The Secret Society

Briefing

Twelve walked in, watching me as I shot the targets while glancing at him.
"That's really impressive shooting, Twenty One," he said.
"Thanks!" I said smiling widely and glancing at One. He quickly dropped a smile but not before I saw it. "I've been doing it most of my life." I reloaded the gun calmly. "Kinda just a hobby."
"It's a life style now. You're not bad at all. Feel free to come shoot here whenever," One said lightly.
"That was probably the nicest thing you've said to me since I got here." He glared at me and I smirked a bit. "Is this all we were going to do?"
"Yes. We've got a couple other guns, if you'd like to try them out. They're out the door and to the left." I smiled, handed him the gun, and walked out. I went through the guns until I found another kind of pistol, one I hadn't seen before, and walked back in. I saw One, back to his frustrated self, trying to help Twelve with his gun. Three was sitting against the wall, looking bored. I calmly walked over to One's other side, and began shooting, looking up at the other agent. He glanced back at me.
"You're not a bad shot, Twenty One. But that won't be worth much if someone knocks you out."
I raised my brows. "I'm not that bad at fighting."
"And you think you'll do better than the guards on Saturday?" He asked irritably.
"No but-"
"No buts. We can't let anyone die. We already don't have enough people. I'm not going to be able to talk Blade into taking you off the field. So you need to be prepared. Twelve! Can you not see that your shots are consistently way too low?" He demanded.
"Im trying si-"
"You know you might be able to help more if you were nicer." I handed him my gun and walked over to Twelve. He looked upset. "Look. Hold your gun even." I stood behind him, helping him position his hands. "You're holding the gun all wrong." I took it from him and demonstrated. One stood with his arms crossed, watching as I helped the man hold his gun better. "Try that." He held the gun up and shot. Not perfect. But a ton better.
"Thanks!" He said grinning.
"No problem. Not everyone in this place has to teach through yelling." I gave One a look and held out a hand for my gun. He handed it to me with a tilt of his head.
"You know. You're going to get yourself in heaps of trouble, gaol," he whispered, leaning close to me. "Better watch yourself." I smirked a bit, and held up my middle finger between us. He frowned and pushed my hand down. I laughed and went back to shooting. I heard the door shut and realized Three had walked out.

The rest of the day went by without a problem. Twelve was rapidly improving with my advice and One had headphones on, shooting a silenced pistol. Between shots I could hear music from the headphones but couldn't tell what it was. He took them off.
"Let's go. Dinner time." He walked out. Three hadn't come back. Twelve and I followed him, putting our guns away. I walked into the kitchen.
"One, Three, Twelve, and Twenty One. You are having dinner with me so I can brief you," Blade said as we walked in. "Where's Three?"
"Not sure, sir. She disappeared just as we were beginning." He frowned in annoyance and glanced at me then One then Twelve.
"Alright. Go ahead into my dining room. I'll find her." Seventeen ran up behind me and grabbed my arm.
"How was training?"
I jumped but she smiled at me. "Uhh. It was good. We did some shooting."
She giggled. "I'm glad to see you alive. I was sure that One was going to-"
"Let's go Twenty One," One said loudly. I ran over and followed him through a door. I walked beside him as we emerged into a dining room. I had been expecting something huge but it wasn't that big. The table could fit maybe ten people. One took a seat and I hesitated. He nodded to the empty seat across from him. Twelve sat beside One. "We're going to get briefed on the mission when Blade gets here. That means this is a time to listen. Not for questions. Understood?"
"Yes sir," Twelve said while I nodded.
He gave me a look. "Any questions can be directed to me after the meeting. All I know for right now is that today is Thursday morning. We travel from probably from Saturday morning to that evening. Virginia is a ten hour drive." I nodded and sat back. Three and Blade walked in after a moment of silence. Three hesitated before sitting on One's other side. One leaned over and whispered something in her ear that I couldn't hear and her face fell. He looked at her face and she stood, glaring at him, walked around the table, and sat beside me. Blade sat at the head of the table. One refused to look at Three but they both looked upset, Three almost to the point of crying. Blade ignored this. He set a pot of something in the middle of the table.
"This is our briefing for our mission Saturday. Enjoy the soup and listen. Questions can go to One afterwords."
"Yes sir," Twelve and I said together. Three pursed her lips.
"Sir?"
"Yes ma'am?"
"I wish to be taken off the mission." Blade's eyebrows furrowed.
"Why? You love the missions, Three," One said, glaring furiously at her. She stood.
"You know why, One. I'll send Ten in here. I think she'll be a good fit." She walked out. I blinked a couple times.
"One. What is going on?" Blade demanded.
"We broke up," he replied, lifting his chin. "There we're some issues. She's upset. She'll be over it but until then, she's emotionally compromised."
Blade stood, hands on the table. "We needed her on this mission, One!" He snapped and I flinched back in surprise.
"I-"
"You had to do this days before a mission?"
"There's always one mission or another, Blade! I've held it off for months because of the amount of missions lately. I can't be with her anymore. It's ruining both of us," he growled. "And I'm not putting up with it anymore. So Ten will be a good enough. You put Twenty One on our team and she's better than we were expecting so it's fine."
Blade looked a bit surprised. "Fine. This goes south, One, and you're going to be the one taking the fall."