick shouted back as I slammed my forehead into a man's nose, effectively breaking it.

I was faintly aware of someone fighting Luke, actually managing to push him back towards the hole in the building. But what really caught my attention was the man I fought managing to pin me to the top of a table, trying to turn my knife on me. The blade was close to my throat, and I fought to keep it from cutting me. He kept his head far enough away that I had no way of getting him off of me.

And then a large statuette slammed against the back of his head. He grunted and then went limp, slipping to the floor as I stared up at Jessica. "Thanks," I told her, righting myself. "Don't mention it," she said just a second before a man slammed into her. She let out a loud groan as she hit the floor. But the man had no chance to attack her further because I jumped forward and wrapped my arm around his throat. Yanking him off of her, I let his struggling be its own momentum before I shoved him into a wall. He can blame himself for that knock out. Reaching a hand down, I helped Jessica to her feet. "Guess we're even," she told me with a huff. I smirked in response before moving to help Danny with his attackers.

I heard Jessica call for Luke, turning to see her standing near the hole in the building, the unbreakable man nowhere to be seen. Fighting off two highly trained men wasn't as easy as it had seemed in the past. Maybe these two just had better training, since they actually managed to land a few hits. My lip was split and I could taste the blood in my mouth, spitting it at one man before slamming my knife into the knee of the other. He cried out in pain as the first man wiped at his face before rushing at me.