Midas Touch ➸ Taekook

- Seventh -

The tension was palpable. Yes, they'd all been trained in combat, but in general, their missions consisted of making contact with other mutants and subduing them if they lost control of their powers. Here, we were talking about mercenaries who wouldn't hesitate to kill them. Taehyung shivered at the thought.

He let his gaze wander around the jet, another proof of Professor Xavier's wealth, where all his teammates had settled. Yoongi and Logan had moved to the back, talking to no one, while Namjoon and Jin had taken the controls of the plane. Kitty and Piotr sat behind them, also wanting to learn how to fly the plane. Then it was him and Hoseok. And the boy had literally fallen asleep in his seat. He couldn't have been more relaxed. Quite the opposite of Taehyung.

"Are you all right, Taehyung?"

The boy gasped and turned, coming face to face with a tall woman with long white hair and beautifully dark skin. When the sun shone on her, her skin took on a golden hue, making her look sublime, almost divine. Auroro was a beautiful woman, and very gentle. Except when she was irritated. She usually spoke in a calm, mature way, but when angered, she changed completely. That's why everyone was so careful never to offend her.

"Y-Yes, I'm just a bit stressed..."

Auroro smiled at him, sitting down beside him, and took his gloved hand in hers.

"Don't worry, everything's going to be fine. It's a special mission, but you're only children and you have the right to make mistakes. We adults are here to cover your backs. Even Logan."

"I heard that." grumbled the man a few metres away.

Taehyung couldn't hold back a small laugh, relaxing a little. Auroro had that kind of effect, she was always so calm that you naturally felt reassured around her.

"We're approaching the warehouse." Namjoon announced.

The man moved away from the dashboard, leaving the controls to Jin, and turned to the rest of the team.

"So, I'm going to take review the situation again quickly, so wake me up Hoseok."

Taehyung rolled his eyes as he shook his friend, who woke up with a start and rubbed his eyes like a newborn baby. This boy really was a born clown.

"As Hank explained, this warehouse was the last place we saw the traffickers take the hostages. It's our only lead, so we're going to have to be clever. That goes without saying, but we don't kill. We capture everyone, no one must escape. The professor will search their minds before handing them over to the CIA. Is that understood?"

"Yes!"

Namjoon nodded, and a few minutes later they landed and entered the warehouse.

"We'll split up." Namjoon murmured. "Auroro will go with Kitty and Piotr, Logan with Yoongi, Jin with Taehyung, and Hoseok will come with me."

They all nodded, except for Hoseok who knew full well that Namjoon was taking him with him to keep an eye on him. He grumbled 'I'd rather be with Auroro' before reluctantly following Namjoon, and they all dispersed."

Taehyung instinctively positioned himself behind Jin, the two of them moving as silently as possible. Their eyes focused on everything around them, looking for mercenaries or hostages.

"Don't you think it's abnormally quiet?" Jin finally asked, still in a whisper.

"That's what I was thinking..."

They heard absolutely nothing, apart from the drumming in their hearts and chests. The warehouse was lost in the middle of nowhere, the mercenaries would have absolutely no reason to be discreet. And Hank had assured them that they hadn't left the country yet. Which meant they had to be here. They wouldn't have left the hostages unguarded. However, the deeper they went, the more the silence and darkness engulfed them. It was oppressive.

They finally reached a more open area, surrounded by crates that reached up to the ceiling.

"Do you think that's weapons?" Taehyung asked as he approached one of the crates.

"There's a good chance. Even if the hostages aren't there, if we take the warehouse it can only be good news."

After that, the two stopped talking and quickly searched the area, but they couldn't find anything more than these famous crates. And that was starting to look really suspicious. Hank had told them that the hostages were here, but there didn't seem to be anyone else here. How had they managed to disappear without the CIA spotting them?

The silence was soon broken by the sound of something metallic rolling across the floor, and Taehyung just had time to turn round to see that a metal ball had rolled towards his team-mate.

"Jin! Grenade!"

Jin gasped, barely having time to jump back before the grenade went off. Fortunately for them, it wasn't explosive, but a large quantity of smoke soon covered their part of the warehouse, preventing them both from seeing anything.

"Taehyung?! Taehyung where are you?!" Jin shouted, terrified at the idea of having lost his student.

"I'm here!"

"Don't move, I'm coming to get you!"

Taehyung obeyed, not moving a millimetre as he strained his ears to hear the slightest noise around him. And what he heard did not please him at all: dozens of footsteps, moving all around him. Unfortunately, he couldn't determine their position at all, and the fact that his vision was completely blurred by the smoke put him at an even greater disadvantage.

Suddenly he felt an arm go around his throat, pulling him back with such force that it strangled the teenager. Taehyung began to struggle violently, but seeing that his assailant was much stronger physically than he was, he decided to take it to the next level. Despite the thinning air, he managed to organise his thoughts enough to think more or less calmly. He managed to remove one of his gloves, and sent his hand into the man's face. He heard a scream, the usual heat passing through his fingers, then up his arm, and a few seconds later, the man fell to the ground, unconscious. And Taehyung frowned as he noticed that he had no memory of the man at all. It was as if his mind had shut off completely. Strange.

But he didn't have time to dwell on it, as he heard gunshots, bullets flying in his direction. He dodged them all one by one, managing to take cover behind one of the crates in the warehouse. At the same time, the gas seemed to be sucked up by an unknown force, coalescing into a smaller and smaller ball, which soon fit into Jin's hand. The young man had used his telekinetic powers to get rid of the smoke which was putting them both at a disadvantage. But now that they had regained their sight, it was to find that they were completely surrounded by around twenty mercenaries, all heavily armed. Taehyung didn't even dare join Jin, for fear of being shot.

It was as if time stood still, neither side daring to move. As Taehyung was looking for a way to return the situation, he suddenly saw a card pass in front of his eyes, a Jack of Spades to be precise, which came directly to plant itself in one of the boxes between him and the mercenaries. The card was enveloped in a strange pink energy, unconsciously attracting Taehyung's gaze.

"You'd better stand back, chéri." said a deep, masculine voice behind his back.

No sooner had Taehyung understood these words than the card began to glow more powerfully, before suddenly exploding.

~🌻~

Who this mysterious voice could be...?🤭