d o d i c e s i m o

                An ear-splitting shriek rattled the base, jarring each and every present member to attention. Suho fumbled, dropping the newspaper in his hands as he charged in the direction of the scream with Exo at his tail.

                “What’s going on?!”

                Joonmyeon lurched to a stop at the doorway of the large training grounds within the base compound. A confused Styx stood amidst several swinging punching bag, fully geared for the occasion. Whereas the lithe woman was silently contemplating the situation, a fretting Kyungsoo snapped out of his frozen trance and scuttled hurriedly as he checked her for any signs of wounds.

                “This crazy little ! Training just when her fever died down!” D.O. yelled lowly, “Are you trying to make it worse on yourself? What do you gain from this, you workaholic?!”

                She shrugged, wiping her sweat with her wrist, “Um, abs?”

                Kyungsoo hissed yet again, “Don’t talk back to me young lady!”

                Yamakaji’s hands shot up in surrender, stepping back to avoid his painful jabs at her bruises and prodding of her battle scars, “Alright, alright. Hey, you can stop frisking me now, none of these are fresh.”

                “‘Frisking’, she says. Vulgar little thing,” D.O. muttered to himself as he retreated slightly, “That doesn’t get you off the hook! What are you thinking, going into intense training when you haven’t completely recovered? What if you rip your stitches?!”

                Styx pursed her lips, pressing them into a thin line. She tossed a pleading look to the Exo members at the doorway, aside from those of which couldn’t hold back their laughter, “Relax, ma. It’s not like I haven’t had serious injuries before. I continued my usual workouts just fine only a week after.”

                Suho stepped forward, shaking his head, “Kyungsoo is right, though. Yes, I’m sure you’ve endured pain previously, but if you just take a proper look at your torso—“

                “Aw, it’s not that bad, gramps,” Kaji sighed exasperatedly. Kai scoffed, throwing her an ‘are you freaking kidding me?’ look. The woman ruffled her hair in frustration, sulfurous eyes glaring into everything in her line of vision. Finally, she turned around and lifted her loose grey v-neck to reveal a long, jagged scar diagonally marring her pale skin. It was slightly discolored, darker around the edges and a porcelain white at the center.

                “Jesus --!” Baekhyun scrunched his nose, flinching visibly, “Where the hell did you get that thing?”

                Sehun rolled his eyes, “You mean how the hell she got it?”

                “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just give us a back-story,” Kai shushed the two, grinning excitedly, “I’d like to see exactly who she had to fight to get something so big and ugly,”

                Shoving Jongin aside and brushing off his snide comment, Luhan rushed forward to poke at the crude flesh, “I think it’s cool!” he mused, eyes sparkling with interest. Styx shuddered involuntarily at the contact, lowering her shirt, “Oh, really? Would you like one?” she smirked.

                Chanyeol paled at the thought of the woman holding a knife to his skin, prepared to easily slice through every muscle and tendon in sight, “Yeah, I’m just gonna go puke now,” and he scurried off.

                Kyungsoo blinked, but turned back to face his current victim of his motherly ways, “Anyway! Get back to your room or else I swear you’ll hurt yourself! What are you think—“

                “Aish, Kyungsoo, just let the girl do what she wants,” Kris easily moved through the crowd, a black bag slung over his shoulder signaling that he had just returned from his recent mission, “You’ll just end up with a twisted arm and black eye if you keep nagging,”

                Joonmyeon chuckled, albeit snarkily, “Like you did last time, when you refused to let her go to the park?”

                “Shut up,”

                D.O. pouted, “Aigoo, but my baby girl…” he shrank back when Styx coldly raised a brow, steel-like orbs impassive, “Fine, fine. Don’t come crawling to me later when you can’t stand on your own two legs,” With that, he exited and towed Suho behind him.

                Kris remained silent as he watched, the group of disappointed assassins dissipating from the training room. He sighed soundlessly, dropping his bag to face Styx, “Since you’re so stubborn, why don’t we spar?”

                She smirked, “Don’t regret those words, hon,”

                Rolling his eyes, the male moved forward and took his battle stance, “Kaja, Kaji.” He mocked.

                Said woman froze, tensing at the familiar words. She cursed in her mind, but managed to recompose herself so that her usual cocky smile overtook her sharp features, “Ooh, so original,”

                “It is origin—!”

                “No, it isn’t. Now pay attention!”

                “Wha—Christ, woman! Do you ing lift?!”

                “I said focus!”

                “OW!”

...well...

I've been out of commision lately, LOL. But I have a real, REAL legitimate excuse this time. No, not procrastination...seriously!

To be frank, I got grounded. Yolo.

Which means I was internetless, computerless, and laptopless for an entire week. I was dying. So the moment I regained access, I whipped up this crappy ing chapter. Meh. Too lazy to make it better.

HEY. AT LEAST I UPDATE OKAY. STOP HOUNDING ME.