Things almost immediately went FUBAR. They used Ves to essentially kick in the door, as it were, and from there the gym became engulfed in chaos and fighting. Ice-fists at the ready, Zero moved to launch himself into an uppercut against an approaching Owl-Man. The idea was to let him make the first move and, once it dived itself closer, Zero would hopefully strike fast enough to knock it off course, preferably down to the floor where he could conceivably finish it off. Zero's punch hit, but he barely missed the window of opportunity and grunted painfully when the owl's talon's grabbed him at the ribs and then flung him over the nearby kitchen counter. From somewhere in the other room, he heard a scream that sounded like Parasite. No, no no! He was not going to let this end like the last missions! He refused to!

Feeling warm bleeding from his side, Zero staggered to get up, but stayed low behind the counter so the owl might hopefully believe it successfully killed him. Zero cursed under breath, realizing now that direct attacks against these things just wasn't feasible for him. He just didn't have the kind of strength or durability that 'Squatcho or Levi had. A moment of thought and he decided what his strategy should be. These owl-men attacked from the air, so the only reasonable way to go about fighting them would have to be to take that advantage away from them, but how? Then it struck him, something he remembered from Biology class earlier that semester. Birds' wings were only strong enough to lift the bird themselves in flight, and small prey if the bird if question was a predator. If soaked, their feathers and bodies could become too heavy to remain lifted by the wings. Ducks were the only exception, since their feathers were evolved and groomed in a such a way that water literally slid right off their backs. Somehow Zero doubted that these owl-men could say the same for themselves. He just hoped the earpieces were still working.

"We need to... activate the sprinkler system!" he attempted to say through his piece, having to interrupt himself for a painful breath, "Birds can't fly as well when... ugh, when wet!" after that he frantically looked around himself in the kitchen. Surely there had to be a lighter or something laying around. He just needed some fire, even a small flame would do along as he could get it to reach the smoke detectors.