Chapter 1 part 2

Mismatched Eyes

After the briefing, the two operatives, Felix and Maria, prepared their gear. With briefcase in hand, they were both greeted by a gust of wind from the black jet that had sat in wait for their arrival. They sat, facing one another, without saying a word.

It was still long before they would land at their destination. Felix opened his briefcase and began to polish his gun.

“Soooo, anything on your mind?” Maria suddenly spoke, her legs crossed above the seat.

“I’m thinking of how to infiltrate the building. According to this, there’s only one entrance, so getting in is going to be tricky—” Felix placed the cobalt-colored gun atop a black case as he pointed to the holographic projection.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Ah, then what?” Felix awkwardly smiled.

“I was thinking more like... talking about things other than the mission.”

“Oh, why?”

“Like the chief said, we should get to know each other. Build trust, y’know?”

“Um…” Clueless and put on the spot, Felix pressed his thumb against his chin.

“Oh god, what have they done to you?” She blurted out.

“I’ve never really done this before, so this is all rather new to me.”

“That’s not inspiring confidence in me.”

“Don’t worry. Rest assured; I’ll protect you.” Felix answered.

A sudden ding sounded, grabbing both of their attention. A flight attendant walked up to them, with a pen and paper in hand.

“Mister Aster, Miss Readman, what would you like today?”

“Mimosa!” Maria spoke with excitement.

“Coffee, two creams, three sugar.” He said.

“Understood, your orders will arrive momentarily.” The attendant responded with a polite smile before leaving.

“Being intoxicated wouldn’t be good for the mission.” Felix stated scoldingly.

She waved her hand, “We have a few hours, I’ll be fine.” Maria returned her attention toward Felix with a blank stare, “As for you… that’s your third cup of coffee in the past hour…”

“Fourth, actually.” Felix clarified as he took the last sip from his cup.

“I know you’re ‘superhuman’, but isn’t that a taaad bit too much?”

“Maybe, but since we’re not exactly normal people anymore…” He remarked indifferently.

“…I don’t know how to respond to that.” She twiddled her fingers. “Curious though, how does it feel having powers?”

He raised his eyebrows and asked, “You can’t use it?”

“I was told that the powers and the glowing eyes come at stage two, and well after undergoing the first stage… I’m not sure I’m willing to risk it.” She snickered with dull, dead eyes.

“Ah, yeah. I understand. For me it was... it was like…” Felix looked down and recollected his own hazy experience.

His brow furrowed, and he pinched at his forehead. Nothing was coming back to him, nothing specific.

There was only darkness, someone had been talking... no, shouting. Panicked, fearful. Afraid of something. But he was unable to find the right words to describe it.

Only Professor Tetsuya’s the expression of desperation, followed by a terrible, golden light. Like a star that engulfed his memories into the fire.

“Are… you okay?” Maria’s voice snapped him out of it.

Felix looked up with a drop of sweat rolling down his cheek, and saw Maria’s worried expression. Her palm was on his shoulder.

“Ah, yeah... It’s just. I would tell you, but…” Felix gazed at his hand, hoping for something to happen. But looking at his empty palm was all she needed, and understood immediately.

“Ah… I see.” She said in a way that sounded like an apology.

“Yeah… unfortunately, we’re in the same boat at the moment.” He lamented.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually.” She beamed, “Another topic then, since you like coffee so much, let’s start there... any reason for the two creams and three sugars? Is it just the taste?” Her lips stretched slightly while her eyebrows curled.

Felix tilted his head for a moment and answered, “Mhm, it’s how my mentor used to make it. Guess it just stuck.”

“Hoh? Must’ve been something you picked up from him.”

“Her, actually. It’s probably the first thing she taught me… five years ago, I think.”

“I see, so are you two close?”

“Yeah, we— were...” For a brief moment, his eyes light up before solemnly lowering his head.

“Were? Oh…oh, sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” She replied, twiddling with her fingers.

“It’s fine… it’s been a few years so I’ve moved past it.”

“I see…let’s change the topic, what else can we talk about?” Her head tilted downward as she spoke in an apologetic tone.

Felix looks down to his hand, “Um…Do you like coffee?”

“I don’t dislike it… what about you, anything you like?”

“Coff—”

“Other than coffee, I mean?” She quickly cut him off.

Felix stayed silent and pressed his thumb against his chin as he thought deeply.

Maria’s expression turned to stale annoyance, “Alright, we’re not making any progress… When I heard that I was going to work with the ‘Child of Stars’. I felt a little excited, but now…”

“Well excuse me for disappointing you. I’m trying, okay? Also don’t call me that.”

“Sorry, it’s just… I wanted to see someone who was irreplaceable.” She looked to the side, staring distantly.

Uncomfortable, Felix asked, “…Define irreplaceable?”

“You and I… err, well, how do I put this…Someone at the top, I guess.”

“At the top, huh? I’m not even in the top ten yet.”

“Speaking of, chief mentioned that you wanted to be the rank one. Why’s that?”

He grinned and replied, “It’s only natural for the strongest to want to be number one, right?”

“Heh… is that really the reason?”

“Hm?”

With a blank stare, Felix responded with silence.

“Come on, tell me the real reason.” She smiled.

Felix scratched his cheek and answered, “Tell you what, if we make it out of this alive, I’ll give you the answer.”

“I guess I could wait a couple hours… but thinking that the Black Cat of Ruin becoming ranked anything other than thirteenth would feel out of place.” Maria tilted her head with a playful smirk.

“Again, that’s not my official codename.”

“Thirteenth ranked in the leaderboard of the alliance of the twelve organizations…” She spoke slowly, as if she was confirming it to herself. “If I’m not mistaken, you were put into the top twenty, not because of your proficiency, but because of your potential.”

“How do you know that?”

“Chief did say you’ve only dealt with simulation battles so far. The higher the rank, the more merits you’ve raked in.”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“It probably makes the people who accomplished so much very angry that you’re in such a privileged position.”

“When you put it that way…” Felix placed his face on his palm, “Regardless, I don’t think me being the thirteenth strongest person in the world is so far-fetched.” He shrugged and sarcastically boasted.

“Maybe if you’ve only lived in the alliance’s small world. The world is a big place, full of monsters with machines in their veins, and exoskeletons on their bodies, and other tools made to kill. There’re dangerous people out there.”

“Dangerous… you mean like the Jackal?”

Maria lowered her head and spoke with a frigid chuckle, “Mhm, I guess but… what makes you think that he’s the most dangerous one out there?”

Felix felt a chill crawl from his back as she uttered those words.

Nervously, he muttered out word by word, “He’s… probably… not, but he should definitely be taken care of soon.”

“Mhm, he really should.” She showed a poppy smile before glancing to the side with a satisfied expression.

There was suddenly a suffocating tension in the air.

I only noticed this now, but her eyes almost pitch-black. Unnaturally so. They clearly shined, but they were glassy. Like the way they reflected light was artificial.

They’re darkness were like long stretches of abyss that did not appear to end.

The attendant returned with both drinks in a tray, “Mister Aster, Miss Readman, your drinks.”

“Thanks!”

“Th-thank you…”

After placing the drinks on their table, the flight attendant left as soon as she came, and a feeling of discomfort lingered in the air.

“Sorry, I just let my thoughts slip out, forget I said that!” She recklessly tried to make the unpleasant atmosphere fade with an awkward smile. “Too much spaghetti spilled.”

A persistent silence lingered between the two for the rest of the trip. Maria returned to staring out the window, Felix, no longer knowing how to pursue the conversation, finished his coffee and leaned against his seat.

Irreplaceable, huh?

After looking through the notes one last time, Felix mumbled out, “Maybe we should get some rest.”

He closed his eyes and rested, waiting for the feeling of unease to fade.

Over time, the plane descended from the air, and the two arrived at their destination.

“Felix?” Maria called out. The agent slowly opened his eyes, barely rested. “We’re here. Are you ready?” She asked.

“Yeah… I’m ready.”

Maria stretched out her arms as she got down.

When the two set foot on the ground, they took a deep inhale. The air was thick and hazy, and explosions could barely be heard from the distance.

The whereabouts of their targets were supposedly unknown. However, it did not take long for them to spot it.

Maria pulled out a grappling hook and swung around to the top of one of the buildings. Felix then followed, climbing through the windows and crevices.

Above them flew a Chinese dragon kite pulled by a drone. The dusk sky was filled with excitement and color, as the loud sound of bangs, clangs and crackles could clearly be caught in every direction.

“Is this why you were staring out the window, enjoying the festival’s fireworks?” He asked as the flurry of lights reflected in his eyes.

“Well… that…” She responded vaguely as she stared at the festival from an unknown rooftop as the wind blew against her hair.

In the center of the excitement stood a wide, twenty-story office building. At its front was a tall metal gate with only one entrance. Though the town had buildings, none came close to as tall or as gaudy as the massive one in the center. It was a clear indication of where they were headed.

“Now why would a skyscraper need a guarded gate?” She asked.

He glanced over to her and replied, “Unless they have something to hide.”

The two smirked at each other before jumping off and moving on ahead.

On the streets, Maria gazed with cold, narrow eyes as the surrounding streets had logos and symbols of the Golden Lion Agency and other organizations from the association. All of them vandalized and covered with rubbish.

Rows of food stalls lined the streets as the two walked through the crowds, only to stop at a particularly small stall with a red bird crossed out with an ‘x’.

Felix knocked on the counter, “Excuse me.”

The man in the stall glanced at the two agents and spoke, “Anything you like, anything you see, all only a hundred.”

“You’re a robin, right? We’re from the agency.” Felix explained

“We need the word, word bird.” Maria added

The man turned around and with a grumpy tone replied, “There’re a lot of agencies.”

Felix pulled out from his pocket a small golden pin with a lion and symbols engraved. “Felix Aster, and this is Venom Vanguard.”

“I told you to use V.V.”

“Right… V.V.”

“Golden Lion, huh? I take it you two wanna get in that big building over there?” The man responded.

“How’d you know?” Maria asked.

“Another Elite Agent came by earlier, lookin’ for a way in, same as you. Had me scout the area. Left a while ago after I told ‘em there was no other way in.”

“From which organization?”

“Confidential, but not from the Golden Lion. From the looks’a things, I assume you’re on the same mission. Tough luck, the place is teeming with guards.”

“Is that so?”

“You’d think the mafia would be more reclusive.” Maria expressed her disbelief as she looked at the building.

“It got renovated just a month ago. According to sources, it was funded by some corrupt politician who wanted to line his pockets, so it got larger at terrifying speeds with cheaper material.”

“Thanks for the info.”

Felix walked away, and Maria followed suit after waving goodbye at the old shopkeeper. As the two walked further away from the main road, the weaker festival’s excitement became, yet the fireworks still blaringly echoed.

The two scanned the area, circling it, but as they did, they found that every nook and cranny was littered with guards. With every step they took behind the wall, a guard would be able to see them from within. Back and forth they searched for a way in before meeting back at the front gate.

“The security in this place is ridiculous…so, how are we supposed to do this?” Felix muttered.

“We go in, you protect me, I get what we need, we get out. Easy peasy.” Maria nonchalantly explained as she brushed her hair to the side.

“Mhm.”

From the looks of things, I wish it would be that ‘easy peasy’. Sorry, chief, but I don’t think we’ll be able to keep a low profile.

Maria raised her finger with a bright smile.

“I have an idea. Saw this in a movie once.” She said before picking up a stone and throwing it at the edge of the outer gate.

A movie? Why do you think that would work?

“What’s wrong with you?” Felix couldn’t prevent himself from shouting under his breath.

“A great, many things.” She smugly whispered.

“Did you hear that?”

“Let’s go check it out.”

The voices of the guards could be heard from outside of the wall.

WHY DID THAT WORK?!

“Wait here.” Maria said.

“V.V., wait, what are you—?!” He reached out to grab her,

But when the gates opened, he begrudgingly resigned.

Both of the agents continued to stay hidden in wait for the two guards to leave the camera’s field of vision, Maria walked out and revealed herself while Felix kept to the shadows.

“Hey, you. What are you doing here?” One of the guards called out, pointing his rifle at Maria.

“I was just curious why there was such a large building in such a small town.” She replied, feigning an innocent smile.

“That’s none of your business.”

Another guard walked by to them, tipping his hat, “Now, now. Don’t be so hard on the girl, there’s no harm in sparing a minute to explain to her about the greatness of our leader. You see, it’s because—”

As the guard spoke to Maria, Felix’s fingers twitched for a moment, as the corner of his eyes followed a colorful blaze soaring upwards into the sky. It rose higher and higher, then finally bang. The sky was painted with a flowery red firework as both of the guards fell to concrete.

“But… why?” The guard frailly asked with his last breath as Maria’s smile was the last thing he saw.

The two men fell to the ground as Felix approached Maria.

“Why were they speaking English?” He asked with his palm covering his mouth.

“Why did the robin?” She retorted

“He’s an informant.”

“This guy’s a sentry.”

“That’s not how this works.”

“And yet that’s how it was.” She shot back with lowered eyebrows.

“I… point taken. So, what now?” I wish I could reply, but I couldn’t find myself an answer, so my only option was to concede.

“Calm your nerves. We’re going through the main entrance.”

Maria giggled while Felix gulped. As she uttered those words, Felix’s heart began to race. The thought of getting killed started to cloud his vision, but it wouldn’t take long for the rest of the guards to notice them being gone for too long.

The gate reopened to let the guards back in, but it was the two agents who had entered.

A cold-sweat dripped down his face as he looked at every guard through the corner of his eyes, his ears filled with the cracking of the fireworks, forcing him to imagine the gunfire.

He glanced towards Maria, but he saw from the corner of his eye that her expression remained calm, no, she wore an undaunted smirk as she continued forward.

The unpleasant thought intruded further Felix’s into his head as they walked.

I couldn’t stop myself from blinking so much, as the bright lights became blinding. Or was that just the nervousness of being surrounded by a hundred guards suspicious of us? The closer we got to the glass door entrance, the harder it became to breathe. Was it the thick, tight uniform over our gear, or was it the thick and humid air? It could’ve easily been both, but we were less than ten meters into the building.

“You there.” A guard suddenly walked towards the two agents, snapping Felix out from his own cluttered thoughts. He leaned down to look at Maria.

“Y-yes?” She replied.

“You both… who are—?” Before he could finish speaking, Maria had split open his throat. His blood sprayed and splattered on the two agents.

From under the uniform, Maria pulled out several knives between her fingers and launched them in a dozen different directions.

The alarms rang. The glass door locked, and the industrial shutter of the rolling grille lowered. The entrance had been sealed off.

Over twenty sentries cornered them on the ground, and all their weapons were aimed at their heads. They fired from every direction relentlessly. The two agents pushed through, avoiding the gunfire as much as they could while mowing down the men that stood in their way.

Sparks flew from Felix’s cobalt gun as he deflected the bullets that came toward Maria’s direction while taking out those who got close to him.

“Back up, we need back up at the front gate!” One of the sentries called out through the radio.

Maria looked up and yelled, “Get inside before the other guards get here!”

“You have to get in there, first!” He replied as he narrowly avoided one of the shots.

“Not the time to argue!”

The two agents were caught in the center of attack, trapped in a monochromatic barrage of bright flashes and black bullets.

A stray shot suddenly grazed at her cheek, which she quickly clutched as it bled.

Noticing this, Felix quickly wrapped himself around her, shielding her from the shower of lead.

Maria’s eyes widened as she watched the bullets bounce off his black coat. She instantly realized from his pained expression that, though his coat was bullet-resistant, the impact still took a toll on him.

She scowled, grabbed his arm, and yelled out, “Get your ass in there!” As she threw him toward the entrance.

The drops of sweat that filled Felix’s face was swept off by the wind as he was thrown across the air. As soon as he got his balance, he then instinctively hopped on the heads of the guards who stood in front of him.

As he got close, he fired repeatedly at the glass-door before crashing through it, sliding through the shard filled floor just as the rolling grille was coming down on him.

Another wave of sharp knives soared across the area, which forced sentries to duck, and provided Maria a path to run through. But as she raced towards Felix, one of the half-dead guards on the ground caught her by the leg, causing her to stumble.

Inside, his limited light source shrank as the shutter descended.

“V.V.!” Felix yelled out.

He watched with his blue eye as she fought back with a desperate expression. But just as she managed to get back up, a bullet struck her back down. Several sentries surrounded her, and she did her best to avoid attacks, taking out one by one with her sharp knives.

“Maria!” He desperately called out to her.

Maria’s expression softened as she heard Felix call out to her, she looked back and saw his arm reaching out for her through the iron bars.

The sentries aimed their guns at her head, and she flashed him a brief smile. But just before they could fire, the industrial shutter closed shut.

Unable to see the outside, Felix got up and clutched his arm, before briskly walking toward a nearby column.

He pressed his back against it, and slowly slipped down. In total darkness, he waited to listen the gunfire.

A deep, heavy gasp escaped his lips. But as he tried to catch his breath, a powerful tremor that shook the building.

“Damn it…” He whispered in a ragged voice. He stood back up and dragged himself towards the gates.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, “Damn it!”

He smashed his fist against the iron wall, and a loud metal clang resounded from it.

“I can’t!” He struck it again.

“Do this!” And again.

“Without you!” With one last hit, he took a step back.

Felix felt his fist throb and his veins pulsate and took a step back. He caught his breath and looked at the metal gate, his repeated blows left several cracks on it.

“…I don’t know how to do this… but I’ll carry on.” He steeled his resolve to continue the mission and began to walk.

But as he started to walk away, he heard an explosion bang against the gate, the shockwave caused the ground to rumble.

Felix looked back and saw a massive dent against the gate. It was immediately followed by another explosion, which dented the gate even more.

He took a step back, and a drop of sweat dripped through his face as he pulled out a gun.

But it was followed up by one final explosion.

In an iridescent burst of ephemeral particles, the gate broke open. From behind the golden firework stood a black-haired woman, with a sweet, cheerful smile on her face. The bleeding scratch on her face had vanished, but Felix was too surprised to notice this.

He lowered his ornate gun, and his expression filled to the brim with disbelief. “Maria?”

She crawled through the hole made in the metal gate, “Yes?”

“How… how did you survive?”

“Let’s just say a rogue firework came to my rescue. Or a couple of them at least.”

“I don’t think that’s how fireworks… sigh, I see. I’m glad you’re alright.” Felix conceded his thought and smiled awkwardly, still in disbelief. He scratched his cheek and commented, “I thought I was gonna have to do this alone.”

She smirked, “Don’t worry. I won’t leave you, partner.”

“Yeah… I’m glad. Then let’s go, partner.” With a wave of relief, Felix found the confidence to continue.

She nodded her head in compliance.

The two agents made their way into the building alive. Unbeknownst to the two of them, however, was a man standing inside a surveillance room.

He held up a damaged storage device in front of the screen where the two were projected, and grinned.