Chapter 1 - ML POV
8 o'clock at night there was an agent was driving back to his apartment.. But then his phone rang, He picked it up and anwser.
"Hello?" He said into the phone
A voice of an man around 40s reposed "Vincent?"
Vincent reposed "hm? What is it? Why you Calling now..?"
"where are you?" The man asked
"I'm heading back home right now.. Why?" Vincent said
The man reposed "you got a mission. May you come to my office?"
Vincentsighed, annoyed
"Yeah, I'll be there in 35 minutes..." He muttered into thephone, then hung up.
He turned the wheel sharply and sped down the road, heading back to HQ.
he arrived at the base, pull into the parking lot and got off his car slammed the door shut and marched toward the entrance.
He push the door open stepping into the building fill with agency talking, drinking, laughing and preparing to leave.
without slowing down He walk straight towards the elevator hit the button and waited
Suddenly someone tapped his shoulder.
"Hey, I thought you're going back?" Said a man around 20s messy brown hair with matching brown eyes
"I was supposed to, but they call me back." Vincent replied coldly "you not going either, Austin?" QqVincent asked
Austin smirked "nah, I got called I'm for a mission as well. Let me guess.. We're both on the same mission?"
Vincent scoffed "why are you asking me?"
Austin chuckled "never mind then. By the way Vincent..have you met the new girl?"
"I Don't have time for that" Vincent muttered, stepping into the elevator and pressing the floor button. Austin followed him in.
The elevator hummed quietly as it moved. Silence settled between them - thick and heavy - until Austin broke it.
"So... How's lana been doing?" He asked, glaring at Vincent.
Vincent jaw tensed "fine." He replied sharply.
The elevator door slid open,both men stepping off the elevator walking side by side down the hallway toward the HQ office.
Vincent knock and push the door open
"Vincent, You're late." The man look at Austin as well "you too."
They both sat down in their seats.
The HQ officer looked at them with a sharp expression, his voice calm but serious.
"We got a report," he began. "About a remote village. Locals call it Merrow Creek. Something's wrong there."
He tapped on the screen. Photos flashed across the holo-display — overgrown trees, foggy roads, abandoned houses, bloodstained police cars.
"Cops went in. Never came back.
Tourists. Missing.Even one of ours disappeared last week."
Vincent leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "You want us to check it out? After one of our fucking members just went missing there? his voice was cold and furious "Are you try to get us fucking kill?"
"No," he said calmly "I want you to go in, gather intel, and get out. Fast. This isn't a rescue mission.
Something about that place... it messes with people."
Austin frowned. "Crazy people?"
"Locals say they're not just insane. They change. Turn violent. Like something in the air is twisting them."
he paused.
"I want both of you on this because I don't trust solo ops anymore. Get what we need. And if things go south…"
She looked at them dead in the eye. "Don't play hero. Get out alive."
They stay silent until the man spoke up again.
" one last thing - There's another agenct involved. They're planning to take the scientists chemical from the lab to sell it on the black market."
Vincent's jaw clenched. "Which agency?"
The officer hesitated. "Black Veil."
Austin blinked. "Black Veil? Shit… they don't leave survivors."
"They already have someone on the inside," the officer continued. "We believe they've infiltrated the village days ago. And Vincent…"
He looked directly at him.
Vincent's eyes slowly lifted to meet his.
"We have reason to believe Lana is working with them."
Silence fell like a bomb.
Vincent's voice dropped to a whisper. "She was…"
The officer continued. "We intercepted a coded message sent out of the village two nights ago. Clean, professional. It was signed with her old call sign. No distress. No hesitation. She's not being held. She's working with them."
Austin leaned back, exhaling sharply. "Damn."
Vincent didn't say anything. But his fists were clenched, knuckles white.
"She knows our protocols," the officer added. "Our systems. Our weaknesses. That makes her more dangerous than the rest."
He handed over a final file.
"You leave at 06:00. Your objective is to secure the chemical formula… before Black Veil gets their hands on it, And if you run into Lana..."
He looked Vincent dead in the eye.
"Don't hesitate"
Vincent stood up so fast the chair screeched back. "You're telling me Lana — my partner — just flipped sides?"
His voice was sharp, like a blade unsheathed.
"You really expect me to believe that?"
The officer stayed seated, calm.
"We go by the evidence, Vincent. The message was real. The code was hers. No signs of distress. No sign of coercion."
"She wouldn't do this," Vincent snapped, pacing the room like a caged animal.
"Lana wouldn't just join Black Veil. That's suicide — and she hated them."
Austin watched from his seat, tense but silent.
"She's been gone two months," the officer said. "Plenty of time for them to turn her."
Vincent whirled on him, eyes burning.
"You think she betrayed us, just like that?"
"I think she made a choice," the officer replied, standing now to meet him face to face.
"And you need to be ready for that possibility — or it's going to get you killed."
Vincent scoffed, shaking his head. "You've already written her off."
"No," the officer said firmly.
"I've accepted reality. Something you still can't do."
Silence settled between them — heavy and loaded.
Then Vincent leaned in, voice low and cold.
"If there's even one percent chance she's still good… I'm bringing her back."
The officer stared back, unmoving. *
"And if she's not?"
Vincent's jaw clenched. His eyes hardened like stone. "...Then I'll put her down myself... "