“I hate this,” Hongbin hissed, “I hate this so much!”

“I know,” Sana sighed, “but we’re needed here.”

“We’re the support,” Hyemi added, “you always keep the support off the front lines.

“I know,” Hongbin replied, “but I still wish that I could be in there with everyone else.”

“We wish we could, too,” Jooheon patted the other man on the back, “but what can ya do? Just gotta be ready for when the others need us to patch them up.”

“I hope that’s all they need,” Lizzy said.

“I know that they’ll be fine,” Sungyeol smiled, “other than a couple cuts and bullet holes, we probably won’t be needed.”

“How are you so confident,” Xi Yeon sighed, “I’m a bundle of nerves here and you…….you’re the very picture of calm, cool, and collected.” She groaned, “it’s not fair.”

“Sorry,” he laughed, smiling to himself when he noticed how the playful banter was calming the other members of the med team down.

Honestly, he wasn’t half as calm as he was pretending to be. He was scared like the others. It was his friends and brothers in that building, going up against the very best defense that SM could throw together. Glancing over at Sungjong, he was sure that the other had noticed the slight shake of his hands, the dozen other small signs that he wasn’t as calm as he was claiming.

“Hey,” the younger smiled slightly, voice low so that no one else heard them, “you know that they’ll be fine. Sungkyu promised, didn’t he? We’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “Sungkyu’s never lied to us before. He’s not about to let these monsters make him into a liar.”

--

“Crap,” Shownu hissed, pressing a hand to his bleeding shoulder, “.”

“I don’t think we’re getting out of here any time soon,” Sanghyuk said, wincing when one of the bullets being fired at them got a little too close for comfort, “not without help.”

Hakyeon had split everyone up into units, taking a divide and conquer approach to their attack on the SM building. Sanghyuk had been placed onto Team Taeyong along with Shownu. They also had Kihyun, Sungjae, Kyungri, Sojin, Doyoung, WinWin, Hoya, and Kyla. Everything had been smooth sailing for the team until they reached the twelfth floor. Within minutes of stepping off the stairs, the group was pinned under heavy gunfire. Sanghyuk was hiding behind a wall with Shownu, Sungjae, Sojin, WinWin, and Taeyong. They could see the rest of their team pinned down not far away, but the only way to talk to them was to yell or use the radio.

Yelling would give away their plans to the enemy and using the radio…….

There wasn’t a guarantee that one of the other units wouldn’t overhear. The last thing they needed was someone like Nayoung or Namjoon hearing and getting worried about Kyla. Who knew how that could affect them. They could be thrown off their game enough to get hurt, or they could come to try helping.

“At least we know that it’s not the EXO unit,” WinWin said, “as much as I’d love to see Sanghyuk and Sojin going head to head with EXO’s time and lightning users, I’d like to see tomorrow way more.”

“Honestly,” Sojin frowned slightly, “I have never thought of that until you mentioned it. Gotta say, now I’m curious about how that fight would turn out. Sanghyuk?”

“My money is on us,” he smiled slightly, “I’m confident that we could ruin those s.”

“Maybe if those two live you can see about that fight,” Sungjae said, “but, um, can we focus on the more important problem right now?”

“Sanghyuk,” Taeyong asked, looking and sounding very reluctant to be asking for such a thing, “do you think you can, like, flash over to them and back or something? Just so we can see exactly who we’re fighting.”

“I can try,” Sanghyuk told him, “but is that the best plan you can think of?”

“Sadly,” Taeyong nodded, “you can flash over to the others, ask if they have any better ideas.”

“Nah,” Sanghyuk smiled, “I got this.”

“I would like to go on the record as saying that I did not agree with this,” Shownu said, “if Hakyeon asks, I need you to tell him that I argued against this plan and that I made a very impressive case.”

“I’d like that, too,” Sojin nodded in agreement, “I don’t wanna live through this just to die by Hakyeon’s hands.”

“Ditto,” Sungjae spoke up, “I’ll take a hard pass on death by Hakyeon.”

“Can you tell him I wasn’t even with you when you made this plan?” WinWin asked, “I don’t know what angry Hakyeon is like and I do not wanna find out.”

“Sure,” Sanghyuk laughed, “I’ll tell him it was all my idea. Now, be back in a sec.”

Sanghyuk flashed across the room, jumping over a desk to take shelter from the bullets. A moment passed before Sanghyuk flashed back to where everyone else was. The time jumper was panting, clutching his hip where a bullet had grazed him.

“I got a look at one of them,” he reported, “pretty sure it’s the Velvet girls. Could be wrong though, I was kind of in a rush.”

“Nice work,” Taeyong praised, “knowing that it’s at least one of the female teams makes it so much easier to figure out a plan of attack.”

“Let me take a look at that,” WinWin said, moving to Sanghyuk’s side, “see what kind of damage we’re working with.”

“Hyuk and I aren’t gonna be too much help,” Shownu scowled slightly, “damn it.”

“You can still be of some help,” Sojin assured him, “you aren’t gonna miss out on your share of the revenge.”

“I can flash over to the others,” Sanghyuk said, “fill them in on the plan of attack.”

“You really shouldn’t,” WinWin told him, “the wound isn’t that bad, but using your power could open it up more.”

“We need to fill the others in somehow,” Sanghyuk argued, “and having me flash over there is the easiest way.”

“I can do it,” Sungjae offered, “if you can give me a little cover fire, I can make it over there and fill them in on the plan.”

“That sounds fine,” Sojin said, “work for everyone else?” Everyone nodded their agreement.

“Ok,” Taeyong grinned, “I have a plan.”

--

“Think everyone is doing ok?” Roa asked, voice low since Team Nayoung was supposed to be in stealth mode.

“I’m sure they are,” BamBam smiled, “everyone knows what they’re doing.”

“Just because they know what they’re doing doesn’t mean something can’t happen,” Seokjin scowled, worried for the safety of his friends and family, “accidents happen.” Kyul Kyung grabbed onto his hand, giving in a quick squeeze in hopes of comforting him.

“Don’t be a downer, Jin,” Eunwoo told him, “at least pretend that you have hope.”

“She’s right,” Chaeyoung nodded, “we have to have hope that they’ll all be alright.” Dahyun nodded from beside her, trying to keep up a silent mantra that everything would be alright.

“For now,” Youngjae advised, “we should focus on not getting hurt ourselves.”

“Yeah,” Yugyeon nodded, “we can worry about everyone else later.”

“They’re probably just as worried about us,” Yuna added, “so the least we can do is make sure we don’t get hurt.”

“I think we might have enemies incoming,” Seung A spoke up, “I have something on my radar.”

“How many?” Nayoung asked.

“Looks like fifteen incoming,” Yoon Hye frowned as she checked her own tech, “looks like we’ve got some Super Junior.”

“Then we should expect a real tough fight,” Ka-Eun scowled, “they’re the unit that protects the CEO himself, right?”

“Exactly,” Nayoung ordered, “this is gonna be one for the history books, people.”

“Time to dish out some revenge,” Youngjae grinned.

“Been waiting for this moment for ten years,” Yuna smirked.

A/N: I feel like this is a good place to end things. Next chapter, Teams Jaekhyun, Hakyeon, Taekwoon, and Namjoon.