Rattling Vermilion part 2

Felix staggered as he got back up. With his back aching and his pitch-black coat left tattered, he pressed forward.

The two agents split, jumping from one freight containers to the next.

Near the warehouse, the orange-haired man spoke from behind Lewis, “I’ve held up my end of the bargain. You deal with this.”

The criminal turned around, “Moritz, where are you going—?!”

Suddenly, the orange-haired man held a jester’s cap as bowed. Thousands of playing cards erupted from beneath him.

Lewis watched the young man dissolve into a flurry of French-suited cards, spiraling up in the air before vanishing into nothingness.

“What the hell?!” Lewis glanced at the floor, and all that was left was a card on the floor.

— A red joker staring back at him.

With veins bulged on his forehead, Lewis crumpled and threw the card back to the ground. He ordered, “Kill whoever’s there!”

“Yes, sir!” Half the men rushed out of the warehouse and headed to the docks.

The steel crane creaked with the whistle of the wind while the agents sat in wait, listening to the steps of their enemies. When the unfortunate goon got too close in the web of shadows, they were easy prey for the agents to feast on.

“Shhh, go to sleep.” Felix dropped down from behind the crate and whispered as he kept his prey silent, covering the man’s mouths as he fired his gun from behind.

As the man lost consciousness, he leaned against the metal crate with ragged breaths.

Felix moved under and over in the cloak of darkness, striking his prey with his silent gun, contrasted to the banging metal on Maria’s end.

The goons fired recklessly and randomly as Maria swept their legs, getting up as they lost their balance, then slamming their head against the cargo.

It grew quieter as his men fell one after the other. Either swiftly and silently, or being silenced after a blood-curdling scream.

“What the… What’s going on—?” The violet mob boss stuttered, stationed beside him was the visored man, who was holding a pistol in each hand.

The sun sank down the horizon, dipping on the waves. Its light slipped through empty spaces between the freight containers like prison bars.

“I thought Cocytus was supposed to be one of the toughest prisons on Earth?” Maria’s disappointed voice reverberated between the freight containers.

“Apparently, he slipped out of custody before he could be brought there.” Felix’s voice haunted the docks.

Their taunting voices haunted the docks.

The loading bay felt smaller, more claustrophobic, as the two shadows danced in the dusk. Maria’s soft laughter echoed through every path, fueling their fear. Every exit led only deeper into darkness.

“Show yourselves!” The mob yelled, uneasy.

A body flew from behind one of the metal crates, falling to Lewis’ feet. One of his men.

“B-boss…” He whimpered.

The criminal’s face contorted with fear and rage, “Get up! Get up and protect me!”

Felix’s voice cut through the shadows, bouncing off the metal crates, “Lewis Shaw. We demand your immediate surrender.”

“I demand you suck my dick!” Lewis shouted back.

Maria’s voice crackled in Felix’s earpiece, “Yup, I’m going to kill him.”

“Easy, girl.” Felix sighed, his arms pressed against the cold metal surface in order to stay upright.

Lewis looked at his remaining men, “What are you doing?! Kill them!”

“Sir, with all due respect, they threw one of our men into the air!” One of them protested, staring at the unconscious body that just landed in front of them.

But as he turned to Lewis, he found himself face to face with a barrel of a gun.

“What were you saying?” The visored man spoke coldly.

“W-wait!”

Blood sprayed. Body dropped. The sharp scent followed.

The freshly made corpse fell flat against the concrete. His lifeless eyes frightened the remaining men, while a red puddle forming from the hole in his forehead.

“Worthless man.” The visored man blew the smoke from his pistol.

“If you do not die to the spies, you will die by my hand.” He declared as he holstered his weapon to the side of his legs, where there were joint metallic plates with several other pistols.

Even Lewis flinched, unnerved by what he did. But he swallowed his fear and barked, “Th-that’s right! Now go find and kill them!”

Reluctantly, the remaining men complied. They cautiously moved forward, scanning through the corridors of crates and cargo.

The pony-tailed man zoomed in on the criminals, “That man with the visor… Can they deal with him, or should I...” The brown-haired man wrapped his chain around his arm.

Lewis’ remaining men were all picked off one-by-one. Their struggles echoed through the docks, bodies slamming into steel walls, before dropping to the ground.

Forced to act, the criminal pulled a pistol out of his purple pocket.

Maria stepped out of the steel corridors, choking one of the goons in her arm. In her other arm held the briefcase.

“Phew.” She exhaled, dropping the unconscious body to the ground for Lewis to see personally.

“It appears we’re up against the Twelve Agencies, sir.” The last of Lewis’s employ, the visored man, grinned and pointed his gun towards the dark-haired woman.

Felix grabbed one of the fallen men’s pistols and aimed through the spaces between the freight containers, firing at the two criminals. But the visored man pulled Lewis’ head down.

Startled, the blue-eyed agent continued to fire, targeting the visored man. His shots hit the ground as the visored man kept darting around.

Maria lunged from between the cargo and swung her knife at the visored man. But her target slid under her slice and grabbed her arm, throwing her towards in Felix’s line of fire.

Felix stepped out of the shadow and caught his partner.

“This guy’s a tough nut.” She remarked, upside down, her tone somewhere between amused and annoyed.

“He knew where I was firing from…” Felix twirled her back onto her feet.

He scanned the visored man, and saw interconnected metal braces around his legs, each segment holding a pistol. Three on each side, six in total.

But as he looked closer, something on the man’s chest caught his eye.

“That insignia…” He pointed to the emblem embroidered on the man’s outfit, a green fire trapped in a diamond. “A Cinderash.”

Lewis took a step back, pulling the briefcase closer to his chest. As he backed away slowly, he felt the cold metal press against his back.

“That’s right, bitch boys.” Lewis barked, voice shaking with forced confidence, “I have a professional assassin working for me. Your lives are as good as over!”

A wave of intimidation shot through the two agent’s bodies as the visored man took a single step forward.

“Bloodlust…” Felix’s eyes narrowed, “V.V., get behind me.”

“You think I’m intimidated by some visored freak? Bring the whole Cinderash clan for all I care!” Maria shot back defiantly.

“Come on, then!” The Cinderash assassin shouted with an excited grin, opening fire as he ran towards them like a maniac.

Felix dashed away, dodging bullets and firing back with his energy gun, Ion. A dull pulse echoed as he pulled the trigger. Transparent concentric waves of energy distorted the air as it struck the assassin’s arms, and he suddenly found himself struggling to move.

“A stun gun without wires? What kind of weapon is that?” The visored assassin shuddered as a feeling of numbness crept into his arms.

Maria dropped from above, her knife flashing above her. Only for the assassin to step back and drive his foot into her gut.

As she rolled on the concrete, the Cinderash returned his attention to Felix.

Lewis sprinted behind the crates, clutching briefcase near his chest.

The vanguard immediately got back on her feet, hissing, “Connard!”

“V.V., I’ll handle this!” Felix shouted, shooting more invisible waves of energy out of his cobalt gun. As the Cinderash stiffened, the agent kicked him towards the cold steel.

“Great idea, let the guy who just got hit with a bomb fight the Cinderash!” She protested, “I’ll handle it!”

He turned to face her, “Just capture Lewis!”

With Felix’s head turned away, the visored assassin raised his pistol and fired. The agent narrowly avoided the bullet, grazing just above his glowing blue eye. A sharp hiss escaped his teeth as he slid his gloved hand over his bleeding forehead.

Maria disappeared into the shadows, “If you die, I’ll kill you.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way…” Felix smirked.

Both raised their weapons, and their two guns clashed with a metal clang.

~