Chapter 4
Rattling Vermillion
The waves swayed gently against the harbor as the skies were a soft, pastel color of pinks and purples. Amidst the spaces of the yellow metal beams of the tower crane were two figures, Felix and Maria, watching from afar as a breeze brushed against them. Their eyes focused on a black car.
“Can you see him?” Felix asked her.
“I think so. The one in the middle of the car, right?” Maria responded as she looked through a pair of binoculars, her legs swaying back and forth.
“Most likely.”
“Pretty ballsy being out in the open like this.” She said as she got up.
“He’s probably confident that he can get himself bailed out again.”
As they conversed, a figure stood watching them from a faraway roof. Patiently watching them through binoculars with auburn brown hair tied to a pony-tail.
“So that’s Felix Aster and his partner, Venom Vanguard. So including him, Nero and Isabelle, that makes...” He muttered before looking down to the black car on the ground, “…and their target, Lewis Shaw.”
The pony-tailed man continued to watch them from afar, his gaze was glued to the two operatives. “Show me what you can do, Blue Phantom.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Maria asked, the soft breeze swaying her hair.
“According to the intel, he has four bodyguards, but we could expect at least twenty of them at their meetup. We scatter them, take out the guards one by—” His mouth was promptly muffled by Maria’s finger before he could finish.
“Shh…” She mumbled and glanced around.
“What is she doing?” The brown-haired man mumbled as he monitored the two’s movements.
Her eyes turned to look at the rooftop from afar, where the pony-tailed man sat and watched, only to find no one there.
“Is someone there?” Asked Felix as he also looked over to where she was focused on.
“Not sure… Must’ve been the wind.” She shrugged.
The man sighed in relief as he dangled on a chain tied to the side of the wall. A cold sweat slowly dripped down lower than the small scar under his lips.
“Scheisse, she noticed me from here?” He nervously mumbled as he cautiously climbed back up, his cream brown trench coat swaying in the draft between the buildings.
However, when he returned his gaze, the two partners had already left from their initial positions.
“Aren’t grappling hooks fun?” The dark-haired woman smirked.
“You’re moving too quickly. Don’t get too far ahead.” The blue-eyed man cautioned.
They swung from one beam to the next with their grappling hooks. Landing on top of metal crates, stopping to hide, then swinging again, quietly closing in on their targets in a pattern to make sure they weren’t noticed.
When the black car stopped near one of the warehouses, Felix let go of the grappling hook and vanished into the shadows, yet Maria kept moving onward.
The car doors opened, and a man in a violet tuxedo stepped out, accompanied by four others in black suits. Beside him however was a man in a black coat, with a face obscured by a green visor.
“That must be Lewis. But the one beside him looks like —V.V., don’t get too close!” Felix whispered to the transceiver.
Maria nonchalantly smiled, “Don’t worry, I’ll be f—!” As she slammed against the metal beam, the loud gong echoed throughout the loading bay.
Lewis Shaw and his men turned their heads to look for what caused the loud slam, and brought out their guns.
“Great, now they’re on guard.” Felix ranted as he dragged a stunned Maria by the collar behind the wall.
“Head hurty…” Maria blurted out as she clutched her head.
The pony-tailed man from the distance continued to watch as the criminal walked towards one of the warehouses with a briefcase in hand.
Another person opened the warehouse doors from inside, a young man dressed in a leather jacket with orange-hair, and a distinctive black star tattoo on his right cheek stepped out, also carrying a briefcase.
Lewis conversed with the orange-haired man inside, their attention was drawn to where the two operatives hid.
“What is this? Who do you have up there?!” Lewis grabbed the orange-haired man’s collar.
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“No one, no one!” The orange-haired man snapped his finger, “Men! All arms ready!”
The visored man walked forward to where the noise was and pulled out a pistol, aiming it towards the many large steel beams hanging above. “Stay behind me, sir.” He said to the man in the tuxedo.
“I can’t believe it, those two…” A cold-sweat dripped across the cheek of the pony-tailed man as he watched the two agents.
A gunshot suddenly rang loud across the harbor.
“…are idiots.” He concluded to himself as he put down the binoculars and pinched the bridge of his nose with disappointment.
His hands clutched the chain wrapped around his arm, “Can they catch him? Or should I...” He pondered to himself whether he should intervene in their mission.
“What is wrong with you?! We had the element of surprise—” Felix angrily yelled out.
“Not the time!” Maria replied.
The two quickly rushed behind the steel shipping container with gasping breaths.
A shootout quickly began as the two agents found themselves trapped behind the steel cargo. The grating sound of bullets carving into the metal crates, concentrated on their location.
“We almost had him! Instead, you shot them and alerted their entire group!” Felix yelled as he fired at the henchmen on the left side of the crate.
“Shut your word-hole right now!” She replied from the right side, as she flung a knife straight at one of the goon’s forehead, killing the man instantly.
A magazine dropped from Felix’s pistol and clattered to the concrete, and he swiftly pulled out a new one from inside his coat. As soon as reloaded his gun, he peered his gaze to the edge of the metal crate and resumed firing.
“I’m almost out of ammo.”
“You have an energy gun! Use it!”
“It’s an energy gun, its effective range is five meters!” He replied as he managed to take out one of the men, “Come in, mission control. We’re pinned down, requesting back-up.”
The transceiver sparked, “—Back up is—”
“Why doesn’t technology ever work in my hands?” He pouted as a bullet struck the metal crate, making a loud gong right beside his ear.
“What now?!” She yelled.
His mismatched eyes narrowed as he thought about what to do, “Split up, lead them around, take them out one by one.”
He then looked back and continued to fire off a few more rounds, striking another goon down, “You go this way, I’ll go that way.”
“Excuse me, I’m not the one wearing a bullet-proof—” Just as those words escaped her lips, a stray projectile, a broken bullet shard, bounced off one of the metal crates, and sliced the side of her cheek.
“Shit!” She yelled as she covered her now bleeding face.
“V.V.! Are you—?!” His worried words were cut short, as the thick sound of rolling metal could be heard moving on the concrete beside them. Felix’s expression turned to stunned horror as a grenade was a few feet from the crate they hid behind.
He drew his pistol and aimed at it, but as he pulled the trigger, all he heard was a hollow click.
Felix’s gaze locked on Maria, who was kneeling in pain right beside him. A few feet ahead was a explosive that was about to blow.
In that split moment, he remembered the sensation of her blood dripping on his face. The vivid memory of her bleeding face hanging just above his.
He threw the gun at the grenade to create some distance and pulled in Maria close, shielding her from the blast.
The grenade flew a few feet away just before exploding.
Maria watched Felix’s face contorted with pain as the metal can turned into a tapestry of red and white flames bursting behind him.
“G-grk!” He growled out as he took the brunt of the explosion.
“You alright?”
“I’m fine. Didn’t you say… urgh! That nothing leaves a scar on us?” He forced out a smile and wiped the blood from her cheek. While the coat protected him from the shrapnel, the impact still weighed on him. “Now go!”
“... Right.” She nodded.
Felix staggered as he got back up. With his back aching and his pitch-black coat left tattered, he pressed forward.
The two agents headed toward different directions, moving from one steel cargo 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.”
“Moritz, where are you going—?!” As Lewis turned around, however, the young man’s body scattered decks of French-suited playing cards and scattered into the air and quickly dissipated into nothingness.
“What the hell?!” Lewis scowled and yelled, “Men! Kill whoever’s there!”
“Yes, sir!” Their pursuers moved slowly and cautiously.
Frustrated, the blond mob boss scratched his head.
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.
Felix moved under and over in the cloak of darkness, striking his prey with his silent gun, contrasted to the wailing and agony on Maria’s end.
Lewis’ men fired recklessly and randomly, hitting nothing.
“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, “That was for my back.”
“What the… What’s going on—?” The criminal stuttered in shock, stationed beside him was the visored man, who was holding a pistol in each hand.
One by one, his men fell, either swiftly and silently by Felix’s hands, or with a blood-curdling scream by Maria’s.
The sun began to sink down the horizon, while its light slipped through empty spaces between the large metal crates like prison bars. It grew more and more quiet as his men fell, until the silence was broken by the echoes of the two agent’s voices.
“I thought Cocytus was supposed to be one of the toughest prisons on Earth?” Maria’s disappointed voice haunted the docks.
“Apparently, he slipped out of custody before he could be brought there.” Felix’s voice reverberated through the metal crates.
Their echoing voices filled the air, taunting him.
The loading bay felt smaller, more claustrophobic as the two shadows crept closer, dancing in the dusk. There was nowhere for him to run, as all exits lead to the darkness.
“Show yourselves!” The mob yelled out viciously, intimidated by their silent laughter.
A body was flung from behind one of the crates, and fell next to Lewis and the visored man.
“B-boss…” It was one of his men, whimpering on the cold concrete.
“What are you doing, get up and protect me!” Lewis yelled, enraged and scared, yet stubborn.
“Lewis Shaw. We demand your immediate surrender.” Felix exclaimed from the shadows.
“I demand you suck my dick!” Lewis snarked as he signaled the rest of his men to go check.
In the shadows, Maria declared to Felix from the transceiver, “Yup, I’m going to kill him.”
“Easy, girl.” Felix sighed, his arms pressed against the cold metal surface in order to stay upright.
“Sir, with all due respect, they threw one of our men several feet into the air!” One of them protested, who suddenly found his vision slowly sliding downwards, until it spiraled downwards.
The remaining men were frightened by the sight, as in one swift motion, the visored man sliced the defiant one’s head off, “Worthless men. If you do not die to the two spies, then you will die by my hand instead.” He declared as he sheathed back his katana.
~