The next few days were nothing short of torture.

Instructor Vega’s idea of Covert Operations Training wasn’t just about sneaking around—it was about making sure we could survive under pressure, adapt to any situation, and most importantly, not die like idiots in the field. The problem? We were idiots.

"Starting today," Mrs. Vega announced, her gaze sharp as a blade, "your training will be ongoing. That means no safe zones, no scheduled lessons. At any time of the day or night, you may be tested."

Sym gasped. "Even in the bathroom?!"

"Especially in the bathroom."

Sym clutched his chest like he had been personally attacked. "No respect for privacy! This is too much!"

"This is a necessary step," Mrs. Vega continued, ignoring Sym’s dramatics. "You must always be aware of your surroundings. Consider this an ongoing exam. Fail, and the consequences will be severe."

Our first mission was simple in theory: infiltrate a simulated enemy base, extract intel, and leave undetected.

In practice? Absolute disaster.

The mission began under the cover of artificial darkness, the simulation room shifting into a cold, industrial environment. Overhead, a red light blinked ominously, tracking movement.

"Okay," Rue whispered, crouching behind a metal crate. "We need to move in a staggered pattern, avoid direct sightlines, and for the love of everything, do not touch anything unnecessary."

"Got it," I whispered back.

"Understood," Selena said smoothly.

"Easy," Sym added, giving a thumbs up.

Five minutes later, Sym tripped over a nearly invisible sensor wire, setting off a shrill alarm.

The red light above flashed wildly, and turrets in the corners of the room whirred to life.

"DOWN!" Rue barked, grabbing Sym by the collar and yanking him into cover just as rubber bullets rained down on our position.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" I hissed.

Sym, still blinking like he had just been flashbanged, wheezed. "Okay, so maybe I didn’t see the wire—"

A voice crackled overhead. "Alert. Intruders detected. Deploying countermeasures."

"Oh, great," Selena muttered as two robotic sentries rolled out from hidden panels in the walls.

I sucked in a breath. "We can still recover from this—"

I turned to move, only to knock over an entire stack of crates, the loud CRASH echoing like a gunshot in the silence.

Sym groaned. "Sue!"

"My bad!" I whisper-shouted, scrambling to hide behind Rue as the sentries scanned for movement.

"Stay still," Rue ordered, eyes darting across the environment. He was already calculating our next move.

For a second, I thought we were safe.

Then Sym, in a misguided attempt to help, yanked a small cylindrical device from his pocket.

"I got this," he whispered, clicking the button on the side.

The second he tossed it, Rue’s eyes widened in horror.

"Sym, WAIT—"

A thick cloud of gray smoke exploded in the air, swallowing the entire area.

Chaos erupted.

I inhaled a lungful of smoke and immediately choked. "Fck!"

Beside me, Sym was coughing so hard he sounded like a dying chicken. "Sorry—sht—I thought it was a flash bomb—"

"WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THROW A FLASH BOMB?!" I snapped, barely able to see through the haze.

Rue was muttering curses under his breath while Selena, the only one seemingly unaffected, leapt onto a nearby ledge, moving like a shadow through the chaos. She bypassed the sentries with ease, her figure barely visible through the smoke.

A few seconds later, the alarms stopped.

The fog began to settle, revealing Selena standing casually by the control panel.

She looked down at us—Rue half-covered in soot, Sym clutching his knees, and me rubbing my burning eyes—and shook her head.

"Wow," she mused. "You guys are terrible at this."

Sym wheezed, waving a hand in front of his face. "Excuse me, Selene, some of us are built for charisma, not stealth."

"Yeah?" Tammy raised an eyebrow. "Charisma isn’t gonna stop you from stepping on another tripwire."

Sym blinked. "There was another tripwire?"

As if on cue, the floor beneath him clicked.

An entire section of the ground vanished.

Sym yelped as he fell into a pit, barely catching himself on the edge. "OH, COME ON!"

Selena crouched beside him, smirking. "See? Terrible."

Rue, rubbing his temples like he was developing an early-onset migraine, sighed. "Let’s just do it again."

Mrs. Vega, standing in the shadows, clapped once. "Again."

It took us four days before we managed to complete a mission without someone failing spectacularly.

By then, my muscles ached from crawling through vents, my patience had evaporated from Sym’s antics, and I had developed a deep, personal vendetta against Selena’s smug face.

"See?" Selena said as we exited the training area. "So you guys could do it all along. We didn’t have to fall into the pit trap seven times."

I scowled. "That’s in the past, Selena. Let it go."

"I’ll let it go when you stop being a walking disaster."

Sym draped an arm over my shoulder, exhausted but grinning. "At least we’re improving. Even though, technically, Rue is the only one among us with actual survival instincts."

Rue muttered, "Technically."

That night, I collapsed onto the couch in our dorm, exhausted. "Okay. We survived the first stage. What else could possibly happen tomorrow?"

Rue shot me a deadpan look. ""You know you should never ask that."

As if on cue, the dorm lights suddenly shut off, and a deep, robotic voice echoed through the room.

"LIVE MISSION INITIATED. ALL STUDENTS REPORT TO DESIGNATED LOCATIONS IMMEDIATELY."

Sym shot up from the floor. "F*CK, WHAT IS THIS?!"

The speakers crackled again. "REAL-WORLD MISSION. NO SIMULATIONS. PREPARE FOR DEPLOYMENT."

I turned to Rue, my stomach dropping. "We’re actually being sent outside?"

Shit just got real.