Jimin and I were both flung in our seats violently as a shockwave from the explosion slammed into the car, sending it reeling to the side. The chauffeur managed to get the car back under control and hit the breaks seconds before the vehicle hit the curb.

I wasn't in the car anymore. I was in the hallways of the base, being slammed into the wall by Purists. Loud shattering bangs of guns cleaved through the air, making my ears ring and heart slamming.

With mental strength I never knew I possessed, I shoved the flashbacks away from me and blinked into then present.

The driver was yelling, though whether he was yelling at us or something else I didn't know. Nor did I care when Jimin yanked off his seatbelt and then slammed open the car door, stumbling out.

"Jimin—wait!" My fumbling fingers managed to unbuckle my own belt and I scrambled after him.

I staggered out of the car and onto the streets at the same time the door to the second car several yards away flung open and Tzuyu and Krys spilled out followed by other trainers that had been riding with us.

Pedestrians on the street gaped at the exploded car. Some idiots had begun pulling out their phones to video the thing rather than call emergency services, or better yet, start running away.

"What the hell happened?!" Krys shrieked at me.

Jimin was running towards the now burning car when I caught sight of them. A group of perhaps twenty white uniformed people. Running towards us. Arsenal lifted.

"PURISTS!" I screamed just as gunshots exploded all around us. I dove for cover behind my car as bullets whizzed dangerously past me.

The pedestrians along the street dissolved into chaos. Everyone began shoving each other, trying to scatter in a swarm of screams and crying. Cars blared their horns and screech of tires erupted in the air as several panicked pedestrians blindly ran out into the street.

This was exactly like my nightmares. Peace and tranquility one second only to be shattered by a surprise attack by the Reformists. Except, this time it wasn't a dream. It wasn't a nightmare. It was actually happening.

Why the hell were they attacking us? Today was their surrender! There was supposed to be no more attacks!

"Miss Hwang! Miss Hwang Jiyeon!!"

I turned just as the driver of my car stumbled out. He hurled something at me, low on the ground. A handgun.

Adrenaline surged through me. My hands closed down on the deadly metal. On cue my emotions went familiarly numb. No fear. No horror. Just one grim, determined goal: eliminate the enemy.

I launched myself over the hood of the car I'd been sheltering under. Two Purists appeared a few feet away. Time slowed. I deftly aimed and pulled the trigger. Once. Recoil. Click. Aim. Twice.

I landed on the opposite side of the car as the Reformists slumped to the ground. I snatched a gun that had skittered out of one one of the Reformist's hands.

Then Krys was beside me. Her heels long gone. She snatched the gun from the second Reformist's hands. We exchanged one, knowing look to each other. And then we launched ourselves where several trainers were locked in combat with the majority of the attacking Purists.

I didn't care I was wearing a dress. My skirts flew up as I swung a kick into the back of a Reformist who had one of the trainers pinned. The white-uniformed enemy stumbled, and that was all the trainer needed to recover and relaunch into a deadly attack and dispatch the Reformist.

I wheeled around, quickly taking in my surroundings as well as searching for a certain silver head whom I'd lost at the very beginning.

There!

By the burning car. The vehicle had flipped upside down by whatever hidden arsenal it had been detonated by. Wrangled metal and shattered glass created a deadly pool around the busted vehicle, and Jimin was kneeling in the middle of it.

It was because he was crouched down that he didn't notice the trio of Purists charging his way.

"JIMIN!" His name tore from my throat.

His head snapped up and he morphed into a tiny rodent of some kind just as the first enemy reached him. Said enemy stumbled and fell when his outstretched arms met open air where Jimin had been moments before.

The silver outworlder morphed back into his normal self. Within seconds he flipped the Reformist over the car, a sickening crack shattered through the air as the body crashed over the vehicle.

By the time I reached his side Jimin had already dispatched the second opponent with lethal accuracy from his bare hands. It reminded me once again just how deadly he was.

The third Reformist somehow managed to duck under Jimin's blindingly swift uppercut. But I was there. Or should I say, my kneecap. My upraised leg met the opponent's face, crushing the nose.

The assailant reeled back, screaming. Jimin lunged forward and slammed a powerful fist blow to the sternum. Simultaneously I'd dropped to the ground and hooked the legs out from under the man.

He went crashing down.

I sprang to my feet and met Jimin's eyes briefly, handing him the second gun in my hand. Silent understanding exchanged between us and we both aimed and fired down at the man we'd taken down. One bullet per leg.

The man's agony fell to my deaf ears as Jimin handed the gun back to me. "Cover for me," he said breathlessly. "I'm going to get my father out."

"Jimin—"

"Just please cover for me!" He was on his knees again, punching through the already cracked window of the passenger seat of the car. I turned away and focused on any attackers around me.

Krys was engaged in deadly combat with another white uniformed Purist, however she had the upper hand. Tzuyu had morphed into a black sleek panther, taking out her opponents with curved claws and fangs. I distantly realized that she was guarding the car where Suho was sheltering in. Suho, once a formidable enemy, now too injured to swing a mean punch.

More shattering glass caused me to risk a glance behind me. I swallowed hard as I caught a glimpse of Jimin dragging a large, bloodied body out of the car window.

A bullet whizzed dangerously close to my ear. I snapped my head back around in time to see a Purist several yards away aiming a gun at me.

My body immediately reacted and dropped in time for the loud crack of the gun. The air above me whistled as the bullet shot through empty air. Talk about dodging a bullet.

I immediately returned fire. Ducking while trying to aim.

Gunshot. Wind against my legs. Searing fire. I screamed as pain lacerated up my exposed leg. I'd been hit. My knee buckled and I half fell to the ground into an awkward one-leg kneeling position.

The Reformist aimed once more, at my head, and then Tzuyu tackled him. I looked away as she locked onto the neck.

The bullet hadn't gone clean through my leg. It had skimmed it. But it was enough to cleave a deep burning gash in my leg. My muscles contracted around the wound and I dared not look too long at the gruesome sight.

A scream erupted behind me. Scream of agony. I suddenly realized I'd totally forgotten to keep my eye out 360 in guarding Jimin. Somehow through the pain in my leg I managed to grab a gun, pivot on my one good leg, and whirl around, training the gun on the first white uniformed bastard I saw.

My numb wall suddenly broke, a wrecking ball of horror shattering through me. In fact, I didn't know what I was more horrified about:

The scene before me of Jimin being held down as he convulsed in pain, covered in Moonsbane and unable to morph, with a gun pressed against his head...

...Or the fact that the two Reformists pinning him down and holding the gun were no other than my parents.

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