𝑩𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍 //𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝑲𝒊𝒅𝒔 𝑭𝑭//

~𝟲𝟱~

(First person, Ava's perspective)

For most of the day I tried avoiding Jeongin as much as I could, the uncomfortable silences between us too much for my nerves. Until fate decided to throw a curveball my way. The alarm started blaring through the dorms, pulling me out of my comfortable state on my bed. I rushed to the operations room, ironically finding myself between Felix and Jeongin, both boys giving me suspicious looks. Felix's look was a bit different than usual though, his gaze seeming less suspicious and more... knowing almost.

I turned my attention to the big screen at the front of the room when the commander spoke.

"Good afternoon, Agents. I'm glad to see you all look well-rested. And I see Han is back with us in the operations room. Glad to have you back," Commander Della Valle said, sounding unusually chipper.

"Glad to be back, Sir," I heard Han say.

"Now, I have a mission for you all. I have recently gotten information about a new smuggling ring that I want you all to shut down before it develops further. I will send you all the details-"

The commander cut himself off, turning his head away from the camera and whispering something to someone behind him. Then I saw a flash of a face as the person moved past the camera. The commander quickly turned his attention back to us, and my gaze was back on him.

"Stay safe out there, and don't get injured on the first mission back. It would be very unfortunate. Dismissed."

The screen went black, and my brain went back to the person in the background. It was just a glimpse of a face and the person moved by quickly, but I was sure I had seen that face before. I just couldn't place it.

"Okay, let's get going," Chan said, slipping down the pole into the weapons room.

I slipped down the pole after the rest of the boys, my mind preoccupied with figuring out where I knew the face from. My mind was so far away, didn't realise I had tripped when I landed until I made impact with someone's chest. I looked up to find Lee Know looking down at me with wide eyes.

"Isn't this the third time this has happened? You should really be careful when coming down that pole Ava. Are you hurt?" Felix asked, taking my arm and straightening me out again.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine."

"Okay good. We don't want you getting hurt right before a mission, now do we?"

"Probably not."

I smiled at him before getting my head back in the game, getting my stuff, and myself, ready. I suited up and got my weapon, ready in under a minute. We all headed out at Chan's command. The chopper was waiting for us outside. We all quickly got in and were off to the suspected hideout of the new smuggling ring.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Han tightening his shoelaces. Even after all he had gone through, he seemed fine. He didn't seem stressed or anxious at all. Guess we get so used to this, it practically becomes second nature to us, I thought to myself.

"Han, are you sure you're ready for this?" Seungmin asked from next to me.

"Yeah. I've been resting for way too long, and I just want to get back to doing what I'm good at."

I looked over at Chan when Han answered. I saw the certainty in his gaze. He knew Han was ready even before Han knew he was ready. He really knows his team; I commented in my mind.

...

In no time we were crouching down behind shrubs about a hundred meters from the warehouse. Hyunjin was scouting the entries and exits and how many people we were dealing with. As he did that, Chan went through the plan again. As usual, we were going to enter from opposite ends of the warehouse, rounding up as many people as possible before meeting up in the middle of the building.