Fight

It's easy to tell who xe are, from the walk, the height, the irritated grunting as xe bat leaves out of xeir face. I'm not the only one that recognises xem though- so does everyone else. Weapons are drawn and glares are thrown at each other, but The Gardener seems to be wanting to fight Thomas herself than fight the rest of us. As to why? I have no clue, but she's got a spade pointed at xeir figure approaching through the flora. I should probably be terrified, but given there's six of us, and only one of xem, I'm not too scared. Not that I'm much use right now, which is just. So frustrating. However, being pissed off is not going to help me. I want my axes back, I really miss them. I may not be able to walk but I could still throw an axe, if they weren't in the middle of who-knows-where. Or probably confiscated by cops, if not grabbed by some sticky-fingered mentally ill teenager. So at the very least for this battle, I have no axes. Which is irritating, to say the least. Currently considering the only weapons of any worth nearby are the burner phone and a bunch of sticks, I think my best option is to just stay away from anyone with a weapon and try to look unthreatening, which is not particularly hard, all things considered. It looks like Thomas has a pair of surprisingly small clubs in order to fight against the forces arrayed against xem. It takes all of thirty seconds before Ash launches himself at xem, whirling while in the air in a perfect flip, with his heel directed right into where xeir head was a second ago. He knees xem in the stomach and smashes an elbow into xeir face, sounds like he broke xeir nose from the noise it makes on impact. With three more swift blows, he breaks both knees and I think dislocates xeir shoulder. If before I was intimidated by Ash, at this point I am goddamn petrified with fear. Xe scream in pain and rage, and there is a great amount of crashing through the bush, but not for long as the bodyguards that I had earlier expected appear in a half-circle behind xem. From here, I can see no less than eight bodyguards, and I wouldn't rule out more in the trees behind these ones. I don't fancy these odds in the least and nobody else seems to either, except Ash who's blinded by grief and anger. I mean, Claw and Shard are both… murderous in the general vicinity, but they seem to understand that if they all die then Noir will have nobody left. I refuse to let that happen. So we need to leave. I quietly and slowly edge a little to my right, to where Kara stands, weapons raised, and snatch one of her smoke bombs, throwing it at the ground in front of the baddies. In the moment before the smoke blossoms, the bodyguards draw pistols and aim them, but don't manage to get off a shot before being blinded by the smog. Kara drags me to my feet and helps me to the elevator, where The Gardener already is. I think Claw and Shard would be here, but they are literally carrying Ash to the elevator. I think the loss of his kid has tipped him over the edge and he can't deal with it. Once again, I'm thankful that I don't have kids, albeit for a very different reason than usual. The Amours get into the elevator and I slap the close doors button so hard my hand stings a bit, and jabbing the ground floor button too. Given that this goes one hell of a lot faster than the other one, but looks a lot less polished and shiny than the other, I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and guess that this is a service elevator or something vaguely similar. It shoots to the ground floor and we disembark, running through the lobby and out into the rainy street.