Chapter 1

It was pitch dark, as every other nights should appear. Many were fooled by its calm demeanor, not sensing the unbearable tension faced on the other side of the city. Silhouettes of a few people wearing all black were seen hiding behind the walls of an abandoned art museum, each one glued to a pole like it was a part of their body. A tall, lanky man pressed a button at the side of his shades which is equipped with many functions – scans for any firearms or metallic objects, provides an inside screen to view information sent by the base, and most importantly why he put it on that particular moment, night vision.

He whispered into the thin air in a hushed tone, “It’s clear, over.” He motioned with his two fingers to start moving as he leads them from the front. Four others who’ve heard the message clearly through their wired earpiece nodded and moved cautiously when they saw the signal given by their teammate. A short-haired woman whom actually looks like a male at first glance began to speak into her mic.

“Ducky, I think there’s something fishy about this. This is too easy.”

“Aish Hazel hyung don’t you trust your junior?”

“I do, but guys, don’t you feel the same way?” the long time very experienced team leader called ‘Hazel’ spoke up. Silence replied her question. She immediately knew that her team was on the same boat as they nodded their heads, feeling the uneasy vibe but still continued to move carefully in a slow pace. Eyes and ears were alert of their surroundings with their hands professionally carrying a Glock 17 gun each and fingers on the trigger, ready to engage at any time.

The team captain stopped abruptly when she heard a faint sound going off. ‘Ting. Ting. Ting.’ It’s hard to hear if you’re a normal person because your footsteps will distract your hearing but after being in the game for so long, her senses sharpen with every passing day.

Before she could warn her teammates, clouds of smoke blinded their vision and caused difficulty to breathe. ‘Hazel’ was already a step ahead by pulling the turtleneck of her shirt to cover the breathing passage. The other agents were already in a coughing fit and struggled to find cover. ‘Hazel’ hid behind a carved statue and took aim at the open area, confident that their enemies will soon arrive.

“BANG! BANG! BANG!” The captain wasn’t sure who was firing as she had warned her team not to start first before the mission. But at times like this, she figured that the rookies in her team might’ve panicked and began shooting to protect themselves. Unfortunately, the enemies has the upper hand and took advantage of the smokescreen. ‘Hazel’ jumped into action and fired at the shadows that was beginning to form at the fading smokescreen.

‘One. 1 o’clock. Two. Behind Sseul. Three.’ She wasted no bullets by aiming thoroughly at the fatal parts of the human body, making the men immobilized and no longer able to pick up their guns. That was how skilled she is. ‘There’s another two…I saw them just now..’ Just then she heard a loud grunt coming from a male, which she believed was her teammate, ‘Ducky’.

“..” she cursed under her breath but let nothing distract her focus. Instead, she became hungrier to look for her preys. A bulky man tried to approach her from the back silently with a knife but was slammed down to the floor by Sooyoung, her most trusted partner.

“Thanks Slim.” ‘Hazel’  turned around and thanked Sooyoung using her code name.

“No prob, that’s what buds do man. I always got your back.” They were about to move forward to find their last target when a gunshot was heard a distance close to them and made Sooyoung drop to the ground. The captain furiously fired a few shots at the culprit, made sure he bled to death and scurried to her friend.

“Slim, Slim are you alright? Sooyoung-ah!” she tapped on Sooyoung’s face lightly.

“Ugh, gunshots hurt…I’m fine Haz..Shhh don’t call my real name out loud. I barely got hit at my right leg. Terrible shooters they are, that I’ll confess.” ‘Hazel’ only managed to chuckle at her friend’s antic, joking at serious times like this. She tore off some of her shirt and bandaged Sooyoung’s leg to stop the bleeding when suddenly she felt like the back of her head hurts like hell. The guy whom Sooyoung took down from before apparently was still alive, and provoked her to go on a hand-to-hand combat.

“Aish, so much for ‘Ladies first’…” she cracked her knuckles and neck and converted her body into a fighting stance. ‘Hazel’ motioned the bulky guy to come closer with her hand. The guy went full force and gave a rough blow to her abdomen.

“Phewh, not bad, but I’ve had it worse.” ‘Hazel’ jumped onto the large framed man and used all of her body weight to bring him down. Then she kicked his groin first before landing punch after punch onto his face, leaving him in excruciating pain to handle. His balls was aching so hard from the powerful kick she had landed but his broken and bleeding nose was another thing. She grabbed her small, pocket-sized firearm and shot at both of his legs, making sure that he is unable to move any longer. She panted for a while as the man was quite a burly opponent and later tuned into her wired earpiece connected to their base which she has turned off during her hiding because she didn’t want her hearing to be distracted.

At the FSA (FEDERAL SECURITY ASSOCIATES) base

“Team Aqua! Team Aqua! Do you copy me, over!”

Silence engulfed the supervising room. Beads of sweat covered the foreheads of the ones who are not involved, clean and safe from the battlefield.

“Come on..pick up…anyone!!”

A series of cough was heard through the receiver mic, available for everyone in the room to hear.

“H-hazel here…roger. *coughs* We were compromised, send back-up please, one man down, two injured. I’m going in, over.” A click sound was heard and the line went off. The man in charge grabbed the telephone connected directly to the agent’s earpiece and shouted.

“Hazel! Don’t do anything reckless! I repeat, wait for back up!!!”

Taecyeon, the chief of the mission slammed his fist on the desk out of anger, frightening some of the agents inside the room, for he knew ‘Hazel’ was one of the most stubborn, hot-headed recruits they’ve ever had and will act on her own accord regardless of the orders given if deemed necessary. The original squad of team Alpha, Choi Seunghyun, Himuro Tatsuya, and Hirai Momo (including ‘Hazel’ and Choi Sooyoung) stood by the side, unfazed by Taecyeon’s rage. They’ve already told him beforehand that it was a stupid decision to send off a team full of rookies and only two veteran supervisors to conduct a dangerous mission. If it were any other normal missions, sending all rookies would be fine but because of Taecyeon’s personal greed to up to the Commander’s feet, he agreed to put the Commander’s son, Him Daehyun out on the battlefield earlier.

Sure, the boy was a fun guy, but almost everyone agreed that he is still inexperienced along with the other two young comrades.

“We’ve warned you of this, Taec.” Momo stated, giving him a skeptical look with her arms folded.

Himuro joined in to taunt their Chief, “Yeah, yeah told you so Taec-chan!” Seunghyun was the only one who kept a straight face and acted cool by puffing his cigarette smoke. Taecyeon gritted his teeth but decided to lower down his pride for the sake of the mission’s success.

“Team Alpha, please grab your gears and follow up with the rest.” The chief spoke is a slow but firm tone.

Himuro wasn’t done playing with Taecyeon and playfully asked, “Which Team Alpha are you talking about, Taeckie-chan?”

“Don’t with me Himuro! And stop calling me with the damned ‘chan’ behind my name! The three of you, off, now! Bring the medic team along the way too!” he barked. Himuro and Momo just chuckled at the Chief’s short temper and hurriedly dragged Seunghyun or better known as TOP to the scene.

“Hazel wait for back up! Please.” Sooyoung begged.

“You know there’s no time left right? It’s only a few minutes before they get down here or flee. It’s either we go for the kill, or we’ll be killed.”

“I know, I know. But will you be alright alone? I’ll come with you then.” The taller girl tried to stand up and limped her steps trying to catch up with her captain.

“Slim please. Have I ever failed a mission before? No. Heck, I’m better at doing things alone. Besides, you’re going to slow us down. Okay, so do me a favor and stand guard down here. In case anything goes wrong. Alright?” Sooyoung knew ‘Hazel’s stubbornness has no limits so she reluctantly nodded and stood on guard, with ‘Hazel’ already sprinting upstairs.

‘Hmm the elevator will make noise if I use it. The stairs would be a better option. Third floor..right?’ The short-haired woman dashed up the flights of stairs quickly but careful enough not to draw attention towards her. She’s pretty sure there’s no one on guard at the stairs, probably more at the safe room. Their mission was to capture one of Korea’s notorious politicians while he’s in the act. He is said to misuse the nation’s money for many unethical projects like ion, trades, drug dealing, gambling and gangsterisme to say the least. Her team didn’t get much info like all her other missions, just the basic “He’s the bad guy and we need to catch him” because it’s confidential. Apparently the guy was a dirty politician who made his way up using his connections with drug dealers and mafias so none of the authorities dared to stand up to him, afraid they’d get threatened and endanger their families.

Federal Security Associates, or better known as FSA, was an organization built by the insides of the Korea to protect the country and do what the normal cops can’t do – save, infiltrate and even killing. Though the purpose of the killing would be mostly to wash away all the bad guys from tainting this country. Basically they’re doing all the dirty work for the big guys up there. They’ve been given special privileges like impossible amount of wages, tight security for their families and many more to conduct their missions, because most of them are dangerous and deadly. Besides, nobody wants to sacrifice their life for free, right?

‘Hazel’ pulled the handle of the exit staircase door just a bit and used her pocketknife to see the reflection to inspect whether there are any of the enemies’ henchmen up front.

‘Hmm only two at the door, I guess the rest are all inside.’ She rummaged through her side pocket and pulled out a silencer gun. She aimed to one of the guard’s neck and skillfully shot him while doing the same to the other one before he even had the chance to react. ‘Hazel’ went out of the staircase and placed her ear at the metal door, trying to listen in their convo and figure out how many more men are in there. Not wanting to risk her life, she hid behind the door and fired a gunshot to drag the people outside. At least she’ll have a better shooting range rather than barging aimlessly without a plan just like that.

As expected, the people inside were surprised at the intrusion and quickly went outside to check, leaving the minister, his dealer and two more men to protect them. ‘Hazel’ successfully shot two people, killing one and another yelling in pain while clutching his wounded stomach. However, she was caught off guard when another came into sight, pushed away the gun in her grip and pointed his gun at her. She stepped backwards with her hands up in the air and knelt down, signaling that she surrenders. Once the burly man was about to walk, she used both of her hands and pulled his leg, making him fall flat on the floor. The skilled agent jumped onto him and threw away his gun and gauged another hand combat. Unfortunately for her, the man owned a knife and stabbed her just above her waist. She was wearing a bulletproof vest alright, but it wasn’t bladeproof.

She fought the man’s hand who was trying to cut her deeper and used her free hand to slam his throat. He had to release his hand because he started to choke badly, which was a big mistake as ‘Hazel’ pull out the knife and stabbed him back instead. With one hand pressing her wound, she walked towards the entrance to the safe room with her Glock 17 ready to shoot. The men left in the room was about to fire at the intruder when suddenly the windows were smashed into pieces and out came the remaining of the Alpha team who easily shot down the rest of the targets and put the filthy minister in cuffs.

Seeing that her team finally finished the mission, she let her heavy eyelids shut themselves as she succumb to the pain she dealt earlier.

“Hazel!!!”

A/N : This is the intro guys! How was it? Oh and btw I think I’m concentrating more on romance (maybe), and honestly this is my first time writing or even imagining a story with this theme, so forgive any mistakes and flaws you find okay? Andd ppany ppany will come out next chap hehe ;)