*Click*
Reacting as soon as the familiar sound reached his ears, Esau leapt to one side just as bullets burst through the doors and parts of the wall. Keeping his chest as close to the floor as possible, Esau waited patiently as his mind played over possible, briefly considering jumping out the window. That was until he picked up movement on the roof of the opposite building, seeing slight shadows as men repelled from the roof of this apartment complex, unnoticeable to the human eye, but not his.
'Whoever organised this is clearly good.' There was nowhere for Esau to go and he doubted that jumping down would be any good, not only due to how high up he was. If the leader of this ambush had enough men to line the roof of the opposite building, it wasn't a stretch of the imagination that they would have more men waiting downstairs. 'Now the question is how they knew who I was and what they want?'
Before he could think more about this, the gunfire stopped and the door was kicked open.
Moving quickly, Esau shot up and turned to see ten armoured men enter the room with guns raised, and more waiting outside.
Yet Esau was already in motion and was upon them before they could start firing, ignoring the sound of glass shattering as men repelled into his apartment.
Smacking one gun to the side so that it fired harmlessly into the ground, Esau kicked the man to the side with enough force to send him flying into the kitchen counter. Another man moved forwards and Esau gripped ahold of his bulletproof armour and threw him across the room where he slammed into the wall of his bedroom, the drywall denting heavily.
A front kick to the third man sent him into two more behind him dropping them to the ground and that was when he felt something pierce his side.
Looking down, Esau noticed a dart of some kind sticking out. 'Capture then.' Esau deduced but didn't even slow down and rushed the guy that shot him, who was flanked by four guys, all standing by the smashed windows and guns raised.
A few blows sent them all to the ground in a groaning mess only for another two darts to pierce his back.
Growling, Esau gripped the leg of one soldier and swung him around into three others sending them to the floor before reaching down and pulling the carpet out from underneath four more, each falling to the ground as their bullets hit the ceiling above them. Another dart hit his back and with one hand holding the leg of his coffee table, Esau spun round and launched it at the guy who fired. He, having moved around the corner of the room to move behind Esau and while it worked, Esau was ignoring the drugs that were in the darts and continued to fight.
Six more guys dropped to the floor as more and more men piled into the room, some more having repelled from the roof.
'Damn it!' Esau cursed as he stumbled slightly on his feet as knocked one guy unconscious with a punch to the face. Only for two more guys to fire at him, and he avoided one bullet only for the second to hit his leg. 'These guys are good.' It was like fighting the soldiers of Hammer all over again, but this time in greater numbers.
He would be the first to admit that the reason he lost so miserably to the Hammer was that he overestimated himself and underestimated them. Their teamwork was phenomenal, covering each other's weaknesses and taking full advantage of his weakened state to a degree that it only took six of them to take him out. Yet, Esau was confident that if he had been in top condition, he could have escaped, not won, but escaped, that much he could acknowledge, very aware of their skills now.
These guys he was up against right now, they were no different.
Except he had nowhere to run to.
He was surrounded and the only thing for him to do was fight and that's exactly what he did with all his might and will. Esau was outmatched in numbers, their teamwork was solid and their movements as they covered the room and came at him from all angles showcased that fully. But he was their superior in skill and athleticism, a few blows to each being enough to finish them off as he made sure to try and keep one wall to his back. Yet, unlike common thugs, these trained professionals knew what he was doing and were doing their best to deny him this by forcing him to come to them.
If he didn't, he was a sitting duck and it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Backhanding one man that attempted to sneak up on him, Esau gripped his armoured suit and chucked him into the roof and as the man fell to the floor, Esau kicked him with enough force to send him flying into two others where they collapsed to the ground in a heap.
Breathing heavily as the drugs started taking effect, Esau felt his body moving sluggishly, leaning forwards deeply as his arms hung loosely. His movements were still fast and strong, but nowhere near as crisp or as fast as they were at the start and with more darts managing to hit him, the effect of the drugs got stronger and stronger.
Whoever these guys were, they were well-trained and had experience with fighting enhanced individuals, clearly, this is what they were trained to do.
Grunting as something pierced his skin feeling like pincers, Esau looked down to see two prongs poking out of his body. That moment of hesitation was all they needed for six more to pierce his body and Esau only had a moment to realise what they were both electricity coursed down the length of the wire before he cried out in pain.
"Gah!" Dropping to his knees, Esau braced his hands on the floor and breathed heavily as his body let off some smoke.
As one of the soldiers moved towards him, Esau lashed out with a punch that whipped his head upwards and then threw him at one of the guys holding the modified tasers. As soon as he did another current of electricity coursed through Esau's body as he dropped to the ground once more, momentarily trying to inch his way forwards before more taser prongs pierced his body, increasing the electric current.
It was longer this time and it felt stronger as well, to the point it left Esau paralysed for a few seconds.
But just as feeling began to return to his body, one of the soldiers's stood above him, gun raised into the air.
It slammed down onto Esau with enough force that his nose burst open, blood pooling down his face.
Yet Esau registered none of that as his vision slowly blurred and became black.
-X-
Wednesday 29th April 2009, 20:10.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
East End.
Narrowing her eyes, Barbara looked through the lenses of her Batgirl costume as it zoomed in on Esau's apartment. As of a few minutes ago, a number of calls to the police had been sent in asking for help upon hearing gunfire in the apartment complex. Barbara upon hearing about gunfire in Esau's apartment complex had rushed over as quickly as she could, sparing Bruce only a few words.
'He doesn't need my help anyway; the Joker's already been caught.' Barbara thought back to what she and Batman had been doing for the past two days. Ever since the news of Killer Croc's death at the hands of Esau had sent those few criminals that had gotten a little too confident in Batman's short absence scurrying back into their holes.
As much as they would have liked Batman's absence to have gone unnoticed, it had not.
Thankfully, Black Hood had sent a message to them that Gotham was still protected and Barbara was equal parts happy as it bought Bruce more time to recover, she was also saddened by how he had done it.
Either way, with the criminals hiding – anyone who could kill Killer Croc was certainly something to be feared in their books – Bruce had been able to recover without forcing himself to drastic measures. He wasn't at full health by any stretch of the meaning, but he was certainly fit enough to fight and they had not wasted a moment and began their hunt for the Joker.
It had been a little difficult in the beginning, but like always, the Joker couldn't help but leave a trail for them to follow. His little messages to Batman that taunted him, begged him to come as part of their game of cat and mouse.
As soon as the report had come in, she and Batman had already finished detaining the Joker and Batgirl had instantly rushed off.
Now here she was looking at the apartment complex in worry. Through her built-in lenses, Barbara had zoomed in on Esau's apartment where her dad was currently studying the mess that her friends' room had become. The number of bullet holes littering the walls and the dents from what were undoubtedly bodies hitting them was immense and it would cost hundreds if not thousands to repair.
Yet one question plagued her mind. 'Esau, where are you?' Barbara wondered; her mind clouded with worry.
-X-
Thursday 30th April 2009, 19:00.
Location Unknown.
Groaning, Esau slowly opened his eyes and quickly closed them when the blinding light of the room was too painful for him. After a few seconds, Esau opened them once more and while it was certainly better, it wasn't great and so, lifted one hand to cover his eyes a little and looked around.
The first thing he took note of was that he was wearing his suit minus the face mask, and hood as well as his weapons, including his gloves.
Then he saw the number of individuals in the room as well.
Around him, he could make out the sight of seven other people all slowly waking up the biggest of the lot, a large bulking beast that looked almost like a shark with a muzzle on his face, caught his eye immediately. 'If he's here and they fought him, then whoever captured me has a lot of experience and knowledge on enhanced people like me and how to beat them.'
His eyes then panned to the sight of a tanned, well-built man in an all-black-tactical combat gear that looked awfully familiar quickly rising to his feet. 'He's definitely been through this before.' Just by how quickly he got to his feet told Esau more than words ever could.
Slightly in front of the man was a middle-aged man with brown hair and noticeable sideburns, dressed in black jeans, a blue overcoat with a black shirt underneath and a scarf around his neck. "Shit!" The man muttered with an audible Australian accent as he rubbed his eyes irritably. "I've got the hangover, but I don't remember the party."
That's when a very attractive blonde dressed in a jester outfit with her hair pulled into twin ponytails shot up into a seated position. "Oh crap, not this again." Then the woman dropped back into the floor with a thud to sleep or just lay there, he didn't know.
"You too." The Australian man rose to his feet arms crossed over his chest as he looked at the tanned figure who had already risen to his feet. "It's like a bloody recurring nightmare."
Despite the Australian man's annoyance, the other man just remained stoic as he leaned against the wall. "Looks like we got rookies." The man's eyes panned over the group taking note of a brown-skinned man rising to his feet also clad in black tactical gear, the humanoids-shark, his eyes however lingered on Esau who was staring back at him with a calm gaze.
'Definitely not the first time for him.' Esau concurred as he looked at the remaining members in the white room, they were confined in. There was a large bulky guy with a bald head, the hair from it obviously having moved to other parts of his body. Though the most stand-out part was the hand that seemed to be missing and replaced with some sort of prosthetic that looked like it could be fitted with something on the end.
Then his eyes panned to the final member and he would admit that his eyes lingered more than they should have on the attractive young woman. She had pale blue hair and pale skin with her curvaceous body barely hidden by the skin-tight blue leotard. Though while his eyes did linger on her womanly assets longer than was acceptable, his eyes did take in the fact her hands were bound in some strange handcuffs, which completely covered her hands.
Wherever he was, Esau didn't like it.