Chapter 41: Fire Fight.

A woman with long red hair walked out from a balcony at the top of the warehouse and down the metal steps her heels clicking against them with every step. The barrel of her gun was still smoking as she reached the bottom step and threw it toward one of the masked men.

He juggled it in his hands before finally getting a grip on it and then putting it away in an empty holster on his leg. Haru chuckled at the sight of him.

"Do you think this is a laughing matter? What you did was unforgivable." The woman said looking at Haru with hatred in her eyes. It looked like this woman was so used to hating people that she couldn't bear to look anyone in the eye. Her gaze met his shoulder which took away from the intimidation she tried to inflict.

"I did something unforgivable? What was that exactly?" Haru said from the chair that was still on the floor. She walked over and stood above him looking down with anger. "That old man! He would be dead already if it wasn't for you. But that isn't the issue right now. The thing is... I want you to admit to sabotaging his furnace and trying to kill him."

"You want me to admit to trying to kill somebody I rescued? Do you know how stupid that sounds? Why would I rescue somebody I wanted to kill?" Haru laughed again. This woman was insane. Who even was she anyway? He thought as two of the other men lifted the chair upright again after the woman nodded her head toward them.

"Why would you do it huh? How about to save your own life? Are you too stupid to understand the situation you are in right now? Just look around you. We are in the middle of a warehouse late at night. Nobody would hear you scream. But most importantly nobody would hear a gunshot to your head." She laughed sadistically as she walked over to the man with a bag over his head in the chair opposite Haru.

"Or... If that isn't a good enough reason for you then... What about to save his life?" She pulled the bag from the man's head revealing Zen tied to the chair with duct tape over his mouth. He looked like he had been tortured for hours on end. His fingernails had been completely ripped off and he had a small trail of blood dripping from his left ear.

She then ripped the tape from Zen's mouth. "Agh, You bitch! What the fuck is wrong with you?" Zen shouted as soon as the tape was gone. The woman stopped for a second in shock.

"What! How dare you talk to me this way!" Zen didn't give her time to respond. "How dare I talk to you what way? You had me tied up and tortured by your goons. And you have the audacity to get offended by words? You stupid bitch! God damn street walking whore!" Zen was just screaming random insults to take his mind off the pain he was in.

Haru began to laugh again. "That's right Zen. Tell this bitch what she is!" He egged him on as he continued to laugh. The masked men didn't know what to do as Zen kept insulting the woman. She also had no idea what to do as she just stood in shock and watched it happen.

Until finally she snapped. "I bet your mother was fucked by pigs to give birth to a woman like you!" One of the masked men began to laugh along with Haru. The woman was now shaking in anger. "Cut out their tongues... Cut the tongues out of all three of them!" She screamed to the other masked men. They first started with their own guy.

They pinned him to the ground as he began to thrash around. "Wait guys stop. You don't have to do this. I wasn't laughing at her! I just thought of something funny!" He began to make excuses but it didn't work. He screamed as the blade slowly sank into his tongue slashing through flesh and veins.

They all got off him suddenly as one of the men threw a large chunk off bloodied flesh to the ground. The man crawled along the floor and picked it back up before putting it back into his mouth in hopes of reattaching it. He silently cried as the woman pulled a gun from a holster and shot him in the back of the head.

Blood slowly flooded the floor as it made it's way to a metal grate on the floor and then dripped down into the sewage pipes below. The men then changed their direction toward Zen who now began to panic.

"Ah, wait a minute guys. You don't really have to do this do you?" He then looked at Haru who was still smiling. "A bit of help, please," Zen asked Haru. "You didn't think I would let them hurt you in front of me, did you?"

The men flipped Zen's chair over onto the floor and held his head still. "And just how are you going to stop him from getting hurt? It will be your turn soon enough."

"How? This is how." Haru ripped his right hand through the rope. followed by his left and then both of his legs. He then looked toward the men holding Zen down to the floor. A red glow came from his hand as a high pitch screech echoed out.

Flames flew from his fingertips hitting all of the men on top of Zen. They began to howl in pain as some of them rolled along the floor and the others ran around helplessly trying to put out the flames. It lasted a few seconds before all that was left were piles of ashes on the floor where they lay previously.

"You! What are you! How did you do that?! Stay back!" The woman screamed as she pointed the gun toward Haru. She shot one bullet the hit Haru in the shoulder. The pain was tremendous but was nothing new at this point. The pains of cultivating were hundreds of times worse than this.

She shot another hitting his thigh and then began to shoot blindly as he didn't fall. In her panic the rest of the bullets all missed. Haru stood still for a moment as he senses the bullets inside his body and forced them out with Qi. He then tried to seal the wounds with his phoenix fire. The fire had no effect at all on his body. Blood slowly began to leak from the two bullet holes.

The woman backed her self against a wall and then slowly slid down in defeat whilst still pulling the trigger of the gun over and over not realising that she was out of bullets.

"You monster! How can you kill so easily?" She screamed in fear as he limped toward her. "That's ironic, isn't it? You just killed one of your own people. And you ask how I can kill? You have killed many people, haven't you? I bet it keeps you up at night, doesn't it? You hear the screams of all the people you have had killed every time you try to fall asleep." Haru began to torment her as she nodded her head and tears rolled down her face.

"Just think of their faces as you tried to kill them? I bet it was similar to the face you are making right now. I wonder. What should I do with you? But then again that isn't my call to make." Haru walked over to Zen and untied him.

"I thought you were going to leave me like this forever. Thank you." He said as he slowly got to his feet and rubbed his wrists where the rope had burned his skin. "Ouch, Ouch, Ouch." He said as he picked up a gun off the floor. The weight of the gun pressed against the skin where his fingernails used to be.

He then walked over to the woman with the gun aimed at her. "Wait please don't I will...." A crack sounded out around the warehouse as a flash exploded from the muzzle of the gun. "Fuck that stupid bitch I won't be able to type for weeks. How am I supposed to manage a business if I can't type."

Haru was a little shocked at how easily Zen had just killed someone. He stared at him for a moment. "Have you killed before? You made that look so easy..." Haru was even more concerned about the business his uncle was involved in. "Ah, Not personally but it wasn't exactly hard. I don't feel any regret right now if that's what you're worried about." Zen began to scratch his head but then felt the pain in his fingers again.

"Let's get this cleaned up and head home. We need to talk about this..." Zen said in frustration as he pulled out his phone and made a phone call.