CHAPTER 9: Spider gang and National hunter.
Nine to ten heavily armed figures, their faces obscured by tactical helmets and balaclavas, stormed the floor. The synchronized stomp of their boots on the marble was the only sound as they fanned out, assault rifles sweeping the room. They moved with brutal efficiency, silencing screams with guttural commands and herding the terrified patrons into a huddled group in the center of the dining hall.
Jotaro's table, tucked away in a corner alcove, was one of the last to be reached. The few minutes it took for the gunmen to work their way across the room felt like an eternity.
"They're coming this way," Do Hee whispered, her voice trembling. The panic in her eyes was a mirror of every other woman at the table, their faces pale with dread. "What are we going to do?"
"Stay calm. Do whatever they say. Don't give them a reason to get angry," Jotaro replied, his voice a low, steady rumble. He didn't look at her; his gaze was fixed on the approaching threat. He was confident he could neutralize every single one of them, but that was a last resort. He had another card to play, a trump that guaranteed no one here had to die by his hand.
The lead gunman finally reached their table, his rifle barrel swinging to bear directly on Jotaro's chest. "Where are they?" he snarled, his voice distorted by the mask. "WHERE DID SHE GO?!"
"Bathroom, maybe?" Jotaro answered, meeting the man's gaze without a flicker of fear. His calm was a stark contrast to the trembling women beside him.
The gunman's partner, a shorter man with a twitchy trigger finger, kept his weapon trained on the girls. "Trying to be a tough guy, huh? You not scared to die?" he sneered, clearly unnerved by Jotaro's composure.
"No. Want to know why?" Jotaro murmured, a slow, dangerous smile spreading across his face. The shift in his demeanor was palpable, making the lead gunman tense.
"Stop fucking around!" the leader roared, his patience snapping. He shoved the rifle closer to Jotaro's face. "The truth, or they die. Where is the girl, Jessica?"
Jotaro's smile widened. "Because the American National-level Hunter, Thomas Andre, is sitting at the table right next to us."
The name hung in the air like a physical blow. The gunmen's heads snapped toward the adjacent table, but their reaction was fatally slow. Before they could even begin to retrain their weapons, a blur of motion erupted from the other side. Thomas Andre, a mountain of a man, moved with impossible speed. In one fluid, contemptuous motion, he swatted the rifle from the leader's hands and drove a single, precise fist into the man's chest. The gunman crumpled to the floor, unconscious before he hit the ground.
The entire sequence took less than two seconds. The room was frozen, the other gunmen too stunned to react. Only Andre moved, rising to his full, intimidating height and crossing his arms as he stood protectively in front of Jotaro's table.
"Hah! Well now, kid," Andre boomed, his voice a mixture of amusement and sharp calculation. "That was a hell of a gamble. How did you know? And who the hell are you?"
"Just nobody who pays attention," Jotaro said, his attention already drifting past the giant of a man. He ignored the question, his eyes scanning the chaos as the remaining gunmen were systematically dispatched by a new arrival. "There you are," he muttered, a note of relief in his voice. "What took you so long?"
Dropping from a high balcony in a silent, graceful arc was a trio of figures. One was clad in the sleek black-and-white suit of the Ghost Spider, another in the regal, armored crimson of the Red Queen, and the third in the classic, web-patterned suit of black and red, Spider-Woman. The Spider-Gang had arrived.
"We were fighting the soldiers on the ground floor. There were so many and well prepared." Ghost spider stated, her costume had some torn areas like other which means they indeed were out number and stronger.
"Hmm. you defeated all of them?" Andre asked this time, confirming if he had to fight or not. "Well there are some grunt on top who have hostages and we are dismissed to future help by the police." Spider women responded to Andre's question.
"By the way did you see? Three beautiful girls are missing. One is blond,one has red hair and the last has black hair?" Martha asked, almost half an hour had passed since they went to the kitchen asking for help.
"OH they.." A heroine in a red and black costume spoke, realizing something as she panicked while speaking. "They are down with the police and they help us." The ghost spider spoke with an awkward tone.
"I will help them, they are at the terrace." The national hunter spoke as he left, staring at Jotaro for a second before vanishing from everyone's sight.
"He's damn fast." Jotaro muttered in a low voice and looked at Martha for an answer. "So should we continue or…?"
"I'm hungry…" Joo Hee admitted, as her stomach growled out loud, she flustered from embarrassment. "So we should be at my place then, after all this palace will be out of commission for a while." He urged as today was his treat so why not.
"I don't care as long as you are a paid boss." Nila said bluntly. Her rationality vanished due to hunger. "Good then, my house is fifteen minutes away. Online, order anything and I will pay at this address."
"What about them?" Martha said as Gwen, Jane and Drew were missing from the entire conversation and god knows where they were.
"Well, it's up to them if they want to?" Jotaro said, as the spider trio was talking about food. He walked toward them and said, "You three aren't you busy? Can you tell those three to be at my place?"
"Oh yeah, we should go. If we find them we will."