The steady need of absolute concentration took its toll on Xiao today. He was hiding on this rooftop with Hwanhee and Sunyoul for the past thirty minutes now, ready to use the rifle in his hand any second. This wasn't the first time he played sniper for them and had to hide somewhere for a short or long amount of time, but his cheek was still hurting a lot and the two fights with Wooshin were clouding his mind when they shouldn't. He was a professional and during his hours as a gang member his private life would have to be quiet. His thoughts should be running around the guy he was supposed to take down and not how to apologize to Wooshin and handle the fact that him and Miyeon were meeting way too often for his liking.
"I say someone else will do it today.", Wooshin had said the second Xiao had come out of the room with the fitting gun in his hand. Wooshin knew that his best friend's thoughts were elsewhere and it wouldn't be good to make him in charge for something so big. It was about all of their lives. This guy was supposed to kill them, to seek revenge. If Xiao was unconcentrated for even one second it would be all for nothing. Wooshin feared both his friend's lives and his own yet Xiao was stubborn enough to still go through with this.
"I said I will help you guys out when you need me. I have never backed out of it ever and I am not planning to start doing so. I appreciate your concern, but it is not needed.", Xiao had said as he had put on his jacket to leave for his job. By the way Xiao had formed his words with his precise intonation Wooshin had known he wouldn't be able to change the younger's mind, but he could try to prevent the worst, "Then I'm coming with you."
It had been Kuhn who had protested this time, not Xiao, "You're staying here after today. I don't tolerate that kind of behavior and it's probably best for everyone if you stay inside just this once." Usually Sunyoul and Wooshin were the ones to accompany Xiao as sniper. In case something happened they were the two best fighters in direct combat next to Kuhn.
Wooshin's head had snapped back to Kuhn at that statement, anger running behind his eyes. The leader knew how much it would hurt Wooshin's ego. He was always at the front, he was always with Xiao during their missions. While members like Gyujin and Bitto stayed inside, because they worked in the background for them, Wooshin was one of the members who worked outside right on the battlefield. To stay in the hideout and wait was normal for some of his fellows, but pure torture for him. It didn't fit him. He wouldn't be able to control the situation or change it for the better.
"Hwanhee and Sunyoul, you go and accompany Xiao." Kuhn had ordered and the two of them had gotten up from their seats on the couch next to Bitto and Jinhoo who were still glued onto the computer, furiously typing in codes and things only these two would understand.
As the three of them had been ready to go and had bid their goodbyes like they usually do, because they honestly never knew if they would come back this time or not, Xiao and Wooshin met eyes again. His expression hardened yet his eyes were telling stories and to Xiao's despair he could perfectly read them without even wanting or trying to. There was guilt, anger and sadness all combined in them and for a short moment all that Xiao was seeing right in front of him was sad 20-year old university student Kim Wooshin.
"Let someone else do it.", Wooshin had pleaded for the last time; the fear visible in his eyes, but as Xiao had broken their eye contact and slowly looked onto the ground while shuffling with his right foot it was clear that his actions would not change. Xiao had felt guilty enough for making them be late and yes, he was damn worried if he would be able to take on this job today, but he had to prove this to himself and to the others. He wanted the guilt to be gone.
"I'm sorry, Shin."
Xiao jolted awake and instantly looked to his right. Sunyoul looked at him in both confusion and worry, "You fell asleep!"
The youngest adjusted himself properly and got into his spot again.

The three of them had had to endure this for another few minutes until a man, seemingly in his forties with short blond hair crossed the street quickly, wearing a purple bandana on his right upper arm which was his gang's trademark.
"It's him.", Sunyoul confirmed as he had quickly asked Bitto and Jinhoo about it. The atmosphere grew tense within a matter of seconds as Xiao raised his sniper, put two fingers onto the trigger and looked through the small hole attached onto the rifle to aim perfectly for the guy's head. Despite his tiredness he proved himself that he could still work rather quickly and pull all the necessary things together. A few meters away from the target on the same level of where his head would be in a few seconds Xiao focused his target, anticipation growing. It's not the second nor the third time he did this and he actually had never failed, but still his heart was beating fast whenever he got to do it. He would be ending somebody's life and mess with multiple people's further lives. Having that kind of power was both thrilling yet burdening, but this guy wanted him and his friends dead so he was more than willing to pull the trigger. It was in moments like this were Xiao realized that mankind tended to behave like animals. To secure their survival and continue their life they would have to take out someone's else's.
Due to the sound absorber attached onto the front section of the gun it was barely noticable how the bullet had meet the guy's head right in the middle of it. Sunyoul and Hwanhee hadn't even realized that Xiao had fired the shot already.
The second the guy fell down onto the street completely lifeless they had to hurry up. They had to get rid of the body as soon as possible before a random passerby would find it. While Xiao gathered himself, his company had already gotten out of their crouching position and had started running down the multiple floors of the huge building. He packed the gun back into its case and followed suit.

While the two youngest were drowning the dead body in a deep river a few kilometers away from the building and street their murder had taken place, Sunyoul tried contacting Kuhn for the fourth time now without being successful which worried him more than Xiao's sudden sleep attack they had gotten used to in general. Between members who were working on the mission outside and those working inside there was constant contact and messages exchange and it was needed. Now Kuhn hadn't even read his last message about the mission having been a success and he hadn't answered any of his calls. All of these were terrible signs for horrible things. Horrible things that had happened before, but to better not happen with this gang. The reason why the guy had been sent to take them down was due to betrayal. Kuhn and another gang leader had attacked said gang called Noir. It had been in both their favors, one because Bloods would get a huge amount of money from it. Second, the gang they had formed an alliance with had been threatened and hurt by Noir. Since their alliance was steady throughout the three years of Bloods and Baxter knowing each other it was their duty to help them out. Noir had killed three out of thirteen members in one night. Due to their known aggressive ways Kuhn had once formed an alliance with them a couple of months ago too, but he hadn't felt like it was still going on since Noir weren't even known for forming alliances with anyone anyways. As Kuhn had gotten a message from their leader this morning that read something about them not seeing another sunrise ever again with a code attached to said message which meant Kill between gangs, Kuhn had desperately contacted and gathered everyone in their hideout. He wasn't one to get scared, but people like Noir weren't just any gang. They were worse than Coffox and that meant a lot. Sunyoul had witnessed Kuhn's reaction just a few hours ago as he had been the only one in the hideout with him. Recalling the leader's expression into his mind made his worry rise up even more. What if the guy was just a distraction? What if it wasn't about him taking them out, but the rest of the group taking them out and the dead guy had sacrificed himself?
"Kids, we have to hurry!", Sunyoul called over to Xiao and Hwanhee who he was always referring to as kids in a loving way. The two of them brushed the dirt and water off of their hands on their jeans and quickly got into the car, driving back to their hideout. Xiao had his eyes closed, head rested on Hwanhee's shoulder in the backseat whom was playing some rhythm game. In moments like these Sunyoul remembered them being so young and still such kids at heart. Kids that could kill people with illegal weapons. Sunyoul decided to concentrate on the heavy traffic in front of him. He didn't have the heart to tell them that something was most probably very wrong with their fellow members and more importantly, their friends.
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Hello to the few people reading this! I'm back after a week of not updating. I feel sick and even though I had this chapter already written down two weeks ago I didn't have the energy to get up, get to my computer and upload it T T
Funfact: I wrote this before an actual kpop group called Noir announced their debut and I don't know if I'm shocked or annoyed. I imagined B.A.P because of their album Noir by the way. It's lowkey funny

Happy reading!