Birth of a Phantom part 4

The man with the top hat marched forward, standing taller than both of them, visibly older.

“Stay where you are.” Felix raised his pistol at the unknown figure, scanning his attire. The figure was dressed a brown vest, an old top hat, and had a small bag strapped to his belt.

With a wide grin, the older man asked, “Why are you two hiding in a boring old server room when there’s a festival outside?”

Bloodlust radiated through the air, but both agents stood steady.

“Who are you?” Felix demanded.

Despite his demeanor, it was obvious to both agents that this man was far more dangerous than any of the guards they had faced this night.

“Oh? I apologize for my rudeness, please allow me to introduce myself.” He took off his top hat, revealing his brown hair as he bowed, “I am one of the guards here currently employ— ”

A glowing line whistled past his ear before he could finish. Slowly, he turned around and saw the knife snap through one of the servers.

“Don’t lie to us.” He glared, focusing on the blood on his sleeves, his voice accusatory, “What kind of guard kills his own men?”

Maria glanced at Felix with a raised eyebrow, “Just drop the act, already. We’ve been playing the fake-guard act all night.”

“Who are you, who do you work for?”

The blood-stained man smiled widely, “Fine then. You may refer to me as Harbinger. Please allow me to explain, see, someone important to me—”

A shot rang out, sending Harbinger slamming towards the door.

Felix blew out the wisp of smoke flowing out of his gray pistol, a faint azure radiating in the darkness as his body silhouetted against the moonlight. As he lowered his gun, the table beeped with a high-pitched sound.

“Looks like our download is complete.” Maria perked up, grabbing the drive.

“Harbinger, he said…”

She tilted her head in curiosity, “Oh, how foreboding. What about it?”

“I recognize that name codename… Rank twenty-seventh, a veteran who went MIA months ago. He must’ve gone rogue, tried to work with the Robin outside. The first intruder that caused them to be high—”

Maria kicked Felix to the side as a spinning light blurred between them.

Something struck the window with a snap. Maria turned her head, and she saw a knife stuck to the window — the same knife she threw moments ago.

“I see my reputation precedes me.” The rogue got back on his feet.

“You’re still alive?” Maria shifted her gaze to the knife embedded in the window

“Both of you are from the agency, correct? Did bullet-proof vests stop being standard issue while I was away?” Harbinger scoffed, brushing off his brown vest as if nothing happened.

Maria pulled out her weapon from the cracked window.

Felix raised his gun once more, firing without hesitation. Only for Harbinger to hop away, holding his top hat as he ran between the servers.

“How rude. From what I gather, you and I are on the same mission. So would you please give me a moment?” Harbinger suggested, hiding behind one of black-cased machines.

Felix paused to reload his pistol, his gaze never leaving his target, watching every movement, “And what mission would that be?”

“First off, I introduced myself. Alliance protocol dictates that you grant me your codenames.” Harbinger’s voice echoed through the large room.

“What for?” Maria asked sharply.

“Codenames let the other party know what they’re dealing with. It’s in the treaty to let an unwilling participant go unharmed if they’re associated with the alliance.” Felix elaborated in a low voice, while Maria readied herself for combat.

She turned to him and replied, “I’m surprised you know this.”

He glanced over to her, “I’m surprised you don’t.”

Harbinger walked out with his hands above his head, responding, “Something tells me you two haven’t been in the field for too long. So I’ll cut you a deal, if you please give me a copy of the information, all parties will be able to go on their merry way.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a drive on you?” Maria asked, putting the drive in her back pocket.

“I do… but after dealing with the guards…” Harbinger replied as he pulled out a broken flash drive from his vest pocket.

“That sucks. You didn’t think to bring a back up?”

“Did you?”

“I—” Maria wanted to argue, but the two of them only had a single drive. She then drew her blades, two sharp combat knives, “Even if we did, we wouldn’t hand it over to you.”

“That’s a shame, I can’t come back empty-handed.” Harbinger drew his gun.

With two daggers in her hands, Maria took her stance, her fangs in full view.

“Harbinger, engaging.”

“Venom Vanguard…” She hooked the table’s leg with her foot, then kicked the table towards Harbinger, “Engaging!”

A glassy onyx wall made it’s way towards Harbinger. He jumped over the airborne obstacle as it crashed towards the door. But before his feet reached the floor, she closed the space between them.

The edges of her steel blades clashed against his gun before he could even aim, and he was forced to use it to parry each of her explosive blows. Her unnatural strength quickly overpowered him, to the point where he found himself struggling to keep her daggers away from his chest.

Unable to aim, he kicked Maria’s diaphragm, and hopped away to a safe distance.

“Venom Vanguard… The serpent who kills with a single cut, with blades laced with neurotoxins potent enough to kill elephants.”

“Are those the rumors going around?” The dark-haired woman hissed, one hand pressing against her lower chest.

“Disabling a person’s motor functions is quite the party trick for a little girl.”

“Hmph. Let’s go with that.” Maria twirled her knife, “So you know who I am, yet you’re not backing down?”

Harbinger raised his gun just as Maria flicked her knife at him. He twisted his body, the blade skimming past him. He snapped his aim back at her, only to see a blur, before slamming shoulder-first into one of the server racks.

“Right… the other one…” Harbinger pulled a bullet out of his chest, “Forgot about h—”

Two more rounds tore through the processing pillars behind him, and he bolted before one could land on him.

“What about you, boy… whoa!” His voice echoed through the blinking aisles, one hand on the humming machines, “May I please ask for your codename?”

Hidden behind a server, Felix stayed silent, glancing down at his jammed pistol. “Tap… rack…” he muttered, smacking the base-plate.

A footstep thudded above, betraying her sneak attack. Harbinger looked up just in time to see the vanguard spring at him from above the servers, both hands on the knife.

Steel and gunfire blurred together, while simultaneously attacking each other with words, “He’s the Child of Stars!”

“Child of—? That sounds oddly familiar.” He mused.

“Don’t call me that.” Felix’s eye twitched as he lifted his pistol.

“It’s rather odd for an Elite Agent to prefer fighting in close quarters.” The veteran remarked, aiming at her neck.

“It’s odd for an Elite Agent to be mouthing off the way you do, and yet here we are!” She slipped to the side, trying to stab his forearm.

A bullet grazed Harbinger’s nose, blood leaking from the shallow wound.

“Bang.” Felix muttered, his gun raised.

“My, my, I keep forgetting about you.” The old man grinned, weaving through the line of fire while fending off the knife.

Felix continued supporting from a distance while Maria acted as the vanguard. Though he worked in the shadows, his glowing blue eye betrayed him, reflecting off the glassy surfaces of the servers, letting Harbinger pinpoint his location. A bullet struck where he hid, shards flying as it broke through the server.

“If it weren’t for your glowing eye, I’d have taken you for a ghost.” Harbinger taunted, and Felix leapt to another location.

Harbinger returned his focus to Maria, parrying both her blades with both his guns, before raising his leg. Not falling for the same counter twice, Maria raised her guard up, and steeled her body. But Harbinger grinned and swept her leg, as she slipped to the ground, he had his gun at her head.

She quickly raised her knife.

Cracks formed in the knife. Her hands trembled, a dull ache radiated through her veins as she just barely blocked the bullet, deflecting them inches from her face.

Felix whipped out his cobalt gun, sneaking closer. A dull pulse shot out of the boxy gun, sending out concentric distortions through the air.

Harbinger moved on the offensive when a numbing pulse shot through his body. The invisible blast had struck him with full force, shocking his nerves.

Paralyzed, Harbinger’s eyes scanned the area, where he saw a glowing blue eye in the reflections of the glass panes.

Felix raised his silver pistol and pulled the trigger. But only silence followed.

— It was empty.

Nervously, he pulled the trigger two more times.

The rogue agent mustered up his willpower, and felt a twitch in his hands. In the few seconds it took for Felix to grab a fresh magazine from under his coat, Harbinger broke free from his stunned state, and immediately tried to shoot at him.

Dozens of glass fragments splintered through the air as the bullet narrowly missed the blue-eyed agent.

“What a cute toy!” Harbinger gleefully unloaded the rest of his rounds.

Panic ran through the agent and he darted behind another server. With his back pressed against the ebony machine, Felix breathed and looked at the top of his gun, the glassy black grid was now glowing red, a sign that it was almost out of battery.

“Not now…” He only had a second to look disheartened, as the sound gunfire immediately reminded him that he was still in a battle.

“Does he ever run out of bullets?” Felix growled, but paused as a question hit him, “…Wait… does Marie ever run out of knives?”

He was lost in thought for half a second, but a bullet to the shoulder brought him back to the fight. Though it failed to pierce through his black cloak, the impact felt like his bones shattered like glass.

“ARK!” Felix let out a feral growl and kicked the server with immense force, flinging it towards his enemy.

Harbinger was startled by his enemy’s inhuman strength. But as it black pillar hurtled through the air, he ducked beneath it, sweating bullets as it toppled over the other servers down like mechanical dominoes.

“The Child of…” Harbinger made a curious stare as he dropped his gun and pulled out another one from his thigh.

Before the last syllable left his lips, a blade carved the air, leaving a trail of light. It grazed his cheek — just enough to sting.

He glanced over and saw the cracked blade.

Grinning, a wave of malice surged out of Harbinger, and he began raining lead at the dark-haired woman.

“Shit, that was my last knife...” Maria moved as quickly as he aimed, leaping above one server after the next. Each successive round burst through the servers.

He then pulled a rectangular object from his top hat, murmuring, “Might as well…”

Felix felt a strain in his arm, the bandage that was wrapped around it began to feel warm and wet. He staggered forward, lifting his arm once more. But as he returned to the battle, he froze, something fell above him — an explosive.

“Twenty five.” Blinked on a red digital timer.

Instinctive kicked in, he clenched his bleeding hand, ready to punch it away.

Twenty.

Before it could land, a cable hissed, unwinding, and snapping the explosive in the claw.

“Run out of grenades?” Maria pulled away the counting bomb.

Wasting no time, she improvised. Perched atop one of the ebony pillars, she turned her grappling hook into a makeshift whip, slithering to her will, restricting his movements.

Sixteen.

Up and down, left and right, she left no room for Harbinger to go into the offensive. But as he strayed far from her, a gunshot cracked, striking his shoulder. Shallow, but enough to draw blood.

Pinned between Felix’s cover fire and Maria’s bomb-whip, the ex-agent held back. Left to bide his time, his breathing grew ragged, his wounds accumulating. But he only needed ten more seconds.

The explosive began to beep, and a smile formed on his face.

Maria noticed the ticking. Seven seconds.

Using both hands, she slammed down the explosive towards Harbinger, only for the rogue agent to shoot the explosive back towards her.

A metallic clink followed as it hurtled into the air.

Three seconds.

Her eyes widened in response.

“Get down!” She snarled.

Two.

The metal cord took a unnaturally sharp downwards turn, slamming into the ground.

— Click.

~