"So, tell me Miss Medley. How do you feel right now?"

I roll my eyes and lean back on a lavender-colored couch, crossing my arms across my chest. The honey-colored eyes of the lady sitting in front of me follow the movement, almost judgingly, and I quickly uncross my arms.

"Fine I guess, do I really have to be here right now?"

The lady titters and shakes her head, sending a strand of grey hair flying forward as she leans in, her gold eyes bore into mine. "I suppose nothing is holding you here, however, the agency is paying for these sessions, and for you to not attend them would mean wasting company money."

My fingers involuntarily flex in frustration, might as well say it's a waste of my money too. "Alright, we can proceed."

The lady nods in relief, "Very well. My name is Geraldine Hurst, and I will be your therapist for the time being. Now, why don't you answer my previous question honestly, how do you feel right now?"

The feeling of anger slithers deep within my gut, sparking the beginnings of the rage I so familiarly know. I hate this damn feelings shit- but then I remember his advice to me...

"You will only be able to move forward when you let go of the past, and learn to control your emotions."

My fingers clench into fists out of habit, as I mentally yell in rage. Fine goddamnit, you were always an annoying blockhead anyways. But I couldn't help feeling a swell of sorrow at the thought of him.

"I feel... upset." I grit out, remembering more of his words.

In order to control your emotions, you can't bury them down... you have to let them flow freely. Don't try to suppress them.

I can feel the ghost of his calloused hand stroke my face once, before dissolving away.

"And why is it that you feel upset Miss Medley?"

I can feel the walls involuntarily rise at the thought of talking to this foreign lady about him, as my rage burns brighter behind my eyes. "Can we please talk about something else?"

"But why Harper? Why are you so closed off when it comes to your emotions? You do realize that the sooner you get past this, the sooner you can create a plan... save him." Geraldine pushes, those golden eyes blazing. My muscles tense and her mention of him, my body stiffening as if I were about to launch into an attack.

This feels like being interrogated- no, much worse.

"I said I want to talk about something else." I snap, borderline yelling.

Geraldine observes my rigid stance for a few seconds, before nodding. "Alright, how about you tell me what events have transpired for the last 6 months?"

I scoff and jerk back in my seat, looking around the room. "So now you want me to tell you my life story? Ha, pass."

Geraldine, ever patient, leans into my line of eyesight. "No, just the past six months... beginning with the Texas mission debriefing."

Oh, I had forgotten all about that mission.. It feels like that was years ago, with everything that went down so recently.

I remember how much I hated that time, looking back, but it feels better than talking about that feelings crap.

"Fine, I will tell you... but you better not interrupt."

...6 months earlier...

I tapped the end of my black pen against my steel desk, the clock slowly ticking down the seconds until I would have to face my boss and tell him why I screwed up so badly on my last mission... and how one of my agents was kidnapped in the proccess.

Unpurposefully, I began to tap my pen quicker and harsher against the steel, making a loud clanging noise as my stomach felt heavy with guilt.

Why the hell did I have to lock up like that? Of all moments, it had to be when that damn assassin was pointing his gun at me-

I feel my lungs tense with a gasp as my arm throbs where the bullet had pierced my skin, remembering just what I had been thinking about in the moments before I was shot.

No... I-I'm not going to think about that again. I can't think about it again.

Though despite my efforts to distract myself, my breaths began to come quicker as the sickening vine of sorrow wrapped around my heart, clenching and unclenching until I could barely breathe.

Breathe goddamnit Harper! Breathe!

I hooked my fingers around the arms of my chair, counting backward as I struggled to remember my breathing exercise.

5... 4... 3... 2...

My breaths became slower and more relaxed as I finished my counting, resting my head against the wall behind me. Tears prickled the back of my eyes as I remembered the agent who had been standing beside me, Agent Porter, and how an assassin grabbed him from behind and choked him out until he fell unconcious.

And it was all my fault... my own agent taken right beside me, and all I could do was sit there frozen in fear. I growled, angerly banging my head against the wall behind me.

"You okay Harp?"

My eyes flashed open as I jerked forward, startled by the new voice.

I saw my best friend and fellow co-worker, Amber Talle, standing in the doorway of my office, giving me a worried look with her bright sapphire eyes. I quickly stood up and ripped a hand through my ash-black hair.

"Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?" I said, trying to keep the annoyance out of my tone, and of course, failing.

Amber leveled me with a don't give me that bullshit look, and cocked her head to the side.

"Burris is ready for us now, might want to fix your hair before we walk into that hell of a debriefing."

I scowled and pulled out my phone to look at my reflection in the screen, seeing my hair was definitely misbehaving, as multiple strands were stuck to the makeup of my forehead and lips.

I pulled an elastic out of my black slacks' pocket and smoothed my hair back into a low bun, observing how Amber's fiery red hair was pulled into an elaborate fishtail braid, her outfit consisting of a forest green v-neck blouse, black slacks and umber-brown heels.

She looked... different. Perhaps more stylist than her usual white blouses and black heels.

"Why do you look different? There some guy you're trying to impress?" I asked, narrowing my eyes when she shifted from foot to foot in avoidance.

You would think being an International Surveillance and Intelligence agent would make you less easy to read, but since this was my best friend, I could read her like a book... and also she sucks at hiding things. Another bad spy quality.

"Amber Talle, you better tell me who's ass I gotta threaten, or I'll figure it out myself and talk to Burris... then the two of you will never see each other again." I grinned evily.

Amber let out a frustrated breath and gave me a dirty look, her freckles seemed to take on a darker shade of red.

"Oh fine, you're so nosy... and unfairly perceptive!"

I winked and made my way towards the door pausing in front of her. "Yes, yes, we already knew that. Now drop the name."

She pinched her lips together, before letting out a strangled sigh and averting her eyes.

"His name is Gus Smith."

"Gus Smith? You mean that tall blond guy that Burris is always raving about?" I stop and cross my arms, mimicking our boss. "You could stand to learn a few things from Agent Smith, Harper, like some respect and discipline."

I uncrossed my arms and leveled Amber with a disappointed glare. "He's what they would call a 'teacher's pet' Ames, you really want someone like that?"

Amber rolls her blue eyes, "Well... he's not that bad."

I shake my head and laugh, walking past her and out into the hall. "I suppose only time will tell. Who knows, maybe Burris will put his two favorite agents on a mission together." I say bitterly.

The American sector of the I.S.A.I.A is called the Blue Jay Sector, and our boss Superior Burris has always been extremely hard on me, whereas he acts as a normal overseer for the rest of the agents.

Burris and I have always been more connected because he worked as an agent with my dad back in the day, and for whatever reason, he has decided that since my dad died, he would become my "father figure".

I don't mind Burris all that much, he's actually one of the only people I feel the closest to, however, it still pisses me off when he lets his protector role interfere with my job as a national security agent.

I shove open the black door to the Blue Jay Sector's briefing room to find five other agents who took part in the Texas mission, and Burris.

"So glad you two could finally join us, now take a seat." Superior Burris grumbles, gesturing to the two empty seats towards the front of the room.

Amber moves to obey his order, but I remain in place as I take in Burris' state. Something feels off about him... maybe he's worried about Agent Porter.

The patches of skin under his stormy blue eyes are darker than usual, and his dirty blond hair isn't neatly combed to the side, but sticking up in a few places.

"Take your seat, Medley." he grumbles tiredly. He can tell I know something's up.

I attempt a nonchalant shrug, shoving down the guilt that threatens to overtake me as my mind drifts back to the moment Agent Porter was taken. Not now, you can think about this later. I quickly move to take the seat next to Amber, as her newfound crush walks to the front of the room. I do have to say, he does look pretty smoking with his blond hair combed back and his piercing brown eyes set on Amber.

Oh? Are the feelings between these two mutual? I ask, internally scoffing, desperately trying to distract myself. I glance back at Amber, who is giving him a subtle sweet smile. Why the sly dev-

"About two weeks ago, you five agents and myself embarked on a mission to retrieve any files related to the missing agents disappearing across the globe in one of the Serpent's Circle assassin leagues American bases. Unfortunately, the mission went wrong-"

Just as I expected, Gus glances at me, but I've already leveled him with a scathing glare, though internally I feel nauseous with shame. He quickly clears his throat as his eyes dart away.

"But nonetheless, Agent Talle was able to incapacitate an assassin, which we were able to interrogate information out of." To my relief, Gus does not mention Agent Porter's capture, as we all already know what happened... and whose fault it was., Gus then gestures to a screen where a projector displays a video of the assassin and another agent with short brunette hair, the assassin with blood flowing freely from his shoulders and eyes.

Damn, that's brutal. I think to myself, leaning forward just as Amber leans back and looks away.

The video begins to play just as the assassin is about to spit out the vital information we were sent in to retrieve.

"Why have you been kidnapping I.S.A.I.A agents?" the agent asks calmly, wrenching the assassin up by his long black hair. I lean forward, desperately waiting for the answer to slip through the assassin's lips.

Tell him, I need to know how to make things right after Porter was captured because of my weakness.

The assassin stays silent, which results in the agent slapping him clean across the check.

"I will ask one more time, why are you kidnapping our agents."

The assassin sneers, before spitting on the agent's shoes. "I will not tell you, you American scum." he snaps in a Russian accent.

I grin, preparing for what comes next after the insult.

The agency, still extremely calm, slams the assassin's face into the metal bars of the cell not once, but twice, which results in a drizzle of blood that seeps from his nose and mouth. The agent then flicks out a knife, which makes the assassin's eyes widen as he holds it to the assassin's neck.

"Talk."

The assassin takes in a shaky breath and closes his eyes. "The leader of the Serpent's Circle is merely doing what you did to him a long time ago."

The agent rolls his eyes and presses the blade of the knife into the skin of the assassin's throat. "That tells me nothing whatsoever."

The assassin gags and relents. "Alright alright! He plans to use them for a trade with the I.S.A.I.A."

"A trade? A trade for what?" the agent snaps, his fingers tightening around the grip of the knife.

A single tear trails down the assassin's face, before he seems to bite down on something in his mouth.

"Oh shit," I whisper, knowing that he must've bitten down on some kind of suicide pill.

Just as I expected, white foam gurgles from the assassin's mouth just as the video pauses.

Gus steps forward again and gestures to the video. "We are still unsure of just what the Serpent's Circle is wanting to trade our agents for, which is why we will be assigning each of you to a different mission targeting one of the league's national bases."

Gus looks to Burris, who now has a manilla envelope in his hands. He opens the flap on the top and retrieves the papers within, reading them as follows aloud.

"Agents Sands and Valdaz, you will be infiltrating the league's base in Spain." Burris then reaches into the drawer of his desk and grabs a case file as a brown-haired man and blond-haired woman walk to his desk.

"Agents Asril and Fletcher, you will be infiltrating the base in Ireland." he hands two black-haired men a file, then looks at me and Amber.

"And you two will be infiltrating their main base in Paris, France, along with the help of Agent Smith."

I raise a surprised eyebrow at Amber as we rise and walk toward's Burris' desk. I reach out for the file, but Burris keeps his hold of it.

"Meeting dismissed, except for the Paris group."

The rest of the agents file out, leaving me, Amber, Gus, and Burris alone.

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