“Forgive me for everything I’ve done. To you and to the others.”

—————————————

Today.

Today was finally the day she was going back. Going back to her old routines. Going back to waking up to the sound of Joy pulling the trigger of a new gun in the backyard while the other girls scolded her for waking them up. Normally she would always scream and want to snatch the gun from Joy’s hand and shoot her instead, but now she was really missing those moments in the mornings.

Her wrist watch read 22:27.

“It’s time,” she spoke and fixed her mask.

Taeyong and Yuta got ready as well while Ten, Xiaojun, and Lucas stayed behind in the van. They had parked the van at the side of the building where there were no guards around, stupidly enough, and Lucas had already hacked the cameras around the area.

“Let’s go, the girls are taking their pills in three minutes,” Taeyong informed and opened the door, stepping out of the van with Seulgi and Yuta behind him.

“Can you hear us?” Seulgi heard Ten’s voice from her ear piece.

“Loud and clear,” Taeyong clarified.

“The door is open,” Lucas told them and Seulgi eyed the dirty, white door and stepped forward to open it, walking into a dark hallway.

“I can’t see for ,” Yuta mumbled as they walked further in.

Seulgi looked around and felt shivers down her spine. She couldn’t really see her surroundings well but the strong smell of iron and the sound of water dripping down from the pipes was something no one could ignore. Who knew the FBI would have such horrid secret hallways?

“Do none of you have a flashlight or something?” she then asked the two.

“Oh right,” Yuta mumbled and pulled out his phone and the flashlight.

Seulgi widened her eyes as she saw dried blood on the walls and large spider webs at the roof. “Oh hell no,” she spoke and quickened her pace. No wonder it had a strong scent of iron. How the hell could the FBI headquarters have a hallway that looked like it belonged to Ted Bundy? Joy would have probably loved this but for Seulgi? It was a little too much.

“How much longer do we have to walk in this hallway?” Taeyong asked.

“Only a hundred meters more and you will arrive at a door that will lead to the basement. There are currently no one there so don’t worry about any guards,” Ten informed them.

“Should I be worried about seeing dead bodies in the basement?” Seulgi said ironically as her eyes didn’t leave the bloody walls. It was definitely human blood.

“No, they’re disposed of,” Xiaojun assured her and she felt her eyes widen again.

“What kind of dirty tricks are the FBI playing?” she whispered, quickly getting a response from Taeyong that she didn’t expect.

“The government always has dirty secrets. I think some Russian spies were getting harmed at the basement and then they tried to escape through this hallway. That’s probably why there’s so much blood on the walls.”

Seulgi furrowed her eyebrows and looked back at him. “You sure know your stuff about the government, don’t you?” she said, not even trying to hide her suspicious tone. He didn’t answer her and just kept on walking which made her even more confused.

“What do you guys and Taemin really know about the government?” she thought to herself.

Within a minute the three of them arrived at the door and Yuta kicked it open, flashing the light into the dark basement. “Up the stairs?” he said and looked at the concrete stairs that were covered with more blood.

“Yes. Go up the stairs and take the door to the left and you will get to an empty hallway that leads to the elevators. There is, however, one guard outside the basement door but other than that it’s empty,” Lucas told them. “I unlocked the door already.”

They walked up the stairs, careful not to step on the blood so they wouldn’t leave any traces later. Seulgi took out her stickers and waited by the door.

“Is he standing to the left or the right?” she asked.

“Right. It’s a push door, by the way.”

Without any further ado Seulgi quickly pushed the door and stretched her arm to the right, feeling her fingers press on the guard’s neck. He let out a small yelp before collapsing on the floor. She peeked outside and shifted her gaze from his unconscious state to the other end of the hallway.

“Help me move him,” she then said and grabbed the guard’s arms. Taeyong walked past her and grabbed his legs and they swiftly moved him into the basement.

Yuta turned off the flashlight on his phone and put it back in his pocket before stepping over the guard and walking out of the basement with the others. The door closed and they walked cautiously to the elevators in the middle of the hallway.

“There are no other guards around, you are safe,” Lucas reassured them and they let go of their cautious state and began walking faster, reaching the elevators within a second or two.

“,” Seulgi suddenly heard Lucas curse as she pressed on the elevator button.

“Lucas? What is it?” she asked.

“I don’t know what happened but the elevators broke down. They’re not working!” she heard him panic.

Seulgi bit her lower lip in order to prevent the smile that threatened to appear. Jay was already here and had managed to hack the elevators better than Lucas. “Impressive, my friend,” she thought to herself.

“We have to take the stairs,” Taeyong commanded and looked around before pointing at a door further away at the end of the hallway, a sign that read ‘staircase’ was placed above it.

“They are taking the girls to the emergency room now!” Ten shouted.

Seulgi checked her watch. 22:34.

The girls had taken their pills and their hearts would stop beating in exactly a minute. That meant Jay had exactly three minutes after that to inject the antidote into them. That vague smile that threatened her before managed to creep up on her face as she knew it would take four minutes for them to reach the emergency room from here. They would arrive just a tad second after Jay and his companions had taken the girls to the rooftop.

She quickly replaced the smile with a stressed expression on her face. “We have no time to waste!” she exclaimed and ran towards the door, Yuta and Taeyong quickly running behind her.

“Jisoo! Jisoo!” she heard Lucas shout from the ear piece.

“What is it?” she asked, panting as she opened the door to the staircase and hurried up the stairs.

“I lost contact with the surveillance cameras on the seventeenth floor and the rooftop.”

“,” she breathed out, although she wanted to smile victoriously, knowing that meant he couldn’t see neither Jay nor his companions. She checked her watch once more. “We have five minutes left!”

Seulgi felt the lactic acid build up in her legs. They were getting weaker by every step and her heart was pounding faster than ever, making both and chest hurt. She accidentally missed a step and fell forward until she felt a hard grip around her waist.

“Are you okay?” Taeyong asked her with a worried tone, helping her stand up straight. “You’re out of breath,” he added.

“I’m f-fine,” she managed to utter and made him let go of her but he immediately