“We’re doing it tonight.” A somewhat annoyed Deck says. He wasn’t eating anything this time.

The news actually shock everyone. “Wait, what?”

“Remember Bloom?” He asks. “She knows way too much about our operation. I can’t afford ‘accidents’.”

“Ok but we still need two days of prep.” Samuel states. “You can’t just cut them out like that.”

“Y’all’ll be fine, don’t sweat over it.” The lazy man then calls someone from his phone. “We’re gonna have to be there at midnight. Get your stuff ready by noon.”

Seeing no way out of this, everyone’s spirits grow anxious. Even though they knew what they were there for, now that it was finally coming closer to becoming real, it made them feel small and not ready for it.

But those feelings mostly last for short moments. It was now or never.

And following their organizer’s advice, they spend the morning checking their gear once again.

Despite what the old man from last day had in store, their mission was purely stealth.

Everyone had at least one pistol with two extra rounds and a knife. The boys would make sure to carry the first aid kit on a large backpack.

Afternoon settled in but they still had to wait for their ride to arrive. Something Deck made sure to let them know is that after they took what they were after, they would split and meet again at the safe house they were heading towards. And no one was allowed to get caught.

Everyone waited patiently in the living room and, surprisingly, Jane was talking to Hawk. Whatever their conversation was had to be good.

In the meantime, the newly formed couple were in the girl’s room.

“What awful timing that was.” Samuel says while scratching his head.

“I thought we would have two more days for us.” Crimson pouts sadly.

“Cheer up, sweetie.” He rubs her cheek, right around where her freckles are. “After this is over, we wait a bit and come back here. And then, we’ll have all the time in the world.”

She looks down, somewhat disappointed with something. “But what if we don’t work out?” She then looks up at him. “What if we end up hurt?”

He sighs, putting his hand back to his side. “That’ll only happen if we give up on each other.” His smile comes back. “And we just started so let’s not think about that, ok?”

Her hugging him is all the answer he needed.

Not a lot of time passes before Deck, who had left the house, comes back. With him, a mini van.

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“Where…”

“Someone owed me a solid.” He says while hitting the vehicle. “Hop on in, we’re leaving.”

Hawk, always curious, asks. “How many people owe you solids? From what I’ve been hearing, you’ve been doing nothing but charge favors for this.”

A condescending smirk forms across the lazy man’s lips. “State secret. Now, hop on in.”

They all get inside and end up spending the whole rest of their afternoon going to a tight apartment. “We’ll be waiting here.”

The inside was even smaller than the outside and the only saving grace was the fact the only piece of furniture inside was a couch.

Everyone has been preparing themselves mentally during the ride. Some more effectively than others, but ultimately, they were ready. Samuel, who was hyped about this, asks. “When are we striking? And where?”

“Come closer.”

They spend a whole hour debriefing.

Apparently, the target’s base of operations was located underwater. In fact, one of the entrances, now deactivated, was at the coast. They’d be heading there at midnight and since it wasn’t actually far, they’d go by foot.

The actual inside of the building was a complete mystery so they would need to work their strategy on the fly. However, roles were assigned to each of them.

Hawk, unsurprisingly, would take the front as the meat shield. Upon hearing his complaints, Deck stopped joking and began stroking the loud man’s ego. The large man’s opinion of his role changed soon after.

Samuel would protect their rear while the girls would watch out for their sides by staying in the middle.

Not a fail proof strategy but it would have to do it.

And so, they waited.

And they wait.

The recently formed couple don’t stay together this time, instead, Samuel opts to give Jane emotional support. She was particularly shaky tonight.

“C’mon, what’s the big deal? It’s just another convenience store.”

“It’s not just another convenience store.” She counters. “What if I mess up? What if something happens because of me? What if you get shot again?”

“I’m not gonna get shot again.” He reiterates. “Not because of you.”

“That doesn’t help.”

He shrugs with a smile before kissing her forehead. Seeing him there like this brings her the comfort she needed, enough for her to calm down.

Crimson was watching all this from a distance. Not a big one, given how small the place was. She was marveling at it. Looking at him with different eyes now, this thing that Samuel did, be so good at comforting people, it actually made her fall for him even harder.

And crave his attention for herself. Even if it was selfish, she wanted to spend time with him. Alone.

And she wanted to be spoiled like that too.

Hawk, on the other hand, despite enjoying the scene, wasn’t anywhere as interested and was mostly stuck to his own devices.

And the squad stood like that as the time slowly passed. One hour after the other, eventually, midnight was right over there.

And everyone was geared.

At some point during their meetings, they pondered using full black to infiltrate. Samuel simply said that wouldn’t work. They didn’t know the layout so wearing one specific camouflage was useless. It would either work, not make a difference, or make them easier to spot. And if their odds were relying so badly on a dice roll, might as well use standard equipment.

Everyone agreed with it. They just now had a spare uniform, given they were short one man… woman.

Everyone wore an undershirt covering a bulletproof vest, a leather jacket, jeans, and boots, as well as a mask covering most of their faces, leaving only their eyes exposed. They had their equipment distribution different from one another.

But they were ready.

And even if they weren’t, there was no turning back from this.