Midas Touch ➸ Taekook

- Twenty-second -

Taehyung felt his heart racing as the alarm pierced their eardrums. Chaos quickly ensued as the group tried to come to their senses. The mutant hostages panicked, their weak bodies shaking with fear. Namjoon reacted immediately, his deep voice dominating the shrill noise.

"We've got to get out of here, and fast!" he shouted, pulling everyone into the shelter of a dark corner.

They heard footsteps echoing behind the thick metal door, indicating that the situation was indeed critical. They didn't know how they had been discovered, but right now was clearly not the time to think about it, even if frustration was already making its way into the hearts of the youngest X-Men, not understanding where they had gone wrong. Everything had gone perfectly so far, so why had an alarm gone off?

Namjoon turned to Kitty, whose face was contorted with worry. He felt a little guilty, because her role was central to this mission, and she was only a child. She should be allowed to panic, like any other teenager in this situation.

"We've got to hurry!" he said to her. "We're going to use path C, Okay? Do you remember it?"

The young woman nodded. Before the mission, her, Namjoon and Xavier had worked out the different routes they could use in the event of an escape. She had memorised them all, and she was glad that she had done so, as it might save her life today.

The X-Men began to organise themselves quickly, all gathering around Kitty. Normally, they would have taken the time to reassure the hostages, telling them they had come to help them and that everything would be all right. Unfortunately, today they had no time at all. However, all the hostages seemed to be aware of this, which was a good thing. Kitty quickly explained how her power worked and everyone joined hands, ready to cross the wall.

However, no sooner had they reached the other side, tumbling into one of the villa's many underground corridors, than they came face to face with a group of mercenaries, who immediately pointed their weapons in their direction.

"It's the intruders, kill them!" exclaimed one of them. "Don't bother with the mutants, we'll find others!"

They started firing, forcing Taehyung to let go of Auroro's hand. In an instant, the X-Men dispersed, each of them hiding from the gunfire. Miraculously, Kitty and Jin managed to stay with the hostages.

"Evacuate!" Namjoon shouted at them.

"What about you?"

"We'll get out of here! The hostages are the priority!"

The two, reluctant at first, finally nodded, then grabbing each other's hands again, crossed another wall, heading for the exit.

Bullets whizzed around them as the X-Men scattered in the chaos. Taehyung dove behind a concrete column, his breath coming in sharp gasps of fear and adrenaline. A few metres away, Jungkook returned fire, charging up energy cards before hurling them at the mercenaries.

"We're too exposed!" Shouted Yoongi, his eyes searching the corridor for a way out.

Suddenly, a metallic sound slid across the floor. Taehyung turned his head just in time to see a grenade roll between them. His eyes widened in horror and he instinctively took three huge steps backwards.

"Grenade!" he barely had time to scream, panic filling his voice.

The explosion that followed was deafening. The blast threw Taehyung backwards, his body slamming into a wall. His mind wavered between consciousness and unconsciousness for a moment, before he managed to regain his senses. He then realised that the thick smoke and debris from the explosion had completely separated their group. He coughed as he sat up, his first instinct being to look for Jungkook. And he literally panicked when he didn't find him, the poor teenager alone in the middle of the smoke.