Woman using martial arts, trying to avoid myths

Hi, any martial arts buffs out there? I have two characters who need to be quite good in martial arts. I haven't exactly decided which tradition they should use. I know mostly Aikido and I don't think that is combat oriented enough. I know Judo to some degree but these are people who are too light to rely on something so strength based. These are characters who trained to fight for real, such as in a special ops unit, not for sport.

Character 1: A Japanese woman but very international in life experience, so her tradition doesn't have to come from Japan necessarily, although it would be a plus. She's about medium sized, in excellent physical form but obviously not hot on brute strength.

Character 2: A smaller southeast Asian man. Same thing goes about international experience. They have worked together since they were teenagers, so could easily have had the same teacher and the same tradition.

Now, as to the scene. They are basically acting as bodyguards for a third character. The problem is that they have to go into a building with its own security and they can't take overt weapons. Then, when they come out, before they get into their vehicle, they are attacked by at least a dozen guys with guns. The guys with guns DO NOT want to kill them or the person they are protecting right off the bat. They would much rather capture the person they are guarding to get information by unsavory means but they won't let them escape. So, they stop them by shooting in front and behind them. Is it reasonable to say that one of bodyguards who is very advanced in martial arts would simply try to use his body to protect the actually even smaller person he is guarding and wouldn't be doing very much fighting? Is there anything he could do from a martial arts perspective while physically protecting this person?

The other body guard (the woman) is going to try to do whatever she can to hold off the attackers, perhaps in hopes that armed friends who are on a street beyond the gated parking lot in front of them will be able to come to their aid. There is a fourth character with them who does not have much martial arts training (about age 50) and who was walking in front. This guy basically reacts by laying on the ground when the shooting starts and I'm assuming he doesn't do much.

So, here's the tough question. I've seen the action movies where a master at some martial art or other battles people with guns. I always figured this was pure fantasy. Does anyone know if a master at martial arts could do anything at all, when surrounded by at least four attackers with guns plus more distant snipers. She does not want to be captured at all cost and would far prefer to die in the fight, for reasons of the alternative reality in my story, so don't event think about arguing with that. But I want to make it so the attackers CAN subdue her without killing her. The attackers don't have nearly as much martial arts ability as her but there are more of them and they have guns. My current idea is that they shoot her in the leg, thus getting her down but she still tries to fight because she will do anything to stop them from capturing her. One of them comes in behind her and puts a cord around her throat, which more effectively subdues her. Does that seem reasonable, even if she is very good with hand-to-hand fighting?

Help! Thanks.

Okay, I see that I'm not being understood here. There are three groups involved. The bodyguards are definitely the group at a disadvantage from the start. They weren't hired to protect the person. They aren't even professional bodyguards. I was just trying to make clear the roles. They are protecting this person for their own reasons. The building and its security is run by someone else but they aren't very good with security and generally not very motivated. They let the group with the body guards in to meet with an assembly of leaders but they won't let them bring weapons. When they leave they decide not to provide security to them or allow them to use a security exit for political reasons.

How the villains take over the gate and the guards there is another issue and I've got that well in hand. Suffice to say the villains took control of the gate and outside yard with no one the wiser inside. They hide in vehicles and around other structures so that the group inside will come out, thinking the gated parking lot is reasonably safe. They also have snipers in place. The group comes under attack in the middle of one of those huge broad stone or cement staircases that are in front of many European state buildings. It is quite a ways to go back and quite a ways to get to their vehicle. They are pretty much screwed. I originally thought the bodyguard-type characters would first try to physically shield the person they are protecting because they hope that their friends, who are armed and only a short distance away will hear the noise and come to help them. That is about the only real hope they've got.

The reasons why the attackers want to capture the bodyguard-type people alive as well, if possible, are not important to the technical discussion. They just would rather. They'll kill them if they have to though. They'll even kill the primary target, if they can't capture but they would rather not and short of them getting to their vehicle and trying to drive away there is little that would force them to. The bodyguards are well aware of this. All that is not important to the technical bits.

I'm just trying to figure out how armed attackers would subdue the woman who is skilled in martial arts without killing her. I have actually watched very few action movies, martial arts related or otherwise, but I vaguely remember seeing some unrealistic scenes involving martial arts people dodging bullets at some point and I wanted to get a more realistic view. I'm glad you say that is fantasy. Anyone want to comment on the actual technical issue? What happens if they shoot her in the leg? What is she going to be able to do at that point with her training?

I did study Wing Chun in one weekend class. I would have loved to continue that above all others, if I lived in an area with a teacher. I was not sure if it was combative enough to say that someone would train for that in a military special ops type of situation. Any comments on if that is a good tradition to mention or a different one?

Thanks all and sorry about the confusion. Plot suggestions are welcome I suppose as long as they allow for the set-up mentioned, the group of four people coming down these steps and all of them being subdued rather than killed in the attack. I am not crazy about the blow-up-the-front-of-the-car idea. I think the attackers would find that too great a risk of killing the occupants. They would rather subdue them outside the car, which seems like it ought to be very doable. I am just a bit out of my depth with the physical logistics, but I have the plot and premise well in hand. So, if you have any suggestions that even change the scenario, I'm all ears. I don't for instance require that the bodyguard-types with the martial arts training get to fight at all but I'm assuming they would try something, given their level of desperation to avoid capture.

One does come out earlier. There is nothing out of the ordinary visible.

I think one mistake I am making is I have the villains with the wrong tactic. They would probably use one of those police-style light/noise grenades that stun people for a couple of seconds. Anyone know what that is called and how it works? How would that effect the people with martial arts training any differently?

Thanks. There is always a way to make anything work. It just depends on how much you have to change. As I said before, they can't go out a servant's entrance or they would have already tried that. They believe the parking lot is secure. The fourth character goes ahead and sees their vehicle pulling up. They think all is well.

Thanks. Anyone know how soon after one of those the people with the martial arts training are going to be able to react in any coherent way?

The specs I have on a police webpage says 5 seconds where your eyes don't work. But what does that mean in terms of being functional enough to try to fight someone off?

Okay, all the better. So, they don't get to fight at all. Solves a lot of problems.

See I told you this wasn't brought on by martial arts movies.

No, I said, I wanted the villains to subdue her without being forced to her because she won't give up. That's the whole point of the scene.

I did get a few more tips here on how to make my sort-of bodyguards more responsible in checking the situation beforehand, but they're still screwed. The fact that she is a martial arts master is simply known from other parts of the story, so it would seem stupid if she could be fighting them off and I didn't have her do it.

Yup, that's it in a nutshell. Thanks.