How did so many people get in here so quickly? If anything, the certainly knew how to organize a raid. The third floor, despite its small numbers, was abuzz with action. Heidi fighting off a group of men alongside Oliver, the two girls back to back. Whoever was leading these guys must’ve spent a while gathering them all up.

  “Hey Oliver!” Heidi said, deflecting a man’s attack, before slicing him diagonally across the middle, the pristine blade of her sword already soaked red. From her expression, she was having a good time. “You know what I’m thinking?”

  “Mm?” Oliver grunted in her anti-social way, as she uppercutted an assailant, Her punch strong enough to completely crush the man’s jaw; if he survives the attack, he’s going to wish he hadn’t. The grunt was Oliver code for ‘what are you thinking?’

  “Think I saw a few familiar faces among these guys. That guy you just killed…” Heidi rambled, straining against a larger opponent’s spear. “He was a member of the Right Arrows, the guys we fought in that parking lot!” Breaking free from the grapple, she leaped to the side to dodge her opponent’s attack, before going for a strike of her own… Only for her attack to be blocked; looks like this guy was more skilled than the rest, better reflexes. “Think whoever is leading these guys has been subsuming the Syndicates and civilians around this area into his gang to bolster his num-” As she rambled on and on, she was almost caught off guard by a second attacker, ready to run her through with a spear; the attacker was stopped by Oliver, her shoulder tackled them off to the side. Heidi then finished her sentence, “Er… Numbers.”

  Heidi didn’t see it, but from the wet splatting sound, Oliver made quick work of the ambusher. “Owe me lunch now.” Oliver said.

  “Look at the big girl over here with her big words!” Emilio could be heard shouting from behind a cubicle wall, dealing with his own opponent. He already cut one of them down, via a clean decapitation before they even had a chance to attack, but now had to deal with two more of them. These green suits, the vine-like pattern. Fionnlagh had to be here. Tonight would be the night that he got to kill him… “Subsume… That’s not even a real word!” He said, still managing to crack a joke in the frantic situation, finding humor even with his stressed mental state. But, now he had to focus on defending and dodging. He was skilled, but fighting two opponents at the same time was too much even for him. Slashing one of the opponents across the chest, the white cubicle walls soaked up the blood like a sponge, turning them red with just a little amount of blood. The wound, unfortunately, wasn’t enough to fatally wound them, but just enough to cause them to stagger back.

  “Oh shut up, Em,” Heidi said, as she dodged an ax strike. “Not my fault you don’t know big words.” In her head, she tried to figure out what the next attack to go for; she swung at him again only to get blocked again. This man was really good at reading her, his weapon was lower quality than hers, but even then, he was physically stronger. Yet, physical strength never meant better skilled… Yes, he was quite skilled, but there was no way he was as skilled as her, an ex-member of the Index. She jumped away as he took another swing at her… There! His guard was wide open. Holding her katana to her wide, she quickly bound forward, and stabbed the man through the side, her blade piercing all the way through.

  “Aaaaugh!” He howled in pain, dropping his ax, unable to keep a proper hold on it. In his panic, he swung his fist at Heidi, his fist slamming into the side of her head.

  Even when tasting her own blood in her mouth, Heidi’s grip remained firm on the handle of her blade. “Fuckhead.” She smirked, as she twisted the blade 90 degrees in his gut, coupled with a horrible squelching sound, then roughly yanked it out.

  The unfortunate Syndicate member felt as his insides were twisted and torn out, spilling onto the floor in front of him and Heidi. Then, collapsed to the floor.

  “Fuck, he was tough.” Heidi said, putting a cigarette in her mouth, then trying to light it with the lighter built into her hand… Only to remember she was out of fuel for it. “Dammit… Em! Can you get me a light-”

  Just as she said those words, the cubicle wall next to her was broken through, as Emilio was sent through, tumbling to the ground, covered in blood that was both his own and his opponent’s; the ground was littered with pieces of the cubicle, some unfortunate office worker’s desk and supplies, as well as various splotches of blood.. “Busy right now!” He shouted, rolling to his feet, his cleaver transforming into its unfolded state, as he took a swing at an approaching opponent; they were going to stab him while he was down, but such an opportunity left them wide open… Emilio’s attack, meanwhile, left their chest wide open, dropping them to the ground. This left one more opponent for Emilio to deal with; this third one, was proving to me more of a nuisance. “Right, that’s one less problem. What do you need?”

  “Nevermind, I’ll get it later. Need help?” Heidi asked, at the ready.

  Back on his feet, Emilio shook his head, as his cleaver transformed into his folded up state. His opponent graciously waited for the two to finish their conversation. “No. Go help Oliver, wherever she is.” He swung several times at the Ghillie Dhu member, a large man wielding a sword. Emilio and him were going at it, trading slashes, as if both of them could clearly read the other’s moves.

  “Right…” Heidi nodded, as the two fought, dancing around broken pieces of office furniture. Heidi looked around. Where was Oliver anyways…? She must’ve ran off on her own. Woe to whoever runs into her. As she ran, she spotted something shiny on the floor. A lighter! Picking it up, she quickly used it to light her cigarette, sighing happily. “It must be my lucky day. Hold on, Oliver, I’m on my way!” She said as she ran down the now bloody halls of the office building.

  Down the hall, Oliver was expectantly causing a lot of trouble for their attackers.

  “What the fuck is up with this girl…? She’s already killed two of us and she’s unarmed. How can someone so small be so fucking strong?” One of the Ghillie Dhu said, stepping back, getting some distance away from Oliver.

  “I saw her rip a piece off of one that guy and eat it.” The other one said. “She’s completely insane! No way she’s an ordinary Fixer! I think I saw someone like her in The Middle.”

  Across the hall, stood Oliver, her outfit and bear mask speckled with blood, completely silent. She took one step forward, causing her opponents to flinch, but then stopped.

  “Ah fuck this!” The female Ghillie Dhu said, “Tell Finnly or whatever his name is that I didn’t even support his goals in the first place.” She said as she turned tail and ran.

  “Hold on! He’ll turn you into a tree like the guys who refused!” The other one shouted, “I can’t-” He began to say something only to be cut off as Oliver’s fist met his face, crushing it. The miniscule time it took for her to close the distance between her and her opponent’s would strike fear into the hearts of even experienced Syndicate members.

  Oliver held something under her arm. It wasn’t really a weapon, but it certainly could be treated as such; it was a computer monitor, the clunky old kind that only rundown office buildings like this used. She must’ve ripped it out of someone’s cubicle. With a strong arm, she tossed the computer at the runner, hitting her square in the back of the head, causing her to collapse to the ground, dead as well. The computer was durable enough that only the screen was slightly cracked. “Cowards don’t get shown mercy.” Oliver said, taking out her ax, looking down at one of the buddies, ready to do a bit of ‘harvesting’ as she called it. That was when Heidi ran up to her, the cherry of her cigarette being the small bit of light on the floor. Looks like Heidi got in a quick skirmish of her own on her way over here, her freshly cleaned sword still out of its sheath.

  “Damn, looks like you don’t even need my help.” She said, skidding to a stop, as she noticed Oliver was about to carve up a body. “Hey now, let the dead rest, okay?” She addressed Oliver in her usual ‘big sister’ tone that she used for Oliver.

  “I need to eat.” Oliver protested, slicing off an arm with a clean slashing noise. “If I don’t eat, I get weak.”

  “I think I saw that Salvo guy carry a few protein bars with him, we can ask him for some.” Heidi said, continuing to get Silvio’s name wrong.

  “No, only flesh.” Oliver said, lifting up her mask in order to tear into a piece of meat. Heidi looked away while the younger girl ate, still not able to stomach her dietary habits.

  “Hold on… Really? You like… Need to eat human flesh? You’re not a Sweeper in disguise are you?” She laughed nervously.

  “Yes and no…” Oliver said, as she put her mask back down and tossed the severed arm to the side, standing up. “Must eat. Not a Sweeper.”

  “That was mostly a joke, but alright, I… See…” This only added layers to Oliver’s already vague and confusing bio. “Well, either way, I think this floor might be clean, but she should head downstairs or upstairs to help the others out. Things have clearly gone to shit.”

  “Hey, guys,” A third person said, joining the group. A stout looking man, holding an ax. Speak of the devil, it was Silvio! Heidi wondered if he really did have protein bars on him. “Damn, you’re a scrapper, girl.” He laughed, impressed by Oliver’s skills in a fight. “You, uh, have a few pieces of Syndicate grunt in your teeth… Just a little joke.”

  “No compliments for me? I got 3 people so far.” Heidi crossed her arms.

  “4.” Oliver said, holding up four fingers. “I only saw you take down two,” she said looking to Heidi, “Don’t lie.”

  “It was someone on the way over here, some lady tried to stop me but she clearly had zero experience in combat.”

  “I got two.” Silvio said, “But I don’t know why you guys are making it into a contest. But I guess you got to be a little bit screwed up to be a Fixer.”

  “Emilio is holding out, so I’m not worried about him. I just hope the guys above us are doing fine.” Heidi said, flicking her now burnt out cigarette to the floor. “As I said, whoever their leader is, he’s just taking all the weaker Syndicates he can find and forcing them to join. So these guys are just a bunch of small fry.” She sheathed her sword, letting it rest for the time being. “Come on, let’s go find the others.”

  While all this was happening, Titania was riding the elevator to the fourth floor, her arms crossed. The fifth floor was just a few seconds away. But, as she rode the way up, she noticed that her destination was marked as the fourth. “Hm…” She grumbled as she got off from the wall. Looks like they anticipated someone just taking the elevator; why they didn’t just disable the elevators or collapse them while she was in them? Well, leave it to Fixers to take the cheapest option. The option where they get to come out with the most cred. “I’m sorry, Fionnlagh, but I’m going to be unable to resolve this fight without violence.” She readied her machete. “I hope you can forgive me.”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  On the fourth floor, their white uniforms looking vibrant and proud, Carlo’s Office was ready for whatever was coming their way. A man at a tablet was tracking the data received from whatever was on the elevator. “Looks like it’s at least 1 units… 2 at the most. Weighs 200 pounds, so they have to be pretty big… The weight is probably from their enhancements. The door should be opening in 5 seconds.” He looked to the others, his boss impatiently tapping his spear on the ground.

  “Firearms at the ready!” Carlo shouted, as four Fixers lined up, holding rifles. These firearms costed his Office a pretty penny; he set aside a portion of all contracts last month just to afford all of this; he too carried one of the guns, but opted to keep it holstered on his back, for emergencies. They better make it count, only 1 mag each! Then, the elevator opened. “Open fire!” Carlo shouted, throwing his hand forward, as the four gunmen shot into the opened elevator door; quick burst fire, reckless and wasteful, but sure to kill whoever was waiting on the otherside. They weren’t taking chances with whoever was onboard; hopefully it wasn’t one of the Fixers from downstairs, but either way, that meant only one body to clean up after this. But, as the smoke cleared, Carlo noticed something was wrong. “Hold on…” He furrowed his brow.

  As the smoke cleared, the Fixers were all met with confusion when they realized the elevator was empty.

  Carlo looked to the man with the PDA with anger. Well, that was a month’s work of spending right down the shitter.

  “I swear, there was something on board there! They just disappeared from there.” He said, putting down his firearm and picking up the PDA.

  The room went silent. Then, a thumping sound could be heard above them. A thumping sound that was moving towards them, until it was right above them. Just then, something burst through the vent right above him, landing on him, and crushing the unfortunate Fixer’s skull under her boot. The lens of her gas mask shined with murderous glee. The 3 remaining Fixers holding firearms had spent their ammo and weren’t ready for a confrontation. In two swings of her machete, two of them were brought down, only for Carlo to step in before the third could be cut down. Blocking with his spear, he shouted at her with rage, “I won’t let you kill any more of my men!” He looked to the other Fixers who got ready to move in while he held her off, straining against her immense strength.

  “Will you?” She asked, kneeing him in the chest.

  Carlo thought he felt something in his chest crack. He began to fall backwards, but was caught by Titania.

  “Let me have that.” She said, turning Carlo around and wrenching the rifle from the holster on his back. The whole move costed her a lot of time, so she quickly turned around, being forced to block with her newly acquired firearm, as one of the Fixers swung at her. It was a blocky, cumbersome weapon. She didn’t like guns at all, fully agreeing with the weapon laws in place by the Head. But, for the time being, this thing would work nicely: a lousy weapon for lousy opponents. With one arm, she swung at the Fixer right in front of her, slashing him across the chest, splattering blood all over the office furniture. Then, with her other hand, fired at the Fixer to her left, hitting her in the center of mass; when they fired at her earlier, she counted 7 shots. Even if it was hard to tell with 7 guns firing all at once. She hired again, shooting another one of the Fixers. If she counted right, then she had 5 rounds left. Turning around, she fired at Carlo, who was currently seizing in pain, holding his chest. Two shots to the back was enough to cause him to fall to the ground. “Hm… So unsatisfying.” She said, looking at the gun, moving on, headed for the stairs at the center of the room, ready to cut down any one who got in her way.

  This rush of excitement.

  Emilio leaned against a wall, his cleaver resting. Looks like the floor was getting more and more empty. The Fixers on this floor were proving their skills; those Fixers being his Office, plus at least two others. Taking out a cigarette, he lit it, taking this brief moment to relax. Just a second or two, not much longer. He has gotten docked pay for taking too long of breaks when he was being monitored on the job. “Alright, let’s get going.” He said, before hear a voice from all around him. It was coming from the intercom!

  “Someone! Anyone! This is Knives Out Office! We need help down here!” The voice screamed. The panic plainly obvious in their voice, almost on the verge of tears. “We’re being slaughtered down here! Please!” The voice was quickly cut off, going from a frantic scream to a low groan.

  Emilio walked over to the speaker, as if it was talking directly to him, until he was standing directly under it.

  Soon, another voice came over the intercom. “Knives Out Office has been eliminated.” A deep masculine voice. “Emilio! I know you’re alive up there. You’ve survived up til this point and I doubt the fodder we sent up there is going to take you down. So, come down here and fight me, I’ll wait patiently. Come alone. Come with a group. I don’t care. I wait either way.”

  Emilio, could only stare at the speaker, eyes wide, his knuckles turning white from how hard her was gripping his cleaver. He had already started sprinting to the stairwell leading down, before Oberon even finished talking.

  Meanwhile on the other side of the floor, the rest of the Fixers were sharing their reaction. “What the hell?” Heidi said, staring at the intercom speaker on the wall. “I guess Emilio was right to be paranoid. He knows these guys.” He sighed, “Poor Knives Out… I didn’t know them or anything, this kinda thing is common. But it ain’t fun to see an Office get wiped out like that.”

  “It’s just part of the business.” Silvio nodded, also feeling a tinge of sorrow. “But I get what you mean about your boss. We’re all hiding something… I guess.” Silvio said, before looking at the two girls. “Do you guys think we should go down there and help him? He’s probably taking a bee line straight down there, knowing him.”

  “Don’t got much else to do here.” Heidi said, nodding. “Just try not to get in our way.”

  “Big man thinks he’s in charge.” Oliver chided.

  To which, Silvio sighed, “I try to be friendly and what does it get me…?” He complained, as he followed them anyways.

  Up on the fifth floor, Cacao Workshop was quaking in their boots over the announcement. How did one of the well credited Fixer Offices in their roster get wiped out so easily? Tuco looked at the group of investors, who were looking all the more dissatisfied with this whole event; these weren’t exactly huge names, but they were still wealthy people, coming from W Corp’s Nest. One of them was looking worried that they were next on the chopping block. If whoever wiped out the Fixers on the floor came up here…

  …Things would turn a bad situation even worse.

  Which is just what happened, as a tall figure stepped through the meeting room door. A woman wearing a suit and tie, a gasmask covering their face. Drenched in the blood of the Fixers down below, a machete in one hand, a rifle in the other. “You need to hire better muscle.” She said, tossing the rifle to the side, no longer interested in using it. “In any case. I have come to parlay.”

  Tuco stood up, panicking, his chair falling to the ground from the force of him standing up alone. He looked over his shoulder. Most of these investors were nothing more than bureaucrats and business men. He had a few hired muscle, but they were meant to be the last line of defense. Carlo’s Office was meant to be an unbreakable line. But, there was one bit of hope, coming from the most unexpected places! There in the corner, having invited themselves in as a mere observer. “Proselyte!” He shouted, at the masked Index member, still in the corner, leaning against a wall, staring into the distance. “Rogue!”

  “Hm?” Rogue tilted his head to the side. “Ah…” he got off from the wall and started walking forward, towards Titania, his white cloak flowing behind him.

  Tuco smiled. A Proselyte of the Index would surely be able to handle this.

  But, as he stood in front of Titania, Rogue asked her. “May I go past?” The bureaucrats around the room gasped.

  “You’re not going to fight me?” Titania asked in return.

  “I don’t see a reason to. I’m no bodyguard for these people. I only came to wait.” Rogue said. “But I wish to ask you one thing though. Did you see a woman wielding a katana on your way here. Black hair. One eye.”

  “I did not, I took the elevator. All I saw was the men I killed… All of them had guns and spears. None of them matched that description.” She said, stepping aside, holding an arm out to let him past. “Try the second or third floor.”

  “Thank you.” Rogue said, before being interrupted by Tuco.

  “Hey! You’ve been here just standing around! We let you stay here-”

  “Let me stay here out of fear?” Rogue said, looking over his shoulder, silencing Tuco. “You fear retribution from the Index, yes? Don’t worry, as long as you don’t impede me, I won’t do anything.” He drew his twin swords, before running off. “I am merely here to enforce the Prescript’s will.”

  Watching him run off, Titania laughed, “Ah, now then… Where were we?” She asked, tapping her machete on her shoulder. “Right… Parlay.”

  Emilio ran down the stairs, practically jumping down them. Damn that Carlo’s Office for fucking with the elevators, he could get there so much quicker. Going past the second floor, not even checking in on Evil Eye Office, he went straight down to the bottom floor. All stairs lead to the same place, the lobby.

  As he walked in, he was met with a nightmarish sight; at least nightmarish by the standards of someone who wasn’t use to the level of carnage that comes with being a Fixer. The lobby, previously pristine and white, with clean floors, clean walls, and lovely displays for Cacao Office, was now covered in blood and bodies. Unlike the other floors, the lights were on, giving a vivid red to the whole place. Then, there, standing in the center of it all, was a dangerous looking man in a suit and gas mask, blood running off of his machete. The only sound was the heavy breathing come from the filter on his gas mask, and the dripping of blood.

  Emilio stepped forward, blade already drawn. He scratched his head casually. “Let’s see… Uh… Calvin, was it?” He said, “That’s you right? Your sister is upstairs, I take it?”

  “It’s Oberon now and you know it.” Oberon said.

  “So you are him. I don’t care whatever the hell title Fionnlagh gave you, I’ll always know you as Calvin.” Emilio said, before taking a deep breath. “Hah… But isn’t this nostalgic?”

  “Indeed.” Oberon nodded. “When we last fought, neither of us was even old enough to shave. Now here we are.”

  “Didn’t have to kill so many people.” Emilio said, “If you wanted, you could’ve gone straight over to me.”

  “They were in the way. Would’ve followed me.”

  “I suppose. You guys don’t care about how many people you kill in the name of whatever shit Fionnlagh is saying… Speaking of which, where is he?”

  “Not here. He figured this was a job for just us… And we’re not killing them.” He paused, looking around the room, “Well… Yes, these guys are dead. I did kill these ones.” He pointed to the various bodied at his feet with his machete. “But what Fionnlagh wishes to do is beyond death. Beyond acts such as killing. A kindness.”

  “I’ll believe that when I see it.” Emilio said. “Now are you going to shut up and fight? I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

  “Before that…” Oberon held his hand out, stopping Emilio, “The offer back then. When Fionnlagh offered you his hand. It is still in the air. Fionnlagh, Titania, and I will all forgive you. All you need to do is say yes…”

  “Hm…” Emilio looked down at the ground, as if thinking about it. But, this was just to get Oberon’s hopes up. Looking back up to him, he grinned, pointing his cleaver at him. “If you ask me? I’m rather die then be around you for more than a few minutes.”

  “…” Even if he was wearing a mask, the disappointment was plain on Oberon’s face. “Very well.” he said, as he readied his machete, walking forward.

  “A rematch 19 years in the making…” Emilio said, as he ran forward.

  “Bottom floor, just have to get to the stairs,” Heidi said, “Oliver, all the elevators are going to go to the fourth floor, don’t bother using them.”

  “Mmgh…” Oliver grumbled in annoyance, as she pressed the elevator button for the bottom floor. The trio of Silvio, Oliver, and Heidi all made their way towards the stairwells. Til the glimmer of something old caught Heidi’s eye.

  “Hold on.” She said, holding up her hand, stopping the others. If it wasn’t for how hectic everything was, she would feel a sense of pride; with Emilio off on his own, she was now taking on the role of leader. “Down the hall.” She said, gripping at her blade. “No…”

  “Yo, girly” Silvio said, looking at Heidi with genuine concern. “Er… Heidi, what’s up?”

  Heidi’s eye was wide with horror, as she saw a man walking down the hall. She recognized the mask. The two swords. Clad in white, black, and gold. The Index member known as Rogue. Hoisted over his shoulder, skewered through with a sword was the body of a Fixer; it was the yellow vested Fixer who Oliver was hassling earlier.

  “Know him?” Oliver asked, putting up her fists.

  Rogue pointed his free sword at the group, then, with a casual tone, nodded. “Hey.”

  “That uniform… What is a member of the Index doing here?” Silvio said, clutching at his ax, then looked to Heidi. “You… You were part of the Index right?”

  Not answering either of the two, Heidi walked in front of them, towards Rogue. “You’re here to kill me, aren’t you?” She asked, hand on the handle of her blade.

  “Not exactly.” Rogue said, “I’m just here to remind you to follow your Prescript.” He said, as he spun around, he tossed the Fixer’s corpse at Heidi, who dodged out of the way.

  Heidi drew her sword, equally ready for combat.