Mission: Impossible - Rogue Agent

16 | The Battle, Part 1

THERE WAS A DIFFERENCE between the word "nervous" and "anxious", as Lemony Snicket once said. The word "nervous" simply means "worried about something", the way you might feel if you were served goat cheese ice cream because you'd be worried it would taste awful. The word "anxious", however, means "troubled by disturbing suspense", the way you might feel if you were served a live predator because you'd be troubled by the suspense of whether you would eat your dessert or it would eat you.

When they arrived, the team was feeling anxious as they were unsure of how things would turn out after that day. They made sure their comms were working and got off the van, advancing to the Underworld's base.

"We're now within their radar," Brendan said. "They know we're here."

"Then why aren't they killing us yet?" Ilsa asked.

There was a pause before Ethan guessed, "This Walter guy really wants us to die in his hands, not his weapons." Ethan pointed at some nearby hidden (and deactivated) turret guns. Benji gulped, feeling nervous. Brandt remained silent.

"Okay," Benji whispered. "Ilsa, Brendan and I will walk to the right side of the base, where the entrance to Walter's office is. Ethan and Brandt should go left."

Unlike the Guardians of the Galaxy in Avengers: Infinity War, the team actually listened to Benji's suggestion (even though he wasn't the leader of the team) and split up.

* * *

August was about to walk to Benji's little group when suddenly, a hand grabbed him on the shoulder to stop him. August instantly grabbed the hand and twisted it before turning to face the person who'd grabbed his shoulder in the first place.

It was Walter, who smiled at August and said, "You've still got your good instincts."

"Of course I do," August slowly let go of Walter's hand. "I thought you were going to fight Hunt and Brandt."

"I've decided to wait for them to come to me," Walter quickly replied. "Besides, if I go to them, they would see me coming and strike first."

August eyed Walter suspiciously. He didn't remember Walter being that tall. August then decided to randomly ask, "So... when was your birthday again?"

"Uh..."

That was when August's suspicions were confirmed: he wasn't talking to Walter, but an imposter, probably someone from Hunt's team. Judging from the imposter's height, August had a good idea on who he was. He sent a swift kick to the imposter's head but the imposter dodged it and tried to punch August in the gut. However, August was too fast and grabbed the imposter's fist before twisting and pulling his arm. August then quickly started to strangle the imposter with his arm. The imposter let out a yelp of pain before August managed to jerk the face mask —that the imposter was disguising himself as Walter with— out with August's free hand.

When the true identity of the imposter was revealed, August growled in anger, still maintaining his strangling grip, "Do you really think I'd fall for this again, Benjamin?"

"Of course I didn't," Benji answered August with a small smile, still in Walter's voice, as he struggled against August's strangling grip. "But at least I distracted you."

Before August could react, Brendan shot him in the side of his gut, causing both August and Benji to fall from the impact. Benji quickly released himself from August's grip and stood up. Although not dead, August was unconscious and losing his blood rapidly.

"Nice timing, Brendan," Benji praised after he took out the voice-changer [A/N or whatever it's called] from his neck.

"Well... your American accent wasn't too bad either," Brendan replied as he looked at the pool of blood that oozed from August's wound. Brendan was right: Benji's voice might have been altered, but his accent definitely wasn't.

Because they had to arrest August instead of killing him and weren't allowed to turn him in in a critical condition, they had no choice but to treat August's wound. Since the wound was severe, the best they could do was stop the bleeding. They then sedated August before he would have the chance to gain consciousness. Ilsa and Brendan then carried August into the van, with Benji strapping August onto a stretcher (in case he tried to escape if he ever gained consciousness) after they did so.

Brendan sighed in relief, "I'm pretty sure Ethan claimed that Walker nearly killed him."

"Well..." replied Ilsa, who was staring at the unconscious August. "Ethan didn't have a gun when they fought."

"Why didn't you tell Ethan and Brandt that you had his face mask?" Benji changed the subject as he looked between the two, slightly confused and suspicious of Ilsa and Brendan's ways. Brendan and Ilsa exchanged nervous glances with each other.

"Well, Brandt did know," Brendan slowly replied. "Since he was the one who made that mask in the first place."

"But why keep that a secret from Ethan? Why didn't you want Ethan to see his face?"

"I think it's time we'd tell him," Ilsa nodded at Brendan.

* * *

Ethan and Brandt cautiously walked around the left side of the base, guns ready.

Brandt, who's confidence was dropping, told Ethan, "We're walking to our deaths."

"Don't be so pessimistic, William." —Brandt was a bit surprised Ethan called him by his first name— "We're not necessarily walking into our deaths."

"Not necessarily," Brandt repeated, looking at Ethan. Ethan looked back at Brandt and gave a small shrug.

From a distance, they heard footsteps. They were light against the ground, which probably meant that the person walking towards them had a light weight.

"I think I might know who that is..." Brandt said uncomfortably, shifting his weight to one feet to another. When he was an analyst, he was trained to be observant of a person's distinguishing features; for example, their footsteps, the way they walked, etc. From the way this person walked, he could very obviously tell who it was.

"Oh, Brandt," The young man walked towards them, revealing himself. "You definitely should've known who I am."

That was when Ethan and Walter locked eyes with each other. Walter's eyes were filled with vengeance and hatred. He had hated Ethan ever since he was a teen.

"N-no..." Ethan denied when he saw Walter's face. "It's n-not possible..."

Walter continued to glare at Ethan, slightly amused for a second. Walter knew for a fact that Ethan didn't know he was alive. Brandt, who knew what was going on, helplessly watched Ethan with guilt in his eyes. Brandt should've told him. He regretted ever keeping it a secret from him. He should've told Ethan that they had Walter's mask.

Ethan had tears in his eyes now, threatening to flow down his face. When he could finally form words, all he could say was, "S-son?"

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I wrote that ending at like 1am, so don't blame me if it sucked lmao.

I'm sorry this took so long. School and the hype of Endgame just makes me... UGH.

Anyway, this is the only time I'm gonna be online this week. I might start getting back to Wattpad the day after tomorrow, but we'll see how things go.

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