At Maria's orders, Bruce obediently took a few steps back towards the front door, blocking it with his body to force anyone trying to leave to go through him first. Lillian tried to oblige him by slashing at him with her switchblade, but the big man dodged with almost disdainful ease... and yelped in pain when Neil's knife pricked him in the shoulder. Bruce retaliated with a clumsy punch that missed Neil by half a mile.

In the center of the room, Matthew spoke to Vishakha while freeing her: " It's gonna be okay now... we'll take you back to the campus *cough* "

As soon as her hands were free, Vishakha wiggled out of her bindings and removed her gag. "No!" she protested fiercely. "We need to go after her, she still has Karen! What if she hurts her in revenge?"

Meanwhile Fred, Leon and Christian were still locked in a fierce scuffle centered around Christian's gun. When Leon cut him across the thigh, Fred spared him just enough attention to aim a punch at his stomach. It was a left-handed, almost negligent blow, but to Leon it felt like a freight train ramming his ribcage. He doubled over, gasping for air.

Fred brought his attention back to Christian just in time to jump out of his firing line when the rookie pulled the trigger. The bullet only grazed the bouncer's temple.

Maxwell was having the time of his life. After wiping his blade on Gregory's clothes, he turned to Bruce, who guarded the front door, and theatrically exclaimed: "You! How dare you stand in the way of justice?" With a maniacal grin, he lunged at him and sank his rapier into his throat. Without a noise, Bruce collapsed, bleeding heavily from the jugular.


OOC: Only Fred left!