Still I Rise - BTS/OT7

Teaser

Charlie knew how important this assignment was for her as it was her first time back in the field. She wasn't given all the details, per usual, but her and her partner Ryder were told to make sure nothing interrupted this deal.

It was dark and she could barely see anything, but the feel of the cool metal of her Smith & Wesson 9mm in her palm calmed her racing heart. She was posted outside this random warehouse they were told to go. Ryder was watching the northern side while she was walking the southern perimeter.

Her head jerked to the left as she swore she saw movement along the building adjacent to her. Her hand tightened around the grip of her gun as her trigger finger laid against the barrel, ready to shoot. Quickly and quietly, she moved to the other building and placed her back against the cool, stone wall. She shuffled her feet to move around the edge, sure that the figure she had seen went this way. She took a quiet breath to calm herself and turned around the corner, her gun pointed straight ahead of her.

The figure immediately turned towards her, aiming a gun at her as well.

"Charlie?" The figure said and started rushing towards her.

"Don't move!" She shouted back, finger moving to the trigger. When the figure got closer, she couldn't help but feel a familiarity towards the man that now stood in front of her. He stopped moving and put his hands up.

"Whoa, what the hell Char? It's me," he said, confused at her behavior, but remained still.

"Gun on the ground," Charlie harshly said as she kept her feet planted firmly on the ground. She was surprised when he complied without hesitation, placing his gun down and kicking it towards her.

"Charlie it's me, Jungkook," he said, still keeping his hands in the air.

"I don't know anyone by that name. Why the hell are you here?" For some reason, it didn't feel right for her to just shoot him, so she figured she might as well get some information from him while he's willing to cooperate.

"We're trying to stop this deal, you should know that. Why are you here? Where the hell have you been?" he asked, his hands slowly started to lower to his side.

"I'm preventing people like you from stopping it, so, on your knees," she replied, ignoring his other question as she continued to glare at him.

"People like me? You mean like us?" he said as he pointed back and forth between the two of them.

"I am nothing like you. Now, ON YOUR KNEES!" Charlie shouted and Jungkook once again raised his hands, slowly lowering himself to the ground. Charlie walked closer to him, keeping her gun pointed at him.

"I know you won't pull that trigger." he confidently said.

"Oh yeah, and why is that?" She questioned as she pressed the barrel of the gun against his forehead.

"Because we have been through too much together. I don't know what's gotten into you, but we're best friends Char." Jungkook's eyes were pleading for the woman in front of him to realize what she was doing, to stop her from pulling the trigger. What the hell is wrong with her?

"I told you that I don't know you, so there's no way you know me." Charlie took a couple steps back, still keeping her gun pointed at Jungkook, and grabbed her radio from her waist. "Hey, Ryder," she said into the radio.

"You have a scar on your right hip." Junkook said, clenching his jaw and waiting for a reaction which he definitely got.

She looked at him with wide eyes. "How the hell do you know that?" she asked him, the panic clear in her voice. He was a complete stranger and yet he knew about her scar. Her grip tightened on the gun as her gaze remained on him. She didn't trust him at all.

"Because I was there when it happened. I was the one who tried to stitch you up and did a really bad job," he explained, laughing a little as he recalls the memory, but Charlie could hear the desperation in his voice.

Charlie lowered the gun as her head started to hurt. Flashes of events from when she was a teenager popped into her mind.

She was running through the alley, a younger Jungkook by her side while heavy footsteps thudded closely behind.

Jungkook turned to see the cops hot on their heels. "Shit!" he exclaimed as they reached a high fence. "C'mon Char, go!" he yelled, giving her a boost before climbing himself.

Charlie groaned in pain as she felt a sharp sting on her side once she got to the top, and when both of them landed on the other side, she felt the panic coursing through her as she noticed the blood staining her shirt, but now was not the time to stop as the cops were calling for backup to their location.

"Char! Are you ok? Let me see," Jungkook insisted, worried about the wound on her hip while she shook it off.

"Not now, we've got to fucking go!" she shouted, grabbing his arm and dragging him as they kept running.

"Are you ok?" Jungkook frantically stood up and walked towards Charlie, who was holding her head as the pain seemed to get worse.

"Stop!" She shouted as she continued to hold her head.

No wonder he looked so familiar. She had met him when she was just a kid, but why were they running from the cops? Whose house did they go to? Before this, she was certain that this life, her gang life, was all she knew, and her partner, Ryder, was someone she grew up with. If that was the case, then who was this guy standing in front of her?

"Charlie you good?" She heard over her radio. Charlie grabbed it and held it to her mouth about to speak, but then looked over at the man in front her. He slowly shook his head as his eyes pleaded with her.

"False alarm. I'm good." She said and clipped the radio back to her belt.

"Thank you."

"I didn't do it for you," she harshly replied. "Tell me, who're you working for?" she asked, keeping a hardened expression as she waited for him to speak.

"Bangtan," he replied. "It's who you have work for as well."

"I work for Ganghan, always have and always will."

"What are you talking about? What the fuck did they do to you? You were the be-"

"Charlie, need you on the west side," Charlie's partner said through the radio. Jungkook looked at the radio and then at her.

"Go," Charlie stated, motioning her head away from the building, but Jungkook didn't move. She huffed in frustration and brought her gun back up, pointing it at him. "Go!" she yelled. Jungkook slowly took a couple steps away, but stopped briefly.

"Still you rise, Char," he told her, causing her heart to stop. Jungkook gives Charlie a small, sad smile before disappearing into the shadows.

His final words replay in her head as she thinks about the Phoenix tattoo that laid across her upper thigh and hip with the words, "And still I rise."