Simi took her last shot at the paper target; it was a bullseye. She pulled off her helmet and placed it on the counter alongside the gun.
"Impressive."
Wasn't she alone? Simi wondered.
She turned to see the squad next door; Team Sere.
"Not!" Their leader, Rina, snorted, and the rest of her team burst into a hideous laughter.
This was one thing Simi could never get used to. She could handle their bluffing and pathetic tries at an insult but that laughter? It was a nightmare!
"Sadly, no one asled for your opinion." Simi shot back as she pulled her jacket off the rack behind her and put it on.
"You call that a comeback? You'll need to try harder than that!" Rina said, folding her arms as her goons laughed.
"Go look for someone else to bully, Rina." Simi said with a shrug making Rina's face grow red in anger.
"You…"
"And you all should stop laughing at her every attempt at an insult. It's pathetic." Simi said with sincerity.
Rina's team members are trying so hard to be on her good graces and humiliating themselves while at it.
"If you would excuse me, I have better things to do with my time," Simi said walking past them.
"Let me guess, getting over your last failed mission?" Rina said with an evil grin as the rest laughed till their hearts were content.
Simi stopped on her track and turned to them with the same neutral look she had on earlier.
It was no news that their last mission was a failure and she wasn't going to lie that it wasn't.
"You should try harder than that Rina. That's some stale news. How about you listen to the latest one? A member of the sere team caught kissing a janitor. " Simi sighed, in contentment at how angry Rina looked.
"That's a lie!" Rina snapped.
Simi shrugs.
"Okay, if you say so. But I'm sure one of your team member has something to tell you. " Simiwalks away without glancing back for once to see how angry Rina looked as she yelled her lungs out.
For Rina, kissing a janitor or dating below her rank was the most humilating thing that could ever happen to her. Or her teammates.
Simi found her way down the hall towards the rest of her squad. She knew where to find them being team leader and all.
Simi strolled down to the huge track field and took in a deep breath of fresh air.
The shooting room smelled like sweat and smoke and she could have sworn she smelt stale food in there.
If only someone would be gracious enough to break one of the many rules on camp, only then will that place ever be clean.
The cleaners have never been in that room. Not even once!
A tap on her shoulder made her turn; it was John's secretary. Mia
"John wants your squad in the meeting room," Mia said, staring at her tablet absentmindedly.
"Is anything wrong?" Simi asked, worried.
John had been pretty mad about their last mission and wouldn't even reply to any of their greetings for a year!
"You have ten minutes." Mia glanced at Simi.
"That was his message." She adds.
Simi glanced around the field and immediately noticed Katrina on the bleachers with her laptop, smiling to herself.
One team member down, two to go.
Simi made her way towards Kat and stood in front of her, block the ray of light shining down on her.
Kat was about to grumble a complaint when she glanced up to see Simi.
"Oh. Hi Simi!" She said enthusiastically.
Kat was the merry one of the group and the silliest but of course, she was great with computers. Coding and all that stuff.
"Hey, can you help me get Naomi and Lauren over here?" Simi pleaded
"What's wrong?" Kat asked in worry.
"It's nothing serious. I promise. Just get them over here." Simi ordered.
"Okay" Kat returned to her laptop and was soon staring at Simi with a smile.
"They should be here any second, " Kat said and broke into a nervous smile.
"What did you do Kat?" Simi asked.
"Something that would get the both of them mad. Especially Lauren." Kat swallowed hard.
Simi shook her head. Kat could be silly at times and that was enough to be Lauren's target of fury.
"KATRINA!" Lauren yelled as she got to the field, yanking the team hearing aid off her ears in anger.
"Oh-oh," Kat whimpered and swallowed hard.
Naomi soon showed up at the bleachers and sat quietly. There was a bruise on her knuckles and Simi needed not to be told that her dear vicious member had once again turned someone's nine months into a cripple.
Or a corpse. Who knows?
"I told you not to use that bloody voice to send urgent messages thrpugh the hearing aid didn't I ?!" Lauren yelled making her way towards Kat.
Kat used the voice of a five year old to deliver Simi's message and that shit pisses Lauren the hell off!
No one knows why.
"I told her to." Simi said without much thought.
"And what was the emergency about Simi?" Lauren asked, folding her arms in anger.
"John wants us in his office," Simi announced.
"After ignoring us for a year. Of course he does." Lauren said.
"We have five minutes to get to his office." Simi said.
"Mia's message?" Kat asked
"John's actually." Simi replied.
Naomi was already walking away from the bleachers, heading towards John's office.
Naomi was the most unpredictable member of the group and the most dangerous too.
You can never know when you've crossed the line with her and that wasn't a good thing.
If you see Naomi glaring at you and her fists clenched, you're as good as dead.
The only person who understood her was Simi. She understood everyone on the team, it was her job to.
"Come on," Simi said and they all jogged towards John's office.
"Did Mia say what this was about?" Lauren asked.
"You know her. Ever mysterious" Simi said with a shrug.
"I still wonder how she walks around with her head buried in her screen like that." Kat said.
She was a tech freak but never in a million years could she do that without bumping into something.
"You'll never know what working for John would make you do, you know?" Simi said with honesty.
Their boss could be overbearing.