Family Time

"SALLY!" Stronghold gripped the knives and ran down the hallway, his heart pounding (STUPID! I WAS STUPID! I NEVER SHOULD HAVE TAKEN MY EYES OFF OF HER!) "SALLY! Sally where are you?!" He called out in desperation. He stopped as he came at the crossroads again. Where? Where did she go? Straight, to the left, to the right? Was she taken? Was...was she...why didn't he hear it? What the hell happened? Where did she go? Where? Where? He shined his flashlight down the paths in a desperate attempt to find a clue of some sort. He didn't hear the table leg fall to the ground or see it, so that meant somebody took it from her. But there was no way they would be able to restrain her, so that meant there were two people taking her. Stronghold stopped as he saw the table leg on the floor down the hallway in front of him and he ran over to it, pocketing the knives for now.

He knelt down to pick it up. "They dropped it here on purpose...I didn't hear a sound, so it must have been set down gently. No blood on it either, so she must still be alive." He assured himself. Picking up the table leg, he continued on. "Yes, she has to be alive. I can still save her." He repeated and continued down the hallway. He stopped when he spotted something on the ground. Her shoe. It looked like she had kicked it off to lead him. "Clever girl. Thank you." He kept moving forward until he saw a tall figure in a business suit standing in a doorway.

"I'll ask you once: Where is she?!" Stronghold asked the man. "ANSWER ME!" He demanded. The man's response was take off his coat, drop it on the floor and walk forward, rolling up his sleeve. Stronghold turned off the flashlight and set it down so he could use both hands. "Fine. I'll beat it out of you!"
Stronghold swung the table leg at the psycho who responded by grabbing and turning to the side, slamming Stronghold against the wall. Stronghold yelled out in pain. (Dammit, that hurt....s-still not used to being normal again...cripes this guy is strong!) He struggled and pushed against him as the masked man pushed upwards and then kneed him in the stomach.Stronghold gasped at the pain of the stomach. He recovered though and headbutted the masked man, who responded with his own. Both of them hurt their heads but thanks to his training and strength, Stronghold was able to recover and shove him away. Getting a grip on the table leg again, Stronghold swung it like a bat at the lunatic. The masked man raised his arm up though and blocked the swing and then kicked him in the stomach, knocking Stronghold away. Stronghold shook his head and held his stomach, feeling the pain in it. The psycho got the table leg away from him, threw it away and started punching Stronghold in the face and then grabbed him by the shirt and throwing him to the ground and kicking him in the stomach. Stronghold spit blood from his mouth. (Guh.......damn.......who the hell....this guy hits so damn hard....it almost feels...feels like.) Stronghold stared up at the man, noticing his gloves. (Feels like...like metal...oh I get it!) The man was on top of him them, getting on top of him and wrapping his hands around the hero's throat and pressing his thumb's against his windpipe. (N-not....not good....he's strong but he's...his hands....) As Stronghold gasped for air and the psycho increased his grip, Stronghold reached up and grabbed one of his thumb's with both hands and broke it before kicking the psycho off of himself. As the psycho held his broken finger in pain, Stronghold coughed and hacked as he struggled to get his breath back. (Now. If I'm gonna take him, it has be now!) Stronghold stood up and rushed him and gave him a brutal haymaker across the face and then following it up with more as he knocked the psycho down, jumped on his chest, and pounded on him repeatedly before getting up, grabbing up the table leg, walking over to him and swinging it down at the masked man as hard as he could. There was a satisfying WHACK sound as the thug went down. Stronghold took a moment to rest and rub his neck as he tried to catch his breath. He took off the psycho's gloves. "Just as I thought...he was using knuckle dusters." Smiling, he slipped off the dusters, took off his own gloves for a moment and then put them on and put his own gloves back on. "Thanks for nothing asshole." He stood up shakily, holding his head in pain for a few moments and then continuing on. He didn't need a mirror to know that his face was a mess beneath his mask already.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his glove, he continued forward. He found another shoe and then followed the path, seeing bloodstains in the forms of arrows on the floor. (Well at least I know where to go. Hang on Sally.) He kept running and kicked open the door to a more narrow hallway. He followed it through to a new room.

This room was painted differently than the others were. It was black and white squares everywhere and covered in blood. In the middle of the room, there was Sally, tied to a chair. There was also an unknown man hanging down from a chain that his hands were tied to. Surrounding them were more masked men.

Two masked men, two masked women, all of them carrying bloody knives. They turned as one to see him, apparently surprised that he made. Reaching into his pockets, Stronghold pulled out his own knives. "Let them go or I'll do to you what I did to your friend back there."
The man in the suit raised his knife and pointed to two words they had cut into the man. WEAK and HERO and then pointed at him.
"Screw you too."
The psycho's all charged him as one. Stronghold turned and ran for it, leading the psycho's into the narrow hallway before turning around just in time to block a stab from the blonde girl with his own knives and then slashing at her arm and kicking her in the gut. The girl backed away, holding her bleeding arm. The girl slashed at him again, causing the superhero to scream in pain as he received a cut across his chest. The others tried to push past her but there was no room. Dollgirl started slashing wildly with her knives as Stronghold parried with his own, their knives clanging against each other and echoing through the hallway until Matthew knocked away one knife, parried her other knife and then punched her in the face with as much strength as he could muster, throwing his entire body weight into the punch. This, combined with the brass knuckles under his gloves, was enough to not only shatter her mask but also send her flying backwards through the air against the others, blood dripping down her forehead.
Dollwoman knelt down and touched her pulse. She was alive, but out like a light. The others looked down at her and then at Stronghold. He couldn't see their faces but their eyes showed utter rage at this. "Come on then, you bastards."
Dollwoman dragged the girl away as Hood charged at him next, stabbing at the superhero. Stronghold crossed the knifes, silently thanking Artemis for her knife training. The lunatic and the hero clashed and dueled in the middle of the hallway with Stronghold on the defensive until he got an opening and kicked him as hard as he could in the balls, twice, stabbed him in the shoulder and headbutted him to the ground. Stronghold then jumped up into the air and stomped on him. "Next?"
Mister turned and ran back into the room with Stronghold in hot pursuit. Mister turned and flung the knife through the air like a missile at Stronghold but he blocked it with his remaining knife, grabbed it out of the air and continued inside.
Just as he reached Mister though, the Woman jumped him behind but the superhero saw this coming and turned around and blocked the knife with his own. Stronghold then kicked backwards to avoid being stabbed by Mister. He dueled both Woman and Mister the best he could but they were faster than him, getting cuts on the hero as he was pushed back by them. He blocked and dodged frantically until managed to manuever to Woman's left side and stab her leg and then kick the back of it after pulling it out, knocking her to the ground. Stronghold then backhanded the back of her head, knocking her to the floor. Finally, he rushed Mister, parrying a knife strike, grabbing his wrist, slamming his head against Mister as hard as he could and then punching the villain with a brutal punching combination, landing eight straight punches to his face and then giving him an uppercut and then pulling back and giving him his very bust punch to the chest, sending the villain several feet away.
Mister was out, Woman was out, Dollgirl was out and hoodie was out. Falling against the wall, Stronghold closed his eyes to rest for a few minutes before smiling and walking over to Sally. "Hey there, sorry about that, it won't happen again."
"MMMPHHH!"
"Huh?" Stronghold blinked as he noticed the long haired man was gone. "Wha?" Was all he got out before he felt a metal chain wrap around his throat.
"Gkkkk!" 
"Daaaaamn. You're good. I mean real good. I didn't think you'd beat the family." The man laughed as he tightened his grip. "Not many people make it that far. But this is where it ends. That crying pleading girl will be the last thing you'll see. And then I'll kill her too." He taunted as Stronghold continued to struggle against him. He started lifting Stronghold up into the air. Thinking quickly, Stronghold elbowed him in the ribs. Again. Again. Again. As hard as he possibly could in panicked desperation until the man let him go. Stronghold stumbled away from him as he coughed and tried to regain his breath. The man laughed. "That's better, come on, try and make this fun for me!" He said and rushed him, punching Stronghold barely blocked his punches as he fell back and then punched him again and then giving him a punch to the throat, causing the lunatic to fall backwards. Giving him a death glare, Stronghold knocked the man to the ground and just went ballistic, hitting him again and again and again until the man stopped moving. He'd live, but he wouldn't be in an condition to fight any time soon. Falling over, Stronghold shakily reached over, put a finger on his blood and then licked it. Fake blood. That explained it. The room was a trap. If the knife psycho's didn't kill the victim, then he would. The man he fought earlier must have been sent to try and wear him down. Stronghold took his time to recover and then walked over to Sally and untied her. "Sorry." Was all he could. Sally burst into tears and hugged him.