It was my season for battle wounds, battle scars
Body bumped, bruised
Stabbed in the back; brimstone, fire jumping through
Still, all my life, I got money and power
And you gotta live with the bad blood now  

Taylor Swift Ft. Kendrick Lamar- Bad Blood (Remix)

***

The stupid agent who just had to get in the way of my freedom kept waking up as I drove a stolen car back to base. The amount of times he had yelled in fright had my impassive expression twitching dangerously.

I ended up stabbing him with the same sedative I had been injected with all those nights ago. He didn't stand a chance against the sedative within ten seconds of it being entered in his body. I thought these agents were supposed to be trained.

What really agitated me was the fact that my one year trainer, the one who taught me how to fight to perfection, had been trying to earn my trust so she could kidnap me. And it hurt to know someone I learned to trust was working for the evil, faceless TrianOut who were looking to put me and Aiden under the same program that all those other former agents had been put through to be brainwashed. At least, that's what I got out of it.

What made it even worse was that she was the director of TrianOut. The chances of my trainer being the TrianOut director was as small as a particle. It was set-up. They wanted me before 553 picked me up, or 553 was lying about why they recruited me. And why the Director of TrianOut did the honors of cooling things down before kidnapping me herself was a mystery.

Once I reached the agency building, or The Library of Navy Pier the clock had struck 1 AM and the streets and area was deserted enough for me to carelessly park near the steps and throw the keys outside as I locked the car. The drooling agent inside the car wasn't going to wake up anytime soon.

I pushed my way inside the base and sent the passing agents full-level glares as they shoved passed each other and struggled to get to their destinations. I swiped my badge and threw myself into the room elevator asking for my full name and rank to complete a body scan.

"Amber Zoey Ryder. Undetermined. Charging officer, Aiden Jake Thompson," I muttered loudly. Taking a deep breath, I sent a glare at the camera in the top right corner before regaining a non-responsive expression and stepping out as soon as the doors opened. The plan I had in place was going perfectly fine until I found out that 553 pretty much lied to me. I knew the story told about my recruitment was a lie.

The HQ opening room was as busy as always, with agents of all departments rushing around from and to missions, labs and carrying objects. I stalked to the designated mission room once a passing agent told me where the mission commanders were situated. I slipped in and out of the blind spots of the surveillance cameras as I approached the room where I could already hear loud shouts from the sound-proofed walls. 

I took a collective breath and gathered my thoughts just as I flounced into the room. Everyone's eyes were on me and all conversation ceased like I was some sort of target about to shoot them down as I entered the equivalent of a conference room. It was much bigger and was, of course, black, and had a wide space at the back where the techies were working.

I stopped in the doorway, my hands by my side and my legs spread apart to secure an intimidating stance. My expression was blank, but my eyes searched the room with a hot red glare that made the other agents flustered.

Zack and Aiden both stood red faced and panicked as they kept their eyes secured on each other. So much for Aiden following me with two other agents. It seemed like my plan had completely been abandoned.

"Thank God you're okay Amber! I meant Agent Ryder. Wait- Wait, you're not an agent yet! Right? Am I missing something? Right! You're okay, I was completely worried for your safety just like Agent Thompson and the others were," Leah rambled on, clutching me tightly by the waist as I stood there stiffly, watching her. She suddenly let go and turned to the two in question and raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "Right?"

They all suddenly changed stances when they realized that Leah was directing the question at them. Zack, who had his chin propped up by his arm on the conference table quickly released his position and straightened, looking directly at me from his gaze on Aiden. 

Aiden suddenly nodded as if he was immersed in the conversation in the first place. "Definitely, completely worried. Because you didn't turn on the tracker, and we thought... I'm running out of things to say."

He winced slowly when his eyes met my glare as if it physically affected him to be in my presence. No one said anything as they watched us two. The techies had stopped their continuous typing  to stare at us. 

I took a few calming steps forward and stood there with a raised eyebrow. I suddenly slammed my fists down on the conference table. The glass cracked under the pressure, and shattered from the force. The collision was enough to make everyone look remotely expressive before covering their face with blankness once again. 

My face was probably red faced from anger, and my body was burning from nonexistent heat. "You lied to me," I finally hissed. 

"We couldn't tell you because it's beyond your cleare-"

"Say clearance and I will knock the air out of you with one move," I warned Zack, knowing his full intentions. He shut his mouth quickly but mistakenly reopened it.

"You think you can take me? I've been doing this for ten years," He snarled, his temper rising. His face seemed peaceful wit h his inseparable mask expression, but his eyes tried to burn my gaze off of him. 

I kept my gaze on him nonetheless, not at all intimidated or in fear. "Yes, yes I do," I said, pretending to be surprised. 

A fight was brewing out on the surface and everyone seemed to sense that. The techies had already disappeared out of the room and the other agents had mostly abandoned us. "We had to!" Zack shouted, probably stopping both of us before it got out of hand. "And, we're not discussing Blake. He's where he's supposed to be."

Aiden suddenly snapped from his position facing me. "No you didn't! You could have told her from the first place. I told you to tell her about TrianOut!" 

Archer turned to him as did I. "TrianOut's brainwash program isn't the kind of thing you tell rookies."

"This is not about TrianOut's agents!" I screamed. Everyone shut up and stared at me. "This is about why they want me and why you lied to me about being brought in." I sighed, rubbing my forehead with my palm. "And will someone tell me why the hell Blake Turner was talking about my former trainer?"

Aiden took a quick glance at Zack before speaking. "Believe me. I wanted to tell you," he mumbled, shaking his head.

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because it's above your clearance level," Aiden sarcastically imitated Zack. "But it's okay because I'm telling you anyways."

We both snapped our heads to him. Zack knew he would do it, but said nothing. It was almost like he wanted him to.

Aiden sighed. "553 scouts the country for potential agents. They have to be in their teens, 13-16, like you were when your parents died, or young adults who've caught our attention." 

I was 15 when I got the call about the car crash, a transportation truck and that I'd never get to see my parents return from their anniversary date.

Why was it always car accidents?

"You were seen as one, due to how you handled the trauma. That therapist you were seeing? Yeah, that was one of our recruiters. He was scouting the orphanage for candidates. When he signed you off from therapy, you were supposed to be recruited the next week. But we got big news by then. One of our agents who was on a mission two weeks before your parents were found had found something related to you."

"Related to my parents?" Aiden nodded, and I let out a humorless chuckle. "What is it? My parents were with the mafia? A gang? They were terrorists? They were 553 agents who turned? Or were they 553 agents who were killed and then someone disguised as a car accident?" I mocked. "Because I hate to tell you Thompson, but I'm pretty sure those are already copyrighted movies."

"Your parents death was an accident," Aiden corrected with his -what a surprise- blank expression. His swirling hazel eyes were calming me down inside from the fury that was brought to me by his explanation. It wasn't his fault. I didn't get angry often. It was rare.

"The agent on the mission had been told to annihilate a group called Triangulum Out but they unfortunately got away with using advanced technology. This group purely existed to wipe out potential spies for the government, like us. When she came back, she worked hard to find Triangulum Out but it was like they never existed out of 553 records. Their bases were somehow cleaned when we had custody of them and they simply went off the grid. Imagine our surprise when a week later, they were driving recklessly on the streets of Toronto in a high speed truck chase involving the local police there." Aiden paused, staring at me. That's where my parents had gone for their anniversary night. "There were a lot of collisions that night but what was worse was the one that they crashed into to create a road blockage and get away."

My parents.

My mask was on, so no one could see the brokenness swimming underneath it. Aiden's face softened drastically. I know he could see through my mask, I wasn't trying too hard to keep him away. He wasn't showing any pity, but instead showed understanding. 

"Triangulum Out," I suddenly whispered, looking up from my fixed look on the shattered glass. "It's Latin. It's translated to Triangle Out." I suddenly let out a loose puff of air, swallowing a shaky breath. "TrianOut killed my parents."

***

A/N: Heyy