"Jiyeon duck!"

At Taehyung's roar I instinctively dropped to the ground, just as the wall right where my head had been exploded, riddled with bullets.

The Reformist launched himself over the table at me, rifle raised high in his hand. My body jerked into action. I was still on the ground. Down low. Perfect. I swung my legs out just as he took one step too close to me. He went down.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Suho fighting back three Reformists at once, a long blade in his hand. I didn't know when he lost the gun. Nevertheless he was a whirling, deadly tornado that sliced anyone who got too close.

Taehyung was taking down one adversary after another, alternating between morphing. I never realized that black could ever glow. I always thought it was the darkest of nights where no light could reach. Yet there was Tae, his Marks blazing like night fire.

I scrambled to my feet when the door to the council room slammed open— only to freeze in horror as a fresh new wave of white-clad Purists flooded through.

Where was the back up? Did they fail?

I snatched the abandoned rifle that had skittered from my last opponent's hands and ducked behind one of the large tables as several Purists opened fire at me.

Adrenaline burned through me as splinters flew all around me from the bullets ricocheting off the furnishing I was sheltering behind. I felt several splinter slice my skin but I felt no pain. Pain had long since disappeared as I fought for my life. Fought for everyone's lives that were trapped in this base.

Taehyung, Suho, and I were supposed to strike right in the heart of where the Council members were being held hostage. Krystal and the other trainees were assigned the duty to escape the room and free as many Outworlder hostages as possible before coming to find us.

But it had felt forever since the trio of us had been fighting against the Reformists in this room.

General Konu had been freed by Taehyung almost the moment we'd gotten here; but the Council member had been too beaten to do anything but slump to the ground, coughing weakly. The few other members— I counted four— were cowardly hiding behind other pieces of furniture, not even daring to try and help us.

The sight made me so angry that it had redoubled the energy in me to take down the Purists. But now even that energy was depleting.

I refused to acknowledge that our plan might've failed. So many things could've gone wrong. Yet hope— hope that we could still yet make it out clung to me.

The bullets finally stopped. My blood roared in my ears as a strange silence fell over the room. Where was Taehyung? Where was Suho?

I heard the soft footstep right before a large white-uniformed man loomed up at my side and grabbed me.

The rifle was wrenched from my hands and then I was pinned to the table.

"You could've gotten out of here alive," the Purist snarled in my face. "But you chose to fight with the aliens."

I wriggled weakly under his grasp. My limbs felt leaden and I couldn't get enough oxygen in my lungs. How had things come to this? How had things gone to hell within months? And furthermore, how had I gone from living comfortably in a Sharehouse to being slammed onto a table covered in blood within those few months?

"This is your last chance." His grip on me tightened. "You don't even have to become a Reformist. Just give it up. Give up fighting us and let us do what is right."

"You think..." My voice came out raw and ragged. "You think what you're doing is right?"

The door opened for a second time and out of the corner of my eyes more Reformists were marching in. It was over. The plan had failed.

"All this killing. All this bloodshed. You think that's right?"

"The alien creatures knew that the humans were unhappy," the Purist fired back. "They had a chance to leave! To find a new home. But they chose to stay. They forced our hand!"

My throat closed when I saw several people holding down Taehyung. A gun of Moonsbane and a real gun pointed directly at his head. Suho was nowhere to be seen from my limited peripheral sight, but from the small scuffles behind me I could probably guess what was happening.

"No one forced your hand!" I tried to yell but my voice didn't let me. "You only began mercilessly killing them because you thought you had the right to take that which wasn't yours. You didn't even try to find some other solution, try and talk it out with the Outworlders. You just went straight for killing them. They were just trying to save their own race from the very thing that you're doing now!"

"Then they should leave!"

"They can't!"

My assailant's face darkened. "I see there's no reasoning with you." I felt a hard piece of metal press against my head. "You should've joined us when you had the chance."

A loud bang.

The Reformist's face dropped from anger to shock in seconds.

The door had slammed open a third time, allowing an entourage of freed— and very pissed— Outworlders.

Taking advantage of his distraction, I took hold of the gun pressed to my head, wrenched it into my hand, and slammed us around so he was now pinned to the table, frozen uselessly under his own gun.

The attack was swift, the Reformists caught off guard. Outworlders and now freed trainees all had the Purists contained in a tight, inescapable circle.

"Brave move," the man trapped beneath me cackled. "But doomed."

"I have a gun right on your forehead," I snapped. "You really want to keep running that mouth?"

"You'll be overrun again," the man spat. "Enjoy your short moment of glory before we exterminate all you alien scum and sympathizers."

Deep in me, I knew he was right. There were still countless Purists in the base, occupying it. They were all probably on the move to where we all were to—

"That's where you're mistaken."

My body locked up at the voice behind me.

My eyes were fixed on the Reformist before me. At the corner of both my eyes I sensed movement. More people were swelling the ranks of trainees, both Outworlder and humans. Soldiers. Not Purists though. Infinity soldiers. Soldiers from our side.

Footsteps halted just a breath's away, directly over my shoulder.

"The Capital Base has been taken back by the Infinity soldiers. The bold but pathetically short occupation of the Pure Reformists is over."

A new look of fear settled over the man's features.

I was still remained motionless, even when an arm gently curved over my shoulders.

"Hey partner," Jimin whispered in my ear, voice obscured by the noise as the fresh soldiers of the returning troops from the North City began to grab the Purists one by one and tie their hands behind their backs. "You look damn sexy holding a gun like that."

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