Birth of a Phantom part 3

They reached the upper floor, pausing just around the corner of a dimly lit hallway. At the end was a steel door, guarded by two men with rifles.

Felix signaled Maria to stay back, “I’ll handle this.”

Adjusting his stolen uniform, he stepped into view. The thick thud of his boots on the tiled floor echoed down the corridor, immediately drawing the guards’ attention.

“H-Help!” He staggered slightly, pretending to be wounded.

“What are you doing here? Where’s your post?!” One of them barked in Chinese, his brow furrowing.

The first guard exchanged a glance with the second, who raised his rifle.

“We were ambushed… they’re on their way here.” Felix spoke in English as he moved closer, halfway through the hall.

“Fire!”

Felix lunged forward, and in the blink of an eye, dove underneath the second guard’s gun.

Startled, the second guard could barely aim as blue-eyed intruder neutralized him with a sharp punch to his jaw, instantly incapacitating him. The first guard frantically lined his firearm, only for Felix to slip to the side before he could pull the trigger.

He grabbed the guard’s wrist and forced him to fire at the ground — dozens of bullets pierced through the floor in succession. As soon as it emptied, Felix grabbed the man’s head with both hands and drove it to his knee. The guard collapsed, his face swelling bright red as he whimpered.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Felix gently placed both bodies against the wall, one still mumbling incoherently.

Maria strolled up to him, commenting, “We may playing the fake-guard trick too much.”

“Still worked, didn’t it?” He exhaled.

“Only because you’re fast on your feet.” She smirked, mildly impressed.

“I’ll take the compliment. We have to hurry. The guards downstairs probably heard the gunfire.”

“Why didn’t you just use your quiet, pacifist gun from the corridor?”

“Ion has an effective range of five meters. It wouldn’t have reached them.” He explained, retrieving an ID card from one of the guard’s uniforms.

She took a look at the grumbling guards, “Maybe you should’ve just shot them in the head instead of going through all that effort.”

“No unnecessary killing.” He glared at her.

“Then shall I?” She smirked and pulled out her knife.

“No.” Ignoring her, he swiped the ID card on the door’s lock. After a short few seconds, there was a soft beep, and the lock clicked open.

A blast of icy air greeted them as the door slid open, much colder than the rest of the building.

“After you.” Felix gestured. Maria took a step into the server room.

Black server racks filled the room like a library. The only light was from the blinking blue and yellow lights behind the glass panes of the tall machines.

Amber light filled the room, followed by a sharp pop. Both agents turned toward the window wall, where vibrant fireworks burst across the night sky. Their reflections scattering across the glass. Below, the city glittered with life and excitement.

Maria looked at the glittering glass panes beside her, her fist tightened as she saw her own reflection.

Felix took a few steps further inside, “Is this the data cen—?”

Crack.

“Looks like it…” She answered.

His brows furrowed, staring at his reflection from the shattered pane, “Why did you… what happened?”

“... It’s unconventional to have a database on the top floor.” She dodged the question, walking ahead.

In the center of the large room was a single onyx black table with nothing on top of it, “Maybe they just like the view from up here.”

Felix pressed the ID to the door, shutting the entrance.

Maria threw the lab coat and walked to the table and spun the leather chair. She pressed a glowing red button on the table, and a holographic keyboard popped out from table, and a screen began to load.

“Stay on guard, I need to work my magic. Unless you wanna take a crack at it.” She ordered, putting the drive on the table, a neon red circle forming beneath.

Felix shrugged and obliged. He took off the torn-up uniform, pulled out his pistol, and kept his attention glued to the door.

Maria placed her hand on the screen and let out a soft hum. One by one, the system’s encryptions were unlocked. With a smile, a stream of glowing numbers and letters.

An array of holographic screens suddenly popped out in front of her.

“I’m in. Now what… could I… be looking for?” She hummed in a singsong.

The dark-haired woman scrolled through dozens of screens. She then stopped as one of the visuals came to her view. One of them shown an image of a crown. Another contained a blank silhouette with the word ‘Jackal’ underneath it.

“Heh…” She smirked.

Felix turned his head towards her, “Hmm?”

“Take a look at this.” She gestured for him to come forward.

“What is it?”

Maria drew in and expanded one of the holographic screens, revealing a grainy recording of a city caught from a helicopter.

“It’s… records of the Fallen Sun Catastrophe…” She tapped on the screen, letting the video play out.

Golden flames swept through the skyline, engulfing the city in what looked like a sphere of yellow light. Above it was a photograph taken of the horizon, where it looked like a nuclear fireball formed on the city.

As the yellow haze reached the camera, it appeared as if the video froze. But it did not stop playing.

Maria pressed on the screen, swiping the video forward.

Until a few minutes later, the city — its buildings, vehicles, trees, and people all of the frozen things started to come apart, slowly unraveling pixel by pixel under a yellow filter.

There was no deafening explosion, no sudden burst of fire. Only an eerie stillness that disassembled the city, turning everything in it into mounds of fine grains and particles.

“…This was the one that happened in China…” Felix’s voice cracked, muttering under her breath.

“This must be it then.” She smiled and collected all of the holographic screens, dragging down towards the drive, where they transformed into strings of letters and numbers.

As it began copying into the drive, Felix took a step back, feeling light-headed.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“I remember the day when that happened… It was a busy day in the agency…”

He shifted his gaze back to the door, hearing the muffled sound of gunfire popping outside.

“Must’ve been pretty bus—”

Felix pushed her away from the table, “Get down!”

The hatch hissed open, just enough to let the barrel of a gun get through.

With a loud bang, a bullet travelled towards the two agents, shredding off some of her hair as she fell to the ground. The window wall cracked open behind them cracked open.

Felix whipped out his silver pistol and aimed towards the entrance.

There was a slow clapping coming from the door, and a silhouette spoke, entering the room.

“I didn’t expect intruders to be here.” A firework lit up the face of a blood-covered man walking in, dressed in brown and wearing a top hat, “Why don’t the two of you enjoy the festival outside?”

~