The City of Ionia

The music faded. The flood of lights and the eclectic energy disappeared. I stepped into a soundproof and dim passage. The hallway ahead was lit by only thin strips of light on the ceiling, like veins in the human body. Smooth walls ran further than I could see. Silence was interrupted by the sound of my footsteps. The air was colder. I wasn't sure if that was because there was no one here or if the air conditioner was on. Either way, wearing a jacket felt smart.

Alice explained my task as I crept deeper into the passage. I had to find and destroy the emergency generator, which was located somewhere in this underground passage. The main goal was to cause chaos to lure out McNeil. According to others, McNeil camped in his VIP lounge and rarely came out to the floor. Security surrounded him at all times, so he wasn't an easy man to get to. Cutting out the electricity and luring him out was the best way to get him.

How did someone go to him for favors if he was so hard to get to? Whatever, it wasn't my business.

"Keep walking straight. There should be a small intersection. Turn left and keep going until further instruction."

"Ok…" I took slow steps, barely able to see the path ahead of me. "Heh heh heh…"

"What's so funny?"

"This atmosphere reminds me of something."

Alice didn't respond. Even if she did and questioned what I meant, I wouldn't have told her.

Dim lights. Hallway with smooth walls. Muffled footsteps. It reminded me of the day when I escaped the cells.

Except it was just me here.

I didn't see a single soul. It was just me. Alone. Carrying this mission for financial freedom so that the boys didn't need to part ways with me.

I kept moving forward until the intersection, where I turned left, just as Alice instructed. It looked the same as the hallway I entered from: same black wall and dim lights running above.

Except, it wasn't just my footprints I heard.

I stopped in my tracks and heard footprints echoing down the halls, growing louder and louder as each second passed.

Multiple footsteps—either two or three people. I couldn't pinpoint the exact number.

"Alice… I'm not alone," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"Someone else is here."

"How?! It should be cleared out. No one is there at this time. Eh, I can't catch the cameras because I couldn't get access. Will you be ok?"

"Ya.." I ended the conversation there and looked at the two people in front of me.

One man and one woman, who appeared to be related. Forget about being related, they looked like twins. They wore the exact same navy blue shirt and grey sweats. Their hair was both blonde in a similar style. The woman wore a bob cut, while the man had a lazy blob that resembled a mop. On their wrist was a square watch with the screen off.

"Are you lost?" The woman asked as though I were a child.

"Clearly, she isn't. Hard to get lost when the door has a passcode."

"Juan, don't be insensitive." The woman flicked her short hair and shook her head almost dramatically. "So, what brings you here?"

I stayed silent.

"Not the talker… don't worry, we won't hurt you."

"Julia, that's our job," said the man, who turned his head in surprise.

She clasped her hands and smiled. "Of course, of course, I'm saying we're going to kill her so swiftly, she won't feel any pain." She lazily extended her arm towards her partner. "Gun, please."

"I don't have one."

She turned her head and let out a series of complaints. I didn't know why I was still here. I could've sneaked past them while they butted heads.

"Fine, fine," said the girl. "Let's do this the ol' fashioned way." She cracked her knuckles while saying, "With our bare hands."

She came at me fast and stepped into a straight punch, which I slipped to the outside with ease. As her fist passed my shoulder, I planted my feet and drove my fist into her chest. The blow knocked her breathless for a moment, but she recovered quickly.

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I grabbed her by the collar and spun her, slamming her into the nearby concrete wall to create some distance.

"You hit like a little girl," she sneered, whipping her head back to glare at me.

Her partner joined in, charging from the side. I ducked under his hook and countered with a quick elbow to his ribs, causing him to stagger back with a hard grunt.

Julia recovered, sweeping a kick low toward my legs. I stepped away just in time, but she kept the pressure, spinning into a second kick aimed for my head. I ducked, closing the distance as I tackled her into the wall.

Juan lunged again, this time with a baton he must have grabbed from somewhere. He probably hid it in his pants or something.

The steel baton whistled as it came down, but I caught his wrist mid-swing and twisted hard, forcing him to drop it. With a quick knee to his stomach, I threw him off balance and finished with a kick straight to the stomach.

"You done?" I asked confidently while breathing hard.

Julia hissed like a cornered animal. "I wouldn't get so cocky."

She rushed again, this time with more aggression, though her strikes were wild and fast. I blocked a jab, parried a cross, but her knee slipped through, catching my stomach and forcing a breath from my lungs. She saw the opening and threw multiple rapid punches to my face.

I covered my face and tucked my ribs with my elbow, waiting for an opening. On one of her punches, she overcommitted. I couldn't let this opportunity pass me by. I weaved under her arm and drove my shoulder into her abdomen, slamming her into the opposite wall. She gasped, and I followed with a brutal uppercut that snapped her head back.

This time she stayed down.

The alley went quiet except for my heavy breathing. I stood over both of them, my knuckles bruised and blood pounding in my ears.

"You should've brought the gun," I said softly and took a few steps before a crackling noise made me stop.

"You ok?" Alice asked.

"Ya… I think I'm good."

"Good. Keep me posted if anything else occurs."

"Ya…"

That's when I heard it, a sudden shift in the air. Before I could walk away, Juan giggled while lying on the cold ground. I turned around to see what amused him. He lay flat on his back and cracked into a larger laugh by the second.

"You're so cocky… I love it!" He stood and grabbed his stomach. He couldn't stand up straight and hunched his back like an elder. "C'mon, Juliaaa, get the fuck up."

She winced as she used her four limbs to push herself up. It was a struggle, but she stood while breathing heavily.

They exchanged smiles and head nods. Something was up, and there was no way for me to prepare. The best I could do was get into a stance and wait for them to attack.

But then I heard it, a distant sound. Slow footsteps. Each one landed with a metallic scrape, dragging slightly off the ground. The rhythm was unnatural and deliberate. The air thickened with every step, as though the walls themselves were closing in. The sound grew louder, closer, until it felt like it was inside my skull.

My breath quickened. From the depths of the shadows, a shape began to form, piece by piece, as if the death itself.

I froze, transfixed with a feeling that I hadn't felt in a while.

I used all my strength to swallow. What stood in front of my very eyes was something I hoped never to come across again.

A figure that resembled death itself.

The figure stood in lapis-colored armor that gleamed faintly under the dim light, its surface unnervingly smooth, not touched by battle or time. Black stripes coiled down its limbs like veins. Its helmet was the same cold lapis that shone in the dark. Its visor was a strip of chrome yellow that reflected no light, as if it weren't glass at all, but an empty, watching soul.

Across the sleeves, bold white letters read something I didn't want ever to encounter again.

"SCAR…" I mumbled under my breath.

Did they work for SCAR? Vice versa? How was this possible? How did they obtain a SCAR agent?

Or was the SCAR agent here for them?

I turned around to find the two smiling, unafraid of death, staring at them in the face.

"Alice… help…"

"Jill, tell me what's going on." Her voice stayed firm.

"There's… a SCAR agent. I don't—"

I didn't know what to do. I couldn't take on a SCAR agent alone, let alone when there were two others after my neck. Escaping wasn't an option. I was surrounded.

My heart thudded hastily. It thudded like never before, as though a raging animal was kept in there, begging to be released. It pounded so hard I winced and grabbed my chest.

"Jill, close your eyes. Don't open them. Stay calm and breathe."

"Huh?"

"Do what I say. Relax and close your eyes."

With slight hesitation, I did what Alice instructed. I felt that this wasn't practical, but I had no other choice. I needed something to believe in. I needed some reassurance that everything would be ok.

I closed my eyes.

I steadied my breath.

I let myself go.

The surrounding air pierced into my skin, and a weird pressure behind my head. I felt something odd. My body didn't move, but the world twisted and folded in on itself. There was no sound, no feeling. The air stopped piercing my body. An unnatural pull made my body kick and scream. My heartbeat didn't exist. The ground and walls disappeared. There was nothing. Just an endless, colorless void that pressed my head harder than two meteorites.

And then…