The room was filled with men in cloaks. Their faces all hidden by the white masks with their numbers covering it. They were all here. Except two. They were always late. #8 sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Always. His real name was Xander, however they were all assigned numbers to hide identity. His brother, who was much younger than him, hit his arm. "Sit still! I'd rather not be banned from this." His brother #9 said through his teeth.

Suddenly, they walked in. Number one was tall and had a gruff voice, and number 2 was shorter and spike in a voice that sounded as if he was using a voice changer. "Let's get this started." Number 1 said, standing on his platform. There were a circle of platforms, each with a number on it. The room was more like a cave now that #8 looked harder. Everytime he was brought here he was blindfolded, so he had no idea where they were.

"First order of business, the red cloaks are no longer terrorists." #1 said. "Isn't that a good thing?" #10 said, rubbing the back of their neck. Number 1 grunted, "No, it's not. Before he was just a nuisance. However, if he decides to become the agency's ally, he'll become very dangerous to our plans." Everyone looked nervous.

"We're thinking that somehow the Chief has caught onto our presence." He continued, "Which means we'll have to skip a few steps, and begin prep work for part 2." "And what might that entail?" Number 6 said, who was a hulk of a man. Xander was surprised he could keep his cloaks. Even through the mask, Xander could tell number 1 was smirking. Then, number 2 spoke his disguised voice. "War."

-

There was a knock on the chief's door. He looked up, startled. "Come in." He said. The noise from their party kept him up most of the night. Parker stepped in. "We need to talk." He said in a voice that hinted at anger. "There's nothing to discuss." He said, waving his arm to dismiss him. "I know about everything." Parker said, with a straight face. The Chief looked slightly startled. "What the hell are you talking about?" The chief said through clenched teeth. "I know that Red was never a terrorist in the first place. In fact, he's an agent." He said, his face betrayed his emotions. The chief was startled. "I also know that you stripped him of his title and you kept it covered up . And had us chase him around. Why?" He was yelling now. The chief looked defeated. "They were a branch of government. However, they started getting into some...questionable work." He said hesitantly. "It got to the point where we had to cover up any of his involvement with us. Until now."

"I also know you'd only bring him into this if we were in a position where an alliance was better than a rivalry aka another terrorist group emerges." Parker slams his hands on the table. "So, what is this new threat and why did you lie to us about it?" He said, somewhat quietly. The chief whispered the answer. "The Black Cloaks." Parker was slightly taken back. He could've sworn he heard fear in there as well.

"They've been slowly showing up here and there. Gaining more and more members. While the Red Cloaks are only comprised of a small few, the Black Cloaks are comprised of a small army." He began, not daring to look up. To face his lies. Parker slowly sat in the chair

"At first we thought nothing of it. 'Just another small terrorist group.' we said." He started clenching his fists. "That was, until what happened a few weeks ago. The massacre." Now Parker was really shocked. "So it wasn't Red." He said under his breath. He ran his hand through his hair. The Chief sighed then continued. "They slaughtered all of them. That's when we knew they were serious." He finally looked up at Parker. "They're gonna start a war." Parker finally stood from his chair. Parker smirked. "Not if I can help it." The Chief nodded, looking grim. "That's what I'm afraid of."

-

Red walked into the dark room and turned on the light. He saw snake eyes sitting on the beds. "Stand up. It's time." He said as he pulled out a knife. They stood in front of him. He sighed as he twirled the knife on his finger.

"You've been working for me for a while. As you know, these headbands are to show you that I am your eyes therefore you need none. Until now." He tried to cut their headbands but before he could Rudolph grabbed his wrist hard.

-

"The Black Cloaks?" John asked, completely confused. He was sitting on the couch in a T-shirt and jeans. Parker was pacing back in forth in front of him. "It's been a lie. All of it. And now, we have to fight an enemy we didn't even know existed until an hour ago." He was clenching his fists so hard, John swore he could see blood. "Let's not work ourselves up about it. We just need to help the agency make a plan." John said, trying to make his friend feel better. Parker stopped pacing and looked at John. "No." John was shocked. "What do you mean 'No'?" Parker turned to him. "I mean exactly what I said. The government obviously doesn't trust us enough to know critical information. And I think it's time-" Before he could finish, his phone was blowing up. It was some of the residents messaging him about commotion going on in the residency floor. That's where Red was.

-

When they got there, they stopped at the doorway. Rudolph was holding Red up against the wall by his color, sword upside down against his neck. Red waved. "Oh hey guys." Parker and John drew their guns. "NO!" He shouted. They hesitated. "It's ok! Rudolph, would you be so kind as to let me down?" Rudolph hesitated for a moment, then let him down. Red brushed his cloak.

"We were just messing around! You know! We're buds!" Parker sighed and bolstered his gun. "Guys. We have to talk." Parker said, gravely serious.

-

They were in the conference room. There was a deafening silence in the room. John stood and slammed his hands on the table. "You want to do what?!" John said, borderline screaming. Parker stayed calm. He had expected thus. "I'm starting my own agency." He said flatly. "Parker that's crazy!" Suzy said, concern deep in her voice. "I know it's risky but what other choice do we have? This place is filled with secrets. They can't even tell us about rising terrorist organizations, or that the ones we're chasing aren't even terrorists." Parker said, anger slowly entering his tone.

"I hope you will all join me. I can understand why you wouldn't want to. However, I'm starting one whether you're coming with me or not." Parker said. That was all there was to it. There was silence in the room. A hand was raised. "I'm coming with you." Suzy said standing. Parker saw something in her eyes he hadn't seen in a while. Hope. "I'm coming too." Darkrye said standing. John sighed, then stood. "Why bother trying to unconvince you? You're gonna do it anyways." He smiled at him. Snake Eyes both stood up. The only one still sitting was Red. He was sitting on the table in his signature pose. He laughed. He laughed for a good long time. When the laughter died down, he was smiling.

"You guys are going to not only go against the Black Cloaks, but you're willing to oppose the Federal government? The government will never approve of registering you. We'd be terrorists. You sure you're willing to throw it all away? Your family, your friends, your rights? And for what? Why do this?" He said, sounding surprisingly mature.

"To help people. I'm tired of seeing the government cover everything and pick and choose who they help. Everyone has a right to be helped. And the agency would never help us beat them. So, you in?" He stretched his hand out to him. "Friend?" He added. This seemed to shock Red but only for a moment. He shook his hand and stood on top of the table. "The I'm in!" Red smiled. John looked at everyone. "So what do we call it?" He asked. There was silence before Parker finally said it. "Bullets. We'll call it Bullets." He said finally. John scoffed. "Sounds tacky to me." He said. Everyone laughed a little.

Laughing was a lot harder after that. This may have been the end of their run as agents, but it was only the beginning of everything else. This, was the beginning of Bullets.