Birth of a Phantom part 6

A cacophony of crumbling followed. Debris rained down above them as the ceiling snapped. Countless shards clattered to the ground as the ebony pillars were swept clear from the epicenter.

Tremors caught the attention of the guards below, as the narrowing down their search.

The window walls around them had cracked, and let the frigid air slowly seep out with a silent whistle. The blast left a dark crater on the ground, which quickly collapsed into a large hole.

Dizzy and lightheaded, Felix opened his eyes and felt a stream of red liquid flowing out of his forehead, “…I hope this counts as minimum damage.”

But as he dragged himself up, he found himself unable to move — His right arm buried under the rubble of the ceiling. Memories flashed in his mind of a similar event. A clear memory of his own mangled leg, buried underneath a fragment of a concrete wall.

He gritted his teeth, lifting the debris with only hand. But he froze as he heard a groan a few feet away.

Rubble shifted, and Harbinger slowly got up, pain visibly radiating from his movement. His top hat was on the floor, showing his disheveled brown hair.

Felix used every ounce of strength he could muster, he pushed the rubble away and tried to slide out. But his face turned pale as it cleared out. His arm was tangled in a web of wires, a shard of glass from the metal server protruding through his flesh.

Trapped, he chipped at the glass, scraping off skin and flesh.

“...Tofu bricks.” Harbinger grumbled, staring at the hole on the ground.

Panic began to set in as he watched Harbinger pull out a magazine and reload his gun.

Felix frantically scanned for something he could use, and saw his silver pistol lying a few feet away from him. Clenching his teeth, he stretched out his arm, barely reaching the tip of his gun, while the disheveled veteran had already aimed his.

He squeezed his eyes shut, sweat sliding down his face.

Harbinger fired — with a loud bang, a splatter could be heard spilling across the ground.

“Felix…” She softly whispered.

He opened his mismatched eyes to see the silhouette standing right in front of him.

“I’m pretty sure… you’re the one supposed to be protecting me…” Maria muttered softly, a red streak running down her smirk.

“M-Marie?” Felix voice cracked as her blood dripped over his face.

As she fell on top of him, his ears began to ring.

Harbinger walked towards the two of themm “Don’t mind me… I’m just here for the drive.”

He reached into Maria’s back pocket, taking the drive and placing it in his vest pocket.

Marie?

Marie, come on… get up.

You’re okay right? Stop kidding around… Come on…

You’re a little too heavy, you know that?

Get up… come on, get up. Marie…

The brown-haired veteran looked at the two with a curious expression, “Felix? Felix Aster? You must be the Black Cat of Ruin.” He groaned, “That explains the glowing blue eye… I was fooled into thinking it was cybernetics.”

As he walked towards them, Felix started panting as his body began to boil from within, “I’ll kill you!”

“You’ve been doing a terrible job at that.” Harbinger scoffed, cocking his gun.

Felix snapped the broken glass protruding from his arm, using it to sever the wires, slicing through his black sleeve, causing his arm to gash open.

With a vicious growl, his skin and flesh pulled apart just to strike rogue agent’s face.

Harbinger’s knees buckled as he staggered back. His gun clattered to the floor as a red stream leaked out of his nose. But he looked back at the young agent and grinned, “Was that supposed to be a punch? Please.”

He struck back, Felix blocked, but the force caused him to bounce off the ground. His mismatched eyes went blank.

“This will probably shock you, but you can’t hit hard when your muscles are all torn up.” Harbinger picked up his gun and aimed at the young man facing down on the ground, “Please forgive me, but… no loose ends.”

But as he was about to pull the trigger, Felix leapt forward and kicked his hand upward, shooting at the ceiling.

“The hell?!” Taken by surprise, Harbinger clutched his throbbing arm and looked back at him, his blue-eyed enemy now on all fours.

~