Chapter 4
Rattling Vermillion

 

At the harbor, the waves swayed gently and the skies were a soft, pastel color of pinks and purples. Amidst the spaces between 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 Maria.

“I think so. He’s 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 however, a figure stood watching them from a faraway roof. Patiently watching them through binoculars with auburn brown hair tied to a pony-tail.

“So those two… the Blue Phantom and his partner, Venom Vanguard… so there’s him, Nero and Isabelle…” He muttered before looking down to the black car on the ground, “…and their target, the man who’s confident that no prison can contain him, Lewis Shaw.”

The pony-tailed man continued to watch them from afar, his gaze was glued to the two operatives. “So then... 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 one.”

“Shh…” Maria stopped him and glanced around.

“What is she doing?” The man mumbled as he monitored their 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.

When he returned his gaze, however, Felix and Maria were already gone from their positions.

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.

“Aren’t grappling hooks fun?” She smirked.

“Marie, you’re moving too quickly. Don’t get too far ahead.”

When the black car stopped near one of the warehouses, Felix let go of the grappling hook and quickly hid from their sight, 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 a– Wait, Marie, don’t get too close!” Felix whispered to the transceiver.

Maria nonchalantly smiled, “Don’t worry, I’ll be f—!” With a loud gong, she slammed against the metal beam.

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.

The young man also carried 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.

“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 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.

“Now’s not the time!” Maria replied.

The two quickly rushed behind the steel shipping container with gasping breaths.

A shoot out quickly began while the two agents suddenly 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, it’s 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.

“Marie! 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 contort with pain as the metal can turned into a portrait red and white flames bursting behind him.

“G-grk!” He growled out as he took the brunt of the explosion.

“Are 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. There were tears on the back of his pitch-black coat.

The two agents headed toward different directions, moving from one steel cargo to the next.

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

“Wait, where are you going—?!” As Lewis turned around, however, the young man’s body had turned into decks of French-suited playing cards and scattered into the air and quickly dissipating into nothingness.

“What the hell?!” Lewis scowled and yelled, “Men! Kill whoever’s there!”

“Yes, sir!” Their pursuers moved slowly and cautiously.

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, and drawing closer towards him.

“Show yourselves!” He yelled out viciously.

A body was flung from behind one of the crates, and fell next to Lewis and the visored man.

“B-boss…” the man on the ground whimpered, knives sticking out of his chest.

“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.

Even his employer, Lewis, was unnerved by the sight, but responded, “Th-that’s right! Now go find and kill them!”

They all reluctantly complied and searched through the labyrinth of crates and cargo.

The sounds of their struggles reverberated through the steel corridors, often ending by the sound of his bodies dropping to the ground. His men were all picked off one-by-one. With his back close to the wall, Lewis reached into his inner pockets and pulled out his own pistol, forced to act on his own.

Maria showed herself, on her arm was the unconscious body of his last henchmen, as she dropped him to the ground for Lewis to see personally. On her other arm, the briefcase of the other man who was trading with him.

As she dropped the body, she let out a peppy exhale, “Phew.”

“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 Maria.

Felix grabbed one of the unconscious men’s guns and aimed from the spaces between. Without hesitation, he cocked his gun and fired at the two men, but the visored man responded by pulling Lewis’s head down.

The man jumped back as Felix’s shots struck the ground.

Maria then slithered from the darkness and swung her knife at the visored man, but he slid underneath her attack and grabbed her arm, throwing her towards where Felix was firing.

Felix ceased his attack, and Maria leapt to his side.

“This guy’s a tough nut.” She remarked as Felix walked out from the shadows between the large metal cranes.

“He knew where I was firing from…” Felix remarked as he gazed at his opponent “That insignia…” , commenting on the mark on the visored man’s outfit. A green fire trapped in a diamond. “A Cinderash.”

Lewis took a step back, pulling the briefcase closer to his chest, but as he walked away slowly, he felt the cold metal press against his back. “That’s right, bitch boys. 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, “Marie, get behind me.”

“You think I’m intimidated by some little assassin? Bring the whole Cinderash clan for all I care, I’ll kill them all!” She boasted.

“Come on, then!” The visored man of the Cinderash clan yelled out with an excited grin.

He began shooting at Felix, who dashed away, avoiding the bullets and firing back using the energy gun, Ion.

Transparent, concentric waves of energy struck the visored man’s arms, he suddenly felt numbed and struggled to move his hand.

Lewis ran through the crates behind him with the briefcase in his arms.

“What kind of weapon is that?” The visored man shuddered as a feeling of numbness crept into his arms.

“Marie, just capture Lewis!” Felix yelled out as he kicked the Cinderash against the cold steel wall. The visored man groaned and aimed at Felix once again.

Felix narrowly dodged, and the bullet grazed against the top of his blue eye. He pressed his hand against the wound, but was kicked back by the visored man.

A battle between the two gunslingers ensued. Exchanging shot after shot in close proximity, while evading each other’s blows. But one was equipped to kill, while the other could only incapacitate.

He can keep up with me. Am I too weak... or is this just the level of a true professional?

Either way, he’s not just a fool with guns. But still… he’s weaker than Harbinger.

And if he’s weaker than Harbinger, then I can beat him—

I can win!

“GRAHG!” His voice broke out as the visored man kicked his gut hard enough to slam into the metal walls.

There was a whirring sound coming from the visored man’s legs.

“Wh-what?” The blue-eyed agent grumbled out as he shakily got back up.

The visored man grinned and lifted the cuff of his pants, and showing a chrome, mechanical leg hidden beneath, “Combat prosthetics. Makes my kicks more explosive. I was hoping to have some fun, so I didn’t want to use it, but you were stronger than I expected. Sorry my friend, but it’s time I stopped holding back.”

Felix’s eyes furrowed as he readied for round two.

As Lewis ran, looking for a way out, however, Maria whispered, “No escape.”

From the shadows, she poked her finger on Lewis’ shoulder and disappeared again. Lewis’ quickly aimed his gun to the poking he felt, but there was no one there.

His breath turned ragged as he grew frightened. A drop of sweat slid down his cheek as he once again started running.

But before he could get anywhere, she made him trip and fall with a swift leg sweep from beneath him.

She squatted down in front of him with both her palms on her face. From the ground, he looked up and saw her with a wide, wry smile, like a predator playing with its prey.

He slowly got back up, and so did Maria, “Hands in the air.” She sweetly stated.

“Y-yes, ma’am…” Slowly, Lewis raised his hands, only to reveal in his hand a stun grenade. With a bright burst of light, he grabbed the briefcase and made his escape.

Blinded by the flash, Maria shielded her eyes and pulled out her grappling hook, “No, you don’t!”

As she fired, Lewis quickly pulled out a stun gun and struck the wire. Electricity surged through it and reached back to the grappling hook. Maria let out a sharp scream and fell to the ground.

With a grin, Lewis stepped back and resumed his escape.

“Marie!” Felix yelled out, still in the middle of his own battle.

He avoided the visored man’s explosive kicks that dented the metal crates, but his movements were sloppy. The strain from the explosion earlier took its toll on his back and gradually got worse as their battle progressed.

But as he aimed his gun to counter, his opponent kicked his hands upwards, and then spin kicked him into the metal crates. Felix fell to his knees.

“You were good, kid.” The visored man aimed his gun at Felix’s head, “But worrying over your partner, and getting distracted… What a rookie mistake.”

But before he pulled the trigger, a blue outline formed around the agent’s body.

“What the hell?” The visored man mumbled out in an alarmed manner.

Like a coiled spring, Felix sprung at the man with great force. He smashed into the metal crates one more time and fell to the ground.

Bright blue particles scattered into the air and faded away, and Felix fell to his knees. He grabbed his head as streams of azure electricity crackled around his body.

A sharp pain radiated in his head, “Urk! Urghh!!” He grunted.

The assassin’s visor broke into two pieces, as the Cinderash started to cough up blood. With a weak voice, he looked up at his opponent and asked, “What… the hell… was that…?”

“You weren’t… the only one… holding back.” Felix huffed as he got back up, the streams of light faded and he rushed to Maria’s side.

“Marie… are you alright?”

Maria clutched his arm and spoke, “What are you doing? After him!”

“But—”

“I’ll be fine, go!”

“Right.” Barely able to stand, the injuries he sustained from the explosion reared its head, but Felix pushed himself back up.

He staggered, but planted his feet so he wouldn’t fall.

“Come on, work…” His wide, focused eyes started to radiate an azure glow.

A thin layer of blue light formed around his legs. He took one step forward, and burst straight ahead – leaving behind blue sparks, as if his body was shot forward without any control.

Immediately, he slammed into one of the crates.

The soft waves could be heard as Maria slowly got up. She clutched her abdomen and let out pained noises, but she looked up with a smile.

Lewis turned his head as he heard a loud metal crash from behind him.

The metal container creaked as Felix walked out from the dent his body left on it. He slowly got back up and grit his teeth. The glow around his body fluctuated, dimming and rising, unable to control it.

“Lewis Shaw… where are you?!” He angrily yelled.

The criminal closed his mouth with one of his hands, while the other still held onto the briefcase. He watched as the blue-eyed agent was being tossed around by his own strange power, and making a beelines into another shipping container. As he shot into it, the large, steel object bounced with a metallic bang.

Felix reeled over, barely able to stand, but began to radiate once again. A burning feeling surged into like his body, and his hands and neck started to glow from within.

When he wiped his face, he noticed a drop of blood flowing out of his nose. He clutched his head one more time and his breathing grew heavier and uneven.

“It’s hot…” The azure light enveloping his body began to fluctuated rapidly, “It’s so hot…”

Blood splattered on the ground from Felix’s nose and mouth, leaving behind a large red stain. The thin light radiating from his body erupted, causing a dazzling gust.

Stunned, Felix’s mouth was left agape.

He stood silently, like a statue stuck in place. Not even taking a breath. The only thing that moved him was the gentle shore breeze that swayed his hair ever so slightly.

In his fleeting consciousness, his head was left staring towards the sky.

But as the pastel clouds shifted, revealing the crescent moon behind, his fingers let out a blue spark.

Gazing at the moon above, Felix finally took in breath.

A hoarse voice came out of his throat as he took in a sharp inhale, before going into a violent coughing fit, and nearly toppling over.

His back was already headed to the ground, but he forced his body back upright and he refused to fall. He took a slow, aching step forward, “Lewis… Shaw…”

Lewis quietly ran between alleys with weighted breaths as he constantly kept looking back.

With his back pressed against the red brick wall, he noticed that the back entrance to one of the old, rusty warehouses was wide open. He slowly walked inside, checking his surroundings. Old wooden crates and cardboard boxes stacked up on one another, covered in nets and decorated with dust.

The criminal walked closer into the middle of the room and let out a relieved sigh, only to hear the door shut behind him. He gulped and took out the gun in his suit.

“Lewis Shaw.” An unknown voice spoke his name, echoing throughout the entire warehouse.

“Who’s there?” Lewis aimed his gun towards the place he entered.

He cautiously walked backwards, but quickly turned as he heard the clanking sound of wood behind him. His breathing grew heavier, and a bead of sweat dripped down his face.

“Otherwise known as the Prison’s Houdini... or at least, that’s what you want to be called, right?”

“Where are you?” Lewis yelled in anger and anxiety.

“Two counts of human trafficking and several counts of drug smuggling.” Echoed from above him. The faint clatter of metal started to fill the silence.

“Show yourself!”

Lewis yelled in frustration and aimed at the ceiling. Only for a chain to dangle from above and around his hand.

“Huh— w-what the fuck?!” He dropped the briefcase on the concrete, and a tuft of dust scattered while he tried to get the chains off with his other hand.

There was a figure standing in the shadows, “Are you afraid? Your henchmen have been taken out one after the other, and now you’re alone.... It’s just you and me.”

“Who the fuck are you?!” Lewis yelled while he was struggling.

From the darkness walked out a man with auburn brown hair, dressed in a light brown trench coat, and glowing red eyes piercing the darkness, “Hm… I guess you should call me… Vermillion.”

The chains rattled as it suddenly shot Lewis into the air.

“Huh? HAUGH!!!” Lewis’ screams echoed from the warehouse.

Felix heard his scream, and rushed to it, leaving one last blue trail.

But when he made it to the warehouse where Lewis hid, he found their target hanging from the roof and wrapped in chains. His lips were covered in duct tape as he mumbled about.

Felix upped his guard as he walked closer towards him, only to see that there was a note stuck to his body that said, “Vermillion – Frontier Industries.”

The chains creaked slowly as Lewis swung back and forth angrily, but unable to move.

Felix’s blue eye radiated against the shadows as he looked around, but there was no one left besides them.

 

*

 

The two returned shortly after handing off the criminal. While Felix was still in the middle of writing his report, Murphy, the chief’s assistant, had stood waiting for their arrival. The two agents were told to head the chief’s office as soon as possible.

“Another mission already?” Maria grumbled as she opened the door, carrying a bandaged Felix over her shoulder. Her tone was restless and exhausted. But the scratch on her cheek was already close to fully recovering.

“Marie, I said I’m fine.”

“And the doctor said your jacket isn’t designed for blocking explosives.”

He laughed and turned his head over to the chief’s assistant. “Ugh… Murphy, could you make me a coffee?”

Maria gently let him down and voiced out her own request, “Soda for me.”

“Before the briefing, I just wanted to inform you that after your recon mission in Beijing, the higher ups thought about promoting both of you. I have no confirmation of this, however, due to your current failure, that may be postponed.”

Felix spoke, “We failed to retrieve the package; I’m surprised it wasn’t canceled altogether.”

“I don’t have enough information yet, however, I was informed that we retrieved the package.”

“What?”

“I don’t know myself.”

“Did it come from Frontier Industries? Because there was this note. Lewis said he was captured before he could see what happened, but under him was this letter with Frontier’s seal on it. It’s signed by “Vermillion.” Does it ring a bell?” Felix showed the chief the letter.

“I could do a quick search.” The chief answered as she went to her computer, “I can’t find anything on the records, however, though there is a recently admitted Crimson—” The chief stopped, as if to prevent her chuckle from slipping out.

“Crimson?” Maria raised her eyebrow.

“Don’t mind it. According to the database, there is no one registered as ‘Vermillion.’” The chief answered.

“I see. That’s strange.” Felix remarked.

“What was in the package, anyway?” Maria asked.

“Illegally manufactured plutonium.”

“What, were they making a nuclear bomb?” Maria scoffed.

“That or they were harnessing nuclear energy.”

“Then what about Julius, do you have anything?” Felix added to the conversation.

“We’re working on it, but a single name isn’t much to go by. We could’ve had a better lead if only a certain someone hadn’t killed Harbinger.” The chief turned her gaze toward the other agent in the room.

Maria looked upwards with an air-headed expression and replied, “Hm?”

“Agent Harbinger wasn’t known for his computer skills. Be that as it may, the fact remains that his corpse was left behind in the Dragon of the Little Sun, along with his gear and other possessions that belonged to the agency… More specifically, he apparently had something known as the Matrix Key.”

“Matrix Key?” Felix asked.

“A valuable piece of stolen piece of technology that can automatically unlock any digital data, developed by one of the agencies. And it was likely left on his person.”

“Oh… shit.” Maria blurted out.

“We have reason to believe that said key is something the Jackal is after. We cannot let him retrieve it.” The chief gave the two agents folders and documents as she told them, “Your mission is to retrieve the key before anyone is able to make use of it. Tomorrow at sixteen hundred hours.”

“Right.” Felix answered.

“Weird, last time we only had a couple hours to prepare.” Maria remarked.

“Last time was a special case. Thankfully this time, the robins got us some intel, which will give you ample time to prepare. Any questions?”

“Ah, yeah, um… you wouldn’t happen to know of a blond guy and a white-haired girl, would you? They both had red eyes. We ran into them earlier, they kinda—”

“Broke my door. Can I have that repaired?” Maria cut him off.

“Ah yes, I can’t tell you any details, but the both of them will surprise you with how similar they are to you two.” The chief smirked.

Maria raised her eyebrow and bluntly asked, “Are they also enhanced humans?”

The chief lost her smile and took a puff from her cigarette and gazed at the ceiling of her office, ignoring Maria’s question.

“Skip the foreplay, they’re enhanced humans, aren’t they?” She cheekily added.

“How did you—”

“It was hard to see due to sunlight, but their eyes were glowing. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”

“Damn it, Maria!” The chief angrily shoved the two agents out of her office.

With documents in hand, the two agents were left standing at the door outside the chief’s office. Felix glanced over Maria, “Guess I was right on the money.”