Uncertainty

The Director felt the change in his surroundings immediately. He was alone in his office, and then, suddenly, he wasn't. He couldn't see anyone, but he had trained to react from even subconscious information.

Almost casually, he ducked his head down and then dove across his desk. He hit the ground on a shoulder, twisted, and drew his gun so he landed facing his assailant.

"What the hell?" he said out loud, seeing no one in the room. 'Am I just being paranoid after the Quantum readings these past weeks?' He stood up and holstered his gun, glad that none of his subordinates had seen his anxious display.

The blade hit his forearm, his instinctive move stopping the sword from slicing through his neck. He was already spinning along the outside of the sword arc, towards the attacker, his blocking arm now up and leading the rotation. Taking full advantage of his momentum, he delivered a spinning elbow strike to their temple.

The crunch was audible as the elbow connected with the snarling, pale face. The Director noticed that his attacker was a beautiful, golden haired woman... even as he followed the elbow with a rising knee to the solar plexus, grabbed her neck and arm, and used the forward movement to twist her to the ground.

He viciously stomped on the shoulder of the arm still holding a long medieval looking sword. Then he smoothly drew his gun again, and fired twice into the back of her head.

He lifted the his arm to see the perfect slit in his suit sleeve and shirt beneath, which revealed the slight glow from his skintight nanoparticle and textile weaved body armour. 'Fuck, that is still going to leave a bruise,' he thought to himself.

'Better go check and see how everyone else is doing', he thought as he headed out of his office.

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'What a monster,' thought the turquoise eyed beauty, as Cedric tore the sword from her partner's grasp and followed through with a slice that severed 3/4 of her neck.

His fist hit the sword's owner in the chest hard enough to knock him over, then Cedric stomped on his face and throat with his size 13 shoes.

He surveyed the office space and saw desks were overturned, bullet holes pock marked cubicle walls, and bodies lay haphazardly in growing pools of blood on the tiles. It seemed as though the attackers were all taken care of, but the Centre suffered heavy losses for sure.

"Sunhil, can you stand?" he asked a man breathing hard as he pushed up onto his knees.

"Yeah boss. Just a knock the head. See who needs more help, I will too" the man said, finally rising to his feet.

"Any idea who these bastards are? They were organized and strong, though swords seems like a weird weapon these days," Cedric remarked. He had to admit, these model beautiful assassins brought swords to a gunfight and almost won. Cedric had killed 3 of them himself, and he thinks just 3 others wreaked the havoc in front of him.

"Never even seen people like them before. They look like vampire cosplayers, except they were as strong as you and the director," Sunhil said. He looked down at the young man that Cedric just stepped on to death, "Well, almost as strong as you."

The survivors were gathering near the armoury, Cedric counted only 10 people and he knew that there had been at least 40 people in The Centre today. He hadn't even begun to think about the repercussions to the organization, he still was grappling with who knew who they were and where they operated from. It couldn't be a coincidence that this happened while they were monitoring the terrestrial Quantum events.

"Cedric!" the Director yelled, as he approached the armoury from the other end of the building. Cedric noticed the blood on the Director's suit, and the cut on his sleeve, but he seemed fine.

"Sir, we are about to sweep the area for more enemies, but this seems to be all of them. 6 by my count, plus however many you dealt with."

"Just one," the Director said. "She almost got the drop on me."

The Director's lips almost twitched in a smile, but Cedric could tell that the carnage was affecting him. Cedric was surprised, 'The Director isn't my size, but his prowess is legendary. He's easily defeated me every time we spar. These enemies are sneakier than I thought'.

"Everyone, quickly arm yourselves better. We will split into 4 groups and sweep The Centre thoroughly. Once we are secure we can begin to mourn our losses," the Director called out in his commanding baritone.

Crack!

'What the fuck?,' Cedric thought as he swivelled to identify the sound. 'It almost sounded like a lightning strike, but that didn't make any sense'.

At first he didn't see anything, but then, almost imperceptible, he noticed there was a low staticky blue glow in a few places around the open office area... one spot definitely where he downed 3 of the enemies. Between blinks, the scene went from a sea of carnage and flat bodies, to a sea of carnage with 6 impossibly beautiful, sword wielding enemies running towards them.

"Director!" Cedric yelled as he turned to face them fully, 2 groups of 3 converging towards their own group of 12. Shots were already being fired, even as the echoes of his call faded away, the Director noticing the danger at the same moment as Cedric.

The enemies moved like flowing silk, long swords in front, covering the distance impossibly fast. They seemed to take erratic steps, and their paths didn't overlap. 'Was this to avoid gunfire,' thought Cedric. So far the Director was the only one shooting, but everyone was drawing their weapons. Cedric didn't like guns, but he was already aiming for the head of a rapidly approaching male with sun kissed waist length hair held back in a topknot.

Ping! 'Did he just deflect my bullet with a sword!!,' Cedric was stunned, but then the man was swinging that same sword at Cedric's collarbone, in a downward, angled strike. Two enemies used this attack to burst past Cedric and slice into the other Centre employees.

A heavy vertical sword attack has an effective hit area that is nearly as narrow as the width of the sword itself. Though the enemy suddenly seemed faster and stronger than before, Cedric was by no means slow himself. His quick step forward and to the right put him within the man's guard, gun firing mid body. The man looked surprised, but, instead of falling dead, he pivoted perfectly and struck out with his right foot to the back of Cedric's knee.

Cedric involuntarily fell to one knee as the man drew his sword back for another strike, however, Cedric's reach was exceptional, due to his height, as was his strength. He quickly swung his arm in a strike at the inside of the wrists holding the sword, twisting his body to increase the speed of the strike and narrowly avoid the path of the blade.

The sword fell from the enemy's nerveless fingers as Cedric's other fist collided with the man's kidney. A gasp of breath escaped from his mouth, but he did not stop, and fell onto Cedric, wrapping strong arms around his neck.

'Damn, is it possible they are stronger after dying once,' thought Cedric, not even realizing just how fantastical that thought was. 'Survive this, you fucker'. The chokehold was strong, but, calmly and quickly, he reached his long arms over his head and grasped the man by the back of his head and chin. Instantly, he pulled his body forward with all his weight into the chokehold and wrenched his hands counter clockwise.

By pulling hard into the hold, he unbalanced the man, who was then not stable enough to resist his spine being twisted apart, especially as the momentum of his body falling forward contributed to the damage. He was dead before he landed in front of Cedric.

Cedric turned to join the fight with his companions.

'What the hell...!' was all he could think as he beheld what was happening behind him.