Cane had shot through the first floor with such speeds that no one could react in time.
But now, it was time for a counterattack. Surely, that mysterious assailant couldn't possibly kill everyone within the building, right?
Instead of taking the stairs, Cane directly jumped up and tore his way through the ceiling, thus making it to the second level. He jumped out of the hole, concealing it and looking around.
"... HEY!" A sudden voice startled Cane into spinning around, and he realised he'd accidently tunneled into the ladies' bathroom. Oopsies. Cane felt a sense of embarrassment, which was quickly overwhelmed by his killing intent.
Cane blasted a hole through the head of the employee on her break, killing her instantly. He then waited behind the door of the ladies' bathroom, waiting for someone to enter the men's bathrooms.
No, not him... no, not him either... FINALLY! Cane shot out from the door, startling the passing guard. He first killed the man, before using Steal on all of his clothes and equipment. Cane then dragged the man's dead body into the bathrooms, hiding it within a stall and locking the door.
He then left the bathrooms dressed as one of the guards. Meanwhile, the guards were busy rushing to the first floor, believing he was still there. Cane joined behind the group, blending in.
"Be careful. This attacker must be of the Combatant rank at the least, he's too strong to be an Apprentice." The leader of the guard team turned to speak to the rest of the group. "Any questions?"
Cane lifted his hand. "What if... what if the guy dressed up as one of us?"
The leader nodded. It was an excellent question. WAIT! Too late. The leader's radio disappeared.
Just as his head snapped up in shock and suspicion, Cane had already detonated the Tracking Grenade, turning the leader into a pile of mush. He then began to fire into the crowd of guards, constantly moving to hide his position.
They didn't know where to shoot. Some attacked their innocent teammates, causing others to shoot them. Other people saw Cane, tried shooting him, and missed. They'd end up hitting their own team once more, causing even more people to shoot them.
In the chaos, Cane slipped away. He turned on his radio, sending a report to the other team leaders.
"Not good! The guy is dressed up as one of us, causing chaos and confusion within our ranks! We need backup, NOW!" Cane shouted with a sense of urgency. It sounded very convincing - plus, it was true!
Thus, when the second team arrived and saw Cane, they held zero suspicions about the man's identity. They continued forward, finding the remains of the battlefield. Team 1 had been wiped out.
"Holy... sh*t." One of Team 2's members could only gasp at the sight. Then, disaster struck. Cane had already replicated another Tracking Grenade, which he used to collapse the hallway. Team 2 was instantly buried under the rubble. Cane then dug under the rubble for a bit, finding a mostly intact body.
He ripped a chuck of flesh from the man's back, hid a Tracking Grenade within it, and began to carry the man.
"HELP! HELP! We have a wounded man here!" Cane's voiced echoed throughout the hallway. Soon, another team found him. It was Team 4.
"Stay calm! What happened?" Team 4's leader "calmed" Cane down. He took a moment to catch his breath.
"I - I'm from Team 2. We were bringing support to Team 1, but when we entered the hallway, it collapsed on us! I think the guy has explosives." Cane then pointed to the dead body, which was trapped. "My friend and I are the only survivors - he, that guy! He went up to floor 3!"
Team 4's leader quickly relayed the information over the radio, sending the other teams heading toward the third floor. He then turned back to check on Cane, only to notice that he wasn't there anymore. What?
BBOOMM!!
The dead body exploded, instantly wiping out most of Team 4. Only the leader survived.
"Sh*t, he's still on floor 2! My team's wiped, we need assistance over here!" Just as these words were uttered, Cane destroyed the man's radio. He then grabbed him and slammed him into the ground.
"Where is the Security Room." Cane asked the pitiful man with a cold expression on his face. He brought his dagger to the leader's eye, slowly penetrating it.
"WAIT, wait!! I'll tell you." He gasped in pain. "Floor 3. It's right in the middle of the floor - there are four corridors connecting to it's four walls. Please spare me, great lord!"
Cane nodded, pressing the button on the back of his dagger.
Squelch!
It shot forward and lodged within the man's brain, killing him.
Meanwhile, the other teams heard Team 4's leader. They listened to his words over the radio and began to head back down to floor 2. At that point, Cane had already entered the third floor.
His goal? The Security Room, of course.
After all, it was somewhat tiring to continuously Steal all of the cameras. Thus, he decided to wipe them all out from the source. Whilst the other teams checked on the aftermath of Team 4, Cane directly rushed into the Security Room.
"Bad news! Bad news!" By saying this, it made it seem like Cane was a part of the Security Teams, and it lowered their guard of him.
The others within the room instantly looked up, alert. "What's the situation like? What's the news?"
Cane smiled, viciously. "The bad news is... I've come to kill you all. And there's no one who can protect you." With that, he lunged forward, dagger and Plasma Pistol out. He first shot at the electronics displayed throughout the room.
Boom.
And just like that, the Teams no longer had radio communications with each other.
Another shot.
And now, all of the security cameras were disabled.
Cane then began to rush through the room, jumping from one victim to the next. All it took was one shot, one stab. He slaughtered the place efficiently and quietly, to the point where no one knew it'd happened.
...
Except for Senhei, of course.
He was currently feeling quite fearful. After all, Cane was moving like a ghost through the building. No camera could catch the man, and just now, all of the cameras had shut down. He'd already taken out three teams, and that assailant definitely wasn't planning on stopping.
Senhei couldn't even contact the rest of the building. In fact, he couldn't even contact the police. After all, Senhei was running a Black Market business. He'd long since removed all of the mandated Messengers - both within the building's rooms and also on all of the personnel.
In short, on a scale of 1 to 10, Senhei was thoroughly f*cked. He could only turtle up within his office, summoning his contracted monsters to defend the door.
Damn it, who have I offended now? F*ck, I should've stayed in school like my mother always told me.
...
The team leaders were tense. They constantly checked around, guns at the ready.
They'd already figured out that the mysterious man who'd already wiped three teams out was dressed as one of them. Thus, they could only be careful of anyone and everyone.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed.
"Guys, guys! I found out what the guy looks like!" It was someone from the Security Room, holding a photo - taken from the security cameras, probably.
Without another word, they shot the man and killed him. Then, a scapegoat was sent to check on the body.
"Looks clean. This photo... with this, we no longer have to be careful of each other. After all, we now know what he looks like." They all collectively stared at the person in the photo.
Dark brown hair, olive skin. Fierce eyes.
"Anyone seen this guy around before?"
"Nah, don't think so."
"Prolly not."
Then, just as they had their backs turned to the "dead" body, it stood up, unleashing a flurry of bullets within the crowd. Instantly, panic spread out.
Indeed. The man who they'd shot was already dead. It was the puppet which Cane had made, controlled by the skeleton using the Omnitool. The puppet man shot forward into the crowd, blending in.
Immediately, what had happened with Team 1 began to happen again. People shot at innocents, people shot at shooters. It was chaos. The other team leaders knew they couldn't let this continue, but they also knew they couldn't do anything about it. So...
They had to kill everyone within the teams. Now, only the 3 team leaders were remaining. Team 3's leader spoke up after the chaos had subsided.
"We... we can't trust what the man said. It's clear he's just framing the person within this photo, trying to get us to kill innocents once more." As he spoke these words, the other team leaders were convinced.
Thus, Cane was once again innocent in the eyes of the team leaders. They proceeded to try and relay the information over the radio, only to discover that the communications were down.
"Well, sh*t. There's only us three now. Let's just go back to the boss's office and hide." Team 5's leader suddenly turned to leave. "I can't be paid enough for this bullsh*t."
The other nodded in agreement. The three began to head on their way up.
Meanwhile... the leader of Team 6, who'd been quiet all this while, followed behind slowly.
Drip! Drip!
Small spatters of blood mixed with brain matter dripped out of the man's nose. His eyes seemed dead, and his movement was somewhat clumsy. The previous puppet man was already empty.
The other two noticed nothing.