Mark and Mirae pulled up to a dark building in a part of town that she wasn't familiar with. She saw that some of the members were there already. Taeyong, Yuta, and Johnny were all there waiting for her out front. She also noticed Jaehyun, Jungwoo, Shotaro, and Sungchan standing on the side. She hopped off the bike as the three older boys walked up to her with a bag.
"Mirae, hop into the vans and change." Taeyong instructed as he passed her a bag and pointed to the van. She took it and quickly rushed into the dark car. "Thanks for bringing her, Mark, you're good to go back now."
"What?" The younger boy recoiled in shock. "What do you mean? I'm not staying for this?"
"No. Only 127 and U are gonna be with her for her first mission, not Dream. We can't have people interfering with this mission. She has to do it on her own."
"But the 6 of them aren't here to jump in, they're her best friends. Why can't I stay?"
The three older boys shared a look before turning back to him.
"You know why, Mark. Go home. Now."
"But-"
He was interrupted by the closing of a car door, Mirae walking over to them dressed in some of the clothes that he had bought for her at the Dark Court.
She had on a tight black top and black leggings with a harness around her waist holding two knives and a gun. Her black boots had knives tucked into the sides of them with harnesses running down her legs to hold more weapons.
Mark's throat went dry as she walked up to them, her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail.
She looked hot.
"You look great, Mirae, totally mission ready." Johnny said, giving her a quick thumbs up.
"Wow, coming from THE fashion evaluator? You can thank Mark for the clothes, he picked them for me." She smiled at the boy who was still blatantly staring at her.
"Oh right Uh yeah, looks nice, Mirae."
"It's almost time to start. Mark was just heading out." Taeyong said, giving a pointed look to the younger boy.
"You're leaving?"
Mark felt a pang in his heart when he heard Mirae's voice. She sounded scared.
"Yeah but you'll be fine. These guys will make sure of it." He smiled at her, turning to the older boys. "Right guys?" He gave them a hard stare, his smile fading into a threatening glare.
"Of course," Yuta responded, waving him off. "There's nothing to worry about, Mirae."
"Alright, five minutes until we go. Mark, we'll see you back at home."
With a reluctant nod and one more glance at Mirae, he hopped on his bike and drove off.
"Okay, Mirae, you're going to stay with Johnny for this one. He'll give you a run down of everything while we get in position. Just trust your gut and you'll be fine." Taeyong says with a smile before heading off with Yuta.
She looked around, seeing the the other four boys were gone too and it was just her and Johnny left in front of the building.
"Alright Mirae," the taller boy says, straightening up. "Follow me and I'll explain along the way." He started walking towards a door, holding it open for Mirae as they entered the sketchy building.
"So this isn't a mission we'd usually take on since this gang is so small, but that's why we thought it would be a good one for you to start on. We're doing this as a favor to one of our allies, Stray Kids, who you already know." Johnny spoke fast as they rushed through the building, making their way to the second floor and getting into position.
"You see, this gang has been pushing in on their territory and they asked us to get them to leave or wipe them out."
"Y-you mean kill them?" She stuttered out, her hands shaking from nervousness.
"If they won't leave, then yes. This is supposed to be a weapons wearhouse on Stray Kids territory but this gang came and captured it. We're here to get it back."
Johnny peaked out over the open window that they were hiding behind. He gestured for Mirae to look as well.
Peering over the edge, she saw that they weren't that high off the ground, only about 10 feet up with an elevated courtyard in the middle. She saw a small group of maybe 8 men all dressed in black standing in the middle.
"This is the gang. Taeyong and Yuta should be going in any second to talk. The code is 'none of our business'. If you hear either of them say that, it's our queue to jump in and take them out. Hopefully it won't come to that, but if it does, stick close to me. Don't think, just act and protect yourself. There will be no survivors from this if they choose to fight."
"Got it."
She watched carefully as she noticed movement in the corner and soon Yuta and Taeyong stepped into view.
"Ah, NCT. We were told you were coming." The man, who Mirae assumed was the leader, spoke once he saw them.
"Yes, Minjoon, we're here to negotiate." Taeyong said as they approached the man.
"But only two of you?"
"We shouldn't need more for a peaceful negotiation, right? After all, I'm sure you wouldn't want to make an enemy out of NCT."
Mirae noticed how the man gulped at Taeyong's words, carefully shaking his head.
"No, we wouldn't. What is it you've come to ask us?"
"Leave this place." Minjoon recoiled at Taeyong's demand.
"What?"
"Leave. You stole this warehouse from one of our close allies, so we're here to demand you leave."
Please say okay. Please say okay. Mirae silently hoped to herself.
"No."
Fuck.
"This is an issue between Stray Kids and us. They can fight their own battles, and if they want us gone, they can make us leave themselves."
Johnny gently tapped her arm, mouthing at her to get ready.
"So you're saying that you won't leave."
"Correct, and tell Stray Kids that we're prepared to fight for it. They shouldn't send in some allies to take care of their issues."
Mirae hears Taeyong let out a sigh, his eyes discreetly flickering over to the window where she and Johnny were.
"Well I guess you're right...."
Oh here it comes. Mirae thought to herself as she clicked the safety on her gun.
"It's none of our business."
The second the words left Taeyong's mouth, a gunshot rung out from a higher floor window and a man fell to the ground. Mirae could make out Sungchan standing in one window with a sniper rifle.
Johnny pulled out his gun, the two of them standing and shooting from their window. Despite Mirae's shaky hands, she was able to hit a man in the shoulder and another in the knee.
Soon, Jaehyun, Jungwoo, and Shotaro had run into the courtyard to fight alongside Taeyong and Yuta. Mirae no longer trusted herself to shoot at risk of hitting one of her teammates in the fighting fray.
Johnny seemed to have the same thought as he stood up and jumped down from the window, Mirae following close behind as she landed with a roll onto her feet. She looked around for Johnny but was immediately blocked by a much larger man looming over her.
"What's a pretty little thing doing here? This is a big mans game, honey." He smirked down at her, a large knife in one of his hands.
"Won't be so funny when this pretty little thing kicks your ass." She scoffed at him.
He lunged at her but she was quicker, using her smaller frame to slide under his outstretched arms. She spun around, kicking the man hard in the back and using the hilt of her knife to knock him in the head. He tripped over his own feet, Mirae effectively using his size against him, before he lay on the ground groaning in pain.
Mirae remembered Johnny's words, but hesitated for a moment, letting her doubts get the best of her. Before she could act, she was knocked to the ground by another man.
He pulled out his knife and stabbed at her, she was able to roll away from where the knife would've driven straight into her chest, instead he stabbed her arm. She cried out in pain, getting the attention of one of the nearby boys.
"Mirae!" She heard Taeyong's voice call out, and soon the man was knocked off of her. She watched as Taeyong drove a knife straight into his chest before helping her up.
"You okay?"
"I'll be fine."
"Then take care of that last guy." He pointed at her first opponent, still lying on the ground in a painful daze.
Taking a deep breath she walked over to him, pulling the gun back out of her harness. She closed her eyes, holding the gun next to his head and with a shiver, she pulled the trigger, hearing his groans abruptly cut off with the loud bang from her gun.
She turned around, scanning the clearing again and saw that almost all of the men were down, the other members beginning to shake themselves off as they made their last kills.
"Great job, Mirae!" She heard Jaehyun call from across the clearing, slowly making his way over to her once he finished up with the last guy he was fighting.
He had made it about halfway across the clearing when she noticed that one of the guys on the ground was beginning to stir. None of the other boys had noticed it, thinking all of them were dead and too distracted checking up on one another.
Her eyes widened as she watched the man pull at his gun and point it at Jaehyun's back as he walked towards her. With no time to think, she quickly pulled a knife out of her boot and threw it hard. It missed Jaehyun by only a few inches and buried its way into the man's head. Jaehyun quickly spun around, seeing the man now bleeding out, dead by the knife in his head.
"Oh my god, thanks Mirae, that scared me!" Jaehyun said as he pulled her into a hug.
"Sorry, I should've warned you but he was going to shoot."
"It's fine. For a second there I thought you were trying to hit me." He laughed out as he squeezed her tighter.
She winced as he squeezed her arm, causing him to immediately pull away. She heard him gasp when he saw the blood dripping from his hand.
"Mirae, you're hurt!"
Jaehyun's words got the attention of all the other boys who quickly made their way over to Mirae's side.
"I'm fine, really. It stings but I'll just get it bandaged up and everything will be fine." She reassured the boys.
"Can I take a look?" Taeyong asked, carefully gripping her arm once she nodded. He examined her wound, careful not to touch it as he did so. "No poison on the knife. She'll be fine."
All the boys let out a collective breath of relief before beginning to walk back to the cars. Taeyong and Mirae walked side by side, trailing the group of boys.
"You did well today, Mirae." The older boy commented with a smile. "I know it can't have been easy for you. The first kills never are."
"I'll be fine." She quickly replied, blocking out the memories. "Thank you, by the way, for getting that guy off of me. If you weren't there, I would've been dealing with a lot more than just an arm wound."
"It's all good, that's why we're a team. I'm very proud of you."
"I almost messed up though, I thought too much and didn't act quick enough." She muttered out, disappointed in her own actions.
"Hey, it's alright. It happens to everyone, I still think you did well. Most people can't even force themselves to kill on the first mission."
"It's funny, I'm being praised for my ability to kill. A little backwards, isn't it?" She scoffed out bitterly.
"Very backwards. We live in a backwards world but this is what it takes to stay alive." Taeyong replied darkly as they reached the van. They hopped in and began the drive home.
Mirae didn't speak the whole ride and the boys just left her alone. She couldn't help but think about what had just happened. How she felt the man go completely silent and limp underneath her once she pulled the trigger. How her knife buried straight into that other man's head and she saw the life fade from his eyes as his blood stained the ground.
What if they were like us? What if they had a family? What if they were a team and I just robbed them of that. What would I do if one of my guys were killed like I just killed those men...
She wasn't paying attention to anything, too lost in her own thoughts. Her whole body started to shake as she processed what had just happened. She didn't even realize it, but she had started to cry. The hot tears silently streaming down her face as they drove home through the darkness.