Guard #24: Intruders spotted!
The guard squeezed the trigger as Sakiko looked into his eyes, her white hair reflecting in them.
Akida: Sakiko move!
Akida shoved her friend's head down as bullets unloaded into the tunnel walls, unholstering one of her uzis and gunning down the guard.
Akida: [Holy shit…]
The younger twin dusted herself off and reattached her signature smile to her face, she rubbed a hand up and down the back of her neck as she came up behind Akida.
Sakiko: Sorry Akida, I feel like you guys keep having to cover for me.
Akida's eyes were locked on the lifeless body she had just created. The pool of blood crept towards her shoes, she took a step back almost tripping over her own shoes.
Sakiko: Akida…are you okay?
Akida: Y–yeah I just need a second.
The chill that ran up Akida's spine made her jump in shock, her deity—Sana, placed her ethereal hand on the girl's shoulder.
Sana: [Akida darling, you're going to be alright. Remember, humans die all the time. It's unfortunate that this one had to die at your hand but it's not something to have a heart attack over.]
Akida: [And YOU need to remember that I'm human. To me, taking someone's life isn't something I'd like to make a habit of.]
The gold accents on Sana's cloud white robe shone as she hovered around her blessed, blocking her view of the dead man. Her long brown hair calmly swayed as Akida's gaze locked with her bright amber eyes.
Sana: [It was him or your darling energetic friend over there. Sometimes one must make decisions they'd rather not to protect those they care about.]
Akida: [I know…You're right…]
Sana: [Unfortunately this isn't a good place to think about this. But we can revisit this later.]
Tamiko: Akida, we need to move!
Akida: Sorry, I'm right behind you.
Tamiko slipped past her sister leading the group down the hall. They turned the corner into the main entrance of the mansion. The front wall was made entirely of glass, and the staircases to their left and right had railings that looked to be made of solid gold. A guard was standing in the middle of the room with his back turned to them.
Tamiko summoned her brush and began to slowly approach the guard. As she passed the bottom of the staircase, a body crashed through the railing on the second floor, landing atop the guard.
Inezo 3: Don't let up!
Three Inezos dropped from the second floor and began relentlessly hammering away at both guards. Finally letting up when both of them had stopped moving.
Sakiko: Inezo?!
Inezo 1: Oh hey, you guys actually made it out of those tunnels?
Akida: You look disappointed.
All three Inezos exchanged confused looks.
Inezo 2: Disappointed? This is my happy face.
Sakiko: You look the same as always…
Inezo: I don't know what you're talking about.
Takuro: Go go go!
Takuro and Seigan leapt from the second floor joining the rest of the squad. Guards swarm into the foyer surrounding them.
Seigan: Man, if only we all went the same way, I doubt we'd be in this unfortunate situation.
Akida: Oh shove it, Atasa, the tunnels were clearly the stealthier route.
Seigan: Obviously not if you set off the alarm!
Guard #19: This is what all the fuss is about? A couple of kids?
Guard #22: These ain't normal kids, something's off about them.
Guard #38: Listen brats! Don't move and you don't have to get hurt, we're not exactly big on hurting kids.
The guard's remarks made the six of them realize their situation, the bright mansion lights beamed down on them. Every corner was illuminated, their faces perfectly visible. Tamiko thought back to Siana's words before they landed.
Siana: One more thing before we land…Like Akida said, Squad Zero is a stealth squad. You six are supposed to be dead…as long as you keep the element of surprise it's fine to just knock any hostiles unconscious, but if anyone gets a good look at you. Kill them.
The squad gathered up backs facing each other in the middle of the foyer, dropping their voices to a whisper.
Inezo: They can definitely see us.
Seigan: You know what that means.
Tamiko: We can stop holding back.
Sakiko: I'd rather not kill anyone, if that's ok.
Inezo: That's literally the one thing that's not ok in this situation.
Takuro: I'm with Sakiko, I don't want any blood on my hands.
Seigan: Then tell me oh great pacifists, what should we do now that they've seen our faces?
Akida: I can erase them with my blessing.
Seigan: Yeah let's heal the memories away, that's perfect.
Akida: Healing is just a byproduct of my blessing. My deity resides over memory, so you can save the sarcasm.
Sakiko: That's perfect! We can just knock them out and Akida can erase all their memories!
Takuro: Good plan.
Inezo: Whatever…Can we just hurry it up before we get shot full of holes?
Seigan: Killing them would be so much easier.
Guard #38: Now come with us, we've got a nice room for you in the basement.
The guard lowered his rifle, extending his hand out to grab Tamiko's wrist.
Tamiko: Agreed.
The guard was launched upwards as Tamiko's brush connected with his jaw, he crashed against the ceiling and fell back to the floor with a sickening thud.
The other guards froze, all of their faces stuck in looks of confusion then slowly twisting to anger.
Guard #15: Capture them! If one or two die it's fine.
Chaos ensued throughout the mansion. Sakiko blinked and it was only her and her sister left in the main room. She watched as Tamiko dispatched several guards with each wide swing of her brush.
Tamiko: Duck please sister.
On command Sakiko dropped to her knees as a guard flew over her slamming into another, they tried to scramble to their feet but they were stuck together by ink. Another swing of the calligraphy brush sent the two guards soaring into the hallway from which the girls arrived.
Sakiko: I'll get out of your way!
Tamiko: Kiko, wait!
Sakiko followed behind the unconscious guards into the hallway, she came to a screeching halt as a round of bullets zipped by her. Her head snapped to the left. Seigan was bouncing off the walls sporadically as he closed the distance between him and a group of guards. Their gunfire couldn't scratch him. When he finally reached them, his wild movements allowed him to make short work of the men.
Guard #22: Got one!
Sakiko's head spun to her right to see a guard rushing her, knife in hand. A loud pop reverberated from the other end of the hall. The guard's chest caved in. He dropped the knife, holding his stomach. He gasped for air as Seigan suddenly appeared behind him. A strong kick knocked the man through a wall, his body went motionless.
Seigan: Huh, I was really hoping to take him out with that first snap…and I was aiming for his head. Sorry about that Sakiko, guess I missed one. You can stick with me if this is a bit too much for you, these guys can't do much in such cramped spaces…or should I take you to Tamiko?
Sakiko: Nope! I'm alright…you keep doing your thing!
She wiped the sweat from her forehead as she stepped through the hole in the wall, into the mansion's kitchen. A hand yanked her to the ground behind the bar counter. Bullets flew overhead shattering glasses and alcohol bottles alike.
Akida: What're you doing in here?! I thought Tamiko would've kept you with her.
Sakiko: I was trying to get out of her way, then I was getting in Seigan's way so I came in here.
Akida: Did either of them tell you that you were in the way?
Sakiko: Well, no…but—
Akida: No buts! I'm sure we'd all rather you be in the way and safe than by yourself and in danger. Even Atasa.
Xena: [The angry girl is right, I can hear you repeatedly thinking about how you can be useful. I know I told you that you're unable to absorb the energy from real bullets, but there are other ways you can be useful.]
Akida springs up and begins unloading her twin uzis at the guards on the other side of the kitchen. A bullet connects with one of the guard's arms. He let out a brief shout as he fell backwards. Akida's uzi barrels sizzled as the triggers repeatedly clicked.
Akida: Shit! I'm out of ammo.
The guard stepped over his comrade with a bullet in their arm, he slowly approached the bar.
Guard #11: Bullet tag is over little girl! Come on out!
Sakiko reached her hand above her head and grabbed a wine bottle, handing it to Akida.
Akida: This is not the time to be getting drunk.
Sakiko: Break the bottle over my head. I can get a charge.
Akida: …I don't have time to argue, I hope you know what you're doing.
Wine splashed all over the floor as the bottle shattered against Sakiko. Blond strands of hair lightened to white as she quietly shuffled to the other end of the bar.
Sakiko: Hey, over here!
A line of bullet holes followed Sakiko as she dashed across the kitchen. The guard's trigger clicked. Before he had time to reach for a new magazine Akida already had a grip on the back of his head. She bashed his head against the metal counter. The man's eye rolled back in his head as he collapsed to the ground.
Sakiko: That looked bad.
Akida: I can heal him when I erase his memories. Don't worry he's alive.
Akida: [I hope…]
The ceiling on the other end of the kitchen caved in and smoke flooded the area. Takuro and Inezo coughed as they stepped over soldiers and small bits of rubble.
Takuro: They were renovating one of the rooms upstairs.
Inezo: The floor couldn't handle the fighting.
The two of them looked around at the bullet holes in the walls and the array of soldiers on the ground.
Takuro: Looks like you two handled business in here.
Akida: Of course!
Seigan and Tamiko walked into the room, both of them had small cuts and bloodstains on their clothes.
Seigan: That all of them?
Inezo: Do you hear anymore?
Seigan: No, I was just double-checking. How many was that anyway?
Takuro: Counting the one on the roof, I got nine of them.
Inezo: I got one on the roof and the two in the foyer right after the alarm went off.
Sakiko: If distractions count, I got two!
Akida: I managed to incapacitate seven.
Seigan: I handled twelve of them, Tamiko?
A small smirk appeared on Tamiko's face as she looked over her shoulder at Seigan.
Tamiko: Fifteen.
Seigan: AHHHH, I should've stayed in the foyer, damnit!
Sakiko: So adding those all up, that brings us to…
Seigan: fifty-two!
Akida: Wrong. It's forty-eight.
Sakiko: BAHAHA! I thought you being bad at math was an inside joke or something!
Inezo: If only…
Seigan: Whatever! White Veil's office is on the second floor, c'mon.
Seigan's stomping slowly got quieter as he ran up the stairs.
Sakiko: Aww, he's embarrassed.
Tamiko: Akida, don't get left behind.
Akida: You five can capture him without me. I'm going to get a head start on wiping the soldiers' memories.
Tamiko: Okay but watch you're back, I still don't trust Seigan Atasa's ears completely.
Akida: I'll be careful, don't worry.
The upper floor hallway was similar to the lower in design, but not completely the same. The middle of the lower floor hallway had two large double doors that led to a large entertainment room that White Veil used for gambling with the locals, the upper floor also had two double doors but they led to a smaller hallway. Seigan, Tamiko, and Inezo hugged the wall by the right door, opposite to them, Sakiko and Takuro hugged the wall by the left door.
Seigan: Plan anyone?
Inezo let out a sigh and moved next to Seigan.
Inezo: Takuro, you rush White Veil and press a sword to his neck so he doesn't try anything funny. Seigan and Tamiko deal with any guards that're in there. Sakiko and I will sit by the entrance just in case.
Sakiko: Roger that!
Takuro: Ready whenever.
Seigan: Tamiko, I'll go left.
Tamiko nodded in agreement.
Seigan placed his hand on the door handle as a shiver ran through his body.
Seigan: [Sonia, quit messing around]
Sonia: [As funny as that would be in this scenario, that wasn't me kid.]
Sakiko: You all feel that?
Inezo: Yeah, a shiver.
Takuro: Like when something's off about your opponent.
Sakiko: What's that noise?
Heavy footsteps were quickly approaching them from behind the double doors.
Takuro: Get back!
The five of them leapt backward in unison, landing amongst the bodies in the foyer. A large man dropped from the second floor, he was wielding a large cleaver and a sawed-off shotgun.
Sakiko: Where'd he even GET a knife that big?
Akida: THE HELL?!
Akida rushed through the doorway to the kitchen, constantly looking behind her.
Akida: What happened to the soldiers?! And who's that?!
Sakiko: The soldiers? What are you talking about?
Grunts and moans sounded out from all over the mansion, and all the unconscious guards picked themselves up. Brandishing their knives they all slowly surrounded the group once again.
Inezo: The hell is going on?
Takuro: Look at their necks!
Each soldier had a glowing red sigil wrapped around their necks, the veins under it pulsed every time they took a breath.
Akida: Their eyes are dilated and their breathing is accelerated. It's like they're on drugs.
Takuro: Only half of them got back up.
Sakiko looked around at the bodies in the hallway behind the large guard and the ones lying around the foyer. She poked at one of them with her boot.
Sakiko: So what's the difference between all these guys and the ones that got back up?
Tamiko: Easy, that one's dead.
Sakiko: EEEKKK!
Seigan: So we have to put all these guys back down, for good this time.
The roar of two car engines caused Seigan's ears to perk up; he looked out the large glass windows at the front of the mansion to see two SUVs speeding off.
Seigan: White Veils getting away, somebody get on that!
Sakiko & Takuro: On it!
The two of them dodged around the knife swings of the guards and ran out the front doors.
Inezo: So they get to have a high-speed chase and we're stuck dealing with immortals…nice.
Tamiko: Seigan Atasa, what's the large one whispering to himself about?
The guard's voice was quiet to the point that even Seigan could only catch every other word.
Seigan: Buy time…eight minutes…mansion…explosion. Okay, now he's not even talking he's just mouthing words to himself.
Akida: The mansion's gonna explode?! What about the people in the tunnels?!
Seigan & Inezo: The what?!
Inezo: Why didn't you free them when you were down there?
Akida: Obviously because the cell was locked, we need to get a key off guard #1 or guard #2.
Tamiko: There's your key.
A small silver key was dangling at the waist of the large guard.
Seigan: Inezo, got a backup plan?
Inezo: Umm, Tamiko and Seigan go for the key. Akida and I'll handle the other guys.
Akida: I ain't killin nobody.
Seigan: Then just knock them out again, sheesh. Just hold out until we get the key and then you can go free the prisoners.
Tamiko: Hurry this up, we're running out of time.
Akida: Fine, fine. We've got around six minutes.
Inezo: My nap after this is going to be legendary.
Akida: I like that optimism, eyebags. Let's make moves, people!