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It was a simple mission, or it originally was. Unfortunately, it was perceived to be an easy mission, to trap them of course, and it was so beautifully veiled in a way that made it seem so easy. Almost too easy, until it went wrong, and all the twists and turns left the rookie agents in deep quicksand. There seemed to be no way out, but they knew they had to get out to warn the others, this was not what they thought it was at all.
Yangyang tried to keep his breathing as quiet as possible, making every breath intentional, knowing a single wrong move would give away his location in the vent. He had left his partners, Guanheng, Dejun, and Xuxi in the dark of his location, his plan of action when he shut off his earpiece as it shut off his mic piece too. There was no way to communicate with them now, he was laying on sheet metal right above a group of heavily armed men. He had spent the last couple of minutes moving his arm ever so slowly, at a snail’s pace, to bring his wrist up to his face so he could at least try to contact his team through his smartwatch, hopefully, no one would hear him.
Turning off his mic and earpiece was enough of a sign to let his teammates know it was time to contact the higher-ups, and that was exactly they did.Guanheng, back at headquarters, was searching furiously on the large screen in front of him for anybody heat signature that looked like his friend in any way at all. At the sound of a ring from his watch, he knew the others got the message, Dejun had sent a call to the rest of their team to get Yangyang out of there. Xuxi had sent a call as well, stating they lost him and contact with the youngest. Right next to him, Sicheng hit his fists against the black metal desk, hissing through his teeth, “Fuck!” Guanheng felt a shiver down his spine, seeing his own mentor standing up to leave.
“You stay here, alright? Watch the other two and keep looking for Yangyang. I’m going to Kun,” the blonde male spoke, grabbing his holster off the rack near the door, and with a slam of the door he was gone.
Xuxi could feel the anger coming from Kun even though they were miles away, he looked at Dejun from the corner of his eyes. The other was reloading his pistol, his left hand shaking slightly. He knew that Dejun and he had the captain as their mentor, but that did not shed any light on the situation, knowing that the oldest would be extraordinarily upset with this update.
“Kun, Ten, I’m sure you saw the update,” Sicheng spoke fast, saluting quickly at his supervisor and captain. What he saw in front of him was more than calm, the two were already gearing up.
The oldest walked up to him, “Tell Guanheng to prepare just in case until then the two of you will stay here,” and he slipped his earpiece on. The younger copied the dark-haired male’s actions, putting his earpiece back on. “Xuxi, Dejun, don’t move yet,” he was heard in all earpieces, a ringing left in everyone but Yangyang’s ears.
Sicheng nodded, and right before he went back to his post, he saw Ten slip on his autumn-orange sunglasses, the color matched his mentee’s hair. This time, when he saw the two leave, he did not get the same wink or smirk from the Thai male.
“You find that little agent, quickly, and dispose of him. Use him as bait, understood?” a voice under Yangyang spoke, it sounded a bit like it was over the phone. He hoped to hear more but no one else spoke. Then he heard a few creaks, but it was not like an old wooden house creaking, it was the metal under him. Holding his breath, he did his best to not move, hoping it was occasional shifting from the air conditioner. A few footsteps here and there were heard under him, he heard a door open and close, and no more footsteps, but there was another creak.
Fuck it, he thought, shuffling slowly forward in the vent to try and get a glimpse under him, there seemed to be no one in the room. He shuffled some more until he knew he was back at the roof entrance, sliding the vent door open, he made sure to put his earpiece back on. Turning on his devices quickly, he figured if someone was waiting for him at the vent exit, at least his location and mic would be on.
“He’s at the roof, the main air vent,” Guanheng said loudly, hearing a sigh from one of the others in his right earpiece. The young hacker glanced at his mentor, who was typing furiously, making sure Kun and Ten were at the site, planning to act.
“Guanheng,” his voice was deeper than usual, “remember your first day of training?” The younger nodded, realizing only he could hear Sicheng at the moment, his mic was turned off momentarily.
“You told me, ‘You get hurt, I get hurt.’” And that sometimes we have to go do field ops as well.”
“So, you know how Ten feels right now, Yangyang gets hurt, he gets hurt too,” His hand reached towards Guanheng’s hand, grabbing it quickly, “Now get your gear, just in case we have to go to the field as well.”
You get hurt, I get hurt too, it ran through Ten’s mind, as he heard the update from Sicheng that Yangyang was captured when trying to leave the vent. When he first got the update on his watch, all he could hear was white noise, all he could see was red. When he finally heard Yangyang’s soft breathing in his earpiece, he felt a rush of relief, only for it to turn the voice of another male overlapping with Yangyang yelling for a code 0-1-0, a call for Ten’s help specifically.
He put his pistol away, grabbing at his rifle as he left Kun behind, ignoring the other’s calls to stop and wait.
“Listen, Kun. I’ll say this once,” Ten was seething with anger, the orange sunglasses doing nothing to hide the anger in his eyes, “If it was Dejun or Xuxi in there, you’d understand. I picked up Yangyang from the streets, Kun. I raised him, that is more than just my mentee in there, fucking get it? He called for my help, and fuck if I don’t go there and show them to not mess with me or my kid, ever again.”
Kun raised his hands in defeat, “Alright Ten, tell us what you want us to do.”
“Guanheng and I made a plan, there’s a room they coincide in currently in that building, and he figured out from the little information we retrieved from Yangyang’s vent recording, that the plan is to get everyone in that building. It’s overflowing with guards, so we need less of you in there. Ten, I’m assuming you want to go in then.” Sicheng spoke quickly, standing up from his desk, using his right hand to drag the information and map from his screen to the 3D virtual table, the images now projecting upward from the table. Guanheng followed, wearing the eye lens that let him see through Xuxi and Dejun’s eye lenses as well, floating in front of their right eyes like a tiny blue screen.
“Continue,” the oldest spoke.
“Well, this is our plan…”
Xuxi and Dejun were to follow Kun, leaving their positions from the underground as soon as possible. Yangyang’s location was deactivated when he was in the deepest room of the building, and looking at the heat signature, Ten would have a maze of guards to go around. Dejun had the flash drive with the information on the man they were after, that was the original goal of the mission, but someone must’ve known when they would try to get it, as it led to the predicament they were in now.
Ten reached over in the dark, he entered through the basement door Xuxi led him to, his hand gripped on to a throat. Holding the guard close to him, he slit his throat with the blade in his right hand. They had decided to send Ten in without a rifle, instead trading it for Dejun’s pistol, so he could walk quieter in the building. Meanwhile, Kun led his mentees through a back entrance, ordering them to only enter rooms after him. The two had seen clips of Kun in action before from some older missions, but seeing him now bashing a man’s head into a wall without hesitation, painted a whole new image of their mentor.
“Double check this room, I’ll move ahead. Sicheng, how’s it looking?” He whispered, taking his pistol out of his holster, holding it up in front of him as he searched the next room.
“Ten, he’s in the main room…” Guanheng whispered back, “He was off our radar and now he’s there.
Kun shot at a few guards, his left hand calling for Xuxi and Dejun to catch up. “He’s doing what? And where?”
“Go! Quickly!” Sicheng spoke into all their ears, “Xuxi, Dejun, keep your eye lenses on.”
“Got it,” the two said in unison, running with Kun to the main room. They had to pause every now and then to fight a few men. Xuxi using his right forearm to block an attack, luckily Dejun swiped and hooked his leg under the male, pulling him down. Kun didn’t look twice before using the blunt of his pistol to knock out another male.
It was when the three were almost at the room that they saw Ten, limping with a weakened and bruised Yangyang latched to his side. “Help me grab him! We have to leave now!”
“Is that Ten?” Guanheng spoke, looking through the eye lens. He looked over to Sicheng, who was analyzing something from the deep room.
“Ten, what did you do?” Sicheng whispered under his breath. He took another glance at the high levels leaving the room, the scanners from the watchers telling him of the chemicals from the main room reaching the agents.
Xuxi ran over to carry the youngest on his back, Dejun went to his side, scanning Yangyang’s body for injuries as the two ran out. Kun had noticed Ten’s bleeding ear, his earpiece off and melting from where it hung, he didn’t need to ask to know. Ten tried to take on all the men, and used one of the chemical weapons, meaning the final grenade would be going off any time soon, once there was enough gas to activate it.
He put his own rifle over his shoulder, attaching it to his back strap, and moved to carry Ten, picking him from his legs and looping an arm around his back. “You’re fucking insane, I hope Yangyang doesn’t see half the shit you pull.”
And when they all reached outside, piling into their vehicles, they heard the explosion from the building, even miles away, seeing the flames from the top of the remains as it began to crumble. The oldest knew that this would make the next few missions more difficult, but that was something their brother group would deal with. His own team had to recover, especially his second-hand who refused to let Dejun clean his wounds.
Ten spent the whole ride checking for Yangyang’s breathing and heartbeat, even if he heard it once, he would check again. “Ten-ge, please your ear is covered in blood,” Dejun pleaded, but the older kept his other less injured ear at Yangyang’s chest, his arm hugging the boy’s stomach.
At that moment, Kun heard in his own mind what he told his mentees when they began training, You get hurt, I get hurt too. “Leave him be, Dejun. You and Xuxi, just focus on yourselves,” he looked up from his seat, reaching over for Dejun’s arm, holding it with a reassuring grip. When he glanced at Ten again, he could see his lips moving and even though there was no sound he could hear the Thai male saying over and over, “Liu Yangyang.”
-
“He’s awake, took a real beating that day,” the nurse at headquarters spoke, “I can relay to your captain what happened to him according to his injuries.” To this Kun nodded, taking a look at the clipboard, they had almost beaten the boy to death, it was obvious to see but reading every injury he had? That made him swallow his own spit harshly, he was angry.
“Soon, we’ll be sending him out for some therapy, you all can see him then.”
It was a few days later, halfway through the week when Yangyang was taking a break in the exercise room, his headband all sweaty from his work. He pulled at the loose part of it to yank it off, and he saw Ten at the door.
“Ten-ge…”
“You little shit,” Ten ran up to him, pointing a finger at him. The other younger agents walking behind him, Sicheng following behind them as well while Kun stayed at the door, leaning against the frame. “What did I tell you, years ago? That you can’t act like me, you can’t pretend to be me, got that? That stunt you pulled, almost got you killed, Yangyang! Do you think you’re hot shit just because of the way you get away with stuff like that? You’re still a rookie, you’re still a kid. Fuck, you’re my kid.” He was yelling now, looking down at his mentee once he reached him.
“Ten-ge, you know I look up to-” Yangyang felt like crying at seeing Ten so angry, the way the older looked at him with hurt and worry in his eyes and voice.
“I don’t want to be your role model if it means you dying, kid.” Ten pulled him into a hug, a few tears falling down his face. He was hugging him, his living, breathing, warm body. “I can’t have you dying on me. You get hurt, I get hurt too, I thought you knew that” his voice was just but a whisper at that end. And he felt his mentee hug him back, and they stayed like that for a moment, not even noticing the others in the room.
“You get hurt,” Yangyang said through tears.
“I get hurt too,” Ten whispered back.
Kun ran up to his own mentees to hug them, and when he looked in the large mirror of the room, he saw the younger agents as though they were once again merely trainees, in their early teens. And the message echoed in the room, as he saw Sicheng with an arm around Guanheng, ruffling the brunette’s hair, Xuxi and Dejun under his arms, and Yangyang in Ten’s embrace.