After sending the guard flying, the lobby exploded into motion.

  The men on the first floor reacted immediately, tightening their formation, drawing weapons, taking positions. Aiden didn’t give them time. He moved with brutal speed, closed the distance, and struck another of them with a sharp impact that slammed him to the floor, never getting back up.

  A few meters away, Kael broke free from the grip that still held him. He used a fast, precise hold and brought down the man who had pinned him. Without hesitation, he shot him on the ground and, as soon as he rose, swung the gun and dropped another man advancing toward him.

  Panic spread.

  The building’s civilians began to flee in a stampede, pouring out in messy groups through the main exits. Briefcases hit the floor. Screams. Rushing footsteps. But not everyone ran.

  Some of the ones dressed like office workers pulled out guns.

  The firefight erupted.

  Aiden spread his wings at once, covering the front while Kael took shelter behind the reception counter. Bullets slammed into the reinforced feathers and the lobby’s marble, ripping off fragments and sparks.

  Far from there, in the control room, Victor Rourke was already moving.

  He left his station without hurry, accompanied by two men close behind him.

  “A shooting has started on the first floor,” one of them reported. “We haven’t managed to capture them.”

  Victor didn’t even slow his pace.

  “I didn’t expect it to be easy,” he replied. “Send every available man. And mobilize the heavy weapons.”

  He paused, barely.

  “I’ll handle the antechamber.”

  “Yes, sir,” both answered in unison.

  In the lobby, Kael peeked out from cover and aimed toward the glass bridges. He fired with precision. Two bodies fell from above, crashing onto the floor with a thunderous impact.

  Aiden was still moving.

  He shifted from one enemy to the next, striking with a mix of strength and speed, knocking them out with only a couple of hits. His wings opened and closed to protect his back, deflecting shots and blocking attacks.

  Two men lined him up in their sights.

  Kael saw the first and neutralized him immediately.

  The second squeezed the trigger.

  Aiden saw everything.

  The finger lowering.

  The barrel lining up.

  The shot about to fire.

  His body reacted before his mind.

  He ran and, in an instinctive move, slammed his wings down violently. The thrust was brutal. Aiden beat the bullet’s path and, with that same force, crashed into the shooter, sending him flying several meters.

  Aiden froze for a second, stunned.

  “…I didn’t know I could do that,” he murmured, a faint smile forming.

  “Aiden, get down!” Kael shouted.

  Aiden dropped instantly. Kael leaned out and fired fast, taking down three men who were about to open fire.

  The lobby fell silent.

  For an instant.

  Kael walked up to Aiden.

  “Looks like those were the last ones… for now,” he said. “But I’d bet more are coming.”

  Aiden pushed himself up, breathing hard.

  “Then tell me what the plan is.”

  They headed for the elevators. Beside them, a building map glowed on the wall.

  Kael scanned it quickly.

  “With these we can get up to floor fifteen,” he said. “Halfway up the tower. From there we’ll have to take another one to reach thirty. The top.”

  He tightened his jaw.

  “I’d bet that guy’s at the summit.”

  He pressed the elevator button.

  While they waited, he added,

  “They’re probably waiting for us.”

  Aiden looked at him.

  “And the stairs?”

  “They’ll be covered too,” Kael answered. “And we don’t have time. Whatever we do, it has to be fast.”

  The elevator doors opened and they both stepped in without a word. Kael watched as the numbers for each floor lit up one after another, knowing they didn’t have much time left to decide what to do. He noticed the elevator had two openings on each side, thinking they might be able to take cover, but he quickly dismissed it, knowing that if they did that they’d only be cornered. And after seeing the number 10, his eyes brightened, and lifting his head he turned to Aiden and, after watching him for a couple of seconds and seeing that the elevator had handrails on the walls, he smiled and said, “Hey Aiden, I think I have an idea.”

  Outside the elevator, dozens of men armed with assault rifles waited in silence. They wore black tactical vests, helmets, and full gear; they didn’t speak, didn’t move more than necessary. That floor was a large open room, wide and symmetrical. On both sides, reception desks from different companies lined up, separated by frosted glass partitions. At the far end of the level, the second elevator stood, flanked by sturdy columns.

  The lighting was warm, yellowish, far too elegant for the tension in the air. The walls were covered in a muted brown tone, sober, decorated with framed pictures.

  The men stared at the indicator above the elevator door.

  Twelve.

  Thirteen.

  Fourteen.

  With each number, more fingers settled on triggers. Scopes lifted. No one spoke. They waited.

  The elevator reached the fifteenth floor.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The doors began to open slowly and a blue light spilled into the lobby, breaking the warm tone of the place. For a fraction of a second, no one understood what they were seeing.

  A strange silhouette, pressed against the wall.

  Aiden was suspended inside the elevator, gripping the handrail tightly. His feet were braced against the opposite wall, lifted off the floor. His wings, spread in front, fully covered his body, forming a compact shield.

  He closed his eyes.

  “Here we go,” he murmured.

  He drove his legs forward with all his strength, creating a devastating impact.

  Aiden shot out like a projectile, ramming straight into the front line. Bodies flew, weapons clattered to the floor, shouts and orders blended into instant chaos. The formation shattered in a heartbeat.

  Aiden rolled across the floor, pushing himself up with difficulty.

  “I think that was a strike,” he said, with a crooked smile.

  A guard answered with a kick straight to his face.

  “You think you’re funny, idiot?”

  Another raised his rifle and aimed.

  Aiden snapped back into motion. He hit the first with a sharp punch, throwing him backward, and with the same momentum hurled his body into the second.

  “I think sometimes,” he replied.

  Kael exited the elevator from one side, taking advantage of the chaos. He advanced with surgical precision, shooting the men who were still trying to get up and those distracted by Aiden. Every shot was measured.

  One man managed to lean out and aim at him.

  Kael fired first.

  The man dropped without a sound. Before his body hit the floor, Kael grabbed him by the vest and dragged him in front of him. From behind, more men opened fire.

  Bullets thudded into the body with dull impacts.

  Kael backed up step by step, using the corpse as an improvised shield, until he hit one of the building’s columns. There he let it drop and pressed against the structure, getting into cover just as another burst slammed into the column.

  Aiden, meanwhile, was facing two more men. One landed a punch straight to his face. Aiden dipped from the hit… and then saw Kael.

  Cornered.

  Cut off.

  One of the guards attacked him again. Aiden jumped and smashed him with a knee to the jaw. The second managed to reach him, landing another hit. Aiden took it, clenched his teeth, and grabbed the man by the arm.

  He spun.

  One, two turns.

  And he threw him with all his strength into the group moving toward Kael.

  Bodies collapsed on top of each other.

  Kael dropped the body he’d been using as a shield and reloaded, breathing hard.

  “Floor’s clear… for now.”

  “See?” Aiden said. “Not so hard… was it?”

  The answer came as a door slammed open.

  From the stairwell, more men began to pour onto the floor.

  “Aiden!” Kael shouted. “We don’t have time! Open the elevator now!”

  Aiden sprinted to the second elevator as bullets began to strike around him. Covering himself with one wing, he slammed the button. Kael arrived behind him and planted himself at his back, firing to cover him.

  The doors started to close.

  “Come on… come on…” Kael growled, hammering the button again and again. “Close, close, damn it.”

  One last shot.

  The doors shut completely.

  The elevator began to rise.

  Inside, the two of them stayed silent for a few seconds, panting.

  Aiden let the air out slowly.

  “Damn…” he murmured. “And we’re only halfway up the building.”

  Elsewhere in the building, Victor raised a hand to the radio clipped to his tactical vest.

  “The weapons have been brought up, boss.”

  There was no immediate reply on the other end.

  In the top-floor office, Cobra remained seated behind his desk. On one monitor, he watched Aiden and Kael inside the elevator. On another, Victor moving through the tower’s corridors.

  Calmly, Cobra picked up the mask resting on the desk.

  He put it on slowly.

  Then he extended a finger and pressed a hidden button.

  “No one steps into my kingdom,” he said in a low voice, “and walks out alive.

  I want them to suffer.”

  Inside the elevator, Aiden and Kael kept their backs against the metal wall. The space seemed to shrink with every second that passed.

  Aiden flexed his fingers quickly, trying to release built-up tension. His breathing was heavy, uneven.

  Kael looked up.

  The elevator camera watched them from the upper corner.

  Without saying anything, he raised his gun and fired once. The lens burst into sparks and hung there, dead.

  “I don’t think the same trick works twice,” he murmured. “They’ll be ready.”

  He glanced at Aiden.

  “How are your wings?”

  Aiden looked down at them. He moved them slightly.

  “They burn a little,” he admitted. “But nothing serious… yet.”

  Kael nodded.

  “This time you only cover. Nothing else.”

  The elevator indicator lit up.

  Kael positioned himself right behind Aiden, weapon raised, ready. The mechanism hummed and the doors began to open.

  Both their expressions changed.

  Kael lowered the gun slowly as he stepped out of the elevator.

  Silence.

  Aiden rubbed a hand over his head, confused.

  “This doesn’t look anything like the floor where the boss would be… does it?”

  Kael swept the place with his eyes.

  It was a wide, irregular space. The columns were arranged uniformly, but the rest looked improvised: stacked wooden planks, construction tools, remnants of dismantled scaffolding. Light poured in through the exterior stained glass, casting long, broken shadows.

  In the center, a straight corridor cut through the mess.

  “It should be crawling with men,” Kael murmured. “And it isn’t.”

  They moved forward a few more steps.

  Then it happened.

  A sharp, metallic click echoed from the far end of the corridor.

  Aiden turned at once.

  “Kael, watch out!”

  Two figures emerged from the shadows, aiming heavy-caliber weapons at them.

  Shots exploded.

  Aiden snapped his wings open, stepping in front as bullets hammered them without pause. Kael lunged toward a nearby column, rolling into cover just before a burst shredded the space where he’d been.

  Aiden backed up when he saw Kael had made it to safety.

  But Kael noticed.

  There was pain on his face.

  Aiden gasped and leaned against another column, sinking to the floor. His wings smoked. A low groan slipped from his throat.

  Kael watched from cover.

  “They’re reaching their limit…”

  He raised the gun and tried to peek out, searching for an angle, but there wasn’t one.

  The shots didn’t let up, and the roar of every bullet gave no breathing room.

  Kael shouted to Aiden, asking if he was okay.

  Aiden forced himself up, panting.

  “Yeah…” he answered between short breaths. “It was nothing.”

  But both of them knew it wasn’t that simple.

  Aiden lowered his gaze to his wings. They burned. The impact had been different from the earlier ones. If he took more shots of that caliber, it wouldn’t take long before they pierced through.

  Kael, still behind the column, clenched his jaw. He was thinking fast. Too fast.

  They were trapped. The corridor offered no cover. Moving forward meant exposure. Going back was impossible. If they left, they’d die.

  “Kael!” Aiden shouted. “I have an idea.”

  “We can’t advance,” Kael replied without peeking out. “It’s suicide.”

  “It’s not the only way.”

  Aiden turned his head toward the side stained glass.

  Kael understood instantly.

  “You’re insane,” he said. “What the hell are you planning?”

  Aiden forced a tense smile.

  “In the fight against the Exterminator I tried to plan…” he admitted. “It didn’t go very well.”

  “And now you want to base everything on something you don’t even know how to use?” Kael shot back.

  Aiden stayed silent for a second.

  “Do you have a better plan?” he asked. “Besides, the distance to the stained glass is a lot shorter than advancing down that corridor.”

  Kael didn’t answer.

  “Wish me luck,” Aiden added.

  “Aiden, stop!” Kael shouted. “You’re going to die!”

  But Aiden was already moving.

  He pulled both wings to the left side, using them as a shield, and sprinted straight toward the stained glass. One of the men saw him and swung the turret toward him.

  Bullets tore into the floor, kicking up dust and fragments. Some hit the wings dead-on.

  Aiden let out a muffled scream.

  The light swelled in front of his eyes.

  He jumped.

  The glass exploded into a thousand shards that scattered around him.

  “Idiot…” one of the gunners muttered. “Guess it was better to die like that.”

  The turret rotated again, aiming back toward Kael.

  From his cover, Kael thought, pulse racing:

  I really hope you know what you’re doing, kid.

  Aiden spread his wings… and then he understood.

  The floor was gone.

  “What did I just do…?” he murmured, staring at the void beneath his feet. “Damn…”

  Air slammed into him, tearing the breath from his lungs. His body pitched backward, out of control. For an instant there was no up or down, only falling.

  His stomach tightened.

  “I’m going to die,” he thought.

  But he closed his eyes.

  “Calm down,” he told himself. “Focus. Think.”

  He beat his wings hard. Once. Twice.

  He gained just a little height. Enough.

  He couldn’t fail. He couldn’t leave Kael.

  He opened his eyes and spotted the two men by the turret. He lined up his body, spread his wings without moving them, letting himself glide.

  The wind was brutal. His eyes burned. He narrowed them to keep his sight.

  A second later he slammed into the glass on the other side of the floor.

  He rolled violently across the ground, stopping several meters from the gunners.

  “Definitely…” he growled, “still don’t know how to land.”

  The two men reacted instantly, trying to swing the weapons.

  They didn’t get the chance.

  Kael opened fire from the corridor, forcing them into cover.

  Aiden sprang up.

  He leapt onto the first and drove a punch straight into his face. The second barely had time to turn before taking a kick that slammed him into the heavy weapon.

  Silence.

  Kael moved toward him.

  “You okay?”

  Aiden smiled, still riding the adrenaline.

  “Yeah…” he said. “Not so hard.”

  Kael shook his head, a brief smile forming.

  “You know you’re insane, right?”

  Aiden didn’t answer.

  Both of them turned their eyes to what lay beyond the bodies.

  A wide staircase rose in front of them. It wasn’t a service stairwell. It wasn’t normal. The greenish tone of the walls and the width of the access suggested something different. Kael raised the gun and kept it steady in front of him.

  “The map didn’t mark another floor,” he said softly.

  He stepped closer to the stairs. Aiden followed without a word. They both paused for a moment at the steps, as if the silence weighed more than their exhaustion.

  “We have to go up,” Kael added.

  They moved.

  Their footsteps echoed as they climbed, step after step, until the stairs ended at a massive door made of thick metal. It was open.

  On the other side waited a wide, solemn hall. A red carpet stretched down the center, embroidered with golden figures that gleamed under the light. From the ceiling hung imposing chandeliers, and every surface looked obsessively polished, as if the place belonged to another world.

  Aiden stopped, stunned.

  “This… doesn’t look like part of the same building,” he murmured.

  Kael took one step forward.

  “It is,” he replied. “It’s just that the theater ends here.”

  Then he lifted his gaze to the far end of the hall.

  There, crouched low, was Victor. He remained still, as if he’d been waiting before they even arrived. When he noticed them, he stood up calmly, cracking his knuckles one by one.

  “You made it farther than I expected.”