Sungcheol finds the files just as the alarms start to blare. His panicked voice then comes in through the walkie-talkie: "Woozi! What the fuck's going on?"

I scramble to get the walkie-talkie from underneath the desk.

"S.Coups!" I yell, still trying to get Jihoon's attention. "Base to S.Coups!"

"Angel?" he asks, sounding confused and panicked at the same time. "What's happening? I thought you guys disabled the traps!"

"Housewife triggered a trap that we didn't pick up," I explain. "Woozi isn't here right now, so I'm going to guess that shit like that happens from time to time. Liste—"

"Woozi isn't there?" Sungcheol asks. "You're there by yourself?"

"That's not important! Listen. There are about thirty enemies headed your way. You've got to evacuate the premises now!"

I quickly inspect the map of the building that Jihoon has open on another tab. The enemies are coming from the north entrance, which is where the Offense Unit had entered. Due to the small size of the place, there is only one other exit nearly three hallways down from where my teammates currently are.

In the midst of my panic, I almost don't see the little commands that have been typed onto the map. I quickly figure out that they are attack commands specific to each part of the building—that they are traps set up for the enemies in case the mission is no longer in our favor.

My heartbeat is slightly less erratic as I say into the walkie-talkie, "They're entering from where you guys came in, so you need to hurry to the south exit. S.Coups, I trust you know where that is?"

"I do," he says.

"Good. I'll try to hold them off as best as I can until you get out. Over!"

Sungcheol tears the door open and ushers the younger ones out before him. They begin to sprint at an almost inhuman pace, fear and determination painted on their faces.

I immediately get to work, pulling up the black box onto the monitor and tracking the position of the enemies. As they get closer to 'Hall A', I begin to choose between three commands specific to that section of the map:
trigger.darts/r/HallA
activate.teargas/HallA
activate.firevents/HallA

I type the first command and watch as hundreds of darts shoot out from tiny compartments in the walls and dig themselves into the first couple of unsuspecting enemies. They collapse to the ground like dominoes while the others stay behind and wait for the rest of the darts to finish shooting.

Bzz.

A small but painful electric jolt snakes up my neck.

"Fuck," I hiss, brushing my fingers against the collar.

Shit. I almost forgot about the collar. I guess inflicting any sort of damage from miles away will still get me punished.

"Jihoon!" I call. "Just letting you know, this collar's going to kill me!"

No response.

Shaking away the abrupt terror flowing in me, I return my focus to the mission. The Offense Unit is now only two hallways down from the exit, but the enemies are catching up incredibly fast. There are only two commands listed for 'Hall B': release.knives/HallB and activate.lasers/HallB.

Lasers it is.

The delivered shock is more violent than the last one. I bite back a scream and bang my fist against the desk as the pain literally stabs at every muscle in my body. Through my squinted eyes, I can see the next couple of enemies fall to the ground as bright red lasers sear right through them.

"S.Coups to Angel!" Sungcheol suddenly yells into the walkie-talkie. "The exit door is stuck!"

On the monitor, I can see him and the others hitting their shoulders against the door. It opens only an inch with each blow before stubbornly closing again.

"Focus, Cressida," I growl to myself, finding strength in my new name. "Focus on the mission. Get them out alive. Get. Them. Out."

I press the communication button and say, "Just focus on getting that door open. Don't worry about the enemies. I've got them."

With the Offense Unit somewhat safe in 'Hall D' and the enemies in 'Hall C', it is time for the finale—the finishing act.

I'm absolutely terrified of the pain that's about to come, but I have to do this for the Offense Unit. I have to do this for Sungcheol, Wonwoo, Mingyu, Hansol, and the rest of Seventeen.

I have to do this.

Taking a deep breath, I watch as my fingers dance gracefully along the keyboard to type: activate.bombs/HallC

Just as the first few enemies are thrown across the hall from the force of the bomb, an excruciatingly painful shock is delivered. It's followed by another shock with the same anger, then another one, and then another one. I drop my forehead to the desk and bite down on my lip to stop myself from screaming.

"Angel!" Sungcheol's voice slices through the middle of my suffering. "We made it out! We're on our way back to base. Over!"

The shocks stop just as massive wave of relief crashes over me at the announcement. I am nothing more than a weak and writhing mess while the ghost of intense pain still looms over me like a menacing shadow. I close my eyes and begin to feel consciousness slipping out of my strong grip, but before I can fall into a void of darkness and silence, the door to the office opens.

Using whatever is left of my strength, I turn around only to find Jihoon standing in the doorway.

"What'd I miss?" he asks.

That's the last thing I hear before the world turns completely black.