Chapter 25

Mansion of Glass and Shadows part 1

The skies were deep, with shades of black, orange and hues of purple.

Isabelle opened her eyes and found herself in the burning forest surrounded by scattered remains of the jet they were flying on. Her back was up against a large chunk of the jet’s remains, a section with the Golden Lion’s insignia on it.

“Urgh…” A sharp groan escaped her lips while crimson static crackled around her body. There was a stiffness all over her body that made it difficult to even lift a finger. She slowly turned her head to the right and saw Grant tinkering with some of the jet’s remaining communication devices.

He noticed how she slowly glanced over at him and greeted with a nonchalant, “Morning, sunshine.”

“What… what happened?” She asked with an aching voice. The thick burning smoke invaded her nose and made her feel nauseated.

“Someone sent us a greeting. Shot us out of the sky.” The brown-haired esper answered. Though he answered her question, she could have guessed that much just by looking around the ruins.

“What are you doing?”

“Setting up a signal jammer. Making sure that whoever shot us down doesn’t radio for help. It won’t be long until a scout comes here to confirm our bodies.”

“And… What about the pilot?”

Grant sighed, “He’s our only casualty. Dreadnought and Nice are doing what they can to help him, but… his odds are slim to say the least.” He pointed to their direction.

The silver-haired woman cast her gaze to where he was pointing, and saw the two non-espers, Dreadnought and Nice, patching up the barely breathing pilot with a first-aid kit in an open area of the forest.

“How long was I out?”

“Less than five minutes.”

She slowly got up, and a sharp pain shot through her body. She then looked over the operatives scattered within her field of view.

To her left, Felix sat beside an unconscious Maria with bloody bandages wrapped around her head. He gave a sharp glare that made him unapproachable, killing intent radiated all over his body.

And ahead to her right, Anastasia sat on the ground with covered eyes while the hush crackle of fire echoed all over her.

At the edges of the wreckage, Nero kneeled down on the ground, his hands radiating with a red haze while using psychic power to spray the earth upward to put out the flames.

He turned around and noticed Isabelle standing behind her, as their crimson eyes made contact, the blond man called out to her, “Isa, help me put out the fires!”

“Ah, right…” She nodded stiffly.

The silver-haired esper lifted her hand up to her chest level, and the ground beneath all of them cracked and rumbled.

Everyone took notice of this.

“Isabelle?” Grant mumbled out.

Thoughtlessly, she uprooted the earth, and caused several meters of dirt to spiral up into the air. Nero and Grant both quickly released their auras as best as they could to avoid it.

The piles of dirt scattered across wreckage, raining down and extinguishing the flames.

As it fell, an orb of blue light peered, protecting both Felix and Maria from the falling earth.

When it stopped, only the thin clatter remained. The area dimmed significantly as the flames went out,

Grant dispersed his aura, causing the dirt to fall back to the ground. He then flashed her a disappointed look that said all that needed to be said, to which she responded with an embarrassed smile.

Anastasia then got up and walked over to the two of them, covered from head to toe in dirt.

“You should have warned us that you were going to do that.” She chastised her.

“I’m sorry…”

“We’re okay!” Yelled the two non-espers as they were buried under all of the mess.

The red-haired woman then used her aura to outwardly disperse the dirt on her body, spraying it at the two.

Isabelle shielded her face, “Hey!”

“I’m working here!” Grant yelled as he covered himself from the dirt.

Felix gently wiped off some of the dirt that got caught on Maria’s face.

Anastasia glanced around, seeing that the flames were all gone, and gave a very quiet, “Thank you.” To Isabelle.

“Oh, um… you’re welcome.” She responded.

However, as she uttered those words, they all noticed a rustle in the bushes.

An invisible line made its way towards Grant’s back, but Nero drew the blade on his hip and halved the bullet before it could take out the brown-haired esper.

The fragmented halves scraped through the dirt before coming to a halt with Grant in between them, and the blond esper raised his sword once more. Grant turned around and to see what was going on.

Three more bullets shot out from the trees. Nero sliced through the first, but just barely stopped the second. The third bullet passed through the red swordsman and went straight towards the man behind him.

The brown-haired esper coughed out a red sputter as the bullet struck his chest.

“Grant!” Isabelle yelled out in fright.

Voices echoed from the trees, the operatives all watched intently as three figures revealed themselves from the shadows.

Large men with cybernetic augmentations all over their bodies stood before the operatives. On their foreheads were digits, or designation numbers. On the left had the digits “forty-eight”, on the right had “forty-nine”, and in the middle behind the two, “fifty.”

“So that’s what’s keeping us from calling for assistance.” Forty-Nine said.

“Oh see… who called that? Me!” Grant snidely exclaimed.

Isabelle yelled in exasperation, “Is it really the time to brag?!”

“What are you waiting for? Get rid of them!” Fifty barked the order.

Forty-Eight and Forty-Nine rushed towards the agents. Nero pulled out his blade himself as Forty-Nine sprouted a blade from his mechanical arm, while Forty-Eight rushed towards the two non-espers.

Dreadnought and Nice raised their guns, ready to fight, but Anastasia got in between them.

A fight ensued as both Nero and Anastasia engaged the two cybernetic enemies. Their bodies began to shimmer with a light that outlined their bodies.

“Anya! What are you doing? I can do this on my own!” Nero yelled out.

He swiftly evaded the cyborg’s quick slashes and countered, but as he swung his sword at the enemy’s throat, a metal clang reverberated on collision, and he backed away.

Unable to slice through the layer of chrome, he looked at the slight chip on his sword’s edge.

“Sure you can…” Anastasia remarked as she saw his sword fail to cut down his enemy.

Anastasia, backed by Nice and Dreadnought, exchanged blows with her opponent. While the bullets they fired had ricocheted off the cyborg’s body, her psychic enhanced fists visibly caused harm to the enemy.

“But you have no choice but to accept my help this time.” She shook her hand slightly as she felt the pain in her knuckles, “Ahk…” A sharp exhale escaped her lips.

Nero grinned, “Fine then. I’ll leave that one to you.”

The two espers held their ground against the cyborgs, but they were unable to land a meaningful hit into the mix.

Isabelle raised her palms, and the two cyborgs began to glow red.

Forty-Eight and Forty-Nine showed startled expressions as they were enveloped in her crimson aura, before suddenly being slammed into one another by the silver-haired esper.

“What are you doing fighting them hand-to-hand?!” The silver-haired woman scolded Nero and Anastasia with a hoarse voice.

As her crimson energy dissipated, the cyborgs got back on their feet, they immediately rushed in a frenzy to attack the two espers.

There was a metallic shriek as Nero’s sword clashed with the cyborg. Anastasia pulled out an ornate gun, and from it shot out a burning ball of psychic energy.

It burst into dazzling fiery flickers as it struck her enemy, though it did minimal damage, it was able to knock Forty-Nine back a few feet.

She gasped, then called out, “Nero!”

Nero immediately understood and pushed back his opponent. With quick, explosive strikes, the two espers forced the cyborgs closer to one another.

“Grr!” Forty-Nine growled as his back pressed against Forty-Eight.

He roared and readied to rush in, but before the cyborg could take another step, a whistling wind tickled Isabelle’s ear as a chain suddenly shot out from behind her.

With a quick flash of red, it made a sudden u-turn and coiled around the mechanical enemies, “Now Isabelle!” Grant yelled.

Isabelle realized what they were doing. A perfect shot was laid out in front of her and she began to materialize a ball of psychic power in her hand.

But before she could fire the finishing blow, the last cyborg, number Fifty, intervened and fired a hail of lead towards them. Both Nero and Anastasia flared up their energies, but it quickly wore thin as the bullets ran it dry, and they remained helpless where they stood.

Grant’s psychic grip quickly loosened as he defended himself, but his aura was not fast enough, and one of the bullets shot his body back into the wreckage.

The silver-haired woman flinched, but a blue silhouette flashed in front of her, and wrapped his arms around her body.

Felix let out a pained grunt as his back was riddled with ammunition, but they were unable to pierce his bullet-resistant black coat.

The two cyborgs escaped the chains and rushed after her.

While Isabelle’s arm was still facing the enemies, the thumping of her panicked heart made it difficult to concentrate, and disrupted the formation of her energy.

With his arms wrapped around her flustered face, Felix said in a hush whisper, “Isabelle, now.”

His silent, almost pleading voice calmed her down, and the deafening beat of her heart calmed down. The crimson ball shot out of her hands – A red blaze ravaged the forest.

As the explosion faded into glistening red particles, the path ahead cleared up. Roughly a hundred meters of woodland had been flattened by the blast, and the scattering chunks of wood and fauna clattered back to the ground.

The two cyborgs laid in the center of the ravaged remains, completely incapacitated by her overwhelming attack.

Isabelle broke out a deep gasp and started to take in ragged breaths.

“Good job.” Felix muttered.

Between her breaths, she nodded, as if to thank him.

“Bravo…” Cyborg Fifty clapped as he walked out of the forest, “With that radio jammer, I can’t call for help. And I doubt that any of you will let me get out of here alive.” A second set of mechanical arms popped out from behind him. “So then, which one of you will put me to the ground?!”

“Anya, don’t hold back this time.” Nero grinned.

“Neither should you.” She replied.

Anastasia and Nero readied their stances and aimed their weapons at the remaining enemy, who appeared to be a significantly greater threat than the two they already dealt with.

“Are you the one who shot down our plane?” Felix’s voice interrupted the battle. He let go of Isabelle, who then dropped to her knees due to the accumulated stress.

With a proud stride, the cyborg approached his enemy, “And if I am?”

As soon as those words escaped his lips, a flash of blue light followed less than a second after.

Before any of them could even blink, Felix had slammed the cyborg’s head to a foot deep into the ground.

“Grrr! GRAG–” The cyborg’s eyes turned red as he viciously growled, clutching Felix’s arm tightly with all four of his arms.

But before he could do anything, Felix lifted him and slammed him into the ground again. Cyborg Fifty gave a croaking gasp, needing to take back air into his lungs. But the blue-eyed agent repeated the motion again, relentlessly bashing the cyborg’s head into the ground. Again, and again, and again, until the cyborg finally went quiet.

He gave a cold glare disdain as the cyborg’s grip on him loosened, and in turn he let go of the cyborg’s face, letting his mechanical foe drop down with a heavy thud.

An excruciating quiet filled the air.

All of the operatives felt frozen by the intense malice leaking out of his body.

A weak, aching voice muttered out and shattered the silence, “Looks like you put him on silent mode…”

They all looked at Maria, who in turn looked at all of them with a pained gaze.

Felix’s cold glare quickly softened as soon as he heard her voice, and he shrugged his arms in response, “You would have killed him if I did.”

“... You mean he’s still alive?” Grant muttered out in disbelief.

“Maria… are you okay?” Isabelle quickly rushed to her side.

“Did you really think I would die from something like this?” The black-haired girl sneered.

Nero shrugged his arms, “Most people normally die when you kill them, yes.”

Anastasia then walked up to Grant, who was sitting on the ground, “I thought you got shot?”

“I did.” Grant pulled out his chain, revealing the bullet caught in between one of the links. He then lifted up his shirt, revealing a bleeding bruise on his stomach, “I just barely blocked the bullet.”

“I see, can you get up?”

“Yeah, I just need a couple of minutes to heal.” He groaned.

“Same here.” Maria also responded as Isabelle helped her stay upright.

“So what now?” Isabelle asked.

“We continue the mission.”

“Actually, before that… Isabelle, can we ask you to move the ground again… preferably make a hole?”

“Hm? What for?” The silver-haired girl tilted her head.

Anastasia’s mouth opened slightly, and quickly answered, “I’ll do it. Isabelle, you just get some rest, okay?”

“Ah, mhm. Sure.” She replied, completely oblivious.

“I’ll come back in five minutes, all of you should be ready by then. It won’t take long until they notice their scouts are missing.” Anastasia remarked before going along with Nice and Dreadnought.

Metals sharply hissed and groaned as Grant folded the jet’s surface around the unconscious cyborgs. “There, that should do it. Gotta be thorough.”

“If you want to be thorough, why not just slice their throat?” Maria asked, to which Nero lifted his sword and nodded.

Felix spoke up with curled eyebrows, “I don’t think we should kill them… Not if it’s not necessary.”

Isabelle then turned to them, “I agree.”

Maria pouted, then shrugged, “Guess our hands are tied.”

“Then I guess we should get our gear?” Grant turned his focus over to the wreckage, where their luggage was buried under the earth and dirt.

“Good, get ready.” Anastasia walked out of the forest, behind her stood Dreadnought and Nice, “Because it’s time to get moving.”

Deep in the woods was a shallow grave, with a single plank of wood standing upright. On top of it was the pilot’s hat.

*

Felix and company arrived at the location, hidden in the forest far and away from anyone’s sight. The group placed their gear on the ground and began to set up. Their target was at a mansion atop a cliff. Beneath were the waves of the sea nearby, and soft, salty winds.

As the other agents prepared their gear, Anastasia walked up to Felix, giving him the first order, “Blue, you go and survey the location.”

Felix nodded his head and went. Anastasia began to walk over to the others, “Dreadnought, Nice, can either of you set up a drone and give us an aerial view?”

“You got it.” Nice gave a thumbs up, while Dreadnought just smiled back.

Isabelle put on her attire, a reinforced white garb with straps over her chest, shoulders, and thighs. As she opened her briefcase where her rifle was, she noticed her hands began to feel slightly cold. She looked and saw that both her hands were trembling.

Nero glanced over and asked, “Isa, what’s wrong.”

“N-nothing.” She placed her hands on her pockets. There was a slight shudder in her voice.

“Nervous?”

“Aren’t you? This is a raid, right? How are you not scared?” She looked at him, still shaken by the encounter against the cyborgs.

“I am scared. I always am when it comes to these operations. But the feeling of death is what gives me my edge.” Nero answered.

“Was that supposed to be a pep talk?” She replied with disbelief and indignation.

“Is something wrong here?” Anastasia said as she walked towards the two red-eyed partners.

“She’s nervous.” Nero answered.

“I thought you’ve had your training? I read your file, it said you’ve killed six people.”

Isabelle placed her hand over her other arm, “…Those were long distance assassinations. I’ve never actually been out in the field before, so this is technically my first mission.”

The silver-haired girl then looked at Anastasia and asked, “How… how do you not feel afraid?”

Anastasia took a deep inhale before replying, “In training they try to drill fear out of you… but the truth is, it’s never drilled out. It’s just tucked away. The tremors, the shaking, the explosions. It gets to you, but you just gotta push through it.”

“Right…” Isabelle lowered her head as her hands shook.

Anastasia took hold of Isabelle’s hands, “There’s never a real time when you’re ready. You just have to start. You did it earlier against the cyborgs, didn’t you?”

Grant looked at his chain and wrapped it over his hip, before putting on his suit.

“Is everyone ready?” Anastasia called out to the agents.

“We are.” Dreadnought responded.

“The drone couldn’t capture much, but we’ve located two guards at the front, two at the rear.” Nice explained.

“Multiple guards inside as well. I’d say about twenty, twenty-five per floor. It doesn’t look like they’ve noticed the missing guards.” Felix added.

“Considering the things we fought earlier, they probably think we’re dead.” Grant remarked.

“Alright. Before we begin the operation.” Anastasia said, looking at all of the agents around her, “Are all of you prepared to die?”

All of them looked towards Anastasia, whose face was stone-cold and expressionless. Felix and Nero said nothing, their determination was clear from their expressions, while Grant tilted his head slightly before looking back and nodding.

Isabelle winced slightly. She recollected her moment of panic against the cyborgs. Her gaze slowly lifted to look at Felix, who protected her from certain death earlier.

The two non-espers in the group noticed the nervous look on the silver-haired woman’s face, before suddenly breaking into a laugh which broke the tension in the air.

“Of course, we are!” Dreadnought excitedly responded.

“Even if we didn’t… It’s not like the agency will just let us go.” Nice added.

The two partners let out a reassuring smile, trying to ease Isabelle’s tension.

Felix placed his guns under his cloak and wore on his pale white mask, and Nero placed his katana on his hip and put on a black oni mask with a yellow lightning mark across it’s left eye.

“Alright. There are two ways in, the front and the back. There’s not much cover at the back, as it leads to a long flight of stairs.”

“I don’t like stairs… They’re always up to something.” Isabelle commented before quickly turning away and holding back a chuckle. Part of her felt relieved, as if some of the weight on her shoulders had been lifted.

All of them looked at her with disbelief, except for Felix and Agent Nice, who snickered slightly to themselves.

“We don’t need this pun-ishment from you.” Agent Nice replied.

“Don’t start.” Agent Dreadnought chopped him on the forehead.

“Puns, huh?” Maria blurted out with a disappointed expression.

Anastasia looked at Maria with a cold stare, recalling the chief’s words in the office, “Anya, watch over Maria. I’ve been lenient on her for much too long, but I need you to reign her in. Make sure she doesn’t step out of line.”

She closed her eyes and began to explain to them, “We strike from both ends. We have to be fast, as soon as we begin, give him no chance to escape. Blue Phantom, you’re with me, I need to be able to protect you. Agent—”

Felix looked up in confusion and blurted out, “Prot— what? I can handle myself.”

“Yes, but I need to look after you.” She answered firmly.

“I… I see.” Felix nodded in compliance.

Maria interjected as she placed her hand on Felix’s shoulder, “No, no. You saw what he did to that cyborg, he can handle himself.”

“Agent Venom, you’re coming with us.”

“What?”

“You’re wounded.” She was quick to point out.

Maria’s eyes furrowed at the statement and objected, “I’ve healed.”

Anastasia ignored her argument and continued, “Agent Red and Vermillion to the front gate. Agent Dreadnought and Nice will be accompanied by Crimson—”

“I’m going alone.” Nero declared.

“Eh?” Anastasia blurted out.

“I will attract the guard’s attention. You all go head to both ends to make sure he has no place to escape.”

“Wait but—”

“Follow your commanding officer’s orders.” Felix glared.

Nero grinned in response, “Make me.”

Felix pointed his gun at Nero’s forehead, and Nero unsheathed his katana towards Felix’s neck.

“What, do you really want to be protected by your teacher?”

The Director’s words echoed in Isabelle’s mind, “I’m simply asking you to watch over him. Think of it as a personal request.”

Isabelle meekly raised her hand and started to speak, “I— I could accompany Felix…” But her words fell on deaf ears as the tension rose between the two men.

Stood between Felix and Nero was Grant, who slammed both of their heads together. “That’s enough. Stop that.”

The two men fell to their knees and clutched their throbbing foreheads, both mumbling in pain.

Maria and Anastasia both placed their hands on Felix and Nero respectively.

“Bud, you okay?”

“Nero, are you alright?”

“I’m fine…” Nero spoke reassuringly to Anastasia.

“I didn’t feel a thing.” Felix smugly commented.

Nero pointed his finger, “Liar, you were in as much pain as I was.”

“Says you!”

What is this? What’s going on? We almost died less than thirty minutes ago… How are these people bickering… bantering like this without a care in the world?

Isabelle thought to herself as she watched the two men fight.

Anastasia walked up between the both of them with a flushed, embarrassed expression as she pushed the two away from each other, “Just stop it…” She sighed, “Nero, if you want to go alone, then that’s fine. You can do what you like, too, Felix.”

Grant raised his arm, “Actually, if he’s going alone, then I’d rather go with Felix.”

“Same here.” Maria added.

“If it’s all the same with you, however, we would feel safer if one of you espers accompanied us.” Dreadnought added.

“Then it’s settled.” Anastasia mumbled with a resigned sigh as she looked at the three others. “Felix, you go with Maria and Grant at the front, Nero goes alone and draws everyone’s attention.

“No complaints here as long as you do your job.” Nice stated.

Isabelle, Dreadnought and Nice looked at each other before looking back at Anastasia with smiles on their faces, “Works for us.”

“But I should probably also accompany Felix…” Isabelle commented.

“No.” Anastasia instantly shot her down. “Good luck, Nero.”

“Right back at ya.” He replied.

The group split up in the forest and headed to their assigned paths, except for Nero, who headed forward. Felix, Maria and Grant got to the front of the gate.

At the front gate, a small metal ball rolled at the feet of the two standing guards. Suddenly, its sides opened, and a thick smoke quickly spread around them.

“Huh, what the—?” One of the guards.

Maria struck both the lights and the cameras with her knives, and Felix swiftly took out the two suited guards at the gate with his white gun before either of them could make a peep.

From the guard booth, two others watched with coffee and noticed that one of the cameras suddenly turned black.

“What the—?” The guard said out loud before looking at the gates, “Can you hear us out there?”

“What’s the matter?” The other guard asked.

“The camera at the front stopped working, and the guards aren’t responding.”

“Then go check it out.”

“What if they got killed out there?”

“You need to stop watching too many movies, dumbass. Now get out there.” The other guard kicked him off his seat.

“Alright then… fucking asshole.” He muttered under his breath as he picked up his pistol and opened the door.

“What was that?”

“I said I banged your mom last night!” He yelled before slamming the door shut.

Outside, the guard tensely walked to the front gate, clutching the gun. He found only the unconscious bodies of the first two guards laid flat on the ground. He turned around, a drop of sweat pouring down his face.

Only to find that clung to the gate above him were the three espers, tied to the wall with guns already aimed at him.

“D-don’t kill me.” He pleaded.

“Okay.” Felix obliged and fired with his white gun.

The man fell silently to the ground, and the three espers dropped down.

“What’s taking him so long?” The other guard asked himself. He pulled up a radio and called, “H-hello, security? Do you mind sending some of your men to the front gate? I’m afraid we might have an intruder.”

“We have our hands full! There’s a masked freak here! Bullets aren’t working on— GARHK!” Cried from the other side of the line who was mercilessly cut down by a man in red with the face of a black demon.

Suddenly, the sound cut off. “Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?”

He pressed the red button on the table in a panic, but nothing happened.

He repeatedly pressed the button. There was a bead of sweat flowing down his nervous face, “Come on, why won’t the alarm ring?”

At the gate stood the three agents.

“Have you cut the security?” Felix asked.

“Security’s tougher than I thought.” Maria replied as she moved around the several holographic rings protruding from the door.

“Let me try.” Grant spoke as he moved in her way. With a quick change in the rings’ positions and an alteration of the code, the door opened.

“I’ve never met someone as good as me before.” Maria remarked.

“Yeah, who knows. Maybe I’ll even take your spot in the team.” Grant replied in jest.

Maria’s eyes furrowed. She sourly tugged on Felix with a pout on her face.

“Grant. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t make jokes of that manner.” Felix scolded him.

“Ah… I see. That was in bad taste, sorry.” He awkwardly replied.

The remaining guard nervously walked out of the booth, also carrying with him a pistol. But when he made it to the gates, he found only a man adorned in black, with a pale white and expressionless mask.

“What the fuck—?!” He turned around and headed back to the booth, but in front of the rocky path stood the black-haired woman.

“I give up! I surrender! Don’t kill m—” He pleaded.

“I reject your surrender.” Maria responded in a low voice as she swiftly slashed out his throat with her cold knife.

Felix walked over and slid his mask to the side, “You didn’t need to kill him.”

“My bad.” She replied in a sullen tone, clearly wanting to make herself feel better.

“Marie …”

The three then made their way to the front door.

“Another lock. Venom, you’re up.” Grant said. Maria knelt down to the screen. A small, holographic interface conjured from her fingers.

“Be careful, if you botch the activation and the self-defense mechanism will kick—” Before Grant could finish, the door opened.

Within five seconds flat, she unlocked the door and smugly walked in, “I’m the best.”

“So, about the plan…” Grant said.

“Who needs plans when you can just kill everyone in your way?” Maria pulled out a knife and danced around.

“While I do agree with you, Vermillion. Plans have never worked out for us.” Felix added to Maria’s mischievous statement.

As they opened the door to enter, a growling, vicious animal suddenly leapt towards them.

“ARGK!” Felix yelled out as a dog with metal jaws dug into Felix’s arm. In an instinctive manner, Grant pulled out his gun.

**

On the other end, Isabelle watched through the scope of her rifle while the other three operators stood behind her. Her finger brushed on the trigger as she waited with baited breath for the two men in black suits to align.

For a fraction of a second that the two barely aligned, Isabelle took in a deep inhale and pulled the trigger— But the moment she did, the other guard turned around as they heard the distant cry for help.

One of the men was struck – before he could fall to the ground, the other man turned and gasped slightly.

Isabelle’s crimson eyes narrowed, and with a red shroud, the bullet burst with a flare and twisted directions, striking the man from behind.

With a single bullet that struck two heads, the two men fell.

Isabelle broke out a heavy exhale.

“What happened… why did he suddenly turn around?” Isabelle muttered to herself.

“Nero probably already got their attention.” Anastasia answered as she took her briefcase and went on ahead. “Good job, now let’s get moving.”

“Right.” She responded before wiping the sweat off her forehead, “Hopefully things go well.”

The two other agents behind her rushed forward and made it across the staircase and to the rear gate, and entered through where the two corpses laid.

The three walked into the gate, but Isabelle, being the one behind, stopped for a moment as she heard a slight noise.

“Are you there? We need back up! We need—” A voice came from the dead guard’s earpiece before disconnecting completely.

Isabelle frowned slightly, closed her eyes, and moved forward.

***

The garden lights began to light up in the field between the mansion and the white fence walls. Multiple guards watered the green grass with their blood, and stood in the center of the massacre was Nero, with crimson eyes peering out from his black oni mask.

“Are you there? We need back up! We need—” One of the guards yelled into the radio on his black suit before swiftly getting struck down.

A single guard remained, backed against the mansion’s white wall while shakily pointed his gun towards the agent.

“Aren’t you going to shoot? Are you willing to throw your life away like your co-workers?” Nero asked as he walked up towards him.

The last guard closed his eyes and pulled the trigger — But as he heard a clunking thud on the ground, he found Nero’s blade above him, waiting in the air. His eyes were drawn to his gun, which had been sliced in half.

“Are you really ready to die like him?”

The last guard dropped his gun and quickly made a break for it.

Nero looked at his shaking hands and muttered to himself, “I’ve gotten a bit rusty.” He then brought up his katana to his eyes and saw the cracks and scratches all over it, “Tch…”

He was the first to make it to the mansion, but he quickly leapt back before he could make it inside as something almost fell directly on him.

“A squirrel?”

In his path stood a black squirrel that had a round, white mark on its head, as if it was numbered Zero.

“Are you also a cyborg?” He asked.

The squirrel squeaked menacingly.

“I see, then do not disappoint me.” Nero replied as he sheathed back his blade and lowered his stance, his arm reaching down. The squirrel lowered its posture in response, preparing to attack.

As quickly Nero lifted his arm, the squirrel launched forward. But in his hand was not the sharp weapon he honed his technique in, but instead, was a round snack with a hole in the middle.

The squirrel ceased its attack and began munching on the treat that Nero brought out.

Nero grinned, “Guess it’s my victory then.”

“I was saving this for later, but it’s yours now.” He left the donut on the ground and began to move forward into the building.

The wide, open space of the mansion greeted each of the operatives with an artificial cold breeze, yet they marched forward regardless.