Mathilda ducked behind the column, grabbing the new magazine off her utility belt. She popped the empty magazine off her gun and loaded the new one, before checking past the corner again. She immediately pulled back behind the column as a bullet whizzed by, before turning again with her gun properly aimed and shooting the asshole that just missed her.
"Two left past the reception desk," Ivan reported via their earpieces, only for several shots to follow.
"Got them both," Antonio replied, "Check the area, that might be all of them."
Keeping her gun ready, Mathilda slowly emerged from behind her column, inspecting all blind spots. JCI security guards lay dead, strewn across the first floor from the main entrance through to the public reception's lobby. She listened closely as she observed the scene like a hawk, but no sound or movement emerged.
"Reception offices are all clear," Antonio paged as she approached the couches for the item she left behind in her rush, "How's the front of the lobby?"
"We got them all, we're clear," Mathilda replied as she found the item, "To the stairs next."
Mathilda grabbed the duffle bag off the couch, rolling her eyes in disgust as she saw the bloody print that soaked through the bag onto the upholstery. She looped the strap across her shoulder as she left the lounge area and headed for the reception desk. As she rounded the corner, Ivan was already waiting as Antonio emerged from the reception offices.
"Either his head or his arm weren't bound well enough," Mathilda complained as she approached them, "One of the couches is now stained with Arthur's blood, the bag's going to be a bloody mess inside."
"Ugh, gross," Antonio cringed, "Sorry about that."
"The throwables are liquid-proof, they'll be fine," Ivan commented.
The trio turned towards the wall opposite the desk, where three elevator entrances awaited a lift to be summoned. They marched to the left, past the elevator closest to the front, and approached the door to the seldom-used staircase instead. Mathilda took her position against the wall as Antonio prepared to enter the staircase first, ready to shoot if anyone was waiting for them. Mathilda watched as Ivan took his place on the wall at the other side of the door, and Antonio braced himself for the next step.
Following his impulse, Antonio opened the door and went through, and Mathilda held her breath in anticipation for the alert.
"All clear," Antonio reported, "Let's go."
Mathilda immediately turned and entered the staircase, finding that Antonio was already heading up slowly, checking the blind spots as closely as possible. She followed him onto the steps, and heard the door shut behind her as Ivan followed last. They slowly worked their way up each half-flight of stairs, with Antonio checking in front of them, Ivan monitoring for followers, and Mathilda securely between them. They finally stopped on the final landing at the top floor, where the signs labelled the target that lay behind.
The JCI executive offices.
"Load up, boys," Mathilda whispered, dropping the duffle bag on the floor and opening it up, "Vash will be waiting for us on the other side of that door."
She squirmed as she dug through the bag, feeling Arthur's blood all over their supplies. She took out some gun magazines and handed them to the boys, along with hand towels. She loaded her own utility belt with magazines, before reaching past the capsules of fake blood to grab a smoke bomb and a hand grenade and place them on the ground in front of her. She finally went to grab the second folded bag from the far side, wincing as she felt Arthur's severed head against her fingers. She handed the folded bag to Ivan as the boys tossed the bloodied towels back in the open bag. She zipped up the duffle bag and pulled the strap across her body again.
As soon as the bag was ready to go, Mathilda stood to her feet to see Antonio was holding out the smoke bomb for her to take. Mathilda took the device from his left hand, seeing that Antonio held the hand grenade in his right. She glanced over to see that Ivan was already positioned at the door, hand ready on the handle. She then reached for the pin on the smoke bomb, and looked back at Antonio to see that he was ready to pull the pin on the hand grenade at the same time.
Mathilda nodded, and they pulled the pins.
Ivan immediately pulled the door open half a foot, just enough room for Antonio to toss the grenade through onto the executive floor. They briefly closed the door as a few bullets hit it, before the grenade went off on the other side. Mathilda handed the fuming smoke bomb to Antonio, and Ivan reopened the door just in time for Antonio to swiftly toss it through as well. They nearly closed the door again, keeping it an inch open for Antonio to peer through. After a few moments, they opened it all the way, revealing that the lobby had filled with smoke, and backed out of the way.
Mathilda immediately rushed past them into the corridor, going straight ahead as quickly and quietly as possible, before reaching the door to her old office. She pulled the key from her utility belt, unlocked the door, went inside, and shut the door behind her. She glanced around the room, seeing it was just as void of life as it was when she last left it three years ago.
"All clear," she paged the boys, "Go for it."
She waited a moment as gunfire started up on the other side of the door, before crossing her office to the connecting door on the left side. She crouched to the ground, put her back to the wall, and readied her gun in her grasp.
Mathilda reached up and pulled at the doorknob, slowly opening the door. The sounds of gunfire echoed through, but there were no shots aimed at the one-inch opening. She turned her body and peeked through to observe the scene.
Lilli was closest to the door, standing guard with a rifle in her hands, spare ammunition on the desk between them. Vash was a short way further, directing the JCI men in shooting at Ivan and Antonio. It was clear that half the JCI team had already been shot dead, defending the closed wooden double doors of Alfred's office.
Mathilda cautiously opened the door further, watching Vash and Lilli closely as she crawled through the opening and hid behind the desk. She placed the duffle bag down on the ground, before rising to aim her gun over the top of the desk.
Just as Mathilda aimed her gun at Lilli's head, the secretary turned back to reach for more ammunition. Lilli's eyes widened in alarm as she saw the intruder, but Mathilda pulled the trigger twice before there could be any further response. The bullets pierced Lilli's forehead, making her collapse to the ground dead.
Just in time for Vash to turn and see the source of the gunshots behind them.
Vash spun to aim his gun at her, but Mathilda was quicker and shot at him first multiple times. The shots weren't as clean, ranging from his forehead to his neck, but it was enough for Vash to drop dead as well.
Mathilda then turned her attention to the remaining JCI team members, of which only five remained. She shot at three of their heads, they immediately collapsed. The last two dropped dead before she could shoot them.
"Head count," Ivan paged, "Anyone left?"
"All clear, Vash and Lilli are down," Mathilda replied in her own microphone, "Ready for next step."
She rose the rest of the way to her feet, observing the dead bodies around her as Antonio and Ivan came from around the corner. As they stepped past the bodies, Antonio crouched down to roll Vash's body over.
"You know, it's a pity he never listened to us," Antonio remarked as he checked Vash's utility belt, "He was a decent boss."
"He could've done more," Mathilda bitterly replied as she lifted the duffle bag onto the desk and opened it again. She quickly found the two ropes with hooks on the end, passing one to Ivan who had reached her side, then glanced at Antonio to see how he was coming along.
"Sneaky move it is," Antonio confirmed while rising to his feet, a keychain dangling from his free hand.
The three of them turned and walked over to the double doors, watching their footsteps in an attempt to remain quiet. They knew that Alfred would be waiting for them behind those doors, most likely with some form of surprise defensive maneuver.
Antonio took the lead, exchanging his gun for the hook attached to Mathilda's length of rope. She unwound her length of rope as Antonio placed the hook around the door handle, backing herself up around the corner of the wall. Keeping her rope in place at the right tension, she leaned over and placed Antonio's gun on the floor out of the way. As she rose back into position, she saw that Ivan was prepared opposite her at the other corner.
The trio glanced at each other before Antonio approached the door again. The plan was for him to use Vash's keys and unlock the door, the quieter alternative to placing explosives at the lock. Once it was unlocked, and Antonio got himself out of range, Mathilda and Ivan could pull on the hooked ropes to swing the doors wide open. There was the risk of Alfred making a counter-attack while Antonio was still at the doors, but he insisted that this was their best strategy.
Mathilda watched like a hawk as Antonio reached up first to the top of the doors and quietly unlocked the top lock, before kneeling down to get the bottom lock. Once those were both done, Antonio stood again and put the key into the middle lock at the door handles, careful not to make any unnecessary noises or movements. After a few tense moments, they finally heard the lock click, and Antonio nodded as he slowly removed the key.
A barrage of gunfire suddenly erupted from behind the door, and Antonio backed up quickly. The door was pushed open from the force of the first wave of bullets, allowing space for the following bullets to pass through the door and hit Antonio up and down his body. He recoiled from the impact of the bullets, stumbling towards Mathilda and reaching out his arm to her. She extended her own arm out, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him towards her. Antonio crashed into her, and they fell backwards as Mathila pulled the rope to fully open the door at the same time. They landed on the floor past the corner, out of range of the gunfire which immediately ceased.
"Mattie, Mattie, Mattie," Alfred shouted from inside his office, "You should've known I was waiting for you!"
"Your brother has a fucking machine gun at his desk," Ivan reported, having taken refuge behind the corner of the wall on the other side of the door, "How is Antonio?"
After sitting up herself, Mathilda helped maneuver Antonio so that he could sit upright against the wall beside her. Once he was in a decent position, Mathilda inspected his body, seeing that most of the shots had hit the specialized vest under Antonio's shirt. However, three bullets had missed the top of his vest, hitting Antonio's collarbone and throat instead. As Antonio started coughing, and blood began pooling in the wounds, Mathilda knew what his fate would be.
"He's not going to make it," Mathilda told Ivan, "Two bullets hit his throat, he's already choking on his own blood."
"Get me downstairs now," Antonio insisted, coughing through his speech, "I will help you open those doors, if it's the last thing I do."
Mathilda looked in Antonio's eyes with concern and saw he was determined to do this, before turning to Ivan.
"Kill Alfred, make it quick," Mathilda ordered, "We'll start heading down."
"I can get a clean headshot in, quick and easy," Ivan answered before preparing his aim.
Mathilda turned back to Antonio, grabbed his arms and pulled them towards her. Antonio assisted as much as he could, reaching out to grasp onto her and preparing to rise. Once they were in position, Mathilda guided their motions to stand up, using the wall to help Antonio rise with her. Antonio quickly leaned against her for support as he fully stood on his feet, and Mathilda dragged his right arm across the back of her shoulders to hang off her.
Mathilda heard a gunshot just beside them, and saw Ivan rising to his own feet.
"I got him," Ivan explained as he went into the room, gun still aimed.
Mathilda turned Antonio around, and they went back to grab the duffle bag from Lilli's desk. Mathilda pulled the strap and ducked her head through it, then draped it around her neck. Antonio braced himself on the desk for the moment and reduced his grasp on Mathilda, allowing her to put her arm through and spin the bag to her side. Once the bag was secure, Mathilda tugged at Antonio to get him securely clinging to her left side again, before moving again.
They slowly worked their way around the desks, carefully stepping around all the bodies of the dead JCI security team, and reached the front of the lobby. They veered left past the elevators a second time and went to the bullet-riddled door to the staircase. Mathilda turned the knob and opened the door, guiding Antonio onto the landing with her and against the top of the railing. He braced his arm on the railing, already wheezing from choking on his blood, and unhooked himself from Mathilda to hold himself up. She went around to his other side and braced him against her right side.
With Antonio securely gripping the handrail in the middle of the staircase, Mathilda guided him steadily down the stairs, careful not to rush and possibly miss a step. They paused every two steps as Antonio moved his hand down the railing, already pushing hard against the metal to support his body. Mathilda took control and more support of Antonio as they reached the middle landing and spun around it for the next half of the flight.
They repeated the process down three more half-flights, stopping at the landing for two full floors down where R&D waited beyond the door. Mathilda placed both of Antonio's hands against the railing corner on the landing, and he bent over it gasping for air. Mathilda reached to the duffle bag again, pulling it in front of her body and opening the zipper as she reached in for a grenade. She spun the bag back around her body as Ivan barrelled down the last steps, the folded extra bag now filled and hanging off his shoulders. He pulled the bag off his shoulder and placed it across Mathilda's shoulder with the other bag.
Once Mathilda had both bags hanging on her shoulders, she pulled the pin from the grenade. She then swiftly opened the door to the floor's lobby, tossed the grenade into a small group of guards, and shut the door again. Ivan circled past Antonio to Mathilda's right side, as she listened through the door for the explosion and screams of the guards. After the grenade detonated, Mathilda pulled the door fully open, allowing Ivan to go through with guns ready in each hand.
Mathilda let the door swing shut, hearing the sounds of gunfire on the other side as Ivan plowed their path to their old laboratory, and turned to get Antonio off the railing, She circled around him, and pulled his arm off the railing. He nearly fell at the movement, but Mathilda quickly took support of his body, and draped his right arm back over her shoulders. As he leaned into her left side, she saw the mess on the railings and floor from the blood dripping from Antonio, fake and real alike, as his vest was pressed against the railing that whole time.
Mathilda led Antonio forward, grabbing the door and swinging it open. Antonio reached out to help, holding the door wide as Mathilda dragged him through. Several guards lay dead in the floor's lobby, and Mathilda proceeded to the left where Ivan was just turning right into the lab.
"Come on, Antonio," Mathilda assured him as they stumbled through the hallway, "We're almost there, you can do this."
"I'm getting dizzy," Antonio choked out, "We're going to cut it close."
As they finally reached the glass windows beside the lab, Mathilda looked in to see that Ivan was making quick work of killing the remaining JCI employees, getting them control of the room. Behind him, the steel doors protecting their masterpiece were still sealed, awaiting her long-overdue return. Mathilda spun Antonio to the right as they reached the entrance to the lab, and went in just as Ivan reached the middle of the room.
"The coast is clear, we've made it," Ivan reported, "How are we doing this?"
"Get a computer chair, roll it in front of the middle scanner," Mathilda ordered, "Antonio is losing his strength, we must act quickly."
Ivan nodded and rushed ahead of them, grabbing the computer chair from the last desk and bringing it to the scanner. Mathilda could feel Antonio leaning on her even harder for those last few meters as they stumbled as quickly as possible to the doors. Ivan held the chair in position as he reached for Antonio's outstretched left arm, and helped as Mathilda maneuvered Antonio into the chair. Once Antonio was on the chair, Mathilda backed off to let Ivan position him, and went to the desk. She swung the two bags onto the desk, opened the first one, and pulled out Arthur's arm and head.
"Ivan, get yourself ready with Alfred," Mathilda instructed, "I'll get Antonio ready with Arthur."
Mathilda and Ivan swapped places as he went to the desk and she returned to Antonio, who was now firmly in his seat facing the scanner. She dropped Arthur's head in Antonio's lap for the moment, and placed Arthur's arm in Antonio's right hand. She lifted Antonio's arm in the air, just enough for Arthur's hand to sit on the fingerprint scanner. Mathilda then circled around to Antonio's left, and grabbed the head from his lap. She placed Antonio's fingers firmly in Arthur's hair, and made him reach up to raise the head in the air.
"This will be hard to hold," Antonio groaned, and Mathilda could sense that he was having trouble holding the head.
"You only have to do it on your own for 15 seconds," Mathilda assured him, "It's the last thing I will ever need you to do for me."
"I'm ready when you are," Ivan stated.
Mathilda glanced over and saw that Ivan was already holding Alfred's head and arm in position. Mathilda looked back at Antonio, who was watching her intently. Even though he was coughing hard, she could see in his eyes that he was ready to do this. She nodded at him, let go off his arm, and backed away. Once she saw that Antonio's arm was steady, she immediately rushed to the last scanner, slammed her hand on the fingerprint scanner, and faced the eye scanner.
Mathilda focused intently as the program started up, taking deep breaths as the blue and red lights flashed. She briefly blinked just before the scanner flashed across her eyes for the retinal scan, and resisted the urge to look over as Antonio suffered his worst coughing fit yet.
"Hang in there, Antonio," Ivan encouraged, "Two more seconds."
Mathilda sighed in relief as the scanners in front of her flashed the green approval lights.
"Scan recognized for Alfred Jones," the program announced in a robotic voice, "Scan recognized for Arthur Kirkland. Scan recognized for Mathilda Jones-Kirkland. Shareholder scans approved. Doors opening."
Mathilda backed away from the scanners as the doors began to move, only for her attention to turn left as Antonio collapsed and fell from his chair to the ground. She immediately rushed over, dropping to her knees and supporting Antonio as he rolled onto his back. Mathilda held Antonio's head in her hand as a calming touch, noting in her peripheral vision that Ivan had knelt down on Antonio's other side.
"Mathilda?" Antonio croaked, struggling to keep his eyes open.
"I'm here, Antonio," Mathilda assured him, feeling her eyes starting to water, "I'm here."
"It was all for you, gatina," Antonio managed to say, "You were my reason to live, I love you with all my heart."
"I love you too, Antonio."
Her words faltered as she tried to keep calm for Antonio's sake. She leaned forward and placed a soft, chaste kiss on his lips. As she backed away, there was a sliver of a smile on Antonio's face and a glimmer in his barely-open eyes, before he began coughing again and struggled for breath. She could only watch as Antonio struggled to breathe, before he eventually lost consciousness and stopped breathing entirely.
Mathilda could no longer contain her grief. Tears quickly ran down her face as she weeped, leaning forward to bury her head against Antonio's chest. It was Antonio who had saved her life all those years ago, who pulled her back from the precipice and helped her find another way to live. It was Antonio who had defended her, who stood up to Arthur on her behalf. It was Antonio who protected her through everything, even as she chose Ivan over him for romantic love. And now, just as she was about to complete their journey to happiness and freedom, he was taken from her in the last act. Antonio died for her, just before she could repay him for his years of love and dedication.
As the initial anguish finally began to subside, Mathilda finally noticed the arm that was gently draped across her back the whole time. She slowly lifted her head from Antonio's chest, and gently placed his body on the ground. She then turned to look at Ivan, and saw the red eyes and tears dripping down his face. Mathilda immediately moved towards him, pulling him tightly into a hug.
They stayed like that for a few long moments, weeping into each others' shoulders while also providing each other comfort for their sorrow. Mathilda could feel Ivan's breathing steadying out, and she followed the pattern of deep breaths to pull herself back together. Once the tears had subsided, and her breathing was steady again, Mathilda pulled back to look Ivan in the face, only him to give her a small smile.
"Your face is a mess," Ivan gently chuckled as he reached in to wipe below her eye, "A mix of smeared mascara and fake blood."
"It's all over your jacket too," Mathilda replied, brushing her hand over his shoulder to wipe it off with little success.
As she did so, she finally took a good look over Ivan's shoulder and noticed the track on the floor for the security doors. She glanced further and looked at their masterpiece for the first time in over three years. She felt Ivan move as he turned to look at it as well, before he faced her again.
"Antonio would want us to finish this," Ivan assured, mustering his courage.
"You're right," Mathilda agreed, "It's time."