City Undertaker || Bang Chan Mafia AU

17: Boiling Point

Chan returned to HQ an hour later, dampening the high spirits Lex was in. She felt the tension between them return, the silence making it more uncomfortable with each passing minute. Barely a word was exchanged when he entered. Lex and Minho had moved to the living room to wait for him. When Chan nodded his head towards the stairs, Lex stood up and followed him without question. She threw a glance over her shoulder and Minho gave her an awkward thumbs up.

Chan led her back down the stairs and to a doorway that was adjacent to the staircase. The door was metal unlike the others, but Lex hadn't really thought much of it at first. Inside the room was a shooting range, although it wasn't the size of a warehouse, it was bigger than the average classroom. Surprisingly the room didn't echo as she had expected.

The walls were made of a metal material and the floor was tiled. Like any other shooting range, it had a guard that she could stand behind and the target was shaped like a human, highlighting vital parts.

"You really have a range underneath the house like that?"

"It's not an issue since it's soundproof." Chan opened up a panel in the wall and took out a briefcase. He brought it back over and opened it in front of her. If he was being honest, he didn't expect much from her but hoped she at least knew the basics of shooting. What use were fisticuffs against bullets?

"It's soundproof?"

"Yep, wouldn't want to alert everyone within a mile radius to us."

Though the room was completely soundproof from the walls, the hallway didn't use the same material and Chan was able to hear people outside if they were being loud. An unfortunate feature that was included when the house was built. Thankfully for Lex, Chan made a quick job of loading a pistol before handing it to her.

Lex gulped as she picked up the gun. Lex turned it in her hand, observing and weighing it. It was cold and heavier than she expected. She willed her hands to not tremble as it would be a dead giveaway. Chan also grabbed two pairs of earmuffs, though he noticed he was a little reluctant to give one to her. So he wants me to be deaf too? Jeez.

"This is a 9mm pistol. Go on, take a few shots at the target." Chan gestured to the human silhouette against the wall. Sensing his condescension encouraged her to show him up. Somehow she was going to convince him she knew how to use one.

Lex forced her hands to steady, and aimed them at the targets, struggling to find an accurate shot. She didn't even know how to hold the gun properly, or the type of recoil on it, how high or low she should aim. What could she do to make a more accurate shot?

"What's wrong?" Chan demanded, growing impatient. Lex glared at him to play it off. If she could slide by then she wouldn't have to admit it. Why did she care about what he thought again? Lex stood with her right foot in front and held the handle of the gun with both hands. Her finger rested on the trigger and she took in steady breaths to calm herself.

Lex fired her first shot as she breathed out, missing the target completely. The sound was drowned out by her earmuffs. Though there wasn't much recoil, it still shocked her hands at the new pressure, unlike anything she had held before. She forced herself to continue if she wanted to fool him.

Her following shots also missed the target as she fired in a continuous stream, the recoil making it go wild. She had tightened her grip with every shot. Her arms were straightened and began to ache from the pressure of the recoil. Was that normal?

Lex managed to land the last bullet into the arm of the target. She seemed to think that was good enough, but Chan had the opposite opinion. He stared at her in confusion and maybe curiosity. She pulled back one side of the earmuff in case he spoke.