“I’m impressed by your progress Taeyeon.” Hyejeong praised, picking herself up off the cold floor. Taeyeon wiped a streak of blood from her nose and laughed.

“Round two?” She suggested, before diving forward and rolling out of the way of Hyejeong’s stray fist.

“She’s getting better!” Jimin observed, chatting away to her team members from the sidelines of the training ground.

Hand to hand combat had never been Taeyeon’s strong point, but she had to improve to make sure she was prepared for any situation - which included one without a weapon.

Hyejeong had been training her for the past week, since the attack at the border. Training against one of the best boxers at the camp, made for a difficult challenge, but she got better everyday.

She raised her fists to cover her head, as Hyejeong let go of a relentless flurry of punches. The leader finished the combo, with a swift spin and a back kick, which launched Taeyeon into the air and backwards, crashing into the floor.

Taeyeon searched for her last bit of adrenaline once she stood up, rolling out of the way of a mean right hook. She dropped to the floor and kicked out, catching Hyejeong’s left leg and sending her toppling over. As Taeyeon started to celebrate, her friend launched herself up and delivered a swift roundhouse to her face.

“Never let your guard down.” Jiyeon sighed, pressing the ice pack against Taeyeon’s swollen eye.

“I know…” Taeyeon groaned, as Jimin laughed at her.

Throughout the following weeks, Taeyeon improved massively and even matched Hyejeong on some aspects of their training. Her team very quickly became her family, and her knowledge about her power only continued to grow.

It was a shock when three weeks after she joined, she was called into a meeting with Kahi. She was very straight to the point.

“I like you Kim Taeyeon - and I think you’re going to do great things here. Eventually the time will come for us to go to the public for, and I think you’re the perfect advocate to be among the face of our organisation.”

“Thank you Ma’am.” Taeyeon replied calmly, when on the inside she was shocked.

“I think you have the ability to inspire people Taeyeon, and I have no doubt that when the time comes, you will step up and protect us.”

“Taeyeon?” Hyejeong shook her awake. “Seohyun is requesting you.”

Taeyeon hadn’t gotten much of a chance to talk to the secretary, but when she appeared it usually meant one of the generals wanted something. She quickly pulled on her training uniform and headed into the common room area, and saw Seolhyun entertaining Seohyun with a story about Hyejeong and a dog.

“Ah Miss Kim.” She stood up off the sofa as Taeyeon walked out of the room.

“Good morning Seohyun.” She responded.

“General Kwon is requesting you at the training area. I’ll walk you down.”

“Why aren’t you a soldier Seohyun?” Taeyeon asked in the lift ride down.

“I prefer not to engage in violence if possible, but I still want to help.” She replied with a smile.

The blonde nodded and smiled.

“Why does Yuri want to see me anyway?”

Seohyun laughed to herself and gave a pitying look to the girl next to her.

“I’ll let her explain that to you.”

When Taeyeon arrived at the training arena, she was confused by the amount of people who were there, in the seats which overlooked the room. Yuri spotted her, and walked over.

“Taeyeon! Thank you for bringing her Seo.”

“What’s going on?”

Taeyeon eyed the spectators and felt a bad feeling about why Yuri called her there.

“I heard you managed to floor Hyejeong in sparring?”

Taeyeon nodded.

“The only person who has ever managed that is me, so I’m impressed. I thought we could give you a break from weaponless combat and do some pistol training.”

“If it’s just that, why are all these people watching?” Taeyeon asked, curiously.

“Oh,” Yuri grinned. “That’s because you’ll be fighting me.”

Taeyeon warmed up and did some stretches, and people seemed to keep flooding into the hall: apparently everyone had heard what was going on and decided to watch. Her teammates appeared before too long, and Seolhyun ran up and engulfed her in a crushing hug.

“You’re going to get your kicked!” She said, rather too happily.

“Have some faith in her Seol.” Jimin cut in, giving her a weak smile which made Taeyeon significantly more nervous.

Taeyeon was handed a training pistol by Seohyun, who whispered good luck before making her way behind the protective screens. Yuri stepped into the training area, pistol in a holster, looking smug.

“This is just a little assessment Tae, don’t worry about it!” She tried to assure Taeyeon.

The anxious girl just looked at her sheepishly and tried to suppress nervous laughter.

“These are training pistols so the shots will make you feel pain, but won’t injure you. Should we say first hit wins?”

“Sure.”

Taeyeon mirrored Yuri, and took her place at the opposite side of the room, and watched the landscape transform into a simulation. The arena was a forest setting, and Taeyeon tried to get a height advantage, by launching herself to the closest nearby tree, and creating a structure to help her climb.

Like a monkey, she climbed between tree branches, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of her target. A few minutes passed by, and there was no sign of the raven haired girl anywhere. She debated on heading down from the trees, when a gun fired and a bullet whizzed passed her face.

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