All of them turned their heads around again when they heard some movement coming from inside of the warehouse. The noise did not just come from just one direction; instead it seemed to come from all directions surrounding them.

“Guys? I think we’ve got company…” Tiffany said; sweat trickling down her face as she tightened her grip around her pistol.

Yoona and Seohyun both followed suit as well and formed a triangle with Tiffany so as to cover all directions.

“We just have to hang on until Sunny realises that we are in trouble. She’s bound to realise soon…” Tiffany whispered to the other two, trying her best to appear confident, but her voice failed her.

Both Yoona and Seohyun sensed the fear in Tiffany’s voice and started to become scared as well. Sweat was starting to form on their palms, making it harder for them to grip their pistols properly.

More footsteps were heard around them, but they could not see anybody moving. The warehouse was a mess and there were many large wooden crates stacked on top of each other littered around the entire place. There were countless spots for any adversaries to be hiding in.

All of them stayed on high alert for any discernible movement. Tiffany spotted a sudden movement on the second floor of the warehouse in the corner of her eye. Tiffany quickly pointed her pistol to the direction she saw the movement in and took a shot.

The bullet was flying towards a masked man half concealed behind several crates and he was initially about to take a shot at Tiffany’s group using his pistol as well. Tiffany watched as the bullet hit its target. The man dropped his gun in pain, but surprisingly, there was no blood or any signs of injury on the man even after the bullet flew straight into his arm.

Tiffany watched in shock as the man quickly recovered and started to take aim at Tiffany again. Yoona, who spotted the man’s movements, pulled Tiffany and Seohyun down behind a stack of crates just in time as the man fired his shot. The bullet ricocheted off the ground just a few inches away from them, making a small dent in the wooden floor before bouncing off harmlessly.

“… how did that happen? I’m fairly sure I hit his arm!” Tiffany exclaimed worriedly.

Seohyun and Yoona both hurriedly nodded in agreement as they had both seen what had happened earlier on as well.

“Wait… the bullets….” Tiffany cursed.

Tiffany pushed open the barrel of her gun and inspected the 5 remaining bullets in her pistol. All of them seemed to be deformed. Yoona and Seohyun quickly checked their guns as well, only to find that the condition of the bullets were no better.

“What the… These bullets only just arrived from headquarters! This shouldn’t be happening…” Seohyun exclaimed in disbelief.

“Crap… we didn’t bring any spare ammunition either… these guns are useless then… then what are we supposed to do? Fight against heavily armed men using sticks and foul language?” Yoona said.

All of them started to breathe heavier and heavier as they started realising that all the odds were not in their favour. This is the first time they have ever been to this place, they were outnumbered and worst of all their equipment were faulty.

“Everything’s going wrong… this was supposed to just be a straightforward warehouse inspection… I don’t understand how this could have happened…” Tiffany cursed under her breath.

More footsteps were heard coming from behind the crates which they were using to hide from open fire.  It sounded like there were at least ten or more men waiting to ambush them.

With no feasible means to fight against the men and no immediate relief in sight, all three of them felt like giving up when they realised how desperate their situation was. All of them slumped backwards against the crates and closed their eyes tightly.

Tiffany suddenly remembered the words that Taeyeon had told her.

“Oh… it’s nothing. Just promise me you will keep yourself safe.” Taeyeon said.

*I made a promise* Tiffany thought determinedly as she sat up straight. Yoona and Seohyun looked at Tiffany curiously.

“Guys, we can’t give up just yet. We still can fight them off. Remember, we just need to hold them off long enough until reinforcements arrive. Since Sunny is constantly patrolling on the outside, she should notice that we are in trouble soon enough.” Tiffany said with much more conviction than previously.

Yoona and Seohyun sat up as well, realising that what Tiffany said was true.

*Even if there is just a glimmer of hope, we must fight for it!* all of them thought simultaneously.

They discarded their useless pistols and readied themselves for hand-to-hand combat. Each of them have had at least 5 years of training as police inspectors and were all well versed in martial arms.

The footsteps drew closer as the men closed the distance between them and Tiffany’s group.

“Yoona, Seohyun, listen. Later, our first priority at all times is to stay safe. Aim to disable the men. Watch out for anybody wielding a firearm.” Tiffany quickly whispered.

Yoona and Seohyun nodded silently as each of them mentally prepared themselves on how they would be fighting the men off later.

One of the men took a step in the direction of Tiffany’s group carelessly and came within reach of Yoona’s leg.

“Now!” Yoona shouted as she stood up from the cover of the crates and tripped the man closest to her over, making the man fall flat on his face. Yoona took the opportunity to take out her handcuffs and cuff the man’s arms behind his back.

“One down!” Yoona said proudly.

Tiffany and Seohyun also quickly stood up and charged straight for the other two nearby men. The other two men were more prepared and quickly got into a defensive stance as they saw the approaching Tiffany and Seohyun.

Tiffany gave a straight jab towards her target, but the man blocked it quickly. Tiffany then threw a flurry of punches towards him, causing him to flinch and only be able to focus on dodging the punches. Tiffany then took the opportunity to knee the man in his stomach, causing him to bend over in extreme pain.

On the other hand, Seohyun was fighting a man a head taller than she was. Nevertheless, Seohyun didn’t seem to be unfazed as she glared at the man, taunting him to make the first move. The man, confident that he would be able to easily defeat Seohyun, took up her challenge and threw a fist towards Seohyun.

Seohyun dodged it with ease and grabbed onto the man’s arm. She noticed that the same man on the second level of the warehouse was once again targeting his aim on her. By holding onto the man’s arm, Seohyun threw him between herself and the man on the second level.

Unfortunately for the men, the sniper on the second level had pressed his finger on the trigger and by the time he noticed what Seohyun had done, it was already too late. He instantly responded by quickly lowering the aim of his pistol so as to avoid hitting the more vital parts of the other man’s body. The bullet hit the man’s leg instead, causing him to flinch and collapse onto the floor.

The sniper frowned at the mistake he had committed and prepared to take another shot at Seohyun again when he heard a noise behind him. He swerved his head around but it was too late and he got knocked unconscious by a blow to the head from Yoona.

Yoona then heard a loud hissing noise echoing around the second floor of the warehouse but thought nothing of it.

Yoona then jumped back down from the second floor to offer assistance to Tiffany and Seohyun, who were still busy fighting off the other men.

Tiffany, Seohyun and Yoona then managed to take down another five men. Unfortunately, there was still at least seven other men and two of them were still armed. All of their arms and legs already had light bruises on them due to excessive fighting with the men.

Tiffany’s group was slowly growing tired, but in contrast, the other men who were about to engage in combat with them had not taken part in the fight yet, so they were still fully energised.

All three of them were panting heavily already and their arms were aching from the fight. None of them knew how much longer they could last; neither did they have the time to worry about that. As the remaining men started to inch closer to them, they once again prepared themselves for another fight.

Suddenly, Tiffany’s vision started blurring. Tiffany shook her head, trying to clear her vision, but it didn’t seem to have gotten any better. Her knees suddenly lost their strength as she collapsed onto the floor, supporting her body from the floor by her arms.

“Tiffany unnie! What’s wrong?” Seohyun asked in concern.

Just then, both Yoona and Seohyun felt the same conditions that Tiffany did. They started to feel light headed and also lost strength in the legs as they drooped to the ground as well.

“W-what’s happening… Why can’t I stand…” Tiffany tried her best to ask.

Both Seohyun and Yoona shook their heads in confusion as well, not understanding what had happened to them.

A masked man stepped out of the group of men staring at the three girls.

“Humph. Don’t you know? This warehouse is rigged with lots of gas pipes loaded with carbon monoxide. You girls have been inhaling it for the past few minutes already. For your information, in another minute or so, all of you will probably be unconscious by then.” The man smirked.

Tiffany tried her best to lift up her head to look at the man speaking, but the effect of the gas was already compounding and she had barely any energy left.

“So… that’s why all of you were wearing masks…” Tiffany breathed heavily.

The man speaking earlier smiled evilly. All of the masked men started chattering amongst themselves.

“Hey, I’ll take this girl, she looks hot~” one of the man mused, gesturing at Yoona.

“Yea yea. You can have her. I’m taking this little b**** for kicking me in the stomach just now.” The man who crossed blows with Tiffany earlier said as he glared slyly at Tiffany.

“So miss intelligent here… Just now you were really bright huh? Using my friend to block the gunshot? Let’s see how smart you can be now!” another man taunted as he started moving towards Seohyun.

Tiffany, Yoona and Seohyun, realising what the men were about to do to them, tried their best to move as far away as possible from the men, but with no energy left and being barely conscious, they could only manage a slow crawl.

All of the remaining men started advancing towards the defenceless girls. One of the men bent down and grabbed Tiffany by her chin and forced her to look up at him.

“No no no. You aren’t going anywhere. You are my b**** now.” The man smiled slyly.

“Don’t you dare touch me or any of my friends, if not I swear I will…” Tiffany snarled.

“Will what? When all of you are unconscious? What do you think a puny girl like yourself can actually do to us?” the man smirked again.

“Like I said…. You had better not do anything to me or my friend-” Tiffany said as she earned a powerful slap across her face by the man.

“Watch me.” The man smirked.

Just as the man prepared to tear off Tiffany’s clothes, an extremely loud clanging sound was heard from one of the tightly locked ventilation pipes located near the roof of the warehouse. The clanging sound echoed and rang through the entire warehouse.

The clanging sound was heard more than once as all the men lifted their heads up to where the sound came from. Tiffany, Yoona and Seohyun tried to look also, but due to their grogginess, they could not even spare the energy to lift their heads up.

“What’s happening now…?” Tiffany asked tiredly in apprehension.

A/N: SORRY FOR THE CLIFFHANGER! I’m so sorry readers for this! But I can assure you nothing TOO bad is going to happen to Tiffany/Yoona/Seohyun...yet, so don’t worry about them too much… Besides… the next chapter will be up soon! Subscribe to get the latest update as soon as possible~

Btw… not really sure if this chapter should be marked “M”. It doesn’t really contain a lot of violence though. What do you guys think?

##Author Apologises for Cliff-Hanger##