Birth of a Phantom part 9

Harbinger’s blood painted the servers. But the sound of her gun echoed to the lower floors, drawing the attention of the guards below.

“I heard gunshot!”, “Gunfire!”, “It came from up there!”

Chinese shouts could be heard just beneath their feat, rushing to their location.

“Oops…” She smiled.

“Honestly took them long enough…” Felix pinched his nose, almost resigned, before raising his voice again, “Why didn’t you use your knife? I thought they were your specialty!” He shouted under his breath, trying his best to keep himself not signal their location.

“I ran out!” She argued.

“And you didn’t think to use a silencer?!”

“It was his gun!”

“You’re pinning the blame on the dead man?!”

While the two of them bickered, Felix could hear footsteps rushing to their direction.

He lifted his pistol towards the door, hands barely steady. The adrenaline pumping through his veins was fading fast. He could barely stay awake, much less continue to fight.

“I’m all out of fight… Did we get what we came here for?”

“Yeah, everything’s in this drive.” She nodded.

“Then we have to go.”

“Right!” She turned towards the exit.

But he grabbed her by the arm, “We can’t go through that door, they’re on their way.”

“Then what if we jumped through the hole?” She pointed to the blast mark left by the explosion.

“No, there are still guards climbing up. We’ll be surrounded.”

Felix’s glowing blue eyes scanned the room, looking for a way out. He shifted his gaze to the shattered servers and to the gaping hole down the middle.

No doors, nor vents. They were trapped.

“Hope we’re still keeping the damages to a minimum.” He said, scanning the destroyed server room in search of an exit.

Beyond the shattered window was something long and golden flying across — another dragon drone. He glanced down and saw the rooftop of a nearby building. He pulled out his pistol, shooting the window several times, “Grappling hook! Now!”

“It blew up!” Maria shouted back.

Outside the door, the remaining guards stood in horror. Frozen and sickened at the corpses Harbinger left in the hall just outside the server room.

“Men, get ready!” The head guard ordered, and the men lined their rifles towards the door. With a nervous expression, the head guard slowly moved towards the door with an ID card.

Felix’s heart pounded, the heavy sound beating against his ears. He holstered his gun and picked up Maria in his arms.

“Wh-what are you—?” Her expression was flushed with a mix of both shock and fright.

“How high could the top floor be?” He nervously laughed, taking a few steps back.

“No, no you aren’t!” She protested.

With Maria in his arms, he began bolting towards the broken window, blue energy bursting from his feet.

The door opened, and the head guard immediately spotted them, “There they are!”

Bullets started flying in the two agent’s direction, destroying what remained of server room.

“After them!” They charged, only for the onyx table to block their path.

“No time!” Felix shouted, Maria clung tightly to him.

His iron-clad heel struck.

— Crash.

Other guards climbed over the onyx table, others pushed it out of the way. As they ran through the ruins of the server room, the head guard nearly fell into the hole into the center.

“Whoa— Stop!” He signaled.

Glass shards grabbed their attention, and they all looked forward. All that was left to greet them was a blue firework popped in the center of the shattered window.

~