Ah, shit!

Here we go again!

AKD

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They set out for the pier as soon as the clock struck 12:00, well bundled up in black clothes and face masks. It was a full moon that night and uncannily bright.

Jeno kept his dagger close and also kept several smaller extra ones up his sleeves and in his boots. He knew Jaemin was also carrying two guns under his coat, looking nervous and skittishly checking repeatedly all around himself.

It was around 1:00 AM when they finally reached the deserted pier with its looming warehouses on either side and prepared themselves for a long wait in one of the smaller mysteriously unlocked warehouses where the mission plan had advised them to wait.

"You better keep your eyes peeled, Jaemin," Jeno muttered in a low voice. "I'm not the best at look-out duty. This is your mission, after all"

Jaemin gave him an incredulous look. "Are you serious?!"

"Totally."

Jaemin shook his head in disbelief and went on checking out of the window if there was any sign of anyone. "I think your eyesight is just bad."

"I'm trained in close combat. Glasses prove to be a pain in the ass when you're fighting hand to hand," scoffed Jeno. "Besides my other senses are really good, I rely on them."

"Then just use contacts!"

"Can't. Astigmatism makes it worse if you use contacts."

"Goodness! That's all the more reason why you should have glasses!"

Jeno narrowed his eyes and was just about to reply something else when there came five short knocks on the warehouse door and two longer ones. The signal code that the mission plan had described.

Jeno and Jaemin looked at each other and then nodded. Together they dashed to the doors and cautiously pulled it open to reveal the person on the other side, wearing a black hoodie with its hood up and a face mask. He quickly slithered inside as soon as the door opened and then closed it just as quickly as he had entered.

He turned to face them and pulled off his face mask to show a permanently frowning face with a scar on his lip. He gave a grunt when he saw Jeno. "So, Boss sent you instead."

"And hello to you too, mole."

The man answered with a grunt and then turned his gaze at Jaemin. "And who is this other brat that I've never seen before?"

"He is a new recruit. Good with guns," Jeno answered easily. "Now have you got the information that we needed?"

"Yes, almost all of it," the man muttered and shoved his hand into his breast pocket to bring out a flash drive. He handed it over to Jeno who quickly pocketed it. "Turns out the new drug business thingy is actually true and it's underway. But they haven't begun it in a large scale yet because they are still preparing some stuff so they don't have too many clients. That drive contains all the details of all the clients and details about what the business is about. It's not too late. Boss can still crush the whole thing while it's still not a completely established business."

"Alright, I will relay it to him," Jeno nodded his head. "And what about you? Will you be going back to being a mole?"

"About that," the man looked behind him with a nervous frown. "I think they suspect me. So I need you to tell Boss that he needs to relocate me fast. Otherwise, they are gonna have me killed."

Jeno narrowed his eyes. That did not sound good.

"You have been careless. Are you sure no one followed you while you came here?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I made sure," the man nodded as he spoke. "I don't think anyone followed m-"

The glass of the nearest window shattered and Jaemin couldn't stop the yelp that escaped from him. Jeno stared in shock as Tora toppled sideways, the bullet going clean through his temple.

A headshot. Which would only mean.

"A fucking sniper!" Jeno yelled and whirled around to shove a shock-frozen Jaemin and himself behind some of the crates that were stored in the warehouse before another bullet hit the spot where Jeno was standing only a few minutes back.

"Get moving, you idiot! This is not the time to go into a shock!"

There came a loud bang from the door, and then another one before something shot through the lock and broke it.

Jeno cursed. There were more.

He acted fast, whipping out a throwing knife and flicked it towards the first man who entered before he could even react. The knife pierced through the man's neck and he collapsed to the ground, sputtering up blood.

But Jeno realized that they were too near to the door and needed to look for a better cover. The second man entered just then, giving Jeno too little time to grab a second knife. Jeno turned urgently to Jaemin who was still in a kind of shock.

"We need to find a better cover," he whispered. "Jaemin, come on, take out your gun."

Jaemin nodded jerkily and took out one of his guns. He quietly loaded it and then handed Jeno his other gun.

"Better than throwing knives," he whispered back and then braced himself against the crate they were hiding behind.

Jeno noticed his hands shaking. He seemed close to hyperventilating.

The man was approaching towards their direction cautiously, his gun ready and eyes alert. Both Jeno and Jaemin didn't dare to start shooting because that would mean giving away their position. As soon as the man turned the other side for the slightest bit though, the two made a dash for another crate.

Jaemin quickly pulled the slider and shot as soon as the man whipped around. His hands were terribly shaky and he missed. He ducked behind the crate as soon as the man started shooting.

"Dammit!" Jaemin gritted his teeth.

"Shoot as soon as the man pauses," Jeno instructed calmly and Jaemin nodded to show he had heard.

Just as he said that the man stopped, possibly to reload and Jaemin took the chance. He swung out and took aim.

He made exactly two precise shots and there was a howl of pain before a metallic clatter echoed throughout the entire expanse of the warehouse.

Jaemin didn't pause for a second, cocked his gun again and once more shot four times in quick succession and the man gave another series of blood-curdling howls before there came a bodily thud. The man still screamed.

Jaemin walked out in the open, going into a shock once more as the peak of his adrenaline rush died down. His hands shook violently and he was breathing fast, eyes blown wide and tears running down the side of his face. He was hyperventilating again.

The silvery moonlight filtering through the broken glass panes of the warehouse windows illuminated Jaemin and Jeno was slightly in awe. In awe of how fast Jaemin had reacted despite being terrified.

"Jaemin," Jeno called out amidst the man's screams. "Why haven't you killed him?"

Jaemin didn't respond, eyes still wide in shock and staring at the man in front of him writhing in pain. Jeno thought he looked a little ethereal with the moonlight hitting him in just the right way.

Moonlight?

Something filtered through Jeno's mind and he suddenly realized Jaemin stood right in front of the window. He quickly looked out and his blood ran cold when he caught sight of a metallic glint from the roof of the nearest warehouse.

The sniper.

"Jaemin!" Jeno launched out without thinking just as the boy whipped around to look at him and tackled him to the ground.

There came the sound of glass shattering for the second time that night and then Jeno felt a searing white-hot pain on his left shoulder. He couldn't stop the cry that ripped out of his mouth.

It broke Jaemin out of his shock.

"Jeno!" he shrieked immediately going to the said man and pulling him away from the window and behind a crate. "Oh my god! Shit! Shit! Jeno!"

Jeno felt lightheaded with the pain and he could only just make out Jaemin shaking him, a panicked expression on his face. There was an annoying insistent ringing in his ears. Jaemin's constant yelling wasn't helping.

"Oh my god, shut up, you idiot!" Jeno grit out of his teeth. "I'm not going to die! Do something about that sniper out there!"

His vision and hearing cleared just then and he saw Jaemin's face right in front of him, but this time he wore a relieved smile.

"You're alright!" he sobbed out. "You're alright! Thank goodness!"

"Of course, idiot. I'm not gonna die tonight," Jeno grumbled and then winced.

He had a lot of experience but this was the first-ever time he had gotten shot. Usually, he was more careful.

"Now tell me why didn't you kill that other man?"

This time Jaemin winced and he looked down with immense guilt. "I...couldn't. I can't kill," he stammered. "But....I shot his elbows....tendons ripped. His...his fingers are crushed. He won't ever be able to use his ... dominant hand anymore. And his...knee caps are blown...too."

Jaemin broke down into more sobs, clearly out of the guilt.

Jeno could only stare at him.

At the sobbing, guilt-wrecked Jaemin who had inflicted some of the cruelest possible injuries on a person. He began thinking that the nervous cry-baby with curly light brown wasn't just a shooting prodigy but something much more.

"Jaemin," he tried to speak as calmly as possible. It was during these situations that Jeno felt thankful for not having strong emotions. "Listen, you need to take care of that sniper otherwise we will never be able to escape. I would do it myself but long range isn't my thing at all. So you need to calm down and do it."

Jaemin nodded his head while he wiped his tears. "I...I observed the surroundings when we were waiting for the...the guy to arrive. There are only two other warehouses in the vicinity from whose roof shooting with a sniper would be possible. This is....this is the warehouse at the very end and it is open grounds on the other side. But....I need a more powerful gun."

Jeno nodded, once again amazed by Jaemin's perceptiveness. It only confirmed his suspicions that Jaemin wasn't completely normal.

"The first guy I killed? He looks like he has a powerful enough gun."

Jaemin nodded. "I was thinking of using it."

"Then go on. Do it," Jeno urged. "Or do you need me to help?"

"You're injured. Please stay here," Jaemin's voice was soft, very unlike the defiant tone he usually used with Jeno. "I'll do it."

As soon as he said that, he shot out of hiding, making straight for the body that lay right next to the entrance door. Just as he passed the window he did a sudden dive and roll and the glass shattered for the third time, missing Jaemin and hitting the concrete floor.

He reached the dead man and quickly pulled him up, confusing Jeno as to what he was doing until a fourth glass pane shattered and the bullet hit the already dead man. Jaemin was using the corpse as a shield.

The man fumbled a little while he grabbed the gun but quickly gained his composure and while still somehow balancing the heavy dead body on his smaller frame he rushed towards the window.

Jeno strained to peek around the crates but Jaemin was already out of sight.

Not Edited

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Song Recommendation:

"Angels Don't Cry" by Ellise