Mismatched Eyes part 7

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.

A bead of sweat rolled across his cheek as his heart pounded. His hands curled it into a fist, crackled with little blue sparks, ready to strike.

The guard reached for his firearm, “Who are—?”

Time suddenly slowed down as a red streak flowed through the air. Maria’s knife had been drawn, and the guard’s question died in his throat.

Red droplets sprayed all over the two operatives as his neck came loose, staining their stolen uniforms.

Time resumed as the blood splattered over the agent’s face, snapping him out of his daze. Before the dying guard could fall 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 perfectly shot into the guards’ throats.

There was no room for mercy. Here, it was kill or be killed.

The 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 —

Crack. He whipped it away.

Still in the center of gunfire, he continued to parry the blows coming too close.

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.

His body 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.

Still outside, another wave of knives soared across the area, forcing the men to duck and providing Maria a path to run through. But as she jumped across their heads, one of them caught her by the ankle and threw her to the ground.

The fountain’s water splashed over Felix’s face, and his eyes shot open, the left one glowing in the dark.

Inside, his limited light source shrank as the shutter descended. He quickly rushed back towards the sound of gunfire.

“V.V.!” Felix shouted, sliding across the cold tile floor.

With his face pressed against the ground, he watched with his blue eye as she fought just to get back up, rolling as some men shot at the ground, while another tried to stomp on her head. She rolled back, slicing legs with her knife. But just as she crawled back on her feet, one of them struck her back down with the butt of his gun, a trickle of blood leaking down her forehead.

A pack of guards swarmed around her, carrying rifles, ready to fire.

She persevered, slicing through each enemy, injuring most and dispatching a handful. But every bullet that struck her took its toll. Her movements quickly grew dull and stiff, each slash slower than the last.

“Venom!” Felix called out, pushing the rolling grille back up, “Venom, come on! Hurry!”

His left arm trembled as he pushed back the rolling grille, struggling to keep it open. Elbow dug into the ground as the weight of the iron wall pressed down on him, barely fitting under his palm.

One of the guards noticed and fired his pistol at him.

The bullet landed on the ground inches shy away from his face, causing Felix to reflexively let go and let the metal hatch descend.

Maria, still in the middle of combat, noticed from the corner of her eye. She snarled, and with a sharp grunt, sliced down the guard standing in front of her, before immediately hurling her combat knife towards the man that shot Felix.

Gunfire died down as the other guards watched the body in front of her, still standing, open up in the middle. A red line traced across the man’s face, followed by the sound of squelching flesh and splattering blood. The grotesque sight causing them to cease fire.

A silence caught all of their throats, giving way to a squelch and a thud, as two bodies fell. One sliced in half, the other with a knife to the back of his head.

Petrified by the vertically bisected body, all the other guards lowered their firearms, processing what she just did.

“V.V… I can’t… keep it… open…!” Felix grunted, his arm bent, his elbow unable to push back the iron wall.

Despite all of the sentries having a clear, point-blank shot directly at her head, they were all hesitant to pull the trigger.

Until she staggered.

Realizing she was unarmed and surrounded, one of them nervously aimed, and so did the others.

Fireworks lit up the night sky, outlining her blood-stained face in its radiant colors. Orange, red, blue, and yellow all flashed behind her as she shot Felix a serene smile.

With a dozen clicks, all of the guards opened fire as the industrial shutter closed.

~