Silenced Scythes

Ryker leans his body against the shadowed backs of tall vehicles and takes every step across the hollow parking lot as if it were his last. The tower in front of him remains as the greatest monument to stand above all life in the world. With the scattered front doors only a few hundred feet from his position, Ryker is still reminded of the race to salvation with thin pulses that follow seconds over his wrist.

Twenty minutes remain until the fireworks find a new home with the stars. If Ryker doesn't reach his mission in time, his life will be at the cost. He doesn't want to have to jump into a cannon himself, even if it would mean meeting his Ikari siblings again. As he sneaks closer to the walls of the skyscraper ahead, the spray-painted words of anarchy are read from all over the city as terror rises with the souls of several Reapers. As the rain drifts off the shattered helms of fallen guardians, the people surrounding their elites no longer roar in peace. The fireworks have lost their original meaning of embraced solace, and the holiday has been infested with the ruthless hunt for a rival of society.

The crowds have turned into violent, heedless hounds that tear with the seeds of betrayal and war rooting within their minds. The glass that was built by the hand of man is being shattered with the other. Ryker Ikari is a threat to all.

But he won't let his message be unheard.

He slides up to another vehicle, carefully checking each corner for the heightened security. He finds the entrance doors as they rest behind several uniformed guards with precise focus and twitching fingers. As he takes mental notes of where the guards stand, Ryker lowers himself to the ground and snaps his head to the sound of a metal door shutting near him. He crawls to the front of the vehicle to find a guard walking in his direction after leaving from another side of the building. Scanning the guard and understanding they are armed, Ryker patiently waits for them to walk close enough to grasp and choke behind the vehicle. The guard defends themselves with a kick to push their attacker against the vehicle, but Ryker grabs their leg as it pushes against his chest. Ryker pushes the guard to the ground and drags them forward to grasp their neck tightly. With a soft scream that the wind steals away, the guard finds their last controlled breaths under the moonlight before passing out.

Ryker lays the body flat on the ground and steals any equipment from the uniform he'll find useful. He arms himself with another holstered pistol and some extra magazines in preparation of killing his way to the entrance. He scans the surroundings again to find the other guards still in the same positions as before. With the timer ticking down on the wall above him, he decides to spark a party of his own with the chamber in his gun. He hits a skull with his first bullet and a knee with his second. As the first guard drops to the concrete, dozens of others raise metallic weapons to shine against the caged inner lights of the building.

The ticks become the sound of souls spiraling to bleed with the stars. Bullets begin to fly like wings on a black butterfly. The explosions within lethal tools only reconcile with a greater flash that will tear the ceiling of the world apart.

Ryker doesn't waste a single footstep to the front door, firing to kill whatever stands in his way. A bullet rushes to skim his ear, and he spins in the direction it came from to send a new message back.

A guard fires a bullet into his chest, but the vest in front of his stomach numbs the pain. Ryker sends one of his own to sink into the guard's shoulder. He grabs the guard while they scream in terror, shoving his fingers into the wound, and throwing the body of the soldier down to slice their neck with the edge of a holstered blade.

Another guard smashes the butt of his gun into the back of Ryker's head, sending a wave of dissociation to flood his vision. Ryker responds by throwing his arm back as he trips over himself and firing into the guard's leg. Standing straight again, he looks at the screaming body in pity as he silences them with the handle of his own gun slamming into their skull.

With luck and skill, Ryker reaches the glass of the doors after piercing through the many guards that lie behind him. Looking up at the reflection of the downtown shining behind him from the mirrored walls of the Queen's Tower, he releases a breath as deep as the wind that circles the skyscraper before striding inside.