"P-Please, take me hostage! Let my child go!" A middle-aged woman hollered in despair upon staring at a thug pointing a gun at her five-year-old child.
"Shut up!" Another thug grunted in anger and hit her head, causing her to fall to the ground, bleeding a little. She almost fainted from the impact. "That should teach you to behave."
"Mom!" Her son shouted in horror before shutting up as the thug holding him captive choked him a little to display anger.
"We need justice! Free our leader or we'll kill everyone in this building!" The thug dragged the child with him and shouted while staring at a camera pointed at him from beyond the building.
Thump!
"Fucking bastard!" Millie slammed the door of a police van in rage, mentally chanting, 'Keep your cool. This isn't real. Don't lose your cool!'
"Kyak!"
Pat! Pata! P-Pat!
"Those fuckers!" She screamed in rage upon hearing the sounds of a gun firing a round of bullets, rushing out of the police van to stare with a pale face as the body of the five-year-old flew across the air and slammed into the middle of the road.
"Every minute you delay, we kill one!" The thug announced from within the building before moving away from camera view.
"Lady Hero, your orders?" One of the police officers asked her, "We have the assault team on standby."
"Remain there. Too many lives would be lost in the crossfire…" She had just controlled herself to speak logically when the sound of gunfire resounded. This time, it was the child's mother who had intended to rush out toward her son.
His death destroyed all her sense of reasoning. And when she disobeyed the thugs, she was shot mercilessly.
"These inhumane bastards!" Millie's eyes turned red in wrath as she said, "I'll lead the charge and make those fuckers focus all the fire on me. Everyone else should only work on rescuing the hostages. Rescue should take priority."
"But you can't neutralise them like usual. There's no time when the hostages might get caught in the crossfire." The police officer protested her reckless plan. But suddenly, he calmed down upon seeing that Millie was blinded by rage, speaking rationally, "You know, a Hero isn't supposed to kill. Once you do, you're just a superpowered soldier. You'll lose qualifications to be called a hero."
"You needn't worry," Millie said as her figure disappeared, "I'll only lose my qualifications as a Hero if I kill humans."
"Tch, dumbass. Don't just kill them all." A thug scolded, "If you put too much pressure on them, they'll simply write us off as terrorists and send in their entire force without thinking about consequences."
"We must show that we're a threat, but not one so dangerous that the lives of everyone in this city itself would be put at risk if we survived."
"Noted," The other thug nodded in response as he pointed his gun at a trembling old man, "You heard that, old fart? Don't struggle and make me waste my bullets needlessly, got it?"
"If you have to shoot someone, just shoot me. Don't target the young ones, please." The old man pleaded.
"Bah, I shot them precisely because their lives have meaning. What does the life of someone with a foot in a grave like you have? You might probably die of an ailment any moment even if I did nothing." Saying so, the thug slammed the bunt of his rifle on the old man's head, knocking him out.
"Hmm…?" One of the thugs suddenly stared at a clerk of the hotel, his eyes lecherously scanning her from top to bottom as he let out a drooling grin before approaching her, "You…strip, now."
"W-What?" The clerk was alarmed, staring in shock when she was slapped in the face.
"I told you to strip! Quick! Unless you wish to have another hole in your body." The thug pointed the gun at her.
"P-Please, spare me!" The clerk pleaded but was punched in the stomach as her shirt was ripped open forcefully by the thug.
"Hehe, that's a nice pair you got there." The thug grinned with avarice.
"This shithead is at it again." A thug shook his head and let out a laugh. The others too were the same, having expected him to react this way eventually. "That poor girl only has herself to blame."
Swoosh!
Unknown to others, like water, Millie slipped into the building by minimising her friction to the limit. Moreover, she went a step further, focusing on her skin as she used a droplet of sweat to cover her skin before taking advantage of its surface tension to place her hand on the wall and smoothly scale it up like a vehicle driving through.
Her eyes spewed hatred upon staring at the actions of the thugs, but she controlled herself, 'A Hero saves all humans.'
'Yes, all humans.' Her eyes focused on all the guns as she tilted her head. Her hair flailed a little as thin streams moved away from her surroundings, slowly making their way toward the thugs, one after another.
These streams were those lacking any friction that she carefully split and manipulated, causing each to curve in the air to target a gun. And at the same time, she also layered another layer of air on the floor underneath each thug, taking in a deep breath before shouting, "Now!"
Boom!
The windows shattered as the assault team rushed in.
"Those bastards!" The thugs shouted as they aimed their guns at the assault team, pressing the trigger when they saw in alarm that they didn't fire any bullets. Thanks to the frictionless air, the firing pin was now unable to come into contact with the bullet's rear.
Swoosh!
Millie jumped on the ground as she rushed towards the closest thug, glaring at the opponent that suddenly collapsed to the ground, bleeding from the eye. At that moment, she raised the friction in his eye fluid to the limit. So, when his eyelids flapped, they ruptured his eye, peeling away a layer in response, causing it to bleed.
She punched him in response and sent him flying straight into the roof, causing his head to puncture through with the help of her ability. Of course, the thug died from the impact.
'These monsters will pay.' She glared in hatred and skidded towards the next thug, repeating the same to send him piercing into the ceiling too.
