The large gates opened with a thick, metal hum. Uncomfortable thoughts started clouding his vision, but he couldn't let them linger. It wouldn't take too for the rest of the guards to notice them being gone for too long.
The two agents walked through the main entrance, their bodies flickering in the cameras.
Inside appeared to be a wide, half-finished construction site circling the building.
A cold sweat dripped down Felix's face as he scanned every guard from behind his dark lenses. Eight in total, standing close to the entrance.
From the corner of his eye, he glanced over to Maria. Her expression remained calm, confident, even. No, that wasn't the right word. To him, it almost looked like she was excited.
Unpleasant thoughts intruded into his head with every step forward. It was impossible to make his movements look natural with the trench coat underneath the guard's uniform.
Did the discomfort come from the hot and humid air, or was it the guard's uniform worn over his gear?
Several layers of fabric must have been suffocating him and stifling his movements. The closer they got, the tighter it felt.
Bright lights caused him to blink rapidly. The sound of fireworks felt like explosives drawing close, like gunfire.
They made it a third of the way. There was less than ten meters left towards the entrance, there was a security camera mounted on the wall, watching their every move. Ahead of them was a glass door. The first hurdle was almost cleared, and yet…
"You there!" A guard shouted, cutting through Felix's cluttered thoughts.
He approached the two operatives, squinting at them and inspecting their appearance and uniforms.
"Y-yes?" Maria replied, feigning meekness.
"You both…" The guard shifted his attention to the agent with sunglasses, who tensed up in response.
Not wanting to make eye contact, Felix's eyes darted to the other guards patrolling the construction site. His heart raced, feeling the weight of their attention on his shoulders.
He tried to keep his breathing steady. But as the guard looked him in the eyes, he saw the blue glow hiding behind the sunglasses.
Sweat rolled across Felix's cheek as his heart pounded. His eyes looking at the guard's hands, reaching for his firearm.
His fingers twitching, blue particles scattering.
"Who are—?"
A beige blur, and a red streak flowed through the air.
Time suddenly slowed down.
With a thin gargle, the guard's question died in his throat as his neck came loose.
Felix's gaze shifted towards his partner. Maria's knife had been drawn, a grin stretching across her face.
Red droplets sprayed all over the two operatives, staining their stolen uniforms and snapping Felix out of his daze, forcing time to resume.
Before the dying guard could drop to the ground, Felix swiped the pistol from his belt.
All of the other guards came rushing forward, and the two operatives were surrounded by eight men.
He lined up his shot, instinctively aiming at the closest guard in front of him.
It was perfectly centered at the guard's forehead. But as he saw the panic and fright on the man's face, he froze, unable to pull the trigger.
The guard's expression hardened in response, taking advantage of his reluctance to kill.
With a loud crack, the first shot was fired, signaling to the rest of the guards to pull out their weapons.
"Grhk!" A hole tore through the stolen uniform as Felix got shot in the shoulder.
"Felix?!" Maria glanced at him worriedly, before quickly avoiding a bullet coming her way.
"I'm fine!" He yanked out the bullet lodged in his black coat and retaliated, immediately taking out the guard who shot him.
His tune changed after getting shot, emptying the pistol at the guards closest to him, his shoulder throbbing with each recoil.
Men fell down one after the other.
She gave an understanding nod and crouched down. Her arms slipped behind her stolen uniform and she pulled out several more knives clasped between her fingers, launching them in a dozen different directions.
All of her knives shot perfectly into the guards' throats.
It was kill or be killed — there was no room for mercy.
Klaxons rang loud. The glass door locked, and the industrial shutter of the rolling grille began descending, sealing the entrance.
With an excited grin, Maria rushed towards the crowd of uniformed men, slicing every one she came across. A black silhouette slithering through the sentinels.
Felix took a slower, more standard approach, sliding behind guards and grabbing them by their necks. Forcing his human shields to move quickly, dropping them as they died, and rushing to grab another. All while swapping pistols with every new hostage he took.
As the two of them carved a path of blood forward, a new group of sentinels rushed from the facility.
All firearms were aimed at the intruders' heads. Dozens of rounds flashed from every direction, and the scent of gunpowder filled the air, turning this frenzy into a deafening blur. But the two pushed through, avoiding the gunfire as much as they could while mowing down the men standing in their way.
Sparks flew as a stray bullet struck the pistol out of Felix's hand.
The shock ran down his fingers, but he whipped out his cobalt gun and continued to fight.
He swung his ornate gun like a baseball bat, striking away the hot lead aimed at his head, all while he orbited around Maria, keeping her from getting shot. His mission was to protect her — he did not forget that.
"Back up, we need back up at the front gate!" One of the sentries called out through the radio. "It's the intruder! We caught the intruder! There's two of—!"
The radio shattered as Maria threw her knife at it, yelling, "Get inside before the other guards get here!"
They were pinned halfway and could not afford more trouble.
"You're the one who has to get there first!" Felix suddenly recoiled as a stray round struck the sunglasses. Its shards scraping across his face as it fell to the ground.
Little by little, their stolen uniforms were ripped apart, revealing parts of their true outfits underneath.
Trapped in a monochromatic barrage of bright flashes and black bullets, the only color left was the pale yellow from the muzzles, and the blue light radiating from Felix's eyes.
Another stray round grazed her cheek, which she clutched as it bled.
Noticing this, Felix wrapped his arms around her, shielding her from the storm of lead. Each round tore the stolen fabric apart.
Pinned halfway down the path, Maria's eyes widened as bullets ricocheted off his black coat. She saw the strain on his face, expression squeezing with every hit — bulletproof or not, it hurt.
He lifted his cobalt gun, whipping away several stray bullets headed towards her, ignoring non-lethal hits, until — crack.
Blood scattered on the ground.
"You alright?" His voice strained.
"You're…" Her voice trembled.
"It's just a graze…" The red droplet fell on her wounded cheek, "I'm supposed to protect you…"
Another bullet fired —
Crack. Felix swatted it away, only for another to strike him elsewhere. The arms. The legs. The back.
Stuck in the very center, all he could do was parry the ones within reach.
Maria wiped off his blood, and scowled at the enemies, they all flinched as waves of malice swirled like static, giving them half a second of opening.
"Bloodlust?" He squinted, before she grabbed him by the arm.
She got up and tossed him towards the entrance, shouting, "Get your ass in there!"
Beads of blood and sweat were swept of Felix's face as he soared through the air.
He bent his body, stretching his legs forward and instinctively hopped on the heads of guards standing in his path. As soon as he got close, he relentlessly fired a pistol against the glass door, shattering it, then leapt off the last guard's head, bracing for impact as he crashed head-first through the broken doorway.
Felix rolled across the scattered shards as he squeezed underneath the descending rolling grille, his outfit hissing against the ground as he continued to roll, before slamming to a halt against a decorative fountain, causing it to flicker on.